Food: Goldilocks-style
AS THE gluttonous feasting of the festive celebration subsides, and our bloated torsos slowly resume their more natural proportions, we are blessed to have an abundance of seasonal fruit to assist in our resumption of what should be our consensual relationship with food.
Ideally, we ought to be a little Goldilocks in our approach — not too much, never too little, just enough. And of a balanced kind.
That said, with Australian berries being around their lowest prices of the year, despite the drought, forget those rules and gorge yourself like there will be no tomorrow. Blackberries, raspberries, blueberries, youngberries, redcurrants, whitecurrants, boysenberries … tell me we’re not spoiled for choice!
But a simple fact remains — you will never be able to eat as many berries as you can afford, so you will have to start planning, and that means freezing.
For something so simple, freezing properly actually requires a reasonable understanding of what it is that you’re trying to achieve. The central idea is to ensure that each berry freezes in such a way that they remain separated, not conjoined like some sweet alien house brick.
We call this system IQF (individually quick-frozen), and the method is simple. Line a tray that fits in your freezer with baking paper, scatter with berries, and freeze for an hour or so, just until a frozen skin forms.
Then, transfer to a bag and repeat with your next tray. You don’t need to freeze them completely before proceeding. In no time, you will have cheap and tasty berries ready to enjoy for the rest of the year.
BAKED CUSTARD WITH BERRY COMPOTE
SERVES: 4
Ingredients
300ml milk
300ml cream
10 egg yolks
300g caster sugar Seeds of 2 vanilla beans 1 tbsp orange blossom water 500g frozen berries
1/4 cup Cointreau
Method
1. Preheat oven to 150C. Combine the milk and cream in a medium saucepan and bring to a simmer over a moderate heat. Whisk the yolks, 100g sugar, orange blossom water and half the vanilla in a bowl until smooth. Stir in the hot milk.
2. Strain into four 1-cup ramekins, then place in a baking dish and add hot water halfway up the sides. Cover with foil and bake for 30 minutes, until just set. Remove from water and set aside to cool completely.
3. Meanwhile, place remaining sugar in a medium saucepan and cook until wellbrowned. Add the berries, Cointreau and remaining vanilla, turn off the heat, and allow to cool until the caramel dissolves. Spoon over custards.