Here are our favourite recipes containing a spalsh (or more) of some of our favourite tipples. Call it alcohol, booze, liquor or liqueurs, a little fermented or distilled juice can add zing to many sweet and savoury recipes. to be on the safe side, think of these as adults only recipes.
Armando’s Panettone with Berries Armando’s panettone with berries is a festive dessert made with Italy’s traditional Christmas cake, panettone. Chef Armando Percuoco created it to add a bit of moisture to this brioche-like bread, which some people find a bit too dry. We’ve used berries and mint for a red and green Christmas theme but […]
Portuguese Clams in White Wine Clams are very popular in Portugal. Amêijoas com vinho branco (Portuguese clams in white wine) are typically cooked over an open fire in a traditional cataplana, a metal vessel made of two concave halves that clip together to tightly enclose and steam the ingredients. Pork is often added in the […]
Swordfish in Orange Sauce I find that meaty swordfish has quite an affinity with orange. This recipe was inspired by duck à l’orange, so you can call it poisson à l’orange if you want to be fancy. Swordfish has a tendency to dry out if overcooked, so I prefer to buy sashimi-grade fish and keep […]
Pedro Ximénez Sherry & Date Puddings These simple Sherry and date puddings are inspired by part of a far more elaborate recipe by Cheong Liew in his book My Food. He adds ginger for an extra dimension, so stir 2 teaspoons of ginger juice into the batter if you like ginger’s pepperiness (made by squeezing […]
Chocolate Mousse Chocolate mousse has never gone out of fashion because it simply tastes so good (and is so easy to make). The trick to good mousse is keeping it as light as possible, so when adding the egg white and cream gently fold it in without stirring more than necessary, better to have a […]
Zabaglione Zabaglione is a deliciously frothy combination of egg, sugar and wine that’s best eaten as soon as it’s made. It originated in Italy hundreds of years ago and migrated to France where it became known as sabayon. Sicily’s famous fortified wine, Marsala, is often used to make zabaglione, though any dessert wine works well […]
Saffron Poached Pears I love the simplicity of these saffron poached pears that chef Janni Kyritsis taught me to make many years ago. At MG Garage he served them alongside a delicate cardamom-scented blancmange made with yoghurt – I like them with a scoop of vanilla bean ice cream or dollop of Chantilly cream, or […]
Coppa di Mascarpone This simple dessert was a fixture on Italian restaurant menus in the ‘70s and ‘80s but seems to have fallen from favour now, replaced I suspect by the more complex tiramisu. While tiramisu is an excellent dessert (and you can see my recipe at the video below), Coppa di Mascarpone is simpler […]
Deep-Fried Ice Cream Like most Anglo-Celtic Aussies growing up in the 1970s, Chinese was the first foreign food I ever tasted and, at the time, frying ice cream was about as exotic a thing as I could imagine. Thankfully Chinese food in Australia has come a long way since then, but humour me and try […]
Cranachan Cranachan, a combination of oats, raspberries, whisky and honey (ideally heather honey, which is available online from Gourmet Life), is the most typical Scottish dessert. A bit like a Scottish Eton mess, these days it’s usually made with whipped cream, though traditionally Scotland’s cottage cheese, crowdie, was used, giving it a more lactic tang. […]
