Autumn Jewels

Recipe on Page 31

AUTUMN JEWELS Feijoa

RECIPES & IMAGES KATHY PATERSON

Fortunately feijoas freeze well cut and scooped, but there is nothing quite like eating them fresh or freshly cooked. I’ve been swapping buckets of limes for feijoas, and I’m now having fun using them up.

Roasted Feijoa and Lime Shortcake

Make this shortcake a few times, then you will be able to do it with your eyes shut. The texture is perfectly short and the jam-like feijoa filling is wonderful.

SERVES 6

125g butter, softened ½ cup icing sugar 1 free-range egg 1 cup plain flour pinch of salt ¼ cup cornflour 1 tsp baking powder 1 quantity of recipe for roasted feijoas icing sugar for sprinkling 1 lime

Heat the oven to 180°C. Lightly grease a shallow enamel pie dish or similar.

Beat the butter and icing sugar together until light and creamy. Add the egg and beat well. Sift in the flour, a pinch of salt, cornflour and baking powder and fold in. Turn out onto a floured bench and roll into a ball.

Press two-thirds of the dough into the dish until evenly spread. The dough is quite sticky so flour your hands to press dough in or use the back of a metal spoon. Spoon cooled feijoas over the base, leaving any excess juice behind. Break remaining dough into small pieces and put on top, then gently press them down. The pieces of dough will spread together during baking. Put in the oven and bake for 25–30 minutes until golden. Remove from the oven and leave to cool a little before sprinkling with icing sugar. Finely grate the zest of the lime over the shortcake.

Serve with yoghurt, whipped cream or ice cream.

Tip – while you have the oven on, use leftover pastry trimmings to make a few cheese straws.

Easy Feijoa Tart

My go-to pudding if I need one in a hurry and you can vary the fruit to fit the season. Make an egg wash by lightly whisking just the yolk and a teaspoon of cold water together—this gives a gorgeous, dark honey colour to your cooked pastry.

SERVES 4

250g pre-rolled butter puff pastry (I used Paneton pastry - available at Vetro), thawed 5–6 large feijoas egg wash for brushing 2 tbsp caster sugar, for sprinkling 1 lime yoghurt, cream or ice cream for serving

Heat the oven to 200°C. Line a baking tray with baking paper. Cut a 20cm disc from the prerolled pastry and put on the prepared tray. Make a shallow cut (ensuring you don’t cut all the way through), about 5mm from the edge of the pastry in a circle. You are essentially making a frame around the disc of pastry, which aerates the pastry so it puffs during cooking to give you an edge. Prick the pastry within the frame with a fork, then brush the entire top of the pastry with egg wash. Put in the fridge to firm up. Meanwhile, peel and slice the feijoas. Remove the pastry disc from the fridge and arrange the sliced feijoas on the pastry, again within the frame, overlapping each piece slightly. Sprinkle with the sugar. Put in the oven and bake for 20–30 minutes until feijoas soften and the pastry is a dark honey colour and crisp. Remove from the oven and finely grate over the zest of the lime. Cut into slices and serve with yoghurt, cream or ice cream.

Poached Feijoas with Yoghurt Cream, Granola Sprinkle and Chocolate Shavings

SERVES 4 GRANOLA SPRINKLE

1 cup quick-cook rolled oats or use puffed rice ½ cup whole almonds, roughly chopped ¼ cup raw cashew nuts, roughly chopped ¼ cup coconut chips 1 tbsp white sesame seeds 1 tbsp chia seeds ½ tsp ground ginger or ground cinnamon pinch of salt 25g butter 1 tbsp maple syrup 1 large free-range egg white

POACHED FEIJOAS, CREAM AND CHOCOLATE SHAVINGS

8 large feijoas, peeled and sliced or halved, flesh scooped out with a teaspoon 2 tbsp sugar for sprinkling or more to taste ½ cup cream, whipped ½ cup plain yoghurt 250g block white chocolate

To make the granola, heat the oven to 170°C. Line a shallow baking tray with baking paper. Put the oats, nuts, coconut chips, seeds, Melt the butter then stir in the maple syrup. Pour over the oat mixture and stir to combine.

Beat the egg white until soft peaks form then fold through the oat mixture. Spoon onto the prepared tray and spread evenly. Put in the oven and cook until golden and toasted, 20–30 minutes. Leave to cool for 10 minutes before breaking apart. Store in an airtight container.

To poach the feijoas, put the prepared feijoas in a saucepan, sprinkle with the sugar and add 2 good splashes of cold water. Cover with a lid and put over medium-low heat. Poach gently until tender, shaking the saucepan a couple of times.

To serve, gently fold together the whipped cream and yoghurt. Arrange the poached feijoas in 4 shallow serving bowls or on plates and add a good spoonful of the yoghurt cream. Sprinkle with some granola. Put the chocolate on a board with the flat side uppermost. Drag the blade of a large sharp knife from the top edge, down towards the bottom edge to cut very thin shavings of chocolate. As you cut shavings, sprinkle on top of the desserts.

Tip – you will not use a lot of the chocolate, so wrap well and store for other uses. Roasted feijoas would work well in this pudding too. Change up the presentation and serve layered in individual glasses.

Kathy Paterson

Kathy Paterson is a recipe developer, food stylist and photographer. A plentiful herb garden and a trial and error vegetable garden give Kathy the starting place for her recipes along with her love of the classics with a modern twist.

www.kathypaterson.co.nz

Roasted Feijoas

Try roasting feijoas, it’s a great way to preserve them for a few days. If you are using roasted feijoas for the shortcake recipe, then finely grate the zest of the lime before juicing.

12 large feijoas, halved, flesh scooped out with a teaspoon juice of 1 lime (use a juicy lime) ½ cup sugar

Heat the oven to 200°C.

Put the feijoas in an ovenproof dish (or line a baking tray with baking paper) large enough so they more or less sit in a single layer. Drizzle over the lime juice then sprinkle over the sugar. Put in the oven and roast for 20 minutes or until the feijoas take on a golden colour and have a subtle jam or marmalade aroma. Remove from the oven and set aside to cool.

Roasted feijoas will keep in the fridge for a few days.

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