Cranberry, Almond and Chocolate Pashka

The Recipe

Serves: 4
Preparation: Overnight
Cooking Time: 15 minutes

In Russia, they make Pashka, a type of cheesecake without the base, full of fruit, nuts, cream, and cheese shaped to look like a tomb.

Growing up in a non-religious household, Easter to me was all about the basket of chocolate eggs some mysterious bunny left outside my bedroom door and eating toasted hot cross buns with a slathering of salted butter for breakfast. No religious reference of Christ rising or the pagan spring equinox festival was part of my Easter vocabulary – only food.

From breaded wreaths in Greece, hot cross buns in Australia or Simnel cake in the UK, there’s always an excuse for some Easter indulgence. In Russia, they make Pashka, a type of cheesecake without the base, full of fruit, nuts, cream, and cheese shaped to look like a tomb. Here’s my version, less tomb like with a touch of red wine and chocolate!

INGREDIENTS

Pashka

60g cranberries
4tblsp red wine
2 egg yolks
60g caster sugar
100g thickened cream
30g/2 tblsp honey
Zest of 2 small orange
4 tsp lemon juice
Pinch cinnamon powder
400g cream cheese (room temperature)
2 tsp good vanilla essence
50g dark chocolate, roughly chopped
50g toasted almonds, roughly chopped

Cranberry Sauce

80g cranberries
40g sugar
4tblsp red wine

METHOD

1. Soak cranberries in red wine for 20 minutes

2. Whisk egg yolk and sugar until creamy and pale in colour

3. Slowly heat cream until almost boiling

4. Reduce heat, mix in egg yolk slowly (don’t scramble the eggs!) Set aside to cool

5. Whisk cream cheese until smooth

6. Mix in honey, cinnamon, vanilla, honey, orange zest, and lemon juice

7. Strain cranberries, reserving the wine

8. Add the cooled egg custard mix to the cream cheese

9. Add nuts, chocolate & strained cranberries

10. Line yoghurt containers with cheesecloth and pour in mixture to the top

11. Place in fridge overnight on stand so liquid drains out

12. Cook cranberries, sugar, and wine until syrupy

13. Turn out pashkas, and decorate with cranberry jam & flowers

Pisco Sour Tart - A Cocktail Dessert

The Recipe

Serves: 6 slices
Preparation: 40 minutes
Baking Time: 30-40 minutes

Lemon meringue pie is a dessert that is believed to have originated in Europe in the late 18th century. However, the exact origins of the pie are unclear, as there are various stories and legends surrounding its creation.

Dessert. It is my favourite part of a meal and there is always room for it, even if you had the biggest meal of your life, there is always room for a little sweet.

When working in the kitchen, my focus was more on savoury dishes for the restaurant, my forever happy place was and always will be baking and making desserts. When I worked in London, there was a little Italian restaurant a few doors down and I regularly treated myself to a lemon tart and a rich shot of hot chocolate. The lemon filling was tart - more than usual but not too much which worked perfectly with the crumbly buttery pastry it sat upon. This pisco sour tart is based on a classic lemon meringue tart, which was an 18th-century invention in Europe.

This recipe combines all the essential elements to make a pisco sour - and thrown into a pie form which then led me down the rabbit hole of learning more about pisco, a clear grape brandy whose origins will forever be debated over and which country has the best; Chile or Peru.
Here is more of the history behind Pisco.

For now, it is most important we get down to it and start baking this delicious tart.

INGREDIENTS

PASTRY
200g plain flour
80g unsalted butter
80g icing sugar
A pinch of salt
1 egg

FILLING
2tbsp/30g cornflour
180g caster sugar
Zest of 2 lemons & 3 limes
240mls lime and lemon juice (strained)
130g unsalted butter
4 egg yolks
1 whole egg
180mls Pisco (you can also use gin or tequila if pisco is not readily available

MERINGUE
4 egg whites
200g caster sugar
2tsp cornflour

METHOD

Add flour, salt, and icing sugar in a mixing bowl
With the paddle attachment on your electric mixer, combine the dry ingredients
Slowly add in the butter until a fine breadcrumb consistency
Add the egg until the pastry comes together
Remove and shape into a flat disk. Wrap in cling film and refrigerate for a minimum of 30 minutes

In a medium saucepan, mix sugar, lemon zest, and cornflour together.
Add in lemon juice and heat on a low setting, whisking continuously.
Slowly add in the Pisco and when the mixture starts to bubble, turn off the heat.
Slowly add egg yolks and whole egg, continuously stirring. If the mixture has become too hot, allow it to cool slightly before adding the eggs as they will scramble!
Finally, add the butter and mix until everything is combined, allow to cool and thicken.

Whisk the egg whites until soft peaks form
Add a little bit of sugar at a time and then the cornflour until stiff peaks form.

ASSEMBLY
Preheat oven to 180’C
Remove the now firm pastry from the fridge and roll out on a well-floured surface until it is just under 1cm thick.
Line the 20cm pie tin with pastry and trim off the edges
Line the inside of the pastry case with baking paper filled with rice to weigh down the paper and blind bake the pastry for 15-20minutes.
Take out the rice and paper and bake the pie base for a further 8-10minutes.
Spread the lemon filling into the slightly cooled pie case and top with the meringue – spreading it out to the edges.
Use a fork to create peaks on the meringue which will give it a lovely texture and uneven browning once cooked.
Bake the pie in the oven for 10 – 15 minutes until the meringue on top has browned.
Allow the pie to cool for about 30 minutes at room temperature before serving.
Drizzle with Angostura bitters to finish off your Pisco sour tart.

Deep Dish Spiced Apple Pie

Whether you serve it with ice cream, custard, double cream or even American cheddar - you can't deny that apple pie is a classic. It's a comforting warm dessert that conjures all sorts of romantic notions of sitting by the fireplace, rugged up in your warm woolies, indulging in a giant slice of crumbly pastry and spiced sweet apples.....

Each country has their own version of apple pie whether it be the tarte tartin (France), a latice style pie (Dutch), a crumble topping (Sweden) or a good classic top and bottom pastry pie (USA & UK).

Original recipes, found in the 1380's, of any sort of sweet pie actually contained a rather inedible bland pastry. It was merely a casing called a 'cofyn' to hold the internals of the pie. Although sugar was available during this time, it was an expensive ingredient and not commonplace until mid 16th century when the apple pie in it's entirety could be consumed.

Depending on apples types and size of your pie will depend on cooking time. Some recipes call for a blind bake approach but you can throw everything in at the one time and allow your oven to do the magic.

The Recipe

Makes a 22cm deep dish round pie which will serve 6-8 people, depending on the slice size.

The Ingredients - Pastry
500g plain unbleached flour
140g icing sugar
zest of 1 lemon
270g cold, unsalted butter cut into cubes
2 medium egg yolks
3-4 tblsp cold water
pinch of sea salt

The Method - Pastry
Put the flour, icing sugar, lemon zest and salt into a large bowl.
Rub in the cold butter until it becomes a fine bread crumb consistency
Add in egg yolks and combine through the flour mixture
Slowly add cold water and mix until dough is combined and pliable
Shape into a flat disc, wrap in cling film and refrigerate for about 30 minutes before using.
If you have a mixer at home you can make this pastry quite easily with a paddle attachment. I personally like to use my hands because nothing beats the feeling of flour and butter in between my fingers!

The Ingredients - Filling
1kg green apples
1 tblsp lemon juice
150g brown sugar
2g/1.5 tsp ground cloves
4g/1tsp ground cinnamon
60g plain unbleached flour
egg, lightly beaten for brushing the the pastry

The Method
Pre heat oven to 180'C
While the pastry is chilling in the fridge, brush a 22cm pie dish or cake ban with butter and lightly dust with flour. Turn out the cake pan to get rid of the excess flour and place the pan into the fridge until the pastry is ready.

Core and peel the apples, slice to about 5mm thick and place in a mixing bowl
Throw the rest of the ingredients in with the apples (except the egg!!) and mix until combined. Set aside

When the pastry is chilled, cut off about three quarters and roll out onto a floured surface. Roll pastry to about 8mm thick and large enough to line the base and sides of the tin with a little excess. Press firmly into the tin. If a bit falls off, it's ok.. do a bit of a patchwork job. Leave a little bit of excess pastry as overhang on the edges.

Fill the pastry case with the apple mix

Roll the last quarter of the pastry to top of the pie, again at about 8mm thick on a floured surface and place on top to cover the pie. Trim off the excess pastry

Tuck the top layer of pstry under the bottom layer to create a nice clean lip on the rim of the pie tin. Crimp the top edges of the pie with index finger and thumb or you can use a fork.

Poke a few holes in the top of the pie to let out excess steam from the apples when they are cooking in the oven.

Bake for about 20minutes and then brush the top of the pie with egg wash. Cook for another 10-20 minutes until the apples inside are tender and the pastry is nice and golden.

Allow the pie to cool slightly before cutting into generous wedges and topping it with double cream or a good vanilla bean ice cream.

A wonderous winter warmer... Enjoy!

And you can check out the video here