Fresh peppercorns
Two things drag me out of the local groove; mangoes and mud crab. We did the mud crab on full moon. Now it’s the turn of mango. And the fresh green pepper corns discovered at Damian Pike’s stall on the recent bloggers’ tour of Prahran market.
Fresh peppercorns are a real treat. In Cambodia and India I enjoyed them – thanks to French influences in Phnom Penh and Pondicherry – with peppered steaks. But few people have bothered to do much with peppercorns – or mango for that matter – for dessert.
This surprises me. But there again where mangoes grow in Australia finding good food is like trying to find… well, you get it without the usual clichés.
Not a cow pat but a mango, green pepper tarte tatin
The fact is the sweeness of mangoand the bitterness of caramel is a superb match with the fresh bite of spice in a mango. And although the quickly knocked up mango tarte tatin above looks like a cow pat, it is one of those great flavour combinations that I believe is destined to become a classic.
This Roux Brothers recipe, from Cooking for Two, uses instead of puff pastry an almond sponge base that absorbs caramel sauce and mango juice.
Ingredients
Although the recipe is for two, is was enough for four portions in my book
1 ripe mango
20 odd soft fresh green peppercorns (if these aren’t available the bottled/tinned ones will do)
Caramel
50g butter
80g caster sugar (I use caster stored with vanilla pods)
Base
1 egg
50g icing sugar
15g ground almonds
15g flour
Preheat the oven to 220C.
Caramel and mango
Peel, halve and slice the mango.
For the caramel, I add the butter and caster sugar to a small frying pan with a heat proof handle (so I can put it in the oven) and heat to caramelize. I take it until it is dark, on the edge of being burnt.
Sponge
This is a two whisk job. One smaller whisk to beat the iceing sugar and egg yolk together until smooth. T’other to whisk the egg whites – with a half teaspoon of salt – to soft peaks.
Fold the two together and sprinkle with the flour and ground almonds and fold the lot together.
Assembly
Crush the peppercorns and scatter over the caramel. Arrange the mango on top. Spread the base mixture over the base.
Place in the pan in the oven forabout 20 to 30 minutes. Cool and turnout to a plate.
The flavours of this are fresh,spicy and sweet enough without cream.
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