Chef's Recipes

Sweet nightingale persimmons with navel orange bavarois à la Mary Ellen

Australian Gourmet Traveller recipe for sweet nightingale persimmons with navel orange bavarois à la Mary Ellen by Hugh Wennerbom and Mary Ellen Hudson.

By Hugh Wennerbom & Mary Ellen Hudson
  • 15 mins preparation
  • 15 mins cooking plus setting, cooling
  • Serves 8
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Sweet nightingale persimmons with navel orange bavarois à la Mary Ellen
Nightingale persimmons are a delicate treat. The caramelised tops are best achieved with the aid of a blowtorch so that the persimmon remains uncooked. The bavarois is a slight deviation from Stephanie Alexander's recipe.

Ingredients

  • 4 nightingale persimmons
  • 80 ml vodka
  • 110 gm (½ cup) caster sugar
Navel orange bavarois à la Mary Ellen
  • 200 ml organic milk
  • 125 gm caster sugar
  • 4 egg yolks
  • 1 gelatine leaf (titanium strength), softened in cold water for 5 minutes
  • 60 ml (¼ cup) strained navel orange juice, 30ml pulp reserved
  • 250 ml (1 cup) organic cream, whisked to soft peaks

Method

Main
  • 1
    For navel orange bavarois à la Mary Ellen, warm milk and sugar in a saucepan over medium heat until sugar dissolves (1-2 minutes). Lightly whisk yolks in a heatproof bowl, then slowly whisk milk into yolks, return to saucepan and stir continuously over low-medium heat until mixture thickly coats the back of spoon (8-10 minutes). Transfer to an electric mixer, squeeze moisture out of gelatine, add to milk mixture, stir to dissolve, then beat mixture until cold (20-25 minutes). Add orange juice and reserved pulp, fold in cream and pour mixture into a 1 litre-capacity bowl and refrigerate until set (3-4 hours).
  • 2
    Cut persimmons in half. Place vodka in a shallow bowl and caster sugar on a plate. Dip persimmons cut-side down into vodka and press into sugar. Caramelise tops with a blowtorch until sugar browns and just starts to smoke (20-30 seconds). Dust with another layer of sugar and repeat (you don’t want to cook the persimmon – just caramelise the sugar). Serve with a quenelle of bavarois.

Notes

Drink Suggestion: Young Rutherglen tokay. Drink suggestion by Max Allen

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  • undefined: Hugh Wennerbom & Mary Ellen Hudson