Cookbook 3 : Have You Eaten? by Billy Law - Lemon Myrtle Delicious

On Friday 26th October 2012 I attended a Halloween Dessert Degustation Dinner, it was fantastic even though I did go into a complete sugar coma, and thats saying something as I can sugar it up with the best of them!

The menu of the night was :
Dish 1 : Petite Fours of Pineapple Marshmallows, Balsamic Vinegar Strawberry Pate De Fruit, and Black Sesame Charcoal Macarons with Pumpkin & Blue Cheese filling
Dish 2 : Deconstructed Apple Crumble with Apple & Green Tea Sorbet and Popping Candy Crumble
Dish 3 : Chocolate Parfait with Pepper-infused Cherries and Fishermans Friend Chocolate Dirt and Caramelised White Chocolate Crumbs
Dish 4 : Mexican Smoked Pulled Pork and Asian Soy & Chilli Lamb Ribs sponsered by Black Ridge Farm Tasmania
Dish 5 : Braised Balsamic Red Cabbage, Roasted Apple Puree with Walnuts, and Cauliflower Puree
Dish 6 : (Piece Le Resistance) Called "Snow White" by Billy himself, a very theatrical piece that everyone loved.  It was a very beautiful laid out dessert, covered by a white chocolate done and one served, a Raspberry Coulis was poured by Billy from an antique silver teapot and the theatrics commenced. The actual dessert was a Raspberry Mousse, Oats Crumbs, Lychee & Rosewater Gel, Pistashio Praline and Freeze-dried Raspberries

We attended the Second Dinner session, the hilarious part was that my partner and my brother & my sis-in-law(above) both jointly won first prizes tying in Best-Dressed for the night.
My partner went dressed as a Mad-Chef complete with bloodied apron and 4 blood-stained carving knives and zombie like face, and my brother and his partner went dressed as King Kong and Jane (with the huge gorilla hand encircling her waist).  And I got the Runner-Up prize as the Cupcake Whore, I was going to Katy Perry but the outfit on my USA trip was hard to find and I had to settle for a similar outfit but couldn't find the blue wig.  I originally wore it for Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party in Disneyland and in the USA you dont neccersarily go spooky, its just Fancy Dress.

You can read about the awesome adventure we went to on here : ATFT Halloween Degustation Dinner

So this was how I came across Billy Law's New Cookbook - "Have You Eaten?" My partner won it at the Degustation Dinner and then surprised me by getting Billy to autograph it to non other then Mwah!

Be sure to get your copy of "Have You Eaten"? You can buy online at :
Australia - Dymocks Books
Overseas - Amazon Books

So I thought it only fitting in my Cookbook Challenge of 2013 that I include a fabulous recipe of Billy's. Now this was a hard decision, there are so many glorious recipes that I drooled over, and I narrowed it down to two! Then flipped a coin.  I cooked a Lemon Myrtle Delicious.  Now a hidden secret of mine is I do indeed LOVE LOVE LOVE Lemon Myrtle, I have been known to purchase many a block of Lemon Myrtle Soap and even Hand Cream just to sniff at it endlessly.  If you know anyone who makes things in Lemon Myrtle be sure to let me know, I will be your best friend forever!

Lemon Myrtle Delicious

10 Lemon Myrtle Leave (or 1 tsp Lemon Myrtle Powder)
250ml Full Cream Milk
55g Unsalted Butter - room temp
110g Sugar (not a specified type)
2 Eggs - seperated
55g Self Raising Flour
1 Lemon - Finely Grated Zest & Juice
250ml Thickened (Heavy) Cream
4 Tbsp Icing Sugar

Preheat your oven to 200 (400) degrees.  Grease a 20cm (8 inch) Cast Iron or Ceramic (Corningware) dish.

Put your Lemon Myrtle leaves into the saucepan with the milk, place on a medium heat and bring it to boiling point, then remove it from the heat ad set aside for ten minutes to let the leaves infuse.  Then strain the milk into a jug, discarding the leaves. OR do what I did and use Lemon Myrtle Powder that I bought at this year's Sydney Royal Easter Show!

Place the butter and sugar into your mixer and cream it until pale and fluffy.  Next add in your egg yolks and flour and mix well until just combined.

Oh also I forgot to include the Self Raising Flour in my main piccie, oops!

Next pour the milk into the mixture and continue to beat until it forms a smooth batter.  Add in the lemon zest and juice and mix beat the mixture lightly again.

In a separate bowl whisk the egg whites until soft peaks form, then whisk a third of the egg whites into the cake batter until combined well, then fold in the remaining egg whites making sure you are very gentle so that you don't knock the air out of it.

Pour your mixture into the prepared dish, and bake for 20-25 minutes until golden on top. 

I like to service with Vanilla Ice Cream but you can also opt to serve with whipped cream for a little more decadence.  Best served whilst still hot, and dust with icing sugar for that fabulous finish. Serves 6-8.

Close second came the recipe for A Little Beet of This and a Little Beet of That (Beetroot Tortellini), so stay tuned for that one...

Be sure to follow Billy Law on his endless food adventure at A Table For Two, if you loved Billy on Masterchef you will love following his Blog too. Hopefully I may see you at his next Pop-Up Event!

Happy Australia Day with Lemon Myrtle Lamingtons!

Wishing all the Aussies a very Happy Australia Day! To celebrate I decided after seeing some of Zumbos creations online for some unusual aussie treats, that I would combine my love of lamingtons with my BIG love of an Aussie Herb Lemon Myrtle! I could smell the essence of those leaves all day looong!

Lemon Myrtle Lamingtons

Cake

190g Butter - room temp & cubed
1/2 cup Castor Sugar
3 Eggs
1 tsp Vanilla Essence or Extract
1/2 tsp Lor Ann Coconut Emulsion (optional)
1 cup Milk
2 1/2 cups Self Raising Flour

Coating

4 Egg Yolks
90ml Lemon Juice
3/4 cup Castor Sugar
8 Lemon Myrtle Leaves - ripped & bruised
100g Butter - cubed & cold
2 cups Shredded Coconut

Pre heat oven to 180 degrees.  Grease and flour a standard lamington tin.

Place butter and sugar into the mixer and cream together.  Then add in one egg at a time to the mix, beating each addition well.

Add in the vanilla and as an option some Lor Ann Coconut Emulsion, I love this stuff!

Measure out the flour and the milk and then add alternatively in 2-3 batches.  Only beat lightly at the end so as not to bruise the flour.  Once ready and you will know because it will be a nice light creamy mixture with no lumps.

Pour your mixture into the prepared tin and place it in the oven for approximately 40 minutes.

Remove and let cake go completely cold, refridgerate if you have to, I left mine overnight and glad wrapped it once cold.

Place sugar and bruised split lemon myrtle leaves in a jar to infuse (I left mine overnight).

Then sift them out and put the sugar in a medium saucepan with egg yolks, lemon juice and salt and whisk on a medium heat until it is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon. About 10 minutes. Do not stop stirring and do not allow the mixture to boil or it will become lumpy. Then remove from heat and whisk one cube of butter at a time.  Set aside and allow it to cool.

Once curd is cool, line up your process line of :
1. Cut up cake (slice off the baked edges)
2. Curd
3. Shredded Coconut
4. Empty Plate

One piece at a time, take cake cube, turn it through the curd coating all sides.  Then roll the coated cake cube through the shredded coconut.

Place the lamington piece onto the plate, I recommend the cubes to not touch so the air in the fridge gets to all sides for the coating and coconut to set.

Coat and Crumb all pieces of your cake, I got exactly 12 pieces.

Place the plate of lamingtons in the fridge for at least 30 minutes to set.

DEVOUR!!!