passionfruit crème
brûlée
This has been a recipe in the making for at least 20 years…close but never quite as good as I wanted it to be. Gone are the days in the 80s when in February at the end of the local season, we could buy boxes of 80 fresh passionfruit for just $4.00. Fresh passionfruit freezes well, and ten boxes pulped and packed in recipe weights would get us through the year. Our most popular passionfruit dishes were the Passionfruit Butter Crepes, definitely the Passionfruit Floating Islands and Passionfruit Ice Cream. My many attempts at Passionfruit Brûlée never made it onto the menu. A Bavarian, a Mango, Lime and Passionfruit Bavarian and a few others, but never a brûlée.
What happened to the local passionfruit market is hard to work out but, for some inexplicable reason we are now paying the same price as Europe which is nuts. So, there have had to be compromises and Boiron Seedless Passionfruit Purée embellished with some fresh passionfruit pulp has become our go to. Attempts to intensify the Boiron passionfruit by reducing it, even using the low heat of induction did not work. The passionfruit purée scorches easily, so this week, in desperation because using fresh passionfruit makes the cost prohibitive, even probably for a three Michelin starred restaurant. I decided to try to use a microwave….what did I have to lose, well 400g of Boiron seedless passionfruit and some time. In the scheme of years of trying to perfect the brûlée it seemed small.
Posted 21 December, 2020
a few
tips
Reducing the Boiron Seedless Passionfruit Purée
- Bring the purée from the freezer and set a timer for 10 minutes. When the timer goes invert the frozen purée onto a dessert board and using a sharp cook’s knife cutting vertically, cut off pieces until you have 400g
- A 1L Pyrex measuring jug is perfect….defrost the passionfruit purée in the microwave and then microwave on high for successive 2-minute intervals until it is reduced to 200ml/g…..always do the intervals without delay. Ours took a total of 8 minutes.
500g rich/pure pouring cream – we use Jersey Fresh (Norwood Foodland) or Tweedvale
200-220g reduced Boiron Seedless Passionfruit Purée
5 x 61g eggs – yolks only [room temperature]
2 x 61g whole eggs [room temperature]
150g caster sugar
finely powdered caster sugar or pure icing sugar
6 x 120 mm soufflé dishes
sugar torch
Before you start cover the bottom of a deep baking dish with paper towel and position the six ramekins.
Pictured above a signature dish from Mistress Augustine’s Restaurant Passionfruit Floating Islands…click on the image to go to the recipe.
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everyone loves passionfruit
Crème Brûlée
pre heat oven to 140°C
Weigh the cream into a microwave safe bowl. Put the yolks and whole eggs into a jug and whisk thoroughly with a Bamix [stick mixer] and when it starts to foam add the sugar and continue to whisk until it forms ribbons. Brin the cream to the boil and whisk in, bring the passionfruit purée to the boil and whisk in.
IMMEDIATELY …divide between the ramekins, place the tray in the oven [do not close the door]. Run your hot water tap to its hottest and add hot water to 2/3 the height of the soufflé dishes. Close the oven door and set a timer for 20 minutes. When the timer goes check they should have about a twenty-cent piece wobble. Give them another 5 minutes which should reduce that wobble to a ten-cent piece. Turn off the oven, stuff the door with a tea towel so that there is a small air vent and set a timer for an hour.
Cover individually with plastic food wrap and refrigerate overnight.
to serve – must be last minute
Working two at a time put about a dessert spoon of powdered sugar onto the top of the brûlée and roll it around until it is evenly coated. Tip out any excess. Torch until caramelised and repeat the process with the remaining brûlées. If you have more than six, use two torches and have an assistant some warmth for the torching is important to the texture when serving.
We served with pitted cherries and passionfruit but make passionfruit mandatory to the accompaniment and any seasonal ripe berries or stone fruit will be perfect.