June 2005

Baked Maple Glazed Orange with Summer Fruits and A Rosemary and Thyme Syrup.

This is a nice dessert that is quite light and quite low in fat. We will start with the orange. We removed all the skin and pith with a knife. We then pushed a fresh rosemary stalk through the middle. The oranges were put on a lined baking tray and drizzled with maple syrup and sprinkled with a little icing sugar. They were then put in a hot oven. After a few minutes the oranges start to caramelize and take on some colour. You can check them after just a couple of minutes and any juices and syrup that has collected on the tray can be basted over the oranges again. We cooked our oranges for about eight minutes. They were removed from the oven, basted again and then left to cool. Once cold the rosemary stalk was removed. The orange was then sliced but held in shape and a new fresh stalk and a thin roll off white chocolate. Was pushed back through the middle. At this point the oranges can be put back into the fridge for use at a later date or used straight away.

The summer fruits consisted of raspberries, blueberries, black berries and red currents. They were just gently mixed together, placed in small mounds on the plate and the a small amount of raspberry puree was spooned over the top.

The syrup is also something that can be prepared quite a long time in advance and will keep for a very long time in a sealed container in the fridge. To make it we put some rosemary and thyme in a pan. This was dry and left for a few minutes over a gentle heat. This starts to release its flavours and aromas. Then we added a couple of star aniseeds, a couple of cloves and a couple of cardamom pods. This was left for a couple more minutes. Into this we then added a good splash of water. We let that come up to the boil, reduced the heat and then simmered very gently. Into this we then put a little saffron. This not essential and can be quite easily left out. We left the water simmering until it had reduced to about half of its original volume. We removed the pan from the heat and passed all the contents through a sieve being careful to retain all the liquid. The stalks and pods etc were then discarded. The water was then placed back on the stove and brought back to the boil. Into this we added a lot of castor sugar. This dissolves into the water. The pan should then be left until again the volume has reduced by half. Remove the pan from the stove, and allow to cool. Once it is nearly cold you can pour the syrup into your storage container and add a few rosemary and thyme leaves. That is it.

When serving the dish we placed an orange on the plate. Over this we drizzled a little more maple syrup. We had the small mound of summer fruits and a small spoon of the rosemary and thyme syrup. This was served in a small Chinese soupspoon. As well as that we served a tuille biscuit.

These were made by placing two egg whites into a bowl. Into this was added 75g of sieved icing sugar and this was whisked for ten to fifteen minutes. Then 50g of sieved plain flour was added and 50g of melted unsalted butter was poured in. This was all mixed together to produce a smooth paste. This is now ready to be cooked. We wanted nice triangle shape biscuits so we made a stencil out of the lid of an old ice-cream tub. We cut out the shape that we wanted. So to cook the biscuits we put a sheet of greaseproof paper on a baking tray. We then put the stencil on top and spread a thin layer of biscuit mix over. This gave us a nice triangle. We did more on he tray but made sure we left a big enough gap between the biscuits to allow for expansion. The biscuits were cooked in a preheated oven at 180 C for eight to ten minutes or until they are golden in colour and starting to bubble on the tray. Remove the tray from the oven. If you want the biscuits to curve, remove from the tray and put over a rolling pin or the side of an empty saucepan, this needs to be done while the biscuits are still very hot and soft. Once the biscuits are cool they will go crisp.

To make the biscuits even better you can add things to the mix. How about a few poppy seeds or even a little grated orange rind?

I hope you enjoy this dish.

Paul Vincent, Head Chef.