William Meppem
“The caramel is a modern take on preserving, the hot caramel capturing the fruit’s flavour, like a refined jam,” says Saint Peter chef Julie Niland. “I’ve kept it for up to 10 months and it’s still as fragrant and intensely flavoured as on day one. Granny Smith apples, plums, pineapple, even roasted Jerusalem artichokes, can all be used.”
Ingredients
Peach-caramel cream
Method
Main
1.Preheat oven to 200C. Butter a 20cm-square cake tin and line it with baking paper. Whisk eggwhite in an electric mixer on high speed until frothy, then add caster sugar 1 tbsp at a time and whisk continuously until soft peaks form. Reduce speed to low, whisk in icing sugar, rice flour, vinegar and vanilla seeds. Spoon meringue into prepared tin and sprinkle with flaked almonds. Reduce oven temperature to 145C and bake meringue until crisp and dry (1 hour 45 minutes). Turn off oven and leave meringue to cool completely in oven (3-4 hours).
2.For peach-caramel cream, process peaches in a blender until smooth. Heat a frying pan over medium heat. Scatter a third of the sugar evenly in pan and cook, swirling pan and gradually adding remaining sugar as it melts, then stir gently until dark caramel (4-5 minutes). Whisk in peach purée (be careful, hot caramel may spit). Remove from heat, cool, then refrigerate. Just before serving, place a spoonful of caramel in each serving bowl, and gently fold the remainder through the cream to form a ripple effect.
3.Divide meringue into 8-10 large portions (we’ve cut it into 8cm squares) and serve with a generous scoop of caramel-cream.
Drink Suggestion: Late-harvest riesling from the Barossa Valley, SA. Drink suggestion by Wimmy Winkler
Notes
