Panforte

Every year at around this time my family and I head up to the mid north coast for a week or two. I am probably too old to still be going on family holidays but I love it too much to give it up just yet. Boomerang Beach, a 20 minute drive from Foster, will always be my favourite beach in the world. It is the perfect length for a mildly strenuous jog and in a gentle nor-easter there is no place better to be. Swimming conditions this year were superb; gentle surf and warm water. We were also lucky with the weather, considering the all-round abysmal summer it has been, and had plenty of sunny days. For the last few years I have made a couple of panforte to take away with us. They travel well and improve with age, making them the perfect holiday treat. Serve a thin(ish) slice with coffee and savour slowly. Heaven. 

Ingredients:

140g/1 cup hazelnuts

310g/2 cups blanched almonds (see below)

320g/2 cups unsalted macadamia nuts

120g unsalted raw pistachio nuts (if available, otherwise make up the wight with the other nuts)

200g dried figs or apricots, thinly sliced

300g/2 cups good quality dark chocolate, chopped

600g honey

115g raw or white caster sugar

185g plain flour

2 tblsp unsweetened dutch cocoa powder

2 tsp ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp fresh grated nutmeg

Method:

Toast the nuts, keeping each type separate, on baking paper lined trays in a hot oven to a pale golden. Rub the hot hazelnuts in a clean cloth to remove the skins (or as much as will come off). Combine the hot nuts and sliced figs. Melt the chocolate in a heatproof bowl over a pot of simmering water. 

In a heavy based saucepan, gently heat the honey and sugar until the sugar dissolves. Bring to the boil and remove from the heat. Add the melted chocolate and beat well using a wooden spoon. 

Stir the flour, cocoa and spices into the nut and flour mixture, stir to mix, then add the chocolate and honey syrup. Do this fairly quickly as the mixture will be quite stiff. Distribute between the two tins, smoothing the top. 

Bake for 45-50 minutes. The cake should be firm but still quite glossy looking. It is almost better a little undercooked, where only the edges dry out a little and the centre is soft and chewy. 

From "Crave: A Passion for Chocolate", Maureen McKeon    

Blanched Almonds

Blanched (skinned) almonds are expensive, far more so than regular almonds. I had no idea that you could skin them yourself, until the Greek lady at the vegetable shop enlightened me. The process is simple but a little time consuming. All you need to do is place the required number of almonds into a heat proof bowl and cover with boiling water. Leave for 3-4 minutes, drain and dry with a tea towl. Leave to cool slightly and then slip of the skins. Most will come off easily but there will be a few stubborn ones that won't budge. Once peeled, spread them out onto an oven tray and dry out in a hot oven for 8 minutes or so. 

Plum Jam

The steady rain we've had this summer over much of NSW has at least meant that everything is green and growing like crazy. My mum managed to pick these little plums before the birds got to them. They are so juicy that they are bursting at the seams. A little tart, however, they are perfect for making jam. They clung to their stones pretty tight but i got a reasonable amount of flesh, about 650g, from a kilo bag. It is important to reserve the stones, tie them up in a muslin bag and add them to the pot for pectin. The jam set perfectly, is sweet but retains a nice touch of tartness. It is also a beautiful colour. Be careful not to over boil. I noticed that the syrup went a slightly darker colour just as it reached boiling point. Keep a saucer in the freezer and every so often drip a teaspoon full of syrup onto it, allow it to cool and push it gently with the back of a spoon. At first it will run freely, but as it reaches setting point it will thicken up and offer a little resistance to the spoon. 

Ingredients:

650g plums, destoned (stones reserved and tied in a muslin bag)

300g water (around half the weight of the fruit)

400g raw sugar (more or less to taste)

Method:

Pre-heat the oven to 50*C. Wash 3 or so jam jars, rinse with boiling water, place on a tea-towl lined tray and into the oven to dry. Place the sugar in a heat proof bowl and into the oven to warm up. Place the fruit, water and stones in a pot and simmer until the fruit and skins are soft. Remove from the heat. Stir in the sugar. Return to a high heat and boiling, testing every so often, until boiling point is reached. Remove from the heat, remove the bag of stones and ladle into jam jars.