'Bush Tomato' aka desert raisin aka yakajirri (Solanum Centrale)

I am not a bush foods expert. I know very little about bush foods.. I have cooked with bush foods a few times (bush coconut, bush potato, bush banana, wattleseed) and eaten a bit of flesh (witchetty grubs, goanna, emu, bush turkey, kangaroo, turtle - under sufferance) and raw foods (bush apple, bush banana, bush tomato, yakajirri...) I have even purchased Peter Latz's 'Bushfires & Bushtucker', and am wondering why I didn't make better use of my 7 years in Yuendumu... possibly preoccupied with Indigenous media matters..
But now I am starting to take a culinary interest.. wondering what bush foods could be used in cooking or replace other ingredients....
I am pondering the yakajirri.. known as the 'Bush Tomato' by bush foods industry pundits, but by locals in Alice Springs and beyond by a miriad of names: desert raisin, bush sultana, yakajirri... etc.. I have read that this fruit, is one of the most important foods for Aboriginal people in Central Australia. Looking not unlike a sultana, its flavours are typical of the complexity of Australian bush foods.. It's sweet and bitter with an amazing after taste..
I tasted a roasted parsnip and bush tomato soup at Olive Pink last year.. and it was a wonderful homage to this food.
You also find bush tomato in condiments like: bush tomato chutney, bush tomato dip, there's a Sticky Bush Tomato Balsamic..

I'm about to try adapt some recipes for this ingredient. I am wanting a recipe that celebrates the bitterness and sweetness of this fruit, and I am tending towards Italian, as usual. Not just because I know and love Italian cooking, but because the Italians celebrate bitterness... radiccio, chinotto... I'm sure there's more..
So, my intention is to try out Yakajirrin in panneforte and a Roman ricotta cheesecake. Right now, I'm soaking some in a sugar and pomegranate syrup to see what happens to the bitterness... Watch this space for more reports...

Let's get it right:
What is sold in shops as Bush Tomato is not the bush tomato I've eaten on the side of the road around Yuendumu back roads. This was a fresh green fruit (Solanum chippendalei), locally known as a bush tomato, in contrast to the 'Bush Tomato/aka/Desert Raisin/Yakajirri I have written about... But, it seems, for the sake of consistency one name must dominate... and so we have Bush Tomato. A point of interest I discovered today, is that the Solanum chippenadei is now officially called the Tanami Apple.

Orecchiette & Broccoli

This is a new favourite of mine which I've been working for at least the last 12 months. A couple of tips.. only cook this if you have good (preferably organic) broccoli and the real deal Orecchiette (little ears or ear lobes), or you make your own.
Ingredients
150- 250 gms Orecchiette (ear lobe pasta)
Salted water
Broccoli (around 350 to 500 gms)
2-3 cloves garlic, crushed
Anchovies (small tin, roughly chopped)
Red Chillis
2-3 tablespoons Olive Oil (Extra Virgin)
Parsley (flat leaf)
Black pepper
Parmesan to serve

Method

1. Bring salted to water to boil in large pot and add orecchiette.
2. The next step depends on how you like to eat your pasta (al dente) and you like to eat your broccoli. Basically you add the broccoli just at the end of cooking your pasta. They both need to be cooked to your taste at the same time.
3. Strain.
4. At the same time.....
5. Heat 2- 3 tablespoons of Olive Oil in large pan or pot on a low heat.
6. Add crushed garlic (2-3 cloves) and anchovies and continue to cook over low heat.
7. Add chopped chillies.
8. When pasta and broccoli are cooked add to pan, with black pepper and roughly chopped parsley.
9. Serve with parmesan.

For those with fussy children who refuse to eat wonderful things such as chillis or anchovies.. take a portion size out of the boiled pasta/broccoli and add butter, and serve with parmesan. This seems to do the trick

Slow cooked Borlotti Beans with Nutmeg

The ultimate in slow food cooking, this recipe needs to be started at least a day and a half ahead of eating it.
Ingredients
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1 cup dried borlotti beans
6 rashes of prosciutto, roughly cut
4 cloves of garlic
freshly grated nutmeg
bay leaves
Salt or grated parmesan to taste

Special Utensils
A ceramic or cast iron enamel pot with a good fitting lid.

Method
1. Soak borlotti beans in cold water overnight or for at least 8 hours. Drain.
2. Set oven to 150 degrees celsius.
3. Place oil in bottom of pot.
4. Crush whole garlic with the back of a knife and put in bottom of pot (still whole or in large chunks), followed by strips of prosciutto.
5. Grate at least a teaspoon of nutmeg on the bottom.
6. Place beans on top and bay leaves.
7. Pour enough cold water to come just above the beans.
8. Place pot in oven and cook for around 6 hours. Let beans stay in oven until the oven is completely cool. Wait at least another 12 hours before eating, although if you're really hungry you can eat them straight away.

Salt to your taste, or use parmesan cheese. Great with fresh chunky bread or as an accompaniment to meat or polenta type dishes.

Persian Love Cake Adapted...

As I said in my earlier June posting on 'Nutmeg', this recipe has been adapted from a recipe in the September 2008 issue of the Australian magazine, Gourmet Traveller. I tried the original, which to my taste was way too sweet. I then remembered a Greek style baked tart my mother would make with honey, eggs, yoghurt and of course nutmeg. I adapted the original recipe, and I reckon it's heaps better.. but that's me commenting on my own recipe.. and I'm biased. Enjoy.. both the cooking and the eating.
Ingredients
360 gm (3 cups) almond meal
110 gm (1/2 cup) brown sugar
1/2 cup honey
120 gm unsalted butter, softened
2 eggs, lightly beaten
400 gm Greek-style yoghurt
1 tbsp freshly grated nutmeg
1/4 to 1/3 cup pistachio, coarsely chopped

Method
1. Heat over to around 180 degrees celcius. Butter a 26 cm springform cake tin, and line it with baking paper.
2. Combine almonds, sugar and butter and rub together. Spoon half the mixture in tin.
3. Mix together, egg, yoghurt, honey and nutmeg with a spoon whisk. Gradually add to dry mixture and whisk gently until smooth.
4. Pour mixture into cake tine, and sprinkle pistachio nuts around the edge.

5. Bake in oven for between 35 and 40 minutes and cool completely in pan before serving.

Lemon Curd

An old favourite that I use as the filling for lemon meringue pie or lemon tartlets. An indulgent treat by the spoonful.
Ingredients
100 gm unsalted butter, chopped
200 gm castor sugar
2 lemons (juice and rind)
4 egg yolks, beaten

Special utensils
A double boiler, or bowl that can sit over a pot of boiling water without touching the water.

Method
Put butter and sugar in a stainless steel bowl and place over a pot of boiling water. Mix with a wood spoon until butter has melted.
Stir in lemon rind, lemon juice and egg yolks.
Continue to stir until mixture thickens enough to coat the back of a wooden spoon. (Around 20 minutes).
When thick pour immediately into a clean bowl or jar.

Tips
My mother always told me that if perchance you curdle the mixture, quickly pour a tablespoon of boiling water into the mixture. I've done this heaps of times and it generally works.

Lemon Tart

So easy, you might wonder what all the fuss is about. The following is adapted from the 40th birthday issue of Gourmet Traveller.
Ingredients
5 eggs
200ml double cream (not the stuff with thickener in it)
juice and finely grated rind of 3 lemons

Icing sugar for dusting
(Short crust pastry... recipe under Rhubarb.. plus egg for pastry)


Extra special utensils
blowtorch....

Method
1. Make a shortcrust pastry as per Rhubarb upside down cake and line a buttered 22cm round tart tin with removable base (quiche tin). Bake the pastry blind in the oven for 20 minutes (ie. put baking paper inside pastry and weights inside the baking paper such as baking beans, beans or rice. Remove paper and rice or beans, brush the pastry with egg, and bake it for 5 minutes more until browned.
2. Break (5) eggs into bowl, and sugar and whisk until well combined. Add cream, strained lemon juice and lemon rind and mix well. Pour into tart shell and bake for 15 minutes at 150 degrees celsius.
3. Allow to cool to room temperature and dust heavily with icing sugar or castor sugar. Caramelise top with blowtorch.

Serve with fresh cream.

Lemon Delicious

This recipe is word-for-word lifted from the May 2004 edition of Gourmet Travellers - one of those rare editions that is full of many good recipes.. rather than the one..
"Ingredients:
2 eggs, separated
220 gm (1 cup) caster sugar
1 tablespoon plain flour, sifted
2 tablespoons self-raising flour, sifted
Finely grated rind of 2 lemons
1/2 cup lemon juice
1 cup milk
20gm unsalted butter
Icing sugar and thick cream, to serve

Method
Using a wooden spoon, beat egg yolks and two-thirds of the sugar until pale, then stir in the flours and combine well. Add lemon rind, juice, milk and melted butter and combine well. In a separate bowl, whisk egg whites until soft peaks form, gradually add remaining sugar and whisk until stiff peaks form. Fold egg whites into lemon mixture, in two batches, until just combined. Pour into a greased 1 litre ovenproof dish and place in a deep roasting pan, then pour in enough boiling water to come halfway up side of dish and bake at 180 degrees celcius for 45 minutes or until puffed and golden. Dust with icing sugar and serve with thick cream passed separately."
Enjoy.