Why not treat yourself to this amazing dish by Matt Moran, top Australian chef and owner of internationally renowned restaurant Aria every now and again? Look on the bright side, if you cook it yourself the guilt of consuming such a scrumptious treat with be replaced with the satisfaction of successfully creating such an amazing dish!

Serves 6

INGREDIENTS

175gm caster sugar

50gm unsalted butter

6 bananas

2 sheets frozen puff pastry

Nutmeg ice-cream

500ml (2 cups) milk

1 tsp ground nutmeg

125gm egg yolks, from 7-8 eggs

110gm (1/2 cup) caster sugar

125ml (1/2 cup) pouring cup

METHOD

First, make the nutmeg ice-cream. Bring the milk and nutmeg to a simmer in a small saucepan, then turn off the heat and leave to infuse for 30 minutes.

Whisk the egg yolks and sugar in a bowl until thick and place, then stir into the milk.

Cook the custard over low heat, stirring constantly, until it is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon.

Strain the custard into a bowl sitting in a larger bowl full of ice, so that it cooks rapidly.

Stir in the cream, then churn an ice-cream machine according to the manufacturer’s instructions.

Preheat the oven to 180C.

Make the caramel base for the tarts by combining the sugar and 50ml of water in a small heavy-based saucepan over high heat.

Cook the syrup until it is golden, then remove the pan from the heat and whisk in the butter.

Divide the caramel among 6 tarte Tatin pans.

Cut the bananas into 5mm slice and place them on top of the caramel, arranging the slice in a single, slightly overlapping layer.

Cut out 6 puff pastry rounds to fit the tarte Tatin pans and place one in each pan, tucking the edges in, then bake for 20 minutes or until golden.

Gently turn out each warm tarte Tatin by turning the pan upside-down and tapping the bottom; it should slide out.

Place a tart in the centre of each plate, top with a scoop of nutmeg ice-cream and serve immediately.

This dish by Curtis Stone, one of Australian top chef’s, is perfect for entertaining. Have your friends over and impress them with your fabulous (new..!) cooking skills, or why not take along to the next weekend BBQ.

INGREDIENTS

¾ cup of plain flour

¼ cup of cold butter, diced

Pinch of salt

3 tablespoons of ice cold water

1 shallot, roughly diced

1 cup assorted wild mushrooms, trimmed and cut into bite size pieces

2 cups tightly packed baby spinach

2 large eggs

½ cup cream

50g gruyere cheese, grated

METHOD

Preheat oven to 100C

In a food processor place flour, butter and salt and process until the mixture resembles bread crumbs

Add water and continue to process until dough forms a ball

Turn off processor and remove dough

Cut dough into four pieces, cling wrap and refrigerate for ½ an hour – 1 hour

Remove dough from refrigerator and place on lightly floured work surface using a rolling pin roll each ball to 0.5 cm thick

Grease individual tart tins with a little butter and line tins with pastry.

Place grease proof paper over pastry and weigh the paper down with beans or rice.

Place tart tins on a sheet tray and bake in the oven for 15 minutes.

Remove the weights (i.e. beans or rice) and paper and cook for further 10-15 minutes.

Place a medium sized sauté pan over a medium to high heat and drizzle a little olive oil and add shallots and mushrooms and sauté for 1-2 minutes.

Add spinach and continue to sauté for further 1-2 minutes.

Once spinach has wilted and mushrooms are soft remove from heat and allow to cool.

Divide spinach, mushrooms, and cheese between the tarts.

In a separate bowl combine eggs and cream and whisk gently with a fork.

Pour over egg and cream mixture (be careful not to overfill) and return tray to oven.

Bake for 15-20 minutes or until just set.

When removing tarts from oven allow to cool for 5 minutes before unmolding.

Cut into quarters and arrange on a serving dish.

Help fight off the depressing fact that Summer is soon coming to an end by concocting this simple dish perfect for a balmy Summer night. With world famous chef Jamie Oliver at the reins, this recipe is sure to please!

Serves 4

INGREDIENTS

• 20 large, headless tiger prawns
• 1 ripe mango, peeled
• 2 handfuls of bean sprouts
• 3 small cucumbers, chopped
• A small bunch of fresh coriander, leaves picked
• 1 red pepper, deseeded and cut into thin strips
• A bunch of spring onions, chopped
• Sea salt
• A small handful of sesame seeds
• Extra virgin olive oil for the marinade

FOR THE MARINADE

• A thumb-sized piece of fresh ginger , peeled and grated
• A small bunch of fresh coriander, leaves picked and chopped
• 1 fresh red chilli, deseeded and chopped
• 4 tablespoons fresh lime juice
• 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 1 tablespoon sesame oil
• 1 tablespoon soy sauce
• A good pinch of brown sugar
• 1 clove of garlic, peeled and crushed

METHOD

Get yourself four wooden skewers and slide 5 peeled prawns on to each one. For the marinade, mix together the marinade ingredients. Drizzle half the marinade over the prawns.

For the salad, destone the mango and cut it into thin strips. Mix with the other half of the marinade, the bean sprouts, cucumber, coriander, pepper, spring onions and some sea salt.

Fry the sesame seeds in a large, dry frying pan until golden. Remove and set aside. Fry the prawns over a high heat for 2 minutes until cooked through.

Divide the salad over four plates. Place a prawn skewer on top of each plate, sprinkle with sesame seeds and drizzle with a little olive oil.

The Cook and The Chef aka Maggie Beer and Simon Bryant are an odd duo that somehow balance each others quirks and spark of each other, with witty banter and colourful dialogue.

Their recipes are always unusual and delicious. like this one below, a delicious….

Pumpkin and Pistachio cake

INGREDIENTS

Pumpkin Cake 
3 eggs, yolks and whites separated
40g castor sugar
75g self raising flour
100ml sour cream
100ml extra virgin olive oil (evoo)
250g pumpkin
1 tablespoon evoo
¼ cup Verjuice to deglaze

Pistachio Brittle
¼ cup castor sugar
¼ cup water
¼ cup pistachio (new season if you can get them)

Verjuice Syrup
½ cup verjuice
¼ cup sugar
Crème fraiche

Method

Cake
Cut the pumpkin and roast with evoo at 180C for 20-30 minutes. 
Deglaze with verjuice. Mash.

Beat the egg yolks with 2/3’s the sugar until really pale.
With a metal spoon, gently fold in the, sifted flour, olive oil, pumpkin mash and sour cream until well combined.
In a separate clean bowl, whip the egg whites with the remaining sugar to a medium peak. 
Add a 1/3 of the beaten egg whites to the egg yolk mixture and mix until well combined. Add the remaining egg whites and gently fold into the mixture. 
Line a 20cm square cake tin with greased baking powder, and pour the mixture into this and bake at 180C for 35- 40 minutes. 

Pistachio Brittle
Make caramel with sugar and water till deep golden brown. Add peeled pistachios immediately.
Turn out onto tray greased with a little olive oil
Allow to cool. 
Break up a little then put into mortar and pestle and crush.

Boil verjuice and sugar to a syrup to a rich burnish. 
Pour over warm cake immediately out of oven and then sprinkle brittle over.

Serve warm with crème fraiche.

ABC1 Wednesday night 6:30pm