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.