By: ROSEMARY LADLE
Having lived in Portugal for more than five years, multifaceted Rosemary Ladle is carving out a name for herself as a kitchen whiz. Between designing recipes and testing them, she is also a talented seamstress.
AFTER LAST week’s pasta dish I thought it would be a nice idea to follow up with an Italian inspired dessert.
As an alternative to the traditional coffee and cocoa confection, I decided to try my hand at something a little less conventional. With its custard and fruit base and a ‘splash’ of good liqueur, passion fruit tiramisu has a touch of the trifle about it but on a truly superior level.
Enjoy.
Ingredients
• 1 tin (approx 350-400g) ready made custard
• 250g mascarpone cheese
• 1 large egg white
• 1 tablespoon icing sugar
• Pulp of five passion fruit
• Juice and finely grated zest of one lime
• 200ml orange juice
• 50ml orange liqueur (Grand Marnier, Cointreau or Triple sec)
• 25g caster sugar
• 250g packet Savoiardi (sponge fingers)
To serve
Pulp of five more passion fruit.
Method
1. In a medium bowl, beat the custard, mascarpone, passion fruit pulp and lime zest to combine. Set to one side.
2. In a separate bowl whisk the egg white and one tablespoon of icing sugar until ‘peaks’ form.
3. Gently ‘cut’ and ‘fold’ the egg white into the custard mix.
4. Combine the orange and lime juice, liqueur and sugar in a shallow dish and stir until the sugar has dissolved.
5. Dip half of the Savoiardi, one at a time, into the juice and liqueur mix to dampen.
6. Arrange the Savoiardi to cover the base of a 20-22cm square serving dish.
7. Spread half of the custard mix over the sponge fingers.
8. Repeat a second layer with the remaining sponges and custard.
9. Cover and chill overnight.
10. Before serving, spread the pulp of 5 passion fruit evenly over the surface to decorate.
Note: As an alternative to, or instead of using pre-made custard and whisked egg white, why not substitute these for 300ml double cream whipped with 50g of icing sugar and then folded into the cheese and fruit.
