Hi folks, I was out in my garden today and noticed that I had a lot of passion fruits growing on the vine that every year envelops part of our hedge. Laura had requested I give the hedge a trim and I am holding off until all the flowers are gone, because they are beautiful.
It struck me that I have never eaten a passion fruit whole. I've only ever had either the juice or the flavour of it in something such as a pie or ice cream. I would not know how to go about eating one or preparing one. So let's find out together shall we?
Firstly, it seems there are lots of different varieties, as shown in this excellent article from
YouGrowGirl.com.
Here are what mine look like right now...
How to eat whole?
This guy knows.
Recipes?
Here's a gorgeous one from Nigel Slater.
Passion Fruit Cheesecake
Ingredients
for the crumb base
120 grams butter
400 grams ginger biscuits
for the filling
250 grams mascarpone cheese
75 grams icing sugar
1 vanilla pod
400 ml creme fraîche
300 ml double cream
4 passionfruit (ripe and wrinkled)
Method
Melt the butter in a small pan.
Crush the biscuits to fine crumbs and stir them into the melted butter. Tip them into a 22cm loose bottomed cake tin and smooth them flat. Refrigerate for an hour or so until firm. You can speed the process up by putting them in the freezer if you wish.
Put the mascarpone and icing sugar in the bowl of a food mixer and beat smooth.
Scrape out the seeds from the vanilla pod and stir them into the mascarpone along with the creme fraîche.
Whip the cream until it will stand in soft folds, then stir it gently into the mascarpone mixture.
Scrape the mixture into the cake tin and cover with cling film. Leave to chill for a good hour.
To serve, remove the cake from the tin, cut the passion fruits in half and squeeze the seeds and juice over the cheesecake.
Here'a good one for passionfruit flummery. I've told you about flummery before,
back in 2010.
Passionfruit Flummery
Ingredients
1 tablespoon gelatine
1 cup water
2 tablespoons plain flour
0.75 cup sugar
0.50 cup orange juice
2 tablespoons lemon juice
6 passion fruit
2 egg white
1 cup whipped cream
Use imperial measurements
Method
Method
Sprinkle the gelatine over a 1/4 cup of the water, dissolve over hot water.
Blend the flour with a little of the remaining water and combine in a pan with remaining water and sugar.
Stir over heat until the mixture boils and thickens and remove from the heat and cool slightly.
Stir in the dissolved gelatine. orenage and lemon juice and mix well.
Pour the mixture into a large mixer bowl and beat on low speed until just beginning to thicken and then beat on medium speed until the mixture is thick and very foamy.
Stir in the passionfruit pulp and fold in firmly beaten egg whites.
Pour mixture into serving dish or individual dishes and refrigerate until set.
Serve with piped cream if desired.
But what about its uses in main dishes and starters?
Here's a goodie from dear old Martha Stewart.
Salmon with Warm Passion-Fruit Vinaigrette
INGREDIENTS
4 fresh passion fruits
Four 6-ounce skinless salmon fillets
Salt and freshly ground pepper
2 teaspoons olive oil
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
3 tablespoons minced shallot (1 large)
2 tablespoons grainy mustard
1 teaspoon honey
2 teaspoons white-wine vinegar
1/4 cup dry white wine
4 cups mixed greens, such as mesclun and purslane
DIRECTIONS
Halve each passion fruit, scrape flesh into a strainer, and push through with a rubber spatula to yield 3 tablespoons juice. Set aside.
Season salmon with salt and pepper. Heat oil in a nonstick skillet over medium-high heat; add salmon and cook about 4 minutes per side, until just cooked through. Transfer to a plate; cover with foil.
Return skillet to low heat; add 1/2 tablespoon butter and shallots; cook, stirring, until golden, 1 to 2 minutes. Add reserved juice, mustard, honey, vinegar, and wine. Raise heat to high; cook until thickened, 1 to 2 minutes. Remove from heat; swirl in remaining butter.
Divide greens and sauteed spring vegetables among plates; place salmon on top and drizzle sauce over salmon.
SOURCE
Martha Stewart Living, June 1996
And finally here's a starter from Atul Kochhar.
Squid salad with passion fruit dressing
Ingredients
200ml/7¼fl oz milk
150g/5½oz rice flour
500g/1lb 1½oz squid bodies, cleaned and sliced into rings
sunflower oil, for deep frying
100ml/5¼fl oz passion fruit purée
1 tsp caster sugar
70ml/2½fl oz light olive oil
4 handfuls mixed leaf salad
1 passion fruit, pulp and seeds scooped out with a spoon, to serve
Preparation method
Pour the milk into a bowl. Sprinkle the rice flour onto a plate. Dip the squid rings first into the milk and shake off any excess. Dredge the squid rings in the rice flour until completely coated.
Heat the oil in a deep heavy-based frying pan until a breadcrumb sizzles and turns brown when dropped into it. (CAUTION: hot oil can be dangerous. Do not leave unattended.) Add the floured squid rings to the hot oil in batches and fry for two minutes, or until crisp and golden brown. Remove from the pan using a slotted spoon and set aside to drain on kitchen paper. Keep warm.
Repeat the process with the remaining squid rings.
For the dressing, in a bowl, mix together the passion fruit purée, sugar and light olive oil. Pour a little of the salad dressing over the salad leaves and mix to coat the leaves.
To serve, divide the passion fruit salad equally among four serving plates. Place the squid rings on top. Garnish with the passion fruit pulp and seeds.
Well, I guess I'll have to give one of these a go when I harvest those fruits. Watch this space.
Kooshti sante!
