27th July 2008
Passionfruit is a very elegant fruit to eat. Carefully cut in half and balanced, to not loose a single drop of the tart juice, you wiggle the seeds free from the clutches of the purple skin and gingerly dip in the teaspoon to savour the pulpy flesh, an upturned little finger to complete the picture.
Eating them straight from the half orb is a delicacy at some times of the year and a requirement in heavy fruiting season, yet were would the humble pavlova be without passionfruit, or what about the perfect icing for the Aussie vanilla slice – it’s essential.
With a wide selection of varieties and their cross breeds available, it’s still the basic black with its dried wrinkly skin when ripe, that is the most popular. But people, most likely, have not tried the large panama or the even larger and squint-your-eyes-tart yellow varieties that are seasonally and regionally available.
The traditional Aussie black variety that you can’t kill from your backyard fence, is ripe and perfect when it looks like it should be thrown away; deeply wrinkled and even perhaps with a dried out skin, the flesh is heavy with pulp coated seeds. The larger purple skinned panama looks like a smooth botoxed version in comparison, but still look for heavy fruit with smooth fresh skin and be intrigued by the extra fragrance and orange tint inside. The even larger yellows are rarely seen in perfect shape in our markets, yet should you like your fruit sharp and tart, this one is for you, perhaps a plant for the other fence? Other varieties such as the yellow banana shaped passionfruit and the red skinned are also available for home enthusiasts. With intriguing extraterrestrial looking flowers they also make a lush cover, no matter the variety.
My Mums Impossible Pie with a passionfruit twist
This pie really is impossible. Just mix all the ingredients together and it impossibly creates a base, custard like centre, and a chewy coconut top. Being one of the first family sweets I ever cooked I have tweaked it numerous times over the years, chocolate, berries and banana… but the coconut crust is an absolute winner with a passionfruit tang. No matter the permeation, the smell from the oven is a fond childhood memory and has me eager for the hour to lapse.
4 eggs
1 tbsp soft butter
½ cup plain flour
2 cups milk
1 cup sugar
1 cup shredded or desiccated coconut
Splash of vanilla extract
Flesh and seeds of 2 black or one large panama passionfruit
30ml white rum
Mix all ingredients together with a hand mixer.
Grease a tart dish (I use a round pyrex version) and pour in the mix.
Bake at 180˚C for one hour, cool
Serve with passionfruit and sugar laced whipped cream
From ieatidrinkiwork
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