Andrea In The Kitchen

I forget sometimes that not everyone lives in the tropics.  I take palm trees and tropical fruit for granted now.  (However, it is almost impossible to get a fresh raspberry worth buying up here).

I have noticed that it my use of fresh coconut that seems to get a bit of notice, so I thought I would share some photos of one of the 2 coconut palms I have in the yard.  I couldn’t get the angle right to show it, but there was a rainbow lorikeet hiding up near the coconuts.

I also thought I would prove that poor planning does have the clothes line just under one of the palms.

And, here are the size of the fronds that come crashing down.

Something interesting about local coconuts is they don’t fall off when ripe.  You have to cut them down or they finally come down once all dried up.  Our palms are so high now that we can’t get them down.  About twice a year a man comes round in a mini van wearing a hard hat.  He brings out a mattress (to give the coconuts a gentle landing) and a really impressive extendable saw.  He takes most of the coconuts to sell at the markets and we keep a few.  Which we process, and then pop the nut meat in the freezer just waiting for a chance to be included in a recipe.

I bought some tinned lychees recently for use in a recipe to be posted soon.  What I realised is I really like the fresh ones better and lychees and their cousin rambutan grow well up here (but just weren’t in season).  Here is a rather lovely photo (if I do say so) of a rambutan.

Now I have been posting more, I have less time to look at other peoples posts.  I took advantage of a quiet moment and had a look at Desert First fabulous blog.  Low and behold she had a recipe for a lychee cake.  Calling for the very same tinned lychees sitting in my fridge edging towards a use by date.

I halved the recipe which made 6 cupcakes and 3 mini cupcakes.  The boys were not going to wait for adornment so not further decoration than the golden edges from the oven.  

This was really lovely and quite simple so will get made again.  I was also pleased that the recipe (leavening) didn’t need tweaking to made into cupcakes.  I imagine this recipe would work well for other tinned fruits as well (peaches leap to mind).

As I slowly added the lychee syrup the mix curdled but came good with the addition of the flour.

The other thing I did was alter the technique slightly.  I reserved 1/3 of the flour mixture to coat the lychee and added the remaining flour 1st to build a bit of structure (and prevent lumps of flour which I am paranoid about). This worked really well.

Lychee Butter Cake from Desert First

1- 14 oz can lychees (about 1 cup lychees, reserve the liquid)

2 cups (240g) flour (I used plain unbleached)

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

3/4 cup (160g) unsalted butter, room temperature

3/4 cup (160 g) sugar

2 eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease an 8×8 baking pan.

Drain the lychees and cut into small pieces; set aside.

Sift the flour, baking powder, and salt into a bowl and set aside.

In a stand mixer, cream the butter and sugar together on medium speed for several minutes until light and fluffy.

Add the eggs, one at a time, and then the vanilla. Mix to combine.

Add in about 4 -6 tablespoons of the reserved lychee liquid slowly. Mix between additions to fully incorporate before adding more.

Toss the lychee pieces in the flour mixture to coat (this will help keep them from sinking to the bottom of the batter).  (As I wrote before I reserved 1/3 of the flour for the coating and added the flour mixture first and then the fruit covered in flour).

Add flour and lychee mixture to the batter and mix to combine.

Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake for 30-45 minutes, until a tester inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool on wire rack before serving.

The mini cupcake size took 14 minutes and the cupcakes took about 20 minutes.  (Conventional oven, bottom element only)

Florida Pie mmm….  The love child between key lime pie and coconut cream pie.  

Dianne of Dianne’s Dishes has chosen Florida Pie on pages 340 and 341 from Baking From my Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan for this weeks TWD challenge.

It was Mother’s Day this Sunday in Australia.  Matthew made dinner (the Pepper Crab mentioned in a previous post) and I made a variation of one of his very favourite desserts (Golden Syrup Dumplings rate highly for the man as well).

I spent a large portion of my childhood in Florida and grew up with the condensed milk style of key lime pie.  Matthew grew up in Sydney and rather firmly believes the lemon or lime filling should be a curd or thickened with corn flour.

I made the coconut cream and lime filling the day before.  I substituted Granita Biscuits (about 220g) for the graham cracker crust.

 I used grated fresh coconut from the palm tree in the backyard, and Tahitian lime for the filling.    

Now to the critique.  

The graham cracker crust went a bit soggy after only a couple of hours.  I think sealing it with an egg wash whilst hot or having a shortcrust style crust may be better.

The coconut cream was subtle but got a bit lost.  I liked it, Matt was ambivalent.

The lime filling could have done with some zest for extra zip.  My limes may not have been as tart as some of the key limes I remember.  Another factor may be have developed a taste for tarter citrus fillings.

I was pleased the heating of the eggs got rid of any graininess from the sugar (I used caster (superfine) just to be safe).  I had Patrick wanting a cuddle and Liam wanting to eat the lime filling so I forgot to add the coconut to the meringue. 

I suggested the leftover pie could go to work with Matthew tomorrow. Despite his critique, he firmly stated the pie was his to finish.  I suppose when you have a variation of a favourite your opinions can be very strong. This is a desert that will be made again in some form.

1 9-inch graham cracker crust (page 235), fully baked and cooled, or a store-bought crust
1 1/3 cups (300ml) heavy cream
1 1/2 cups shredded sweetened coconut (I used fresh unsweetened coconut and found it plenty sweet)
4 large eggs, seperated
1 14-ounce (495g) can sweetened condensed milk
1/2 cup fresh Key (or regular) lime juice (from about 5 regular limes) (I only needed 3) 
1/4 cup (50 g) of sugar

Getting Ready:

Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. (180C)  Put the pie plate on a baking sheet lined with parchment of a silicone mat.

Put the cream and 1 cup of the coconut in a small saucepan and bring it to a boil over medium-low heat, stirring almost constantly.  Continue to cook and stir until the cream is reduced by half and the mixture is slightly thickened.  (This took me about 7 minutes). Scrape the coconut cream into a bowl and set it aside while you prepare the lime filling.

Working with a stand mixer, preferably fitted with a paddle attachment, or with a hand mixer in a large bowl beat the egg yolks at high speed until thick and pale.  Reduce the mixer speed to low and beat in the condensed milk.  Still on low, add half of the lime juice.  When it is incorporated, add the reaming juice, again mixing until it is blended.  Spread the coconut cream in the bottom of the graham cracker crust, and pour over the lime filling.

Bake the pie for 12 minutes.  Transfer the pie to a cooling rack and cool for 15 minutes, then freeze the pie for at least 1 hour.

To Finish the Pie with Meringue:

Put the 4 egg whites and the sugar in a medium heavy-bottomed saucepan and heat over medium-low heat, whisking all the while, until the whites are hot to the touch.  Transfer the whites to a stand mixer, fitted with the whisk attachment, or use a hand mixer in a large bowl, and beat the whites at high speed until they reach room temperature and hold firm peaks.  Using a rubber spatula, fold the remaining 1/2 cup coconut into the meringue.

Spread the meringue over the top of the pie, and run the pie under the broiler until the top of the meringue is golden brown.  (Or, if you’ve got a blowtorch, you can use it to brown the meringue.)  Return the pie to the freezer for another 30 minutes or for up to 3 hours before serving.

I bought some kangaroo fillet for Mother’s Day dinner and was lucky enough to get Pepper Crab instead.  So what to do with the kangaroo?  

Matthew had Uni tonight so we needed to have dinner in shifts.  This recipe works really well for this.  We had run out of potatoes but had one sweet potato left.  I remembered a lovely warm beef salad I had at Wagamamas in Sydney earlier in the year, so I tried to recreate aspects of it using what I had to hand.

Sweet potatoes grow locally but regular potatoes do not.  One of our local restaurants Pee Wees brings sweet potato crisps to the table as you wait for your starters.

I adapted the Warm Stir Fried Chicken Salad from the Wagamama cookbook and it was fabulous.  I changed the meat, added tomato and cucumber to the salad and gave it a sweet potato crisp finish.  If you don’t want to mess around with the sweet potato crisps, may I suggest some fried shallots (available in the Asian section of many markets).  The crunch textural factor added a lot to this salad.   Did I mention this was good? 

Warm Stir Fried Kangaroo Salad. (adapted from The Wagamama Cookbook)

400g kangaroo fillet cut into strips (use what ever meat you like, if any one tries tofu let me know!)

vegetable oil for stir frying

for the marinade

1 teaspoon sesame oil

2 cloves garlic peeled and crushed

2 teaspoons fish sauce

2 teaspoons light soy sauce

juice of 1 lime

2 teaspoons ground cumin

1 large red chili, trimmed and chopped

2 teaspoons toasted sesame seeds

for the salad

2 handfuls of mixed salad leaves

1/2 cumumber sliced thinly

1 tomato sliced thinly

2 Tablespoons (6 teaspoons) of Wagamama salad dressing

2 teaspoon toasted sesame seeds

3 teaspoons chopped coriander

1 lime halved

for the sweet potato crisps (this is more than you need but you will snack on these).

1 sweet potato sliced into ribbons using a speed peeler (wide vegetable peeler)

Oil for deep frying

Method

Mix all the ingredients for the marinade.  Add the meat and marinate for at least 2 hours in the fridge.

Meanwhile make the sweet potato crisps.  Heat the oil to 180C/360F.  Deep fry in small batches.  Cook until the edges turn caramel coloured,  they will crisp up more on standing.

Heat a wok until completley hot add the oil and then the meat, stirring constantly.  Kangaroo is best served rare 2-3 minutes, chicken will take 4-5 minutes.

Mix the salad leaves with the dressing.  Divide between 2 plates and scatter over the toasted sesame seeds and chopped corriander.  Top with the meat and serve with a lime half on each plate.

Wagamama salad dressing

2 teaspoon finely chopped shallot (I used spring onion with good result)

2.5 cm (1inch) piece of fresh ginger root, peeled and grated (I peel mine and leave it in the freezer ready for action)

1 small garlic clove, peeled and finely chopped

4 1/2 teaspoons rice vinegar

3 teaspoons tomato ketchup

3 teaspoons water

100 ml (3 1/2 fl oz) vegetable oil

9 teaspoons (45ml) light soy sauce.

Method

Whisk ingredients together and set aside.  This can be kept in the fridge for a few days.  (I put this all in my mini blender and it emulsified beautifully. I now prefer this method for this dressing).  

I thought I would post something I didn’t cook.  My lovely husband made me dinner for Mother’s Day.

I have no prep photos but this was the finished product.

My brother Michael dropped off 3 rather large mud crabs last Monday (what a lovely man!).  We polished off 2 that night one boiled and the other in a Chili Crab sauce.

Tonight we had Pepper Crab from the linked recipe.  It was really lovely.  We only used 2 chilis in the chilli crab recipe and it was rather spicy indeed (it called for 7!) so Matt left it at one chili for tonight’s feast.  He served it on a bed of plain sushi rice which absorbed all the gooey goodness.  So very very yummy.

I feel like a lucky Mummy.  Happy Mother’s Day to all the other Mother’s out there!

I love Reece’s Pieces.  For a couple of years they stopped importing them to Australia.  Then they slowly filtered back in in speciality stores (for $3+ for the 2 cups).  When family have gone overseas I have asked for them to bring back as many in the 1 lb bags as they can.  (Matthew not only brought back cooking things he also brought home 4 lbs of Reece’s Pieces, what a darling!). 

Oreos were also not available  for a long time.  My birthday presents as a teenager were a packet or two of Oreos shipped from the US.  Now they are in the major grocery stores.  However, the ones available in Australia are made in China.

So a Oreo crust with a grown up Reeces Pieces filling was a fufilment of my childhood favourite foods (that became even more favourite because they were not available for a long time). 

The food processor bowl was in the dishwasher so I tried the blender for the Oreo crumbs.  It really didn’t do the job.  I then tried my stick mixer with the ’stabber’ attachment.  Tactical error.  Serious crumb flying issues.  Finally I used my mini processor in a couple of batches.  I am not alone in finding that I needed more cookies to make enough crust. 

I had light Philly cream cheese in the fridge and thought with the ingredient list I could get away with the substitution.  The filling firmed up very nicely (and I didn’t have the Australian Heart Foundation raid my house for flagrant use of butter, fat and cream!)

When making the ganache I forgot I was making a half batch, so it was an extra thick layer.  I had a moment of worry when stirring in the hot cream.  It took a looong time for the cream to be incorporated and it looked very close to splitting.  I took my time and stirred slowly and it came good.  I was too freaked out to take a photo, so you will have to take my word for it.  

The bittersweet chocolate does temper the voluptulus richness of the peanut butter mousse.  I also used crunchy peanut butter in the filling and omitted the peanuts in the filling and topping.  I used some rice bubbles (krispies) on top for crunch.  (Trying to keep it kid friendly).  The boys love peanut butter they just don’t like really chunky bits.

This torte is so rich.  We had it at the end of a family BBQ.  I actually organised the gathering around trying to share this with others!  

The crust is a complete winner and that will be made again.  The peanut butter mousse is lovely but I think it is in fact too much of a good thing.  Perhaps it could have a life as a cake filling.  Like a Boston Cream Pie thing with the mousse inside and the ganache dripping down the sides…

I made half batch and I will have to freeze a large portion to allow for slower consumption.

Peanut Butter Torte

1 ¼ c. finely chopped salted peanuts (for the filling, crunch and topping) (I subbed in rice bubbles for the topping and omitted the extra peanuts in the filling)

2 teaspoons sugar

½ teaspoon instant espresso powder (or finely ground instant coffee)

¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon

Pinch of freshly grated nutmeg

½ c. (90g) mini chocolate chips (or finely chopped semi sweet chocolate)

24 (to 30+) Oreo cookies, (310g) finely crumbed or ground in a food processor or blender

½ stick (4 tablespoons) (60g) unsalted butter, melted and cooled

Small pinch of salt

2 ½ c. (600ml) heavy cream

1 ¼ c (140g) confectioners’ sugar, sifted

12 ounces (340g) cream cheese, at room temperature (I used Philadelphia light with success).

1 ½ c (400g) salted peanut butter – crunchy or smooth (not natural; I use Skippy) (I used Kraft chunky)

2 tablespoons (60g) whole milk

4 ounces (115g) bittersweet chocolate finely chopped

Getting ready: center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 350°F. (180C) Butter a 9-inch Springform pan and place it on a baking sheet lined with parchment or a silicone mat.

Toss ½ cup of the chopped peanuts, the sugar, espresso powder, cinnamon, nutmeg and chocolate chops together in a small bowl. Set aside.

Put the Oreo crumbs, melted butter and salt in another small bowl and stir with a fork just until crumbs are moistened. Press the crumbs evenly over the bottom and up the sides of the spring form pan (they should go up about 2 inches on the sides). Freeze the crust for 10 minutes.

Bake the crust for 10 minutes, then transfer it to a rack and let it cool completely before filling.

Working with a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment or with a hand mixer in a large bowl, whip 2 cups of the cream until it holds medium peaks. Beat in ¼ cup of the confectioners’ sugar and whip until the cream holds medium-firm peaks. Scrape the cream into a bowl and refrigerate until needed.

Wipe out (do not wash) the bowl, fit the stand mixer with the paddle attachment if you have one, or continue with the hand mixer, and beat the cream cheese with the remaining 1 cup confectioners’ sugar on medium speed until the cream cheese is satiny smooth. Beat in the peanut butter, ¼ cup of the chopped peanuts and the milk.

Using a large rubber spatula, gently stir in about one quarter of the whipped cream, just to lighten the mousse. Still working with the spatula, stir in the crunchy peanut mixture, then gingerly fold in the remaining whipped cream.

Scrape the mouse into the crust, mounding and smoothing the top. Refrigerate for at least 4 hours, or overnight; cover with plastic wrap as soon as the mousse firms.

To Finish The Torte: put the chopped chocolate in a heatproof bowl and set the bowl over a saucepan of simmering water. Leave the bowl over the water just until the chocolate softens and starts to melt, about 3 minutes; remove the bowl from the saucepan.

Bring the remaining ½ cup cream to a full boil. Pour the cream over the chocolate and , working with a a rubber spatula, very gently stir together until the ganache is completely blended and glossy.

Pour the ganache over the torte, smoothing it with a metal icing spatula. Scatter the remaining ½ cup peanuts over the top and chill to set the topping, about 20 minutes.

When the ganache is firm, remove the sides of the Springform pan; it’s easiest to warm the pan with a hairdryer, and then remove the sides, but you can also wrap a kitchen towel damped with hot water around 

So after all the sweet things recently, I thought we should try for more veggies.

Tonight I made nann from this recipe.  It worked well.  I used the variation of adding the garlic to the melted butter.  Yum!

I delved into Nigella Lawson’s Feast cookbook and made the Muttar Paneer and Aloo Gobi from her curry banquet.

I had never eaten Muttar Paneer before but I had seen the paneer cheese beaconing from next to the halomi.  I have looked at the recipe many times and it felt right for tonight.  It was lovely.  I soaked up all the lovely juices with the naan.  The Aloo Gobi was really nicely spiced.  The potatoes could have been browned up a bit more but the boys were hungry and so was I.

Muttar Paneer

Serves 4-6

125ml vegetable oil (I used a lot less)

1 x 227g packet paneer

1 onion

2 cloves garlic

2.5cm fresh ginger

1 tsp garam masala

1 tsp tumeric

500g frozen peas

1 tsp tomato puree

250ml vegetable stock

Put the oil into a frying pan.  Nigella suggests the frying pan you will continue cooking in but the paneer splatters a lot.  I used a saucepan and then didn’t need as much oil.  Cut the paneer into 1 cm cubes.  Fry until golden and drain on paper towel and set aside.

Pour all but 2 tablespoons of the oil out of the pan.  Peel and cut the onion in half, peel the garlic and ginger and slice them roughly.  Put them in the food processor and blitz to a course pulp.  Fry gently in the frypan with a touch of salt for 5 minutes.  Stir in the garam masala and tumeric and cook for another 2 minutes before adding the still frozen peas.

Dissolve the tomato puree in the vegetable stock (I used 1/2 a massel stock cube) and pour over the contents of the pan.  Stir cover with a lid and simmer for 5-15 min (Nigella suggested 15 but the peas were well cooked by 7 min).  (You can pause the recipe at this point and heat up when ready to serve).  Add the crispy paneer cubes and serve.

Allo Gobi

Serves 4-6

500-600g waxy potatoes, peeled

4 spring onions cut into 1/2 cm rings

1 large head cauliflower cut into small florets

4 Tablespoons vegetable oil (I used the leftover oil from the paneer)

1 tsp cumin seeds

1 tsp yellow or brown mustard seeds

1 tsp ground coriander seed

125ml water

1/4 tsp tumeric

1/2 tsp ground ginger

juice of 1/2 lemon

1 tsp salt

freshly ground black pepper.

Method:

Cook the potatoes whole (in salted water, you can also blanch the cauliflower which I did in the hot  potato water for 3 minutes) and leave them to go cold, then dice into 3-4cm cubes.  

Heat the oil in a large pan and cook the cumin and mustard seeds until they begin to pop.  Add the cauliflower and spring onions and cook on medium to high heat until the cauliflower takes a deep colour in places.  Add 125 ml water, cover the pan and cook for about 10 minutes.  

Take off the lid and add the other spices, lemon juice, diced cook potatoes, salt and pepper to taste.  Stir carefully to incorporate everything, and cook for another 5-7 min until cauliflower is tender and potatoes are heated through 

This weeks TWD challenge was the reason to check the local cooking supply stores.  I try to avoid them (especially the trade ones, so much temptation).  But, I had the realisation that frequent (weekly) cakes in the house will involve shopping of another kind (clothes in a much bigger size) if portions didn’t shrink.   So, you see I had to go, and in fact I was rather restrained.  

• The cake tin 18 cm , not 6 inch but close enough (a chance to go looking again ha! ha!).  ($14.40)   
• A rather large whisk that I have read about being useful when making sponges, for the final incorporation of flour ($13.22)
• A replacement plastic spatula (good for encouraging things out of pans when you don’t want to scratch them) the old one was worked to death. ($2.56)
• Another icing bag (Does anyone else have them go missing?) ($11.19)
• A pastry scraper with ridges. ($1.81)

I had noticed this chocolate chip cookie recipe some time ago and had it bookmarked.  The cookie jar was empty, and to be honest I was waiting to see what the next TWD challenge would be before I got stuck into baking.  After finding out it was non cookie related I felt the urge to give Boscoe’s recipe a go.

He mentions it is a crisp cookie and it delivers.  It has quite a bit of cinnamon by measure, but it melds into the chocolate, into a kind of like a crisp Mexican hot chocolate.  The orange liqeur is so subtle but if you concentrate (and know it is there) you can sense it.  In notion it reminds me of Green & Blacks, Maya Gold chocolate bars.  But the orange is so much more subtle here.

I made a half batch and converted the measurements to metric weight.  I knew the kitchen Gods were smiling upon me when the open bar of dark chocolate in the fridge when chopped up came to the required 1 1/2 cups!

Given I am a big fan of chewy choc chip cookies the King Arthur’s recipe (from the All Purpose Cookbook) is still a fav.  I may try to play with the flavours a bit ( with lessons learnt from the Cookie Doctor).  I am also looking forward to trying Dories recipe but I am trying to let the TWD challenges guide me through the book, rather than race ahead to get to my own self defined good bits.

Go check out the Cookie Doctors blog.  He has a wonderful sense of combining flavours and will try some of his other creations soon.  Here is his recipe with metric conversion.

I think I was about to be escorted from the shops yesterday. I am sure others had a similar moment, squeezing bags of figs to find the softest juiciest ones.

I had it narrowed down to 2 brands and I realised I had closed my eyes as I was feeling the bag and thought it was time to move on before I heard “security check isle 7″.

Seriously soft figs in hand I moved on to baking.

One of the advantages of weighing ingredients is being able to slowly watch the honey drizzle from a spoon into the creamy depths of the bowl. I had to rush for the camera as the unintended swirl looked nicer than any icing tricks I had ever accomplished.

I decided I would try my silicone tart pan.  Brave I know, but given I knew I would chill the tart before I turned it out and it was a rather fancy Jamie Oliver one with the metal rings to give it some stability I decided to take the risk.  However given my last sticking to the bottom of the pan experience I did cut a baking paper round.  As I hadn’t seen a picture of the cake I didn’t know if the figs would be seen or not so I laid them out to look pretty.

As just about everyone reading this has made the cake there is no point dragging out the finished product suspense.  Alas, the fruit layout just ensured everyone had a chance for an equal portion of fig.  I generally don’t spend so much time on careful placement and since it didn’t show you are the only ones I can share this with.  My family already think I am quite mad about my cooking (although they rarely complain about the end product).  Too much detail for those not impassioned can take away from the magic.  

However, for those of us with the cooking bug, the beauty is in the detail.

I used rain forest honey in the cake and it was lovely.  I gave the days ripening suggested in the recipe.  It un-molded  with no problems.  (Mental note ALWAYS use baking paper).  

This cake reminded my husband of the honey soaked semolina cakes we had in Morrocan resturants.  On reflection as honey is the most prominent note in both of these cakes.  The texture makes them very different in my mind.  I didn’t taste the lemon at all.  However, I am sure it was there in the background as balance to the richness of the honey and figs.

Matthew, my husband told me I must write that this cake is amazing covered in custard.  I wish I could say it was a creme anglaise with flecks of vanilla seeds, but no.  Paul’s custard from a carton.  Matthew’s favourite.  (Not to say he doesn’t like the ‘good stuff’ he just has a utilitarian view of food

Caitlin of Engineer Baker has chosen this weeks TWD recipe.  Thank you.  Please check out her blog for the recipe or of course Baking from My Home To Yours by Dorie Greenspan page 200-201.

Fluted Polenta and Ricotta Cake from Baking: from my home to yours.  By Dorie Greenspan.

Makes 8 servings

About 16 moist, dried figs stemmed.  (Woolworths Naytura brand seemed the best in my part of the world.) 210g.

1 cup (130g) medium grain polenta or yellow cornmeal.

1/2 (65g) cup plain flour 

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

1 cup (225g) ricotta

1/3 cup (80ml) tepid water

3/4 cup (150g) sugar

3/4 cup (250g) honey

grated zest of 1 lemon

8 Tablespoons (112g) unsalted butter melted and cooled.  Plus 1 Tablespoon (14g) cut into bits and chilled.

2 large eggs.

Getting Ready

Centre a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 325F (160C).  Butter a 10 1/2 inch fluted tart pan with a removable bottom (I successfully used a silicone tart pan but I strongly suggest lining the bottom with baking paper, and the rigid nature of my pan made it easy to ‘pop’ it out) and put it on a baking sheet lined with parchment or a silicone mat.

Check the figs are plump, If they are in the least bit hard, toss them into a small pan of boiling water and steep for a minute, then drain and pat dry.  If the figs are large (bigger than a bite) snip them in half (It seems Aussie figs are bigger as both Sydney based Steph and I cut ours in quarters).

Whisk the polenta, flour, baking powder and salt together.

Working with  stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment or with a hand mixer in a large bowl, beat the ricotta and water on low speed until very smooth.  With the mixer on at medium speed, add the sugar, honey and lemon zest and beat until light.  Beat in the melted butter, then add the eggs one at a time, beating until the mixture is smooth.  Reduce the mixer speed to low and add the dry ingredients, mixing only until they are fully incorporated.  You will have a sleek, smooth, pourable batter.

Pour about one third of the batter into the pan and scatter over the figs.  Pour in the rest of the batter, smooth the top with a rubber spatula, if necessary, and dot the batter evenly with the chilled bits of butter.

Bake for 35-40 minutes (it seems most bakers needed closer to 50 minutes for this, as did I) or until a thin knife inserted into the centre of the cake comes out clean.  The cake should be honey brown and pulling away just a little from the sided of the pan, and the butter will have left light coloured circles in the top (mine left little depressions).  Transfer the cake to a rack and remove the sides of the pan after about 5 minutes (If using silicone you must let the product cool completely before un-molding, and to be very sure I let mine ripen in the fridge and turned it out fridge cold).  Cool to warm, or cool completely.