Seasonal bakes with seasonal local produce
When life hands you persimmons, you make pers... wait that analogy only works with lemons doesn't it?
Well in any case, when an excitable hawker handed me a punnet of persimmons on my way back to the city from Babylonstoren, I was stumped as to whether to bite into them of add them to a salad. The tomato looking fruits are widely cultivated in South East Asia but I first encountered them when my mother returned from a trip to Israel. "I'm not eating that," I remember announcing when she offered me one of the fruits. It was an absolute mind bend.
But 14 years later, I have become a lot more curious about food. As I brought the persimmon to my lips, I was a combination of scared, excited, already grossed out yet incredibly open minded.
It tasted like a pear.
So I've adapted a few tried-and-trusted recipes to come up with a wonderful persimmon pie recipe. Though the trees usually go dormant during the winter months, Cape Towns loyal sun ensures that we can enjoy these weird and wonderful fruits all year round.
Ingredients
3 thinly sliced persimmons of varied ripeness
1 cup water
1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon nutmeg
1 roll phyllo pastry
Instructions
1. Preheat oven and grease pie dish
2. Simmer water and sugar in a saucepan to make runny sugar syrup
3. Once cool, stir in cinnamon and nutmeg
4. Begin to layer phyllo pastry by placing three sheets down at a time and brushing generously with syrup
5. Repeat process until all the phyllo pastry has been brushed and layered.
6. Fan persimmons out on the layered phyllo, alternating between the varieties of ripeness.
7. Brush remaining sugar syrup on the persimmons
8. Bake pie at 180°C for 30-40 minutes, or until the phyllo is golden brown
9. Let pie cool for 15 minutes
***Best served with a dollop of clotted cream***
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It's going to be a winter of wonderful recipes at #thesculleryblog so sharpen those knifes, dust off the aprons and get to work brewing some locally-inspired Mulled Wine.
If you're a fan of proudly South African cooking, I chat to Aya the Cook Dude about all the work he is doing to elevate traditional flavours.