Maggie Beer

A few weeks ago, I blogged about how Maggie Beer, the famous Australian food writer, cook, TV presenter and food producer, was coming to London. Maggie is perhaps not that well known in the UK, but she is a bit of an Australian icon. And so when I was invited to the UK launch party for Maggie’s new products, including her acclaimed verjuice, at Australia House, I was absolutely delighted to go along.

As a consequence of being able to attend the launch party, I have managed to get hold of this never-seen-before recipe of the verjuice custard that Maggie showcased at the 2009 Melbourne Food and Wine Festival in March. The festival was also attended by Heston Blumenthal from Fat Duck, Sat Bains from Restaurant Sat Bains, Shane Osborn from Pied à Terre, and René Redzepi from Noma. You can read all about the festival on the Australian Gourmet Traveller website.

I know this recipe has never been published before because I’ve seen a number of edits for it over the past few weeks. And so here is it – the final version for me to share with you, and which I dedicate to the lovely D, from the food blog, Love and a Licked Spoon. She was the one who told me about the launch party, and is therefore the reason I got to go.

But more importantly, as an Australian, I wanted to publish this recipe in support of all things Australian (and at the risk of alienating my English readers, I do hope we win the Ashes). So check out the website ‘Of Wine and Yabbies’, suppliers of Australian gourmet foodstuff, and where you will be able to buy the verjuice required for this recipe.

So happy eating, and here’s to a great summer of sport.

Verjuice custards
Makes 6 x 120ml custards

Verjuice custard

Ingredients:
350g Cream 40% fat
375ml Verjuice
110g Whole egg
100g Egg yolk
100g Sugar
Rosemary sprigs

Method:
Pre-heat oven to 150C.
Place cream and rosemary into a medium sized saucepan and heat to just below scalding point.
In a separate saucepan, over medium-high heat, reduce the Verjuice back to 200ml.
In a clean bowl, combine egg yolk, whole egg and sugar, and whisk until combined, but do not incorporate too much air, as you will risk the mix going “foamy” when the Verjuice is added.
Add the still hot Verjuice reduction in a slow, thin stream to the egg mixture, then add hot cream in the same way.
Skim any foam from the surface of the custard mix and pour into moulds.
Place the moulds into a water bath in the oven and cover with foil.
Cook custards to a soft set – approximately 1 hour.
Remove custards from the water bath and leave to stand overnight for a full set.
Serve with a choice of fresh or dried fruit.

NB. This recipe can be increased up to 4 times using the same egg to Verjuice ratio.