So I guess that you all enjoyed a great St Patricks Day, unless you’re an Irish rugby fan of course, and the Guinness is slowly leaching out of your blood supply. All we need now is for this weird weather to stop and a wonderful Indian summer to develop so that we can celebrate the upcoming Jazz festival in Bay of Plenty style, after all Earth, Wind and Fire is the headlining act and not a prophecy.

That said now is a great time to start polishing up those wonderful autumn and winter comfort puddings. This one works just as well with pecans but for me walnuts are perfect. The tart can also be served with whipped cream, mascarpone, yoghurt or crème fraiche, but for a little extra effort, the sabayon just lifts this whole dish up to another level.

Walnuts seem to be quite expensive at the moment, which is such a shame as it’s not many years ago that walnuts were in most gardens in New Zealand and to be honest I have no idea where they all went. Sometimes we can learn from the generations that have gone before us and plant things that are both pretty and edible. Lets start a campaign against those spiky designer plants that actually serve no useful purpose and plant stuff that tastes great instead, just a thought.

Walnut Tart with Honey Sabayon

1 x 23cm sweet pastry case baked blind

85g softened unsalted butter

85g soft light brown sugar

1 tablespoon vanilla sugar

3 eggs

4 tablespoons thin honey

170g shelled pecans or walnuts

a pinch of salt

1. Cream the butter and sugars together until light and fluffy.
2. Beat the eggs in one at a time.
3. Stir in the honey, walnuts and salt. Fill the pastry case and bake in a preheated oven at 220°C for 30 minutes.
4. Serve warm with Honey Sabayon.

Honey Sabayon

4 egg yolks

200ml water

200g honey

200ml alcohol of choice

1. Whisk all the ingredients in a shallow wide pan.
2. Place over a very gently heat and continue to whisk until a foam starts to form.
3. Continue cooking very gently, whisking all the time, for at least 15 minutes, until the sabayon is cooked, light and fluffy.

Wine Match

Here’s one out of the box, why not serve this with the brand new Orangecello from the award winning Distillerie Deinlein in Te Puna. I’ve loved this stuff ever since they were first experimenting with it and I managed to scrounge a taste.

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