Matthew Evans summer cookbook recipe: Raspberry and elderflower trifle

This dish tells a story of my life. I grew up eating custard, real custard made from cornflour and eggs and milk, along with fools and flummeries.

The Way to the Heart: Matthew Evans.

Every day this summer, we’ll publish an exclusive recipe from a favourite Australian author, dishes made with affection for family, friends or someone special.

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This dish tells a story of my life. I grew up eating custard, real custard made from cornflour and eggs and milk, along with fools and flummeries. I’ve always loved the moussey texture; dairy desserts that had a soft, whipped texture that tickled my upper lip and soothed my senses.

I also loved custard in trifle, but never really loved the trifle of my youth. Too strong on the sherry for me as a boy, and the texture of the cake always made my tongue itch. The final product always felt a little like eating leftovers. Which, of course, it was.

My mother grew up in post-war UK and rationing was a thing. You’d never waste a bit of stale cake. And the jelly was from a packet. Rubbery and tasting of artificial flavourings, the jelly let down the custard.

Later in life I discovered you could make your own jelly, and flavour it with anything you liked. I have used soft jellies with fresh fruit in to ease my heart and woo lovers. I delight in jellies that melt easily on the tongue, but don’t stand up to being moulded; jellies that are better to eat than look at.

In my four decades as a chef and food writer, I also discovered Italian food. And tiramisu, once misnamed “Tuscan trifle”, that stunning concoction of whipped egg, mascarpone, coffee, marsala and chocolate, still intrigues and delights.

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Australia’s favourite authors share their most meaningful recipes.

But the cake wasn’t cake as I knew it, and the texture of the savoiardi biscuits is a delight on the palate, not an offence to the tongue.

So I revisited trifle. I put mascarpone in the topping, not custard. I used savoiardi in place of cake. I now make a jelly out of the delightful dessert wine moscato.

And I discovered the joyful fragrance of elderflowers, flowers that we now grow and harvest on our little farm.

All up, the makings of the perfect Australian summer trifle. Soft, slow-ripened, intense Tasmanian raspberries being the crowning glory.

This dish represents my Anglo heritage, my love of Italian food, and my Tassie life, all in the one dish. And it still woos my lover and eases my soul.

Trifle

600ml moscato wine (or 50:50 dessert wine and water)

 

3 teaspoons powdered gelatine

120g (about 8) savoiardi biscuits

300g raspberries

4 eggs, separated

50g caster sugar

130g icing sugar, sifted

500g homemade mascarpone (see below)

80ml elderflower cordial (or fresh orange juice)

Mascarpone

(Makes 350g)

600ml pouring cream (35 per cent fat)

1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice, strained

1. Put the moscato in a saucepan over high heat and bring to almost boiling. Whisk in the gelatine until it dissolves, then remove from the heat.

2. Arrange the savoiardi biscuits in the base of a 25cm square casserole dish (about 2.5 litre capacity) and pour over the moscato to coat. Allow to cool, then refrigerate overnight so it sets.

 

3. The next day, tip half the raspberries over the top. Whisk the egg whites with the caster sugar until stiff peaks form.

4. In a separate bowl, whisk the yolks with the icing sugar until pale and light, then beat in the mascarpone, being careful not to overmix or it will split. Stir in the cordial, whisk again, and then gently fold in the egg whites.

5. Smear this thickly over the biscuit mix and raspberries, top with more raspberries, cover, and refrigerate for 1-2 hours before serving with a glass of moscato.

6. For the mascarpone, put the cream in a saucepan over high heat. Bring to a simmer, add the lemon juice and cook for 1 minute. Remove from the heat and allow to cool completely. Line a sieve with a double layer of muslin, and drain the cream into this muslin over a clean bowl.

7. Refrigerate in the sieve for 1-2 days until firm. Discard the liquid. The solids are your mascarpone, ready to flavour and sweeten if you desire, or just serve it as you would a rich cream. Store the mascarpone covered with plastic wrap in the refrigerator for up to 1 week.

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Matthew Evans is a chef and food critic turned farmer-food activist and lives on a mixed farm in the Huon Valley outside Hobart with his partner Sadie Chrestman and son Hedley. He is nationally best known for his long-running SBS series Gourmet Farmer, and has authored or co-authored 13 books on food, and is regularly interviewed on radio about all things to do with farming, growing, soil and eating.

The Real Food Companion. By Matthew Evans, Murdoch Books