Tamarillos

At their peak from June until August these egg-shaped tangy fruit are a winter highlight, and their relatively short season means you can gorge yourself silly then politely move on.

To eat raw, cut in half (cross section) and scoop out the flesh with a teaspoon. If you are lucky enough to have more than will keep in a fruit bowl, they are easily frozen, but remove skins first.

Small Batch Pickled Tamarillos

Pickle tamarillos ahead of time, as they are best eaten after two weeks of being submerged in the pickling liquid.

MAKES 1 LARGE JAR

3 whole cloves

½ small cinnamon stick

2.5cm piece fresh ginger, peeled and sliced

500ml red wine vinegar

1 cup sugar a pinch of flaky salt pared rind of 1 small orange, lemon or lime

8 red tamarillos

To prepare the tamarillos, make a cross in the skin at the tip of each tamarillo and blanch in boiling water for 2 minutes. Remove and plunge into a bowl of cold water. Peel away the skins and cut off stems. Cut in half lengthwise and put into a large sterilised jar or divide between two smaller sterilised jars, if you prefer.

Put the cloves, cinnamon stick, ginger, red wine vinegar, sugar, salt and citrus rind into a saucepan and slowly bring up to the boil. Simmer gently for 15 minutes to allow the flavours to mingle then remove from the heat and allow to cool.

Pour the cooled pickling mixture over the prepared tamarillos until they are submerged and screw on the lid. Keep in the fridge and store for 2 weeks before eating.

Tip – Pare rind of citrus by using a vegetable peeler to peel thin strips from the fruit, being careful to leave behind the white pith.

Try serving a little pickled tamarillo with leftover cold roast pork shoulder, with a simple winter vegetable coleslaw of very finely shredded green cabbage, steamed sprouting broccoli and finely sliced spring onions, tossed in a lemon juice, honey and olive oil dressing (as photographed).

Cut 1–2 pickled tamarillo halves into thin wedges and serve on top of a plate of cured meats.

OVEN-ROASTED PORK SHOULDER SERVES 6

1 tbsp olive oil

1 carrot, 1 onion, 1 stick celery, peeled and diced

4 fresh bay leaves or 2 dried bay leaves

1.7kg boned and tied pork shoulder, skin scored for crackling, at room temperature

2 tsp fennel seeds

3 tsp flaky sea salt finely grated zest of 1 lemon or lime

500ml chicken stock

Heat the oven to 240°C.

Put the olive oil, carrot, onion, celery and bay leaves in a covered roasting dish. Sit the pork amongst the vegetables, skin side up. Grind the fennel seeds and salt together until you have a fine powder. Add the lemon or lime zest, then rub over the skin of the pork and inside the scored skin. Pour the stock around the pork, cover and put in the oven for 30 minutes.

Lower the oven temperature to 190°C and continue to roast the pork for a further 2 hours until tender but not dry.

Remove the pork from the oven and put on a warmed plate. Turn the oven to grill. Cut the crackling away from the meat and put in a shallow roasting tray. Cover the pork so it keeps warm.

Meanwhile, strain the meat juices into a wide shallow saucepan and push the vegetables through the sieve until you end up with a pulp that can be discarded. Put over a high heat and reduce, removing some of the excess fat by using a large spoon to scoop up as it reduces. You will end up with a syrupy sauce to moisten the meat.

When ready, put the crackling under the grill and let it crackle away. Keep an eye on it so it doesn’t burn.

Rustic Tamarillo And Apple Tart

Apple balances the intense flavour of tamarillos with the citrus zest adding subtle fragrance. Served with a scoop of ice cream or dollops of whipped cream makes this tart simply irresistible.

I like to prepare the tamarillos ahead so they have plenty of time to sweeten up a bit. You can leave them in the fridge, well covered, overnight or during the day. It speeds up the preparation time too.

Serves 6

PASTRY

180g plain flour

150g cold butter, diced 90g sour cream (not lite) milk or melted butter, for brushing

1 tbsp caster sugar

FILLING

6 red tamarillos

¼ cup caster sugar, plus 1 tbsp

2 large cooking apples (I used Granny Smith) finely grated zest of 1 small lemon or 1 lime

To prepare the tamarillos, make a cross in the skin at the tip of each tamarillo and blanch in boiling water for 2 minutes. Remove and plunge into a bowl of cold water. Peel away the skins and remove the stalks. Cut in half then into quarters lengthwise and put on a large plate. Scatter the ¼ cup caster sugar over the cut fruit and leave to macerate.

Peel, cut into quarters and core the apples then slice each quarter into 3–4 slices. Put into a bowl as you go, sprinkling with 1 tbsp caster sugar and the grated zest. Toss gently to ensure the apple slices are coated in sugar. Set aside while you make the pastry.

To make the pastry, put the flour with a pinch of salt into a food processor and pulse once or twice to sift the flour. Add the butter and pulse until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs. Dollop over the sour cream and again pulse until the pastry begins to very roughly come together. Tip out onto a lightly floured bench and bring together in a ball then flatten. Roll the pastry out into a round (about 30cm in diameter), to fit a lightly floured standard oven tray.

You can roll the pastry out on the oven tray if you find that easier than transferring it.

Arrange the apples on the pastry, leaving a 5cm border around the edges. Arrange the tamarillos on top (leave any collected juices behind as these will make the pastry soggy during cooking). Gather up the pastry, to form a border, pleating as you go, but being careful not to tear the pastry to minimise juices leaking during baking. Brush the pastry border with milk or melted butter and sprinkle over the 1 tbsp of caster sugar.

Put into the fridge to rest the pastry and firm up while you heat the oven to 190°C.

Remove from the fridge and put in the oven to bake for 40–45 minutes until the pastry is well browned and crisp.

Tip – During the cooler months you can work with this food processor pastry straight away – there is no need to chill before rolling. In fact you don’t want it too firm otherwise it can tear when pleating.

Kathy Paterson

Kathy Paterson is a recipe developer, food stylist and photographer. A plentiful herb garden and a trial and error vegetable garden give Kathy the starting place for her recipes along with her love of the classics with a modern twist.

www.kathypaterson.co.nz