CHRISTMAS SPRING ROLLS (recipe page 30)

CHRISTMAS MINCE

MAKES 700G / PREPARATION 40 MINUTES / COOKING 25 MINUTES

125g golden raisins 125g dried cherries 125g currants

60g dried cranberries 250g prunes, quartered 125g almonds, skin on, roasted juice & zest of 1 lemon juice & zest of 1 orange 125ml white rum (optional) 100g raw sugar 150ml Seville orange marmalade ½ teaspoon allspice

1 Earl Grey tea bag

Place all of the dried fruits into a large bowl. Add the chopped almonds, citrus zest and juice and rum (if using) and toss through. Bring 400ml water to a boil, pour over and allow the fruits to soften for 30 minutes. Place water and fruits into a medium-sized pot and bring to a simmer. Add sugar, marmalade, allspice and the tea bag. Cook slowly for 20–25 minutes, stirring regularly until thick, glossy and jam-like. Discard the tea bag and store the mince in clean jars in the fridge for up to a week.

CHRISTMAS SPRING ROLLS

MAKES 12 / PREPARATION 45 MINUTES / COOKING 10 MINUTES

1 cup flour, sieved

2¾ cups milk

3 eggs, size 7, plus 4 egg yolks, size 7 4 tablespoons butter

½ teaspoon vanilla extract

¼ cup caster sugar

1½ tablespoons corn starch 600g fruit mince

12 spring roll wrappers, separated 700ml neutral oil, for frying

Prepare a crêpe mix by placing the flour, ¾ cup of milk, ½ cup water and 2 eggs into a bowl and blitzing until smooth. Melt 3 tablespoons butter and stir in, then allow to rest in the fridge for 30 minutes.

To prepare the crème pâtissière, mix the remaining milk and vanilla extract and heat until steam forms. Keep below simmering point. In a separate bowl put 4 egg yolks, sugar and corn starch and whip until smooth. Slowly pour in hot milk and whisk to combine. Return to a pot over low heat and stir continuously with a spatula until thickened and large bubbles burst on the surface. Beat vigorously for a further minute and add the remaining butter. Beat until smooth and remove from heat. Mix the crème pâtissière with the fruit mince.

Heat a non-stick pan over medium heat and ladle in 4–5 tablespoons of crêpe mix, aiming to make each crêpe about 14cm in diameter. Allow to cool.

Beat the remaining egg to form an egg wash.

Lay a spring roll wrapper on the bench in a diamond shape. Place a crêpe on top and place three tablespoons of fruit mix just below the halfway line of the crepe on the edge closest to you. Fold the bottom edge point of the wrapper up and over the fruit mix and tuck in tightly to the fruit mix. Fold in each corner to cover fruit mix and make clean 90-degree angles, and roll the wrapper up to the top to form a cylinder. Brush the exposed tip with egg wash and continue rolling up to seal. Repeat for remaining spring rolls.

Bring the oil to 170℃, or until a bread cube fries golden in 3–4 seconds. Batch fry three spring rolls at a time until golden and transfer to absorbent paper. Repeat for the remaining spring rolls.

Alternatively, heat the oven to 150℃, place spring rolls on a baking tray and bake for 6–7 minutes. Cut each spring roll in half and serve immediately.

GIVE THESE A GO…

Fruit mince game sauce

Dice 1 cup onion and slice 2 garlic cloves. Fry in 2 tablespoons butter until beginning to turn golden. Add 100ml port or red wine and 1½ tablespoons red wine vinegar and reduce to a syrupy consistency. Add 4 tablespoons fruit mince and a bay leaf and loosen up the fruit mince without scorching. Add 4 cups good-quality beef stock and bring to a simmer. Reduce by half into a medium-bodied sauce. Swirl in a tablespoon of chilled butter and season with 2 pinches of salt and 3–4 grinds of black pepper. Kūmara & fruit mince ice-cream

In the not-so-distant past there was a brief fad for potato ice cream. Why use potato when you could use kūmara and actually make it nice? Pierce 1 mediumsized golden kūmara all over with a fork. Bake at 180℃ for 30–40 minutes until tender. Remove from heat and allow to cool. Split the kūmara and scrape out the flesh. Bring 2 cups milk,

1 cup cream and ¾ cup of sugar to a simmer. Remove from heat, add cooked kūmara and blend until smooth. Return to the heat and add 2 tablespoons glucose and ½ cup each of cream cheese and sour cream. Bring almost to a simmer and stir until smooth. Add 1 teaspoon of sea salt and ½ cup fruit mince and stir to combine. Allow to cool and pour into a container and freeze overnight. Fruit mince Japanese pancakes

In a large bowl, place 2 cups sieved flour, 4 tablespoons caster sugar and 1 teaspoon baking powder. Whisk together to combine. Make a well and add 1½ cups milk, 4 tablespoons neutral oil and 2 egg yolks. Whisk to form a batter. In a separate bowl whisk 4 egg whites to medium-stiff peaks. Fold egg whites through the pancake batter. Add 5 tablespoons fruit mince and gently fold through. Heat a non-stick pan over a very low heat. Place three 7cm x 4cm ring moulds into the pan and thoroughly brush the insides with oil. Fill each mould three-quarters high and gently cook over low heat until the top of the pancake is filled with bubbles and you can see the pancake is just coming away from the edge ever so slightly. Using deft hands and a spatula, carefully flip and remove the ring. Repeat for the remaining mix.

There are very few things as perplexing as trying to explain to a small child that the Christmas mince pie isn’t meat. As Kiwis, we take the mince pie pretty seriously, so with due diligence, we should treat this ‘mince pie’ with the same accord. The term formed when Europeans discovered the Middle East and dishes made with mutton, dried fruit, spices and pastry. Somewhere these exotic meat pies became known as mince pies with suet and fruit. Today, we know it as fruit mince or Christmas mince.