It just keeps getting better!

So, there is this amazing place up in Singapore called the 2am Dessert Bar.  And there is a very enthusiastic young Perth chef who recently spent a month of his own time working there for free.
This week he has made his debut appearance here at rochelle adonis.  Coming in on his own time, driven by his passion for pastry and desserts,  he will be whipping up a storm with his knowledge of exciting and ground-breaking culinary techniques.  We think it is a win/win situation - we get a glimpse of what has been going on in the greater gastronomic world, and our guests will get to enjoy the final creations on our high tea dessert platters every Saturday!  And this young gun, Brendan, will get to work in our kitchen and further broaden his knowledge of all things sweet.


This week he brought in his siphons and popping candy to create the most delightful cup of deliciousness we have seen lately!

It all starts by pouring our vanilla bean anglaise into the siphon and charging it with a couple of No2 [nitrous oxide] bulbs.  A few vigourous shakes later and you have this vanilla bean aspuma - the lightest frothiest mousse-iest stuff you can imagine.  Oh so dangerously good!

Next came the lemon curd.....he put his funky spin on our traditionally buttery recipe with the addition of popping candy.  Shame we can't figure out how to attach a sound byte to this post, but you could actually hear it going 'snap crackle pop'.

These two elements were components of a little dessert he wanted to call "The Importance of Being Earnest" [the name's a mystery to us!].  We started with the aspuma, dollopped in the popping lemon curd, topped it with some berry compote and finished it all off with some crumbled nutty burnt butter financier.

And when the last dessert was served and everyone left......we indulged ourselves, we couldn't resist .......tomorrow, lots of jogging!!!


We hear rumours that his next creation for us will be "flaming ice cream".


Stay tuned!

Making butter is easier than you'd think!

We have been playing around again with our dreamy cream from Bannister Downs.  Ever wonder why our cucumber sandwiches are so incredibly good?

Making butter is simple and easy these days. You can churn butter from cream in a blender, food processor, mixer, or even some bread machines. In the old days, it was whipped and beaten into submission by hand! To read more about it, check out David Leibovitz's recent blog post on making traditional Irish butter

http://www.davidlebovitz.com/2010/09/how-to-make-irish-butter/

Buy really great cream and make your own.  Better yet, buy the really great cream when it is reduced in price or about to meet its best before date!

It is not economically sound to make your own butter everyday, as there are so many butters commercially available [even superb ones], but it is oh-so-incredibly satisfying!

Here's the scientific version of how butter ‘happens’…..

All you need is a machine or device that will agitate the cream so that the fat globules in the cream are destabilized. This causes the fat globules to start to clump. This clumping first enables tiny air bubbles to be trapped in the cream forming a relatively stable foam that we know of as whipped cream. When the agitation continues, the fat globules begin to clump so much that the air and fluid being help in place cannot be contained any longer. The foam seizes and the fat network begins to break down into large fat clusters that we call butter.

Are you down with all that?

Good! Now get to work….

Bring your cream to room temperature.  In an electric mixer start as if you are making whipped cream. It will go through the usual stage of starting to form firm peaks and then it becomes quite stiff. At this point you might like to reduce the speed of your whisk because when it goes it happens very fast.

All of a sudden the cream goes a bit yellow in colour and then little bits of butter appear and a thin liquid, the buttermilk, accumulates at the bottom. Just seconds later, the butter seems to clump and is separated from the buttermilk.

Drain the buttermilk off – keep it for pancakes or scones!

Squeeze out the excess liquid and press the butter into an airtight container and store in the fridge.  It will only keep a week or so, as there are no preservatives or additives, and the residual buttermilk will quickly turn it rancid [unless you wash your butter – but that’s a whole other story!]

In the kitchen, we generously smear this amazingness onto fluffy white bread and create sublime cucumber sandwiches for our high tea guests.

So, next time you daintily draw a cucumber sandwich towards your perfectly glossed lips, ask yourself if the butter is ‘house-churned’.  If not, do you want it to end up on the hips?

Making your own mascarpone is soooo easy...

This week in the kitchen we have made our own mascarpone! Having never made it before, we were curious to give it a go.  Turns out it’s really easy!  We took our amazing Bannister Downs cream and turned it into the dreamiest, creamiest mascarpone we’ve ever tried.  It doesn’t have the ‘cheesy’ rennet tang of commercially produced mascarpone,  but we think it’s pretty fab.

You will need to plan ahead as it needs at least a day to rest and you can certainly buy very good mascarpone in the shops.  You can't buy the oozing satisfaction, though! 

To make about 700g mascarpone….

2 limes – zested and juiced

1 ltr pouring cream [35%]

1 vanilla pod – split and scraped

1 scant tsp citric acid

Bring the lime zest, cream and vanilla to the vigourous boil in a large heavy bottomed saucepan [preferably stainless steel].  

Boil for 5 minutes until the cream separates.

Add the lime juice and the citric acid and bring back to the boil.  

Simmer for 1 minute then remove from the heat.  

Pour the cream through a fine chinois into a bowl.  

Refrigerate until the mixture starts to set  [about 5 hours].

Line a conical sieve with a double layer of wet muslin cloth and place over a large container.  Pour the set cream into the sieve then cover with plastic and let stand in the fridge for about 24 hours to allow the whey to separate from the curd.

Discard the whey and scoop the mascarpone into a clean plastic container.  

It is now ready for use.

NB…This cheese won't have preservatives and will need to be consumed within a few days.

This Saturday our house-made mascarpone will feature in 'piccolo tira mi su' on our high tea dessert plates!!!  Well done Sandro.

Composting can lead to big things.....

Our first year apprentice, Jade Jones, religiously and carefully collects all of our organic food scraps and takes them home daily.  Shlepping these buckets of slops all the way home has paid off, though!
She feeds the compost to her worms and takes the castings to grow these puppies.  Our chef, Sandro, has just whipped up a batch of caramelised turnip and horseradish soup that will feature on our menus next week.
Who would have thought?  Start composting NOW!

Nougat Australia Wide

We have had some very exciting developments at Rochelle Adonis this week, with our announcement that we will be shipping Australia wide, so you can now enjoy Rochelle Adonis Nougat anywhere, anytime.  For retail and wholesale enquiries contact us at the studio to place your order [ studio@rochelleadonis.com ]. Our Nougat is so delectably smooth that it almost evaporates in your mouth leaving a lovely lingering taste on your palette.  They will make beautiful gifts this Christmas.  

September 2010 price list

white 100g / 15cm - $12.50 inc GST

canadian oven-dried cranberries, slow-roasted pistachios, belgian white chocolate, home-grown rosemary 

dark 100g / 15cm - $12.50 inc GST

american premium dried cherries, slow roasted almonds, valrhona dark chocolate 70 per cent cacao, crushed cardamom pods

macadamia 100g / 15cm - $15.50 inc GST

west australian slow-roasted macadamias, south australian naturally-dried riverland orange and crystallised ginger, french valrhona dark chocolate 70 per cent

rose 100g / 15cm - $15.50 inc GST

iranian organic rose petals and dried barberries, belgian white chocolate, slow-roasted pistachios

blueberry 100g / 15cm - $15.50 inc GST

premium wild American dried blueberries, slow roasted almonds, belgian white chocolate, boyajian pure lemon oil


All of our nougat is made with premium west Australian honey, Free range egg whites, glossy sticky glucose, creamy dutch butter, garden fresh herbs and hand ground spices.

Postage Information

Postage + handling within Australia

$9.50 for up to 4 bars of nougat via regular post

$12.50 for up to 4 bars of nougat via express post

for orders of more than 4 bars please email the studio for a p + h quote.

studio@rochelleadonis.com