Bougasta with Poached figs

Sounds nice doesn't it?? Bougasta (must be Italian or Greek). It's usually a breakfast dish made from layers of filo pastry filled with custard! Yummo!

A very easy dish, but some might be surprised to know that despite all my baking, I have never actually made my own filo pastry before! I've done Shortcrust, Choux, and Puff but never Fresh Filo or Phyllo as some may say (to avoid any correction ;)

I always love making dishes that are very hands on and fiddly, so making pastry is right up my alley! For the Filo pastry, you chuck all the ingredients, flour, olive oil, water and salt into the food processor, knead for 3-4 mins until smooth and springs back (sort of like when you pock those squishy stress balls and they spring out!) 2 hours later, after leaving it to sit and rise in an oiled bowl, it is ready to be rolled out!

Now don't get me wrong here, I love my family and friends dearly, HOWEVER, it is when I receive gifts for the kitchen, like the one below, (pasta machine) that I get the most excited and joyful! Sad, I know, but come on look at it.... people who love to cook would understand! Haha

The pastry is so light, it feels like air, and almost as smooth as silk! Once rested, it is then separated into 8 pieces and each rolled and flattened in the pasta machine, to make the pastry nice and thin.


Filo is meant to be very delicate and very thin so that you can see through it, so it was quite hard to handle, but it just meant that I had to take a bit more time and caution so that it all went down well! While the dough was resting, I got onto making the custard.

Once again, everything is chucked into one pot, the cream, milk, egg, sugar, vanilla.. Did someone say diabetes, high cholesterol, hyperglycemia?? (As I always say... everything in moderation, although I guess that's much easier said than done!) To cool down, the custard is spread thickly on a lined tray and allowed to set so that it can easily be filled into the pastry 'bags'. '
Luckily, the figs are perfectly ripe and in season now, but that doesn't stop the supermarkets from charging people $2.00 for each fig! Yes... i said $2.00 per fig! Insane hey?! There's to the global financial crisis!

It was quite interesting because the recipe called for each fig firstly being pierced with a sharp piece of the cinnamon stick (I was never aware that cooking could be so aggressive or violent, but low and behold here we are, stabbing figs with sharp items... interesting technique!) It did however add to the presentation! Here are the cinnamon pierced figs..



Poaching the figs, was just like any normal fruit poaching recipe. Place the sugar, water, vanilla and for an extra touch, a little bit of verjuice, into a saucepan, and simmer with the figs for 5-10 mins, cool and allow the sauce to thicken!

Once all the components were made and ready to assemble, all that was left to do was layer the filo pastry, brush with butter, fill with custard, form it into small money bag parcel, and cook in the oven for 20-25 mins.



Once golden brown, the bougasta is lightly dusted with cinnamon sugar and served beside the poached figs and poaching liquid (which has now turned into a gorgeous floral pink colour, and smells so sweet and fruity!)


This time I promised myself I would have just one, but after the first bougasta I couldn't help myself, the pastry was sooo beautiful that I ended up eating half the pastry off all the tops of the parcels :) I figured no-one would know any better, but I guess I just gave myself in ;)

Thanks to some great photography from my friends... Here is the finished product! It's a really nice easy dessert to make for family and friends so if you want to give it a go, in my opinion I would say just buy pre-made filo pastry (tastes just the same and saves you lots of time), and fill with your own made custard and poached fruit.. its a cinch, and tastes delicious!!

BOMB ALASKA!!!

So... I'm back! After a few week/months of Masterchef withdrawal I'm back with a vengeance (that might sound a bit harsh, but seems like the saying is quite fitting) Unfortunately I have been lagging a bit with blogging a few of my other recipes, there was the golf course cake, basketball jersey cakes, the occasional cake or tart and not to mention the ever so famous chocolate brownies, but now I'm ready for some more exciting challenges, and with uni exams fast approaching, what better what than to distract myself by spending the day in the kitchen!

To kick it all off again I'm starting with the Bomb Alaska, most recently seen on the masterchef pressure test episode! In short, it is a sponge cake filled with ice-cream surrounded by meringue! (However this particular one was filled with coconut ice-cream and cherry sorbet...mmmmhmm) Seeing as I don't actually have an Ice-cream machine, this meant I had to make the coconut icecream and sorbet the day before and whisk it every hour for 5 hours!
It took me a while to realise that the reason the sorbet wasn't setting properly or as fast I expected was because I had actually forgotten to add the egg white, but luckily I got it whisked in in time. Considering that I didn't have the recipe, I decided to make each seperate component as it's basic recipe to make things easier.

The ice-cream is a simple mixture of cream, milk, sugar, vanilla eggs, and I added the toasted coconut for a little extra flavour, whilst the sorbet is a basic sugar, cream and fruit puree (not to forget to egg white).
Did I mention that the fruit puree required me to single-handedly pit each cherry (whilst wearing a white top.. not the smartest idea!), puree it in a blender and sieve it to give it a smooth consistency!

Once those were set in the fridge overnight all that was left to do was make the sponge cake, meringue topping and assemble the whole thing! Sounds easy, no?

The sponge cake, a basic eggs, sugar, flour and butter mixture - whisked for 10 minutes to keep it light and fluffy, was so delicious that my mum and I nearly ate half the cake when it came out the oven! It's important to leave it to cool before u shape it and put the ice-cream in, otherwise it will melt the ice-cream. With all the components finished, and the bowl lined with glad wrap, I was ready to assemble!

The sponge cake is cut into thick strips and line the inside of the bowl, and then fill the inside with the icecream, leaving a small dip in the top to finish off with the sorbet! All topped with a round piece of the sponge cake, weighted down and popped into the freezer to set in shape! After 3 hours setting in the fridge, it was down to the final touch's to complete the dish!

The set cake and ice-cream mould was very carefully removed from the bowl, if it splits or cracks then disaster strikes and it's quite impossible to surround with the meringue to blowtorch it. Luckily, it came out perfectly with a little push, and working fast to ensure the ice-cream inside didn't melt, I attempted to neatly cover it in the Italian meringue mixture, forming some nice swells so that it looks nice after being blow-torched!

My favourite part to finish it off was using the blow-torch to create the golden colour and slightly cook the meringue so it had that nice coating with a gooey inside!

Finally it was all complete, but the true test came when it was cut open, whether the ice-cream or sorbet had melted, and if the layers had all remained separate! A sigh of relief, as I cut through the cake and it infact looked damn good! Can't say it lasted very long though, with all those hungry faces staring at it as I cut each slice, it was all gone within 10 minutes! Check it out, I've also posted some of the other recipes that I was a bit to lazy to blog enough! My grandpa's 93rd birthday cake: My brother's welcome home cake;
Friends 21st birthday cakes:
Creme brulee:

Orange and lemon yoghurt cake: