Issue No.26

Recipes and wine matches
Ingredients
Filing
140g unsalted butter at room temperature
125g caster sugar
2 large eggs
2 tablespoons dark rum
1 lemon or orange
140g ground almonds
1 tablespoon plain flour
Casing
Packet of puff pastry (650g)
1 egg
Icing sugar
Method
Beat the butter and sugar together until pale and creamy. Mix in the eggs, a bit at a time and
beat well. Zest the lemon (or orange) and beat in with the the rum. Fold the almonds and
flour in and then put in the fridge while you sort out the pastry,
Divide the pastry in two and roll out one half into a 28cm circle. Put the pasty on baking
paper on a baking tray. Spread the filling over the pastry and leave around an inch of pastry
uncovered all the way round the edge.
Roll out the other half of the pastry and cut into a circle as above. Brush the clear edge of
the first pastry circle with the beaten egg and place the second pastry slice over the top. Pop
it in the fridge for 1 to 12 hours.
Preheat oven to 220 ˚C. Paint the top of the pie with beaten egg (but not the edges). Cut
the pie with a sharp knife to create a spiral pattern.
Bake for 25 to 30 minutes or until golden and beautifully risen.
Wine Pairing
Sauternes is one of the very few areas in the world to
have all the conditions necessary to develop the good
kind of botrytis cinerea, or “noble rot”, that will dry
the berries, concentrate the sugar and impart specific
flavors and aromas of apricots, exotic fruits, ginger,
and honey. This is a wine fit for kings, and it will pair
wonderfully with this exquisite Pithiviers. The
intensely fragrant nose of the wine will perfectly
match the enticing aromas of the dessert, while its
generous body will be a good fit for the richness of
the almond filling. The Sauvignon blanc in the wine
brings a nice acidity, to balance the voluptuous
Semillon. The nice citrus character (orange rinds) of
the wine should do wonders with the orange/lemon
notes of the dessert.
Sauternes L’Ilôt de Haut Bergeron 2016 from Hervé
and Patrick Lamothe – 80% Semillon/20%
Sauvignon is perfect with this recipe...