Cardamom and Saffron Parfait

May 5, 2006

Today’s recipe comes courtesy of Leicester O’Loughlin at the Blue Tongue restaurant in Melbourne’s suburban Ellwood. My son Ben works there weekends and mentioned how popular this dish was and Leicester kindly shared his recipe.

Leicester’s saffron and cadamom parfait contains the world’s most expensive spice, saffron. Saffron threads are the stigmas of a small mauve crocus native to the Kashmir. As there are only three stigmas per flower, it takes many thousand flowers to produce a kilo of saffron. Fortunately saffron should be used sparingly, so only a few threads are required to lend the spice’s flavour and golden hue to a dish.

Saffron is generally soaked in warm water before use and the water is used in the dish. In this recipe milk is the liquid medium.

The second spice is green cardamom, reputedly the world’s third most expensive spice though I didn’t find it too exhorbitant. There are several varieties of cardamom – brown Indian, brown Chinese, green and Thai. They have different flavours and are not interchangeable in recipes.

Green cardamom pods fetch the best prices. They have a sweet pungency and are also used sparingly. Cardamom is indigenous to southern India and Sri Lanka though in recent times an increasing amount has been grown in Guatemala. It is popular in the Middle East where it is added to coffee. I gave the pods a little bash with a pestle to bruise them and uncover the seeds.

Saffron and Cardamom Parfait

300ml milk
6 green cardamom pods
pinch saffron strands
125g castor sugar
3 egg yolks
2 whole eggs
500ml whipped cream

Boil the milk, cardamom and saffron to a reduction, then strain. (Watch the pot and as soon as the milk comes to a boil, turn down the heat as low as possible.)

Whisk the whole egg and yolks together with the sugar until thick then pour into the milk mixture. Cook gently over a low heat until the mixture will coat the back of a spoon. Refrigerate this custard until chilled.

Whip the cream till it forms soft peaks (don’t over-beat) then fold in the custard. Place in an ice cream machine and churn until thick. If you don’t have an ice cream maker, place the mix in an ice cream container and place in the freezer. When it starts to freeze, whisk it with a fork or blend quickly in a food processor, then re-freeze. Serve with poached fruits. Makes about one litre.

Note: Leicester says he does not cook the egg and milk mixtures together but just chills them before adding them to the whipped cream. But the above method works well if you are reluctant to eat uncooked eggs. Either way, make sure everything is cold before combining with the whipped cream.

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