Always on the lookout for things to grow to cook, this year, I tried tomatillos for the first time.
Tomatillos need to cross-pollinate with each other, so I pick up four plants from the farmers market.
From the four plants, I ended up with a haul of about 5 cups.
Not enough to made jam, but enough to come up with a cake recipe.
Recipe - Tomatillo upside-down cake
Gluten-free, made with tomatillos fresh from the kitchen garden, stone-ground cornmeal and Gippsland buttermilk.
Ingredients
2 cups of tomatillos
1 pinch of vanilla seeds
330 grams of caster sugar
4 eggs
2 egg whites
160 MLS of buttermilk
1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
110 grams of cornmeal
90 grams of almond meal
1 teaspoon of baking powder
0.25 teaspoon cream of tartar
Method
- Preheat the oven to 180C
- Weigh out sugar into 165-grams, 110-gram and 55-gram portions
- Grease and line a 23 cm springform pan. Place the springform onto a sheet of aluminium foil and bring up the sides of the pan to prevent the syrup from leaking during cooking.
- Random place the tomatillos in the lined springform pan.
- Place the 165-gram portion of sugar in a small saucepan with 80 MLS of water and a pinch of vanilla seeds. Bring to the boil over medium heat. Cook until thickened, but not golden. Pour over the tomatillos.
- Separated eggs. Place egg whites, with extra egg white in the bowl of the mix master. Whisk to soft peak. Add cream of tartar and the 55-gram portion of sugar. Whisk until you have stiff peaks
- If you only have one bowl for the mix master, scarp out the egg whites and put in a spare bowl. Put aside until needed. Wipe out the mix master bowl, you may want to rise out the whisk.
- Combine egg yolks with the 110-gram portion of sugar in the bowl of the mix master. Whisk until egg yolks combine to a ribbon.
- Fold the cornmeal, almond meal and baking powder into the whipped egg yolks. Stir in the buttermilk.
- Fold in the egg whites. Pour the cake batter over the tomatillo.
- Place in the oven and bake for 50 minutes.
- To serve, invert on to a plate.
Acknowledgment of country
Hello, I’m Jaci Hicken, from the lands of the Brataualung clan, which is where I’ve spent most of my life.
I would like to acknowledge all of us here today to cook together and share a meal.
I love sharing my dream of growing the food this country has to offer and share it with you.
The traditional place that we come together today is on the lands Gunaikurnai people
And I’d like to pay my respects to our elders past, present, emerging leaders, along with all the young people in our community.