Sunday 9 July 2006

po·len·ta, pine nut co·ri·an·der mad·e·leines

There has been a Declaration of the Independence of New Zealand, signed in 1835, prior to the better known Treaty of Waitangi, which was signed in 1840. The Declaration of Independence of New Zealand was signed by Maori chiefs and the official representative of Britain in New Zealand to declare an independent state with the United Kingdom as protector.

It also appears that it was signed in the hope that it would make the British people living in New Zealand better behaved! And for the United Kingdom to declare sovereignty before France! Very altruistic of the British Empire, what?!

So, to be philosophical, in order to appreciate the independence we now experience in our respective countries we must search for memories of lost times [Is that too obvious a reference to Proust?!]. So my recipe to celebrate independence is one for polenta, pine nut and coriander madeleines.

Who knows, if the British hadn't beaten the French to the post, we might have been eating madeleines instead of ANZAC biscuits!

Along with Independence, the ingredients for , as hosted by Kevin of Seriously Good are :
Corn
Pine nuts
Ground coriander
I made the madeleines like this :

Polenta, pine nut and coriander madeleines

25g butter, melted
1 small egg
salt
20g polenta
25g pine nuts
1 scant teaspoon coriander seeds
1 teaspoon flour

Put a medeleine tin in the fridge to made brushing with butter easier.
Beat the egg with a pinch of salt until the consistency of mayonnaise, about 5 minutes in an electric mixer.
Grind the polenta, pine nuts and coriander seed until fine. Do this in stages, perhaps by pulsing the machine to stop it from forming pine nut butter.
Push the pine nut, polenta and coriander mixture through a sieve over the now beaten egg and sieve over the flour. Fold in gently, but thoroughly. Fold in all but a teaspoon of the melted butter.
Put the mixture in the fridge to rest for at least an hour.
Brush the madeleine tin well with melted butter, chilling the tin stops the butter from just pooling in the bottoms.
Take the madeleine mixture from the fridge and let come to room temperature for half an hour.
Preheat the oven to 220°c.
Put teaspoon dollops of the mixture into the tin and bake for 3 to 5 minutes or until firm.
Turn out onto a rack to cool.

Serve as an hors d'oeuvre with a glass of dry sherry and indulge the involuntary memories of the independence of your country!

Addendum : These go really well with a good garlicky guacamole.
After finishing taking the photos and writing up this post we ate the madeleines and decided to make a guacamole to go with them to use the perfect avocado sitting on the shelf. Lovely. Corn and guacamole are always a good combination.

3 comments:

Emma said...

I hope you do too Bron, looking forward to seeing what you come up with for the Independance theme.

Jen said...

I have just discovered how great it is to bake with polenta, it gives things that delightful crunch. Your madeleines look gorgeous! And happy independence day!

Anonymous said...

Clever use of the ingredients Emma. I wonder what Proust would say if served these with his tea.