Festive Feast
Forever a fan of local flavours and bringing people together, Matt Golinski popped into Raelene Boyle’s place to cook up a Festive Feast infused with Australia’s first organic rum, Nil Desperandum – distilled in the foothills of Woombye, Sunshine Coast. Subscribe to the Nil Desperandum newsletter or visit the website for more rum fun and creations that are too good to only have when the tinsel is in town! Enjoy year-round!
Roasted Pork Loin with Rum and Brown Sugar Pears, Currants and Thyme
Serves 6
Ingredients:
- 1.2 kg skin on pork loin
- 1 lemon, halved
- 2 tsp salt
- ½ cup brown sugar
- 60ml Nil Desperadum Rum
- ½ cup currants
- 6 pears, cored and cut into wedges
- 2 tbs fresh thyme
Method:
- Preheat oven to 220°C.
- Pour boiling water over the skin of the pork and dry well with paper towel. Rub with the lemon and sprinkle on the salt.
- In a small saucepan, combine the currants, rum and brown sugar and simmer for 5 minutes.
- Mix with the pear wedges in a bowl and set aside.
- Roast the pork for 20 minutes at 220°C or until the skin crackles, then reduce the oven temperature to 160°C, add the pears and roast for another 30 minutes or until the internal temperature of the pork reaches 63°C.
- Allow the pork to rest for 10 minutes before carving.
- Serve topped with the pears and currants, plenty of the pan juices and a sprinkling of fresh thyme.
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Roast Chicken, Nectarine, Fetta and Almond Salad with Rum, Honey and Mustard Dressing
Serves 6
Ingredients:
- 1 whole size 17 chicken
- 50ml Nil Desperandum Rum
- 50gm honey
- 30ml red wine vinegar
- 2 tsp whole seed mustard
- Salt and pepper
- 50ml extra virgin olive oil
- 6 nectarines, sliced
- 100gm rocket
- 150gm Woombye Cheese fetta
- 100gm flaked almonds, toasted
Method:
- Rub the chicken with oil and season with salt and pepper.
- Roast for one hour at 180°C or until the juices from the leg run clear when pricked with a knife.
- Allow the chicken to cool, then shred into pieces and refrigerate.
- In a small saucepan, simmer the rum, honey and vinegar for 2 minutes, remove from the heat and whisk in the mustard and olive oil. Season with salt and pepper and cool.
- Toss the chicken, rocket and nectarines with the dressing and transfer to a serving bowl.
- Crumble over the fetta and sprinkle with toasted almonds.
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Mango, Coconut, Lime and Rum Trifle
Serves 8
Ingredients:
- 4 mangoes, diced
- 5 eggs
- 180 gm castor sugar
- 180gm plain flour, sifted
- 50gm desiccated coconut
- 100ml Nil Desperandum rum
- 100gm white sugar
- 100ml water
- 2 cups double thick custard
- Zest and juice of 2 limes
- 250gm Coyo Greek style coconut yoghurt
- 250ml thickened cream
Method:
- Line a 30cm springform cake tin with baking paper.
- Preheat oven to 155°C.
- Whisk eggs and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer until very light and fluffy.
- Gently fold in the coconut and flour and scrape into the cake tin.
- Bake for 25 minutes, remove from the oven and cool.
- In a small saucepan, bring the rum, sugar and water to the boil and simmer for 2 minutes. Cool.
- Mix the custard with the lime zest and juice.
- Whip the cream until quite stiff, then fold into the coconut yoghurt.
- To assemble, dice the sponge and divide between 8 serving glasses, then drizzle with the rum syrup.
- Add a layer of diced mango, then the custard and finish with a layer of the coconut yoghurt cream.
- Sprinkle the tops with shredded coconut and refrigerate until required.
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