JOY THE SWEET LIFE! ZUMBO COMES TO DVD – MAY 4, 2011 ($29.95srp)  

Available this May – just in time for Mother’s Day! – ZUMBO takes us behind the scenes of Adriano Zumbo’s delicious patisserie empire. The series is a delectable mix of tense kitchen reality, mouth-watering dessert ogling and face to face time with Zumbo himself, as well as many of his colourful and talented colleagues – all the while charging towards a stunning end-of-show gastronomic extravaganza.

Well known for his notoriously difficult Masterchef challenges, Adriano Zumbo is no ordinary patissier. His creations elicit admiration from critics and the public alike and for good reason; they’re unique in concept and execution – quite simply, you won’t find anything else quite like them in Australia. Inspired by the world around him, his desserts tell a story or take on the personality of their namesakes. Zumbo’s fertile mind, exceptional skill and natural curiosity for unlikely ingredients are his biggest assets.

This country boy’s first taste of the sweet life was raiding the lollies and cake mix from his parent’s Coonamble supermarket. In his pursuit of mastering the art of pastry, he has trained and worked both in Australia and France with Australian culinary greats such as Neil Perry and international heavyweights Ramon Morato and Pierre Herme. Zumbo has long said that his goal is to ‘caramelise the nation’ and he
is well on his way to achieving this.

MASTERCHEF star ADRIANO Zumbo comes to DVD May 4, 2011 – $29.95srp.

Want to cook like Zumbo? Check out the recipe below!

Golden Macarons Recipe

Ingredients

Vanilla-gold ganache
200g white chocolate, cut into small pieces
120g cream
1 vanilla bean
65g unsalted butter
2 sheets 23-carat edible gold

Macaron shells
95g egg whites
125g caster sugar
40g water
270g TPT (this is a mix of halfblanched ground almond meal and half pure icing sugar. To make it yourself,
put 135g whole blanched almonds and 135g icing sugar in a food processor)
2 tbsp gold powder
Metallic gold dust, to decorate

INGREDIENTS PREPARATION
The ganache: Place the chocolate in a stainless steel bowl. Set the bowl aside. In a saucepan, mix your cream and vanilla over medium heat. Bring to the boil. Pour the cream mixture over the chocolate and wait 20 seconds, allowing the heat of the cream to melt the chocolate. Stir the mixture with a whisk until a glossy ganache forms. When the chocolate has completely melted, add the butter.

Stir the butter through and mix well. Gently break up the gold leaf and fold it in. When you begin to see little gold flecks, the ganache is done. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap, making sure it touches the surface of the mixture. Then put the bowl in the fridge.

The golden shells:
Crack the eggs and separate them. Put 50g of egg whites in one bowl and 45g in another. Pour the water into a saucepan. Add the sugar and gently stir. Place the mixture on the stove and, using a cooking thermometer, stir until the temperature reaches 118°C.

Meanwhile, put the TPT mixture in another bowl. Make a well in the centre of the TPT and place 45g of egg whites in the well. The egg whites should just sit in the nest. Set that bowl aside. Place the remaining batch of egg whites into the clean, dry bowl of a food processor.

On medium speed, slowly run the hot sugar mixture down the side of the bowl so it blends in with the egg whites. After 3-5 minutes, it should form a firm, glossy meringue mixture. Take the bowl with the TPT mixture and gently fold through the meringue mix. Then lastly, add the gold powder. Fit a piping bag with a 9mm tube.

Fill the bag half-way, and pack the mixture down tight so there are no air bubbles. Line a tray with baking paper. Make each shell about the size of a 20-cent piece. Lay out the shells in alternate rows so the air flow on the tray is nice and even.

When finished, pick up the tray and lightly tap the bottom. That will get rid of any excess air. Set the tray aside for about 30 minutes or until a skin forms on the top of the shells. Once they’re touch-dry, put the shells in the oven at 135°C and bake for 15 minutes. When the shells are cool, flip them out and match them up in pairs.

Assembly:
Take the vanilla-gold ganache out of the fridge and load up the piping bag using a 7mm tube. Pipe a ball of ganache, roughly the size of a 20-cent piece, onto half of the shells. Then top with the remaining shells to make a beautiful golden sandwich.

For the finishing touch, take a dry brush and skim a little metallic gold dust on top of each macaron, then turn the macaron over and repeat on the other side. Put them on a baking tray, cover them with plastic wrap, then leave in the fridge overnight.