Achacha fruit launch and another Freebie Friday Double

Friday, November 27, 2009

Achacha. Try saying that out loud without shaking your hips.

I first encountered achacha at the Eveleigh farmers market earlier this year. A native Amazonian fruit, the first commercial plantation outside of Bolivia commenced in Northern Queensland in 2002.

Achacha are a distant relative to the mangosteen and have a similar creamy sweet flesh with a slight sherbet tang. The modest crop late last year was limited to Sydney farmers markets, but the latest harvest will be introduced into fruit shops from next week, including Harris Farm, Thomas Dux and Norton Street Grocers. The fruit will also be made available in Brisbane, Melbourne, Hong Kong and Singapore.

The official launch was held at the new Baroque Bistro and Patisserie for chefs, media and a small contingent of food bloggers.

Tarts with goats cheese mousse and confit cherry tomato

Baroque Bistro is the new bistro counterpart to my favorite cake shop in the city, La Renaissance Patisserie. We sipped on achacha champagne cocktails and were plied with a wide selection of canapes by Chef Yann Fontaine (ex- Le Pelican, Quay, Bilson's and Bathers' Pavilion).

Goats cheese tarts had a lovely crisp shell, sweet with tomato on a warmed muddle of goats cheese. I saved the escargot on my quiche for last, savouring the earthy flavour and admiring its tenderness.

Quiche tarts with escargots

Croque monsieur

The croque monsieur was everything you could have wanted in a toasted sandwich, but I expect the Roquefort lollipops caught a few people offguard, with most only hearing the word "lollipop" and expecting marshmallow or something sweet. I loved this elegant morsel, the cube of tangy Roquefort hidden beneath a coating of toasted brioche crumbs.

Brioche-crumbed lollipop of Roquefort butter

Gazpacho of red cabbage, green apple and whipped cream

A layered gazpacho in two pretty shades of pink had a slight garlic kick, but it was the eclairs that got my attention. Masquerading as a chocolate eclair, this savoury choux pastry held rillettes of soft duck, the glaze not made from chocolate, but balsamic. Clever, and tasty.

Eclair with duck rillettes and balsamic glaze

Achacha granita and achacha jelly on a chocolate sable biscuit

Achacha featured in this cool and refreshing dessert, the achacha granita and jelly providing a perfect palate cleanser.

Dark chocolate mousse in chocolate domes

By this stage, one lovely waitress was well aware of the mandatory photography-stop for the gaggle of cameras. The petite domed desserts in chocolate and vanilla were irresistibly good.

Vanilla bavarois in white chocolate domes

Keen to try achacha for yourself? Read on because, yep, you guessed it, we have another Freebie Friday and it's a double giveaway.

Prize #1:
A gift box of 12 Achacha fruit

Want the try the newest fruit on the Australian market yourself? The kind folk from Achacha will send one lucky reader their own gift box of new harvest Achacha fruit.

Achacha has a unique flavour that is perfect for summer. Not only can you use the flesh in drinks and sorbets, the skins can also be blended with water and turned into a delicious drink.

THE PRIZE:
One gift box containing 12 new harvest achacha fruit.

This competition is open to ~~Sydney~~ NSW and QLD residents only.

HOW TO ENTER:
All you have to do is fulfil both requirements below:

Leave a comment on this post and tell us what is your favourite fruit and why?
And then send an email to grabyourforkfreebiefriday@yahoo.com.au with the subject heading "Achacha" and include your full name and a copy of your published comment on this post.

Prize #2:
MasterChef Australia: The Cookbook

Remember the Pressure Test featuring Adriano Zumbo's croquembouche? How could we forget! Relive all the memories with this collection of MasterChef recipes, including the contestant challenges as well as the contestants' own creations on the show. Recipes in the book include:

Poh's Buddha's delight
Lucas' Singapore chilli mud crab
Julie's steak with tarragon salt
Chris' roast half pig head
Adriano Zumbo's croquembouche
Matt Moran's chocolate tart from the show finale.

MasterChef Australia: The Cookbook will be available from December 1, 2009 and Random House Australia is giving away one book to a lucky Grab Your Fork reader.

THE PRIZE:
One copy of MasterChef Australia: The Cookbook (RRP $39.95)

This competition is open to Australian residents only.

HOW TO ENTER:
All you have to do is fulfil both requirements below:

Leave a comment on this post and tell us what is your favourite memory from the first series of MasterChef Australia and why?
And then send an email to grabyourforkfreebiefriday@yahoo.com.au with the subject heading "MasterChef" and include your full name and a copy of your published comment on this post.

The winning entry will be decided on honesty or entertainment value. Don't be shy! You gotta be in it to win it! Readers may submit one entry per day.

Please make sure you comment and send an email so I have your contact details should you win!

The MasterChef competition closes on Friday 11/12/09 at 5.30pm AEST. The winner will be announced on Grab Your Fork on Monday 14/12/09.

EDIT: Congratulations to the MasterChef cookbook winner announced here.

~~~

Don't forget that entries close today, Friday 27/11/09 5.30pm, for two more Grab Your Fork competitions.

You could win:
a copy of Great Grand and Famous Chefs plus
a copy of Lyndey Milan: The Best Collection.

Don't delay. Click on the links above to enter now!

~~~

Grab Your Fork attended the Achacha launch as a guest of Achacha.

View Larger Map

Baroque Bistro
88 George Street, The Rocks Sydney
Tel: +61 (02) 9241 4811

Open 7 days 8am-midnight

32 comments - Add some comment love

posted by Helen (Grab Your Fork) on 11/27/2009 01:33:00 am

32 Comments:

At 11/27/2009 2:12 am, Steph said…

I've always been curious to try the achacha fruit having seen around. It sure looks like it tasted amazing in/with all that amazing food!
At 11/27/2009 8:34 am, Stephcookie said…

Brioche crumbed roquefort butter lollipops?! Ohh I want some now! I will definitely need to check out baroque sometime soon, since I love la renaissance!
At 11/27/2009 9:12 am, joey@forkingaroundsydney said…

Wow, interesting looking fruit, and what a cool name! And what about the bilayered gazpacho? So visually appealing! Thanks for the fab review!
At 11/27/2009 9:14 am, Anonymous said…

Love the creamy texture, unique flavour of a just ripe lady's finger banana (and it comes in such a handy package). Judy
At 11/27/2009 9:38 am, rez said…

My favourite masterchef moment was when julie was describing her cookbook; My family and when she said there were going to be blank pages to put your own family recipies, i just melted..it was gorgeous and so heartfelt...now where is that cookbook :)!!
At 11/27/2009 9:48 am, Belvedere said…

Is vodka a fruit? No? Oh well, in that case my favourite fruit is mango. It's beautifully messy to eat, you have to respect a fruit with such massive stones, I love how you can carve those little cubes out of an inside-out cheek of mango and it is a revelation when soaked in vodka and served with ice cream. An edible work of art.
At 11/27/2009 11:03 am, Audrey said…

my favourite fruit, the king of all fruits. DURIAN !! it's a shame we can't get them in abundance like we can in malaysia. hmm...craving for some now
At 11/27/2009 11:06 am, Audrey said…

my fav memory of masterchef, when planetcake came on board. i was able to tell everyone that i'm partially connected to masterchef :D
At 11/27/2009 4:25 pm, bri said…

My favourite Masterchef moment was... well, anytime Adriano Zumbo appeared! His desserts are masterpieces and it was really interesting watching the contestants tackle them, and he's very charismatic ;)
At 11/27/2009 4:37 pm, Tresna said…

My favourite moment from MasterChef was one of the original challenges - the onion chopping! All those tears and cut fingers made me feel so much better about my dodgy cooking attempts.
At 11/27/2009 6:41 pm, Clkh said…

My Favorite masterchef moment was when they were in 2 teams and had to prepare a 3 course meal for Curtis Stone somewhere near a marina and come up with a decoration and theme as well. There were lots of creative ideas. When Curtis Stone appeared on screen, i died,went to heaven and came back to continue watching.
At 11/27/2009 8:52 pm, Arwen from Hoglet K said…

How exciting to have a new fruit coming in! The food at the launch looks interesting too - lots of sweet styles for savoury foods. The savoury eclair sounds more surprising than the lollipop.
At 11/28/2009 3:05 pm, Anonymous said…

No fruit is greater than the apple. Crunchy, tasty and healthy. Some say its too simple, too pedestrian but it is one of the most symbolic fruits throughout human history [temptation and knowledge] plus, who doesnt feel good nibbling on apples while repeating 'an apple a day keeps the doctor away' haha
At 11/28/2009 6:16 pm, thanh7580 said…

My favourite memory of Masterchef was when Julia cooked against Pete Evans and won. I thought the whole cooking against a professional chef thing was a gimmick to promote the chefs and never thought a contestant would win. So when Julia won, the surprise on everyone's face was truly memorable.
At 11/28/2009 10:41 pm, An said…

Those tarts and eclairs are clever - wonder how I can make them @home...

Oh gosh I adore fruit! I have a funny feeling I've seen achacha or something similar before in my travels in china, maybe Hong Kong, but never relaly tasted it. Or perhaps I mix it up with something similar?
My all time favourite fruit, one fruit that I can eat everyday for rest of my life? It'll be a tie between nashi/ya pear crossbreed, and the dragon eye tie.

Favourite masterchef moment:
Too many - can I list my top 3?

Announcing going to HK! And see how the dim sums are made @ the pros and lovely to see their reactions to wet markets (totally normal for me, one of my homes ;))

Chocolate mousse cake challenge - hello? It's a cake I'm not sure whether I can comtemplate and wrap my head around still. I'm still in awe of home cooks who have actually sucessfully replicated it.

I would ditto @thanh7580 with Julia winning the celebrity cookoff.

-------Funny MC moments-----
Just thinking about it the other day, and the Chris/Poh working in the ship of the wedding episode, and Chris took Poh into the cool room to literally "cool off". Random funny.

Also the heavyweights of Australian chef/cooks dinner - I notice a match for each guest with contestant style, so there's an "expert" for each contestant's style. Sort of. I thought that's interesting.
At 11/29/2009 7:45 am, Yas @ hungry.digital.elf. said…

Achacha!! (unable to stop shaking my hips)
Interesting, I had never heard of it!
At 11/29/2009 9:36 am, fennalia said…

Acacha...hmm...never really try those....

My favorite fruit would be banana. You don't need to wash them, cut them, you just peel them and eat them. They can be made into dessert, eat it for breakfast...put it in a sandwich with peanut butter and honey, elvis style...yummmm

My favorite moment from master chef would be in the challenge where the contestant need to replicate Adriano Zumbo's desert. I remember Chris' and Sam's macaroon, it was so funny. Especially when Chris cut them in half and Sam's one was very thin.
At 11/30/2009 10:27 am, Andrea said…

My Masterchef moment was Chris following his nose-to-tail philosphy and cooking a pig's head as his main course. That moment, plus his use of beer whenever he had the chance (for example, his beer-a-misu dessert).
At 11/30/2009 10:42 am, Cassandra said…

My fave part of the show was when ever chris was cooking! I loved watching him being so cheeky with his menu :) the half pig's head look sooo yum I would love that Recipe to try and recreate it!
At 11/30/2009 11:42 am, cassandra said…

mmmmm my fav fruit would be green grapes, they are just so refeshing! and when frozen they make great icy teats!
At 11/30/2009 9:59 pm, timmy said…

i like dragonfruit cause theyre to sexy! How can you go past those pink flames on its skin? And that sweet juicey inside. I like to cut mine in half and eat it like a kiwifruit :D
At 12/01/2009 12:14 pm, Jai said…

My favourite memory of Masterchef was the deep sea fishing challenge. The contestants were split up into blue and red teams, and the main ingredients were highly depended on what God wants to give them! LOL . I think it was the most difficult/stressful challenge compared to any other pressure tests even the wet market challenge in Hong Kong !!!!!! I still remember all the contestants need to wake up really early and took the boat trip to the sea.

The clock was ticking and the blue team's fishing bucket didn't have many gods' gift. They were so stressed out. When the time comes, blue team's leader Trevor decided to use the fishing baits as one of the theme ingredient for the challenge.

I can't stop laughing in front of the TV. I knew he will be out of the competition from that second.
At 12/01/2009 2:33 pm, Andrea said…

My favourite Masterchef moment was Chris following his nose-to-tail philosphy and cooking a pig's head as his main course.

Why? It's not your run-of-the-mill ingredient, I would be pleasantly surprised if it was served to me at a dinner party and it also demonstrated Chris' unwavering belief in using all the parts of an animal in cooking.
At 12/01/2009 3:16 pm, Jasmine1485 said…

My favourite Masterchef moment was the late-night wedding cake decorating. It was so tense and suspenseful but the cake turned out amazing, Poh did such a great job on the icing. It seemed as though they'd never finish and I was so happy for them when everything worked out, and the wedding went off without a hitch (except the marriage itself of course)!
At 12/05/2009 5:37 pm, Andrea said…

Another favourite Masterchef moment was when Matt Preston led Margaret Fulton into the kitchen.

Why? Because Matt is so tall and, dare I say it, bulky like a front rower and here he was, standing next to the dainty Margaret Fulton. It a contrast in sizes and everyone was gasping that they were cooking for a 'legend'.
At 12/06/2009 8:59 am, Cheryl of Adelaide said…

In the summer, I love yummy ripe peaches, I especially love them when the juice runs down my chin, and I am all sticky but tasty, in the winter I'm a pear'aholic' these yummy treats need to be ripe and juicy as well.......of course if neither are available, any fruit will do
At 12/06/2009 9:10 am, Cheryl of Adelaide said…

OOOOPPPPssss didn't read the details properly, I am not in Qld or NSW LOL
Anyway, even though I have no chance of 'taking home the prize' it is always fun making comments
At 12/07/2009 10:32 am, Lilia said…

My favourite memory from MasterChef first series is the last episode when Poh and Julie were trying to compete for the final episode. It was fun to see their friends who were ousted come up and watching them fight. I was having dinner in a Chinese restaurant in Hurstville and was trying to eat slowly from the start to finish of the last episode. My friends were also following it and even ordered more one meal at a time. I was sitting at front of the big TV and we were disappointed when Poh skipped the recipe procedures. From that moment I know that Poh was not going to win, if only she follow these procedures and not rushing up, she is my favourite with her hard work studying recipes every night and persevere. Seem those judges loves her, but George did look sad (did you notice his gloomy face when Poh answered him regarding not following recipe?) when she decided to skip the procedure/step by step recipe.
At 12/07/2009 2:06 pm, Unknown said…

The mango is my favourite fruit, because of it's faboulous sweet taste, aroma, creaminess, universal applications and high nutritional value.
At 12/09/2009 10:50 am, E said…

Apples are my favourite fruit because they taste so good and are available all year round! Although in summer mangoes and nectarines and cherries are also good!

My favourite masterchef moment was when Poh made her deep-fried meringues.. they looked sooo delicious!
At 2/10/2010 10:21 am, Jo said…

ooo can't believe i missed out on this one! i tried out some achacha fruit in cabramatta only recently. and i'm a big fan of mongosteens!
At 3/04/2010 2:39 pm, Helen (Grab Your Fork) said…

Thanks for all your entries everyone. Don't forget to check out the winners!