LATE AUTUMN TO EARLY WINTER // Recipe for four

Wild honey, brioche, frozen milk and macadamias

Each year we are given honey by neighbours and other beekeepers in our region. We keep our own European honey bees at Biota, but this recipe was developed using honey from wild flowers pollinated by native bees. The dish is essentially in honour of the humble bee.

MACADAMIA CREME

300 g (10½ oz) toasted macadamias

400 ml (14 fl oz) full-cream cow’s milk

12 g (½ oz) gellan gum

Preheat the oven to 145°C (293°F). Put the nuts on a baking tray and toast for 14 minutes. Meanwhile, gently warm the milk. Tip the toasted nuts into the warm milk, cover and leave in the fridge overnight to infuse. Strain the milk into a saucepan, add the gellan and heat to 84°C (183°F). Pour into a container and leave to set in the fridge. Purée until smooth.

FROZEN MILK

600 ml (21 fl oz) full-cream cow’s milk

100 ml (3½ fl oz) goat’s milk

120 g (4¼ oz) cane sugar

Whisk together all the ingredients until the sugar has dissolved. Pour into a shallow tray and freeze. Run a fork through the milk every 30 minutes to break up the ice particles.

BRIOCHE

450 g (1 lb) bakers’ (strong) flour

8 g (¼ oz) salt

20 g (³/₄ oz) dried yeast

70 g (2½ oz) fine cane sugar

200 ml (7 fl oz) full-cream cow’s milk

2 eggs

120 g (4¼ oz) salted butter, softened

Mix the flour, salt, yeast, sugar, milk and 50 ml (1³/₄ fl oz) water to form a dough. Once the dough forms a ball and pulls away from the side of the bowl, add the eggs, one at a time, and mix until the dough comes back together. Leave to rest for 30 minutes covered with a tea towel in a warm place.

Mix the dough again while adding the soft butter. Leave to rest for 1 hour before making the loaf. Preheat the oven to 175°C (330°F). Put the dough in a 30 x 10 cm (12 x 4 in) tin and bake for 40 minutes.

MEAD GEL

100 ml (3½ fl oz) mead

185 g (6½ oz) wild honey

6 lavender buds

12 g (½ oz) iota carrageenan

Stir together the mead, wild honey and 375 ml (13 fl oz) water in a saucepan. Add the lavender buds and place over low heat for 20 minutes to infuse. Scoop out the lavender and stir in the iota. Heat to 80°C (176°F), then strain and leave to set in the fridge.

PRALINE

200 g (7 oz) cane sugar

240 g (8³/₄ oz) macadamias

60 g (2¼ oz) maltodextrin

40 g (1½ oz) yoghurt powder

10 g (¼ oz) salt

Put 40 ml (1¼ fl oz) water in a saucepan and add the sugar. Heat to 160°C (320°F), without stirring, until the sugar starts to caramelise. Take the caramel off the heat, stir in the macadamia nuts then quickly pour onto a paper-lined tray.

Leave until cold and then break up and crush in a food processor and pulse to a powder. Add the maltodextrin, yoghurt powder and salt. Store in an airtight container for up to 2 weeks.

ALSO ON THE PLATE

Dried milk skin about 10 g (¼ oz)

PLANTS TO FINISH

Lavender flowers