Recipes from professional Chef Tallyrand:

MAYDAY ROLLS A LA TALLYRAND

Mayday . . . Mayday . . . Mayday . . .

No not a cry a help from me, but Wednesday of this week is ‘May Day’; the international working class holiday, the start of Spring.

Mayday, originated in pagan Europe; it was a festive holy day celebrating the first planting of Spring. The ancient Celts and Saxons celebrated May 1st as Beltane or the day of fire (Bel was the Celtic god of the sun), with the Saxons actually beginning their celebrations on April 30th, just as we do with new year. It was an evening of games and feasting, all marking the end of winter and the start of Spring.

The Celtic tradition of Mayday in the British Isles continued to be celebrated throughout the middle ages by rural and village folk. In Europe the actual celebrations varied according to locality, however they were immensely popular with artisans and villagers until the Eighteenth century. The celebrations were eventually outlawed by the Catholic church, which could not eliminate many of the traditional feasts and holy days of the ‘old religion’, so they were transformed into Saint days. I have been researching this month the patron saints associated with food; those that represent chefs, cooks, pastry chefs, bakers etc. If you would like to know more about them <click here>

Food wise these festivities were a time for anything sweet and included the baking and eating of large oatcakes called bannocks, similar to the recipe for the ANZAC biscuits last week <click here> - just replace the golden syrup for honey. Traditionally a portion of the cake was burned or marked with ashes, the unfortunate soul who received the marked piece was sacrificed to the gods!

As a child I was brought up with the song; “Here we go gathering nuts in May”, so I have been busy in the kitchen this week coming up with a recipe that ‘gathers’ all these festive traditions together into one recipe. I thought and tried biscuits, cakes etc and then I had a Eureka moment! The result is this recipe . . . I hope you see all the relevancies and ironies . . .

Ingredients

spring roll wrappers	4	pc
hazelnut spread/paste	2	tsp
peaches	1	pc
apples	1	pc
pears	1	pc
hazel nuts (roasted and chopped)	2	tsp
brown sugar	1	tbs
ground cinnamon		sq
ground nutmeg		sq
ground ginger		sq
honey	4	tbs
orange	1	pc

Method

1. Cut the fruits into neat segments, by cutting in half, quarters and then eighths (cut again if using large fruits)
2. Combine these fruits in a bowl with the chopped hazelnuts, brown sugar and spices to taste allow to sit at room temperature for an hour so the flavours may all infuse and combine
3. Drain if required (the sugar may draw liquid from the fruits)
4. Lay the wrappers out and spread with the hazelnut paste to within 2 cm of the edges
5. Brush these edges lightly with water or beaten egg
6. Place a line of the fruit mixture onto the wrapper (a quarter of the way up the wrapper)
7. Fold over the edges to seal the fruit in and roll or fold into a spring roll shape
8. Set to one side to allow the edges to seal completely for at least 10 minutes
9. Remove the zest from the orange and cut into fine strips
10. Place the honey in a saucepan, squeeze in the orange juice and add the orange zest
11. Place over a medium heat and simmer for 3 - 4 minutes
12. Deep fry and drain the spring rolls, place onto plates, drizzle with the honey dressing and finish a with a nice sprig of mint and / or some blue borage flowers

Chef's Tip:

You may need to adjust the ingredients slightly depending on the size of wrappers and fruits that are available to you.

Enjoy and bon appetit . . . . .

Published 29 April 2002