Where I Ate Last with Tony Astle: Madame Social and Summer Pudding with Meringue and Chantilly Cream

This week Tony Astle ate at Madame Social, an Asian fusion eatery and bar in Napier. 

He sampled the Madame Beef Tataki with ponzu, pickled daikon, and fried garlic, as well as the red braise brisket and shiitake mushroom spring rolls, and the Pork and Pāua dumplings, among others. 

LISTEN ABOVE 

 

Recipe of the Week: Summer Pudding with Meringue and Chantilly Cream   

6-8 portions (generous)   

Ingredients: Summer Pudding 

1.5 kg mixed fresh or frozen berries 

1 loaf toast white bread (18-20 slices) 

200 g raw brown sugar 

200 ml cassis*     

*Cassis is a wonderful blackcurrant liquor. If you want an alcohol-free pudding substitute cassis with a good quality blackcurrant syrup.  

 

 

Method: Summer Pudding 

1. Line a 1.5 litre bowl with plastic wrap allowing the wrap to hang well over the outer edges of the bowl. 
2. Combine the sugar and the berries. Bring to a gentle boil. Simmer for 2 minutes. Remove from heat, strain. Add the cassis to the berry juice. 
3. While the berries and sugar cook, remove the crusts from the bread (discard crusts). Flatten the sliced bread using a rolling pin. The toast bead slices should now be the thickness of sandwich bread. 
4. In a flat pan containing the berry juice from straining, place 2 or 3 bread slices. Turn them allowing the bread to absorb the berry juice. Lift out and line the prepared bowl with the juice saturated bread. Add a good layer of berries to the bottom of the bowl. 
5. Then repeat the saturated bread process and fill the bowl with alternate layers of saturated bread and berries, until the bowl is full. 
6. Remember, your last layer must be the saturated bread. 
7. Now, fold over the plastic wrap hanging from the sides of the bowl, encasing the top of the pudding. 
8. Find a suitable sized plate that fits inside the bowl and cover the pudding. Add a weight on top of the plate to compress the pudding. Put the pudding bowl on a plate to collect any overrun of juices (this should be minimal; the pudding should be sealed by the plastic wrap and the weighted plate. 
9. Refrigerate overnight, with the weighted plate compressing the pudding. 

 

Ingredients: Meringue 

2 egg whites                             

½ cup white sugar 

 

Method: Meringue 

1. Separate the eggs, keeping the yolks for something else. 
2. In a clean bowl, beat the egg whites until foamy and beginning to hold a peak. 
3. Gradually add half of the sugar and continue beating, until the whites are shiny and hold a soft peak. 
4. Gradually, add the remaining sugar. Continue beating until the meringue holds a stiff peak. 
5. Using a piping bag, or spoons shape 6-8 meringues onto silicon paper. 
6. Bake meringue at 110-120 deg C for 60 to 90 minutes, without colouring. 
7. Remove from the oven and cool. 

 

Ingredients: Chantilly Cream 

400 ml whipping cream 

icing sugar 

best quality vanilla 

 

Method: Chantilly Cream 

1. Combine cream vanilla and icing sugar, beat until it lightly peaks. 
2. Chantilly cream should be both sweet and vanillary… so don’t be afraid to add the icing sugar and vanilla! 

 

Assembly: 

1. Remove the weight and plate from the top of the pudding. 

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Finding the hidden gyms at the hospitality scene where I
ate last with Tony Astell on Kerry WOODAM Mornings and
a very good morning to you, Tony Estal.

Speaker 2 (00:10):
Here we are again. These fridays fly around there.

Speaker 1 (00:12):
Don't they They come very quickly. Looks like you've been
getting into the fest of season.

Speaker 2 (00:17):
I can't help myself, you know me. However, it's it's
only going to get worse in the next three weeks,
I might tell you. So I think they better put
me on a chain. And a lot of people that
liked me, how to ja I would think.

Speaker 1 (00:29):
No, But I mean it's great seeing I've been out
and about well, my daughter and I went out to
play it the Tom Sainsbury and Chris Parker play, which
was loads of fun, and had a supper beforehand. And
it's great seeing young people out and about and having
a good time, old people out and about having a

(00:50):
good time, and the restaurant's fill and people sitting outside,
and it's summer and the boot go are out and
everybody feels good.

Speaker 2 (00:57):
On Thursday, we tried to get into four restaurants all full,
which I was so excited about because you know, you've
been going you know, the last few months you go
there and you're the only people who and you feel
sorry for them. But it's booming again for Christmas, which
is fantastic.

Speaker 1 (01:12):
It is fantastic. Now, when you were in Napier, you
went to a couple of restaurants while you were there.
This one is Madame's Social Eatery and bar. The pictures
look fantastic.

Speaker 2 (01:22):
It's a it's a new place and I'm not quite
sure how you say it's a Napier. Oh god, I'm
glad you go it.

Speaker 1 (01:28):
It's the old port area and it's.

Speaker 2 (01:30):
Absolutely beautiful around there. You sit there and you see
all the boats and anyway, we just thought we'd going
for a quick lunch and it was you could. I mean,
the menu's very vast, you know, ranging from sort of
fourteen dollars little plates up to and you can have
a whole peaking duck which is ninety six dollars, but
that's one hundred and twenty around here, so I mean

(01:51):
that's reasonable our half for forty nine, but they've got
other anyway, it's just a menu. There's so many things
on it, but it's quite fusionly, you know, this French
stuff is but it's all turned into an Asian sort
of thing. That I mean we ended up with three
or one, two, three, four dishes and they were all

(02:11):
very very good, especially the beef to takey with ponzo
and pickled dikon.

Speaker 1 (02:17):
That looks fantastic.

Speaker 2 (02:18):
And that was absolutely think because it was just said
on the outside, was in a beautiful Ponzu sauce which
wasn't too strong, and it was absolutely fantastic. And it
was only twenty dollars or I think twenty two dollars,
which and it was enough for two. So that was
fantastic and I mean I gave that a good four ticks.
I mean that was well worth it. The pork and

(02:38):
par with dumplings now they are screen doll I want
to eat you didn't it really.

Speaker 1 (02:43):
Absolutely, and they're done beautifully too.

Speaker 2 (02:46):
And they all handmade, which is and they made on
the bill and it's good. I mean that I think
was four four or five good signe. I mean that
was twenty two dollars. That's very very reasonable.

Speaker 1 (02:57):
And that's not too much pastry either. It's just enough
to encase it. And plenty of.

Speaker 2 (03:01):
The filling was you know, you know how you just
want par with sometimes it was just it was not tough,
but it had a bite to it. But that's where
and the source was magnificent and the oh and of course,
you know, may I can't help having the bits and pieces.
And I just had to have the brisket.

Speaker 1 (03:16):
Oh, yes, that looks good.

Speaker 2 (03:18):
I used to do. I used to do myself. I
used to do beef tendon spring rolls. But the Red
Brave brisket was unbelievably fantastic. And I love a shittaki mushroom,
you know, and it's got it's just a different taste,
isn't it.

Speaker 1 (03:30):
Texture.

Speaker 2 (03:31):
And you know that I've read a few report of
reviews and some of them actually and then I look
at the people that reviewers and I worry about them.
You know, they're people that aren't giving these people a
chance anyway. So I think it's well worth going to
this restaurant. It's it's actually very modern. But the stuff
was the vibe like, oh, it was fantasmic. We went

(03:51):
to lunchtime. There were a couple of old geriatrics including me,
you know, but there were some younger people. But people
were and they weren't over indulging. But I mean, we
had a glass of wine and we had a tiger
bear and we came out of there. It was only
for three of us, probably one hundred and twenty dollars.
Now that was reasonable and we were replete. You know,
it was fantastic. I mean, I really think people should

(04:14):
go and give it a chance. But I think on
the weekends it turns quite young. Yep. So if you're
old like me, you probably won't like it. But the
fit out is cost him a fortune, So I really
hope that works because I mean, Napier's a fantastic place
at the moment. I just love it down there.

Speaker 1 (04:29):
I love I whod ready and so there's lots of
good little restaurants and hotels and the beach.

Speaker 2 (04:33):
And they're all on walking Discy yeah you know, and
it's and the beaches. I mean, it's just fantastic now.
I just love it.

Speaker 1 (04:39):
Oh God, Okay, So definitely with the try that's Madam's
Social Eastery and bar, corner of Western Customs. Key are
hoo ready in Napier. Some are putting my range and
Chantali Krim is this your take on an eat and mess?

Speaker 2 (04:51):
Yeah, well it's well, you throw a few meringues on
top of that. I mean, summer pudding was a huge
This is not actually my recipe, finnily enough, but my
recipe was far too complicated, and I thought I'd take
this one. But I mean, it's look as you want
stalish bread. Berries are cheap at the moment, but you
do fifty to fifty frozen. But if you follow the recipe,

(05:11):
you know it's worth doing in the Marines. It's so
easy and it's quite it's a great Christmasy thing.

Speaker 1 (05:16):
Yeah, it looks pretty nice and light, lovely little taste and.

Speaker 2 (05:19):
You've got to have that casise. My god, you've got
to have that casise.

Speaker 1 (05:22):
I believe you, Tony very much. I can have an equivalent.

Speaker 2 (05:28):
It's all good.

Speaker 1 (05:28):
You'll find that on our website at Newstalk SIDB dot
co dot Nz.