CHEESEY MADELEINES.

They're the new cheese biscuits, to serve with olives and drinks. Unforgettable.

Nobody needs madeleines in their lives. Charming little cakes do not feature heavily in Maslow’s Theory of Motivation.  

In 1943, American psychologist, Abraham Maslow, suggested that our most urgent motivations are to make sure we have sufficient food and water, security, and a roof over our heads. Only when those fundamental needs are met, do we think about the need for friendship, love and esteem.

Even more discretionary, is the motivation to be creative, to search for meaning, or to seek transcendence.

Well! To suggest that charming little cakes have little to do with transcendence, is just plain silly.  Especially when those charming little cakes take a turn towards the savoury, to be served warm from the oven with a glass of vermouth.

That, Mr Maslow, is extremely motivating.

Madeleines, to define their original brief, are small, rich, little sponge cakes baked in fluted shell-like moulds. The traditional French recipe is sweet, fragrant and buttery, and memorable enough to have inspired 1761 words in Marcel Proust’s novel Remembrance of Things Past.

Fun fact: Proust wrote that madeleines “look as though they had been moulded in the fluted scallop of a pilgrim's shell”, in reference to the symbolic use of scallop shells to denote ancient pilgrimages.

This tells me that if you are not in possession of a dedicated madeleine tin, you could consider baking your madeleines in scallop shells. And then I remembered! I’ve seen that very thing at the marvelous Pipit restaurant in Pottsville, in the Northern Rivers of NSW. Madeleines of cobia fish fat and seaweed, baked in scallop shells.

And only THEN did it occur to me that I had just seen tiny madeleines in oyster shells at Josh and Julie Niland’s Petermen Dining in Sydney, days before.

Let’s face it, Proust has by far the better memory. Imagine if those madeleines of his had just slipped his mind because he was too busy. The horror.

So here’s the recipe for maddies that are not sweet but savoury, and that have no butter and sugar. But they do have plenty of grated cheese, which makes them smell pretty wonderful. And hopefully, memorable.

CHEESE MADELEINES

With green olives and preserved lemon. Makes 12

• A little olive oil for brushing

• 150 g plain flour

• 2 tsp baking powder

• Half tsp salt, a grind or two of pepper

• Half tsp smoked paprika

• 2 tsp thyme leaves, finely chopped

• 3 large eggs

• 75 g grated parmesan, gruyere or manchego

• 2 pickled jalapeno rounds, finely chopped

• 1 tbsp stoned green olives, finely chopped

• 2 tsp preserved lemon rind, finely chopped

• 100 ml buttermilk or natural yoghurt 

• 2 tbsp olive oil

Heat the oven to 200C.

Lightly brush the madeleine moulds with a little olive oil.

Sift the flour and baking powder together in a large bowl, add the salt, pepper, paprika and thyme leaves, and make a well in the middle.

In a second bowl, beat the eggs until smooth and frothy, then beat in the grated cheese, jalapeno, green olives, preserved lemon, buttermilk, and 2 tbsp olive oil.

Fold the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients, gently mixing until just combined.

At this point, you can cover the batter and refrigerate it for half an hour, or even overnight.

Spoon into the moulds, filling each to three-quarters full.

Bake for 10 to 11 minutes or until puffed, springy, and lightly golden.

Flip each madeleine over in its mould and leave for a minute, then serve warm, tummy-side up.

# Madeleine purists insist the batter should be refrigerated, so that it goes into the hot oven cold. If you don’t have time, that’s fine. But it does mean that you can make the batter a day ahead, and then just bake to order, which is fab.

# If you don’t have preserved lemon, use a little lemon zest. If you like saltiness, add some finely chopped anchovy.

# When a recipe calls for preserved lemon, it means to use only the rind, or skin. Push the inner lemon pulp and seeds off with your thumb and discard, then slice or chop the rind. Whether you rinse the rind or not is ultimately up to how salty it is, and how much you can cope with that.

# Yes, they reheat well – just warm through at 180C for 5 minutes.

# Use two spoons to transfer the batter to the moulds. I find it easier to scoop the batter up with a dessertspoon and use another to slide it off into the mould. It also helps with getting a consistent amount into each mould, for those of us who would prefer to boil in oil rather than pick up a piping bag.

# Don’t panic if your madeleines don’t brown on top. They’re not going to. It’s all about the other side, as you will discover when you flip them over and see their swollen fluted tummies.

Thanks for dropping by! And as always, thanks for your comments and suggestions. Special thanks to Terry for the vermouth, complete with a twist. Makes you feel sorry for Proust, really, that he didn’t have a Terry.

I would like to acknowledge the traditional owners of the lands and waters upon which I work, live, cook and play; the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation, and pay my respects to Elders past and present, and to the continuing strength and resilience of First Nations people, communities and cultures.