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I have a siphon!!  It took me ages to track one down, and my usual kitchen haunts had let me down, I couldn’t find one anywhere.  I googled, I internet shopped and finally I ended up at Chef’s Hat in South Melbourne, where there was only one kind left in stock.  It was more expensive than I expected at $155, but I have been desperate to try out a few of these recipes that need a siphon, so I lashed out and bought it for myself for Mothers’ Day – just a little early.

So, I’ve had the siphon sitting there for a few weeks staring at me asking me why I hadn’t used it.  So with a few people coming over and leafing through the “Bites” section of “In The Mix”, I landed on the Mozzarella Macarons.  These are a little weird in that they are not cooked – they are frozen!  So it’s quite a quirky dish.

The stars were aligned, because went I went to the supermarket there was only one brand of Mozzarella in water – and it was on sale.  Marked down from $6.99 for 110 grams to $4.19.  The use by date was only a few days away, but as I was planning to make and eat in the one day, it was perfect.  I bought three containers thinking I’d need to for the 250 grams of Mozzarella, but I got 250 grams in just two containers – so I have no idea where the 110 grams on the packet came from?!?

My first step was to put two trays lined with baking paper in the freezer, to get them really, really cold.  Our fridge wasn’t cooperating, the freezer part wouldn’t fit the trays I had, so I had to use the beer fridge freezer.  Make sure the area you are going to put the trays in is pretty level, otherwise you’ll have oddly shaped macarons.

Because I’d used the leaf gelatine a few weeks ago, I knew it was gold strength – so that was one weight off my mind.  I’d hate to go to all the trouble of making this recipe and then not have the macarons set!

The actual making of the mixture is simple – just remember not to throw out the mozzarella water when you take the mozzarella out of the container.

Once you’ve made the mix, you put it in the siphon and chill if for an hour or so.  Then you have to get up the courage to use the siphon.  I was an absolute novice and it seemed a bit weird to me.  My first lot of macarons were very oddly shaped, and I think I wasted about half of the gas trying to siphon the mix out on an angle rather than turning the whole siphon upside down and going from there.  I also tried the two different nozzles the siphon came with, and I should have stuck with the first one, the plain one.  Although the cream style nozzle did make nice little star shapes, I would have preferred the traditional macaron shape.  So, if you’ve never used a siphon before, turn the whole thing upside down and then press the button to dispense the mix.  I also had to recharge the siphon with another canister half way through siphoning.  This might have been because I didn’t have the courage to completely invert it at first!

I wasn’t thinking when I thought I’d run out of mixture, and thought I had used it all up.  In retrospect, it still felt quite heavy and I was happy with the number of macarons I’d made, so I took the lid off, and put it under the tap.  Hmmm, I could have made about double what I did make – I just should have shaken it a little to get the mixture moving in there.

You’d have to have lots of chilled trays to get everything done in one go – and enough room in your freezer to sit them all, but I left my first lot in the freezer for an hour, then peeled off the baking paper, and concertina folded the discs into layers.I reused the tray for my next lot of siphoning with a fresh sheet of baking paper.  I’m wondering if doing mine in shifts a few hours apart was what made the mixture settle in the bottom of the siphon?   I bet you could even make the macaron discs a few days before your event, if you were so inclined, and kept them in a container on the paper to stop ice crystals forming.

Next time I make these, I’ll also double or triple the amount of tomato sugo I use.  I love tomato and I think these would be even better with more of a tomato hit.

I was in a flurry trying to get these plated up and served because I thought they’d start to melt, but as it turns out, I think they’re best when they’ve been able to warm up a little – say 10 or 15 minutes.  They still keep their shape after that, but can be a little hard to get off the plate. If you serve them too soon you only really taste ice.

I’ll make these again, as I think once you’ve got the siphoning technique down they’ll be a breeze to make – I’ll just have to buy some smaller trays so I don’t have to keep running out to the garage!