It’s not Summer, not even Spring, but Strawberries are out in the shops and are quite tasty. I had some tonight for tea with cream. I did sprinkle a bit of sweetner over the top of them.
I did think of adding a few blueberries to the fruit but there was enough with what I’d already prepared.
What I do like is the way cream fills in the little pores of the strawberries, it makes a nice pattern and could be cropped and put together as a collage. I might do that. Red is a favourite colour and this with the contrast of black and white makes a fresh looking image.
Jelly powder or cubes to make up about a pint of jelly. Choose your favourite flavour.
Fresh fruit, I use raspberries, blueberries or strawberries.
Blancmange powder or if preferred custard powder to make a pint.
Pint of milk.
Two tablespoons sweetner or sugar.
Fresh double cream, choose how much you want.
Toppings, can be glace cherries, or chocolate sprinkled on top or hundreds and thousands.
Make up a pint of jelly /sugar free jelly with about 3/4 of a pint of boiling water and a little slosh of port or sherry and add raspberries or blueberries or strawberries or a mixture of all three (I don’t use sponge fingers as they are too sugary.).
Let cool then store in the fridge overnight to set thoroughly.
Next mix blancmange powder or custard powder with a small amount of milk from a pint and sugar or sweetener to taste.
Put the rest of the milk on to boil, as it starts to boil carefully pour into the custard or blancmange powder mix, stir it in and then pour back into the pan, bring to the boil while stirring and let it thicken on the hob over about a minute.
Turn off the heat and let it cool. To stop it being too hot to pour onto the jelly (it will melt) place the pan of custard/blancmange into a larger pan of cold water (without getting the mixture wet) this allows it to cool, stir it every few minutes to stop it going lumpy and setting. When it is cool enough pour over the jelly.
Finally whisk the cream into stiff peaks and put on top of the custard/blancmange.
The sugar free version is nice to have if you are diabetic but still want a treat.
Serve in nice glass bowls if you can. This gives 6 good sized portions.
I am not allowed much of this delectable delicacy. But it has to be my favourite. I usually say trifle but that’s like a squidgy layered cake. I like individual cakes, chocolate éclairs, apple turnovers, Eccles cakes.
I could list more. I can make a good Victoria sponge, but I would use sweetener instead of sugar to try and make it healthier. I sometimes make marbled cake, that’s where you make the cake batter up then add cocoa or chocolate to half of it. You then gently stir the two halves together so that the colours mingle but don’t mix. When it’s cooked you can see a pattern of marbling in it.
To be honest I didn’t know I knew so much about cake, but it’s not an obsession. I just enjoy it as a treat.
I was busy yesterday doing some paperwork and by the time I remembered it was really too late to cook. So for tea today I made pancakes. They are a traditional food for Shrove Tuesday. You can look up the meaning of Shrove Tuesday on the Internet, and part of the tradition is eating pancakes.
How do you make them? (this is how I do it, it’s very vague! 😂). Put a couple of large cups of flour in a bowl. Mix in two or three eggs to make a thick paste then add milk to thin the paste down to a thickish batter (I prefer that as too much makes it runny) not too thick though. Maybe a 1/3 of a pint of milk? Beat it up with a fork till its a smooth batter. I think you are supposed to let it rest, I don’t!
Memories flood back as I remember my mom cooking them. She used to use half milk and half water I think? As winter was colder then it often snowed, she would use snow water as she said it was fresher than tap water.
Now your batter has rested…. Heat a frying pan on a high heat and add oil so its hot. Make sure the pan is hot but not smoking. Pour some batter into the pan and tip it so it spreads out across the base. You can see the batter drying out on the top as the bottom of the pancake cooks. Flip it with a spatula. It might break up but that’s better than trying to toss it and it landing on the floor! When it’s cooked lift or slide it onto a plate.
This recipe will make six to eight large pancakes. Try and make them equal sizes and as you put them on a plate sprinkle sugar or powdered sweetner plus lemon juice on them and fold them in half or roll them up. The last one always ends up too small or too thick depending on how much the batter is shared out.
The results are like thin, eggy, floury omelettes! Delicious. You can basically use different toppings, maybe stewed apple or banana slices or ice cream? We enjoyed them a lot. Good for a cold day.
I decided to make a trifle for the New Year. I like doing this because I can make it sugar free. I also got my sister to bring some blancmange over because I hate custard in trifle.
There are lots of different recipes but mine is quite simple. I make up sugar free jelly first. Using about half a pint of boiling water and slightly over a quarter of a pint of port or sherry mixed into the jelly. (if you don’t want alcohol just use three quarters of a pint of water). The reason I don’t use a full pint is because I usually add a punnet of raspberries, blueberries or strawberries into the jelly, and this seems to add to the fluid levels in the jelly. (I don’t use sponge fingers because of the texture and they are full of sugar). Then I let it cool before putting the bowl in the fridge to set. A few hours later when the jelly is set I make the blancmange. That is a packet of blancmange powder mixed with three tablespoons of milk out of a pint. To this I add a tablespoon of sweetner. The rest of the milk is boiled and stirred into the blancmange mix. Then this is poured back into the saucepan and the mixture boiled again until it thickens. Once it is ready you have to wait for it to cool down before you pour it over the jelly. Finally when both layers are set I whip double (heavy) cream into stiff peaks, sometimes with a little sweetner. I spoon this on top of the trifle and serve. This makes enough for four to six servings. Tasty treat for dessert.
Somewhere in my warped mind last night I thought I could make my porridge nicer by adding custard powder! I have no idea why. But instead of dismissing it I decided to try it… Yuk!
I mixed up the oats with water, then added in a spoonful of custard powder, remixed it and added a bit of milk and sweetner. Probably not enough milk, as when I microwaved it the result was rather like yellow cement that hadn’t set but was close to doing so. I added some milk and Ate It! I must be mad. The taste of custardy oats is lingering. Yuk….
What odd combinations of food have you tried or created?
We are still picking pears from the tree and a quick meal is to chop then up into pieces and stew them up in a bit of water and sweetner. Then I make up some custard to pour over the stewed pears. Its warm and sweet for a cold day. It saves the pears from rotting as if you leave them they can get over ripe and go mushy and brown. It’s not bad for an old crooked pear tree that almost blew over one year!
Mix flour (I use self raising flour), eggs and milk to a liquid the consistency of double (heavy) cream. (I suggest put in the flour first, then add eggs till its a softish mix, then add milk to make it more like double cream.) (this is the pancake batter) let it rest for a while then heat fat in a pan (butter or oil) so it coats the pan but pour off any excess. Make sure the oil is good and hot but not burning. Pour the batter in to cover the base of the pan, pour out any excess. Cook over the heat, you will see the batter bubble and dry out. When it’s dry use a spatula to turn it over. It should hold together and look like the photo. Tip out on a plate, add sugar or sweetener and lemon juice squeezed over the top. Make sure you don’t allow the oil to burn while transferring the pancake, add a bit more fat then pour in more batter. Cook again. Keep going and stacking till the batter runs out. Enjoy. (you can also add banana or chocolate). Amounts of ingredients vary depending on how many pancakes you want to eat.
I had leftover cooking apples from this years crop that were starting to go soft. I didn’t want to cook a cake so I decided to poach them, with a twist…..
Ingredients:
2 or 3 cooking apples
A half cup of diet ginger ale/ ginger ale or water and a couple of teaspoons of sugar or a small amount of sweetner.
Custard powder
Milk
Sweetner or sugar
Method:
Cook the chopped apples with the diet ginger ale (or ginger ale or water and sugar), choose which you prefer, the ginger ale does give the apples sweetness and a bit more of a bite.
The apples will soften and as they do will give off liquid, stop the cooking when they are still slightly firm.
Put into serving dishes.
Mix up the powdered custard as described on the pack. Substitute the liquid from the apples for some of the milk that is needed for the custard. Top up with milk to the desired amount. (I add less for thicker custard). Add sugar or sweetner to taste.
Once the custard mix has been boiled to the right thickness pour over the apples
Serve
Result, a tasty treat for tea. The ginger ale does add an extra bit of flavour.
You could probably make further substitutes to create a vegan treat.
Mallaband-Brown 