summer pudding with violet syrup

summer pudding is quintessentially english and worth making if you are a fan of the berries which are now in season. i made this using a selection of red currants, black currants and blueberries from able & cole plus raspberries from my freezer.

apparently the inclusion of red, black or white currants is important to the texture of the finished dish and you need to avoid adding too many dark coloured fruits so that the end result is pinky-red in colour. i also read that strawberries are a no-no but i'm not sure why - can anyone enlighten me? i also wonder how cherries would work.

i also think it's important to ensure that you don't add too much sugar when you prepare the fruit. the tartness of the berries should be retained, especially if, like me, you fancy eating your pudding drizzled with violet syrup as well as the traditional cream!

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feast for a fiver

my recipes for lemon & mackerel pilaf and berry ripple ice cream have been featured in today's guardian newspaper, in an article which called for people to share their menus for two courses which feed two people for under a fiver. see what other menus were suggested here, including one from dinner diary.

the article was in response to a series of menus suggested by well-known chefs which were derided on the guardian blog for being unimaginative. i think we, the readers, did better than the chefs. what do you think?

orange and cranberry torte

this cake has already become the stuff of legend. a couple of weeks ago i made it as pudding to follow spiced meatballs with feta and pomegranate couscous. i now have a diary date for march when i am instructed to bake another orange and cranberry torte so my friend’s boss can try it – he’s a cake fan and was apparently very disappointed to hear it described but not have any to sample.

so there you go – you’ll have to try it too. the cake is made with ground almonds instead of flour which makes it suitable for people with wheat or gluten allergies. it‘s flavoured with orange, cinnamon (this is surprisingly subtle despite the large quantity used in the recipe) and, of course, cranberries. i served this with cream but i think it’s better just as it is.

as for how it keeps – i’ve no idea as it didn’t make it past 24 hours!

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brioche berry galette

 

berries are an absolute favourite of mine. the only problem is that sometimes, because i don’t know what to choose,  i get carried away and pick up too many packs of various types of berries and the question then arises of what to do with them before they turn to mush.

freezing excess berries is always a good option as is adding them to smoothies (fresh or frozen berries are fine). pavlova is always a good choice too. and now i have something else to fall back on – berry galette. this galette is made using a brioche dough for the base. i’ve never made brioche before and this ottolenghi recipe worked really well and was quite simple, so well worth the effort.

that’s not to say i didn’t have any problems though. when making the dough i used my food processor. as the recipe warned, the dough is very sticky. i expected this to mean it would stick to the side of the processor bowl and constantly need scraping down. instead it stuck to the mixer blade and worked its way up and into the food processor’s engine! i was alerted to this by the food processor slowing down and a cooked dough smell emanating from it (it was quite hot from all the mixing at by this point). thankfully i was able to rescue my dough and avoid damaging the food processor. i’m not sure how i avoid this for the future though as brioche doesn’t seem to be a dough that you could make by hand…

this is my contribution to the summer edition of “waiter there’s something in my…” which is hosted by johanna the passionate cook, and has picnic food as it’s theme. this galette is easily transportable and would make a nice change from cake for you sweet-toothed picnickers.

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birthday pavlova

 

i had meringue recently, made by my friend toby, which sent me into raptures. it was golden, chewy and full of flavour. sadly we managed to demolish everything that he presented us with so there was no doggie bag full of (meringuey) leftovers to take home. not that anything it contained would have lasted long.

it was my birthday last friday and pavlova was my obvious choice of celebration. this is also my choice for meeta’s big birthday bang, not least as she and i celebrate our birthdays on consecutive days. happy birthday meeta!

this pavlova was a bit special. the chocolate meringue was flavoured using rococo jasmine chocolate, which was gift from toby’s wife julia. i also used valsamica instead of normal vinegar. both the jasmine and vanilla flavours added depth and complexity to the chocolateyness.

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