Raspberry and strawberry Eton Mess
Posted: August 16, 2014 Filed under: Dessert, Fruit, Vegetarian | Tags: Berries, Cream, Dessert, Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, Strawberries, Summer Leave a comment
To keep up with the British traditional foods motif, a mess. Whatever fruits you were using, it us all in all, a very summery dessert, perfect to serve to a crowd. If you buy the meringue, you will have it done in no time, without the need to get close to the stove, even.
Raspberry and strawberry Eton Mess (adapted from Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall’s River Cottage Everyday)
Ingredients
- 250g strawberries
- 35g caster sugar
- 350mL double cream lightly whipped
- 150g of meringue
Method
Halve the strawberries, thickly slicing any whoppers. Put in a large bowl with the raspberries and sugar. Roughly crush and squeeze some of the berries with your hands so the juices start to run. Cover and leave to macerate in the fridge for an hour or two.
To assemble the mess, break the meringues into rough pieces, then fold into the whipped cream. Now lightly fold in the chilled fruit, so everything is rippled together rather than thoroughly blended. Pile into glasses and serve. You can make it an hours or so in advance, but not more, or the meringue will go weepy in the cream.
Mixed berries quick jam
Posted: March 17, 2014 Filed under: Fruit, Jams and confits, Vegetarian | Tags: Berries, Brunch, Fruit, jam, Sugar Leave a comment
I always associated jam making with huge undertakings, which would take days, if not weeks, to complete. Nothing a single girl could make – and eat – on her own. But, slowly by slowly, I start noticing quick jam recipes, with relatively small size. Like this one, which can be done in less than 1 hour, with almost no fuss what so ever. I have to add I am not a great fan of super sugary food, but this is the kind of thing you can add to your yoghurt for a sweet treat… (Not that may) calories definitely worthwhile taking.
Berry Quick Jam (adapted from theKitchn)
Ingredients
- 350g fresh raspberries
- 250g fresh blackberries
- 250g fresh strawberries, hulled and thickly sliced
- 200g raw cane sugar
- Pinch of salt
- 1 teaspoon lemon zest
- 1 teaspoon lemon juice
Method
In a large bowl, combine the berries and sugar, and let them macerate for about 10 minutes, or until the sugar has begun to dissolve into the fruit.
Transfer the berries to a heavy pot and bring to boil over a medium heat. Add the salt, lemon zest and lemon juice and reduce the heat to medium-low.
Allow the berries to gently simmer for 15 to 20 minutes, or until the fruit breaks down and the mixture starts to cook down, thickening slightly. When almost done, the jam will still be loose, but should coat the back of a wooden spoon.
Remove the jam from the heat and pour into a clean glass jars, cap them and allow it to cool completely.
Lemon pudding cake with berries
Posted: October 1, 2013 Filed under: Dessert, Fruit | Tags: Baking, Berries, Cake, Dessert, Fruit, Sugar Leave a comment
To keep up with the spirit of seasonal cooking, a lemon pudding cake with raspberries… Only one word to describe this: yum. Too bad soon enough berries will be gone from the supermarket…
Lemon pudding cake with berries (adapted from Bill Granger‘s Easy)
Ingredients
- Enough berries to cover the bottom of a tray (about 250g)
- 75g of plain flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- pinch sea salt
- 300mL buttermilk
- 125g unsalted butter (melted and cooled down)
- 3 eggs separated
- 150g caster sugar
- 2 teaspoons finely grated lemon zest
Method
Preheat the stove to 180oC
Grease a 750mL to 1L baking dish. Make sure this dish fit fits larger tray, so you can have a bain marie. Scatter the berries over the base of the greased dish, making sure the whole surface is covered
Combine in a large bowl the flour, baking powder and pinch of salt.
In another bowl, lightly whisk together the melted butter, the buttermilk, the yolks, the sugar and the lemon zest.
Stir into the flour mixtures
Beat the egg whites until stiff peaks forms
With a metal spoon, fold in the batter half of the egg whites until well incorporated. Then, fold in the remaining half.
Spread the batter over the berries in the baking dish.
Put the baking dish in the large baking tray. Poor boiling water in the larger dish until it reaches halfway up the sides, creating a main marie.
Transfer to the stove for about 45m to 1h, until it starts to get fluffy and golden (it should be cakey on the top and soft in the middle).
Let it cool for a bit and serve.
Cranberry sauce
Posted: May 1, 2011 Filed under: Jams and confits | Tags: Berries, Sugar Leave a comment
Cranberries are almost nowhere to be found in the Mediterranean cuisine. Specially not during Christmas next to your roasted turkey. But, this Felicity Cloake’s perfect recipe looked so luscious I decided to give it a go – if pork is so good with apple jam, why not having a cranberry sauce to go with the chicken? It is indeed very-very-very easy to make and full of flavors, which complement well the tender roasted meat.
(Note – This time, I am shamelessly using a stock photography. During the cooking frenzy, I forgot to take a picture, and after Christmas, cranberries could not be sourced).
Cranberry sauce
Ingredients
- Juice of 1 orange, plus zest of ½ orange
- 210g caster sugar
- 450g fresh cranberries
- 2 tablespoons port
Method
Put the orange juice and sugar into a small pan, and heat gently, stirring, until the sugar has dissolved. Add the cranberries, and bring to a simmer, then cook until most of the cranberries have burst, and you have a loose cranberry sauce. It will continue to set as it cools, so stop cooking when it still seems a little too liquid.
Stir in the port and orange zest, and serve, or put into sterilised jars.
Eccles cake gone mad
Posted: September 4, 2010 Filed under: Dessert, Pastry and Baking | Tags: Berries Leave a comment
The pastry was wrong, the filling was wrong, the cooking was wrong. Other than this, it was delicious. Maybe in a I wannabe-a-molecular-cuisine-blogger post, I could have called it deconstructed eccles cake on steroids. The recipe I used was not created in controlled conditions and cannot be replicated to obtain the same results. The original is here.
Cream tea
Posted: August 17, 2010 Filed under: Jams and confits | Tags: Berries, Clotted cream Leave a comment
Whole bran scones (courtesy of H.), Devon clotted cream (courtesy of Mike’s British Cheese Center), blackcurrant jam and tea.
Lucie Loves Food 