Monmouth Pudding

This year's St. David's day recipe is Monmouth Pudding. It's an old-fashioned kind of dessert, popular in Victorian times and similar to the English Queen of Puddings. This Welsh incarnation doesn't however have a meringue topping although a lot of the recipes you see for it do include the extra layer. 

Looking at the list of ingredients you might be fooled into thinking it's stodgy and heavy but it's really not. It's light, fruity and just sweet enough. You can serve it either with cream or, my preference, a fresh raspberry sauce to really enhance the fruit flavour. Monmouth pudding is at its best about 10 minutes after it's come out of the oven, still warm but not scaldingly hot. 

Traditionally, this pudding was one of those thrifty type of recipes that used up stale bread, milk and fruit from the garden to make something so much more than the sum of its parts. My version is not quite so austere; I've used cream and brioche crumbs to give an updated, more luxurious taste. I hope my Welsh ancestors would approve.

Dydd Gwyl Dewi hapus.

RECIPE - serves 4-6

225 ml milk
200 ml double cream
25g caster sugar
grated zest of one lemon
175g brioche crumbs
2 eggs
200g jam (strawberry, raspberry or any other kind)

You can make this as one large pudding or 6 individual ones, as in the photo.

For the large one, you need a 23x20cm ovenproof dish, buttered. For the individual ones, 6 buttered ramekins. 

Pre-heat oven to 150°C.

Pour the milk and cream into a pan, add the sugar and lemon zest and heat gently until just boiling. Remove from the heat, pour over the brioche crumbs and leave the mixture to cool for 15 mins. 

When cooled, separate the eggs, stirring the yolks into the crumb mixture.

Whisk the egg whites until they form stiff peaks then gently fold them into the crumb mixture with a metal spoon.

Heat the jam until it's runny, then drizzle half over the bottom of the prepared dish.

Spoon half the crumb mixture on top. 

Repeat the jam and crumb layers, making sure that the final layer of brioche mixture is level.

Bake in the oven for about 30-40 mins until the top is golden. The pudding should be set but still with a slight wobble.

Leave for about 10 minutes before serving. 

Vanilla Panna Cotta with fresh blueberry sauce

Panna Cotta is my go-to dessert for entertaining gluten-free friends. It doesn't require any tinkering because it's already naturally gluten-free and as it can all be prepared the day before, it makes for a very easy pudding. 

I've talked before about how I never choose panna cotta in restaurants because I find them all too solid and rubbery. This recipe is different however; I use just enough gelatine to allow it to set, but it still has a glorious wobble. I find the all-cream versions too heavy; the perfect ratio for me is half milk (full-fat of course) and half double cream. However, if you prefer a creamier version, just up the cream to 300 ml and reduce the milk to 200 ml. See the recipe for a note about the sugar too.

The crowning glory is the blueberry sauce. Heating the fruit with a little water, sugar and lemon juice so that it releases those wonderful, purple juices transforms what is quite a bland fruit into a beautifully flavoured sauce that complements the creamy panna cotta perfectly.

RECIPE

250ml double cream
250ml full-fat milk
60-70g caster sugar (I use 60g as I don't like it too sweet but you can increase the amount of sugar if you prefer)

1 teaspoon vanilla extract
4g gelatine leaves

For the blueberry sauce

100g blueberries

2 teaspoons sugar
juice of half a lemon
grated lemon zest

1 tablespoon water

Put the gelatine sheets in cold water to soak.

Put the milk, cream, vanilla and sugar in a saucepan and heat gently, stirring until the sugar is dissolved. When it's just about to boil, remove from the heat and stir in the squeezed-out gelatine. 

Pour into small moulds and leave to set in the fridge overnight. 

The blueberry sauce can be made the day before too. Just put all the ingredients (blueberries, water, lemon juice and zest, sugar) in a saucepan and heat gently for about 10 minutes until the blueberries are soft. Strain through a sieve, squashing the fruit so the pulp goes into the sauce, leaving just the skins behind. 

To serve, run a knife around the panna cotta before inverting onto a plate. Serve with the sauce and a few fresh blueberries if you like.

Panettone Pudding

January is almost at an end. In Italy, these last few days are known as 'i giorni della merla', the days of the blackbird. According to the legend, blackbirds used to be white until a particularly cold snap at the end of January one year forced a blackbird and her young to take shelter from the freezing weather in a chimney. When they emerged at the beginning of February, they were completely black and have remained so ever since. 'I giorni della merla' are thus traditionally the coldest days of the year and surprisingly, it does often seem to be the case. It's been a relatively mild winter so far both here and in northern Italy and yet the forecast for the next few days in both countries warns of plummeting temperatures, ice and snow.

If the 'blackbird days' do deliver again, then this panettone pudding is just what's needed - warm, rich, creamy and comforting, its spicy vanilla scent pervades the whole house as it's cooking and it comes out of the oven beautifully puffed up with a golden top. Perfect for fending off the cold.

I'm entering this into the Tea Time Treats Challenge, with the theme of Eggs, run by Karen of Lavender and Lovage  and new host this month, Janie from The Hedge Combers.




RECIPE - serves 2-4 

100g panettone
200ml double cream
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 egg
1 egg yolk
1 tablespoon caster sugar

 Pre-heat the oven to 160°C. Grease a small, ovenproof dish with butter.

Roughly cut the panettone into chunks and arrange in the dish. 

Measure the cream and milk in a jug, add the egg and egg yolk, together with the sugar and vanilla and whisk together until combined. 

Pour this over the panettone and leave for about 15 minutes so that the panettone can soak up the creamy liquid. 

Put into the oven and bake for about 35-40 mins until puffed up and golden on top.

Lavender Scented Panna Cotta

I loathe the sort of panna cotta that you get in most restaurants, that over-sweetened, very firm, almost rubbery white sphere. For me, it should be soft and very wobbly, with only just enough gelatine to hold it together. I find the all-cream versions too heavy; the perfect ratio for me is half milk (full-fat of course) and half double cream. However, if you prefer a creamier version, just up the cream to 300 ml and reduce the milk to 200 ml. See the recipe for a note about the sugar too.

Lavender adds a delicate, flowery note that works well with the rich creaminess of the panna cotta and is ideal for summer. A more traditional one can be made by replacing the lavender with a teaspoon of good vanilla extract. I urge you to try making this. It takes just minutes to prepare and it's perfect for entertaining as it has to be made the day before and left in the fridge to chill. Also, everyone loves it, even those (like myself) who don't usually like panna cotta.

I'm entering this into the Tea Time Treats Challenge, with the theme of Ice-Creams, Jellies and Chilled Desserts, run by Karen of Lavender and Lovage  and Kate (this month's host) from What Kate Baked. 

As it uses lavender, I'm also sending this over to Karen from the wonderful Lavender and Lovage for her extremely popular challenge, Cooking with Herbs (formerly known as Herbs on Saturday).

RECIPE

250ml double cream
250ml full-fat milk
60-70g caster sugar (I use 60g as I don't like it too sweet but you can increase the amount of sugar if you prefer)
4g gelatine leaves
1 teaspoon of dried lavender (usually labelled 'for culinary use')

Put the gelatine sheets in cold water to soak.

Put the milk, cream, lavender and sugar in a saucepan and heat gently, stirring until the sugar is dissolved. When it's just about to boil, remove from the heat and leave for a few minutes for the lavender to infuse. Stir in the squeezed-out gelatine, then strain the mixture through a sieve to remove the lavender.

Pour into small moulds and leave to set in the fridge overnight. 

To serve, run a knife around the panna cotta before inverting onto a plate. Sprinkle some dried lavender over the top if you wish. 

Raspberry Bakewell Tart

Strawberries are undoubtedly the most popular fruit of summer. Juicy and luscious, with their shameless scarlet colour and heady fragrance, they are the Marilyn Monroe of the berry world. At their best, they are indeed a delight but their ubiquitous presence in every supermarket, greengrocer and corner shop from April to October can often bring disappointment, with tastes ranging from somewhat bland to downright insipid. Raspberries however rarely betray us. Their texture is consistently good, never watery or slushy, their delicate flavour sweet yes but tempered with a sour note, subtle, more complex on the palate, Grace Kelly perhaps or Katharine Hepburn.

Raspberries are used to great effect in this recipe. A classic Bakewell tart is shortcrust pastry, filled with raspberry jam and an almondy sponge. This version, based loosely on a Nigella recipe in How To Eat, intensifies the flavours by using almonds both in the frangipane filling and the pastry and providing a double hit of fruit by adding some fresh raspberries on top of the jam. The result is wonderful - light, crisp pastry; rich, buttery frangipane; sweet, tangy raspberry. Pudding perfection.

I'm linking this up to four blogging challenges. The first is the One Ingredient Challenge run by Nazima (this month's host) from Franglais Kitchen and Laura from How to Cook Good Food. Their theme for June is Raspberries and as I love them, I'm really looking forward to seeing everyone's ideas.



The second is Ren Behan's Simple and In Season Challenge, another blog event that encourages us all to use local, fresh, seasonal produce.



The third is Calender Cakes, run by Rachel (this month's host) from Dolly Bakes and Laura from Laura Loves Cakes. The theme for June is Pump Up the Jam. 

Finally, as this month's letter is 'R' in the brilliant Alphabakes challenge by Ros (this month's host) from TheMoreThanOccasionalBaker and Caroline  at Caroline Makes, I'm sending this as my entry. 



RECIPE

for the pastry
120g plain or 00 flour
40g icing sugar
20g ground almonds
85g butter
1 egg yolk

for the filling
150g fresh raspberries
2 tablespoons raspberry jam
3 eggs
125g butter, melted
125g caster sugar
125g ground almonds
a few drops almond extract
40g flaked almonds

For the pastry, chop the butter and put it in the freezer for about 10 minutes. Take it out and put it into a food processor together with all the other pastry ingredients except the egg yolk. With the double blade attachment, whizz until the mixture is the size of small peas. Then add the egg yolk and pulse until it just starts coming together. Dump out onto a board and form the mixture into a ball, flatten it down a little, wrap in cling film and let it rest in the fridge for 30 mins. 

Pre-heat the oven to 200°C. Lightly flour a work surface and roll the pastry out thinly and use it to line a 21cm round, loose-bottomed tin. Put it back in the fridge for at least 10 minutes while you make the filling. 

For the filling, beat the sugar, almond extract and eggs together. Then pour the melted butter in to the mixture, still stirring. Finally, mix in the ground almonds, beating well to eliminate any lumps. 

Remove the pastry case from the fridge and prick the bottom with a fork. Spread a thin layer of jam over the base and then cover evenly with the raspberries. Pour the frangipane over and sprinkle the flaked almonds on top.

Bake for about 40 mins until golden. Leave to cool for 10 mins in the tin, then carefully remove the outer ring and leave to cool further on a wire rack. You can serve the tart while still warm although it's good cold too.

Torta della Nonna - Tuscan Custard Tart

'Grandmother's Cake' is a classic, Tuscan/Ligurian dessert although there are as many different variations of it as there are grandmothers. As it's Father's Day in the UK this Sunday, if we disregard the Italian appellation, this would make a perfect ending for any Father's Day meal.

The tart combines a delicate, thin pastry crust with a thick, wobbly, vanilla-scented pastry cream inside. Pine nuts are sprinkled over the top to give a welcome crunch. My take on it is fairly traditional (bearing in mind of course that I am neither Tuscan nor a nonna) but I add almonds to the pine nuts on top, having tasted one like that in Siena recently. 

As this is completely made from scratch I'm sending it to Javelin Warrior's wonderful weekly challenge, Made with Love Mondays.

RECIPE

For the pastry

200g 00 flour

100g cold unsalted butter

75g caster sugar

1 egg

grated zest of half a lemon

1 teaspoon vanilla paste or extract

a pinch of salt

For the custard

350ml milk

grated zest of half a lemon

2 eggs

100g caster sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla paste or extract

25g plain flour

For the topping

25g pine nuts and/or roughly chopped almonds

For the pastry, chop the butter and put it in the freezer for about 5-10 minutes. Take it out and put it into a food processor together with all the other pastry ingredients. With the blade attachment, pulse until it just starts coming together then dump out onto a board and bring the mixture together with your hands until just combined. Wrap in cling film and chill for 30 mins. 

For the filling, heat the milk and lemon zest until nearly boiling. While that's happening, put all the other ingredients in a heat proof bowl and whisk together to combine (I use an electric hand whisk or mixer). Whisking continuously, add the hot milk gradually then scrape the entire mixture back into the saucepan. Return to the heat and bring to the boil, whisking constantly until the mixture has thickened. Remove from the heat and allow to cool completely (not in the fridge though as it tends to make the custard lumpy).

 Pre-heat the oven to 180°C. Lightly flour a work surface and roll out two thirds of the pastry and use it to line a 21cm round, loose-bottomed tin. Whisk the filling again, making sure it's smooth and spoon into the pastry case, levelling it out with the back of the spoon  Fold over the excess pastry onto the top of the custard. Roll out the remaining pastry and cut into a round to cover the filling. Lay on top of the custard, pressing lightly onto the folded-over pastry to seal. Sprinkle over the pine nuts and almonds if using.

Bake for 50 mins until golden. Leave to cool for 10 mins in the tin, then carefully remove the outer ring and leave to cool completely on a wire rack.

Dust liberally with icing sugar before serving. 

Frittelle di Ricotta - Sweet ricotta fritters

Although I suspect very few people actually do any fasting in the forty days of Lent any more, most of us still follow the tradition on Shrove Tuesday (Martedi Grasso) of using up our 'rich' foods such as eggs, sugar and milk and pancakes are certainly not the only way to do this. In many European countries, various types of doughnuts are a more common way of celebrating: in Madeira they are known as malasada, in Lithuania, spurgos and in Poland they come in the form of jam-filled pączki where a small amount of alcohol is added to the egg-rich dough, preventing the absorption of too much oil when they are fried.

In Italy, in the weeks leading up to Lent, the eggs/sugar/milk combination takes different forms, from chiacchiere (thin ribbons of deep fried pastry) to castagnole (soft, vanilla-scented mini doughnuts), not forgetting the many different types of fritter. Although I'm not wild about fritters in general, these ricotta-based ones are wonderful - light, luscious, bite-sized clouds.

As these pillowy, fragrant frittelle make a perfect end to a meal, I'm sending them over to Kate at the marvellous What Kate Baked as my Tea Time Treats entry. This is the monthly challenge she hosts along with Karen from Lavender and Lovage and this month's theme is Puddings. 


RECIPE

200g ricotta
100g plain flour
2 large eggs
80g caster sugar
zest of one lemon
pinch of salt
1 teaspoon baking powder

vegetable oil for frying
icing sugar

Put the ricotta in a bowl and beat until smooth and creamy. Add all the other ingredients, finishing with the flour. Mix until you have a smooth batter. Leave it for an hour or two.

When you're ready to make the fritters, fill a wide, shallow pan with about 2 cm of oil and heat until a drop of batter sizzles when dropped in.

Fry rounded teaspoons of batter, making sure you don't overcrowd the pan, about 5 at a time is ideal. Quickly flip them over when they are golden brown and leave them to cook for a minute on the other side.

Take them out carefully with a slotted spoon and place on some kitchen towel to absorb some of the grease. Serve straightaway, with icing sugar sprinkled liberally over.

Chocolate and Chilli Mousse

A sixties bistro classic, chocolate mousse has endured the vagaries of culinary fashion to become a perennial favourite. This is a classic version with a modern twist in the form of chilli.

I've tried lots of recipes for chocolate mousse over the years, some with butter, others with cream, but I don't think you can beat the simplicity of the original French version - just chocolate and eggs. You can add any flavours you like to this basic recipe - vanilla, coffee, brandy, it's really up to you. I personally love the subtle kick of chilli that comes through the intense, rich chocolate.

This is the one place that I don't use chocolate with more than 70%  cocoa solids as it is much harder to incorporate into the egg whites and has a tendency to turn grainy. In fact I find that a dark chocolate with about 50% cocoa solids is about right here - it mixes in perfectly and the extra sweetness works well because the recipe doesn't include any sugar.

I love this with some extra thick double cream spooned over the top - the bland, cool cream is a perfect foil for the rich, spicy mousse.


RECIPE - serves 4 normal-sized portions or 8 mini ones (see photo)

200g dark chocolate (see note above)
4 eggs, separated
a pinch of chilli flakes (see note above)

Begin by melting the chocolate. You can do this in the microwave (just go gently) or in the traditional way by breaking the chocolate into pieces and putting in a bowl over, but not touching, a pan of simmering water. When the chocolate begins to melt, turn the heat off. Stir until smooth.

Beat the egg yolks and add them to the melted chocolate while it's still hot. Mix thoroughly. At this point you can add the chilli flakes or any other flavours you're using.

Whisk the egg whites into soft peaks. Spoon about a third of the egg whites into the chocolate mix and whisk in. Fold the rest very gently into the mixture until just combined (be careful not to overmix), and then put into bowls or glasses and refrigerate for at least four hours until set.

Crema di mascarpone

This recipe comes from Lombardy in northern Italy and is usually served at Christmas time with panettone. However, I think it goes really well with fresh summer berries and on its own, makes an elegant pudding served with some crisp langue de chat or tuile biscuits. It can be made the day before and kept in the fridge.

Some versions of this are very rich and sweet; I prefer to reduce the sugar and make it a lighter consistency by whisking the egg whites. I suppose it's a bit like an Italian style syllabub. I've used sweet marsala here but you can pretty much use any alcohol you like - brandy, rum and sherry are all good. Just remember that you might need to add more sugar if the alcohol you are using is on the dry side.

RECIPE - serves 4

2 large eggs, separated
100ml sweet marsala
250g mascarpone
50g caster sugar

Whisk the egg whites until stiff and put aside for a moment. Beat the egg yolks with the caster sugar until thick and pale yellow. Add the mascarpone a spoon at a time, mixing well between each addition. Then mix in the marsala. Finally, fold the egg whites in carefully and pour into glasses. Leave in the fridge for at least 3 hours before serving.