Perry Jelly and Summer Fruit with Elderflower Ice Cream

It is the time to post more recipe. The following recipe is not from mine, it is from Great British Menu Series 2, Pudding King - Mark Hix’s winning dish. The beauty of this recipe is not only tastes good, looks good, it helps me to understand how to make a good ice cream mix. The proportion of cream and milk and also the fat content of the milk has to be 4.5%+. From then on, I have made lots of different ice cream, with different flavour, traditional or innovations. More ice cream recipe at my blog ice-cream for Saturday

Perry Jelly and Summer Fruit with Elderflower Ice Cream

Preparation time 1-2 hours
Cooking time less than 10 mins


Ingredients

For the elderflower ice cream

300ml/½ pint whole milk, preferably Channel Island

6 medium free-range egg yolks

100g/4oz caster sugar

300ml/½ pint Jersey or clotted cream, or a mixture of the two

200ml/7fl oz elderflower cordial

For the perry jelly and summer fruits

4 gelatine leaves

500ml/18fl oz perry (sparkling pear cider)

75g/2¾oz caster sugar

125g/5oz mixed berries, such as blueberries, raspberries and wild strawberries

Method

1. For the elderflower ice cream, bring the milk to the boil in a heavy-based saucepan, then remove from the heat. Whisk the egg yolks and sugar together in a bowl, pour in the milk and whisk well. Return to the pan and cook over a low heat for about five minutes, stirring constantly with a whisk. Do not boil. Remove from the heat and whisk in the cream and elderflower cordial. Leave to cool, then churn in an ice cream machine (according to manufacturer's instructions) until thickened. Decant into a clean container and place in the freezer.

2. For the perry jelly and summer fruits, immerse the gelatine leaves one at a time in a shallow bowl of cold water and leave for a minute or so until soft. Bring 100ml/3½fl oz of the perry to the boil in a medium saucepan, add the sugar and stir until dissolved. Drain and squeeze the gelatine leaves, then add to the hot perry and stir until melted. Remove from the heat, add the rest of the perry and stir well. Put the pan of jelly somewhere cool, but do not let it set.

3. Divide half the berries among four individual jelly moulds, or use one large mould. Pour in half of the cooled jelly. Chill for an hour or so to set, then top up with the rest of the berries and unset jelly. (This ensures the berries stay suspended and don't float to the top.) Return to the fridge to chill until set.

4. To serve, turn the jellies out onto plates and place a scoop of the elderflower ice cream in the middle of each one.

The recipe is copied from BBC Food Website : Perry Jelly and Summer Fruit with Elderflower Ice Cream

Family Do: Lunch at Mr. Thomas's

English Chop House, the first thing came into my head was Aberdeen Angus Steak House which is Scottish in fact. I apologise for my lack of chop house experience. In my mind, I couldn’t get around the idea of steak pie and grilled steak, such simple, no gimmick, somehow uninteresting dishes, could be famous nationally and internationally, and plus, I don’t need to travel tens or hundreds of miles into those remote villages and their local gastro pubs, a gastro pub in town, can’t be that authentic. Fortunately for me, I proved myself wrong on the day.

The day wasn’t as good as we wanted it to be, so my Adventure in Clitheroe has to postpone. I was so looking forward to the outing with my surrogate family. My interests never get far away from food and drink, going to Clitheroe is not only for landscape, castle, or herons. I expected visiting local restaurants and bars, having some traditional pub food would be my high-light of the day. Unfortunately, the weather wasn’t on our side, we have to think of something else for this family do

After some serious discussion, Mr Thomas’s Chop House is the place, Za decided, I have no idea what is this restaurant like. I only have this mental image of a posh Wetherspoons, scally free, playing cosy music in the background, not long before I had this Victorian building in front of me. Entering it I found myself in a smallish English pub as I went blind at the same time because of condensation. It was peak lunch hour on Saturday, the queue was surprisingly not bad. We have waited for 10 minutes to get a table which I considered lucky. At the point stepping in the restaurant part, the mystery of famous English Chop house finally unfolded. My inner tourist-self came out with my brick-like camera, started observing for potential snap materials. Floral lights hanging down from the ceiling, the incandescent lighting on beige tiles tainted the whole room into a canteen like dinning hall, without the shouting from the dinner lady and the chance of beaten up by a bully over a pudding. The tiling of the restaurant, from floor to ceiling are original, you can feel the bareness but also layers of characteristics. Most of diners were family and couples, they all seemed having a great time.

I was amused by the choice in the menu, traditional fish and chips, steak and kidney pudding to hash and flame grilled steak. I stuck with my favourite, steak and kidney pudding, even the smell of hash that the lady sat next to us was enjoying, made me have a second thought. The pudding came with peas, chips and gravy. I wouldn’t expect less on the chips from a famous chop house, and they didn’t disappoint me. The gravy was a real meaty one instead of those brown glue with bits of disintegrated onion. They were very good but not enough to blow me away though. The peas were something I want to know more. Crunchy, and somehow have this meaty and smoky flavour. I guess it would be fresh peas roasted with bacon or lardoons, it was divine. Last but not least, is the huge pudding, perfectly cooked. Breaking into the just dried outside, steamy, fluffy, doughy goodness were flowing out, not only the juice, but chucks and chunks of steak and lamb kidney. The pudding soaked up all the juice, leaves enough for lingering between the meats, not too much to transform itself into a doughy mess. While I was having my orgasm with my gastroporn, Em wasn’t impressed by her fish and chips. She insisted me to give a second opinion, and it wasn’t bad. However, for 13 quid, I do expect more than it was. The fish wasn’t seasoned well, batter was ok, but on the thick side and then it dripped out oil in my mouth. It might be because of Em sent the first one back to kitchen, because the fish was overcooked, they rushed out a new one without enough time to drain the grease. Other than that, everyone was happy about their main course.

With all the girls around me, pudding was a compulsory. Banoffee Sundae did catch my eyes, but Za and Bec had put their mark on it, as I kindly chose lemon posset instead. Em ordered a sticky toffee pudding, so we can share a bit of everything. I rest my case for lemon posset, it was something to die for. The texture and flavour just perfect, it melted at the second you put it in your mouth and burst out citrus tang, gorgeous! Sticky toffee pudding was great too, very spongy, strong treacle flavour with a runny buttery toffee sauce, it was just the thing for a cold rainy day. I was glad I haven’t ordered the Banoffee Sundae, dry stale toffee sponge cubes at the bottom, seemed like trimming from the toffee pudding but dried. Chucks of banana, with condensed milk like fresh out from the tin without caramelised, just enough to coat them, leave the sponge cubes dry and crumbly. Strongly not recommended.

Price: Lunch £30 per head (including main course and desserts, 3 bottle of house wine shared between 5 people and 10% service charge)

Mr. Thomas’s Chop House
Victorian Bar, Restaurant and Coffee Shop
52 Cross Street
Tel: 0161 832 2245
http://www.tomschophouse.com/

Happy Birthday !!!!!!!

To me. I m officially 28, started from 3 days ago. I apologise that I haven’t updated my blog for days. Last week, I was not well for a few days, then I had my holiday on Thursday and Friday to prepare my birthday dinner.

Describe that was a 7-course meal, I wasn’t stressed out. I had plenty of time to prepare the dinner, I was on top of my schedule. I was even able to have a break between 6 – 7pm. Everyone arrived about the same time, we started with some appetizer, with Z and Lance helping, the party started…….

Appetizer

Kir Royal

Starter

Beetroot Home-cured Salmon with Soda Bread and Horseradish Dressing

Butternut Squash Risotto with Truffle Oil

Homemade Pear Sorbet

Main

Gressingham Duck with Beetroot Purée and Autumn Vegetable with
Port and Red Wine Gravy

Desserts

Passion Fruit Tart with
Homemade Cardamom White Chocolate and Mascarpone Ice-cream

Amaretto Chocolate Torte (Courtesy to Bec)

Cheese Board -

Wensleydale, Mature French Brie, St Nectaire, Camembert, Smoked Lancashire, Ploughman Cheddar, Organic Bishop Stilton, Roquefort

That was the biggest dinner I have ever made. Even tho, there are numerous amount of dishes, the portion of every course was in perfect size, not too big, not too small. It was good enough to taste and remember, but not filling you up. Em was very impressed of the dinner, she loved all the courses and for once she didn’t feel that her stomach was going to explode after the dinner. It is always good to want more after a dinner, that gives you a better memory of the meal, a lot more enjoyable. I made a stuffed mushroom for Bec’s main, it was very easy to made and she was equally impressed as we carnivores.

The dinner started at 8:30pm, cheese came around at 11:00pm. It was a delightful night, with all my closed friends and family. Bec made me a chocolate torte for birthday cake, serve on this marble stone plate. The torte is very rich but nicely rich with amaretto kick. It was very nice that Bec made me a birthday cake, that's always better than a birthday I made for myself. It was the best birthday so far. Seeing everyone enjoying my food, all the hard work suddenly seems insignificant.

I don’t usually enjoy the food as much as when I m a guest. However, I was so please of the outcome. All the dishes were up to my standard, of course there were a flaw here and there, but in general it was a success.
Unfortunately, I forgot to take picture for my dishes, may be some other time when I made them again. All the recipe will be posted on here in the future, but when…..I don’t know :P if anyone would like to get the recipe sooner, please email me, and I will do my best.

Something I read : GayBanker

Recently, I read the blog from blogger Gay Banker. It was interesting to start with, however, after a few blog, about the relationship issue of this blogger, it does get on my nerve a little bit. He seems like a person who is hard to please, and always wants to get the best of both, a bit greedy, general speaking.

I m not here to talk about him tho, but about something related to him and me, might relate to you too.

Relationship. Have you ever think about yourself having a partner for life, but you do not live with him/her? And why do we think a couple have to live together? Was it about love? Can’t we love each other without seeing each other everyday? For me, I would like my bf lives closer to me, but not with me. I used to think a couple have to live together, if we truly love each other, it should not be a problem to see each other day and night. However, the more I grow up, the more I become independent, the more I enjoy my free time and do the things I really enjoy. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy seeing Z, but b’cos he lives in Liverpool and I m in Manchester, weekend seems the only choice for us to catch up. Sometimes, I would like my weekend on my own, go to gym, keep in shape, or paint, or whatever really. It would be nice if he lives closer so he can come over for dinner in the week, catch up and the rest of it :P, it doesn’t have to be in the weekend. However, if we live together, I don’t feel I should do things on my own by ignoring him, and it is not nice to ignore someone you love.

I found this situation of me and Z is good for us both. We have been together for 3 years, we have never lived together, and we haven’t plan to, and it works perfectly. I met a few people, and they asked me that how could I trust Z not being naughty behind my back. My first question for them is, define cheating. Some people would say, having sex with another one….for me, cheating is more like having a relationship and fall in love with them behind my back, if they told me before I found out, that doesn’t count as cheating either. I have been cheated on, by Z to be precise, he dumped me over another guy b’cos he was in love with him, and I found out before he told me. And why on earth I got back with him? He does have lots of quality besides what was happened. This story taught me a good lesson about relationship, when we are with someone, there is no guarantee that you or your partner would not cheat.

Everyone has tendency to be a cheater, usually b’cos of lust or occasionally love. by using restraints, such as living together, marriage, off-springs and what have you, people thinks that is a good idea. Yes, for some people, but fundamentally, what is the point to keep someone if they are going to drift off? If you truly love them, you want them to do what they want, you give you opinion, and let them do their thing, and same apply to relationship. In my point of view, if a side line relationship is going to happen, there is nothing you can do and should do, so just let it happens, move on and be happy for them. Remember, he/she is not all you have got. Since there is nothing you can do about it, so why worry at the first place.

The key thing about a sustain relationship is power balance. B’cos of you don’t worry about it, you are less possessive, you are more confident about the relationship and most of all about yourself. You know that he/she is not all you have got and b’cos of that, you both will be more appreciated each other’s existence.

Ice cream for Saturday

The coming Saturday will be my birthday dinner. Last year, I had a party with friends and family at home, it was great fun with great food from me and Em. This year I rather have a Nancy boy dinner, essential guests only. I have booked Thursday and Friday off to prepare the dinner, even tho I'm off today too, because I'm ill. It is crap to be ill at anytime, but ill just before my holiday and birthday, it is very not fair.

Anyway, for the dinner, we are going to have sorbet between starter and main course, and ice cream to serve with passion tart as desserts. Instead of posting all the recipe in one lot, since I have made the ice cream, why not spreading the words now. Both recipes are adopted from Internets (somewhere) I could not remember. However, I have put my own twist in it, so let's see what you all think about it.

Pear Sorbet

Ingredient:
900g Ripe pears, cored, diced (preferably Comice or Willliams)
6 tbsp Lemon juice
9 tbsp Caster sugar
2 egg whites

Method:
1. Put all ingredients except egg whites into a sauce pan, stir and bring it to boil. Stir from time to time to avoid catching at the base. Then simmer until pears are soft and liquid is thicken. It takes about 30 - 45 mins. Set aside and cool to room temperature.

2. Blend the mix to smooth, like a pear puree. Then Freeze the mix in a shallow container for an hour. Scrap the slush around the edge and mix them back in the pear mix. Repeat this steps for another 2 times.** Now you should have a smooth slush pear mix, and it is ready to mix with egg white. For the egg whites, beat them until stiff peak then fold into the pear mix. Pour into a tub and freeze at least 4 hours. Take it out in room temperature 20 mins before serve.

**If you are using ice cream machine, chill the pear puree and then churn them in the machine to slush and follow the rest of the recipe.**

Cardamom White Chocolate and Mascarpone Ice Cream

Ingredients:
8 Cardamoms, crushed with pestle and mortar
350ml Full fat milk (preferably Channel Island milk)
4 Eggs yolks
180g Caster sugar
350g Mascarpone
100g White Chocolate, coarsely grated

Methods:
1. Put the crushed cardamoms and milk in a sauce pan, bring to boiled then simmer for 10mins. Turn of the heat, let it infuse for futher 30mins.
2. At the meanwhile, beat the egg yolks and sugar together until pale and fluffy.
3. Strain the milk and bring back to just boil, then pour onto the egg and sugar mix.
4. Mix well and then pour the mixture back into the sauce pan. Simmer it on medium-low heat, make sure it doesn't boil. Keep stirring the mix at all time. When it reach a custard texture (it should coat a wooden spoon) or 84 degree C (if you have sugar thermometer), remove from heat and pour into a mix bowl quickly. (if you leave the mix in the pan, they will continue cooking and curdle).
5. Mix the mascarpone into the custard mix. Chill for at least 4 hours.
6. Gfet it out from the fridge, fold the grated white chocolate into it. pour it into a shallow container. Freeze for 1 hour and scrap the frozen bits at the edge, mix them back into the mixture. Repeat this step every hour for 3 times, or alternatively pour the mix into an ice cream machine and follow the manufacturer instructions.

I hope you like the recipes, and happy ice cream making.