Stars
The third Serendipity Dinner for 2012 rather pushed at the conceptual limits of serendipity, since I had to accommodate thirteen diners and spent so much time cooking that I barely had a chance to eat, let alone chat. But such is the challenge I have set myself. And as we've established, I am an idiot.
Entree was a classic Waldorf salad. Main course was lamb koftas, skewered on rosemary twigs, with pita bread, hommus, quinoa tabbouleh and couscous with pistachios and dried apricots. Dessert was blueberry and ricotta icecream with pastry stars.
The Waldorf salad was serviceable but not very exciting - it would have benefited from some dried cranberries or something. The lamb koftas looked more upmarket than they tasted, but that may have had something to do with the fact that they were 30% pork: the butcher didn't have enough lamb mince. Still, they were tasty. The couscous was good, laced with mint and coriander, but the quinoa tabbouleh was sensational... I'll definitely make it again. The icecream was a little icy, but the ricotta gave an interesting roundness to the flavour and the pastry stars complimented it perfectly.
And since I own the recipe, I'm free to give it away to you:
Blueberry and Ricotta Icecream with Pastry Stars
Using a stick blender, blend 250g smooth ricotta, 200mls cream, 200mls milk, 1 teaspoon vanilla essence and half a cup of caster sugar. Churn in an icecream maker until mixture resembles a thick slurry, then fold through a punnet of fresh blueberries, transfer to a sealable container and freeze.
Use a star-shaped cookie cutter to make stars from a semi-thawed sheet of frozen shortcrust pastry. Sprinkle each star with icing sugar then bake for ten minutes in a medium oven.
Entree was a classic Waldorf salad. Main course was lamb koftas, skewered on rosemary twigs, with pita bread, hommus, quinoa tabbouleh and couscous with pistachios and dried apricots. Dessert was blueberry and ricotta icecream with pastry stars.
The Waldorf salad was serviceable but not very exciting - it would have benefited from some dried cranberries or something. The lamb koftas looked more upmarket than they tasted, but that may have had something to do with the fact that they were 30% pork: the butcher didn't have enough lamb mince. Still, they were tasty. The couscous was good, laced with mint and coriander, but the quinoa tabbouleh was sensational... I'll definitely make it again. The icecream was a little icy, but the ricotta gave an interesting roundness to the flavour and the pastry stars complimented it perfectly.
And since I own the recipe, I'm free to give it away to you:
Blueberry and Ricotta Icecream with Pastry Stars
Using a stick blender, blend 250g smooth ricotta, 200mls cream, 200mls milk, 1 teaspoon vanilla essence and half a cup of caster sugar. Churn in an icecream maker until mixture resembles a thick slurry, then fold through a punnet of fresh blueberries, transfer to a sealable container and freeze.
Use a star-shaped cookie cutter to make stars from a semi-thawed sheet of frozen shortcrust pastry. Sprinkle each star with icing sugar then bake for ten minutes in a medium oven.
posted by Blandwagon at 1:54 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home