Frosted Baked Apples, Victorian Christmas Favourite. Gluten-free

There are so many traditional sweets based on apples and eggs which were served in the Christmas period, some recipes we have dating back to the Elizabethan period. Amongst them were the poetically named 'Snow Pudding', 'Apple Florentine', 'Dish Of Snow', 'Snow Cream' and the notorious 'Apple Hedgehog' the bane of cooks and hostesses alike and no doubt the cause of many a nervous breakdown in the kitchen. This latter, a fiendishly difficult and spectacular party centrepiece was finally abandoned by the Victorians as being 'too laborious' but I am going to attempt it in mini version. Another similarly spectacular dish was 'Pommes Flambantes' aka 'Blazing Apples' aka 'Apple Yule Logs' which as the name suggests involves a pyrotechnic element. Hopefully I will get around to this dish too.

Here though I'm going for the less spectacular, much less time-consuming but never-the-less delicious 19th century party favourite, Frosted Apples. This was a sort of 'poor man's' or rather happy cooks version of 'Apple Hedgehog' and here I'm making them with a quick-bake French meringue.

INGREDIENTS

(makes 20)

10 small apples. Again I'm using a couple of cider apple varieties from our orchard, which by now have ripened on the trees to a pretty decent 'cooker' even almost dessert level but still with an agreeable tanginess which balances the sweetness of the meringue. Seen above with their attendant mistletoe make for a very seasonal feeling!

For the Stuffing:

20 raisins
Seville Orange Marmalade, see my recipe link below.

For the Meringue:

3 egg whites

75g - 3oz of blonde cane sugar
A little raw cane sugar (rapadura)

TEMPERATURES

Preheat the oven to 190°C or 375°F 

METHOD 

Wash and halve the apples horizontally. Remove the core and pips, turn the halves over and remove the stalk and calyx. Place in a heat-proof dish

Seal the gaps left by the removal of the two latter with a raisin.

Use a teaspoon to stuff the apple halves with the marmalade.

 

VARIATION:

This recipe is also delicious with my previous baked apple filling (see link below).

Pour in 3-4 tablespoons of cold water around the base of the apples. This will stop them drying out before they are cooked through, it will also mean they will part-steam and be juicier but still hold their shape.

Cover the dish with baking parchment and place in the middle of the oven for around 25 minutes.

Whisk up the egg whites to form stiff peaks. Gently fold in the blonde cane sugar. Cover the filling of each apple with a generous layer of meringue 'frost' and sprinkle with rapadura.

Place in the oven on the top shelf. Cook for 5 - 15 minutes. Check after 5 to see if the meringues are the required golden colour.

Serve immediately.

Enjoy!

All that needs to be said now is Bon Appėtit!

Best wishes from Normandie,
Sue

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©  Sue Cross 2017

Scottish Flummery Chocolate and Orange Gluten-free Shotglass Recipe

Flummery is not only the favourite retort of Rex Stout's epicurean detective, Nero Wolfe but it is also a most delicious festive dessert. Its beginnings however, were far from gourmet, as it started life as a lowly gruel cum porridge,  made from the fermented soakings and rinsings of various cultivated cereals. To be exact, the inner husks. In Scotland flummery was made from oat husks and 'sowans' or as it was called in the gaellic, sùghan was a drink or dish laced, on festive occasions with usquebaugh, the water of life. In fact this culinary speciality was so engrained within Scottish Tradition that in Aberdeen and surrounding areas the 24th of December was known as 'Sowans Nicht'.

As time went by this essential food of the poor and/or 'diet drink for the sick' was enriched with cream and alcohol to become a suitable addition to the Georgian Christmas board. For, with the inclusion in the recipe of hartshorn jelly and ground rice, flummery became stiff enough to be moulded. In the 18th Century Josiah Wedgwood's potteries had perfected the making of china dessert moulds. This was then the apogée of flummery as a festive centrepiece, one of the most famous of these being, 'Temple Flummery', a sweet re-creation of Solomon's Temple. Below is the recipe for the latter and a picture of the equally amazing 'Eggs and Bacon Flummery' from The Experienced English Housekeeper by Elizabeth Raffald, published in 1782.

However, to me both these were eclipsed by the astounding 'Gilded Fish Pond', in which the flummery was covered with a layer of real gold leaf! This makes my simple tinted flummery, with mocha and marmalade in a shotglass, pretty tame!

You can of course use shop-bought marmalade for this recipe. It is, however, quite simple just to make up a quick batch from a few citrus fruits and their rinds. If you are outside the (very short) season for bitter oranges, then you may just need to use more lemon juice and less sugar to get that fine aigre-doux balance. This is a dessert that suffers, just as marmalade itself does,  if you overdo the sweetness. I will put a link to my marmalade recipe and that for chocolate orange peels, which I use as a decoration, at the bottom of the page.

Here again, as this is a gluten-free recipe, I'm using rum instead of whisky. As previously discussed, the latter can contain added malt. I've even made this dessert with a fruit syrup/liqueur and that was good too! I am also using actual oats rather than the 'rinsings', so my flummery has texture and bite.

INGREDIENTS 

(makes 18 - 20 dependent on the size of shot glass)

The live golden coloured links below will take you to certified organic, gluten-free ingredients.

300ml or ½ a pint of raw crème fraîche épaisse*, whipping or thick cream plus a little extra for decoration.

75g (3oz) toasted rolled, pinhead or steel cut gluten-free oats (here I've used rolled)

1 tablespoon of raw honey rapadura or raw cane sugar

2 tablespoons of rum

2 tablespoons of Seville marmalade

1 tablespoon of freshly brewed coffee

4 squares of  dark confectionery chocolate

For decorating - extra marmalade, chocolate dipped candied orange peels, cream and cocoa.

*This is cream which has been left to stand and cool after full cream milk, such as A2 raw Normandy, has been run through a separator. I know this because some years ago I got up at, what was to me, the crack of dawn to go and film the process at our local organic farm. I'll link the article below for those interested.

METHOD - Making Basic Flummery

In a frying pan and with quite a high heat, toast the oats until they smell nutty (a few minutes) move them around the pan so they get an even toasting. Leave to cool.

If you are using a thin crème fraîche then you will need to whip this up prior to incorporating the rest of the ingredients. You can over-beat cream so I usually beat it until it forms something that looks like the leaves of a book. However, for the last five years I have been able to get my cream directly from the separator - raw and organic and so thick a spoon will stand up in it.

Whip up the cream and stir in the honey/sugar and oats. If you inadvertently stir in the oats in whilst they are still warm don't worry just whisk the whole lot up together and everything will be fine.

METHOD - Flavouring the Flummery

Start by dividing the mixture into two.

Into one half of the the basic flummery add one tablespoon of marmalade and the same measure of rum and mix well.

Whisk the mixture together until stiff.

You should end up with something that looks thick and textured. I used a dark marmalade,  one I had made with raw cane sugar.

For the other half of the basic flummery, melt the four squares of chocolate in a heat proof bowl or jug in or over a pan of hot water. When melted stir in the coffee and a tablespoon of rum. Add this to the flummery and whisk well,

Making this sweet a day in advance is no problem, in fact flummery in my opinion gets even creamier and tastier if it is allowed to rest overnight. You can then assemble the dessert on the day of the party.

Add a layer of pure marmalade to the bottom of each shot glass and then add alternate layers of cream and the two flavours of flumery. Decorate the top with some more cream and a sprinkle of cocoa and some curls of dark chocolate. I also use home-made chocolate dipped candied peels to finish this dish.

If you are lucky enough to own a jelly or blancmange mould, then feel free to use that, happy in the knowledge that you are recreating a piece of culinary history.

Enjoy!

Hope to see you again for anothr recipe from an old farmhouse in Normandie.

All that needs to be said now is Bon Appėtit!

All the best,
Sue

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©  Sue Cross 2017 
 

Mini Potato Pies à l'andalouse. Mazagran with spicy sausage & red peppers. Gluten-free

Here is another version of the mazagran or filled potato pie. Mazagran  à l'andalouse is a blaze of colour and with its spicy interior brings all the warmth of a Southern Summer back to a Winter buffet. On days when the wind is howling in across the Atlantic from the West and the rain transforms the garden into a sea of mud, these little pies of delicious and sunshine soaked, brightly coloured pimentos, red onions  and peppers work their magic! They epitomise the rhetorical question in Shelly's concluding words to Ode to the West Wind:

'If Winter comes, can Spring be far behind?'

TEMPERATURES

Preheat the oven to 220°C or 425°F

à l'Andalouse

The term  in French cooking refers to a mix of pimento, chipolata and onion. To me chipolata is much too tame for Andalusia and I would be thinking chorizo but this dish really requires fresh meat rather than a dried sausage and in France we only get the latter type. Therefore, I choose to add merguez a spicy sausage from North Africa, which is also very popular in the Middle East and in France forms the basis of couscous dishes. As I remember Andalusia, its rich history, fabulous architecture and world renowned cuisine, influenced by many cultures, including Moorish,  I believe this ingredient not out of place in a dish with the title à l'Andalouse.

Merguez are made of beef and/or lamb and also sometimes of poultry. They have a distinct rich red colour which comes from the spices used in their confection. Every charcutier or chef has well-guarded secrets as to the blending of merguez spices but some of the most common are: hot chillies, cumin, fennel, paprika, sumach and coriander.

INGREDIENTS

(makes 16)

For the 'Pastry':

4 medium to large potatoes
A knob of butter
Salt and freshly ground pepper
White rice flour for dusting

For the Filling:

1 Merguez cut into small pieces
1 large red pepper
1 medium red onion
½ a Piment d'Espelette (do not include all the seeds!) or chilli of your choice*
Salt and pepper
Butter or a suitable oil for cooking.



* Having read around the subject the nearest taste to Espelette seems to be Organic Ground Cayenne

METHOD

For the 'Pastry':

Boil the potatoes whole and in their skins until firm but cooked well enough so that  a fork will pierce them easily. Peel and then mash with a hand masher, thus avoiding any chance of the potato becoming 'gluey'. Add salt and pepper and the butter. Set aside to cool.

For the Filling:

Sauté the onions, chillies, red pepper in butter in a heavy bottomed pan until they begin to soften. Add the pieces of merguez, cover the pan with a lid  and cook until the meat has turned brown. Season with salt and pepper and then cook, stirring occasionally until any liquid is reduced and you have a thick sauce. Remove from the heat and leave to cool. At this point I mash it slightly with a potato masher just to make it smoother and easier to spoon onto the potato.

ASSEMBLING THE MAZAGRANS

Mazagrans were traditionally cut out with round fluted cutters and in fact for the first  à l'Andalouse I made I used these and when they were cooked I thought they looked good, (see above). However, I recently bought a set of four different shaped biscuit cutters in three different sizes because, firstly I thought the Mazagran would look more interesting when there was a whole flock of them on a buffet table.  Secondly, when they came out of the oven, it was a lot easier for me to keep track of what filling was in which!

Dust your pastry board and rolling pin with rice flour. Work with a handful of pastry at a time, it's easier that way. Roll it out and add more rice flour if the potato begins to stick to either the board or pin. Using a cutter of your choice, I liked the large heart for this, cut out the 'pastry' shapes. When you have cut the first one and with the cutter still in place move it slightly from left to right. If it slides easily and the potato moves with it then the rice flour is doing its work. I was so happy to find this solution, as I tried first with potato flour and it was nowhere near as successful!

Place the shapes onto a buttered baking tray.

Cut the lids so you will be ready to assemble them immediately you have positioned the filling. Prick the lids with a fork to allow for any excess moisture to escape.

Place one teaspoonful of the mixture on each heart leaving a border to allow for a good seal when positioning the potato lid. Make sure to press around the edges of the heart gently but firmly.

Cook for 10 to 15 minutes on the top shelf of the oven, but check after 5 minutes to make sure they're not cooking too quickly. If they are, then move the tray down to the next level.

Serve warm.

Enjoy!

If you put the filling in when still warm the potato is steamed from the inside and does not hold its shape as well. They still taste good. Though from an aesthetic point of view are rather lacking!

All that needs to be said now is Bon Appėtit!

Hope to see you here again for another recipe from my 100 Gluten-Free Organic Party Foods Challenge!

All the best,

Sue

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©  Sue Cross 2017

Picture of lAlhambra thanks to the Pinterest board of thatsaudigirl3269.tumblr.com

Mediaeval Cider Syllabub Float. Festive Fare Gluten-free Recipe

Since Mediaeval times and right up to the end of the 17th century syllabub was a drink rather than a dessert. It was also a love token offered by dairymaids and milkmaids to potential lovers and was therefore and possibly by association, a favourite beverage for farmers and farmworkers in the fields at harvest time. The recipe was seemingly simple with the few ingredients readily available on the farm, the skill was in making it. In original form it was a 'direct from the cow' recipe and although I can hand-milk, stopping the cow from putting her proverbial foot in it or kicking the whole thing over, would certainly put me off attempting it.

The recipe below is from 'The Experienced English Housekeeper' by  Elizabeth Raffald and was published in 1782. Apart from the clue in the title, she cleverly glosses over the hard part! In earlier versions the cow was milked directly into a bowl of crab apple verjus, sugar or honey. Made, as the name suggests, mainly from pressing unripe grapes or in English cookery,  crab apples, verjus was a popular Mediaeval cookery ingredient. It was preferred to vinegar or lemon as a condiment or for déglaçage, as it didn't conflict with accompanying wines. In recent years verjus has enjoyed a renaissance, particularly in contemporary organic French and American cuisine, where it is used in vinaigrettes, sauces and marinades and for the same reason. It also fits well into the ethos of organic because it uses fruit thinnings, which would otherwise be discarded.

INGREDIENTS

(makes 18-20 or more dependent on the shot glass used)

FOR THE SYLLABUB

½ a lemon
1 - 2 tablespoons of rapadura or blonde raw cane sugar
50ml or 2 fl oz of dry farm cider
150ml or ¼ a pint of raw crème fraîche épaisse*, whipping or thick cream

FOR THE CIDER FLOAT

An additional 360ml or just over 12 fl oz  of dry farm cider

*This is cream which has been left to stand and cool after full cream milk, such as A2 raw Normandy has been run through a separator. We got up at the crack of dawn to go and film the process at our local organic dairy farm, where we also helped making cider.

The Cider film is below, if you'd like to see the fun we had in making it!

You may be looking at the above list and thinking sooo simple. Well, not so because with organic quality raw products the depth of flavours is incredible. This is the irony of organic raw materials, which by their very method of production and lack of subsidy, will cost more than those of industrial farming but you do not need a whole host of extra costing ingredients, aromas and additives. If you use raw cane sugar (rapadura) the flavour will be even deeper than if you use the blonde cane sugar, the colour will change also. I like to add the raw cane sugar later as then the crystals remain intact and you get a delicious toffee taste and aroma to the syllabub. Experiment with the recipe, that's what cooking is all about!

METHOD

FOR THE SYLLABUB

In order to permit this depth of flavour to fully develop, it is best to allow at least an hour for the ingredients other than the cream (and rapadura raw sugar if you are using that) to rest and infuse. However, if this is a last-minute party-effort do not worry, just make sure you have enough left over to enjoy by yourself the day after, when it will be richer, glossier and most indulgently delicious.

Squeeze the juice from the half lemon and remove the outer layer of peel.

Add the sugar and the cider and if possible leave for at least an hour to infuse.

Incorporate the cream with a hand whisk or electric beater, just until it forms into 'leaves' or peaks. Do not over whisk!

Here if you compare the photos you'll see the difference in shade and texture to a syllabub made with rapadura.

FOR THE CIDER FLOAT

Fill the shot glass to around half way to two thirds up with chilled cider.

Add a good heaped teaspoon or more of syllabub.

Decorate the top with a fruit or similar.

Serve with a spoon and/or swizzle stick.

The cider float can be drunk in the way of an Irish Coffee, either by spooning out the topping or by a gentle mixing in of the topping.

Either way it is delicious.

You can make this in a non-alcoholic version by substituting clear apple juice for the farm cider.

Enjoy!

All that needs to be said now is Bon Appėtit!

Hope to see you here again for another recipe from my 100 Gluten-Free Organic Party Foods Challenge! In the meantime here's the cider making film:


All the best,

Sue

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and....

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RETURN TO MAIN CONTENTS PAGE

RETURN TO 100 GLUTEN-FREE PARTY RECIPES CONTENTS 

©  Sue Cross 2017