Strawberry Fool

The English strawberry season is short and sweet and it having come early this year means that it’s never too soon to pick up a gloriously ripe punnet.  If pushed I would have to say that the best way to eat strawberries is as nature intended: picked ripe and juicy from the plant and popped into your mouth directly.  No messing about, no fuss and no preparation either!

Towards the latter half of the season, the sweetness of each strawberry can begin to wane.  The trick with these latecomers is to sweeten them with a little sugar and combine them.  Strawberry Pie, Strawberry Ice Cream and Strawberry Shortcake all come to mind, but my current favourite is this Strawberry Fool.  Made thick and creamy by blending cashew nuts with rice milk and vanilla, a freshly made strawberry puree is folded through and studded with a handful of sliced berries.  It’s a wonderful summer pudding, just light enough to suit the season but sweet enough to sate.  Serve in vintage glasses or small glass ramekins for best effect.

If you don’t want to serve this immediately then cover it tightly with clingfilm and leave in the fridge to chill.  If kept this way it can last for up to 3 days.

STRAWBERRY FOOL

Serves 4

For the strawberry Puree

100g golden icing sugar

A large punnet of strawberries (keeping a handful of the berries aside)

For the vanilla cream

200g raw cashew nuts

150ml – 200ml rice milk

1 tsp agave syrup

¼ tsp vanilla extract

The seeds from 1 vanilla pod

Place the cashew nuts, agave syrup, vanilla extract and seeds and the minimum quantity of rice milk into a high powered blender and blitz until completely smooth, thick and creamy, adding the extra rice milk, bit by bit, if you need it to help the process.  Spoon the cream into a mixing bowl and set aside.

Next, hull the strawberries and then place with the icing sugar into the blender (having washed it first!) and blitz until you have a smooth puree.  Pass the puree through a fine sieve, discarding the seeds.

Gently fold the strawberry puree into the vanilla cream until you have a light strawberry ripple.  Slice the remaining strawberries into halves or quarters, depending on their size and fold into the fool.  Spoon into glasses or bowls and then serve.

After Dinner Almond Biscuits

 

March seems to be the month of after work drinks, date nights and dinner parties; I think it has something to do with the fact that the sun has finally come out from its winter hiding place, the nights are getting longer and people are ripping off their thick socks, abandoning their sofas and getting out there to socialise and enjoy things.  It’s about time as well, even I, lover of all things wintry, have got a bit tired with being perpetually cold.

So last week I found myself attending a friend’s dinner party: and it was a lovely affair, full of good food, good wine and charming people.  At the post food, coffee stage someone pulled out a tin of Amaretti biscuits - you know the kind, little almond rounds, crisp and crunchy and perfect for dipping in to rich, strong coffee, a glass of brandy or both – to the delight of all around (even me) as there is only one thing better than the taste of those little Italian numbers and that is the opportunity to take the paper they are wrapped in, roll it in to a tube and then set fire to one end.  Dangerous you say?  Never!  What’s dangerous about a table full of drunk friends setting fire to paper I ask you?  The effect of these little bonfires is that once burnt through, the amaretti lanterns (for that is what they should be called) shoot up in to the air, like ethereal rockets and then drift, gracefully and delicately downwards, and land, like cobwebs, draping themselves over half drunk glasses of wine.  I love them; and although I got to indulge in a little pyromania I still thought it would be nice to be able to join in with the after dinner coffee and biscuits, and so I thought I would have a go at making my own little almond amaretti’s.

After a few attempts, I decided that it is the combination of almond essence and vanilla essence that gives you that wonderfully rich, intense bitter/sweet almond flavour, almost like a biscotti, although I would insist that you use really good quality almond and vanilla essence otherwise the flavour can be quite synthetic.  These biscuits are meant to be crisp on the outside with a little bit of give in their centres, I think the addition of polenta provides a textural dimension that adds to their authenticity.  I would serve them with a cup of delicious coffee but a friend told me that she has been enjoying them with a mid morning cup of tea, so I think they are flexible.  If you keep them stored in an air tight container they will last for up to 4 days.

AFTER DINNER ALMOND BISCUITS

Makes 16 – 18 biscuits

85g dairy free butter replacement (Pure Sunflower Spread)

140g golden caster sugar, plus extra for topping

140g Doves Farm Gluten Free Plain Flour

55g polenta

½ tsp vanilla extract

½ tsp almond extract

1 large egg – 1 heaped tsp Orgran Egg Replacer whisked together with 2 tbsp water

 Preheat the oven to 170c (150c Fan) and cover 2 baking sheets in baking parchment.  Cream together the butter replacement and sugar until light and fluffy.  Add the almond extract, vanilla extract and egg replacer and beat together until fully combined.  Stir in the flour and polenta and mix gently until fully combined.

Spoon out walnut size clumps of the biscuit mixture and, using the palms of your hands, roll in to balls 1 inch in diameter.  Place the balls on the baking sheets, flatten slightly with your finger tips and sprinkle with a little sugar.  Bake in the oven for 12 - 15 minutes until golden and firm to the touch.  Remove from the oven and place on a wire rack to cool.

All recipes and images © 2010 Pippa Kendrick, The Intolerant Gourmet