Rhubarb Passionfruit Fool

A fool is an English pudding (dessert for my US friends), consisting mostly of some kind of cooked fruit and whipped cream. A very simple idea. The 2 most common fools are rhubarb and gooseberry.

Rhubarb is incredibly sour and a little bitter, so it needs coaxing along. Also it gets very stringy. It needs to be cooked down with a sweetener of some kind. We have several syrups from Liber and Co. in Austin, so I thought it would be fun to try one of those with the rhubarb. And it was.

Ingredients

2 lbs rhubarb stalks, cut into 1 inch lengths

12 oz Liber passionfruit syrup

pinch of salt

16 oz (US pint) of heavy cream

Finely grated chocolate (any kind) to garnish

Method

Rinse and shake dry the rhubarb and place into a saucepan with a well fitting lid. Some water will stick to the stalks and that is OK. Place the pan over medium heat. Add the syrup, salt and bring the pot to a simmer. Once simmering, lower the heat until the rhubarb is soft to the touch and fully cooked. 

With an immersion blender, blend the mixture until it is completely smooth. Allow to cool completely

Meanwhile, whip the cream to soft peaks. Combine the fruit and cream by gently folding the cream into the fruit. 

Serve in a small bowl with a little grated dark chocolate for contrast.

Lemon pots au creme

My lovely sister introduced me to these last Christmas. Possibly the best taste to effort ratio of any dessert I have ever made.

This has inspired me to try a whole lot of different treatments - using a different acid could be inspirational. So I ordered some tartaric acid (used to make mascarpone).

Ingredients

zest and juice of 3 lemons

2 1/2 cups heavy cream

5 oz granulated sugar

pinch of salt

2T brandy (optional)

suitable small fruit for color in the serving dish. We used blueberries

Method

zest the lemons into the sugar. Add the lemon zest/sugar mixture to the heavy cream and start to warm through. Put in the salt at this stage. As the cream starts to simmer, stir well. Then take it off heat and allow to cool to lukewarm. Mix the brandy with the lemon juice and stir into the cream immediately. When thoroughly incorporated, place into serving dishes/ glasses along with the fruit (if using). Chill for at least 2 hrs and serve cold.

Update - 9/11/2016

I streamlined the process a bit for the dinner yesterday evening. And used Meyer lemons instead of ordinary lemons. As insurance I added a pinch of tartaric acid too - I wasn't sure how well they would set using Meyer lemon juice.

Technique update (slight, but made a huge difference).

I hate it when you don't get all of the liquid out of a measuring jug. So on this occasion, I mixed the lemon zest and sugar in the jug in which I had measured the cream. That ensured we had cleaned the cream jug properly. I then squeezed the lemon juice into a small bowl - through a strainer.  Meyer lemons have a lot of pips. When the cream/sugar mixture had cooled, I strained it back into the measuring jug, Stirred in the lemon juice (and Calvados instead of brandy) into the measuring jug, mixed it and used the jug to pour the mixture into the chilled serving cups. Much less fuss than usual!

Update - 06/23/2023

Not the same dish exactly, but since the technique was similar, I thought I would tack it on to the end of this one!

Some friends extolled the virtues of Chaunsa magoes from Pakistan, So I bought far too many (about 40 of them!) They weren't all for me, but I did keep quite a few. The question came, "What to do with them?" Especially as eating them out of hand causes the most impressive blood sugar spikes. I figured that some kind of mango cream dessert would fit the bill, so I tinkered!

Ingredients

2 Chaunsa mangoes. Peeled, flesh pureed and pits retained

2 1/2 cups heavy cream

4 oz granulated sugar

Zest of 1 large lemon

1/4 tsp tartaric acid dissolved in 1 tsp water

Method

Pour the cream into a large saucepan. Add the sugar and lemon zest to the measuring jug, and then scrape the contents into the cream. Submerge the mango pits into the sugar/lemon/cream mixture. Bring to a simmer, hold at simmering point for 10 minutes. Strain into a measuring jug to cool.

Meanwhile combine the mango puree and tartaric acid solution and then add to the strained cream. Stir thoroughly to combine.

Pour into small serving bowls and chill overnight.

Shrove Tuesday

Where I am from it is traditional to have pancakes on Shrove Tuesday. Traditionally it is thought that pancakes were a good way to use up the fat, eggs, etc. prior to the denials of Lent. To my American friends this kind of pancake is a crepe - a thin griddle cooked item, not the thicker breakfast style pancake often seen over here. We always served them with lemon and sugar and had them as a dessert. I hadn't had pancakes on pancake day for many years, so this year decided to do them. Being at home and having the time was a major contributing factor.

Ingredients
3/4 cup flour
1/2 t salt
1t baking powder
2T icing or confectioner's sugar
2 large eggs
1 cup milk (1% in this case)
1/2 cup water
a few drops vanilla essence

Method
Sift the dry ingredients into a large bowl
Lightly beat the eggs and add the milk and about half of the water. Make a well in the flour mixture and add the liquids. Whisk until the liquid has been incorporated. The consistency of the batter should be like thin (single) cream. If it is too thick, thin with a little more water.
Heat a small non=stick skillet with a little buttter until the butter just browns. Wipe the skillet. With the skillet still hot, pour in about 2 T of the batter, rolling it around to make a circuloar crepe. When it is cooked on the first side (about 30 seconds, top layer dry), flip and leave on the second side for about 15 seconds. Store the cooked crepes in a warm oven (200F) in layers with parchment paper between the layers. When all the crepes are cooked, fold them into quarters (or roll them up) and place them on warmed dessert plates (3 crepes per person), sprinkle with powdered sugar and lemon juice. Eat immediately!