Caramelised mango with coconut panna cotta

Having an organic veg box delivered is a great way to get your hands on a regular supply of top quality, super-fresh fruit and vegetables direct to your door. It's brilliant for those times when there's just too much going on and you're just too busy to get to a market or a good greengrocers. I love my veg box and wouldn't be without it.

Of course there are times when the veg box presents challenges, sometimes I get vegetables or fruit that I'm not used to cooking or on rare occasions something that I just don't like that much. The last two weeks have been like that, It's obviously the time for mangoes because they've been in my box two weeks in a row.I've used mango a few times before but it's not something I often buy. I've made mango cheesecake before and a really fantastic spicy mango salsa, this time however I chose to chop it into chunks and caramelise it to make a sweet, golden mango compote. It would have made a great topping for ice cream or paired with a dollop of Greek yogurt, I chose to serve mine with a silky smooth coconut panna cotta.Panna cotta is a classic Italian dessert that's incredibly easy to make having just four ingredients, cream, sugar, gelatine and vanilla. To make a coconut panna cotta I left out the vanilla and substituted some of the cream for coconut milk, the flavour of coconut isn't strong but the cream does have a light, delicate, tropical coconut flavour, the perfect partner to sweet sticky caramelised mango.

Coconut panna cotta with caramelised mango (Serves 6-8)

Ingredients:
For the caramelised mango:

• 1 Large mango, peeled, stoned and diced
• 5 Tablespoons white sugar
• Water

For the panna cotta:

• 600ml/1 Pint double/heavy cream
• 400ml Coconut milk
  
• 75g White sugar
• Gelatine leaves, enough to set 1 litre of liquid (Every brand of gelatine is different, I used 7 leaves of supercook gelatine but check your packet)

Method:
For the mango:

• Put the sugar in a pan with a few spoonfuls of water, put it on the heat and bring to a boil. Keep boiling until it has turned a golden caramel colour.
• When your sugar has caramelised add all the mango to pan, the sugar will seize but keep cooking and it will soften again.
• Cook until the mango is soft and coated with a sticky syrup.
• Set aside to cool for a few minutes then store in the fridge.

For the panna cotta:

• First off put your gelatine leaves into a bowl of water to soften.
  
• Place the cream, coconut milk and sugar into a saucepan and place on a gentle heat until it just begins to simmer, don't let the mixture boil.
• When the cream mixture is just beginning to bubble around the edges take it of the heat and add the gelatine one sheet at a time whisking the mixture after each sheet has been added.
• Once all the gelatine had been dissolved pour the mixture into molds or glasses and place in the fridge to set.
• Serve with a spoonful of caramelised mango on top.
  

Roasted peaches with vanilla mascarpone

A good peach is a thing of beauty, sweet smelling, fragrant and juicy, and they're at their best right now. The peach season is short so if you haven't been devouring them with reckless abandon like I have may I suggest you pick up a punnet next time you go shopping, before it's too late.

Some of my favourite ways to use peaches -besides eating them raw- are to add them to cakes, crumbles and pies. These are all delicious and fantastic ways to use this wonderful fruit but my favourite is perhaps the easiest of all, I like to roast halved peaches with butter, brown sugar and a little cinnamon.The peaches come out of the oven golden and caramelised, the juices run and form a delicious syrup which can be spooned over the top, like everything that's roasted the flavour is intensified and becomes intensely sweet and peachy. I served mine with vanilla mascarpone for a bit of luxury, you could of course use cream, ice cream or nothing at all.

How to make roasted peaches with vanilla mascarpone

There isn't really a recipe for this but here is the rough method:

You will need:

• 1 peach (or nectarine) per person
• Brown sugar
• Cinnamon (optional but it works really well)
• Chopped almonds (again optional but really good with this)

For the mascarpone

• 125g Mascarpone
• Icing sugar
• Vanilla extract

Method

• First halve your peaches and remove the stones.
• Put the peaches in an oven-proof tray and put a dab of butter in each of the hollows that the stone came from.
• Mix some brown sugar and cinnamon together, about one teaspoon of sugar per peach half and as much cinnamon as you like.
  
• sprinkle the sugar over the peaches, followed by the chopped almonds.
  
• Bake the peaches in a medium oven basting every now and again. The cooking time depends on how ripe your peaches are, mine were still a bit hard and took one hour.

• To make the mascarpone simply mix the mascarpone, sugar and vanilla together.

serve with the peaches with the mascarpone and pour any juices from the roasted pan over the top.

A heatwave and a Summer Berry Fool

It's been a scorching few days here the thermometer is my kitchen is reading a whopping 38.9c, OK, so that may not be considered hot at all in some places but here in the UK it's an official heatwave.

Hot!

In these temperatures there's no way I'm going to have the oven on or do anything too intense in the kitchen, it's hot enough already! What I needed was something cool and summery, something that requires minimal cooking but still tastes great.

It was time to make a fool, not of myself you understand although that's not hard to do, but from summer berries. A fool is a very simple dessert made from whipped cream, fruits and sometimes -as in this case- custard too. The fruit is stewed, the cream is whipped, the custard is made and the whole lot is stirred together and served well chilled, simple as that.I like to stir the fruit in last thing so I can leave it not quite fully Incorporated in to the cream mixture, it just looks good that way! I served mine with crushed shortbread scattered over the top for some added crunch, it would work really well with nuts too.

There is no recipe as such for this but here are the steps.

• Stew some fruit with a little sugar, any summer berries are good so is rhubarb. Use whatever you like or whatever you have. Chill the mixture while you prepare the cream.
  
• Whip some double/heavy cream to the soft peak stage, you don't want stiff peaks.
• Make some custard or buy some, as long as it's good quality. You need about the same quantity as the whipped cream.
• Stir the custard into the cream, make sure the berries are completely cold and stir them in too.
• Serve well chilled scattered with crushed shortbread or nuts.
  

Fruit-packed Rock Cakes / Rock buns

I haven't made rock cakes since primary school. I think everyone made these at some point in their school cookery lessons, probably because they are so quick and easy to make.

Rock cakes are very similar to scones, they have a crisp crust and light crumbly texture and are an excellent recipe to have in your repertoire. Great for teaching children to cook or for when you want to make cakes and don't have the time (or can't be bothered) for anything elaborate.
I like loads of fruit in mine so I put some extra in, I also sprinkled sugar crystals over the top before baking for some extra crunch.

Recipe

• 225 g (8 oz) Self Raising Flour
• pinch of salt
• 100 g (4 oz) margarine
• 75 g (3 oz) mixed dried fruit
• 25 g (1 oz) mixed peel
• 50 g (2 oz) caster sugar
• 1 medium egg
• milk to mix

Method

• Heat oven to 200ºC, 400ºF, Gas Mark 6. Grease two baking trays.
• Mix the flour and salt, rub in the margarine.
• Stir in the dried fruit, mixed peel and sugar.
• Mix to a stiff dough with egg and milk.
• Place in rough heaps on the baking tray and bake for 10-15 minutes.

Mini peach crumbles

I love a good fruit crumble, they were one of the first things I learned to cook, usually with fruit I had picked myself which more often than not meant damsons. I loved making them so much I was making at least 1 a week, I got so good at it I could have a crumble in the oven in less than 10 minutes!I might not make them quite that often any more, but at this time of year when it is getting cooler and darker my thoughts still turn to crumble. It is the perfect pudding for autumn, comfort food at it's best.
They are really easy to make and almost impossible to mess up, plus you can be creative with the filling. I once made a banana and strawberry crumble which was certainly an interesting combination!
I like to play around with the topping too, it's great with nuts for extra crunch and flavour, or oats for a different texture. I sometimes add spices as well, cinnamon is an obvious but delicious choice paired with apples.
This time I kept it simple, using peaches for the filling and a basic recipe of half the weight of butter to flour with sugar added to taste. How sharp the fruit is will affect how much sugar you need. For four people I would normally use 8oz flour, 4oz butter and 20z sugar.

• Rub the butter into the flour until I have a breadcrumb texture then stir in the sugar
• Place fruit in a baking dish with a little sugar
• Pour over the topping and bake at about gas 4/180C/350F until golden

Instead of making one big crumble like I normally would, I made individual crumbles in these ramekins which I've had for ages and never used. I like how it turned out, they look good and everyone got their own individual pudding.

Apricot cream tart, My best dessert ever?...

Last week I made what I think is my best ever dessert, I didn't set out to make it but I couldn't resist a whole bagful of fresh apricots for £1! there was probably 4lbs of fruit which is way more than we could eat so... My Dad made some jam which is really good, and I made an Apricot tart.
The recipe is loosely based on Rick Stein's redcurrant tart that was in Sainsbury's magazine. I changed the redcurrants for apricots and made an almond pastry as it goes so well with apricot, the filling is a custard filling made with double cream, eggs, icing sugar and a real vanilla pod. First I made the pastry, it's a simple all butter shortcrust recipe to which I added a little sugar and almond extract, this was blind baked to make the case.
The filling is made from half a pint a double cream, 2 eggs, 5oz sugar and vanilla. The apricots were stoned and halved, placed in rings in the pastry case, I then poured in my custard mixture and baked it in a low oven for about an hour.
The result is a dessert that not only looks brilliant but tastes great, the flavours were perfectly balanced and it was just the right level of sweet and a contrasting sharpness from the fruit, the pastry was crisp and delicious. Overall it was perfect!
This would be fantastic to take to a bring and share lunch which is what I plan to do.

Rocky road - Cycling food

I had to get back to Uni for lectures on monday, and as it's me I cycle there! Not that theres any alternative without a car.
Anyway I decided to make something to fuel my trip and after a lot of my usual indecision settled on Rocky road cake.
Rocky road cake isn't really a cake at all but, is simply a mixture of chocolate, marshmallows, fruit and nuts.
The ingredients can vary according to taste but chocolate and marshmallows are both essential.
My version had raisins, chopped hazlenuts and walnuts which I toasted in a dry frying pan, (peanuts are more traditional but I had none) glace cherries and obviously chocolate and marshmallows.
As the chocolate is the base for this it is essential that you use a good quality chocolate, dark milk or even white could be used although white chocolate would be very sweet. I'm a dark chcolate person so I used Cote d'or.

Rocky Road
(I havn't given quantities, I just mixed in what looked right)

• Chocolate
• Nuts of your choice
• Marshmallows (the small ones or just cut sume up with scissors)
• Dried fruit such as raisins and sultanas
• Glace cherries

This is so easy to make simply melt your chocolate and mix everything together, put the mixture into a tin lined with baking parchment and leave to set. Easy!

Strawberry and Blueberry tart

I don't know about you but I am bored of winter food, and winter in general come to think of it. Last night we were out for a bring and share dinner, and this gave me a good oppurtunity to make something a bit more "summery", I decided to make a pudding. As we had some pastry at home I decided I would make a fruit tart. The filling is a mixture of cream cheese, icing sugar, vanilla and gelatine (to make sure it set). For the fruit topping I went to Leicester market to see what looked good and found some nice strawberries and blueberries.

So I set to work, first I rolled out the pastry and lined a pastry tart dish, I then blind baked it, left it to cool, spread a thin layer of dark chocolate across the bottom and poured in my filling. When everything had set I decorated it with halved strawberries and blueberries and drizzled it with more chocolate.

As you can see from the picture it looks really good which is exactly what I was aiming for, I wanted something that would stand out and get noticed! The red and blue certainly does that.
This dessert was another success, I seem to have had a string of them lately! it tasted as good as it looks, the addition of a chocolate layer certainly added another dimension that I would add again, as well as helping keep the pastry crisp.

The Recipe

To make your own fruit tart you will need: (Measurements are very rough, I just judged what looked right)

• Shortcrust pastry (I cheated and used ready made, but it would be even better with home made sweet pastry)
  
• 350g Cream cheese


• 1/2 cup icing sugar, (sifted)


• Vanilla extract


• 1 Sachet of gelatine powder


• 60-70g Dark chocolate


• Fruits of your choice

First line you tart dish with pastry, (I used a 10 inch dish) cover with tin foil then baking beans or weights and bake at Gas mark 4 for 15mins after this time remove the foil and beans and bake until golden brown (about 10 mins more. Set aside to cool.

While the pastry cools melt around 50g of the dark chocolate, (this can be done in a bowl over a pan of barely simmering water, or very carefully in the microwave) spread the chocolate over the base and leave to set, this won't take long at all.

Now make you filling by beating the sifted icing sugar and cream cheese together, add a few drops of vanilla, and pour in the gelatine made up according to packet instructions. Make sure everything is well mixed.
Pour the filling into the pastry case and put it in the fridge to set, this should take about 20mins.

Now prepare your fruit if it needs it wash and chop as you like it and arrange it on top, be creative! finally melt the rest of your chocolate and drizzle ove the top.

Done! Now you can look smug and show off your finished dessert.