Joyeux Noel, Feliz Navidad, Bo Nada …or Merry Christmas! I’m beginning to get notorious with temptation. Things that draw me a point of no return are colour, texture, visual appeal … all magical in my eyes! Of course I’m talking food porn and all these beautiful food blogs are awash with sensational stuff these days. One such post I saw a short while ago was this Strawberry & Vanilla Macaron Trifle at Trissilicious, the very talented and sweet food blogger from Down Under. One look and I was sold. The dessert had me hypnotized. I HAD TO MAKE IT!
It had MAGIC in it, a combination of some of my favourite things. Tell me dear readers, does this happen to you too?
I knew this was going to be constructed in my kitchen within the next few days, so great was the temptation. Strawberries √, Macarons – find feet {had to}, Vanilla bean √, Cranberry juice √. Intriguingly enough, winter in North India spells season 2 of strawberries in the year. We get a bounty in the summer months, and then again come January, we see fresh juicy red strawberries entering the market again. Lucky? YOU BET!!
This time we are luckier and they’ve entered the market a little early, in December, a bit steep yet, but firmly there. Red, ripe, juice and full of taste. So there was no question in my mind and I was thanking Triss for the wonderful idea. It’s a Donna Hay recipe, and is visually delightful and full of charm like all her recipes. I love the fresh look she introduces to cuisine, seasonal variations and great platings etc.
You can make this in one large bowl like Donna Haydid, or in single servings as Triss did. I am a sucker for single servings, where I love to dress up the dessert individually and pass it around, so everyone can take in the whole picture. For me that in itself offers quintessential charm, the dream of a dessert which lingers on for long.
Made this as Christmas dessert after the BBQ we had last night. In India, Christmas day is referred to as Bada Din {Big Day} by the natives, a legacy left behind by the British Raj. It’s our adopted favourite festival too. Each year we have a BBQ on Christmas eve for the family & extended family, and the hub takes over the BBQ. This year was no different and we had chicken tikkas, paneer/cottage cheese tikkas in 2 variants, lamb curry, biryani, garlic butter naan … and then these little red, green and white delights to wrap it up.
Dinner was delicious. Nothing like hot tandoori food straight off the grill, cooked to perfection, smoked flavours enticing the palette. Dinner may have been Indian cuisine, but my dessert had been planned forever! It had to be in red, white & green, the spirit of Christmas and the holiday season served in some style.MACARON TRIFLE! I was unsure about whether I could pull it off. So I made the cranberry jelly a day in advance, and the macarons 3 days in advance. My jelly didn’t set in 2-3 hours as the recipe said, and needed some more gelatin too. It was a simple dessert to make.
The macaron Gods seem to be shining goodwill on me these days. I found feet yet again; but never underestimate these fiddly creatures. Of the 3 trays I baked, only 1 gave perfect feet! Why? Ask ’em Gods! Who knows, but I was glad to get 15 perfect feet, and I used 1 crackled top for the 16th! I also had success a few days ago with my savoury macaron experiment for MacTweets, but I have to admit that I love the sweet ones…savoury, alas, are not for me!
That recipe post follows soon…We were really STUFFED, yet once dessert was served, there was magic in the air. The goblets looked like ‘Santa was stuffed into each glass‘ in Mr PABs words. So befitting for the Big Day, and such an absolute delight! The colours, the flavours, the textures…all in perfect harmony. The cranberry jelly and suspended strawberries beautifully balancing the macaron and the lightly sweetened vanilla cream. Light yet ever-so-satisfying dessert!
Donna Hay’s Strawberry and Vanilla Macaron Trifle Adapted minimally from Donna Hay’s Recipe The trifle can be served individually or in a large trifle bowl. Serves 6–8. 16 pieces plain macarons 1 vanilla bean, scraped 300 ml low fat cream 2 tbsps powdered sugar 200 grams strawberries, halved
For the Jelly 3 1/2 teaspoons gelatine powder {original recipe uses 2 1/2} 750 ml cranberry juice 110 grams caster sugar 200 grams strawberries, quartered Method: Jelly To make the strawberry jelly, place the gelatine and ½ cup {125ml} cranberry juice in a bowl and stir to combine. Set aside for 5 minutes or until the gelatine is absorbed. Place the remaining cranberry juice and sugar in a saucepan over medium heat and stir until the sugar is dissolved. Bring to the boil and cook for 1 minute. Remove from the heat, add the gelatine and stir to combine. Set aside to cool for 20 minutes. Vanilla Cream Whip cream, scraped vanilla bean and sugar to soft peaks. To assemble Arrange the strawberries in the base of the serving glasses/bowls and pour over the jelly mixture. Refrigerate for 2–3 hours until set. {Mine took almost overnight to set}. Set a macaron each in the glass/bowl on the jelly. Layer the cream over the macarons. Top with strawberries to serve.
The mango season cometh, & now, the mango season goeth!! I think it’s now sadly the fag end of the much touted & celebrated mango season in India…& all stone fruits have beaten a retreat one by one. We are enjoying the last clutch of pretty expensive mangoes which are tortuously bidding us adieu…which meant it was time to make a mangoee something with chocolate for Meeta’sWhat’s For Lunch Honey? for her event, Monthly Mingle August 2008: Fruit & Chocolate. She called for a combination of fruit & chocolate & I thought this up on a day I had been run desperately up the wall by my pre-teen!! I was ready to burst, so I took self-imposed exile, thought it better to positively use my angry energy & thought this combination up. Recharged & ready to go…I made this Mango Jelly Mousse with Chocolate! It was light, fresh & delicious. I was thrilled because it tasted really nice. Dressed it up with some bling, thanks to an idea I saw at Helen’s @ Tartlette, where she used beaten silver paper sheets to garnish.
The good thing about this fruity delight is that it can me made in advance & can sit in the fridge for 2-3 days. I dare say it would taste great with passion fruit too…just a thought over the top of my head, since we don’t get passion fruit in India.
While on the fruit story, let me share with you pictures of an old man who comes by my door religiously every morning at 8am with a rickety old cart full of lovingly arranged fruit. He gets up at 3 every morning, goes to the wholesale bazaar (mandi) & picks up his fruit. Even though I get my fruit from my regular fruit & vegetable vendor, I always buy something from him. He’s here every single morning with a hope in his heart. How can I let him down? Take a look. I also took a picture of the rickety old broken scale he uses…everything goes for weights, even stones!! LOL!!
And the next picture is of an old village lady who decided to join in with the photography blitz. She was just walking down the road selling stuff from the basket on her head. The list of stuff on sale was more than even Walmart would store under their roof!! It was hilarious…she was insistent that I just take a look at her wares. I didn’t as I was in a hurry, but I took some pictures nevertheless as she was very excited to be snapped.The poor fruit seller was not to happy man to lose his 5 minutes of fame to a lady who stole his thunder!!
Back to the recipe for Meeta… Mango Jelly Mousse with Chocolate Ingredients:
