These were some of my first attempts ever at making donuts. About half of them were either overdone or undercooked due to my nerves with regulating the temperature of the oil. I filled them with black cherry and black pepper compote, strawberry and balsamic jam and some lemon curd. They were delicious.
Meringues
Any excuse to make meringue. They also conveniently make great little holders for Smy Goodness preserves and more. Clockwise from top left are:
- Lemon curd with candied lemon peel, cream and fresh raspberries
- Fresh mango circles marinated in Seville orange marmalade and cardamom topped with toasted pistachios and cream
- Black cherry & black pepper compote with almonds and cream
- Strawberry & balsamic vinegar compote with almonds, fresh strawberrries and cream
- Passionfruit jam topped with toasted macadamia nuts and cream.
I love eating and making meringues all year round including boozy Christmas-y toppings like winter berries stewed in cherry brandy made in the summer. The meringues can be made as individual servings, as large centre pieces or as bite size portions with different toppings.
Sumptuous Spread
Meats
- Salame
- Prosciutto
- Roast chicken
- Roast duck
Preserves
- Six-pepper jelly
- Black cherry & black pepper compote
- Apple and pepper chutney
- Pumpkin & pomengranite chutney
- Plum gumbo
- Seville orange marmalade
Etc.
- Homemade bread, ciabatta and baguette
- Pickled beetroot
- Pickled cabbage
- Olives
- Cava
- Vegetable Juice
Cheese:
- Gorgonzola
- Red Leicester
- Stilton
- Colby
- Manchego
Muffin Moons
I couldn't decide what to have on some muffins so I took four muffins, buttered liberally then added greengage jam, blackberry jam, gooseberry and green tea jam and finally black cherry and black pepper preserve. Then I cut each one in half and Doctor Jamkensteined them together so that two muffins featured all four flavours (from left; greengage jam, blackberry jam, gooseberry and green tea jam and finally black cherry and black pepper preserve). What will you put on your muffin moons?
Smy Chutney Goes Abroad: Colosseo, Roma
Check out these jars of Smy Chutney, lounging on a sunny terrace in Rome, marvelling at the Colosseum, having an aperitivo and thinking about the important things like - where has the best pizza in Rome? The best tiramisu? Is there a city in the world as beautiful as Rome?
(grazie Nina e Zappa per le foto! x)
Canapés: can I get a canapé-men?
Feast your eyes on a range of canap
é
s that I made for a recent gathering. They were the prelude to an Italian-made porcini risotto starter, roast beef and caramelised onion main and lemon curd ice cream that I made for dessert. The canap
é
s were a hit and starting from the right of the photo and moving left they were:
- Brie topped with banana & date chutney
- Cream cheese topped with six-pepper jelly
- Goat's cheese topped with jamón Serrano and black cherry and black pepper conserve
- Rocket topped with pan-seared duck breast and plum gumbo
- Grilled mackerel topped with greengage chutney
- Stilton topped with black cherry and clack pepper conserve.
The top three favourites were the mackeral and greengage chutney, duck with plum gumbo and rocket and the classic banana & date with brie. The stilton was meant to be paired with a red onion marmalade but we ended up serving it as another accompaniment to the beef with the carmelised onions. I used Nairn's mini oatcakes for the
canap
é
s but I prefer to make my own and add different seeds and spices to complement the
canap
é
or they are nice to eat on their own as an alternative to crisps.
Close up of (from bottom to top) duck, rocket & plum gumbo; jam
ó
n, goat's cheese and black cherry; cream cheese and six-pepper jelly.
Close up of (from bottom to top) stilton and clack cherry and black pepper compote; mackerel and greengage chutney.