Sue's Posterous

Ooh, my agar agar jelly has set! 

  As you can see, the first one came out of the mould wonky... so I accidentally snaffled half of it in one mouthful.  Most of the others came out ok, though a couple of them took a lil bit of damage.

   The flavour is lovely.  The texture is very light - only-just-jelly...  it explodes into a fruit smoothie inside your mouth.  I might use a smidge more agar agar next time, for extra firmness.

  This was a very simple first experiment.  

Ingredients were as follows:
600ml of orange and mango juice
300ml of water
60g caster sugar
3 tablespoons of flaked agar
Mixed berries

1. I prepared moulds with a thin coating of sweet almond oil (the moulds were what I could find... fancy cake tins and coffee cups)
2. Divided the berries between the moulds
3. Dissolved the sugar into the liquids, then sprinkled the agar on and left for 5 mins. 
4. Heated the mixture to a light boil and simmered for 5 mins, stirring occasionally (until agar is dissolved)
5. poured into moulds and refridgerated
6. Waited an impatient hour and a half...

My first one refused to come out, and then landed with an unslightly splat.  For the rest, it helped to run a knife carefully inside the moulds to ease them out.  They came out ok but SOOOO delicate.  Moving them onto serving plates was tricky... a flat palette knife underneath ended up being the best utensil.

So G and I now have 6 jellies to get through before I can make my next recipe...

Today has been a lazy Sunday in the kitchen.  My lovely houseboy excelled himself with a gorgeous plaited loaf that begged to be torn apart, served with garlic-studded baked camembert. 

   Meanwhile we had a load of apples and pears to use up, so I rummaged online for recipes and decided upon Roasted Spiced Fruit a la Gordon Ramsay for pudding, served with madelines that also have a hint of Chinese 5-spice.   (Sadly I do not own a madeline tray so these had to be made in a mini bun tray.)

      Maybe in a week or two our arteries will forgive us... (hopefully the red wine did something to counteract the lardathon?)

     Anyway, should the urge take you, the Gordon Recipe is available here...   it's quick and makes your whole kitchen smell of 5-spicey loveliness  http://www.channel4.com/food/recipes/chefs/gordon-ramsay/spice-roasted-apples-recipe_p_1.html

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