Elderflower pannacotta.

I love making pannacotta, it is a really great light summery pudding. I have been meaning to experiment with different flavours of pannacotta for a while. Last summer I made a rather good passion fruit one but forgot to take a photo of it so never bothered blogging about it. This months Floral inspired Tea Time Treats spurred me on to attempt an elderflower variety. This recipe worked very well but remember that it only tastes as good as the elderflower cordial so don't scrimp on it. The recipe also specifies 2oz caster sugar but I prefer my pannacotta not too sweet so I only used 1oz.


Serves 6


3 sheets of gelatine
2oz caster sugar
100ml elderflower cordial
300ml double cream 
300ml milk


Heat the milk and cream through gently but don't let boil. Add the sugar and stir until the sugar has dissolved. Soak the gelatine in warm water for a few minutes. Take the cream mixture off the heat and stir in the gelatine until it has completely melted. Add the elderflower cordial, stir and pour into six ramekins or moulds. Place in the fridge to set for a 3-4hrs it can easily be over night if you want to get ahead.


To release from the moulds dip them into warm water for a few seconds or run a pallet knife around the edge. Serve with soft fruit.

Calamari.

This recipe originally came from nigella express and in my opinion it is one of her best recipes. It make a great light meal with salad or a super easy canape. Don't bother buying fresh squid for this, it is more expensive and you should always freeze squid before cooking it as it tenderises the fish anyway. Waitrose sell it for £8 kilo


2tbsp flour
2tbsp semolina
1/2 tsp paprika
salt and pepper
300g frozen squid
vegetable oil for deep frying


Place the flour and seasoning in a sandwich bag to mix. Chop up the squid into mouthful sized pieces and add to the bag. Shake to cover the squid in the mix. Deep fry in batches in smoking oil they should not take more than a minute or so. Let them cool for a brief moment on kitchen towel this will get rid of a surface oil. Serve with mayonnaise with a small amount of raw garlic stirred in.

Rose creams.

I have been meaning to try to make Rose creams for a while now, for a multitude of different reasons. Though primarily because they are my Father's favourite chocolates. I have read a number of different recipes but was unsure as to the merits of each. Consequently I dove in the deep end and experimented. Many of the recipes contained either both or one of, rose syrup or double cream. I was skeptical of the cream as I was worried that it might make them go off quicker and the syrup because frankly I can't find anywhere not on the internet that stocks it and who actually ever gets around to making a recipe where they have to source ingredients from the internet only to ever use a couple of tables spoons out of a large bottle. I therefore based my recipe on peppermints creams which would mean that I would only need the readily available rose water. It did mean that they were marginally crumblier in texture.

2tbsp rose water
340g icing sugar
1 egg white
200g 70% dark chocolate
crystalised roses to decorate

Whip the egg to soft peaks. Stir in the sugar and rose water, knead until you have a soft dough. At this point I added a couple of drops of food colouring. Form into you desired shape and dip into the melted chocolate. Before the chocolate sets add you chosen decoration. I got about 40 or so out of this quantity of mixture. be warned it smells overly rosey before you cover in chocolate but the rose is a delicate taste and needs to be definite enough flavour not to be over powered by the dark chocolate. This recipe would work as a base for different flavoured creams just use an alternative essence.

I have linked up with this months tea time treats, the theme of which is floral recipes.