The Sugar Bar

Some of you may be familiar with the public vs. private school phenomena in most countries, especially England. Unlike America, private would be public school and public would be what is commonly known to be the private, preppy school. Indeed it is rather confusing but this is a good start for this post. Berkshire, or Royal Berkshire, is home to Windsor Castle and one of England’s most famous public schools – Eton College from which the lovely Eton Mess has taken its origins from. The story behind this simple, classic, old-school dessert hails from Eton College’s tuckshop, of which it is served during their prize-giving ceremonies. It was originally served with strawberries or banana mixed up with either cream or ice cream. Simple enough but fantastic. Red and white mixed together with a spoon creates this sticky, sweet ‘mess’ and a trademark of its own. And what about red and white to make it all the more representative of England?

I first discovered, or rather, learnt about this dessert in a pub in Oxford whilst I was having dinner with Hans and her family. Over pints of Oxford’s award winning ales, our meal was as good as pub food gets and no one could complain the dinner conversation wasn’t witty and entertaining enough. At that time I was still pretty much a newbie with British culinary favourites and Hannah had to explain to me the ‘history’ or so it seemed, of that red/white/pink creamy sticky bowl of awesome goodness her dad Dave was tucking into. In my mind, I couldn’t see what all the fuss was about with this Eton Mess business but then, I’d, in the past, been very stubbornly shut in my own closet being very picky with what I ate thanks to peer pressure from skinny girls all about me. Strawberries and cream never crossed my mind when I could just have them plain, warm and sweet as they are. My mind, naturally perverse in an argument-creating sort of way, thought this out ‘logically’ and ‘rationalised’ that strawberries which grew prettily under the sun were no where growing near cows so there was no chance in hell someone would think to make cream from milk and then put that with strawberries. But somehow, that sort of – yes, very irrational – thinking sorted itself out. Thank goodness for that. I completely chucked that out of the window and came to accept the fact that strawberries and cream are a match made in heaven. All that special diet nonsense was also blown to timbaktoo. Albeit, I may still be slightly iffy with what I eat or how much meat I eat in a week or how much fruit I must have in a day, but when it comes to dessert or strawberries and cream? Screw that!

Being decked out quite often in preppy wear just because I can, I have no qualms about having eton mess all day; not that you need to be preppy or raaaarish to have it. Jokes. But I thought the Jack Wills catalogue in the background of my foodshot was very apt! All you Jack Wills suckers, yes you Kate I’m talking about you too – take that. Watch and drool, mate. Watch and drool.

Eton Mess adapted from Jamie Oliver’s Cook with Jamie
Ingredients

1 basic meringue recipe or why not try storebought meringues, haha
1 pint double cream (I used single cream, that’s fine too)
1 vanilla pod, scored and seeds removed
2 tbs caster sugar (I used demerara instead)
250g strawberries, hulled and sliced
1/2 cup raspberries & red currants for a little more variation
1 tsp balsamic vinegar
1 tsp rosewater

Have your meringues prepared in advance. I’m never confident of making meringues so these were storebought. Actually to be honest, I know and am confident enough of making them. But I’m just lazy.
Whip the double cream, or if you’re using single cream, lightly. Mix in the vanilla. Soft peaks are good enough, you don’t need it to get too stiff. Single cream goes bubbly but I used it instead because that was all I had around. Plus I didn’t want too much cream to get in the way of my fruit. Ice cream would’ve been good too but yes, I didn’t have any around either and I was totally going to stick to the classic recipe.
Take half the fruit, mash it in a bowl with sugar and balsamic vinegar. The vinegar really brings out the sweetness and tartness of the berries and gives it an extra bang. Without the vinegar, you’ll miss out. Bang up the meringues into whatever size you like. Now fold the cream and mushed fruit along with the unmushed fruit together with the meringue and just literally, create a MESS.
Drizzle that tsp of rosewater, or a couple of drops from the bottle, over the top. Final mix really lightly. Serve in bowls or pretty in glasses and tuck in.

If you thought I was done with pink – mate, you thought wrong. I decided to take it to the next level. A quick check on the BBC predicted sunny intervals today. So I was quick to take advantage of those little spurts of sunshine to pop out to the local off license a couple of roads away from my road. It was a lovely walk, warm and sunny, a little wind. First time out in my flip flops in ages as well so I was in a well jolly mood. The butcher lady was all smiles; the shopowner of the 2 shops I popped into were nearly chirpy, seeing as they were large, burly men I would hope have a disinclination to be cute with a girl like me. I know I’m a victim of the corporate: shopping at supermarkets, big fan of M&S and high fashion labels but I can say (in addition to the fact that I dig indie record labels and underground musicians) that there’s nothing quite like getting local produce from a crooked, old, quaint little shop. It isn’t exactly the classiest place to shop at, doesn’t exactly stock the freshest produce (hey, I’m in Birmingham what can I do), but it’s almost heartwarming to be standing in front of a wooden table of fruit and vegetables, shaded from the English rain or piercing sun, deliberating what one should get for dinner.

A crate of strawberries, still warm from the sun, had just been delivered. Thinking I’d totally scored (which eventually I did, wait for it), I grabbed a 99p hand-packed plastic box of strawbs, a nectarine, some oranges and other groceries. Somehow I managed to balance all of that and make it to the counter. Equipped with my fresh fruit, I got started on ‘painting’ my white plate with something, if I can say so myself, that is one of the most delectable things I’ve ever made!! This recipe has been modified from a recipe of Madison Magazine’s. I’ve put my own spin on it and dialed up its colour intensity and might I say, flavour intensity as well. Nonetheless, that recipe is a keeper because it’s so easy and great as a basic one for all sorts of variations depending on season, occasion and mood.

Instead of peaches, I’ve gone for the more humble and flamboyantly coloured nectarine which is just as good in flavour – but has more of a bang than a sweet white peach. Instead of going for a simple vanilla ice cream (classic yes…but my plate’s white you know), I opted for Ben & Jerry’s world-reknown Cherry Garcia. Perfect flavour for a warm, sunny day. If you’re watching your waistline, and counting the fat grams (I usually don’t approve of this but because spring’s here I want to look good too haha) go for B&J’s new range – Low Fat Yoghurt. Honestly, I’ve always been rather skeptical with low fat ice cream because I couldn’t see how it could possibly taste as good. But B&J hasn’t let me down. Yes, scooping the ice cream isn’t as easy and you will definitely not get a nice, smooth, glossy round ball because it just doesn’t have the appropriate fat content to give it that ice-cream goodness texture. Now, here comes the BUT – it tastes as good as the original. And because it’s frozen yoghurt, you don’t quite feel you’ve had more than you actually have. So seconds are never out of the question.

Remember the strawbs I was talkin about before? Thought I’d share with you one of the cutest strawbs I’ve ever seen. I remember seeing one quite like this on someone’s food blog but it was bout 3 times as big. This would be its long lost younger sister I bet. What a trooper! It’s unbelievably sweet as well…

Let’s get to the thing everyone’s really wanting to know. Here is the recipe, producing 4 servings.

Vanilla Poached Nectarine, Low-fat Cherry Garcia Ice Cream with Rosewater Syrup

Ingredients

1 1/4 cup caster sugar
1 vanilla bean, split lengthwise
4 nectarines
1 tbs rosewater
zest of half a lemon
a drop of red food colouring
vanilla extract with seeds (optional)

To serve:

dark chocolate, grated
pistachios, chopped
strawberries
ice cream

Wash the nectarines so that the skin is clean and smooth. Bring to boil a cup of sugar, the vanilla bean, lemon zest, rosewater and 1.5litres of water in a large saucepan. Then lower the heat and simmer, placing the nectarines gently into the water and cover with a plate, making sure that it stops the nectarines from floating up as you want them to be completely submerged in the sugar water. Allow to poach for 5min. Remove nectarines with a slotted spoon or egg poaching spoon (I found one in Hans’s cupboard so it was very easy to treat the nectarine with care). Under a running tap of cold water, gently rub the nectarines so that the skin starts to peel away from the soft flesh inside. Be careful not to rub the flesh off as well, you want to keep the shape of the fruit. Put aside to cool.
Keep a cup of the sugar mixture and bring to boil with the rest of the sugar and added vanilla extract. I’ve done this as you probably would’ve poured away the rest of the mixture and lost some of the vanilla. It’s really not very important though as the flavour would’ve been absorbed into the fruit anyway. Then simmer for about 15min until it thickens and is reduced to about half the initial amount. Add a drop (or however much you fancy, just don’t go overboard) of red food colouring when it’s about done. Let cool or using a ‘pulled-tea’ method, pour from the pan into a cold jug at a height, pulling the liquid to cool it. Repeat. Be careful not to be wearing white clothing.

Place ice cream on a plate or in a bowl, depending on how fancy you want to be. Forming a nice bed in the middle of it. Add the strawbs and then gently place the nectarine on the ice cream. Garnish with dark chocolate and pistachios. Finally, using a teaspoon, drizzle the rosewater syrup onto the plate. Serve.

I thought of eating this with a fork and spoon. Honestly did attempt to. In the end, I dug in with both hands caveman style. Probably one of the best times I’ve had this week. I’m a lioness. I hunt, then feed. It’s great.