Feb 19, 2014 ... Technicolored desserts served at dinner parties in the 1950s. ... baked Alaska to
serve at their Abigail's party affairs. It even looks like pop art.
THE DISH
THE DISH
Sweet memories
The very best of retro puddings
GIZZI ERSKINE
The Dish
CREDIT: HERE PLEASE
Miss American Pie
48 • THE SUNDAY TIMES MAGAZINE
PHOTOGRAPHER: GARETH SAMBIDGE @ PRECESSPHOTOGRAPHY.COM; FOOD STYLIST: NICO GHIRLANDO @ HERSAGENCY; PROP STYLIST: ALEX ORTIZ. LEFT: STOCKFOOD
I
love all things retro and have done for most of my life: I’ve worn 1950s and ’60s clothes and had a beehive on-and-off since I was a teenager. What really draws me to these eras is the spirit of fun they represented, a creative force that permeated everything from music to interiors to art and even food. Nowadays, there’s many a time — at least there is in my life — when you want to capture that heady spirit by whipping out a pudding that’s a bit retro and gaudy: a pink blancmange or a pineapple upside-down cake, just the kind of bright or Technicolored desserts served at dinner parties in the 1950s. British puddings, such as sticky toffee, bread-and-butter and trifle, are among the best in the universe, but they aren’t all that retro. Instead they tend to fall into the “classics category”, carrying a weighty history and never really going out of fashion. It’s funny how clothes and food follow the same cycles — while some clothes and dishes go in and out of fashion, classics such apple crumble and custard endure the test of time, just like a nicely fitting black jumper. I tend to associate retro puddings with America rather than Britain, although puddings like baked cherry pie weren’t exclusive to the States. I remember going to friends’ houses as a kid where their mums would have put poured cherry filling into flan cases and topped it with whipped cream. Ice cream in a banana split or a knickerbocker glory also screams retro. Another great pud that pops in and out of fashion is baked alaska. The dish’s name was coined in 1876 by a French chef at Delmonico’s restaurant in New York as a nod to America’s recently acquired territory. It became trendy again 100 years later when everyone made baked Alaska to serve at their Abigail’s party affairs. It even looks like pop art. The best retro puddings can still do with a little makeover, though. I hope you’ll enjoy my modernised additions n
American cherry pie with white chocolate ice cream My love for cherry pie comes from my obsession with David Lynch’s TV series Twin Peaks, in which cherry pies are a repeating motif. Best of all is with white chocolate ice cream
MAKES: 8 SLICES PREPARATION TIME: 20 MINUTES PLUS 1 HOUR REST COOKING TIME: 1 HOUR FOR THE FILLING 1 kg of pitted frozen sour or sweet cherries 235 g caster sugar, if using sour cherries; 140g if using sweet 1 stick of cinnamon 1 star anise ½ orange, juice only 3 rounded tbsp of cornflour FOR THE PASTRY 300g plain flour 2 tbsp icing sugar ½ tsp sea salt 170g unsalted butter, chilled 170g cream cheese 2 free-range eggs White chocolate ice cream to serve
1. For the filling, mix the cherries with the caster sugar, cinnamon, star anise, orange and cornflour. Allow to stand for 20 minutes, then stir and pop into a large pan and bring to the boil. Cook on a low heat for 10 minutes until the liquid has become a light syrup. Remove the spices, then leave to cool before chilling further in the fridge. 2. To make the pastry, pop the flour, icing sugar, salt and butter into a food processor and blitz until it resembles breadcrumbs. Add the cream cheese and one egg and blend until the dough forms a ball. Remove from the processor, knead briefly, then divide in two. Chill both portions in the fridge for one hour. 3. Preheat oven to 190C. Roll out half the dough to line a 23cm pie plate or shallow tart tin. Roll out the second half of the dough to form a circle to cover the tin. Put the circle, which will become the pie top, on baking paper and chill the dough-lined tin and top in the fridge until needed. 4. Pile the cherry filing into the pie plate until it becomes a gently swelling mound. Brush the edges of the pastry crust with a beaten egg, then lay the pastry lid on top. Trim the edges, then crimp together firmly. Cut a hole in the centre of the pie to allow the steam to escape. 5. Bake for 40 minutes until the thickened cherry juices bubble up through the central steam hole. If the pastry is colouring too rapidly, cover loosely with tin foil. Serve the pie warm or cold, with white chocolate ice cream.
THE SUNDAY TIMES MAGAZINE • 49
THE DISH
Black forest baked alaska This is a baked alaska with chocolate and cherries, additions inspired by another retro classic — black forest gateau.
SERVES 8 PREPARATION TIME 45 MINUTES COOKING TIME 45 MINUTES COOLING TIME 3 HOURS FREEZING TIME OVERNIGHT
THE DISH soda, cocoa, orange zest, sugar, butter, egg, vanilla, chocolate and buttermilk into a food processor and blitz until it is a smooth, brown batter. Scrape the sides with a rubber spatula and blitz again while pouring in the boiling water through the funnel until fully combined and smooth. 3. Scrape the batter into the cake tin and bake for 35 minutes. A skewer inserted into the centre will come out clean when it’s ready, though I like a chocolate cake a tiny bit undercooked. Leave to cool for 15 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack to cool fully.
1. Line a small bowl with clingfilm, fill it with the chocolate ice cream and put in the freezer for four hours, or overnight.
4. Mix the chopped black-cherry jam with the orange or lemon juice and kirsch, if using, and set aside.
2. Heat the oven to 170C. Line a 12cm cake tin with baking paper and set flour, bicarbonate of aside. Put the flour,
5. Once the cake is cold — and it must be cooled at least to room temperature or the ice cream will melt — place it on
1 tub of chocolate ice cream 2 tbsp black cherry jam, chopped A squeeze of orange or lemon juice 1 tbsp kirsch (optional) FOR THE CHOCOLATE CAKE 100g plain flour ¼ tsp bicarbonate of soda 20g cocoa Zest of half an orange 140g caster sugar 90g soft, unsalted butter 1 egg 1 tsp real vanilla extract 90g minimum 70% dark chocolate, finely chopped 40ml buttermilk 65ml boiling water FOR THE MERINGUE 3 large free-range egg whites 150g caster sugar
TOP TIPS This recipe is all about ensuring everything is kept cold, the oven is roasting hot and the ice cream is totally sealed by the meringue... otherwise it will melt. 50 • THE SUNDAY TIMES MAGAZINE
a baking tray and trim the top of it so it’s flat. Cover with the black cherry jam mix, place the ice cream upside-down on top and remove the clingfilm. Pop it into the freezer while you make the meringue. 6. Separate the egg whites from the yolks and whisk the whites with an electric mixer until forming peaks. Whisk in the sugar, 1 tbsp at a time, until you have a stiff, shiny meringue. Quickly spoon the meringue over the ice cream, spreading thickly and in peaks, covering the contents, including the base of the cake. 7. Preheat the oven to 240C. You can cook the alaska straight away for 5-8 minutes until the meringue is set and golden in colour, or put it back into the freezer. It will need an extra couple of minutes in the oven if cooking from frozen.
On the bottle
The joys of Bergerac
GIZZI’S GADGETS
I CAN’T LIVE WITHOUT CUISINART GELATO & ICE CREAM PROFESSIONAL
From £250 Making ice cream at home: is it worth the bother? The ready-made stuff you get nowadays is pretty great but flavours are too the flavours conventional for me. I like to play around. I recently made a white miso ice cream, for instance, and I couldn’t have done that without a machine. The Cuisinart one is fantastic — it’s semi-pro and has its own built-in chiller so you don’t need tons of freezer space
BOB TYRER
Banoffee split This is banoffee pie and banana split merged into one glorious pudding. It’s perfect for sharing. Each split serves two; for three just add another scoop of ice cream and toppings. You’ll be left with an abundance of sauces that will keep in the fridge for weeks and can be reheated.
MAKES: 1 SPLIT PREPARATION TIME: 10 MINUTES COOKING TIME: 10 MINUTES 1. To make the chocolate sauce, melt the chocolate, cream, butter and sugar or honey over a low heat. It’s best served warm, so keep it in the saucepan and reheat just before serving. 2. In a separate pan, melt together the dulce de leche, double cream, milk and sea salt. 3. For the chantilly cream, whisk together the double cream, icing sugar and optional vanilla, until they form soft peaks. 4. To make the split, peel the banana and slice lengthways, then lay on a long plate. Top with a ball of dulce de leche ice cream and a ball of vanilla ice cream, then top each ice cream ball with 2 tbsp of Chantilly cream, 2 tbsp each of the chocolate and toffee sauces and finish with the chopped peanut brittle.
CHOCOLATE SAUCE 100g 70% dark chocolate 120ml double cream 20g butter 1 tbsp caster sugar or honey TOFFEE SAUCE 200g dulce de leche 150ml double cream 25ml milk ½ tsp sea salt CHANTILLY CREAM 400ml double cream 1 tbsp icing sugar Seeds from ½ vanilla pod or ½ tsp of vanilla extract (optional) PER SPLIT 1 banana 1 scoop of vanilla ice cream (with seeds) 1 scoop dulce de leche ice cream 1 tbsp shop-bought peanut brittle, roughly chopped
THREE OF THE BEST
W
hen God created the region of Périgord in the heart of France, he gave it truffles, ducks and geese (and their livers), rich arable land, enchanting countryside, the Dordogne river and the honey-stoned town of Bergerac that spans it, expat Englishmen with cricket bats and Dutch pensioners in camper vans who think they’ve gone to heaven. He then created the Bergerac wine district, which brings us down to earth with a bump. Cultivating truffles is comparatively easy and logical. Find a field with acid soil, plant a chequerboard of hazelnut and holm oak bushes five metres apart, keep the branches and roots pruned, wait five years for the grass underneath to look scorched (“brulée”), then watch for tiny golden flies hovering in the sunlight. They know when truffles are ripe, unlike dogs and pigs. By contrast, making good Bergerac wine requires money, passion, impatience and an intense will to beat neighbouring Bordeaux at its own game. The clay-rich soil is generally too fertile for wine, which needs to come from vines that have struggled for food and water. So, apart from a few blessed spots such as Monbazillac, source of some luscious sweet wine, there was low investment and little innovation for too long. Red wines, in particular, could be spindly and raspingly dry. My heroes for today are three men who have overcome adversity to prove that Bergerac wine can be really fine and delicious. Eugene Schvidler, a Russian-born American businessman, has poured his wealth into transforming a chateau called Thénac. David Fourtout, a local man whose intensity can raise eyebrows in these laid-back parts, conjures finesse from Les Verdots, his family’s vineyard. And Luc de Conti is a “vinarchiste” who innovates in search of perfection at Château Tour des Gendres. Best of all, none is really expensive n
FLEUR DU PERIGORD 2009
Red fruit and soft tannins in perfect balance, a lovely bargain from Château Thénac (£13.50, Oddbins)
CHATEAU LES TOURS DES VERDOTS BLANC 2011
A finely judged blend of white grapes that far exceeds its simple Bergerac Sec appelation (£14.50, H2Vin)
CHATEAU TOUR DES GENDRES LA GLOIRE DE MON PERE 2009
Blackberries and plum tempered by gentle oak (£14.99, Wine Bear)
THE SUNDAY TIMES MAGAZINE • 51
