The Recipe Exchange.

[hawkavonpuka]

Nope didn't try the homemade dressing yet, no affordable mangos over there. But my daughter here has some in her fridge, so I may help myself. What can I substitute for the red wine vinegar, that is pretty pricey also. The salad is just so pretty looking with the maroon, green and red, then the bluish-white of the cheese.

The cake is just too much work for me, though it does sound yummy, maybe too yummy for my waistline anyway.

[Sophie]

Why wait 'til Christmas for Trifle.

TRIFLE

I think it's a great idea to make them in individual glasses. It means you can tailor them to each diner. No booze for the children who don't like the taste, and double sherry for Nana, if that's her thing.

Ingredients (makes 8-10 individual trifles)

2 packets Jelly, 1 x raspberry, 1 x blackberry
3 punnets of berry fruit
Packet custard (make it if you wish)
Vanilla ice-cream
Supermarket chocolate sponge
Liquor of your choice
Chocolate crackle topping

Method
Chop up half the berry fruit and put in a shallow dish.
Make up the two packets of jelly using half the amount of boiling water
And tip over the chopped fruit.
Let set.
To assemble (trust your instincts!, but I did it this way)
In the bottom of the glass
Put custard
Then some of the berries
Then cut up sponge cake
Then a layer of broken up berry jelly
Then a mound of ice-cream covered with chocolate crackle topping.

Make them ahead up to the ice cream and chocolate topping stage. Then finish before serving the main course. This will give time for the ice-cream to soften a little and start to run into the lower layers.

[Melia]

Oh yum. I saved it to my recipe files. Thanks, Sophie.

[draclvr]

This sounds wonderful, Sophie. I'm thinking of the gallons and gallons of blackberries we're picking right now! But, what is a "punnet?"

[LadyKestrel]

Mmmm. That sounds yummy, Sophie!

Drac,
When I was a kid, we had a number of wild blueberry bushes in the vacant lot next to my grandparents' house. They and the huckleberries seemed to thrive in the sandy soil of the barrier island, and we loved having them on our cereal in the morning.

[Diat60]

That Trifle recipe sounds wonderful! When I was a kid my mother's Trifle was a family favorite but thinking back it was nothing like yours, except possibly as a distant cousin. All she did was cut up stale white cake in cubes, put them in a dish and dab them with strawberry or raspberry jam, then pour Bird's custard all over. It went in the fridge to meld together then was served topped with a dollop of whipped cream. Still, I have fond memories!

[Melia]

That stale white cake would never have had a chance to develop at my house. Gone in 60 seconds.

[Sophie]

This sounds wonderful, Sophie. I'm thinking of the gallons and gallons of blackberries we're picking right now! But, what is a "punnet?"

A "punnet" is a very old term, it is used for carrying flowers or fruit and comes in vaious sizes. Nowadays the term is used mainly for fruit packaging.
If you click here you will find an example - http://whatscookingamerica.net/Q-A/Punnet.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

If fresh fruit is not available you can use frozen.

[hawkavonpuka]

So that is the little green basket they package the berries in in the store, that must be about a pint. Over here priced like they are gold though, might as well use the frozen.

[Sophie]

Yes Hawka, the price can be a bit steep at times. What annoys me is the price of strawberries at Christmas when a week or two beforehand they are half the price. Also strawberries don't freeze too well, fortunately we grow our own. We don't have many plants in our garden but last year we had strawberries every day from November - March.

[Melia]

Also strawberries don't freeze too well, fortunately we grow our own. We don't have many plants in our garden but last year we had strawberries every day from November - March.

I was watching another episode of our favorite Food Network show, Good Eats with Alton Brown, and he showed how to freeze strawberries so they'd thaw out perfectly. And he gave the scientific explanation for why they would come out like mush if you just put them in the freezer. Here's how to get perfect frozen (not mush) strawberries: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alto ... index.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[hawkavonpuka]

Thanks for that Melia, we don't often get piled with strawberries, however they do grow up here somewhere. Once someone gave us a whole case of them and most of them were wasted. I can buy dry ice at Gaspro, so if I ever am gifted again, I will try this.

[Sophie]

Thanks for the recipe Melia.

[dragonqueen]

Has anybody tried the Sangria recipe that I posted on here?

[hawkavonpuka]

I haven't yet DragonQueen, but I will, in due time, kids keep eating all the fruits.