Rosewater Biscuits

Biscuits for the Boudoir

Now if ever there was a biscuit for the “Boudoir” (Larousse: “a woman’s private sitting room” and derived from the French verb “bouder” to sulk…go figure) this is it. This is what you want at hand to energise and inspire you as you leaf through something Cartlandesque or maybe even Marquis de Sadesque. Handily bite size as who wants crumbs in her boudoir?

These delicately flavoured nibbles are perfect served with black tea ( in porcelain cups and saucers p-lease) and also add a satisfying crunch and hint of perfume served with to ice creams and sorbets. I luckily have some cochineal essence which I purchased in Paris some years ago. Cochineal is made from ground up beetles from Mexico & South America and was invented by the Aztecs and used in their food and dying industries. It has been used since the 17th century in those other famous pink biscuits “Biscuits rose de Reims”. Luckily because it is all natural and nobody is yet concerned with beetle rights, cochineal is becoming fashionable again. Find in specialist patisserie and baking supply shops.

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Pink Grapefruit & Aperol Sorbet

A palest pink, melt in your mouth, summer sorbet.

This pink sorbet has a pleasant mouth puckering tartness about it. Its perfect as a posh palate cleanser between courses or to cool down with on a hot sunny day. The recipe is a cinch once you have conquered the hot sugar syrup fear factor of the Italian Meringue. I love it because it positively does not need any fancy ice cream machines to be just perfect. And because the egg white is cooked…its very safe too. Basically the trick is to incorporate a fluffy stable meringue cloud into your sorbet base (or your sorbet base into the meringue). The air in the meringue creates a lightness in the sorbet that makes a scoopable end product – so no need for an ice cream machine.

I have always loved Campari and now we have Aperol which is its less alcoholic and more orangey coloured cousin. Aperol contains among other things bitter orange, gentian, rhubarb and cinchona (from which quinine is extracted).

Ingredients

1 quantity of Italian meringue made with 4 egg whites

600ml of freshly squeezed grapefruit juice (I sieved mine but if your juice is pulpy thats fine)

100ml of Aperol (actually i did add some extra because I really love all things bitter like tonic water, Campari, tonic water and Campari and now Aperol… so I probably got to 150ml ish)

No extra sugar required because the sugar is already in the meringue and I dont like oversweet ices

Gadgets & Gizmos

To make the meringue you do need an electric whisk and preferably a food mixer such as a Kenwood or a Kitchen Aid because that frees your hands to pour in the syrup. No ice cream maker necessary and in fact dont put this mix through one as it will simply knock the air out of it.

How To

In a large bowl gently fold in the meringue to your juice and Aperol taking care not to knock all the air out of the meringue.

When its pretty well incorporated put it in the freezer.

Check after a couple of hours (this freezes quite slowly as there is some alcohol in the Aperol ) and this is important because this is really a liquid sorbet base and its almost certainly going to separate out a bit from the meringue – thats fine. As it freezes its easier to mix it together – use a fork. I did this a couple of times and the end result was a homogenous nicely incorporated sorbet.

You Are What You Eat

Its hardly going to be one of your five a day and freezing the fresh juice diminishes the Vitamin C. If the “Cinchona” contains some active quinine then consider it an anti malarial!

Improvs and Ideas

All manner of citrus type concoctions can be made according to the same basic recipe. Other bittery drinks such as Campari, home made sloe gin, limoncello etc deserve being made into sorbets too.

Elderflower & Acacia Cordials

The fleeting fragrances of late Spring captured and bottled. So concentrated are these cordials that I am tempted to dab them on eau de cologne style…which yes indeed would result in a “sticky situation”. Instead I use them for heavenly prosecco cocktails, refreshing summer spritzes, subtle sorbets, interesting fruit salads and in winter with some hot water and lemon a warming tea. If you can find them, then Gooseberries (“agrise”) and elderflower is a magical combination: my grandmother used to make a “gooseberry and elderflower fool” using the fruit from her precious gooseberry bushes and it is a taste I can still remember.

In May in Southern Romania and into June in Transylvania Elderflowers (“Soc”) and Acacia (“Salcam”) are prolific. The frothy cream blooms of the elderflowers are easy to spot, the whiter flowers of acacia cascade down from trees too often side by side. If picking your own is a bit strenuous then you can pick up a “punga” (bag) or two in a local market complete often with roadside CO, so wash well.

Elderflowers have been used in folk medicine for centuries – dried flowers to make a detox tea, the cordial to alleviate allergies and asthma and a tincture for skin problems.

The method I use is a traditional English one for a cordial. I do love the traditional Romanian fermented elderflower drink “socata” but making cordials means you have something that lasts all year and can be used in many other recipes.

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