London life

So I'm back in sunny London. Well at least it was yesterday. Today -not so much. Quite the opposite in fact, delightfully pissing it down all day. 


Made my way to the South African embassy (very reluctantly) and it was almost a disaster situation when the bitch (excuse my french)told me I didn't have 'the correct letter' (meaning that I hadn't specified exactly when I'd be coming back). She left me no choice -I had to cry. So I did...and it worked (thank god, otherwise I would have just been a blubbering idiot). 

So I can breathe a large sigh of relief that I won't be illegally in the country anymore...winner.


On to coffee and frozen yoghurt at my new favourite coffee shop Artisan, on the upper Richmond Road, with the lovely Lucy Cameron before heading to the South  African shop on Putney High Street. Strangely enough it felt so nice and familiar and it's comforting to realise that I have 2 places I can call home now.

It was then time to go home for dinner party preparations. 
8 of my bessie mates are coming for sups tonight and on the menu we have vegetable lasagne and pavlova (passion fruit of course). Mummy & I had a lovely afternoon preparing...I have missed cooking a lot.

More to come tomorrow. Let's hope its yummy...

So we’ve learnt that I like passion fruit. Did I mention I also like lime? And tarts? So you can imagine my delight when I was casually perusing a magazine earlier, as always heading straight for the ‘food’ section and came across a recipe for ‘granadilla and lime tarts’ (there’s that word I loathe again). Not only do these tarts include those 3 wonderful components but they are made with ginger. Dear lord, I am in heaven.

Seeing as I am seldom lucky enough to have a kitchen while we’re on the road, I can’t try these out for myself just yet, but believe me I will soon. I’m heading back to England next week (just for 2 weeks) and I know already it won’t be hard to persuade my dear mummy to have a bake off with me. Especially if it involves passion fruit and lime tarts (passion fruit and lime being 2 things she loves almost as much as me; actually, I lie -no one loves passion fruit as much as me).

The only thing that would make these tarts better in my opinion would be if they somehow combined coconut in them. So that’s the plan for home time –passion fruit, lime and coconut tarts. Paradise.

For now though, I am going to copy the recipe I found for these exquisite looking ‘granadilla’ (*coughs) passion fruit tarts (grr). So here goes.

You will need:
FOR THE GINGER BUTTER CRUST

200g ginger biscuits

75g butter, melted

1 tbsp flour

FOR THE FILLING

¼ cup granadilla pulp

¼ cup lime juice

120g caster sugar

4 eggs

½ cup cream

Icing sugar for dusting

Method:
1)Preheat oven to 140ºC. For the biscuit base: place biscuits in a blender and blitz until smooth, add

butter and flour, blitz to combine. Press biscuits into the bases of 6x10cm tart shells. Refrigerate for 30 minutes.

2)Filling: place granadilla pulp, lime juice and sugar in a heat-proof bowl over a pot of simmering water; stir till sugar’s dissolved. Remove from heat, let it cool 

slightly, whisk in eggs, cream.

3)Pour the mixture into the prepared pastry bases; bake for 20–30 minutes or until firm. Remove, allow to cool. Dust with icing sugar and garnish with extra granadilla pulp.

I am salivating at the thought of these. I want them now. 

Passion fruit take 2

OK, so anyone who knows me well knows that passion fruit (and coconut; and not necessarily together) are two of my favourite fruits. Actually, they may just be two of my favourite things ever (all jokes aside). You can read my subtle tribute to the passion fruit on one of my earlier entries if you fancy. You need see a hell of a lot of coconuts in South Africa but believe me I'm on the look out.

This will be me if I find some

So while I was casually perusing my new favourite blog, http://drizzleanddip.com, written by a South African 'food stylist' (has anyone ever heard of one of these?!), I came across not only 1 but 2 passion fruit recipes. She shot up in my estimation the moment I clamped eyes on the word 'granadilla' (passion fruit to just about anyone other than a South African -why did they have to change the name of a fruit that is so perfect as it was?).

I thought I must copy the recipes here so you can revel in the glory of the passion fruit too.

Recipe 1) Friday's porn food: granadilla sorbet

Recipe: (makes about a litre)

• 1 cup of sugar (250ml)
• 1 cup of fresh orange juice (250ml)
• 2 cups of fresh granadilla pulp
• 2 large egg whites, beaten to stiff peaks

Heat the orange juice and add the sugar, stirring until it has dissolved. Add the granadilla pulp and chill in the fridge.

If you are making it by Hand:

Freeze the mixture for an hour and then fold the beaten egg whites through and then freeze again. Beat the sorbet every hour or so until the mixture has formed frozen crystals and then leave until ready to serve.

If you are making it in a machine:

Pour the fruit mixture into the ice cream machine and churn until it is the right consistency. Add the beaten egg whites and churn for about 20 seconds, scraping down the sides to ensure that they are incorporated. Remove and freeze until ready to serve.

Recipe 2) Easy passion fruit curd (glad she used the right name)

For a big batch that makes around 2 cups / 500ml:

• 6 large eggs (free range or organic only)
• 120g butter
• 1 cup of sugar
• 1 cup of passion fruit pulp (strained or whole)

Heat the juice, butter and sugar in a heavy based pot until the sugar has dissolved and it reaches boiling point. Remove from the heat and allow it to cool slightly (about 3 minutes). Beat the eggs until fluffy in a bowl and then very quickly, whisking all the time add them to the hot juice. You do not want the eggs to curdle. Place this all back on the heat and whisk constantly until the mixture becomes thick. I allowed it to cool in the pot which further thickens it and then empty into a sterilised jar and store in the fridge.

This is wonderful to have on hand to create a dessert. It can be sandwiched between sponge cakes or biscuits, poured over meringues, dolloped onto pancakes or turned into gooey tarts. It is also wonderful just spooned directly out the jar.

Passion fruit iced 'smoothies'

This morning I had a killer headache and was feeling a bit sorry for myself so when I saw a ‘granadilla iced smoothie’ (granadilla is the South African word for passion fruit) on the deli menu where I was, I instantly knew it would make me feel better. And it did. It was so refreshing and delicious and to make it that bit more superior to other smoothies, jucies or frappes, it was totally guilt free. I asked the waitress to tell me how it was made and it’s very simple. Believe me, you’re going to want to give it a try for yourself. Oh and for anyone who isn’t a smoothie fan (I’m not really, juice is way better), this is not a smoothie at all as there is no yoghurt or anything creamy.

You will need:

5 passion fruits

Ice

Stevia or a healthy sweetner alternative (NOT aspartame or equivalent)

Sparkling water

Method:

1)Cut the passion fruits in half and scoop out the pulp into a bowl

2)Add a pinch of stevia to the passion fruit and taste. It shouldn’t be too sweet yet you don’t want it sour either.

3)In a blender, whizz up a cup or 2 of ice with a cup of sparkling water until smooth

4)Mix the passion fruit mix into the ice and stir until combined.

5)Relax and enjoy.

So while my headache was swiftly vanishing, I began to day dream about all things passion fruit. The first thing that came to mind was my mums passion fruit pavlova. Utter decadence. I think I’ll have to ask her for the recipe and share it with the world soon.

I also noticed how beautiful my iced smoothie looked in the glass which got me thinking something else -passion fruit ice cubes. (It turns out that other people have already had the same idea once I searched on the internet, but I still stand by the fact that I also came up with it myself!).

Its wonderfully easy to make these once again, and nothing looks prettier than a tall glass of lemonade or sparkling water with a few of these passion fruit ice cubes bobbing around. All you need to do is scoop out the pulp of a few passion fruits and pop them in the bottom of an ice cube tray. Fill the rest of the tray with the remaining juice and a dollop of water and whack in the freezer until frozen.

Oh, and before I go, how BEAUTIFUL do these ones look? Flower and mint ice cubes (which incidentally I found on a wedding website but nonetheless, I think you could create them for any occasion).

Method: (taken from www.utterlyengaged.com)

1)Fill ice cube trays one-third full with distilled water

2)Freeze for an hour then add small flowers or mint leaves

3)Add more water and freeze all the way