Food Fact of the Day...

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A food fact for the party season!

It is dirt makes champagne fizz. Microscopic particles of dust in the glass allow bubbles to latch onto them. According to Moet and Chandon there are 250 million bubbles in the average bottle of Champagne...


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How to make Elderflower and Cassis Ice

Made an Elderflower and Cassis Granita for a dinner party the other day and it was utterly lovely. Really light and elegant, and very beautiful to look at. Its so easy and perfect for entertaining, I thought I would share the recipe with you. It does contain alcohol though, so it is one for the adults! (Ha, I can't believe I just classed myself as one of those...)

Put 300ml elderflower cordial and 300ml water in a saucepan. Shred a handful of mint (about 80g) finely with a knife, without crushing the leaves. Add the chopped mint to the cordial pan and stir in 100ml freshly squeezed lemon juice and 2 tbsp sugar. Heat the mixture until warm, but not hot, and leave to infuse for two hours.

Strain through a fine sieve into a freezer-proof container with a lid. Put on the lid and freeze for two hours. Remove from the freezer and break up the mixture- which should be partially frozen by now. repeat every one to two hours until the mixture is snow like.

Spoon into a low glass or teacup (I used large shot glasses and that works fantastically). Just make sure they are glass so you can see the beauty of it when you then dribble a teaspoon of cassis into the ice. Serve immediately!

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If you want to make this dish even more impressive why not try making your own cassis?? There is a recipe for this on the great blog, The English Can Cook- www.marmitelover.blogspot.com

Oh yes we can.

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Baking with Ameretto...

My friend has invited me over to cook me dinner tonight, so I decided I would say thankyou by doing a bit of baking, as ever.
Ameretto biscuits are one of my favourite baking ingredients. They make a great base for liquer cheesecakes or crumbled over icecream etc. I decided to try some new recipes based around using them and came up with~

Crumbly Ameretto and Chocolate Biscuits

Made with plenty of crushed ameretto, these biscuits have a nice crisp texture and are perfect with Irish coffee, or served with Bailey's Icecream.

Out of Season Chocolate Ruby Nest Eggs

Based on the simple children's classic, these nest eggs have a slightly adult twist. Made with chunks of ameretto biscuit, oats, flaked almond and raisin, they are bound with melted chocolate mini eggs for a crunchy consistency, and blended with chocolate infused fortified wine.


... If you have any other ameretto recipes, feel free to share! I'll let you know how they go down tonight x

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