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Esurientes - The Comfort Zone

Saturday, October 08, 2005

In the Pink: Slut Red Raspberries in Chardonnay Jelly


Whoa! Can you imagine the types of hits I'm going to get with a title like that?! As it is, I have had people end up on my site through searching for 'dirty underwear in a saucepan' (?!), so if you're a teenage boy, off you go. This is not what you're looking for.
What this is is my entry to the inaugural In The Pink food blogging event, designed to raise awareness of breast cancer. I don't think there are many of us who haven't known somebody who has had it, and it is an issue quite close to me, as I have had relatives die from breast cancer, always at too young an age to for us to comprehend.

So...if I'm already thrilling the teenage boys by mentioning breasts in this post, I just couldn't stop myself going that step further and featuring SLUTTY RASPBERRIES! Well, with a name like that, how could I not??! This recipe, courtesy of an Australian friend of Nigella Lawson's, features raspberries steeped in an entire bottle of chardonnay (that's what makes them sluts, I guess ;-) ), to which you add sugar, vanilla and gelatine. And that's it! These are seriously boozy berries in a seriously alcoholic jelly, thus: very much an adult dessert!
It's not too sweet, and despite the fact that it is fat free, it tastes extremely rich. Sampling a few spoons of the liquid before refrigerating last night it left me with wobbly legs! I used frozen raspberries, it being early spring here, which only served to produce an even pinker-coloured jelly. How perfect for this event!
The raspberries are enhanced with flavour, the vanilla is aromatic and mellow, and the jelly...well, the jelly is amazing. I can't express how good it its; Nigella's description below does an excellent job, and believe me when I say that everything she writes about this is true. It really is heaven to eat, and to reinforce her words, I exhort you to try this. Not only a talking point, but an incredible taste sensation.

PS - Nigella says it serves 6, but I found it produced 3 generously greedy portions just fine! ;-)
Read on for the recipe:

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SLUT RED RASPBERRIES IN CHARDONNAY JELLY
From 'Forever Summer" Nigella Lawson

Nigella: You might think that no recipe could live up to this title. It's a reasonable presumption, but thank God, a wrong one. This is heaven on the plate: the wine-soused raspberries take on a stained glass, lucent red, their very raspberriness enhanced; the soft, translucently pale coral just-set jelly in which they sit has a heady, floral fragrance that could make a grateful eater weep. If there's one pudding you make from this book, please, please make it this. This recipe was emailed to me from Australia from my erstwhile editor, Eugenie Boyd. I've fiddled with it a bit, but it is the best present a foodwriter could ever have. Now it's yours.

Ingredients:
1 bottle good fruity Chardonnay
300g raspberries (frozen seem to be fine*)
1 vanilla pod, split lengthways (or a teaspoon of extract*)
5 gelatine leaves (or 1 packet gelatine granules*)
250g caster sugar
double cream to serve

Instructions:
1. Place the wine and berries in a bowl and allow to steep for half an hour.
2. Strain the wine into a saucepan and keep the raspberries to one side. Heat the wine with vanilla pod until nearly boiling and leave to steep on one side for 15 minutes.
3. Soak the gelatine leaves - which you can find in the supermarket these days - in cold water for about 5 minutes.
4. Remove the vanilla pod and reheat the wine stirring the sugar in until it dissolves; allow to boil if you want to lose the alcohol.
5. Add a third of the hot wine to the wrung-out gelatine leaves in a measuring jug and stir to dissolve, then add this mixture back into the rest of the wine and stir well. Strain into a large jug.
6. Place the raspberries, equally, into 6 flattish, clear glass serving bowls, and pour the strained wine over the top.
7. Allow to set in the fridge for at least 3 hours, though a day would be fine if you want to make this well ahead, and take out of the fridge 15 minutes before serving. Serve with some double cream in a jug, and let people pour this into the fragrant, tender, fruit-jewelled jelly as they eat.
Serves 6 (or 3 very generously!)
*Niki's notes

10 Comments:

  • Oh Niki! The second I saw the title I went "AH HA! NIGELLA!" Perhaps not so extraordinary if I hadn't re-read some of Domestic Goddess yesterday while in a flap (tis very very soothing) and then had an old video of Nigella Bites playing in the background today!

    I always remembered this dessert but it never appealed to me. But after reading YOUR description, it does sound tempting. And thanks for introducing the ITP event, naughty me hadn't heard of it yet. Must find time to read all the food blog news. After I do the dishes, right???

    By Blogger plum, at 10/08/2005 08:47:00 pm  

  • What a title! I don't think I've ever heard anyone describe fruits as slutty, but I can't wait to jump on the derogartory-terms-for-fruits bandwagon and try this recipe (hopefully!) soon. This is like a jello shooter, but all grown up and wearing red lipstick. I love it.

    Thanks for participating!

    By Blogger Blogger, at 10/08/2005 09:28:00 pm  

  • Niki -- I thought I misread the title at first! What a picture -- this is definitely something to try for a stay-at-home night soon! Out of curiosity, what chardonnay did you use?

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 10/08/2005 11:59:00 pm  

  • Niki...it's brilliant!!!!!!

    And I will try to whip something up before the weekend's over....promise.

    By Blogger Stephanie, at 10/09/2005 02:43:00 am  

  • Plum - It's funny but I've been doing the same thing too! Somehow Domestic Goddess has ended up on my bedside table, and the past few nights I've been reading it again. It really is so soothing!

    Emily - I love that image of jello shots 'all grown up and wearing lipstick'. That's it exactly!!

    Cath - PERFECT for a stay at home night. It's what we used for our dessert for our own home-evening last night. I just used a bog-standard cleanskin chardonnay!!!

    Stephanie - Thanks!!

    By Blogger Niki, at 10/09/2005 08:51:00 pm  

  • I had to tell you what i read when I opened your blog and saw this title - Pink Sluts in Jelly!?!? I was wondering what on earth you were up to.....

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 10/09/2005 10:23:00 pm  

  • "dirty underwear in a saucepan" is actually a quote from harold pinter's play the caretaker (: so they might not have been that perverse after all! great looking jelly, by the way!

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 10/11/2005 10:32:00 pm  

  • Wow Niki, that looks delicious!

    By Blogger Robyn, at 10/14/2005 12:59:00 am  

  • Lucas - knowing the way your mind works, I'm not surprise! :-)

    Chronicler & StevieB - thanks so much. It's dead easy to make too!

    Clarisse - Oh, that's such a relief to know! Now I don't feel quite so persecuted by odd perverts!!
    But...what kind of line is that???

    By Blogger Niki, at 10/14/2005 11:17:00 am  

  • I feel so lucky to have come across this recipe! I was trying to look up a definition for what a slutty red wine is and I came across this gem on the way. Thanks!

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 8/27/2007 04:54:00 am  

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