S001
- Le Gastronimique Frugale
Desserts
Mars Bar mousse
One king size mars bar, 2 eggs, bit of cream. melt the Mars bar in a
bowl over
simmering water. Add 2 tablespoons of water or milk to thin it a bit.
Separate
the eggs. Carefully add the yolks to the chocolate (don't have it too
hot or
you'll end up with scrambled eggs and chocolate) and a tablespoon or
two of
cream. Beat the whites like buggery until they peak, fold into the
chocolate
mixture. Add alcohol (brandy, rum) if available, put in pots and chill
in
fridge.
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Easy Banoffee pie
Half pack digestives, third pack butter, bananas, some whipping cream,
tin of
condensed milk. Boil water, add the unopened tin of milk, simmer. Go
away for 3
hours. (Assuming the pan doesn't boil dry). Crush biscuits into crumbs,
melt
butter and mix. press into flat dish. Spoon out the now-caramalised
condensed
milk onto biscuit base and spread out (this might need thinning with
some of the
cream). Slice banana and arrange on top. Whip cream and splodge over
caramel/banana mixture. If you can add a few hazelnuts or some cocoa
powder to
the top the whole effect will make people think you are a culinary god
and want
to have sex with you.
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Fruit Crumble
Flour,
sugar, butter in the
ratio 2:1:1; Fruit du jour; more sugar. Depending on the
hardness of the
fruit (apples, pears etc) you may need to simmer it for 10 mins with a
handful
of sugar to soften it. Spoon the fruit in a bowl.
Rub the flour,
sugar and butter together so it resembles breadcrumbs. (You
can use brown
sugar or add a pinch of cinnamon here to taste). Top the
fruit with it,
bake at medium for 30 mins.
Easy ice-cream
Fruit, custard, cream (or milk). Take a pan half full of fruit
(strawberries,
raspberries, peaches whatever.) Add half a pint of water and a cup of
sugar.
Boil and simmer until it reduces and thickens into a syrup (about 1/2
hour).
Cool. Add half a pint of ready-made custard, same of cream (or full fat
milk) to
the syrup. Stir, taste, add other stuff (choc chips etc). Put in
freezer and
give it a good forking every hour so it ends up being the consistency
of
ice-cream.
Cranberry and Vodka sorbet
Given that alcohol is exempt from the normal rules of frugality - after
all, how
is a man supposed to survive on a low-income without a slurp every now
and again
to sustain him. So with that in mind take one carton of
cranberry juice,
add a cup of sugar and simmer until it reduces in volume by
half.
Cool. Add generous slug of vodka. Then another
one. Put in
container and freeze (the more vodka, the colder it has to
be). As above
it had to be agitated every so often to make the sorbet.
Muffins
Basic recipe. Self-raising flour; sugar; milk; butter (in
ratio 6:2:2:1);
1 egg for every big handful of flour; stuff to taste. Melt
butter and mix
with milk and eggs. Combine dry ingredients and beat in wet
stuff.
The resulting gloop should be the consistency of thick
porridge. Spoon
into muffin cases and bake for 15-20 mins at medium/hot. Some
suggestions
for stuff:
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- Peanut butter and Snickers
Add two chopped Snickers bars and a big dollop of peanut butter.
- Honey and banana
Add a squashed, overripe banana or two and a splodge of honey
- Lemon or raspberry
Spoon half of basic mixture into muffin case, add a teaspoon of jam or
lemon
curd, spoon the other half in.
- Chocolate orange
Replace the milk with orange juice and add choc chips or broken
chocolate bar
- Fruit
Couple of handfuls of stuff from the back of the cupboard.
Cranberries or
blueberries are good if you can find them.
- Breakfast
Instead of the milk make up a strong cup of coffee. Add this
along with a
big handful of All-Bran.
- Savoury
Use half the sugar and add a good shake of salt. Once the mix
is ready to
plonk in the muffin tin, add two handfuls of grated cheese, or some
spinach or
whatever is your thing.
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