Pistachio Blancmanges Recipes

Steps:

• Grind the nuts in a food processor to medium fine. Combine them with 2/3 cup of milk, lemon peel, cardamom and 1/2 cup of the cream in a small saucepan, and bring to just below a simmer, over medium heat. Turn off heat. Let steep 15 minutes. Sprinkle gelatin over remaining milk in a wide shallow bowl or gratin dish. Let bloom 10 minutes.
• Strain nut-milk-cream through a chinois or a sieve lined with a double layer of cheesecloth into a bowl. Firmly press the liquid through the cloth.
• Return the liquid to a clean saucepan, add the sugar and salt and heat over low, stirring until dissolved. Add the bloomed gelatin and stir well until thoroughly dissolved. Don't let the mixture come to a simmer. Stir in the vanilla. Set pan into a bowl of ice and cold water, and stir occasionally until cooler than your finger and the consistency of egg whites. If it sets too much, remove from cold water and whisk well.
• Beat the remaining cup of cream to just past soft peaks. Add a little of the whipped cream to the jelling nut-milk mixture to loosen, then add to the remaining whipped cream, folding thoroughly but gently. Brush a 6-to-7-inch cake pan or mold completely with vegetable oil. Add blancmange to oiled mold. Cover the surface directly with plastic, and chill, at least 6 hours or overnight. To serve, remove the plastic wrap, and lightly run a sharp knife around the blancmange's edge. If you've used an old, pretty mold, you may have to dunk it briefly in hot water to get it to release. Put an inverted plate over its top, and flip. Top with cherries or candied fruit or nothing at all.

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 400˚ F. Arrange two racks evenly spaced in the oven.
• Line a sheet pan with parchment paper and spread the sugar so it's a perfectly even thickness on the paper right to the edge of the sugar, leaving a border on the paper so the sugar doesn't spill onto the pan. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes, until the edges start to brown lightly. Watch carefully! Lower the oven to 250˚ F.
• Meanwhile, place the egg whites in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Just before the sugar is ready, whisk the egg whites on high speed for 1 minute, until frothy. With the mixer on low, slowly add the hot sugar to the egg whites. (I use a large spoon at first, then pick up the paper and pour the sugar in slowly.) Add the vanilla and continue to whisk on high for 10 minutes, until the egg whites are room temperature. (The bowl may still be warm.) The meringue will be very thick and glossy.
• Using two large serving spoons, scoop 6 very large, messy oval dollops of meringue onto each of two sheet pans lined with parchment paper, spacing them out because they will expand while they bake. Sprinkle the pistachios on top and bake for 1 1/2 to 2 hours (make sure your oven isn't above 250˚ F!), until the outsides of the meringues are crisp but not browned and the centers are still soft. Sprinkle with the fleur de sel and set aside to cool.

Steps:

• Mix the cornstarch, sugar, and salt with 1/4 cup of cold milk.
• In a small pot, heat the remaining milk over low heat (Do not boil!).
• While whisking, slowly add the cold milk mixture to the heated milk, stirring constantly, in a heavy bottomed pan or a double boiler.
• Continue to cook over low heat, whisking constantly, for 15 minutes until the raw taste of the cornstarch disappears and it thickens. (Do not boil!). It will thicken all at once at the end of the cooking time.
• Let cool, then add the vanilla.
• Cover and chill.
• For Chocolate Blancmange, when you heat the milk, add 2 oz. unsweetened chocolate and stir until smooth.
• Can pour into decorative 1/4-1/2 cup dishes.

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Spread almonds in a single layer on a rimmed baking sheet; bake 20 minutes. Transfer sheet to a wire rack and let cool slightly. Pulse almonds in a food processor until finely ground. Heat 4 cups whole milk, 1 1/2 cups water, sugar, and cinnamon sticks in a medium saucepan over medium until hot but not bubbling. Stir in almonds. Transfer to a liquid-measuring cup and let steep, covered, in refrigerator overnight or up to 2 days. (The longer the mixture steeps, the more flavor the blancmange will have.)
• Fill a 4- to 4 1/2-cup or two 2- to 2 1/2-cup molds with ice water. Rinse a large piece of heavy-duty cheesecloth (if thin, use a double layer) in hot water; wring as dry as possible. Place a sieve over a bowl, line sieve with prepared cheesecloth, and pour in almond mixture. Let almond milk drip through 30 minutes, then carefully gather up ends of cheesecloth and squeeze out as much liquid as possible. Almond milk should be smooth; if any pieces of almond pass through, strain through a very fine sieve. Discard cinnamon sticks. Pour almond milk into a large liquid-measuring cup (you should have at least 3 cups) and add enough of the remaining 1 cup whole milk to make 4 cups liquid.
• In a medium saucepan, combine cream and 1 cup almond milk. Sprinkle gelatin over top; let stand until softened, 5 minutes. Heat almond-milk mixture over medium-low, stirring occasionally, until gelatin is dissolved, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat; stir gelatin mixture into remaining almond milk in measuring cup. Remove ice water from mold but do not dry mold (this will make the blancmange easier to unmold later). Strain almond-milk mixture through a sieve into mold to fill. Cover with plastic wrap, pressing it directly onto surface to prevent a skin from forming. Refrigerate until firm, about 6 hours or overnight.
• To unmold, quickly dip mold into a hot-water bath to loosen pudding from mold, or use a hot wet towel that has been wrung out. Place a serving platter over mold and quickly invert. Jiggle to loosen; remove mold. Serve with currants, if desired.

Steps:

• Oil a 1.2-1.5 litre jelly mould, then set aside. Soak the gelatine in cold water following pack instructions. Mix together the cornflour with 6 tbsp of the milk and pour into a saucepan. Add the remaining milk, lemon peel and sugar, then bring to a boil. Lower to a medium-low heat and whisk continuously until thickened enough to coat the back of a spoon (around 8-10 mins).
• Squeeze any excess water out of the gelatine, then stir into the warm milk mixture to dissolve. Set aside to cool down for 5 mins. Discard the lemon peel, pour the mixture into the prepared jelly mould and put in the fridge to set overnight.
• When ready to serve, bring a kettle of water to the boil and pour into a large heatproof bowl. Dip the mould in the water, holding it there for 1 min. Turn the blancmange out onto a serving plate, and top with a handful of fresh berries, if you like.

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350°F. Lightly oil six 1/2-cup ramekins.
• Spread almonds in a shallow baking pan and toast in oven until pale golden, 7 to 8 minutes. Cool almonds completely.
• In a food processor process almonds with milk 2 minutes, or until mixture is very thick but not completely smooth.
• Rinse a thin kitchen towel in cold water and wring out as much water as possible. Spread towel in a large sieve set over a bowl or large glass measure and pour almond mixture into towel. Wrap towel around mixture and squeeze almond milk (about 1 cup) from towel into bowl or measure, discarding almonds. Stir in almond extract and a pinch salt.
• In a small bowl sprinkle gelatin over water and let stand 1 minute.
• In a small saucepan combine almond milk and sugar and cook over moderate heat, stirring, until sugar is dissolved. Add gelatin mixture and cook, stirring, until gelatin is dissolved. Transfer almond mixture to a metal bowl set in a larger bowl of ice and cold water and cool, stirring constantly, just until the consistency of raw egg white. Remove bowl from ice water.
• In a bowl with an electric mixer beat cream until it holds stiff peaks and whisk about one fourth into almond mixture to lighten. Fold in remaining cream gently but thoroughly and spoon mixture into ramekins. Chill blancmanges, covered loosely with plastic wrap, until set, at least 2 hours and up to 24.
• In a blender or food processor purée raspberries with syrup and force through a fine sieve into a bowl. Sauce may be made 1 day ahead and chilled, covered.
• Fill a small bowl with very hot or boiling water and dip ramekins, 1 at a time, into water 10 seconds. Unmold each blancmange onto a dessert plate and serve with sauce.

Steps:

• Heat oven to 180C/160C fan/gas 4. Put the peach halves in a gratin dish in a single layer without too much space around them (otherwise the apple juice will simply reduce and burn).
• Crush the pistachios roughly using a pestle and mortar, then mix in the lemon zest, sugar, egg and 1 tsp orange blossom water. Fill the cavity of each peach with this stuffing, mounding it over the top if you have too much.
• Mix the apple juice with the rest of the orange blossom water and pour it around the peaches. Bake for 30-45 mins, depending on ripeness. The peaches should be tender and slightly caramelised on the top.
• Whip the cream until it holds its shape, then add the orange zest and sugar, and taste for sweetness. Stir in 1/2 tsp of the orange blossom water and taste. Add more if you like, but be careful not to make the cream too perfumed.
• Serve the peaches at room temperature, with a little icing sugar sifted on top, some of the cooking juices spooned around and the cream on the side.

Steps:

• Place 1 cup of the milk into a saucepan. Add lemon peel and cinnamon sticks. Bring milk to a simmer over medium heat.
• Meanwhile, in a small bowl, whisk together the cornstarch and sugar. Whisk remaining milk into the cornstarch mixture. When the milk in the pan begins to simmer, pour the cornstarch mixture into the saucepan in a thin steady stream. Whisk vigorously and increase heat just a bit to bring the mixture to a gentle boil. Allow the mixture to boil for about 20 seconds while continuing to whisk, then remove from heat. Remove the lemon peel and cinnamon sticks. Stir in the pinch of cinnamon and, if using, the vanilla.
• Pour into a dish or mold, and refrigerate for at least 6 hours, or overnight. Garnish with shaved chocolate just before serving.