Team Strawberry

Continuing with my Team Apple VS Team Strawberry, here is my recipe for Strawberry turnovers :

 For 16 turnovers you will need :

1 punnet of strawberries chopped into chunks
4-5 tbsp strawberry jam
2 tbs corn flour 
2 tbsp water
1 egg whisked
1 tbsp caster sugar 
320ml double cream 
1 tsp vanilla paste / seeds from vanilla pod
icing sugar to dust

• Preheat your oven to 180c, place the strawberries, sugar and the jam in a saucepan. Mix together the cornflour and 2 tablespoons of water to make a smooth paste and add to the saucepan Cook the strawberries on a medium heat, till they've slightly softened and the jam has thickened a little - it should take about 10-12 minutes. 
• Line a large rectangle baking tray with baking paper, and open out the pastry sheet. Cut the sheet of pastry into 16 equal rectangles*
• Brush each of the rectangles with the beaten egg and place the pastry in the oven and bake for 20-25 minutes or until the each of the sheets has risen and are golden brown on top. Leave to cool completely then cut each rectangle in half, straight through the middle- so you'll end up with 16 top halves and 16 bottom halves
• Whip the double cream with the vanilla paste till you get semi stiff peaks - when you pick it up with a tablespoon it shouldn't drip off and should just hold its shape.
• On each of the bottom halves of pastry, place about 2 tablespoons of the whipped cream, then put about a tablespoon full of the strawberry mixture on top of each slice. Then place the top halves of pastry back on to each slice, and finish off with a good dusting of icing sugar and they're ready to serve 

* if you don't want to make as many as 16 .. use just half the sheet instead of the whole sheet and cut into 8 rectangles .. and save the other half by wrapping up and placing in the freezer as i used my pastry as soon s i'd bought it and it wasn't already frozen

Mango Lassi

I've made it very well known that I'm no fan of cold weather, so with the last few days of stunning weather, I've been a very happy bunny. Hot weather doesn't just mean a happy Foody Mama, it also means it's the perfect time to indulge in copious amounts of mango lassi; Let's be honest drinking lassi on a cold wet miserable day just doesn't go does it ?

For those of you that may not be familiar, lassi is the Asian take on the British smoothie. In Asian cuisine, there are a few variants, from the salted *pulls face at thought* version to fruit based ones  .. Fruit sounds more like it .. I hear you !


So I thought since it's made a rather regular appearance in our fridge over the last few days, it just had to be blogged about

This recipe will easily give you 5-6 rather generous servings and will need an electric whisk or liquidizer jug :

1x 454g tub natural yogurt
1 x 850g tin mango puree
250 ml cold water
6 tbsp sugar

• place all the ingredients into your liquidizer or in a large jug if using an electric whisk
• whisk/ blend till all the ingredients have combined together, leave to chill in the fridge
• serve in tall sundae style glasses 

That is really all there is to it. For a bit of a twist, you can always add in a few chunks of mango for a bit of texture and dive in with a spoon. For a slightly naughtier version, top up with squirty cream ! If like me you've got a weak spot for strawberries, swap the mango puree for a punnet of strawberries and wizz up in the exact same way.

I'll leave you with a rather brilliant advert for mango lassi by HSBC ..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dVdC9vY55Og