Martha's DESSERTS & SAUCES

DESSERTS & SAUCES

Summer garnishes for barbecued food

Cucumber with yoghurt, garlic and mint. Mix crushed garlic, chopped fresh mint and summer salt into plain organic yoghurt. Cut cucumber into quarters lengthwise and then into small pieces (peel unless theskin is very tender). Salt well and let drain (in a sieve or on a succession of paper towels) until
there’s little water left to give. Mix with the yoghurt sauce.

Fruit and cheese

A tasty follow up to a spicy or hearty meal: fresh fruit – here a ripe red Bartlet pear – and Shropshire cheese. fruit

Cranberry relish

This is a tart (no sugar) relish/side dish that goes well with light meats such as herb chicken or roast pork. Healthy too. Sauté a chopped red onion briefly in a tbs of olive oil (I like a small wok for preparing thi cram rel s dish); add chopped fresh ginger (a good sized knob if you like ginger – and if you don’t, leave it out altogether). Add about 12 oz (a common package size) of fresh, rinsed cranberries (discarding any soft ones), and cook briefly, until burst. Add a pinch of coarse salt, a few grindings of aromatic pepper and a diced apple. Ready to serve as soon as the apple is soft, but juice of half an orange will make the taste a bit more complex, and some chopped cilantro or mint can add a nice touch.

Cranberry ice

Cook whole cranberries in a minimal amount of water until burst and softened – a few minutes. Mash them and mix in cram

maple sugar and fresh lemon juice to taste. A splash of orange liqueur or other flavoring can be added if you wish (but not much alcohol or it will not freeze well). Then all you need to do is put the mixture in an ice cream machine and you should have sorbet ready to eat in about half an hour. This has a lovely color for the winter holiday season but is refreshing any time. Some other fruits can be handled in the same way, depending on your views on seeds (raspberries, for example) or cold lumps (strawberries tend to end up that way unless they get beaten to a pulp first).

Chocolate truffles

Basic truffles are fun and not very difficult. Use a good bittersweet chocolate (at least 60% cacao), melt it with a small

espresso, add sweet butter, and stir to achieve an unctuous mixture. A ratio of about 8 oz chocolate to 2 oz butter should work (eg, with Ghiradelli chocolate), though a harder chocolate (eg. Scharffenberger) will require more butter (or cream or liqueur) in order to be malleable. If you use unsweetened chocolate you can add maple syrup (or natural cane sugar) to taste. I like truffles with the addition of some freshly grated ginger root, but you can add other flavorings, such as cloves, cayenne, bitter orange, or heavy cream. Chill the mixture for several hours. Then, using a teaspoon, form small balls by rolling them in your hand, dropping them into a bowl of unsweetened cocoa as you make them. They will keep well in the refrigerator.