Need pudding ideas for French 'do'

[Stonehead]

Or how about a French dessert - Concorde, always popular with the female contingent when I have dinner parties.

I can dig out the recipe if you want, but it's basically a disc of chocolate meringue, then a layer of mousse au chocolat, then meringue, then mousse, then meringue, then mousse, then meringue, then mousse. Just before serving, sift a couple of tablespoons of cocoa powder over the Concorde. or sprinkle it with shavings of dark, bitter chocolate.

[Shirley]

oooh la la... that sounds wickedly decadent Stoney....

M3 - perhaps a list of what you CAN get in France might help us to come up with some suitable recipes. By the sounds of it it won't be a long list

[den_the_cat]

trying to think of a cold english pudding to impress french people is tricky :) - you could perhaps do still slightly warm bread and butter pudding - I've done it with french bread and you can add a sprinkle of booze in there to pizazz it up a bit - or a 'proper' trifle with creme anglais, fresh fruit (and no jelly) is lovely.

I've also seen a recipe somewhere for a lovely sounding orange and lemon trifly thing which was an olde english recipe - clementine something I think but I can't find it online - someone else might know what its called though.

Or my personal favourite easy pud is a shortcrust pastry case, gently poached cranberries (with suger and a little orange juice cooked till just squidgy) in the bottom and then add any very very rich chocolate mousse cake mixture on top, bake until cake is done but still gooey in the middle, serve cold with thick pouring cream.

[chadspad]

Hi M3

What about meringues with strawberries (or any fruit thats available will be as good) and that single cream we are able to get over here. Just mix it all up together. Its a play on a recipe called Eton Mess (they serve it at the college as part of their picnics with the parents), u could add kirsch if u wanted (thats part of the original recipe) but I have made this several times with just the basic ingredients - its quick, easy and very sweet!!

Going off to try that treacel tart now, I have just enuf stuff in the cupboards - thanks Stonehead!!

[Millymollymandy]

I'm going to make treacle tart. Chadspad please let me know how Stoney's recipe works out! My 'do' is next weekend so I'll be making it next Saturday.

Shirley - French desserts are different from English/British ones so they don't use the same sort of ingredients - except sugar and fruit of course! Mainly fruit tarts with pate brisee (a nasty hard pastry) or hideous vile concoctions of gooey fake confectioners cream. They don't use real cream (apart from creme fraiche) in anything - in fact I'm not actually sure why they sell it here. What IS loved by the French, and sadly, French restauranteurs, is that awful sweet fake whipped cream that comes in an aerosol can.

[chadspad]

Hi M3
The treacle tart was really nice but my preference (and my hubbys) would have been to not have the lemon included, as the taste was more of the lemon than the syrup (I only added the juice of the lemon, not the rind and still it was strong).

[Millymollymandy]

OK thanks - nice to have a guinea pig to try it out first!!!

[Stonehead]

Hi M3
The treacle tart was really nice but my preference (and my hubbys) would have been to not have the lemon included, as the taste was more of the lemon than the syrup (I only added the juice of the lemon, not the rind and still it was strong).

You didn't add the juice of "the lemon" did you? It should be the juice of half a lemon!

[chadspad]

Oh yeh just reread the recipe!! I did use a whole lemon. It tasted a little like marmalade instead of syrup. Thatll teach me to do things in a hurry eh!

[Millymollymandy]