(Originally Nataniël’s Red Grape
Trifle)
Serves 10
Allow enough time for two sets of
jelly to set
Another one of my Christmas recipes that I borrowed and changed to suit
my pantry. Find Nataniël’s original, jelly-free Red Grape Trifle on expressoshow.com. This banting safe summer desert is a fresh cool-down
after a heavy meal.
Ingredients
250g mascarpone
2 tbsp castor sugar
2 eggs, separated
2 tbsp brandy
I have a ginger brandy in my
treasure chest of alcohol that worked really well here!
1 packet red jelly
Your choice of flavour, but I imagine
a lightly flavoured, or even home-made gelatine and rosewater version would be
wonderful.
Maraschino cherries, stemmed
250g fresh strawberries
Fresh or tinned red figs
I ended up with yellow
desert wine
2 cups custard
Home-made is always better and I
know Nataniël specifies the egg based one, but I just used good old UltraMel
1 cup ginger biscuits, coarsely broken
½ cup walnuts or pecan nuts, roughly chopped
Method
Make the mascarpone cream the day
before and pop it in the fridge to mingle with the brandy and save you time on
the day.
Whisk mascarpone with egg yolks and sugar until smooth. Now whisk in the
brandy.
Yum– don’t let anyone see you lick
your finger!
Beat the egg whites until stiff and fold into the drunken mascarpone mix.
Refrigerate and cover well to make sure none of the fridge flavours get in
there.
Here’s where
my recipe differs significantly from the original. Apart from the fruit I used,
I added jelly to keep it a little closer to home. Instead of layering the fruit
and jelly though, I suspended the fruit in the jelly. If you put all the jelly
and the fruit in at the same time, the fruit will sink to the bottom and you
won’t get the clean, chunky mix of colours when the custard covers the fruit.
(Remember, trifle is traditionally served in a glass bowl so you can see the
layering.)
Follow the instructions on the jelly packet, but substitute
the cold water with your desert wine of choice.
If you can
manage to use even less of the hot water to dissolve the gelatine, you can
replace the balance of the hot water with desert wine too.
Pour about two thirds of the jelly into your glass
trifle bowl and refrigerate.
The amount
will depend on the shape and size of your bowl and the amount of fruit you use.
Resist the temptation to freeze the jelly, as this will form crystals.
Half or quarter the strawberries and figs lengthwise.
Once the jelly is stiff enough to hold the fruit
without breaking, you can take it out and arrange all the fruit (cherries
included) as you like.
Here you need
to stand some of the pieces against the side of the bowl, or on top of each
other to ensure that they are partially exposed when you pour over the rest of
the jelly. Any leftover jelly is sure to disappear if left in the fridge.
Cover with the rest of the jelly and don’t feel bad
to hold some back if you see that some of your fruit won’t be partially exposed.
Refrigerate.
Once fully set you can pour the custard over and
then sprinkle with the broken biscuits and nuts.
I do this
just before serving to ensure that the biscuits stay crispy.
Spoon mascarpone on top and decorate with a nut,
biscuit, fruit or even shaved chocolate. Serve immediately and watch rude
guests fish out their favourite fruit.
 |
| Pairs well with the a Pinot Noir you may have left from lunch |
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