Mei and I were seated at a long table with a whole host of interesting people from a variety of countries. There were a couple of other smaller tables too and couple of foodbloggers I recognised – Magnus and Beth.

The attention to detail was stunning, with each napkin made of a different material, bottles of tapwater and bowls of buttery, chilli popcorn to nibble on. The table was not so much clothed as wrapped in brown parcel paper and had the menu and little notes written all over it, encouraging us to interact with our neighbours to find out what we’d be eating.

We started with a dish I recognised from Ashburton cookery school: homemade tortelli filled with goats cheese and orange pepper, with a fresh pesto sauce and topped with a deep fried basil leaf. This was followed by lamb loin with creamy dauphinoise potatoes, crunchy green beans, mushrooms and a heavenly madeira sauce. We were also served with an amuse-bouche of lemongrass and coconut sorbet served in a spoon.

A trio of desserts was brought out with a flourish and plenty of ‘ooohs’ and ‘ahhhhhs’ from fellow diners. The Turkish delight cheesecake was a recipe from Marcus Wareing’s new book Nutmeg & Custard, but Lex had put her own twist on it, creating a topping of pomegranate floss from her local Turkish grocer. It was so good I nearly fell off my chair.

We were served with pink bubbly to start and Australian muscat plus coffee or tea to finish. All in all, a truly satisfying meal in stylish surroundings, hosted with real care and attention. Looking forward to your Banjo Patterson night ladies!

The other is the contents of a vanilla pod floating atop of a pan full of double cream and milk…

Vanilla Icecream (from Gordon Ramsay’s Just Desserts – makes just over half a litre of incredibly rich icecream)

250ml whole milk
250ml double cream
50g caster sugar
1-2 vanilla pods
6 large free-range egg yolks

1) Put a bowl in the fridge to chill at least a few hours before making this recipe. Also, if you are using an icecream maker, make sure it has been in the freezer for at least 8 hours, preferably overnight.

2) Put the milk and cream in a heavy-based saucepan with 1 tablespoon of the sugar. Split open the vanilla pod(s) and scrape the seeds into the mixture. Add the empty pod(s) too.  Slowly bring to the boil.

3) Meanwhile, beat the egg yolks and sugar together with a balloon whisk until pale and creamy.

4) When the vanilla cream mixture is about to boil, take off the heat and pour about a third into the eggs, whisking well. Then pour the rest in slowly, whisking continuously.

5) Return the mixture to the pan and cook on low, stirring continuously until you are able to coat the back of your wooden spoon with the mixture. Careful not to overcook it.

6) Remove from the heat and strain through a sieve into the chilled bowl. Place in the fridge to chill and stir occasionally to make sure no skin forms on the top.

7) Then pour into a shallow container and freeze. Take it out and beat thorougly at least three times during the freezing process. If you have an icecream maker, just pour the mixture into the clever machine and be smug.

Beach photo by Mora McLagan.

Ingredients (will make 30-40 macarons):

For the macarons
350g icing sugar
250g ground almonds
egg whites of 5 large eggs
150g caster sugar
food colouring

For the filling
200g foie gras
50g unsalted butter
small amount of double cream
small amount of port

1) Sift the almonds and icing sugar to get a fine powder.

2) Whisk up the egg whites with a pinch of salt, add the caster sugar and beat until you have a stiff and glossy meringue mixture. Add food colouring of your choice. I chose purple and the macarons turned out an interesting pale green on the outside and violet on the inside

3) Preheat the oven to 160c.

4) Using a plastic spatula, mix the dry ingredients with the meringue mixture throroughly, trying to knock the air back out of it. Do this until smooth and shiny. If you tip the bowl to one side slightly and cut the mixture upwards with the spatula, it should take 9 to 12 seconds for the goo to run back down.

4) Use a piping bag to pipe macarons onto greaseproof paper lined baking trays. Let the tip of the piping bag rest on the greaseproof paper at a 45 degree angle and twist the bag at the end, creating just enough pressure to make perfectly circular macaron blobs.

5) To get the air bubbles out of the macarons (this supposedly stops them cracking open in the oven), drop the trays onto the worktop hard.

6) Let the macarons dry for 15 minutes at room temperature.

7) Meanwhile make the filling: blend the foie gras with the butter, then stir in the port and the cream bit by bit to make sure the mixture doesn’t get too sloppy. Put in the fridge.

7) Cook the macarons for 15-20 minutes in the oven. Leave to cool on the tray, then sandwich together with the foie gras filling.

I really recommend listening to Paprika Balkanicus whilst making jelly – their songs are at just the right tempo for sprinkling gelatin and dancing around the kitchen in a jelly-like manner. Dr. Oetker’s sachets (available in most supermarkets) seem to work as well as fine leaf gelatine, but can come out a bit lumpy, so I recommend sieving the mixture when you pour it into the jelly mould. Finding moulds was not as easy as I’d thought. I found a few antique copper ones at Spitalfields market – see the post below – and also managed to find a ‘brioche mould’ at a hardware shop, which seemed to do the trick. Maplins sells blacklights.

Warning: try not to make the delicate raspberry coulis make your jelly look like the aftermath of a murder…

Wobbly jelly facts from Bompas & Parr (number 10 is my favourite):

1. Jelly was first eaten by the Egyptians

2. The gelling agent used in most jellies is gelatine, and is sourced from animals. Berfore leaf gelatine was invented shaved hart’s (young deer’s) horns and the swim bladders of fish called sturgeon were used to make jelly.

3. Jelly used to be a food that only the rich could afford. It was hard work to make, exotic fruit was expensive and there were no refrigerators.

4.The Victorians were experts at making complicated jelly moulds. A shape for the jelly was of a British lion sitting on a plinth.

5. In the past savoury jellies were just as popular as sweet jellies. At Bompas & Parr we’ve even made zebra and crocodile jelly.

6. Some fruits like pineapple won’t set as jellies as they contain enzymes that break down the protein bonds. Others like blackberry and strawberry make wonderful jellies.

7. Gelatin the main gelling agent for jelly was used as a blood plasma substitute during World War II.

8. In 1997 the Army’s Logistics Corp helped to make the biggest jelly at Blackpool Zoo. The jelly was almost one metre tall by seven metres wide and took about 12 hours to set with a blast chiller.

9. If you eat too much jelly it can be a mild laxative!

10. On March 17, 1993, technicians at St. Jerome hospital in Batavia tested a bowl of lime jelly with an EEG machine and confirmed the earlier testing by Dr. Adrian Upton that a bowl of wobbling jelly has brain waves identical to those of adult men and women.

11. Jelly doesn’t wobble underwater.

Here they bring you Jelly Ronson; a glow-in-the-dark gin jelly, which I will be attempting to make in the very near future. Let me know if you try it and we can compare jelly photos…

Jelly Ronson, a glow-in-the-dark gin jelly was created by Bompas & Parr for Mark Ronson’s 33rd birthday party held at Hedsor House on the 4th September 2008. The jelly uses Bulldog Gin with it’s assortment of rare and exotic botanicals including Poppy and Dragon Eye.

Historically chefs have named foods to honor patrons. Antonin Câreme named Soufflé Rothchild, a dessert flavoured with liqueur after his employers Baron James Mayer de Rothschild (1792-1886) and Baroness Betty de Rothschild (1805-1886) in the 1820s. Auguste Escoffier, chef of the Savoy Hotel created Peach Melba in 1892 or 1893 to honour the Australian soprano Dame Nellie Melba.

With jelly half the fun lies in the spectacle. Make sure you use an interesting mould and unmould the jelly using the technique outlined below. Copper moulds are probably best (easiest to unmould) followed by thin plastic then ceramic and glass (which are far too much work). A gently wobbling pudding makes any table more exciting, especially if it is glowing. Do as the Victorians did and put jellies down the centre of the table and enjoy the sight of them wobbling away throughout the entire meal!

THE MARK RONSON JELLY (500ml) serves 4
For the jelly
200ml Bulldog Gin
200ml Indian tonic water
100ml Water
100g Caster sugar
8 Leaves gelatine (at least double that directed by packet)

For the raspberry coulis
55g Raspberries
1⁄2 Lemon, juice only
5g Icing sugar

For the glow
Blacklight

To make the jelly (do so several days prior to serving)
1.Combine the gin and indian tonic water in a large measuring jug and set aside.
2.Cut the leaf gelatine into fine pieces and place in a heat-proof bowl with enough water to submerse. Leave until soft (roughly 5 minutes).
3.When the gelatine has softened, melt it (still in heat proof bowl) over a pan of simmering water. At the same time melt the caster sugar in 100ml of water.
4. Add the caster sugar solution to the melted gelatine mix. Then combine this with the absinthe/tonic water jug and stir. Transfer to jelly mould.
5. Now wait – maybe two or three days. For every day your jelly is in the fridge it will grow structurally stronger.
6. When anticipation gets the better of you, polish your best plate and prepare the coulis.

To make the coulis
7.To make the coulis, place the raspberries, lemon juice and icing sugar into a food processor until smooth.
8.Strain the coulis into a small jug. To serve, anoint the jelly with the coulis.

Presentation
9. Unmould the jelly by briefly immersing in a bowl of hot water and inverting over your chosen plate. Note: Silver plates are always most effective for presentation.
TIP: Wet the surface of the presentation plate before unmoulding the jelly onto it. If the jelly is not in the right place you will be able to slide it into position.
10. For maximum effect turn off all lights to achieve total darkness. Switch on your blacklight and serve the glowing jelly to thrilled diners.

So why does the jelly glow?
The quinine in the tonic water is UV-active. When the blacklight is switched on it will fluoresce beautifully.

Watch this space for more wobbly facts from Bompas & Parr…

Ingredients:
1 and 1/4 tspn Easybake yeast
250g/9 oz strong white bread flour
250g/9 oz strong wholemeal flour
1 tspn fine sea salt
350ml/12 fl oz water (not too cold or yeast won’t activate)
1 tbsp walnut oil
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp honey (thank you to Ju for pointing out that a honey & walnut bread should probably have some honey in it…)
115g/4 oz broken walnuts

Put all the ingredients except walnuts into the bread pan in the order listed (this is so the water and yeast don’t mix until you want them to). Put the bread pan into the machine and close the lid. Select appropriate setting (on Morphy Richards Fastbake it’s number 1), size (in this case a 1.5lb loaf) and medium crust. Let the bread machine work its magic.

Note to bakers with new breadmakers: make sure you attach the blade before piling in the ingredients…