This was by far, one of the stranger recipes I’ve made so far with TWD. A Raspberry Blanc-Manger, chosen by Susan of Sticky, Gooey, Creamy, Chewy (who is a fellow musician, by the way! Woot, woot!). You’re probably wondering what the heck a blanc-manger is…I know I sure was! Basically, it’s sort of a creamy jell-o, if you will….Panna Cotta meets flan…sort of. Honestly, it was just weird to me. Ground almonds, milk, whipped cream, gelatin and fresh raspberries get mixed together and chilled for a few hours, then topped with rasperry coulis. Sounds good, right?
I was very tempted to just skip this week, as I wasn’t really in the mood for anything that sounded all French and snooty-like, but I’ve been a little neglectful of my TWD duties lately, so I decided to give it a go. This probably shouldn’t have been as complicated and time-consuming as I made it…but for whatever reason, it was. And I couldn’t really get over the fact that the whole time I kept tasting it…it reminded me of Cream of Wheat (you know, the hot breakfast cereal?). I guess it was the ground almonds in there with the cream and milk – it just tasted…breakfasty. Still, once I added the raspberries, let it set in the fridge, and topped it with a really delicious raspberry coulis (I threw in a splash or two of Chambord liquer…yum!), it tasted pretty good.
I loved the light, airy texture of it – that part was fantastic. It felt really fancy – this would probably really impress company. I probably won’t make this again – just not my cup of tea, I guess. However, as always, I’m still really glad I tried it…plus, I like saying the name. Blah-mah-jay! Fun. As always, if you’d like the recipe, head on over to Susan’s blog. She’ll have it posted.
Cream of wheat? No way for me, although I have to admit that I am a huge fan of that. Sorry to hear that it didn’t meet your taste.
Ulrike @ <a href="http://ostwestwind.twoday.net/">Küchenlatein</a>
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Comment by Ulrike — July 21, 2009 @ 5:03 AM
What a delicate little mould. Beautiful. We also found the texture grainy. I turned mine into ice cream and that was much better.
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Comment by Clivia — July 21, 2009 @ 9:41 AM
Wow, yours looks great… love the shape! I can see where texture would be an issue. I thought the almonds were an unusual component.
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Comment by Jacque — July 21, 2009 @ 5:32 PM
Well, your blanc manger looks awesome! I love the mold you used. Sorry you weren’t a fan but at least you know what it is now 🙂
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Comment by Tracey — July 22, 2009 @ 8:48 AM
Cream of wheat? Wow, I’m glad I finished mine off already, because I might not be able to get that connection out of my head now… Sure doesn’t look like breakfast cereal though – gorgeous!
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Comment by Caitlin — July 22, 2009 @ 10:04 AM
I made something for my high school French class that is very similar to this (shoot, it probably is this). I still can’t find the recipe I followed, but I remember that it tasted awesome. I’ll try this and see if it’s the same.
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Comment by Katrina — July 22, 2009 @ 1:24 PM
I wasn’t really feeling the ground almonds with the milk and everything so I switched to pistachios and somehow that made everything better in my mind ;). Glad to hear that the almond version ends up tasting nice (and looking lovely) too!
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Comment by Charli — July 23, 2009 @ 8:13 AM
It’s gorgeous, A! Sorry you weren’t a fan, though… I love me some raspberries, but I just didn’t have the time this week for this one.
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Comment by Hornedfroggy of My Baking Heart — July 23, 2009 @ 9:18 AM