Nigella Lawson Turkish Delight Syllabub Food

NIGELLA LAWSON TURKISH DELIGHT SYLLABUB

Steps:

• Mix the cointreau, lemon juice and sugar in a large bowl, stirring to dissolve the sugar.
• Slowly stir in the cream and then begin to whisk with an electric mixer.
• Whisk until the cream is fairly thick, but not thick enough to hold its shape.
• Sprinkle in the flower waters and keep whisking until you have a light and airy mixture that forms soft peaks.
• Be careful, it's better to have it a bit too runny than too thick.
• Spoon into small glasses, letting the mixture come up over the rim of the glass.
• Scatter finely chopped pistachios on top.

TURKISH DELIGHT SYLLABUB

Steps:

• Combine the orange-flavored liqueur, lemon juice and sugar in a large bowl (I use the bowl of my freestanding mixer) and stir to dissolve the sugar, or as good as. Slowly stir in the cream then get whisking. As I said, I use my freestanding mixer to this, but if you haven't got one, don't worry - but I would then advise a handheld electric mixer. This takes ages to thicken and doing it by hand will drive you demented with tedium and impatience. Or it would me.
• When the cream's fairly thick, but still not thick enough to hold its shape, dribble with the flower waters and then keep whisking until you have a cream mixture that's light and airy but able to form soft peaks. I always think of syllabub as occupying some notional territory between solid and liquid; you're aiming, as you whisk, for what Jane Grigson called "bulky whiteness." Whatever: better slightly too runny than slightly too thick, so proceed carefully, but don't get anxious about it.
• Spoon the syllabub in airy dollops into small glasses, letting the mixture billow up above the rim of the glass, and scatter finely chopped pistachios on top. In my How to Eat cookbook, there's a recipe for pistachio crescents that would be fabulous dunked into and eaten with this. But only if you feel like it: the cool, fool-like smoothness of this is perfect as it is.

AMARETTO SYLLABUB

Steps:

• Pour the amaretto liqueur into a bowl with the sugar and lemon juice and whisk to mix.
• Whisk in the heavy cream and whip this mixture until it has thickened but is still soft and billowy.
• Crumble 2 little amaretti biscuits into each of the 4 glasses (each with a yield of about 2/3 cup).
• Divide the syllabub between the glasses on top of the crumbled biscuits.
• Crumble another macaroon or 2, and sprinkle this golden rubble over the top of all the glasses to give a fine sprinkle of crumbs on each. Serve the remaining amaretti alongside the syllabub.

ETON MESS

Steps:

• Hull and chop the strawberries and put into a bowl and add the sugar and pomegranate juice and leave to macerate while you whip the cream.
• Whip the cream in a large bowl until thick but still soft. Roughly crumble in 4 of the meringues nests - you will need chunks for texture as well as a little fine dust.
• Take out about half a cupful of the chopped strawberries, and fold the meringue cream and rest of the fruit mixture together.
• Arrange on 4 serving plates or glasses or in a mound, and top each with some of the remaining macerated strawberries.

LEMON SYLLABUB

Steps:

• Whip the cream and sugar together until soft peaks form. Stir in the wine, most of the lemon zest and the juice. Spoon into glasses or bowls, sprinkle with the remaining zest and serve with almond thins or berries.