Day 102: Cardamom and orange semifreddo

Well, I had no shortage of volunteers today to give a verdict on the Cardamom and orange semifreddo dessert which I made. It was a girls’ lunch today (with the inclusion of Dear Son) for me, two Dear Friends with accompanying 2-year-old niece and Baby Daughter. Before I get down to the recipe I made for the Challenge, I’d just like to give a brief overview of what I made prior to that. On the menu for the girlie lunch was a massive salad with mustard mayonnaise; Chicken paillard with creamy cucumber and courgettes (which I made on Day 48); baby boiled potatoes; and Rachel’s homemade chicken goujons.

The salad was very simple and consisted of rocket, cherry tomatoes, cucumber and red onion. The mustard mayonnaise is inspired by Ubiquitous Chip in Buncrana which used to always serve the mayonnaise with its salad basket. The salad basket is still on the menu under new owners but I don’t think the mustard mayonnaise is although I could stand corrected. Anyway, the mustard mayonnaise I made today consisted of mayonnaise, crème fraiche, Dijon mustard, wholegrain mustard, vinegar and a pinch of salt. It is absolutely gorgeous with salad. The salad which I made today is actually a pared down version of the one I usually make which also has red and yellow peppers, grated carrot and croutons.

Day 48 of this blog has the lowdown on the Chicken paillard with creamy cucumber and courgettes so you can check back to then as to how I made it but it went down an absolute treat here today. I served the baby boiled potatoes with a small bit of butter and freshly chopped parsley. I made the homemade chicken goujons as per a previous post on this blog. However, the Cardamom and orange semifreddo was the real focus of my efforts for the lunch so I actually did most of the work yesterday as it had to sit overnight. Here’s how I made it…

I started off by lining a loaf tin with two layers of cling film. I then took 15 green cardamom pods and squished them with a knife, removed and ground with a pestle and mortar into a powder. I then added the cardamom seeds to a saucepan of some of the double cream, brought it up to the boil and let it simmer for 2 minutes. I let it sit to infuse while I got on with the next part of the recipe. I moved on to whisking egg whites and, once they started to form soft peaks, I slowly added in caster sugar and whisked for another 5 minutes. I then whisked the remainder of the double cream and folded in the remainder of the cardamom cream along with the zest of an orange. Next, I folded in the egg whites into the cream and brought it all together. I put it in the freezer and left it overnight until today. To serve, I cut it into slices and, as if that wasn’t enough, I served with fresh strawberries and canned cream! As you can see, I now have my very own food stylist as one of the Dear Friends was inspired to contribute too...

The verdicts…

The marks for the semifreddo from both Dear Friends were 20 marks out of 10 (!) – hey, I love this kind of scoring system where it is actually possible to score 200%! They really loved it. They said it was really like an ice-pop which they’d had before so they’re going to get back to me when they figure it out. I was really surprised at how nice this dessert was as I’m not too into egg-white based soft desserts and gave it 7 marks out of 10. Dear Husband also concurred with my score which left it with an average score of 8.5 when I standardised the scores from both Dear Friends. Even Baby Daughter loved it and almost didn’t know when to stop – which is why we had to stop her before we saw it all again! Will I make this dessert again? Yes, most definitely. I loved that I could make it the day before I needed it and it was a really nice surprise in terms of taste.

On another note, they loved the Chicken paillard, chicken goujons, salad and mustard mayonnaise. Clean plates all round which is the best way to tell when guests are round. Dear Niece actually had a breast of chicken from the Chicken paillard and loved it but wasn’t fussed on the chicken goujons. Dear Son ate his chicken goujons surprisingly and Baby Daughter ate a small goujon even though she had her own dinner of cod, salmon and potatoes.

Overall, lunch was a success (thank God!) as although I wouldn’t be offended if they didn’t like it, I was glad that they had an enjoyable lunch. The way I look at it is that if I went to someone’s house, I would hate to have to eat something which I really didn’t like although I would try my bestest best to eat it so as to not offend the host’s hard work. So, if you’re ever at my house for dinner and you don’t like what I’ve made - no problem! I would prefer you didn't eat it and I have three very eager doggies who will be only too willing to oblige. From the dogs’ point of view, they probably wish all my house guests don’t like my food. However, on this occasion, it really wasn’t a dog’s life chez moi as lunch got the thumbs up all round and in the words of Jean-Anthelme Brillat-Savarin (1755-1826)…

"He who receives his friends and gives no personal attention to the meal which is being prepared for them, is not worthy of having friends."

So girls, if you’re reading this, after today's efforts, I must surely be worthy…?! :)