A couple of years back Jamie Oliver made waffles without using a waffle maker. He used, rather brilliantly I thought, a griddle pan. Genius!
Searching around for the recipe, it’s fair to say there’s some grumpy people out there that have tried it. Esther of the always-readable Recipe Rifle was particularly scathing about them, Kooky Girl has issues, and the ingredients list morphs from one post to another. It appears there was a discrepancy when recording where Jamie might’ve said “tablespoons” instead of “teaspoons”… it’s a bit of a mess. I’m no stickler for an exact recipe, but this is one of those things where you need the right balance of crispy, fluffy and rising to make it work.
Thankfully I found a great new blog as a result of this bout of surfing, Always Order Dessert. Alejandra Ramos struggled to find a consistent recipe too, so engaged the brain to invent one. Using this and a handful of other blogs I came up with a recipe I was perfectly pleased with.
Mindful of problems people were having with flipping the waffle, I had the brainwave to Foreman it. Propped up by newspaper so the grill stayed level, I cooked the batter on a George Foreman grill. This meant they cooked evenly on both sides, no flipping and they developed golden ridges. Flavour-wise, what we really have is American-style pancake batter cooked to a crisp so it’s not quite waffley but hits all the right points.
I’m entering this in Kavey’s monthly Bloggers Scream for Ice Cream challenge. I’ve entered this challenge last year for sorbet, this month the theme is waffles and cones. If you’re looking for some food inspiration go check out Kavey Eats, there’s tons of great food and reviews over there. The ice cream component of my waffles was ready-made; they’re not high-eatin’ but I really like Ben & Jerry’s Core range. This is Winter Berry Brownie, a really fruit ice cream with great big chunks of brownie.
Grilled waffles (makes about 8):
1 egg
300ml whole milk
1 teaspoon vanilla paste
200g plain flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
Pinch of salt
1 tablespoon caster sugar
Squirt of lemon juice
100g butter, melted
Whisk together the egg, milk and vanilla. Sift in the flour and baking powder and whisk until really smooth. Stir in the salt, sugar and lemon juice, and then dribble in the butter whisking all the time. Leave to rest in the fridge for 30 mins.
Preheat your George Foreman grill to high. When hot ladle on the batter and close the grill. Cook for 5 – 7 minutes until golden brown and lever off with a wooden spatula. Serve with ice cream.
What a show-stopper this recipe is. How I came to get the recipe is still utterly bewildering to me.
Would you like to go to the Waitrose Cookery School and have Heston Blumenthal cook for you? Um, let me think about that fo- yes please. So I rock up, where they are filming an Easter show for Waitrose TV. I’ve been to the Cookery School a couple of times before, but not in these circumstances. The whole thing is hosted by Sue Perkins, who I’ve always wanted to best friends with. It has the recipe to be a completely amazing afternoon.
It begins very strangely. I pretty much walk in off the street and take a quick visit to the gents (I promise, not too much detail here but the context is important). I’m there not a minute, doing my thing, when someone takes up the urinal next to me. I’m not sure if you know the rules of public toilets but you don’t budge your neck an inch. But I do. And I can’t help but notice relieving himself next to me is Brian Turner.
What do you do in that situation? I’ve admired Brian Turner for years, for me he reaches back to Ready Steady Cook days and he’s never really gone away. Whenever he’s on TV I know whatever he makes is going to be brill. But do I say hi mid-flow?
I elect not to, hoping to get a chance to introduce myself in a more normal surroundings. Making my way back into the school itself a Waitrose rep introduces herself and says I’m going to be on the top table with all the chefs. Urp.
So the scene is set: Heston Blumenthal, Brian Turner, Dhruv Baker are cooking the food alongside Cookery School stalwarts Gordon and Eleni, while Sue Perkins presents. At one point during the afternoon, Sue Perkins is sat next to me, shovelling lamb on to my plate that has been roasted by Heston Blumenthal who is opposite explaining his mustard gravy, with Brian Turner sat on the table positively barking that we Brits must return to our roasting greatness. As I sat there with a glass of ridiculously good Lebanese red wine, I was momentarily lost in a moment of surreal stupor: how the hell did I get here, eating this, with these people? I felt stupendously unworthy.
My left ear’s moment of glory as noted vegetarian Sue Perkins shovels lamb on to my plate.
Needless to say, the afternoon was complete magic. Sue cemented herself as the witty professional, Brian was exactly the person he is on TV, and Heston cooked lamb for me.
The whole video featuring Heston’s roast lamb, Dhruv’s accompaniments and this recipe, plus more besides, can be seen on the Waitrose TV website.
However in tribute to that afternoon I cooked the dessert served up by Eleni: a stunning baked alaska that looks like far more effort than you actually put in. With a few choice ready-made ingredients propping it up it’s a great one for a dinner party.
Dark chocolate and passion fruit baked alaska (serves 8):
750g dark chocolate ice cream
8 slices Madeira loaf
For the passion fruit coulis:
Pulp from 8 passion fruit (about 250ml)
150g caster sugar
8 cloves
1 vanilla pod, halved lengthways
For the Italian Meringue:
4 egg whites
300g caster sugar
Using an ice cream scoop, form 8 large balls of the ice cream. Place on a plate or tray and return to the freezer, so that they are as frozen as possible. Meanwhile, take the slices of madeira cake and using a 6cm round pastry cutter, cut into 8 discs, and set aside.
Make the passion fruit coulis, place all the ingredients with 4 tbsp water in a small pan and bring to the boil. Continue to boil for about 4-5 minutes until the mixture has reduced to a nice thick, syrupy consistency. Allow to cool then refrigerate until needed.
To make the Italian meringue, place the caster sugar in a saucepan and add a little water until a wet sand texture is achieved. Then heat the mixture and bring to the boil and continue to heat until the temperature reaches 118°C. Using a an electric mixer start to whisk your egg whites on a medium speed. Once the sugar reaches 121°C, remove from the heat and gradually add the syrup to your whisking egg whites and increase to maximum speed. This will take approximately 5 minutes to whip up into a smooth, glossy meringue. Place this mixture into a piping bag with a star shaped nozzle, about 6mm or simply cut the piping bag at an angle and set aside.
To assemble, place the ice cream balls onto the sponge discs and pipe around the Italian meringue and smooth over with a palette knife so that none of the ice cream is exposed. Take the piping bag and pipe peaks around the Alaska starting from the bottom and working your way up to the top. Once all the surface space has been covered return to the freezer and leave there until ready to serve.
When you are ready to serve, preheat the oven to 220°C, gas mark 7. Then place the Alaskas in the oven for about 5-7 minutes or until the meringue turns a nice golden colour. Spoon the passionfruit coulis onto the plate and place the baked Alaska on top. Serve immediately.
One of my favourite food bloggers, Kavey of KaveyEats, hit upon a great idea for bloggers everywhere to explore their childhood ice cream-related memory. Like most Britons, particularly those that grew up on the coast, ice cream is a very tangible memory to me. One brand in particular is the first that comes to mind: not Wall’s, not Lyons Maid, not Haagen-Dazs. Rossi’s. And their specialty is the Rossi Lemon Ice.
This is the kiosk I would get my Rossi’s lemon ice from. (Image copyright Upixa.com via “Southend Sites”)
Rossi’s is known throughout South Essex as the ice cream brand. The Rossi’s van came round my street every night after school, you could stroll along Marine Parade and visit their shop, or drop by their kiosk on Southend High Street. I was astonished as I grew up and went outside of the county to realise no-one else had heard of it. But it’s a brand that goes back eighty years, and it’s familiar blue-and-white livery is a prominent landmark on the Southend promenade.
The Rossi brand was started by the Rossi family in 1932, both selling and manufacturing in the Southend area. Nearly a hundred years later and a few changes in ownership and the product is still sold and made in South East Essex – truly one of the brands associated with the region.
The kiosk is now unfortunately gone, yet you can buy tubs of their ice cream in many grocers and delis throughout the county. It’s not quite as magic buying it this way, but it still tastes the same as when I was eating it thirty years ago.
Their “vanilla” ice cream is great – doesn’t actually taste of vanilla, it tastes of white, but it’s great – but the crown jewel in their flavour riches is the lemon sorbet, or as it’s more commonly known, “the Rossi lemon ice”. If you’ve not had the pleasure it doesn’t quite taste like a sorbet that you are used to; it’s smooth and extremely fine-grained, with a curious luminous yellow hue. But it’s the perfect treat on a hot Summer stroll along Southend High Street.
The Rossi kiosk on Western Esplanade, Southend-on-Sea 2023
For my attempt I needed a really strong syrup with a slick of gelatine to try and recreate the smooth texture of the Rossi lemon ice. After freezing I was amazed how close to the real thing it tasted! It’s a perfect little scoop of childhood memories.
Visit KaveyEats for more info and lots of brill ice cream recipes!
Peel and juice the lemons - I would try and keep the zest as large as possible to make it easy to fish out later. Bring everything to boil in a saucepan. As soon as it boils take it off the heat and whisk vigorously to dissolve the sugar and gelatine. Strain off the zest. Pour into a freezable container and freeze overnight.
When ready to serve, whizz up in a food processor and serve in a cornet, garnished with a Cadbury's Flake.
Notes
If you don't have a food processor you can mash it up with a fork, it just won't be quite as easy to serve. If you have an ice cream machine you can follow the instructions once your syrup is cooled.
This one is straight from the pages of Jamie’s Great Britain. I don’t have particularly as strong memories of arctic roll as other people seem to – but what’s not to love here? Ice cream, jam, sponge…
And it is good – but it’s extremely similar to his pudding bombe masterpiece (which I’m making for about the sixth time this week, do try it now pannetone is in the shops). Given the choice I’d have the bombe every time.
Arctic Roll (serves about, ooh 6 – 12?):
For the sponge:
3 eggs
100g caster sugar
75g plain flour
1 heaped teaspoon cocoa powder
For the filling:
500ml vanilla ice cream
500ml chocolate ice cream
300g raspberry jam
1 Crunchie
Preheat the oven to 180°C. Leave the ice cream on the side while you do everything else so it softens.
Whisk the eggs with the sugar until pale and fluffy. Fold in the flour.
Grease a baking tray and line with greaseproof paper. Spoon half the mixture on to the tray, fold the cocoa into the remaining mixture, then swirl that through the stuff on the tray. Place in the oven for 15 minutes, or until cooked through (it’s only thin so watch out!).
Get another piece of greaseproof paper and scatter with sugar. Get the sponge out of the oven and flip it on to the sugar, and peel off the ‘cooked’ bit of paper. Carefully roll up the sponge in the paper and leave to cool curled up.
Once cooled spread unroll the sponge and spread over the jam. Blob it with ice cream, alternating to make sure there’s a good mix of flavours. Bash the daylights out of the Crunchie and scatter over the ice cream, then roll it back up again. Leave in the freezer until you want to serve it.
