Tuesday 26 March 2013

Celebrations and a quick & easy recipe

The past couple of days have seen a couple of celebrations in our family.

Firstly, we celebrated my husband's birthday. After last year's milestone birthday (remember the Birthday Barge?) this year's one was a little more low key! A day at home with the boys and a special dinner.

He requested a slow cooked beef & red wine casserole, which I cooked overnight in the slow cooker. I also added bacon, parsley & mushrooms and the finished result was wonderfully rich. We had it with some puff pastry (not homemade!), roast potatoes and broccoli.

 

Rather than make a pudding as well as a birthday cake I decided to combine the two. Using my trusty Old Fashioned Chocolate Cake recipe, I made some individual chocolate cakes in a silicone mold.
 
We brought one of these cakes over to dad with a little candle in it before serving them with some raspberry coullis and whipped cream.
 

 

The day after my husband's birthday his parents celebrated their 47th wedding anniversary!

We came through to stay with them for a couple of days and cooked them a special meal to celebrate their anniversary. The pudding I had made the day before proved so popular with everyone that it was requested again for granny and grandad.

So, the quick and easy recipe is for raspberry coullis. Simply add 300g raspberries (fresh or frozen, it doesn't matter), 100g icing sugar and the juice of half a lemon to a pan. Heat gently for about 5-10 minutes until you have a lovely jammy looking mush. It will take a little longer if your berries are frozen.

For a proper coullis you should then push the whole thing through a sieve to get a smooth, seedless sauce, but I like the rustic look of it just as it is.

You can serve it slightly warm straight from the pan or cool it down and have it chilled. It is wonderful with chocolate cake and equally good with ice cream. I'm sure it would be lovely with some pancakes and a whole host of other treats too!

You don't need to wait for a double celebration in your family to try it out either!

 

2 comments:

  1. It looks really yummy! Nothing like something simple to turn out rich and heavenly. I love the raspberry coullis. My hubby loves raspberries, so I'll be making this one. Thanks so much for sharing!
    I Hope you have a blessed Easter!
    Many Blessings,
    Amy

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  2. Oh wow, my mouth is watering.. really. The raspberry coullis with the chocolate cake sounds so good... no wonder it was requested a second time. I am going to have to try it too (and get my conversions out... grams into cups... we are deficit in that kind of measurement around here). Also.... can you share the beef casserole recipe; it is making my mouth water also. My husband would love it. Happy Birthday to your hubby (I was able to pop over and read his post reply on his blog by the way, tell him thank you from me). Happy Anniversary to your parents in law.
    Love and Blessings,
    Pam

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