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Anyone cook - or not cook but throw things together - out there?

steveTusteveTu Posts: 3,219
in The potting shed
We always had a large trifle (done in a large punch bowl) for Christmas - lasted days when there were eight plus of us, but now we're down to four and only two like trifle - so I scrape the blue stuff off the top and still eat the trifle in Feb ...
So this year I thought of doing something different - I saw Nigella (don't like the woman personally - or at least I don't like her screen persona) make an Italian Pudding Cake and thought '..I could bastardise that...'.
So does this sound edible?
I am going for the same Lasagne type layers using pannetone or pomdoro - but one layer will be custard (Ambrosia of course) with mixed fruit (the orange/lemon peel one - soaked in a mix of orange juice and Grand Marnier (or some such) overnight) and the top the creamed marscapone with choc chips and pistachios. Topped with simple whipped cream (and I think the same pomegranate seeds). The marinade for the mixed fruit will be used to 'dampen down' the bread layers.
So :
Pomdoro dampened with Liquer and orange mix.
Custard and rehydrated mixed fruit.
Pomdoro again.
Mascarpone with choc chips and nuts.
Pomdoro.
Cream topped with pomegranate.

If you saw that in a cafe would you think '..what fool thought that up...' or would you give it a go?

I hate wasted food - and I don't fancy it in sandwiches till it runs out (although it may be fine toasted thinking about it).
UK - South Coast Retirement Campus (East)
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  • B3B3 Posts: 27,505
    edited December 2019
    😝
    Can't abide anything that involves soggy bread or sponge. Bread and butter pudding yuk. That thing where you hollow out bread and put soggy vegetables in it. Yuk trifle yuk
    In London. Keen but lazy.
  • amancalledgeorgeamancalledgeorge Posts: 2,736
    The idea of adding chocolate chips in mascarpone seems really unappetising...but if you're going to use a panettone or pandoro you may as well make a bread and butter pudding that won't be the soupy consistency I'd expect them to take on when layered. Maybe a creme patisserie would hold better in a layered scenario...unlike custard it sets more cleanly.
    To Plant a Garden is to Believe in Tomorrow
  • raisingirlraisingirl Posts: 7,093
    edited December 2019
    Honestly B3, it's not like he was suggesting putting parsnips in it :o You're no help at all.... :) 

    Steve - don't know Pomodoro well enough to advise except to say, when attempting something a bit off piste (and I do), I'd be tempted to make a small version - say a slice of Pomodoro in the liqueur, with a spoonful of dried fruits and some mascarpone and see how that goes together. I'd also try a spoonful of mascarpone with a blob of custard because I'm not sure how those flavours would sit alongside each other. 
    Do it fairly soon so you've time to rethink/adjust before Christmas and you can always use the ingredients separately if you decide you don't like them together.

    Personal taste here - when making 'trifle' I'd have a lot less bread/sponge but that is entirely up to you. If you want it to be substantial, then go for it. I think it might be a bit heavy but hey - it's Christmas!
    Gardening on the edge of Exmoor, in Devon

    “It's still magic even if you know how it's done.” 
  • steveTusteveTu Posts: 3,219
    I thought the same about the chocolate...but that's old Nigella's bit (see link). She made the whole thing in a cake tin and chilling it in the fridge was enough to make it 'semi set'. I was going to go for a trifle bowl - so wanted it a bit more 'sloppy' (hence the custard) - as I like the slurp sound you get from the vacuum  when you dish it up!

    (That's not advertising by the way...I'm not on royalties...!)



    UK - South Coast Retirement Campus (East)
  • ObelixxObelixx Posts: 30,090
    I'm afraid it sounds horrid.  Can't bear sponge fingers or sponge cake or Swiss roll soaked in booze, drowned in custard and called a trifle.  Nasty textures and flavours all hodge-podged.

    I'd make panatone b&b pudding.  Done properly with slices spread with good butter, maybe some marmalade and a proper egg, vanilla and milk custard it's tasty, comforting and has texture.   Let it soak 30 minutes before baking till the top is crispy and golden and the custard is just set.

    Other than that, little sticky toffee puddings or ginger puddings for me. 
    Vendée - 20kms from Atlantic coast.
    "The price good men (and women) pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men (and women)."
    Plato
  • josusa47josusa47 Posts: 3,530
    The trifle sounds all right to me, though for me the custard would spoil it.  I read somewhere that trifle originated with the Elizabethans as a way of using up stale sponge cake.  It was much simpler than today's version, they just soaked the cake in as much booze as it would hold.  I'm the only one in our family that likes traditional Christmas pudding, so I usually make banoffee pie.
  • steveTusteveTu Posts: 3,219
    I did think about making a small one - but the marscapone is mixed with cream/egg, chocolate and nut - so if I tried it, I'd have to go all but al the way. Does that make sense? And I was going for a 'surprise' for my kids - so I can't get their opinion. But they've got used to my 'cooking' over the past few years (and they're still alive).

    I'm the opposite with the sponge in trifle - drizzled (soaked) in whatever alcohol I have in the cupboard - the more the better - and tinned black cherries....

    As for pomdoro - sorry, brain dead - pandoro - the Italian golden bread stuff . Sweet bread mix - Nigella goes for panettone - I'll see what's on offer!



    UK - South Coast Retirement Campus (East)
  • raisingirlraisingirl Posts: 7,093
    edited December 2019
    It's the flavour mix you're trying, rather than consistency. If you make it and it goes to mush, well c'est la vie - that's experimental cooking for you, as long as it tastes good, everyone just laughs and eats it anyway. But if you make it and it tastes nasty, no one will eat it. So just try mascarpone neat with choc chips and custard to see if you'd enjoy having them all in one bowl together?


    Gardening on the edge of Exmoor, in Devon

    “It's still magic even if you know how it's done.” 
  • madpenguinmadpenguin Posts: 2,543
    Why not just make your standard trifle a bit smaller?
    “Every day is ordinary, until it isn't.” - Bernard Cornwell-Death of Kings
  • steveTusteveTu Posts: 3,219
    I'm not sure I've ever had mascarpone -  I just assumed it was some soft cream cheese like the stuff used in cheese cake. So following on from that (cheese cake'ish)   I saw a chocolate/nut and custard link. Odd how my brain works eh? But then I'm not a sweet person (in all senses) - and only really eat 'pudding' at Christmas.
    Just googled '..mascarpone chocolate cheese cake and custard...'...

    Nigella's recipe calls for a dessert wine in the mix as well, so I'm not sure what that would do to the taste along with the egg/cream.

    I may go the whole hog and make a mini version next weekend and see what the whole combination is like as my son isn't around. If it's awful I can always add more eggs to it and use it as wattle and daub outside.


    UK - South Coast Retirement Campus (East)
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