Sweet Tooth

Good evening and a belated Happy Thanksgiving to all!! I apologize for not updating at all over my Thanksgiving break, but you would be surprised in how little time there is to cook during a 10 day break. Especially when most of it consists of quality time on my couch, with my dog, and a crossword puzzle book. It was a MUCH needed break, and I DID get to cook a bit. I made a chocolate pudding pie for the holiday all from scratch (crust and filling!). Compared to last year's soupy mess that I called a banana cream pie, this year was much more successful and the pudding filling actually set.

And now, on to tonight! I made my fourth dessert from Everyday Italian tonight, and it too was a success. I am now about halfway through the "Everyday Fruit" section of the desserts chapter after making Cantaloupe, Strawberries, and Grapes with White Wine and Mint. After typing that, I'm now realizing I can hardly call what I made that name. It was more like Peaches and Raspberries with Grape Juice and Basil. Allow me to explain...

For starters, I live on a dry campus and am not of age to buy or consume alcohol. Therefore, the white wine aspect was right out. Instead, I used some white grape juice (I'm sure this is not remotely the same as white wine, but you take what you can get). I boiled this along with some sugar till it was dissolved.

Next, the fruit. Unfortunately, the fruit required for this recipe (aside from the grapes which I didn't think to buy while grocery shopping at home this weekend) is no longer in season. This didn't break my heart when it came to the cantaloupe, because I"m really not a big fan (to me, it tastes like what I would imagine nail polish remover would taste like. Not that I would know). As for the strawberries, I could have easily bought some frozen ones, but I already had some frozen raspberries, so I didn't really see a point in buying anything more. To replace the cantaloupe, I used some frozen peaches. Thankfully, in her introduction to this recipe, Giada gives us college cooks (or any cooks in general) permission to substitute any fruit we like. IN FACT, she even states that this recipe is good for using up leftover fruit.

I combined these two frozen fruits after thawing them and draining the majority of the liquids that resulted. Once the sugar and juice mixture had boiled for about two minutes, I removed it from the heat. At this point, I was supposed to add some chopped fresh mint. Well, I didn't have any mint (I use it so infrequently that buying it fresh just doesn't make sense). I remembered seeing many of Giada's dessert recipes on TV using basil, so I figured a bit of that would be a good enough replacement. I added this to the hot mixture, then poured it all over the fruit. You are then supposed to chill the dessert in the fridge for about two to eight hours. I did not want to wait. I think I gave it about 15 minutes.

Going into this dessert, I wasn't particularly "jazzed" about it because I'm more of a chocolate lover when it comes to sweets. The richer, the better. I really only get excited about a fruit dessert if there's some sort of flaky crust or crumble with it. However, this dessert was actually quite good! It wasn't overly sweet and the peaches and raspberries worked well together. The basil got lost amongst all the other ingredients, and I could see where the mint would fit in nicely, but it didn't detract from the dish at all.

The picture of the dessert in Giada's book is really pretty with the sugar mixture crystal clear and the whole thing in a pretty little glass. Lucky for Giada, she didn't have to use frozen fruit that creates some pink juice and she had pretty little glasses at her disposal. I must say though, the colors in mine above are nice. In Giada's words, "look at how pretty that is!"

And there you have it! I've been through Everyday Italian FOUR TIMES! I'm definitely not sick of this project yet. I look forward to cooking each recipe and sharing my stories every single time. I start from the beginning once again on Thursday with my take on another seafood appetiser. Stay tuned :)