The "Blue-rinse" Brigade…..and undoing tradition with Pashka

‘COOKINGWITHMAVIS’ #28  The Blue-rinse Brigade…..and undoing tradition with Pashka

The Blue-rinse Brigade……

‘ Ouma Flo ‘   , bless her, was a grand hostess in Johannesburg in her heyday, with style and aplomb, at-the-drop-of-a-hat, she’d be a gracious dinner hostess to Golda Meir, Moshe Dayan, any number of foreign ambassadors, she’d dine as guest too, with David Ben-Gurion …

Yes,  ‘ Ouma Flo ‘   was the 2^nd wife of a prominent well-connected philanthropic Russian Jew who fled Russia as a young teen, and made his way in the early 1900s to the New World (being the Union of South Africa) via the Russo-Chinese railway.

… I only ever knew ‘ Ouma Flo ‘   with her blue-rinsed grey hair…  “ a Bee-hive Bouffant ” -  aptly described as:

- “ a woman's hairstyle in which hair is backcombed or teased to give fullness and height…..”

She’ d  go to the hairdresser in Killarney, Johannesburg, on a Friday….and, manage her hairstyle quite ingeniously though-out the rest of that week, by spraying copious amounts of hair lacquer to stiffen it…and before retiring to bed each night, would carefully wind reams of toilet paper around her hair-do , wrapping it around-and-around, securing it with silver clips when she went to sleep!...as did her sister-and-immediate neighbour,   “ Aunt Lil “   ……

Now, " Aunt Lil "     had somewhat less, and much thinner hair, which was curly too, so when these gals got together it was more like Marge Simpson (of the Simpsons cartoon fame!)  and a squashed Caracal!

I have terribly fond memories of both these wonderful ladies ….. ‘ Ouma Flo ‘   being the most marrrrvelllous cook! 

 And so to recipes…

 Taking the tradition out of...

                *Pashka*

Pashka  is a cheesecake-like dessert.  A splendid Russian Easter dessert made from cottagecheese (mine has creamcheese), sourcream, glacé fruit, and toasted almonds. The taste, no matter which variation, is quite extraordinary!

Well, I’ve inherited this wonderful recipe, and adapted it, having removed the “tradition” from the ingredients and preparation, only for this to become such an easy, and glamorously impressive modern dinner- party piece…

Ingredients:

2 cups (500g)  heavy creamcheese  (such as Philadelphia creamcheese)  

1 cup   (250g)  sourcream (‘Ouma Flo’ would have called this “Smetena”)

120g  (¼ lb) soft butter at room temperature (NOT  melted!)

 ½ cup sugar

2 egg yolks

Pinch of salt (about ⅛ teaspoon)

1 teaspoon gelatin granules melted in 3 tablespoons water

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

SUGAR + CREAMCHEESE + SOURCREAM +
VANILLA + SOFT BUTTER + GELATIN&WATER
AND 2 EGG YOLKS

Plus 
1 cup of coarsely chopped glacé fruit as follows(Approximate measures):

2 generous tablespoons each of coarsely chopped :

  - Glacé ginger  

  - Glacé pineapple  

  - Glacé cherries

  - Glacé orange peel

  - Sultanas – soaked in brandy or warmed fruit juice for ½ hour, then drained

½ cup of chopped nuts (I used rich Macadamia nuts…you can use lightly toasted blanched almonds instead) 

THE FLAVOURS...

 GLACE FRUIT: GINGER + PINEAPPLE + CHERRIES +
    ORANGE PEEL+ MACADAMIA NUTS +
MACERATED  SULTANAS
+ pinch of salt & gelatin granules 

HEAVY CREAMCHEESE PLUS RICH SOURCREAM

Method:

1)    To dissolve the gelatin granules:

-         Place a mug or small heatproof glass bowl in a slightly larger bowl.

-          Add 3 tablespoons tap water to the small heatproof bowl/mug, and pour some hot(not boiling) water into the larger vessel, to surround the smaller bowl/mug.

-         Then sprinkle the gelatin granules into the tap water, and stir with a teaspoon till dissolved (the warm water on the outer side dissolves the gelatin in the tap water).

2)  In a mixing bowl, beat softened room-temperature butter with sugar till light in colour.

3) Add creamcheese and salt, beat well

4) On medium speed, mix in the sourcream

5) Then add the egg yolks and mix well

6) Add the vanilla

7) Add the dissolved gelatin/water and mix in gently

8) With a large metal spoon, or a spatula, into the creamcheese mixture, gently ‘fold-in’ the chopped glacé fruit, sultanas and nuts

9) Gently spoon into a large mould or pudding bowl which you have lightly oiled, or put a layer of Clingwrap for easily removing from the pudding bowl when set. (I spray with “Spray ‘n Cook”)

10) Put into the fridge to chill and set for at least 4 hours

You can choose to either serve as a fairly heavy, decadently rich, mousse….

OR…

I prefer to let it set in the fridge, then put it into the freezer, for at least 24 hours or longer, then take it out of the freezer 15 minutes before serving, and serve as an ice-cream dessert.

A PUDDING-BOWL SHAPE

OR  A FLUTED MOULD

THE FINAL PASHKA
 CREAMCHEESE MIXTURE

FILLING THE MOULD

FILLING THE FLUTED MOULD

˜*˜Pashka˜*˜Pashka˜*˜Pashka˜*˜Pashka˜*˜Pashka˜*˜Pashka˜*˜Pashka˜*˜Pashka˜*˜ 

FROZEN PASHKA 

*****Serve with a homemade fruit sauce  (“coulis”)…

This time, I made a mango, coconut, vanilla and lemon-rind coulis:

How?...

1)    Ix large mango peeled and all flesh take off pip, and cut into small pieces (tinned mango with juice can be substituted)

2)    ¼ cup desiccated coconut

3)    1x vanilla pod - seeds scraped from the middle, and used (or ¼ teaspoon vanilla extract).

4)    ¼ cup sugar

5)    ½ cup water

6)    ½ teaspoon finely grated rind of lemon /  lime

Method:

In a heavy-based saucepan, quickly bring sugar and water to the boil, immediately reduce heat and add all other ingredients (if using vanilla extract, add this at the end).

Let simmer 5 minutes.

Leave to cool, then blitz well in a blender.

Remove and sieve through a strainer.

Chill till ready to spoon over the Pashka!

Voila!  

       The most exotic fruit coulis ! 

PASHKA with A DRIZZLE OF MANGO & COCONUT COULIS

˜*˜  And  to  those  of  you  who  are  new  to  “…‘Mavis”, you might  like  to  know  how  ‘Mavis  got  her  name ?                                                                          

Just  scroll  to  the  top  right  of  this  page, and  click  on  '2011' to  find  blog  number  9 :  “Clora”….. it’s  SOH  amuzing !   ˜*˜

‘till next time…

      ‘COOKINGWITHMAVIS’