How to Make Strawberry Blancmange

If you had a go at last week's recipe (Turkish Delight) then, like me, you probably have quite a lot of corn starch left over.

Actually, I have quite a lot of Turkish Delight left over. It contains a lot of sugar - and I am diabetic.

So, rather than switch back to a savoury dish this week, I thought it would be useful to publish another recipe to help use that leftover corn starch.

Blancmange is a form of custard. Unlike true custards which are made from milk and egg yolks, Blancmange is thickened with starch - just like "custard powders" and "instant custard" (eg Bird's and Pearce Duff custards). You can make a reasonably good custard by making a white sauce from milk and cornstarch with a drop of vanilla essence and some yellow food colouring. Just add a little extra corn starch and the "sauce" will solidify and you have Blancmange.

Ingredients

• 2 cups of milk
• 4 tablespoons corn starch
• 2 tablespoons sugar (or "Splenda" for us diabetics)
• Strawberry food flavouring

Preparation

• Dissolve the corn starch in just enough cold milk to make a smooth paste
• Stir in the remaining cold milk and the sugar
• Bring to a vigorous boil then turn down the heat and allow to simmer for a few minutes
• Remove from heat and stir in the strawberry flavouring
• Pour into serving dishes and allow to cool for 3-4 hours

John's Notes
This is an easy one that takes only 15 minutes preparation but produces a very tasty little dessert. The quantities shown above will provide enough Blancmange for four modest, or two generous, servings.

The strawberry flavouring can be prepared by putting some fresh strawberries in a blender. When I consulted my strawberries on the subject they complained that they didn't wish to end their days being dissected by high speed rotating blades. So I ate the fresh strawberries and used strawberry daiquiri mix instead.

Next Week
Ok, Britfood Tips readers, the easy recipes have come to an end. Next week we are going to attempt to make a Melton Mowbray style pork pie. You are going to need a jam jar; why? Check in with us next week and find out.