While it’s warm enough to sit outside with friends and only be slightly cold when the sun sets, I will never get enough of alfresco eating. This week’s barbecue was in my friend’s North London garden, and included the best-ever feta, avocado and pickled red onion burgers, charred veg, obligatory potato salad, and a fennel-hater-winning-over fennel and orange salad made by the host of Spare Ribs Club (an intersectional feminist book and supper club which you should definitely check out).
My contribution was pudding in the form of this peach and pistachio trifle. I was under a considerable amount of pressure (well, as much pressure as you can be under at a very nice barbecue, glass of wine in hand on a Friday night) as I was catering for a) a trifle hater and b) a trifle lover. This is not a traditional trifle so I feared I would be pleasing no-one. There’s no jelly here, no booze-soaked Madeira cake either. Instead, I prefer something crunchy, so there’s homemade shortbread and chopped pistachios, and I’ve added some fresh raspberries instead of a wobbly jelly layer. Luckily, everyone thought it was well nice and it looks well nice on a barbecue spread too. Although, I am actually a bit allergic to peaches (I do this to myself every summer with stone fruits), but the itchy mouth was worth it for this lovely pud.
P.S. I’ve included some shortcuts if you’re not into making your own custard etc.
Peach and pistachio trifle with cardamom shortbread and saffron custard
For the shortbread:
150g plain flour
100g unsalted butter, fridge-cold and cubed
50g caster sugar, plus 1 tbsp for sprinkling
10 cardamom pods
25g pistachios
For the custard:
700ml whole milk
200ml double cream
a large pinch of saffron threads
4 egg yolks
3 tbsp cornflour
100g caster sugar
For the rest of the trifle:
500ml double cream
50g pistachios
150g fresh raspberries
4 ripe peaches
First, make the shortbread. Bash open the cardamom pods and tip the seeds into a pestle and mortar and pound to a powder. Place in a medium-sized bowl alongside the flour, sugar and butter. Use your fingers to rub into the texture of breadcrumbs, then finely chop the pistachios and add those to the mixture. Try and do this as quickly as you can manage (or use a food processor) as the key to perfectly crumbly shortbread is not overworking the mixture or letting it get too warm from the heat of your hands. Bring together in a ball, adding a sprinkle of cold water if it’s not coming together easily.
Flour a clean surface and rolling pin, then roll out, flipping regularly so it doesn’t get stuck to the surface you’re rolling on, to about 1/2cm thick. Cut into rough finger shapes 3cm wide. Place on a lined baking tray and sprinkle with the remaining sugar, then chill in the fridge for 20 mins. While the shortbread is chilling, heat the oven to 150C. After the shortbread has finished chilling, bake for 15 minutes until lightly golden, then transfer to a rack to cool.
While the shortbread is cooling, make the saffron custard. Heat the milk and cream in a large saucepan with the saffron, stirring, until it comes to just below the boil (there won’t be big bubbles, it’ll just be steaming hot and on the verge of a simmer). Leave to infuse for 30 minutes.
Then, bring the mixture back up to just below the boil, stirring occasionally. meanwhile, beat together the egg yolks, cornflour and caster sugar in a large bowl until combined. Pour the hot milk mixture into the bowl slowly while continuing to beat. Wipe out the saucepan, then pour in the custard and heat slowly, whisking occasionally with a balloon whisk, until thick. Leave to cool.
To prepare the rest of the layers, whisk the cream until just about thick and coming together, finely chop the pistachios, and slice the peaches into crescent moon slices.
To assemble, crumble the shortbread into the bottom of a deep glass trifle dish. Then, pour over the custard. Top with the raspberries, half the chopped pistachios and half of the peach slices. Then top with the double cream, the rest of the peach slices and the pistachios.
SHORT ON TIME? HERE ARE SOME HACKS:
Use shop-bought custard (I like eating supermarket-own custard out of the tin myself, but you could put it in this trifle instead).
Use shop-bought shortbread, crumble it into piece and mix with the cardamom for that nice sweet-spicy-savoury flavour with less faff.
Got some inconvenient vegans coming over? (I’m joking, I love my vegan pals) Just use your favourite ready-made dairy-free alternatives for the custard and whipped cream, and use dairy-free butter for the shortbread.
Summer = nice dinners in friends’ gardens and parks and this means transporting various foodstuffs with varying levels of success. I do not recommend travelling with whipped cream, especially if you are making this trifle. Cream can be tricky. It doesn’t like too much movement or heat, and I now realise this means cream will not like being on the tube. At some point on the journey between Brixton and Holloway Road my lovely, glossy whipped cream turned into grainy soup, and it’s times like these where no savvy hack will fix it, and you just have to go and buy more cream. You live and you learn.
Things to read/watch/eat:
It’s summer, so all I’ve been watching is Love Island (quite excited not to see any of those, quite frankly, grim-looking breakfasts again).
Reading the finest summer holiday read, Malibu Rising, is making me want to eat a fried seafood sandwich from Riva’s after spending a day in the water.
I made piña coladas using Discarded’s Banana Peel Rum and a sprinkle of cinnamon, and they made for a great Tuesday night. Maybe next time I’ll add some real banana to the blender too… a sort of boozy adult milkshake?
I finally tried the Dalston institution that is Andu’s Vegan Cafe and it did not disappoint…