Monday, June 22, 2015

Cocktails and Canapes for Women's World Cup 2015: England pt 2

England
So tonight my home country England play Norway, and I'm feeling nervous but hoping the England ladies will hold their nerves and play well. So what better way to steady your nerves and push up you energy levels than with a light summery Pimms cocktail and a sweet mini strawberry cream tea scone.
I love Pimms, posh adult  squash if you like, and rather expensive for what it is, but so filled with the celebration of summer.
The classic recipe is 1 part Pimms to 3 parts lemonade, and plenty of ice with a cucumber, orange and mint garnish.  Strawberries added to the glass just before serving make it even more summery. I like to pep up the alcohol a little by adding a measure of gin per person too. There is a rather nice looking Cranberry Pimms recipe on the House & Garden website. Other variations include using ginger ale instead of lemonade and there are rather a lot of flavoured Pimms on the market now but I have not tried any of those.
Mini strawberry cream tea scones make a very good dessert canape. My favourite scone recipe comes from Paul Hollywood, and the recipe is basically as posted here on my pecan orange cardamom scones post but you would leave out the cardamom, pecans and orange zest. I always leave the cut out scones to rest in a cool place for at least 15 minutes before baking in a hot oven as I am convinced this helps to produce a lighter scone. There are some very good notes on producing perfect scones over on the like a strawberry milk blog site, written by pastry chef Fanny Zanotti. Clotted cream is traditional but thick whipped cream will work too and even mascarpone cheese makes a reasonable substitute for clotted cream. Use the best strawberry jam you can find or home made.

Sadly the game does not kick off until 10pm uk time, and on a work night too. Good luck Lionesses!

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