This week’s TWD was the Raspberry Blanc-Manger.  It’s a sort of light and fluffy nutty, creamy jello.  My aunt makes something like this with lime and pineapple with cream.

It’s super easy to do – and as many of my friends know, I love raspberries, however at this time of year, it’s really difficult to procure raspberries (fresh or frozen) at this time of year.  So, I went to the local supermarket (my Disco) to find out what kind of berries they had to offer. 

I found two very interesting possibilities.  First of all, blueberries – one of my favorite berries.  I was thinking of using strawberries because they’re more common here and hence (normally) less expensive but they were so ridiculously expensive that there was really no difference in what I would have paid for the blueberries.

And then I saw them…

Yellow, squishy, wrinkly, slightly ugly fruit with a shiny skin.. was it?  Could it be?  Maracuya??  Passion Fruit!  I had only seen them in China blocks, but in Palermo??  No WAYY!  I bought 5 ripe passion fruits.  How did I know that they’re ripe?  You take one in your hand and shake it.  If you feel the seeds moving  around on the insides while you’re shaking it – it’s ripe.  If not, it’s just not ripe yet.  Sometimes (depending on the noise levels around you) when you shake the passion fruit, you can also hear the seeds moving around.  5 passion fruits = 24 pesos.  So, much more expensive than the strawberries but what can I say?  I HEART MARACUYA!!!

The first blanc-manger that I attempted was so quick.  The whole process took me less than 15 minutes to prepare – grinding the almonds, whipping the cream, boiling the milk and sugar… I had everything folded together and in the refrigerator to sit for a few hours while Javier prepared the pork roast.

The first attempt was such a success and although we had some help from friends who stopped by for dinner the following night.  It was gone within 48 hours.

So on Sunday afternoon, Ida stopped by.  I had made her cupcakes for her 30th birthday and was totally and completely too exhausted to go out on Friday night for her party.  So, on Sunday, she came over in the afternoon for tea.  I was anxiously looking at my passion fruits – and knowing that Ida loved them as well, I invited her to make a Passion Fruit Blanc-Manger with me.

We set off, and within another 15 minutes, everything was in the refrigerator.  I ended up having to put some blueberries in there as well, because the pulp of four passion fruits just didn’t add up to enough fruit  for the blanc-manger (and I was saving the fifth one to make a “coulis” for the top of the blanc-manger).

So when Ida came back for dinner that night (I made a very simple butternut squash soup) and then we all feasted on the Passion Fruit Blanc-Manger.  I thought it came out beautifully.

The flavor was so distinct to that of the blueberry that I can’t decide which I like better – although I loved the flavor of the blueberry against the almonds and cream, the crunchy seeds of the passion fruit blended surprisingly and wonderfully with the almonds and I dare say naturally goes with creamy stuff (think Mousse of Maracuya or a Brasilian Batida with Condensed Milk and Maracuya – yuuuummmm!)

We each had two pieces.  And I’m going to have one right now.    Yum Yum!

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