Chocolate and lime cream pie

The first thing to say about this dessert is that it was not the success our previous meal was. That's not to say it wasn't nice, it just wasn't anything to write home about. Although a simple recipe, we did find a few transatlantic discrepancies. Though these were not the fault of the recipe, but rather an inability for our two countries to decide what the word 'jelly' actually constituted. For me it's rubbery, gelatin, 'jello' in the US to Sam it was rather like jam. This was responsible for panic at the point we were both about to add our jelly to the chocolate. As it turned out Sam did have a powdered form of lime jelly (UK edition) in stock, however this did ultimately render the pie a forest green. On my side, letting it set over night resulted in an well formed, nice tasting dessert if not a little sickly if consumed in excess. It isn't something I would be desperately want to cook again, but a relatively easy dessert.

The link is below for the recipe.

http://www.sainsburys.co.uk/groceries/index.jsp?bmUID=1288473471210

• 75g unsalted butter
• 200g digestive biscuits, crushed
• 100g Sainsbury's white chocolate, melted and slightly cooled
• 142ml carton double cream, lightly whipped

• 135g pack Sainsbury's lime jelly made up to 300ml with boiling water, allow to cool but not set
• Mint sprigs and lemon slices to decorate

Method

1. Melt the butter in a small saucepan and stir in the crushed biscuits then press this mixture firmly into a 20.5 cm loose bottomed flan ring and chill in the refrigerator while making the filling.
2. Mix the melted chocolate with the cream and cooled jelly and pour into the biscuit case then return to the refrigerator for 1-2 hours or until set.
3. Decorate with a mint sprig and some lemon slices if you wish.

Chocolate and Lime Cream Pie

Basically, I would NOT recommend making this week's recipe unless you are IN England, as our "jello" basically ruins the recipe. My pie turned out to be a layered mess (see Nick's to see what it's supposed to look like). First of all, it took way too long to set (3 hours) and when I cut it open, it wasn't actually set, it was a layered goopy mess! Nick's turned out great though, so at least it worked for one of us (see his pic to compare the difference!)

This recipe is deceptively simple. The ingredients and directions are few, but I struggled with the English equivalencies in measurements and ingredients. For example, I searched Meijer high and low for "lime jelly," thinking it was jam. Finally in the foreign foods isle I triumphantly discovered the closest thing (I thought): lime marmalade. What I failed to realize was that in England, "jelly" is actually JELLO! So if you do decide to make this, beware of these differences:

double cream = heavy whipping cream
jelly = jello
digestive biscuits can be substituted with a chocolate graham cracker crust, or you can find them in a foreign food aisle

Nick found this recipe at www.sainsburys.co.uk. I'm not even going to put directions on here because I'm dubious of whether it is possible for any other American cook to have a success with it, unless they import English jelly.

Definitely a waste of 16 perfectly good digestive biscuits!

Overall, thumbs down on my end but I'd love to try Nick's.

Spaghetti al Limone

Nick and I (Samantha) met in England and are long-distance dating. This is our first endeavor to cook one recipe a week together over Skype. 

Recipe: Spaghetti al Limone

Time: 45 minutes

1 lemon
1 1/2 cups dry white wine
3/4 to 1 1/2 cups heavy cream, to taste
1 pound spaghetti
3 tablespoons butter, in pieces
3 1/2 to 4 ounces Parmesan cheese, freshly grated
1 to 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, to taste
Sea salt and fresh black pepper, to taste.

Yield: 4 to 6 servings.

(for instructions follow Nick's link)

I loved this recipe. It did not take long to make, although the wine and lemon zest never seemed to become a syrupy mixture. If I were to make this again, I would add more cream than the 1 cup that I added. I thought the balance of the lemon and wine was perfect, but I enjoy the taste of lemon. Freshly grated parmesan was icing on the cake. It is a lighter meal; I added a salad and it could be served with a small portion of chicken. I also may make this with angel hair pasta next time, although that changes the name. Overall I will definitely cook this dish again.

Week 1 Spaghetti al limone

Spaghetti al limone represents our first transatlantic cooking session. A recipe courtesy of the New York Times and hunted down by Sam. The finished dish was beautiful and served as a great accompaniment (on the English side) with pork, mushrooms and tomatoes also garnished with a bit of salad leaf. Nice.

My only quarm with the dish was that I feel the taste of lemon dominated a tad, I have only myself to blame for this I feel. In future I would refrain from adding the lemon juice and allow the strength of the lemon zest's flavour to compliment the wine; that being said the lemon and wine flavour worked in perfect harmony... a truly beautiful flavour. This is only a personal preference and as I said it should be added to taste, it is very nice. This is a truly beautiful dish and very simple to produce, I will certainly be commiting it to memory and reproducing it for people. The general response from my family was that it was extremely nice. All in all a success.

Here is the link to the New York Times site that has the process of making it:

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/31/dining/312lrex.html?_r=3