Blackberry Blanc-Manger ~it’s for Dorie Days

21 Jul

IMG_1416 Once upon a time (a very long time ago) I was a newly wed living next door to a very interesting woman.  Frankly, she scared me a little at first meeting.  Its was the mid 80′s and she  was a retired successful retailer.  An entrepreneur.  She was very colorful, interesting and believe it or not quite artistic.  I loved that about her.   My husband was busy working on his career in health care and I was in sales.  We were doing life and since she was of an older generation we spent little time getting acquainted.  Until her husband passed away and our first son was born.   A pivotal point,  for all.   One of us looked different from one another’s perspective, somehow, we reached out to her and we all became like family.  Our history began and trust grew.   She was forever known as Mamma South.  All this to explain that when she shared food with us she shared love.  We always had that common thread and she gave me a few cookbooks.  She owned more than the public library at the time and I always was amazed by that.  Its was that impressive, even to this day.   What is it about the magic of a cookbook to take you anywhere in the world?   So, I pulled out The Way to Cook by Julia Child,  which she was thoughtful enough to give me.  I have owned this book for years, I tell you and do you know how fun it is to look through and see some of the same desserts we have made in the Tuesdays with Dorie’s baking group?  So, hey Dorie, you really knew Julia, right?  Amazing!  I can’t help but think about this community we are growing on the net, first with each other as bloggers and then our relationship in that little “comment box” with Dorie Greenspan.  Ah yes, that precious little note of gratification known as the comment box.  Yes Dorie, we really do love your visits.

As we are on our way to France via the Blanc-Manger aka “blah-mahn-jhay” .  This dessert also has quite a history with the people of France.  Dorie’s synopsis of this dessert is that of a modern version.  Truly, I can’t possibly tell you how modern this version is unless you take a moment and at least take a LOOK AT THIS article describing how labor intensive this was in its original form.  My initial impression is that of a sacrilege.  Of course I would never perform the task of extracting my own gelatin from a meat form but even still I do have to say that I would be interested in trying the cream without the rustic finely ground almonds, I believe.  Let’s face the facts, I have truly learned so much about the history of food while belonging to this baking group.  As my passion for food grows (even beyond desserts, which is my favorite course) I become more enthralled with its history, and how a peoples available foods choices and circumstances impacted their life style and health or lack there of.  

This historic piece of dessert was chosen this week by none other than Susan of Sticky Gooey Creamy Chewey.  If you would like to read about it on her blog she is most entertaining and she also has the recipe for you.  Tuesday’s With Dorie baking group is all about the wonderful fun book authored  by Dorie Greenspan called Baking From My Home to Yours, available at your local bookstore or online.

I won’t continue  with more food history, which by the way  is fascinating but I do believe this to be a delightfully light  perfect summertime offering.  It is simple to make and requires few ingredients not to mention it tastes so delicious.  Lovely sweet whipped cream with the slightest sweet tartness of the blackberries.  I would say definitely a dressed up dessert.  Impressive to the eye as well.  I really liked it much to my surprise, even with the finely ground almond mixture.   IMG_1408

Thanks for stopping by for a visit and I look forward to visiting you and exchanging ideas.

BTW Do you see the mint leaves from my garden and the blackberries came from a local grower as well.  Thankfully Corbin took the photos. IMG_1322

12 Responses to “Blackberry Blanc-Manger ~it’s for Dorie Days”

  1. pamela 21. Jul, 2009 at 7:53 pm #

    The mint leaves look lovely on your very pretty plate. Nice job!

  2. Leslie 21. Jul, 2009 at 9:47 pm #

    Beautiful job, and I love the historical perspective. I love that you were able to use mint from your garden! The one time Dorie commented on my blog I was so thrilled that I never deleted it from my mailbox.

  3. Amanda 22. Jul, 2009 at 5:55 am #

    It looks gorgeous with the blackberries! I skipped this week, just never had the time :(

  4. Caitlin 22. Jul, 2009 at 10:32 am #

    It’s always fun to hear the history behind things like this – and nothing better than trying out something new! Yours looks wonderful.

  5. steph (whisk/spoon) 22. Jul, 2009 at 11:50 am #

    what a beautiful dessert! dorie will love it!

  6. Katrina 22. Jul, 2009 at 12:28 pm #

    I love your photo with the black and white plate and the homegrown mint. Awesome! Love your story about your neighbor and all, too!

  7. Sugar B 22. Jul, 2009 at 7:39 pm #

    I love the mint and the blackberries! Genius!

    Yes, I too, am amazed by the food blogging community and how we are all connected via cyber space.

    You are an awesome blogger and I am so grateful that we are blogger buds.

    xo

  8. Wendy 23. Jul, 2009 at 5:49 pm #

    I love the contrast with the blackberries. Looks yummy.

  9. peggy 24. Jul, 2009 at 7:30 am #

    I have become a tuesday with dorie slacker i fear. I just could not get myself up for this week’s pick. It looked interesting though. And yours looks totally delicious as always. Great photos. :) Hope you are having a nice summer.

  10. Audrey 25. Jul, 2009 at 5:02 am #

    beautiful! and I loved your story about your neighbor. What a treasure!

  11. Jaime 26. Jul, 2009 at 10:37 pm #

    i would love to try a blackberry version!

  12. The Scootabaker 27. Jul, 2009 at 9:44 pm #

    I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again – I love anything with a French name! So so pretty! Love that plate too!

    luv,
    Heather

Leave a Reply