Wednesday, October 14, 2009

Turkish delights...

My husband's family knows he loves Turkish Delight. As a consequence we receive a gift of around 1 kg of the stuff every birthday. If Christmas is a bit lacking, more of it is given then too. At first I thought this was a wonderful thing. But now... When you find melted, gooey Turkish Delight in the cupboard it is more than a little off-putting. Also, there is only so much you can eat without feeling really ill. I've tried this too.

But we don't want the gift that keeps on giving to stop. This is not meant to be a complaint about the generous abundance of Turkish Delight, rather a post celebrating it's joys. For me, I love my Turkish Delight covered in chocolate and flavoured with rose water. I would prefer not to have any coconut on it, I don't mind it studded with pistachio nuts. The sugary-vanilla flavouring it okay, the clouds of icing sugar are messy but enticing. Oh, surely we have some tucked away I can dig into now...

"The Queen let another drop fall from her bottle on to the snow, and instantly there appeared a round box, tied with green silk ribbon, which, when opened turned out to contain several pounds of the best Turkish Delight. Each piece was sweet and light to the very centre and Edmund had never tasted anything more delicious." The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, C.S. Lewis.

So this recent kitchen experiment came out of my love of Turkish Delight. And my love of C.S. Lewis, and a bottle of rose water that was due to expire (who would have thought this stuff had a use-by date?). And a posting on Design Sponge for an irresistible-looking cocktail. I think this is my newest favouritest drink. Now what to do with all of the rose water cordial I made...

Rose water cordial. Delicious, potent stuff. I've tried mixing it with lemonade, and it is very drinkable. I've added some raspberry vodka to it. I've thought of drizzling it over some soaked dried apricots. Perhaps even brushing it over a freshly cooked orange cake. But the winner seams to be the suggestion from Design Sponge. Please try it, I implore you.

This recipe makes a lot of cordial. Maybe too much in fact. But I've stored mine in the fridge well sealed and it seems to be doing fine.


Rose Water Cordial
Makes around 1 L

2 1/2 c. water
4 c. white sugar
1/4 c. lime juice (I used bottled juice)
1/2 c. rose water

In a medium saucepan over moderate heat, bring sugar and water to the boil. Simmer gently for ten minutes, stirring occasionally.

Add the juice and rose water. Return to the boil. Simmer again for a further ten minutes. By this stage the liquid will be thickened and syrupish.

Leave to cool before decanting into cordial bottles. Seal well and store in the fridge until ready to use.

From the Epicurious website, via Design Sponge.

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