Bob and I celebrated our 49th anniversary last night with a strange pick up meal. Many of you know that the Silver Fox recently had an intestinal obstruction that required a laparotomy. While he is much better and finally up and about, his appetite and sense of smell are still not what they were. I'm trying to avoid serving strongly flavored and wildly aromatic foods until I know the comeback kid is really back and can handle his regular diet. That won't be much longer now, but this brief period of restriction did put a crimp in our celebration. Our feast consisted of egg flower soup, poached chicken, and steamed broccoli. I know you're dying to know what we had for dessert. I've been making a lot of puddings this week, mostly lemon flavored, so, I decided to vary the menu a bit and make a pudding using the strawberries I had in the refrigerator. I had seen a recipe at The Prepared Pantry that combined ingredients used in a puddings with those used in a mousse and it seemed worth trying. While I substituted whole milk for the cream in their version and had to strain the berries to remove small seeds, I basically used the recipe as it was written. The end result was passably pleasant and pink, but not at all inspired. I think I'll do ice cream or a true mousse next time around. Here's the recipe I used for the strawberry pudding.

Strawberry Pudding

Ingredients:

3/4 cup granulated sugar

1/4 cup cornstarch

1 1/2 cups strawberry puree strained to remove the seeds

2 whole eggs

3 large egg whites

3 cups cream

2 tablespoons butter

2 teaspoons vanilla

Directions:

1) Whisk sugar and cornstarch together in a heavy saucepan. Stir in strawberry puree and milk. Cook and stir over medium heat until mixture is thick and bubbly. Cook for two minutes more and then remove from heat.

2) Whisk whole eggs and egg whites in a small bowl. Temper eggs by drizzling one cup of hot liquid into egg mixture while stirring.

3) Add tempered egg mixture to contents of pan. Bring mixture to a gentle boil and simmer until mixture reaches 160 to 165 degrees, about two additional minutes. Remove from heat and stir in butter and vanilla.

4) Pour pudding into a bowl or dessert cups, cover with plastic wrap. Refrigerate to chill. Yield: 6 servings.

This post is being linked to:

Pink Saturday, sponsored by Beverly at How Sweet the Sound.

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