Last time I was at a diner party in France, there was a wave of incredulity when I dropped in the conversation that in London "soirées verrines" were not trendy. Such a statement bought much confusion. Diners needed reassuring, we (the English population) knew, at least, what was a verrine, didn't we?
I have to say that since the conversation was taking place just after the hostess had made an entrance balancing small glasses (or verres) filled with savoury food on a tray, I assume that these were verrines and dismissed the ridiculous question with a "pfffffffff" complemented with shoulder shrugging.
Now I have got to come clean, I had never seen a verrine in my life or if I did, it never occurred to me that it could have a generic name. Mais qu'est-ce-qu'une verrine? It is a confection in a smallish narrow glass, layers of ingredients sweet or savoury.
What are the advantages to layer a dish in a small glass? it looks pretty, it makes smaller portions, perfect as a snack outdoors, an aperitif or a dessert. It says "Look, I have made an effort in you honor or look how clever I am with presentation", There is no other good reason in my opinion to do such a thing.
However verrines are rather cute with their multicolored layers and it leads to being creative, there is a recipe around which I would love to try if only I had the appropriate "verres" for Verrine of salmon mousse on Boursin, easy and probably rather tasty.
The recipe I want to leave you with is that of a dessert which I had a Russell & Hobbs presentation of their new winter collection but more about that in future post.
Ginger Biscuits Yogurt Verrine
makes four
Ingredients
1 Mugs of Greek yogurt
2 Tbsp brown cane sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
a couple of strawberries
4 crumbled ginger biscuits
the zest of a lime and lime juice
Method
Mix the Greek yogurt with the brown cane sugar and vanilla extract. Keep on the side.
In a small narrow glass layer biscuits and yogurt till you reach the top Add 1/2 strawberry and serve making sure you make an entrance.
2 comments:
I was surprised by the love of verrines in France. Thanks for reminding me about them, though, because I did come across some very inventive ones. My favourite was a sweet carrot verrine - I must try to recreate it sometime or other.
Thsnkd got reminding me that I should add a list of examples to show the creativity behind verrines
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