30 Jun 2011

Garibaldi R-ice Cream Ladies (for 'The Edible Woman')


"Raisins are too risky ... Many don't like them" (p.18)

"The company is layered like an ice cream sandwich, with three floors: the upper crust, the lower crust, and our department, the gooey layer in the middle."
(p.19)

"Now she had a blank white body. It looked slightly obscene lying there soft and sugary and featureless on the platter. "
(p.269)

"You've been trying to assimilate me. But I've made you a substitute, something you'll like much better."
(p.271)


This dessert was created using the above four quotes as inspiration. The first two are from a scene at Marian's workplace, Seymor Surveys, where she edits market research questionaires. The first quote is the dietitian's response to Marian's suggestion of adding raisins to the canned rice pudding she's been asked to taste test. Canned rice pudding appears several times in the book symbolising the ultimate convenience food for busy housewives, hence why I decided the 'gooey middle layer' had to be rice pudding ice cream. I'm guessing nowadays, any dessert containing rice pudding is far more risky than one made with raisins. The last two quotes are from the title scene of the book where Marian bakes and presents her fiancee, Peter, with an edible woman as a test of his unconscious desire to consume her (hence the woman-shaped cookie cutter).

How would you interpret The Edible Woman by Margaret Atwood? All cakes and comments welcome.

Garibaldi R-ice Cream Ladies 

For the Garibaldi's:
I always use Simon Rimmer's recipe for 'Squashed Fly' Biscuits. My boyfriend C. loves these and can never be without them while writing an essay. (So, yes I am partially to blame for his freshman fifteen this year)

I found the cookies held their shape better if the cookie cutter was pressed into the whole rectangle of rolled dough on the tray before baking and separated afterwards by pressing the cookie cutter back into the outline and tracing around the edge with a knife if neccesary.

For the Rice Pudding Ice Cream:
Modified from a recipe by Mark Hix, published in The Independent

1 tin good-quality rice pudding (aprox 400g / 10 oz)
1tsp vanilla
70ml (5tbsp) double cream
2 egg whites
2tbsp sugar

Stir rice pudding, vanilla and cream together. In a separate bowl, whip egg whites and sugar until stiff peaks form then add to the rice mixture and fold until well combined. Pour into a  large-ish freezer safe plastic container, seal the lid and place in the freezer. Stir with an electric mixer every half hour for 2 - 3 hours to break up the ice crystals (depending on the shape of your container you may need to run a knife around the edge and into the corners).

To assemble: 
This is the fun bit! It's also self explanitory, but I'll tell you how I did it anyway... I froze my ice cream in a rectangular container then turned it out onto a cutting board by cutting around the edge with a butter knife and diping the bottom of the container briefly in warm water. Then I used my cookie cutter and a knife to cut perfect lady-shaped centers for my lady-shaped biscuits. Sandwich together and leave to soften slighty before eating.

Recipe, Dessert , Icecream, Rice Pudding, Raisins