Raspberry flummery

Serves 4

Researching this weirdly named and sadly neglected dessert of milk thickened with some sort of starch only produced confusion about how to make it. With so many variations in even the most trustworthy cook books, I decided I'd better do my own thing. From my collection of old recipes, the one that made most sense came from Food in Vogue, published in 1976. It called for a base of semolina, rather than oats as used in many of the older books, and has a thick custard poured over the top made from the spare yolks. I do like recipes that use the whole egg, otherwise what do you do with the rest? Make meringue, I suppose.

Researching this weirdly named and sadly neglected dessert of milk thickened with some sort of starch only produced confusion about how to make it. With so many variations in even the most trustworthy cook books, I decided I'd better do my own thing. From my collection of old recipes, the one that made most sense came from Food in Vogue, published in 1976. It called for a base of semolina, rather than oats as used in many of the older books, and has a thick custard poured over the top made from the spare yolks. I do like recipes that use the whole egg, otherwise what do you do with the rest? Make meringue, I suppose.

150ml milk
A small piece of lemon peel
2tbsp caster sugar
1tbsp semolina
100g raspberries
3 egg whites

for the custard

60ml milk
50ml double cream
A few drops of vanilla essence
3 egg yolks
1tbsp caster sugar
1tsp cornflour

Bring the milk to the boil with the lemon peel and 1 tablespoon of the caster sugar, then whisk in the semolina and stir occasionally on a low heat with the whisk for 3-4 minutes. Remove from the heat, transfer to a bowl and leave to cool.

While it's cooling make the custard. Bring the milk and cream to the boil with the vanilla essence. Meanwhile whisk the egg yolks, caster sugar and cornflour together, then pour on the just-boiled milk and cream and whisk together. Return to the pan and stir over a low heat for a couple of minutes until the mixture thickens. Transfer to a clean bowl and cover the surface of the custard with a sheet of clingfilm to stop a skin forming.

Whisk the egg whites until stiff (preferably in a food processor; first clean the bowl with boiling water and dry with kitchen paper or a clean tea towel.) Then add the other tablespoon of caster sugar and continue whisking for a couple of minutes until shiny.

When the semolina is cool, give it a quick whisk and gently fold into the egg whites until well mixed, then fold in the raspberries. Spoon the mixture into 4 moulds, such as soufflé rings or ramekins, or pour into serving f glasses until two-thirds full. If the mould is open-bottomed put them on a tray lined with clingfilm first.

Leave to set in the fridge for a couple of hours. To serve remove the moulds and transfer the flummery to serving plates and spoon over the custard so that it just coats it. If you're serving the flummery in glasses, just spoon the custard on top.