Amasea's Kitchen in Sun Valley: Cafe Langley's Russian Cream

This recipe comes from the Cafe Langley, a great Mediterranean restaurant in the little town of Langley, WA, where I grew up -- it's one of the best restaurants in town, so if you find yourself in "Langley by the Sea," as the marketers are wont to call it, stop by.

My mom has been making this for years, and it's one of my favorite all-season desserts. It's light enough for spring and summer, but rich enough for fall and winter, and you can change up the fruit topping to match whatever's in season or whatever you have on hand. I'm printing here the original raspberry topping, although I made it last night with strawberries because they looked so good in the store, as one of the first fresh fruits of spring.

Last night, I paired this with a garlic-and-lemon marinated rack of lamb, Israeli couscous, lightly sauteed peas with lemon zest and pine nuts, and a butter lettuce salad with locally grown fresh tomatoes, homemade croutons and a lime-rosemary vinaigrette. So all in all, a fairly Mediterranean meal, one that went over well with our dinner guests. One tip on that front: If you're going to crust your lamb, don't broil it. The crust will burn. Though the lamb was fine after we scraped off the carcinogens, I missed the panko/almond flour/spice flavor I was going for there.

Russian Cream
makes six 1/2-cup servings

1 envelope (.25 oz) gelatin
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup water
1 cup heavy whipping cream
2 cups sour cream
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
3/4 cup frozen (or fresh) raspberries, pureed, without seeds (though I left the seeds in the strawberry puree, and it worked out fine)

In a small saucepan, blend the sugar and gelatin. Add the water and mix well. Bring to a full boil, stirring constantly. Remove from heat and stir in heavy cream.
In a bowl, combine the sour cream and vanilla. Gradually beat in the hot sugar/cream mixture, and beat until smooth.
Pour into individual serving dishes (I used wine glasses). Chill at least four hours, then spoon the berry puree on top of the cream just before serving.

I had intended to finish this dish off with a Trader Joe's Dark Chocolate Crisp in each cup, but I forgot. D'oh!