Mango Jelly

When a kid comes to dinner I will go out of my way to not alienate them from the meal. I love serving wine, I love serving exotic fare, and I love a relaxed but grown-up atmosphere, so the trick is to combine that with foods the kid might eat. If they don't, oh well. I tried.

Dumplings might work. They're slippery and meaty and juicy and you get to dunk them in sweet sauces. They are for the adventurous North American with no-Asian heritage child, but who knows, it might work. Fish? Never. I didn't expect that one to fly. Even if it is sweet and doesn't taste like fish. Noodles. A fail-safe. All kids like noodles I'm pretty sure. Well, any kid in North America or Asian or Italy or anywhere that noodles are staples. Serve them without any fancy sauces, or accompanying sauces and you're golden.

But dessert. Now that's tricky. I wanted flambé or oranges with rum. Not so great for kids. Generally I keep flames away from children. Generally. Also, alcohol. That's where Josée di Stasio saved my dessert. As it was an Asian-Inspired dinner party I was thinking fruit for dessert, and di Stasio's book had a "kid-friendly jelly" that called for 2 ingredients plus a cookie cutter. The recipe itself was even hand-written by a 7 and a half year old. Some people think that kind of thing is cute.

So I bought some mango juice and found some gelatin in the cupboard...

Ingredients:
4 packs of gelatin (there are usually 4 in a box of Knox, I believe. If it turns out that there are only 3 packets in the box, only use 3 cups of juice instead of 4)
4 cups of juice (mango, lychee, orange or grape. Or generic fruit punch. Not concentrate)

In a bowl (preferably a wide, shallow bowl, not a cup) pour 1 cup of the juice and sprinkle the gelatin over top. Don't stir. Just let it sit at room temperature and "bloom" for 5 minutes.

In a saucepan heat the 3 remaining cups of juice until the liquid is just about to boil, then add the "bloomed" gelatin and stir to dissolve.

Pour the mixture into a 9" pan. I used an 8" square pan. It really doesn't matter. Your gelatin will just be thicker or thinner depending on what kind of pan you use.

Set it in the fridge for at least 3 hours (overnight works well) until it's set. It shouldn't be liquidy.
To get the jelly out of the pan you're supposed to set it in hot water for a few seconds and then flip it onto a plate. From there you can cut jelly shapes out of it using your cookie cutter(s) of choice. I just got the very, very short dinner guest to use the cookie cutters directly in the pan. It was so FUN! You can see how many jelly "cookies" you can make and then try to lift them out of the mold using a plastic lifter. The jelly kind of folds to your touch and actually comes out cleanly, nothing like a piece of cake that crumbles when you cut a slice. You end up with a pan/art of cut-outs. The kid will probably be very entertained, and get to eat their work. Depending on what kind of juice you bought, it'll either be very sugary, or very not sweet, so you can adapt the recipe to your preferences for the child, or the child's preferences. I do not have one of those, so I just followed the recipe and non-chalantly prayed for the best. Sometimes, life just works out.

Oh, this is exactly the same result that you would get from Jell-O, the little boxes of flavoured jelly at the grocery store, except you skip all the preservatives in the boxed stuff, and get to add your own sugar, or not, through your choice of juice, You can even use REAL fruit juice. How gourmet.

Thanks, Justin Tousignant, age 7 and a half, for such a great recipe. You have the makings of a fine chef.