Agua de Fresa y Mango - Mexican Strawberry & Mango Drink

         

Amongst the many food and drink delights that Amanda & myself came across during our trip to Mexico was these simple drinks made from fresh fruit, sugar & water, basically like a fruit punch. These were available with every meal at our hotel and were also available from street vendors wherever we went. They were so cold, nice and refreshing...love at first taste. They are called Aguas Frescas and are made from a myriad variety of fruit like papaya, guayaba (guava), pineapple, melon, watermelon, strawberries, mango, tunas (prickly pears), guanabana (soursop) but not only!! Two of the most famous ones in Mexico are Horchata and Agua de Jamaica. Horchata is a sweet rice drink made with soaked rice, sugar & cinnamon (it's absolutely gorgeous). Agua de Jamaica is made from dried Hibiscus flowers and has a very unique tangy taste. 

        Since you can basically make Aguas Frescas with any fruit, I decided to come up with a superdelicious drink made with fresh strawberries and ripe mango. Usually they are sweetened with white sugar but if you want you can replace the sugar with other natural sweeteners like honey, maple syrup or agave nectar (which has a low GI). One tip about making these kind of drinks is that the more ripe the fruit is the sweeter the drink will be and the less sugar you need to add. In this particular drink I used honey and I put about 3 tablespoons, but again, it's all up to how sweet you like it. Just keep in mind that liquid sweeteners like the ones I mentioned above are sweeter than sugar so you need to use less!!! For a 2 litre jugful you will need...

• 400g fresh strawberries, hulled
• Flesh of 1 ripe mango
• 6 cups (1.5 litres cold water)
• ½ cup (115g) granulated sugar  or ¼ cup (4 tablespoons honey
• 24 ice cubes

How to...

1. Add all the ingredients except the ice in a large blender and blend until you get a smooth consistency.
2. Pass through a sieve (to eliminate any strawberry seed) into a jug, add the ice cubes and put into the fridge to chill.
3. Serve chilled.

Enjoy!!

R&A

Sweet Surprise Pie

This pie was absolutely gorgeous. I just made a couple of these and used two small silicon heart shaped moulds. I made my own pastry but feel free to use ready-made sweet shortcrust pastry. The recipe for the pastry yields a good amount of dough, so just wrap any dough that you do not use in cling film and freeze it. Although I made these mini pies you can adjust the ingredients to make a large one. Serve this pie warm with whipped cream or vanilla ice cream. You will need...

For the dough

• 350g plain flour
• About 200ml water
• 3 egg yolks
• 3 tbsp sugar
• 100g unsalted butter, in cubes and soft

1. Put the flour and sugar into a bowl and rub the butter until the mixture looks like breadcrumbs.
2. Add the egg yolks and pour the water gradually until you get a very soft, pliable dough.
3. Knead well for a few minutes. 
4. Wrap in cling film and put into the fridge for about 20 minutes to set.
5. Any dough you do not use wrap it in cling film and freeze for future use.

For filling two pies

• 1 banana, sliced
• 2 tsp strawberry conserve or jam
• 2 tsp seedless raisins
• Honey
• Caster sugar, to decorate
• 2 small heart shaped pie moulds, although you can use any shape

1. Preheat the oven to 220°C. 
2. Line the bottom of the moulds with pastry.
3. Spread the bottom of the moulds with the strawberry conserve. Neatly lay half a banana in each mould, sprinkle 1 tsp of raisins on the banana pieces and drizzle with honey.
4. Cover the moulds with pastry and trim any excess. Make sure that you seal it well.
5. Pinch the top of the pie with scissors and sprinkle with the caster sugar.
6. Bake in the preheated oven for about 20 minutes or until done.
7. Serve warm with whipped cream or vanilla ice cream.

Enjoy!!

R&A