Tidings of Comfort and Joy

Not bad I suppose, the Christmas tunes began ringing out at Thorn Towers on Friday. At least we managed to reach December this year before cracking open the iPod's festive play lists. In addition to musical festivity one magnificent bi product of all the recent snow has been the chance to watch the Sky Movies Christmas channel with the girls. One that seems to be missing from the schedule is this classic. I understand it isn't your typical "holiday" movie fare but it such fun to watch. If you haven't seen it, then get a copy. If you are lucky, as well as the following recipe for the infamous raspberry sauce, I may post a recipe for the food from the end of the movie too. Once I have perfected it! I won't tell you what it is as it will spoil the end of the film suffice to say it is a perfect combination of the Italian and the Glaswegian food traditions!

Comfort and joy (1984)

A “99” with

Every time I see an ice cream van this joke always pops into my head. Let me share it with you. A man with an unfeasibly high voice walks up to the ice cream man and says, “A 99 please.” The ice cream man replies, “crushed nuts?” to which the squeaky voiced man responds, “no laryngitis!”

Crushed nuts may well have befallen the ice cream vendors in the Glasgow ice cream wars portrayed in this movie. Dark and gritty at times, it has a gentle self deprecating humour that Bill Forsyth cleverly injects into very mundane situations.

What begins as a simple, if slightly creepy, stalking of a girl in an ice cream van turns into the discovery of a full on turf war. Alan “Dicky” Bird is caught up in the attack. His 99 with (raspberry sauce) is sent flying by one of the masked assailants. Once the windows of the van have been put through the men make their getaway but not before they have been covered with sauce and for all we know with those crushed nuts too, as Charlotte delivered a few mighty kicks before the villains sped away. This raspberry sauce is a step up from the gloopy syrup beloved by us all but is still best over a good quality vanilla ice accompanied by a flake and crushed nuts.

Mise en scene

1 punnet raspberries

2 tbsp icing sugar

Lemon juice

Flakes

Vanilla ice cream

Handful of dry roasted peanuts chopped

Ice cream cones or bowls

It’s all in the edit.

1. Pop the raspberries into a non metallic bowl and crush gently with the back of a fork.
2. Sprinkle over the icing sugar and leave to stand for ten to fifteen minutes to macerate.
3. Once the raspberries have begun to exude their juices either crush again with your fork or blitz using a hand or stick blender. Taste the sauce, if it is too sugary then correct this by adding a little of the lemon juice. Not so much that your whole face puckers up but enough to avoid saccharine sweetness.
4. You can leave the seeds in this sauce or pass through a sieve if you prefer.
5. Either in a cup or an ice cream cone place several scoops of a good quality vanilla ice cream. Add a flake or two and ask guests if they want their 99 “with” or “without” sauce.
6. Crushed nuts are an optional extra.

Voice over

Chocolate sauce is also a traditional extra offered by ice cream vans. It is very simple to make. Place a bar of good quality chocolate in a bowl with a tablespoon of honey or golden syrup. Pour over enough scalded cream to cover. Stir to melt the chocolate. Allow to cool a little and serve as above.