"These people just put very strange things in their food"

If lockdown has gifted me one thing, it's been the chance to binge watch all of my favourite episodes of Friends. Any true Friends fan will remember the one where Rachel took on the task of making dessert for the group's Thanksgiving get-together. For me it's one of the most memorable episodes ever. At first glance, Rachel's "English" trifle looks like it is shaping up to be a tasty dessert. But when Joey and Ross ask her about the recipe, she proceeds to tell them about the layers of ladyfingers, custard, jam... and sautéed BEEF with onions and peas! You might think that sounds disgusting, but after watching this episode recently I actually liked the sound of the trifle. I like weird pairings and thought I might enjoy the mix of sweet and savoury. So I decided to make it – and I filmed the results, which you can watch below or on Her's Instagram. When I was searching online for the recipe, I couldn't find an exact replica. Instead, almost everyone who tried to recreate the Rachel Green trifle replaced the meat with some kind of sweet substitute. Cheats. So, I had to make up my own take on the recipe – but the good news for anyone else who wants to try it is that there's a Friends cookbook coming soon. To begin, I sautéed the beef with onions, garlic and peas. When I was cooking the meat my mouth was watering. I then assembled the trifle with layers of sponge fingers (or ladyfingers as Rachel calls them), a layer of jam, a layer of custard, more sponge fingers and topped it off with some whipped cream and bananas. I have to say in all honestly, I thought that I was going to like it until I added the second layer of custard to the bowl. There was a lot of custard mixed with meat in there... In the Friends episode, Rachel serves up generous helpings of the finished product to the rest of the friends, plus Monica and Ross' parents. When it came time for my own taste test... well it wasn't the worst thing on earth but it wasn't the best either. As a massive Friends fan, I was very proud of my own take on the Rachel Green classic. However, if you're trying it yourself I'd advise making only a small portion since there's a high chance of it ending up in the bin! Would you eat a banana and ketchup sandwich? Watch Cassie trying out weird food pairings that Irish people like here.