Monthly Archives: August 2010

Dessert

Baked nectarine delight

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Much prefer nectaries to peaches, as the peaches skin gives me shivers for some reason. Maybe peeling them would be an option…!

There’s a recipe for a “Berry slump” in one of the Good Food editions, which I have tried and loved and this evening I made it with nectarines and a pear, a lonely one from the fridge. It was lovely.

I prepared the nectarines by quickly softening them with some sweet wine and small amount of sugar, place them in a baking dish and covered by a dough made of 50g of butter, 50g of self raising flour, 50g of caster sugar, some vanilla essence and one egg. Beat it all up, pour over the nectarines, generously top with flaked almonds and bake in medium hot oven, gas mark 4 I’d say, for about 40 minutes, till risen and golden.

I baked it this evening and dug into before serving dinner, it was so yummy. Served with ambrosia.

Good Food, Made in Poland

Kluseczki z dziurkiem.

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In Poland we call them kluski slaskie, dumplings from Silesia, totally easy to make- with the right type of potatoes. I made them tonight, so that Zoe could taste something very Polish.

For the dumlings I boil some potatoes, squeeze them through the ricer when still hot, form them into a flat kind of ball and take out a quarter of it. Replace the missing quarter with starch- potato flour, excellent way to measure out the amount of the flour needed, my Mum’s way of doing it. Add an egg to all that, together with the quarter of potatoes taken out previously and quickly work it into a nice soft dough. The less floury kind of potatoes, the better, as the consistency required is quite rubbery. A thing to remember is to work that dough quickly and don’t keep it waiting, it gets loose.

Once the dough is done, I make it  into a small roll and cut out small bits, form them into balls, flat them out slightly and make a little hole in the middle with one finger, hence the name which Florian bastardized a bit- kluseczki z dziurkiem. 🙂

They finally get thrown into a pan of boiling, salted water, boiled for a few minutes, about 4-5, not too long, they have to keep their shape but not be raw in the middle.

I served them today with a good beef stew, at Mum’s we always have it with meat and sauce.

Good Food, Made in Poland

Pierogi

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One Polish dish that I cook most often would be pierogi. Florian loves them cooked, left to rest and fried crispy.

The filling is made of boiled and pressed potatoes, chopped, fried onion and a Polish white cheese, that can be obtained from any Polish shop. It is crucial the cheese is the right one, it can’t be replaced with cottage or ricotta. It’s all mixed up and seasoned well.

The dough is simple- flour and some warm water with a drop of milk. Rolled on, I use a glass to cut rings, place a teaspoon of filling on each and close them tightly, sealing the edges well, so that they don’t open when cooking. I boil them for about 4-5 minutes,  serve them with chopped, fried onions and – if I have some- sloninka, pig’s lard, a cholesterol bomb, a flavour like nothing else.

Good Food

A lovely, quick lunch

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This pretty looking salad is easy, yummy and lovely.

All it takes is some rocket, some parma ham slices, a few cherry tomatoes, 2 hard boiled eggs- boiled for about 6 minutes, no more, some red grapes for sweetness, a nice, ripe avo and some parmesan to finish. And that’s it! The dressing on the salad is the usual and lovely olive oil and balsamic and on the eggs just a tiny bit of mayo.

It always works.

Dessert

Success after burnt caramel

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Yesss, I have burnt caramel, first time ever. Might say it was Dustin’s fault, as I only popped out to the garden to throw a ball at him. When I came back it looked like a lava and was steaming too! 🙂 Having turned off the fire alarm I started again and coated some chopped bananas in it and  added some Havana rum.

I whipped some double cream with sugar and lime juice.It is a dessert inspired by Heston’s banana Eton mess, slightly changed and simplified by me, as usual. I toasted some hazelnuts, which turned out to be a lovely crunchy addition to the whole thing.

The bottom of the bowl was graced with some crushed meringue, then caramelised bananas, lime cream, some hazelnuts and like this again. I finished it off with some grated lime zest. After 3 hours in the fridge it tasted really lovely.

Good Food

Mushroom risotto

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I fancied something light this evening and went to a chestnut mushroom risotto. Not sure if will be using that king of mushrooms for risotto again, wasn’t blown away by the favour. It was a nice meal, though.

I fried a shallot and some sliced mushrooms, added some arborio rice I had left after shopping at Carluccio’s (therefore  £2406  per kg) and coated it all nicely in the oil and shallot stuff. Then gradually added some hot chicken stock and white wine and kept on stirring- risotto has to be looked after all the time, can’t be left alone. The liquid has to be added gradually and not topped up until nearly completely evaporated. Herb wise I went for thyme from my garden and when the rice was nice and cooked after about 20 minutes, I added lots of lovely parmesan and topped it up with fresh rocket. And more parmesan.

As for the mushrooms it might be porcini next time. From the woods of Poland.

Dessert

Oluta’s debut Pear Tarte Tatin

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A very nice day off is about to come to an end. What nicer way to finish it than with a nice dessert?

Pear tarte tatin was one of the few nice memories from The Famous Celebrity Chef Restaurant I Spent Only 6 Months In, I had some pears in the fridge and a chunk of puff pastry, so I briefly checked the method on the net and got to it.

I made some simple caramel from brown sugar and a bit of butter and cooked it off for a few minutes, then put some cored and peeled pear quarters in it, covered with cinnamon. Kept on turning them until cooked and soft.  I transferred it to the baking dish, all nicely arranged- photo- and covered with pastry, folding the edges underneath a little. And baked it off for about 35 minutes. When nice, golden and risen with caramel all around the puffed up edges, covered it with a flat plate and turned upside down. It worked!!! And served with lovely vanilla ice cream it  tasted great. I will modestly give myself 10 out of 10 for it tonight. 🙂

Thumbs up!

Good Food

Quiche Lorraine by Oluta

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First time I had a nice, real quiche was a few years ago  in Paris, when Moka and I had  delightful 5 days to ourselves, sightseeing, chatting, eating, drinking and having a good time with no men around. As far as I remember Moka made it with spinach and feta, or was it roasted peppers?…

Quiche is lovely, quick and easy due to the fact, that a ready made short crust pastry can be bought for a quid and a bit. I pre bake the pastry before the runny filling goes in, otherwise it won’t bake properly and will be soggy.

Mine and Florian’s favourite filling is the bacon and leek one, today I threw in a couple of mushrooms as well. I fry up the pancetta, add the chopped leeks to it, season well and put onto a pre – baked pastry base.

In a bowl I mix 2 eggs, a good hand full of grated cheddar, some single cream, season it well not forgetting a good pinch of nutmeg. It should have a consistency of a thick sour cream. I pour it onto the base topped with bacon and stuff and bake it off for about half an hour.

Serve it green salad or with some lovely broccoli, like I did this evening.