Monthly Archives: March 2014

Baking, Room for improvement

Carrot cake with something missing.

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Yum, just finished the first piece of it. Very nice indeed, if only I could be bothered to get dressed and go get some cream cheese to make the proper topping and make it look great. I decided I can’t be bothered though, as it’s raining, while at home it’s lovely and I have my tea and will just leave the cake  the way it is.

Recipe from GF, picked for its numerous 5 star reviews- that always helps. I’m glad it’s risen nicely and is as light and tasty as promised, I cocked up a few carrot cakes in my life before.

For this one I used 175 g of muscovado sugar, 150 ml of veggie oil, mixed it with 3 beaten eggs. Then I added 175g of grated carrots, a zest of one orange, plus some of that sweet, cooked orange peel I still have from my Mum’s visit for Christmas. 50 g of raisins and same amount of chopped walnuts. Then 175 g of self raising flour with an extra tsp of bicarbonate soda and finally a big fat tsp of cinnamon and a bit less of freshly grated nutmeg. Once I combined all that, I added yet more cinnamon, which I adore on everything, apart from my kitchen rug- I had an accident yesterday and even Dyson didn’t manage to get all of it off.

The cake baked in 180 degrees for 45 minutes, filled the house with great smell. When it cooled a bit, I made the frosting out of some icing sugar, orange juice and the remaining Cointreau I had in the pantry- that bottle lasted me years! The recipe said that it should be as thick as single cream, I don’t like stuff sickly sweet though, so I stopped adding sugar when close to that point.

Very nice cake, the recipe is a keeper, next time though- proper creamy frosting.

Good Food

Chicken parmigiana.

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Very nice meal at the end of a productive day. I washed and ironed 3 bags full of quality baby clothes I inherited from Aska yesterday. My daughter is not yet born, but she already owns 2 pairs of jeans! 😉

I took 2 chicken breasts and flattened them, seasoned, washed in egg and then covered in breadcrumbs mixed with grated parmesan. Then I made a simple tomato sauce, sweated a shallot and  crushed garlic, threw in  a can of tomatoes and a handful of cherry tomatoes onto it, some sugar and dried oregano ( fresh oregano is looking very promising in the garden this early into spring). I also added a little herby jelly, new from Knorr, which lifted the sauce up nicely. It all went onto the bottom of the baking dish, then I quickly grilled my chicken, placed it on top, topped with grated parmesan and a bit of cheddar( maybe mozzarella next time) and finished in the oven until the cheese melted and the sauce was bubbling.

The chicken is lovely and moist, sauce tomatoey and herby, good pat on the back.

I served it with French bean salad and red rice, which my mum calls “Egyptian”, not sure why. Made in a similar way like risotto, minus the wine, the shallots and parmesan. Just quickly sweat the rice on olive oil, mix in a tbsp of tomato paste and then keep on adding chicken stock, until the rice is cooked. The taste might be enhanced by a touch of ketchup and vegeta. I like it reheated the next day for lunch, I made sure I’ll have some for tomorrow. 🙂

 

Dessert, Good Food

Sweet potato and goats cheese ravioli.

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I was looking for something nice to serve Jedrus and Aska, who came over this weekend and picked this recipe from GF magazine, unaware of the fact they both disliked goats cheese (!!).

When it comes to home made pasta, we’re a great team, Florek and I. Florek makes the pasta – and the mess -I make the filling and put them together. This time I sexed up the recipe a bit, apart from a cooked and mashed sweet potato and mashed French goats cheese, I added parmesan, half a chopped red chili, some toasted pine nuts, fresh basil and lots of seasoning. I served them with chili infused oil and more pine nuts.  Both Jedrek and Aska enjoyed it in spite of their previous reservations, therefore- a success.

For dessert I made pannacotta just like in the previous recipe, all the same, only I infused the milk/ creme combo with good 2 tsps of green tea powder. The result was lovely- a bit like those green Kit Kats we were treated to whenever any of the Chiefs in Dinings went to Japan. Will be done again this way. DSC_5427

Dessert

White chocolate pannacotta.

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Nigella’s. I was debating this afternoon, whether to serve tiramisu with raspberries or a pannacotta this Saturday, when Jedrus and Aska come over for this weekend. It will be the latter, I think. Maybe some shortbread biscuit with it to posh it up, or maybe a different topping, we’ll see.

For 5 small ones in my regular silicone moulds I used 150ml of double cream, 100ml of milk, 75 g of white chocolate and 35 g of sugar, all heated up slowly, under supervision, as chocolate tends to stick to the bottom of the pan.  I added a touch of vanilla paste, couldn’t help myself, it just looks so nice with those tiny seeds when the whole thing is out of the mould.

When off the heat, I added 1,5 leaf of gelatine, this amount  seems to always work nicely, whatever the flavour. The wobble was just right.

On top, a few shavings of chocolate and mixed berry compote.

 

Good Food

Mac’n’cheese.

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I consider myself a decent cook, yet today I was looking at recipes of macaroni cheese, because I have never made it before (!!) . I wanted a budget meal and Jamie Oliver’s recipe sounded like a nice one.  I managed to put a nice meal on the table this evening in spite of having a really bad day, when everything was falling out of my hands, I was kicking pans in the cupboard and nearly cried, when a ball of nutmeg fell into my sauce whole, off the grater. I suppose I could just blame it all on the hormones, right?

So, macaroni; while the pasta was in the pan, boiling away, I made the white sauce, starting off like bechamel, plus a few thinly sliced bits of garlic and 3 bay leaves all in before the milk. The cooked pasta went in alongside some grated cheese, Jamie said cheddar, I used what I had in the fridge and needed to be used, a combo of comte and jarlsbeg, plus, to make it healthier and more tasty- some crispy fried bacon. Seasoned with the said nutmeg, which I finally fished out, a few drops of worcestershire sauce and salt/pepper. And into the oven for about 30 mins, to crisp up and turn nice and golden on top.

Served with a nice, green salad, it was a very pleasant meal indeed.

For dessert I made skubaniec, inspired by my mum, who sent me a parcel full of goodies for Izzie, plus 13 jars full of jams, preserves and stuff.  Gotta get cracking with those jars, I thought. Hence skubaniec. Recipe somewhere around, in 2010 I believe.

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