Breakfast by Florek.

The current series of Masterchef, like I mentioned before is full of so called celebrities, famous for starring in soaps and for being famous. But I still watch it and get ideas and so does Florek- occasionally.  It was his idea to make the American style pancakes and he did, all by himself- I put the bacon in the oven, made us coffee and fed Izzie while watching him work.  I felt really happy this morning, with our awesome kiddo, showering us with smiles, with the smell of coffee and bacon in the oven. 😉

For the pancakes Florek used ROUGH guidance from iPlayer, then adjusted the flour, as the batter was not thick enough. He used about 175 g of plain flour, 1/2 tsp of bicarb soda, 35 g of sugar, 2 eggs, 125 ml buttermilk and 25 g of melted butter. The amount of milk we found is difficult to measure, the batter must be as thick as a good double cream. He fried the pancakes  quite large, so we didn’t manage all of them, but they tasted great with Canadian maple syrup and crispy bacon. I had some strawberries on mine, without which the whole thing would be a touch too sweet for me. Will be done again.

Strawberry and frangipan tart.

Inspired by Masterchef last night, starring so called celebrities. Some bint, who’s famous for socializing, made a frangipan tart. I felt like making  some kind of frangipan tart, found Paul Hollywood’s recipe with apricots and pears. I had neither, but I had strawberries.

Izzie was asleep upstairs, like a good child that she is, so I managed to do the whole thing in one go. Sweet shortcrust pastry( 250 g of plain flour, 125 g of butter, 2 egg yolks, some sugar and a drop of water to bind it), blind baked it in 200 degrees for 15 minutes with baking beans and then about 8 minutes without. Then, on the bottom went some strawberry jam followed by the said frangipan. Easy, Kitchen Aid did the job-for my small round tin I used 62 g of butter and sugar, nicely creamed together, 75 g of ground almonds, 25 g of plain flour, 1,5 egg and a generous tsp of vanilla paste. It smelled great. Onto the frangipan went sliced strawberries and chopped hazelnuts( ran out of almonds). And all that baked in 160 degrees for about 40 minutes.

Very pleased with the pastry and the whole thing, strawberries were a good choice with the sweet tart, they balanced the taste nicely. Will be playing with frangipan again.

 

Brazilian prawn stew.

…Or, as the GF website advertises it- Bahia style Moqueca prawn stew. I had a craving for prawns, since last night on Masterchef some so called celebrities ( sic!) were making prawn cocktail. Or attempting it, let’s be honest.  So I went to Whole Foods today and for the first time ever found no fresh prawns in the fish counter.  In the freezer however there were  1 kg bags of Indian tiger shrimps, at the eye watering price of £16.99. That’s what maternity allowance is for, buying prawns at  £16.99. Yeah. So I did.  And there’s still half a bag left in the freezer for another time.

Erm, it was a pleasure cooking it; the baby was asleep in her basket, I was sipping lovely chilled Pinot Gris and making something new.

I started from marinating the prawns in lime juice, garlic and salt mixture.  I then  fried a shallot and 2 spring onions, half a chopped red pepper afterwards along with some chilli flakes and hot paprika. Next time there will be more chilli, fresh one, more lime, more kick. 3 chopped plum tomatoes  and a can of coconut milk in, all this reduced slightly, but not thick enough to my liking, so I used good old corn flour to make the consistency right. And at the end the prawns, with all the marinade, a touch more seasoning, lots of fresh coriander and onto the table. Served with steamed rice and great wine. Enjoyed with Florek. 🙂

 

 

Lime & coconut cheesecake.

I had some  leftover limes from the mojitos and no dessert for tonight, a can of coconut cream in the pantry and about an hour, while the baby slept in the garden. All this resulted in 4 little cheesecakes.

Usual base of crushed biscuits with melted butter, plus some desiccated coconut this time, flash baked and cooled. Half a box of Philadelphia cheese whipped with coconut cream and a juice of 2 limes, which I sweetened and heated up in order to dissolve 1,5 leaves of gelatine in. I also added a splash of baccardi rum, but can’t really taste it, to be frank.  I topped the cheesecakes with toasted desiccated coconut and some lime rind and left to set for about 4 hours.

Nice, could be a touch sweeter, but what would make it great I’m thinking would be Malibu rum.  Maybe after one day we decide to have a pina colada party. 🙂

Pulled pork & mojito weekend.

For that weekend I was waiting for months, since February, I think, when Jana booked her plane tickets.  I might have even asked Jedrus to put 14th June in his calendar, as I really wanted my 2 awesome friends to finally meet. Plus, I had no mojitos for over a year, now was the time to make up it- Jedrek makes them like nobody else, sweet and lovely.

I became a fan of pulled pork when working in The Oak. When the latest GF magazine came through the door, with a pulled pork roll on the cover I knew what I’d be making for the weekend. The roll on the cover is a brioche bun, which I skipped and pre ordered 15  lovely white rolls from the local bakery, 2,5 kg of pork shoulder from my butcher and a condiment from Amazon, which added some excellent smoky flavour to my meat, a liquid smoke. Next weekend I’m going to try with prawns or chicken, I think it will be great.

So, the pork shoulder was nicely browned on all sides on the pan, then placed on a wire rack and lovingly rubbed with a marinade of 2 tsp of smoked paprika, 2 tsp of mustard powder, 1 tsp of onion salt and garlic salt and that liquid smoke. It sat in the oven for 5 hours in 150 degrees, well covered with foil and with a cup of water added to the toasting tin, to help the temperature and juice circulation.

After 5 hours I shredded the meat with a  couple of forks, it was beautifully soft. I mixed the juices from the tin with a shop bought bbq sauce and a touch more of the liquid smoke.

To serve, we had those lovely soft rolls and I also made fresh coleslaw- white cabbage, carrot, a shallot, mayo and lots of seasoning. Extra bbq sauce was served as well, the meat had to  be moist and flavoursome.

That was my contribution. Mojitos were made exclusively by Jedrus Bialowas.  Sheer quality and awesomeness. 🙂

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Strawberry and hazelnut torte.

Very much looking forward to next weekend, which we have been planning for months, ever since Jana booked her tickets to Bristol. Jedrus and Aska are coming too, there will be mojitos and pulled pork( if I can pull it off) and for dessert perhaps this one.

Very nice nutty pastry- 140 g of plain flour, 50 g of ground hazelnuts, 100 g butter, all blitzed to the texture of breadcrumbs, then 50 g of sugar and an egg yolk. Kneaded into a nice pastry, slightly chilled and baked under the beans for about 15 minutes in 190 degrees, then another 5-7 minus the beans. When cooled, I filled it with a mixture of whipped cream and Philadelphia, flavoured with icing sugar and lemon juice. Chopped strawberries into the mix, more strawberries on top, as well as chopped and toasted hazelnuts. And just a drizzle of chocolate. Nice. 🙂

Another good use for pesto.

The recent GF magazine had some ideas for bbq pizzas. I have no bbq, I have an old, shitty oven, that’s not even mine and can’t be scrubbed properly inside no matter how much Mr Muscle Oven I spray at it. But I liked the idea of pizza topped with grilled veggies and fresh, homemade( the only way!)- pesto.  So while my dough was proving, I made pesto and griddled  some courgette, aubergine and red onion. Additional topping- mozzarella, chilli, cheddar, cherry tomatoes. Next time it will be blue cheese, it needed a lift of some sorts. We pigged the whole one regardless.  It’s been raining all day, so we now have a fire burning and thinking of some dessert.

 

Monkfish curry.

Ocado brought me 2 small monkfish fillets and I decided to cook them in a curry. It was the first time ever I cooked monkfish and I must say, it wasn’t a bad attempt. Good fish is never bad!

It’s been a while since I made curry last time, due to being pregnant, but when I make it, I still use Kamal’s recipe, plus a few of my personal touches. I like to finely chop a sweet potato and throw it in, I had none today, also, I had to do without coriander ( abomination!!!!!) .But I made the paste with 2 shallots, 3 garlic cloves and some fresh ginger, fried it quickly, added equal amounts of curry powder, ground cumin, ground cardamon, some chilli. Threw a few chopped tomatoes, a can of coconut milk, some mange tout and green peas. And monkfish, at the end. Served with basmati rice topped with fried shallots. Shame about the lack of coriander. ;-/