What did I learn today? That kiwi, when used with the ring is actually quite pretty. The dessert itself would not win the Michelin star for amazingness and creativity, but I used the remaining cream and Philadelphia from the fridge, the base was pretty tasty, although I couldn’t be bothered to pre-bake it, as I normally do with mini- cheesecakes, same goes for the flaked almonds. And yet they turned out cute and tasty. I’m planning on some more playing with the kiwis.
Wednesday, the day of the week when BBC1 airs “The Great British Bake Off”, so there must be something freshly baked to munch on, while watching. I made the cookies, which I had at Ewa’s last Sunday. Had them for the second time and found them surprisingly lovely, but- I thought, with a touch of cinnamon and maybe pecans they would rock.
I took Ewa’s basic recipe, which asked for ” a glass of flour” and “half a glass of sugar”, just as if my mum had dictated it( classic Polish way, I suppose, the glasses!), but I measured everything I was putting into the Kitchen Aid, so that the corrections could be taken into account next time. So I used 2 egg whites, which got whipped with 60 g of sugar. I then added the yolks, 80 g of plain flour, a tsp of baking powder. Also the oats, I used 2 sachets of posh Aspen porridge with apples and raisins, good call, lots of extra flavours. Also in went half a melted butter. The original recipe called for margarine, which I don’t like using, I’m all for the butter when baking. Then in went the pretty bits; about 50 g of chopped pecans, a good handful of sunflower seeds( such a nice crunch and flavour!), 2 tbsps of desiccated coconut, 1 tsp of cinnamon and 2 tbsps of maple syrup. All those quantities are to my taste and liking.
Ewa’s method said nothing of the oven temperature or timing, so I went for the cookie temperature that works for me- 180 degrees, they baked for about 17 minutes. The house smells like a tasty, posh porridge on Saturday morning. The cookies- a treat. Sweeter than Ewa’s, who’s a diabetic, so must be careful with lashes of maple syrup and stuff like that. I think hers were also crunchier. And I bet- healthier. Nevertheless, a tea time treat. 🙂
Recipe from Gordon’s wifey, apparently. I must say, a keeper, it’s surprisingly fluffy, light and moreish. And easy to make too. Kitchen Aid creamed 115 g of soft butter and same amount of sugar for me, I added 2 eggs, a zest of 1 lemon and 2 tbsps of yuzu juice, now available to people who don’t work in Dinings any more- courtesy of Waitrose. Tiny bottle costs a kidney, of course, but there is no flavour like yuzu, so hey, every now and then one splashes out. 🙂
Err, the cake. Self raising flour in the same amount like sugar and butter went into the mix, all nice and pale, all this to the lined long tin and into the oven for 45 minutes in 180 degrees. When baked I spiked it all over and poured over the lemon and yuzu syrup, made by simply mixing a juice of 1 lemon, whatever yuzu I had left and lots of sugar,some icing, some caster.
It is sooooo going to be enjoyed this evening with a cup of tea!
Long time ago I bought “Leith’s Cooking Bible”, had a look through it, put it on the shelf and let it sit there, gathering dust. £15 well spent. Last night, when having a cup of tea I longed for something sweet, but there were no biscuits at home, so right before bed I picked the bible off the shelf and found a few nice recipes in terms of cookies, worth attention and a try.
A certain chocolate fan, that I share my life with, insisted that the cookies must be chocolate ones. I like baking with chocolate, so I obliged.
For the dough I used 115 g of butter that I melted with 100 g of plain chocolate and 1 tsp of instant coffee granules. When slightly cooled, I added to a bowl, in which I had 140 g of caster sugar, 140 g of light brown sugar, 250 g of plain flour, 1/2 tsp of baking powder, 30 g of cocoa, 2 beaten eggs and a small bag of chocolate chips( Dr.Oetker’s on this occasion). The dough was quite thick, but I used a tea spoon to form little balls, flattened them and placed on a greased baking sheet. They baked for 10 minutes in 180 degrees. When out of the oven they seemed a bit under done, but I followed the recipe and it worked. They’re rich, moorish and lovely.
The dinner I made this evening was a bit of a waste, cause we got stuffed on cookies like silly kids and there was no space for proper food. I should also mention that I’m trying to lose the baby fat around my stomach. Clearly not trying TODAY. 🙂
I was surprised how quickly this plate of food came together. And how tasty it all was. And textures worked. Ocado brought me some lovely cod fillet this morning. I went easy on salt bearing pancetta in mind, seasoned it well with pepper though. Lovingly wrapped, it was then panfried on olive oil with a touch of butter and a few cherry tomatoes and whacked in the oven for 5 minutes, while french beans were cooking and gnocchi were panfried.
We finished all of it, it was a lovely meal after a rather shitty day. It looks like we won’t be moving in our dreamt new house in October, like we hoped. And Robin Williams decided to hang himself last night. 🙁
An idea came from “Come from dine with me” ( of all places…!), when looked up online it had great reviews, so I ordered everything from Ocado and made it this evening. A bit like poshed up fajitas, I’d say. Fajitas with chicken we have often, so I’ve done the filling pretty much the same way; fried the red onion, some garlic, red pepper, some chili, some ground cumin and onto that went chopped chicken thighs. A new thing for me to buy and use were the refried beans, quite nice for the texture. Also added was a can sweetcorn, then some seasoned passata. And fresh coriander on top. All this went into the tortilla wraps, but I chose to use a dish a bit too small, so ended up not folding the ends, like described in the recipe. The filled up wraps went onto the passata, then grated cheddar on top and into the oven.
Served with delicious guacamole and a crunchy salad. Will be a regular on my weekday menu. 🙂
Ps. Rather difficult to take a good photo of it…..:-)
Chateaubriand I was one of the first dishes uploaded to the blog, 4 or 5 years ago. I think the August weekend with excellent food and wine will become a tradition, so we splashed £60 on a piece of beef, £18 on a bottle of Amarone, baked off some dauphinoise potatoes, made side dish of glazed carrots and Jedrus made blue cheese sauce. He authorized me to publish the fact, that he used some blue stilton, a small clove of garlic, some cream, parsley and a splash of mayo,lovingly blizted it into smooth, beautiful, unhealthy sauce. We served it alongside of bernaise and pepper sauce, both hardly touched, so good the cheese sauce was.
The fillet itself cooked just like a steak, only an XL size, rested, soft, flavoursome, amazing. Life is good.
Amazing how easy it is to come up with a name for a dessert having drunk 2 cucumber martinis and some red wine, the wine in the glass right now is beautiful Amarone.
I made this dessert/cake in preparation for the weekend, Jedrus was to come and Wuj Mariusz. Jedrus is here, Mariusz sadly down with some nasty bacteria at home, taking antibiotics and not even thinking about alcohol.
The base of the cake is my regular sponge, spiked with red food colourant. Pink sponge looks cool and appetizing!
On the sponge there’s a layer of fresh strawberry mousse mixed with setting strawberry jelly. The top layer- whipped cream with about a half of lemon jelly. And to finish, just a sprinkle of grated dark and white chocolate. The whole thing is light, fruity and moreish. Yum.
