Christmassy apple parfait.

From Good Food magazine. I thought it would be a great dessert after Beef Wellington, my main course on Christmas table this year. Turned out quite well and the bits we have not managed, Ewa took for Macy to enjoy.

The good thing about the parfait was that I was able to make it a week before Christmas and it sat in the freezer until it was needed. All I had to do on the day was the apple sauce and the caramelised apples.

So, I started with 5 Granny Smith apples, peeled, chopped and cooked down with 150 g of demerara sugar, then cooled and pureed. 3 eggs, sepapated. The yolks were beaten in the kitchen aid, while 100 g of caster sugar was brought to the boil with 120 ml of water. Once the syrup reached 120 degrees, I added it slowly to the egg yolks and continued whisking for about 4 minutes. Egg whites whipped stiff with 25 g of caster sugar. And finally 150 ml double cream whipped till stiff as well. The apple puree, the cream, the egg whites all went into the egg yolks and got combined gently and lovingly. A long tin was waiting with cling film overhanging and the whole thing went into the freezer.

Toffee sauce- 100 g of brown sugar, 25 g of butter, 50 ml double cream and a splash of apple juice, a sprinkle of cinnamon. Gently bubbled away till a scrumptious sauce emerged. A few caramelised apples were waiting and when we were ready for it, the parfait was sliced, topped with some crumbled digestive biscuits, the apples and finished with the sauce. Nobody had any complaints whatsover. 🙂

Cherry macaroons.

When browsing Amazon lately I came across some cherry curd, but also a passion fruit curd, promptly purchased both and I don’t regret it! Cherry macaroons were made yesterday, shells done the usual way with the colour nothing like I wanted it, the filling- half and half cherry curd and mascarpone, plus a bonus of a cherry in kirch in the middle. Just had one of them with a quick espresso on Saturday morning, love it. Next week I’ll make some mega yellow ones with passion fruit.

cauliflower “steaks”.

As a carnivore I had to use quotation marks, in order not to insult the proper steaks. I tried one of those in Brasserie Blanc recently; theirs was served with some kind of crumble with traces of truffle and a walnut pesto. That pesto was so finely blitzed it resembled baby food, leaning towards unpleasant, no texture to it at all. I thought the dish would shine under some kind of sauce, creamy, rich sauce. This evening I’ve made it my way and really enjoyed it.

Sliced 2 thick pieces from the middle of the cauli, seasoned with salt and pepper and gently panfried on olive oil and some butter, before transferring to the oven for about 30 minutes in 190 degrees ( kept pricking it to make sure it was still a little crunchy, but cooked).

Last night I saved some of my bechamel, which went with mushroom tortelloni, bechamel heavily spiked with white truffle paste. I covered the cauli with it for the last 4 minutes of the cooking, finished with a sprinkling of parsley and enjoyed with a fresh baguette. Loved it!