Aussie Masterchef inspired. Really, not much of a recipe there. Good quality shrimps, defrosted, seasoned with salt only, tossed in egg and panko, deep fried in the wok till golden brown. Served on a red veggie rice, with a spectacular dipping sauce- sweet chili sauce, a splash of soy, of sesame oil, yuzu and a bit of fresh coriander. That simple. Crunchy panko, lovely, sweet shrimp inside. Yum.
Izzie’s birthday cake. I saw a much more accomplished version on mojewypieki.com, decorated with flowers, berries, mini meringues, but went with my own, just copied the shape idea.
It is my usual simple sponge, cooled and cut into the shape of 6 and then halved and gently drizzled with yuzu juice. I’ve made use of some frozen raspberries by turning them into a coulis, added 1,5 soaked gelatine leaves and when it started to set I mixed it into some whipped cream. Some of it went inside, the rest on top. Finished off with fresh rasperries, strawberries and coulis. And raspberry macaroons. 6 year old Izzie approved, I got a hug, a kiss and I was told it was the best cake ever. That will do me. 🙂
Last night in Aussie Masterchef someone made Thai beef salad. I thought about how appealing it sounded, looked it up and discovered I actually had everything I needed to make it, including a frozen piece of fillet. And lots of fresh herbs and even beansprouts! Simply had to make it. Best part of this dish for me was the sensational dressing, that I kept on licking while preparing dinner. I started with a juice of half a lime, a piece of fresh ginger, grated, a big clove of garlic, grated, 1 tbsp of brown sugar ( palm sugar in the recipe, don’t think I’ve ever seen it in my life), 1 tbsp of fish sauce, 2 tbsps of sesame oil, 1 tsp of soy sauce. Combined, let the sugar dissolve, then added a bit more lime juice, a bit more soy and fish sauce and a bit more sesame oil. And that did it for me.
Fillet was gently marinated in some fish sauce, soy, black pepper and sesame again, then quickly pan fried, rare, rested and then thinly sliced.
The salad itself was a lovely, crunchy, vibrant combination of beansprouts, cherry tomatoes, cucumber( seedless), shallot, a red chili, toasted peanuts and a good, generous amount of fresh coriander and mint. All this nicely tossed together, served with simple steamed rice. Glass of decent Burgundy. Yyyyyyuuuuuummmmm!!!!!
Donna Hay’s. Super quick recipe, excellent use of overripe bananas, the smell in the kitchen made everyone smile and peek in the oven.
300 g of plain flour, 3 tsps of baking powder, 150 sugar( original recipe had 220 g, I think it’s a bit much maybe), 2 whole eggs, 60 ml of oil, 250 ml of buttermilk or kefir, vanilla paste, 130 g of chopped milk chocolate- I used Easter eggs. 2 mashed very soft bananas, 3 would be even better. Wet ingredients added to dry ingredients and quickly combined, put in the muffin cases and baked for 25 minutes in 170 degrees. Oh, I added a personal touch, a quarter of a strawberry in each muffin. Quick and yummy. 🙂
Finally. Finally I have the recipe I wanted for a while. Some time ago at Steve’s we had chicken skewers with satay sauce that blew me away, but it took forever to get the recipe out of him ( swapped for the blackcurrant cake recipe!). This was the second attempt. The first one, which I followed to the dot, with whole peanuts produced more of a satay paste than a sauce. It tasted good, but it wasn’t what I wanted. Having consulted Steve again and also youtube, I ditched the whole peanuts and went with smooth peanut butter. And I got what I wanted.
I started with the marinade for my chopped, skinless and boneless chicken thighs. Toasted and crushed coriander seeds, about 1 tbsp. 2 garlic cloves, 1/2 tsp of turmeric, which gave the chicken a lovely yellow colour, 2 tsps of sugar, 1/2 tsp of salt, 2 tbsps of soy sauce, 1 tbsp of sesame oil, juice of 1/2 a lime. There were also fennel seeds and some lemongrass which I left off due to not having any. 🙂
Chicken sat in this lovely marinade for most of the afternoon. The satay was a creative process of adding and tasting, thinking about it and trying to make it the way I liked. It took 2 small, chopped shallots, 1 clove of garlic, mashed, 1 green chili, chopped, but ended up adding more chili flakes later, as the heat was a bit too shy for my liking. 1 tsp of fish sauce, 2 tbsps of tamarind sauce, 100 ml of coconut milk- ended up adding more, twice, as the sauce was splitting slightly. 1 tsp of honey. Peanut butter, 3-4 tbsps, plus a little of the crunchy one for the texture.
Now, Steve’s chicken was far superior, as it was barbequed, so mine, from the oven really could not compete. But it was tasty, juicy and when dipped in that satay, delicious. Fresh coriander completed the picture. Once the lockdown is over and Mariusz comes over, I will be making more, I think it will wow him too.
While taking a sliced, frozen loaf from the fridge last night, so that we had toast in the morning I thought I needed to flip through Paul Hollywood’s book again. I have lots of excellent flour, I have fresh yeast, we are in lockdown, there is no excuse not to try and bake some bread.
I did. Cause I can!!!!
Rocky start though. I smashed kitchen aid’s glass bowl. Half of the dough went to the bin, I was worried there might have been pieces of glass in it. I was really upset, as the bowl was a Christmas present 2 years ago, but thanks to The Best Husband on The Planet, a new bowl has been ordered straight away and this apparently has an improved design, that will not come off while the machine is working hard.
So initially I used 500g of strong bread flour, 20 g of fresh yeast, with which I made a quick starter using all the yeast and about 2 tbsps from 500 g of flour. 10 g of salt. 30g of soft, unsalted butter. About 300 ml of cold water. The machine did all the work for me, until it smashed. :-/
It was left to prove for over an hour to more than double in size. Then lightly knocked down and shaped into a ball. I was so excited that I forgot to dust with flour and slash it on top before baking! But that ball still had to prove till doubled up and only then it was baked in the 230 degree oven for about 25 minutes. Recipe says 30 minutes, but mine was quite small, didn’t want it too dark.
Once cooled, it was met with a very enthusiastic reception;
And it was eaten there and then, for lunch. With butter and ham.
I think I might go back to the kitchen and make another one for breakfast, I do have a metal bowl for kitchen aid after all.
Best feeling ever, when things turn out that good!!!!
Strange Easter it is. Just the three of us, no guests, stuck at home in spite of great weather- no eating out, no trips to the beach. All this courtesy of Covid 19, which put life on hold for everyone and we don’t know how much longer this state of things will go on for.
I’ve been spending a lot more on food for the last 3 weeks, we have a well supplied fridge and pantry; when I was still hoping that Mariusz would be here for Easter I decided to make this cold cheesecake that we loved when we lived together at home. Mum gave me the recipe, which I tweaked my way much to her disapproval again- last time I baked her “nut” cookies and dared to roast my walnuts before adding them, she nearly disowned me. 🙂 This time I decided to replace walnuts with hazelnuts, far superior flavour as far as I’m concerned. Mum raised her eyebrows, I still went with hazelnuts and had 2 slices of the cheesecake today. Not done with it yet!!!
Thing about this cheesecake is- one makes the cheese. 1 litre of milk, about 200 ml of soured cream well mixed with 2 whole eggs, vanilla sugar, caster sugar and vanilla essence all go into the pan and slowly get boiled till the curd kind of cheese begins to resurface. This takes about 30 minutes, then it needs to be drained off well, again, no rush there.
In the meantime a small sponge with 2 eggs gets baked, good idea to drizzle it with some booze ( I used Grand Marnier).
About 70-80 g of soft butter gets creamed with icing sugar, 4-5 tbsps, maybe more, must be tasted. This brand new curd cheese gets added spoon by spoon. Touch more vanilla. Nuts of one’s choice, quite a lot, very finely chopped, mine were already chopped and toasted. Raisins. Cranberries. Candied orange peel. Dried apricots, if there are any in the pantry. All this well combined, sweetened to taste, whacked onto the sponge, smoothed over. Canned peaches arranged on top, a jelly of one’s choice, to the fridge over night. Job done.
Easter Sunday, nearly 18 years I’ve lived in this country and today, for the first time ever I’ve made Yorkshire puddings. WTF??!! Yes. I had some beef fillet, I had roast potatoes, roasted carrots, French beans, I had bearnaise, I had Malbec. Iz has mentioned yorkies on school menu a few times, then we had some frozen ones from Waitrose, today was the day to stop being silly. I used James Martin’s recipe, loved watching them raising in the oven, scored them 8 out of 10. Florek and Iz loved them, for me they could have been thinner and crispier, which will be seen to next time. So for 6 yorkies I used 2 small eggs, well whipped with 150 ml of milk, to this 100 g of plain flour and a pinch of salt. The batter rested in the fridge for over an hour. Then the yorkie dish Lisa gave me forever ago got preheated with the oil and filled a bit more than half way up. Baked in 200 degrees for about 25 minutes.
I’m hoping to get myself a deep fat fryer next month, so when life is back to normal, Waitrose fish counter reopens and I can get mussels again, we’ll have a feast. With French bread, French fries, mussels and pinot gris. This is the plan. Fingers crossed.
