Monthly Archives: October 2020

Dessert

Tiramisu, extra special.

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I should be packing us for a week in Rome, leaving tomorrow, was the plan. But thanks to raging Covid the plans had to be postponed until mid February, the earliest. To wipe the tears, I decided to invite Keava and Simon and throw a small Italian feast next Saturday, which happens to be Halloween. The food will be Italian, wine will be Italian, dessert will be Italian. I didn’t have a reliable tiramisu recipe until now, this one is from goodfood.com and it was absolutely delicious. Will be made again for Saturday. And yes, the photo really could be better, but wine was going in really well last night with pizza, so, apologies for the photo quality. 🙂

I used 2 small egg yolks, which I whipped with 50 g of sugar and vanilla sugar, vanilla paste and some nutmeg in a bowl above a pan of simmering water. Took my time there, slowly adding about 20 ml of Disaronno, until the sugar nicely dissolved and the eggs were pale and fluffy. Left to cool in the fridge. The remaining Disaronno, about 50 ml I added to 100 ml of espresso, cooled.

Half of the 250 g container of mascarpone got whipped with 150 ml of double cream. Cooled. Egg mixture folded in, nice and gently.

Then, the usual stuff, savoyardi biscuits were gently soaked in the coffee/liquer mixture, arranged tightly on the bottom of the dish, half of the cream on top, biscuits, cream, then a thick coat of grated dark chocolate and a dusting of cocoa on top. A minimum of 3 hours in the fridge, the next day even better. Yum.

A link to the original recipe;

https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/next-level-tiramisu-0
Good Food

Pepper beef.

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Marion’s. One, that Miky Drago said last week is much better than any take away. I don’t have take aways, so I can’t argue, but one thing for sure, this was a very tasty stir fry. And simple too.

I used a large, thinly sliced piece of rib eye, which sat in a quick marinade, while the rest of the stuff was getting ready. A good splash of soy sauce, Chinese vinegar, a tsp of bicarb soda and a tsp of cornflour made the marinade. Then the sauce; oyster sauce, soy sauce, some vinegar, some sugar and lots of black pepper, freshly ground. Into the wok I chucked some sliced garlic, roughly chopped shallot, then after a minute or 2 the beef. Seared it quickly, then the peppers, mixed colours, the sauce, the spring onions. Served with rice. Very good indeed, will be looking at more stuff from that lovely lady.

Baking

Danish Pastries, debut.

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From Paul Hollywood’s book “How to bake”. A piece of posh, expensive French butter was purchased on Friday specifically for this recipe and I started yesterday after lunch.

Dough nr 1 was made out of 500g of strong bread flour, 10 g of salt, 80 g of caster sugar, 10 g instant yeast ( I even had some!!!!), 2 eggs, 90 ml of water and 125 ml of warm milk. Kitchen aid worked it for about 7 minutes, then it rested in the fridge for an hour.

Posh French butter will be handled more carefully next time- straight from the fridge, otherwise it gets warm too quickly and is messy to handle; also next time I’ll roll in out on the baking paper and save myself some swearing. 🙂

The rolling out and folding the butter stuff is all nicely illustrated in the book, it was fun to make and I enjoyed learning new stuff. Last night there was a lovely block of Danish pastry resting in the fridge, 4 times rolled and folded, loosely wrapped in cling film- loosely, as it did rise quite a lot!

This morning I took it out, rolled out, shaped 3 ways and left to prove once more, while the nicest creme pat ever was cooling in the fridge. Creme from the same book, particularly delicious and creamy. Will be using this method from now onwards. 2 egg yolks, 50 g caster sugar, 20 g cornflour nicely whipped together, while 250 ml of milk and vanilla paste were heating up. Hot milk slowly added to the eggs, then returned to the heat and when thick and beautiful, 20 g of butter added. Yum!!!!!

Pastries, when doubled in size were topped with creme pat and some bluberries, the other ones were rolled with cinnamon, sugar and sultanas and baked in 200 degrees for less than 14 minutes, they did brown quickly.

I waited the whole 2 minutes after taking them out, before stuffing one down my gob with a sigh of pleasure. Butter. Butter makes everything tastes good.

We gave Simon and Keava a plate of pastries, the other ones sit on the island and are pinched every now and then by whoever passes by.

10 out of 10, worth every minute and every effort.

Good Food

Thai prawn dumplings.

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The tastiest thing I’ve made in a long time. My fingers still smell of coriander, the last thing on the palate are those wonderful garlic chips.

The recipe comes from Marion’s Kitchen, the same Marion who was a favourite to win Aussie Masterchef in season 1, she didn’t win, but she did very much alright for herself, not only selling a range of Thai sauces and condiments, but running that fantastic youtube channel first of all.

So first job was a garlic clove, roughly chopped and fried till golden, left to cool. A dressing- made with chili, coriander- stalks and all, garlic, salt and lime juice, I also added a dash of sesame oil.

And the dumplings, the beauties! A bag of those lovely Iceland shimps, most of them finely chopped, the rest roughly chopped, for texture. Seasoned with white pepper, salt, sugar, chicken stock and mixed with some cornflour. Gyoza wrappers were defrosting since breakfast, filled them with the prawn mixture and gently poached them. Added my remaining chicken stock to the poaching water, never too much flavour!

Once cooked, that lovely vibrant dressing went on top, alongside garlic chips and fresh coriander. What a lovely plate of food that was.

Florek, not a prawn fan tried 2-3 dumplings and asked for a plate next time I make them. Florek liked my prawn dish, Donald Trump has corona virus, the world is coming to an end!!!