A while ago, while having a glass ( or 2) of wine with Lisa, I munched on some delicious chorizo she quickly panfried and served with bread and cheese. So when I saw a recipe from GF for a risotto that featured cooking chorizo, I had to try it. The one I bought at Food Fanatics this afternoon was fairly spicy, but along with the rice and sweet peas, washed down by French sav blanc and good chicken stock – made us a delicious supper. Went well with Argentinian Malbec too. A 4 star bowl of risotto. 🙂
All posts by Ola
Mango moussecake.
I was looking for something good to take with us to Jimbo and Louise’s this weekend, found this on mojewypieki.com, made it and made everyone, including the kids, very happy indeed. What a great dessert, light, very fruity, not difficult to make.
Usual sponge, 2 eggs, whites whipped, 4-5 tbsps of sugar, yolks in. 2 tbsps of plain flour, 1 tbsps of potato flour, a touch of baking powder. 180 degrees, 20 minutes.
A can of mango pulp was purchased, what a great product, no hassle with fresh mango, which in the UK is hardly ever amazing, even when ripe. An 850 g can went a long way. 600g was heated up and mixed with 6 pre-soaked gelatine leaves. A splash of lemon juice. All cooled a bit, then 100 g of greek yoghurt in. 300 ml of double cream whipped with 2 tbsps of icing sugar, all well combined, onto the sponge, soaked with Grand Marnier ( why not indeed?). A small mango chopped up and bits added in for the texture. Into the fridge to set. Finally a glaze of the remaining 250 g of mango pulp, alongside 2 gelatine leaves. I was trying to be a bit arty and added a few dots of raspberry coulis to that glaze, it wasn’t exactly a million dollar idea, I don’t think I’ll bother next time. The next time will happen soon though, it was a greatly enjoyed sweet little number. Five stars. 🙂
Food heaven.
Florek took us out last night to Brasserie Blanc for my birthday dinner. We eat there every few weeks, it’a a place consistently good in terms of food and service, not cheap, but always delivers. Last night was truly excellent. Steak tartare to start to share, burger for Florek, confit duck leg for me. Super soft meat on that leg, beautifully crispy skin. Cherry sauce. The most delicious dauphinoise I’ve eaten in my life- perfect! Soft, not too creamy, perfectly seasoned. Some roasted veg on the side. My only regret was that I was too full to finish it or to have a scoop of sorbet at the end.
Excellent service too, which Florek rewarded with a nice tip. And- I now know how to make a bellini as good as the ones they sell in BB- Amazon sells the fruit puree they use.
Truly lovely birthday dinner.
Napoleonka. My way.
Every now and then I manage to produce something that makes me really chuffed and puts a smile on my face for a long time. I attempted this lovely calorific bomb yesterday and initially decided it’s as good as the one at Maslanka’s. Shortly followed by a conclusion that it’s actually better. Florian agreed, which is always nice.
For the base and the” roof” I used the ready made French puff pastry brought from Polish Biedronka. Baked it in 180 degrees, initially under another tray to keep it nice and flat, removed the tray after 12 minutes and continued without for another 13 minutes.
Made the cream no. 1 by whisking 2 whole eggs with 2 tbsps of plain flour and 2,5 tbpsp of potato flour with about half a glass of milk, while the other full glass of milk with 4 tbsps of sugar, vanilla sugar and vanilla paste were being brought to a boiling point. Egg mixture added, then onwards like with custard. The recipe for that is from mojewypieki and only that. The slightly cooled cream went onto the bottom layer of the baked pastry, then whipped cream, top layer of the pastry, icing sugar, fridge for 2-3 hours.
Absolutely love it. 🙂
Goods from Jan Maslanka.
We came back from a winter break in Poland a couple of days ago. The trip lacked in snow, but was rich in lots of great food. My Mum is a very accomplished home cook, she always feeds us well, if maybe a tad too much. I had an enormous appetite there, back to normal now, otherwise my arse will double in size.
There is a patisserie in Klodzko, called Maslanka, from the name of its founder, a famous place in the city. When they’re open, you walk down Koscielna street and all you smell is pure cake heaven. We visited twice. Once, Mum got some baked cheesecake (in Poland a cheesecake must be baked, the cold version is a dessert, not a cake by any means), described by the shop assistant in every detail- I loved that! So much passion and pride about the product they sell. What blew me away was Napoleonka. A rich, creamy cake on puff pastry that was so good I’m considering treating myself for my birthday tomorrow. Having one piece is a laugh, it’s incredibly moreish.
Also, I tried a kapusniaczek, a small piece of puff pastry filled with a mixture of soured cabbage and mushrooms, the kind of stuffing you’d find in good, homemade pierogi in Poland in winter. We made them at home later, lovely and light.
Their doughnuts were light and made with great dough, a little shy on jam though, no photo, not good enough.
Will be returning to Maslanka’s and will be baking Napoleonka. Very soon. 🙂
Santa Caps.
I loved the way they looked on mojewypieki.com, had to make them. It’s a bit unfortunate, that the strawberries are rubbish at this time of the year- they taste like they’re imported from another planet. They can’t really be replaced with any other fruit and equally can’t be made in May, so the whole thing do look better than they taste.
First the brownies. 100 g of butter, melted, 100 g of dark chocolate, chopped, in. 2 whole eggs lightly beaten, 160 g of sugar- I did half and half caster and brown. 3/4 tsp of baking powder. All ingredients combined, spooned into the silicone mould for round cookies, filled them up to 3/4 and baked for about 10 minutes in 180 degrees. I must say they were delicious when freshly baked, but after a couple of hours in the fridge with the cream and strawberries they lost the appeal substantially. Still, nice after quesadillas and empanadas we had this evening with Lisa and Andy.
Festive pierogi.
I came across a video last week with Damian Kordas, the winner of Polish edition of Masterchef and Jamie Oliver, making pierogi together. The idea for the filling what was I really liked, so I purchased a piece of smoked cheese in Polish deli and made some last night. Unusual, as I’d never have thought of such combination, but different and very pleasant. The filling consisted of mashed potatoes, the said grated, smoked cheese, could be oscypek, if one happened to be in south of Poland. Some cranberry jam/cranberry sauce. Chopped, fried shallot. Seasoning, lots of nutmeg. Twice cooked, first blanched, then quickly panfried and served with some crunchy bacon bits or soured cream, the way Florek likes his pierogi. Interesting, festive.
Lemon tart.
Just finishing the first piece. Excellent crumbly pastry, the filling as lemony as it gets, I think a touch more sugar would not hurt it, which is unusual for one of Dorotka’s recipes. Very good dessert though and not too complicated.
I had the pastry done by the time I had to get Izzie from playgroup, part one ( Father Christmas was to make an appearance today, so at 1.30 she went back in). 195 g of plain flour, 2 tbsps of icing sugar, 115 g of butter, one egg yolk, 2 tbsps of lemon juice and a splash of water to bind it- the pastry rested for 30 minutes in the fridge, then blind baked in 190 degrees for 15 minutes, minus the beans for another 5.
Filling, perfect if one’s dieting 🙂 . 5 whole eggs, 120 g of sugar, 2 tsps of potato flour, 200 ml of double cream, lemon rind of 2 lemons and 150 ml of lemon juice- all well combined and poured into the prebaked pastry. 30 minutes in 180 degrees. Must have paid attention to it every few minutes in order not to brown it too much, the pastry edges needed to be covered with alu foil.
Overall, 8 out of 10 I’d say, maybe a touch less lemon juice or more sugar.
Belgian waffles.
In spite of having a good recipe for waffles that always works, I tried a different one yesterday, one with fresh yeast and sparkling mineral water. Initially I wasn’t blown away, but Florian loved them , said they were lovely and light and that he preferred them to the other ones. There is only 1 tbsp of sugar in this recipe, I did not serve the waffles with whipped cream, as they made our lunch, but I think they will work, when we have them with everything we like. This time it was just berries and maple syrup.
About 180 ml of sparkling water, 210 ml warm milk ( some poured away to prepare the yeast, 6 g, later added back). Some vanilla extract, 2 egg yolks, 1 tbsp of sugar, a sprinkle of salt. All this made a nice batter, to which I added 270 g of plain flour and 90 of melted butter. While all this sat and proved for about 15 minutes, I whipped the egg whites and added in, then again about 20 minutes resting. And into the waffle maker, as usual. Good waffles, worth the effort.
Introduction to ancho chilies.
Having heard Rick Stein talking about their amazing smoky flavour, then Thomasina Miers about the diversity and authentic taste, I placed the order on Amazon and made tacos this evening, which were served with ancho chili salsa. I used Jamie Oliver’s recipe from 15 Minute Meals. The crowd is divided. Half of the crowd, Florek, is not quite sure if he likes it. He can take a lot more heat than me, but as for the taste he wasn’t exactly drinking this salsa. The other half, myself, did like the flavour, but could hardly take the heat in that bowl and will be reading some more about what to do with the remaining 2 anchos. We had a little of the salsa on the chicken last night, but the majority of it went to Andy’s, a big Mexican food fan and a chili enthusiast.
For the salsa, I first rehydrated the chili with enough boiling water to cover it in the blender. 2 spring onions in, 4 cherry tomatoes, 1/2 a bunch of fresh coriander with stalks, 1 fresh red chili,juice of 1 and 1/2 limes, a splash of balsamic vinegar and 1 tbsp of soy sauce. All this blitzed into a salsa and served alongside chicken tacos with cheese and avocados. Further research to be continued. 🙂