All posts by Ola

I love eating. Even more than I love cooking. My Mum got this thing into me, being a working woman with two kids and still managing to put a two course dinner on the table for us every day. My meals are a lot simpler, I cook for two, with Florian being my most devoted fan and audience. There is nothing more rewarding than a nicely turned out meal. There is nothing more enjoyable that a great plate of food in a decent restaurant with a glass of great red in a nice company. Hence this blog, to share ideas and joy of good food. Bon Appetit.
Dessert

Chocolate bomb.

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Spotted at mojewypieki.com, the silicone moulds immediately ordered from Amazon and about 3 weeks later ( the moulds came from China, it took time) I could get them done. What a fantastic dessert. It looks money, it tastes money, it’s pleasant to make. If I had put raspberries inside ( couldn’t be bothered to go and get some, had blackcurrants in the freezer and cassis liqueur, so opted out) it would have been 11 out of 10. That good! 🙂

First, the genoise sponge. 2 whole eggs at room temperature beaten into submission with 50 g of sugar, till pale, fluffy and gorgeous. 13 g of melted butter waiting its turn, while 40 g of plain flour and 16 g of cocoa gently incorporated, butter at the end. Baked in 170 degrees for about 12 minutes.

The mousse; 100 g of chopped chocolate, I used dark and milk chocolate, melted with 15g of butter, 2 tbsps of cassis liqueur- still couldn’t taste any, about 2tbsps of water.  1 egg yolk mixed in, when a bit cooled, the egg white whisked with 25 g of sugar. Also, 50 ml of whipped cream. All the components mixed together, gently, not too lose all the air.

The mousse went into the moulds, the fruit pressed into it, then 6 discs cut of of the sponge, gently smeared with raspberry jam- couldn’t taste it, but maybe it was to act as a glue mostly.  Prepared this way, the whole thing went into the freezer for about 5 hours.

The glaze is fantastic. Like a mirror and tastes good too. 2 gelatine leaves soaked, while 150 g of sugar gets heated up with 50 ml of water. Then 50 g of cocoa and 100 ml of double cream in. Straining the whole thing is a good idea, cocoa doesn’t get completely dissolved. Then just a little while in the fridge, maybe an hour, 2 at most. The bombs glazed and finished with while chocolate shavings. Triumphant!!!:-)

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Baking

Matcha macaroons.

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Just as I’m entertaining an idea of maybe baking these things for a living, today they were less than perfect. They cracked in the oven( too hot oven, according to Dorota), so I reduced the temperature and added 3 minutes to the baking time. And the filling spilled out, though I was confident it was thickened enough to hold.

Macaroons made usual way with a Wilton colourant ” leaf green”. 100 ml of double cream brought nearly to boiling point, 1 tsp of good quality green tea added. 240 g of white chocolate, in, well combined after 2 minutes of melting in the cream.  Chilled in the fridge till thick enough to pipe onto the macaroons.

The taste brings to mind green tea Kit Kats from Japan, really nice. Not too sweet. If only they looked as good as they taste, I’d be happy.

Good Food

Ham croquetas.

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Proper.  🙂

I followed Jose Pizarro’s recipe from recent GF, hoping for a dish similar to those we used to enjoy in La Tasca, Spanish restaurant in Canary Wharf,  back in Ubon times.  I do make nice roast chicken croquetas, Michel Roux’s recipe, but these are proper, with very thick bechamel type of sauce and serrano ham.  We both loved them and when I asked Florek this morning, ahead of ordering Ocado delivery for next week, if there’s anything he fancies, he asked for croquetas again, exactly the same.

So to start with I fried finely chopped leek on some olive oil, then added about 100 g of serrano ham, finely chopped too, a bit of salted butter. Then 60 g of plain flour mixed in and cooked for a couple of minutes. 300 ml of milk plus 100 ml of chicken stock, all seasoned generously with nutmeg, heated up, I added bit by bit to the ham and leek mixture. Once all the liquid was used, I cooked the whole thing on a small heat for about 10 minutes, till nice and thick. Seasoned with pepper a bit, no salt was needed. Then transferred the mixture to the baking dish, cooled, covered with cling film and chilled in the fridge for over an hour. It thickened nicely, so I was able to shape small croquetas with a spoon. Afterwards it’s the usual trick- flour, egg and panko breadcrumbs. Prepared this way, croquetas chilled in the fridge again for about 30 minutes. Deep fried, served with asparagus from Over Farm near Gloucester. Yum.

Baking

Scones.

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After the recent experience with croissants, instead of picking a recipe for a traditional English scones from a Brit, Mary Berry or maybe Hollywood boy, I didn’t. 🙂 I went to Dorotka’s again and followed her recipe. The result? Nearly perfect scones. I’d have them a touch sweeter maybe, but they’re soft, slightly crunchy on top, delicious and will be enjoyed with coffee tomorrow morning.

I used 400 g of plain flour, 100 g of cold butter, 3 tsps of baking powder, half a tsp of salt, 50 g of sugar and let Kitchen Aid mix it all nicely. 70 g of raisins, 30 g of dried cranberries, 2 eggs beaten and topped up with milk to make 250 ml of liquid. Once added the liquid to the mix, I went to combine the dough by hand, as lots of wise people say that once the scone dough is overmixed, they get tough. Quickly rolled to 1,5 cm, I cut out the scones, brushed them with a bit of egg and sprinkled a touch of cinnamon on. They baked in 220 degrees for 10 minutes.

Had to restrain my child -who was due to have her tea- from scoffing down the whole scone at once. I guess that means she liked them.

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Dessert

Lemon and strawberry cream horns.

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That puff pastry I’ve made for croissants last time, I only used half and froze the other half.  This morning I woke up with an idea how to utilize some of it.  Made cream horns, filling of whipped cream with lemon curd and fresh, chopped strawberries.  They do benefit from sitting in that filling for an hour or so, otherwise a bit chewy and unpleasant to eat.

We’re all set for today’s episode of Creme de la Creme. 🙂

Baking

Croissants from scratch, first attempt.

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Paul Hollywood has got a nice, new series on Food Network, where he travels cities and tastes/makes all sorts of good bakes. Since he visited a place in Paris, where croissants are made daily, I got excited. I thought I must try, it’s not like I have no time for  16 hour bake, right?

Obviously, I chose Hollywood’s recipe. This one:

http://paulhollywood.com/recipes/croissants/

I started yesterday, followed all the instructions, did as I was told. This lunch time there were going to be fresh croissants. I realized they might  not be as spectacular as I’d have hoped when they failed to rise, when the recipe said they’d double in size within 2 hours. After 3 I still placed them in hot oven. They then rose alright, but nowhere near doubled. Lots of butter melted out, the smell was great.  In the end they tasted ok, but they were not light and puffy, like they should have been. Crispy on top, buttery, but not the real deal. I immediately thought- the yeast. Hollywood boy always maintains in his recipes, that dry yeast is BETTER, more convenient, easily. Sorry, Paul,  in my view it’s not better.  Fresh yeast makes doughnuts like clouds, fab pizza dough and probably awesome croissants. I was still chewing on mine, while immediately checking what did Dorota from mojewypieki.com had to say. A lot, she did, she tried 3 recipes and then settled on one from some posh French boy, who recommended FRESH yeast. Which is exactly what I’ll be doing next time I’ll make croissants. Thumbs down Hollywood!

Good Food

Braised beef cheeks.

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One watches Masterchef, one gets ideas. One happens to have an excellent butcher down the road, so having seen beef cheeks cooked again, one went in and asked the butcher for the beef cheeks.  Nice, encouraging price of £3.70 per cheek,  I got excited and went home to cook. I googled a few recipes, one called for Madeira, I had none, so I went with my instinct and just braised them like I would good lamb.  Browned them first, did not trim anything off, as Toby said it would all render off nicely while cooking. When browned all over I threw in 2 chopped shallots, a carrot, some celery, some crushed garlic, bay leaves, thyme. A slosh of white wine- I had none red opened, but I’ll make sure I will have it on Sunday, when I cook them again for Izzie’s birthday.  Also, used chicken stock, on Sunday it will be beef. A few porcini mushrooms, a few whole peppercorns. And slowly on the stove for 3 hours they braised.  I finished the sauce with a bit of flour and water, it needed no extra seasoning. Served with green beans, carrots and a leeky mash.

I have to say, I loved the meat. But the opinions were different on this occasion, Florian wasn’t sold on texture ( that was the best thing about it!), but thought the sauce was great.  I found my sauce the weakest part of the plate, but hey, things will be perfected on Sunday.

Pleased. 🙂

Dessert

Grand Marnier soufflet.

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Gregg Wallace’s. I had plans to make these for a while, then I promised Florek I’d make them, if he fixed the floor boards in the bathroom. He did, so off I went and made the creme pat ready for the evening. I had to adjust Gregg’s recipe, as his was for one big soufflet, I wanted 2, max 3 ones in my small ramekins. Actually, this amount makes 5 easily.  For the creme pat I used 2 egg yolks whipped with 50 g of sugar,  20 g of flour folded in,125 ml of nearly boiling milk slowly added. Then back in the pan on a small heat and stirred till thick and lovely. When off the heat, 2 tbsps of Grand Marnier went in ( will add 3 next time, I’d have liked it a touch more boozy), and, as a slightly disappointing substitute of a finely grated zest of 1 orange- I didn’t have a single one!-I added finely chopped candied orange peel. The zest would have been great, next time!

After dinner I warmed up the oven to 200 degrees, whipped 2 egg whites with 50 g of sugar, then folded in  the creme pat bit by bit. Ramekins were ready, buttered and sprinkled with sugar. They baked for 12 minutes.  Light as a cloud, could have done with more orange flavour.

 

Baking

Berry macaroons.

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More macaroons. Red food colouring this time and inside a mixture of mixed berry coulis mixed with a touch of cornstarch, cooled and combined with mascarpone and a slosh of cassis.  The shells turned out so good, that I saved and froze 10 and decided to decorate Izzie’s birthday cake with them next weekend. Is the plan. 🙂

Baking

Very chocolatey chocolate cake.

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An only and obvious choice for Florek’s birthday. We’ve just tasted it, as the recipe said best the next day, but I must say it didn’t benefit from a night in the fridge. We’ll leave it outside in the room temperature till the evening and I’m sure the texture will improve big time.

Small round cake was made out of 100 g of dark chocolate and butter, melted together plus a single espresso and a splash of water( that’s my replacement for a tsp of instant coffee, which I don’t use, so didn’t have any), half a tall glass of plain flour mixed in a bowl together with a touch of soda, 0,5 tsp of baking powder,  2 tsps of cocoa,3/4 glass of muscovado. 2 whole eggs beaten with 35 ml of buttermilk.  All this stirred in together with a spatula, plus a tbps of hazelnut vodka- replacement for rum, either way couldn’t taste any.  Finally about 60 g of raspberries.

It baked in a lined tin for about 50 minutes, 140 degrees.

When baked, glazed with a double cream/milk chocolate mixture, plus extra fresh raspberries.

Happy birthday Florek! 🙂