Marcus Wareing recently replaced Roux boy as a judge in Masterchef The Professionals. I’m a fan, though he seems to be a bit too nice for the moment, maybe he’s just warming up and his proper, strict- self will emerge soon. The night before he made a custard tart that was one of the desserts on The Queen’s 80th birthday banquet. Lots of useful, cheffy tips, I tried to remember them all while checking on iPlayer, as I baked.  I also personalized it a little, as always.

For the sweet shortcrust pastry I used 115 g of plain flour, 75 g of cold butter, 35 g of caster sugar, a zest of one lemon and 1 whole egg. Kitchen Aid worked it into a nice dough and it rested in the fridge for about an hour.

Thinly rolled and placed in my medium tart case, with pastry overflowing in case it shrunk, it blind baked for about 15 minutes in 170 degrees. For blind baking I used rice in cling film, for the first time ever, as, according to Marcus, rice fills in all those little gaps on the edges and makes the pastry base lovely and even. After 15 minutes I brushed the whole inside of the case with beaten egg yolk, to prevent any leaking of the custard- another cheffy thing I picked up. While that baked slowly, I made the custard out of 5 egg yolks, 35 g of caster sugar and 250 ml of whipping cream- new, I’d have used double cream, but I did as I was told. I also added some vanilla paste, unlike Marcus, for me custard simply must have those little vanilla seeds and the flavour. Once strained, I poured it into the case, liberally sprinkled some freshly ground nutmeg and baked for 30 minutes in 130 degrees.

Then left to cool and set  in the room temperature for 2 hours.

Of course it doesn’t look as stunning as Marcus’s, but it wobbles and tastes great.  And will be done again.

Make into a cake, obviously.  And then enjoy with a cup of coffee, instead of exercising the tummy muscles. My kinda diet. 🙂

The plums were ripening by the window for nearly a week, it was time to use them. The recipe from GF website caught my attention because of the ginger. I nearly doubled the amount suggested and I still don’t think it was enough. Either it’s time to get fresh ground ginger or my taste buds are not working properly.

The oven was warming to 180 degrees, I prepared my tin with baking parchment and some brown sugar on the greased surface, onto the sugar went quartered plums.  I melted 175 g of butter with same amount of brown sugar and about 60 g of golden syrup, left it to cool slightly for 10 minutes, while beating 2 eggs into 200 ml of milk. Into the mixture it went, plus 300 g of self raising sugar, 1/2 tsp of soda, not enough of ginger( recipe said 1 tbsp) and 1 tsp of mixed spice. Not only did I doubled the amount of spice, also chucked in some cinnamon. All baked for about 50 minutes, when slightly cooled I turned it upside down and I’m now enjoying the second piece.  Daily 17 minutes with Ewa Chodakowska are cancelled today due to lack of motivation. 🙂

Another one from Silver Fox. Nicely executed, very filling, time consuming, but worth it.

For a small loaf I used 225 g of strong white flour, 25 g of rye flour, 10 g of salt, 5 g of yeast, 170ml of water. Kitchen Aid worked it nicely for about 10 minutes, then I added 100 g of chopped walnuts.  Covered with foil, nice and cosy, it proved for nearly 2 hours. Next time I’ll use fresh yeast, will probably take less time.

When more than doubled in size, I divided the mixture in 4, flattened and added about 100 g of blue cheese ( I used St Agur, next time it will be roquefort), crumbled and divided onto 4 bits of the dough. I then tucked the cheese in, rolled the dough out into long, sausage like shape and then formed into snails and places into a lightly greased tin. That proved for nearly an hour again, then a bit of egg wash and into the oven in 200 degrees for about 45 minutes.

When out of the oven it smelled nicely of cheese, the skin was lovely and crunchy. It was enjoyed alongside butternut squash soup with a glass of chardonnay and a lovely fire burning. Good stuff.

The best thing I’ve done today, on a random Wednesday, when everything I touched sucked. When the teething baby finally fell asleep in the afternoon, I googled Paul Hollywood’s recipe I came across before going to Poland and baked.

Super easy recipe, equal amounts of 75 g of plain flour, cold butter and grated gruyere cheese and  grated with my finger too ( bathing the baby was fun, the soap and all). A sprinkle of sea salt and some black pepper, all this chilled in the fridge for 20 minutes, then rolled thinly, cut out and baked in 200 degrees for about 8 minutes.  One of the batches I mixed with a handful of sunflower seeds. Now enjoying the biscuits with a glass of chardonnay. Excellent, will be made again and again.

Since I’ve made the raspberry shortcrust cake from mojewypieki.com last month, I’ve been thinking about making it again, but better. Today I did, so I change the name though all the credit goes to the creator of mojewypieki.com.

Exactly the same recipe, same procedures, vanilla budyn though instead of raspberry, fresh strawberries instead of crappy, sour raspberries. I’m enjoying it still slightly warm. The strawberries on top let out some juice and taste like a good strawberry jam with chunks, the whole thing is light and crunchy on top. I’m not thinking- chocolate budyn and maybe cherries on top. Yeah. 🙂 To be continued.

From “mojewypieki.com” and actually, I must say, the next day it’s even better than the same day it was baked. I left it in the fridge overnight and we’re having a nice surprise this evening. The fire’s burning( 3 degrees outside), baby’s asleep, the cake is going.

I started by preparing the pears, peeling them, but leaving the stalks and cooking for about 12 minutes in water sweetened and flavoured with cinnamon and lemon juice. Kitchen Aid in the meantime was busy whipping 120 g of soft butter with the same amount of sugar, then one by one 4 whole eggs, then 150 g melted, dark chocolate with 50 ml of hazelnut vodka( the original recipe called for Disaronno, I had none and not a massive fan either). Also, 100 g of ground almonds, 20 g of flour, a tbsp of cocoa and 1/2 tsp of baking powder. All this nicely mixed went into the tin, then the pears, that were supposed to be standing, stalks protruding. It baked for about 45 minutes, nicely risen and looking great.

When baked, I made a nice little ganache of 100 g of chocolate, which I threw, broken, into 60 ml of hot double cream plus 40 ml of  the same hazelnut vodka.

Nice cake, rich, but not sickly and the soft pears are a treat. 🙂