I’m at Mum’s in Poland. This afternoon she kept the promise of making some fresh home made doughnuts for us. The house still smells of oil, while we’re busy destroying the goods.
I was considering adding the recipe to this post, but I think it will be one of those things that I will not attempt making, as they’re only taste awesome at Mum’s. So just the photo reminder, still warm, slightly crunchy on the top, with a greasy layer left on the fingers, when picked up. Mmmmmm.
From the recent “Good Food”.
175 g of self raising flour, 1,1/2 tbsp of baking powder, 50 g of polenta( I didn’t have any, I used corn flower), finely grated zest of 2 lemons, 50 g of ground almonds and 140 g of caster sugar all mixed in a bowl, 2 whole eggs cracked in with 75 ml of rapeseed oil and 25 ml of natural yoghurt. All this roughly mixed, but not overmixed went to the tin with baking parchment and nicely baked for around 40 mins in 180 degrees ( 4). In the meantime, juice from those 2 lemons alongside 85 g of sugar and 75 ml of water was all boiled and reduced down to a nice syrup.
When the cake baked and cooled slightly, I made lots of little holes and spooned over all the syrup into them and all over the cake. It is moist, springy, lemony and enjoyable.
Very simple and tasty dessert. First I toasted the chopped pecans, it’s quite extraordinary how much flavour it brings out of the nuts. Then I whipped the cream with some vanilla paste and lemon juice, tossed in a crushed meringue nest, a good handful of blueberries,some chopped dark chocolate and stuck it all into the rings. Once again blow torch was at hand to help me get them out, but I didn’t overdo it like last time. I topped the thing with some blueberries and nuts and served. While eating it I was already thinking, something sharp like strawberry would be even better, more contrast. the texture is there, brilliant, but it needs more contrast and maybe a coulis or something. To be continued- on Saturday.
Nice one. A Valentine dessert I found in Good Food online. I even asked The Chief how to top a cold mousse with hot chocolate and end up with lovely topping, that lets out this crunchy sound when hit with a spoon.
I used 125 g of peeled and chopped ripe pears, which I cooked off with some lemon juice and a splash of Cointreau- the recipe called for Poire William liquor, I had none, and sugar. I threw a leaf of softened gelatine and cooled it outside. In the meantime I whipped up 150 ml of double cream,not too much, still quite runny, them folded in the chilled and pureed pears. Last thing to do was melting some white chocolate and topping the mousse up, once safely in the rings. They stayed in the fridge for nearly 3 hours, I used the blow torch to loosen them out of the rings, a bit too much, as they melted a bit. Very tasty though, I’m pleased.
A green tea sponge cake has been on my mind for a while, today, on my day off I got cracking. The idea came from The Chief, who made a GT tiramisu a few months ago, I thought I’d see if my mom’s sponge recipe with the addition of GT would work or not. The Chief suggested infusing the GT powder with a bit of hot milk, so it doesn’t lose the flavour. For the sponge I whipped 4 egg whites with a glass of sugar- my mom’s measurements :-), kept on adding the egg yolks, then the GT infusion, which took about 1,5 tea spoons of the GT powder and about 30ml of hot milk. Then I folded in 4 tbsp of plain flour, 2 tbsp of potato flour and 1 tsp of baking powder. All this baked in 180 degrees for about 30 mins, until the cake came off the sides of the tin. Then left to cool and sliced in half.
The cream was a bit of a challenge. I cooked budyń plus a spoonful of plain flour, cooled it and whizzed with 1/3 of a margarine. The taste was not amazing, so I threw a banana in and some vanilla paste and was then quite satisfied, so in it went, I saved some for the top, although I think white chocolate would do nicely too. I finished it off with toasted hazelnuts and flaked almonds. Next time a touch more GT powder, the colour is ok, but it could do with more flavour. Texture- spot on. 🙂
I love fishcakes. And those I made this evening were outstanding, so even though I have fishcakes in here already, here’s another fishy post.
I used a haddock fillet, which I poached in white wine with a bay leaf and some peppercorns, some shrimps, that were sitting in the freezer and saying ” please use us”. I used sweet potatoes for a change, lots of fresh chopped coriander, as always, chopped red chilli, chopped shallot and lots of seasoning. How the fishcakes keep their shape is a method ripped off Ramsay- roll them in flour first, then in egg, then in breadcrumbs. And fry in lots of oil.
Spicy chilli mayo is lovely to go with the fiscakes, as well as a fresh, green, crunchy salad.
In old days of Ubon we used to serve beef, chicken, lobster and scallops with this lovely, sharp, greyish looking sauce. I mentioned it to The Chief the other day and he produced Nobu’s recipe, complete with exact measurements and stuff. For everything else there’s Mastercard! 🙂
I adjusted Chef’s recipe, reduced by half and a bit, so I used equal amount of soy sauce and a low sodium soy sauce, about 70ml each, less than 300 ml of water, less than a quarter of chicken stock cube, then wasabi powder, about 45 g mixed with 90ml of water.All these ingredients went into the pan and were working slowly, while I cooked two chicken breasts, just lightly seasoned with salt and pepper, 5 minutes on a griddle pan, finished in the oven. I must admit I added a touch of double cream to that sauce, I thought it was too sharp, too spicy, even when served with simple chicken and rice.
Either way, Florek rated the sauce at 8 out of 10, I’m pleased with it as well. Also, just remembered I was tempted to get some wasabi paste from work last night, but I was told not a good idea, as the flavours will be a lot fresher and stronger when just mixed together.
I served my dish with simple rice and peas and quickly cooked broccoli.
Sitting and grinning. It’s such an awesome feeling when something works out so nicely, having heard that being able to make a nice soufflet is a skill every chef should be able to do with her eyes closed. My recipe comes from ” Masterchef @ Home” book I bought myself from Amazon- was on sale. For 2 soufflets I whipped 1 egg white with roughly 1 tbsp os caster sugar. Into well whipped mixture I added a ripe banana blitzed with a spoonful of honey. Gently folded and transferred into the prepared ramekins, buttered and covered nicely with sugar. Hint from Gordon Fucking Ramsay, when spreading butter on ramekins, use the brush in upward movements, so that it’s easier for the babies to rise. I baked them in 200 degrees for 12 minutes. I discovered today that if I put the ramekins on a preheated baking tray, the soufflets bake beautifully from the bottom, so when eating the very last of them from the ramekins, it doesn’t even stick to the bottom. Perfect.
I served them with a very simple raspberry sauce- raspberries blitzed with sugar.
Proud!!!!:-)
I must admit I don’t know what a traditional bakewell tart should be like, but I copied the recipe from the most recent Good Food. I needed a boost of self confidence by cooking something good, pasta worked, so did the tarts, which ended up on the floor at some point, because of me being clumsy, but I saved them somehow.
They’re very lemony, the pastry was made by combining 85 g of butter, a zest of 1 lemon, 50 g of icing sugar, 1 egg yolk, 200 g of plain flour, nicely mixed up into dough and placed in the fridge while the filling was being prepared. Zest of 2 lemons, 100g of soft butter, same amount of caster sugar, 2 whole eggs, 85 g of ground almonds and 25 g of plain flour.
While I prepared the tins with the pastry( no blind baking this time), some lemon curd went on the bottom and then the filling. Finished with flaked almonds and baked in 200 degrees for about 25 minutes. Sprinkled with icing sugar when out of the oven.
Nice, lemony, I’m happy with it!
I brought a packet of very large pasta from Italy, almost as big as a small fist. I bought it with the thought of stuffing and baking under some nice sauce. Which is just what I did tonight. I roasted off some butternut squash, with a shallot or two, mashed it with ricotta and toasted pine nuts, seasoned well and then stuffed the pasta shells with it- pipping bags came handy, again. The sauce I made to go with it needed to be quite sharp, as the filling was quite sweet, so a can of tomatoes on top of fried shallot and leeks, thickened with cream and flour.Finished off with an insane amount of fresh basil.
Baked in the sauce and under parmesan until cooked and bubbly.
Not a stunning photo, but 9 out of 10 when it comes to the taste.
