Custard Slice, take 2.

Having watched GBBO final the night before, where custard slice was the first challenge the contestants faced, I felt like having another go at it, but I went with Paul Hollywood’s recipe this time- proper custard, none of the powdered nonsense. Also, I wanted to see how I liked the rough puff pastry, which meant making the entire thing from scratch, non buying French pastry from Polish deli for instance. The pastry worked, wasn’t too difficult and time consuming, I would maybe add just a touch of icing sugar to it next time, to make it less savoury.

225g of plain flour, 1/2 tsp of salt, 200g of cold, unsalted butter, less than 140 ml of water made it all possible, for the butter I used the coarse grater and did the folding method 3 times, like with puff pastry, only the butter all went in in one go. Once folded and rested 3 times for about 15 minutes, I then divided it into 2 and baked under extra trays to keep them flat for roughly 20-25 minutes in 200 degrees, all the time checking and making sure they don’t overbake.

In the meantime the custard got done. 500ml of full fat milk, 100g of caster sugar( some of it vanilla sugar), vanilla paste, 4 egg yolks, 40g of cornflour. Yolks beaten up with sugar, cornflour added towards the end, while the milk was getting heated up with the vanilla. The custard got finished with 40 g of unsalted butter, covered and chilled until needed.

The homemade rough puff seems to be easier to cut with a serrated knife than the shop bought one. The nicer looking sheet of pastry went on top, finished with a little icing- lemon juice and icing sugar and then some feathered pattern of chocolate. Nice cake, much better attempt than the last one. And the next day tastes even better. 🙂

Chocolate almond cake.

I accidentally made a gluten free cake yesterday. I had some good quality cooking chocolate and decided to have a go at Paul Hollywood’s recipe and while I stirred the melting chocolate I found myself looking at the recipe and realizing there is no flour there. 🙂

Chocolate cakes in our house are produced mainly for Florek. Izzie and I prefer milk chocolate, so I’ve made a small one, half a portion to make it manageable and not to waste too much.

So, to start, 130 g of dark chocolate got melted and slightly cooled. 2 egg yolks and 1 whole egg whipped into thick goodness with 105 g caster sugar. 2 egg whites whipped separately. 125 g of ground almonds. All of those gently combined baked in my smallest, round tin, lined with baking paper for about 30-35 minutes in 180 degrees.

Once cooled, some raspberry jam was smeared all over the cake before the ganache( 60 g of the same chocolate and 60 ml of double cream) was generously applied all over the cake.

It was tasted shortly after Florek’s favourite carbonara. The sounds he was making convinced me it was a good use of time and ingredients. As for me, I’m not blown away, might have a piece later while watching GBBO semifinals.

Blueberry and lime semifreddo.

The recipe for this thing has been sitting in my recipe book for a couple of years. Back in the days when Jedrek and Aska could be bothered to keep in touch, when we used to socialize and enjoy long weekends. Aska brought an ice cream machine once and made it for everyone, left me the recipe and only now I used it. I’m tempted to do it again, but to make a proper custard base, instead of whipped cream.

I used juice from 2 limes and a zest from one, slowly cooked it down with 140 g of caster sugar, before adding about 140 g of blueberries and a handful of raspberries, that were sitting there looking miserable. Cooked all this down too, till the fruit broke down, then passed it through the sieve and cooled down. Then 290 ml of double cream whipped till soft peaks formed, puree folded in, wrapped in cling film lined dish and frozen till the evening. Really nice, refreshing little number. It makes me think though, how much better still it could be if based on a nice, thick, creamy custard. Hmmm. ….

Goat’s cheese ravioli.

Last time in Cote Florek had a similar dish and was surprised at how much he liked it. So we took our pasta machine out this afternoon and collectively made ourselves an absolutely delicious dinner. Florek, as usual produced a silky smooth, wonderful pasta and rolled it out for me ready to fill. Which I did with a mixture of toasted, blitzed walnuts, a generous handful of them, roughly half and half ricotta and a goat’s cheese, some grated parmesan, salt and pepper. That’s all.

Once ravioli were cooked, I chucked them onto the pan with lots of salted butter, some pre cooked and peeled broad beans ans peas. I finished them on the plates with toasted walnuts, parmesan, black pepper and a drizzle of olive oil. Shockingly good! 🙂 Looking forward to having it again.

Tiramisu, extra special.

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

Pepper beef.

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.

Danish Pastries, debut.

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.

Thai prawn dumplings.

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!!!

“Breakfast”rolls.

Found a photo of these on mojewypieki.com and made them this morning, but for brunch. Not for breakfast. I’m coping Florek’s effective diet of eating nothing till midday and enjoying lunch then, it seems to be doing good to my waistline ( as I’m writing these words, I’m on my second g&t, munching on some particularly moreish chili and serrano crisps bought 2 weeks ago in Adnams, speaking of dieting!).

For about 8-9 rolls I used 2 tall glasses of strong bread flour, 0,5 tsp of salt, 1 tbsp of melted butter, a small egg, 1 tsp of sugar, 7 g of fresh yeast, 3/4 tall glass of tepid milk. Made the starter first- a bit of that flour,milk and all the yeast, then mixed it all in with the remaining ingredients, leaving butter till the end. The dough proved for about 1,5 hour, then, using a little rolling technique I picked up from Paul Hollywood I formed the rolls, placed them on the baking parchment, dusted with flour and left to double in size again.

I sprinkled them with some water and baked for about 15 minutes in 190 degrees. They were very much enjoyed with a lovely, creamy tomato soup, some pate and some mature cheddar. Recipe going into the book, to be used again!

Berry, maple and pecan tart.

While sitting through a vegetarian weekend in Suffolk recently I felt like doing a Sunday roast. Ewa’s was available, so was Mariusz, Tommy Banks’s recipe for roast pork belly was looking at me, there were no excuses.

I’ve done that roast today, pork was ok, but not mind blowing. There was quite a lot of leftovers, as Mariusz had to turn around before Oxford, there were issues with gear box. Luckily Ewa made it and she took some food for Sophie, who works on Sundays.

Dessert was a success. I made it yesterday and it went, all of it. Just the way I like it, the plates to the dishwasher, job done.

50g of pecans nuts, toasted, blitzed with 3 tbsps of icing sugar. 150 g of plain flour ( I added a bit more), 75 g of cold, unsalted butter. 1 whole egg. The dough chilled in the fridge for about an hour, then got rolled out and chilled again, then baked blind in 200 degrees for about 20 minutes and a few more without the beans.

For the filling I used a 250 g tub of mascarpone, 150 g of Greek yoghurt, coconut flavoured, unlike the recipe that called for plain, 6 tbsps of maple syrup and some vanilla paste. Really nice indeed. Fresh blueberries and raspberries on top. While the last piece of it was being eaten in the garden I remembered that I was going to drizzle it with extra maple syrup before serving. Next time maybe. And I think I’ll be doing my own shortcrust pastry, the very crumbly one, as those pecans didn’t really bring anything amazing to the dessert. Good, but could be better!

On the joys of cooking and eating