…with a cherry on top.

I was asked to bake something with chocolate and I obliged. On a Saturday afternoon with rain and wind outside and a prospect of spicy chorizo pasta in the evening- I produced little mini black forest gateaux slash chocolate muffins slash Schwartzwalder tartlets….:-)))

I baked the bases in my muffin tray, I might have paid more attention while spooning them out into it, as they rose with little peaks on top. Had they been flat, the presentation would have been a lot more professional.

For 9 little muffins I used 110 g of soft butter, same amount of sugar, 80 g of self raising flour, 2 eggs, 30 g of cocoa powder and a touch of baking powder, all for Maurycy Kitchen Aid to work into a lovely, brown mixture, which baked in 190 degrees for about 23 minutes.

When cooled and sliced in half I soaked both parts with kirsch, then spread some morello cherry jam on the bottom parts, followed by some whipped cream, but not too much, as not to make them sickly. On the cream went cherries from the kirsch, then the top of the muffin, more cream, a cherry on top and a sprinkle of dark chocolate. Very pleasant indeed.

DSC_5225

One more golden thought for improvement- next time I’ll use my Soplica Polish vodka to soak the cakes, as the kirsch thingy is rather shy on flavour.

 

Simple pineapple torte.

On the same note as the previous post, I must just add yesterday’s creation. My new cake tin, tiny and round is a perfect size, nothing gets wasted. And decorating cakes is lots of fun, I’m very pleased with the presentation. Simple sponge made of 2 egg whites, random amount of sugar, 2 egg yolks beaten in, 2 tbsp of plain flour, 1 tbsp of potato flour and a touch of baking powder, all baked for about 25 minutes in 180 degrees. Sponge cut in half and filled with whipped cream with chopped, tinned pineapple, on top toasted flaked almonds, glace cherries and a touch of love. Made us a lovely dessert to finish a very nice 2013. :-)))

 

How to use fresh raspberries in December.

I wanted to make a really fancy cake for Christmas, something between yule log and a Swiss roll, stuffed with cream and raspberries. I cocked up the base, which ended up in the bin but I really wanted to make up for it and use up the raspberries, it is after all December and I had 2 packets in the fridge ( they’re Spanish).

So I baked a simple cocoa sponge, whipped 2 whites with sugar, added the yolks, a heaped tbsp of plain flour, same of cocoa and of potato flour, a touch of baking powder and baked in my new small and cute cake tin. After 25 minutes I had a lovely brown sponge, which, when cooled and halved I generously covered with raspberries and whipped cream. To finish, I used my new decorating tips, what a joy to use!

Loving the cake, not to sweet, the base is light and tasty, the berries nice and sharp. Yum!

DSC_5185

Christmassy stilton new way.

Got this idea from The White Hart Inn festive menu, where we ate dinner with Ron a couple of weeks ago. Florek ordered it as a starter, I tasted some and thought he got the best deal of all of us. So I made it today as a starter on a Christmas Eve supper.

I mixed together crumbled stilton with some Philadelphia cheese, finely chopped toasted walnuts, a squeeze of lemon and  some pepper to taste. I served it with a toast and a simple salad of rocket, grapes, pear and dressed with olive oil and balsamic vinegar. Very nice indeed.

Orange sponge cake, upside down.

Today’s the last day of quiet before the storm, mum and dad are flying in tomorrow to spend their first ever English Christmas with us.

I was flipping through the GF recipes looking for something I could do with oranges, some kind of nice dessert to give my Master Baking mum after dinner. Found this, done it, enjoyed doing it.

While the oven was warming up to 180 C, I grated orange peel out of 2 oranges, then peeled whatever scum was left and sliced them thickly. I layered them on the bottom of the tin, ready with generous amount of golden syrup. Kitchen Aid in the meantime was busy mixing 100 g of butter, same amount of self raising flour and brown sugar, 50 g of ground almonds, 2 eggs, half a tsp of baking powder,  the orange peel mentioned and roughly chopped 2 clementines. All that went on top of the oranges and baked for about 40 minutes.

I served it with whipped cream spiked with a bit of Cointreau.

Florek says it could have done with better quality oranges, he found it a touch too sour and even bitter at times, I’d say it’s a good, moist pud. As for the upside down cakes, nothing beats the pineapple.

DSC_5167 DSC_5166

Rum n’raisin pannacotta.

Raymond Blanc winter menu features one of those. But as I’m broke and squeaking and I can’t really go to the Brasserie and give it a taste, I made my own. I soaked the raisins in Baccardi, some dark rum would have been better, but then again, not sure if Izzie would approve me feeding her  strong, dark rum through the umbilical cord, doubt it.

I used the usual recipe, 300 ml of double cream, 75 ml of milk, a bit less than 100 g sugar, 1,5 gelatine leaves. Just to make sure the flavour is there, I added about 6 tsps of the rum from the raisins. Ended up with a very pleasant, quite light dessert, the rum not too strong, raisins nice and soft, simple strawberry compote on top. 4 more small ones in the fridge.

DSC_5133

Homemade horseradish,Polish way.

The only culinary success on the day, when I cocked up a cake ( spiced date and coffee cake that worked out so nicely last time and today I managed to under bake it and it went to the bin). For dinner I had those lovely scallops from Whole Foods and some shrimps, which I served with rice and lovely broccoli, but I felt I haven’t done the scallops justice, for the first time ever I have not finished them and left 4 on the plate. I felt really bad about it!

But, as Christmas is fast approaching, I have found horseradish roots in Whole Foods, bought one and having asked my Mum how to make it as awesome as hers, I got cracking. Peeled the root first and then painstakingly grated it on the fine grater, with Florek’s help. Had to open the door to have fresh air, the smell is so strong. And so the grated horseradish, wet with our tears was sprinkled with some salt and then a mixture of boiling water, wine vinegar, sugar and more salt was prepared. Mum said it’s to be sweet- sour like, mixed into the radish. It’s ready to eat when cooled. We enjoyed it with some nice ham.

DSC_5090

Choux buns, as seen on tv.

Masterchef The Professionals is back.  The show that inspires me to get into the kitchen and do stuff. And makes me scream at the tv, when a bint, that calls herself a chef can’t make a choux pastry, “cause she didn’t really work with the pastry that much yet”. And entertains me, when the boy faces Food Critics for the first time ever and serves them duck with squid and chantilly cream with…black olives. William Sitwell said it was revolting. :-))))

Last week Michel Roux asked them to make choux buns with mornay sauce and a beer and onion soup. As for the soup I wasn’t excited, so I made one of my favourites, carrot and coriander, but the buns I had to try and they worked great. I used the same recipe like for profiteroles, minus the sugar, so 50 g of butter with 150ml of water heated up, 75 g of strong white flour added and worked until it came of the side of the pan, then transferred to Kitchen Aid to fininsh the job, with 2 whole eggs added slowly. Baked in 220 degrees for about 22 minutes.

Mornay sauce, just like bechamel, but with added grated cheese, Michel says gruyere, I had grated cheddar, so in it went, lots of nutmeg and seasoning plus chopped serrano ham. Next time will chop it more finely, as it was getting stuck in a pipping bag exit and it took me 10 minutes to fill the buns.

All in all, very good, very filling, very tasty with sweet soup. Yum.

DSC_5079 DSC_5080

Tortellini, as remembered from Florence.

It was time for a home made pasta again, so we opted for the dish, that I so loved in Florence 2 years ago. The problem was I didn’t quite know in details what went into the filling. I asked Michele, my fellow foodie friend born in Sicilly, therefore a bit of an expert. Miky suggested adding some ricotta to the potatoes, as not to overpower the flavour of truffles. He also mentioned gorgonzola, as a nice combination in a potato filling, minus he truffles then, but as I can’t have blue cheeses at the moment, this idea will be returned to.

Florian made fresh pasta, as always, I made the filling and all the labour. To the potatoes I added some ricotta, a handful of parmesan, finely grated, a pinch of nutmeg, salt, pepper and a bit of truffle oil.

Having shaped the pasta I boiled it for about 3 minutes, then served with some melted butter, parmesan shavings, more truffle oil and some chopped parsley. Not a single one was left, we pigged it all. It was a lovely dish, not as mind blowing as the one in Florence, but nevertheless we’re pleased with it. Yuzu possets awaiting in the fridge for dessert.

DSC_5065

 

On the joys of cooking and eating