In which I catch back up
Aug. 6th, 2011 07:32 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kylezyIn an attempt to fix the slump in my New Year's resolution, NEW RECIPES.
Mostly deserts because I recently went on a book binge and sweets books are my favourite.
I thought I was falling behind, because I wanted to attempt at least two new recipes a month (making 24 by the end of the year) but I'm on track to hit that, knock on wood.
I've been writing this since 4am and it's now *squint* 7.30. I apologise for the mistakes that must be littered throughout.
Marshmallow Ice Cream
85g plain (dark) chocolate, broken into pieces
175g white marshmallows
150ml milk
300 ml double cream
Put the chocolate and marshmallows in a saucepan and pour in the milk. Warm over very low heat until the chocolate and marshmallows have melted. Remove from the heat and cool completely.
Whisk the cream until thick, then fold into the cold choc mixture with a metal spoon. Pour into loaf tin and freeze for at least two hours or until firm.
Verdict
Five out of five, this is so delicious. I've made it twice now: the first time I only had it in the freezer for three hours and the texture was gorgeous and almost mousse-like; the second time, it was in the freezer all day and while it's still yummy, you get residue on your spoon from the fat in the double cream. You need fruit or something with it to counter this. I used it with the next recipe below to make something special-looking.
Strawberry Doughnut Stars
Serves four
Store-bought double unfilled sponge cake slab
¼ cup caster sugar
1 tsp ground cinnamon
60g butter
1 punnet strawberries, trimmed and sliced
1 cup thickened cream
Remove both sponge slabs from packet. Cut each in half through the centre to make four thin slices of sponge. Using a large star cutter, cut two stars from each slice, making eight stars.
Combine sugar and cinnamon on a small plate. Heat half the butter in a large non-stick frying pan over medium heat. Add half of the stars and cook for two minutes each side until golden and crisp. Remove from pan and dust both sides of each star with the cinnamon sugar. Repeat with remaining stars and cinnamon sugar.
Place one star on a serving plate. Top with a few strawberry slices and cream, another star and then more strawberries and cream. Repeat process for the other three serves.
Verdict
Really, really tasty! It does actually taste like a cinnamon doughnut but I suppose anything would if you sprinkled sugar and cinnamon on it. So, like I said before, I combined this recipe with the one above. I had star-icecream-star and then strawberry slices and a dollop of thick double cream on the side. I served it for six people (I cut smaller circles instead of stars, so I got more out of the sponge) and everybody RAVED about it. Eating the sponge and ice cream together means you don't notice the fatty residue from the cream in the ice cream as much and it gives you a nice combo of warm and cold.
Leftover sponge after you cut out the stars seems wasteful, so I made a trifle the next day XD
Crème Caramel
butter, for greasing
175g plus 2 tbsp caster sugar
4 tbsp water
½ lemon
500ml milk
1 vanilla pod
2 large eggs
2 large egg yolks
Preheat the oven to 160°C/325°F/Gas Mark 3. Lightly grease the base and sides of two 600ml/1-pint soufflé dishes. To make the caramel, place 75g of the sugar with the water in a saucepan over medium-high heat and cook, stirring, until the sugar dissolves. Boil until the syrup turns a deep golden brown. Immediately remove from the heat and squeeze in a few drops of lemon juice. Divide evenly between the soufflé dishes and swirl around inside. Set aside.
Pour the milk into a saucepan. Slit the vanilla pod lengthways and add it to the milk. Bring to the boil, remove the saucepan from the heat and stir in the remaining sugar, stirring until it dissolves. Reserve.
Beat the eggs and yolks together in a bowl. Pour the milk mixture over them, whisking. Remove the vanilla pod. Strain the egg mixture into a bowl, then transfer and divide evenly between the soufflé dishes.
Place the dishes in a roasting tin with enough boiling water to come two-thirds up the sides.
Bake in the preheated oven for one to one-and-a-quarter hours, or until knife inserted in the centre comes out clean. Leave to cool completely. Cover with clingfilm and chill for at least 24 hours.
Run a round-bladed knife around the edges of each dish. Place an upturned serving plate with a rim on top, then invert the plate and dish, giving a sharp shake halfway over. Lift off the soufflé dishes and serve.
Verdict
So lovely! Rich as all fuck, but lush. I burnt the caramel a bit, so it ended up being quite a strong flavour but aside from this, it was so, so good. One of those desserts your only want once a year because the sweetness really sticks to you.
Notes
A couple of notes because this was really trial and error and if you're gong to make this, you might appreciate my mistakes.
Firstly, the caramel. It says to stir but everything I've studied says you never stir the sugar and water once it's on the heat, you swirl. So I stirred until most of the sugar dissolved, put it on the heat and then swirled the pan every so often to keep it moving.
If you've never made caramel before, the recipe is kind of vague on when to remove it because here's what happens: it goes from clear to a small patch of honey-colour in front of your eyes. But because it was such a small patch, I'm like, well, I'll wait for that patch to spread a bit, thinking the rest just wasn't cooked. Which is a big no, this is why my caramel ended up with a burnt flavour. The minute you see the honey-coloured patch, take it off the heat. The few drops of lemon juice is to cool it down and stop the cooking process.
And work quickly. I'd never made this dessert before and because the caramel is runny when you serve it, for some reason I thought it would stay that way when I first put it in the soufflé dishes. Uh no, you've got a scant minute to divide it evenly among the dishes and swirl before it sets like a rock. Instead of soufflé dishes, I used four ramekins and by the time I'd divided the caramel between them, it was already setting. You'll probably want someone with you to swirl while you pour the others because I had to make a second lot of caramel so I could cover the base of the ramekins properly.
Secondly, I studied a lot of Crème Caramel recipes and every one said you don't want to whisk the eggs too fiercely, otherwise your custard ends up frothy. Heaven forbid.
Individual Chocolate Fondant Puddings
100g butter, plus extra for greasing
100g plain chocolate, broken into pieces
2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
100g golden caster sugar, plus extra for coating
2 tbsp plain flour
icing sugar, for dusting
Place the butter and chocolate in a heatproof bowl and set over a saucepan of gently simmering water until melted. Stir until smooth, then set aside to cool.
Place the eggs, vanilla, sugar, and flour in a bowl and whisk together. Stir in the melted chocolate. Pour the mixture into four lightly greased 175ml/6-fl oz ovenproof bowls or ramekins coated with caster sugar and place on baking tray. Bake in preheated oven, 200°C/400°F, for 12-15 minutes or until the puddings are well-risen and set on the outside but still melting inside.
Stand for one minute, then turn the puddings out on to four individual serving plates. Dust with icing sugar and serve immediately.
Verdict
So delicious and very much a Winter dessert. I don't think there's any need for the caster sugar coating though, all it does is caramalise the outside of the pudding.
Frozen chocolate mousse
60g dark chocolate
60g unsalted butter
2 eggs, separated
pinch salt
1 tbsp caster sugar
Melt chocolate and butter in saucepan. Leave to cool before adding eggs yolks and stirring.
Beat egg whites and salt with electric mixer until soft peaks form. Add sugar and beat until dissolved. Stir one third of egg white mixture into the chocolate, and then fold in the rest.
Spoon into clingfilm covered ramekins and freeze for at least six hours.
Verdict
Are you understanding now that there's rarely a dessert I'll dislike? No, but seriously, awesome and easy.
Stir-Fried Eggs
250g pork mince
1 tbsp peanut oil, plus 1 ½ tbsp
6 eggs, beaten
2 tsp sesame oil
½ tsp salt, pinch pepper
3 tbsp finely chopped spring onions
1 small onion
125g frozen peas
50g ham, chopped
2 tbsp oyster sauce
Marinade - 2 tsp light soy sauce, 2 tsp Shaoxing rice wine or dry sherry, 2 tsp sesame oil, 1 tsp sugar, pinch salt.
Combine pork with marinade ingredients.
Heat wok and add oil. When hot and smoking, add pork mixture and stirfry for two minutes. Remove and drain in colander.
Combine eggs with sesame oil, salt, pepper and spring onions.
Wipe wok clean and reheat. Add oil, swirl to coat when smoking. Add onion, peas and ham and stirfry for three minutes. Add egg mixture and stirfry over high heat, folding and lifting it until the egg begins to set slightly. Return pork to wok and continue to stirfry for another minute to finish cooking the eggs and reheat the pork.
Turn onto platter and add oyster sauce.
Verdict
Four out of five. Really yummy, almost fried rice in flavour, just without rice. To beef it up, you could even add rice and turn it into a heartier version of fried rice.
Chicken, leek and lemon pie
1 tbsp olive oil
600g chicken thigh fillets, chopped
100g rindless shortcut bacon, chopped
2 small leeks, trimmed, halved, washed, chopped
2 tsp fresh thyme leaves
½ cup dry white wine
2 tbsp plain flour
½ cup pure cream
3 tsp finely grated lemon zest
⅓ cup finely chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley leaves
Mash topping
800g desiree potatoes, peeled, chopped
50g butter, chopped
¼ cup milk
Make mash topping: place potato in a saucepan. Cover with cold water. Bring to the boil. Simmer over medium heat for ten to fifteen minutes or until tender. Drain. Return to pan. Add butter and milk and mash until smooth.
Meanwhile, heat oil in a large saucepan over high heat. Add chicken. Cook, stirring, for five to seven minutes or until browned. Add bacon, leek and thyme. Cook, stirring, for five minutes or until leek has softened. Add wine. Cook for two to three minutes or until liquid has reduced by half. Add flour. Stir to coat. Add cream. Bring to the boil. Remove from heat. Stir in lemon and parsley.
Preheat oven to 180°C fan-forced. Spoon mixture into six-cup-capacity ovenproof dish. Top with mash. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until lightly browned.
Verdict
Five out of five, instant favourite. I used breasts instead of thighs, so it takes slightly less time to cook them off in the saucepan.
Mostly deserts because I recently went on a book binge and sweets books are my favourite.
I thought I was falling behind, because I wanted to attempt at least two new recipes a month (making 24 by the end of the year) but I'm on track to hit that, knock on wood.
I've been writing this since 4am and it's now *squint* 7.30. I apologise for the mistakes that must be littered throughout.
Marshmallow Ice Cream
85g plain (dark) chocolate, broken into pieces
175g white marshmallows
150ml milk
300 ml double cream
Put the chocolate and marshmallows in a saucepan and pour in the milk. Warm over very low heat until the chocolate and marshmallows have melted. Remove from the heat and cool completely.
Whisk the cream until thick, then fold into the cold choc mixture with a metal spoon. Pour into loaf tin and freeze for at least two hours or until firm.
Verdict
Five out of five, this is so delicious. I've made it twice now: the first time I only had it in the freezer for three hours and the texture was gorgeous and almost mousse-like; the second time, it was in the freezer all day and while it's still yummy, you get residue on your spoon from the fat in the double cream. You need fruit or something with it to counter this. I used it with the next recipe below to make something special-looking.
Strawberry Doughnut Stars
Serves four
Store-bought double unfilled sponge cake slab
¼ cup caster sugar
1 tsp ground cinnamon
60g butter
1 punnet strawberries, trimmed and sliced
1 cup thickened cream
Remove both sponge slabs from packet. Cut each in half through the centre to make four thin slices of sponge. Using a large star cutter, cut two stars from each slice, making eight stars.
Combine sugar and cinnamon on a small plate. Heat half the butter in a large non-stick frying pan over medium heat. Add half of the stars and cook for two minutes each side until golden and crisp. Remove from pan and dust both sides of each star with the cinnamon sugar. Repeat with remaining stars and cinnamon sugar.
Place one star on a serving plate. Top with a few strawberry slices and cream, another star and then more strawberries and cream. Repeat process for the other three serves.
Verdict
Really, really tasty! It does actually taste like a cinnamon doughnut but I suppose anything would if you sprinkled sugar and cinnamon on it. So, like I said before, I combined this recipe with the one above. I had star-icecream-star and then strawberry slices and a dollop of thick double cream on the side. I served it for six people (I cut smaller circles instead of stars, so I got more out of the sponge) and everybody RAVED about it. Eating the sponge and ice cream together means you don't notice the fatty residue from the cream in the ice cream as much and it gives you a nice combo of warm and cold.
Leftover sponge after you cut out the stars seems wasteful, so I made a trifle the next day XD
Crème Caramel
butter, for greasing
175g plus 2 tbsp caster sugar
4 tbsp water
½ lemon
500ml milk
1 vanilla pod
2 large eggs
2 large egg yolks
Preheat the oven to 160°C/325°F/Gas Mark 3. Lightly grease the base and sides of two 600ml/1-pint soufflé dishes. To make the caramel, place 75g of the sugar with the water in a saucepan over medium-high heat and cook, stirring, until the sugar dissolves. Boil until the syrup turns a deep golden brown. Immediately remove from the heat and squeeze in a few drops of lemon juice. Divide evenly between the soufflé dishes and swirl around inside. Set aside.
Pour the milk into a saucepan. Slit the vanilla pod lengthways and add it to the milk. Bring to the boil, remove the saucepan from the heat and stir in the remaining sugar, stirring until it dissolves. Reserve.
Beat the eggs and yolks together in a bowl. Pour the milk mixture over them, whisking. Remove the vanilla pod. Strain the egg mixture into a bowl, then transfer and divide evenly between the soufflé dishes.
Place the dishes in a roasting tin with enough boiling water to come two-thirds up the sides.
Bake in the preheated oven for one to one-and-a-quarter hours, or until knife inserted in the centre comes out clean. Leave to cool completely. Cover with clingfilm and chill for at least 24 hours.
Run a round-bladed knife around the edges of each dish. Place an upturned serving plate with a rim on top, then invert the plate and dish, giving a sharp shake halfway over. Lift off the soufflé dishes and serve.
Verdict
So lovely! Rich as all fuck, but lush. I burnt the caramel a bit, so it ended up being quite a strong flavour but aside from this, it was so, so good. One of those desserts your only want once a year because the sweetness really sticks to you.
Notes
A couple of notes because this was really trial and error and if you're gong to make this, you might appreciate my mistakes.
Firstly, the caramel. It says to stir but everything I've studied says you never stir the sugar and water once it's on the heat, you swirl. So I stirred until most of the sugar dissolved, put it on the heat and then swirled the pan every so often to keep it moving.
If you've never made caramel before, the recipe is kind of vague on when to remove it because here's what happens: it goes from clear to a small patch of honey-colour in front of your eyes. But because it was such a small patch, I'm like, well, I'll wait for that patch to spread a bit, thinking the rest just wasn't cooked. Which is a big no, this is why my caramel ended up with a burnt flavour. The minute you see the honey-coloured patch, take it off the heat. The few drops of lemon juice is to cool it down and stop the cooking process.
And work quickly. I'd never made this dessert before and because the caramel is runny when you serve it, for some reason I thought it would stay that way when I first put it in the soufflé dishes. Uh no, you've got a scant minute to divide it evenly among the dishes and swirl before it sets like a rock. Instead of soufflé dishes, I used four ramekins and by the time I'd divided the caramel between them, it was already setting. You'll probably want someone with you to swirl while you pour the others because I had to make a second lot of caramel so I could cover the base of the ramekins properly.
Secondly, I studied a lot of Crème Caramel recipes and every one said you don't want to whisk the eggs too fiercely, otherwise your custard ends up frothy. Heaven forbid.
Individual Chocolate Fondant Puddings
100g butter, plus extra for greasing
100g plain chocolate, broken into pieces
2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
100g golden caster sugar, plus extra for coating
2 tbsp plain flour
icing sugar, for dusting
Place the butter and chocolate in a heatproof bowl and set over a saucepan of gently simmering water until melted. Stir until smooth, then set aside to cool.
Place the eggs, vanilla, sugar, and flour in a bowl and whisk together. Stir in the melted chocolate. Pour the mixture into four lightly greased 175ml/6-fl oz ovenproof bowls or ramekins coated with caster sugar and place on baking tray. Bake in preheated oven, 200°C/400°F, for 12-15 minutes or until the puddings are well-risen and set on the outside but still melting inside.
Stand for one minute, then turn the puddings out on to four individual serving plates. Dust with icing sugar and serve immediately.
Verdict
So delicious and very much a Winter dessert. I don't think there's any need for the caster sugar coating though, all it does is caramalise the outside of the pudding.
Frozen chocolate mousse
60g dark chocolate
60g unsalted butter
2 eggs, separated
pinch salt
1 tbsp caster sugar
Melt chocolate and butter in saucepan. Leave to cool before adding eggs yolks and stirring.
Beat egg whites and salt with electric mixer until soft peaks form. Add sugar and beat until dissolved. Stir one third of egg white mixture into the chocolate, and then fold in the rest.
Spoon into clingfilm covered ramekins and freeze for at least six hours.
Verdict
Are you understanding now that there's rarely a dessert I'll dislike? No, but seriously, awesome and easy.
Stir-Fried Eggs
250g pork mince
1 tbsp peanut oil, plus 1 ½ tbsp
6 eggs, beaten
2 tsp sesame oil
½ tsp salt, pinch pepper
3 tbsp finely chopped spring onions
1 small onion
125g frozen peas
50g ham, chopped
2 tbsp oyster sauce
Marinade - 2 tsp light soy sauce, 2 tsp Shaoxing rice wine or dry sherry, 2 tsp sesame oil, 1 tsp sugar, pinch salt.
Combine pork with marinade ingredients.
Heat wok and add oil. When hot and smoking, add pork mixture and stirfry for two minutes. Remove and drain in colander.
Combine eggs with sesame oil, salt, pepper and spring onions.
Wipe wok clean and reheat. Add oil, swirl to coat when smoking. Add onion, peas and ham and stirfry for three minutes. Add egg mixture and stirfry over high heat, folding and lifting it until the egg begins to set slightly. Return pork to wok and continue to stirfry for another minute to finish cooking the eggs and reheat the pork.
Turn onto platter and add oyster sauce.
Verdict
Four out of five. Really yummy, almost fried rice in flavour, just without rice. To beef it up, you could even add rice and turn it into a heartier version of fried rice.
Chicken, leek and lemon pie
1 tbsp olive oil
600g chicken thigh fillets, chopped
100g rindless shortcut bacon, chopped
2 small leeks, trimmed, halved, washed, chopped
2 tsp fresh thyme leaves
½ cup dry white wine
2 tbsp plain flour
½ cup pure cream
3 tsp finely grated lemon zest
⅓ cup finely chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley leaves
Mash topping
800g desiree potatoes, peeled, chopped
50g butter, chopped
¼ cup milk
Make mash topping: place potato in a saucepan. Cover with cold water. Bring to the boil. Simmer over medium heat for ten to fifteen minutes or until tender. Drain. Return to pan. Add butter and milk and mash until smooth.
Meanwhile, heat oil in a large saucepan over high heat. Add chicken. Cook, stirring, for five to seven minutes or until browned. Add bacon, leek and thyme. Cook, stirring, for five minutes or until leek has softened. Add wine. Cook for two to three minutes or until liquid has reduced by half. Add flour. Stir to coat. Add cream. Bring to the boil. Remove from heat. Stir in lemon and parsley.
Preheat oven to 180°C fan-forced. Spoon mixture into six-cup-capacity ovenproof dish. Top with mash. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until lightly browned.
Verdict
Five out of five, instant favourite. I used breasts instead of thighs, so it takes slightly less time to cook them off in the saucepan.
