Although I profess not to be a girlie woman (working from home I can usually be found sans makeup, sans brushed hair, sans jewellery, dressed in jeans, fleece and slippers), I am quite girlie when it comes to baking.  Give me some pretty food colourings and edible glitter and I am as happy as happy can be.

Regular readers will know that I am a huge fan of meringue, it is also my Mother’s favourite pudding, so I have had considerable practice in making them over the years.

This pavlova can be made in advance, and is perfect for a romantic supper at home this Valentine’s day.      If you want to make individual ones then just reduce the cooking time a little, but I think it is more fun to share?

A few hints for successful meringue making

• Do not use ultra fresh eggs – the meringue is more likely to flop
• A speck of grease or yolk will stop the egg whites whisking, make sure your equipment is spotless and take care when separating the eggs
• Add half a spoon of sugar when you start whisking the whites
• Egg whites freeze well
• Although some recipes call for the addition of cornflour and vinegar I find it makes no difference.
• Cook them last thing at night, and leave to cool in the oven

I far prefer gel food colouring to liquid, it gives a deeper colour and does not change the texture, if you use liquid colour then add a little more sugar.  Use a cocktail stick to add the colour to the meringue, a little goes a long long way.

Snip the corner off a thick sandwich bag if you do not have a piping bag.

The delightful cake stand is from Waitrose

Recipe: Valentine’s Day Pavlova

Serves 2

Ingredients

2 egg whites
90 – 100g caster sugar – 1.5x the weight of the egg whites
few drops pink gel food colouring
edible glitter

100ml double cream
(1 tbs 0% Greek yoghurt – I use Total)
Fresh berries

Whisk the egg white with 1/2 tsp of the sugar either in a stand mixer, or with a hand held electric whisk until white and frothy.  Add the sugar gradually whisking all the time until the meringue stands in soft peaks.    Add a dab of food colouring, and whisk to check the colour, you want the mix to be a shade darker than you want your finished meringue.

Using a large round tip fill a piping bag with the meringue.

Print out my Fuss Free Flavours Heart Stencil, and place onto a baking tray, under a sheet of baking parchment, and pipe out meringue to fill it, then pipe a raise edge.   This should use about 2/3 of the mix.   Alternatively make the shape using a spoon and clean fingers!   The remaining 1/3 of the mix should make 4 meringue shells.

Sprinkle with some edible glitter and place in an oven pre heated to GM2 / 300F / 150C, immediately turn the oven down to GM1 / 275F / 140C.  Cook for about 30 – 40 mins.  When the pavlova is hard and sounds hollow when lightly tapped then turn the oven off and allow to cool inside the oven.

Fill with whipped cream (I like to add a little yoghurt to cut through the sweetness of the meringue) and decorate with fresh berries.

The unfilled pavlova and meringues will keep for a week or so in an airtight tin.

Happy Valentine’s Day

Christmas is now 6 weeks ago, and a distant memory.    Love them or loathe them, the ubiquitous tins of Quality Street or Roses are regular seasonal features in many British homes and offices,  and I find the sweets that are left to last are usually the toffees.

I have nothing against toffee.  In my offshore sailing days I used to regularly make a huge batch every weekend, with the express intention of keeping one loquacious – and bad joke telling – member of the crew quiet for at least part of  the night watch.  One batch was so sticky we had to use bolt cutters to chop it into manageable chunks, and it kept the entire crew quiet for a good hour.

Given the excessive cost of dental care in the UK,  I, along with many others, am slightly nervous of pulling out a filling when chewing a toffee, so generally the toffees languish, unloved and unchewed at the bottom of the tin.

Here is an easy recipe to turn the remaining toffees into a delicious, and far less chewsome pudding, with no risk of putting your fillings out.

Recipe: Toffee Pots From Leftover Toffees

Serves 2

Ingredients

10 toffees (choc covered is fine – mine were a mix)
30g milk
60g double cream

Extra cream for serving

Unwrap the toffees and place with the milk in a saucepan, gently heat until melted and you have a smooth gooey mix.

Remove from the heat and stir in the cream.

Pour into espresso cups and chill for an hour before serving.

Also delicious with extra milk as a drink, or used as a hot sauce over ice cream.

You may also like my leftover chocolate pots!

Recipe: Coffee Crème Caramels

From WeightWatchers the Complete Kitchen by Tamsin Burnett-Hall

29 ProPoints values per recipe

Serves 6

Ingredients

150 g ( 5 1/2 oz) granulated sugar
A kettleful of boiling water
500 ml (18 fl oz) skimmed milk
4 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 teaspoons instant coffee dissolved in 1 tablespoon boiling water

1) Preheat the oven to Gas Mark 2/150 degrees C/fan oven 130 degrees C

2) To make the caramel, place 100g (3 1/2 oz) of the sugar in a saucepan with 4 tablespoons boiling water. Heat gently, stirring, until the sugar has completely dissolved

3) Increase the heat under the pan and boil the syrup for about 5 minutes or until it is a rich golden brown. Don’t stir (as it may cause the syrup to crystallise and solidify); instead, shake the pan occasionally

4) Pour the syrup into 6 150ml (5 fl oz) ramekins and swirl to coat the base of each.

5) Add the milk and the remaining sugar to the syrup pan. Bring to a simmer

6) Meanwhile, whisk the eggs and vanilla together in a bowl then add the hot milk and the dissolved coffee.

7) Place the ramekins in a large roasting tin then add boiling water to come halfway up the outside of the ramekins.

8) Strain the egg mixture into the ramekins, pouring it through a tea strainer or sieve to catch any eggy threads

9) Bake in the oven until the crème caramels feel just firm to the touch when the centre is pressed gently. Use a turner or wooden spatula to lift the ramekins out of their hot water bath and transfer to a wire rack to cool. Once cool, chill in the fridge for at least an hour.

10) To serve, run a knife around the edge of each ramekin to release. Place a plate on top then swiftly turn the plate and ramekin upside down, giving them a shake to loosen the crème caramel from its mould.

Cook’s tips

The crème caramels are baked in a hot water bath (also known as a bain marie) to give them a lovely smooth texture. Because the water can’t rise above 100 degrees C, it keeps a steady temperature so they can’t overheat and curdle as they bake.

If there are any lumps of caramel stuck to the saucepan, simply add water and bring to the boil to dissolve them. This is much more effective than trying to scrub them off

Recipe reproduced with permission from WeightWatchers.

Many thanks to WeightWatchers for the cookbook and video camera to make the film.

I am a bit of a matcha nut, and today am delighted to have some matcha from Teapigs to giveaway.  There is one main prize of a matcha gift set – with matcha, measuring scoop, whisk and shot glass worth £32.50 and a runner up prize of a tin of matcha.

Matcha not only tastes great, but it also contains 15 times as many antioxidants as regular green tea.  Also it is fab for -

• improving condition of skin, hair and nails
• providing a gentle energy boost lasting 4-6 hours
• reducing mental stress and increasing concentration

As well as all that you can use it in baking – try these matcha muffins or madeleines.

Matcha is also great in dressings too.  Here is a dressing from Laura Santtini’s new book Flash Cooking, which was featured in the Sunday Times for their healthy new year’s diet (part 2 is tomorrow).

Far Eastern (Matcha and Lime Yoghurt) Finishing Yoghurt

1 tsp matcha tea
1 tsp chopped chives
grated zest of 1 whole lime and a squeeze of juice
some dried shisho (optional)
3tbsp Greek-style live yoghurt

Try adding a pinch of wasabi for an unexpected ninja kick!

Stir this into soup, or set a dollop in the centre of each bowl, or sit them on the side of a plate to give a refreshing finish to fish, meat, and vegetable dishes. Add the ingredients shown to 3 tablespoons of live Greek-style yoghurt for enough to serve 2-3 people.

Laura Santtini, Flash Cooking: Fit, Fast Flavours for Busy People (Quadrille.£20)

If you want to try some matcha, or anything else from Teapigs, enter FUSSFREE12 at the checkout for a 20% discount.

Win A TeaPigs Matcha Gift Set

How To Enter

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For more prizes see the giveaways page on both Fuss Free Flavours, and Fuss Free Living

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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4. There is one main prize of a matcha gift set, and a runner up prize of a tin of matcha.
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Many thanks to Teapigs for the prize and for my tin of matcha.

Here is the last of the festive recipes from Miisa Mink at the Nordic Bakery.

Recipe: Frozen Lingonberry & Ginger Biscuit Cream with Balsamic Vinegar Sauce

Serves 6

40 g powder sugar (icing)
50 ml water
2 egg yolks
5 tbsp lingonberry jam
300 ml whipping cream
1 tsp vanilla extract
50 g ginger biscuits, roughly crushed

Sauce:

50 g unsalted butter
150 ml double cream
3 tbsp maple syrup
3 tbsp Golden syrup
2 – 3 tbsp Balsamic vinegar

To make the cream add sugar, water and egg yolks into a pan and bring to boil. Keep mixing well until sauce reduces. Remove from heat and set aside to cool. Add lingonberry jam and place in the fridge. Whip the cream in a separate bowl until it becomes fluffy. Fold whipped cream, vanilla extract and crushed ginger biscuits into the cooled down lingonberry sauce.

Pour into six individual serving pots or one round pie tin and place into a freezer for a minimum of 2 hours or over night. Take the frozen cream out of the freezer 15 minutes before serving.

To make the sauce, place all ingredients into a saucepan and slowly bring to boil. Simmer for 20 – 25 minutes mixing occasionally. Remove from the heat when sauce thickens. Pour hot sauce over the cold lingonberry and ginger biscuit cream and garnish with more ginger biscuits. Serve immediately.

Thank you to Miisa for letting me reproduce her recipes.  If you like this I thoroughly recommend the Nordic Bakery Cookbook.

Most people know at least something about food and wine matching, even if it is just following the most basic rule of white with fish, red with meat.    For the novice wine drinker the first differences you learn are between red and white, light or heavy, dry or sweet.   As you drink more wine your palate develops and you learn to identify and label many different tastes.   It is very similar with both chocolate and coffee.  I have realised that both are easily as complex as wine, but I have been lazy about properly tasting them, I tend to munch and gulp rather than actually taste and think.

I have been to two amazing coffee events recently that have really forced me to think about my coffee, the first was with Union Roasted (the post is coming) and the second was with Cafe Direct who invited me to a food and coffee matching class and to taste their range of Fair Trade coffees.

Cafe Direct's Coffee Tasting Flavour Wheel

I was challenged to come up with a recipe for Cafe Direct’s Kilimanjaro coffee, which they describe as bright, lively with berry and citrus flavours.   I was given a bag of apples, lemons and limes, access to some basic pantry ingredients, and set to work.

I loved my lemon & lime posset which I paired with an apple filo strudel, but was quite disappointed in the filo pastry, the resulting strudels were heavy and soggy; frankly not worth eating.  I realised after cooking them that the packet of pastry had about a quarter of the sheets that my usual brand does, but weighed the same, so the sheets were 4 times the thickness!

Photo by Cafe Direct

I have tweaked and recreated the pudding, layering the posset on top of the apple.    Served in a wine glass I think this makes an elegant, and easy pudding that you can make up to 48 hours in advance.  Perfectly fuss free!

Recipe: Apple, Lemon & Lime Possets

Makes 4

Ingredients

For the Apple Compote

2 small apples – peeled and finely chopped (this will be about 8oz / 200g prepped apple)
30g / 2 tbs golden syrup
Juice of 1 lemon
Scant amount of water

For the Posset

284ml carton double cream
Juice of 1 lemon (reserve 2 slices for garnish before juicing)
Juice of 1 lime
75g / 3oz sugar

Place the ingredients for the compote into a small saucepan and gently simmer until the apple is soft.   Allow to cool (pouring something hot into a cold glass could easily crack it) and divide between 4 wine glasses.    I use a jam funnel to ensure the fruit lands at the bottom of the glass rather than sliding down the sides.

Put the cream into a medium sized pan and bring to the boil.  Add the juice and  sugar and simmer for a minute or two stirring well.   Remove from the heat.   Allow to cool, to avoid cracking the glasses,  and then pour over the apple compote.   Chill to set for a few hours in the fridge before serving.

For an extra indulgence pour a little more cream over the top of the possets before serving.

You may also like this recipe for elderflower and lime possets.

Click for a printable recipe for  Apple, Lemon and lime possets.

Thank you to Cafe Direct for a lovely and informative evening.

For a chance to win vouchers for £500 to spend at the famous London cookery school L’atelier des Chefs, and a night for two in a hotel, head on over to Cafe Direct’s Facebook page and come up with your own recipe to match with one of their coffees.   Closing date is the 25 November 2011.

Also sending this to Cook Eat Delicious Desserts, where this month the theme is apples hosted by Nayna.

Blueberry, Avocado and Goats' Cheese Salad

Last week I attended Tech n Taste a mini foodbloggers’ conference sponsored by Talk Talk.    I am familiar with Talk Talk as a) my broadband contract is with them and b) they consistently call me at inconvenient moments which irritates me, but not enough to change internet provider.   It was an enjoyable afternoon, a chance to catch up with old friends and to revise some blogging basics.

I left the afternoon with a bag of ingredients from Capricorn Goats’ Cheese and a recipe booklet.  It seems as if I was a little too enthusiastic about filling my recycling bag that evening, as the recipes have vanished, so the salad below is my interpretation on what to do with the bag of ingredients I was given.

You will have to imagine that the photo also has avocado, I made the salad once and scoffed without taking photos, then had to have a quick rerun so I could photograph it.   Minus the avocado.   The blueberries are far more colourful and with loads more dressing than the photo shows.  Although it does sound slightly odd the hot blueberry balsamic dressing is delicious and makes this more of an autumn salad.

Goats’ Cheese, Avocado & Warm Blueberry Salad

All amounts are approximate, use common sense and the ingredients you have.

Serves 2

Good glug olive oil
Small punnet blueberries
Good glug balsamic vinegar

1 Avocado
1 Capricorn goats’ cheese
Mixed salad leaves

2 tbs pine nuts

Gently fry the blueberries in the olive oil for a few minutes, until they have softened.   Whilst doing this chop up the avocado and goats’ cheese and arrange on the salad leaves, and gently dry fry the pine nuts.   Keep a close eye on them as they go from not done to burnt in a matter of seconds.

Glug the balsamic over the blueberries and give the pan a good shake, cook for a few minutes until reduced and syrupy. Pour over the salad and scatter the pine nuts on top.

Serve immediately.

Click for a printable version of Goats Cheese Salad with Warm Blueberry Dressing.

On our recent week away in Cheltenham I made full use of the household’s  ice cream machine.   You can make ice cream without one, but have to remember to take your mix out of the freezer and stir it well on a regular basis to prevent ice crystals forming.     However, with a machine ice cream making becomes somewhat easier.

To make good ice cream you need to stir or churn the mix as it freezes, this breaks up ice crystals as they form giving a smooth cream texture, otherwise you would get a solid lump.   There are two types of machines, the cheaper where you freeze the base for 24 hours prior to use (this needs freezer space a valuable commodity in the Fuss Free kitchen), or the more expensive, larger and heavier machines that have a compressor which chills the mix.   Both have paddles that will churn the mixture.

Lakeland have an excellent machine of the first type for £39.99,  that will make a batch in 20 minutes which Solange reviewed here.

My experiments taught me a few things.

• Do not pour all your ingredients into the frozen bowl of the machine, then try to fit the paddle and the lid, especially if you have not used the machine before, and are unsure as to how it all fits together.    I did this and could not work out how the machine worked then realised that there was a layer of frozen mix at the bottom of the base that was stopping me putting the paddle in properly.    The only solution was to pour everything into another container, allow the base to defrost along with the solid ice cream, clean the base and refreeze.   This takes over 24 hours.
• Ice cream from the machine still needs a spell in the freezer to firm up, I found it very soft straight from the machine.
• My photographic skills are not up to the challenge of making ice cream look attractive.   To buy myself some time I carefully scooped my ice cream into the bowl and then popped it into the freezer for an hour so everything was solid before I started.

Many ice creams are custard based, and would be an excellent use of all the spare egg yolks I end up with in the freezer when making meringues, but we are on holiday and I wanted an ultra easy ice cream without the faff of making custard.

This is based on a supposedly no churn recipe that was in the BBC Good Food Magazine a couple of months ago.  The recipe did not really work for me as the resultant ice cream was hard and crystalline.  Only 4 ingredients are used here.  Simply pour everything in and let the machine do its magic! If destined for children leave the framboise liqueur out!  The resulting ice cream is super creamy, and if you use low fat yogurt low in fat too!

Recipe: Easy Peasy Strawberry Ice Cream

Makes 1 litre

Ingredients

500ml pot natural yogurt – any is fine
400 g tin of condensed milk
4 – 6 oz Strawberries – well mashed with a fork
Espresso cup (60ml) Framboise or other fruity liqueur (optional)

Method

Turn the ice cream machine on, pour everything in and leave to do its magic for 20 mins.

Scoop into a container and pop into the freezer to firm up.

Enjoy!

Notes

This recipe is very adaptable, try with fruity yogurt or different berries or liqueurs.

Click Here for a printable recipe

I have a confession to make that I actually made this for supper last night, but it would make a lovely weekend breakfast that is not too sinful.

At the moment people seem to be throwing yogurt at me, not literally, but in the last few weeks 3 cool bags of the stuff have arrived.  I have already written about Total and The Collective.  Both Onken and Twekkelo are in the review queue.

Making toffee yogurt by sprinkling dark brown soft sugar over natural or Greek yogurt and leaving it to dissolve is an old, but useful trick.   The resultant mixture is delicious, sticky and toffee like, but still not too sweet and with none of the nasties of many commercially produced flavoured yogurts.   Being allowed a sprinkle of dark brown soft sugar on cereal was a weekend childhood treat.

I combined my toffee yogurt, with sliced bananas, Dorset Cereals new pecan and toffee good honest crunch cereal and a few raspberries.   Dorset Crunch’s slogan of  “life is too short for boring breakfasts” reminded me that we are nearing the end of the month and I have not yet made anything for Breakfast Club, which this month is hosted by Nayna with the theme of berries.

Breakfast Club: Because breakfast should be more interesting
than tea & toast or coffee & cereal!

Recipe: Indulgent Breakfast Banoffeeish Pots

(Serves 1)

1 small banana
about 4 oz / 1/2 cup natural or Greek yogurt
2 tsp dark brown soft sugar
2 tbs crunchy cereal
handful raspberries

Slice the banana and place in a glass, cover with the yogurt, then sprinkle the sugar over and leave in the fridge overnight.

Just before serving sprinkle over the cereal and the fresh berries.

 

I see no reason why this would not work with non dairy or soy yogurt.

I recently received an e-mail inviting me to a bloggers’ Philly lunch where celebrity chef, Ed Baines would be cooking some recipes from the Philadelphia Local Heroes campaign.     Philadelphia is a very useful fridge staple that I use in a number of dishes, both savoury and sweet, cooked and uncooked.    I had not seen the competition or I would have certainly have submitted my Philly, pesto, chicken pasta (recipe below) which is easy to make, and very child friendly.

We assembled in the rather lovely kitchen above, and were put to work cooking our lunch, with lots of helpful tips from Ed and Natalie, the  London local food hero and creator of the Philly leek risotto pictured above.

This was followed by Philly chicken.  Pudding was a mini Pavlova, topped with a Philly and icing sugar mix, which tastes delicious, and contains few calories than cream.

For another sweet Philly idea of the perfect cream cheese frosting, check out Ruth’s post here.

My Philly pesto chicken pasta is my favourite thing to cook when looking after small children, it seems that all parents of small children always have chicken fillets, cream cheese and pesto in the fridge.    It is quick and easy and children (and most adults) love it.   Add some frozen peas and corn to the pasta water when it is nearly cooked.

Obviously, vary the amounts below according to the age of your children.  For adults and less fussy children add some garlic.  Also works well with ham or bacon.

Recipe: Philly Pesto Pasta

(serves 2 children)

2 handfuls of pasta shapes
1 small chicken breast diced
Small glug olive oil
1 heaped tbs Philadelphia Cream Cheese
1 heaped tsp pesto
Handful frozen peas & corn
Sprinkling of grated cheese

Put the pasta on to boil.  Gently fry the chicken pieces in the olive oil for 5 mins, until cooked and just starting to brown.  Add the Philadelphia & pesto and stir until the cheese is melted.   Add enough of the pasta water to loosen the mix so it is at a coating consistency.

When the pasta is nearly done add the frozen peas and corn and bring back to the boil.

Drain the pasta and add to the sauce, serving with a sprinkle of cheese.

I am sending this to Presto Pasta Nights, hosted this week by Cassie the Kitchen Alchemist (together with an apology for sending a non vegetarian dish)

A tired me, and stern looking Ed Baines

Thank you to Philadelphia for a lovely lunch and for all the product samples.