I regard myself as English, and I do not go in for indulging in St Patrick’s day festivities, I simply do not see the need, or want, to use it as an excuse to party.  Anyway, if I desire to paint the town green during  March I have the rather lesser known St Chad, who occupies a special place in my heart.

Like both Oxford and Cambridge, Durham University is run on a collegiate system, although unlike Oxbridge teaching is all done in the department.     Your college is where you live, play and make life long friends.  I am proud to have gone to Durham for 4 years (I stayed an extra year for my masters) and am even more proud to have been a member of St Chad’s College, where the college colour was green.

Not that much is known about St Chad, he was one of 4 brothers, (the other three were rather marvellously called Cedd, Cynibil & Caelin).   He is featured in the works of St Bede and is widely thought to have bought Christianity to the Mercian kingdom.   Chad spent some of his early years at the monastery at Lindisfarne when St Adian was abbot.     He travelled to Ireland and was also abbot of the monasteries of Lastingham and Litchfield.   Chad died of plague on the 2nd of March 672.

The names of these Northumbrian Celtic saints trip off my tongue, and in Durham there are also colleges named after both Adian and Bede.   I wonder how many alumni have more than a scant knowledge of their lives and history.

Being students, St Chad’s day was invariably alcoholic, we started off by drinking and so continued.   The kitchen rose to the spirit of the occasion and provided us with a green breakfast, with copious quantities of green food colouring added to porridge, milk and scrambled eggs (invariably when coupled with the excessive drinking first thing this did lead to some members of the college producing piles of green vomit).

The green meal is a tradition that I have continued with university (and other friends) over the years, and this year I made a green Pavlova.   Green meringue, green cream and green fruit.

Because you cook meringue at a low temperature it keeps its colour well, tint it a shade darker than you want your baked meringue to be.   It is worth investing in gel food colourings, they give deeper and richer colours.

I filled with elderflower cream and topped with green fruit, for a pudding fit for a saint.

Recipe: Green Pavlova for St Chad

Serves 8 – 10

Ingredients

4 egg whites
180– 200g caster sugar – 1.5x the weight of the egg whites
few drops green gel food colouring
edible glitter

200ml double cream
4 tbs icing sugar
4 tbs elderflower cordial
few drops green gel food colouring

Green fruit

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.

Turn out the meringue onto a sheet of parchment paper on a baking tray and shape into a next about 10″ accross.

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 40 – 50 mins.  When the pavlova is hard and sounds hollow when lightly tapped then turn the oven off and allow to cool inside the oven.

Whip the cream, cordial and icing sugar until it holds soft peaks and fill the meringue, then decorate with sliced green fruit.

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

If you must, you could make a green pavlova for St Patrick too.

I leave you with the college hymn, we used to sing cross dresser rather than confessor at the end of the first line!

Sons of St Chad

Sons of St Chad, great Bishop and Confessor,
Called to the Ministry of Christ your Lord;
Sons of St Chad, His love is watching o’er you,
From all eternity the Heavenly Word.

Sons of St Chad! His love is watching o’er you,
As in his worship bright you take your part.
Oh! Let His cross go, all your life, before you:
Bring joy and gladness to His Sacred heart.

Sons of St Chad, while life and health are given to you,
Work: and your minds with sacred learning store.
Through Jesus’ Blood, your sins have been forgiven you;
For you His agony and wounds He bore.

Sons of St Chad! Ambassadors for Jesus,
Ever be firm and true in heart to Him.
From the right hand of the Father still He sees us;
In manhood’s strength, and when the eyes grow dim.

Sons of St Chad! Eternity is dawning;
And soon our glorious Lord shall come again;
Worship and Work; till breaks that wondrous morning
When Chad, and all the Saints, with Him shall reign.

As this is a meringue I can send it to this month’s Alphabakes where the letter is M.  Thanks to Baking Addict  and Caroline for hosting the challenge.

And to Gimme Green at Chef Al Dente

And lastly, I am sending this to Flavours of Russia hosted at Serna’s Garnish Food.  I know that Pavlova is not a Russian dish, but given it was created in honour of Russia’s greatest ever ballerina, Anna Pavlova, I think that it is a suitable submission.

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.

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.

This is a timely post, as next week the contestants on the Great British Bake Off will be challenged with making a croquembouche.  Admittedly profiteroles are not quite a croque, but if you can make a good choux bun and creme patisserie you are halfway there.

Along with Sarah, Katie and a non blogging friend I was actually filmed making a croquembouche earlier this year for Baking Mad with Eric Lanlard, but sadly our episode ended up on the cutting room floor, due to a “misunderstanding” between the production company and Channel4.

Personally I suspect that our baking skills were beyond the scope of the programme, as we not only managed to successfully make choux buns, creme patisserie and stuck it all together, we also found the time to decorate our croquembouche with macarons and sugar paste flowers as well as the obligatory spun sugar!    However that is the subject for another post, but if you are curious here is the croquembouche.  It is not perfect, but it was only the second time we had made choux or creme patisserie.

Not bad for a first attempt at a Croquembouche

Consequently, I shall be howling with rage at the Bake Off next week, when they once again make out that baking is so very very difficult.  I shall, yet again, point out that it is a matter of practise.  Great bakers are made not born.      Not that I can take the Bake Off seriously anymore having read Sarah’s review of Mary Berry’s lemon drizzle cake mix.

The practice point is made by the lovely Holly on the GBBO this year with her macaron recipe where she says that she had to make about 1000 of them before she could rely on them working every time.    I reckon that is at least 15, if not 20 batches.    How many people in the country have actually baked 15 batches of anything?  I am not knocking her skill, but of course she is good at them by now!

At this point I feel the need for a little Roy Castle of Record Breaker fame.    1980′s yes, but it did make a good point to an entire generation of children.

Tolberone have a new recipe tab on their facebook page, and asked me to come up with a recipe for them.

Toblerone Choux Buns

makes around 18

Toblerone Creme Patisserie (make this up to 3 days in advance)

250ml milk
2 tbs cornflour
100g sugar
1 egg
2 egg yolks
30g butter
100g Toblerone (I used milk)
1 tbs honey

Put the cornflour into a bowl, add a couple of tablespoons of milk and mix to a paste.

Add the remainder of the milk, sugar and Toblerone to the saucepan and gently heat until the chocolate is all melted.

Add the egg and yolks to the cornflour paste and whisk well. Pour over about 1/3 of the hot Tolberone mixture, whisking well.

Pour the hot Toblerone egg mixture into the saucepan, stirring well all the time (I use my electric handheld whisk in the saucepan – if you do this please be VERY careful with the powercord). Bring the mixture back to a gentle simmer, whisking all the time and scraping the sides and bottom of the pan with a spatula (the creme will thicken here first). The mixture will thicken quite quickly.

Pour into a bowl, add the honey and butter and whisk again until quite smooth. Cover the surface of the creme with cling film and once cool put into the fridge.

Choux Pastry

175ml water
85g butter
150g plain flour
Pinch salt
4 eggs

Put the water and butter into a pan and bring to the boil. Remove from the heat and stir in the flour & salt. Return to the heat and cook for minute or so stirring all the time until the mixture has dried slightly.  Remove from the heat and add each egg, one by one stirring well between each addition.

Heat the oven to 425F / 220C / GM 7 and line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

Put the batter into a piping bag (I use disposable ones) and just snip the end off, otherwise use a 1cm tip. Pipe walnut sized dollops of the batter. Smooth the peaks on the top of them with your finger.

Cook for 10 minutes until puffed and golden. Turn the oven down to 350F / 180C / GM5 and bake for another 20 mins to dry out. When I turn the oven down I usually turn the puffs over and spike them with a skewer to let the steam out. Keep an close eye on them. If you have a fan oven I find that it is better to turn the fan off if you can.

Once the buns are cool fill a piping bag with a small tip with the creme patisserie and fill each bun.

Brush melted chocolate over each bun. You can melt chocolate in the microwave on the lowest power if you keep a careful eye on it. I found the melted Toblerone quite stiff so added a drop of olive oil to make it spread more easily.

Click here for a printable recipe

There are more Toblerone recipes on their website here.

Many thanks to Toblerone for the bag of ingredients.

I am also sending this to We Should Cocoa ( set up by Chocolate Log Blog and Chocolate Teapot) for their first birthday party.

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.

Imagine a rich, buttery, velvety smooth chocolate mousse; one so rich that an espresso cup full is more than enough.  Now imagine that the little fat in this mousse is primarily monounsaturated (thus good) and the entire pudding is cholesterol free.    Now imagine that this pudding also contains no refined sugars and takes less than 5 minutes to prepare.

Created using Clearspring’s new organic silken tofu which when whizzed up is deliciously creamy,  this was partially inspired by Jac and by an avocado chocolate mousse that can be found all over the internet.    I need you to trust me here, the finished product does not taste of either avocado or banana although on the surface they do seem to be odd ingredients.

This is probably more of a chocolate pot than a traditional mousse, without raw eggs it is safe for small children to eat, and there is no worry about the mousse separating in the fridge.

So Healthy Chocolate Mousse (serves 6)

1 350g carton silken tofu
1 ripe banana
1 avocado
4 dsp cocoa powder
4 dsp maple syrup
Scant zest of half an orange

Cacao nibs (optional)

Add all ingredients to the food processor and whizz.    Dollop into ramekins, or if feeling fancy, chill and then pipe into espresso cups.   Sprinkle with cacao nibs.

Enjoy and polish your halo for being so healthy.

Sending to this  month’s Sugar High Fridays, where the theme is grain free,  hosted by Z at Z”s Cup of Tea.

Would you believe that I had never made custard until earlier this evening?     I am somewhat surprised myself, but think it is because I thought I preferred cream.    I think I could become addicted.  This was delicious and very easy!

But I think that the recipe makes it more complicated than it need be.

Split a vanilla pod, scrap the seeds, infuse in the milk, then wash & dry the pod which can then be used in vanilla sugar? I do not think so!  It is not fuss free and certainly not how I cook.  I used a good dab of vanilla bean puree; I have been using Taylor & Colledge.  If you do not mind not having the little black flecks of vanilla seed I highly recommend using Steenbergs vanilla extract, which is both organic and Fairtrade.  (They also have 5 different types of vanilla pods and tonka beans too.)

Pour the warm milk from the pan onto the egg yolk and sugar mix, whilst stirring constantly? For goodness sake just whack it directly into the warm milk and give a good stir, as long as the milk is not too hot it will be fine.

Serve as soon as possible? Mine was left in the pan, got cold and was reheated and was quite perfect with not a hint of skin; despite the fact I did not sprinkle it with sugar as directed.

I think that the recipe misses a trick by not giving any indication of how long the custard takes to thicken, and it does not point out that the spare egg whites can be used in recipes A, B or C or frozen for future use.

All in all delicious custard, and something I shall  be forsaking my cream for in the future.

The Great British Bake Off.

]]> http://fussfreeflavours.com/2011/01/bake-3-custard-the-great-british-bake-off-cookbook-challenge/feed/ 5 http://fussfreeflavours.com/2011/01/bake-2-seville-orange-marmalade-pudding-the-great-british-bake-off-cookbook-challenge/ http://fussfreeflavours.com/2011/01/bake-2-seville-orange-marmalade-pudding-the-great-british-bake-off-cookbook-challenge/#comments Mon, 03 Jan 2011 21:30:59 +0000 Helen http://fussfreeflavours.com/?p=2279 The Second Bake of my Great British Bake Off Cook Book Challenge.

This is an orange sponge pudding with marmalade that is cooked in the oven rather than steamed; which is meant to be far easier, especially if you have the oven on anyway.

But I have to say I am slightly cross.     I halved the recipe, but did not half the amount of marmalade in the pudding and I still have far less than the photo in the book, where a seemingly huge dollop of extra marmalade has been put on the pudding.   I know that there is artistic license allowed in food styling, but the recipe does not suggest using additional marmalade to serve.   Given the success of the programme, I would think that many first time bakers have bought the book and will be cooking from it, and I think that this is not fair to them.  A less experienced cook may simply be disheartened by this rather than realising the food has been styled “out” of the recipe.  I am also fairly certain that the pudding would have been better, or at least tasted more steamed, had it been covered whilst baking.

The pudding was OK, but not a recipe to cook again.  If I want a steamed pudding I will use my microwaved steamed pudding recipe as a base.  It is easier & far quicker then cooking in the oven.   My version is both egg and diary free without sacrificing either flavour or texture,  so it contains no cholesterol; therefore you can choose between feeling virtuous or tuck into the cream and custard with impunity!

It would appear that Fuss Free Flavours has recently become a chocolate baking blog.   This is not my long term intention, and normal fuss free service will be resumed soon, but this cake was too good not to blog.   It is also fairly fuss free, the recipe both having a forgiving nature and being of the bung-it-all-in-a-food-processor-and-whizz style of baking that I favour. 

The cake was baked by me, last week, for my birthday party.   I know that something was slightly amiss here, baking your own birthday cake is none too joyous, but people were coming round and I had set myself the task of making sushi, chilli and baking a cake.  All within 2 hours.    Yes, maybe I wanted to show off just a little.  I wanted to make my easier than pie chocolate amaretti cake (which I have just realised that I had not made for 3 years).   I got off the bus with my shopping and realised that despite the first item on my shopping list being amaretti biscuits I had forgotten to buy them.     There were no amaretti biscuits to be found in West Kensington, but I remembered I had a tin of Swedish Ginger Thin biscuits from the fantastic Ikea Swedish Food market that would make a good substitution.

This made a good dense chocolate cake with a firm hint of ginger.   I find nutty flourless cakes are great for puddings, but they do need that large dollop of cream to lift them.   As it was a celebration a sweetened boozy cream was just the ticket.

Chocolate & Ginger  Cake (serves 12 or 8 chocoholics)

2 oz / 50g  ginger thin biscuits
4oz / 100g almonds
7 oz / 175g sugar
4oz / 100g butter
4 eggs (free range please)
6 oz / 150g dark chocolate
Zest of 1 orange

Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas Mark 4, grease the tin and line the base with greaseproof paper.

Put the biscuits, almonds and sugar into the food processor (I use a Magimix) and blitz until all are finely ground, add the butter and eggs and blitz again.

Meanwhile break the chocolate up into a bowl and stand over a saucepan of just simmering water until melted.

Add the melted chocolate and orange zest to the food processor and pulse briefly until mixed. Pour the batter into the cake tin.

Bake for about 35 minutes – when ready the cake would have risen and would have started to crack at the top and round the edges. Leave to cool for 5 mins then run a knife round to separate it from the tin, then release the clip. When cold you can transfer it to a plate.

Serve dusted with cocoa powder or icing sugar and lots of whipped cream.

Boozy Whipped Cream

300g pot double cream
1 tbs brandy
2 tbs icing sugar

Bung in a bowl and whip with a hand blender.

It took about 50 minutes to cook, I think that it was something to do with the sauce being so thick?   I served it with some pears, simply peeled and cored, then fried in butter and sprinkled with sugar and left to caramelise in the pan for 5 minutes. 

Chocolate Risotto (Serves 4)

1oz  / 25g butter
40z / 100g risotto rice
1.5oz / 35g cocoa powder
2oz / 50g plain chocolate
2oz sugar
¾ pint / 425ml milk
zest of half an orange – finely grated
Espresso cup of brandy

Melt the butter in a saucepan and fry the rice until it is translucent, add the cocoa, chocolate and sugar and cook for a minute.     Slowly add in the milk stirring.    Leave to cook over a low heat, stirring every few minutes, adding more milk when needed until the rice is plump and cooked through.    Add the orange zest and brandy (or run, orange liqueur etc) and serve with some poached fruit, I think that cream and fresh berries would also work well here.  Enjoy!

This is the pudding that I came up with for the recent foodbloggers’ Masterchef cookoff with Miele.    When planning a menu it is perfectly normal and reasonable to come up with a pudding first and then plan a main course to go with it?   I wanted a very summery pudding using my homemade elderflower cordial;  it also had to be very quick to make, impossible to mess up and hopefully delicious.   I think that I have attained all 3 requisites here.   Looking back over my archives it would also seem that possets will freeze well too.

As these possets have extra liquid from the cordial added to them I used extra thick double cream to make sure they set.

Lime & Elderflower Possets (makes 4 – 6)

284 ml carton extra thick double cream
2 oz sugar
juice and zest of one lime
1tbs (15ml) elderflower cordial

Simply scrape the cream into a saucepan and bring to the boil keep a close eye on it as  it can very rapidly (and messily) boil over.  While the cream heats zest the lime into the pan.   Once it boils, add the sugar, lime juice and cordial.   Simmer for a minute stirring well until the sugar has dissolved.     Pour into serving dishes – 4 ramekins or 6 espresso cups.   Chill until set before serving.    I made these and they were set in under an hour.

I served with strawberries marinated in elderflower cordial and Irish lace biscuits (recipe to come)

I have not seen my friend Sue for seemingly eons, so I texted her yesterday and asked her over for brunch.   She is having a work crisis but said she would love to pop by for an hour.   As she is a self confessed chocoholic I designed these muffins just for her.

These follow my usual muffin recipe;  but in these the orange zest reacts with the baking powder when you mix the wet and dry ingredients together giving the batter a fluffy almost moussy consistency.     We scoffed these when they were still warm, enjoying the still molten chocolate chips.   The photos are not going to win me any prizes, obviously we were keen to eat them as soon as possible.

Double Chocolate Cranberry and Orange Muffins (makes 4 medium muffins)

“Dry” Ingredients
4.5oz plain flour
1.5oz  sugar
0.5oz cocoa powder
Finely Grated zest of one small orange
1 Large tbs chocolate chips
1 tbs cranberries (I snipped the larger ones in half)
1tsp baking power
pinch salt

“Wet” Ingredients
4.5oz  milk (I use soy)
1.5oz  sunflower oil

Whisk the oil and milk mixture with a fork.   Mix the dry ingredients.  Add the wet ingredients to the dry and fold together (the batter should be lumpy and mixing should take no more than 15 folds).   Bake at GM5/190C/375F in your favourite muffin pan for 20 – 25 mins until risen.

A very happy Easter to everyone. Normally Fuss Free Flavours is mainly fairly healthy, but Easter is upon us and a sinful pudding is allowed once in a while, and frankly the weather is London is so dreary that I think that a sinful pudding is mandatory for everyone. And it is Easter and this is a very easy fuss free pudding.

I never have really been a fan of bread and butter puddings as I have always had a bit of a texture problem with the eggy bread that to my mind is slimey and really not at all nice (I also cannot eat Chinese egg soups for a similar reason. But lots of people adore bread and butter puddings and I was determined to give them another try. For 4 people (well 3 greedy people) I only used one egg that seemed to do the trick in making a lovely custardy sauce that did not have a hint of eggyness or slime. I think I am converted.

Caramel Croissant (Bread) and Butter Pudding (Serves 4 – or 3 depending on greed)

Sauce
6oz / 170 g single cream
6oz / 170g soft dark brown sugar
3 oz / 85g butter
2tbs / 30ml brandy or rum

1  egg beaten
pinch salt

3 day old croissants
pat of butter

Mix the egg into the cream, put all the sauce ingredients into a pan and heat gently stirring until the butter and sugar are melted and you have a thick golden caramel sauce I heated mine slightly too much and it curdled, but this did not effect the taste at all.

Diagonally slice the croissants (to give bigger slices) and arrange in a greased oven proof dish and pour the hot sauce over. Bake at GM5 / 190C / 375F for about 30 mins. The sauce should have soaked into the croissants and be lovely and gooey and the croissant crusts should be crisp. Serve immediately with more cream. Resolve to exercise the next day!

The May Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Linda of make life sweeter! and Courtney of Coco Cooks. They chose Apple Strudel from the recipe book Kaffeehaus: Exquisite Desserts from the Classic Cafés of Vienna, Budapest and Prague by Rick Rodgers.

It seems like I am constantly playing Daring Bakers / Cooks catch up so yet again I am a few days late.  Apologies once again to the lovely Daring Bakers hosts who tirelessly host these challenges.

I was delighted to see that the challenge was for Apple Strudel, something that I have never made before, and something that; compared to some of the more indulgent challenges is relatively healthy – even counting towards my 5 a day!

I actually found this a very easy challenge to make, I was suprised at how easy I found the stretching of the dough to be (I worked on a large tea towel which I could rotate on the work surface).  For my filling (I had run out of bread to make crumbs from) I used a layer of  homemade apple butter (if you have not made this then I higly recommend it as it is delicious) topped wtih a layer of bramley apples that had been tossed in a demerara sugar and cinnamon.   

This is definately on my to cook again list – I can see an apple and mixed berry strudel for autumn or an apple and ginny damson strudel to use up the damson gin damsons!

Having just posted the full recipe I have realised that I somehow managed to leave out the vinegar from the strudel dough!

Many thanks to Linda and Courtney for choosing and hosting a great challenge.

The full recipe is below:

Preparation time
Total: 2 hours 15 minutes – 3 hours 30 minutes

15-20 min to make dough
30-90 min to let dough rest/to prepare the filling
20-30 min to roll out and stretch dough
10 min to fill and roll dough
30 min to bake
30 min to cool

Apple strudel
from “Kaffeehaus – Exquisite Desserts from the Classic Cafés of Vienna, Budapest and Prague” by Rick Rodgers

2 tablespoons (30 ml) golden rum
3 tablespoons (45 ml) raisins
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/3 cup plus 1 tablespoon (80 g) sugar
1/2 cup (1 stick / 115 g) unsalted butter, melted, divided
1 1/2 cups (350 ml) fresh bread crumbs
strudel dough (recipe below)
1/2 cup (120 ml, about 60 g) coarsely chopped walnuts
2 pounds (900 g) tart cooking apples, peeled, cored and cut into ¼ inch-thick slices (use apples that hold their shape during baking)

1. Mix the rum and raisins in a bowl. Mix the cinnamon and sugar in another bowl.

2. Heat 3 tablespoons of the butter in a large skillet over medium-high. Add the breadcrumbs and cook whilst stirring until golden and toasted. This will take about 3 minutes. Let it cool completely.

3. Put the rack in the upper third of the oven and preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C). Line a large baking sheet with baking paper (parchment paper). Make the strudel dough as described below. Spread about 3 tablespoons of the remaining melted butter over the dough using your hands (a bristle brush could tear the dough, you could use a special feather pastry brush instead of your hands). Sprinkle the buttered dough with the bread crumbs. Spread the walnuts about 3 inches (8 cm) from the short edge of the dough in a 6-inch-(15cm)-wide strip. Mix the apples with the raisins (including the rum), and the cinnamon sugar. Spread the mixture over the walnuts.

4. Fold the short end of the dough onto the filling. Lift the tablecloth at the short end of the dough so that the strudel rolls onto itself. Transfer the strudel to the prepared baking sheet by lifting it. Curve it into a horseshoe to fit. Tuck the ends under the strudel. Brush the top with the remaining melted butter.

5. Bake the strudel for about 30 minutes or until it is deep golden brown. Cool for at least 30 minutes before slicing. Use a serrated knife and serve either warm or at room temperature. It is best on the day it is baked.

Strudel dough
from “Kaffeehaus – Exquisite Desserts from the Classic Cafés of Vienna, Budapest and Prague” by Rick Rodgers

1 1/3 cups (200 g) unbleached flour
1/8 teaspoon salt
7 tablespoons (105 ml) water, plus more if needed
2 tablespoons (30 ml) vegetable oil, plus additional for coating the dough
1/2 teaspoon cider vinegar

1. Combine the flour and salt in a stand-mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Mix the water, oil and vinegar in a measuring cup. Add the water/oil mixture to the flour with the mixer on low speed. You will get a soft dough. Make sure it is not too dry, add a little more water if necessary.
Take the dough out of the mixer. Change to the dough hook. Put the dough ball back in the mixer. Let the dough knead on medium until you get a soft dough ball with a somewhat rough surface.

2. Take the dough out of the mixer and continue kneading by hand on an unfloured work surface. Knead for about 2 minutes. Pick up the dough and throw it down hard onto your working surface occasionally.
Shape the dough into a ball and transfer it to a plate. Oil the top of the dough ball lightly. Cover the ball tightly with plastic wrap. Allow to stand for 30-90 minutes (longer is better).

3. It would be best if you have a work area that you can walk around on all sides like a 36 inch (90 cm) round table or a work surface of 23 x 38 inches (60 x 100 cm). Cover your working area with table cloth, dust it with flour and rub it into the fabric. Put your dough ball in the middle and roll it out as much as you can.
Pick the dough up by holding it by an edge. This way the weight of the dough and gravity can help stretching it as it hangs. Using the back of your hands to gently stretch and pull the dough. You can use your forearms to support it.

4. The dough will become too large to hold. Put it on your work surface. Leave the thicker edge of the dough to hang over the edge of the table. Place your hands underneath the dough and stretch and pull the dough thinner using the backs of your hands. Stretch and pull the dough until it’s about 2 feet (60 cm) wide and 3 feet (90 cm) long, it will be tissue-thin by this time. Cut away the thick dough around the edges with scissors. The dough is now ready to be filled.

I wanted to make a zesty pudding  for spring so used a combination of lemon and cardamon, being egg and diary free this pudding is also chlorestrol free, making cream an almost guilt free addition (this being the same logic that allows a pizza after the gym!).  The addition of the carrot adds extra sweetness and colour and by contributing to one of your 5 a day adds to the guilt free aspect of the pudding!

Lemon & Cardamon Steamed Pudding (Serves 4)

Lemon Cardamon Syrup
10 cardamon pods
4oz white sugar
1 lemon

Lightly crush the cardamon pods and remove the seeds, discard the cases.   Zest the lemon, then cut into quarters (you can juice it but boiliong the leomon quarters in the sugar syrup will extract all the flavour and save you the time of squeezing the lemon and then washing the squeezer).  Add to a saucepan along with the cardamon seeds and sugar, add 1/3pt water, bring to the boil and simmer for about 15 mins. Cool, squeeze the lemon rinds and discard.

Whilst the sauce is simmering prepare the pudding.

Pudding
Wet Ingredients
2oz sunflower oil
1oz lemon juice*
3oz milk (I used soy)

Dry Ingredients
4oz plain flour
2oz sugar
zest of one lemon
1 tsp baking powder
pinch salt
1 medium carrot finely grated.
6 cardamon pods – lightly crush – discard the outside and crush the black seeds.

Place the wet ingredients into a jug and whisk.  

Place the dry ingredients into a basin, mix well, pour the wet into the dry and stir well until you have a smooth batter with no lumps.

Grease a pudding basin, add half the lemon syrup, carefully pour the batter over, making sure the syrup is covered.  Cover with cling film and pierce once or twice.

Then microwave on full power until done It took 4 mins in mine, but as all microwaves are different cook in 1 min bursts until it it risen (I use a galss basin so I can see the pudding rise as it cooks) and a cocktail stick inserted into the middle comes out clean.    When cooked let it stand for a min or two.  Run a knife round the base, put a plate over the bowl and flip. the pudding should turn our, pour the rest of the syrup over and serve immediately.

 Note:  I adore cardamon and this pudding does taste strongly of it, so you may want to use slightly less than I have.

* Fuss Free Tip:  Freeze any left over lemon juice in an ice cube tray, each lemon cubeis perfect for adding to baking or for salad dressings.

I love gyoza and whenever I go to Chinatown I buy a few packets of wrappers to keep in the freezer until I next have a gyoza craving, I could make my own wrappers, but frankly life is far too short and the ready made ones are delicious, cheap and fuss free. Gyozas (or potstickers) are little pastry wrapped parcels that are fried and then steamed and eaten with a dipping sauce.

Gyozas are usually savoury, but recently I saw sweet gyozas on the menu at Root-Master and thought that it was a brilliant idea and set about recreating it at home. I filled them with stewed apple and blueberry and served them with a warm peanut butter sauce.

Apple and Blueberry Gyoza (makes about 20)

1 packet Gyoza wrappers

2 apples

1 tbs sugar

Handful blueberries (2 or 3 for each gyoza)

Stew the apples by peeling, coring and chopping and cook with the sugar and a dribble of water until they are soft and mushy I usually do this in the microwave. Allow to cool.

Stuff each wrapper with a teaspoon of apple and a couple of blueberries, wet the edge of the pastry and fold over and crimp and pleat to close (video here). I have a gyoza press (photos wtih a different filling) that I bought very very cheaply at the Japan Centre. Put the stuffed gyoza on a board, pressing down lightly to give it a base so it sits upright.

To cook the gyoza fry them in oil (light olive or sunflower) until they are browned on the base and both sides (I find it easier to work with 2 smaller frying pans), stand them up in the frying pan turn the heat right up and carefully pour about 1/3 mug of water over them. The water will furiously bubble and turn to steam, when the water has all evaporated the wrappers will start to look translucent. Take off the heat and serve immediately.

Hot Peanut Butter Sauce

Equal quantities of: (I used one heaped dessert spoon of each)

Peanut butter (smooth of crunchy)
Sugar (I used soft brown)
Marge or butter (I used Pure Soy)

Gently heat stirring all the time until the marge/butter is melted and the sugar is dissolved. Serve warm.

Spare uncooked gyoza can be frozen.