Decadent...triple hot chocolate with cream

When Elly decided to hold a blogging event associated with music I knew she was on a winner. Music along with food are life's essentials. I often have something playing in the background as I cook and photograph my creations. I was stumped initially about what I was going to do. I finally decided to go back to the 70's with a funky, get down, sensual song. Hot Chocolate's "You Sexy Thing". So I'm basing my entry on the bands name. I whipped up a decadent, rich, sensual hot chocolate loaded with calorific goodness! And boy is it sexy! Think full fat creamy milk, good couverture chocolate and whipped cream. (There's a lot to be said about the 70's isn't there?...flares, bad hair, cool music). I'm dedicating this creation to all the foodie gals of the blogoshere. After all, we should know by now that "chocolate is the universal language of women" worldwide. And chocolate is sexy! Here's my entry for Elly's Eat To The Beat.



RECIPE FOR TRIPLE HOT CHOCOLATE WITH CREAM

200 grams of good couverture chocolate (at least 70%)
2 cups of full fat creamy milk
whipped cream
cocoa powder for dusting
1 x Chocolate stirrer ( I used that iconic Australian chocolate called "Flake". It's a crumbly chocolate log that has these amazing layers..it melts as you "stir" the chocolate!)

Place your milk in a saucepan over a low heat and add the chocolate. Stir slowly till the chocolate melts. We want it slightly above warm and not too scalding hot. Otherwise the chocolate will get burnt. Pour in a mug or glass and top with whipped cream. Dust with cocoa and add your "chocolate stirrer" of choice i.e. your favourite chocolate bar. By the way, its up to you if you feel like adding sugar. It may be sweet enough as it is!

Tags:dessert drinks quick

I only realised the other day that I had officially forgotten to thank Ivy on my own blog, for giving me an "excellent Blog" award. Oops! I'm so sorry for that. I know I left a comment in your comments section but I realised I hadn't done that here. Thank you again and it is really nice to be appreciated. All the other bloggers that I would have liked to award it to have already received one! So much love in the foodie blogosphere at the moment!

So on with today's recipe...


Beautiful, soft, delicious figs

When I was at the markets the other day, I noticed some fresh figs on display and I noted to myself that I hadn't really cooked with them this summer. The owner explained they were nearing the end of their cycle and that this batch would be very ripe. I picked up a few and got home thinking about creating a dish with them. They're very popular in Greek cooking often served dried and with cheese and walnuts. They are used in sweets and in jams. I wanted to go a different route with them. I had seen a few recipes about on the net and on many cooking shows where fresh figs are often baked in an oven wrapped in prosciutto and stuffed with a gorgonzola cheese. Well I have issues with strong smelly cheeses. So I opted to bake my figs with mozzarella or the little balls of mozzarella often known as bocconcini. The taste was simpler but before baking them I drizzled some extra virgin olive oil and balsamic vinegar. They turned out a treat! The cheese had melted through and the balsamic had slightly caramelized. Try this for something different.



RECIPE FOR BAKED FIGS WITH MOZZARELLA

6 freh figs cut with a criss cross shape
Fresh Buffalo Mozzarella or fresh Bocconcini Balls or pearls
drizzle of extra virgin olive oil
a good "splash" of balsamic
salt an pepper to taste

Once you've cut a cris cross shape on each fig, gently stuff it with a piece of mozzarella or bocconcini. Drizzle a little amount of good quality extra virgin olive oil and a good "splash" of balsamic. Season with a little salt and pepper. Bake in a 200 deg C preheated oven for 10 mins. Serve warm and enjoy this soft, sensual dish.


They almost look like flowers...

Tags:recipes fruit recipes baking quick

Thai inspired san choy bau

This is my entry for this months Royal Foodie Joust. Jenn holds this monthly competition where foodie bloggers join in a "cook-off" using three ingredients. The three ingredients are chosen by the previous winner. Heather who won last months joust, chose pork or barley (for our veggie friends), citrus and peppercorns. A great combination and one that had me thinking for a few weeks. So I decided to go "Thai" and make a Chinese favourite utilising Thai ingredients! How's that for cross cultural? By the way, if you want to participate and vote just go here. Join up and get cooking!

San choy bau is a classic Chinese dish that can be found on a lot of menus. Traditionally, its made with chicken or pork mince and uses water chestnuts in the recipe. The cooked meat mixture is then placed in iceberg lettuce cups and rolled up to be enjoyed. Its very flavourful and addictive! I decided to use this recipe by adding a few Thai ingredients to the mix. I have rambled on many times about my love of Thai food. I spend a lot of time in Bangkok and love all the flavours associated with Thai cooking. The food is spicy, sweet, sour and salty all at the same time. Your taste buds are in for an enjoyable time with Thai food. Go ahead and tantalise them!


Some of our ingredients for the paste

RECIPE FOR THAI INSPIRED SAN CHOY BAU

N.B Some of the ingredients can be substituted if you cant find them. You can use brown sugar instead of palm and grated lime zest in place of the kaffir lime leaves.

• 1/2 a bunch of coriander (cilantro) roots, cleaned and scrubbed
• 2 escallots finely chopped
• 2 whole chillies , ends removed
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 2 tbsps of peppercorns, preferably white
• 1/3 of a cup of tamarind puree
• 2 tbsps of Thai fish sauce
• 3 kaffir lime leaves finely sliced
• 2tbps of grated palm sugar

• Iceberg lettuce
• peanut oil for frying
• 250g of pork mince (not too lean...we want a little flavour here!)
• 1/2 a cup of Thai Basil leaves
• Freshly squeezed limes

Place the above ingredients in a food processor till you achieve a lovely chunky, thick paste. Set it aside once done. Heat a wok up with some peanut oil and get it smokin! Place the paste into the wok and let it fry off. Then add the pork mince to the fried paste mixture and toss through ensuring the mixture is well combined and cooked through. Break up any lumps and continue to cook until there are no more pink bits visible. This should take no more than 10 mins. You need to work fast with a hot wok! Just before removing form the heat throw in your Thai Basil leaves and toss through. Remove from heat and leave it rest for a few moments.

The iceberg lettuce cups or "wrappers" can be prepared in advance. A good tip is to leave the lettuce soak in the kitchen sink filled with water. It becomes easier to remove the leaves without breaking them. Once you have the desired amount of leaves, snip the outer edges to make cute little cups. (all the "snipped" bits can be used for a salad later). Take the pork mixture and place it in the lettuce cups. Squeeze a little lime juice on top and garnish with sliced chillies and coriander leaves.


Enjoy the San Choy Bau

Tags:recipes royal foodie joust Coriander Thai

Simple ingredients for the blueberry vinaigrette

There's only so many desserts your body can take. After the panacotta and the tart I was looking for something healthy that would rev my body back from slugishness. Scanning the food channel late at night I was watching one of those cooking shows where the father, whose a chef, proceeds to cook a 14 course dinner for his whole family in half an hour. Hmmm...never mind that we never saw any of his assistants during that segment. One of the things he made was a vinaigrette for his salad using blueberries. "Interesting" I thought. I had a whole punnet lying in the fridge waiting for a porridge or a batter for muffins. So I decided to experiment using his technique of mixing the blueberries with some olive oil and vinegar.

Apart from a stained kitchen benchtop (those blueberries are like paint when they're blended) it turned out beautifully. I found some baby spinach leaves that were nearing their hibernation cycle in the refrigerator and I used them as my base salad ingredients. I didn't want to bulk the salad too much. Just a light simple dish full of goodness and antioxidants. The dressing was slightly tart but very tangy as well. Give it a try for something different..


Blueberry Vinaigrette

RECIPE FOR BLUEBERRY VINAIGRETTE

Blueberries. Depending on how thick or thin you want your dressing. More blueberries yields a chunkier dressing. I used about half a punnet which equates to about 100 grams.
Olive oil or grapeseed oil. The recipe I saw used a neutral flavoured oil, which makes sense as you don't want the strong flavours of the extra virgin olive oil dominating. But I only had olive oil and it worked out fine.
Vinegar. Preferably red wine. Oops! I had run out and substituted balsamic. That's fine as well. We're having fun in the kitchen...not signing peace treaties!

*When making vinaigrettes I always follow the 3 parts oil to 1 part vinegar rule. So for e.g. for this small spinach salad I used half cup of oil to a few "splashes" of balsamic*


Healthy salad

Tags:recipes Salad Summer

Strawberries and Mascarpone...a great marriage

I'm continuing with my romantic desserts again. But even if you don't feel the "love" you can still cook them and enjoy them anyway. I hope you enjoyed the panacotta I dished up yesterday. Today's sexy dessert marries two of those ingredients that again were destined to be together. Strawberries and mascarpone. I mean who doesn't love strawberries? They taste fantastic and you can do lots of things with them as most people know. And how about mascarpone? Its often described as a cheese but its more of a thick cream. Actually I think its a soft cream cheese! Whatever it is, it has the most softest and silkiest texture. It can work both as a savoury and sweet ingredient. Fantastic! We love a versatile ingredient.

I saw this recipe on the local food channel during a commercial break from "Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares". (How funny. A food network with recipes as ad breaks.). I immediately loved the whole concept. And of course I cheated and bought ready made puff pastry. Unlike Ben who makes his own puff pastry and Peter who rolls his own phyllo, I prefer to have someone else do it for me. I have a huge phobia about certain pastries and them not turning out. Maybe we'll tackle that in another post. Anyway, back to our tart. Its really easy and it can easily serve up to 6 people. As we approach the end of summer, the strawberries are still ripe enough to enjoy so its a perfect recipe to use them up.



STRAWBERRY AND MASCARPONE TART

250 grams of mascarpone cheese
250 grams of lightly whipped cream
2 punnets of fresh strawberries hulled
grated zest of one lemon
a good dash of vanilla extract
100 grams of caster sugar
1-2 sheets of puff pastry
milk for brushing
icing sugar to dust

N.B. Depending on the shape you make yours in its important to make a "casing" to put the mascarpone and strawberries in. For e.g. I made an oblong tart so I scored the inner edges with a knife and with the second sheet I cut out strips and created a border that I placed on the scored edges. That way the pastry puffs up and creates this wonderful container for us. I used the milk as glue and to brush the rest of the pastry with. Don't forget to prick the base of the pastry so it doesn't explode!

• Preheat your oven to 180 deg C
• Make the tart shell as explained above. Once it has achieved a goldenish colour take it out of the oven and let it cool. Mine took about 20 mins.
• While the tart shell is cooling whip you cream with the sugar, zest and vanilla extract. Once its whipped add the mascarpone and fold through until you have a silky, thick rich mixture.
• Fill the tart shell with the cream mixture.
• Add your strawberries on top.
• Dust with icing sugar and serve it up.

Serve with extra strawberries and mascarpone on the side if you wish.

Tags:recipes recipes baking Sweet Treats dessert

Dessert for two

Its that time of the year again. Its approaching Valentines Day. You know you want to impress your loved one. Instead of going out for dinner and paying the over exorbitant prices they charge for that one day of the year, stay at home and cook something sensual. Before I proceed, I know there's a lot of folks out there who don't buy into the commercialism of celebrating Valentines Day. That's fine and I respect that. I just think its a good excuse to get cooking. (What else?). Thats why I plan on highlighting a few recipes over the next few days that you may wish to cook and impress your loved one. Simple recipes. Ones that will leave you time for other things later....

Panacotta is that beautiful dessert hailing form Italy. I immediately fell in love with it the first time I tried it many years ago. It has a soft, gelatinous texture. Almost silk like. Panacotta literally means cooked cream. I thought I could "spice" up the original with some rosewater. The perfect romantic ingredient. Rosewater is a liquid used primarily in the Middle East. Its mostly used in sweets and I remember my mother dousing "kourabiethes" (the shortbread almond biscuits covered in icing sugar) with them once the biscuits had come out of the oven. The aroma is so hypnotising. And its even more magical when added to the cream. I was actually afraid to make this because I was scared of the gelatine. But it all worked out in the end.



ROSEWATER PANACOTTA

This recipe will make about six. Perfect you can always have seconds!

500 ml of pouring cream
one tsp of vanilla extract
100 grams of caster sugar
2 tbsp of rosewater
one 10 gram sachet of gelatine

Simply place the cream, sugar, vanilla and rosewater in a saucepan and heat gently until the sugar has dissolved. Do not allow it to boil. In another saucepan heat up 125ml of water. Once this has boiled take it off the heat and add the gelatine. Whisk it briskly to dissolve the gelatine completely. Add the gelatine mixture to the cooked cream and stir thoroughly. Place this mixture into pre oiled panacotta moulds. Allow it to cool and then let the panacotta set in the fridge for a minimum of four hours or overnight. Top with toasted pistachios and drizzle with rosewater syrup. Garnish with rose petals.


Rose water syrup...perfect for the panacotta.

ROSE WATER SYRUP

one cup of water
one cup of castor sugar
2 tbsps of rose water
A drop or two of red or pink food colouring.

Pace all the ingredients in a saucepan over a low heat. Once the sugar has dissolved increase the temperature and let it boil for 5 mins. Remove it from the heat and let it cool. Use it to drizzle over the panacotta.

Tags:recipes recipes Sweet Treats dessert

The ingredients...the batter...the finished sponge

Just before I start this post let me say a big thank you to all the readers who have joined me here recently. I appreciate all your comments and I sincerely thank you all. I was having trouble leaving replies due to an issue with the commenting system. All is fine now and I will try to respond if I can in future posts. Again a big thank you and I hope you keep on enjoying my pictures.

I promised I would use the passionfruit curd I made recently in another dish. After racking my brains out I decided to challenge myself by making a sponge cake. And a challenge it certainly was. Making this was almost like following a carefully guarded experiment. All the elements need to work together harmoniously otherwise it can be quite disastrous. Everyone has a "secret" or "hint" that makes a sponge cake so light and airy. Mine turned out fine, however it did crack slightly. It adds to to the "home madeness" I suppose. Once the cake had been cooked and it had cooled I cut it in half and filled it with freshly whipped cream and that delightful passionfruit curd. It was light and every bite had cream and curd in it. The final touch was to dust it with some icing sugar.




TIPS AND TRICKS FOR THE PERFECT SPONGE

• Make sure you eggs are at room temperature
• The flours need to be sifted at least three times! Well I cheated on this step and bought triple sifted flour
• Folding the flours into the batter requires the use of a large metal spoon.
• No overbeating
• Patience...especially about opening the oven door to "check". This was hard for me!

SPONGE CAKE RECIPE
This comes with a pre warning. Just remember that every bit of this recipe was followed and tested however bear in mind that every oven has its own personality!

• 1/3 cup (50g) cornflour
• 1/3 cup (50g) plain flour
• 1/3 cup (50g) self-raising flour
• 4 x 60g eggs, at room temperature
• 2/3 cup (150g) caster sugar

1. Grease a 20cm cake tin with real butter. Line the bottom of it with some baking paper.
2. Preheat your oven to 180 deg C
3. Beat the eggs and caster sugar using a mixer. Beat them until they triple in volume. We are after thick and pale looking mixture at this point.
4. Take a large metal spoon and gradually mix in the pre sifted flours.
5. Mix the flours until just combined.
6. Place batter in cake tin and place it in the oven.
7. Leave for 20-30 mins depending on your ovens personality.
8. The cake will be ready when it has shrunk away from the sides, a skewer inserted comes out clean and it springs back when touched on top.
9. Leave the cake to cool in the tin for about 5 mins and then turn it out on a wire rack to cool.
10. Once cake has cooled slice it in half and fill with whipped cream and the delightful passionfruit curd.
11. Dust with icing sugar.

Enjoy!

Tags:recipes recipes baking Sweet Treats recipes desserts

Passionfruit

Whilst I was at the markets recently I picked up a whole box of passionfruit. The colours and aromas were so intense I had to just get it. So after spooning it on my breakfast cereal every morning, I still had half a box left. "What will I do with the rest?" I thought. So a good deal of "research" later i.e. scanning cook books and magazines, I saw this great recipe for passionfruit curd. Mmmmm...my mind went into overdrive. I'm not aware of how familiar people are with sweet curds. They're basically similar to jams or jellies (as the Americans call them) and they are used on cakes or as a spread on bread. Lemon curd is a very popular spread in the UK often finding its way in traditional high teas. The passionfruit curd I made is similar to the lemon one. I'll follow it up over the next few days about how I used it. Its sweet, silky and very sexy. Trust me, you'll be happy you made this.


Juicy Passionfruit

PASSIONFRUIT CURD
This recipe has been adapted from Australia's own Bill Granger.

6 ripe passionfruit...scooping out the whole inner flesh...seeds and all
2 organic eggs
80 g of caster sugar
60 g of butter

Place the passionfruit pulp, eggs and sugar in a heatproof bowl and place that bowl over a saucepan with simmering water (aka the double boiler method). Whisk continuously until the mixture begins to thicken. This whisking will probably take up to about ten minutes at the most. Just be patient. Once the mixture has thickened take it off the heat and whisk in the cold butter. Let the curd cool and store it in a sterilised jar. It will keep up to about one week in the fridge.

Tags:recipes recipes baking Sweet Treats Summer quick fruit