my mixing bowl: 2011

Friday, October 21, 2011

Tuesday, August 23, 2011

Bread and Butter Pudding

Croissants (makes 24)

This recipe is from a book called “the cook’s book, recipes & step-by-step techniques from top chefs” published: 2005 by Dorling Kindersley

Ingredients:

· 12g ( ½ oz) fresh yeast or 7g ( ¼ oz) dried yeast

· 200ml (7fl oz) water at 20°C (68°F)

· 600g (1lb 6oz) strong white flour

· 12g (2tsp) salt (fleur de sel)

· 75g (2 ½ oz) caster sugar

· 35g (1oz) very soft unsalted butter

· 15g ( ½ oz) full-fat milk powder

· 325g (12oz) unsalted butter, chilled

FOR THE GLAZE

· 2 eggs

· 1 egg york

· Pinch of salt

Method

1. Dissolve the yeast in two-thirds of the water. Sift the flour into a large bowl. Mix in the salt, sugar, very soft butter, milk powder and dissolved yeast. Knead everything together quickly. If the dough is still a little stiff, add the rest of the water. Cover with cling film. Rest at room temperature for 1-1 ½ hour.

2. When the dough has doubled in size, remove it from the bowl, punch it down, and return it to the bowl. Cover the bowl with cling film and put in the fridge for 1- 1 ¼ hours. Remove the dough from the bowl, punch down again, cover with cling film and place in the freezer for a further 30 minutes.

3. Remove the dough from the freezer. Knead the cold butter until it is soft. On a floured surface, roll the dough out to a rectangle 3 times longer than it is wide. Place half the butter along the bottom edge of the dough. With the palm of your hand, push the butter to cover two-thirds of the rectangle dough.

4. Fold the rectangle of dough into thirds, folding the unbuttered top third down first. Wrap the folded dough in cling film. Let rest in the freezer for 30 minutes and then in the refrigerator for 1 hour.

5. Roll out the dough into a rectangle as before and spread with the remainder of the butter. Fold into thirds again and wrap in cling film. Let rest in the freezer for 30 minutes and then in the refrigerator for 1 hour.

6. Flour the work surface then roll out the dough until it is 3mm (1/8 in) thick. Using a sharp knife cut out triangles 20 cm (8in) high by 12 cm (5in) across the base.

7. To shape, place a triangle with the base nearest to you, roll it up, and then bring the ends round towards each other to make a crescent. Place the croissants 5cm (2in) apart on a baking sheet lined with baking parchment. Leave to rise at room temperature for 1 ½ - 2 hours.

8. Preheat the oven to 230°C, place the eggs, egg yolk, and salt in a bowl and whisk together. Brush the croissants with egg glaze, then place in the oven and reduce the temperature to 190°C. Bake for 20 minutes. Then remove from the oven and cool on a baking tray.

Friday, July 22, 2011

Creme Brulee

Crème Brulee (serves 10)

This recipe is out of a book called “Cookery for the Hospitality industry”

Ingredients:

· Milk 600ml

· Cream 500ml

· Vanilla essence 2ml

· Eggs 300ml

· Egg yolks 4

· Caster sugar 120g

· Pure icing sugar 20g

Procedure:

1. Heat 500ml of the milk, the cream and vanilla essence until it is quite warm but not boiling.

2. Mix the eggs, egg yorks and sugar with the remaining milk in a basin and pour on the hot milk and cream while stirring constantly. Strain the mixture into 10 individual pie dishes.

3. Place the pie dishes in a Bain Marie and bake in an oven at 165°C for 35-40 minutes. When the custard is set remove from the oven and allow to cool in the dishes.

4. Sift a generous coating of icing sugar on the surface of the custard and clean around the rim of the dish. Brown under the salamander until the sugar caramelises without burning. Alternatively use a gas blow torch or a hot Brulee iron.

5. Serve with pure cream.

NOTE: this basic recipe can be flavoured with coca or grated chocolate, praline or roasted wattle seeds.

my mixing bowl notes to the reader

- When making Crème Brulee make sure that you measure all the ingredients correctly because when I was making Crème Brulee’s for my 3^rd time I got a bit over confident and I didn’t measure the ingredients correctly, which lead to the crème brulee’s not turning out correctly.

- In the recipe it says to use a ‘Bain Marie’ to cook the Crème Brulee’s for those of you that don’t know what a Bain Marie is it is a large roasting dish that is half filled with water and then the dishes are put in the water and aluminium foil is put over the top of the roasting dish. If my explanation isn’t easily understood just Google “Bain Marie”.

- This recipe says to use pure icing sugar to create the toffee layer on the top of the Crème Brulee, but when I made Crème Brulee’s I used brown sugar. If you wish to use brown sugar for the toping of your Crème Brulee turn your oven on to 180°C for 10 minutes and then turn the oven off. Then get approximately ½ cup of brown sugar and put it on a baking tray and put it in the oven ( by putting the sugar in the oven it allows it to dry out) once the sugar is dry take it out of the oven and then put it in to the food processer and then put equal amounts over the top of the Crème Brulee’s.

Marmalade

Monday, June 6, 2011

Roast Vegetable and Feta Roulette

Focaccia

Star Anise Poached Pear

Serve with cream or ice-cream

Tuesday, April 26, 2011

Views

To date "my mixing bowl" has had 583 views. I have decided to set a goal for "my mixing bowl' which is to get 1,000 views or over by the 31st of May 2011, so start viewing, feel free to become a follower, comment on any of the posts and vote in the survey.

Thursday, April 14, 2011

Apple and Nectarine Tart

Apple and Nectarine Turnover

D.I.Y Sushi

Passionfruit Slice with toffee

This recipe is out of "That's Life" mag

1/2 cup caster sugar
1 cup desiccated coconut
1 cup self-raising flour
100g unsalted butter, melted
170g passionfruit pulp
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
395ml can condensed milk

1. Preheat oven to 180'C. Grease a 20 * 30cm slice pan and line with baking paper. In a large bowl, mix together the sugar, coconut and flour. Add butter and mix well.

2. Place mixture in the prepared pan and press down to cover the bottom evenly. Bake for 10min and remove from oven. Use the back of a large metal spoon to smooth the slice.

3. Thoroughly mix the passionfriut, lemon juice and condensed milk together in a small jug and pour over slice, using a spatula to spread it evenly. Return to oven and bake for a futher 5-8 min, or until topping is set. Cool completely before slicing.

Wednesday, March 9, 2011

Pork French Cutlets with Polenta

Ingredients

1 6 ounce piece chunk bacon
3 1/2 tablespoons olive oil
3 pounds lean stew beef, cut into 2-inch cubes
1 carrot, sliced
1 onion, sliced
Salt and pepper
2 tablespoons flour
3 cups red wine, young and full bodied
3 cups beef stock
1 tablespoon tomato paste
2 cloves mashed garlic
1/2 teaspoon thyme
1 bay leaf, crumbled
20 small white onions
3 1/2 tablespoons butter
herb bouquet (4 parsley sprigs, one-half bay leaf, one-quarter teaspoon thyme, tied in cheesecloth)
1 pound fresh mushrooms, quartered

Directions

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.
Remove bacon rind and cut into lardons (sticks 1/4-inch thick and 1 1/2 inches long). Simmer rind and lardons for 10 minutes in 1 1/2 quarts water. Drain and dry.
Sauté lardons in 1 tablespoon of the olive oil in a flameproof casserole over moderate heat for 2 to 3 minutes to brown lightly. Remove to side dish with a slotted spoon.
Heat fat in casserole until almost smoking. Dry beef in paper towels; it will not brown if it is damp. Add beef, a few pieces at a time, and sauté until nicely browned on all sides. Add it to the lardons. In the same fat, brown the sliced vegetables. Pour out the excess fat.
Return the beef and bacon to the casserole and toss with 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper. Then sprinkle on the flour and toss again to coat the beef lightly. Set casserole uncovered in middle position of preheated oven for 4 minutes. Toss the meat again and return to oven for 4 minutes (this browns the flour and coves the meat with a light crust). Remove casserole and turn oven down to 325 degrees.
Stir in wine and 2 to 3 cups stock, just enough so that the meat is barely covered. Add the tomato paste, garlic, herbs and bacon rind. Bring to a simmer on top of the stove. Cover casserole and set in lower third of oven. Regulate heat so that liquid simmers very slowly for 3 to 4 hours. The meat is done when a fork pierces it easily.
While the beef is cooking, prepare the onions and mushrooms. Heat 1 1/2 tablespoons butter with one and one-half tablespoons of the oil until bubbling in a skillet. Add onions and sauté over moderate heat for about 10 minutes, rolling them so they will brown as evenly as possible. Be careful not to break their skins. You cannot expect them to brown uniformly. Add 1/2 cup of the stock, salt and pepper to taste and the herb bouquet. Cover and simmer slowly for 40 to 50 minutes until the onions are perfectly tender but hold their shape, and the liquid has evaporated. Remove herb bouquet and set onions aside.
Wipe out skillet and heat remaining oil and butter over high heat. As soon as you see butter has begun to subside, indicating it is hot enough, add mushrooms. Toss and shake pan for 4 to 5 minutes. As soon as they have begun to brown lightly, remove from heat. When the meat is tender, pour the contents of the casserole into a sieve set over a saucepan.
Wash out the casserole and return the beef and lardons to it. Distribute the cooked onions and mushrooms on top. Skim fat off sauce in saucepan. Simmer sauce for 1-2 minutes, skimming off additional fat as it rises. You should have about 2 1/2 cups of sauce thick enough to coat a spoon lightly. If too thin, boil it down rapidly. If too thick, mix in a few tablespoons stock. Taste carefully for seasoning.
1Pour sauce over meat and vegetables. Cover and simmer 2 to 3 minutes, basting the meat and vegetables with the sauce several times. Serve in casserole, or arrange stew on a platter surrounded with potatoes, noodles or rice, and decorated with parsley.