Little fancies

Pizza Toasts

noreply@blogger.com (Andrea) — Wed, 11 Oct 2006 02:00:40 PDT

When I was working in a little Indian shop back in UK, I learnt how quickly you can create a fantastic snack that resembles a pizza. The little pizzas in the shop were not so nice but using once's own imagination, you can come up with something really tasty.
Now, who would ever say 'no' to a pizza? And having it for breakfast on those chilly October mornings is great!
I chose big round slices of white bread (which normally just waits to be dried for breadcrumbs), drizzled a tiny bit of olive oil onto it and fried it nearly dry in a pan. At the same time, the oven was on high. I spread a spoonful of 100 %pure tomato sauce on the bread , sprinkled mixed herbs, laid torn ham, mozzarella, smoked cheese and baked it in the oven for 5 min. In the meantime, I fried one red onion and together with gree olives put it on top of the ready pizza toasts.
Delicious! And a fantastic start to a morning!

Trips in Hungary and Austria

noreply@blogger.com (Andrea) — Fri, 02 Jun 2006 15:11:30 PDT

A walk over the bridge from Slovakian twin town 'Sturovo' to Hungarian town 'Esztergom', with 'mighty Danube' flowing underneath.

Up to the Basilica(cathedral)

Left wing

Basilica

View

Mighty Danube - with boat trips from Budapest all the way to Vienna.

Hop-over - in Vienna(Belvedere)

Feel free to leave comments.

I am 1 today!

noreply@blogger.com (Andrea) — Mon, 06 Feb 2006 07:40:52 PST

I have been preparing for this day for a while now and I have nearly missed it!

I have looked back at my first posts, where I see such enthusiasm and excitement that I was coloring the sentences. I am missing it, so I will start it again.

Today is the day when I am going to tell you about how I chose the title for my blog.
Around the same time when I started my blog, one of my friends moved to Prague and I decided to send him a 'welcome to a new home' parcel which included little cakes you can buy here in UK, called - Little Fancies (see the pic). They come in 3 colours and flavours: lemon, strawberry and chocolate, six pieces in a box. You pick a cake according to what flavour you fancy. I thought it was a sweet name for a blog. You can write about your own and other fancy food. I was very proud of it, and so started posting in colour, inspired by these little cakes(and of course, by Clotilde from Chocolate and Zucchini). My writing could be better but we all have different talents. (I try my best)
So I am one today! I hope Little Fancies will interest you and bring you who read it a little sunshine on a rainy day.

Dreska.

Roasted Aubergine soup

noreply@blogger.com (Andrea) — Sat, 04 Feb 2006 16:39:55 PST

It is still chilly out there. I am sitting in the car, waiting for my hubby who decided to take a sun-bed, certainly a good idea, but I have a better one - a bookshop!
Just enough time to look for something to warm my heart. Italian, hm, Casa Moro, definitely on my list, ...oh, look, everybody has been talking about the Falling Cloudberries, it looks a treat... Aah, SOUPS. Bingo! This is exactly what I had in mind for this weather. Little book, every recipe with a picture, a world collection of classic favourites and exotic flavours too. I am so happy, lalalala, eagerly holding up the book in front of the cashier. I pay (pure £5.99) - what a bargain, and run back to the car to catch a glimpse before my hubby jumps in. I slide the book under the seat as I promised no more books for a while... But I have only started! Building.. ! A library!

Roasted Aubergine soup
Ingredients:
2 large aubergines (halved, drizzled with olive oil, baked until flesh is soft)
1 onion + 2 garlic cloves - sauteed on a small heat until soft.
Scoop out the aubergine flesh and add to the onion. Sautee a little to get the flavour in.
Add 2 pints of vegetable stock.
Process in a blender.
Decorate with creme fraishe with mint and a little cream and drizzle a swirl on top of the hot soup in a bowl.

I would like to add that this is my favourite at the moment. (with one drop of tabasco)

'Cullen Skink' or Smoked fish chowder

noreply@blogger.com (Andrea) — Tue, 31 Jan 2006 17:02:27 PST

About a week ago, after few days of frenzic reading of cookbooks' reviews, I settled on my first choice - twins: Leith's Cookery Bible and Leith's Technique's Bible. ( I always do that! I choose something straight-away that I know I like, but give it few days to settle and see whether I find something better. Then I go back to my first choice. I should know better by now and just buy it right-away!)
I quickly ordered them from Amazon whilst they were still in sale and was waiting for my 2-5 days super saver free delivery. (have I gone mad? did I really go for 2-5 days delivery? never again!) On my surprise, it arrived the next day!! I carefully opened the box and pulled out two brand new, shiny thick books, full of useful information and recipes.
The reason I decided on these 2 'bibles' was that I wanted to look at my ingredients in the fridge and then look them up in the book's index to give me a collection of recipes to choose from.
Well, that is exactly what I did to try the books out! I had a smoked haddock, looked it up and the suggestion was 'Cullen Skink' (must admit, it did not sound appetizing from the title) , a simple thick soup with a potato base.
When following the recipe: poaching the cod in milk with (only?) nutmeg spice - sauteeing 2 cubed potatoes with finely chopped onion - pouring the strained milk from the fish onto the potatoes, still cooking -blitzing the cooked potatoes with the milk - adding bite-size fish pieces (free of any bones) to the blitzed soup - pouring the soup into small earthenware dishes - finishing with fresh chopped tomatoes, parsley and ground pepper. I could not imagine how this simple looking soup could be so special. Then, after trying it, I admitted my defeat over my hesitations to keep the books and was fully convinced that the recipes in these books have been, just as the authors say, over 100x tried, tested and only the most liked recipes kept.
As for the name:
'Cullen Skink' - is a thick soup of Scottish origin with smoked haddock, potatoes and other vegetables.
'Chowder' - is a thick soup with fish and/or vegetables but having usually corn in it too.
Read about 'Cullen': http://www.undiscoveredscotland.co.uk/cullen/cullen/

White chocolate truffle dream

noreply@blogger.com (Andrea) — Mon, 30 Jan 2006 07:10:04 PST

Over the weekend, I made these lovely truffles.
My new flavour: white chocolate ganache with lemon extract, ginger and a bit of Cointreau came out delicious. All coated in bitter cocoa powder.

Noodle IMBB#22 (Sweet noodles and 4 toppings)

noreply@blogger.com (Andrea) — Sun, 29 Jan 2006 14:53:20 PST

This month has struck me with 3 blogging events that I managed to write up within the last week. This one - IMBB#22 is all about noodles, presented to us by Amy at Cooking with Amy.

I am glad that I can introduce you to few popular dishes of Slovak quisine - noodles with sweet poppyseed topping/sweet breadcrumb topping/sweet cabbage topping/ sweet quark topping and all finished with hot oozing jam.

These meals are usually served as a main course but feel free to use them in smaller portions as a dessert.

Sweet poppyseed topping - is used in a variety of cakes (strudel, little roll crescents, yeasty cakes, etc.). It appears in Slovak, Czech, Hungarian and Austrian quisine as a favourite cake filling. Pour about a cupful of poppyseeds with 2-3 tbsp of icing sugar into a whizzer/grinder and whizz until you see the colour change to a nice poppyseed grey. You can adjust the sweetness by adding more sugar to the grinder and whizz again. Heat a lump of butter and either mix into the noodles together with ground sugary poppyseeds or top the noodles with the poppyseed and then pour butter over it. Top up with hot jam.
(You could also add rum and lemon zest into the poppyseed mixture together with melted butter.)

Sweet breadcrumb topping - whizz fresh white or wholemeal bread in a grinder/mixer until you have nice breadcrumbs. Heat a lump of butter in a pan and add fresh breadcrumbs with some icing sugar. Fry until the mixture is heated through and a bit crispy. Again, either mix into the cooked noodles or top the noodles with the mix and finish with hot jam.

Sweet cabbage topping - shred a white cabbage finely and stir-fry in a pan in a little butter, just so that it coats it. Cover with a lid and steam, occasionally stir, so it does not burn. Cook until soft. Mix into the cooked noodles or top the noodles and finish with creme freshe and crushed walnuts.

Quark topping - 1 tub of quark and 1 egg yolk, icing sugar are mixed together. Then add whipped egg white, fold in. Add lemon zest and a squeeze of lemon. Rasins are optional. Leave to stand if you use rasins, so that they can plump up in the quark.

All these dishes are very traditional and we call them 'rezance' [rhey-zun-tsa](slovak).

If anybody tries them, please let me know whether you liked it or not.

Tagged with: IMBB # 22 + Noodle

"Cooking Challenges of 2006" MEME

noreply@blogger.com (Andrea) — Sun, 29 Jan 2006 11:21:48 PST

I have been tagged by Ivonne from Cream Puffs in Venice ( I want to say, I love the name and design and recipes in Ivonne's blog!) to write up my cooking challenges for 2006.
I wish I did not find it difficult - I would then own a huge catering business! :)

So, here I go:
1. Very recently, I have gone a little mad and started to read about every possible quisine in the world. I could not decide which one to take on as first, so I ended up with a collection (hungarian, french and morrocan). Thus, my challenge is to have in my cooking repertoire few dishes from every quisine I stumble across. (a bit too challenging, maybe, but it keeps my interest and ispiration up)
2. Spun sugar and caramel - it fascinates me what you can make out of sugar. Caramel is one of the tastes I love and it is so versatile - think of fudge, or banoffee pie, tart tatin, caramel ice-cream, 'pizzelle' - click, etc.) As for spun sugar, it means mastering caramel, for me. It looks impressive with desserts to give them that 'wow' factor. (maybe sad, :) but true!)
3. Croquembouch or a huge celebration cake with sugar piping. The basis for Croquenbouch is 'choux pastry' which fortunately, I am ok with. So, now, it is only to make lots of 'the balls', fill them with pastry cream(3 flavours), build them into a tower/pyramid and drizzle all over with caramel and spun sugar. Hmmmm! I shall be making this next week for my sister-in-law's 40. birthday party.
4. Inventive vegetarian meals - this is something, my hubby and I, are trying to do more. Eat healthily, meaning eat more vegetarian meals. So, my challenge is to be able to cook up huge variety of veggie meals.
5. Once a week dinner for friends and family.
This is something I always wanted to do often. Have done it few times but have still little things to improve like getting everything out hot and pretty quickly. So that's the challenge!
6. Last (and probably not least) is my challenge to produce truffles in larger quantities and sell them to people. I would love to hear the feedback from them as to what flavours they prefer. It would be very interesting!

Phew! That's my challenges for this year written. Now, I only have to keep them up. I'll keep you posted.

I would like to hear about the cooking challenges from following people:
Nicky and Oliver from Delicious Days, Ana from Pumpking Pie Bungalow and Keiko from Nordljus.

SHF#15 - Tangy Clementine Upside Down Cake

noreply@blogger.com (Andrea) — Fri, 27 Jan 2006 16:48:13 PST

This time round, Becks and Posh came up with an excellent idea for Sugar High Fridays#15(of which Jennifer is the creator) and asked for a permission to start Sugar Low Fridays.

My contribution is this delicious 'warm comfort pudding for cold winter days' that I adopted from 'Waitrose' supermarket recipe leaflets.

http://www.waitrose.com/wfi/ - is their super monthly magazine if you want to have a peek.

This lovely moist cake has very little fat and has a detailed calorie description:

It serves 6 people and 1 serving has:

199kcal/3.6 g fat/2.4% fat per serving

You could use oranges or grapefruit too as a variation and 'Waitrose' suggests an alternative for orange marmalade to use stem ginger syrup and few chopped pieces of ginger which I know would taste absolutely marvellous as the syrup is sugary!

Recipe:

4 clementines (2 large oranges)

3 tbsp orange marmalade(sugar-free)

2 medium eggs

75 dark brown sugar (I used 2 large tbsp. of honey)

grated zest and juice of 1 clementine

75 g self-raising flower, sifted

250g low-fat fromage frais + 1/2 tsp ground ginger - use as an accompaniment

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees.
Peel 4 clementines and slice into 5 circles each. Prepare a non-stick cake tin, 20cm in diameter and only 4cm high. Lay the slices, starting in the middle and working your way out, overlapping them slightly.
Warm the marmalade (you can make your own, if you like, using only orange segments, the orange peel and honey) and pour it over the clementine slices in the cake tin.
In a bowl, beat the eggs with honey with an electric mixer. Add the zest and juice of 1 clementine. Add the flour and mix in. Pour the mixture over the clementines and bake for about 20-25 minutes until golden and firm on top.
The marmalade might be bubbling on the side of the cake which is ok.
Once the cake is cooked, take out of the oven, put a large plate upside-down on top of the tin and turn it all upside down. Take the tin off and voila! Beautiful moist cake.

I would like to add, the cake tastes nice. I like them exceptionally georgeous. This one tastes healthy, is suitable if you fancy a hot pud and is done in about half hour. I would prefer to eat it with a delicious ginger ice-cream and a mint leaf on top!!! That would make it that little more exceptional.

Tagged with: SHF # 15 + Low Sugar

'Pate sucree' or 'pate sablee' and the easiest tart filling

noreply@blogger.com (Andrea) — Sun, 22 Jan 2006 16:36:18 PST

As I mentioned in my previous post, I decided it is a high time to give my full attention to traditional French art of pattiserie.
For that, I chose to follow The Roux Brothers on Pattiserie book which I found in the local library.

Although, it gives you a complete guide to pastry making, I am now a little sceptical about the 'up-to-date' -ness of the actual desserts. Because I wanted a book that would include classics like 'Lemon tart', 'Orange tart' or 'Apple Clafoutis' and hopefully, many other irresistable desserts to sit on my bookshelf, I went with the first one I found (1986).
I was hugely impressed with the technical side of the recipes. So I persuaded myself to devote my Sunday afternoon to baking. All excited, the decision fell on 'Hazelnut tart' (having 2 packets of hazelnuts in the cupboard).
I started to read the recipe with anticipation and find out what the tart filling was going to be. It only used eggs, cream, honey and 2tbsp of brown sugar. To a silly-billy - me, I could not think what that would give me in a baked form. Or let's just say, being short of time, I was NOT thinking!
Anyway. I started to make this beautiful pastry - 'pate sablee' which was very similar, almost identical to 'pate sucree'. Then, after comparing both in detail, I realized that 'pate sablee'(having ground almonds or hazelnuts) is finer, softer and harder to work with than 'pate sucree' (easier to roll and lay).
'Pate sablee' had a very delicate soft bite to it with a hint of lemon essence.

And now, raise the curtains for the tart filling!
Mix together - 4 eggs, 2 tbsp. of brown sugar, honey and 250ml of cream and pour into the half-baked pastry. After 15 minutes add the hazelnut halves and bake another 5 minutes.
E voila!
Custart tart with hazelnuts on top!

My dissapointment was evident. I don't think it was right as I did want to learn all about the classic tarts and this is one of them. However, I would have preferred something more, I don't know, to our modern tastes - something with a twist. So, maybe, I will just study this book, but purchase a more current one with 'tarts de resistance'.

noreply@blogger.com (Andrea) — Fri, 20 Jan 2006 15:19:37 PST

pooch

Croissants and french pattiserie

noreply@blogger.com (Andrea) — Fri, 27 Jan 2006 16:54:07 PST

About a week ago, I was browsing through cookery books in the local library and I came across this phenomenal guide on traditional pattiserie by the Roux brothers. The book is slightly old (1986) but has all the techniques on how to make perfect croissants, brioches, tarts, creams and sauces, etc. I was always thinking how nice it would be to wake up at the weekend and bake some home-made croissants. I must be a little mad to get excited over things which involve quite a large amount of work, but my eyes lit up when I started to read 2 full pages of dough preparation, followed by 2 pages of pictures - on the recipe procedure. This is what I call a serious cookbook. It is not short of any hints and tips either, like for example, how to get a durable glaze for puff pastry dessert with icing sugar. I must admit, I have become a fan of the old school, together with their french vocab. It makes the whole process of baking and my status as an amateur chef more serious if you say you are making 'Feulletage minute'(quick puff pastry) or 'Creme Anglaise'(custard cream). It all sounds so elegant! Aaaaah! (sad, I know, but I can't help it).

So, this is how I starting my new adventure - on french quisine.

The 'Sacher torte' - the pride of Austrian coffeehouses

noreply@blogger.com (Andrea) — Sun, 15 Jan 2006 16:43:09 PST

This rich and simple Viennese chocolate cake filled with apricot jam is one of the most celebrated and famous cakes in history. It dates back to 1832 when Prince Clemens Lothar Wensel Metternich (1773-1859) of Austria ordered his chefs to create a new dessert for his fancy friends. At the time, the head chef was ill and unavailable, so the kitchen cooks got in a panic not knowing what to do. Suddenly in a haste, a 16-year-old apprentice Franz Sacher came up with this simple and elegant idea for a cake which afterwards ensured him a flourishing career, followed by his son Eduard who opened up a hotel in Vienna in Philharmonikerstra3e. Nowadays, you can enjoy staying in this hotel packed with history also in Salzburg and treat yourself to the original torte and other pastries in 'Cafe Sacher' (Wien, Salzburg, Graz, Innsbruck).

If you want to be one of the 500-800 people ordering this historical cake in a day , you can buy it here in the 'Sacher shop' which makes it available for people all around the world, packaged in nice wooden boxes, just like in the old times. They come in 4 different sizes and you can complement them with other presents from the shop like porcelain, souvenirs - i.e.original old-fashioned news-paper holder( cute!I am a big fan of the old coffehouse style).

I made my own version of this fabulous cake which has surely been tried by many:(original recipe borrowed from 'Chocolate the definitive guide' by Sarah Jayne-Stanes)
-beatifully moist chocolate almond sponge, raspberry jam, chocolate mirror icing

Ingredients:
-125g dark chocolate (melted)
-125g sugar
-125g butter(low-fat margarine)
-125g ground almonds
- 6 eggs(separated)
- pinch of salt
Icing:
200g dark chocolate(melted)
55g butter
100g icing sugar
100ml water

Pre-heat the oven to 180 degrees.

Melt chocolate in a microwave, watching and stirring every 20-30 seconds until smooth.

In a bowl, mix butter and sugar with an el.mixer until smooth. Add egg yolks and mix them in. Add cooled down chocolate and fold in using a spatula. Add ground almonds and mix in until combined.

Ina separate bowl, whisk the egg whites with a pinch of salt until stiff. Fold in little by little into the chocolate mixture, breaking up the thick mixture slowly.

Bake in a spring-form cake tin for about 20 min. until firm to touch.

Whilst cooling down, make the icing. Put the water and sugar in a small saucepan and bring to boil. Quickly add melted chocolate and whisk it in off the heat until smooth. Put back on the heat and bring to boil and take off quickly. Whisk and leave on the side to cool a little.

Cut the chocolate cake in half horizontally and spread the jam in the middle. Put the top back on and pour the icing on top in the middle. Take a spoon and with a circular movement from the middle, slowly spread the icing over the top to the sides. It will be setting in few minutes as it is already cooled down a little, so it won't run.

Keep a little choc. icing back and with a piping bag, write 'Sacher' on the top of the cake.

Happy New Year

noreply@blogger.com (Andrea) — Wed, 18 Jan 2006 16:13:13 PST

I wish everybody very happy new year, so that all the things we plan or wish for come out just right.
Lots of people do new year's resolutions which I have never done myself before until now!
I started my blog last year during which many important things happened and I missed about 2 months of writing and reading.
Therefore, this year comes with my first resolution, to keep up my food blog and to be more adventurous and creative.
It is one of the things I enjoy and find inspiring, so thank you all for writing and sharing your posts. It is always an enjoyment to read them all.

A Menu for Hope

noreply@blogger.com (Andrea) — Wed, 18 Jan 2006 16:13:42 PST

'A Menu for Hope' campaign has been set up by one of our famous fellow food bloggers Pim who is running 'A Menu for Hope II' at the moment.
The food bloggers (and everybody really) are welcome to join and donate as little as $5 here at 'Firstgiving' fundraising web site. All the money collected (you can view the total as it rises) goes to Unicef to help victims of the earthquake in Northern India and Pakistan. Each $5 you give is worth a raffle ticket and you can win a fantastic prize out of a huge selection donated by lots of food bloggers which you can read and choose from here at Pim's site. After you give a donation remember to write a prize(s) of your choice in the comment section.

I am offering a prize too - Jill Dupleix's Very Simple Food, a box of hand-made truffles(white, milk and dark - different flavours) and few little kitchen tool must-haves as a small surprise.

Whiskey banana chocolate cake

noreply@blogger.com (Andrea) — Wed, 18 Jan 2006 16:14:21 PST

I like reminiscing how I got to like baking cakes, how it all started with my mum being a great cook and a cake maker and with her famous 'little pink book' full of collected recipes. The strange thing was that we never used cookbooks, it was always recipes handed over form a person to person, here and there and we always baked the same ones, that we liked the best. You might think, didn't we get bored with them? And somehow, no, is the answer. I still love them. We made them for special occasions in the year. The very difficult and my mum's pride- 'Honey slices' (sounds so simple, but I never made it without my mum) - warm pastry made with lots of honey, rolled and then baked for a couple of minutes and quickly ran underneath with a knife to prevent sticking(you would never scrape it off if left to cool!), 5 sheets, filled with a light rum infused buttercream, jam on top layer and covered with dark chocolate. Absolute bliss! We would make these for Easter and X-mas, as it would take some time.
Now, as I live far away from my mum and don't have a huge kitchen, I had to look for other options and find a favourite cake (nothing can beat the Honey slices though) which my husband has recently announced as Whiskey banana chocolate cake, from the book he's got for me.
We thought it is just so moorish it has to be a classic. And of course, banana cakes are. But this is just a little further from a banana cake. It has hazelnuts, whiskey and dark chocolate inside to bring you that lovely warming taste out on your palate. Try for yourself and let me know what you think.

Recipe:
Oven - 180 degrees.
85g butter( margarine)
160 g sugar (it says 225g but I tried it with less and it is just super, otherwise it would be like a sticky cake)
Mix in a bowl with an electric mixer. 2 eggs
good splash of whiskey
Mix in the eggs, whiskey(still with electric mix.)
2 large ripe bananas(mashed with a fork)
115g dark chocolate(buttons if poss., I used Callebaut dark, strong)
Hand-mix in the bananas and chocolate.
Sift together:
175g flour
1/2tsp cream of tartar
1/4 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1tbsp cocoa
Add to the mixture and combine.
100g hazelnuts, chopped
Add the hazelnuts, fold in.

Bake in the preheated oven for about 30-45 min. until firm to touch.

Ultimate X-mas roulade

noreply@blogger.com (Andrea) — Wed, 18 Jan 2006 16:15:32 PST

So Christmas time is nearly here as the surrounding lit streets and shops are telling us and I feel I am a little behind with my preparations.
First thing I always do is that I go mad bying my 3 favourite food magazines.

http://www.waitrose.com/wfi/
http://www.deliciousmagazine.co.uk

and Good Food.
Then I can't wait to read them in bed every night and dream of a big festive x-mas trying out all the nice recipes.
I managed to try couple already for my birthday party in November.
Everybody loved the dessert - Chocolate roulade with chestnut cream filling.
Very simple but so effective.

This recipe is from 'Delicious' magazine(December 05)
Ingredients:
175g plain chocolate (buttons if possible)
6 large eggs
175g golden caster sugar
Filling:
200 ml double cream
4 tbsp sweetened chestnut puree
(optional but delicious!-good splash of Cointreau)

Chocolate icing:

100 g dark chocolate

30g butter

100g icing sugar

100ml water

Melt the chocolate and butter together. Dissolve the icing sugar in the water in a saucepan and bring to the boil. Straightaway add melted chocolate and boil again quickly. Take off quickly and whisk until it is beautifully smooth. Set aside to cool a little, so that it sets quicker when we pour it onto the cake. Otherwise, it will just drip down.

Decorate:

icing sugar
10 fresh holly leaves
6 chocolate coated almonds(or caramelized)
Recipe:
Preheat the oven to 180 degrees.(fan 160).
Get ready a Swiss roll tin(non-stick preferably, or grease another one) and put a sheet of baking paper and smoooth out to the edges as you are going to fill it with the cake mixture.
Melt chocolate in a pan over a simmering water(bowl should not touch the water). Or melt in a microwave on medium power checking every 20 seconds for 2-3 minutes.
In a large bowl - whisk sugar, egg yolks until pale and creamy. Whisk in the melted chocolate(once cooled down a little).
In a separate bowl, whisk egg whites to soft peaks. Stir a little into the chocolate mixture to loosen it up a little, then fold in the rest. Fold until just combined..
Pour into the lined tin and bake for 20-30 min. until spongy to touch.
Prepare a sheet of baking paper on the work surface and dust heavily with icing sugar. Once you cooled the roulade, turn it out onto the paper. You can now peel off the baking paper from the roulade, cover with a clean sheet and a damp tea-towel. This will help to roll the roulade.

Put aside and whisk the cream in a glass bowl with chestnut puree until smooth and thick.
Once the roulade is cool, take off the tea-towel, turn it upside-down to have the harder side on the outside and spread the cream on the inside. Roll gently, not to break the it anywhere.
And finally, the chocolate icing on top!

Chocolate mad...

noreply@blogger.com (Andrea) — Mon, 21 Nov 2005 07:59:00 PST

Hi everyone,
I have recently got this book for my birthday. My hubby noticed me in the bookshop browsing through it. First, I didn't quite think it's for me(I like nice pics, these are all done with a brown tint) but when I got it from my hubby as a present, I thought I will keep it for a while to see whether it has good things to offer. I was still not sure not having pics for every recipe.
But now!!! Oh, my ..It is absolutely fantastic! Every recipe you try is just so indescribably good and you find things from simple florentines to Sacher tortes and truffles, chocolate tempering in detail, etc. Wonderful!
So, it completely got me! Especially for the truffles and tempering. That's my every weekend entertainment.
I must post a delicious choc, whisky and banana cake.

Breakfast coffee pancakes

noreply@blogger.com (Andrea) — Sun, 21 Aug 2005 09:39:01 PDT

American-style pancakes

Ideal Sunday morning with bright sunshine in the kitchen, I thought I need to complemet it with a lovely breakfast.
I found a nice recipe for these pancakes that have strong espresso coffee, and a yoghurt mixture in them, served with maple syrup and fruit compote.
As I like nice coffee so much, I thought, I'd give it a go.

recipe coming..

Gypsy tart (Treacle tart)

noreply@blogger.com (Andrea) — Fri, 19 Aug 2005 05:48:50 PDT

gypsy tart

Do you need a sugar fix? This is one of the best ones on the earth - gypsy tart or some people know it as treacle tart. And if you think, no way, just read on.

First time that I have been offered to try it here in England was completely destroyed by the appearance of the tart. It was thick, chunky and swimming in cream (as cakes are traditonally served by a majority here! sorry :)). I , however, tried it and ......was, unfortunately, not taken by the taste either. So, I abandoned this great of the English favourites until NOW.
This was the time when I WAS nicely surprised.
I saw these beautiful golden little tarts decorated with fresh fruit and mint leaves. When I looked closer, it said - mini treacle tarts! This was definitely a new chance to try them out again as they were so delicious-looking.
They also were much thinner, more delicate and they were not served with cream, but rather lightened up by fresh fruit. The taste was reinvented by a touch of ground almonds as opposed to using just breadcrumbs.

So, here it is ( I made it in one large piece as I didn't have separate little tartlet tins)

whizzmixbake

Recipe:
Preheat the oven to 190 degrees/fan 170 degrees/gas 5.

Ingredients:
150 g golden syrup
50 g fresh breadcrumbs
40 g ground almonds
1 large egg
4 tbsp double cream
vanilla essence
fresh fruit (strawberry, kiwi, mandarin, mint leaves)
Mix the breadcrumbs with ground almonds with your hand. Add the remaining igredients and mix thoroughly with a spatula. Leave on the side until you make the pastry.

Sweet pastry:
75 g butter, softened
3 tbsp icing sugar
1 large egg yolk
115 plain flour
Mix these ingredients with an electric mixer on number 1(slow) to get a nice elastic pastry. Then dust the worktop with some flour and roll the pastry out. If you are making small tartlets, divide the pastry into 6 pieces and roll out into circles. Keep turning the pastry and dusting it, so it does not stick to the surface. Once done, transfer the pastry into the tins, leaving a higher edge (as we will fill the tarlets later). Prick the pastry with a fork all over. Put baking sheet (cut to size, leaving high edges) into the tarlets, on top of the pastry and fill with beans onto paper, spreading the beans right to the edge. This baking is called - 'baking blind'. Bake for 10 min. Then take the paper edges and lift the paper with beans out of the tarlets.
At this point, you can either leave the pastries on the side or put them back into the oven to bake a little more.(only up to 4-5 min.). I found the pastries were too hard, so next time I will leave without additional baking.
Pour your mixture into the tarlets and bake about 15 minutes until golden brown.

Decorate the tarlets or the tart with fresh fruit (strawberries cut in halves, segmented mandarins without skin, kiwis into slices, maybe pineapple into thin slices). Start decorating from the middle of the big tart laying strawberry halves next to each other, alternating with mandarins and 2 kiwi slices which we stand up in between the fruits. Finally, add mint leaves in the middle.

Breakfast muffin

noreply@blogger.com (Andrea) — Tue, 16 Aug 2005 15:48:04 PDT

breakfast muffin

I am on a mission to find a perfect recipe for muffins of all types. It is proving a little tricky as there are so many variations of mixes. So I came to a conclusion that you have to experiment and adjust the recipe until it is as you want it.

I am looking for that authentic 'every-coffee-shop-has-it' muffin that I can create at home. Well, let's see how it evolves with time to come.

The above 'Breakfast muffin' is one of my favourites. I like muffins that surprise me with their taste and hidden bits. Just like the one above. It has carrots, apple, ginger, nutmeg, nuts, raisins, oats .. - every mouthful is different.

But if we take a peek into the culinary history of muffins, we will find that muffins were once upon a time quite small and plain with maybe raisins and nuts. There was a set line of muffins like bran, blueberry, apple, corn, date, oatmeal. It was only in 70-ies and 80-ies that muffins grew 3 or 4 times their normal size, big American muffins as we know them today.

Recipe:
Preheat the oven to 220 degrees.

Ingredients:
3 large eggs (I used 4)
1/4 cup brown sugar (I would use 1/2 cup, otherwise they are only a little sweet)
1/2 cup veg.oil
2 tsp vanilla extract(essence)
Whisk them together with an electric mixer.
Add and mix in with a spatula:
1 medium carrot(peeled and grated)
1 large apple (peeled and grated)
Add and mix in with a spatula:
1/2 cup raisins(golden best)
1/2 cup dessicated coconut
1/2 cup oats
1/4 cup wheat-germ (if you don't have it, just use flour)
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
1 cup flour
1 tsp soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp ginger
1/8 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp salt

Fill in the muffin tray cups to the top(not over). They will rise nicely.

Kugelhopf

noreply@blogger.com (Andrea) — Mon, 08 Aug 2005 01:11:06 PDT

I am so glad to be back and especially with some nice recipes ahead.

This weekend, I was looking through a 'Homes and Gardens' magazine in the local tea-room and found something that cheered me up right away. A small collection of recipes(Hot Cross Buns, Brioche, Kugelhopf and some savoury ones - Focaccia and Naan bread). The lady owner was very kind and lent me the magazine, so I did not hesitate and ran to the nextdoor village to my favourite cookshop and bought a 'fluted cake tin' (for me - Kugelhopf tin) - to make this delicious poppyseed and almond 'Kugelhopf'. ( I am hoping you can recognize it in the picture above).

Recipe (from 'Homes and Gardens' magazine):
makes 1 medium round cake(23-25cm diameter)

4 large eggs(beaten)
200 g vanilla sugar (or sugar and drop of vanilla essence)
1tsp almond essence
125g ground almonds
175g plain flour (should be sieved but not important)
50g poppy seeds
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda (or 1 x 7g sachet easy-bake yeast)
1/4 tsp sea-salt
butter to grease a 'kugel'(babka or ring) tin if it is NOT non-stick
icing sugar for dusting

Pre-heat the oven to 180 degrees.
Heat water in a large wok to a hand-hot temperature. Prepare a large mixing bowl and immerse it into this wok with hand-hot water.
With an electric beater, whisk eggs, sugar and essence for 2-3 min. until smooth and light. Put the beater aside and take a spatula to mix in almonds, flour, poppy seeds, baking powder, soda and salt. Fold and mix through until all combined.
Pour the mixture (which will be quite runny, so don't be alarmed) into a greased tin(or non-stick tin) and baked for 30 min. or so until golden and firm to touch. Check with a skewer whether it comes out clean.
Leave to cool and with a plastic spatula, help to pull the edges off of the side of the tin. Then invert onto a plate and dust with sugar and serve sliced with coffee, lemon tea or a dessert wine.

Sorbets in summer

noreply@blogger.com (Andrea) — Fri, 05 Aug 2005 03:12:37 PDT

Finally, I can enjoy the blogging world and delicious post of my fellow blogger again.

After a big push to finish the house renovations, we have put it up for sale. So now, I will be back in the kitchen making nice treats, feet up eating them and then writing them here.

I have a lot to catch up with, I can see.

As a start off, I decided to enter with sorbets.

I love them in summer as they are so refreshing, full of flavour and colour!

A quick recipe for you:
(from 'Delicious' magazine)

200g caster sugar
300ml water
300 ml strained fruit(lemon, orange, etc.)
3 tbsp vodka

Cookbook MEME

noreply@blogger.com (Andrea) — Fri, 17 Jun 2005 15:55:35 PDT

Cookbook MEME

Have been tagged for the above Cookbook MEME (explained by Lyn at Les Culinaria)by Ana from Pumpkin Pie Bungalow.

I have been reading through few blogs and their owners' cookbook possessions and must say that I envy them. I would LOVE to own THOUSANDS of cookbooks. But unfortunately, the life has given me only a modest allowance - several cookbooks and 2 food magazine subscriptions. Most of my cookbooks I have recieved as presents as people knew how hooked I was (and still am) on cookbooks. I actually bought only about 4.
There are several things I am going to go mad with shopping on when we finish renovating our house and One of those things will be cookbooks. Can't wait!

Anyway, here are my answers:
1. Total number of (cook/food) books I’ve owned:
About 20.
2. Last (cook/food) book(s) I bought:
In fact, I have recieved it free via my 'Delicious' food magazine subscription. It is Jill Dupleix's 'Very simple food'. The one I bought myself before that - 'The Essential Guide to Cake Decorating' ( in my artistic period of rich fruit cakes, marzipan and royal icings ...)
3. Last (cook/food) book I read:
The above Jill Dupleix 'Very simple food'. - several interesting ideas, although I wouldn't say it is for me. I found it a bit, I don't know, possibly more suitable for people with less creativity, needing to spruce up their parties, quick suppers and desserts.
4. Five (cook) books that mean a lot to me:
Ok. Into this category I am adding cookbooks which in fact, represent different stages in my cooking life:
1/ my grandma's very, very old cake book with a bookcover covered with a sort of beige material and a nice old-fashioned cake picture print on top of it. I used to watch my grandma make cakes and read out the recipes for ther whilst she was making them. (when I was about 7-8)
2/a fantastic big picture cookbook with an alphabetical food terms encyclopedia on its page margins which I recieved as a present from my first au-pair family here in England. (I was 19)
3/ Chinese cooking - another book I have recieved as a presie from their neighbours. I was extremely surprised, shocked and excited about it. It was my first summer when I tried Indian and Chinese quisine and of course, loved it. Getting a book which told me how to make these delicious meals and to make them back in my country was great! (I was 19)
4/Breads; Muffins; Biscuits - by the Australian Women's Weekly Cookbooks editor.(when I was 22)
5/Jamie Oliver's book - speeded up my cooking and traditional style. Moved my food preparation and ideas into more of an improvisation then following recipes.
Now, recipes are there more or less for inspiration. The rest is pure jazz.
5. Which 5 people would you most like to see fill this out in their blog?
Ok, this is going to be harder as there are many of you tagged already, but here we go:(if you are not tagged already too)
Aude at Epice et Compagnie
Rowena at Rubber Slippers in Italy
Marco at Superfuji

Peach 'Danish' (pastry)

noreply@blogger.com (Andrea) — Wed, 15 Jun 2005 03:55:31 PDT

Peach danish

This has to be my ever-favourite quickie dessert. I got the idea from Nicky and Oliver's recipe over at Delicious Days and I can't stop making them.
It is super fast and the pastry is soooo hmmm.

I have put canned peaches on top and the pastry beautifully rises around. I also added few pecan nuts (love them roasted).

out of the oven
Sprinkled with icing sugar and cocoa powder. (maybe a bit weird but I like it that way)