Foolproof Vanilla Shortbread And My Quick South African Inspired Curry!

Hello folks again, some of you may have seen earlier that I posted about the five day gap between my posts. One of my excuses for this is, that for the last few days I have been frantically chasing after some lovely (and some not-so-as-lovely) primary seven students at school, with a few friends mentoring/shadowing over them, which has been lovely and a great excuse also to get out of classes for two full days aha! A few other reasons popped up, but why would I tell you my entire life story about my day-to-day dilemmas.. So onto the delights of the two dishes I shall share with you this evening. Okay, to start off with I will lead you up towards the highlands for a shortbread lesson, as if that is going to happen. No! I have a foolproof Nigella shortcut that is going to give you that incredible melting texture that shortbread has, in lets say 40 minutes, 10 for prep, and you can use your maths to calculate the rest aha, only joking! The secret piece of kitchen gadgetry I use is the food processor, honestly I couldn’t see myself live without that attachment in my kitchen! A must have for the avid baker or general cook, plus it’s three quarters of the price of a kitchenaid mixer! This machine, combines the butter and flours together perfectly and more so, hygienically. We can cut down on the time spent in the kitchen (oh , that made me feel pain, I mean that we can cut down on manual labour). Please, don’t picture me as an entirely lazy cook.. For this shortbread, I chose to use Vanilla, which is original recipe idea from Nigella, but as you know a bit of my tweaking has to kick in a I do love a rosewater/orangeblossom scented shortbread. Or for a more sophisticated version, you could add some chopped dried bittersweet cranberries and a spritz of orange zest and oil (from zest)! The key ingredient in shortbread is of course butter and a good one at that, I love a good Normandy butter for pastry, buns and shortbread of course.. Also just before I give you this recipe, I must tell you that when making shortbread a great sugar to use for inside the dough is Icing sugar, sounds silly, but it makes for a velvety crumb later!

INGREDIENTS:

100g Cornflour.

100g Icing sugar.

200g Plain flour.

200g  Soft Good-quality unsalted butter.

2 tsp  good vanilla or seeds from a pod, or your flavouring of choice e.g. rosewater, lavender.

METHOD:

Add the cornflour, plain flour and icing sugar to the bowl of the food processor. Blitz together to obliterate any lumps!

Combine in the butter and Vanilla or flavoring into the bowl to and whiz until a smooth, clump of dough starts to form inside the mixer.

Preheat the oven to Gas 3/160C. Dust a Swiss roll with plain regular flour and roll out the shortbread to half a centimeter thickness and  then cut out circles or shapes of your choice and place on the tray and bake for 20-25 minutes, until the shortbread feels dry with no bounce in texture.. No colour change should occur, must stay very pale gold!!

Cool on a wire rack and then box up as gifts, or eat all to ones self! Enjoy!

Now onto the quick South African Curry, a few words of warning here, I am making this up as I go along, with the things, I am finding in the fridge and store cupboards.. I hope this is a success for you all, although I can’t promise it will be foolproof, I can say that it stills follows the instinct of an African curry so should be completely satisfying. So enter the fridge and work with what you have, I don’t mind in the slightest if the veggies used here are from the deep freeze, as that is sometimes what life comes too when you are living in the 21st century!

INGREDIENTS: (may be altered to suit personal tastes)..

For the quick curry paste:

2 cloves of garlic finely minced, using a microplane grater for ease, if at hand!

1 small red chilli de-seeded, and chopped finely. South African curries usually contain very mild spices and are much more fragrant than ordinary Indian, for example! The chilli flesh will provide a gentle warmth, not fire..

few drops of a flavourless oil.

1 stalk of lemongrass finely chopped.

Optional, piece of fresh ginger minced..

And last but not least a heaped teaspoonful of African curry powder, Mild or Original here please.

For the Meat Optional and Vegetables:

I usually use a few chunks of chopped lamb or a lovely chopped up chicken thigh (s).

A pack of young tender veg, fresh or frozen available in good supermarkets..

Or just a lovely collection of fresh young veggies i.e. peppers, corn, beans, mangetout etc…

1 x 400ml can of Coconut milk.

METHOD:

Blitz in a processor all of the ingredients for the paste until the oil has helped bring all of the ingredients together nicely.

Heat a large deep saute pan or frying pan on a high heat and add to that, the paste and soften slightly, before adding the meat if using and cook it for a few minutes on each side until lovely and tender.. Add the can of coconut milk and stir through the vegetables, they will be the quickest to cook! Now clamp on a lid and leave to infuse on the heat for 5 minutes and then turn off the heat, remove the lid and leave to cool slightly and develop the flavours and character!

Serve in warm bowls, with a side bowl of freshly boiled white rice, Lovely!

Enjoy folks, and until next time,

Thank you,

Ryan!

Quick update for this evening!

Hello folks, sorry for the 5 day delay, I’ve been incredibly busy these past few days so I haven’t had the chance to share a few posts with you all.. Tonight to make up for that, I shall include two in one sitting! Thank you for your patience! Speak soon! p.s. Not giving any clues as to what the recipes might be, but you will be in for a surprise indeed,  or maybe a tad of shock but they are one hundred percent foolproof.. I gurantee you on that!

See you all soon,
Ryan!

Risotto of Wild Mushrooms!

Hello folks, how are you all keeping.. Well I must first apologize for the post delay, It will definitely be worth it though after you have read this post and cooked it obviously to. I have chosen to share with you one of my most favourite and delectably beautiful Italian classics, the risotto. Their isn’t really much going for the regular plain risotto in terms of flavour and texture, although if you follow a little of my few tips then I can rest assure you that it will be a mushroom risotto, like no other you have ever had! This risotto is for the not so laborious cook, what i mean by that is you can make this risotto to calm and de-stress yourself and it should be a very relaxed and easy going dish. If you are in the slightest bit uptight and nervous when cooking then take a break and relax your nerves.. There is nothing worse than feeling uncomfortable and it will slide it’s way into your cooking and spoil it, just a little mental note for you to reflect on!  Now I’m not going to give you a lecture in classic Italian cooking rules, but what I am going to do, is show the basic rules of making a silky-smooth and voluptuous risotto. One of the main rules in the making of a good risotto is the rice, forget the liquid and stock rules, we will come to that eventually.. So the rice, it must be of the type Arborio, or if the packet/tub says risotto rice. This rice lends the perfect starch oozing qualities we are looking for in a risotto and if possible, try and get a hold of an Italian brand.. Delis such as ‘Carluccios’ have many selections/varieties to choose from! Rule No.2, Do not use butter to finish a risotto, you may be thinking ‘what’ is he mad. The reason I don’t use butter to provide a silky texture is due to the simple fact that butter fats/proteins split very easily and quickly for that matter, so instead I use a more Italian creamy substitute : mascarpone, this light almost yogurt texture cheese lends a silky texture and blends in much better than ordinary butter would! Final rule, that I consider most important: the addition of liquid i.e. stock and wine to risottos. When using wine in any dish, you must first evaporate off the harsh alcohol flavour by adding it before the additions of stock. In terms of stock, it is still the ancient Italian method of adding the stock, ladle by ladle. Don’t feel overly confident and start adding 2-3 ladles at a given time as the finishing result will not be satisfactory.. So there we are, my 3 basic risotto rules, simple!

Imagine this, (what I do whilst cooking any Italian cuisine) a beautiful night (golden sunset) in Italy (Venice, for personal preference) with still gondolas outside, bobbing up and down on the surface of the pale blue waters, with a busy market flocked with people in the background and little outdoor kitchens serving warm bowls of perfectly satin risottos to passers by followed by a lovely coffee to round things off just nicely! If you imagine this also, I’m pretty sure your rice will never taste as good this does! 🙂

INGREDIENTS:

750ml Veg stock.

3 tbsp olive oil (regular is just fine).

2 large shallots, finely diced.

2 celery stalks, finely sliced.

200g risotto rice e.g. Arborio.

1 small glass of dry white wine (remember, if you wouldn’t drink it, don’t cook with it).

1 tsp ground coriander seeds.

salt and pepper.

100g oyster mushrooms, cleaned and sliced (not too finely).

100g girolles (the most fantastic risotto mushroom around, if you cannot get a hold of them, then use a 50g porcini, 50g chestnut mix or 100g chestnut.

2 good tbsp mascarpone or creme fraiche. (full fat!!).

1 tbsp chopped chives.

2 tbsp freshly grated parmesan.

METHOD:

Bring the stock to the boil in a largish saucepan, when boiling, reduce the heat to make it simmer very gently.

Heat 1 tbsp of the olive oil in a deep saute or frying pan, add the shallots and saute  for 2-3 minutes until softened but translucent. Add the celery and cook for a further 2 minutes.

Stir in the rice and cook for 2 minutes. Pour in wine and make sure all of that harsh alcoholic vapor has left the risotto. The add the stock ladle by ladle at a time, only adding another when the rice has absorbed all of the stock from the previous ladle.

Carry on adding the stock until, the rice has plumped up and is al dente (with a slight bite). The risotto should be very moist and creamy already. Season well!

Heat the remaining olive oil in a saute pan and adding the sliced mushrooms to the pan and cook, stirring fairly frequently until they are softened and then stir them through the risotto.

Add the mascarpone and stir well.. Decant into warm bowls and sprinkle with the chives and parmesan and enjoy!

Merci beaucoup, until next time…

Au revoir,

Ryan!

 

 

 

 

Cherry Clafoutis! My Way..

Hello again folks, how are we all doing, great I hope! Well let me tell you if today has not really been the best of days for you, then I’m one hundred percent certain that this classic French pudding will lighten the mood of any day. I do recall in the past, writing a post or maybe adding to a post, a recipe for Clafoutis, but it was more or less me telling you that you had to simply add fruit to a dish and pour over a simple pancake batter and pop in the oven for a few minutes. Well I have learned from my mistakes and can truthfully tell you that it simply does not work.. The fruit simple sinks to the bottom of the dish and burns and the batter puffs up far too much! Anyway, my foolproof recipe that I have miraculously came up with, is a combination of Raymond Blanc and Rachel Khoo’s recipes mashed together to form a beautiful creation.. I have stated in the title that, it should be carried out using cherries, although if I am taking this to somebody’s dinner party or if their is someone who for some fanatical reason dislikes fresh, seasonal cherries (honestly  have never met one person yet aha) you may at your own leisure, swap the cherries for apricots (fresh), raspberries (although they do explode aha), never use strawberries as a precaution as they become a mass of ruby-red mush in the oven.. I also love peaches and plums too! (no need for ripe plums), which in turn makes life so much easier..

Aha so, I have been talking a lot about this Clafoutis and so I thought I would move onto a different subject: I have chosen to ask you ( the readers and viewers of this blog), if you have any questions you would like answered, any specific recipes you would like me to post about.. I can even to step by step photography if that helps anyone, when it comes to lining tins with pastry or the folds and turns of a good puff! I would also love to hear if you have blogging improvement suggestions etc.. Much appreciated by myself and would help to attract a wider audience, so keep those thoughts in mind, for whenever an idea may pop into your head!

INGREDIENTS:

450g Cherries (or the fruit of choice you chose). e.g. peaches, cut in half, stoned!

2-3 tbsp caster sugar, this depends on the sweetness, ripeness of your fruit.

For the Batter:

20g butter, with extra for greasing the dish later which by the way is a mid-deep pie dish, ovenproof of course.

2 eggs.

3 tbsp caster sugar (now you can sweeten the batter).

A spritz of vanilla extract, this is optional, but worth it!

1 heaped tbsp, plain flour.

50 ml whole milk.

75 ml whipping cream.

pinch of salt.

METHOD:

Mix  together (fastidiously) the cherries and sugar and then leave to macerate for two hours. (The sugar will slowly infiltrate and intensify the flavour of the cherries).

Preheat the oven to 180C Gas 4. Grease a baking dish with butter and sprinkle with sugar. Shake the sugar around the dish so that it is evenly coated, then tip out any excess into the sugar pot!

For the batter, heat the butter in a small pan until it turns a pale hazelnut colour – this is called a beurre noisette.( hazel butter). Do not allow the butter to burn or it will become bitter. Remove the pan from the heat and set aside in a warm place. You can just melt the butter if preferred.

In a large bowl whisk together the eggs, sugar and vanilla until creamy, add the flour and carefully whisk until smooth. (don’t over whisk, you will toughen the batter).  Slowly, whisk in the milk, cream, slat and either melted butter or beurre noisette.

Mix the macerated cherries and their juice into the batter and pour into the prepared baking dish. Bake for 30- 35 minutes, until slightly domed ( not cracked, cracked can be a bad sign – oven was too hot. When ready a knife inserted into the centre of the clafoutis shall come out completely clean..

To serve  Blanc style – sprinkle with caster sugar and serve warm..

Khoo style – dust lightly with icing sugar and serve warm also..

Merci beaucoup.. Until next time..

Au Revoir,

Ryan!

Pea and Pesto Soup Presto Style Nigella!

Hello again folks, I hope you have all been very happy and are keeping well. Now I have been battering on about my Duke of Edinburgh award and practice expedition, and as of now I can officially spread the word to you that I have accomplished the practice and thank goodness for it. For the two days: Thursday and Friday (I know what a way to spend a Friday) I was walking (hiking more like) up and down valleys in the Glenfinglas area in Scotland, which I must add, has some of the most spectacular views in Europe. I suggest a little walk in that region if you live or (plan to take a visit) to Scotland any time soon. In advance, I apologize to those of you who read this blog often as I am going to repeat a cliche of mine which, most often appears in my posts and that is ‘The world is your oyster as long as you let it be’. Okay so maybe it is a cliche, but it must be good if people use it so often. So apart from a few blisters and sunburn, I have survived the expedition and feel pretty proud of myself considering the bags were quite heavy.. Now onto a little kitchen secret i thought I would share with you, in the form of a wonderfully comforting and satisfyingly good soup from Nigella. As you have guessed, it contains peas (in the form of frozen petit pois) as the modern cook/person usually does not have the time to pick fresh peas from their little lime green pods. Also included is pesto, now this is a presto soup, so therefore I’m not making my own pesto (even though it takes minutes) and taking it from fresh in the supermarket, not the jarred stuff as it really bland and packed with an unnecessary amount of olive oil..  The plain, simple flavours of the peas and the pesto work fantastically here and help to really balance out this soup! There also is really no long list of ingredients, which in turn allows you to cook this soup on a day when the weather has been disastrous, a bit like today and when you require something to keep you perked up throughout a long, hard working day!

INGREDIENTS:

750ml fresh water.

4 tbsp fresh ‘tub’ pesto. (Green please here).

375g frozen peas.

1/4 tsp lime juice.

1 tsp sea salt flakes (Maldon for preference).

2 spring onions, trimmed, but left whole.

2 tbsp pine nuts (optional). These echo the pine nuts in the pesto.

METHOD: Does this really have one aha!

1. Fill a kettle with around 1 litre of water and bring it to the boil, pour the boiled water into the pan measuring 750ml in a jug to make it easier. Now bring back to the boil on the heat.

2. If taking away with you (i.e. out of the house), fill a thermos with the remaining kettle water.

3. Add the frozen peas, spring onions, salt and lime juice to the pan and let everything meld together nicely for 7 minutes.

4. Take out the spring onions and blitz the peas with the pesto in a jug blender ( I find a jug blender gives a much smoother consistency, rather than using a processor.

5. If using a thermos, empty the hot water out now and pour in the soup and sprinkle on the toasted pine nuts if using..

Until next time, enjoy,

Merci, Au revoir..

Ryan!

 

Lamb Cutlets with Mint, Chilli and Golden Potatoes!

Hello folks, nice to post again to you! I hope you’re all keeping well and happy, well rest assured, you will be after you eat these lamb cutlets aha. So today I visited the lovely Pollock Country Park in Glasgow, as part of my Duke of Edinburgh training… which infact was absolutely lovely, flowers were in abundance and plenty of lovely area to sit, relax and take great photographs. I would highly recommend a walk in this vast park whenever any of you decide to visit Glasgow! Okay I am not going to drone on about DofE for the whole of this post and so for now I will move us swiftly onto the topic of pleasant, easy Nigella cookery. This recipe comes from the most recent book in her series, Nigellissima and the lamb here is not all that strong, so if you are a bit of a fussy eater or your friends are then please still give it a go, the results and flavour stakes are high! I wizz this up in a complete frenzy most of the time, but the point of the matter is, is that you could marinate the lamb the night before friends or guests arrive and also the fact that I could do this in my sleep. It is the reason that some foods should be kept as simple as possible and leave the few ingredients to shine through on their own accord. The marinade for these cutlets can be used on a wide variety of other meats such as fish (especially trout!) and chicken thighs are particularly good as they are on the bone, which will help to infuse the meat/fish with even more enhanced flavour! Right no more talking onto these fantastic little treats 🙂

INGREDIENTS:

500g baby new potatoes, and insure they are waxy. Washed and halved (Not peeled).

3 tbsp olive oil (no need for extra virgin, although feel free).

1/2 tsp dried chilli flakes (golden-red flakes of fire!)

1 tsp dried mint (lovely and nutty almost, with subtle hints of mint).

1/2 tsp celery salt (crisp, with an oomph of celery so use cautiously, if allergic to celery Maldon salt flakes for preferred option).

8 lamb cutlets (you can reduce this number for less people and the same with the potatoes). Trim of excess fat, the butcher can do this for you..

100g rocket leaves (for a peppery note).

1 tsp sea salt flakes (Maldon for preference).

Rough bunch of freshly chopped parsley and mint to garnish…

METHOD:

Place the halved potatoes into a steamer or onto the hob to steam.

Take a large dish (eg. Pyrex) and make sure it is big enough to fit all 8 cutlets on one layer and add the oil, chilli flakes, celery salt and dried mint to the dish.

Using the cutlets as though they were little wooden spoons, move them around in the marinade and then arrange them all in a singular file in the dish and leave for 10 mins. Then turn over and repeat, they can now be used or covered and kept in the fridge overnight..

Heat a large non-stick frying pan on a medium/high heat (don’t add oil as the marinade is oily enough). Place all of the cutlets into the pan and leave to cook for 5 minutes. While they are cooking, check to see if the potatoes are tender. If so then turn off the heat underneath them.

Using BBQ tongs or any implement of your choice turn over the cutlets and cook for a further 3 minutes. When ready, take the pan off the heat and place the rocket over a serving plate and then when still warm place the lamb on top of it’s bed of rocket leaves.

Tip the lovely steamed potatoes into the pan the lamb was cooking in and cook/toss for around 3 minutes until the take on a burnished glow. Using a slotted spoon, carefully spoon onto the lamb plate and sprinkle with the other teaspoon of salt and garnish with a roughly chopped bunch of fresh mint and parsley. Serve immediately!

Enjoy, and until the next post have a lovely few days,

Au revoir,

Ryan!

 

 

Iced Coffee Parfait!

Hello again everyone, I hope you’re all keeping well and fine! Ah today I could finally say goodbye to assessments for two weeks as Duke of Edinburgh will be my main place of residence next week with an overnight expedition in the Trossachs, Hooray.. Anyway, for today I thought I would delve into the French side of my cookery skills and explore the Sabayon. Okay, so a classic sabayon is simply egg yolks and sugar whisked over a bain marie (bowl over hot simmering water, making sure the bowl doesn’t touch the water) until almost mousse like in texture. It is then simply cooled very quickly in a bowl with ice and cold water and then whipped cream (soft peaks) is folded into it to create the most luxuriantly soft, creamy clouds of heaven (well not exactly, but close enough in my eyes). This desert is truly divine on it’s on but you can turn it up a notch and make a parfait, trust me it sounds more difficult than it is. To be totally honest with you, I wouldn’t ever post recipes that cause strain or anger to you, as after all cooking is something to be enjoyed not to be your nemesis! I really don’t and I’m sure you don’t either, have the time, effort and patience to create Michelin standard food. I say I cook from Raymond Blanc and Michel Roux cookery books, and yes I do, they have some of the most beautiful dishes from France. They take a little time to create but who says they are in any way difficult! Not me..

I am creating an iced coffee version of parfait here which gives it a lovely amber-brown colour and that little speck of France cafes, but do feel free to substitute the coffee for other flavourings such as rose water, the wonderful violet syrup from Provence I was telling you about in my last post (link available there) or maybe some natural lemon or orange oils… the worlds your oyster!

INGREDIENTS:

8 large egg yolks.

100g caster sugar (white not golden).

250ml sweet, fruity dessert wine. ( rule for cooking with wine : Only use it if you would drink it yourself).

Tiny pinch cayenne pepper (provides a lovely kick, omit if not wanted).

Small squeeze of lemon juice (fresh).

200ml whipping cream (whipped until very soft peaks form when the whisk is removed).

50ml coffee essence (camp coffee extract for example) or 5oml of strong coffee (espresso for a richer, more complex flavour on the palette.

To serve:

Caramel. Simply sugar boiled until a caramel is reached with a knob of butter thrown in at the end of cooking to ensure it stays a sauce like consistency..

Vanilla Cream. Double/whipping cream, very lightly whipped (no peaks formed) with a drop of essence of vanilla added.

A handful of chopped crunchy textures e.g. roasted nuts or nougatine (almonds and caramel set until brittle).

All of these are optional ingredients, but the do add the most wonderful flavour and help to balance out the smooth texture of the parfait.

METHOD:

Whisk the egg yolks, sugar and wine in a heatproof bowl until lightly whipped (pale and fluffy). One thing I will add about sabayon is that in the cooking process you must work quickly as the egg yolks a susceptible to loosing their volume when whisked so do work fast indeed! After the cream has been folded in later, you can relax aha..

Place the heatproof bowl over a bain marie (bowl over a pan of simmering water, ensuring the sabayon bowl does make any contact with the simmering water at all). Whisk for 3-4 minutes constantly to avoid scrambled eggs at the bottom of the pan , until the mixture is pale and thickened, the ideal temperature for a sabayon is around the 78-80 C mark, so a thermometer is always handy to have by your side.

Remove from the heat and plunge into a bowl of icy water and whisk again until cool! Your labour intensive whisking workout has now come to an end. Now onto the gentle art of folding. Fold in the cayenne and lemon juice and set it aside until completely cold.

Carefully fold in the whipped cream to the sabayon until just combined, then fold in the coffee essence or espresso. Spoon the mixture into a 1.2kg loaf tin and perfectly or imperfectly level the top with the edge of a palette knife and then chill in the freezer for at least 12 hours until solid.

When ready to serve the parfait, simply take a bowl of hot water and dip the parfait mould in the water for 3 secs then remove, turn upside onto a serving plate, slice into slices and serve with the caramel and vanilla cream drizzled over the plate, the parfait on top and the textures, surrounding it! Voila..

Merci beaucoup, until next time,

Au revoir,

Ryan!

 

Tarte au Citron! (Lemon tart)

Hello folks, how are we all? I hope this week has started off very well. I have been vacantly off school these past couple of days and have spent most of them studying for an upcoming Physics test, which infact is tomorrow. The thought about it make me sad, but I know that I have Duke of Edinburgh straight after for a last minute preparation towards our first practice expedition.. Which is pretty daunting in terms of the food we will be demolishing throughout the days, pot noodles, instant pasta urgh the list disgusts me, make me a pasta with pesto or a simple bowl of hot ‘fresh’ soup! Aha.. honestly, I could complain about every aspect of camping from the rubbish weather to the inedible ‘cardboard’ instant carbs. Anyway, enough of my camping nightmares and onto the sweeter life subject that is Lemon Tart. There is nothing more satisfyingly beautiful than a light brown tanned shortcrust pastry, perfectly crumby in texture and that melts in the mouth sublimely, filled with a sumptuously smooth, sun-kissed lemon filling that is delectably tart in every possible fashion! Then the tart is fastidiously (favourite word at the moment) dusted with sifted icing sugar for that elegant finish! Now I’m not going to talk a lot in this post but instead let the tart do it for me. Although I would like to add this, I have recently made another few culinary findings in which I must share with you, these may be a little on the stretching wallet side of life but they are sure to make you’re life and relationship with the kitchen a whole better experience:

1. White truffle honey from Italy priced at £12.99 , How do I describe the taste of this to you.. hmmm.. Well first of all it is incredibly subtle and not dtrong at all. If you are into cooking souffles and very light desserts or starters then this is the honey for you, it has a wonderful aromatic, subtlety to it and can handle complex flavour combinations!  http://www.amazon.co.uk/Urban-Merchants-White-Truffle-Honey/dp/B0087TPBXC/ref=sr_1_4?s=grocery&ie=UTF8&qid=1367955188&sr=1-4&keywords=italian+food

2.Violet flower syrup form Provence, France. Wow! is possibly all I can say about the syrup, I really don’t understand why the genuine cook is so comforted by only using rose water when cooking, be extravagant and bold and experiment with different flavour partners,I promise you will be amazed at the sheer amount of delights you can create with a drop or two of essence. This is unusual and before you start going ew.. it will taste like those parma violets sweets you used to receive as a child, well surprisingly not, this syrup is very delicate and is naturally produced from the beautiful violet flowers of the Provence region of Franc, which is also famous for it’s vast amounts of lavender fields. French lavender is regarded as the best in the world! Priced at £7.50 http://www.amazon.co.uk/Violet-Flower-Syrup-250-ml/dp/B004MFGJB8/ref=sr_1_7?s=grocery&ie=UTF8&qid=1367955648&sr=1-7&keywords=french+food

INGREDIENTS:

For the shortcrust pastry:

This sweet shortcrust is a very crumbly and short (aha) pastry which melts sublimely in the mouth and can be used for virtually any sweet tart around!

225g plain flour

150g cold unsalted butter, cut in cubes.

25g icing sugar.

1 egg beaten.

2 tbsp water.

For the Filling:

9 eggs.

300ml fresh double cream.

350g caster sugar.

6 large lemons, finely grated of zest and squeezed of their juice.

METHOD:

Preheat the oven to 200c / Gas mark 6.

For the pastry, combine the flour, butter and icing sugar into a food processor (or by hand). Blend until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs and has changed subtlety in colour. Now add the egg and water and blend again until a clump of dough comes together (do not over mix). Roll out the dough on a lightly floured surface and then line a 23 cm tart tin (fluted edges) or ring (straight edges) with the pastry. Let the excess hang over the edge of the tin and prick the base with a fork all over and then place a sheet of foil on top of the pastry and fill it with baking beans. Chill the pastry for 30 mins now if it was a hot day.

Now you will blind bake the pastry (baking the pastry with no filling inside to partially cook it) for 15 minutes, then remove from the oven and remove the beans and foil. Trim the excess off the pastry to create a completely straight edge on the tin then pop back into the oven uncovered for another 12-13 minutes to let in completely cook and dry out. This will ensure you don’t have a soggy bottom (now who wants that!). Set aside to cool.

Reduce the oven temp to 180c / Gas Mark 4.

Measure all of the filling ingredients into a bowl and whisk together until smooth. Carefully pour the filling mixture into the cooled baked pastry case. Transfer the tart to the oven and bake for 40-45 minutes or until just set with a slight wobble still.

Leave to cool a little then, remove from it’s tin completely and transfer to a serving plate. Sprinkle with icing sugar and Serve either warm with a splash of cream or cold with a cup of tea or coffee. Enjoy!

Merci beaucoup, until next time folks,

Au revoir,Ryan!

 

 

Lemon Drizzle Loaf, Homage To Raymond Blanc!

Hello everyone again, long time now see shall we say. I hope you are all keeping well an eating great food aha! Well I certainly am.. I am truly sorry for the large gap between this post and the last, It’s due to some Wi-Fi problems and studying. Anyway I am back on track now and for you today, I have conjured up a little French classic from Raymond Blanc, Lemon Drizzle Cake.  I love this cake, but not as much as the French, who I could possibly say are a tad obsessed, It is on nearly every cafe menu and at the of a meal you are most likely to be asked ‘voulez-vous un morceau de gâteau au citron’ and to my not so surprised self, lots would say yes and would ask for it along with a cup of handcrafted French coffee.. This cake is so quintessentially French and why not make the effort and wrap up a few friends, ask them to pop round and have a lovely French themed afternoon tea. I have lots of other great teatime treats on this blog that you can access and create for you day! Now I was going to attach a photo to this post but I got caught up in a phone call when I was delicately glazing it with the drizzle and so my attention span wandered off some place else.. I have no cake left now at all and I only made it 5 hours ago aha! I tell you one thing, this cake does make even the most stuffed of diners find a little space in there gastronomical bi-hole (the stomach) for a slice or two of this cake.. So I do warn you in advance, take pictures ASAP! 

For the cake Raymond has specified using plain flour and baking powder, which leads to a very slight dense sponge (which I prefer) although others may prefer a much lighter sponge and so I suggest you go for all self-raising or cake flour and omit the baking powder. I love slightly denser and damp cakes more than those light as air puffy cakes from the super market. The Italians are very keen on the idea of making cakes slightly more dry than our British tastebuds, but remember this any cake can be made lighter or denser! I am looking for a good book to start as I am nearing the end of John Green’s The Fault In Our Stars, although, where I am in the book right now is not so good, the story is dragging out a little and I am very tempted to just skip past it all but I am persevering and staying put! So now for the great cake which speak little French cafes for me, and has been made lovingly in the Blanc kitchen for 25 years!

INGREDIENTS:

5 eggs.

140ml double cream.

300g caster sugar.

3 lemons, zest only.

80g unsalted butter, melted.

1 tbsp rum or similar.

Pinch of salt.

1/2 tsp baking powder (omit if using self-raising flour).

240g plain flour for dense sponge or self raising for lighter sponge.

For the glaze

3 tbsp apricot jam or orange marmalade.

150g icing sugar.

1 lemon, zest and juice.

METHOD:

Preheat the oven to 180c/Gas Mark 4.

Grease a loaf tin with butter and line with greaseproof paper.

In a large mixing bowl, whisk the eggs, cream, sugar, lemon zest, salt, rum and butter.

Sift the flour and baking powder (if using) into another bowl and add two tablespoons at a time to the egg and cream mix until all of the flour is incorporated and the mix is velvety smooth.

Pour this mix into the prepared tin and bake for 50-60 mins.

Remove from the oven and set aside still in the tin. Melt the jam in a small saucepan with a splash of water until a thick syrup is achieved. Now brush the cake liberally with the glaze and set aside.

Now whip-up the icing glaze, by whisking the icing sugar, lemon juice and zest together until a thick clear paste is reached.

Now brush this glaze over the cake and leave to set for 5 minutes. Put the oven on for 1 minute and then turn off and put the cake back inside to further solidify the glaze and then take a quick snap with the camera, pop the kettle on and indulge!

Merci Beaucoup and Merci Raymond for this lovely recipe! Until next time,

Au Revoir,

Ryan!