Bitter Orange Tart!

Hello folks, how are we all keeping since we last spoke, which incidentally was five days ago. Apologies! Well what better to say sorry with that something sweet indeed. This tart with a cup of Darjeeling or Earl Grey is a match made in absolute heaven. To top things all off, throw in a copy of Conde Nast Traveller and the perfect evening is awaiting you with gratitude! I’ll let the rest of this post be explained in the eating…

INGREDIENTS:

200g caster sugar.

3 bitter oranges, juice and zest.

1 tsp orange blossom water (available in large supermarkets).

2 free range eggs + 6 yolks.

200g butter, cubed.

25cm round ready made tart shell (pastry).

3 bitter oranges, peeled and sliced into rounds.

1 tbsp demerara sugar.

double cream, to serve.

METHOD:

Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas 4.Whisk the sugar, orange juice and zest, orange blossom water, eggs and egg yolks together in a bowl until well combined.Add the butter and set over a pan over simmering water. (Do not let the base of the bowl touch the water.)Cook for 15-20 minutes, stirring regularly, until the butter has melted and the mixture has thickened.Pour the mixture into the cooked pastry case , cover with clingfilm (to prevent a skin forming) and set aside to cool.Arrange the orange slices on the cooled tart and sprinkle over the demerara sugar.Using a cooks’ blowtorch, heat the sugar until caramelised.To serve, slice the tart and serve with double cream

Peanut Butter Brittle!

Hello again everyone, I am truly sorry for the absence from posting, these past few days! As you probably have already guessed, I’m under stress to get these May examinations over and done with for good, it seems to be that studying is the culprit for this lack of posting. Oh just while I remember, I would like to say, thank you for the comments and poll results on my last post, I have taken on board the information that was discussed and I’m hoping to start the step by step instructions as of Saturday! Unfortunately, for the recipe today I don’t have a photo as I made a mistake in my first attempt and the brittle in brittle never occurred, it was more like peanut, caramel soup, nice enough as it sounds but not for this recipe! So, I’m looking to make the recipe again on Saturday and get it right second time round, with step by step instructions for you all.

I hope this weather is going to pick up soon, yesterday was a fabulous sunny, morning and afternoon with little clouds, and then today it decided to go back to it’s old self, the rather dismal, seemingly endless grey! 😦 Anyway this sweet delight should lift the mood!

INGREDIENTS:

200g caster sugar.

150g golden syrup.

60ml water.

150g salted peanuts.

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract.

1 1/4 tsp bicarbonate soda.

25g butter.

 

METHOD:

In a saucepan place the golden syrup, caster sugar and water. Mix to combine, then apply a medium-heat and bring to the boil. Boil for 5 minutes until a dark amber colour.

Remove from the heat and stir in the peanuts, butter and the rest of the ingredients, until you have a stiff but runny mixture.

Tip out the caramel onto a sheet on greaseproof paper. Leave to set solid then smash into a blithering!!!

Enjoy,

Ryan!

 

Comment’s (Critical, Helpful, Social)

Hello there everyone, this is literally just a 5 minute post to say, that I believe I would be able to improve my blog posts in the future from more comments after posts, or privately mailed comments on WordPress! I see that commenting works for other bloggers and currently I only seem to get a few, I know they take up time, but they really will help me to be able to shape my posts in the near future!!

Thanks,

Ryan!

Cranberry and White Chocolate Cookies!

Hello again there everyone, how are we all keeping? Good I hope! I’m sorry for the lack of posting and also for the constant expectations of a new post and then not seeing it appear before your eyes. Although I would love to say thank you to the 1,601 followers by e-mail. I was rather surprised when WordPress sent me a notification to alert to that fact, and what a pleasant surprise it was,once again thank you all. Tonight’s post is centered again around another sweet toothed craze, the classic cookie all jazzed up with dried ruby red cranberries and subtle vanilla toned white chocolate. I am totally in love with dried cranberries, I love their bittersweet taste and it is truly complimented with the creamy, sugaryness of the white chocolate (if you find a good bar then use that by all mean, instead of chips). Even if you consider yourself not a fan of white chocolate (I’m not too keen), you will still find those fingers grasping another one, they are just too good to not eat! The cranberry flavour hides most of the sweetness and makes the perfect sweetness and balance. Simply the best cookie combination (until I discover a new American craze).

INGREDIENTS:

150g plain flour.

1/2 tsp baking powder.

1/2 tsp salt.

75g rolled oats (not instant variety).

125g soft butter.

75g dark brown sugar.

100g caster sugar (white or golden).

1 egg.

1 teaspoon vanilla extract (not essence).

75g dried ruby red cranberries.r

50g chopped Brazil nuts (just because I love their waxiness and they provide vital selenium for the brain).

150g white chocolate chips.

METHOD:

Preheat the oven to 180C/Gas mark 4. Line a baking sheet with greaseproof paper.

Measure the flour, baking powder, salt and rolled oats into a bowl.

Place the butter and sugar into another bowl and cream together, then add the egg and vanilla.

Beat in the flour mix in small additions, then fold in the other ingredients.

Roll tablespoons of the dough in your fingers then flatten slightly with a fork and place on the baking sheet. You will need to cook in two batches.

Bake for 15 minutes, until lightly golden, remove from the oven leave to cool for 5 minutes then peel off and leave to cool fully on a wire rack.

Enjoy!

Ryan 🙂

Hmmm.. Has Spring arrived??

Urgh! The still blank, bare trees swaying in the wind, the de icing spray is out some mornings and the scarf’s are still wrapped around our necks I don’t know if it will ever get warmer in Glasgow. Although the sun has began to show itself more often and the sudden burst of atmospheric vitamin D is filling everyone with happiness. Well we still require more of it, go get to work nature!!!

Vanilla and Cardamom Shortbread!!

Just a little middle of the week bake for you all recipe tomorrow folks!!

Celeriac Remoulade with Homemade Mayo!

Hello there again, everybody! you must all be thinking, homemade mayo, he must be going mad, why don’t you just crank open a jar on Hellman’s and everyone is happy, and what about this celeriac, what even is that, a fruit? Haha, do not panic mes amis, celeriac is a rather large base of the celery plant (depending what species you purchase), and has a rather sweet, nutty characteristic. It is not as strong as it’s cousin the celery plant, and I absolutely adore it whirled through a simple mashed potato, total transformation. As for the homemade mayonnaise, I’m not asking you to go ahead and completely convert yourself to homemade versions, but every now and then I love to be stove-side, music on and doing some deep thinking over a bowl of egg yolks (rather therapeutic). Obviously, I have to confess, and say that I am now becoming a jar, packet and box addict. there just simply is no time in this life to slave of stoves day after day, but when you have the chance, grab at the first hurdle, and so what if it is a failure, I’ll tell you a fact right now, mostly everything I post and create are my variations of recipes, and do you know I just laugh off failures, it’s great when your cooking with friends and you have great conversation going on and in the background your milk pan is erupting like that Icelandic volcano…

That’s what I think cooking should be all about, explore flavours and new combinations an if they are awful then try something else, and as the old saying goes ‘don’t cry over spilt milk’. If you are not sure, what a remoulade is, then it is simply a posh word for coleslaw, without the mayo addition yet! I love this served over warm buttered bread, with a lovely slice of cheese to accompany. So there we go, have fun and oh if you looking for a flavour combination bible, then I would definitely recommend a copy of the flavour thesaurus, some of the flavours are absolutely divine and rather abstract.

INGREDIENTS:

For the Mayo:

Please, don’t be afraid of emulsifying eggs and oil, it took me 12 attempts to master mayonnaise hahha, if that makes you feel any better.

2 egg yolks.

2 tsp white wine vinegar.

1 tsp dijon mustard.

salt, to taste.

black pepper (fresh), to taste.

300ml vegetable oil or sunflower.

I’ll separate the method for the mayo and the remoulade.

1. place all the ingredients into the food processor, apart from the oil. Blitz until pale and creamy in appearance. With the motor running, slowly (I really mean a drip at a time) drip the oil into the mixture through the funnel and keep on adding until the mayo looks thick and uniform.

For the Remoulade:

1/2 medium celeriac, peeled and grated.

1 lemon, juice only, stops the browning process.

1 tbsp dijon mustard.

handful of fresh parsley, chopped roughly.

salt.

fresh black pepper.

Place all of the ingredients into a large bowl and then fold in the mayonnaise, serve immediately!!

Enjoy, I know you will love this one! I’ll try make it on Saturday for a picture  for you!!

Thank,

Ryan!

The Perfect Meringues!

Hello, I must sincerely apologize to you all dearly, I really have been struggling to find the time to fit in posting this week, and unfortunately its looking to be this way for the next couple of weeks, due to studying and exams. These meringues will hopefully fill up the empty sadness I have put you all through, well not that deep. Anyway I have named these the perfect meringues, really it’s because they are pretty foolproof and never go wrong for me, they have the texture and appearance of those you would see in a posh New York deli. Airily light and crisp then sandwiched with a layer of smooth chocolate and whipped cream and fresh fruit. Fabulous is all I can say, simple perfection. I’m not going to blabble much more as I must get back to writting out Mozart’s Firgaro’s Aria from Marriage of Firgaro in score, so no time to waste.

INGREDIENTS:

300g caster sugar (golden if you prefer a more caramelised flavour and colour)
5 eggs, whites only, at room temperature
Lemon slice (optional)

METHOD:

1. Heat the oven to 200C. Spread the sugar over an oven tray lined with baking parchment and cook until it has just begun to melt at the edges, but not caramelise (about 8 minutes).

2. Meanwhile, crack the eggs, being careful not to drop any yolk into your whites. If you lose any bits of shell, scoop them out with a clean spoon rather than your fingers.

3. Wipe the inside of your mixing bowl, and the whisk, with the cut side of the lemon and add the eggs. As soon as you spot the sugar beginning to melt at the edges, set the mixer to whisk at high speed while you take the sugar out of the oven.

4. The mixture should be just foamy by the time you add the sugar. Wearing oven gloves, pick up the baking parchment with oven gloves and tip the hot sugar slowly into the still-whisking mixer. Continue whisking until the mixture has cooled, and is glossy and will hold its shape. Turn the oven down to its lowest setting.

5. If you want to fold through any spices or other flavourings, or roll the meringues in nuts or another topping, this is your moment – but they’ll be pretty good as they are.

6. Line a baking tray with parchment, and spoon the meringue on in great gorgeous blobs – remember they’ll increase in size as they dry out. Put them into the oven and bake until they are crisp on the outside, and sound hollow when tapped on the bottom: depending on their size, this could take six hours, so don’t wait up.

7. Turn the oven off and leave them in there until it has cooled, then immediately transfer to an air-tight container.

Thanks.

Ryan! Happy Baking…

International Pancake Day Recipes!

Hello, again everyone! How are we all keeping, good I hope. I am firstly going to sincerely apologize to you all for not posting anything in quite some time now. So here I am, ready to give you a recipe for the best crepes you will ever make. I must say though, for perfect crepes you must ensure that you have a classic french crepe pan, which are very shallow and conduct heat very efficiently, and you must also have a  T shaped wooden paddle, I made mine from two wooden dowels, glued together. This allows you to run smooth the batter out very thinly, ensuring you get the best chewy, results. I am not too fussed about the fillings for crepes, I love the classic lemon and caster combination or vanilla and nutella with the addition of some chopped up toasted hazelnuts, although you can really go out to sea with your interpretations of  fillings. I sometimes, when feeling at my most desperate, jump down to the local supermarket, pick up a packet of sweet french desert crepes, a tub of whipping cream, jar of nutella and a few chopped macerated strawberries, sheer bliss. That is on the rare occasion such as Pancake Day…

INGREDIENTS:

Crepes (master recipe)

30g butter melted, plus extra for frying.

150g plain flour sifted.

325ml whole milk.

1 large egg.

Filling:

Whatever takes your fancy……

METHOD:

Melt the butter and leave to cool slightly.

Put the flour, egg and milk in the blender and blitz to combine. add the butter and blitz again.

Heat a seasoned crêpe pan or the nearest equivalent (I like to melt some butter in one first, and then wipe it all off) and ladle 2–3 tablespoons of batter into the pan then quickly hold it up and swirl so that the batter forms a quick, thin pancake covering the base of the pan. This will cook in a minute so flip it and cook for 30 seconds to a minute on the other side, then remove the pale crêpe to a layer of baking paper.

Continue to use up the batter.

Enjoy and Happy Pancake Day!!!!!

Ryan..

Saturday Brunch!