After a talk with her and suggestions on all sides it was decided to put the emphasis on deserts, with quiche, salads, and a full farm house cheese from Evansdale cheese we are so lucky the best farmhouse cheese in the world is made 1 kilometer from here. Three different salads, Green, Roast Veg with Maple Dressing and Adzuki Bean from the previous blog.
Desserts will be a couple of Paris Brests [from previous blog], a large Trifle, a Best recipes Frozen Mocha Cheesecake, and a Cooking This &That Peanut Butter Tart, and some sweets, decision made by choosing things I can start making ahead of time.
I thought I could manage it by myself if the Pootle was roped in to make the sandwiches, he had to do it recently for one of my auctions when I set the alarm wrong and got up late, and they all got eaten with no one getting poisoned, so I figure he can do it again. If I start to feel stressed I can always buy quiche and desserts if I have to.I managed to buy all the wine under $10 a bottle and it was astounding what Sauvignon Blanc bargains I found at New World this week, Villa Maria, Shingle Peak, and Waipara Hills, I have paid a lot more for these previously.
I started the project by making some fudge and Orangettes peppermint bark, to have with a coffee mid-afternoon. But mainly I was just dying to get the project underway.
Fudge is a very scientific thing, to make it perfectly you must insure that after the sugar has melted the mixture doesn’t come back into contact with even one grain of sugar again or it will start crystalizing again
.RUSSIAN FUDGE [adapted from the Edmonds cook book]
3 cups sugar
½ cup full cream milk
½ cup condensed milk
1 tbsp golden syrup
Smidgeon of salt
125gm of butter
Heat sugar and milk gently, stirring all the time until sugar melts, this never seems to happen fully, so when it is nearly melted seems to do.
Then before it boils add the rest of ingredients, and while it melts and reaches boiling point keep brushing down the sides of the pot, with a damp rubber spatula,or pastry brush, getting any traces of sugar off, wipe around the top of the pot with .a damp tissue. You need at least three hands to do this!
As soon as it boils, stop stirring immediately and turn down to lowest setting , i just put the edge of the pot on the side of the element, this particular fudge catches and burns real easy. Boil very softly to soft ball stage about 220c. Soft ball is when a drop of fudge into a cup of cold water rolls into a ball.
Take of heat and give a gentle stir to make sure hasn’t burnt, don’t worry if a few brown bits appear they will beat in eventually.
Then cool to about 110c or about an hour.
Grease a dish.
Beat with wooden spoon until starts to lose glassy look and turn into fudge, this only take a few minutes, quickly scrape out in dish, spread, and place in fridge to harden. Before completely hard mark into squares.
It is the most creamy succulent melt in your mouth fudge I have ever made, it was very lucky to make it to Saturday, I could feel it calling constantly from the cupboard. I dare you to make it and keep it for a week! let me know how you get on.
PEPPERMINT BARK adapted from Orangette
1 block. white chocolate, finely chopped, [one with cocoa butter in]
1 stick "Brighton rock" peppermint or a xmas candy cane, coarsely crushed
100gm bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped [I just used cooking chips]
3 Tbsp. heavy cream
1/2 tsp. peppermint extract
Turn a baking sheet upside down, and cover it securely with aluminum foil.
Put the white chocolate in a metal (or other heatproof) bowl, and set it over a saucepan of barely simmering water. (Do not allow the bottom of the bowl to touch the water.) Stir occasionally until the chocolate is melted and smooth; if you take its temperature with a candy thermometer, it should register 45c.
Remove the chocolate from the heat.
Pour 2/3 of it onto the rectangle on the foil, about the size of a block of chocolate.
Using an icing spatula, spread the chocolate to fill the rectangle. Sprinkle with ¼ cup [half] of the crushed peppermints. Chill until set, about 15 minutes.
Meanwhile, combine the bittersweet chocolate, cream, and peppermint extract in a heavy medium saucepan. Warm over medium-low heat, stirring frequently, until the mixture is just melted and smooth. Cool to barely lukewarm, about 5 minutes. Then remove the baking sheet from the refrigerator, and pour the bittersweet chocolate mixture over the white chocolate rectangle. Using an icing spatula – make sure you cleaned it after using it for the white chocolate, above! – spread the bittersweet chocolate in an even layer. Chill until very cold and firm, about 25 minutes.
Rewarm the remaining white chocolate over barely simmering water to 45°c. Working quickly, pour the white chocolate over the firm bittersweet layer, using your (again, clean) icing spatula to spread it to cover. Sprinkle with remaining crushed peppermints. Chill just until firm, about 20 minutes.
Carefully lift the foil from the baking sheet onto a large cutting board. Trim away any ragged edges of the rectangle. (These are yours to nibble at, a little prize for your efforts.) Cut the bark into small pieces.
Pack into an airtight container, with sheets of wax paper between layers of bark to prevent them from sticking to one another. Store in the refrigerator. Serve cold or, to emphasize the slight softness of the bittersweet layer, let stand at room temperature for 10 minutes before serving.
Whew! its easy once you know how, and well worth the trouble and looks so fantastic.
FROZEN MOCHA CHEESECAKE Best recipes
1tbsp instant coffee made with 1 tbsp hot water or 2tbsp very strong espresso
220 gm chocolate ripple biscuits or similar I used chocolate digestives
125gm butter melted
200gm milk chocolate
500gm cream cheese
1 395gm tin of condensed milk
250g cream
Release the bottom of a 22cm ring pan. Grease and cover with baking paper. Allow the edges to overhang and secure back into pan.
Combine coffee and hot water, leave to cool.
Process biscuits in food processor till fine crumbs, blend in butter, transfer to pan.
Pack down in bottom of pan with wooden spoon, cover and place in fridge for 30mins.
Place chocolate in heatproof bowl over simmering water, don’t allow bowl to touch water. Stir with metal spoon until chocolate melts and is smooth, cool 5mins.
Place cream cheese, condensed milk and cream in bowl and process until smooth.
Add the melted chocolate and the coffee, process until blended in.
Pour into pan, smooth with back of spoon.
Cover and freeze.
Take out of freezer 20mins before serving, or longer if going in fridge.
Decorate with chocolate curls if liked.
Serve with whipped cream.
It sort of melted like ice cream and I saved some and froze again and it is much nicer eaten frozen. Definitely not a dessert to sit around on the table.
PEANUT BUTTER TART Cooking This &That
115gm butter, room temperature
1/4 cup creamy peanut butter
1/2 cup sugar
large pinch of salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1/3 cup jam (any flavor you want)
1/2 cup peanuts roughly chopped
Preheat oven to 180c Coat bottom of 21cm diameter spring-form pan with nonstick spray.
Beat butter and peanut butter in large bowl until smooth, about 2 minutes. Add sugar and salt and beat until fluffy, about 2 minutes. Beat in vanilla. Add flour; beat on low speed just until blended.
Reserve 1/3 cup dough. Press remaining dough evenly over bottom of prepared pan. Spread jam over dough in pan, leaving 1/3-inch plain border. Crumble reserved dough and peanuts over the jam layer.
Bake shortbread until dough edge is deep golden and dough on top looks dry and baked through, about 40-50 minutes. Nicer served warm with a dollop of cream.
I spent days making quiche for ourselves and not liking them, bothering my friends with requests for recipes and then finding they were the same as the ones I had, and came to the conclusion that its not the quiche, its me, I don't like them much. However I manged to make 6 different ones the day before. I had a disaster in the middle of one with filo I had thawed, it went all manky and stuck to me and ripped into shreds, and the ends were dry and crumpling, so after a few hot and bothered moments, I rang the local shop and amazingly and they had some flaky pasty which eventually did the job.
Spinach, pumpkin & corn, bacon & egg; smoked salmon [tinned salmon]; mushroom; red green & yellow pepper.
I used two different batters and just lay the main ingredients on the pastry and poured it over, breaking 3 eggs on top of the bacon and egg one for effect, baking them about 25 to 30mins at 190c.
QUICHE BATTER 1
whisk together
1 cup yogurt and a dollop of creme cheese if you have.
2 eggs
1/4 c oil
QUICHE BATTER 2
Whisk together
2 eggs
1/2c milk
1/2c cream
1/4c cheese -any kind of cheese at all, I used mainly feta, but also smoked cheddar and cheddar
THELMA'S TRIFLEI wanted to make trifle because my mother -in -law gave me a cut glass bowl for my 21st, 41 years ago and I have been making trifle in it for many family occasions since, using her recipe.
Make a jelly, any flavor you fancy and let cool
Break up one supermarket sponge half into bowl
Drain [reserve juice] a can of fruit salad, and sprinkle over sponge
Pour over cooled jelly and place in fridge to set.
Make a litre of custard following instructions on box and cool.
When jelly has set and custard cooled, take trifle from fridge and sprinkle with a little of the reserved fruit juice and some sherry or sweet wine, don't wet sponge to much leave some dry patches.
Pour over custard [after removing skin], cover with plastic wrap and place back in fridge until needed. This time I poked a few frozen boysenberries in just for effect. Best made the day before.
We woke up to a beautiful day, the best of the whole winter, our youngest granddaughter had stayed the night and was ready to help, so first we got the veg roasting under way for the roast veg salad, I got this recipe when walking the "Tora" walk, which is a must do for the food alone, then the Paris Brest's. I decided not to make sandwiches as it seemed like we had enough food for a 100 people, and released the Pootle to sweep up leaves outside.
ROAST VEG SALAD WITH WICKED MAPLE DRESSING from "Tora Coastal Walk"
Ingredients:
300 gm sweet potato 300 gm pumpkin
2 parsnips 1 red onion
150 gm cherry tomatoes halved
3 tbsp toasted pumpkin seeds
3 tbsp crumbly feta & a handful of torn rocket
Method:
Chop root veg and onion into chunks, & roast all until golden and tender.
Halve cherry tomatoes, add to the roast vegetables.
Dress the veg & tomatoes with maple balsamic dressing, lightly fold through the torn rocket.
Serve on a platter and scatter the toasted pumpkin seeds and feta over the top. I didn't have any rocket. Nice served warm or room temperature. I just wish I had made double the size as it disappeared in a flash.
MAPLE BALSAMIC DRESSING [enough for a salad double this size]
125 ml balsamic vinegar 250 ml olive oil
200 ml maple syrup [I use sugar free]
2 lemons, juice only
1 tsp chopped thyme
We were all ready and poised about an hour before they arrived,with a huge birthday cake made by her mum hiding in the cupboard, then a swish of cars up the drive and 30 beautiful young woman flocked up the path and adorned our house like gorgeous butterflies. The food disappeared very quickly, with many appreciative comments.
Then we brought out the cake, sang Happy Birthday, put the rest of the desserts out, and the sweets and coffee. One Paris Brest and some birthday cake remained uneaten and were packed up and taken back to the flat, where I'm sure they were welcomed by hungry students later that night. After everyone left I discovered the Peanut Butter Tart still warming in the oven, and the feta cheese that was meant to be scattered over the veg salad, I always forget something!Before leaving all 30 girls went for walk on the beach, brightening an already beautiful Karitane day, and then before we knew it Pootle and I were back to just the two of us again and he said, "did we dream that".
We are off to Rarotonga for a couple of weeks, kayaking, snorkeling etc. I'm looking forward to beautiful fresh tropical fruits, and feeling the warm air on my skin.
 |
| The old wharf which Pootle has just re-decked |
No comments:
Post a Comment