Appams and Sri Lankan Beef Curry

This month’s Daring Cooks Challenge seemed to creep up on me really quickly.   One day it was July and then suddenly I realised the posting date was almost there.    This month we were challenged to make appams to accompany a south Indian/Sri Lankan dish.  I think I’d heard the name appams before but that was as far as it got.   They are a type of fermented rice and coconut pancake.  I’d never eaten them before and they are also quite different to any other pancakes so for me, this was exactly the type of challenge I like.  The fact that they are Indian and I love Indian food was also a bonus.

I think my appams looked right, at least they looked the same as other appams on the internet, but as I haven’t had them before I’m  not sure if the texture was quite right.   They broke up very easily and this may have been because when I blended the rice, I didn’t blend it quite finely enough, although the recipe did state that it didn’t need to be completely smooth.  I noticed after blending that there were still some tiny gritty bits in the mixture.   Maybe using rice flour or half rice flour, half rice instead of the uncooked rice would have helped the appams to hold together better.  Or maybe they are supposed to be like this. Like any of these things,  I think when you make a completely new recipe, it can sometimes take a few tries to get it just right, and unfortunately, I’ve only had one try at these.

In terms of flavour, they did have a lovely coconut  flavour and I might even like to make them more coconuty by adding extra coconut blended up with the water.  I did feel I could still taste a slightly yeastiness though, which I would like to mask next time.   Maybe I didn’t add quite enough salt.   When I’ve experimented with using less  salt in homemade bread, I find that I get the same yeasty flavour.

The curry tasted good too, I especially liked the flavour the tamarind gave it.  I used my lazy slow cooker method and the picture looks terrible (so I’ve hidden it right at the bottom of the post). I wasn’t sure how to eat it with the appams as they did not hold together well enough to eat like a bread, so I dipped them in which was good and then tore them up and put the bits in the curry as that was the easiest way.   Sorry! Probably not the right way, but it worked for me!

Blog-checking lines: Mary, who writes the delicious blog, Mary Mary Culinary was our August Daring Cooks’ host. Mary chose to show us how delicious South Indian cuisine is! She challenged us to make Appam and another South Indian/Sri Lankan dish to go with the warm flat bread.

Ingredients for Appams – Makes 6-8, serves 2-3

Recipe from Aparna at My Diverse Kitchen

150g uncooked basmati rice

Just under 1 tsp dry yeast

1 tsp sugar

60ml water

9g cooked rice

1/4 tsp salt

60ml thick coconut milk

How to make Appams

1. Soak the raw rice in bowl of water for at least 3 hours.

2. Dissolve the sugar in the water.   Then add the yeast and leave it to become frothy.

3. Drain the raw rice and put in a blender.   Add the yeast and water mixture.   Blend.

4. Add the cooked rice to the blender and continue to blend until it is fairly smooth.

5. Put the mixture into a bowl and leave for 8-12 hours in a warm place.  I left mine in the kitchen for about 21 hours and it was fine.   It will go quite yeasty and a bit smelly but don’t worry.

6. When ready to make add the salt and coconut milk.   It should be a little thicker than milk.   If it is too thick add a little water.

7. Smear a little oil around a wok or frying pan.   The pan should be oiled but there shouldn’t be a pool of oil in the bottom.

8. Take half a ladle of the batter and pour it into the pan.   Swirl it around so it is thin around the outside but a bit thicker in the middle.   This is why I found a wok works really well.

9. After about two minutes remove and keep making them until all the batter is used up.

Ingredients for Sri Lankan Beef Curry – serves 2

Adapted from Mangoes and Curry Leaves, by Jeffrey Alford and Naomi Duguid

300g stewing steak, cubed

About 10 dried curry leaves

1 green chilli pepper, finely chopped

1 onion, finely chopped

1/2 tsp turmeric

1/2 tsp salt

60 ml coconut milk

1 tsp tamarind paste

How to make Sri Lankan Beef Curry

1. Put all the ingredients in the slow cooker in the morning.   Cover with a little water so the beef is covered.

2. In the evening, remove the curry from the slow cooker and simmer on the hob to reduce the liquid a little.

3. Don’t reduce too much.   It should still be quite soupy.  Serve with the appams.

 

 

 

Spaetzle with Caramelised Onions, Bacon and Cheese

Don’t you just love it when you haven’t thought of something for a while and then you get reminded of it and the opportunity to make it.   That’s exactly what happened with this month’s Daring Cook’s challenge.   The task was to make homemade pasta without using any motorized machinery.   One of the suggestions was spaetzle.   Spaetzle. Now, why hadn’t I ever thought of making it before.   The last time I ate spaetzle was back the nineties  in my year abroad in Germany.    It was in a restaurant and as far as I remember it was served with loads of cheese, bacon and leeks.   It was heavy but delicious.  The melting cheese and leeks clinging to the spaetzle.   A really hearty meal.   With that in mind,   I wanted to make a dish similar,  but if possible, not quite as heavy.   Well, I’m not sure if I managed that but I did add some peas and serve it with a huge spinach salad.

A recipe was provided for the spaetzle but it didn’t look anything like the spaetzle I remembered.   I searched around online and came across another site with very clear pictures and step by step instructions. The only hiccup was that the recipes required you to have a spaetzle press, but looking at it, it looked remarkably similar to my new potato ricer.  I wonder…   A little more searching revealed that you can use a potato ricer to make spaetzle, as long as you use the attachment with the large holes.    Any if you don’t have a potato ricer, you can even use a colander.   And if you don’t have a colander, well,  I don’t suppose you’d be trying to make spaetzle anyway.

When I first pushed the spaetzle through the ricer into the water I was a little worried as a lot of them seemed to stick together,   but as they cooked I prodded them a bit and most of them separated again.   Spaetzle is supposed to be very irregular with thinner and thicker strands and knobbly bits so don’t worry if it appears to be going wrong, it will almost certainly turn out ok.    I was really pleased with the end result and it was much easier than I would have expected before starting.

Blog-checking lines: Steph from Stephfood was our Daring Cooks’ July hostess. Steph challenged us to make homemade noodles without the help of a motorized pasta machine. She provided us with recipes for Spätzle and Fresh Egg Pasta as well as a few delicious sauces to pair our noodles with!

Ingredients – Serves 2

200g plain flour

2 eggs

1/4 tsp ground nutmeg

2 rashers bacon

Handful grated parmesan

3 tbsp peas

3 onions

Breadcrumbs

Olive oil

Salt

Black Pepper

How to Make Spatzle with Caramelised Onions, Bacon and Cheese

1. Make the batter.  Add a pinch of salt and the nutmeg to the flour.    Break the eggs into the flour and mix with a wooden spoon.

2. Add 100ml of water, a little at a time.   Stir well so you have a wet dough/thick batter.   Don’t worry about one or two lumps.

3. Put the batter in the fridge to rest.

4. Slice the onions into strips and begin to fry in a frying pan over a low heat.   Stir every so often to stop them from sticking and burning.  Add a little salt.   If you want you can also add sugar but I don’t like the onions to be too sweet and they are sweet anyway.

5. While the onions are cooking fry the bacon in a separate pan until crispy.   When cool, use a pair of scissors to snip it into small pieces.

6. Bring a pan of water to the boil. Position a potato ricer or colander above the pan.  Add half the dough and squeeze through.     When it rises to the top and has been in the pan for about two minutes,  lift out with a slotted spoon and put in a bowl of cold water. Repeat with the rest of the dough.

7. Add a little extra oil to the pan with the caramelised onions in. Drain the spatzle and add it to the frying pan with the onion.   Add the bacon too and the peas.   Fry for about 5 minutes, stirring so it is completely heated through.

8. Just before serving, stir in the grated parmesan.   Divide between two plates and sprinkle breadcrumbs on the top.

 

Potato, Feta and Asparagus Salad

This month’s Daring Kitchen theme was to make a healthy potato salad.   Recipes were provided but we were encouraged to be inventive.   Now, I always thought I didn’t like potato salad.   The salad I had as a child always seemed coated in loads of mayonnaise and had been kept in the fridge before eating so was too cold.   Not being a fan of cold potatoes or new potatoes generally and being very picky about the type of mayonnaise I liked I decided potato salad was one of those things that wasn’t for me.  It’s only in the last couple of years that I have begun to occasionally buy new potatoes.   I like making a salad when the potatoes are still warm, dressing with olive oil, lemon juice and lots of back pepper.    And of course, potatoes go perfectly with cheese so this time I added loads of feta to make a delicious well-balanced and healthy light meal.

Blog-checking lines: Jami Sorrento was our June Daring Cooks hostess and she chose to challenge us to celebrate the humble spud by making a delicious and healthy potato salad. The Daring Cooks Potato Salad Challenge was sponsored by the nice people at the United States Potato Board, who awarded prizes to the top 3 most creative and healthy potato salads. A medium-size (5.3 ounce) potato has 110 calories, no fat, no cholesterol, no sodium and includes nearly half your daily value of vitamin C and has more potassium than a banana!

Ingredients – Serves 2

About 10-12 New potatoes, halved

12 spears of asparagus

Handful of sugar snap peas

Feta cheese, cubed

2 small handfuls of spinach

Cherry tomatoes, halved

Juice of 1 lemon

Extra virgin olive oil

Black pepper

Salt

How to make Potato, feta and Asparagus salad

1. Boil the potatoes.  Add the asparagus just before the potatoes are ready.

2. Put a handful of spinach on each plate. Sprinkle with the tomatoes and sugar snap peas.

3. Drain and separate the potatoes and asparagus.

4. Make the dressing by mixing the lemon juice, olive oil, salt and pepper.

5. Dress the potatoes. Make sure they are coated all over in the dressing.

6. Add the potatoes to the salad. Then the asparagus and top with the feta.

7. Drizzle the excess dressing over the salad.  Season with extra black pepper and salt if necessary.

 

Eggs en Cocotte or Baked Eggs

This month the Daring Cooks challenge was edible containers.  When I first found out about the challenge I was sure I was going to make a Polish soup served inside a hollowed out bread roll.  It would have been a recreation of a dish I used to love at a certain cafe in Warsaw.   Unfortunately I can’t remember the name of the cafe now, and possibly didn’t even know it back then as we always just used to call it the soup in a roll place.   I may not have finally made that dish, but it’s on my mind now and I feel a soup from my Poland days is well overdue, especially as it is so easy to buy Polish products these days so I wouldn’t have difficulty with the ingredients.  Anyway, in the end I decided to make eggs en cocotte but with a toast container, rather than serving with toast fingers.  Eggs en cocotte can be a bit runny but I have a strong aversion to any part of the egg white not being fully cooked and so the toast container worked well because although you could eat it all with a knife and fork, it was just as easy to pick the whole thing up with your fingers.

I made two different fillings, cheddar and mushrooms, and parmesan and rocket.   For me, the cheddar and mushroom one had more taste and is the one I’d prefer if making them again, but you could just put more cheese to get more flavour.

Blog-checking lines: Renata of Testado, Provado & Aprovado! was our Daring Cooks’ April 2011 hostess. Renata challenged us to think “outside the plate” and create our own edible containers! Prizes are being awarded to the most creative edible container and filling, so vote on your favorite from April 17th to May 16th at http://thedaringkitchen.com!

Ingredients – makes 2

2 slices of bread

2 eggs

8 tsp cream

Salt

Black Pepper

Option 1

2 tsp grated parmesan

A few leaves of rocket (argula)

Option 2

2 tsp grated cheddar

1 mushroom

How to Make Eggs en Cocotte

1. Flatten the bread with a rolling pin.

2. Grease the insides of 2 ramekins

3. Make 4 cuts through the bread starting from the middle of each side, stopping half-way to the centre. Like this:

4. Put the slices of bread into the ramekins so the sides that have been cut overlap each other.  Like this:

5. Put the cheese in the bottom of each ramekin. Put some rocket on top of the parmesan one and some sliced mushroom on top of the cheddar one.   Add 2 tsp of cream to each ramekin then add the egg.  Top with another 2 tsp of cream, some salt and pepper.

6. Bake in the oven at about 180c for about 25 minutes.   If you like a soft egg it will be ready sooner, but I prefer harder egg.

 

Papas Rellenas and Salsa Criolla

Kathlyn of Bake Like a Ninja was our Daring Cooks’ March 2011 hostess. Kathlyn challenged us to make two classic Peruvian dishes: Ceviche de Pescado from “Peruvian Cooking – Basic Recipes” by Annik Franco Barreau. And Papas Rellenas adapted from a home recipe by Kathlyn’s Spanish teacher, Mayra.

When I found out that this month’s Daring Cooks Challenge was to make papas rellenas I was really pleased – this was something I knew I would enjoy,  something I had heard of but actually, when I looked at the recipe and started to research, I realized I hadn’t actually known what they were at all.  Until last month I would not have been able to tell you exactly what papas rellenas were.    My limited knowledge of Spanish would have helped me to guess at something stuffed, but that is as much as I would have known.  So of course I learnt something new too.  And what about the ceviche?   Well, I don’t have a really good fish mongers nearby so  for the time being I’ve chosen to stick with the papas.

The cumin and paprika in the mince give a really nice flavour and the crispy texture of the breadcrumbs with the soft potato and mince inside is very morish.   The red onion salsa criolla also complements the papas really well as it’s good to have something healthy and fresh tasting alongside the fried papas.

Ingredients for Papas Rellenas

Oil for deep-frying

For Dough

2 large potatoes

1/2 an egg, beaten

For the filling

150g minced beef

1 small onion, finely diced

1 clove garlic, crushed,

1 chilli pepper, finely diced

1/2 tsp cumin

1/4 tsp paprika

50 ml beef stock

For the Coating

100g breadcrumbs

1/2 egg, beaten

2 tbsp plain flour

1/2 tsp cayenne pepper

How to make Papas Rellenas

1. Boil the potatoes and leave to cool.  This can be done the day before or use leftover potatoes.

2.Mash the potatoes then pass through a sieve to make sure there are no lumps.  Alternatively use a potato ricer.

3. Add half of the beaten egg, salt and pepper.  Mix in well by kneading with your fingers.

4. Make the filling.  Put a little oil in a pan and fry the onion, garlic and chilli.   When it begins to brown add the minced beef.

5. When the minced beef is browned, add the cumin and paprika.  Cook for about a minute, stirring, then add the stock.   Stir and scrape the bottom of the pan to prevent it from sticking and to deglaze.  Let simmer till the stock has evaporated.

6. Form the papas by taking a handful of potato.    Flatten it.  Put a spoonful of mince into the centre and roll the potato around it so the mince is enclosed in the middle.   Repeat with the rest of the potato mixture.   This amount should make about 4.

7. Prepare 3 bowls.  One with the flour seasoned with salt and cayenne.  One with egg and the last one with breadcrumbs.    Roll the papas in the flour, dip in the egg and finally roll in the breadcrumbs.  Add extra breadcrumbs to the bowl if necessary.

8. Fill a large saucepan about 1cm with oil.   Heat up until a few breadcrumbs sizzle when dropped in.   Add the papas.  Cook for about 2 minutes then turn over and cook for another 2 minutes.

9. Drain on kitchen paper to soak up excess oil then serve with the Salsa Criolla

Ingredients for the Salsa Criolla – recipe from Vegan Good Eats

1 red onion

1 chilli pepper, thinly sliced

1/2 tbsp vinegar (I used white wine vinegar)

Juice of 1 lime

Salt

Black pepper

How to make Salsa Criolla

1. Slice the onions thinly then combine with all the other ingredients.   Mix well.

2. Cover and put in the fridge for at least 30 minutes before serving.   Stir again before serving.

 

Vegetable Tempura

The February 2011 Daring Cooks’ challenge was hosted by Lisa of Blueberry Girl. She challenged Daring Cooks to make Hiyashi Soba and Tempura. She has various sources for her challenge including japanesefood.about.com, pinkbites.com, and itsybitsyfoodies.com.

I had never made tempura before and I am slightly ashamed to say that I am most familiar with it from Wagamama where you can have it with rice and a katsu curry sauce.    I  know I’ve said this before but Japanese food is not really a favourite of mine.  However,  I do really like tempura.   How can anyone not like tempura – crisp light batter with vegetables inside – you can even con yourself it’s healthy.    In homage to my memories of meals at Wagamamas (as I have only ever been to one more authentic Japanese restaurant), I decided to serve this with the reheated leftover katsu curry sauce.   It took quite a while to prepare the tempura as the vegetables had to be cooked in batches, and I got a lot of splashes of oil and batter over the rest of the hob but it was worth it in the end.   I especially loved the sweetness of the onions, but used a variety of vegetables and almost any could be used.

The challenge was also to make Hiyashi Soba which is a cold soba noodle salad with a dipping sauce.   I did not have quite so much luck with this.   I couldn’t find soba noodles or mirin in my local supermarket.  Also, my husband doesn’t like cold noodle salads so I was forced to make it just for myself.   It seemed a lot of effort to go to just for myself.   I resorted to using egg noodles, knowing they were not right, and decided to make the spicy dipping sauce, as it didn’t need mirin.   It did need rice vinegar though,which I also didn’t have.   I substituted a little white wine vinegar instead.   In fact,   I can hardly say I made the right dish.   I made it after doing a long run with lots of hills so it was fine for refuelling, but if you want more details about how to make it properly, I’d suggest you check out one of the other daring cooks.   But if you want to make tempura, well, you could just stick around here.

Ingredients for Tempura

Slices of vegetables e.g. sweet potatoes, aubergine, pepper, onions, sugar snap peas, carrots, asparagus

1 egg yolk

240ml ice-cold water

120 ml plain flour

120ml cornflour

1/2 tsp baking powder

Oil for deep frying

Ice cubes

How to make Tempura

1. Prepare all the vegetables. If using sweet potatoes, they will need to be parboiled first.

2. Heat the oil to about 160C in a saucepan.

3. Prepare the batter.  Stand the mixing bowl inside a larger bowl.  Put the ice and some cold water in the outside bowl.   This will keep the batter cold.   Put the 240ml of  iced water into the mixing bowl.    Beat the egg yolk slightly with chopsticks (if possible, but I’m sure you can  improvise) then pour it slowly into the mixing bowl, stirring with the chopsticks so it is mixed into the water.   Then add the flour and baking powder and stir a couple of times with the chopsticks so it is loosely combined, there should still be lots of lumps.   Don’t overstir.

4. Check the oil is hot enough by dropping a little batter in.   It should sizzle and rise to the top.   Put some more flour in a bowl.  Dip the vegetables in the flour, then the batter and then into the oil.    Cook just a few at a time so that they don’t lower the temperature of the oil.

5. They should cook quickly in a minute or two, remove and drain on kitchen paper.

 

Cassoulet with Confit Duck

Our January 2011 Challenge comes from Jenni of The Gingered Whisk and Lisa from Parsley, Sage, Desserts and Line Drives. They have challenged the Daring Cooks to learn how to make a confit and use it within the traditional French dish of Cassoulet. They have chosen a traditional recipe from Anthony Bourdain and Michael Ruhlman.

I decided to make a duck confit.   But first, what is a duck confit?   It is made by cooking the duck legs slowly in fat, usually duck fat, the fat then solidifies and coats the duck, preserving it until you want to eat it.  In the past it was a way of preserving food before there were refrigerators.

All this sounds like a lot of effort to go to, just to be able to then make a cassoulet, which itself is not a quick recipe.    I have to be honest, if this had not been a Daring Cooks Challenge it is very unlikely  I would ever have gone to these lengths just for one meal.   But, despite that, confit duck is something that I’d wanted to make for a long time, out of curiosity really.   I’d heard it was good, but the idea of cooking something slowly in lots of fat scared me a little.   Wouldn’t the fat soak in and make the meat greasy? Wouldn’t it be a bit unhealthy?  What if I didn’t do it properly and gave myself food poisoning?  Well, in the end it was my own choice, I could have gone down the vegetarian route.   I’d read that the confit garlic was delicious.  But that would have been a cop out.  Sometimes we need a challenge to push ourselves to make things which are possible, but just a bit more effort.   So in the end I’m really glad I tried this.   I loved the confit duck.   It just fell off the bone and was really moist and delicious.   Had the fat soaked in?  Perhaps, but I didn’t care and I’d happily eat it again.   Actually I didn’t use duck fat but olive oil in the end so I wouldn’t advise using this recipe if you really do plan to keep the duck a while before eating it.   I made the confit one day and then kept the pan in the fridge overnight before making the cassoulet the next day.

But this post is not all about the confit.   I also had to make a cassoulet.  I decided not to follow the recipe provided as it looked really really long (three days) and I wasn’t sure I would find enough time on enough days for all the stages.   I instead chose a Raymond Blanc recipe as a basic guide.

Apart from making confit duck this challenge also taught me to use dried beans.   I usually just use canned beans as they are so much easier and I don’t normally plan bean recipes the day before.   They tend to be more last-minute affairs.  As I knew exactly when I was making this I went the dried beans route and I’m glad I did.   That bag of beans had been sitting in my cupboard for a good few months, and they did go deliciously soft and creamy in the cassoulet.   It was also great heated up the next day.

Ingredients for Duck Confit – serves 2 (with lots of leftovers)

2 duck legs

2 cloves of garlic

Salt

Pepper

1 tsp dried thyme

1 tsp dried rosemary

How to Make Duck Confit

1. Rub quite a bit of salt into the duck legs and put in the fridge overnight.

2. Wash the salt off the legs.  Dry them on kitchen paper.   Season with salt and pepper.  Cut the garlic in half and rub into the duck.  Mix the herbs together and rub onto the duck legs as well.

3. Put the duck, along with the herbs and garlic into a saucepan so it fits fairly snuggly.   Pour olive oil over the top until the duck is just covered.

4. Cook on the cooker top for about 5 hours.   I used a high heat to begin with and as soon as a bubble appeared I lowered the heat to as low as it would go.   There should be just one or two bubbles  a minute.

5. Let it cool then cover the pan and put it in the fridge if you are not using the duck immediately.

6. When you want to use the duck, use kitchen roll to wipe the fat off.

Ingredients for Cassoulet

2 confit duck legs

1 carrot, finely diced

1 celery stick, finely diced

1 onion, finely diced

2 garlic cloves

1 tomato, quartered

2 rashers of bacon, diced

2 sausages, sliced about 1cm thick

200g dried cannellini beans

1 bay leaf Or a bouquet garni instead of these herbs

1/2 tsp dried parsley

1/2 tsp dried thyme

1/2 tsp dried rosemary

1-2 cloves

Juice of 1/2 lemon

1 crust of bread, dried in a warm oven, blitzed in a blender to make breadcrumbs or bought breadcrumbs

How to make Cassoulet

1. Soak the cannellini beans overnight.

2. Rinse and boil the beans for about 20 minutes.   Then rinse again.

3. In an oven-proof pan, heat some oil and cook the onion, carrot and celery for about five minutes.   Add the bacon and sausages and cook for another 5 minutes.

4. Add the diced tomato, garlic cloves, beans and herbs and cover with about 600ml of water.  Bring to the boil and skim off any scum.

5. Put in the oven uncovered at about 120c.   Take it out after an hour and give it a stir.   Return and continue to cook for another hour.

6. Take it out of the oven and this time bury the duck legs in the cassoulet.  Squeeze the lemon juice over the top and sprinkle on the breadcrumbs.  Cook in the oven for another 2 hours, without stirring.

 

Eggs Benedict

Jenn and Jill have challenged The Daring Cooks to learn to perfect the technique of poaching an egg. They chose Eggs Benedict recipe from Alton Brown, Oeufs en Meurette from Cooking with Wine by Anne Willan, and Homemade Sundried Tomato & Pine Nut Seitan Sausages (poached) courtesy of Trudy of Veggie num num.

I decided to make the eggs benedict.    As I’ve made them once before and they turned out well, I used the hollandaise sauce recipe from BBC Good Food rather than the recipe suggested.   It is basically the same but involved melting the butter before adding it to the eggs.    Now, the last time I made this, back in February, it turned out fine.   And so I was expecting it to be fine again.   A reasonable asumption, don’t you think?   Unfortunately, as I was concentrating on the bacon and the muffins I lost concentration on the sauce for a short while and it split.   It still tasted good but the texture was all wrong and it looked terrible.    For that reason I am just showing a really tiny picture in the hope that maybe you won’t be able to see the curdles.   I know it doesn’t quite work but it was either that or post the really blurry picture that I took on the wrong camera setting.   I did intend to remake the sauce another day,  so I could get a more presentable picture.   Unfortunately I just haven’t had time as the deadline is today.    If I hadn’t made this before with perfect results I would have been tempted to blame the recipe.   As I know the recipe works, I can only blame myself and my own over-confidence.    But going back to the challenge, it was to create a perfect boiled egg and as you can (just about) see, the poached egg is not letting me down.

Ingredients – serves 2

2 eggs

2 English muffins

1 tbsp vinegar

4 rashers of bacon

For the Hollandaise Sauce

2 egg yolks

120g butter

1/2 tsp white wine vinegar

Pinch of cayenne pepper

Black pepper

Juice of up to half a lemon

Salt

How to Make Eggs Benedict

1.  Make the sauce first- see above for my cautionary tale.   In a small saucepan melt the butter so it has time to cool a little before adding to the eggs.

2. Put the egg yolks, 1/2 tsp vinegar, splash of water and a little salt in a bowl and whisk for a couple of minutes.   Then place the bowl over a pan of simmering water.   Continue to whisk for about 3-5 minutes until the mixture is pale and has thickened a little.

3. Take the eggs off the heat, begin to add the melted butter a little at a time, whisking continuously.   When it is all combined, add the cayenne pepper, black pepper and lemon juice.   I like things to be quite sharp so added the juice of half a lemon but just add a teaspoon at a time and taste.   Keep the sauce warm as you make the eggs and cook the bacon.

4. Fry or grill the bacon and toast the muffins.

5. To poach the eggs heat a pan of water with about 1 tablespoon of vinegar and a teaspoon of salt.  Crack each of the eggs into a small dish.  When the water is just beginning to boil, stir to create a vortex. Gently slide the eggs into the water.

4. Poach the eggs for about 3 minutes.

5. To serve, place the bacon on the muffins, top with a poached egg.  Spoon the sauce over the top.

 

Chocolate Soufflés

Dave and Linda from Monkeyshines in the Kitchen chose Soufflés as our November 2010 Daring Cooks’ Challenge! Dave and Linda provided many of their own delicious recipes plus a sinfully decadent chocolate soufflé recipe adapted from Gordon Ramsay’s recipe found at the BBC Good Food website.

Of course, I decided to make the chocolate soufflés.   I’m a Masterchef addict and have recently seen the contestants trying to make soufflés and so I was even thinking of attempting them before this challenge came along.  I’ve already made the other Masterchef dessert classic of chocolate fondant, which is supposed to be notoriously difficult to get right.  Soufflés are supposed to be  even more difficult in order to get to rise properly.    Added to that the state of my oven; I have to guess temperatures as the markings have rubbed off the dial, and the sealing around the door has come away on one side so I’m not even quite sure if all the heat actually stays inside.   So, although I was enthusiastic, I was not confident that this would be a success.   Luckily I was wrong.   They did rise, and the leftover mixture that I put in the fridge and then cooked the next day also rose, and they were perfectly cooked.   Success! The only thing I would change about these is to add a bit more sugar.   I found them to be not quite sweet enough.  Apart from that I enjoyed them.   I ate them with custard on the second day and that was delicious.    Would I make them again?  Perhaps, to impress someone, but, if I had a choice to make these or chocolate fondant I would go for the chocolate fondant every time.   The ones I make are also a Gordon Ramsey recipe.   Rich gooiness wins out over lightness any day.  I thought I’d blogged about them earlier this year but apparently not so I will have to do so soon.   Having said that,  I will experiment with soufflés again, although next time I’ll probably try a savoury option or spice these up a bit with some chillies, as suggested by Dave and Linda.

Ingredients

For the Dishes

Margarine to grease

Cocoa powder

To make the Crème Patisserie

18g plain flour

10g caster sugar

4 1/2g cornfour

1 whole egg + 1 egg yolk

60ml milk

75 ml double cream

90g dark chocolate, 70% cocoa solids, broken up

15 unsweetened cocoa powder

For the Egg Whites

6 medium egg white

90g caster sugar

How to make Chocolate Soufflés

1. Grease the inside of the soufflé dishes with a little margarine.   Put a teaspoonful of cocoa inside one dish.  Hold two dishes together and shake so that the cocoa covers the inside of both dishes.

2.Mix the flour, sugar and cornflour together in one bowl.  In another bowl beat the egg and egg yolk together.  Tip half of the flour mixture into the egg and beat till smooth, then add the rest of the flour and cocoa powder and continue to beat until it is well-combined.

3.Heat the milk and cream in a pan.  Stop heating just before it boils.  Stir the chocolate in until it melts.  Let it cool a little before step 4.

4. Gradually stir the chocolate mixture into the paste from step 2.  This makes the crème patisserie.

5.Whisk the egg whites and gradually add the sugar.   Stop when the mixture forms meringue-like peaks.

6. Stir 2 tablespoons of egg white into the crème patisserie.  Then fold in a third of the remaining egg white, then another third and finally the last third.

7. Put the mixture into the soufflés dishes. Use a spoon to make the top flat.  Bake in the oven for 15 minutes at 190˚C.  The soufflés should rise above the dish.

8. Serve immediately, alone or with some cream, custard or ice-cream.

 

Stuffed Vine Leaves

Our October 2010 hostess, Lori of Lori’s Lipsmacking Goodness, has challenged The Daring Cooks to stuff grape leaves.   Lori chose a recipe from Aromas of  Aleppo and a recipe from The New Book of Middle Eastern Food.

This is my first Daring Cooks recipe challenge and also the first time I have attempted to cook vine leaves.   To begin with, I have to admit that although I have had really tasty homemade vine leaves (cooked by a friend),  I’d be unlikely to order them in a restaurant as I’m not such a big fan of them.   Despite this, I was really excited by the challenge as it gave me the opportunity to cook something that I would probably never have decided to cook otherwise.   I decided to prepare the vine leaves with the meat filling from Aromas of Aleppo.  I was able to buy vine leaves easily in the supermarket but couldn’t find short grain rice, except pudding or risotto rice and I wasn’t sure about using either of those.   I looked on the internet and many recipes seem to use long-grain rice so I decided that the normal basmati rice I use would be ok.   I also don’t have any white pepper so decided to use black pepper instead.  Apart from that I followed the recipe as stated.  As it’s my first time with vine leaves, there’s always time for more experimenting later.

Ingredients

Vine leaves, preserved in brine

455g minced beef

65g long grain rice

1 tsp all spice

1 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp black pepper

1 onion, chopped

Small handful pine nuts

Additional Ingredients

6 apricots

1 tbsp tamarind paste

Juice of 1 lemon

Natural Greek yoghurt, to serve (optional)

How to make Stuffed Vine Leaves

1. Pour hot water onto the rice and leave for half an hour.   Pour boiling water on the vine leaves and leave for 20 minutes.  Then change and rinse the leaves in fresh water.

2. As the rice and vine leaves are soaking, mix all the other ingredients in a large mixing bowl.

3. Take a vine leaf and put it on a plate with the veins facing upwards.  Put about 2 tsp of the filling in the middle of each leaf.   Roll the leaf round then tuck the ends in underneath.  Put the rolled up leaves in the bottom of a saucepan.

4. Put the apricots in gaps between the vine leaves.  Dissolve the tamarind into boiling water and pour over the leaves.  Place a plate on the leaves to weigh them down.

5.  Put in the oven for an hour at approx 180 degrees.  When the vine leaves are ready, squeeze the lemon over them and serve with natural Greek yoghurt.

So what did I think?  Have I become a vine leaf lover?  They were nice, as far as vine leaves go.  I enjoyed them.  I felt pleased with myself for completing the challenge, but even so, I don’t think I’m going to be making stuffed vine leaves on a regular basis.  But,  if I do make them again, I will happily follow the same recipe.