Artichokes

 

A friend with an allotment supplied these lovely artichokes for a party. They were absolutely delicious once you don't mind picking the leaves off and leaving a great pile of them on the plate. Perfect cooked simply by boiling and served with a dipping sauce of lemon and olive oil, or balsamic vinegar. These had lovely tender hearts - would be perfect for Valentines Day if at the right time of year.

Creme Caramel

This is the version of creme caramel I made for a dinner party the other week. It doesn't look so great in the photo but it was very nice. We had mexican style wraps with chicken and beef so this fitted in well. Everyone was very happy on tequillas so it would all have gone down well anyway. Even the cat came round looking for tidbits and a pat when she is normally too busy chasing mice and fighting with other cats to hang around much.

I usually make this in a pyrex dish but as none were available - this being rustled up at a friends house - so used a loaf tin instead. The square shape worked well for slicing. This worked well but as the milk was evaporated milk the caramel did not melt as much as usual. It was adapted from Delia Smiths recipe although my normal recipe uses egg yolks and eggs not just eggs which gives a softer texture. The secret ingredient was orange peel although it was hard to taste

Verdict: nice but next time would use cream and milk, plus more orange and maybe not all eggs as the egg white might also make it abit solid.

Caribbean Style

For once there is Caribbean food on this blog - my once in a year Caribbean cooking experience. Now don't get me wrong - I love Caribbean food but it just takes so damn long to cook and prepare everything. I really need an excuse to get the vibes going - and nothing better than hosting a party for some friends - complete with home style cooking and sweet soca music.

The guests came from all over the world - Sweden, Japan, Portugal, USA, Yorkshire - but everyone enjoyed the stewed chicken, christophene with cheese and lemon thyme, fried plantain, and sweet potato and pumpkin pie (recipe courtesy Syliva Hunt). Accompanied by several bottle of wine - you will have to excuse the wine bearers for the lack of rum punch and Caribs! And the strawberry and chocolate mousse from Michel Roux's book 'Just Desserts.

If you think I lie about the Caribbean veggies (and no my friend from the earlier visit didn't smuggle them in her hand luggage), then come down to South London, and check out some of the market stalls Brixton way. They even sell callaloo bush - or cocoyam bush as they call it - and yes you can even get shadon beni - although that will require a trip north to China Town. And you can even find Caribs in the local grocery. Luckily being of mixed heritage I am free to shop at all corners of global London.


The secret of the stew chicken was a little dash of Angostura Bitters - as mentioned by TriniFood at http://cancookmustcook.blogspot.com/ - there is a whole recipe book full of uses for this secret spice, but despite this I did not add it to absolutely everything. I had planned to make something new, rather than tired ol stew chicken, from my rather precious photocopy of Sylvia Hunt's book but bailed out as her recipes looked delicious but quite complicated. And I didn't want to risk messing up my photo copy.

And for the cooking tip of the day - Michel your mousse (or moose if you prefer) does not require 1 leaf of gelatine but rather 2 or even 3 leaves. If using leaf gelatine follow the instructions on the packet and ignore the quantity in the recipe as the setting power of gelatine varies widely between brands. And on no account do you have the liquid boiling when you add the gelatine as reaching 100 deg Celsius will impair the setting quality.

My cake decorating teacher (no, I am not 50 years old - please subtract over 2 decades) would be horrified at the 'bare' cake board - the height of amateurishness, but I was pressed for time. Better for this kind of dessert, to use a thin board, or piece of cardboard box cut to exactly 8" so it does not show.

See the first month's post on this blog for recipe for stew chicken.

Sweet Potato and pumpkin pie is simply mashed 4 boiled Caribbean sweet potato (the grey kind not the orange kind), with 1/2 cup mashed cooked pumpkin mixed with 3 eggs, some thyme, fried onion and 1/2 cup coconut milk, and baked at 375 F till firm.

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Cardinal Gateau: from Michel Roux

Choc. Rasp. Parfait:

7oz. dark chocolate (melted)in microwave

Heated together as syrup until 250f:
1/2 c. sugar
2 tbsp. water

Cook to 'soft ball' stage. do not let crystallize, if so start all over again.


Then whisked into:
2 yolks
1 egg

add:
2 or 3 sheet softened gelatin (used 1 as instructed and was too soft)

Still on slow speed add chocolate, mix to combine, then cool a moment before folding in:

7/8 c. raspberry puree (please sieve to remove seeds). I used 1 box strawberries, and 2 boxes rasperries. Cooked over low heat to make puree.
1 1/4 c. whipped whipping cream. whip to ribbon stage. best to do this before you make the chocolate mixture.

Assemble before parfait sets.

Assembling:
8" layer of chocolate sponge on board, place collar around it and half fill with parfait. Sprinkle 1 lb. fresh rasp berries, then top with remaining parfait and a second layer of chocolate sponge cake. After parfait is set. Glaze with a mixture of 2 leaves gelatine, dissovled in 1/4 to 1/2 cup raspberry juice mixed with 1 tbs jam, sieved. Leave to cool - glaze should thicken beofre you use. If you glaze before it is set or glaze is cool you will melt the top and get a dirty looking glaze. You can omit the top layer of cake if you wish. I would prefer to layer the cake and mousse so you have cake - mousse - cake - mousse - cake - glaze.

A Taste of Home

A friend of mine has just visited from Trinidad bringing this selection of local favourites. And who says I never post any Trinidadian foods.... BTW, the digestives were made in the UK.

Orange Ice Cream

Being single....it's like unemployment.

Now onto orange ice cream. Sorry for the lack of picture but the ice cream is frozen in a solid block and I am too lazy to defrost it. Next time perhaps scooping out individual servings would work!

This is for once a Caribbean recipe. Sort of. We invented Orange-Pine icecream - and even Toronto Greg's can't beat that flavour. This is ideal for relaxing round the savannah in Arima, while watching the other idlers drift past, in the cool of the early evening. While we were all still care free and unattached my friends would gather for a Sunday lime round the savannah. Across the road stood the small chattel house, lit only by candlelight, left behind while the town grew up around it. We would sit opposite commenting on the cars and the guys walking past, sometimes catching a glimpse of a long shadowy figure looking back at us in the reflection cast on the house's windows.

The original orange pine ice cream from Willies in Arima, melts rather quickly, even in the cool Caribbean evening, my version has the opposite problem of being impossible to get out of the tub. It is essentially the traditional French custard - but made with half single cream and half whole milk instead of whipping cream, to which are added orange zests and orange juice. Ah well - one can imagine the mouth watering flavour.