Pear tart (with a base)

This is my mum's recipe, I tend not to use a base on my tarts, but that was a special request of my friend Lilanthi who tasted the dessert when we visited my parents.
Again, an easy and very French dessert.

Ingredients:
- Shortcrust or puff pastry
- 120g almond powder
- 2 eggs
- 25cl cream
- 100g sugar
- 4 pears

Method:
Precook the pastry in the tart mould till slighly golden.
Mix well eggs, sugar, add the almond powder and the cream.
Cut the pears in slices and arrange them on the pastry.
Pour the mix over the pears Cook at oven 180 degrees for approx 45 minutes

Source: recipe from my mum and photo from me.

Corsican Chestnut flour flan

I recently visited the French island of Corsica, for a familly visit. I did not land straight in my familly, instead we chose to drive some of the island for a few days. Starting with Cap Corse, then going along the whole East Coast down to Bonifacio and back up to Porto Vecchio.


The Island, besides being absolutely beautiful, has a lot to offer to foodies. It has rather stayed unspoilt for most of it, and the local produces are of great quality.

The island harbours a great quantity of chestnut trees in the mountainous areas (The centre of the island - see map above) and the corsicans who used to live in autarcy, make good use of the chestnuts. The latter, besides being eaten by the wild pigs, are used for human consumption for making flour amongst other uses.

Chestnut flour is ground in the winter for the whole year, so the locals buy it then and store quantities for the rest of the year. I had tried to cook with chestnut flour years ago, but was unsuccessful as I then used it pure. This time around, I got some tips from my aunt, who told me that for uses such as in shortcrust pastry, a ration of 20/80 mix of Chestnut and wheat flour) or 1/3-2/3 depending on one's taste is usual since chestnut flour is so strong. It is however used pure in cakes, or flans, dishes in which flour is not the main ingredient in general.

Before reaching my aunt's house in Propriano, on our costline drive, I have had the opportunity to taste a chestnut flan in a restaurant (the Bosco) in Ajaccio that I found delicious. The meal at the restaurant had nothing special to it, but the dessert made up for the whole. When I asked my aunt, she though I was talking about a flan in the style of a steamed creme caramel, more common, but the one I tasted was more like a French flan, made with chestnut flour.
Just to mention for coeliacs, chestnut flour is glutenfree.

Flan for 6 people:
- Shortcrust pastry or puff pastry
- 90 g chestnut flour
- 20g walnut and sesame powder
- 120 g sugar
- A few drops of vanilla
- 6 whole eggs
- 20 g melted butter
- 1/2 pint milk
- 80ml single cream
- A pinch of salt

Method:
Lay the pastry in a tart mould, and cook at 220 degrees until golden.
Sieve the Flour with the walnut powder. add the sugar, salt, and mix well.
Make a well and pour in the beaten eggs. Mix well and carefully.
Add the cream and the milk, then the butter.
Pour the mix in the cooked pastry and place in the oven at 180 degrees for about 30 min. watch that the top takes a golden colour.

And if you happen to have some of the delicious Corsican mountain honey, a filet of it on the tart makes great presentation and great extra flavour.

Source: recipes, my own alteration of a french flan, photos by myself.
http://adrianamullenphotographyblog.com

Self-saucing chocolate cake

You know how chocolate cakes can be same-same...

Well, I found a very original one, in my favorite cake book: 'Cakes Bakes and desserts triple tested by Australian Women's Weekly'. They generally have recipes you can be confident about, but this one in particular is absolutely brilliant, it contains absolut gems...

Dieters abstain, of course!

It's one of these I had not made yet, and I was wondering about the result, slighly sceptical I suppose.
I reduced the sugar content as I am not a sweet tooth and also to make the dessert easier to remember, and I increased the cocoa coontent:

-60g butter
-125ml milk
-vanilla extract
-5 tblspoon 100% cocoa powder
-5 tblspoon 100% cocoa powder extra
-150g caster sugar
-150g self raising flour
-150g brown sugar
- 500ml boiling water

Grease a small oven dish, and preheat the oven if necessary at 180 degrees.
Melt the butter with the milk in a medium milk pan,
Remove from the heat and mix in the caster sugar and the vanilla extract,
Then add the sifted flour and cocoa.
Pour the mix in the oven dish.
Sift the brown sugar and extra cocoa pwder over the mix.
Pour very gently (you can use a turned up spoon to make the pouring more so) the boiling water over the cake - yes I know this part is weird!
Then cook in the middle of the onen at 180 degrees C for 40 minutes.

Wait 10 min approximately before serving (you don't want to burn your guests'tastebuds, do you?).

I am very pleased with this cake. Apart fromn being a brilliant party trick to finish a meal, it is a doodle to make, and takes no time. I was very impressed with the self saucing effect, and the sauce comes out tasting similar to the french chocolate pots from my youth.

So a big thumbs up for that one, and especially to my favorite book. I have no commission on it, but I do highly recomment getting it :)

Source: recipe, Australian Women's Weekly, Photography, myself.

Exotic summer cake (no baking )

Another dish inspired by mango, because they are very tasty at the moment.

And again, it is an 'on the spur of the moment' cake. It fits the bill as well: easy, very quick to make, and very tasty, refreshing in the summer...

It is based loosely on tiramisu and Charlotte.

You will need:
- 6-7 small brioches each cut in three pieces in the length (slices)
- 1 pot of mascarpone
- 1 ripe sweet mango cut in slices
- 3 heaped tablespoon sugar
- 2 big splashes of cherry alcohool (or another alcohool if you don't have any)
- 1 passion fruit

Lay on the bottom and sides of a medium sized dish the slices of brioche. sprinkle with a dash of the cherry alcohool.
Mix the mascarpone with the sugar, then pour half of it on the brioche as a flat layer.
Lay the mango slices on top as a layer.
Pour the remaining mascarpone on top as a layer again.
Sprinkle the passion fruit pulp evenly on the cake.
Place in the fridge for two hours.

Eat and Enjoy.

Recipe and photography: me

The Bubble bar

I picked up aLeaflet at one my local chinese supermarkets, It was about the bubble bar - I love bubble drinks - and decided to visit it as it is 500 yards from my home (no excuse not to go is there??)

The bar is up some stairs, just above the red chilli restaurant, a brilliant northern cuisine chinese. It is a small place, but well lit and fresh, modern and clean looking.great combinations of colours make it pleasant. The background music is not too loud either.

I had a look at the bubble drink menu, which is rather extensive, and I opted without hesitation for the Durian bubble (see below). It is the first bar I can indulge in my durian obsession sins....

For those who don't know about bubble drinks, they are beverages made with milk or soya, either with tea or fruits, served with tapioca black pearls, gelatinous balls of the size of a marble (hence the mega size for the straw). The drink was perfect and looking further on the menu, I realise there was some great common vietnamese snacks/food, bahn mi and pho... How could I resist?? I had a pho, freshly prepared in front of me like it should be. Possibly not as tasty as Marjolaine's, but I suspect that's asking for too much. It was nevertheless very healthy and tasty. I had not planned to eat in the bar, I just got very excited about the food offered there...

Being of french origin, I had to finish the meal on a cafe, and o joy, I could get a vietnamese coffee!

At the moment there is an offer I was told by the owner, and I got a n extra frozen yoghurt - I was already full by then though.

The bar is an excellent alternative for a healthy lunch or for hanging out for all the other cafe places, since it has the great advantage to close at 9pm - two hours after the others....

So thumbs up for this little bar that offers something new in town!

Malva Pudding

The other day, I was having lunch with a friend and we orderer the soup of the day which happened to be a South African soup called Sousbountje, a hot and sour soup made with tamarind, mustard seeds and red kidney beans (I migh try to make this one at some stage!).
We both loved the soup and started on that subject. My friend then mentioned a dessert he'd tried in South Africa. He seemed so enthusiatic that I asked him if he knew the name, as I might like to look into it. He said: better, I can get you the recipe! So he sent a text to a friend and tadaaa... In the afternoon he emailed me the recipe.

One day later, I made the recipe...
The quantities were all in strange units, so I had to adapt them which was not too hard.

This recipe serves 2
For the Pudding
- 1/2 coffee cup of sugar
- 1 egg
- 25g butter
- 2 spoons smooth apricot jam (I used Mirabelle plum jam - Mirabelle is a round and yellow type of plum quite common in France and a specialty of the region I come from)
- 1 coffee cup of flour (I used soya flour, which is gluten free) flour
- 1 coffee cup of milk
- 1 tablespoon vinegar( I used white wine vinegar)
- 1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

For the Sauce
- 50g butter
- 1/2 coffee cup sugar
- ½ coffee cup water
- 1 coffee cup cream or milk (I chose the evil option: double cream - I don't regret it!)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla essence

Making the Pudding:
1) Mix the sugar, egg, butter and jam together well
2) Add the flour and milk. Mix well
3) Add the bicarb and vinegar and mix again
4) Pour in earthenware, bake at 180°C, covered, until set

Making the Sauce:
1) Melt together the butter, sugar and water
2) Add the cream or milk and bring to the boil
3) Remove from the heat and add the vanilla essence

Once the pudding is baked, remove from the oven and pour the warm sauce over the pudding.

Enjoy as is, or serve with custard or vanilla ice cream.

My verdict? ok, my friend told me how good it was, but I did not expect it to be THAT FORMIDABLY great, not a diet cake for sure, but now ranking sky high in my favorites. It was absolutely delicious, the texture is a bit like a sticky toffee pudding and the taste is, well let me find the word,.. UNEARTHLY!!!!
And it is a doodle to make, so easy!

Yes I will do it again, and no later than wednesday as I have friends over!

Other useful info from wikipedia: 'The pudding's name is derived from Malvacea wine from Madeira. The dessert and dessert wine used to be served together after main course at Cape tables. It is of distinct Cape Dutch origin with many unique additions which my differ from one area to the next eg. ginger, apricot jam. There are also many variants of this dessert namely the Cape Brandy Pudding which also include brandy and dates and the Tipsy Tart which contains only brandy'

Source: Cheryl Labuschagne

Chocolate Birthday cake

Ok the rule is, if you make a Birthday cake, forget diet, and make it as chocolaty as you can.
Beyond that, I found this great recipe that fits the bill for a guy, and is moist, flavorsome, easy, quick to make. Humm yes indeed, this is the perfect cake! So yes how lucky are you, I am sharing the magic Birthday cake recipe with you:

Ingredients:
-200g plain dark chocolate
-125g soften butter -100g sugar
-50g flour (use soya flour for coeliacs)
-3 eggs

In a pan, place the chocolate broken into pieces with a tblspn of water, and a 25g of the butter.Let it melt on low heat.

In a bowl, mix the eggs with the sugar till the mix whitens, add the soften butter, mix well.

Add the flour, mix well, then add the chocolate.

I use silicon moulds now so no buttering and flouring, but do so if you use an old fashion mould. Pour the mix in the mould, place in oven at 150degC for 25-30 minutes.

Let the cake cool down, take it off the mould, decorate it, and there you are, a very successful chocolate cake! Easy no?

Source: www.linternaute.com (I modified the recipe)

Flat French apple tart

Yes. flat. just like that, and why not?

Anyway, down to the serious stuff,you'll need
- to make a french pastry as described in the previous post, use an alternative to butter for vegans, and soy flour for coeliacs
- to core two apples and slice them very very finely
- Granulated Sugar

Flatten the pastry,

dispose the apple slices on top, from the outer to the inner so that it forms a 'rose', sprinkle generously with the sugar because apples end up quite acidic otherwise (however good the apples).

Place in the oven at 200 degreeC for approx 20 minutes

Et voila, une French tart - yes yes flat, yes! -
Too easy really...

Source: Moi moi moi!

Hong Kong Style egg tarts

Egg tart, originally uploaded by Christ tell.

When I go for dim sum, I usually get the egg tarts at the end of the meal, and they come still warm, with this crazy smooth gooey consistency and these gorgeous texture, smell and flavour, brittle puff pastry , aaaaaaah.. They are not too sweet either..I know, I am raving, but hey, they ARE gorgeous.
So I wanted to try them at home. No idea how they are made. Ah. Let's google it. humm, the ones I want to make are those that people take pictures of at the bakeries and restaurants hence no recipe.
On the wiki I could find a recipe for Portuguese egg tarts, but no, not what I want..

You know me, I would nott have stopped at that, so yes I improvised!
And guess what? the result was rather close, I'm very proud of myself.Yes it must be said.

So I prepared a french pastry, and also used puff pastry I bought (never done puff pastry, somehow it clashes with the title of my blog..).

for 6 egg tarts:

French pastry (for the equivalent of one big tart = twelve little tarts):
- 30 to 40g soften butter (no British butter allowed there, please use the French one, they taste very different!)
- 250g flour (Coeliacs use soya flour)
- 1tblsp sugar
- hot water (about an espresso cup worth)

crumble the butter into flour and sugar, when homogeneous, add the water, and work into a smooth ball, but do not knead and work as least as possible: the more you work it the hardest it will come out once cooked.
Cut and place in moulds.

The egg tart filling:
- 1 egg
- soya milk (ahem, no I did not measure, sorry... but think in proportion more than you would use in a quiche)
- vanilla essence, a few drops

Mix and pour in the pastry

Place in oven at 200 degrees for 15 minutes, then watch for the next 5 minutes, I figured from the look of the egg tarts I get at the restaurants that the filling should not cook too much, and the tart should look glazed.

Eat whilst it's hot please!
These egg tarts are still different from the ones I had in the restaurants, despite being close, and after making them I kept looking on the internet.
I fould this recipe(by Easy Recipe) and that one (by My Kitchen Snippet)and the Portuguese ones (by Leite's culinaria) that seemed closest. I will try it another time to see how they compare.
In any case, getting the puff/flaky pastry like I like it is possibly mission impossible...
At first glance it seems a bit more complicated/long. Anyway, if you have a recipe for it, please pretty please tell me!

Verdict: I will make these again, because they were so simple and tasty, and yes, the consistency was great...

Ode to Nutella

Just a mini post to make you hungry, a heart shaped puff pastry with a slap of Nutella on top.

Hungry yet?

Half apple half chocolate tarte

Here's a sweet post for you, sprinkled with little sugar hearts and cinnamon.

Could not be easier, but could be healthier, ok.... It's a yin yang concept, one side is healthy, the other side could give you a heart attack, let your guest choose what suits them!

In a hurry as your guests will arrive in a short time:

For the pastry:
(I have tastier ways to make it, but this recipe is for the last minute emergencies)
250g flour (coeliacs use soya flour)
1 espresso cup vegetable oil (or soften/melted margerine or butter)
1 espresso cup hot water
salt
1 pinch salt

Mix all together as quickly as possible, do not knead it or manipuilate too much or the pastry will come out too hard, the dough should not be elastic.
spread the dough and lay it in a tart mould.

For the Chocolate topping
25g butter
200g dark chocolate
a dollop of nutella (optional)
a small dollop of double cream

Melt the butter with chocolate, stirr well and add cream at the end.

For the apple side:
4 apples (steam them for 10 min if you can whilst you prepare the pastry)
1 pinch cinammon
a sachet of vanilla sugar
a sprinkle of sugar hearts

Assembly:
In the tart pastry, arrange the apples cut in thin quarters in half the tart making a dam in the middle as a future barrage for the chocolate sauce - you can make it look like a yin yang, but if you are in a hurry it won't happen, will it..! -, sprinkle with the vanilla sugar, the cinnamon and the sugar hearts.
Then pour the chocolate on the other half, and
Place in the oven for 15-20 min at 200degC (a bit less if you steamed the apples)Et voila!
A fun and fast chocolate and apple tart, and believe me, there can't be anyone who does not like one or the other!!

Vegans, skip cream and butter and use alternative (soya?) it should do the trick easy

Source: me

Light Waffles

Waffles are a great treat on a par with crepes, and I decided to make some for the visit of a friend who loves sweet treets.
They are easy to make, but you need the waffle machine I'm afraid... However, the machine is convertible as a grill or croque monsieur maker, so it's worth having it.

Waffles are easy and quick to make, and these are lighter than normal ones as the milk is replaced by beer - yes beer!-. The beer is incredibly discreet, but it makes the waffles lighter and fluffier.

Here's my recipe for 4 people:
- 500g flour
- 1 pinch of salt
- 50g powdered sugar
-1/2l water
- 3 eggs
- 100g butter, melted
- 1/2 beer or cider (or milk if you want to go traditional)

Mix flour, sugar, salt and make a well, pour in the middle the eggs yolks beaten and the water and start mixing with a fork, slowly eroding the well.
When mixed, add the butter and mix thoroughly for 10 minutes until the mix is smooth. the mix should be a bit elastic and slightly liquid.
Then add the beer and mix well, Incorporate the beaten whites. The mix should be rather liquid
Preferably leave for about 2 hours, but if you don't have the time ahead, just make the waffles directly.

Making the waffle:
Pour a small laddle in the waffle machine already heated up, close the upper part of the machine press well for 10 sec then turn the machine around, leave for 2 min, turn around again, and wait for2 minutes (Obviously the time will depend on your machine, read the manual if in doubt). Open and detach the waffel (it should be very easy, if not, grease the mould in the machine with a brush.
Repeat for each set of waffles!
It is traditional to powder the waffles with icing sugar, and top it up with chantilly crea (or whipped cream). Beyond that, everything is allowed, melted chocolate, jam, babana slices, ice cream, etc...

Bon apetit!

Fluffy sweet potato mash

Yesterday evening I had to prepare my lunch for today, and I wanted something warm, comforting, light, tasty and minimum effort... Looked in the cupboards.. Ah!!
So there you are, I ended up with the idea of mash, but not tatties because it's too heavy.
Here's how I made the mash, fluffy, ligt healthy and flavoursome (have I sold it yet? - yes you gather, I loved it!)

For 1 person:
- 2 big sweet potatoes, cut in small bits
- 1 big shallot chopped
- 1 heaped tsp mustard seeds
- 1 tsp tumeric
- 1tsp paprika
- 1/2 tsp chili flakes
- a little bit of saffron
- salt to taste (sea salt is best!)

Cook the sweet potatoes and the shallots in a steamer for 20 minutes.

Use a hand masher and mash roughly to keep the fluffy texture, add the spices, sprinkle a bit of paprika for the deco.

The hardest is probably to cut the potato in bits, all in all I'd say 10 minutes of preparation if you are really really slow at peeling the potatoes and cutting them. The steamer will do the rest for you...
This mash is very happy to be reheated - not like potato or carrot mash whose texture is changing.
And you'll notice: not one ounce of fat: it's super healthy!

Bon apetit!

Source: I was hungry, it decuples the thinking power to create food!!

Galette des rois (Kings cake)

On the 6th January, Epiphany day, the Northern French prepare the "galette des rois", a frangipani core encased in puff pastry. This cake is only baked around that date and is eagerly waited for. In the frangipani is hidden a 'feve', a trinket in the shape of a little ceramic figure (originally it was a coin or a bean). In Britain where people are a bit too safety conscious, I use a whole almond.

The person who finds the trinket is crowned a king with a golden paper crown these days! Epiphany day has its roots in the pagan world that predates the biblical changes. Local customs vary in the different European regions.

A lot of French people now buy it from the baker, but it tastes best homemade, and it is so easy that it's worth the bother.

Ingredients 
- 2 sheets ready rolled of puff pastry for the laziest, or a ready-made frozen slab for the more courageous or even for the bravest, homemade puff pastry. Buy  gluten free puff pasty - it is now readily available in supermarkets (in the UK anyway)
- 140g ground almond 
- 100g soften butter 
- 100g sugar 
- 2 eggs + 1 white
- 1 yolk  + a spoon of milk for the eggwash

- 1tspn orange blossom water (or rum) (+ 2 drops of vanilla extract optional)

- 1 whole almond (or a trinket if you have one)

Mix the butter and the sugar until the mix whitens, then add the beaten eggs and the ground almond, orange blossom water, mix well.

In the middle of the first sheet of puff pastry, pour the mix. Lay the second sheet on top, and roll the sides of the sheets together towards the inside to seal the galette.

With a knife, draw diagonal lines in both direction (so that they cross each other) to create the pattern. Then with a brush, spread the yolk on the whole cake to give it a golden colour.

Put in an over for 30 minutes at 200 degrees Serve hot, but it is excellent cold too. Maybe you will find the trinket and be the king, like I was today!....

Meringues

I seem to be into making sweet things these days, even though I do not have a sweet tooth. This time, I have tried myself at meringue, to use the egg whites from the tiramisu (although the whipped whites can also be incorporated in the mascarpone).

This recipe works every time, all you need a bit of patience, really...

PREPARATION TIME: 5 min
COOKING TIME: 2 to 10 hours
INGREDIENTS:
- egg whites
- 80g of sugar per egg white
optional:
- a bit of salt
- a few drops of lemon juice

PREPARATION:
Pre-heat the oven at 100-110^oC
Add the lemon&salt to the egg whites and beat a little with a fork.
Whip the egg white until very firm.
Slowly add up the sugar whilst still whipping until the mix becomes very white and very shiny.
Keep adding the sugar whilst you keep whipping.

Lay some baking paper in the oven and deposit quantities of the mix - the quantity depends of the size of meringues you want to end up with).

Cook for 2 hours at 100-110^oC then 2h at 90^oC.

If you want the meringues to be hard to the core, cook them at 90^oC for up to 10 hours.

SERVING:
If you want to serve these as a dessert, create them so that the centre is concave, and when you serve them, fill the centre with raspberries (tinned raspberries are fine, you can use the juice too) and cover with single cream.

TIPS:
- Cook the meringues immediately, do not make the mix wait. - egg whites can be kept in the fridge for up to 5 days, or longer (4 months) if in the freezer. Strangely enough, the older the egg whites, the better the meringues. - the egg whites must be at ambiant temperature when you whip them up - You can add almond flakes on the meringues, or cocoa, pine nuts. coconut powder, hazelnet powder... or you can also add some taste, like coffee, vanilla, orange blossom, liquor... - If you want your meringues to be super shiny, srinkle them with ice sugar before cooking them - If your meringues stick on the paper, you need to evacuate some humidity by leaving your oven door slightly open - If the over is too hot, the meringues will change colour (well, personally, I do like a bit of colour)
Source: my experimentation

Tiramisu: Fast 'slow food'

Here's a great dessert, and so easy to make too..I got the recipe from a friend who's boyfriend was an Italian chef... and I reproduced it many times, it's so yummy!

For 2 hungry people
PREPARATION: 10 minutes maximum

INGREDIENTS:
- 1 pot of mascarpone
- 1 egg yolk
- 1 teaspoon of sugar (the sponge fingers will bring the sweetness)
- 1 packet sponge fingers (for the small version on the photo I used trifle sponge):
- 100% cocoa powder (very important, do not use the odd cocoa powder: although you won't need much, the flavour will be very important)
- 1 espresso or strong coffee (but fresh, it wont be as good with granules coffee)
- Amaretto (or other alcohol that agrees with coffee and mascarpone)

MAKING IT:
Mix well the mascarpone with the yolk, put aside.

In a shallow dish, put the espresso, a small dash of Amarett, and top up with water (it should not be too strong)

Dip one by one the sponge fingers in the espresso mix (quickly enough so that they are not soaked), and dispose them neatly and tightly one by one in the final dish to cover an area with half the packet (a bit less) of sponge fingers.

Cover this first layer with half the mascarpone, then cover again with the rest of the sponge fingers, then another layer of mascarpone.

Sprinkle the whole with cocoa powder to cover with a thin layer.

Keep in the fridge for a few hours, it gets better with time.

TIPS :
And remember: the simpler, the better. You might be tempted to add a few things: like vanilla flavour, etc… but try it like that first, you'll realise quickly adding more ingredients won't make it better.

Also, no sugar is required in the mascarpone because the sponge fingers arre already sweet enough...

Et voila!

Source: a friend who's boyfriend was an Italian chef taught me a few years ago