A blog about me......

At this url there is a blog from a news paper journalist who can to the links recently and i have the opportunity to talk to and feed, so she done a small piece in the Heralds Weekend Post dated 9 July 2011, it makes for some interesting reading and is alot of what i am about so follow the link and enjoy.  http://theglobaltable.wordpress.com/

Blue Cheese, apple and almond "strudel" with strawberry compote and fresh cream

Hello Everybody,
here is a quick little recipe of a blue cheese, apple and almond strudel i made the other day that really was to die for first thing you going to need is some either store bought puff pastry or homemade puff pastry, if you look further down in my blog the dark chocolate fondant with strawberry mille feuille has a beautiful homemade puff pastry recipe, i must warn though, puff pastry is not easy to make and you will take a couple of goes to get it right, and it takes around 3 hours to make, but it is worth every drop of sweat and stress that it takes to make it.

Ingredients
 .......for the pie
About 300g Ready rolled puff pastry
1/2 bag of granny smith apples, peeled, cored and sliced
+/-200g Dolce Latte gorgonzola (i choose this over other blue cheeses as it is soft, creamy and not as strongly flavour, so most people will enjoy it)
150g brown or treacle sugar (you can use white)
150g almond flakes
1/4 tsp pimento (all spice) optional
1 big handfull of bread crumbs.
2 Tablespoons brandy

......for the strawberry compote
250g frozen strawberries
125g white sugar
125ml good semi-sweet or dessert white
125ml water
1 vanilla pod split and scrapped (use 1 teaspoon essence if no pods)


Method
firstly put all the ingredients for the strawberrys into a small saucepan/pot and cover with a lid and let it "mascarate" for around 3 hours on a really really low heat, you don't want it to simmer, there may be a few bubbles but generally not a simmer as you don't want the fruits to break apart, but you want them to inpart with their beautiful flavours.

now for the pie
put the apples, pimento, sugar, blue cheese, brandy and almonds into a mixing bowl and leave covered for around 30 min, whilst letting the apples sit, roll out the puff pastry so that is it around 2-3mm thick, it will be a very big square.
now that the apple mixture you see it will have alot of liquid in the bottom of the mixing bowl, that is a mixture of the apple losing some of its water along with the sugar melting and so on, you don't want to throw that away, it is about the best part, but if you just put it into the pastry like that it is going to make the pastry very moist and soggy so no throw in the bread crumbs to absorb this moisture and mix everything together thoroughly, then take this mixture and place it onto you puff pastry to form a long line in the middle of the pastry from one end to the next, now you need to take 2 eggs and beat them with a little milk (25ml) this is your egg wash. now around the mixture "paint" the pastry with the egg wash, then take the bottom half of the pastry and fold it over the mixture tightly, but be carefully not to tear the pastry, then paint the pastry that is now on top of the mixture, then fold the rest of the pastry over that piece as to close all the mixture in pastry, now you should have a long log like roll, with 2 layers of pastry on the top, take a buttered baking tray and roll the log over so that the two layers of pastry are sitting on the bottom, and pinch the ends tightly closed, now paint the all the visible pastry with the egg wash then take a sharp knive and cut slits into the top of the pastry (should look like the cuts on a french loaf) then place it in a preheated over at 180c and bake for around 30-40 minutes until golden brown.

Now to serve slice nice big slices of the strudel top it with the strawberry compote and whip up some fresh cream until soft peak and serve with that.

This dessert really is something that i think is going to make it onto one of my menu's soon, it really really is awesome i loved it and think that anybody who likes blue cheese will as well.

Bon Appetit

Rabbit Liver, prune and vanilla parfait with tomato jam

Hello guys here is a quick little "amuse bouche" that i done last night for a small dinner party, i was preparing rabbit and of course when you buy rabbit, the liver, kidneys, heart and lungs are still in the animal, so i decided to make a liver parfait. Now this is a very rich dish so i served it pre-starters and was a big hit.

Ingredients:
liver from 2 rabbits
2 TBSP butter
1 tsp flour
1/2 onion cubed
8 prunes pitted
1 vanilla pod scrapped
1/2 teaspoon garlic
150ml rabbit stock (made from the bones of the 2 rabbits)
200ml fresh cream
50ml port
salt and black pepper to taste
homemade tomato and chilli jam
mini melba toasts

Method:
Get a small pan nice and hot put about 1 tablespoon of olive in and add the butter, as soon as the butter starts to "sing" and bubble add in the livers leave them for around 2 minutes on each side then add in the garlic and onions, saute this for around another 3-4 minutes and then add in the flour and let it be absorbed by all the fat in the pan, when their is no white of the flour visible in the pan add in the port to deglaze for around 1 minute then add in the stock and cream and season, add in the vanilla and pitted prunes and drop the heat and cook covered for around 5-7 minutes. Then take out the solid and put them into a food processor and blitz them up adding in the liquid as needed, you will end up using all the liquid, stop the food processor every 30 seconds or so and scrap down the side to ensure that everything is being puree'd. Then take it out of the processor and push it through a very fine sieve to get out all the impurities.

To serve i used tall shot glasses and i put a pitted prune in the bottom then piped the liver in about half way and topped it with a homemade tomato jam, then took the vanilla pods that i had scraped and used the beans to make the garnish and served with two small little pieces of melba toast.

I must say to any body who doesn't normally like liver, you should really give rabbit liver a try it is amazing, i think it is one of those foods that is going to be on the up in a big way in the next couple of years.


Enjoy next up i will blog a lovely rich Fricassee of Rabbit with tagliatelle, mushrooms, garlic, onions and white truffel oil. lovely dish i made this dish also with the stock from the 2 rabbits from above and then the meat of them.........until then Bon Appetit

Warm Chocolate Fondant and a story of a little something that has bitten me badly........

Ok let me start off with a nice simple little recipe that is easy to make and will be a hit at any dinner party i originally started with blog to create recipes for people to cook at home and i have slightly gone off the beaten  track with it, but i will explain that i little later on in a little more detail,

i blogged this dessert earlier in the week as i like to make it, but here is a simple version of it that anybody can make at home with out stressing.

Ingredients

200g Dark Chocolate (min 60%cocoa solids)

180g butter

4 eggs separated

6 Chocolate Truffles (i use Lindor)

140g Castor Sugar

50ml Brandy

Butter for buttering moulds

Method

• Melt the chocolate and butter over a double boiler on the stove

Separate the eggs and whip the egg white until almost stiff, then

Slowly add half of the castor sugar until the egg whites are stiff.

• Cream together the other half of the sugar and the egg yolks.
• Then mix together the yolk mixture with the melted chocolate

Adding it slowly in the beginning and then faster towards the end

Add the brandy and then fold in the egg whites until incorporated.

·        Butter the ramekins pour the chocolate halfway up the ramekins, then place a chocolate truffle in the middle and then add more chocolate to fill the ramekin.

·        Bake in a pre heated oven at 165°c for 15 min.

Best served with berry coulis and vanilla ice-cream.

Well i have stumbled across something that i never really in-visioned myself to get into and that is the whole scientific approach to food and cookery, but i must say this in the defense of anybody who thinks it is taking away from the roots of cooking, no it isn't!!! it is giving so much to the world of cookery, it is opening so many new creative avenues it is breaking all "normal" perceptions of what food should be. i have starting playing with the science of food and the perception of flavour, and i can honestly say that in my life thus far in the kitchen i have never been so excited to get into my kitchen in the mornings and to start playing with all the things that i have been reasearching, the only problem is that i live in South Africa so alot of the chemicals needed are extremely difficult to get hold of like i am battling to find Gellan at the moment, i know it has to be here in the country i just can't seem to find it yet, i battled a bit to get hold of transglutaminase but i mailed an overseas company and they got me involved with a company here, awesome stuff that is i must say, i have just "butterflied" a whole beef fillet and stuffed it with the hard fat from a rump and wrapped it and put into the fridge, will take a look at it tomorrow, i have to try and "put" marbling into the fillet to give it the flavour that rump and fatter cuts have. and that is just the start of it, i have "glued" chicken skin onto hake fillets, i have just "glued" together a piece of rump with a piece of chicken breast with bacon in between, will blog about it when i have cooked it, it is a crazy exciting world of food to be explored.....

My next big flavour perception project is to glue chicken skin on to a piece of fish and create exactly the same flavour chicken vapour, and fish vapour, to manipulate the flavour of what you are eating, i have done it with Heston's famous vanilla and/or cinnamon ice-cream and it worked out a real treat so now going to start testing how far i can take the concept into practical foods.

I know i haven't exactly been blogging about the things i set out to blog about by my mind has gone a little stray with all these new idea's and concepts.

I have been doing the "old school" stuff to though don't get me wrong, this month alone i have learnt to make cheese, if fact i have made Feta, Haloumi, Ricotta, Parmesan, Pecorino, Blue Cheese and today i am trying a modification of a gruyere, only thing about the cheese is that i now have a year wait for most of the cheese, except the blue which should be ready in about 2 months.

I am also looking at cured meats now, would love to learn to make my own cured meats, we'll see if i can get the opportunity to do so, i will keep you posted on that.

The Hungry Chef: Dark Chocolate Fondant with Strawberry Mille Feuil...

The Hungry Chef: Dark Chocolate Fondant with Strawberry Mille Feuil...: "This is a dessert that i have come up with starting to incorporate a couple things that i have been researching and doing i must stress thou..."

Dark Chocolate Fondant with Strawberry Mille Feuille and Blueberry caviar

This is a dessert that i have come up with starting to incorporate a couple things that i have been researching and doing i must stress though that this recipe is more for the seasoned professional than the average home cook because of the process involved in creating the dish, however it has all the WOW factor that you look for in a dessert. 

as the saying goes ....."the proof is in the pudding"

Dark Chocolate Fondant, Strawberry Mille Feuille and Blueberry Caviar (serves 8)

This recipe is not for the faint hearted as the process is quite involved. However, in my personal opinion, the end result is well worth all the effort.

…..for the chocolate fondant

Ingredients

200g 70% Dark Chocolate

4 eggs separated

150g castor sugar

180g unsalted farm butter

1 TBSP corn flour

1 tot brandy

8 chocolate truffles (see recipe below)

Butter for buttering ramekins

50g grated dark chocolate for dusting ramekins

8x 125ml ramekins

Method

Melt the chocolate and butter over a double boiler.

Cream together the egg yolks and half the sugar.

Whisk the egg whites with remaining half of the sugar until stiff.

Mix together the brandy and corn flour until ingredients are incorporated.

Butter the ramekins and sprinkle them with the grated chocolate and leave them in the freezer for 5 minutes.

Add the melted chocolate to the egg yolk and mix thoroughly, then add in the brandy mixture (it may seem at this point that the mixture looks like it wants to seize, however do not stress yet).

Add 1/3 of the stiff egg whites and whisk it into this mixture until all incorporated (you will see the mixture loosen up again)

Add in the rest of the whisked egg whites and soft fold them into the mixture until it is all incorporated.

Spoon mixture into ramekins until they are just under half full, then place one chocolate truffle (see recipe below) in the middle and top up the ramekin until  full.

Place the ready made desserts in the fridge for 30mins to and hour

Preheat the oven to 180˚C (very important that the oven is at this temperature before you put the fondants in), place dessert in oven and drop the temperature to 165˚C and bake for 12 minutes.

The mixture will rise like a soufflé over the top of the ramekin; this is what you are looking for, however once you take them out of the oven serve immediately as they will drop.

If you have a gluten allergy you can use this mixture to make a flourless chocolate cake. Bake at 150˚c for 45 minutes and let it cool in the oven for 3 hours

…..for the chocolate truffles

Ingredients

400g 70% Dark Chocolate

1 cup Cream or Crème Fraisch

Cocoa powder for dusting

100g melted chocolate for dusting

Method

Heat the cream until just below boiling and pour it over the chocolate, mix together thoroughly.

Leave it to cool down either on the counter or in the fridge, now take a melon baller and scoop out balls of chocolate.

Dip into the melted chocolate and roll in cocoa powder to coat.

Place on grease proof paper and leave in the fridge until ready to use.

…..for the Strawberry Mille Feuille

Ingredients

500g frozen strawberries

125g castor sugar

50ml brandy

Puff pastry as per recipe below

250ml cream

Icing sugar for dusting

Method

In a small pot, put strawberries, castor sugar and brandy, over a very low heat (the sugar must melt but it should not be bubbling), leave for about 45min (this process is called macerating the strawberries).

Roll out the puff pastry (see recipe below) and cut into strips about 3cm x 6cm, it is important that the pastry is not rolled out to thin.

Cut out 16 strips, place them onto a baking tray and dust the top with icing sugar and bake in a pre-heated oven at 200˚c for 8-10 minutes until golden on the top. Remove from oven and let cool before using it further.

Whip the cream until soft peaks appear and add half of the strawberries, blend it further until the cream is stiff and the strawberries are puréed into the cream (it goes a beautiful soft pink colour).

Cut the baked puff pastry in half horizontally, as if to open them to be stuffed, spread the bottom piece with the cream, place 3 macerated strawberries on top, place another piece of pastry on top and repeat the process, place the piece dusted with icing sugar right on top of the last layer of strawberries.

…..for the puff pastry

Ingredients

300g Flour

½ tsp castor sugar

1 tsp salt

30g melted butter

150-170ml tap water

200g cold butter (kept aside for later use)

Method

The principle behind the pastry is to create many layers of dough and

butter by folding and turning the two together. (Unlike short pastry, the butter is not incorporated into the dough but rather folded into the layers).

1) Sift the flour into a mound on a cool work surface and make a well in the centre. Add the salt, sugar, water and melted butter to the well.

2) Mix with four fingers until the salt dissolves.

3) Use a plastic pastry scraper to pull the flour into the well and mix until blended, adding the remaining water if the pastry is dry.  

4) Work the pastry into a sticky ball with the pastry scraper.

5) Make an X-shaped incision on top of the dough, wrap in lightly floured baking parchment or tea towel, then refrigerate for about 30 minutes. This is the détrempe.)

6) Sandwich the remaining 200 g butter between 2 sheets of greaseproof paper and tap with a rolling pin until softened to the same consistency as the détrempe. Form the butter into a square about 2 cm thick. Place the ball of pastry on a lightly floured work surface and flatten slightly with the palm of your hand. Press the rolling pin into the top edge of the pastry and roll out an "arm". Give the dough a quarter turn and roll out another "arm". Continue to turn and roll twice more until the pastry is in the shape of a cross. It should be mounded in the centre, tapering out the 4 arms. 

7) Place the square of butter on the mounded centre of the pastry and fold in the arms, stretching the pastry slightly to seal in the butter. (The 4 thicknesses of pastry on the top should be approximately the same thickness as the mound of pastry under the butter.)

8) Lightly tap the top of the pastry with a rolling pin to seal the edges and to enlarge and flatten the square a little. (This is the pâton) Then roll out the pastry to a long rectangle about 17.5 cm wide and 52.5 long.

9) The edges of the rectangle should be even and straight.  

10) Fold the bottom third of the rectangle up toward the centre, carefully aligning the edges. Brush off any flour.

11) Fold the top third down to make a neat square and brush off any flour.

12) You will have a neat square of pastry with the fold on the bottom.  

13) Give the square a quarter turn to the left for maximum rising. It is important that you always rotate the pastry in the same direction so the seam is always on the same side.

14) The fold should then be at the side.

15) Roll out the pastry into a long rectangle. 

16) Fold into thirds. Gently press 2 fingertips into the pastry to indicate that 2 turns have been completed.

17) Wrap the pastry and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Give the pastry 2 more turns. Mark it with 4 fingerprints to indicate a total of 4 turns have been completed. Rewrap and return it to the refrigerator for another 30 minutes. (After 4 turns the pastry may be refrigerated for 2 days or frozen.) Give the pastry another 2 turns and mark it with 6 fingerprints. Then wrap and refrigerate it for 10 minutes more before rolling out for shaping and baking.

…..for the Blueberry Caviar

Ingredients

400g blueberries

1 cup of white sugar

½ cup good dry white wine

1g Sodium Alginate

¼ tsp sodium nitrate

6,5g Calcium Chloride

1lt of water

Method

In a small pot, place blueberries, white sugar and white wine, over a very low heat and “cook” for and hour (this process is called macerating the blueberries)

Remove from heat and puree, and drain over a container in a muslin cloth over night so that all the juice extracts.

Place juice in freezer until frozen,

Remove ice block from container and place on a muslin cloth again over a clean container and let “defrost” in the fridge, you will be left with a block of clear ice on the muslin cloth and half the amount of juice in the container.

Take this juice and add in the sodium nitrate, mix it in with a stick blender, once that is mixed in add the sodium alginate and blend thoroughly with a stick blender leave this mixture for an hour at room temperature to let all the bubbles settle,

Add the calcium chloride to the water and stir until it has dissolved.

With a surgical syringe, suck up the berry juice and drop it in small drops into the calcium chloride bath and leave them for about 2 minutes. Gently spoon them out and rinse with fresh water and serve immediately as the longer they stand the more they will form into gel balls and loose liquid and flavor.

Enjoy the fruits of your hard labor

okay here it is my opinion of the good food and wine show cape town 2011

This is the second good food and wine show that i have been to, the first being in Durban, but this one had a special little something that was a little closer to my heart than the last one and that is the fact that Heston Blumenthal was doing his first public appearance in south Africa, he has been here before many years ago as he almost opened his first restaurant here in Franshoek but things changes and he opened the fat duck instead, that's a whole long separate story on it's own. Anyway i went to the show armed with my new fat duck cook book and VIP tickets to the show, as we walked in and were seated it was announced that he would not being doing a cooking demo as his food takes to long to prepare and he would not be able to do it in the allotted time, i understood this, however that does not mean that it didn't come with it's own set of disappointments, i wanted to see the man in action, now all i was getting was an hour long talk.

Heston came onto the stage and starter his hour long talk, and let me tell you anybody who is as interested in food as i am would have found that that hour long talk was far better and informative as a chef than any cooking demo could have been, he explained how he got to do what he does, how he came about with his unique style of cooking and where he is going, i am quite sure after that talk that my food and approach to cooking is going to be totally different, and boy oh boy is it just, all i am doing now with any spare that i have is studying, trying to obtain as much knowledge i can about .........here it comes ........... the science of food, flavour perception and eating habits further more i have now got a couple of my own little experiments going on, i am going to try to recreate a couple of his classic dishes as well as use the techniques and science behind those to create my own, i have started on the basics such as spherification and will be researching the science of ice-creams over the next few weeks and play with them as well.

all in all that could possibly have been the best and most inspirational talk i have ever been to, i would like to describe the rest of the good food and wine show but i cannot as i get so excited and worked up talking about this new outlook on food that i just want to run into my kitchen and pick up some chemicals and play and play and play...........

so i am off now to go and do just that, when i get back to the blog at some point i will go a little into the art of cheese making which is also something new that i am starting to play a little more with, i have already made feta, Parmesan, yoghurt and going to try halloumi this afternoon,
so cheers for now........

p.s
sorry no recipes at the moment i am working on a mind blowing 3 course menu to enter the unilever chef of the year with as well as for a little interview with the weekend post next week, so maybe i will blog those once i have perfected them.

Good Food and Wine Show Cape Town 2011

Hello to all of you guys out there that do read my blog, i have just returned from the good food and wine show in cape town to see the crazy chef Heston Blumenthal he is an inspiration and a driving force to all new chefs out there to strive forwards towards doing food that is as appealing to look at as it is to hear and taste, food that work on all of your senses, i have not the time at the moment to write my complete blog about it but keep looking out for the next couple of days and i will be doing the complete story of the good food and wine show 2011 and i will add in a couple of other little things into the blog as well, maybe a recipe or two

Bacon and Egg Ice-Cream

This isn't a recipe as of yet, i am playing with something from a kitchen mastermind and that is Heston Blumenthal's Bacon and Egg Ice-Cream, it is a really really interesting thing i must admit, i have made my first batch and it is nothing short of awesome, i cannot believe how well it actually works, it really really does, when i have perfected it a little more i will blog the recipe for it, but i must warn it is not for the faint hearted cook who doesn't like to spend a long time on one dish, as it is something that takes 2 days to make.

I will play with it some more and i will take photo's and blog it for you to enjoy

Mini New York Baked Cheese Cake

This is the last recipe in the the set of three that follow the picture in the first recipe that i blogged, it was a trio of desserts.....creme brule, chocolate mousse and a mini New York Baked Cheese Cake, this is one of my favourite recipes, i never weight anything with this one either, but yet again i have a fairly good hand and judge pretty well, i have always preached that recipes are guidelines, if i ever pick up a recipe book the only things i ever do is look at what ingredients are used and never how much is used, it's all about the fundamentals the building blocks and understanding how different ingredients influence each other, once you start to understand these basics then the rest is just up to your hand, so i am going to try and guess backwards here back into a usable recipe.

Ingredients
250g smooth cream cheese (not cottage cheese, this makes a massive difference in the end product of the cheese cake)
25g Castor sugar or white sugar
1 egg
zest of half a lemon
1 tablespoon of lime cordial
1 tablespoon of milk
1 roll of store bought short crust pastry (when we get into the more detailed recipes i will blog short crust and puff pastry as homemade is far superior to any store bought you can get, they are however not the easiest pastry's to make from scratch.

to make these you will also need 500g of uncooked rice
a roll of cling film
a muffin tray or foil pie cases (fairly small ones, about the same size as "mama's pie's"

for this recipe it is best to have an electric beater if you do not you can get away with a whisk, i however am fortunate enough to have 2 kitchen aids in my kitchen,

ok now to start it is best to have all of your ingredients at room temperature, take the cream cheese put it into a deep mixing bowl and start to soften it with a whisk or electric beater until all the lumps are out and it is smooth, it usually takes around 3-5minutes, then you can add the milk whilst continually beating it, beat for about another 2 minutes now add in the lemon zest and lime cordial whilst still beating, beat this in for another 2 minutes, now add in the castor sugar and the one egg and carry on beating for about another 5 minutes. now set this mixture to one side.

Roll out the short crust pastry as to half the thickness of it cut it out in a small round about 3 centimeters bigger than hole of your muffin tray, now put these little disks into the muffin tray and push it all the way in ( i know i haven't mentioned anything about lining the muffin trays but usually with short crust or puff it has enough fat in it, so it doesn't stick. once the pastry is in the muffin tray line the inside of the pastry with cling film and fill it with uncooked rice and close the cling film as to make a little packet of rice, leave this in the pastry and bake them in a pre-heated oven at 200c for about 10minutes, then take them out and remove the little "rice" packets out of the pastry (this process is what is called blind baking) now drop the temperature of the oven to 140c.

Now take the pre-baked pastry cases and fill it 3/4 with the cream cheese mixture and bake it in the oven for around 30 minutes, take it our and check it, it should wobble like a set jelly, but not more than that, if it is not set yet, then put it in for another 5 minutes.

This recipe should yield around 6 or 8 mini cheese cakes. if you would like to make 1 large cheese cake you can multiply the recipe by 4 but not the egg you will only use 3 eggs and don't add them all at once either you must add them about 2 minutes apart whilst continually mixing. And don't use pastry for the base take some of your favourite biscuits and crush them and mix them with about 80g of butter, this would make a 20cm cheese cake.


happy baking guys, you can create the last two recipes a day or two before your dinner party and leave this one for the morning of the day you are doing the dinner party, it will impress even the hardest of food critics as they say the proof is in the PUDDING funny things is i do not favor doing pastry and desserts, but that doesn't mean that i can't do them, any good chef must have the know how.

The Hungry Chef: Quick and Easy Chocolate Mousse

The Hungry Chef: Quick and Easy Chocolate Mousse: "Good day, this is a little dessert that i did this past Monday for one of my easy Monday night dinners, and it is rich, ..."

Quick and Easy Chocolate Mousse

Good day, this is a little dessert that i did this past Monday for one of my easy Monday night dinners, and it is rich, smooth and really tasty, the recipe only contains 3 ingredients and can be made with only two ingredients, all you will need is a pot with a little water in it, a bowl that fits onto the top of that pot without touching the water and 2 bowls for whisking.

Ingredients
125g 70% Chocolate ( i use lindt 70% Ecuador dark chocolate)
6 large Free-range eggs separated
50g castor or white sugar

Method
melt the chocolate over the pot of water on a stove, as soon as the chocolate has melted take it off the pot and put it to the side so that it can cool down.
whisk the egg whites in a clean bowl, make sure that there is not as much as a drop of water in it other wise it makes whipping the egg whites a mission, as well as when you separate them, make sure that there is no egg yolk in it, when the egg whites start to stiffen slightly you can slowly add the sugar a teaspoon at a time, you want the egg whites to be stiff enough that when you turn the bowl up side down they stick to the bowl without falling out.

Whisk the melted cooled chocolate into the egg yolks just until it has all incorporated in, then add 1/3 of the egg whites and softly whisk it in, this is to loosen the mixture so that you don't beat the air out of the rest of the egg whites when you fold them in at the end.

put this into the container that you would like to serve it in and put it into the fridge for about two hours to set slightly, it is not going to set to much it is a light and airy mousse.

Now for the interesting but where i give away some of the trade secrets ( i really shouldn't but after all this blog is to make it easier for the home cook)

you can use normal milk chocolate instead of the dark chocolate, just be careful when you melt it, it does not like heat much and if it gets to hot the sugars in the chocolate start to crystallize and the chocolate "seizes" if this does happen you can commit the ultimate cardinal sin and quickly whisk in 1 tablespoon of normal cooking oil or preferable butter, this should bring it back if not then it's really done for and you can throw it away.

Also in the instance where you do use milk chocolate over dark chocolate the sugar can be omitted otherwise it is going to be too sweet, try not to use milk chocolate though as it is much more intense and satisfying with dark chocolate.

I am going to add a little extra add on recipe here quick and that is for a nice quick berry sauce to suit the chocolate mousse.

1kg frozen mixed berries
1 glass good drinking dry white wine mixed with 2 teaspoon corn flour
2 cups of sugar
1 stick of cinnamon (if you have)
1 star anise (if you have)


put all the ingredients  into a pot at a very low heat and let it stew for about an hour, you don't want to ever boil.
take it off the heat and let cool before putting into the refrigerator and letting chill.

this is best served chilled, but if you want you can add 2 tots of good strong rum to eat, reheat it and serve it hot with a ball of good vanilla ice-cream. it is dreamy......


anyway good cooking, hope you enjoy trying out the recipes, in a couple of days i will blog an interesting pork and peanut curry that i tried on wednesday for the first time that was really big on one of our curry nights at the links. until then......................................

Classic & Easy Vanilla Creme Brule

To me creme brule's are one of the easiest tastiest desserts to make.
i will give a basic recipe for a plain Creme Brule, the recipe is designed as to be easy for even the home cook with the tools that you have at home to make this tasty dessert.

Basic Creme Brule
1 egg yolk
15g Castor Sugar or White Sugar
100ml Cream
1 drop of vanilla essence
(this recipe yields one creme brule of about 125ml, so just multiply everything accordinly)

Heat the creme with the vanilla essence until just under boiling point, it should be a medium heat, i would say on a home grade stove that goes up to heating setting of 8, you would want it on about 3.
Cream together the egg yolks and sugar (just whisk them together until they start to go a little pale in colour)

Once the cream is heated then add it to the creamed egg yolks, just a little splash at first and mix that in properly, then in a steady stream add the rest of the hot cream, not to much or if the cream is to hot, it may split the eggs.

Then transfer this mix into an oven proof serving dish like a ramekin or so forth.
bake it in a deep baking tray with water up to 3/4 of the way up the ramekin, cover it very lightly with tin foil as to leave the two ends open so that the steam can escape out, place it in the oven with a temp 160 c and bake it for about 40 min, to check if it is cooked take it out and shake it a little it should wobble like a set jelly, but not as much as cream. leave it in the try with the water to cool down to room tempreture.

then place them into the refridgerator for about an hour, in the mean time get the grill of the oven as hot as you can.

take the creme brule out of the refridgerator and sprinkle it with a little sugar (what ever sugar you like)
be careful not to put to much, it should be an even film of sugar over the top, then place it directly under the grill of the oven until the sugar has melted as starting caramalizing on the top of the dessert (it goes a semi-burnt golden brown colour, it is okay to have a little blackish spots on it too) take it out and place it in the refridgerator for another 5 minutes just to chill again, now you're ready to serve.

(please not if you have a gas tourch you can skip the grilling process and tourch the sugar with a gas tourch, this recipe is for cooks at home.)

There we go this is my first post and i will try to update my blog as often as i can, please excuse my spelling, after all i'm a chef, i can cook not spell.

This Picture is a little Trio of Desserts i will blog the other two desserts later in the week.

Please give me feed back on your attempts to make this dessert, i can try to help if things go wrong at any point.