nuffnang

Wednesday 18 January 2012

Crispy Apple Tart

This is a quick and easy recipe to the usual apple dessert and furthermore, it is kinda pretty too :)
Preparation Time: 10 minutes
Cooking Time: 35 minutes
Total Time: 45 minutes
Oven Temperature: 240° c  -  460° f

Step 1: You will need

  • 110g of shortcrust pastry ( recipe for shortcrust pastry)
  • 30 g butter, cut into cubes
  • 4  apples, peeled
  • 2 tbsp sugar
  • 2 apples, peeled and diced
  • ½ tsp cinnamon powder
  • 85 g sugar

  Make the apple filling

Place a wide saucepan on a medium heat and put in the diced apples and with the sugar. Heat and stir until they start to break down. You can mash them with the back of the spoon to help them along.
Keep stirring until most of the liquid has evaporated. Then turn off the heat and put in the cinnamon powder.
Continue to stir and mash the apple mixture for about a minute more, then set aside.

  Preheat the oven

Preheat the oven to 230°C, 450°F or gas mark 8.

Cut the apples

Take one of the peeled apples and cut off the sides without cutting into the core, which you can then discard. Cut the apple pieces into thin wedges and repeat this with the rest of the apples.

  Assembling the apple tart

Place the shortcrust pastry circle on a baking tray, …and spread the apple filling ...evenly over its surface. Next, layer the apple wedges in a circle ...carefully around the side … and finish off with an arrangement in the centre

Springkle with sugar and butter



Sprinkle a little sugar over the top of the tart. Then also place on various small knobs of butter.

  Baking

Place the tart into the preheated oven and bake for approximately 25 minutes, then remove.

Glaze and serve

Using a brush, paint the surface of the tart with some of the apple filling. This will give it a glazed, shiny look, and add to the flavour.
 It is now ready to serve.

Voila!

À bientôt

Omelette aux pommes de terre ( Omlette with potatoes)

 
Splendide Omelette aux pommes de terre et surtout, délicieuse! :))

Ingredients

5 eggs, ( for two person)
2 boiled potatoes,
30 g of cheese,
Dausages or turkey or chicken or ham

salt
pepper
parsley.



Preparation

 

clean and peel potatoes
cubed the potatoes

Cook the potatoes in water and fry in olive oil

For two person use 5 eggs

Cut the sausages which is used here or anything that you fancy, you can just chuck it inside there and fry until crispy. 


Beat eggs and add milk, parsley, basil and  pepper.
Salt and pepper.


Pour in the beaten eggs mixture
Cook over low heat and serve at your convenience: runny or fully cooked.
Add some cheese, put a pinch of salt and pepper.
Add parsley, close the omelette and cook for 2 miutes.




Voila!

hmnnn yummy!

Throw in some extra mozarella on the top if you like :)

ah..the happy cook for the night, my very own Chef Ray :)) hik! hik! hik!

À bientôt

Monday 16 January 2012

Brioche making my way :)

 I remember making my first Brioche for my hubby back when we were still dating each other and he was suprised that i know how to make one and a good one at that :)). SO, since that day, there is no turning back he demands it all the time especially during sundays for breakfast coz brioche is meant to eat with the family during the sunday in France and in some region like where my hubby is from in Véndee it's famous for it's delicious brioche and the traditional one at that. And in some marriage they even have a huge one bake just for serving the guest as a token and a symbol of a wonderful and blessed marriage. So there you go, how can i match to that BUT I must say it was a successful brioche making for me starting from day 1 and  have stick to the recipe ever since.

Have a go and see if you can match up to the standards of a real véndeen Brioche! heheh :))

 
Ingredients


- 2 whole eggs + 3 tablespoons water orange blossom + milk for a total of 300 g
- 75 g butter, melted
- 500 g flour
- 1 pinch of salt
- 2 tablespoons sugar
- 1 package dry yeast
- 100 g of candied orange peel, cut into medium pieces 
(Look in to here on how to make  candied orange peel)

Preparation:

  • In a bowl, mix the flour with the yeast, make a hole in the middle.
  • Add the 2 whole eggs + 3 tablespoons water orange blossom + milk for a total of 300 g (if using a stand mixer, pour the ;ixture slowly and steadily while mixing, with the hook attachment.)
  • Add the sugar and a pinch of salt, then add the 75 g melted butter
  •  Finally, add the 100 g of candied orange peel that was cut into medium pieces
  •  Work the dough until it is elastic and detaches from your fingers more easily (or from the bowl of the stand mixer).
  • Cover and let rest in a warm place, away from drafts, for two hours, until it doubles in size.
  • Work the dough again for 10 min and divide it in four balls. Place them in a greased rectangular mold and cover. Let rise for an hour again.
  • Preheat the oven at 400 F.
  • Brush the brioche with the egg yolk mixed with a dash of sugar/milk . With a pair of scissors, make small cuts at the top of each ball.
  • Place in the oven to bake for 10 min then reduce the heat to 350 F and bake for about 20 to 30 min.
  • Remove, unmold and let cool on a rack.
If using Bread Machine
Put in the order above ingredients in bread machine bowl except for thecandied orange peel.
Start the program "dough". At the beep of the machine, add the pieces of candied orange peel.

At the end of the program, form the dough. Form the cake as desired, place on a baking sheet covered with baking paper or in a cake pan. Let rise in warm place another 45 min.

Brush the brioche with milk and sugar on the top . Bake about 40 minutes at 180 ° C.
Remove, unmold and let cool on a rack.

Happy trying! :)




À bientôt

Friday 13 January 2012

My version of Seafood Paella

  


Ingredients
  • large pinch of saffron threads
  • 900 ml (1½ pints) fish stock, preferably home-made from prawn shell / plain water
  • 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
  • 200 g (7 oz) fish fillet, cut into bite-sized pieces
  • 1 handful of shrimps (cleaned peeled, deveined)
  • 2 large garlic cloves, crushed
  • 1 large onion, finely chopped
  • ½ tsp paprika, or to taste
  • 1 large greenpeppers, seeded and chopped
  • 5 pieces of button mushrooms
  • 250 g (8½ oz) long-grain rice
  • 1 can chopped tomatoes, about 225 g
  • salt and pepper

Preparation


Add the garlic, onion,  paprika and Saffron and cook over a moderate heat for 2 minutes, stirring occasionally. Stir in the tomatoes and rasins and continue cooking for about 3 minutes or until the vegetables are softened but not brown.





Add the chicken pieces, and prawns and continue cooking for about 3 minutes or until the chicken are brown  and prawns started to curl.


At the meantime, in a pot ready to cook the rice but only half cook it. Usually what i do is i boil the shell of the prawns to get some stock and then use this stock to cook the rice with instead of using plain water to add some extra seafood flavour to the rice. But unfortunately when i bought the prawns they were already cleaned and strip off of their shells so i use plain water this time around.




After the chicken and the prawns are well cooked then finally add in the cubed fish fillet. and continue cooking for about 5 minutes or so.


 and when all the ingredients are all well blended and cooked together then it's time to bring in the green capsicum and button mushrooms in and cook for another 3 more minutes.



Half cook rice and everything mixed together, then and pour in some water or the leftover stock that you made of the shells from the prawns.



After pouring the stock or water it should look like this then the final stage is to cover it with a lid and let the rice cook like you normally cook the rice.

Voila! All done and Dandy!
Seafood Paella :))

À bientôt

Monday 2 January 2012

French Vanilla Moist and Strawberry Cake




 Cake:
Ingredients

1 cup unsalted butter, softened
2 cups white sugar
4 eggs, room temperature
2-3/4 cups flour
2-1/4 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp salt
1 cup milk
2 TBS pure vanilla extract
6 pieces of large strawberries (sliced)

Frosting:
1 cup butter, softened
7 to 8 cups powdered sugar, sifted
1/2 cup evaporated milk
1 TBS pure vanilla extract
5 to 6 pieces of strawberries (Divided)  
Directions

PREHEAT oven to 350 degrees. Butter your  9 inch cake pans and dust the inside with flour . Line the bottom of the pan with parchment paper.

Sift the dry ingredients together and set aside.
Beat the butter for 3 minutes until light and fluffy. Add the sugar and beat another 3 minutes.
Add the eggs, one at a time, and beat thoroughly after each addition.

Start adding the flour mixture one cup at a time, and alternate with the milk; ending with the flour mixture. Add the vanilla, mix well and finally pour half into prepared cake pan then layers it with pieces of the sliced strawberries refer photo)


Then pour in the remaining half of the cake mix.

Then spread the cake mix evenly and covering all conners.

Bake for 25-30 minutes.

 
Transfer to a rack and cool for 5 minutes, then
unmold them and peel off the paper liners.
Invert and cool to room temperature, bottom side up.






FROSTING:

Place the softened butter in a mixing bowl and beat with 1/2 of the powdered sugar.
Add the vanilla and milk and mix well. Add another cup of powdered sugar 1 cup at a time until you reach the desired consistency to spread; you may not need all of the sugar specified. Beat until light and fluffy; spread on the cooled cake and decorate the cake with some strawberries and your cake is done!


Happy Trying everyone!!


À bientôt