Crepes with Vanilla Cream and Maple Syrup

Receita em Portugues clique AQUI.

Here you are something to celebrate about, easy peasy to do pancakes (crepes) I made these on a non stick frying pan. This I offered to my family as a New Year treat breakfast ...Obviously with a steaming cup of coffee...but I am sure you know how to make the coffee....lol

Recipe Ingredients:
Crepes:

• 6 soup spoons of plain flour
• 3 soup spoons of sugar
• 1 egg
  
• 3 soup spoons of vegetable oil
• about 1 and 1/2 glass of milk (consistency should be of gravy)
• a dash of vanilla essence

Whipped Cream:

• 1 glass of chilled fresh double cream
• 2 tea spoons of sugar
• 1 dash of vanilla essence (or a scraping of vanilla seeds from a split pod)
• 3 drops of lemon juice

In a jug put the flour and the sugar in, whisk it together. Make a little well and pour the oil and the egg, star whisking it and as it starts to get pasty add milk little by little always whisking it, last add the vanilla essence whisk once more and it's done.

Place the non stick frying pan in the fire, once hot reduce fire to just bellow medium, pour a drop of oil and with a dried tissue spread that oil evenly on the whole area of the pan, then with the jug pour in the center of the pan the liquid until it fills 2/3 of the area then stop spread the rest by inclining the pan and going around motion always over the fire until liquid sets. Once it sets let it cook it takes about 2-3 minutes on each side, to flip with a spatula lift the side of the pancake enough to get your fingers in then with your hands (fingers) pull it up gently without ripping it and flip it to the other side. Then once cooked is ready for the filling...which you can just add sugar and lemon, or just syrup or chocolate sauce or fresh cream or many many more combos.

I used a vanilla whipped cream with maple syrup. To make this pour one cup of chilled fresh cream into a bowl and start whisking it once is half way through add the 2 tea spoons of sugar the lemon juice and whisk a little more then the dash of vanilla essence (remember at this stage you van also add liquor like Tia maria (coffee flavour) or baileys (caramel flavour) cointreau (orange flavour) see ...your only limit is your imagination...one cap full will suffice. And that is that.

Obviously there is many many more fancy stuff you can do with pancakes, I know a few maybe I'll tell you later.... ;)

Picture in the reverse order of making process:

Cod Spinach "En Croute" with (Yasai Katsu style) Curry Sauce & Rice

Receita em Portugues clique AQUI


This was my main meal for my birthday, all freshly made by "mois", cod with spinach and Charlotte "en croute" with an Asian twist and also a celery rice and chunky curry sauce.
I have to put two recipes here as the rice and fish are two separate things combined hare in this dish, however the rice can be eaten on it's own as a recipe or with items such a grilled chicken breast marinated in garam masala, or grilled fish and many other things....same applies to the fish as it can be accompanied by potato parsnip mash incorporated with a couple of tea spoons of mustard with mustard sees, and so on.

Fish recipe ingredients: (feeds 10)

• 10 fresh cod fillets (portions)
  
• 2 garlic cloves (minced)
• 8 Charlotte's (finely chopped)
• 2 hands full of spinach leaves about 100grs (roughly chopped)
• 2 hands full of bread crumbs about 50grs
• 2 soup spoons of chopped almonds
  
• one hand full of almonds with skin (finely chopped)
• 2 soup spoons of olive oil
• 2 large (mild) finely chopped chillies (previously de-seeded and de-veined)
• 1 tea spoon of cumin
• 1 tea spoon of turmeric
• 2 soup spoons of port wine
• 1/2 lemon juice
  

Lay the fish in non stick oven trays, then sprinkle them with a little pepper, salt, paprika and lemon juice, and leave them to marinade. While that is happening place a wok or frying pan on the stove and put the oil inside once very hot add the onions and the garlic, cook these until golden brown stirring occasionally. Once that is achieved add the cumin, turmeric, almonds and chopped chillies cook for a further 3 minutes, lastly add the spinach, and cook this until the spinach is reduced (should be about 2 minutes more.

I a bowl place your bread crumbs and add then the mixture to the crumbs to for a paste, if too dry you can always add a little melted butter. Lay this paste over each of the fish to completely cover the top, and they are ready to go in the oven (gas 200c) place a foil leaf over the fish over the first 10 minutes and take it off over the last 5 minutes, all together 15 minutes should suffice to cook well the fish.

The accompanying rice and curry sauce (as promised) has been inspired by one of Wagamamas dishes Yasai Katsu Curry, menu item number 72.

Recipe Ingredients: (for 6 people)

• 2 garlic cloves (minced)
  
• 1/2 courgette (finely diced)
• 1 chilli (finely sliced, de-seeded and de-veined)
  
• 8 Charlotte onions (finely diced)
  
• 1 soup spoon of mild (or medium) curry powder
• 1 tea spoons of cumin
• 4 sticks of celery heart (finely diced)
• 4 soup spoons of olive oil
• 1 soup spoon of turmeric
• 1 glass of water
• 2 spoons of plain flour
  
• pick some of the celery leaves and a garlic clove (to be cooked with the rice)
• 500grs rice (basmati)

Place a pot with water on the stove and some salt, once boiling add the celery leaves and 1 garlic clove sliced + 500grs rice. Cook this until done (about 10-12 minutes). Rinse in boiling water and drain...but while rice is cooking do the sauce.

For the sauce place a wok or large deep frying pan on the stove with the olive oil in, once very hot add the Charlotte, garlic, chilli, cumin, curry and celery cook these for about 7-10 minutes. Then add the courgette and the turmeric and cook for a further 5 minutes. Separately mix about 2 full soup spoons of plain flour and a full glass of water, pour this into the frying veg and will make a thick curry sauce.. if too thick add more water if too thin mix a little more flour and water and add it slowly to thicken sauce further.

Serve rice (oval shape) and pour about 1 & 1/2 serving spoons over the rice to cover it all (see picture) as a serving idea.

This is me cutting my Birthday Cake

Chocolate and Almond Mousse with Port

Every year (normally) I have my family around for my birthday. As my birthday is so close to xmas (27th) I ask them to come along and I celebrate by cooking for them something made by me entirely, so no peeking is aloud (into other peoples recipes), I can take past experiences in restaurants and cafés, and come up with my own thing.

So this birthday I decided to spoil them a little, well I do that every year... So I made for main course a Cod Fillet "en croute" with an Asian twist (Indian) and a plain rice portion with a special hot curried sauce (this inspired by Wagamamas, just the rice not the fish), and for desert I made a dark chocolate and almond mousse with an almond and port digestive base.

But on this post I will only provide you with the desert recipe, as I'll do another posting with the main meal, to make things simple. This desert was enough for 10 people.

Recipe Ingredients:

• 2 250mls double cream pots (one for the almond one for the chocolate)
• 8 chocolate squares ( dark chocolate cocoa from 30% to 50%)
• 9 Mcvites digestives (other brand will do)
• 2 soup spoons of Port Wine
• 1 + 1 teaspoons of almond essence
• 1 hand full of almonds (about 50grs) with the skin (chopped)
• 2 soup spoons of denmerra sugar
• 1 + 1 + 1 soup spoon of butter
• some white sugar
  

In a bowl crush all the digestives add one (full) spoon of butter, half of the almonds (chopped) a tea spoon of white sugar, one tea spoon of almond essence and the port, mix this very well and should be enough to place one soup spoon of this mixture into each one of the 10 ramekins, after doing that press mixture down with a flat object I used the bottom of a small glass.

On two separate bowls pour each of the creams and whip them until they are Chantilly, but remember to half way before that happens to add a tea spoon of sugar to each cream part, set them aside for a little while, while you do the flavouring.

Put two little pans on the stove one with a little water and a bowl inside that (bain Marie) inside the bowl put the 8 pieces of chocolate once hot enough the chocolate will become very soft, add now one soup spoon of butter mix well it starts to go harder and darker, remove bowl from heat and add one egg yolk and mix well, pour this mixture into one of the bowls of whipped cream and fold gently, once well mixed set it aside.

On the other pan, put a (full soup) spoon of butter, and the remaining almonds, let them sizzle for about 3 minutes them add the denmerra sugar and and a soup spoon or two of water, let this continue to boil until is near caramelized but not caramelized as such. Let this cool briefly than pour it into the second bowl of whipped cream but not directly into the cream, let it cool a little more, than fold int into the cream adding also a tea spoon of almond essence.

Spoon both types of cream into the ramekins two have two halves each colour (see picture), then decorate top, i did the chocolate side with chocolate shavings, and the almond part with a little more chopped almonds and refrigerated these for 30 minutes.

It was a great success with the guests. You can also use instead of port amaretto (almond liquor) I did not try but I bet would be nice too.

Merry Xmas - Xmas Dinner

I would like to share my xmas dinner pictures, and maybe release some recipes for the stuff I cooked, however there aren't really any recipes as such, as this food is very simple.

As you can see above the dish comprises of nut loaf, roasted potatoes, sweet roasted potatoes, apple sauce, Yorkshire puddings, Brussels sprouts, boiled carrots, roasted parsnips, roasted chicken and thick gravy.

The table was arranged as you can see below, very Christmas like and also with crackers. You always need crackers at the Christmas table, the kids love it ...well I love it too.



The Brussels and carrots are only boiled, the parsnips, roasting potatoes and sweet potatoes, are just placed in a tray with a little olive oil and goes to roast in the oven for about 40-60mins.

The chicken I crushed some garlic (3 cloves) salt (1 tea spoon) chili (2 finely sliced) a little olive oil a pinch of black pepper and paprika (1 tea spoon), crush all of this together until you get a paste. Rub this paste all over the outside of the chicken and also on the inside, also get a lemon and press it against the balcony with the palm of your hand while rolling it at the same time, this releases the juice inside the lemon, when the lemon feels bruised (soft) prickle all the lemon with a sharp fork, so that juice can be released, insert lemon inside the chicken.
This works as the lemon gets hot the liquid inside gets hot and it expands having no where to go but out of the wholes you made with the fork which as the chicken cooks gradually adds lemon on the inside...clever hum!!!! I learned this one with my mum, when I was a young one lol.



Yorkshire puddings, again very easy to do, just make a batter as if you were doing pancakes (just do not add sugar) add a pinch of salt and black pepper instead. If you don't know the ingredients they are:

1 glass of plain flour about 1 & 1/2 glasses of milk one egg, the pinch of salt and pepper, beat it all together, put a muffin tray with some a spoon of olive oil in each cup space, heat this until very hot (200c) then pour the pancake liquid inside each cup about 2 thirds full, it will bubble as you do this, place it right back in the oven and watch them grow, let them go golden brown ...easy peasy.... merry Xmas.