Wednesday, March 10, 2010

December 10, 2009

Our fabulous cooking group ready to eat!


Our breakfast treat today was:

SESAME OAT BARS


Makes about 20.

Mix in the morning and bake for afternoon tea. These are crunchy, golden chews made with just a handful of wholesome ingredients.


500 ml (180 g) oats (i.e. oat flakes)
250 ml (200g) brown sugar
10 ml (2 tsp) ground ginger OR 5 ml (1 tsp) cinnamon
45 ml (3 tbsp) lightly toasted sesame seeds
125 ml (1/2 cup) of sunflower oil
1 egg, beaten
1 ml (1/4 tsp) of salt
2 ml (1/2 tsp) vanilla essence OR orange essence
extra sesame seeds for topping


Place oats, sugar, ginger (or cinnamon), sesame seeds and oil in a mixing bowl.
Stir until well mixed and moist, then stand for at least 4 hours.
Beat in egg, salt and vanilla (or orange) essence.
When thoroughly mixed, press into an oiled 25 x 16 cm tin. Although the mixture is oily, you still need to oil the tin lightly and possibly line it with baking paper, or it will be difficult to remove the bars.
Use a dampened wooden spoon to press down firmly and evenly.
Sprinkle with sesame seeds and press in lightly.

Bake in the oven at 160ºC (320ºF) for 30 to 35 minutes, until firm and a toasty beige colour.

Cut into oblong bars and leave in the tin until cold before removing.


Notes: For our cooking club breakfast treat, I used cinnamon and orange essence, which combined well. I also added a handful of sunflower seeds.

Recipe from Lynn Bedford Hall’s Nice ‘n Easy Cookbook, 1995, Struik Publishers, Cape Town. Lynn Bedford Hall is a much-loved South African food writer, journalist and author of bestselling cookbooks.



PEAR AND PECORINO QUICHE


This recipe was given to me by a great cook from Napoli and it is strongly recommended to use a very sweet ripe pear and coarsely grated pecorino so the ingredients will blend together while baking. It may be nice to add the pear to the scalogno and cook it together for 3/4 additional minutes.

For pastry:

200 gr flour

100 gr butter

1 tbsp sugar

1 tsp salt

Latte 2 tbs

1 egg

For filling:

4 scalogno

1tbsp oil

1 large ripe pear

100 gr pecorino romano

3 eggs

200 gr heavy cream


Mix flour butter and sugar in food processor with salt and sugar. Add eggs and milk.

Place the dough in refrigerator for 20 min.

Roll dough into a circle between 2 layers of plastic wrap on table. Place on ungreased quiche pan.

Place sliced scalogno with oil and a tbsp of water in a pan and cook on low flame until blond.

Now place it over the rolled out pastry dough then add the sliced pear and thinly sliced pecorino.

Add 3 beaten eggs mixed with the heavy cream.

Bake at 180 C for 40/50 min.


Pear & Pecorino Quiche just out of the oven


Pumpkin & Walnut Ravioli with Creamy Sage Dressing
This recipe can be found on the Flavor of Italy blog


OCTOPUS POTATO SALAD

I found this recipe by searching the internet and kind of combining a recipe from Mario Batali with one from Lidia B.

The Octopus:


½ kilo (1 lb.) octopus

Large pot of water

A wine cork

2 bay leaves

Coarse salt

Few peppercorns

The Potatoes:


½ kilo (1 lb.) waxy potatoes

Large pot of boiling salted water

The Dressing:


½ c. olive oil

3 T. freshly squeezed lemon juice

3 garlic cloves, minced

½ red onion, finely chopped

Salt/pepper

¼ c. chopped Italian parsley to garnish

Have fishmonger clean octopus. Fill large pot with water. Add 2 bay leaves, coarse salt, couple of peppercorns, octopus, and toss in the wine cork. Bring water to a boil, reduce heat, and keep at a vigorous simmer for at least 25 minutes. (This takes longer than 25 minutes, as it took quite a while for the large pot of water to even begin boiling. Be sure the octopus goes in before you bring the water to a boil. The wine cork is supposed to help tenderize the octopus. Sounds odd, but it seemed to work for me, and I’d certainly do it again.) When tender, drain and slice into ½ in. pieces.

While the octopus is simmering, bring another pot of water to boil. Add coarse salt. Add potatoes and cook until tender, but not falling apart. (About 20 min.) When done, drain and allow to cool until you can handle them. Then peel, and slice into ½ inch thick slices.

Mix all dressing ingredients together in a small bowl or measuring cup.

Gently mix octopus pieces and potato slices in serving bowl. Pour dressing over octopus and still warm potatoes. Taste and adjust seasoning. Cover with foil and set aside to marinate in a cool place for up to several hours before serving. Garnish with chopped Italian parsley just before serving.






CICORIA "SALTATA IN PADELLA"


3 bunches of cicoria
200 grams smoked pancetta
2 garlic cloves
1 fresh red chile

Trim and wash cicoria. Mince garlic and chop the chile.
Cook pancetta until almost crisp. Add garlic and chile. Continue cooking until pancetta is crisp.
Add cicoria. Cook until done (5-10 minutes?)
If desired, cut cicoria into smaller pieces.






PROFITEROLES


1 cup water=250gr

100 gr butter

150 gr flour

5 eggs

1 tbsp sugar

¼ teaspoon salt

Bring water and butter to boil. Add flour sugar salt remove from heat and mix into ball.

Place in food processor and add eggs or mix quickly by hand. Drop teaspoons of dough on ungreased tray or use a syringe with small tip. Place in oven at 450F/230C for 5 min then lower to 350F/180C for 10-12 more minutes. Do NOT open oven while baking.


CUSTARD / CREMA PASTICCERA


4 egg yolks

1/3 cup sugar = 100 gr

4 tbls flour= 60 gr flour

Lemon rind

½ lt milk

Beat egg yolks very well with sugar and mix in flour. Heat up milk w lemon rind. Add egg mixture and cook slowly until thickens and before boiling remove from heat and place in cold water to avoid forming a hard film on the top. After cooling down fill the small bigne using a syringe.


Chocolate Cream Puff Filling

2 egg yolks

4 Tab. sugar

2 Tab. flour

4 oz dark chocolate melted in ½ litre of milk

In a saucepan, beat the egg yolks with the sugar and flour. Mix well. Add the hot milk

and chocolate mixture, cook over moderate heat stirring constantly, bring to a boil

and cook until thickened. Cover with plastic wrap to prevent a skin from forming. Cool.

Crema pasticciera al cioccolato

2 tuorli

4 cucchiai di zucchero

2 cucchiai di farina

1 etto di cioccolato fondente melted in ½ litre di latte

Sbattere le 2 tuorli con 4 cucchiai di zucchero.

Incorprare

e 2 cucchiai di farina. Aggiungere 1 etto di cioccolate fondente

mezzo litro di latte caldo, mettere sul fuoco lento

e fare cuocere per una decina di minuti sempre mescolando


Chocolate Glaze

8 oz 70% dark chocolate

1 cup milk

¼ cup of sugar

2 Tab. butter

In a 2 quart saucepan over low flame, melt the butter and chocolate.

As soon as it is melted add the milk and sugar stirring constantly.

Bring to boil and cook until thickened. Stack the filled puffs and pour the

sauce over them.

Glassa al cioccolato

200 gr di cioccolato fondente al 70%

200 ml latte

50 gr di zucchero

2 cucchiai di burro

Far sciogliere il cioccolato e il burro in u pentolino. Appena sara sciolto,

aggiungere il latte e lo zucchero e mescolare facendo cuocere a

fuoco lento per circa 5 minuti.


Glazing the Profiteroles





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