Author: Fabi

Thermomix or no thermomix?

I am about to create some controversy ! Ahh!  My kitchen is reasonably well equipped. I have no thermomix and have not investigated it much really. Until now.  A friend left me his thermomix to try for a few weeks.

thermomix

What to do with this thermomix sitting here in my kitchen?

My first approach was to browse through the thermomix dedicated cookbooks my friend left with me.  Maybe I should have started by downloading the user guide….(if you read that, thermomix owner, don’t worry, your Vortex is safe!).

To be fair, at first I was not impressed, the food looks like mashy boring food.  For many people, it can be fine, mmmm, there must be something behind this success.  I decided to push on into the investigation.

This is when I texted my sister in France who has one of these machines.  I know she swears by it. Guess what? I received an avalanche of recipes to try.  Well, thanks for internet I could consult them, see, her Fremch “Vortex” books and the ones I had access to in Australia do not display the same recipes.

Who are the thermomix lovers?

Progressing through my investigation, my next questions were:

  • Why do people love it? (assuming they do)
  • Who are the users?
  • What does it bring to the advance home cook ?
  • Why do some professional use it?

Here are my findings: people love the thermomix for a range of reasons, the reasons are associated with the use and the level of cooking skills of the users. As a result, the range of reasons is quite broad.

The near beginner

For the near beginner or someone who does not like spending much time in the kitchen, it is a perfect tool which dictates them exactly what to do, one step at the time.  Even better, these people can do recipes with no technical skills.  Never made a creme anglaise before? No worries, Your “vortex”  will make it for you perfectly, just put all ingredients in the bowl, press a few buttons (sounds like a science fiction movies from the 80s!) and this is it.  And truly this is it!

The busy family

For the busy Mum, this is all about having dinner ready early.  The meal can be ready to cook and it can be switched on by the first person arriving at home.

The cramped space

For the people living in a small place, the Thermomix replaces many kitchen appliances, great job there! Gone is the ice cream maker, gone is the food processor, gone is the steamer, gone is the blender, gone is the dough mixer, gone is the rice cooker.  I am sure there are more of those! All is still required is a fry pan and an oven (unfortunately the thermomix does not brown food).

The professional kitchen

For the professional kitchens, there is definitely a use for defined activities. Not only does it save manpower, the machine gets it right every time.  I am thinking of some sauces, custards, creams, etc. Each professional kitchen which chooses to use the Thermomix will have a valid reason for it.

The anti

There are also people who do not like the thermomix, but their voice is weak as they go against a cult and their comments are usually not well received.  I am not speaking about the safety concern that one of the model had issue with, but more about the feel that it is yet another machine not required in some people’s kitchen. Fair enough!

And then finally: what is it good at?

This is where the practical part of the investigation comes in play.  Now, I will speak as an advance cook, keep that in mind!

First, you need to become familiar with the vocabulary. Not only has each part of the machine its own little name, there are also a number of symbols introduced to recipes.  I have to say that those are quite self-explanatory. In doubt? The user guide can be downloaded for free! (do that before you get started, my avice)

I tried the following recipes:

  • Profiteroles. Why this recipe: if you have ever made pate a choux, you will remember that this is a physically hard one to do. it required a lot of elbow oil. If a machine can do it for me, great!
  • Ice-cream – I wanted to try the custard making capability
  • Chocolate spread – finally something that could potentially grind hazelnuts and make a great paste (Yum!)
  • Couscous semolina – to try the multi level steam baskets
  • Steamed soy-honey salmon with vegetables – we had t have dinner, so why not?
Profiteroles

SUCCESS. I was initially taken aback because the thermomix recipe cuts down a lot of the water volumes from t
he traditional recipe. I fought my desire to change the recipe.  In the end, the result is great.

Ice-cream

SUCCESS.  Making a custard like preparation is a strength of the Vanilla ice creamThermomix.  On the recipes provided, I would not hesitate to decrease the sugar quantity if it appears a bit high.  Advise: you do need quite a bit of time to freeze the ice cream, do not leave it at the last minute!

The recipe for the one above is on the thermomix website.  I used a real vanilla bean plus some ground vanilla powder.

Hazelnut chocolate spread

SUCCESS for the technique,  The hazelnuts came out so fine! So did the cooking chocolate.  nd of course the sugar in icing sugar!thermomix chocolate spread

DISASTER for the recipe itself (too strong, I will need to compensate it now, can’t be used as such).

 

Steamed fish and couscous

SUCCESS (technique).

I did not follow a recipe. I only read how to use the steamer part (what is its name again?). No surprise here.  Only minus, I find the baskets a little small. It will feed a family of 4 just right, but no more. The food was good (but no surprise there).

 

My verdict

This piece of equipment is very well designed, I came to appreciate some of the details in the shapes and uses while trying it.  For example, the lid of the bowl will gather all spills and make sure any addition makes it to the “Vortex”.

I was very impressed with the thermomix mixing power, the temperature control and of course the pulverisation power!

Until I read the user guide, I found the cleaning painful, but I only have myself to blame here!  One thing I had enough at the end of the test is the noise.  The thermomix is noisy, but I guess most people will not use it non stop for three hours!

The volume is limited, for larger families/groups, this would be a limitation.

All the recipes on the book are not a success and it would be fair to say, the pictures are not always very attractive. However, there are a number of dedicated websites with great content.

I do understand very well the attraction for owing one of those.  Now is it on my shopping list? Not really, or maybe right at the bottom for now. Remember it costs around AU$2,000!  If I am using one, it would be to save my time minding a saucepan and use it doing another element of a meal!

 

 

Mustard, a summer pantry essential!

With the warmer days around the corner, the menu is also changing.  Mustard can be your ally here. I declare mustard a summer pantry esential! Let me give you a couple examples.

Mustard tomato tart

This tart is in essence, a shortcrust pastry, some mustard, cut tomatoes.  Depending on what you may have at hand in the kitchen or the garden, you can obtain various declinaison of it.  On its own, it is quite light. So, a side salad is required.

This recipe jumps back to mind from time to time, I am always pleased with the result!

If you are in a hurry, feel free to use ready-made pastry, puff pastry works well with it to.  Otherwise, make a shortcrust pastry, let it rest for half an hour at least, and you are good to go.

For the mustard I use the plain dijon mustard. Roll your pastry, spread the mustard on the base, place sliced tomatoes over.  The one I made recently has some grana padano cheese, enoki mushrooms, thyme and rosemary, salt, pepper, olive oil. That simple!

mustard tomato tart

 

 

 Mustard Chicken casserole

Another recipe highlighting mustard as a pantry essential is the mustard chicken casserole.

You may think a casserole is for the colder months.  This one works all year round really.  It can be done for a large number of people or just a small number.   It is simple to make. Serve with couscous semolina in summer or a little potatoe mash and green salad. Find the recipe HERE.

chicken mustard

Foraging for mulberries

Today, when we went back to our car after a few hours spent at the beach, we saw three young girls rushing away from a front yard with something that appeared to be very precious in the hands.  They were mulberries. The careful attitude had a lot to do with avoiding having blackened hands and squashing the fruits! This did it for us, it was time to go and check our neighbourhood trees and go foraging for mulberries!

Mulberry Trees

Mulberry trees are not an Australian native tree species and because of that, many councils have simply cut the mulberry trees over the last five to ten years.  In our area, this has not yet been the case.  The tree we went to is quite large, the season is just starting.  The fruits this year do not appear to be very big but there are plenty.

mulberry tree

 

A child’s adventure

This foraging expedition is best shared with children.  The children love it!  They get really excited, so I got them to gather our “kit” and we were ready.  We took boxes and a stool and off we went.

The first berries are easy to get to…

Then, a bit more strategy and skills are required…

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The other solution? Shake gently one branch and gather the fallen fruits, it is quite effective.

Now, our rule is to gather just what we need and no more.   It is a lot of fun and a great adventure!

After that, when we got home, we washed the fruits and removed the stalk. As a result, we did end up with fingers very purple, most of it has not washed off.

Mulberry Pie

The end purpose of collecting mulberries was to make a mulberry pie.  It is after dinner now and the left over of our pie is standing on the dinning table not far from me, I can smell its distinctive fruit and buttery aroma!

The full recipe can be found on its page HERE.

mulberry pie

mulberry pie

mulberry pie

 

 

Baking aplenty!

These last couple weeks, there has been intense activity in the kitchen, I mean more than usual.  There has been renovation works, still are actually.  Now, I have, after 18 month of cooking on an outdoor stove, a good oven and cooktop and, ceiling lights and power plugs there and there! You can imagine I was pretty excited to get this new oven to the test! In addition to that, I will be managing the food stall at my daughter’s school Halloween Fete and I am trialing a few recipes! A great adventure.  Hence, cooking aplenty at the moment!

Last pears of the year

Pears are nearing the end of their season in Australia and I came across a bunch of them just begging to be used on the seconds trolley of my grocery store.  Of course I could not resist!  I have been willing to do an almond pear tarte for a while.

tarte poire et amande

I ended by using a Donna Hay recipe .  The recipe is easy.  There is no tart shell. The tart consists simply in a cake dough placed in a tarte tin with pears pushed in it. Cool it down it its tin and serve on a long platter.  I would advise to place some baking paper at the bottom, this would make the removal of the bottom part of the tin easy.  Click HERE for the recipe.

Tarte amande et poireLook how we recycled an old laundry wash board!

tarte poire et amande

Bread renewal!

With my new oven which keeps the steam (and the heat), I have made a try at semi-sourdough baguettes.  Mines were quite short, just to make sure they could fit in the oven.  Success!!!

mini baguettes

 

These below is the preshape stage.

mini baguette preshape

And another beauty, this one baked Friday night. A semi-rhye sourdough

semi rhye sourdough

Halloween pre-taste

For the school fete food menu, I have decided to expand a bit into some creative pieces that the children will beg their parents to get them.   I will speak more about it in a coming post, here is a little pre-taste!

madeleine bugs halloween

These creatures are madeleines covered in coloured white chocolate. The antennas are pretzels.

 

Old French recipes, trial 1

What did recipes in the 1800s looked like? Going through a number of old handwritten books, I realised that most of old French recipes were savoury and not exactly very precise.  Many titles didn’t speak much to me, so I decided to have a closer look.  I am sharing my first trial at following one of the recipes of those books “old recipe 1” !

 My first cookbook

My first cookbook is very special.  Years ago, still a child, maybe 14 years old, my grandmother, who was having an extended stay at our place called me in her room.  That day, my grandmother gave me her cooking book.  She trusted I would develop strong cooking skills.  My grandmother was an amazing cook. At the time she gave me the book, she was no longer able to cook.  As a child (but no longer now), it impressed me that she could tell by smell when a cake was ready or other food.

What is amazing is that cookbooks from people in the first 1920s were fully handwritten! Such is the case for that one.   As years went pass, there are also recipes extracted from magazines or newspapers and marks to identify key recipes.

A few years back, I discovered plenty other handwritten old french recipes in archives of the family house.  From there was born the idea of selecting some of these old French recipes and making them.  This week was the first trial.

old recipe books

Creme blanche, the recipe

Of course, I started with a dessert.  One of the primary reason was that the ingredients required were easy to source, the other one is probably that desserts making are my strong area.

This recipe is sourced from a cooking book which had belonged to a long time departed aunt (late 1800s if I am right).

The recipe is in French, in old French and potentially with a number of spelling mistakes.

old recipe creme blanche
The recipe of the creme blanche, bottom right

original recipe

A quick english translation would be:

“White cream

Four egg whites, well beaten to stiff peaks, add to it a pint of cream, [???] lemon rind and two spoon of caster sugar.  Place the mix in a saucepan on the fire and continuously mix until it has reached second boil. Pour into a serving dish. It is served cold and should not deflate.  When you will beat the egg white on their own, use two forks, it is easier this way”

As you will understand there are a few words I could not make out. Strangely enough, the spelling in this text is quite different to modern French spelling.  I tried many internet searches but did not find anything like this recipe anywhere.

The modern “Creme Blanche”

For a start, I am not going to beat the egg whites with a fork, I have done it in the past when baking in places with little cooking equipment, it is quite a bit of work!

Then came the issue of measurement units.  The recipe calls for a pint of cream. The internet has various volumes.  I used my gut feeling and cloudy memory of old discussions and based it on half a litre.

In the recipe itself, the main challenge is not to overheat the mix or the cream will split.  Here we go:

The result

creme blanche as per recipe
Creme blanche, just after pouring out of the saucepan

The result was a light fluffy cream.  I may have slightly overcooked it but not to the point of splitting.  It tastes good.  It is a very simple dessert as would have been desserts in those time, working with the ingredients which would have been easily accessible.

oldrecipe1-creme-blanche-1
Creme blanche, after a few hours in the fridge

My Tiramisu Mission

I was on a mission, or a conquest.  I wanted to make and eat a delicious tiramisu.  But what do you do when you don’t like or drink coffee and cannot enjoy this world renown italian dessert in its original version?

I was well decided to give it a try and bought half a kilo of mascarpone from my Italian grocer.  The previous times I had bought mascarpone, I went nowhere close to a tiramisu.  I just kept using that mascarpone for other things, often  radically different.  That way I discovered that mascarpone makes a great cake icing: the taste is light (much lighter than butter cream), a bit tangy, and in terms of practicality, it is super easy to spread.  If you want to know more, follow this link.

Back to my tiramisu tale (yes, we are getting there).  Since I was not going to convert to coffee overnight (I did try a couple times without much success), I browsed through a number of recipes to get a bit of background to the dessert and made up my mind: it was going to be a lemon curd tiramisu!

Here it is!

tiramisu mission, lemon curd tiramisu

The execution is super simple, no need to be a great cook, so get some mascarpone and some savoiardi (sponge fingers) and get going!

There is room for changes to adapt to taste. Tiramisu recipes, even the coffee version, are very versatile.  I ended up also doing a small coffee tiramisu for my husband who loooooves that dessert and his coffee!

coffee tiramisu

A few tips:

  1. Tiramisu recipes also contain cream, the ratio can be adapted if you don’t have exactly the right amount;
  2. You may use alcohol or not.  If not, you will need a sugar syrup to soak your biscuits in.  I make 1/2 L to a litre at the time and keep it in a glass bottle. Alternatively you can find some ready made versions in some deli or specialised shops.
  3. Do not forget the almonds, they make the tiramisu by bringing this added crunch and taste.

My lemon curd tiramisu, the concept:

The recipe can  be found on its own page (lemon curd tiramisu).  Here below is the concept:

lemon curd tiramisu montage

 

The launch of MY POT SHOP!

Today is not about food, it is the launch of MY POT SHOP!

Pottery is another passion which started some years ago.  A few years ago when we lived in Brisbane I bought my pottery wheel.  I can just thrown bowl just to relax or for a mission I set myself on! I also do a little hand building.

I make essentially functional tableware: bowls, plate, serving dishes, souffle dish, and more bowls. At times, a teapot and a few cups.

I recently picked up a large batch of my pots from the person who does my pots firing.   I have been making these bowls over the last months.  Now the question is what to do with 40 new bowls !  I have replaced some broken and chipped ones and kept a few.  Some early birds bought some directly.

You got the idea.  Hence MY POT SHOP.   Check out the below gallery!

 I can not keep everything unfortunately, so the sale page is now open.

PLEASE SHARE THIS POST 🙂 

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Use Specs:

The bowls are microwave safe, dishwasher safe. For the larger earthenware bowls, it is better to handwash and not soak those whose base is not glazed.  You can use them in the oven is you wish, if so, small cracks may appear overtime in the glazing.

 

Strawberry crazy!

This week has been strawberry crazy at home! With 4 boxes of 500 g for less than 5 dollars, no wonder I bought quite a few boxes! Do you want to know how many? 16!  Yes, indeed! But they are now all gone, we had the last ones at diner (and everyone is not bored with eating strawberries).

In my strawberry crazy week, I did some jam, we had strawberry tarts, roasted, strawberry for breakfast, for dinner and for lunch boxes. Guess what, we finished the strawberries tonight!

Two recipes were a great success. I will share those with you now.

Again some madeleines, but these ones are strawberry and rosemary madeleines

strawberry and rosemarry madeleines

This madeleines were really a trial, I was trying to find something to go with poached pears and that could be done relatively quickly. These strawberry and rosemary madeleines turned out quite good. They were not as crunchy as the plain ones but the rosemary and strawberry do bring another dimension to that biscuit. Quite good with poached pears indeed!  Click here for the recipe.

Strawberry and rosemarry madeleines pile

And of course a strawberry tart

IMG_0009

I made the base with my younger daughter, the older one (7 y.o) did the rest of the tart with a bit of instructions. I use a few versions of strawberry tarts.  You can find more on the dedicated page for strawberry tart recipes. Basically, the tarts all have a sweet short crust pastry, you then choose or not to have a layer over the pastry before placing the strawberries.  The added layer can be roasted strawberries pureed or a creme patissiere (custard). On top of the strawberries, we use a bit of jam diluted and brush it on, it adds taste and shine.

IMG_0008

 

A few more  recipes already on this blog

cookies aux fraises et chocolat blanc

Stawberry and white chocolate cookies

 

 

 

roasted strawberries

Roasted strawberries

 

 

 

 

And if you keep looking , I will soon add the recipe I used for my strawberry jam.

Madeleine? Any time!

Madeleines are very versatile biscuits.  First, they taste great.  Then they are kind of cute.  The other advantage is that they take no time to make and that you generally will ave the ingredients at home!

Madeleines cooling down

Madeleines can be served on their own for the afternoon snack, or with coffee or tea.  I love them, and I am not the only one (tested for you!).  They are also perfect for children who come back again and again for a spare one!

Want to do it?

The recipe can be found HERE.

soup of the day!

And the soup of the day is: the turnip soup!

Yes, from chocolate mousses (last week) to soups, what a change!  We can’t eat chocolate all the time as we all know.

What do you think of this little menu: a soup, a small pasta dish and a chocolate mousse. Sounds like a balanced menu to me!  Anyway, winter here marks an increase in the amount of soups I prepare.  Soups are mega healthy and easy, so no excuse, get the big pot out!

The turnip soup

turnip soup

I bought turnips. What? Yes, turnips!  For the French followers who may hesitate on the translation, I am speaking of “navets”).  I have ever been a fan.  What is the story here?  Not being a fan, I never buy turnip, except extremely rarely while preparing a large dish of couscous (the whole dish from northern Africa, not just the semolina part).  The rarity is that I don’t do couscous very often, good merguez are hard to find and when I do a couscous, I don’t necessarily add turnips.  Makes me feel like making a couscous soon.  🙂   I had always had that repulsion to turnip and wanted to give it a second chance.  So I decided on a soup.  I looked into the fridge, perfect I had some carrots and some fennel.

ingredients soupe au navet

The above (half of the fennel shown) serve 3 people.

  1. Peel you vegetables
  2. Place them in a large saucepan or cooking pot
  3. Add a little rock salt (the quantity will depend on the volume of soup), for the quantity pictured above 1/2 teaspoon is enough.
  4. Cover with water and cook until the vegetables are soft.
  5. For the turnip soup, if you don’t want the bitterness of the turnip you need to drain the cooking water or part of it unfortunately.  If you like the bitterness, keep as such. Blend the soup.  Add to it a couple cheese triangles (you can substitute for cream or cheddar cheese).
  6. Eat warm and fresh with toasted buttered bread.

The 3 ADVICES FOR SOUPS

ADVICE 1: if you don’t want to eat the same soup for the whole week, make small batches!

It is very easy getting carried away by adding a lot of vegetables or adding a few items of each sort, but here I should advise against it:

  1. You may have a wonderful soup but if you wanted to have a dominating taste, this will not be the case.
  2. Trust me, after two meals your taste buds will ask for other flavours.

ADVICE 2: Add a little rock salt while cooking to avoid packing on salt when you eat it.

Include some salt to your cooking pot.  The photo below is from a different mixed vegetables soup (kale, carrots, potatoes, celeriac branches). Why?

  1. You will have less rush for excess salt when you eat it.
  2. Some vegetables, such as carrots, cook better with a pinch of salt (apparently salting the water raises its boiling point, making it boil hotter, so that your carrots cook faster).

soupe saler

ADVICE 3: Tips on ingredients

In the choice of vegetables, you can go for a unique vegetables or a mix. When doing a single vegetable soup:

  • you want a vegetable which has a little bit of character.
  • You may also often choose to boost the flavours with a roasting process (it brings out the sugars in the vegetable by caramelising them) or some garlic or added cheese.

The mix vegetable soup is either a choice or a practicality:

  • The mix vegetable soup uses all those veges left in the fridge which need eating!
  • When combining vegetables, I would always ensure to have a less watery vegetable, this gives body to the soup, typically I would use a couple potatoes.
  • That soup is pretty easy to prepare.

Now, to the question do you need a litre of stock to make a soup, the answer is NO (exception of the onion soup).  This is particularly true for the mix vegetable soup, you are basically creating  a stock! For the single vegetable soups like cauliflower and pumpkin, if you want to use a good stock, by all means use it. Just watch out for added salts and flavours.

Soups’ Ideas!!! Yes, please!

The soups below are blended except if advised otherwise. Single vegetables soups that we make at home are:

  • the zucchini soup: boiled zucchini in very little water, pinch of salt, processed with a soft cheese such as “Vache Qui Rit” (cheese triangle) or works well with cheddar too.
  • The cauliflower soup: cauliflower steamed or partly roasted, partly steamed if time allows, with head of roasted garlic (keep only the cloves), thickened cream.
  • Pumpkin soup: with a little cumin or nutmeg. Served with chilli. Sometimes cooked with carrots. Also try the Thai pumpkin soup, love that one!
  • The onion soup (not blended), the preparation requires a good broth if possible, a bit more work to prepare than the other soups but really worth it.
  • The chestnut soup. See the recipe HERE.

Mix veges:

  • the leek soup, “soupe au poireau” made of one leek (white AND green bits), 3 large potatoes, 2 carrots.
  • The minestrone.  This is great when you have plenty vegetables. Cut them in small sizes. Plan to add small size pasta at the end. This soup is not blended.

IMG_9263-001

Chocolate Mousses

You did read properly “Chocolate Mousses” with a “s” at the end.  Yeah!!!

This means we get to speak about a few versions of this hero dish.  There is no single recipe for chocolate mousse, the recipe to use depends on the application: is it to be served on its own? or is it to use as a layer in a cake?

I have also ventured into the word of raw and vegan people by trying the raw chocolate mousse in which avocados are used to create the body of the mousse. I even tried the water chocolate mousse from Heston Blumenthal, which was a lot of fun!

The classic French Chocolate Mousse

Use: dessert in individual portions or in a large bowl to share.

Ingredients: good dark chocolate and eggs ONLY (no sugar, no cream).

Accessibility: super easy to make and always a winner. Needs to be done in advance

I love this one, for me it is “the chocolate mousse”.  Mum used to make a large bowl of it for the family and guests.

RECIPE HERE

Mousse au chocolat

The chocolate whipped cream mousse

Use: in proper cooking, it is used as part of a layered cake but you will find it as a stand alone recipe if you google chocolate mousse in Australia (and probably most anglophone countries).  When I am served such a mousse in a cafe or restaurant, it is for me a massive let down (and I won’t eat it, not a fan) and generally says much of the restaurant. However, in a layered cake, where it is associated with some more complex flavours, these mousse has its place.

Ingredients: cream whipped and mixed with chocolate powder, cocoa and sugar or at best cooking chocolate.

Accessibility: super easy. Should be done earlier.

The mixed version

unctuous chocolate mousseI happen to make recently (not for the first time) a mousse which we really like.  It is quite strong and is often served with some fruity notes and a crunchy element. This mousse is decadent! It is yummy and you must stop yourself to avoid cleaning off the bowl!

Use: As an element of a dessert. Likened to little chocolate pots desserts. The texture is silky and shiny!

Ingredients: chocolate, eggwhite, water, sugar, thickened cream

Accessibility: super easy. Needs to be done in advance.

Recipe HERE.

mousse choco onctueuse (1)

The raw avo chocolate mousse

Use: dessert or in a raw chocolate tart.  Loved by vegan, raw food adepts.

Ingredients: cacao, avocado, liquid sugar/sweetener

Accessibility: super easy. Can be eaten straight away.

I tried the avocado chocolate mousse in order to know what it is all about. I purchased some raw cacao and was lucky enough to do my grocery when there was a special on avocados!

The concept is very simple: put the avocado flesh in the food processor with some raw cocoa and some liquid sweetener and whizz! You can add a little drop of water to reach the desired consistency.

raw chocolate mousse

I tried three versions of it:

  1.  raw cacao
  2.  dutch cocoa
  3.  good dark chocolate

The recipe is HERE. I pushed it and made some raw tarts (see photo).

raw chocolate mousse tarts

Result: the fruity flavours of the cocoa, or maybe the avocado are really the novelty for me.  If you don’t use enough cocoa, the avocado taste comes through which is not great.  All together, it has a very earthy smell and flavour which is not for everybody.  As for the tarts, the texture is very crumbly (just nuts, oil and sweetener), which is no surprise as there are no binder.  Both the avo mousse and tarts were not a success in our household.

The Water chocolate mousse (Heston Blumenthal)

I had to try it. I saw it on television and just the idea of it grasped my curiosity.

Use: dessert. Experimental, for fun!

Ingredients: Chocolate and water.

Accessibility: needs elbow oil. Serve immediately! (it hardens quickly)

The method is easy, you bring to the boil the water and pour it over your chocolate previously chopped in small pieces.   Now start whisking and don’t stop! The whisking will integrate air bubbles while the temperature decreases.  Eventually it reaches a crystallisation point.  That point is reached all of a sudden. You get some warning as you see and feel the mix thicken, just then, it sets, if you go to far (like I did the first time) you get like a dirt texture which can actually be great for some specific desserts set up.

water choc mousse (5)
Water chocolate mousse. It hardens the minute is is made, to serve immediately.

Tips:

  • If you went too far, you can reheat the mousse a little , it will liquefy again, Start whisking again!
  • You can use a large bowl of ice to bring the temperature down quicker but remove it as soon as the mix starts to change a bit
  • The mix will be very liquid at first, then will become like cream, then thickened cream. Stop there. 

Recipe and video HERE.  Feel free to reduce the proportions, I used half of that.

Yoghurt cakes

Again  a french classic, yoghurt cakes are called gateaux au yahourt in the french cuisine! The reason yogurt cakes are so well loved is these crusty edges and top and the moist inside with that yoghurt taste cake that we recognise closed eyes.

yoghurt cake

A yoghurt pot to measure all ingredients! How fun for kids!

In France, the recipe is based on the volume of a little pot of yoghurt (about 1/2 cup), so it is fun to measure the other ingredients with that container.  Elsewhere in the word, yoghurt may not be sold so much in individual portions by default and also the use of measuring cups is not a novelty!

muffin gateau yahourt (2)

Two recipes to choose from:

Anyway, for you here, I have added two recipes to this blog and provided the quantities in grams as well.

  • The first one is the “original” yoghurt cake, it can be a bit floury, it is a matter of taste.
  • The second one (Yoghurt Cake, the other version) is not floury and has more yoghurt (and not so much sugar). I love that one too. The down is that the edges are not as addictive, the cake makes up for it in its taste.

The cake is generally baked in a round tin, but feel free to use muffin trays like I did.

If you use it for afternoon tea, the cake is great on its own.  If you want to serve it for dessert, poach some fruits and serve it with the reduced poaching syrup!

poires pochees gateau yahourt (12)

Enjoy!