Having chocolate marble cake when I was a child was a treat, I would eat along the different colours keeping the chocolate bit for the end. This cake is easy to make and is great as an afternoon tea cake or sliced for lunch box treat (cell wrap the slices individually, freeze and place frozen in lunch boxes, it will be unfrozen by the time the child gets to it).
Ingredients
100 g of chocolate 64 to 70% cocoa
180 g butter melted
150 g of brown sugar (cassonade in French)
a drop of vanilla essence
4 eggs
200 g of self raising flour or 200 g of plain flour and 1 heaped teaspoon of raising powder (if using raising powder in sachet, one sachet).
Method
Butter and flour well your tins. Warm up the oven on 180°C.
Mix the sugar and butter well, then mix in the egg yolks one at the time, add the vanilla.
Mix in the flour and raising powder and divide in two bowls.
Melt the chocolate. In one of the bowl, add the melted chocolate.
Beat the egg white to snow. Divide in each of the bowls and fold gently.
Pour in the tins alternating the mixes.
Bake for about 45 minutes until a skewer inserted in the middle comes out dry. Then turn on a cooling rack.
Free range eggs have now a formal definition in Australia. The controversy was not new, and a definition has been a long time coming. A number of brands claim to be “free range”, alas, for the poor customer, there was (until now) no way to know the veracity of the claim, especially when you pay a premium for “free range eggs”, for some brands, that premium can mean over $10 a dozen.
One of the not so free range eggs brands apparently
Of course, the hens are free range,…not the eggs!
The new definition of what free range eggs imply is well received by some, not so well by others. I am not going to go into the controversy of what should be done when breeding hens and which brands are better than others, it is a personal issue on what is acceptable to you. I find that this definition is a starting point, for those who think it is not good enough, well, marketing and imagination can be used wisely.
How are free range eggs defined elsewhere?
Lets get into the new definition of free range eggs and look over the oceans at what is done elsewhere.
In Australia, free range eggs must come from hens that have meaningful and regular access to an outdoor range, with a stocking density of up to 10,000 birds per hectare. One hectare being 100 m x 100 m, this means 1 square metre per hen outside. Interestingly, it seems the density indoors is unknown.
And in Europe? Europe has a European standard which defines the different categories of eggs. A free range eggs requires:
compulsory continuous daytime access to open air runs, AND
the outdoor area is solely to be used for the hens, with limitations on dual use of the land, AND
a maximum density of 2,500 birds per hectare, in other words 4 square metres per hen (at all time, i.e. indoor and outdoor).
You got it, free range eggs in Europe are definitely more free range than in Australia!
And in the US? In the US, there is no regulatory standard for eggs. “Free range” is used when the hens are free to roam inside and have access to an outdoor area.
Using eggs everyday
These recipes are quite timely, I did not prepare them on purpose for this post, they are life example from this week in my family.
Blue cheese and asparagus quiche
I like a quiche from time to time, it is light to digest and comes under many sorts. When I was a child I only liked the cheese quiche, I did not like at all the quiche Lorraine! Now, things are different. Quiche can incorporate vegetables, either in the main mix, for example grated zucchinis (finely grated) or grated carrots either on top where it can also serve as decoration. Make it look like a landscape! Try asian mushrooms on top, I really like the enoki mushrooms. Use a combination of them, it will be great, guaranteed! This week, Ambrine was helping me make the quiche, I had green asparagus and the remaining of a large basket of cherry tomatoes from my mother in law’s garden in the NSW Southern Highlands. The recipe is here.
Before Baking:
Just BAKED
To make the quiche process a bit more rapid ahead of the meal, you can make the quiche in stages and prepare the pastry earlier the same day or the day before. You can even blind bake it earlier.
I serve the with a green salad. And dessert was a fruit salad.
Dinner on the table
Eggs for breakfast, today, using a microwave coddler
This is another child friendly recipe. This is all about the fun of little vessel called “coddlers” used to cook eggs. Coddlers are, traditionally, English porcelain egg cups with a metal lead. Very British! Egg coddlers have been used in England since the 1800s. The original name for an egg coddler was pipkin. My sister sent me a microwave version of them for a recent Christmas, what a great find! The advantage of the microwave version is the cooking time, it cooks in 30 seconds whereas the ceramics ones are cooked in a bain marie, this takes for ages!
Microwave Coddler
All you need to do is:
Crack open the egg and gently put in the coddler
Add salt, a teaspoon of cream, pepper if you want. You can add many more things like cheese, spices, …
Close the lid
Place in the microwave for 30 seconds (this will depend on your microwave and requires a bit of trial and error)
That is it! Bip! Ready!
Cooking an egg in a coddlerEgg cooked in a coddler
Coddler eggs for breakfast is another child friendly recipe. This is all about the fun of little vessel called “coddlers” used to cook eggs. Coddlers are, traditionally, English porcelain egg cups with a metal lead. Very Britishsh! Egg coddlers have been used in England since the 1800s. The original name for an egg coddler was pipkin. My sister sent me a microwave version of them for a recent Christmas, what a great find! The advantage of the microwave version is the cooking time, it cooks in 30 seconds whereas the ceramics ones are cooked in a bain marie, this takes for ages!
Microwave Coddler
All you need to do is:
Crack open the egg and gently put in the coddler
Add salt, a teaspoon of cream, pepper if you want. You can add many more things like cheese, spices, …
Close the lid
Place in the microwave for 30 seconds (this will depend on your microwave and requires a bit of trial and error)
That is it! Bip! Ready!
Cooking an egg in a coddlerEgg cooked in a coddler
This quiche serves 4 to 6 people. You can change the asparagus to asian mushrooms and use Parmesan instead of blue cheese. Get the children involved in the second stage, it is fun!
1.The pastry
Ingredients
100 g of plain flour
50 g of soft butter (see tip below if you only have hard butter)
Some tap water (cold)
Method
To make the pastry there are two ways: best practices and a quicker approach. I am giving both below.
Shortcrust – best practice:
This consist in rubbing the butter with the flour to coat the flour. You can use your finger tips or the palms of your hands, you will need your two hands. You will obtain a coarse sandy texture. This is when the water comes in. Add two tablespoon of water and make a bowl, if you need more water, add only a little at the time. The bowl should not be sticky. If you have added too much water, add a bit of flour. It is important that you do not work the dough (no, definitely no kneading!).
Shortcrust – quick acceptable method:
The quick method is handy when you do not have soft butter. Melt partly or totally you butter, add to the flour with 2 tablespoon of water, use a wooden spoon to mix initially. Form a rough ball, sprinkle a tablespoon of flour around the ball and roll it into the flour. Again, do not work the pastry, there is no need to develop the gluten strands here.
Rest time:
In both case, you need to rest the dough for at least ½ hour.
Rolling the pastry:
Pre-baking the pastry is necessary because the fill is very wet and will not cook if you don’t do it, you would end up with a soggy mess! When the dough is rested and you are ready for the next stage, roll the dough with a little flour (to prevent sticking) on a rolling mat. You can use baking paper if you don’t have a rolling mat. Some of you may have a kitchen bench which is perfect for rolling the dough directly on, use it! Do not add too much flour or you will start changing the recipe.
Dust the rolling pin with a little flour. To roll the dough, place the rolling pin inthe middle of the pastry and in one continuous movement gently push away from you. Do the same pushing towards you. At this stage, place your tart dish over the pastry to visualise the size of it.
Rolling the pastry, not exactly a perfect example, but fine
You will roll the pastry in a circle a few centimetres wider than the base (for the sides). Either turn your mat or turn your rolling pin to work in the diagonal direction. Again gently push backward and forwards the pastry all the way. This can be done in a few movements but please no back and forth in one location!
Now transfer to the dish by gently lifting the upper third (like on the photo) pastry over the rolling pin and then lifting the rolling pit with the pastry hanging from it.
Removing excess pastry
Carry it across. There is no need to butter the dish before. Gently bring it down over the tart dish. To remove the excess pastry, roll the rolling pin on the top of the dish.
Blind Baking
To blind bake, heat up the oven to 160-180 °C. You have two options here, either use a fork and with the fork teeth do small holes all over the bottom of the pastry. This will prevent any bubbles forming.
The second method is to place a baking paper on top of the pastry and use baking stones.
Cook in the oven until light golden. if you are using the baking stones, you may want to remove the tart shell from the oven, lift the baking paper and baking stones (in a metal colander for example) and put back in the oven 5-10 minutes on 140-160°C to get a bit of colour on the bottom part.
2. The filling and final bake
Ingredients:
6 eggs
250 ml cream
salt and pepper, a point of ground nutmeg
1/2 cup blue cheese (if you do not have measuring cups, use a tea mug)
1/2 cup of shredded mozzarella
asparagus and cherry tomatoes
Method:
Preheat oven to 160°C if not already on.
Mix the eggs and cream in a bowl with a whisk until combined, add salt and pepper . When adding the salt, be aware that the cheese may be quite salty already. Add the spice.Mix well.
Crumble the blue cheese and add the mozzarella. Mix.
Pour into the tart shell leaving at least 1/2 cm to the edge as the volume will rise when adding the asparagus and tomatoes. The excess can be baked in a ramekin.
Add the asparagus to make a forest, decorate with the cherry tomatoes.
Bake until set in the centre. It may be a bit lighter than on the photo, this is fine.
This pear of chocolate flan is a crowd pleaser. I made it for morning teas at the office in the past and for desserts: children and adults love it.
In terms of difficulty level, it goes in the super easy basket. I get my children involved in the preparation. Today, I lost them when it came to put the pieces of pear in the mix, they were too busy leaking off the remaining chocolate from the wooden spoon and empty bowl.
Ingredients
150 g of dark cooking chocolate
90 g of white sugar
50 g of plain flour
4 eggs
1 teaspoon of cinnamon
1/4 L milk
a nut of butter for the dish
2 pears
Method
Pre-heat oven at 180°C
Butter a roasting dish (capacity of about 1 litre)
Melt the chocolate.
Add in the sugar, then the egg one at the time.
Add the flour then the cinnamon and milk.
Place the mix in the roasting dish, peel and cut the pears. You can cut in thin slices or in cubes. Place over the chocolate (they will mostly sink in).
Roasted strawberries are very simple to make, yet quite a success with the whole family. They can be served with a cake or with yogurt or “fromage blanc”. They are particularly good with chocolate cake.
In terms of difficulty level, it goes in the super easy basket!
Timing:
20 minutes
Ingredients:
2 punnets of strawberries (or as many as you need)
50 g caster sugar
2 tablespoons of balsamic vinegar
Method
Preheat Oven to 180°C
Rinse the strawberries and hull them or simply cut the leaves off
Place the strawberry in a single layer pointing up in a roasting pan (possibly the one you will serve in as after roasting they are quite fragile)
Mix together in a bowl the vinegar and sugar and pour all over the strawberries, make sure all strawberries are coated. Another technique would be to toss them in the juice and them put them in place.
Roast for 10-15 minutes or so until they are soft and tender. The timing will depend on the size of the strawberries and your oven.
