Creme Brulee

So good to have company on this blog. :)

I made this quite awhile ago... but the stupid internet is so slow that I couldn't put a picture up.

Mum bought a recipe magazine from South Africa and Dad found this recipe in it and requested it. So I tried. It worked really well! So tasty.

1 1/2 cups double cream
1/2 cup milk
1 vanilla pod (I used 1 tsp vanilla essence)
4 large egg yolks
1/2 cup sugar
1/3 cup coarse sugar, raw sugar or castor sugar

1. Preheat oven to 180 C. In a medium saucepan, heat the cream, milk and vanilla pod over medium heat, stirring occassionally. As soon as it begins to boil, turn off the heat and set aside to infuse for at least 15 minutes (I assume this is just if you use a vanilla pod).

2. In a large bowl, whisk the egg yolks with the sugar.

3. Remove the vanilla pod from the cream mixture. Whisking constantly, gradually pour the hot cream mixture into the egg mixture.

4. Pour the custard into 4 ovenproof ramekins* and place in a deep oven tray. Pour hot water halfway up the sides of the ramekins. Bake in the centre of the oven until almost set but still a bit soft in the centre, about 30-40 minutes. The custard should quiver a bit when you shake the pan, it will firm up more as it cools. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours but no more than 24 hours.

5. When ready to serve, pour as much coarse sugar as will fit into the top of each custard.

6. Place the ramekins on a baking sheet or in a roasting pan under the very hot oven grill for about 1 - 2 minutes, or use a kitchen blowtorch (I wish!) until the sugar melts and browns nicely. Cool for about a minute before serving. The picture is pre-blowtorched... I actually burnt the last one and the beautifully browned first few were eaten before I took the picture. Fortunately, the internet is so slow that I can't put up the picture of the slightly overcooked one.

*Who on earth has heard of a ramekin?! Anyone? Google defines as: a small fireproof dish used for baking and serving individual portions.

By chef Raymond Rundle, in Food and Home Entertaining, June 2010

Heather's Meringues

Ahem... so either I'm just extra devoted to this blog, or... I'm going a little crazy here with nothing to do. Anyway, I debated whether or not to wait for someone else to post a recipe but then thought I may be waiting for some time. :) So I thought I'd just go crazy and keep posting while I'm in this frenzied cooking mode which won't last forever.

So, this was my first time making meringues which were a childhood treat that a lovely family friend used to make (Aunty Heather) and they were a lot easier than I thought they would be! You eat them plain any time of day (preferably with tea), or fill them with whipped cream for a extra yummy dessert! Ahh... heaven in a white puff of sugar... pretty much.

Meringues

Weigh egg white
Same weight granulated sugar
Same weight castor sugar (extra fine sugar, but I used granulated/normal and it worked)

I used:
4 egg whites
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup castor sugar

Beat egg white till fluffy (quite a decent amount of time), add granulated sugar, beat until stiff. Fold in castor sugar.

Drop in spoonfuls onto baking sheets lined with wax paper/brown paper, about 1" apart. Swirl to create round, spiked meringues.


Bake at 250C for 20 minutes. Turn off oven, leave in warm oven to dry for 2 hours. Meringues should be completely dry inside (you'll to have to sample one to make sure). If not dry, keep in a very low, warm oven for several hours (or in a warming draw), it's important to keep checking (sampling) :).




4 egg whites makes 60 meringues.

Next time... creme brulee!

Corn chips and Guacamole

I thought I'd kick off our new blog with something dear to my and Elise's heart. Well, mine at least.

I was feeling so sad at leaving the land of tortilla chips (America) and one day felt a terrible craving for corn chips to go with my guacamole (we have a beautiful avo tree in our garden in Zim, as you see). Sadly, I could not walk down to Walgreens and buy craved-for corn chips. I'd attempted them before with no success but decided I was desperate enough to try again - and my perseverance paid off!

Mmmm... so good.

Corn Chips

(From "More with Less," an MCC cookbook given to my by my Rossman housemates - a book you should all buy, p.310)

Makes ½ lb (not very many, if you're making for more than yourself, you might want to double it :) ).

oven: 350F

Combine in mixing bowl:

1 c yellow corn meal (or white)

2/3 c. flour

1 tsp. salt

1 tsp. baking powder

2 T. dry milk solids

Stir together in separate bowl:

½ c. water

¼ c. oil

½ tsp. Worcestershire sauce

1/8 tsp. Tabasco sauce

Add liquids to dry mixture and stir with fork. Knead a little until smooth. Grease 2 cookie sheets (10x15”) and sprinkle with cormmeal. Divide dough in half. Roll each half directly onto cookie sheet with floured rolling pin, rolling dime-thin. Sprinkle with paprika, garlic, onions or seasoned salt. Run rolling pin over once more. Prick with fork. Cut in squares or triangles. Bake 10 min or until golden browned.

I found I had to watch them quite closely, and cook them for much longer than 10 minutes! But you may have better success, maybe it's our unevenly-cooking oven.

I used a Guacamole recipe from "Extending the Table," another MCC cookbook, you can fiddle with the proportions as per personal taste though.

Guacamole (Mexico)

In bowl, chop or mash:

1 avocado

Stir in:

1 small tomato, finely chopped

1-2 T onion, minced

1 T lemon juice

1 clove garlic, minced or crushed

salt and pepper to taste

cilantro (optional – ugh, I left it out)

½ fresh green chilli pepper, minced (optional)

Options:

Substitute a dash of Tabasco pepper sauce or a bit of coarsely ground black pepper for green chilli pepper.

Add 2 T sour cream.