Crema Catalana - Happy St George's Day!

Today is 23rd April, which means it's St George's Day.

So in honour of today, I'm going to post something traditionally English Catalan.

I'm lucky enough to have a family home in Catalunya, the north-eastern area of Spain, of which Barcelona is the capital. And St George - or Sant Jordi - is a massive celebration there too, although instead of simply using it as an excuse to get blind drunk, people exchange books and roses (and get drunk...). Which is romantic, intellectual and a little more interesting, in my opinion. Symbolically the roses stood for love, and the books for eternity. As expected it was traditional for women to receive roses, and men books. However these days, everyone receives a book. And in my social circle there, the men get roses from the women and women get books!

So, Crema Catalana. A traditional Catalan dessert, something like a custard which is then bruléed. Really yummy!

Ingredients - Makes approx. 6-8

4 tbsp cornflour
1 litre / 35fl oz whole milk
1 lemon, the peel cut into 2 or 3 long, large strips
1 cinnamon stick
8 large egg yolks
150g / 5oz caster sugar, plus extra for the burnt caramel topping, about 4-8 tbsp

Method

- In a cup, dissolve the cornflour in 4 tbsp of the cold milk.

- Heat the rest of the milk in a saucepan with the lemon peel and cinnamon stick until it just begins to boil.

- Meanwhile, beat the egg yolks and 150g of sugar in a bowl until it's a pale cream texture, then beat in the cornflour mixture. (This will help the eggs stop curdling)

- Beat in a ladleful of the hot milk into the egg mixture.

- Remove the cinnamon stick and lemon peel from the saucepan of hot milk. Add the egg mixture into the hot milk, stirring vigorously as you pour. Bring the whole mixture to the boil slowly over a low heat, continuously stirring, until the mixture thickens.

- Pour the mixture into 6-8 large ramekins, or to be more Catalan about it, small clay cassoles.

- Let them cool, then chill in the refrigerator.

- Before serving, sprinkle the top of each custard with 2-3 tsps of caster sugar, and shake gently to even it out across the surface. Then use a mini kitchen blow-torch to caramelise the sugar until it is a lovely dark, glossy, amber colour. Alternatively, put under a very hot grill to melt and brown the top. Although be careful, as if your grill isn't super-hot, your custard will melt before the top gets to caramelise! (trust me...I found this out the hard way.)

Enjoy! Bon Profit!

Torta de Garbanzos - Chick Pea Cake. Gluten Free!

A cake using chick peas instead of butter and flour. Sound crazy? It's delicious!

A Mexican dish that I first tried via a friend's Mexican boyfriend when I was living in Spain. I was totally shocked when I was told what it was made from. My Spanish at the time wasn't so good, so I thought "...surely that wasn't garbanzos? I must have misheard..."
Lo and behold, after some convincing, it was indeed proven to be a tasty cake made from those little beans usually reserved in most peoples' minds for hummus.

This is a wonderfully moist cake without being too rich, which can so often be the case when using ground almonds instead of flour. Many of the recipes around result in a quite dense cake, quite unlike the one I tried a few years ago. However, the one below uses beaten egg whites, which puts a lot of air in the cake batter, so the result is almost akin to an angel food cake.

Ingredients

270g / 9.5oz cooked, drained chick peas (this, conveniently is one standard supermarket can)
3 large eggs, separated
120g / 4oz caster sugar
1/2 tsp baking powder
grated zest of an orange
juice of an orange
icing sugar to decorate

Method

- Preheat your oven to 170 C / 350 F. Grease the bottom of a bundt pan, a pan which is doughnut-shaped so that the cake will have a hole in the middle. They tend to be a bit deeper and allow the cake to rise nicely.

- Puree the chickpeas in a food processor, then add the egg yolks, sugar, baking powder and orange zest and pulse to mix.

- In a bowl, beat the egg whites with a pinch of salt until they're stiff.

- Gently fold the chickpea mix into the egg whites. Be careful not to be violent and knock out too much air! This is what makes the cake so light.

- Pour the mixture into the cake tin and put into the oven for around 55 minutes, or until a cake tester (or knife!) comes out clean.

- Allow the cake to cool, then remove it from the tin and sprinkle with orange juice. I used a silicone pastry brush to apply the juice to mine, which worked well, allowing the orange to sink in. Be aware that you may not need to use all the juice from one orange - it depends on how 'wet' and how tangy you want your cake to be.

- Dust with icing sugar.

Easy and tasty and gluten free too!

This recipe would work equally well with a lemon substituted for the orange. I'd also recommend rosewater, for a more subtle hint of flavour.

Enjoy! Buen Provecho!

Art in Gelatin

Phew, I've just started a new job, so haven't had time to write up another recipe just yet. Although, this blog isn't just going to be about recipes.

And to that end, this will be a post not about recipes!

I wanted to share with you something I came across that is strange and beautiful, and seemingly very popular in America and Mexico, that I've never even seen in Europe.

I don't know much about it, so anything I say at this point is conjecture. It seems to me that a lot of the artists working in this way with gelatin are from Mexico or Central and South America. I say this because the majority of websites and videos that I've seen about this are either in Spanish, or have an option to read it in Spanish.

Now, 'gelatin art' encompasses a large variety of techniques and looks, but I just wanted to bring one aspect of this to your attention on this blog. Namely, flowers.

Using opaque food colourings and fine needle syringes, these artists create beautiful, three-dimensional flowers suspended in glass-like gelatin. The results are amazing!

As you can see, quick results. I'm sure once the technique is mastered, one could make plenty of these in an afternoon, which would look stunning as a display.

Also, gelatin keeps well, and wouldn't melt as quickly as, for example, a cream cake. (Another reason this is so popular in hotter climates? Possibly...)

Anyway, it is worth a look around on YouTube for these videos, they are impressive and inspiring.

I'll leave you with a 'master' of the art...enjoy!

Pączki - Polish doughnuts

I'm kicking things off with this recipe for pączki, Polish doughnuts that are incredibly addictive!

My Grandmother is Polish, as are many of my friends, and so I have more than just a passing interest in Polish cuisine, so expect to see a few more Polish recipes here in the future!

Anyway, these rich doughnuts are usually eaten before Lent, however I think they're a delectable treat to have any time with a cup of tea or coffee. They freeze incredibly well, so once they've cooled you can freeze them individually or in twos/threes so you have something sweet on hand of you fancy it. They don't take long to thaw at room temperature. 

This is all assuming that your batch lasts long enough to have leftovers to freeze!

Ingredients - Makes approx 16

2.5 cups / 250g  plain flour

2 tbsp  / 25g  white sugar (granulated or caster is fine)

2 tbsp / 30g   butter

1 very large egg or 2 small eggs

1/2 cup / 120ml  warm milk

1/3 tsp salt

1/4 tsp rum

proved yeast - put 2 1/4 tsp / 14g of yeast in 1/4 cup / 60ml of warm water and add 1tsp / 4g of sugar.

dash vanilla essence or vanilla sugar (optional)

Jam for the filling - Plum is the common choice, but I'd also recommend cherry, blueberry or raspberry.

Method

- In a bowl, sift in half the flour. Add the proved yeast and mix together with a spoon. Add the rest of the flour.

- Put the warm milk, sugar and butter together in a jug or separate bowl, and mix a little so it melts together. It doesn't have to be completely smooth, it just helps to combine all the ingredients together more quickly. Add this to the flour mixture and mix gently to bring everything together.

- Add the egg(s), rum and vanilla essence, if you're using it, and mix again. The dough at this point will be sticky, but combined. Turn it out onto a floured surface and knead for 5 minutes.

- Put the dough into a greased bowl, cover, and leave in a warm place to rise for an hour. Then knock it back* and re-cover to leave for another hour to rise again.

- Roll out the dough to about 1/2 inch / 1.5 cm thick, and cut into discs. You can use a cookie cutter, or failing that, a cup, or glass, or empty and washed tuna tin. Anything circular and roughly 3 inches / 7.5 cm in diameter. Although it all depends on how big you want your doughnuts!

- Leave your discs to rise for another 30 minutes, then fry in very hot oil. Personally, not owning a fryer of any sort, I simply shallow fry in a saucepan using sunflower oil. Once golden brown on one side, flip over to fry the other side. The end result should be a golden brown doughnut with a white stripe around the middle. (This is why you DON'T want to deep fry these babies!)

- Once they've cooled, fill them with a jam of your choice. Personally, I love cherry, blueberry or plum. This is a little tricky, and a little messy, but the result is worth it! There are a couple of ways to do this;

                    1) Use an icing nozzle with a long 'nose'. Simply fill an icing bag with the jam, jab the 'nose' into the side of the doughnut and gently squeeze. Be careful not to squeeze too quickly or forcefully, or it could explode through the side of your doughnut. A delicious mess!

                    2) Use a teaspoon. This is not an elegant method, but it does the job. Carefully push the end of the spoon into the side of the doughnut to create a hole. Use the spoon to make the hole into a small slit and carefully spoon jam into the doughnut. Like I said, it's a less 'neat' way, but if you don't have a long nosed icing nozzle or jam injector, it shouldn't stop you from enjoying these!

- Dust your doughnuts with caster sugar or icing sugar and watch them disappear!

Apologies for the rubbish photo. Before I could set them up nicely on a display plate, they disappeared into hungry tummies! But you get the idea. (I would put an image from a Google search result, but don't wish to become embroiled in ownership rights.)

Enjoy! Smacznego!

* This is as simple as just punching the dough. Right in the face. Easy and satisfying, it's the best part of any recipe calling for 'knocking back' a rising dough...!

Introduction

The first post is always the trickiest.

I suppose a little introduction is fitting.

I'm Jen and I'm interested in cooking and baking. I have a little red recipe book in which I am constantly jotting down recipes and tips that interest me. Leafing through this book is mildly confusing, as I have recipes from all over the world, both sweet and savoury. This is, I think, due to my curiosity.

I like to travel, and when I go abroad I always make sure I eat locally, trying as many as the traditional dishes as I can. When I taste something I like, I try to figure out what it's made of, then research it when I get home. (Often trawling through foreign languages, bad translations and crazy methods) Then I make it myself, thrust it upon others to try and, if it's a success, it goes in my recipe book.

Now I have a wadge of recipes - and it's growing - I thought I'd share some of them with the world. Perhaps people would like to try something new, but don't want to have to figure out what people are writing in another language, or compare several recipes for one thing, or indeed watch videos on YouTube in Russian that aren't subtitled... (This was last week. That will definitely be a post soon!)

I'm also an adept cake decorator, who has taught herself the art of working with sugarpaste/gumpaste and icing. I think I'm finally in a position to share my experiences and tips as an amateur decorator!

Also on this blog will be links, pictures and videos of things related to baking and travel that have caught my eye.

So, here we go.