Sweet Victory- Crepe Suzzete

Beginners Delight

It was pretty clear how victorious my experience was with my last post. Crepes are probably one of the world's most desired delicacies. What's even more crazy interesting is the invention of crepes. Henri Carpentier a 14 year old assistant waiter during 1895 in Monte carlo Cafe was preparing a desert for then prince, King Edward VII of England where this delicacy that was originally called crepes princess was accidently made due to the burning incident of the chafing dish in which the dessert was being prepared, anxious Henri took a bite of his accidental dish and couldn’t believe what the flame had created. It was then served to the king with great feedback. During the meal the King had politely requested to change the name to Crepes Suzette. Just like the king, we are eternally grateful that his hard work caught on fire.

Start cooking!!

Crepe Suzette Ingredients:

Plain flour - 1.5 cups (shifted)

Eggs- 2
Butter- 50g

Pinch of salt

Caster sugar- 1tbsp

Milk- 200 ml

Orange- Half sliced

Sauce Ingredients:

Orange juice - 2 oranges

Orange zest - 1

Small lemon - 1

Caster sugar - 1 tbsp

Unsalted butter- 50g

Recipe:

Mix the flour and salt in a bowl. Poke your way in the middle to make a deep dent in your dry ingredients and break the eggs into it. then whisk the eggs and flour till its incorporated well.

While mixing add milk gradually into the bowl, mix till all the lumps break and the batter becomes thin and smooth. Add little drops of orange juice to the mix. (Avoid over adding the orange as the sauce already contains enough flavour)

Now heat butter at a medium flame in a small pan. Take any access flowing butter and add your batter into the pan. Start from the center and use your pan to spread it around the pan. Remember that crepes are much thinner than the basic pancakes. To make life easier you could use a spoon to help you level it.  It shouldn't take more than 30-40 seconds to cook. Flip and cook both sides till slightly golden. I love mine crisp and dark golden.

After you've made your crepes, time to make the sauce!

Sauce:

Mix all the ingredients except butter into a bowl. In a small pan melt your butter add it too the bowl with all the ingredients. Yup yup!We're ready!!

Plate up!

Take your crepe and pour your sauce in the middle. Spread it with the help of a spoon. Now fold your crepe into two halves which will inturn give you a beautiful fan like shape. Do the same with another crepe. Your crepe is now ready to be served!

Stack one crepe above the other. Garnish by sprinkling icing sugar with a shifter and some orange sliced up.

Enjoy!!!

Burning it and flipping it-ly yours-

-A

Cannoli a little devilish

Cannolo is a sicilian pastry dessert. They are also popular in Italian American cuisine and in united states known as a italian pastry. Cannoli are tube-shaped shells fried in pastry dough,filled with something sweet and creamy.Traditionally ricotta cheese  is one of the main ingredients in the filling along with whipped cream.

This recipe has a slight twist from how it's originally made and one of its special ingredient would be my biggest affair in life.

Making it is a slight lenghty process but yet again an easy one. I'd suggest when making anything specially desserts have your indgreditents measured out and kept ready for preparation.

Before we proceed to the recipe, let me introduce you to my guilty pleasure and like I said biggest affair in life. Meet Chocolate:) who's had a million billion affairs since  it first belonged to the ancient civilizations who considered chocolate as precious as gold.Well, almost. It found its way to Europe and thanks to Josephy Fry & son who invented the first chocolate candy bar; Since then bribing every age group has become so much easier!

That was a brief of it's history as for my affair...that would take an entire post which I will share sometime soon!:) Recipe time!!

Fusion Chocolate Cannoli

Ingredients:

Bowl of flour (method includes measurements)

1.5 tbsp butter

1tsp vinegar

100 ml water

oil for frying

1 pear (mince half)

150g unsweetened cooking chocolate

2tbsps honey

1.5 tsp red chili flakes

1.5 tsp cumin

1/2 pat of paneer (fresh cheese)

4 tbsps Fresh cream(recommended to keep more incase)

Icing sugar

Method:

Preparing the filling:

First melt the 150 g unsweetned chocolate in a pan. Instead of using a ban-maire(double boiler) make your life easier by just breaking you chocolate into a pan and melt it on a medium heat and keep an eye on it to avoid burning it.

In a bowl add the half pat of paneer .(add lovely essence to the dessert) and mix it

Add your diced pear and 1tbsp of honey into the bowl and mix well

Add 2 tbsp of fresh cream

Add the melted chocolate into the bow and gentely FOLD. Don't worry about the chunky bits,try and break a little bit. rest will just add to the texture.

You could add extra cream depending on the thickness you want. I used about 4 tbsp. You need not worry about mixing well, just fold. The bits of cream that you might notice will also at texture to the mixture.

Preparing the crust

Separate an egg white and beat it well

Add 4 Tbsp of flour to a separate mixing bowl

Add the beaten egg to the 4 tbsp of flour and mix

add 4 tbsp of flour and add 50 ml of water. Mix

Add 2 tbsp of icing sugar while mixing the dough

Add 2 tbsp of flour and rest 50 ml of water and mix

To examine if your dough is ready, poke your finger into the batter and make sure that the mixture doesnt stick to your finger. If it does add 2 more tbsp of flour.

In total I used 12 tbsp of flour

Essentially 4 tbsps are used but now you need to test your skills to make the right dough. Pull of little batter and roll it out on your board till you can see through the dough; Need not make it too large.. Specially for a first try don't stress on the shape too much, you'll get around to it.

Tricky one. How to maintain the shape of the cannoli. Don't have the cannoli shaper? Use something simpler and at home! We decided to make a cannoli shaper out of a disposal foil box and roll the batter on the foil shaping a canolo

See what I mean?

Take a deep frying pan. Let the oil heat up and careffuly place the roll in the pan. You'll see it browning, don't let it burn just try and get the crisp texture on it.

Canolo may fry very quick don't over fry it else it'll become soggy. You'd want to maintain the crisp texture for serving.

After taking out the cannolo from the fryer, carefully pull out the foil; Don't wait too long for the cannolo to cool completely, a fearless act and pull out the foil while it's still a little hot.

Fill your canolli with the mixture with a pipping bag or just by using a spoon. I used a spoon.

Plate up!!

Bon Apettite:)!

Chocolate drippingly yours

-A-

Continuing comfort food...

Supreme Trifle

This might be disappointing but I have no story or deep thoughts on trifles except that this recipe is exactly how it was originally made with a little add ons here and there. The only thought in my head when I think 'trifle' is that it has got to be rich in texture and a crazy adventure till the bottom of the glass. Almost like Christmas - surprises till it ends.

Ingredients:

Milk

Cream

Egg Yolks

Sugar

Chocolate

Sponge

Fruit- Strawberries/pears/pineapple from a tin

Biscuit crumble

Mint

Flour

Method:

Crumble up your sponge cake into a sauce pan and squeeze half an orange on it.. Just enough to be soaked on by most of the pieces. Pieces of chocolate were also added for flavor sake. It may not necessarily coat all the pieces. That way it'll add texture to the layering.

In another sauce pan, caramelize your pear by adding sugar to it. Repeat with strawberries in separate pans.

Custard:

Mix 1 cup milk and 2 tbsp. flour together. Put it on a low heat till it comes to a boil. Whisk 1.5-2 egg yolks and very slowly add these to your pan while mixing at the same speed. Make sure you do that slowly to avoid lumps and making an actual omelet out of the custard. Pour in very gently while mixing vigorously.  Add mint for color. Stir till it's as thick as you want it.

Plating up!

First goes in the sponge then strawberries, squeeze orange on the caramelized pear and pop that in, little custard, cream, pineapple...Repeat till your dish is almost full and garnish it with mint for color and a fresh start to all the lovely flavors that every bite holds!:)

Bon Appetite

Endless flavor digging-ly yours

-A-

Death by chocolate

Chocolate ganache Pot with a strawberry surprise

What can I say about Chocolate that’s not already been said? Whenever summer love leaves me... its chocolate that stays with me throughout the year; bringing a smile to my face.

For now I’ll just stop at that. I will probably dedicate an entire post to chocolate later but I must add that Ganache does great justice to chocolate. It's a glaze, icing or filling made from chocolate and cream. Imagine that! Ganache goes back to the year 1850, invented in either Switzerland or France. Whoever it was, he/she did leave me upsizing and wanting it more and more.

Let's move on and bring a smile on that face!

Ingredients

Chocolate-semi sweet or bitter sweet (I used dark-bittersweet)

Digestive biscuits

Fresh cream

Sugar

Gelatin Powder

Butter

Strawberries

Brown sugar

Lemon Juice

Mint

Method:

For a biscuit base:

Crush the biscuits well - add them into a sauce pan and add 1.5 tbsp. of butter and mix well. (Add butter according to how well the crust has mixed; less or more depends on your serving) You can add cinnamon for an extra (surprise) flavor to your base.

After mixing well, empty it out in a pot and layer it well (I used a serving pot). You could turn it into a Chocolate Ganache Pie by using a spring tin by serving it completely scooped out. You could also scoop it out while make it into a pot (might need a little expertise).

Freeze the base.

Sautéing Strawberries:

Caramelizing strawberries, yummy! I love doing this. The water strawberry releases combined with sugar is just amazing!

Cut the strawberries into half (again depending on your serving) - I cut around 2 and half for my pot. Add one tbsp. of brown sugar and one tbsp. of white sugar. Add drops of lemon juice.

Cook until the strawberries release water and the melted sugar is completely coated onto your strawberries. You'll notice your strawberry texture change.

Preparing the Ganache:

I heated half cup of cream in one sauce pan.

I melted the dark chocolate on another pan by adding pieces of chocolate with tbsp. of sugar and 1-2 tbsp. of butter.  Make sure you keep a watch on the chocolate as it could burn easily. Cook on medium-low heat and stir. Remove as soon as the chocolate has melted.

Add the chocolate to the cream sauce pan and mix well.

Once that's combined well, turn the heat off for the next step.

While stirring in the lovely glossy ganache, add 2 tsp. of gelatin powder. Do not do this over the heat as it'll create lumpy texture.

Final cooking step

Add your caramelized strawberries to you ganache and fold. I love how the tart flavor the sauce released during the caramelizing process and added to the lovely ganache. Just looking at it made me drool and writing about it is worse! In fact, once I'm done, I'm treating myself. Considering I've gone an entire day without sweet ;)

Next post - Supreme Trifle

Lovingly yours

-A-

Sweet summer morning with my summer love

Sweet Egg in the Hole

Ingredients:

                

1 egg

1 toast

4 strawberries - minced

1tbsp butter

1 tbsp. honey

Ingredients for Tea custard

1 cup milk

2 tbsp sugar

1tbsp honey

1 tea bag

1 egg yolk

1/2 star anise (ungrated)  - you can use clove as an alternative

2 black pepper corns- Kept whole

METHODs:

Method for Tea custard (Crèmes moulèe)

Heat the milk until hot, add Star anise and two pepper corn to add flavor.

As the milk starts to heat up before adding the below ingredients take the Star anise and Pepper corns out.

Add sugar and a pinch of salt. Stir until dissolved.

Whisk the egg yolk separately until smooth. Slowly pour it into the pan while moving your spatula in an "8" manner. Continue until all the yolk has mixed in. This process is known as emulsification

Add Honey and continue stirring.

(You’ve made custard, wohoo!)

Pop in the tea bag and let it cook for a 45 sec- 1 min. Use your spoon and gentle squeeze a little while sliding the tea bag out. This will leave natural color and taste to the custard. (Do not squeeze to hard)

READYY…set aside.

Method for egg in the whole:

In a bowl beat your egg till it’s fluffy. Add the minced strawberries and one tbsp. of honey. Fold them over the other until mixed well. (Do not beat, fold them like your fold your jeans. Retain the fluffy texture)

Make a hole in the bread, by roughly squeezing the center out. Make sure to have same thickness of bread left on all ends.

In a separate sauce pan add 1tbsp of butter and let it melt

Toss your bread in and move it around on the pan for about enough seconds till the bottom changes slight color and flip it. (Don’t let it brown too much, once you add the egg it’ll take time to cook. There won’t be any flipping after which can cause the bread to burn)

Now, add your egg mix into the hole. While cooking it, use your spoon to take the excess butter on the pan and pour it onto the egg in the hole to allow it to cook well.

Add the tea custard on the corners of the bread to add extra flavor

Don't worry if you slightly burn your bread underneath even though professionally it’s not acceptable. I think the dark brown crunchy bit add to the fusion of flavor. (Yes, I burnt it a little)

Serving:

Extremely important part of every menu! Specially desserts. After a good meal, a color less and less presentable dessert is of no one’s interest. Make it so, that even the crazy eater can't resist wiping the dessert plate of.

In my dish, honey was first drizzled from top to end of the plate. Then the tea custard was added following another wavy line across of cream. Topped with sliced strawberry which was also dripped with a little cream.

Bonn Appetite!

Sweet crunching -ly yours

-A-

Strawberry Paneer bread pudding

Since I toke up an entire post on my love for strawberries, I’ll get on with the lovely recipes.

Ingredients

4 strawberries - quartered

3 strawberries - diced

1/2 pat of Paneer( fresh cheese)

1 bread slice

1tbsp butter

1tbsp sugar

1tbsp honey

Ingredients for Tea custard

1 cup milk

2 tbsp sugar

1tbsp honey

1 tea bag

1 egg yolk

1/2 star anise (ungrated)  - you can use clove as an alternative

2 black pepper corns- Kept whole

METHOD:

It’s only long because I’ve decided to take baby steps. Else, it’s easy and ingredients are readily available. Stop being lazy… it’s a matter of strawberries!

Method for Tea custard (Crèmes moulèe)

Heat the milk until hot, add Star anise and two pepper corn to add flavor.

As the milk starts to heat up before adding the below ingredients take the Star anise and Pepper corns out.

Add sugar and a pinch of salt. Stir until dissolved.

Whisk the egg yolk separately until smooth. Slowly pour it into the pan while moving your spatula making an “8” at a relatively fast pace, mixing it well. Continue until the yolk has mixed in.

Add Honey and continue stirring.

(You’ve made custard, wohoo!)

Pop in the tea bag and let it cook for a 45 sec- 1 min. Use your spoon and gently squeeze a little while sliding the tea bag out. This will leave natural color and taste to the custard (do not squeeze to hard).

READY…set aside.

Preparing the caramelized Strawberry on a pan:

Strawberries have high water content; they caramelize about as well as ice cubes. Quarter about 2-3 strawberries (make sure you pick the slightly firm ones). Add granulated sugar to your sauce pan and as it melts add your strawberries to the pan and mix and stir till the sugar starts to brown and strawberries change texture.

Turn off heat and set aside.

Later you’ll also notice the juices released by strawberry and the sugar liquid start to crystallize. This method is also known as the crystallization process.

Preparing the Strawberry Paneer Bread:

If you're using fresh strawberries, especially the huge one with the tartly flavor to it...eat a piece or two just to have yourself warm up to the fact that this seasonal fruit is…I’m pretty sure you got the idea from my last post.

In a separate bowl cut your bread out in bits and pieces like the hair on a sheep. Looks exactly like a bad hair day and scattered.

Add the half pat of Paneer and dump your diced/minced strawberries into the bowl

Add one tbsp. of honey

Next; work your hands into the mixing bowl. You may use a spoon but your hands allow it to combine better.

Take enough mixture, make it into a ball. Place ball through flat skewers, and shape into square like shape (always make sure when flattened or shaped the mixture shouldn't be bigger than your palm)

Repeat with remaining mixture.

Set them aside

Sautéing:

Melt the butter on medium heat.

Place your finished mixture into the pan and move it around to avoid it from sticking to the pan or break while flipping.

After a minute check for the change in color, drizzle Tea custard on the pieces and flip over. Repeat for the other side.

Serving:

So much I can use to plate this dish up! Caramelized strawberries, custard, fresh strawberries, cream, the water realized through caramelizing or the crystallized content left after. Even though I think the above is a lot to choose from, if something else excites your senses in your kitchen, add up! Keeping in mind the flavors and how they’d combine.

I used just a few of those.

Bonn Appetite J!

Custard dripping-ly yours

-A-