Watercress soup (and Naan)

Watercress and pork rib soup - delicious with some buttered crusty loaf, or in my case, naan!

Give me a pot of watercress soup and I can probably finish it all, slowly but surely. I thought I had made a big pot of it for dinner, but it went down so easily that we finished the entire thing. I knew that bunch of watercress was deceptively huge once I unbundled it, but shrank tremendously after simmering on the stove for a few hours.

I love this soup. It's delicious, highly nutricious and so simple to prepare. All you need are pork ribs and watercress (a big bunch of it), and slowly simmer them on low heat for a few hours (I had it on for 4 hours). Well, depending on how soft you want the watercress to be, you might want to add them later instead. Then, just season with salt and pepper. If necessary, add some chicken stock if there isn't enough sweetness from the pork. And that's it! All ready! The pork ribs can be eaten with some cut red chilli and soy sauce. And the soup goes well with some buttered crusty loaf. We had our soup with some leftover naan that we heated up in the oven, and it was truly yummy!



Watercress



Japonais

Japonais....it's like eating a Kinder Bueno cake, but more decadent!

I came across the recipe for Japonais in "Ultimate Cake" by Barbara Maher. A Japonais is a classic french pastry with traditional almonds and mocha filling. This version uses hazelnuts and chocolate ganache. I had never had it before this, but it looked easy to make and one of the ingredients was potato flour. I was curious about this flour as I had never used it before. Apparently, it is made from boiled, sieved and dried potatoes and produces a delicate, airy texture. So after chancing upon the flour at the supermarket one day, I bought it and decided to try out this recipe.

Recipe adapted from "Ultimate Cake".

Ingredients:

For the Japonais:
150g caster sugar
100g roasted hazelnuts, finely ground
45g icing sugar
4 tsp potato flour
4 egg whites

For the filling and decoration:
Chocolate ganache:
300ml heavy/double cream
300g plain chocolate, chopped

4 tbsp roasted hazelnuts, finely chopped
8 whole roasted hazelnuts

Method:

1. Mark two 24cm circles on baking sheets. Mix half the caster sugar with the hazelnuts, icing sugar and potato flour.

2. Whisk the egg whites into soft peaks. Gradually whisk in remaining caster sugar until they form a stiff, glossy meringue. Fold in nut and sugar mixture until evenly mixed.

3. Spread mixture equally within the marked circles to form two flat discs and bake in preheated oven (160°C) for 1 hour, or until meringues are dry and crisp. If using both top and bottom oven racks, switch racks after 40 minutes and extend baking time by 15-20 minutes. Leave in oven with door slightly ajar to cool for 1-2 hours. Carefully lift off the lining paper after they have cooled.

4. Spread half the ganache over the base of one meringue disc. Cover with second disc, smooth-side up. Spread remaining ganache over the top and sides of cake.

5. Press most of the chopped nuts onto the sides, and arrange the whole nuts around the top. Sprinkle the centre with remaining nuts.

To make ganache:

1. Pour cream into a small pan and slowly bring to boil over a gentle heat. Take it off the heat and gradually stir in chocolate pieces until well incorporated.

2. Leave to cool in refrigerator until firm but not set.

If you love Nutella and you love Kinder Bueno, you will love this. The meringue is light and crisp, acting as a vessel for the hazelnuts, and blends nicely with the rich chocolate ganache. It is a rich and decadent dessert, and best eaten within 2-4 hours after it's made. Keeps in the fridge for 4-5 days.


 

Light, crisp and flaky hazelnut meringue sandwich filled with rich chocolate ganache and covered with chopped hazelnuts



Chocolate Truffles Galore!

We were invited to a party last weekend and I couldn't think of anything to bring for the host, except perhaps buy a box of chocolates. Then I figured it would be a good idea to bring homemade ones instead. Truffles are easy to make (although it was my first time making them), they taste heavenly melt-in-your-mouth and it's fun making different coatings for them.

Ingredients for Truffles:

200g good quality dark chocoolate, chopped or broken to small pieces

160ml thickened / heavy whipping cream

20g butter

Coating:

Toasted and chopped hazelnuts, almonds etc

Sprinkles

Crushed Oreo cookies (without the cream filling)

Milo (gives it some crunch!)

Cocoa powder

Method: 

1. Place cream and butter in a pot and bring to a boil, stirring occasionally to avoid splattering.

2. Pour over chocolate pieces and let it sit for 5 minutes.

3. Whisk mixture till smooth and glossy, making sure all the chocolate is melted. Refrigerate overnight.

4. Prepare coating ingredients by placing them in a dish.

5. Working quickly with a teaspoon, scoop the chocolate into little irregular-shaped balls and roll them in the coating till evenly coated. If chocolate starts to melt and gets harder to work with, put it back in the fridge to harden before making again.

6. Place ready truffles on baking / parchment paper, cover and store in fridge. These can be eaten cold or at room temperature.

I also tried coating some toasted pecans in melted chocolate, then dipping them in crushed oreos for a second coating. These are yummy too!

Filo Tomato Rice Parcels

I made these for lunch today as there was leftover tomato rice in the fridge from the other night (but no more lamb!). As I felt like eating something more substantial, I thought it would be nice to wrap it up in filo pastry (which I had gone out to buy this morning) and have that with two of my favourite foods - mushrooms and egg.

This was ready in less than 20 minutes. All I had to do was take 2 sheets of filo pastry, brush them with melted butter and fold them in half. Then I placed a mound of the rice in the centre and wrapped it up into a little parcel, and popped it in the oven at 200°C for about 15 minutes. Once golden brown and crisp, I took it out of the oven and brushed it with more melted butter (for a little extra shine!). Then I served it with a fried egg and sauteed mushrooms, with a generous squeeze of ketchup and Sriracha chilli sauce. This would go really well with some sweet eggplant relish/chutney.

Strawberries & Cream Puffs



Strawberries and cream puffs - crisp, golden domes of choux pastry, lightly dusted with icing sugar and filled with fresh strawberries and whipped cream



These cream puffs (or profiteroles) are crisp on the outside, fluffy and buttery on the inside. I made some whipped cream with vanilla and a little sugar. I also mixed some of the cream with rose syrup. As there was some red bean paste in the fridge, I mixed some of it with the cream to make a creamy red bean filling. These choux pastries are easy to prepare and are best eaten immediately so that they maintain their crisp exterior. Fantastic drizzled with chocolate sauce!

Choux pastries filled with custard, fresh cream and strawberries, drizzled with hot chocolate sauce and lightly dusted with icing sugar