A Delightful Italian Desert

How many times have you had Tiramisu? And how many times has it been bad - I mean, not something that you would spit out, but something that you haven't really enjoyed? This is because these Tiramisu's aren't using some of the key ingredients that make this dessert on of my favourites...


1. Mascarpone Cheese and Egg Mixture - this has a big impact instead of using cream on every layer
2. Real Espresso - I recommend using Lavazza (but that's only because it's my Papa's favourite)
3. Good Dark Chocolate


500 grams Mascarpone cheese
6 eggs
1 pack of Savoriardi Lady Fingers
3 tablespoons of castor sugar
2 shots of Tia Maria or Cognac
8 shots of Espresso
1 block of dark Lindt Chocolate (Pear Intense)


1. Bring all ingredients to room temperature.
2. Make the espresso and poor it into shallow flat-bottomed bowl. Add one shot of Tia Maria, one tablespoon of finely grated Lindt Chocolate, and allow to cool to room temperature.
3. Separate egg yolks and whites. 
4. In a mixing bowl, beat egg yolks and sugar until creamy white. Add mascarpone and 1 shot of Tia Maria and mix until blended.  Leave this mixture in the bowl.
5. Quickly dip a savoiardi in the espresso bowl. To get the right amount of espresso on the savoiardi,  lay the finger flat in the bottom of the bowl sugared side UP and immediately pull it out. Place each finger flat in the bottom of the dish sugar side DOWN. The savoiardi will quickly absorb the espresso. If you soak the savoiardi in the espresso you will end up with soggy savoiardi instead of moist savoiardi. 
6. Build a layer of dipped savoiardi across the bottom of the dish. If some of the savoiardi do not look 'dark' from the espresso, spoon a few more drops of espresso on the savoiardi. Any espresso left in the bottom of the pan will be absorbed by the savoiardi. Too much espresso will turn the fingers into a soggy mess.7. Spoon a layer of egg/mascarpone mixture across the layer of savoiardi. Use about 1/2 of the mascarpone mix. The layer should be about 1cm. (3/8in.) thick. Cover with a thin layer of fincly grated chocolate.
8. REPEAT with remaining savoiardi and egg/mascarpone mixture.
9. Top with a layer of double whipped cream and remaining finely grated chocolate. Refrigerate for at least 4 hours before serving. The Tiramisu will taste quite good for several days if refrigerated.

Moving and a Shaking in the Kitchen

So, as you know I have been working on my photography. And here is a series which I have created in black and white that I have entitled 'Moving and a Shaking in the Kitchen'...What do you think?

Garlic -My Good Friend III

What's that I hear you say, 'Your breath must stink, this is your third post in so many days containing garlic'... Here's what I have to say in response 'If everyone is eating it (and in my case LOVING IT) then everyone's breath smells the same!'


I love garlic prawns and I have often cooked them with oil (rather than the creamy version, as I am lactose intolerant). However, this weekend my partner requests that I make a creamy garlic prawn dish to appease his brother (who in the end doesn't end up coming).


Don't worry - although I am a little disappointed that I don't get to eat the prawns the salmon is a big hit (well in my books anyways - for the recipe see 'Garlic - My Good Friend II).

CREAMY GARLIC PRAWNS
1.5 kgs of Green Prawns
8 gloves of garlic
8 green shallots
1 tablespoon of olive oil
2 teaspoons sweat paprika
400 mls pouring cream
Salt & Pepper


1. Peel and devein the prawns. I choose to leave the tails on for presentation, some people choose to take them off.
2. Into a bowl place the prawns, diced garlic, shallots, oil, paprika, salt and pepper. Toss the prawns in the flavourings and sit aside for 30 minutes.
3. Heat a little extra oil in a frying pan and add the prawns turning gently until golden. Drizzle the cream over the prawns and simmer for 2 minutes - you don't want the prawns to over cook... DO NOT BOIL THE PRAWNS/CREAM.

Garlic - My Good Friend II

Ok, so back to blogging about my beautiful dinner with Phillip's family. Besides garlic beans and crumbed fish, I also made baked salmon in the pecka.

The pecka is a traditional Croatian oven. I think it makes cooking for large groups of people easier. You can heat the large steel tray from the top and from the bottom and it's also great for cooking pizza!

My pecka looks a little different from Phillip's parents pecka - but I think it's super tastey!

BAKED SALMON
8 large cutlets of salmon
2 lemons
3 cloves of garlic
1 brown onion
1 red onion
Olive oil
Salt & Pepper

1. Turn of the pecka (or your oven) to 180 degrees celsius.
2. Season the salmon with salt and pepper and place into the baking tray. On and around the salmon place wedges of lemon, thin slivers of garlic and wedges of onion. Drizzle oil over everything.
2. Bake the salmon for 30 minutes.

Reading, reading, reading...

So in an effort to improve my blogging, I have been really focusing on expanding my repertoire of what I read. And I would like to thank all of those bloggers out there for their inspiration, in particular:


FoodandThrift: A beautiful blog about more than just food - this blog is about laughter, love and life. Thank you for helping me expand my blog (and my mind).


Cooking for Two: My very first 'Follower' - Presenting a temptingly delicious platter piled high with recipes for two, time-saving kitchen tips, helpful cooking hints, and winsome commentary - all served with a side of garlic-infused humor and a steaming bowl of buffoonery.


Kitchen Konfidence: A big thank you to Brandon Matzek for his photography tips - his photos are outstanding and I would love to be able to recreate some of his scenes!


The Canberra Cook:Cath Lawrence recently wrote a review for 'Dieci e Mezzo' in The Canberra Times 'Food&Wine' Supplement. I'm currently working with the restaurant to build their new website and carry out some of their marketing...so I am hooked on Cath's blog to see what she'll be up to next. 


The Lunch Box Project: Although one of my target areas in which I would like to improve my blog is photography - I am never let down by this outstanding blog that doesn't contain photography but outstanding sketches! One of my favourite posts so far is from October 24th - PFB Challenge #6: Road Trip.


Gastro-Greek: Again, this blog contains outstanding photography, along with those tantalizing tales that make you want to try that recipe (even after you've just stuffed yourself silly).


What's Cooking: I was attracted to this blog for the outstanding mexican recipes that were posted. Living in Australia, I crave to create those exciting Mexican dishes that I tried when I was traveling through the USA - but I just can't find the same ingredients :(


Food Fash: I am on her dieting journey, with her quirky behaviour reminding me of myself - I enjoy getting lost (or really finding myself) in her posts. If you're a young female, or once were a young female, or know of a young female... you'll enjoy this blog.


New YoU: My most recent add from Foodbuzz. These young ladies are in a competition to reinvent fast food and they need our support to make it a reality.


The Mistress of Cakes: And to finish - How can you possibly go past a good dessert blog??

Garlic - My Good Friend

Hello Garlic - so lovely to see you again. I am feeling a little under the weather at the moment and I would love it if you could please kill my cold?

So you think garlic gives you nothing but bad breath? Well, OK, it does, but it’s also one of the healthiest foods you can eat. For centuries, garlic has been considered a “cure-all” and is said to be able to treat just about every ailment from the cold to the Plague! I don’t think there are too many Plagues about these days so here are a few other ways you can use garlic to improve your health:-

Antioxidant – Allicin naturally increases antioxidant enzymes atalase and glutathione peroxidase in your blood. It can help against the damaging effects of nicotine and slows the aging process of your liver by inhibiting lipid peroxidation.

Anti-Bacterial – Garlic has 1% of the potency of penicillin and can ward off a number of bacteria such as Listeria, Salmonella, E. coli, Cryptococcal meningitis, Candida albican and Staphylococcus. The problem with most antibiotics is that bacteria develops resistance to them, however this is not the case with garlic. These benefits were first realized back in the early 19th century when English priests caught infectious fever. The French priests, who ate garlic everyday, didn’t.

Last night, we had Phillip's brother, sister-in-law and their 4 kids around for dinner. We made quiet a large amount of food - which some how disappeared....and nearly everything we made had my friend garlic in it.  I'll blog about the some of the things we made a little later...

Today, as a true lover of food, I sat down for my lunch break at work - leftovers heated, foodbuzz on my laptop and a few copies of The Canberra Times 'Food&Wine' Supplement on my desk.

I've recently been inviting other bloggers to my blog to comment on my post and give me some helping tips. I thank all of my fellow blogs who have become followers and all those who have given me their honest opinions and feedback. Thank you specifically to FoodandThrift who pointed out to me that this is all a game of give and take!

CRUMB FISH & GARLIC BEANS

8 pieces of flathead (bones removed)

1 egg

1 tablespoons of milk

1 cup of breadcrumbs

Sunflower oil (for shallow frying)

Salt & Pepper

1 kilo of green beans

1 small red onion

2 cloves of garlic

2 tablespoons of olive oil

Salt & Pepper

Whisk egg and milk together and season with salt and pepper. I know you may feel the need to add more egg, but this will make your fish bubble and burn. Coat fish in the egg wash and then cover with crumbs. Set aside.

Top and tail the beans, place into a pot of cold water and bring to the boil. Once the beans are boiling, remove from the heat and drain.

Add oil, diced onion and garlic to the beans. Return to heat and stir, and then season with salt and pepper. Cover with a lid and leave the beans on the lowest heat.

Heat approximately 2 cms of sunflower oil in a pan, when a wooden spoon in dipped into the oil it should bubble when hot enough. Dip fish gently into the oil and fry until cooked.

We served this last night with baked salmon, chicken snitzel, garlic prawns, mash potato, green salad and mixed salad – I hopefully shall post about them later this week!

Curried Egg Sandwiches

My mum and I have completed some catering lately - the first event was my sister's baby shower, then a couple of weeks ago we catered for my sister's engagement party. At both events we made mini sandwiches and they went down a treat!

They work because they are simple and easy, people aren't afraid to pick them up and eat them. They really aren't too adventurous and they aren't messy to eat - they are simply the perfect cocktail food. Cut into triangles or 'little soldiers' you can make these simple curried egg sandwiches come alive on the plate using some simple tricks:

1. Vary the type of bread you are using - instead of making these curried egg sandwiches using white bread, try picking up a few of those half loaves and using flavours like 'soy and linseed', 'pumpkin', and 'sour dough'. The variations in the colour of the bread will create some excitement.

2. Vary the 'green' which you'll add to the sandwich. Gone are the days when the only lettuce on the shelf was iceberg! Pick up some curly lettuce, some lettuce with a touch of purple in the leaf or every use sprouts. Sprinkle some on the plate (artistically) before you lay the sandwiches on top and people will oh-and-ah.

CURRIED EGG SANDWICHES
12 eggs
1 cup of whole egg mayo
1 tablespoon of mild curry powder
3 green shallots (or spring onions)
2 loaves of bread (up to your personal choice)
2 lettuces (up to your personal choice)
Salt & Pepper

1. Place eggs in a saucepan and cover with water. Bring to the boil and boil for 10 minutes. Remove the saucepan from the heat and allow the eggs to cool for 5 minutes.
2. Under running water, shell the eggs and place in a bowl for mashing. With a fork mash the eggs, adding mayo, curry powder, sliced shallots and salt and pepper to taste.
3. Spread the egg mixture onto the bread. Top with lettuce and cut into your preferred dimension (i.e. triangles or rectangles).

Potatoes - two ways...

Personally, I think that you need to have a carb at dinner time. I'm not on a diet and my man works hard all day and wants to come home and 'feel full' at dinner time. That's why I believe that each dinner should be made up of meat, carb and veggies (all in proportion).

I'm not the biggest fan of rice or pasta - so the carb part of my dinner is often made up of potato. We've been living with Phillip's parents for the past 2 months - and I guess we will continue to live with them until we purchase our house. I'm enjoying this time as I am learning new techniques from Phillip's Mum and being influenced by her traditional Croatian meals.

Last night, we had our standard quick and easy chicken snitzel dinner with fresh garden salad and potato. We made, what Phillip's Mum calls 'potato in the pan' - but I am sure that it has a proper Croatian name that I am yet to learn... and seeing as Phillip isn't the biggest fan of potato that way, we made potato salad Croatian style.

The below recipes are for 4 adults.

POTATO IN THE PAN
6 large potatoes (I like the pink ones, Phillip's Mum likes the white ones)
1/2 large brown onion
2 tablespoons crushed garlic
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon hot paprika
1 tablespoon Vegeta*

1. Boil the potatoes with their skin on until soft. You will be able to tell this by putting a skewer through the potato when the skin bursts.
2. Remove potatoes from the pot and peel the skin off whilst the potatoes are hot. And then slice the potato into cubes.
3. Into a clean, hot pan drizzle the oil and add the diced brown onion and garlic. Once it has browned, add the paprika, Vegeta and potato. Turn the potato ensuring that it doesn't brake up too much. Allow to cook for approximately 10 minutes - remove from heat and serve in the pan.

CROATIAN POTATO SALAD
6 large potatoes
1/2 red onion
1/2 green capsicum
4 green shallots (or spring onions)
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon white vinegar
2 teaspoons black pepper
1 teaspoon salt

1. Boil the potatoes with the skin on until soft. Remove from the pot and peel the skin off whilst the potatoes are hot. Cube the potatoes and place in a bowl.
2. Dice the red onion, green capsicum and shallots and add to the bowl. Drizzle over oil and vinegar. Add salt and pepper and then mix, ensuring that the potato doesn't brake up too much.
3. TASTE - super important, I like my potato salad a little saltier and with lots of vinegar - so add a little more if you'd like to suit your taste. I've put this recipe up using minimum quantities, so go crazy if you'd like!

*Vegeta - what is Vegeta? It's a standard European seasoning made from vegetables and seasoning herbs. I think that Phillip's Mum puts it in everything... if it needs salt or if it needs stock (I think of it as a vegetable stock powder) than you can use Vegeta.

French Toast

I awoke on Sunday morning after my dinner party and thought I really want to eat some of that Tia Maria ice-cream for breakfast. Hmmm - not the healthiest breakfast item and definitely not something that Phillip would see as a viable breakfast option.

So I started thinking, 'What goes with Mascarpone Cheese?' - pancakes and FRENCH TOAST!

I made sweet French Toast and topped with Croatian plum jam and Mascarpone Cheese Granita - I hear you saying, I thought it was ice-cream! Granita (in Italian also granita siciliana) is a semi-frozen dessert made from sugar, water and various flavorings. Here is what happened... I took the ice-cream from the freezer and it was frozen solid. So I took a fork and started scraping the top layer, which formed tiny granules. Unlike a water based Granita, it did not melt like ice but melted like cheese - PERFECT!

Oh and I used Croatian plum jam - which contains less sugar and is a little bitter - but oh-so-good! Podravka’s smooth plum jam is a product of our recognisable high quality holding the label "Genuine Croatian Product".A particularly large quantity of fruit and a very small quantity of added sugar give this jam an exquisite taste. 

4 eggs

6 slices of sourdough bread

2 tablespoons of milk

1 tablespoon of sugar

Butter

Croatian plum jam

Tia Maria Ice-cream (You can find the recipe under 'Brandy Snap Baskets')

1. Crack all the eggs into a bowl and whisk in milk and sugar.

2. Heat a medium sized frying pan and melt the butter in the pan. 

3. Dip the bread into the egg mixture and then place in the frying pan - brown on both sides and then remove.

4. Top toast with Croatian plum jam. With a fork, make the mascarpone cheese granata and add on top.

Brandy Snap Baskets

Last weekend I caught up with Sarah and Angus (aka Blue) who I went to uni with. I cooked a baked dinner, as requested and made homemade ice-cream for desert. To create a desert with that little bit extra, I served the ice-cream in Brandy Snap Baskets and then topped it off with fresh strawberries and blueberries.


I created a flavoured ice-cream that is half cream and half mascarpone cheese. Mascarpone is a triple-creme cheese, made from a generally low-fat (25%) content fresh cream. And it's DELICIOUS!



ICE-CREAM
400 grams Mascarpone Cheese
400 grams Thicken Cream
200 grams Double Thicken Cream
3 tablespoons Tia Maria
2 tablespoons Castor Sugar

Directions

1. In a metal bowl, whisk together the Tia Maria and Castor Sugar.
2. Add Mascarpone cheese and cream and continue to whisk until smooth.
3. Cover with glad wrap and place in the freezer. After one hour remove and with a fork mix the ice-cream, making sure that you scrap all the frozen ice-cream away from the sides.
4. Repeat step 3, every hour until frozen, this will make for a smoother end result.
5. Remove ice-cream from the freezer 10 minutes prior to serving, this allows you to easily scoop it out. 

BRANDY SNAP BASKETS
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 cup butter
1/3 cup superfine sugar
1/3 cup golden syrup


Directions

1. Preheat oven to 170 degrees celsius. Generously grease baking sheets.
2. Sift together flour and ginger.
3. In a small saucepan over medium heat, combine butter, sugar and syrup and cook until butter is melted. Allow to cool.
4. Stir flour mixture  into syrup. Drop by spoonfuls onto prepared sheets, well spaced apart, as the mixture will spread.
5. Bake 10 to 15 minutes in preheated oven, until golden. Remove from oven and let cool 1 minute. Have ready 5 small bowls, their undersides buttered. Gently lift the brandy snap off the tray and bend it over a bowl to shape. Remove baskets when cooler and set.