All posts tagged: dessert

Wine AKL, Scarecrow 7 course dinner and Milse

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Last Friday, my friend Miss A and I devoted ourselves to an indulgent evening of wining and dining. There was a wine tasting marathon, a 7 course seafood dinner, cocktails and the night ended at what is easily regarded as the best dessert restaurant in Auckland. We began at 5pm sharp at Wine AKL, a celebration of New Zealand’s wine from 80 vineyards across 2 levels down at Shed 10, Queen’s Wharf a special for Restaurant Month. This was followed by a 7-course dinner of sustainable seafood at Scarecrow on High. There we met a couple of foodies from out of town so we (well, actually Miss A was the instigator) decided to accompany them to Milse for dessert.    Wine AKL Wine AKL started off with a performance by Java Dance Company and with a bang as Bob Campbell (Master of Wine) and wine maker Daniel Le Brun dangerously ceremoniously opened a couple of bottles of the new No. 1  Assemblé (pronounced: a-SOM-blay) which we got to sample.  This was absolutely delicious. We headed upstairs area which was …

Baked butter & maple figs

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  The following post is part of a series of recipes celebrating figs. This is a simple recipe, great for dinner parties as you can get the figs prepped ahead of time and then pop them in the oven for 10 minutes shortly after dinner. I’ve written this recipe for 2 people, but it’s easy to multiply for more, just allow 2-3 figs per person. I was happy with 2 figs but my sweet tooth friends preferred 3. This recipe is gluten free. Most ice creams are gluten free but if serving with ice cream, double check the ingredients list. Greek yogurt is gluten free so that’s a safe option. Baked butter & maple figs (with yogurt or ice cream) Serves 2 for dessert Ingredients 6 figs Maple syrup 2 slivers of butter Greek yogurt or ice cream to serve Preparation Preheat oven to 200°C (390°F). Line a baking sheet with parchment paper, cut a cross in the top of each fig, and place on the sheet. Insert a sliver of butter into each fig and …

Recipes for Easter

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From ages 9 to 18, I attended Catholic schools. I wasn’t a “Catholic school-girl”, but I was a “Catholic-school, girl”. Easter is a big deal for Catholics. Bigger than Christmas. I understand the ins and outs of Easter, I attended Easter mass and observed Lent for all my pre-teen and teenage years. But at the end of the day, for non-religious people like myself, Easter is a couple days off work, a whole lot of chocolate, hot cross buns and some feasting. Have you got any eating or cooking plans this Easter? Here in New Zealand it’s autumn and no doubt there will be many families firing up the barbecue for one final pow wow before winter. Here’s a round up some of my recipes for Easter. I’ve included lamb, hot cross buns, eggs, more eggs and a carrot cake just for the Easter bunny. Most of them teeter on the fence between sweet and savoury. Enjoy! Hot Cross Buns with Custard and Cognac (bread and butter pudding) A decadent version of bread and butter pudding using hot cross buns. Use traditional sultana …

Hot Cross Buns with Custard and Cognac

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  I’m not much of a baker so we feast on store-bought hot cross buns every Easter. No shame. If you’re itching for something a little fancy this Easter, I recommend trying this version of bread and butter pudding. This recipe serves six adults (or two giant gluttons with regret). Bread & Butter Pudding Hot Cross Buns with Custard and Cognac (adapted from jamieoliver.com) Serves 6 Ingredients 2 cups milk 2 cups cream 1 vanilla pod or 1/4 teaspoon vanilla paste 4 eggs 3/4 cups white sugar 6 hot cross buns, cut in half and smeared with butter butter for buns 1 handful of sultanas soaked in 2 tablespoons Cognac overnight 1 tablespoon Cognac Icing sugar for dusting 1-2 cups cream for serving Preparation Pre-heat oven to 170°C / 325°F. In a large pot, bring the milk and cream to just before simmering point. Cut the vanilla pod in half and scrape out the seeds into the pan. In a bowl, whisk the eggs with sugar until pale, then pour egg and sugar mix into the …

Flirting with a Russian ballerina

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I’ve always been scared of making pavlova. The crisp but delicate shell and frothy interior threatening to any non-baker. The fancy Russian ballerina name doesn’t help any either. What is it trying to be exactly? Any kind of baking that is more science than art is taboo to me but I was determined to give it a whirl. I put it on my bucket list at the start of summer and I’m glad that I got to conquer it. I was never been a huge fan of pavlova. It is a national treasure here in New Zealand and the dessert kiwis think of fondly in summer. A pavlova melts in the mouth like a cloud and doesn’t require any chewing, just a quick inspection in the mouth to get the flavour and and down it goes. Made mostly from egg whites and sugar, it lacks…substance. After reading many recipes, I settled on Nessie’s recipe from Baking Equals Love. Nessie is a fellow kiwi and an accomplished baker, only recently blogged about her first pavlova. I …

Chocolate Fondue

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Part 3 of 3 Unlike cheese fondue, chocolate fondue is a fairly new invention, credited to a Swiss restaurateur Konrad Egli who invented the dish in 1964. To finish off our fondue night last week, we had a chocolate fondue. Unlike cheese fondue, chocolate fondue can be cooked in the fondue pot as it chocolate turns liquid at a much lower temperature than cheese. I cut up some fruit (from our CSA box) and my sister, Joey and her boyfriend, D brought marshmallows and mini cinnamon donuts. These were great skewered and dipped into the melted chocolate. While waiting for the chocolate to melt, we pretended to toast them in front of the crackling fireplace video. The fruit also went down well and was a burst of freshness to cut through the heavier stuff. Chocolate Fondue Tips Joey, our resident baker and chocolate scientist, recommended that we didn’t add cream to the chocolate fondue in case it made the mixture seize up. Seized chocolate is when your smooth, silken chocolate transforms into a grainy, hard …

Brown Sugar Stewed Apples

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With all the delicious winter apples we’ve been receiving in our CSA box, I wanted to do something with them that was easy and warming. It’s hard to eat cold fruit when you feel cold yourself and stewed apples are a great way to use up apples. My simple recipe uses ingredients you probably already have. I did a similar treatment to rhubarb last summer and you can see that recipe here. Brown Sugar Stewed Apples Makes 2 to 4 servings Ingredients 2 apples 1/2 cup soft brown sugar 1 tablespoon cornstarch Optional: 1 shot limoncello  Preparation Peel apples and cut into quarters. Slice off centre, pips and discard. Cut the remaining quarters into 5 or 6 pieces each. Add apple and the other ingredients to a small saucepan on medium heat. Cook for 10 minutes stirring occasionally with a wooden spoon. Be careful not to burn the sugar, so if the sauce becomes thick and sticky, it is done. Serve on porridge, cake or ice cream. Refrigerate what you don’t use. Note: Under no …

Do something with rhubarb

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“Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit; wisdom is knowing not to put it in a fruit salad.” – Brian O’Driscoll I think you can consider a rhubarb as a vegetable in the same way that a tomato is a fruit. Rhubarb is completely alien to me. I recognise the word, but I I can’t say I have eaten rhubarb before. If I have, I mustn’t have been paying attention or maybe it was cooked with fruit and I wasn’t sure where the fruit ended and the rhubarb began. I was determined to do something with rhubarb this summer, and to know for sure what it was (and if I liked it). It’s a bit embarrassing that I wasn’t  sure what rhubarb looked like. I couldn’t identify it in the wild, although I’m generally pretty good at identifying edibles in the ground. I thought maybe it looked like silverbeet or celery only bright red. I was on the right track. I even claimed that I’d never seen rhubarb in any shops. Surely if I …

Make Ice Cream

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Merry Christmas everyone. I hope your day is filled with yummy treats and that your stretchy pants look as good this year. I look forward to catching up with family and eating lots of delicious things. Namely, a glazed ham. I dream of ham year round. The weather has really turned bright and hot for us this Christmas and with summer weather comes demand for ice cream. I successfully made ice cream for the first time and I stirred in a bit of home made russian fudge for a buttery flavour boost. No ice cream maker required, just an egg beater and plenty of bowls. I found this easy ice cream recipe online here by a user named Marble. I’ve reblogged it just in case that page ever disappears. I have very limited kitchen space so never had the desire to hoard a food processor or an ice cream maker. I love how the fanciest tool required for this recipe is an egg beater. No food processor or ice cream maker required! ICE CREAM Use 3 bowls …

I Love Strawberry

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I love strawberries and I find it hard to resist buying just a punnet when I visit farmers’ markets. This recipe is so easy and uses very little strawberries that you could make it 2 nights in a row if you wanted to extend your punnet. Cooking strawberries is some kind of voodoo magic to me. The taste and fragrance of these hearts, so potent you will be amazed it’s not artificial. There is no need to add more sugar to this dish as jam is already quite sweet. I used feijoa and ginger from Peninsula Preserves that we picked up from Lyttelton Farmers Market last month. This post is an entry for Sweet New Zealand, a monthly blogging event open to all Kiwi bloggers. Founded by Alessandra Zecchini, this month’s event is hosted by Mairi from Toast. See here for more info on this month’s event. Strawberry Heart Puffs Makes 2 hearts Ingredients 1 sheet frozen puff pastry 5 strawberries  2 tablespoons jam  Butter for greasing Optional: icing sugar for dusting  Preparation Lay puff pastry out the counter to defrost. Preheat oven to …

Looks like poo, tastes like awesome.

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I did my best to make this look pretty, but there’s no two ways about it, stewed fruit and melted chocolate looks horrible. I made this recipe up based on what I had on hand. No reason why you can’t do the same. By all means, experiment! And eat the evidence. Feijoa  (pronounced fee-jo-ah) can be replaced with berries or stone fruit. Feijoa Custard with Chocolate and Cointreau Makes 2 Ingredients 12 feijoa 1 tablespoon sugar 1 shot of Cointreau 12 chocolate buttons plus 4 extra for garnish 1 cup of custard (chilled) Preparation Cut feijoas in half and scoop fruit out and into a small sauce pan. Add sugar and Cointreau. Simmer for 5-10 minutes. Stirring with a wooden spoon and breaking up the fruit as you go. When the fruit is all broken down and resembling baby food, drop in 12 chocolate buttons. Give the mixture gentle mix and divide into 2 ramekins. Top with custard and make a butterfly garnish on each dollop of custard using 2 extra chocolate buttons.

3 Course Dinner

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Who said you need an occasion to make 3 courses? Starter: Calamari salad with avocado and lemon mayo. Squid is pretty damn cheap. I got a kilo of frozen squid for $11. The squid you see on these 2 plates cost about $1. Not bad! Squid rings Ingredients Half a squid tube per person (or 1-1.5 whole tubes for a main) Salt Pepper 1 tbspn flour Paprika Oil for frying Ok, I’m terrible with measurements. I don’t measure and neither should you! Learn what feels right. Taste your food and remember for next time. Preparation Clean squid tubes and dry with paper towels/napkins. Put in a shallow bowl and paprika, salt and pepper generously. Add about a tablespoon of flour for each tube. Mix well and refridgerate until needed. Heat about 4cm of oil in a small pot. Carefully lower the squid rings with tongs. They are done after about 2 minutes. Be careful not to overcrowd them. Batches are a good idea! I’ve read that you should drain/dry on paper towels, but there was …

Strawberry Pastries

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Easy summer goodness. Did you ever notice that strawberries look like hearts? Make this for your Valentine why don’t ya? Strawberry Pastries with Butterscotch Sauce (for two) Butterscotch sauce ingredients 4 teaspoons sugar 4 teaspoons water 4 tablespoons palm sugar 4 tablespoons butter A dash of milk Preparation In a small saucepan, simmer 4 teaspoons of sugar with 4 teaspoons of water. Add more water if it looks like it will burn. Stir for a few minutes until thick. Add palm sugar and stir until dissoved. Stir in butter and milk. I promise you this stuff is hot. DO NOT blow on the spoon and then lick the sauce. It will burn you. Molten sugar is hot like lava from the pits of hell. Trust me! I know! Strawberry Pastries ingredients 1 sheet of puff pastry A small punnet of strawberries (we ate some of the punnet already) Preparation Preheat oven to 200°C. Cut a square sheet of puff pastry in half and put each half onto a grease baking sheet. Wash and remove tops of strawberries. …