White chocolate and Cherry Macarons

Macarons have always been "That adorable little dessert I will never have the guts to try"... well until the tea party!

There is something about that crunchy chewy combination that is so addictive!

Since this was my first time let me go on and tell you about the funny, frustrating and finally worthwhile experience I had making these little rascals. Obviously I'm no expert at making these so I'm not entirely sure if what I did was right or wrong, and if it goes completely against what an orthodox French macaron should be ... errrr I'm terribly sorry!

So I tried very hard to be as precise as possible with my measuring. It wasn't very easy because I generally am an estimate/look and assume kind of girl. I was super determined to make it work!

The thing is after a lot of reading I wasn't so sure if I should go with egg whites aged for a day at room temperature or egg whites aged in the refrigerator for three days. Since I was short on time I went with the 1 day recipe. Have you made macarons? Which method do you use?

I followed the simple steps:
For approximately 30 macarons

• 100g ground almonds
• 200g icing sugar
• 3 egg whites (covered with cling film and aged at room temperature for a day)
• 4 tbsp granulated sugar

Sift the almond

Mix the icing sugar with the almonds

Whip the egg whites with an electric beater. When peaks start forming add the granulated sugar a tablespoon at a time till stiff peaks form. At this point you should be able to hold the bowl upside down without the eggs slipping out

Fold the beated eggs with the almond mixture

Fill a pastry bag and pipe 1" circles on parchment paper

Allow to sit for about an hour for the skin to form

Bake at 150 degrees Celsius for 10-15 mins

Once the macarons are cooled fill them with your filling of choice

Check this guide out. It has very simple and well explained steps to guide you along the way if this is your first time. Or you could check out Tartlette's amazingly very very detailed how to here.

I bought store ground almonds because I wasn't very sure how fine my grinder at home would grind whole almonds. I would say they worked fine.I should however mention that you would probably want to get your hands on some really good quality parchment paper. I used wax paper which I normally use for cookies etc and I had a horrible time because the macaroons got stuck to the paper. Fortunately I was able to save some of them.

I was so ecstatic that I was able to produce something decent at the end of the day. Extremely exhausted by the time I was done I really didn't feel up to making icing for the filling, so I just melted some white chocolate and use a bit of cherry pie filling I had made earlier. What a stroke of luck because it actually tasted great!

Orange glazed cookies

I've mentioned these cookies before and I've given you a link to them, but I've decided that they are just too awesome to not talk about even more! They don't look exciting and over the top but sometimes great things look so normal they go unnoticed so I'm going to write a little review about these cookies.

Now I'm generally not one to like flavoured cookies because more often than not, it ends up tasting like some highly unnatural flavouring that completely kills the entire cookie. When I was small i recall having to eat a lot of orange flavoured sponge cake and it hasn't left any pleasant memories. Which is why when I saw this recipe the first time I was pretty skeptical but the pictures of them at browneyedbaker looked stunning and I thought why not?

First off, yes my cookies look nothing like the ones in that website. I'd like to think that they at least tasted the same :P. If you are going to give these a shot, I would suggest pressing down on the cookie dough balls before they go into the oven. Because my cookies are a little thick they were a little more crumblier than they should have been. This cookie is soft and not overly sweet. Chewy yet crumbly, it literally melts in your mouth.

Rubbing the zest into the sugar really freshens up the flavour. Do not under any circumstances cut down the the amount of orange zest in this recipe because it really adds so much more character to the flavour of this cookie! Besides, once the glaze hardens it is such a pleasure to bite into, since the variation between the slightly hard glazing and the soft buttery cookie is divine!

Absolutely love love loving this cookie right now!

Just a lazy afternoon tea

When I was at university I used to often miss those big weekend meals where the entire family would wolf down a heavy lunch and laze around the rest of the day. It was almost like a tradition. Late lunch, conversation, a nap, tea and biscuits; that’s how the day would go. Unfortunately when you are a student away from home those big meals are hard to come by. If you were able to open a bag of frozen veggies and mix it into your two minute indomie noodles, that would be special enough.

But what is really great about the weekends is everyone coming together. The amazing feeling you get surrounded by people and their stories and while insults and fights do occur, these are the days that are most memorable. Lately I’ve been feeling like the week drags on forever with no inspiration. So I decided that it was time to change things up a bit. Take a break from the dinners and have a nice cozy tea party with friends. Escape the loneliness for a little while.

Why tea? Well If I were completely honest, I like the little plates of food; the decadent and the savoury, crockery adorned in floral motifs, lace table cloths, the little cubes of sugar, the ribbons and the hats! If I could make all my guests dress up to suit the theme of my dinners and teas, I really would! However for right now I’ll just resort to people actually wanting to come eat my food over them finding my little shindigs troublesome.

 The menu!

• White chocolate and cherry macarons

• Orange glazed cookies

• Raisin stuffed cookies

• “Purple sparkle” cake pops

• Shrimp spring rolls with peanut sauce

• Pickle and salami canapés

• Mint and cucumber tea sandwiches

• A fruit platter of honeydew melon, plum, grapes and strawberries dipped in chocolate

• Ceylon tea (eh what else would I serve in my household)

• Lemongrass ice tea

It was exciting making smaller quantities of various kinds of food. Time consuming? yes, but a lot of fun! I tried my best to have a combination of simple things as well as complicated on the menu. There were those that I had made before, orange glazed cookies, cake pops etc.. as well as those that were first timers; macarons, spring rolls etc...

Macarons became a bit of a dilemma but I managed to scrape through. You can read about it here! I had never used wonton/ spring roll sheets before and I blew a big sigh of relief to find out how easy they were to use, especially when I was cramming for time. Everything eventually did fall into place, definitely a better success than my previous dinner when I had a bit of an accident cutting into my finger...boooo....

I even managed to find time to design some name cards. And of course in my books everything needs ribbons! Check out the next couple of entries for more on the menu!

Prawn stuffed chicken wrapped in turkey bacon

Third course, the meat!

Now to go really crazy with the amounts of meat I loaded up onto one plate I decided to make prawn stuffed chicken wrapped in turkey bacon!

Takes a bit of time to assemble but after that it is smooth sailing because you can knock it in the oven and forget about for a bit while you get onto to something else. I love dishes that you can forget about for a while because I think you need at least one of those when you serve courses. It is vital that you move quickly. I had problems being quick serving a party of eight, so I don’t think I want to think about entertaining more without any help. Stews and other slow cooked dishes might solve my problem here but I’ve realised that these dishes have slowly started to become a trend in my little swarays. Slow roasted lamb, goulash, slow cooked lamb shanks, chilli... No! It was time to cut down the cooking time from 4 hours to a maximum of 30 minutes!

I normally do not cook chicken unless it butter chicken! When I cook for people I generally like to do something a little more special and memorable, not fancy but something that is exciting to prepare as well as eat. However I have to agree that there is something very homey about chicken whether it is a roast bird, chicken rolls or a plain old curry.

Keeping in the theme I chose stuffed chicken because I love how something that looks so ordinary can have so much more depth and detailed when cut into.

Prawn stuffed chicken wrapped in turkey bacon

Serves 8

For the meat

• 8 large prawns, cleaned, deveined, skins removed
• 8 chicken breasts
• 19 strips of turkey bacon (You may need more or less depending on the size of chicken you use)
• 200g sharp cheddar, grated
• Rosemary and Olive seasoning (You can use any seasoning you have. This was just what I had at hand)
• Salt and Pepper for seasoning
• Olive oil

Place the chicken flat on a board and using a meat tenderizer flatten out the breast slightly.

Rub with salt and pepper

Using a small knife create a long, deep incision on each breast enough to place a prawn inside

Sprinkle the prawns with the seasoning and place it within the cavity created keeping enough space to overlap the two sides of the chicken later

Sprinkle some cheese over the prawn

Overlap the two sides of chicken, closing the opening

Wrap the bacon around the chicken.

Heat oil on a wide frying pan over medium heat

Place the wrapped chicken carefully in the pan and sear all sides till the bacon looks golden brown and crispy

Now transfer the chicken to a slightly oiled baking dish and bake at 180^o C for around 20 to 30 minutes 

For the Sauce

• 1 large onion,diced
• 3 cloves of garlic, minced
• 2 tbsp tomato paste
• 2 large whole peeled tomatoes, chopped
• 1 tbsp dried thyme
• 1 tbsp dried basil
• 1 tbsp fennel seeds
• Salt and pepper to taste
• Olive oil

In a saucepan, heat the oil over medium heat. Add the onion and cook, stirring until golden brown

Add the garlic, fennel seeds and cook for about a minute

Stir in the tomato paste, tomatoes and herbs

Season and allow to simmer over low heat, covered for half an hour

Remove the cover and simmer for an added ten minutes.

To assemble

• 2 handfuls of baby spinach
• Balsamic reduction (optional)

Place the spinach on the dish and drizzled the reduction on top

Slice the chicken breasts into one inch wide slices and lay the bed of spinach

Pour over the sauce and serve warm

Ricotta and walnut ravioli

In news.... I got a pasta machine for my birthday!! :D so exciting! Oh the possibilities! Since I haven't been home since May last year I just got it!

I tried making tagliatelle and ravioli the first time and it turned out decent. In all honestly it isn't that hard to make fresh pasta! Plus side it hardly takes anytime to boil and it tastes much better than any dried pasta!

The basic recipe for pasta is 1 egg + 100g flour per person. Although I've seen it been done in a food processor, I have it a shot with my hands. Kneading does take a bit of work. If you are completely unfit like me your arms would probably be aching by the time you knead dough for 8 people. If you aren't a replica of the feeble me you'd probably just do fine.

"There's no secret to kneading. You just have to bash the dough about a bit with your hands, squashing it into the table, reshaping it, pulling it, stretching it, squashing it again. It's quite hard work, and after a few minutes it's easy to see why the average Italian grandmother has arms like Frank Bruno!" Jamie Oliver

Once you've created the dough you can either roll it immediately or cover it and put it in the fridge for about half an hour. Letting the dough rest will make it a little bit more easier to work with. I used my dough immediately but didn't have any troubles. To make things a little more easier to handle I worked in small batches.

For second course I made ricotta and walnut ravioli with a spiced pumpkin puree. Its not a looker for sure but bare with me. I promise to get better :)

 

For the filling I mixed the ricotta with chopped walnuts and basil. I made the terrible mistake of not seasoning so make sure you season to taste! Ricotta is a very mild cheese and it compliments bolder flavors in the dish with its rich creamy texture. I roasted the pumpkin with salt, cumin and pepper, pureed it and spooned it over the silky pasta.

With ravioli, the possibilities of stuffing is really endless! Its so exciting!! If you want something that doesn't take much work try a stuffing of smoked salmon and cream cheese with chives... absolutely lovely!

Amalfi Salad

First course was a simple Amalfi salad that i got from Jaimie's Italy. Its a lovely dish to start out with because its light and flavorful and probably a good way to build up to the heavier dishes.  This salad originates from the Amalfi coast, a stretch of coastline in Southern Italy. Amalfi is well known for the abundant citrus fruit that grows here and rightfully so this salad packs in the flavors with slices of sweet orange.

The key to this salad is to slice all the vegetables very thinly. My knife skills are pretty lousy so I used a kitchen mandolin which made things much more simple.
Simple slice up baby radish, cucumber, fennel, red onion and oranges and toss it in a dressing of olive oil, vinegar and salt and pepper.... rather effortless I would say!

Im back with the big dinner #2!

Those who know me well would already know how much I love big dinners, the preparation, the decoration, the theme and most importantly the food!
Ever since I got to Oman, its been days of working, dreaming about food and procrastinating on uni applications. Really really need to get around to it! No really!

My sister and cousin were in town so it meant more nights of long movies (I was always the first to nod off), idle chat and no sleep. Both of them are going back to uni soon while I remain behind still trying to figure out what I'm doing with my life. Its been lovely to be back home, no doubt but living here can sometimes be incredibly boring. Which means that most of the time you need to come up with things to amuse yourself like this dinner....
I figured ... a going away dinner? Why not?

For sometime now I have been really drawn towards pastels and neutrals, lace, flowers, the classics, stamps, postcards and antiques. There seems to be so much beauty and sentiment in things that have been collected over the years, so for this dinner I wanted to dress everything up to look pretty, elegant and detailed.
Scavenging through the house I came up with ;
 

 A whole load of old and new put together to set the mood perhaps?

 

Postcards and a few classic novels

 

An old pendulum clock, jewellery and a picture of my brother and mum

 

Dad's old briefcase and stamp album from when he was 12

 So here's me setting the mood with little vanilla cupcake, pomegranate fizz and my 'vintage' (almost) set up.  

 

Ditched the napkin rings for some peach ribbon and added a tiny bouquet of flowers to each setting. To make the bouquet I folded a sheet of dolly paper into a cone... thats it, but the little lace-like dolly paper added a little interesting detail

The Menu

Amalfi Salad

Ricotta and walnut ravioli

Prawn stuffed chicken rolls wrapped in turkey bacon

Poached pear

Keep posted for more on the food!