Today, I got up early and went to the local farmer's market and came home with an array of lovely fresh ingredients and decided to make my version of caramelised pork with green paw paw salad.
Chilli, garlic, lemongrass, fish sauce & palm sugar
Minced pork with the palm sugar, lemongrass & fish sauce
You need to cook the pork until all moisture dissipates and the pork turns a lovely caramel colour
Caramelised Pork
1/4 cup Viet Huong Fish Sauce Three Crabs Brand
5 lumps Pure Palm Sugar Mom & Me Brand (each lump is about the size of a dessert spoon) smashed in a mortar & pestle
1 lemongrass stalk (white part only finely chopped)
500g pork mince
1 tablespoon peanut oil
Pour the oil into a non stick pan and fry the mince for a couple of minutes.
Add the lemongrass, fish sauce and palm sugar.
Cook until all moisture evaporates and the sugar starts to caramelise and the pork starts to brown.
Remove from heat and allow to cool.
Grating green paw paw with my very expensive grater that cost all of 3 bucks
Green Paw Paw & Organic Carrot
Basil & Mint
Green Paw Paw Salad
1 green paw paw (grated)
1 organic carrot (grated)
1/2 large yellow peach or 1 small peach (grated)
1 cup basil (use scissors to cut the basil up into smaller pieces)
1 cup mint (use scissors to cut up the mint into smaller pieces)
1/2 large red Spanish onion (finely chopped) Fried Spring Onions & Crushed Peanuts for garnishing
Dressing
Juice from 3 limes
2 tablespoons fish sauce
1 tablespoon garlic (finely minced)
1 long red chilli (finely minced)
1 lump Pure Palm Sugar - smashed with a mortar & pestle (about the size of a dessert spoon)
Assembly
Place all Green Paw Paw Salad ingredients in a large serving bowl.
Add the caramelised pork and combine thoroughly.
Pour the dressing over the top and toss again to ensure the dressing coats all of the ingredients.
Sprinkle some fried spring onions and crushed peanuts on top and serve with some steamed jasmine rice - I use Happy brand fried onions from Malaysia.
My gorgeous little girl has a birthday this week and she's requested that I make a croquembouche with violet creme patissiere. Hang on a minute, where did this come from? Ok, I make macarons and blog about them and yeah I think they're pretty good but of course I'm biased. What happened to kids asking for a cake from the Women's Weekly Birthday Cake cook book? Surely, that would be a lot easier and definitely a lot less stressful. I could pour myself a glass of merlot and cruise along and get creative with the icing sugar... mmmm, that sounds good. But, no - high expectations have been set in our household and in my daughter's eyes I can do anything. She thinks I'm a wizz in the kitchen and her eyes glisten when she starts talking about all the spun sugar I'm going to make. So a fancy French croquembouche for my daughter's 10th birthday it is.
I'm currently in planning mode and hope to post some amazing photo's and the recipe next weekend but hope I've not bitten off more than I can choux! This will be my first ever attempt and guaranteed this will be the longest post ever... oh, the nerves.
Update: It's Saturday morning and I've decided to make a Violet & Vanilla Creme Patissiere with a lovely pink Pate Sable a Choux first.
OMG... It feels like I've been in the kitchen all day and I'm absolutely pooped. I've got everything ready but have decided to assemble the croquembouche tomorrow morning. Update: It's Sunday morning and today is the day that will make or break my croquembouche. I've already got one caramel war wound and am not looking forward to any more knowing only too well that I'm likely to experience a lot more pain and probably blisters too:( Pleeeease, please spun sugar fairy protect my itty bitty fingers whilst I make this delicate sculpture for the apple of my eye.
Considering, I've never made a croquembouche before I do have to say that I'm pretty chuffed with the outcome. I can't deny that after promising my gorgeous girl the most fantastic birthday cake ever that after all the effort it actually might end up being an epic fail of gigantic proportions with tears and tantrums that I'll probably remember forever.
Ingredients for the Violet & Vanilla Creme Patissiere
Sugar, cornflour and eggs.
Boiling the milk, vanilla bean & violet essence
Whisking the creme patissiere until it's light, silky and smooth.
Just Perfect!
Ingredients for the Pate Sable a Choux
I've put the Pate Sable a Choux into the fridge to harden and will use it later when I've piped the choux puffs - here it's in between two layers of parchment paper as it makes it easier to roll out. I'm going to use a cupcake cookie cutter to cut out shapes to cover the freshly piped choux.
Some of the ingredients for the Nougatine Base
Ouch- one small burn that's turned into a blister - the caramel in this Nougatine Base is dangerously hot! Not entirely happy with the nougatine as it's a tad too dark so I'll try making another base to compare the difference before final assembly.
Ingredients for the Choux Puffs
Boiling the water, butter, salt and sugar.
The roux needs to reach 80 degrees celsius for the proteins to coagulate.
Allow the roux to cool to about 40 degrees celsius before blending in the eggs. - one at a time.
The cupcakes magically disappeared in the oven!
Cupcake Pate Sable a Choux
This glass storage jar holds the croquembouche mould (oops, I mean witch's hat) perfectly.
Ta Da - magic strands of spun sugar.
When the kids saw this their eyes nearly popped out and jaws hit the floor - lol.
This birthday cake was definitely a labour of love as there were several elements that I had to make; and then with a wave of my magic wand transform it into a show stopper.
Warning: recipes can be a bit boring so here I've added a twist! From the point where I've taken a photo of the croquembouche mould to the finished product does not show the chaos that I created in my kitchen. I think it goes something like this... I was wearing my ruby red slippers when this enormous sugar tornado hit my kitchen. The wicked witch of the West fell under my oven and her hat and magic wand lay on my kitchen floor. The witch was nearly dead but still twitching. I grabbed her wand and the witches hat. I turned her hat upside down then used the wand to spin choux puffs from the caramel in the saucepan into the hat. The nasty witch tried to get me back at this point and she flung caramel from the saucepan onto my ring finger. The caramel burnt me badly so I gave her the bird (gorgeous little r, please don't read this bit). I started doing a bit of bitchen in the kitchen and the witch must of heard, next I looked she was dead. Steadfast, I worked on and on all the while in agonizing pain. The good sugar spun fairy must of heard my pleas for help and she popped in for a second to help me weave a gorgeous web of spun sugar then disappeared. The sugar spinning bit went a tad too far however, as my kitchen was covered in it. It flicked on the floor, the walls my choux and my running shoe (ummm, I mean slippers). Maybe instead of looking like a lovely lady with ruby red slippers, I now looked like I'd turned into a golden orb web spider! Not only could I catch birds with this stuff but I could probably catch a few stray kids... mmmmm, this story now sounds like it's drifting off into Hansel & Gretel territory - probably time to stop.
I love shoes, choux, the feet on macarons and ruby red slippers!
My first ever taste of Guinness was in O'Neills pub in Dublin nearly 10 years ago and I've been hooked ever since. This is my version of Guinness Stew with Yorkshire Pudding.
Guinness Stew 3 large organic carrots (peeled and cut into thirds) 12 french eschalots (peeled but left whole) 2 bouquet garni 4 tablespoons of triple concentrated tomato paste 2 tablespoons garlic (crushed) 2 x 440ml cans Guinness Draft brewed in Dublin 3 sprigs sage 4 sprigs thyme Sprinkle of Tuscan seasoning 2 1/2 kg chuck steak Garlic infused olive oil 1/2 - 3/4 cup cornflour (for dusting)
Preheat oven to 135 degrees celsius (fan forced). Place the eschalots and carrots into a large 5 3/4 quart Le Creuset casserole dish. Cut the steak into large cubes (about 5 x 5 cm) and trim off the fat reserving it for the Yorkshire pudding (see the recipe below for the Rendered Beef Fat). Pat the steak with kitchen towel to remove any moisture then lightly dust in the cornflour. Heat about a tablespoon of the garlic infused olive oil in a non-stick pan and brown the steak on both sides. Remove when done and place in the casserole dish on top of the eschalots and carrots. Cook the steak in batches and periodically deglaze the pan with the Guinness - pour the yummy flavoursome bits into the casserole dish. Continue until all the steak is done. Pour remaining Guinness into the casserole and add the garlic, tomato paste, bouquet garni, sage, thyme and then sprinkle a little bit of the Tuscan seasoning on top. Place lid on top and cook for 3-4 hours.
Rendered Beef Fat In a non-stick pan throw all those pieces of fat that you trimmed off the steak and cover with water. Cook on high heat to render the fat - let the water evaporate. Strain the fat into a bowl and discard the leftovers. Allow to cool and set.
Yorkshire Pudding 4 eggs (broken into a large jug) The weight of those 4 eggs in milk The weight of those 4 eggs in plain flour 1 tablespoon cold water Rendered Beef Fat (above)
Whisk the eggs in the jug then add the milk. Sift a tablespoon of flour at a time into the egg/milk mixture whisking each time to remove lumps. Continue until all the flour is used up. Cover the jug with plastic film and leave the batter on the kitchen bench for 2-3 hours. Preheat the oven to 240 degrees celsius (fan forced). Heat an empty 10-12 cup muffin tray in the oven until hot. Remove from oven and put a pea size dollop of the rendered fat into the base of each muffin tin. Place the muffin tray back into the oven, remove when the fat starts to sizzle. Add the cold water to the Yorkshire pudding batter and whisk one last time. Fill each muffin tin a third full. Bake for 10-15 minutes until brown. If you're lucky any left over puds can be frozen for next time.
Serve the Yorkshire Pudding with the Guinness Stew and a bit of mashed potato (optional) sprinkled with a bit of finely chopped Spanish onion. This stew is sooooo delicious that you'll want more and more and more and believe me with this recipe there is plenty to go round. Great with a glass of authentic Guinness Draft brewed in Dublin or a bottle of an Australian red such as 'miles from nowhere" Margaret River 2010 Cabernet Merlot - enjoy.
When I was little, we didn't have computers. We had to make our own fun. Sometimes we'd help our nanna out in her fruit and vegetable shop. My sisters and I would pop our aprons on and we'd have competitions on who could make the most money. Sometimes, we'd go into our nanna's cool room when she wasn't watching and eat the strawberries off the top of the punnets and surreptitiously drink little bottle's of soft drink with swirly paper straws covered in wax. We'd sit in the cool room giggling at the mischief we got up to but also sat there in fear of getting into trouble from our mum and dad. I was always getting into to trouble! In those days, life seemed simple and we'd take great delight in taking our pocket money and spending it at the local corner shop. Nearly every block had a corner shop as we didn't have huge supermarket chains. Our favourite past time was running to the shop flat to the boards with 20c and buying the biggest bag of lollies ever. It was filled with cobbers, bananas, teeth, milk bottles, Musk Sticks, frogs, jelly beans, raspberries, love hearts, mint leaves, freckles, Fantales, Metro gum and other yummy stuff. We'd walk back home very, very slowly with our cheeks bursting at the seams. Reminiscing about all those lovely Australian lollies I've devoted my latest macaron to the iconic Musk Stick which is totally yumdelish. And, if you still think you're 16, I dare you to go out and buy some Musk Sticks and try to shape the end of one into a sharp point with your tongue - just don't stab your friends with it!
To make this macaron follow my basic recipe using cochineal to colour the macaron pink. Make a ganache with a 2:1 ratio of white chocolate to cream and add a couple of drops of musk oil. You can also colour the ganache with the cochineal. After you pipe the ganache onto the macaron shells, sprinkle some crushed Musk Sticks on top then place its lid on top.
To make these macarons follow my basic recipe and colour half the batch rose pink and the other half egg yolk yellow. Make a 2:1 ratio of white chocolate ganache to cream and infuse with lavender. Pipe the ganache on half the macaron shells then sprinkle with passionfruit caviar. Finish off by placing the remaining shells on top. Store in fridge for 12-24 hours before serving.
If you love the iconic bombshell Marilyn Monroe head over to MAC Cosmetics to get your hands on their new Marilyn Monroe inspired collection. Be quick though as it's just been released and is already selling out fast! In the meantime, here's a fantastic vid on how to apply your new Marilyn Monroe inspired makeup.
