Showing posts sorted by date for query coleslaw. Sort by relevance Show all posts
Showing posts sorted by date for query coleslaw. Sort by relevance Show all posts
When we lived down in the South East of the country we sometimes took ourselves over to France for a day out. We were not all that far from the ferry back then, and it was an easy jaunt and a pleasant trip over on the Ferry.
You could be sitting in Boulogne enjoying a hot drink and a plate of Frites in only a few hours, even faster if you took the car train through the tunnel.
I preferred the ferry over the train for several reasons. For one, you could get out of your car and stretch your legs.
For two, you could spend the journey in their comfy lounge enjoying a drink and one of their fresh almond croissants.
Oh boy . . . one of the things that the French do very well, aside from their beautiful breads and macrons . . . is croissants and my favourite of all are the almond ones.
They are quite, quite, QUITE delicious to say the least!
It has always been my dream to spend a week in Paris, in the Spring time when everything is bursting out in bloom, and it is neither too hot, nor too cold . . .
not too wet, and when I can sit at a sidewalk cafe within the sight of the Eiffel Tower, enjoying a hot drink and a freshly baked almond croissant . . .
Oh yes dreams do come true. I am a great believer in the truth of our dreams, but in the meantime, I make these. . . .
which are not quite as fabulous as the fresh ones you can get in France, but let me tell you, they make a pretty darned tasty substitution!!
I have adapted the recipe from one I found online here.
She adapted it from a recipe that she found here. AND she adapted the recipe from one she found here by Clothilde Dusoulier on Chocolate & Zucchini.
Aren't we just so very, very blessed to have the wide variety of sources to draw from these days online? I think so at any rate.
So much inspiration . . . so little time. There are just not enough hours in the day to do all the things I would love to do. Not enough . . .
I hope you will forgive me for not having the potato recipe which was planned for today.
I ended up having to work on a new recipe for the site I write for and so I didn't have enough time to do the Pillsburg Potatoes, but never fear. It is still in the queue for a later date.
In the meantime I give you tasty, flaky delicious croissants . . . brushed with an almond flavoured liqueur syrup . . .
it soaks into those flaky layers and adds much additional almond flavour and a hint of sweet . . .
Filled with a rich and lush almond filling . . . oh boy, but I could eat that with a spoon . . . buttery and almondy and scrum, Scrum, SCRUMMY!
Brushed with yet more of that almond syrup and scattered with flaked almonds before baking . . .
until the almond filling is all gooey and golden . . .
And the outsides sweet and golden crisp . . . .
Ready to dust with some icing sugar and then sit down and enjoy with a nice hot cuppa. All is right with the world . . . all is right . . .
Yield: 8
Easy Almond Croissants
You can't get much easier or tastier than this!
ingredients:
You Will Need:
- 8 day old medium sized baked croissants
- a handful of flaked almonds
- icing sugar to dust
For the Soaking Syrup:
- 120ml water (1/2 cup)
- 1 TBS sugar
- 1 1/2 TBS Disaronno liqueuer (almond flavoured)
For the Almond Filling:
- 45g granulated sugar (1/4 cup)
- 50g ground almonds (1/2 cup)
- pinch salt
- 60g diced butter (1/4 cup)
- few drops almond essence
- 1 large free range egg, beaten
instructions:
How to cook Easy Almond Croissants
- First make the syrup. Put all of the ingredients into a small saucpan and bring to the boil, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Boil for one minute. Set aside to cool.
- To make the filling whisk together the almonds and the sugar. Using a spatula mash in the butter until well combined. Add the almond essence to the egg and stir into the almond mixture to combine thoroughly.
- Line a baking sheet with baking parchment. Preheat the oven to 180*C/350*F/gas mark 4.
- Take your croissants and using a serrated knife cut them in half horizontally, leaving a small hinge on the one side so that they are not completely separated. Brush them thoroughly on both cut sides inside and all over the outside. They should be fairly saturated. Spoon a portion of the almond filling onto the bottom cut sides, and fold the tops back over. Place onto the baking sheet, leaving space in between. Brush with any remaining syrup and sprinkle almonds on top.
- Bake in the preheated oven for 12 to 15 minutes until the filling has set and the croissants and almonds are golden. Remove from the oven. Let cool slightly, dust generously with icing sugar and serve, slightly warm or at room temperature. Enjoy!
It is also my dream one day to bake croissants from scratch . . . hopefully while I still have the energy to cope with laminating doughs and all of the rolling and buttering and faffing about. In the meantime I still have Paris . . . and I still have these . . .
Up Tomorrow: Pan Seared Mahi Mahi with a Honey & Lime Coleslaw
One of my favourite magazines to buy (aside from Country Home) when I was bringing up my children was Good Housekeeping. They always had great recipes in them, plus collectible recipes, which yes I always collected, and crafts, useful articles, etc.
I used to clip out the recipes that I thought looked good and save the craft patterns and any articles I thought would be useful. Every Christmas they would have a Gingerbread House on the cover. So lovely . . . I always aspired to make one like theirs, but never quite managed it.
They have Good Housekeeping Magazine over here in the UK as well, although now my family is grown I never really buy it.
I do find it difficult to resist their seasonal and Christmas special magazines however!
This year I have collected their Spring collection and the Summer one and the other day I was in the grocery store and spied the Autumn one.
You know Autumn is truly in the air when the magazines start presenting you with autumnal pleasures! I could not resist this. a quick glance through it and it was destined to land in my grocery cart!
And it has only taken me two days to bake up this lovely Blackberry Bakewell Pudding recipe that graced its pages.
Our blackberry bushes are filled to overflowing with those lovely berries at the moment. Every day my husband goes out into the yard he brings back another plastic tub full of them.
Having a tasty and novel way to use some of them up was exactly what I was looking for! I do freeze a lot, but we like to enjoy some fresh as well.
One of my husband's favourite puddings (desserts) is the Bakewell Pudding, with its jam layer and rich almond frangipane cake topping.
He even likes the Bakewell Tarts you can buy in the shops with that sweet almond icing on top and the glace cherry decoration.
I knew he would absolutely enjoy this Blackerry Bakewell Pudding recipe!
Fresh blackberries are combined with a quantity of blackberry jam and layered on the bottom of your baking dish.
I had just made Apple & Blackberry Jam the other day (tis the season) so this was the perfect excuse to use some of that as well.
Once you have them in the bottom of the dish you make a simple frangipane cake topping to pour over top.
It is said that the name Frangipane comes from a 16th century Italian Marquis named Muzio Frangipani.
I don't know if this is exactly true, but hey ho, it very well could be, especially if he held a certain fondness for the flavour of almonds in his cakes and bakes!
Frangipane is a mixture which is highly flavoured and composed of ground almonds . . . in a cake, or a cookie, or a pudding.
In this instance ground almonds are combined with a small quantity of plain flour, some eggs, butter and sugar and spread over top of the fruit in the bottom of the dish.
This is also an ideal bake for a coeliac as you can easily substitute the small quantity of flour which is used for the equivalent in a gluten free flour and it won't make much of a difference, as the ground almonds (almond flour) make up the majority of this delicious cake-like topping!
I used my La Creuset heart shaped stoneware baking dish as I don't use it near often enough and I was making this for my sweetie-pie, so why not bake it in a heart shaped dish!
Once baked you top it with a sweet lemon drizzle glaze. You can serve it either warm or cold, with lashings of warm custard of cold pouring cream. I dare say vanilla ice cream would also go down a real treat!
Yield: 6
Blackberry Bakewell Pudding
A delicious autumnal twist on an old favourite! A rich almond frangipane, baked over sweet blackberries, with a flaked almond topping and sweet lemon drizzle glaze.
ingredients:
- 225g of fresh blackberries (2 cups)
- 50g of blackberry jam (1/4 cup)
- 175g butter, softened (3/4 cup)
- 75g caster sugar (6 1/2 TBS)
- 3 large free range eggs, lightly beaten
- 175g ground almonds/almond flour (2 cups)
- 40g plain flour (1/4 cup)
- a handful of flaked almonds
For the glaze:
- 50g icing sugar (generous 1/3 cup)
- the juice of 1/2 lemon
instructions:
How to cook Blackberry Bakewell Pudding
- Preheat the oven to 180*C/350*F/ gas mark 4. Butter a 4 cup shallow baking dish.
- Fold the berries and jam together. Spread in the bottom of the pan. Cream together the butter and sugar until pale and fluffy. Beat in the eggs a bit at a time. Fold in the flour and the ground almonds. Spread evenly over top of the berries in the dish. Sprinkle the flaked almonds over top.
- Bake in the preheated oven for 40 to 45 minutes, until golden brown and a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Let cool for about half an hour, then whisk together the icing sugar and enough lemon juice to make a thin drizzle. Drizzle it over top decoratively and serve.
NOTES:
You can bake this ahead and pop, cooled and well wrapped into the freezer. To use, thaw out in the refrigerator over night. You can either serve it warm or cold. If serving warm, reheat in a 180*C/350*F/ gas mark 4 oven on a middle oven shelf for about 15 to 20 minutes. Drizzle with the glaze and serve. Drizzle with the glaze once it is thawed if you are serving it cold.
I am sorry if I disappointed you by not baking the apple dessert for today, but I had the berries and I needed to use them now. I will save the apple dessert for another time, so you still have that tastiness to look forward to. Oh, and in the original recipe for this, they added the flaked almonds after baking. I added them before, which I thought worked really well as they came out all toasty and nicely nutty!
TASTES TO LOOK FORWARD TO IN THE WEEK AHEAD
(always subject to change as per our circumstances and life getting in the way)
Monday: Country Style Casserole
Tuesday: Cheddar Chowder
Wednesday: BBQ Chicken with Honey Mustard Glaze
Thursday: Pillsburg Potatoes
Friday: Pan Seared Mahi Mahi with a Honey & Lime Coleslaw
Saturday: Irish Oatmeal Muffins
Sunday: Dutch Gingerbread
This content (written and photography) is the sole property of The English Kitchen. Any reposting or misuse is not permitted. If you are reading this elsewhere, please know that it is stolen content and you may report it to me at mariealicejoan at aol dot com.
One thing that I like to make from scratch is mayonnaise. That's why I was dismayed when my immersion blender disappeared!
Once you have made your own mayo from scratch you will want to make it all the time rather than buy it.
The recipe makes a decent amount, not too much, and I have never had a problem using it all up within a week. I would not keep it for any longer than that.
It does use a raw egg, but if you are bothered about that you can use pasteurized egg or a coddled egg. Personally I am not bothered.
I find our eggs are very safe today. However, if you are worried about that, or you have an elderly person or a very young person in the home do try my method of coddling the egg first, and then just add it and proceed as per the recipe below.
To coddle an egg:
- Bring a small pot of water to boiling.
- Set up an ice bath (lots of ice and cold water in a bowl).
- When water begins to boil, submerge whole egg into the pot for exactly 1-minute.
- Remove and immediately place in an ice bath for 1 to 2 minutes.
- Remove and use in place of raw egg.
I just use the juice of the lemon, but you can also add the zest for a really nice lemony touch, or even a clove of raw or roasted garlic for a garlic mayo.
You just put everything into the blender cup of your immersion blender. It is important that the liquid comes over the top of the blades of the blender, or it won't work properly.
I put the egg, lemon juice or vinegar, and mustard in first and then pour the oil in over top of those. Let it sit for a few seconds. Put the blender head in, reaching right to the bottom and turn it on.
Leave it for a few seconds and you will see it start to emulsify and creep up the sides of the container, then you can slowly life the blender up, tilting it now and then until you reach the top and the whole mixture has emulsified.
It won't take very long at all. 60 seconds if that. You can then stir in any seasonings you want to use. I sometimes use a mix of lemon juice and cider vinegar. I don't always add sugar.
Real mayonnaise does not have sugar in it, but depending on what I am using it for, sometimes I do add a bit.
It always comes out perfectly thick, rich and beautiful, as you can see. Its also very easy to flavour it. If you have some basil oil, or chili oil, you can substitute a bit of the regular oil with that. I would not use any more than a TBS of the flavoured oil.
I also don't use any oil other than a basic vegetable oil. I would never make it with extra virgin olive oil. You want a flavourless light oil. Only add other oils in a small quantity to add some flavour and nothing more.
This is beautiful and such a simple thing to make. Once you try it you will never go back to store bought if you can possibly help it. Trust me on this!
I also like to make my own Salad Cream. It does require a bit more work than mayonnaise as it is cooked, but there is nothing like a homemade salad cream to use in a potato salad or a coleslaw.
Two Minute Mayonnaise
Yield: makes about 220g/ 1 cup
If you have a stick blender/immersion blender homemade mayonnaise is only a few minutes away. You can also do it in a food processor or regular blender but it takes a tiny bit more effort.
ingredients:
- 1 whole free range egg, or two egg yolks
- 1 TBS fresh lemon juice
- 1 tsp mustard powder (can also use Dijon mustard)
- 240ml flavourless vegetable oil (1 cup)
- 1/4 to 1/2 tsp fine sea salt
- 1 tsp sugar (optional)
- white pepper to taste
instructions:
How to cook Two Minute Mayonnaise
- Place the mustard, egg, sugar (if using) and lemon juice in the bottom of the blender container of your immersion blender. Top with the oil. Let sit for about 30 seconds. Then put the wand/head of the immersion blender into the container, right to the bottom, and turn it on, lifting it slowly and tilting the head as the mayonnaise forms. Don't lift it up and down or pump it. Season to taste with salt and pepper. I like white pepper as it doesn't colour the mayonnaise. You can use cider vinegar instead of lemon juice.
- If you are using a regular blender or food processor. Add everything to the bowl of the blender/processor and turn it on, drizzling the oil in slowly through the feeder tube until it thickens and emulsifies.
- Keep in a covered container in the refrigerator.
I used this to make cucumber sandwiches to take to Grace's Birthday Party. I just spread medium thick slices of bread on both sides with the mayonnaise. You can see how nicely it spreads.
Thick and not gloppy. I like to cut my cucumber for it very thinly with a mandolin cutter, and than layer it as you can see.
Its not as slippery when done that way. (You can also pat them dry with paper towels.) I seasoned them today just salt however as Ariana had requested just salt. I personally like a bit of pepper as well.
For a tea party I would cut off the crusts. But for a child's birthday party, I just left the crusts on. I also garnished them with some radish roses.
I was going to tell you how to add different flavourings to your mayonnaise to dress up your sandwiches, salad plates, etc. But I found a lovely Info graphic that does a wonderful job of just that!
I broke it down into sections so that you could view it better and larger. I hope you don't mind.
Some of them sound quite, quite delicious and I may give them a go! After-all tis the season for such things! I can see me serving the Sesame Ginger one with some lovely poached salmon
The Buffalo Cheese Mayo would be fabulous with chicken, and I think the Chipotle would be just wonderful on burgers, as would the Spicy Horseradish-Parmesan version!
(source)
No matter how you choose to enjoy your mayonnaise, I think you will agree that once you have made your own and see how easy it is to do so, its something you will want to do often!
This is the Immersion Blender that I have now. It is a Cookhouse Model. As with all of their products I am very impressed with it. Its midway priced and performs impeccably. Its easy to clean as well. (I just immerse it in a cup of hot soapy water and blitz away!)
They did not send me a free one to use, or ask me to tell you about them. I received it as an early Birthday Gift from a friend. I quite simply wanted to share it with you because I am really happy with it and I think you would be too.
Have a great day!
This content (written and photography) is the sole property of The English Kitchen. Any reposting or misuse is not permitted. If you are reading this elsewhere, please know that it is stolen content and you may report it to me at: mariealicejoan@aol.com
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Social Icons