a bit of a tart

My best friend Canns has had a terrible tummy bug for several days which has kept her cooped up in her house making her extremely stir crazy.

Finally, she felt well enough today to have a visit from her beloved (that's me!) and we watched Heston Blumenthal making the most amazing trifle which got us into baking mode!

We decided to make a lemon tart which was quite difficult considering my dear friend does not have a proper oven at her house! Despite this setback we persevered and made beautiful sweet pastry and zesty lemon/lime custard for the filling.

I was unable to taste the finished product as it was a dessert for Canns to take to a dinner party. I did however get to try some pastry and custard before it's assembly and they both were devine!

I hope to receive rave reviews from the dinner guests.

Meanwhile, I have decided to set myself a new challenge of cooking more regularly from my Masterchef magazines. I receive them every month yet struggle to attempt any of the delicious recipes. I need to set an achievable goal (i.e. 1 recipe per week/month etc) so that I can work my way through the stack of magazines on my bookshelf.

I also need to incorporate recipes from Julia Child's cookbook as well as our lady Ms Margaret Fulton.

I shall select a recipe and report back!

Til then,

a.

Lasagna update!

hello there!

The home made lasagna was an absolute hit!!

Although the pasta making process is a long one it is so gratifying to know that you've created a whole meal entirely from scratch.

I always under estimate the amount of béchamel sauce required so I made heaps today and it really helped the dish out.

I also topped the dish with tasty AND parmesan cheese for a little extra flavour which definitely paid off.

Dessert was chocolate fondants with vanilla bean icecream and whilst they were delicious they were terribly rich. The recipe recommended 70% cocoa chocolate which I used however I think I may need to try a 50% chocolate to make it a little less rich.

The icecream was also quite decadent so perhaps a softer flavour would have accompanied it better. I also drizzled over a little bit of dairy milk chocolate which did soften the flavour but perhaps I should also include some strawberries or raspberries next time.

All in all the guests were happy with the meal and left feeling a wee bit plumper which isn't always a bad thing!

I'm looking forward to trying the fondants again (once I've worked off the one I ate tonight!) and seeing if I can improve the flavour.

My next endeavour will be a recipe from Julia Child's cookbook or perhaps something from Margaret Fulton.

I'll keep you posted!!

til then.

a.

Getting back into the swing of things

My blog-less blog has been in existance for over 6 months now and after chatting to a dear friend I have been inspired to actually use it!

I was watching Julie and Julia tonight (one of my go-to feel-good movies) and began to wish for the witty prose Ms Julie Powell possesses alas I do not.

This does not however mean that I can't blog about things that interest me, and I hope one fateful day I will have readers who send me hot sauce (although I have no clue how these fans got her address).

Meanwhile, I cooked san choy bow for dinner tonight and it was an absolute smash hit.

I doubled the sauce quantities cause the sauce is delicious and it didn't seem enough through the mince. I also cooked spaghetti sauce as we had some mince that needed using. I'm using the meat sauce tomorrow to make lasagna and possibly will make a dessert should someone come over for dinner.

My housemates (mum and dad) aren't eating sugar because apparently it's poison which is fine because they own their bodies and can deprive themselves of whatever they deem unsuitable for consumption but it makes it very difficult when I'm super keen to make chocolate fondants for dessert but there is no one to eat them! except for me but I enjoy others eating my food rather than munching alone.

One day when someone comes for dinner (yes this is directed at you my dear sister) I will make chocolate fondants and they will be glorious. They better be glorious because I spent copious amounts of money on dutch cocoa powder to make the blessed things.

I'll let you know how the lasagna turns out. I'm hoping my oo flour hasn't gone stale as I am very keen to whip out my pasta machine tomorrow!

til then.

a.