Birthday Celebrations

This week was my brother's birthday and farewell celebrations and I was given the honour of preparing some desserts and making little pizza's for a group of about 25 guys. Having grown up around mainly boys and knowing their ability to consume large amounts of food, I realised that a fair amount of food was needed, so I started a day early.

When there are a few people coming I prefer to make lots of small desserts (finger foods), rather than a big cake or tart, I just find it easier to serve and eat that way. As long as some of the desserts were made of chocolate, then I knew it would be fine. This made the decisions pretty easy: choc brownies, choc caramel slice, mini pavlovas and Greek almonds biscuits.

The choc caramel slice consists of 3 layers, so I started that the day before. It's not hard to make, it just needs time to set. The base is like a biscuit and is pressed down into the pan and baked. While that is baking I made the caramel, which requires continual stirring for 20 mins (definitely a good work-out for the arms). This is then poured over the biscuit base, cooked again, cooled and topped with a chocolate mixture.


Next dessert were the choc brownies which always go down well, and are easy as pie to cook! I think everyone prefers moist and rich brownies as opposed to dry ones, and these are the BEST brownies to make. Small, rich, gooey............ mmmmm! Never had a complaint haha

I also thought I would try make meringue baskets, however after that attempt failed (they cracked because I took them out of the oven too early), I opted for pre-made meringue baskets bought from the supermarket (I know that's cheating but they taste great and no-one would know any better).


On the actual day of celebrations, I decided we didn't have enough desserts, so in the morning I quickly whipped up some Greek Almond Biscuits. Threw all the ingredients into the mixer, and placed in the freezer to rest.
Problem # 1 - I forgot I had the dough in the freezer, so when I took it out to roll and put in the oven, the dough was frozen. After allowing the dough to defrost after about 2 hours (woops!), I rolled the biscuits and shaped into half-moons, and placed it in the oven.
Problem #2 - I made the biscuits too big so they flattened out quite a bit and overlapped a little. Ah well, I guess not everything can go as planned, at least they tasted nice!

Next I thought I would prepare some little pizza's as an entree to make sure there stomach's were satisfied. Unfortunately, I was neither in the mood nor had the ingredients to make my own pizza dough, but I usually prefer to use a nice Lebanese bread or already-made Italian pizza base anyhow. With all the ingredients cut up and ready, it was onto the assembly. The two types of pizza on offer were:
1) chicken, pesto and feta
2) margarita (tomato (five brothers) pasta sauce, tomato, onion, capsicum, four cheese pizza mix)

I find it is much nicer when the ingredients aren't all piled up onto the base, so I cut the Italian pizza base into small squares, spread a little bit of either pesto or pasta sauce, and then topped with a small amount of the remaining ingredients. Then popped it in the oven at 180'C for about 8-10mins until the cheese was melted or the feta was softened and slightly brown, and the crust was crispy and brown. I served them straight away, and in all honesty, it took about 10 minutes for all the pizza's to be finished. No suprises there, they were all asking for more. Sadly, i forgot to take a photo, and they looked sooo nice :(

Next course was a bbq, which the men were in charge of (I keep my distance from the bbq when the guys are around). After all, the boys like nothing more than some good bourewors and sausages on bread rolls with pickles and tomatoes. Sometimes the simple meals are the best!

After a few requests and questions as to when dessert would be served, I realised that was my calling. I had already wiped the cream, so all I had to do for the pavlovas was put it all together. Placed some wiped cream in the meringue baskets, topped with berries and passionfruit pulp and served alongside some left-over almond praline that I made the other day (for the sticky date pudding). Once everything was put onto their platters, and placed on the table, it took about 30 secs for all the guys to surround the table and dig in. Luckily, there was more than enough and we have some left-overs.

Here is the spread, before it was demolished (I made them wait till I took photos until they could dig in, they were not happy haha):


Top left = choc caramel slice
Top right = choc brownies & Greek almond biscuits
Front = mini pavlovas

Doesn't look to bad ey ;)

What's for dinner..

About time i finally cooked something healthy!
This one wasn't exactly a masterchef recipe, but I was inspired by two dishes from a celebrity chef challenge, so I thought I would mix them together.
The first recipe is Hue Pancakes (i posted the link on a previous blog but for all you lazy people here it is again: http://www.masterchef.com.au/hue-pancakes.htm), and the second was eggnets with pork, prawn, beansprouts and cucumber relish (http://www.masterchef.com.au/eggnets-with-pork--prawn--beansprouts-and-cucumber-relish.htm).

So basically what I did was I used the recipe of the filling in Hue Pancakes, and the idea of the egg nets to hold it together. For obvious reasons I used chicken instead of pork, but it turned out to be delicious anyhow.
The hardest part was trying to get the egg-nets perfect, and making sure they didn't burn or were too thick otherwise they wouldn't be as crunchy. It took a few practice ones to get it right, but eventually I got there. See what some hard work and determination can do :)

I also used the sauce from the Hue Pancake recipe, which was a mixture of fish sauce, rice wine, sugar, water and garlic (didn't have any chilli, so I just ditched that!)
Next was onto the filling, which involved stir-frying the prawns with some onion and garlic, then removing it from the pan and stir-frying some chicken strips. Although, because I used lean chicken instead of pork, it became a bit dry, so I decided to add some sweet chilli sauce to give it a bit more flavour and make it more moist. Then it was as simple as adding the prawn mixture and chicken together in the pan, and chucking in a handful of bean sprouts, and all was done!!

Now all I had to do was place the mixture in the egg-nets, fold it over and serve alongside some lettuce and herbs (mint and coriander were the pick, and a perfect choice might I say).

As always I made sure to take some pics for you guys to check it out.
Here is just the chicken and prawn mixture:

And here is the end result:


Definitely not the most appealing dish, but it tasted really delicious and was surprisingly a nice light dish! Believe me, if I can get my brother to eat prawns then it must have been a successful meal.. so if your looking for a healthy light meal, I would suggest you give it a go!

Another dessert?

Ok, so maybe I lied! I got a bit bored today and have been doing too much procrastinating with uni work, so I decided to get off my ass and cook something. Turns out that my choice was a dessert, again! Not quite as complex as the last one, but just as tasty, and this time I decided that to make it a bit harder I would set myself a time-limit that was somewhat challenging.

After searching through the pressure test recipes on the masterchef website, I finally came to a conclusion that my next challenge would be the sticky date pudding with butterscotch sauce and almond praline. Considering that it takes 40 minutes to cook the puddings, I figured an appropriate time frame would be 1 hour. Enough time to cause some pressure but realistic enough to have some chance of completing the dish.
So off i went, to my kitchen cupboard to get the ingredients only to find there was no cream! Upon return from the supermarket, after all was set and ready to go, I began the challenge. Starting at 3;45pm, first step was to get those puddings into the oven so they could cook and be ready within 40 minutes.

After softening the dates and mixing it in with the pudding batter (butter, sugar, eggs and flour), I stuck the mixture in some moulds and placed them in a water bath in the oven. Whilst that was cooking, it was onto the almond praline and buttersctoch sauce, which by the way nearly boiled over while on the stove.
For those who have ever made caramel (for the praline), you would know how easy it is to burn, as once it turns a caramel brown colour it can take only a few seconds before it becomes too dark and burnt. Luckily, I got it just in time, and with the caramel setting fast I had to quickly pour it onto the almonds on a baking sheet. Once both the praline and sauce were finished, it was just in time to pull the puddings out of the oven, let them cool for a few minutes and plate up.
Overall, it was a pretty easy dish to make. As always the plating up is the most fun, although eating it was quite enjoyable :) I must admit, that butterscotch sauce was very rich but deeeelicious!

Here is the final product for all those wanting to see:And incase you were wondering, yes I cooked it under an hour, and so far the judging panel are very pleased with the outcome. The rest of the judging panel will be arriving after dinner for any of those wanting to join, call me when your outside! ;)

Whats next?

One challenge down... now I think it is only fair to my family that the next dish I cook is somewhat healthy, or i might be in trouble :)
I also thought that since I now have 4 followers (YAY!) that i would ask which recipe you guys and all those reading reckon would be nice to cook.

Here are you options:
1) Barramundi in lotus leaf with phu quoc sauce
http://www.masterchef.com.au/barramundi-in-lotus-leaf-with-phu-quoc-sauce.htm

2) Hue Pancakes
http://www.masterchef.com.au/hue-pancakes.htm (ill use chicken or turkey mince instead of pork)

3) Potato gnocchi with sauteed prawns in a burnt butter sauce
http://www.masterchef.com.au/potato-gnocchi-with-saut-ed-prawns-in-a-burnt-butter-sauce.htm

Thinking about it, it probably wasn't the best idea to have started with the most complicated recipe (the last dessert), because now I have to live up to those expectations haha but I will try my hardest!
And don't you worry, there will be plenty more desserts to go around, for those wondering what the next dessert challenge is, i will give you a little preview to tantalize your tastebuds and get you ready and waiting -
A warm pear tart with caramel sauce, crumble and apple puree:
http://www.masterchef.com.au/warm-pear-tart.htm
Might not sound as exhilarating as a Caramel Parfait Glace with Salted Peanut Caramel and Milk Chocolate Mousse, but it will do :)
Until then....

Mission accomplished!

Who would have thought i could have actually pulled this one off... but i think it looks damn good!
Today was a busy one, first made the peanut meringue base and while that was cooking i started on the peanut caramel, looked sooooooo yummy and gooey! Then finally finished off by tempering the chocolate... not sure what the point of that is. Either i failed miserably or it's just some technical process that makes people sound fancy when trying to melt chocolate because mine basically turned out the same if i had just melted it normally. Tempering pretty much involves melting the chocolate to 43'C then removing half the choc to cool and returning it to the hot chocolate and then mixing to 23'C, sound pointless??? i thought so but oh well i did it anyhow

These pics below show each different part of the dessert before it was put together: (the photo of the peanut caramel looks a bit gross, but i swear in real life it looks and tastes one hundred times better!)

Peanut dacquoise (base) and caramel mousse











Chantilly cream











Peanut caramel











Choc plaques











Although, it was not an easy feat... there were a few problems along the way
Originally didn't think the caramel mousse would set properly, and luckily it did!
Then i came to realise that the chantilly cream really didnt set properly, so whenever i put the final 'masterpiece' together it kept melting (so i just popped it in the freezer a bit longer but didnt really seem to solve anything so just got over it, was definitely not making another one)
Other than that, i would say it was pretty smooth sailing! The choc melted fine, and the peanut caramel came out perfectly.

Heres the final product :) and i am very very pleased, still cant believe i actually made that!
If only i spent this much time doing uni work instead of cooking!

Now i just need to find someone brave enough to eat it!
Plenty of left-overs in the fridge so for all those willing, eat up...

And it begins..

So, after walking around the entire Bondi junction, Westfield looking for liquid glucose, only to find it at Coles... i have set off on my next challenge!
The somewhat sophisticated sounding caramel parfait glace with salted peanut caramel and milk chocolate mousse.
Seeing as its quite a complex/long recipe, i thought best way to do it was in 2 parts.
Day 1 - make caramel parfait and chocolate cream
Day 2 - make peanut caramel and peanut dacquoise (meringue base)

So, today started on the caramel parfait and chocolate cream and might i say not the easiest job in the world, especially when there are 3 other people walking around the kitchen and fussing around the house, or with my mum screaming at me to clean up after myself!

Took me about 40 mins to make the caramel parfait: had to boil vanilla, cream and glucose and then whisk in gelatin, butter and fold it through a mixture of boiled sugar and egg yolks, and THEN fold through some whipped cream (definitely wouldn't recommend this for anyone watching their weight haha). Oh and did i mention that it turned out to be a runny liquid when I am pretty sure it was meant to resemble some sort of mousse. So i just chucked it in the freezer and looking at it now, it seems alright.. fingers crossed! (will post a pic when its all finished)
And then i made the chantilly cream which is basically chocolate and cream, that wasn't too hard, just whisk the cream and fold through the melted chocolate

Now all i have left to do tomorrow is make the base, peanut caramel, chocolate plaques and put it all together... sound simple?? pfft, starting to think this is going to be a bit harder than i had expected :s

for anyone wanting to see the recipe, go to the website below:
http://www.masterchef.com.au/caramel-parfait-glace-with-salted-peanut-caramel-and-milk-chocolate-mousse.htm
and don't expect mine to look anything like this haha

Thats it for now.. don't eat up just yet, will post the final product when its done! for now just pray it turns out ok :)

Masterchef challenges

Hey guys,
After getting hooked on both seasons of Masterchef (Australia) and being a fan of cooking since a young age , i thought it was about time i stretched my passion for cooking.

I have decided that every week, i am going to cook one recipe, preferably a dessert from the Masterchef challenges and tell you guys how it went, that is hoping that i dont fail miserably!
Or i thought it might be nice, if i get a few followers, to let them vote and decide what i am going to cook that week!

Even though i am one of those health freak people who enjoys eating healthy food and am currently studying exercise, sports science and nutrition, i love to cook those delicious and decadent desserts that all you 'naughty' people enjoy to eat, and seeing the pleasure people get out of eating my food is the best feeling in the world.

I think the problem is that so many people are turned off by the idea of cooking and especially baking, because there is a stigma placed over it being such a hard thing to do. It really is as easy as following a recipe, and if you have the willingness you can also give it a go and make up your own recipe, or mix things up every now and again if you want to try something new! I mean, what is really the worst thing that could happen, a failed recipe? Well at least you tried!

Food is such an important thing in our lives, it is what fuels us during the day, and while it's important to eat healthily, i guess its also just as important to indulge every now and then :) Although, i also plan on posting some of my healthy recipes which i have created and love to eat throughout the week!

So enough about me, on to my challenges. Unfortunately we are already on week 4 of Masterchef so i am a bit behind :S ha but no need to worry, i will be sure to catch up! I have already attempted to make a passionfruit and strawberry pavlova with toasted almonds and a berry sauce, and i must admit... it looked damn nice and tasted even better! And it was sooooooo easy to make, its just like making meringues, but you just pile the whole mixture onto the baking tray and pop it in the oven and half the work is done! Easy peezy!

My next challenge, which my brother's are incredibly pleased about, is to attempt to make a caramel parfait glace with salted peanut caramel and white chocolate mousse. Yes, i know it sounds hard, and looking at the recipe freaks me out a little, but i figure i may as well give it a shot! But, because i don't have quite a sophisticated kitchen as the Masterchef contestants have access to, that means i don't have a blast freezer, so im thinking it might be smart to make the mousse the day before i assemble the whole thing so that it has time to set.

Oh and for all of those people who question my willingness to give it a go or my creativity, the photo on the right is of a dessert i made a few weeks back for my family and friends. When i travelled to NY at the end of last year, i went for dinner with my family to a restaurant (cant remember the name). Anyhow, my cousin ordered a dessert known as the 'dessert burger' and as soon as i looked it at i decided that i would attempt to make it when i came home. So that is exactly what i did. The bun is made from angel food cake, the cheese and the meat pattie are both white & dark chocolate mousse, the onions are red apples thinly sliced, and it served with a side of berry sauce (tomato sauce) & green apples (chips).

Although it doesn't look quite like the real thing, I got a bit impatient and didn’t wait till the mousse completely set so it was a bit runny but it was soo much fun and still turned out pretty well

So i think thats enough for my first blog. If i haven't bored you all enough already then i hope you come back to see how it turned out, and continue to read, or post any other ideas or suggestions you have to fuel my passion! And also, to hopefully give you guys some confidence to give it a go yourselves!
Until next time..... eat up!