Mandarin Eclairs

I don't have the patience for fiddly recipes and am always looking for shortcuts, so perhaps this recipe wasn't a great idea! As well as making the eclairs, I had to make a mandarin compote and a creme patissiere - in the end I did the first two parts but skipped the creme patissiere and filled my eclairs with double cream instead. 

The recipe is from the book Secrets of Eclairs, by Marianne Magnier Moreno, but I adapted it to make it quicker.

I used the basic method to make the choux pastry. To make 8, you need:

80ml milk

80ml water

70g butter, diced

large pinch of salt

10g sugar

100g plain flour

1 egg

Preheat the oven to 150C. Place the water and milk in a saucepan and add the butter, salt and sugar then stir over a high heat until the butter has melted. Remove from the heat and add the flour and quickly but gently mix in, and the mixture will come together.

  

For the next part, place the saucepan back on the hob and turn up the heat. Stir until the mixture forms a dough that doesn't stick to the pan or to the spatula. Beat in the eggs a little at a time until the mixture sticks to the spatula then falls off - rather than doesn't stick to the spatula at all, or sticks and then stays on.

It gave me the opportunity to try out the eclair pan I got for my birthday; the indentations help you to get your eclairs just the right size and shape and all uniform.

I decided this meant I could cut corners and spoon the choux pastry mixture in rather than pipe it - which turned out not to be the case! You really do need to pipe the eclairs to get a smooth finish. Bake for 1 hour in the preheated oven.

To make the mandarin compote, you need:

2 mandarins

65g sugar

2g pectin (which you can buy from the supermarket)

Peel the mandarins and divide into segments, then cut each segment in half. Place 80g of the mandarin segments in a saucepan with the sugar and pectin and stir. Cook over a high heat, mashing the mandarins with a fork and removing the skins. Simmer for about ten minutes until thickened and allow to cool.

To serve, rather than make creme patissiere or chantilly cream as the recipe suggested, I whipped some double cream and mixed in the fruit compote, and used that to fill the eclairs. One of these days I will get round to following an eclair recipe properly!

The theme for this month's Love Cake, hosted by Ness at JibberJabberUK, is French. Eclairs aren't exactly cake but they are French!

Ozeri Ceramic Knives - Review

 

 I have replaced my crockery over the years and traded up from what I had at university -essentially my mum's old dinner set - to a new set from Argos and then more recently, some lovely white dishes courtesy of my boyfriend's mum, who works in the trade. But I have never bought any new knives. My cutlery drawer is a real mish-mash; I've got the brown-handled serrated knife and the red-handled paring knife my mum gave me, and assorted knives of various sizes that I think came from the Burnbake charity shop. My one and only 'good' knife was a present from a friend who was working as a rep for a company called Pampered Chef.

So when I was offered a knife set to review from Ozeri, I jumped at the chance. The set of three knives is available from Amazon with an RRP of £59.99 (currently selling for £49.99). These are ceramic knives, which means they don't corrode or rust, and stay sharper for longer. They are also lightweight and very ergonomically designed so easy to use.

I was also impressed by the presentation; the knives come in a box that would make an attractive gift.

There is a lot of useful information on the back of the box as well.

I tried out these knives for all sorts of things, using the smaller one to chop an onion, which took seconds - the knife went through the onion almost like it was butter.

The larger knives were equally good; this one made short work of my chorizo.

I didn't realise how much of a difference having a really good knife set would make, so if like me you have been making do with old knives, I highly recommend investing in this set - three knives cover all the bases and they look really good as well. Thanks to Ozeri for sending me the knives to review.

Meal Planning Monday - Week 28

My house-buying process is now into its fifth month and still no idea of when we will be able to exchange or move, despite having no chain on either end... It's incredibly frustrating but because we hope the end is in sight, we have started packing. Which means a lot of my recipe books, my slow cooker and various cake decorating supplies are already packed up and sealed in boxes! 

I am now making a conscious effort not to buy any more food and use up what is in the freezer, which is also a bit annoying as I have finally bought my first car and have a newfound freedom - I can drive to supermarkets, and don't have to shop in convenience-sized stores any more! Many a recipe has had to be abandoned as my local Co-op or Sainsbury's Local hasn't got the ingredients but now I can drive to a huge Sainsbury's, Tesco, Asda, Morrison's and Lidl, all within about 15 minutes (sadly no Waitrose around here that I'm aware of)- at least once I can once I get the hang of parking in a busy car park! 

But for now, I'm going to have to stop myself from filling the freezer purely because I've now got masses of choice and really make sure I use up what I already have, as the freezer will need to be switched off before we move.

Monday
  Cod with risotto for me, spicy turkey breast with chips for him. My take on an Italian tiramisu for dessert (which I will blog about soon).

Tuesday

  Out at a friend's 

Wednesday
Brazilian chicken I had on the meal plan for last week but didn't make

Thursday

chicken fajitas for him, prawn in a white/cheese sauce enchilada for me, with veg

Friday 
burger and chips

Saturday
lunch: butternut squash soup for me, tomato soup for him

dinner: lamb with sweet potatoes for me, steak for him

Sunday lunch: baked potatoes
Dinner: pork chop with apple sauce and roast potatoes

Accessorize Yourself: How to Make a Fascinator for a Wedding

Wedding, floristry and craft supplies company Country Baskets invited me to take part in their latest bloggers' competition, Accessorize Yourself. They sent me a hamper of eight products and asked me to use at least five of them to make an accessory I could wear to a wedding.

I briefly thought of embellishing a clutch bag, or making jewellery, but there was really one thing at the forefront of my mind: a fascinator. I also thought that using five of the supplied items to make just one piece of jewellery might end up looking a bit OTT!

 I was allowed for this project to use any other materials I wanted but I didn't have much time to buy anything and am in the middle of packing to move house, so I had to make do with just a few things. Still, it just goes to show how easy it is to make a fascinator!

Here are the products that I was sent:
A roll of purple organza
A bunch of artificial flowers
A roll of heart-print ribbon
Some heart-shaped wedding place cards
A three-strand wide silver chain
A long silver chain with gems attached
Some short silver stems with purple gems attached
A pack of wide lace ribbon

To make a fascinator you need to start off with a headband. You could also use a crocodile hair grip but a hairband is easier to keep on, and if you use a wide headband, you have a bigger surface area to attach the other accessories to.

I used a wide plain black hairband and wrapped the lace ribbon around it to completely cover the band. Secure at each end with some glue.

You can buy base discs for fascinators from craft suppliers but I didn't time to order one and wanted to show that you can make your own, so I cut out a circle from some thick cardboard. I covered the cardboard in some of the purple organza I had been sent, and secured with glue.

The posy of artificial flowers I was sent was lovely but far too much for a fascinator, so I undid the bunch and chose one flower. I pinned it on to the organza.

As I needed to use five products from the pack I had a look at what else I could use, and thought the silver chain with gems was really pretty. I cut a few short lengths and wound them around the headband.

I also used some of the shorter stems with purple gems; the colour went really well with the purple organza. I wound them around the base of the artificial flower so they would be on the main disc of the fascinator. I also had to decide how to attach the fascinator to the headband. You can glue it with superglue, or make two holes in the cardboard (making sure you go through the organza as well) and thread some ribbon or, as I did, the stem of one of the purple gem pieces through one hole, around the headband and up through the other hole, to effectively tie it on.

The finished fascinator: the headband covered in white lace, a base covered in purple organza, featuring an artificial flower and some purple gems and some silver gems wound around the band. It looks much better on, as you will see below...

Please excuse the photo - trying to take a #selfie with your phone to get the best angle on the fascinator isn't easy! You can arrange the silver gems so they follow the line of the headband and sit neartly along your hair; if you have curly hair you can weave them into the curls. The flower sits neatly on the other side of your head; you can only just see the purple gems in this photo which is mainly an issue with lighting, but they are there.

I actually really like this and might wear it to a friend's wedding! One of the great things about making your own fascinator is that you can match it exactly to the colour of your dress, and also be sure that nobody else will have the same one! Thanks to Country Baskets for providing me with the items I used, and for inviting me to take part in their competition.

 

Fried Coconut Prawns

 

These are so easy to make and really delicious. They remind me of a meal I had at Bubba Gump's in America, which involved prawns cooked four different ways. To make these, all you need is plain flour (which you can add some salt and pepper to), 1 egg, beaten, and bowl of dessicated coconut and breadcrumbs mixed together.

Take each prawn one at a time (you really want to use the large prawns for this) and dip in the flour then the beaten egg then the coconut and breadcrumb mixture.

Deep fry a few prawns at a time in a couple of inches of hot oil in a saucepan, for a few seconds only. Remove with a slotted spoon and drain on kitchen paper.

Delicious!

Serve with chips, of course - and a sweet chilli/mayonnaise dip wouldn't go amiss either.

Giant Cupcake - Raspberry Flavour

Here is a giant raspberry cupcake I made for my mum's birthday, using candy melts to make a cupcake case - a great technique that I will explain below.

I created the recipe myself though it is fairly straightforward.

Giant Raspberry Cupcake - an original recipe by Caroline Makes

225g caster sugar

225g butter, softened

200g self-raising flour

3 eggs

150g fresh raspberries

For the buttercream:

100g butter, softened

200g icing sugar

pink food colouring

For the cupcake case:

200g candy melts in red or pink - I used Renshaw

 It's a good idea to make the candy melt shell first as it needs time to set in the fridge. Melt the candy melts in the microwave according to pack instructions. Use a spoon to spread around the inside of the bottom part of the giant cupcake mould - this is why a silicon mould is much better than a metal tin for this recipe. When you have an even layer around the inside of the mould, making sure you have not left any gaps, place in the fridge for 30 mins- 1 hour to set. Remove from the fridge, melt the rest of the candy melts in the microwave again and spread another layer inside the cake mould and return to the fridge. When that layer has set, carefully peel off the silicon cake mould by turning it slowly inside out until you are left with the candy melt shell (see further down for a photo).

Preheat the oven to 175C. Cream the butter and the sugar then beat in the eggs. Fold in the flour, then the raspberries. I used my Kitchenaid so the raspberries were broken up but not completely blended.

I bought this giant cupcake pan ages ago but hadn't gotten around to using it, after an earlier not particularly successful attempt at a giant cupcake in a metal Wilton tin (which was down to the recipe that I used). I decided to give it a go, so sprayed both parts of the pan with Cake Release, stood it in a roasting tin and poured in the cake batter. I left plenty of room for the cake to rise.

Bake in the preheated oven for 35-40 minutes; test the cake with a skewer or cake tester to make sure it is cooked in the middle. Allow to cool in the silicon mould then turn out onto a wire rack.

You will need to trim the bottom part of the cake a little to fit inside the candy melt shell, as you can see below. You can also see the raspberries in the cake!

Place the trimmed cake inside the candy melt shell. It looks great!

To make the icing, cream the softened butter and icing sugar and add the food colouring. My butter was a bit too soft which meant my icing wasn't stiff enough to pipe, meaning I couldn't pipe the swirls that I wanted to (and I was in a bit of a hurry).

Instead I spread the icing on with a palette knife; I think it looks fine like this.

Dr. Oetker sent me some wafer butterflies recently, and they have also sent me wafer daisies in the past. I think these are brilliant - when you don't have time for fancy decorations on a cake, you can just pop on a couple of these and they will totally transform your cake. The butterflies are particularly pretty in my opinion, though I have to admit I haven't been able to find them in any of the supermarkets I shop at yet!

Here's the finished giant cupcake, decorated with butterflies and wafer flowers.
 The cake tasted very nice but most of all I was pleased by how it looked.

 The letter we have chosen for this month's Alphabakes is R so I am including this raspberry cake. The challenge is hosted by Ros at The More Than Occasional Baker this month.

Raspberries are in season so I am sending this to Simple and In Season, hosted by Ren Behan.

Shaheen at Allotment2Kitchen has launched a new blog challenge, the Vegetable Palette. This month she is asking for recipes made with any red fruit or vegetable.

I am also entering this in the Bakespiration challenge run by Stuck In The Tree, click on the link to check it out - their site is all about having fun online and off.

New Baby Picture - Christening Gift

 

This is a Christening gift I made for a friend's baby. I was approached by a company called Fantastic Ribbons which is an online retailer selling a huge range of ribbons and buttons, which you can use for wedding decorations, crafts or gift wrapping. They asked me to choose two items to review, and I immediately knew what I wanted to make.

I was looking on their site for a blue ribbon that would be suitable for a new baby picture and was very pleased to find one with little baby footprints. It was only £2.50 for a 4 metre roll; there was also a blue gingham ribbon I liked. I was also hoping that I would be able to get some blue buttons and the pack I bought, costing £5, was perfect for this project - I received a re-sealable bag with buttons of different shades of blue and in different sizes. I wanted a mis-matched effect so this was ideal.

 Because the buttons were quite thick, I knew a normal picture frame wouldn't work and I needed a box frame, which gives you more space between the picture and the glass, so you can put keepsakes or embellishments on the picture. I was very pleased with the one I bought from Hobbycraft; they had various sizes and I chose 20cmx20cm. The white frame was great as I wanted something neutral and thought this looked nicer than a wood effect,  and at £8 I thought it was good value.

 I also bought some letter stickers from The Works; again these were perfect as the mismatched sizes and colour were just what I wanted. These were £1.49 per pack and I bought a couple of packs to make sure I had enough of each letter.

To make the picture, I started with a large piece of backing card which I picked up from my local card making shop; you can also buy these online. I had a photograph of my friend's baby which I actually printed out from one of her Facebook photos, so I wouldn't have to ask for a picture and spoil the surprise! I trimmed the photo and decided where I wanted to place it on the card and stuck on the lettering to spell the words "cute as a button". Now you can see why I wanted the buttons!

I added the baby photo and glued the baby footprint ribbon around the photo to make a frame. I then stuck a handful of buttons of different sizes and shades in a slightly haphazard fashion around one corner of the photo. Finally I placed the whole thing in the frame. I'm pleased with this and hope my friend liked it!

Thanks to Fantastic Ribbons for sending me the ribbon and buttons.

Restaurant Review: Inn The Park, St James's Park

Inn The Park

 The name is not the wittiest pun and also proved to be confusing to the taxi driver. I was running late and Google Maps' description of a ten-minute walk from Embankment tube was either a massive underestimate or I'd gone the wrong way (based on past experience, probably the latter). I'd been given two free tickets to Beating the Retreat- a military ceremony/performance along the lines of Trooping the Colour, but on a slightly smaller scale. It was taking place on Horseguard's Parade near Buckingham Palace, an area that doesn't actually have that many restaurants unless you go down to Victoria or up towards Trafalgar Square. There were quite strict instructions on the ticket to be in our seats by 8pm - and that doors opened at 7 - so I knew we wouldn't have much time to have dinner after work (bearing in mind it took me nearly an hour to get there from the office, even though it was a mere three miles away.

I had been to Inn the Park once, several years previously, when a company I worked for hired out the upstairs of the restaurant for its summer party. We had a barbecue, so I had never actually eaten in the restaurant but knew the surroundings were beautiful - and that it was only a few minutes away from where we needed to be later.
 

Inn the Park is near the lake in St James' Park; from our terrace table I could see a pretty fountain across the lake and the London Eye behind the trees. On the lake itself there are ducks, geese and even pelicans (sitting on their own island), and some very friendly - or probably greedy- squirrels posing for photographs with tourists. In short, this is a green oasis in the middle of London; a beautiful park setting that is the perfect place to hang out on a summer's evening.

A lot of other people obviously had the same idea as the restaurant was very busy - I had called ahead to book but only an hour earlier, and I think we must have gotten the last table.

Inn The Park has a cafeteria-style takeaway section, where you can buy sandwiches, drinks and cakes to take away and eat in the park, which seems a great idea if you forgot to bring a picnic. There is also an ice cream stand, which unfortunately decided to close just as we approached - we saw it serving someone literally moments before but when we reached the counter, the woman grumbled "sorry, we're shut".

We had decided to buy an ice cream to eat on the way to Beating the Retreat in lieu of ordering a dessert at our table, as the restaurant was very busy and service therefore relatively slow.

At least my food made up for it, though my boyfriend wasn't so sure. He had the steak, which came with bone marrow, onion puree and hand-cut chips, but at £22 thought it was a bit pricey for an 8oz steak. Given he didn't eat the bone marrow or onion puree he probably didn't get value for money, but he did say that the steak was average and he thought you were paying a lot for the location.

I really enjoyed my monkfish and shrimp burger, which came in a bun with chips, but at £16 I agree that you are paying for the experience and the view. Still, the burger was very good, I had a lovely glass of rose and it was overall a very nice evening.

Steak with Chimmichurri

Still on the theme of meals inspired by the World Cup, here's something that I would happily eat at any time.Chimmichurri is a green sauce served with meat such as steak and is a typical dish in Argentina. It is made with chopped parsley, garlic, olive oil, oregano and white wine vinegar. All you do is crush the garlic and chop the parsley and mix everything in a small bowl. I did use a recipe but you can also adjust the quantities to taste - I did a tablespoon of chopped parsley, one clove of garlic, 2 tbsp olive oil, 1 tsp dried oregano and 1 tbsp vinegar. Mix well.

 

Cook the steak to your liking and serve with the sauce over the top. Serve with chips, obvs.

 

I'm sending this to Chris at Cooking Around the World for his World Cup challenge.