Sunday, June 30, 2013

Year 8 starts- American Brownies

Waheey!
The year 8's are back and as keen as mustard.
We start the new block with a real humdinger.
Warning: this recipe contains lots of sugar and fat so it tastes amazing.
You should try to only eat a small amount of it.

American Brownies
Equipment
·      Small pot
·      Wooden spoon
·      Measuring cups/spoons
·      Mixing bowl
·      Baking dish, greased
·      Chopping board and sharp knife
·      Sieve
·      Whisk
·      Cooling rack
Ingredients
·      Butter, 100g
·      Sugar, ½ cup
·      Vanilla, 1 tsp
·      Eggs, 2
·      Cocoa, 2 tsp
·      Baking powder, ¼ tsp
·      Salt, pinch
·      Flour, ½ cup
·      Chocolate chips, ramekin

Method
1.    Oven onto 1800C bake.
2.    Melt the butter in a pot on low heat. Cut up butter into small pieces first to make the melting easier.
3.    Stir in the sugar and vanilla.
4.    Take off the heat.
5.    Beat in the eggs, one at a time.
6.    Mix cocoa, baking powder and salt together in a mixing bowl.
7.    Pour in the melted ingredients and mix together well with wooden spoon.
8.    Sieve in the flour and stir in chocolate chips.
9.    Pour into a greased baking dish.
10. Bake at 1800C for 15 minutes (should spring back when touched).
11. Remove from oven and leave to cool for 5-10 minutes.

12. Cut into shapes and eat.

Sunday, June 23, 2013

Eggs Benedict.

A great breakfast for a cold winter morning.
Make sure you have lots of boiling water with a little vinegar in it, for your eggs. If you have a big pot, you can put 4 eggs in to poach. A small pot cools down quicker so only poach 2 eggs at a time.
Recipes for Hollandaise sauce are widely available on the net or in cooking books.
This dish is very fattening so only have it once a month.
Try to present it well, muffin and cream cheese on the bottom with the bacon and poached egg on top. Drizzle a little Hollandaise over the egg and finally grind some black pepper over it.

Eggs Benedict

Equipment
Small pot
Slotted spoon
Small Fry pan
Tongs
Oven tray
Butter knife
Measuring cups/spoons

Ingredients (per pair)
Eggs, 4 (2 per person)
Vinegar, 2 tsp
Bacon, 2 rashers
English Muffins, 2 (1 each, halved)
Cream cheese, 2 tsp
Hollandaise sauce, 2 tsp

Method
Poaching the eggs.
1.    Fill the small pot ¾ full of hot water and bring to the boil.
2.    Add the vinegar to the water.
3.    Take off the heat.
4.    Crack the egg close to the surface of the water, in the middle of the whirlpool.
5.    Crack another egg in the hot water.
6.    Leave for 5-10 minutes for the eggs to poach. The eggs should have set on the outside and the yolk will still be a bit runny.
7.    Carefully remove the poached eggs from the hot water with a slotted spoon and dry on a paper towel.
8.    Remove any loose egg white from the pot and reheat the water for the next 2 eggs.

The bacon needs to be fried in the small fry pan with a little oil.
The muffins needs to be cut in half and toasted carefully under the grill.
Spread the cream cheese on the toasted muffins.
Place the bacon on top.
Carefully place the poached egg on the bacon.
Spoon the Hollandaise sauce on the top of the egg.
Serve and eat.



Tuesday, June 18, 2013

Food Academy- Vanilla cupcakes with Butter cream icing and coloured fondant.

This recipe makes at least 15 medium size cupcakes or 12 large cupcakes.

Creaming the butter and sugar well is very important.
As is adding some flour and some milk at a time and mixing together before adding the rest.

The buttercream recipe makes a lot of icing so you could probably half the recipe and still have enough.

The fondant you can buy and mix in food colouring to create new colours. Roll out the fondant and cut shapes to place on your iced cupcakes.

Crabapple Bakery's Vanilla Cupcakes
Makes 12
Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups plain flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
100g softened unsalted butter
 3/4 cup caster sugar
2 eggs
1/2 tablespoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup milk

Method:
Preheat oven to 170.  Line two 12 hole muffin trays with cupcake papers.
Sift together the flour and baking powder.  In a separate bowl, cream the butter for 1-2 minutes.  Add the caster sugar a third at a time, beating for 2 minutes are each addition.  After the last addition, beat until the mixture is light and fluffy and the sugar has almost dissolved.  Add eggs one at a time, beating for 1 minute after each addition or until mixture is light and fluffy.  Add the vanilla extract and beat until combined.

Add a third of the flour to the creamed mixture and beat on a low speed until combined.  Add half of the milk and beat until combined.  Repeat this process.  Add the remaining third of the flour and beat until thoroughly combined; do not over beat as this will toughen the mixture.

Spoon mixture into cupcake papers, filling each about three-quarters full.  Bake for 18-20 minutes or until a fine skewer inserted comes out clean.  Remove cupcakes from the trays immediately and cool on a wire rack for 30 minutes before frosting.

ButterCream icing
250g butter, soft
4 cups icing sugar
1 tsp vanilla essence
2-3 Tbsp Milk/cream

Method
  1. Beat the butter until soft and smooth.
  2. Add 2 cups of icing sugar and beat until smooth.
  3. Add the vanilla essence and milk/cream. Mix in.
  4. Add the rest of the icing sugar (2 cups) and beat until smooth.
  5. Place in a piping bag with a nozzle and pipe over the cool cupcakes.



Wednesday, June 12, 2013

Sushi Nori

A Japanese classic. Traditionally it was rice and raw seafood. But nowadays you can pretty much put any combo of meat and vegetables inside sushi.
It should be a work of art that you can eat.
Take your time spreading the rice, arranging the fillings and finally rolling the Nori.
Getting the right combination of soy sauce, wasabi and pickled ginger is essential.

Sushi Nori

Ingredients (per pair)
2 sheets of Nori
½ cup sushi rice
2 tsp rice vinegar
2 tsp sugar
¼ tsp salt

Fillings
1 Carrot  or cucumber stick
2 spring onion sticks
1 Egg (beaten and fried)
1 Tbsp tinned tuna/salmon

Dipping
1Tbsp soy sauce
Small dab of Wasabi
4 slices of pickled ginger

Method
1.    Wash the rice through a sieve.
2.    Place the rice in a pot and cover with water (1 cup). Put a lid on.
3.    Bring to boil for 2 minutes.
4.    Reduce heat and cook for 20 minutes on a low heat. Keep lid on.
5.    Mix up the vinegar, salt and sugar while you are waiting.
6.    Take pot off the heat and remove lid. Place a dry tea towel over the rice and replace lid. Let sit for 10 minutes.
7.    Spread rice on to a tray.
8.    Sprinkle the vinegar mixture and mix through. Allow to cool.
9.    Prepare the Filling and Dipping.
10. Place Nori on the bamboo rolling mat, rough side up.
11. Using wet fingers, spread the rice over the Nori leaving a 2-3 cm space at the top.
12.  Arrange the fillings 3-4 cm from the nearest edge. Make into a clean line across the rice.
13. Using the bamboo mat, roll the Nori over the top and make a cylinder of the Nori with the rice and filling in the middle.
14. Use water to stick down the edge of the Nori.
15. Carefully slice using a wet knife into 2cm sections.
16. Serve with wasabi, soy sauce and pickled ginger.