Category: Strawberries

REPOST – Strawberries in Grand Marnier with Mint Sugar

The good news, is that with this post, we are done with the letter F in the A-Z of Cooking.  The chapter heading promises that we will be “Finishing with Flair”. The bad news is that without seeming like Mary, Mary Quite Contrary right from the get go, another F word springs to mind when I consider the contents.  Except for these Strawberries in Grand Marnier.  They were good!  Although how could a combination of fresh sweet strawberries combined with luscious orange liqueur with mint as it’s cheerleader not be delicious?

Strawberries in Grand Marnier With Mint SugarWe’ll get to them later.  However, back to Finishing with Flair – we have already mentioned this so called Mango Mousse. The picture of which contains bananas, oranges, passionfruit, eggs and nuts.  The recipe below has none of these.  The Mango mousse recipe actually sounds really nice.  Maybe I am just being a brat for not making it.  Then again, if they can’t be arsed putting the right picture with the recipe, what are the chances that recipe will turn out?

Mango MousseThat fear of 1977 desserts not being all they were cracked up to be was born out when I made the Continental Chocolate Squares featured on p28.  The picture from the A-Z of Cooking is on the left, with the Squares looking rather decadent.  Mine are on the right looking a lot more Raggedy Anne.  I think I tried to cut them when the chocolate topping was still too hard from being in the fridge and I could not get a nice clean line. Maybe I should have glammed them up by adding some candlelight!

Continental Chocolate Squares3What both of these pictures fail to convey is the overbearing sickly sweetness of the filling. It contained 4 cups of icing sugar which was far too much!  I love sweet food but this was way too much for me and prompted the fussiest eater in the world to ask if I was trying to put him into a diabetic coma.  It is a shame that the middle layer was awful because the base which was chocolate and walnuts and biscuits was quite nice.  It is probably worth someone spending some time on trying to get that filling right because this could have been amazing.  I just don’t think that person will be me!  Although, now I kind of want to.  So maybe it will rear its head in another incarnation down the track.

Strawberries in Grand Marnier With Mint Sugar2
There was a lovely sounding recipe in this section for French Cherry Fritters.  This is the one I would have loved to make but you had to deep fry the fritters and I do not have a deep-fryer.  This however is one I am going to:

a) Play around with until I can perfect a baked version

b) borrow a deep-fryer.  i think my mum has one.

Until then, it’s Strawberries with Grand Marnier.  Adding the mint sugar was an idea I borrowed from Sabrina Ghayour in Persiana.  She makes a number of herb sugars to sprinkle over fruit and now it is something I do all the time!

Strawberries in Grand Marnier With Mint Sugar4I served this with some white chocolate dipped almond bread which was every bit as delicious as it sounds!

Initially I thought this might be a bit too simple to blog about – soak some strawberries in booze.  And done.

And it is very simple.  But sometimes that is all you need to finish a meal with flair!

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Strawberries in Grand Marnier with Mint Sugar

A simple way to finish your meal with flair!

Ingredients

Scale
  • 1 punnet of strawberries
  • 2 tbsp Grand Marnier
  • Handful of mint leaves
  • 3 tbsp caster sugar
  • White Chocolate Dipped Almond Bread to serve (optional)

Instructions

  1. Halve the strawberries and place in individual serving dishes.
  2. Sprinkle each dish with 1/2 tbsp of Grand Marnier.
  3. Leave to stand at room temperature for at least an hour.
  4. Meantime, make your herb sugar.
  5. Place your mint and your sugar in the bowl a mortar and grind with your pestle until them mint is finely ground and well combined with the sugar, which will be a lovely green.
  6. Alternatively, place both in your food processor and whiz until you achieve the same effect

Notes

  • You could use basil instead of mint. Or a mix of basil and black pepper.
  • Any Orange flavoured liqueur could be used instead of Grand Marnier.
  • Any left over herb sugar can be used to rim a cocktail glass, or used in place of regular sugar in anything else you are making – I’m thinking lemonade would be amazing.

Nutrition

  • Serving Size: 4

Ok so  that’s F done.

Coming up we have G is for Good Health.  I have actually already made the Cheese & Date Bread from this section so we may skip it altogether as there is not much else to get excited about.  So, possibly our next venture into the A-Z will be The Gourmet’s Touch.  Ooh la la.  Exciting times ahead!  Possibly.

Have a wonderful week lovely people and this week, what ever you do, I hope you finish it with flair!

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B is for Baby Bundt, Bacon & Bay and Blonde Bombshells

B is also for Bozo, Blog and Birthday.

Quadruple Chocolate Baby Bundt
Quadruple Chocolate Baby Bundt

As in guess which bozo forgot to celebrate her own blog’s 2nd birthday on May 25th?

So, today we’re having a Belated (don’t worry, I promise I won’t capitalise every word that starts with a B) Birthday, (no really, I won’t) celebrating my second annivesary with food using the second letter of the alphabet.  See what I did?  Second year, second letter?

You’d think I planned it.

Maybe you should keep thinking that….I”m all for anything that makes me look better!!!

So anyway, it’s my birthday so let’s get this party started.  And I’ve said it before, and no doubt I will say it again, (purely because I’ve got a bottle of the stuff that isn’t going to drink itself) a retro party isn’t a retro party without Parfait Amour. And any party is better with a blonde bombshell!

Nope not like this, the blonde bombshell I am referring too is a cocktail made with the aforementioned Parfait Amour. I’m not sure why it’s called a Blonde Bombshell as it comes out a gorgeous dusky pinky purple.

First Course – The Birthday Blonde Bombshell

It’s my party…cocktails count as a course….in my perfect world, we would skip main meals altogether.  We would move from cocktails to fingerfood to dessert.

Blonde Bombshell

Wow!!!  I think I may have found my Parfait Amour drink of choice.  This was lovely!!!  Sweet and florally and almost kind of musky…it reminded me a little bit of Turkish Delight…maybe it was the roses in the Parfait Amour. Very girly, very pretty. Easy to drink….hmmm….maybe getting rid of that bottle won’t be as hard as I previously thought!

Second Course – Bay Wrapped Bacon and Prunes

Bay Wrapped Prunes in Bacon3
Bay Wrapped Prunes in Bacon3

This is basically a take on a Devils on Horseback.  But wrapped in a bayleaf. And I added a little smear of my Strawberry Habanero Sauce to the bacon before wrapping it around the prunes.

Note for the unwary – grilling bay leaves makes your entire kitchen smell like you’ve been smoking marijuana.  For about a week.  Which is fine until you have a plumber come to fix your leaking tap and they ask you if you can score them some bud.

Bay Wrapped Prunes in Bacon
Bay Wrapped Prunes in Bacon

I barely even know what that means.

Despite that, you really can’t go wrong with these…salty, sweet, spicy, crispy…The bay leaves added a slight resiny flavour that was quite pleasant but prevented the bacon from getting really crispy which was slightly disappointing.

I served it them with some more of the strawberry habenero sauce.  And the saltiness was a great foil to the sweetness of the Blonde Bombshell.

 

Bay Wrapped Prunes in Bacon2
Bay Wrapped Prunes in Bacon2

Delicious!

But now to the piece de resistance. The dessert.

So….what’s better than a triple chocolate baby bundt?

A QUADRUPLE chocolate baby bundt.

And what’s better than a quadruple chocolate Baby Bundt?

A Quadruple Chocolate Chilli Baby Bundt!

Third Course – Quadruple Chocolate Chilli Baby Bundt

So, if you’re following me on Instagram you would have already seen me post my first experiment with the Spice Peddler’s Mexican Chilli Chocolate Cake Mix.  That was a Chili Chocolate Cupcake with a Chilli Toffee Shard topped with Vanilla Icecream and my Strawberry Habenero Sauce.  OMG, I thought this was the best thing ever…so, so good.  The cake was fudgy and spicy and delicious, the vanilla icecream and chilli sauce worked together perfectly and the chilli toffee was a cute and quirky touch.  Basically, this was me on a plate!!!!

Chocolate Chilli Cupcake with A Chilli Toffee Shard
Chocolate Chilli Cupcake with A Chilli Toffee Shard

Gahhh….so how do you top that?

Well, I found a recipe for a cake called a Tyroler in a Delicious Magazine and I had a little play with it.  And came up with the Quadruple Chocolate Chilli Baby Bundt.   I used the Spice Peddler Mexican Chilli Chocolate Cake Mix as my base and it was super delicious!

Quadruple Chocolate Baby Bundt 5
Quadruple Chocolate Baby Bundt 5

This was really good.  Then again, how could it not be?

It had quadruple chocolate.

And a touch of chilli.

And walnuts.

And rum soaked sultanas.

And did I mention quadruple chocolate?

Quadruple Chocolate Baby Bundt3
Quadruple Chocolate Baby Bundt3

So, it may have been belated but worth the wait because these were all awesome!!!!

I’ll try to be on time next year and if not, I can always repost this and rename it Birthday 3 – Cocktails, Canapés and Cake.

Hope you all have a fabulous week!!!!

(Recipes below)

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Blonde Bombshell

A delicious cocktail, perfect for a celebration.

Ingredients

Scale
  • 1/2 ounce Parfait Amour
  • 1/2 ounce St Germain Elderflower Liqueur
  • Sparkling Wine, preferably pink, definitely chilled

Instructions

  1. Pour the Parfait Amour into a chilled champagne flute.
  2. Add the Elderflower Liqueur.
  3. Top with the sparkling wine.

Nutrition

  • Serving Size: 1

Feeling Fruity – Strawberry Habanero Sauce

It’s that time of year where there seems to be a glut of strawberries on the market.  I believe it’s also called super delicious happy yum time – or is that just me?  Whatever you want to call it, my greengrocer was selling five punnets of strawberries for $5 so after doing a little dance of joy (which looks scarily like this):

Snoopy’s Happy Dance

I loaded up my cart.  So,  get out your maraccas and pile some fruit high on your head, today we are channelling our inner Carmen Miranda’s and getting a little bit fruity!

Strawberry Habanero Sauce
Strawberry Habanero Sauce

Speaking of whom, I had always just thought of her as the lady with the fruit on her head.

But wow!!!!!  Who knew she was so amazingly, stunningly gorgeous?

Carmen MirandaSo…how about you all keep channelling the inner.  And I give the outer a shot?

But first, I’ve been obsessed, not only with real fruit but things that look like fruit for some months now.

First came my little Daiso fruit dishes:

Daiso Fruit Dishes
Daiso Fruit Dishes

Then the Mozi Measuring Cups:

Mozi Measuring CupsI am so not using these for measuring!!!  Imagine serving a dip in the Big Pineapple? Awesome!!!!

I’m easily amused aren’t I?

But it does pretty good loaded up with stuff does it not?

StrawberriesPut ’em together and what have you got?

Unfortunately we were all out of bibbidi-bobbidi-boo’s

Strawberry Habanero Sauce IngredientsBut I did manage to make an absolutely knock your socks off Strawberry Habenero Sauce.

Ok, Mum, I know you read this and I know, in your world, a fairy dies every time I swear…

You might want to skip the next few paragraphs.  Come back at the next photo, we’ll be good by then.

Ok – she’s gone now hasn’t she?

For the rest of us.  When I say this sauce is the motherfucking bomb, I honestly mean that you could probably use it to detonate explosives.

This won’t just knock your socks off, it could possibly take your ankles with it. And having said all that, it’s also sweet and herby and so, so, good you’ll be wanting more even whilst you are calling for a fire extinguisher for your taste buds,

It may well be the most fucking hot thing I have ever eaten.  In my life.  And let’s bear in mind my Sri Lankan background.  I’m not alien to hot and spicy.

But, seeing as she’ll be dying to come back…here’s that next photo:

Habaneros

The original recipe called for 12 habaneros and a cup of strawberries.  As you can see, I had 5 habeneros and thought I might have to top it up with a few little scud chillies (totally unnecessary).  I also ended up using nearly 4 punnets of strawberries – that would be 4 times the cup required in the original recipe.

I also had some rosemary, which as you will see, was not at it’s prime.  So I threw a couple of springs of that in too. Waste not, want not right?

Sauce Ingredients with RosemaryAfter about an hour it looked like this:

Strawberry Habanero Sauce
Strawberry Habanero Sauce

Then I threw in a couple of sprigs of tarragon, took it off the heat and let it sit until it cooled.

You can choose to puree this as you see fit.  I put half in the blender and left the other half chunky.

The resulting sauce is capital A awesome even if I do say so myself.  One of the best things is that it actually has a visible three step taste process.

The first taste is the strawberry sweet which is accompanied by a sound of “I thought you said this was..?”

This is followed by a “Mmmm” as the herby notes of the rosemary and tarragon kick in.

The final is a gasp for air and a kind of popping of the eyes as the chili kick hits.

This is when you can act like an absolute arse and say “Oh…you began to say something earlier…..?”

Or just pass the person a glass of water.

Your choice.

I’m going to be spending my week working on special Easter treats for all of you. Stay tuned….these are going to be…I don’t even know the word…retro awesome /possibly revolting

Time will tell.

Hope your week is fabulous.

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Strawberry Habanero Sauce

Ingredients

Scale
  • 512 Habanero Chillies (I used 5, the original recipe called for 12)
  • 4 x 250 punnets strawberries
  • 1/2 cup white vinegar
  • 2 cloves garlic
  • 1 Lemon (juice only)
  • 2 Shallots
  • 1/4 cup pineapple juice
  • 1/8 cup sugar
  • 2 sprigs of rosemary
  • 2 sprigs of tarragon

Instructions

  1. Combine all ingredients except tarragon in a pan and cook for or 1 hour.
  2. Add tarragon and turn heat off. Leave on hob for 1 hour.
  3. Puree in a blender.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

First up,

 

 

(Almost an) Emerald and Ruby Fruit Salad

Remember way back when I made the Spaghetti Bolognese that had the chicken livers in it?  You know, “the best Bolognese ever” that prompted me to implement the “Don’t ask, don’t tell rule?” into all future cooking ventures?  Well, it happened again this week with the Almost Emerald and Ruby Fruit Salad, and we’ll definitely go there but first….

Topaz and Ruby Fruit Salad
Topaz and Ruby Fruit Salad

You might be looking at the above picture and wondering why the featured item is called an Emerald and Ruby Fruit Salad.  Because emeralds are green right?  Any fool knows that. And, you might assume that, this is one of those quirks of vintage cookbooks that I would normally mock mercilessly.

Unfortunately, wrong and wrong.

Sometimes, the fault lies entirely with me.  I’ll pause while you pick your jaws up off the floor.  But just to prove a point, let’s count all the ways I failed to notice a fairly crucial part of Nancy Spain’s recipe for Emerald and Ruby Fruit Salad.

1 The name.  Emerald and Ruby.

2 Nancy also very kindly provides a picture of said Emerald and Ruby fruit salad.  And even more kindly, it is one of the pictures in the all colour cookbook that is in glorious technicolour.  And yep, it’s green.

Emerald and Ruby Fruit Salad
Emerald and Ruby Fruit Salad

3 The recipe quite clearly states that layer 1 consists of lime jelly and strawberries.

Emerald and Ruby Fruit Salad

4. Emeralds are green.  Even failing all of the above.  Logic would dictate that the Emerald layer of the Emerald Fruit Salad would be green.

So, given all that  and that I trotted all the way to the shops and bought some lime jelly specifically to make my Emerald and Ruby Fruit Salad, how on earth did I manage to use lemon i.e. yellow jelly in the first layer?

I know .  I was astounded at my level of dumbfuckery too.  Feel free to roll your eyes and face palm as much as you want.  I deserve it. But once you’re done, let me introduce you to my…(erm..just hold on a moment whilst I google yellow gemstones….) highly delicious  Topaz and Ruby Fruit Salad.

Topaz and Ruby Fruit Salad
Topaz and Ruby Fruit Salad

It still looks pretty but…doofus mistake right? It also then really threw me for the second layer.  I had lime jelly left.  But, now the recipe called for lemon jelly.  Dilemma – use the lime jelly and hope it turns out ok?  Or head back down to the shops and buy some more lemon jelly?  In the end, I bought more lemon jelly.  I figured the avocado, mayo and salt combo was going to be enough of a sell even using the correct recipe.  Who knew what would happen if I threw the lime into  the mix?

Topaz and Ruby Fruit Salad
Topaz and Ruby Fruit Salad

So, now to the next part of this saga.

I live with the fussiest eater in the world.  And high on the lengthy list of foods he doesn’t eat are avocado and mayonnaise.

So, I was kind of surprised to get a phone call at work on Monday, after making this on Sunday.

“You know that jelly thing?”

“Uh huh”

“I saw you put the avocado in”

Fuck it.  Now I”m going to have to eat the whole thing myself. I’m going to be eating jelly until Easter.

“But I took some to work to have for  snack and…it’s surprisingly good.  What else is in there?”

Oh…ermm…jelly.  Lemon Jelly.

“Just lemon jelly and avocado?”

Yeah..pretty much…bit of lemon juice…

“Wow…who knew…it’s really good”

Good.  I’m glad you like it.

I’m going to hell.  I really am.  But you know, it also kind of proves my point.  Tonight if I served up a salad containing avocado and mayo, it would be left on the plate. And he would probably eat two slices of the Emerald and Ruby Fruit Salad for dessert to make up for it.

Just as long as no one tells him what’s in it.

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Strawberry Fields Forever Part 2 aka Strawberries Gangland Style

I have some weird little strips of paper in my “recipes to be made” folder.  They are not so much recipes as hints, maybe even whispers of things to make.  I have no idea where they came from – they are numbered and printed so I presume from a list of some sort.   Anyway, each of these is an absolute gem, if a little vague.

Take for instance, strip #58.

“Hull and quarter some strawberries; at the last minute, combine with a little chopped tarragon, black pepper and balsamic vinegar.  Goat’s cheese is good too”

That’s all folks.

I had strawberries galore (huh, sounds a bit like the name of a Bond girl), I had tarragon, black pepper and balsamic…

Ingredients for Strawberry Tarragon Salad
Ingredients for Strawberry Tarragon Salad

I know it’s only just over a week into the year but I strongly believe this salad will be one of my top ten finds of the year.

This was soooooo good.  The sweet strawberries, the aniseedy tarragon, the sticky sweet sour balsamic and the warming zing of pepper are…mindblowingly awesome!

I neither hulled nor quartered my strawberries…who can be bothered following so many steps in a recipe…

Strawberry, Tarragon, Black Pepper, Balsamic Salad
Strawberry, Tarragon, Black Pepper, Balsamic Salad

The recipe suggests that goat’s cheese would not go astray here.  I didn’t have any (why would I? I didn’t have sugar.  Why on earth would I have goat’s cheese?) but I mixed up some sour cream and mascarpone and dobbed that on and it was delicious.  Goat’s cheese would be amazing.  I also would like to try blue cheese.

Strawberry Tarragon Salad with Mascapone

The vinegar that the strawberries soaked in went all thick and syrupy and took on a pinkish tinge from the strawberry juice.  I siphoned this back into a small bottle for later use as it seemed too good to throw out.

Strawberry Balsamic
Strawberry Balsamic

And speaking of awesome, my White Chocolate Strawberry Cheesecake Semifreddo for Mark’s birthday?  Amazing!!! Another good contender for top ten for the year.  I hope I haven’t peaked early!

I used this recipe from a Delicious Magazine:

http://www.taste.com.au/recipes/6801/strawberry+cheesecake+semifreddo

with the addition of White Chocolate into both the base and the filling.

Why white chocolate?

I was leafing through one of my favourite food books, Niki Sengit’s Flavour Thesaurus to see if she had anything to say about strawberries and tarragon (she doesn’t, although there is a section on strawberries and anise).  This book is a must have for any serious foodie and even the not so serious ones as some of the entires are hilarious!

Flavour Thesaurus
Flavour Thesaurus

Niki has the following to say about strawberries and white chocolate:

“In fancy chocolate shops, I sometimes see slabs of white chocolate spattered with clots of freeze dried strawberry, like stucco after a shoot out.  White chocolate makes for a better combination with strawberry than milk or dark because, like strawberry and gangland comparisons, it’s a little cheesy”

I couldn’t resist.  So I bought a family block of white chocolate and melted half into the biscuit base and half into the filling.  It was sensational.  And just right for a birthday celebration on a hot night.  We had dinner at our favourite Thai restaurant then came home for some bubbly and the semifreddo.  It was a delightful way to end a lovely day!

And in honour of Niki, and with a slight nod to the K-pops, but mostly because  White Chocolate Strawberry Cheesecake Semifreddo is too much of a mouthful, from now on, in this house at least, it will be known as Semifreddo Gangland Style.

Strawberries Gnagland Style

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