Sun Dried Tomato Pesto

I will be the last one to say you should not buy pesto bottles from shops, as I do that myself sometimes. I must admit I always have a bottle or two in my kitchen shelf as it is always handy when you want to make pasta or some other dishes and you need some pesto.

But I do admit it is much more delicious if you make them at home as you know the quality of the things going into the pesto.

The recipe I took for making is from Giada De Laurentis I just adjusted it a bit to my taste.
So if you want the exact recipe just click the link above.

Sun Dried Tomato Pesto:

160 gm jar sun dried tomatoes packed in olive oil ( I used my home made one)
3 big garlic cloves
Salt and black pepper to taste
1 cup packed fresh basil leaves
1/2 cup parmesan.

I added every thing to my food processor and mixed for few minuted till everything was creamy.
I keep in a bottle the pesto if I don't use it the day itself.

Passion Fruit Curd

 

After almost three months, I had a whole afternoon just for myself, well it was me time from four in the afternoon today.
As usual I went by my FIL's home sat there for a hour or so and talked to him. ok he talks and I listen.
He is 86 years old and he has so much things to say mostly about the second world war, then his life in the police , his life with my MIL it goes on and on,
I have heard these stories in the last months so many times, but he still get excited about talking about all these stories that I just listen, just to make him happy .
When my MIL was still there if he talked too much she would say Brick be quiet now stop talking all your old stories.

So after saying bye to him and to Couscous ( the pet dog ) I walked towards the shopping street and  went to most of the shops.
Looked what they have new, or just walked around in the shop did a bit of shopping. And I was so pleased to have done that and now I am back home I said I will atlast write a post for my blog.

I love passion fruit, In kerala we used to have passion fruit in plenty and when we got them we used to just cut open them in half and add a bit of sugar and eat the pulp , there are even times if the fruit was not that sweet we used to add a bit of salt and eat the pulp.

Few weeks back when I went to the store and I saw passion fruit well I bought two packs and in my mine I said ok now is the chance to make passion fruit curd as I have been wanting to make them for a while.

Must say this is such a easy curd to make and the recipe is from BBC Good Food and I must say this recipe is a keeper.
Don't get panic if it doesn't get thick fast, have patience, things like this you can't do in a hurry.
If you just follow the recipe good you will end up getting a delicious passion fruit curd.

 



Ingredients

200g/7oz passion fruit pulp, about 6-8 ripe passion fruits

3 large eggs

140g butter, diced

250g golden caster sugar

2 tbsp cornflour

Method

1. Put the passion fruit pulp in a food processor and whizz to separate the seeds from all the juicy bits. Scrape into a sieve set over a medium saucepan, pushing through as much pulp as you can. Reserve 2 tbsp of the seeds, then discard the rest.
2. Add the remaining ingredients to the pan and set over a low heat. Whisk until all the butter has melted then, using a wooden spoon, stir constantly until the passion fruit curd has thickened to a similar consistency as lemon curd. Don’t be tempted to turn the heat up to speed up the process as the eggs will curdle; make sure you stir right around the edge, too, as this is where it might catch first.
3. Sieve the curd into a clean bowl to get rid of any eggy bits that may have curdled. Stir in the reserved seeds and cool, before spooning into jars and chilling. Curd will keep in the fridge for a week

Fish Veloute

These days mostly on Sunday we have fish for lunch , the reason is Shyama, she don't make any fish dish in her place or I don't pack any fish dishes for her in tupperware when se leave on sunday evening as I think food prepared with seafood/fish etc should be eated freshly.

So then I make a some fish dish on sunday as she can enjoy it and plus it is healthy too.
So as it was sunday yesterday I made this FIsh Veloute from May Delicious Magazine and the recipe was from two-star Michelin chef at the London restaurant Le Gavroche.

I do love Michel Roux jr especially after seeing him in Master Chef, such a charming Chef and I am in full admiration when I see him making dishes in various food programmes.

Ofcourse Hans was so excited when I told I was going to make the recipe from Michel Roux as I do make him watch the Master Chef together with me.
And I must say this Veloute Sauce is one of the best I have made or I would go so far as saying the best I have ever ate.
We all loved it and I had a bit left over so I thought before I put the left over portion into the freezer I will take some pics for my blog . Normally I would take a step by step pic when I make something special but as I was not planning to blog it I didn't.
But then I changed my mind when I tasted it I was like something which taste so good one has to share.

I am giving the exact recipe from the Delicious Magazine.
I doubled the recipe as we were with 5 for lunch and I served with Steamed Salmon and Potato mash.

This is what Miche Roux has written about the sauce.
"This is a White Veloute (Velvety) sauce that just thick enough to coat the back of a spoon. It is thickend by evaporating liquid and by the addition of cream.
It is the cornerstin of many fish sauces.
A tip he gave was also when softening shallots or onions in butter you need to start with a cold pan. If you add them to a hot pan with butter they will start to caramalize and then you won't have the white color.



50 gm button mushrooms, finaly sliced
2 shallots finley slices
20 gm unsalted butter
100 ml dry white wine
300 ml good quality fresh fish stock ( I used a good quality stock from the shop)
300 ml double cream
Pepper and salt to taste
Lemon juice to taste ( optional, he has written but i think you should add)

1. In a heavy based pan, gently fry the slices mushrooms and shallots over a low heat in butter untill tender  but not colored.

2. Add the wine increase the heat and boil until the liquid is almost all evaporated, then add the stok and boil untill reduced to half.
Add the cream and boil untill the sauce is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon.
Pass through a fine siece pressing the mushrooms and shalts with the back of a spoon to extract all the flavours
Season with salt and pepper, adding a little lemon juice for taste.



 

Sweet Chilli Dipping Sauce

I love swwet and sour dipping sauce and there is always a bottle which is bought from the Asian store in my home, but then mostly they are too sweet than hot to my taste.

So I was delighted when I saw int he Wagamama Ways with noodles book.

I do have to say this dipping sauce is really hot and i mean spicy hot, it could be also of the kind of chillies I used, but I am not complaining, I like it hot ;-)

So I guess the hotness will depend on the chillies you use.

 



In the book the picture is more like a syrup, but my end result is thicker, could be also I used my hand blender, I blend it twice, once after 2 minutes and then after the full cooking was done, but next time I will use my blender or my mixer which i used for making Indiancoconut chutney's etc...so that it will be more smoother.

I made the sauce for half of the ingrrdients as I only had so much chillies here at home.



250 gm red chillies trimmed ( I used those small red thai chillies)

3 garlic cloves peeled and roughly chopped

100 gm light brown sugar

2 tsp whit wine vinegar

Compbine everything in a small pan with 100 ml water, brung to the boil and simmer over a moderate heat until soft, about 5 munites.

Blitz in a blender and season with a scant teaspoon of salt.

Return to the pan and siller for futher 10 minutes, taking care not to let it catch on the bottom.

Allow to cool and refrigerate.





Salted Caramel Spread / Sauce



Actually I should have written this post  ages ago.
But then as they say it is better to late that never.

In the begning of March we ( hubby daughter and I ) went for a Chocolate Fair in Lille In France.
I got 2 tickets free from one of my dear friend Apolina who has the blog Bombay-Bruxelles and I had made sure that hubby didn't had anything to do on that saturday.

So when Shyama heard that we were going for a chocolate fair ofcourse she wanted to come also, I qutoe her I am not intrested in what they have , I am intrested in the free chocolate tasting.

And indeed that is what we did there. We tasted so much chocolate from the plently full stalls there and this if a first for me, That in the end when they offered chocolate I had to say please NO MORE CHOCOLATES!!!!!!!!

I must say we three had a fab time, we bought chocolate etc... from there I even bought some beautiful juicy looking Vanilla beans and some other few things for dessert which I still have to use.
There we met also Apolina and another friend and blogger Sylvian and we had some fun with them.
All to all it was a wonderful day for some one who loves chocolate.

And now to the recipe part, it is there I saw these creamy caramel spread/Sauce in one of the stores and I think Shyama and I went few time to that shop to taste it.

Shyama was delighted when I made this and we both think this is far more better ( personal taste) than Dulce de Leche. And it doesn't take 3 to 4 hours to make.
This sauce is so easy to make.

I took the picture when the sauce was not that cold, so after you keep them in the fridge it will get a little more thicker and then you can spread on your toast in the morning, or when ever you want you can heat up some in the MW and it will get thinner and pour over the Ice Cream. Or just eat spoon by spoon straight from the bottle, which I do.
If you want to make Salted Caramel Ice cream, my friend Magpipes have/will just post a delicious recipe in her place.
I had written in my FB status about this sauce and She had this idea of us posting together and I thought it was a wonderfull idea.
Below are few of the plenty of pictures I took there.

Fruit taste Chocolates

Sylvian,Apolina and Muself all 3 on a sugar high :-)

The italian behind offered Shyama a job, he told her if he goes to Mumbai she can come with her.

Dress made of chocolate.

Hans has to force himself to smile as I emptied his wallet by buying goodies :-)

Now you know why hubby came with me.

Chocolate covered Almonds, pure bliss

Variety of Caramel and Chocolate Spread.

I got teh recipe from Simply Recipes

Make sure when you make caramel to be really carfull as boiling sugar ans cream etc... can be very dangerous and also make sure you are using a big enough pan so nothing boil over which can be really dangerous.
1 cup of sugar

6 Tbsp satled butter ( I used extra two spoons) as i think the butter makes the sauce thicker when it cools down.
1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
A pinch of Fleur de Sel ( optional)

Heat the sugar in a heavy bottomed pan.
As the sugar begins to melt, stir vigorously with a whisk or wooden spoon. As soon as the sugar comes to a boil, stop stirring.
You can swirl the pan a bit if you want, from this point on. Note that this recipe works best if you are using a thick-bottomed pan.
If you find that you end up burning some of the sugar before the rest of it is melted, the next time you attempt it, add a half cup of water to the sugar at the beginning of the process, this will help the sugar to cook more evenly, though it will take longer as the water will need to evaporate before the sugar will caramelize.

As soon as all of the sugar crystals have melted (the liquid sugar should be dark amber in color), immediately add the butter to the pan. Whisk until the butter has melted.

Once the butter has melted, take the pan off the heat. Count to three, then slowly add the cream to the pan and continue to whisk to incorporate. Note than when you add the butter and the cream, the mixture will foam up considerably. This is why you must use a pan which is big enough.

Whisk until caramel sauce is smooth. Let cool in the pan for a couple minutes,  add the salt then pour into a glass  jar and let sit to cool to room temperature. (Remember to use pot holders when handling the jar filled with hot caramel sauce.) Store in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks.

Dulce De Leche



It is ages ago I posted something on my blog.
Not that I have lost my passion for cooking and blogging.
As most of  my fb friends here know that I was in India for last five weeks as my Mom paassed away suddenly.I don't want to write anything about it right now, but I thought I will mention it here before you all ask me were I was and why I didn't blog.
This Dulce de Leche is something I made before all this happend in my life.
And I thought why not post it now as I have not made anything special at home after comming from India.
I still have a whole bunch of goodies to post even though I have not made anything new and till now not even have touched the camera.
Who woudn't love Dulce de leche, I can eat it spoon after spoon without stopping, and when I saw in Divya's place I had the sudden urget to have it and that is what I did make them.
She made them by the pressure cooker method and I made it stove top method.

2 tin of swetende condensed milk. Remove the label around the tin and if there is a plastic top remove them too.
I used a huge pot, filled it with water making sure the tins are fully covered with water and also there is plenty of water in the pot.
When the water started boiling, I lessed the heat, cover the pot loosely  and simmered the whole thing for 3 to 4 hours.

Just make sure that if the water get less fill up the water in th epot.

There is nothing worse in having a blast in your kitchen and having a messy and sticky kitchen.

Aparently the more hours you simmer, more thicker the sauce.

After hourse of simmering take the jar out of the water ane let it cool completley.

Keep the dulce de leche stored in the refrigerator.

Thai Yellow Curry Paste

I would be the last person to tell anyone don't buy curry paste or masala powder from shops.
As my powders are mostly bought from shops unless if i want to have a particular mix which is not available here.

My mom made her masala powders always , she never made in huge portions it was always jus for a couple of times and when that was finished she will make again.

I had given a party at home some two weeks back and while organizing the menu I had planned to make Thai yellow Shrimp Curry , ofcourse the recipe asked for yellow curry paste and in my mind i said Ok I have seen them in the shop here were they have a small section for Asian food.
Luck was not in my side as it was all sold out. And I didn't want to change my menu so I thought I will make my own paste.
After having the curry I must say I am happy they didn't had the paste in the shop as this was far and much more fresher tasting than the shop bought curry paste.

I had everything for making the curry paste except for Shrimp paste and I googled to see what it was and it was written it has such a pungent smell etc..... I thought it was OK not to add them.

If you don't want to make the curry paste then sure you can use the shop one.
I will post the recipe for the Yellow Shrimp Curry next week.

The recipe is from Rick Stein's Far Eastern Odyssey
I would suggest add the chillies according to your taste, I am giving the exact recipe from the book.

3 dried red kashmiri chillies
1 red bird's eye chillie roughly chopped
3 fat lemon grass stalks, core chopped
25 gm peeled fresh galangal or ginger roughly chopped ( I used galangal)
50 gm peeled fresh turmeric, chopped or 2 tsp turmeric powder ( I used turmeric powder)
50 gm onions or shallots, roughly chopped.
30 gm garlic cloves, roughly chopped
2 tsp shrimp paste (Didn't use)


Cover the dried red chillies in hot water and leave to soak for 30 minutes.
Then drain, reserving 2 tbsp of the liquid.
Put the chillies and the reserved liquid into a mini food processor with the remaining ingridients and grind everything into a smooth paste.
After using the amount for the Shrimp curry , I freezed the other portion of the paste for a another time.

Chocolate Sauce with a Shine.

I have posted Chocolate Sauce before and that is the one I use every time for serving with ice creams..... this chocolate sauce I made for serving with a particular dessert which I will post soon. A very easy sauce to make. And you only need 2 ingridients.
Hi hi i think this is the smallest post I have ever done :-)
If you still have not joined up in the Giveaway you have time till tommorow evening.

For the Chocolate Sauce.
50 gm Caster sugar
175 gm good quality dark chocolate broken into pieces.
Melt the chocolate in a bowl over a pan of simmering water.
Put the sugar in a small pan with 100 ml water and bring to the boil.
Stir the melted chocolate, then add the water and sugar mixture and stir untill smmoth and shiny.

Best Chocolate Sauce

One of the best things about living in Belgium according to me is, there is always good quality of chocolate there. Don't have to search for it, just go even to the smallest shop you will get them.

If you have visited belgium you will agree with me every city as so many chocolate/praline shops.
In out town there is a famous one, when ever we have to go for a dinner or there is guest I always go there to buy our chocolate. The moment you get into the shop the air you breath in is chocolate, I always tell I could just stay in that shop taking in this chocolarte air.
Last week when I went there, they had this letter hanging there wanted job students for working in the weekend and i came home and told my hubby what a shame i am not a student otherwise i could have gone and worked there and his remark was yeah...........you will be like a ball in a week.

Ingridients
200 ml cream
250 gm dark chocolate chop them up ( use the best quality)
60 gm sugar
250 ml milk

Add all the ingridients in a pan and bring it to boil and then cook in the low fire for 6 to 8 minutes till it thickens up.
One thing you should do is stir the sacu continuosly.
If it is too thick you can always add a bot more cream/milk to loosen it up.
I always serve this sauce hot poured over Vanilla ice cream.
You can freeze this sauce in portions and use it when ever you want, which i think is really handy.

This is one of the best chocolate sauces, you can use it with cakes, and especially with ice creams.