Sunday 25 August 2013

Churros with Chocolate Sauce.

So, if you are feeling like you deserve a naughty treat ,this one is for you. Easy and full of naughtiness! Last week I caught a re-run of one of  Nigella's  cooking shows, and there she was all sultry and sexy , dipping her churros in the chocolate sauce. I immediately developed a craving for those little mexican doughnuts , hence the result! Now, I should confess : this was my very first time deep-frying anything, so my churros , although delicious as they are, don't look very traditional. I think my piping bag had a nozzle a bit too big(1,5 cm). So please use a smaller one if you like the slimmer look.And another first today, all the photos were kindly taken by my lovely husband , I paid him in churros!
Churros:
140 gr. plain flour
1 tsp. baking powder
200 ml. boiling hot water
a few tablespoons of olive oil
about 500 ml. oil for frying
1/3 cup of caster sugar
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
Sauce:
100 ml. double cream
70 gr. milk chocolate
50 gr. dark chocolate
a pinch of sea salt (optional)
Mix well the flour and the baking powder in a dish, add a tablespoon of olive oil and continue mixing by hand.
Add the water and keep folding until your dough becomes elastic.

This done, set it aside, and get your pan ready. As I am not a confident fryer , I veered on a cautious side. I took one of my frying pans and used about 500 ml. of vegetable oil. Here on the photo you can see how deep.
Make sure the oil is hot enough, but not too hot by dropping a bit of white bread in it, if the bread turns golden , the oil is ready to be used. 
Use the rest of the olive oil to moisten your hands and the piping bag, put all the dough in the bag.


Here I followed Nigella's advice on using the scissors, when squeezing the dough out. Also I fried only 4 at a time. 
They don't need long , so keep an eye on them and turn them over as soon as they get golden. 

When all churros are fried put them on a kitchen towel to get rid of extra oil. Prepare the sugar and cinnamon rub.




For the chocolate sauce, heat up the cream with chocolate and a few sea salt flakes, until smooth and silky.



 Enjoy them while they are hot!






Saturday 17 August 2013

Slow Cooked Chilli Con Carne with Chocolate.

Now , I am not saying that this is the best ever chilli con carne recipe, but normally when I make it (and I tend to make an industrial amount of it), it disappears rather swiftly if left unattended. Make it a day ahead, it will only be more delicious the next day.The meat cuts I use are so called "forgotten cuts", they are full of flavour and don't cost much. Perfect to feed a big crowd.
1-1,5 kg of meat (stewing beef, ox cheek, ox tails , veal tails)
50-75 gr of dark chocolate (depends on personal taste )
3 tins of chopped tomatoes
2 tins of red kidney beans
4 tbsp tomato puree
a pinch of sugar
juice of 1/2 lemon
3 cardamom pods (crushed)
2 tbsp paprika
1 tbsp red hot chilli powder (add more or less , depending on personal preferences)
1 tbsp cumin
1 red pepper
3 onions
2 cloves of garlic
2 tbsp olive oil
a cup of water
a pinch of salt
Set you oven on gas mark 2/130C.
Dice the meat, prepare the spices, chop up the vegetables.

Heat up the cooking pan, brown the meat, add the spices , onions and garlic.
Carry on cooking on high heat, after a while the onions will start getting light  brown at this time add salt, sugar, tomato puree and lemon juice.
Stir the meat well and add chopped tomatoes , pepper and water. Bring to the boil and transfer to the oven.
Cook for a few hours 4-5 works for me.( At this stage I switch off the oven and leave it till the next day.)
Next we add the kidney beans and chocolate.
If you are re-heating it , cook for about an hour , if you cook continuously half an hour will be enough.
As I was dishing it up, I realised there is no pretty way to photograph it (am lacking the skills), so I took a picture of what I serve alongside it. Doritos, grated cheddar, soured cream , guacamole and heaps of rice.

Enjoy!








My Grandmother's Fruit Pie.

Good old fashioned recipe, this is! Hide away your measuring cups and scales, you not going to need them for this pie. The only advice I can share is, please be careful with the baking time and temperature. I veer on the cautious side , gas mark 4/175C and baking time just under 1 hour , checking every now and then.
You are going to need:
3 eggs
1 cup of sugar
1 cup of self-raising flour
1 tsp of baking powder
1 tsp of vanilla extract
400gr or so of ripe plums quatered (out of season try cooking apples)
Preheat the oven.
Prepare the plums and butter generously the pie dish.
Whip up eggs and sugar for about 5 min., until light and fluffy.

Add flour, baking powder,vanilla extract , mix well, but don't over-beat, as the baking powder may lose its quality if whipped for too long.
Arrange the plums in the pie dish and pour the cake mixture on top.

Sprinkle with some brown sugar and pop it on the middle shelf of your oven. Keep an eye on it. When the cake is ready the top should be hard as a kind of meringue , check the inside with a toothpick , it should come out clean.
Serve with cream, best eaten warm! Plum pie does not live long, if you want to make it ahead I would recommend using apples, they give less juice, therefore the top stays crispy for longer.