Mashed Potato

I enjoyed watching Emmanuel Mollois making mashed potato a few weeks ago on Poh's Kitchen.  He used a 1:1 ratio of butter to potatoes, with about a half proportion of milk.  Not good for the diet, but well worth trying just once.

The potatoes were boiled, then cooked in the oven for 12 minutes to dry out.  The peeled potatoes were then pushed through a mouli grater to give a very fine texture.  The potatoes were returned to the saucepan over a medium heat, with the milk, then the butter was slowly whisked in.

The final result looked fabulous- creamy, smooth and rich.  My mum was a fan of rich mashed potato - I can remember her puting in loads of butter, often an egg, sometimes cream(!!), and occasionally nutmeg.  I also once made mashed potato with a hint of blue cheese mixed in - that was yummy.  (Incidentally, a hint of blue cheese in bechamel sauce is also amazing.  If you only use a little, it doesn't overpower it, but adds such a depth of flavour).

The flavour and texture of rich, silky smooth mashed potato is a world away from dry, lumpy, bland mash you sometimes see.

Cocoa and Cinnamon Meringues

This recipe uses just a basic meringue mixture, but with cocoa and cinnamon folded through.  The cocoa and cinnamon combination adds depth to the flavour, and also helps to balance the overwhelming sweetness of the meringue.  The cocoa mixes surprisingly well with the meringue, to give you sort of a gooey chocolate rippled filling.  I think this is one of the nicest recipes I've made in ages.

The recipe is originally from The British Larder blog, but I have tweaked it a bit.  The recipe uses a different  method for meringues - you heat the egg whites and sugar over a low heat, then beat.  I'm sure you could use the traditional method (beating egg whites until stiff, then beating in the sugar), and get the same result.  I also learned that a good rule of thumb for meringues is to weigh the egg whites, then add double the weight in caster sugar (a 1:2 ratio). 

I added melted chocolate and toasted flaked almonds to the tops of my meringues - yum!

Ingredients

300g egg whites (for me this was six v large eggs, but do weigh them out)
600g caster sugar
Pinch of salt
20g cocoa powder
2 teaspoons powdered cinnamon
100g good quality chocolate
25g (approx) toasted flaked almonds

1. Preheat the oven to 110°C and line two large baking trays with non-stick baking paper.

2. Sift cocoa and cinnamon together.

3. Place the egg whites, salt and sugar in a large saucepan.  Cover your hands with disposable gloves.

4. Place the saucepan over a very low heat to gently heat the egg whites and to melt the sugar. Stick your hand into the egg and sugar mixture and stir it continuously.  Weird, but important; by using your hands you can control the heat, as you should not heat above 37°C (blood temperature).  Stir constantly to dissolve the sugar.

5. Once the temperature has reached 37°C, remove the saucepan from the heat and transfer the whites to a large bowl.  Beat the mix with electric beaters / mixer until the meringue holds its shape.  This takes a while - it took about 8 minutes with my electric handbeaters.

6. Gently sift the cocoa and cinnamon mix over the meringue.  Use two spoons to scoop a large spoonful of the mixture from the middle, scoop deep to get a ripple effect of cocoa and meringue. Do not be tempted to mix the cocoa in as you will spoil the rippled effect.

7. Drop the heaped spoonful of meringue onto the prepared baking trays.  Leave sufficient gaps as they swell when they cook.

8. Place trays in pre-heated oven.  Bake the meringues for two hours (the time may be less if your meringues are smaller).  The meringes are cooked when they are stiff on the outside but still slightly gooey in the centre.  Allow to cool for 10 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack to cool completely.

9. Melt chocolate (in the microwave over over a pan of simmering water).  Allow to cool slightly.  Spread melted chocolate on tops of meringues, sprinkle with toasted almonds.  Leave to set at room temperature.

Beef with Red Wine

I fiddled about a bit with one of Nigella Lawson’s recipes for beef stew.


I usually use stock when making casseroles. This stew didn’t use any stock, and I was really impressed by the subtlety of the flavours as a result. I am so used to the strong salty kick that you get from stock that can really overpower other flavours.  This combination made a very nice change.

This stew has a subtle, rich sweetness. I served mine with a lovely mound of mashed starchy Jarrah pumpkin, and steamed mixed greens. As with all of my savoury recipes, quantities are approximate.

Ingredients

2 onions, chopped
3 carrots, sliced
600g chuck steak, cubed
½ cup plain flour
A teaspoon of allspice
Salt and pepper
½ cup water
½ cup red wine
2 bay leaves
A teaspoon of dried sage
1 cup of chopped mushrooms

1. Gently sauté the onions and carrots in a small amount of oil a large heavy-based pan till onions are softened. Remove from pan.

2. Mix together plain flour, allspice and salt and pepper. Coat cubed beef well in flour mix.

3. Add a little more oil to the pan, and brown steak over a medium heat. Remove meat from pan.

4. Add water, red wine, bay leaves and sage to pan, stir over medium heat. Return onions, carrots and beef to pan, bring to a simmer.

5. Cover the pan and reduce the heat to low, leave to cook for approximately 2 and a half hours. Stir in the mushrooms towards the end of the cooking time.

Chewy Caramels

These turned out well.  They taste very much like those chewy caramels you get in boxes of chocolates.

Ingredients

25g (1/4 cup) flaked almonds
125g butter, chopped
395g can sweetened condensed milk
2 tablespoons honey
3/4 cup (150g firmly packed) brown sugar
100-150g good quality dark chocolate


1. Toast almonds.  Spread on a baking tray and roast in a pre-heated oven at 180 deg C for about 8 minutes or until golden.

2. Grease 15cm square cake pan, line base and sides with non-stick baking paper.

3. Combine butter, condensed milk, honey and brown sugar in a saucepan.  Stir over low heat without boiling until sugar dissolves.  Increase the heat till the mixture is bubbling (medium high), cook, stirring constantly for approximately 10 minutes or until glossy and caramel in colour.  The mixture will start to come away from the base of the pan when it is done.  Make sure you stir constantly and thoroughly; the mixture crystallises on the bottom of the pan very easily if you don't.

4. Pour caramel into prepared tin.  Leave to cool.  Melt chocolate, leave to cool slightly.  Pour over the top of the caramel.  Sprinkle with the toasted almonds.  Leave to set.  Cut into small squares with a sharp knife.  Store in refrigerator.

Variations: I think these would also be nice with toasted chopped almonds or other nuts mixed through the caramel itself before pouring into the pan.