Weekend Cooking: What I Baked in My Kitchen in November

Welcome to the first Saturday of the month where I usually share everything I have made over the previous month. I did try a couple of new things this month!

The first treat I made this month was Orange Poppyseed Loaf which was from Nagi Maehashi's new cookbook called Tonight. This was a big winner, especially the cream cheese frosting. I love it when a recipe includes cream cheese frosting. It's a shame that you can't put it on everything!

My next bake is called Plum and Mascarpone Karpatka, which is also known as Polish mountain cake. The recipe comes from the cookbook Sift by Nicola Lamb, which I reviewed a couple of weeks ago. I also shared the recipe. This was a delicious cake, consisting of two layers of choux pastry, filled with a mascarpone custard and a plum jam!

We had a 13 people around for lunch last weekend. My husband cooked a barbecue and made pap and gravy (which is a South African dish), the guests bought the salads, and I did two different types of dessert. The first dessert was a pavlova board. I made the pavlova nests, but like last month, it took two attempts. I had made the nests on the Thursday and they were in the oven drying out. When my step daughter was asked to put the oven on for dinner, she didn't check and so it was only when she smelt sugar  burning that she realised they were in the oven! I therefore had to remake them. That's five lots of meringue over the last two months for various reasons!

I can't, however, take credit for the presentation of the pavlova board. When I made one a few years ago, my fruit was just all mixed up,  but Ash did a great job of making the board look pretty. The sauces are a salted caramel sauce, a chocolate sauce and a raspberry sauce which I made.

The other dessert was a Coffee Cream Cake. This is one of my husband's favourites, and now, it is one of his friend's favourite as well! I have shared the recipe for this one before.

I went to Aldi the other day. Even though I do my best to resist the lure of the centre aisle, I wasn't strong enough to not buy this 3D Christmas tree cake pan. I am planning just to do a very simple vanilla cake and then decorate it for our family Christmas lunch in a couple of weeks time. Hopefully it will look okay! I think that the other dessert will be a Peppermint Crisp Tart which my husband makes so it would appear that I won't have too much to do for the family Christmas lunch.

We visited the French Christmas Market last weekend. Whilst I didn't think it was particularly Christmassy, I was very excited when I saw that there was a company there selling baking kits. There were four different varieties available including canneles, madeleines and two different flavours of macarons. I chose Salted Caramel Macarons, but I fully expect that I will buy the other kits at some point. It reminds me of the Bake It Boxes that I used to love so much in that it has everything you need in it, except for the eggs.

We also picked up what was being advertised as the best pate in Melbourne. We had had this brand of pate before, so this time we picked up a terrine as well.

The other new thing for me this week was going to a very popular  cheesecake shop called  Lulu & Me. This is a place where they only sell several different varieties of cheesecake each day, and you can either buy a whole one, or by weight. So if you only want a small slice, say 100g, you can just buy that amount. I bought home some of the basque cheesecake and some of the Passionfruit and Hazelnut cheesecake which was delicious. I would be more likely to buy some of the flavoured cheesecakes because I know that I can make basque cheesecake at any time. It's a pretty easy recipe!

New Recipes

We have tried a few new recipes in the last month. 

Indian Coconut Prawn Curry (Nagi Maehashi)

Honey Pepper Chicken (Nagi Maehashi)

Japanese Chicken Curry with Vegetables, Udon Noodles (Atlas)

Chicken Nanban with Stir Fried Asian Greens and Roast Potatoes

Japanese Beef and Rice Bowl (Atlas)

Weekend Cooking posts over the last month

Widow Cliquot (movie review)

Sift: The Elements of Great Baking by Nicola Lamb

A Recipe for Christmas by Jo Thomas

Cook the Books: Crying in H Mart by Michelle Zauner

Weekly meals

Saturday - Nothing
Sunday -  Leftovers
Monday - Chicken kebab wraps
Tuesday - Japanese chicken curry with noodles (Atlas)
Wednesday - Chicken
Thursday - Beef
Friday - Pork spare ribs, potato salad and ciabatta

I am sharing this post with In My Kitchen hosted at Sherry's Pickings

Weekend Cooking is open to anyone who has any kind of food-related post to share: Book reviews (novel, nonfiction), cookbook reviews, movie reviews, recipes, random thoughts, gadgets, quotations, photographs, restaurant reviews, travel information, or fun food facts. If your post is even vaguely foodie, feel free to grab the button and link up anytime over the weekend. You do not have to post on the weekend. Please link to your specific post, not your blog's home page

Weekend Cooking: Sift: The Elements of Great Baking by Nicola Lamb

 

When Jamie Oliver announced this book as the November selection for his Cook Book club, my initial reaction was do I really want another baking book to sit on the shelves. To be fair, I think that most months and then I end up buying the book anyway, which is what happened with this one. It turns out that this is a baking book that I needed! Not just wanted...needed.

The structure of this book is quite unusual. The first third of the book is all about techniques and ingredients, and really gets into the details. Then there is a chapter which is the base recipes, and then we get to recipes at around page 140.

You may wonder what on earth there is to talk about in 140 pages before you get to recipes. I promise you, there's a lot. For example, in the chapter about flour, Lamb gives us an explanation about what a wheat kernel consists of, about the development of gluten, about the role of starch and more. Similarly, in the section about sugar, we get descriptions of the role of sugar and what happens when you add sugar and water together and then about adding salt to the equation. There are also chapters about eggs, fats, how things rise (for example in pastry) and so much more. It's often said that baking is a scientific and this is where we have the opportunity to learn the science.

The base recipes provided including meringues, choux, craquelin, brioche and so much more. 

When it comes to the recipes, I love how the author not only gives you the recipe but she also points you back to the reference section. For example, in the recipe I have shared below, she points us to the base choux bun recipe for the technique of making the choux. She also tells us that the techniques we are using are Starch Gelatinisation and Egg Coagulation, along with the page numbers where we can find the information. In other words, she is always pointing us back to the science. It's very clever and I've never seen a book laid out in exactly this way.

Even the way that the recipes are grouped together is different. They are sorted into 3 different sections. The first is recipes that you can make in an afternoon. The next group can be made in a day and the final group are recipes that are more complicated and that you can make in a weekend, including a wide range of different viennoiserie. An example of a recipe that could be made in the weekend is Tiramichoux, which is choux buns with craquelin that is then filled with mascarpone custard, salted brown butter coffee sauce and even has a savoirdi biscuit in it. There is a summary which talks about what you can do on Day 1 and how long it should take, and then what you should on Day 2.

When I went through the recipes there were many which I wanted to make but the four that stood out the most were:

Brown Sugar Custard Tart

Rhubarb and Custard Crumb Cake

Secret Chocolate Cake

Mango Shortcake with Candied Lime. 

Oh, and there are some savoury recipes as well.

One of the cool things in the book is right at the back where there is something called the Matrix of Joy. The idea is that it is a table with various techniques on the vertical and other recipes from the book on the horizontal, and that by looking at the various intersections tells you how you can combine the two to come up with something new. For example, by combining choux buns with a pastry cream, you now have Custard Choux Buns or by combining Puff Pastry with Frangipane, then you now can create Galette des Rois.

The one recipe that I kept coming back to over and over was the Plum and Mascarpone Karpatka, which is also known as a Polish Mountain Cake so that is what I have been making today. All the components are now cooling and once I have put it all together I will add a picture. 

I will say that I had to use canned whole plums, as it is not plum season here.

Update - this was so delicious! Thumbs up from the husband.

Plum and Mascarpone Karpatka (Polish Mountain Cake)

Choux base

65g whole milk
65g water
65g butter
15g caster sugar

90g self-raising flour or 90g plain flour with 4g baking powder

150g–175g whole eggs (about 3)

3g flaky sea salt (about 1 tsp)

Stewed plums

250g plums, stoned
70g water
60g caster sugar
1 vanilla pod, spent (optional)
5g cornflour (about 1½ tsp)


Mascarpone custard

300g whole milk
1 whole egg and 1 egg yolk (75g total)
60g caster sugar
30g cornflour
2 tsp good quality vanilla extract
250g mascarpone, at room temp

Instructions:

For the choux, preheat the oven to 210°C/190°C fan. Make the choux according to the master choux method on page 136, (traditional choux method) adding the baking powder in with the flour if using plain flour.

Line the two tins with baking paper at the bottom only. Spread 200–225g of choux paste in each tin, leaving the top slightly rough and wavy and using a palette knife to help. If you only have one tin, bake one at a time.

Bake for 35–40 minutes until well peaked, golden and crisp. Leave to cool completely in the tins on a cooling rack, then remove.

For the plums, cut the plums into six. In a small saucepan, combine the plums with 50g of the water, the sugar and vanilla. Heat over a medium heat, occasionally stirring so the plums are well coated. Bring the mixture to a gentle simmer, reduce the heat to low and cover the saucepan with a lid. Steam for 4–5 minutes. If the plums are still firm, cook for a further 2 minutes. Mix the cornflour with the remaining water to create a slurry, then stir into the hot liquid. Bring to a bubble so it thickens. Pour into a clean container and leave to cool.

For the mascarpone custard, heat the milk until simmering. Meanwhile, whisk together the whole egg, egg yolk, sugar, cornflour and vanilla. Pour the hot milk over the egg mixture whilst whisking constantly to temper, then return the custard to the stovetop. Cook for 3–4 minutes over a medium heat until boiling, whisking the whole time. Pour into a clean container, then set aside to cool and gelatinise – make sure you put clingfilm or baking paper on the surface so it doesn't form a skin. You want it to be totally cold and firm before continuing with this recipe.

Beat the mascarpone until smooth – it does have a tendency to be a bit lumpy, so you just have to be prepared to work it. Once that’s ready, set aside and beat the custard until smooth and no longer jelly-like. The easiest way to do this is in a stand mixer bowl if you have one.

Now, fold/mix the two together - it should make a very thick cream. You can also do this in your stand mixer with the paddle attachment. Leave it in the fridge until ready to join.

To assemble, line one of the cake tins with acetate or baking paper. This will help you get a smooth edge. Place your less cute choux disc in the base. Pile in half of the mascarpone custard, then spread the stewed plums on top. Top with the other half of the custard. Place the most mountainous choux disc on top. All the cake to settle/reset by resting it in the fridge for at least an hour.

Before serving, remove the cake from the tin and dust with icing sugar. It will keep in the fridge for 3 days and will get softer over time.

Note from the author

You can also use your favourite jam in the middle of this! Thanks to Marta Beimin, who makes the most stunning Karpatkas, for inspiring the juicy stewed plums in this recipe!

Weekly meals

Saturday - Butter chicken
Sunday - 
Monday - Honey Pepper Chicken (new)
Tuesday -
Wednesday -Pork Nachos
Thursday -Pork chops, mash, broccoli and gravy
Friday - Leftovers

Weekend Cooking is open to anyone who has any kind of food-related post to share: Book reviews (novel, nonfiction), cookbook reviews, movie reviews, recipes, random thoughts, gadgets, quotations, photographs, restaurant reviews, travel information, or fun food facts. If your post is even vaguely foodie, feel free to grab the button and link up anytime over the weekend. You do not have to post on the weekend. Please link to your specific post, not your blog's home page

Weekend Cooking: What I Baked in my kitchen - October

 

Welcome to the first Saturday of the month where I usually share everything I have made over the previous month. This month it feels like there has been quite a bit of baking with only one big result for the whole month. Let me explain.

Early in the month I decided to participate in a group bake to make a layered celebration cake. The idea was that over the course of a week you would do something each day and then by the end of a week, you would have a cake. The first two days were shopping and preparation, then on each subsequent day make meringue kisses and compote, then make the swiss meringue buttercream, then the cake and then on the final day put it all together. Well that was the plan at least. I fell at the first baking hurdle.

I started making the meringue kisses on a Wednesday night, which was probably a bit late in the day anyway, but I made the syrup then whisked it all up but I was absolutely convinced that the meringue hadn't worked properly so I threw it out.  I did make the raspberry compote and knew that would last a few days in the fridge. I therefore waited until I had some more time before I tried again to make meringue again. It looked exactly the same as the first time I made them so I thought I would try baking them and see what happened. It turns out that when you mix up the temperatures for fan ovens and non-fan ovens, they don't quite turn out. I mean they were a bit overcooked so not usable for the cake but they were delicious with berries and cream. Oh, and the first mix would have been fine.

So by the time I made the third batch of meringues, I needed to remake the compote. This time I had to use a mixture of frozen raspberries and mixed frozen berries as I didn't have enough raspberries left. I made the cakes, but I had to go out so I asked my son to take the cakes out of the oven. Unfortunately two of the cakes were taken out but the third was still in there 2 hours later as he didn't realise that there were three in the oven, so that was inedible. I've put those two layers in the freezer and will use it to make trifle at some point.

Finally, the meringue kisses were ready, the compote was ready, the cakes were remade and the swiss meringue buttercream was ready (although I did use salted butter by accident), so it was time to put it all together. So here is my White Chocolate and Coconut Celebration Cake.

So was it worth it? It is delicious, especially that swiss meringue buttercream! That is so smooth and delicious!

Hopefully I will find some things to make this month! I have a couple of ideas and, in theory, I have a lot of time as I am not working at the moment.

I did get a couple of new cookbooks this month. First was the new Nagi Maehashi cookbook, Tonight. We've tried a couple of recipes so far, but I haven't studied it thoroughly yet. Once we have tried a few more recipes I'll review it. My first impressions are that it is really good though!

The other cookbook that I bought was Sift by Nicola Lamb.  I love the cover on this one! It's a very interesting cookbook. The first third is just information about different ingredients, techniques etc and then the recipes start. Again, I need to spend some time going through it to find some recipes!

We went to see the new movie called Widow Cliquot about the widow Cliquot who gives her name to the Veuve Cliquot champagne house. I will probably review this next week.

We also went out for a fancy dinner for our wedding anniversary. Everything was so good!

Photo credit - Daniel Halksworth

My final, random share for this month is about a guy called Daniel Halksworth. He is an artist who I stumbled across on Instagram this month. They fry eggs and then Daniel paints them and sells them! He started doing this for fun during the pandemic but now he is continuing to do this. The paintings are really cool!

New Recipes

We have tried a few new recipes in the last month. 

Sausage and Pasta (Nagi Maehashi)

Murg Makhani (Butter Chicken) (Romy Gill)

Sticky Chicken with Mash (Nagi Maehashi)

One Pot Chicken Tomato Pasta (Nagi Maehashi)

Aloo Gobi (Romy Gill)

White Chocolate and Coconut Layer Cake (Anneka Manning)

Normandy Pork Chops (Nagi Maehashi)

Weekend Cooking posts over the last month

Afternoon Tea Diaries: Mackintosh at the Willows

Cookbooks I Want to Buy 

What I Ate in One Year (and related thoughts) by Stanley Tucci

Weekly meals

Saturday -Out for dinner
Sunday - Steak and salads
Monday - Pizza
Tuesday - Aloo Gobi 
Wednesday - Out for dinner
Thursday -Normandy Pork Chops
Friday - Anniversary Dinner

I am sharing this post with In My Kitchen hosted at Sherry's Pickings

Weekend Cooking is open to anyone who has any kind of food-related post to share: Book reviews (novel, nonfiction), cookbook reviews, movie reviews, recipes, random thoughts, gadgets, quotations, photographs, restaurant reviews, travel information, or fun food facts. If your post is even vaguely foodie, feel free to grab the button and link up anytime over the weekend. You do not have to post on the weekend. Please link to your specific post, not your blog's home page