eattt – My Whisk and I

Fig and Honey Tart

February 12, 2023February 11, 2023by Karen ClaassenLeave a Comment

Pastry:
250g butter, cubed
170g icing sugar, sifted
500g cake flour
2 eggs, beaten together

Crème Pâtissière:
40g corn flour
500ml milk
4 egg yolks
100g sugar
5ml vanilla

100g pistacchio nuts, roughly chopped
about 16 medium figs
50ml honey

For the pastry:
Add the butter and sifted icing sugar to the bowl of a food processor.
Run the machine until the mixture is well combined and pasty.
Add the flour and pulse until the mixture resembles wet sand. Scrape down.
Drizzle a few drops of the egg into the bowl with the engine running. Add a few more drops at a time until the mixture comes together. (You may have egg left and that is okay – the less you need the crispier the pastry!)
Shape the pastry into a disc, wrap it with cling wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
Preheat your oven to 190℃.
You will use a 22cm loose-bottom flan tin but do not spray or butter the tin!
Roll the pastry to a 3mm thickness and line the bottom and sides of the tin.
Dock the pastry with a fork and bake blind for 15 minutes.
Remove the baking paper and weights/beans and set aside to cool.

For the Crème Pâtissière:
Add the corn flour to a mixing bowl. Pour a small amount of the milk into the owl and stir to make a slurry with the corn flour.
Add the egg yolks and half the sugar.
Whisk by hand until the sugar has dissolved. Set aside.
Pour the rest of the milk and the rest of the sugar into a small saucepan.
Set over medium heat and stir until the sugar has dissolved.
Take the milk from the heat as soon as tiny bubbles start to appear around the edge of the saucepan.
Drizzle the warm mixture onto the egg mixture in a very thin stream while whisking continuously.
Now pour the mixture back into the saucepan and place on a medium-low heat.
Stir until the mixture is thick and smooth. Allow to cook for about 30 seconds.
Remove from the heat and stir in the vanilla.
Pour the mixture into a shallow bowl, place a piece of plastic wrap directly onto the surface and allow to cool completely.

Whisk the mixture by hand once it is at room temperature, until it is smooth.
Spoon it into a piping bag and pipe into the prepared pastry shell.
Scatter the chopped pistachio evenly over the surface.
Cut a cross into the top third of each fig and place the figs side-by-side on the pistachio.
Drizzle the honey over the figs before serving.

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Greek Meatballs in Tomato Sauce/Soutzoukakia

July 14, 2022June 17, 2022by Karen ClaassenLeave a Comment

500g minced pork
500g minced beef
100g panko breadcrumbs
3 cloves of garlic, minced
1 onion, chopped
1 bunch of parsley, chopped
15ml ground cinnamon
5ml ground cumin
10ml salt
1 egg, beaten
150ml olive oil

Tomato Sauce:
45ml olive oil
1 onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 x 400g tin tomato purée
500ml water
4 sprigs of thyme, leaves stripped
1 bay leaf
20ml sugar
1,2ml ground cumin
1,2ml smoked paprika
5ml salt

Add all the ingredients for the meatballs to a mixing bowl and mix it through with your hands.
Now shape the mixture into 30-40 fat sausages and place on a baking sheet. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for an hour.

For the Tomato Sauce:
Add the olive oil to a saucepan set over medium-high heat.
Add the onion and garlic and fry until soft and translucent.
Add the tomato purée and stir-fry for 1 minute.
Add the water, thyme leaves, bay leaf, sugar, cumin and paprika and simmer until the sauce has thickened.
Remove the bay leaf and blitz the sauce with a hand blender until smooth. Set aside.

Preheat your oven to 220℃ and cover the bottom of an oven tray with a thin layer of oil.
Transfer the meatballs to this tray and bake in the preheated oven for 12 minutes.
Now put the tomato sauce back on the heat and add the meatballs to it. Simmer for 5 minutes.
Serve with basmati rice as a main or in the sauce as a Meze.

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Garlic Prawns/ Gambas

July 11, 2022June 17, 2022by Karen ClaassenLeave a Comment

This is a Meze classic, easy to put together and bursting with mediterranean flavours. Best served with crusty bread to mop up all the delicious leftover juices!

500g prawns, shelled and deveined
30ml olive oil
2,5ml crushed chilli flakes
3 cloves of garlic, minced
zest and juice of 1 lemon
a handful of parsley, chopped
20g butter
5ml Worcestershire sauce
5 drops tabasco

Add the olive oil to a frying pan and set it over medium-high heat.
Add the chilli flakes and 2 cloves of garlic and fry for a minute.
Add the prawn and stir-fry until cooked.
Add the lemon zest, juice and parsley and stir through.
Season with salt and pepper.
Spoon the prawns into a serving dish.
Melt the butter in the same pan and mix in the Worcestershire sauce, tabasco and one clove of garlic.
Spoon the mixture over the prawns and serve with a crusty loaf of bread and a glass of wine.

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Shortbread

November 24, 2021November 23, 2021by Karen ClaassenLeave a Comment

240g flour
230g butter, room temperature
120g caster sugar plus a handful or so for dusting after baking
2,5ml salt

Preheat your oven to 180℃ and spray a 20cm x 20cm square or 20cm round baking tin with cooking spray.
Add the flour, butter, caster sugar and salt to the bowl of a food processor and pulse together until combined. Check that the mixture is soft and pliable and comes together in a dough when you press it together between your fingers. If not, pulse the mixture some more.
Scrape the mixture into the prepared tin and use your hands to push it down firmly.
Prick the shortbread with the tines of a fork, creating rows. Run the back of a knife’s blade between each row of fork tines to make cutting the shortbread easier once it’s baked.
Place the baking tin in the oven and bake for 35 minutes.
Take the shortbread from the oven and sprinkle with caster sugar while warm. You may also enhance the cutting lines and prick the biscuit with a fork once more.
Allow the shortbread to cool completely in the baking tin before removing and slicing into squares or triangles.

Shortbread is best kept in an airtight container and will last for several weeks.

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Sweet Potato Cakes

November 2, 2021November 2, 2021by Karen ClaassenLeave a Comment

750g cooked and mashed sweet potato (about 4 medium sweet potatoes)
125ml self-raising flour
1 X 375ml can of Corn kernels, drained (you may substitute with cooked corn)
125ml pumpkin seeds
1 egg
2,5ml salt
2,5ml cinnamon
63ml brown sugar
vegetable oil to fry

Add all the ingredients to a large mixing bowl and mix through.
Place a heavy bottom pan onto medium-high heat and cover the bottom with vegetable oil to heat up.
Scoop a tablespoonful of the mixture into the pan and fry for 2-3 minutes before flipping and frying the other side for another 2-3 minutes. Do not overfill your pan as you want the sweet potato to caramelise and fry to a golden, crisp outside. Keep going until all the mixture is used.
Serve the cakes with a dollop of yoghurt and honey.

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Steak Butters

October 28, 2021October 27, 2021by Karen ClaassenLeave a Comment

Flavoured butters are a simply way of adding flavour and punch to meat, easy to make and can be kept in your freezer for when you need it! The Olive Butter is particularly good with chicken, fish and roast vegetables! The method for the three flavoured butters are the same.

Café de Paris Butter:
125g butter
30ml chives, finely chopped
15ml parsley, finely chopped
5ml Dijon Mustard
1 clove of garlic, minced
5ml capers
1 anchovy fillet
the zest of half a lemon, finely grated

Method:
Allow the butter to come to room temperature and soften.
Mix all the ingredients together.
Spread a piece of plastic wrap on a kitchen surface, spoon the mixture on top and roughly shape it into a log shape.
Fold the edge of the plastic wrap closest to you over the log shape and proceed to roll the butter in the plastic so that you have a plastic sausage.
Now take hold of the two ends (the overhanging/extra plastic wrap) and roll the butter away from you on the surface.
Tie the plastic ends and freeze until required.

Olive Butter:
125g butter, softened
190ml olives, chopped
15ml rosemary, chopped
salt to taste

Garlic Butter:
125g butter, softened
3 cloves of garlic, minced
1,2ml salt
1,2ml pepper

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Fried Coconut Banana

September 21, 2021September 21, 2021by Karen ClaassenLeave a Comment

This is an easy, quick dessert that will satisfy ALL sweet cravings!! Serve one banana per person.

30ml brown sugar
2 bananas, halved in their length
150ml coconut milk
shredded coconut
vanilla ice cream to serve

Put a dry frying pan on a medium-high heat and add a handful of shredded coconut. Toast until light brown, moving it around in the pan (with a spoon) so that it doesn’t burn. Remove from the heat AND the pan when ready and set aside.
Add the brown sugar to the same pan and allow it to melt.
Place the bananas in the pan and fry for 1 minute. Gently flip the halves and fry for another minute.
Remove the banana from the pan.
Add the coconut milk to the melted/sticky sugar, lower the heat and stir continuously until the sugar has dissolved.
Reduce the sauce until it has thickened.
Place the banana halves in serving bowls/plates and drizzle with the caramel sauce.
Sprinkle with the toasted coconut and serve with a scoop of vanilla ice cream!

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Split Pea and Bacon Soup

August 24, 2021August 24, 2021by Karen ClaassenLeave a Comment

400g bacon, sliced/diced into 0,5cm pieces
1 onion, chopped
1 carrot, finely chopped
6 cloves of garlic, sliced
500g split peas
3 bay leaves
2,5l chicken stock
a small handful of thyme, leaves stripped

Put a saucepan on medium-low heat and add the bacon pieces. Cook until the fat is rendered.
Add the onion, carrot and garlic and cook until the onion is soft and translucent.
Add the split peas and stir to coat in the bacon fat.
Add the bay leaves and 2,5l chicken stock.
Bring the mixture to a boil and then reduce the heat to a simmer.
Skim off the foam that rises to the top. Stir the soup every now and then.
Add the thyme leaves and simmer the soup for at least an hour. Add more stock if you prefer a thinner soup.
Remove the saucepan from the heat and season with salt and pepper.
Purée with a stick blender.
Reheat the soup and check the seasoning.
Serve piping hot with fresh bread.

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Baked Camembert with Blood Orange Sauce

August 18, 2021August 18, 2021by Karen ClaassenLeave a Comment

Baked cheese is such a versatile dish to serve; aperitifs, as a casual starter, an in-between-meals-snack and even as a cheese course after dinner. You may of course replace the Camembert with Brie or any other soft cheese with a runny centre and the blood orange with regular fresh oranges.

1 600g Camembert wheel (or 2-3 smaller ones)
1 roll store-bought puff pastry
egg wash: 1 egg and 15ml milk, whisked together

Blood Orange Sauce:
15ml honey
30ml red wine vinegar
180ml blood orange juice
15ml cold butter
2 oranges, segmented
a pinch of salt

For the baked cheese:
Preheat your oven to 190℃ and line a baking tray with baking paper.
Lightly dust a surface with flour and roll the pastry to a 3mm thickness.
Place the cheese wheel on the pastry and cut a circle 2cm wider than the cheese.

Now cut another pastry circle of the same size and drape it over the top of the cheese.
Lift the edges of the pastry at the bottom over the edges hanging down. Secure by pressing together with the tines of a fork.

Score the top of the pastry parcel with the back/blunt side of a sharp knife and brush the entire cheese parcel with the egg wash.
Bake for 25 minutes, remove from the oven and allow to stand for about 20 minutes.

For the sauce:
Pour the honey, vinegar and juice into a small saucepan and bring to a boil.
Reduce the mixture until syrupy.
Take off the heat, add the butter and whisk until amalgamated and you have a beautifully shiny sauce.
Add the orange segments to the sauce and spoon over the baked cheese.

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Polish Rye Bread

June 21, 2021June 14, 2021by Karen ClaassenLeave a Comment

This recipe provides a quick method for a rye bread with loads of flavour. The addition of buttermilk gives the typical tangy taste that one associates with a traditional rye and adds to a really good texture. This recipe makes two medium-sized, oblong breads.

500ml rye flour
1 500ml cake flour
10ml salt
15ml instant yeast
250ml water, tepid
5ml sugar
375ml buttermilk, room temperature
62ml butter, melted

Add the flours and salt to the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook.
Add the yeast, water, sugar, buttermilk and melted butter to a separate bowl and whisk together to dissolve the sugar and yeast.
Turn the mixer on to a low speed and add the liquids.
Mix/knead for 7 minutes.
Place the dough in a lightly greased bowl, cover with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place until double the volume.
Preheat your oven to 190℃ and line a large baking sheet with baking paper.
Knead the dough down by hand for 2 minutes.
Divide the dough in half and shape two oblong loaves.
Place the shaped dough on the prepared baking sheet, cover with oiled plastic wrap and allow to proof until almost doubled in size.
Brush the bread with egg white or water for a shiny crust. Make 4 diagonal, shallow cuts in the top of the bread.
Bake the breads for 30 minutes.
Cool on wire racks until completely cold.