Chocolate & Jaffa Souffle' with Chocolate Cream

The souffle' didn't rise as much, only because my oven is horrible and it messed up the timing, so I didn't know when to take it out. Anyways I'll give this another shot next week. My pool looks a bit dirty...

Ingredients:

Chocolate Souffle'-

300g - Dark chocolate
4 - Eggs separated
70g - Caster sugar
Butter to coat the ramekins
Caster sugar to coat

Orange Jaffa-

2 - Oranges
250g - Sugar
Dash of water

Chocolate Cream-

150ml - Cream
50g - Grated Chocolate

Method:

Preheat the oven to 200°C . Melt the chocolate over a double boiler and combine with the egg yolks until mixture is then thickened and combined. Whip the eggs and gradually add sugar until stiff peaks form. Mix in 1/3 of the meringue into the chocolate mix and until mixture has loosened, Add in the 2/3 of the meringue and gently fold the mixture until combined. Brush the ramekins with the softened butter and brush upwards. Put in a spoonful of sugar and roll the sugar around with the ramekin and evenly, do the same with all the ramekins. Spoon the mixture into the ramekins until half way.

Cut the oranges into chunks and place them into a saucepan, smother them in sugar and put a dash of water along with it. Bring the oranges to the boil and let it cool down for about 3 minutes and back up to the boil, then let it cool. Take off the pulp and dice the candied skin finely. Then place a small amount into the half filled souffle'. Spoon in the rest of the souffle' mixture until it reaches the top.

Bake for 8 minutes until it has risen up high (not like mine). Whip the cream until stiff and fold in the grated chocolate. Dust the souffle' with icing sugar and serve.

Tip:

-Try not to get the mixture onto the side of the ramekin, this will cause the souffle to catch onto the sides and unable to rise up straight.
-Use a good oven
-Don't over whip the cream
-Sides should be crispy and inside gooey
-Open the center of the souffle' and drop in the cream

~Serve hot

.rEy.

Chicken Coleslaw

Hospitality again, we had to practice cutting up vegetables in different shapes and sizes, such as julienne, paysanne and brunoise etc. they were pretty easy to do, but it is quite surprisingly funny to see that its quite hard for first timers. Anyways I don't really eat coleslaw but this was nice.

Ingredients:

1/2 - Barbecue Chicken (skin removed)
2 - Celery Sticks cut into thin stripes
1 - Carrot Grated
4 - Shallots (spring onions) thinly sliced
1/4 - Red Cabbage Chiffonnade
1/2 - Savoy Cabbage Chiffonnade
1 cup - Low-fat Mayonnaise (didn't knew there was such thing as a "low" fat)
2 tsp - Sesame oil
2 Tbsp - Rice Vinegar
1/4 cup - Sweet Chilli Sauce
2 tsp - Grated Ginger
4 - Baby Cos Lettuce Leaves for garnish.


Method-

~Misen Place your ingredients

Place all your cut up vegetables into a large bowl and toss until the vegetables are evenly separated. Add in the chicken into the bowl along with your mayonnaise, rice vinegar and sesame oil. Mix the coleslaw.

~Serve Cold.

Note:

Misen place - is to prepare all your ingredients.
Chiffonade - is to thinly slice your vegetables (cabbage)
Chicken should also be cold

.rEy.

Simple Pumpkin Soup

Made this on the first practical of hospitality, wasn't the best but it was nice. I like my mum's pumpkin soup better, has a kick to it and she uses leek, so you could edit this and add in leak also lemon thyme would be great. But hey it's pretty damn awesome during winter.

Ingredients:

200g - Peeled Pumpkin
60g - Sliced Brown Onions
1/2 - Peeled & Crushed Garlic
25g - Butter
300ml - Chicken Stock
50ml - Cream
Salt & Pepper

Method-

Melt the butter in a saucepan over a medium heat, then add your garlic and onions, sweat them until onions are transparent. Toss the pumpkin into the saucepan and cook for about a minute. Add in the chicken stock and simmer until the pumpkin is cooked or soft enough. Once the pumpkin has cooked puree' the mixture with a hand blender until it is smoothe and no big lumps of pumpkins are left. Add the cream and blend once more.

~Serve hot.

.rEy.

Vanilla Panna Cotta & White Wine Berry Syrup with Orange

Well this is just like my other Panna Cotta that I made just added a few touches, although I like to call it 'Blood Bathed Panna Cotta'. Its a shame I didn't have any mint leaves then it would've been a good garnish and such.

Ingredients:

Panna Cotta-

300mL- Cream
100mL- Extra Cream
1Sheet- Gelatin
1- Vanilla bean (if you can't get this, then just use 1tsp of vanilla extract)
Lemon Peel (cut some off the lemon, try cut one long strip, it makes things a lot more easier)
70mL- Milk
70g- Caster Sugar

Method-

Place the 300mL cream in a saucepan along with the lemon peel and the vanilla bean (split the vanilla down in half) over a very low heat, also don't boil the cream or place it over the heat for too long otherwise it'd reduce. Soak the gelatin in cold water and allow it to soften (see note), then combine the sugar and extra cream together and mix together with a spoon. Once the gelatin has softened squeeze out any excess water and place in the saucepan along with the milk and stir until the gelatin has dissolved. Then add in the creamy sugar and stir to combine. allow mixture to cool. Keep the vanilla pod for the syrup and strain the mixture to have a silky and smooth mixture. Then use 125mL dariole moulds or coffee cups, spray them with a little bit of oil and pour in the mixture, fridge it over night (takes about 6hours to set).

White Wine Berry Syrup-

250ml - White Wine
70g - Caster Sugar
1 Punnet of Strawberries and Raspberries each
Vanilla Pod from the Panna Cotta (rinse it clean)

Method-

Place all ingredients into a saucepan and simmer. The mixture is to reduce it until a syrupy consistency this should take about 15minutes. Once the berries are starting to soften and there is no longer any bitterness from the wine, strain the mixture through and throw out any unwanted pulp. Cool the mixture down in a fridge.

To serve, place Panna Cotta in the middle of a plate/bowl and pour a reasonable amount of syrup into the bowl and serve with orange segments and strawberries.

Note: You MUST cool down the Panna Cotta before pouring into moulds, do not fridge them to cool them down, this will cause the Gelatine and the cream to split and is unable to set properly.

.rEy.

Creme' Caramel

This would have to be one of my favourite desserts, I buy them every time from the supermarket and I'm seriously addicted to them, so I asked mum yesterday if she could buy me some while she's going shopping, but she said no, so I thought to myself and may as well make my own, and here it is :) I like to have it cold, but warm works too.

Ingredients

Caramel:

200g - Sugar
75mL - Water

Custard:

4 - Whole eggs
2 - Egg yolks
200g - Sugar
500mL - Milk (full cream)
1 - Vanilla pod
Lemon rind
Dash of vanilla essence (about 2 teaspoons)

Method:

Caramel

Preheat oven to 160. Firstly always start off with the caramel, so that you could give it time to let it harden in the ramekins. Place water in a saucepan and pour in the sugar at the center so it doesn't touch the center, turn it on to medium heat for about 10minutes or it starts to slightly bubble, then turn it up to high heat. Do not use a wooden spoon or any other utensils but your hand, this is to keep it from crystallizing, mixture will start to thicken and you'll hear the bubbles to sound a lot different, after a few minutes it will start to turn golden, do not take this off the heat, constantly keep checking the caramel in case of it burning, take it off the heat once it has a deep golden colour, and it will keep cooking and change its colour into brunette a rich colour but this is fine. Pour carmel into ramekins and place ramekins into an oven tray and let them set.

Custard

For the custard combine the eggs and sugar in a bowl and whisk until mixture is slightly frothy. Place the milk lemon rind, vanilla pod and vanilla essence in a saucepan and bring to the boil, this will infuse the flavour together. Pour hot milk into the eggs a little bit at a time, but keep whisking to temper the eggs (see note), once milk and eggs are together strain the mixture into a sieve and spoon out any excess froth (also take out the rind and pod). As the caramel has hardened pour the custard mixture into the ramekins. Pour water into the oven tray until it covers halfway of the ramekin, carefully place the creme' caramel into the oven and cook for about 30minutes 45 maximum, If still runny keep slow cooking it until the mixture has settled. Once cooked place creme' caramel into the fridge for 6 hours or overnight, but you can serve warm too.


Notes:

Tempering Eggs -
Is to bring the temperature of the eggs to match with the hot mixture and preventing it from curdling (scrambling, cooked etc.) and giving it a nice silky mixture. This is done by slowly adding the hot mixture a small amount at a time while whisking, until it is safe to add in the rest of the hot mixture in without cooking it.

Serving -
To serve, I used these weird Italian biscuits, they usually put custard in the inside, but for me I just put the Creme' Caramel inside, this also goes great with those Chocolate wafer sticks, and dusted with icing sugar. I also made a caramel whilst making the caramel for the creme', and after turning the creme' caramel out, use a knife and lightly crack and break the pieces of the hardened caramel base and place them as you wish although it is optional.



Vuala! Bonn Ape-tit!

.rEy.

Seared Scallops & Braised Pork Belly with Orange Glaze

This is a first attempt, and yes I know it doesn't look that appealing, that is because the pork belly was not properly braised and cooked, I had issues with it, such as bones in the meat, which is not meant to be there, and I didn't have any celery cress so I used coriander leaves, but enjoy :)
Ingredients:
Pork Belly-

1 Tbsp - ground cinnamon
1 Tbsp - sugar
2 tsp - salt
750g - pork belly piece

Scallops-

2x11cm rounds puff pastry
6 fresh scallops on shell

Orange Glaze-

Olive oil
6 French shallots, peeled, thinly sliced
1 cinnamon stick
3 - star anise
2 - garlic cloves, thinly sliced
2 tbs - ouzo (brandy can be a substitute or port)
1 cup - freshly squeezed orange juice
5 sprigs - coriander, finely chopped
5 - mint leaves, finely chopped

Method:

Combine cinnamon, sugar and salt on a tray. Coat pork belly all over in the spice mixture. Wrap it tightly in many layers of plastic wrap and then seal in a snap lock bag, making sure you remove all the air. Drop the pork still in the bag into a saucepan of warm water - the water should constantly be between 90C-100C. Place a folded tea-towel onto top of the pork to weigh it down, keeping it submerged in the water, cook for 6 hours. Remove the pork from the saucepan and sandwich between two plates. Place in the fridge overnight.

For the orange star anise sauce, pour oil into a frying pan over medium-low heat. Add shallots, cinnamon, star anise and garlic and cook for 10-15 minutes until lightly caramelized. Add ouzo and flambé to burn off the alcohol. Pour over the orange juice, and simmer 8-10 minutes until reduced by half. Remove the cinnamon stick and star anise and strain shallots, pressing as much liquid from the shallots as possible. Add 1 tbs olive oil to the sauce and set aside. Transfer the braised shallots and garlic to a bowl. Add the coriander and mint and pinch salt.

Preheat oven 160C fan forced. Line a baking tray with baking paper. Pierce rounds of pastry all over with a fork. Place onto lined tray, top with a second sheet paper and another tray. Bake 12 minutes or until pastry is golden and crisp. Set aside to cool. Increase oven to 180C fan forced.


Remove pork from the bag and unwrap, cut into twelve, 3cm square pieces. Heat frying pan over high heat until hot. Add pork, rind side down and cook 2 minutes. Transfer to the oven and roast 6-8 minutes until golden.

Remove the scallops from the shell. Cut in half to form 24 thinner scallops and pat really dry with paper towel. Trace a 10cm round onto a sheet of baking paper, turn paper over so pencil mark faced down. Using circle as a guide arrange scallops slightly overlapping over the circle. Heat a little oil in a frying pan over high heat, flip the scallops into the hot pan, remove the paper and cook for 30 seconds until seared. Remove from the heat. It should look like that

Spoon caramelized shallot mixture over the top of both pastry rounds, place over the scallops. Use paper towel to wipe any excess oil from the hot pan then place your hand over the pastry round and carefully turn out scallops. Place into the centre of serving plate, pastry-side down. Arrange pork around outer edge of the plate, drizzle with orange sauce, scatter with parsley cres and serve.

.rEy.

This is a masterchef recipe by George Calombaris