Category: pistachio

Categories
chocolate pistachio strawberry

white chocolate mousse, pistachio tuile and raspberry sorbet

Here’s a fancy dessert for a posh occasion. But first, a quick aside as to why I made it.

You’ve heard of writer’s block I guess? Where an author suddenly becomes derelict of ideas, bereft of inspiration. They stare at the page, willing the words to appear.

Well I kind-of had that for cooking, whatever that’s called. (Chopping block?!) Nothing new came out of the kitchen, and I recycled the same recipes over and over again. I just wasn’t being inspired. For a long time.

I fell into a rut. I realised I hadn’t blogged anything creative, or original, for ages. I thought I was done. Why do I bother? I thought. Is this it? Am I done?

I was this close to stopping blogging. Not having a hissy fit and shutting everything down. Just not adding anything new.

I started looking back over old recipes, reading old cookbooks. I went back to my Jamies, my Hestons. I snapped out of it. I realised that to get more out, I had to put more in. So I resolved to at least once a week cook something involved, new and challenging.

Hence this dessert. Three separate things, cooked very differently but hopefully perfectly harmonious. It’s three things I love: strawberries, white chocolate and pistachios. I couldn’t have been happier with it.

So back into the kitchen I go, with renewed passion and focus. You never know, I might do a potato recipe…

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white chocolate mousse, pistachio tuile and raspberry sorbet

Course Dessert
Servings 4 people
Author Gary @ BigSpud

Ingredients

For the raspberry sorbet

  • 190 ml water
  • 80 g sugar
  • 200 g jam
  • 1/2 lemon
  • 1 medium egg white

For the white chocolate mousse

  • 150 g white chocolate
  • 100 ml double cream
  • 3 g gelatine
  • 12 g icing sugar
  • 200 ml double cream whipped

For the pistachio tuile

  • 15 g pistachios
  • 10 g ground almonds
  • 1 medium egg white
  • 40 g caster sugar
  • 5 g plain flour
  • strawberries to serve

Instructions

For the sorbet

  • Simmer the water and sugar together until the sugar has dissolved. Stir in the jam and the zest of the lemon. Add a squeeze of the juice and allow to cool. Stir in the egg white and churn in an ice-cream machine. Freeze until needed.

For the mousse

  • Break the chocolate into a heatproof bowl. Bring the cream to the boil and then pour over the chocolate, stirring to melt and combine. Stir in the gelatine, icing sugar, fold in the whipped cream and then pour into moulds. Chill for at least 2 hours or until set.

For the tuile

  • Preheat the oven to 150°C, gas mark 2. Blitz the pistachios in a food processor until fine. Place in a bowl with all the other ingredients and mix thoroughly.
  • Lay non-stick baking paper on a baking sheet and pour the mixture on to it, spreading it as thinly as you can. - it should be about 2mm thick. Bake for 10-15 minutes until golden (you don't want it to darken too much or it will lose the pale-green pistachio colour). Leave to set before serving.
  • To assemble, turn the mousse out from the mould. Lay a tuile on top and serve a quenelle of sorbet. Garnish with strawberries.
Categories
cheese christmas pudding cookbooks food pistachio

december round-up

You possibly don’t want to hear about December again but let’s shoo the last knockings of it out of the door. There were a few posts to talk about this month but even more in the way of nibbles, goodies and gewgaws I sampled.

Potatoes: I started on an introspective note, discussing why I like potatoes so much as a way to pay tribute to my mum.

Speaking up for Sprouts: I also put forward the defence for the green December beacon, the humble Brussels Sprout, and gave it a little more life with potato and cream.

Best Cookbooks of 2013: I also carried on my annual tradition of running through the top cookbooks of the year. Slim pickings for me this year so I presented a crowdsourced list instead. Pitt Cue was top of the shop so it’s ended up on my shelf. I’ll let you know how I get on with it later in 2014.

Waitrose Christmas Desserts: Waitrose pulled out all the stops with their Heston festive treats: their mince pies with clementine sugar were by a million miles the best mince pies I’ve ever eaten. It’s worth saying that I’m not usually fussed about mince pies at all; and these things were completely different beasts, all cakey and sweet. Better than can be said for the “hidden chocolate” Christmas pudding, which was kinda boring and nothingy. To finish on a high, the infamous Heston box of chocs were intriguing and delicious, particularly the Earl Grey tea one which tasted different with every chew.

Aldi Christmas Pudding: On a related note, Aldi sent me their 12 month matured Christmas Pudding. It was super-average. Nothing is beating the hidden orange, it seems.

Image copyright Garner’s pickledonionlovers.com

Garner’s Pickles: Garner’s sent me a sample of their pickles. There’s an odd North-South thing in my house; Mrs. Spud originally from the North refers to pickled onions simply as ‘pickles’ and I always wonder if she means generic pickled things. As far as I’m concerned pickled onions are called just that. December always meant Grandad had a batch of his eye-watering onions ready to munch on Boxing Day with cold turkey. Garner’s Sweet Pickled Baby Onions (pictured) were particularly good, a perfect balance of crunch, sweet and sharp. I also received a few others in the range, notoriously the pickled eggs which I immediately dispatched to my brother’s so a true connoisseur could enjoy them. “Yummy” was his one-word review. What more can I say! Not a favourite of mine.


Sage Appliances Heston Fryer: Did you think I’d had enough of fryers? Nope, I’m currently trying out the Sage Appliances Heston deep fat fryer and early reports are good. A more detailed writeup on this in January.

Bill’s Restaurant Hamper: After last month’s disappointing John Lewis hamper I was anxious about opening another. The one supplied by Bill’s Restaurant brought a massive smile to my face. Bespoke produce all sourced and branded by the restaurant, and each one a joy. The fudge was packed with Christmassy flavours, the toffee cookies snappy and sweet, and the chutney was fruity and punchy. Not a duff job among them. I’ve not heard of the brand before but I’ll definitely pop along to one this year to find out more.

Castello Cheese: Castello sent me a range of cheeses, but they were the sideshow to their invite to test a “molecularly paired cheeseboard”. You had me at “molecule”. They had a flavour expert, Danny Hodrien, break down the flavour profile and pair them up with some unique partners. So I tried their creamy white (Brie-style cheese) with blitzed pistachio and fennel dust, and that was very interesting. The cheese and quite tangy yet smooth, and the nut-seed combo helps both flavours linger on in the mouth. Surprisingly good. I tried some of the cheese on their own and the Castello Blue is very tasty, not pungent but very savoury. There are a number of other combinations they’ve asked me to try, and I’ll be digging further into how they can influence my cooking.

And I must mention my favourite foodie Christmas present of this year: the Sgt. Peppermill. Thanks Mrs. Spud!

Categories
cumin food lamb pistachio salad

lamb koftas

With the advent of shallots in my garden, I wanted something to really show them off. And with some lamb mince in the freezer, this recipe from Jamie at Home seemed perfect. So Summery too. I agreed with Alex over at JustCookIt that lamb and bread are destined to be together, especially if both are barbecued. A kebab with a crisp outside, a soft middle and plenty of spicy flavours is absolutely perfect. The onions? Crunchy and sweet, the perfect compliment.

Jamie’s original recipe can be found here.

Lamb koftas:

500g lamb mince

2 tablespoons fresh thyme leaves

1 teaspoon ground chilli

1 tablespoon ground cumin

1 lemon

A good handful of shelled pistachio nuts bashed up a bit

2 large cos, shredded

Small bunch fresh mint, chopped

Handful of chopped shallots

Bunch of fresh parsley

Splash of white wine vinegar

4 tortillas

4 tablespoons creme fraiche

  1. Mix the lamb with thyme, chilli, cumin, grated lemon zest and pistachios, seasoning well. Grab some skewers and squish handfuls of the meat around a skewer, really clamping to form sausage shapes. Chill until needed.
  2. Cover the onion and parsley with vinegar and a pinch of salt and leave while you get on with everything else.
  3. Brush the kebabs with a little oil and grill (or barbecue, preferably) on all sides until browned. Leave to rest a couple of minutes while you get on with the salad.
  4. Combine the cos and mint and dress with extra virgin olive oil and lemon juice, adding salt and pepper as necessary.
  5. Chuck the tortillas on the BBQ for about a minute, then turn over and grill until puffed up. Slap the tortilla on the plate, pile on some salad and top with the lamb. Scrunch the onions in your hand to remove the excess juice and throw over the kebabs. Devour in the sunshine.
Categories
cake food honey pistachio polenta

honey and pistachio cake

The recent Jamie Does… series has thrown up some delicious recipes. This cornmeal cake, from his Athens trip, is light, fluffy and stuffed with gooey honey. If I had one criticism, there’s not quite enough honey. I’d up it to 150ml next time. The flavours are still there though, it’s great for sharing. It also lasts for days with no noticeable drying out. Result!

Honey and pistachio cake:

225g caster sugar

75g ground almonds

150g plain flour

200g semolina / cornmeal / fine polenta

1 teaspoon baking powder

Pinch of salt

Zest of 1 lemon

Zest of 1 orange

225g Greek yoghurt

5 eggs

200ml olive oil

150g pistachios

100ml honey

Juice of 1 lemon

Juice of 1 orange

  1. Preheat the oven to 180°C.
  2. Combine the sugar, almonds, flour, cornmeal, baking powder in a bowl. Add the eggs, zest, yoghurt and oil and stir well until you have a thick, gloopy batter.
  3. Pour this into a lined baking dish or cake tin (it will be quite large), or drizzle with oil and dust with cornmeal as an alternative lining. Bake for 30 minutes, until a skewer comes out clean. Leave to cool for 1 hour.
  4. In a dry frying pan toast the pistachios, lightly crushing them with a wooden spoon. Pour in the honey and juices and get everything fluid. Pierce the top of the cake many times with a knife and pour the honey nut mixture all over. Serve in wedges with more Greek yoghurt and some sliced strawberries.
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