KATKAT'S KITCHEN
RECIPES FROM KATKAT'S KITCHEN
Strawberry Custard Tart
Strawberry custard tart is one of the quintessentially British dessert creations. When i first went to live in Malaga in the 1980′s I encountered a peach and custard flan. It was made from natillas a type of Spanish custard on a tart base, and it then had sliced pieces of peaches on the top and covered in a peach jelly.
I promised my self that one day I would make a strawberry and custard tart, but it took me several years in fact, thirty years to get around to it. So I was in a quandry whether or not to make one with just the custard or to use the strawberry Jelly.
An egg custard tart in an old classic British dessert and as the pastry is served cold there si no room for error, shortcrust pastry hot is quite forgiving but now when it is served cold.
Strawberry Custard Tart – Jo Cooks
I bought these gorgeous strawberries and I decided to make something to use some of them up. I’ve been in the mood to make tarts lately so strawberry tart it is with a delicious custard. Don’t be afraid to make custard, there’s …
http://www.jocooks.com/
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www.tasteofhome.com
The jelly won because although I like the idea of just a strawberry and custard tart, in terms of taste, visually the one with jelly looks far more appealing. However I made my jelly using a cranberry jelly and painting it on the strawberry custard tart .
I can see no reason why this has to be made with shortcust pastry, phyllo pastry would also be an excellent substitute and next time I make them I will do individual strawberry and custard tarts in a phyllo case in muffin tins.
Ingredients for Strawberry Custard Tart
Ingredients
For the sweet Pastry
500g plain flour, plus extra for dusting
100g icing sugar, sifted
250g good-quality cold butter, cut into small cubes
zest of 1 orange
2 large free-range egg yolks
a splash of iced water
Custard cream:
1 1/4 cup (1/2 pint) 300 ml milk
1 vanilla pod, split
3 egg yolks, beaten
1 level tbsp (15 ml) caster sugar (superfine granulated)
1 vanilla pod, split
3 egg yolks, beaten
1 level tbsp (15 ml) caster sugar (superfine granulated)
For the decoration:
2 punnets fresh strawberries
2 generous tbsp cranberry jelly
2 tablespoons water
Method for Strawberry Custard Tart
To Make the Sweet Pastry.
There’s a bit of a knack to getting perfectly crisp shortcrust pastry. Egg yolk plus water make a butter rich dough which is easier to roll and its is crisper than if you use whole eggs.
Sieve the flour from a height on to a clean work surface and sieve the icing sugar over the top. Using your hands, work the cubes of butter into the flour and sugar by rubbing your thumbs against your fingers until you end up with a fine, crumbly mixture. Add the egg yolks and water to the mixture and gently work it together till you have a ball of dough. Flour it lightly. Don’t work the pastry too much at this stage or it will become elastic and chewy, not crumbly and short. Flour your work surface and place the dough on top. Pat it into a flat round, flour it lightly, wrap it in clingfilm and put it into the fridge to rest for at least half an hour.When it is chilled roll it out and chill again which reduces shrinkage when cooking.
Press a sheet of nonstick paper weighed down with baking beans against the base and side, bake at 170C (150C fan-assisted)/335F/gas mark 3 for 20 minutes, then remove the paper and bake for 10 minutes more. Bring it out of the oven and cool completely.
To make a strawberry custard tart successfully the pastry needs a hot oven to be flaky, but the custard needs a much cooler oven or it will set hard like scrambled eggs so it isnecessary to blind bake the pastry first.
TO MAKE THE CUSTARD
Pour the milk into a heavy based saucepan, add the vanilla pod and heat slowly until almost boiling. Take off the heat, then leave to infuse for about 20 minutes. Remove the vanilla pod. Whisk the egg yolks and sugar together in a bowl until thick and creamy. Gradually whisk in the hot milk, then strain back into the pan. Cook over a low heat, stirring constantly for 10-20 minutes until the custard thickens enough to lightly coat the back of a wooden spoon.
Do not allow it to boil or the custard may curdle. When it is cooked pour into a bowl and wet some clingfilm and put the wet side of clingfilm over the top of the custard, which stops a skin forming as it cools. When it is completely cold pour into the pastry case.
Decorate with the strawberries. Boil the cranberry jelly and water and then paint it on the tart with a pastry brush. Leave the tart to cool completely but serve at room temperature.
Variations on Strawberry custard tart
Add different interesting flavours to the pastry, so use lemon zest, or orange zest, cocoa powder, cinnamon or vanilla seeds. Whatever flavouring you use be subtle not heavy-handed. Use a different combination of fruits, apricots and nectarine mixed. raspberry and dark chocolate. Use a chocolate custard as well. Strawberry custard tart can be made to suit the seasons, try pear and chocolate as in this combination
Sticky Toffee Pudding
What is Sticky Toffee Pudding?
Sticky Toffee Pudding represent the very best of British puddings. Yet many people assume that it an old steamed dessert,but it is in fact baked, which makes it easy to make, because you do not have to mess about with steaming and waiting for hours to make sure it is not dry.
Sticky Toffee Pudding
originates in the UK and only dates back to the sixties or seventies. Sticky toffee pudding is not made from toffee either it has dates, which meld down into that warm comforting sticky consistency. The sauce traditionally served with Sticky Toffee Pudding is a butterscotch sauce. There are many recipes for sticky toffee pudding as you can see! My favourite is Jamie Oliver’s because he uses the favourite British classic Ovaltine which is a malted drink powder, however if you can’t get Ovaltine the I recommend Nigel Slater’s Sticky Toffee Pudding. Be warned the sticky toffee pudding made by Nigel is light as a feather, but because Jamie adds yoghurt it is a heavier texture and spiced. When you have tried them both come back and tells me which Sticky Toffee Pudding you prefer.
St. Patrick’s Day Irish recipe – Apricot, Date and Guinness Slices with …
If you are looking for something special for a dessert on the day this is a definite winner and will wow your guests. It’s my take on the traditional sticky toffee pudding recipe, adding a truly Irish dimension with the addition of the Guinness.
www.irishcentral.com
Sticky Toffee Pudding
ingredients
225g fresh Medjool dates, stoned
1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
85g unsalted softened butter
170g caster sugar
2 large free-range eggs
170g self-raising flour
1/4 teaspoon ground mixed spice
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 tablespoons Ovaltine
2 tablespoons natural yoghurt
for the toffee sauce
115g unsalted butter
115g light muscovado sugar
140ml double cream
Preheat your oven to 180ºC/350ºF/gas 4.
Put the dates in a bowl with the bicarbonate of soda and cover with 200ml/7fl oz of boiling water. Leave to stand for a couple of minutes to soften, then drain. Whiz the dates in a food processor until you have a purée. Meanwhile, cream your butter and sugar until pale using a wooden spoon, and add the eggs, flour, mixed spice, cinnamon and Ovaltine. Mix together well, then fold in the yoghurt and your puréed dates. Pour into a buttered, ovenproof dish and bake in the preheated oven for 35 minutes.
While the pudding is cooking, make the toffee sauce by putting the butter, sugar and cream in a pan over a low heat until the sugar has dissolved and the sauce has thickened and darkened in colour. To serve, spoon out the pudding at the table and pour over the toffee sauce.
Variations on Sticky Toffee Pudding
My quest for the world’s best Sticky Toffee Pudding has been a long one, and I am still not sure, so I vary them, according to the season, Jamie’s sticky toffee pudding is for Winter only, as it is heavier and more comforting, but Nigel’s is a Summer classic. Also I have yet to try the Irish Sticky Toffee Pudding given above. If you grill the top for a few minutes after baking it will have a lovely crisp top. I also like to add walnuts to mine as well, as the combination of date and walnuts is a classic, and it gives the pudding a little texture. I borrow an idea from Mani Niall’s book, Sweet, and put half the sauce into the bottom of the dish before adding the batter. His tip about briefly freezing the sauce to firm it up while you make the rest of the pudding is inspired.
However you make Sticky toffee pudding it is a perfect dessert for the family or for a dinner party, but always try to use Medjool dates which are absolutely the best dates in the world.
Crepes Suzette
There is nothing hard about making Crepe Suzette, they are just posh pancakes. A few simple rules make it easier. Never use a mixer to make pancake batter, it toughens up the flour. Make it a few hours before you need it with a wire whisk and then leave it in the fridge, until you need it. When you take it out it will have separated, but just whisk again for one minute. When you use a wire whisk there will always be little clumps of flour in the batter and that is why it should rest for a while.
Finding Healthy Food in Typically Non-healthy Cuisines
… veal Prince Orloff (veal roast stuffed with rice, onions and mushrooms), pommes Anna (upside-down potato cakes), crepes Suzette (crepes with orange butter and orange liqueur, served flambeed), frites (fries) In your kitchen When cooking at home, …
latino.foxnews.com
Ingredients
For the crêpes
125g/4½oz plain flour
1 free-range egg
1 teaspoon melted butter
300ml/10½fl oz milk
butter, for frying
For the sauce
50g/1¾oz unsalted butter
1 orange, zest and juice
2 oranges, juice only
1 lemon, zest and juice
3 Tablespoons caster sugar
2 Tablespoons orange liqueur
2 Tablespoons brandy
Method
For the crêpes, place the flour into a bowl. Add the egg, melted butter and milk and whisk to a smooth batter. Set aside for at least one hour, preferably overnight.
Heat a frying pan until medium hot, melt a little butter in the pan, then add a ladle of batter and swirl to coat the bottom of the pan. Cook for 1-2 minutes, then flip and cook for a further minute.
Slide the crêpe from the pan and place on greaseproof paper. Repeat with the remaining batter, layering the crêpes with greaseproof paper as you go. The crêpes can be chilled or frozen at this point and used later.
For the sauce, heat a frying pan until hot, add the butter, orange zest and juice, lemon zest and juice and the caster sugar. Cook for a few minutes until just thickened and bubbling, and then remove the pan from the heat.
Fold the crêpes into quarters and carefully lay into the hot sauce. Return the pan to the heat then add the orange liqueur and brandy and flame to burn off the alcohol. Cook for a couple of minutes until the crêpes are heated through.
To serve, spoon the crêpes onto serving plates and spoon the sauce over the top.
Coconut Bread and Butter Pudding With Caramelised Bananas
Coconut bread and butter pudding with caramelised bananas
Coconut Bread and Butter Pudding With Caramelised Bananas
Bread and butter pudding is an old classic British pud, and whilst it is delicious on its own, made with coconut milk it is inspired. This new take on an old classic is packed with vanilla, cardamon, and cinnamon, wrapped around a delicious unctuous coconut creamy taste.
One of the secrets to cooking this classic dessert is to cook it slowly in a medium oven for over na hour, if you cook it to fast the egg custard base just turns into an omelette. Another secret is to let it sit for an hour so that the bread soaks up the liquid. Although you can layer it anyway you like in this instance I made the bread stack up high so that it had crispness to it when it was cooked.
You can use any bread you like, raisin bread is fantastic, as is panetonne, as is a sweet jewish bread, a fruit loaf, or just white bread.I have even made it with brown bread in the past.
Coconut Bread and Butter Pudding With Caramelised Bananas
Ingredients
For the bread and butter pudding
2 oz/ 50g soft butter
10 slices white bread, cut diagonally across
1/2 teaspoon grated nutmeg
1/ teaspoon cardamon
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
Tin of coconut milk
2 fl oz/ 50 ml heavy/double cream
2 large free-range eggs
1 oz/ 25g brown sugar
The seeds from a vanilla pod
For the caramelised banana
2 bananas
butter
brown sugar
Method
Whisk the eggs and the coconut milk and cream together, pour in the cream and add the spices. Butter the bread or if you are lazy just melt the butter and pour it over the bread. Layer the bread in an ovenproof dish and pour over the egg custard. Leave to stand for at least an hour and just before popping it into the oven sprinkle the brown sugar over the top.
Cook for an hour to an hour an a quarter in a medium oven. Whne it is ready fry the bananas for about four minutes in butter and then add the brown sugar. Serve with the pudding with lashings of single cream.
Tiramisu bread pudding
Tiramisu Bread Pudding
is an adapted recipe a cross between my two most favourite desserts in the world bread and butter pudding and tiramisu, so yo uare not likely to find the recipe in cook books. Tiramisu is savoyard biscuits (Ldie’s Finger Biscuits)dipped in black coffee and then covered with Mascarpone cheese and then served with chocolate on top. Bread and butter pudding is slices of bread and butter and dried fruit marinated in eggs and cream until the liquid soaks in and then cooked in a steam bath until it is light well risen and fluffy.
In this case the flavours of the tiramisu is incorporated into the method of cooking bread and butter pudding. chocolate bread and butter pudding is routine, but I wanted the rich redolent taste of coffee to linger on the tongue. I very rarely cook desserts partly because as I have just lost seven stones in weight I tend not to eat them and I am married to a diabetic, so in general desserts are a no go. However we had friends around yesterday so I made a dessert.
Ingredients
12 ounces stale challah (substitute any sweet bread, raisin bread or brioche)
2 cups whole milk
1 1/4 cup heavy cram
1/2 cup strong brewed coffee, cooled
6 tablespoons Tia Maria
3 large eggs
4 large egg yolks
1/2 cup sugar
6 ounces dark chocolate, finely chopped I used 85% chocolate.
Method
Butter a 9-by-13-inch Pyrex pan.Cut the bread into 1-inch cubes and place in the pan with the dried fruit. Bring the milk and cream just to a boil and whisk in the cocoa powder, coffee and Tia Maria. Meanwhile, whisk the eggs, yolks, and sugar together in a bowl. Still whisking, slowly drizzle in about one-quarter of the hot milk mixture – this will temper, or warm, the eggs so they don’t curdle. Whisking all the while, slowly pour in the rest of the hot milk. Add the chocolate and whisk it in gently until it is melted and the custard is smooth. Rap the bowl against the counter to pop any bubbles that might have formed, then pour the custard over the bread. Rest for an hour
Centre a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).Put the baking dish holding the unbaked pudding into the roasting pan, and then slide the pan setup into the oven and very carefully pour enough hot water into the roasting pan to come halfway up the sides of the pudding pan. Bake for 35 to 45 minutes, or until the pudding is uniformly puffed, the top is dull and dry and a thin knife inserted deep into the center comes out clean. Top with cocoa before serving.
Tiramisu bread pudding
is perfect about five minutes after coming out of the oven, though it can be served cold. I like to eat my Tiramisu bread pudding with a very very strong black coffee and single cream. Tiramisu bread pudding needs to be served with a light main course in this case we had salmon salad, but it could equally be served with <a href="http://katkatskitchen.com/salmon-caponata/22230/">
Salmon Caponata
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