Category: General Stuff

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General Stuff recipes

delicious cold cheesecakes

My Classmate Sesilia had an end of semester party for our class at her house on friday night and She had been wanting to learn how to make cold cheesecake so I said I would show her how

2/3 of the class are from Asia mainly China and Korea and so their tastebuds are much different from mine and I didnt want to make the cheesecakes too sweet. My freind Qi lin had her birthday during the week and I offered to make her a birthday cake , She said she really liked European style cheese cake , so I offered to make her a green tea cheesecake which she thought was fabulous

I made a Green tea cheesecake and an Apricot Swirl cheesecake

both of which went down very well, I will post the recipes in the recipe section

here are some photos.apricot swirl cheesecakegreen tea cheesecake

Green tea cheesecake recipe 

Ingrediants :

1 packet of store bought biscuits (cookies) I used arnotts malt biscuits

150 grams butter

300 mls regular cream

250 grms mascapone

250 grms cream cheese

3 dessertspoons of powdered green tea

3 dessertspoons of white sugar

Method:

crush up cookies in the food processor

melt butter and mix in with cookies then put in to base of a 8 inch tin pressing firmly in to shape of tin

and bringing up around the sides of the tin

place in to fridge to firm up , at least 15 minutes

While base is firming up, beat cream cheese, sugar and green tea together , set aside

beat cream till thick but still will slide off the spoon slowly

add to cream cheese mix and then fold in the mascapone

pour in to base and cover with cling film and refrigerate for at least 2 hours

nb: you can add a little more sugar if this not sweet enough for you

when ready to eat take out of dish ( a spring form tin is good for this ) and serve in wedges

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General Stuff

Restaurant Service

We all had to do a stint of at least one day at restaurant service in the training restaurant this week as part of our course module

I was in charge of the patissierie section , over 2 days, and got to teach some things to my helpers that they didnt know as they had never done restaurant service before. I had a blast and really enjoyed it.

On the first day we did a Lemon meringue pie with a raspberry couli and a white chocolate mousse with vanilla tuilles and cinnamon marscapone on the side.(go to the schoolwork link on the blogroll and have a look at the pictures)
The second day we did profiteroles with grande marnier pastry cream and white chocolate and orange ganache with orange blossom jelly and the second dessert we did was a hot pear, apple and ginger steam pudding with a caramel custard and roasted nectarine, here are  the pictures of these last two desserts

profiterolespear and ginger steam pudding

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General Stuff

Finally In to the pastry section

ohhhhh my word working with pastry is so much fun. We made full puff , rough puff, short paste and sweet short paste this week at school

I made a selection of different things , mince savouries, sausage rolls, apple turnovers, sweet tart shells with chocolate mousse and berries and lemon meringue pie. My tutor was very happy , she said that my pastries looked and tasted like they were made with lots of love and passion. I had a bit of drama with my rough paste which I made apple turnovers with, as somebody stole my batch out of the class fridge , the ******** *********(leave that to your imagination:o) ) and so i had to remake and didnt think it would be so great , as it wouldnt have had enough resting , folding time but managed to get another couple of folds in by getting in to class early the next day .But everything worked out great, it came out light and nicely puffed and crisp

You can have a look at the pictures by scrolling down on the “Food I have made” column and clicking on the School link (im adding all my school pics in to one album

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General Stuff

some food from school

lemon meringue pie and chocolate tart

a chocolate mousse and berry tart and lemon meringue pie

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General Stuff

Soups and sauces

This last week we have been doing assessments for school , we have made things like bechamel/parsley sauce, veloute/chasseur sauce, demiglaze/mushroom sauce, hollandaise, pesto,salsa, cream of celery soup, seafood chowder

I have also made a roasted nectarine and melon soup which was served chillied and tasted fabulous

Next week we start pastries woooooooooooohhhhhhhhhhhhoooooooooooooooooo i seriously can not wait

**does a very happy dance**

soups and sauces

there is a link over in the blogroll if you cant see it here

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General Stuff

Gazpachio Soup is a food straight from heaven

Im revisiting the classics at the moment at school which is great its good to refresh the dead memory cells from years gone by.

We have been doing the base soups and sauces this week, and making things like Chasseur, Maderia, Hollandaise which for me was a breeze, but so much fun to get back to.

Yesterday we made wonderful classics such as Borscht and Gazpachio.

MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM Gazpachio has got to be one of the most wonderful simple tastes , such fresh and clear flavours of summer served cold with freshly cooked croutons for crunch. Super fresh vine ripened tomatoes and cucumber with garlic and capsicum blended with bread and basil and left to soak for a while the passed through a strainer and seasoned with seasonings of salt and pepper and fresh splashes of lemon to give you the most wonderful taste
experiences.

A Perfect start to dinner after a long day of studying and exams.

Tomatoes are one of my very favourite foods, especially in the summertime when they are fresh and rich in flavour and incredibly abundant and having them in this way is just one of the most perfect ways to appreciate this very special food

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General Stuff

Im in love with the Food Network

I have just had Sky tv put in and just loving food tv

It has been inspiring me to do different things with food at home instead of the same old same old

Last Night I made a Fregola salad with carrot, cucumber, tomato and a little soaked dried apricots tossed in a passionfruit and black pepper dressing with Chicken breasts stuffed with blue brie and soaked dried apricots and coated in panko and lightly pan fried . mmmm delicious, will post a pic of it tomoorow

Tonight I made a very easy but tasty dish of beef sausage saute with cherry tomatoes, green beans and this amazing little tastebud tempter that i have just discovered…. Smoked red baby onions , ohhhh my word it takes something ordinary and gives it a nice little flavour boost , i had this with a slice of ciabatta bread

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General Stuff

Eatons Mess

oh my gosh this has got to be the ultimate in sinful but easy desserts

went to a freinds place during the week and I provided dinner and dessert, We had a power cut so just made dinner super easy, a big ole antipasto and then followed by a cheats version of Eatons Mess

It was baby meringues mixed with whipped cream and strawberries and topped with flaked chocolate

the meringues were mixed flavours, passionfruit, lime, berry, strawberry and they all worked so well together

It took 5 minutes if that to mix up and tasted like a million dollars

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General Stuff

Leahs cupcakes

Leahs cupcakesMy best freind left Auckland this week to go and live 1800kms away in Dunedin Im going to miss her terribly.

I made her a going away dish of cupcakes. They were carrot with walnuts and sultanas and i iced them with a vanilla and tangerine cream cheese, that was decorated with fondant accents and edible glitter. She just loved them . I had some spares left over and gave them away to some elderly people. Reports back from the next day were “heavenly”

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General Stuff

Christmas Dinner

I was in the kitchen on Christmas day , and loving it , I cooked apple syrup glazed ham decorated with apple rounds and cloves and baked in the oven, turkey with a almond, dried apricots and sultana couscous stuffing, roasted potatoes, gravy, condiments, steamed asparagus and fresh peas , with a green salad on the side.Dessert was a lemon cheesecake, traditional fruit pudding with vanilla creme anglaise and a peach and blueberry salad , please dont hesitate to ask if you want the recipes there are photos over  in the blog roll , pop on over and have a look