Oy, what a DAY!
Didn’t get out of bed till 7am this morning as I decided that 6am was too early a start when I’d been studying till 1:30am in the morning…took my time getting ready, and then left to catch the tram to uni. Now, this is usually a 45-minute trip, but today took 2 hours as every car in the WORLD suddenly decided to drive in front of my tram. All at the same time.
Eventually got to uni and was accosted by a man dressed as a giant coffee bean.
Finally managed to get to class and a consultation with my lecturer about the group assignment (which is sort of fine now, though the work still needs to be done). On my way home, I fell asleep and dreamt of pigs frolicking in apple orchards, so the decision was made that tonight, dinner would be a pork roast (and my attempt at Lisa’s gnocchi has been rescheduled for the weekend.)
So, I’ve currently got a deboned loin of pork roasting in the oven, seasoned the underside with rosemary, garlic and pepper and wrapped around 3 skinned, cored and chopped apples. Along with the roast is some celery, onion, carrot, sweet and regular potato and some pumpkin (but don’t worry, I’m not going to explode as I’m fortunate enough to live in a family of 6, 3 of whom are still ravenous teenagers). The butcher was also kind enough to give me treaties for Mr. Woofy…
Mr Woofy and his bone of JOY!
And here’s a shot of my beautiful butternut pumpkin, just because I can 
This is a recipe for Suzi, a friend from work, who told me that she had some apples that needed using up! Suz, the apple pie recipe I posted below is almost no work at all (easy as pie? Wa-ha-ha-ha!), but in case that doesn’t take your fancy…
Apple tea cake (sans pictures as I haven’t made it right now due to stuuuudy)
Ingredients
185g butter
2 tsp grated lemon zest
2/3 cup caster sugar
3 eggs, at room temperature
1 cup self-raising flour
1/2 cup plain flour
1/3 cup whole-fat milk
2 apples, cored, peeled and thickly sliced lengthways
1. Line a springform cake tin and preheat oven to 175 degrees C
2. Beat butter, caster sugar and lemon zest till nice and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition (the mixture may look curdled, but don’t worry too much, this doesn’t affect the flavour).
3. Pour into a cake tin, then arrange apple slices on top. Put into the oven, and bake for 50-60 minutes.
After it’s baked and cooled, brush the top with melted butter, and then sprinkle on some cinnamon sugar. Mmmmm…
Technorati Tags: apple, tea cake, cinnamon, baking, cake
This is particularly good on a cold Autumn afternoon, with a mug of tea!
So, just found out about an hour ago that one of the girls in my group for my New Media class deferred her studies for this semester…a month and a half ago, and only decided to tell us now. A week before the group assignment is due.
ARGH!!!!!!
Okay, so it’s somewhat our fault as well, as we didn’t check in with her after she stopped attending class (actually, she only ever attended two classes), but the group was still discussing our assessment via group emails…surely, it wouldn’t have been that difficult for her to hit ‘reply all’ and say “sorry guys, I’m no longer in your class”??? She sent me an sms full of attitude saying that she’d informed the other group members and our tutor of this weeks ago…but after I spoke to all involved parties today, NOBODY had any idea that she’d gone!
*cue panicky yodelling and repeated bashing of head against table*
It’ll be fine. Really. I’m just going to curl up in my bed with a hot water bottle and mug of chai tea and try to repress this urge to hunt the moo-face down and beat her to death. With a rubber halibut.
*wails* where’s a stick of butter when you need one? I need to bake comfort foods!
Have been feeling a bit emotionally delicate over the last week, so I decided to make myself some profiteroles with custard filling as a comfort food.
Oh, the joy! Crisp, slightly crunchy outsides with a thin layer of fluffy goodness inside, and at the heart - smooth, eggy custardy joy. My sister is also a bit of a custard freak, though my father prefers them with just some whipped cream and chocolate dipped.
Much love to Nigella’s “How to be a domestic goddess” for this foolproof recipe.
Pâte A Choux ingredients
200g plain flour
350ml water
150g unsalted butter, diced
Pinch of salt
4 large eggs, beaten
1. Preheat oven to 200 degrees C
2. Sieve the flour into a container smaller than the saucepan you intend on using. Put water, butter and salt into the saucepan and heat till the butter has melted and the water’s just beginning to boil.
3. Immediately remove from heat and beat in the flour with a wooden spoon until the dough comes smoothly together. Put the pan back on the heat for roughly 30 seconds, continuing to beat till the dough comes away from the sides and forms a smooth ball.
4. Beat in the eggs gradually, until the dough is smooth, shiny, and soft enough to pipe but still firm enough to hold it’s shape. Be careful, I usually end up using only 3 1/2 eggs and not the whole 4.
5. Either use a piping bag or two metal soup spoons, shape little spheres onto a lined baking tray, leaving 5cm between each sphere. Bake in the oven for 15-20mins, till they have puffed up nicely and develop a lovely golden colour. Remove from the oven and poke a hole with a skewer (I use my lovely thin metal chopsticks for this) to let the steamout so they don’t become a soggy mess.
Custard ingredients
250ml milk
250ml double cream
6 large egg yolks
100g caster sugar
30g plain flour
1 tsp vanilla extract
(optional, if you want the burnt sugar taste to your custard)
2 tbsp caster sugar
2 tsp water
1. Warm milk and cream in a saucepan. While that’s warming, beat the yolks and sugar till creamy, then whisk in the flour. Stir the heated milk into the egg mixture till smooth. Pour back into the saucepan and stir gently over a low heat till the custard thickens. Add vanilla and set aside
:: this section is optional, only if you want burnt sugar custard as opposed to regular custard ::
2. Burn your sugar by putting the 2tbsp sugar and 2tsp water into a little pan and turning the heat to high, letting the sugar and water turn to a dark brown caramel.
3. Beat the caramel into the custard, pouring in a thin stream till combined. Pour into a bowl, place a wet piece of greaseproof paper over the top to preventÂ?a skin from forming, and leave to cool.
Once custard has cooled, pipe into the profriteroles using a thin nozzle on your piping bag. Mmmm…
Technorati Tags: custard, choux pastry, profriterole, baking
Let it be known - I am terrified of cupcakes and muffins. I have never, in all my life, been able to turn out decent cupcakes or muffins, common ailments ranging from being far too heavy and doughy to dry and flavourless. Hence, I am terrified by the prospect of having to make these bastards (which is probably also why I haven’t attempted making them in over a year.
Turn out a light as air sponge? Easy.
Profiteroles? Couldn’t be easier, let me at those suckers, they won’t know what hit them when me and my piping bag are finished with them!
Delicate, creamy panna cottas? Walk in the park.
But cupcakes? *shudder*
There isn’t much point to this post, I’m just taking a breather from writing this essay, and wondering whether I dare making chocolate chip and walnut muffins (or cupcakes? I never really understood the distinction), or I stick to something simple and turn out a batch of profiteroles with tasty tasty fillings…
