Hay Hay it’s Donna Day #19- Clafoutis

I was convinced that I would not make the deadline for this round of HHDD. Between extensive vacation time, traveling, quitting my job (yes!) and taking on some new tasks I experimented a bit with the theme for this round, clafoutis, but they came out more like cla-floppies. Kind of tasty, but terrible to look at.

Then industrious host and winner of the last round, Bron, notified me that the deadline was extended by a week. Phew! So Monday afternoon after work I rushed home with my new ingredients and set to work on another attempt. And I think it kind of worked.

Bron’s original Donna Hay recipe was for plum and chocolate clafoutis. As I am a big fan of chocolate I decided not to stray too far from the original recipe. I am also a big fan of dark chocolate with orange and so decided to make chocolate and orange clafoutis.

Now I don’t know anything about clafoutis to be honest, so I have no idea what the actual texture or taste should be like, wikipedia.org says it’s close to pancake batter and judging by all the pictures I’ve seen that seems to be correct. If that is the case then this was another round of cla-floppies because mine came out more with a brownie consistency even though I followed the recipe pretty closely. But it looks much better than previous attempts, so I’m entering it!

To make these clafoutis you need to collect:

- 1/3 cup all purpose flour, sifted

- 1/4 cup cocoa powder, sifted

- 1/3 cup caster sugar, sifted

- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

- 3 eggs

- 1 cup pouring cream

- 1 cup chopped dark chocolate- a mixture of dark chocolate and dark orange chocolate in this case

- 1 teaspoon orange zest

- a couple of glazed orange rings- quartered

- 20g unsalted butter

To make:

Preheat the oven to 180C. Sift flour, cocoa and sugar in a bowl and set aside. In a separate bowl, stir together the eggs, cream and vanilla and then whisk together with the dry ingredients. Stir in the chocolate and orange zest. Melt the butter and divide between two small baking pans (ideally it should 2-cup capacity pans, mine were a bit bigger but worked fine). Place the orange slices at the bottom of the pan and pour half the batter into each, bake for 20-25 minutes or until cooked through, it should be puffed up. Let it cool and then flip it out onto a plate so that the orange slices are at the top and enjoy!

Now that I think about it and look at the pictures more closely, I guess that the texture might look right for a clafouti, but when you eat it it certainly has a much more brownie-like texture. I’m beginning to suspect that I unknowingly added a bit more than a cup of chocolate. So sue me for being over-indulgent.

I’m looking forward to your round-up, Bron. Thanks for hosting and introducing me to a new delight. Thanks also to Barbara for initiating this fun event. I’m looking forward to more!

 

Bron’s the Winner!

I was going to wait until I was back to the comforts of my own home to announce the news, but that would have been cruel. So here she is, the winner of Hay Hay it’s Donna Day #18… Bron Marshall!

Bron’s coconut and lime tarts were a firm favorite amongst voters and it’s easy to see why.

They look stunning and they sound fantastic! And then Bron went one step further and made raspberry chocolate tarts with the leftover ganache.

Congratulations, Bron. There were some really beautiful, tasty and popular tarts in the round-up, but yours were definitely the most popular. A well-earned win!

Also congratulations on winning the opportunity to host round number 19 of HHDD! I’m still deciding on your prize, but it will be on its way soon.

Thanks again to Barbara for the contest, Joey for hosting the last time and everyone who participated and made this such a fun contest and all who voted.

 

HHDD #18- The Roundup!

And here it is, mere hours before I leave in search of cooler climes in Hanoi, the roundup for my HHDD challenge. The theme I chose was coconut chocolate tarts and I received some very lovely and delightful entries.

It seemed some of you had some difficulty with the tart shells and I have to admit even I ended up with a couple of broken ones after my first attempt, but everybody came out with there own creative and clever solutions and I think you all made big successes of your tarts. They look fantastic!

Okay, so let me entertain you with the rounds’ entrants.

First, Hay Hay it’s Donna Hay creator, Barbara at Winos and Foodies who created a dark and fruity tart combining very dark chocolate and fresh slices of mango. Some of her tarts broke, but she came up with a beautiful and creative way of serving even them. Go have a look here to read more about her tarts.

Suzana of Home Gourmets, who is not a big fan of dark chocolate, decided to use white and dark chocolate. Go read her entry to see how she created a hidden chocolate tart that looks and sounds delicious.

Prolific baker Tammy of (not so) Wee Treats by Tammy made the kind of tarts I fantasize serving her tarts with a good dose of caramel. To find out more about her decadence, click here.

Over at HomeMadeS, Arfi made what she named ‘tropo tarts.’ Doesn’t it sound cute and like something you’d like to try? She filled her tarts with chocolate and mascarpone with passion fruit. And if you are planning on making these tarts but nervous about the shell, try following her clever instructions here.

Coconut and lime tarts is what Bron created at her site, Bron Marshall. For more beautiful images and the full story on how she decided to fill her tart shells with marmalade and chocolate, look here.

My mother likes coconut and she loves Bounty candy bars. I am certain she would have loved Pam’s tarts at The Backyard Pizzeria. She very cleverly took the coconut out of the shell and put it right into the filling. And the result looks naughty!

Look at the tarts Annina of Anninas Food made. With the sprinkles they remind me of the porridge I had as a child, although I would have had no need for sprinkles if this was my breakfast. More pictures and her fun entry, here!

And here is the entry that had Alexander really interested. Over at Melody’s site Fruit Tart, she add a bit of flavor to the tart shells. Almond, mmm! She also used mini muffin tins, so in the end she had 24 tarts. Wish I thought of that to make them last longer. For her entry, hit this link.

And who can say no to these? Holly of Phe/MOM/enon made spectacular looking (and sounding) raspberry swirl tarts. And here there is also a surprise hidden under the white and purple swirl. Go here to find out what she did with hers.

As I started with the creator of HHDD’s entry I feel it is only fitting to end with the previous host’s (and sender of awesome goodies) entry. The highly entertaining cook and traveler Joey at 80 Breakfasts. She took inspiration from a very naughty sounding snack she learned to make in school to create tarts with a very decadent sounding filling, hidden under the chocolate (don’t you just love surprises, and there are a couple in this roundup!). Here is her entry and here is what hers looked like.

And now, voting can begin. So let me know which one of these winners (seriously, they are all fantastic) should be the overall winner by sending an email to bordeaux76@gmail.com. Closing date for voting is next Friday, March 14 and the winner will be announced shortly after. Hopefully by the 16th. I will be traveling though and I might have some difficulty with posting, but I will try my best. If I do encounter any problems I will postpone announcing the winner until the 19th when I get back.

And off I go…

 

City Getaway, Bad Friday, Good Baking

My Valentine’s gift to Alexander came a week late in the form of a night spent at Luxx near Silom.

They were fully booked the previous week, so I decided to move the date, which worked out fine because Thursday was a public holiday. We left home around noon and checked into our sexy room early, before going out to explore the neighborhood around the hotel. It was beautiful tree-lined area with lots of neat old architecture and a variety of restaurants serving all kinds of cuisine, from Thai to Iranian.

For dinner, Alexander took me to the incredibly hip and stylish Eat Me. The setting was perfect for a romantic dinner for two and the menu was incredible. Begin with a cocktail menu with items like Bloody Mary made with saffron infused vodka and continue from there. It was the perfect dinner to compliment our stay.

We enjoyed a hearty breakfast in bed the next morning before checking out and heading back to work. It was unfortunate that we had to work Friday, I would have loved to sleep in some more, but it was going to be an easy day with just some grading. Only a couple of hours.

My pleasant mood was spoiled by the discovery that the fee for a re-entry permit for Thailand has gone up by 2000 Baht. Ridiculous and ludicrous. I was shocked and enraged and I still cannot understand some of the buerocratic nonsense we have to put up with to be legal workers. It’s almost as if they encourage people to work illegally and do regular visa trips to pretty destinations like Vientiane in Laos. Ugh!

To top that, my students are doing horribly in their exams, really just terribly. One after the other paper I graded was either a fail or just passed. And I thought this paper was going to be way to easy for them! Luckily all the other teachers I spoke to complained of the same thing, so hopefully I won’t get fired!

We left school at around noon, both of us feeling gloomy and in very bad spirits. While at Tops to pick up some groceries, Alexander began insisting that I bake some treats this weekend, and I could not think of a better way to rid myself that came and clung to me after our pleasant inner-city getaway.

So after lunch, a nap and an old Sex and the City episode I got out a bunch of ingredients and went baking-mad.

First item was a mango bread/cake. I used this recipe (mostly) on Barbara’s blog. I did change the quantities a bit, dividing everything in half. I also did not have any nuts or raisins around so I just added a lot of toasted coconut to the mixture. I divided the batter between two pie dishes and decided to turn the whole thing into a cake. And this was the wonky result…

I know, not very pretty. I do believe I have said before that I am no food stylist, but who cares when it tastes good? And I can assure you, this is very-very yummy. Thanks Barbara! The frosting is a broiled coconut frosting. What you do is you mix 1/2 a cup dessicated coconut with 1 tablespoon melted butter, a tablespoon brown sugar and a tablespoon of whipping cream. Spread this on top of the still warm cake a few minutes before it should be removed from the oven. Obviously it should be watched closely so it doesn’t burn. I spread a layer of lytchee jam between the two cakes, so it’s all very tropical and real tasty.

While that was baking I started on some banana muffin batter, throwing in a handful of poppy seeds just for fun. As soon as the cake came out the muffins went in and here is the result (which we enjoyed for breakfast the next morning)…

And after that, I rested. Enjoying a big slice of cake with some tea while the scent of freshly baked goodness hung around the apartment.

(The pictures of Luxx and Eat Me were taken by Alexander.)

 

HHDD# 18- Coconut Chocolate Tarts

Dear All,

Why, you may ask, am I posting the next Hay Hay it’s Donna Day! challenge so soon after winning the last round? Why am I not savoring the moment and kicking back with a glass of wine to celebrate? Why am I already spending hours (not really) in the kitchen working on the new challenge?

Not being one for secrets I will tell you that it’s because I miss the ‘relax’ gene, I’ve never been good at kicking, wine in Thailand is stupidly expensive, and we’re spending most of March traveling to northern Vietnam and Thailand’s Andaman coast (jealous?). So Barbara and I decided to do it sooner rather than later. Because for me, later never happens.

So here it is, your next challenge for this event that was created by the innovative and very sweet Barbara, inspired by the (as I am discovering) great Donna Hay and previously hosted by my funky Southeast Asian neighbor Joey; Coconut Chocolate Tarts from Donna’s book New Food Fast. It is a very-very-extremely simple recipe. And the ingredients are very basic and easy to get your hands on as well. Preparation time should not be too long, the thing that takes the most time is for the chocolate to set, but more about that later. The reason I chose such an easy recipe is because with simplicity, in this case, comes endless possibilities. Endless. So what I’m giving you is the opportunity to let your inner culinary artist go nuts!

Let me explain the recipe.

You need to gather:

For the shell-

2 egg whites

1/2 cup white sugar

2 cups dessicated coconut

For the filling-

1 and 1/4 cups cream

300g dark chocolate, chopped

Make:

Preheat your oven to 180C (350F).

Mix the egg whites, coconut and sugar well. Scoop the mixture into muffin tins and with wetted hands (works best this way) press it out to create a base and sides for a cup. Put into the oven at bake for about 8-10 minutes, or until it begins to lightly brown. Remove from the oven and let cool for one minute. Gently remove the cups from muffin tins and let it cool more.

While this is happening, heat the cream in a saucepan until almost boiling. Remove from heat and throw in the chopped chocolate. Stir until the chocolate has melted into the cream and you have a decadent and rich looking chocolate liquid.

Carefully, fill each cup with the liquid. Put the cups on a plate or tray in the freezer and leave it for 10 minutes or until set. When set, remove from the freezer and serve to guests with coffee or as a dessert. You’ll be an instant hit. Or be selfish and enjoy it all yourself, I know I would!

Suggestions for Coconut Chocolate Tarts:

- Although you should use muffin tins, I used paper cupcake forms and went through the whole process and only removed the paper after the chocolate has set.

- Mine took longer than ten minutes to set, but I think my freezer is not that cold.

- If you follow this recipe, you may end up with some of the chocolate liquid at the end. Either eat it all immediately or keep some to add on top of the tarts later for decoration.

- I got about 14 tarts with the regular sized cupcake forms I used.

- Be imaginative and creative! The possibilities are really endless. One can play with different ingredients, textures and flavors for the shell. And as for the fillings- go crazy. Add a bit of liqueur, chili or any other spices, use other kinds of chocolate, use nuts, dried fruits, preserves. Also, if you can be very creative with toppings and decorations. I would say you can do whatever you like, as long as you make a sweet tart in a similar format. Have fun!

Here are the dates for this challenge:

Entries should be in by March 2nd. The roundup will be posted by the 7th (same day we are flying out!) and the winner will be announced the next week from somewhere in northern Vietnam.

The winner will receive a gift from me, perhaps I will pick up something fun in Hanoi?

And here are the rules:

RULES FOR HAY HAY ITS DONNA DAY

Hay Hay Its Donna Day is open to all food and wine bloggers.

Entries submitted for HHDD must be made specifically for this event, although photos may be submitted to Does My Blog Look Good In This.

The host will select, make and post the original Donna Hay recipe without any changes. Participants may make the same recipe as is, or put their own spin on the recipe by altering the ingredients whilst remaining with the theme. Entrants must include a link to the host in their post.

Entries can be made at any time once the event has been announced but must be posted and emailed to the host by the closing date. My email address is bordeaux76@gmail.com

Good luck and enjoy.

 

Fruity-nutty Dessert Pizza

Just some apricot cheese, fresh snow pear and almond slivers on top of melted mozzarella and voila!

A dessert pizza is born.

Out of all the pizzas I made recently I think I personally loved this one the most. The fruitiness tasted kind of unique. and looking at it made me very happy.

 

Spanako-pizza!

Oh this is so intimidating. Writing an entry for an entry. My nerves are shot!

Not really, I am just being overly dramatic due to a terrible lack of sleep. I decided to take the day off to recuperate, but instead I am writing. No big surprises there really. Goodness, how I digress.

This here spanako-pizza is my entry for this month’s Hay Hay it’s Donna Day food blogging event. Joey over at 80 Breakfasts, one of my neighbors here in South East Asia (she lives in the Philippines), is hosting this month’s event and the super-theme she chose was pizza. Mmm, pizza.

Why did I name this pizza a spanako-pizza? Continue reading and find out.

I followed the Donna Hay recipe, available here on Joey’s blog. It’s real simple and renders a superb and wholesome thin-crusted pizza base.

Here’s what you need to collect for the pizza dough:

1 teaspoon dry yeast

a pinch of sugar (I use about a 1/4 teaspoon)

2/3 cup warm water

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon olive oil

Make:

Place yeast, sugar and warm water in a bowl and let it stand until it becomes bubbly. Be patient as this takes a while, but it looks great fun once it really starts bubbling! Meanwhile, sift together the flour and salt. When the liquid mixture is all bubbly, add it to the dry mixture and combine and kneed it into a smooth dough. This should take about 10 minutes of elbow grease. Put it into a large, oiled bowl, cover and allow to stand until it has doubled in size. This takes another while so just leave it be while you enjoy a bit of reading or begin preparing the topping.

And here follows the topping. I love spanakopitas. Those fabulous greek filo pastries filled with spinach and dill goodness, so I decided to top a pizza with it.

For spanakopita filling/topping you need:

about two cups fresh spinach, well packed

5 chopped green onions

2 tablespoons fresh dill

4 tablespoons crumbled feta

olive oil

salt

fresh pepper

Make:

Place washed spinach in a little boiling water and cook for about three minutes. Rinse and squeeze out excess water. Heat a little oil in a pan and cook the onions, spinach and dill for about another three minutes, until the onion is soft. Remove from heat and let it cool for a minute, then mix in the crumbled feta and add some salt and ground pepper to taste.

And now for the pizza:

Preheat your oven to 220C and place a flat baking tray in the oven to heat. Lightly dust a cookie sheet with some flour or semolina and roll out half of the pizza dough until it is about 3mm thick. Brush a little olive oil onto the pizza and top it with the spanakopita filling. Lift the cookie sheet onto the preheated tray and bake it for about 15 minutes or until the pizza is golden and crisp.

Slice it up and serve. Watch your guests take a bite and see the appreciative smiles forming on their faces. Delightful!

 

Pizzas

After my first home made pizzas I’ve been busy with more this week for the Hay Hay It’s Donna Day challenge hosted by Joey at 80Breakfasts. Great excuse for trying out a variety of ideas.

I’ve come to the conclusion that the best pizzas are the simplest ones. I’ve made some elaborate ones which took forever and left me feeling worn out and grumpy. They were fine, but they tasted just a bit like they were trying too hard. The ones where I just threw a couple of ingredients onto the base and then baked them were the ones that ended up being the most satisfying.

So I’ll be working with them and then hopefully have something to send to her for this challenge.

 

Happy Teacher’s Day!

Wednesday is Teacher’s Day here in Thailand, which means a public holiday for the likes of us!

I decided to bake some sugar cookies to give to my Thai co-teachers as a token of appreciation. We actually never speak, I don’t think any one of them speak much English, and they are mostly in the background while I am teaching, but I have grown fond of these ladies and I hope they will enjoy the cookies.

Yesterday afternoon Alexander and I decorated them and today I will be dropping them off before heading to Banglamphu for an in-the-city getaway.

 

Crunch. Yum-yum. Crunch. Yum. And Brownies!

Here’s what we had for dinner.

Peanut butter curry with sweet potatoes, broccoli, and brown rice noodles. I’m not going to tell you how I made it though because (pick the correct answer):

a) It’s a family secret.

b) I actually have no idea.

c) I’m being selfish.

For dessert we had All-American Brownies (according to the recipe I used) and ice-cream. Usually I leave the task of making brownies to Alexander who is an ace brownie maker (he uses this same recipe that he got from his mom). Today, however, was the first time I made brownies, and because I cannot think of any good reason not to, I will share this recipe.

To make All-American Brownies, Bordeaux style, you will need:

1 quarter stick butter

6 (not 2) pieces of unsweetened baking chocolate, chopped into pieces

1 cup white sugar

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

2 eggs

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

salt (which I forgot to add, so actually don’t bother with it)

2 small Toblerone bars

Make:

Preheat the over to 180C and prepare an oven pan or bread pan, I used a silicone bread pan. Melt the butter and chocolate over medium heat. Let it cool for a couple of minutes and stir in the sugar and vanilla. Add the eggs one at a time and mix. Add the flour. When everything is mixed, add some chopped bits of the Toblerone. Pour into the pan. Stick some Toblerone onto the mixture and bake for about 20 minutes until a toothpick inserted comes out… clean! Cool, cut, gobble up.

The original recipe, as you may have guessed did not call for any Toblerone. So now you may ask why oh why do you always have to go and throw Toblerone into just about any sweet thing you ever make? The reason is simple, one can never get enough Toblerone. Never. I have a friend who does not care much for it. But I think she has problems. As for me, I love it.