Nowozelandzkie kiwi

Shortly my first book on New Zealand’s cuisine will be published so I start a series of articles on New Zealand food in general and on that found in Poland in particular. The book will be in Polish so enjoy the Polish introduction to the topic. 

Jako że wkrótce ukaże się moja książka poświęcona kuchni nowozelandzkiej, zaczynamy cykl postów przybliżający kiwuską kulturę jedzenia i nowozelandzkie produkty dostępne w Polsce.

 

Zaczniemy od KIWI. Kiedyś ta sprytna roślinka nie cieszyła się zainteresowaniem nawet umiejących przyrządzić wszystko Chińczyków. Była jednym z wielu dzikich pnączy. Gdzieś na początku XX wieku dotarła do Nowej Zelandii, gdzie klimat do jej wzrostu okazał się bardzo sprzyjający. Dzięki charakterystycznej, włochatej skórce, owoc otrzymał nazwę właściwą dotąd endemicznemu ptakowi Nowej Zelandii, kiwi. W jezyku angielskim rozróżniamy owoc kiwi fruit i ptaka kiwi. Sami Nowozelandczycy również określają siebie Kiwis, po polsku: Kiwusi. 

Hodowcy nowozelandzcy z kolei umieli świetnie wypromować radosny, zielony owoc. W latach 60-tych stał się on symbolem i ulubioną dekoracją dań nouvelle cuisine, charakteryzującej się lekkimi daniami. Historia uprawy kiwi i eksportu nowozelandzkiego kiwi jest atrakcyjnym tematem prac naukowych z dziedziny handlu i marketingu. Sami na pewno zauważyliście, że nowozelandzkie kiwi w Polsce jest 3-4 razy droższe od kiwi z innych części świata. Po części odpowiadają za to koszty transportu, po drugie zaszłości z czasów, kiedy Nowa Zelandia była największym eksporterem kiwi, a po trzecie fakt, że jest to najsmaczniejsze kiwi na świecie. Żadne inne kiwi nie będzie miało tej słodyczy i aromatu, co kiwi z Nowej Zelandii. 

Do Polski trafiają owoce z nalepką firm ZESPRI lub ENZA™. Jeśli są to kiwi oznaczone “New Zealand” – to jest to (ZESPRI hoduje już na licencji kiwi we Włoszech – to nie to samo). Oprócz zielonych docierają do nas kiwi złote, z gładką skórką, żółtym miąższem i smakiem słodszym od tradycyjnego kiwi. Czasami znajdziemy kiwi giganta, ważącego do 150 g, albo kiwi jagody – dwucentrymetrowe, zielone owoce o gładkiej skórce. Nowozelandczycy przodują w pracach nad nowymi odmianami, smaczne jest między innymi kiwi czerwone. 

Kiwi zawiera 10 razy więcej witaminy C niż cytryna. Najwięcej jest jej pod skórką, która notabene jest jadalna. W czasie przeziębień zjadamy 1-2 kiwi dziennie. Dodatkowo mamy w nim wapń i glikozydy sprzyjające sercu. Kiwi najlepiej pasuje do narodowego deseru nowozelandzkiego, tortu Pawłowej.

Znaczący tort na 30. urodziny:-)

Sama roślina kiwi ma postać pnącza o rozmiarach około 5 metrów. Jest wykrzystywana jako roślina ozdobna. Wczesną wiosną wypuszcza wielkie, zielone liście, które dobrze się prezentują także jesienią. W Nowej Zelandii już koło listopada zawiązują się owoce, a od marca do czerwca trwają zbiory. Coraz popularniejsze są w Polsce sadzonki kiwi jagód, a są tacy, którzy już jedli własne owoce. W przeciwieństwie do odmian nowozelandzkich, dostępne w Europie odmiany odporne są na mrozy (do pewnego stopnia...). Moje trzy sadzonki kiwi przetrzymały pierwszą zimę i z początkiem marca rozwinęły pierwsze liście.  

      

Więcej informacji o naturze nowozelandzkiego owocu kiwi oraz oczywiście przepis na Pawłową już wkrótce!

Zobacz także: 

Bogactwo kiwiowych odmian.

Świetna strona z wieloma odmianami kiwi. 

TED New Zealand & Kiwifruit case study. 

Nowozelandzka encyklopedia o historii kiwi w Nowej Zelandii.

Chocolate Piemontese Dessert in Warsaw

What about an original Piemontese chocolate dessert, ideal for winter which still holds its reign in Poland? I invite to the Concept Restaurant where I currently play in the pastry section.  Please let the service know that you are looking for me, this would be always a great pleasure to see you!

Its original name means a beret. For good luck you are supposed to consume it all, which is nevertheless any sort of problem.

Polish cenci - Faworki

Hello everyone! No, I didn't go out of the kitchen! In fact I couldn't do it for a long time so I decide to move my laptop to the kitchen. Now me, my kompot, bottom mushoom, coconut oil, pineapple, tomatoes, black turnips and other treasures that fill me with warmth are with me and we can follow. 

Today is Jeudi Gras or Fat Thursday (Tłusty Czwartek) so in Poland we consume huge amounts of Polish best-in-the-world doughnuts. The average amount for a person is about six. Six yummy, fluffy, sweet, deep-fried pieces of dough filled with roship jam or cream in the recent years. Coated with icing, icing sugar, coconut or chocolate. Mmm. There are huge queues at the cake shops for the whole day, but especially in the morning when everyone is buing them for work. I can't stop my self while gazing at my last year's divine doughnuts. Hopefully my husband will hunt some. I used Gosia's great doughnut recipe. Last year I have fried them traditionally, in pork's lard. The taste is gorgeous and the pastry is not so heavy as you may think.

This year I made Polish cenci called here faworki [favo:rki] or chrust [hru:st]. Originally they came from Lithuania. Probably a confectioner dropped by accident a piece of doughnut dough to the hot oil and a nice ribbon came out. That is why the pastry was named after the French word for ribbon - 'faveur'. But I like to think that the name implied that the pastry is simply a favourite.... Another Polish name means brushwood because of the crispness of cenci. With centuries faworki has developed its own dough recipe different from that one for doughnuts as the last one absorbs much frying fat. So the ideal faworek is crisp, thin,  with little blisters on the surface,  and sweet because heavily dusted with icing sugar.

Traditional recipe for Polish faworki

 

250 g flour

2 Tbsp natural yogurt /sour cream

2 egg yolks

1 whole egg

1 tsp butter/ pork's lard

1 tsp spirit to prevent absorbing of frying fat

(white wine vinegar is also good)

fat for frying - vegetable oil is fine

icing sugar for dusting

1.  Sieve the flour and icing sugar into a bowl.
2. Add eggs, yogurt and butter, mix with a fork. Transfer onto the kneading surface and knead until smooth.Than bash the dough with the rolling pin until shiny (from my practise - not necessary action). The dough is ready when you cut it with a knife and can see small wholes.
3. Cover the dough with a bowl and roll in two parts. Roll out very thinly, then cut into strips of 3x10 cm. Cut along the center of the each stripe (see the photo). Put one end of the stripe into the whole and pull through. Make the same with the other ones before they get dry.Follow the same with the rest of the dough.
4. Heat the oil in a heavy pan. Drop a piece of dough to check if the temperature is fine. The pastry shall fry for about several dozen seconds until golden, then you turn it and fry the other side. Drain on the paper towel.
5. Cool down and dust heavily with the icing sugar. The more sugar the better!!! Now faworki look like tree branches bending under the load of snow!

 

My way to go through it is to try one faworek of every fried batch.... You can also try my another cenci recipe. Have a happy carnival season! 

Regional Polish Cuisine - Maloposka - Pischinger

In Poland there was a "night of communism" when I was a child. Sweets in shops were either very expensive or very tasteless. So our mother and grandmother prepared home-made sweets. One of my favourite is Pischinger – wafer cake. It is a traditional Krakow dessert which comes from the nineteenth century. It was invented by a baker from Vienna - Oscar Pischinger, and hence the name of this dessert. This cheap and very tasty dessert has been very popular in Poland since the nineteenth century. Currently every family have their own recipe for this dessert.

The original dessert is a combination of milk, sugar, butter, chocolate but there are many other varieties of this sweet. Somebody can make it as butter cream with raw eggs but in my opinion it is dangerous for health. For the lazy or the ones who don't have time, you can do the Pischinger dessert with the cream Nutella. You just need to spread wafers and cut them.

Below you will find the original recipe for Pischinger.

250 ml of fresh cream

100g unsalted butter

¾ cup golden caster sugar

3 tbs vanilla sugar

pack of wafers (I used 23 cm / 9 inches round wafers)

1 bar of chocolate

200g walnuts

a few tbs cocoa powder (depending on which flavour you choose)

Cook cream, butter and sugar until they start to thicken. Add chocolate and vanilla sugar, and cook until the mixture thickens. Add ingredients for the flavour.

When the cream is ready, cool it down and spread it on the first layer of wafer, cover with another one, repeat the same till you have only one more left to cover the top.

Wrap the wafer cake with a cling film, leave aside for 3 hours covering it with a book or some other heavy item.

After 3 hours you can cut the cake into pieces.

Store in the fridge.

Other options

for Coffee Pischineger (my personal favourite)
Dissolve 2-3 tsp of instant coffee it in a little bit of hot water before adding to the cream.

for Walnut Pischinger

Ground 200g walnuts before adding them to the cream. If the cream is too thick and not fluffy, add a little bit of water and whisk a bit.

for Lemon Pischinger

Just add lemon juice to taste. 

Whisky Chocolate Cake

The second popular alcoholic drink in Ireland is whisky. There are three main distillers of whisky in Ireland: Dublin's Powers, Cork's and Bushmills from County Antrim. There are also varieties of whisky: Paddy, Redbreast, Green Spot and Tullamore Dew. Those are not so well known except for Ireland.

I don't like whisky but I know some people who love this beverage and who know much about it. I saw a big collection of whisky from many Irish and British distilleries. The owner of this collection offered us one of the oldest vintages of Tyrconnell whisky. He also showed me how to taste whisky and told me about the flavour content in that glass. Tyrconnell has an oily and wooden flavour and excellent light whiskey called Millar's, named after an old Dublin tipple,, is produced from it.

After that meeting I know a little more about whisky but I don't like it too much. I drink whiskey only when I am offered this beverage. However, I have found many recipes with whisky. My favourite dish with this expensive drink is Whisky Chocolate Cake. You will see the recipe below.

½ kg dark chocolate

½ kg biscuits

2 eggs

100 gram of butter

6 tbsp. of castor sugar

8 tbsp of whisky

3 tbsp of double cream

100 gram of whole hazelnuts

200 gram of crushed hazelnuts

100 gram of glace cherries

Whisk the eggs and sugar together. Melt the butter and chocolate in a pan and fold in the egg mix.

Mix in the crushed hazelnuts and fold in half the whiskey. Line a greased cake baking dish with crushed biscuits. Pour the chocolate mixture into the dish. Place in refrigerator overnight. Mix remaining whisky with cream. Remove cake from refrigerator and pipe top with the cream. Decorate with whole hazelnuts and cherries and serve.

Irish butter

Irish butter is the best one in the world. It tastes like my grandma’s home-made butter. I have been in love with it since the first bite of bread with this butter. The best butter brand is the Kerrygold butter. I was surprised that such a big company offers such tasty and natural products. I have tried other types of butter made by other companies but I have always come back to the Kerrygold butter. It tastes fantastic when it is spread on a piece of bread. It adds a lot of complexity to each bite. It is available in salted and unsalted varieties. That extra flavour is the result of cows in Ireland having a rich grass diet .
Irish cows are very happy animals because grass is fresh the whole year and they spend their entire lives on the pasture.

Butter is made from cream. Cream from around 15 litres of milk goes into making just half a kilo of butter. Around a third of the world’s milk is changed into butter. Ireland is the fourteenth largest producer of butter in the world.

Butter contains vitamins A, D and calcium and, of course, is high calorie.
In the past in Ireland butter was packed into wooden churns and stored in peat bogs, where it would keep well for some length of time. Sometimes forgotten butter turned into creamy cheese, which was often discovered by archaeologists.

Buttermilk is used extensively in traditional Irish cooking. I have found many recipes for traditional Irish food where butter or buttermilk is used . My favourite are apple tart and buttermilk pudding.

Buttermilk Pudding

100 gram of sugar

250 ml of cream

500 ml buttermilk

1 teaspoon of powdered gelatine

1 vanilla pod

Dissolve 1 cup of gelatine in 2 tablespoons of boiling water. Cut the vanilla pod in half. Place it in a pan with sugar and half of the cream. Heat but do not boil. Remove a pan from heat and stir in the gelatine blending well. Remove the vanilla pod, then whisk buttermilk into hot cream. Whip the remaining cream until stiff, then fold it into the hot mixture. Pour into a bowl and chill well.
Serve with a teaspoon of your favourite jam.

The Turkish influence on the Polish cuisine - Coffee

Turkish cuisine is one of the oriental cuisine which had a big impact on Polish cuisine. In the Middle Ages  Turkish merchants brought it to the Polish spices. Among the spices there were  ginger, saffron, pepper, cloves and cinnamon which symbolizes the splendour of the Orient. They were used for meat dishes and pastries. They were also used to suppress the musty smell of bad meat. People  believed that the spices contributed to digesting food, sharpening the appetite, and even  "purifying the blood”. However, their prices were high, so the spices were used only for the rich .  Foreigners were amazed at the excessive use of spices in a multitude of Polish dishes.

The oriental influences increased even more during the reign of Jan III Sobieski.  During the siege of Vienna Polish soldiers captured a load of Turkish coffee. The custom of drinking coffee  first appeared in the affluent circles of Gdansk.

                                                                           Jan Matejko - "Sobieski at Vienna "

In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries  drinking  coffee spread among the middle class. In rich homes a special department, kawiarki, was maintained-. Although the Polish coffee reached the East and the West, Turkish mocha was regarded as the best It was later  supplanted by different varieties of coffee from Brazil.

In the eighteenth century the influx of oriental sweets  increased. The sorbet, or frozen fruit drinksfried in honey fruits, candied fruits fried in sugar syrup, and especially having a spicy taste enjoyed recognition. The oriental sweets included  nuts, almonds, honey, sesame seeds, raisins, sugar, fat and spices with natural dyes. They aroused enthusiasm  by their taste, aroma and colour.  Makagigi, rachatłukum (which in Arabic means "throat comfort") and biscuits with kajmak (which in Turkish means the cream) were sold. In the nineteenth century  Krakow and Lviv welcomed a arrival of sweets such as halva, bambuchy, nugaty and many others.

Turkish coffee in the Polish style

 It is a coffee which I remember with the communistic time in Poland but some times you can order it in Polish restaurant.

2 tbsp ground coffe

boiling water

glass

Into the glass put ground coffee, 
pour boiling water and if you like add sugar.
Serve it with  cookies.

Enjoy!

The Italian influence on the Polish cuisine - Faworki

The Italian influence on the Polish cuisine dates back to the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries when there were significant trade links with the Polish merchants of Genoa, Florence and Venice.
In the fourteenth century the court bills mentioned that royal cooks used fruit such as figs, raisins, almonds and lemons. In the fourteenth century Italian cuisine reached only the aristocratic mansions.


Bronisław Abramowicz "Wierzynek banquet"

The opinion that the Italian Queen Bona brought vegetables to Poland is untrue, since lettuce, beets, cabbage, turnips, carrots, peas and cauliflowers had been eaten as early as at the court of King Jagiello. The undeniable thing is that Queen Bona employed only Italians as cooks. They were also hired for the preparation of receptions for magnates. At the court of Queen Bona very large quantities of fruit were used. They included oranges, lemons, pomegranates, olives, figs, chestnuts, raisins, almonds and Italian vegetables, rice and various kinds of roots: black pepper, fennel, saffron, ginger, nutmeg, cloves, cinnamon, sugar, marzipan and olive oil.


Jan Matejko "Poisoning of Queen Bona"

Most Polish names of vegetables are derived from the Italian language (cauliflower, artichokes, leeks, onion, asparagus, beans, zucchini, lettuce). In the nineteenth century tomatoes, scorzonera, endive, spinach and chicory joined the list.
The Polish confectionery was created by Italians. The domain of Italian confectioners was ice cream, doughnuts, sugary drinks such as lemonade and orange soda and a chocolate cake with fruit and jelly, fruit syrups and fried chestnuts.
Doughnuts, which probably originate from the Roman Empire, currently are the symbol of Polish carnival.
On the last Thursday of the carnival in Poland Fat Thursday is celebrated . This day nobody counts calories and everybody eats doughnuts or other fried sweets. This tradition was born in Krakow in the sixteenth century where Queen Bona organized carnival balls. That's why Fat Thursday on my table is dominated by doughnuts and Faworki.


Pieter Bruegel "The Fight Between Carnival and Lent"

Last year I published a recipe for doughnuts. Today I publish a recipe for Faworki. This recipe came from my Grandmother's kitchen notebook. She didn’t like Italian cuisine and doughnuts. She didn’t understand my fascination with Italian cuisine but she made the best Faworki in the whole country. The taste of these sweets reminds me of her and our discussions about cuisine. She died a few weeks ago and she left me the notebook full of old recipes. Thanks Grandma.


FAWORKI
500g flour
5 egg yolks
100 ml fresh crème
2 tbsp rum
½ tsp salt
fat for deep frying
icing sugar

Flour, yolks, fresh crème, rum and salt mix together. Mix with your hands well, slowly and obviously with pleasure. Knead until the dough reaches a flexible consistency. When dough doesn’t stick to your hands it is ready.
Divide dough into four parts, and roll each one out very thin. Cut on strips 5 cm long and 2 cm wide. Make an incision 2 cm long in the middle part of each strip. Each strap take in his hand and horn of strap to scroll through an incision in the middle until you get a cookie similar to the one in the picture.

heat up a fat in wide pot. When it is hot put few Faworki and fry for gold colour one side and turn on and fry second side. Ready Faworki put on plate and sprinkle they with icing sugar and fry next part of cookies.
Serve cold down.
Enjoy!!!



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From doughnuts to herrings - Polish Shrovetide

Paris is sweet.

Paris is sweet. That’s true. On every street you can find some shops with sweets.
Chocolate, macaroons, croissants, cakes, cookies - you must try something every day. How do the French make it that they aren’t fat? I don’t know, but I know why they love sweets.

In every famous part of Paris I saw macaroons in every bakery and confectionery kiosk. Macaroons are small cookies made from egg whites, icing sugar, granulated sugar and almond powder. A macaroon is commonly filled with butter cream or jam filling sandwiched between two cookies. In Paris they were made for the first time by an Italian chef for the wedding of Henry II and Catherine de' Medici in 1533. In Paris the French confectionery Laduree is well-known for making quality macaroons in traditional and new flavours. I didn’t try macaroons from that confectionery but I ate them on Montmartre. They are very delicious and light, but the price of a single macaroon is very high. Maybe I’ll try to bake them.
Currently a box of macaroons is a very fashionable souvenir from Paris.


An éclair is a more common pastry. It is a long thin pastry made from choux dough filled with cream and topped with icing. An Éclair is very popular in Poland. I often bought it in a confectionery near my university in Krakow. I tried éclairs in Paris and the taste was the same as in Krakow. I was so proud of Polish confectioners. The éclair originated in France in the nineteenth century. It is a popular type of cake served all over the world, but only in Paris and Poland its taste is amazing.


Probably nobody knows that a very popular croissant is a Polish idea. In 1683Austria celebrated the Turkish defeat of the Polish forces in the Turkish siege of the city. A Polish diplomat Franciszek Kulczycki convinced a baker Petera Wendela to make buns in the shape of a crescent moon, similar to the moon from Turkish flags. This is only legend. How the croissant was invented is a secret.



The truth is that the croissant origined in Austria. When an Austrian artillery officer, August Zang, founded a Viennese Bakery at 92, rue de Richelieu in Paris. This bakery served Viennese specialties including the kipfel, the Vienna version of croissant. It quickly became popular and inspired French imitators. The French version of the kipferl was named after its crescent (croissant) shape and it has evolved into puff pastries.
Parisian croissants are ones of the best which I have ever eaten.


I always like Opera cakes. I tried the first slice of this cake at my uncle's wedding when I was 6 years old. I first tried to do it when I was 12 years old.
In Paris I tried the French version of an Opera cake, but I still don’t know which version is true. I have several recipes for this cake: my French family, recipes from cookery books and the Internet, but every one is a little different. Maybe you have true recipes of the Opera cake?




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Paris, Paris, Paris
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My experience with Canarian food

Great Australian jelly

Australians love jellies. Theu simply do. Maybe that's the echo of the fight with the climate in the past. All the colours, flavours and shapes are acceptable. And who doesn't like fruits soaked in a fragrant wine? Or a wine with some ripe fruits soaked?? Especially if it's a light fair Australian wine? This jelly is especially good with some ripe melon but you can also try other soft fruits like watermelon or strawberries. Anyone's freezing? It's an Aussie summer right now!

Melon jelly

makes 4 portions

300 g melon flesh, cut into small pieces

400 ml white Australian wine (necessarily!)

80 g sugar

1 Tbsp gelatine

6 dried apricots

1. Soak the cut melon in wine for half an hour. Drain.

2. Bring the wine to the boil, dissolve sugar. Take from heat and dissolve gelatine in wine. Leave until  it starts to set (egg white consistency).

3. Scald apricots with boiling water and drain. Chop into stripes.

4. Combine wine jelly with soaked melon and chopped apricots. Divide into four 150 ml glasses and leave in a fridge for about two hours.

5. Decorate with fresh melon, strawberry sauce or fresh strawberries. 

This dessert is especially nice for a cold evening to heat you up. So simple yet elegant, typically Australian.

Mango muffins!!!

Gorgeous mango pulp was waiting for me since the conference. I really wanted to bake something with it. Muffins were the laziest idea but the result was not so cheap. Here you have deeply orange in colour, not too heavy and full of good stuff muffins. Ones of the best available!

Mango muffins

makes 12

200 g flour

1 tsp baking soda

2 tsps cream of tartar

30 g oat brans

30 g raisins

40 g sugar

1 egg

50 ml vegetable oil

180 ml mango pulp

2 Tbsps condensed milk

an EXTRA mango (a half is enough)

Orange icing

3 Tbsp icing sugar

1,5 Tbsp boiling water

2 drops of orange essence

1. Sift flour and baking powder together, mix in sugar, oat brans and raisins. An EXTRA fresh mango chopped into cubes would make a sensation.

2. Beat the egg slightly, add oil, mango and milk and mix well.

3. Pour wet ingredients into the dry ones and combine well trying not to overmix. Divide quickly into 12 muffin wholes.

4. Bake in preheated oven at 190 degrees for 15 minutes. Check with a skewer if it comes dry.

5. Cool for a minute and take out on a rack.

6. Add orange essence to the icing sugar and mix well with boiling water to make the icing. Make check on cold muffins pouring down the icing from the teaspoon. 

Pumpkin cookies

Coffee cookies are on top position in my party menu. I love these small sweets. I wanted to try them with pumpkin buttercream. It was a very good choice. Below is my new recipe.


Step 1

Cookies
400 gram of flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
200 gram of butter, softened
200 gram of white sugar
2 egg
1 teaspoon of vanilla extract

1)In a large bowl, stir together flour, baking powder. Add butter, eggs, sugar and vanilla extract and make the dough. Put the dough to refrigerate for about one hour.
2)After one hour preheat oven to 190 degrees C. Take the dough from the refrigerator and roll out the dough to a thickness of 1 cm on a lightly floured surface. Cut out circles shapes using a lightly floured cookie cutter and transfer cookies to the prepared baking sheet.
3)Bake 8 to 10 minutes in the preheated oven, or until golden. Let stand on cookie sheet two minutes before removing to cool on racks.

Step 2

Pumpkin buttercream
250 gram of cooked pumpkin
200 gram of butter, softened
3 egg yolk
100 gram of castor sugar
1 teaspoon rum extract

Boil water in pot. Blend pumpkin on creamy consistency. Put metal bowl on pot with boiled water and mix together yolk and sugar on creamy consistency. Remove bowl on table and add soft butter and still mix until mixture will be smooth. Add pumpkin and rum extract and mix well. Mixture must be smooth and shine. If mixture is too soft put it in the fridge for 10 minutes

Step 3

On one cookie put tablespoon of pumpkin buttercream and cover it second cookie. Gently press the cookies until cream to spread abroad, and well glue their. Make the same with rest of cookies. When you finish put cookies on one hour to refrigerate.
If you like, you can serve cookies with chocolate sauce.

Enjoy

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Australian Granny Smith apples in puff pastry

This week we discover Australian recipes which provide quick, fragrant, tasty and colourful food! Just think about the most Australian of all Australian apples - the Granny Smith kind, dated back to the 19th century. Go quickly to your local shop for a puff pastry packet and treat your family with this little and sweet beauties!

Granny Smith apples in puff pastry 

 makes 24 

300 g packet  of puff pastry

2 Granny Smith Apples 

2 egg whites

4 Tbsp sugar

1. Cut the puff pastry into 4x4 cm squares. Cut apples in two halves and every one of them into another 6 pieces of the quaters' shape.

2. Place the apple pieces on the squares diagonally and stick together the left corners.

3. Beat slightly the egg whites, mixing in 2 tablespoons of sugar. Brush the puff pastry and sprinkle with the remaining sugar.

4. Bake in 200 degrees for 18 minutes. 

 Enjoy!!!
Enter the Australian conference here!

Australia in the Modern World - foretaste of the tasting.

Australia in modern world. Between Asia, America and Europe - the conference organised by Australia, New Zealand and Oceania Research Association is walking fast. It is this Friday, November 26th, in Cracow. Around midday you would try some marvellous Australian wines, as well as the food. I am planning some must-to-do Australian dishes, as Anzac biscuits and little Pavlovas with fruits, but also some really old-fashioned jellies and seafood mousses. Should I encourage you to come and try a crocodile or a roo*? I don't think so. 

Before this, I opened my Australian and New Zealand Complete Book of Cookery and inspired by that prepared this tropical mousse. While making it, the smell was really promising and the taste is equally rewarding. The method is truly Australian - according to the rule keep it simple.

Australian tropical mousse

(makes 2 portions)

125 ml water

110 sugar

a pinch of cream od tartar

10 g gelatine

40 ml fresh orange juice

1 tsp lemon juice and some extra for a banana

1/2 tsp of the lemon and orange rinds grated

60 ml condensed milk

1 banana

1 passionfruit

1. Place water, gelatine, sugar and cream of tartar in a pot and boil over a medium heat for 10 minutes. Allow to cool and thicken.

2. When the mixture gets the consistency of the egg white, add the lemon and orange juices and the rinds. Beat until foamy. 

3. Add milk and continue beating for few minutes.

4. Slice banana, coat with extra lemon juice and drain well. Mix in the mousse and divide into separate cups. 

5. Chill in the fridge until set. Decorate with passionfruit pulp and some extra bananas.

See you on Friday at the Jagiellonian Library, Krakow, before 12 am. You can enter here.

*kangaroo

Mocca white chocolate muffins

That was my old dream to make muffins both with coffee and some chocolate. Of course not everything run smoothly this time. For example, take into account that if you melt sugar instead of mixing it with tlour it becomes a liquid ingredient and you have to add some extra flour. Let's say, twice more than originally presumed. Secondly, you can always ask a neighbour for... an egg. And finally, you can drop the bag of sugar while sprinkling it into the milk so anyway you have to double all the other ingredients...

Mocca white chocolate muffins

540 g flour (yeah...)

3 heaped tspns cream of tartar

1,5 heaped tspns baking soda

pinch of salt

375 ml milk

140 g brown sugar

70 g vegetable oil

100 g white chocolate chopped (or more...)

3 tspns of instant chicory coffee

1 slightly beaten egg

1. Lightly heat the milk, dissolving all the sugar and coffee and cool down.

2. Mix the sifted flour, cream of tartar, soda, salt and the chopped chocolate.

3. Add an egg and oil to the milk and combine with the dry ingredients.

4. Bake for 25 minutes at 185 degrees. Makes really large 12 muffins.

Another surprise can be that your yummy chocolate has melted completely (you just forgot that it used to happen before) which however does not affect the general reception.

And how to make a good shot if I am so impatient because of apetite?