Ingredientes:

• pão de forma
• rúculas frescas
• 3 tomates maduros
• pimenta do reino
• 4 folhas de manjericão
• 1 cenoura
• queijo parmesão ralado
• azeite

Preparo:

1. Asse as fatias de pão de forma divididas em 4 numa travessa no forno, sem nada, a seco, até ficarem douradas e crocantes.
2. Bata os tomates sem casca com a cenoura cozida e as folhas de manjericão, com 1 copo de água, no liquidificador.
3. Refogue o purê que foi batido, numa frigideira com azeite, adicionando uma pitada de açúcar para reduzir a acidez, o sal e pimenta do reino a gosto. A intenção é fazer um purê bem consistente para não penetrar e molhar as torradas.
4. Numa travessa ou bandeja monte os canapés, cobrindo as torradas com uma colherada do purê de tomate com cenoura, queijo parmesão ralado em cima, e uma pequena porção de rúculas frescas fatiadas bem fininhas

Vikki starts the column as a Graves and returns next month as a… well, wait and see.

One of the best things about writing for The Leither is that my esteemed editor allows me to wax lyrical on any subject of my choosing. However this can be both a blessing and a curse if at the time of writing, your thoughts are dominated by other things; things which are so mundane as to be unprintable. Or so I thought.

Although I would never claim a reputation for searing political critique, most of the time I would say I take a healthy interest in current affairs. This month, however, it’s more about currant affairs – my wedding cake is finished and I am forced to rely heavily on obvious puns to hit my word count.

Regular readers of my mutterings may remember me mentioning my impending nuptials, and by the time you read this, (if you read this,) I will have renounced both my surname and my singledom. Just a few short months ago in this very publication, I navigated the social etiquette of weddings like a smart-arse, now I’m hoping that my own wedding guests will be able to do it whilst keeping their witty comments to themselves.

Now don’t get me wrong, I am ridiculously excited about my wedding. I can’t wait to totter down the aisle beside my dear old dad and I can’t wait to see the look on my fiancé’s face when he sees my larger than life, fairy princess, meringue of a dress which, despite my protestations to the contrary, I don’t think I’m going to be able to bring myself to put on eBay. I’m not one of those girls who has dreamed of her wedding day since primary school, but the helpless romantic in me does believe these are moments you can’t buy.

It’s not these priceless and unforgettable photo opportunities that dominate my every waking thought though. No, it’s the parts of a wedding you can buy that never seem to end. I’m certainly not averse to shopping, but there are limits, or at least, I’m starting to think there should be. As I write, I am simultaneously attempting to source a very particular style of wire photo holder with a clear plastic base and liaise with the mother of the bride regarding table decorations. Perhaps I should have realised it would be like this when I was gifted a book entitled ‘Wedding Details’, but this is a level of detail way beyond my expectations.

Not long after her wedding, a good friend told me that if she could do the whole thing again she’d go for a couple of ales and some cheese and pickle sandwiches down the pub. At the time I thought that was what I’d do simply as a matter of course, but I realise now how easy it is to get swept up in a grand sense of occasion. It really is amazing how quickly sandwiches become an artisan cheeseboard and how the transition from local ale and peanuts to sparkling wine and canapés happens so smoothly.

The need for everything to be ‘just so’ seems to have snuck up on me unannounced. On the one hand I am aware that the world will not end due to a wonky label on a miniature jar of homemade chutney, but on the other, I wonder if the guest whose sticker has not been applied parallel to the lid of the container might take it as some sort of slight.
The throwaway nature of it all is somewhat baffling. Like the table decorations – hundreds of pounds for some almost dead plants stuck in a bit of green sponge which are liable to meet a sorry end if placed too close to a tea light. It would seem however, and this is real-time wedding planning folks, that even my florally minded mother agrees this might not be worth it.

There have been points in this whole process when I’ve wondered if my betrothed and I are going to make it out of our wedding alive, let alone actually married. And I must confess there is a not insignificant part of me that is mostly looking forward to relaxing after the big day among the spoils of her John Lewis gift list. But a big day it is and a big day it shall be. I’m not planning on doing it again so I shall have cakes, canapés, dresses and decorations (mini cacti, by the way) cheaper, and my mum can take them home. The lot.

And so the next time I grace these pages I hope to have not only a brand new name but also a wealth of new, previously undiscovered material. I cannot promise politics but you can rest assured it will most definitely be totally wedding-free.

Published in The Leither November 2009

A Lu sempre me faz a mesma pergunta “você já comeu isso?” e é raro eu dizer “sim” porque o repertório dela é meio vasto…

Outro dia mesmo, ela me perguntou se eu já tinha comido “bruschetta” e claro que eu fiquei com aquela negativa, típica de quem nunca tinha sequer ouvido aquele nome. Então, como de costume, sábado de manhã fui para a oficina e lá pelas tantas, o telefone toca e ela me chama para ir experimentar algo na cozinha.

Sim, a bruschetta estava pronta…

Antes de mais nada, vamos as explicações: bruschetta é um antepasto italiano feito à base de pão. Claro que há milhares de formas diferenciadas de se preparar essa receita, mas a Lu deu algumas dicas interessantes que são:

Base – não é só pão ou massa, você pode usar um vegetal como: rabanete, pepino, abobrinha ou qualquer outro que seja de seu agrado.

Liga – é uma pasta feita a partir de manteiga, maionese, queijo ou requeijão.

Recheio – ingrediente principal, que pode ser feito a partir de legumes, carnes, queijos, ervas ou qualquer outro ingrediente que seja agradável e combine com aquilo que você deseje.

Enfeite – vai por cima e serve para completar o sabor e claro, para dar um sabor todo especial ao quesito olhar, afinal, a maioria das pessoas comem é com os olhos mesmo.

A Lu sugeriu os seguintes ingredientes para uma receita simples e rápida:

Pão de forma sem casca
03 dentes de alho picado
01 colher de sopa de manteiga
02 colheres de sopa de azeite
02 tomates picados
01 cebola pequena picada
01 colher de sopa de maionese
01 colher de sopa de requeijão
orégano a gosto
pimenta a gosto (para quem gosta)
Queijo cortado em cubinhos

Procedimento.
O primeiro passo é pegar uma assadeira onde serão colocados os pães de forma que podem ser cortados em 4 ou ser usado inteiro. A Lu fez das duas maneiras, cortou alguns em 4 – deixando-os bem pequenos (no melhor estilo canapés) e fez uns maiores…

Prepare a liga, levando ao fogo a manteiga, tempo suficiente para derreter. Acrescente um fio de azeite e por fim o alho. É tudo muito rápido, assim que você começar a sentir o cheiro do alho no ar é preciso retirar do fogo porque se o alho queimar o sabor ficará amargo…

Com ajuda de uma colher vá passando essa liga nos pães. Tome cuidado para não exagerar na quantidade, até porque é apenas para dar um sabor diferenciado a receita. Ok?

O próximo passo é preparar o recheio que a Lu fez da seguinte maneira: misturou o requeijão com a maionese, batendo lentamente para que os dois formassem uma espécie de creme. Depois juntou o tomate e a cebola, temperando como se fosse uma vinagrete. Juntos os dois e espalhou sobre os pães. A quantidade aqui depende especificamente de você. Mas aconselha-se não exagerar, o melhor mesmo é estabelecer uma quantidade única para todos eles. A Lu disse que usou uma colher de sobremesa…

Por fim, vem a decoração que foi feita com o orégano e o queijo… Feito isso, leva-se ao forno, tempo suficiente para derreter o queijo e torrar o pão. Dez minutos é mais que o suficiente e dependendo do forno é até demais. Então recomenda-se atenção ao cheiro e a cor do pão que vai ficar meio dourado nas laterais…

Feito isso, é só servir antes de um jantar como aperitivo…

Se alguém resolver se aventurar por essa receita, me avisem, quero saber o sabor que vocês criaram ou inventaram, ok?

Abraços a todos
Marco Antônio

Part 1

I’d be lying if I said I was 100% relaxed as our taxi pulled up outside the Glasgow Science Centre for the sponsors’ reception. I knew that Gillian was more than capable of managing the event, that wasn’t an issue. However, when you’ve spent time and effort on something there is always a touch of nervousness mixed with the excitement that seeps in!

As we pulled up, I could see the gobos of the sponsors logos and the Gala Dinner logo, projected onto the wall of the Science Centre. Thank goodness we decided to erect a covered walkway as the lovely Glasgow weather was as expected – damp and dreary. Once you stepped into the candlelit walkway, you immediately forgot about the winter weather and felt the warmth and excitement building up for the night that lay ahead.

The jazzy purple carpet continued from the walkway through the Link Building and down the Street, which was lined with Gala Dinner posters and branding, acting as a guide to the drinks reception. Before heading up the escalator to the children’s party, I was greeted by smart and smiley staff at the cloakroom who kindly took my soaking wet coat from me.

As a sponsor, we were invited to the children’s party where some of the children who attended the centre had an afternoon of fun with Gordon, Tana and their daughter. They were all so cute, dressed up in their party outfits, some of the little girls even had glitter spray in their hair!

As Gordon arrived there was an immediate buzz as the children recognised him and all began to call his name. Gordon and Tana were so natural with the children and we sat with them, playing games and colouring…you could tell the kids were thrilled!

We then went to join the other guests for the champagne reception. From about half way up the escalator you could already smell the delicious canapés that were being cooked at a food station where we could all see, smell and then taste the scrumptious nibbles. I must say I was thoroughly enjoying watching and sampling these with a glass of bubbly before the press photographs took place and dinner was called.

Whilst chatting to Tana Ramsay I heard a booming voice coming from the top of the escalator – it was the Master of Ceremonies inviting VIP’s, the Lord Provost of Glasgow and all guests to follow the Pipe Major to the Atrium where dinner would be served. Then a full pipe and drum band, positioned along the escalator and Street towards the Atrium struck up and accompanied the pipe major’s call for dinner.

As we all filtered down the escalators and along the purple walkway to the atrium there was a tingle of excitement and anticipation as guests realised that the long awaited evening was here! I had obviously seen the room already dressed so I was intrigued to see the reactions of the other guests as they arrived to see the stunning styling.

There was no doubt guests were impressed with the quirky styling in such an unusual space and were pleased that it was intimate, yet not too stuffy. If you’ve ever been in the Science Centre you’ll know what a difficult space the Atrium is for sight lines etc, but with careful planning we knew we’d positioned each table with the optimum view of the stage and plasma. You could see that guests were at first sceptical if they would be able to see, then they immediately relaxed when they knew they could! (Lisa will give you all the details about the styling of the space in her upcoming blog).

We were all seated when the pipe band entered and marched onto the twinkling white dance floor to perform their drum salute finale, encouraged by clapping guests, before marching out again to a massive round of applause.

We settled at our table whilst the MOC welcomed Gordon to the stage where he told us all about his affiliation with the Scottish Spina Bifida Association. Then a short video about the work of the charity was played. I’ve seen variations of the video many times throughout the past number of years and each time I watch it I still get a lump in my throat as I watch these kids, their families and the wonderful work that the Association does for them.

The Association supports children, adults and families with spina bifida, hydrocephalus and related conditions. They have a fantastically equipped family support centre which not only provides a relaxing environment for families to visit, training, recreational and support services, but is it also uniquely equipped with a state of the art Telemedicine suite.

The telemedicine suite enables those with spina bifida and hydrocephalus to receive medical advice via video-conferencing equipment from health professionals based across the UK, therefore minimising travel. The work that the Association does is phenomenal and caring for these families is something that is dear to my heart.

Back to the event… and in a flurry of black & white, the beverage staff got to work serving everyone and before I knew it our table was surrounded by waiters serving the first course of dinner.

Do you want to find out the delicious 6-course meal that was created and prepared by Scotland’s top 3 chefs?

Sign up to receive email updates now as I’ll be revealing this in the next few days!

S

Good morning fellow food lovers!

Well upon my scrounging for new exciting things to make, I came across this recipe in the Fairlady magazine.  Its absolutely brilliant!  What’s more is it offers that touch of class and elegance to a menu best served as a starter or canape’.  You are able to change a few of the ingredients what I do best! Perhaps use pears and “stinky cheese” (blue cheese)…simply d’vine!

So here is your taste bud tickler for the day

Ingredients

250 g ready made frozen or homemade puff pastry, thawed
10 ml olive oil
TOPPING
4 pears or apples, cored, cut into wedges and poached
salt
freshly ground pepper
15 ml pine kernels, toasted
100 g Parmesan cheese, shaved
30 ml balsamic vinegar

Method:
Preheat oven to 200 ºC. Roll out the pastry on a floured board to a 12 x 30 cm rectangle. Lightly brush surface of pastry with olive oil. Season with salt and pepper. Bake for 15 minutes, or until golden. TOPPING Pile pears or apples, pine kernels and Parmesan cheese on top of pastry. Drizzle with balsamic vinegar and serve. Serves 6.

Recipe From : FAIRLADY February 14, 2001

Avui, per la suposada celebració de la festa major, he fet canapès variats.

Us poso la recepta de cada un d’ells.

1. Canapès de pa de motlle

Ingredients:

• pa de motlle sense crosta
• patés variats (fines herbes, salmó, tonyina…)
• philadelphia
• maionesa
• olives
• salsitxes
• ous de guatlla (fregits i bullits)
• gambes pelades
• kiwi
• salmó fumat
• formatge
• qualsevol cosa que us agradi!

Fer canapès és molt fàcil. S’agafen dues llesques de pa i s’unta una primera llesca de paté (el que més us agradi), se li col·loca l’altra llesca a sobre i s’unta de philadelphia o maionesa . Un cop estigui ben untat es talla en 4 parts i se li posa damunt el que es vulgui.

2.Pasta filo farcida de tomàquet cherry i formatge de cabra

Ingredients:

• Pasta filo (només l’he trobada al Corte Inglés i al Bon preu).
• Tomàquet Cherry
• Orenga
• All
• Formatge de cabra
• Mantega

Per fer el farcit he posat a escaldar els tomàquets per tal de treure’ls-hi la pell millor. Quan ja els hi he tret la pell els sofregeixo amb un all molt picat i orenga.

D’altra banda agafo la pasta filo i una mateixa fulla la doblego (pintant amb mantega fosa entre doblec i doblec) 3 o 4 vegades. La tallo en tres parts i en cada una de les parts hi aboco un tomàquet i un tros de formatge de cabra. Ho enrotllo com si fos un rollito de primavera i ho poso al forn durant 10 minuts a 180º.

També es pot fer amb pasta de full o amb pasta brik.

3. Pasta filo farcida de gambes i xampinyons

Ingredients:

• Pasta filo
• Xampinyons
• Gambes
• Ceba
• Carbassó
• 1 cullerada de farina
• 2 cullerades de llet
• Mantega
• Sal

Per fer el farcit es fa un sofregit amb la ceba, el carbassó, els xampinyons i les gambes (afegits poc a poc per aquest ordre de cocció). Quan ja estigui tot fet (uns 20-30 minuts), se li afegeix una cullerada de farina i quan ja no es vegi, se li afegeix la llet per tal de fer una massa compacta. Se li afegeix sal al gust.

Un cop tenim el farcit es fa el mateix procés amb la pasta filo. La diferència està en la manera d’embolicar-ho simplement. Es posa al forn durant 10 minuts a 180º i ja estarà!

Aquest farcit també es pot utilitzar amb la pasta de full o la brik.

4. “Tartaletes” de truita de patates

Ingredients:

• Patates
• Ceba
• Ous (depèn de les tartaletes que es vulguin fer. Jo n’he utilitzat 5 i m’han sortit 24)
• “Oblees” (les típiques per fer crestes)
• oli
• sal

El farcit es fa igual que quan es fa una truita de patates: fregint les patates i la ceba i barrejant-ho desprès amb els ous batuts. Quan es tingui aquesta barreja feta, es posen les masses de les crestes en motlles de magdalenes prèviament untats amb oli (motlles de silicona o d’alumini. Crec que les de paper no anirien bé…). Després se li afegeix la barreja de patates i ou (una mica més de tres quarts del motlle) i es posa al forn a 180º fins que es vegi que la truita està quallada.

Es treu del forn i es treu del motlle i ja estarà llest!

Aquesta recepta es pot fer de moltes maneres, es poden fer mini quiches o truites d’altres gustos (pebrots, carbassó, espinacs…)

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Miranda- La pegatina

It was my dads 60th last weekend and he threw a big party. He wanted to get caterers in but then realised that he’d save a couple of grand if he let me do it.

Here are some of the canapes….

• Bloody Mary Shots with King Prawns
• Parmesan Arancini
• Wild Mushroom, Seared Beef and Confit Tomato on Parmesan Toasts
• Pea, Pecorino and Mint Crostini
• Smoked Trout, Sweet Onion and Horseradish Tartlets
• Slow Roast Crispy Pork Belly with Creamy Mustard Beans and Salsa Verde

Happy Birthday Dad x

Prometido há duas semanas os posts novos, saindo com atraso o primeiro deles.

Há um tempo fizemos lá na Anhembi um evento e foi servido esse canapé de kani e dill feito por mim e pela Bia do Trivial ou Nem Tanto. Ficou leve, mas saboroso. É fácil de fazer e dá pra servir em qualquer reunião, evento, acompanhando uma entrada.

.

Canapé de Kani e Dill

Foto: Lula

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Ingredientes::

- Pão de forma – Kani – Ricota – Cream Cheese – Sal – Pimenta do reino – Dill

Preparo::

- Com um vasador, corte as fatias de pao de forma no formato de um canapé. Asse até dourar.

- Em um mixer, bata todos os outros ingredientes, menos o dill, até criar uma pasta.

Ps.1: Cuidado com a quantidade de cream cheese, é para formar uma pasta consistente, muito cream cheese pode deixar ‘mole’.

- Com um saca-puxa e bico na forma q preferir, faça 2 voltas e puxe o creme sobre as torradinhas.

- Finalize com kani e dill – como está na foto!

Ps.2: DELICIA!

INTRO
Por fin!!! El Sr Miguelón junto con Miriam,  nos han invitado a realizar una reunión en su humilde morada. Esta vez se trataba de un cocktail de bienvenida junto con canapés variados. Como siempre todo un éxito…quién será el siguiente anfitrión?

INTEGRANTES

MENÚ
BEBIDAS
Vodka acid
Pasión verde

CANAPÉS
Voulevants rellenos
Ensaladilla
Camembert con cebolla
Rollitos de espárragos
Calamares en su tinta
Hamburgesas vegetales
Rollitos de berengenas

EL MENÚ EN IMÁGENES

]]> http://88events.wordpress.com/2009/10/07/gillians-top-5-october/ Wed, 07 Oct 2009 07:49:37 +0000 gillianf88 http://88events.wordpress.com/2009/10/07/gillians-top-5-october/

This month I’ve decided to rate my top 5 canapés for your events. Canapés are an ideal snack to serve at any kind of event and can range for simple delicacies to elaborate flavour combinations.

Aside from the obvious importance of delicious food, the key to great canapés lies in the presentation. The caterers we work with are constantly coming up with new ways of serving and presenting canapés to keep guests interested.

My top 5 canapés are:

1. Sweet melon sip with Margarita sorbet

This cheeky canapé of sweet melon sip with a Margarita sorbet, served in a shot glass, is a refreshing touch, idea for spring/summer events.

2. Maple fig with prosciutto

A delicate canapé of sweet figs coated in maple syrup, rolled up in prosciutto then coated in a breadcrumb and peanut crust served with a sesame satay sauce.

3. Ice lolly of smokey lapsang souchong tea infused with fresh juices and peel of lemons, oranges and grapefruits

This is a bit of an unusual one, but worth mentioning for that fact I think!

Lapsang souchong is a smoked tea, with the aroma of an oak fire, that originates from the Fujian province of China. It tastes fantastic with citrus fruits and the presentation of this is just delightful!

Ice lolly of smokey lapsang

4. Smoked Highland venison in a savoury pancake

A rich canapé of lightly smoked venison slivers with plum and walnut relish rolled in a savoury pancake… need I say more?

5. Smoked salmon, black pepper, capers and horseradish

A simple collection of flavours presented with style on a chic oriental spoon.

Oriental spoons are ideal for serving all kinds of dishes

What would you like to see in my top 5 next month? Drop me a comment and let me know!

G

This article has been submitted to Monthly Mingle for October 2009 – High Tea Treats at  Meeta’s What’s for Lunch Honey? and to Aparna’s My Diverse Kitchen.

High Tea is a tradition that has come to be a sophisticated event from 4 pm to 5 pm in the modern world. This is the time when working men and women break from work to rejuvenate themselves and mingle. Commonly called a coffee break in IT industry these days, High Tea is the time between lunch and dinner when one would like to have something light to carry them on during the rest of the day.

High Tea is generally a serving of hot beverages with a spatter of bite sized dishes. A very classic dish that can be served is canapés. Canapes are small bread bases that can be topped with almost anything. Here I have used ready-made canapés. They are small square box-like flour moulds and are readily available anywhere. I have served sweet and savory canapés to satisfy both kinds of palates.

Preparation

One box of canapés. Shallow fry the individual canapés in oil. This will make the canapés crisp and tastier. In case canapés are not available in market, you can cut out brown bread in the shape of 1 inch circles or squares and fry them to get the base.

Sweet and Savory Canapes

Sweet canapés

Ingredients

½ cup cottage cheese

7-8 tbsp sugar

1 pinch cardamom

Topping

Apple

Strawberry sauce

Blend cheese with sugar and cardamom powder to get a paste. Drop a tablespoon of the mixture in a canapé. Cut apple into very thin wedges and decorate the canapés for the final crunchy taste. Place a drop of strawberry sauce for the final touch.

Savory canapés

Ingredients

3-4 potatoes

Béchamel sauce

1 pinch cinnamon

Topping

Carrot

Tomato sauce or ketchup

Boil potatoes and mash them. Prepare béchamel sauce and mix with cinnamon and mashed potatoes. Fill canapés with mashed potatoes and shallow fry or bake for 5 mins. Prepare carrot wedges and decorate the canapés for a final crunchy taste while garnishing with tomato ketchup. Alternatively, green chutney can also be used.

Bechamel sauce

2 tbsp butter or ghee

2 tbsp flour

1 cup milk

1 tbsp cheese (optional)

1 pinch salt

1 pinch white pepper

Heat butter in a pan and roast flour in it till it turns light pink. Take of heat and pour milk in the pan. Mix well and cook on low flame. Grate cheese and add to the sauce along with salt and white pepper.

Having been gifted with a two-day old mudcake, I decided to turn it into chocolate truffles for a project wind-up. To make my truffles (see my post of 17 April 2009 for the recipe), you need a half quantity of dark chocolate ganache, leaving the other half to be utilised for other purposes, or it can be frozen for later use.

Chocolate ganache is such a versatile commodity, and the presence of leftovers started me thinking about its multiple uses. A quick google for the terms ‘chocolate’, ‘ganache’ and ‘uses’ raises around 311,000 search results, so it is clearly a topic that has inspired others too.

So, following a lot of thought and a little googling, here are my top 10 uses for leftover ganache:

1. Chocolate canapes – warm the ganache and spoon or pipe it into pre-made canape cases. You could try this over some Turkish delight pieces, mandarin segments (& Cointreau…) or your favourite conserve.
   ► If you have stored the ganache in a zip-lock back, simply place the sealed bag in a bowl of hot water to soften, then carefully cut off one of the bag’s corners – and voila! You have an instant piping bag, ready for action.
2. Chocolate truffles – as per my link above. Scrumplicious.
3. Chocolate sauce – heat the ganache in a microwave or over the stove (I prefer to use a double-boiler). You can add extra cream, liqueur or water to make it runnier. Perfect over cake, icecream, raspberries & double cream, or anything else that’s usually known for being sweet and yummy with chocolate.
4. Icing, decoration, filling – for a cake, or you could smoosh cookies together with it. When I make a mudcake, I mix together a chocolate-butter ganache and pour it over the cake once the ganache has cooled slightly.
   ► Even better suggestion: spread a layer of good raspberry conserve over the cake before the dark chocolate ganache. Raspberries + dark chocolate = oh my goodness. It is genuinely amazing.
5. Chocolate mousse – PBSF, via a Chowhound forum, details a simple chocolate mousse recipe that involves warmed ganache and whipped cream. So decadent!
6. Hot chocolate – thanks go to the Fun & Food Blog for this idea, and this link also includes a ganache recipe.
7. Coating fruit. Choose your favourite fruit > dip it into warm ganache (made with extra chocolate, less butter/cream) > leave it to cool on a piece of baking paper > eat! Delicious and (kind of) nutritious.
8. Chocolate croissants. Spoon some ganache into croissants then warm in the oven until the ganache starts to bubble. Mmm-mmm-mmmmmmm.
9. Body art – do you remember that 90s fad of chocolate body paint? Well, it is still around if you look for it. Apparently. So I have heard. Anyway, it’s basically ganache with added preservatives. So, if you make & use your own ganache, you would be ingesting the healthy option. Seriously.
10. Eat it all by itself on a spoon. This is one of three ways that I eat Nutella, and it’s awesome. Plus, by not spreading the ganache on a thick slice of very fresh white bread [the second of the three ways I eat Nutella], I figure it means I am neatly avoiding empty carbs. I did include a recipe in my original chocolate post, and I thought I would give you a new and improved version for ease of reference and use.

So how do you make your very own ganache?

Recipe #50 [Can you believe there are now 50 recipes stockpiled in this little crevice of the international network? I remember the day I introduced my very first recipe. Aah, that takes me back... Good times, good times]: Simple dark chocolate ganache.

You will need:
► a 300mL punnet of thickened cream
► a 375g packet of dark chocolate buttons/squares

Place the chocolate into a clean, dry mixing bowl. Heat the cream in a saucepan, swishing it around once or twice as it warms, and let it boil up the sides. It is really important to let the cream rise – for some reason it has problems setting if you don’t follow this step.

Once the cream has boiled almost to the top of the saucepan, take it off the heat and pour it over the chocolate. Wait about three minutes, then stir/whisk the mixture together until it is super smooth and velvety. And that’s it. Lovely.

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For those who are research-inclined, here is a link to Joy of Baking, and a blog post that gives a history of ganache as well as an alternative recipe.

Enjoy your chocolate.

Quels sont les critères de sélection à considérer si vous voulez acheter un canapé lit?

Quelle largeur avez-vous besoin? Et pensez à l’usage que vous ferez de votre canapé. S’il doit servir au quotidien, la qualité sera très importante car souvent le point faible des canapés lit est justement leur matelas qui est la plupart du temps assez mince. S’il est fait de ressorts, vous risquez de les sentir quand vous serez couché. Très souvent aussi, le matelas n’est pas au niveau avec le sol, vous vous retrouvez couché dans une pente – pas drôle. En fait, même si vous ne l’utilisez qu’à l’occasion, pensez à vos invités et à la nuit qu’ils auront. Les gens ont tendance à acheter trop vite et à ne pas essayer le matelas suffisamment avant d’acheter.

Un canapé lit est plus cher qu’un canapé ordinaire mais il faut faire attention à ne pas sacrifier la qualité pour un moindre prix. En achetant à bas prix, on finit par perdre de l’argent au bout du compte car le meuble va peut-être durer moins longtemps et on sera obligé d’en acheter un autre.

Que vous achetiez sur internet ou dans un magasin, informez-vous du renom de la compagnie avant de vous décider. Demandez des informations à des personnes qui ont déjà acheté à cet endroit-là.

Si vous acheter sur internet, pensez que vous ne pourrez pas essayer le lit – une raison de plus pour vous informer de l’éthique de la compagnie. Continuez votre lecture sur les canapes…

]]> http://londonfoodieny.wordpress.com/2009/09/23/chermoula-spiced-hummus/ Thu, 24 Sep 2009 01:40:18 +0000 Anna Helm http://londonfoodieny.wordpress.com/2009/09/23/chermoula-spiced-hummus/ http://dertylaundry.wordpress.com/2009/09/21/dungeon-canapes-and-art-photography/ Mon, 21 Sep 2009 03:35:55 +0000 Nikita http://dertylaundry.wordpress.com/2009/09/21/dungeon-canapes-and-art-photography/

Saturday afternoon, I went to Domina Dea’s First Annual Second Circle Open House.  Second Circle is her dungeon and what a wonderful use of space it is.

The mirrored walls are lined with whips, paddles, leather masks and accessories, all types of cuffs, rubber outfits, HUGE wooden pegs, a big colorful jar of clothespins, chains and more.  A St. Andrews cross is in one corner, a cage on wheels is in another, a leather table with metal rings around it, an adjustable metal stand that encase cocks, and an overhead suspension hook that goes up and down with the push of a button.

I just had to touch a single tail she got from CharlyB. It was beautiful.  She said I could touch it when she saw my face.  At the first throw, she said, “Don’t hit yourself.  Let me show you how I do it.”  Hahahahaha!  It seemed I was a little enthusiastic bu really I was trying to be inconspicuous and tried to throw in a small space.  sigh  It’s times like these that can test a switch’s resolve.

Radiantly Immortal , aka, Peter Belvin, had his beautiful art photography on display.  They were imaginative, sensual without being overtly explicit.  Well, explicit is a matter of interpretation.  If you find photos of exquisite ‘cookies’ explicit, then they were.  There was a fabulous shot of needle branches poking through delicate, pale breasts.  All of these pieces were for sale.  You can see some of his photos on his profile at fetlife.  His professional website is Peter Belvin Photography.

I’m looking forward to attending some upcoming events that Domina Dea is hosting the rest of this year.  Keep your eyes on her events page. In case some of you aren’t aware, she, Lady Hotchkiss, and I are presenting classes at DomCon.  Hope to see you there.