Christmas in July - Chocolate Peppermint Coquito

As part of Christmas in July, Lance and I offered a mulled cider that we served as people arrived. A nice warm mug of spicy deliciousness welcoming them in from the cold. Stay tuned for that recipe! Then with dessert I served this chocolate peppermint coquito and my sister in law made egg-nog. Traditional Puerto Rican coquito is sort of a rummy coconut egg-nog. This chocolate version is barely adapted from Always Order Dessert's recipe for a chocolate coquito. I made mine minty as peppermint is such a "Christmas" flavour and it's impossible to find candy canes this time of year. They would make awesome swizzle sticks if you make this for your December Christmas. You could use Creme de Menthe instead of a peppermint extract but it would add extra sweetness and it would be the only reason for me buying a whole bottle of Creme de Menthe. The only other change is that I used unsweetened coconut cream instead of the sweetened version, I don't really drink super-sweet drinks.

The end result is a sort of more grown-up version of a peppermint Baileys. Perfect for sipping on the rocks and dunking your gingerbread into. I served them in cute little red shot glasses to add to the festivities (and take away from dishes).

This makes a little over a litre and lasts in the fridge for around 2 weeks.

Chocolate Peppermint Coquito

1 can coconut milk
100g dark chocolate (I used Lindt 85%)
1 can sweetened condensed milk
1 can coconut cream
2 cups rum (I used Havana Club Anejo)
1/4 - 1/2 tsp peppermint extract
2 cinnamon sticks
2 tsp vanilla extract

In a small pot, add the coconut milk and roughly chopped dark chocolate and place over a low heat. Stir to melt the chocolate and form a ganache. When completely amalgamated, set aside to cool to room temperature.

When cool, place the coconut cream, sweetened condensed milk and rum in the blender, blend to combine. Add the chocolate ganache and vanilla extract. Blend well to combine. Add 1/4 teaspoon peppermint extract, mix then taste to see if it needs extra.

Pour into glass bottles with lids (like leftover rum bottles), add a cinnamon stick and pop in the fridge until it's really cold. Serve dusted with cinnamon if you'd like.

Relax, It's World Gin Day - Hendricks and Chamomile Cocktail

 

So apparently last weekend hosted World Gin Day! Now, I am a huge fan of gin, so I don’t need a specific reason to drink gin. Or cook with it. But especially drink it. By far, one of my favourite gins is Hendrick’s. It has such a unique, sweet cucumber and floral flavour that depending on how you mix it, is either subtle or strong. On  Tuesday, I went to another of The Classroom Bar’s Spirit Faculty events. Every month they feature an expert walking you through a spirit type and pair it with some awesome snackage. This one was all about the wonderful world of Hendricks. So much fun!

But for those of you who didn't go out and about for World Gin Day, then maybe you should give this cocktail a shot. This is a warm cocktail, using chamomile tea. Elegant and fun all at once. The recipe was adapted from the Treme Cookbook which also features the cold version of the same cocktail – and similarly, you can make this with chilled chamomile. The original used Earl Grey tea, but try as I might, I just don’t really like it much. I find the bergamot takes over too much and is overwhelmingly bitter

. Chamomile is a perfect floral companion to the Hendricks as it's one of it's botanicals. It's also naturally relaxing and caffeine free. Chuck on some jazz, whip up the cream and sit back and toast to World Gin Day.

Cucumber Simple Syrup

½ cup sugar
1 large cucumber

Peel the cucumber and blend it until it liquefies. Strain through a fine mesh sieve into a small saucepan. Add the sugar and bring to a slow boil, stirring here and there to dissolve the sugar. Simmer over a low heat for 5 minutes or so until it becomes a bit syrupy. Pour into a clean glass jar, cover and refrigerate to cool.

Hendricks and Chamomile

(adapted from Treme)

½ shot cucumber Simple Syrup (15-20mL)
2 shots Hendricks gin (60mL)
2 shots Chamomile tea (60mL)
100mL whipping cream
4 drops rosewater

Put the chamomile tea on to brew.

Whip the cream and rosewater together until soft peaks form.

Pour the Hendricks and cucumber syrup into a mug, stir. Add the hot chamomile tea and stir again. Top with whipped cream

Cake Club Baking - Lime and Black Pepper Chip Shortbread Cookies

At my brother’s work, they have a monthly ‘Cake Club’. A monthly morning tea where they take turn to bring in a few baked goods for everyone to share. Mike has been known to bring in some ‘weird’ treats – things that are delicious but have a bit of an unusual ingredient in them. He’s taken in the Mexican Hot Chocolate Snickerdoodles, Peanut Butter and Bacon Choc Chip Cookies – things like that. Since that’s what he’s known for, now he goes out of his way to provide the weird treats. With this in mind, I tried to come up with something both delicious and weird. Something that they’d probably never had before – and the combination of which would blow their minds.

And so I present Lime and Black Pepper Chip Shortbread Cookies. A tangy, salty, sweet, crunchy cookie that’s so confused, but so delicious. With citrusy chocolate drizzled on for good measure It’s like a chocolate margarita biscuit. Now, this cookie is not everyone’s cup o’ tea. But it’s definitely mine.

I spent the weekend baking with him and today his work will get some Snickerdoodles, some of my pumpkin muffins with candied bacon and this Lime and Black Pepper Shortbread. These really are best the day you make them, because you want them crisp and crunchy, but you can store them in an airtight container for up to a week.

For the biscuits:

(makes approx 30 mini muffin tray sized) 1 large bag Red Rock Deli Lime and Black Pepper Chips
5 tablespoons melted unsalted butter
1/4 cup all-purpose flour

¼ cup finely shredded coconut
1/3 cup sugar
Zest of one lime
A few grinds of black pepper

For the chocolate ganache drizzle:
50g dark chocolate, chopped
1 tsp tequila

2 tsp coconut cream
Zest 1 lime

Preheat oven to 170 degrees.

Pulse the chips in a food processor until it forms a fine crumb. Mix the chip crumbs with the flour, sugar, zest, pepper and coconut in a bowl, then mix in the melted butter. Press tablespoonsful into the base of a mini muffin tray. Compact with your fingers, or the back of a spoon.

Bake in the oven for 10-12 minutes, until golden brown. Leave to cool completely in the pans, then use a knife to run around the outside of each biscuit and carefully remove from the tray.

To make the drizzle, melt the chocolate in a glass bowl in the microwave in 30 second bursts until melted. Stir through the coconut cream, tequila and lime zest. Pour into a ziplock bag, cut the tip off and drizzle the chocolate ganache over the top of the cookies.
 

 

Grilled Crab with Gin and Pomegranate Sabayon - with Warm Pink Grapefruit, Zucchini and Buckwheat Salad

Sometimes I see trends in types of recipes that go through my foodporn news feeds and it makes me think, hmm, I’ve never tried that before. It’s such a common dish, or component of a dish and despite being quite adventurous in my cooking, it’s not something I’ve ever made. Or even contemplated making – like mac and cheese. Can you believe this last weekend was the first time I’d ever made béchamel sauce? As I was stirring the milk and it was magically thickening and turning into a delicious thick sauce in a way I’d never seen before, I was thinking about starting this blog. It was initially about trying new things and opening myself up to new cooking experiences, so that we didn’t eat the same dishes on rote. But although the flavours I mix together are often unique and different and new, my methods of cooking haven’t really evolved much.

I watched Julie and Julia on the weekend (with a large bowl of mac and cheese using aforementioned béchamel sauce to cope with all that delicious food on screen) and watching Julie debone a duck and going through the calf leg gelatin section of Julia Child’s cookbook made me determined to make a few more things requiring a different cooking technique to my usual. Whilst I don’t think I’ll ever buy a calf leg, or possibly even debone a duck, I will definitely try a few new things.

I wrote before about being scared of roasting a duck, and that experiment turning out deliciously well. And one of the other things I’ve never really attempted seriously before is sauces or custards with egg. Even making ice creams I try to avoid using custard based ones because cooking eggs like that scares me. I figure I’ll end up with scrambled eggs and ruin the whole thing. But I made a chocolate pavlova for Mothers’ Day and ended up with a whole bunch of egg yolks and decided it was the perfect time to make a pink grapefruit curd. Again, I enjoyed watching the magic of the yolks and grapefruit juice thicken and become creamy and turn from ingredients into an actual dish. So the next step was to make a sabayon sauce. Sabayon (or zabaglione) is a light and fluffy sauce, drink or dessert made using some form of alcohol and egg yolks as the main ingredients.

Things I’ve learnt in these two egg-based sauce dishes is that you need to be patient at first, slowly drizzling the hot liquid into the eggs and whisking first before putting it on the heat and whisking consistently at a brisk pace. But it’s definitely a trick worth trying, you really do feel there is a science behind cooking.

Given that it’s Autumn and the markets are full of pomegranates, this sabayon is pomegranate flavoured and paired with one of my favourite spirits – Gin. I again used the West Winds Sabre for it’s specific citrus notes, but if you can’t get your hands on it, substitute Bombay Sapphire. And like my last Gin dish, it uses crab meat. I had this frozen from our very successful crabbing trip in summer, but you can generally get your hands on crab or crab meat at most supermarkets. There’s something about gin and crab that just *work*, you know! I then put it under the grill to heat the crab and lightly toast the top of the sabayon. The end result is a toasty, airy, citrusy puff of rich sauce on top of the flaky crab meat. So. Good.

This was paired with a warm buckwheat salad. I think next time, I’d like to add a few plain salted tortilla chips as well, for a textural counterpoint.

Grilled Crab with Gin and Pomegranate Sabayon

2/3 cup West Winds Sabre Gin
4 tbsp pink grapefruit juice
2 pomegranates, seeded
2 egg yolks
1/4 cup olive oil
Salt to taste
300g cooked crab meat, picked over for cartilage and shell

Seed the pomegranates and reserve ¼ of the arils for the salad. Put the gin, grapefruit juice and pomegranate seeds into a small saucepan and simmer until the liquid has reduced to about ¼ of a cup.

Line a baking tray with paper and divide the crab meat into 4. Tightly pack with your hands into patties and set aside until sauce is ready.

Once the gin mixture has reduced, strain through a fine sieve into a glass bowl that you can set above simmering water. Set a small saucepan of water to simmer. Add the egg yolks to the reduced gin and whisk briskly for a few minutes to fully incorporate, then place over the simmering water. Whisk constantly and briskly until the sauce becomes light and fluffy, the colour will turn a pretty pale purple. It’ll take about 3 minutes. Remove from the heat and drizzle the olive oil into the mixture, whisking slowly for a few minutes until emulsified. Taste and season as needed. Set aside until salad is ready and you can grill the crab.

Spoon the mixture over the crab and place under a pre-heated grill for 2-3 minutes until toasted and brown.
 

Warm Pink Grapefruit, Zucchini and Buckwheat Salad

2/3 cup buckwheat
1 ½ cup water
½ tsp salt
Big pinch fresh black pepper
Olive oil
½ tsp mustard seeds
½ tsp cumin seeds
¼ tsp coriander seeds
1 clove garlic, minced
1 medium zucchini, diced
2/3 cup corn kernels
1 pink grapefruit, segmented and diced
1 tbsp tamari
2 silverbeet leaves, stripped and shredded
1 Avocado, sliced
Handful toasted almonds, roughly chopped
¼ of the pomegranate arils reserved from making the sabayon

Put the buckwheat, water, salt and pepper in a medium saucepan. Bring to the boil, then reduce to a simmer until the buckwheat is cooked, but still chewy, around 15 minutes. Fluff with a fork and set aside.

In a frypan, heat a splash of olive oil and fry the garlic until translucent. Add the cumin, mustard seeds and coriander seeds, stir well to coat in the oily garlic mix. Add the zucchini and corn kernels and cook for 5-10 minutes until the zucchini is soft. Take off the heat.

Stir through the cooked buckwheat, tamari, grapefruit pieces and silverbeet leaves.

Serve with sliced avocado, toasted almonds and the reserved pomegranate arils on top.

 Gently remove the crab with sabayon patties and serve alongside

 

TV Inspiration - Rye Buttermilk Punch

Over the last year or so, I’ve become more and more of a Rye Bourbon drinker. It started with drinking Manhattans and has sort of developed from there. So when Lance and I started watching the new season of Justified with all their bourbon drinking, I bought a bottle to enjoy alongside Raylan Givens. Add to that the half bottle of buttermilk I had leftover from making this honey and buttermilk bread and I had the idea for a cocktail brewing. 

Have you ever had a Brandy Milk Punch? It’s one of the official cocktails of New Orleans and is a sweetened milk-based cocktail, similar to an eggnog without the egg. It’s pretty delicious and deceptively potent. I thought I’d make a Kentucky inspired version with the distinctly Southern ingredients of Rye and Buttermilk. Add some maple syrup for sweetness and you have what was for me the perfect cocktail. I must say though, I am a huge fan of buttermilk. I don’t know many Australians who would drink buttermilk, it’s usually reserved for cooking with. But it is quite a sour, tangy drink as it is cultured. It’s like drinking thinner unsweetened Greek Yoghurt. Which I love. So I love buttermilk. So whilst I love this cocktail, my husband thinks it could do with some extra sweetening. He doesn’t really like yoghurt at all though. I’d love to hear your thoughts on it! Like the Brandy Milk Punch, it is deceptively potent. So, take it easy on them. Rye isn’t hugely common at bottleshops Perth. My pick is Hogs 3 Bourbon, available at most Dan Murphy’s and extremely reasonably priced. If you can’t find it, you can use your favourite bourbon.

 Rye Buttermilk Punch(makes 2 drinks)120mL rye bourbon (such as Hogs 3) (4 shot glasses)240mL buttermilk (8 shot glasses)60mL maple syrup (2 shot glasses)Icenutmeg In a large glass or jug, mix the rye, buttermilk and maple syrup together and whisk until frothy. Pour into old fashioned glasses filled with ice cubes. Dust with nutmeg and enjoy!

Veronica Mars(hmallow) Movie Snacks - Gingerbread Marshmallows, Pumpkin Maple Marshmallows and Rum & Raisin Marshmallows

After the success of my “Much Ado About Joss Whedon” movie afternoon, I decided to have another at-home cinema experience when the new Veronica Mars movie was released. Last time we arranged various couches upstairs to create a two level cinema that seated 6. This time we went bigger and moved more couches upstairs to create a 10-seat, 2 level couch cinema. I was pretty stoked with how it turned out! It made lugging furniture up and down stairs totally worth it! Obviously such an occasion also requires snacks. And there was a quote in the original tv series about Veronica being a marshmallow (which was then echoed in the movie’s kickstarter package, and the movie)…so what a perfect excuse to experiment with making marshmallows.

 
Gelatin is something that has always freaked me out. Most of my cooking is in a pinch of this, dash of that sort of style, and from what I gathered, you can’t do that with gelatin. It’s much more scientific than that in order for it to set. So it was with trepidation I approached marshmallow making. I looked up a whole bunch of recipes for marshmallows before cutting and pasting the common elements together and working out that it’s actually super, super easy. The only thing you do need is to have a candy thermometer to ensure you get the sugar part to the right temperature. And a standmixer. I made the first batch gingerbread flavoured, because, well, I like gingerbread. That turned out so easy that I immediately cleaned out my bowls and made two more batches. Pumpkin maple (with candied bacon) and rum and raisin. These were in honour of the fact that the screening day was also my brother’s birthday and he enjoys all of those things.

The basic idea of making marshmallows also makes it really easy to adapt the flavours. Take cold liquid of pretty much any description (alcohol will require more experimentation as that affects the gelatin) and add powdered gelatin. Boil sugar, water and a liquid sugar to 130C. Pour together and blend until really fluffy, try to spread it out without covering yourself and the kitchen in marshmallowy goo. Then throw icing sugar all over your entire kitchen dusting them! If you try any new and exciting flavours, let me know!

But this is an awesome and easy sweet and non-chocolate Easter treat to gift. Or if you want a chocolate-y Easter treat to gift, maybe my Bacon Bark or the chocolate Salami I made for Easter last year?

 

 

Gingerbread Marshmallows
Liquid Mix
½ cup water
1 ½ tsp ground ginger
1 ½ tsp ground cinnamon
1 clove
pinch nutmeg
23g gelatin

Sugar Mix

1 ½ cups brown sugar
150mL golden syrup
½ cup water
¼ tsp salt

Dusting powder mix

(enough for all marshmallows)
1 cup icing sugar
½ cup corn flour

Chopped candied ginger for decorating

Add the spices and to ½ cup of hot water and leave aside to steep until it’s completely cold. Remove the clove.

Line a lamington tray or baking dish with baking paper or cling film. Make it big enough to overhang on all sides. Spray with oil to prevent sticking.

In your standmixer bowl, put the cold spice liquid and sprinkle the gelatin over the top. Leave to stand.

In a medium saucepan with tallish sides to cope with the bubbling, combine the golden syrup, salt, sugar and ½ cup of water. Cook over a medium heat and stir gently to dissolve the sugar. Raise the heat and boil until it reaches 130C on your candy thermometer. Keep it moving by swirling the handle, but don’t stir. When it reaches 130C, remove from the heat.

Attach the whisk to your standmixer and turn on low, mix the gelatin mixture for 1 minute, then turn the mixer up a bit faster and slowly drizzle the hot sugar mix down the side of the bowl with the mixer still going. Don’t let it touch the whisk. Increase the speed to medium/high and leave it to whisk until the mixture is pale and fluffy and looks like really sticky meringue. This will take at least 5 minutes. As it whisks, it’ll have bubblegum looking strands pull away.

Pour the mix into the lined pan and use a spatula to smooth the top. I sprayed oil on the spatula to help it not stick. Sprinkle candied ginger on top, then dust with the dusting mix generously on top. Set aside to set, it’ll take around 4 hours.

In a baking try, dust a layer of dusting mix, invert the tray and tip out the marshmallow onto it. Cut up the marshmallows and dust all exposed sides. Shake off the excess and store in airtight containers in a cool dark place. Should last around 3 weeks. If you live in a humid area (such as Perth where it’s April and still 35C), store in the fridge.

Pumpkin and Maple

Liquid Mix
½ cup pureed pumpkin
2 tbsp water
½ tsp ground cinnamon
pinch nutmeg
23g gelatin

Sugar Mix

1 cup white sugar
½ cup dark brown sugar
150mL maple syrup
½ cup water

Dusting mix

3 rashers bacon
1 tbsp maple syrup

Finely dice the bacon then fry until crispy in a pan. Pour off excess oil, then add a tbsp maple syrup and cook for a further 3 minutes. Set aside to cool, spreading out on a plate to prevent it from sticking too much.

Line a lamington tray or baking dish with baking paper or cling film. Make it big enough to overhang on all sides. Spray with oil to prevent sticking.

In your standmixer bowl, put the pumpkin puree, 2 tbsp water and spices. Using the whisk attachment, blend for 1 minute until well combined. Sprinkle the gelatin over the top. Leave to stand.

In a medium saucepan with tallish sides to cope with the bubbling, combine the maple syrup, sugars and ½ cup of water. Cook over a medium heat and stir gently to dissolve the sugar. Raise the heat and boil until it reaches 130C on your candy thermometer. Keep it moving by swirling the handle, but don’t stir. When it reaches 130C, remove from the heat.

Attach the whisk to your standmixer and turn on low, mix the gelatin mixture for 1 minute, then turn the mixer up a bit faster and slowly drizzle the hot sugar mix down the side of the bowl with the mixer still going. Don’t let it touch the whisk. Increase the speed to medium/high and leave it to whisk until the mixture is pale and fluffy and looks like really sticky meringue. This will take at least 5 minutes. As it whisks, it’ll have bubblegum looking strands pull away.

Pour the mix into the lined pan and use a spatula to smooth the top. I sprayed oil on the spatula to help it not stick. Sprinkle candied bacon on top, then dust with the dusting mix generously on top. Set aside to set, it’ll take around 4 hours.

In a baking try, dust a layer of dusting mix, invert the tray and tip out the marshmallow onto it. Cut up the marshmallows and dust all exposed sides. Shake off the excess and store in airtight containers in a cool dark place. Should last around 3 weeks. If you live in a humid area (such as Perth where it’s April and still 35C), store in the fridge.

 

Rum and Raisin Marshmallows

Liquid Mix
½ cup water
2 tsp rum essence
1/3 cup raisins
23g gelatin

Sugar Mix

1 ½ cups white sugar
150mL golden syrup
½ cup water

Dusting powder mix

Add the sultanas and rum essence to ½ cup of hot water and leave aside to steep until it’s completely cold. Puree until a combined raisin moosh.

Line a lamington tray or baking dish with baking paper or cling film. Make it big enough to overhang on all sides. Spray with oil to prevent sticking.

In your standmixer bowl, put the cold raisin liquid and sprinkle the gelatin over the top. Leave to stand.

In a medium saucepan with tallish sides to cope with the bubbling, combine the golden syrup, salt, sugar and ½ cup of water. Cook over a medium heat and stir gently to dissolve the sugar. Raise the heat and boil until it reaches 130C on your candy thermometer. Keep it moving by swirling the handle, but don’t stir. When it reaches 130C, remove from the heat.

Attach the whisk to your standmixer and turn on low, mix the gelatin mixture for 1 minute, then turn the mixer up a bit faster and slowly drizzle the hot sugar mix down the side of the bowl with the mixer still going. Don’t let it touch the whisk. Increase the speed to medium/high and leave it to whisk until the mixture is pale and fluffy and looks like really sticky meringue. This will take at least 5 minutes. As it whisks, it’ll have bubblegum looking strands pull away.

Pour the mix into the lined pan and use a spatula to smooth the top. I sprayed oil on the spatula to help it not stick. Sprinkle candied ginger on top, then dust with the dusting mix generously on top. Set aside to set, it’ll take around 4 hours.

In a baking try, dust a layer of dusting mix, invert the tray and tip out the marshmallow onto it. Cut up the marshmallows and dust all exposed sides. Shake off the excess and store in airtight containers in a cool dark place. Should last around 3 weeks. If you live in a humid area (such as Perth where it’s April and still 35C), store in the fridge.