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Orange Creme Caramel

21|04|2014

Peeking through my cold frosted window every morning, hoping to get a glimpse of the sun, I am coming to embrace the changes of the season. The sun is late in rising and so are we. Perhaps that is a convenient way for me to interpret the changes that come about with cold weather. Sleep is so dear and so welcome. Or is it Citrus that makes it obvious. Citrus fruits are everywhere and the only excuse for not using them in a recipe is probably eating them as they are. Maybe not lemon and lime. My new way of enjoying them are squeezing the juice into tea. But Oranges..there are more dishes to try on my wish list than I could fit into one season.

Crème Caramel, a dessert that I can associate with my growing up years. When tortes, tarts or for that matter even mousse was not that popular where I lived. It was served in smaller individual portions and I liked it that way. But today, convenience takes precedence over anything else and a single round pan works great for me. It has the charm of a after-dinner centrepiece much like a cake without a lot of effort.

There are many flavour variations of this dessert out there and a few different recipes too. I have tried out a few and I find that a combination of eggs and egg yolks yields a fabulous texture. Smooth, creamy but enough to hold shape and can be easily sliced into portions.

Orange Crème Caramel (adapted with variation from Coles recipes)
Serves 6

3/4 cup castor sugar (for the caramel)
1/4 cup water
1 cup milk
300 ml heavy or thickened cream
2 tsp orange zest
1/4 cup castor sugar (for the custard)
3 eggs
3 egg yolks
1 orange, sliced into small wedges
1/2 cup strawberries, hulled and sliced

Preheat oven to 160 degrees C. Place sugar in a medium saucepan with 1/4 cup water. Stir over low heat, without boiling, until sugar has dissolved. Increase heat slightly and bring to the boil. Cook, without stirring, for about 7 mins, or until mixture is a deep golden-caramel colour. Use a wet pastry brush to brush away any crystals from the side of the pan.

Stand a 19 cm round cake tin in a baking dish, and pour the caramel over the base of the cake tin (take care as the tin will get hot). Set aside to cool completely.

Combine milk, cream and orange zest in a saucepan. Bring to the boil, then immediately turn off the heat. Stand for 5 mins.

Whisk extra sugar, eggs and yolks until combined. Pour milk mixture onto egg mixture, stirring constantly. Strain the custard into cake tin over the caramel. Pour hot water around the tin to come halfway up the sides. Bake for 50 mins to an hour, or until set. Cool completely, then refrigerate overnight. Turn out onto a serving plate and cut into wedges. Serve with fresh oranges and strawberries

Spiced Orange Almond Cake

18|12|2013

I’ve been wanting to make an Orange cake this month. Though Orange is not our seasonal best at the moment, it is still abundantly available. All throughout my growing up years in India I have associated Oranges with colder months and though the seasons have been reversed now that I am in the southern hemisphere, I continue to have a soft spot for Oranges around this time. As far as my experience goes with Citrus cakes, they always taste delicious and appeal to most people. And they smell amazing too. Remember my Gluten Free Whole Orange Almond Mini Cakes…I’ve made it a number of times and I wanted to experiment with spice this time.

So I played around with a few recipes and came up with this one. I can rarely find myself baking a cake and not adding a nut meal to it. I find the texture so beautiful and nutty. But never rich. I also did not want a completely fudgy cake that would not work with my bundt pans. I made adjustments accordingly and the cake turned out just the way I wanted it to be. You can taste the orange, spices and the almonds that go so well together. Overall, it is a simple recipe with great results.

As you can see, I have used a thin glaze. I didn’t want to overload it with sweetness as it was great on its own. If you do not have the individual spices, you can replace with 1 teaspoon of all spice. This recipe makes a 8 inch bundt cake which is not too big (my cake did not reach the full height of the pan.). I wanted to test out the recipe on a smaller cake. You can double up the recipe for a 9 inch round cake.

In other random news, we will be beginning the new year in our new house. Some of you will remember that I had moved houses a while back. Well, a few things worked well..others did not. And then with children, priorities keep changing. So moving again! With bigger and more boxes. I don’t believe in 8 months I have acquired so much stuff (blame it on the blog). But I do look forward to moving right next to the harbour side. If you have visited Sydney, you would know that we have some very beautiful beaches and harbours. You know I’ve been meaning to share photographs with you but every time I intend to, I think twice. The blog has grown so much over the months and apart from my regular readers, there are a lot of people visiting the site in search of recipes who may not enjoy the additional content. I will probably figure out some other way.
I had a great time this weekend visiting a lavender farm nearby and spending the day with a wonderful elderly couple learning about different varieties of lavender and how they are grown. I hope to write about that once I develop a recipe around edible lavender.

And I had another feature on the Kitchn! So, you know why I am so critical of myself and my blog lately.

Spiced Orange Almond Cake
Makes a 8 inch bundt cake

For the Cake
125 ml (1/2 cup) freshly squeezed Orange juice
1 tbsp. finely grated orange zest
2/3 cup castor sugar
11/3 cup self-raising flour (11/3 cup plain flour + 1 tsp baking powder), sifted
1/2 tsp powdered ginger
1/2 tsp powdered nutmeg
1/4 tsp powdered cinnamon
11/2 cup almond meal (ground almonds)
2 medium eggs
60 g unsalted butter, melted

For the Glaze
1 cup icing sugar, sifted
2 tbsp. freshly squeezed orange juice

Preheat oven to 180 degrees C. Lightly grease a 8 inch bundt cake pan. Place the sifted flour, ginger, nutmeg, cinnamon together in a bowl and stir to mix. Keep aside.

In an electric mixer or with a hand mixer, beat the eggs and sugar till light and creamy. Fold in the flour mixture, ground almonds, orange juice, orange zest and melted butter until just combined and the mixture is smooth. Spoon the mixture into the prepared cake pan.

Bake for 30-40 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the centre of the cake comes out clean and edges turn golden brown. Leave in the pan for 15 minutes and then turn the cake onto a wire rack to cool completely. Once cooled, pour over the glaze all over the cake.

To make the glaze, in a small mixing bowl whisk the sugar and orange juice together till smooth.

Rhubarb Orange Ginger Jam

15|10|2013

There is something special about making things from scratch. Especially when they are simple, easily achievable and money-saving. Making Jam at home is an easy process as long as you keep in mind a few basic things.

The gelling agent that sets a jam/jelly is Pectin that is a naturally occurring carbohydrate found in fruits. The levels of pectin varies between fruits and therefore it is handy to know which fruits will give you a better consistency while making jam (without having to add an external gelling agent). Does that mean, you cannot use your favourite fruits to make jam or preserve if they are low in pectin? Not at all. In that case, you can combine low-level pectin fruits with a high level one to get the desired consistency. You can refer to this page to understand the levels of pectin in fruits.

This jam is not too sweet and the combination really works. Citrus peel is high in pectin and gives the jam just the right amount of citrusy flavour to balance the sweetness of the rhubarb. The peel along with Glace/Candied/Crystallised Ginger gives the jam a unique texture and bite. Ginger is my all time favourite ingredient and I just need an excuse to add it in my recipes. Rhubarb can vary in sweetness at different time so you will need to adjust the sweetness accordingly. Also, candied ginger is already sweetened so if you are skipping it, the sweetness might again need adjusting.

Rhubarb, Orange, Ginger Jam
Makes 1 jar

1 bunch rhubarb( approx 350 g), trimmed, cleaned and chopped into 2 cm pieces
1/2 cup freshly squeezed orange juice
Peel from 1 orange, thinly sliced
1/4 cup glace/candied/crystallised ginger, roughly chopped
200 g castor sugar

Combine the rhubarb, sugar, orange juice and orange peel in a large, wide heavy-based saucepan. Stir over medium-low heat until the sugar dissolves. Increase heat to high and bring to the boil. Reduce heat to medium, add the ginger and boil gently, stirring occasionally, for 15-20 minutes or until jam reaches setting point.

Remove the jam from the heat immediately and ladle into the preserving jars and seal. Set aside until cooled completely. Label, date and store in a cool, dark place.

Smoked Salmon Scotch Eggs with Orange Radicchio Salad

11|09|2013

If you love entertaining and look for recipes that are simple yet impressive, I’ve got just that for you today. Scotch eggs are great as a starter or a snack or even a side dish. Typically, a Scotch egg is a hard boiled egg encased in sausage meat mixture, crumbed and deep fried. Of course there are many variations that exist mainly in the type of casing that is used. Any kind of mince would work and the type of seasoning largely determines the flavours.

Tweaking the classic ingredients, I used Smoked Salmon to coat the egg and that gave the dish a delicate appeal. It barely took any time to get this ready but the reactions of the people at the table were worth noting. I served it with a orange radicchio salad to have some sweet, bitter tangy flavours on the plate. You can serve it with with any salad of your choice or a simple lemon aioli (lemon infused mayonnaise). I enjoyed plating up this dish as the colours look lovely together. However, I just managed a few photographs with guests waiting at the table.

I have been very busy lately. And I apologise for being a bit late in visiting my blogger friends. Most of the times I click through the links but unable to complete reading the full post and make a mental note to go back. And then the backlog just builds up. Along with the number of incomplete drafts in my folders. At times I wish there were more hours to a day. No..not really…then I might have not made it to the bed at all and slept off at my desk.
The good news is that its Spring at last and it’s showing. Everywhere.! I love Spring and what it does to the world!

Smoked Salmon Scotch Eggs with Orange Radicchio Salad

Smoked Salmon Scotch Eggs

4 hard boiled eggs
100 g smoked salmon, roughly chopped
2 medium potatoes, boiled and mashed
1 clove garlic
1/2 onion roughly chopped
1 tsp mixed dried herbs (or freshly chopped)
1/2 cup plain flour for dredging
1 large egg lightly beaten
1/2 cup breadcrumbs (I used ordinary breadcrumbs as I ran out of Panko. If available, I prefer using Panko breadcrumbs)
salt and pepper for seasoning
Vegetable oil for deep frying

Place the smoked salmon, garlic, onion and mixed herbs into a food processor and pulse briefly to combine. Transfer the mixture into a bowl and mix with the mashed potatoes. Season with salt and black pepper, mixing well to combine.
Divide the mixture into four, mould one portion around a boiled egg and roll it into a circle. Repeat with the remaining mixture and boiled eggs. Dredge the salmon-wrapped eggs in flour, then dip quickly into the beaten egg to coat. Spread the breadcrumbs out on a plate and roll the wrapped eggs in the breadcrumbs. Repeat the process, dipping each wrapped egg again into the beaten egg and breadcrumbs until thoroughly coated.
Heat vegetable oil in a heavy bottomed pan or wok. Carefully place the eggs into the hot oil, a few at a time, and deep-fry for 2-3 minutes, or until golden-brown and crisp on the outside. Remove from the oil with a slotted spoon and drain on kitchen paper.

Orange Radicchio Salad

2 Navel Oranges peeled and segmented
A few leaves of radicchio, coarsely torn
A handful rocket leaves
2-3 thinly sliced smoked salmon, coarsely chopped
1 tsp honey
1 tbsp lemon juice
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

Place the first 4 ingrdients together in a large bowl. Mix the remaining ingredients together to make the dressing. Pour onto the bowl just before serving. Toss to combine.

To plate: Place a scotch egg in the centre of the plate. Arrange the salad around the scotch egg horizontally. Drizzle with a bit of extra virgin olive oil and sprinkle with cracked pepper.