With small translucent seeds pomegranate crowns Autumn in a juicy pink.




Pomegranate, almond and pistachio Financiers

Makes 10:

45 g wheat flour
2 g baking powder
100 g sugar
35 g almonds, grinded
20 g pistachio, grinded
100 g egg whites
60 g butter
Fleur de Sel
Pomegranate seeds

Bring the butter to boil on low heat until golden.
Set aside.
Combine well all dry ingredients.
Add slowly the tempered (30ºC) egg whites.
Gently fold in the tempered (30ºC) butter.
Refrigerate for 1 hour.
Pre-heat the oven to 200ºC.
Grease and flour 10 small moulds.
Pour the dough into the moulds and add some pomegranate seeds.
Bake for 10 minutes (depending on mould size).
Unmould.
Decorate with pistachio and pomegranate seeds.

Labels: almonds, pistachio, pomegranate, recipes. financiers

For an exquisite taste...




Pumpkin and chèvre pies

Makes 4:
500 g pumpkin, pureed
3 eggs
120 g chèvre
100 g fresh bread crumbs
100 g self-rising flour
120 g sugar
125 ml spice scented whole milk (cinnamon, cardamom, vanilla, nutmeg,...)

Pre-heat the oven to 190ºC.
Grease 4 pans (12cms diameter).
Mix together for 10 minutes the pumpkin puree, the eggs, the chèvre, bread crumbs and milk.
Add the flour and combine well.
Bake for 50 minutes.
Top with the syrup.


Syrup:
"Panela" sugar

In low heat melt the panela with a little bit of water.


Pumpkin purée:
Pumpkin
Sugar

Purée the pumpkin and sweeten as desired.

Tuiles

150 g sugar
62,5g wheat flour
2 eggs
150 g nuts, grinded

Pre-heat the oven to 180ºC.
Combine all the ingredients together.
Pour the mixture over a silpat with the desired ..
Bake for 5-10 minutes or until the edges are slightly golden brown.
Let them cool down to stiff.

Labels: chevre, desserts, pumpkin, recipes

IT RAINS!

It rains...

But what does it matter!,
if I am here sheltered by this door
listening to the rain that falls from the sky
a silent melody
that no one else listens to
but me?


It rains...

But it is the fate
of those who love
to hear a violin
even in the mud.

José Gomes Ferreira




Viennese lemon cookies

makes 12:

50 g icing sugar
125 g butter, softened
1 g salt
Zest of 1/4 lemon
20 g egg white
150 g wheat flour
Icing sugar to sprinkle

Combine well butter and sugar.
Add lemon zest and salt.
Mix with the egg whites and flour.
Pour the batter into a pastry bag with a star noozle.
Over a silpat or a lined baking sheet draw "W's" with 4 cms width.
Refrigerate for 1 hour (minimum).
Pre-heat the oven to 180ºC.
Bake for 8-10 minutes.
Sprinkle with icing sugar.

Labels: cookies, lemon, recipes

The sweet potato was still on the top of the shelf, in a so old and sweet loneliness that asked for commiseration.
She was looking at the kitchen with such a rawness that I was afraid that some resentment could become bitter...



Sweet potato cakes

Makes 10:

125 g sweet potato, baked and pureed
125 g light brown sugar
100 g cake flour, sieved
3 eggs

Pre-heat the oven to 180ºC.
Grease and lightly flour 10 small cake moulds (or a large one).
Combine well sugar with egg yolks.
Add the sweet potato puree and at last the flour.
Gently fold in the whipped egg whites.
Bake for 15-20 minutes.

Labels: cakes, recipes, sweet potato

Drama rolls itself... first came in the peach, in a tenor tone, declaiming sweet poems.
Then, like a soprano, came the raspberries in a sour sharpness that carries away all the orchestra.
Lovably, the libreto ends and the opera is touched by the promiss of an endless love.




Melba roll

Serves 12:

Cake layer:
4 eggs
100 g sugar
50 g cornstarch
100 g almonds, powdered
a pinch of salt
75 g butter, melted
Peach jam
Raspberry coulis
Fresh raspberries

Pre-heat the oven to 200ºC.
Grease and line with parchment paper a rectangular baking sheet (35x40 cm)
Whisk 1 egg, 3 egg yolks and sugar.
Add cornstarch, powdered almonds and at last the butter.
Gently fold in the egg whites whipped with the salt.
Pour the mixture into the baking sheet.
Bake for 10 minutes.

Unmould the roll and spread evenly the jam on top.
Using wax paper as an aid, roll up cake jelly roll–style, beginning with a long side. Carefully transfer, seam side down, to platter, using wax paper to help slide cake.
Decorate with the raspberry coulis and fresh raspberries.


Raspberry coulis:
70 g raspberries
5 g icing sugar

Place the raspberries and icing sugar into a food processor or blender and blend to a puree.
Pass the puree through a sieve into a bowl.
Refrigerate until required.


Peach jam:
1 kg peaches (peeled and sliced)
800 g sugar
15 g pectin (hydrated)

Bring the sugar to boil with a bit of water
Add the peaches and pectin.
Continue to boil mixture and stir frequently until desired thickness.
To test whether the jam is ready, place a cold metal spoon in the mixture and tilt. The jam should form a single stream.

Quickly pour hot mixture into hot, sterilized jars, leaving 1 cm headspace; wipe jar rims. Cover at once with metal lids, and screw on bands. Process jars in boiling-water bath 10 minutes.

Labels: peach, raspberry, recipes

"They cannot know nor dream
How much dreams command life,
How, when a man dreams,
The world leaps and bounds,
Like a brightly coloured ball
Between a child’s small hands."

António Gedeão, Pedra Filosofal in Movimento Perpétuo, 1956




Indian milk candy

To 130 g (13 small 10g balls):

500 ml whole milk
57 g sugar
10 g butter
Cinnamon and curry

Bring the milk to boil strring constantly to thicken (as a soft dough); approximately 20 minutes.
Add sugar and butter and keep stirring while cooking in low heat until you can create a ditch in the bottom of the pan when you run the spoon through the center of the mixture.
Put the mixture into a plate and allow it to cool down.
Roll 1 teaspoon of mixture into small balls (grease your hands with butter before making the balls).
Roll the small balls in a 2 cinnamon:1 curry mixture.
Place balls in small paper cases and the on a serving plate.

Labels: cinnamon, curry, india, milk, recipes

...and sugar for my honey...



Corn and honey pancakes

Makes 12:

170 g wheat flour
15 g baking powder
35 g sugar
200 g sweet corn, baked
250 ml whole milk
30 g butter
2 eggs

Make a puree with half of the corn, stain and set aside.
Mix together the flour with sugar and eggs.
Add milk, the corn puree and the remaining corn.

Cook on a hot, greased griddle.
Cook until brown on one side and around edge; turn and brown the other side.
Serve with honey.

Labels: corn, honey, pancake, recipes

I rewrite the story...
I dare to get rid of the Wicked Witch and give the day off to the seven dwarfs...
I take the poisoned apple and turn it into a fairy cake...
The "lived happily for ever" still exist, even before the ending...
Light kisses, dream glass case...




Mashed apples and vanilla cake

Makes 3 little cakes:

125 g butter, melted
125 g light brown sugar
4 eggs
125 g cake flour, sieved.
3 apples
1/2 vanilla bean
5 tpsp sugar


Pre-heat the oven to 180ºC.
Grease and line with parchment paper small cake pans (12 cms diameter).
Mix together sugar and butter.
Add the egg yolks, one at a time, and then the whisked egg whites.
Add the flour.

Bring 2 apples to boil with sugar and vanilla until cooked.
Mash.
Peel and slice the remaining apple in thin slices.

Pour half of the batter into the pans.
Pour the mashed apples mixture.
Finish with the remaining batter.
Top with the apple slices.

Bake for 30-35 minutes.

Labels: apple, cakes, recipes, vanilla

When I've started "flagrante delícia" I had no idea about all this things worked and I didn't realize immediately the extreme importance of pictures in a world where we also "eat with the eyes".

Later I was forced to do some work on my blog and some of the first posts were left in "stand-by" waiting for the light that could make them live again.

So I go back to flagrantedelicia's first recipe and recover the black and white film from my premiere:
- Lights, camera, action!... here we go for the mousse remake!




Dark chocolate mousse

Serves 4:

170 g. 70% dark chocolate ( Valrhona, Green & Black's, Lindt…)
80 ml cream
1 egg yolk
4 egg whites
20 g. de caster sugar


Melt the chocolate in a bain-marie.
Bring the cream to boil and set aside.
Remove chocolate from the bain-marie and add the cream stirring constantly until smooth.
Fold in the egg yolk and stir.
Whisk the egg whites until firm peaks form and add the sugar slowly.
When the chocolate is at 40ºC, gently fold in 1/3 of the egg whites with a tongue.
Fold in the remaining egg whites.
Refrigerate at least for one hour.
(It's very importante to use 70% chocolate).


White chocolate mousse

Serves 4:

67,5 ml + 500 ml cream
67,5 ml milk
25 g sugar
300 g white chocolate, finely chopped
3 egg yolks
1,5 gelatin sheets

Bring the 67,5 g. of cream to boil with milk and sugar.
Pour this mixture into the egg yolks stirring constantly.
Bring this mixture to 85ºC in a bain-marie, strirring constantly.
Let it cool down until 25ºC.
Melt the chocolate in a bain-marie.
Add the chocolate and gelatin (previously hydrated).
Stir well.
Whip the remaining cream (firm but not stiff).
Gently fold in 1/3 of the cream and then the remaining cream.
Refrigerate.

To combine together both mousses, use immediately.
Decorate with white rose's petals and a chocolate drop.

Labels: chocolate, mousse, recipes, white chocolate

I shuffle the cards and distribute them but I keep an ace in the hole to the weekend's gambling!...
… Winning is my game! ;)




Mango Lassi

Makes 500 ml:

260 g de ripe mango
100 g yoghurt
20 ml cream
100 g ice
30 ml honey

In a blender, mix all the ingredients together.
To create a sugar-rimmed glass, rub the drinking surface of the glass with corn syrup so it is barely moist. Dip the edge of the glass into sugar.

Labels: drinks, lassi, mango, receitas, youghurt

A couple of weeks ago Rita Palita challenged me creat a recipe with cottage cheese.
I immediately bought it but in the meanwhile I went to Portugal I couldn't make it on time.
As better late than never and the cottage chees was still waiting for me in the refrigerator I've decided today to create my recipe and contribute to such an original idea!





The fox and the grapes

A fox, almost with hunger dying,
Some grapes on a trellis spying,
To all appearance ripe, clad in
Their tempting russet skin,
Most gladly would have eat them;
But since he could not get them,
So far above his reach the vine—
"They're sour," he said; "such grapes as these,
The dogs may eat them if they please!"
Did he not better than to whine?

La Fontaine fable based on Aesop: Phaedrus, 4. 3.





Cottage tart with pink grapes

Makes 4:

Crust:
100 g sweet plain biscuits
20 g oatmeal
25 g butter, melted

Grind the biscuits and the oatmeal.
Combine with butter.
Press this mixture into the bottom of 12 cms pie pans.
Refrigerate.

Filling:
400 g cottage cheese
100 g sugar
40 g cake flour
zest of 1 lemon
Vanilla
4 egg whites

Pre-heat the oven to 180ºC.
Mash the cheese.
Combine the cheese with the flour and lemon zest.
Whisk the egg whites until firm peaks form and add sugar.
Gently fold the meringue into the previous mixture.
Pour the mixture into the pie pans.
Bake for 30 minutes.
Let it cool down before unmould.

Grape jelly

160 g seedless pink grapes, in halves
80 g sugar
10 ml lemon juice

Bring water and sugar to boil until it reaches 115ºC.
Add the grapes and lemon juice.
Sieve.
Add a gelatin sheet (previously hydrated) for each 125 ml of jelly.

Decorate with grapes and brush the top with jelly.

Labels: cottage cheese, grapes, recipes

I'm not a big fan of baked apples but today I'll make an exception...




Baked apples with mascarpone, Port wine, honey and hazelnuts

4 Egremont Russet apples
1 tbsp Port wine
200 g mascarpone
20 g honey
50 g chopped hazelnuts
Cinnamon and star anise

Pre-heat the oven to 180ºC.
Mix together wine, mascarpone, cinnamon and star anise.
Peel the apple and cut in thick slices.
In a baking dish put the apple slices with the mascarpone mixture between them.
Top with the remaining mixture and honey.
Sprinkle with the hazelnuts.
Bake for 30-40 minutes.

Labels: apple, hazelnuts, honey, mascarpone, port wine, recipes, star anise

After two broken knives and an injured rolling pin I couldn't find any solutions... Why does the coconut refuses breaking itself apart?!...
I've almost felt sorry for my kitchen tiles and with a big laughter I threw it violently against the floor... it was fatal... the coconut cracked up laughing... :)





Coconut lemon cake

2 dl milk
60 g coconut, grated
100 g butter
5 eggs
200 g sugar
Zest of one lemon and 50 ml lemon juice
200 g cake flour

Pre-heat the oven to 180ºC.
Grease a cake pan (24 cms diameter).
Bring the milk to boil adding the coconut and the diced butter.
Set aside.
Whisk the egg yolks with 100g of sugar and the lemon zest until creamy.
Ad the milk and mix well.
Gently fold in the flour.
Whisk the egg whites until firm peaks form, add the lemon juice and the remaining sugar. Keep whisking to thicken the mixture.
Gently fold in the egg whites into the dough.
Bake for 50 minutes.
Brush the cake with lemon jelly.
I've sprinkled the top with freshly grated coconut.

* if you use small pans (12 cms diameter) it bakes in only 15 minutes.

Labels: cakes, coconut, lemon, recipes

Milk bread

Makes 20:
500 g all-purpose flour
1 egg
10 g salt
50 g sugar
20 g fresh yeast
200 ml warm milk
125 g butter, softened


In the mixer, combine all the ingredients (except butter) together with the dough hook attachment and the yeast dissolved in the milk.
Mix for 10 minutes at medium speed.
Slowly fold in the butter.
Place the dough into a bowl covered with a cloth or wrap film, in a tempered place (24ºC) for 1 hour or until it doubles its size.
Fold gently.
Place egg-sized dough balls into a greased baking sheet leaving 2 cms between them.
Brush with egg yolk dissolved in water.
Let it rest again, in a tempered place, for 30 minutes.
Pre-heat the oven to 200ºC.
Brush agains with the egg mixture, sprinkle with sugar and make a cross shaped cut on top of each bread.
Bake for 15 minutes.
Let them cool down over a rack.

Labels: bread, milk

In the middle of so many trips I frequently feel like an expat... I don't know for sure where my home is... if it is the one I left behind or the one where I arrive now after 10 runny days with family...

Nostalgia makes my heart unsteady, emotions mix together with time and I feel that I have a time bomb inside me ever ready to explode.

Time is never enough for all the moments I have on my mind and becomes even tightier when I let myself be fooled by the present.

Anyway I bring with me a magazine (Visão Estilo+Design) on my luggage to drool over my blog name at a click's distance!

I badly can't wait to organize my space again and start working hard!
Tomorrow's another day!

Labels: journal, magazines

In the next few days I'll be at Oporto...
To celebrate, I dress my blog in orange!!!... Stay alert! ;)




Orange cake

125 g de yoghurt
120 g olive oil
180 g self- rising flour
180 g sugar
2 egg yolks
50 ml orange juice
Zest of half orange.

Pre heat the oven to 180ºC.
Grease a rectangular pan and line with parchment paper.
In a bowl combine all the ingredients and mix well.

Meringue:
2 egg whites
60 g sugar

Whisk the egg whites and add sugar gradually while whisking, until stiff peaks form.
Gently mix the meringue into the batter.

Bake for 20-30 minutes.

Labels: cakes, orange, recipes