Foodblogswap october: rosebud syrup

This month for the foodblogswap October I was chosen to make a recipe from the blog: gewoon lekker gewoon (normaljustnormal). The blog belongs to Gerry who likes to eat, but don't make haute-cuisine but normal food. When I read I had to make a recipe from her blog I had to take a peek and then I found a recipe of rosebud syrup. I looked outside to my rosebushes. This couldn't be coincidence, all full of rose buds.
And thereby it's a fact I love old-fashioned rosebud syrup. My grandmother used to have it when I came over. With lots of vitamins. That brings back good memories.

So I got in action. Harvest the rose buds, cook, sieve, it got a bit messy and add water and sugar. And then poor it into bottles. Cool it down and taste. It took a lot of time to get it cold enough, but my syrup gots to be very cold otherwise I don't like it.

But after one hour I could taste and.. it tasted just as with my granny. Wow. Thanks Gerry for the idea and the recipe (that I just changed a little).

Ingredients:
- rosebuds;
- sugar (500 grams / liter syrup).

Preparation:
Harvest the rosebuds, wash them carefully. Lay them in a pan and poor in water that becomes 3 cm higher than the rosebuds for one night. In the morning bring it to a boil and let it simmer for about 10 minutes. Poor the mixture in a blender and blend it very smooth. Poor it to a sieve with cheesecloth in it and get as much juice out of it as possible. Measure and add for every liter of syrup 500 grams of sugar. Bring to a boil again and let it simmer for another 10 minutes. Poor in clean, sterilized bottles.

That's for now, I'm going to drink another glass and enjoy!

4Pure: rose bud syrup

Ffwd: muenster cheese souffles

On Friday I made this dish, but hadn't blog it yet. Our French Fridays with Dorie recipe today was a muenster cheese soufflé.
As you might know soufflés are tricky. Why, because sometimes in the oven you got a great soufflé all risen and looking really fluffy. And when you get them out, because of the cold air, they just collapse.
I am aware of this so I took good care of reading the instructions very well. I had just a slight problem. My forms were a bit to big. So my soufflé came all fluffy out of the oven, but you can't see top of it above. The whole soufflé is hidden in the form.
Does that mind for the picture? Off course! Does it mind for the taste? No way. This was really a great treat.

If you want to know what the others made of it (and see there beautiful well done pictures) look at:
french fridays with dorie.

For my end result:

4Pure: Cheese soufflé

4Pure4kids: chocoroll

Starting from today I'm going to present to you a new series on Thursday called: 4Pure4kids. Why? Because children love to cook. And they learn a lot from it to. And as a positive point for me, they choose recipes that I normally won't and so I've get inspired by them.
So I told my boys to look for recipes and it was real fun to see them taking care of there task. Oldest one reads all the recipes and the youngest is looking at all the pictures!

This recipe is chosen by my eldest and he thought this was a great recipe to start with: the chocoroll. He found it in a book from a supermarket around here: the Albert Heijn called toffe toetjes (super desserts).
We adapted the recipe a little.
Because I'm a chocoholic I thought the idea of a chocoroll sounded great. And for the end result it was a bright and colourful dessert and my son was really proud of his work.
So if you want to make a nice dessert for kids by kids: this is a nice one.

Ingredients

• 100 gram flour;
• pinch salt;
• 2 dl milk;
• 2 eggs;
• 1 1/2 tablespoon butter;
• 100 gram white choco paste;
• 3 cans of M&Ms;
• 100 grams Nutella.

Preperation:

Put the flour in a bowl and add the salt. Mix it together. Add the milk and take a whisk and mix very well, so you don't get lumps. Add the eggs, one at a time and continue to mix.

Put a little bit of butter in a frying pan and when it's melted add 1/6 of the batter. Immediately start to turn your pan, so the batter evens around the bottom of the pan. Repeat this and make 6 crepes.

Now for the composition. Lay down 3 crepes, where you put the next crepe on the first one by 1/3 and the third crepe on the second one (also about 1/3 overlay).

Spoon the white chocolate paste on top and smear it on the crepes. Scatter the M&Ms on top of the white chocolate paste. Put the next 3 crepes, the same way as the first three, on top of the M&M's. Smear the top of the crepes with Nutella. Roll the crepes and cut into six pieces. 

4Pure: chocoroll with Marc

Tuesdays with Dorie: Danish bread

At the TWD group we made Danish bread. I knew Danish bread, but only in 1 person loaves. This was  a loaf that was made for a dozen of people. We made our dough, which contained multiple layers butter with flour. And our cream. There was also a recipe in the book for the fruit jam. That's the one I didn't make as Dorie prescribed it. As you could see on my facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/4pure), I made a lot of jams this fall. And I also made a plum vanilla version. That's what I used in my Danish Bread.

As for the end result. The dough was tasty as was the filling. A nice bread, when it's eaten warm. Cold its also nice, but it's better when it's warm..
And that is a small minor. It was a large bread and so we couldn't eat it warm all the way.
So when I make them again, I make half and one person portions. So we can eat all of them warm.

If you want to know what the other think of it, look at: http://tuesdayswithdorie.wordpress.com/2013/10/14/lyl-danish-braid/

I thought it looked fabulous with the folding and sugar on top:

4Pure: Danish Bread

FFwD: Boeuf a la mode

It's Friday and so it's time for another recipe from French Fridays with Dorie. This time it's Boeuf a la mode, and it's well on time. In a few days we have got Fall weather all over us, and this is a feel good in cold weather recipe.
It's a roast, which has been marinated all night. After that it has been flavoured and baked with vegetables, cognac, tomato puree, wine and beef stock.

And then you've got something amazing. The roast was moist, the taste gots lot of flavour, yes this is a great roast recipe. You've only got to have some patients before you can try it.

We don't share the recipes in this group, but I've found a link to the recipe if you want to try it out sometimes. And if you really like it: buy the book! There are more great recipes in here!
For the link: link recipe boeuf a la mode.

And not only did it taste great, it looked great!

4Pure: Boeuf a la mode

Fruit syrup

There is a lot to do in the garden right now. I'm harvesting, cleaning and the gardens have to get winter ready. And last but not least, the harvest must be consumed or preserved. Today in the meadow there were lots of raspberries. They only last for about 1 day. So the raspberries that weren't eaten on instant, had to be preserved. And after the bunch of jams, I made fruit syrups today.
Without artificial ingredients for conservation, taste or colour.
And the conclusion it isn't necessary either.

The test team tasted the syrup and they found them to be super tasteful. And I've seen that there were a  lot of yellow raspberries still on the bush. So that should make a special fruit syrup.
But that will go on later this week. When you harvest but don't have enough yield for that day to make a syrup, just wash and freeze the fruit until you've got enough. This recipe works very well with frozen fruit.

A good recipe for the making of the fruit syrup goes like this:

Ingredients:

• Soft fruit (raspberries, strawberries, blackberries and currants);
• Sugar;
• Sterilised bottles (cook bottles for 15 minutes in boiling water (include the lids).

Preparation:
Wash the fruit very well and look for irregularities or spots. These spots shorten the shelf life of the syrup. Take a fork and mash the fruit as  good as you can. Put the fruit on low heat and warm until the fruit is about 50 degrees Celsius (don't let it boil). Place a towel in a colander and place it over a bowl. Poor the fruit in it and leave it for about one hour. Then take the corners of the towel and wrench the towel until you've got all the juice in the bowl. Measure the juice and add 90 grams of sugar for each 100 mL. The sugar is used for the sweetness of the syrup as well as for the conservation.
Poor everything back in a pan and warm again until it almost boils. Poor the syrup in the sterilized bottles en put the lid on top but don't fasten it. Let it slightly cool and fasten the lids.
Save the syrup in a cool place like the refrigerator. I always make fresh syrup and I put the remainder of the fruit in the fridge.

4Pure: fresh fruit syrup

Cooking classes at 4Pure: fall decorations

Finally it's fall. And just as our ingredients in our recipes change with the season, so are the decorations. What are those typicall fall decorations? Fruit from the physalis alkekengi, nuts, pears and apples. As an addition some colorful fall leaves and a lot of candles.

Of course the most important thing at the cooking classes is the food. But don't forget the being together, the laughters and small talk while cooking and the eating of the prepared food.

And I think part of that is how the food is presented and the table decorations. What do you think of the decorations in the picture, is it enough fall?

4Pure: tabledecoration fall

Chickensoup with cocosmilk

After a cooking class there are always leftovers in the refrigerator. And it is a total food waste to throw them away! Today there was a little bit of chicken and some puff pastry. So I made a spicy chicken soup with coconut milk. And the bits of puff pastry became pastry sticks with cheese. And that became our lunch and it felt really luxurious.

With turmeric and ginger, which gave a Asian swing to the soup, and are real nice spices for the body. Do you want to know how this was made?

Ingredients
- 2 cans coconut milk;
- 450 mL water;
- 2 cm fresh ginger;
- 4 tablespoons fish sauce;
- juice of one lemon;
- 1/4 teaspoon chili powder;
- 1/2 teaspoon turmeric;
- chicken leftover, cut in cubes of 1 x 1 cm.

Preparation
Poor the coconut milk and water in a pan and bring to a boil. Meanwhile mince the ginger. When the coconut boils add all the other ingredients. Cook the soup for about 15 minutes. Serve with spring onions (and maybe with a nice pastry stick with cheese).

4Pure: chicken soup with cocos milk

Lunch: pancakes

In Holland we normally eat bread for lunch. We are a country were a lot of bread is eaten. We also do have many different kind of breads. When I come in foreign countries it's a real difference with our country.
But what we also love is pannenkoeken. That's also a typical dutch product (and I will blog it anytime soon). We don't eat pancakes very often. If you translate pannenkoek from Dutch to English you could get the word pancakes, but don't make a mistake. It's quite something different.
So I had to look for the recipe for pancakes on the Internet, before I could make them. They are a lot thicker and smaller. And they are sweeter and got more saltiness in them. And baking powder, I don't use that in the Dutch recipe.
But they tasted great. I took my own home made jam and topped the pancakes with it. But I also liked them with nothing on top. And the children did like them too, so I'm going to make this more often.

The recipe I used (from Martha Stewart) goes like this:
Ingredients:

• 1 cup plain flour;
• 1/2 teaspoon salt;
• 1 tablespoon sugar;
• 2 tablespoons oil;
• 1 teaspoon baking powder;
• 1 cup of milk;
• 1 egg (L).

Preparation:

Combine in the first bowl the flour, salt, sugar and baking powder. Mix all the ingredients. In a second bowl poor the milk, egg and oil. Mix all of these ingredients as well.

Take the first bowl with solids and put this with the liquids. Mix everything with a whisk, but it don't have to be very smooth, a bit of lumps doesn't matter.

Take a bit of oil and brush a hot frying pan with the oil. Take about 2 to 3 tablespoons of batter and spoon this in the pan. With the back of a spoon, make a nice round. You can make about 3 pancakes in a frying pan at the same time. Wait until you see small bubbles and the batter fastens and turn the pancakes around. Wait another 2 minutes and the pancakes are ready. If you don't serve them right away or if you want to serve them all at once, you can keep them warm in an oven with a temperature of 100 degrees Celsius.

4Pure: pancakes

In the meadow: apple and pear harvest

At 4Pure, we got a great meadow with a few fruit trees. Among them are six apple varieties and one pear (a conference). Ofcourse there is a harvest in fall.
Because the weather is sunny and the apples and pears are ripe, last week we started the harvest of all of them.
My little one helped me a lot with that. He picked a few baskets of apples and pears. And afterwards he tasted them. The Granny Smith is his favourite.

The apples which had a small spot on them were used in the applesauce and apple jelly. That way we catched summer in a jar.

I've pulled the weeds around the trees and they are now ready for winter.
And our family can eat apples and pears untill the soft fruit is ready in spring.

And offcourse the little one posed for a picture!

4Pure: apple harvest

Julia Child: Caramel Almond Cream

Since a few months I'm the proud owner of Mastering the Art of French Cooking from Julia Child, a cooking bible written in the sixties.
I think Julia Child is one of the most famous tv-cooks I've known and she even got her own biography and film: Julia and Juliette.

In the upcoming months I'm trying to make a lot of recipes from these books (there are two volumes). To make a great start I've begun with a dessert. A caramel almond cream. I've made it child friendly, so I left out the rum.
And because the recipe contains raw eggs be careful with children until 4, pregnant women, elderly and sick people

I've put all the ingredients in one list, unlike Julia Childs method, because that works better for me.

The result: a real nutty, slightly crunchy creme, full of sweetness. Yes the first recipe is a winner!

Ingredients (for 6 persons), adapted from Mastering the Art of French Cooking by Julia Child):

• lady fingers;
• 4 tablespoons coffee;
• 4 egg yolks;
• 170 grams sugar + 1 tablespoon;
• 3 tablespoons all purpose flour;
• 600 mL boiling milk;
• 1 tablespoon vanilla-extract;
• 1 tablespoon butter;
• 4 egg whites;
• pinch of salt
• 4 tablespoons almond slivers;
• 2 tablespoons water.

Preperation:

Praline

Boil 100 grams of sugar with 2 tablespoons of water in a small saucepan until the sugar caramelises. When the sugar has got an amber colour, toss in the almonds. Bring to a boil and spread the mixture on a baking plate which is covered with baking paper. After 15 minutes the mixture cooled down and you can break it into small peaces. When you want to make a crumble use a blender. 

Caramel almond cream

Arrange the lady fingers in a bowl and sprinkle 4 tablespoons coffee on them. Get a second bowl and whisk 4 egg yolks with 70 grams of sugar until they are fluffy. The mixture has the right texture when it's slightly thicken and the egg yolks colored from the intense yellow color to a pale colour.  Take the pan with boiling milk in your left hand and the whisk in your right hand. Poor the milk, very slowly in the egg yolk mixture while you whisk. When all the milk is whisked in poor back into the pan and boil for another two minutes on low heat. Remain whisking with a wooden spoon. Turn of the heat and add the vanilla-extract and the butter. Mix everything well. Make sure for this step that everything is very clean. Egg whites don't set when there is fat in your equipment (and egg yolks got a lot of fat, so clean very well). Take a second bowl and beat the egg whites with the pinch of salt until soft peaks are formed. Sprinkle one tablespoon of sugar on top and beat until stiff peaks are formed. You know when the egg whites are stiffen enough when you can hold the bowl upside down and nothing drips out. Take a spatula and mix 3 tablespoons of praline through the egg whites. With a spatula mix the egg whites through the hot cream. Don't whisk but mix gently to contain the fluffiness.

 

Use 6 small bowls or 1 big bowl. Layer the bottom with the lady fingers. Spoon the cream on top. Refrigerate for at least 3 hours. Just before serving sprinkle praline on top.

4Pure: Caramel almond cream