Gourmet Greek Tiramisu

August 21, 2014 by TSJC Leave a Comment

I love tiramisu and frankly their is absolutely nothing wrong with the original recipe made using mascarpone, it is rich, luscious and always a winner. However, I am so in love with the Gourmet Greeks Greek Yoghurt that I had to give it a try using yoghurt instead of mascarpone. What a treat, it is still as delicious, but a little less rich which means you can eat more! Now that’s what I call a successful recipe update.

Please note I tried this with 3 other supermarket Full Fat Greek Yoghurts it did not work, I noticed that only a truly drained yoghurt works, even the premium supermarket products may contain vegetable starch to thicken this prevents the tiramisu from setting.

Tiramisu
Serves 6-8

Ingredients
– 3 free range eggs, separated whites and yolks
– 1/3 cup castor sugar
– 250gms Gourmet Greek Yoghurt
– 250mls heavy cream, whipped till thick
– 250gm pack of Savoiardi Biscuits
– 2 cups strong coffee
– ½ cup marsala
– cocoa powder for dusting

Method
STEP 1: Beat the egg yolks and sugar until thick, pale and creamy
STEP 2: Now gently fold the whipped cream and Greek yoghurt into the egg yolk mixture
STEP 3: Whisk the egg whites until stiff, then fold these into the yoghurt & egg yolk mixture, being careful to not knock out too much air
STEP 4: Using a flat glass dish mix your coffee and marsala
STEP 5: Quickly dunk the biscuits into the coffee mixture, then place on the base of your serving tray, dunk the biscuits quickly or they will become too soft.
STEP 6: Pour out a third of your yoghurt cream mixture onto the biscotti, now give a good sprinkle of fine unsweetened cocoa powder
STEP 7: Top this with another layer of soaked biscuits and some more cocoa powder. Repeat until ending on a layer of cream and cocoa powder

STEPS TO REMEMBER
CREAM – VOLUME – DUNK – LAYER – DUST

Portuguese Steak, Egg & Chips

July 31, 2014 by TSJC 1 Comment

This almost doesn’t qualify for being a recipe, since there are so few ingredients. But a well made Steak, Egg & Chips is so much more than the sum of its ingredients.

Portuguese Steak, Egg & Chips
Serves 4

Ingredients
– 500gms piece fillet, not thin end, cut into 4 medallions
– 6 cloves garlic
– 2 tbsp De Rustica Olive Oil
– 1/4tsp cracked black pepper
– 200mls white wine, dry white
– 60gms butter
– 150mls cream
– 70mls milk

Cut your piece of fillet into 4 medallions. Then between two sheets of grease proof paper flatten the steaks one at a time until they are about 1cm thick, a rolling pin works well. Now in a dish large enough to marinade add the wine, garlic, olive oil and black pepper – now add the flattened steaks. Marinade for about 20-minutes, minimum 10-minutes. In a heavy based saucepan, heat half the butter and the olive oil. When it is hot, remove the steaks from the marinade being careful to remove any pieces of garlic and as much liquid as possible. The steaks should brown so dont over crowd the pan. Allow the steaks to cook about 2-minutes before flipping them. At this stage remove the garlic from the wine and add it to the pan, once the garlic has begin to cook, 2-minutes remove the steaks and set them aside somewhere warm. Now add the marinade to the pan and allow it to reduce, making sure you loosen all the yummy bits. Now add the cream, milk and parsley to the pan and allow it to reduce, just before adding the steaks back to the pan add the last half of the cold butter and stir it in. Add the steaks and remove from the heat.

Serve topped with a fried egg and with some home made potato chips to absorb all the yummy garlicky sauce.

Oeuf en cocotte

June 13, 2014 by TSJC Leave a Comment

Simple, quick and easy to put together whether you are making one midweek for breakfast or 24 for a big weekend brunch – Oeuf en Cocotte is an under rated breakfast classic that deserves more attention. Technically the basic ingredients are the same as for scrambled eggs, but because of the different cooking technique the flavours are completely different.
Once you get you timing right you will know exactly how many minutes you need for your perfect level of cooked.

Oeuf en Cocotte
Serves 4

Ingredients
– 4 jumbo free range eggs
– butter, for greasing
– 16 tbsp cream
– 120 gms parmesan, finally grated
– salt & pepper

Preheat the oven to 180°C. 2. Grease 4 small ramekins with a thin layer of butter. Add 1 tbsp of cream to each ramekin and a little parmesan, and top that with an egg. Season the egg, before topping with another 3tbsp cream in each bowl then divide the balance of the parmesan over the eggs. 3. Place the ramekin in a deep baking tray and then top with boiling water, fill the dish until the water is about 3/4 of the way up the ramekins. Cover with foil and bake for 10-12 minutes depending on how set you want it. 4. Serve the ramekins with buttered fingers of toast, use a good quality ciabatta for this job, this creamy cheesy eggy dish deserves it!

Weekend yum!

June 12, 2014 by TSJC Leave a Comment

After having spent two days in complete shut down doing nothing but relaxing and eating. I spent a few days at the most incredible place Kings Walden near Tzaneen in Limpopo, I chose the venue because it looked like an incredible place to unplug for a bit – and it was! But what an incredible bonus to discover Chrissie, a secret chef, who until two years ago had never cooked professionally and who now was creating incredible food. Dinner was a simple but so good, fresh pea soup with a white truffle cream followed by perfectly medium, Kudu fillet served on candied potatoes and all locally sourced. Breakfast was an equally lavish affair of “oeuf en cocotte” with a delicate dot of truffle oil and Chrissies home made bread with farm fresh butter – Wow seriously good simple food!

I will share the recipe for oeuf en cocotte, a delicate baked egg, on Friday since its perfect for the weekend, but I wanted to share something simple today that would work perfectly as a simple breakfast, or light lunch, in fact with a few more rasher of bacon and an extra creamy egg and I’d be good for supper.

There isn’t really a recipe here more of an assembly, each of the ingredients wants the least amount of fuss. The toughest part is in trying to achieve the perfect poached egg. There are steps to cooking a poached egg, but getting the perfect poached egg requires starting with the perfect egg. Your egg has to be free range, this is only because only free range eggs have a thick enough white. Battery chicken egg whites tend to be runny, when you crack the egg and place it in a side plate the main mass of albumin, white, should cling tightly to the yolk in a thick jelly like mass. If you start with the right raw ingredient the egg will poach easily, even a greatest chefs would battle to poach an average quality egg.

POACHING AN EGG
Step 1: Heat water in a small sized pot, the pot should carry about 1,5l of water.
Step 2: Once the water has come to a gentle boil add a 2 table spoons of white balsamic condiment (white balsamic vinegar)
Step 3: Break the egg into a small bowl that is easy to handle
Step 4: Stir the water in a circular direction to create a whirlpool.
Step 5: Drop the egg into the whirlpool and allow it to slowly spin itself around, the thick egg white will cling to the yolk keeping your poached egg together
Step 6: After 4 minutes the egg should be cooked to a medium level, 5-6 for firm.

You have to poach eggs 1 at a time, but you can keep them covered on a warm plate while you make them.
Lemon Pesto Oil
– 1 tbsp basil pesto
– 2 tsp lemon juice
– 1 tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Combine all the ingredients in a bowl.

For a single portion use about 12 small asparagus spears, topped with a few rashers of crispy bacon, then the poached eggs and finally a drizzle of the lemony pesto oil.

Creamy yummy eggs

May 12, 2014 by TSJC Leave a Comment

This is the ideal breakfast for someone who is trying to reduce their carb intake and increase fat intake, the fats contained in this breakfast are the good ones. Eggs are loaded with nutrients and the salmon delivers the omega fats which are great for overall health. I have been receiving a lot of requests for Banting friendly meals, especially breakfasts. I personally favour a well balanced diet including carbs, but the more research I am seeing shows that certain people react better to a high fat, medium protein low carb diet. If you choose to follow a diet program like this, and are consuming high levels of fat, my only advice would be to ensure wherever possible that you source the best possible quality ingredients, meat should be grass fed and hormone free, eggs should be free range, and you want dairy products from reputable farms who are for their animals. Check out suppliers like The Gourmet Greek, Mooberry Farms, etc, losing weight is of no value if you suddenly up your intake of toxins from a low grade of mass farmed products.

Creamy Salmon & Avocado Scrambled Eggs
Serves 1

Ingredients

– 4 large free range eggs
– 60gms salmon / salmon trout
– 1/2 avocado
– fresh herbs
– 40ml cream
– 20gms butter

Whisk the eggs, herbs and cream, now heat the butter in a pan, add the eggs. Over a gentle heat start to slowly fold the eggs till they are 60% done, now add the avocado and the salmon and remove from the heat. Gently stir the eggs until your preferred level of done. Season with a little more salt and pepper and enjoy.

Skills you must have: Crème Patissiere

May 3, 2014 by TSJC 1 Comment

This is one of those recipes, the ones that you have to know. A crème patissiere, is the classic custard filling in so many pastries and cakes. It is, however, not the bright yellow stodgy stuff the supermarkets inject into soggy éclair cases, it is a light delicately vanilla scented cream. The perfect base for a fruit tart, the silky sweet custard balancing the tart fruits.

Use ready made short crust pastry, or make your own (Full recipe & Step by Step Video coming soon) short crust pastry. Then pour the custard in and tumble berries or any other fruit over the top for a dramatic tea time treat.

Crème Patissiere

Makes 2 cups

Ingredients

– 5 egg yolks, room temp

– 3/4 cup sugar

– 3tbsp corn starch

– 1tbsp butter

– 1tsp vanilla

– 1tbsp heavy cream

– 1tbsp brandy

– 1 1/2 cups milk, scalded

In a bowl of a beater add the sugar and the egg yolks, on medium-high speed whisk the egg yolks and sugar until thick and creamy, at least 5-8 minutes. Now sieve the corn flour in and continue whisking on a low speed. Add the hot milk in a slow stream with the mixer running on slow, being sure not to add it to fast or you will scramble the eggs. once all the milk is added transfer it to a heavy based sauce pan and on a low heat bring the mixture to a slow boil, stirring continuously. When you start you will notice a light white foam on the top of the mixture, from the air bubbles caused during the mixing. As the mixture thickens this light foam will start to disappear. Once it has all disappeared swop from the wooden spoon to a whisk and cook for a further 2-3 minutes, whisking continuously until thick and creamy. Now stir in the brandy, butter and heavy cream. If you are worried about the smoothness of your crème patissiere just run it through a fine sieve, but if you keep an eye on your cooking temperatures this recipe is almost fool proof. Remove from stove, transfer to a bowl and loosely press a sheet of cling wrap to the custard, this will stop a skin from forming.

If you want a slightly thicker custard you can add an extra tablespoon of cornstarch, but this custard is the right consistency for filling delicate eclairs and light fruit tarts, it is not stodgy or heavy.

To make a quick fruit tart, take a nice sweet short crust pastry, will share my recipe soon, line a pie tin with it and bake it blind till crisp and golden. Once the crust has cooled, line it with a thin layer of preserve, in this case I used raspberry, you can mix the raspberry jam in with a tablespoon or two of crème patissiere so that you can get away with putting less but getting it everywhere, which makes the tart less sweet. Top it with the light crème patissiere filling the tart shell 3/4 and then tumble fruit onto the top, you can just cover a central portion with fruit and not the whole tart as this is still a lot of fruit. For extra sweetness I like to glaze the fruit lightly with a drizzle of raspberry jam and honey mixed together, heated and strained.

Tomato Cooked Eggs

April 27, 2014 by TSJC Leave a Comment

Yummy breakfast eggs!

Next time you make a batch of simple tomato sauce make a little extra and store it in your freezer. This is a quick, simple and delicious brunch recipe. You can use a basic tomato sauce or flavour it up depending on how elaborate you want your breakfast to be. Sprinkle crispy pieces of bacon on top, or pan fry some mushrooms and add them to the tomato sauce before you add the eggs.
Heat your tomato sauce in a pan, then drop it to a low simmer. Put your eggs on top and pop the lid on so the eggs cook from underneath and steam from above. Depending on how you like your eggs it should only take a few minutes to cook. Drizzle with some good olive oil and a sprinkle of Parmesan.

I take the pan to the table and let everyone help themselves, so that once the eggs are all served you have tomato sauce left over to mop up with some crusty bread.

Super Breakfast

April 27, 2014 by TSJC Leave a Comment

Egg-cellent idea!

Eggs used to have a bad rep, but eggs are actually a great way to get clean protein, iron, vitamins and carotenoids. Eggs contain disease fighting nutrients like lutein and zeaxanthin which help reduce the development of age-related macular degeneration. Choline is involved in brain development and it may even enhance your ability to remember things.

For a quick fix, I scramble 2 whole eggs, 2 egg whites and serve it on a slice of low-gi toast topped with 40gms of finely sliced ham, bumping the protein content right up. If you don’t eat pork try finely sliced beef or grilled mushroom.

Scrambled Eggs and Avocado

April 27, 2014 by TSJC Leave a Comment

Try these silky creamy delicious avocado scrambled eggs for breakfast. By folding in chunks of avocado in the last minute you keep most of their chunkiness but allow them to add to the creaminess of the eggs.
For 2 people I use 4 eggs, a whole avocado, 2 tbsp cream, some finely chopped parsley and some freshly grated Parmesan on the top to add a little extra saltiness and richness.

For a great weekend brunch add some crispy bacon and a Bloody Mary and you are sorted!

Breakfast Panini

April 27, 2014 by TSJC Leave a Comment

I love Saturdays, off to the markets food hunting. This breakfast panini made with mushrooms, crispy bacon and creamy scrambled eggs will keep me going till lunch and I only used 1 pan to make it all, my idea of a quick clean up, plus the delicious bacon flavour permeates everything!

The Secret Jozi Chef

Home of The Cookery

Gourmet Greek Tiramisu

Portuguese Steak, Egg & Chips

Oeuf en cocotte

Weekend yum!

Creamy yummy eggs

Skills you must have: Crème Patissiere

Tomato Cooked Eggs

Super Breakfast

Scrambled Eggs and Avocado

Breakfast Panini

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