World cup has officially started! I am not a football fan but when it comes to the world cup, funnily enough, I will follow the news and updates through out this best ever game that only happens once in every 4 years! I was anticipating for the world cup opening but I didn’t get to watch. However, I make sure that I don’t miss the 2nd game of the day, France vs Uruguay.

During this world cup season, I thought to feature some recipes that represent games that I watch. Today, as I am watching “Les Bleus” fighting against Uruguay, I am enjoying a very French tart – Tomato & Blue Cheese Tart. I love to use blue cheese in salad and tart. I love the sharp and a bit salty taste of blue cheese, added with the natural sweetness of tomato, this simple tart simply packs with lots of flavours!

Commonly known blue cheeses are Roquefort, Gorgonzola and Stilton. The smell of blue cheese is pungent. When I was a beginner in consuming cheese, I thought it was a bit tough to eat it just like this or even with a slice of baguette or cracker. I would say that it is an acquired taste. Even until now, I guess, I prefer to use blue cheese in salad or tart to make the taste less strong by blending other flavours with it.

Tomatoes are abundant and sweet at this time of the year. Using them in making tarts are just as good as eating them raw. Just imagine a mouthful of tomato sweetness topped with sharp and slightly salty blue cheese, isn’t this light dinner suitable for the world cup season when you want to make sure you are in front of the TV and not miss the goal?!

Bon Appetit et Allez Les Bleus!

Recipe: Tomato & Blue Cheese Tart

Ingredients:

Ready-rolled puff pastry, 375g

Blue Cheese (roughly chopped), 80g

Tomatoes (thinly sliced), 6 – 8

Herbes de Provence, 0.5 tbsp

Dijon mustard, 0.5 tbsp

Extra Virgin olive oil, 1 tbsp

Black pepper, to taste

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 200C. Roll out the pastry and place in a large and non-stick tart mould. Blind bake the pastry for about 10-minutes.

2. Spread the mustard evenly over the pastry. Arrange thinly sliced tomatoes, overlapping. Scatter roughly chopped blue cheese on top of the tomato layer.

3. Sprinkle herbes de provence, season with freshly ground black pepper. Drizzle extra virgin olive oil to finish off.

4. Place in the oven and cook for about 20 minutes until the pastry is well risen, golden and cooked. Serve immediately.

To be able to cook well, one has to start from learning the classic. I totally agree with this. When I was introduced to French food a few years ago, I was fed with some beautiful classic dishes that I think those are the dishes I should learn and master before learning “nouvelle cuisine” (new cuisine). Nouvelle cuisine is a new take in cooking and presenting food in French cuisine. Nouvelle cuisine is characterised by lighter and delicate food, which focuses a lot on presentation. Whereby, cuisine classique appears to be rustic and more homely. Both nouvelle cuisine and cuisine classique are both haute cuisine (literally means high-class cooking with elaborate or skillfully prepared food, especially that of France.)

It has been quite a while since I posted a dessert recipe. Today, I felt like I needed a quick  fix of sweet stuff, so, a simple dessert came to my rescue. I love desserts that are custard based. Petits Pots de Crème au Caramel is one example of dessert that I never get tired of. It has been on my list of favourite desserts for a while. Now, it seems that I have got another one to add to my list!

I learnt about Ile Flottante a few years ago when I dined at one of the French bistros in Paris. Ile Flottane, or known as Floating Island (in English), is a classic French dessert that consists of meringue floating on a sea of vanilla custard, also known as crème anglaise in French. Ile flottante is usually served with a great drizzle of caramel and topped with some toasted almonds. I think the combination of all the flavours makes this dessert really special, a bit rustic and sweet. It’s pretty easy to make this dessert. Well, I didn’t make my own custard but bought a ready-made one, there are many choices at the supermarkets here . Next time, I think I am going to make my own as I am sure that it’s going to taste even better!

Recipe: Ile Flottante – Floating Island (Adapted from aufeminin.com)

Serves 4

Ingredients:

For the custard:

Milk, 350ml

Vanilla bean (split lengthwise), 1

Egg yolks, 3

Caster sugar, 75g

For the meringue:

Egg whites, 3

Salt, 1 pinch

Caster sugar, 40g

For the caramel:

Granulated sugar, 125g

Water, 50ml

Garnish:

Toasted almods

Method:

1. Prepare the custard: Pour the milk in a deep saucepan over medium heat.  Add the vanilla pod. Bring gently to the point of  boiling. Remove from the heat.

2. Put in the egg yolks and sugar in a bowl, mix with a wooden spoon until it is thick.

3. Pour hot milk over the yolk mixutre and mix well. Transfer the mixture into a clean saucepan, then heat and simmer gently for 5 minutes, stirring constantly until it begins to thicken and coats the back of a spoon. Do not let it boil.

4. Strain the mixture and discard the vanilla bean.

5. Prepare the egg egg whites: beat egg whites until stiff with a pinch of salt. Meanwhile, Preheat the oven t0 140°C.

6. When they are firm, gradually stir in the sugar and continue to beat.

7. Transfer the beaten egg white into a dish. Cook in the oven for about 20 minutes.

8. To make the caramel, place 125g sugar in a saucepan with 50ml water and heat gently until dissolved. Bring to the boil and simmer until deep golden in colour. Halt the cooking by plunging the base of the pan into a sink of icy water.

9. Divide the custard into individual cups/glasses/bowls.

10. Carefully scoop and place the egg whites and put into the cups/glasses/bowls.

11.Drizzle caramel and sprinkle some toasted almonds. Served slightly chilled.

My kind of dish apart from coq au vin, would probably be boeuf bourguignon. Boeuf bourguignon is a classic French recipe, where beef is braised in red wine with garlic, onions, carrots, bouquet garni, pancetta/lardons (bacon), and mushrooms. If you look at both recipes for boeuf bourguignon and coq au vin, they don’t look different at all. In fact, both dishes are similar in the ingredients used. Except for the fact that one uses beef, the other uses chicken.

When I cook stew dish like this, I always make extra portions so that I can keep it for the next 2 days. The taste of boeuf bourguignon gets better the day after. This applies to most of the stew dishes I think. As mentioned before, marinating meat is essential. It is one of the best ways to give it more flavour and to tenderize it at the same time. I am pretty clueless as in which part of meat I should be using for stew dishes. Not long ago, I found a website for reference, learning about different parts of meat cuts for beef and and lamb. From there, I have learnt that best cuts of meat that can be used for braising are: all roasts, briskets, shanks, chunk steaks, top round steaks, short ribs and back ribs. I bought chunk steaks for boeuf bourguignon.

Boeuf bourguignon has got a rustic feel and taste, that is great to beat the cold weather (yes, it’s still cold) at this time of the year. Perhaps, make this dish to warm your other half’s heart on a special day like today – Valentine’s Day. Well, I haven’t forgotten about the giveaway, of course! In fact, I have made the random draw based on the unique email address for the comments that I received. So, we have got a winner! One winner out of 57 participants! The winner is… according to www.random.org/draws/details/?draw=1524, is……. The Little Teochew!!!! You can click on the link provided and entered your email address to verify if you wish. Oh, well done to Ju at The Little Teochew!! I will be in touch soon.

Meanwhile, I will leave you with the recipe of boeuf bourguignon.

Recipe: Boeuf Bourguignon

Ingredients:

Beef blade or chunk steak, 1.5kg

Red wine, 750ml

Garlic (crushed), 3 cloves

Bouquet garni

Butter, 70g

Onion (chopped), 1

Carrots, 2-3

Flour, 2 tbsp

Bacon (cut into short strips), 200g

French shallots (peeled and left whole), 300g

Small button mushrooms, 200g

Method:

1. Cut the meat into 4cm cubes and trim away any excess fat. Put the meat, wine, garlic, bouquet garni in a large bowl, cover with plastic wrap and leave in the fridge for at least 3 hours and preferably overnight.

2. Preheat the oven to 160°C. Drain the meat, reserving the marinade and bouquet garni. Dry the meat on paper towels. Heat 30g of the butter in a large casserole dish. Add the onion, carrot and bouquet garni and cook over low heat, stirring occasionally, for 10 minutes. Remove from the heat.

3. Heat 20g of the butter in a large frying pan over high heat. Fry the meat in batches for about 5 minutes, or until well browned. Add to the casserole dish.

4. Pour the reserved marinate into the frying pan and boil, stirring, for 30 seconds to deglaze the pan. Remove from the heat. Return the casserole to high heat and sprinkle the meat and vegetables with the flour. Cook, stirring constantly, until the meat is well coated with the flour. Pour in the marinade and stir well. Bring to the boil, stirring constantly, then cover and cook in the oven for 2 hours.

5. Heat the remaining butter in the clean frying pan and cook the bacon and shallots, stirring, for 8-10 minutes, or until the shallots are softened but not browned. Add the mushrooms and cook, stirring occasionally, for 2-3 minutes, or unitl browned. Drain on paper towels. Add the shallots, bacon and mushrooms to the casserole.

6. Cover the casserole dish and return to the oven for 30 minutes, or until the meat is soft and tender. Discard the bouquet garni. Season and skim any fat from the surface before serving.

Photo: NASA/GSFC, MODIS Rapid Response

Soup had been on our menu for the past weeks. Just when it was so cold, my mind was telling me to cook a big pot coq au vin. Coq au vin is a classic french dish of chicken cooked in red wine with lardons (bacon), button mushrooms, and carrots. It is one of the all time classic bistro dishes and home cooking. There are so many versions of coq au vin. Whichever version you use, the basics remain the same for this dish.

Boeuf bourguignon is probably what comes to your mind after looking at coq au vin. These 2 dishes do share similarities – both use red wine, along with bacon, onion, bouquet garni, mushrooms, and carrots. In preparation of coq au vin, I have learnt a few tips:

1) Use good quality of full-bodied red wine

2) The main ingredient is the cockerel, if not able to have access to this full-flavoured bird, then buy a good quality of chicken, preferably free range

3) Marinate the chicken a night before to have succulent meat

4) The sauce is as important as the chicken, it should be thick, dark in colour, and glossy. Thicken the sauce with ‘beurre manie’ method.

I bought a whole chicken and joint the chicken. If you are not sure, you can refer to this link for a step by step guide. As you could imagine, the big bird would have very meaty breast. I decided not to put them in my stew as I personally think that it could be too fibrous and dry. Since there were some extra chicken leg portions in the freezer, I substituted the breast with the leg portions to be cooked with other parts of the whole chicken that I had cut into portions. I reckon with stew dish like this, cooking the meat with bones tends to be tastier.

This recipe gets my thumbs up and we are going to finish the remaining tonight. Bon Appétit!

Recipe: Coq au Vin (Adapted from A Little Taste of France)

Ingredients:

Chicken, 2 x 1.6kg

Red wine, 1 bottle

Bay leaves, 2

Sprig of thyme, 2

Bacon (diced), 250g

Butter, 60g

Pearl Onions, 20

Button mushrooms, 250g

Oil, 1 tsp

Plain flour, 30g

Chicken stock, 1 litre

Brandy, 125ml

Tomato paste, 2 tsp

Softened butter, 1.5 tbsp

Plain flour, 1 tbsp

Chopped parsley, 2 tbsp

Method:

1. Joint each chicken into 8 pieces by removing both legs and cutting between the joint of the drumsticks and the thigh. Cut down either side of the backbone and lift it out. Turn the chicken over and cut through the cartilage down the centre of the breastbone. Cut each breast in half, leaving the wing attached to the top half.

2. Put the wine, bay leaves, thyme and some salt and pepper in a bowl and add the chicken. Cover and leave to marinate, preferably overnight.

3. Sauté the bacon in a frying pan until golden. Lift out onto a plate. Melt a quarter of the butter in the pan, add the onions and sauté until browned. Lift out and set aside.

4. Melt another quarter of butter, add the mushrooms, season with salt and pepper and sauté for 5 minutes. Remove and set aside.

5. Drain the chicken, reserving the marinade, and pat the chicken dry. Season. Add the remaining butter and the oil to the frying pan, add the chicken and sauté until golden.

6. Stir in the flour. Transfer the chicken to a large saucepan or casserole dish and add the stock. Pour the brandy into the frying pan and boil, stirring, for 30 seconds to deglaze the pan. Pour over the chicken. Add the marinade, onions, mushrooms, bacon and tomato paste. Cook over moderate heat for 45 minutes – 1 hour, or until the chicken is cooked through.

7. If the sauce needs thickening, lift out the chicken and vegetables and bring the sauce to the boil. Mix together the butter and flour to make a beurre manié and whisk into sauce. Boil, stirring, for 2 minutes until thickened. Add the parsley and return the chicken and vegetables to the sauce.

Happy New Year! How was your New Year celebration? I can’t believe that we have stepped into year 2010! We didn’t do anything much on New Year’s eve, just went to a friend’s place for dinner. I still miss my holiday in France and the food. So, I guess by looking at the title, you would have guessed this post is related to a French dessert.

Far Breton is a flan based dessert made with eggs and milk. It is a very simple but nice dessert originates from Brittany, a region in the north-west of France. There are many versions of Far Breton, but the most well known is the one with prunes. Cinanamon powder is sometimes sprinkled on the top of Far Breton. The texture of Far Breton is pretty similar to Clafoutis, except it’s a bit more dense and almost has quiche-like texture.

France is just an amazing country, its cuisine is represented by each region of its country. If you travel from one region to another, you will find that the cooking-style, tastes, and ingredients change quite significantly! Far Breton is one specialty from Brittany. If you talk about Baked Apples Pomme Au Four, then it’s a specialty from Normandy. What I would like to do one day is to take 1 month off, travel to all regions in France and taste the difference!!

I was introduced to Far Breton a few years back and really love the texture and taste. I am an absolute fan of having fruits in desserts! Far Breton is such a homely pudding that you don’t really have to spend a lot of time to make such a lip smacking dessert. I love the rustic look of it, so simple yet tastes elegantly in the mouth! I thought we should start our 2010 with something sweet. So, there you are my readers, this is made especially for you!

Recipe: Far Breton (Brittany Prune Pudding)

Ingredients:

Flour, 180g

Sugar, 150g

Eggs, 4

Salt, a pinch

Warm milk, 500ml

Prunes, 20-25

Method:

1. Grease a baking dish and lightly flour. Scattered the prunes.

2. In a bowl, mix flour, sugar, eggs and salt.  Add the warmed milk, mix well.

3. Put in a pre-heated oven at 200°C for 35 minutes. Monitor from time to time.

4. Sprinkle some cinnamon powder before serving if desired.

Far Breton (Brittany Prune Pudding)

A meal isn’t complete without a good dessert. I have learnt to make quite a few desserts in the recent years and I like the fact that they mostly taste and look good!

My mom baked a lot when I was younger. She still bakes but not as much as she used to. She told me that the best present ever for her is when my dad and us praise her for nice cakes that she bakes, not to mention nice food that she makes everyday. When we talk on the phone every weekend, we can’t help but like to share what we cooked  or baked for that week or even on that day!

Remember the Madeleines recipe? The recipe has been passed to me from Arnaud’s mom. I have learnt a lot about French food through her. Every time we visit her, she always surprises us with great meals! For her, desserts can put a smile on her face. She told me once that she wants us to be happy after every meal. So, I can tell the importance of desserts in a French family! Through her, I look at desserts from a different dimension. I guess, over there years, I have broaden my knowledge in food greatly!

I probably have been influenced, in a good way – I started to love making desserts and pastries. I love those little touches that can make desserts look really eye-catching! When comes to pastries, tarts (you can find them here, here, here, here, here, and here) – savoury or sweet, they are always my favourites.

Earlier this week, I promised that I would use figs in 2 dishes. One of them is a hearty dish – Chicken with Figs that I have posted. Today, it is the fig tart that I made on the same day! Instead of making it into a big tart, I had chosen to make into tarlets. I really love the sweetness of the figs and the crunch of the pastry. I was totally immersed in my dessert, made that very moment really sweet!

Recipe: Fig Tart (Adapted from: www.isaveurs.com)

For 4 persons

Ingredients:

Almond powder, 75g

Butter, 50g

Brown sugar, 75g

Figs, 700-800g

Eggs, 3

Shortcrust pastry (Pâte brisée), 1

Method:

1. Pre-heat the oven to 210°C. Peel off the skins of the figs and cut into quarters.

2. Flatten the dough. Lightly prick the base of the tart with a fork, line the tart case with a large circle of greaseproof paper or foil, then fill with baking beans. Blind-bake the tart for 20 mins, remove the paper and beans, then continue to cook for 5-10 mins until it’s slightly brown.

4. Meanwhile, in a bowl, put the butter and sugar. Melt over low heat and cook the figs gently for 10 mins, stirring gently. Remove from heat and set aside.

5. Remove the pastry from the oven, remove beans and paper. Lower the oven thermostat to 180 ° C.

6. Beat the eggs. Add the figs and butter mixture with almond powder and eggs. Mix thoroughly. Put the mixture into the pre-baked dough and bake again for 25 minutes.

Madeleines are small shell-shaped  traditional cakes  from the town of Commercy, in the North of the Lorraine region of France. These little cakes are famous for the shape and smooth texture. Madeleines are perfect for snacking or afternoon goûter (afternoon tea) in France. In Lorraine, it is believed that the delightful madeleines came from a young maid named Madeleine who used to work for the Duke of Lorraine, Stanislas Leczinski in the late 1700s.

When I look at these madeleines, they remind me of kuih bahulu. Since young, kuih bahulu has always been my favourite kuih. Kuih (also kueh, kue, or kway) refers to bite-sized food items. Kuih-muih (plural term for kuih) back home in Malaysia are usually associated with cakes and cookies. Kuih bahulu is usually baked during festive season. But, nowadays you can get kuih bahulu from stalls or supermarkets any time you want.

Apart from the shape, the only difference that I can tell between madeleine and kuih bahulu is that butter is not used in making kuih bahulu. Hence, the texture is slightly different. Should I say that that kuih bahulu is slightly lighter and spongier? Maybe for those who have tried both kuih bahulu and madeleines can share your views?

The recipe of madeleines that I am going to share with you all today has been tested and tasted many times! It has been passed to me from Arnaud’s mother, Nelly. We both share the same passion in cooking and constantly exchange ideas in cooking and sharing recipes!

To make madeleines, you need madeleines moulds that are pretty easy to purchase online nowadays. Once you get hold of the moulds, I am sure you will enjoy baking these great little cakes that you will never get bored of.  Also, madeleines are perfect for afternoon tea!

Recipe: Madeleines

Ingredients:

Flour, 150g

Butter, 125g

Sugar, 125g

Eggs, 2

Vanilla essence/lemon juice, 1 tsp

Yeast, 1 tsp

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 200°C. Brush madeleine moulds with melted butter and coat with flour, then tap to remove the excess flour. If you have non-stick moulds, you do not need to do this.

2. Whisk the eggs and sugar until the mixture is thick and pale and the whisk leaves a trail when lifted.

3. Mix the yeast into the flour. Gently fold in the flour, then the melted butter and vanilla essence or lemon juice.

4. Spoon into the moulds, leaving a little room for rising.

5. Bake for 12 minutes or until very lightly golden and springy to the touch. Remove from the moulds and cool on wire rack.

This week flew by quickly. It’s hard to believe that it’s now mid-July. The hope of having warm sunny day looks bleak. I can’t believe that when I go out, I still need to wear thin jacket at this time of the year. There was a thunderstorm 2 days ago. Probably the first time I have seen the brightest lightning in London. Well, the uninteresting weather news aside now. I may seem to be talking about weather all the time without realising it.

Plums, peaches, nectarines, apricot, cherries and berries are abundant during this time of the year. I love summer fruits and that’s what make this season sweet and beautiful! Peaches are commonly used in making desserts. Peach tart is one of the them. But, I want to have something simple but nice. At the same time, I was thinking of serving ice cream with this dessert. I particularly love eating ice cream during hot summer day. (Ok, it’s not hot where I live!)

So, instead of eating peaches raw, I thought poaching them would be a great idea! Pêches Melba (Peach Melba) came to my mind. Pêches Melba is a classic French dessert. It is usually served with raspberry sauce and vanilla ice cream. I did it without the raspberry sauce. And instead of sprinkle with some almonds, I substituted with some pistachios.

The poaching technique is called white poaching to keep the peaches firm. During the process, the ingredients are brought to barely a simmer and then the whole pan is removed from the heat. The hot mixture stays in the pan for a time, gently cooking in its own heat as it cools. The result is perfectly cooked, and never mushy.

My first ever experience in making Peach Melba is rewarding – I realise that simple technique like poaching can make such an impact and difference in eating peaches!

Recipe: Peach Melba (Pêches Melba)

Serves 4

Ingredients:

White sugar, 275g

Water, 1.5 litres

Lemon zest, a few pieces

Vanilla pod (split lengthwise), 1

Peaches, 4

Vanilla ice cream, 4 scoops

Pistachios, some

Method:

1. Put the sugar, lemon zest and vanilla pod into a pot with 1.5 litres of water and bring to the boil.

2. Reduce the heat to a simmer and add the peaches. Cover with a piece of baking paper and place a plate on top, this will act as a weight and stop the peaches from rising to the surface. Gently simmer for 5 to 10 minutes.

3. Using a slotted spoon, remove the peaches and gently peel off the skin by running them under cold water. Set aside.

4. Place about 240ml of poaching liquid, some extra sugar and the peach skins into a saucepan and simmer for 15 minutes or until reduced by half.

5. To serve, place a peach and a scoop of ice cream. Drizzle with syrup and sprinkle with some chopped pistachios.

I know that I am no master in baking but I have been hoping to bake more when I got more time. When comes to pastries, I only started to make savoury ones in recent years. I made quiches/tarts a while ago, like Spinach & Blue Cheese Tart and Cheese & Onion Quiche. They both were really nice and I like to make tarts for lunch from time to time as they are pretty simple and quick to prepare.

Last weekend, I tried for the first time to make pâte feuilletée (puff pastry). Pâte feuilletée (puff pastry)  is a light, flaky, unleavened pastry containing several layers of fat which is in solid state. It sounded pretty scary for me at first as I have never made pastry from scratch before. Worse still when I always tell myself that I am still a very beginner in baking.

I took a recipe off the internet and followed every step in making puff pastry. It worked !! But quite time consuming.  I want to perfect it so I hope to try making it again next time and show you guys every step in making pâte feuilletée if you are interested! I know that you can easily buy puff pastry from any major supermarkets but the idea of making things on my own does appeal to me very much!

So, what did I do with my puff pastry? To continue with the sumer recipes series, oh, I used it to make cherry tomato and zucchini tart, topped with buffalo mozzarella (mozzarella di bufala). Cherry tomatoes are abundant now. I bought lots of them to just eat raw or cook. They are the sweet little gems that I really adore.

Just a few weeks ago, I saw this really nice and easy recipe in one of the food magazines. They have used only cherry tomatoes. But, I thought, I could add zucchini too, to make it more Mediterranean. Also, that also makes it really colourful. Oh, I love my food to be colourful!

Cherry tomato and zucchini tart is suitable to be served as lunch or dinner. I guess while the weather is warm and nice like now, light lunch like this sounds like a good idea to me. If you want, you can make this into mini tartlets too. Mini tartlets like these are suitable to be served as pre-entree.

Give this cherry tomato and zucchini tart a try. I think it will be a fantastic idea to serve this easy but yummy recipe for lunch!

Recipe: Tomato and Zucchini Tart (Adapted from Delicious Magazine)

Ingredients:

Plain flour, for dusting

All-butter puff pastry, 500g

Finely chopped, 1 onion,

Fresh thyme leaves, 4 tsp

Olive oil, 4 tbsp

Vine-ripened cherry tomatoes (halved), 600g (about 48)

Baby mozzarella balls, 250g (about 20)

Black olives (pitted and halved), 16

Handful fresh basil leaves

Extra-virgin olive oil, 2 tbsp

Method:

1. Lightly flour a work surface. Cut the puff pastry into 4, then roll out to 4 x 18cm squares that are 3mm thick (about the thickness of a pound coin). Place on a lightly floured tray and chill for 5 minutes. Remove and cut out 4 x 16cm circles, then, with a sharp knife, score an indent all around each one, about 1cm in from the edge, to make a border, and chill on a baking sheet lined with baking paper.

2. Preheat the oven to 230°C/210°C. In a frying pan over a low heat, soften the onion with the thyme in half the oil for 8 minutes without browning the onion, season, then leave to cool.

3. Take the puff pastries out of the fridge. Spread the onion mixture onto the pastry inside the scored line and top with the halved tomatoes, packed together.

4. Brush the tomatoes and the edges of the pastries with the rest of the olive oil and season. Cook in the oven for 12 minutes.

5. When cooked, remove the tarts from the oven and arrange the mozzarella and olives over the tomatoes. Return to the oven for 2-3 minutes until the cheese has melted. Remove from the oven and set aside to rest for 5 minutes.

6. Garnish with basil and drizzle with extra-virgin olive oil to serve.

This post should have posted on Sunday. But, something really weird happened! I couldn’t access to my Wordpress admin page and my website! I was worried for a few hours! I tried it from my Blackberry and it worked! I got a few friends of mine to check if they could access to my blog – most in London seemed to have problem getting onto my blog and after a while it said time out! One in Paris said it was ok!

However, between the downtime that I faced, some of my readers were able to leave comments on my blog, which confirmed that it was fine from everywhere else?! But, for some reasons, I couldn’t access! Those in London couldn’t?! How weird? Well, it wasn’t only my blog though, there were certain websites and blogs that took ages to load and finally timed out!  Was it my ISP? Did any of you have similar problem, I wonder?

Anyway, I am glad that this is now back to normal! (What a relief!) I make sure that I have a backup copy of EVERYTHING on My Cooking Hut if anything goes wrong!! You’ll never know! My advice to all the food bloggers: “Don’t take any chances, do make sure you have the most up to date of your blog content in your hard disk. You don’t want to be distraught one day if something goes wrong!”

Well, that incident aside. Back to my summer recipe series!

We had a main course last week, didn’t we? The summery Lemon and Chili Prawns Linguine! I don’t know if any of you have tried it, if not, please put it on your to-do/to-try. I, myself, will make it again this week cos it’s so good that I have bought 2 packets of good quality linguine!!

So, today, I am going to share a dessert with you guys. I don’t know if you have heard of Verrines. I think it’s the most trendy idea! In English, term like ‘Delights in a glass’ is used. Basically, Verrines, derived from the word verre, means glass. It’s a way of serving food, and usually layered dishes in small transparent glasses. The recipes for Verrines are not only limited to desserts, they could be for main or starter too. However, the rule is that it has to remain visibly and beautifully presented in the glass. 

The Verrines concept has all started when those chefs decided to create a new trendy wave in the world of culinary by serving up dishes in glasses. If you have been to some trendy or modern french restaurants, you would probably come across the amuse-bouche being served this way! This trend is then spread to the home cooks like us who are keen to create and prepare this at home for dinner parties or special occasions. To be honest, I personally love the Verrines idea and I think it makes the world of culinary very exciting! There are many possible ideas that you can create based on Verrines!

If Verrines is new to you, why not give it a try. Even if you have already discovered Verrines, this recipe is really easy and delicious to make. It does look very elegant and presentable – something that will impress your guests if you are planning a dinner party at home.

The original recipe uses raspberries, I have substituted raspberries with blueberries, they are just as good!

Summer Recipe: Blueberry & Pistachio Tiramisu (Tiramisu aux Myrtilles et aux Pistaches)

Adapted from: José Maréchal - Verrines toutes fraîches!

Makes 6 – 8 Verrines

Ingredients:

Eggs, 3

Mascarpone, 250g

Icing sugar, 80g

Lady fingers biscuits, 18 – 24

Fresh Blueberry (or Raspberry), 125g and extra for garnish

Pistachio, 60g

Chocolate biscuits, 4

Amaretto liquer, 1 small glass

Method:

1. Slightly mash the raspberries/blueberries in a bowl with 30g of sugar.

2. Use the food processor to finely crush lady fingers biscuits. Divide and layer it at the bottom of the glass. Repeat this to the rest of the glasses. Pour in amaretto in each glass and press the biscuits slightly using the tips of your fingers. Then, put a layer of mashed raspberries/blueberries on top of the biscuits. Put them into the fridge to chill.

3. Separate the egg yolks and egg whites into 2 separate bowls. Whisk the egg yolks with 25g of sugar until the colour turns almost white. After that, add in mascarpone and beat at high speed until it’s firm and well mixed.

4. Beat the egg whites until creamy and white. Then, add in 25g of sugar and continue to beat until they hold a stiff peak. Add in the beaten egg yolk and mascarpone mixture. Stir and mix well.

5. Pour in the mascarpone creme into each glass that has been layered with biscuits and mashed blueberries/raspberries. Put in the fridge for another 2 hours to set and chill.

6. Just before serving, crush the chocolate biscuits and pistachios and sprinkle them on top of the creme and garnish with a few blueberries/raspberries.