by Diane
Hello Everyone!
I hope all of you had a great week,
Today I am going to talk about one my passion:cooking!
Living as a student, I find it quite difficult to prepare the dishes (unfortunately there is no oven at hand in the accomodation )so i am slowly trying to adapt my cooking with one stove !
I started cooking when I was about 12 and I would always try to change recipes according to the seasons.I would usually cook for my family and friends.
It is actually the process itself which I find quite therapeutic:it will help me get over stressful days and give me some sense of achievement when the dish is finally ready to be devoured !
Here are some easy to do desserts I love to prepare:
-The “Fondant au chocolat” , an all-time classic and very easy to make.It is a very smooth chocolate cake with an almost liquid centre.The trick with this recipe is to put very little flour so it can keep its creamy texture,and be careful with the amount of butter you put in the mixture as it could end up being quite “heavy” which is not what we’re looking for.
I love putting them in small ramequins,for both visual comfort as well as..baking purposes .In fact,the smaller portions you put in the ramequins ,the quicker it will cook.I would usually only put them in the oven for 20 minutes (180 degrees)and leave them in the fridge for 2 hours.
It is really important to not overly cook them as the whole purpose of it being a “fondant” is for it to stay creamy.You can then decorate it with icing sugar ,but I prefer serving it with strawberries.The dessert itself is quite filling so I would skip the temptation of adding ice cream or clotting cream on the side.(the lighter the better..right?)haha
Here is a preview:
An other dessert I love, is the “Meringue lemon Tart” or “Tarte au citron meringuee” in french.The tricky part would be to make the pastry,but if you are in a hurry,don’t feel guilty buying a ready made one.Japanese stores (in Shinjuku) specialise in French products ,so you could easily find some there.
You mix the lemon zests,lemon juice,and sugar all together.The hardest part would be to make the meringue.I whip the whites until they become firm,it requires a little bit of effort from the upper arms but it's worth it!You then incorporate the meringue mixture on top of the lemon one and leave in the oven for a good 20 minutes (at 170 degrees).
You can find some more detailed recipes anywhere online but I like to be creative and add some twist to my desserts (whether it would be the presentation,or the flavour).
Basically,make it your own!
I love watching cooking tv shows,they inspire me to make my meals a little more diverse.If you are interested in learning simple recipes I would suggest watching Jamie Oliver's shows (available online)
or Nigella Lawson's ones.I personally prefer reading recipes on "cuisine.tv"which I found the best recipes in.It is unfortunately mostly written in french,but if you need any help with translating a recipe I am there!:)Here is the link :
http://www.cuisine.tv/
I hope I made some of you want to try something new!
Best of Luck with your recipes,
Diane
I am a big chocolate lover, so I would like to try your fondant au chocolat. I eat a lot of chocolate and chocolate cookies and I love brownies. I used to make them as they are very very easy - all you need are cocoa, flour, sugar, eggs, butter, walnuts (or chopped nuts if you like), baking soda and salt - as you can see these are the things that most people keep in their kitchens.
ReplyDeleteIf you would like the exact recipe, please let me know!
BTW, I am a big fan of lemon pudding so I sometimes make that without the pie.
Ms. MacGregor
Hello, Diane! This is Asumi.
ReplyDeleteI really really enjoyed reading your post. I LOVE cooking, too.I love both chocolate and lemon, so I can't pick which to make first. But I guess I'll try the lemon tart first!
Baking sweets is always a lot of fun, but I love making dishes like pizza and lasagna and...so on. Every year, my sister and I make a big diner for Christmas. Maybe you can give me some advise on what to cook!
Asumi
Ms Macgregor,I am happy to hear you are also a chocolate aficionado,I would love to know the recipe for the brownies :D
ReplyDeleteand thank you Asumi!We should definitely have a talk about cooking when you have time.That is quite impressive that you know how to make pizzas.Your family must be quite lucky to have you and your sister cooking a feast for Christmas.Here are a couple of ideas you could try for this occasion: a "Dinde farcie aux marrons" ,or in english: a"Turkey stuffed with chestnuts"which is relatively easy to make.I can give you the recipe if you're interested.You could also accompany your meals with some 'vacherin" which is a very soft swiss cheese.(you can find some in any specialised cheese shop in Shinjuku).For dessert ,you could try to make a "Buche de Noel a la pistache" ="Pistacchio Yule Log" i find pistacchio to be lighter than chocolate. I definitely think that after a heavy meal,a lighter dessert is the way to go.
If you want some further details ,let me know ;)
Kazu Hatakeyama
ReplyDeleteHello Diane!
Wow! They looked very delicious. I love cooking, too. But I cannot follow any complicated way so I always cook with an electric rice cooker. It is much easier than using an oven. You can cook a chocolate cake with only two eggs and two slabs of bitter chocolate. Have you ever cooked sweets with an electric rice cooker?
Anyway, I would like to try your recipe!!
And if you know some other disches besides sweets please tell us!! I would try to make French dishes!!
Asumi Oda
ReplyDeleteDiane! Thank you so much for your kind reply! My sister and I read your post together and my sister got totally interested in making "Buche de Noel a la pistache", since she loves pistacchio. Wold you be kind enough to let me know the recipe? I'd be really happy if we can talk about our favorite dishes to make, and it'll be wonderful if we could have a chance to cook together!
Thank you!
Asumi