by Marcela M. | Jun 25, 2012 | Blog, Cakes, Mousses and ice cream, Recipe Box, Recipes, Sweets, Uncategorized
Good morning dear friends! I hope you had a lovely weekend.
Summer arrived in Nicosia all of a sudden and, in a way took me by surprise. We had had a relatively mild Spring until a couple of weeks ago and, as the end of June started to approach, temperatures began to rise and rise and we are now averaging 35 C every day, with peaks of 41C. These are the usual Summer temperatures around here, so we have developed a few strategies for coping with the heat. These involve light clothing, frequent showers, lots of lemonade and -you guessed it- avoiding to turn the oven on as much as possible.
This is why, when Circulo Whole Kitchen proposed to its members to prepare a charlotte for the June challenge, I was thrilled: here was a dessert I had never attempted to make, relatively easy, and that required no baking! Perfect!
Charlotte is a very simple dessert, which knows different variations: the cake mold lining can be made with ladyfingers, swiss roll or sponge cake, and the fillings may include fruit purée, mousses or custard. The recipe I chose to prepare in this occasion (inspired by this one) uses ladyfingers, and is filled with a combination of red fruits mousse ( made with fruit purée, whipped cream and gelatin) and white chocolate mousse (made with melted white chocolate, whipped cream and gelatin). Its preparation takes approximately 15 minutes and needs to be chilled for about 5 hours before serving.
Since this was my first time making it, my charlotte doesn’t look as perfect as I would have liked it to. This is because of two reasons: 1)I over-dipped the cookies in syrup, which made them too soft, and it was therefore difficult for them to keep their shape. 2) I lined the bottom before the sides, so the bottom of the side cookies was too wet and the cookies tended to open when removed from the mold. So now I know better! The next time I will barely dip the cookies and I will make sure that the sides are line first. I hope that with these tips your own charlottes will come out perfect!
Despite these setbacks, I am quite happy with these charlottes because they passed the taste test (which, I believe, is the most important one when it comes to food!). They are a simple, delicious dessert, that looks pretty and is ideal for summer entertaining.
Here is the recipe;
Red fruits and white chocolate charlotte
Ingredients:
– 1 pack of ladyfingers (or enough to completely cover sides and bottom of a 6 inch cake pan or 6 ramequins)
– sugar syrup, made with 100 grs of sugar, covered with water and put to boil for a few minutes. You may flavour the syrup with dessert wine, like oporto or marsala, or even with coffee or orange juice and zest (depending of the flavour of the charlotte itself).
– 150 grs white chocolate, melted and cooled to room temperature
-150 grs red fruits (I used a frozen berry mix, that I defrosted in the refrigerator)
– 1 envelope of unflavoured gelatin
– 100 ml of heavy cream
– 4 tablespoons of icing sugar
Preparation:
1) Prepare the sugar syrup. Slightly dip enough ladyfingers and line a mold of the desired size with them.
2) Dissolve the gelatin in half a cup of warm water. Add 1/4 cup of cold water to cool it down. Divide in half. Set aside.
3) Melt the white chocolate and let it cool.
4) Wash the red fruits (I used a mixture of cranberries, blueberries, raspberries and strawberries) and process them (you may use a blender for this purpose). Pass the resulting purée through a sieve and set aside the pieces that were too big.
5) Whip the heavy cream together with the icing sugar, until firm (“en chantilly”). Divide in two and set aside.
6) Mix the red fruits pulp with half the whipped cream, with circular movements. Add half the gelatin and mix it in, slowly. Set aside.
7) Mix the melted and cooled white chocolate with the remaining half whippedcream. Add the gelatin and mix it in, slowly. Set aside
8) At this point you will have two mousses, and you can do two things: 1) Fill the lined pan with the red fruits mousse, let it cool for a few minutes in the refrigerator, add a layer of ladyfingers and then add the white chocolate mousse, or 2) Fill the lined pan with the red fruits mousse and, then, add the white chocolate mousse in the middle and draw designs with a skewer to marble it.
9) Leave in the refrigerator for 4 to 5 hours, unmold and serve with red fruits on top ( don’t worry, it comes out of the pan easily!)
Con sabor latino
Buenos días queridos amigos! Espero que hayan pasado un hermoso fin de semana!
El verano llegó a Nicosia de repente y me tomó por sorpresa. Hasta ahora veníamos teniendo una primavera con temperaturas moderadas pero,a medida que junio comenzó a llegar a su fin, éstas comenzaron a ir en aumento y ahora estamos con un promedio de 35C diarios, con picos de 41C. Estas son temperaturas comunes durante el verano chipriota, asi que a estas alturas ya hemos desarrollado algunas estrategias para hacer frente a tremendo calor, que incluyen ropa liviana, ducharnos varias veces por día y-como se imaginarán- evitar a toda costa encender el horno.
Por este motivo, me alegré cuando ví que Circulo Whole Kitchen proponía como receta dulce para el mes de junio una charlotte, postre que nunca había preparado antes, relativamente sencillo y que no requería cocción! Perfecto!
La Charlotte es un postre sencillo, del cual existen muchas variantes, que van desde el tipo de galletas con el que se cubre el molde en el que se lo realiza (vainillas, pionono, o torta esponjosa), hasta el relleno (que puede consistir en puré de frutas, mousses diversas o crema. La receta que yo elegí en esta ocasión (inspirada en esta) utiliza vainillas y un relleno compuesto de dos mousses: una de frutos rojos (yo utilicé arandanos, frambuesas, grosellas y frutillas, procesados, y mezclados con crema chantilly y gelatina sin sabor) y otra de chocolate blanco (hecha a base de chocolate derretido, crema chantilly y gelatina sin sabor, para darle consistencia). La preparación lleva tan sólo 15 minutos, pero requiere reposo en la heladera/refrigerador por aproximadamente 5 horas.
Como ésta era mi primera vez haciendo este postre, mis charlottes no lucen todo lo perfectas que me hubiera gustado. Esto se debe a dos motivos: 1) Exageré al remojar las vainillas en almibar y quedaron demasiado blandas, lo que complicó que mantuvieran la forma y 2) Recubrí con vainillas el fondo del molde, antes que los lados, entonces las vainillas que se encontraban a los lados se humedecieron demasiado con las mousses en la parte de abajo y tendieron a abrirse al desmoldarlas. Lo bueno es que ya aprendí que para la próxima tengo que mojar apenas las galletas y poner primero las galletitas de los costados. Espero que estos datos les sirvan a ustedes para poder alcanzar la perfección de entrada!
Igualmente, a pesar de estos errores, estoy muy conforme con el resultado de este postre porque de gusto estaban riquísimas (y, en definitiva, eso es lo que importa cuando se trata de comida, verdad?) Ademas son sencillas, deliciosas y lucen bonitas y son ideales para eventos de verano.
Así que sin más, esta es la receta. Espero que les guste!10
Charlotte de chocolate blanco y frutos rojos
Ingredientes:
-1 paquete de vainillas (o las que sean suficientes para recubrir el o los moldes que vayan a usar. El relleno es suficiente para un molde de 15. 4 cms, o 6 ramequins)
– almibar, hecho con 100 grs de azucar, recubierta con agua y llevada a fuego por unos minutos (que no se pase, que no quieres hacer caramelo!)
– 150 grs de chocolate blanco derretido y enfriado (tiene que estar a temperatura ambiente)
– 150 grs de frutos rojos
– 1 sobre de gelatina sin sabor
– 100 cm3 de crema de leche
– 4 cucharadas de azucar impalpable
Preparación:
1) Prepare el almibar. Coloque el azucar en un jarro, recubra con agua y lleve a fuego por unos minutos, hasta que la mezcla espese ligeramente. Remoje las vainillas en el almibar y recubra con las mismas el molde a utilizar.
2) Derrita el chocolate a baño maría (o en el microondas, si tiene uno). Deje enfriar hasta que quede a temperatura ambiente.
3) Procese los frutos rojos en la procesadora o licuadora. Pase el puré por un tamiz hasta obtener la pulpa.
4) Bata la crema de leche a punto chantilly con el azucar impalplable. Divida en dos partes iguales y reserve.
5) Disuelva la gelatina sin sabor en media taza de agua caliente. Agregue 1/4 taza de agua fria para bajar la temperatura. Divida en dos y reserve.
6) Mezcle la pulpa de frutos rojos con la mitad de la crema chantilly y, una vez bien incorporado, agregue la mitad de la gelatina sin sabor. Reserve
7) Mezcle el chocolate blanco con la mitad de chantilly restante, e incorpore luego la gelatina sin sabor que había reservado.
8) Rellene el/los moldes con mousse de frutos rojos. A continuación, tiene dos opciones; 1) Colocar el molde en la heladera unos minutos (hasta que tome un poco de consistencia) y a continuacion, agregar una capa de vainillas y luego la mousse de chocolate blanco o 2) Una vez rellenado el molde con la mousse de frutos rojos, agregar la mousse de chocolate blanco inmediatamente en el centro y luego hacer dibujos con un palito de brochette, para marmolarla.
9) Coloque el/los moldes en la heladera/refrigerador por 4 a 5 horas. Desmolde y sirva con frutos rojos (no se preocupe, se desmolda super facilmente!)
I hope you’ll like it!
See you later this week!
by Marcela M. | Jun 4, 2012 | Blog, Cakes, Recipe Box, Recipes, Sweets
Good evening dear friends!
Today it was a holiday in Cyprus, Kataklismos, the flood festival, which is why I am posting this recipe late. My children were at home, so we took them to a nearby park early in the morning and then we stayed home, playing and just enjoying the day together. The weather is beginning to get hot and at 8:00 am the sun is already up in the sky, shinning strong, which is why we go to the park so early that we are generally the only ones there!
We are lucky to live very close to a very beautiful park, with a nice playground, a basketball court, and a beautiful lawn with palm trees, pine trees and tile trees, as well as a pond and a water fountain where birds and butterflies fly around, and stray cats look for someone to pet them for a while. Luka and Zoe love and look forward to our mornings there, playing ball, walking around, chasing birds and sitting by the pond, and we are happy to take them out of the apartment, to enjoy nature.
Now let’s get to the recipe you have been waiting for!
I have been doing this cheesecake for about 15 years and, every time, it is a huge success. I don’t remember exactly how I came up with it because I have it scribbled in my old recipe notebook, but I believe it was written on the foil cover of a pack of ricotta cheese from a famous Argentinian brand (Mendicrim). I do remember that I had been looking for a good cheesecake recipe for a while, and for some strange reason I tried this one first, instead of one the 101 that my mother had in a specific recipe book! I also remember that most recipes I had seen before called for a cookie-based crust, and that many specifically mentioned digestive cookies (which do not exist in Argentina), which had put me off trying them. I have tried many cheesecakes since then and I always go back to this one. It is, in my opinion, just perfect. I hope you will find it perfect too.
The beauty of this recipe is that it is very simple to make (no special appliances needed), and that you can find all ingredients in almost any country, in the Western world at least. It is a cooked cheesecake, with a barely sweet crust made from scratch, and a filling that is soft, not overly sweet and extremely delicious. I particularly like how the crust’s flavour doesn’t overpower the filling, which is the recipe’s true hero. I normally top it by brushing a little strawberry jam and decorate it with sliced strawberries, but this time I decided to change and use fruits of the forest instead. I had a pack of frozen fruits of the forest, which I slowly defrosted overnight in the refrigerator before adding them to the cake, right before serving. It was delicious.
The quantities are enough for a 9 inch/20 cms cake pan, but you can also make individual mini cheesecakes, or a taller, narrower cake. Beware, though, that the cake does rise a little in the oven and if you fill the pan to the very top, the filling may overflow. So, whichever pan you choose, remember to leave some space between filling and top of the pan!
Now, without further ado, here is the recipe for my favourite cheesecake ever:
Ingredients:
For the crust: 200 grs of flour, 1 teaspoon baking powder, 2 tablespoons sugar, 75 grs soft butter or margarine, 100 cc milk. (Note: If the butter is too soft, you may need to reduce the quantity of milk or the dough will be too sticky)
For the filling: 250 grs cream cheese (I use philadelphia in Cyprus, and queso blanco in Argentina. The original recipe called for ricotta but I don’t like it that way), 2 egg yolks, 3 tablespoons cornstarch, 1 small can of sweetened condensed milk (397ml/14 oz), 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract, 2 egg whites, beaten until stiff.
Preparation:
Prepare the crust: Put flour, baking powder and sugar in a bowl and mix with a whisk. Cut butter in small pieces and add to the flour mixture, mixing it in using your hands. Start adding milk slowly, until you can form a ball with the dough. Cover with foil and bring to the refrigerator for 15 minutes.
Prepare the filling: Put cream cheese, egg yolks and cornstarch in a bowl and mix well. Add sweetened condensed milk slowly and mix thoroughly, until no lumps are visible (using a hand or stand mixer can be handy if you have one, but it is in no way a requisite. It will just take a little bit longer to get rid of the lumps without it, that’s all). Add vanilla extract and mix in well. Add the beaten egg whites, and incorporate using a spatula, in circular motion.
Assemble the cheesecake: Pre- heat the oven at 175 C. Oil and flour a cake pan. Take the dough out of the refrigerator and roll it about 1/2 cm thick. Wrap the dough in the rolling pin and lift it to cover the pan, attaching it well to the sides (it has a tendency to fall over the filling if you don’t press it well). Pinch sides and bottom with a fork. Pour the filling inside the pan and pat it on the counter to make sure it is even. Cook for about 50 minutes, or until the filling stops feeling wobbly when slowly shaking the pan back and forth (in order to check for readyness, take the pan with both hands while still in the oven and move it back and forth. If the filling moves, it is not ready). Note: using cooking times as a guideline onky, because they vary greatly from oven to oven. The most accurate method for guaranteeing that the filling will be firm when you cut it is the simple one of giving it a little shake. Once the cake is ready, turn the oven off and let it rest inside for 15 minutes (or the filling will swamp, as it happened to me because I forgot!). After this time, remove from the oven and let cool.
Decorate: Once the cake is completely cool, brush it with jam and add the fruits of your choice on top right before serving. Note: As you can see in the pictures above, I added generous amounts of jam. I don’t normally do that, but I had forgotten to leave it in the oven after finishing the baking process and it swamped in the middle, so I covered the hole with jam and added extra fruits.
Con sabor latino:
¡Buenas noches queridos amigos!
Hoy fue feriado en Nicosia, Kataklismos o el Festival de la Inundación, motivo por el cual publico esta receta tan tarde. Mis hijos estuvieron en casa todo el día, y aprovechamos para llevarlos al parque cercano temprano por la mañana y, luego, nos quedamos en casa jugando y disfrutando del día juntos. El clima ya comienza a tornarse muy caluroso y a las 8:00 am ya el sol está alto en el cielo, brillando fuerte, motivo por el cual vamos al parque tan temprano que frecuentemente somos los únicos allí!
Afortunadamente, vivimos cerca de un parque hermoso, con un area de juegos, una cancha de basket, y una bellísima explanada con palmeras, pinos y tilos que dan sombra, y una fuente de agua alrededor de la cual vuelan pájaros y mariposas, y donde gatos callejeros buscan alguien que les haga un mimo. Luka y Zoe adoran ir y esperan con ansias nuestras mañanas allí, jugando a la pelota, caminando, persiguiendo pajaritos y sentandonos a la orilla de la fuente, y a nosotros nos hace felices sacarlos por un rato fuera del departamento, para que disfruten de la naturaleza.
Pero basta de prolegómanos, y pasemos directo a la receta que estaban esperando!
Esta es una receta que hago desde hace alrededor de 15 años y, cada vez, es un exito tremendo. No recuerdo exactamente de donde la saqué, pero creería que la encontré en la tapa de aluminio de un pote de ricotta Mendicrim. Recuerdo, sí, que para ese entonces ya hacía bastante que yo venía buscando una buena receta de cheesecake y, por alguna extraña razón, me decidí a probar esta primero, antes que las 101 que tenía mi mamá en un libro especialmente dedicado a este tipo de tortas. Recuerdo también que la mayor parte de las recetas que había encontrado hasta ese momento tenían una base de galletitas, y que muchas de ellas requerían un tipo específico que no se encuentra en Argentina (las galletitas digestivas), lo que me había hechado atrás para probarlas. He probado muchas cheesecakes desde entonces, y siempre he preferido la de esta receta. Es, en mi opinión, simplemente perfecta. Espero que a ustedes les parezca igual!
La belleza de esta receta es que es muy sencilla de hacer (no se requieren instrumentos especiales), y que pueden encontrarse los ingredientes en la mayor parte de los paises del mundo occidental, al menos. Es una cheesecake cocida, con una base casera levemente dulce, y un relleno suave, no demasiado dulce e increiblemente delicioso. Una de las cosas que más me gusta es que el sabor de la base no opaca el relleno, sino que lo deja brillar, ser el heroe de la receta. Generalmente la termino pincelándola con mermelada de frutilla y decorandola con frutillas fileteadas ubicadas en circulos concentricos, pero esta vez decidí utilizar frutos del bosque en lugar de mi decoración tradicional. Había comprado hace ya un tiempo una caja de frutas congeladas, que dejé en la heladera toda la noche, en un bowl, y agregué a la torta justo antes de servir. Quedó exquisita.
Las cantidades son suficientes para un molde de 9 pulgadas/20 cms de diametro, pero tambien pueden prepararlas en versión mini, o bien en un molde ligeramente más pequeño y alto, pero tengan cuidado en este caso porque si el relleno llega al borde, es muy posible que el mismo rebalse durante la cocción ya que la torta crece un poco en el horno. Cualquier sea el molde que elijan, entonces, cuiden de no llenarlo hasta el tope. Y les recomiendo, asimismo, que sea de aquellos que se retira el costado, porque será más facil de desmoldar.
Ahora sí, sin más introducciones, he aquí la receta:
Ingredientes:
Para la masa: 200 grs de harina, 1 cucharada de té de polvo de hornear, 3 cucharadas soperas de azucar, 75 grs de manteca, 100 cc de leche. Nota: Si la manteca está demasiado blanda, será necesario agregar menor cantidad de leche or la masa estará demasiado pegajosa y no se podrá armar un bollo con ella.
Para el relleno: 250 grs de queso blanco o queso philadelphia (en Argentina usaba mendicrim o casancrem, pero usen el que más les guste!. La receta original pedía ricotta pero no la hago así porque no me gusta). 2 yemas, 2 cucharadas de fecula de maiz (maizena), 1 lata chica de leche condensada azucarada (397 grs), 2 cucharaditas de té de esencia de vainilla, 2 claras batidas a nieve.
Preparación:
Prepare la masa: Coloque harina, polvo de hornear y azucar en un bowl y mezcle todo con un batidor de alambre. Agregue la manteca cortada en trozos, desmenuzandola con los dedos e integrándola con los ingredientes secos. Agregue la leche de a poco, hasta que se pueda formar un bollo de masa. Cubra con papel film y lleve a la heladera por 15 minutos.
Prepare el relleno: Coloque yemas, fécula y queso crema en un bowl y mezcle hasta que esté todo bien incorporado. Agregue la leche condensada poco a poco, integrando bien y batiendo para que no queden grumos ( Si tiene batidor electrico, aproveche y usela porque será mas facil librarse de los grumos, pero sepa que si no cuenta con una, no hay problema). Agregue la vainilla e incorpore. Agregue las claras batidas a nieve al batido de queso, incorporandolas con movimientos envolventes.
Arme la cheesecake: Precaliente el horno a 175 grados. Retire la masa de la heladera, y estirela sobre la mesa o mesada hasta que tenga aproximadamente 1/2 cm. Envuelvala en el palote para levantarla y cubra el molde deseado, previamente enmantecado y enharinado. Presione la masa con los dedos para que se adhiera bien al molde y pinchela con un tenedor (para que no se levante mucho en el horno). Vierta el relleno sobre la masa, y empareje dando golpes contra la mesada. Lleve a horno durante aproximadamente 50 minutos, o hasta que el relleno deje de moverse al sacudir ligeramente el molde. Nota: Le aconsejo que se guíen ligeramente por los tiempos de cocción porque pueden variar mucho de un horno a otro, el mejor método para saber si está lista y si no se desarmará al cortar es, simplemente, tomar el molde con ambas manos cuando aún está en el horno, y moverlo apenas. Si la torta “se mueve”, no está lista. Una vez lista, apague el horno y deje la cheesecake dentro durante 15 minutos ( si no lo hacen y la retiran inmediatamente se hundirá como me ocurrió a mí por olvidadiza!0. Transcurrido este tiempo, retirela del horno y deje enfriar.
Decore: Una vez que la torta esté totalmente fría, pincele con mermelada y cubra con frutas de su preferencia justo antes de servir. Nota: Como pueden ver en las fotos anteriores, yo no pincelé sino que cubrí con cantidades generosas de mermelada. La razón es que mi cheesecake se habia hundido al medio, así que rellené el hueco con mermelada y frutas!
I hope you like this recipe! It is one of my favourites!
Have a wonderful week, and see you on Thursday!
by Marcela M. | Jun 1, 2012 | Blog, Uncategorized
Good evening dear friends!
I am so happy to finally be able to show you the blog’s new face. After working on it for over two months, and exchanging 98 emails with adorable Jessica the day has come to see all those ideas come to life!
Let me recap a little bit how this all began. As I mentioned in this post, ever since the time I started this blog, I wanted to make it pretty but lacked the knowledge and resources to do so. Back in March I got really lucky and won a blog makeover for a basic wordpress design package by Jessica Sims. I had seen the announcement in Makin’Cute blogs and, after checking Jessica’s website and portfolio, I decided to participate.
I should probably tell you right now that I had no expectation to win, because I have never won anything in my life. I wanted it badly, but I never thought it could happen. I subscribed to Jessica’s facebook page and one day, to my surprise, she announced that I had won! I had been saving some money towards a new blog design for some time, so I asked Jessica whether I could upgrade to the Extreme WordPress Design Package, and to my delight, she accepted. I put my ideas together, filled the necessary form, made the 1st payment and Jessica got to work! She prepared mock designs, we went back and forth with ideas, colours, little tweaks here and there and, this week, it was ready!
As you most probably have already noticed, we introduced many changes, and not only cosmetic ones. Yes, the colours are different, the pictures are bigger and there are cute icons everywhere. But that is not all: all posts have been classified, categorized and subcategorized to make the blog more user-friendly. There is now a homepage, which displays the most recent posts from the blog’s main categories, so that you have a clear idea of what’s new and whether you may have missed a post. The pages on the menu above store all posts from each category, organized chronologically. And there is also a “Recipe Box”, organized with index cards, where all recipes are stored with a thumbnail photo and a link to the post where they were published so that they are easy to locate.
We also added an amazon store (as part of Amazon.com’s associates programme), where I have listed the products I use and love, as well as the books that inspire me. I will complete the listings in the following days, and I will keep it updated regularly, so that if you want to know what precise product I used for a post, you can find it easily. I have also listed my photography equipment because I keep getting questions about it! I will explain a bit about how I use it in the new “photography” section, in the upcoming weeks.
In addition to all of this, from this post on, this blog will be bilingual. Every post will be written in English and Spanish, which is my mother tongue. I had always wanted to do it but, with my old theme, it looked messy. Jessica has now made it possible (isn’t she a real angel?). If you are a Spanish speaker, just scroll down until the end of each post and the translation will be there.
So, browse around and make yourselves comfortable, grab some cake and a cup of tea, relax on the couch, listen to some music. I’ll come back on Monday with the first recipe of this new era: the most delicious cheesecake of all!
Have a wonderful weekend!
Con sabor latino…
Buenas noches queridos amigos!
Estoy inmensamente feliz de que finalmente haya llegado el momento de mostrarles la nueva cara del blog. Luego de trabajar en el nuevo diseño durante más de dos meses e intercambiar 98 emails con Jessica (la diseñadora), finalmente ha llegado el día de ver todas esas ideas en práctica!
Recapitulemos un poco: Como les había comentado en este post, desde que comencé a escribir este blog deseaba que fuera bonito, pero no tenía ni los conocimientos técnicos ni el dinero para lograrlo. En marzo de este año, tuve muchisima suerte y gané un pack de diseño basico de Jessica Sims Design. Yo había visto el anuncio del sorteo en la página web de Makin Cute Blogs y, luego de visitar la página web y el portfolio de Jessica, me había decidido a participar.
Quiero aclarar en este preciso momento que yo no tenía la más mínima esperanza de ganar el sorteo porque nunca he ganado nada en mi vida! Lo deseaba muchisimo pero no creía que fuera posible. Me suscribí a la página de facebook de Jessica porque me gustaba su trabajo y, cual no seria mi sorpresa cuando un día vi que había ganado! Como había estado ahorrando dinero desde hacia ya un tiempo para poder afrontar un nuevo diseño, le pregunté a Jessica si podía hacer un upgrade y pagar la diferencia que había con el pack de diseño extremo y, para mi alegrón, ella dijo que sí! Junté mis ideas, envié el formulario de diseño, hice el primer pago y Jessica puso manos a la obra. Preparó bocetos, fuimos y volvimos con ideas, colores, y ajustes varios y, finalmente, esta semana, el diseño estuvo terminado!
Como seguramente ya se han dado cuenta, los cambios son numerosos, y no son sólo cosmeticos. Sí, la paleta de colores es distinta, las fotos son mucho más grandes y hay íconitos por todos los rincones. Pero eso no es todo: todos los posts han sido clasificados, categorizados y subcategorizados para que el blog sea más amigable para el visitante. Hay una pagina de inicio donde van a encontrar los posts más recientes de las categorias principales, para que puedan saber rápidamente qué hay de nuevo y si se perdieron algún post. Las páginas del menu principal (arriba) almacenan todos los posts de esa categoría, ordenados cronológicamente. Todas las recetas estan ordenadas, ademas, en una “caja de recetas” con indices, una fotito y un link al post en el que fueron publicadas, para que sea fácil localizarlas.
Tambien incorporamos una tienda amazon (dentro del programa de asociados de amazon.com), donde encontrarán listados de todos los productos que uso y que me gustan, incluyendo aquellos libros que me inspiran. En los proximos días terminaré de ponerla al día, y la actualizaré periodicamente, asi pueden encontrar cualquier producto que les haga falta rapidamente (compren o no en la tienda, lo importante para mi no es eso sino que tengan la información). Dentro de la misma tienda he incorporado también mi equipo fotográfico, porque recibo muchas preguntas acerca del mismo! En las proximas semanas explicaré un poco cómo lo uso en la nueva sección “photography”.
Además de esto, a partir de este post, este blog va a ser bilingue. A partir de ahora, todos los posts serán escritos en inglés y castellano. En realidad esto es algo que siempre quise hacer pero no se veía bien con el diseño anterior. Jessica hizo posible cumplir este deseo ( ¿no es un angel?). Así es que, queridos amigos hispanoparlantes, de ahora en más sólo tendrán que llegarse a este rincón al final de cada post, donde los estará esperando la traducción (no literal) correspondiente.
Ahora den una vuelta, ponganse cómodos, tomen un pedazo de torta y una taza de té, relajense en el sillon, escuchen algo de música, estan en su casa. Yo estaré de regreso el lunes con la primer receta de esta nueva etapa: ¡¡la cheesecake más deliciosa de todas!!
¡Que pasen un hermoso fin de semana!
by Marcela M. | May 25, 2012 | Blog, Cakes, Recipe Box, Recipes, Sweets, Uncategorized
Good morning dear friends!
Today I bring you another recipe from Circulo Whole Kitchen. As I mentioned in my post from last week, this month I started participating in the culinary challenges proposed by Whole Kitchen Magazine, and their sweet suggestion for May 2012 was the ultra popular zebra cake.
The zebra cake is, basically, a vanilla and chocolate cake, marbled to resemble the stripes of a zebra. This is achieved by putting the batter in the pan one or two spoons at a time, alternating colours. When looked from the top, the cake looks like a succession of circles, but when cut in slices, the zebra stripes appear, making it an instant hit with children- and with adults!
In this occasion, I used the recipe provided to us by Whole Kitchen and followed the directions exactly, because I am always happy to try ones, but know that since the effect is mainly visual, you can simply use your favourite vanilla cake recipe, divide the batter in two, add two tablespoons of cocoa (I prefer dark cocoa) to one half, and go ahead with the method for placing the batter in the pan, as you would with this one. And you could even use a boxed cake or change flavours and colours!
This recipe is a very nice one, though, and I encourage you to try it. It is a simple cake, with a spongy texture (because the eggs are beaten with the sugar until white, which makes them fluffy) and not overly sweet. It makes a nice everyday coffee cake, but if you are making it for a child’s party, you could also cover it in chocolate ganache, or cover the sides with peanuts (as Kim did here, for example, and then the zebra stripes could come out as a surprise! The cake’s pattern would be perfect for birthday themes such as Safari, Young Explorers, Animals, Madagascar (the movie) or Africa.
The only variation I introduced to the original one, was the size of the pan: instead of baking my zebra cake in a normal sized pan, i did it in small ramequins. I like to bake cakes in small containers so that I can freeze those that will not be eaten immediately without losing freshness. This batter is enough for a 9 inch pan, or for 6 ramequins (mine are from Ikea). I do have to point out, though, that the effect of the zebra stripes is less noticeable when baked in small pans, as you can see from my pictures. So, if you want the full wow effect of the zebra stripes, it is probably better to stick to the traditional size.
Here is the recipe I used:
Ingredients
4 large eggs
250 grs sugar
250 ml milk
250 ml sunflower oil
300 grs all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
2 tablespoons cocoa powder
Preparation
Oil and flour a cake pan and pre-heat the oven to 180C.
Beat sugar and eggs until white and fluffy. Add oil and beat until well-integrated, and then add milk slowly, beating all the time.
In a different container, mix flour and baking powder. Whisk to integrate.
Add dry to wet ingredients in three times, integrating well before each new addition.
Separate the batter in two and add cocoa powder to one half.
Assemble the cake by pouring the batter in the center of the pan, using an ice cream scoop, alternating colours ( two scoops of vanilla batter, one scoop of cocoa batter, two scoops of vanilla batter, and so on).
Bake for 40 minutes at 180 C.
Note: If you change the size of the pan, remember that the oven times change as well! My mini cakes only took 18 minutes to be ready!
I hope that you like it! Have you ever made a zebra cake before?
Have a nice weekend!
by Marcela M. | May 18, 2012 | Blog, Main courses, Recipe Box, Recipes, Savories, Uncategorized
Good morning dear friends! Are you ready for the weekend?
Today I bring you a post with a delicious recipe that I discovered through Whole Kitchen cooking club, El Circulo Whole Kitchen.Whole Kitchen Magazine provides two recipes to its members every month ( one sweet and one savory), and the savory proposal for May 2012 was fish cakes.
I immediately liked the idea because, even though we live on an island, I have found it hard to incorporate fish into our diet, particularly that of our children. When I read the recipe for these fish cakes, I loved how versatile it was: I could shape them in different ways to make them more attractive for Luka and Zoe, and I could sneak in vegetables (Yes, I do that, I have picky eating toddlers!). The recipe also suits very well Cyprus lovely Spring weather, and it was perfect for a quick-lunch at the balcony, after the children came back from nursery school.
Whole Kitchen provided us with two different recipes: one from Jamie Oliver, which called for salmon and potatoes, and the other one from Trotamundos, which called for white fish, beans and potatoes. I decided to make my variation and used white fish fillets, potatoes, and butternut squash for a sweeter taste.
These fish cakes are really, really simple to make and they require very few ingredients: all you need is fish, potatoes and squash, plus one egg and a bit of flour and bread crumbs for assembling them, that’s all. The procedure couldn’t be easier but it may take a bit of time if you decide to give them a specific shape, as I did. First, you need to boil or steam the vegetables until very tender. In the meantime, cook the fish in the oven for about 10 minutes, drizzled with olive oil and covered in aluminum foil. Once everything is cooked, you simply have to mash the vegetables, add the fish and a bit of parsley (or other spice of your own preference) shape the cakes, flour them and fry them in just a bit of oil.
As I mentioned, I did not make these cakes round, as it is traditional. Instead, since I was going to be serving them to my children, I decided to use a fish-shaped cookie cutter to make them more enticing.
In order to give them this shape, I covered a cookie sheet with foil, extended the preparation on top, covered it with more foil and put the sheet in the fridge for half an hour, for it to get some consistency. After this time, I took it out and started cutting little fish with my cutter and placing them on a plate. Once I was done, I put the fish cakes back in the fridge for another half an hour. This is necessary for them not to lose their shape when you flour them.
After half an hour, I took the fish cakes out of the fridge, floured them (passing by flour, egg and bread crumbs) and fried them in just a tiny bit of oil, until golden. The next time I make them I will try to bake them in the oven, but since this was the first time, I decided to stick to the traditional cooking methods. Frying them makes them crispy on the outside while remaining soft on the inside – and they are just delicious!
I also decided to keep the flavours simple, so that the sweetness of the squash would be palpable, and therefore used as condiment only a bit of parsley, salt and pepper. You could be more adventurous, and try to add other spices either in the main mixture or by flavouring the bread crumbs with lemon zest or a Provençal mix (garlic and parsley), for example.
Fish cakes are traditionally accompanied by French fries, but I decided to go for a healthier option and opted for a quick, simple salad of cucumbers and cherry tomatoes instead. While I like to eat fried food on occasions, I don’t have a big resistance to it, and I find that I can tolerate them better if I eat them with fresh vegetables. I am a big fan of salads all year-long, but I must confess that I could pretty much live on them during the warmer months!
Here’s the recipe:
Ingredients:
– 3 fish fillets
– 2 medium-sized potatoes
– 5 slices of butternut squash
– Parsley, salt and pepper to taste
– Flour
– breadcrumbs
-Oil for frying
Preparation:
– Dice potatoes and squash and put in a saucepan, cover with water and bring to the boil until tender.
– Put the fish fillets in an oven tray, add salt and pepper and drizzle with olive oil. Cover with aluminum foil and cook for about 10 minutes.
– Mash the potatoes and squash. Crumble the fish fillets and add them to the vegetable purée. Add salt and pepper to taste and parsley, if desired.
– Shape small cakes with the help of your hands, place them on a tray, and put them in the fridge for half an hour. If you want to give the cakes a cookie cutter shape, extend the mixture on an oven tray covered in foil, put it in the fridge for half an hour, and only after this use the cookie cutter.
– Slightly beat one egg. Remove the cakes from the fish, flour them, dip them in egg, and pass them by bread crumbs so that these stick to them.
– Put a bit of oil in a frying pan and, once heated, add the fish cakes, until golden on both sides. Serve.
I hope you’ll like them!
Have a great weekend!
