It's JustMe Just being a Chef

*waves to all her blog friends*

This is just a post to ensure that my blog gets moved to WordPress with the rest of you!  Once the computer at home is sorted again, I promise to post again!!

Break an egg,

JustChef

xxxxx

At the first Bloggers’ Conference way back in 2010, I was introduced to Wedgewood Nougat. Now just so you know, Mr JustChef HATES nougat. Well the ones you buy at Clicks with the jelly bits in. That is, until he tasted the Wedgewood Nougat!! Damn! *stomps foot* I had to share! His new found addiction got quite bad actually, with him stopping off at the Spar almost every night to get his daily fix. No, I am not complaining, I happily assisted him in his Nightly Nougat Ritual, which usually happened at around 20:30. Yes, you figured it out, right after Little JustChef’s bedtime!

Recently we discovered that Wedgewood also made biscuits. Satan’s Spawn Angel’s they call them! Little evil shortbread biscuits studded with chewy nougat pieces. Mr JustChef had a new addiction! It got so bad that Little JustChef would make me share out the packet so that she would get her fair share!

So, I have a confession. Until now, I have not been a very good cookie / biscuit baker! There, I said it! That is until I discovered Marisa’s recipe for her Hazelnut & Choc-Chunk Cookies. It took a while for me to brave the recipe as my previous cookie baking experiences were usually only pre-Christmas cookie baking experiences. I made them and we were hooked … instantly! Mr JustChef declared them the best cookies he had EVER eaten.

During one of his newly found Angel’s rituals, he commented that he thought that he no longer liked shortbread biscuits, because he preferred Marisa’s cookies. It got me thinking and Choc-Nut Nougat Cookies began inventing themselves in my head. I HAD TO MAKE THEM! So here’s what I did:

Ingredients:

250g Butter

375ml Brown Sugar

2 Eggs

2TBSP Milk

1tsp Vanilla Essence

565ml White Bread Flour

1tsp Salt

1tsp Baking Powder

180g slab Cadbury Whole Nut Chocolate, roughly chopped into not too small pieces

110g bar Wedgewood Macadamia Nut Nougat, roughly chopped into not too small pieces – I found putting it in the freezer to harden a bit made the chopping easier and less messy (and yes, I used my kitchen scissors!)

Method:

In a large mixing bowl, melt the butter in the microwave. Add the brown sugar and beat with an electric beater for about two minutes. Beat in the eggs (it’ll turn all fudgey) and stir in the milk and vanilla essence. Sift the flour, salt and baking powder together. Add about a quarter of the flour to the butter mixture, stirring to combine. Continue until all the flour is added. Add the chocolate and the nougat and mix well. If you have enough space in your freezer, cover the bowl with clingwrap and freeze overnight. I transferred the dough to an ice cream tub, put the lid on and then put it in the freezer. When you are ready to bake the cookies, remove the dough from the freezer and preheat the oven to 190°C. Line a biscuit tray with baking paper and shape the dough into balls – I used a very generous tablespoonful of dough to make each cookie. Place cookies on baking tray with plenty of space between each cookie so they can spread and bake for 14 minutes. Allow to cool slightly and transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely (yeah right, good luck with that!).

Makes about 40 large cookies.

I only bake a few at a time, so I shaped all my cookies and froze them on a lined baking tray. When frozen, I transferred them to a freezer bag and when the craving strikes I only bake the amount we are craving. Mr JustChef likes his with a steaming cup of tea or hot chocolate and I just eat them as they are!

Break an egg!

JustChef

DISCLAIMER: I take no responsibility for any addictions caused by these babies!

It started as a joke, really! And then somehow snowballed. Read about it here! Trust me you’ll laugh as much as we did.

So there I sat and wondered what I would serve. I thought of the Woolworths logo.  Then the joke about the blonde at the M&M factory sprang to mind.  I turned the “W” logo around and ended up with an “M”.  ”MacDonalds!”, I shouted, getting stares from Mr JustChef.  It took a while to explain that I was not trying to offer him dinner, but that I would be making burgers!  If Woolworths can make mini burgers, then why can’t I? Giggling hysterically, I explained that I would be making Quarter Pounders – but mini ones – well, large ones, cut into quarters!  We all know that burgers are served with chips, so decided to take my inspiration from our Lefty, over at Woman24.  Right, this was taking shape.  Mr JustChef announced that I should have something sweet too, so sweets were added to the shopping list!  I rarely entertain without a cheese and fruit board of sorts, so that had to be done too!

So I present to you:

Quarter Pounders with Chips (with barbeque spice)

Imported cheese, biscuits and Guava Roll hearts board (hey, if Cindy can make ClemenGold hearts, I can make Guava Roll hearts!)

A selection of sweet treats

Note my stylish cheese board, compliments of the nice people at Perdeberg Winery!

This was SO much fun to do!  Thanks my crazy friends!

Break an egg!

JustChef

PS: This is NOT an entry into the Food24 Burger Competition, but is one for Sidey’s Weekend Challenge too!

My father died when I was 16. He worked on an oil rig on a “month on – month off” rotation. My mother was a very bad cook! She believed that everything needed to be coated in a good layer of sunflower oil *shudders*. When my dad was home, I would spend hours watching him concoct the most fabulous, comforting meals! I’d ask him for the recipe and he would say “Unless you are baking something, a recipe should only be used for inspiration”. Our bathroom was often littered with recipe books – for inspiration! Hopefully this one of mine will inspire you. I “invented” it when I was about 27. It’s never the same! I may add extra fillings or change the soup powder.

Ingredients:

700g Mince (I used an ostrich / beef mixture)

1 pkt Heaty Beef soup powder

1 Tblsp Dried Mixed Herbs

2 Eggs, lightly beaten

1 Onion, finely chopped

Butter, for frying

1 pkt Streaky Bacon (rindless)

100 Mushrooms, finely chopped

1 bunch of Spinach, chopped and wilted (extra water squeezed out)

1½ rounds of Feta Cheese

1 cup of Mature Cheddar, coarsely grated

Method:

Fry the onion in a little butter until soft, but not browned. Dish out ¾ of the onion and set aside to cool. Keep 9 or 10 bacon rashers (depending on their width) whole and finely chop the rest. Add the mushrooms and the bacon to the pan with the ¼ fried onion and cook until the mushrooms and bacon are cooked, but not crispy. Remove from heat and allow to cool. In a large mixing bowl, mix together the mince, the ¾ cooled onion, the soup powder, the herbs and the eggs (go on, use your hands!) Press out onto a piece of foil (that has been Spray & Cooked) to form a rectangle. Make sure the length of the mince rectangle is the same size as the length of your roasting pan. Top the mince with the spinach, the feta, the mushroom and bacon mixture and the cheddar cheese. Lightly press to compact.

Using the foil as your kitchen helper, roll up the mince to form a “Swiss Roll” – ensure that none of your kitchen helper goes into your mince roll! Place into a greased roasting pan, seam side down and refrigerate for at least an hour. This can also be done the night before. Remove from fridge and cover with the reserved bacon rashers.

Cover lightly with foil and place in oven. Unless I am baking, I never preheat my oven (have you seen the new Eskom rates?). Switch your oven onto the highest setting and check on your mince roll when it reaches 200 degrees. The exposed mince, should be lightly browned and look cooked (it takes about 50 minutes in my oven). If it does not looked browned, place it back in the oven for around 15 minutes. Remove foil and return the oven. This is just to brown the bacon. Once the bacon is nicely browned, remove from the oven and allow to rest before slicing and serving with buttery mash and vegetables.

Leftovers can be sliced and served on fresh rolls with lettuce, tomato and thinly sliced onion.

Serves 6 hungry people or 8 not-so-hungry people.

Break an egg!

JustChef

I got this recipe for this unusual cake from David Lebovitz’s blog, here.

I absolutely LOVE crème caramel and Mr JustChef is a bit of a chocolate-anything-aholic. Bonus, both our vices satisfied with one cake!

I made homemade caramel (dulce de leche) which I slightly undercooked as I thought it would brown further in the hour of cooking *makes note not to do that again* I also used David’s advice to not use all the caramel *makes note to not do that again either – I mean, can there ever be too much caramel?* I also followed David’s advice and cooked it for longer *makes note to start checking it sooner next time*. The brownie layer was a little overcooked (but still delicious) and the caramel layer a little denser (but also, still delicious), so I’ll definitely take it out sooner next time. Yes, even though it did not come out “perfect” or look anything like David’s it was a sure winner!

Ingredients

3/4 cup caramel (as mentioned I’ll use a whole can)

For the chocolate brownie layer:

3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup flour
1/3 cup cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
pinch of salt
1/2 cup buttermilk
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 egg, at room temperature
1/2 teaspoon vanilla essence

For the crème caramel layer:

1 can Ideal Milk
1 can condensed milk
4 eggs, at room temperature
1/2 teaspoon vanilla essence
1/2 teaspoon salt

Method

Preheat the oven to 190ºC. Spray a large cake pan (not a springform pan) with Spray & Cook.

Smear the caramel on the sides and bottom of the cake pan … go on, use it all!

Make the brownie layer by whisking together, in a large bowl, the sugar, flour, cocoa, bicarb, baking powder and salt. In a smaller bowl or measuring jug, mix the buttermilk, oil, egg and vanilla. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and, with a spatula, mix until just combined. Scrape the mixture onto the caramel layer and level out. NO, I am not going crazy *cue X-Files music* The brownie layer RISES over the crème caramel layer when it bakes to form the base of the cake!

Make the crème caramel layer by mixing together all the ingredients, until smooth. Carefully pour the mixture (over the back of a large serving spoon) onto the brownie layer.

Lightly cover the cake pan with foil and place in a roasting dish that will serve as a bain-marie. Fill the roasting pan with boiling water so that the water level is around half way up the sides of the cake pan. Place in oven and bake for 50 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the middle, comes out relatively clean (like when you bake brownies – you want some gooey bits). See, I only tested after an hour and 15 minutes and will not do so next time. Once baked, carefully remove from the oven and remove the cake pan from the roasting dish. Leave to cool and place in refrigerator until you are ready to serve your masterpiece! I left mine in the refrigerator overnight and perhaps that is when the “extra” caramel was sucked up by the crème caramel part?! It had pulled away from the sides and I did not need to loosen the sides. Top cake pan with serving plate and turn upside down. Tap lightly to release the cake.

Watch in awe as your guests, or husband, tries to figure out which layer is best!

Break an egg!

JustChef

EDIT: I have made this again with store bought caramel and once again all the caramel was soaked up! My friend, Douglas, made it and only had it in the fridge for about an hour or so before removing it from the cake pan and his turned out perfectly! Note to self: do not refrigerate in cake pan overnight!!  

A turnaround big enough to inspire a blog revival!

Quick background:

For those of you who don’t know it, we live in the Helderberg area.

For those of you who do know the Helderberg area, you’ll know that there are not very many child friendly restaurants, particularly in the Strand, offering good food, at reasonable prices.

Now you all know!

Don’t get me wrong, we have the Spurs (yes, it seems we need four of them), we have La Romatica, Jimmy Killer Prawns, Cattle Baron and many more, but we were lacking in the “where can we go for a quick bite to eat, that is child friendly and does not have wigwams for lights?”! Little Chef is almost 10, so our days at the Spur are pretty much numbered *does huge happy dance*

Enter Saul’s! Yes, that’s the end of the “Quick background”.

We first “encountered” Saul’s in the Strand at the beginning of February. What a disaster. I was blogging pretty regularly at the time, so I made a little list of all the mishaps – to do a post. My little list became a 15 point list! Most of the points were service related. Mr JustChef referred to the evening as a “nightmare”. I decided not to do a blog post then, as Saul’s Sushi is our favourite sushi restaurant and we had decided to rather contact the owner personally. Seeing as us Helderbergers are a tight bunch, word of mouth can do huge harm! We wanted Saul’s to stay! But we wanted them to drastically change their service.

E-mails backed and forthed through cyber space. Phone calls were exchanged. We were offered a free meal, which we declined. Mr JustChef had decided that he would never return! I was saddened by his attitude because, damn it man, their food is excellent! I wanted to sink my teeth into their rib-eye steak again. I mean, do you blame me? Look at it!

To make a long story short, I told Saul that I would try and convince Mr JustChef to return. Success! He agreed, but (there always has to be one of those, hey?), he would go on his terms. Nobody would know we were going. And we would pay for our meal. He set the date and my heart pounded as we walked up the stairs. Was the “nightmare” going to be repeated? The evening went really well. I got to sink my teeth into that steak again and we gave Saul the positive feedback that we felt he deserved. We were once again offered a meal on the house.  At first Mr JustChef was not keen, but eventually agreed.

So last night we climbed the stairs again. Saul had made our booking, so we knew that we would probably get preferential service from the manager, but what we got, totally blew us away!!!!! The manager, Ryan, was charming and seemed to keep an eye on us just enough to notice when our food was on the way and to remove our ashtray from the table before our food arrived! Our waiter, Bridgitte, was … um … AWESOME! We got the feeling that she had no idea that we had had a bad experience there before, which was so nice! We did not want to feel like “the bad guys”! She really knows how to do her job! Drinks orders were delivered efficiently, food orders were placed correctly and boy, was the food awesome! Those Tater Tops – man! Mr JustChef reckons he could go back just to eat bowls of the stuff! *whispers* me too, but let’s keep that between us, okay?

Just for the record, we did offer to pay for our meal, but were told that it was on the “Big Guy”. So, all we can say is thank you “Big Guy”! Thank you for listening and making the changes! Wow, you really have a winning team at your Strand branch now and we cannot wait to tell everyone about it and to go back to be served by Ryan and Bridgitte again!

Check out there menu here and if you happen to be in the Helderberg area, do yourself a favour and have a meal at Saul’s!

PS: Sorry about the quality of the photo, Mr JustChef would not let me take the camera, so my cellphone was used!

I made these Jalapeno Poppers a few weeks ago, as a starter for our braai, which included the Spinach and Bacon Mielie Bread. I’d been looking for the chillies for ages, as the ones I normally find are either too small or look worse for wear! I’ve read a few recipes for the poppers and half say “don’t precook the chillies” and the other half say “precook the chillies”. The latter 50% say “it makes deseeding the chillies easier”. And naturally I like easy! So, here’s my version!

Ingredients

4 Jalapeno Chilli Peppers

4 tablespoons of Spring Onion and Chives Cream Cheese

2 rashers of streaky bacon, grilled and finely chopped – YAY to the kitchen scissors!

1 egg, beaten

Bread crumbs, seasoned

Sunflower oil, for deep frying

Method

While the bacon was grilling (I needed grilled bacon for the bread too – I multi-tasked! – well, my oven did!), I placed the peppers on a separate tray and roasted them in the oven. I put them in when I switched the oven on and left them in there (turning once or twice) until the bacon was crispy and the peppers had softened, but not browned. While the peppers are cooling, mix the cream cheese and the finely chopped bacon. Set aside, but not in the fridge, as it’s easier to work with a softer cheese. Carefully slit the peppers on the side (YAY to the kitchen scissors AGAIN) and scrape out all the seeds and the bits that the seeds grow on. I used the back of a teaspoon and it worked quite well. I would like to add here, that licking one’s fingers after doing this is NOT a good idea! What?! I got thirsty and my Merlot needed ice! Okay, back to the poppers! Carefully spoon the filling into the peppers and try and close them as much as possible. Place in freezer for about 10 minutes for them to harden up a bit. This makes crumbing them easier. After their 10 minute rest, dip them in the egg and then into the seasoned bread crumbs. Return them to the freezer for another 10 minutes. Re-egg and re-crumb and re-freeze. This sounds like a lot of work, but I promise it is not and the cooling prevents the cheese from cooking out during frying. Heat oil in a small saucepan and fry until golden brown. Drain and serve. I mixed a little milk into the left over cheese filling, to make a dipping sauce.

Sadly, this one does not make it into Little Chef’s Recipe Book – but only because there was no way she was going to try it! It does however make it onto Mr JustChef’s Favorite List! Unfortunately they were all gone before we could get a photo of their insides! *makes note to make these again, soon, for the sole purpose of photographing the insides … yeah right!*

Break an egg!

JustChef

PS: Is it “chilli” or “chili” and “chilies” or “chillies”?

I found this recipe in the March 2011 copy of my Fresh Living Magazine, adapted it slightly (ok, so I just left out the stuff that Mr JustChef does not like!) and we are hooked! The smell of bacon grilling in the oven, then the smell of this little baby happily baking away, woke Mr JustChef from his afternoon nap! To be honest the smell of bacon could raise me from the deepest sleep too! This was really quick to make and the texture and taste are incredible too!

Ingredients

6-8 bacon rashers, grilled and finely chopped (I use my kitchen scissors for the finely chopped bit)

500ml self-raising flour

125ml cheddar cheese, grated

100g Swiss chard, blanched and finely chopped (gotto love them kitchen scissors)

1 can corn kernels (not the sweetcorn type), drained

125ml Saint Sebastian Bay Extra Virgin Olive Oil (as found in my goodie bag at the FBI2011)

3 extra-large eggs

Salt and Pepper

Method

Preheat oven to 200ºC.

Grease and line a deep loaf pan.

Mix bacon, flour, cheddar, Swiss chard and corn together.

Whisk oil, eggs and seasoning together.

Stir into dry ingredients to make a batter.

Pour into loaf pan and bake for about 30 minutes (start testing to see if the bread is cooked after about 25 minutes).

Leave to cool slightly, in pan.

Remove from tin and serve.

I served this warm, with lashings of butter, as a side for a flame grilled lazy aged steak and a green salad!

This one definitely makes it into Little Chef’s Recipe Book. I hope you try it and please let me know if this is a winner with your family too!

Break an egg!

JustChef

Guess Who’s Back …

Yeah, yeah, yeah! I’m not going to go in to the whole “Why I Was Missing” thing. Let’s just say this is my food blog and I will blog when I want to! *sung to Cindy Lauper’s little number that was really popular MANY years ago!*

*waves at her welcoming fans and blushes*

I managed to land myself a stunning Verlaque Gift Bag in their “Upside Down V Challenge”!!! YAY ME!! Encased in the beautiful packaging was jar of “Burnt Orange Seville Preserve”. Come on Verlaque!!! I am a “basic beginner” blogger! No fancy schmancy goodies come out of my humble little kitchen!

However, after a little inspiration from Nina and I-Like-Silly’s Fudge Bread, I came up with these babies!!

Chocolate Orange Chelsea Buns

Ingredients

1 pkt Ready Made Bread Dough – thanks to My Spar!

Verlaque Burnt Orange Seville Preserve

3 Tablespoons Treacle Sugar

100g Dark Chocolate, chopped into smallish chunks

Ground Cinnamon

125ml Cream

Glaze:

1 Cup Icing Sugar, sifted

2ml Lemon Juice

Water, as required

Method

Preheat oven to 180 degrees.

Cover work surface with flour (to prevent the dough from REALLY irritating you).

Roll / press out dough into a rectangular shape. Make sure it is quite thin as it will still rise!

Generously spread with Verlaque Burnt Orange Seville Preserve. Don’t be shy! We could have used more, but were scared it would be too overpowering.

Sprinkle sugar over preserve.

Sprinkle chocolate chunks over preserve and sugar and lightly sprinkle with cinnamon (less than a tablespoon – these are Chocolate Orange Chelsea Buns, not normal cinnamon buns!)

Roll up dough, like a swiss roll, lengthways.

Cut into 2,5cm rounds.

Grease a dish, well, and place said rounds into dish – cut side up. Leave space for them to rise!

Leave to rise until they have doubled in size and pour cream over dough.

Cover with foil and bake for 20 minutes.

Remove foil and bake until cooked through and golden brown.

Allow to cool while you mix the glaze ingredients until you have a smooth and not-too-runny icing glaze.

Pour over Chelsea Buns and allow glaze to set.

Serve with a cup of good, strong coffee or a delicious cup of Jasmine Tea!

It’s the WEEKEND – believe me I have been counting down the days! Little Chef comes home from her holiday in the Northern Cape and life will return to normal – whatever THAT is.

I finally got around to posting my Decadent Sticky Toffee Pudding Review in my Pick n Pay Fresh Living Challenge.

You can read it here!

Hope you all have a fantastic weekend!

Until next time,

JustChef