Strawberry Time - Strawberry, Mascarpone & Chocolate Cake

Some say it is best to eat foods that are in season. I especially enjoy this with regards to strawberries. They taste so much better, when they are fresh from the region compared to the ones you get at the supermarket and are imported from who knows where. Last year we didn't take full advantage of that, but this year will make up for it. Nearby is a large field of strawberries where you can pick them for yourselves at a very good price. Therefore whenever we feel like it we head over and get some fresh strawberries. Well, that is when we have finished off the last once we got. Usually the last remaining once end up in a smoothie or something like that.
There are many ways to enjoy the strawberries. You can eat them fresh, with yoghurt, with your muesli, with curd cheese, in smoothies, in cakes, in salads ... well, we just watched Forrest Gump the other day, but I think I really shouldn't go into this part in detail of what you can do with strawberries like they did in the movie with shrimps ... hm ... eh ... well ... eh ... and that's about all you can do with strawberries. Well, I haven't got that much time and I really can't imagine an end of that list.
Therefore I will rather limit my writings to what I did and what I announced in the title of this blog post: Strawberry, Mascarpone & Chocolate Cake.

I tried to think of another name for this cake, but I really couldn't come up with any and above that in these days there are certain words you rather shouldn't use in public. Anyway, let's focus on the more important things ...

Picking strawberries is really enjoyable for me, in the sun, it's relaxing after a full day at the office. I reckon we still have a few weeks, maybe about two and then it will already be over with this field. I guess, though, it is not our fault.

We usually get about two kilos or a wee bit more of strawberries. After all we can easily return and get some more another day.

After we have gotten one of the key ingredients for our Strawberry, Mascarpone & Chocolate Cake, I reckon it is about time to start with the preparation ...

Summer Salad with Strawberries

So, here we are. Where? I don't know. Here it is supposed to be summer. The biggest event on this blog is gone now for some days and I have to get other things moving again. Back to normal? If ever I was normal ...
Well, there are still a few things I did before that are still on my list to blog away. Today we are going to have a salad for a change. I hope it's fresh and colourful enough so you like it. I was satisfied with it.
We have a mixed salad with strawberries. I went picking them from the strawberry field nearby and originally I wanted to go back for more, but now all the time I have a few spare minutes to do so, it's raining. Tough!

Ingredients:
Iceberg lettuce
Tomatoes
Cucumber
Walnuts
Red bell pepper
Strawberries
Parmesan
Olive Oil
Balsamic vinegar
Salt, pepper

Method:
Mix 1 part vinegar, 3 parts olive oil, salt and pepper to make a simple salad dressing.
Then cut all the vegetables, fruits and nuts into small pieces. Carefully mix it all together and serve with the dressing and some shavings of parmesan.

Well, that wasn't really much, but what else can I say about it ... hm ... tastes lovely. OK, you could still add a bit of parsley on top, if you happen to have any.

What Really Matters Strawberry Chocolate Muffins

Yes, it is really true, today I have some muffins for you, which I like to call "What Really Matters Strawberry Chocolate Muffins". Indeed, this is quite a long name, but in a minute or so I will tell you why it had to be.
It's time to go adventuring again. However (some might be disappointed), this time we have to do without hat and whip. Now I have the chance again to particpate in a lovely blog hop: Sweet Adventures Blog Hop (short SABH). It is run by 84th & 3rd, Dining with a Stud, The Capers of the Kitchen Crusader and occasional guest hostesses (hm?). The latter one is the case now in July, where Swah from the blog "Love Swah" is hosting.
Here comes the theme: Sweet Surprise. Right away, then, here is my sweet surprise: What Really Matters Strawberry Chocolate Muffins (short WRMSCM, but ... eh ... who cares).

Where is the surprise? 

Don't make a mess ... Strawberry Pavlova

I simply couldn't resist! While being on the local farmers market, strawberries were smiling at me. When strawberries smile at you, the only thing a man can do is ... go and buy them. Said and done! It was just a spur of the moment thing. I didn't have much in mind to do with them, apart from eating, which of course would be sufficient in itself.
However, as soon as the strawberries were in my possession, the mind started working. What do I still have at home and what do I fancy? Oh, I could do a simple cake with the strawberries on top. You could enjoy that with a dollop of cream.
"No", I said to myself "you are not going to bake anything!"
Well, then, I could make a mess, an Eton Mess. That would be lovely. Fine, you need meringue for that. I don't have any on stock and I don't want to go and buy some anyway.
What now? I could do a dish with courgettes and egg yolks at another time, which would leave me with some unused egg whites.

Accordingly I took myself a medium sized bowl and another one for storing and separated three eggs. The yolks went into the fridge for later use.

Here we are with those innocent egg whites. "You are not going to bake anything!" Right? So I turned the oven to 160 °C. The egg whites got one or two teaspoons of vanilla sugar and - who knows how much - maybe 200 g of plain white sugar. Then I took my handheld electric mixer and went on working the ingredients together.
If you would try to make meringues properly, you would go and first stiffen the egg whites until they form soft peaks and then add the sugar bit by bit and make things shiny. I couldn't be bothered at that time.

I prepared a baking sheet with baking parchment and just poured the content of my bowl on it. The tray went into the oven for 1 hour. That can be quite some time if you have some strawberries smiling at you. There is only one thing a man can do, when strawberries are smiling at him ... as a result I worked myself through the strawberries ... bit by bit.
At one point I restrained myself and did something else.

The large meringue was ready and I put it out to cool. Of course, you could leave it in the oven with the oven door slightly open and leave it to cool there. I couldn't be bothered.

I had some cream in the oven waiting eagerly to be put to great use. A bowl ... cream poured in it ... some more vanilla sugar ... and the mixer again. 
Now, if you are as skilled as I am, you manage some of the cream to spill out of the bowl before it is completely whipped. Whatever!
I squeezed a few strawberries and mixed them with the cream.

The cream in that state came over the meringue and then ... what was left of the strawberries, cut into quarters.

That didn't look that bad.  After all that, there were still enough strawberries left. Normally I would just eat it and don't think further about it, but in blog world, things need names.
To make a short story long, I can't dance. What does this have to do wit it? Here we are. Pavlova came to my mind. As far as I remembered it is some kind of dessert with meringue. So I checked it on Wikipedia just to make sure my mind was working correctly. It was.
According to Wikipedia, "Pavlova is a meringue-based dessert named after the Russian ballet dancer Anna Pavlova." Right, I still can't dance and if I could, it would for sure be far from called ballet. Ah, maybe I can dance a tiny bit after all, But how could I know.
So just one more fact I found out during my research. Pavlova (not the dancer), at least that is what is believed, was first created after or during on of Pavlova's (yes, the dancer) tour to Australia and New Zealand in the 1920s. This dessert was created in honour to the ballet dancer Anna Pavlova.

Anyway, this particular dessert was not created in honour of her, but rather in honour of the strawberries that smiled at me and in honour to my stomach, which needs some delicious treats from time to time.
Another interesting thought, I could have made a mess - Eton Mess - using the very same ingredients. Just a thought. Simply five simple ingredients and you can even make different things out of it. Have a look again ...

With that now, I can't claim anymore, I never made a Pavlova. After all, that must be a Strawberry Pavlova. However, I still can claim, I can't dance.
Now I go and continue to make a mess (NOT an Eton Mess) ...

The Show must go on - Fougasse de Chocolat et Fraise

Maybe you have been hearing me talking about cooking through a complete book with all it's recipes. As far as I noticed I have been talking about it since I started the blog and ... it hasn't materialised. But ... I might start one day!
On the other hand, if you have read posts on this blog also in the last year, you might have noticed that I started to bake myself through a book, namely Secrets of a French baker. I haven't even finished that. In fact, I haven't done much for it, either. However, it's mostly bread in it and each recipe takes several hours to complete. It's good exercise, though, because a lot of kneading is involved. 
It happens to be the case at times, that I like to join blog challenges. There is an ongoing one done by Lavender and Lovage and What Kate Baked. It's called Tea Time Treats. This month Lavender and Lovage is hosting and ... très bien ... the them is: Ooh La La! French Tarts, Cakes, Bakes and Pastries.

That is a perfect opportunity to let the show go on and do another recipe from that book: Fougasse. That is a kind of bread with a lovely filling. While the book is suggesting 7 different savoury fillings I decided to go for sweet one with chocolate spread and strawberry jam. I would have loved to add some fresh strawberries from the garden, but obviously it isn't the time yet.
Somehow I managed to do something wrong while preparing the bread, but I don't take the blame all on myself. The recipe - strangely - didn't state what to do with two ingredients and as I didn't bother to think about the recipe and simply went step by step, well, I didn't use the one tbs of soft butter and 3 tbs of milk powder.
I only did as follows:
Sift 225 g of strong baking flour and 225 g of spelt flour together with one and a half tsp of salt into a bowl. Then added a sachet of dried yeast and added bit by bit 240 ml of lukewarm water. I used a hand mixer to ... eh ... mix it. Then I used my hands to make a solid ball of dough. I left it on the kitchen work surface for 10 minutes and did something else.
I did my exercise by kneading the dough for over 15 minutes.
Then I carefully made a half flat half ball kind of object and placed the dough like this into the bowl, covered it with a wet kitchen towel and left it for 45 minutes. I went to do something else. Can't remember what!
I might have read something or just checked things on the computer, but who knows or cares.
I took the dough again and divided it into two balls, which I placed one a floured kitchen towel and covered with the other still wet kitchen towel and left the dough again for 25 minutes, while doing something else. In between I noticed I forgot to roll the bowls in coarse sugar. So I tried to fix it and continued  to wait for the 25 minutes to end.
Now I started to heat up the oven to 220 °C. The two dough balls were flattened and stretched to two rectangular dough pieces.

On one side of each rectangular dough piece I smeared first some chocolate spread and then some strawberry jam. On the other half I made five incisions respectively. After that the sides with the cuts went over the chocolate jam and I tried my best to seal the bread. Then I transferred the breads to a baking tray and brushed them generously with some egg wash. Finally I sprinkled sugar on top and put the tray for 20 minutes into the oven.

They came out like this. I expected the incisions to be open, but maybe it was better that way so there was no chance for the filling to seep out at all cuts.
First of all I thought to do some arranging and get a nice picture. I put the breads on a wooden chopping board and started thinking ...

... but to no avail. I got no idea on how to do it. Therefore I simply cut them open ...

As you see ... eh ... you see quite some bread and not so much filling. Maybe flattening the dough a bit more and adding more filling would have been something. Nevertheless the fougasses tasted lovely ... maybe that would be something for a chocolate lover.
Well, I'm not promising now, that the show will go on and you find a bread here on my blog every week, but still I will be trying the remaining recipes from that book ... one day ... one day ... in the future.
Oh, well, I have to leave soon for the airport. Just managed to finish the post. Fine, I still have a few more minutes ...

Waffles with Creme Chantilly and Strawberries

This year hasn't been the greatest success with my strawberries in the garden. As the main strawberry harvest was, there was next to nothing on my plant. After all the weather was like ... not worth to mention.

However, suddenly, already for a few days, more and more strawberries keep appearing in my garden. So it seems to be a late harvest and in the end not so bad.

Yet again it paid off, not to give up easily on my plants. I have a habit of keeping plants alive even when they look as if close to death. By that I already saved some. It would be good to apply this "not give up easily"-principle on other aspects of life. That, however, is a completely different story, which is not yet to be told.

Back to strawberries then. You could use them in a variety of ways, but nothing beats the pure pleasure of eating them just as they are. So I decided for these waffles with creme chantilly and some strawberries scattered on top.

First of all concentrate on the creme chantilly.

You need:

200 g crème fraîche

10 ml milk

1-2 tsp vanilla extract

2-3 tbs of icing sugar

You do:

Simply mix it all well together and put it in the fridge while you do the rest ... or put it even in the freezer, if you dare.

Job done! Now we go for the waffle batter.

You need:

125 g softened butter

75 g sugar

2 tsp vanilla sugar

4 eggs

1 tsp baking powder

125 g flour

140 ml milk

You do:

Cream together the softened butter, the sugar and the vanilla sugar. Make sure your butter is really softened. You don't want any ugly lumps later on, do you?

Then add the eggs.

Sift in the flour and the baking powder, while keeping in mind those ugly lumps. 

Finally pour in the milk and whisk it all to a nice smooth batter without any ugly lumps.

Why do I keep telling you about those ugly lumps? I didn't take the mentioned precautions, so I got them. Well, you still survive and will also manage to get nice waffles, but it's better without.

Once that is done you can go for your waffles and do them according to the instructions of your waffle-maker. What? You don't have one? Have pancakes instead.

Here a few suggestions on how to pimp your waffle batter by adding one of those:

1. a splash of rum

2. finely cut pieces of strawberries

3. a few tsp of raspberry jam

4. a few tsp of cocoa powder

Just have a try. I did. Somehow I liked to add the rum. It's not for the kids, though. That is if you have any.

Serve your ready waffles together with the creme chantilly and strawberries on top. Use amounts according to own free will.

Enjoy it! You could of course also use any other berries you fancy ... maybe blueberries. Or how do you like your berries?

This blog post is for this months Sweet Adventures Blog Hop: Berry Nice to Meet You!

Cornish Strawberry-Rhubarb Tiramisu

What a beautiful day! I don’t have to go to work today – an extra day off. I saw even the sun today and was tempted to lie down in the garden, in the sun.

 

It almost felt like holiday! At least a few features were fitting: no work, sun.

Of course having these two features and adding Cornwall to it would make things perfect.

Well it was a great time in Cornwall. There are tons of good memories.

Tintagel castle (with guard dog)

you have a great view from up there

nice fishing villages

the harbour of St. Ives

view from Lands End

the Minack Theatre ...

... with a nice view as well

 

The memories also have to do with food. I can’t remember how many Cornish pasties, but “I had them all!” and would I have had more time, even more.

Well, in between, of course there needs to be time for a good old cream tea with fine Cornish clotted cream.

From the past back to the present.

That brings us also to a blog challenge: Best of British, which features, what a surprise, the region of Cornwall this month.

More about this blog challenge you find here (Chocolate Log Blog) and here (The Face of New World Appliances) and here (London Unattached).

Let's talk food then.

Cornish Strawberry-Rhubarb Tiramisu

What do we need then for this waistline developing dish (if you are careful, nothing might happen, though)?

Let’s talk food then (of course I know that tiramisu is not Cornish, but clotted cream is not Italian).

Ingredients

200 g strawberries

200 g rhubarb

250 g mascarpone

250 g Cornish clotted cream (that is what it makes Cornish)

8 sponge fingers (at least)

one vanilla pod

5 teaspoons of vanilla sugar

one tablespoon of fructose

8 cl of strawberry liqueur (you might meed more when you like to drink during the preparation)

some wild strawberries

50 g of white chocolate

Then do it

Oh, you want me to tell you. Good!

Line a 24 x 24 cm form with the sponge fingers. You can add more in a second layer if you feel like it. 

Use the strawberries and rhubarb to make a nice compote in a pot on a medium heat. Add here also 4 cl of the liqueur (to the pot – and one to yourself if you have to (I’m not encouraging drinking though)) and the fructose. Cook it until the rhubarb starts to melt.

In the meantime whip up the mascarpone and the clotted cream together with the vanilla sugar and the seeds from the vanilla pod (if you can get only cheap dry vanilla pods, don’t bother using them). Well, and don’t forget to add 4 cl of the liqueur here as well (yes, I know). You get a slightly pinkish cream.

Spoon the compote over the sponge fingers. Do it carefully, you don’t want to make a mess, do you?

 

If you have managed, you can spoon over the slightly pinkish cream. Then you have to decide, what to do with the remaining cream you didn’t manage to get from the bowl.

Although I got unexpected company in the kitchen, I didn’t do what you might think I did.

(That is Willy. I try to keep an eye on him while his owner is away - EXTRA CHALLENGE! No worries, we get by!)

The whole thing we finish off with some nice wild strawberries I just got fresh from my garden today (while keeping an eye on Willy and Lucy – OK – Molly was also visiting – three dogs – no worries).

Finally or last but not least, grate the white chocolate on top.

Put it as it is in the fridge for a few hours and then indulge!

That should be all then. Now I can continue enjoying my holiday in "Cornwall".

Still Food Revolution Day - Vietnamese Cooking

By now Food Revolution Day is over, but not the Food Revolution. Hopefully this all made some people think about their eating habits.
At least I learned a lot and you know there is forever and always the chance to learn something new. That is if you are willing to. So again I had attended an event in connection with Food Revolution Day to broaden my view - this time it was about Vietnamese food.
Thinking about Vietnamese food,I have no clue, although there are living a lot of people around me, That are from Vietnam. They even have restaurants, but most of them do Chinese food (maybe not even real Chinese food, but only what people want).
Let us now go on with the event.

The table is set and it can begin. On the table some garnishing is waiting for the things to come. Did I say garnishing? Well, of course, it's for flavour as well.

To start with, a lovely soup, so full of fresh flavours - oh, how ignorant of me - of course it was phở, traditional Vietnamese soup. The red parts you see are far from being just garnishing. The chillies were actually quite hot.
After this soup we could proceed with the main part.

The next part included some work or rather participation. We were about to learn how to make Vietnamese summer rolls with rice paper. The ingredients were set out on the table.

You can do them with different things, but these were the ones we had. Just make sure you put some lovely herbs in it.

The rice paper is briefly dipped into water. Then it is ready for the filling.

Putting all the delicious ingredients on it, only making sure, it is not overcrowded. When you have a big mouth, though, you can make bigger rolls.

Then serve it with a soy based dipping sauce and enjoy it. Well, the roll doesn't look to good on the picture, but well, it was my first try.

A few rolls later, only a small dessert could still fit in. As you can see it is with strawberries and ... what do you think is the green bit? It contains avocado. Very nice, not too sweet and very delicious.
If you want to make Vietnamese summer rolls for yourself, have a look at Uyen Leluu's blog: Leluu. There you will find the recipe. She is also doing Vietnamese cooking classes and supper clubs.
Well, it's time for me to go home soon and for sure I will try some more Vietnamese cooking.