Monday baking

Been a while since I have put my KitchenAid Ruby to work so we started on Panettone today.  Takes ages in proving being it is an enriched dough but here was the first mix. had to be beaten until it looked almost stringy as it was beating.

This was after first rise then knock down. Already looking good but anemic.  We had new lights put into the kitschen a few years ago.  Although it is easier to photograph in the kitchen at night everything now either looks to dark or washed out/ So you will have to imagine the buttery yellow colour this looked like at this stage

Divided into 3 molds/cases and ready for the second rise/proving.  At this point I was pretty concerned I should of used just 2 cases.  But then remembered my last ones and how they almost overtook their cases.  Left it all to the cooking gods and got on with other things.

Swiss roll has been requested as one is to be made in school tomorrow so we gave one a trial run.  No idea what is going into the one at school but we decided to go for the basic swiss roll with jam this evening/  He is ours rolled up and cooling.

After bath/shower times we were both still pottering in the kitchen and the Swiss roll needed finishing and filling while the panettone was cooking in the oven.

The boy did good, look at that swirl! Mary Berry and Paul Hollywood would be so proud of this boy. I think he is taking after me in the kitchen.  I am so proud.

And here are the panettone, I did cover them in foil and they aren't quite as dark as they look in this photo.  Tomorrow we will open one and see how it looks inside. 

Pretty much all that has gone on here today. I was at the gym this morning with my daughter and spent some time with her as well. So a wonderful day all in all 

Take care 

Jules xx

China the cookbook book review

A new cookbook? who me? surely not? Insert a giggle or two here.  Not that I need any more cook books but this one grabbed my attention.  I have the Italian Silver spoon book and the French and Spanish equivalents, and find I get more out of them than trendy specialist smaller books so when I saw this one I did try my very hardest not to want it.  Obviously I failed but, I am only human with a cooking addiction that overrides most other interests at the end of the day. The book arrived in the post a few days ago. After a short flick through it was obvious this was a book that would get used a lot when the need for Chinese food rears it head.

This book itself it a beautiful blue/green pale colour and the pages are edged in gold.  It is indeed a beautiful looking book.

Last night was a bit of a nightmare.  I was dealing with beginning of a migraine and the other adult in the house had a doctors appointment at the time dinner needed to be cooked.  Having been able to do most the prep for this earlier, which was a little chopping, this wasn't to strenuous to cook. I chose to make the Chicken with cashew nuts recipe.  Served it with plain steamed rice. This is ow it looked in the book.

 

And this is how it looked just before I served it up.  Only thing I did differently was add some mushrooms. May not look as wonderful but it was a great tasting dish.  The flavours weren't to complex, but was still really tasty.  The textures were all great, chicken was tender and the pepper and shallots crisp and sweet. What we loved was although there wasn't lots of sauce like from a restaurant or take away, there was still lots of flavours, and nothing masked all the individual flavours. Really looking into exploring this book more.  In the times of needing to save money and still eat well this book could be a real life saver for those evenings the family get a craving for Chinese take away food.  Best of it was only thing I had to buy on the day was a few shallots and cashew nuts.  Everything else was something we usually have to hand. For less than £2 expense we could make a meal that served for easily as a main course and no one complained about.  Other bonus was because I did most of the prep earlier in the day it took me as long as it took to cook the rice (25 minutes start to dishing up) and the actual dish only took around 7 or 8 minutes from heating the small amount of oil to putting the meal on the table. Less time than ringing up and waiting for food to be delivered or going to collect it.  I am very impressed 

Take care

Jules x