Caramel

Does it happen to you that your homemade caramel has a burnt taste?

I have finally managed to avoid this problem. These are the steps to make a tasty caramel.

 1. Put sugar and water in a frying pan. The amount of water to pour will always be equal to half the amount of sugar that we have.

2 . Put the mixture of sugar and water in a metal container over medium heat and stir with a whisk until sugar is dissolved . Then stop stirring to prevent sugar crystallization .

3.At a certain temperature bubbles start to appear :

4. When bubbles are like the next photo , you must remain alert because the color will change soon .

5. The moment we see that it starts to change color , a clear brown,  we should remove it quickly from the fire ... It will keep some heat that will allow it to turn dark ,in case we leave it a bit more over heat it will take the burnt taste .

6. Caramel is already done , it hardens very quickly , at this point you can use it to decorate , this way it can serve for example to bathe a pudding bowl (later with the heat when we cook the pudding it liquefies slightly ) . If you want the caramel to remain liquid more time , what you have to do in step 3 is to add a little lemon juice or vinegar.

A splash of lemon juice is enough to mantain the caramel liquid while we are taking spoonfuls onto a cream for example.

Given that caramel dries quickly , it can remain attached to the pan or pot used to prepare it ,to clean it without problems , take some water and put over heat, sugar will come off easily.

Here you have a link to my favourite cooking tools where you can find my spices grinder:  

Favourite cooking tools

Broad Beans ,vitorian style

                                                                               Receta en Español

Favas or Broad Beans are native to Asia Minor, although some scholars suggest that  they originated in Central Africa.

The Romans made ​​great use of this type of beans which they turned into flour to make bread.

They form part of the diet of inhabitants of Navarra and Álava.

Broad Beans are so consumed and produced in Álava that they have a Protected Designation of Origin (PDO);

This dish is one of the most typical if you want to make a meal based on food from the Spanish region of Álava.

Ingredients (3 people):

• 450 grams of beans.
• 120 g of cured ham.
• 60 g  of bacon.
• Oil.
• Salt.
• Water.

Method:

1. Shell the beans and wash them.
2. Pour water in the pot (just to cover the beans), heat until it boils.
3. Add the beans and salt ,then cook over medium heat 30 to 40 minutes.
   
4. Meanwhile, put the ham ,bacon and a tablespoon of oil in a frying pan ,sauté  it. Once it is ready, add  it to the pot of beans and cook for other 5 minutes until the broth thickens. 

5. Salt to taste. If the beans are large you can peel them.

My comments to the Recipe : It is an easy recipe to prepare, if we don't know exactly how much water to use, do not worry too much, if we have too much water, rather than taking and moving the ham and bacon to the pot, we do the opposite, we put the beans in the pan adding just a little water (not to let them dry).Of course, it would be better if we add just the necessary quantity of water from the beginning  ,this way we will not lose the vitamins that remain in the broth.

Talking about the taste of the dish, great! . Ham and bacon go very well with broad beans.

 

 

Álava



Pavlova

                                                                               Receta en Español

Pavlova is the quintessencial dessest of Australia.

It is named after the russian ballerina Anna Pavlova, who was touring Australia and New Zealand in 1926. Both countries attribute themselfs the invention of this dessert.

Australians tell that Bert Sachse , chef at Esplanade Hotel at Perth , was the one who devised this dessert. Nevertheless, we can find a similar recipe in a cookbook entitled Rangiora Mothers' Union who was published in 1933.   

There is even a recipe that appeared in a New Zealand's magazine in 1929.

The important part of this dessert is the meringue, it resembles a ballerina's tutu.

On top of the meringue it is usually added whipped cream and fruits. I will add strawberries and tangerines, but you can use the fruit that you like the most.
The meringue should be brilliat and white to resemble the ballerinas' tutu.

Ingredients:

For meringue:

• 4 egg whites at room temperature.
• 1 cup of powdered sugar (200 grams). I used normal sugar grinded with a food processor.
• 1 teaspoon white vinegar.
• 1 teaspoon vanilla.
• 1 tablespoon cornstarch. (maizena).
• 1 pinch of salt.
• 1 teaspoon cream of tartar.

For the filling:

• 400 ml whipping cream with 35.1 % or more fat.
• 50 g powdered sugar.
• strawberries and tangerines.

Preparation of meringue:

1. Take a big bowl , clean and dry. It should not have traces of fat or water to achieve a good meringue.

2. Eggs should be at room temperature and not too fresh. Separate the egg whites from the yolks . Keep egg whites in the cleaned bowl.

3. With the help of an electric mixer, whip the egg whites until they become white, then add cream of tartar. This would provide a firmer  consistency and you will get a softer and creamier meringue. 

4. keep on whipping until egg whites doesn't fall from the bowl when you turn it down.

                                                

5. Now you can start adding sugar, step by step. Don't stop whipping the whites.

6. Once there's only a tablespoon left to add, we mix it with corn starch and add together to the whites. Keep on whipping.

7. Now meringue turns bright, we stop whipping, add vinager and vanilla , then stirr with a spatula. (Corn starch and vinager make meringue more stable and does not crumble when we cook it in the oven).

8. Draw a circle of 20 cm diameter in a baking paper, this circle will be the size of pavlova, we can take a pan to draw this circle.

9. Turn paper down to prevent pavlova to touch the pencil drawing. (You can still see the circle) Place this paper on top of an oven tray, sprinkle some flour over it.

10. Spread meringue over the paper following the circle to have a rounded pavlova. On top of the pavlova leave a little gap to place the filling after cooking.

11. Preheat oven at 175 ºC, place the tray in the middle of the oven . Cook in oven for 1 hour and a half at 100 ºC  until pavlova changes a little its colour, it turns a little toasted. This way it will be crispy on the outer side and creamy on the inner side.

12. Let pavlova cool in the oven. Leave the door slightly open. You can use a spoon as I did.   See picture:

     I left it cool overnight.

 13. The following day take out pavlova, move it very carefully because it brakes easily.

Preparation of filling:

14. This filling should be placed on top of pavlova just ten minutes before comsuption, the reason is that meringue turns little by little softer once it has some cream on top. 

15. Prepare whipped cream.

16. Place the whipped cream  on top of the pavlova, then add strawberries and tangerines on top of the whipped cream.

This  is the result :

My comments to the Recipe:

I found this is a stylish dessert , it is also fresh and delicate. 

It has a delicious taste , crispy on the outer side and creamy on the inner side. 

Here you have a link to my favourite cooking tools where you can find my spices grinder:  

Favourite cooking tools

Australia