Over the weekend we watched Usain Bolt "stroll" the 100 metres. The Jamaicans have got these races sewn up this year, quite incredible they way they are running. The female runner in the 100 metre did the same thing as Bolt, stopped trying before they got to the end. They could see they had the race wrapped up. Bolt still got a new world record out of it though. I don't know what any of you have available, but if you
click here you can find videos of the events. This picture from the International Herald Tribune shows him already relaxing close to the finish line. His specialty is supposed to be the 200 metre which I believe is on TV today.
Canada has finally picked up a few more medals and I see the UK have picked up a few too. We are curious at how many British swimmers are actually from Scotland with one from Wales. Don't the English swim any more?
We had friends to dinner last night and they brought a bottle of Sangria which we chilled, then
poured into a bowl (seem to have lost my pitcher) and added a load of fruit and a dollop of brandy. We drank/ate it with the orange cake which I had made. It was a very good Sangria. My head is aching a bit this morning, I wonder why? I was really pleased with my Turkish Orange Cake, it was one of the best I have made. I even took a picture of it for you all to see. We started with a shrimp cocktail, had a North Carolina type London Broil with goat cheese potato purée and French cut green beans. I have posted all these recipes at one time or another.
Over the weekend I started thinking about another dessert cake I used to make many years ago. Don't know if any of my English readers will remember Fanny Cradock, she was one of the first TV cooks and her husband, Johnny, recommended the wines. (Mind you she treated him like dirt). She was always dressed up when she cooked never wore an apron or anything. Obviously most of the prep work was done for her, but she cooked and handled things that I would have wanted to wear an apron for. This picture was from the Daily Mail. Looking for it, I discovered quite a few scathing comments about her, I gather she was not very popular with the people she worked with. Someone also wrote that her cooking was impossible for a home cook. Sorry, I disagree, I made a lot of her recipes. Once you had watched them, it was usually
pretty easy to do the same things. I find that with most cooking shows, I might not want to do some of their recipes if I just read them, but seeing it made makes it so much simpler to follow. I made marzipan roses having seen her do it, they are actually very easy and once you have them, you can keep them for a long time properly stored. I used to keep a whole bunch of them and use them for decorating all kinds of desserts. I must admit I haven't made any for years, I read the recipe yesterday and it isn't difficult. Fanny Cradock used to make the marzipan too, but I bought mine, coloured it and then shaped it.
I would often make her Gateau L'Ambassadeur (Ambassador's Cake) and decorate the cake with the marzipan roses. The picture shown doesn't have the roses although it does have some around the base of the cake. The picture was borrowed from
byhecks.info/Cookies.html
Gateau l'Ambassadeur
Fanny Cradock
1/2 lb best possible chocolate (70% or higher if you can get it)
3 1/2 oz. sifted icing sugar (confectioner's sugar)
3 tbs double cream (heaviest cream you can get in North America, probably whipping cream)
2 eggs, separated
2 oz peeled grapes
3 tbs kirsch
1 tbs water
3 1/2 oz unsalted butter
3 1/2 oz crumbled petit beurre biscuits (cookies)
Place biscuits in a small bowl, add kirsch and leave to infuse. Place water and chocolate in a small, thick pan and dissolve over a low heat. Stir well until quite smooth, then remove from heat. Cut the butter into small flakes and stir into the chocolate until completely dissolved. Add the egg yolks and beat until mixture is again smooth. Stir in the sugar, blend thoroughly, add stiffly whipped egg whites and beat (
I would have thought fold, but she says beat) them in until they vanish. Add the soaked biscuits and grapes. Finally add the cream. Turn into a 5" oiled, sliding-based cake tin, being careful to line the base with a fitting circle of oiled greaseproof (waxed) paper. Refrigerate until set, turn out, remove paper and garnish.
Have a great day.
Over the weekend we watched Usain Bolt "stroll" the 100 metres. The Jamaicans have got these races sewn up this year, quite incredible they way they are running. The female runner in the 100 metre did the same thing as Bolt, stopped trying before they got to the end. They could see they had the race wrapped up. Bolt still got a new world record out of it though. I don't know what any of you have available, but if you click here you can find videos of the events. This picture from the International Herald Tribune shows him already relaxing close to the finish line. His specialty is supposed to be the 200 metre which I believe is on TV today.
Canada has finally picked up a few more medals and I see the UK have picked up a few too. We are curious at how many British swimmers are actually from Scotland with one from Wales. Don't the English swim any more?
We had friends to dinner last night and they brought a bottle of Sangria which we chilled, then
poured into a bowl (seem to have lost my pitcher) and added a load of fruit and a dollop of brandy. We drank/ate it with the orange cake which I had made. It was a very good Sangria. My head is aching a bit this morning, I wonder why? I was really pleased with my Turkish Orange Cake, it was one of the best I have made. I even took a picture of it for you all to see. We started with a shrimp cocktail, had a North Carolina type London Broil with goat cheese potato purée and French cut green beans. I have posted all these recipes at one time or another.
Over the weekend I started thinking about another dessert cake I used to make many years ago. Don't know if any of my English readers will remember Fanny Cradock, she was one of the first TV cooks and her husband, Johnny, recommended the wines. (Mind you she treated him like dirt). She was always dressed up when she cooked never wore an apron or anything. Obviously most of the prep work was done for her, but she cooked and handled things that I would have wanted to wear an apron for. This picture was from the Daily Mail. Looking for it, I discovered quite a few scathing comments about her, I gather she was not very popular with the people she worked with. Someone also wrote that her cooking was impossible for a home cook. Sorry, I disagree, I made a lot of her recipes. Once you had watched them, it was usually
pretty easy to do the same things. I find that with most cooking shows, I might not want to do some of their recipes if I just read them, but seeing it made makes it so much simpler to follow. I made marzipan roses having seen her do it, they are actually very easy and once you have them, you can keep them for a long time properly stored. I used to keep a whole bunch of them and use them for decorating all kinds of desserts. I must admit I haven't made any for years, I read the recipe yesterday and it isn't difficult. Fanny Cradock used to make the marzipan too, but I bought mine, coloured it and then shaped it.
I would often make her Gateau L'Ambassadeur (Ambassador's Cake) and decorate the cake with the marzipan roses. The picture shown doesn't have the roses although it does have some around the base of the cake. The picture was borrowed from byhecks.info/Cookies.html
Gateau l'Ambassadeur
Fanny Cradock
1/2 lb best possible chocolate (70% or higher if you can get it)
3 1/2 oz. sifted icing sugar (confectioner's sugar)
3 tbs double cream (heaviest cream you can get in North America, probably whipping cream)
2 eggs, separated
2 oz peeled grapes
3 tbs kirsch
1 tbs water
3 1/2 oz unsalted butter
3 1/2 oz crumbled petit beurre biscuits (cookies)
Place biscuits in a small bowl, add kirsch and leave to infuse. Place water and chocolate in a small, thick pan and dissolve over a low heat. Stir well until quite smooth, then remove from heat. Cut the butter into small flakes and stir into the chocolate until completely dissolved. Add the egg yolks and beat until mixture is again smooth. Stir in the sugar, blend thoroughly, add stiffly whipped egg whites and beat (I would have thought fold, but she says beat) them in until they vanish. Add the soaked biscuits and grapes. Finally add the cream. Turn into a 5" oiled, sliding-based cake tin, being careful to line the base with a fitting circle of oiled greaseproof (waxed) paper. Refrigerate until set, turn out, remove paper and garnish.
Have a great day.
Oh, the Craddock woman was a phenomenon. Yes, we remember her. I recall she avowed that you didn't need an apron if you stood in a ballet position (was it number three or five?).
ReplyDeleteJohnny was never actually her husband btw ... there's an awful lot of dirt about that household (including the kitchen floor which never got cleaned up - they just spread another layer of newspaper over the food bits and newspapers that were down there already!). There was good biography documentary programme about her a while back (last year, possibly). The consensus seems to be that she was more high-handed con artist than actual cook. But if you got some of her recipes to work, and enjoyed them, then that's one point in her favour I guess. :)
Sangria. Never touch it. Too risky. :D
Must admit one of the worst hangovers I ever had was caused by imbibing Sangria.
ReplyDeleteOh boy, Jo, you simply have to come to Oz and bake me one of those! And I've never had sangria. If it's as deadly as you say, Ru, maybe I'd better not.
ReplyDeleteNo wonder I can't cook. Always did find fifth position hard to hold while beating eggs:-)
Honestly Satima, that cake is so easy you could make it in your sleep. Boiling a couple of oranges is easy enough, blending them is a snap, adding the remaining ingredients is easy and putting it in the oven is simple. However, eating it is guaranteed to increase the waist line.
ReplyDeleteJo - Fanny Cradock... The name rings a bell. Actually, my mother used to have one of her cook books.
ReplyDeleteWhy would Hrugaar say Sangria is too risky? Does he fear getting drunk? I'm not a Sangria drinker, but when in Spain ... Like Ouzo being a must when in Greece.
Marilyn
I do so agree with you Marilyn, but sangria, for a start, does tend to get interfered with by other countries. Even the original when drunk in Spain, can be pretty lethal, I know from personal experience.
ReplyDeleteAre you talking about your orange cake, Jo? Point me at the recipe and I'll give it to someone who can cook:-)
ReplyDeleteActually, the main reason I don't cook is because I have no sense of smell and I've nearly set the house on fire twice. Too risky, as I get involved in other things or go outside and don't hear the oven alarm.
I too have no sense of smell Satima, it doesn't stop me cooking though. I lost mine some 16 years ago. However, when I cook, other than being on the PC, I don't leave it too long. I can hear the pinger from here. I guess you just have to be aware of it all the time.
ReplyDeleteAs for the orange cake recipe, it was posted on November 24, 2007 if you want to check it out. I was especially pleased with the one I made this weekend. It came out the best of the lot.
Wow, that Orange Cake must be delicious! I don't have a food porcessor (I don't cook, remember!) so I wonder if it's possible just to smash the oranges with a knife and fork/ If not, I'd batter pass the recipe on to someone who cooks:-)
ReplyDeleteI'm sorry you've lost our sense of smell, too, Jo. It must be a sore trial for someone who loves to cook. Still, if we have to lose one of our senses, maybe smell is the one least likely to cause serous inconvenience!
Well the oranges come out pretty soft, but you would have to remove the pips if you were going to beat it up by hand. You just have to get it pretty fine. Do you have a blender/liquidiser you could use that. Or even beaters (preferably electric) I think it would be hard to do any of it by hand.
ReplyDeleteYes loss of smell is a damned nuisance, but as you said the best sense to lose perhaps, if you have to lose any.
you are watching strange things you all !!
ReplyDeletewell i think i'm not ready yet for the next olympic games lol but still jogging everyday !
I'm watching more of the Olympics this year than recent events.
ReplyDeleteI've only been watching the highlights on the news. Australia is not doing as well as we'd hoped, but having dual nationality I can rejoice that Britain finally seems to have found its sporting feet!
ReplyDeleteNo, I don't have any kind of food processing equipment, Jo. On the odd occasion - once very year or two - :-)that I want to whip anything I use a hand whisk.
I cannot imagine living without cooking the things I like. In some ways when there is only one of you its wonderful not to have to consider anyone else's likes and dislikes. What do you do? Eat out, buy pre processed foods, what? Same applies to Marilyn.
ReplyDeletei like cooking, i like when i'm invited to restaurant, i like to be received by friends when they cook, i like food in a good company that is as simple as this for me ! and i dislike eating alone ^^
ReplyDeleteI am with you there Gynie, but I don't mind eating alone so long as I have a good book that is.
ReplyDelete