Coffee & Doughnuts (Gluten Free Naughtiness)

The American Cop shows would have you convinced that Coffee and Doughnuts are the high point in any drama! Well they were right in the fact that Coffee and Doughnuts go together as good as Starsky and Hutch, and packs the same kind of attitude as Marcus and Mike Lowry from Bad Boys.

Here we are making Gluten Free Doughnuts! 


250ml Water
65g Butter
125g Plain Flour (Gluten Free flour works better in this recipe)
3 Eggs

Gently bring to boil the water and butter. Add the flour, and cook for 2-3 minutes, stirring continuously. Remove the pan from the heat, and let it cool slightly. Mix in your eggs one by one until fully combined.

Gluten Free Choux Pastry People!

Take a pot approximately 15cm in diameter and pour in vegetable oil till roughly half way. Allow this oil to heat to 160 degrees C. Place the mixture into a piping bag with a star nozzle attachment. Pipe 2inch (5cm) lengths at a time into the pot and fry until golden brown. Use a Holy Spoon to remove the doughnuts from the oil safely. Place onto paper towel to drain any excess oil. 

These are Mini Doughnuts. Little bite Size Monsters, that you can have a few of or a few more depending on your mood of course. They are so lovely to eat when they are fresh. Nice and crunchy on the outside and soft in the middle!

Sugar & Cinnamon

Once they have been fried, Dunk them into a bowl of Sugar & Cinnamon. Toss them through and make sure they are nicely coated. Try not to eat them all at once... Don't say you were not warned!

So the Coffee Flavoured Custard will come next entry! Serve them together for an ultimate little treat to share with Friends!

Quiche. Perfect for this kind of weather...

Don't quite know where you guys are, but the weather has chilled out again and we are dealing with light snow flurries and icy winds. We are having an easy Quiche tonight. Not one for being shy when it comes to ingredients, Chef always puts loads of goodies in!

You can put Anything into it, and better still you can have it over a few days. Take it to work for lunch, or dinner after that late night shopping trip to get your outfit for the weekend.

Cook you base first. That way it'll be ready when your prep is done. 

So get your Quiche base organised first. You can easily buy this pastry at any super market. If you need gluten free be sure to find a good recipe. Some Gluten free pastries can break quite easily. Just be sure that when you roll the pastry out over your dish, fill in any breaks or gaps with the pastry by hand.

Prepping for the Quiche. Onions and Mushrooms

Make sure you cook off all your ingredients. Added Bacon

Add loads of cooked Spinach! The more ingredients, the better

As you cook your ingredients, simply add them to a large bowl once they're done. That way you get an idea of what's ready. If your having a little improvisation day, then doing this will give you a chance to taste and see if you want to add anything else!

Crumble up Fetta

By this stage, You should mix everything in really well. Don't be afraid to get messy with your hands. It's more fun that way, trust me!

Once you're done putting all the cooked ingredients together, it's time to pop in your eggs. Now I have been saying the more ingredients the better. The other reason being, is that you don't want a very "eggy" Quiche. It's not as flavoursome (to me)...

Pour all that yummy goodness into your pastry tray. We've used a 10inch tray, and cooked for around 30 minutes. Temperature was at 160degrees Celcius. Always check though! 
You want your Quiche to have slight colouring on the top once it has been cooked. In the picture below, you can see the difference, compared to the previous shot.

THE BEST- Look at all that flavour

Cocktail Hour: Spiced Rum & Apple

Getting all Experimental with the Alcoholic stuff...

Ready, Set? 
Watch this for a Magic Trick!

Making Rum Spheres...

Draining the excess water

In goes the Spiced Apple Foam

There you have it. Spiced Apple & Rum Cocktail!

Served as a Shot. When you have it, the Rum Ball is squeezed against the roof of your mouth. As it pops, you get hard rum mixed with your Spiced Apple Foam. 

Pass another Please!

Chocolate Almonds- your own piece of Chocolate Heaven!

Who doesn't love Roasted Almonds? Chocolate. Roasted. Almonds?!
Even just roasting your own Almonds are great, and a really good snack! 
Well, they are fantastic and easy to make at home. Just get your preferred type of Chocolate. We use Lindt most of the time. I love a good Dark chocolate, but Chef not so much. Sometimes he will mix Milk chocolate and Darker chocolate together, so we both stay happy!

Always melt your chocolate well. The technique is simple enough. Have a pot of simmering water on the stove and use a metal bowl over it. This allows for good heat to melt your chocolate, but it will prevent it from overcooking.

If you buy Almonds from your supermarket, they are best if you roast them first. That way you know they have an awesome crunch to them, and they will stay that way rather than becoming soggy within a couple of days.

Ricotta Hotcakes

I think most of you have cottoned onto the fact that I love my breakfast. And to be fair who wouldn't, when you can have so many other things other than cereal or bacon and eggs!

So much more amazing than "regular" hotcakes

150g flour
1 tsp baking powder
4 egg yolks
4 egg whites
300g ricotta cheese
185 ml milk

Whisk the egg yolks, and milk together well. Add the flour and baking powder and whisk very well to prevent the mix getting lumpy. 

Add the ricotta and just incorporate as you don't want a smooth mix, but rather have pockets of ricotta. 

Whisk the egg whites to stiff peaks with an egg beater, or for all the amateurs and pros out there with no fancy kitchen equipment: a whisk, a clean bowl and plenty of energy is really all you need!

Gently incorporate the Whites into the pancake mix thoroughly

Then in a fry pan on med heat with canola spray spoon 2 tblsp of the mix per pancake, and cook for 3-4 minutes each side. 

Arrange on the plate.
Add some honeycomb butter and maple syrup. What's honeycomb butter?? Ooo, Let me know if you're keen! Will try putting it up in the next post or two! 
Heavenly Heaven (if there was such a place, it would be here).

Flavoured Coffee: with Orange Zest

I having been trying out this the other day, and it turned out better than imagined. Coffee with Orange Zest! 

The orange has been sliced and dried in the oven.
If you want to dry the zest in the oven, keep the temperature quite low. 50 degrees Celsius is fine. There is no "set time" to allow this to dry, so keep checking. If you pull your tray out and it's still moist, then it's not ready.

You will want to be able to pick up pieces of the zest and be able to crumble it in your hands. From there you can simply grind manually or do it in a grinder. You will have the same effect, either way.

However you like your coffee, I hope you like these!

Braised Beef Short Ribs

Ribs... Nomnomnom

Most people think Pork. They think of a long rack of ribs placed in front of them, and their mouth starts to water in anticipation! Grab your knife, cut them up one by one, then grab with both hands and start on it with your teeth. Or once they've been cooked, cut them up before taking them to your table. Pile them up on a large dish. Take out your favourite salads and sauces, and place it on the table for everyone to share.

It's certainly something you do with your close family and friends! It's comforting to watch your inner circle get dinner on their faces. You're all in the same boat then. And if you're all a little grubby round the edges, you know it was good! 

So have you ever tried Ribs of another kind? 
I'm talking about Beef Short Ribs? Slow cooked for 72 hours. These ones Chef did, were cooked in a Sous Vide. If you've never heard of this, food is first vacuum packed, then placed in a water bath which is kept at a specified temperature. In this case the meat was cooked for 3 days, before being taken out. The meat becomes so soft and tender that the bone quite literally slides out from the meat.

Rob has then cooked these again and prepared them as an elegant dish. At least with something like this you can satisfy both carnivorous and fine dining whims at the same time!