Gribiche Sauce

Is this a sauce or is this a mayonnaise?  Both actually! 

My first encounter with this sauce was my mother making a tartare sauce this way, and actually this sauce is very close to tartare but different in that it has more herbs in it.  I serve it the way I saw on Adam Liaw's show, as a bed for a chicken snitzel, but you could use the oil, mustard, lemon and egg yolks and just make mayonnaise with those.

When you make the mayonnaise, you do not have to drizzle it in like a normal mayonnaise, but if you just dump it all in it will split.  So, just add it slowly mixing all the time.

I use chives and parsley but you can vary the herbs to whatever you like, try basil, thyme, tarragon or even celery or carrot tops.

This is really a very versatile sauce and goes really well with fish, chicken, or vegetables (think asparagus with sauce gribiche!)  Once you have made it you will want to keep making it.

Gribiche Sauce

Ingredients

20 g capers, finely chopped
15 g pickled jalapeños, finely chopped
½ red onion, finely chopped
½ bunch chives, thinly sliced
½ small bunch flat-leaf parsley, finely chopped
Salt and black pepper

4 boiled eggs
1 lemon, halved
150 ml olive oil
1 tsp Dijon mustard

Method

I use two bowls, in one bowl put the yolks of the eggs.

Chop the egg whites, capers, onions, jalapenos, chives, parsley and add salt and pepper.  Add this to the other bowl.

Mash the egg yolks, add about 1/2 the juice of the lemon and all the mustard, mix until it is smooth.

Add the oil in slowly until it is a mayonnaise, just keep whisking or mixing.

Now just check the seasoning and add more lemon if required.

Mix the chopped herbs etc into the mayonnaise and refrigerate. 

Healthy Raspberry Cups

Going somewhere and need to "take a plate" but want to take something a bit healthy and that tastes great.  This is your recipe!

You can substitute any nut butter for the peanut butter, and if you don't have enough add a little real butter. I left out the coconut oil in the topping as I had run out and it worked perfectly, but you could use a bit of butter instead.  You can make these the day before, just store them in the fridge.

Healthy Raspberry Cups

Ingrediants

For the cups: 
1¾ cups (157g) Rolled/quick oats 
1/2 cup + 2 tablespoons (140g) Natural peanut butter 
3 tablespoons Maple syrup 

For the filling: 
1½ cups (150g) Raspberries, fresh or frozen 
2 tablespoons Chia seeds 1-2 tablespoons Maple syrup (optional) 

For the topping: 100g Dark chocolate 1 tablespoon Coconut oil 

Method

1. Make the cups: Preheat the oven to 350F (180C). Line muffins tip with paper liners. 
2. In a bowl, mix oats, peanut butter and maple syrup. 
3. Take about 1-2 tablespoons of the mixture, transfer to the muffin cups. Then, using the handle of a rolling pin press create a well as shown in the video. 
4. Bake for 10-12 minutes. 
5. Remove from the oven and allow to cool completely. 
6. Meanwhile make the filling: mash the raspberries, add chia seeds, maple syrup (optional) and mix. Set aside for 15 minutes. 
7. Fill each cup with the raspberry filling. 
8. Make the topping: chop dark chocolate and place in a heat proof bowl, add coconut oil and melt in the microwave in 20 second pulses. 
9. Spread a layer of melted chocolate over the filling. 
10. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes before serving

Frangipane

 Frangipane:

Posting this so I can find it again! Frangipane is a handy recipe for the filling of any fruit tart, particularly where you do not have enough fruit for fruit only. I make a rectangle tart with frangipane and pears sliced on top. Delish.

5 Tablespoons unsalted butter

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1 egg

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 cup almond flour (measured then sifted)

Cream, the butter and sugar together until light and creamy. At the egg and vanilla and mix well. Sift the almond flour into the mixture and whip for another 30 to 60 seconds.

Salmon and Pasta

 This is based on a Mary Berry recipe for Salmon Linguine, but you can use any pasta you like.  It is also versatile with the salmon, I have used smoked salmon, hot smoked salmon, poached salmon fillets and a combination of them.  All with success.  It's a light meal but a satisfying one full of flavour.

This recipe is for 2 serves, but you can easily double or triple it.

Ingredients

125 grams pasta

40 grams pine nuts

small knob of butter

2 green onions

juice & grated peel of 1 lemon

60g capers, drained

3 tblspns olive oil

125 g salmon (cooked)

small bunch each of chives and parsley, chopped.

Method

Put pasta on to boil in lots of salted water

Use a hot frypan to brown the pine nuts and then set aside.

Fry the green onions off in the butter, add the oil, lemon and capers and heat for a few minutes.

Add the salmon and cook until just heated through.  (Turn off if the pasta is not cooked.)

Drain the pasta when cooked, keep about 1/2 cup of pasta water.

Add the pasta to the salmon mix, combine with the pasta water & pine nuts until you have the consistency of sauce you like.  Sprinkle with the chives and parsley.

Basic Muffins

Basic Muffins

2 cups self raising flour

1-1/2 cups natural yoghurt

1/2 cup oil

2 eggs

Sweet - add 1/2 - 1 cup of sugar 

           - add fruit, nuts, choc chips - go wild!

Savoury - add corn, ham, cheese, olives, sundried tomatoes, herbs

Mix - mix together all the ingredients until just combined, do not over mix.

Bake - bake at 180C for 20 minutes until golden brown and spring back when pressed in the middle.

Mary Berry's easiest ginger biscuits

 Like all Mary Berry recipes this one is easy and perfect every time and it freezes well.  

Make sure you use only a level tablespoon of golden syrup or the biscuits will spread out too much.  There are two types of sugar, but if all you have is one, just use that.  I usually use dark brown sugar and raw sugar and it works with no problems.  Chopp the ginger a little bigger than you think you should, that way you get little nuggets of ginger in the biscuits.  Delish.

Easy Ginger Biscuits

Ingredients 

• 50 g butter
• 1 level tablespoon golden syrup  (NO MORE)
• 175g self raising flour
• 1 tsp bi carb soda
• 1 tbsp ground ginger
• 75g crystalised ginger chopped
• 50 g demerara sugar
• 50g light brown sugar
• 1 egg beaten

Method

Preheat the oven to 160°C/140°C fan. Line two baking sheets with non-stick baking paper.

Measure the butter and golden syrup into a saucepan. Heat gently, stirring, until melted.  Set aside.

Place the flour, ground ginger, chopped ginger, bicarb and demerara and muscovado sugars in a mixing bowl. Mix well, then stir in the melted ingredients. Add the egg and bring the mixture together to form a dough.

Divide into 16 equal pieces and roll with your hands into small balls. Place on the baking sheets and slightly flatten to about 1cm (½in) thick. Bake for about 25 minutes, until golden and firm around the edges.

Leave to firm up on the baking sheets for a few minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.  Keeps well for up to 5 days in an airtight container.

You can freeze them and refresh them in a low oven once defrosted.

Sauces for fruit dips

 It was New Years Eve and I was asked to bring dessert.  We were all over sweets and cakes so I decided to take fruit, but that can also be a bit boring.  So to jazz it up I decided to also take some dips.

The obvious one was chocolate, but I had no cream, I found this recipe and it's a winner.  I did have sour cream, and found one for a simple dip, but a friend also gave me another one for sour cream, so here are the three dips that go well with fruit.