Risalamande

Wikipedia can lead you in so many interesting directions. A friend was browsing Wikipedia and came across the entry for Risalamande and begged me to make it for him. I was intrigued, so I did. And I'm glad that I did - it is definitely worth repeating - in fact, a week later I did.

It's essentially a rice pudding made with risotto rice, a good amount of almonds, and has whipped cream folded in. Oh, and a cherry topping. It's not sweet due to very little sugar, but it is quite rich. Fair warning: Rice pudding is not the sexiest thing to photograph.

The ingredients: 
200g Arborio rice (I suspect a substitution would be bad)
1l milk (whole or low fat - your choice. I've used both)
4tbs sugar
1/2tsp salt
1 vanilla pod or 1-2tsp vanilla extract (or essence, if you don't have the extract on hand)
100g almonds, coarsely ground (easier to buy this)
50g flaked almonds, optional
250ml fresh/whipping cream

For the topping:
1 can pitted black cherries in syrup
1tbs cornflour/cornstarch
1/4 cup water

The method: 

This is time-consuming, but really simple.

The Arborio rice, milk, sugar, salt and vanilla bean (split and scraped) all go in to a pot. Bring it to boil, then lower to a simmer. Just give it a stir whenever you remember (to make sure that nothing is sticking to the bottom). When the rice is soft to your liking, it's done - I would provide a time, but it differed for the 2 times I made it. Check around the 30-40 minute mark.

 Remove from heat, and stir in almonds. If using vanilla essence instead of bean, stir in too. Let it cool down completely (I find sticking it in the fridge and stirring every 10 minutes speeds this along).

Whip the cream. Remove the vanilla bean if used, and fold the whipped cream in to the cooled rice pudding.

Spoon in to individual bowls for smaller desserts, or one big bowl for everyone to dish out. If you're going with the Danish tradition, put a whole almond in there too and have a prize standing by for whomever gets the whole almond :)

You can eat this as is, but the cherry topping just makes it so much better. Prepare it while the rest is cooling. The cherries + syrup in the can go in to a pot. Bring to boil, then add the cornflour slurry (cornflour + water, mixed till all lumps gone). Just stir until preferred thickness reached, and let it cool. Reheat when serving - warmed cherry topping on the cool rice pudding makes for a delightful winter treat.

If you have fresh cherries, or prefer to use raspberries (fresh or frozen) instead, follow the following method:
300g-500g cherries/raspberries, 250ml water, 1/2 cup sugar go in to the pot. Bring this to boil, then add the cornflour slurry and get it to the thickness you like. You can use less water if using frozen berries.

You can also serve it sans any topping, or with some heated berry jam. I do suggest making the cherry topping, as it works incredibly well together.

French Apple Cake

A week ago, a friend hosted a brunch and everyone brought a little something for the table. It all turned out really great, as you can see :). My contribution was the French Apple Cake, which you can see front left. It's adapted from a Dorie Greenspan recipe on David Lebovitz's site (you can see it at http://www.davidlebovitz.com/2010/11/dorie-greenspan-french-apple-cake-recipe/). 

I put my own little twist on it, making 2 loaf cakes instead of one round cake this time around. I have also made half the recipe previously with great success as well. And I've made it as a standard round cake too, which worked fantastically. It's easily adaptable! 

I'm going to post photos of the process as well - don't judge me on the (bad) quality of the pics! 

Le Ingredients: 

4-5 large apples (a mix of varieties)

2 large eggs

pinch of salt

150g sugar 

3 tbs vanilla extract (or essence if you don't have extract on hand)

110g flour
3/4 tsp baking powder 

85g melted butter, salted or unsalted (note that this is a reduction from the original recipe's 115g. I prefer it with less, it's a little less oily and still tastes great. Do increase this to the original quantity if preferred.)

Le method: 

Start with the apples, but make sure you have everything in place to work quickly, as you don't want to take too long and allow the apples to brown. 

Peel and core the apples, then chop them up in varying sizes - the recipe suggests 3cm pieces, but I prefer a mix of that size and many smaller pieces, which then just melt into the cake. This time around, I only had 4 medium apples; I usually end up with a lot more chopped apple, which is how I prefer it. This is what I ended up with this time around.


Note on the apples: You can use a mix of any apples. A mix is great as you have the different  flavours playing together. This time was a mix of Granny Smith, Golden Delicious and Fuji. Do play around with it and try a different mix each time.

Beat the eggs until light and foamy. Then add the sugar and whisk until thick and fluffy, and add in the vanilla and beat. You will see the colour transformation when you add the vanilla. And you'll be able to smell it too :) 

Stir in half the flour, and half of the melted butter. Then stir in the rest of the flour, the baking powder and the rest of the melted butter. Don't beat to vigorously at this point - just make sure it's all mixed in.

Add the apples and fold in until all of the apple pieces are well coated by the batter. Usually, I get a batter that just coats the apples; this time around, I had a lot more batter because of the lesser apples. 

If you're putting the batter straight into the pan, butter the sides of the pan (quite generously) first. I chose to use parchment paper to make it easier to get out this time (I usually make it in a springform pan), so I buttered the parchment paper. Pour the batter into the pan and smooth the top with the back of the spoon. If using parchment paper, this is the time to cut it down (I find it a better to do this after pouring the batter in than before, as it's easy for it to slip around in the pan). 

Go for a 20-23 springform pan or, as I did this time around, 2 loaf pans.

This goes into an oven pre-heated to 180ºC for about 40 to 50 minutes (one pan will need the 50 minutes, you want to start checking around the 35 minute mark for 2 loaf pans, but it should be done around the 40-45 minute mark).You can also test to see if the cake is done using a toothpick/knife/insert preferred method here.
Once you've got a nice colour on the cake and it's scented up your kitchen, remove from the oven and allow to cool for 10-15 minutes. Then remove from the springform pan/loaf tin, making sure the apples are not sticking to the sides when you do so (I left one side sticking so I could show you what would happen to the cake if the apples stuck - that's my story and I'm sticking to it!)

When it's cool, decorate if you'd like - I went with an icing sugar/water glaze this time, but usually prefer it unadorned. 

The cake is great on its own, slightly warmed or room temperature, or with a little bit of vanilla ice cream (particularly when warmed).

 The finished product: 

Dessert: Mini-flapjacks with various toppings

 

This is really quick and easy to do. I've been craving it all week, and decided to whip some up today. I used my standard pancake recipe, just slightly thicker; I'll share that recipe with you another day. For now, will just go through the toppings. 

   

In anti-clockwise direction, starting on the left - 

  

Pecan nuts: I'd bought some pecan nuts earlier today. I put one mini-flapjack down, topped with 2 pecan halves, topped with another flapjack and another 2 pecan halves. And idea for another time, when I have more time, is to chop the pecan nuts up and incorporate it into the dough. 

  

Chocolate: I made up a quick chocolate sauce with available ingredients. 1 piece dark chocolate, 1 piece Top Deck, 1/4 teaspoon butter and 1/2 teaspoon milk. This went into the microwave (much faster than a double boiler, if you're careful) for 15 seconds. A stir, and brief 5 second bursts with stirring until the chocolate was melted and combined and glossy. A flapjack with chocolate drizzled onto it, topped with another flapjack and a dollop of chocolate, made this masterpiece. 

  

Almond butter: While I bought this almond butter, it's really easy to make your own. I've made pecan butter before, so I imagine this is the same concept. Toss nuts of your choice into a blender and pulse until they're really fine and you have a rough butter texture. You may find a little oil helps it along. If you have no machine and a lot of patience, you could try grinding the nuts down in a pestle and mortar. I put some almond butter on one flapjack, topped it with another and a dollop of almond butter on that. 

  

Strawberries and strawberry syrup: I'd bought some strawberries on special easlier in the week. I sliced up 2 strawberries, and halved 2 starberries. I put these into a bowl with a teaspoon of fructose (you can just use any normal sugar) to draw the juices out. I did this before assembling the others, and did this one last. I arranged the sliced strawberries on one flapjack, topped it with another on which I arranged the rest of the sliced strawberries, and I drizzled the strawberry syrup that had formed onto this flapjack. 

  

Plain: It's always nice to have one as is :) 

  

Chocolate and strawberry: In the centre is one flapjack. I used the rest of the chocolate on that one, and topped it with the strawberry halves. 

  

The flapjacks were all completely delicious. It was the matter of 3 minutes to do the different toppings, and they looked good too. This is definitely one to remember when cooking for others; everything can be prepared ahead of time and assembled just before serving. It's quite light as well, so one person can easily consume those after a meal. Some vanilla ice cream or frozen yoghurt served with it would not go amiss.