Strawberry Popsicles

I love ice creams whatever the weather be it summer or winter and for me its always the right time to eat ice cream any time of the year. I enjoy making all types of frozen delights at home, especially no churn ice cream, frozen yoghurts, fruit sorbets, ice lollies and popsicles on sticks for my little nieces and nephews that visit often. You can use any combination of flavours to suit individual taste. My family favorite is this delicious keto peanut butter chocolate ice cream.

For the kids I do try and keep the ingredients healthy and one really easy way to create a healthy popsicle is to use yoghurts and fruits.

In this recipe I have used Yeo valley limited edition strawberry and vanilla yoghurts which are made from organic ingredients with very little sugar. In the Yeo vally range you can also get natural fromage frais and fruited fromage frais too. Both these products have no added refined sugars so they are great for kids.

I have also used ready to serve custard  to make my popsicles, but you can make your own custard at home if you wish.

The beauty of these popsicles is that you can make them using any fruit and yoghurt flavour combination. Peaches work really well as do mangoes for these popsicles.

They also work well if you add pureed fruits as a base and then top the fruit with the yoghurt mixture which you can see I have done in the popsicles I have made in the shot glasses. To make these just add pureed fruit in the base of the mould and freeze for 30 minutes, after which top up with the yoghurt mixture and freeze for three hours.

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Strawberry Popsicles

by October-10-2016

Strawberry frozen delights on sticks that are creamy and delicious.

Ingredients:

• 4 tubs Little Yeo Yoghurts Strawberry and Vanilla
• 300 g Ready to serve custard
• 2 tablespoons Agave Nectar (as required to suit your sweetness)
• 1/2 teaspoon Strawberry essence
• 12 Fresh strawberries thinly sliced

Method:

1. Slice the strawberries and line the Popsicle moulds with them. Place the moulds in the freezer for 30 minutes so that the strawberries stick to the moulds.(this makes pouring the mixture easier into the moulds without the strawberries dislodging.2. In a food processor whisk up the custard with the agave nectar and strawberry essence.3. In another bowl tip out the Yeo valley strawberry and vanilla yoghurt and mix it together with a whisk.4. Fold the whisked yoghurt into the custard mixture. If you have any remaining strawberries cut them into smaller pieces and add to the mixture at this stage.5. Remove the popsicle moulds from the freezer and pour the mixture into the popsicle moulds. Tap the moulds to dislodge any air bubbles. Put the popsicle caps into the mixture and return the moulds to the freezer for another three hours to set fully.If you have any remaining mixture left you can pour them into mini shot glasses and put a lolly stick in the centre and freeze them to make more popsicles.6. To de mould dip the popsicle mould into some warm water and they should slide out of the moulds easily.

Details

Prep time: 10 mins Freezing time: 4 hour Total time: 4 hour 10 mins Yield:8 popsicles

This post is in collaboration with Yeo Valley.
The patterned Nador plates and Nador mini cups featured in this post were press samples supplied by Forma

Mini Genoise Mousse Cakes

Week 7-Dessert week of GBBO has been and gone and the challenges to my mind are getting harder and harder. This week we saw contestants  make Roulade as the signature challenge, followed by technical challenge of making Marjolaine, a layered meringue with cream and nuts followed by the show stoppers Mousse cakes. All the bakes looked extremely difficult and you could clearly see the stress on the contestants faces as they struggled to create the perfect bake.

This week I have attempted to create my own version of the mini mousse cakes. I have used a vanilla genoise sponge recipe from GBBO and made a vegetarian mango and cardamon mousse topped with fresh mangoes and strawberries and finally finished off with a decorated chocolate collar around the mini cakes.

Some of the ingredients for my challenge this week were provided by Tesco

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Mini Genoise Mousse Cake

by Nayna Kanabar October-7-2016

Light Genoise sponge topped with delicious cardamon mango mousse and garnished with fresh mango and strawberries and pistachio nuts.

Ingredients:

• 50g butter (melted)
• 100g sugar
• 4 eggs
• 140g Plain flour (sifted 3 times)
• 120g Whipping cream
• 2 tablespoons Icing sugar
• 120g mango puree
• 1/2 teaspoon Cardamon powder
• 1/2 teaspoon Vanilla essence
• 8 Strawberries
• 1 Fresh mango
• 200g Milk chocolate
• 10 pistachio nut sliced
• 1 sheet Edible chocolate transfer

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 200 degrees C/ 400 degrees F2. Line a square tin with grease proof paper and keep it aside.3.Place the eggs and sugar in large bowl and set it over a bowl of barely simmering water, making sure the bottom of the bowl does not touch the water. Beat with an electric whisk until the mixture is thick and fluffy then remove the bowl from the pan and continue beating for three minutes.4. Add the melted butter and then gently fold in the flour.5.Transfer the batter to the prepared cake tin and smooth the top.6.Bake the cake for 25 minutes or until a skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean.7. Remove cake from the oven and leave to cool.8.To make the mousse, whip up the cream with the icing sugar until it forms stiff peaks.9. Fold in the mango puree, cardamon and vanilla essence very gently. Place the mousse in the fridge to chill.10 Peel the mango and cut it into thin slices.Hull the strawberries and cut them into thin slices.11.Using a cookie cutter that is 6 cm in diameter, cut 6 round cakes from the large cake, any off cuts can be used for making trifle.12. Break the chocolate and melt it in the microwave at 30 sec intervals until its melted. Remove from the microwave and keep aside.13. Cut the chocolate transfer paper to fit around the cake rounds and cut 6 sheets. Make sure they are at least 1 inch taller than the cake as there will be need to be a cavity to fill the mousse.14. Place the chocolate transfers on a baking sheet and using a palette knife thinly spread the melted chocolate on the design,15 Place the tray in the fridge for the chocolate to semi set for about 5 minutes.16 Remove chocolate wrapper from fridge and wrap them around the cake rounds. Return the chocolate wrapped cake back to the fridge to set completely. (about 1 hour)17. Remove the chocolate covered cakes from fridge and gently peel off the plastic wrapper to expose the chocolate design.With a sharp knife level the top of the cups.18. Spoon the mousse on top of the cakes and return the cakes to the fridge for 30 minutes.The mousse has no gelatin so it will not set fully but the chocolate sides of the cake will hold the mousse.19. To serve garnish the mousse cakes with mango slices and strawberry slices and sprinkle pistachio slices.

Details

Prep time: 45 mins (plus chilling time 1 hour) Cook time: 30 mins Total time: 1 hour 15 mins Yield: 6 mini cakes

Submitting this to :
Great Bloggers Bake Off with Jenny from Mummy Mishaps.

Moroccan Harissa Chickpea Stew

A Tagine or Maraq is an earthenware pot that is commonly used in North African/Berber cuisine for cooking. The pot is a round earthenware shallow dish with a tall cone/ funnel shaped lid that has an indentation on it. The concept is to layer the meat and vegetables in the dish and cook it slowly. The steam caused in the vessel will rise. Water is added in the indentation at the top of the funnel which cools the steam and this helps to contain all the flavours in the cooking pot.

There are many variations of vegetables and meats that are layered in the Tagine, my favourite is a vegetable stew made with chickpeas and Moroccan Harissa paste which is made from dried red chillies, garlic, olive oil, coriander and salt. It is commonly used to flavour Moroccan cuisine.

There are many different designs of Tagines, some are plain earthenware which are designed for cooking in, and others are more intricately decorated and used for serving. They are available is all shapes and sizes. 

I always wanted a Tagine and on a recent trip to Turkey I was so mesmerised with the range and I nearly bought one. However my ever sensible partner reminded me that it would be too difficult to transport it home on the aeroplane and with a heavy heart I was forced not to purchase it and settled for hand painted bowls instead. Even to this day I secretly wish I had bought it and smuggled it in my hand luggage!!!

I visit Homesense which incidentally is one of my favourite shops, on a regular basis, it would be a lie if I said anything else since I spend most of my lunch breaks in their eyeing the homeware section than eating lunch!!!! Even the staff are getting to know me now on a first name basis!!!! Last week whilst I was spending yet another lunch break in Homesense, I was in cloud nine when I spotted Moroccan Tagines for sale. They were only small ones that were hand painted and used for serving rather than cooking in them. 

I was immediately in love with them and there was no partner on toe to stop me!!! I bought both the designs which had beautiful intricate hand painted designs on them. I also bought a blue serving dish made from Earthenware. I have featured them in my Moroccan Harissa chickpea stew recipe below.

The vegetables  used in the recipe can be any of your choice, the only suggestion is to cut them all a similar size to ensure even cooking.

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Moroccan Harissa Chickpea Stew

by Nayna Kanabar October-6-2016

Beautiful and aromatic Moroccan flavours of cumin, coriander in this tasty vegetable stew.

Ingredients:

• 180g Precooked chick peas
• 180g Butter nut squash diced into 1inch cubes
• 1 Medium carrot peeled and sliced
• 1 Medium potato peeled and diced in to 1 inch cubes
• 1 tablespoon Preserved lemon finely diced
• 10 Baby tomatoes cut into halves
• 60ml Passata (sieved tomatoes)
• 3 sprigs Fresh coriander finely chopped
• 1/2 teaspoon Ground cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon Ground corriander
• 2 tablespoons Harissa paste
• 1/2 teaspoon Salt
• 1 tablespoon Olive oil
• 1 teaspoon Garlic finely minced
• 240g Couscous (precooked)
• 30ml water
• 1 tablespoon Dried apricots (finely chopped)

Method:

1. In a tagine add the olive oil, layer the vegetables starting with potatoes, carrots, butternut squash and chickpeas.2. In a jug mix together the water,passata, harissa paste, cumin and coriander powder, salt and garlic paste and whisk it all together.3. Pour the liquid over the vegetables in the tagine.4. Cover the tagine with the lid and pour a little bit of water in the top cavity in the lid.5. Place the Tagine on the flame and cook the stew for about 20 minutes on low heat, after 20 minutes add the tomato halves and chopped preserved lemons cover and cook for another 5 minutes until all the vegetables are thoroughly cooked.6. Remove tagine from the heat and garnish with finely chopped coriander.To serve spoon some couscous onto a plate and top it with a generous helping of the Moroccan Harissa chickpeas stew. Garnish with some more coriander and scatter some finely chopped dried apricots .If you don't have a tagine you can cook the stew in a slow cooker or even in a heavy saucepan. I shall be posting recipes for Harissa paste, Preserved lemons and Harissa couscous in my upcoming posts. For this recipe you can also use shop bought.

Details

Prep time: 10 mins Cook time: 25 mins Total time: 35 mins Yield: Serves 2

This post is in collaboration with Homesense

Fougasse

Its week 6 of Great British Bake Off  and the theme was Botanical week, contestants were asked to create a signature dish which was a citrus meringue pie, followed by a technical challenge of a French herby bread called Fougasse and finally a three tiered showstopper cake with flowers.

This week I have chosen to recreate the Fougasse, the recipe I used was one of Paul's original Fougasse recipe.

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Fougasse

by Nayna Kanabar October-2-2016

Beautifully flavoured with herbs and sea salt this Fougasse bread is perfect for serving with Soup.

Ingredients:

• 560g Bread flour plus extra for dusting
• 1 tablespoon fine semolina for dusting
• 10g Salt
• 7g Instant Yeast
• 350 ml luke warm water
• 2 Tablespoons Olive oil plus extra for greasing and drizzling
• 2 Teaspoons fresh rosemary finely chopped
• 2 Teaspoons fresh sage finely chopped
• 2 Teaspoons fresh thyme finely chopped
• 1/2 Teaspoon dried Oregano
• 1/2 Teaspoon Sea salt flakes for sprinkling

Method:

1. Add the flour, salt and olive oil and 3/4 water to a bowl of an electric mixer. Mix the flour until it comes together,it will be wet.2. Gradually add the remaining water a little at a time to make a soft dough, Add  the herbs and keep mixing the dough until it becomes elastic and comes together.3. Oil a big plastic container and transfer dough to it, cover and leave to prove for 1 hour until it doubles in size.4. Mix the dusting flour with semolina on a work surface and transfer the dough from plastic container to work surface.Knead the dough and divide it into two.5.Oil two baking trays and line with silicon paper .6. Shape each dough into a leaf shape and transfer it to the baking sheets. Cut two lines in the middle of the leaf shape and 3 diagonal lines on either side to make veins.

7. Cover the trays and leave to prove them for the second time for about 30 mins .Preheat the oven to 220 degrees C / 45O degrees F. 8.Brush the Fougasse with a little olive oil and sprinkle with sea salt and oregano, bake the Fougasse in the oven until golden brown (approx 20 minutes) Remove from the oven and enjoy warm dipped in olive oil. 

Details

Prep time: 30 mins plus  (proving time for bread 1.30 mins) Cook time: 20 mins Total time: 55 mins Yield: 2 Loves

Submitting this to :
Great Bloggers Bake Off with Jenny from Mummy Mishaps.

Learning to pickle with Sarsons and Kilner Jars

I love condiments and pickles accompanying my meals and they are even nicer when they are home made. Recently Sarsons UK's number one vinegar brand invited me to a pickling workshop in collaboration with Kilner Jars. I jumped at the chance as nothing beats having home made pickles and also with an abundance of fresh produce available what better way than to preserve it to use in the winter. With autumn on our door step  already, it won't be long before its Christmas and this year, I plan to make jars of pickles as edible gifts. That's half my Christmas presents sorted!!! If you want to have ago a pickling you can check out the recipes at the Sarsons recipe page.
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Sarsons new speciality pickling vinegars are perfect as they do not require any extra addition of sugars or any other seasoning and they already have everything that's required in them.

To make your own pickles all that remains is to chop the vegetables, load them into jars and pour over the speciality blend vinegar's and hey presto you have home made pickles at a click of a fingers.I think the hardest part is waiting for the pickles to be ready for eating!!

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At  the Sarsons pickling event we were able to taste 4 different types of pickles; pickled cucumbers, pickled garlic, pickled peppers and Vietnamese carrot pickle. My favourite amongst them all was the cucumber pickle, After the sampling we were able to make our own jars of pickles to take home.

Denise Tollyfield our chef  tutor for the night explained that for pickling its imperative to use the freshest ingredients to get the best results. For Optimum results don't be tempted to use old produce save that for chutneys instead!!! We had the freshest ingredients and lovely produce to create our pickles with.

We also learnt that it is equally important to wash and sterilise the jars and the rubber rings either by boiling them in a water bath or washing them in the dishwasher to. This ensures that the pickles stay fresh for longer.The Kilner jars are by far the best for this purpose and they come in various different sizes too.

We  had 4 stations each creating one of the above pickles. I chose to make the cucumber pickle with my friend Heidi whilst another friend Manjiri made the pepper pickle. I did not dare try the garlic pickle as those who were brave enough to taste it said it was rather pungent and would definitely ward off any vampires!!!

Our pickling session was really enjoyable and we all achieved some great results and I think each group was really successful in recreating the pickles we had sampled earlier.

I am really excited to see that my cucumber pickle not only looked great, it tasted delicious especially as I added some red chillies to it to give it a bit of a spicy Kick!!!!

Its always enjoyable to learn new culinary skills and its even more fun when you do it with your best buddies!!! Here is Heidi, Manjiri and my self "The Three Musketeers" proudly showing off our creations!!!

I was invited by Sarsons to the pickling workshop, all photos and opinions shared in this post are my own.