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Extremely Simple Chocolate Mousse

February 8, 2011 by Celia @ Fig Jam and Lime Cordial

I used to be afraid of eggs.

And probably with due cause – there are countless stories on the news about salmonella and other health risks associated with raw eggs.  But one of the most wonderful things about having chickens in the backyard is that I am finally confident enough in the quality of our eggs to eat them raw.

So this is a recipe for Christine, Christina, Jan, Amanda, Spice Girl and all my other friends who know the joy of having a warm egg, freshly laid that morning.  The eggs in this recipe are not cooked at all, so if you’re planning to make it, please only use eggs you’re completely sure about.  Commercial eggs are often months old before they’re put out for sale (even free range ones) and it would probably be unwise to use them in this recipe.  Sigh. Obviously I’m still a little afraid of eggs.

The great thing about this recipe (apart from being outrageously simple) is that there’s no added sugar or dairy.  It resulted in a firm mousse with a dark, pure chocolate flavour that matched brilliantly with our old bottle of vintage porto.

The recipe comes from Trish Deseine’s Chocolate, a much loved and well used volume on our cookbook shelf.

  • 150g (5oz) dark chocolate (I used Callebaut 811 54%)
  • 2 teaspoons rum, coffee liqueur or brandy (optional)
  • 5 super-fresh large eggs (59), separated

1. In a large bowl, melt the chocolate in the microwave or over a saucepan of simmering water.

2. Remove from heat and stir in the alcohol (optional).  Note that when the alcohol is added, the chocolate will seize up a little – don’t panic.

3. Add the egg yolks one at a time, stirring well into the chocolate mixture to loosen it up.

4. Whisk the egg whites until stiff, then stir a large spoonful into the chocolate mixture to soften it.  Then carefully fold the remaining beaten egg whites into the chocolate mixture.  Pour the mixture into a large serving bowl, or several smaller ones and refrigerate until firm.  Decorate with grated chocolate before serving.

Posted in Recipes | Tagged , , , | 33 Comments »

BattleTech and Butterscotch Bars

February 6, 2011 by Celia @ Fig Jam and Lime Cordial

During a recent tidy up, Big Boy uncovered this old board game of Pete’s.

It was last played in 1988. For all the gaming geeks out there, this is the board game precursor to the popular MechWarrior video game series. (Hmm. I wonder if any gaming geeks actually read my blog? Please do let me know.)

A flurry of excitement ensued, as Big Boy and his mate Tim made plans for a board game evening.  Tim’s lovely parents were kind enough to let five noisy young men occupy their dining table all night, so I thought it only fair that I contribute some baked treats for the occasion. What better for sustaining armoured warriors locked in mortal combat than butterscotch bars?

There’s nothing I enjoy more than baking for my sons and their friends.  In this case though, as Big Boy sat around a table with his friends, playing the same game that Pete had played with his friends over twenty years ago, it was even more special!

Posted in Food & Friends | 27 Comments »

Lanterns

February 4, 2011 by Celia @ Fig Jam and Lime Cordial

Small Man and I made a couple more lanterns yesterday…

Lots of fun, although I’ve nearly used up all my angpow wrappers!

Posted in Cool Things | 21 Comments »

Chinese New Year

February 3, 2011 by Celia @ Fig Jam and Lime Cordial

Gong Xi Fa Cai!

Happy Chinese New Year!

Wishing you all a happy and prosperous Year of the Rabbit!

To celebrate the occasion, I’ve been making lanterns.  I made a Year of the Rabbit lantern (note the bunnies on the wrappers) to hang in our hallway. If you’d like to make one of your own, I wrote a step by step tutorial here last year.

This year I added these sweet shell-shaped lanterns, easily made from a single ang-pow (red envelope) packet.

Begin with an ang-pow wrapper or similarly sized envelope or piece of thin cardboard…

Fold the wrapper in half lengthways.  With a sharp pair of scissors and cutting from the folded edge, snip into even strips, cutting almost to the edge.

Turn the angpow wrapper over and curl the opposite corners towards each other.  Bring corner A to corner B, overlapping one onto the other…

Join the two corners with a staple…

Finish by stapling a red cord or string to one corner. Now find a good spot to hang your lanterns for the fifteen days of Chinese New Year!

 

Posted in Food & Friends | Tagged , , , | 28 Comments »

Moghrabieh

February 2, 2011 by Celia @ Fig Jam and Lime Cordial

“Barbara!  Barbara!”

During any visit to the Lebanese wholesaler Harkola, we’re likely to hear someone calling for Barbara.  And that’s because she’s wonderful – she knows how much the dates are, she knows where to find the pearl barley and, as we found out on our last visit, she knows a great recipe for moghrabieh.

Moghrabieh is Lebanese couscous – an unusually firm pasta which needs to be boiled in water for up to half an hour before it can be eaten.  Harkola are the Australian importers, which means a kilo packet from them costs $4, as opposed to the $11 I’ve seen it on sale for in local foodie stores.

When Barbara saw me putting a packet of moghrabieh into our trolley, she offered me her recipe, commonly eaten in the Lebanese community as a  late breakfast.  Here are the instructions as they were told to me..

1. Soak a large quantity of dried chick peas overnight, then boil them in a large pot with plenty of salted water until just tender. (I added salt at the end, as I didn’t want to toughen the skins).  Drain well.  Tinned chick peas can also be used, drain them well, but don’t rinse them.

2.  Bring another large pot of salted water to the boil, and cook the moghrabieh until soft (this took about 25 minutes), but not mushy.  Drain well and sprinkle over with a good pinch each of ground caraway, ground cinnamon and ground allspice.

3. In a large frying pan or saute pan, fry a large quantity of sliced onion  until soft in plenty of oil, then add both the chick peas and moghrabieh and toss to combine and heat through.  Season with more salt to taste. Serve warm with pita bread.

One thing I should mention – Barbara’s instruction was to use the whole packet of moghrabieh. Now, that’s probably fine if you’re feeding a large extended family, but in our case, it resulted in an enormous quantity of food which needed to be shared out to friends and neighbours.  The flavour of the dish is subtle and delicious, with a lovely sweetness from the fried onions. I added more of the ground spices during the frying process, but they didn’t seemed to overpower the dish.  This is definitely a recipe we’ll make again!

Posted in Recipes | Tagged , , | 22 Comments »

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