Baked Lemon Sole & Brazilian Mango Salsa served with Sweet Potato & Sweet Dates | No comments:

Your main dish doesn't necessarily need to be savoury. In fact, integrating sweetness created balance or could create absolute mayhem, a beautiful mess. This dish for me is like dinner and dessert on one plate, and the flavours play off each other favourably. Fruit is often overlooked when it comes to a main dish. I feel in mainstream restaurants, especially in London, you don't find it too often in your main meal, usually in dessert. Some of my favourite partners in crime are: 

- Orange, pear, walnut & blue cheese

- Strawberries, basil & balsamic

- Dates & sweet potato (dessert on a plate...MMM) 

- Mango, chilli & coriander 

- Gammon & pineapple

- Honey roasted root vegetables

- Watermelon and olive oil 

So why fruit and fish? Surely BLEURGH? 

Actually...no. Whilst adding fresh fruit to fish might not be the first flavourful combinations to come to mind, I can ensure you that you will be graced with a more than pleasant surprise. In fact, unlike red meat and poultry, fish has a certain freshness to it, with iodine and sea-resembling fishy flavours being passed down the food chain and essentially onto your plate. Its texture is delicately soft and light; it's flavour best accentuated by the freshest of ingredients. White fish has far less of a 'fishy' taste than other variations of fish, for example tuna. I have used lemon sole, a flat fish which has a sweet delicate flesh and works well in many dishes.

I first tasted the mango, coriander and hot red chilli salsa when I worked for the Rolex HQ in London. Our meals were catered for us everyday, and we were lucky enough to have Pete the chef cooking 3-course meals for us daily! Oh how I loved Pete :D Even if my gluten-intolerance really did him up the backside sometimes. Pete if you're reading this, I miss coming into the kitchen each day, you were so great and you inspired me always! Pete served us once, cod on crushed new potato's with this Brazilian style salsa, which I was enthralled by! It is genius. It is SO fresh, flavourful and spicy. I felt so many flavours whizzing around my mouth, except my taste buds accepted them clearly and confidently. IT. WAS. DELICIOUS. Note to self, next time, try adding chopped red onion into the salsa, for another kick in a different direction. I think that too is a match made in heaven. 

OK. So I bought a sweet potato. I baked it and then I had one of those mid-creating brainwaves. I know I sound like a loony tune, but being creative in the kitchen is SO much fun, I am buzzing still from the flavour pairings...EEEK! The best part is you never actually know what you are doing half the time, you explore and experiment and then VOILA! I tried to slice dates...it turned to much OBV. They are SO soft. I have date syrup? That's it. Sliced sweet potato laced with melted butter, date puree, garnished with drizzled date honey. OH MY this is what I am dubbing dessert on a plate. It is a wonderful side to an savoury or spicy dish, it not only adds balance, but the sweetness is not overpowering, it went beautifully with the delicate flavours, seeing as it has an earthy undertone. OK, it sounds like earthy and ocean bearing flavour just don't mix. Think again! 

DATES! DATES! DATES! My favourite restaurant, that I have eaten at so far is La Shuk on Dizengoff. Why? Firstly, the ceviche is incredible. The best ceviche I have had and right now I am loving ceviche. It was white John Dory fish and sweet dates...I need to recreate this dish. Speaking of ceviche, restaurants here in Israel serve such wonderful ceviche dishes, diverse in flavour, and right now its my favourite dish. I'll have a glass of Cava please (but really I say it in Hebrew) :P There is only one place I can find Prosecco here in Israel, luckily it's in a wine bar called Denim, which is conveniently located down my street, with a daily happy hour. WHOOPS. Whilst I no longer drink it as often, I consider myself more of a sangria girl now, Prosecco was undoubtedly my favourite drink back home and in London. 

PS. Can we just appreciate this cute silver scoop! On my wanders around Tel Aviv last weekend, I got lost exploring the back streets leading to Levinsky Market, by which I stumbled across several professional chef stores! ERRR I'M IN HEAVEN. I lost myself and found myself a million times over planning dishes based on plates, accompaniments and so-called kitchen gadgets. Exhibit A. The sweetshop scoop. I knew instantly when I saw it that I would, essentially, serve the accompaniment to a dish. In this case, the salsa fitted perfectly in there. Cooking isn't just about making food and eating it. The creative processes actually start before you even start cooking. I bought so many cute and kinda cool things in these stores for the presentation of my food. I can't wait to share it all with you :)

ENJOY DOLLS XO 

Fish in Foil, the Scoop of the Day and Finally the Sweet Potato found himself a DATE! 

SWEEEET! 

Baked Lemon Sole & Brazilian Mango Salsa Served with Sweet Potato & Sweet Dates

(This recipe SERVES 1 to increase yield, multiply quantities by amount of people) 

Preparation Time: 15 minutes 

Cooking Time: 25 minutes

Ingredients: 

- 1 fillet of Lemon Sole white fish
- wedge of lemon
- knob of butter
- 1/4 sweet potato
- 1 King Solomon dates (my favourite Israeli dates, other variations will do!)
- 1 tsp date syrup
- Sea Salt & Pepper

Mango Salsa Ingredients: 

- 1/3 Mango
- Handful of coriander
- 1/3 Red Chilli Pepper
- 2 slices red onion (optional & not included in this recipe)

Make the Magic Happen: 

1. Preheat fan oven to 180 degrees. Wash sweet potato, and mark an X in the middle using a sharp knife. Place potato in the microwave for 6 minutes to pre-cook it. This reduces cooking time and it is just as tasty. If you beg to differ, pop the potato in 40 minutes before preparation begins :D
2. Take a piece of aluminium foil approx. 30cm x 30xm long and place the fillet of fish in the middle of the foil square. Season with cracked sea salt and cracked black pepper, squeezing a little of the lemon wedge over the fish and leave on top with a knob of butter. 
3. Fold in the foil first length ways and then horizontally, create a roof over the fish, sealing in a little house, ensuring all edges are folded over so nothing seeps out. Use a fork or a knife to poke holes in the top to allow steam out. This is one of my favourite ways to cook fish. It is baked inside all the juices, the addition of ingredients such as lemon, parsley, onion, herbs or whatever induces flavour and keeps the freshness. It also keeps the flesh soft and moist. 
4. Place the fish in foil in a small casserole dish, just in cas any juices spill out, you don't want to have more hassle when it comes to cleaning the kitchen. 
5. Take the potato out of the oven...careful...this is not a game of hot potato, be sure to use something like a tea towel to grab it. IT'S HOT!! Pop it straight in the oven to continue cooking and to crisp over. 
6. Meanwhile, slice off the mango. I used an avocado slicer to slice the mango out from the skin, an alternative is to use a knife and chop into chunks. Place in a bowl.
7. Finely chop the coriander and add to the mango.
8. Slice the red chilli pepper into fine circles. If you like it hot like me, start at the top of the chilli where the seeds are, you will get more spice, and more heat! Use sparingly if you are sensitive to spice.. Add to the bowl and mix it all up!
9. Pop the fish in the oven for 15 minutes, he can sit tight with the sweet potato.
10. Slice the dates and mix together to form a puree. 
11. Once the fish and sweet potato are cooked, take out of the oven and leave to cool for 5 mins, at this moment I pour myself a glass of vino rouge...
12. Arrange your plate accordingly; slice the sweet potato and add a tiny knob of butter to each slice. Top with sweet date puree and drizzle with date honey, make it look pretty.
13. Serve the mango salsa on the side and VOILA! 

Enjoy Dolls 

Bete Avon 

Bon Appetit! 

xo 

Bea

You can like my FB Page Dine With Bea for more recipes, kitchen creations, articles and general ramblings

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The Cutest & Fluffiest Gluten Free Cupcakes Ever | No comments:

Oh Glorious Cupcakes! Baking cupcakes has to be one of my favourite past-times and has been since about the age of 5, my mother who acquired Le Cordon Bleu through Raymond Blanc's private cookery school, has always been into baking. From meringooey grasshopper pie, to the BEST carrot cake I have ever tasted in my life, spotted dick cupcakes, bakewell tart and many, many more. I didn't just grow up baking vanilla sponge and chocolate cakes, which broadened my mind to the different flavours and methods of baking desserts at a young age, with carrot cake being a regular...which I will bake and share with you soon.

Growing up I was very much into baking, making cakes of all different flavours creatively decorated with different icing/frosting was also something that my granny and I loved to do together, granny if you are reading this, I love you and miss you, next time I am home, let's make cupcakes and bake apple pie! We would walk to the end of the garden with a wicker basket in which we would collect these big, green, juicy apples from the apple tree which remained beautifully at the very bottom of the garden by the swing at Sage cottage. I love making apple pie with Granny, she undoubtedly makes THE BEST! So with that in mind, I am going to make my own pastry and create Granny's Gluten Free Apple Pie to bring it back to life after all these years of not making it...especially for you.

There is no reason why everyone shouldn't enjoy cupcakes every once in a while, it doesn't need to be a special occasion! I made my Cute & Fluffy cupcakes for my team at work simply because I felt like it! They are simple to make, too much fun and so damn delicious. However since coming to the realisation that I am in fact GLUTEN INTOLERANT...DUN DUN DUUUUN, it's too often that I miss out on the cupcake party. Birthdays, party's, bakery's and pretty much anywhere that you may stumble across them...they're not GF yo. Plus even if they are, they aren't WOW. Out of all the Gluten Free cupcakes that I tasted in London, they were either too dense and dry or flavourless and well, y'all can't beat my buttercream icing! I honestly think that mine are better than anyone's, in fact I am shocked at how well they turned out. Modest I know, but really...They were fluffy and buttery-moist, with a melt in the mouth texture that is complemented by the most delicious vanilla buttercream frosting, but most importantly, you couldn't even tell they were GLUTEN FREE!!

THE DOLLS GUIDE TO MAKING THE BEST & CUTEST CUPCAKES IN THE WORLD GF OR NOT!

The Rookie Errors of Cupcake Baking: 
- Using improper food colouring which alters the taste of the buttercream frosting to become bitter and tasting like chemicals BLEURGHHH
- Dry/dense...I NEED A SIP OF WATER KINDA CAKES
- Boring cakes. HAVE FUN WITH IT! GET MESSY!

RULE 1: Cupcakes are made to be shared & enjoyed.
Firstly, you create a batch of around 16. The decorating is a work of art. They are a happy cake, I associate so much happiness with cupcakes, from making them from scratch as a child, or out of a box with those hello kitty, barbie and Tom & Jerry edible papers...LOL. Not only do they put a smile on my face, but everyone's around me. Receiving a beautiful, delicious cupcake ALWAYS makes you smile, as does making them.

RULE 2: You need a piping bag and variety of nozzles to get really creative!
Cupcakes are SO yummy and require you to be creative and arty, the more resources you have available to you, the more creative you can be. Cake decorating is a serious art and can involve complex methods and design.

RULE 3: Bake with LOVE! 
I truly believe that food made with love is food better enjoyed, trust me you can taste the love. Everyone who eats my food feels such happiness and well it's an experience in itself because when I present my food, I also provide an understanding of how flavours are developed and created along with inspiring others that food is more than just a daily chore. Sharing is caring and food is a beautiful way of making others smile whilst expanding their visions of food and cooking. Questions often arise on how I make my creations, in turn they learn and I am able to inspire.

RULE 4: Everything to the weight of 2 large eggs (avg. 140g) 
A baking secret my mother shared with me. This applies to flour, sugar, butter plus the actual 2 eggs! This makes for moist, fluffy cupcakes which melt in your mouth...dribble...

RULE 5: For coloured icing use specially designed food colouring for cake icing.
No one wants to feel like they're tasting E numbers and have that BLEURGHHH chemical tasting in their mouth. I find that the cheap supermarket bought food colourings do just this. I got professional food colouring which is not dripped again and again lessening the delicious flavour. Instead I dip the point of a sharp steak knife in and the tiniest bit of the viscous formula adding a rich colour. More can be added of course to darken the colour. I got mine in my favourite baking store at Shuk Hacarmel in Tel Aviv but you will be able to find these in any good baking store.

RULE 6: Always use double the quantity of icing sugar compared with butter for the creamiest Buttercream Frosting.

The Rookie Errors of Cupcake Baking: 
- Using improper food colouring which alters the taste of the buttercream frosting to become bitter and tasting like chemicals BLEURGHHH
- Dry/dense...I NEED A SIP OF WATER KINDA CAKES

RECIPE: Cute & Fluffy Gluten Free Cupcakes 

(makes 16 cupcakes)

What's in it?

(140g OR Weight of your 2 large eggs)
For The Cupcakes: 
- 140g Gluten Free Flour
- 140g Granulated White Sugar
- 140g Unsalted Real Butter (soften before, I left mine out for an hour or so)
- 2 tsp Bicarbonate of Soda
- 2 tbsp Double or Whipping Cream
- 3 tsp Vanilla Extract

For The Buttercream Frosting: 
- 200g Unsalted Butter (soften before, I left mine out for an hour or so)
- 400g Icing Sugar
- 3 Tsp Vanilla Extract
- Tbsp Double or Whipping Cream

Make The Magic Happen!

1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees, and weigh out the ingredients.
2. Mix together the softened butter and sugar, I use a wooden spoon, I'm pretty old school. You can of course mix it up with a stand/hand mixer.
3. Beat in 2 eggs, bicarbonate of soda and vanilla extract mixing together.
4. Sift in the GF flour folding the mixture to prevent it , then give it a real good mix/stir removing all the bumps.
5. Add the double cream and give it a final stir...before you prepare to lick the spoon...BOWL.
6. Using a tablespoon and a teaspoon, spoon 1 tablespoon of cake mixture into each cupcake cup, I also used a silicone heart-shaped cupcake tray.
7. Bake in the oven for 15 minutes, DO NOT OPEN THE OVEN DOOR during the 15 minutes, it will tamper with the rising of the cupcakes. After 15 minutes, stick a knife into one of the cakes to see if the batter has cooked all the way through. The knife should come out clean, just greasy.
8. Leave the cupcakes to cool...it's time to make the yummiest buttercream frosting!
9. Mix together in a bowl the icing sugar and butter until smooth, then add the vanilla extract and double cream.
10. Depending on how many colours you are intending to make, divide the icing into separate bowls, I made pink, green and blue, therefore I had 3 bowls.
11. Mix in the colouring until at your desired colour.
12. Prepare the piping bag by cutting off the end about 1-2cm using sharp scissors and place the nozzle inside. Spoon in the buttercream frosting and push town, tying the top in a knot.
13. BE AS CREATIVE AS YOU CAN BE AND DECORATE YOUR CUPCAKES :)
14. Share them with the people you love and enjoy! Besides you just made these beautiful cakes, ensure you have that first bite :)

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Kisses,

Bea {x}