JohnT

I just returned from catering a "Sunday Live Music" event, which I do every three weeks or so. It is a junk food catering event. Went thru 24kg fried chips, 50 chicken & mushroom pies, 50 hotdogs and 75 boerewors rolls. I am knackered! But, I have thought about the Valentines Eve Dessert during the day and am now considering a panne cotta with a fruit or berry coulis. I have quite a bit of egg whites in my freezer, so am thinking of making a whole bunch of pink meringue hearts, only about 2.5 to 3mm thick, to plop on top of the panne cotta To answer CP's question re fruit in season, basically everything with the exception of citrus. But I do not know about berries - that I will be able to determine during the coming week when I can pop into my fruit and veg supplier. I will also have a look at what frozen berries are available during the week and what their price is. Back in the morning - John.

ruthcooks: I do not know why I did not think of a berry coulis - thanks for that! Shel_B: I did originally think of a panna cotta but the moulds are a problem - it would need spending large amounts to buy imported items that would get very limited use in the future. Good suggestion as I too like panna cotta! Lisa Shock: Some nice ideas, thanks. Your brownie idea is actually quite good and I will throw that around in my head a bit. Just off the cuff, a very dark square brownie slice with a white heart of icing sugar could do. Unfortunately, getting heart shaped moulds, be they foil or permanent, is quite difficult here at the bottom pointy end of Africa. The best I can do at short notice is make heart shaped moulds using acetate strips, which will not stand up to the temps in the oven. But, I can easily make 50 heart shaped acetate moulds and make refrigerator cheesecakes with a red fruit coulis topping - the white and red contrast should look quite good. Something for me to play around with in the coming week. A mousse may also go down well done in the same way. Thanks for the thought so far.

I have not posted for a time due to work load. Let me expand a bit. At the beginning of December I was asked by a local bowls and social club if I would be interested in cooking a dinner every Friday evening for members of the club. I accepted the challenge and was supposed to start the catering at the beginning of February - except the previous catering folk decided to abscond in December and thus I started the catering at the beginning of January. I have now done three Friday evening dinners with the fourth next week. Dinner consists of two courses - either a starter and main or main and dessert. Being summer at the moment, I am doing mains and deserts until the winter months start. Now, it may be a bit unlucky for some (I am not superstitious), but Valentines Day is on a Saturday this year and thus Friday the 13th is my meal evening and I was thinking of a simple dessert for the approximately 50 club members who order the Friday meal, with a Valentine's theme. My initial thoughts were a heart shaped meringue with a dollop of cream topped with red berries. However, I am not too sure of the availability of fresh red berries nor their cost at the moment. Also, these meals are low budget (what isn't these days) and thus I need to keep this in mind. Right, other than my meringue idea, mentioned above, anybody wish to throw in some thoughts or ideas?

Thanks for that DDF. It was strange to see this thread tonight as I spent some time today getting prices for chicken for next Friday's catering.

Can somebody please tell me what a "cut-up chicken is". Is it a whole chicken that has been cut into, say, 8 portions and stuffed back into a bag or punnet? Sorry for the ignorance but we do not get this in my part of the world if my thoughts are correct. Why would anybody want this when it is far cheaper to buy a whole chicken and then spend two minutes to portion it?

Shel_B, I think you are wasting your time. A lot of vanilla extracts are made with rum and other alcohol based spirits. Use vanilla extract in any dessert and what do you taste? Vanilla, not rum! I use white rum and spiced dark rum to make my vanilla extract and I cannot tell it has any rum in it when using the extract. And that's all you are really doing by soaking vanilla beans in rum. Scrape out the seeds of the beans that have soaked in rum, even for a year - you will not taste the rum as the vanilla, if of good quality, will overpower any rum flavour. Give it a go, you will enjoy vanilla custard, not vanilla custard with rum flavouring! If you want vanilla custard with rum flavouring but no, or little alcohol, heat up a bit of rum in a large metal spoon over a flame then burn off the alcohol and use the residue, which I recon you could call "essence of rum". Good luck on your experiment and let us know what you did and your thoughts on the results.

No, I used to, but it is much easier to get it made by my local butcher than spending the extra hours cleaning and sanitising for small quantities.

Tell your friend to be very careful of eating Gnu (actually called wildebeest - Gnu is actually an old San or Khoi name for the wildebeest, not used anymore), as they are carriers of foot and mouth disease. Goat is good, but way too tough for the grill but makes a brilliant curry! Also, why on earth would somebody want to eat zebra? They are simply donkey with a striped jacket. They are like eating tough leather! I am sure your friend is pulling your leg as nobody eats them. Your pie sounds good - I wanted to do a pear tart but all the pears in the markets today were too green or rotten. Just had more champaign as desert.

So, Joy and I had our "dop en 'n tjop" - well, the butcher was out of chops so I just went with chicken thighs and boerewors on the braai. The chicken was coated in sweet chilli chutney for the last turn and the whole lot served with a green salad. Happy New Year! May 2015 be a whole lot better than the last 12 months. John.

A "Just Desserts Party" sounds good for a Valentine neighbours get together. Do not worry about the kids - they will look after themselves. We (South Africa) have two products that are made out of the abundant left-over apples and grapes at harvest, called Grapetizer or Appletizer. They are sparkling unsweetened juice from grapes or apples that are ideal for adults or kids not wanting alcoholic drinks. I am sure you would have similar products available locally. My wife and I never have had kids either, but have many friends who's kids we have watched grow up over the years and who have been a delight to have around with their parents for the occasional get together. Keep the champagne and keep to a 6:30 for 7 time slot.

Anna, it is a maximum security prison and the object is to try and teach prisoners a trade as most of the prisoners have never worked before - they are more from a gangster background than anything else. They eat their evening meal at 4pm and lockdown is at 5pm, so the restaurant closes early. South African custom is normally a main meal in the evening.

Cape Town has had a restaurant at the high security Pollsmoor prison for many years, but I doubt it is in any way close to Michelin stared. Here is a short article on it (to get the prices in US $, divide by 11): http://www.capetownmagazine.com/pollsmoor-restaurant

And back to the OP's question! Most of you folk are located in that cold northern hemisphere part of the orb we all are clinging to. Although I am also clinging to the orb, I am located on the southern side of it, where it is decidedly warm and thus ideal for outside activities. My New Year's Eve dinner is pretty simple - 'n dop en 'n tjop! This simply means a good drink (dop) whilst around a fire enjoying a lamb chop (tjop) or two, some boerewors and a few other items cooked on the glowing wood embers - known as a "braai". Cape Town is a coastal city with thousands of fishing and recreational boats and there will be the normal fireworks display in the harbour to celebrate the arrival of the New Year. I will not be there but simply in my back garden, drink in hand, making sure none of the hundreds of unused distress flares launched by the inebriated boat owners does not land on the house! No "black eyed peas". Just 'n dop en 'n tjop and bubbly at midnight! And in case I forget, cheers all, may the year ahead be better than the old one. John.

pjm333, those really look good! To get a bit of perspective, what are the size of your "jars"? John.

Thanks DDF, that's what I ended up doing - sort of! I actually ended up brining them skin on and the next day found the skin "slid off" quite easily. I will just have to wait another month of so to see if they have remained crisp, which was my aim. I have previously tried to blanch pickled onions and the skins also came off quite easily, but the result was that the onions did not remain crisp.

Shel_B, hope you did not discard the 3 egg whites you had left over! Just whip them up and slowly add about 55 to 60g caster sugar for each egg white. Whip until the sugar is desolved into the whites and spoon or pipe blobs onto a parchment lined baking sheet or make two large disks for a pavlova. Bake at 200°F (90°C) for about 1.5 hours and then turn off the oven and leave overnight to cool. You then will have meringues to experiment with. Meringues should always be the last thing you bake at the end of the day so that they can dry out overnight as the oven cools. Enjoy your custards and have a great day tomorrow. John.

I think you are trying to be too technical in making your custard. Your recipe should be fine with two whole eggs and two yolks. However, skip the temperature probe bit and set your oven at 350°F (180°C) and just bake for about 30 minutes in the water bath or until set. For a slightly deeper yellow add another yolk, which would also help them set up a bit better, depending how firm you want your final product. I normally bake custards in medium ramekins of which your recipe would make four. If you are only making two with that quantity, they will need at least another 5 minutes or so in the oven. I never use a temperature probe for baked custards - I bake until done and that's it! John ETA: I have just been doing a bit of Googling and found this egg site: http://www.incredibleegg.org/egg-facts/eggcyclopedia/c/custard- have a look and click on the link at the bottom of the write-up for baked custard. John.

Good grief! You want to order moussaka via mail order? Just get yourself a nice leg of lamb, spike it with garlic and rosemary and baste with a bit of olive oil - cook long and slow and enjoy a slap-up Greek style roast with roast potatoes and roast vegetables. Refrigerate the leftover leg and mince the stripped-off meat for your moussaka when you are ready. It really is a simple dish that the Greeks traditionally made with the leftover roast. Just need some eggplant, spices and a few tomatoes to add to the minced lamb. Top off with a white cheese sauce with egg and bake until hot and the sauce is set and browned. Somewhere I have a recipe from a Greek lady who gave it to me in the 70's and which I have made many times. If you want a copy, I will dig it out and type it up for you. John.

Ruth, those look "droolishious" - you taking orders for export to Darkest Africa? I am sure anybody taking a bite of one will have a huge grin on their faces within seconds! John.

The following has been put together from various news sources. It could be titled "Only in Africa", but I think the headline should be "There Goes Christmas Dinner". Two cousins have appeared in the Mahwelereng Magistrate's Court, Limpopo Province, South Africa, for allegedly stealing a cow and an ambulance they used as a getaway vehicle. Blade Olifant, 26, and Kgothatso Olifant, 27, allegedly stole a cow and loaded it in the back of an ambulance in Mahwelereng. They stole the ambulance from outside a house whilst the paramedics were attending to a patient in the house. "The two bundled a cow inside the ambulance oblivious of the fact that is was marked and easily identifiable," police spokesman Mulaudzi Hangwani said in a statement. "Community members contacted the police who quickly set up a roadblock where the duo, with sirens blaring, thought they would not be stopped." Police found a live cow inside the ambulance as well as bottles of beer. The two were released on a warning and would appear again on 15 January. The cow was identified by its owner after it was placed under the care of the local Society For Prevention of Cruelty Against Animals. "Sometimes the criminal makes it almost too easy for the police. The two were apparently wanting to slaughter the cow for their family Christmas dinner but will now just be having pap (maize porridge)," Mulaudzi said. Source: I put the above together from various news sources and a police press statement.

I did a bit of a Google search and found the Keller recipe (thanks Anna for pointing me in the right direction) - he uses 6 yolks and 1 whole egg plus some milk and EVOO in his recipe with about 250g flour. I have never tried his recipe and it may be quite good. The recipe I mentioned in my previous post above, uses 10 to 12 yolks only, to 500g flour Look at Paul Bacino's recipe above - 1 whole egg and 1 yolk per 100g flour - also a lot of egg. I also Googled some other recipes and found Giorgio Locatelli's recipe which has 3 large eggs plus 2 to 3 extra large egg yolks per 500g flour. Then I found Jamie Oliver's recipe from his Italian mentor, Gennaro, and he uses 12 egg yolks with about 475g flour. So, my conclusion is that the egg contributes to making a fine pasta dough and using more yolk and less whites makes for a richer dough. In my younger days all a person could buy was commercial pasta made from egg yolk and flour - a rich flavoured pasta. Now all you can buy is bland pasta made with water and flour! And the manufacturers have the marketing gaul to claim "made in the traditional Italian way". And to the OP, use a hand pasta machine - hand rolling pasta dough with a pin is not easy!

I have not made fresh pasta for a number of years, but used to use a simple recipe from an old Italian friend. She used to make fresh pasta for the family two or three times a week. Her recipe was simple but I had to spend a few sessions with her to figure out the quantities - she just took flour out the packet that looked about the amount she needed and added egg yolks until it felt right to her. So, after she scooped out a quantity of flour, I weighed it and then when she had thrown in the egg yolks, I was counting. The results were: To 500g flour (I use our cake flour) Add 10 to 12 egg yolks No water No salt No EVOO If it is too dense, add extra yolk or, if too soft, add a bit more flour. I used a small Atlas pasta machine for the rolling (have it stored at the moment). She claimed that adding water was a big no-no, as was adding salt or EVOO. She claimed that there was enough salt absorbed into the pasta when it was boiled in salted water and EVOO prevented the cooked pasta from absorbing the sauce flavours. And she would admonish anybody who put a dash of oil into the boiling pasta water! The only time I use EVOO with pasta is if I need to use it for a cold pasta salad. The results were rich and tasty, something not found in commercial pastas these days. The pasta was then hand cut to suit her sauce. She used to freeze the egg whites and make large batches of meringue which she sold in the neighbourhood. So, it made no difference what pasta shape or ribbon she was making, it was always the same recipe. I have made this many times and it is really good. For the life of me, I cannot recall what region she came from as it always appeared to me that every Italian mama has her own recipe that was passed down through the years and was always considered "the only way" to make fresh pasta.

I think that "riso originale" is rice use for risotto - normally a short grain rice with high starch content. ETA: see http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Risottounder Rice varieties - it names rice verities that are good and also not so good for risotto. What dish are you making?

I thought the following news report a few weeks ago was pretty good.

My "best buy" appliances: Moulinex blender - great French product! First time I attempted to use it to blend pea soup (this was about 35 years ago), the lid broke and the green contents changed the colour of the kitchen. It ended up in the bin. Apparently I looked like a Martian but was not in a humorous mood to appreciate it at the time. Braun electric carving knife - I found the twin blades at the back of a drawer the other day but have no idea what happened to the motorised handle. It was useless for carving meat but was really useful for cutting extra-thin slices of bread for making Melba toast. Atlas hand crank pasta machine - it sits on top of a wall unit in the kitchen. It used to be used on a regular basis for pasta making after they stopped making commercial pasta with egg yolks. Then it got stored when the kitchen work table was changed to stainless steel and it could no longer clamp onto the counter top. Kenward food processor - found out that it is only good for making fresh bread crumbs! Bought a Braun stick blender about two years ago. The box said it was made in Germany. I am sure there must be a small town in China called "Germany" where they produce these crap quality Braun products as mine has none of that German engineering a person would expect. It now gets used for soups and sauces but overheats after a minute or so. Have an electric frying pan somewhere in a cupboard that has not been used for about 20 years. I also have a commercial deep fryer that only gets used about once every second blue moon - the next blue moon is July 31, 2015 and after that January 31, 2018. My best small gadget is a simple corkscrew that gets used on a regular basis - we produce some good wines here!