LAYERS

Layer Upon Layer.

You may remember the Danish pastry advertisement, about the beautiful Pastry-roll it, and roll it again, layer upon layer and so forth.  It's very catchy, I must say.  Here, I am sharing my cooking, which is using the technique of layering.  It could be for my savoury dishes and also the sweet but not always using the pastry.

Meat Loaf Wrapped in Silverbeets-Susy's Way

Mincemeat, nuts, spices and diced chicken

Layering the terrine dish with blanched silverbeet

Filling the dish, first layer-the mincemeat, chicken in the middle
and the last layer is the rest of the spiced minced

Cover the top with the silverbeets to enclose the filling

Beautiful layer Meatloaf

The Meatloaf Wrapped in Silverbeets-Freshly Baked

How good is that, the layer of meatloaf looks lovely.

It's served hot or room temperature, it's ideal for a picnic or served outdoor with garnishes for a pleasant luncheon.

Another variation, fill layers of sauteed mushrooms and carrots for a delicious vegetarian dish.

Feta Creamy Cheese

Savoury bread pudding with Feta Cheese.

A rustic looking savoury pudding-sliced bread pudding with Feta Cheese.

A very versatile cheese Feta is.  Delicious to serve with bread, olive and other small good, but it is tasty to cook as well.  Feta and spinach pie is very popular, it's based on Greek cooking.  Feta cheese served with fresh fig, or dried fig is delicious. Today I am sharing with you the baking of a new dish. Delicious pudding using bread with fig and top it with a layer of creamy Feta cheese and egg.  Indeed it was fun baking and successfully created the dish.

Sweets
Water pastry, an excellent pastry I always make myself.  A day of stay in, water pastry was prepared and baked the fruit strudel successfully.  Apple was not the filling but pineapple instead and to add the pineapple jam which is my homemade, and to stabilise the mixture of the strudel was added some almond meal. The light and the sweet, flaky pastry was the delight of our afternoon tea.

Roll the pastry to make a thin pastry sheet, place the pineapple mixture along on the sheet, cover with the edge of the pastry, and roll it over and over, brush with melted butter in between, this way, you have layers of pastry and when it's baked, you have a light, thin and flaky crispy past.

Look at this pastry, thin, so flaky, layer upon layer, and very light to touch, delicious to taste.

Look the water pastry recipe on an older post!


Bread and butter pudding is evident that it is made out of layer upon layer of bread, butter, dried fruits and egg mixture.  Make the best out of yesterday bread, add the best ingredients to get a decadent pudding.

The preparation of bread and butter pudding is done, and now they are ready to be baked in the oven.

Lapis Legit:  Layer Cake with 12 eggs to make ten thin and delicate layers

Baking the cake by using both the oven and the grill at the same times.  It can be sixteen layers for one cake.  It is a famous cake in Indonesia, the cake based on Speckoek Dutch cake.

Sliced Layer Cake

It was a long time ago to bake this delicate and delicious layer cake; eventually, I would do it again one day.  It is very challenging.

In Java, the spekook or the lapis legit (spiced layer cake) is very popular.  Serve at the weddings or for Sunday best.

Cake or savoury with lots of layers is excellent, the dish looks attractive, and beautiful and also appetising.  Give it a try for this season.
There is no recipe here to follow, lots of ideas, though, do your own, be creative.  I am sure it is fun.

The end of the year is almost here, we are preparing for the big celebrations  Christmas and the New Year.  I understand most of us to watch out for the food taking to avoid overeating.  November is the best time to start to cut down, no food between meals and to focus for the big day.  One has already ten-kilogram overweight, that is no need to indulge oneself.  I observed to my family and friends, they have been doing just that, no extra food to take.

No, we do not to be on a diet, enjoy the delicious food accordingly.

Midweek Post

Susy.

SUMMER

Summer Flowers

The first round flowering my roses was lovely, and now we are waiting for the second round.  Roses that in bloom right now are yellow Graham Thomas, the petite pink Cecille Brunner, variegated red and more.  Cutting flowers from the garden is always brighten up our home, and this time I have a dainty basket pink.

Petite Pink
Cecille  Brunner Rose

The red intuition variegated lasts long to flower, and now it gives the colour in the garden, and the hydrangea flower is here, mixed with other pink flowers maks a pretty arrangement. 

Mixed Pink Flowers.

Variegated Red Rose

Pink, orange and red geranium flowers in the garden, beautiful!

At the moment the garden looks green and not dull because of the colour of these flowers/  It is a lovely place to be in for having fresh air.

Summer Baking

Fresh, quick bake of cakes for the season, top and fill with fresh fruits and cream.

Sweet Sponge for Summer

Meringue is perfect for baking at any season, they do need a lot of hours to bake but cooking in the low heat oven.

Pavlova top with Chantelle Cream and mixed fresh fruit is the best for any celebration.

Mixed fresh fruit for the topping is even better for the topping of the meringue, it looks festive a perfect sweet to add to your Christmas Table.

Light and delightful cake to serve in the summertime

Bake the choux pastry, chocolate cake in spring and keep in the freezer. Use them for a summer treat

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Sweet for Summer cooking, doughnuts served with fruits.

These deep-fried little gems will delight the family and friends, garnish with fresh berries or diced tropical fruits.

Summer Savoury 

Pie cooked in a Pot/Pan (a non-baked pie), pancakes filled with sauteed vegetable and meat (lumpia) or rice and meat roll.

Lumpia

Beautiful Yellow Rice Rolls

I thought sharing about what could we cook in summer is acceptable, this time no cooking to do for me instead the family takes over, and it has been beneficial, everyone is busy by the end of the year.
I retrieved those pictures of beautiful dishes fro my files merely giving you ideas to cook and to prepare the food in your kitchen.  Recipes for lumpia, sponges and pavlova are in the older posts.


Enjoy your summer garden, but keep fresh!
Have fun with summer cooking.  Summer entertaining should be comfortable and stress-free.


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Susy

FRUIT CAKE AND FOUGASSE

Fruitcake is a cake that contains dry fruit, candied, and it is rich, moist and dense but delicious.
Christmas Cake is made out of the fruitcake with extra richness by adding liquor-brandy, rum, sherry etc. and dressed up in beautiful colourful glace fruits-red and green cherry, nuts, glace oranges, glace pear, apricot and angelica.  It keeps well up to six months or even more.  
I bake fruitcake at Christmas time, and usually, it cooks and prepares by November.
This year I have decided to bake in early December with a different recipe, I do indeed to have my family recipe, but last year I made a beautiful boiled fruit cake, for the first time and it was successful.

I used olive oil for this year fruitcake instead of butter, and I could see no difference, as a result, hope it is as good when it cuts.

The Process

The Baking

 After it's baked, let it be cold in the tin.  Brush the top and the bottom of the cake with sherry.

 Wrap in baking paper, plastic wrap, and wrap securely in foil.  Now, wrap in a cloth and place in the refrigerator.

To Store

The cake is secured/ wrapped with the large cloth, keep in the refrigerator or in a dry place at the pantry. 

It is not too late to bake the Christmas cake, it gives two weeks, enough time to be mature.

The Recipe of the Fruitcake, based on recipes, a few adjustments have been made.

Boiled Fruit Cake

Ingredients

·                                 1/2 cup of orange juice

·                                 1/2 cup dry sherry

·                                 3/4 cup canola oil

·                                 1 kg of mixed dried fruit

·                                 3/4 cup firmly packed soft brown sugar

·                                 2 tbsp treacle

·                                 1/2 tsp baking soda

·                                 finely grated zest and juice of 1 lemon

·                                 4 large eggs, lightly beaten

·                                 2 cups plain flour

·                                 Mixed of these fry ingredients cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, ginger powder.

·                                  (about a tablespoon altogether)

·                                 65 g raw whole almonds for decoration also glace cherries.

Method

Preheat oven to 140 °C. Grease an 18cm square cake tin and line the base and sides with a double thickness of the non-stick baking paper.

Place orange juice, sherry, oil, dried fruit, sugar and treacle in a saucepan. Bring to the boil, then turn down the heat and simmer very gently for 10 minutes.

Remove from the heat and stir in baking soda. Set aside to cool to room temperature.

Stir in lemon zest and juice and beaten eggs. Add sifted flour, cocoa and spice and stir to combine.

Spread mixture into the prepared tin, smoothing the surface. Arrange almonds on the surface of the cake.

Bake for 2 hours 30 minutes or until a skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean. Allow cooling completely before removing from the tin.  
I baked the cake for 3 hours.  Switch the oven off.  Brush the hot cake with sherry over the top, trap with baking paper and a clean tea towel over the cake, then I put it back in in the oven until the next morning.  (So, it is not following the recipe, is it any good? only time will tell)

To store any fruitcake, wrap tightly in a double layer of greaseproof paper and store in a cool place. 'Feed' the cake with brandy at intervals (say once a week) by poking it all over with a skewer, then doused with brandy. The brandy will soak in through the holes and permeate the cake with flavour. (Julie Le Clerc).

FOUGASSE.  Pretty Flat Bread.

In the mood of baking, the kitchen was busy for a couple of days, and why not.  Here I baked not sourdough bread but a beautiful bread - fougasse with olive, for a treat. Fougasse is the traditional bread in Provence, and the shape looks like a leaf, a flatbread, prepared with herbs or olives.  You could say, it is a focaccia French Style.

The last baked was quick enough, as I got the ready bread dough in my freezer.  It looked good and pretty, thin and crisp to touch, and the taste was alright.  But, overall, it's rather hard, the family was not impressed.  Indeed, I did not mind, though.  I did a better job on the previous baking, the Fougasse had a better shape an texture,  a tasty and delicious flatbread.

This is what my Fougasse looks like.

Happy Baking!  Quick baking is fun for Summertime.



Celebrate the Family and Friends with Love, Honesty and Kindness.



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Susy.