Butterfingered Chef Bag !

Hi everyone !

Today's post is short and, weirdly, not about food ! I've spend a day after Christmas having fun connecting my hobby (this blog and food) with a course I'm studying at university (costume design, which is mostly sewing).



 I made this 'Butterfingered Chef' bag ! I am so proud of it ! Hand made and hand-painted, nicely finished on the inside, has a lot of space and a zipper. I use it everyday !


In the future I'm thinking about trying to sew oven mitts and an apron and maybe some other things. I was also thinking about maybe trying to hand-paint wine glasses and plates and making some kitchen decorations etc.


 For now I am happy with just the bag cause I have too much other work to do but I have a lot of ideas for recipes, sewing and decorations ! I am so inspired !

Hope you had great Christmas ! 

Butterfingered Chef

Butterfingered Chef's Turkey Pie

Hello ! Today I want to share with you a recipe I am very proud of.  Trust me - it is simply delicious ! Crispy on the outside, soft on the inside.  Simple to make and great for a family dinner. 















Ingredients : 

- Champignons
- Bacon
- Double Cream
- Rosemary
- Minced Turkey 
- Pepper 
- Chicken Broth Cube 
- Batatas (Sweet Potatoes) 
- Olive Oil  
- Fresh Bread Crumbs 
- Garlic 
- Shortcrust Pastry Sheet


Start of by heating up an oven to 200ºC. Slice the champignons and cook on oil of olive on high heat for 3-4 minutes. Remember to wash the champignons well. Cut bacon in any way you wish (you can have small pieces but I personally liked them quite big). Add bacon to champignons and cook for another 3-4 minutes. Wash, peel and slice sweet potatoes and arrange them at the bottom of the pie dish. You want the slices to be approximately 5 mm wide.  Cut the minced turkey into big pieces and add to the pan. Cook it for 4-5 minutes on a low heat until the turkey meat goes white but is not yet cooked throughout. Season with pepper. To a small pot pour double cream, add finely chopped rosemary, freshly ground pepper and 1/5 of a chicken broth cube, stir and on a low heat cook for 2-3 minutes. Keep stirring. When it's done pour the cream over the sweet potatoes. On top of that lay the turkey/bacon/mushroom mixture. Sprinkle some fresh bread crumbs and freshly minced garlic over the whole thing. Now it's the time to make use of shortcrust pastry sheets*. After arranging the pastry cover it with a thin amount of olive oil. Put in the oven for 35-40 minutes. 



* Remember to take the pastry sheets out of the fridge 30 minutes before the cooking time. When they're cold they break. 



I hope you will like my recipe ! Leave your thoughts on it in a comment and help me improve it !  

Enjoy ! 

Butterfingered Chef 

Deep Fried Basil Fail

Few days ago I've heard of deep frying herbs. When I ate something like that it reminded me of dry sea-weed. I really liked the taste, the texture and the idea and I tried to do it myself.
I don't know what I did wrong but I failed badly. My basil burned in a split second.

I am going to try to do it until I finally manage. I'll also ask a friend how he has done it.

Wish me luck !

Butterfingered Chef

Eggs Benedict - Ups and Downs

Today I decided to try and make Eggs Benedict. I tried to make them yesterday too but I failed miserably. Yesterday my hollandaise sauce tasted right BUT it had the wrong texture. When cooking this sauce there's a moment where you have to add a tea spoon of boiling water to the yolk and butter mixture and I did. Unfortunately I forgot that to the pot I took the water from I already added vinaigrette for the eggs... So of course when I added the vinaigrette water to my yolk/butter mixture it resulted in clumps appearing in the sauce. The texture of it was terrible...
I also failed in making poached eggs yesterday. I cooked them for too long and when I finally started to eat I realised that there was no yolk. I have no idea where it disappeared but it was not there...


Now, today I tried to make those eggs again.


Ingredients : 

- yolk x 2      - 3/4 slices of butter     - lemon juice    - salt
- 2 whole eggs   - vinaigrette     - pepper    - bacon/ham    - bread
                                   

The hollandaise sauce 
In a pot melt the butter. Run it through the sieve. Whip two yolks. Prepare a pot for the sauce. Take the pot and fill it with water and bring it to boil. On top of the pot put a glass bowl (it's the same as melting chocolate). Pour the whipped yolk into the bowl and mix. Add the melted butter and stir. Best to use for this is the eggbeater. While still mixing the sauce add lemon juice, pepper and a tiny bit of salt.

It's ready !

Poached egg 

Fill a pot with water and bring to the boil. Add 2 spoons of vinaigrette and stir. Delicately put the egg in. The vinaigrette will stop the white and the yolk from spilling everywhere and it will hold it together. With a spatula gently move the white around the yolk. Leave for 1-2 minutes. Take out gently and dry it with a paper towel.

It's ready !











While you cook the poached egg and the sauce prepare the bread and the beacon. Fry the beacon until it's nice and crispy. Same with bread.

Put the beacon on the bread and the poached egg on the beacon. Pour the sauce on top of it.






Unfortunately when I was concentrating on the poached eggs I turned off the heat under the sauce and it cooled down and dried out. I tried to melt it again but I failed miserably... At the end of the day I didn't have a sauce, I had a yolk pâté.

Even though the sauce didn't come out the way it was suppose to it was really good ! It had a nice texture, very creamy and soft. It was so delicate that it melted in my mouth. The beacon was crispy and nicely browned and together with the crispy bread was a great base for the soft and delicate pâté and the poached egg.
I love the hollandaise sauce. The pâté that came out of my sauce had the perfect amount of lemon juice and pepper in it. I love the combination of the sourness with the saltiness of the bacon.

























I'm really proud of myself for one thing. I managed to cook perfect poached eggs ! When I poked the yolk it spilled everywhere. At least I did one thing right !


I will have to try and make the sauce once more and hopefully the next time it will be perfect...
Apart from that mistake I am quite happy with what came out of my experiment and I hope you will try to make your own Eggs Benedict and leave a comment below about how did it go !

Good Luck !

Butterfingered Chef 

Dinner with Grandma & Grandpa

My lovely grandparents are staying over with me and this is what we ate today (and yesterday actually as we made a lot of it). My grandma cooked broccoli and cauliflower in a boiling water so long that they became really soft. She also bought a chicken and 'kopytka' (dumplings made of mashed potatoes, flour and eggs. They're like gnocchi but Polish. Just like me !). I came home and when I saw what my grandma made I decided to put it all in a pan and cook it once more all together and give it a different shape than vegetables, chicken and 'kopytka' in its true form. A bit of salt, pepper, sesame oil and sesame seeds and that's what came out of my experiment.

It tasted good and I really liked the texture of the dish. My grandparents ate it with appetite but at first my grandpa looked at it in a way that said "I'm going to eat that just because you're my lovely grand-daughter". He also gave me an idea to decorate it with small tomatoes.

So here it is. My grandparents called it 'A Tasty Poo'.

Butterfingered Chef