44 Sleeps to go....

After a nice walk in the woods with Pudding I came home today to spend the rest of the day cooking and baking. We managed to get a lot of things made ready to freeze for Christmas and Thanksgiving.

We made:

• Twice-baked sweet potato, roast garlic and cheddar soufflés
• Banoffee tart with baked Alaska meringue topping
• Spiced pear chocolate torte
• Raspberry and almond torte
• Bakewell tart

I thought today I would give you the recipe’s of a couple of the things we have made so you can give them a try yourself if you want.

I think I will pick one savoury and one sweet so below you will find the recipe and instructions to make the twice –baked sweet potato, roast garlic and cheddar soufflés and the banoffee tart with baked Alaska meringue topping

Twice – baked sweet potato, roast garlic and cheddar soufflés

  

Serves 6

• 3 heads of garlic
• 3tbsp olive oil
• 400g sweet potatoes, peeled
• 40g butter
• 40g plain flour
• 150ml semi-skimmed milk
• 100g grated mature cheddar cheese
• 2 large egg yolks
• 4 large egg whites
• 250ml double cream
• A little chopped parsley

6x ovenproof teacups or ramekins brushed with melted butter.

1. Preheat the oven to 180˚C, fan 160˚C, gas mark 4. Put the heads of garlic on a large sheet of kitchen foil set in a small roasting tin. Drizzle with half the olive oil and add about 4 tablespoons of water. Seal the parcel (leave room around the garlic) and bake for about 30 minutes until the garlic is completely tender.
2. Meanwhile, chop the sweet potatoes into chunks, put in a small roasting tin and drizzle with the remaining olive oil. Bake with the garlic until tender.
3. Remove the garlic from the oven and set aside until cool enough to handle. Put the sweet potato into a food processor with plenty of seasoning. Break into the roast garlic and squeeze the cooked garlic from each clove – this is a bit painstaking but the only thing you can do is attack it with your hands. Puree the sweet potato and garlic together. Turn the oven up to 190˚C, fan 170˚C, gas mark 5.
4. Melt the butter in a heavy – bottomed saucepan and add the flour. Stir over a low heat for a minute or so until the butter and flour come together and turn pale – biscuit coloured.
5. Take the pan off the heat and gradually add the milk, stirring well after each addition.
6. Next, put the pan back on the hob and heat, stirring all the time, until the mixture is almost boiling – it will be very thick much thicker than a white sauce. Stir in half the cheese and cook over a low heat for a minute until the cheese melts.
7. Add the sweet potato and garlic puree, cool a little and then ass the egg yolks. Season really well. Whisk the egg whites in a large bowl until you have medium peaks. Loosen the sauce with a couple of large tablespoons of the egg whites, and then fold in the rest. You need to work using big movements, incorporating the whites without knocking out the air.
8. Divide the mixture between the ramekins. Set the ramekins in a roasting tin and add enough water to come a third of the way up the sides. Put in the oven and cook for 25 – 30 minutes, or until the soufflés are golden and set.
9. Take them out of the oven and allow to sink and cool completely.
10. To serve, preheat the oven to 220˚C, fan 200˚C, gas mark 7. Turn the soufflés out on to baking trays (or into individual gratin dishes). Spoon over the cream and sprinkle with the remaining cheese – make sure the tops of the soufflés are well covered with the cream. Bake for 10 minutes, then transfer the soufflés to serving plates, scatter with a little parsley and serve immediately.

I made these in mince pie cases which are available to buy at Lakeland. One lot makes approx 24 mini soufflés. Also if you are freezing them for use later, you need to stop at instruction number 9, package them up and freeze them.

Banoffee tart with baked Alaska meringue topping

Serves 8-10

• Flour for dusting
• 1x 375g pack dessert pastry (or if you prefer email me and I will give you the how to and recipe to make your own – much cheaper and surprisingly easy!)
• 5 ripe bananas
• 4 tbsp dulce de leche toffee sauce or toffee fudge sauce
• Zest of one orange
• 3 large egg whites
• 150g golden caster sugar
• 2 tsp cocoa powder
• 25cm loose bottomed tart tin, lightly oiled

1. Dust a clean work surface and a rolling pin with flour, and then roll out your pastry, turning it every so often, until it is about 5mm thick. Carefully roll the pastry around the rolling pin, and then unroll it over the tin, making sure you push it right down the sides, and then trim off any excess. Pop it in the freezer to chill for 30 minutes or so. Preheat the oven to 180˚C, fan 160˚C, gas mark 4.
2. Scrunch up a large square of greaseproof paper, then unscrew it and use it to line your pastry case. Fill with uncooked rice or ceramic baking beans, pop on a large baking tray and bake blind on the top shelf of the oven for about 15 minutes or until the pastry is light brown around the edges. Remove the rice, or ceramic baking beans, and paper then return to the oven for 5 – 10 minutes until the base is cooked through. Leave to cool completely. (Leave the oven on!)
3. Peel the bananas then slice into rounds about the thickness of a £1 coin. Pop them in a mixing bowl and add your dulce le leche or toffee sauce and orange zest. Mix together gently, taking care not to break up the slices of banana, then tip into your pastry case and even out.
4. Whisk the egg whites until they form stiff peaks. Then add the sugar in batches and continue to whisk until glossy and smooth – this will take a good few minutes. Sift the cocoa powder, and then lightly fold half of it through the meringue. Spoon the meringue on to the pie, then dust with the rest of the cocoa powder and use a fork to swirl the top and form lovely peaks.
5. Bake in the hot oven for 20 – 30 minutes, until the meringue is golden. Allow to cool for 10 minutes so it firms up a little, then remove the tart from the tin and cut into generous slices, tuck in!

I like to pipe the meringue onto the pie, it gives a nicer finish.

I hope you enjoy these recipes and have fun making them, if you want any of the other recipes just email me and I will be more than happy to give them to you.