Lazy Weekend

We have just had the most wonderful weekend of doing absolutely nothing. Those who know me know that I find it very hard to do nothing. I like to be busy and so even when I do have free time I fill it up so fast. Not this weekend. We woke late, enjoyed breakfast in bed while reading the weekend papers, which I now get delivered. What a luxury. It’s not the 2 minutes I save getting the paper from the local corner store that’s a luxury, it’s being able to stay in my jammys all morning. And that’s exactly what I did.

I had a lovely afternoon in the kitchen pottering around. I prepared a picnic for us to take down to our local park to watch the sunset over Glebe Island Bridge. There wasn’t too much cooking required as we had smoked salmon, fois gras (brought back from our trip to Paris) and blue cheese. I did bake some fresh brown bread to have with these. As a dessert I made some Baileys Crème Brulee. These tasted great. The picture I took didn’t really do it justice as my home made ramekin was not ideal. I find I get better results in the store bought thicker ramekins but I like the look of the rustic home made ramekins. Well looks apart they tasted great. We managed to consume two bottles of champagne (it was a slow sunset). These lovely bottles were gifts and have been sitting in the fridge begging to be drunk for months. This was the perfect occasion.


On the Sunday I decided to whip up some ice cream. Now when I say whip up what I actually mean is purchase and then add to. I have never tried to make my own and from reading about other peoples attempts I’m not sure I’d do a good job of it. It sounds a little tricky for me. So I got myself a litre of creamy vanilla ice cream. I let it slightly soften and then I added some crushed ginger snap biscuits, berries, berry coulis and for that little kick a splash of Kahlúa. I then poured it into two loaf tins and put it back in the freezer. Yum! This was the dessert we had topped with puréed berries for our BBQ on Sunday. I’m telling you this was my lazy weekend because BBQ means J did most of the work for dinner.

I had spotted a delicious looking recipe for cauliflower baked in a cheese sauce in last weeks newspaper supplement. I have never been a big fan of cauliflower but the photograph that accompanied the recipe just looked so good I had to try it. And I reckon that anything that’s smothered in cheese tastes great. J wasn’t that impressed when he saw that I was preparing cauliflower to accompany his gourmet steak. Apparently he’s not a big fan either. But as testament to how damn good this recipe was there wasn’t a morsel of cauliflower left on either of our plates at the end of the meal. It was delicious.

This was a wonderful weekend and I feel completely rested. I’m now ready for the five weekends of weddings and visitors we have ins store for us.

Bailey's creme brulee

Serves 6

300ml thin cream
300ml thickened cream
1 vanilla bean, split, seeds scraped
1 egg, plus 3 egg yolks
75g caster sugar, plus extra to sprinkle
100ml Baileys Irish Cream

Method
Preheat the oven to 160°C.

Place both creams in a pan, add vanilla pod and seeds, then heat over low heat. In a bowl, whisk egg, extra yolks and sugar until light. Add warm cream and Baileys, whisking continuously. Divide among six 1-cup ramekins. Place in roasting pan and add enough boiling water to come halfway up ramekin sides. Bake for 45 minutes or until just set. Remove, cool, then chill for 2-3 hours.
When ready to serve, sprinkle brulees with extra sugar and place under a hot grill for 2-3 minutes, or use a blowtorch until tops are golden and caramelised

Cauliflower cheese

Serves 4

1 large cauliflower, trimmed and broken into flourets
25g Butter
25g plain flour
575ml milk
150g Gruyère cheese
2 tbsp double cream
1 tbsp Dijon mustard
Pinch of freshly grated nutmeg
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 tbsp breadcrumbs

Preheat the oven to 200°C. Steam the cauliflower or blanch in boiling salted water until just tender - about five minutes. Refresh and drain thoroughly.
To make the sauce, melt the butter in a medium-sized pan. Spoon in the flour and stir for about
1 minute, without allowing it to brown. Remove from the heat and gradually whisk in the milk, a
few spoonfuls at a time at first; then slowly add the remaining milk, whisking all the while.
Return to the heat and simmer gently for about 10 minutes. Stir frequently to prevent the sauce from catching on the base of the pan.
Remove from the heat and stir in three-quarters of the cheese with the double cream and the mustard.
Season with the nutmeg, a little salt and lots of pepper. Taste and adjust the seasoning, making sure that it is fairly punchy.
Pour the sauce over the cauliflower.
Mix together the breadcrumbs and the remaining cheese, then sprinkle evenly over the cauliflower and sauce. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, or until browned and bubbling.

Berry Icecream

1 Litre Creamy Vanilla Ice Cream
1 packet of your favourite crunchy biscuits
I punnet of berries
Splash of Kahlua

Line two loaf tins with cling film. leaving enough hanging over the edges to fold across the top of the parfait once the tin is.full.

Reserve some berries for decoration. Blend half the berries in a food processor before sieving to make a smooth coulis. ( I didn't sieve mine and hence it looks a little more like a think jam but it tastes great)

Meanwhile. place the ice cream in a large bowl to soften slightly but do not allow to melt. Roughly chop the remaining berries and add to the ice cream. Mix together with a fork. Then stir in the biscuits and half of the coulis until you have a marbled mixture. Reserve the remaining coulis.

Spoon the mixture into the loaf tins, folding the cling film over the top. Freeze for 4-5 hours or until firm. Remove from the freezer 10-15 minutes before serving. Turn out onto a plate, remove the cling film and drizzle with a little of the remaining coulis. Decorate with the reserved berries then slice and serve with any remaining coulis.