Thursday 10 May 2012

Mayonnaise meets it's Maker

Hi it's SOPHIA from LITTLE LUSH COOKS. 

Tonight  I made  really, really creamy, yummy  mayonnaise.
I will give you the recipe later.
When you make  mayonnaise you need to separate the egg yolk from the white. When I was doing this I accidentally let the egg yolk fall in to the bowl but luckily dad came to the rescue. Then it was all good..


* from mum - seems lots of folks have a whoops with mayonnaise once or twice! So I have included a trouble shooting guide, which includes advice from lots of forum users. It's down the bottom if you want to scroll down.

I promised  you the  recipe so here it is.

 1 . Ingredients .

1 clove roasted garlic (optional)
1 egg' room temperature  and separated
salt and pepper to taste + a little Dukkah
1 tsp Mustard we used Dijon
 1 tsp rice wine vinegar or lemon juice.
250 g Grape seed or safflower oil (though we just used sunflower)

                                             





Put the clove of garlic in first - I just chop for 3 seconds speed 7.
Separate your egg and put the white in a dish and the yolk in the bowl.
Put the special butterfly in.
Add the mustard and vinegar and salt and pepper. Set to speed 4 for 1 minute, we cook at 37 degrees here to make sure everything is the right termperature.
Scrape everything down the sides, (and mum quickly scrapes around the blades).
Put the lid back on and weigh your oil in a jug. Press 4 1/2 minutes. Turn to speed 4.


For the first minute just do little pours on the lid. Then you can get more lazy and pour lots on and let the special lid do the drip, drip, drip.

I use a spatula to wipe down the measuring cup and lid towards the end.
When the timer gets to 12 seconds, tip the egg white in to mix til the end. Then you have yummy creamy mayonnaise.




A TM Mayonnaise trouble-shooting guide
*Firstly, I have to share this amazing tip from Alice Flanagan. It is the fastest, most trouble free way to make mayo: Put the butterfly in, and throw all ingredients into the TM bowl (except oil), including the egg white. Set for 1.5 minutes, 37 degrees speed 4. Then remove the butterfly, put the MC in place and set the TM to 3 minutes speed 4-5. Pour a little of the oil onto your MC, wait a few seconds, then pour the whole lot on. Never takes me more than 2 minutes now :)

For the traditional way - heres the TM australia You Tube video: 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tb_13IHiMuk 

Problem
Possible Causes
Suggestions

Mayo is split (runny mess)

1.    The yolk or other ingredients were too cold to allow the oil to emulsify into the yolk mix
2.    The oil was added too quickly
3.    The type of oil was too heavy, such as olive oil
4.    The acidity of the lemon was lower or higher than normal due to seasonal fluctuation

1.        Put the split mix in a jug. Clean out your TM bowl and butterfly. Re-whisk an egg yolk or two for 1 minute on speed 4, then add your split mix slowly instead of oil.
2.        Next time, try heating your yolk mix on 37 degrees for the first minute.
3.        Make sure you use a light oil with a light flavour, e.g. sunflower or vegetable oil. Only pour some of the oil on for the first minute. You can tip the rest on the lid after the first minute
4.        Use a white wine vinegar instead of lemon juice if you have had splitting problems


Mayo tastes gross

1.    Too strong a flavour of your oil
2.    The fresh garlic is too sharp for your taste

1.    Use a light oil! E.g. sunflower or safflower or light vegetable oil
2.    Use roasted garlic or ½ tsp of garlic powder

Mayo going off too quickly

1.    Too small a family to get through the quantity of mayo in time
2.    Jars not sterilized or using unclean knives in the open bottle


1.    Do a half quantity of oil – it will have an even yummier taste!
2.    Ensure your jars are clean and only clean knives go into the opened mayonnaise

Mayonnaise recipe or flavour suggestions:

Grapeseed, Sunflower, Rice Bran or Macadamia oils, (or very light olive oil).

Mustard: you can choose a flavour you like!

Tuesday 1 May 2012

Queen of Tarts meets Queen of Hearts

Mum's turn to blog as we reached inspiration overload! What's a girl to do when a lovely neighbour whisks you to the ballet to watch Alice in Wonderland? It was a delight from the dramatic installation in the foyer to the turkish delight powdering our noses between acts. Vivid costumes, comic timing and fabulous choreography were saluted by a rainbow at our exit.

Then another neighbour dropped over the most quaint packet of rosebud tea...and our creative juices flowed. Raspberry Frangipane Tart and Rosebud Tea jellies emerged with thanks to Fiona Hoskins' real fruit jellies recipe from "Devil of a Cookbook"and Steph Berg's sweet shortcrust pastry recipe.

The frangipane is so simple and delicious - and I once prepared and cooked mini frangipane's before my brother's rancilio Sylvio had finished warming up and extracting our perfect coffees.
Sophia's favourite part was the simple jelly making and cutting. And the result is fit for any Tea Party down the Rabbit Hole!


Berry Frangipane:

Oven - moderate (180) and prepare a tart or friand tin

Grind 200g almonds for 10 seconds speed 10 - set aside
Pulverise 200g raw sugar and zest of 2 lemons for 20-25seconds on speed 9-10
Add 200g butter (roughly chopped) and mix for 30secs speed 5.
Add 2 eggs and mix 10 seconds speed 5, scrape down. Add 2 more eggs and repeat.
Add 30g cornstarch and the almond meal and mix for 10-15secs on speed 5.
Pour into the tin(s) and dot with berries.
Bake for 15-25 minutes depending on pan size. The tart should be golden brown and just firm. Don't dry it out.
For the tart, we blind baked the shortcrust pastry for 10 minutes first - and then we should have let it cool.

The result was a fabulously quirky tart with jellies, but unless you like unusual fibre - we discovered that the rosebuds are most certainly ornamental!

Until next time...Sophia Lush and mum would love your comments.