Sunday 31 July 2011

Intensely chocolatey mousse with Grasmere gingerbread sprinkles

With my recent health boost from the chicken pie, I decided to make some chocolate mousse. I used Green & Blacks 85% cocoa dark chocolate for this- and boy is it rich! But the real piece de resistance is the gingerbread topping. There is a tiny shop in Grasmere in the Lake District which sells the best gingerbread ever. I remember going on a school trip when I was at primary school and sampling the gingerbread. Delicious with a cup of tea, whenever I'm in the area, I always try to pick up a stash because it keeps in the cupboard for ages. It's also really good on top of vanilla ice cream.

Intense chocolate mousse:
Whisk 4 egg whites with a bit of sugar until soft peaks form. Mix the egg yolks with a splash of alcohol- I used Grand Marnier and add to 2 bars of melted dark chocolate (the big bars). Fold the chocolately mix into the egg whites. Chill in the fridge and once set sprinkle with chopping up gingerbread. Heaven!

PS Decided I really must invest in some photographable, presentable crockery!


Chicken, mushroom and leek pie

I haven't been feeling well this week so haven't felt like eating much. Although on a Sunday I feel like effort should be made to cook something half decent for dinner. Chicken pie (or any pie for that matter) always makes me feel better. Perhaps it's because I'm northern?

I went all out and even made my own pastry.

I'll try to give a brief summary of what I did to make each thing I cook.

So here you go:
Chop up 2 chicken breasts and fry with chopped leeks and mushrooms, put them into a bowl after 5 mins or so. In the same pan make a roux and instead of adding just milk to make a white sauce, use half milk and half chicken stock. Mix everything together. Make some shortcrust pastry by rubbing together butter and plain flour and bind with a little water. Rest and then roll out. Line the pie dish and put in the filling. Put a pastry lid on top and decorate with the scraps if you can be bothered. Brush with an egg wash and bake.

My first yummy foodie blog post. I can't make any wild claims but this pie has really made me feel better!



Yummy foodie blogging

I have decided, that since I eat an enormous amount of food, and am usually thinking about food, or looking at ideas for dinner, I am a bit of a 'foodie'. Not that I know much about food but I know I love it. I thought it would be interesting to document things that I eat. I start this blog at a normal weight, but expect to probably increase some, because it might give me an excuse to eat more. Enjoy!