French Onion soup

Hello again,
Today is French Onion soup, a yummy sweet soup that is easy and packed with flavour. This old-fashioned favourite show that you don't need to go all out to create a satisfying family dinners. This serves 4.

You will need 50g unsalted butter, 1 tsp olive oil, 4 large onions, 1 tbs brown sugar, 50 ml brandy (Optional), 3 cups (750ml) chicken stock, 1 tbs balsamic vinegar, 2 bay leaves, 2 sprigs thyme, 4 thick slices sourdough, 1 clove garlic and 1 cup (120g) grated Gruyere cheese (It is expensive but worth it).

METHOD:

1. Melt the butter with the oil in a large saucepan over medium-low heat. Add the onion, sugar and 1 tsp salt and cook, stirring occasionally, for 20 minutes or until golden and caramelised.

2. Add the brandy, then increase heat to medium-high and cook for 1-2 minutes until liquid is almost evaporated. Add the chicken stock, balsamic and herbs, bring to a simmer, then reduce heat to low. Cook for 10-15 minutes, stirring occasionally, until thickened.

3. Preheat grill on high. Grill bread on both sides until golden. Rub one side of each slice with garlic, top with cheese, then grill for a further 1-2 minutes until the cheese has melted.

4. Divide toasts among 4 soup bowls, then ladle over the soup and serve.

Now, because this soup was so delicious, people just couldn't wait for me to take a photo so started eating it. We made this for our good friends anniversary and it was AMAZING! Try it out. If you have a request, post a comment. PLEASE post a request.

Till next time, Kat Xx

(P.S. Merry Christmas)

Apple pie

Hello, so as I promised, there will be 2 other recipes but one of my followers has requested something in time for Christmas. It will be a surprise, but until then, apple pie.

For this pie, you will need: PASTRY:
Melted butter to grease, 1 1/4 cups of plain flour, 1 1/4 cup of S-R flour, 2 tbs caster sugar, 1/2 tsp salt, 200g chilled butter (chopped), 1 egg (separated) and 1/3 cup of iced water.

FILLING:
1.5kg Granny Smith apples (Peeled, cored, quartered, cut into 1.5cm-thick slices), 2 tbs plain flour, 2 tbs fresh lemon juice, 1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon and 1 vanilla bean (Slice length ways and then run your knife down the inner side of the bean to remove the seeds)

TOPPING:
3 tsp white sugar and Double cream, vanilla ice-cream or custard to serve.

1. Brush a round 5ch-deep, 20 cm (base measurement) pie dish with the melted butter to grease. (If you don't have the exact measurements, it won't be to bad.

2. Place the combined flours, caster sugar (The 2 tbs), salt and butter in the bowl of a food processor and process until it resembles fine breadcrumbs. Add egg YOLK and water and process until the dough just starts to come together.

3. Roll out two-thirds of the pastry on a lightly floured surface to a 28cm-diameter disc. Line the prepared pie dish with pastry, trim the excess and add to remaining pastry. Place pie dish in the fridge for 30 minutes to rest and also place remaining pastry in fridge

4. Preheat oven to 200°C. Combine apple, extra caster sugar, extra flour, lemon juice, cinnamon and the seeds from the vanilla pod in a bowl. Lightly whisk egg white in a bowl. Brush the base and side of the pastry case with egg white. Place apple mixture in the pastry case.

5. Roll out remaining pastry on a lightly floured surface to a disc large enough to fit the top of pie.
LATTICE: Follow the instructions of the previous technique lesson. Brush the top with egg white and sprinkle with extra sugar (The 3 tsp)

LID: Place lid on the apple mixture. Seal edges and cut excess. Brush the top with egg white and sprinkle with white sugar. Cut 3 slits in the top to allow steam to escape

6. Bake for 20 minutes. Reduce temperature to 180°C and bake for a further 30 minutes or until the apple is tender (insert a metal skewer, through the slit, into a piece of apple to check for tenderness). Set aside for 10 minutes to cool. Serve with cream or ice-cream.

Pie with lattice

Technique lesson #2

Hello,
This is lesson number 2, but before all of that I need to apologise for being SO LATE, the editing program that I use only rendered half of it and that caused a lot of problems. So to make it up to you, I WILL post 3 recipes in this week.
But anyways, today is how to do a lattice on an apple pie. It's really easy and I have never tried it until now, if you want to know how to make the apple pie, I will post it tomorrow. So here is how to do a lattice.

I left the pastry out for a bit longer than needed so it became a bit crumbly. So, if the video didn't work then here is how to do a lattice:

Cut the lid into 2 cm strips and lay every second strip on top of the pie, leaving an even gap. Next, fold the strips towards you and place the edge strip (2Nd strips (The ones not on the pie)) in the corner that it belongs in. Fold all the strips back and place the next strip on top of the first set of strips. Fold the first set of strips away from you and place the next 2Nd set of strips on the pie (Make the gap even), fold the first strips back and place a strip on top. Continue to do this (Folding, placing under, folding back, placing over) until it is all done. Sorry if the video didn't work.

Brush over with egg white and white sugar

How it looked before being cooked

In the next week I will post 3 recipes: Apple Pie, French Onion Soup and Leek, Spinach and 3 cheese tart.

Give this a go, it will impress, 100% gauranteed

Till next time, Kat Xx