Pecan Pie

I mentioned in my Thanksgiving post that I'd been wanted to make some Pecan Pie and I finally did so here's the post I promised about it.

I've had a good week of cooking, my lamb casserole was so nice, not blowing my own trumpet or anything but it is the perfect winter dinner. And I made and tried dumplings for the first time, I'm not sure how I feel about them, any fans out there? Yesterday we got a bit festive and had a turkey risotto which I really enjoyed. My brother thought he'd take charge of making some French beans to go with it and managed to blow them up... No one's worked out how to use our new space age microwave yet.

Today I've been busy practising for my competition which is creeping up on me pretty fast now but, my dishes are going well and I'm really proud that they're something I've created. Pictures are on their way but not till the first round's done, I don't want to give too much away!

And last but my favourite creation of the week, Pecan and Maple muffins. Again, not to blow my own trumpet but there were ama-zing. I'll definitely be posting them in the near future.

Anyway back to the Pecan Pie, I used the Hummingbird Bakery recipe and I it was brill, the pie disappeared pretty quick so it's safe to say everyone liked it.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Okay so I'm not American and nor do I celebrate Thanksgiving but I feel like I'm in need of a new post and today is Thanksgiving so a big Happy Thanks Giving to everyone who reads my blog, it's been over 8 months since I started posting now so I am thankful to all 1,182 of you who've visited over that time. There's plenty more blog posts coming, I was featured on another blog for the first time this week and I've got a few things in the pipeline that I'm excited for everyone to find out about.

I'm always cooking and much to the annoyance of my family, taking photos before they're allowed to eat anything so I have a tonne of things I need to post! Watch this space for Birthday Cake, Cake Pops, Banana Bread, Rock Cakes, More Mousse, Biscuits and that's just the stuff I've already made!

I've been cooking today, unfortunately not anything Thanksgiving-y but I've been meaning to make a Pecan Pie for ages and that's American so I think I have an excuse to make it this weekend?! Back to what I have made though, I had to make soup in my Home Ec. class so I made a rustic Italian soup called 'Pesce è feud' literally translated, that is dialect for 'The fish is gone' but I'll save my explanation of that for my post on it, you'll have to check back for it!

The second thing I've been making is chocolate tart. A pretty special chocolate tart that I'm going to be making a lot over the next few weeks, I'll probably be sick of it soon! It is special because it is the main component of my dessert for a competition I'm entering, I won't give too much away in-case one of my opponents is reading but, wish me luck for 11th January!

I made it for the first time last week and I loved it as soon as I tasted it with the rest of the dessert, I was confident it was a winner. Then I took it home and my brother told me it was 'dry, heavy and you'll never win anything with that' being me, instead of accepting the criticism and changing the recipe, I decided not only to stick to my guns but also bet him £100 that I'd win the entire competition. Didn't really think through the fact that I'll only have that money if I win but hey,  I don't plan on loosing!

And I think I was right, having cooking fourth period means I turn up to my French lesson with a tub full of food and distract everyone while they look at what I've been making on that day, my teacher loves me for that. Anyway the point I'm making is that being the giving person I am, I let a few of the people around me try what I'd been making and they said it was 'really nice', 'amazing' and 'If I pay you will you come and make these in my kitchen all day?'

I think I'm going to take their comments instead and fingers crossed, lots more practise, an awesome main (I have this planned but I don't want to reveal it just yet) and I'll be onto a winner!

Keep up to date with all my latest ventures on Twitter and I'll be posting again soon! 

Banoffee Ice-Cream

Of all the ice-cream flavours I've tried, banoffee has got to be my favourite. Last time I made it, I served it as a dessert with a warm Belgian waffle, toasted almond sprinkling, toffee and chocolate sauce. 

Cheesecake

For me, in a pudding, there's nothing better than a big chocolate hit and that together with an amazing, crumbly, biscuit base makes for one of my favourite ever desserts. This is a simple chocolate cheese cake with a little bit of orange liqueur for added flavour. 

Red Velvet Cupcakes

I went to the Summer Good Food Show in June and when I was there, I found a stand selling all sorts of different cake making things. I brought some little sugar hearts and having already used some of them on my chocolate birthday cake, I thought they'd look great on some red velvet cakes. 

Elderflower Pana Cotta

 Spring means that there's loads of elderflower around. I went and picked some a few days ago and made an elderflower and vanilla pana cotta. It was accompanied by elderflower cordial that my mum had made from freshly picked elderflowers. It's a great, refreshing dessert for spring and summer.

 

Welcome Home Cake

One of my sister's close friends has been travelling for 7months and came home recently so I made a welcome home cake for her. I cut the UK out of icing and painted it with green food colouring as I didn't have green icing. I really like the effect the dye makes though.

Strawberry and Banana Tart

Our fridge is always full of random leftovers and I'm normally the one to come up with something that will use them up. This week we had filo pastry and strawberries that needed using.

I made a caramelised banana, strawberry and chocolate tart which went down really well.

Rotary Young Chef Regional Final!

So today was the big day, the Regional Final of Rotary's Young Chef competition.

I didn't get off to the best start when half way down the motorway I realised that I'd forgotten the only thing that I wouldn't be able to get anywhere... My chitarra. The machine that my Grandma brought me from Italy to make my spaghetti. Luckily Jamie Oliver came to the rescue as I remembered seeing him making spaghetti with a knife in his 30 minute meals series and though I'd never tried it, I thought it should work.

Things got better and apart from dropping one of my chocolate fondants, all went to plan when I started cooking.

In the end, the judges made their decision and I came 2nd, still a decent place as it's my first time entering. Unfortunately, only the winner goes onto the national final in London so my Rotary Young Chef 2011 journey ends here but watch this space as I'm sure I'll be entering again next year!

Here are some pictures with more to follow!

My starter and main after the judges had dug in.

My table and meal (Including my rescued fondant!)

My prizes, I look forward to testing out some of the recipes in the book!

My menu.

Ice Cream!

I got an ice cream maker in the week so I've been trying out some recipes. The first one I did was pistachio.

Macaroon Dessert

I was watching TV the other day and saw Raymond Blanc's Kitchen Secrets. He was making macaroons so I thought I'd have a go. I've never made them before.

I didn't want to do them in the traditional way so I used chocolate ones for a base to a dessert and layered different chocolate mousses over them and then put a strawberry one on top. It tasted great and the macaroons tasted good but they had cracked so I think I stirred them too much. Not bad for a first attempt though!