Raspberry Eton Mess

Guess what? I'm leaving to Finland today! I'm so happy about the start of my summer holiday and I will post something from there for sure. I don't have many plans for the trip, only to eat well and relax. So here's a post to get into the holiday mood.

I too rarely make desserts. I just love savoury food so much that I mostly even forget about sweet dishes. However my partner has a bit of a sweet tooth and always appreciates little cakes or desserts. So now I made this raspberry Eton Mess from the lovely new season raspberries. It was very yummy I must say and doesn't require much preparation. I served the raspberries in two consistencies, as fresh and whole and as a cooked sauce.

Ingredients

300 ml double cream

2 tbsp sugar

400 g raspberries

6 small meringue nests

Method

Add one tablespoon of sugar to the double cream and whip it into whipped cream.

Take about a third of the raspberries and combine them with one tablespoon of sugar in a small saucepan. Gently cook the mix until the raspberries have become more liquid. Pour the sauce through a sieve in order to remove the raspberry seeds and let it cool.

Break the meringue nests into pieces. I used a half of a nest per glass.

Layer the components into serving glasses and enjoy!

Your VegHog

Runeberg's torte 2014

Remember these cakes from the last year? Runeberg's torte, Runebergintorttu, is a seasonal Finnish cake to celebrate the national poet Johan Ludvig Runeberg's (1804-1877) birthday on the 5^th of February. I tried to improve my previous recipe, and make somewhat taller cakes this year, because that's the right look for them. My dough was also more moist due to the added rum.

I think everybody should try these, as they really are lovely, and very quick to make!

Cake ingredients:

100g margarine

1dl sugar

1 egg

1dl wheat flour

1dl breadcrumbs

½dl ground almonds

1tsp baking powder

4tbsp rum

A few drops of almond extract

Topping ingredients:

Raspberry jam

Icing ingredients:

1tbsp lemon juice

2dl icing sugar

Method:

Beat the margarine and the sugar. Then add the egg, almond extract and rum to the mix while beating further. Mix the dry ingredients for the dough together in another bowl. Combine both mixtures and beat it all into an even paste.

Divide the dough into baking cases or use my method to get the high cakes: I lined metal food rings (5cm height, 6cm Ø) and placed them on a baking parchment. Then I filled them half full with the dough. If you make these large ones, there will only be about four cakes with these ingredient amounts. Otherwise you can get about 10, if you prefer smaller ones.

Bake the cakes in the oven at 200C for about 15-20 minutes, depending on the size, until fully baked. Let the cakes cool down after baking.

In the meanwhile make the icing by mixing the icing sugar and lemon juice into a firm paste. Place the raspberry jam on the top in the middle of the cakes. You can even press it a little bit into the cake. Squirt the icing onto the cakes in a thin circle around the jam and let set in the fridge for a few minutes. Now the cakes are ready to be served. 

Have nice Runeberg's Day celebrations!

Your VegHog

Raspberry and white chocolate cheese cake with raspberry coulis

As you might know, I don't bake sweet stuff so often, but the hog mother's birthday definitely called for a cake. This however can hardly be called baking as it's a non-bake cake, which makes it just so appealing especially in the summertime when you don't want to use your oven too much. You can comfortably make it within one hour but you'll need the patience to let it set overnight.

Normally this sort of recipe would need some gelatine, but luckily good vegetarian alternatives exist. It can be difficult to get the cake set, especially with white chocolate that has a lower melting point and therefore might not set properly. As the filling is quite creamy, more vegetarian gelatine than usual is needed, about 12g of the vege gel should do the trick. Dissolve them according to the instructions on the packet.

The base:

180g oat biscuits

50g butter

Crush the oat biscuits finely, melt the butter and mix the two together. Grease the base of a large detachable base cake tin with butter and press the biscuit base onto the bottom.

The filling:

0,5l raspberries

130g white chocolate

100g plain soft cheese

170g lemon soft cheese

2 eggs

1dl sugar

12g vegetarian gelatine (2 sachets vege gel)

2dl whipping cream

Melt the white chocolate in a water bath. Prepare the vegetarian gelatine as described on your packet.

Separate the egg yolks from the egg whites. Beat the egg yolks and the sugar into a foam. Add the melted white chocolate, both soft cheeses and the vegetarian gelatine. Also whip the cream and carefully mix it to the main filling. Then whip the egg whites foamy and mix lightly. This is the chocolate and cheese filling done.

Pour half of the filling on the cake base and add the raspberries on it. Then cover the raspberries with the rest of the filling. Cover the cake tin and let the cake set in the fridge until the next day.

I decided to make some raspberry coulis, an intense raspberry sauce, to it and it's better to make this on day two just before serving.

The Raspberry coulis:

A handful of Raspberries

1tbsp water

3tbsp sugar

Dissolve the sugar in water by heating them gently. Puree the raspberries and press them through a sieve to the pan. Mix it and let cool.

Decorate the cake with the raspberry coulis, fresh raspberries and serve it with coffee. Enjoy!

Your VegHog

 

New potatoes, asparagus with lemon and parsley butter and halloumi dices in a roasted romano pepper with raspberry vinaigrette

Here are just a couple of photos of my last night's dinner. I believe the title might be longer than this whole post. So I ate boiled new potatoes, steamed asparagus with lemon and parsley butter and fried halloumi dices in a roasted romano pepper half with raspberry vinaigrette. I can only recommend this combination, which was a result of a brainstorm based on the ingredients I had. Everything was easy to make but it can just be a bit tricky to get the timing right that all the components are ready at the same time and not overcooked.

The lemon and parsley butter is my standard one that has featured here before and can be made first as it can rest in the fridge. Mix lemon juice and fresh parsley leaves to soft butter and the butter is done.

Roast romano pepper halves in the oven glazed with a little bit olive oil and in the meanwhile you can fry the halloumi dices in a pan until they are nice and golden brown. Leave these in the oven at low heat to keep them warm in case you have to wait for the potatoes to cook.

Boil the new potatoes and steam the asparagus. Steaming asparagus shouldn't take very long especially if they are quite thin. Take care that they don't overcook as they can easily get too soggy.

When everything is done plate nicely and add the vinaigrette and the lemon and parsley butter to the dish.

Stay hungry!

Your VegHog