Author Archives: The Cooking spoon

Bacon Pommes Duchesse

Today I’m sharing this wonderful side dish with you. Pommes Duchesse filled with tiny bits of crispy bacon and crème fraiche. I can’t even begin to tell you how good these are.
They may seem a bit daunting but I can assure you that they are easier than you may think. It’s just fancy mashed potatoes squeezed onto a baking dish really.
I love potatoes served in any way, and sure there’s nothing wrong with a good ‘ol roast potato but this year , let’s go the extra mile.
Let me take you thru the steps; first you boil the potatoes , let them steam dry completely, then add butter and crème fraîche. Mash until smooth and season generously. Cook the bacon until crispy in a separate pan. Add to the mash with an egg yolk. Gently mix until combined.
Beat the egg white until peaks form and fold thru the mash potato. The beaten egg white gives the potatoes almost a soufflé like consistency. Then they are piped onto a baking sheet and baked until golden perfection in the oven.
We are completely in love with these fancy Pommes Duchesse!
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⏰ Prep time : 30 minutes
🍝 Cooking time : 20 – 25 minutes,
🍴 Serves : 6
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INGREDIENTS:
• 3 lbs. medium/ large potatoes, peeled and quartered
• 2 tsp. salt for the boiling water
• 4 oz. bacon cubed or sliced
• 1/8 tsp garlic powder
• 1/2 tsp. onion powder
• a good grating of nutmeg
• salt to taste
• 3 tbsp soft butter
• 1/4 C. crème fraîche
• 1 egg, separated

INSTRUCTIONS:
1. Place the peeled and quartered potatoes in a large pot and fill with cold water until half way up the potatoes, add the salt.
2. Bring to a medium boil with the lid half on and cook for about 20 minutes, until fully cooked and tender when pierced with a fork.
3. Turn off the heat. Drain, and return to stove with the lid off, let them steam dry.
4. Now pre heat the oven to 200° C / 400° F
5. Meanwhile gently and over low heat cook the bacon until very crispy, this can take up to ten minutes so be patient. You want to render out all the fat. Reserve the fat, we will use that later! Remove the bacon and place it on a kitchen paper to drain.
6. Process the bacon until very fine crumb in the food processor.
7. Now add the butter to the potatoes and start mashing, then add the crème fraîche.
8. Season with the onion, garlic, nutmeg and salt and taste.
9. Add the bacon crumbs.
10. Add the egg yolk and mix through with a wooden spoon.
11. Beat the egg white until stiff and fold through carefully not to lose air.
12. Get out a pastry bag and fit with a large nozzle of choice. Fill with the potato mixture. Alternatively use a large ziplock bag and cut off the corner.
13. On a baking sheet covered with parchment paper, pipe out rosettes the size of a ping-pong ball.
14. Brush carefully with the reserved bacon fat and place in the middle of the oven.
15. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes until golden and crispy. Serve straight away.

ENJOY!

If you make these Pomme Duchesse, be sure to leave a comment! I’d love to hear from you and if you love it, pin it. And of course, if you do make this recipe, don’t forget to tag me on Instagram! @thecookingspoonblog or hashtag it #thecookingspoonblog

Zombie Brain Meatloaf

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This is such a fun Halloween dinner, I know it’s a bit creepy, but isn’t that the point? Kids love it, especially the lucky one who get’s to stick the knife in the brain.

The great thing about this recipe is that it’s so easy to make, it’s basically just a shaped meatloaf and everyone will love it.

Serves 6 – 8

Needed:

Rectangular Dish, 7 by 5-Inch,

Wilton 12-Inch Featherweight Decorating Bag

Wilton Tip No. 6

INGREDIENTS BRAIN:

2 lbs. ground beef
1/2 C. Panko Bread Crumbs
2 eggs
1 tbsp. Ketchup
2 tsp. prepared Dijon Mustard
1 tbsp. Worcestershire Sauce
1 clove of garlic, peeled and grated
1 medium onion, peeled and chopped very fine
1 1/2 tsp Himalayan Pink Salt, Fine
freshly ground Black Pepper
1 tsp. Oregano
1 tbsp. fresh chopped parsley

INGREDIENTS BASTING::

2 tbsp. Ketchup
2 tbsp. Conimex Ketjap Manis, (Indonesian Sweet Soy Sauce)

DECORATING:

1/4 C. Ketchup

INSTRUCTIONS:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Combine ground beef, and the remaining ingredients for the brain in a medium sized mixing bowl. Using your hand, incorporate everything into the meat. This only takes 30 seconds or so, you do not want to over mix.

Transfer meat into a large baking tray lined with parchment paper, press it down and shape into a brain. With the handle of a spoon go alongside the entire brain to make a ridge in the middle, then make indentations with your fingers tips all over the brain to create an uneven surface.

Mix ketjap manis with ketchup and baste brain with half the basting sauce. Baste again after an hour.

Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour and 20 minutes

Remove from oven and drain off excess grease. Let stand for 5 minutes, put 1/4 cup of Ketchup in a pastry bag fitted with the No. 6 tip, and pipe the motive (see picture) onto the brain.

Enjoy!

Pumpkin Cheesecake bars with caramelized Pecans

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This Fall it’s all about Pumpkin cheesecake bars, these are the perfect mix of a pumpkin pie and a cheesecake, conveniently portioned into individual bars.

All the cozy fall flavours are combined into this spiced cookie bottom pumpkin cheesecake delight. The crunchy caramelized pecans on top are so so good, they would make a perfect snack on their own. The caramel for the base and topping, is made out of nut butter, maple syrup, rice syrup and vanilla and turns into a delicious fudgy consistency when cooked together.

The cookie base is a mix of oats, nuts, pumpkin spice and the fudgy caramel. The filling is pumpkin puree and cheesecake with one egg yolk to bind and some more cozy spices. The perfect treat for Fall.

For the base and crumble topping.
Ingredients:
3 cups (300 gr) oats ground to flour with a pinch of salt
3/4 cup (180 ml) almond butter
1/4 cup (60 ml) neutral oil or butter
1/4 cup (60 ml) maple syrup
1/4 cup (60ml) rice syrup
1 tsp (5ml) vanilla extract
1/2 tsp. (2.5 gr) Pumpkin spice
1/4 cup (25 gr) pecans broken into pieces or very roughly chopped

For the Pumpkin cheesecake filling.
Ingredients:
1 cup (250 gr) pumpkin puree, home made or canned* (see note).
3/4 cup (200 gr) cream cheese at room temperature
1 tsp (5 ml) vanilla extract
1/2 tsp (2.5 gr) pumpkin spice
1 egg yolk at room temperature

Instructions:
Preheat the oven to 160C/ 325F
Place the oats in a food processor and blend until flour consistency. Tip into a large bowl.
In a medium thick bottomed pot, melt the nut butter, the oil, the syrups, vanilla and spice until completely melted and smooth and just beginning to bubble. It will resemble a bubbly fudge. Remove from heat. Reserve 1/4 cup of the syrup ( leave in the pot) and keep over very low heat to keep it soft.
Pour the remaining fudgy caramel over the oat flour and mix until crumbly. Reserve about a cup for the crumbly topping.

Grease and line a square 8″ (20×20 cm) pan with parchment paper. Tip in the crumbly oat base and press into the tin with the back of a spoon or with slightly damp hands. Pierce several times with s fork. Place on the middle rack in the oven and bake for 10 minutes.

Meanwhile mix the creamcheese in a mixer with the pumpkin puree, spice and egg yolk until smooth.

*Note: depending on which kind of pumpking puree you are using, place puree in a tea towel lined collander for 30 minutes. Then gather the tea towel and squeeze out as much liquid from the pumpkin mash as possible. Some canned pumpkin is already quite dry so you will not need to do this, however homemade puree can often be a bit wet.

Tip the pecans into the soft fudgy caramel and stir to coat. Keep slightly warm until ready to use or it will set.

After ten minutes remove the base from the oven, turn the heat of the oven up to 180C/350F.
Spread filling over the base and sprinkle over the crumble for the topping.
Then drizzle over the caramel pecans (the best you can because it’s very sticky and gooey).
Return to oven for another 12-15 minutes or until top is golden perfection.
Remove from oven and place on rack to cool.
Leave to cool for a few hours before cutting into bars.

Enjoy!

Blueberry Cobbler with almond yoghurt biscuit topping.

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This is the perfect comfort dessert that’s easy to make and everyone will enjoy.
With just a few simple ingredients and a little effort, you’ll have a flakey, crispy-on-top, juicy-in-the-middle blueberry cobbler on the table in no time. I have added almond flour to the biscuit topping and also yoghurt, this makes the biscuits nice and fluffy, flakey and a little crispy at the same time but without being too hard, so it’s still scoopable.

I really recommend putting this blueberry cobbler on your to-do list, you’ll love it.

Prep time : 15 min
Cooking time : 45 min
Serves : 6

INGREDIENTS:

FOR THE FILLING

• 800 gr / 5 ½ cups frozen blueberries
• ½ cup sugar
• 1 tablespoon cornstarch
• Pinch ground cinnamon

FOR THE TOPPING
• 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
• ¼ cup almond flour
• ½ cup granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoons baking powder
• ½ tsp. baking soda
• Pinch of salt
• ¼ cup yoghurt
• 2 tbsp. milk
• ¼ cup unsalted butter, melted
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1 tbsp. granulated sugar (for sprinkling)

DIRECTIONS:

1. Preheat oven to 180C/375F degrees.
2. Making the Filling: Whisk the sugar, cornstarch, cinnamon together in a large bowl. Add the blueberries and mix gently until evenly coated. Transfer the berry mixture to a 10-inch cast iron skillet or a square baking dish
3. To make the topping, mix the flour, almond flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt together in a large bowl. In a separate jug mix the melted butter, yoghurt, milk and vanilla. Add the wet ingredients to the dry and stir until just combined.
4. Scoop the dough into 8 or 9 pieces and place on top of the filling, evenly spaced (they should not be touching). Sprinkle evenly with the sugar.
5. Bake until the filling is bubbling and the top is golden brown and cooked through, about 40 to 45 minutes, rotating the pan halfway through baking. Transfer the pan to a wire rack and let cool for at least 20 minutes; serve warm or at room temperature with some vanilla ice-cream.

Enjoy!

If you make this Bluebberry Cobbler be sure to leave a comment! I’d love to hear from you and if you love it, pin it. And of course, if you do make this recipe, don’t forget to tag me on Instagram! @thecookingspoonblog or hashtag it #thecookingspoonblog