Clementine Souffle

For Christmas day dinner I was appointed dessert chef. I took my role seriously and decided to put in a little more effort than raspberry jelly or mince pies from the supermarket. After eating a main course of pork ribs, spiced pork sausages, vegetables and gravy I thought it would be nice to have something light and fresh to finish the meal. Clementine mandarines are in season in the northern hemisphere at the moment, they are sweet, juicy and delicious. Therefore I decided to make the most of them and turn them into some sweet little clementine souffles. I served them with a spiced white chocolate sauce and crunchy toffee pieces. 

Serves 6 Preparation time: Half your morning 180 degrees, 5-7 minutes Assembly ingredients 3 imperial mandarins, thickly sliced horizontally 4 eggwhites 100 gm caster sugar Mandarin soufflé base 250 gm celmentine mandarines (about 3), segmented 125 ml (½ cup) orange juice 100 gm caster sugar 40 ml cointreau White chocolate sauce  60 gm couverture white chocolate, coarsely chopped 125 ml (½ cup) pouring cream 3/4 tsp cinnamon (ground) 1/2 tsp cloves (powdered) 120 gm (½ cup) crème fraîche  1 vanilla bean

Toffee 
110 gm (½ cup) caster sugar
1 tsp unsalted butter
2 tbs left over sauce from mandarine souffle base

1. For mandarin soufflé base, bring mandarin, orange juice and sugar to the simmer in a small saucepan over low-medium heat and cook until mandarin is pulpy (20-25 minutes). Strain through a fine sieve (reserve liquid), pressing to extract as much juice as possible. Process solids, mandarin liqueur (just like Alex I like to add an extra dash for good luck) and 75ml reserved liquid (discard excess expect 2 tbs for the toffee) in a food processor until coarsely puréed. Refrigerate until required. Soufflé base will keep refrigerated in an airtight container for 3 days.
2. For white chocolate sauce, place chocolate in a heatproof bowl and set aside. Combine cream and vanilla bean in a small saucepan over medium heat, bring to the boil, then set aside to infuse (30 minutes). Return to medium heat, bring to the simmer, pour onto white chocolate and stir until melted and smooth (1-2 minutes). Add rosewater, stir to combine and set aside to cool. Whisk chocolate mixture and crème fraîche to combine, refrigerate until required.
3. Meanwhile, for the toffee, combine sugar and 2tbs excess souffle base juice in a small saucepan over medium heat, stir to dissolve sugar, then cook until dark caramel (6-8 minutes). Remove from heat, add butter (be careful as hot toffee may spit), then return to heat and stir until dissolved. Pour onto an baking paper on a making tray and set aside to cool. When cool, break into coarse pieces and process in a food processor until finely ground. Store in an airtight container until required.
4. Preheat oven to 180C. Place mandarin slices on a baking tray, scatter with orange-blossom toffee, then caramelise with a blowtorch (or under a hot grill) until golden (2-3 minutes), set aside.
5. Whisk eggwhites in an electric mixer until very soft peaks form (2-3 minutes). Gradually add sugar and whisk until soft peaks form (1-2 minutes; don’t overwork). Fold one-third through soufflé base, then fold through remainder. Divide among six 200ml buttered and sugared ramekins, then level tops with a palette knife and wipe rims clean. Place on a baking tray and bake until risen and golden (5-7 minutes). Serve immediately with toffee mandarins and white chocolate sauce.

11 Goals for 2011

Corny motto for 2011: "The sky is the limit!"

1. Take fish oil tablets: My grandmother does and she is 89, strong, fit and sharp.
2. Pass the bergens test: So I have the opportunity to study in Norway if I wish.
3. Read some hearty books such as; Life of Pi and The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy as well as practical books such as Wine For Dummies.
4. Learn to knit socks: because nearly all Norwegian women know how to knit socks.
5. Don't be afraid to ask.
6. Make the most of living in the beautiful place that is Søgne, take lots of walks, go for ski trips and take photos of the nature.
7. Take a Spanish course at Tafe when I get back to Australia.
8. Learn to make banoffe pie, perogi, pad thai and candied almonds.
9. Do the splits.
10. Keep blogging.
11. Be kind. Be positive. Be thankful.

10 Highlights of 2010

1. Spending Norwegian national day in the city with Norwegian expats and students. Even if I didn't speak a word of Norwegian.

2. Visiting my cousin in Syria, and taking a 13 hour taxi ride.

3. Taking a four day hike in the Norwegian mountains, even if was foggy, cold and rainy.

4. Learning old family recipes such as krotekake.

5. Working at the Greenhouse.

6. Studying psychology at Curtin University and really enjoying it!

7. Learning Norwegian and laughing a lot with my wonderful class at Agder Folkehøgskole.

8. Learning to be Norwegian; e.g. cross country skiing, brown cheese consumption, not holding doors open for each other ect.

9. Sunday morning coffees at Il Lido with the art gang.

10. Spending Christmas with my family for the first time in 13 years. Dancing around the Christmas tree, eating pork ribs, singing Christmas songs, baking traditional cakes and generally spending time quality with each other.

BAHAHA HAPPY NEW YEAR!

The most hilarious photo I've seen this year!

My aunt took this photo of my brother and I last night, and I think it is bloody hilarious. Here's a bit of our Norwegian NYE. In 2010 NYE was spent up in the mountains, staying at my aunt and uncles holiday cottage. They have panoramic views of snow covered mountains and a huge frozen lake right in the middle of Norway. During the morning we took a short cross country ski tour, my second cross country tour ever! It was so windy that I put on some slalom ski goggles to keep the snow out of my eyes, and I still couldn't see more than 50 metres ahead. I pretended I was on the moon. It was completely flat, bright white and full of small craters. On the way back the wind was so strong that we could just hold our arms out and let the wind sail us along (azsum!). After skiing in the blizzard we retreated home for some mulled wine and ginger cookies with the neighbours. Then we prepared reindeer filets for dinner, we joked that Christmas is over, so now we can eat rudolf. The highlight of the day however was our hot tub experience. My uncle spent the whole day heating up the hot tub with fire wood, then at 11.50pm we put on our bathers, skipped through the snow and jumped into the hot tub. In Norway fireworks are legal, and the cottage is on the side of the mountain along with many other cottages, so we watched everyone else's fireworks while we relaxed and drank champagne. When it got too hot in the tub we jumped out and made snow angels. I was wonderful. It is also my brother's 19th birthday today. Happy Birthday Magnus!

The winner gets a pig.

It is tradition in Norway to eat rice porridge to lunch on Christmas eve. It is always served with smoked meats, sugar, cinnamon, raisins, butter and cold refreshing raspberry cordial to wash it down. But perhaps the most important thing is that there must be a blanched almond hidden inside the porridge. You guessed it; the winner of the almond gets the pig. Not a real pig of course, a marzipan pig! The pig can be handmade, but many buy them ready from the supermarket. On Friday it was my Aunt Åse who was the winner of the pig, lucky for us, everyone got a slice of the beast.

Enkel Eple Smuldrer

Apple crumble is one of my all time favourite desserts. It is so simple yet moorish. Top it off with some good quality vanilla ice cream or custard and you have a winner. 

Ingredients

Apple Mix

7 large green apples
1/2 cup caster sugar
1tsp cinnamon (ground)

Crumble Mix

1 cup plain flour
3/4 cup (packed) dark brown sugar
1 cup rolled oats
1 tbsp cinnamon (ground)
2 tsp nutmeg (ground)

1 tsp cloves (ground)
2/3 cup butter (melted)

Method

Apple Mix
1. Peel and core apples, then cut into rough 1-2cm cubes. Place apples in large saucepan and cover with water. Simmer covered with lid on high until apples are tender but not too soft (5 once water is simmering). Drain apples well and place in large bowl
2.Combine caster sugar and cinnamon (ensures even spread), then toss through the apples. 

Crumble Mix
1. Combine flour, brown sugar, rolled oats, coconut, cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg in a large bowl until evenly mixed through.
2. Melt butter and add vanilla essence to butter, stir through.
3. Add butter mix to dry ingredients and mix well using a fork. Ensure all ingredients are moist and mixture has a crumbly texture. 

Baking
Place apple mix evenly in medium casserole dish. Spread crumble mix over top of apple. 

Bake at 180 degrees C for 30-40minutes, or until crumble topping is slightly browned.
Serve with vanilla icecream, cream, or custard.

Sweet Christmas Lights

A tree in the centre of Stavanger is filled with these heart shaped lights to Christmas. At night they look super sweet, especially now that the whole town is white and from a far you just see glowing red hearts among a sea of white.