Archive for the 'Christmas recipes' Category

Let’s get ready to rum baba!

Published on February 26, 2013 in Cakes, breads and baking, Christmas recipes, Cooking videos, Desserts and puddings, Failures and redemptions, Favourites, French traditional and Video recipes. 2 Comments

Rum baba, aka baba au rhum, is a sticky-sweet dessert made from a yeast-based cake soaked in, you guessed it, rum – after first being soused in a simple sugar syrup.

* Jump to the Rum baba recipe

We first tried rum baba in Montreal at a restaurant called L’Express when we were Crash Testing our way across Canada. After that we tracked it down in a few other restaurants in different parts of the world, but none of them were quite the same as that first baba, so we decided that one day we’d have to try making it ourselves. Continue reading ‘Let’s get ready to rum baba!’

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Pavlova recipe from the end of the oeuf

Published on June 5, 2012 in Cakes, breads and baking, Christmas recipes, Cooking videos, Desserts and puddings, Failures and redemptions, Favourites and Video recipes. 11 Comments

* Go to the Pavlova recipe

We’ve moved back to Australia and thought the first effort in our dowdy but spacious new kitchen should be pavlova. This is an Australian, New Zealand and, oddly, Norwegian dessert favourite that we prepare using a simple recipe that has a few special touches.

A pavlova is basically a giant meringue, but rather than being crunchy or chewy right through it’s meant to be crisp on the outside, with a soft and fluffy interior. A while back I was making ile flottante and encountered what Lenny and I have dubbed the ‘warm method’ of heating the egg whites before beating. We reckon it makes the pavlova mixture more stable and less likely to collapse when shaping and baking, and the inside more marshmallowy when you come to devour it. Continue reading ‘Pavlova recipe from the end of the oeuf’

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Panettone pudding recipe – a twist on bread and butter pudding

Published on January 13, 2011 in Cakes, breads and baking, Christmas recipes, Cooking videos, Desserts and puddings, English traditional, Quick and easy and Video recipes. 3 Comments

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Go to the recipe for Bread and butter pudding

Our friend Anthony brought round one of those panettone things on Christmas Day. In the end not a lot of it got eaten – we had a decent spread lined up already, and the panettone was kind of a last-minute whim on Anthony’s part.

For those not familiar, panettone is a kind of domed bready cake, often containing dried fruit and other goodies. It’s usually risen with yeast as opposed to baking powder. Panettone is a centrepiece at Italian Christmas tables and seems to be becoming more popular in other countries.

So Christmas came and went, as did Boxing Day, New Year’s, and the thing was still sitting there in its box, with only a few slices taken off. Continue reading ‘Panettone pudding recipe – a twist on bread and butter pudding’

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How to make rum balls: two ways, humble and posh

Published on December 20, 2010 in Cakes, breads and baking, Christmas recipes, Cooking videos, Desserts and puddings, Quick and easy, Vegetarian and Video recipes. 4 Comments Tags: rum ball recipe.

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Go to the recipe for Humble rum balls
Go to the recipe for Lenny’s faff-tastic wonder balls

It’s a good idea to have a few snack-like goodies prepared for the Christmas period and rum balls always do the trick. Our friend Angie mentioned she’d made a batch to her Nana’s recipe so Waz thought he’d follow suit.

They are based on Weetbix or Weetabix, a cereal bar made out of wheat flakes, and include condensed milk for sweetening. Instead of Weetbix, if there’s no such thing where you live, you can use a plain graham cracker, digestive biscuit or similar cookie. Continue reading ‘How to make rum balls: two ways, humble and posh’

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How to roast a duck, the slow and tender way

Published on December 7, 2009 in Chicken and poultry, Christmas recipes, Cooking techniques explained, Cooking videos, Favourites, Potatoes, Quick and easy, Sauces and Video recipes. 5 Comments

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Go to the recipe for Christmas duck

Let’s talk turkey. Actually let’s talk about something else this Christmas. Let’s talk turkey alternatives.

This is a first for Crash Test Kitchen. We’ve never done a Christmas episode before. So we thought we’d focus on two of the basic elements you want on your table: crispy roast potatoes and a lovely bird.

But instead of turkey, we’ve chosen duck. Continue reading ‘How to roast a duck, the slow and tender way’

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Uncle Kev’s sausage rolls

Published on September 14, 2009 in Cakes, breads and baking, Christmas recipes, Cooking videos, English traditional, Pork and Video recipes. 10 Comments

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Go to the recipe for sausage rolls

This is my Uncle Kev’s sausage roll recipe, and it’s fantastic for parties. Or you can even make a double or triple batch before Christmas, Thanksgiving or local festive holiday and freeze them, then heat them up in the oven for a really quick finger-food for a big group of people. Continue reading ‘Uncle Kev’s sausage rolls’

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Duck a l’orange

Published on March 6, 2009 in Chicken and poultry, Christmas recipes, Cooking techniques explained, Cooking videos, French traditional, Potatoes, Sauces and Video recipes. 32 Comments

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Go to the recipe (duck breasts)
Go to the recipe (whole duck)

When I found whole duck on sale at our local supermarket, I got very excited. And I remembered that we had an episode up our sleeve not yet launched on the wider Crash Test Kitchen viewing public.

Friends and family were coming over for dinner this week and I had planned to do a simple roast chicken – but I had never cooked a whole duck before, and I want to have one next Christmas. So this would be the trial run.

It might be a tad retro, but duck a l’orange remains synonymous with birds that swim. A while back we did a show for the Word of Mouth blog that involved duck breasts and a recipe by Stefan Reynaud. Recipe-wise, what I’ll detail here is how we did the breasts-only version shown in the video, and how I handled the whole bird – a Gressingham duck in our case. Continue reading ‘Duck a l’orange’

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Pudding it simply

Published on February 20, 2008 in Christmas recipes, Cooking videos, Desserts and puddings, Vegetarian and Video recipes. 19 Comments Tags: baked treacle pudding plum golden syrup jam Christmas c.

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Go to the recipe for baked treacle pudding

We’ve been cooking up a few videos for the Word of Mouth food blog, as we’ve mentioned before. Here’s another one, where we make a gorgeous and failsafe baked treacle pudding by Fergus Henderson of St John restaurant, London.

OK, straight away you North Americans are asking “What’s treacle?” Basically it’s a sugar syrup, lighter than molasses but heavier than golden syrup. These days you’re likely to find golden syrup used in its place, as with this recipe. I guess pancake syrup (not maple) as found in the US/Canada is fairly similar. Continue reading ‘Pudding it simply’

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Rice to the occasion

Published on January 9, 2008 in Asian/Oriental, Chicken and poultry, Christmas recipes, Cooking videos, Pork, Quick and easy and Video recipes. 5 Comments

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Lenny is a whiz with fried rice. Last time she made it I was well impressed, to the point that I would eat it over stuff from a Chinese restaurant any day.

And that’s saying something. I reckon it’s really hard to replicate the flavours of your better-than-average Chinese takeaway. Maybe it’s down to MSG, which in some Asian cultures is literally known as “taste” (oh, if only you could buy good taste in powdered form). We’ve got nothing against MSG, really – it’s either in the food we buy or it isn’t – but we don’t have it in our kitchen, and don’t have any idea how, or how much of it, to use. Continue reading ‘Rice to the occasion’

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We larb turkey

Published on January 3, 2008 in Asian/Oriental, Chicken and poultry, Christmas recipes, Cooking videos, Pork and Video recipes. 10 Comments

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The leftover Christmas turkey was on its last legs, and sandwiches had long since lost their appeal … time for what Lenny calls a “flavour changer”.

Larb is a simple Laotian dish of spicy mince (usually pork or chicken) that is eaten with sticky rice, also known as glutinous rice. In Laos the rice comes in a little hopper-style basket made of bamboo and woven grass. The lime and chili flavours are heaven together, and ground rice powder adds a bit of crunch. Continue reading ‘We larb turkey’

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Tickety-Boo Tipsy Trifle (part 2)

Published on October 29, 2007 in Cakes, breads and baking, Christmas recipes, Cooking videos, Desserts and puddings, English traditional and Video recipes. 6 Comments

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Preparing and gathering together the component parts of a trifle is only half the job – it is also necessary to give some thought to assembly.

Because even though trifle is ostensibly a slapdash co-mingling of separate (and according to Waz, perfectly edible separately) bits and bobs of sweetness, sharpness and creaminess, the presentation is all-important.

In fact, the appearance of trifle is probably the only thing I have liked about this traditional English pud in the past. Continue reading ‘Tickety-Boo Tipsy Trifle (part 2)’

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Trifle Part 1: The Spongeblob Redemption

Published on October 23, 2007 in Cakes, breads and baking, Christmas recipes, Cooking videos, Desserts and puddings, English traditional and Video recipes. 3 Comments

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Remember Sponge Blob Square Pan? The absolute debacle where we tried to cook a sponge cake?

It was back in the very early days of Crash Test Kitchen. We’ve learnt a few things since then, but the idea of cooking a simple sponge still gives us the collywobbles.

But then Lenny went and decided she wanted to make a classic English trifle – and of course that involves a sponge cake sliced into fingers. This time we armed ourselves with Allegra McEvedy’s “Never Fail Victoria Sponge” recipe, as handed down by her mum and published at the Word of Mouth food blog of the Observer Food Monthly, where we do some cameo appearances. Continue reading ‘Trifle Part 1: The Spongeblob Redemption’

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Perfect Steak … in Time for Christmas

Published on December 24, 2006 in Beef, Christmas recipes, Cooking techniques explained, Cooking videos, Sauces and Video recipes. 20 Comments

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People of the Year! Yep, that’s us in Time magazine’s special issue, which awarded the Person of the Year title to “You”, meaning independent content creators like us who post video, audio, photos and what-not to the web.

It all started when Time contacted us a few weeks ago for an interview. They hinted that a photo might be needed, but when we left for our Christmas holidays in Australia and they had not been back in touch we assumed the photo call wasn’t going ahead. When we touched down in Brisbane we turned on our mobile phone and there was a frantic message from Time in Sydney saying “Where are you? We need a photo!” We arranged to meet the photographer, Paul Blackmore, on the Gold Coast and did one shoot in our friend Angie’s kitchen, and another around at her mum’s place. Continue reading ‘Perfect Steak … in Time for Christmas’

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Revealing our (chocolate) sauce

Published on June 2, 2006 in Christmas recipes, Cooking techniques explained, Cooking videos, Desserts and puddings, Quick and easy, Sauces and Video recipes. 12 Comments

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It seems Lenny has a latent sweet tooth. In the past she was not really one for desserts, but more and more she’s turning out cakes and confections. This simple chocolate sauce based on just four ingredients has become one of her staples.

Our mate Chef Michelle gave us the recipe, handed down from her mum. You combine milk, sugar, cocoa and butter over heat, and whisk gently until it bubbles itself into a velvety and perilously rich topping. Tip it straight over ice cream and wolf down.

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Crash Test Kitchen is all about improvisation, so we slapped together a cherry and brandy maceration to create what Michelle dubbed “black forest chocolate delight”. Actually, she came up with “black forest” bit and I embellished it. Continue reading ‘Revealing our (chocolate) sauce’

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Banoffi or Banoffee? Vol. 2

Published on May 5, 2006 in Cakes, breads and baking, Christmas recipes, Cooking techniques explained, Cooking videos, Desserts and puddings, English traditional and Video recipes. 10 Comments

If you’ve watched the last episode (this one includes a quick recap) you’ll know that we made banoffee (banoffi) pie after much pleading from our gastro-pal Chef Michelle and her hubby Phil.

Most of the work was done at our place, then we transported the components , including the fragile shortcrust base, across London to Michelle and Phil’s for completion and gustation.

Go to the recipe for banoffee pie

The crust made it intact and the results were pretty good all round, making allowances for a little over-zealous whipping of the cream by Lenny. Continue reading ‘Banoffi or Banoffee? Vol. 2′

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Coffee, Toffee, Banoffee Pie – Vol. 1

Published on April 24, 2006 in Cakes, breads and baking, Christmas recipes, Cooking techniques explained, Cooking videos, Desserts and puddings, English traditional and Video recipes. 13 Comments

Banoffi or banoffee? The debate rages, and the inventors of this world-famous dessert, the Hungry Monk Cafe, arguably should get the last word – even though they would appear to be in the wrong, since the name stands for “banana and toffee/coffee”. Maybe the “i” is there to make it sound Italian.

Go to the recipe for banoffee pie

Our friend Chef Michelle and her man Phil had suggested we crash test this one at our house, under her supervision. But plans change, and we had to switch the dinner venue to their place at very short notice. That meant whipping up the base and filling at ours, then transporting the components across London and finishing the job at theirs.

The easiest and perhaps most dangerous way to make the basic caramel filling needed for this dessert is to submerge a can or two of condensed milk in a pot of water and boil for hours and hours. There’s always the risk of the cans exploding if you let the water level drop. Continue reading ‘Coffee, Toffee, Banoffee Pie – Vol. 1′

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Heart-melting chocolate pudding

Published on March 30, 2006 in Cakes, breads and baking, Christmas recipes, Cooking videos, Desserts and puddings, Favourites and Video recipes. 30 Comments

Go to the recipe for heart-melting chocolate pudding

I couldn’t help it. Lenny left those blocks of delicious dark chocolate sitting there in the cupboard for weeks and weeks. Late one night I just had to have a nibble.

In the end, having not quite enough 70% cocoa dark chocolate to make these molten-centred puddings wasn’t such a big problem. Hidden away in another corner of the cupboard was some plain old Cadbury’s glass-and-a-half, and it probably took the edge off the cheek-puckering bitterness of the hardcore Green & Black’s Organic.

Lenny had been dying to cook this devilish delight after we had one at the rather posh St John restaurant in Clerkenwell, London. Continue reading ‘Heart-melting chocolate pudding’

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Chocolate cake like mum makes

Published on December 18, 2005 in Cakes, breads and baking, Christmas recipes, Cooking techniques explained, Cooking videos, Desserts and puddings, English traditional, Favourites, Vegetarian and Video recipes. 24 Comments

I have never found a chocolate cake as good as my mum’s. Actually it’s my grandmother’s recipe, and a great one at that.

I didn’t know until I asked mum for the recipe that it’s a “boiled” cake. You don’t actually boil it to cook it – but you simmer some of the ingredients before making the final mix. Continue reading ‘Chocolate cake like mum makes’

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Canada Day Souffle, Part 2

Published on July 3, 2005 in Breakfast, Cakes, breads and baking, Christmas recipes, Cooking videos, Desserts and puddings, French traditional, Vegetarian and Video recipes. 2 Comments

Technically, Canada Day, July 1, celebrates the anniversary of the formation of the union of the British North America provinces in a federation called Canada. This all took place in 1868. These days, it’s mostly a day for fireworks, lots of drinking and another excuse for a big family gathering.

Click here to VIEW THE VIDEO

It was great to spend Canada Day with the most Canadian of families out at the L’Hirondelle ancestral property in Sturgeon County. We even participated in a good-ol’ game of horseshoes, eh. I got a “ringer” and a “point” in one go, for a score of four points – very impressive for a first-time horseshoer. Unfortunately I and my teammate Scott were knocked out by veterans Terry and Sue. I was consoled, however, by the fact the “souffle” turned out a treat! Continue reading ‘Canada Day Souffle, Part 2′

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O Canada, we make souffle for thee

Published on July 1, 2005 in Breakfast, Cakes, breads and baking, Christmas recipes, Cooking videos, Desserts and puddings, Vegetarian and Video recipes. 2 Comments

It’s Canada Day! We’re Aussies, but we’re in Canada, so any excuse for a party. This afternoon we’re off to our mate Tom’s place for a real Canada Day bash with his family. Last night we were up late preparing French toast souffle as our contribution.

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It’s a sinful amalgam of bread, creamed cheese, eggs, butter, maple syrup and a few other delicious elements. Extremely tasty, and not a true “souffle”, so you don’t have to tiptoe around the kitchen while it’s cooking. Being “French toast souffle” we feel it’s a nod to Canada’s Francophone influences, while the maple syrup makes it true-blue Canuck tucker. Sure to get the patriotic blood flowing, if all the wicked creaminess doesn’t give you a coronary. Continue reading ‘O Canada, we make souffle for thee’

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Dave makes a cheesecake

Published on April 18, 2005 in Cakes, breads and baking, Chicken and poultry, Christmas recipes, Cooking techniques explained, Cooking videos, Desserts and puddings, English traditional, Quick and easy, Sauces, Vegetarian and Video recipes. 14 Comments

Our guest for this instalment of Crash Test Kitchen is our old mate Dave.

Now Dave is a bit of a dark horse, it seems, when it comes to matters of the kitchen. Just recently, after all our years of knowing the lad, he declared that he knew how to make a cheesecake.

And not just your fridge-set cheesecake, mind you – the full-blown baked variety. So Lenny and I found this recipe on the internet, supplied the ingredients and set Dave to work. Continue reading ‘Dave makes a cheesecake’

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Archive for the 'Christmas recipes' Category

Let’s get ready to rum baba!

Pavlova recipe from the end of the oeuf

Panettone pudding recipe – a twist on bread and butter pudding

How to make rum balls: two ways, humble and posh

How to roast a duck, the slow and tender way

Uncle Kev’s sausage rolls

Duck a l’orange

Pudding it simply

Rice to the occasion

We larb turkey

Tickety-Boo Tipsy Trifle (part 2)

Trifle Part 1: The Spongeblob Redemption

Perfect Steak … in Time for Christmas

Revealing our (chocolate) sauce

Banoffi or Banoffee? Vol. 2

Coffee, Toffee, Banoffee Pie – Vol. 1

Heart-melting chocolate pudding

Chocolate cake like mum makes

Canada Day Souffle, Part 2

O Canada, we make souffle for thee

Dave makes a cheesecake

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