Do Your Desserts Look Decadent? - Issue #55

Hey there, Food Lovers!

I hope you've all had a fantastic start to the week with some fun culinary creations or experiments - we learn through trial and error, don't we? I'm excited to share our latest video with you, and I encourage you to give these simple tuile biscuits a go next time you are making a fancy dessert. They're so much fun and easily take your deserts to a whole new level of decadence!

Also in this newsletter we'll talk about pestos. Someone recently asked about them, so I've included some more information and a basic recipe with substitutes.

Lastly, I've been planning a special meal for a family member we haven't seen for a long time. Have a look at the thought process I go through in the planning stages below.

In this issue:

• Fresh off the press - A Tuile Biscuit Will Improve Your Dessert Plating
• Q&A - What Is A Pesto And How Do You Use It?
• Meal planning - A Special Dinner For 8 People

Fresh of the Press...(+ Recipes)

Our latest video - A Tuile Biscuit Will Improve Your Dessert Plating - has just been published.

In this video I'll show you how a simple piped tuile biscuit can add that vital finishing touch and make your desserts look 'wow'!

These simple little biscuits are so easy to make and there are endless designs you can create.

I'll show you how to make the paste, make a paper piping bag, and then we'll pipe it in 3 different ways.

As always on this channel we'll plate up a few desserts so you can see the difference a tuile biscuit can make to a dessert.

I hope you'll enjoy making some of your own tuile biscuits soon too.

Tuile Biscuits

Ingredients:

• 30g (1 oz) flour
• 30g (1 oz) icing sugar
• 30g (1 oz) melted butter
• 1 egg white
• 2 teaspoons cocoa powder (optional for a two toned or chocolate tuile)

Method:

• Add all the ingredients to a small bowl and whisk to combine.
• If you want two-toned chocolate and vanilla tuiles, divide the mixture into 2 separate bowls and add the cocoa powder to one bowl. Mix through. (Alternatively if you want it all chocolate, add the cocoa to the full recipe and mix through).
• Leave it to firm up to a spreadable consistency.
• Cover a flat baking tray with a silicone baking mat or baking paper.
• Pre-heat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius (350 degrees Fahrenheit).
• Half fill a paper piping bag/s with the tuile paste and cut a small hole at the tip. 
• Pipe a free hand design or place a template under your baking mat to trace over.
• To get the striped spiral tuile, pipe 3 lines of alternating coloured paste. Once baked, shape around a pencil.
• Bake for approximately 5 minutes, or until they start to turn golden.
• Take them out of the oven and quickly shape into the desired shape.
• Leave to cool completely.

I plated this with a Chocolate Brownie.

Q&A - What Is A Pesto And How Do You Use Them?

A few weeks ago, one of you asked me about chutneys and pestos. I did a wee post about chutneys in newsletter issue #53 and this week we'll talk about pestos.

A pesto is a paste that traditionally consists of crushed garlic, pine nuts, coarse salt, basil leaves, and Parmesan cheese, all blended together with olive oil. It originated in Italy and is a delicious addition to so many different dishes.

Today, all sorts of substitutes are made to create different flavours and textures to this amazing sauce, dip or spread. I love using it on crackers, pizza, flatbread, schnitzel, crostini, bagels, in a pasta, on any type of sandwich item or even in a quiche. The options really are endless as it's a delicious flavour addition to numerous different dishes.

Basil pesto is the most common, but some other different pestos to try are arugula pesto, nasturtium pesto, coriander pesto, sun-dried tomato pesto, Calabrese pesto, mint pesto, kale pesto and red pepper pesto. I'd love to know what your favourite pesto is!

Here's a recipe for sun-dried tomato pesto. You can substitute out the herbs for a different herb of your choice, change the nuts or even use seeds instead. In this pesto I have used sun-dried tomatoes but you can switch them out for one of the options above. Anything is worth a try 😉.

Sun-dried Tomato Pesto

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup fresh parsley
• 2 cloves garlic
• 3/4 cup oil
• 1/4 cup parmesan cheese
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• Freshly ground black pepper
• 1 cup sundried tomatoes
• Freshly ground black pepper
• 1/2 cup toasted nuts (I used cashew nuts and almonds)

Method:

• Put all the ingredients into a blender and blend together until all combined.

Meal Planning - A Special Dinner For 8 People

I'm planning a special dinner for a family member who will be visiting in a couple of weeks. As always, when I want to serve something special a lot of thought goes into the planning stages. This is invaluable as it makes the occasion a whole more organised and less stressful since the planning has all be done.

Here are a few things I like to take into consideration:

• What is the main component of the meal? This will be dependent on what meat I can find when I go shopping. Usually the rest of the meal will be based around this.
• What seasonal produce can I put with it? Seasonal produce is at its best in flavour, texture, colour and affordability, so it's always my preference.
• What can I prepare ahead of time? Things like tuile biscuits or chocolate garnishes can be made ahead and will help with the presentation of the meal. I usually like to make a dessert ahead of time too - especially in summer when you don't really want to serve a warm dessert anyway.
• Once the menu is sorted I think about how I'm going to garnish it. Do the colours all work well together? What colour plates will I be using?
• Should I make an entree or shared starter? Actually I'm really keen to try a butter board so maybe we will do that for a starter...

Follow me through the next couple of weeks to see what I end up making and how I serve it 😄

If you're keen to see a few of the things I consider when planning a finger food party check out this video. A lot of the tips are interchangeable no matter what occasion you are cooking for.

Happy cooking,
Taryn