Homemade Chocolate Eclairs

When I was feeling all sorry for myself when I had that little cold (well, I still have it but it's not so bad now!) I decided to make myself some chocolate eclairs following the recipe from Joanne Chang-Myers.

Somehow, my eclairs didn't rise in the oven so that was disappointing, I was one egg short so I'm thinking that threw off the balance of the recipe. Nonetheless, being resourceful, I decided to use two flat eclairs to make up one and it looked like I meant to make them like that!

Chocolate eclairs are one of my fave desserts, although the inside has to be anything but cream, because cream tastes of nothing and it's just empty calories! That's why I was excited to try out Joanne's recipe since her eclairs contains Tropez Cream, which is a mixture of a custard and cream.

I won't plagiarise her recipe so I'll just show you in pictures of each of the components I made.

Here is the Choux pastry done before baking:

Here's what they look like when they came out of the oven T_T

Not one to be dishearten , I continued to make the Tropez Cream:

The Tropez Cream is so delicious. The added Vanilla Bean makes it all that much special ^_^

Next step is to make the Chocolate Ganache, you can't have an eclair without the chocolate ganache on top!
 

Last step is to assemble and let the ganache cool down and you can eat all you want!

Yummy! So what are your favourite variations of the Chocolate Eclair?

Satsuma-imo.

What in the name of Squash?!

It's Squash season and there are so many different types out there, some that I've never even noticed before. Both me and Aubergine get our fruit and vegetables delivered weekly by the good people over at Riverford, they specialise in organic produce and if you visit food festivals, you will probably have seen them. They were selling barbecued sweetcorn in the Abergavenny one!

Riverford were offering Squash boxes and we debated whether or not to get one and in the end decided to go for it. What we didn't expect tho, was for to receive so many!

Even the delivery man commented that we got extra food. Lucky squashes keep for a while because we certainly can't eat all this in a week!

I'm no Squash expert but here are the varieties we received:

 I actually don't know what this one is, so if you do please leave the answer below ^_^

These were the smallest ones there and this is the Crown Prince variety? Again, don't quote me on this!

Again , I don't know what these are called! But super cute looking tho :P

These ones are Green Kabachas, or Japanese Squash. This is delicious Tempura style but can also be made into soups or desserts.

These are the Harlequin variety, there was one variety that didn't taste very nice but I can't remember which one it was. I just hope it wasn't one of these because we have so much to eat.

Look out for Squash related posts using these, I'm thinking Green Kabacha Croquette will taste delicious!

Satsuma-imo

DIY: Coca-cola, Ginger and Lemon Chinese Remedy for Sore Throats and Coughs

Good Morning All!

So, my battle with the cold bug has finally come to an end and I lost o(╥﹏╥)o, I've managed to sleep most of it off but I have the most annoying runny nose and a sore throat. But I'm not one to moan and I thought I would share a little chinese sore throat and cough remedy with you all involving Coca-cola. My mum taught me this and my first reaction was probably the same as yours "What?!?! Boil Coca-cola for my sore throat?!" but trust me, it actually does work!

So what you will need is:

• 250mls Coca-cola - you can use more but have you seen how much sugar is in it?!?!
• A few slices of Ginger - now I really like ginger so I used about 1 and half inch slice and then sliced those thinly. You can use less if you don't like the fieriness of the Ginger as much as me!
• A few slices of Lemon - I used 3 slices but feel free to use less if you don't like lemon

Look! 26.5g of Sugar for half a bottle! Craziness!

Just put all the ingredients in a saucepan, let it come to a boil and then simmer for about 5-10 minutes to allow the Ginger and Lemon to infuse into the Coca-cola.

Basically, when the Coca-cola boils, the sugar starts to caramelize slightly, making a thin syrup which helps to coat your throat when you drink it, thus making it less sore and helps ease a dry cough. Ginger has very good anti-inflammatory properties and so really helps for a sore throat. Ginger also has "warming" properties, Asians will probably know what I mean by this, but it's kind of hard to explain in english! But basically, it can help to induce sweating and is useful for a cold, as it helps detoxify the body. Lemons are known to be anti-bacterial and they contain high levels of Vitamin C, so again, beneficial as cold remedy.

So, next time those cold germs are too strong for your body, grab a can of Coca-cola and give this remedy a go. It really does work!

For now, I'm going to enjoy lounging around with my favourite mug. ^_^

Satsuma-imo.