1 ball of
mozzarella pulled into bite-sized pieces
Around a dozen or
so olives
4 chopped vine
tomatoes (or a mix of fresh and sundried tomatoes)
Cucumber – enough
for a few slices/chunks each
1 pack / bundle
of asparagus
2 tablespoons of
pine nuts
Olive oil
Balsamic vinegar
(optional)
Ciabbata bread
(optional)
Grill/griddle or
over roast the asparagus until lightly browned – you can add a little olive oil
beforehand and it should only take 5 – 10 minutes.Meanwhile, throw the other ingredients
together in a bowl and mix with a little olive oil and balsamic vinegar. Add
the asparagus and some optional ciabbata bread, and you have a tasty, healthy Mediterranean
-inspired salad! Be your own Food Doctor. join us on a Nutrition for Health and Wellbeing Free Taster Day, Cornwall College, Camborne. Tue 29 August 1pm-5pm Wed 13 Sept 9am-1pm
Watch Cornwall College chef lecturers Dave Trevena and Philip Oakes vlog on creating a fantastic chocolate Easter
showpiece. We loved the chocolate Peter Rabbit and Easter Egg nest they made. Find out how to create a beautiful chocolate Easter Egg and a simple chocolate nest as a special Easter treat.
Easter Nest
Place a marble
or granite slab in a freezer for 30 minutes whilst melting the high quality chocolate couverture (a chocolate that contains a high percentage of cocoa butter than baking or eating chocolate). Place the chilled slab on a large piece
of paper to be able to work cleanly, then using a plastic or paper piping bag
swiftly pipe loads of lines of melted chocolate from side to side on the chilled slab.
The cool surface will shock the chocolate and set it so quickly it will not
have time to form the chains of fat crystals we need for other purposes, so the
chocolate strands remain flexible, can be picked up using a broad metal scraper
then the bundle wound around to make the nest or even tied in a knot.
Easter Egg
To make an
Easter egg, take two ½ polycarbonate or flexi plastic moulds and polish the
inside surface well with clean cotton wool. The shinier the surface, the better
the release and sheen on the chocolate.
Once polished,
avoid putting your fingers inside the moulds as fingerprints will leave marks
on the finished surface. On third fill the moulds with the melted and tempered
chocolate, dark, milk or white, whatever your choice.
Tap the mould
well with a wooden spoon to bring any trapped air to the surface. Now rotate
and tilt the mould so that the melted chocolate completely covers the inside
surface. Once the mould is covered inside, turn upside down and tap gently
again over your melting bowl or over paper to drive any surplus chocolate out,
to leave an good even coating inside the plastic shell. Now clean off any
surplus with a plastic scraper, then press firmly down onto some plastic film
or baking parchment to allow to set. Any surplus inside will gently run down to
form a flange at the base, it will be trapped by the paper and will make it
easier to stick the two halves together later.
Allow the chocolate
to set to a ‘leather’ consistency, then again remove any surplus around the
base with a plastic scraper, never metal, it could scratch the mould.
Now allow to
fully set in a cool area. As the chocolate sets it will shrink by about 5%, and
the appearance will change as air gets between the chocolate surface and the
plastic surface, giving a silvery/shimmery appearance. Once set the egg halves
will just drop out of the mould, sometimes a gentle tap will help.
Refrigeration will accelerate the setting, but can cause condensation on the
surface if left too long.
To assemble the
egg, using plastic gloves to protect the shine, place both halves of the eggs
onto a warm tray to just gently melt the flange then swiftly bring the melted
edges together, so that they bond as the chocolate hardens again.
To decorate the
eggs, make up a little royal icing, using 1 egg white and 150-200 gms icing
sugar beaten well together to a firm piping consistency. The amount of icing
sugar will vary according to the size of the egg, and you can use powdered egg
white if concerned about raw egg content especially if giving the finished egg
to very young children or other susceptible groups.
Colour half the
royal icing a vibrant yellow, and half leaf green. Now pipe a zig zag of the
green icing up across the egg like a fern frond. Before it sets pipe a zig zag of melted white chocolate over the green, then drag a cocktail stick swiftly
through both from top to bottom to give the leaf effect. Use the yellow icing
in a piping bag with a flower tube to pipe little yellow flower buds up the
centre of the leaf shapes, and you now have a simple but bright, Spring like
effect that will impress your friends and family.
Using and
tempering chocolate
Temperature
and Humidity
Chocolate is
best stored in a dry, cool, dark place: 13-15°C (55-60°F) is ideal. Do not
store chocolate in a refrigerator and do not place chocolate next to anything
with a strong smell – the chocolate will absorb the smell and be spoilt.
Properly wrapped and stored chocolate will keep for up to a year.
Various types of
‘blooming’ effects can occur if chocolate is stored or served improperly.
Fat bloom is caused by storage temperature fluctuating or exceeding 24 C while
sugar bloom is caused by temperature below 15 C or excess humidity. To
distinguish between different types of bloom, one can rub the surface of the
chocolate lightly, and if the bloom disappears, it is fat bloom. One can get
rid of bloom by re-tempering the chocolate or using it for anything that
requires melting the chocolate.
The process of
tempering chocolate always works best at normal room temperature, i.e. where
the temperature is between 20-22°C (68-70°F) and the relative humidity below
50%. Check the conditions before you start and again while you work. The same
room temperature should be used when moulding or dipping. Avoid draughts from
open windows and doors when working and when allowing the chocolate to set. The
chocolate should be allowed to set at room temperature, not in a refrigerator,
as this can attract condensation and cause a dull surface.
Water and
Chocolate
Never mix water
with the chocolate if you wish to temper it. Even the slightest amount of
moisture can cause the chocolate to seize. For this reason, make sure that the
machine and utensils are thoroughly dry, that the chocolate is no more than
10°C colder than room temperature and that any pieces to be coated are free
from surface moisture. If the chocolate is more than 10°C colder than room
temperature, condensation will form on its surface as soon as it is exposed to
the warmer conditions.
Tempering
Chocolate
As the chocolate
we buy is already tempered, if you are extremely careful and continually stir
the chocolate over a gentle heat to 33°C, then you will have tempered chocolate
ready to use. This is how chocolate tempering machines work. But if it gets
slightly overheated or there are hot spots the chocolate will not be
correctly tempered, and you will have to follow one of the 2 ways below.
Generally, the
chocolate is first heated to 43°C - 45°C to melt all the different crystalsof
cocoa butter. Next, the chocolate is cooled to about 27 °C, which will allow
crystals to start forming. At this temperature, the chocolate is agitated to
create many small crystal "seeds" which will serve as nuclei to
create small crystals in the chocolate. The chocolate is then heated to about
31°C - 32°C. After this point, any excessive heating of the
chocolate will destroy the temper and this process will have to be repeated.
The temper of chocolate can be measured with by allowing a small amount to set
on a palette knife or silicone paper in a cool place. In 5 - 6 minutes it
should be set, with a good surface sheen and quite a crisp snap.
Melting
Chocolate
Melting chocolate
can be done in a variety of ways. A double jacketed boiler or bain marie method
can be used, but never over boiling water, 80°C is ideal. But be aware of
getting water or steam in contact with the chocolate, this will make it
impossible to use. A more common method is to use a plastic bowl and a
microwave, stirring the chocolate after 30 seconds, and then every 10 seconds
until melted. This method is also suitable for warming the chocolate from time
to time as the working temperature should not drop below 30°C, but be aware
that a powerful microwave could easily burn the chocolate so adjust the power
settings. Another way to keep the chocolate warm whilst using
would be to use a hairdryer and gently blow heat over the surface of the chocolate
whilst stirring. Avoid having the bowl of chocolate on a cold surface,
insulate the base using cloth or plastic or a wooden board.
Two classic
ways of manually tempering chocolate are:
Working 2/3 of
the molten chocolate on a heat-absorbing surface, such as a stone slab, until
thickening indicates the presence of sufficient crystal "seeds"; the
chocolate is then returned to the remainder of the molten chocolate and gently
warmed to working temperature. Stirring solid chopped tempered chocolate
into molten chocolate to "inoculate" the liquid chocolate with
crystals (this method uses the already formed crystals of the solid tempered
chocolate to "seed" the molten chocolate). Ideally melt ¾ of the
chocolate and use ¼ to seed the chocolate, adding a little at a time to get
down to the lower temperature, then re heat gently to working temperature.
