Today's Breakfast

Welcome to the Enchanted Stove where everyday the stove top is full of delicious things to eat. Let's cook something magical.The recipes on this blog have been tested in my kitchen.

Egg in the Basket with bacon

Java

 

Welcome to the Enchanted Stove where everyday the stove top is full of delicious things to eat. Let's cook something magical.The recipes on this blog have been tested in my kitchen.

Flan (Cream Caramel)

Welcome to the Enchanted Stove where everyday the stove top is full of delicious things to eat. Let's cook something magical. The recipes on this blog have been tested in my kitchen.

             Flan (Crème Caramel)

M

Y  Mother was the Queen of  Flan. She used to make it for every occasion at our place.  She even began to make it upon request by the neighbours.  I wondered why she never thought to sell her flans or start her own franchise.........she could have made a fortune; Although, my Dad often jested that the quality ingredients she uses and the slices she serves she would lose out on the profits.  For Mom always cut thick slices of flan for my Father and I and would use the finest ingredients she could get, always using up to 12 free range eggs  per flan and used Carnation® Evaporated milk, Carnation® Sweetened condensed milk and 8 ounces of fresh whole milk....and the finest vanilla essence she could find.  This was just to make the egg custard for the flan.  She made her caramel with granulated sugar and same ratio of water as sugar.

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Lan has been around for centuries.  The dish was first found in ancient Rome.  The Romans used eggs to make custard-like savoury dish which was baked.  The Romans loved eel flan. They learned to make sweet flan as well which they sweetened with honey and sprinkled, not with sugar, but with none other than....pepper! Spain later adopted the Roman egg custard dish, using caramelized sugar as a base topping for the custard. This was the birth of the modern flan. 

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lan, in the British connotation of the word means a sweet or savoury pastry case used to fill with whipped cream, strawberries and other fruits.  To the British, what Spain calls Flan is known as Crème Caramel.   The French use both the pastry case and egg custard meaning of the word flan, baking their egg custard in little moulds in a Bain Marie.

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rom Spain and throughout Europe the idea of this sweet decadent dessert travelled to the Americas and Caribbean.  In my parents’ native country of Cuba, there is a mirage of ways of making flan.  Some Cuban cooks make chocolate flan, other Cuban cooks make pumpkin flan, coconut flan, coffee flan, and even one flavoured with orange.

T

he word flan evolved from the old French word, Flaoun which they adopted from the Latin ‘Fladon’, which means ‘custard’.

                                                    Flan

Ingredients

4 whole eggs

2 egg yolks

2 egg whites

1 can (8oz) evaporated milk

1 can (8 oz) sweetened condensed milk

8 oz whole milk (You can substitute skim milk)

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 US cup (8 ounces) granulated sugar

1 cup water

1.      Method Make the crème caramel. In a heavy-bottomed saucepan pour the cup of sugar and water over high heat. Let the sugar caramelize and turn a lovely amber colour, for about twenty minutes. Don't let it burn.  Shake the pan from side to side occasionally, but be careful not to burn yourself for the mixture can get extremely hot.

2.      Have ready a deep Pyrex dish ready; alternatively, you can use small glass ramekin dishes for individual flans.  Once the crème caramel sauce is done remove from heat and (VERY QUICKLY) pour the sauce into the Pyrex dish or individual ramekin dishes.

3.      In a large bowl pour the evaporated, sweetened condensed milk and whole milk and stir to combine.  Add  the eggs and the vanilla. With an electric beater beat this mixture until well combined.  Pour the mixture into the prepared Pyrex or individual ramekins. 

4.      Prepare a Bain Marie.  Get a large roasting pan and place the Pyrex (or ramekins) in this pan. Pour enough water till the water comes about 1 inch from the sides of the Pyrex/ramekins.

5.      Bake in oven for 2 hours if making a large flan or 55 minutes respectably if making individual ramekins.

6.      Once the flan is cooked remove from oven and let cool for 15 minutes...then refrigerate for at least 2 hours or preferably overnight. 

7.      Once the flan has set in the fridge you want to unmold it.  To do this first run a butter knife around the perimetres of the flan to loosen it.  Give the mold a gentle shake.  Carefully put a serving platter over the Pyrex/ramekins and with one fast move invert the plate so that the flan is resting on the plate and the Pyrex/ramekin is on top.  Let the melted caramel sauce drip unto the platter.

Welcome to the Enchanted Stove where everyday the stove top is full of delicious things to eat. Let's cook something magical. The recipes on this blog have been tested in my kitchen.

Marshmallows
Ingredients		Notes
3 sachets Dr Oetker unflavoured gelatine 2 cups granulated sugar 4 cups icing sugar 1/4 cup water 157mils (2/3 cups) Dr Oetker liquid glucose (Corn syrup) ½ cup of water (to rehydrate gelatine) Red food colouring (This is optional) 1 teaspoon vanilla extract		Cooking Time:	Prep Time
			Ready in:
Method
Have all ingredients ready. You’ll need a 9inchx9inch square pan lined with parchment or wax paper sprinkled with icing sugar, a candy thermometer, mixing balls, a large 4qt pan, an electric mixer and some spatulas. 1. Prepare equal amounts of cornstarch and icing sugar into a bowl. Set aside. 2. Pour gelatine into a mixing bowl. Add ½ water. Give it a stir and set aside. 3. Combine 2 cups of granulated sugar, 1/4 cup water and 2/3 cups corn syrup in a small saucepan. 4. Bring mixture to a boil. Insert candy thermometer and let it register 244ᴼF. 5. Immediately remove from heat and pour sugar mixture into the gelatine mixture. Add a pinch of salt Mix thoroughly for about fifteen minutes. 6. Once mixture is fluffy, add vanilla extract and food colouring. Pour the mixture onto the prepared square tin. 7. Leave to set overnight at room temperature. In the morning, once set, cut into squares. Dip the squares of Marshmallows in 4 cups of icing sugar and place in a container.
		Additional notes
		Tip: It’s a good idea to oil spatula, spoon and hands to smooth the marshmallow fluff in the pan. To cut your marshmallows into squares you can use a pizza cutter or large kitchen scissors. I find these tools great to cut marshmallows, especially the scissors. Marshmallows make a wonderful gift. You can also use cookie cutters to cut the marshmallows into all sorts of whimsical shapes.

Marshmallow facts:
Did you know that Marshmallow is actually a plant? No? Well it actually is. The scientific name for the marshmallow plant is Althea Officianalis, a plant that originated from Africa. The plant was mainly used for medicinal purposes. The plant was a great anti-inflammatory. The Egyptians used the roots of the plant to make a confection in medieval times that led to our modern day Marshmallow.
Leave it to the French in the 19^th century to come up with this fluffy confection we now call Marshmallow. The French made the first Marshmallow as a throat lozenge that resembled a bon-bon. French cooks used the fluffy root extract of the Althea Officianalis plant and combined it with egg yolks and sugar to make a pasty, fluffy confection. In later years French cooks replaced the plant roots and used gelatine instead. Thus, the modern-day Marshmallow—that soft, fluffy, ‘melt-in-your-mouth’ confection we have grown to love was born. In 1917 Marshmallow crème was invented by Archibald Quakery

who sold his recipe to two confectionary makers in Massachusetts. Marshmallow Fluff, the first stage in the life of a Marshmallow, was invented in 1920 in Massachusetts and sold in glass jars.
The Moon Pie, a chocolate-covered graham cookie with marshmallow fluff in the middle, was invented in the 1925 and helped to glamorise Marshmallows. The Fluffer nutter sandwich was invented in 1925 along with the invention of Marshmallow Fluff. This sandwich consisted of two whole wheat slices of bread. One slice is  topped with peanut butter and the other with Marshmallow Fluff. It wasn’t until the 1960’s, however, that the Fluffer nutter spread like wildfire amongst the people of the United States.

Homemade English Muffins

Homemade English Muffins: Homemade English Muffins

Welcome to my little Niche within the library. So grab a coffee and let's review some books.

Welcome to the Enchanted Stove where everyday the stove top is full of delicious things to eat. Let's cook something magical. The recipes on this blog have been tested in my kitchen.

                                                Pumpkin Pie

        Pumpkins were first introduced to the Old World by the Conquistadores who brought the crop from North America.  Pumpkins are native to North America. The Pilgrims brought the pumpkin pie to New England.  Yet the English had different ways of preparing their pumpkin pies; Some English cooks made their pumpkin pies with apples, honey and spices.  They took a hollowed pumpkin, cut a lid out and filled it with the honey and spices and cooked the whole pumpkin on hot ashes.  This was the origins of the humble pumpkin pie.  The word pumpkin originates from the French word pompian.

       A famous poem by John Greenleaf Whittier, an American Poet, who was an advocate for obolition of Slavery,  made pumpkin pie famous in the 1800's:

                                                  The Pumpkin

Ah! on Thanksday, when from East and from West, From North and from South comes the pilgrim and guest;
When the gray-haired New Englander sees round his board
The old broken links of affection restored;
When the care-wearied man seeks his mother once more,
And the worn matron smiles where the girl smiled before;
What moistens the lip and what brightens the eye,
What calls back the past, like the rich Pumpkin pie?                                  

By John  Greenleaf Whittier


Pumpkin Pie is one of the foods traditionally eaten on Thanksgiving and is quissentially all- American.

Pumpkin Pie
Ingredients		Notes
1 short crust pie pastry 1 cup sugar (200 grams 1 tsp each: Allspice Ground cinnamon Pinch of salt Ground ginger Nutmeg or mace ½ teaspoon Vanilla extract 2 large eggs Evaporated milk  1- 12oz can 3 cups pumpkin puree		Cooking Time: 45 to 60 minutes	Prep Time 15 minutes
			Ready in: 1 hour 10 minutes
Method
1.       Preheat the oven to 400 Fahrenheit (200 Centigrade) for 15 minutes, then turn down to 350 Fahrenheit or 175 Centigrade and cook the pie for an additional 45 minutes. 2.       Into a large bowl mix pumpkin, evaporated milk spices. Break in eggs and mix the ingredients together thoroughly. 3.       Pour into pie crust. 4.       Bake in preheated oven as indicated above.  Filling should be firm.
		Additional notes
		Serve with dollops of whipped cream. *It is recommended that you blind bake the pie crust in a 350 Fahrenheit oven for 15 minutes before adding filling.  This will prevent a soggy crust.

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