A Delicate Pleasure:Sweet Omlette Soufflé

When I first read this recipe from handwritten recipe collection my grandmother left to me, I remembered that she told me never to prepare this dessert when in a hurry. You will see, she said , it's very easy to cook and its ready in no time but it´s delicate as a mimosa and demands your full concentration.
As I am a rather impatient person and, very much a child of the 21st century, do like practical and no time consuming cooking, I banned the recipe in a remote corner of my cooking book collection and forgot about it.
When we got installed in Lima after a two years stay in Italy, I reorganized my books and somehow this one drew my attention.
Today, on one of this rather gray and cold Peruvian winter Saturdays, I thought, OK, why not -  let´s try it.
And boy a surprise it was.
First of all it was ready in about 10 minutes, second it was not difficult to prepare at all but tasted so delicate that, if I would not have known better, could swear that this was a very complex mission to achieve.
My grandmother proved to be absolutely right- the only thing this dessert demands is not to hurry it up and a  bit of concentration - exigencies that are well deserved after all.
Ingredients:

3 egg whites
3 egg yolks
1/2 cup icing sugar
1 cup ripe strawberries cut in slices
2 spoonful sun flower oil
1 teaspoon unsalted butter
1 spoonful of Strawberry Jam
1pinch of salt
Meant leaves  
For the sour cream filling:
1/2 cup sour cream
1/4 cup icing sugar

Method:
 -Put the egg white in a large bowl and beat with an electric mixer until foamy.

-Add a pinch of salt and then gradually add icing sugar and  keep beating until firm peaks are formed and the mixture is thick and glossy.
-mix the egg yolks gently and add them one by one

-mix carefully with the egg white mixture

 -in a non-stick frying pan heat the oil and melt butter

 -add the egg white mixture

-Gently smooth surface, cook over medium heat

-cook until omelette is puffed and lightly browned on bottom, about 5 minutes. (Lift omelet at edge with spatula to judge color.)

Turn omelette gently  (the best way is to lift the omelette with the help of 2 spatulas) and cook until the other side is lightly browned.

-brush the upper side with a bit of strawberry jam

-mix sour cream with sugar

-place omelette on serving plate,top generously with sour cream filling, add strawberry slices.
-fold omelette in half ,sprinkle with icing sugar and decorate with halved strawberries and mint leaves
-If you prefer you can serve this dessert as well open faced.
Serve immediately.

Serves 1 portion
Enjoy!
See you next week.

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Surprising Fusion: Scallops a la Bloody Mary

  
Who would think of marinating seafood with a very well known cocktail (!) and get as result an amazing appetizer?
This recipe has become very popular in the Peruvian nouvelle cuisine and I must admit it was a total surprise for me when I tried it at first.
I didn't expect it would taste so good but the result of this fusion is superb.  The marinade is not exactly the recipe of Bloody Mary because it’s necessary to modify a bit in order to get a richer texture and softer flavors but basically it is very similar to the cocktail.
I adapted the recipe further by adding Tabasco (as you know, some like it hot ;) ) to round up the flavors and  chopped celery to make it a bit crunchier.

You need:

1 dozen fresh scallops (make sure they are as fresh as possible)

5 spoonful of tomato sauce

2 spoonful of tomato juice

2 spoonful of ketchup

¼ teaspoon of lime zest

½ teaspoon of lime juice

1 teaspoon of Worcester sauce

Some drops of Tabasco (optional)

2 spoonful of finely chopped celery

2 ½ spoonful of Vodka

Salt, pepper

Spring onion (the green leaves) for decoration 

Preparation:

Clean the scallops carefully and dry them with a paper towel.

Mix the tomato sauce, the tomato juice and the ketchup in a glass bowl.

Next, add the celery

  
then the fresh lime zest and juice as well as the Worcester sauce and Tabasco.

Stir well.

Finally, add the Vodka and stir again until all ingredients are blent.
Mix the scallops with the marinade, cover and refrigerate for  about 1/2 hour.

Put the scallops in spoons or a Cocktail glass and decorate with spring onion (the green part) or chives.

Serves 12 individual portions.

Enjoy! See you next Tuesday!

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Toblerone Express Chocolate Mousse

Toblerone Express Chocolate Mousse

This chocolate mousse is incredibly fast to prepare and tastes like heaven. It needs only 5 ingredients.

When we lived in Switzerland, a Bernese friend generously shared this recipe with me.

By now, it has become an all time favorite among our friends.
It’s a great dessert for the holidays too, because it's festive and you can make it a day ahead and keep it in the refrigerator until serving.

You need:

150 g  (about 5.2 ounces)Swiss Toblerone milk chocolate

1 egg

1 spoonful of icing sugar

2dl cream

Preparation:

-Break the chocolate into small pieces and melt it in the microwave (about 1 ½ minutes)

-Whisk the icing sugar with the egg until obtaining a creamy mixture.

Wait until chocolate has cooled slightly, and then stir in bit by bit the egg-icing sugar mixture.

-Add just a  tiny bit of salt and  whip the cream to soft peaks.

-Gently stir in 1/3 of the whipped cream and finally, very gently the remaining whipped cream.

-Refrigerate for at last 8 hours

Serves 3-4

Enjoy!

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