Kitchen heros, October 2009

 

Delights from the East

Middle Eastern Ingredients:

Pictured above. Pistachios, Persian fairly floss, rosewater, pomegranate molasses & Iranian figs. I would have loved to get some Seville oranges in this shot too but I forgot to get some from the market this week. I adore middle eastern food especially the sweets. I also love bringing a middle eastern twist to traditional baking, such as chocolate cake with toasted pistachios & rosewater cream.

I'm thinking of giving my new spoon a name...any suggestions?

Pretty Candies for decorating & my new handy rubber spatula/spoon

I bought this spoon on the weekend & it is officially my new bff. It is both a spoon & a spatula, it is made of sexy smooth rubbery stuff & it is totally impervious to heat. It is the best thing since the spork,  It stirs, it scrapes, it scoops & looks soooo cute! I am also obsessed with buying any pretty candy in sight for decorating cupcakes at the moment. Look how pretty the colours are on those sugared almonds, they look like pastel coloured eggs. I could just imagine a little robin laying them.

If your local organic store doesn't supply this, pester them until they do

Organic Coconut Palm Sugar

I discovered this stuff about 2 months ago at the organic markets & did some research. It has a really low Glycemic Index of 35 (anything under 55 is brilliant) so it’s probably the healthiest sweetener you can get. It is also ecologically sustainable as the tree is not cut down to obtain the sap. The best part is it tastes gorgeous! I have been using it wherever recipes call for brown sugar as it imparts a lovely rich caramel flavour to baking. It is also used in Asian & Indian cooking such as curries & sauces.

I was making sponge cakes on the weekend & it takes a lot of eggs