Pear and Raspberry Crumble

Hello and a happy sunday!

I have bought some pears last week and they seemed to have ripened overnight. So what to do??? One of my favorite combinations is pears and raspberries, and since I always have some of those sitting in the freezer, I thought a crumble it is. It is also a good opportunity to use up some white chocolate I have had in my storing cupboard since I made these white chocolate cookies.
I can't give exact measurements on this crumble, as I kind of make it just with rough judging.

I still try my best and tell you what I used:

For the crumble mixture:

• 2 tbsp of ground almonds
• 2 tbsp of oats (I used my porridge oats)
• 2 heaped tbsp of flour
• 3 tbsp brown sugar
• roughly 100 g cold cubed butter
• pinch of salt

For the fruits:

• 3 ripe but not over pears
• a large handful of frozen raspberries
• 20 g grated white chocolate
• 1 tbsp flour
• 1 tbsp lemon juice
• optional: 1 tbsp caster sugar

And how to make it:

• first heat the oven to 175 °C (no fan)
• then make the crumble mixture: mix all the dry ingredients in a bowl together
• then, with you hands, rub the diced cold butter in there until you get a crumbly texture
• if too dry, add more butter, if too wet, add more flour
• then onto the fruit: peel and core the pears and cut into small pieces
• in a bowl mix with the lemon juice and the flour
• if your pears are rather sour, you can add some sugar here, I prefer however not to do that
• fill your pear mixture into the bottom of an oven proof dish
• top with a layer of frozen raspberries, then sprinkle with white chocolate (any chocolate will do)
• now evenly distribute your crumble mix, make sure to cover the fruit to the rim of the dish
• put in the oven and bake for 45 mins or until the top is golden brown and the fruit is bubbling
• and now serve up straight from the oven
• add some cream, ice cream, or vanilla sauce

I have mine pure as it is and I have to hold back not to finish the whole dish at once :-)

Have a lovely week everybody!

My favorite Salsa and Garlic-Miso Chicken

This salsa is something I wanted to post a very long time ago...
It is my absolutely favorite salsa of all times and it took quite some experimenting to get it right. It goes well with chicken, fish or steak, it is a perfect side for BBQ and is also good just as a salad. Seriously, you can tell I really like it. I hope you do to :-)
For the chicken I used the roasted garlic-miso butter from Use Real Butter. It is absolutely fabulous. I made the chicken legs as described in the recipe before and they are a good treat. This time I just used it to flavour my chicken breast. I rubbed the breast with the butter and then baked it in the oven until golden brown for about 25 mins at 175 °C. I also scored the breast to allow better cooking. And make sure you really take the time to roast the garlic. It is such a good companion to the miso!

But this is all about THE salsa, so here is the list of ingredients:

• 1 ripe avocado (I use hass in a medium size)
• 1/2 mango
• 15-20 cherry tomoatoes
• 2 spring onions
• 1/2 deseeded red chili to your own taste
• half a bunch of coriander leaves
• juice of half a lemon and half a lime
• good swig of fruity olive oil
• 1 tsp honey
• salt, pepper

And how to do the assembly:

• cut the avocado, the mango, and the tomatoes into small dice (you really want small here)
• finely slice the onions
• chop up the chili
• in a bowl mix all the above, then add lemon+lime juice, olive oil and honey, toss carefully
• roughly chop the coriander and add to the bowl
• season with salt and pepper to taste
• and now, this is important, let marinate in the fridge for at least 1/2 hour, otherwise the flavours won't develop
• before serving let come to room temperature
• keeps well in the fridge for 2-3 days

White chocolate chip cookies

Hello there!

Weekend is approaching and I was again in need of chocolate (Don't ask me why...). Cookies are a yummy treat and I usually don't make them as they will just dissappear into thin air shortly after backing...

These ones are definitely among my favorites. For the cups I use a 200 mL coffee mug.



Ingredients:

• 125 g unsalted butter at room temperature
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup caster sugar
• 1 vanilla sugar (or 1 tsp vanilla extract)
• 1 large egg or two small ones
• 1/3 cup unsweatened cocoa
• 1 cup flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• as much roughly chopped white chocolate as you like, I use 1 bar of 150 g

And how it works:

• heat the oven to 175 °C (no fan)
• beat the butter until soft, add both sugars and the vanilla and beat until fluffy
• next add the egg and stir well
• add the cocoa and mix, then sift in the flour, baking powder and salt, mix well
• now carefully fold in the chopped chocolate
• spoon out roughly one tbsp of dough onto a baking tray lined with grease-proof paper
• make sure to leave some space between the heaps
• now, with damp hands, pat the dough slightly down
• bake for 15-18 mins, not more, the cookies will first look slightly underdone, but they are good, believe me
• let cool on the tray for a bit and then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely
• as a tip, the cookies are really good when still a bit warm!

Enjoy with a cup of tea or a cup of coffee!