Dairy free eton mess for a wedding near Tewkesbury

A record number of dietary requirements this year. Unlike a lot of people I do try and go out of my way to make sure they have as near to what everyone else is having as it can be. If you research recipes, and hunt down ingredients, anything is possible really, it just takes time and care! Far too many other chefs don't bother, so the gluten free, dairy free etc guests we cook for are always amazed at what we serve up for them!

Dairy free whipped cream? Easy! With a bit of help from @CocoPazzo .

Chill a tin of coconut milk in the fridge overnight. It has to be good quality coconut milk with high fat content. Refrigerating it makes it split between the coconut fat and thin water at the bottom.

Scoop off the coconut fat into a mixing bowl. Beat with an electric whisk till thick. If you've really thought in advance you could chill the mixing bowl too - to prevent it heating and splitting. You can add sugar and vanilla if you want to make it slightly sweeter, like I did here.

It pipes beautifully. All the chefs and waiting staff liked the coconut whipped 'cream' version better than the normal dairy cream version - the piping bag and mixing bowl were wiped completely clean - you can't get much better recommendation than that!

If you're being hi-tech you can also use an isi gun for this. According to information received the isi gun likes 35% fat content and the average can of coconut milk is 20%, so add 2 tbsp of coconut oil to the coconut cream and mix at room temperature, then chill overnight in the fridge before putting in the isi gun. Using coconut milk with added guar gum is also another tip to help prevent the coconut cream and coconut oil from separating while chilling.

We finished this one off with dried coconut flakes and toasted coconut. Despite the fact that it helps distinguish the dairy free version from the normal one, it also adds a bit more coconut flavour! Should have added malibu!

 

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Triple chocolate panna cotta

So we made this for a party last Saturday. 

This is one we turned out this morning to have a look. As you do. Oh and eat it of course. As you do.

We used this recipe - but just altered it to suit working on our 150ml moulds. Divided the mix into 3 and then  alternated white chocolate, milk and dark. Added a bit more dark chocolate to get a better differentiation in colour.


Related posts:

Passion fruit panna cotta

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1001 Kitchen Tips #69 - What can you substitute for buttermilk in soda bread?

Can't find buttermilk? Annoying huh? The Cotswolds is amazing, but finding ingredients can be more time consuming and involve further distances - as with everything there are good sides & bad sides. The good far outweigh the bad! It's annoying too sometimes how shops keep changing their stock - sometimes they'll have certain ingredients, you go another time and they've discontinued it - as was the case with buttermilk.

Soda bread 2009 (above) - one of the most popular posts I've done - testing the difference between water and buttermilk in soda bread, see more & the 2 recipes here. Soda bread is the answer for guests with yeast allergies.

Back to 2012, and the soda bread I made last Saturday. As I didn't find any buttermilk, I searched for a substitute, and found the answer to be acidulated milk.

It's always worth reading the comments under recipes - sometimes the measurements in recipes can be wrong slightly and people who have tried them give helpful hints below, or things they would do differently if they made the recipe again. Sometimes the comments section can be the difference between trying the recipe out or not!

Little & large soda bread. The sun dried tomato, olive and thyme roll was for the dinner party that night and plain soda bread loaf for breakfast. 

Underneath this soda bread recipe was a handy hint - use the same amount of milk as buttermilk (500ml in this case), heat the milk up gently and add 2 tsp lemon juice and let it cool. It makes a lumpy yogurty like mixture - but works just the same. And it did - above. And you know what - cheaper too!

Related posts 

Soda bread - buttermilk vs water & vinegar
Other breads we have made

See other 1001 kitchen tips

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Wild strawberry and coriander sushi

Strawberries and coriander - who would ever think of putting those two ingredients together?

Mr Brooks might. And did - that's where I got the idea for doing this. I was going to use normal strawberries, but as I went through the garden this morning in search of rosemary and sage to go on top of foccacia I saw the recent sun had ripened up all the wild strawberries so I just had to pick them......

As this is a sweet version of sushi I used coconut milk to cook the rice rather than water. I'm not sure this is quite authentic - maybe in malaysian cuisine, but it tastes good. If you want a savoury version (with normal sushi rice) tuna and strawberry sushi is a classic.

No nori on this one - though if you google strawberry sushi - you can see some quite interesting versions and some 'interesting' ones too.

Rolled in toasted dessciated coconut. Best to toast it in a frying pan - if you put it in the oven you'll remember it's in there only when black smoke is wafting through your kitchen.......

Let it cool down too before you roll. Roll tightly in cling film - this helps you cut the round shapes easily.

Balsamic syrup makes a nice accompaniment (as above), but you could also sieve some strawberries to make a coulis as a dip.

This has been submitted to the Strawberry Feast at My Kitchen Treasures.

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Vegan chocolate tart with vegan ice cream

Vegetarians and vegans I feel always get the short end of the stick in restaurants. What I like about the way I work is I know dietary requirements in advance, so I can plan things so everyone can have the same meal - if that is what they want of course.

When it came to the chocolate tart dessert I served at Littleton Manor on Saturday, it was just a matter of altering the recipes a little. For the pastry base I swapped butter and lard combination I normally use for pure soya margarine. I made 2, just in case of breakages, in round tins, rather than the fluted tins I normally used so they wouldn't get mixed up in transit.

For the chocolate filling I found this recipe (I liked it because unlike the other vegan recipes I looked at it didn't contain tofu). For the ice cream, I looked at so many recipes, until I realised I could adapt my normal crème fraîche ice cream recipe - swapping crème fraîche for soy yogurt, and the normal milk for soy milk. And

the result was pretty impressive.

Related posts:

Chocolate tart

Vegan lemon cheesecake recipe

1001 Kitchen tips #4 - A hole in none - How to get rid of the holes in your pastry cases

Candied zest

1001 Kitchen tips #46 - Which one is no dairy/ vegan/ no nuts etc

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