Turrón de yema tostada

Pronounced too-rr-on deh je-ma tos-ta-da

Ingredients

1/2 kg sugar

1/2 kg almond meal

6 egg yolks

1 egg white

1/2 tsp. cinnamon

Method

Phase 1: The making
In a saucepan, add the sugar and 5 tbsp. of water and bring to boil. Maintain simmering until it forms an “almibar” (or syrup), this will take about 5-10min. Add cinnamon.

Set the sugar syrup aside to cool down. After it has cooled down, add egg yolks and egg white, and mix.

Add the almond meal and mix (we used an electric mixer, but it can probably be done by hand if you have the arm strength and patience)

Taste to ensure it is sweet enough

Spoon into container, and flatten out using weight (we used milk containers again, as done for the Turron de Chocolate) for several days (you may want to refrigerate while doing this if room temperature is warm/hot - we put it in the fridge because we live in Australia, and Christmas happens to be in summer)

Phase 2: The 'toasting'
Unwrap the 'turron' from the baking paper/aluminium foil that it was refrigerated in.

Coat the top part (one side only) with sugar.

Burn the sugar using a flame torch (this is the fun bit!)

Allow to cool

 
 

Wrap again, using aluminium foil/cling wrap
Refrigerate until it is time to serve

Phase 3: Serving

Cut into slices, serve and enjoy!

(photos will be up soon, ours is currently in the refrigeration phase)

Turrón de Chocolate

(pronounced too-rr-on deh cho-co-lat-eh)

According to Wikipedia, turrón is translated into english as a "nougat confection, typically made of honey, sugar, and egg white, with toasted almonds or other nuts, and usually shaped into a rectangular tablet". Knowing what both nougat and turrón are, I have no idea how they got to this comparison. Firstly, there are many, many different types of turrón. Turrón de yema (of yolk), de coco (of coconut), de almendra (of almond), de chocolate (of chocolate), de Jijona, de Alicante, etc. At some point in time, I hope to learn the recipes of all of the above and post them here.

Regardless of what wikipedia says, turrón is a long-standing Christmas tradition in Spain. A more contemporary version of turrón, turrón de chocolate is probably the easiest to make.

Ingredients:

375g dark/cooking chocolate chips (or chopped up block of chocolate)

90g lard or butter

6 large tbsp. almond meal

2 large tbsp. icing sugar

~100g coco-pops (the breakfast cereal)

Method:

Add chocolate chips and lard in a large microwavable bowl, and microwave until chocolate melts (in my microwave it takes about 3 minutes, but usually it varies with different machines).

Mix melted chocolate and lard until smooth

Add almond meal and sugar, and mix thoroughly to ensure no lumps remain.

Add coco pops and mix (I suggest adding the cocopops slowly, otherwise the bowl tends to get very full and overflows)

Spoon into container (we use milk cartons which we cut in half, covered with baking paper, specifically for reasons specified later).

Once in container, the mixture needs to be kept flattened out with pressure from something heavy. We use milk cartons because they distribute the weight evenly (this is why we use cut milk cartons as containers/trays, because that way they are the same size as the weights and this keeps the turron in the right shape).

Refrigerate (or leave at room temperature if it is cool). 

Let your brother lick the bowl

Just before serving, slice into thin bars and place on a platter. A good addition to this platter are dried fruits and turron de yema, mantecados, marzipan, roscos de vino, and other Spanish Christmas foods that are to come in further episodes!

Turron de chocolate blanco (the white chocolate version)

As above, but substitute dark chocolate for white chocolate, and rice bubbles for coco-pops.

Crema Catalana

As any normal sunday morning in the Carmen household, the day started by me (Carmen Jnr) asking mum (Carmen Snr) what was happening today (in the hope that we would get to go shopping). Instead, the reply was something towards the lines of "I'm cooking". The look of disappointment on my face wouldn't surprise many. Mother wasn't impressed, "You know Carmen, you should cook with me. You need to learn to cook". If this wasn't the 500 millionth time I had heard those lines, I might have paid attention. Except this time, for some reason which I cannot currently remember, the thought came to mind that I should make a blog about this, the whole "my mother won't shut up about teaching me how to cook because I'm not a real woman if I can't cook" thing. Oh wait, I remember now. I told Mum to make a blog about her recipes, since she has been complaining of not being able to find the "perfect" recipe book (us Carmens are picky creatures). So yes, I decided to start a blog. And here is the first recipe in it, one that is very (extremely) simple, but delicious nonetheless.

(aka Crème brûlée: the spanish version)

 

Ingredients:

1/2 L milk (full-cream preferably)

4 egg yolks (refer to <how to properly separate egg yolk from white>)

150g sugar

--> mother does this by eye. therefore, amounts are approximate and may differ. Do it by taste, as below

Method:

In medium/large saucepan, heat milk and add other ingredients.
Mix continuously, ensure there are no lumps (lumps=bad)
If lumpy, use a hand-held blender to mix thoroughly
Keep heating until mixture becomes thick, the time it takes will depend on amount of ingredients.
Once mixture reaches approximately the texture of thick custard, remove from heat.
Pour into one large (preferably flatter) container/dish or into individual mini-pots.

Refrigerate until cold

Coat the surface of the “crema” mix with sugar (about 1mm thick, until you can no longer see the yellow under the white coat of sugar)

The following step can be done using either a flame torch or a branding iron (refer to images). Burn the sugar until it turns brown (brown, not yellow – if it is yellow, keep burning it).

Refrigerate until burnt sugar coating (or “caramelo”) turns hard.

Serve cold, and enjoy!

 We tested a brand-new flame torch today, after having used a branding iron many times before, and were not impressed: it took ages long to make the sugar go crispy. Therefore, we turned to the branding iron we had always used, and as a result the flame torch is up on ebay.

The Egg Kitchen

Egg is arguably one of most essential ingredients in the kitchen. Therefore, here are some tips for how to separate egg yolk/white and how to tell a good egg from a bad egg.

Number 1:
This may seem redundant, but according to Carmen Snr., this tip will save cooks many frustrated moments of finding yolk in their egg whites (thereby ruining meringue's etc.)

Separate the egg white from the yolk, and place the yolk in one bowl (Bowl 1) and the white in another (Bowl 2). Using Bowl 3 (or glass, whatever), separate the next egg, and then put yolk in Bowl 1 and white in Bowl 2. You use Bowl 3 to separate further eggs, unless one of them happens to break and you get yolk in it. Yolk is to meringue what salmonella is to chicken -> it will kill it (I may be being dramatic here). This way, you don't risk getting yolk in the white, since the white's are "safe" in another bowl.

Number 2:
Older eggs (not necessarily bad eggs, just those reaching their expiry date) will have a fleshy membrane on the inner surface of the egg shell (once it is opened) that separates itself from the egg shell.

It may be hard to see in these images (my camera is on the fritz, so I had to use my phone camera) but you may be able to see how the white membrane has sort of "lifted" from the egg shell. This is a sign of an 'older' egg.
Older eggs should not be used for recipes that require uncooked egg (ie. mousse). Also, it is much easier to separate the egg white and yolk from newer eggs than older eggs, as older eggs are more likely to have yolk that breaks off and 'ruins' your egg white.

There you go, some essential tips for the kitchen.