Five....gold rings?

So this is my fifth blog and business (not to jinx it) is good. I'm doing more translations for a company in America which is very interesting and definitely keeps me occupied and away from boredom...although I haven't been baking as much lately and the house is a little messy....still, I'm not going all "Monica" from "Friends" about it as a little mess never hurt anyone, and surely it's a good sign that I'm so busy?

A design for my web homepage has been done and looks fantastic - I couldn't be happier with it. I did lose a potential job yesterday as I was in Liverpool for a friend's birthday but at the end of the day, I wouldn't have missed the birthday for anything. You win some, you lose some.

So life is very good, AND (on a personal note), Downton Abbey series 3 begins again tomorrow night which just is the cherry on top of the cake really.

Now, as promised in the last blog, I said I would be translating recipes/articles I like, and this post does not break that promise.

I was racking my brains about what to have for lunch yesterday and then I suddenly thought: Bruschetta (sounds rather fancy for lunch, and yes it is perhaps, but it's so easy and so quick to make - it's perfect if you don't have much time to eat because you're on a translation deadline!) - it also reminds me of a fabulous night out I had in Liverpool last Friday when the chef messed up an order for two of our party, so we sent it back and the order came back correct. After the meal, we were all waiting to pay when a plate of bruschetta turned up, and all the italian waiter could say was "Complimente!!".....turns out this was not complimentary bruschetta, but rather that he had given someone else's order to us and was too embarrassed to take it back. Bless.

Anyway: this is Steak and Saint Agur bruschetta (English first, followed by a french translation)

Prep time: 5 mins
Serves: 2
Level: Easy

Ingredients:
Sirloin/rib-eye/rump steak - 1 large piece
Olive oil
Ciabatta bread
Dijon mustard (1 tsp)
Watercress (1 handful)
50g Saint Agur blue cheese (or any blue cheese that is your favourite)
balsamic vinegar (to drizzle over the finished bruschetta)

- Heat a griddle pan until smoking hot. Rub the steak with some olive oil (about 1tbsp), season with salt and freshly ground black pepper, then cook for 2-5 mins on each side (depending how rare you like it). Leave it to rest for 5 minutes.

- Cut the ciabatta roll in half and place each half face down on the griddle pan to soak up the juices (if you like, you can drizzle the roll halves with olive oil before placing them on the pan) - leave them for 2 minutes so they are a nice golden brown. Spread them with the mustard and then place the watercress on top.

- Cut the steak in half, place it on top of the watercress, then scatter over the blue cheese (if you love melted cheese as I do, then pop the bruschetta under a hot grill until the cheese has melted (make sure to keep a strict eye on it though!). Drizzle the balsamic vinegar over the top and serve.

Ok, so here's the french version:

Préparation: 5 min
2 personnes
Niveau: Facile

Ingrédients:

Bifteck (une grande tranche) - rumsteak ou faux-fillet
Huile d'olive
Pain Ciabatta
Moutarde de Dijon (1 cuillère à café)
Cresson (1 poignée)
50g Saint Agur fromage bleu (ou tout autre fromage bleu qui est votre préféré)
Vinaigre balsamique (à verser sur le produit fini)

- Faire chauffer une poêle à griller jusqu'à ce que le fumage à chaud. Frotter le bifteck avec un peu d'huile d'olive (environ 1 cuillère à soupe), assaisonner avec le sel et le poivre noir fraîchement moulu, puis cuire pendant 2-5 minutes de chaque côté (selon la façon dont vous l'aimez la cuisson). Laisser reposer pendant 5 minutes.

- Couper le ciabatta en deux et placer chaque moitié sur la poêle à griller à absorber le jus (si vous le souhaitez, vous pouvez arroser les moitiés d'huile d'olive avant de les placer sur le plateau) - les laisser pendant 2 minutes afin qu'ils sont une belle coloration dorée. Répartissez-les avec la moutarde, puis placez le cresson sur le dessus.

- Couper le steak en deux, placez-le sur le cresson, puis répartissez le fromage bleu (si vous aimez le fromage fondu comme je le fais, placez la bruschetta sous un gril chaud jusqu'à ce que le fromage soit fondu (assurez-vous de le garder strictement). Verser le vinaigre balsamique sur la bruschetta et la servir.

So there you go, a more high-brow lunch for those of you in a hurry! So I've covered dessert and lunch; maybe I'll do breakfast next time and make some muffins....watch this space!

A bientôt mes amis!


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4th September

So the time has come for me to write another blog I think. Alas not much has changed over the last few days; I am still waiting on America to send me the document I need to edit by Friday and I have not received any more jobs over the weekend. However, I thought today should not be an entirely wasted one so I have come up with an idea to make this blog (hopefully) more interesting.

From now on with each post, I intend to attach a translation of a French recipe or an article from somewhere that I find interesting etc etc.

So for this post I have decided to start off by attaching a translation of the French classic, crème brulée à la cannelle (cinammon crème brulée). I'm a food fanatic and I love nothing more than being able to spend a weekend cooking and baking so I hope that you enjoy the recipes etc that I post on here along with my news.

So this is the French recipe:

Crème brulée (pour 5 personnes)

Difficulté: Facile
Preparation: 10 min

Temps de cuisson: 1h

Ingrédients

• 5 jaunes d'oeufs
• 35cl de crème liquide à 30% de matière grasse
• 12cl de lait
• 70g de cassonade
• 1 gousse de vanille

Et, pour le caramel:

• 60g environ de sucre blanc

Préparation

• Mélangez les jaunes d'oeufs et la cassonade à l'aide d'un fouet.
• Versez le lait dans une casserole.
  Ouvrez la gousse de vanille en deux et grattez (à l'aide d'une pointe de couteau) les grains. Ajoutez-les au lait et faites chauffer
• Versez le mélange bien chaud sur les jaunes et fouettez énergiquement. Ajoutez la crème et fouettez encore.
• Laissez refroidir le mélange et réservez au frais une heure
• Au bout d'une heure, préchauffez votre four à 120° en versant de l'eau dans le lèche-frite de votre four. 
• Versez la préparation dans des plats à crèmes brûlées et enfournez pendant une heure, au bain-Marie. 
• Au bout d'une heure éteignez votre four et laissez les crèmes environ 10 mn dedans. Sortez du four et laissez refroidir. Mettre au frais.
•            Au moment de servir, saupoudrez le sucre blanc sur les crèmes et colorez à l'aide d'un chalumeau, ou d'un fer à crèmes brûlée ou sous le grill de votre four.
  
  
  
  
  So that was the French, and here's the translation:
  
  
  Crème brulée (serves 5) 
  
  
  Difficulty level: Easy
  Preparation time: 10 mins
  Cooking time: 1 hour
  
  
  Ingredients
  
  
• 5 egg yolks
• 70g brown sugar 
• 12cl milk
• 1 vanilla pod               

For the caramel:

• About 60g white sugar

     Method

• Mix the egg yolk and the brown sugar with a whisk
• Pour the milk into a saucepan. Split the vanilla pod in two and extract the seeds. Add the seeds to the milk and heat the mixture (do not boil)
• Pour the mixture onto the egg yolks and whisk. Add the cream and then whisk again.
• Put the mixture in the fridge and leave to cool for 1 hour.
• Towards the end of the cooling time, pre-heat the over to 120°C.
• Pour the cooled mixture into 5 ramekins and bake for 1 hour in a bain-marie (bain-marie = pour boling water into a roasting tin containing the ramekins, and ensure that the water comes half way up the sides of the small dishes)
• At the end of the cooking time, turn the oven off and leave the ramekins in the oven for 10 minutes. 
• Remove the ramekins from the oven and leave to cool.
• When you are ready to serve them, sprinkle the white sugar over the top and either put them under a grill until the top has caramelised or alternatively, use a kitchen blow torch to achieve the same results.

NB. The crème brulées can be made 24 hours in advance but take care not to caramelise the tops until you are ready to serve them or it will become soft and lose its lovely crunchy texture.

For a bit of variety, try putting fresh raspberries or strawberries in the bottom of the ramekins before you pour the mixture in.

So there you have it, a classic easy French recipe for a gorgeous dessert.

Right then, I'm off to do some more editing of this medical document I have been sent (trust me, I'd rather be making crème brulées!)

A bientôt mes amis!