sinful chocolate brownies with berries

Yum-O! That's the best word to describe this delicious brownie. I served it with a scoop of really great vanilla ice cream and some leftover fresh blueberries and I was floored! My guests really dug in even though they were still full from the main course and that must be a compliment to the chef (baker?) I will definitely bake these brownies again and just give them 20 minutes in the oven - they could have been a bit more moist but they were fine with the vanilla ice cream. Quick and simple to make and not too expensive. Just be on the lookout for cheap fresh berries and you're on a roll. I made mine with blueberries and I know Carina used raspberries so I'm excited to find out what she thought of this our 18th dish - well strictly speaking it was really a cake right... The first cake of the cooking project... See Carina's brownies on her blog...

This portion makes about 10 slices

100 grams butter

2 dl brown sugar (I ended up using half brown sugar and half regular sugar as I ran out of brown sugar)

100 grams dark bitter chocolate

2 eggs

1 dl all purpose flour

½ teaspoon baking powder

100 grams berries (raspberries, blueberries or blackberries)

Decoration:

1½ dl double cream

200 grams fresh berries

Confectioners sugar or cocoa powder to sprinkle

Preheat the oven to 180 C (350F) and line a small 8" springform tin.

Put the butter, brown sugar and coarsely chopped chocolate into a pot and melt it slowly while stirring until it has uniform texture. Remove the pot from the heat and let it cool of a bit. Then whisk in the eggs one at the time. Sieve the flour and baking powder into the mixture and fold it in carefully with the berries.

Pour the dough into the springform tin and bake it in the middle of the oven for about 20-25 minutes. The cake is supposed to be a bit sticky in the middle.

Let the cake cool off and serve it with a side of whipped cream and extra berries. Sprinkle with confectioners sugar or cocoa powder if you feel like it.

Bon appetit...

Mango Fool

I finally got around to making this dessert, which Carina made what seems ages ago. I don't really have the time to make desserts on weekdays and on weekends I forget. But this weekend I (surprisingly) had the energy and just went ballistic and made a dessert AND a drink! I'll post he drink recipe later and now I'll share my experience with this dessert which is the first dessert in the food project.

It tasted soooo good! My husband was practically licking the bowl in hopes of getting more sweetness out of it. I made some small alterations to the recipe as I saw fit and this dessert was a mixture of crunch, sweetness, creaminess but it also had an acidic taste to it. I found that you have to be careful to use ripe mangos because the sourness of a mango that's not ripe will punch through in the end. This is a really good summer dessert and would be a fantastic conclusion to a summer garden party or a light coffee accompaniment on a sunny afternoon...

For four people you'll need:

2 ripe mangos

Juice of 2 lime

1 teaspoon finely grated lime zest (I didn't add this)

6 dl double cream

2 tablespoons confectioners sugar (I used 2 handfuls of crushed meringue to give the cream some texture)

Peel the mangos and scoop the pulp off the mango stones. Blend the mango with lime juice and 1 teaspoon of finely grated lime zest.

Whip the cream in a bowl with confectioners sugar until it's lusciously thick but not stiff. This is where you fold in the crushed meringue if you want to use that.

Put the cream into 4 tall glasses. Add the mango purée in a plastic bag and spray it into the whipped cream. Or carefully fold the whipped cream into the mango purée and put it in the glass. 

Bon appetit...

Take a look at Carina's experiences with this recipe on her blog - HERE

Mustard chops with onion and squash in cream

This recipe is categorized as a "eat and bug off" recipe for a large number of people. It's easy to do and doesn't take loads of time, so if you get unexpected company for dinner you can just whip up this dish and I promise it'll be a huge hit. I advise caution with the choice of mustard if you don't eat it very often or if you don't have a craving for spicy food with twang, then choose a sweeter mustard.

I loved this dish - it's easy, quick and it tastes really good! My husband liked it too apart from the squash that he left on his plate - too mushy for him... Carina made this dish last week (when I had pizza in stead) so she has already translated and posted the recipe, so I'll just repost what she wrote and you can see how her dish came out HERE 

For 12 people you'll need:

2 kg pork neck chops without bone, or pork chops (I used neck pork chops)
2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil
1 kg onion
2 kg squash
4 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil
salt
freshly ground pepper
2 dl Dijon mustard (I used a sweeter mustard - recept mustard from Søstrene Grene in Aalborg)
1-2 bundles of dill
1 litre of double cream
4 dl chicken stock

Accompaniment : salad, bread or rice

Preheat the oven to 180C. Season the pork chops with salt and pepper and fry them in olive oil on both sides in a frying pan. Take them off the frying pan and cover them with tin foil.

Finely chop the onion and cut the squash into slices. Fry the onion and squash together in olive oil in same frying pan for approximate 3 minutes. Stir in 2 tablespoons of mustard, double cream, stock and bring to the boil. Season it with salt and pepper.

Pour it into a big oven-proof dish or two, so there is enough room for all pork chops. Butter each pork chop with 1 teaspoon of mustard and put the pork chops above the vegetables. Chop the dill roughly and spread it out on the meat. Warm the pork chops in the preheated oven for 15-20 minutes.

Serve the pork chops in the oven-proof dish with salad, bread or rice.

Bon appetit...