The Chocolate life

Hey guys,  just one last post for today, but I' m pretty sure this recipe will win you over.

The 3-ingredient Dessert/Breakfast - Nutella Croissants

Ingredients:

1 pkt (2 sheets) ready-to-roll, store-bought puff pastry
¾ cup Nutella
1 Egg (plus 1 tbsp of water)

Method:

Heat oven to 175 deg Celsius. Prepare a baking sheet by lining it with parchment paper.

Sprinkle a cutting board with flour. Then spread out the puff pastry sheet so that it is flat. Use a pizza cutter or a sharp knife to cut the puff pastry. If the puff pastry is round, cut it into eight long skinny triangles. Same when slicing a pizza. But if the puff pastry is a rectangle one, cut it into thirds and then sixth, so that you have six long triangles. There's no best particular method to this, as long as you finish with triangles :)

Then spoon some Nutella, about 1 full teaspoon, onto each triangle, on the wide end of the triangle, whilst using the back of the teaspoon to spread it out just a bit over the whole triangle. Try to leave at least ½-inch border all the way around the edges of the triangle, though, so the Nutella does not seep out during baking.

Then, beginning with the wide end of the triangle, roll the dough up into a croissant shape. Place on the baking sheet, and turn in the edges of the dough slightly to make a U shaped croissant. Repeat with the remaining triangles.

In a separate bowl, whisk together the egg and one tablespoon of water until combined. Then brush the egg mixture on top of each croissant. (You can also use the egg wash mixture to help seal the ends of the croissant, if they are not holding together).

Bake for 20-25 mins, until they puff up and are nice, golden and flaky. 

Sprinkle some icing sugar, to make them sweeter :)

And serve immediately xx Enjoy

You can also store in a sealed container for up to 3 days.

Tip: The Pizza cutter is best when young children are interested. It makes it more fun, interesting, and above all safe :) For the filling, you can also use any jam of any flavour. Depends on your taste buds.

Mussels

Food is tastier when prepared at home, and mussels are no exception. I always had a crush on mussels, but when I moved to live in Brussels... It was obvious, it got way out of control in my kitchen. I have tried it with everything - in wine, cream, even in tomato sauce. But the recipe below is the tastiest I find. 

Some may think that it could be difficult or cumbersome to cook seafood, but they are definitely misled. They are surprisingly easy and fast to prepare, being served as a starter or as a main course. 

Ideally, mussels should be fresh when bought, which means they should be alive. Often, they come already washed, so the first step in selecting which ones to cook is to put them under cold water, and those shells that do not close by themselves after a few minutes are probably dead and should be thrown away. 

From then on the cooking begins. 

Serves 2 - 4 (main course - starter)

Ingredients:

1kg Mussels

1 large Garlic clove, crushed

1 small shallot, finely diced

1½ tbsp fresh parsley, roughly chopped

1 tbsp fresh mint, roughly chopped

½ tbsp fresh basil, roughly chopped

½ tsp chilli flakes (optional)

8-10 cherry tomatoes, quartered (optional)

1 cup white wine

1 to 2 tbsp olive oil

Season with Salt and Pepper

1 tbsp lemon/lime juice (optional)

Few fresh parsley, finely chopped for garnish

Method:

Cooking Tip: The Casserole/Large-deep pot should only be filled halfway with the mussels, as they will double in size when opened.

Drain the mussels from the water after washing them, as mentioned earlier on, and transfer them to the casserole. Add and scatter amongst the mussels the Garlic, shallot, parsley, mint, basil, chilli flakes and tomatoes (optional). Then, pour in the wine and olive oil. Season with salt and pepper.

Cover with a tight fitting lid, so that the mussels can steam.

Turn on the heat, bring to boil and then let it simmer for a few minutes, shaking the casserole very so often so that the mussels move around and open up.

When all the mussels are open, remove the casserole from the heat and stir in lemon/lime juice, if you like (optional). Indeed after cooking, check for any still closed mussels as they should be thrown away.

Serve the mussels in separate serving bowls and sprinkle over some finely chopped parsley to garnish. Serve with fresh crunchy bread :)

And... Voilà, an authentic Belgian Speciality at Home!! Enjoy xx

Healthy note: Mussels are not only very tasty but also extremely nutritious; they contain desirable fats and are rich in vitamins and minerals

How it all began...

Depicting that I'm a ''Self Trained Chef'' may suggest that I’m already “Trained” to be a chef. But I assure you, that is not the case at all. 

So how am I going to become a Self Trained Chef? I think I’m going to tackle this project in a number of ways. The first assignment I gave myself was to buy 'Few' Culinary Books written by the Greatest Chef's of All Time, in my opinion (Gordon Ramsay, Giada De Laurentiis, Ina Garten, Anna Olsen), read them and start to apply the same techniques in my kitchen. Some where easy to handle, others were strange in some way. Like, for example, my first impression was that: 1) Most of the recipes use a funny measuring system like Quarts, Pounds and Ounces instead of Cups, Teaspoons and above all grams; 2) Many recipes, and many broths are made with a three veggie concoction called 'Mirepoix'. But I understood that I must get to the bottom of both this new conversion system and the culinary term.

Sooo... Umm, what the heck is this Mirepoix, and why do they need so much of it? Apparently Mirepoix is a mixture of diced onions, celery and carrots. As I read online on many websites, the fancy name comes from the renowned chef Charles du Mirepoix who coined the mixture as Mirepoix. 

Besides the weird volume conversions, and an array of new terminology, I think the Culinary books were a good buy in my pursuit of my becoming a “Self Trained Chef”, even though my Husband's face drops when the postman is at the door. ''Not again?!!'' But I see a smile underneath, so I keep going.

In addition to the Culinary Books, I’ll be using the Internet, YouTube and asking Chef’s and other foodies wherever I go for advice on improving my culinary skills. Above all, I will upload any recipes which I find to be irresistible not to share with you.

The end goal in all of this is to share my findings online through articles, videos and this blog to help other aspiring “Self Trained Chef’s” have an additional resource to also become educated in the Culinary World!

And for those that just have to cook, 'unfortunately' after a day's work, I'd say:

''Thinking of tasty food one can cook? Then drop by and all you've got in the usual refrigerator will make a delicious meal - Sounds Great, Right?! Well, help is at hand with these inspired selection of ideas and recipes for easy entertaining, snacks, meals and desserts based on various local and easy-to-find ingredients, which will make all your diners melt.''

Let the adventure begin! xx :)