Baked Alaska

Baked Alaska, what an old fashioned Dessert....and? You cannot believe how often this Classic is still served all over the world, not just in the cruise industry. There we still have the Baked Alaska Parade with everybody coming in the Dining Room and 1000 guests are applauding....and then the same again for the second seating, no even in hotels, restaurants, the Baked Alaska is a Classic, but it is by far not dead! Long live the Baked Alaska!

I want to show you how to make this dessert quick and easy at home and let the tradition live on! I prefer to make individual Baked Alaska as it is not just beautifully to present on the plate, but it is easier to store in the freezer. The big ones are just so bulky!

As for the blow torch you will need, there are two options, get one in a kitchen specialty shop, they have the little fancy ones, or take your husband for a stroll and go to his "toy shop" to get a proper blow torch, I am sure he will like that you come with him to this dreaded store and will gladly buy you a proper model.

All you need is 4 items, Ice Cream, Sponge, Egg White and Sugar

Baked Alaska

1 small Tub Chocolate Swirl Ice Cream

1 ea Sponge Cake

5 ea Egg White

150 g Caster Sugar

Method

Cut the sponge cake in round sponge circles about 1 cm thick and 5 cm diameter. Place one ball of ice cream on it, you can use any ice cream you like. Place it back in the freezer and freeze completely

In the mean time beat the egg white with one third of the sugar till soft peak in an electric beater, then add the rest of the sugar slowly always while beating the egg white. Beat the "Meringue" till it is very firm.

Put the Meringue in a piping bag, take the ice cream out the freezer and garnish it till completely covered with the Meringue, then place back in the freezer.

Just before serving the Baked Alaska, take a blow torch and "burn" the meringue, serve immediately

Prawns on Avocado Tartar

Here is something really simple, you can make it quick and even on short notice, have some cooked prawns in the freezer and an avocado in the fridge and basically you have everything you need to do this little but very effective and delicious starter. I am a strong believer of having always something as a back up that when friends pop over it is easy and fast prepared, the title sounds grand, but basically all it is Guacamole with Prawns, shushed up a little bit, but here the recipe

Just some useless information about the prawns, or shrimp in certain countries. When you buy them they are either called by a name like Giant, King, Queen which means the size, or you get number, like 21/25, 15/20, 9/15. This shows you the size as well, the number means how many prawns are in each Kilo (2.2 lbs) so the smaller the number, the bigger the prawn. For general cooking 21/25 are perfect, if I BBQ and have them butterfly I try to go for bigger Prawns. In Asia you get the huge ones 2/3!!!! they are nearly the size of a lobster and taste delicious!

2 ea Avocados
0.5 ea Onions
1 ea Red Chili
Lime Juice
Salt
Pepper

16 ea Prawns (21/25) cooked
20 ml Olive oil
10 ml Lemon juice
Sea Salt
Pepper

For the avocados, cut the onions in very fine cubes, then de-seed the chili and chop. Peel the avocados and cut in cubes. Mix all ingredients and season to taste.

Marinate the prawns in olive oil, Lime juice, salt and pepper, leave for a couple of hours

To plate put the avocado in a round form and then dress the prawns on top of the avocado.

Garnish with some micro herbs

Oysters from Bluff, New Zealand and Nam Jim Dressing

Not everybody likes Oysters, it is that either you love them or you hate them, there is nothing between, straight forward. I love them, I really do. Yes they are glibbery and wobbly things, but boy, a really fresh oyster is something amazing to eat.. Now being in Bluff, I had to get the local Oysters for our ship, there is just no way around it. Bluff is the Mecca of Oysters in New Zealand, they are highly priced and absolutely delicious.

But now, where is Bluff? If you take a New Zealand map and go all the way south, so far that there is nothing else to come.....that is where Bluff is, at the end of New Zealand. Even so the residents of Bluff will certainly disagree as Bluff is actually the oldest European settlement in New Zealand

We have just come back from Antarctica and are now on the way north, just dropping off all our passengers. We will have a charter cruise now and everybody will arrive in Christchurch, so we have 2 days time to clean and scrub every little part of the galley clean

Bluff from the ship

Many years ago the Bluff Oyster was like raked up from the bottom of the sea and lots of nature had been destroyed, but since many years there are strict regulations and the oyster farming is now strictly monitored. A lot of damage had been done, but now nature has slowly time to recover, but it will still take a long time till everything is back the way it was

The tiny town of Bluff

The Bluff Oyster is more of a round oyster, sand colored and nice and fleshy. The taste is.....a little salty, fresh and fantastic. It has some lovely creaminess, is just a little chewy and delicious

There are many ways to serve an oyster. I like them raw, but with a little additional flavor, so here we serve them with a little cucumber salad and then of course the lemon and some Nam Jim Dressing, a Vietnamese dressing

Here is the recipe for the Nam Jim, a very nice dressing, it is really complementing the Oysters

1	knob	Ginger
3	ea	Gloves Garlic
3	ea	Chili red
3	ea	Shallots
1	knob	Galangal or Ginger
3	ea	Coriander roots
5	ea	Lime juice
3	tblsp	Fish sauce
3	tblsp	Palm Sugar, light

With a mortar and pestle pound all the roots and herbs

till a fine paste

Gradually add lime juice, fish sauce and palm sugar

When combined, pass liquid through a fine strainer

and check balance of sweetness, saltiness and spice

adjust if necessary

Flour less Chocolate Cubes with Strawberry Compote

Now this is a truly indulgent recipe, the chocolate is reach and creamy, so the strawberries give a little acidity and sweetness to it. To round the whole thing off, I add some cold Sabayon. All in all you get this great dessert that is colorful and absolutely delicious. I make the chocolate cubes flour less as like this the flavor is even more intensive and apart for from that, it is a perfect dessert for a gluten free diet

Chocolate Cubes
300 g Chocolate
3 ea Eggs
1 ea Egg yolk
250 g Butter

Strawberry Compote
500 g Strawberries
100 g Sugar
0.5 ea Vanilla bean, scraped
50 ml Red Wine
15 g Corn Starch

Sabayon
2 ea Egg Yolks
50 ml Marsala
75 ml White Wine
50 g Sugar
150 ml Cream, whipped

Method

For the Chocolate Cubes, melt the butter and then add the chocolate. Over very low heat melt the chocolate, stirring constantly. Then when the chocolate is completely melted, add the beaten eggs. Stir nicely till you have a smooth batter

Pour in a square, buttered baking tin and bake at 120 C for about one hour or till cooked. Make sure the heat is not too high to avoid over cooking

For the Strawberry Compote mix Strawberries, Sugar and Vanilla and bring to the boil. Mix Corn Starch and Red Wine, add to the strawberries, stirring all the time, it will thicken nicely. The take immediately off the heat and cool to room temperature

For the Sabayon mix all ingredients except the cream in a metal bowl, big enough to whisk the eggs rapidly and to make sure it doesn't over flow when all the foam comes up during the cooking and whisking

Antarctica, Penguins

Adelie looking at me

This is the last Blog about Antarctica as we are nearly back in Bluff, in the south of New Zealand. Of course I have to make at least one Blog about the Penguins as we have seen plenty of them. They are just so cute, have no fear and are tremendously entertaining.

The Penguins on the way to check us out

There are so many different types of penguins the King, Emperor, Adelie and many, many more. They all live in the southern Hemisphere, so it is not possible that a Penguin says hello to a Polar Bear. But in the south, they are everywhere, from South America to South Africa to New Zealand and even Australia.

We stopped quickly at Macquarie Island, and Island that lies south of New Zealand. I have written about it before, so will not go much into the Island, apart from that it is still beautiful, but just want to show you a couple of photos of really cute Penguins we saw there. You sit there and wait and then after a while they come to you and check you out, noisy little birds.

Sandy Beach, full of Penguins

I could sit here for hours and watch them, it is just amazing to sit among thousands of Penguins, hear them, see them, laugh at them and of course small them. Yes a Penguin is really smelly and if you have thousands of them then it smells accordingly. There is Penguin pup everywhere, hehehe, so be careful where you walk.

But to be here, having the possibility to see all of them happily living here, being entertained, that is just an amazing moment and a little pup just gives the extra dimension.Penguins are such fascinating creatures, to see them in the wild is something very precious. It is difficult to imagine that less than 100 years ago they were shortly before extinction because of the oil that humans got from them. 

Orion with Adelie Penguins in Antarctica

Soon we will be sailing around the North Island of New Zealand, stay tuned for more episodes of my travels.

Snapper on Saffron Potato, Octopus and Tomatoes

Another recipe, this time a fish, you can use any fish available, as long as it is sustainable, that is really important. Why? Because we want to make sure that for generations to come there is still plenty of fish.

So, the dish is actually quite simple, but needs a bit time to prepare as there are a lot of ingredients. The tomato sauce you can make ahead, the same with the saffron poached potato, the octopus you can cook in advance as well, I usually cook is gently with vegetables and red wine, it gives a lovely flavor, then heat up everything, cook the fish, wilt the spinach and voila, you got a great fish dish that will wow away your friends, that is for sure.

But now to the recipe

SNAPPER

8 Snapper portions (120-140 gm)

250 g Picked spinach

Prepped octopus legs, 200 grams cooked weight

SAFFRON WINE POTATO

100ml white wine

4 ea Potatoes cut into 70mm circle 11/2cm thick

1 pinch saffron

100gm butter

Fish stock to cover

METHOD

Bring to the boil the white wine, saffron and leave over night. The saffron will leach into the wine giving it a great color. Sauté the potatoes with colour on both sides, add butter and cover with fish stock. Add saffron wine to taste and for the colour (to much saffron will go bitter.)  Finish in a low oven keeping the shape of the potatoes. Keep warm.

ROMESCO SAUCE

8 large tomatoes

12 red peppers

4 cloves of garlic

1 large chillies

1 ancho dried chillies soaked

250gm almonds

250gm peeled hazelnuts

6 thick slices of sourdough (fry in oil)


METHOD

Roast all ingredients except the bread and pulse in the robot-coupe, till smooth. Thin with fresh tomato juice and season with red wine vinegar, sea salt and fresh white pepper. Set aside.

TO SERVE

Saute with a nice crust on the snapper fillet and finish in a medium oven. Warm Romesco sauce. Cook Octopus in the fish stock quickly so it is transparent, then saute spinach and season to taste


Place a circle of Romesco sauce on a plate, dress the saffron potato on top and then place the snapper skin up on top of the potato. Place the spinach on top of the snapper and then finish off with the octopus. Dribble some paprika oil around and serve 

Sansrival

Today I am giving you the recipe of one of my all time favorite cakes in Philippines, The Sansrival. This is a special cake mainly made in Pampanga, but one can find it in other places too. It is a very labor intensive cake that requires a lot of love in the preparation, but the result is so delicious. The cake is rich, don't eat too much of it as it is basically just butter, sugar, a bit almonds and some eggs, then everything is layered so one has the crunchiness and the sweetness.

This Recipe is from our Pastry Chef Jamie who took the time and made this cake for my Birthday. We had a little drink after service in the galley with more Filipino food, some Sisig, yummy and some Pancit, a couple of beers and everybody was happy

My Galley Team and me having a Birthday Drink

Sansrival, Japonais Sheets

850 g Egg white

850 g Sugar

560 g Almonds, ground

Beat the egg whites to soft peak, then add the sugar slowly and beat till the sugar has dissolved and you have a firm Meringue. Then add the ground almonds and fold them into the Meringue. Spread the mix on baking sheets, makes squares of about 40 x 30 cm (13 inch x 10 inch) and about 5 to 6 mm in height (0.25 inch)

The batter here is called Japonais batter in the pastry world, so if you want to use a fancy word, like I like to to, you just got a new one!! The moment the Japonais Batter is baked it simply becomes a Japonais

Bake the sheets at 180 C till golden brown and slightly crisp. Take the Japonais out the oven and cool to room temperature

Sansrival, Filling

300 g Water

900 g Sugar

30 ea Egg yolk

1.125 kg Butter, soft

Bring the water together with the sugar to the boil, take off the stove and cool down slightly. Put the egg yolks in an electric beater , put on high speed and pour in the hot sugar syrup slowly. Beat the eggs till the batter reaches room temperature.

The mix the egg batter with the soft butter.

Now the layering of the cake starts. First take one sheet of the Japonais, then spread the butter cream on it, followed by a Japonais. This goes till you have used up all the ingredients. Always press the Japonais sheets carefully, but firmly on to the Butter Cream.

Then chill the cake in the fridge till the butter cream is hard, only then cut the edges of the cake in a straight line and top the cake with toasted almond slivers

Here you can see the layers of the Cake clearly

Antarctica, Shackleton's Hut

It happened, something I didn't even dream of it, but really wanted to do. I was down in Antarctica at Sir Ernest Shackleton's hut. The weather was absolutely amazing, sun shine and not too cold, loads of Penguins and of course the hut.

Now I have this thing with Shackleton, since I was about 2006 on South Georgia Islands (South America, then you go direction Falkland Islands and then just a bit further in the middle of nowhere) I have seen this old whaling station and the grave of Shackleton. Then I watched a movie how he went back from Antarctica after being stranded in the Ice, rescuing his entire team. He went with 2 guys on a small life boat, sailed somehow to South Georgia Islands, had to climb over the mountain range to get help in the whaling station. Which they went out after winter was over a couple month later. The entire team survived!

A team of modern Explores re-did his journey, with modern gear and all......just to find out that they were not faster than he was, totally under equipped, not enough food and everything, he became a "hero" for me.

From 3 AM there was no sleep anymore as we tried to break through the last bit of Pack Ice, we were only 40 Miles away from our goal, but the Ice was so thick that we could not get through....was the dream just a dream or will it become reality? The captain turned around, got us safely out of the ice and then sailed along the ice and found an opening.

At lunch time we arrived at Scott's hut, everybody went out to see it and then we sailed the couple of Miles to Shackleton's Hut. Everybody went out after dinner, it is still light and the sun is shining, so no problem.

The hut has actually been renovated as the force of nature is too strong to withhold for too long, but everything inside is still the same, the tins of fruit, the books, beds, stove.....an amazing stove..... where everybody slept, unbelievable. There are more people going up Mount Everest every year than coming here to see the huts......just simply because the weather is so unpredictable. Last cruise we were not able to do any landings as there was too much ice

Now we are on our way back, still have to go through the pack ice belt, then up to New Zealand.....in total 8 days at sea! But it was amazing to be here, I am very humbled by it, the long journey is worth it, the storms the rain, the wind, all has been worth it to be here in one of the last corners of the world, seeing how some explorers came here in 1908 and built this station, just simply amazing