Hi all! Welcome to December’s Daring Cooks Challenge. This month’s challenge, hosted by the wonderful Simone from Junglefrog Cooking, is Salmon en Croute or some variation that essentially composes of meat (or vegetables for vegetarians/vegans) wrapped & baked in pastry. The suggested meat alternative to fish was Beef Wellington. However, me being me for those of you that have read a number of my challenge entries, I’m certainly not one to follow convention.

So, if that modestly nice looking pastry parcel is neither Salmon en Croute or Beef Wellington, then what exactly is contained within? The answer I shall provide below in the form of a joke.

Read more »

Ok, I’ll level with you. The little birds nest creation above looks nothing like what this month’s Daring Bakers challenge is meant to look like. This creation was born out of the need to improvise; part inspiration and desperation alike.

This is in fact meant to be a reasonably well known Italian pastry. Can you guess what this month’s challenge is meant to be? Read more »

Macarons. Those delicate, and often mispronounced French pastries are a delight to the senses. Attractive round form, initially crisp texture that soon melts away to nothingness, not to mention the cornucopia of flavours limited only by ones imagination. So, it was with great delight that I found that my very first Daring Bakers Challenge would be these sublime treats.

However, that initial delight soon dissipated to disappointment, despair and occasional delirium. Read more »

The Daring Cooks Challenge for September 2009 was hosted by Debyi from The Healthy Vegan Kitchen. The challenge she selected was Indian Dosas, or at least it’s meant to be. However, what you see pictured above is neither Indian nor dosa. You’ll see what I’m getting at when you read on.

Before I begin the post in earnest, I feel it necessary to confess a strong food-related intolerance that I have, as it influences the direction and tone of this post relative to others you may read. You’ll notice as you read on that within the post, I choose to use gluten-free flour for my dosas. However, I do not suffer from celiac disease, and thusly, gluten is not the something I have an intolerance for. My food-related intolerance is that of veganism. Read more »

I present to you the Daring Cooks Challenge for August 2009 – rice with mushrooms, cuttlefish and artichokes; essentially a paella. The original recipe is by José Andrés (apparently a Spanish chef of high regard, who has trained under Ferran Adria) selected by this months Daring Cooks host, Olga of Olga’s Recipes.

Ok, let’s be honest here. Taking photos while you’re cooking up a storm with the limited culinary skills and experience that you have; using a recipe that you’ve never worked with before in any incarnation, is somewhat of a challenge. Some might even consider it somewhat daring. To others, lunacy may be closer to the mark. To each their own I guess.

However, to end up with a product such as the dish pictured above, is it truly worth the hassle? The grumbling and gnashing of teeth? The anxiety of not knowing whether the end product is going to look good through the lens, let alone be edible? The frantic juggling between camera, food, camera, food, food, with the realisation that you’ve just attempted to take a photo with a box of salt?

Read more »