Of course added some grated old Dutch cheese on top.
Made a rather standard bolognese sauce with nice Sicilian wine.
From the leftover sauce I’ll make lasagna for next week.
Cheers!

Homemade eggs, wiener sausage, ajvar, mustard and pickles...and of course bread.

Paris-Brest Style Eclairs with Praliné and Caramelized Hazelnuts

This recipe makes about 10 éclairs inspired by French pastry chefs like Philippe Conticini and Christophe Michalak.

Ingredients

For the Choux Pastry:

• 1 batch of Christophe Michalak's choux pastry with craquelin (crackly cookie topping).

For the Praliné Cream:

• 60 g praliné paste (homemade or store-bought)
• 300 g whole milk
• 1 g gelatin (about 1/2 sheet)
• 30 g cornstarch (Maïzena)
• 30 g sugar
• 4 egg yolks
• 30 g butter

For the Base & Filling:

• 10 teaspoons of praliné paste (1 tsp per éclair)
• A handful of coarsely chopped caramelized hazelnuts (Note: If making homemade praliné, set some caramelized hazelnuts aside before blending them into a paste).

Instructions

1. The Choux Pastry ( there is an option to make ahead)

Ideally the day before (or on the same day), prepare your choux pastry dough and pipe the éclairs according to Christophe Michalak's method.

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2. Prepare the Praliné Cream

1. Soak the gelatin sheet in a small cup of cold milk for about 5 minutes to soften it.
2. In a saucepan, bring the remaining milk and the 60 g of praliné paste to a boil.
3. In a separate bowl, whisk the egg yolks, cornstarch, and sugar together until the mixture turns pale (blanches).
4. Stir the softened gelatin into the egg mixture, then gradually pour in the boiling praliné milk while whisking constantly.
5. Return the whole mixture to the saucepan and cook over medium heat for a few minutes, stirring continuously until it thickens.
6. Transfer the pastry cream to a shallow dish and stir occasionally to let it cool down.
7. When it reaches about 40°C (lukewarm to the touch if you don't have a thermometer), add the butter cut into small pieces and mix thoroughly.
8. Place the cream in the refrigerator to chill for at least 2 hours.

3. Assembly (Dressage)

1. Using a sharp knife, gently slice your baked éclairs in half lengthwise.
2. Spread one teaspoon of pure praliné paste along the bottom shell of each éclair.
3. Sprinkle the chopped caramelized hazelnuts over the praliné.
4. Using a piping bag, generously pipe the chilled praliné cream onto the base.
5. Place the top shell back on, and your Paris-Brest style éclairs are ready to enjoy!

My boyfriend gave this a 6,5/10

Chicken, rice, beans, some salad, guacamole, sour cream, hot sauce. Probably not very authentic, so apologies to any Mexicans reading here !

With a nice herby butter (parsley, tarragon, pepper, salt, garlic) and lemon.

Local eggs, asparagus, potatoes and butter. Salmon - well... Locally local 😬

Again simple, pan fried cod (on skin) with spinach and a beurre blanc with some mild curry.
We eat very little carbs so don’t add any, also as wouldn’t know what would go well with slight fusion.
I stir fry the spinach with garlic and tiny chili flakes and when plating add the beurre blanc, cod on top with more sauce so not sure what would have gone well.

One of my husband's ex-colleagues was in town visiting from South Africa so decided to give him chicken and pap.

It also took me two towns and six different vegetable shops to find pearl onions but I was committed to the bit!

Went to IKEA yesterday and thought I might make the meatballs myself today. Some got a little dark.