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French orangettes

Orangettes is a traditional french food gift during Xmas. It is actually candied orange peel stripes dipped in dark chocolate that if you like the combination of orange and chocolate you will get addicted to it!
I would like to thank the teacher of a school that I am a volunteer that proposed me to help with doing them this year in order to finance the school trip of their class by selling them to a Christmas market.

I have never done them before, so it was a challenge for me but also a heavy responsibility. So I had to make them first at home to be sure that I am well trained.
End of year period is very busy so I did not have enough time to get nice photos but I did my best given the circumstances.

The result though was delicious !!! but be prepared... it takes time too !!!

I can share the recipe with you and here it is the original recipe that we were based on.

Ingredients: (for about 500g of orangettes)
3 big oranges (organic, untreated)
250g white sugar
50cl of water
200g of good quality dark chocolate (around 60-70%)

Procedure

Wash well the oranges and peel them carefully cutting the skin in quarters.
Put them in a casserole covering them with cold water and boil them for 5 min.
Drain and redo the last step once more.
Drain and let them cool.
Cut in thin strips of about 0.5cm getting the maximum of length possible.
Prepare the syrup with water and sugar. When start boiling add the strips and boil for 5 min. Allow to cool completely and repeat once more the whole step.
When completely cool, arrange them in a cooling rack and allow overnight to dry.
The next day, melt the chocolate in a heatproof bowl over a pan of simmering water (bain-marie).
Drop a handful of the orange peel strips and turn them with a fork to coat.
"Fish" them one by one with the fork, allowing the excess to drip off. Arrange them in a tray lined with parchment paper. Allow them to dry completely in a cool place.
Once done (best the next day), make small decorated bags and offer them to your dear ones!

Enjoy!!!

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Happy 2018 !

Happy New Year to all !
Cook more, less war in this world ...

How about starting the year by making this delicious french Epiphany cake (Galette des rois)?
I think that my 2018 version is the best that I have ever done :)

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Happy Easter 2017

Dear family, friends, acquaintances and just passengers from this blog,

I wish you all Happy Easter whatever that means for each one of you, if it means something.
Actually, I am so busy this period that I have realized just 2 days ago that Easter is this weekend :)
This blog proposes several traditional Greek recipes to prepare these days that each one reminds me of the Easter time that I have spent in Greece with my family at good and bad times.
I continue to prepare most of them for my subsequent family and I will be glad if my effort will help others to bring up memories from their youth in the same way or even better :) Cheers!
Recipes:

Easter eggs
Roast lamb leg (traditionally we roast the whole lamp in a huge barbecue, though)
Easter cookies
Vivian's pudding
Ribbon cake as Easter cake
Tsourekia (recipe is still missing but you can see what it is and get a recipe somewhere else...)

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King cake (Galette des rois in french)

Galette des rois is a traditional french cake that is made for Epiphany (6 of January). It celebrates the arrival of the Three Wise Men in Bethlehem to visit baby Jesus.
It is composed of a puff pastry cake, and a small charm in china, the fève, is hidden inside. The person who finds it becomes the king or the queen of the day. It is usually filled with frangipane, a cream made from sweet almonds, butter, eggs and sugar but there are several other derivatives as well at modern times.
I would like to thank Vanille, a girl of my son's class that put a recipe in their class blog and I could not resist and did it! It is so easy to make actually, check it for yourselves...

Ingredients
2 ready-made disks of puff pastry
125 gr softened butter
125 gr sugar
125 gr ground almond
1 vanilla
2 eggs
1 beaten egg for the top

Procedure

Preheat the oven at 220 degrees of Celsius and fan.
Prepare the "frangipane" cream by beating first butter with sugar to get fluffy and then add the rest and continue to beat until soften.
Put one of the puff pastry disk on a baking sheet and lay evenly the frangipane on it leaving 2cm of the edges.
Add the charm ("feve"). It is very important not to forget this part!!! Otherwise kids will be disappointed
Cover with the second disk. Press the edges with a small fork to seal well.
Using a knife, "draw" lightly patterns on the top.
Brush the last egg on top to get a nice color.
Bake for about 20min or until it gets crispy and a nice golden color.