Napoleon Slice

This is an extremely popular slice in Denmark with custard, cream, jam, baked puff pastry and fondant.

Bavarian Strawberry Mousse Cake

A strawberry liqueur infused vanilla sponge layered with strawberry mousse and decorated with whipped cream is a perfect dessert or cake any time of the year when strawberries are available.

Chicken Kiev

Chicken Kiev is a popular Ukrainian dish of boneless chicken breast pounded, rolled around cold herb and garlic butter, dipped in flour, eggs and breadcrumbs, then either baked or fried.

Lamington with Jam and Cream

A lamington is a square piece of sponge cake generally dipped in chocolate icing then coated with desiccated coconut. The Lamington originated in Queensland Australia named after Lord Lamington. People referring to this cake is as “a bloody poofy woolly biscuits”

Custard Slice

This slice is very popular in Australia with the custard thickened with starch instead of eggs. The type of custard used in this slice is in essence a Blancmange with colour. Custard powder is cornflour, yellow colour and vanilla. It is an excellent dessert for people allergic to eggs.

Danish Beef Patties with Brown Sauce (Hakkebøf)

Hakkebøf  is a Danish traditionally dish and is most likely to be served with soft onions, boiled potatoes, brown sauce  with some acidic or sweet such as gherkins, beetroot,  pickled red cabbage, red currant jelly and lingonberry jam. The round patty consists of minced premium meat such as sirloin steak seasoned with salt and pepper before being fried on a pan with a little butter.

Rolled Oat Porridge with Fruit Salad Compote

Porridge, mush and the incredibly tasteless gruel are grains cracked or rolled then steamed and flattened before cooked in water or milk until quite soft. The best grains for porridge is cracked wheat, steel cut oats, coarse ground corn (polenta or grits), whole or cracked brown rice, spelt, kamut, millet, barley, amaranth and Quinoa. Rolled oats, sometimes referred to as oatmeal look like flakes and are steamed and flattened. Quick oats refer to rolled oats cut into small pieces before being steamed and flattened. For oat porridge measure approximately two parts liquid, milk or water or a combination to one part oats.

I make this porridge for breakfast in large portions and refrigerate the rest. The next day it merely takes 2 minutes heating in the microwave.

Basic Béchamel Sauce

Béchamel sauce (White Sauce) is a base sauce used in many European classic recipes especially in France and Italy. It is also a base sauce for other sauces such as Mornay, Nantua, Mustard, Soubise, Cheese and Crème. It is by tradition made by whisking scalded milk gradually into a white roux which is equal weight of  butter and flour. The other method is whisking kneaded Beurre Manié into scalded milk. Thickness of the final sauce depends on the proportions of milk weight against flour. White Sauce or Sauce Blanche can also be a simple sauce made with only milk and melted butter.

This Béchamel sauce is perfect with any fish, pasta or steamed vegetable dish or simply add some chopped herbs such as parsley.

ANZAC Biscuits 2012

A published article Sunday 1st April featuring myself as “Sweets with Alex Petersen, Pastry Chef” in the April/May issue of “Xcite” C.ex Group Magazine presenting my “ANZAC Biscuits” is displayed below with story and recipe.

ANZAC Biscuits

A traditional sweet eggless biscuit made using rolled oats, flour, desiccated coconut, sugar, butter, golden syrup, baking soda and boiling water. Anzac biscuits have been associated with the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps since World War 1. It was identified as the army biscuit, an ANZAC wafer or ANZAC tile with an essentially long shelf-life and was eaten as a substitute for bread. The biscuits were very hard and several soldiers favoured grinding them up and eating as porridge. This is the recipe I have used efficiently for 25 years with excellent response.