52 Weeks of Baking - Week #4 Not So Blooming Brownies...

After the success with my fish pie, I did not look anywhere else for brownies recipe but headed right back to Jamie Oliver's website and picked out his Bloomin' Brilliant Brownies recipe. Although I did not have all the necessary equipment, by that I meant the square baking pan, I soldiered on.

Firstly I was shocked by the amount of butter the recipe required, the whole block of 250g! Then the amount of dried items was made of a little bit flour, a little bit cocoa powder and a whole lot of 360gm sugar. Oh yes, I know it is suppose to be really chocolaty and sweet. But forgive my ignorance here.... that much?!?

Anyways I stuck to the recipe, even went out to buy a kitchen scale (which turn out not small enough), to get it right. But totally forgot the square pan. So in the oven it went and 20 mins later I took it out, just as the recipe said. But the middle was wobbly and wet. Instinctively I put in the oven and left it there for another 20 mins. Alright, I havent developed and instinct for baking yet.

Well it ended up wet and crumbly like my horrible experience with the pineapple upside down cake! Frustrated, I wrapped it in shrink wrap and chuck it in the fridge. The next day we revisited the brownie to decide if it was a keeper or not. To our amazement it set! It was firm in the middle. Although hard to the touch, once in the mouth the crust around it had a chocolate chip cookie texture and the inside was like a soft chocolate bar.

So it was not that bad after all! Jamie Oliver still rocks!


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52 Weeks of Baking - Week# 3 - Fish Pie!

So I thought that from this week on I will include the dish I made in the title, we improve ourselves as we go along... This is my unofficial week 3 as official week begins in April and also when this Swap-Bot swap begins.

Before this weekend I was looking forward to making Jamie Oliver's Bloomin' Brilliant Brownies. Who could resist? But I ended up making a fish pie instead. I started late, felt tired, haven't done the shopping and hubs was asking about dinner.

So I did me some searching for fish pie recipes (since it is my first time) on the internet and found many a little complicating - poach fish with vege in milk, strain, throw out veg, use milk a little in mash.... etc. etc. Too much work for someone who hasn't gone out to get ingredients at 4pm!

Luckily I went back to Jamie Oliver's website and found this fish pie recipe. It is so simple! Literally shred everything in to a baking earthenware dish, cover with mash and bake. And it turned out to be really, really good. I had it again for lunch the day after and still could not believe how tremendously good it is.

I made some alterations to the recipe to suit our taste at home and also because I could not find creme fraiche at the supermarket. I added one medium sized brown onion, about 2 tablespoons of cream and sour cream, and totally forgot to add the fresh chillies. I used about 6-7 slices of smoked salmon, 5 fillets of ocean Perch and 5 large prawns.

I hope you try this AMAZING recipe!