These Are A Few Of My Favourite Things

My kitchen, after my bed, is my favourite niche in the house.
There are things in my kitchen I am very attached to...ingredients and objects alike. I have to have them always at hand and would not know what to do without them. Of course there are the other things I must always have stock of...flour, sugar, milk, eggs and real butter. I would go into panic without those. What cant you live without in your kitchen? Here are a few of my kitchen addictions.

One of them makes this delicious pizza!

Vanilla Essence--I put this stuff in just about everything. You cant go wrong with vanilla in baking!

Cookbook Stands-- I hate having to lean over a kitchen bench to read a recipe, I want my cookbook looking at me at all times! Besides, when you can buy shabby chic ones like this, who wouldn't have one in their kitchen?

Lemon Pepper--here's the vanilla essence of savory cooking. Adds a salt-free zing to anything and tastes amazing.

Chocolate Chips--do I need to explain? these little dudes are irresistible in anything.

Chef's Toolbox Saute Pan--This baby rocks my world. It's a stove-top oven, and you can also use it inside the oven if you want. It makes the most incredible pizzas, just sitting on the stove.

Its this last, but certainly not least, addictive appliance I mean to speak about. I have never tasted such amazing pizzas, and they are created with such little effort. You don't even have to wait for the dough to rise, and there's absolutely no kneading or bowl-use involved. It is the simplest, quickest and yummiest home made pizza you will ever have. And there's no fancy ingredients to buy! (unless you want gourmet topping).
The pan itself is excellent quality non-stick, and contains no bad chemicals like so many other non-stick pans.

Because of the excellent quality non-stick surface, the pizza simply slides out! and there is minimal cleanup in the saute pan...simply wipe it clean with a cloth!

Because it is like an oven itself, you can simply have it sitting on the stove top cooking anything you would usually have in the oven...without heating up the whole house! I cook everything in this saute pan and it has never once failed me. If you want to know more about it, head over to Pauline Phillip's Toolbox Tastings Facebook page and give her a holler. She sells them!

CHEF'S TOOLBOX STOVE TOP PIZZA

1 cup plain flour
1 cup SR flour
1 cup luke-warm water
1 tsp. dry yeast
1 tsp. honey
Pinch of salt
Topping of your choice

We used:
200g roast beef, sliced
good squirt mayonnaise
splash of hoi sin sauce
1 large tomato, sliced
1/2 cup cheese
3 mushrooms, sliced
handful of spinach, finely chopped
1/4 cup pasta sauce

In your Chef's Toolbox Saute Pan, add all ingredients. Using a silicone spoon, combine thoroughly to form a dough.
Press into the edges of the saute pan to cover the base evenly. You can use the silicone spoon or your fingers, as preferred. A little flour sprinkled on the dough may aid against sticking to hands or utensils.

Spread with your favourite toppings. (We spread the base with a combination of hoi sin and mayo, then added all the other ingredients to the top, lastly drizzling the pasta sauce, and then the cheese. So Yummy!)

Place on the stove top. Place the lid on with the vent closed for the first 5 minutes and have on a medium heat. Turn the lid to open the vents and cook a little lower for a further 15-20 minutes. Serve and enjoy!

NOTES: you can make a thin base by halving the mixture. Cooking time may also be reduced.

Chefs Toolbox Party

Tonight I had a real doozy of a party.
It wasn't one of my dinner parties, this was very different--and resulted in an exploding micowave, flames, and not one, but two burnt pizza crusts.
A little while ago, a wonderful woman I have known for a long time planted a seed in my head. She had become a consultant for a company called Chef's Toolbox, holding cooking parties and selling wonderful cookware. She held a fundraiser for our Church, which is under construction, and raised $1500.00.
Impressed, I asked her more, hoping that I too, could do something similar for our little, blossoming Traditional Catholic school.
A few weeks later I'm burning pizza bases and watching flames shoot out of microwaves in a kitchen that is not my own. I laugh now, remembering a dream I had a few months ago, just after I started this blog.
Someone had seen my blog and started a hate blog in response to my posts, declaring I thought I was some sort of Domestic Goddess...when it came to the kitchen. They said I knew nothing of cooking, was a total fraud and was full of my own importance.
I awoke in horror, read all my posts and felt sober. Now I cackle away, half mad because I cannot sleep for the thought of that party I held. Where ever you are, dear imaginary Hate Blogger, I am confessing, I know nothing when it comes to kitchens, food and baking. I know nothing.

On that note, here's another delicious morsel that didn't burn. Bon Appetit!

PASSIONFRUIT CUSTARD SHORTBREADS

Shortbread:

125g butter, at room temperature
1/2 cup pure icing sugar
1 tsp. vanilla essence
1 cup plain flour
1/4 cup cornflour

Using an electric beater, beat butter, sugar and vanilla until light and fluffy. Add flours, and stir until well combined. Turn dough onto a floured surface and knead until smooth. Roll with a rolling pin and press our 20 circles. Place on a lined tray. Bake for 25-30 minutes until golden. Cool.

Custard:

2 cups milk
4 large egg yolks
6 tbsp. sugar
3 tbsp. cornflour
40g butter, at room temperature

Place milk in a small saucepan and bring to the boil.
Meanwhile, in a separate saucepan, combine yolks, sugar and cornflour and whisk over a low heat. When the milk has boiled, add a few tablespoons into the yolk mixture and whisk. Gradually add the remaining milk and whisk vigorously on a medium heat. Custard will thicken. Continue to whisk until boils, and remove from heat. Scrape into a small bowl and sit in a tray of ice, to cease the cooking process. When cooler, add the butter in 3-4 installments, stirring until combined. Add essence, mix and refrigerate. Stores for 2-3 days.

Passion Fruit Icing:

1-2 passion fruits
1/2 cup icing sugar

Combine enough passion fruit with icing sugar to make a runny icing. Add water if further thinning is required.
Spread icing over the tops of each shortbread biscuit, Allow to dry, before wedging two biscuits together with custard.

Makes 10