It's Total Greek Yoghurt's 30th Birthday and What a Bash!!

When I was invited to attend the Total Greek Yoghurt's 30th Birthday Bash I was delighted to accept.

I was there first for a baking Masterclass with Master Patissier Eric Lanlard which in itself was amazing fun but when that was finished the decks were cleared and the venue turned into a charming Greek taverna for the rest of the evening.

 

 

 

We had a view of the new Total Greek advert celebrating the fact that Total Greek Yoghurt has been in the UK for 30 years! There have been many Greek style yoghurts to have followed but Total Greek is the only one made in Greece and without any additives or flavours.

Up next was a cooking demo by acclaimed cook, cookbook writer and TV presenter Tonia Buxton who took us step by step through a Greek starter, main especially suitable for a BBQ but can be prepared indoors and a beautifully simple dessert.

 

The dessert was the most simple ice-cream recipe you can imagine. It was a rose petal and yoghurt ice cream and even though two of the ingredients were a bit more unusual (the rose water and the rose petal jam) you can get them in bigger supermarket branches in the UK.

 

Two essential ingredients and they are both available in the UK

 

Mixture ready for the freezer to emerge as ice-cream

 

Following the cooking demonstration there was plenty of time to chat and get up to date with fellow bloggers, music, plenty of drinks (including some Total Greek inspired cocktails) and loads of lovely canapes all inspired by Greece and Total Greek Yoghurt.

Fig and Feta Cheese tartlettes

Smiling daughter-in-law and fellow blogger Miss Donna

The highlight of the celebrations was a magnificant cake produced by Eric Lanlard specifically for the occasion.  There was enough to go around and loads left over for the Total Greek Yoghurt office staff to have for breakfast the next day! Well, cake does make the best breakfast!!

Sunday Soup!

Whilst my mother-in-law was alive we would pop over an a Sunday afternoon to say hi and have a coffee. Now and again we would stay for Sunday lunch but more often not.

Since she passed away easier this year we have gotten into the habit of having Sunday lunch with my father-in-law (FIL) quite often and sometimes he cooks and sometimes I do.

Today as it was Father's Day I cooked and for starters I made a soup.  I often make soup on a Sunday as FIL likes to have a couple of portions in the freezer for the coming week.

Today's soup I used my Jamie Oliver HomeCooker by Philips to make the soup this week because I was cooking the chicken in white wine in the rest of the kitchen.

For starters I sauteed my vegetables in a small amount of sunflower oil and a knob of butter. I used finely chopped red onions, a couple of sticks of celery, four medium carrots sliced and a celeriac root that I bought reduced to 10p!

 

A Knorr vegetable stock cube, salt and pepper and some water and set the timer on the Home Cooker for 45 minutes which allowed me to get on with the rest of the lunch.

I tested the vegetables were cooked and when they used my new Masha hand mixer to blend the mixture into a smooth soup.

 

 

A couple of dollops of Total Greek Yoghurt and serve!  Mmmmm tasty, filling and very inexpensive! 

Unconventional Trifle

I wanted to use up some of the left over cake from the Total Greek Yoghurt cake Masterclass (not being one to sanction waste) and thought a trifle a perfect idea.

I put pieces of cake in the bowl, poured a decent amount of sweet sherry over it and sliced a punnet of strawberries over the top.
 

Raspberry jelly allowed to cool slightly and poured over the top. Put in the fridge overnight to set.

 

I have always made my custard in a pan on the stove but noticed microwave instructions on the pack so decided to try it. I will be going back to the conventional stove top method in the future. The custard refused to set and stayed unset.

 

With unset custard I decided to be unconventional and put the whipped cream on the trifle and pour the custard over the top when serving.
 

Looked strange but tasted absolutely lovely, sometimes you gotta think outside the box!!

Cake Masterclass with Eric Lanlard - thanks Total Greek Yoghurt

Would I like to attend a cake Masterclass with French Master Patissier Eric Lanlard? Of couse I would!! As part of their 30th birthday celebrations Total Greek Yoghurt asked Eric to show us how to make a delicious and stunning cake.

My daughter-in-law Miss Donna has just started a baking blog and she was so excited to be asked along as well. This was Miss Donna's first blogging event and judging from her enjoyment it won't be her last!

What I never expected was to be settled at a work station with all the ingredients set out to make a cake just like the one Eric demonstrated to us.

There were two cakes already made, whipped cream, Total Greek Yoghurt (well it was their 'do'), an ouzo sugar syrup, a wonderful selection of fresh fruit and beautifully thin white chocolate cigarillos.

 

Eric proceeded to show us how to turn these ingredients, as well as sharing some very useful hints and tips, into a stunning summer fruit masterpiece!

Eric sliced the cake into thin layers, brushed a sponge with the ouzo syrup, pipped a mixture of whipped cream and Total Greek Yoghurt onto the sponge, layer of raspberries, a bit more cream and start again. You can make three or four layers and then stick the white chocolate cigarillos around the outside. Top with the fresh fruit and place some shards or gold leaf caramel in the top.

Tie a satin ribbon around it and as they say in France 'E Viola'!!

So off we went to our stations and followed what Eric had showed us and we created our own masterpiece! Here is mine and we were given a box to take it home! Cake heaven here I come!!!

Oh and of course it tasted as good as it looked - ummmm divine!

Thank you so much Total Greek Yoghurt for giving us the fantastic Masterclass with Eric Lanlard!

And by the way Happy 30th Birthday Total Greek Yoghurt!!

Brunch Challenge with Chobani

 

Chobani have issued all attendees of FoodBloggerConnect 2013 (#FBC5) with a challenge. Come up with a fantastic brunch recipe using Chobani Yoghurt and the winning recipe will be served at the conference next month.

I have used Chobani in recipes recently and really like them. They are an American style yoghurt which is slightly different from most yoghurts we get in the UK, more set and the fruit is on the bottom and needs to be stirred in.

For my brunch recipe I thought of making yorkshire puddings and filling them with a creamy ham and cheese sauce but made with Chobani instead of milk.

For the yorkshire puddings:-
75g plain flour
1 egg
75ml milk
55ml water
salt and pepper
(optional - finely chop a handful of chives)

Make up the batter by sifting the flour into a bowl and making a well in the centre. Break the egg into it and beat, gradually incorporating the flour, and then beat in the milk, 55 ml water and seasoning (an electric hand whisk will do this in seconds). Leave the batter to stand about 10 minutes then whizz up again when you're ready to cook the pudding. I added some chopped chives at this stage.

Pre-heat your oven to gas mark 7, 425°F (220°C), add the dripping to the muffin pan or small loaf tins and place that in the top of the oven.

After 15 minutes pour the batter into the sizzling hot fat. Return the muffin pan/small loaf tins to the oven.

The puddings will take 25-30 minutes to rise and become crisp and golden.
 

For the filling:

Make a traditional cheese sauce, melt a couple of tablespoons of butter in a pan. Add two tablespoons flour and cook for a couple of minutes to cook out the flour taste.  Wisk in some milk to make the roux but add a pot of Chobani plain yoghurt with the chopped ham and pieces of cheddar cheese.  Season to taste and cook for a further 5-10 minutes until the cheese melts and the sauce is creamy.
 

When the yorkshire puddings are ready remove from the oven and allow to cool for 3-4 minutes before serving.

Pour the creamed ham and cheese over the yorkshires and serve with a side salad or sliced cucumber. A sprinkle of sweet paprika completes the plate.

As this is a brunch recipe you could also make it sweet. Leave out the chives in the yorkshires and add a fruit yoghurt with some chopped fruit over them.

Thank you Chobani for the samples and for the challenge. I enjoyed coming up with my recipe.

Pic-nic Challenge - Its British Pic-nic Week 17th - 23rd June 2013

In honour of British Pic-nic Week (17th-23rd June 2013) Unilever Kitchen have issued a challenge to come up with a fantastic pic-nic item using one or all of the products they sent to us. The products came wrapped in the most fantastic pic-nic basket with all the plates, cutlery etc needed to go for an amazing meal al fresco.

We were asked to make a fantastic pic-nic food using one or more of the products enclosed.  I decided to make a couple of things and dips to match for a real backyard pic-nic with the grandsons when they visited over the weekend.

For the oven baked crispy chicken goujons I crumbled a Knorr chicken stock cube up and mixed it with a little olive oil to make a paste.  I smeared the chicken goujons with the stock cube paste then I dipped the chicken goujons into flour then beaten egg and then seasoned breadcrumbs. Baked in the oven on a piece of stoneware they cooked evenly in about 12-15 minutes at 190oF.

 

 

For the dip I mixed Maille au Miel (Dijon mustard with honey) with an equal amount of Greek yoghurt.  This makes a lovely creamy dip with a honey tang and goes really well with the chicken goujons.

I also made a satay style dip as an alternative my mixing peanut butter with Hellman's Mayonnaise and Colman's Sweet Chilli and Mango Sauce.

I decided to make a boiled egg sandwich with a difference! First of all the bread for the sandwich.  I made a 1lb loaf of wholegrain Beer Bread from My Secret Kitchen.  Although it is called Beer Bread you don't need to use beer, any fizzy drink will do and I used lemonade in mine. When the bread was cool I cut off the top horizontally and take out some of the insides (save these to make crutons for a salad).  I lined the bread with lettuce and spread some Flora Buttery on the top piece.

I was given some goose eggs recently which I hardboiled (along with 6 hens eggs) to use in my egg sandwich. 

I peeled the cooked egg, sliced them in half and took out the yolks.  To the yolks I added some Colman's English Mustard and Hellman's Mayo, some paprika and salt and pepper.  I refilled the hollow in the boiled eggs and placed the two halves together again.

Carefully place the egg into the lettuce lined bread, top with sliced tomatoes or cucumber - optional, and put the lid back on. This is then an easy to wrap sandwich which can be cut up or sliced when you get to your dining destination.

The hens eggs I hard boiled also had the yolks taken out, mixed with mayo and mustard and seasonings and served them in their halves (we always called the deviled eggs when I was growing up). (Note the radishes from the allotment!)

No pic-nic would be complete without quiche and armed with some ready to roll shortcrust pastry I made a couple of small quiches.  The quiches contained onions, celery, bacon, eggs, mayonnaise with dijon mustard and some milk.

To finish up our feast we had a lemon drizzle cake which used Flora Buttery instead of butter.

So to sum up my pic-nic take one pic-nic basket, one red blanket and one backyard.  Add two grandsons, some sunshine, a little white dog who wouldn't sit still for a photo, a Unilever challenge and some sumptious food and ENJOY!!

The dog eventually had a photo taken but note there is no Unilever Kitchen products in his dinner!!

Thanks Unilever Kitchen for your #PicnicChallenge!!