The last couple of months I’ve been working on the dessert menu for a restaurant, La Coccinella within the VW complex Autostadt in Germany. The concept of the restaurant is in house made fresh pasta with delicious cakes baked fresh every day.  It’s been a change from the Christmas pâtisserie concept I’ve worked on for the last four years (although that’s coming up very soon).

I arrived two weeks ago with my Pâtisserie kit and my chef whites packed. The only thing we were going to produce was going to be dust cake as everything was still a building site. It was an around the clock work job with everyone on board to get everything working. A couple of days practice and the restaurant was open to the public. The cuisine team churn out tonnes of delicious fresh pasta everyday while in the pâtisserie sweet treats are made daily to tastilize everyones tastebuds. The pasta menu changes daily. And a new dessert menu will be helping you pile on the pounds every month

VW Kraftwerk

For the past three years instead of migrating somewhere warm for Winter I head off to cold (the second year temperatures dropped to -20) and snowy Wolfsburg a.k.a.  VW ville (as I call it). VW has it’s headquarters, factory and Autostadt (= car city) in the town of Wolfsburg which is situated an hour train ride from Berlin or half an hour from Hannover.

Wintermarket

For the month of December Autostadt (imagine an amusement park but VW themed with rides, restaurants and other automobile fun) puts on a Winter market. You can find Christmas markets in pretty much every German town (also in Austria and Switzerland) which usually consists of huts selling Glühwein (warm mulled wine), sausages, sweets and other Christmas goodies. Autostadt’s Wintermarkt picks out a country/theme for each year. In my first year it was American, last year Scottish and this year 1001 nights. Hence my research trip to Marrakech. They also have an ice rink and an ice skating show (Wizard of Oz the first year, Canterbury tales last year and this year four different 1001 night tales).

Working on this project already starts in May with researching ideas, testing recipes (I had a little practice in Milan) and then doing a formal presentation in October. A whole behind the scenes team works on the logistics of getting all the equipment and ingredients set up as the Pâtisserie is only set up for Christmas. I rock up a week before the market kicks off and get baking with my assistant. It’s no longer baking one cake now we’re talking double or even triple digits a day. When we make cheesecake we don’t make one cheesecake we make 120 in one go. We then bake continously every day for the next five weeks.

Lizzi Habibi - The Christmas pâtisserie

I have a lovely team of sales assistants who despite the -10 temperatures still manage to sell the cakes with a smile.  Last year we had -20. The cheesecake was warmer in the fridge. All the ones on display were frozen. Luckily this year we’ve got heated cake plates, so no frozen cakes this year

On the menu are more of less the same cakes as I tested in Milan:

1. Cornes de gazelle

2. Mint & coconut cakes

3. Walnut baklava

4. Cardamom, pistachio and semolina cakes

5. Rosewater and lemon yoghurt cakes

6. Morrocan strudel

7. Chocolate and moroccan orange cakes

8. Cinammon raisin and walnut rolled biscuits

9. Black & white pinwheels

10. Rosewater cheesecake

I headed off to Milano last week to bake some sweet ‘Morrocan’ treats. The sights, sounds and Morrocan cookery classes I discovered in Marrakesh in June came in handy. Instead of shopping at Armani or Prada I went trapsing around the rather unusual Milanese neighbourhoods in the search Rosewater, Orange flower water and other essential ingredients for the cakes.

My partner in crime took care of the savoury side of things so I could concentrate on getting the sweet side sorted. We had bought enough food to feed to several large Italian families which we just about managed to pack into the taxi. A short ride across town we took over a stunning apartment and the magic (or hard graft) began at 10am and didn’t finish until the guests arrived at 9.30pm.

Here’s the list of sweet treats I made:

Cornes de gazelle
Mint & coconut cakes
Walnut baklava
Cardamom, pistachio and semolina cakes
Rosewater and lemon yoghurt cakes
Almond snake cake
Morroccan ’strudel’ (not pictured)
Orange, orange flower water and chocolate trifle (also not pictured)
Cinammon raisin and walnut rolled biscuits
Black & white pinwheels
Rosewater cheesecake

Most of the recipes aren’t what you call classic Morrocan pâtisserie. It’s more taking the flavours and adapting them into a ’simpler’ and sometimes ‘lighter’ version.

I had to come up with a little more then Lucky strike cigarettes and alcohol for a Madmen dinner I had been asked  to organise for the girls of mylittleparis. I had done a similar style event last year at the Cha cha but this one was a lot more fun as it was a more intimate event which meant I had time to add my own little signature touches.

The event took place in a stunning Parisian apartment which had some great views of the Eiffel tower and the rest of Paris. I rocked up laden like the donkeys I saw in Marrakech and started working my magic in the kitchen and the rest of the apartment.

Doing these kind of events you always have the problem of not having access to a prop department like on a film set, so the ambiance has to be set up with easy to make/find objects. I’ld found a whole bunch of old 1960s American ads which I had collaged together to create the placemats. Serviettes were ironed into suit shapes (thanks to my lovely assistant, Thomasine).

I’ld been hassling all my friends who smoke Lucky strikes for the empty boxes but with no luck. Plus now a days all cigarette boxes come with the ugly big warning ‘Smoking kills’ which wouldn’t look so good as props (stylists don’t care about the health hazards as long as it looks great So using my Arts background I designed myself my own lucky strike packaging which I printed out on my home printer and then made into little cigarette boxes. Mini grissini sticks were used as edible cigarettes and served with dips in ashtrays (obviously washed!).

Of course Madmen wouldn’t be Madmen without the cocktails! If you like most people don’t have a cocktail bar then all you need is an ironing board plus a white tablecloth. You might want to be a little bit careful with putting stuff on there though.

Being fairly new to the whole mixing culture I hired an authentic mixologist straight off the boat from Manhattan (well off a plane) who showed me a trick or two about making cocktails. For instance to make your lemon twists for your cocktails simply scrape out all the insides from lemon (see pic) and cut into rings.

I’ld been having a fairly sleepless week with the amount of work I had on (5am starts and midnight finishes) which resulted into me breaking 5 plates (and then breaking another in the shop when I went to buy the replacements) and slicing half my finger off while using the mandoline. The picture above is me before the accident. Note to myself: do not be distracted under any circumstances while using a mandoline. It’s lethal!

The injury was well worth it though. Look at the beautifully sliced vegetables for the main course. Dinner kicked off after the canapés and martinis with a Lucky strike baked fig with mozarella and roquette. The Lucky strike element came in the form of a sugar syrup which had been infused with Lucky strike tabacco. Normally you would infuse the syrup with an expensive cigar but I felt this was more in keeping with the ‘Madmen’ spirit.

Main course was a hommage to season 1 episode 6 where Roger Sterling and Joanne aka Red are in a hotel where he has ordered Rockefeller oysters and Beef Wellington: Roger Sterling’s Beef Wellington and Red’s roasted mash and vegetables. To finish, a New York New York cheesecake served on little New York skyline plates I had made. The soirée was rounded off with the perfect Madmen mix of music.

There were no sausages on this menu which explored the East/West divide in Germany. Fellow foodie Caroline Hobkinson and I got cooking in her amazing Berlin kitchen. Dishing up two different menus (one East, one West). Each representing their relevant culinary history. Guests on arrival were assigned their sides for the nights. They bartered, they smuggled and some sneekily stole from the opposite side to get a taster of the forbidden food.

Off with the chef whites, on with the fake eye lashes, kitten heels and my 1950s outfit. Chef Khoo no longer it was Miss Khoo who took over the Chacha in Paris for the tastiest event in town.

Monday, the 13th July 2009 I created a 3 course dinner and a Kennedy cocktail to tantalize the Parisian tastebuds. Topped off with a cupcake pimping session and some swinging sixties & fifties sounds spun by DJ Sylvania.

If you are on a picture and you want it to be removed, please send me an email.

Photography: Juan Diosdado.

On Wednesday 24th June 2009 I took over the Loft for another mouth-watering mash up. For the 5 course dinner I concocted a menu inspired by all things delicious in the garden.

T. Baas created a luscious table with his green garden illustrations and Jay-P accompanied the dinner with some toothsome tunes.

If you are on a picture and you want it to be removed, please send me an email.

Pictures are taken by Kang Leong from Londoneater.com.

Where have I disappeared to? Well this kept me busy, then was the opening of this (where I’m now putting my culinary expertise to good use), I now also teach French pâtisserie classes regularly here too, plus testing loads of bagel and doughnut (spot the dougnuts in the photos I’ve been testing them out on people at every opportunity possible) recipes for a book and then the weather was briefly very summery in Paris so I fled from my computer to the park and soaked up some sunshine. Anyway I thought I’ld show some life signs (if you want to be kept up to date to the events I do join my facebook page or follow me on twitter).

One of the benefits of being a cook or as I class myself a Food creative is that you get invited to all the best parties. Plus as a girl you always get a load of marriage proposals (women+culinary skills = the magic formula for offers from the boys and the girls too!).  But as they say TANSTAAFL. Want your name to be on the guestlist? As a foodie that usually means delivering some delicious goods. So Tuesday night I began prepping some mini desserts  for 70 people that then carried on until 6pm the following day. Luckily I had the help of a lovely assistant in the afternoon. Don’t think I would have managed it all otherwise.  On the menu was:

Poached rhubarb with a rosemary panna cotta and mini candied strips of rhubarb

Mini cinammon spiced doughnuts

über chocolate cupcakies

and finally

Rose ricotta clouds with strawberries

One of my friends mentioned that the “mousse”  was like eating a cloud. I rather liked the description and have stuck with the name ever since.

When I start working on a menu I try to see whether there’s any possibility of making something which has a connection to the event. Last night so happened to be an underground take away concert (click on the link for info about the concept) by Beirut. I kind of took a quite literal sense with their name ‘Beirut’. Beirut being the capital of Lebanon. I started researching into Lebanese food. They use a lot of rosewater in their dishes, so I thought it would be great to incorporate it somehow into a dessert. French strawberries are in season so what a perfect combo. Rosewater and strawberries. I just needed something extra. I first thought of the classic whipped cream with a hint of rosewater but then ricotta came to mind. It would add that slightly “acidic/mild cream cheese” flavour giving the “cloud” just a little more depth in flavour. And that folks, is how I came up with the dessert.

All that hard work was worth the effort as I got to enjoy the once in a life time experience of seeing a band in such an intimate and unique venue.

Rose ricotta clouds with strawberries
serves 6

250g ricotta
200ml whipping cream
100g sugar
100ml rosewater

350g strawberries, chopped
20g sugar or to taste

Mix the strawberries with the sugar. Whip the cream and sugar to a stiff peak. Beat the ricotta with the rosewater and fold into the cream. Divide the strawberries into the serving glasses and spoon on the mousse. Chill for at least one hour before serving.

Über chocolate cupcakies

People kept on saying how much they loved the cupcakes at the party and I kept on saying they’re not cupcakes but brownies. By the end of the party I had given up on trying to “educate” the masses. So here are my brownie/cupcake hybrid.

I use my favourite brownie recipe minus the dlc cheesecake and then just spread a dark chocolate ganache on.

250g dark chocolate
250ml double cream

Chop up the chocolate finely. Bring the cream to a boil and then pour half over the chocolate. Let the mixture sit for one minute before stirring. Stir until well mixed together. Pour the rest of the cream over and repeat the same procedure. Leave to cool for 30minutes before icing the cakes. Sprinkles optional.

Reading this month’s Martha I came across a recipe for Pistachio cupcakes with raspberries which is kind of the inspiration for this recipe. Now Martha and I have a love-hate relationship. I like the styling, tips and “idea” of her recipes but her actual recipes can sometimes ‘lack’ some vital ingredients. Cupcakes with no baking powder? How’s that supposed to work? Not great coming from the biggest domestic Goddess. I thought she would have enough assistants to proof read the recipes. Anyhow I took the recipe added stuff, took stuff out, mixed around and basically came up with my own recipe. That’s how recipe writing works. Take an exisitng recipe and add your own flavour.

I was at OFF this Monday, a big food festival in Normandy checking out the new generation chefs and some heavyweights too. Take a look at Khookie for the whole story.

Raspberry & pistachio mignardise

250g ground almonds
3 eggs
120g butter, melted
120g flour
2 tsp baking powder
180g sugar
100g pistachio, chopped plus 25g for decoration
150g fresh raspberries (save a few for the decoration)
Vanilla ice cream
Raspberry coulis or 300g fresh raspberries (heat with a little water, add sugar to taste and pass through sieve).

Preheat oven to 180°c. Mix flour, baking powder, sugar and ground almonds. Beat in the eggs and melted butter. Add the pistachios and mix. Carefully fold in the raspberries. Bake for 20 minutes.
Leave cakes to cool slightly before serving (you can serve them cold too). Top with ice cream, hot raspberry coulis, fresh raspberries and chopped pistachios.

What do you get when you cross a beetroot, a carrot and some ginger? A BEETROTINGER! Sorry that’s quite bad but when I saw this month’s in the bag challenge I wasn’t quite sure what to make of beetroot, carrot and celery. Maybe some sort of bloody maryesque cocktail but that defeats the purpose of doing a detox…After lots of hum and ar-ring. I decided to forget the celery and replace it with some ginger which is very good for detox aswell. And to be quite honest a cake is not very detox at all. So I suggest eating some celery to balance it out Celery is actually one of the few negative calorie foods which means that it takes the body more energy to digest than what the body consumes.

Beetrotinger cake

125g finely grated carrots
125g finely grated raw beetroot
10g finely grated fresh ginger
100g brown sugar
125g ground hazelnuts
50g flour
3 tsp baking powder
100g melted butter
2 eggs

Preheat the oven 180°c. Grease a tin 15 x 15 cm. Mix flour, hazelnuts, baking powder together add the grated carrot, beetroot and ginger. Mix again and then crack the eggs and add the butter. Combine all the ingredients. Spoon into the tin and smooth out. Bake for 20-25minutes or until a knife comes out clean.