Chocolate Caramel Crispy Cakes

Easily my favourite television channel, Discovery Travel & Living goes to the places I want to go to & shows me the kind of food I want to eat & cook. One among the many great shows on the channel is Nigella Feasts. The absolutely gorgeous Nigella Lawson cooks up some great food and has me eating out of the palm of her hand. One such little sweet delight I tried last evening is an anytime-of-day chocolate snack. Simple and easy to make, these things are delicious.

What you need:

• 8 to 10 Mars bars
  
• Half cup cooking butter (unsalted)
  
• 1 half bag of plain Kellogs cornflakes
  
• 1 bag of plain, unsalted cashews (diced) or unsalted peanuts

The How:

• Heat a large pot for a couple of minutes and add in the unsalted butter
• As the butter begins to melt, begin to break your Mars bars into smaller than bite size bits and toss them into the pot, stirring the chocolate into the butter (make sure you're not tossing the chocolate in straight from the refrigerator because you'll be stirring all day waiting for it to melt)
• Continue this process of stirring in the chocolate while ensuring it melts with the pot on fairly low flame
• Once all your chocolate is in and is turning into a nice, gooey mix increase the flame slightly and keep stirring to make the mix as smooth as possible
• The chocolate should now be a nice, thick batter. Allow it to cool for a few minutes and add the half bag of cornflakes and nuts of your choice into the mix
• Stir well and ensure the cornflakes & nuts are mixed into all parts of the chocolate
  
• Divide the now thicker mix into small roundish portions into little paper cup cake holders or if you don't have those, shape them into rough roundish shapes with your hand and place them individually on a tray of cooking foil
  
• Allow these to cool in your freezer for around 3 hours or so and you have a delicious, gooey, crunchy tray of chocolate caramel crispy cakes! Ummm!
  

Fettucine Carbonara

Fettucine Carbonara is a classic pasta preparation, as simple in preparation as it is elegant to behold; as much fun to make as it is delicious to tuck into.

A good carbonara should be made in 3 parts: getting the pasta just right, the right consistency & flavour in the sauce and ensuring the bacon, shallots & onions are stir fried just so. Its essential that all 3 parts are cooked separately and put together just before being served to your delighted guests. Almost anyone who can find their way around a basic kitchen can cook this dish - whether its a fancy, candlelit dinner for that someone special, a good old binge with many hungry stomachs or a stress free, success-guaranteed dinner for a night of the big game.

The key, as with cooking most things that border along what people would call "something fancy'', is the ingredients & getting them right. For a good Fettucine Carbonara we need the following:

• Fettucine (in case you didn't know that already) Oh and please don't try to compromise on this by using tagliatelle because it looks similar or penne because that's the first thing you saw
  
• 4 Shallots chopped fine (ok in case you're unable to find shallots make do with white onions. Shallots are prefered because they give your pasta just the right flavouring without making it too pungent and killing the sauce)
  
• One small onion chopped fine
• 4 garlic cloves chopped fine
• Olive Oil (don't ask me how much...olive oil is one of the world's greatest discoveries...one can never have enough at home)
  
• Capers (that's right...capers. You'll have to hunt for them but it won't taste the same without 'em)
  
• 500 gms Bacon strips cut into bite size pieces
• 4 egg yolks, 1 big bowl of Parmesan cheese grated fine & 1 cup fresh cream all beaten together to form a nice, thick sauce. Throw in some garlic & a hint of basil & capers for flavour. Some olive oil & salt to taste

Ok so now three easy steps toward a great pasta:

• Put the fettucine to boil in pre heated water that's been combined with a generous amount of olive oil & salt - that should take about 15 mins max. to cook
  
• Put a skillet on high flame, throw in a generous amount of olive oil and when you see the smoke rising from your pan, throw in the shallots, onions & garlic along with some chilli flakes, salt & oregano. Keep stirring till the shallots begin to turn golden
• Now throw in some more oil & the bacon strips. Make sure there is enough oil for the bacon to sizzle nicely. Cook the bacon till its nice & crispy. Be patient here. There's plenty of moisture in the bacon so you have to stand guard over the pan for a bit
• Once the bacon, shallots & onions are nice & crispy, switch off the heat
• Gently heat the sauce you have already made...stirring to remove any lumps only till its warm. Don't overheat...remember you have fresh cream in there!
  

To Serve:

• I like doing this fancy...so separate servings for each person who wants some of this delicious fettucine
• Dole out a (what is by your standards) normal serving of pasta in a bowl
• Combine with the fried bacon & shallots and mix well
• Add the sauce generously and mix well - garnish with capers, some basil & chilli flakes if you like it spicey
• If you want a bit of panache thrown in, serve some steamed runner beans, brussel sprouts or asparagus with the pasta
• A little bread with garlic butter never hurt anyone right so have a portion of that waiting on the table
• A nice white wine would obviously add to the experience but that's your call

That's it. Simple, quick & elegant - Fettucine Carbonara as the World Café would do it!