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Monatsarchive: August 2006

Chouquettes

Chou who? Chouquettes I tell you. Little rounds of Choux Pastry, crisp on the outside and moist on the inside. In France they are a common afternoon snacks and mom used to buy them fresh at the bakery quite often since they were the only pastries my brother enjoyed eating. There was never enough of them!
Mr. B asked me to make something typically French that he could take to his students for their last day of class and I thought these were the perfect ambassadors. Choux are at the base of many a French specialties: Paris Brest, Religieuse, Saint Honore, Piece Montee (traditional wedding cake), Gougeres. They are used sweet or salty, filled, caramelized or left hollow.

I have one prefered recipe for chouquettes but it makes a giant amount (I use it for catering) and a big stand mixer, even a full class a hungry students did not justify it so I visited one of my favorite blogs, Cindy’s kitchen and found an excellent one. Never fails.

Chouquettes (makes about 36 small ones). Start with a basic choux pastry.
Here is her original and here is my version:

1 cup water
5 Tbs. butter
1/2 oz sugar
4 eggs
4 1/2 oz all purpose flour
pinch of salt

Boil water, sugar and butter. Remove from heat and add flour at once, return to heat and stir continuousl with a wooden spoon to make a smooth shiny paste. Cool a few minutes. Beat the eggs in one at a time until shiny and smooth ( about the consistency of thick mayonnaise).

Form the choux on a parchment paper lined baking sheet, sprinkle with some coarse sugar (I did not have any but I had some coarse brown sugar crystals). Bake at 350 for about 20 minutes.

Mr. B. only brought 6 back so guess what we are having tonigh for dessert? Profiteroles! Choux , ice cream and chocolate sauce…we are truly lucky!

Weekend Dog Blogging


We are spending a lovely lazy sunday, enjoying a cool breeze but Tippy is sending me a message: "Time to put on your running shoes girlfriend!".
Not food post today, the dog needs my undivided attention.

Head over to Sweetnicks to see this weekend’s roundup.

Another Little Secret


It’s summer, it’s hot, I live in my underwear, I read Epicurus, and I swoon over fresh cherries. If you already know me, you already know that, if not…welcome to my food world. The way I eat is the way I love, the way I love is the way I eat: fresh, honest, bold and in abundance.
Here is an other secret of mine: you can "have" me with a bowl of fresh dark red cherries.

Madeleines de Commercy


Another rainy afternoon here. It is unbelievably hot throughout the day with bright blue skies above and when 4 o’clock rolls around so do the thunder, lightning and rain. The wind picks up, the clouds break in and it pours. Just enough time to bake and take a picture.
I felt like baking one of my comfort childhood snacks. My mom used to by them packaged from the store but once you have tasted homemade madeleines there is no going back.

A couple of years ago, my mom gave me this book at Christmas and I have made only a couple of the madeleines recipes in it. I have vowed to bake my way through the book, a couple of madeleines a week. The book is organized by season and month so as to make the best use of seasonal produce but nowadays items seem to be available year round (at least here in the US), which leaves you with complete baking freedom.

History behind these madeleines: in 1755, the pastry chef of Stanislas Leszczynski quit his job in the middle of the dinner service, taking with him all his cakes and pastries as well as the recipes. A young maid voluntered to bake the little cakes her grandmother used to make. This young maid named Madeleine, from Commercy, apparently saved the day!

Madeleines de Commercy, adapted from "Les Madeleines salees et sucrees de Sophie" by Sophie Dudemaine.

For 16 madeleines
2 eggs
130 gr. (4 0z) all purpose flour
1 tsp. baking powder
130 gr. (4 oz) sugar
130 gr. (4 oz) butter

Preheat oven to 500 degrees. Melt the butter either in the microwave or in a saucepan on low heat. Let it cool a bit.
In the bowl of an electric mixer, whip the eggs and the sugar until pale yellow. Add the flour and baking powder. Mix on medium high speed until everything is well incorporated, add the melted butter.
Pour one Tb. of the batter into the center of madeleine molds (I use silicone ones). Bake in the center of your oven for 4 minutes at 500, then lower the temperature to 400 and bake another 4 minutes.
Unmold as soon as they come out of the oven.

These are great with everything: jam, nutella, ganache, tea, coffe, milk….heaven!

My Little Secret


My idea of food heaven is raspberries, chocolate and whipped cream. I always look for ways to put them together and come up with total food porn. It was scorching hot today and while at lunch with my friend Sarah, we were devising plans on how to stay cool and fresh and the only thing that came to my mind was to eat a big bowl of fresh, plump raspberries…. we had to stop by the store on the way home and voila… 10 minutes top of baking and 1 hour later here it is:

Chocolate filled Raspberries and Cream:

I have to admit that I cheated for the crust and bought those mini graham cracker crusts. I brushed them with a beaten egg and put them in the oven for 10 minutes at 35o. I inverted them when they came out of the oven and let them cool completely. Tap the top gently until the crust falls from its aluminium case.

In the meantime:
Whip 1 block (8 oz) softened cream cheese with 1/3 cup sugar and zest of one lemon.
Whip 1/3 cup heavy cream to medium stiff peaks and gently fold into the cream cheese.
Spoon into the shells. Refrigerate until the cream gets a little stiff.

For the raspberries:
Prepare a simple ganache with 3/4 cup heavy cream heated up and stir in 1 cup chocolate chips. Let stand for 2 minutes and gently stir until all the cream incorporates in the chocolate. Refrigerate until of spoonable consistency. Fill a pastry bag with a plain tip and fil the cavities of some nice looking raspberries (1 pint was enough for 6 tarts). Let the ganache filled fruit get hard in the fridge.
When ready to plate position the raspberries on the cream and dust with powdered sugar.

I don’t want to know what these would be like with mascarpone…ok…I DO want to know!

Savory Recycling



You have probably figured out that I am all for food recycling. Well after Sunday Party, I had a load of mini grape tomatoes and mozarella kebabs left over, so I unrolled a sheet of pie crust (please don’t tell Martha) and got to work.

I marinated the tomatoes and mozarella in 1 Tb. olive oil, 1 Tb. balsamic vinegar and added one sliced vidalia onion, some black pepperput the mixture in the pie crust and let it bake at 350 for 45 minutes. It was great and easy dish with a side salad and scorching hot temperatures outside.

The Easiest Pie…Always


Here is my "to go/ no fuss/ never failed me" fresh fruit tart recipe.
Let me explain: when I was working full time at the restaurant, there were many a Saturday mornings that started with a light hangover, yes restaurant crews are known to enjoy the night life and then some… When you are faced with a busy weekend ahead, a headache and a load of creme brulees, nougat glace, chocolate mousses, apple tatins, cheesecake and others, a good fresh fruit tart has the tendency to be put at the bottom of your to do list, and it is quite a shame because a good fruit tart is just that: goooooood. It should be uncomplicated so as to put forth the freshness of the fruit yet interesting and bold in flavors so as to attract diners and gourmands.
I don’t know exactly how I came up with this one, after years of baking and reading magazines, cookbooks, one can develop, mix and match their own recipes and I am probably sure I came up with this one on one of my morning jogs (probably trying to sweat out some cosmos after a night out).
Long story short, you can use this recipe for every sort of fruit available. You can bake the layer of fruit on top of the tart with the filling, or lay unbaked ones once the ricotta mixture has cooked and cooled and the glaze on top can be made with any flavor of jam or jelly you enjoy. It is so incredibly versatile.

In this case it was a White Peach and Ricotta Tart with Blackberry Glaze

1/2 recipe Pate Sucree

For the ricotta filling:
1 container (16oz) whole milk ricotta
2 eggs
1/2 cup sugar
juice and zest of 1/2 lemon

For the fruit filling:
Your favorite fruit!
Here I used white peaches (about 5 medium ones, peeled, cored and cut into slices)

Topping:
1 cup of your favorite jam or jelly heated for about a minute (microwave works fine)
Here I used blackberry.

You can do this pie 2 ways:
Pre bake the tart shell at 350 for about 10 – 15 minutes.
While it cools a bit, pour the ricotta in a big bowl, add the sugar, lemon juice and zest. Mix well. Add the eggs and whip until fully incorporated.
Layer the fruit on top and bake for about 45 minutes or until almost set (the center will still wiggle a bit, but will firm up in the fridge). Let the pie cool down for 30 minutes and pour the heated jelly on top. Refrigerate until completely cooled.

If you want to use fruits like kiwis or fresh berries, you can bake the ricotta filling first, let it cool completely and then layer the fruits on top, ending with a glaze like apricot, apple or orange jelly.

We have forked through 1/2 of it already….. I think the neighbors won’t get to try this one either…Sorry!