Sunday, 15 April 2012
Update
Alas, this task has been sadly neglected for the past couple of months, to make way for revision and exams. Two this week, another four in May. Hopefully the summer will allow for far more cooking time than I currently have. These days I'm not entirely sure why I'm putting effort into a degree, other than I sort of enjoy maths (when I understand it), it means I don't have to live at home (a major plus point), and I got here before the huge tuition fee hike (so may as well keep going). But I fail to see myself getting a job which requires the use of this degree, since I'm unsuited to 9-5 work. And I would (probably) detest being an accountant. Which does make you wonder whether it's worth it.
Tuesday, 28 February 2012
A is for Apple (Baked)
When I began this blog, I was hoping it would achieve two things: a) it would make me a spectacular cook (still waiting...) and b) I would find some new, delicious, easy and healthy recipes for everyday use. A few days ago, the latter definitely occurred. As a result, I have been living off baked apples for the past week.
Baked apples represent almost an infinite number of possible flavour combinations, whilst still being healthy and easy to cook. Even coring the apple is unnecessary (or at least, it's asking a lot of a student to own an apple corer).
The basics of a good baked apple:
Choosing your apple: Use an acidic cooking apple, such as a Bramley or Jumbo, to ensure that the final texture of the baked apple is light and fluffy. Most "crisp" eating apples don't bake well, instead just turning dry and hard.
Preparation:Do not peel the apple, since the peel helps prevent it from going dry in the oven. Coring is optional. Some people like to put a filling in the cored apple, such as mincemeat or candied fruit. It is just as easy to put the filling around the outside, if you don't own an apple corer.
Make a horizontal incision around the middle of the apple, just deep enough to cut through the peel. This prevents it from exploding in the oven. (If you have not cored the apple, this step is very necessary).
Place apple in a suitable baking tray and add approximately 4tbl of water. (This prevents the apple going dry and hard.) Add any flavourings you wish. (Remember that if you add honey or syrup, these both have a tendency to burn in the oven, often before the apple is fully cooked. In this instance, you may wish to microwave or part-bake the apple first without the syrup/honey, then finish as normal in the oven). Bake for around 20-30 minutes at 180 degrees C, or ten minutes if you microwaved the apple first.
Ideas for fillings: Walnut, honey and cinnamon, Chopped dates, golden syrup and granola, Dried cranberries and candied orange peel, Caramel syrup.
Baked apples represent almost an infinite number of possible flavour combinations, whilst still being healthy and easy to cook. Even coring the apple is unnecessary (or at least, it's asking a lot of a student to own an apple corer).
The basics of a good baked apple:
Choosing your apple: Use an acidic cooking apple, such as a Bramley or Jumbo, to ensure that the final texture of the baked apple is light and fluffy. Most "crisp" eating apples don't bake well, instead just turning dry and hard.
Preparation:Do not peel the apple, since the peel helps prevent it from going dry in the oven. Coring is optional. Some people like to put a filling in the cored apple, such as mincemeat or candied fruit. It is just as easy to put the filling around the outside, if you don't own an apple corer.
Make a horizontal incision around the middle of the apple, just deep enough to cut through the peel. This prevents it from exploding in the oven. (If you have not cored the apple, this step is very necessary).
Place apple in a suitable baking tray and add approximately 4tbl of water. (This prevents the apple going dry and hard.) Add any flavourings you wish. (Remember that if you add honey or syrup, these both have a tendency to burn in the oven, often before the apple is fully cooked. In this instance, you may wish to microwave or part-bake the apple first without the syrup/honey, then finish as normal in the oven). Bake for around 20-30 minutes at 180 degrees C, or ten minutes if you microwaved the apple first.
Ideas for fillings: Walnut, honey and cinnamon, Chopped dates, golden syrup and granola, Dried cranberries and candied orange peel, Caramel syrup.
Saturday, 21 January 2012
A is for Advocaat and Alain Ducasse's Low fat Pate Brisee (French Shortcrust Pastry)
Advocaat- A liqueur made with beaten egg yolks, sugar and spirit. It is sometimes used in cocktails, especially the snowball. (Larousse, p3).
I decided (for some unknown reason), to make Advocaat and Rum-Raisin muffins. (I used a Nigella Lawson recipe from How to be a Domestic Goddess and substituted 3/4 of the milk for Advocaat). The texture of the resulting muffins was really light, but the taste... my mother described it as "mouthwash". Possibly due to a liberal use of nutmeg in the batter. As always, no photos of failures.
Next up was the low-fat pate brisee recipe from Alain Ducasse here. (Technically the recipe is for pate brisee, it just happens to be low fat.) Most people would question the benefits of this recipe, since the "real" full-fat version probably has a better flavour, texture and is easier to make. However, not everybody can tolerate the amount of fat in the traditional full-fat recipe (including myself), which is where this version really comes in useful.
The recipe works by cutting down the butter to 35g per 400g of flour, then adding 100g of potato starch to maintain the "shortness". I did not have potato starch readily available, so after some research (which concluded that potato flour was primarly used to satisfy religious requirements) I replaced it with cornflour.
My Pate Brisee: Makes about 600g- enough to line two 9 inch tart tins.
400g Plain flour
100g Cornflour
35g Butter
5g Salt
5g CasterSugar
2 eggs
100mls water (approx).
Rub the butter into the flours. Add the salt and sugar. Make a well in the centre, break in both eggs and mix, adding the water as you go. Take care not to over-mix.
Notes on working with this Pate Brisee dough: Care must be taken to roll it out as thinly as possible, otherwise the crust will be particularly dense and chewy. In most cases this dough can be used whenever "shortcrust pastry" is specified. If you're concerned that the lack of fat might be detremental to the taste of the tart, add suitable herbs/spices to the dough (at the point where the salt/sugar goes in). I think that if a vanilla pod and brown sugar were used instead of caster, the result would be indistinguishable from the full-fat version.
I did not roll the pastry thin enough, which is why a photo is not currently included - the tart I was making was a bit of a failure, really.
Edit: Since writing this, it has come to my attention that although potato flour and cornflour are in some respects interchangeable, potato flour swells in volume much more than cornflour, which would result in a different texture in the final pastry. I have yet to be able to try out the recipe using potato flour, but I suspect the result may be better.
I decided (for some unknown reason), to make Advocaat and Rum-Raisin muffins. (I used a Nigella Lawson recipe from How to be a Domestic Goddess and substituted 3/4 of the milk for Advocaat). The texture of the resulting muffins was really light, but the taste... my mother described it as "mouthwash". Possibly due to a liberal use of nutmeg in the batter. As always, no photos of failures.
Next up was the low-fat pate brisee recipe from Alain Ducasse here. (Technically the recipe is for pate brisee, it just happens to be low fat.) Most people would question the benefits of this recipe, since the "real" full-fat version probably has a better flavour, texture and is easier to make. However, not everybody can tolerate the amount of fat in the traditional full-fat recipe (including myself), which is where this version really comes in useful.
The recipe works by cutting down the butter to 35g per 400g of flour, then adding 100g of potato starch to maintain the "shortness". I did not have potato starch readily available, so after some research (which concluded that potato flour was primarly used to satisfy religious requirements) I replaced it with cornflour.
My Pate Brisee: Makes about 600g- enough to line two 9 inch tart tins.
400g Plain flour
100g Cornflour
35g Butter
5g Salt
5g CasterSugar
2 eggs
100mls water (approx).
Rub the butter into the flours. Add the salt and sugar. Make a well in the centre, break in both eggs and mix, adding the water as you go. Take care not to over-mix.
Notes on working with this Pate Brisee dough: Care must be taken to roll it out as thinly as possible, otherwise the crust will be particularly dense and chewy. In most cases this dough can be used whenever "shortcrust pastry" is specified. If you're concerned that the lack of fat might be detremental to the taste of the tart, add suitable herbs/spices to the dough (at the point where the salt/sugar goes in). I think that if a vanilla pod and brown sugar were used instead of caster, the result would be indistinguishable from the full-fat version.
I did not roll the pastry thin enough, which is why a photo is not currently included - the tart I was making was a bit of a failure, really.
Edit: Since writing this, it has come to my attention that although potato flour and cornflour are in some respects interchangeable, potato flour swells in volume much more than cornflour, which would result in a different texture in the final pastry. I have yet to be able to try out the recipe using potato flour, but I suspect the result may be better.
Monday, 2 January 2012
Pink Pralines
Last week, I had five different attempts at making the classic French confection of Pralines Roses (Pink Pralines). They are essentially almonds coated in a pink (or sometime red) crystallised coating of sugar, giving them a knobbly appearance and a crunchy texture. Not to be mistaken with traditional Praline, (in which you never want the sugar to recrystallise) or Sugared Almonds, which are again different.
You can buy Pink Pralines in the UK, (from MSK food specialists), but on a student budget, I cannot.
These minute confections are required as decoration on the Pierre Herme creation of Cake Ispahan, which I (badly) made last week. This is what they're meant to look like:
Having scoured the Google search for how to make "Pink Pralines", to no avail, I then started on the search of "Pralines Roses" and trawling french cookery sites. This was slightly more successful - it did yield recipes, but none of the recipes worked for me.
To cut a long story of trial and error short, there were two main problems with the recipes which I found:
- There was the type of recipe which only required the almonds to have once "coating" of the sugar solution. This invariably resulted in badly-coated almonds.
- The type of recipe which coats the almonds once, then reheats everything (including the once-coated almonds) in the pan again, for another coating. This, invaribly, means that the original coating on the almonds melts, leaving the almonds to come out of the process looking no different to when they went in. (Still badly coated).
So, I had to go my own way with the recipe. Alas, it is still not perfect, but hopefully it's getting somewhere. Here's the final product, which I used to decorate Cake Ispahan with: (This picture was taken immediately after cooking; the longer you leave them, the more they crystallise and begin to look more like the professional picture).
Notes on making Praline Roses (Pink Pralines): Please don't use natural food colourings for this. The first three trials I did were with Dr Oetker Natural Red - natural food colourings are perfect if you want to colour white icing and other goods which are not going to be baked/heated. However, as soon as you heat a natural colouring, the colour changes. In this case, to orange. Also, they tend to have a lingering taste (which is worsened when you have to add more of the colouring to the confection which is being heated, in order to achieve the right colour). Dr Oetker Natural Red has a definite beetroot aftertaste. I have nothing against natural colourings, but in this precise context, they do not seem to give a good result.
Paste, gel or power food colourings are preferable to very runny ones which tend to increase the cooking time. (The above images were both achieved with a tiny amount of Sugarflair "Pink").
The sugar is meant to crystallise, so there's no point doing the standard "washing down the sides of the pan with a pastry brush dipped in water, to prevent crystallisation" during the boiling stage. It does feel slightly wrong not having to do that, though.
Some people suggest reheating the left over sugar from the first coating, to form the second coating. This sometimes works and sometimes does not (going horribly granular and difficult to work with), which is why I've given a recipe which uses a lot of sugar but is closer to foolproof.
I have yet to find a way which ensures a complete and even coating on the almonds. Placing the almonds on a baking tray and dripping the coating over does not work, as the sugar coating will set thoroughly in the pan before you've coated anything. Throwing the almonds into the pan seems the best way to ensure that everything is coated, but not necessarily "evenly". All ideas welcome!
Pralines Roses (Pink Pralines)
- A large baking sheet or Silpat
- Icing sugar
- 100g whole, unpeeled Almonds.
400g white granulated sugar
100g / mils water
Pink food colouring
Firstly, toast the almonds in a saute pan, or in the oven for a few minutes. (Not completely necessary for the following process, but it brings out the flavour). Sift a coating of icing sugar over the baking sheet / silpat you will be using. Once the almonds are toasted, place them onto the baking sheet/silpat and dredge in icing sugar.
Place the granulated sugar and water in a pan. Add the required food colouring. (Use the end of a cocktail stick or kebab skewer to pick up a tiny amount of colouring and add it to the pan. Combine and judge whether any more is required.). Now, take half of the contents out of the pan and reserve for the second coating. (This way, both coatings are exactly the same colour. In theory.).
Heat the contents of the pan, stirring with a wooden spoon, until the sugar has dissolved. Add the almonds. Bring to a boil. With the baking tray/silpat nearby, keep testing the sugar solution to see if it has reached the correct temperature, by dripping small amounts of it onto the tray/silpat. When the sugar solution has reached the right temperature, you will notice that the droplets set fairly hard, have a slight golden tinge to them (particularly compared to the first versions which you tested), and you will be able to form a thin strand of sugar between the wooden spoon and the droplets as you drip the solution onto the tray/silpat. When this stage has been reached, turn off the heat and keep stirring the pan, until the mixture becomes "granular". Just before it hardens completely, turn the mixture out of the pan, onto the baking tray/silpat.
At this stage, whilst it's still hot, attempt to break up any huge lumps of almonds which have stuck together, or gained vast amounts of coating. Leave to cool.
This process is repeated again when the almonds are cool, with the reserved batch of sugar/water. (No need to wash the pan out/change pan in between). For this coating, the already-coated almonds (just the almonds, not any of the possibly extraneous coating from the first batch) should be added when the sugar solution has been heated to the right temperature. (Keep the pan on the heat, add the almonds, coat thoroughly, turn off the heat). Pour onto tray/silpat covered in icing sugar and separate any large chucks again.
After two coats, the almonds should be reasonably well-coated. Leave to cool and use as required.
You can buy Pink Pralines in the UK, (from MSK food specialists), but on a student budget, I cannot.
These minute confections are required as decoration on the Pierre Herme creation of Cake Ispahan, which I (badly) made last week. This is what they're meant to look like:
 |
| The bowl on the left is Praline Rose with whole almonds. On the right, similar, but a lower proportion of sugary coating is used to cover crushed almonds. |
Having scoured the Google search for how to make "Pink Pralines", to no avail, I then started on the search of "Pralines Roses" and trawling french cookery sites. This was slightly more successful - it did yield recipes, but none of the recipes worked for me.
To cut a long story of trial and error short, there were two main problems with the recipes which I found:
- There was the type of recipe which only required the almonds to have once "coating" of the sugar solution. This invariably resulted in badly-coated almonds.
- The type of recipe which coats the almonds once, then reheats everything (including the once-coated almonds) in the pan again, for another coating. This, invaribly, means that the original coating on the almonds melts, leaving the almonds to come out of the process looking no different to when they went in. (Still badly coated).
So, I had to go my own way with the recipe. Alas, it is still not perfect, but hopefully it's getting somewhere. Here's the final product, which I used to decorate Cake Ispahan with: (This picture was taken immediately after cooking; the longer you leave them, the more they crystallise and begin to look more like the professional picture).
Paste, gel or power food colourings are preferable to very runny ones which tend to increase the cooking time. (The above images were both achieved with a tiny amount of Sugarflair "Pink").
The sugar is meant to crystallise, so there's no point doing the standard "washing down the sides of the pan with a pastry brush dipped in water, to prevent crystallisation" during the boiling stage. It does feel slightly wrong not having to do that, though.
Some people suggest reheating the left over sugar from the first coating, to form the second coating. This sometimes works and sometimes does not (going horribly granular and difficult to work with), which is why I've given a recipe which uses a lot of sugar but is closer to foolproof.
I have yet to find a way which ensures a complete and even coating on the almonds. Placing the almonds on a baking tray and dripping the coating over does not work, as the sugar coating will set thoroughly in the pan before you've coated anything. Throwing the almonds into the pan seems the best way to ensure that everything is coated, but not necessarily "evenly". All ideas welcome!
Pralines Roses (Pink Pralines)
- A large baking sheet or Silpat
- Icing sugar
- 100g whole, unpeeled Almonds.
400g white granulated sugar
100g / mils water
Pink food colouring
Firstly, toast the almonds in a saute pan, or in the oven for a few minutes. (Not completely necessary for the following process, but it brings out the flavour). Sift a coating of icing sugar over the baking sheet / silpat you will be using. Once the almonds are toasted, place them onto the baking sheet/silpat and dredge in icing sugar.
Place the granulated sugar and water in a pan. Add the required food colouring. (Use the end of a cocktail stick or kebab skewer to pick up a tiny amount of colouring and add it to the pan. Combine and judge whether any more is required.). Now, take half of the contents out of the pan and reserve for the second coating. (This way, both coatings are exactly the same colour. In theory.).
Heat the contents of the pan, stirring with a wooden spoon, until the sugar has dissolved. Add the almonds. Bring to a boil. With the baking tray/silpat nearby, keep testing the sugar solution to see if it has reached the correct temperature, by dripping small amounts of it onto the tray/silpat. When the sugar solution has reached the right temperature, you will notice that the droplets set fairly hard, have a slight golden tinge to them (particularly compared to the first versions which you tested), and you will be able to form a thin strand of sugar between the wooden spoon and the droplets as you drip the solution onto the tray/silpat. When this stage has been reached, turn off the heat and keep stirring the pan, until the mixture becomes "granular". Just before it hardens completely, turn the mixture out of the pan, onto the baking tray/silpat.
At this stage, whilst it's still hot, attempt to break up any huge lumps of almonds which have stuck together, or gained vast amounts of coating. Leave to cool.
 |
| After one coat of sugar. |
This process is repeated again when the almonds are cool, with the reserved batch of sugar/water. (No need to wash the pan out/change pan in between). For this coating, the already-coated almonds (just the almonds, not any of the possibly extraneous coating from the first batch) should be added when the sugar solution has been heated to the right temperature. (Keep the pan on the heat, add the almonds, coat thoroughly, turn off the heat). Pour onto tray/silpat covered in icing sugar and separate any large chucks again.
After two coats, the almonds should be reasonably well-coated. Leave to cool and use as required.
A is for Achar and Adria (Ferran)
Achar - a type of Indian pickle.
The recipe given in Larousse is for a Vegetable (and lemon) Achar, comprising of cabbage, carrots, peppers, onions, ginger, cucumber, cauliflower, french beans and lemons. It requires about two days to create - most of that time is spent steeping chopped vegetables in salt, in order to drain out the water content (a surprising amount of water comes out). Only the lemons in the recipe are actually cooked; the rest of the chopped vegetables receive no cooking time whatsoever. Technically, the cauliflower did not make it into my version - it arrived from Tesco with a few too many slugs in it for my liking.
The recipe is very open to interpretation - no actual quantities of any of the ingredients are given. Which is nice, since you do get to choose what proportions of vegetables you use, but worrying in another way, since it does not say how much salt/vinegar/oil is required in order to sufficiently preserve the final product. Here's my interpretation:
By now, it's been sitting on the kitchen shelf for a couple of days - the bright colours of the various vegetables has receded slightly. However, my main worry (that it would go mouldy/rot) so far has been unfounded. Nobody has dared to taste it yet.
Adria, Ferran - acclaimed Spanish chef, trained at El Bulli.
To fulfil this entry, I did briefly consider spherifying my dinner. However, luckily for me, Mr Adria has published The Family Meal: Home Cooking with Ferran Adria, which includes the recipe for a "Crisp Omelette" - an omelette with ready-salted crisps in it. (Make the omelette as normal, but when you drop the beaten eggs into the pan, add a handful of crisps on top. Continue to draw in the edges of the omelette and swirl the pan (as per usual technique) so that the gaps where you have drawn in the edges are now filled with the still-runny egg mixture.) I did not serve it folded/rolled, since the crisps would've broken up had I done. I'm not entirely sure how this is meant to be served.
I decided not to include a photo of the finished article, since it looked a lot like how you'd imagine a "Crisp Omelette" to appear. I hear it tasted fairly nice though.
Also this week, I finally got around to cooking something from Pierre Herme's Ph10. Making things from this book takes a lot of pre-planning, not least to find a good translation, but also to fully understand the recipes when it has been translated. Here's my first attempt at Cake Ispahan, covered with homemade Pink Pralines and Crystallised Rose Petals:
I accidentally overcooked the sponge. I think it was a consequence of not having exactly the right size cake tins and so having to guess cooking times; I was too worried that if I took it out early, it would sink. Thankfully the cake has quite a firm crumb, meaning that it's fairly easy to cut off the overcooked sides and top crusts without it crumbling everywhere. (And yes, the sponge inside is also bright pink). I'm happy with it as a first attempt, but it's nowhere near perfect.
I'll include the instructions on how to make Pink Pralines in a future post; they're amazing for decorating baked goods, but also for baking things with them in the dough. (Such as the French classic Brioche a praline rose). Yummy.
The recipe given in Larousse is for a Vegetable (and lemon) Achar, comprising of cabbage, carrots, peppers, onions, ginger, cucumber, cauliflower, french beans and lemons. It requires about two days to create - most of that time is spent steeping chopped vegetables in salt, in order to drain out the water content (a surprising amount of water comes out). Only the lemons in the recipe are actually cooked; the rest of the chopped vegetables receive no cooking time whatsoever. Technically, the cauliflower did not make it into my version - it arrived from Tesco with a few too many slugs in it for my liking.
The recipe is very open to interpretation - no actual quantities of any of the ingredients are given. Which is nice, since you do get to choose what proportions of vegetables you use, but worrying in another way, since it does not say how much salt/vinegar/oil is required in order to sufficiently preserve the final product. Here's my interpretation:
Adria, Ferran - acclaimed Spanish chef, trained at El Bulli.
To fulfil this entry, I did briefly consider spherifying my dinner. However, luckily for me, Mr Adria has published The Family Meal: Home Cooking with Ferran Adria, which includes the recipe for a "Crisp Omelette" - an omelette with ready-salted crisps in it. (Make the omelette as normal, but when you drop the beaten eggs into the pan, add a handful of crisps on top. Continue to draw in the edges of the omelette and swirl the pan (as per usual technique) so that the gaps where you have drawn in the edges are now filled with the still-runny egg mixture.) I did not serve it folded/rolled, since the crisps would've broken up had I done. I'm not entirely sure how this is meant to be served.
I decided not to include a photo of the finished article, since it looked a lot like how you'd imagine a "Crisp Omelette" to appear. I hear it tasted fairly nice though.
Also this week, I finally got around to cooking something from Pierre Herme's Ph10. Making things from this book takes a lot of pre-planning, not least to find a good translation, but also to fully understand the recipes when it has been translated. Here's my first attempt at Cake Ispahan, covered with homemade Pink Pralines and Crystallised Rose Petals:
I'll include the instructions on how to make Pink Pralines in a future post; they're amazing for decorating baked goods, but also for baking things with them in the dough. (Such as the French classic Brioche a praline rose). Yummy.
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