Mini Pear, Raspberry and Ginger Pies for Project Wedding

I have been loving the very rustic, natural and country-style weddings that I have been reading about lately. Like this one, this one or this one. I think that when the world feels a little chaotic, we tend to resort to a homemade kind of lifestyle with lots of home cooking, personalized gifts and DIY touches. So for this month's Project Wedding assignment, I created individual pear, raspberry and ginger pies with a rustic touch that can be served at any wedding instead of the traditional cake and are so simple to make.




Fall made it's first appearance in South Florida today and it has put me in the mood for lots of comfort food, apples, quince and falling leaves, so I think it's going to be that kind of weekend for us.

For more photos and the recipes, please go here. Hope you like it!

Post Title

→

Mini Pear, Raspberry and Ginger Pies for Project Wedding

Post URL

→

https://mercymadame.blogspot.com/2009/09/mini-pear-raspberry-and-ginger-pies-for.html

Visit Merci Madame for Daily Updated Wedding Dresses Collection

Daring Bakers, Brunch and Some More Pate Feuilletee

When I learned that for this month's Daring Bakers challenge we would be making puff pastry and vol-au-vents, I smiled. As I have said it before, I love laminated doughs and have tried my share of puff pastry recipes in this blog. Chocolate, inverted, tomato, raspberry... so this was the perfect excuse to try a new recipe.



Vol-au-vents remind me of home and they remind me of pintxo bars. I remember as a kid going out for pintxos with my uncles and aunts every Sunday morning. It was and still is a ritual for many people, pintxo bar hopping. From one good one to the next.

Vol-au-vents are the perfect vessel for small bites such as egg scrambles, sauteed wild mushrooms, seafood salads, chorizo... You name it and a vol-au-vent will hold it. So when presented with this month's challenge, I immediately thought of making a very typical Basque appetizer that we had for brunch Saturday morning. An egg scramble with sauteed oyster mushrooms, green asparagus, garlic, goat cheese, purple basil, parsley and a bit of pink peppercorn. Super simple but loaded with flavor.

With the leftover puff pastry dough, I made thin pear and pistachio frangipane galettes that we also had for brunch. I can never have enough puff pastry.



As for this puff pastry recipe, it is very easy to roll, quick and very forgiving. However, I have to admit that I find that even though Pierre Herme's inverted puff pastry recipe is harder to work with at first, it yields a flakier product in the end. That's just my preference though and this was a great recipe that I will definitely try again.



The September 2009 Daring Bakers' challenge was hosted by Steph of A Whisk and a Spoon. She chose the French treat, Vols-au-Vent based on the Puff Pastry recipe by Michel Richard from the cookbook Baking With Julia by Dorie Greenspan.

Michel Richard’s Puff Pastry Dough

From: Baking with Julia by Dorie Greenspan
Yield: 2-1/2 pounds dough

Ingredients:
2-1/2 cups (12.2 oz/ 354 g) unbleached all-purpose flour
1-1/4 cups (5.0 oz/ 142 g) cake flour
1 tbsp. salt (you can cut this by half for a less salty dough or for sweet preparations)
1-1/4 cups (10 fl oz/ 300 ml) ice water
1 pound (16 oz/ 454 g) very cold unsalted butter

plus extra flour for dusting work surface

Mixing the Dough:

Check the capacity of your food processor before you start. If it cannot hold the full quantity of ingredients, make the dough into two batches and combine them.

Put the all-purpose flour, cake flour, and salt in the work bowl of a food processor fitted with a metal blade and pulse a couple of times just to mix. Add the water all at once, pulsing until the dough forms a ball on the blade. The dough will be very moist and pliable and will hold together when squeezed between your fingers. (Actually, it will feel like Play-Doh.)

Remove the dough from the machine, form it into a ball, with a small sharp knife, slash the top in a tic-tac-toe pattern. Wrap the dough in a damp towel and refrigerate for about 5 minutes.

Meanwhile, place the butter between 2 sheets of plastic wrap and beat it with a rolling pin until it flattens into a square that's about 1" thick. Take care that the butter remains cool and firm: if it has softened or become oily, chill it before continuing.

Incorporating the Butter:

Unwrap the dough and place it on a work surface dusted with all-purpose flour (A cool piece of marble is the ideal surface for puff pastry) with your rolling pin (preferably a French rolling pin without handles), press on the dough to flatten it and then roll it into a 10" square. Keep the top and bottom of the dough well floured to prevent sticking and lift the dough and move it around frequently. Starting from the center of the square, roll out over each corner to create a thick center pad with "ears," or flaps.

Place the cold butter in the middle of the dough and fold the ears over the butter, stretching them as needed so that they overlap slightly and encase the butter completely. (If you have to stretch the dough, stretch it from all over; don't just pull the ends) you should now have a package that is 8" square.

To make great puff pastry, it is important to keep the dough cold at all times. There are specified times for chilling the dough, but if your room is warm, or you work slowly, or you find that for no particular reason the butter starts to ooze out of the pastry, cover the dough with plastic wrap and refrigerate it . You can stop at any point in the process and continue at your convenience or when the dough is properly chilled.

Making the Turns:

Gently but firmly press the rolling pin against the top and bottom edges of the square (this will help keep it square). Then, keeping the work surface and the top of the dough well floured to prevent sticking, roll the dough into a rectangle that is three times as long as the square you started with, about 24" (don't worry about the width of the rectangle: if you get the 24", everything else will work itself out.) With this first roll, it is particularly important that the butter be rolled evenly along the length and width of the rectangle; check when you start rolling that the butter is moving along well, and roll a bit harder or more evenly, if necessary, to get a smooth, even dough-butter sandwich (use your arm-strength!).

With a pastry brush, brush off the excess flour from the top of the dough, and fold the rectangle up from the bottom and down from the top in thirds, like a business letter, brushing off the excess flour. You have completed one turn.

Rotate the dough so that the closed fold is to your left, like the spine of a book. Repeat the rolling and folding process, rolling the dough to a length of 24" and then folding it in thirds. This is the second turn.

Chilling the Dough:

If the dough is still cool and no butter is oozing out, you can give the dough another two turns now. If the condition of the dough is iffy, wrap it in plastic wrap and refrigerate it for at least 30 minutes. Each time you refrigerate the dough, mark the number of turns you've completed by indenting the dough with your fingertips. It is best to refrigerate the dough for 30 to 60 minutes between each set of two turns.

The total number of turns needed is six. If you prefer, you can give the dough just four turns now, chill it overnight, and do the last two turns the next day. Puff pastry is extremely flexible in this regard. However, no matter how you arrange your schedule, you should plan to chill the dough for at least an hour before cutting or shaping it.

Forming and Baking the Vols-au-Vent

Using a knife or metal bench scraper, divided your chilled puff pastry dough into three equal pieces. Work with one piece of the dough, and leave the rest wrapped and chilled. (If you are looking to make more vols-au-vent than the yield stated above, you can roll and cut the remaining two pieces of dough as well…if not, then leave refrigerated for the time being or prepare it for longer-term freezer storage. See the “Tips” section below for more storage info.)

On a lightly floured surface, roll the piece of dough into a rectangle about 1/8 to 1/4-inch (3-6 mm) thick. Transfer it to the baking sheet and refrigerate for about 10 minutes before proceeding with the cutting.

(This assumes you will be using round cutters, but if you do not have them, it is possible to cut square vols-au-vents using a sharp chef’s knife.) For smaller, hors d'oeuvre sized vols-au-vent, use a 1.5” round cutter to cut out 8-10 circles. For larger sized vols-au-vent, fit for a main course or dessert, use a 4” cutter to cut out about 4 circles. Make clean, sharp cuts and try not to twist your cutters back and forth or drag your knife through the dough. Half of these rounds will be for the bases, and the other half will be for the sides. (Save any scrap by stacking—not wadding up—the pieces…they can be re-rolled and used if you need extra dough. If you do need to re-roll scrap to get enough disks, be sure to use any rounds cut from it for the bases, not the ring-shaped sides.)

Using a ¾-inch cutter for small vols-au-vent, or a 2- to 2.5-inch round cutter for large, cut centers from half of the rounds to make rings. These rings will become the sides of the vols-au-vent, while the solid disks will be the bottoms. You can either save the center cut-outs to bake off as little “caps” for you vols-au-vent, or put them in the scrap pile.

Dock the solid bottom rounds with a fork (prick them lightly, making sure not to go all the way through the pastry) and lightly brush them with egg wash. Place the rings directly on top of the bottom rounds and very lightly press them to adhere. Brush the top rings lightly with egg wash, trying not to drip any down the sides (which may inhibit rise). If you are using the little “caps,” dock and egg wash them as well.

Refrigerate the assembled vols-au-vent on the lined baking sheet while you pre-heat the oven to 400ºF (200ºC). (You could also cover and refrigerate them for a few hours at this point.)

Once the oven is heated, remove the sheet from the refrigerator and place a silicon baking mat (preferred because of its weight) or another sheet of parchment over top of the shells. This will help them rise evenly. Bake the shells until they have risen and begin to brown, about 10-15 minutes depending on their size. Reduce the oven temperature to 350ºF (180ºC), and remove the silicon mat or parchment sheet from the top of the vols-au-vent. If the centers have risen up inside the vols-au-vent, you can gently press them down. Continue baking (with no sheet on top) until the layers are golden, about 15-20 minutes more. (If you are baking the center “caps” they will likely be finished well ahead of the shells, so keep an eye on them and remove them from the oven when browned.)

Remove to a rack to cool. Cool to room temperature for cold fillings or to warm for hot fillings.

Fill and serve.

Post Title

→

Daring Bakers, Brunch and Some More Pate Feuilletee

Post URL

→

https://mercymadame.blogspot.com/2009/09/daring-bakers-brunch-and-some-more-pate.html

Visit Merci Madame for Daily Updated Wedding Dresses Collection

Chocolate and Roasted Beet Pudding Cakes

For being someone who doesn't really ever crave cake, I sure have been baking lots of cakes lately. I just realized this is my third cake recipe in a row. Unprecedented, but I do have to admit none of these latest cake recipes are very traditional. All of them being very, very moist, especially this recipe in hand, which is more like a pudding that a cake.



Inspired by a late night (very late night) Twitter chat with Shauna, Helen and Y, I set out to try baking more gluten free recipes. It might surprise you to know that I am almost on a gluten free diet. Most people cannot believe it since I seem to always be baking. The truth is that I don't eat that many baked goods. I do taste everything I make, but I rarely sit down and have an entire piece of cake or cookies.

A couple of years ago, following some health issues, a good friend suggested I try living gluten and dairy free. I have never been able to give up my dairy completely, but I did give up gluten completely for an entire year, which yielded great results. I have not been as strict lately, but that late night Twitter chat was a great reminder of how great I felt then and that I need to experiment some more.



So I know the combination of chocolate and beets might sound a bit odd to you, but it really works. I first read about it in Johnny Iuzzini's "Dessert Fourplay" where he features several recipes with beets. It adds sweetness and an earthy touch that is hard to describe, but it really works.

I found the most amazing red and golden beets this week. I roasted and pureed them and then played around with my to go to chocolate fondant cake recipe. It took me several tests to get it right, but I think I got it. Even C. who despises beets liked it. That in itself is a huge accomplishment.



Gluten Free Chocolate and Roasted Beet Pudding Cakes

Makes 6-4 oz ramekins

2 eggs
2 yolks
50 grams sugar
55 grams butter
170 grams bittersweet chocolate (I used 64%), chopped
55 grams roasted beet puree
20 grams rice flour
pinch salt

In the bowl of an electric mixer, whip the eggs, egg yolks and sugar until pale and very thick (ribbon stage).

In the meantime, place the butter and chocolate in a heatproof bowl and melt them together over a double boiler. Add the melted butter and chocolate mixture into the whipped eggs and mix. Add the roasted beet puree and mix. Finally add the rice flour and salt and fold.

Pour the runny batter into the greased ramekins and place them on a baking sheet. Bake at 400F for about 8-10 minutes until the edges are set but the center is still soft and pudding-like. Let them cool for about 10 minutes before trying to unmold them.

Serve them with candied beets, currants and cream.

Roasted Beet Puree

2 beets

Cut the leaves off the beets leaving about 1 inch stem on. Wrap them in aluminum foil and bake them at 400F for about 1 hour or until fork tender. Let them cool completely in the aluminum foil and them peel them.

Cut the roasted beets and puree them in a food processor. Strain the puree through a fine sieve. It makes more than what you will need for the cakes but you can freeze the rest.

Candied Beets

Peel some beets and slice them very thin using a mandolin. Make a simple syrup with equal parts water and sugar and cook the sliced beets in the syrup until soft and translucent. Make sure the syrup doesn't boil. Let them cool in the syrup. Slightly drain them and coat them with sugar.

If using red and yellow beets, poach them in different pots so the red doesn't bleed into the yellow.

Also, I wanted to let you know that my super talented friend Deb of Bonbon Oiseau is having a giveaway in her blog featuring pieces from her new Fall 09 collection. Go here to enter!

And for those wondering about the gorgeous butterfly plate, that is a handmade piece from Gleena. So many talented friends!

Post Title

→

Chocolate and Roasted Beet Pudding Cakes

Post URL

→

https://mercymadame.blogspot.com/2009/09/chocolate-and-roasted-beet-pudding.html

Visit Merci Madame for Daily Updated Wedding Dresses Collection

Some Roasted Plums, Coconut Milk Risotto and Muscovado Cakes

Last week, I had to deal with some unexpected (arent't they all?) health issues, which forced me into a blog hiatus and necessary rest. It was nothing serious, but enough to stop me from baking and shooting as much. Sometimes life has funny ways of making us slow down even if it's against our own will. I appreciate all the concerned emails wondering if something had happened or if I had gone into premature labor. All is well and just excited for the new season.



We received a big box of plums as a gift and have been enjoying them everyday. Purple, red, yellow pluots, prune plums... a beautiful assortment. It seems like every year plums mark the end of summer for me and the excitement for the new season begins.

I have been living vicariously through everyone else who gets to go apple picking and visiting orchards this time of year as we have none around us. But even that is exciting enough right now.



I have been baking with muscovado sugar a lot lately. It adds a richness and moistness to cakes and cookies that is hard to get any other way. No wonder it is called "moist sugar"! And even though I have never liked sugar in my coffee, I even started putting some muscovado in my morning dose following Ashley's advice.

The roasted plum and muscovado mini cakes are moist and rich with a touch of sour cream and lemon, but also unexpectedly light. We served these for friends during a play date on a rainy afternoon.



The coconut milk risotto is a slight variation on my arroz con leche recipe that I make all the time. It is much lighter, a bit less sweet and much faster to cook. I served it with the warm roasted plums, red currants and a sprinkle of pink peppercorns. My new favorite.



Coconut Milk Risotto

500 ml whole milk
20 grams sugar
pinch of salt
10 grams butter
60 grams arborio rice
120 grams coconut milk

In a saucepan, warm the whole milk, sugar and pinch of salt over a medium heat.

In the meantime, melt the butter in a medium saucepan over a medium heat. Add the rice to it and sautee it for about a minute. Add about half of the warm milk and stir over medium heat. Let it bring to a light simmer and then reduce the heat if necessary. Cook the rice in the milk while constantly stirring. When that milk has reduced, add a little bit more of the remaining warm milk and continue stirring. Proceed like that until all the milk has been added and the rice is cooked, which will take about 20-25 minutes. (Note that if you have added all the milk but the rice still not tender, you may add extra just to finish cooking it).

Finish the cooking process with the coconut milk. Remove the pan from the heat and transfer the risotto into a bowl to chill. I like mine at room temperature but you might store it in the refrigerator.

Roasted Plums

4 plums
1 vanilla bean, split and seeds scraped
pink peppercorns
star anise
Juice of half an orange
musvocado sugar, some for roasting and some for sprinkling at the end

Cut the plums in half and remove the pit. Place them on a roasting dish. Add the star anise, pink peppercorn, vanilla bean, orange juice and sprinkle each half plum with muscovado sugar.

Bake the plums at 350F for about 30-40 minutes until tender.

Cut them into wedges and serve them on top of the coconut milk risotto accompanied by some red currants, muscovado sugar and pink peppercorns.

Roasted Plum and Muscavado Sugar Cakes

Makes a dozen 3 inch mini cakes

180 grams butter, room temperature
150 grams muscovado sugar
125 grams granulated sugar
Zest of 1 lemon
1 tsp vanilla
2 eggs
180 grams sour cream
180 grams flour
4 grams baking powder
6 plums
muscovado sugar for sprinkling

Cream butter, muscovado sugar, granulated sugar, lemon zest and vanilla together until light. Add the eggs one at a time. Scrape the bowl well. Add the sour cream and mix. Add the flour and baking powder and mix until batter comes together.

Lightly butter and flour mini cake molds (I used tart rings that are 3"x1"). Pipe the batter into the molds. Place thin slices of plum on top and sprinkle with some more muscovado sugar.

Bake at 350F for about 20-25 minutes until golden brown. Wait until slightly cool to unmold them.

Post Title

→

Some Roasted Plums, Coconut Milk Risotto and Muscovado Cakes

Post URL

→

https://mercymadame.blogspot.com/2009/09/some-roasted-plums-coconut-milk-risotto.html

Visit Merci Madame for Daily Updated Wedding Dresses Collection

Fig, Hazelnut and Buckwheat Financiers and Some Fig and Champagne Sabayon Gratin

Figs have a very sentimental meaning for me. My grandparents' farm had an enormous fig tree right by their door step that only gave fruit for a very short time every year, but it was a time we anxiously waited for. For that short time, which lasted about a month, we had more figs than we knew what to do with. I remember they were so sweet that my mom would have to ration them so we didn't overdose in sugar. Green light skin with a rich red brownish flesh. Perfection.

And although we are a million days away from the cool temperatures of fall, I had to indulge in some figs to celebrate the beginning of September. In fact, I had a whole pint of figs for lunch a couple of days ago, skin and all, just like I used to eat them as a kid.



I brought home all the kinds I could find black mission, brown turkey and sierra figs. The brown turkey turned out to be the ripest and juiciest.

I wanted something rich and nutty to go with them, so I made an unconventional financier batter with the addition of hazelnut, buckwheat flour and some lemon zest to balance the richness. The buckwheat almost gives it a chocolate note to the cake, which I thought was perfect topped with the fresh figs and chopped hazelnuts.

For the few figs I had left, I made a gratin with a light champagne sabayon. I know there is no alcohol allowed during pregnancy, but I had to take a bit. A small bite, but oh so worth it!



Finally, I wanted to tell you about a brief interview I did for the UK's The Times as part of the "50 of the world's best food blogs". You can read it here.

And if you are still curious about me, you can read another interview with Nicole Hill Gerulat of "A Little Sussy" as part of her "Friday Features" (one of my favorite weekly columns). You can read it here.



Fig, Hazelnut and Buckwheat Financiers

Makes 4 mini loaves

120 grams egg whites
125 grams sugar
Zest of half a lemon
55 grams hazelnut flour, toasted and cooled
55 grams buckwheat flour
150 grams brown butter, cooled

Fresh figs, quartered
Hazelnuts, toasted and chopped

Place the butter in a small saucepan and cook it until the milk solids start to caramelize on the bottom. It will smell like roasted nuts. Remove from heat and strain it though a fine sieve. Let it cool but do not refrigerate it.

Toast the hazelnut flour at 350F for about 5 minutes and let it cool.

In a bowl, whisk together the egg whites, sugar and lemon zest. Add the buckwheat flour, toasted hazelnut flour and whisk. Add the cooled brown butter and whisk.

Refrigerate the mixture for about 4 hours. Place the batter in a pastry bag fitted with a plain tip and pipe the batter into greased molds. Bake at 350F for about 22 minutes.

Place the figs on top and sprinkle with chopped hazelnuts.

Fig and Champagne Sabayon Gratin

1 pint fresh figs, halved
6 egg yolks
100 grams sugar
150 ml champagne
200 grams heavy cream, soft peak
Maple sugar to caramelize

To make the sabayon, whisk the egg yolks, sugar and champagne together in the bowl of an electric mixer. Place the bowl over a double boiler. Cook the sabayon while constantly whisking until it thickens. Transfer to bowl to the mixer and whip until cool. Refrigerate for about 2 hours.

Fold the soft peak heavy cream into the sabayon base.

Place the halved figs in a heatproof dish. Spoon the sabayon on top and sprinkle with maple sugar. Caramelize with blow torch or under broiler.

Post Title

→

Fig, Hazelnut and Buckwheat Financiers and Some Fig and Champagne Sabayon Gratin

Post URL

→

https://mercymadame.blogspot.com/2009/09/fig-hazelnut-and-buckwheat-financiers.html

Visit Merci Madame for Daily Updated Wedding Dresses Collection