A Day With Apricots And A Few Days Off

I woke up Friday morning feeling lighter.

"Did you know I am finished photographing all the recipes from the book?" I asked C. Yes, I was. I am. And it feels wonderful. I am sure as time passes and I revisit the same recipes and images over and over again, there will be many changes I will want to make, but for not, this is it.

I still have quite a bit of writing to do, but as of this week, I am a month away from turning in my manuscript. I can't even tell you how exciting that is for me.



When I woke up Friday, I decided my weekend would start early. C. and Jon had made plans on their own, so I was going to have Miren all to myself. We were going to have alone time, which doesn't happen often.



We took a walk to the park early, before the scourging sun made an appearance. Unfortunately, that didn't last very long. The heat forced us back inside.

I prepared a light pea soup (a variation of this one) that we ate with Idiazabal and radish tartines.

"Miren, jaten!" I let her know. It was time to come to the table for lunch. She runs and climbs on her chair ready to eat.



In the afternoon, as she napped, I made a batch of shortbreads, coconut rice pudding, and this gluten and dairy free apricot and pistachio clafoutis.

I took time to photograph and organize all my images while I listened to music (obsessing over this as of late). It was nice and quiet, just what I needed.

"Ama!" I heard coming from upstairs. Miren was up. She was ready for my clafoutis.



This week, the kids and I are flying to Vermont to see my friend Nadia and her new farm. There will be fresh air, beautiful scenery, and lots of blueberry picking. I cannot wait.

I will be back soon.

Enjoy.



Gluten and Dairy Free Apricot and Pistachio Clafoutis

Makes a 10-inch deep dish

1/4 cup (40 g) shelled and unsalted pistachios
3 tablespoons (25 g) cornstarch
3 eggs
1/2 cup (100 g) natural cane sugar
1/2 vanilla bean, split lengthwise and seeds scraped
1 1/4 cup unsweetened full-fat coconut milk
1 tablespoon melted ghee or coconut oil
6 apricots, halved and pit removed

Preheat oven to 400F (200C). Grind the pistachios and 1 tablespoon of cornstarch together in the food processor to a fine powder.

Whisk together the eggs, sugar, and vanilla seeds. Whisk in the pistachio powder and rest of cornstarch until smooth. Add coconut milk and melted ghee.

Grease your dish. Arrange the apricot halves around the dish and pour custard over.

Bake for 30 minutes or until center is set.

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Seeking Comfort with an Avocado, Apple and Poached Salmon Soup

If you have been following this blog for some time, it will be no surprise to you that I have a tremendous sense of melancholy and nostalgia when it comes to food and all memories associated with it.

I very much romanticize about the act of cooking and eating.



Through the process of writing this book, I have dug deep into my childhood and growing up in a family of cooks. It seems as though every important event in my life has an aroma and taste associated with it. Whether it may be the smell of wet dirt still attached to the roots of leeks in the winter or the crackling sound of olive oil poached potatoes, food is the background of many of the stories of my life.

The soundtrack of my life. Yo La Tengo and food.



I spent large part of last week writing food-related stories, both past and current. I felt the connection to my past and I recognized an enhanced romanticism when I wrote about it.

"Was it all this wonderful?" I thought to myself. So hard to distinguish sometimes. I thought about it a lot over the weekend. I'm sure you relate to this feeling as well.



I can be in my head quite a bit sometimes and by Saturday, I started to feel a bit homesick. Too much thinking and too much writing drove me to the edge of exhaustion.

I called my best friend Jill who even from Italy, manages to sense how I am doing. "I cannot read your blog sometimes" she said. "I know you too well for that".

I got it. I knew what she meant.



I had finished and submitted another book chapter to my editor by Saturday, so I took the weekend off from thinking, writing, editing, and all things work-related.

I quickly blended a soup of avocados, cucumber, and apple. Served it with olive oil-poached salmon, radishes, and watercress.

For dessert, last year's apricot tart. The simplest tart you can make.



I needed to experience cooking and food in a practical way, not always needing to associate it to an emotion or a feeling.

But is that even possible?

Not sure I am good at that, especially when I end up photographing what I have cooked. Then, food takes another dimension once again as photographing means recreating the moment, the mood in which this dish was created. Photographing means creating an emotion.

I just cannot escape it.



Avocado and Apple Soup with Poached Salmon

Serves 4

8 oz salmon
1/4 tsp salt
1/8 tsp black pepper
1/4 cup olive oil

2 ripe avocados, peeled, pit removed and diced
1 medium green apple, peeled, cored and diced
1 medium cucumber, peeled, seeded and diced
1/4 cup diced yellow onion
Juice of half a lemon
2 1/2 cups vegetable stock
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
1/4 cup thinly sliced radishes
1/4 cup sliced green onions
Watercress

Season the salmon with salt and pepper. In a small saute pan, heat the olive oil over medium heat until warm. Submerge the salmon and let it cook slowly for 5 to 7 minutes until the outside is no longer opaque but center is still slightly pink.

Meanwhile, puree the avocados, apple, cucumber, onion, vegetable stock, salt and pepper in a blender. Adjust seasoning. It will be thick. Add more stock if desired.

Serve the soup at room temperature with the flaked salmon, radishes, green onions and some watercress leaves.

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Bella Cerise Apricot and Raspberry Frozen Mousse, Martha and Packing Our Bags

Last week was a whirlwind of events and travel. I packed my bags and my little M. and flew out to New York to attend the Martha Stewart Blogger party. It was so fantastic to finally meet editors and fellow bloggers in person and catch up with friends I hadn't seen in a while like Amy, Karen, Nole, Maria or Joanna.

One of the highlights was to finally meet Alice, Olga, Jordan and Matt who are also charter members of Martha's Circle. We were so lucky to have a private tour of their building and offices with access to their test kitchens, prop room (my goodness!!!) and photography studios. Martha herself came out to say hello and more than one shed a tear from sheer excitement.



It was so inspiring and overwhelming to be there with so many creative minds in one room. So many amazing people to meet and greet and express my love to. Yes, I did that. When I am in a room with such energy, I tend to spill my guts out. I was even able to bring M. to the party and she of course, loved all the attention.

I wasn't able to take any good photos for you, but you can check out Amy's, Alice's and Matt's posts.



We arrived home late Friday night. The house was quiet. Everyone was asleep. M. had crashed on the plane, so when I put her down for the night, I went down to the kitchen. My mind couldn't relax after all the excitement from the previous days. I started to recall the amazing lunch we had at ABC Kitchen or the caramel crunch doughnut I ate at Babycakes.

Then, I noticed the beautiful red apricots on the dining room table. Belle Cerise apricots. Bright pinkish red skin with bright orange flesh. I ate one and it was juicy like a plum, but tasted just like an apricot. "Perfect", I thought.



The next morning I woke up to a little boy standing right next to my bed, asking a million questions about my trip, the places I had seen and the people I had met. He remembered Amy and the bakugans. Don't ask... things only 4 year old boys know about. I peeled the apricots while I listened to the stories about the zoo, raccoons on the loose and all the sea shells gathered at the beach. Priceless.

We made this super creamy apricot and raspberry swirl frozen mousse that was perfect for the hot afternoon. The next day, we made a simple crumble that I flavored with lots of fresh lemon and lemon thyme. If you have not used herbs in your crumble topping yet, you should. Amazing.



This week we leave for Bilbao. I will be traveling with both kids alone. I actually should be packing or at least thinking about packing right now, but for some reason it seems like a daunting task.

We will be home for three weeks. I will be posting photos from our trip with lots of food, I promise. There is always food in the Basque Country. I will also be taping a show for Robin Food, so be sure to stay tuned for that one!

See you soon!

Bella Cerise and Raspberry Swirl Frozen Mousse

3 eggs
3 egg yolks
3/4 cup (150 grams) sugar
1/3 cup (100 grams) apricot puree
2 cups (450 ml) heavy cream, whipped to soft peaks
1 1/2 cups (150 grams) raspberries
1 Tbs sugar

Whip the heavy cream to soft peaks and keep in the refrigerator until ready to use.

Puree the raspberries and the sugar and set aside.

Place the eggs, egg yolks and sugar in the bowl of an electric stand mixer. Place the bowl over a water bath and whip the eggs and sugar mixture for about 5 minutes until it thickens. Transfer the bowl to the mixer and continue whipping in high speed until the eggs have cooled. It will be thick. Fold in the apricot puree, followed by the soft peak cream.

Transfer the cream to a glass or metal baking dish or small jars. Spoon in some of the raspberry puree and make swirls through the apricot cream with a spoon or wooden skewer.

Transfer to the freezer and serve frozen.

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Apricot, Pistachio and Lemon Shortbread Tart

It is always this time of year when the weather gets too hot to be outside when I start getting anxious to travel and I become even more melancholic about all my friends and family back home. Beaches flooded with people anxious to soak in the sunshine after a rainy spring. I too remember those times and I miss them.



This weekend, I found myself looking through the pages of Martin Berasategui's "Calendario de Nuestra Cocina Tradicional". It is one of my favorite Basque cookbooks as it depicts very well the seasonal approach to our cooking with emphasis on the quality of our raw ingredients and always with a modern approach.

The summer chapter is filled with colorful tomatoes, green peppers from Gernika, pisto, fruit salads. Just the colors alone are so inspiring.



I love seeing all the fruit stands filled with stone fruits and berries. It reminds me of my childhood and how my dad always filled up a cooler full of peaches, nectarines, apricot, saturn peaches or any other summer fruit when we took day trips to the beach or to the French border. Lots of fruit, tortilla and bread.



And when I came home with a bag full of apricots this week, I decided to make a simple tart. I know there are thousands of different ways of cooking with stone fruits, but for some reason, I always must have a tart. They are the perfect match and the simpler the tart the better.

This time I made a super quick gluten-free lemon shortbread recipe to fill the bottom of the tart pan. No need to roll it out. It is one of those doughs that you just press into the pan. Add some chopped pistachios on the bottom and fill the tart with fresh apricots. Lots of them tightly packed. Sprinkle some sugar, dab a bit of butter and a drizzle of honey. Simple and perfect for summer.



The fruit salad was also simple. I placed some yogurt over cheesecloth overnight and let it drain most of the whey. The next morning, you will have a thick yogurt that is perfect for a fruit salad with some honey. Kids love to arrange the fruit on the plate and dip it in the yogurt.



We are off to Seattle this week. I hear the weather is cool. It will be the perfect break from the Florida heat. Time with friends and family that we haven't seen in a long time. Can't wait to share with you photos and hopefully great meal reports.

Apricot, Pistachio and Lemon Shortbread Tart

makes a 10" tart or 8 individual tarts

225 grams butter or non-hydrogenated shortening
110 grams powdered sugar
Zest of 1 lemon
1/2 tsp vanilla
170 grams superfine brown rice flour
110 grams cornstarch
30 grams tapioca starch
pinch of salt
chopped pistachios
sugar for topping
10-12 apricots
lemon thyme leaves, optional
honey, optional

Cream the butter and powdered sugar together. Add the zest and vanilla extract. Add the dry ingredients and mix until combined.

Press the dough into tart molds. Refrigerate the dough for about 30 minutes.

Cut the apricots into thin wedges. Sprinkle the chopped pistachios on the bottom of the tarts. Arrange the apricot slices inside tightly packed as they will shrink in the oven. Sprinkle more pistachios on top and some sugar.

Bake at 375F for about 30 minutes until golden. Drizzle honey and add some lemon thyme leaves on top, if desired.

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Daring Bakers and a Strudel Dough

It is once again time for a Daring Bakers challenge and this time, no other than strudel dough. It has been years since I have made strudel dough and if I think about it hard enough, I think I have not made it since culinary school. A long time.

I was pressed for time once again and I thought long and hard about what to do with this challenge, when suddenly, I remembered the individual strudel rolls that Claudia Fleming features in her book "The Last Course". I thought it'd be a great idea to make individual strudels and pair them with ice cream.



I made the strudel dough twice. I was fairly successful the first time resulting in a really thin dough with minimal tears and only a few wrinkles, but I have to admit I ended up with lots of unusable, dry scraps of dough just because I was not working quickly enough. I wanted to try it again as I felt more comfortable with the task and mostly, because C. brought home some great looking apricots.

I filled the first batch of dough with bananas and pistachio crumble and the second one with the fresh apricots and the same pistachio crumble. I thought creme fraiche ice cream would be a great side for the warm and crumbly strudel rolls and found the perfect recipe in David Lebovitz's "Perfect Scoop".



This really was an easy strudel dough recipe and did not find any complications with it. If the dough has been kneaded enough so that some gluten has been developed and then rested so this gluten relaxes, the dough is very easy to handle and stretch. I will definitely use this recipe again.



The May Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Linda of make life sweeter! and Courtney of Coco Cooks. They chose Apple Strudel from the recipe book Kaffeehaus: Exquisite Desserts from the Classic Cafés of Vienna, Budapest and Prague by Rick Rodgers.

Strudel Dough

adapted from “Kaffeehaus – Exquisite Desserts from the Classic Cafés of Vienna, Budapest and Prague” by Rick Rodgers

1 1/3 cups (200 g) unbleached flour
1/8 teaspoon salt
7 tablespoons (105 ml) water, plus more if needed
2 tablespoons (30 ml) vegetable oil, plus additional for coating the dough
1/2 teaspoon cider vinegar

1. Combine the flour and salt in a stand-mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Mix the water, oil and vinegar in a measuring cup. Add the water/oil mixture to the flour with the mixer on low speed. You will get a soft dough. Make sure it is not too dry, add a little more water if necessary.
Take the dough out of the mixer. Change to the dough hook. Put the dough ball back in the mixer. Let the dough knead on medium until you get a soft dough ball with a somewhat rough surface.

2. Take the dough out of the mixer and continue kneading by hand on an unfloured work surface. Knead for about 2 minutes. Pick up the dough and throw it down hard onto your working surface occasionally.
Shape the dough into a ball and transfer it to a plate. Oil the top of the dough ball lightly. Cover the ball tightly with plastic wrap. Allow to stand for 30-90 minutes (longer is better).

3. It would be best if you have a work area that you can walk around on all sides like a 36 inch (90 cm) round table or a work surface of 23 x 38 inches (60 x 100 cm). Cover your working area with table cloth, dust it with flour and rub it into the fabric. Put your dough ball in the middle and roll it out as much as you can.
Pick the dough up by holding it by an edge. This way the weight of the dough and gravity can help stretching it as it hangs. Using the back of your hands to gently stretch and pull the dough. You can use your forearms to support it.

4. The dough will become too large to hold. Put it on your work surface. Leave the thicker edge of the dough to hang over the edge of the table. Place your hands underneath the dough and stretch and pull the dough thinner using the backs of your hands. Stretch and pull the dough until it's about 2 feet (60 cm) wide and 3 feet (90 cm) long, it will be tissue-thin by this time. Cut away the thick dough around the edges with scissors.

5. Start working quickly after this point as the dough will start to dry out. If you want to make individual rolls, cut rectangular strips that are about 4.5"x7.5" long using scissors. I cut them as I was filling them so I didn't have to move the dough much.

6. Brush the dough lightly with melted butter, dust with a light coating of sifted powdered sugar, a sprinkle of chopped pistachios and then place the filling on the bottom of the shortest sides. Roll the strudel and place it on a baking sheet lined with parchment seam-side down. Continue until all the dough has been used.

7. Note: the first time around I got about a dozen rolls and ended up with lots of scraps just because I was too slow and the dough kept drying on me. The second time around, I worked faster and got about 18 rolls and less scraps. It's all a matter of practice.

Apricot and Pistachio Crumble Filling

4 apricots, cut into small dice
20 grams sugar
100 grams pistachio crumble
melted butter
powdered sugar
finely chopped pistachios

1. Place the raw crumble on a sheetpan lined with parchment and bake it at 350F for about 5 minutes until lightly golden. Let it cool completely.

2. Toss the apricots and sugar together. Mix with crumble and fill the strudel following directions mentioned above.

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The Dairy Experiments: Mamia

After the fun we had with the petit suisse experiment, Helen and I decided to try another experiment together. When she asked me what I wanted to do this time, I instantly told her about mamia, a traditional Basque dessert, which Helen had tasted years ago in one of her trips to the French Basque Country. She mentioned she wanted to attempt to replicate her father's favorite cheese, faisselle, which she said is very similar to mamia.

These experiments are very much driven by childhood memories and nostalgia. Here she was wanting to make her father's favorite cheese and here I was, remembering the times my father used to take me up to the mountain of Gorbea to visit a sheep herder he knew.

Mamia, also known as gatzatua or cuajada in other parts of Spain, is a creamy dessert made from ewe's milk. Very similar to yogurt in texture, but completely different taste. Mamia is mild and not acidic. It used to be a very seasonal product since ewe's milk was only available during the spring months but nowadays, it is readily available in the yogurt aisle of many supermarkets. Although being able to eat mamia all year round is very convenient, I love the idea of waiting twelve months to enjoy something so precious. It was usually a neighbor or a close friend who brought us the ewe's milk and my mom would make the mamia for us. Always a treat, given and received with great love and appreciation.




In theory, mamia is one of the easiest desserts one can make. Ewe's milk is heated, cooled to body temperature, a few drops of rennet are added, then poured into clay jars and left to coagulate. When we decided to do the experiment, I really wanted to see if I could find sheep's milk so I could replicate the dessert just as I remember it. I looked online and even called a couple of places but no one was selling it, so I settled for goat's milk. But this meant that some adjustments had to be made because goat's milk has a smaller milk solid and fat content than sheep's milk. I wanted to start by using goat's milk and rennet alone. Once I saw the result, I would be able me to make the necessary adjustments to compensate for the lack of fat and solid matter in the goat's milk.

As I imagined, my first batch did not set properly. The milk was still fairly liquid after 12 hours, so I decided to add some dry milk and heavy cream to the goat's milk and proceeded as before. This time it worked and the milk set beautifully.



Mamia is usually sweetened with honey or a bit of sugar and served with fruit compotes and nuts. This is exactly how I like it, simple and rustic. However, I wanted to reserve some to turn it into a more complex plated dessert using these traditional components as a basis. Mamia mousse, vanilla bean and apricot jelly, walnut nougatine crust and acacia honey ice cream.

Mamia

500 ml goat's milk
50 grams heavy cream
30 grams dry milk powder
pinch of salt
liquid rennet

Place the goat's milk with the heavy cream, dry milk powder and salt in a medium saucepan. Bring it up to a boil. Remove the pan from the heat and let the milk come down in temperature to 37C, which is about body temperature.

Place 3 drops of liquid rennet into 4 ramekins or glass jars. Divide the milk amongst the jars. Do not stir or move the jars. Let the milk set for an hour at room temperature until it sets and then refrigerate. They will stay good in the refrigerator for about 3 days.

Mamia Mousse

2 egg yolks
35 grams sugar
250 grams mamia
2 grams gelatin sheets
100 grams heavy cream, soft peaks

Whip the yolks with an electric mixer. In the meantime, cook the sugar with a bit of water to reach 240F. Pour the cooked sugar into the yolks and keep whipping until it thickens and it is cool to the touch.Fold in the mamia into the yolks.

Soften the gelatin in ice water for about 5 minutes. Melt the gelatin over a double boiler and add it to the egg yolk mixture while whisking so it doesn't set right away. Fold in the soft peak heavy cream. Pipe the mixture into the molds and refrigerate until it sets.

Honey Ice Cream

750 grams milk
75 grams heavy cream
165 grams acacia honey (or any honey you have available)
75 grams sugar
8 egg yolks
pinch salt

In a medium saucepan, bring the milk, heavy cream, salt and sugar to a boil. In the meantime, whisk the egg yolks with the honey. temper the boiling milk into the egg yolks and whisk. Place the ice cream base back in the pan and cook until it thickens slightly or to 84C.

Strain through a fine sieve and chill over an ice bath. Refrigerate the ice cream base overnight and churn in an ice cream machine. Freeze.

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Passion Fruit, Apricot and Vanilla Bean Cream Tart

I am a custard person. I love cakes, fruit pies, cookies and so on, but creamy custard, in any way shape or form, is my dessert of choice. And if the custard in question contains lots of mini specs of vanilla bean, then I'm in heaven.

After making the apricot pate de fruit a few days ago, I still had some apricot puree left in the freezer and a bit of passion fruit puree as well. I decided to use it all up by making a thin jam. The process is very similar to pate de fruit but the mixture is not cooked as long and not as much pectin is used resulting in a viscose jam.

As you might have noticed, sable breton is my favorite tart base and I use it many, many times, just as I did this time. This is a very simple tart with the sable breton, the passion fruit and apricot jam and the vanilla bean mousseline. I decorated it with a little bit of the apricot pate de fruit I had left over and it made a great stormy afternoon treat.


If you look closely at the photos, you can tell it is very humid here.  Look at the pate de fruit how it sweats... amazing.  Also, because I do not use any artificial lighting or flashes, my photos take a blue-grey hue when the sky is cloudy.  I didn't like that at first but I think it looks romantic now.  Subtle.



Sable Breton

160 grams sugar
160 grams salted butter
4 egg yolks
zest of half an orange
1/2 vanilla bean
225 grams unbleached all purpose flour
15 grams baking powder

In an electric mixer, cream the butter and the sugar together. Add the egg yolks, vanilla bean and the orange zest. Add the flour and baking powder combined until it comes together. Cover the dough with plastic wrap and let it rest in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours.

Roll out to about 1/2" thickness and cut 3" circles with a round cutter. Place the circles in molds and bake at 350F for about 20 minutes or until golden brown.

Passion Fruit and Apricot Jam

100 grams passion fruit puree
100 grams apricot puree
1/2 vanilla bean
75 grams sugar
30 grams glucose
20 grams sugar
4 grams pectin
15 grams lemon juice

Place the fruit purees in a small saucepan. Mix the 20 grams of sugar with the 4 grams of pectin. When the puree is about 100 degrees F, add the sugar and pectin mixture. Bring it to a boil and add the rest of the sugar and glucose. Bring to a boil. Remove the pan from the heat and add the lemon juice.

Transfer the jam into a clean bowl and lt it cool slightly before refrigerating it.

Vanilla Mousseline

250 grams whole milk
1/4 vanilla bean
50 grams egg yolk
75 grams sugar
25 grams cornstarch
125 grams butter, cut into medium pieces

Place the milk, half of the sugar and vanilla bean in a small saucepan. Separately, whisk together in a bowl the egg yolks, cornstarch and the other half of the sugar. Bring the milk to a boil and temper into the egg yolks. Return the custard to the saucepan and cook until it thickens.

Immediately, transfer the cream to a clean bowl and add the pieces of butter. Whisk until they melt into the custard. Place plastic wrap over the bowl touching the cream and refrigerate until cool.

Place the cream in a piping bag fitted with a round pastry tip and pipe the cream on top of the baked and cooled sable breton. Pipe some passion fruit and apricot jam in the middle and top with more mousseline cream.

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Apricot and Vanilla Bean Pate de Fruit

The abundance of stone fruits is making me go crazy. My head spins thinking about new recipes, how to visually display them, the vibrant colors, flavor combinations. My last three recipes have featured stone fruits, so this time I just had to take it slow and make something rather simple. Something like pate de fruit which I think is a perfect way to utilize stone fruits and yes, get an enormous sugar high!




This recipe makes a lot of pate de fruit so be ready to give some away. It will keep really well for days (the amount of sugar and the tartaric acid solution helps with that) but still... I don't think a family can handle so much sugar. Not even mine! So get out your pretty food packaging boxes or bags and make a list of friends and family to share these with!

Apricot and Vanilla Bean Pate de Fruit

Makes half a sheetpan

750 grams apricot puree
2 vanilla beans
18 grams yellow pectin
75 grams sugar
150 grams glucose
750 grams sugar
6 grams tartaric acid solution (equal parts water and tartaric acid)
12 grams peach liquer

Place the apricot puree and the vanilla bean seeds into a large pot with tall sides. Heat to about 45 degrees celsius (about 113 F).

In the meantime, mix the yellow pectin and the 75 grams of sugar in a bowl. Make sure they are thoroughly combined. If there are clusters of yellow pectin left unmixed with the sugar, this will leave undissolved gummy pieces of pectin in the finished product. So once the puree is warm, add the yellow pectin and sugar to it and whisk very well.

Bring the mixture to a boil and add the rest of the sugar and the glucose. Whisk well and let it boil and cook to 106 degrees Celsius (223F). Make sure to whisk often.

Turn the heat off and add the liquer and the tartaric acid solution. Whisk.

Pour into a half sheetpan lined with parchment paper or silicon mat. Let it set for about 2 hours or until it is completely cool and it has hardened.

Cut squares or different shapes and roll in sugar. Serve immediately. The uncut pate de fruit will keep for a few days lightly covered with plastic wrap. If you are in a humid climate like me, you might notice that it turns very sticky. That's from the humidity in the air melting the sugar.

Happy July 4th weekend to all of you and I will see you next week!

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Daring Bakers: Apricot, Passion Fruit and White Chocolate Opera

I cannot believe how fast time flies... it's already time for another Daring Bakers challenge! This month's challenge is hosted by the Daring Bakers founders, administrators and Zen Masters themselves Lisa from La Mia Cucina and Ivonne from Cream Puffs in Venice and co-hosted by Fran of Apples Peaches Pumpkin Pie and Shea of Whiskful.

This month's challenge is opera cake, not the traditional coffee and dark chocolate cake, but a light-colored opera. Any flavors or ingredients are allowed as long as the resulting cake is light. Spring is in the air! This month's challenge is also trying to draw attention to LiveSTRONG Day which was earlier this month.

I have been making a lot of opera cakes lately. I blogged about one of them a couple of months ago which was flavored with matcha, lemon and dark chocolate. My interpretation for this challenge includes the fruits that are in season, apricot and passion fruit. I made some changes to the recipe because I thought the egg yolk buttercream was a bit too rich for the overall cake. Instead I made a italian meringue buttercream and added some apricot puree to it. Then I added a small amount of passion fruit puree to the white chocolate mousse. I thought the sweetness of the white chocolate paired really nicely with the sweet but slightly tart apricots and the sour passion fruit. Overall it was a lovely cake and I thought it was very appropriate for the season, clean, refreshing and not overly sweet. We had a large cookout over Memorial Day weekend and I served it then along with other pies I made (more on that soon).




Joconde

6 large egg whites, at room temperature
2 tbsp. (30 grams) granulated sugar
2 cups (225 grams) ground blanched almonds
2 cups icing sugar, sifted
6 large eggs
½ cup (70 grams) all-purpose flour
3 tbsp. (1½ ounces; 45 grams) unsalted butter, melted and cooled

Preheat the oven to 425◦F. Line three quarter sheetpans with parchment paper and brush with melted butter.

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment (or using a handheld mixer), beat the egg whites until they form soft peaks. Add the granulated sugar and beat until the peaks are stiff and glossy. If you do not have another mixer bowl, gently scrape the meringue into another bowl and set aside.

If you only have one bowl, wash it after removing the egg whites or if you have a second bowl, use that one. Attach the paddle attachment to the stand mixer (or using a handheld mixer again) and beat the almonds, icing sugar and eggs on medium speed until light and voluminous, about 3 minutes. Add the flour and beat on low speed until the flour is just combined (be very careful not to overmix here!!!).

Using a rubber spatula, gently fold the meringue into the almond mixture and then fold in the melted butter. Divide the batter between the pans and spread it evenly to cover the entire surface of each pan.

Bake the cake layers until they are lightly browned and just springy to the touch. This could take anywhere from 5 to 9 minutes depending on your oven. Put the pans on a heatproof counter and run a sharp knife along the edges of the cake to loosen it from the pan. Cover each with a sheet of parchment or wax paper, turn the pans over, and unmold. Carefully peel away the parchment, then turn the parchment over and use it to cover the cakes. Let the cakes cool to room temperature.

Syrup

½ cup (125 grams) water
⅓ cup (65 grams) granulated sugar
1 to 2 tbsp. Kirsch

Stir water and sugar together in the saucepan and bring to a boil. Remove the syrup from heat and add the kirsch when it has cooled slightly.

Apricot Buttercream

100 grams egg whites
200 grams sugar
300 grams unsalted butter at room temperature
50 grams apricot puree (or to taste)

Combine the sugar, water in a small saucepan and warm over medium heat just until the sugar dissolves. Continue to cook, without stirring, until the syrup reaches 240◦F on a candy or instant-read thermometer. Once it reaches that temperature, remove the syrup from the heat.

While the syrup is heating, begin whisking the egg whites at high speed in the bowl of your mixer using the whisk attachment. Whisk until soft peaks form.

When the sugar syrup reaches the correct temperature and you remove it from the heat, reduce the mixer speed to low speed and begin slowly (very slowly) pouring the syrup down the side of the bowl being very careful not to splatter the syrup into the path of the whisk attachment. Some of the syrup will spin onto the sides of the bowl but don’t worry about this and don’t try to stir it into the mixture as it will harden!

Raise the speed to medium-high and continue beating until the egg whites are thick and the mixture is cool to the touch (about 5 minutes or so).

While the egg mixture is beating, place the softened butter in a bowl and mash it with a spatula until you have a soft creamy mass. With the mixer on medium speed, begin adding in two-tablespoon chunks. When all the butter has been incorporated, raise the mixer speed to high and beat until the buttercream is thick and shiny. At this point add passion fruit puree and beat for an additional minute or so.

White Chocolate and Passion Fruit Mousse

7 ounces white chocolate
1 cup plus 3 tbsp. heavy cream
1 tbsp. passion fruit puree

Melt the white chocolate and the 3 tbsp. of heavy cream in a small saucepan. Stir to ensure that it’s smooth and that the chocolate is melted. Add the tablespoon of passion fruit to the chocolate and stir. Set aside to cool completely.

In the bowl of a stand mixer, whip the remaining 1 cup of heavy cream until soft peaks form. Gently fold the whipped cream into the cooled chocolate to form a mousse.

Assembling the Opéra Cake

Place one square of cake on the baking sheet and moisten it gently with the flavoured syrup. Spread about one-third of the buttercream over this layer. Refrigerate until it hardens. Then spread a third of the white chocolate mousse on top.

Top with joconde. Moisten with the flavoured syrup. Spread another third of the buttercream on the cake, refrigerate, spread another layer of white chocolate mousse on top and then top with the third square of joconde. Use the remaining syrup to wet the joconde. Spread the remaining buttercream on top of the final layer of joconde and then refrigerate and finish with the last layer of mousse. Refrigerate for at least 4 hours.

In a bowl, mix a little bit of gold dust powder with a few drops of vodka. With a brush, paint some of the gold on top of the opera. Let it dry for a couple of minutes and cover the entire cake with clear glaze.

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Daring Bakers: Apricot, Passion Fruit and White Chocolate Opera

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https://mercymadame.blogspot.com/2008/05/daring-bakers-apricot-passion-fruit-and.html

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