Greens, Roasted Beets and Afternoon Gelato

Like many of you, I spend a few days cleansing at the beginning of every new year. Cleansing my house, my clutter, my mind and my body. There are several large trash bags filled with toys and unnecessary things waiting to be donated. This makes me feel both better and guilty. Better because I cannot function surrounded by clutter, yet guilty because it highlights how wasteful we can manage to be. I am striving for a more austere year in the material realm. I will let you know how that goes. Something tells me I will be challenged.

But back to cleansing my body.



Perhaps what I call cleansing is really not a strict cleansing diet as many experts would define it. I don't limit my foods to juices. Maybe I should, but since I am a pretty healthy eater as is, I just try to eliminate certain extras, like red meat, dairy, sugar or too many grains. My skin is actually the first organ to notice. It feels good.

Unfortunately, this doesn't mean everyone around me is on board.



Last week I was feeling particularly good about my choices after a roasted beet, greens, pistachio and chia seed salad lunch. Had a blood orange for dessert followed by a cup of ginger tea. Then the phone rang. "Is it ok if we stop over for a bit?", asked J. "Of course!".

And there I was five minutes later, faced with a pint of toasted almond gelato. I pulled out some crumble from the freezer, baked it and made everyone a nice bowl of blood orange segments, topped with almond crumble and toasted almond gelato. And what can I say, not what I had intended, but a great way to spend the afternoon nonetheless.



Roasted Beet, Greens, Pistachio and Chia Seed Salad

makes 1 serving

1/2 lb. baby beets, golden and red
2 cups mixed greens (romaine, spinach, watercress, beet greens)
1/2 medium spring onion, thinly sliced
1 Tbs unsalted pistachios, chopped
1 Tbs chia seeds
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper
1 tsp grainy mustard
2 tsp hazelnut oil
1 Tbs olive oil

Trim the tops of the baby beets. Wash them and toss them on a baking sheet with a drizzle of olive oil and a pinch of salt. Bake them in a 400F oven for about 30 minutes or until tender. Let them cool a bit and then peel them. The skin should come right off.

Mix the greens, sliced beets, onion and pistachios in a bowl.

Make the vinaigrette by whisking the chia seeds, salt, mustard, hazelnut oil and olive oil together. Pour over the salad and toss.

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Greens, Roasted Beets and Afternoon Gelato

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Tuile Madness with the Daring Bakers

January has flown by and here we are at the end of the month with another Daring Bakers challenge. It is tuile madness this month.

We were given three tuile recipes. We had to choose one and build a dessert around it. A pretty simple task that had my brain spinning for days. "What to do, what to do". Sometimes simple doesn't mean easy, but that is what I liked about the challenge. It is wide open to each individual's imagination.



Although I only followed one of the recipes given to us, I created similar tuiles with slightly different methods.

I had many ice creams and sorbets in the freezer so immediately thought about making chocolate and vanilla ice cream cones with the sugar tuile recipe. I paired the cones with chocolate and devonshire lemon ice creams. I was really inspired by the bi-color Italian cookies we used to eat with ice cream growing up.



Then came the chocolate tuiles. The recipe we were given called for dark chocolate and almonds, but I decided to use white chocolate and vanilla bean instead. I paired it with lemon streusel and blood orange sorbet. I love the contrast of the vanilla specs next to the white chocolate and the sweet and sour flavor combination.



Finally, and the most delicate of them all, are these nougatine cannelloni that were inspired by a recipe I learned from chef Christophe Michalak a few years ago. I remember having to make them for an entire week for a special we had at the restaurant where I was working. Every day, I guarded those little cannellonis with my life because the slightest movement could crush them into a million pieces. One must be gentle with these, but the result is out of this world.

They are filled with gianduja chantilly and they just dissolve in your mouth.



Vanilla and Chocolate Tuiles

adapted from “The Chocolate Book” by Master Chef Angélique Schmeinck.

65 grams / ¼ cup / 2.3 ounces softened butter (not melted but soft)
60 grams / ½ cup / 2.1 ounces sifted confectioner’s sugar
1 sachet vanilla sugar (7 grams or substitute with a dash of vanilla extract)
2 large egg whites (slightly whisked with a fork)
65 grams / 1/2 cup / 2.3 ounces sifted all purpose flour
1 table spoon cocoa powder
A couple of drops of red food coloring

Oven: 180C / 350F

Using a hand whisk or a stand mixer fitted with the paddle (low speed) and cream butter, sugar and vanilla to a paste. Keep stirring while you gradually add the egg whites. Continue to add the flour in small batches and stir to achieve a homogeneous and smooth batter/paste. Be careful to not overmix.

Mix a small amount of the batter with red food coloring and some with cocoa powder.

Cover the bowls with plastic wrap and chill in the fridge for at least 30 minutes to firm up. (This batter will keep in the fridge for up to a week, take it out 30 minutes before you plan to use it).

Line a baking sheet with a silicon mat. Place a stencil with a circle cut out (about 4" in diameter) on the mat. Press the stencil on the bakingsheet and use an offset spatula to spread the chocolate and vanilla batters. Leave some room in between your shapes. Place the red batter in a paper piping bag and pipe lines on the circles.

Bake in a preheated oven (180C/350F) for about 5-10 minutes or until the edges turn golden brown. Immediately release from baking sheet and proceed to shape into cornettes. Keep them in an airtight container until ready to use.

Devonshire Cream and Lemon Ice Cream

adapted from "Frozen Desserts" by Chef Migoya

450 grams whole milk
Zest of 3 medium lemons
180 grams sugar
100 grams egg yolks
375 grams devonshire cream

Place the whole milk, lemon zest and half of the sugar in a medium saucepan and bring to a boil. In a separate bowl, whisk together the egg yolks and the rest of the sugar. Temper the hot milk mixture into the egg yolk base and whisk. Return this to the saucepan and cook to 84C.

Remove the saucepan from the heat and add the devonshire cream. Whisk to break up any lumps. Strain the whole ice cream base through a fine sieve into a clean bowl.

Chill the mixture in an ice bath and once cool, refrigerate overnight. Churn the base in ice cream machine.

Nougatine Cannelloni

adapted from Christophe Michalak

150 grams fondant patissier
100 grams glucose
87.5 grams slivered blanched almonds
12.5 grams butter

Cook glucose and fondant to 180C. Remove from heat and add the almonds and butter. Spread this on a silicon mat and let it cool completely. Grind to a fine powder in a food processor.

Place the powder in a sieve and dust over a rectangular stencil that is placed on a silicon mat. Sprinkle enough to cover the entire surface but not too much. We want a thin nougatine.

Lift up stencil from the mat carefully and bake in a 375F oven for about 4 minutes until lightly golden and the sugar lightly melts. Let the nougatine cool for about 30 seconds on the hot baking sheet and when pliable, roll around a cylinder forming a tube. Work quickly so the nougatine doesn't harden and break. If cools down too fast, you can return the nougatine to the oven to warm up.

Store in an airtight container until ready to use.

Gianduja Chantilly

250 grams heavy cream
100 grams gianduja

Boil the cream and pour over the gianduja. Stir until the gianduja is completely melted. Refrigerate this ganache overnight and whip to thick ribbon when ready to use.

Place cream in a pastry bag and pipe into the nougatine tubes. Serve right away.

White Chocolate and Vanilla Bean Tuiles

100 grams white couverture pistoles
1 vanilla bean

Temper the couverture, and stir in the vanilla bean seeds. Take some of the couverture with the tip of an offset spatula and spread over acetate paper strips. Place the strips on a tuile pan to shape them before the chocolate hardens. Let the tuiles sit at room temperature to harden completely.

Blood Orange Sorbet

250 grams blood orange juice
110 grams sugar
2 grams sorbet stabilizer
60 grams atomized glucose
200 grams water

Place water in a saucepan and heat slightly. Add the atomized glucose, whisk and bring to a boil. Mix the sugar and the sorbet stabilizer in a bowl and add to the boiling syrup. Whisk and return syrup to a boil. Remove from heat.

Refrigerate the syrup for at least 4 hours. Add the blood orange juice to the syrup and churn in ice cream machine. Freeze.

This month's challenge is brought to us by Karen of Bake My Day and Zorra of 1x umruehren bitte aka Kochtopf. They have chosen Tuiles from The Chocolate Book by Angélique Schmeink and Nougatine and Chocolate Tuiles from Michel Roux.

Please visit other Daring Bakers to see their interpretations of the challenge.

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Tuile Madness with the Daring Bakers

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Blood Orange, Key Lime and Kumquat Sorbet

Inspired by all the citrus available and the color palettes for spring, I started a crazy sorbet making spree last week. I made sorbet of all fruit I encountered at the store and we have been enjoying the refreshing treats every afternoon. All this abundant fruit makes me very happy.

I know many of you are in the dead of winter, surrounded by snow and frigid temperatures, but I can have ice cream and sorbet all year round regardless of the temperature outside. In fact, we have been experiencing some chilly temperatures as well, but not even that is enough to keep me away from the freezer.




The combination of theses three sorbets is almost like a symphony of color and taste. I know, I know, it sounds cheesy when I say it that way, but it's true. There are different levels of sour in these sorbets and they compliment each other very well.

Squeezing the tiny key limes one after another took its time, but it was so worth it. The flavor is so pungent, sour and vibrant. The sorbet is by far the most sour of them all, but it balances out perfectly the sweetness of the kumquat sorbet, which is the "mildest" of the bunch.

Blood oranges must have the most special color of all the fruit and once turned into sorbet, it turns into this bubblegum pink that not even C could resist. This was my favorite sorbet of the three, not too sweet not too sour. So here is to sorbet in the middle of winter!



Kumquat Sorbet

400 grams kumquat puree
600 grams simple syrup (50% water and 50% sugar)

Whisk together the kumquat puree and simple syrup and chill in the refrigerator for a few hours. Churn in ice cream machine.

Kumquat Puree

800 grams kumquats
Water to cover, 3 batches

Place kumquats in a medium saucepan and add enough water to cover them. Bring to a boil. Drain the kumquats and repeat the process two more times with fresh water every time. This removes some of the bitterness from the fruit.

Place the cooked kumquats in the food processor or a blender and puree. Strain the puree through a fine sieve. You should get about 400 grams of kumquat puree.

Key Lime Sorbet

480 grams simple syrup (50% water and 50% sugar)
420 grams key lime juice

Combine both components and chill in the refrigerator for a few hours. Churn in ice cream machine and freeze.

Blood Orange Sorbet

This sorbet uses ingredients that might be difficult to get for some of you, but the resulting sorbet has great texture and mouth feel. If you prefer, you could follow the same recipe as for the key lime sorbet but using the blood orange juice instead.

250 grams blood orange juice
110 grams sugar
2 grams sorbet stabilizer
60 grams atomized glucose
200 grams water

Place water in a saucepan and heat slightly. Add the atomized glucose, whisk and bring to a boil. Mix the sugar and the sorbet stabilizer in a bowl and add to the boiling syrup. Whisk and return syrup to a boil. Remove from heat.

Refrigerate the syrup for at least 4 hours. Add the blood orange juice to the syrup and churn in ice cream machine. Freeze.

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Blood Orange, Key Lime and Kumquat Sorbet

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