Sunday, June 29, 2008

Daring Bakers—Danish Braid

Coffee and Danish
This month, the Daring Bakers were asked to make a Danish braid the original Danish way, making layers of flaky, buttery pastry. It’s a laminated dough, similar to puff pastry, but with sugar and fewer turns. Tough. Daring. I’ve only made laminated dough once before, so I called in an expert, a friend’s mom who has made puff pastry many times and hundreds of breads.

To me, a Danish from the local bakery or grocery store is usually a stale, pastry with some blah fruit on top and a sticky drizzle of icing. But, freshly-made-from-your-own-oven Danish pastry is a whole other delight and worth the hours of rolling and waiting.

Kneading Dough & Braided Danish PastryKaffee and Wienerbrød
A Danish in Denmark is not a Danish. This pastry is known as Wienerbrød in Danish, meaning Vienna bread. In Northern European countries and France, this pastry is referred to as “Viennese”. In Austria and Germany, this pastry is referred to as “Kopenhagener Gebäck”.

Thanks to a bakers' strike by the Danes in the late 19th century, bakers from Vienna were brought in as replacements, and with them came Wienerbrød.

You can use the Danish pastry to make bear's claws, crescents, envelopes, palm leaves, pinwheels, pretzel shapes (called kringles), and snails. Our task was to make a braid. We could use any filling choice we wanted as long as it was homemade.

Fillings
A filling for Danish pastry can be anything: from pastry cream with jam to cream cheese and fruit, to something savory.

I chose to make cinnamon pastry cream with a strawberry-raspberry-rhubarb-orange-lavender filling. I also filled one with homemade blueberry jam. And in another, we used ground almonds, raisins, and icing sugar.

50-year-old Recipe for Danish Pastry

Danish Pastry Recipe - handwritten 50 years agoWhen I called my friend’s mom for her expertise and help with this recipe, she asked if we could also make a recipe for Danish Pastry that her friend from cooking school gave her 50 years ago that she's been meaning to make all these years. It didn’t require all the rigorous rolling, resting and chilling that the Daring Bakers’ version had, and it was interesting to compare the two danishes.

Danish Pastry with almonds
Click to see a larger picture


Danish Pastry (50-year-old handwritten recipe)

Dough
8 ounces plain flour
¾ ounce yeast (fresh)
¾ ounce lard
1 standard egg
¾ ounce castor sugar
salt
4 ounces Echo margarine
milk

Filling
2 ounces ground almonds
4 ounces castor sugar
1 small egg white
2 ounces sultanas
Decoration
1 ounce chopped nuts
2 ounces icing sugar

Method - Dough
1. Place flour, salt and sugar in mound on table. Make well in middle.
2. Pour in centre fat (just melted) not hot and egg
3. Mix yeast with little warm water and pour in centre (not too runny)
4. Fold together with hands and add enough milk to make soft dough
5. Knead until silky
6. Leave to rest 10-15 minutes
7. Make filling: mix almond, sugar and egg white to soft spread
8. Roll out dough to large rectangle
9. Spread 2/3 with margarine, fold over uncovered portion to centre;
turn and roll twice (use plenty of flour)
10. Roll out to very thin to large square (do it slowly so margarine does
not come through)
11. Spread with almond mixture and sultanas
12. Roll up and cut through centre. Plait from centre out and make
into ring. Brush with egg yolk and cover with chopped walnuts or
almonds. Put on well greased baking tin
13. Prove for 15 minutes on plate rack on oven
14. Bake in over 375 degrees for 25 minutes
15. Brush with water ice while still hot.

I loved the filling in this 50-year-old recipe. We added a hint of almond extract as well, and the flavor was delicious. The pastry was crisper and not as bread-like as the Daring Baker one. It was more similar to the ones I’ve bought at the store, but better because it was fresh from the oven. And, it was so much easier to whip up. In the time it took to rest the dough between folds, we had this recipe ready for the oven!

I like the quote in the hand-written recipe:
“Guaranteed to put on inches!”
Videos and Links
Here is a useful video about how to braid the dough. As usual, Joe Pastry provides lots of good information about laminated dough.

Recipe: Danish Dough

from The Secrets of Baking (affiliate link) by Sherry Yard

To see the different Danish Braids cropping up all over the foodblogosphere, check out the Daring Bakers Blogroll

Danish Braid IngredientsMake the détrempe: Mix yeast and milk on low speed. Add sugar, orange zest, cardamom, vanilla extract, vanilla seeds, eggs, and orange juice. Mix well. Change to the dough hook and add the flour and salt. Knead the dough for about 5 minutes, or until smooth. You may need to add a little more flour if it is sticky. Cover the dough with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Make the beurrage: Combine butter and flour and beat on medium speed for 1 minute. Set aside.

After the détrempe has chilled 30 minutes, turn it out onto a lightly floured surface. Roll the dough into approximately 18 x 13 inches and ¼ inch thick rectangle. Dust the dough with flour if it is sticky. Spread the butter evenly over the center and right third of the dough. Fold the left edge of the détrempe to the right, covering half of the butter. Fold the right third of the rectangle over the center third. The first turn has now been completed. Mark the dough by poking it with your finger to keep track of your turns. Place the dough on a baking sheet, wrap it in plastic wrap, and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Place the dough lengthwise on a floured work surface. The open ends should be to your right and left. Roll the dough into another approximately 18 x 13 inches and ¼ inch thick rectangle. Again, fold the left third of the rectangle over the center third and the right third over the center third. No additional butter will be added as it is already in the dough. The second turn has now been completed. Mark the dough by poking it twice with your finger to keep track of your turns. Refrigerate the dough for 30 minutes.

Roll out, turn, and refrigerate the dough two more times, for a total of four single turns. Make sure you are keeping track of your turns. Refrigerate the dough after the final turn for at least 5 hours or overnight. The Danish dough is now ready to be used. If you will not be using the dough within 24 hours, freeze it. To do this, roll the dough out to about 1 inch in thickness, wrap it tightly in plastic wrap, and freeze. Defrost the dough slowly in the refrigerator for the easiest handling. You can keep Danish dough in the freezer for up to 1 month.

Filling: Cinnamon Pastry Cream and Strawberry Raspberry Rhubarb Orange Lavender Preserve

For the Cinnamon Pastry Cream

Pastry Cream IngredientsFrom Baking: From My Home to Yours (affiliate link) by Dorie Greenspan

2 cups whole milk
2 cinnamon sticks
6 large egg yolks
½ cup sugar
1/3 cup cornstarch, sifted
1½ teaspoons vanilla
3½ tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into 3 pats, at room temperature

Bring the milk and the cinnamon sticks to a boil in a small pot. Turn off the heat and allow the milk and vanilla to infuse for at least 10 minutes, or up to an hour.

In another saucepan, whisk the eggs, sugar, and cornstarch until smooth. Slowly drizzle in the milk, whisking constantly. If the milk is hot go slowly as it may curdle the eggs.

Once the milk and egg mixture are combined, remove the cinnamon sticks and set the pan over medium heat. Whisk until the mixture comes to a boil. Continue to whisk for a further minute or two. The mixture should be thick and creamy. Remove the pan from the heat.

Whisk in the vanilla and let sit for about 5 minutes.

Whisk in the butter slowly. Place plastic wrap directly on the surface of the cream and refrigerate until ready to use.

For the Strawberry Raspberry Rhubarb Orange Lavender Preserves

Strawberry Raspberry Rhubarb Orange Lavender Preserves2 cups strawberries, hulled
1 cup raspberries
2 stalk rhubarb, chopped
1 whole orange, whizzed in the food processor
Sprinkle of lavender
3 cups sugar

Cook this mixture for 1 hour. The natural pectin in the orange will give you the jell you need.

Finishing
Makes enough for 2 large braids

1 recipe Danish Dough
2 cups filling, jam, or preserves
1 large egg, for egg wash

Line a baking sheet with a silicone mat or parchment paper. On a lightly floured surface, roll the Danish Dough into a 15 x 20-inch rectangle, ¼ inch thick. If the dough seems elastic and shrinks back when rolled, let it rest for a few minutes, then roll again. Place the dough on the baking sheet.

Along one long side of the pastry make parallel, 5-inch-long cuts with a knife or rolling pastry wheel, each about 1 inch apart. Repeat on the opposite side, making sure to line up the cuts with those you’ve already made.

Spoon the filling you’ve chosen to fill your braid down the center of the rectangle. Starting with the top and bottom “flaps”, fold the top flap down over the filling to cover. Next, fold the bottom “flap” up to cover the filling. This helps keep the braid neat and helps to hold in the filling. Now begin folding the cut side strips of dough over the filling, alternating first left, then right, left, right, until finished. Trim any excess dough and tuck in the ends.

Whisk the whole egg lightly coat the braid with a pastry brush.

Spray cooking oil onto a piece of plastic wrap, and place over the braid. Proof at room temperature or, if possible, in a controlled 90˚F environment for about 2 hours, or until doubled in volume and light to the touch.

Near the end of proofing, preheat oven to 400˚F. Position a rack in the center of the oven.

Bake for 10 minutes, then rotate the pan so that the side of the braid previously in the back of the oven is now in the front. Lower the oven temperature to 350˚F, and bake for about 15-20 minutes more, or until golden brown. Cool and serve the braid either still warm from the oven or at room temperature. The cooled braid can be wrapped airtight and stored in the refrigerator for up to 2 days, or frozen for 1 month

Tips
I learned some things while doing this recipe:
• Use even pressure when rolling. It’s hard work and requires patience.
• Pull and stretch the dough to keep it a rectangle. Keep it neat and even.
• After you fold the dough, pull and stretch it to make it a neat rectangle.
• When you’re ready to put the filling on the dough, move it to a piece of parchment paper first. It’s very difficult to move once it’s been filled and braided!

Danish BraidTasting Notes
I loved the smell of the cardamom, vanilla and orange in the Danish dough. In the finished braid, you could see the layers of pastry and the bread-like texture was delicious!

I also liked how quickly the 50-year-old recipe came together. I will definitely be pulling that recipe out again. The filling is a keeper too and so simple.

A shout of thanks to Mrs. C. for helping me with this Daring Baker challenge! I learned a lot!!

More to Explore:





Wednesday, June 25, 2008

Whisk Wednesdays—Sauce Béarnaise (Warm emulsified sauce derived from Hollandaise sauce) with Steak

Béarnaise Sauce – A Classic French Culinary Delight
Béarnaise sauce

Now that we've completed the mother sauces, we're into the derivative ones and Béarnaise is one of the best. It's based on hollandaise but has an added flavor boost from a reduction of wine, shallots, wine vinegar, tarragon, and black peppercorns. Again, it’s an emulsification of eggs and butter, but with extra flavor from the herb and vinegar reduction. Traditionally, it’s served on beef, but it would be delicious on anything!

There are variations to the traditional recipe. Sometimes chervil, thyme, parsley, or bay is used as well as tarragon. Some use red wine vinegar or tarragon vinegar. Some recipes call for clarified butter and some for regular, room temperature butter. Some call for a blender while the more traditional recipes use just a whisk.

The last time I made Béarnaise was for the millennium celebrations in 1999. I remember using a blender and serving this sauce over tenderloin with shrimp and scallops on top as a garnish (à la The Keg). Pretty ritzy, eh? I haven’t made it since, but now it may be on our regular menu!

History
According to History of Sauces by Linda Stradley (What’s Cooking America), the sauce was created by Chef Jules Colette at his restaurant Le Pavillon Henri IV and served in the 1830s, but the sauce was named after Henri IV who was a gourmand born in Béarn, France and was King of France from 1589 to 1610.

"Don't be saucy with me Béarnaise..."
I had trouble when I made Béarnaise the first time. I added the clarified butter too fast, and it threw a tantrum and broke. I quickly consulted the cookbook, which told me to throw an ice cube into the mix to cool it off. This didn’t work. The next thing the cookbook suggested was to take a new pot, add a bit of cold water, and then add a ladle full of the sauce and whisk. Once that was smooth, add a bit more broken sauce to the fresh pot. Slowly, and ever patiently I whisked. And it worked! Thankfully, my eggs didn’t curdle so I was good to go. By this time, the T-bone steaks were ready, everyone was hungry, and I took a few casual photos and dug in. Later, looking at the photos, I realized I should have spent more time on the photo shoot!

A second Béarnaise sauce for lunch later in the week, no sauce tantrums (was I more patient or was it the room temperature butter?), more time with the photo shoot, and this time sauce spread leisurely over fried chicken, and again it was delicious!

I had some leftover Béarnaise sauce and attempted to re-heat it for supper. I put the burner on low, poured my leftover sauce into a clean pot, added 1 tablespoon of very hot water, and whisked like mad. Without stopping, I continued whisking, dipping my finger in for a heat-and-taste test, until the sauce was warm enough to drape over my leftover chicken. It worked, and it was delicious!

"A Béarnaise sauce is simply an egg yolk, a shallot,
a little tarragon vinegar, and butter,
but it takes years of practice for the result to be perfect."
–Fernand Point–
Who is Fernand Point?

"I believe Fernand Point is one of the last true gourmands
of the 20th century. His ruminations are extraordinary and thought-provoking. He has been an inspiration for legions of chefs.”

–Thomas Keller–
{On a side note, earlier this week I even made Eggs Benedict for one! It’s extremely dangerous to know how to whip this up on short notice given the amount of butter and the fact that it’s swimsuit season in these parts!}

Choking on Artichokes
On the artichoke front, I choked. This was the first time I’ve cooked artichokes! And I failed. First off, I had to get some tweezers to dig out the sliver of a prickle from one of the buggers. Then, I carefully de-leaved them until I thought I’d gotten to the light green center. After rubbing them lovingly with lemon, I plopped them into boiling water to cook. 30 minutes later, I took them out. I tried to dig out the middle to put the lovely un-broken Béarnaise sauce in, destroying 2 of the 3 chokes in the process. Then, when I finally sat down to eat, I daintily put one in my mouth and couldn’t chew it! Since artichokes are in the recipe for next week, I may try it again, but I need help.

Watch a Pro
Here’s a video showing how to make Béarnaise sauce. This video shows the solids from the reduction being strained and then thrown out, but the version in Le Cordon Bleu at Home keeps these in the sauce, which adds a nice texture to the sauce.

Links
12 Tips You Need To Make Perfect Bearnaise Sauce 
Béarnaise sauce
What is Béarnaise Sauce?

Recipe: Sauce Béarnaise (Warm emulsified sauce derived from Hollandaise sauce) with Steak

Béarnaise sauce mise en placeYou can find the recipe for Béarnaise sauce in the book Le Cordon Bleu at Home (affiliate link). You can also find a recipe for Salmon with Béarnaise sauce here. To see how the rest of the Whisk Wednesday group fared with this week's recipe, click here (or check out the sidebar) and then click on each blogger!

Béarnaise and steakTasting Notes
The hint of tarragon with its licorice taste, the sharpness of the shallots, and the creaminess of the eggs and butter make Béarnaise sauce the most amazing and delicious sauce yet! I was glad the sauce broke so that I could figure out how to fix it, and I was relieved that it worked. This is definitely a keeper and one I might even try serving for dinner guests, if I’m brave.

Next Week (July 2)
• Sauce Mayonnaise (Basic emulsified sauce) page 30-31
• Salade Messidor (Summer Harvest Salad)

. . . . . . . . . .

Running total: $446.39 + $5.15 (Béarnaise) + $4.35 (Artichokes) = $455.89

Butter used so far: 6 pounds, 5 tablespoons

. . . . . . . . . .

Next Week (July 2)
• Sauce Mayonnaise (Basic emulsified sauce) page 30-31
• Salade Messidor (Summer Harvest Salad)

Whisk Wednesdays:
If you would like to check out the other Whisk Wednesdays bloggers to see their take on Béarnaise sauce, click Kayte.




Tuesday, June 24, 2008

Tuesdays with Dorie—Mixed Berry Cobbler

Cobblers, Crumbles & More – A Delicious Fruit Dessert Guide Cobblers, crumbles, grunts, slumps, brown betties. All have fruit. All have a pastry, streusel, or cake-like portion. All are easy and all are delicious. Dorie's cobbler doesn’t disappoint either. You can find a pretty good description of each of these types of desserts here.

According to Dorie, “a cobbler is about the most flexible dessert you can think of. In fact, it may even have gotten its name because of its flexibility: you can cobble it together with just about anything you've got around.”

I cut some rhubarb from the garden and bought some local strawberries. The topping was simple and only required a squeeze and press to form on top of the individual cobblers I made.

Recipe: Mixed Berry Cobbler

Mixed Berry Cobbler ingredientsYou can find the recipe for Mixed Berry Cobbler in the book Baking: From My Home to Yours (affiliate link)s by Dorie Greenspan or at NPR where Dorie talks with Michele Norris about this great summertime dessert. Dorie also provides a blueberry-peach cobbler recipe at Serious Eats. To see how the rest of the TWD group fared with this week's recipe, click here and then click on each blogger! Thanks to Beth of Our Sweet Life who chose the recipe for this week.

Tasting Notes
This was such a simple and easy dessert. As the recipe says, go light on the strawberries since they reduce a lot during baking. I should have read the recipe more carefully, but it was still delicious!

Recipe for Next Week (July 1)
Apple Cheddar Scones on page 32.




Monday, June 23, 2008

Wordle Nonsense

Saw this on LifeHacker and had to give it a try! I copied the list of Recipes from my blog and pasted it into this cool applet called Wordle (before the Wordle game became a hit). According to Wordle, the size of a word in the visualization is proportional to the number of times the word appears in the input text, so I guess I've done a lot of Tuesdays with Dorie! 



Sugar High Friday (SHF) #44 Taste Canada: Sugar Pie in Jars

Sugar Pie in a Jar – A Canadian Sweet Treat Sugar Pie in a JarEarlier this year, I was hunting for a “Tarte au Sucre” recipe that is part of the cooking school curriculum I'm working through as a self-directed study. At first, I thought all I had to do was pull out the sugar pie recipe that’s common at Christmas time with French Canadians. I was disappointed to find out that the Tarte au Sucre I was being asked to make was a yeasted cake, like brioche with a sugar topping. Not even close to the French Canadian version!

When Jennifer of The Domestic Goddess, who launched the popular Sugar High Friday blogging event, announced that she was hosting this month and that the theme was Canadian sweets, I knew I had to participate. I also knew I had a chance to make Sugar Pie, the Canadian version (my take on it!). I took some liberties with the traditional recipe. Mine has Dulce de Leche, as if it weren't sweet enough already! I also had to throw in a touch of maple syrup, since it's made just 45 minutes from my home!

This pie is more often than not served as a tart, but I added a little whiff of pastry on top to keep its pie delineation. The addition of flour is debated, and I’m sure my flavoring additions will be hotly debated by traditionalists, but I have taste testers who will back me up saying it was delicious! However, they are not French Canadian and it was their first taste of sugar pie. Here’s a great article for some more information about sugar pie.

Earlier this month, I’d read about pie in jars. I’ve been waiting for the right opportunity to use this brilliant idea. Amy at Angry Chicken and LloydandLauren also made desserts in jars. I love it!

Recipe: Sugar Pie

Makes: 6 little jars or 1 8-inch pie

Sugar Pie ingredients
Pastry recipe is from Baking: From My Home to Yours (affiliate link) by Dorie Greenspan

Ingredients:

1½ cups flour
½ cup icing sugar
¼ teaspoon salt
1 stick plus 1 tablespoon butter
1 egg yolk
Drops of water

Filling:
1 cup brown sugar
3 tablespoons flour
2/3 cup (160 mL) evaporated skim milk
1/3 cup heavy cream
½ teaspoon vanilla
pinch of cinnamon
pinch of nutmeg
1 tablespoon Dulce de Leche
½ teaspoon maple syrup

Instructions:

For the pastry: Put all the ingredients on the counter. Blend with your fingers. Add drops of water until it comes together into a ball. Press a small ball into each jar. Chill in the refrigerator for half an hour. (Save some pastry dough for the top.)

Preheat the oven to 375˚F. Pre-bake the shells until they’re golden, about 8-10 minutes. Cool.

For the filling: In a small saucepan, combine the brown sugar, flour, evaporated skim milk, and heavy cream. Whisk constantly until thick. Boil for 2 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla, cinnamon, nutmeg. Dulce de Leche, and maple syrup. Let cool.

Preheat the oven to 375˚F. Pour the filling into the pre-baked shells. Top with a bit of pastry cut into a shape. Bake for 20-25 minutes.

Serve with ginger-flavored whipped cream or vanilla ice cream.

Sugar Pie in a JarTasting Notes
This is a rich, sweet dessert. Some like it with vanilla ice cream and some with whipped cream and some unadorned. It’s delicious in small doses, and especially fun to eat with a spoon from a jar!




Thursday, June 19, 2008

Brownie Pops

Brownie Pops – The Perfect Party Dessert Brownie PopsFor Mother’s Day a couple years ago, my daughter’s teacher collected favorite recipes from each student and compiled them into a booklet. It was and is a treasured gift for a foodie like me. One of the best recipes in this handmade book was one called “Best Brownies”.

I’ve made these brownies over and over, and they have the qualities I love in a brownie: cakey, chocolate-y, never-fail, and everyone likes them. Well, one daughter likes them with icing and the other without. They can’t even agree on brownies! :)

For a Barn Dance and BBQ that we went to on the weekend, I decided to make brownie pops and stick them into a half a watermelon for the dessert table. They garnered lots of oohs and aahs, and even the local flies liked them. Here I thought I was getting a nice picture of the brownie pops in the watermelon only to have a fly figure I needed some help with the food styling!

Recipe: Brownie Pops

Makes: 1 8x8 pan or 2 dozen pops or minisIngredients for Brownies

Ingredients:

½ cup (1 stick) butter, melted
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 eggs
½ cup flour
1/3 cup cocoa
¼ teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon salt
Nuts (optional)

Instructions:

Heat oven to 350˚F. Grease a mini muffin pan with cooking spray.

In a medium bowl, stir together the butter, sugar, and vanilla. Add eggs, and beat well. Stir together flour, cocoa, baking powder and salt. Gradually add to egg mixture, beating until blended. Stir in nuts, if desired.

Fill a piping bag (or freezer bag), and fill the mini muffin cups. Bake for 12-15 minutes.

Recipe: Brownie Frosting

Ingredients:

3 tablespoons butter
3 tablespoons cocoa
1 tablespoon light corn syrup or honey
½ teaspoon vanilla
1 cup powdered sugar
1-2 tablespoons milk

Instructions:

Whisk all ingredients to spreading consistency.

Brownie Pops
Tasting Notes
This is my favorite brownie recipe! Enjoy!

For another brownie idea, check out my French Chocolate Brownies for Tuesdays with Dorie.

Also, I just got an email from a friend who made these for her 8-year-old son who was quoted as saying these brownies were "super duper extravaganza spectacular delicious."

Links to this Post
Lisa from The Cutting Edge Of Ordinary whipped up a batch of these brownies and blogged about it. Check it out!

More to Explore:





Wednesday, June 18, 2008

Whisk Wednesdays—Sauce Hollandaise (Warm emulsified sauce) and Sauce Moutarde

Whisk Wednesdays – Hollandaise Sauce & Eggs Benedict
::Whisk Wednesdays::
Welcome to Whisk Wednesdays!

Eggs Benedict with Hollandaise SauceHollandaise sauce
This week it's Hollandaise sauce, another of the five mother sauces. (Velouté, Espagnole, Béchamel, and Tomato are the others.) Hollandaise is similar to mayonnaise and lemon curd, but it's served warm.

Hollandaise is basically a sabayon, which is a foamy, emulsified mixture of yolks and liquid (in this case water). If you were to add sugar and a sweet wine, you would have zabaglione. But, today we're adding a ton (only half a pound) of butter to the sabayon.

History and Tips
Hollandaise dates back to the 17th century and used to be named Sauce Isigny, which is a town in Normandy famous for its butter. However, during World War I, France could no longer produce butter so they imported it from Holland and the name stuck. (from Linda Stradley at What's Cooking America)

Hollandaise is a tricky beast and requires constant attention, sorta like kids. You must whisk constantly to ensure the eggs don't stick to the bottom of the pan and to keep the texture smooth, not grainy.

There are different ways of making hollandaise: with a double boiler or directly over the flame. With clarified butter or with cubes of unsalted butter. With a blender or just a whisk.

Today, I tried putting the yolks directly over the flame (or burner, in my case!) and whisked constantly. I also made two batches: one using clarified butter and the other using butter cubes. The sauce with the clarified butter was runnier, plus I prefer the flavor from using the milk solids from good 'ol butter (and I'm not wasting any precious butter).

Earlier this year, I made lemon curd for a lemon cream tart and at the same time tried making a hollandaise sauce following the method suggested for Dorie's The Most Extraordinary French Lemon Cream Tart. It turned out great. This is yet another option for making hollandaise.

Hollandaise Trouble
Many things can go wrong with this sauce, but here are the tips I found to try to correct the problem.

• If curdled, blend in a blender although the texture won't be the same. You may just want to start over.

• If broken, try whisking in a little cream or water. The sauce may break if it becomes too hot. In this case cooling it off with cold water or an ice cube might do the trick.

• If too thick, add a little boiling water.

• If too thin, you may have added the butter too fast.

If you have the time (and an extra half pound of butter lying around), just start over! That's what I ended up doing after finding my first batch too runny. I put it back on the stove to reheat since it had been sitting out too long for the photo shoot(!), which quickly caused it to break into many pieces!

Watch a Pro
• Here is a great video showing how to make hollandaise.

• Here is another video with Alton Brown demonstrating hollandaise.

Links
I also found these cool links:

• Here's one that shows a picture of deep-fried hollandaise!

• Here's a good article with more background information about hollandaise.

Recipe: Hollandaise


Hollandaise sauce mise en placeYou can find the recipe for Hollandaise in the book Le Cordon Bleu at Home. To see how the rest of the group fared (all 3 of us!) with this week's recipe, click here and then click on each blogger!

Sauce Moutarde

Sauce MoutardeFor a variation, you can add Dijon mustard (or whatever mustard you want) to taste. This version tasted great on a ham roast we had. I also tried it on asparagus and the Eggs Benedict and loved it on these too.

Recipe: Eggs Benedict

Serves: 1

1 English Muffin, toasted
1-2 slices back bacon, cooked
1 poached egg
Hollandaise sauce
Freshly ground black pepper

Eggs Benedict with Hollandaise SauceSauce Moutarde on Asparagus and HamTasting Notes
Eggs Benedict always seemed so special when we went out for breakfast. Everyone else would order it, and I would order my French Toast. Now, though, I've discovered how much I love this heart-unfriendly breakfast fare and plan on making it more often. The hollandaise was rich and buttery, smooth and creamy, with a slight tang from the lemon. The hardest part of this dish is getting the poached egg properly poached (not too underdone and not too overdone). I still need practice on this front.

The mustard version was delicious too, perfect for a variation on Eggs Benedict or with ham and asparagus.

The best tip I learned was to use a thermos to store the Hollandaise sauce in until you're ready to serve. Brilliant, I tell you.

Next Week (June 25)
• Sauce Béarnaise (Warm emulsified sauce derived from Hollandaise sauce) on page 250

• Coeur de Filet Henri IV (Filet mignons with artichokes and Béarnaise sauce)

. . . . . . . . . .

Running total: $440.68 + $3.31 (Hollandaise) + $2.40 (Eggs Benedict) = $446.39

Butter used so far: 5 pounds, 29 tablespoons

. . . . . . . . . .

Check out the other posts for Whisk Wednesdays:

Grandma's Kitchen Table - Hollandaise Sauce and Moutarde Sauce
InsomniMom - Hollandaise and Sauce Moutarde

More to Explore:





Tuesday, June 17, 2008

Tuesdays with Dorie—Peppermint Cream Puff Ring...Swan

Peppermint Cream Puff Swan – A Pâte à Choux Delight Peppermint Cream Puff SwanThis week with Dorie we’re making pâte à choux, a magical pastry that’s cooked twice (once on the stove and once in the oven), puffs, and tastes so light that you think it could be good for you! Ever since I saw a picture of choux swans, I’ve wanted to make them. And this week I had my chance.

Pâte à choux (pronounced “shoe”), also called choux paste, dates back to 1540 and comes from the word “choux”, which means cabbage in French— that’s what pâte à choux looks like when baked as traditional cream puffs, supposedly.

Traditional choux paste contains four simple ingredients: butter, water, flour, and eggs. Dorie’s recipe includes some milk, sugar and salt for extra flavor. I ended up adding a bit of extra flour (about ¼ cup) so that the batter would come together in the pot. This meant that I had to add an extra egg as well, but everything worked out fine in the end.

Pâte à choux is such a versatile recipe, and can be used for both sweet and savory dishes, such as Gougères or chouquettes, Pommes dauphine, Croquembouche, Paris-Brest, and Gnocchi à la Parisienne.

Swans
To make the swans, you can pipe teardrop shapes, which become the wings when cut in half. I used a cream puff bottom for the base of the swan. The other half of the cream puff can be cut to make wings if you don't want to pipe out tear drop shapes.

To make the neck, pipe the number "2" on parchment paper. Make sure you watch the oven when you bake these since they burn really fast. (I only had one that was photo-worthy!)

To make the eyes, use a toothpick and dot some melted chocolate at the end of the number "2".

Links
Here’s a great article about choux pastry.

Here’s a video of making choux paste swans.

Recipe: Peppermint Cream Puff Ring

Ingredients for Peppermint Cream Puff RingYou can find the recipe for Peppermint Cream Puff Ring in the book Baking: From My Home to Yours (affiliate link) by Dorie Greenspan or at Bon Appetit. To see how the rest of the TWD group fared with this week's recipe, click here and then click on each blogger! Thanks to Caroline of A Consuming Passion who chose the recipe for this week (and has also posted the recipe).

Peppermint Cream Puff and Ring with Chocolate SauceTasting Notes
The minty, fresh taste of the cream with the lightness and slightly chewy texture of the choux and the richness of the chocolate was a perfect combination of flavors. I absolutely loved it! It was worth all the pastry bags I went through to make this dessert!

My kids enjoyed some of the cream puffs filled with ice cream and topped with chocolate sauce since their palate is not refined enough to like mint! Another favorite was the peppermint cream over raspberries. Mmm, delicious.

Raspberries and Peppermint Cream
I also used the peppermint cream on top of lemon bars! Mint and lemon are a winning combination, and this cream is so versatile.

You can store the cream puffs in an airtight container for a week or in the freezer. This is so dangerous to have on the counter that I think I’ll have to find room in the freezer! Another winning recipe from Dorie!

Note: I just read several great posts about choux paste over at Joe Pastry. Check it out!

Recipe for Next Week (June 24)
Mixed Berry Cobbler on pages 416-417 chosen by Beth of Our Sweet Life.




Monday, June 16, 2008

Lemon Bars

Lemon BarsI love lemon desserts, but I've never made lemon bars. These are tart lemon bars that are a welcome reprieve from the sweeter dessert fare.

It's like a lemon meringue pie with a shortbread crust and no meringue. Tangy, delicious, and especially good with Dorie Greenspan's peppermint cream.

Bottom
The bottom is a shortbread-like crust that you can easily push into the pan using a measuring cup or your fingers. Ellie's has icing sugar and vanilla that might be even more flavorful. Then you bake it in the oven for a bit.

Middle
The filling is easy because you just whisk it and then bake it off (after you've baked the crust).

Top
Dust with icing sugar, and you're done. You can top with peppermint cream for even more decadence.

Recipe: Lemon Bars

Ingredients for Lemon Bars
You can find a video of a similar recipe for Lemon Bars here.

Tasting Notes
These lemon bars are tangy and the perfect little sweet in the afternoon. Top with Dorie Greenspan's peppermint cream to make these lemon bars absolutely delicious!

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Sunday, June 15, 2008

News and Tidbits

taken this weekend at a farm where we had
lamb roasted on a spit and a barn dance afterwards

What a week it was! Ups, downs, and everything in-between.

• First, my brownie popsicles made The Kitchn's Seen, noted, and found delicious for June 9.

• Someone named Dorie made a nice comment about my Strawberry Tart. Could it be the famous Dorie Greenspan?

• I had to change my Blogger template since I was causing people’s computers to crash! Not good.

• Tastespotting (my favorite place to procrastinate and admire) died. I’m still in mourning. But just found Food Gawker. I'm so relieved!

• I found a couple of other cooking buddies (Kayte and Shelley) who want to join me on this cooking school curriculum journey that I’m working on. (Kayte’s computer is the one that crashed every time she visited, and she’s still interested in cooking with me!) I’m calling it "Whisk Wednesdays", and if you want to join in on the fun, click HERE for more information. We’d love to have you join us! Now, we just need a cute little avatar...

• Lastly, Mara from Lick the Spatula, who has some amazing looking treats on her blog, tagged me.

The rules:

Each player answers the questions about themselves. At the end of the post, the player then tags 5 people and posts their names, then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment, letting them know they’ve been tagged and asking them to read your blog. Let the person who tagged you know when you’ve posted your answer.

What was I doing ten years ago?
Expecting Baby #1.

What are five (non-work) things on my to-do list for today? {is blogging considered “non-work”???}
1. catch up on reading other food blogs (only 360 feeds left to read!)
2. make hollandaise and eggs Benedict
3. take pictures of hollandaise
4. eat said eggs Benedict
5. write about hollandaise
Right now, everything that isn’t blogging seems like work to me. Sad, but true. I gotta get a life!!

Five snacks I enjoy:
1. carrots
2. cherries
3. plain chips and Helluva Good Dip
4. coffee cake
5. puffed wheat cake (I have been known to eat a whole pan myself in a very short amount of time)

Things I would do if I were a billionaire:
1. travel
2. live on a beach
3. eat in all the 3-star Michelin restaurants in the world
4. eat street food in as many different countries as I could
5. hire someone to clean my house, do the laundry...

Places I've lived:
1. Madang, Papua New Guinea
2. Regina, Saskatchewan
3. Ottawa, Ontario

Jobs I've had:
1. babysitter
2. writer
3. caterer
4. mom




Wednesday, June 11, 2008

Sauce Béchamel (White sauce): Crème, Mornay, and Soubise

BéchamelBéchamel (pronounced bay-shah-mel) is a thickened white sauce, also known as a milk sauce and is one of the five mother sauces. (Velouté, Espagnole, Hollandaise, and Tomato are the others.)

Although I make a mean homemade mac ‘n cheese, I didn’t know I was, in fact, making Béchamel as a starting point. I used to run home from school every day hoping we were getting macaroni and cheese for lunch and enjoying it while watching re-runs of Flintstones on TV. My daughters love homemade macaroni too, but I remember feeding it to my daughters and their friends, and their friends not finishing it because it wasn’t Kraft Dinner!

Some Notes about Béchamel
Béchamel is similar to velouté, but the liquid that’s added is milk, not stock.

If you don’t include the veal in the recipe, it’s known as Béchamel Maigre (which means lean Béchamel).

Although you don’t have to heat the milk first, doing so makes it easier to achieve a smooth sauce. Also, the sauce thickens faster since it doesn’t have to come up to temperature first. There is great debate about whether to add hot liquid to a cold roux or cold liquid to hot roux. I've done both, and as long as I've vigorously whisked it, I haven't had any lumps.

Steeping the milk with aromatics (such as thyme and bay) while you bring it to a boil enhances the flavor of the Béchamel.

The sauce should coat the back of a spoon, called nappe (pronounced nap), which means tablecloth in French.

History
Catherine de Medici's Tuscan cooks brought Béchamel to France from Italy in the 17th Century. The sauce was named after a courtier, Louis de Béchameil, marquis de Nointel (1630–1703) who was maitre d'hotel of the French King Louis XIV. (Wikipedia)

Watch a Pro
Click here to watch a pro make Béchamel.

Great articles
I found some great articles about Béchamel while researching this topic:
A roux awakening by Peter Hertzmann
History of Sauces by Linda Stradley at the website What's Cooking America
Cream Sauces - Béchamel and Hollandaise by Jack Lang at the eGullet Society

Recipe: Béchamel

Béchamel mise en placefrom Rogov's Ramblings

Makes: about 2 cups

Ingredients:

5 tablespoons clarified butter
50 grams very lean veal, small dice (you could use ½ cup veal stock instead)
5 tablespoons flour
3 cups milk, brought to a boil before using
2 tablespoons onion, chopped
1 sprig thyme
¼ or ½ bay leaf
pinch of nutmeg
salt and white pepper

Instructions:

In a small frying pan, melt 1 tablespoon of the clarified butter and cook the veal slowly without allowing it to brown.

In a saucepan, add the remaining clarified butter and the flour. Cook over low heat, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon for 5 minutes to make a blond roux. Add the milk. Whisk until smooth. Then add the veal and remaining ingredients and simmer gently for 45 minutes to 1 hour. Strain through a cheesecloth.

If you aren’t using the sauce right away, dot a few bits of butter on the surface to prevent a skin from forming. Béchamel does not freeze well; it separates and thins.

Serve with fish, chicken, vegetables, eggs, or use it as a base for one of the following sauces. It’s nice served either hot or cold.

Crème, Mornay, and Soubise Sauce (White sauces derived from Béchamel)
Béchamel is a base for many classic sauces, including Crème, Mornay, and Soubise, which are compound sauces.

Crème, Mornay, and Soubise Sauce

Crème

from Rogov's Ramblings

1 cup Béchamel sauce
½ cup heavy cream
salt and pepper
touch of lemon juice

Bring the Béchamel to a simmer and add the cream a tablespoonful at a time. Keep at a simmer. Continue adding the cream, stirring constantly until the sauce is at the consistency you want. Season to taste with salt, pepper, and a bit of lemon juice.

Mornay

I learned about Mornay sauce for the Gnocci à la Parisienne. Click here to watch a pro make Mornay sauce.

from Rogov's Ramblings

1 cup Béchamel sauce
¼ to ½ cup Gruyère cheese or mix of Gruyère and Parmesan, grated
salt and pepper
paprika
1 tablespoon butter

Bring the Béchamel to a simmer and remove from the heat. Stir in ¼ to ½ cup of coarsely grated Gruyère cheese or a mixture of Gruyère and finely grated Parmesan cheese. Season to taste with salt, pepper, nutmeg and paprika. Remove from the heat and then stir in 1 tablespoon of butter.

Soubise

from everything2.com

1 cup Béchamel sauce
3 tablespoons butter
2 sweet yellow onions (½ lb)
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
salt and pepper

In a medium, heavy saucepan, melt the butter over low heat and add the onions and garlic. Sweat the onions on low heat for about 15 minutes, until they are translucent (not darkened), stirring often.

Bring the Béchamel to a simmer and add the onion mixture. Simmer for about 15 minutes. Check the consistency of the sauce. If it is thin, simmer gently until it thickens slightly. If it is too thick, add a little veal stock or milk.

Use a food processor or blender to process the sauce a bit, making sure to leave a bit of texture. You can also try rubbing the mixture through a sieve, pressing on it with a wooden spoon.

Return the soubise to a saucepan and gently reheat. Taste for seasoning.

The original recipe calls for a nip (30 mL) of pastis, Pernod, Ricard, or something similar, calling it optional, but divine.

Purple and Green Asparagus with BéchamelTasting Notes
I used the Béchamel sauce on purple and green asparagus, and it was delicious! The subtle hint of nutmeg, thyme, and bay made this sauce a perfect pairing with the crunchy asparagus tips. I also made the Crème and Soubise but not the Mornay since I'd done that earlier on this blog. The Soubise with a nip of Ouzo (dusted off from a trip to Greece ages ago) was amazing. I could have eaten the Soubise all on its own. The Crème was not much different from the basic Béchamel, which is understandable. I could almost taste the macaroni in it. For dinner, I fried up some mushrooms and added the Crème sauce. Poured over chicken, it tasted amazing.

. . . . . . . . . .

Running total: $436.91 + $3.77 = $440.68

Butter used so far: 5 pounds, 13 tablespoons

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Tuesday, June 10, 2008

Tuesdays with Dorie—La Palette’s Strawberry Tart

La Palette's Strawberry TartLa Palette is a small café in the heart of Paris that offers (among other things) wine by the glass, salads, croque monsieur, and this delicious but easy strawberry tart. Dorie Greenspan once ate this tart on the patio and then recreated the recipe for her book Baking: From My Home to Yours.

This recipe is super easy: strawberries, jam, and a cookie crust are the only requirements. The rest are optional.

Top
I used a homemade strawberry, peach and lavender jam that I made last summer. On the weekend, I found the strawberries at a local market, and they happened to be locally grown! Perfect.

I’ve been saving a Framboise I picked up at Puddicombe Estate Winery in Southern Ontario last year, so I had the makings of a 100-mile dessert. After practicing last week with flambéing, I did it again this week with the strawberries and Framboise. It added an extra flavor boost to the berries.

Bottom
The tart shell is simple too, and one that I’ve made before for The Most Extraordinary Lemon Tart. It’s a firm crust, more cookie than pastry that holds up well as finger food. I rolled it out on the removable bottom of the tart pan with a sheet of wax paper on top. Then I lifted the bottom and placed it carefully in the ring and patched the sides as needed.

Side
Following Dorie’s advice, I made a crème fraiche using the recipe I’ve used before from this article to serve alongside the tart.

Recipe

La Palette's Strawberry Tart mise en placeYou can find the recipe for La Palette’s Strawberry Tart in the book Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan or at Serious Eats. To see how the rest of the TWD group fared with this week's recipe, click here and then click on each blogger! 

StrawberriesTasting Notes
I loved how simple this recipe was. Using the freshest berries you can find is the key. As well, not filling the tart shell until absolutely necessary is important. We didn’t finish the tart, and although it tasted fine the next day, the crust was a little soft and the berries more mushy. I like how some other TWD bloggers made them as individual tarts and filled them on demand (as the recipe suggests). That’s the way to go with this recipe. My daughter who loves pies commented that she wished this tart were a pie so that there would be more crust—maybe a Strawberry Napoleon is next!

Recipe for Next Week (June 17)
Peppermint Cream Puff Ring on pages 290-292 chosen by Caroline of A Consuming Passion.