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Passionfruit Curd Baked Alaska for the Daring Bakers' August Challenge

Sun, 05 Sep 2010 13:37:17 +0100

The August 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Elissa of 17 and Baking. For the first time, The Daring Bakers partnered with Sugar High Fridays for a co-event and Elissa was the gracious hostess of both. Using the theme of beurre noisette, or browned butter, Elissa chose to challenge Daring Bakers to make a pound cake to be used in either a Baked Alaska or in Ice Cream Petit Fours. The sources for Elissa’s challenge were Gourmet magazine and David Lebovitz’s “The Perfect Scoop”.

I thought this one was going to be one of those confections that take forever to make in return for very little ... but this particular one is composed of a passionfruit curd sandwiched by two type of ice cream, a vanilla and sour cream ice cream and a dark chocolate gelato and all of this encased in a rich butter pound cake soaked in Bailey's and topped with Italian meringue. Yes, quite a bit of effort goes into this but it is spectacular. This cake is all about the drama of a great entrance and your guests will adore you for that. It is all rather embarrassing, but that's just me, it's up to you to decide whether your Herculean effort is worth the adoration.

Despite your quizzical looks I can assure you these flavours were complimentary, the pound cake's texture contrasted nicely with the airy ice creams, the Bailey's gave it an adult tone without being overwhelming and the passionfruit curd added a lovely, fragrant kick to the whole. This recipe will make a medium to large dome which will feed at least 15 people.You will, though, promise to take it easy or you might never finish it off. You can prepare each step separately and make the Italian meringue at the last minute. Take this advice from me, do not attempt to make this cake at the last minute ... I did that and almost gave up on this cake when I became sick, overwhelmed with homework and increasingly frustrated with the nature of this cake (it was still winter here and cold when I got news of this challenge). Take it slowly, don't attempt this under Mercury retrograde and/or the above-mentioned conditions and you and your favourite people will love the results of your effort.

Chocolate Gelato and Vanilla Sour Cream Baked Alaska with Passionfruit Curd and Bailey's

Bailey's, the homemade version

Irish whiskey: 1 3/4 cup
Condensed milk: 1 375 ml can
Cream: 1 cup, any type
Cocoa powder: 2 tablespoons
Instant coffee: 2 tablespoons
Vanilla extract: 1 teaspoon
Almond extract: 1/4 teaspoon
Sugar: to taste

Mix all ingredients in a blender.

Burnt Butter Pound Cake, adapted from Saveur Magazine

Butter: 350 grams plus more for the pan (preferably Beurre Lescure), lightly browned and then cooled until solid
Flour: 2 tbsp. plus 3 cups
Baking Powder: 1 teaspoon
Fine Salt: 1 tsp
Milk: 1 cup, at room temperature
Pure vanilla extract: 1 teaspoon
Sugar: 1 and 2/3 cups
Eggs: 6, large, at room temperature

Heat oven to 160° C or 325 F. Generously grease a light-colored 10" or 25 cm tube pan with butter. Add 2 tbsp. flour; turn the pan to coat it evenly with flour, tap out any excess, and set aside. (The inside of the pan should be smoothly and evenly coated with butter and flour, with no clumps or gaps.)
Using a sieve set over a bowl, sift together remaining flour, baking powder and salt. Repeat 2 more times. In a measuring vessel with a pourable spout, combine milk and the vanilla extract. In the bowl of a standing mixer fitted with a paddle, cream butter at medium-low speed until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Gradually add sugar, 1⁄4 cup at a time, scraping down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula, and beat until satiny smooth, about 3 minutes.
Add 1 egg at a time to the butter mixture, beating for 15 seconds before adding another, and scraping down the bowl after each addition. Reduce the mixer speed to low and alternately add the flour and milk mixtures in 3 batches, beginning and ending with the flour. Scrape down sides of the bowl; beat just until the batter is smooth and silky but no more.
Scrape batter into prepared pan and firmly tap on a counter to allow batter to settle evenly. Bake until light golden and a toothpick inserted in center of cake comes out moist but clean, about 1 hour and 15 minutes. Let cake cool in pan on a rack for 30 minutes. Invert cake onto rack; let cool completely before slicing.

Cipriani's Dark Chocolate Gelato adapted from Marcella’s Italian Kitchen by Marcella Hazan

4 egg yolks
2/3 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar
2 cups milk
3 1/2 ounces semi-sweet chocolate
1 1/2 ounces high quality unsweetened cocoa powder

Melt the chocolate in a double boiler. Heat the milk until it just begins to boil.
Use an electric mixer to whip the egg yolks and 2/3 cup of the sugar until they form creamy pale yellow ribbons.
Add the hot milk slowly to the whipped eggs and sugar while mixing with the electric mixer.
Add the melted chocolate and mix it in well. Add the cocoa and mix again.
Put the remaining two tablespoons of sugar and 2 teaspoons of water in a small pan over high heat.
Transfer the chocolate mixture to a saucepan and place it over low heat and stir constantly with a whisk . When the sugar in the pan has turned to a dark caramel, add the caramel to the chocolate mixture and mix it in thoroughly with the whisk until it dissolves.
When the mixture has cooled completely, freeze in an ice cream maker following the manufacturer’s instructions.

Vanilla and Sour Cream Ice Cream

Eggs: 2
Sugar: Raw, 2/3 cup
Sour cream: 400 ml, preferably organic
Milk: 1 cup, full fat
Vanilla extract or paste, best quality: 2 teaspoons

Throw all ingredients into a blender and mix for 10 seconds.
Cool in fridge overnight.
Transfer to an ice cream machine and make ice cream following your machine's instructions.

Passionfruit Curd, adapted from here

Eggs: 4
Egg yolks: 2
Caster sugar: 3/4 cup
Pulp from 6 to 8 passionfruit or 3/4 cup
Lemon juice: 1 or 2 tablespoons
Butter: 125g chilled, chopped

1. Place eggs, egg yolks and sugar in a 6-cup capacity heatproof, microwave-safe jug or bowl. Whisk with a balloon whisk until well combined. Add passionfruit pulp, lemon juice and butter. Stir to combine.
2. Microwave passionfruit mixture, uncovered, on MEDIUM (50%) for 6 to 10 minutes, whisking every minute, or until thick enough to coat a spoon. Pour passionfruit curd into sterilised jars and seal. Refrigerate to cool.

Meringue

Egg whites: 5
Sugar: Equivalent to the egg whites' weight

Place egg whites and sugar in a bowl over a pot of simmering water and stir until sugar is completely dissolved.
Place egg white inside the bowl of a standing mixer and using the whisk balloon whip at low speed until frothy.
Increase speed to medium and add sugar slowly in a stream.
Increase speed to high and whip until stiff peaks form, that is, until meringue is shiny and firm.

Putting the darn thing together, best done the night before you plan to serve it:

Retrieve ice cream from freezer and stand for 10 minutes while you slice the pound cake into 1 cm thin slices.
Spray a medium to large bowl with cooking oil and then line it with plastic film. Ensure the edges are long enough so that you can cover the top of the cake.
Line the bowl with the sliced pound cake. One layer is enough.
Brush the pound cake with slices with Bailey's.
Spread the one of the ice creams into the bowl until it reaches near half way up the bowl.
Spread the curd on top of this layer of ice cream.
Spread the other ice cream carefully on top of this curd ensuring you don't touch the curd.
Cover this layer of ice cream with more sliced pound cake.
Brush cake with Bailey's.
Cover the surface with plastic film and freeze overnight.
When ready to serve, retrieve the ice cream and let it sit while you prepare the meringue.
Unmould the cake on a large platter and spread meringue all over. Should the cake be stubborn and not want to release from the bowl, place the bowl over some simmering water.
You can now use a torch to caramelise the meringue or leave it as is.

Alfajores: Peruvian Dulce de Leche Cookies

Tue, 31 Aug 2010 02:52:17 +0100

I've been meaning to post about these cookies or biscuits for a while now. In fact, it may be because of them that I started blogging. I wanted to start a conversation on little known foods outside of Latin America that are close to the heart to some of us living elsewhere around the world now. These cookies are dear to me not only because they are 'muy ricos' but because every bite reminds me of a childhood in Lima where I would get to roam around on a bicycle or a skateboard in order to help mum with her daily errands. Yes, offering to get the eggs or flour would mean I would get buy an alfajor and polish it off before I even made it home. Mum always knew I had "borrowed" her change to buy the alfajor, icing sugar around the mouth made it pretty obvious. She would just shake her head and sometimes even ask if I had bothered buying her one as well. It didn't really matter whether I did or not because they would all end up in my mouth somehow. I couldn't help it, I don't think I ever managed to bring one home intact. I am sure there is a Proustian element to their appeal, but I assure you, they are exquisite. They are simplicity itself and sometimes that is all you need. I hope you like them, let me know.

This recipe has evolved over the years and it has taking me a long time to come up with a version that does my memories justice. I am not claiming these to be the best in the whole wide world-universe-infinity-and-beyond type of alfajor. No, these are the best ones for me. No baking powder, here as I find its addition made them too airy, too dry ... and nothing artificial, just sweet goodness.

Alfajores: Peruvian Dulce de Leche Cookies

Recipe makes 14 cookies

For the dulce de leche:

Sugar: 250 grams
Pouring cream: 300 ml
Milk: 300 ml
Salt: 1/2 teaspoon

Caramelise the sugar with a couple of tablespoons of water in a small saucepan in low heat. Shake the saucepan to ensure sugar is evenly coated with water.
Let this simmer gently until it becomes light golden.
Remove from heat immediately and very, very carefully and slowly, pour the milk and cream while stirring. Do this a drop at a time first, the sugar's fury will eventually calm down and you will then be able to pour the rest. I am sure I don't need to tell you the horrendous and painful consequences of sugar burn. Please be careful.
Place saucepan back on the stove and simmer in low heat. Stir, stir, stir and keep stirring. Don't let this work go to waste by neglecting to stir. Burnt milk doesn't taste good. It takes me about an hour to reduce this mixture to become dulce de leche. You'll know you are done when it becomes thick, fragrant and golden amber in appearance. Set aside to cool.

For the cookies:

Cake flour: 1 1/4 cups
Corn flour: 1 1/4 cup
Icing sugar: 50 grams
Salt: 1/2 teaspoon, levelled
Butter, unsalted, cubed and at room temperature: 250 grams
Egg yolk: 1

Preheat oven to 160 C.
In a medium bowl, sift the cake and corn flours, sugar and salt.
Add butter and squeeze between fingertips in order to incorporate until the mixture resembles coarse sand.
Add egg yolk and gently work it in. Don't be tempted to knead the dough, be as gentle as possible at this stage.
Sprinkle flour on a workbench and roll dough out until it's 0.5 cm thick all over.
Line a couple of cookie trays with baking paper or a silicone mat.
Using a 6.5 cm (or thereabouts) cookie cutter cut out rounds of dough and place to on lined trays.
You can re-use the scraps by forming them into a ball and gently rolling it out. You can then cut out a few more rounds.
Bake for about 25 minutes or until they become lightly golden. I mean this, lightly golden. They lose their delicate flavour when they bake for too long. You should start checking for doneness in 20 minutes as every oven is different.
Cool on racks before attempting to fill them. They are very crumbly and will self-destruct if you don't let them cool down first!
Once they are cool you sandwich the dulce de leche with the cookies.

Goat Cheese and Potato Pierogi with Butter and Hazelnut Sauce for the Daring Cooks' August Challenge

Sat, 14 Aug 2010 07:39:18 +0100

The August 2010 Daring Cooks’ Challenge was hosted by LizG of Bits n’ Bites and Anula of Anula’s Kitchen. They chose to challenge Daring Cooks to make pierogi from scratch and an optional challenge to provide one filling that best represents their locale.

Timing is everything. As the deadline for this challenge loomed I was still undecided as to which type of pierogi to make. My experiences eating pierogi haven't been numerous but I still wanted to prepare something eminently edible if not entirely authentic. Finally, a chance conversation with my good friend Rebecca (a traveller and a really good eater of all things dumplings ... good reasons to love her) led me to come up with these pierogi. Rebecca's favourite pierogi were eaten in Slovakia and she described them to me as well as she could. This is my faithful rendition. I do not assume these are authentic in any way but girlfriend deemed them to be better than the Slovakian originals. Thank you, Rebecca and thank you Liz and Anula for organising this month's challenge!

Goat Cheese and Potato Pierogi with Butter and Hazelnut Sauce

This recipe yields more than enough for 4 hungry adults

For the dough:

Potatoes: 500 grams, preferably red-skinned
Flour: 120 grams
Egg: 1 medium size
Salt: 1 tablespoon, levelled

For the filling:

Fresh goat cheese (bûche blanc):150 grams, mashed with a fork
Sour cream: 100 grams
Nutmeg: Freshly grated, a pinch

For the sauce:

Salted butter: 100 grams
Hazelnuts: 100 grams, whole, slightly crushed with a mortar and pestle
Dry red pepper flakes: 1 teaspoon (optional)
Sour cream: 50 mls

Filling Preparation:

1)        Blend the filling ingredients in a bowl using a fork, adjust for flavour with salt and black pepper.

Dough Preparation:

1)        In a medium size pot, bring water to a boil and simmer potatoes until easily pierced, about 20 minutes

2)        Peel and mash potatoes using a potato ricer. Make sure there are no lumps if you are using a fork or a potato masher

3)        Mix in the flour, egg and the salt. Use your fingers to blend the flour thoroughly but gently into the potatoes, add more flour if mixture sticks to your fingers, but again, be gentle when mixing as you don't want to toughen up your dough. Stop adding flour once your dough becomes manageable. It will be still slightly sticky but this is fine.

4)        Lightly flour a work surface and roll out dough to a thickness of about 3 mm. Using a 2.5 inch or 6.5 cm (approximately) cookie cutter cut out rounds of dough and set aside. Cover with a cloth.

5)        Spoon a couple of teaspoonfuls of filling onto each round of dough and fold over to form half moons as in here. Should you feel like it, you could use a fork to make pretty little indentations on the edges. Set aside and keep covered with a cloth.

6)        Bring a large pot of water to a boil and cook pierogi until they float to the top. Cook a few at a time as overcrowding will lower the water's temperature too much. When done, remove with a slotted spoon and place in a lightly oiled bowl or platter. Keep this bowl in a warm place or inside your oven.

Sauce Preparation:

1)        Place butter in a medium size frying pan and add hazelnuts and pepper flakes to butter.

2)        Fry hazelnuts in the butter until they become golden and butter is lightly browned.

3)        Pour butter sauce on pierogi, spoon a bit of sour cream on top and serve immediately. Eat.

Butter Chicken with Cashew Nut Butter, July 2010 Daring Cooks' Challenge

Tue, 13 Jul 2010 10:25:15 +0100

The July 2010 Daring Cooks’ Challenge was hosted by Margie of More Please and Natashya of Living in the Kitchen with Puppies. They chose to challenge Daring Cooks to make their own nut butter from scratch, and use the nut butter in a recipe. Their sources include Better with Nut Butter by Cooking Light Magazine, Asian Noodles by Nina Simonds, and Food Network online.

This is my first post after what seems to be a long while, for me anyway. Yes, I've been busy just like everyone else and have had a really difficult time making the challenges' deadlines although sometimes a recipe comes along that you know you will make regardless of your schedule and this butter chicken with cashew butter just begged to be made.

In fact, for a couple of years now I have been on a lookout for a really appealing butter chicken. The internet is full of them but wasn't keen on any particular one. When I realized this challenge provided a recipe along the lines of butter chicken I then decided it was time to roll-up my sleeves, use the provided recipe as a foundation and make the components up as I went. Anyhow, I knew what type of flavour as I trying to achieve but without a recipe I could only wing it .

The resulting dish was completely worth the effort and I hope you enjoy this dish as much as my partner, our friend Yurie and I did last night for it was a smashing success. Yurie, prior to dinner, had insinuated that she could probably skip the meal as she was still full from lunch (her lunch time meal was a rather huge bowl of a robust bean stew plus numerous slices of sourdough bread drizzled with olive oil prepared by yours truly). Well, lovely Yurie went for seconds ... happily and on her own accord! I think this recipe will become a keeper.

How does it taste? Well, it's obviously buttery but it's also tangy from the yoghurt and the tomato paste, deeply aromatic from the spices and beautiful to eat in winter. I must, though, apologise for the photo. It seems to me that lately I have been in a hurry to eat my concoctions before I get a chance to "artfully" arrange the dish and take photographs and this time it was no exception ... the photo was taken once it was served on our individual plates ready for consumption and I'm very sorry about that. I won't promise it won't happen again. Hunger trumps art.

By the way, this recipe makes a ton of sauce which I froze for my next batch of butter chicken. Next time around I'll marinate the chicken in the spices while omitting the yoghurt, fry it in butter and then add it to the simmering sauce ... I can't wait.

Thank you Margie and Natashya for organising this event.

Butter Chicken with Cashew Nut Butter
Yield: 4 servings for hungry people

You will need a coffee grinder to grind the spice mix to a powder.

Ingredients

Spice mix:

Cloves: 6 whole
Black Peppercorns: 10
Cinnamon: 1 stick about 3 cm long
Cardamom pods: 4, seeds only
Coriander seeds: 4 teaspoons
Cumin seeds: 3 teaspoons
Fenugreek: whole, 2 teaspoons
Chilli flakes: 1 teaspoon or more, to taste

Marinade mix:

Full-fat yoghurt: 1 cup
Garam masala: 1 teaspoon
Turmeric powder: 2 teaspoons
Smoked paprika: 1 teaspoon
Bay leaves: 3, fresh or dry
Salt to taste

The rest:

Chicken: 1 medium, cut to pieces (you can use thighs and drumsticks pieces, if you prefer)
Coconut oil: 3 tablespoons
Onions: 2, chopped finely
Garlic: 6 cloves, chopped finely
Ginger, freshly grated or microplaned: 1 knob about 4 x 2 cm long
Tomato paste: 4 tablespoons
Cashew butter: 1 cup (you can use smooth peanut butter, if you prefer). This challenge required me to make my own nut butter but my food processor wasn't up for it so I had to purchase it
Maldive chips: 3 teaspoons. You can substitute with good quality anchovies, about 2, chopped to a paste
Chicken stock: 1 cup
Sugar to taste
Salt to taste
Butter: 50 grams, cut into small cubes
Coriander: 1 bunch, leaves only, chopped roughly

Preparation

Roast all the ingredients from the spice mix in a fry pan at medium to low heat until it becomes aromatic, about 8 minutes. Allow this to cool and then grind to a powder in a coffee blender.

In a large, non-reactive bowl, coat the chicken pieces with the spice mix and the marinade mix and leave in the fridge for a couple of hours, covered.

In medium to high heat, heat the coconut oil in a large casserole pot, add the onions and fry until golden brown, about 5 minutes. Then add the garlic, ginger, tomato paste, cashew butter and maldive chips (or anchovies) and fry for another 5 minutes or until the ingredients release their aromas.

Add the chicken pieces, stir briefly, cover and lower heat to medium low and cook for about 20 minutes. Uncover, stir again, lower heat to a simmer.

Add the butter and let it melt while stirring carefully. Garnish with coriander leaves, stir again and serve with steamed rice.

Bloody Good Coq au Vin

Mon, 07 Jun 2010 08:37:47 +0100

I was half-way reading through Michael Bauer's "The Secrets of Success Cookbook" when it struck me that I wanted to cook almost every recipe in this book and this is a rare occurrence even when I deem a cookbook to be excellent. Bauer, a San Francisco Chronicle restaurant critic, has compiled a number of original recipes which, in his opinion, represented the best San Francisco in the year 2000 had to offer. In case you wonder, I was reading a 10 year-old book on San Francisco's best restaurants not because I have run out of cookbooks to read at midnight but because I lived there for a while and have a soft spot for it.

The beauty of this book is that Bauer doesn't just refer to fine dining establishments but scours high and low for the best version of any dish he fancies. Some recipes come from chefs likeThomas Keller while others represent restaurants located in San Francisco Bay Area's suburban shopping malls. Michael Bauer won't discriminate where food is concerned. He knows not to judge an eating establishment by its looks or location. Good food is everywhere, you just have to give it a go or you might miss out on a gem, methinks.

Although this book isn't new, the recipes don't sound dated. Case in point, coq au vin. Coq au vin is one of those simple, irrefutably delicious dishes that is so easy to ruin with fancy adulterations and that is exactly why this recipe in Bauer's book caught my eye. Chef Philippe Jeanty uses cocoa powder to intensify the flavour in the coq au vin's reduced wine broth. Although I had a recipe for coq au vin that I really liked over all others I just knew I had to try this one. Mind you, this is my rendition of Jeanty's recipe but it has the same spirit. The flavours are intense and complex with a lot of umami and with not even a hint of cocoa flavour, wonderful.

I must apologise for the quality of the picture. We decided to let the chicken sit for 24 hours before eating it in order to let it rest and develop further flavour but I forgot to take a picture of it while it was freshly cooked. That's how the pot looked after the chicken had been sitting in there for a day and then messed about with servers and ladles. You are smart and you got the gist, right? The chicken is good, never mind the sorry picture.

Coq au Vin

Serves 6

Beaujolais: 4 cups
Free-range chicken: 2 kg, jointed
Heads of garlic: 2, halved lengthways
Medium sized onions: 4, quartered
Parsley stalks: 3
Fresh bay leaves: 2
Sprigs of thyme: 2
Salt: 3 teaspoons
Olive oil: 3 tablespoons
Butter: 120 grams, coarsely chopped, at room temperature
Flour: 3 tablespoons
Unsweetened cocoa powder: 2 tablespoons
Piece of pancetta: 200 grams, cut into 1 cm pieces
Small pickling onions: 12
Brandy: ½ cup
Chicken stock: 2 cups
Plain flour: 1 heaped tablespoon
Mixed small mushrooms such as pine, Swiss brown and button, trimmed and washed: 500 grams
Flat-leaf parsley: ¼ cup, coarsely chopped

Mashed potato:

Any red-skinned potatoes: 1 kilo, peeled, cut into quarters and boiled in salty water until easily pierced with a fork (about 15 minutes)
Butter: 50 grams, coarsely chopped
Pouring cream: 1/2 cup

1    In a non-metallic vessel marinate chicken in Beaujolais, garlic heads, chopped onions and herbs, cover and refrigerate for 24 hours, preferably 48.

2    Dry chicken pieces, heat oil and 30 grams of the butter in a large casserole over medium-high heat, add chicken pieces and fry for about 10 minutes, turning until golden, then transfer to a plate and keep warm.

3    Pour over brandy into the casserole and ignite with a long match. When flames are extinguished add Beaujolais, marinated onions and garlic and stock to the casserole pan, bring to a boil then return chicken pieces to the casserole. Season to taste with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper though don't add too much salt at this point because you still have to reduce the sauce later. Lower heat to a simmer and cook for 1 hour and 10 minutes.

4    Remove chicken pieces and transfer to a platter. Strain cooking liquid and discard solids through a sieve or colander. Mix cocoa powder with 1/2 cup of cooking liquid in a small bowl. Pour cooking liquid back into the casserole along with cocoa powder and liquid mix and reduce at medium-high heat until there are 3 cups of liquid left, this might take 20-30 minutes. Reduce heat to a simmer.

5    Combine flour and 20gm butter into a paste, whisk into sauce and cook, stirring, for 5 minutes or until sauce has thickened and coats the back of a spoon. Transfer chicken back into the casserole.

6    In a large frying pan, heat a couple of tablespoons of olive oil, add pancetta and cook for 5 minutes or until golden, add mushrooms and pickling onions and cook until they are both golden and most of the excess moisture has been cooked off. Drain off excess fat, add pancetta, mushrooms and pickling onions to the casserole, bring to a boil and simmer for 5 minutes.

7    For mashed potato, drain cooked potatoes and pass through a potato ricer into saucepan, add butter and cream, season to taste and stir to combine.

8    Serve chicken and sauce scattered with parsley, with mashed potato on the side.

Phở Bò Tái - Vietnamese Beef and Rice Noodle Soup

Mon, 24 May 2010 11:53:45 +0100

This is the noodle soup I crave at least weekly. I will go far to eat a good version of it but sometimes I make it at home. Yes, this fragrant, delicate but very delicious noodle soup can be made at home as long as you have the items necessary and give yourself a few hours. Despite the length of the list of ingredients it isn't a particularly difficult recipe to make and you will enjoy one of the best phở bò to be had anywhere. This recipe yields a pure tasting broth and is easily doubled if you'd like to freeze leftover stock for the next time a craving for a Vietnamese noodle soup comes around ... it is cold here and this soup was very welcome in our dining table last night.

Beef Pho and Rice Noodle Soup or Phở Bò Tái, adapted from a recipe by Andrea Nguyen

Makes 6 medium-large sized bowls

For the broth:

Yellow onion:1 medium size, unpeeled, slightly charred on a gas burner or in a bbq, cooled, washed and quartered
Ginger: one 5 cm piece
Beef marrow bones: 1.5 kilos, ask your butcher to cut them into 3 cm pieces
Pork hock: 1, ask your butcher to cut into 3 cm pieces
Star anise: 2
Cloves: 2
Cinnamon or cassia: 1/2 stick
Coriander roots: 3, thoroughly cleaned
Spring onion roots: 3, thoroughly cleaned
Beef brisket: 250 grams after trimming and cut into bite size pieces
Salt: to taste
Fish sauce: 2 tablespoons
Yellow rock sugar: 2 cm chunk

For the bowls:

Dried or fresh banh pho noodles: 1 kilo, about 5 mm wide
Beef eye of round or sirlon: 150 grams, sliced about 2 mm thick across the grain (freeze for 15 minutes to make it easier to slice)
Yellow onion: 1 small, sliced paper-thin, left to soak for 30 minutes in a bowl of cold water
Spring onions: 2, cut into thin rings diagonally
Fresh coriander: 1/3 cup chopped
Ground black pepper to taste

Garnishes arranged on a plate and placed at the table:

Sprigs Vietnamese basil and/or spearmint
Fresh coriander leaves (ngo gai)
Bean sprouts: about 2 cups
Red hot chiles (such as Thai bird or dragon), thinly sliced
Lime wedges

Prepare the pho broth:

Place bones and hock in a large stockpot and cover with cold water. Over high heat, bring to boil. Boil vigorously 2 to 3 minutes to allow impurities to be released. Dump bones, hock and water into sink and rinse bones with warm water. Quickly scrub stockpot to remove any residue. Return bones and hocki to pot.

Add 3 litres of water to pot, bring to boil over high heat, then lower flame to gently simmer. Use ladle to skim any scum that rises to surface. Add remaining broth ingredients and cook, uncovered, for 1 1/2 hours. Brisket should be slightly chewy but not tough. When it is cooked to your liking, remove it and place in bowl of cold water for 10 minutes; this prevents the meat from drying up and turning dark as it cools. Drain the meat; cool, then refrigerate. Allow broth to continue cooking; in total, the broth should simmer 3 hours.

Strain the pho broth through fine strainer. If desired, remove any bits of gelatinous tendon from bones to add to your pho bowl. Store tendon with cooked brisket. Discard all other solids.

Use a ladle to skim as much fat from top of the pho broth as you like. (Cool it and refrigerate it overnight to make this task easier; reheat befofe continuing.) Taste and adjust flavor with additional salt, fish sauce and yellow rock sugar. The pho broth should taste slightly too strong because the noodles and other ingredients are not salted. (If you've gone too far, add water to dilute.) Makes about 2 litres.

Assemble pho bowls:

The key is to be organised and have everything ready to go. Thinly slice cooked meat. For best results, make sure it's cold.

Heat the pho broth and ready the noodles. To ensure good timing, reheat broth over medium flame as you're assembling bowls. If you're using dried noodles, cover with hot tap water and soak 15-20 minutes, until softened and opaque white. Drain in colander. For fresh rice noodles, just untangle and briefly rinse in a colander with cold water.

Fill 4 litre saucepan with water and bring to boil. For each bowl, use long-handle strainer to blanch a portion of noodles. As soon as noodles have collapsed and lost their stiffness (10-20 seconds), pull strainer from water, letting water drain back into saucepan. Empty noodles into bowls. Noodles should occupy 1/4 to 1/3 of bowl; the latter is for noodle lovers, while the former is for those who prize broth.

If desired, after blanching noodles, blanch bean sprouts for 30 seconds in same saucepan. They should slightly wilt but retain some crunch. Drain and add to the garnish plate.

Add other ingredients. Place slices of cooked meat, raw meat and tendon (if using) atop noodles. (If your cooked meat is not at room temperature, blanch slices for few seconds in hot water from above.) Garnish with onion, spring onions and chopped coriander. Finish with black pepper.

Ladle in broth and serve. Bring broth to rolling boil. Check seasoning. Ladle broth into each bowl, distributing hot liquid evenly so as to cook raw beef and warm other ingredients. Serve your pho with with the garnish plate.

Daring Cooks' May Challenge: Pork Enchiladas with Rick Bayless's Mole Rojo Clasico

Fri, 14 May 2010 00:27:47 +0100

Our hosts this month, Barbara of Barbara Bakes and Bunnee of Anna+Food have chosen a delicious Stacked Green Chile & Grilled Chicken Enchilada recipe in celebration of Cinco de Mayo! The recipe, featuring a homemade enchilada sauce was found on www.finecooking.com and written by Robb Walsh.

This challenge was one that I was both looking forward to and dreading. Who doesn't love enchiladas? The thought of having to make them in time for a family reunion somewhere in rural country made very nervous. Mexican ingredients plus equipment and rural Australia in an unfamiliar kitchen in which others would be cooking as well.. I couldn't bring those two factors together. Did I mention that our family is huge? I decided then to make most of the components ahead of time and just put everything together at the last minute. That helped logistically but I think the dish's taste and texture suffered for it. I was pressed for time so I stacked the tortillas in a lasagna-like manner but that just made it not an enchilada but a Mexican lasagna. What an awful thought! When I recovered from the shock I decided to serve this with tortillas on the side plus some really good guacamole and tomatillo salsa and pretend nothing. Despite my horror, it all turned out fine, people were happy, ate everything in sight, some even complimented the cook. As for me? It was a good, stick to your ribs dish. Would I make it again? Sure. Would I make it at home, transport it to a far-away land and then stupidly assemble it at the last minute while 24 people were hungrily waiting for dinner? Hell, no.

In this challenge a rich, complex mole replaced the enchilada sauce. I also used roast pork instead of chicken. Any leftover roast pork can be used here but I got half a kilo of pork neck, cubed it into large chunks, added some stock, cumin, salt and cloves of garlic, covered and roasted it in a moderate oven until meltingly tender, about 2 hours making sure to add more stock every once in a while.

Apologies for the bad photo, this time I forgot about photography until I started digging into my plate.

Rick Bayless's Classic Red Mole

Mole Rojo Clasico

Makes 3 litres of mole

Ingredients

Tomatillos, husked and rinsed: 5 medium or 500 grams, canned, drained
Sesame seeds: 1 1/3 cupsRich-tasting pork lard or vegetable oil: 1 cup, plus a little more if necessary
Dried mulato chiles: about 12 medium, stemmed, seeded and torn into large flat pieces
Dried ancho chiles: about 6 medium, stemmed, seeded and torn into large flat pieces
Dried pasilla chiles: about 10 medium, stemmed, seeded and torn into large flat pieces
Garlic cloves, peeled: 8
Unskinned almonds:1 cup
Raisins: 1 cup
Cinnamon, ground: 1 teaspoon
Black pepper, preferably freshly ground: 1/2 teaspoon
Anise preferably freshly ground: 1/2 teaspoon
Cloves, preferably freshly ground: 1/4 teaspoon
Firm white bread, darkly toasted and broken into several pieces: 2 slices
Mexican chocolate, roughly chopped: 56 grams
Chicken broth: 3 litres
Salt
Sugar: 1/3 to 1/2 cups

Directions

1. Preliminaries. On a rimmed baking sheet, roast the tomatillos 4 inches below a very hot broiler until splotchy black and thoroughly soft, about 5 minutes per side. Scrape into a large bowl. In a dry skillet over medium heat, toast the sesame seeds, stirringly nearly constantly, until golden, about 5 minutes. Scrape half of them in with the tomatillos. Reserve the remainder for sprinkling on the chicken.

2. Brown other mole ingredients. Turn on an exhaust fan or open a kitchen door or window. In a very large soup pot (I typically use a 12-quart stainless steel stock pot or a medium-large Mexican earthenware cazuela), heat the lard or oil over medium. When quite hot, fry the chiles, three or four pieces at a time, flipping them nearly constantly with tongs until their interior side has changed to a lighter color, about 20 or 30 seconds total frying time. Don’t toast them so darkly that they begin to smoke—that would make the mole bitter. As they’re done, remove them to a large bowl, being careful to drain as much fat as possible back into the pot. Cover the toasted chiles with hot tap water and let rehydrate 30 minutes, stirring frequently to insure even soaking.

Remove any stray chile seeds left in the fat. With the pot still over medium heat, fry the garlic and almonds, stirring regularly, until browned (the garlic should be soft), about 5 minutes. With a slotted spoon, remove to the tomatillo bowl, draining as much fat as possible back into the pot.

Add the raisins to the hot pot. Stir for 20 or 30 seconds, until they’ve puffed and browned slightly. Scoop them out, draining as much fat as possible back into the pot, and add to the tomatillos. Set the pan aside off the heat.

To the tomatillo mixture, add the cinnamon, black pepper, anise, cloves, bread and chocolate. Add 2 cups water and stir to combine.

3. Blend, strain, cook. Into a large measuring cup, tip off the chiles’ soaking liquid. Taste the liquid: if it’s not bitter, discard all abut 6 cups of the liquid. (if you’re short, add water to make up the shortfall). If bitter, pour it out and measure 6 cups water. Scoop half of the chiles into a blender jar, pour in half of the soaking liquid (or water) and blend to a smooth puree. Press through a medium-mesh strainer into a large bowl; discard the bits of skin and seeds that don’t pass through the strainer. Repeat with the remaining chiles.

Return the soup pot or cazuela to medium heat. When quite hot, pour in the chile puree—it should sizzle sharply and, if the pan is sufficiently hot, the mixture should never stop boiling. Stir every couple of minutes until the chile puree has darkened and reduced to the consistency of tomato paste, about a half hour. (I find it useful to cover the pot with an inexpensive spatter screen to catch any spattering chile.)

In two batches, blend the tomatillo mixture as smoothly as possible (you may need an extra 1/2 cup water to keep everything moving through the blades), then strain it in to the large bowl that contained the chiles. When the chile paste has reduced, add the tomatillo mixture to the pot and cook, stirring every few minutes until considerably darker and thicker, 15 to 20 minutes. (Again, a spatter screen saves a lot of cleanup.)

4. Simmer. Add the broth to the pot and briskly simmer the mixture over medium to medium-low heat for about 2 hours for all the flavors to come together and mellow. If the mole has thickened beyond the consistency of a cream soup, stir in a little water. Taste and season with salt (usually about 4 teaspoons) and the sugar.

This makes a huge quantity of mole which you can freeze for other dishes.

Corn Tortillas (from Rick Bayless’s Mexican Kitchen)
Makes about 15

Masa harina: 1 ¼ cups

Hot water: 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons

Pour hot water over masa harina, cover and let sit 30 minutes. Add cool water 1 tablespoon at a time until the dough is soft but not sticky. Divide the dough into 15 balls and cover with plastic wrap.

Heat a large (two burner) ungreased griddle or two large skillets, one on medium-low and one on medium-high.

Put a ball of dough between two sheets of plastic. If you don’t have a tortilla press, press to a 5-6” circle using a heavy frying pan or bread board or other heavy, flat object. Put the tortilla into the cooler pan or cooler end of the griddle. The tortilla will probably stick, but within 15 seconds, if the temperature is correct, it will release. Flip it at that point onto the hotter skillet/griddle section. In 30-45 seconds, it should be dotted with brown underneath. Flip it over, still on the hot surface and brown another 30 seconds or so. A good tortilla will balloon up at this point. Remove from heat and let them rest while cooking the remaining tortillas. Use quickly.

Enchiladas (serves 8)

Ingredients

Roast pork: 500 grams (read introduction for instructions)
Olive oil: 3 tablespoons (use more as needed)
Salt and pepper
Small Corn tortillas:12 (5-6 inch/13-15 cm)
Cheeses: 170 grams cheddar, pepper jack, Mexican cheeses can be used. Just be sure they melt well and complement the filling
Coriander for garnish, chopped and sprinkled optional

How to assemble

In a small skillet, heat 3 tablespoons oil over medium-high heat until very hot. Dip the edge of a tortilla into the oil to check – it should sizzle immediately.

Using tongs, put a tortilla into the pan and cook until soft and lightly brown on each side, about 15-20 seconds per side (at the most).

Drain on paper towels.

Add oil as needed and continue until all 12 tortillas are done.

In a baking dish large enough to hold four separate stacks of tortillas, ladle a thin layer of sauce.

Lay four tortillas in the dish and ladle another ½ cup (4 ounces/112 grams) of sauce over the tortillas.

Divide half the pork among the first layer of tortillas, top with another ½ cup of sauce and 1/3 of the grated cheese.

Stack another four tortillas, top with the rest of the pork, more sauce and another third of the cheese.

Finish with the third tortilla, topped with the remaining sauce and cheese.

Bake until the sauce has thickened and the cheese melted, about 20 minutes. Let rest for 5-10 minutes.

To serve, transfer each stack to a plate. Spoon any leftover sauce over the stacks and sprinkle with cilantro, if you wish. The stacks may also be cooked in individual gratin dishes.

Serve with optional tomatillo salsa and guacamole.

Steamed Eel in Black Bean Sauce

Sun, 09 May 2010 11:08:40 +0100

Until recently, eel was one of those dishes we'd order in Chinese restaurants but rarely made at home. You know the rigmarole ... going to a live fish market, picking your fish, bringing the poor bugger home, trying to kill it as humanely as possible (me being as squeamish as they come doesn't help here) and then cooking it in a way which will honour both the fish and the effort involved. Guess what? Mum decided she would take it upon herself to do all of this because nobody else in this house would. I won't put you off this particular dish by describing her antics with the eel but she managed to pull it off beautifully. I'm not going to ask you to obtain a live eel and then kill it yourself. No. Fishmongers can do that for you. Why my mum decided to do this herself escapes me entirely. Anyhow, this dish is so delicious that my husband and I requested she make it a second time, consecutively. It is that good and has become a keeper. If eel isn't available you could use other fish, it's up to you ... but eel is particularly nice here.

Steamed Eel in Black Bean Sauce (feeds at least 4 people)

Ingredients:

Fresh eel: 500 grams, sliced into 1 cm rounds
Fresh chilli: 1 chopped finely. Use more or less to taste
Fresh ginger: 1 knob, sliced finely or microplaned
Fresh garlic: 3 cloves, chopped finely
Salted black beans: 2 tablespoons, chopped finely. You can find this in any Asian grocer
Dry mandarin peel: A piece or a few pieces measuring about 6 x 6 cms in total, re-hydrated in 1/2 cup of hot water for 1/2 hour and then chopped finely. You can also find this in any Asian grocer
Soy sauce: 2 tablespoons
Shaoxing rice wine: 1 tablespoon
Corn flour: 2 teaspoons
Sesame oil: 2 teaspoons
Salt and white pepper to taste
Green onions or scallions: 1 head, sliced to 2 cm lengths

Equipment needed:

A steamer or wok with a lid. To steam using a wok, place a couple of chopsticks across the bottom of the steamer, fill with water up to the chopsticks, cover with lid, bring to a boil and then place platter on top of chopsticks and cover.
A shallow platter which will fit inside the steamer or wok

Preparation:

Place eel in a medium sized bowl along with the rest of the ingredients and mix well with fingers or chopsticks. Transfer contents to a large shallow platter (the largest size your steamer or wok will accommodate) and steam in medium heat for about 10 minutes. You may need a shorter or longer steaming time depending on your stove, the size of the eel pieces and the size of your platter. You can tell it's done when the eel's flesh is opaque all the way through to the spine. By the way, you can eat the tiny little bones in the eel as they are quite soft. Serve with white rice. Yum.

Double Meringue and Lemon Curd Pie

Fri, 30 Apr 2010 06:06:46 +0100

This pie will convert most lemon pie haters out there. True. It happened in front of me. I observed this guy voraciously eat slice after slice of this pie while insisting that he hated lemon pies, except for this one. Don't you love it when people do that? He loved this dessert so much he begged me to post about it. This guy to which I'm referring was my husband. Foodwise, husband has very definite likes and dislikes. I tend to agree with him most times but on the odd occasion in which I don't, he'll see me concoct batch after batch of whatever dish he dislikes but I happen to like in order to change his mind. Anything to prove him wrong, right?

As much as I like to show the real side of home cooking (you know, the not-so-great-looking dishes that taste terrific) I was a bit disappointed, that, once cut, this pie wasn't standing up properly. My fault, I undercooked the curd in my haste to bring it to a dinner on time. I also should have cooled it down and then refrigerated it in order to firm it up. But I didn't, did I? The resulting pie was unsteady and the sauce spread all over the dish. My guests decided that I was being overly critical and suggested I should be focusing on what mattered to them: flavour and texture. They were right, the intensity of the lemon curd was mellowed by the not too sweet meringues and the whipped cream topping ... and hell, it was silky, very silky! It's just really a very simple but brilliant pie, you'll see when you taste it.

This lemon meringue recipe is from James Peterson's Baking, an excellent book which uses recipes to guide you through various techniques and concepts lucidly, expertly and without ever being intimidating. I highly recommend this book for anyone interested in furthering their baking skills with a great teacher.

Double Meringue and Lemon Curd Pie, recipe slightly adapted from James Peterson's Baking

Ingredients for meringue shell

10 to 11 inch pie plate, buttered and powdered with icing (confectioner's) sugar
Egg whites: 6 large
Cream of tartar: a pinch. You don't need this if you'll be using a copper bowl
Granulated sugar: 3/4 cup. If it's a humid day you will need an extra 1 1/3 cups folded in at the end

Preheat oven to 120 ^oC.

Beat the egg whites with the cream of tartar using a stand mixer for 1 minute on medium speed and then 4 minutes on high or until stiff peaks form. Add the granulated sugar in a steady stream and beat for 2 more minutes on high. If it's a humid day you need to fold in the extra sugar now.

Spread the meringue over the pie pan and leave an indentation in the centre which will hold the lemon curd.

Bake shell for at least 3 hours or until hard and dry to the touch. If it starts to brown, lower heat to 90 ^oC. Prepare the lemon curd, below.

Ingredients for lemon curd

Large egg yolks: 10
Granulated sugar: 1 cup
Grated zest of 1 lemon
Lemon juice from 3 medium size lemons
Unsalted butter, sliced: 70 grams
Sea salt: 1/2 teaspoon

Whisk together the egg yolks and sugar and salt in a saucepan with sloping sides for about 2 minutes, or until pale. Add the lemon zest and juice.

Place pan over medium heat and whisk constantly until mixture stiffens. Remove from heat, add the butter and stir for a couple of minutes to cool slightly. Transfer to a bowl, cover with wrap and let it cool for an hour and then refrigerate for another 2 hours, at least.

Preheat oven to 180 ^oC. Prepare the meringue topping, below.

Ingredients for meringue topping

Large egg whites: 4
Pinch of cream of tartar if not using a copper bowl
Granulated sugar: 1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons

In a stand mixer, beat the whites with the cream of tartar on high speed until stiff peaks form. Add the sugar and beat a couple of minutes more.

Assembly

Spread the curd over the indented part of the meringue shell then spread the soft meringue over the entire shell.

Bake for about 20 minutes or until medium brown. Let cool for 1 hour on cake rack. Prepare the whipped cream just before serving, below.

Ingredients for whipped cream

Heavy cream: 600 ml
Vanilla extract: 1 teaspoon

Combine the cream and vanilla in a bowl and whip until stiff peaks form. Spread the whipped cream over the pie.

The Not So British British Suet Pudding: April's Daring Bakers' Challenge

Tue, 27 Apr 2010 11:00:13 +0100

The April 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Esther of The Lilac Kitchen. She challenged everyone to make a traditional British pudding using, if possible, a very traditional British ingredient: suet.

Life is funny. Sometimes it takes places you don't want to go or forces you to do things you had no intention doing. This pudding was one of those things. I wasn't going to do this challenge due to not having the necessary equipment, being too busy, and having too many other commitments. One thing occurred after the other and it all peaked upon finding a vintage pudding basin in a garage sale near Wagga Wagga (Wagga for the locals, a town half way between Sydney and Melbourne) during Easter. The basin was staring at me. I couldn't help myself. Had to give it a home and now had no excuse to not make the pudding.

I am glad I got to make this pudding because, as it turned out, it's one of the best tasting "pies" I have made lately. The crust was savoury and full of flavor, crumbly but flexible and held the filling really well. Instead of a traditional British meat pudding I thought that a stout-braised short rib filling for this pudding could be different, but yet, be quite complimentary, and I wasn't wrong. Thanks to the various, well chosen spices, this braise has a strong but very balanced flavour and pairs with the suet crust seamlessly. The pudding was brilliant served with a homemade ketchup. Overall, this was quite an easy dish to make as long as you divide the tasks over a couple of days, at least. Hope you try this, it will be well worth the effort.

Thank you, Esther for this great suggestion. Can't wait to see what the other Daring Bakers have done!

Stout-Braised short ribs, adapted from Gourmet

Ingredients

Dark brown sugar: 1/4 cup, packed
Sweet or mild paprika: 1 tablespoon
Curry powder: 1 tablespoon
Ground cumin: 2 teaspoons
Black pepper: 2 teaspoons
Salt: 2 teaspoons
Dry mustard: 1 teaspoon
Beef short ribs cut into 5 cm pieces: 2 kilos
Leeks: 4 medium, white and pale green parts only, washed and chopped to 3 cm pieces
Extra virgin olive oil: 3 tablespoons
Medium carrots: 4, chopped into 1 inch chunks
Celery ribs: 3, chopped finely
Bay leaves: 2
Fresh garlic: 6 large cloves, chopped finely
Beef broth: 1 3/4 cups
Stout beer: 2 x 350 ml bottles
Tomato passata: 800 ml
Tomato paste: 2 tablespoons
Red pepper (capsicum) paste: 4 tablespoons (available from Middle Eastern grocers)

Stir together brown sugar, paprika, curry powder, cumin, pepper, salt, and mustard in a small bowl until combined. Pat ribs dry and arrange in 1 layer in a shallow baking pan or a shallow dish, then generously coat all sides of ribs with spice mixture. Marinate, uncovered and chilled, 1 hour.

Heat oil in pot over high heat until hot but not smoking and quickly brown ribs on all 3 meaty sides (but not bone side) without crowding, in batches if necessary, about 1 minute per side. Transfer meat to a large plate, then add leeks, carrots, celery, and bay leaves to pot and cook over moderately low heat, stirring occasionally, until vegetables begin to soften, about 3 minutes. Add garlic and cook, stirring, 1 minute.

Add broth, beer, and tomato passata, tomato paste and red pepper paste, then add ribs with any juices and remaining spices accumulated on plate and bring liquid to a boil, uncovered. Cover pot and simmer for 3 hours or until meat falls easily from the bones. If necessary, uncover pot and reduce broth until it is no longer runny.

Let it cool enough to be able to skim off excess fat from surface of sauce. Discard bay leaves and bones. Flavour will continue developing into the next day. This recipe will yield a large pudding which will feed about 6 relatively hungry Australians.

Pastry for pudding

Ingredients

Self-raising flour: 500 grams, if you cannot find self-raising flour use a combination of all-purpose flour and baking powder
Shredded suet: 350 grams
Salt and pepper: 1 teaspoon each
Water: 420 ml or a little less than a cup or you can use a milk or a water and milk mix for a richer pastry

Mix the flour and suet together then season the flour and suet mixture with salt and pepper.

Add the water, a tablespoonful at a time, as you mix the ingredients together. Make up the pastry to firm an elastic dough that leaves the bowl clean. The liquid amounts are only an estimate and most recipes just say water to mix. Don’t over handle the pastry or it will toughen.

Reserve a quarter for the lid and roll out the rest and line a well-greased pudding bowl and fill with the stout braise.

Roll the final piece of pastry out into a circle big enough to cover the top of the basin, dampen the edges and put in position on the pudding, pinching the edges together to seal.

Seal well and cover with a double sheet of foil – pleated in the centre to allow room for expansion while cooking. Secure with string, and place it in a steamer over boiling water. My pudding basin came with a lid so I used that instead of a string.

Steam for up to 5 hours, you may need to add more boiling water halfway through or possibly more often. It's very difficult to over-steam a pudding so you can leave it bubbling away until you are ready.

Serve on its own or with kasoundi or a homemade, very good quality ketchup. This pudding is stellar with either.