AdSense Full Screen test

Friday, August 27, 2010

Petit Fours

My first attempt at petit fours
Source
The Daring Bakers August 2010 Challenge http://thedaringkitchen.com/ by Elissa of 17 and Baking with small adjustments and without the ice cream

Taste 4 (out of 5)
Difficulty 3 (out of 5)
Ingredients
Brown Butter Pound Cake
- 275 g unsalted butter
- 200 g sifted flour 
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 185g light brown sugar
- 4 large eggs
- 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
For the Jam
- 250 g of jam (I used sour cherry)
- juice of 1/2 lemon (optional, if your jam is too sweet)
For Chocolate Glaze
- 250g dark chocolate, finely chopped
- 1 cup/ 250 ml heavy cream
- 1 1/2 tbsp light corn syrup, Golden syrup, or agave nectar
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
Instructions
1. Preheat the oven to 325°F and put a rack in the center. Butter and flour or line with silicon an 11”x13” pan or deep cookie sheet.
2. Place the butter in a 10” (25cm) skillet over medium heat. Brown the butter until the milk solids are a dark chocolate brown and the butter smells nutty. (Don’t take your eyes off the butter in case it burns.) Pour into a shallow bowl and chill in the freezer until just congealed, 15-30 minutes.
3. Whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt.
4. Beat the brown butter and light brown sugar in an electric mixer until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Beat in the eggs one at a time, mixing well, and then the vanilla extract.
5. Stir in the flour mixture at low speed until just combined.
6. Scrape the batter into the greased and floured 11”x13” pan. Smooth the top with a rubber spatula and rap the pan on the counter. Bake until golden brown on top and when a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, about 25 minutes.
7. Cool in the pan 10 minutes. Run a knife along the edge and invert right-side-up onto a cooling rack to cool completely.
For Chocolate Glaze
8. Stir the heavy cream and light corn syrup in a small saucepan over medium heat until it comes to a boil. Remove from heat and add the dark chocolate. Let sit 30 seconds, then stir to completely melt the chocolate. Stir in the vanilla and let cool until tepid before glazing the petit fours.
Assembly
9. In a blender mix the jam with the lemon juice (if using the lemon juice). 
10. Once the brown butter pound cake has completely cooled, cut it in half, spread the jam on top of one half and place the other half on top.
11. Make the chocolate glaze and while it cools trim the sides of the cake to make it perfectly rectangular and then cut into 1.5”x1.5” petit fours.
12. Place each petit four on a fork and with a spoon pour a glaze over it. Put the coated petit fours on the parchment lined cookie sheet and let cool in the refrigerator until the glaze is firm.

Afterthoughts
- Thanks, Elissa, for the great challenge. I wanted to make petit fours for a while, and this was a perfect opportunity. I did not make the ice cream though, because I had an overdose in the last months challenge :-). 
- I used a 9”x11” pan and did not realize I needed to half the cake horizontally, so my petit fours turned out quite big (more like grand fours). Next time I will simply use a bigger pan (11”x13” or something similar), because I am really bad at cutting cakes horizontally.
- The cake tastes really good all by itself. I am just wondering if so much butter is needed, and how the browning of butter impacts the taste. Next time I might try using less butter, for calories’ sake.
Blog checking lines 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”.

To Recipe...
4 comments
Labels:

Monday, August 16, 2010

Pelmeni - Russian Dumplings with Meat and Cabbage

The Daring Cooks August ‘10 Challenge called them Pierogi, but I believe that the original Russian name is Pelmeni :-)
Source 
Adapted from August 2010 Daring Cooks Challenge by LizG of Bits n’ Bites and Anula of Anula’s Kitchen
Taste 3 (out of 5)
Difficulty 5 (out of 5)
Ingredients
For the dough
- 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 large egg
- 1 tsp salt
-  3/4 cup lukewarm water
For the filling
- 250 g cooked meat, minced or cut very finely
- 100 g sour kraut, drained
- 1/2 onion, diced and fried
- 1 cloves garlic
- 1 medium egg
- 1/2 tbsp butter
- 1 tbsp dry breadcrumbs
- salt and pepper
If frying the dumplings
- 3 tbsp canola oil
- 3 tsp butter
Total: 30 dumplings
Instructions
1. Combine all the ingredients for the filling (it’s best to use one’s hands to do that) put into the bowl, cover and set aside in the fridge until you have to use it.
2. Place 2 cups flour in a large bowl or on a work surface and make a well in the center. Break the egg into it, add the salt and a little lukewarm at a time (you might need from 1/2 to 1 cup water). Bring the dough together, kneading well and adding more flour or water as necessary. Cover the dough with a bowl or towel. You’re aiming for soft dough. Let it rest 20 minutes.
3. On a floured work surface, roll the dough out thinly (1/8” or about 3 millimeters) cut with a 2-inch (5 cm) round or glass (I used 4-inch/10 cm cutter and got around 30 of them and 1 full, heaped teaspoon of filling is perfect for that size). Spoon a portion (teaspoon will be the best) of the filling into the middle of each circle. Fold dough in half and pinch edges together. Gather scraps, re-roll and fill. Repeat with remaining dough.
4. Bring a large, low saucepan of salted water to boil. Drop in the pelmeni, not too many, only single layer in the pan! Return to the boil and reduce heat. When the pelmeni rise to the surface, continue to simmer a few minutes more ( usually about 5 minutes). Remove one dumpling with a slotted spoon and taste if ready. When satisfied, remove remaining pelmeni from the water.
5. Serve immediately preferably with sour cream or fry. Cold pelmeni can be fried.  Boiled Russian pelmeni can be easily frozen and boiled taken out straight from the freezer.
Afterthoughts
- I have to admit that dumplings are not one of my very favorite foods, and in addition it always seemed way too much work. So I was glad to see this challenge, because it without it I never would have tried making dumplings from scratch :-).
- Maybe my dough was too hard, but it was just extremely difficult to roll out and it kept shrinking. As a result I think it was too thick compared to the amount of filling I managed to squeeze in. The only good thing about my dough was that it did not stick to the surface and the pin even without the flour. 
- Frying the dumplings in butter certainly helped improve the taste, but added an extra 1/2 hour and quite a few calories. 
- Overall, I probably spent 5 hours on these 30 dumplings, which makes it 10 minutes per dumpling (kneading the dough, rolling the dough, filling the dumplings, boiling and frying in batches, preparing the filling). And 2 days later my wrists still hurt from all the rolling :-). And I think the best part is the filling, anyway, which is really quick and easy to make. So why not just meatballs, and save all the extra work and calories from the dough? 
Blog-checking lines 
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.

To Recipe...
2 comments
Labels:

Tuesday, July 27, 2010

Swiss Swirl Ice Cream Cake

Should I have ice cream or cake? hmmm.... No need to choose any more!
Source
The Daring Bakers July 2010 Challenge by Sunita with small adjustments

Taste 5 (out of 5)
Difficulty 5 (out of 5)
Ingredients
For Swiss rolls (dough)
6 medium sized eggs
- 1 cup/ 8 oz/ 225 g caster sugar 
- 6 tbsp/ 1.6 oz/ 45g all purpose flour 
- 5 tbsp/ 1.4 oz/ 40g natural unsweetened cocoa powder, sifted together
- 2 tbsp/ 1 fl oz/ 30ml boiling water
- 1/2 tsp baking soda with 1 tbsp apple cider mixed until bubbly
- a little oil for brushing the pans
For Swiss rolls (filling)
- 2 cups/ 16 fl oz/ 500 ml whipping cream
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 5 tbsp/ 2.5 oz/ 70 g caster sugar
- 1/2 cup fresh raspberries, squeezed in a blender and pressed through a sieve to remove the seeds
- 1/2 tsp freshly squeezed lemon juice
For vanilla ice cream
- 2 1/2 cups/ 20 fl oz/ 625 ml whipping cream
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup/ 4 oz/ 115 g granulated sugar
For raspberry ice cream
- 2 1/2 cups/ 20 fl oz/ 625 ml whipping cream
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup/ 4 oz/ 115 g granulated sugar
- 1/2 cup fresh raspberries, squeezed in a blender and pressed through a sieve to remove the seeds
For chocolate ice cream
- 2 cups/ 500 ml whipping cream
- 1 cup / 8 oz/ 230 g caster sugar
- 3 tbsp/ 1.5 oz/ 24 g natural unsweetened cocoa powder
For hot fudge sauce
- 1 cup/ 8 oz/ 230g caster sugar
- 3 tbsp/ 1.5 oz/  24g natural unsweetened cocoa powder
- 2 tbsp/ 1 oz/ 15g corn flour/ cornstarch
- 1 1/2 cups/ 12 fl oz/ 355 ml water
- 1 tbsp 1 oz/ 14g butter
- 1 tsp/ 5 ml vanilla extract
Instructions
For Swiss roll
1. Preheat the oven at 400F/ 200C. Brush 2 baking pans ( 11 inches by 9 inches ) with a little oil and line with greaseproof baking paper. If you have just one pan, bake one cake and then let the pan cool completely before using it for the next cake. Or just half the recipe like I did and make only 1 swiss roll.
2. In a large mixing bowl, add the eggs and sugar and beat till very thick; when the beaters are lifted, it should leave a trail on the surface for at least 10 seconds.
3. Sift together the flour and the cocoa, add in three batches and fold in gently with a spatula. Fold in the water and the baking soda mixed with cider.
4. Divide the mixture among the two baking pans and spread it out evenly, into the corners of the pans.
5. Place a pan in the centre of the pre heated oven and bake for about 10-12 minutes or till the centre is springy to the touch.
6. Spread a kitchen towel on the counter and sprinkle a little caster sugar over it.
7. Turn the cake on to the towel and peel away the baking paper. Trim any crisp edges.
8. Starting from one of the shorter sides, start to make a roll with the towel going inside. Cool the wrapped roll on a rack, seam side down. Repeat the same for the next cake as well.
9. In a large bowl beat the cream with vanilla sugar and lemon till very thick. Add the raspberry puree and mix well until uniform color.
10. Divide the cream mixture between the completely cooled cakes.
11. Open the rolls and spread the cream mixture, making sure it does not go right to the edges (a border of 1/2 an inch should be fine).
12. Roll the cakes up again, this time without the towel. Wrap in plastic wrap and chill in the fridge till needed, seam side down.
For vanilla ice cream
13. In a mixing bowl, whip the cream and then add the vanilla extract and the sugar and continue beating.
14. Pour into a freezer friendly container and freeze till firm around the edges. Remove from the freezer, beat till smooth and return to the freezer. Do this 3-4 times and then set completely.
For raspberry ice cream
15. The same as vanilla ice cream only at the end add the raspberry puree and mix well. 
For chocolate ice cream
16. Grind together the sugar and the cocoa powder in a food processor.
17. In a saucepan, add all the ingredients and whisk lightly.
18. Place the pan over heat and keep stirring till it begins to bubble around the edges.
19. Remove from heat and cool completely before transferring to a freezer friendly container till firm around the edges. 
20. Remove from the freezer, beat till smooth and return to the freezer. Do this 3-4 times and then set completely.
For hot fudge sauce
21. In a small saucepan, whisk together the sugar, cocoa powder, corn flour and water.
22. Place the pan over heat, and stir constantly, till it begins to thicken and is smooth (for about 2 minutes).
23. Remove from heat and mix in the butter and vanilla. Keep aside to cool .
Assembly
24. Cut the Swiss rolls into 20 equal slices, 10 slices per roll ( approximately 2 cm each ).
25. Cover the bottom and sides of the bowl in which you are going to set the dessert with cling film/plastic wrap.
26. Arrange two slices at the bottom of the pan, with their seam sides facing each other. Arrange the Swiss roll slices up the bowl, with the seam sides facing away from the bottom, to cover the sides of the bowl. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and freeze till the slices are firm (at least 30 minutes).
27. Soften the vanilla ice cream. Take the bowl out of the freezer, remove the cling film cover and add the ice cream on top of the cake slices. Spread it out to cover the bottom and sides of the bowl. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and freeze till firm ( at least 1 hour).
28. Add the fudge sauce over the vanilla ice cream, cover and freeze till firm ( at least an hour).
29. Soften and spread the raspberry ice cream over the fudge. Cover with plastic wrap and freeze (at least an hour).
30. Soften the chocolate ice cream and add over the raspberry one. Cover with plastic wrap and freeze for at least 4-5 hours till completely set.
31. Remove the plastic cover, and place the serving plate on top of the bowl. Turn it upside down and remove the bowl and the plastic lining. If the bowl does not come away easily, wipe the outsides of the bowl with a kitchen towel dampened with hot water. The bowl will come away easily.
32. Keep the cake out of the freezer for at least 10 minutes before slicing, depending on how hot your region is. Slice with a sharp knife, dipped in hot water.
Afterthoughts
- First of all, I want to thank Sunita - this was the first time I’ve attempted an ice cream cake. And it’s the first time I managed to make a pretty good ice cream without an ice cream maker (all my previous attempts were much more like icicles than ice cream). 
- I made half the recipe, and it still produced 12 decent servings (and I don’t even want to start counting calories per serving). 
- The original recipe had 1 layer of fudge and 2 types of ice creams, and I had the fudge and 3 layers of ice cream, so my ice cream overflowed. I should have just stuck to the original recipe and used 2 ice cream layers. 
Blog checking lines- The July 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Sunita of Sunita’s world – life and food. Sunita challenged everyone to make an ice-cream filled Swiss roll that’s then used to make a bombe with hot fudge. Her recipe is based on an ice cream cake recipe from Taste of Home.-

To Recipe...
17 comments
Labels:

Wednesday, July 14, 2010

Chicken with Pecan Cream & Mushrooms

A June 2010 Daring Cooks challenge - a really original twist on pasta sauce. 
Source 
Taste 5 (out of 5)
Difficulty 2 (out of 5)
Ingredients
For Pecan Cream:
- 3/4 cup / 180 ml coarsely chopped pecans, toasted
- 1 cup /240 ml water
- 1 cup / 240 ml milk 
- 3/4 tsp salt, more as needed
- 1/2 lb / 225 g pasta
- 4 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves
- 1 tsp olive oil, more as needed
- salt & pepper to taste
For Sauce:
- 1 tbsp deglazing liquid (water, broth, wine; optional)
- 1 tsp olive oil, more as needed
- 1/4 cup / 60 ml finely chopped shallots
- 1/2 lb / 225 g mushrooms, sliced
- 1 tbsp fresh thyme leaves
- chopped pecans, (optional garnish)
Total 4 servings
Instructions
1. Prepare pecan cream. Grind pecans in a food processor for about a minute or so until smooth, scraping down the sides of bowl as needed. Add water, milk and 3/4 teaspoon salt; process until smooth, scraping sides of bowl as needed. Set aside pecan cream.
2. Cook pasta according to package instructions in salted water. Drain, rinse, and keep warm.
3. If desired, pound chicken to ¼ inch (6 mm) thickness to promote even cooking. Sprinkle with a bit of salt and pepper to taste. Heat 1 teaspoon olive oil a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add half the chicken; sauté 3 to 5 minutes on each side or until cooked through. Set aside cooked chicken on a clean plate, cover to keep warm.
4. Add deglazing liquid to pan if using and stir up any browned bits. If needed, add another teaspoon of oil (or more) to pan for sautéing the shallots and mushrooms. Sauté the shallots and mushrooms over medium heat for 4 to 6 minutes or until mushrooms are tender and starting to brown. Add fresh thyme to the pan. Stir in pecan cream; bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for about 1 1/2 minutes till reduced slightly.
5. Slice chicken into thin strips. Divide the noodles among serving plates. Add a scoop of the mushroom pecan sauce on top of noodles. Lay sliced chicken on top. Garnish with fresh thyme and/or a pinch of chopped pecans if desired.

Afterthoughts
- A great recipe - I never would have thought of making a pecan sauce for chicken, but it turned out really yummy! Thanks to Margie and Natashya for the brillian idea :-)
- The sauce turned out too salty for me (but I barely use any salt at all, so maybe I’m not a good indicator for others). I added milk to dilute the saltiness - the original recipe did not have any milk, only water. It was still too salty, but the milk added a nice creamy texture. Next time I’ll reduce the salt and keep the milk.
Blog-checking lines
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.

To Recipe...
5 comments
Labels:

Monday, June 14, 2010

Trout Pâté

Looks fancy, tastes great and is really easy to make.
Source
The Daring Cook’s June 2010 challenge, hosted by Evelyne of Cheap Ethnic Eatz, and Valerie of a The Chocolate Bunny
Taste 5 (out of 5)
Difficulty 1 (out of 5)
Ingredients
- 1/2 lb / 8 oz / 240g trout filet, skinned and cut into thick chunks (355 cal)
- 1/4 lb / 4 oz / 110g raw shrimp, deveined, shelled and tailed (150 cal)
- 1/2 cup / 120ml heavy cream (415 cal)
- salt and black pepper to taste
- chives for garnish
Total 920 cal, 6 servings, 155 cal / serving
Instructions
1. Preheat oven to 375ºF (190ºC).
2. Put the trout and the raw shrimp in a food processor and pulse. Gradually pour in the cream and keep pulsing until you obtain a smooth mixture that is easy to spread, but not too liquid (you may not need to use all the cream). Season with salt and pepper.
3. Butter a 6x3 inch (15x7,5 cm) loaf pan or three 3/4-cup ramekins. Spoon in the trout mixture and spread it evenly. 
4. Prepare a water bath: place the loaf pan in a larger, deep ovenproof dish (such as a brownie pan or a baking dish). Bring some water to a simmer and carefully pour it in the larger dish. The water should reach approximately halfway up the loaf pan.
5. Put the water bath and terrine in the oven, and bake for 35 minutes. The pâté should be cooked through and firm in the center.
6. Remove the pan from the water bath and let cool. Carefully unmold onto a serving platter. Decorate with chopped chives. Cut into thick slices and serve at room temperature, with crusty bread.
Afterhtoughts
- This was my first pate, so I followed the pâté recipe from the Daring Kitchen very closely. The primary change was omitting whole shrimps. It turned out much much easier than I thought, and very tasty. Thanks a lot to Evelyne and Valerie for this challenge :-)
- For the bread I made a baguette from my absolute favorite Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day master recipe. 
- I was really pleasantly surprised to see how easy it was to unmold this pâté - leaves a lot of room for experimenting with pans of different shapes.
- If you have leftover heavy cream, place it in a food processor and beat on High speed until it firms. It becomes something like the British double clotted cream. A great addition to your baguette and pâté ;-)
Blog-checking lines: Our hostesses this month, Evelyne of Cheap Ethnic Eatz, and Valerie of a The Chocolate Bunny, chose delicious pate with freshly baked bread as their June Daring Cook’s challenge! They’ve provided us with 4 different pate recipes to choose from and are allowing us to go wild with our homemade bread choice.

To Recipe...
13 comments
Labels:

Thursday, June 10, 2010

Strawberry Rhubarb Tart

A fresh summer treat. 
Source
Taste 5 (out of 5)
Difficulty 2 (out of 5)

Ingredients
For the dough
- 100 g margarine (725 cal)
- 1 cup all purpose flour (455 cal)
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/2 cup brown sugar, packed (415 cal)
For the filling
- 750 g strawberries (240 cal)
- 1 stalk rhubarb (35 cal)
- 1/4 cup + 2 tbsp agave nectar (190 cal)
- 2 tbsp cornstarch (115 cal)
Total 2175 cal, 12 servings, 180 cal/serving


Instructions
1. Preheat oven to 325. Lightly butter a 9-inch tart pan or 4 individual tart pans.
2. Place all the ingredients for the dough in a bowl and mix with pastry cutter. You can add 1-2 tbsp of ice water in the end if the doug is too dry. Form a ball with your hands, wrap with a plastic wrap and let rest in the refrigerator for an hour. 
3. In the meantime, combine strawberries, rhubarb and agave nectar in a sieve, and let ret. 
4. After an hour press the dough out into the prepared tart pan using your fingers. Use a fork to dock the dough (poke holes in it — this will help keep the crust thin by preventing steam from making it bubble up as it cooks). Bake for 20 minutes.
5. Drain the strawberry rhubarb mixture of any liquid (otherwise your tart will be soggy). Add cornstarch and mix well again. Pour the filling into the partially baked crust, making sure to spread it out evenly. Return to the oven and bake for another 30 minutes, or until the crust is baked.
6. Remove and let cool before serving.
Afterthoughts
I love this tart - fresh, yummy, pretty and easy to make.

To Recipe...
4 comments
Labels:

Thursday, May 27, 2010

Profiteroles (Piece Montée)

What can be better than a profiterole? A mountain of profiteroles...
Source
A combination of my mom’s recipe and the Daring Bakers May 2010 Challenge by Cat 
Taste 5 (out of 5)
Difficulty 2 (out of 5)
Ingredients
For the choux pastry
- 3/4 cup / 175 ml water
- 6 tbsp / 85 g unsalted butter (610 cal)
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1 tbsp sugar (45 cal)
- 1 cup / 125 g all-purpose flour (455 cal)
- 4 large eggs (280 cal)
For the cream
- 2/3 cup sugar (555 cal)
- 2/3 cup flour (300 cal)
- 2/3 liter milk (345 cal)
- 2 large eggs (140 cal)
Total 2730 cal, 30 profiteroles, 90 cal/profiterole
Instructions
For the pastry
1. Pre-heat oven to 425F. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper or silicon mat.
2. Combine water, butter, salt and sugar in a saucepan over medium heat. Bring to a boil and stir occasionally. At boil, remove from heat and add the flour, stirring to combine completely.
3. Return to heat and cook, stirring constantly until the batter dries slightly and begins to pull away from the sides of the pan.
4. Transfer to a bowl and stir with a wooden spoon 1 minute to cool slightly.
5. Add the eggs. As you stir, the batter will become dry-looking like lightly buttered mashed potatoes. It will also be very sticky.
6. Transfer batter to a pastry bag fitted with a large open tip (I piped directly from the bag opening without a tip). Pipe choux about 1 inch-part in the baking sheets. Choux should be about 1 inch high and 1 inch wide. Using a clean finger dipped in hot water, gently press down on any tips that have formed on the top of choux when piping. You want them to retain their ball shape, but be smoothly curved on top.
Alternatively, if you don’t have a piping bag, you can use 2 spoons to form the choux. Constantly dip the spoons into hot water to prevent the batter from sticking to them.
7. Bake the choux at 425F until well-puffed and turning lightly golden in color. This can take anywhere from 10 to 25 minutes so keep an eye on your choux. If you reduce the heat too soon the choux will sink and become soggy and wet (but it will still taste ok ;-) ). 
8. Lower the temperature to 350F and continue baking until well-colored and dry, about 20 minutes more. Remove to a rack and cool.
For the filling
9. Beat the eggs with the sugar and flour. Boil the milk. While the milk is warming, pour about 1/2 cup into the egg mix and stir well to gradually increase its temperature. This way the eggs won’t curdle when you add them to boiling milk. Repeat this step 2-3 more times as the milk approaches boiling temperature. 
10. Once the milk boils, pour the warm egg mix into the boiling milk, constantly stirring, to prevent lumps from forming. Keep on the stove for several 3 more minutes, continue stirring. It’s best to use hand held mixer in this stage.
11. Remove the cream from heat, let cool.
Assembly
12. Cut the chilled choux in half with a sharp, dry knife. Scoop some of the cream with a spoon, fill the pastry and replace the upper half on top. 
13. Assemble your piece montée and pour melted chocolate on top for decoration. 
Afterthoughts
- I loved the final result - the only downside: it’s way too easy to finish all the mountain in one go :-). And since it’s a mountain, why not put a mountain goat on it (my boyfriend’s idea)?
- This is my second profiterole mountain this month. The first time I was experimenting with a chocolate - Irish cream filling. It was nice, especially after a night in the fridge, but I guess the classic cream is still my favorite.  
- I used Cat’s recipe for the choux, and my mom’s recipe for the cream. It’s all about minimizing the butter - Cat’s choux has a little less of it, and my mom’s cream has no butter at all. In some cases removing the butter results in a pretty sad taste, but I really think my mom’s cream is the best one for profiteroles and Napoleons. The butter only adds calories and at best does not add any taste. 
Blog-checking lines: The May 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Cat of Little Miss Cupcake. Cat challenged everyone to make a piece montée, or croquembouche, based on recipes from Peter Kump’s Baking School in Manhattan and Nick Malgieri.

To Recipe...
18 comments
Labels:

Friday, May 14, 2010

Chile and Chicken Enchilada

A May 2010 Daring Cooks challenge - a complete Mexican meal with everything made from scratch, including flour tortillas. 
Source 
Adapted from the May 2010 Daring Cooks challenge by Barbara and Bunnee
Taste 4 (out of 5)
Difficulty 5 (out of 5)
Ingredients
For the sauce
- 4 jalapeno peppers (15 cal)
- 4 tomatoes (60 cal)
- 3 small canned tomatoes (25 cal) - I added later because the sauce was way too spicy
- 1/3 cup corn kernels (45 cal)
- 2 tbsp lemon juice (10 cal)
- 2 cups chicken broth (20 cal)
- 1 clove garlic, minced (5 cal)
- 2 tsp yellow onion, minced (5 cal)
- 1 tsp diced oregano
- 1/4 tsp kosher salt
- 1/8 tsp black pepper
- 2 tbsp cornstarch diluted in 2 tbsp water
- 3 chicken thighs, boneless, skinless (330 cal)
- 2 tbsp Canola oil (240 cal)
- 4 oz Cheddar cheese (480 cal)
- cilantro for garnish
For flour tortillas (makes 9 small tortillas)
- 1 cup all purpose flour (455 cal)
- 3/4 cup whole wheat flour (300 cal)
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/4 tsp baking powder
- 30 g, about 1/4 avocado (50 cal)
- 1 tbsp olive oil (120 cal)
- 1/2 cup almost boiling water 
Total 2160, 3 enchiladas, 720 cal / enchilada
Instructions
Grilling the chicken
1. Pour 1 tbsp of oil into a medium sized frying pan and when it heats up add the chicken thighs. Roast for about 7-8 minutes on each side over medium heat. Remove ready chicken from the pan and shred with a fork. Set aside
For the sauce
2. Wash the jalapenos, dry and brush with a little bit of oil. Place on an aluminum foil lined baking sheet and broil for 20 minutes, rotating the jalapenos every 5 minutes. They should be black and charred. Place the grilled chiles in a small bowl and cover with a towel, let rest for 10-15 minutes. Now the skin should be easy to peel with your fingers. I recommend using rubber gloves, especially if your skin is sensitive. Cut the jalapenos in half and remove the seeds. Do not rinse the jalapenos. Finely chopped the peeled and seeded peppers and set aside.
3. Place the garlic and the onion in a food processor and mince. Add the tomatoes and pulse until the tomatoes are finely chopped. 
4. Move the onions, garlic and tomatoes to a saucepan along with the chicken broth, lemon juice, chopped green chiles, corn, oregano, salt and pepper. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat and then reduce the heat and simmer for 10 minutes.
5. Add the cornstarch/water mixture and stir well. Simmer, stirring occasionally, until the sauce is thickened for another 10-15 minutes. Adjust seasonings.
For the tortillas
6. In a medium bowl combine the flours, the salt and the baking powder. Add the avocado and the oil and work in with a fork. Pour in the hot water in small batches mixing with your hands. Knead the dough for about 5 minutes, cover the bowl with a towel and let rest for 20-30 minutes. 
7. Divide the dough into small balls (the size of a ping-pong ball). Let rest for another 10 minutes under the towel. 
8. On a clean working surface, place a dough ball, press with your palm to flatten and then using a rolling pin roll into a circle. The dough is not sticky and you don’t need to flour the working surface or the pin. 
9. Once all the tortillas are rolled out, preheat a large skillet to medium-high heat. No need to grease the skillet. Place a tortilla on a skillet and once bubbles appear on the tortilla (in about 30-60 seconds), flip it. Again, when the bubbles appear and the tortilla puffs, press it with a spatula and remove from the heat. You can make several tortillas in one skillet, if there is enough room, as long as the tortillas do not overlap. 
Assembling the enchilada
10. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Shred the cheese.
11. In a baking dish large enough to hold 3 separate stacks of tortillas, ladle a thin layer of sauce. 12. Lay three tortillas in the dish and ladle a third of sauce over the tortillas. Place half of the chicken and a third of the cheese. 
13. Stack another three tortillas, top with the rest of the chicken, more sauce and another third of the cheese. Finish with the third tortilla, topped with the remaining sauce and cheese.
14. Bake until the sauce has thickened and the cheese melted, about 20 minutes. Let rest for 5-10 minutes.
15. 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.
Afterthoughts
- First of all thanks to Barbara and Bunnee for the challenge, especially from my boyfriend, who loves Mexican food! I don’t think I would have dared to build these enchilada towers without this challenge. And I’ve wanted to make tortillas for a while, so this was a great opportunity. 
- I could not find the Anaheim chiles and the tomatillos required by this recipe, so I used jalapenos and tomatoes. 
- The sauce turned out way too hot for me, so I started looking for things to add to it to dilute the spice. I had corn and canned tomatoes at hand, and they did help to reduce the heat a little. I also used only part of the sauce on the enchiladas, and served guacamole on the side. With all these adjustments, the spice level was manageable. But next time it might be easier to just use less chiles :-).


Blog Checking Lines: 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 onwww.finecooking.com and written by Robb Walsh.

To Recipe...
20 comments
Labels: ,
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)