Spicy Pear Preserve with Whisky

While I was in Hungary, I was lucky to enjoy some fragant sour cherry and plum preserves togther with chicken liver and mashed potatoes. That is an unbeatble combination and no fancy food can compete. As the mentioned fruits are not in season at the moment, I decided to prepare some pear preserve that will just be gorgeous with veal liver. I am pretty inexperienced with preserves, therefore I am thankful for any advice. I indeed received some of them, but then I decided to do it the same way the pickled cucumbers. By the way those turned out perfectly crisp, but I must make some changes, because it was not sour enough, at least according to my taste and some of the spices I am also going to remove when I make it again. But back to the pears! I think it was a great idea to add whisky, however port wine would be a winner too!

Ingredients:
1500 g pear
2 lemons
1 vanilla pod
3 cardamoms
5-6 sichuan pepper
1 clove
2-3 allspice
1 small piece of cinnamon
100 ml bourbon whisky
500 g sugar
700 ml water

Peel and dice pears and keep it in lemon-water so they don't get brown. Bring water together with sugar, whisky and spices to the boil. Put diced pears in jars, pour hot syrup over it and close the jars. Cook jars in 90°C warm water for 20-25 minutes.

Nashi Pear - Sunchoke Loaf with White Chocolate and Vanilla

While enjoying the first bites of a nashi pear, suddenly I noticed that it smells in a way like chocolate. Immediately everything was clear and I just knew how to combine the ingredients for the cake I was planning during the weekend. I wanted to bake a loaf using sunchoke and nashi pear. If sunchoke, well then hazelnut is a must, but what about the rest? So that chocolate fragrance that filled the air in the morning brought me the idea to add white chocolate and vanilla to the loaf. The neighbour's eight years old daughter loved it, so I am pretty sure that I made the right choice with the ingredients. Besides a slice with a cup of hot tea was just perfect in this cold and snowy afternoon.

Ingredients:
150 g butter
200 g sugar
1 pinch of salt
3 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract or paste
130-150 g sunchoke
150 g flour
100 g ground hazelnut
1 teaspoon baking powder
juice of 1/2 a lemon
100 g white chocolate
2 nashi pears

Cook sunchoke until soft, then peel as long as it is lukewarm and puree. Whisk butter with sugar and a pinch of salt until fluffy, then whisk in the eggs one by one. Stir in 100 g of sunchoke puree, vanilla extract, flour and ground hazelnut. Sprinkle baking powder on top and squezze lemon juice over it. Fold in coarsly chopped chocolate and the peeled and diced nashi pears. Bake for 50-60 minutes in the preheated oven on 180°C.

Saucisson with leek-bacon "dumpling", Sauerkraut sauce and white cabbage purée

In the Romandie, the french speaking part of Switzerland saucisson is a very popular cold smoked sausage that is usually made of pork. The so called Longeole is originated in Canton Geneva, while Canton Vaud is famous for the Boutefas and the Saucisson vaudois. I must confess that altough I love the smell of these sausages I am not really a fan, but once in a while they are welcome on our table. Today's lunch was inspried by dish from Canton Vaud, the so called Papet Vaudois that is kind of a leek-potato stew made with white wine and served with saucisson. Yesterday, I discovered a delicious potato dish in this blog and I felt immediately, that I must make them. I only have changed the filling that is inpsired by the traditional Papet Vaudois. The idea of the Sauerkraut sauce is already since quite a while on my mind and actually I planned it to be served among fish, but the smoky sausage just was screaming for it! Then I suddenly thought, why shouldn't I use cabbage in some different way in this dish. That's how I had the idea of white cabbage puree. Simply sautee sliced white cabbage in butter and caramelise with sugar, cook in a little stock, puree with cream and to give a tiny kick season with smoked salt. Roll in blanched savoy cabbage and warm it in brown butter right before serving. That's it!

Ingredients:
250 g potato (slightly floury, yellow)
50 g flour
1 tablespoon potato starch
1 egg yolk
salt, nutmeg
1 tablespoon butter
1/4 teaspoon olive oil
1 leek
50 g bacon
1/4 teaspoon majoram
50 ml white wine
salt, pepper

Mash or grate the cold, cooked potatoes, then add flour, starch, egg yolk season with salt and nutmeg and knead a dough. For the filling fry thinly sliced bacon in butter-oil mixture, add finely sliced leek and sautee. Add majoram, white wine and cook it until the wine is absorbed. Season aith salt and pepper. Roll out the potato dough and put some spoons of  the filling in a row, fold it and slice. Fry in clarfied butter from both sides until golden brown. Put it into the preheated oven for another 15-20 minutes on 80-100ºC.


70 ml veal stock
70 ml Sauerkraut juice
1 shallot
2 juniper berries
50-70 g cold butter
salt, pepper

Bring veal stock, Sauerkraut juice togther with the chopped shallot and the juniper berries to the boil and reduce over low heat by two thirds. Sieve, add diced cold butter and whisk it up with an electric mixer. Season and if necesarry keep it warm in a bain marie.

Blood Orange-Beetroot Tart

It wasn't that easy to get back to the kitchen, as I expected. Somehow those few days, when I had the opportunity to relax and enjoy the food that is cooked by someone else, I pretty much got used it. Although I also baked two chocolate mousse cakes, but still, nothing can beat mom's paprikás csirke. Anyway, the original plan was to bake a simple lemon tart, so to say to warm up and get back to the routine, but then I ended up making this beetroot-blood orange version. I have been ever so curious about Heston Blumenthal's pastry, so it was the perfect opportunity to try it. The filling is also based on his recipe, but I must confess, that I already have some new plans with it. So stay tuned for a pretty exciting dessert to come. As far as the pastry is concerned, well it is gorgeous! Already while working the raw pastry, I felt that this is going to be something amazingly good. If you want that the tart has a more intense orange flavour, then use normal oranges instead of blood.

Ingredients:
200 ml blood orange juice
50 ml beet juice
240 g sugar
300 ml cream
1/2 vanilla pod
6 eggs
1 egg yolk

The recipe for the pastry you find here. Preheat the oven to 120ºC and place the baked tart shell onto a sheet. Put the ingredients of the filling into a heatproof bowl, mix it together and leave it over a bain marie until it reaches 60ºC. Now pour it over a sieve, remove any bubbles and pour it into the preheated tart shell. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until it has reached 70ºC. Let it cool, then trim the overhanging pastry. Serve with blood orange fillets and coarsly chopped pistachios.
 

Coffee mousse on coffee flavoured joconde, caramel panna cotta and coffee-white chocolate ganache

Well, yep, all these in one little cake! I have been planning this for quite a while, until I finally managed to decide how it should be. Actually, I have some more versions waiting to be baked, but this coffee flavoured one is just perfect right now as a so to say "good-bye" post. It is only a short break, because I travel to Hungary, but will be back already next week. So now back to the cake!
 

It is in fact pure coffee, except for the caramel panna cotta part. The cake itself was inspired by the coffee mousse that I served among a caramel sauce. I kept the mousse part, but prepared a panna cotta instead the sauce. The mousse is not that sweet at all, so if you drink your coffee without sugar then it is just perfect, but feel free to add more sugar. However I think it is unnecessary because together with the caramel panna cotta and the ganache is just perfectly sweet enough. The bottom is a light coffee flavoured joconde, that is the base of the cake, on top of that comes the mousse, but I put a cannoli baking form onto the base in order to have a hole. As soon as the mousse is set, I removed it and poured the cooled panna cotta base into the hole. Of course you can simply make a layer cake, no need to complicate is. Before glazing it with the coffee-white chocolate ganache freeze it for about 30 minutes. So that's it!

Ingredients:
makes 6 cakes á 7,5 x 7x5 cm
50 g ground almond
50 g powder sugar
40 g egg yolk
30 g egg white
50 g instant coffee
50 g flour
100 g egg white
60 g sugar

Mix together the almond with powder sugar, add 40 g egg yolk and 30 g egg white and whisk until fluffy. Stir in flour, while that beat 100 g egg white with sugar until it forms soft peaks and fold it into the almond mixture. Finally stir in the dissolved coffee. Bake for 5-6 minutes over 230°C.

200 ml milk
100 ml cream
2 tablespoons sugar
2 gelatine sheets


Caramelise sugar, add milk and cream  and bring it to the boil, then stir in the previously soaked in gelatine. Find the mousse recipe here.


300 g white chocolate
200 g cream
20 g instant coffee or espresso


Chop chocolate and pour boiling cream over it and whisk it together. Let it cool and glaze the cakes with the ganache.

Sunchoke Salad with Chervil Sauce

Right here and right now I have to confess, that once more I could not resist and had to bake something. After yesterday's doughnut it might be a little too much, but I do not care. So stay tuned, because tomorrow I am here with a coffee bomb! Until then, check out this light, yet amazingly delicious salad. After all something light like a salad is more than welcome between two sweet treats. The taste of raw sunchoke resemble to hazelnut, so it was clear that I am gonna add some to the salad. While seeking for something green, I discovered a beautiful bunch of fresh chervil that just perfect with sunchoke so I decided to make the sauce out of it. The poached egg and the pecorino goes perfectly well with the sunchoke that you find both raw and fried on the plate.

Ingredients:
3 sunchokes per person
1 tablespoon butter
1 teaspoon coarsly chopped hazelnut
1 egg per person
1 big bunch of chervil
1 tablespoon sherry vinegar
1/4 teaspoon English mustard
50-60 ml olive oil
pecorino
salt, pepper, nutmeg

Peel sunchoke, but set a small piece (unpeeled) aside. Slice the rest of the sunchokes and fry over low heat in butter and let the butter turn brown. Season with salt, pepper and nutmeg.  Set some of the chervil aside and puree the rest with vinegar, mustard and oil. Season with salt and pepper. Mix fried sunchoke with the leftover chervil leaves, slice some raw sunchoke and pecorino over it. Sprinkle with hazelnut and serve with the chervil sauce and a poached egg.

Beetroot Doughnuts

Hmm, I have just realised that I haven't posted a single recipe with beetroot this year yet! Today it is just the right time to change that, thanks to a sudden idea. I believe that beetroots and blood oranges are made for each other, so there was no question that I am going to serve these cute little beet dougnuts with blood orange curd. It turns into a real treat if you sprinkle it with some cardamom flavoured icing sugar! A real delight!

Ingredients:

500 g flour
20 g fresh yeast
50 g powder sugar
50 g butter
1 egg yolk
50 g beetroot
juice of 2 oranges
3 cardamom pods
2 tablespoons orange liqueur
1 pinch of salt
150 ml milk
150 ml beet juice
500 ml oil for frying

Peel and dice beetroot and cook until soft in orange juice together with the cardamom pods. Heat milk and beet juice until lukewarm nad set about 2-3 tablespoons aside. Pour the rest of the milk-beet juice mixture over the yeast, 3 tablespoons flour and 1 tablespoon powder sugar and let it stand until the yeast swims on top. Meanwhile puree cooked beetroot with the rest of the milk-beet juice mixture. Add the rest of the flour, powder sugar, egg yolk, beet puree, liqueur and lukewarm melted butter to the yeast mixture. The dough is pretty soft, so take a wooden spoon and beat it for about 20 minutes until it is smooth, or leave the work for a machine. Let the dough rest until it doubles its size. Flour a working surface and flatten it with your hand, cut out any shape you like and let it stand for another 30 minutes, then deep fry in oil.


100 g butter
100 g sugar
juice and zest of 1 lemon
juice and zest of 2 blood oranges
2 egg yolks

Over a bain-marie melt butter with sugar, fruit juices and zest. As soon as the butter has melted whisk it together, add the egg yolks and whisk on the highest level for about 10 minutes until it thickens. Pour into jars and chill.

Revised Fish & Chips

Well, honestly, I do not even know where to start! But maybe I just should start right at the begining. Yesterday, I was thinking about making a sauce using purple or blue potatoes, how cool would that be?! While wondering about it, slowly the sauce turned into a foam. What about the rest? Of course it had to be fish once more and then the foam seemed to be just perfect after all it reminds one of the sea. While thinking about the details of the foam, I reminded about that roasted potato peel consommé from last year, and so it was clear that this must be the base of the foam. However it was pretty challenging to keep that purple colour! During my first trial, when I cooked to potatoes into the stock it has just turned somewhat brownish, so that was not the solution for a bright purple colour. I have almost given it up, when I had the sudden idea to simply grate some raw potato into the sauce and so there I've got my bright purple colour. However even then you have to serve it fast, because it turns pretty soon brownish. So chips part: done! Or not?! Well, depends how you look at it. In this amuse bouche the fish turned into chips. That's pretty easy to make, you simply have to flatten the sliced fillet between a foil covered with rice flour and then just deep fry it, season and there you go! But there was something missing! Of course you need some kind of pickles to be served with it and there I've found the great idea of the fried capers in Vera's blog. Instead a remoulade or a tartar sauce I decided to make a sorrel mayonnaise, though I used my blood sorrel, but I would not recommand that, because it is not acidy enough, so wait rather for the real one when it is in season.

Ingredients:
7 small purple potatoes
200 ml veal stock
1/4 twig majoram
1 shallot
1 teaspoon butter
2 tablespoons cream
salt, pepper

Bake 6 of the potatoes in the preheated oven. Sautee chopped onion in butter, then add 100 ml stock and reduce by half. Peel baked potatoes, you will not need the flesh of it, but do not throw it away, cook a soup or make a puree the next day. Bring the other portion of stock together with the oven roasted potato peel and the majoram to the boil, then let it stand for 15-20 minutes, but remove the herb. Sieve both liquids, add cream, season and bring it to the boiling point, then remove it from the heat. Take the leftover raw potato and grate it into the sauce then mix it up and serve. FIsh chips inspired by pwf&w.

Coconut flavoured Buckwheat "Risotto" on Gingery Carrot Puree with Coriander Oil

Sometimes it has to be vegetable, no meat, no fish, just veggies. Of course nothing can beat a juicy steak, but there are times when I can not even think of meat or even eggs. I anyway care very much about what type of meat I buy, therefore I rather buy less, but then at least I  know it is good quality and the animal had a worthy life. Lately, I am pretty fond of buckwheat, in fact I am kind of in love with the flour. While I was wondering what kind of vegeterian dish I could prepare using buckwheat, I decided that I am not going to use any animal product. I had the idea of making a buckwheat risotto, but oops! I have just knocked out butter and parmesan, so what? Suddenly, the solution came on my mind: coconut milk! Yep, this will make it really creamy and risotto like. Carrots and ginger work great together and also prefect with coconut and so the dish was born! The freshly made coriander oil just brought the dish right there, where I wanted it to be.

Ingredients:

150 g buckwheat
1 shallot
1 teaspoon olive oil
50 ml white wine
500 ml vegetable stock
70 ml coconut milk
100 g carrot
1 teaspoon peanut oil
50 ml vegetable stock
1 teaspoon brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon coriander seeds
1 slice ginger
50 ml olive oil
1 bunch of fresh coriander
salt, pepper

Heat olive oil, add finely grated shallot, sautee, then sweat it for a few more mintues together with the buckwheat. In another pot bring vegetable stock to simmer. Pour wine over the buckwheat and let it reduce. Season with a little salt and pepper. Add some stock and let it cook over medium heat, while stirring, as soon as it has absorbed add another portion of stock and repeat it until the buckwheat is almost cooked through. Add coconut milk and cook it for a few more minutes. Season with salt and pepper.  Caramelise diced carrot in sugar, pour stock over it and cook it over medium heat together with the coriander seeds and ginger until soft, then remove the spices and puree. Season with salt, pepper and add some peanut oil to make it more creamy. Heat olive oil to 120°C, add coriander leaves, remove it from the heat and let it stand covered until it is cool. Puree, sieve and serve it with the buckwheat "risotto".

Scallop on buckwheat purée, marinated citrus salad, vanilla-long pepper whipped blood orange jelly and baked lemon sabayon

Among beets my new favourite ingredient is buckwheat. I am really getting obsessed with it, and frankly I can not tell you why. So far they made it into spicy buns and a "risotto", that is going to be published tomorrow. It's been a month that the idea of this starter came on my mind, but the details just did not want to get clear. I had the buckwheat puree on my mind as the first element, then the citrus part came together. After I decided which fruit in which consistency is going to be presented on the plate, I only had to decide for the spices. Finally, I took lemons and baked them in the oven, that way they got mild, but somehow also a tiny bit bitter. This went very well with the slightly sweet and fragant vanilla-pepper flavoured beaten blood orange jelly. The marinated citrus salad just brought the missing freshness to the dish. And the buckwheat, well it is hidden in the background but it keeps the whole dish together.

Ingredients:
3 scallops per person
buckwheat flour
olive oil
butter
salt, pepper
50 g buckwheat
1 teaspoon butter
250-300 ml chicken stock + 30-50 ml when making the puree
1 shallot
1 celery stalk
1 tablespoon crème fraîche
salt, pepper
100 ml blood orange juice
50 ml simple syrup
4 sheets gelatine
1/4 pod vanilla
1 long pepper
2 lemons
50 ml fish stock
1 egg yolk
salt, pepper

Preheat the oven to 180°C and bake lemons for 15-20 minutes. Sautee diced onion and celery stalk in butter, add buckwheat and pour stock on it. Cook over medium heat until soft. Puree in a mixer with butter and crème fraîche, season with salt and pepper. If the consistency is too thick and some more stock and puree again. For the blood orange gelatine bring juice and simple syrup with vanilla and long pepper to the boil. Remove from the heat and dissolve the previously soaked gelatine. Let it cool and chill until set. Before serving whisk it up. For the sabayon mix together the fish stock, 50 ml baked lemon juice and an egg yolk and beat it over steam until foamy, season. For the marinated citrus fruits I used blood oranges and two different types of grapfruit and flavoured it with olive oil and sherry vinegar. Dust scallops with flour and sear in butter-olive oil mixture, season.

Mille Feuille

Well, actually I promised that I will not bake during January, but I've failed thanks to the puff pastry. Okay, it could have ended up in something salty, but a mille feuille is just unbeatable and a must. Agree? However, I did not listen to the recipe and rolled the pastry only about 80-90 mm, instead of 2 cm. Therefore soon I am going to bake this again which is just the perfect opportunity to try another recipe for puff pastry!

Ingredients:
puff pastry
500 ml milk
100 g sugar
4 egg yolks
45 g cornstarch
1 vanilla pod
heavy cream

Scrap vanilla seeds (I used two pods, because they seemed to be so thin) and bring milk together with the seeds and the pod to the boil While that whisk together the egg yolks with sugar ( I used homemade vanilla sugar) and corn starch. As soon as the milk boils pour some of it to the egg yolk mixture while stirring constantly. Pour it back (through a sieve to avoid lumps) to the rest of the milk and bring it to the boil and cook it for 2 minutes. Pour it into a bowl, sprinkle the top with powder sugar and let it cool, then chill for a few hours. Weigh pastry cream and stir in a third of the weighted amount in form of beaten cream. Roll out puff pastry 2 cm thick, put a baking paper on top, take two corks and put a wrack on the pastry. Bake for 20-25 minutes over 180°C or until it browns.

Galette des Rois

It's Epiphany, so it's just time to bake a your King Cake, if you haven't made it already! This year I decided to make the French Galette des Rois, that actually comes in four different versions. If it is made of yeast dough (brioche), then it is either sprinkled with sugar or filled with candied fruits, like the one I used to bake. The other type is made with puff pastry and is also available simply sprinkled with sugar, that is the so called galette sèche or dry galette. The other kind is made with frangipane filling and that's the one I decided to bake this year according to Alain Ducasse's recipe. However, I left away the pastry cream that he adds to the frangipane. And the puff pastry from Ladurée? Oh well, it is a dream! Go for it, it's worth it and it is not that time consuming as you might think! 

Ingredients:
(based on a recipe by Alain Ducasse)
100 g butter
100 g powder sugar
100 g ground almond
10 g cornstarch
1 egg
puff pastry
2 teaspoons amaretto
1 egg yolk

Cream soft butter, stir in powder sugar and ground almond, then stir in the egg and the amaretto. Cut puff pastry in two pieces (you need about 1/4 of the linked recipe for one 18 cm galette). Roll out half of the pastry about 1,5 mm thick, the other 2 mm and cut out two 18 cm circles. Put frangipane filling onto the middle of the bottom, glaze the sides with water and cover with the other circle. Glaze with egg yolk and chill for 20 minutes. Glaze again and decorate with a help of a cookie cutter, but be careful not to cut the pastry through. Bake for 20-25 minutes over 200°C.

Pâte Feuilletée á la Ladurée

Nothing is easier than to grab a pack of ready made puff pastry from the store, get home and pop it into the oven topped with anything one desires. In the past I also used to do that, however I've started to make my own puff pastry already some years ago. During that time I tried a couple of different recipes, from fast puff pastry to traditional. Currently my favourite is Michel Roux's pastry, however it would be a big mistake not to try Ladurée's recipe. How it turned out? Well, I can't tell you yet, because still two turns need to be done including the resting time over night. However, its texture seems to be gorgeous, so I bet I am going to be more than happy with the result tomorrow.

Ingredients:
500 g flour
75 g butter
250 ml water
10 g salt
400 g cold butter

 Dissolve salt in the water at room temperature. Melt 75 g of butter over low heat. Pour flour into a bowl, incorporate the salty water, then add the melted butter. Mix everything together using your fingertips, until the dough is just homogenous, be careful and do not overwork it! Place it on a clean surface and form into a 15x15 cm square and wrap it in plastic wrap. Refrigerate for 1 hour. Place 400 g of butter onto a sheet of baking paper and pound on the butter to soften in. It must have the same consistency like the dough. Form butter into a 15x15 cm square. Roll out the dough (détrempe) into a 30x30 cm square and place the butter (beurrage) in the center and fold the 4 corners of the dough into the center to completly enclose the butter. Roll out this package of dough (pâton) to a rectangle 60 cm long and then fold it in thirds. Turn dough one quarter, roll it out again and fold it in thirs. Wrap it in plastic and chill for 2 hours. Repeat the turning 2 more times, that means that you should turn the dough a total of 6 times. After the last turn chill for 2 other hours, but better over night.

Kalács

Kalács is a Hungarian sweet bread similar to brioche baked in a braided form and it is typical for Easter, but in our family it may not be missed during Xmas time. Similar braided breads are popular in other Eastern European countries as well. However you do not need any kind of holiday to enjoy this light bread!

Ingredients:
1 kg flour
80 g sugar
100 g butter
800 ml milk
30 g fresh yeast
1 teaspoon salt

Heat milk until lukewarm. Crumble yeast and sprinkle about a teaspoon of sugar over it, then pour 100 ml lukewarm milk over it. Mix flour with salt and the rest of the sugar. Pour yeasty milk into a mold in the flour and start kneading, while adding the rest of the milk. As soon as the dough seems to come together and it is almost smooth add lukewarm, molten butter and knead until smooth. Let it rest in a warm place for an hour. Cut in three pieces and form one 26 cm kalács and two small ones. Put each in baking paper covered cake molds and let it rise for another half an hour. Bake for about an hour (the smaller ones might need 10-15 minutes less) over 160°C.