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January 29, 2009

Tuiles - Daring Bakers

This month's challenge is brought to us by Karen of Bake My Day and Zorra of 1x umruehren bitte aka Kochtopf. They have chosen Tuiles from The Chocolate Book by Angélique Schmeink and Nougatine and Chocolate Tuiles from Michel Roux. I was happy that I managed to do this month's challenge because I was sick with flu, therefore I could not experiment and have as much fun with it as I wanted to. I am still coughing, but I could not resist to serve tuiles with ice cream, this time I prepared chocolate. So far these tuiles had been the best I have ever had, and as soon as I am fit again I am going to try the rest.

January 16, 2009

Terrine Of Foie Gras & Port Wein Jelly

There was some leftover foie gras in the freezer that I did not want to keep longer so I searched for a recipe in The Cook's Book. I decided to combine it with port wein jelly, chocolate toast and raspberry ananas with chili. It was a nice combination. I baked again the toast bread myself and this time I was very happy with the form and the taste was just as delicious as the last time.


Ingredients:
500 g foie gras
fresh nutmeg
thyme

70 ml port wein
25 ml cognac

Slice foie gras lenght when it is still cold. Remove as many large veins as possible. Arrange slices in a terrine dish and season slices with nutmeg, thyme, port wein and cognac. Keep on doing this until you used all. Let it marinate for 5 hours. After heat oven to 150°C and cook in a bain-marie for 20 minutes. After put a weight of 150 g on top of the ready terrine and let it cool that way. For the port wein jelly cook 150 ml port wein with 1 tablespoon sugar and 2
gelatine leaves, let it cool and jelly. Cover toast pieces with molten dark chocolate and place a pistachio on top.


For the ananas melt sugar, add ananas and some raspberry vinegar, reduce, stir in chopped mint, sliced chili and let it cool.

January 15, 2009

My First Lamb Meal

Another "first time" after the strudel pastry this week: lamb. My mom told me that when I was a child I ate lamb once in a while, but I do not remember that. I received a beautiful piece of lamb loin as a surprise so it was clear that we are going to have it for lunch. I marinated it over night in olive oil with thyme and garlic. I was very curious about the taste and hoped that I am going to like it, and yes I did! It was very very tender and delicious! Not that rosa, but I did not want to risk that if it is too raw I am not going to like it. One more type of meat on my list to experiment and to discover!


Ingredients:
400 g lamb loin
2 garlic cloves
thyme

olive oil
2 shallots

100 ml white wine
400 ml lamb stock
150 ml heavy cream
juice and zest of 1 lemon
salt, pepper


Marinate lamb over night in oil with garlic and thyme. Heat a bit of olive oil and fry lamb from both sides and set it to the oven on 100°C for 10-15 minutes depending how you like it and how your oven works. Add chopped shallot to the heated oil, fry and add white wine, let it reduce a bit, add stock and reduce half, add cream and reduce some more. Season with lemon zest, lemon juice, salt and pepper. I served it with rosemary potatoes and anise flavoured green beans seasoned with sherry vinegar and a bit of chili.

January 14, 2009

Quark Strudel

Yesterday for the very first time I prepared my own strudel pastry. Actually it is not difficult but it is strenuous if you do it by hand. Most of the doughs I make I do not use a machine because that is just not the same. I was happy with the result for the first time: only 2 holes, well huge ones but the strudel was very delicious.


Strudel is most often associated with the Austrian cuisine, but is also a traditional pastry in the whole area formerly belonging to the Austro-Hungarian empire.The oldest Strudel recipe is from 1696, a handwritten recipe at the Viennese City Library, Wiener Stadtbibliothek. The pastry probably has its origins in the similar Middle Eastern pastries. In Hungary we call it rétes. The traditional Strudel pastry dough is very elastic. It is made from flour with a high gluten content, egg, water and butter with no sugar added. The dough is worked vigorously, rested and than rolled out and stretched by hand very thinly. Pertaining to anecdotes, purists say, it should be so thin that a newspaper can be read through it.


The thin dough is laid out on a tea towel and the filling is spread on it. The dough with the filling on top is rolled up
carefully with the help of the towel and baked in the oven. (source:wikipedia)


Ingredients:
250 g flour ( I used special flour for Strudel that I got from Hungary)
1 teaspoon lard
3-4 dl salty, lukewarm water with a 1/4 teaspoon vinegar
2 tablespoon oil


Crumble flour with lard and make a hole in the middle, where you pour water, but not all at once. Knead a dough, it should be smooth and elastic. Now start kneading and keep on doing it for 20 minutes, after set it aside for 15-20 minutes under a warm pot and sprinkle it with oil. Cover table with a cotton cloth and with a flour. Strech the dough and using your knuckles stretch it from the center to the sides.


Spread the filling, in my case I mixed 250 g quark with 2 tablespoons sour cream, 3 tablespoons vanilla sugar, lot of lemon peel and 1 egg yolk. Roll up pastry with the help of the table cloth. Smear an egg yolk mixed with sour cream on top of the rolled strudel and bake for 30 minutes on 180°C.

January 13, 2009

The Curry Confession

Somehow I was always sort of afraid of preparing curry. Before I started to cook and think about food I simply opened a pack of ready-made curry powder and mixed it with milk and that was it. After I got more experienced in the kitchen I started to cook more and more myself and one day I found myself using my own stock, baking my own bread and so on. I remember at the beging the highest culinary meal was some ready-made spätzle with fried sausages and ready-made brown sauce. Okay, okay but I was 18! More and more I stared to cook my mom's recipes and meanwhile I dare to try anything. So back to the curry sauce. I think preparing curry is an art and in no way can we compare the European curries to the real Indian stuff. My first trial for my own wannabe curry sauce, I did not quite like, because that time I did not dare to use herbs, spices like I do now. Most of all I was afraid of using garlic. I never liked garlic however this have changed! Meanwhile I do to use it and I confess it is good! No, I still would not eat it raw but in some meal it may not be missed! I wanted to give curry a new chance, but not on my own, that is why I took the help of Johann Lafer and cooked his recipe for lunch today. I would not say it is really authentic, but it is fantastic! I only did a few changes like I doubled the curry mixed herbs, added some chili flakes and an extra spoonful of curcuma, because the colour was too light. I cooked the rice together with a piece of ginger, lemongrass and coriander seeds. My curry mission has just started! Next time I am going to use coconut milk instead of cream and I am not going to stop until I have my own curry mixture and so on and on and on.


Ingredients:
400 g chicken breast
3 tablespoon sesame oil
2 tablespoon soy sauce
2 teaspoon curry powder
1 garlic clove
salt, pepper
1 apple
2 tablespoon butter

1 shallot
3 tablespoon curry mixed herbs
1 garlic clove
250 ml chicken stock
150 ml cream

salt, pepper

Slice chicken in cubes and marinate for 1 hour in the marinade made of sesameoil, soy sauce, curry and minced garlic. Heat sesame oil and fry chicken until it is still raw in the middle and set it to the oven for 10-15 minutes or until golden brown on 100°C. Heat butter, add chopped shallot, cubed apple, garlic and curry powder and fry for some minutes. Add stock and cream and let it reduce. When done, sieve add chicken and season with salt and pepper.

January 12, 2009

Hungarian Carnival Doughnuts

When I was a child I did not only enjoy carnival because I was allowed to dress up but mostly because of the carnival doughnuts. No carnival ball is imaginable without these pastries! Yesterday afternoon I was pretty eager to eat some, but the store bought doughnuts are too sweet and simply can not keep up with the home made ones. I decided to prepare some myself, but when I read the recipe I thought that these are so complicated and take such a long time. However the lust was stronger, so I went to the kitchen and started. It was not that complicated at all and the result is totally yummy! The main thing you have to consider is that all ingredients must have room temperature.


Ingredients:
500 g flour
20 g fresh yeast
50 g powder sugar

50 g butter
2 egg yolks

2 tablespoon rum
1 pinch of salt
about 300 ml milk
about 1 liter oil for frying


Heat 300 ml milk until lukewarm and pour it over the yeast, 3 tablespoons flour and 1 tablespoon powder sugar. Let it stand until yeast swims on top. Whisk egg yolks with the rest of the sugar and add it to the yeast mixture. Add the rest of the flour and the lukewarm melted butter to it and knead until you get a soft dough. Now take a wooden spoon
and beat the dough for 20 minutes, or let your kitchen machine do the job. Leave dough on a warm place until it doubles its size. Flour a working surface and spread dough with your hands so that it is about 1 finger thick and cut circles with a help of a glass. Cover and let it stand for 30 minutes. Heat oil and fry doughnuts from both sides until light brown. Serve with powder sugar and apricot jam.

January 7, 2009

Red Danube Walnut - Weekend Herb Blogging #156

Until a month ago I knew nothing about the existence of these beautiful, sweet walnuts, called Red Danube. It is rare to find them and I was lucky to recieve some from my mom who found them on a small market.


Walnuts are one of the best plant sources of protein and have significantly higher amounts of omega 3 fatty acids as compared to other nuts. The walnut kernel consists of two bumpy lobes that look like abstract butterflies. The lobes are off white in color and covered by a thin, light brown skin (in that case from light red to deep red). They are partially attached to each other. The kernels are enclosed in round or oblong shells
that are brown in color and very hard. I have many plans with the walnuts and yesterday I decided to combine it with celery. Most of the time I search for a small head of celery but no chance to get one, so I always have some leftover in the fridge. This dish is a complete imporvisation and really nutty!


Ingredients:
100 g flour (Italian Tipo 00)
1 egg
100 g celery
0,5 dl white wine

1,5 dl chicken or vegetable stock
1 garlic clove
1 twig thyme
salt, pepper
25 g goat cheese

25 g chopped walnuts
20 g butter


Make a hole in the middle of the flour, add eggs and whisk it in with a help of a fork. When the dough is getting viscous knead it with your hands until smooth. Set it aside to the fridge for an hour. For the filling fry celery cubes in olive oil until golden brown, add a piece of garlic, thyme and stock and cook it until soft. Season with salt and pepper, let it cool. Stir in goat cheese and chopped nuts. With a help of a pasta machine roll out pasta dough and place a teaspoon of the celery-nut filling on it and make ravioli with a help of a form or anything you've got. Melt butter and sieve so that the white parts are removed, and heat it until it gets brown. Cook ravioli in salty water and serve with beurre noisette and parmesan chunks.


I submit this post to the WHB created by Kalyn from Kalyn's Kitchen, who passed it on to Haalo, of Cook (almost) Anything At Least Once, this time hosted by Pam from The Backyard Pizzeria.

January 6, 2009

Dreikönigskuchen - Make your own King Cake

The Hungarian name of this day, Vízkereszt, refers to “baptizing” the water. The holy water was believed to have miraculous power to heal. A non-Christian tradition is also linked to January 6 was predicting the weather. According to a saying connected to this day, "If water glints in the rut on Epiphany, short the winter will be." In Hungary we have no tradtion of the Epiphanies Cake so I have no childhood memories of that. I got to know this tradition 7 years ago when I moved to Switzerland. Today was the first time that I baked my own King Cake -that I submit to the event: Make your own King Cake hosted by the kochtopf-, using an almond as the king. Usually it is eaten for breakfast but for us it is going to be our dinner, so it is still open who is going to be this year's king.


Ingredients:
500 g flour
1 teaspoon salt
75 g sugar

20 g fresh yeast
75 g butter, soft
about 300 ml milk

1 egg, beaten
50 g raisin
2 tablespoon rum

sliced almond for decoration
1 almond for the king


Heat milk until lukewarm and pour it over the sugar and yeast. When yeast swims on top add salt, flour, butter, milk, in rum soken raisins, half of the egg and knead a smooth and soft dough. Let it raise for an hours.

Place a piece of the dough aside (that is going to be the middle of the cake) and form small balls out of the rest so that you have enough to put around the main piece. Hide almond in one of the pieces. Let it raise again for 30 minutes. Smear cake with the rest of the egg and sprinkle sliced almond on it. Bake for about 40-45 minutes on 180°C.

January 5, 2009

Coffee Ice Cream with Hazelnut Sabayon

Being captivated from the vanilla ice cream I just had to make some again, but this time I added a cup of coffee. To combine warm and cold I served some hazelnut sabayon with it. I received a bottle of hazelnut syrup that shouted for coffee in my head. It is a great combination and I am already longing for the next portion of coffee ice cream. When I was a child I always ate at least 10 balls of ice cream at once. Normally I simply ordered one ball of each kind they had. I swear I could live eating only ice cream!



Ingredients:
2 egg yolks
25 g sugar
7 tablespoon hazelnut syrup
70 ml sparkling wine

Whisk sugar, syrup and egg yolks together, add wine. Whisk over steam for 15-20 minutes.

January 4, 2009

Vanilla Cream Bars with Lemon Foam

When I was a child I loved these bars, but I confess I only ate one piece as a whole and after I started to eat only the cover with the lemon foam. So my mom found a "topless" cake in the fridge but she did not mind, after all she was happy that finally I ate some of her cake, because normally I never even tried a piece and asked for it when it was already all gone. Today I still adore that lemon foam and even now I can not resist and I steal one cover after the other!


Ingredients:
250 g flour
50 g butter
50 g sugar
2 egg yolks
1 tablespoon cocoa powder
7g powdered baking ammonia ( dissolved in 3 tablespoon lukewarm milk)

enough milk so that you get an "easy roll out " dough about 50 ml
7 eggs
7 tablespoon flour
7 tablespoon sugar
1 pinch of salt
zest of 1 lemon

200 g butter
200 g powder sugar

16 g vanilla
500 ml milk
100 g flour
2 egg whites

120 g sugar
juice of one lemon

1 small piece of chocolate


Knead a dough out of 250 g flour, 50 g butter, 50 g sugar, 2 egg yolks, cocoa powder, dissolved powdered baking ammonia and enough milk so that the dough is quite soft but easy to roll out. Preheat oven to 200°C and bake two brown sheets. Separate 7 eggs. Beat egg white with a pinch of salt and sugar. Add egg yolks and flour and bake it for 20 minutes.


Cook a cream out of the milk and flour, let it cool. Whisk butter with sugar and vanilla and whisk in the cooked cream. Beat egg whites with sugar and lemon juice and keep on beating over heat until it gets "hard".


Place one brown sheet and cover with cream, put the sponge on it, add more cream and cover with the other brown sheet. Smear beaten egg whites on top and sprinkle with molten chocolate.

January 1, 2009

Vanilla Ice Cream: Reloaded!

It is a long time since I have made vanilla ice cream, but now I think I found the perfect recipe by Pierre Hermé. The first one I made was good, very good, but in no way you can compare it to the one today. I served it in vanilla scone, because I had some leftover batter from my seven course dinner. A new dimension has opened and I think my ice cream maker will have quite a lot of work to do this year! Apropos year, Happy New Year to everyone who comes across my blog!


Ingredients:
For the vanilla scone:
50 g butter, room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 pinch of salt

30 g powder sugar
30 g sugar
1 egg white
50 g flour

For the vanilla ice cream:
2 tablespoon vanilla extract
350 ml full fat milk

150 ml heavy cream
100 g sugar

4 egg yolks

For the scone whisk butter and sugar until frothy. Beat egg white with salt and mix it with the butter mixture together with the flour. Leave it in the fridge overnight. With a help of a mold smear circles on baking sheet and bake on 160°C until the border is golden brown. Wait for 30 seconds and form scones. For the ice crem heat milk and heavy cream until it starts cooking. Whisk egg yolks with sugar and slowly add hot milk mix to the eggs while whisking. Take it back to the cooking plate and cook until it thickens (it should be 85°C). Let the mixture cool over night or at least for 5-6 hours. Let the ice cream maker do the rest of the work.

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