Croissants & Pain au Chocolat – I MADE IT Challenge – May

The I MADE IT challenge for May was set by Blue Jellybean, and what a challenge it was.  In my career, this has been a challenge that has been with me for a while.

After I made these, I sat back and analyzed what I could improve on, see the CHEF NOTES below.

Croissants & Pain au Chocolat

250g salted butter
280g full cream milk (NOTE: must be grams, not millilitres)
1 tsp dry yeast
450g flour
70g white sugar
pinch of salt

Heat the milk until tepid (lukewarm) – see chef’s notes at the bottom.  In the tepid milk, add the yeast, 1 tsp flour and 1 tsp sugar.  Whisk together at set aside in a warm place for the yeast to activate.  This will take about 10 – 15 minutes, you will know it has activated once the yeast creates a large section of foam on top of the milk.

Cut your butter into slices, about ½ cm thick, place between cling wrap and roll out until the butter is really thin.
Place in a tray, cover with cling wrap and place into the fridge.
NOTE:  The butter must be very cold before you can work with it.

Mix the rest of the flour, sugar, and the salt into a mixing bowl.
Whisk the yeast mixture and pour into the flour.
Using your fingers, mix until combined.
Place on a work surface and knead for about 10 minutes.  (This stage can be done in a mixer using a dough hook).
Wrap in cling wrap and place in the fridge for 2 hours.

On a lightly floured surface, roll out the dough to a long rectangle shape, using a rolling pin.

Place butter slices on the dough, slightly overlapping the edges of the sliced butter.
Tightly, but gently, fold one edge of the dough to the middle, and repeat with the other edge, forming a 3 fold.
Fold in half.
Wrap in cling wrap and place in the fridge for 30 minutes.

Again, on a lightly floured surface roll out dough again into a rectangular shape.  Do this gently at first as you do not want the dough to split and the butter to break through. Rub a little flour on the surface if you feel your butter is breaking through.
Fold again into a 3 fold, and then into half.
Cover and place into fridge for 1 hour to rest.

Repeat the rolling out step 3 times, remembering to rest for 1 hour between each roll.

After the last rest, cut the dough in half and roll out on a lightly floured surface, the dough should be about 1 cm thick.

For the Croissants

With a sharp knife, trim the edges to make them even, cut even sized triangles out.

Cut a small slit in the middle of the top edge of the triangle.

Gently stretch the dough.
Not to tightly, roll the dough into a cylinder, creating a crescent shape.

Set aside to rise for minutes and bring the dough to room temperature.
Brush with an egg wash
Bake in a preheated oven at 200°C for 30 minutes

For the Pain au Chocolate

With the left over dough, trim the edges to make them even.
Cut rectangles out of the dough.

Sprinkle icing sugar over the dough, break bits of chocolate and place on the surface of the dough.

Roll the dough into cylinders.
With the palm of your hand, gently press down on the dough to flatten slightly.
Bake in a preheated oven at 200°C for 30 minutes

Chefs Notes

Replace 1 cup of flour with 1 cup of corn starch for lighter, flakier dough

Don’t heat the milk up to much as this will kill the yeast, however if the milk is too cold it will not activate.  You want the milk at a temperature that if you put your finger in, you feel the heat on your cuticle.

When working with the dough, ensure that your work surface is cold, keep your hands cool as the dough must stay cool to ensure the butter does break through.

Beetroot, Bacon & Goat’s Cheese Tarte Tatin

I have had a *slight* obsession with beetroot (again) these last few weeks. My poor husband has gone from not touching beetroot to tasting here and there, to thoroughly enjoying THIS dish to “enough with the beetroot…PLEASE!!!”

I have baked, roasted, pickled and juiced beetroot in all weird and wonderful ways, with all types of combinations.  Out of all my experiments with beetroot, I have to say that, apart from beetroot juice, this Beetroot, Bacon & Goat’s Cheese Tarte Tatin was my favorite and will definitely make a reappearances on my dinner table.

Now…before we get right into the recipe, let’s examine why these little balls of red (sometimes yellow, sometimes white, sometimes stripped) happiness is so good for you.

The beetroot taste is described as sweet, earthy and tender to eat. It is grown in the ground and is related to turnips, swedes and sugar beet.

If you’re considering beetroot as one of your 5-a-day, it contains potassium, magnesium, iron, vitamins A, B6 and C, folic acid, carbohydrates, protein, antioxidants and soluble fiber.

Researchers have known for some time that juice may help lower blood pressure, but in 2010 UK researchers revealed that nitrate is the special ingredient in beetroot which lowers blood pressure and may help to fight heart disease.

People with very high blood pressure can end up being on multiple tablets, so a more natural approach could prove popular if the initial research results are confirmed.

Drinking beetroot juice increases blood flow to the brain in older people, which may be able to fight the progression of dementia, a 2010 study suggested.

Beetroot contains high concentrations of nitrates, which are converted into nitrites by bacteria in the mouth. Nitrites help open blood vessels in the body, increasing blood flow and oxygen to places lacking in oxygen.

 Beetroot, Bacon & Goats Cheese Tarte Tatin
serves 2 – 3

½ Roll Today’s Puff Pastry
3 tbsp brown sugar
1 tbsp butter
4 medium sized beetroots, cooked and thickly sliced into rounds
4 pieces streaky bacon, cut into quarters
¼  packet Goats Cheese
Balsamic reduction
Fresh Thyme, roughly chopped
salt
black pepper
egg wash

Preheat oven to 180°C

Roll out the puff pastry on a floured surface, cut slightly bigger than the pan you using to bake the tarte tatin in.

Add sugar and butter to a small, non stick pan, place over medium, heat and let caramelize. Swirl around the pan to ensure the entire bottom of the pan is coated in caramelized sugar
Remove from heat, place beetroot rings over the bottom of the pan, creating a nice even layer.
Place the pieces of bacon over the beetroot, season with black pepper and sprinkle with thyme.
Cover with puff pastry, tucking in the sides so the puff pastry fits snug in the pan.
Bake for 35 – 40 minutes until pastry is golden brown.
While still hot, carefully flip the pastry onto a plate, top with goat’s cheese that is just roughly broken up and season with salt and black pepper.

Serve hot or cold.

I added a little onion marmalade, you can find the recipe here, and drizzled with balsamic reduction.

Gammon with a pineapple & green pepper salsa

Tis the season to be jolly…traal la la la laaaa…la la la laaaa. Schools are closing, businesses are bustling about to finalize the last few “to do’s” before they close shop for the summer vacation.   It is that special time of the year again where coastal towns are filling up – locals curse the holiday makers for taking their parking space, but yet good cheer, happiness and laughter is filling up all around us, we fall into that “holiday mode” as we approach Christmas.

I have such fond memories of our food adventures on Christmas day.  The table spread of gammon, turkey, roast beef and chicken, the salads for every taste and not to forget that oh so special Christmas Trifle.  My father would spend 2 days prior to Christmas cooking up a storm, leaving Christmas day for eating, family time and playing with our latest little treasures that old St Nick had left under the Christmas tree…

Gammon with a pineapple & green pepper salsa

1kg gammon
1 can cherry cola
1 tsp Dijon mustard
1 bottle Cherry Jam / Glaze (use the liquid from a bottle of Maraschino cherries if you can’t find jam)
+- 10 whole cloves
2 small onions, roughly chopped
1 green pepper. diced
1 pineapple, diced
½ punnet sage
1 thumb size piece of ginger, grated
½ cup vegetable stock
Seasoning

Place the gammon in a deep pot, pour in half of cola and fill up with water just until the gammon is covered.  Bring to a boil and reduce heat to simmer for an hour.  (Boil for 30 minutes for every 500g of meat weight)
Preheat the oven to 180°C
Place the onions, mustard and vegetable stock in a roasting tray.
Place the gammon on the onions, pour the remainder of the cola over the gammon, stud the skin of the gammon with the cloves, evenly distribute over the surface.
Brush generous amounts of glaze over the gammon and pop into the oven for a 45 minutes.
Every 10 – 15 minutes, brush another generous helping of glaze over the gammon.
For the last 10 minutes, turn your oven to grill, this will crisp up the gammon slightly and make the glaze extra sticky
Remove from oven and let rest before carving.
Remove the sauce, place in a pot and cook out for about 10 minutes.  Blitz it up with a stick blender, thicken slightly with cornstarch and you have a perfect gravy to serve with your roast.
Add the green peppers, pineapple, sage and ginger in a bowl, season and use as a salsa over the gammon.

The great thing about Christmas meats is that you can serve hot or cold, and who doesn’t have stacks of Christmas leftovers?

Run on over to the local bakery and buy a loaf of fresh ciabatta, opening up an arrangement of sandwich ideas with your sliced gammon.

Season’s greetings with all good wishes for the new year.

Chef Angeliqueca

Weekly Photo Challenge: Silhouette

I follow this blog and absolutely love the weekly photo challenge. Actually posting every week becomes a slight challenge on its own for me, but this week just seemed to work out perfectly.

The Weekly Photo Challenge: Silhouette, this is my entry

Back to Basics – Pasta Dough…keeping it simple

My pasta machine has to be one of the best gifts I have ever received! It sits proudly on my counter, always ready to be used.  Often when we have people over, they play with the handle, or spend a few moments inspecting it, and it brings such a warm smile to my face.  It is a great conversational pieces.

Nothing beats homemade pasta, the love you feel when I make it overflows when you eat it.  To me, that is pure happiness! I understand the convenience of store bought, I get how much easier dried pasta is, but the whole process from start to finish just brings such satisfaction to me.

Basic Pasta Dough

500g stone ground flour
5 large eggs
1 tsp salt
1tbsp olive oil

I knead my dough by hand, you are welcome to place all ingredients into a Kitchenaid with the dough hook attachment until all the ingredients form a ball, continue to mix for 5 – 7 minutes.  I love the therapeutic process of kneading dough.

Mix the flour & salt, place on your work surface and make a well. Break the eggs into the middle of the well with the olive oil, slowly, using your fingers, mix the eggs, gently bringing in a little flour at a time.  Bring all together and knead until you have a smooth ball.  This will take you about 10 minutes, don’t stress of your dough is not coming together.  Just add a little more oil, but not to much.  Practice makes perfect!

Let rest for at least an hour, bring to room temperature before you start rolling it out.

Make sure you pasta is well floured before you put it through the pasta machine, you don’t want it sticking to the machine.

Bring water to a rapid boil, salt and toss the pasta in.  Cook for 3 – 4 minutes, remove from water and add to desired sauce.

You can try my pasta al vodka, or keep it simple, toss with a little olive oil, chilli, fresh parsley and parmasaan, or toss with a pesto you have in your fridge with a little crumbed Danish feta.  Go wild!

Enjoy!

Now the whole debate of salt and oil in the water when you cook your pasta.  My opinion…salt the water as it starts to boil, do not use oil, the only reason your pasta sticks together is if the pot is to small and you toss in too much pasta.