Fat free February?

Sadly fat free February has not been as successful as usual. Partly to do with this challenge!
The Panna Cotta is beautiful but super rich! Leading Le Gourmand to question my commitment to the Fat Free February cause. The florentines are yummy - I am used to more nuts and dried fruit so I added half a cup of currants to the recipe. I substituted golden syrup for corn syrup and was happily surprised that the biscuits weren't too similar to Anzac biscuits.

The February 2011 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Mallory from A Sofa in the Kitchen. She chose to challenge everyone to make Panna Cotta from a Giada De Laurentiis recipe and Nestle Florentine Cookies.

Chocolate Panna Cotta

Recipe adapted from Bon Appetit

Ingredients:
1 cup (240 ml) whole milk
1 tablespoon (15 ml) (7 gm) (¼ oz) unflavored powdered gelatin
2 cups (480 ml) whipping cream (30+% butterfat)
½ cup (115 gm) (4 oz) sugar
¾ cup (145 gm)(5 oz) bittersweet or semisweet chocolate
½ teaspoon (2½ ml) vanilla extract

Directions:

Pour milk into a small bowl, sprinkle gelatin over the top, set aside for 2-5 minutes.
Place a medium saucepan over medium heat, stir in cream, sugar and vanilla. Bring to a low boil.
Add chocolate and whisk until melted. Whisk the milk/gelatin mixture into chocolate cream mixture. Whisk until gelatin has dissolved.
Transfer to ramekins, or nice glasses for serving.
Cover and chill at least 8 hours, or overnight

Nestle Florentine Cookies

Recipe from the cookbook “Nestle Classic Recipes”, and their website.


Ingredients:
2/3 cup (160 ml) (150 gm) (5.3 oz) unsalted butter
2 cups (480 ml) (160 gm) (5 2/3 oz) quick oats
1 cup (240 ml) (230 gm) (8 oz) granulated sugar
2/3 cup (160 ml) (95 gm) (3⅓ oz) plain (all purpose) flour
1/4 cup (60 ml) dark corn syrup
1/4 cup (60 ml) whole milk
1 tsp (5 ml) vanilla extract
pinch of salt
1½ cups (360 ml) (250 gm) (9 oz) dark or milk chocolate

Directions:
Preheat oven to moderately hot 375°F (190°C) (gas mark 5). Prepare your baking sheet with silpat or parchment paper.


Melt butter in a medium saucepan, then remove from the heat.

To the melted butter add oats, sugar, flour, corn syrup, milk, vanilla, and salt. Mix well. Drop a tablespoon full, three inches (75 mm) apart, onto your prepared baking sheet. Flatten slightly with the back of your tablespoon, or use a spatula.

Bake in preheated oven for 6-8 minutes, until cookies are golden brown. Cool completely on the baking sheets.

While the cookies are cooling melt your chocolate until smooth either in the microwave (1 1/2 minutes), or stovetop (in a double boiler, or a bowl that fits atop a saucepan filled with a bit of water, being sure the water doesn't touch the bottom of the bowl).

Peel the cookies from the silpat or parchment and place face down on a wire rack set over a sheet of wax/parchment paper (to keep counters clean).

Spread a tablespoon of chocolate on the bottom/flat side of your cookie, sandwiching another (flat end) cookie atop the chocolate.
This recipe will make about 2 1/2 - 3 dozen sandwiched Florentine cookies. You can also choose not to sandwich yours, in which case, drizzle the tops with chocolate (over your wax paper).

Back in the daring cooks saddle

We're still cooking Julia and other foods in the kitchen and baby definitely likes to eat (still through milk) French and all kinds of things (except perhaps cabbage) but blogging with an active newborn is hard work!
So Le Gourmand took LBG for a walk last night so I could delve into the yummy world of Japan - tempura eggplant was delicious and we really enjoyed the fresh contrast of the soba noodles, which I served with poached chicken and cucumber!

The February 2011 Daring Cooks’ challenge was hosted by Lisa of Blueberry Girl. She challenged Daring Cooks to make Hiyashi Soba and Tempura. She has various sources for her challenge including japanesefood.about.com, pinkbites.com, and itsybitsyfoodies.com

Hiyashi Soba:

Recipes courtesy of Globetrotter Diaries and About.com-Japanese Food
Serves 4
Soba Noodles:

Ingredients
2 quarts (2 Liters) water + 1 cup cold water, separate
12 oz (340 g) dried soba (buckwheat) noodles (or any Asian thin noodle)

Directions:

Cooking the noodles:

Heat 2 quarts of water to a boil in a large pot over high heat. Add the noodles a small bundle at a time, stirring gently to separate. When the water returns to a full boil, add 1 cup of cold water. Repeat this twice. When the water returns to a full boil, check the noodles for doneness. You want to cook them until they are firm-tender. Do not overcook them.
Drain the noodles in a colander and rinse well under cold running water until the noodles are cool. This not only stops the cooking process, but also removes the starch from the noodles. This is an essential part of soba noodle making. Once the noodles are cool, drain them and cover them with a damp kitchen towel and set them aside allowing them to cool completely.

Mentsuyu - Traditional dipping sauce:

Ingredients
2 cups (480ml) Kombu and Katsuobushi dashi (This can be bought in many forms from most Asian stores and you can make your own. Recipe is HERE.) Or a basic vegetable stock.
1/3 cup (80 ml) soy sauce or a low sodium soy sauce
1/3 cup (80 ml) mirin (sweet rice wine)

*Note: If you can’t find Mirin, a substitute recipe can be found HERE

Directions:

Put mirin in a sauce pan and heat gently. Add soy sauce and dashi soup stock in the pan and bring to a boil. Take off the heat and cool. Refrigerate until ready to use.
Spicy Dipping Sauce:

Ingredients
¾ cup 70gm/2½ oz spring onions/green onions/scallions, finely chopped
3 tablespoons (45 ml) soy sauce
2 tablespoons (30 ml) rice vinegar
½ teaspoon (2½ ml) (4 ⅔ gm) (0.16 oz) granulated sugar
¼ teaspoon (1¼ ml) (1/8 gm) (0.005 oz) English mustard powder
1 tablespoon (15 ml) grape-seed oil or vegetable oil
1 tablespoon (15 ml) sesame oil (if you can’t find this just omit from recipe.)
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste - roughly 1/3 a teaspoon of each

Directions:

1. Shake all the ingredients together in a covered container. Once the salt has dissolved, add and shake in 2 tablespoons of water and season again if needed.

Common Hiyashi Soba Toppings:

Thin omelet strips
Ham
Boiled chicken breasts
Cucumber
Boiled bean sprouts
Tomatoes
Toasted nori (Dried Seaweed)
Green onions
Wasabi powder
Finely grated daikon (Japanese radish)
Beni Shoga (Pickled Ginger)
All toppings should be julienne, finely diced or grated. Prepare and refrigerate covered until needed.

Serving:

Traditionally soba is served on a bamboo basket tray, but if you don’t have these, you can simply serve them on a plate or in a bowl. Divide up the noodles, laying them on your serving dishes. Sprinkle each one with nori. In small side bowl or cup, place 1/2 cup (120 ml) of dipping sauce into each. In separate small side dishes, serve each person a small amount of wasabi, grated daikon, and green onions.
The noodles are eaten by sprinkling the desired garnishes into the dipping sauce and eating the noodles by first dipping them into the sauce. Feel free to slurp away! Oishii!

Tempura

Recipes courtesy of pink bites and itsy bitsy foodies
Serves 4


Ingredients
1 egg yolk from a large egg
1 cup (240 ml) iced water
½ cup (120 ml) (70 gm) (2½ oz) plain (all purpose) flour, plus extra for dredging
½ cup (120 ml) (70 gm) (2½ oz) cornflour (also called cornstarch)
½ teaspoon (2½ ml) (2½ gm) (0.09 oz) baking powder
oil, for deep frying preferably vegetable
ice water bath, for the tempura batter (a larger bowl than what will be used for the tempura should be used. Fill the large bowl with ice and some water, set aside)

Very cold vegetables and seafood of your choice ie:

Sweet potato, peeled, thinly sliced, blanched
Carrot, peeled, thinly sliced diagonally
Pumpkin, peeled, seeds removed, thinly sliced blanched
Green beans, trimmed
Green bell pepper/capsicum, seeds removed, cut into 2cm (¾ inch)-wide strips
Assorted fresh mushrooms
Eggplant cut into strips (traditionally it’s fanned)
Onions sliced

Directions:

Place the iced water into a mixing bowl. Lightly beat the egg yolk and gradually pour into the iced water, stirring (preferably with chopsticks) and blending well. Add flours and baking powder all at once, stroke a few times with chopsticks until the ingredients are loosely combined. The batter should be runny and lumpy. Place the bowl of batter in an ice water bath to keep it cold while you are frying the tempura. The batter as well as the vegetables and seafood have to be very cold. The temperature shock between the hot oil and the cold veggies help create a crispy tempura.

Heat the oil in a large pan or a wok. For vegetables, the oil should be 320°F/160°C; for seafood it should be 340°F/170°C. It is more difficult to maintain a steady temperature and produce consistent tempura if you don’t have a thermometer, but it can be done. You can test the oil by dropping a piece of batter into the hot oil. If it sinks a little bit and then immediately rises to the top, the oil is ready.

Start with the vegetables, such as sweet potatoes, that won’t leave a strong odor in the oil. Dip them in a shallow bowl of flour to lightly coat them and then dip them into the batter. Slide them into the hot oil, deep frying only a couple of pieces at a time so that the temperature of the oil does not drop.

Place finished tempura pieces on a wire rack so that excess oil can drip off. Continue frying the other items, frequently scooping out any bits of batter to keep the oil clean and prevent the oil (and the remaining tempura) from getting a burned flavor.
Serve immediately for the best flavor, but they can also be eaten cold.

November Daring Bakers Challenge Crostata

A day or two late for the challenge, le bebe gourmand and I had our first day home alone together and the Baby Bjorn saved my sanity although the crostata was not made until Le Gourmand was home from work and holding LBG. As I type this she lies in her father's arms.... grizzling.

The 2010 November Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Simona of briciole. She chose to challenge Daring Bakers’ to make pasta frolla for a crostata. She used her own experience as a source, as well as information from Pellegrino Artusi’s Science in the Kitchen and the Art of Eating Well.

I used pie apples and strawberry vanilla jam to flavour - Le Gourmand was very impressed.

Making pasta frolla by hand:

1. Whisk together sugar, flour and salt in a bowl.
2. Rub or cut the butter into the flour until the mixture has the consistency of coarse crumbs. You can do this in the bowl or on your work surface, using your fingertips or an implement of choice.
3. Make a well in the center of the mounded flour and butter mixture and pour the beaten eggs into it (reserve about a teaspoon of the egg mixture for glazing purposes later on – place in the refrigerator, covered, until ready to use).
4. Add the lemon zest to your flour/butter/egg mixture.
5. Use a fork to incorporate the liquid into the solid ingredients, and then use your fingertips.
6. Knead lightly just until the dough comes together into a ball.
7. Shape the dough into a flat disk and wrap in plastic wrap. Place the dough in the refrigerator and chill for at least two hours. You can refrigerate the dough overnight.

If you choose to make a crostata with a jam filling, you will need:

• 1 and 3/4 cups [415ml, 600 gm, 21 oz] of jam or fruit preserves, whatever flavor you like (Note: I use my homemade fruit preserves, which have a low sugar content. I recommend you choose a good quality product, made with mostly fruit.)

I used pie apples flavoured with 1 tablespoon of vanilla strawberry jam.

Assembling and baking the crostata di marmellata:

1. Heat the oven to 375ºF [190ºC/gas mark 5].
2. Take the pasta frolla out of the fridge, unwrap it and cut away ¼ of the dough. Reserve this dough to make the lattice top of the crostata. Refrigerate this dough while you work on the tart base.
3. To help roll the crostata dough, keep the dough on top of the plastic wrap that you had it wrapped in. This can help rolling the dough and can also help when transferring the dough to your pan. You can also use parchment paper for this. However, you can also roll the dough directly on a work surface if you prefer.
4. Lightly dust the top of the dough and your work surface (if you’re rolling directly on a work surface) with flour. Keep some flour handy to dust the dough as you go along.
5. If the dough is very firm, start by pressing the dough with the rolling pin from the middle to each end, moving the rolling pin by a pin's width each time; turn the dough 180 degrees and repeat; when it softens, start rolling.
6. Roll the dough into a circle about 1/8th inch (3 mm) thick.
7. If you used the plastic wrap or parchment paper as rolling surface, flip dough over the pan, centering it, and delicately press it all around so the corners are well covered. Peel away the plastic wrap.
8. Trim the excess dough hanging over the edges of the pan. Press the remaining dough around the border into the sides of the pan making sure the border is an even thickness all the way around.
9. Prick the bottom of the dough with a fork in several places.
10. Take out of the fridge the reserved pasta frolla you had cut away earlier. Roll it with your pin and cut into strips or use cookie cutters to make small shapes (this is not traditional, but it looks cute); or roll with your hands into ropes.
11. Spread the jam or fruit preserves evenly over the bottom of the crostata. 
12. Use the prepared strips or rolls of dough to make a lattice over the surface, or decorate with the cut shapes. (Note: You can use dough scraps to make cookies: see the Additional Information section for some pointers) 
13. Brush the border and strips of dough with the reserved beaten eggs. You can add a drop or two of water to the beaten eggs if you don’t have enough liquid. 
14. Put the tart in the oven and bake for 25 minutes.
15. After 25 minutes, check the tart and continue baking until the tart is of a nice golden hue. (Note: Every oven is different. In my oven it took 34 minutes to bake the tart until golden.)
16. When done, remove the tart from the oven and let cool. If you have used a tart pan with a removable bottom, then release the tart base from the fluted tart ring. Make sure the tart is completely cool before slicing and serving.

The arrival of le bébé gourmand

She chose to spend another week eating excellent food inside of me but Bruce has finally arrived and it's a girl! Which warrants a change of name so she will henceforth be known as le bébé gourmand or BG for short. She is completely divine but, not surprisingly, given her parents' love of food, she is a voracious eater. She was 15 grams off regaining her birth weight at 1 week and 3 days (we were not surprised). Now the real challenge is seeing if french food tastes as good in breast milk as it must have in utero!

Daring Cooks Challenge November - Souffle

Souffle was the perfect tie in for Julia Child but I have been super slow in posting as a result of BG's arrival - annoying as this was cooked well ahead of time. It was accompanied by Supremes de Volaille a Blanc (Breast of Chicken with cream) cooked in the pan briefly then in the oven with the le creuset - the sauce was the chicken cooking juices, stock, wine and butter with (naturally) cream stirred in at the end. The Julia cooking has been fairly sparse for several weeks but we also managed Veau Poele (Casserole- roasted veal) the week before, which was tasty.

Dave and Linda from Monkeyshines in the Kitchen chose Soufflés as our November 2010 Daring Cooks’ Challenge! Dave and Linda provided two of their own delicious recipes plus a sinfully decadent chocolate soufflé recipe adapted from Gordon Ramsay’s recipe found at the BBC Good Food website.

I chose egg white souffle from MTAOFC and followed Julia's suggestion that I could substitute all manner of things for the diced cheese, substituted diced ham and broccoli - delicious!


Souffle Aux Blancs D'Oeufs 
(Cheese souffle w/ egg whites only)
Serves 4

Grated cheese and butter for prepping souffle dish

2.5 TB butter
3 TB flour
3/4 c. simmering light cream
1/2 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. pepper
Big pinch nutmeg

6-7 egg whites (3/4-7/8 cup)
Big pinch salt
3/4 c. (3 oz.) coarsely grated Swiss cheese
3/4 c. (3 oz.) Swiss cheese cut into 1/4" dice (or substitute 2/3 cup ground fish, chicken, sweetbreads, ham or vegetables)

Preheat oven to 400F. Generously butter 6-cup souffle dish and coat evenly w/ grated cheese (I like parmesan). In saucepan over low-med heat, melt butter and then stir in flour. Cook for about 2 min. making sure it doesn't brown. Off heat, add simmering cream and seasonings. Bring to boil and stir for 1 min. Take off heat.

Beat egg whites and salt until stiff peaks form. Stir one quarter into cream base. Stir in all but a TB of grated cheese. Then add diced cheese (in my case broccoli and ham). Gently fold in remaining whites.

Pour mixture into prepared souffle dish, sprinkle w/ reserved grated cheese. Set in middle of oven and immediately reduce heat to 375F. Bake for 25-30 min. til souffle has puffed and browned. Don't open oven door for at least 20-25 min. Serve immediately!

Dear Julia - a message from Bruce

Dear Julia
I just want you to know that mum is still cooking like a mad woman from your book but she is rather busy getting ready for me so she hasn't posted anything for awhile. This doesn't mean that I haven't been ingesting a lot of French food as part of her master plan. To be honest, I don't mind the food, but sometimes she eats a lot of it and it makes it difficult for me to wriggle around. Don't worry, I still manage it, but sometimes not until dinner is over and mum is trying to get some sleep.
Now I probably won't remember all of the things that she has cooked over the last few months but there have been quite a few.

People also seem to get really excited about ham - mum and Memere made one that they braised in wine and served with a creamy mushroom sauce that was naughty but really yummy (Jambon Braise Morvandelle with Cream and Mushroom Sauce Version 1). Then she used the leftover ham and added tomatoes and capsicum and mushroom (Tranches de Jambon en Piperade), which dad loved. She also made brunch one day with Piperade an Omelette with ham, onions, peppers and tomatoes, followed up with Crepes Fine Sucrees.  She made the Bear a Spinach Quiche - Quiche aux Epinards - without the pastry - that was delicious!

We have eaten a lot of lamb - mum finally gave in and cooked the stuffing with olives (Farce aux Olives), but instead of stuffing a leg of lamb she made it into lamburgers which dad loved. We also have had Lamb in cooked wine marinade (Marinade Cuite) and lamb in uncooked wine marinade (Marinade au Laurier). I think Mum is a bit tired of cooking lamb really well so I don't get sick but at least the marinade adds flavour.

Artichokes have been on the menu but they really are hard to eat and dad (Le Gourmand) complains a lot about that. I wouldn't say the Fonds D'Artichauts au Beurre or the Quartiers de Fonds d'Artichauts au Beurre have been great successes but it's good to try different things.

We have also had a lot of veal because it is the season apparently. The Escallopes de Veau Chasseur and the Cotes de Veau Aux Herbes have been really tasty plus she made Fricadelles de Veau Duxelles even though dad isn't the biggest mushroom fan.

We're still eating lots of vegetables but they don't seem to have as much cream and butter - the Carrotes a la Forestiere with mushrooms and artichokes were nice and light and the Champignons Sautes a la Bordelaise weren't super buttery. We did have asparagus with Sauce Maltaise (Orange Hollandaise) one night - dad loved that - and Cauliflower in Cream Sauce (Sauce a la Creme) with our roast lamb another night but mum hasn't cooked anything really crazy yet, like your baked cucumber or braised celery.

She did put celery in Supremes de Vollaile a l'Ecossaise but you could barely taste it, it was diced so finely. The curry sauce (Sauce au Cari) with baked chicken was really yummy and so was the tarragon sauce which we also had with chicken (Sauce Brune a l'Estragon). I also like it when she does Pork with sauce - the Sauce Moutarde a la Normande was really yummy.

My favourite is when she cooks dessert. She made your Biscuit au Beurre and decorated it with strawberries and cream - that was delicious! Even better was the Strawberry Tart (Tarte Aux Fraises) - a sweet pastry crust, filled with Creme Patissiere and covered with strawberries glazed with cranberry sauce, sugar and cointreau. We had that at a little party for the grand final where she made your cheese potato sticks (Bouchees Parmentier au Fromage), which were also great.

I think she's cooked a few other things but I just can't remember them - I know she keeps muttering about aspic but I think she is waiting until after I arrive for that.

Thanks for all the lovely recipes Julia
Love Bruce
                                                                                                                                                                        

Daring Bakers Challenge October - Donuts mmm

The October 2010 Daring Bakers challenge was hosted by Lori of Butter Me Up. Lori chose to challenge DBers to make doughnuts. She used several sources for her recipes including Alton Brown, Nancy Silverton, Kate Neumann and Epicurious.

I have to admit that deep frying anything whilst heavily pregnant was not a particularly appealing prospect so I enlisted the help of Le Gourmand to stand over the hot oil, while I cut the dough. Initially sceptical about cooking after 11 at night, his tune changed when he started to eat the luscious bomboloni from Kate Neumann's recipe. Instead of dusting in sugar and then icing sugar, we just dusted them in sugar, nutmeg and cinnamon and filled them with plum jam.

Despite the claims below that the dough would not rise in the refrigerator, mine did so I used a cutter of about an inch diameter instead of half an inch. And instead of making 32 I would estimate we made closer to 50.

Unfortunately they don't keep very long, although we have managed to resurrect them with a few seconds in the microwave.

INGREDIENTS

1. 1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon lukewarm water
2. 1 1/2 envelopes active dry yeast (3 1/4 teaspoons)
3. 1 1/2 tablespoons honey
4. 3 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting
5. 3 tablespoons milk
6. 6 large egg yolks
7. 1/3 cup granulated sugar, plus more for rolling
8. 2 teaspoons kosher salt
9. 3 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
10. 3 cups canola oil, for frying
11. 3/4 cup seedless raspberry preserves
12. Confectioners' Sugar, for dusting

DIRECTIONS

1. In the bowl of a standing electric mixer, mix the water, yeast, honey and 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons of the flour. (Alternatively, whisk the ingredients by hand.) Cover with plastic wrap and let stand at room temperature until foamy, about 1 hour.
2. Return the bowl to the mixer, fitted with a dough hook. Add the remaining 13/4 cups plus 2 tablespoons of flour, along with the milk, egg yolks, 1/3 cup of granulated sugar and the salt. Mix at low speed until blended, then add the butter and knead at medium speed until silky but sticky, about 5 minutes; the dough will not pull away from the side of the bowl. Using an oiled spatula, scrape the dough into an oiled bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Refrigerate overnight. The dough will not rise.
3. In a large saucepan, heat the canola oil to 360°. Line a rack with paper towels. Fill a shallow bowl with 1/2 inch of granulated sugar. On a lightly floured surface, roll out the dough a scant 1/2 inch thick. Using a 1/2-inch round biscuit cutter, stamp out 32 rounds; do not reroll the dough. Fry the rounds, 8 at a time, until they are browned, about 4 minutes. Be sure to keep the oil between 360° and 375°. Drain the bomboloni on paper towels, then roll them in the granulated sugar. Continue frying and rolling the remaining bomboloni.
4. Fit a pastry bag with a plain donut tip (or a 1/4-inch tip) and fill with the preserves (you can also use a squeeze bottle). Poke the tip three-fourths of the way into the bomboloni and squeeze in the preserves, pulling the tip out slightly as you squeeze to fill them as much as possible. Dust the bomboloni with confectioners' sugar and serve warm.