November Daring Cook’s challenge: Soufflés!

This month’s challenge gave us the option to make a savoury or sweet soufflé. What a fantastic challenge! I have never tried making soufflé before, but always wanted to, so this challenge came at the perfect time.

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.

It was mandatory for us to make a baked soufflé, but the recipe was up to us. I made a batch of raspberry and lime curd a month ago and had it sitting in the freezer, so I managed to find a delicious baked souffle from Delia Smith to use it up! The recipe was really straight-forward, and tasted fantastic. I would definitely recommend it if you feel like making a dessert that is easy but very impressive!

Hot lemon-curd soufflés – recipe from Delia Smith

For the soufflés:
3 large eggs
2 oz (50 g) golden castor sugar and 1 level dessertspoon golden castor sugar
grated zest and juice 1 medium lemon (2 tablespoons juice)

For the quick-method lemon curd:
grated zest and juice 1 small lemon
1 large egg
1½ oz (40 g) golden castor sugar
1 oz (25 g) cold unsalted butter, cut into small cubes
1 level teaspoon cornflour

To serve:
a little sifted icing sugar
Pre-heat the oven to gas mark 3, 325°F (170°C)

First of all make the lemon curd by lightly whisking the egg in a medium-sized saucepan, then add the rest of the lemon curd ingredients and place the saucepan over a medium heat. Now whisk continuously using a balloon whisk until the mixture thickens; this won’t take long – about 3 minutes in all.

Next, lower the heat to its minimum setting and let the curd gently simmer for 1 further minute, continuing to whisk. After that, remove it from the heat and divide the curd between the bases of the ramekins. (This can all be done well in advance, but cover and leave at room temperature.)

When you’re ready to make the soufflés, separate the eggs, putting the yolks into a medium-sized bowl and the whites into a spanking-clean larger one.

Now, using an electric hand whisk, whisk the whites to the stiff-peak stage, which will take 4-5 minutes – start on a slow speed, gradually increasing to medium and then high. Then add the dessertspoon of castor sugar and whisk on a high speed for 30 seconds more. Next add the zest and lemon juice and the remaining 2 oz (50 g) of sugar to the yolks and mix them together briefly. Now take a tablespoon of the whites and fold them into the yolks to loosen the mixture, then fold the rest of the whites in using a light cutting and folding movement so as not to lose the precious air.

Spoon the mixture into the prepared ramekins, piling it high like a pyramid, then run a finger round the inside rim of each one. Next place them on the baking sheet and put this in the oven on the centre shelf for 15-17 minutes or until the tops are golden. Then remove them and let them settle for about 5 minutes to allow the lemon curd to cool.

They will sink a little, but that’s normal. Just before serving, place them on smaller plates and give them a light dusting of icing sugar.

Croquembouche!

I originally started this blog to track my monthly Daring Cook’s challenges, but it rapidly evolved to showcasing whatever gets whipped up in the Pig Palace kitchen. I love the Daring Cook’s challenges, but they only come once a month and I’ve often completed them within the first week! So, being brave, I’ve signed up to be a Daring Baker as well.

I’ve been watching the Daring Baker challenge reveals of my fellow foodies every month, and the Baker’s challenges look like such fun. They also look rather hard! But, I’m a firm believer in putting your head down and doing it. After all, I thought, how hard can something be? (Feel free to scoff at this point, I certainly did in hindsight!)

Seeing a beautiful croquembouche on Not Quite Nigella’s website, I was inspired to give it a try. I wouldn’t normally have dared to try it, but I remembered there was a recipe for it on the Daring Kitchen website for their Bakers’ May challenge. Apparently It was featured on the first season’s Masterchef, but those recipes require a mandatory 5 days in the kitchen and I wanted my croquembouche sooner (and with less effort) than that!

The recipe provided was fantastic. I was convinced every element of the dish would be hard, but in fact it was only the assembly that caused a few tears and a large quantity of sailor-mouth. The Crème Patissiere filling was straight-forward and delicious, and the choux pastry (which I thought was very difficult to get right) turned out light and fluffy. Even piping the custard into the buns was simple. It was just that darned toffee!!

The toffee turned beautifully amber, and then just solidified. I used tongs so I didn’t burn myself, but ended up ripping some of my buns while trying to drag them through the solidified toffee. Then when I held the buns to place them on the plate I touched the toffee and flicked the bun across the room in reflex. The toffee stuck to the counter and the bun rolled away, and I was left nursing a (tiny) blister and a counter covered in hardened toffee. I wasn’t able to decorate the croquembouche as I’d like, but I managed to get it looking like a tower-ish.
Despite the injuries, the effort was definitely worth it! I’ll definitely use the Crème Patissiere and the choux recipe again, but leave out the toffee in future efforts…

Croquembouche – recipe from the Daring Bakers’ May challenge

You will need approximately 10 minutes to prepare the puff pastry, 10 minutes to pipe and about 30 minutes to bake each batch. The crème patissiere should take about 10 minutes to cook and then will need to be cooled for at least 6 hours or overnight. The glazes take about 10 minutes to prepare.

For the Vanilla Crème Patissiere
2 cups (450 ml.) whole milk
4 Tbsp. cornstarch
12 Tbsp. (200 g.) sugar
2 large eggs
4 large egg yolks
4 Tbsp. (60 g.) unsalted butter
2 Tsp. Vanilla

Dissolve cornstarch in 1/2 cup of milk. Combine the remaining milk with the sugar in a saucepan; bring to boil; remove from heat. Beat the whole egg, then the yolks into the cornstarch mixture. Pour 1/3 of boiling milk into the egg mixture, whisking constantly so that the eggs do not begin to cook. Return the remaining milk to boil. Pour in the hot egg mixture in a stream, continuing whisking.

Continue whisking (this is important – you do not want the eggs to solidify/cook) until the cream thickens and comes to a boil. Remove from heat and beat in the butter and vanilla.

Pour cream into a stainless steel/ceramic bowl. Press plastic wrap firmly against the surface. Chill immediately and until ready to use

Pate a Choux (Yield: About 24)
¾ cup (175 ml.) water
6 Tbsp. (85 g.) unsalted butter
¼ Tsp. salt
1 Tbsp. sugar
1 cup (125 g.) all-purpose flour
4 large eggs

For Egg Wash: 1 egg and pinch of salt

Pre-heat oven to 425◦F/220◦C degrees. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.Preparing batter: 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 sift in the flour, stirring to combine completely. Return to heat and cook, stirring constantly until the batter dries slightly and begins to pull away from the sides of the pan.

Transfer to a bowl and stir with a wooden spoon 1 minute to cool slightly. Add 1 egg. The batter will appear loose and shiny. As you stir, the batter will become dry-looking like lightly buttered mashed potatoes. It is at this point that you will add in the next egg. Repeat until you have incorporated all the eggs.

Piping:
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 about 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. Brush tops with egg wash (1 egg lightly beaten with pinch of salt).

Baking:
Bake the choux at 425◦F/220◦C degrees until well-puffed and turning lightly golden in color, about 10 minutes. Lower the temperature to 350◦F/180◦C degrees and continue baking until well-colored and dry, about 20 minutes more. Remove to a rack and cool. Can be stored in a airtight box overnight.

Filling:
When you are ready to assemble your piece montée, using a plain pastry tip, pierce the bottom of each choux. Fill the choux with pastry cream using either the same tip or a star tip, and place on a paper-lined sheet. Choux can be refrigerated briefly at this point while you make your glaze.

Hard Caramel Glaze:
1 cup (225 g.) sugar
½ teaspoon lemon juice

Combine sugar and lemon juice in a saucepan with a metal kitchen spoon stirring until the sugar resembles wet sand. Place on medium heat; heat without stirring until sugar starts to melt around the sides of the pan and the center begins to smoke. Begin to stir sugar. Continue heating, stirring occasionally until the sugar is a clear, amber color. Remove from heat immediately; place bottom of pan in ice water to stop the cooking. Use immediately.

Assembly of your Piece Montée:
You may want to lay out your unfilled, unglazed choux in a practice design to get a feel for how to assemble the final dessert. For example, if making a conical shape, trace a circle (no bigger than 8 inches) on a piece of parchment to use as a pattern. Then take some of the larger choux and assemble them in the circle for the bottom layer. Practice seeing which pieces fit together best.

Once you are ready to assemble your piece montée, dip the top of each choux in your glaze (careful it may be still hot!), and start assembling on your cake board/plate/sheet. Continue dipping and adding choux in levels using the glaze to hold them together as you build up. When you have finished the design of your piece montée, you may drizzle with remaining glaze or use ribbons, sugar cookie cut-outs, almonds, flowers, etc. to decorate.

September Daring Cook’s challenge – preserving and apple butter

The September 2010 Daring Cooks’ challenge was hosted by John of Eat4Fun. John chose to challenge The Daring Cooks to learn about food preservation, mainly in the form of canning and freezing. He challenged everyone to make a recipe and preserve it. John’s source for food preservation information was from The National Center for Home Food Preservation.

I was tempted to skip this challenge. The Daring kitchen allows you 4 “get out of jail free” cards a year, so if you are on holiday or do not have the equipment you don’t have to do the challenge. As I’ve been making quite a bit of lemon curd this winter, I didn’t feel it was necessary to do it all again. And the recipes John provided (no offense John) didn’t really excite me. But, as I used to do in Monopoly as I kid, I decided to save up my “get out of jail free” cards for a time that I might really need to use them.

So, onto the challenge. We were given the option of either making apple butter or roasted tomatoes, and then either freezing them or home canning them. I chose to make apple butter as the Granny Smith apples are abundant at the moment, and I chose to freeze it. The apple butter recipe was easy to follow, and quick to complete. I put it in sterilized jars and froze it for a week while trying to decide what to use it  for! Having given it a lot of thought I decided to use some of the butter in a marinade for pork ribs, and the rest of it to make apple meringue pie. My french Aunt D makes a fantastic apple meringue pie and I thought it would be a great time to replicate it.

The challenge was good to do, as I got to make sticky ribs and apple meringue pie (which Frank loved). And we got to have our first BBQ of the summer of 2010!

Apple butter (to make one jar) – from John, the host and http://www.uga.edu/nchfp/how/can_02/apple_butter_reduced.html

6 apples, peeled and cored, and chopped into cubes
1/2 cup water
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 tbsp cinnamon and mixed spice each

Combine apples and water in a pan and cook until apples are falling apart. Mash, and then add in sugar and spices. Simmer over a low heat for 20 – 25 minutes.

To test for doneness, spoon a small quantity onto a clean plate; when the butter mounds on the plate without liquid separating around the edge of the butter, it is ready for processing. Another way to test for doneness is to remove a spoonful of the cooked butter on a spoon and hold it away from steam for 2 minutes. It is done if the butter remains mounded on the spoon. Pour contents into a jar and store in the fridge for 1 month or the freezer for up to a year.

BBQ pork ribs (Serves 6 people) – a lollcakes original

2 to 2.5kg pork spare ribs
125g butter
1 medium onion, chopped
1 tablespoon crushed garlic
125ml (1/2 cup) vinegar
250ml (1 cup) water
125ml (1/2 cup) ketchup
250ml (1 cup) barbecue sauce
62.5ml (1/4 cup) tomato paste
62.5ml (1/4 cup) apple butter
juice of 1 lemon
salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Place ribs in large frying pan or roasting pan. Cover with lightly salted water, and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low, and simmer for 1 hour, or until meat is tender, but not quite falling off the bone. Remove from heat, and drain.

While the ribs are simmering, melt butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Cook the onion and garlic until the onion softens. Remove from the heat. In a blender, combine vinegar,water, ketchup, tomato paste, apple butter, barbecue sauce and lemon juice. Pour in the melted butter mixture, and purée for 1 minute.

Pour into the saucepan, and season with salt and pepper. Bring to a boil, then remove from heat.Place the cooked ribs in a roasting pan, and mix with the sauce. Cover, and refrigerate for at least 2 hours, up to overnight.

Preheat barbecue for medium-high heat.Brush the grill hotplate with oil. Cook ribs for 10 to 20 minutes, or until well browned, basting with sauce and turning frequently.Serve with salad and potatoes.

Apple Meringue Pie – adjusted from http://www.ifood.tv/recipe/lemon-apple-meringue-pie

1 1/2 cups (250g) plain flour
125g butter, chilled, chopped
1/3 cup castor sugar
1 egg yolk
1 tablespoon chilled water
jar apple butter
juice of 1 lemon
3 eggs

For the pastry, combine flour, butter and sugar in a food processor. Process until mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs. Add yolk and chilled water. Process until dough just comes together.Turn pastry onto a lightly floured surface. Knead until just smooth. Shape into a disc. Wrap in baking paper and refrigerate for 30 minutes. Line a 7-8-inch flan case with the pastry and bake blind.

Meanwhile, separate the eggs and keep the whites aside. Mix the apple butter with the egg yolks and lemon juice and fill in the pie shell. Beat, the egg whites until very stiff, then very gradually beat in 1/2 cup sugar. Either bake for about 25-30 minutes in a very moderate oven, 325°F and serve hot, or bake for about 1 hour in a very slow oven, 275°F

July Daring Cook’s challenge – nuts!

My mom always says “you are what you eat”, which is very apt for this month’s challenge: nuts! 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.

When I logged in to find out what this month’s, and my first, challenge was; I almost jumped out my chair in glee to discover that it was nut butters. I’ve always wanted to make them, but never got around to it. The recipes were also straight-forward, and the kind hosts allowed for an optional extra challenge, so I immediately started searching for some recipes to use the nut butter in. As I’m not allowed dairy or wheat at the moment, the hosts had two recipes I could try. The optional extra recipe has dairy in it, so I could only have a tiny taste, but Frank was happy to polish off the rest.

Out of the 4 recipes provided, I decided to make the Almond (Butter) chicken and the walnut dip. I also found a recipe for peanut butter and caramel ice-cream, which I adapted to suit my fool-proof ice-cream recipe passed down from Beets. As we could choose any nut butter for the dessert recipe, I gave Frank the choice. He makes a fantastic food consultant, as he picked macadamia nuts and they were the perfect thing in the recipe!

One Saturday in June I decided to tackle the challenge. First up: Walnut dip. This recipe is lovely, as you just toss everything in the food processor with the nut butter and it’s done in 5 minutes. It also uses minimal dishes, which pleased the Chief dish-washer no end! The first time I made it I served it with chips, and Frank decided it would be even more delicious with toasted pitas. So I made it again for friends and served it with pitas, which is when Frank decided it actually tasted more delicious with chips. His nickname is now Goldilocks.

walnut dip with chips

walnut dip with pitas

Next up: the Butter chicken. This recipe was also straight-forward and quick to do. It is a yummy winter recipe, but I would recommend using less Garam Masala, it was a little bitter with the quantity that the recipe calls for. It is also best served with some naan bread, as there is a lot of sauce to mop up.

Last, but definitely not least, was the optional extra challenge dish of macadamia-nut-butter ice-cream with salted caramel. I used a wonderful recipe handed to me by Beets to make the basic vanilla ice-cream. You don’t need an ice-cream maker, and it freezes without crystals, so I make it as much as I can. Once the basic ice-cream was made I stirred in the roasted macadamia nut butter and shards of salted caramel I made (for the first time, yay for me! I am normally scared of melted sugar as it not only burns like nothing else when it touches your skin, but it sticks like a demon too…) This was by far the best dish of the day. I have already sent the recipe to a friend and cannot wait to make it again! Even my honest-oppinion-giver had only the best things to say about it.

All in all, the challenge was really fun, and I got to make things I never had before. I can’t wait for next month’s challenge!

Approximate Processing Times in Food Processor for Nut Butters: (from our hosts…)

Almonds: form a thick butter in about 2 to 3 minutes for slivered almonds, or 3 to 4 minutes for whole almonds; the skin of whole almonds will leave dark flecks in the butter
Cashews: form a smooth, spreadable butter after about 2 minutes of processing
Hazelnuts: form a firm, thick, and grainy butter in about 2 to 3 minutes; to remove the skin from whole hazelnuts, roast in a 400 degree F oven (200 degrees C/Gas Mark 6) for about 5 minutes or till skins loosen, then rub hazelnuts in a clean dishtowel to remove some of the skin; the remaining skin will leave dark flecks in the butter
Macadamias: form a soft and smooth butter in about 2 minutes
Peanuts: form a thick, grainy butter in about 2 or 3 minutes
Pecans: form a very soft, oily, pourable butter in 1 or 2 minutes; the skins give pecan butter a slightly tannic and bitter flavor
Walnuts: form a very soft, oily, pourable butter in 1 or 2 minutes; the skins give walnut butter a slightly tannic and bitter flavor

If you want to, roast the nuts for 10 mins on a baking tray and wait until cooled before processing.

Challenge Walnut White Bean Dip with Rosemary & Sage
Recipe notes: Canned beans tend to be salty, so you may not need additional salt. Taste the dip after blending and add salt as needed.

Ingredients:
½ cup (120 ml) walnuts*
1 (15.8 oz/448g) can Great Northern, Cannellini, or other white beans, drained and rinsed 1 garlic clove, chopped 2 Tablespoons (30 ml) fresh lemon juice
2 teaspoons (10 ml) fresh rosemary, chopped
2 teaspoons (10 ml) fresh sage, chopped
¼ teaspoon (1 ml) lemon zest (optional) ¼ teaspoon (1 ml) black pepper salt to taste

Directions:
Make walnut butter by grinding ½ cup (120 ml) walnuts in food processor for about a minute until it forms a nut butter or paste. (*Alternately, start with ¼ cup (60 ml) prepared walnut butter.) Add beans, garlic, lemon juice, rosemary, sage, lemon zest (if using), and black pepper to the walnut butter in the food processor. Process the mixture to a smooth consistency. Taste and add salt as desired. Garnish dip with chopped walnuts and/or chopped fresh rosemary or sage, if desired. Serve dip with pita wedges, crostini, or assorted vegetables.

Challenge Chicken with Curried Tomato Almond Sauce
Yield: 4 servings
Recipe notes: Substitute the protein of your choice for the chicken. This is a smooth sauce, so the onion is removed before serving. If you prefer, dice the onion and leave it in the sauce or substitute a bit of onion powder.

Ingredients:
1 Tablespoon (15 ml) olive oil
4 (6 oz / 170 g) boneless, skinless chicken breast halves
Salt to taste

Spice Blend:
1.5 tablespoons (20 ml) garam masala seasoning
1 teaspoon (5 ml) ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon (2 ml) ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon (1 ml) black pepper

Sauce:
4 tablespoons (60 ml) butter
1 large onion, cut in half pole to pole
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 (15-ounce/425 g) can tomato sauce
⅓ cup (80 ml) almond butter
⅓ cup (80 ml) milk
½ to ¾ cup (120 to 180 ml) chicken broth or water, more as needed
1 cup (240 ml) frozen peas (optional)

Hot basmati rice for serving
Chopped parsley (optional garnish)
Sliced almonds (optional garnish)

Directions:
Cook the chicken. 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 (5 ml) 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. Cook the chicken in 2 batches, adding more oil if needed for second batch. Dice chicken into bite-sized pieces; set aside on clean plate and keep warm.
Prepare spice blend. Stir garam masala, ginger, cinnamon, and pepper together in a small bowl. Set aside.
Melt the butter in large nonstick skillet over medium-low heat. Add the onion and cook gently for several minutes to infuse the butter with onion flavor. Keep the heat low to avoid burning the butter; a little color is fine. Add the spice blend and garlic and cook for 1 minute or till fragrant, stirring constantly. Add the tomato sauce, stir well, and bring to boil. Reduce heat to simmer. Whisk in almond butter and milk until thoroughly combined with tomato sauce. The almond butter is thick so it takes a while to make a smooth sauce. Return to simmer. Add broth (or water) to sauce to reach desired consistency; return to simmer. Add more broth (or water) as needed to thin sauce as desired.
Remove onion from sauce and discard. Stir frozen peas (if using) into sauce. Transfer sliced chicken to sauce. Simmer gently for a few minutes until peas and chicken are heated through.
Serve chicken and sauce over rice. Garnish with chopped parsley and/or sliced almonds if desired.

Optional extra challenge: Macadamia-nut-butter ice-cream with salted caramel – adapted from Beets’ recipe

4 egg whites
500 ml cream
1 x 397 g can condensed milk
10 ml vanilla essence
250g macadamia nuts
100g castor sugar
large pinch salt flakes

For the ice-cream:
Spread macadamia nuts on lined baking sheet and roast in oven (160C) for 10 mins until lightly brown. Once cool, put nuts in food processor and blend for 5 mins, until nuts become a paste.
Whisk egg whites stiffly with a good pinch of salt.  Add cream and whip again until stiff.  Add condensed milk, macadamia butter and vanilla and whip well.  Turn into a 2 litre fridge container.

For the salted caramel: Pour caster sugar into a single  layer in a pot, and melt without stirring. Once a dark caramel color, pour onto a greased baking sheet in thin layer and sprinkle over salt flakes. Wait for it to harden, and break into shards. Mix shards in with ice-cream, place container in freezer and freeze quickly.

Makes about 12 large scoops.