Chocolate, almond and hazelnut galette- illustrated recipe

Page from my illustrated journal

Make your last galette of the month a great one. This recipe is the closest to Nutella I will ever want to get! Irresistible.

Ingredients list:

• 2 rolls of frozen puff pastry (all butter is best – check for no hydrogenated fat)
• Brown sugar 125g
• Almond powder 150g
• hazelnut 50g
• 2 beaten eggs
•  Butter 50g
• Chocolate 50g
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• A little dark rum

Melt the butter and chocolate on low heat – do not burn!

Mix the sugar and almond powder.

Ground  or crush the hazelnuts and add that in. You can inverse the ratio so it tastes closer to Nutella.

Beat the eggs until light and creamy and add slowly to the mix. Add the butter mix and the rum and vanilla extract.

Roll out the pastry. Ideally, the pastry and your hands are cold. This is important when working with any pastry but with puff it is essential: the quicker you work the better for a raised and light result. I always work on marble which makes it easier to keep everything cold while rolling out the thinnest pastry.

Cut out a large circle and then a second one but slightly bigger. Lay the first circle on a floured oven tray. Put the filling in the centre and spread it to about a good inch from the sides. Do not forget to place two “fèves” in the mix. Lay the second circle over and fold the sides over it. Push the tip of a fork all around the edge to seal! Decorate with light knife marks and brush over with an egg yolk.

Put in the midle of a warm oven for 30mn (200°). Eat hot with a mug of cold cider. You don’t have to put a charm into it if you are not celebrating the Epiphany and you can eat it any time of the year – in which case it is called a pithiviers.

My collection of old fashioned charms inspired me to take some shots very reminiscent of a great book I found recently : “Little people in the city”, street art by Slinkachu. See for yourselves!

Risotto de potiron, pancetta et piment doux en VF

English version here!

Ce Risotto de potiron, pancetta et piment doux est paru dans le journal du Lycee de Londres pour Halloween mais je la remets ici en l’honneur de mes visiteurs francophones, pour les remercier de leur soutien et de leur vote! Je suis sur la page 1 du Concours MarieCLaire Idées mais continuez de cliquer sur le cupcake rose…

Liste des ingrédients :

• Potiron 250g
• Riz Arborio 450g
• Sancerre (ou autre blanc) 500ml
• Bouillon de poulet 1L (Maggi cubes et eau)
• Pancetta en cubes ou lardons 250g
• Echalotes émincées, une grosse poignée
• Huile d’olive 40 ml
• Butter 40g
• Sel et poivre
• Laurier-sauce, 2 feuilles froissées
• Gousses d’ail, 2 écrasées
• Piment doux ou Piment d’Espelette, 1 cuillère à soupe
• Noix muscade, 1 cuillère à café
• Cannelle, 1 cuillère à café
• Parmesan, 2 cuillères à soupe

Coupez le chapeau du potiron et grattez l’intérieur de la courge avec une cuillère pour en retirer les graines. Utilisez cette cuillère en métal pour évider la chair par larges copeaux : Essayez de garder le potiron intact si vous projetez un dîner d’amis afin de servir le risotto à l’intérieur. L’effet sera festif et raffiné !

Sinon, coupez des parts comme dans une orange et  taillez la chair au couteau.

Mettez les cubes ou les copeaux de chair dans un plat à rôtir et passez au four 40mn (180C).

Grillez la pancetta au four en même temps que le potiron, pour la rendre croustillante et éviter trop de gras dans le plat final.

Préparez votre bouillon de poulet et réservez.

Rincez le riz sous le robinet.

Faites fondre le beurre dans l’huile à l’intérieur d’un grand fait-tout : Jetez l’ail écrasé et les échalotes émincées dans l’huile chaude et faites sauter sur feu vif.

Lorsque le tout est doré, ajoutez les cubes de potiron rôtis, assaisonnez bien avec les épices et continuez de cuire durant une dizaine de minutes, à feu doux. Le potiron doit être bien recouvert de sauce.

Rajoutez les feuilles de laurier, en les froissant entre vos doigts.

Rajoutez le riz en une seule fois; puis versez le vin, verre par verre, suivi du bouillon et continuez de remuer sur feu doux jusqu’à ce que le riz ait absorbé tout le liquide.

Ceci prendra bien 45mn et plus vous opèrerez lentement, plus le résultat sera moelleux.

Assaisonnez légèrement avec le sel et le poivre.

Saupoudrez généreusement de parmesan en fin de cuisson. Décorez avec les cubes de pancetta. Si le risotto vous semble un peu sec, vous pouvez ajouter une grosse cuillère de crème fraîche à cette étape.

Lorsque je fais un risotto et que je ne suis pas trop pressée par le temps, je le fais assez liquide et puis je le parsème de parmesan et retour dans un four très chaud pour le laisser mijoter 5 bonnes minutes: C’est prêt lorsque le grain est ferme mais parfaitement cuit. Servez avec un sauternes ou un muscat bien glacé. Les notes de fruits confits de ces vins doux conviendront à merveille aux saveurs douces et acidulées de ce plat et à la chaleur de ses épices.

Si vous avez envie de voyager plus avant dans mon répertoire gourmand, revenez visiter mon blog: http://www.travelsaroundmykitchen.com

Note : Le piment d’Espelette est une spécialité du pays basque. C’est un piment doux au parfum de rose qui convient délicieusement à ce plat. A ramener de vos vacances ! PS: Look for the English version HERE

risotto sur l'AGA

Pear, apple and caramel jam-boree in memory of a girly week-end

As good as gold...

Some smells, some tastes, have the power to anchor you in a past mood more forcefully than a thousand words or even a picture can do…

Last summer, I brought back in my luggage a small jar of gold: a precious jam bought before an evening picnic on the Plage de L’Espiguette… As my childhood friends will know, and as I keep repeating to my children every time I take them there, l’Espiguette is one of the most beautiful beaches in the world. That evening, the evening of the picnic with my friend Caro, you could see the purple shadows of the Cevennes to your right, the golden reeds of the Camargue to your left and the vastness of the Mediterrannean in front of you, jutting into the horizon until the African coast! And before you, you had the luxury of hundreds of meters of soft, sandy emptiness… We threw a blanket on the dune and opened a cool rosé. Caro went straight into the water (as she always does) and I read a bit in my jumper before thinking ” What the HEll!” and plunging into the waves where the sun was setting. But what about the jam…

This pear, apple and salted caramel jam, in that gifted pot, was a wonder and a challenge to me. I was determined to achieve the same luxurious,indulgent and silky taste… And here it is! With Sticky toffee sauce instead of salted caramel, because I needed to make it mine with a little anglophile twist…

Sometimes living in two languages is a mixed blessing. At worst it can feel a bit schizophrenic ; at best you create a great mix!

Ingredients list:

You will need a jam pan and 6 clean jars. A jam thermometer is also a great help!

• Lemon 1
• Pears 3 (best seasonal ones like Williams)
• Apples 4 (again, fresh and seasonal is best: Cox here)
• Brown caster sugar, 2/3 of the total fruit weight (so about 660g for 1kg of fruit)
• Vanilla pod 1
• Two spoonful of Sticky Toffee sauce (Thermomix recipe) or bought caramel sauce or 4/5 caramels

The day before (that’s best but not an absolute): Peel and chop the fruit, squeeze the lemon juice over and cover with the sugar. Leave overnight covered in the fridge.

On the day: Clean in the dishwasher 6 to 8 Pots for 1 kg of fruit.

Put the macerating fruit into your jam pan and get to a rolling boil. Leave boiling at jam point (just over 100°) for 10 minutes.

Turn down. Add your caramels or 2 spoonfuls of the toffee sauce . Slit the pod and scrape the vanilla seeds into the pan.

Boil to jam point again for 5 minutes.

Put straight away into clean jars: I use a long ladle and a jam funnel to get the boiling jam into each pot quickly. This way the jam is sterilising its own pot! All you have to do is screw the top over the pot and turn it upside down on a kitchen towel. Write some nice labels and marvel at the sight of your pots- That’s what I do! I put them in a special basket at the bottom of my baker’s shelf so I can reach for one easily when I want to please a special guest…

As for a treat to my reader, I give you the best Christmas windows in London: Fortnum and Mason on Piccadilly have wonderfully girly  scenes and here are some photos just for you.

Wish you were... on the merry-go-round!

Cute boudoir scene at F&M

Vote for me!

Please click on the pink cupcake on my blog homepage to vote for me!
I am going to win “creative cooking blog of the month ” with your help and I need all the votes I can!!!
It’ easy peasy: just click on the cupcake, then click on “je vote”, then click “valider” and bob’s your uncle! You don’t even have to speak French to get through…
Lots of thanks
Diane

Here is the link if no cupcake on you Iphone: http://www.marieclaireidees.com/sap/blogcuisine2011/entrant/70824

Matador steak and kidney pie with chorizo

The perfect winter warmer

The New Year finds me as usual in a flurry of new resolutions, new projects, new hobbies! It is a challenging but exciting time of the year and I always try to get everybody involved in resolution making and list writing: The family devised a new challenge for the first week after Christmas- to give me a rest from cooking, said my youngest!

They each chose a day, devised their menu, sourced the right recipes with my help and shopped and cooked a full meal from scratch. The rule was not to buy anything pre-made but to make it all from fresh, seasonal ingredients. Normally, A. does not partake in our cooking challenges but this year he did, to my utter surprise – my husband is only interested in the “tasting” aspect of food- and produced the most magnificent savoury pie ! It had to be a British classic, of course. But I had suggested a Spanish twist on the Steak and kidney filling and it worked well with the extra chorizo.

I absolutely adored the flavours and really thick, meaty sauce of this recipe ! And the fact I did not have to cook. I really could get used to that sort of treatment… Being a man, he misjudged the quantities big time and made two large pies for the 6 of us- not that we complained!

 Dad’s pie:

Ingredients list: You will need a pie dish and a pot that goes in the oven and stands the hob.

For the pastry:

• Plain flour 250g
• Goose fat 80g ( replaces suet, with health benefits!)
• Rapeseed oil 50g
• Cold water 80ml
• pinch of ground pepper and salt
• Beaten egg to glaze

For the filling:

• Good marbled steak 500g (diced)
• Lamb kidney 100g, cut in twos
• Corn or potato flour 2 Tbsp
• Onion, 1 large one
• Water 500ml
• Knorr or Maggi 1 cube
• Freshly ground pepper
• Mild chorizo 100g
• Sliced brown mushrooms 100g
• Sprig of Thyme
• Fresh or dry oregano 1 Tbsp
• Ground cloves 1 tsp
• All spice 1 Tbsp
• Dry shiitake and porcini mix 10g (pre-soaked)

Choose a nice streaky piece of beef, with flavour – so sirloin better than fillet or a cheaper cut and with enough fat to sustain the cooking without going as hard as a boot.

Pat the meat dry with a kitchen towel and shake it into a bowl with a dusting of corn or potato flour. Each chunk must be nicely coated.

Heat some oil into a deep oven friendly ceramic pot and fry the sliced onion until soft, then add the meat and brown all sides.

Pour in the stock and seasoning and bring to a slow boil. Throw in the pre-soaked mushrooms and chorizo.

Leave to simmer for 10/15 min. then put the dish into the oven (160) for two hours.

Don’t forget to add the sliced mushrooms half hour before the end.

Make the pastry by mixing all the dry ingredients into a bowl, then adding the cold water slowly. Stop adding when it starts making a ball, as you mix.

Pat it to gather all the crumbs and drop it into a plastic bag.

This will now rest in the fridge until you are ready to assemble the pie.

Check the meat is falling apart and the juices have reduced. Put on the stove on high heat for a few minutes if not.

Adjust the seasoning at this point because this dish needs to be full-flavoured…

Brush the pie dish with a beaten egg, all around the rim.

Pour the filling inside the pie dish.

Make a long coil with a chunk of pastry and stick it to the top of the rim.

Then roll out a cercle of pastry and position it on top of the pie. Prick it all around with the flat end of a fork so the top will be properly sealed and make a small hole in the middle for the vapour to come out.

Brush with the rest of the egg.

Put in the oven (220) for 15 min. then turn down to 160 for a further 20.

The pies arrived piping hot on the table, with a golden and moist crust like a nice tight tummy and a perfect belly button in the middle, oozing with sauce! The pastry was crusty and flaky, with just enough bite and melting on the tongue. The inside was dark and fragrant … and here I get lyrical again! Truly the food of love…  And so we drank a Burgundy St Amour (Domaine des Pins).

PS:Don’t get turn off by the long ingredients list, it is worth it.

As for the rest of the contenders for this challenge:

C. produced homemade spaghetti with Carbonara sauce then a Far Breton with prunes

S. made burgers with home made tomato and parmesan buns and a fruit salad

Lovely with the St Amour!

E. baked Toads in a hole and an apple and quince crumble with coconut  and oats topping