Passion vs skills

Christmas time is closer and closer, Poland is covered with snow and it's lovely -15°C... I've got quite many orders for my cakes and bread - I cannot be happier doing what I'm passionate about (apart from Argentine tango of course). I won't probably have time to write too many posts till after Christmas (the festive days are totally reserved for my family and friends)... Anyway, today I've got something a bit off topic, which was sent to me from my friend. True, isn't it? What do you think?

The strip comes from http://www.wulffmorgenthaler.com/

Rose, first snow and travelling

This post was meant to be published few days ago, yet, it comes to light right now, once I reached my destination, unpacked and I can sit down and finish writing it at a leisurely pace.
The days before my leaving Budapest for Poland (and Christmas) were pretty busy - we were teaching weekend workshops (so great atmosphere we had!), DJing Friday and Sunday, taking part in the amazing Global milonga, baking bread for my parents... At the same time I tried to pack myself which was more than a challenge, given that I wanted to take my new huge cookbook, one kg of fresh walnuts, a jar with sourdough* and other crazy things that you normally take with you for Christmas ;)
I don't know how I did, but I managed to bake a tart on the top of all those things. Again, I don't know how this happened but I had to choose an elaborate one ;) The reward for my effort was very high though - delicious vanilla cream mixed with cherries and a delicate walnut merengue top... Three different textures, three different flavours closed in the form of a tart.
When I went out to the balcony to photograph the tart, it just started snowing for the first time with big big snowflakes... Magical. I tried to capture the moment, but the snow was so elusive...** So I focused on the tart... It's beauty called for something more than just a white background so I photographed it with the red rose I got from P. A special rose that in the middle of winter kept its head upright for a whole week and when I was leaving it still looked gorgeous.
The cake is so rich and yet delicate, that I'm going to repeat it for Christmas. It's definitely not a typical Christmas cake, but it has something special in it, which definitely makes it a good festive idea.

Walnut Tart with Cherries 
(recipe by Stephan Franz from "The Cook's Book")

Makes a 26cm (10 1/2 inch) tart.

For pâte brisée:
188g butter, at room temperature, cut into pieces
250g plain white flour
1 scant teaspoon salt
1 egg yolk
1 scant teaspoon caster sugar
50ml full fat milk at room temperature

For the vanilla cream:
300ml milk
5 medium egg yolks (100g in total)
75g caster sugar
15g cornflour
100ml double cream
seeds of 1/2 vanilla pod or sugar with real vanilla

For the filling:
400g whole black cherries - stoned.***

For the walnut layer:
100g cake crumbs or toasted breadcrumbs, finely ground
90g walnuts, toasted and finely ground
pinch of ground cinnamon
100g unsalted butter, diced and softened
100g caster sugar
3 medium egg yolks (60g in total)
seeds of 1/2 vanilla pod or sugar with real vanilla
grated zest of 1/2 lemon
4 medium egg whites (120g in total)

1. Prepare pâte brisée. Check for detailed instructions here.
2. Preheat the oven to 200°C (400°F). Use a round cake tin with 4cm (1 1/2in) high sloping sides or springform cake tin, any of them 26cm (10 1/2in) in diameter. Lightly grease the tin with butter.
3. Roll out half the pastry to a 3mm (1/8in) thickness and cut out a circle to fit the bottom of the tin. Lay in the bottom of the tin and prick all over with a fork so that no air bubbles occurs during baking. Bake for 10 minutes. The pastry should be set and only very slightly coloured.
4. Let the pastry cool and lower the oven temperature to 175°C (350°F). Roll out the remaining pastry into two equal strips, around 4cm wide. Use them to line the sides of the tin.
5. Prepare vanilla cream:
Pour 90ml of the milk into a bowl, blend with the egg yolks, 45g of the sugar and the cornflour. Pour the rest of the milk into a pan and add the cream, remaining sugar and vanilla seeds/sugar. Bring to the boil and add the egg yolk mixture. Stir continously and bring to boil, then remove from the heat immediately.
6. Pass the vanilla cream through a fine sieve and spread evenly over the pastry base.
7. Arrange the cherries onto the vanilla cream surface.
8. Prepare the hazelnut layer:
Lightly mix together the cake or breadcrumbs, walnuts and cinnamon. In another bowl beat the butter and 30g of the sugar until pale and creamy. Beat in the egg yolks one at a time. Add the vanilla and lemon zest and combine well. In another bowl whisk the egg whites, remaining sugar and a pinch of salt to stiff peaks. Add one third to the butter mixture and stir to combine. Carefully fold in the remaining whites using a large spatula. Fold in the nut mixture in batches.
9. Fit a piping bag with a large plain nozzle, spoon in the nut mixture, and pipe in a spiral onto the cherries. Bake in the oven at 175°C (350°F) for 45 minutes. Let it cool down and dust with incing sugar before serving.

* Sourdough's first plane journey was successful :) I fed it straight away I got home and it appeared that it likes Polish flour pretty well ;)
** If you know how to photograph falling snow - let me know :)
*** I used pickled cherries in a light sugar syrup.

Energy lunch - fusili con zucca arrosto e mascarpone

This pasta brings you an intense orange colour of butternut squash, richness of mascarpone and distinct taste of smoked cheese ... it's energy saver when it comes to your time - takes as little as 10 minutes of active preparation (around 20 minutes alltogether because of  waiting for the squash to roast). It's the pasta that I keep making over and over again - at least once a week we eat it for lunch.
I've meant to publish it earlier, but the perfect moment came now - when it serves as an energy boost for me to fight the virus (I'm almost the winner!) and as comfort food - I cannot imagine a thing you can do wrong when preparing this pasta. The amounts I'm giving are approximate - every time I use a bit different amount of pasta / onions/ squash, yet, the dish is still yummy. If you're truly hungry- double the amount of smoked cheese. The main inspiration comes from Good Food recipe. 

Fusili with Roasted Butternut Squash and Mascarpone
Fusili con zucca arrosto e mascarpone

Serves 2.

200g fusili (or other type of pasta)
around 500g butternut squash
1 red onion
2 garlic cloves
70g smoked cheese
2-3 tablespoons mascarpone
few tablespoons olive oil
to season: salt, freshly ground pepper

1. Preheat the oven to 200°C
2. Peel, deseed and cube butternut squash. tip into the roasting tin. Peel & chop onion and garlic. Mix with the squash, sprinkle generously with olive oil and season (also generously) with salt and pepper.  Roast for 20 -25 minutes until the vegetables are soft and have light brown edges.
3. In the meantime: cook the pasta according to the instruction on the packaging. Once cooked, drain and add 2-3 tablespoons mascarpone.
4. When the vegetables are roasted, add them to pasta and serve with grated smoked cheese & freshly ground pepper. (and a glass of good white dry wine :) ).

Who needs viruses...?!

The late autumn dullness has reached its apogee...
My thoughts are already in Poland, I'm looking for Christmas recipes, making difficult ;) decisions which cookies to bake this year. I've prepared our Christmas offer* (for the restaurant and cafe) and cannot wait days full of baking and baking.
And everything would be just perfect, if not a malicious virus, which came no one knows where from... I'd planned three types of cookies and two cakes, yet, I managed to bake only one type of cookies and gingerbread cake. I missed the energy for more, especially today, I spent half day in bed, half-awake... Not much energy left to write even on a blog...
Today's cookies area baked from  a recipe for short-pastry chocolate-orange Christmas trees by Bea** - thank you! The only change I made was cutting them with a star cutter and skipping the chocolate decoration as in my opinion, cookies were already rich enough with chocolate pieces and candied peel inside.

Orange Chocolate Stars

150g unsalted butter
100g sugar
pinch salt
2 egg yolks
zest from one orange
50g bitter or bittersweet good quality chocolate, chopped into fine pieces
25g candied orange peel
250g all-purpose flour

In a large bowl cream the butter, then add sugar, salt and egg yolk and continue creaming until they form a uniform almost white mixture. Add the zested orange, finely chopped chocolate and candied peel. Mix well, then start adding the flour. Form a ball out of the dough, wrap in clingfilm and put into the fridge for at least 10 minutes. I usually leave the dough to chill for the whole night and bake the cookies in the morning.
Preheat the oven to 180°C.
Roll out the dough until it's 7mm thick*** (you might want to flour your working surface a bit). Cut cookies using cookie cutter and place cookies on baking sheet lined with parchment paper.  Bake until they are just turning golden, about 11 minutes.  Transfer to racks to cool. When the cookies cooled down you can decorate them with melted chocolate. :)

*

**Bea took the recipe from from a book by Betty Bossi: ‘Noël et ses friandises’. 
***My stars were a bit thinner - 4 to 5mm. In order not to use additional flour for the working surface, I rolled the dough out between two pieces of baking parchment.

Lemon Poppyseed Muffins

I've heard so many times that lemon poppyseed muffins are a classic. Yet, I've tried them only once in Coffee Heaven with quite disappointing result. I was planning to prepare them for the Citrus Weeked, still, the weeked turned out busy and I never got to it. The recent not too busy and constantly rainy days seemed like a good time to finally try baking these muffins at home.
I'm not too fond of poppyseed - I appreciate it, I like it, but I could live without it. The combination of its earthy sweet taste with tangy refreshing lemon... mmm... :) The muffins are light and perfectly balanced and look so beautiful... Their 'photo session' took me double the usual time because they were just so pretty.

Lemon Poppyseed Muffins
(inspired by the recipe from the Ultimate Muffin Cookbook by Bruce Weinstein Mark Scarbrough)

Wet ingredients:
2 large eggs, at room temperature
250ml (1 cup) buttermilk (you can substitute it with full-fat milk or plain natural yoghurt)
60ml (1/4 cup) vegetable oil
125ml (1/2 cup) freshly squeezed out lemon juice
grated zest of 2 lemons
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Dry ingredients:
220g (1 3/4 cup) all-purpose flour
75g (1/2 cup) yellow cornmeal
100g (1/2 cup) sugar
40g (1/3 cup) poppyseeds
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt

Makes around 12 medium / standard size muffins (5cm in diameter).

1. Mix all wet ingredients together until uniform.
2. Position the rack in the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 200°C (400°F). Prepare the muffin tins: line them with paper muffin cups or cut pieces of baking paper.
3. Dry ingredients: whisk the dry ingredients in a second bowl until well uniform.
4. Stir in the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients until moistened. Don't overmix! Fill the prepared tins. Bake for 20 minutes, until the muffins are golden and have rounded tops. The muffins are ready when the toothpick or cake tester comes out clean. Set the pan onto the rack and let the muffins cool down for 5 -10 minutes before taking them out and serving.

It's brownie time...

Do you know the story of brownie? Supposedly, a librarian - Miss Brown - from Maine (USA) forgot to use baking powder in her chocolate cake mixture which she was preparing for the visit of her friends. The cake came out of the oven totally flat. Despite that she served it and her friends loved it...
Brownie is a cake you either love or not. It's not too known in Poland and usually it's eaten with a bit of suspicion and questioning facial expresion: "was this cake really baked?". I love chocolate, I love dense and moist cake, I love walnuts... consequently, I couldn't not love brownie. The quality of chocolate is crucial for me - the one that we serve in Tango Cafe and the one I like most (from Nigella's recipe of course) is from Jedyna chocolate by Wedel. There has to be a dollop of whipped cream and preferably - some fresh fruit like strawberries or raspberries. The problem with serving brownie in a cafe is that cut into squares it doesn't look particularly appealing in a refrigerated display case no matter how delicious it is. Having this in mind, I was looking different chocolate cakes recipes that would taste equally good to brownie and present themselves well. And I found a great one on Joy of Baking - a bit modified brownie put into a tart pan with addition of ganache... The result: rich chocolaty indulgence!

Brownie Chocolate Tart

Makes one 28cm in diameter tart.

165g (1 1/2 cup) toasted and chopped walnuts*
300g unsalted butter, cut into pieces
90g semi-sweet / bittersweet chocolate, good quality
40g milk chocolate
65g unsweetened Dutch cocoa
375g granulated white sugar
4 large eggs or 5 medium/small eggs
3 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
130g regular cream cheese like Philadelfia or Turek (don't use low fat)
110g all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt

for ganache:
80g semisweet chocolate
100ml heavy whipping cream

1. Grease the tart pan with butter or oil. Preheat the oven to 165°C (325°F).
2. In a metal bowl, placed over a saucepan of simmering water, melt the butter & chocolate.
3. Using a hand mixer beat together the melted chocolate & butter with cocoa, then sugar. Then add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in the vanilla extract, cream cheese. Add the flour, salt and mix with a wooden spoon just until the flour is incorporated. Stir in the nuts.
4. Pour the batter into the tart pan and spread it evenly with an offset spatula. The batter will fill the pan almost to the top. Bake for 30 - 35 minutes until the batter has set. If you insert a toothpick about 3cm from the side of the pan, it should come out clean. Remove from the oven and let cool down on a rack for about 10 minutes.
5. In the meantime prepare the ganache: heat the cream in a small saucepan over medium heat. Bring just to boil. Place the chopped chocolate in a small heatproof bowl. Immediately pour the boiling cream over the chocolate and allow to stand for 5 minutes. Stir until smooth.
6. With the end of a wooden spoon (1,5cm in diameter) that is well greased with oil or butter, make holes, spacing them evenly, into a top of the brownie tart.** You can make from 10 to 20 small holes.  With a small spoon fill the holes with the ganache. The ganache will sink as it cools so add more ganache, as needed.
7.  Let the tart cool completely and then cover the refrigerate. It is best to make this tart the day before serving to allow all flavours to blend. You can decorate it with grated chocolate. Serve with a dollop of whipped cream.

* Preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F) and toast nuts for 8 minutes until lightly brown and fragrant. Let cool and then chop into pieces.
** As you insert the end of wooden spoon into the tart, twist the spoon to prevent the tart from tearing. 

What's your favourite fast food?

Ok, I'm not talking about Mc Donald's - I cannot make myself go in there because of the overwhelming smell of burning fat. The thought of it makes me shiver. Now think of delicious pasta, fresh herbs, colorful vegetables... mouthwatering... and so fast to prepare. None of my favourite Italian pastas takes longer than 20 minutes to prepare.  On the other hand - if you make sure, that the proportions of vegetables to pasta and cheese are in favour of the first ones, you get a light lunch, after which you don't feel heavy headed or sleepy. Which always happens to me if I eat traditional Polish lunch/dinner consisting of potatoes, some meat and a salad.
Oh, and I love the colours :) Green, yellow, red... in Italian pastas you'll find a rainbow of them. Especially uplifting when you face heavy grey sky and almost constant rain.

Pappardelle with Zucchini and Herbs 
Pappardelle con zucchine e erbe aromatiche

Serves 2.

150g (before cooking) pappardelle all' uovo | pappardelle with eggs
around 420g zucchini*
1 large egg
50ml cream (20% or lighter)
2 tablespoons grated cheese**
4 tablespoons virgin olive oil
1 tablespoons each fresh herbs (you can subsitute with frozen, in the last resort - dried):
basil, oregano, thyme, dill
salt, freshly grated pepper

 
1. Wash and cut zucchinis, put them on a colander, salt generously and set aside for 15 minutes. In the meantime, prepare the sauce: mix the egg with cream and 1 tablespoon cheese. Use salt and pepper to season it a bit.





2. Cook the pasta according to the instruction on the box - important: don't overcook it, it should be al dente.
3. Dry zucchinis with a paper towel. Warm up the olive oil in a pan and fry the zucchini on medium heat until it's golden. Add the fresh spices towards the end, if you use frozen ones do it in the begining.
4. Mix the pasta with sauce, add zucchinis and serve with the remaining tablespoon of grated cheese and freshly ground pepper.

* I prefer the smaller - salad - variety, but the big ones are fine too. They just need peeling as their skin tends to be hard.
** I usually don't use parmesan or parmigiano reggiano simply because they're very expensive here. Though they add very nice taste to the sauce. You can try substituting them with any hard yellow cheese that you like or sometimes you can find in the stores a grated mix of cheeses for lasagne. It works fine for me.

"C is for Cookie..."

Cookie Monster: "COOOKIES!!!!!! OM NOM NOM NOM" (Eats everything, including plate)

Grey (not white unfortunately) December days make me feel like a Cookie Monster. Seriously. Actually, a very picky cookie monster as I've been making numerous cookies and only few of them I find really yummy and deserving "Om nom nom nom...". One of them are these Banana Walnut Chocolate Chunks Cookies. I've found them in Martha Stewart's Cookies and I started mouthwatering already when I was reading the recipe with lots of walnuts, chocolate and chocolate. Oh, and bananas of course. I find this combination sort of irresistible, add a gallon of caramel or chocolate rooibos, new Dr House episode... Heaven is here :D At least for me :)

Banana-Walnut  Chocolate-Chunk Cookies

Makes around 30 cookies.*

130g (1 cup) all purpose flour
80g (1/2 cup) whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon coarse salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
170g (1 1/2 sticks, 3/4 cup) unsalted butter, room temperature
100g (1/2 cup) granulated sugar
100g (1/2 cup) light brown sugar
1 large egg
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 large or 2 small mashed bananas (the best are very ripe ones)
100g (1 cup) rolled oats
200g (around 8 ounces) semi-sweet chocolate, coarsely chopped into chunks
60g (1/2 cup) coarsely chopped walnuts, toasted

1. Preheat the oven to 190°C (375°F). Whisk together both flours, salt and baking soda in a bowl.
2. Put butter and both sugars into a bowl. Mix (with a mixer) until pale and fluffy. Reduce speed to low and add egg and vanilla; mix until well combined. Mix in the mashed bananas. Add flour mixture and mix only until just combined. Stir in the oats, chocolate chunks and walnuts.
3. Using a tablespoon or an ice cream scoop, drop dough onto baking sheets lined with parchment paper, spacing about 5cm apart. Bake cookies until golden brown and just set, 12 to 13 minutes. Let cook on sheets for 5 minutes. Then transfer cookies to wire rack and let cool completely.** (if your will power is strong enough... mine wasn't ;) )

* Believe me: 30 of these cookies it's not much... it's actually too little to last for the second day.
**Cookies can be stored at room temperature, in airtight containers up to 2 days.

The Easiest Sourdough Rye Bread

As I am very very beginner when it comes to bread baking I was looking for a the simpliest and easiest recipe possible for a bread with sourdough. My taste preference is rye over wheat, and dark/ whole grain over white. Any seeds - sunflower, pumpkin - or nuts are more than welcome. I found a dream recipe for a novice like me on a fantastic Liska's blog (not surprising, is it?) :) Since that time, I've baked it at least 4 times and every time it was excellent (you can see it for example in the pictures of hummus).

Even though the bread is made purely of rye flour it's soft and delicate and toasted sunflower seeds add a nutty sweet aftertaste to it (which I love). As Liska's writing, the secret of a success with this bread is feeding your sourdough / starter / levain 10 to 12 hours before using it. I fed mine with 100g whole rye flour and 100g water.

The Easiest Sourdough Rye Bread

with Sunflower Seeds

Fits rectangular loaf  form 25cm long.

1 day before baking:
1 tablespoon rye levain/ sourdough (fed 10 - 12 hours before)
150ml water
150g rye bread flour, type 720*

*in Hungary 720 is not available (or at least I have't managed to find it yet). You can buy though and use with great results light rye flour - "vilagos rozliszt" RL-90.

All ingredients mix in a bowl, cover with plastic foil and put aside. I usually do it in the evening and use it for baking the next day in the morning.

After 12 - 18 hours I add:
380g rye bread flour, type 720
1 1/1 teaspoon salt
200ml water
50g toasted sunflower seeds**

Mix all the ingredients apart from sunflower seeds using a wooden spoon or a mixer. Don't mix too long. At the end add toasted sunflower seeds. Cover the pan with the vegetable oil and sprinkle with bran. Put the dough in the baking pan, sprinkle the flour onto the top or cover with a bit of oil . Cover with the plastic foil and the leave in a warm place to rise. Depending on the temperature it will take from 2 to 6 hours - it took 2 hours for me. The volume of the bread should double - only then it can be baked.
Put the bread into a cold oven and set the temperature to 230°C. After 30 minutes lower the temperature to 210°C and bake for 30 minutes more. If the bread's top is becoming too dark, cover it with aluminium foil.
Take the bread out from the pan immediately and let it cool down on the rack.

**Warm up the teflon frying pan - don't use oil. Fry the sunflower seeds till they're golden, stirring constantly. Should take around 3-5 minutes.  Let the seeds cool down before adding to the dough.

Apple Tart - step by step

It's a simple and elegant apple tart. Delicate yet with character thanks to cinnamon. Not too sweet and calling for a glass of good white dessert wine. Or a dollop of whipped cream. It disappeared within 2 hours after baking... Is there anything else I need to write to encourage you to try it out? I hope not :) Let's get to work then...

Apple Tart

Makes 1 tart (27cm in diameter).

For shortcrust pastry - pâte brisée by Pierre Hermé*:
188g butter, at room temperature, cut into pieces
250g plain white flour
1 scant teaspoon salt
1 egg yolk
1 scant teaspoon caster sugar

50ml full fat milk at room temperature

                                     

Other ingredients:

1kg apples (I used Granny Smith which are crisp, firm and sour)
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/2 cup sugar - important: taste the apples - some might need adding more sugar.
1 egg yolk + 1 teaspoon whipping (single) cream


1. Place the butter in a bowl. Beat with a wooden spoon to soften. Stir in the salt and egg yolk. Stir the sugar into the milk in a bowl. Pour this onto the softened butter in a thin stream, stirring constantly.
2. Sift the flour into a shallow bowl and steadily stir it into the butter mixture. Mix by stirring with a wooden spoon or gently bring it together by hand in the bowl.
3. On a floured work surface and using the palm of your hand, lightly knead the pastry just until it forms a soft, moist dough. Ligthness of hand and speed are very important, and the whole process shouldn't take longer than 4-5minutes or the pastry will be tough.
4. Shape the dough into 2 balls, one larger (around 300-350g), one smaller. Then flatten  them slightly, and wrap in cling film. Leave in the fridge to rest for at least 2 hours. The resting time in the refrigerator gives the gluten in the flour a chance to relax. Effective chilling will prevent the dough from shrinking too much when it goes into the hot oven.

5. After the chilling time, roll the bigger dough out between two large sheets of baking parchment. Make sure to lift the top sheet of parchment from time to time so that it doesn't crease into the dough. When it's 3-5mm thick, move each piece into the bottom of the pan. Cut off  the excess pastry.
6. Press the pastry into and up the sides of the ring. If the dough splits or cracks as you work, then simply patch the split with small scraps of pastry using your fingers to glue them into place. Don't strech the pastry. Prick the base all over with a fork. Refrigerate for 30minutes.

7. Wash and peel the apples. Then grate them into a pan. Add cinnamon and sugar, taste the apples, if necessary add more sugar. Cook the apples on medium heat for 5 to 10 minutes until they become soft (but not mushy!)

8. Cut out a circle of baking parchment slightly larger than the tart ring or tin. Fold the disc in half several times to make a triangular shape, then clip the outer edge with scissors. Clipping the edge ensures a close fit against the rim when the paper is placed in the tart ring.

9. Take the tart pan with the pastry out from the fridge. Cover the base and sides of the pastry with the prepared baking parchment, taking the paper above the sides of the ring. Fill with dried beans- the tarts will keep the form and won't rise during baking.

10. Preheat the oven to 180°C. Place the pans in the oven and bake for 18-20minutes. After that time it will be partially baked. Let it cool down a bit on a rack.

11. Fill in the crust with the apple mixture till the brim.

12. Take out the smaller pastry ball out of the fridge. Roll it out between two large sheets of baking parchment until it's 3mm thick. To form a lattice top cut 1 cm strips out of the pastry lid. Lay them across the pie. Fold back every second vertical strip and lay a new horizontal strip across the strips that have not been folded. Lay the folded back strips back down. Then repeat folding back the vertical strips that were not folded in the previous round. Cover the rest of the pie. With a pastry brush, lightly coat the top with the egg yolk mixed with cream.

 13. Bake the apple tart for 30 minutes 180°C or until the top is golden. Let it cool down on the rack thouroughly before cutting! (Yup, I know, it's _very_ difficult especially if you have vanilla ice-cream waiting for you in the fridge.)

*recipe comes from "The Cook's Book"

What shall I do with these gorgeous apples? Maybe an apple tart? :)