French Gateaux

Pepe surprised me at Christmas with a voucher to attend a Patisse cooking Class. I was spoilt for choice with the options including a macaron masterclass, croquembouche class, art of pastry, all about the tart, French classics and French gateaux. I was still up in the air about which class to attend so I posted a facebook entry and everyone was voting on all of the above which didn't help me at all.

I decided to learn how to make a classic cake with a French style and attend the 'French Gateaux' class.

Whilst I was on my way to class, Pepe had his hands full with attending a fairy birthday party with the boys. I was definitely looking forward to having a few hours to myself and hopefully learning a few things at class.

A short walk from Central Station to the Patisse cooking school, I got a little lost with another girl but we weren't the last to the class so that was a relief. My reputation of being late wasn't the case here. There was a table full of people with name tags and aprons and Bill, the manager made me feel at home with a coffee and a pastry filled chocolate custard to meet the rest of the class.

We met the team helping out for the day and Aren who was going to be our demonstrator for the day. We started off with making the almond sponge for the opera cake. I was given the job to whisk the almond meal paste together and was wondering why my arm was about to fall off, only to figure out a short while later that we were making double quantities.

Flying through the ready made ingredients of coffee syrup for the buttercream and sponge, Aren made chocolate ganache and chocolate glaze. It brought me back to the many times that Pepe had helped to make chocolate ganache to only have it split every time and then we would be running around like a headless chooks to throw the mixture into the kitchenaid and blitz it to have it come good again.


Learnt how to make a foolproof buttercream by making a swiss meringue whisking til it tripled in volume and then added the butter and white chocolate. Then we were ready to put our opera cake together. Layering the buttercream, sponge, brushing on coffee syrup with 2 more layers it was into the freezer to set.

Next we made choux pastry for the Paris best and piped into a bicycle rings.

These were then baked in the oven as we were treated to an amazing lunch of asparagus, peas risotto drizzled with truffle oil and a simple green leaf salad. Divine!

With no time to spare we were back into making our chocolate sponge layer for the Chocolate Framboise Pave and chocolate mousse. Assembling the cake with layers of chocolate sponge, brushing this with raspberry liquid then a layer of mousse and repeating this two more time with a sponge layer on top. This was then put into the freezer to set.

Whilst waiting for our pave to set, it was back to our choux pastry sprinkled with flaked almonds. Piped the choux full of hazelnut buttercream and it was made extra delicious with hazelnut praline sprinkled on top. Indulgence central.

Once the chocolate framboise pave had set, it was time to ladle the chocolate coating with the melted dark chocolate. Finished off with slivered pistachios and freeze dried raspberries. Perfect for a Valentine's treat.

With a box of goodies in hand, Pepe came to pick to me up with the boys. They couldn't wait to try the treats I had in store for them and I could tell it was fingerlicking good!

 

I thoroughly enjoyed myself and couldn't have asked for a great bunch of people and patient presenter in Aren who managed to answer any curly question thrown his way. It was great to feel and taste our way through the class and of course have a few laughs along the way.

 

Patisse Cooking School

Ground Floor 67 -69 Regent Street
Chippendale NSW 2008

(02)9690 0665

W: www.patisse.com.au

Twitter: https://twitter.com/Patisse_Cafe

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PatisseSydney

 

Cupboard is bare

How therapeutic is it to stud an onion?

 

 

My first bouquet garni consisting of bay branch and leaves, 6 parsley stalks, 4 sprigs thyme, 2-3 strips lemon zest

 

Guess what's on the menu tonight?

 

Corned beef! Hoping that this meal will keep Pepe and kids happy for the next few days.

 

Look out for Ruebens, corned beef salads on the menu to come=)



Queens Birthday long weekend

One of our favourite things to do on the weekend is cook with really good produce and meats we haven't tried before. Therefore we headed out to Vics Meats at Botany, http://www.vicsmeat.com.au/ to load up our freezer for the month. As it was a long wet Queen’s birthday weekend and there was no better way to spend it than to stay at home and cook up a feast.

We stopped by usual breakfast of a chicken roll and spring roll. The queue at both the Vics meats store and Hong Ha bread place was as usual long.

Cooked an amazing veal roast with potato gratin based from the Neil Perry cookbook ‘The food I love’.

Veal Roast

Ingredients

3-4 bone rack of milk fed veal

Sea salt

Extra virgin olive oil

Freshly ground pepper

Method

Preheat the oven to 75C. Remove rack from the refrigerator a couple of hours before cooking and rub the rack with sea salt. Rub the rack with extra virgin olive oil and put into large roasting tin. Put in the preheated oven and turn the dish every 30 minutes. After an hour, check the core cooking temperature with a meat thermometer. As veal is less dense than beef due to the muscle structure, it doesn’t take as long to cook.

When the temperature of the veal reaches 58-60C depending whether you like it closer to medium to well done, remove it from the oven. Put a frying pan large enough to take the rack on the stove over high heat and pour a little extra virgin olive oil in. When oil is nearly smoking, add the rack and hold it with tongs so that all the flesh side gets a good browning.

Reduce the oven temperature to around 60C holding the door ajar if necessary and return the veal to the oven. Rest the rack for about 30 minutes before serving.

Potato Gratin

Ingredients

500g bintje or other waxy potatoes

250mL pure whipping cream

Sea salt and freshly ground pepper

20g unsalted butter melted

Method

Peel and cut the potatoes into 2mm thick slices, covering the slices with cream to prevent discolouration. Season the potato slices with sea salt and freshly ground pepper. Brush the base and side of a shallow baking tray with melted butter.

Remove the potato slices from the cream and overlap them in lines down the dish until 2-3cm deep. Drizzle a little cream between each layer. Pour any remaining cream over.

Bake at 180C for 50-60 minutes or until lightly browned and tender.

With a side of brussels and speck, yum yum.

Challenge 4- love

As it was Valentine's Day, what better way to celebrate the theme love but with lots of seafood.

I headed down to the Fish Markets with many like-minded people and got myself a dozen Sydney Rock oysters and a great big mudcrab. Yum!

As I had the MasterChef Cookbook Vol 1, I thought I'd test out
Lucas Parsons' Singapore Chilli Mud Crab and the Pressure Test Apple Tarte Tartin.

So for entree was the yummy oysters with an eschallot and red wine vinegar dressing, yummy! Pepe surprised me with my favourite Tasmanian Kreglinger Vintage Brut 2004.

Lucas Parsons' Singapore Chilli Mud Crab

serves 2

prep time 20mins

cooking time 6mins


Ingredients

1 live mud crab (1.25-1.5kg)

1 tbs peanut oil

Chilli Paste

2 small red chillis, chopped

10g fresh ginger peeled and chopped coarsely

2 large cloves garlic coarsely chopped

1 tbs peanut oil

Chilli Sauce

1 cup (250ml) tomato paste

Juice of 2 limes

30g coarsely grated palm sugar (in 100ml of warm water)

1/4cup (60ml) of tomato sauce

3/4-1 tbs black bean sauce to taste

Garnish
Coriander leaves and lime wedges to serve

Method

Cook mud crab in boiling salted water for 10-15mins. Drain and refresh in iced water. Prepare the crab lifting the tail flap and easing off the back shell. Remove and discard the gills, liver and brain matter and rinse the crab well. Using a cleaver or heavy knife, cut the crab into four pieces.

To make chilli paste, use a mortar and pestle to pound the chillies, garlic and ginger to a paste. Add 1 tbs pf the peanut oil and combine well.

Heat wok with peanut oil until hot and smoking. Add the chilli base and stir for 30 seconds. Add the crab pieces and cook for 30 seconds, stirring continuously, then add the chilli sauce and cook, uncovered for 5 mins or until sauce thickens slightly. Season with salt and pepper.

To serve, arrange the crab in a large bowl, then pour over the sauce. Scatter with coriander leaves and serve with lime wedges.


Let's say it was delicious and gone in seconds.

Apple Tarte Tartin

recipe by Kate Nichols

Serves 2

Ingredients

3 Golden Delicious apples (I used Granny Smiths as this is how I remember a good apple tarte tartin)
1 tbs lemon juice
½ cup (110g) caster sugar (you could probably use 1/4 cup as the apples were so sweet)
20g unsalted butter, chopped
Ready-rolled puff pastry sheet
Icecream to serve (I used Maggie Beer's Vanilla Bean & Elderberry Icecream)

1. Preheat oven to 220C (200C fan forced)

2. Peel apples, cut into quarters, remove cores (cutting each quarter at the core so it has a “flat” side), and toss the quarters in a large bowl with the lemon juice and 1 tablespoon of the sugar.

3. Using a 20cm frying pan as a guide, cut pastry into a round slightly larger than the pan, prick with a fork.


4. Melt butter in a 20cm non-stick frying pan over medium-high heat. Cover with the remaining sugar. Cook over medium-low heat, shaking pan occasionally to spread around any dark spots that appear, until a rich caramel forms.

5. Place apple quarters into pan, rounded side down, arranging them around pan. Cut remaining apple to fill gaps. Cook the apples over medium heat for about 10 minutes until caramel is bubbling up in the pan, shaking pan occasionally to prevent burnt spots.

6. Lay the pastry over the apples, tucking any protruding edges around edges of pan.

7. Place the pan in the oven, cook for about 25 minutes, or until the puff pastry has risen and cooked. The pastry should be dry and flaky. Stand tarte in pan for 10 minutes before carefully turning out onto a serving plate. Serve with cream or icecream.


After having attempted Apple Tarte Tartin a few times, this recipe has been the best one yet and definitely one to do again.

Challenge 2- citrus

As part of the cookbook challenge, I thought I'd also challenge myself to cooking with different meats as well. With the theme of citrus for the second challenge, I was thinking along the lines of a Duck a l'orange, a classic French dish in which the duck is roasted and served with an orange sauce. I found a recipe of whole roasted duck with orange that fitted my purpose from the July 2010 issue of Australian Gourmet Traveller by Daniel Southern of Comme Kitchen, Melbourne.

Whole roast duck with orange

Serves 2

Cooking Time Prep time 30 mins, cook 1 hr (plus drying, resting)

Ingredients

1 duck (about 2kg)

2 tbsp olive oil for drizzling

2 oranges

1 tbsp caster sugar

Method

1. Blanch duck in a large saucepan of boiling water (10-15 seconds). Drain well, then place breast-side up on a wire rack lined with baking paper and placed on a tray and refrigerate uncovered until skin is taut and dry (2 days) - [instead of using this method as it was going to take too long I prepared the duck by wiping it dry as possible with kitchen paper and refrigerating for 8 hours to get the same effect.]
2.  Preheat oven to 220C. Transfer duck to a roasting pan, season with olive oil, salt and pepper and roast, basting regularly, until light golden (20-25 minutes), reduce oven to 170C and roast, basting occasionally, until medium to medium-rare and golden on the outside (20-30 minutes). Rest in a warm place (5-10 minutes). [We also removed the excess dripping of duck fat at every 30 min interval to use to cook roast potatoes on the side, so decadent!!]
3. Meanwhile, remove orange rind with a peeler (reserve flesh), then remove pith (discard) from rind. Cut rind into julienne, then blanch (10 seconds). Drain, then repeat process 4 to 5 times until tender. Set aside. Combine sugar and 80ml water in a small saucepan and bring to the boil, stirring to dissolve sugar. Add rind, then cook over low heat until rind is sweet (2-3 minutes). Meanwhile, remove pith (discard) from flesh, cut into segments, set aside.
4. With the help of learning how to carve up duck on YouTube, it was served hot, scattered with orange segments and a little orange rind. Adding a few roasted potatoes cooked in duck fat, they were soooo good!

At the moment, we've discovered watercress as an alternative to rocket for salads. Watercress, avocado with balsamic vinegar and drizzled in olive oil was the perfect accompaniment with the duck.

I'm including a new segment of matching wines to the dish as most of my meals always include a glass of wine. My in house sommelier, Pepe suggests a Pinot from Central Otago region NZ or a Phillip Shaw Pinot Noir from Orange. Having tried wines in both these region, these full-bodied wines have beautiful earthy, plummy flavours and are ideal for game. And for dessert a Botryitis Semillon to offset the tartness of the lemon.

Now for dessert, as I had a craving for something sweet and I totally adore the flavour of lemon, especially the zest. One of the best ways to get my fix is with a sweet tart. The buttery curd is delicious spread on toast with fresh ricotta, or as it appears here, spooned into bite-sized tart shells.

This dessert serves 12 (as I didn't need to cook this many I just halved all the ingredients to make 6 mini lemon tarts)

Lemon Curd (care of Stephanie Alexander - The Cook's companion)

4 egg yolks

3/4 cup caster sugar

60g unsalted butter

2 teaspoons grated lemon zest

100ml lemon juice

Whisk the egg yolks and sugar by hand until well combined and pour into a heavy-based non reactive saucepan. Add in butter, two heaped(!!) teaspoons of grated lemon rind and juice. Stirring constantly bring to simmering over a medium-high heat. This will take about five minutes. As soon as it starts to bubble, remove from the heat, continuing to stir for a minute or so. Allow to cool.

Pastry

120g soft butter

100g icing sugar

2 eggs

250g plain flour

Place butter and icing sugar in an electric mixer and beat until pale and creamy. Add the eggs one at a time, mixing well. Stir in flour by hand until well incorporated and then bring crumbs together to form into a disc. Wrap pastry disc in plastic and refrigerate for a few hours (or freeze for half the time!).

Roll out pastry on a floured surface to a couple of millimetres thickness, and cut into circles. You want the circles to fit into whatever mould you have, in this instance, a mini dipping bowl. My circles were about 6cm in diameter. Press well into the greased holes and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Now blind bake (i.e. lined with paper and filled with rice/beans) at 180C degrees for 7-8 mins, remove paper and rice and bake for a further 2-3 minuted. Take shells from the oven when they are golden and dry. Remove from pan and cool on a wire rack.

Assembly
Once both parts are cool, spoon curd into shells and flatten top with a spatula or knife. You can serve as is, but if you are handy with and have access to a kitchen blowtorch, sprinkle the top with caster sugar and brulee. Unfortunately I ran out of gas on this occasion, so that's for next time but I did sprinkle the left over cooked orange rind from the duck dish for presentation.