Showing posts with label pastry. Show all posts
Showing posts with label pastry. Show all posts

Saturday, January 30, 2016

Chow Down to Eurovision 2015 - Switzerland













Beautiful, beautiful Switzerland how wonderful it is to cook from you again.

 Switzerland the land of my favorite chocolate and the only time I've had motion sickness which was on the train over the Alps delivers a showstopper of a dish.

 As mentioned when we visited Iceland, the internet provides a lot of inspiration for the Chow Down to Eurovision and when you see a dish called Cholera tart it is an instant Eurovision food qualifier.

 According to the internet, which is never wrong, this dish was invented out of necessity during an 1836 Cholera outbreak. Due to limited availability of food people would put whatever they had into pastry, typically vegetables, bits of meat and cheese.  (Yes folks I've even added some history) 

 Cholera is a delicious come as you are tart that with the right marketing could be a catchy food trend of epidemic proportion! 

 Cholera tart
Ingredients
  • 2 sheets of puff pastry (or home made, I know I didn't make it this time)
  • 600-700g cooked mixed vegetables *see note
  • 250-300g grated Swiss cheese or mix of your choice
  • Optional additional soft rind cheese to garnish
Method
  • Line a greased 25cm quiche pan with the puff pastry
  • Add the vegetables
  • Cover with cheese and garnish if desired
  • Bake at 180°C for 30 minutes
  • Serve though it might not be wise to tell your guests they are getting cholera for dinner
Note 
The cooked vegetables I used were a mixed of red cabbage, Romanesco broccoli, potato, purple cauliflower and red onions that was chopped to bite size, a great way to used up leftovers!

Being about necessity it doesn't have to be pretty....





As unexciting as it may seem the flavours really do all come together to make this a very enjoyable midweek dinner or lunch the next day.

In 2015 it was Mélanie René's Time to Shine for Switzerland and despite being in a forest with a coven of illuminating drummers and an outfit that could go from evil to good with the swish of a cape, Mélanie came last in semi final 2.
Will Switzerland suffer the same fate in the Chow Down to Eurovision?
Previous Switzerland Chow Down to Eurovision:
2014 Prawns with Devil's butter sauce 
2013 Chocolate Parfait with Chillied Almond


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Wednesday, April 8, 2015

Chow Down to Eurovision 2015 - Moldova

Buna Seara Europe/World we have arrived in Moldova, the first country for Chow Down to Eurovision 2015!  
 
If this is your first time to the Chow Down to Eurovision you will discover that each country will present us with a dish, a Eurovision entry from their past and a taste of this year's contestant.
 
We begin are musical journey into Eurovision history in 2008 when Moldova gave us Century of Love sung by Geta Burlacu. 

Geta has a flexible jazz voice that successfully navigates the scat sections with the trumpeter and in case you were unsure if this was lounge music, they decided to bring one with them.

I think Moldova would score well on The Block as who wouldn't want a lounge room with a cool moody trumpet player at the foot of the sofa??

Wonder if I could get one at Ikea?

Like the great Paul Oskar's 1997 Minn hansti dans for Iceland, I have a lot of respect for someone that can combine entering Eurovision with a lay down on the couch!

Sadly as with last year, 2008 saw Moldova fail to secure a place in the final, which may have had something to do with the teddy bear...great voice, great song, creepy teddy bear.

 
 
 
Our first culinary morsel of 2015 is sure to disappear in a flash from any Eurovision party buffet.
 
Placinte are a pastry covered dumpling/pie/pastie bites of deliciousness.
There are many methods of making and both sweet or savoury varieties.
 
Today Moldova is in the space between both with a chicken and pumpkin variety.
 
The chicken with the hint of garlic champion team savoury with the pumpkin making a very welcomed appearance for team sweet.
 
I suspect Moldova will do well in Chow Down to Eurovision 2015 as covering anything in pastry is a good idea really.
 
Chicken and pumpkin placinte (makes 35-40)
Ingredients
  • 300g chicken (breast or thigh meat)
  • 2 cloves garlic
  • 1 small onion
  • 200g pumpkin grated
  • Salt and pepper
  • Puff pastry (home made or bought see note)
  • 1 egg, beaten
Method
  • Mince chicken, garlic, onion and a good pinch of salt/pepper in food processer
  • Transfer chicken to a bowl and mix through the pumpkin
  • Either roll out pastry or thaw some bought sheets
  • Brush the pastry with the egg wash
  • Cut out rounds with a 9cm cutter
  • Place a small spoon of mixture onto the pastry, fold over and seal the edges
  • Place on a lined baking tray and bake at 200°C for 15 minutes until golden
  • Serve with dipping sauce of your choice, I went with sweet chill
Note on pastry: I made the pastry for the placinte featured which adds to the puffed up look, a little like a Eurovision reveal. They go into the oven all neat and oval but come out puffed and gorgeous.
 
I used about 3/4 of a 750g batch to get 40 placinte, so a packet of pastry should be enough to get 30+ depending on the size. My normal pastry recipe is from the Great British Bake Off - How to Bake but there are lots of recipes out there if you are going to make your own.
 
 
 
The offcuts became a very rustic pie
 
 

One plate just isn't enough!




The Moldovan entry to grace the Wiener Stadthalle stage this May will be Eduard Romanyuta with I Want Your Love.

While the selection process was rocked with allocations of vote buying, I think Britney Spears fans will give this song 12 points....ah yeah yeah yeah yeah

noroc!

Past Moldova Chow Down to Eurovision appearances:

http://www.dontboilthesauce.com/2014/04/chow-down-to-eurovision-2014-moldova.html
2014: Moldovan Fish with Roast Vegetable and Feta Salad

http://www.dontboilthesauce.com/2013/04/chow-down-to-eurovision-2013-moldova.html
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Saturday, October 4, 2014

Let's Get Technical - Great British Bake Off Series 5 Pastry Week

We arrived for pastry week to a pastry no one had heard of and many still can not pronounce, Kouign amann.

The lovely Howard Middleton coined them "Queeny Men" on an Extra Slice and sadly that name has stuck. People have loved the kouign amann so much they have suggested I sell them, but I'm not sure I want to be the face of Queeny Men???

The bakers seemed to have a lot of down time in this technical challenge which is positively unheard of so prone to a little touch of over enthusiasm I decided to complete all of the pastry week's challenges in the 3.5hours!

The challenge was 12 chicken and asparagus pasties, 12 blackberry and custard éclairs, 12 Kouign amann, and hissy fit with a touch of crying....well not too much crying!

This is how the 3.5 hours played out over twitter, you will have to imagine your own bake off soundtrack...






I'm not sure who Lucy is but if you are Lucy and you need to put your shoes on, well this one is for you


Crisis prevented, lucky tweet











This is where I did chuck a little tanty! I'd worked so bloody hard and by missing that 1 tiny step I'd ruined the bake. The good thing that came out of it was that I learnt not to rearrange the oven shelf just so the light is better, the grill tray is to protect the food from the element......now no foil is needed...


A much better batch
I've been experimenting with different flavours, lavender, bacon-maple-pecan and chocolate, what is your favourite flavour combo?
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Tuesday, July 30, 2013

My Own Private Bake Off

Seeing the ad for The Great Australian Bake Off - Tart Week, reminded me that I hadn't posted the recipe for the tarts I made for my audition.
 
We had to present 2 bakes a sweet and a savoury. For the savoury I made an olive and parmesan cast iron bread., possibly too simple but my sweet was bigger than Ben Hur.  
 
Being inspired by Minny's chocolate pie from The Help (without the secret ingredient) I went all out and made a trio of tarts.
  • White chocolate crème patisserie with a hint of Campari on top of a rhubarb compote adorned with rhubarb leather.
  • Blood orange milk chocolate ganache, in a choc chip tart garnished with a blood orange petite macaron
  • Dark chocolate mud tart
I may have confused the brief and given them the Olympics of chocolate tarts, gold, silver and bronze.
 
My only regret about the whole process, isn't not being selected but that I didn't take a picture!!
It was back in the my early days of blogging when a simple task like slicing an apple didn't involve a fully staged photo shoot. 
  
I had never heard of the show before my audition but quickly became obsessed with watching the British version and then trying the various technical challenges. If you haven't seen any of the numerous international versions of the show I can't recommend it highly enough, but be warned you will catch the baking bug bad!!

8 plait loaf from Great British
Bake Off 
 
 
Kale and bacon Danish
 
 
Olive and parmesan cast iron bread  


 Blueberry bakewell tart


 Italian pork pie with quail egg
 Chicken, bacon and apricot pie
 
Eyeful cookie
 
When the new oven arrived I will post the recipes for the other tarts but luckily I had photographed a batch of the dark chocolate tarts.
 
Dark chocolate mud tart
Ingredients
  • 125g unsalted butter diced
  • 125g caster sugar
  • 1 large egg (my girls are doing whoppers these days)
  • 250g plain flour
  • 40g cocoa
  • 300ml cream
  • 200g dark chocolate (75%-85% is my choice)
  • 20g butter
  • Whipped cream to garnish
Method
 
To make the tart
  • I do this all in the food processor as it is quick and is less handling of the pastry
  • Cream the sugar and butter on high for about 30 seconds
  • Add the egg and mix through another 30 seconds
  • Add flour and cocoa and mix till it comes together in a ball about 1 minute
  • Let rest covered in plastic wrap for 1 hour in the fridge
  • Grease 6 7.5cm tart tin (or one big one)
  • Roll pastry on lightly floured board to 1cm thick
  • Line the tart tins with pastry
  • Prick base with a fork and line with baking paper
  • Blind bake in a 180°C oven for 35-40 minutes
  • Let cool in the tin for 15
  • Remove from tin and cool completely on a wire rack
To make the mud
  • Break the chocolate into small pieces and put in a mixing bowl
  • Add butter to chocolate
  • Gently heat the cream in a saucepan till just below the boil
  • Add cream to chocolate and stir till melted and smooth
  • Let cool for a 10 minutes
  • Fill the tart cases, wiggle to avoid air bubbles
  • Let cool completely
  • Garnish with some whipped cream
  • Find a quiet space with a coffee away from the world and enjoy intense chocolate heaven 
 




 
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