Granola

It's been more than 3 months since I last posted something. Well, I went away for a while and when I came back I just didn't feel motivated to post anything. 

I think I first wanted to make my own granola after the spring break camping trip. I started with Alton Brown's recipe but have since modified it. I think I can call it my own now, ha! 

Granola is really very easy to make and yet tastes so much better than the store-bought stuff. I think my granola is very tasty if I am allowed to say so myself. But if you don't believe me, then I could quote a friend who thinks it's "dope". I think what really makes it great is that I use good ingredients. The photos in this collage go like this: dry ingredients, wet ingredients mixed in (I kinda wanted to give you an idea of how dark the mixture is), the mixture ready to hit the oven, and last but not least, the final product. 

So here's how simple it is. You basically have a lot of room to modify this. A lot of people like to add dry coconut flakes. Well, my relationship with coconut is a funny one. I love coconut cream, and  coconut water but you have to give me a lot of money for me to want to eat coconut flakes. Just make sure you have a total of about 5 cups of dry ingredients.

INGREDIENTS:

3 cups old-fashioned oats (use the GF kind if you want to make it GF)

1 cup raw pumpkin seeds

1 cup nuts (I often use almonds and/or walnuts)

1/4 cup brown sugar

~1/4 cup flax seeds (actually I normally add 2 palmfuls)

3/4 tsp salt*

1 tsp ground cinnamon

~1/8 tsp ground nutmeg

1/4c and 1Tsp oil**

1/4c maple syrup

1 Tsp honey

2 Tsp cocoa powder

1 cup of mixed dried fruits. I use cranberries and chopped figs and apricots. 

*I like somewhat of a pronounced taste of salt in my granola but if you don't like it, use less. 

**You might want to change the amount of liquid a bit depending on how much you want your granola to cluster.

METHOD:

Preheat the oven to 250ºF. 

In a large bowl, mix the first group of ingredients together. Make sure the brown sugar is fairly evenly distributed.

In a small bowl, mix the second group of ingredients together until homogeneous. DO NOT, I repeat, DO NOT just consume this mixture straight up no matter how tempting that might be. Or go ahead and do it, just don't tell anyone! Then add this mixture to the dry ingredients, mix well.

Line a half-sheet pan with parchment paper. Spread the mixture evenly. Bake for ~1h. Remove and let cool completely in the pan. I have learned that you can skip the parchment paper altogether and remove the granola from the pan immediately after it's done but you will end up with no clusters at all. It will still taste wonderful though. Mix the dried fruits in and there you have it. I said it was easy, right? 

Chocolate Rice Pudding

The other day I was invited to dinner so I offered to bring dessert as a way of working my way through PH's Chocolate Desserts. But it was a hot day (well, not as crazily hot as recent days) so baking something was out of the question. So I decided to make rice pudding, for the first time. It turns out better than I expected, but I guess I have to ask the other dinner guests to know if it's  any good. 

This recipe is simple, and comforting, which makes it a great choice when it comes to entertaining friends and family, or on a day when you feel too lazy to make something more elaborate.

INGREDIENTS:

Make about 5-6 servings

3 3/4 cups whole milk

1/2 cup Arborio rice

2 1/2 Tsp sugar

Pinch of salt

2 Tsp unsalted butter, at room temp.

7 oz bittersweet chocolate, Valrhona Guannaja preferred, melted

1/2 cup golden raisin

2 Tsp water

2 Tsp rum

METHOD:

In a small sauce pan, cook the raisin in the water-rum mixture until the liquid boils. Turn off the heat and cover the pan. Let the raisins absorb the liquid until they are plump. Drain.

Put the milk, rice, sugar, and salt in a saucepan. Bring to a boil, stirring often, then lower the heat so that the milk is at a slow and steady simmer. Stirring now and then. Allow the milk to simmer for about 12-15 minutes, or until the rice is cooked through. Arborio rice, when cooked, still retains a slightly al dente texture so it will be firm in the center. 

Remove the pan from the heat, stir in the butter. When the butter is incorporated, pour a little of this hot mixture into the melted chocolate and stir gently. Scrape the chocolate into the pot and stir it into the rice mixture until the ingredients are just combined. Mix in the raisins and spoon the pudding into serving vessels. Press a piece of plastic wrap against the surface of the pudding to create an airtight seal, this prevents both water condensation and a solid chocolate layer to form at the top. Once the pudding reaches room temperature, put it in the refrigerator to chill.

Serve with slightly sauteed fruits like apples or pears, or caramelized rice crispies, or like I did, with raspberry coulis. 

Bon appetit!

Scrambled Eggs and Nova Lox on Rye

Have you ever woken up thinking "what am I going to have for breakfast/brunch?" Okay, so you could always go out and order something from your favorite neighborhood joint but if you live in Hyde Park, Chicago, the options are limited. And they are not even worth the money and the effort to get out, imo. It's a terrible college town!!!! (I could put more exclamation marks but you get the idea.) Of the four years that I've lived here, I went out for brunch once! Yes, you read that right, once! But that's partly because I'm a lazy bum who regular skips breakfast. Until I started making my own granola, but that's another post. My point is, sometimes I wake up during the weekends and go through a list of possibilities in my head: nothing, pancakes (which I sometimes make but unless someone comes up with a recipe that will make just enough pancakes for one, it's not something I go to regularly), omelets. That's about it. I know there are many more options out there but things like frittata and quiche take too long to make.

Anyway, this past weekend I decided to make something slightly different. I should credit the place where I get the idea from. I bet it's served in many other places but what did I tell you? I rarely go out for brunch. Technically, when I had this dish I wasn't ordering brunch either but oh well, it seems like a brunch item to me. Oh let me get back to the point, I had this at Marmalade Pantry in Ion Orchard, Singapore. I know you are going "What? You are in Singapore and you order something non-asian?" And I see your point, but hey, my friend took me there so who am I to say no??? 

So this dish is very simple, here's what you need:

INGREDIENTS:

Make 3 servings

6 eggs

1/3 cup milk, half and half, or light cream (clearly you know which choice is healthiest right?)

1 Tsp butter

Pinch of freshly ground pepper

Slices of bread

Smoked salmon 

METHOD:

You could use your favorite kind of bread. I usually buy black bavarian rye when I want to make sandwiched. This one also happens to provide the most contrast if you are going to take a picture of your brunch and make your friends drool. Trim the edges of the bread, and cut each slice into halves. Toast the pieces while working on the other ingredients. Please don't ask me how long you should toast your bread or at what temperature. Just toast them until they are crunchy without burning them.

Now, while the bread is toasting away, let's make scrambled eggs. In a bowl, whisk together the eggs, milk and pepper. You don't need to add salt, the smoked salmon should be salty enough. Melt the butter in a skillet over medium heat. Cook, without stirring, until the mixture begins to set on the bottom and around the edge. use a spatula to move and fold the partially cooked eggs so that the uncooked portion flows underneath. Continue to cook until the eggs are cooked through but still glossy and moist. Remove from heat and transfer to a plate to stop further cooking. 

Arrange the toasted bread slices on a plate. Top them with the scrambled eggs followed by smoked salmon torn into smaller pieces. Garnish with some herbs. Dill is best but I didn't have any so I used cilantro instead. And here is the result:

Enjoy brunching! 

Orange and Cranberry Pavlovas

Okay, so back to desserts! (You should have figured out by now that I have a sweet tooth, right?) I made this dessert a while back when I had friends over but this post has been sitting on the back burner for, well, about two months now. I am truly an expert at procrastination!!!!!

I've always thought they look really pretty but somehow I didn't get the motivation to try making them until that day. I think it's probably because there isn't any chocolate in it :D. A few days before making them, I learned that pavlovas originate from New Zealand and that they are named after the Russian ballerina Anna Pavlova as they look like tutus. I thought that it's quite an interesting tale!

They are easy to make and you can make the toppings as rich or as healthy as you want so that's great. Here's one that's on the richer side as there's whipping cream involved. For a healthier version, use your favorite yogurt instead. 

INGREDIENTS:

Make 6 servings

3 large egg whites, at room temp.

1/2 tsp cream of tartar

Pinch of salt

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1 cup granulated sugar

1/2 cup water

1/2 vanilla bean

1 large navel orange or 2 medium blood oranges

2 cups cranberries

1 cup heavy cream

1 Tsp confectioners' sugar

METHOD:

Preheat the oven to 250ºF. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper. Arrange a rack in the middle of the oven.

Beat the egg whiles with the cream of tartar and salt at medium speed until soft peaks form. Increase the speed to medium-high and gradually beat in the sugar, 2 tablespoons at a time, until the meringue is stiff and glossy, about 6 minutes.

Using a large spoon, dollop 6 mounds of meringue onto the baking sheet. Spread the mounds into rounds with an indentation in the center of each one. Bake the meringues for 1 hour 45 minutes, until the outsides are firm but the insides are still slightly soft. Shift the pan from front to back half way through. Transfer the sheet to a rack and let the meringues cool completely.

Meanwhile, in a small saucepan, combine the granulated sugar and water. Scrape the vanilla seeds onto a plate and place the pod in the pan. Add a long strip of zest from one of the oranges. Half an orange and squeeze the juice into the saucepan. Bring to a simmer, stirring until the sugar dissolves. Add the cranberries and cook until they are softened, about 8 minutes. Let cool completely. Discard the vanilla pod and orange zest. Refrigerate the cranberries until chilled.

Grate the zest of the remaining orange into a food processor. Peel the orange, remove all the white pith, cut in between the membranes to release the orange sections into the food processor. Pulse until chopped.

In a clean bowl, using clean beaters, whip the cream with the confectioners' sugar and vanilla seeds until firm. Add the chopped orange and its juice and beat just until combined.

Arrange the meringues on plates and spoon a mound of orange whipped cream into each one. Using a slotted spoon, top with the cranberries. Drizzle with some of the juices and serve right away.

It looks pretty, doesn't it? And this recipe is a good way of using up leftover egg whites.

Chocolate-Coated Candied Orange Peels

This recipe results in cute little "candies" that make you look like a pastry chef. And since I've posted the recipes for the components that go into these little snacks, this post is probably gonna be the shortest ever!

INGREDIENTS:
Candied orange peels
Tempered chocolate, preferably a bittersweet that is fruity and not too dark, like Valrhona Manjari

METHOD:
Drain the peel and pat each piece dry between paper towels. Lay the peels out on a cooling racks in a single layer and allow the peels to dry overnight at room temperature.

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set it close to the tempered chocolate. Dip the peels into the chocolate, allow the excess chocolate to drip back into the chocolate bowl.

(Please excuse the not-so-sharp picture, I took it with one hand holding the tongs and the other holding the camera.)

Place the coated peels on the parchment-lined pan. Chill in the refrigerator for 15 minutes to set and dry the chocolate. Carefully remove the coated peels and serve, or packed in clear sachets as gifts.

The peels themselves are soft, sweet, and tangy while the chocolate provides its typical crunch. And of course, the orange and chocolate combination is pretty classic, right? Enjoy!

Tempered Chocolate

I think of this post as something essential but kinda boring, in the sense that I'm not going to post any photos. So why do we need to temper chocolate? Well, the answer lies in the aesthetics. You have probably noticed how a good bar of chocolate looks shiny, and is firm but easy to break while baking chocolate looks kinda dull and unappealing, right? That's because the chocolate bars meant for direct consumption are in temper. 

Most home cooks rarely need to temper chocolate because the process is unnecessary when chocolate is mixed into some sort of dough or batter. But it is absolutely essential if you want to create chocolate-coated fruits or candies that process the beautiful shine making them look like they have been obtained from a professional shop.

Tempering chocolate sounds scary, doesn't it? It took me a while before I made my first attempt. I have since done it a few times and find that the advice you get when you do a quick "tempering chocolate" google search: 1) it's much much easier to temper chocolate in large quantity, and 2) it requires PATIENCE!!!!!! And if I can do it, so can you because I have never been known for my patience!

So, tempering really means melting, cooling, and reheating. These processes disrupt the structure of the cocoa butter in the chocolate and then re-stabilize it. However, the range of temperature to reheat the chocolate is small so an instant thermometer is needed for this process. 

So start out with at least 1 pound of premium-quality chocolate, finely chopped. Take some time to do this if you must, you don't want to have to melt big chunks of chocolate later on. I have tried half a pound but that really required extreme care as the chocolate reheats very quickly. 

Melt the chocolate in a bowl over simmering (but not boiling) water. If you want to "seed" the chocolate later on, keep about 1/4 of the chocolate. You could also melt the chocolate in a microwave by heating it up in spurts and then stirring but it's less easy to control. Make sure the chocolate melts completely by allowing it to reach at least 115ºF (or 45ºC).

Remove the chocolate from the heat, allow it to cool to a temperature between 80ºF and 83ºF (or 27-28ºC). This can be achieved by either leaving the chocolate to cool at room temperature, with occasional stirring, or by adding some chunks of the same type of chocolate (but not more than 30% of the weight of the melted chocolate) to the melted chocolate (this is referred to as seeding).

Before you reheat the chocolate, make sure you have a heating pad wrapped in a towel or a heat lamp ready if you are going to work on the tempered chocolate for a while. 

Reheat the chocolate to restabilize the cocoa butter crystals. The range of temperatures for different types of chocolate are:

- dark chocolate: 87-89ºF, 30-32ºC

- milk and white chocolate: 85-88ºF, 29-31ºC.

If you accidentally heat the chocolate to above the range for its type, no worries, all you need to do is to heat it back up past 115ºF and repeat the process of cooling and reheating. 

The chocolate is now in temper and ready to use. You can do a quick test by dipping a knife in the chocolate and put it in the refrigerator for a few seconds. It should come out with a shiny, streak-free layer of chocolate. While working with the tempered chocolate, if you use a heat lamp, make sure it's at a fair distance away so that the chocolate is not over-heated. 

Have fun tempering chocolate! I can't guarantee that your temper will remained tempered during this process though :D

Candied Orange Peels

I'm in the Big Apple on a rainy day so instead of happily strolling around I'm sitting here writing this post. I am not quite sure which category to put this one in: snacks? candies? Hmm!!! But I suppose that's minor detail.

I think partly because most people don't usually candy anything. As a result, they are afraid of it and are easily impressed by people who do. In the past, when families spent time rather than money to prepare for lunar new year in Vietnam, they candied a lot of different fruits/roots, the most common being thin ginger slices, thicker slices of coconut "meat", etc. We do this by cooking the fruits in sugar (the fruits normally release enough liquid) until the sugar has completely dissolved. We then continue to cook over low heat until the moisture evaporates and the sugar recrystallizes, forming a coat on the slices. For citrus fruits such as kumquats or tangerine rinds, we only cook till most of the liquid is gone but the fruits are still moist and sticky. The Vietnamese grandmothers are definitely not afraid of candying fruits :))

However, the recipe I'm going to post is not what Vietnamese usually do when candying fruits. Is is a slight adaptation of Pierre H's recipe. It can be used to candy 4 grapefruits, 5 oranges, or 6 lemons. I have not tried candying lemon peels simply because I didn't have a need for that much left-over lemon juice. Maybe if I decide to make lemonade one of these days then I will try candying lemon peels. I find that the grapefruit rinds are thicker but softer than the orange ones when candied. I personally prefer the texture of candied orange peels but you can choose whatever one you like. The candying process takes a bit of time but the active time is not long so you should definitely not be afraid of doing this. 

INGREDIENTS:

5 oranges

450g sugar

1L or 1kg (or 1000g) water

1 plump, moist vanilla bean

1 star anise

~15 black peppercorns, bruised

Apart from the sugar and water (which can almost always be found in any kitchen), the rest of the ingredients can be summarized in this photo.

METHOD:
Bring a pot of water to a boil. Meanwhile, make two thin slices on the ends of each orange, then cut the peels into strips of about 1-in in width, make sure that you include a sliver of the orange pulp in each strip. When the water boils, place the orange peels into the pot, let boil for 2 minutes. Get a colander ready. Remove the orange peels to the colander and run cold water through them for 2 minutes. This process is called blanching. Do not discard the boiling water as you need to repeat the blanching process two more times. The effect is to remove the strong bitter taste from the peels.

Split the vanilla bean lengthwise and scrape off the pulp. Place both the pulps and the pod together with the rest of the ingredients in a lidded cooking vessel large enough to accommodate everything and cook over medium high heat to bring the water to a boil. Stir briefly to make sure the sugar dissolves. Once the mixture comes to a boil, add the blanched peels and reduce the flame so that the water simmers gently. Cover and let the peels cook for about 1.5 hours. Stir occasionally.

Turn off the heat and let the peels macerate in the cooking liquid overnight. Then, the peels can be kept in a jar together with the cooking liquid in the refrigerator for up to 3 weeks. They can be chopped up and used in other recipes or dried on a rack overnight before being rolled in sugar or dipped in chocolate.  The cooking liquid can be strained and reduced to the desired consistency before being served over pancakes.

Broken Rice

Today I'm giving you guys a break from desserts and posting about this savory Viet dish instead. I've made this dish multiple times but I kept postponing posting about it because it has so many different components. In addition, like most Viet dishes that I make, I don't measure exact amounts of ingredients that go into it. Instead, I kinda just season, taste, season again. So what's written here is only a rough guide. 

Here's a little about this dish. Pork is the most commonly used meat in Vietnam and this dish is a celebration of pork. I have always wondered how this dish was created, and why there is so much pork in it. But I still don't have the answers to those questions. I also suspect that in the past, broken rice is the the inferior grains that come off the mills due to their sizes and people back then used these since they couldn't afford the higher quality one. Yet, to the accustomed Viet palate, if you make all the toppings for this dish and then serve them with regular long grain rice, it just doesn't taste right. I swear it's not just a psychological thing! There must be something about how this combination works. In case you are wondering how this type of rice looks, here's a picture.

It can be found at any Viet grocery stores. Okay, let's tackle the components one at a time.

For the pork chops.
INGREDIENTS:
4 fairly thin cut pork chops (about 1/3 inch in thickness), tenderized
1 medium shallot, finely chopped
3 garlic cloves, finely chopped
2 tsp honey
1 Tsp fish sauce
2 Tsp cooking wine

METHOD:

Mix everything except the pork chops together. I normally do a little taste test at this point. Let the pork marinate in this mixture for at least 2 hours but overnight is best, turning a few times. It's easiest to marinade the chops in a large zipbloc bag as "turning the meat" really means flipping the bag over if you arrange the chops in single layer.

Cook the meat over a grill (or an indoor griddle if you are like me).

For the pork skin
INGREDIENTS:
1/2 package cooked frozen pork skin
1 Tsp uncooked rice
3-4oz lean pork

METHOD:
Soak the pork skin in warm (but not hot) water, drained well.

Cook the pork simmering water flavored with some sugar and fish sauce (or salt if you don't want your kitchen to smell like fish sauce afterward). Slice the pork into strips the size of the pork skins.

Toast the rice until it's brown then ground to fine powder. This is roughly what you should get.

Alternatively, you could buy ground toasted rice powder at Viet grocery store.

Mix the pork skin, pork strips, and toasted rice powder together, season with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Once made, this can be kept in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to one week.

For the pork custard
INGREDIENTS:
1 large egg, white and yolk separated
6oz pork shoulder, trimmed most but not all the fat, ground*
~1 Tsp wood ear mushrooms, rehydrated, sliced into strips**
A bunch (I know it's highly accurate but I really just eyeball the amount) vermicelli, soaked in warm water, cut into 1.5in sticks.
1 garlic clove, finely chopped
1 pearl onion (or some other kind of onions), finely chopped

*You could just buy ground pork from the grocery store but I find it to contain a lot more fat than I'd like so I normally grind my own.
**Asian grocery stores sell dried wood ear mushrooms that have been pre-sliced so they only need to be rehydrated in hot water.

Mix everything except the egg yolk together. Season with freshly ground black pepper and fish sauce. To see if the mixture has been well-seasoned, quickly pan-fry some and taste. It's okay to slightly under season it as the whole dish is served with dipping sauce. Divide them into ramekins (or some other vessels) and steam for about 18-20min. I don't have a steamer so I cooked them the way I would flan or other types of custard, i.e. placed in a larger baking dish that is filled with hot water up to about half the height of the ramekins, covered with foil and baked in the oven at 350ºF.) Stir the egg yolk with a fork and then divide it evenly among the ramekins, steam/bake for another 2 minutes till the yolk is set. To create a nicer color, bleed about 1/2 tsp annatto seeds in 1tsp hot oil. Remove the seeds, cool the oil and then mix it into the egg yolk before brushing the top of the pork custard. Voila.

For the rest of the dish
INGREDIENTS:
Pickled carrots and daikon radish, recipe here
Lettuce (red leaf or boston)
Cucumer, sliced
Uncooked dipping sauce, recipe here
2 cups broken rice, cooked

METHOD:
Arrange the different components on a plate, served with the dipping sauce.

Phew!!! That was a long post, no wonder I kept postponing writing this one. And, as always, bon appetit!

Warm Chocolate Raspberry Tart

As warned from the previous post, this one is another about tart. This tart is for serious chocoholics (and preferably those who happen to also love raspberries). This is another recipe by Pierre H. It's so so simple, yet so very decadent and pleasing. It's wonderful served either warm or chilled but I very much prefer the texture when it's warm. I think the hardest part of this tart is making the dough. The rest can be prepared and served within 15min. How much easier can it be, right?

For the crust, you would use your favorite recipe, or you could follow Pierre H.'s recipe for almond tart dough here. Let it cool to room temperature.

As for the fillings, here we go.

INGREDIENTS:

1 pint red raspberries

5 oz (145g) bittersweet chocolate

1 stick unsalted butter, cut into 8 pieces

1 large egg, at room temp., stirred with a fork

3 large egg yolks, at room temp., stirred with a fork

2 Tsp sugar

METHOD:

Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 375ºF (190ºC).

Scatter half of the raspberries on the crust.

Melt the chocolate and the butter in separate bowls (I normally melt butter in the microwave), make sure the bowl for the chocolate is large enough to hold all the ingredients. Allow them to cool until they fell warm to the touch, about 104ºF (60ºC). 

Using a small whisk or a rubber spatula, stir the egg into the chocolate, stirring gently as you don't want to incorporate air into the ganache. Little by little, stir in the yolks, then the sugar. Finally, gently stir in the melted butter. Pour the ganache over the raspberries in the tart shell.

Bake the tart for about 11 minutes, or until the top just turns dull like the top of a cake. Remove the tart from the oven and cool it on a rack for about 10 minutes. Cut and serve. Here's what I had.

It might not look as perfect as the previous fruit tart but let me tell you something, if you enjoy chocolate, this one is infinitely better than the other one!!! So go ahead, have friends/family over and be prepared to blow their minds!

IF you have leftover tart, you could keep it in the refrigerator. It's still amazing when chilled and served the next day, the texture is a lot denser though.

Fruit Tart

The next two entries are gonna be about tarts since I made a large batch of tart dough. But before you accuse me of only sticking to chocolate desserts, I kinda plead guilty to that. But now and then I reluctantly stay away from chocolate desserts. But given a choice, I would still go for something chocolaty. Anyway, last weekend I decided to make a fruit tart because 1) it felt like summer, 2) it was for a kid's birthday party where most people aren't quite like me, i.e. a chocoholic, and 3) I still had a dish of sweet tart dough in the freezer (which I originally made for a, you guess it, chocolate tart.)

Before we begin, I have to warn you that this tart dough is really good but requires advanced planning as it needs time to chill. If you decide to make a tart impulsively, I suggest trying Ina Garten's easy dough, it can be used right away. 

So let's start with the sweet tart dough. This recipe is by Pierre H. He recommends making it in a large batch to avoid overworking the dough.

INGREDIENTS:

2 1/2 sticks (285g) butter, at room temp.

1 1/2 cups (150g) confectioners' sugar, sifted

1/2 cup lightly packed (100g) finely ground almond powder

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp vanilla bean pulp or vanilla extract

2 large eggs, at room temp., lightly beaten

3 1/2 cups (490g) all-purpose flour

METHOD:

To make the dough in a mixer:

Place the butter in the bowl of a mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, and beat on low speed until creamy. Add the sugar, almond powder, salt, vanilla, and eggs, and beat to blend the ingredients. Add the flour in three or four additions and mix only until the mixture comes together to form a soft, moist dough - in seconds. Don't overdo it.

To make the dough in a food processor:

Place the butter in the bowl of a food processor fitted with the metal blade and pulse, until creamy. Add the sugar and process to blend well. Add the almond powder, salt, and vanilla and continue to process until smooth, then add the eggs and blend. Add the flour and pulse until the mixture just starts to come together. When the dough forms moist curds and clumps and then starts to gather into a ball, stop!

Once you are done with making the dough by either method, gather it into a ball and divide it into 3 or 4 pieces: 3 for 10-in tarts, 4 for 9-in ones. If you have not made tart shells before, I suggest dividing into 3 even if you use the smaller tart pan. Gently press each piece into a disk and wrap each disk in plastic. Allow the dough to rest in the refrigerator for at least 4 hours, before rolling and baking. (When wrapped airtight, the dough can be kept in the freezer for up to a month.)

For each tart, place a (buttered if not nonstick) tart ring on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Work with one piece of dough at a time, keep the remaining in the refrigerator.

Lightly flour a work surface, roll a dough to a thickness of between 1/16 to 1/8in (2 to 4mm), lifting the dough often and making certain that the surface and the dough are floured at all times. Roll the dough up around your rolling pin and unroll it onto the tart ring. Fit the dough into the bottom and up the sides of the ring, then run the rolling pin across the top of the ring to cut off the excess. If the dough cracks or splits as you work, patch them with scraps but make sure not to stretch the dough that's in the pan. Use a fork to prick the dough all over (unless it's going to be filled with a runny custard or some other loose filling), and chill it for at least 30min in the refrigerator. 

Preheat the oven to 350ºF (or 180ºC). Fit a circle of parchment paper or foil into the crust and fill with dried beans or rice. 

Bake the crust for 18-20min, until it is very lightly colored. Remove the parchment paper and beans and bake the crust for another 3-5min, until golden. Transfer the crust to a rack to cool.

For the custard, I used another recipe by P. It's creme de patisserie, or pastry cream. It's quite versatile and can be used to fill eclairs, cream puffs, etc.

INGREDIENTS:

2 cups (500g) whole milk

1 moist, plump vanilla bean, split lengthwise and scraped 

6 large egg yolks

1/2 cup (100g) sugar

1/3 cup (45g) cornstarch, sifted

3 1/2 Tsp unsalted butter, at room temp.

METHOD:

In a small saucepan, bring the milk and vanilla bean (pulp and pod) to a boil over medium heat. Cover the pan, turn off the heat, and allow the mixture to rest for 10min. 

Fill the bottom of a large bowl with ice cubes and water. Set aside a smaller bowl that can hold the finish cream and be placed in this ice bath. 

Whisk the yolks, sugar, and cornstarch together in a medium saucepan. Whisking all the while, very slowly drizzle a quarter of the hot milk into the yolks. Be patient or your yolks will be scrambled. Still whisking, pour the rest of the liquid in a steady stream into the tempered yolks. Remove and discard the vanilla bean pod (or use it to make vanilla sugar). Place the pan over medium heat and whisk vigorously and without stop until the mixture comes to a boil. Whisk energetically for 1-2min. By now, the mixture should have thickened. Remove the pan from the heat and scrape the pastry cream into the prepared bowl.

Set the bowl into the ice-water bath, and stir frequently to keep the mixture smooth. Cool the cream to 140ºF (60ºC). Remove the cream from the ice-water bath and stir in the butter in three or four additions. Return the cream to the ice-water bath and keep it there until it is completely cool, remember to stir it occasionally.

To assemble the tart:

INGREDIENTS:

1/2 cup apricot jam

1 Tsp water

Fruits

METHOD:

For the fruits: you may choose to use any combination of fruits you like, for the best look, mix fruits with contrasting colors. Here, I used blueberries, raspberries, strawberries, and mango.

Heat the jam-water mixture to create a glaze.

Brush the tart crust with a layer of glaze to prevent it from getting soggy from holding the pastry cream. Let the glaze gel for about 20min. You will get something that looks like this

Remove the crust from the tart ring. Spread the cream evenly to cover the entire height of the tart.

Arrange the fruits according to your preference. Brush the tops of the fruits with a layer of glaze to prevent them from getting dry and to give your tart that nice shine. And voila!

Bon Appetit!

Simple Chocolate Mousse

I started this post a while back but for some reasons I forgot about it until now.

Another easy recipe from Pierre H. I think what's so great about his Chocolate Desserts book is that it includes recipes that are really easy to make at home. At the same time, it also has some very tedious and technically involved ones. I really really like the simple ones (well, I have not tried the complicated ones) because they are so so yummy and not at all time-consuming. The end results always make me feel like I've achieved something great. I hope they give you the same feeling too.

Mousse is A LOT less sinful than pots de creme, for obvious reasons. Yet, it sounds fancy and impressive to those who don't spend a lot of time in the kitchen (their loss IMO!). This recipe can also be made ahead so it's wonderful for when you have guests coming over and have a million things to worry about. I have left this mousse overnight before. It's a little denser than when it's consumed on the same day but it's still wonderful.

Just like P commented in his book, this is a base recipe. You could add other ingredients such as fruits, nuts, etc. to the final product, or infuse the milk with the zest of your favorite citrus.

Alrighty, here we go.

INGREDIENTS:
Make 6 servings

6oz bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
1/3 cup whole milk
1 large egg yolk
4 large egg whites*
2 Tsp sugar

*Since egg whites can be kept in the refrigerator for a week. This is the perfect recipe to go to if you make any custard-like desserts the week before.

METHODS:

Melt the chocolate in a bowl over simmering water or in a microwave oven. Keep the chocolate on the counter until needed. It should still feel warm to the touch when you are ready to use it.

Bring the milk to a boil, then pour it over the chocolate. Use a small whisk to gently blend the milk into the chocolate. Add the egg yolk and whisk it gently into the chocolate until incorporated.

In a different bowl, beat the egg whites on medium speed until they hold soft peaks. Increase the speed to medium-high and gradually add the sugar. Continue to beat the whites until they are firm but still glossy. Scoop one-third of the whites out of the bowl onto the chocolate mixture. Use the whisk to beat the whites into the chocolate mixture to lighten it. Now, use the whisk or a flexible spatula to delicately fold in the remaining beaten whites.

Turn the mousse into a large serving bowl or individual cups, and refrigerate for 1 hour to rest. I think martini glasses are best to serve mousse in as they hold the perfect portion and are also picture-perfect. Unfortunately I don't own any of them so I served mine in wine glasses instead, so please bear with the less-than-perfect photo.

Bon appetit!

Chocolate and Lemon Madeleines

It's been a while, eh? I made these quite a long time ago but have not had time to sit down and write a post. This is another recipe from Pierre H.'s Chocolate Desserts. I'm hoping that at some point I will have replicated all of the recipes from this book but some are really really involved. Not this one though. These madeleines are airy and chocolaty with a hint of lemon. And they are so much better than the store-bought ones, unless you buy from really good patisseries. 

The downside is that you have to get yourself a madeleine mold if you don't already own one. In this case, I recommend getting the non-stick one by Chicago Metallic. It works beautifully, there's no need to grease and flour the mold and the madeleines still slide right off. Before we go on to the recipe, don't try making this when you don't have time to let the batter rest. Resting is essential in creating the domes. 

So let's get started. 

INGREDIENTS:

Make 12 cookies

1/2 cup and 1 Tsp (or 70g) all-purpose flour

3 1/2 Tsp Dutch-processed cocoa powder

1/2 tsp double-acting baking powder

1/3 cup and 2 Tsp (or 90g) sugar

Pinch of fine salt

1 lemon

2 large eggs, at room temperature

6 1/2 Tsp (or 100g) unsalted butter, at room temperature

METHOD:

Sift together the flour, cocoa, and baking powder and set aside. Put the sugar and salt in a medium bowl. Grate 1/4 of the lemon (1/2 if it's a small one) into the bowl and rub everything together until the sugar is moist, grainy, and very aromatic.

Using a whisk, beat the eggs into the lemon-sugar mixture until the mixture is blended. Squish the butter through your fingers or smear it under the heel of your hand to create a pomade and add it to the bowl. Still using the whisk, beat in the butter just to get it evenly distributed. Gently whisk in the sifted flour mixture, stirring only until the flour is incorporated and the mixture is smooth. 

Press a piece of plastic wrap against the surface of the batter and chill it overnight before baking. If you don't have enough time, give the batter at least an hour rest in the refrigerator. 

When you are ready to bake, center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 425ºF (or 220ºC). If your mold is not a non-stick one, butter and flour the mold, tap out the excess flour. 

Divide the batter evenly among the madeleine molds. There's no need to flatten out the batter, the heat from the even will do that. Place the pan in the oven, insert a wooden spoon in the door to keep it slightly ajar, and immediately turn the oven temperature down to 350ºF (180ºC). Bake the cookies for about 13-15 minutes, until they are domed and spring back when press lightly. Unmold the cookies and transfer them to a cooling rack to cool to room temperature. You will get a dozen of these cute little cookies

These cookies can be kept in an airtight container at room temperature for about 2 days or frozen for up to 2 weeks. I hope you have fun making them and even more fun devouring them!

Grilled Vegetables with "Boiled" Salad Dressing

I grew up in a city that supplies most of the south of Vietnam's vegetable need so vegies have always been a huge part of my family's diet, especially when meat was something we could only afford once in a while and even when we did, it was in small quantities. However, the only salad I ever ate before getting out of the country was my city's signature dish: escarole salad. My grandmother has her own "recipe", which turns out great salad most of the times. I say most because now that she's older, her taste bud has changed a little bit. She's still a wonderful cook though. Oh, I forget about the occasional watercress salad too. I wasn't such a big fan of that though. To me, watercress, when raw, has this strange peppery taste. 

Anyway, so when I came to the US, I realize that there are so much fewer and at the same time so much more varieties of greens here. How do I explain this? I guess that is with respect to what I was used to. Okay, it's common to find things like kales and chards, etc here but at the same time, it's not as easy to find watercress, bitter melons, water spinach, etc. So what the dining hall offered in terms of vegies was either broccoli or cauliflower most of the times. That left me no choice but turning to the salad bar. I suppose that is always a staple at any college dining hall. I had no trouble eating iceberg, or romaine, basically any kinds of lettuce. But I was always hesitant when it came to consuming spinach or the like raw. It certainly is an acquired taste. Culinarily, I have grown significantly over the years. Who says that a US college education is only about academic achievements? That's something I will have to talk about in another post though.

So I do eat salads now that I cook for myself, but I don't really like the same old lettuce, cucumber, tomato. So when I saw this salad featured in Food and Wine, I was so happy. Why? One of my favorite roots was there! Beets! Have I mentioned that I love love love beets? I do!!!!! My grandmother used to make beet potato and carrot soup often. I think that's where I learned how to eat and love beets. Anyway, this recipe is perfect for when you want to entertain and are sick of doing some sort of a chopped salads. It takes a little bit more prep than most salads, but the result is going to be refreshingly wonderful, at least I find it to be so. 

Here is mine, of course you should let your creativity takes you to other sorts of plating. 

INGREDIENTS:

Adapted from Hugh Acheson's recipe

Make 8 servings

12 baby beets, assorted colors, trimmed
12 baby carrots, peeled and trimmed
8 baby turnips, peeled and trimmed
16 medium asparagus stalks, trimmed
8 baby leeks or large green onions, or even better, ramps, trimmed*
4oz arugula
Extra virgin olive oil
Salt and pepper

For the dressing:
2 egg yolks
1/2 tsp honey
1/2 tsp dry mustard
1/4 cup sherry vinegar
1tsp all-purpose flour
Pinched of cayenne pepper
1tsp butter
1/4 cup heavy cream
1Tsp + 2tsp lemon juice
1/2tsp finely grated lemon zest

*If you only have access to regular leeks, cut them into quarters.

METHOD:
Preheat the oven to 400°. Put the beets in a baking dish, cover with foil and roast till tender, about 35-40min. Let cool, peel and cut into halves and place on a baking tray.

In a large pot, bring salted water to a boil, add carrots and boil until crisp-tender, about 3-4 minutes. Use a slotted spoon to remove the carrots to a baking tray. Add the turnips, cook for about 3min until just tender. Remove to the tray. Add the asparagus, cook until bright green, about 2min. Remove to the tray. Add the leek, cook until just tender, about 1min.

Halve the carrots and turnips. Toss with olive oil and salt and pepper. Put aside until shortly before serving.

In a heat-proof bowl, mix the first 6 ingredients of the dressing together. Place the bowl over a pot of simmering water (make sure the water only simmers and not boils), whisk constantly until the mixture just thickens. Remove from heat, add butter and cream. Then add 1Tsp lemon juice and the lemon zest. Mix well. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Before serving, light a grill. Put the vegetables on for a few minutes until a nice char/grilled marks forms. In a large bowl, toss the arugula with the remaining 2 tsp lemon juice and 2 tsp olive oil. Add some salt and pepper. (I know I know, salt and pepper went into the dressing too but it's important to season everything along the way and not just rely on the dressing.) Line each serving plate with equal amount of arugula. Place the grilled vegetables on top, as whimsical as you would like. The dressing could be passed around at the table or poured on top of the salad, whichever way you prefer. Enjoy!

Simple Chocolate Truffles

This is Pierre Hermé's "black-on-black" truffles recipe. It's simple, it's delicious. What more can you ask for in a chocolate recipe? I have to warn you, though, that making truffles is a messy task. But I can assure you that it's absolutely worth it! Try making them once and believe me, you won't return to the truffles that have months as their shelf-life. You might not be able to stay away from your favorite local chocolatier(s) but those mass-produced, preservatives-laden ones? Forget it!

INGREDIENTS:

Make about 3 dozens

9 oz/260 g good quality bittersweet chocolate (Valrhona Caraïbe recommended), finely chopped

1 cup/250 g heavy whipping cream

3 Tbs/50 g unsalted butter, cut into 4 pieces, at room temperature (it is important to have butter at room temperature)

Good quality Dutch-processed cocoa powder 

METHOD:

Put the chopped chocolate in a heatproof bowl large enough to hold all the ingredients. Make a well in the middle.

In a sauce pan, bring the cream to a full boil, then pour the hot cream into the center of the chocolate. If there is a skin on top of the cream, strain the cream through a fine mesh. Use a flexible rubber spatula to gently stir the cream into the chocolate in concentric circles increasing in size until the ganache is smooth. Let it rest for a minute.

Add the butter piece by piece, stir gently to blend, make sure each has completely integrated before the next one is added. 

Put the ganache in the refrigerator. When it is cool, cover with plastic wrap and chill for at least 3 hours. It can stay chilled overnight.

Put a generous amount of cocoa powder into a bowl. Sift the powder if you see lumps. Place a sheet of parchment/waxed paper on a baking sheet. Scoop about a tablespoonful of the chilled ganache for each truffle, put the dollops on the lined baking sheet. I used a small ice cream scoop for ease but you could just use a spoon.

Dust the palms of your hands with cocoa powder and roll the mounds of ganache between your palms to form rounds. There's no need to make them perfectly spherical, they could be edgy just the way truffles the mushrooms are. Drop each ball into the cocoa powder, roll it around so that it is well coated and then gently toss it between your palm to shake off the excess powder. Once it is finished, return it to the lined sheet. 

This is how they look like, in various stages of doneness:

I made these using Valrhona Caraïbe but with Guittard cocoa rouge so they look a little, well, rouge.

The truffles can be served as soon as they are made or they can be stored in the refrigerator for a day or two, covered and away from food with strong odors. I find that a tin can/box lined with parchment/waxed paper is perfect to keep these.

You could play with adding your favorite kind of pepper powder or finely chopped candied orange peels, or some liquor (adjust the amount of cream to accommodate the extra liquid), or steep peppercorns in the cream before adding the strained cream to the chocolate (PH has a recipe using Sichuan peppercorns). The choices are endless, well, sort of! Have fun making them by yourselves, or with friends and family!