Viennese whirls

So this week Jenny at @SewConfident asked me to make a nice little biscuit to go with an eco friendly tea bag as a way to be more greener. After a lot of brain storming I decided to go with a classic tea biscuit and make a box Viennese Whirls, here's the recipe. 

190g soft butter

75g icing sugar

1/2 vanilla pod

Pinch of salt

35g egg white

225g plain flour

Preheat the oven to 160*c. Place the butter into a mixer and beat well with a paddle or use your hands and a wooden spoon. Beat until pale and light. Add in the icing sugar, salt, egg white & vanilla and mix until fully incorporated. Slowly fold in the plain flour. Place a star nozzle into a piping bag and pipe onto grease proof paper any shape you desire. Bake for 20 minutes at 160*c and leave to cool on a wire rack. 

Alternatively, you can dip then in chocolate or dust with icing sugar or ever a little cinnamon sugar. 

Credit to Jenny at Sew Confident for her lovely photo. If you've got a second then check her out. 

Our new allotment...

Over the past year I've been on a waiting list for an allotment, this week I was offered a few plots at my local plotholders and took this little beauty. 

Now it doesn't look like much but in the world of gardening, it's a rather large space; Eapecially if you live in a city. 

This is a bit of a big jump form using good produce to actually attempting to produce good vegitables, salads and herbs. Over the year we'll keep you updated on whats happening on the allotment as well as hopefully producing a few dishes using our own grown ingrediants. It's been a while since I've grown anything, the last was a few tomatoes back into 2007. Last summer I had a few window boxes but growing some tarragon & mustard cress doesn't really count. So bring on spring & summer and hopefully we can make some great food. 

White sourdough loaf

White sourdough loaf. 

Everyones at it these days, sourdough this, farmhouse that. What every you want to call it, its still a belter of a loaf. Below is a very basic recipe shown to me by a fellow chef a while ago. His mother dough was a lot more mature than mine but it still has the flavour.  

Recipe:

1kg strong flour

300g mother dough

600ml water

10g salt

60g yeast

Mix altogether and tip out onto the bench and cover with a damp cloth. Leave to prove until it doubles in size. Knock back and cut into 8 balls and spread between 4 loaf tins. I'm using terrine moulds but thats only because I have no loaf tins kicking about. Prove until it reaches the top and dust with a little flour. Bake at 230*c for 25 minutes. Spray a little water into the oven a few times within the first 5 minutes to create a crust. Tip the bread out the tin and give another 5 minutes in the oven the leave to cool on a wire rack. 

Herb Ravioli Step by Step.

Herb ravioli step by step. 

Every Time I mention ravioli, everyone always thinks of that garbage in a tin they used to eat as a child. Well here's a lovely alternative to that's also a great vegetarian dish.   

Pasta dough:

4 eggs

6 yolks

550g tipo "00" flour

15ml saffron water

15ml olive oil

Filling: 

500g ricotta

250g parmesan

1 lemon zest

20g chives

20g chervil

20g parsley 

Salt

Pepper 

Watercress velouté:

6 shallots

1/2 bulb garlic

50g butter

30ml olive oil

Salt

200ml white wine

500ml nage

200ml cream

200g watercress

This recipe is more about the actual ravioli than the dish its self, i'll do a little walk through on how to make the ravioli, the filling and the method of shaping it. 

Start of by making your pasta dough by either hand or in a mixer, clingfilm and leave to rest for an hour or so in the fridge. To make the filling, chop the herbs and add them to everything else and leave to chill in the fridge. The mix will firm up a little and will make it easier to shape the ravioli. 

Roll out your pasta into large sheets, sprinkle a little polenta on the bench and lay the sheet down. Give it a little brush with some cold water, only a little tho. In the middle of the sheet, place a spoonful of filling every 2 inches until you get to the end. Fold over the sheet in one whole go. Starting from one end using the side your hand, shape it like a "C" and press down on the pasta, you want to try and remove all the air from the ravioli the repeat the "C" shape with the other hand to seal it. Repeat the process until you have sealed all the pasta. 

Using a small round cutter roughly 1 inch in diameter, turn it upside down and press down  on the ravioli, only enough to make a stronger seal, then using a fluted cutter, cut your pasta to the desired size.

 This one is quite small but I prefer these as they based around presentation rather that rustic pasta shapes. If you want to use the all your pasta and have no wastage then you can simple just cut the pasta with a knife making a straight line, producing a really rustic style of ravioli. 

I've served this with a few sauté mushrooms and some watercress velouté and some fresh watercress. The filling can literally be anything from ricotta to ragu or squash to tomato.  

Lemon & pine nut iced parfait, meringue & sorrel granita.

Lemon & pine nut iced parfait, meringue & sorrel granita. 

This is a failsafe dish that I've used for a few years on my set lunch menu's, it's a simple dish thats easily produced and flys out the door at anytime of the year. It's a perfect dish to teach basic pastry skills also. 

Lemon & pine nut iced parfait:

12 lemons juiced

6 lemon zest 

10 egg yolks

200g sugar

60ml water

200g pine nuts

800ml cream

Juice the lemons and reduce to 150ml. Bring the sugar & water to 119*c while you whisk the egg yolks until they are thick and glossy. Once ready, add the sugar mix to the egg yolk and whisk until cold. Toast the pine nuts, add them with the reduced liquid & the zest to the yolk mix. Semi whip the cream and fold it into the yolk mix. Pour into desired mould and freeze. Best stored at -12*c. 

Sorrel granita:

50g sorrel

500ml water

75g sugar

25ml vodka

Bring the water & sugar to the boil, add the vodka and chill over ice. Add the sorrel when cold and blend. Pass and freeze. Scrape with a fork when needed. 

Meringue tuille:

100g egg whites

100g caster sugar

100g icing sugar

Whisk the egg whites until peaked, add the caster sugar and whisk for another few moments until it becomes thick and glossy. Add the icing sugar and fold it in. Spread onto a silmat and bake at 90*c for 30 minutes. Once ready, leave to cool and break into desired size. 

White Chocolate, pistachio & orange

White chocolate, pistachio & orange. 

White chocolate mousse:

400g egg yolks

250g sugar

125ml water

6 gelatine

300g white chocolate 

1600ml cream

Heat the sugar & water to 121*c and whisk the egg yolks in a mixer at full speed. Once white and thick, add the hot syrup to the yolk and keep on full. Add the bloomed gelatine to the hot pan to melt it and then pour that into the yolk also. Melt the chocolate, add that to the yolk mix. Semi whip the cream by hand and once the yolk mix is cold, fold the two together. Set in a tray or rings, this may take a couple of hours. This mix also holds well in the freezer. 

Pistachio anglaise:

500ml cream

500ml milk

200g egg yolks

150g sugar

25g pistachio paste

Bring cream & milk up to simmering point. Mix sugar & egg yolk together then temper with hot liquid. Pour back into the pot and bring to 82*c stirring all the time. Add the pistachio paste and infuse for 40 minutes. Pass and chill. Place into a squeeze bottle. 

Orange gel:

800g orange puree

200ml 22% stock syrup

14g Agar

Bring all to the boil and whisk for 2 minutes. Chill and set. Blend again at 80*c then chill and set. Blend again at fridge temp and place into a piping bag. Pipe as needed. 

Orange tuile: 

100g sugar

50ml egg white

80g plain flour

50g butter 

10g poppy seed

5g orange zest 

40ml orange juice. 

Blend all in a mixer and spread onto a non stick sheet, bake at 180*c for 8 minutes. 

Garnish:

Burnt orange segments

crushes pistachio nuts

Sorrel 

A fairly simple recipe. 

Cannelloni of Strawberry & White chocolate, creme fraiche, lemon & hazelnut

Cannelloni of Strawberry & White chocolate, creme fraiche, lemon & hazelnut. 

So christmas has been a busy one, first time I've had a chance to do anything at all. It's also a time of year where we have a few odds and ends laying about so I thought I'd try and work on a little dish for this summer with my left overs. Yes, yes, the seasonalists (not a real word) will have a pop at me for using strawberries at Christmas but I've got them so I'll use them. Anyway, here's the recipe to what is actually a very simple dessert. If I wasn't shown this before then I probably wouldn't have tried it but it's surprisingly easy. The guys who showed me this know who they are, cheers. 

White chocolate parfait:

150g egg yolk

100g sugar

50ml water

150g white chocolate

500g double cream. 

Heat the sugar & water to 121*c and whisk the egg yolks until pale. Add the liquid to the yolks and whisk hard and fast until it starts to cool. This is best done in a mixer, not by hand. Melt the white chocolate and add to the egg mix. Once its cold, whisk the cream to soft peaks and fold into the egg mix. Pipe into pre rolled acetate tubes and freeze. Once frozen, cut to desired size and roll in jelly then place in the fridge to defrost. 

Strawberry jelly:

700g strawberry puree

200ml water

100ml stock syrup

8g Agar

3 gelatine leaves

Heat the liquid to the boil, add the agar and whisk on the boil for 2 minutes. Add the bloomed gelatine and strain quickly. Set on a tray lined with acetate, and chill. Once set then wrap around the white chocolate parfait and place in the fridge to defrost. It will keep its shape.  

Creme faiche sorbet:

400g creme fraiche

300ml water

150g sugar

50g glucose

10g peppercorns

Bring the water, sugar, glucose & peppercorn to the boil and leave to cool naturally. Whisk the creme fraiche in and strain, churn and freeze. 

Lemon curd:

250g lemon juice

500g butter

500g sugar

11 eggs

3 1/2 gelatine leaves

Heat the butter and the lemon juice in a bain marie. Whisk the egg & sugar together and add to the lemon/butter mix. Heat slowly, stirring every few moments until it thickens up. Add the gelatine and strain into a container and chill. Once set, whisk together and place into a piping bag or a squeeze bottle.  

Hazelnut crunch: 

100g butter

50g sugar

50g flour

100g chopped hazelnuts

Cream the sugar & butter until pale, add the nuts & flour. Back in the over at 160*c for 12 minutes. Once cool, smash up or pulse in the blender. 

Garnish with a few strawberries and a little red vein sorrel. 

Simple!