Sunday, September 27, 2009

Daring Bakers, Here We Go: Vols-au-Vent!

I'm a Daring Baker! Actually, I was a Daring Baker since July, but the registration got confusing, so this is my official first post with the group. Yay!

The September 2009 Daring Bakers' challenge was hosted by Steph of A Whisk and a Spoon. She chose the French treat, Vols-au-Vent based on the Puff Pastry recipe by Michel Richard from the cookbook Baking With Julia by Dorie Greenspan.

And boy what a challenge this was. I'm not sure about how challenging the challenges usually are, but let's just say it was good that my mom was willing to help me out with this one. While the end result of Vols-au-Vent (how the heck do you pronounce that....seriously....students reading this, let me know) was quite good, there was a significant amount of stumbling - and laughing - going on in the kitchen.

TIP: you need to keep everything very, very, very cold. It makes it significantly easier to work with the pastry.

Alright, here we go. Also, I'm posting a lot of pictures so that my follower.... :) can easily re-create/remember the experience.

Puff Pastry Ingredients

2 1/2 cups unbleached all purpose flour
1 1/4 cups cake flour
1/2 tbsp salt (since we did the sweet version)
1 1/4 cups ice water
1 lb very cold unsalted butter

Note: During the process my mom and I kept wondering why we needed two different types of flour, and I promised her that for my follower I would find out. So I did a quick google search and found this website. It seems like the short of the long of it is that different flours have different proteins which make gluten. The higher the protein, the tougher the product you will have. So since puff pastry is supposed to be light, we need the flour with the lower protein level. I know, I know. This has a ridiculous amount of science behind it, but I figured I better follow the instructions since they said I have to. But for the record, that website also said that only finding certain flours should not keep you from baking, that it will turn out just fine if you use all-purpose flour instead of cake or bread or whatever kind of flour it says.

Continuing on...The instructions said you could use a food processor in mix together the first four ingredients, but we didn't have one large enough. So mom went to work the old fashioned way with a pastry tool. It worked just fine. Once you have it mixed, roll it into a ball, slash the top, wrap it into a damp towel and place it into the fridge for at least five minutes (the cold thing, really important).


Meanwhile, place the butter between two sheets of cling wrap, mash them together, and "roll" it into a 1" square. It's a mess. You can do it. You might want to chill the butter again at this point before you incorporate it into the dough.


Once everything is very cold, roll out the dough into a 10" square (we were very precise being the first time we did this). Place the butter in the middle of it and fold the flaps over the butter.


Copied from the instructions given to me: "To make great puff pastry, it is important to keep the dough cold at all times. There are specified times for chilling the dough, but if your room is warm, or you work slowly, or you find that for no particular reason the butter starts to ooze out of the pastry, cover the dough with plastic wrap and refrigerate it . You can stop at any point in the process and continue at your convenience or when the dough is properly chilled."

Seriously. Seriously. Can you tell that I really really suggest that you keep everything cold, chilled, frigid, etc?

Alright, now for the TURNS. You will need to turn the dough 6 times over all. A turn basically means that you roll it out to 24" long rectangle, fold it like a letter into thirds, turn it the other way, and start again. The roll our and fold it one turn. You can maybe make it two turns before you need to chill it again, but if not, chill it between each one. It will need to be chilled between a half hour to an hour. We had time constraints, so we pushed it, but it gets really difficult to work with un-chilled dough.


Once you finish the turns and chill it for at least an hour (I fudged it and put it into the freezer for less time...but I don't suggest doing that), roll it out and cut out the shape you want your vols-au-vent to look like. Example: if you want it to be a circle, for each "vent" you need two circles.


One is going to be the base and other you are going to cut out the middle and place on top for a filling. Make sure to poke (but not all the way through) holes so that the middle won't puff and you can fill it easily. Place the pastries on parchment paper and put another sheet on top. Bake in a pre-heated oven at 400F for 10-15 minutes, or until they are golden brown. Take of the top parchment sheet, lower the heat to 350F and bake for another 15-20 minutes.

Voila! You have your puff pastry after only 267 hours of work. Now it is time to get it filled with something delicious.


Filling

Mom and I chose to fill the pastry with my great great aunties French Cream Filling that they used for their own cream puffs. We also thought that their should be some color and interest, so we decided to top that with sugar glazed strawberries and blueberries. Doesn't that sound festive?

Ingredients

3/4 cup sugar
3 tbsp starch
2 egg yolks
3/4 cup cold milk
3 cups warm milk
1 1/2 tbsp butter
1 1/2 tsp vanilla

Mix sugar, flour, cornstarch an dsalt. Beat egg yolks and combine with cold milk. Add dry ingredients forming a smooth paste. Add warm milk slowly and cook until thick, stirring constantly to avoid sticking. Cook 5 minutes after it thickens. Add butter and when cool add vanilla.


***Since in my aunties recipe the filling gets baked and oozed out, it doesn't need to be very thick. If we were to do this again, we would put in more starch so it would thicken up some more.***

We then made a simple syrup (boiled a 2:1 ratio of sugar to water) and dipped the fruit in it. You don't have to do that, but we thought it would look prettier if the fruit has a sheen to it.

After that, make sure the puff pastry is cool and fill with the cream and top with the fruit.


So they are not going to be the prettiest vols-au-vent in the challenge, but we were pretty happy with the finished results - especially since this was our first time.

While mom and I had quite the enjoyable time making these together, we decided that store bought puff pastry is just as good as what we made...and less messy and time consuming. And if I think about it, I do believe that Ina always suggests to just get store bought puff pastry. She is the professional. I'll have to listen to her. :)

Other tips - if you want to be a daring baker, invite someone else into your kitchen. It makes it sooo much more fun. You have to figure that neither of you know what is going on, and it is much more fun to be oblivious, ignorant, stooped with friend rather than alone.

Sunday, September 20, 2009

Who Doesn't Like Casserole...on Labor Day...?


I'm sure there are people out there who don't like casserole, but so far I haven't met them. When I had the folks over for a Labor Day dinner (yes, I know, I really am still writing about the Labor Day event - but grading the 62 papers and 24 articles I get every week has sort of bogged me down), I couldn't think of a better dish to serve. WAIT! Casserole on Labor Day? The previous statement - that's a lie. I think most people probably grill for Labor Day, which I would love to do but forces are working against me. Our apartment doesn't allow charcoal grills. I'm sure you're wondering why that is a problem. I'm sure you're wondering why don't we just get a gas grill. Well, my husband apparently is a grill snob. He doesn't like the flavor and has a whole host of other reasons. Forces collide. Therefore, we never have grilled food unless we are invited somewhere that is serving it. Therefore, I serve casserole on Labor Day.

All of that being said, I think the chicken boudine casserole turned out pretty well. It turns out even better left over. And you know what, this is a Paula Dean dish that isn't even all that unhealthy for you. Give it a try... maybe not on Labor Day...but give it a try.

Ingredients

2 cups. Egg Noodles, cooked
2 cans Cream of Mushroom soup (I like to use the reduced fat/salt kind)
1/2 cup Chicken Broth
1/4 cup Dry Sherry
4 cups Chicken, cooked and chopped
3 cups Sharp Cheddar Cheese
1 package Almonds, slivered and toasted
salt and pepper

Preheat the oven to 350 F.

In a large bowl, toss together everything except 1 cup of the cheese. Add salt and pepper to taste. Transfer into a 13x9 in pan. Use the last cup of cheese to top it. Bake for 30 min. or until bubbly.

It is really that easy. To make it even easier, just get an already cooked chicken from the grocery store. It takes down on a lot of time.

Enjoy!

Wednesday, September 16, 2009

Three Bean Salad of Goodness


I used to think that I didn't like beans. I hated baked beans, I only liked green beans with bacon (which I made sure I had more bacon than beans), and Chili was never a favorite because of the kidney bean (they seriously need to rethink that name...I don't like thinking of the kidney's function while eating my meals). This is all not mentioning that I've always lived with men that create less than stellar bodily functions after any size serving of beans. That's enough to make any girl scared. Everybody keeps telling me, though, how healthy beans are, and in my current quest to get more fiber in my diet (I'm not sure how that kick started...) I decided that I needed more beans in my diet.

After checking out some of our cookbooks, I finally remembered that there was a bean dish that I actually really enjoyed from Cooking Light. Three Bean Salad. Who would think, with the odds stacked against them, I would like a salad that incorporated three different beans? Well, I do. I need to have a lot of people over when I make this dish though, because it makes SO MUCH. Mike and I can't finish it off. So my labor day gathering was just the time to make this spectacular salad.

Ingredients

1/2 c. Green Onions, chopped
1 Green Bell Pepper, chopped
1 Red Bell Pepper, chopped
1 can Chickpeas, rinsed and drained
1 can black beans, rinsed and drained
1 can kidney beans, rinsed and drained
3 tbsp. red wine vinegar
2 tbsp. olive oil
1 tsp. pepper
1/2 tsp. salt

Combine first six ingredients in a large bowl. Whisk together the rest of the ingredients; pour over the bean mixture. Stir to coat. Cover and chill.

Now how easy is that? Tasty and healthy, too!

Kind of looks like confetti, huh?

Wednesday, September 9, 2009

"O-fer"


My oven has struck again. This labor day I had a few friends over for some food and conversation (...actually they were all teachers like me, so it was full of the ridiculous teaching stories you get in your first year of teaching. If you've never talked to a first year teacher, newer teacher, or really any teacher, you need to. They are quite the treasure trove of unbelievably funny stories. Just be prepared to be bombarded. You're evening will taken over with stories 15 year old antics...). I had a bug to bake something. Does that ever happen to you. Sometimes I just have a need to create something in a way that takes me away and relaxes me. That can be baking for me. Create the perfect texture with fabulous ingredients to feed people you care about. I love that.

My oven hates it.

At least that is what I think right now. While I absolutely love Ina, Paula Dean is the woman who turned me on to becoming a "foodie" (I use that term loosely...I don't think I'm there yet...although I'm not entire sure what it means to be "there"...). Her desserts are naughty. That's right. Naughty. The woman has absolutely no shame in putting a whole pound of butter and 5 cups of sugar in a dish to make it better. Not that I've seen a recipe like that, but she would never say (insert think Southern drawl) "You know, I better think about that stick of butter again. People these days are watching their weight, and I'd like to give them a health-conscious alternative to dessert". That's just not going to happen.

Paula's naughtiness when it comes to ingredients usually means that her desserts are usually "outta this world". I have pretty high confidence when it comes to making her desserts because of this. This day I was going to tackle her Grandmother's Sour Cream Pound Cake. It looked delicious. I followed the directions to a T. I even sifted the flour...something I have never done before. I wanted to get it right. I combined all the ingredients, pre-heated the oven, and made sure to check the cake 20 minutes before the recipe called.

Didn't matter.

The cake turned out dry and slightly burnt. My guests were still kind enough to taste it. Really, why do I serve dishes that I am not happy with 100%? Because I don't want it to go to waste. Now this cake was not inedible or horrible, but it wasn't as good as it could be. The perfectionist comes out. That's got to stop. From here on out, I will no longer sift flour when a recipe tells me to. It will be my first step back towards freedom from the science of cooking. Maybe my oven will love me then.

Monday, September 7, 2009

Lovely Things

I'm not quite sure if this day could be any better. I just finished walking outside. It's one of those early fall walks where the air is just slightly crisp but you know the day is going to warm up. I love feeling the air on my skin during those times. The rest of my day will only be filled with reading, writing, and cooking. How great is that?

The only people who might be having a better day are my parents who are up in Wausaukee where my grandparents own some land. There they have about 40 acres of woods behind their house and they spend their days walking the trails we've made throughout the years of resting and relaxing there. Liesl, our dog loves (I say "our" even though she is technically my parents because she loves me the best :) running through the woods. There is a great little creek that runs through the property that most labs would love to run through, but Liesl only cautiously approaches because she is afraid of water. I know, very strange, but we love her
anyway. Here is my ode to our fabulous dog.


How adorable is she?

So you might be wondering, why is she not talking about food right now? Well, it's not because I haven't baked. This past Wednesday was my co-teachers birthday, so I made Ina's chocolate cupcakes with peanut butter frosting for her and the class we teach together. I even took pictures of them. I even took pictures of them without a memory card in the camera resulting in absolutely no pictures of the event. But here is what I can tell you about the cupcakes. We all know how much I love Ina. That is no secret. However, I did not love these cupcakes. Most of the students liked the frosting, but I think the actual cake was pretty dry (I always tell my students they won't hurt my feelings if they don't like it, which they took literally because I saw enough throw them away in the garbage - gotta love their honesty). I knew this might happen because of reviews of the cupcake, but I figured it was just user error because Ina only shares the best recipes. Well, I am still likely to think that it was user error, but I was disappointed none-the-less. I might try them later, maybe tweak the cake part a little. I will probably use the frosting again on something, because it was pretty good.

Enjoy your labor day! Happy cooking everyone. I'll post my creations of the day later...but they'll be good :)

Tuesday, September 1, 2009

Quite Possibly the Easiest Ever


Mike loves country steak and mashed potatoes. I give my man what he loves - even if it is quite possibly the easiest dish to make. Literally, a monkey could do this. That's why I love this dish. It is especially nice when school starts and cooking is not always what I want to do at night. I know that this is not the prettiest dish ever, but it is fantastic and even better left over. Now that's what I call a good dish. My mom used to make this for my family when I was younger, and it has carried on to my household. This is not the best picture I could get of the dish because unfortunately I did not have all the cream of mushroom soup that I thought I did. But even though it was a tidge bit more dry than usual, it was still pretty good. Alright. Are you ready for these directions???

Ingredients

Round Steak
Cream of Mushroom Soup

Seriously. That's it. Do you think you can handle it so far? All you got to do is put the thawed round steak in a crock pot and cover it liberally with cream of mushroom soup. My family raises its own beef, so I'm not 100% sure how much round steak is in a package, but it usually takes me 2 cans to cover it. Put the crock pot on low in the morning and enjoy it when you come home at night. I cannot tell you many more wonderful smells than a dinner already cooked when you come home. That is what I call fabulous.