One good turn deserves another

I had my first chausson aux pommes just 2 years ago when we were taught to make it during pastry school at Le Cordon Bleu. I remember thinking at that time that these were great, but for some reason, I haven't made any of my own since then. I guess that's mostly because it involves making puff pastry from scratch which is a hard thing to do properly in the heat of Singapore. Now that I'm in London, however, I figured it was high time that I got reacquainted with the pleasures of homemade puff pastry.

Since I've been reading so much about Pierre Herme's inside-out puff pastry, I decided to give it a try. Apparently, its supposed to be much easier to handle than regular puff pastry even though the bulk of the butter is on the outside of the dough. Sounds counterintuitive, right? I was a little skeptical when I embarked on this mission but I reasoned that the man whom some hail as the Picasso of pastry can't be wrong.


Of course, he wasn't. Even though most of the butter was on the outside, the dough was surprisingly easy to handle, probably because its a relatively sturdy dough. The hardest part of making it was really just planning your day around the time that the dough is required to rest in between turns.

Once the dough was completed, making the turnovers was a cinch. Were they as good as I remembered? Absolutely! In fact, its impossible to stop at just one. So, at least in this context, the old adage, one good turn(over) deserves another, holds true.

Chausson aux Pommes (Apple Turnovers)
Adapted from The Secrets of Baking

For the apple filling:
4 Fuji or other apples, peeled, cored, and cut into 1/4-inch pieces
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 vanilla bean, split and scraped
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
4 tbsp unsalted butter

1 recipe puff pastry (I used Pierre Herme's inside-out puff pastry)

For the egg wash:
1 large egg

Pinch of salt
1 tbsp water

1/2 cup sugar

Filling
Toss together the apples, sugar, cinnamon, vanilla seeds, and lemon juice in a large bowl. Melt the butter in a large saute pan over medium heat until it turns a light nutty colour, 6 to 8 minutes. Add the apple mixture and saute until the apples are softened and caramelized, 10 to 15 minutes. Transfer the cooked apples to a baking sheet to cool completely before forming the turnovers. After they have cooled, the filling can be stored in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.

Pastry
On a lightly floured surface, use a rolling pin to roll the Puff Pastry out to 1/4 inch thick. Using a large, round, fluted cutter, cut out circles of dough. Use a rolling pin and lightly press down on the cutter of each circle, creating an oval shape.

Egg wash
Whisk together the egg, salt, and water in a small bowl.

Shaping
Place a spoonful of filling into the center of each oval (amount depends on the size of your cutter). Using a pastry brush, apply a thin coat of water to the lower half of the oval. Fold the top of the dough down and press to seal the edges together. At this point, the turnovers can be frozen, wrapped tightly, for up to 1 week.

Preheat the oven to 400F. Place a rack in the center of the oven. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Carefully transfer the turnovers to the prepared baking sheet, placing them 1 inch apart. Brush a light coat of egg wash onto each turnover, then sprinkle each with a pinch of sugar.

Bake the turnovers for 10 minutes. Rotate the pan from back to front, turn the oven temperature down to 350F, and bake for 10 to 15 minutes more, or until puffed and golden brown. Serve the turnovers warm or cool and store in an airtight container for up to 24 hours.

Childhood pleasures

Back in Singapore, I used to make ice cream a lot as the equatorial climate meant any day was a perfect day for ice cream. Since moving to London, however, I can count the number of times I've churned ice cream on one hand. To me, save for a few days a year, its just never quite warm enough to eat ice-cream in London. M, on the other hand, begs to differ. Ice cream is his hands-down favourite treat and if its sitting around in the refrigerator, its almost guaranteed never to live to see another day.

Since M has been working really hard again, I decided to surprise him with some homemade ice cream, in his favourite flavour no less - Mint-Chocolate Chip. We also purchased the UK equivalent of Magic Shell and some dark chocolate mint flavoured Cadbury fingers as toppings for the ice cream. Apparently, the combination of Magic Shell on ice cream was THE special treat in M's household growing up and though it was slightly disconcerting to see a grown man so excited by a bottle of chocolate sauce, its nice to know that some things never change.



Mint-Chocolate Chip Ice Cream
Adapted from Williams-Sonoma's Ice Cream

1 1/2 cups whole milk
1 1/2 cups heavy cream
1 tsp peppermint extract
4 large egg yolks
1/2 cup plus 2 tbsp sugar
Pinch of salt
90g bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
2 tsp canola oil

In a heavy 2-qt saucepan, combined the mik, 1 cup of the cream, and the peppermint extract. Cook over medium heat until bubbles form around the edges of the pan, about 4 minutes. Remove from the heat and let stand for 20 minutes to steep.

Meanwhile, combine the egg yolks, sugar, salt, and remaining 1/2 cup cream in a bowl. Whisk until smooth. Gradually whisk about 1/2 cup of the warm milk mixture into the egg mixture until smooth. Pour the egg mixture into the pan. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon and keeping the custard at a low simmer, until it is thick enough to coat the back of the spoon and leaves a clear trail when a finger is drawn through it, 4-6 minutes. Do not let the custard boil. Strain through a fine -mesh sieve into a bowl.

Place the bowl in a larger bowl partially filled with ice cubes and water. Stir occasionally until cool. Cover with plastic wrap, pressing it directly on the surface of the custard to prevent a skin from forming. Refrigerate until chilled, at least 3 hours or up to 24 hours.

About 1 hour before freezing the ice cream, melt the chocolate in the top of a double boiler over barely simmering water. Stir the chocolate until it is melted, then stir in the oil. Transfer to a small pitcher. Let cool to room temperature.

Pour the custard into an ice-cream maker and freeze according to the manufacturer's instructions. When nearly frozen and the consistency of thick whipped cream, add the chocolate while the machine is churning or stop the machine temporarily, add the chocolate, and restart to mix. Transfer the ice cream to a freezer-safe container. Cover and freeze until firm, at least 3 hours or up to 3 days, before serving.

Makes about 1 quart

Back to cooking again

If you've been following my blog, you've probably noticed that I haven't posted many dinner recipes as of late. Instead, most of my posts have been dessert or baking related. Reason is, I haven't been doing all that much cooking lately as M has been working late most nights. Since cooking for one is not much fun, I've just decided to skip it all together.

Yesterday, being Friday, M finally had an early night. As such, I decided at the last minute to get back in the kitchen and whip up a home-cooked meal again. To make up for many nights of eating poorly, I decided to make something relatively healthy and that we both like a lot - salmon.

This time, the salmon was marinated in a mixture of red miso, ginger, soy sauce and mirin and then cooked under a grill. The result is a salmon that is incredibly tender and which just flakes off with the prod of a fork. I chose to serve mine with a side of broccoli and wild rice but I think this would work just as well with other Asian greens or even noodles.

Glazed Salmon
From Bill's Food

1/3 cup mirin
1/3 cup soy sauce
2 tbsp grated ginger
2 tbsp red miso
2 tsp sugar
2 tsp lemon juice
4 salmon fillets (each 6 0z), skin on
oil, for greasing

dressing:
1/2 cup soy sauce
1/2 cup mirin
2 tsp sugar

to serve:
1 tsp black sesame seeds

Stir the mirin, soy sauce, ginger, miso, sugar and lemon juice together in a bowl until combined. Put the salmon in a shallow dish, pour the mixture over it and marinate in the fridge for at least 15 minutes and up to 1 hour.

To make the dressing, bring the ingredients to the boil in a small saucepan, then reduce the heat and simmer for 10 minutes, or until syrupy or like thin caramel.

Heat the grill. Remove the salmon from the marinade and place with the skin side down in a lightly oiled, non-stick, ovenproof frying pan. Cook under the hot grill for about 7 minutes, or until the fish is still pink in the centre and is nicely coloured.

Sprinkle the salmon with the black sesame seeds and drizzle with some of the dressing. Serve with a side of greens and steamed rice, if you like.

Serves 4

Cupcake treats

Cupcakes, in my opinion, make a perfect treat. First, they're small and dainty, which lets you believe you're not eating too much, even if they generally come laden with frosting. Second, because they come in individually sized portions, they're so much easier to share with friends. Thus, when thinking of what to make for my colleagues at work this week, I settled on coconut flavoured cupcakes with a marshmallow pink frosting.

The problem with cupcakes, however, is that they're a bit tricky to transport. If you live in the US, then you can easily get your hand on Oneida's cupcake carrier which not only makes it easy to transport 24 cupcakes without ruining their perfect frosting but the bottom layer of the carrier is also a muffin pan which you can use to bake directly in. Sadly, this nifty little gadget is not available in London although I have seen poor imitations in the market. Since I refuse to settle for anything but the best, I am to this day, cupcake carrier-less.

Still, my cupcakes survived the extra-crowded tube journey to work with decidedly little damage and just like I thought, provided the perfect little pick-me-up for those universal Monday blues.


Coconut Marshmallow Clouds
From Crabapple Bakery Cupcake Cookbook

For the coconut cakes:
3/4 cup shredded coconut
2 1/3 cups plain flour
1/4 tsp salt
2 tsp baking powder
3 eggs
3 egg whites, extra
200g softened unsalted buter
1 3/4 cups castor sugar
1 tbsp vanilla extract
1 cup coconut milk

Preheat oven to 170C. Line two 12-hole muffin tins with cupcake papers.

Using an electric food processor, process the coconut until very fine - about 3 or 4 minutes. Add coconut to a bowl with sifted flour, salt and baking powder. Mix until evenly combined.

In a separate bowl combine eggs and egg whites. Do not beat.

In another bowl, cream the butter for 1-2 minutes. Add the castor sugar a third at a time, beating for 2 minutes after each addition. After the last addition, beat until the mixture is light and fluffy and the sugar has almost dissolved.

Add the eggs a quarter at a time, beating for 1 minute after each addition or until the mixture is light and fluffy. Add the vanilla extract and beat until combined.

Add a third of the flour mixture and beat on low speed until combined. Add half other coconut milk and beat until combined. Repeat this process. Add the remaining third of the flour mixture and beat until thoroughly combined; do not over-beat as this will toughen the mixture.

Spoon mixture into cupcake papers, filling each about three-quarters full. Bake for 18 minutes or until a fine skewer inserted comes out clean. Remove cupcakes from the trays immediately and cool on a wire rack for 30 minutes before frosting.

For the marshmallow frosting:
3 egg whites
480g white sugar
3 tsp light corn syrup
1/4 tsp cream of tartar
150 ml water
3/4 tsp vanilla extract
Pink food colouring

In a metal bowl combine the egg whites, sugar, corn syrup, cream of tartar and water. Place the bowl over a saucepan of simmering water (making sure the bottom of the bowl does not touch the water) and beat continuously with a hand-held electric mixer until the mixture is light and fluffy and forms soft peaks. Take the bowl off the heat and add the vanilla and a few drops of pink food colouring. Whisk the mixture until it forms stiff peaks.

To assemble:

Pipe the frosting in a circular motion, starting around the edge of the cupcake, to form a soft-serve ice-cream effect. Top each cupcake with edible sprinkles.

Makes 24 cupcakes

A whirlwind of a weekend

M's parents were in town this weekend and it was a lot of fun for both M and myself. Although I've been up to Sweden a few times this year, it has always been in conjunction with some kind of event (e.g., weddings) which sometimes means that in the midst of all the frantic activity, there is not that much time to talk. This weekend, thus, felt like the first time that we got to spend "quality" time together since M and I got engaged.

Although the weekend is not a long amount of time, I feel like we were extremely active and got a lot done. My favourite activities of the weekend were afternoon tea at The Capital and finally getting to watch Wicked after years of desperate wanting to see it. My verdict on the musical? Absolutely worth the wait. In fact, it is probably one of my favourite musicals of all time.

Food, of course, featured heavily as well. Besides afternoon tea, we took them to Eight over Eight, a pan Asian restaurant in Chelsea, for dinner. M's parents were also kind enough to bring 1.35 kg of candy for M. If you know any Swedes then this probably doesn't surprise you. At least as of 2001, Sweden topped the world for non-chocolate candy consumption.

Our new stash of candy!

To cap off the weekend, we also hosted M's parents at our home for a home-cooked meal. Now, I must admit that preparing this meal caused me a fair amount of stress. M's parents have been readers of my blog and until Sunday, had never tasted any thing I've made. Thus, I felt under some pressure (all self-inflicted of course) to serve them a good meal. Besides, I didn't want them to think that I couldn't keep their son well fed.

So, I planned a four-course Chinese dinner that would be capped off by an Asian-inspired dessert and some homemade fortune cookies. All in all, I made minced pork in lettuce wraps, poached sea bass, lily in the wood (bok choy with dried chinese mushrooms) and kung pao shrimp. Dessert was a molten chocolate cake with a matcha (green tea) filling. Since I had also spent the afternoon baking, we also had a second dessert course - coconut cupcakes with marshmallow frosting (more in another post).

Unfortunately, in my haste to get dinner served, I didn't get any good pictures so you'll have to take my word for it. (That's what you get for being too lazy to set up the tripod). The photo you see above of the lily in the wood was the only picture I managed to take that was non-blurry. Despite the lack of photographic evidence, however, it was, for me anyway, an evening to remember.

Lily in the Wood
From Shun Lee cookbook

Vegetable oil, for passing through, plus 2 tablespoons
12 Chinese dried black mushrooms, soaked in hot tap water until softened
1 cup chicken stock
2 tsp soy sauce
1 tsp rice wine
1 1/2 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp oyster sauce
12 boy choy hearts
2 tsp cornstarch
1 tsp dark sesame oil

Bring a medium saucepan of lightly salted water to a boil over high heat, and keep it at a low boil.

Heat a large wok over high heat. Add enough vegetable oil to come 1 inch up the sides of the wok, and heat it to 300F. Add the mushrooms and gently stir until they are shiny and glossy with oil, about 1 minute. Using a wide wire-mesh strainer, transfer the mushrooms to a colander to drain. Discard the oil.

Return the wok to high heat. Mix 1/2 cup of the stock with the soy sauce, rice wine, 1 tsp of the sugar, and they oyster sauce in a small bowl. Add to the wok, and return the mushrooms to the wok. Bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium and simmer, uncovered, until the sauce has reduced by half, about 2 minutes.

While the mushrooms are simmering, prepare the boy choy: Return the saucepan of water to a boil, add the bok choy, and cook until crisp-tender, about 1 1/2 minutes. Drain in a colander.

Heat another large wok or a large skillet over high heat. Add the 2 tbsp vegetable oil and heat until shimmering. Add the boy choy and the remaining 1/2 tsp sugar, and stir-fry for 30 seconds. Add the remaining 1/2 cup chicken stock and bring to a boil.

Dissolve the cornstarch in 3 tbsp cold water in a small bowl. Stir half the cornstarch mixture into the mushrooms, and stir the remaining half into the bok choy. Add the sesame oil to the mushrooms. Transfer the bok choy to a serving platter, and arrange in a circular pattern with the leafy tops in the center. Place the mushrooms in the center of the bok choy and serve immediately.

Makes 4 servings