Corn Bread, Avocado, Summer Salad

Rolling up the driveway and peering at my garden through the car window after four weeks of absence filled me with apprehension. The black radishes I'd planted just before my departure had sky-rocketed and become a huge, impenetrable hedge. The purple podded peas were leaning precariously to one side, threatening to topple their support and smothering any rainbow chard that got in their way. Giant red mustard seemed desperate to flower, their leaves dotted with dull yellow spots. Beneath it all, dreaded onion weed had popped up everywhere and rambling nasturtiums had taken over once more.
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Six weeks and buckets of sweat later, a new bed has been prepared and little Pasilla Bajio chilli seedlings have been planted out. Zebra tomatoes are now waist-high and about to bloom at any moment. Red Aztec corn are sprouting underneath the peach tree which, at this present moment is covered in recycled envelopes and paper bags. The old compost was spread over the garden to provide all the growing plants with extra nutrients and the new compost gets turned diligently with my super sturdy, super awesome Digadoo fork which I bought online after testing out their unbreakable hand trowel at the Gardening Australia Expo earlier in the year.

Along with the pruning and the weeding, the perpetual sowing and expanding, it feels extraordinarily satisfying to create a meal from what most people would see as nothing. An avocado, some maize flour, a few basic pantry items, sharp scissors and an open mind were all the ingredients I needed to make this simple Summer-y dish.

Corn Bread

165 g flour
140 g maize flour
12 g baking powder
5 g sea salt flakes
4 eggs
306 g milk
15 g light agave syrup
100 g unsalted butter, melted

Lightly brush a shallow 8" x 12" (20 x 30 cm) tin with a little melted butter.
Sift flour, maize flour, baking powder and salt together into a large bowl.
In a separate bowl, lightly whisk eggs, milk and agave syrup.
Pour over flour and whisk to incorporate.
Add remaining melted butter and whisk.
Pour batter into the greased tin and bake at 180ºC for 25 minutes or until golden.
Cool on a rack for 10 minutes before removing.


Avocado 

130 g avocado, flesh only
18 g verjuice

Puree the avocado with verjuice.
Cover with clingfilm and refrigerate.


Salad Dressing

7 g garlic
16 g extra virgin olive oil
1 g light agave syrup
17 g verjuice
2 g sea salt flakes

Slice the garlic and let it steep in olive oil for an hour.
Whisk agave syrup, verjuice and salt in a small bowl.
Add olive oil and whisk to combine.
Discard garlic slices.


Summer Salad

5 g parsley, leaves only
4 g chervil, leaves only
2 g mint, leaves only
2 g nasturtium leaves
2 g nasturtium petals
1 g bronze fennel fronds
1 g giant red mustard flowers
20 g walnuts, toasted

Mix all ingredients and salad dressing together with light hands. 
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Fennel Salt Schiacciata

I'm so depressed. Masterchef is over (again) and I've added another year to my life. It's not that I feel old because I don't - I've only turned 24. It's just that sometimes it feels like it all goes by so quickly. Woosh! There goes another year, and another, and another.. I don't feel like I've really done much besides work. I've yet to have the epiphanous moment, you know, the one when you finally realise what your lifelong dream has been all along.

I think I might like to be a food producer somewhere down the track. I love the idea of turning to the ways of the Old World. I read a tiny snippet in the paper last week about a new university course being offered in Britain - a year-long diploma on artisan foods. If only I had an extra 20,000 pounds sitting in the bank. I'd love to spend every single day up to my elbows in curd and learning how to make cheese or bread or smallgoods. Now that would be a dream come true.

A few weeks ago in masterclass, Michael Klausen of Brasserie Bread taught two lucky contestants how to make schiacciata. Its Italian name translates to 'crushed' and it is believed to have originated in Tuscany where during the grape harvest, crushed grapes are pressed into the dough along with olive oil, honey and salt. Like focaccia, schiacciata is a flatbread that is leavened with yeast and dimpled before baking over hot stones.

I know a few chefs who aren't too keen on Masterchef. It does make situations a bit awkward when a random weirdo guy comes into the kitchen to stare at us in the middle of dinner service with nothing to say except "Oh I cook too!". Okaaaay then.. I tend to think of it as more of a DIY show like Gardening Australia or Better homes and Gardens. I can pick up some new recipes and techniques from watching the show but I'm not a better cook until I actually give it a go.

After watching the episode online and with the kneading technique still fresh in my mind, I took Michael Klausen's suggestion to use fennel and set about making my fennel salt schiacciata. I used all-purpose flour which doesn't absorb as much liquid as high-protein baker's flour so my dough wasn't as wet as it was on the telly. It took 6 rounds of kneading and resting before the gluten in the dough was worked enough to form a thin membrane when stretched. Despite not having the right flour at hand, my schiacciata emerged from the oven deeply caramelised on the top, crunchy, salty, sweet and oh so aromatic. Mmm..

Fennel Salt Schiacciata

adapted from a recipe by Michael Klausen

420 g plain flour

10 g instant yeast

10 g sea salt

10 g extra virgin olive oil, plus extra for brushing

285 g water

10 g rapadura cane sugar

4 g sea salt flakes

4 g fennel seeds

Place flour in a large mixing bowl.

Place yeast on one side and salt on the other (salt will kill the yeast if they come into direct contact).

Add the oil and water and stir together until it forms a dough.

Transfer to a bench and knead for 5 minutes.

Cover with the bowl and rest for 2 minutes.

Repeat kneading and resting another 5 times.

Lightly grease a clean bowl and place the dough inside.

Cover with clingfilm or a damp cloth and prove for 1 hour.

Transfer to the bench and gently press to form a rectangle.

Visually divide the rectangular dough into thirds and fold both ends into the middle.

Press out a little to form a rectangle and fold into thirds again (this step promotes even yeast distribution within the dough).

Flip the dough so that the seam is on the bottom and return to the bowl.

Cover and prove for 30 minutes.

Divide dough into two equal pieces.

Place each dough piece onto a sheet of baking paper as large as your oven tray.

Using only your fingertips press both dough pieces into rectangles with rounded ends approximately 13cm x 25xm.

Push your fingertips into the dough, firmly and evenly to dimple the entire surface.

Brush liberally with olive oil, sprinkle 5 g of rapadura cane sugar, 2 g of sea salt flakes and 2 g of fennel seeds over each.

Cover with deep baking trays or clingfilm and prove for 30 minutes.

Place a heavy steel baking sheet into the lower section of the oven and preheat to 210ºC.

Slide one dough piece onto the hot oven tray and bake for 15 minutes.

Remove bread to a cooling rack.

Repeat with the second dough.

Toasted PB + Choco Banana Sandwich

 
The first thing that came to mind when I read that this months Sugar High Friday theme was "toasted" was well.. toast! Bypassing the idea of nuts and spices, there is nothing more quintessentially linked to toast than the humble slice of bread.

Bread is employed for many uses in the kitchen: crumbed as a filler for meatballs and turkey stuffing, fried to add layers of textural interest to pasta dishes and salads, rolled fresh around a hot grilled banger with bbq sauce and baked to create a quick and easy foundation for canapes. But nothing is simpler than the humble sandwich - two bits of bread slapped together with something slathered in-between.

In primary school my mother often packed me a sandwich for lunch. And being Asian, more often than not I would open my lunch box to find a fried egg sandwich of some description, accompanied by nearby screams of "Ewww! What's that smell?!". Needless to say that primary school was filled with embarrassing moments. She eventually stopped and the egg sandwich was replaced with horribly soggy bread holding together a combination of soft tomato, iceberg lettuce and a slice of plastic cheese. So it was quite a revelation in high school to discover that other not-so-disgusting things were available.

Peanut butter, chopped banana, marshmallow fluff and chocolate spread were my favourite sweet sandwich fillings so here I've combined the essence of all four items into a sweet, totally unbalanced and seriously unhealthy dessert: toasted peanut butter and choco banana sandwich with peanut butter marshmallow, chocolate + brown butter mousse and banana milkshake foam. DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME!

Toasted Peanut Butter Marshmallow

420 g castor sugar
20 g glucose
4 g salt
300 g water
7 gelatine leaves (gold strength)
2 (70 g) egg whites
140 g peanut butter

Combine sugar, glucose, salt and 200 g water in a small pot.
Bring syrup to 127ºC while whisking egg whites to stiff peaks in an electric stand mixer.
Bloom gelatine leaves in cold water until soft then dissolve in 100 g of boiling water.
Strain gelatine into sugar syrup then immediately begin pouring (slowly) into the egg whites, whisking continuously.
Continue whisking on medium setting until cool and thickened.
Mix a little into the peanut butter to lighten and then fold gently through the remaining marshmallow.
Pour into a greased and lined 6 x 10 x 1.5" brownie pan and leave at room temperature for an hour or two until set.
Cut marshmallow into desired shapes and toss lightly in cornflour.
Transfer to a plate and blowtorch one at a time.

Fried Peanuts

a small handful of peanuts
enough vegetable oil to cover
salt flakes

Heat oil in a deep saucepan over medium-high heat until 180ºC.
Drop in the peanuts and let them fry for a minute until just starting to colour (you'll need to take them out just before they're golden as the residual heat will continue cooking and colouring them as they cool).
Strain peanuts from the oil and spread them out onto a baking sheet lined with paper.
Sprinkle them generously with salt and shake them around to coat.
Cool at room temperature and store in an airtight container.


Croissant Wafer

You'll need to wrap a croissant tightly in clingfilm and place it in the freezer until firm to allow for easy slicing. Unwrap the croissant and slice it as thinly as possible. A long serrated bread knife is the best tool for the job. Place the slices straight onto a tray and pop it in the oven at 110ºC for 30 minutes or until it shatters loudly when broken.


Chocolate and Brown Butter Mousse

200 g milk chocolate, melted
200 g cold pouring cream
40 g brown butter, cooled to room temp

Combine ingredients in a medium-sized bowl and whisk until light and thickened.
Do not refrigerate as it will set.

Zingy Chicken Sambo

 
I've been really forgetful as of late. I've been searching all afternoon, high and low for a recipe I wrote down many weeks ago and to no avail. Perhaps the stress, late nights and strange sleep patterns have finally caused my brain to rupture, clogging up my skull with tiny little blood clots that are killing off my axons one by one and preventing normal neural transmission activity.

I made up a great recipe for horseradish and lime mayo and I have no idea what I've done with it! I'm so annoyed! Oh well, stay tuned. I may still find it yet - when I'm tidying up my belongings to move house in ten years time. In the meantime, if you want to give it a go (fingers crossed) I think I used an egg yolk, Dijon mustard, maldon sea salt flakes, horseradish cream, delicious GM canola oil and a squeeze of lime juice to taste.

The horseradish and lime mayonnaise wasn't the hero of the dish of course. That title was given to the leftover Chinese white-cooked chicken, the star of my sandwich show - cold and quivering, thinly cut slices of just cooked chicken, poached in a heavily seasoned broth of ginger, shallots and shiao xing wine.

The chicken is gently poached for 15 minutes then left to cool in the broth until it reaches blood temperature (about 3 hours) allowing for the residual heat to penetrate and cook the meat without excessive temperature and protein shrinkage. The resulting meat is tender and succulent, unlike that achieved by any other technique.

To finish off my sandwich I toasted some bread, slathered on a little butter, popped on some crisp watercress layered with cold slivers of chicken and drizzled over with my zingy horseradish and lime mayo. Delicious!

Porky Pig Pasta

I've been so behind with my blog this month that I just don't know where to start. I've missed a few Culinarty: Original Recipe Round-ups and it's starting to make me feel guilty. In real time my plate of spaghetti would be covered in fluffy green mould considering how many weeks ago I actually cooked it.
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Gee.. I'm not even sure what to call this. I'll be totally original here and name it porky pig pasta.
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The breadcrumbs I used were el cheapo tipo de Coles. Looking through the ingredients list I was a little confused after seeing fish. An email to Coles quickly cleared that up.

Thank you for your email regarding the Coles Bread crumbs and the ingredients.

Our Quality Control Department have advised that we add tuna to increase the Omega 3 content in bread.

We trust this information has been of assistance to you. Feedback from our customers is important information that assists us to maintain our high standards.

Anyway, moving on to the recipe for..
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Totally Original Porky Pig Pasta

100 g spaghetti no.3
5 g dried porcini mushroom slices
100 g boiling water
5 g veg oil
42 g smoked speck, rind removed and diced
20 g unsalted butter
3 g garlic, sliced
10 g breadcrumbs
3 g lemon juice
4 g Parmesan, grated

Rinse porcini slices in cold water and drain.
Place in a small bowl and pour over boiling water. Allow to soak for 20 minutes. Drain, reserving liquid.
Cook spaghetti in a large pot of salted water.
Heat oil over medium heat.
Saute smoked speck for a minute.
Add porcini mushrooms and cook until speck is beginning to crisp.
Add 10 g of butter, garlic and breadcrumbs and continue cooking until breadcrumbs are crisp.
Remove all ingredients and deglaze pan with reserved porcini liquid.
Add lemon juice, remaining butter and cooked pasta.
Toss until butter has melted then toss through breadcrumbs and grated Parmesan.

If Yan Can Cook..

My dad is a transplantation immunologist with a masters in veterinary science and a PhD in embryology. Unfortunately he is also as stubborn as all hell and despite acting totally cool when I came out to him a few years ago, he's one of those old-fashioned guys who don't believe in this new-fangled idea of using recipes to create a better product.

Prime example #1 - steamed buns. He likes to use cold water straight from the tap and only barely mixes the dough with a flimsy pair of chopsticks. Dough does not get proofed whatsoever and the resulting horror resembles a brick no less.

When I had a go at making Swedish saffron bread not too long ago, he was keeping an eagle eye on me, most likely to make sure that I didn't leave the kitchen looking like it had just been bombed with flour. A little inquisitive for his nature, he asked what I was doing and I tried my best to explain the purpose of proofing and the optimum temperature for the multiplication of yeast and whatever else.

I thought he would have taken something from our in-depth conversation to improve his lacklustre method of making steamed buns, but to no avail. Bricks again. So when my mother cooked up a batch of sweetened adzuki beans and left me home alone, I took the opportunity to one up my dad with steamed buns adapted from a recipe in 'Martin Yan The Chinese Chef'.

I kept it simple by rolling 35g portions of dough into 6cm rounds before stuffing them with a rough tablespoon of beans and then pleating or attempting to pleat anyway. When steaming I line the steamer insert with perforated baking paper. I take a large square of baking paper (the same stuff i use for oven-baked goods) and fold it numerous times and trim just like making a cartouche. Make sure it fits the steamer insert then fold it back up again and punch holes into it at regular intervals using a regular stationary hole puncher. If handled carefully and dried afterwards, it can be used over and over without the need for replacing.

Steamed Milk Dough

35 g castor sugar
5 g active dry yeast
125 g lukewarm milk
70 g lukewarm water
260 g flour
2 g salt

Combine sugar and yeast then sprinkle over a small bowl containing milk and water.
Mix to combine and set aside for 10 mins until frothy.
In an electric stand mixer with dough hook attachment mix flour, salt and yeast together for 5 minutes on medium until smooth and elastic.
Transfer into a greased bowl, cover and proof for 1 hour until doubled.
Portion into 35 grams, roll out on floured bench, fill each bun and pleat.
Steam for 10-12 minutes.

YeastSpotting

Seeing as I have a tendency to promote autolysis rather than good bread making, I thought I'd make a scrumptious homely bread and butter pudding with some leftover bread. I used a 700g soy and linseed loaf from Sonoma which I purchased the day before on my way to work. With the crusts removed it weighed approximately 400g, yielded ten thick slices and layered into an ordinary round cake pan it turned out rather nicely. I didn't have any cream on hand so I created the recipe using potato starch (you could also use corn starch) as a thickener.

Bread & Butter Pudding

50 g currants
40 g butterscotch schnapps
700 g soy & linseed loaf, crust removed
550 g milk
90 g unsalted butter
7 g vanilla extract
1 g cinnamon
5 g orange zest, finely grated
2 g salt
2 eggs
55 g castor sugar
10 g potato starch
10 g cane sugar

Heat butterscotch schnapps and pour over currants.
Allow to soak for at least half an hour.
Layer bread slices into a round cake pan with currants sprinkled over.
Bring milk to a simmer with butter, vanilla, cinnamon, zest and salt.
Whisk eggs, sugar and potato starch in a bowl.
Temper with a little hot milk then combine with remaining milk.
Pour over sliced bread and allow to soak for half an hour.
Sprinkle cane sugar over the top.
Bake at 180ºC for 40 minutes.

Brioche En Couronne

If this recipe here doesn't get your brioche loving juices going.. Keep looking around (when you're done gagging) until you come across something more like this with pictures that pop and entice you to actually give the long-winded recipe a go.

Crown brioche (also known as brioche en couronne) "uses a dough weight that is equal or greater than 250g. After the dough has been divided and weighted, each section is rounded into a ball. The dough ball is allowed to rest for 15 minutes, then pierced along the axis. From that point the hole is progressively enlarged until the desired "crown" form is achieved. The formed dough "crown" is then placed on a baking tray and then into a proofing chamber, where it is protected from the air. Before being placed in the oven, the crowns are brushed with an egg wash, following which the tops of the loaves are cut into "saw teeth" with scissors. They may also be sprinkled with sugar after baking." (Raymond Calvel)


This is my adaptation of the latter brioche recipe. It makes 3 braided loaves (pictures of the braiding technique can be found here) or 4 crowns.

Brioche

225 g unsalted butter, room temperature
125 g milk, room temperature
520 g strong flour
8 g instant yeast
75 g sugar
8 g salt
4 eggs (210 g)
1 yolk (30 g), for brushing
15 g milk, for brushing

To make the sponge, in a small bowl combine 70 g flour and yeast.
Add milk and whisk until smooth.
Cover and let proof for 30 mins at room temp.
Place remaining flour, sugar and salt in the bowl of an electric standing mixer.
Lightly whisk eggs and combine with sponge.
Pour into mixer and mix on low speed for 4 minutes with dough hook.
Increase speed to medium and continue mixing for an additional 15 minutes.
Decrease speed to low and add butter a little at a time until fully incorporated.
Increase speed to medium and mix for 5 minutes or until gluten is fully developed and the dough can be stretched thinly without breaking.
Place dough into a well-greased tray and cover.
Proof for 1 hour at 30ºC.
Degas gently and push the dough out to cover the tray in an even layer for fast and even dough retardation.
Cover and refrigerate for 14 hours.
Turn onto lightly floured bench and cut into 3 or 4 equal pieces for braids or crowns respectively.
For braids divide the 3 pieces of dough into 9 and roll out into long sausage-like lengths.
Braid 3 lengths together, tucking the ends underneath and place onto trays lined with baking paper.
Cover with a large clean cotton cloth to prevent drying out (and formation of "elephant skin") and proof at 25ºC for 2 hours.
Make egg wash by combining egg yolk and milk and brush over the loaves.
Bake at 180ºC for 40 mins.

They're Going Like Hotcakes!

noun 1. hotcake - pancakes, flapjacks and griddlecakes; a type of flatbread prepared from a sweet batter that is cooked on a hot griddle or in a frying pan. They exist in several variations in many different local cuisines. Most pancakes are quick breads, although some are also made using a yeast-raised or fermented batter.

I walk past Bill Granger's self-titled cafe in Surry Hills every day. It's always bustling with hip young locals dressed to the nines, hoping to satisfy their mid-morning caffeine cravings, to fill up on luscious cream-laden scrambled eggs or perhaps snack on a slice of cake of the day. The coffee can be a downright disappointment sometimes depending on who serves you but there is one thing that shines like a beacon of light, which may very well have brought this gaily dressed self-taught cook into the spotlight along with a plateful of scrambled eggs. For 'The Bread Mania' event, Bill Granger's ricotta hotcakes done instead with a smoother substitute - cottage cheese, and drizzled with rosemary red currant jam.
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Rosemary Red Currant Jam

100 g red currants
65 g castor sugar
8 rosemary leaves
20 g water

Combine everything in a small pot and simmer over low heat until thickened.

Cottage Cheese Hotcakes

160 g cottage cheese
2 g sea salt
95 g milk
2 eggs, separated
65 g flour
2 g baking powder
30 g unsalted butter, soft

Whisk cottage cheese, salt, milk and egg yolks in a bowl.
Sift flour and baking powder into the cottage cheese.
Fold until just combined.
Whisk egg whites until stiff and fold into batter.
Brush a little butter into a heated pan and drop 2 Tbsp batter into the centre.
Cook over low-medium heat for a minute or two until golden then flip and repeat.
Keep hotcakes warm in the oven or under some foil until you finish.
Serve with rosemary red currant jam, a dollop of cottage cheese and a scant dusting of icing sugar.

Real Food

".. Cauliflowers are cauliflowers only during the warm months.
Winter-hardy cauliflowers are more likely to be a type of broccoli,
rated as tougher than true cauliflowers .."
Bob Flowerdew, The Gourmet Gardener

Summer seems to be a bit of a puzzle this year. With raging bushfires one day and torrential flooding the next, a little comfort food in this surprisingly damp weather would doubtless not go astray. Cauliflower and cheese, a bite of pepper and dash of mustard just for perks. A thick and creamy soup that drinks like a warm embrace. One that wraps itself around you tightly and says "I'm never letting go". Does anyone else find that line too cheesy? Never fear, cauliflower and cheese go together like old friends. Take for instance the British dish - cauliflower cheese. I don't think it needs any more elaboration than that.
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Cauliflower is cheap this time of year and it helps the hip pocket to be 'Eating with the Seasons', especially in times such as these when one in five workers fear losing their job and the hospitality industry sits on the brink of turmoil. I have to say, I find it a little hypocritical that Suze Orman came out of the closet only to tell people to stop eating out (har har!). Moving on, cheddar cheese is choice for melting. I chopped up 30 g of cheddar to the consistency of fine breadcrumbs, sprinkled it into four 6 cm circles on some non-stick baking paper on a heavy steel baking sheet, gave them a good crack of black pepper and popped them in the oven for roughly 8 minutes at 180ºC. I removed them when they had coloured up nicely and become firm and crisp to the touch and served them with the soup, alongside a few good, thick slices of toasted soy and linseed bread from Sonoma. If it's to your taste, you could add a dash of Tabasco or Worcestershire and a small pot of mustard or horseradish cream to slather onto your bread before dipping.

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Cauliflower Soup

15 g unsalted butter
100 g (1 small) brown onion, finely chopped
8 g (4 cloves) garlic, minced
5 g maldon sea salt
200 g (1 small head) cauliflower, florets only
10 g hot English mustard
320 g milk
8 g fish sauce
40 g cheddar cheese, grated

Melt the butter in a small saucepan and toss in the onion, garlic and salt.

Saute over medium heat for about 5 minutes then add everything but for the cheese.

Cover and let it barely simmer for 40 minutes then add the cheese, a few cracks of black pepper or cumin and wizz it all up in a blender.

Serve hot with thickly sliced and toasted bread for mopping up the bowl with.

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Lusse Bröd

If my memory serves me correctly, I'd say that it's been something like two years since the last time I picked up a sliced white loaf from the corner store. Bread does not really make much of an appearance at our house, unlike my time spent with a friend's family in Torrevieja - on the south-east coast of Spain, where a baguette seemed to live permanently on the kitchen table at all hours of the day. For me, it's one of those purchases that I actively avoid, simply because I know from experience that I'm never able to finish it all and after incorporating it into every meal for 3 days straight, I swear never to eat it again. With mixed curiosity and an urge to get off my ass and actually do something for a change however, I tried out a recipe for Swedish saffron bread from a book called 'From Ciabatta To Rye' by Linda Collister.

Peter Reinhart says:

".. Santa Lucia Day is celebrated on December 13. In Sweden, a custom arose to celebrate the day with a festival in honor of this Sicilian saint, a beautiful girl who suffered torture and blinding rather than renounce her faith. she was believed to have carried food to Christians hiding in caves, wearing a wreath of candles to light her way, and thus, during the festival, young girls wear similar wreaths and process in white dresses ties with crimson ribbon. Sweet buns, known as lussekatter or lusse brod, are baked, coiled into various shapes to represent the blinded eyes of the young girl. As the girls in white process, they pass out their Santa Lucia buns to remind worshippers of the saint's victory over evil and of the pending return of the sun and its light (Lucia means "light") .."

..How very touching.. Anyway apparently not all recipes for lusse bröd contain saffron and some even include almond meal and large raisins pressed into the middle of each coil, which I'm guessing are supposed to resemble the pupils.

Swedish Saffron Bread

1 g saffron threads or powder
40 g boiling water
220 g milk
50 g castor sugar
7 g active dry yeast
100 g butter, melted and cooled
2 eggs
5 g salt
500 g flour + extra for dusting

Crumble saffron threads into a small bowl and pour over boiling water.
Leave to infuse for 12 hours.
Pour milk into a small pot and sprinkle in sugar and yeast, whisking out any lumps.
Bring slowly to 42ºC and leave for about 10 mins until foamy.
Pour in saffron, butter, 1 egg and salt, whisking to combine.
Place flour in a large bowl and make a well in the centre.
Pour in yeast and with a fork, gently work in the flour until fully incorporated.
Dust the table with a little extra flour and knead dough for 5 - 10 mins until smooth and elastic.
Place into a greased bowl, cover with a damp cloth and proof for about 1 hour or until doubled in size.
Turn dough onto the table, dusted with a little more flour and cut into 8 equal pieces.
Roll each piece into sausages 24 cm long and roll into coils, tucking the ends underneath.
Grease a heavy baking sheet and place a coil in the centre.
Place the remaining coils around, barely touching one another.
Place a deep roasting tray over the top and allow to proof for half an hour.
Beat the remaining egg and brush over the tops of the coils.
Bake at 200ºC for 25-30 mins until golden.

Cookthink Cookup

If you asked me when the last time was that I cooked something at home, really cooked something as opposed to: unwrapped, defrosted, reheated, microwaved, added water and stirred, you would receive nothing more than a shrug of the shoulders, a surly grunt and perhaps a confused stare.
Being completely honest with you, before I began working in the industry those things were all I did. I didn't know a thing about food, restaurants or cuisine and I didn't really care. It was merely an occupation that would one day allow me to travel freely and experience the many great wonders of the world. And, at the time, committing myself to a tertiary education for a degree in some randomly chosen field without passion seemed about as useless as tits on a pig.
Well, fortunately, I can say that whilst working myself into a professional state of seclusion over the last 4 years the job has grown on me immensely. So much so, that with my working hours I still find it impossible to cook for myself. When I'm at work I try to do the best I can and when I'm not, I bring all of my professional baggage home and brood over how to do it better.
My submission for 'Root Source Challenge #11: Bourbon' is a chocolate bread & butter pudding with saffron cream (an adaptation of pastry cream from Tartine that took a little tweaking to get just right) which we now serve with red wine-poached pear and a brush of chocolate sauce.

Chocolate Bread Pudding

2 stale baguettes, crust removed and sliced
870 g cream
160 g bourbon (or rum if you prefer)
300 g dark chocolate, chopped
150 g unsalted butter, chopped
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
2 oranges, zested
2 lemons, zested
6 eggwhites
220 g castor sugar

Spray and line a square cake tin with baking paper.
Place bread slices evenly into the tin in layers.
In a medium pot, bring cream and bourbon to a simmer.
Throw in the chocolate, butter, cinnamon and zests.
Stir continuously over low heat until it is completely emulsified.
Whisk together the eggwhites and sugar in a bowl.
Temper the egg mix by pouring in a little chocolate cream into the bowl at a time while whisking continuously.
Pour the entire mix over the layers of sliced baguette, wrap and leave in the fridge overnight to soak.

Saffron Cream

600 g milk
a good pinch of saffron
1/4 tsp salt
100 g castor sugar
22 g cornflour
2 eggs
55 g unsalted butter, chopped

In a pot bring the milk, saffron and salt to a simmer.
Reduce heat to the lowest setting and allow to infuse for 1/2 hr.
If using saffron threads, break them up with a submersion blender to bring out the colour.
In a bowl whisk together the sugar, cornflour and eggs.
Temper with the milk by adding a little at a time to the eggs while whisking continuously.
Pour everything into a clean pot and whisking continuously, bring it to a simmer for a minute (this is when cornflour will begin to thicken).
Remove from heat and throw in the butter.
Keep whisking until it has emulsified.
Transfer to a bowl and cool over ice, stirring with a spatula every now and then to achieve a very smooth finish.

Preheat the oven to 180ºC.
Unwrap the cake tin and slide it into the middle rack.
Bake for approximately 40 minutes. It will puff up a little and when ready, the top layer of crust should be crisp.
The saffron cream can be served alongside both hot or cold.

Easter Madness

Well, it's that time of the year again when I find myself unexpectedly all alone. My sister has gone away and it appears that I will be spending the Easter weekend cooped up at home with the cat and half a dead chicken. Usually the weekend off isn't too bad, generally comprising of a mere 24 hours which is just enough time for me to lament over how little time I have to really do anything. But now.. With this horribly bleak weather and the long holiday weekend for which I was generously allowed 4 whole days.. Well, let's just say that for my own sanity (and barely entering into day 2) I think it's about time that I started putting a little more effort into blogging events like the up-and-coming 'Tried, Tested and True'. If only I could find little things to do around the house that I do at work.

Every couple of days when I've raced ahead with all my prep jobs I find myself sort of wafting through the kitchen like a bad smell that for some reason just won't go away, so I set myself the initiative of experimenting with little left over bits and pieces that we have sitting in the cool room downstairs.

Last week the boss ordered in two bunches of rhubarb that nobody wanted to touch and as a result it ended up lying draped over the box of red capsicums, very sad and limp looking. With the weather like it is now what could be better than the comforting taste that we all know to be the traditional apple and rhubarb crumble? A-HA! But what if the apple was not cooked to that traditional soft lumpy mess? What if it were cool and crispy? What if the crumble was less crumble and more crunch? By the way, I've tried pairing the following with a number of different flavours, but I've found that if it is simply thrown together with a good scoop of homemade ginger ice cream it never fails to please.

Green Apple Sorbet

200 g castor sugar
400 ml water
100 g liquid glucose
4 Granny Smith apples
1 lemon, juiced

Bring the sugars and water to the boil for 1 minute.

Refrigerate until cold.

Core and chop apples (leaving the skin on) and process with lemon juice and sugar syrup until it becomes a pulp.

Strain through a fine chinoise and churn immediately.

Apple Chips

100 g castor sugar
100 ml water
1 lemon, juiced
1 Granny Smith apple

Bring the sugar and water to the boil then cool, adding the lemon juice.

Slice the apple as thinly as possible whilst leaving it whole.

Dip the apple slices into the lemon syrup and then place them onto a tray lined with baking paper or a non-stick silpat mat.

Dry them in the oven at 130ºC for 1½ hours or until they become crisp when cooled.

Almond Crunch

300 g almonds
1 long, plain bread stick
80 g unsalted butter
30 ml olive oil

Preheat the oven to 180ºC.

Toast the almonds until golden then leave to cool.

Remove all the bread crusts and cut remaining bread into small cubes.

Throw the bread into a tray, dotted with butter and sprinkled with olive oil and toast until crunchy and golden, giving it a shake every now and then.

Process the almonds until they become a fine textured meal.

Keep almond meal aside in a large bowl.

When croutons have cooled, process until fine and combine with the almonds.

Cranberry Bread & Butter Pudding

1 1/2 stale baguettes
100 g unsalted butter, soft
750 g cream
750 g milk
2 lemons, zested
1 nutmeg, ground
9 whole eggs
200 g castor sugar
80 g dried cranberries
100 g white chocolate, chopped

Trim crusts from breads and discard.
Slice into triangles, butter one side of each and lay into dish.
Scatter cranberries and chocolate inbetween layers.
Cream sugar and eggs in a large bowl.
Bring cream and milk, nutmeg and lemon zest to the boil and make an anglaise with the egg mix.
Pour over bread, cover with baking paper and press overnight.
Remove paper and weights, and bake in a baine marie at 180ºC for 40 mins or until set.