Getting Familiar with Puffed Pastry

Apparently, Puff Pastry and Croissant Dough are two slightly different things. 😲

Who knew?

After watching both of these being made at different times on The Great British Baking Show, it all looked so simple and straightforward. I had to give it a try. One of them, at least. I opted for Croissant Pastry. So, what's the difference?

While both these pastries rely heavily on the proper encasement of the butter rolled and folded multiple times, creating steam while baking to make the pastry rise, Paul Hollywood's recipes indicate that Croissant Pastry uses sugar and a little yeast, while Puff Pastry uses eggs, but no sugar and no yeast, relying on the  lamination of butter, properly folded to create the lovely rise we expect from this type of pastry dough.
 

Croissants using Paul's Recipe

That said, I tried Paul's Croissant Pastry (click on the link for his recipe) as my first attempt. For one, I really wanted to try a homemade all-butter croissant, and for another, I wanted to be pretty sure my efforts would not be wasted, so I used croissant pastry with its little bit of yeast to give the rise a boost, just in case I should not be able to execute all that rolling and folding quite expertly enough. Either dough gains its beautifully puffed layers from properly rolling and folding the butter within the dough. And so, I call my recipe "Puffed Pastry."

A (Very) Young and Intrepid Baker

As of this writing, I am more than halfway through my 68th year of life. I state this to give some perspective. I attempted making a puff pastry a very, very long time ago. When I was in Guatemala, and still in my 20s, I was an intrepid baker. Not everything came out well, for sure. Still, I had no one to say to me that something was a difficult thing to do, or that I should be fearful of outcomes. I had my trusty Joy of Cooking, and armed with that book and its well-explained, instructional recipes, I forged ahead and made things like Choux Paste, with never a thought to anything other than a belief that I could follow directions with the best of them.

When it came to trying out a Puff Pastry recipe, well, I will say it did not have a great outcome. Looking back on that time, I am pretty sure that I would have used margarine in the recipe, and that would certainly be mistake number one! I can still recall to this day how much difficulty I had with the rolling and folding, and most particularly with keeping the margarine encased in the dough. I can still see, in my mind's eye, how it leaked at the edges or worked its way through the dough to spurt out in spots. These are definitely no-no's, when making a puffed pastry. The most important rule, outside of using a really high-quality butter, is to keep that butter well chilled and encased in the pastry at all times. 

Back to Current Day

I attempted to make Paul Hollywood's Croissants back in February of this year. I felt that at this time in my life, I certainly have had a lot more experience under my belt and surely I should be able to make this pastry turn out. I certainly know better than to use margarine! As it happens, it worked wonderfully well. 

Masking Tape and Rolling Pins

I will say up front, getting the pastry rolled into a fairly strict rectangular shape took a whole lot more work than initially anticipated. Lots more. This is of utmost importance, because it makes the folding come out neat and tidy, and getting all those flaky layers later on depends on this neat, tidy rolling and folding, a process called "lamination." What I did was to measure out the size on my countertop using masking tape at the corners of the rectangle sized areas (one for the butter and one for the pastry itself). This gave me the guide I needed; just keep rolling, neatening and tugging until it reached those corners I had marked out. Having those marks on the counter helped immensely.

I had also invested in a good maple wood, straight, 19-inch long rolling pin. I had never used any rolling pin but the one with handles on the ends, given me by my Mom for my Bridal Shower back in 1970. Getting used to a rolling pin without handles was interesting, for sure. The one really good thing was having a pin long enough so I didn't leave marks in the dough, as would have happened with my golden-oldie of a rolling pin. I will not say it would be impossible to make puffed pastry dough without that 19-inch straight rolling pin, but it wouldn't have been quite as neat. Maybe. I think. 

My Pastry, Second Time Around😚

My Croissant Pastry and Rolling Pin

When I opted to try out Paul's Croissant dough, I did so because I really wanted to try making croissants first. I had never had, outside of buying some at a local "patisserie," croissants made with butter. I had rolled some Pepperidge Farms Puff Pastry into croissant shapes, and used that commercial puff pastry dough for innumerable applications. But that being the ONLY puff pastry available where I live, and it being made with shortening or some such, while delicious, I wanted to know what the "real thing" might be like. 

I will say it right now. THERE IS NO COMPARISON. The butter makes such a huge difference in flavor, it's hard to credit. 

I used a couple of Paul's suggestions for making filled croissants, half of them using bacon and cheese and half using almond paste. Both of these were excellent. Would I use fillings again? Maybe. Not sure. They tasted most wonderful. But, I think in the end, I am just a purist. I would have preferred to have just the croissant to eat.

That said, Paul's recipe called for a fair amount of sugar in the dough itself. I wondered about that at the time, but just went with his recipe. The time for experimentation would likely come, but not at my first attempt. As it turned out, I felt that the croissants were just too sweet. I had never eaten a croissant whose pastry was sweet on its own. I cannot say I have such widespread experience of croissants to say that they should not be sweet like these, but to me (and me with a serious sweet tooth, mind), they were just too sweet. Duly noted, for next time.

I haven't yet gotten around to trying Paul's Puff Pastry recipe. But, in the meantime, my sister-in-law and I were watching Paul Hollywood in "City Bakes." In the episode where he is in St. Petersburg, Russia, he goes to a little pastry shop where they have an amazing assortment of savory pies, made free-form with a puffed-pastry of some kind and with a most amazing amount of decoration on them. They were stunning. I took a series of photos of the TV screen, just to have a reference, when I tried.

And, of course, I just had to try it out! 😃

As it happened, I had just made a roasted turkey breast, and we had lots of leftovers. Obviously, this would be a Turkey Pie. What else would go in was yet to be determined. 

But First, the Pastry

Now that I had an application, I had to sit myself down and determine what I wanted to do for the pastry. I definitely wanted a puffed pastry of some kind and not just a yeast dough. The elaborate decorations used on top of the pies in City Bakes would not be possible with just any yeast dough. I thought about making Paul's Puff Pastry recipe, but then got cold feet when thinking about how this would rely solely on the proper rolling and folding of the butter. I felt I would rather add a little yeast, just to be safe. I wanted the dough to be beautifully golden yellow, so I wanted eggs in the dough. And sugar? I opted to use a just a little; just enough to give it great flavor, but not enough to make it taste sweet.

My version came out spectacularly well. I used most of the pastry in the creation of the Turkey Pie, what with top and bottom crust and all the decorations. Whatever pastry was left was only bits and scraps, which I carefully piled atop one another and rolled out again, though this will never be as puffed as the first time around. Still, I cut some haphazard croissant shapes from this dough and while they came out all sorts of sizes and odd shapes, they were truly delicious, just what I wanted as a croissant in flavor, and they still puffed beautifully. No complaints.  

I have no beautiful photos of the whole process, but truly, it is a matter of following directions, nothing more. I used grams to weigh my ingredients. I feel it is important to use ingredients by weight, making it so much more fool-proof. And ultimately, working as quickly as possible to keep the dough and butter cold is of the utmost importance.

Puffed Pastry Dough

Makes 12 very large croissants, or use pastry for other applications

500 grams bread flour (about 3¾ cups)
10 grams salt (about 2 teaspoons)
40 grams superfine sugar (about 3 tablespoons)
10 grams instant yeast (about 3 teaspoons)
2 cold eggs plus enough cold water to equal 300 ml., total (10 ounces, total)
300 grams fine quality European butter (about 2½ sticks)

Place the bread flour, salt, sugar and yeast into a mixer bowl. Stir to distribute the ingredients evenly. Whisk together the cold eggs with cold water and pour into the dry ingredients. Mix to bring the dough together, then knead for about 6 minutes, either by machine or by hand, as preferred. Place the dough in a bowl, covered, and refrigerate for 1 hour.

On a counter or other surface, measure out two rectangles, using masking tape at the corners to mark the measurements. One rectangle will be the measurement for the butter; 40 x 19 cm (15¾ x 7½-inches). Another rectangle will be for rolling the dough; 60 x 20 cm (24 x 8-inches).

While the dough is in the fridge, get out the cold butter. Use 2 pieces of plastic wrap or two pieces of parchment, large enough to accommodate the measurement of the butter. Place the butter between the plastic wrap or parchment. Bash the butter with your rolling pin to begin flattening it out, then gently press and roll it to fit that smaller measurement of 40 x 19 centimeters. Keep the edges as straight as possible. This may require some work, tidying the edges as the butter is rolled. Keep it to an even thickness. Leave the butter in between the plastic or parchment, figure 2, set it onto a baking sheet and place the sheet into the fridge to chill. 

Once the hour has elapsed on the dough, remove from the fridge, lightly flour the surface you will be working on and quickly shape the dough into a long rectangle, figure 1. Roll the dough, straightening and tidying the sides and corners as needed, until it reaches 60 x 20 centimeters. Take the sheet with the chilled butter rectangle out of the fridge, figure 2, remove the paper or plastic from one side and flip the butter over onto one end of the dough rectangle, figure 3, where it should fit neatly almost to the edges of the top ⅔ of the dough. Remove the remaining parchment or plastic film from the top of the butter. Fold the exposed edge of dough up over half the butter, figure 3. With a knife, trim the butter, just above where the dough has been folded over, being extremely careful not to cut through the dough beneath, figure 4.

Lamination Sequence: Rolling and folding cold butter into chilled dough

Lift the free square of butter from the top of the dough and place it atop the lower fold of dough, neatening the edges, figure 5. Now, lift the remaining top flap of the dough and fold it down over the newly placed butter square, figure 6. The result is now a tidy square, figure 7. Figure 8 shows how the layers should look from the edges. Very carefully, press the edges of the dough to completely seal in the butter. Make a small indent in one corner of the dough with one finger to mark that this was the first roll and fold sequence. Wrap the dough in plastic film or place into a zip-top bag and into the fridge for 1 hour.

Second and subsequent turns

After the hour has elapsed, remove the dough from the fridge to the lightly floured surface, figure 9. Set the dough on the surface at a 90-degree angle from the last roll and fold, figure 10, so that the tri-folded edge is towards you, figure 11. Roll the dough again to a 60 x 20 cm (24 x 8-inch) rectangle, figure 12, then bring the bottom of the long rectangle up one-third, figure 13, then the top down, figure 14, to cover the top fold. Make two small finger indents in the dough to indicate the second "turn" and wrap and refrigerate the dough for one hour.
Repeat this last sequence twice more, resting the dough in the fridge for one hour between folds, then wrap the dough and refrigerate overnight. After its overnight rest, the dough is ready to be used for whatever application you might prefer.

When using puffed pastry, it should be rolled out again before working with it. Never drag a knife or twist a cutter, as this will damage the layers and cause the pastry to rise unevenly. Sharp cuts or straight down pressure from a cutter is best.

Once made, puff pastry can be frozen. Thaw completely in the fridge before using.

This amount of dough will make 12 very large croissants or 18 to 20 smaller ones.


My passion is teaching people how to create a harmony of flavors with their cooking, and passing along my love and joy of food, both simple or exotic, plain or fancy. I continue my journey in ethnic and domestic cuisines, continuing my journey to explore diverse culinary experiences and hopefully to start you on a journey of your own. Join me also at A Harmony of Flavors on Facebook, and Pinterest.

Another Stab at a Breakfast Casserole

Not quite a month ago I made a delicious breakfast casserole to mimic one I had eaten out in Washington at Tweets Cafe. It was really the first breakfast casserole of any kind I had made and while it was completely delicious, it did have some technical issues. I have no problem with posting the recipe, because it came out absolutely wonderful both in flavor and in appearance.

My Christmas Tree

As is usually the case with such things, the thoughts keep percolating somewhere in the back of my mind, and in the last couple of days, things got insistent, so I made a decision last evening that I would give it another try. Not the exact same recipe, because I was missing some key elements, most notably Poblano peppers. But, I did have eggs, and cheese and bacon. And that's where my mind shut off for the night last night. I did go so far as contemplate getting out of bed and putting some black beans to slow cook in the Crock Pot overnight, but nixed that idea. I was too tired from getting my Christmas tree together yesterday!

I got up this morning prepared to get into the kitchen and try out all the ideas I'd had since making that last casserole. Again, I was making this just for my husband and myself, so I was going to once more attempt the use of that same tiny Pyrex loaf pan I'd used last time, despite the difficulties I had then with it sticking. I cleaned that Pyrex and scrubbed it well, in hopes that this would help mitigate sticking. Instead of foil, I opted to use parchment to line the pan, but this time only lining it across the wide sides, with overhang, on the off-chance it would come out easily. I did not allow any parchment to go up the narrow sides. I greased the pan, but not the parchment once it was in place. I set the oven to 350 degrees.

Then the decision of what to put into this casserole. I liked the potatoes in the bottom, so once again I used potato, but a half of one larger potato. I fried it the same as last time, using my method for Pan Potatoes. Once done, those went into the bottom of the prepared casserole. Meanwhile, I fried up some bacon, diced small. After setting the crisp bacon aside to drain, I fried a half of a smaller onion (a larger shallot would also work) until translucent, then added in some garlic, some chopped fresh asparagus and red bell pepper, just until slightly softened, but still retaining their color.
 

Bacon & Egg Casserole

While that was in progress, I whisked together 5 eggs and added in some fresh thyme leaves, which are still alive in a pot in my sun room, despite pretty chilly temperatures. I added in about 3 tablespoons of cream (milk would do) to the eggs and whisked well. A small amount of the eggs got poured over the potatoes in the little pan, and I rapped the pan several times, coaxing the eggs into and around the potatoes. To the remaining eggs I added the drained bacon, all the vegetables in the pan, along with some cheddar cheese, stirred well and poured this over top of the potato-egg mixture already in the pan. 

Bacon & Egg Casserole

This time, I opted to cover the pan while it baked, hoping that the stored heat would help with getting the eggs set. It certainly worked. The last time, it took a solid hour and a bit of finagling to get the eggs set all the way through, but this time it took not quite 45 minutes and the top of the little casserole was beautifully puffed and rounded. I was so very pleased! Now the remaining question was, would it come out of the pan without such a struggle as last time? Why yes, it certainly did. No only did I not have to run a knife around the edges, but by lifting the ends of parchment, it lifted cleanly out, and once I set it on the cutting board, the parchment simply fell away to the sides. I was so happy, and so amazed.

 
One thing I did, because I have seen others do it, is to top the finished casserole with more cheese and pop it back in the oven to melt. I found this completely superfluous, redundant even, especially with all the garnishes that went on top, as well as an extra sprinkling of cheese. I would stick with just the half cup of cheese that went into the casserole.

Now I really want to go back to remake the first casserole, because the Poblanos in that one were just scrumptious. But for now, I could not have asked for a better turnout. And, although I am calling this casserole "Bacon and Egg Casserole," that is so inadequate, with all the great things in it!

Bacon & Egg Casserole

(with potatoes, asparagus, red bell pepper, onion, garlic and cheese 😉)

Bacon & Egg Casserole
(with Sweety Drop Peppers)

Serves 2

4 strips thick sliced bacon, diced
½ large potato, or one small
2 teaspoons olive oil
½ medium onion, or 1 large shallot, finely chopped
1 clove garlic, minced 
½ red bell pepper, chopped
3 - 4 asparagus spears, chopped (about ¾ cup)
5 eggs, whisked
1½ teaspoons fresh thyme leaves
3 tablespoons cream or milk
½ cup shredded cheddar cheese
salt, to taste

GARNISHES:

• A small "salad" portion per plate: choose from: lettuce, arugula, spinach, baby greens, cabbage, red cabbage, cilantro, etc. 
• scallions, sliced diagonally
• cilantro or parsley for sprinkling
• Feta or more cheddar cheese for sprinkling over top.
• sour cream or Greek yogurt
• "Sweety Drop Peppers," optional (find them on Amazon), or cherry tomatoes

Fresh from the oven

Prepare a very small loaf pan, 3.5 x 6 x 2.5-inches, approximately: Spray the pan with nonstick cooking spray. Cut a piece of parchment to fit in and across the widest sides of the pan, with at least an inch of overhang. Set aside. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Heat a skillet and add olive oil. Add in the potatoes and fry them on medium heat until crisp and browned, keeping a lid on and only occasionally removing the lid to stir until done, about 15 minutes. Sprinkle with salt. Remove the potatoes to the prepared loaf pan.

Place the diced bacon into a skillet and fry until crisp. Remove to paper toweling to drain; set aside. In the same pan, with the bacon grease (remove some, if it is too much), saute the onion until translucent and soft. Add in the garlic, red bell pepper and asparagus, sprinkle with salt to taste and saute quickly just to soften, but still retain vibrant color. Remove from heat to cool slightly.

In a bowl, whisk together the eggs and add in the cream and thyme leaves. Pour a small amount over the potatoes in the loaf pan. Rap the pan a few times on the counter to settle some of the egg in and around the potatoes. To the remaining eggs in the bowl, add the reserved bacon, the cheese and the onion mixture from the skillet. Stir to combine the ingredients, then pour all of the mixture over the potatoes in the loaf pan. Keeping the parchment overhang on the outside of the pan, cover the pan with foil or a silicone topper. If foil, spray the side of the foil that will touch the eggs. 

Bake the casserole for 40 to 45 minutes, or until it has puffed and is completely set in the center. 

To garnish the plate as I've done, make a small salad portion using greens of your choosing for each plate. Smear a bit of sour cream or Greek yogurt alongside the salad. Once the casserole is done, remove from the pan by using the ends of parchment and set the casserole on a cutting board. With a very sharp knife, trim the edges of the egg straight and cut the casserole in half. Set one half (should be a nice square) onto the sour cream. Sprinkle with more cheddar or with Feta or any cheese preferred. Sprinkle with scallions and cilantro and if available, the Sweety Drop Peppers or halved cherry tomatoes for color.
 

My passion is teaching people how to create a harmony of flavors with their cooking, and passing along my love and joy of food, both simple or exotic, plain or fancy. I continue my journey in ethnic and domestic cuisines, continuing my journey to explore diverse culinary experiences and hopefully to start you on a journey of your own. Join me also at A Harmony of Flavors on Facebook, and Pinterest.

Oldie but Goodie Quiche Alsacienne

You may wonder why "Quiche Alsacienne". Maybe you have never heard of it? 

According to my 1966 version of "The Joy of Cooking," it states that Quiche Lorraine (which most people HAVE heard of) is made with bacon, eggs and cheese. If onions are added, it is called Quiche Alsacienne. And that is what I made for dinner last evening. 

Quiche Alsacienne for dinner

It has been positively ages since I made a quiche. I do make little quiche appetizer bites, which are found in the recipe index for this blog under Millard's Mini Artichoke Quiches. But those hardly count, at least not in the sense of this Quiche Lorraine / Alsacienne. In all the past 4 years since creating this blog, I have not made a quiche. So what brought me to it yesterday?

Quiche Alsacienne with Asparagus & Salad

Well, I have been recompiling and collating some old cookbooks. The reason being that my son divorced his wife, and he is leaving, taking with him the old cookbooks I had given my children (with old recipe favorites). I love my daughter-in-law as a daughter, and I felt her pain and dismay as she would no longer have access to the cookbooks. This led me to make one bigger book with all the old recipes, plus many new recipes; reconstructing, editing and adding photos as I go. So very many of the old recipes never had a photo, as long ago I was just not taking photos of every food I ate. If I was lucky, there might be a photo in the original book I used. Oftentimes not, as in the case of my "The Joy of Cooking".

So, as I go through and edit the recipes for the new pages, I find that the recipe as I make it is most often nowhere like the original recipe. I am a changer. It is hard for me to make something just as is, and there are very few recipes that get made without my personal touch being placed on them. And this led to making some oldies but goodies, such as Chicken and Dumplings last week, and Gumbo some few days back. Last night I made this quiche for dinner, and it is something my husband and I really do occasionally enjoy. All these meals were made so I could take photos!

While I made this quiche as dinner, the entire dinner would be a most excellent brunch served just as I did, with some broiled asparagus and a lovely green salad on the side.  
 

Fitting pastry into tart pan

Long ago when I made this quiche, I fitted the pie shell in a pie plate. For the first time, I opted to make it in a tart pan, with a removable rim for prettier presentation. The tart pan is metal, and the edges are very sharp, so I rolled out the pie pastry, cut it larger than the pan, and then folded the pastry so it could be more easily transported to the pan without tearing, shown in the first of the series of photos above. The remaining steps I took are depicted in the remaining photos which I took as I completed each step. The pastry is unfolded in the pan (photo 2), then pressed into the edges (step 3), edges trimmed to fit the pan (step 4) and the finished pastry, waiting for its fillings (step 5).

I made a simple one-crust pie pastry using lard, as it gives the flakiest crust:

One-Crust Pie Pastry

Makes one single-crust pie pastry for a 9" pie shell or 10-inch tart pan

1¼ cup all-purpose flour
½ teaspoon salt
⅓ cup lard, butter or shortening
3 - 5 tablespoons ice-cold water

Combine the flour and salt in a bowl. Cut in the lard/shortening/butter until the mixture looks mealy. Begin adding 3 tablespoons of the ice water and toss the mixture with a fork. As it begins to come together, see if it will all come into one ball. The dough should not be wet, but just adhere. Without overworking, if the mixture needs more water, add it in 1 tablespoon at a time. Once it comes together, form it into a ball, flatten and wrap well. Refrigerate for at least one hour or up to 3 days.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Most recipes out there today lean toward baking the crust first, before filling. Everyone looks for the crispiest crust, even underneath. Well!

I have to say, this is certainly not my thing. My favorite part of pie crusts are the soft parts in the bottom. I used to eat everything out of a pie shell, leaving that soft underneath crust for last, the better to spend my time savoring. To this end, I am not a proponent of a crisp bottom crust. Neither is my husband, thankfully. My procedure was to chill the fitted pastry in the tart pan and refrigerate it until I had all the filling ingredients ready to go.
 

Filling ingredients

The first step in the filling ingredients was the bacon. I fried that up until nearly crisp and set it aside to drain on paper towels. I left one tablespoon of the bacon fat in the pan, adding in 1 tablespoon of butter to saute the onions. I wanted them nice and deep golden brown. My husband abhors onions that are too uncooked, or have any crunch left. I got the cheese shredded while the onions were cooking. Separately I cracked the eggs into a bowl, reserving part of one of the whites aside. (I did make a token attempt at a less-soggy crust by using "The Joy of Cooking's" suggestion of brushing the pie pastry with egg white before filling.) I added in the cream, salt and white pepper, along with a bit of freshly grated nutmeg.

Assembly: the onions went into the tart shell first, followed by the bacon, spread out evenly. Next went the cheese and then the milk and egg mixture. I set the tart pan onto a pizza pan with holes, as I was hoping for the bottom crust to have access to the oven heat. The tart pan with removable rim makes it difficult to lift the pan without dislodging the bottom, so it was going onto some kind of baking sheet. This pan with holes seemed best for the job. Into the oven it went, on relatively high heat. It was baked in no time.

Quiche Alsacienne

Makes one 10-inch tart

Quiche Alsacienne

1 (9-inch) single pie pastry, fitted in a 
    9-inch  pie plate or 10-inch tart shell, well 
    chilled
½ pound bacon, sliced across into 1/4-inch bits
1 tablespoon butter
1 large onion; 10 - 12 ounces, quartered and sliced ¼-inch thick
6 ounces Gruyere cheese (Swiss is also fine), shredded
4 eggs
1½ cups half and half (or cream)
½ teaspoon salt
a few grinds of white pepper
⅛ teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.  

In a large skillet, fry the bacon until it is not quite crisp. Remove from pan to drain on paper toweling. Remove all but 1 tablespoon of the bacon grease from the pan. Add the butter to the pan and melt. Add in the onions and set over relatively low heat, cooking slowly for about 40 to 45 minutes, turning occasionally. Once onions are tender and golden, remove from heat and allow to cool down a bit.

While the onions are cooking, mix together the eggs, reserving aside one of the whites in a small bowl. Whisk the half and half, salt, pepper and nutmeg into the eggs and milk mix. Lightly whisk the single egg white and, using a pastry brush, gently brush the white into the tart pastry. Return any unused egg white from the little bowl to the larger mixture of eggs.

When ready to assemble, first place the tepid onions into the tart shell, scattering evenly. Add the bacon, spreading evenly. Top with the shredded cheese, spreading to edges. Pour in the eggs and half and half mixture. If using a tart pan with removable rim, set the pan onto a baking sheet for easier transport to the oven. If using a pie plate, the baking sheet is not necessary.

Bake for 15 minutes at 425 degrees, then lower the oven to 300 degrees. If using a 10-inch tart pan, being thinner, it may take only about 6 to 8 minutes more baking time. Test by inserting a knife halfway between the center and edge of the pan. It should come out wet, but with no apparent egg/milk on it.

If using a pie plate, the filling will be far thicker and may require up to 30 minutes in the oven to finalize cooking time. Trust your nose! When the quiche begins to smell mouth-wateringly good, it is likely done, or very close.



My passion is teaching people how to create a harmony of flavors with their cooking, and passing along my love and joy of food, both simple or exotic, plain or fancy. I continue my journey in ethnic and domestic cuisines, continuing my journey to explore diverse culinary experiences and hopefully to start you on a journey of your own. Join me also at A Harmony of Flavors on Facebook, and Pinterest.

Hash Browns, Hatch Chiles & Eggs

Hash Browns for One, with eggs

I have had a desire to create a "Hatch Chile Sauce" for a long while. This began many years ago, down in Tucson, where one of my sisters resides. Near her house is a park and Tea Garden called Tohono Chul. The park is lovely in the Southwest xeriscape way, showcasing the plants and critters local to the area. The "Tea Garden" or, as I see in the website is now called "Garden Bistro", showcases absolutely fantastic meals, but breakfast is the meal I have enjoyed most often. For years, as I would visit my sister, we would go there and I would order the same meal, every time. It was scrambled eggs, wrapped in corn tortillas, served with a pool of Hatch Chile Sauce and black beans, sour cream and some olives. A Southwest breakfast fit for a king. Everything in that meal caused me raptures. And then, they took it off the menu.

I realize that menus must change periodically. The locals would want something new I assume. But me - I just wished that breakfast was still on the menu. And this is what brings me to this blog. I have been dreaming of that Hatch Chile Sauce ever since. It had a little bit of bite, but was mild, overall. The southwest flavor was the thing that just enchanted me. The last time I was in Tucson, my husband and I drove back from there, via the Grand Canyon, the giant meteor crater (remember "Star Man"?), Hatch, New Mexico, Denver, CO, Aberdeen, SD, and on and on, till we got back to Florida, where we lived at the time. When passing through Hatch, we stopped and I bought a large string of Hatch chilies. I had not really used them; mainly I had them hanging as a decoration. My understanding is that "Hatch Chilies" are just chilies that grow in Hatch, NM, and not any particular variety. They could be hot chilies or mild. The string I have are relatively hot.

A few days ago I wanted some hash browns. My husband will absolutely not eat hash browns if the skins are on the potatoes. Skins are his big, fat no-no. Me - I love the skins, so if I make hash browns for myself, I leave the skins on. I made one little potato-worth of hash browns in a tiny skillet, just for me. I made 2 eggs in the same skillet to set on top of the potatoes and it was my supper. Here is the recipe:

Hash Browns for One

Potato Mixture - In the pan

1 small potato, scrubbed
1 tablespoon olive oil 
3 scallions, chopped
3/4 teaspoon salt
a few grinds of pepper, optional
1 teaspoon cornstarch

One side cooked - Hash Browns served

Chop the scallions and set aside. Lay out a 2-layer thickness of paper toweling at least a foot long or more. Heat a small skillet over medium heat. With a large-holed grater, grate the little potato onto the paper toweling. Spread the shreds out relatively evenly, roll the paper toweling with the potato inside, then squeeze all along the roll to wring as much moisture from the potato shreds as possible. Unroll the paper toweling, dropping the potato shreds with the scallion. Add the salt, pepper if using, and the cornstarch. With fingers, toss the mixture to combine. Add the olive oil to the hot skillet and drop in the potatoes. Press them gently into an even circle. Cover with a lid, reduce heat to medium low and cook for about 4 minutes. Remove lid and set a spatula under one side of the potato cake. Using the pan's momentum, lift the pan and flip the potato cake with the spatula. Back on the heat, cover and cook for another 2 minutes. At this point the potatoes should be cooked through.
Delightful as my hash browns and eggs were, it got me thinking about that Hatch Chile Sauce again, and I started gazing fondly at my string of Hatch chiles and dreaming of how I could make a chile sauce that would be similar to the one at Tohono Chul. I have a large bag of dried Ancho peppers in my freezer. They are in 2 zip-top bags, as I do not use them often, and just want them as fresh as possible when I do want them. I wondered how many chilies it would require to get the sauce to be similar to the one at TC. Theirs was a relatively smooth sauce, a nice dusky orange in color. I figured there was no way to find out but by trying. This is what I did:

My Hatch Ancho Chile Sauce

Hatch Ancho Chile Sauce

Makes 1 pint

2 hot, dried chilies
1 large dried Ancho chili
Boiling water, for soaking 
1 large onion, or 2 small onions, coarsely chopped
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon salt 
2 cloves garlic, coarse chopped
3 tablespoons double concentrated tomato paste (from a tube)
2 - 3 teaspoons fresh thyme leaves, rough-chopped
1 cup water, divided
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cider vinegar
pinch of dried epazote, optional
pinch of annatto powder, optional
1 tablespoon butter
 
In a small saucepan, heat some water to boiling. Reduce to lowest heat and add the 3 chilies. Allow them to steep in the water while starting the onions. Heat a medium skillet and add the olive oil. Add in the onions and teaspoon of salt; saute until translucent, stirring periodically. Add the garlic, thyme and tomato paste and stir to combine, cooking until the garlic is fragrant, about one minute. Add in half the water and stir.
 
Remove the chilies from the hot water. If you want the sauce to be very hot, leave in the seeds and membranes; otherwise, remove stems, seeds and membranes, coarsely chop and add to the skillet. Stir just to combine and pour into a blender or food processor. Process until the sauce is as smooth as you like and return the sauce to the skillet. Stir in the rest of the water, with the half teaspoon salt, vinegar and epazote and annatto, if using. These last may make no appreciable difference. The annato will give more depth of color. The epazote is a very southwest flavor and I have it in my cabinet! Add in the butter and stir until it melts and is well combined. Once cooled, store in the refrigerator for up to a week.

Corn Tortillas, Hash Browns for One, Eggs, Hatch Ancho Chile Sauce with a side of black beans, olives and sour cream

The sauce tasted really good, though it has been quite a few years since I last had it at Tohono Chul. This morning I made my Hash Browns for One, set them onto a couple of tortillas, topped that with two eggs, served myself some black beans and topped the eggs with the newly created Hatch Ancho Chile Sauce. It was a meal fit for a Southwest King - or Queen, as the case may be!



My passion is teaching people how to create a harmony of flavors with their cooking, and passing along my love and joy of food, both simple or exotic, plain or fancy. I continue my journey in ethnic and domestic cuisines, continuing my journey to explore diverse culinary experiences and hopefully to start you on a journey of your own. Join me also at A Harmony of Flavors on Facebook, and Pinterest.

Making Muffins on this Cold Day

This morning with temperatures at -12 degrees, I was in the mood for muffins. I have had some white whole wheat pastry flour in the pantry for a while and hadn't gotten around to using it. This flour is ground from white wheat berries, instead of red wheat, so the color is only a little off of the white of unbleached flour. My first intention was to use half cake flour and half all-purpose, but it just happened that I was out of cake flour. There wasn't enough to make the 1 cup I wanted for the recipe. This was when I noticed the white whole wheat pastry flour. Aha! Inspiration. The recipe can easily be made without the white whole wheat pastry flour; just use the whole 2 cups of all-purpose flour. If you do, try using only ½ cup of buttermilk. Whole wheat flours tend to soak up more moisture, and I used ⅔ cup of buttermilk. Just be advised.

Next step was to create a recipe. Usually I just sit there on my own and compile what I think will work. Sometimes these things work better than others, and this morning the muffins turned out just perfect. They were tender and light, with a nice amount of sweetness and lots of flavor. I wanted to use sour cream in these muffins, but I was out of sour cream, too. All the holiday cooking and baking just wiped out my pantry. I did still have buttermilk in the fridge, so I used that. The rest was simple.

Cranberry Walnut Muffins

Cranberry Walnut Muffins

1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup white whole wheat pastry flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
1 stick unsalted butter, room temperature
½ cup sugar
1 teaspoon dried orange peel, or 1 tablespoon fresh
2 eggs
⅔ cup buttermilk
½ cup craisins (dried cranberries)
½ cup walnuts, broken

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees (350 on Convection). Cream together the butter, sugar and orange peel until light. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each. Separately, sift or whisk together the flour(s), baking powder, baking soda and the salt. Add this alternately with the buttermilk to the creamed ingredients, mixing just until combined. Fold in the craisins and walnuts.

Grease a 12-well muffin tin, or use muffin papers. Divide the batter evenly into the muffin cups and bake for 20 to 25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
This worked so well, I will likely be trying other combinations soon. I hope you will try these out sometime soon.



My passion is teaching people how to create a harmony of flavors with their cooking, and passing along my love and joy of food, both simple or exotic, plain or fancy. I continue my journey in ethnic and domestic cuisines, continuing my journey to explore diverse culinary experiences and hopefully to start you on a journey of your own. Join me also at A Harmony of Flavors on Facebook, and Pinterest.

A Riff on Eggs Benedict

I am writing sporadically lately, because I am in the process of packing up my house, preparing to move. A tedious process, and time consuming. Still, I had to share something. The last time I wrote I gave the recipe for Rosemary Parmesan Biscuits, which were awesome. I cannot recall if I wrote about my desire to try them as a base for a sort of Eggs Benedict? Well, I did. Try it, I mean. OMG.

I always prefer to make things from scratch, so I had the biscuits, which I toasted, cut in half, face down in the pan where I had cooked up some bacon, and then fried some potatoes. I made a quick Hollandaise sauce for one:
 

Hollandaise for One

1 egg yolk
2 tablespoons water
1 tablespoon tarragon vinegar or lemon juice
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
¼ teaspoon salt, or less

Set a small pan of water to simmer. Have everything measured and ready, with the melted butter at hand. Test a small bowl; when set over the simmering water the bottom of the bowl should not touch the water. With the bowl off the pan of water, place the egg yolk and the water. Whisk together and set over the simmering water, whisking briskly until the mixture begins to thicken. Add the vinegar or lemon juice and whisk again until the mixture begins to thicken. With this small amount, it will not take long. Slowly, drizzle in the melted butter, whisking constantly until the mixture has grown in volume and is smooth and creamy. Remove from heat and serve immediately.

Once I removed the hollandaise from over the simmering water, I added a splash of vinegar to the water and cracked in two eggs to poach for 3½ minutes. I cut each of the 2 slices of bacon into 2 pieces and laid them onto the biscuit halves. I set the poached eggs on top of the bacon and spooned the hollandaise over the eggs. It was a remarkable breakfast. Very rich, and not one I do often - maybe once every couple of years. The timing was right, the biscuits were fantastic and I just love Eggs Benedict. This was a bit of a riff on that concept of English Muffins, Canadian Bacon and Poached Eggs, but oh my was it good!

I hope someone out there gives this a try.



 
My passion is teaching people how to create a harmony of flavors with their cooking, and passing along my love and joy of food, both simple or exotic, plain or fancy. I continue my journey in ethnic and domestic cuisines, continuing my journey to explore diverse culinary experiences and hopefully to start you on a journey of your own. Join me also at A Harmony of Flavors on Facebook, and Pinterest.