Happy St Paddy's Day with Irish Lamb Stew

Leprechaun hiding in mug

Yesterday I wrote about my adventure making Irish Brown Bread, or Soda Bread. I am so very pleased with the outcome of that recipe, and plan to repeat it, trying out a few other things; one most notably, the use of barley flour in some amount. That aside, today I am making an Irish type of lamb stew, for a tip of the hat to St. Paddy's Day.

As I wrote yesterday, when looking at a new recipe, most particularly one from a specific ethnicity, I try to get all the information about the background as possible before actually creating a recipe. I may or not accede to all the strictures, but I make my decisions from an informed standpoint. Hopefully. Again, looking up traditional recipes and background, I learned that firstly, the traditional meat is mutton. The peasant Irish would have kept the sheep until other uses were no longer viable (milk, wool) and then the animal might be butchered, and voila, mutton. Nowadays, mutton is hard to come by, so the most selected meat to use is lamb shoulder. I only had access to what is available in my freezer. Either I cut up another leg of lamb, or use the stew-type cut called chislic in these parts. Unfortunately, chislic comes with an excessive amount of fat, so I spent time cutting as much off as possible.

In general, recipes for Irish Lamb Stew abound. There are recipes from many famous chefs as well as others like me, writing a blog and learning. Many of the recipes I read online called for using a dark beer such as Guinness Stout for some, if not all, the cooking liquid. I thought, "What a great idea!" And then when I came to read some admonitions about what an Irish peasant may have done long ago, using beer in their stew was absolutely not done. Much like with using butter in the Soda Bread, where the thought was that they'd rather slather butter on the finished bread than waste it in the recipe - the same goes for beer. Beer in the stew? Heavens no, they would rather drink it, when available. It seems that a true authentic Irish stew is made with mutton, onions, potatoes and water. The additions of barley and/or carrots is argued to give the "wrong" flavors. Oh well. While I like to adhere to basics as much as possible, I do like carrots and barley, so I opted to use them.

Irish Lamb Stew and Brown Bread

Up until this morning, I still had not set down definite amounts for the stew. When I make a stew of any kind, more often than not I am tossing things in until it looks "right" to me. I make a pile of something that seems a good amount, then measure it to write down the amounts. This is what I did with this stew. Another thing about traditional Irish Stew; the fat used. It is stipulated that the meat should not be fatty. Most old recipes do not call for browning the meat (I enjoyed this site and the information through the years), but instead layering it with onion and potatoes. I think I saw mention of a knob of butter somewhere in my reading, but generally, all the stew ingredients are placed into a pot, well covered and sealed and stewed slowly. I did use fat to brown the meat, dredged in flour. I do not often dredge meat in flour and had not initially planned to do this.

This required browning, and the only oil I keep is olive, which I do not believe would give a traditional flavor, much as I love olive oil! Browning in butter would just burn the butter, so I scrapped that idea. Instead, I used bacon fat. Maybe not traditional, but then neither is browning!  One thing that occurred while browning the dredged meat: a LOT of fond. It was so dark, though not - quite - burned, that when I added in a bit of water to loosen it up, it created the most beautiful, and beautifully fragrant, base for the stew. I added onion and garlic to this mixture and stewed them for about 20 minutes while prepping the other ingredients. The whole pot, once assembled, smelled heavenly.

Nicely thickened Irish Stew

If lamb is unavailable, beef stew meat can be substituted, by the way. The best pot to use is an enameled cast iron. It heats wonderfully and does not burn food easily.

I had planned to make a small pot of lamb stock to use as the liquid in the stew. And then I forgot. I had one bone from a leg of lamb just waiting in the freezer, so I pulled it out this morning and set it in a 375 degree oven for an hour to brown it. This bone I set into the center of the stew pot, to hopefully also lend its magical flavors. I am anticipating a wonderfully redolent pot of stew for dinner tonight, with some flavorful Brown Bread alongside.

My Irish Lamb Stew

Irish Lamb Stew

Serves 6 to 8

2 pounds lamb shoulder meat, or other lamb stew meat
½ cup flour, for dredging
1 teaspoon salt
few grinds of pepper
2 tablespoons bacon fat, or other oil
1 cup water or beef stock
1 large onion, cubed
1 - 2 cloves garlic, minced
2 cups celery, sliced
1½ cups peeled, sliced carrots
½ cup chopped parsley
¼ cup long-cooking barley
1 tablespoon fresh thyme leaves, chopped
2 bay leaves
1 teaspoon salt
more pepper if desired
5 cups water or stock
2 pounds potatoes

All done!

Preheat oven to 275 degrees, or whatever temperature will maintain a low simmer. Cut the meat into chunks, if it is not, already. Mix the flour, 1 teaspoon of salt and some pepper and dredge the meat in this mixture. Heat an enameled cast iron pot (preferable, if available) over medium high heat and add in 1 tablespoon of oil or bacon fat. Brown half the beat, removing to a plate. Brown the second half of the meat and remove to the plate. Add 1 cup of water or stock to the pot and stir, scraping up the deep brown bits stuck to the bottom of the pot. Add in the onion and garlic and stir, allowing this to cook gently while prepping the celery & carrots. Once ready, add the meat back into the pot along with the celery and carrots. Add the parsley, barley, thyme, bay leaves, the extra teaspoon salt, more pepper if desired and the 5 cups of water or stock. Let the stew come to a gentle boil. Peel and cut into very small chunks one of the potatoes and add in. This is to help with thickening the stew. Cover with a tight fitting lid and set into the oven to cook slowly for 1 1/2 to 2 hours. Peel and cut the remaining potatoes into larger chunks and add to the stew. Cover and return the pot to the oven for at least another hour, or until the potatoes are cooked through.
Too many ingredients? Maybe. This stew suited my husband and me just fine, regardless.


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.

St Paddy's Day and Irish Brown Bread

Irish Brown Bread

I don't really celebrate St Paddy's Day myself, nor am I Irish. My eldest daughter chose that day to get married 20 years ago, and so that remains a cause for celebration, but not because of the Irish sense of it. I rarely remember to wear green, and do not have much of anything green to wear, even should I choose to do so.

 
Still. While Irish is nowhere in my own heritage, my husband does have Irish in his ancestry. He pays no more attention to St Paddy's Day than I do; probably less. Green is a color he probably wouldn't be caught dead in anyway. As for food, well, when attending Gaelic festivals, he will eat lamb stew. He does not drink beer. At all, ever. He'd probably be thrown out of Ireland for that heresy. Just being facetious here.

What I am getting at is that in all my (almost) 65 years, I have never even once made anything specifically "Irish", whether for St Paddy's or any other time. Unless you count Irish Oatmeal ;-) When perusing my Facebook feed a few days ago, I saw a recipe for Irish Brown Bread, something I have never tried before. I did eat what was supposedly Irish Soda Bread a couple of years ago at the local Gaelic Festival, with some lamb stew, but while it was good, having never looked at a recipe, I really had no idea what went in it (besides baking soda). And there began my search.

My Irish Brown Bread, sliced and buttered

Search, and Research

When I look into a new recipe, and more particularly if it is a specific ethnic food, I like to find out what I can about where it came from, why it is made that way and what the most authentic recipe might be. On that research I base any ideas of my own. The recipe I saw on FB had whole wheat flour, whole wheat pastry flour, soda, salt, butter and buttermilk. Many recipes I saw online also had butter in the ingredients, and some had eggs. Some added honey, and some added sugar. Okay, but what is truly authentic, I wondered? I refined my search to "traditional" Irish Brown Bread and came up with actual Irish people's recipes. One was from Rachel Allen. But more to the point, I did learn a bit more about Irish Brown Bread or Soda Bread and why it is made as it is.

What I learned is that in Ireland, the flour that was available long ago was too "soft" (their words, not mine), or too low in gluten and did not work well with yeast to make a yeast risen bread. The flour available was mainly coarse whole grain, whether wheat, barley or oat. Soda was used as the leavening agent, but the bread itself was a simple thing: flour, soda and buttermilk. Even salt was optional. What was stated is that anything like butter, eggs or much less honey added to this bread is most absolutely not traditional Irish Brown Bread. The Irish would keep the butter to spread on the finished bread, not waste it in making the loaf. 

Having looked at and compared over 10 recipes, from the butter and egg types to the simple flour, soda and buttermilk varieties, I decided on a very slight deviation from the absolute basics. Based on the concept that the flour was not conducive to yeast use, I thought I would use mostly a slightly coarse grind of whole wheat, with a little all-purpose flour and an even lesser amount of cake flour to try and replicate a mixture that would be a poor mixture for yeast bread. The cake flour can be substituted with all-purpose flour, bringing that amount up to 1½ cups total. I did toast some wheat germ to add, as well as adding a little oatmeal. Other than that, I stayed within the basics. I did consider using some barley flour, but I will reserve that for the next try. My husband got me a wonderful grain mill not long ago, so making some barley flour will be a fun experiment. For now, this is what I did to make my version of Irish Brown Bread, which I will be serving with my Irish Lamb Stew tomorrow.

Irish Brown Bread sliced

Irish Brown Bread

Makes 1 loaf

2 cups whole wheat flour
1 cup all-purpose flour
½ cup cake flour (or use all-purpose)
½ cup wheat germ, lightly toasted
½ cup rolled oats
2 teaspoons baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
2 cups buttermilk

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Lightly grease a baking sheet and set aside. In a large mixing bowl stir together all the dry ingredients. Make a well in the center and pour in all the buttermilk. Stir in the center, gradually incorporating all the dry ingredients, until no dry remains. Turn the mixture out onto a floured surface and "knead" gently by patting out the dough, folding it in half, flattening and folding, about 8 to 10 times. Form into a round loaf approximately 9-inches in diameter and 1½ inches high. Cut a large "X" across the top. Bake the loaf for about 45 to 50 minutes, until nicely golden and it sounds hollow when tapped on the bottom. Cool on a rack.

Irish Brown Bread

The Verdict?

This loaf came out nice and brown with a great crust, moist in the center and a beautiful crumb. It is dense and filled with all that is good in wheat. This bread will pair extremely well with the Lamb Stew I will make tomorrow. I will be making this again, as I want to try it with barley flour. The recipe, as it stands, is fantastic!


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.

Chicken Mole to Pair with a Zinfandel Wine

I have now gotten all my ducks in a row, referring to the appetizers to pair with wines for the upcoming wine tasting event, to benefit the Boys and Girls Club of Aberdeen area. I have all the appetizers tried and tested and have been making parts that can be frozen ahead of time. The event is just two weeks away, so the time will be upon me very shortly. I'd been merrily working away, making sure all the foods will pair with the wines' styles and flavors. And then Friday I was informed two of the wines I selected would not be available, and I needed to choose others!

Yikes!

I was really looking forward to the Barbera wine, as I do not believe I have actually tried one before. This is the wine I created the little Pork & Chicken Mini Sausage Sliders to pair with, specifically. Back to the wine list to try and see what might be the best pairing, as there were no other Barbera wines on that list. Ultimately, and only after a long process, I selected a Merlot. While Merlot would not necessarily have been a first choice or even second, it seemed to be the most similar to a Barbera in the types of foods to pair, the flavors associated with the wine and perhaps even the viscosity. All that aside, the other wine that was taken off my list was the Zinfandel I had chosen. This particular one was easier to replace, as there were quite a few Zinfandels on that list. 

Chicken in Mole Sauce served on Masa Corn Cakes

As it happens, the appetizer I created to pair with the Zin was Chicken Mole (pronounced MO-lay) served on Corn Masa Cakes. Obviously, not all Zinfandels (or Barberas or Cabernets or any other varietals) are necessarily created equal, but I have some confidence, after researching the new Zinfandel selection, that it should pair with the Mole equally well.

Initially I had some difficulty with settling on a base for the mole - meaning what it will be served on. I finally came up with a Corn Masa Cake concept. I did not want just a thick tortilla, though I did want corn as the flavor base. Initially, I had some Bob's Red Mill Corn Masa flour and used that mixed with some cornmeal and a little all-purpose flour. These little resultant cakes were perfect - except that I wanted to be able to cut them open, serving the chicken mole on the cut side. These little cakes were far too thin to cut open easily, though the flavor was precisely what I wanted. However when I went shopping for the actual ingredients, there was no Bob's Red Mill Masa flour available. Instead I bought Quaker brand corn tortilla flour, not realizing that this brand had lots of things added to it already. It didn't look the same or smell the same and by golly it did not act the same when mixed up, either. 

My Corn Masa Cakes

Still, once done tinkering a bit with the recipe, the results were even better than the original little cakes. They came out nearly the size of the little mini English muffins I made: similar thickness and a nice heft, certainly capable of holding a dollop of Chicken in Mole Sauce! As a matter of fact, I am planning to make them as biscuits for breakfast one of these days - they were THAT good! I proceeded to make various batches of the Corn Masa Cakes (I think calling them Corn Masa Biscuits would be more apt, but I already termed them "cakes" on my posters for the event). I sliced them and froze them. The mole is all made and ready, and I have only to shred chicken to add in for the event.

These Corn Masa Cakes or Biscuits can be made in formed cakes as I did for the wine event, though the dough is almost a batter. It can be formed, if one has nicely oiled hands when forming them. I made them much as I made the mini English muffins, baking them first on a griddle at 350 degrees and then in a 350 degree oven to finish them off. I have not yet made them as drop biscuits, but my thought is possibly to bake them in a 375 degree oven for about 10 to 15 minutes. Once I actually test this, I will note the results here.

Corn Masa Cakes / Biscuits

Very soft dough set on griddle to bake

Makes 8 small cakes, 2½ inches in diameter

1 cup Quaker Corn Tortilla flour
¼ cup yellow cornmeal (I used Quaker)
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons lard or butter
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon baking powder
½ cup tepid water

In a mixing bowl, or the bowl of an electric mixer, stir together the dry ingredients. Add in the lard and cut in or let the paddle attachment do the work, until coarse crumbs have formed. Add in the water all at once and mix for about 2 or 3 minutes. Set the bowl aside for at least 15 minutes, and up to an hour.

If forming the little cakes, Spray hands with cooking spray or have a little cooking oil on hand. With well-greased hands, scoop up a small amount. If weighing, to ensure they are all evenly sized, I weighed each ball at 1.5 ounces. Roll quickly into a ball, then set on a well-greased surface while the remainder are formed. Press the tops gently, spreading them to a relatively flat surface. When ready to make them, have a griddle handy, set to 350 degrees. Use a spatula to transfer the little soft cakes to the griddle. Bake them for about 4 minutes per side, then set them on a baking sheet and bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for another 5 minutes, to set the centers. If making these for appetizers, as for the mole recipe below, you will need more than 8, so double or triple the recipe as needed. Split the little cakes open before using.

Unhulled Sesame and
Green Pumpkin Seeds, toasted

If anyone is unfamiliar with Mole sauce, it is most often thought of as Mexican, and often called Mole Poblano. I learned to make mole sauces when I lived in Guatemala, and the mole sauce in Guatemala is different, though it can be altered in any number of ways to personalize it. Generally, it is sauce made with a base of tomatoes, tomatillos and red bell pepper and/or dried red chilies. Seeds such as sesame and pumpkin are toasted, ground and added, generally along with some cinnamon and possibly other things like cloves, allspice and pepper, also toasted and ground. Chocolate is the final defining characteristic of this sauce. I have not made a Mexican Mole sauce, but have seen various chefs on TV and read in books and online where sometimes raisins and/or peanuts are also added in. Not in Guatemala though, and I really love the Guatemalan sauce. I did decide on adding in raisins. My reasoning was that I wanted just a hint of sweetness. I initially thought of adding in just a little sugar. But when thinking further, I felt that the raisins would give that little hint of sweetness far more naturally. 

Be advised, you will need to go to a Health Food store or online to find the unhulled sesame needed for this recipe (as well as the pumpkin seeds). The seeds need to be toasted lightly to bring out their flavor, and it is impossible to toast the shiny little hulled sesame seeds found in spice jars on shelves in the store. These, without the hull, are shiny and the oils come out immediately, causing them to burn in the hot pan.

For this huge event, I want making the food as easy as possible, so I am using a store-bought rotisserie chicken, removed from skin and bones and well shredded. This Chicken and Mole sauce can be eaten as a meal. Serve over rice, with a side of tortillas! This will serve 4 to 6 as a meal. So...

Chicken in Mole Sauce

Chicken in Mole on Masa Corn Cakes

SAUCE:
3 tablespoons green pumpkin seeds
3 tablespoons unhulled sesame seeds
1-inch true cinnamon stick, crumbled
2 whole cloves
3 allspice berries
1/2 teaspoon black peppercorns
3 tomatillos, husk removed
3 or 4 Roma tomatoes
1 red bell pepper
1 Pasa or Ancho (dried) chile
1/2 cup raisins
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 slices bread
2 tablespoons lard or butter
1 ounce unsweetened bakers chocolate
-----

1 whole rotisserie chicken, skin and bones removed, shredded
cilantro for garnish

Heat a dry skillet very hot. Add in the sesame seeds and stir quickly and constantly for a couple of minutes, or until they are lightly toasted and have been making tiny little snapping noises as they pop from the heat. Once toasted, turn them out to a plate to cool. Return the skillet to the burner and add in the pumpkin seeds. Stir quickly and constantly until they pop and have lightly browned in spots. Do not over brown! Turn out to the plate. Add the cinnamon, cloves, allspice and peppercorns and stir quickly and constantly until they are very fragrant, just a minute or so, and turn them out to the plate to cool. Set aside.

If you own a Vita-Mix blender, all the sauce ingredients can go into the same blender container with the vegetables in the next step. If not, the spices should be ground very finely in a mortar with pestle or in a spice grinder.

Size of the little appetizer portion

In a saucepan with water, cook the tomatoes, tomatillos, red bell pepper (seeds, stem and membranes removed), Pasa chile and the raisins until all the ingredients are soft. With a slotted spoon, remove the Pasa chile to a plate. Add the remaining ingredients to the blender with the slotted spoon and then add in the salt. To the remaining water, add the bread to soak, then add the bread to the blender. Discard the remaining water and wipe the pan dry. Remove the stem and seeds from the Pasa chile, then add this chile to the blender. Puree all the ingredients until very smooth.

Place the lard or butter in the saucepan and set it back on the burner on medium low heat. Pour in the blender ingredients and the ground spices (if not blended together). Stir to combine, and add in the chocolate to melt. The mixture will be thick and will spatter and burn. Be extra cautious and have a lid handy. Stir occasionally until the chocolate is melted and combined. Allow the sauce to boil for a few minutes to meld the flavors.

Add the shredded chicken and stir. Garnish with cilantro, if desired.

If using this Mole recipe for appetizers, use about a tablespoon of the chicken mole per corn masa cake.


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.

Creating Appetizers for Wine Pairing

I've been working very diligently to create the appetizers to pair with wines for the Winefest Renaissance 2015, to benefit the Boys and Girls Club of Aberdeen Area. As with the past two years, I have selected 6 wines to showcase, for the purpose of teaching people to take the time to really taste a wine, using a wine rating sheet of my design. This forces one to take note of the particular aspects of a wine, from the immediate bouquet, the "legs" that give some indication of viscosity, the taste of the wine itself and all the possible adjectives to describe. All these things will give a person more knowledge of what it is about a wine that they like or dislike. Does one like earthy wines or floral wines? Or maybe peppery with leather? How about blackberry and cedar? These last all describe various red wines. White wines have other adjectives such as  apple, peach, grapefruit, mineral, chalk, butter, honey, vanilla and many more.

Wine with "Legs"

Once one establishes the particular attributes of sight, smell and taste, is it a wine you like? If not, sometimes a particular food will make a wine more palatable, sometimes changing its character completely. With a proper pairing of food, a wine can be enhanced dramatically. Just as an improper pairing of food can made a wine taste awful. The goal during my presentation at the Winefest Renaissance is to make little appetizer foods that encompass the correct food flavors to show a wine's character to best advantage.

Part of my newest Varietal/Food Pairing Sheet

To assist myself in the creation of a proper pairing of food with a wine, I created wine varietal and food pairing charts. I had 5 pages made, with 5 kinds of varietal or blend per page. Some are blends, such as Bordeaux or Meritage, that always use a particular few varietals to create a blend. Most of my sheets contain single varietals and with these lists of foods to pair, I look through and come up with ideas. One particular wine was giving me fits this year. It is the Menage a Trois 'Midnight'. I had not yet actually tasted this wine, but had read about it. I do like the original Menage a Trois blends, both red and white. The "Midnight" has 4 varietals in its mix, instead of three. The part that stumped me was the mixture of Petite Sirah and Petit Verdot. Though I know I have tasted Petite Sirah on its own, I had no recollection of the particular attributes. And as for Petit Verdot, I had no clue at all. So, back to the internet and the beginning of another wine varietal and food pairing sheet!

Sara Lee on left, my mini on right

As it turns out, the Menage a Trois 'Midnight's' claim of deep dark color can be attributed to the Petite Sirah, known for its deep, dark inky color. The Petit Verdot mostly contributes the tannic structure or backbone. Once I had those concepts in my mind, it was a little easier to see how some of the food suggestions could make more sense. Pizza, Italian food, Mexican food; these were the suggested items. I opted to make some kind of mini pizza for this Wine Tasting Event. 

Then came the search for what form this appetizer would take. I completely changed my approach 4 separate times. Once it came down to the creation of a sample, I tried making pizza dough and rolling it out like for cinnamon rolls and filling, slicing, baking. Nope. This was messy at best. I tried using regular English Muffins (I used Sara Lee). Nope. My husband and I both agreed: too big for just tasting. But still, the English Muffin was really tasty for this application. I had been wanting to make English Muffins for quite some time already, and since there is a recipe in The Bread Baker's Apprentice by Peter Reinhart (which book I have been touting for over a year now), I finally went for it. I created small English Muffins about 2½-inches in diameter. I used a few to test with the pizza toppings and they were just the right size. I had reached Eureka!!

Final size: one tiny muffin half

What remains for the creation of these appetizers is to first make a whole lot more of the little English Muffins. The toppings will be set in place and baked on the day of the event. Most people eat pizza cold, or at least room temperature at some time, and these will be at room temperature. To test out the taste comparison, I bought a bottle of the Menage a Trois 'Midnight' to drink with these little bitty pizzas. It was an absolute perfect pairing!

I know not everyone will have the time or ability to make tiny English Muffins. If anyone does, I made each ball of English Muffin dough to weigh 33 grams on my little kitchen scale, or a scant 1.25 ounces. They are just cute as can be. They are still about the thickness of a regular English Muffin, so they are sturdy enough to hold the toppings and easily held to eat neatly without utensils. 

Ready to bake

For the toppings, I wanted to use sausage initially, but instead opted for pepperoni. To make the toppings easy to apply, I mixed together in a bowl some store-bought pizza sauce, a little grated Parmesan cheese, some pepperoni (about one or so slice per muffin half) chopped finely and a little green pepper, just because I love green pepper on pizza! I always make garlic steeped in olive oil to brush on pizza dough before ever applying toppings, and I did the same here. I brushed each English muffing half with the oil, then placed a small dollop of the pizza sauce mixture, spreading to the edges. One of the particular cheeses mentioned for this kind of wine was cheddar, so I made sure the type of shredded cheese topping contained cheddar. They are easy to assemble this way and they baked at 375 for about 10 minutes to perfect melty goodness. 

Perfect size and perfect melty goodness

Best of all? They were absolutely perfect when tasted with the Menage a Trois 'Midnight'! I could not have asked for a better way to show how well a food can taste with a particular wine.

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.

Reprise of my Valentine Cake

Almond Pistachio Torte with Baklava Flavors

Ever since Valentine's Day, when I made an Almond Pistachio Torte with Baklava Flavors, I have been itching to remake the torte, with some changes. Don't get me wrong - there was absolutely nothing wrong with the flavors. There was nothing wrong with the cake at all, except that if someone with less experience tries that recipe, it will yield a lot of frustration and possibly some heartbreak along with it. 

My Reasons for Making Changes

For starters, when I get going on the creation of a recipe, I am of the "more is better" school. It is really hard for me to scale back on ingredients. I also usually look for what will be the most rich, unless I am absolutely working on a recipe for paring back in some way, due to someone's dietary restrictions. Going on that theme, I used 5 eggs, 1 2/3 cup sugar, 2 sticks of butter and a half cup of heavy cream, on top of the 3+ cups of ground nuts. As I said; rich. My goal was to have the flavors of Baklava, in a cake. That much was pretty good. The actual layers of the torte were too fragile, too wet, too sunken in the middle. 

I used possibly more glaze than needed, but oh my, was that cake moist. I think part of the sinking-in-the-middle problem was too much meringue in the batter and way too much butter mixed in. When attempting to trim the very high edges, the pieces were wet enough to pack into the middle, where the layer was sunken. All this was okay, ultimately. The cake held together, but trying to move the layers onto the cake to ice them was a real trick. The flavors were wonderful. Still, I wanted something less friable. 

"New and Improved": Nut Torte with Baklava Flavors

Creating a New Version

I got thinking it has been a while since I made a dessert. Desserts are generally my specialty. And my mind once again turned to that Almond Pistachio Torte. I got out my Grandma's recipe for a Nut Torta, alongside my recipe for the Almond Pistachio Torte. The vast differences were almost funny. Grandma's cake was mostly eggs with a little sugar and 1 cup of nuts. I wanted to keep the 3 cups of ground nuts I used originally, but felt that I needed more eggs in the mix. Less as meringue, perhaps, but more overall. I thought I needed less sugar, so I lowered that quantity. I eliminated both the 2 sticks of butter (Grandma's cake has no oil or butter at all), keeping only the 1/4 cup of olive oil, which I absolutely had intended using from the get-go. 

The flavors in the original Almond Pistachio Torte were of Baklava: cinnamon, cloves, cardamom, rose water. I kept these, but used slightly more: a teaspoon apiece of cinnamon and cardamom, and I kept the rosewater at 1 teaspoon. The glaze I used on the original cake was upwards of 8 tablespoons of liquid. The cake layers were too moist to begin with. Not knowing how this second attempt would fare, I chose to lower the liquids to 4 tablespoons. As it turned out, this cake could easily have taken the amount I used in the first one. While the torte layers were in no way dry, the extra glaze would not have hurt at all.

Nice soft crumb when fresh

In the first cake, I wanted pistachios, as my husband loves pistachios. I was going for the love, being Valentine's Day! This time I used 1 cup each of ground almonds, pecans and walnuts. Any nuts preferred will work. It can be made with all of one particular kind of nut meal, or half and half of two kinds. 

The Results

Freshly made, the torte was lovely. The layers  came out of the pans easily and were exceptionally easy to handle. Immediately sliced, the torte was nowhere near the "wet" consistency of the first torte. Obviously I could have used more of the glaze this time, rather than cutting the mixture in half. Once the cake set for a while, cut, it started to dry very quickly. Inside, it was still nice and moist as a cake should be, but the outside was not holding up. If it is meant to go quickly, this should be no problem. Another option to help it stay more moist: put less icing between the layers and stretch it to cover the sides also. I have not tasted it yet this second day, but if it was drying that quickly on the day it was made, I think I need more of something to keep it moist. More olive oil in the batter, and more glaze after baking, probably. Also this time I used all purpose flour in the batter, rather than the rice flour in the first mixture. I may go back to the rice flour concept. I have a feeling I am going to have a round 3 on this recipe before too long!

Nut Torte with Baklava Flavors

Nut Torte with Baklava Flavors

Makes one 4-layer 8-inch torte

8 eggs, divided, room temperature
1¼ cups sugar
¼ cup olive oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon rosewater, optional
1 tablespoon fresh lemon zest
3 cups finely ground nuts of choice
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon ground true cinnamon, (sometimes called Ceylon cinnamon)
1 teaspoon ground cardamom seeds
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon ground cloves
1 tablespoon sugar
 
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease four 8-inch round pans. Cut parchment to fit the bottoms of the pans and set the parchment inside, then grease the parchment. Grind the nuts, measure out three cups worth and set aside. Sift or whisk together the flour, cinnamon, cardamom, salt, baking powder and cloves and set aside. Mix together the olive oil, vanilla extract and rosewater and set aside.

In a mixer bowl, crack in 5 of the eggs. Separate the remaining 3 eggs and put the yolks with the 5 eggs and the 3 whites in another clean bowl. Set the whole egg mixture in a stand mixer with the 1¼ cups sugar and beat on medium or medium high speed until the mixture is very light and fluffy and will drop slowly, ribbon-like, dissolving back into the mixture, taking a few seconds to disappear. Mix in the olive oil mixture and the lemon zest, then stir in the nuts.

With a mixer and very clean beaters, beat the 3 egg whites until they hold soft peaks. Slowly add in the tablespoon of sugar and beat to stiff peaks. Fold this mixture into the batter until no white remains. Divide the mixture evenly between the 4 pans. Bake the layers for about 15 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Let the layers cool for a few minutes in the pans, then turn them out onto cooling racks. Brush on the Glaze, dividing evenly between the 4 layers.

Glaze
1 tablespoon water
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon honey
1 strip (about 1 x 2½-inches) lemon peel
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1-inch true cinnamon stick, crumbled
3 whole cloves

Set all the glaze ingredients in a small saucepan over very low heat and let them steep while the cake is baking. Strain the mixture and brush onto the cake layers.

Frost the layers with Honey Butter Icing (found here).

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.

Chicken & Mushroom Pate to Serve with a Pinot Noir

Continuing with my testing of new recipes to pair with the wines I will showcase at this year's Winefest Renaissance, benefiting the Boys & Girls Club of Aberdeen Area, yesterday I made Chicken & Mushroom Pate. This will pair with an earthy Pinot Noir from J Vineyards. Once again, the recipe came out splendidly, and just what I hoped, flavor-wise. Gathering ideas of what to use in the making of this appetizer, I selected items from my food and varietal pairing sheets. I wanted to use mushrooms, because what is more earthy than a mushroom? Still, I wanted to pair a meat in there somewhere. Chicken seems to be the dominant meat in this year's food pairings. So far I have 3 dishes with chicken as a part of the whole. 

Pairing list

Looking through the internet, the most common pairing in a mushroom pate is chicken livers. Perhaps chicken livers are a great match. I, however, will not eat liver of any kind. Believe me, it is not that I am blacklisting something I have never tried, either. I have tried chicken liver pate; even made it once myself. I was fed beef liver as a child and hated it then. I made it as an adult and still hated it. So, no liver in my pate!

So what would be good to pair with the mushrooms, I wondered. Since I had already bought boneless, skinless chicken thighs to use in the little Pork & Chicken Sausage patties for the sliders I wrote of a couple of days ago, I felt that chicken thighs, being a dark meat, would be a great pairing with the mushrooms. I do not really care for dark meat from chicken or turkey, but if it is mixed in something I can eat it just fine. Okay then, chicken thigh meat would be used. Looking at the list of foods to pair, I chose Pecorino Romano cheese to add that sharpness to the mix. I used fresh rosemary to perk up flavors even more. 

Chicken Mushroom Pate on Pita Crisps

Recently I created a spice mixture I am calling "Pepperless Piquancy". I love pepper. particularly black Tellicherry peppercorns, freshly ground. Not everyone is quite the pepper fanatic that I am though, so I was thinking about spices that could give a similar "zip" to a dish, but contain no true pepper. I made it up a while ago, but have not posted it here in my blog because I have been judiciously testing and tasting it to see how it works. I used some of this Pepperless Piquancy in my pate. I cannot really taste it as such, but I was really loving the overall flavors. Nothing was jarring or out of place. If you do not have the spices to mix a batch of my Pepperless Piquancy to try out in this appetizer, just substitute ground pepper; even better if the Gourmet Blend sort. If looking at the Pepperless Piquancy recipe below and you note that the main ingredient is pink peppercorns, understand that pink peppercorns are not related to pepper at all, but because they resemble pepper and have a certain pepper-like sharp fruitiness, they are included in pepper blends.

Pepperless Piquancy

Makes almost ¼ cup

1½ tablespoons pink peppercorns
1 tablespoon Szechuan "pepper"
1½ teaspoons Grains of Paradise
½ tablespoons ground ginger

Toast the first three ingredients in a hot, dry skillet until they are very fragrant. Pour them out onto a plate to cool, then grind them to a powder in a spice grinder or with a mortar and pestle. Stir in the ground ginger. Store the mixture in a jar with tight fitting lid in a cool dark place.
I also used a teaspoon of black cardamom seeds, going on what our friend Rich suggested when he first smelled their smoky aroma. He felt the black cardamom would pair well with mushrooms, and it truly does. Again, not everyone will have black cardamom in their spice rack, so this is optional. If looking for the smoky quality to substitute in this appetizer, I suggest smoked paprika. Use 1/2 teaspoon, taste and add another if it is not yet of the smoky flavor you want.

Down to the Basics

Okay, I now had a creditable list of food items I wanted to use in the making of this Chicken Mushroom Pate. I debated adding some dried mushrooms but left that out. Just another step, when there is already much to do. One thing I truly meant to do was add some toasted walnuts. Unfortunately I completely forgot! Another thing I absolutely wanted to do was deglaze the pan, after cooking either the mushrooms or the chicken. I like to add wine and let it completely evaporate. It gives such great flavor intensity. Mushrooms and chicken can be bland. I was looking for ways to punch up the flavor. I had some dry Prosecco in the fridge, so I used that. Any dry white wine would do well in this instance.

Now that I had an idea of how to make the Chicken Mushroom Pate, I also had to decide what to serve the pate ON. I thought long on this aspect. My sister in law suggested using the little bagel chips. Some bagel chips I have seen are very tiny, and I was unsure how this would work. I did like the idea of using something crisp, in contrast to the soft texture of the pate. I popped over to the local grocery yesterday and picked up a pack each of Bagel Chips and also Pita Crisps. Turns out that the bagel chips are so hard and crunchy, it makes it impossible to take a bite. Either you stuff your face with the whole thing, or it crumbles and breaks. Okay, nix the bagel chips. The Pita Crisps however, were perfect. I felt like I had found Mama Bear's Chair - it was just right. They are thinner, yet have enough strength to hold the pate. It is easy to take a bite and still have the remainder stay whole. Bingo.

One serving of Chicken Mushroom Pate, to pair with a sampling of Pinot Noir

This pate is perfect to serve in a bowl with a little spreader. Since I am using this to pair with a Pinot Noir at a wine tasting event, I am serving two little pita crisps with a little scoop of pate on each as one portion. Measured out, this recipe made 68 scoops (about 1 tablespoon each), or 34 servings.

Chicken Mushroom Pate

68 (1-tablespoon size) scoops

Chicken Mushroom Pate on Pita Crisps

CHICKEN PREP:
1 pound boneless, skinless chicken thighs, well trimmed
1 teaspoon Pepperless Piquancy, or ground pepper to taste
1 teaspoon salt
2 - 3 cloves fresh garlic, minced

MUSHROOM MIXTURE:
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 onion (about 6 - 6 1/2 ounces), finely chopped
1 pound mushrooms (I used Baby Bellas), sliced
½ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon black cardamom seeds, ground, optional
1 tablespoon fresh rosemary leaves, finely minced
⅔ cup champagne or dry white wine
more olive oil, for frying the chicken
3 tablespoons fresh parsley, finely chopped
3 ounces (1 cup grated) Pecorino Romano cheese
½ cup heavy cream, divided
parsley leaves, for garnish

First, make sure the chicken is well trimmed of fat and cut into small pieces, none larger than 1-inch. Sprinkle on the Pepperless Piquancy, salt and the minced garlic and mix together well. Set this aside while preparing the mushroom mixture.

mushrooms releasing liquid  |  liquid cooked out  |  wine added  |  wine evaporated  |  chicken well browned

Heat a large skillet, preferably nonstick, and add in the butter and tablespoon of olive oil. Once melted, add the minced onion and lower heat to medium low, cooking the onion very slowly, about 8 minutes, until softened and golden. Add the mushrooms to the onions in the pan and raise the heat to medium high. It will seem a lot at first, but they will cook down quickly. Add in the 1/2 teaspoon salt, black cardamom, if using. Cook, stirring for 15 to 18 minutes, until all the liquid that releases from the mushrooms is cooked out, and the  mushrooms are golden brown. Add in the rosemary and the champagne and cook quickly, stirring, until all the wine has evaporated, 5 to 8 minutes. Pour this mixture into a large bowl to cool. 

Before and after processing the mixture

Return the skillet to the heat and add in a little more olive oil. Pour in the chicken mixture and cook on medium high, tossing continually to brown evenly and cook the meat through, about 6 to 8 minutes. Once meat is cooked through, add to the bowl with the mushrooms. Add in the parsley. Let the mixture cool to room temperature. 

Once cooled, add the Pecorino and mix. Using a food processor, process the mixture very fine in two batches. During this process, add in half the heavy cream to each batch being processed. Remove to a bowl and mix well. This can be made 1 or 2 days in advance. The mixture can also be frozen until needed. Thaw completely before using.

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.

Mini Sliders to Pair with a Barbera Wine

The 3rd annual Winefest Renaissance fundraiser, held by the Boys & Girls Club of Aberdeen, will take place this year on March 28th. I have selected the wines I will be presenting along with the foods I plan to pair with the wines (to both the food and wine's best advantage, I hope). I do not have the wines to taste here at home, though I would like to buy some of them to try out myself. My creation of the foods to pair with these wines is based on various criteria:

Pork & Chicken Thigh Fresh Sausage Mini Sliders with Cherry Onion Mustard

• The descriptions of the bouquet of the particular wine (found online in many places, but most prominently on the site of the winery itself) such as cherry cola, blueberries, red fruits.
• The descriptors for the wine's flavor characteristics, such as blackberry, plum, black cherry, herbs, oak, vanilla.
• My own lists of foods that pair best with a particular varietal.

Size of Sausage Patties

When taking into consideration the descriptors for aroma and flavor, in many cases it helps to select a particular food that also has that flavor. In the case of the Terra D'Oro Barbera, I created tiny little sliders. The testing is done, the sliders are perfectly flavored, and I believe they will fit the criteria and pair well with the Barbera wine at the event in late March.

I wanted to use full flavors. Barbera is a wine that plays well with food, much as does Pinot Noir. I created a fresh sausage patty using both pork loin and chicken thighs and lots of wonderful spices and herbs to make them flavorful. I made the patties very tiny, about a scant 2-inches in diameter. Yesterday I made my Mom's Bread Updated recipe, which yields 4 loaves. After forming 3 loaves for bread, I took the portion of dough for the last loaf and made my tiny little slider buns. This amount yielded about 26 little buns, at between 67 to 71 grams apiece. I use a little kitchen scale to ensure they were all the same relative size. At this small a weight, it is easier to use grams to quickly see the differences. Once the breads were formed to rise, I started on the Cherry Onion Mustard. It turned out so wonderfully tasty, I couldn't stop snitching little tastes of it. Yum.

Size of the whole Slider Sandwich

Once I got all the components done and put together, I could not have been happier with the flavors. The little sausage patties were perfectly seasoned, the Cherry Onion Mustard was a perfect match and the buns were the perfect size, light and fluffy and airy enough they did not make the tiny, two-or-three-bite sandwich too bready.

I "ground" the meats in a food processor. When using a food processor for this purpose, it leaves any fat in long, unappetizing strings. Because of this, I trimmed all visible fat from the meat, leaving very lean patties. I did add in a little lard to the meat mixture, just for some succulence for the meat.

Pork & Chicken Thigh Sausage Patties

Pork & Chicken Fresh Sausage Mini Sliders

Makes about 26 mini slider size patties
 
½ pound pork loin½ pound boneless, skinless chicken thighs
1 teaspoon Kosher salt
2 teaspoons chili powder½ teaspoon sugar
¼ teaspoon (more if desired) Chipotle powder½ teaspoon ground mace½ teaspoon ground allspice
¼ teaspoon dried thyme leaves, rubbed½ teaspoon dried oregano leaved, rubbed
2 teaspoons onion powder
2 cloves fresh garlic minced or through a press
1 tablespoon lard
3 tablespoons powdered milk

Trim all visible fat from the meats, cut into small chunks. Process one meat at a time, till ground similarly to sausage meat. If any fat was left on the meat, it will be found now! As the meats are ground, remove them to a bowl. Add in all the spices, lard and milk powder and mix well but lightly with fingers or a spoon. If making these patties as mini slider appetizers, form the meat into tiny patties to weigh 0.75-ounce or about 21 grams. Optional: Make 4 larger patties for regular sized buns. If making these tiny patties, flatten each little portion to about ¼ inch thick. On medium high heat, melt extra oil or lard to fry the patties. As tiny slider size, they cooked through in about 3 to 4 minutes, flipping them halfway through cooking.

I was particularly taken with the thought of the "cherry, black cherry and cherry cola flavors listed in the wine's aroma and flavor. The thought of using cherries somehow in this recipe seemed a no-brainer. Cherry and mustard? Oh, yes! It is wonderful to find a match of a sweet element with a savory one, and this recipe for Cherry Onion Mustard is really flavorful on its own! Granted, we do not generally sit with a bowl of mustard to eat, but this mixture is so flavorful, with the perfect balance of sweet to sour and just enough tang to stand up to the well-seasoned meat patties. I believe this Cherry Onion Mustard would go well on any full flavored meat, and even to serve with cheese. I thought, while cooking the jam, about the possibility of canning this mixture, as it is most wonderful. As yet, I have not researched this, but if or when I do, I will post it here. For now, I have plenty to use for the event.

I realize not everyone has pickled mustard seeds in their fridge, but I do. I felt that they would lend a little bit of texture and color to the mixture. Using the pickled mustard seeds is not absolutely needful. Another whole grain mustard will also work well instead. 

Cherry Onion Mustard

Makes about 2 cups

Cherry Onion Mustard with Pickled Mustard Seeds

2 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 teaspoons olive oil
1 red onion, finely chopped (2 cups)
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup dried cherries, finely chopped
2/3 cup white sugar
2/3 cup (plain) rice vinegar
1 tablespoon fresh rosemary, finely minced
3 tablespoons Dijon mustard
2 tablespoons Pickled Mustard Seeds
OR: 2 tablespoons each Dijon & whole grain mustard

In a large sauce pot melt the butter and add in the oil over medium to medium low heat. Add in the onions and salt. Saute very gently. If the mixture is cooking too quickly, lower the heat. For the first 15 minutes of cooking, stir the mixture occasionally, so the onions cook evenly. Continue cooking for another 15 minutes, stirring very often, to reduce the onion and very lightly caramelize. From the original 2 cups, there should be about ½ cup once well sauteed.

Add in the cherries with the sugar, vinegar and rosemary. Cook this mixture over medium low heat, or whatever temperature maintains a simmer for about 10 or 15 minutes, until the mixture is looking much like a jam. Remove from heat and add in the mustards and stir well to combine. Store in a clean jar with a tight fitting lid in the refrigerator for 3 - 4 weeks.

Lastly, the Bread

Tiny little buns

As for the breads, if you do not make your own, simply buy frozen bread dough. Once thawed, use one loaf and cut off small balls, about 25 grams apiece, and flatten them as much as possible; they will puff up later on anyway. Set the flattened balls onto a greased baking sheet and let them rise to about doubled in size. Before baking, for a prettier finish, use one egg yolk with a tablespoon or two of water whisked in and with a pastry brush, apply the egg wash to the little buns, being careful not to poke them and deflate. My little buns baked in a preheated 350 degree oven and were done in about 12 minutes. Depending on your oven, keep watching at about 10 minutes. They should be golden and shiny.

To form these tiny sliders, cut each little bun open and set one sausage patty on. Use about 1/2 to 1 teaspoon of the Cherry Onion Mustard to the top of the patty and serve with the bun lid askew for a jaunty presentation. 

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.