Apple Frangipani Tart

Andrew's sister and family from Melbourne are in Sydney for a visit. I made this tart for 12 people for the dinner which we had tonite at his parent's place. I researched a few recipes for frangipani filling, including that of Guillame Brahimi's, Nick Nairn's and Allison Thompson's. The shortcrust pastry is essentially adapted from Maggie Beer's pastry recipe which I love, it has a lovely crumbly melt in the mouth texture, simple to make. I have adapted all these recipes essentially reducing sugar, and substituting some butter and fat content (for eg extra egg yolks) with yoghurt. The tart was well liked and I am very happy about it. The frangipani texture was nice and moist without being overwhelmingly buttery rich as is sold in most cafes.

Ingredients - 12p
Shortcrust Pastry
250g flour
150g butter
125g sour cream (about 1/2 cup)
A pinch of salt
Frangipani Filling
225g of almond meal
150g butter
4 eggs
25g flour
1/2 cup of vanilla bean yoghurt
110g castor sugar
1 tsp of seasalt
2 tbsp of contreau
Apple topping
2 pink lady apples, sliced thinly
30g castor sugar
2 tsp ground nutmeg
2 tsp of ground cinnamon

Preheat oven to 200 deg (fan force)

Pastry
Put the flour and butter and 1/2 of the sour cream into a food processor.
Pulse until light breadcrumb texture.
Add remaining sour cream and pulse till mixture comes together in few clumps (you will know it is ready, when it starts to come off the sides of the processor).
Lay a large sheet of cling film on clean table.
Pour the mixture onto the cling film, and lightly knead to form a rectangle. Dont overwork the dough if you want a light crumbly texture pastry.
Wrap the mixture and rest in fridge for 20 minutes.
Once rested, rub some flour onto large rolling pin and kneading surface, and roll pastry in one direction, about 2mm thick.
Pastry should be large enough to fill tart dish and overflowing on sides by at least 1 cm extra, to allow for shrinkage.
Using the rolling pin, lift the pastry, and work into tart dish.
Using a fork, prick all over the top of the pastry ( this tiny holes helps to prevent "bubbles" forming as the pastry is being baked).
Cover the top of pastry with baking paper, and fill top of baking paper with either baking beads or rice. (to stop it from rising).
Bake for 10-12 minutes.
Take out of oven, remove baking beads/rice and baking paper. Bake for another 5 minutes. (till slightly golden).
Set aside.
Reduce oven temperature to 170deg.

Frangipani filing
Cut butter into squares and place into a hot bowl (place in toaster oven at say 120deg for 10 minutes). The heat will melt the butter gently. Leave to cool.
Mix almond meal, flour, sea salt and 30g of the sugar in a large mixing bowl.
Whisk eggs till creamy and very pale yellow, adding in remaining sugar, slowly and progressively.
Add butter, yoghurt, contreau and then finally egg mixture into flour mixture, and fold till combined.
Spread the mixture evenly onto pastry.

Apples
Peel the apples.
Cut the apples in halve and soak in salted water (to prevent from browning/oxidation)
Thinly sliced the apples.
Dip apples into sugar, nutmeg and cinnamon mix.
Lay apples, slightly overlapping each other, on top of frangipani mixture. Press the apples down into the mixture, without submerging them.

Cut a long thin strip of aluminium foil and cover the sides of the pastry, to prevent it from burning.

Bake at 170 for 40 minutes. Then turn off heat, leave in oven for 5 minutes.

Sprinkle cinnamon powder all over top of apples while semi warm.

Leave to rest at least 30 minutes, preferably 1 hour, before slicing and serving.

Its delicious on its own, but can also be served with cream or vanilla ice-cream.

Note:
In Maggie Beer's pastry recipe, she would use 200g butter, you will have a very rich buttery pastry. I find 150g is good enough for a nice crumbly pastry.

Bon Appetite!

Tiramisu

 

I made this today for Andrew's sister's son, Alex's 18th birthday dinner party. The theme of the party was "Little Italy".  I adapted a recipe from the "Italian Food Safari".  The tiramisu turned out to be nicely creamy but yet light in texture. Everyone at the dinner party, liked it. I am not a fan of rich tiramisu, and I must say even I liked this one. :-). Very happy indeed with it.

Ingredients - Serves 10-12p
3 egg yolks
40g caster sugar
500g mascarpone
50ml Masala
1 tsp whisky
30 savoiardi biscuits
1 large hot coffee
4 tbsp organic cocoa
4 tbsp freshly ground coffee
Zest of 1 orange
50g hazelnut chocolate, grated finely (dark chocolate preferred, but I ran out of it today).

Italian meringue
45ml water
110g caster sugar
125ml egg whites (whites of 4 large eggs)

Place the egg yolks and caster sugar in a mixing bowl, and whisk on high speed until pale to almost white and fluffy. Add the mascarpone and, on a medium speed, whisk until it starts to thicken but smooth. Be sure not to overmix as you may split the mascarpone.

Add the liqueurs and mix until just combined. (You may adjust the quantity of liqueur according to personal taste.)  Place to one side and make the Italian meringue.

Add the water to a clean, grease-free saucepan, then slowly add the sugar, making sure that all the grains get wet. Place over a medium heat and bring to soft ball stage.  ( you can see lots of "bubbles" at this stage)

Making sure that your mixing bowl is completely grease-free, add in your egg whites and whisk on high speed until white and fluffy. As your egg whites reach medium peak, start to slowly add your hot sugar. Do not add sugar any sooner. ( A chef told me this would not overcook the egg whites, the sugar can go up to 120 deg and the egg whites would be fine). Once all the sugar has been added, continue to whisk until the Italian meringue has completely cooled. It would have stiffened such that when you turn the bowl upside down, the meringue would not fall. The meringue would start to look nice and glossy by this stage. Italian meringues are very stable and hold its form for a long time. Note: Use castor sugar otherwise you may get a grainy meringue instead of a smooth one.

Take your Italian meringue, and carefully fold into the mascarpone mix. Feel the mix "airing" as you fold. Taste and adjust the amount of liqueur if necessary.

Take your sponge finger biscuits, and soak in the coffee (add with 20ml of the masala) quickly, one at a time. Give the biscuits a light squeeze to remove any excess coffee. (Do not soak the biscuits all the way through.  There should still be a little portion in the middle that has not been soaked in the coffee so that there is still a little texture to the bite.)

Line the bottom of a serving dish packed with the biscuits. (I used a large pyrex round bowl, as I wanted the lid to cover for "transporting" the tiramisu). Sprinkle the top of the biscuits with cocoa evenly.

Using a large spatula, spoon in 1/2 of the mascarpone mix and level. Sprinkle with the ground coffee evenly.

Add another layer of coffee-soaked sponge finger biscuits.  Sprinkle again cocoa. Spoon in remaining mascarpone mix and level.

Cover the bowl tightly with cling film. Place in the fridge, and allow the tiramisu to become firm enough to cut, minimum 4 hours. ( I was told it is even better if left overnight to allow the flavours to develop)

Just before serving, sprinkle evenly with orange zest, then grated hazelnut chocolate and finally, the freshly ground coffee.

Note: In future, I will add lemon zest to the mascaporne/meringue filling. And try using sambuca/strega instead of masala.

Tip: For achieving light meringue and mascaporne mix, use stainless steel mixing bowls. Or glass, but not plastic. The steel bowls helps the "airation" process.
Bon Appetite!

Apple, Raisins and Spice Slice

I adapted this recipe from "BAKE Essential Companion" by Allison Thompson. I essentially replaced butter with olive oil. We enjoyed the resulting slice! It has a crunchy crust and very moist content. The olive oil maintain the moisture but not the rich buttery "after eat" feeling. Great for snacks and dessert. And so little prep work required.

Loaf tin size
110g self raising flour
55g plain flour
3/4 tsp baking powder
100g muscovado sugar
1/2 tsp of sea/river salt
1/2 cup of extra virgin olive oil (100g)
1 large egg
1tbsp of milk
150g dried raisins
1 pink lady apple, cut into 1cmx1cm squares
2 tsp cinnamon powder
1 tsp nutmeg powder

Line loaf tin with baking paper.

Preheat oven to 180 deg (fan force).

Mix apples with 1 tsp cinnamon powder, nutmeg powder, and 20g of the sugar. Add raisins and mix.

Separately in a mixing bowl, mix all the remaining dry ingredients together.
Create a well in the middle, pour in olive oil, then milk and combine the ingredients together with the fruit mix.
Whisk eggs till pale yellow.
Fold eggs into the mixture.
Spread mixture into loaf tin.

Bake for about 23-25 minutes.

Bon Appetite!

George's mum's authentic Greek moussaka

George Colambaris's mum made this on Masterclass Masterchef today. It seemed really easy, delicious and wholesome, a 1 dish wonder, great for having guests. I am writing from memory so that I remember all the tips, and have to look up on Masterchef's recipe to complete the portions required for some of the ingredients. Will update soon!

Serve 6p
Bechamel
100g butter
100g flour
600ml milk, warm
100g Greek "head" cheese, or parmesan as substitute
1 egg

Filling:-)
Vege Layers
1 large eggplant
2 large potatoes
Meat Layer
mince beef
mince veal
mince pork
chopped oregano
chopped rosemary
chopped parsley/thyme?
1 large onion
2 cloves garlic
chopped tomato
tomato puree
tomato paste

Preheat oven to 180 deg

Peel eggplant in stripes ie leave some skin on.
Spread eggplant on a large baking tray, and salt. This takes away the bitterness.
Cover eggplant with teacloth, and leave for 20-25 minutes. This also helps to draw out the bitter juice. You will see the eggplant has sweated.
Using the teacloth, wipe off the moisture. Do not wash, as eggplant will absorb the water like sponge!
Fry the eggplant lightly with olive oil, to partly cook. Do not cook through or it will become mushy after complete cooking in oven. This way, there will still be some texture.
Leave aside.
Peel potatoes, sliced, fry lightly, to partly cook.
Leave aside.
In a pot, line with olive oil, heat up.
Sautee the mince meat. When turn colour, add in all the rest of the "mince layer" ingredients.
When all the layers are ready, line a large baking dish as follows:-
- thin layer of mince
- potatoes
- eggplant and potatoes
- layer of mince
- eggplant and potatoes
- layer of mince
-bechamel sauce.
Grate cheese over the top of the bechamel sauce.

Bake in oven for 45 minutes, put on grill in last 2 minutes.

Bechamel sauce
Melt butter in a pot
Add flour, stir, add milk, and stir - till smooth silken mash potato consistency.
Add cheese, stir.
Break in an egg, to stir, this gives flavour and a gloss, and "roast" beautiful.
Bon Appetite!

Braised lamb shanks in white wine, with thyme, fennel, orange, cinnamon, butter beans

This is a slow cooked lamb shank, which when cooked, is very tender and falls off the bone, with rich hearty flavours of citrus, herbs and spices.

I cooked this for Andrew and his parents last night. Andrew gave me a brief for this lamb shank, ie no tomatoes, no red wine. Little did I know he was trying to relive his memories of a french braised lamb shanks with white beans that he had in a french restaurant some years back. So, I made it with white wine, and because I wanted to use up my fresh fennel and leftover orange (from zesting for a chocolate cake), I started thinking more moorish instead of french, with cinnamon and spices. Had I thought french, I would not have included the coriander and cumin! Overall, everyone enjoyed it. We had it with fresh fennel, grapefruit salad, and turkish bread with homemade hummus.

Prep time 30 minutes. Cooking time 2 1/2 hours. Resting time 15-30 minutes.

Ingredients

4 large lamb shanks

1 cup flour

A bouquet gani (I used a handful of fresh thyme and bay leaves)

2 red onions, cut in squares.

1 carrot, cut into squares/quarters.

1 stalk of celery

All end stalks of one large fennel.

2  cloves of garlic

1 cinnamon stalk

1 can of butter beans

Juice of 1 orange ( I used whole orange, and the rind created some bitterness)

1 whole bottle of white wine

1 cup chicken stock.

 (Note: My original recipe had freshly grounded coriander and cumin, but I have removed it from here, as the spices, white nice, overpowered the fresh herbs.)

 Preheat oven to 180deg fan force.

Wash and pat dry lamb shanks with paper towel.
Remove fats and sinews from lamb shanks.
Meanwhile, medium heat up a thick based pot that can also cook in the oven, with a dash of olive oil.
Pour a cup of flour onto a large plate. Lightly coat lamb shanks in flour.
Evenly sear all sides of lamb shanks in the heated oil, heat should be hot enough such that it should brown within a minute or 2.
Remove shanks and put aside.

Saute garlic and onion in the pot till softened.
Then, add all the other vegetables, spice and herbs, and saute.
Deglaze pot with a few splashes of white wine.
Pour in remaining bottle of white wine, and boil on high heat to evaporate the alcohol (or alternatively light a fire above the surface of the liquid for the same purpose)
Immerse the shanks into the pot.
Add cup of chicken stock.
Liquid should preferably cover the shanks, if not press a piece of aluminium foil over the top of the meat, before closing the lid, to protect the top part from drying out.
Cook in oven for 1 hour.
Add beans, and continue cooking for 1 1/2 hours.
Rest for at least 15 minutes before serving.

Bon Appetite!

Orange Lemon Apricot Slice

I wanted a small cake, and to make use of the citrus fruits I have in the fridge. This turned out to be a very moist cake, probably a little richer than I would like. A tad too much butter and egg. Next time, I will reduce butter to 90g and just have 2 eggs for a "healthier" cake.

For size of 1 loaf pan
Juice of 1 large orange and 1 lemon (roughly 2/3 cup full)
Zest of the orange and lemon
110 g self raising flour
55g almond meal
1/3 cup castor sugar
1/2 cup milk
2 tbsp thickened cream
110g chilled butter
1 tsp cinnamon powder
2 eggs and 1 egg yolk
12 dried apricots, diced up.

Preheat oven to 170 deg fan force.
Line bottom of a loaf pan with baking paper, and grease the sides.

Soak the zest and apricot into the juice.
Add 1/3 sugar into the juice.
Separately, add 4 tsp of the juice and mix with the milk.
Mixed up all the dry ingredients, and 1/3 of the sugar.
Using your fingers, rub the cold butter into dry ingredients, till breadcrumb texture. Create a "well" in the middle.
Whisk the eggs till creamy, add milk, whisk till frothy, then add 1/3 sugar to stabilise air bubbles.
Pour juice and fruit into the well, immediately followed by whisked eggs.
Mix to combine, try not to over stir, to prevent gluten developing.
Pour into loaf pan and bake in oven immediately.

Bake for 40 minutes.

Rest and cool cake for at least 1 hour before serving.

Bon Appetite!

Gary Mehigan's Veal Osso Bucco with Canelloni Beans

Ossobuco or osso buco is Italian for "bone with a hole" (osso bone, buco hole), a reference to the marrow hole at the center of the cross-cut veal shank.
Originally, Ossobuco is a Milanese specialty of cross-cut veal shanks braised with vegetables, white wine and broth. It is often garnished with gremolata and traditionally served with risotto alla milanese.

This dish's primary ingredient, veal shank, is common, relatively cheap and flavorful. Although tough, braising makes it tender. The cut traditionally used for this dish comes from the top of the thigh which has a higher proportion of meat to bone.^[4] The shank is then cross-cut into sections about 3 cm thick.

The version below was cooked by Gary during Masterclass on Masterchef, I liked how it looked and tasted.

1.5kg bobby veal shin, cut 2.5cm thick (about 12 pieces)
1 cup plain flour
100ml olive oil
2 stalks celery, diced
1 medium onion, diced
1 carrot, peeled and diced
¼ bunch parsley stalks, leaves picked and roughly chopped, stalks reserved
4 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
250ml white wine
2 tablespoons tomato paste
1 bay leaf
6 sprigs thyme
Zest of 1 lemon
400g tin crushed tomato
2 cups veal stock
100g dried cannellini beans, soaked overnight

To finish
Freshly cracked white pepper and sea salt
½ bunch parsley leaves, roughly chopped
Zest of 1 lemon
1 loaf crusty bread, thickly sliced

Preheat oven to 180⁰C.

Season meat with salt and white pepper and toss in flout to coat, shaking off excess. Heat oil in a frying pan, add meat and panfry until caramelized. Add celery, onion, carrot, reserved parsley stalks, garlic and cook10 minutes.

Add tomato paste and cook for 1-2 minutes and deglaze with wine.

Add remaining ingredients. Cover with a lid and cook for 1 ½-2 hours.

Remove lid, cook for 45 minutes until sauce has thickened.

Remove from oven, sprinkle with cracked pepper, sea salt, chopped parsley and lemon zest.

Serve with crusty bread.

Bon Appetite!