Leek and Cheese Quiche

Leek and Cheese Quiche

When I have friends over I usually feel that I am not serving enough food. So when I called over Pritha (who has this lovely blog 'Guilt-Free ' )  for some Brioche au Chocolat  and Cafe Frappe I was at a complete loss as to the savoury items which must be served for a tea party.

It was mostly because I was too lazy to visit New Market (one of the biggest market in Calcutta which stocks up a lot of ingredients) and due to the encephalitis scare we are all avoiding Porky items. That is a big drawback for me because when you have ham and cheese and a bit of bacon anyone can make a fabulous dish but with no porky items I was a bit confused. What added to that confusion was the absence of my internet but I had Camembert at home and having made quiche and tarts before I decided that I would just take a shot and create a recipe .

Once you make tarts and quiche shells you get an idea about the ingredients ratio etc and so its not too problematic to make a tart shell. I knew exactly what I wanted. I wanted a flaky crust with a cheese filling.

So here goes the recipe :-

For the shell

150gm flour
100gm chilled butter
1 egg yolk
Pinch of salt

For the filling :-

125gm Camembert cheese
50gm butter
1 to 1.5 tbsp flour
250ml to 300ml whole milk
Pinch of nutmeg powder
Salt as per taste
Half a finely  chopped leek

Start by cutting the butter in little cubes and using your hands to quickly mix it with the flour. When it feels gritty add the yolk and salt and quickly form a dough and refrigerate for 2 hours. When rolling it out do it over a clean floured work surface and gently place it on the buttered tart pan. Do not worry if it breaks a little just press the broken bits to the tart pan to form a smooth shell, it will come out as a single shell once you bake it.

Preheat oven to 200C and bake the tart shell for 25 minutes to 35 minutes.

Saute the leek in butter and when softened keep it aside. In the meanwhile make your bechamel base by melting the butter and adding the flour and creating a roux by stirring continuously and taking care not to burn it and slowly add the milk bit by bit and the nutmeg and salt while whisking and let it come to a slow boil and simmer for 2 minutes to create a smooth sauce whisking throughout the process.

Once the tart shell is baked let it cool down for 15 minutes and add the bechamel sauce and top with the sauteed leek and sliced cheese and add on top and bake for 15 minutes to 20 minutes.

Note : This is an extremely heavy dish mostly suitable for cold weather

Brioche au Chocolat

Brioche au Chocolat 

'Rain drops and roses and whiskers on kittens ......these are a few of my favourite things.'

 Well roses and kittens are definitely some of my favourite things but when it comes to ingredients and the kitchen here are a few items I love working with. I love whisking egg whites to soft or firm peaks and using it, I love using butter , ghee, I love the freshest of vegetables and I love working with yeast among a few of my favourite things to do in the kitchen.

It was my very first attempt at making Brioche au chocolat that delightfully rich French bread made with lots of butter and eggs , the filling of chocolate was entirely an added bonus.

When you have a perfect recipe to follow you usually find success.

I followed Croquez, Craquez's recipe (A french blog) and I had the most soft rich delightful bread ever

So here is the recipe :-

Makes about 10 brioche

For the Brioche :-

250gm All purpose flour
25gm Castor Sugar
5gm Salt
3 Eggs
100gm Butter
15gm fresh yeast / 7 gm dry yeast

Yolk from 1 egg for brushing

For the filling

150gm chopped chocolate

Proof the yeast by dissolving it with 4 tbsp lukewarm water and  sprinkling a bit of sugar. If it forms bubbles and becomes frothy after 10 minutes its good enough to be used.

Mix the ingredients for the brioche except the chocolate and leave in the refrigerator for 4 hours. It would have doubled in size. Now punch it down to remove the carbon dioxide and make 10 ball. Flatten the balls and using a bit of chocolate as filling and then roll it back to form a rectangular shaped brioche and leave it on a tray which has been buttered and floured to rise for 45 minutes if you stay in a tropical country or 1.5 hours in cold countries.

Preheat oven to 180C , brush the brioche with the whisked yolk and bake for 25 minutes.

Let it cool down completely. Then either have it immediately or use a cling film to preserve the freshness.

Croque Madame

Croque Madame 

A French Classic 

 When Indrani from Ripappayan announced the Event on Sandwiches, I was quite happy because I have been wanting to make one of my favourite sandwiches since quite sometime and this was the perfect opportunity. Ideally this classic sandwich should be a Winter's sandwich because of all that butter and cheese but then again a good sandwich does keep you full for a long time indeed.

It is quite obvious that a sandwich would require some good sandwich bread and while you can always pick up a loaf from a bakery nothing beats the delightful taste of freshly baked bread at home. Here is a recipe for Sour Cream Sandwich Bread.

So my choice of sandwich is the classic Croque Madame . This is a grilled ham cheese sandwich which originated in France. Actually Croque Madam has a butter poached egg on top which many say represent a woman's hat hence the name Croque Madam. The other version of this sandwich without the egg is called a classic Croque Monsieur. Typically made with a lot of Gruyere cheese or Emmental cheese this sandwich with the bechamel sauce and butter and ham is a cheese lover's delight. Its a very heavy sandwich and so 1 sandwich keeps a person full for about 5 hours to 6 ours.



Serves 4

So this is what you need :-

8 slices of bread

For the Bechamel sauce

1 tbsp flour
1 cup of whole milk
2 tbsp butter
Pinch of nutmeg
Salt as per taste

For the assembling of the sandwich

300gm of Emmental or Gruyere cheese
8 slices of ham . I have used lean ham
4 eggs
70gm of butter

Bechamel sauce 

Start with preparing the bechamel sauce. Heat you r milk along with the nutmeg and cool it. Melt the butter and add the flour and quickly create a roux which is smooth and then add the milk bit by bit whisking it constantly to create a smooth bechamel sauce.

The skillet grilled sandwich with the goodies inside 

Generously butter the slices of bread and then add enough bechamel sauce to cover the side which faces you and add 2 slices of ham and then a fat slice of Emental cheese and then heat the skillet and use a slice of bread buttered side up on low heat and after a minute place this on the sandwich to finish creating it. The heat from the bread will melt the cheese and now place the entire sandwich on the skillet on low heat. and brown it well but take care to not burn it . Once done the cheese should have melted fully and then spread a bit of bechamel on the sandwich and top it with an egg fried sunny side up. Enjoy

French chocolate truffle

French Chocolate Truffles 

The truth is that, there is precious little difference between Swiss chocolate truffles and French chocolate truffles. As per Wikipedia while Swiss chocolate truffles have the added butter, French truffle chocolates use cream and chocolate alone. Now I had already tried my hands at Swiss chocolate truffles and it was but natural for me to venture into the French chocolate truffles. Easy to make and easy to please your guests

What you need is :-

200gm double cream (the more the fat the creamier the taste)
250gm good quality dark chocolate
50gm cocoa powder to roll the truffles in

Chop the chocolates (it is advisable to chop them as small as possible for ease of mixing with the cream) Simply use low heat to warm the cream but make sure you do not burn the base, so keep stirring and when its warm enough pour it over the chopped chocolates and use a spatula to mix it well till its smooth and creamy and then let it cool down to room temperature and , in it goes in the refrigerator for 12 hours to 24 hours and then take the cocoa powder on a flat surface , dust your hands with cocoa powder and make little balls to make your friends and family go Mmmmmm

Mousse au Chocolat (Elizabeth David) / Chocolate Mousse

Mousse au Chocolat/ Chocolate Mousse 

by Elizabeth David 

I am pretty obsessed with trying out different recipes for the same dish. Take the case of the simple Mousse au chocolat, its available at virtually all bakeries around the world. Its chocolaty , airy and creamy but not creamy in the way dairy cream is supposed to be and that is exactly where I find my disappointment. That being said I always have maintained and still maintain that 'taste is subjective' Mousse made with cream is something I do not condone. Ever since I had stumbled across Maman Blanc's Mousse au chocolat I have sworn by it for the extra airy and light texture . Her's uses egg whites alone but then again this time I wanted something with a bit more body. Felicity Cloake has tried numerous recipes for Mousse au Chocolat (with cream and without it) and calls this 'the perfect mousse'. I do not consider any recipe to be perfect because what is perfect for me might not be perfect for someone else but if you like your's chocolaty , airy yet with that richness this is your mousse.

What you need is very simple

Makes 2 servings

2 eggs separated
60gm  dark chocolate , preferably 70% if you like it dark like I do or at least 50% dark ( the better the quality of the chocolate the better your recipe turns out to be)
A drop of lemon juice
1/2 tsp alcohol based coffee extract  Or You may experiment with any alcohol of your choice)

The whipped egg whites 

Start by whipping your egg whites to stiff peaks. Add the lemon juice to your egg whites when whipping it which prevents it from collapsing.

Now melt the chocolate over a double boiler (chocolate being a very delicate food item seizes,  that is forms a grainy mass with a little extra heat )

Quickly add the yolks and whisk it well till it is silky and smooth.

Quickly fold in 1/3rd of your whisked egg whites to loosen the chocolate yolk mixture and quickly fold in the rest of the egg white and pour it in your serving glass or cup of dessert bowl and set in the refrigerator for 2 hours and voila its done.

For a boozy and might I say better variant add 1/2 tsp alcohol based coffee essence. When folding in the whipped egg whites with the chocolate egg yolk base.

Very important tip :-

1. Never try and melt the chocolate and egg yolk together because not only will that make the chocolate seize leaving your mousse a bit grainy it might even scramble the egg so melt the chocolate and only  after melting it whisk in the egg yolks. 
2. Your expertise in folding the egg whites with the yolk-chocolate base will determine how mousse like the texture would be. 
3. I make my coffee extract at home by soaking 4 tbsp cracked coffee beans in 200ml vodka, for 1 week and then straining the extract. It stays for months in the refrigerator. So far these last me hardly 3 months or so because I use it to soak cakes , make mousse , ice-cream etc etc 

Dacquoise Cherry Amande Gateau

Dacquoise Cherry Amande 

(My Oval Coffee Cherry Dacquoise Gateau) 

It has only been very recently that I finally got the courage to venture into foam cakes. You see what many of us non-professional bakers do not know until and unless we read about it is that there are two very distinct types of cake bases, the butter cakes which are richer , buttery and make perfect tea-time cakes and then there are the foam cakes which is light , airy and perfect to make layered cakes. They are a bit dry to be taken on their own. I am calling this my 'Oval Coffee cherry Dacquoise Gateau' Basically gateau is the french term for layered cakes and so next time you find that in a bakery you know what it is.

So I have also quite recently discovered the joys of making Cakes with almond flour , the taste and flavour is amazing and this one is surely a winner.

So I had some leftover ground almond after I made an Opera cake and so it was time for a Dacquoise Amande with the leftover coffee butter-cream icing and some chocolate sauce on top . I added a bit of homemade chocolate syrup and some glazed cherries for that extra deliciousness

Here goes the recipe

For the base : -

5 egg whites
A few drops of lemon.
150gm of ground almond (made from blanched and toasted almonds which was cooled down and ground)
150gm icing sugar

For the Coffee French Buttercream frosting please use the recipe for French Buttercream but simply cut down the recipe by half.

For the Chocolate swirl cover

125gm of dark chocolate
100gm coffee syrup made with bringing 100ml of brewed coffee to a boil and adding  50gm sugar to it.
2 tbsp unsalted butter

250gm glazed cherries de-seeded

Prepare by first greasing your pan and using butter paper on it and drawing a circle on it which is about the size of a round baking pan which can bake a pound of cake. Preheat oven to 180 C Then start off by whipping your egg whites to soft peaks with the few drops of lemon (the lemon juice prevents the egg whites from collapsing if over whipped) and then adding the sugar and whipping it to a stage where you can hold your bowl over your head and it stays put. Now fold in the ground almond and then spread half of on one baking tray and the other half on another baking tray. Bake for about 15 minutes for regular oven and 25 minutes for convection oven and let the two discs cool. While the cake base is being baked quickly chop the chocolates and then then place it on a bowl in which water is boiling with the butter and once it melts add the syrup and whisk to form a smooth dark chocolate sauce. Slowly but firmly separate the butter-paper. Now apply a thick layer of buttercream and sandwich the two discs. Put it in the refrigerator to set for sometime and then apply a generous amount of buttercream covering the cake from all sides. Pour a bit of the sauce from top and make swirls for decoration and then let it set for 5 minutes and decorate with glazed de-seeded cherries and let it chill for 5 hours before serving. This light fluffy cake with this amazingly rich icing and smooth chocolate was a perfect hit with my friends and family.

Poulet aux 40 Gousses d'Ail

Poulet aux 40 Gousses d'Ail 

(Roast Chicken with 40 cloves of Garlic)

 One of the big challenges I face when arranging for a special meal is narrowing down the options for the menu and even if you do decide on the menu the ocean of recipes in this galaxy of the internet is sure to confuse you. So the four banditas were meeting again and I was arranging a dinner party and for me deciding on the menu within a day is quite challenging so after much thinking, clicking, typing I decided Roast Chicken it was going to be but then which one ?

Lets talk a bit about obsession. I believe that we all have certain obsessions which we happily indulge in. My first obsession is of course white crockery and white linen and the second is making everything from scratch in my kitchen (as much as possible) and trying to search for by-gone recipes of a particular region of the world. Sure many a  times you need to alter or chuck out a few ingredients due to geography , unavailability etc but the pleasure of hunting it down is something which I find extremely satisfying. With Google translator things are much more easy. A certain image of a roast chicken caught my attention and it turned out this was the roast chicken with 40 cloves of garlic. Now I love my garlic and the simplicity of the roast attracted me instantaneously. Now that is the truth about French food. Everything feels its gourmet and difficult when in reality  it is simple elegant and delicious. Originally from the Lomagne region this one is a winner in my kitchen. Of course there were plenty of recipes differing a little bit from each other and I chose one which suited the ingredients available for me.

Now when you begin do remember that no matter what you use and what you don't the ingredients must , must , must be fresh.

Serves 6

1.7 kilogram Whole chicken (with the skin on of course)
40 large unpeeled cloves of garlic
2 stalks of rosemary
1 stalk of parsley
A handful of Thyme with the stalk
Salt and pepper
60 gm to 80 gm unsalted butter
1 medium sized lemon
4 tbsp olive oil
1/2 cup dry white wine
1/2 cup chicken stock . Here is a recipe for Chicken stock

Now roasting a chicken is the easiest thing in the world but for moist crispy chicken here are a few tips which perhaps you might really find useful. Tips for roasting

So once you have cleaned , dried , seasoned and massaged  let it rest for 1 hour or 2 hours, then prick the lemon with a fork all over and place in the microwave for 40 seconds at high heat (this ensures the chicken gets the full flavour) and put it in the chicken's cavity with the rest of the herbs  tie the legs and then preheat your oven to 180C and grease your baking pan well Place the chicken on the tray and splash half the wine  and then scatter the cloves of garlic all around and pour the chicken stock roast for 1 hour 50 minutes if using the convection oven or 1 hour 30 minutes for regular ovens. Do not forget to bast (in this case you can use the wine in one of your basting) and for the rest of the basting use the liquid from the roasting pan  and cover it in the last 15 minutes. You know its well roasted when you pierce the legs and the juices run clear.

Let it rest wrapped in the kitchen towel once done for 10 minutes and in the meantime peel the garlic and make a smooth paste with a bit of liquid from the pan. This is a topping for bread. Use the liquid as a fantastic gravy. My guests kept licking their lips and fingers. When serving the chicken take out the herbs and lemon from inside the chicken.