Fish pie

Creamy buttery soft smooth and silky Fish Pie 

 Coming back to food. Well my blog is about food and with my last post about insurance I feel it is time I get back to my culinary world. So when you have 3 wonderful friends for whom you arrange a dinner party the excitement begins with the planning itself. I usually love planning my menu weeks before but this time it was a quick set up and so on Monday everybody had decided on a meet and I was throwing a dinner party on Wednesday. To be quite frank with so many delicious dishes of varied cuisines floating around I was in trouble till I finally decided on a menu and so Fish pie it was as part of the dinner party because well I knew most of them love fish and well since winter has well lets be honest and say that it has waved goodbye the weather while mildly hot is yet to feel the full wrath of the Summers and so there are very days left to enjoy a rich creamy fish pie.

Finding a recipe was easy enough since I knew that it would be an English fish pie and so with the help of Mr.Martin's recipe which was twisted to suit the fresh ingredients of Calcutta (such as the salmon and cod was replaced by bhetki fish a soft boneless fish )this easy creamy delicious dish was ready within 1 hour 15 minutes taking preparation time and cooking time. While the amount of butter , cream and carbohydrate in this dish is not really very healthy per say but such divine taste needs to be indulged in at times and with the humidity and heat of the country you anyways have a few months of the years for such indulgences which are a definitely necessity. Its buttery , creamy with flaky soft fish and a culinary lover's absolute delight

4 to 5 servings

Potato Topping
900gm potatoes boiled
150ml double cream
60gm unsalted butter + 1 tbsp for greasing the baking dish
Pinch of nutmeg powder (preferably freshly grated)
Salt and pepper to taste

Fish layering
950gm fillet of Bhetki or any soft white boneless fish
3 tbsp unsalted butter
Juice of Half a lemon

Parsley sauce

1 tbsp flour
4 tbsp unsalted butter
200ml full cream milk
4 tbsp cream

Paprika sauce

1 tbsp flour
4 tbsp butter
200ml of full cream milk
4 tbsp cream
Half a tsp paprika

Start by bringing the milk to a boil and leaving it aside. What you do is boil and mash the potatoes with the other ingredients for potato topping and keep it aside. make ti smooth without any lumps. Now saute the fish so that it is just about softened in butter. You will be left with some fish juice in the pan. Grease your baking dish and put half your fish in the bottom layer and squeeze some lemon juice on it and pour the fish juice left in the pan.

Parsley Sauce 

Make your parsley sauce by melting the butter but definitely not browning it and adding the parsley and then when the flavour fills your kitchen add the flour and form the roux by simply using a spatula to mix the flour with the butter but do not let it brown even one bit. Now slowly add the milk bit by bit stirring continuously so that you have a smooth silky sauce without any lumps. Once the milk has been incorporated add the cream whisk a bit and poor the thick silky sauce on top of the fish in the baking dish. Now arrange the remaining fish and prepare the Paprika sauce

Make the paprika sauce the same way as the parsley sauce by simply replacing the parsley with paprika and then pour on top of the layered fish. Now top this with the mashed potatoes.

Preheat oven to 200 c and bake for 50 minutes if using convection oven or else 40 minutes for regular ovens or OTGs

Believe me your guests will be charmed and wouldn't be able to stop saying 'OOh Aaah lovely , fantastic, so creamy' I say such indulgences should be made compulsory

Madeira Cake

Back to the basics of cakes , 

The Tribute to Madeira 

 Everybody is baking these days. Sugar butter flour everywhere. With so much of baking I am sure each homes is filled with a fragrance which is delightful. Not only are people baking but they are creating artistic cakes. So artistic that it amazes everyone.

Now I will completely express my personal views. It is the truth and absolute truth but is  nonetheless just my personal view . Let me begin with a rhetoric question. Why this fuss over cakes in the shape of shoes, cakes in the shape of bags and any object found on the surface of this wide wide wide world. While the work makes me have the greatest of respect for artists who spend hours creating them there is some mixed feeling. This excessive demand for over the top decorations is destroying our taste buds through and through. It is as if we actually are eating with our eyes. Have our taste buds become so challenged that we cannot appreciate so many cakes in this world? I stirred the hornet's nest on a particular social media and clearly there were two groups, a) the ones who make such cakes and b) the majority who eat them. Now here is my question. Try searching a little bit and you shall find billions of unexplored desserts . Are they not delectable enough? Some argued for unnatural decorations with the metaphor of dressing up for parties. Why do the cakes not dress beautifully and classically and why need they put on layers and layers of make up is what I wonder. As with cosmetics the look you create is completely in your hands. You can look au natural and glamorous and a true classic or slap on enough make up for you to look well artificially nice. Of course beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder  but how is a cake in the shape of say a house or worse shoe more desirable than a Dobostorte , Sachertorte or a beautifully made butter cream frosting baffles me. Anyways moving on,

Well so I have challenged myself to explore research and find out about desserts from around the world and try making them one by one. That would be enough for a whole lifetime.

For my first dessert I picked up the most basic of cakes, the tea time accompaniments of course. The great Madeira cake from Great Britain with a light yet firm texture , the perfect accompaniment to tea . Why Britain you ask? Well, I am from Calcutta , believe me there is the connection .

Anyways everyone is baking but how are they baking. Why do we undervalue the basics of cake making so much , why should nonprofessionals use electronic whisks without first learning the old fashioned hand held whisk is beyond me. Well I'm amazed at how strongly opinionated I am but nevertheless I shall try and give as many tips as i can for making cakes right from scratch.

Here is what you need for a Madeira cake. I followed James martin's recipe and the result was a beautifully light firm perfect cake . The lemony taste was truly the "icing of this cake".

200gm of flour
175gm of unsalted butter
175gm of sugar
3 medium eggs
Zest of 1 lemon
3 tablespoon of milk (adjust as per the batter) I ran out of milk but had a bowl of cream and used cream :)
Less than half a teaspoonful of baking powder. Practicing would make you realize exactly how much to be put it.
Candied lemon peels for decorations

Begin with the candied lemon peel a day ahead. Peel the lemon and then slice them real thin.

Wash them well and blanch then at least thrice. It is very important to blanch them thrice to remove all unwanted bitterness. Spread out and dry till bone dried. 

Begin with 3 tablespoonful of water and 4 tablespoonful of castor sugar. Bring to a slow boil making sure it does not burn and add the dried peels. Cook them and well when working with sugar you cannot juggle other things. Let it get reduced to the point where each strand is coated well and then dry for 2 hours and spread out each peel. 

When you start with a cake there are some rules which be followed thoroughly if you want your cake to be perfect 

Before beginning sift your flour well with less than half a teaspoonful of baking power. Remember that too much baking powder renders your cake bitter and too less prevents the cake from rising. 

These are :

1. Begin with creaming the butter. It is especially important that you cream fresh , as fresh as you can get in the market fresh unsalted butter. Do not use a bowl too big or too small. You can use a whisk or a big spoon though I personally have never tried the spoon method. 
2. Slowly add your sugar bit by bit mixing real well , if sifted it would be fluffy to an extend which makes you cry in joy. While creaming butter you arms will pain and if you make cakes quite often there isn't a chance that you ever are stuck with chicken wings. Of course the other hand needs some extra exercise for making up. 
3. Now preheat you oven to 180C 
4. When properly creamed the butter should be of a fluffy creamed consistency without any visible grains of sugar. It should be a delight to even look at it. Add your eggs 1 by 1 and keep whisking for a smoothness which is a delight to watch . Now slowly add your sifted flour through a sieve. This twice sifting of flour makes the cake airy and light. Your final consistency should be such that it fall after a long time from a spoon. 
5. Fold in the lemon zest with a spatula . You should never whisk the lemon zest or over-mix cake batter. That disturbs the baking as well. 
6. Fold it in your already buttered and floured cake pan and bake for 1 hour. even though Mr.martin suggest 40 minutes the problem is with an  Indian kitchen the conviction oven is the only option and baking temperature not only varies from oven to oven but form brand to brand as well. So I suggest to first bake it for 45 minutes and insert a toothpick in the center to check whether it  is done and if not then add another 10 minutes. You shouldn't even open the oven door by mistake before the 45 minutes else your cake will fall faster before you can even close your eyes. 

While it is baked observe the cake and you know it is going to be perfect if :

• The bubbles on the surface are not too big
• The middle does not puff up too soon before 30 minutes. 
• It slowly and steadily rises 

Once the toothpick is clean let it rest in the oven till the fan works itself and only after that do you get to take it out and cool the cake on the wire rack for at least 10 minutes. Do anything else and your cake will crumble. 

Once cool decorate with candied lemon peels and serve with a cup of Darjeeling tea or any tea of your preference. I am no chef but these basic points make everything possible 

Important tip :

Use a 6 inch to 7 inch cake pan 

Victorian Sponge Cake

Tribute to Queen Victoria ,

 the humblest yet one of the best Cakes

Before you read this post I have to say that my Victorian Cake has remained the same over the years but what has changed is the quality of the photographs 

 The Classic Cake 

I have observed that in recent times there is a craze for artistically crafted cakes. So the rage is to be a Michelangelo in baking but I personally still fail to understand the charm of fondant coated cakes over so many delicious pastries. We all have our personal likes and dislikes. I believe this diversity ultimately unites us but for me the allure of  traditional baked goodies would always  win over artistic cakes which really need artistic hands but the taste , well is too sugary, for what is fondant or other cake decorative items but unhealthy masses of sugar, almonds and other ingredients.

I have gone back to the basics. This cake is said to be famous from Queen Victoria's times. Legend has it that the Queen herself would enjoy this delicious cake with rich whipped cream and tea every afternoon.          

 Rich, buttery and delicious , it is a perfect tea-time accompaniment. The smell is intoxicating and the ingredients are so basic that it is probably the first cake that an amateur should take a shot at. A very old baker once told me that a baker's quality can be best tested with the kind of Victorian sponge cake also known as pound cake one makes. Simple yet not to be unjustly not given due respect. The only thing to be kept in mind is that all the ingredients should be of an equal amount. You can make a loaf or the classic round cake.

I have seen that the quality of ingredients is the key to any good dish. It does not matter if one does not have access to some exotic ingredient but freshness and good quality are the only secrets which maketh or breaketh a dish. I have found that in Calcutta the unsalted butter from J.Johnson's is fresh and creamy and renders the best of cakes.

Serves 4 to 5

Pan size to be used - 6 inch to 7 inch pan

The basic ingredients are:

125 gm unsalted butter + 1.5 tsp for buttering the cake pan
125 gm all purpose flour + a 1 tbsp for using on the cake mould. (If you are using a cup which holds 250ml liquid then use 1 cup of the flour minus 1 tsp since a cup which holds 250ml liquid holds 128gm of flour)
125 gm castor sugar
Baking powder (Now for this please do read the package to know how much to use) I personally require half a tsp
2 large eggs

For the filling and topping for round cakes

250ml double cream (I would always recommend the dairy cream )
170gm strawberry
100gm castor sugar
1/4th of juice from a lemon

Start with the strawberry compote.

First mix the sugar and 120 gm (leaving 6 strawberries for decoration) strawberry together and let it sit for about 1 hour and then use the juice of lemon and bring to a boil and then simmer till ti reaches a soft sticky consistency. Whip you cream and keep it ready in the refrigerator.

The first thing to do is to butter the baking mould  ( 6 inch to 7 inch)  and dust it with flour. Timing is everything for baking. You should have your cake pan ready.

One should begin by sieving the all purpose flour and baking powder together. While one mixes the cake batter one should pre-heat the oven to 180 C. From my experience in the area of baking, the best cakes are the ones baked over a long period on medium heat. Too much heat would make the outer parts crispy and the inner parts uncooked.

Once you have started the process of preheating you need to be a bit quick because a  batter which sits out  for too long is a ruined batter. The Victorian sponge cake is one of my favourite cakes and so I have not only made it numerous times but have learnt to improve upon it overtime and only recently did I learn that using a wooden spatula yields the best result. So use the wooden spatula to soften the butter and then cream the butter by using the spatula against the wall of the bowl till its fluffy and add the sugar bit by bit to fluff it up to a point where all the sugar has melted and you are left with something which tastes light as air. Then add the eggs one by one and it is now that you should use your whisk to fluff up the batter and then reject the whisk again when you add the flour and switch to the wooden spoon and finally fold the flour and baking powder sifted from before by sifting it a second time . Your batter should be light and have a dropping consistency. (Remember that extra baking powder would invariably result in a cracked top and zinc like taste so be very careful about it)

 Seasoned bakers say that  the batter should never be over mixed.

Then all one needs to do is to pour the batter in the baking pan and bake it for  40 minutes to 50 minutes  in case one is using a convection oven or 30 minutes to 35 minutes for regular ovens. Do not open the door at any cost during this period. For a fool proof recipe (wrap a tea towel around the cake pan because when you use an aluminium pan the sides tend to heat up faster and as a result your sides often get overcooked, besides this might also lead to cracked tops so a tea towel ensures slow even baking)

Now patience is the key to success. So once done do insert a toothpick to check if its done. If the toothpick comes out clean your cake is ready but first it needs to sit in the pan once you take it out from the oven for 10 minutes. Run a knife around the edges and then flip it over a rack and flip that back and let it cool for another half an hour before slicing it in half for the whipped cream and strawberry compote to be applied. Apply a thick layer of whipped cream and strawberry compote and then place the other half of the cake on top and then apply a generous amount of whipped cream on top and decorate with strawberries. Enjoy this classic cake with a cup of steaming hot tea

Here are a few tips which might help in achieving that light firm yet airy Cake.

1. Never over mix the batter 
2. Creaming the butter and sugar to a fluffy airy consistency is a must 
3. Once you start making your batter be as quick as possible 
4. Once you have transferred the batter in the cake pan, wet your hands and gently press the batter. This helps in achieving an even top. 
5. B every careful about the amount of baking powder since even a tiny pinch of  extra baking powder would lead to a cracked top. 
6. If you double the recipe use 2 , 8 inch pans