Just for the smell of them baking, you have to try these incredible shortbreads. They are very rich in butter, but that’s not all! I use fresh lemon peel and…]]>
Lemon cardamom shortbread
Just for the smell of them baking, you have to try these incredible shortbreads. They are very rich in butter, but that’s not all! I use fresh lemon peel and candied lemon peel (with sugar), but also cardamom. Since they are relatively low in sugar, the lemon juice glaze is perfect. I had read about this combination of flavors in the American “flavor” magazine and wanted to make my version in my studio. To be made quickly at home, because it is also very easy to make.
Ingredients
- 85 g sugar
- 225 g soft butter
- the zest of half a lemon untreated
- 60 g candied lemon peel
- 350 g flour
- 1/16 teaspoon yeast (a pinch ofo knife)
- 12 cardamom pods
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 200 g powdered sugar
- 45 g lemon juice
Instructions
- Pour the sugar and chopped butter into the bowl of your food processor or into a container.
- Mix with the sheet until you get a homogeneous cream.
- Add the zest of the half lemon.
- Cut the candied lemon peel (sweet!) into small pieces. For once, I took the vahiné brand from the supermarket and it works just fine.
- Put them in the tank.
- For the cardamom, I use my mortar.
- Put the seeds of 12 pods.
- Grind them into powder.
- Pour the flour, yeast, salt and cardamom into the bowl.
- Continue mixing with the leaf.
- Stop as soon as the dough clumps together.
- Bring it back in a ball.
- Spread it out immediately between two sheets of baking paper to a thickness of 6mm.
- Cut shortbread with a cookie cutter (here 6cm).
- Place them on baking sheets lined with baking paper.
- Bake in a preheated oven at 150°C for 30 minutes.
- Then let them cool on a wire rack.
- For the glaze: put the powdered sugar and lemon juice (freshly squeezed and weighed) in a container.
- Mix well.
- Dip half of the shortbread into the mixture and drain well.
- Put on the baking paper.
- To get the glaze just right, I then let them dry at 40°C in the oven for 25 minutes (dough lift function to get that temperature in my KitchenAid oven). When the icing is dry and soft to the touch, put the shortbread in an airtight box until you are ready to eat it.
Nutrition
Serving: 30shortbreadCalories: 104kcalCarbohydrates: 16gProtein: 1gFat: 7gSaturated Fat: 4gPolyunsaturated Fat: 1gMonounsaturated Fat: 2gTrans Fat: 0.2gCholesterol: 16mgSodium: 154mgPotassium: 30mgFiber: 1gSugar: 3gVitamin A: 189IUVitamin C: 3mgCalcium: 25mgIron: 1mg
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Fruit Pasta: Passion Fruit
This has been nagging at me for a while! I love fruit jellies and I enjoyed figuring out the percentage of sugar and pectin based on the fruit I wanted. So I start with the passion fruit pasta. A perfect sweet and sour mix. As you can imagine, we’re going to need a few more hard-to-find ingredients (but everything is available on the internet nowadays!). And homemade fruit jellies are so good!
Ingredients
- 400 g passion fruit puree
- 400 g sugar
- 100 g glucose syrup
- 20 g pectin yellow
- 1/2 lemon juice
- crystal sugar
Instructions
- First of all, here are the two products that are harder to find for some. Yellow pectin and passion fruit puree in a bottle. As always, I buy from G.Detou.
- Place the passion fruit puree in a saucepan over low heat and bring to a boil.
- Mix some of the scure (3-4 large tablespoons taken from the total weight of the sugar) with the yellow pectin.
- When the liquid boils, add the sugar-pectin.
- Mix well and bring back to a boil. Add remaining sugar.
- Also add the glucose syrup. Note from Bernard:to pour it easily, you can heat 30 seconds in the microwave or in a bain-marie. This way it will become liquid.
- Add the juice of half a lemon, filtering it well (in a tea strainer for example).
- Bring to 107°C while stirring.
- Pour into a 18X18cm frame placed on a silicone mat. Don't worry, the whole thing will remain watertight and the liquid won't come out under the frame...
- Put immediately a stretch film on the contact (really on the liquid). Let cool completely then put in the fridge for a good two hours.
- Here is my guitar for ganache, caramel, fruit jelly etc...
- But don't panic! It remains a toy that I gave myself by pure madness! You can cut the fruit paste with a knife! Remove from the pan by running a knife along the set mass and unmold.
- Cut into six on each side.
- Then cut each slice into 6 pieces.
- Put some granulated sugar in a container and roll the resulting pieces in it!
- Place on a plate and then throw yourself on it!
Nutrition
Serving: 36piecesCalories: 62kcalCarbohydrates: 16gProtein: 0.05gFat: 0.04gSaturated Fat: 0.001gPolyunsaturated Fat: 0.004gMonounsaturated Fat: 0.001gSodium: 6mgPotassium: 31mgFiber: 0.1gSugar: 14gVitamin A: 80IUVitamin C: 3mgCalcium: 1mgIron: 0.05mg
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Butter Chicken
During my stay in Bangalore, I ventured out as I should, to Indian cooking classes. This is for me the best approach to understand the culinary spirit of a country. I have taken classes all over the world, but not yet in India. It’s done with Manju, an Indian woman living in Bangalore whom I met through one of my colleagues. We will see a couple of recipes from Manju who has kindly agreed to let me publish them. Taking these courses allowed me to observe the gestures, to see the products used and to “desacralize” a little this cooking that I like so much, but that I had not really approached yet. For the first recipe, I propose this “butter chicken”, a chicken accompanied by a rich and delicious sauce with a thousand flavors. Tomatoes, onions, cashew nuts, spices… I suggest this recipe, because the ingredients are within everyone’s reach and will transport you 8000km away in a few minutes!Three ingredients are a little more unusual: garam massala, which is now found everywhere. The “garlic-ginger” paste that can be bought in exotic stores or Indian stores. However, you can prepare it yourself by mixing as much peeled garlic as peeled ginger. The third product (which may be optional for some) is “kasuri methi”. It is in fact dried leaves of fenugreek. You can find this ingredient either on the internet or in Indian grocery stores, or maybe in your garden! But at worst, we can do without it, which is a shame…!
Ingredients
For the chicken marinade:
- 500 g chicken
- 1/2 plain yogurt
- 1/2 teaspoon garam massala
- 1 teaspoon chili powder
- 2 tablespoons oil
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
- 1 teaspoon galic-ginger paste
For the sauce
- 50 g butter
- 1 tablespoon oil
- 2 onions
- 2 teaspoons garlic-ginger paste
- 1 teaspoon sweet paprika
- 1 heaping teaspoon sugar
- 500 g tomato puree (or coulis depending on appellation)
- 80 g cashew nuts
- 50 g full cream
- marinated and grilled chicken
- a small handful kasuri methi
Instructions
- Put the chicken cut into pieces in a container. Add salt, garam massala, pepper, chili powder and oil. Add the half natural yogurt.
- Mix well and add the lemon juice.
- For the "garlic-ginger" paste, you can find it ready-made in exotic or Indian grocery stores. You can also make it yourself by mixing 50g of garlic and 50g of ginger, both peeled!
- Mix well, wrap in cling film and let sit overnight or overnight at best, or at least 3 hours.
- When the chicken has marinated long enough , heat a pan over high heat. Grill the pieces without the marinade sauce (which will probably be absorbed!) without adding anything to the pan.
- Turn them over and grill on the other side.
- When they are grilled on both sides, (without necessarily being cooked inside), put them in a plate the time to prepare the sauce.
- Cut the onions into coarse pieces and place in a blender.
- Blend to reduce to very small pieces. Be careful not to puree the onion!
- Heat butter and oil in a wok or large, high-sided skillet.
- Add onions and cook over moderate heat.
- Cook for about 15 minutes, stirring regularly.
- The onions should start to color and have a nice amber color.
- Add the sweet paprika and the garlic-ginger paste.
- Mix well and cook for two minutes.
- Add tomato pulp and sugar.
- Cook and stir for 5 minutes. Put the cashews in a small blender or blender. Add half a glass of water to help grind the nuts. Blend until you get a kind of cream.
- Pour the contents into the sauce, put 200ml of water back into the blender bowl to rinse and pour the resulting water into the sauce (that way you don't lose anything!).
- Cook until the sauce thickens, about 10 minutes. Add the chicken (with the juice it will probably have given back).
- Put the "kasuri methi" in a small frying pan over moderate heat and toast (without burning!!) the leaves.
- Simply crush the dried roasted leaves in the palm of your hands to obtain a powder. Sprinkle with sauce.
- Add the cream and cook until a very creamy sauce is obtained that coats the spoon generously.
- Serve with plain rice or rice with dried fruits (recipe coming soon) or a vegetable byriyani (recipe coming soon!).
Nutrition
Serving: 4peopleCalories: 545kcalCarbohydrates: 24gProtein: 17gFat: 44gSaturated Fat: 15gPolyunsaturated Fat: 7gMonounsaturated Fat: 20gTrans Fat: 1gCholesterol: 86mgSodium: 749mgPotassium: 888mgFiber: 4gSugar: 10gVitamin A: 1271IUVitamin C: 25mgCalcium: 64mgIron: 4mg
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Tiramisu
"Pull me up" or Tiramisu in Italian, keeps its promises. A spoonful of this creamy, smooth cake and your spirits are instantly lifted! With this recipe, you get a light, airy, deliciously melting and creamy tiramisu, which doesn't run.
Ingredients
- 500 g mascarpone
- 2 large eggs (from free range hens please!!!)
- 80 g caster sugar
- 2 tablespoons powdered sugar
- A few drops lemon juice (or cream of tartar)
- 2 packages sponge cake
- 1 cup strong coffee
- 1 amaretto
- 1 unsweetened cocoa powder
Instructions
- Start by separating the yolks from the whites.
- Put the yolks in a bowl with the caster sugar.
- Whisk the yolks as much as possible.
- Add the mascarpone and continue to whisk to obtain an airy cream.
- In another bowl, whip the egg whites until stiff with the powdered sugar and lemon juice (or cream of tartar for those who have it).
- Add these whites to the first mascarpone mixture. Mix gently, lifting the cream so that the egg whites do not fall.
- Prepare a strong coffee and add amaretto to it. The amount depends on your taste. But 2 or 3 tablespoons of amaretto for a cup of coffee seems fine to me. Dip the cookies one by one in the coffee for 4 to 5 seconds to soak them well, but do not soak these fragile cakes either.
- Place the cookies in a serving dish, holding them tightly. Pour the mascarpone cream over them, spreading well. You can make small tiramisus in small ramekins. I made both, you can see them in pictures in this recipe.
- Let stand at least three hours in the refrigerator.
- At the last moment, sprinkle cocoa with a tea strainer, either in the small ramekins directly or after serving a portion on a plate.
Nutrition
Calories: 451kcalCarbohydrates: 16gProtein: 8gFat: 39gSaturated Fat: 24gPolyunsaturated Fat: 0.3gMonounsaturated Fat: 1gTrans Fat: 0.01gCholesterol: 138mgSodium: 70mgPotassium: 43mgFiber: 0.1gSugar: 14gVitamin A: 1246IUCalcium: 126mgIron: 0.3mg
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