Pistachio

April 18, 2015 Baking

Churros, with Pistachio and Cardamom Sugar

Every so often, I think ‘I must make the kids churros for breakfast’, and I very rarely do!! Perhaps with four of them, Saturday is already too chaotic? However today they were all a pre-occupied, so I jumped out of bed, and raced into the kitchen. Inevitably Scarlett followed me, so she helped me make the dough, and find all of the ingredients. I often have flavoured sugars to hand, and we all know that I love my cardamom and pistachio – no surprise then that I keep a stash of that in my cold store! I did also make normal cinnamon and sugar, but honestly, do try it with cardamom – it’s amazing!

This recipe is Nieves Barragán Mohacho’s, and my only comments would be that it’s pretty firm to use in a piping bag – if you have a biscuit press, definitely make sure you use that – I nearly ended up wearing mine!

Ingredients:

Serves 4-6
For the churros:
plain flour 250g
salt 1 pinch
unsalted butter 50g
water 200ml
caster sugar (for dusting the churros) 50g
vegetable oil 300ml

For the chocolate:
dark chocolate (70 % cacao) 150g
double cream 300ml
vanilla pod 1
cinnamon stick 1
whipping cream 100ml

For the pistachio and cardamom sugar:
100g caster sugar
1tsp good ground green cardamom
2 Tbsp good pistachios, ground with the sugar in a spice grinder

Method:

To make the churros, mix the flour and salt together in a mixing bowl. Heat the butter and water in a pan and bring to the boil. Pour into the flour mixing constantly with a spoon. Mix well and then refrigerate for 30 minutes.
Meanwhile, grate the chocolate into a bowl. Heat the double cream with the vanilla pod and cinnamon stick and bring to the boil. Remove the vanilla pod and cinnamon stick and remove the cream from the heat, and stir in the grated chocolate until the chocolate has entirely melted. Meanwhile, whisk the whipping cream until firm.
Heat 300ml of vegetable oil to 160C-180C. Fill the churrera/piping bag with your mix and squeeze just a small amount out to check the flow. Pipe out 15cm lengths of churro mix into the hot oil (these can be piped into spirals or loops for aesthetic purposes), and cook for between 7-10 minutes until golden brown. Remove from the oil and place on absorbent kitchen paper and dust with the caster sugar. Serve piping hot with the chocolate.
When your churros are ready, divide the chocolate, while still hot, into glasses and dollop a spoon of whipped cream on top. If you have prepared the chocolate in advance and wish to reheat it at the last minute, be careful not to bring to the boil as the mix will curdle.

Scarlett hugging the warmed dough!

The churros on the left have the cardamom and pistachio sugar, those on the right, the cinnamon sugar

On the left, pistachio and cardamom, on the right, cinnamon

February 1, 2015 Recipe

Saffron Jewelled Rice

As a pescetarian, vegetarian dishes are a substantial part of my diet, but when I need to feed a large number of people this is ideal, and is generally a crowd-pleaser. Because it’s one dish that’s fantastic to serve alone, with meat, or fish, it suits so many diets. For our school Quiz Night {amazingly one of the highlights of the social calendar, as we’re all so laughably inept} I served it with Ottolenghi’s Saffron Chicken.

Jewelled rice is a Persian {Iranian} dish, usually saved for weddings and celebrations. Although mine is perhaps not the most authentic version, it seems there is no definitive recipe {or rather everyone thinks their version, is the definite version}. I can’t even spot a consistent difference between the two names: Morasa and Javaher Polow – both seemingly meaning jewelled rice.

Amongst the dozens of recipes I’ve read, there appear to be two distinct variations: one which uses spices and saffron, and a whiter version which omits them. Beyond that, I’ve seen every combination of ingredients and techniques. A few remain common: both nuts and dried fruit feature heavily, with the fruit usually being barberries. These are a sour berry not dissimilar to cranberries in appearance, but as I don’t always have them to hand, I’ve found dried physalis, and sour cherries to be a decent substitute. The physalis particularly has a sour but plump effect. The recipe which appealed to me the most came from the Amira site, and this is the one I’ve adapted.
Serves 8 comfortably

Ingredients:
600g long-grain basmati rice
Generous pinch of saffron threads
300g dried fruit (I used cherries, physalis, cranberry and blueberry)
4 shallots, finely chopped
2 tbsp olive oil
60g unsalted butter
A few fine julienne of carrot
Zest of 1 orange
1 cinnamon stick
seeds from 8 cardamon pods
2 tsp cumin seeds
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

To serve:
100g walnuts, roughly chopped
100g pistachios
seeds of a large pomegranate
Generous handful of parsley, chopped
1 garlic clove, very finely chopped

Method:

Run the basmati under water in a sieve to remove the excess starch, and the cover with cold water, setting it aside to soak for an hour
Cover the saffron with three tablespoons of orange blossom water, and leave to steep
Add the dried fruit to a small bowl, and barely cover in boiling water, leave to steep
After 30 minutes, add the oil and half the butter to a frying pan and set over a low heat. Add the spices and the shallot, and soften gently for 30 minutes until the shallots are barely caramalised. Turn off the heat.
Drain the rice into a large saucepan, and pour boiling water over the rice, until it comes approximately 3cm above the rice. On a medium heat, boil the rice for 3 minutes, then drain and rinse under cold running water, draining well.
When cool, mix the basmati into the shallots, along with the carrot strips, orange zest, saffron infusion, the dried fruit, and their soaking water. Season well with salt and pepper, and stir well.
Dot the surface of the rice with the remaining butter
Using a wooden spoon handle, make 5-6 holes through the rice, allowing it to steam evenly
Take a large piece of baking paper, scrunch it up, and soak in a little water. Shake off the excess, and lay over the rice {as a cartouche}. Cover the pan tightly with a damp tea towel, or sheet of foil, and set over a low heat. Cook, undisturbed, for 40 minutes. By this time your rice will be fluffy and a buttery crust will cover the bottom
While the rice is steaming, toast the nuts in a dry pan until they begin to smell ‘nutty’. Tip into a large bowl, and stir in the parsley, orange zest, garlic, carrot strips and pomegranate seeds
Once the rice has cooked, remove the paper, and stir through the nut and herb mixture. Serve the caramelised rice (the tah-dig) over the top.

I combine this dish with Ottolenghi’s Saffron Chicken, which also contains cardamom and oranges {one of my favourite combinations, as I’m sure you will have realised!}. The two dishes have a number of ingredients in common, and echo each other very successfully. I also took along a selection of hummus, with pitta breads toasted with a little olive oil, parsley and dukkah. Our portable pudding was a bento box of fruit, and a few riciarelli {which though Italian, are not hugely dissimilar to Middle Eastern nut treats}. And no. We did not win!

Do let me know what your favourite version of Jewelled Rice is!

March 16, 2013 Baking

Frangipane Tarts

Pistachio frangipane, with figs

There’s something about the scent of frangipane which has haunted me for decades. We have relatives on the French side of the Swiss-France border, and on our very first visit, we had a plum and frangipane tart. The memory has stuck with me for twenty years – served at room temperature – the tart was luscious, creamy, delicately scented – just adorable.

Spotting some nectarines which needed using up, I thought it would make a delicious variation. A quick trawl through some of my favourite chefs revealed a recipe on the BBC site by Angela Hartnett…

That first tart was consumed by the multitudes in my household within twenty-four hours.

Luckily, the quantity of frangipane in the recipe allowed me to make two tarts – so the second tart was a plum and frangipane one… The plums hold up better than the nectarines, though surprisingly they do make the mixture more moist (I would have assumed the nectarines would offer up more water). The scent load is also greater with the plums.

Having everything to hand, the second tart only took about 10 minutes to prepare, so well worth keeping some frangipane in your fridge (bring it back to room temperature, and give it a quick re-fluffing with a fork – et voila – instant tart…).

The next time I made a bakewell tart, and then another for my chum Sarah… And then we moved on to pistachio and fig tarts, with a further tart for another chum, Nicole…

Once you have the basic frangipane recipe in your back-pocket, the possibilities are endless :0)

Ingredients:

For the pastry:

375g/13¼oz plain flour, plus extra for dusting

15g/½oz sugar
225g/8oz unsalted butter, cut into cubes, plus extra for greasing
1 free-range egg
4 tbsp ice-cold water

For the frangipane:

200g/7¼oz unsalted butter
200g/7¼oz caster sugar
2 free-range eggs
200g/7¼oz ground almonds

For the tart filling:

5-6 ripe plums, each cut into eighths, stones removed

To serve:

icing sugar, for dusting
whipped cream or crème fraîche

Method:

For the pastry, sieve the flour and sugar into a large mixing bowl. Tip the cubed butter into the bowl. Rub the butter and the flour between your thumb and fingertips until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs.
In a jug or small bowl, beat the egg together with four tablespoons of ice-cold water. Pour into the flour mixture.
Slowly bring the ingredients together with your hands to form a dough, being careful not to overwork it.
Knead the dough lightly on a clean, floured work surface, then wrap it in cling film and refrigerate until firm, at least 30 minutes.
For the frangipane, beat the butter and sugar together in a bowl until light and fluffy. Crack the eggs into the bowl one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the ground almonds and mix well until combined. Set aside.
Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas 4. Dust the work surface with flour and roll the chilled dough out thinly. Use it to line one large 25cm/10in tart ring or 6-8 individual tartlet rings 8cm/3¼in in diameter. Trim away any excess.
Spoon the frangipane into the tart case so that it comes about halfway up the sides. Smooth over the surface with a spatula and cover the frangipane evenly with the plums.
Bake for 30-40 minutes (15-25 minutes for the tartlets), or until the pastry is crisp and golden-brown and the fruit is tender.
Remove the tart(s) from the oven. Dust with icing sugar and serve warm with whipped cream or crème fraîche.

Notes:

I used a pre-rolled pastry sheet made by Marie – it’s the best I’ve used, comes in a circle, and is rolled super-fine! Because it’s so fine, I always brush it with beaten egg and allow to dry in the fridge, before putting any filling in
Don’t push your figs too far into the batter, it will rise up around them. For maximum visual effect, just lightly lodge them in

Lay the fruit in a pattern of your choosing – you can see from the plum chart that I chose a different layout that time

Fig and pistachio frangipane

Nectarine and frangipane

Plum and frangipane

Bakewell Tart: spread jam spread a layer of frangipane, and top with almonds halfway through cooking #simples