Nourished

Recipe

Baking

Rachel Allen’s 30 Day Muffins

Yes, more muffins.  Actually this time because I have a shocking cold, and I can’t sleep.  Seemed as though it might be fun to make breakfast muffins for everyone to have in the morning!  Adapted from Rachel Allen’s 30 day muffin mixture, the theory is that you can leave the mixture in the fridge for 30 days until you next want to make muffins… Does it work? Absolutely!

At the weekend I made a batch of Rachel Allen’s 30 day muffin mixture, and made a batch of blueberry muffins with half of the mixture, and made breakfast muffins with the other half.

Ingredients:
3 eggs
500 ml milk
125 ml sunflower oil

1 teaspoon vanilla extract
125g dark brown sugar

100g caster sugar
460g plain flour (or 300g plain flour, 160g wholemeal flour)
25g bran (which I omitted)
½ teaspoon salt
2 round teaspoons bicarbonate of soda

Method:

Whisk the eggs, sugar, milk and vanilla.  Add the sunflower oil and stir well.  Sieve all of the dry ingredients into a bowl.  Tip in the wet ingredients and barely mix – store in the fridge until required.
When you’re in a baking mood (or can’t sleep), preheat the oven to 180C/gas 4.  Decide on your variation, and ensure you stir the stored mixture before using.  I use those cafe-style muffin cases – you do need to cook them in a holey tin, or they’ll unravel.  Fill the muffin cases until three quarters full. Bake for 15-20 minutes, or until firm to the touch and golden.  In the big cases I find they take around 20 minutes.  I leave the muffins to ‘set’ in the tin for 10 minutes or so, before allowing to cool on a wire rack.
So, in the first variation I used about half of the mixture, and stirred in about 100g of blueberries.  I put a couple on top of the muffin to ensure they didn’t sink, which is why some look as though they’ve burst, perhaps you’d want to pop them just below the surface.
In the second variation, I really wanted a breakfast muffin, so I put in about 1 cup of Rude Health’s Top Banana Porridge mixture (which also contains roasted hazelnuts and maple flakes).  I wanted some fruit in the mixture too, just in case the oatflakes dried out the mixture too much.   I chopped in about 100g of blackberries, and distributed them through the mixture.  
The muffins definitely were more dense than the blueberry version, and decidedly more breakfast than dessert.  Very good, and the general consensus is that they’re better than straight fruit muffins.  I assume this is what the bran would bring to the original recipe, but bran can be a little difficult to digest – so the oats are a good alternative.  The Rude Health mixture gives just a hint of the sweetness and perfume of the banana, but the acidity of the blackberry cuts through that!  Add the crunch of the hazelnuts, and the chewy oats and you’re on to a breakfast winner.
I will definitely make up another batch of the mixture, and will keep posting variations as I think of them :0)
You can find the recipe in Rachel’s book, Bake >

Breakfast Tart

Breakfast Tart

I’ve been away all week, and there’s so little left in my fridge.  I was trying to work out what to make everyone and was flicking through my copy of Breakfasts, when I came across this recipe.  What could be nicer than pastry, bacon and eggs on a Sunday morning?

In reality the version in the book is much prettier than mine, but now I know how to improve my own version.

The best thing about this recipe is that I was able to modify it to use what I had in my fridge.  the original recipe calls for smoked back bacon and quails eggs.  I had do make do with parma ham and hen’s eggs.  No matter.  Take some shop bought puff pastry and roll it out to a thin layer.  Cut the edges to ensure a good rise, and cross hatch the pastry about 1 inch from the edge. Prick the base of the pastry to ensure it crisps properly.

Spread a little crème fraîche across the uncooked pastry, and season with pepper.  I didn’t put any salt on, as I was using parma ham.

Place the parma ham, or smoked back bacon rashers across the crème fraîche, and pop into an oven at around 220oC for 10 minutes, or until you can see that the pastry is risen, but only just golden.  I didn’t manage this, despite setting my timer – do watch your tart!

As I was using hen’s eggs, not quails, I lifted out the yolk from the majority of the egg white, I didn’t want it swimming in white.  The dark patches you can see are where the parma ham has shrunk away from the crème fraîche, leaving it exposed.  As a result the crème fraîche has browned.  Either make sure you cover the crème fraîche adequately, or do watch your tart!  Pop back into the oven for around 4 minutes, you want the white to be just set, but the yolk to still be runny…

Et voila… In my case an overcooked Parma ham and egg breakfast tart – but one which still tasted amazing.  I will definitely make the version in the book with quails eggs, especially for guests – it tastes delicious, but would look much better done like that!

Update 12/02/12: Okay made it again this morning, this time actually with bacon and quails eggs – was delicious!

There are lots more yummy recipes in Breakfasts… You can find it here…

Azelia's Kitchen

Dan Lepard’s Wholemeal Soda Bread

I’m a massive sourdough girl – I feed my sourdough starter every day and have been known to take it with me if it’s looking a little unwell – it really is like having a (fifth) child!

Now some people appreciate the complexity of my sourdough, on twitter there are a core few who I’ll talk particulars with (the Breadmakers) – but almost universally the bread people ask me about is sodabread.  Yes.  Irish sodabread.

Bizarrely, despite having Irish and Scottish family, I’ve never made my own… This Christmas the question came up three times… I’d made sundried tomato rolls, black olive rolls, and cumin bread – wasn’t that enough?  No, everyone wanted sodabread…  When @JohntheCabby asked me too, I knew something would have to be done.

First of all there was the question over which recipe to use.  A quick trawl of the BBC web site revealed Richard Corrigan’s recipe, which I was about to make, but Azelia felt quite strongly that the balance of ingredients was incorrect.  So, to the books then…  I dragged out all my main cookery books… Now I know Lorraine Pascal has a recipe, and I’m pretty sure Rachel Allen and Nigel Slater will have one too, but I chose to stick in the main part to the bread books.

The List                           The ‘No Recipe’ Pile            The Contenders

My choices were made much easier by the fact that only two main breadmakers seemed to have sodabread recipes (which I think reflects my own experience – the sourdough makers don’t tend to make sodabread!).  Emerging from the pile were Dan Lepard and Paul Hollywood.  We conferred on twitter and I decided to go with Dan’s more full-bodied recipe, in Baking with Passion (Baker & Spice)

Ingredients:
300ml buttermilk or thin plain low fat bio yoghurt
1 Tbsp black treacle
220g self-raising white flour
220g plain wholemeal flour
1 Tbsp wheat germ
1/2 tsp cream of tartar
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1 tsp Maldon salt, finely ground
plain flour for dusting

Method:

Put the dried ingredients together into a bowl and mix together to ensure they are evenly distributed and that there are no lumps.

Warm together the treacle and the buttermilk mixture, and pop into a well in the dry ingredients.  Bring together with your hands (or with a scraper).

In the first instance my mixture was a little too sticky, and as this isn’t a kneading dough, I popped in another small handful of wholemeal flour.

This time I brought together the dough lightly, and shaped it into a round.

Like a sourdough baker, I tried to slash the loaf with my lame – but of course there’s nothing to release, it’s an unproved loaf…

So, trying again with a bread knife, and cutting down to about 1/3 of the loaf… Now I’ve not put any steam in the oven, and this is cooked on a baking tray, not a stone.

These are my results and Dan’s pic from the book.  It seems I need a deeper cut into the loaf before baking, but the crumb is dense and chewy – the treacle does add an incredible almost umami’ness to the loaf – it works really well with the buttermilk and bicarb flavour.

The Breadmakers

Richard Bertinet : Richard is a French break maker living and working in Bath.  He runs a very successful cookery school, and has several books.  Richard’s site   … on twitter

Azelia : Azelia writes a blog called Azelia’s Kitchen.  Whilst she writes about lots of different food themes, this year particularly has seen the rise of Azelia the bread maker.  Lots of experimentation with different flours etc, and visits to other bread makers.  Azelia’s Blog   … on twitter

Luc Martin : Luc lives in the Netherlands, but is not Dutch :0)  He writes about restaurants, food, recipes.  Luc’s Blog  … on twitter

 Do buy a copy of Dan’s book :0)

Baking

Toffee Fudge Muffins

Okay, forget that New Year’s promise of dieting for a moment, and have a toffee fudge muffin on me :0)  The little fudge chunks at the bottom of the muffins turn that bottom bit into a pseudo treacle sponge – delicious!

Ingredients:
255g plain flour
3 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
110g cinnamon sugar
100g bag of baking mini fudge chunks
1 egg
240 ml milk
90ml vegetable oil (or melted butter)

Method:

Place all of the dry ingredients into a bowl and mix thoroughly to ensure they are free of lumps etc.  Then pop in the fudge chunks, and coat in the dry ingredients.

Thoroughly mix together the egg, milk and vegetable oil.  Pour into the dry ingredients, and barely mix – the idea is not to work the dough in any way, but to ‘just combine’ everything together.  Spoon into muffin wrapper – if using the kind I show here, do make sure you pop them into a holed baking tin to ensure they stay together!

Bake for 20-25 mins at 190-200oC.  I tested mine with a cake skewer, and left them to rest for 5 minutes in the ‘holey’ tin, to let them ‘settle’ a little before popping them onto a cooling tray.

Baking

Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins

Bloomin’ cheek… Pointed the toffee muffins out to the Hubby, who remarked rather pointedly that he only eats lemon poppy seed muffins.  Then he popped off for a quick run… Well.  The 10yo and I weren’t going to stand for that, so we found a recipe, and made some while he was out!!!

I’ve adapted a recipe from The English Kitchen blog, which had a really lovely lemon zest crunch on the top, which I thought would work well.  By now I’m obviously in a hurry, so my modifications are more about timing than anything else…

Ingredients:
Grated zest of 5 medium lemons
220g vanilla caster sugar (1 cup)
335g of self raising flour (2 1/4 cup)
2 Tbsp poppy seeds
80ml of fresh lemon juice (1/3 cup)
250ml of milk (1 cup)
60g of vegetable oil (1/3 cup)
2 large free range eggs, beaten

Preheat the oven to 180oC.  Pop six large cafe-style muffin cases into a ‘holey’ tin (otherwise they will unfurl!)

Rub together the lemon zest and the sugar, and then set aside 3 tablespoons for later.  Sift the flour into the remainder and stir in the poppy seeds.

Putting lemon juice into milk has the effect of turning it into buttermilk.  I’m assuming you could substitute buttermilk here if you wished…  So, whisk together the lemon juice, milk, beaten eggs and vegetable oil. Make a well in the centre of the dry ingredients and add the liquid all at once.  

The trick with muffins is to avoid overworking the batter, so only stir enough to combine.  Spoon it into the prepared muffin cups, dividing it equally.  (And here that Lorraine Pascal trick of using one of those old-fashioned icecream scoops really will help, especially if you have a 10yo as your pâtissier.  Sprinkle the tops of each with the reserved lemon sugar.
Bake for 30 minutes.  I tested mine with a cake tester, but the rules about a clean skewer apply too.  I left mine in the pan to ‘settle’ for a few minutes too, before transferring them to a cooling rack.

Et voila! Laissez mon mari manger son gâteau! (Let my husband eat his cake!!)

Camembert

Truffled Camembert with Crudités…

Another quick and yummy supper to share – crudités with a baked truffled camembert! Amazing what I rediscover unused in my fridge after Christmas!  Bake the camembert in the oven, then shave a few slices of white truffle over the cheese, and drizzle with some good olive oil – absolutely scummy!


Chocolate

Michel Roux’s Chocolate Soufflé [also for Thermomix]

Chocolate souffle – the ultimate hit of chocolate, but without the guilty stodge… You can almost convince yourself that this doesn’t count…  This is the joy of soufflés, they satisfy without making you feel as though you’ve eaten a whole tart…  Would be delicious served with pistachio ice-cream…

Ingredients
40g softened butter, to grease dishes
40g caster sugar, to coat dishes
50g cocoa powder, sifted
240g plain chocolate (70% cocoa solids), chopped into small pieces
10 medium egg whites (this is the equivalent of 330g of egg white)
40g caster sugar

For the pastry cream:
350ml milk
80g caster sugar
4 medium egg yolks
30g plain flour

To finish:
icing sugar, to dust

 

Method:

  • Butter four individual 10cm soufflé dishes and coat the insides with the sugar.
  • To make the pastry cream, put the milk and two-thirds of the sugar in a small pan, and bring slowly to the boil. Whisk the egg yolks and remaining sugar in a bowl to a ribbon consistency, then incorporate the flour. Pour the hot milk on to the yolks, stirring continuously with a whisk. Return to the pan and whisk over a low heat for 1 minute, then pour into a bowl, cover with cling-film, and cool slightly.
  • Preheat the oven to 200°C/Gas 6 and put a baking sheet inside to heat.  Measure 280g of the pastry cream and delicately mix in the cocoa power and the chopped chocolate using a whisk.  (Keep the rest of the pastry cream for another use.)
  • Beat the egg whites to a thick foam, then add the 40g sugar and continue to beat until the form soft peaks. Fold one-third into the pastry cream using a whisk, then delicately fold in the rest with a large spoon; the mixture will be fairly loose.
  • Divide the mixture between the soufflé dishes, to come level with the rim. Stand on the hot baking sheet and cook for 10 minutes. Serve the soufflés as soon as they come out of the oven on warm plates, dusting with a little icing sugar.

Thermomix Version:
  • Butter four individual 10cm soufflé dishes and coat the insides with the sugar.
  • Chop your chocolate in the Thermo bowl and set aside.
  • Put all the pastry cream ingredients into the bowl and cook for 7 minutes at 90C, speed 4. Give it a quick whizz at the end to ensure it’s smooth, then pour into a bowl and cover with cling film until it’s cool.  This stops a skin from forming.  You can also leave the Thermo on stir mode, until you’re ready to use it.
  • Preheat the oven to 200°C/Gas 6 and put a baking sheet inside to heat.  Measure 280g of the pastry cream and delicately mix in the cocoa power and the chopped chocolate using a whisk.  (Keep the rest of the pastry cream for another use.)
  • Put the egg whites into a clean Thermomix bowl, and beat the egg whites to a thick foam on Speed 4 / 6 minutes before adding the sugar.  Whisk for a further 3 minutes until the sugar is fully dissolved. Fold one-third into the pastry cream using a whisk, then delicately fold in the rest with a large spoon; the mixture will be fairly loose.
  • Divide the mixture between the soufflé dishes, to come level with the rim. Stand on the hot baking sheet and cook for 10 minutes. (I think this should be closer to 13 minutes, but that might be the size of my soufflé dishes!)
  • Serve the soufflés as soon as they come out of the oven on warm plates, dusting with a little icing sugar.

Soufflé Tips:

  • One of the key factors in achieving a perfect soufflé is to ensure that all of the ingredients are at the same temperature.  If you’ve chilled the creme patisserie, bring it back to room temperature before you make the soufflés
  • I now double line my soufflé dishes – let’s face it – it takes no more time and gives a more consistent result.  You could use caster sugar on the first layer, and grated chocolate on the second, if you’re prefer.  I’ve found the sugar layer is best as the first layer as the granules allow the soufflé to elevate evenly.  Chill the dishes in-between lining them
  • When filling your dishes, fill roughly half way first, and rap the dishes down onto a board to ensure that the mixture is evenly distributed over the base of the dish – this ensures an even rise… Air pockets can throw the soufflé off track and make it shoot out in strange directions
  • Always, always, smooth the top of your soufflé with a palette knife to ensure a flat surface.  Then take your thumb and run it around the inside edge of the soufflé dish – this frees the mixture and allows it to soar!

 

Pierre Koffmann

Pierre Koffmann’s Pistachio Soufflé

05f69-p5057646

Ingredients
500ml milk
½ vanilla pod
120g egg yolks
100g caster sugar
50g plain flour
40g pistachio paste
25g butter, softened
25g dark chocolate, grated
4 egg whites (let’s say 120g)
1 tbsp caster sugar
Icing sugar, to serve

Preparation:

Boil together the milk and vanilla pod. Whisk together the egg yolks and caster sugar, until the mixture slightly thickens and turns light in colour. Sieve the flour and add into the mixture, whisk until smooth. Add half the milk, whisk until there are no lumps. Sieve through a fine strainer, remove the vanilla pod and return the mixture back to the pan and add the remaining milk.

Using a whisk, stir the mixture. When it comes to the boil, reduce temperature to a simmer. Continue to stir and cook out for 8-10 minutes and mix in the pistachio paste.

Pour the pastry cream onto a shallow tray, wrap with cling film and cool rapidly.

Generously butter 4 individual soufflé dishes. Put the grated chocolate inside and rotate the moulds so that the chocolate completely covers the inside, sticking to the softened butter. Beat the egg whites until firm, add the tablespoon of caster sugar and whisk until stiff. Add a small quantity of the whites to the pistachio mix to soften it, then fold in the rest of the egg whites and pour into the soufflé dishes.

Bake in a hot oven 240°C/ 475°F/ gas mark 9 for 15 minutes or until well risen.

To serve, dust the top with icing sugar and serve with ice cream of your choice.

Serves 4

Mango

Michel Roux’s Vanilla and Mango Soufflés with Passion Fruit Coulis

Ingredients
40g softened butter, to grease dishes
40g caster sugar, to coat dishes
8 medium egg whites
80g caster sugar
1 very ripe mango, about 400g, peeled, stoned and finely diced


For the pastry cream:
350ml milk
70g caster sugar
1 vanilla pod, split lengthways
7 medium egg yolks
50g plain flour

For the passion fruit coulis:
30g caster sugar
juice of two oranges
2 passion fruit, halved

Preparation:
Butter 4 individual 10cm soufflé dishes and coat the insides with the sugar.  To make the coulis, boil the sugar and orange juice until reduced by one third, pour into a bowl and let cool.  Scrape the passion fruit seeds into the cold syrup and set aside.

For the pastry cream, put the milk and 40g sugar in a small pan, scrape in the seeds from the vanilla pods and bring slowly to the boil.  Whisk the egg yolks and remaining sugar in a bowl to a ribbon consistency, then incorporate the flour.  Pour the hot milk on to the yolks, stirring continuously with a whisk.  Return to the pan and whisk over a low heat for 1 minute, then pour into a bowl, cover with cling-film, and cool slighty.

Preheat the over to 200oC/Gas 6 and put a baking sheet inside to heart.  Beat the egg whites to a thick foam, then add the 80g sugar and continue to beat until the form soft peaks.  Fold one-third into the pastry cream using a whisk, then delicately fold in the rest with a large spoon, scattering in the mango as you go.

Divide the mixture between the soufflé dishes, to come level with the rim.  Stand on the hot baking sheet and cook for 8 minutes.  Serve the soufflés as soon as they come out of the oven on warm plates, with the coulis in a sauceboat.  Invite guests to make a small well in the middle of their soufflés with a little spoon, and pour in a little of the coulis.

Serves 4

James Martin

James Martin’s Passion fruit soufflé with passion fruit jelly and ice cream

Ingredients

For the ice cream
400ml/14fl oz milk
8 free-range egg yolks
200g/7oz caster sugar
400ml/14fl oz double cream
8 passion fruit, seeds scooped out


For the jelly
200g/7oz caster sugar
200ml/7fl oz water
6 passion fruit, seeds scooped out
6 gelatine sheets, soaked in cold water until softened

For the soufflé 
25g/1oz butter, softened
4 tbsp caster sugar
4 free-range egg whites
175ml/6fl oz ready-made vanilla custard
4 passion fruit, seeds scooped out
1 chocolate-coated honeycomb bar, crumbled

Preparation:

For the ice cream, bring the milk to the boil in a heavy-based pan.
Remove from the heat immediately.

Place the egg yolks and sugar in a bowl and whisk until pale and fluffy. Pour the warm milk over the egg yolks, whisking well until smooth and well combined. Pour the mixture back into the pan and return to a low heat.

Whisk in the cream and passion fruit seeds. Cook for a further 3-4 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the mixture has thickened enough to coat the back of a wooden spoon. (Do not allow the mixture to boil.)

Remove from the heat and set aside to cool. Once cooled, pour the mixture into an ice cream machine and churn according to the manufacturer’s instructions. Transfer the churned ice cream to a freeze-proof container and chill in the freezer until needed. Take the ice cream out of the freezer about 10 minutes before serving to soften slightly.

For the jelly, place the sugar and water into a saucepan and bring to the boil, stirring until the sugar has dissolved. Reduce the heat to a simmer and cook for 2-3 minutes, or until the mixture has thickened, then stir in the passion fruit seeds. Remove from the heat.

Squeeze out any excess moisture from the soaked gelatine and whisk into the warm sugar mixture until dissolved. Pour the jelly mixture into the prepared baking tray and chill in the fridge for at least 1 hour, or until the jelly has set. Using a 7.5cm/3in round cutter, cut out four circles of jelly. Place onto a tray lined with cling film and place back into the fridge until needed.

Preheat the oven to 200C/400F/Gas 6.

For the soufflé lightly grease 4 large ramekins with the butter, then dust with half the caster sugar.

Whisk the egg whites in a large clean bowl until soft peaks form. Add the remaining caster sugar and whisk until stiff peaks form.

Gently fold in the vanilla custard and passion fruit seeds until just combined. Spoon the mixture gently into the prepared ramekins and place onto a baking tray.

Bake the soufflés in the oven for 10 minutes, or until golden-brown and risen.

Meanwhile, start plating the dessert. Place a jelly round on one side of each serving plate. Top the jelly with some of the crumbled chocolate honeycomb bar, then place a scoop of ice cream on top of the crumble. Remove the risen soufflés from the oven and place alongside the jelly. Dust with icing sugar and serve immediately.

Serves 4

Original BBC Recipe Link