French Pastry Making Tips

!±8± French Pastry Making Tips

French pastry is so delicious, it is rather like shortbread, light, crisp and buttery. It turns a simple fruit tart into a dessert from heaven! Making French pasty is just a technique that you will acquire with a little patience and once you have the hang of it you will be making the most delicious tarts and quiches you have ever tasted.

The French use a special low gluten flour but you can produce a good pastry using all purpose flour if you cannot buy French flour. You can buy French flour in good specialty stores or today of course you can buy it online - such are the wonders of the internet, everything at your convenience!

The French also use unsalted butter and this gives a crisp texture but again, you can use three parts butter to one part vegetable fat, which produces a light crisp pastry to be proud of. However, a combination of butter and a good vegetable fat is a wonderful mix and gives the results you want.

You can either make your pastry by hand or in a food processor. However, it is really a good idea to make it by hand to begin with so as to learn the skill of making a good pastry - to get the feel of the pastry in your hands and to learn the basics first.

You must work quickly and not handle the dough for long. I cannot stress this too much - this is the secret of making a good French pastry! This is to prevent it from getting warm as you do not want the butter to soften. So work with light fingers and very quickly. Add the water and blend quickly until you have the mix into a ball of dough. The secret here is this - too much water will make the pasty hard! Be careful and only use as little as possible!

Place the pastry dough on the floured board and using the heel of the hand, press the pastry down and away from you. Gather the pastry back into a ball with a scraper and place into a waxed bag or polythene bag which has been lightly dusted with flour. Place the dough in the refrigerator for about 2 hours.

When rolling out your pastry do this quickly so that the fat does not soften. It is very difficult to handle when this happens. However, when this does happen just press it to fit into the tin and even though it may not look good, it will still taste wonderful. Just do not worry as you learn the technique!

French Pastry Making Tips

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Recipe for a South African Crustless Milk Tart

!±8± Recipe for a South African Crustless Milk Tart

Milk Tart or Melktert is one of those classic South African dishes, that show up in infinite shades of cream at every social event where people bring a sweet contribution. At school fundraisers and tea and cake sales you will find several different versions interspersed with the odd tipsy tart, vetkoek, koeksisters or crunchies for variety.

A pastry case filled with a pale custard filling and speckled with cinnamon, it has a dense creamy texture that is sweet but not sickly, the comfort factor of creamy rice pudding without the bulk. Even my children, who don't go for rich, creamy things, like it and it's a great way of using up that extra pint of milk that is about to go past its sell by date and at the same time getting the kids to up their dairy and calcium intake without overdosing on cream and fat. It uses half-fat milk not cream so is also a good choice for those who have to avoid cream but are missing the indulgence of it.

The joy of this particular recipe for a Crustless Milk Tart is that it by-passes the need for pastry, the filling going straight into a buttered pie dish and into the oven, so it can be assembled in five minutes, baked for 45 minutes and produce a tea time treat with almost no effort. Also all the ingredients are mixed up in one bowl, leaving very little washing up. I've seen many other traditional recipes that demand that you whisk egg yolks and whites separately then fold in, but this way is already so delicious that there seems to be no need, unless you are looking for entertainment! This version is perfect for afternoons when you have a thousand other things to do and unexpected visitors show up for tea, or when you just feel the need for comfort food on a cold winter's afternoon.

Crustless Milk Tart Recipe

¾ cup / 185ml self-raising flour

2 cups / 500ml milk

2 eggs

¾ cup / 185 ml sugar

1 tsp vanilla essence

1 oz / 25g melted butter

pinch salt

½ tsp cinnamon

Put all the ingredients together into a bowl or food processor and beat to a smooth batter. Pour into a buttered pie dish (approximately 23cm/9" in diameter, but it doesn't matter if it's not exact,the finished tart will just be either a bit deeper or shallower). Sprinkle the cinnamon over the top. Bake for 45 minutes at 175C / 350F. Serve warm or cold. It sinks and becomes denser as it cools. If you eat it hot you'll need a spoon to scoop up the soft custardy tart but cold you can pick up the slices in your hand, if it hasn't vanished long before then.

If you feel like it you can always use a pastry base with this recipe as the filling. Use either puff pastry or a sweet shortcrust pastry and line the dish with it before pouring in the filling.

Copyright 2007 Kit Heathcock

Recipe for a South African Crustless Milk Tart

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Making Homemade Mascarpone Cheese

!±8± Making Homemade Mascarpone Cheese

Making homemade mascarpone cheese requires only two, count them, two ingredients!

I'm on a roll here folks. Once I figured out that making ricotta cheese was easy, I set about looking for answers to my other "cheesemaking" questions...and here's another seriously easy cheese for you to make.

Ingredients:

· 2 cups heavy whipping cream

· 1 Tablespoon fresh lemon juice

Start with 2 cups of heavy whipping cream in the top of a double boiler. If you don't have a double boiler, use a pan of water on the stove and a stainless steel bowl that will fit into the pan and touch the water. Bring the water in the pan to a boil.

Place the bowl of heavy whipping cream over the boiling water.

Whisk gently until your cream reaches 120 degrees (Fahrenheit). You don't want to do this fast, it should take 15 - 20 minutes.

Whisk in 1 tablespoon of fresh lemon juice (don't use the stuff in a bottle, please...) Continue to gently whisk over the heat until the cream reaches 180F. Everything will thicken and coat a spoon. Cook for an additional 5 minutes, then remove the bowl from the pan and place it on a cooling rack for 20 minutes. You'll see more thickening as it is cooling in the refrigerator overnight.

Mascarpone does not make large curd like cottage cheese or ricotta cheese.

Once it has cooled, pour the mixture through a strainer lined with 4 - 6 layers of cheesecloth. You can use a coffee filter if you like. Because you will be straining overnight in a refrigerator, your strainer needs to fit inside a bowl, and the entire contraption has to find room in your fridge! Cover it with plastic wrap. I place it directly on top of the "cheese" so minimize any oxidation. Once the cheese has drained to your satisfaction, store it for up to 4 - 5 days.

Easy Recipes:

Crostini - Mix half a cup of mascarpone cheese, half a cup of parmesan cheese, add a pinch of Marjoram, salt, and pepper, spread over sliced Italian bread, broil until golden, and you have yummy crostini! Perfect for serving with soup or just a glass of wine.

Strawberry Tart - Bake a sheet of puff pastry. Cover with slightly sweetened mascarpone cheese (do this to your taste), top with strawberries that have been mixed with a little bit of sugar. Do this in a bowl ahead of time so the strawberries begin to juice a little bit. Spread the strawberries over the mascarpone cheese. Drizzle about a tablespoon of balsamic vinegar over the top. Be prepared to swoon!

OR!

You can immediately make tiramisu. That's what I'm going to do.

Making Homemade Mascarpone Cheese

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What's For Dinner? 30-Minute Menus For Week of Oct 19

!±8± What's For Dinner? 30-Minute Menus For Week of Oct 19

How would you like to put dinner on your table in 30-minutes flat? You can with these menus!

Are you making plans for a Spooky Halloween or a Fall Festival? I am - this is going to be a very busy week getting ready for a Halloween Party for my Sunday school class so I have included quick and simple 30-minute menus this week. You can use your precious time getting for fun Fall events using these menus!

We are having company Saturday night so I have planned an elegant meal. I will add appetizers of prochuttio wrapped bread sticks, a wedge of cheese (brie or similar) with assorted crackers, and salsa with veggies for a tasty beginning to our meal. The bread sticks, salsa, and bagged pre-cut veggies will be purchased making it very easy on the hostess! I will even have time for a glass of wine before the company arrives and will be relaxed and ready (now this is my kind of entertaining!).

I hope you have a great week!

Sunday: Eye of the Round Roast Beef with Peppercorn Sauce (crock pot, save some beef for Wednesday), Mashed Potatoes, Chop House Salad, Individual Boston Cream Tortes (pound cake with instant pudding mix)

Monday: Bistro Chicken (chicken tenders, canned tomatoes), Linguini, Green Beans, Caramelized Peaches and Cream (purchased whipped cream)

Tuesday: Thai Shrimp (packaged mix, cleaned and deveined shrimp), Angel Hair Pasta, Cuke and Honeydew Salad, Strawberry Shortcakes (purchased sponge cake shells and whipped cream)

Wednesday: Blue Cheese Crusted Beef Stew (beef from Sunday, blue cheese folded into purchased pie crust for topper), Fruit Salad, Apple Dumplings (purchased pie crust wrapped around cored and filled apples)

Thursday: Turkey Tetrazzini (precooked turkey or chicken - I will use canned chicken), Broccoli Vegetable Medley, Ice Cream with Pecan Shortbread Cookies (purchased ice cream and cookies)

Friday: Fresh Tomato and Double Cheese Tart (puff pastry), French Green Beans, Pineapple Salad, Embellished Chocolate Cookies (purchased cookie dough)

Saturday: Grilled Salmon with Dill Butter, Long Grain and Wild Rice (boxed), Snow Peas, Tossed Salad (bagged salad), Lemon Affogato (purchased lemoncello liqueur)

I sincerely hope you have fun with your meal planning and preparation,

Elizabeth Randall and Family

What's For Dinner? 30-Minute Menus For Week of Oct 19

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End Your Heavy Meal With Something Sweet

!±8± End Your Heavy Meal With Something Sweet

With the holidays approaching, we begin to think of gatherings with family and friends and special meals to celebrate the occasion. While the Thanksgiving dinner is special, it also can be an over indulgent occasion. We decided to focus on a light, sweet ending to this classic meal. As pumpkin pie is dense, we kicked around other options, including pumpkin cheesecake and pumpkin crème brule. We liked the idea of pumpkin crème brule paired with a French Sauterne dessert wine, but thought it is complicated to make and a little heavy to finish off a big meal. So, we settled on a pear fruit tart and an Italian Moscato dessert wine, to offer a light, sweet ending to this holiday feast.

Wine Facts

Dessert wines are prized as they are produced in smaller quantities and are more expensive to make. They are served chilled and sipped in smaller glasses containing 2 ounces of indulgent heaven (six 2 oz. portions per 375 ml bottle). They are produced throughout the world, including wines from Sauternes, Barsac, Alsace and Anjou-Saumur in France, the Auslese and Eiswein (Ice) wines of Germany and Austria, late harvest wines from California and New York state, Ice wines of Canada, Australia's "Stickies" dessert wines and Hungary's great dessert wine Tokay Aszu. Dessert wines can vary in weight and sweetness level from light to ultra sweet wines that coat your taste buds like liquid honey.

Throughout the world, there are a variety of ways to produce sweet dessert wines, from picking the grapes late (late harvest wines) to allowing a fungal rot to form (botrytis) to allowing the grapes to be frozen (ice wines) to adding scoops of raisins to increase sugar levels (Tokays).

The Asti region of northwest Italy is home to Moscato D'Asti. This Italian dessert wine is generally a limited, small production wine made from premium grapes. It is a low alcohol wine that is slightly fizzy, lightly sweet and fruity. They are meant to be consumed after each harvest, so watch for the dates on the bottles. As they are not as sweet as Sauternes, Ausleses and Ice Wines, they can be sipped from a regular sized wine glass. Moscatos offer apricot, peach and pear notes. A quality, fresh Moscato actually bursts with the smell of apricots when it is first opened. These wines work well as an afternoon beverage or for a light dessert pairing.

Food and Wine Pairing

A key rule to remember in a successful pairing is that the dessert wine should always be sweeter than the dessert. If not, the dessert will actually over power the dessert wine.

With our goal of finishing a big Thanksgiving meal with a light dessert, it was important to pair this dish with a lighter, slightly sweeter dessert wine. With the pear notes found in both the Moscato D'Asti wine and the pear tart, we found this pairing to work well and hope you enjoy this pairing.

Recipe

This is the season where our entertainment turns to the gathering of friends and family in our homes. We want to prepare quality food but simplicity is the key. This is a very simple, rustic dessert recipe that takes about 1 ½ hours of cooking time but very little prep time. It does require an ovenproof skillet or well seasoned cast-iron skillet. The original recipe calls for homemade puff pastry. I use frozen puff pastry sheets which is fast and the quality is not compromised. This tart is a wonderful finish to a heavy Thanksgiving meal or perfect after-theatre dessert served with a lightly sweet Italian Moscatos.

Rustic Upside-Down Pear Tart

Serves 10

5 Each Ripe Pears

6 Tbsp Unsalted Butter

1/2 Cup Sugar

½ tsp Cinnamon

1/8 tsp Allspice

1 Each Sheet of Frozen Puff Pastry

Wash pears, cut in half and remove stems and seeds. In a 10 - 12" ovenproof or cast-iron skillet, heat butter over medium heat. Stir in sugar - mixture will be a little pasty. Arrange pears, cut side up in the skillet. Mix together the cinnamon and allspice and sprinkle over the pears. Cook the pears uncovered over very low heat, without stirring until the sugar forms a deep golden caramel - about 45 minutes to 1 hour. Cool pears in the skillet.

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Place frozen sheet of puff pastry over the cooked pears, covering completely. Tuck in any edges around the pears. Bake in middle of the oven until pastry is golden brown, about 30 minutes. When done, remove from oven and let sit for 3 - 5 minutes to let the syrup settle.

Using a rimmed serving plate slightly larger than the skillet, invert the plate over the skillet. Keeping the plate and skillet firmly pressed together, invert the tart onto the plate. This is easier than it sounds! Serve tart at room temperature or chilled with whipped cream.

Bill's Wine Picks (with suggested retails)

Lighter, sweet Italian Moscato D'Astis :

Saracco

Michelle Chiarlo's Nivole

Stefano Ceretto

Medium sweet dessert wines:

Brillo Riella Moscato D'Asti

Santa Julia Tardio - Argentina

Very sweet dessert wines:

Chateau Doisy-Vedrines French Sauterne

Kracher Auslese - German Late Harvest

Chateau Suduirant - French Sauterne

End Your Heavy Meal With Something Sweet

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