Welcome to a first for dippolicious. That's right followers, a special guest post from yours truly - because some of us bake better than your regular contributor! Now, I must admit that this is not my own recipe but taken from one of my most favourite chefs, Monsieur Raymond Blanc, whose mother actually taught him how to cook this.
So in honour of Maman Blanc, the key stages of the recipe have been put together in a short video (Flixlab is an awesome app - get it if you haven't already and your photos will take on a whole new lease of life):
But remaining true to the dippolicious style, and so you can make it yourself, scroll down...
For the pastry you will need:
250g plain flour
125g butter at room temperature
1 pinch sea salt
1 egg
And for the filling:
3 or 4 apples - Cox, Worcester or Braeburn (the best) just not Granny smith if you can help it
15g melted butter
Half a tbsp of lemon juice
15g caster suger
Half a tbsp of Calvados (this is optional but SO worth it)
Icing sugar to dust
Start with the pastry, your apples will go brown if you cut them too early. Rub together the butter, flour and salt with your fingertips until you have a breadcrumb type texture, then create a well in the middle and add the egg. Work the egg into the mixture and make a ball, then knead it with the palms of your hands for about 30 seconds. Wrap it in cling film, flatten it to 2cm thickness and put it in the fridge (it makes it easier to work with when you come to rolling it out).
Preheat the oven to 220 degrees C and slide in a baking tray. Now you can start on the apples - peel and core them before cutting them into rings, and if you can get hold of one use a mandoline (not of the muscial variety!) to get an even thickness on your apples. Set it to about 3mm and slice away! So easy, but be careful if you're using a knife - you might want to cut into segments first and use half circles instead for your filling. At this stage melt the butter in a small pan, add the sugar, lemon juice and Calvados - you'll use this to glaze the apples in the tart tin.
Set your apples to one side, a squeeze of lemon juice over them will help keep their colour, and take your pastry out of the fridge. Spread a new piece of cling film on the work surface and unwrap the 2cm thick pastry and cover it with another (!) piece of cling film. Roll out the pastry to 2mm sandwiched between the two layers - it sounds like a lot of cling film but it means you don't dry out the pastry with extra flour and it helps when you come to lining the tin.
Still with me? Good. Remove a layer of cling film (you don't want this going into the oven) and line an 18cm diameter tart tin with the pastry. Push it into the sides of the tin, remove the cling film, trim the edges and pinch the sides up 2mm above the edge, not forgetting to prick the base. Now add your apples by laying them in a circular fan shape around the base of the pastry case. Build them up and fill in the gaps with spare segments so you have a packed tart tin. Brush them with the Calvados glaze, dust with icing sugar and put in the oven on the baking tray.
After 10 minutes, turn down to 200 degrees and cook for another 20 minutes to caramelise the apples and turn your pastry a golden brown colour. You can eat it like this but I prefer to finish with a custard topping - simply mix 1 egg with 100ml of cream and 50g caster sugar then pour over the top and bake for another 10 mins.
Delightfully tilleylicious x
Sunday, 24 July 2011
Wednesday, 29 June 2011
Thursday, 16 June 2011
Meat Glue...
...aka Transglutaminase enzyme. A dirty secret of the meat industry, so clever not even an expert can tell...
Sunday, 15 May 2011
The Vegan Black Metal Chef
The word 'vegan' is not one that you can expect to find mentioned here very often. I have however made an exception this evening for what is unquestionably an 'exceptional' spot of cooking. Turn the volume down and enjoy the Vegan Black Metal Chef (can't believe such a thing actually exists...)
Sunday, 8 May 2011
Play your chard right
Why Swiss chard is called Swiss chard I really do not know. It isn't native to Switzerland nor is it used in Swiss cooking. Its true homeland is in fact further south in the Mediterranean.
Personally I've always regarded chard as a bit of an odd leafy vegetable; shiny green ribbed leaves, stems that range from white to yellow to red, a distinguishable bitter taste and yet another example of something you don't tend to see in a supermarket.
Wonderfully nutritious it can be eaten fresh, steamed, braised, juiced, sautéed, frozen and dried. There are loads of delicious recipes, I used mine to help jazz up a humble omelette.
Serves 2:
1 bunch of Swiss chard
2 chorizo sausages
6 eggs
dash of Tabasco
Roughly chop your chorizo into small chunks and crisp them up in a small frying pan for a couple of minutes.
Snap the stems off the chard, roughly chop these and the leaves. Add to the pan and stir well with the chorizo for around 5 mins.
Whisk the eggs in a bowl, season well with salt, pepper, and a cheeky dash of Tobasco and pour the lot into the pan. Leave this on a medium heat for couple of minutes before sliding into a pre-heated (200 degrees) oven for 10 minutes.
Loosen the omelette around the edges using a knife, place a plate on top of the pan and turn it upside down, it should fall out looking something like the below. Scrum.
Just make sure you don't forget that the pan has been in the oven when you do this bit - there is literally a dent in my kitchen floor from where I've dropped it so many times...
Serve up with a light salad, some olives and a cold beer. Job done.
Personally I've always regarded chard as a bit of an odd leafy vegetable; shiny green ribbed leaves, stems that range from white to yellow to red, a distinguishable bitter taste and yet another example of something you don't tend to see in a supermarket.
Wonderfully nutritious it can be eaten fresh, steamed, braised, juiced, sautéed, frozen and dried. There are loads of delicious recipes, I used mine to help jazz up a humble omelette.
Serves 2:
1 bunch of Swiss chard
2 chorizo sausages
6 eggs
dash of Tabasco
Roughly chop your chorizo into small chunks and crisp them up in a small frying pan for a couple of minutes.
Snap the stems off the chard, roughly chop these and the leaves. Add to the pan and stir well with the chorizo for around 5 mins.
Whisk the eggs in a bowl, season well with salt, pepper, and a cheeky dash of Tobasco and pour the lot into the pan. Leave this on a medium heat for couple of minutes before sliding into a pre-heated (200 degrees) oven for 10 minutes.
Loosen the omelette around the edges using a knife, place a plate on top of the pan and turn it upside down, it should fall out looking something like the below. Scrum.
Just make sure you don't forget that the pan has been in the oven when you do this bit - there is literally a dent in my kitchen floor from where I've dropped it so many times...
Serve up with a light salad, some olives and a cold beer. Job done.
Friday, 15 April 2011
Pass chapati to the right
I get the feeling he's been doing this a very long time...
Chapati's are dead easy to make, all you need is:
1 cup of whole wheat flour
1/2 a cup of warm water (you can use milk)
a pinch of salt
Mix the ingredients together to make a dough, divide into small balls, roll out and fry in a pan with a little vegetable oil for a couple of minutes on each side. Finito. Now get tossing the things.
Chapati's are dead easy to make, all you need is:
1 cup of whole wheat flour
1/2 a cup of warm water (you can use milk)
a pinch of salt
Mix the ingredients together to make a dough, divide into small balls, roll out and fry in a pan with a little vegetable oil for a couple of minutes on each side. Finito. Now get tossing the things.
Sunday, 27 March 2011
No processed egg breath here...
I’ve always been a bit suspicious of the cress family, probably because of its regrettable association with the frankly revolting egg & cress motorway sandwich (I mean seriously, who the f*** eats those!?). When I go about my lunch business therefore, processed egg sandwiches are never high on the agenda; apart from the fact that they look so wrong I’m also deeply paranoid of what they may do to my breath...
Over the years this justified fear has resulted in a lack of enthusiasm for all things 'cress' related; watercress has no doubt suffered, excluded from shopping lists and made to mingle with other types of salad in mixed leaf bags, in its purest state it isn't even that easy to find. Ironically it’s one of the oldest known leaf vegetables consumed by humans, at least according to Wikipedia anyway.
So what to do when you get hold of a big bunch of the stuff? I pushed the eggs to one side and made a soup.
Serves 4:
300g of watercress
A few big handfuls of spinach
1 celeriac (or 3 medium potatoes), peeled an chopped
1 white onion, chopped
25g of butter
500-600ml of stock (chicken or veg)
Double cream
Pancetta
Melt the butter in a deep pan and add the chopped onion, fry gently for a few minutes before adding the peeled and chopped celeriac. Stir well and fry for a further 3 minutes or so.
Pour in the stock and simmer for 10-15 minutes until the celeriac begins to give. Chuck in the watercress and spinach, stir well and leave for a minute or two.
Take the pan off the heat and blend. The colour will be amazing. Taste and correct the seasoning.
Slice the pancetta into wide lardons and fry in a hot pan with a drizzle of olive oil until crisp. Remove and drain on kitchen towel.
Ladle the soup into bowls, swirl a tbsp of double cream into each one (a dollop of crème fraiche works a treat too!) and position your lardons in the centre. A twist of pepper, some crusty bread and you’re done.
Delicious, filling and bright green! Oh and it goes really well with a glass of Chablis. You can also serve the dish as a mini appetizer by pouring into individual espresso cups, a bit poncy but it works under the right circumstances. And no processed egg breath...
Over the years this justified fear has resulted in a lack of enthusiasm for all things 'cress' related; watercress has no doubt suffered, excluded from shopping lists and made to mingle with other types of salad in mixed leaf bags, in its purest state it isn't even that easy to find. Ironically it’s one of the oldest known leaf vegetables consumed by humans, at least according to Wikipedia anyway.
So what to do when you get hold of a big bunch of the stuff? I pushed the eggs to one side and made a soup.
Serves 4:
300g of watercress
A few big handfuls of spinach
1 celeriac (or 3 medium potatoes), peeled an chopped
1 white onion, chopped
25g of butter
500-600ml of stock (chicken or veg)
Double cream
Pancetta
Melt the butter in a deep pan and add the chopped onion, fry gently for a few minutes before adding the peeled and chopped celeriac. Stir well and fry for a further 3 minutes or so.
Pour in the stock and simmer for 10-15 minutes until the celeriac begins to give. Chuck in the watercress and spinach, stir well and leave for a minute or two.
Take the pan off the heat and blend. The colour will be amazing. Taste and correct the seasoning.
Ladle the soup into bowls, swirl a tbsp of double cream into each one (a dollop of crème fraiche works a treat too!) and position your lardons in the centre. A twist of pepper, some crusty bread and you’re done.
Delicious, filling and bright green! Oh and it goes really well with a glass of Chablis. You can also serve the dish as a mini appetizer by pouring into individual espresso cups, a bit poncy but it works under the right circumstances. And no processed egg breath...
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