French Fridays with Dorie - Long and Slow Apples - Pommes Confites

Today the recipe for the French Fridays with Dorie group are “Long and Slow Apples” - “Pommes Confites”.

The “Pommes Confites” are based on an early-20th-century recipe from Edouard Nignon's "L'Heptaméron des Gourmets". The original recipe calls for a twenty-hour preparation. The first ten hours were designed for baking and the additional ten hours for chilling the thinly sliced apples to a compacted, almost-candied state.
However, many people prefer to eat these buttery, caramelized apples while they are warm. You might wish to refer to this dish as the “Long and Slow Apples”, as Dorie calls them.

The recipe is fairly easy. All you need for this dish are thinly sliced apples, ground ginger and cardamom and some melted unsalted butter. I opted for homemade vanilla sugar and some cinnamon instead of the ground ginger and coriander and for crisp Granny Smith instead of Gala or Fuji apples that Dorie´s recipe calls for. Granny Smith are quite easy to find in stores around here at this time of year and I do like them for baking. Stack the thinly sliced apples in oven proof ramekins or cups, brush with the melted butter and sprinkle with the sugar and spices.

You will need cooks' professional-grade plastic wrap for cooking the apples. You can find that online or at restaurant supply stores. But you can also use a layer of unbleached parchment paper, then cover with aluminium foil, which is what I did. Place an additional ramekin, cup or plate on top to weigh down the apples while baking and cooling.

While the recipe for the Long and Slow Apples - Pommes Confites in my edition of  Dorie´s book calls for a baking time of four hours, the same recipe can be found at Epicurious and calls for a two hour baking time – mine were done at exactly two hours and I let them rest for two hours in the warm oven (with the weights on) before unmolding them onto plates. This seems to have been a good decision based on the kinds of apples I used and the way they tasted and looked when I served them. Pure bliss on a dessert plate.

You can serve the Long and Slow Apples - Pommes Confites for dessert with a some whipped cream, with yogurt or ice cream or even with a dollop of decadent and rich Crème Double (Clotted Cream)…

…and some homemade Vanilla Sauce which is what I did.

Decided to add "a touch of spring" to my plates by placing a red and white striped tulip on some of the plates - my favorite flower shop had so many irrestible Dutch tulips on display, I just could not resist them.

This is a wonderful recipe and all the apple lovers in my life were pleasantly surprised and utterly delighted with this dessert. No doubt whatsoever, there will be numerous sequels

To see how the other members of the French Fridays with Dorie prepared their Long and Slow Apples -Pommes Confites, please click here.

Tuesdays with Dorie - Pizza with Onion Confit

Today´s recipe for the Tuesdays with Julia group is Pizza with Onion Confit.

The recipe for the Pizza with Onion Confit is by contributing baker Steve Sullivan. It calls for the preparation of an easy and wonderful pizza dough with the usual ingredients such as yeast, some good quality olive oil, flour, and salt – enough for two pizzas. The second element of this pizza with a tomato-free topping is an onion confit, a delightful, slow-cooked mix of onions (any will do but red onions give the nicest color and the sweetest taste), butter, pepper, sea salt, some sugar (you could also use brown sugar) as well as fresh thyme (from the garden), aged balsamic vinegar (you could also use red wine or sherry vinegar) and a good cup and a half of red wine (Merlot in my case).

When ingredients are cooked slowly, they naturally become sweeter, richer and more complex. And the onions are no exception – after about an hour they cook down to a sweet and utterly delicious extremely versatile topping.

The mouth-watering, sweet caramelized onions or “confit d´oignons”  can be used for many different dishes. Make some more confit and keep it in the fridge to add to different tarts such as the famous “pissaladière” or a “tarte flambée”. Add some confit to an onion soup, or use it as a topping for steaks, or as an ingredient in dips.

To make the already delicious Pizza with Onion Confit even more wonderful, I added a few finishing touches to the onion topping after the steaming Pizzas had emerged from the oven. I started with quartering ripe purple figs…

….and added some wonderful sharp fresh watercress….

…and finally, some mild goat cheese.

I chose to serve the Pizzas as an appetizer to an Italian meal and everyone was utterly delighted with the way the Pizzas looked and tasted.

One absolutely terrific recipe and a real winner at our house (all the kids included)!

To see the other Pizzas with Onion Confit prepared by all the other enthusiastic members of the Tuesday with Dorie group, please do click here.

The recipe can be found at Paul´s delightful blog The Boy Can Bake - "Thank you" so much for being such a wonderful host, Paul!

Galette des Rois - Dreikönigskuchen

It has become a tradition in our house to bake two "Galettes des Rois" or "Dreikönigskuchen" ("King Cakes") every year for the "Fête des Rois" or "Dreikönigstag" (" Festival of Epiphany") on the 6th of January.

Epiphany is widely celebrated in France by serving this type of cake. It originated in the tiny village of Pithiviers, about eighty kilometers south of Paris, and was brought to the city by Marie Antoine Carême. Hidden in the pillow of puff pastry is a delightfully moist almond cream. Take care when baking that the puff pastry does not overcook while the almond cream is still uncooked.

While I translate "Galette des Rois" or "Dreikönigskuchen" with "King Cake", this French puff pastry cake is quite different in taste from the sweet and colorful yeast cakes served on Fat Tuesday during Mardi Gras season in New Orleans or the "King Cakes" baked in other parts of the world, such as Spain or Portugal, to name but a few. But all those "King Cakes" are baked to honor the Three Wise Men and contain a small figurine, almond, bean or even a coin wrapped in foil.

Recipe for "Galette des Rois" - "Dreikönigskuchen"

Ingredients

• 500 grams (17 1/2 ounces) puff pastry (of course, feel free to make your own puff pastry)

Ingredients for the Filling

• 100 grams (3 1/2 ounces) unsalted butter (room temperature)
• 100 grams (3 1/2 ounces) superfine (caster) sugar
• 1 egg yolk
• 30 grams (1 ounce) AP (plain) flour
• 100 grams (3 1/2 ounces) ground almonds (I always leave the skins on before grinding the almonds)
• beaten egg wash

Optional Addition to the Filling

• Small porcelain figurine/whole almond/bean or coin wrapped tightly in a small piece of aluminium foil

Ingredients for the Glaze

• some apricot jam (strained)
• 60 grams (2 ounces) flaked almonds

Preparation of the Cake

1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius (350 degrees Fahrenheit).
2. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
3. Roll out the pastry and cut two 23 cm (9 inches) circles. Chill while preparing the filling.
4. Beat the butter and sugar until creamy, light and fluffy.
5. Add the egg yolk and beat for three minutes.
6. Beat in the flour and the ground almonds.
7. Place one of the pastry circles on the prepared baking sheet and brush a 4 cm (1 1/2 inch) border of egg wash around the edge of the pastry circle.
8. Place the filling in the center, keeping it inside the egg wash border, and shape it into a mound 2 cm (3/4 inches) high in the middle. NOTE: If you would like to add a figurine, nut, bean or coin, do it now by gently pushing it into the filling and procced with the recipe.
9. Top with the second pastry circle.
10. Crimp around the edge with your fingertips or use the tines of a fork.
11. Use a small sharp knife to lightly mark lines on top of the pastry.
12. Brush with beaten egg wash.
13. Bake for 40 minutes or until both base and top are baked and transfer to a wire rack.
14. Brush top and sides with apricot glaze and sprinkle sides/border with flaked almonds.

Of course, the person who finds the small porcelain figurine in his or her piece of cake gets to wear the golden paper crown that is placed on top of the cake after it has cooled and been glazed with some apricot jam. - King or Queen for a day!

French Fridays with Dorie - Herb-Speckled Spätzle

Today the recipe for the French Fridays with Dorie group is Herbed-Speckled Spätzle. European pasta in its various forms is usually associated with Italy. But in the south of Germany there is a local specialty called “Spätzle”. In keeping with traditional German cuisine, this kind of pasta or rather noodle is more substantial, more filling than the Italian version.

The difference between Spätzle and Italian pasta lies in the ingredients, the way they are prepared, cooked and the resulting shape. The uncooked Spätzle dough contains eggs and is therefore runnier and stickier than the Italian pasta dough which is traditionally made with only flour and water.

The resulting shape when cooked properly is a rough edged, curly noodle. The color is usually creamy white, tending towards a more pronounced yellow color if the proportion of eggs is increased. The rough surface improves the absorbency of the noodles, which is why they are served with plenty of sauce or gravy, forming an apt accompaniment for game, poultry, roasts or braised meat.

Different recipes for Spätzle can be found in the cuisines of Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Hungary, Alsace and South Tyrol. In Germany, Spätzle are largely considered a "Swabian speciality" and are generally associated with the German states of Baden-Wuerttemberg (“Baden-Württemberg”) and Bavaria (“Bayern”). The word “Spätzle” is the Swabian diminutive of “Spatz”, literally meaning "little sparrow”.

Basic Spätzle dough typically consists of very few ingredients namely, eggs, flour, and salt. Sometimes water or milk is added to produce a thinner dough. Traditionally, the Spätzle are made by scraping dough off a wooden chopping board ("Spätzlebrett") into boiling salted water where they are cooked until they rise to the surface. They are then skimmed and kept warm.

Since this traditional method requires quite some practice, a number of different devices were invented to facilitate the Spätzle making process. Some resemble a strainer/colander, or a potato ricer ("Spätzlepresse"), a food mill or a coarse grater ("Spätzlehobel"). Whichever method you choose, all of these devices still require you to drop the dough into steaming (no rolling boil but rather a soft boil) hot well-salted water.

Dorie´s  recipe calls for adding freshly chopped herbs to a basic Spätzle dough (I used chives and Italian parsley). But instead of adding the mushrooms and onions to the Spätzle and the chicken broth, I prepared them separately. It is very customary for Bavarians to sautée onions for a good thirty to sixty minutes until they turn a caramel color and then top the Spätzle with them (which is what I opted for). I pan-fried some thinly sliced baby portabella mushrooms and served them on top of the Spätzle as well. For serving the final dish, I opted for my my mini-casserole dishes and we enjoyed the Spätzle topped with caramelized onions and mushrooms with grilled pork tenderloin that I marinated in a paprika-garlic marinade for a few hours. The temperatures are so unusually mild around here that we actually took out the BBQ to grill the meat.

Spätzle are always, always a big hit at our house, whether I make the herbed version, the regular version, or any version whatsoever and today´s recipe was no exception.

When preparing any kind of Spätzle, just make sure to rinse off your cooking utensils immediately after cooking. First rinse with cold than with warm water, otherwise the remains of the batter “will turn into cement” as the dough becomes very sticky and difficult to remove.

When shopping for some fresh herbs, I found these wonderful organic eggs that I used for the Spätzle dough for the first time – what a delight to be using blue, green and dark brown colored eggs for making this wonderful and easy to work with soft noodle dough.

To see how delicious the Herbed-Speckled Spätzle made by the other members of the French Fridays with Dorie group turned out, please click here.

Happy New Year! - Frohes Neues Jahr! - Bonne Année! - Felice Anno Nuovo!

With a picture of our traditional New Year´s Eve pastries called “Mutzenmandeln” I would like to send my New Year wishes! Have a “Happy New Year! – Frohes Neues Jahr! – “Bonne Année! – “Felice Anno Nuovo!”

French Fridays with Dorie - Go-with-everything Celery Root Purée

Today the recipe for the French Fridays with Dorie group is Go-with-everything Celery Root Purée.

Dorie´s recipe is easy and since we cook quite a bit with celery root around here, I had no trouble finding some celery root (or "Celeriac") and putting the left-overs to good use. I decided to serve the Go-with-everything Celery Root Purée as an appetizer with a soft-boiled egg, beetroot salad with walnut oil and some cress – made a nice change to the usual potato purée that we eat on a regular basis.

To see how delicious the Go-with-everything Celery Root Purée made by the other members of the French Fridays with Dorie group turned out, please click here.

I would like to take this opportunity to wish all of you “All the best for the New Year! – Alles Gute für das Neue Jahr! –  Bonne et heureuse année!”. I am very much looking forward to the coming year!

French Fridays with Dorie - Cheez-it-ish Crackers

Today the recipe for the French Fridays with Dorie group are Cheez-it-ish Crackers.

Crisp Cheese Crackers spiced with a bit of white pepper and some Aleppo pepper. Perfect as a starter, for snacking or serving with dips. And simple and ideal when friends visit. The cheese in this recipe is Gruyère, the famous Alpine cheese, which originated in Switzerland but is also now produced in France. It has a firm, pliable texture and a nutty, slightly sweet flavor, and is popularly used in dishes such as fondues and gratins (I always use Gruyère as part of my Cheese Fondue Mix – which we always eat New Years). Gruyère is at its best from mid-November to mid-April. Swiss Gruyère - labelled as “Le Gruyère Switzerland” is protected and will have the word ‘Switzerland’ stamped in red across the top and bottom of its rind. If you prefer a milder flavor, look for “Gruyère Doux” (mild Gruyère), which will have been matured for around 5 months, rather than “Gruyère Vieux” (aged Gruyère), which can be aged for up to 18 months.

We all adored these Cheese Cracker, they taste a bit different from my usual Cheese Cracker recipe (which contains some sour cream and aged Gouda), so I was eager to get some reactions – they were very well received and since the dough was easy to roll-out and transfer to the cookie sheets (even the kids got involved), and the baked Crackers had a wonderful cheesy flavor, this recipe will certainly make many more appearances at our house.

To see how delectable the Cheese Crackers made by the other members of the French Fridays with Dorie group turned out, please click here.

I would like to take this opportunity to wish all of you “Happy Holidays! – Frohe Festtage! – Joyeuses Fêtes!”  Hopefully, our Christmas Cards for the FFwD Christmas Card Exchange have arrived in time at all their destinations. I would also like to send a big “Thank You! – Danke! – Merci!” to all of you who send their cards and greetings our way. I cannot tell you how much it means to me (and my family) to receive all your cards, colorful and wonderful and prepared with such dedication and lots of love! It has been a real pleasure cooking and baking along with all of you, reading and looking at all your blogs and receiving all the warm and wonderful comments! I am truly looking forward to the coming year!

Tuesdays with Dorie - Finnish Pulla

Today´s recipe for the Tuesdays with Julia group is Finnish Pulla.

This recipe for a Finnish sweet dessert bread  is by contributing baker Beatrice Ojakangas. Most sweet breads are made with a yeast-based dough that gives rise to a lighter and fluffier texture than that of traditional breads. This recipe like any other basic recipe, calls for the flour and yeast to be combined with an amount of liquid (warm milk) to form a soft dough mixture, which is then left to rise. The soft, pliable, aerated dough is then separated into three strands of dough that get braided first and then formed into a ring, or wreath and then left to rise again before baking. This Pulla dough is flavored with one teaspoon of freshly crushed cardamom seeds, brushed with an egg wash and topped with slivered almonds and pearl sugar just before baking.

The Pulla smelled heavenly when baking and looked pretty – I used a large vintage pie baking pan from my collection of old bake ware and it was the exact right size for this large Finnish sweet bread wreath. And since I had some dough left over, I used a mini springform pan to bake a small version.

The Pulla is wonderful served fresh with some really good butter and jam or local honey and a nice cup of tea or coffee for dunking. This recipe is just fabulous! And will certainly make numerous reappearances at our house. We really liked the addition of the almonds and pearl sugar on top of the wreath, not only did it make for a nice presentation, it also tasted just wonderful since the bread itself is not overly sweet.

Breads like this Pulla can quickly go stale if exposed to air. So, ideally, you should allow the bread to cool properly and then wrap any left overs in saran wrap or aluminium foil and keep them stored in airtight containers for up to three days.

On the occasion of the approaching Christmas, I would like to take the opportunity to wish you all
A Christmas full of love, joy and health and many happy moments in the coming 2013 year! – Ich wünsche allen frohe und besinnliche Festtage und alles Gute für das kommende Jahr 2013!

To see all the other Finish Pulla by the talented members of the Tuesday with Dorie group, please do click here.

The recipe can be found at Erin´s delightful blog Thedailymorsel.com - "Thank you" so much for being such a gracious host, Erin!

Celebrating Advent at the Outdoor Museum - Advent im Freilichtmuseum

Every year on the third Sunday of Advent, we take the children for a visit to our favorite Outdoor Museum which was designed to help visitors understand the present time while experiencing a journey into the past and thereby enabling us to compare the present time with bygone times. The Museum focuses on documenting country life as it used to be. 

There are a number of buildings such as residential buildings, farmyards, a blacksmith`s workshop and a bakery - they all have been re-erected in the Museum and most of them were re-constructed in their original condition after being moved.

While walking around the Museum grounds, you will also encounter the animals which formerly characterized the images of the village.

Throughout the year, you can witness traditional work which changes on a daily basis, such as preparation of country meals on an antique stove, baking bread in the bakery, forging nails at the blacksmith`s shop - or you will encounter the country postman wearing an imperial uniform and, in summer, farmers with a yoke of oxen.

But once a year, on the third Sunday of Advent, there is a seasonal "Advent Market" (Adventsmarkt) which is absolutely delightful.

Among the gifts with a rather unique and "rustic appeal", you can buy some wonderful wooden mushrooms (cut with a chainsaw) - I bought a big one and placed it in front of our house today.

 All the half-timbered houses were decorated with fir-branches...

...and the paths leading up to some of the houses were lined with wonderful decorations.

 They were cute little wooden bird houses...

...and hand-crafted jewelry (which the girls adored).

My favorite window of a gift shop...

 ...and, of course, I could not pass up the opportunity to bake some colorful and delicious Cassis-Vanilla-Butter Cookies and bring them along for snacking (and some photo taking).

This is the outside of the beautiful light blue old ropeyard...

...with an old wooden sign bearing the name of the rope maker.

 You could buy wooden Christmas decorations inside the old workshop...

 ...and look at the raw material that the ropemaker works with...

...just take a look at the amazing ropes that he made...

...more ropes and knots. You could buy all kinds of different ropes by the meter. 

More seasonal decorations...

...and a cute angel peeking out of the window of the ropery.

 In an adjacent building, I found these three fantastic Wise Men (crafted out of metal).

Then we went to take a look at the blacksmith´s admirable works of art...

...you could watch him forge many different thigs such as candle holders and nails...

...just take a look at the antique equipment that he still uses.

A woodcarver/woodworker sold angels and Christmas trees.

The last building we visited was an old farmhouse (my personal favorite). I adored the vintage photograph of the former inhabitants that was on display in the entrance...

...more lovely red candles that looked wonderful in the collectable plates that were placed on top of the old iron kitchen stove.

There was a display of an old doll´s house (as an example of the kinds of gifts that children used to received)...

...and a vintage wooden puzzle...

 ...and hand-crafted Christmas decorations (making good use of those walnut shells)...

...and an intriguing display of the natural products that people used for brewing "substitute coffee", such as "coffee" made from peas, acorns or chicory.

There were vintage books...

 ...and a lovely water carafe for the morning.

What a sparingly yet wonderful simple bedroom with a wooden bed, linen bed clothes and nightgowns...

...and yet another bedroom decorated in the same delightful way...

 ...with white walls and some more hints of the former inhabitants faith.

Some wonderful vintage glass containers were on display in one of the bedrooms.

Even Saint Nicholas made an appearance (wearing a miter and a crozier) and he brought some fruits, nuts and apples for the children.

What a wonderful way to spend the third Sunday of Advent with the children at this fantastic Outdoor Folk Museum. We will certainly visit again soon.

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