First Day of Spring and a Slice of Linzer Torte

Today is the first day of spring (Frühlingsanfang), so why not welcome Spring (Frühling) by baking this delightful Austrian Linzer Torte, named after the City of Linz, Austria. This famous torte has a lattice design on top of the pastry and fabulous thick homemade raspberry jam as filling.

This  wonderful cake is often said to be the oldest cake in the world and according to recent research dates back to at least 1653. There are lots of variations and the oldest known recipe is in a cookbook that was written about 350 years ago.

Recipe for the Linzer Torte

Ingredients for the Linzer Torte 

• 150 grams (5 ½ ounces) superfine white sugar (caster sugar)
• 150 grams (5 ½ ounces) AP (plain) flour, plus some extra for dusting
• 150 grams (5 ½ ounces)  ground hazelnuts (you can substitute almonds or almonds and hazelnuts in equal parts)
• ½ tsp ground cinnamon (I always use cinnamon from Ceylon)
• a pinch of ground cloves
• 150 grams (5 ½ ounces) cold unsalted butter, cut into cubes
• 1 egg (L) beaten (free range or organic whenever possible)
• 200 grams (7 ounces) thick homemade or good quality raspberry jam
• ½ tsp icing sugar, to decorate (optional)

Preparation of the Linzer Torte

1. Put the sugar, flour, ground almonds, ground cinnamon and cloves in a large mixing bowl and stir until well combined.
2. Add the cubes of butter and rub them into the flour mixture until the mixture resembles coarse breadcrumbs - you can also easily use a pastry cutter for this.
3. Add the egg and stir until the dough comes together, then knead lightly into a ball. 
4. Take about a quarter from the dough to use for the lattice topping. 
5. Roll the rest of the dough into a ball and turn it out on to a well-floured surface .NOTE: if the dough is too soft at this point, place it in the fridge for about an hour, then roll it out.
6. Flatten the ball with your hands, or a floured rolling pin, until it is about 2.5 cm (1 inch) thick. 
7. Place the dough in a 24 cm (9 ½ inch)  loose-based, fluted tart pan or other tart pan you have on hand and press it with your fingers over the base until it is about halfway up the sides of the tart pan and the tart pan is evenly covered.
8. Then spread the raspberry jam over the dough as evenly as possible.
9. Shape the reserved dough into a log and roll it out on a well-floured surface to make a rectangle 3 mm (⅛ inches) thick. 
10. Then cut the dough into 1.5 cm (⅝  inch) strips - you can use a special cutter for this which will cut "wavy" dough strips but you could also use a pizza wheel or a long, sharp knife.
11. Place the strips over the jam and create a criss-cross pattern over the filling. 
12. Press the edges to seal, pinch off the excess pastry and mark and carefully press down the edge of the dough with the tines of a fork.
13. Chill the tart in the fridge for about an hour.
14. While the tart is chilling, preheat your oven to 190 degrees Celsius (375 degrees Fahrenheit).
15. Put the tart on a baking sheet and bake in the center of the oven for about 30 minutes or until the almond pastry is pale golden brown - you can brush the lattice top with a bit of an egg wash before baking if you wish to have a bit of a shiny look to the lattice top.
16. Transfer to a cooling rack and cool in the tart pan for about 15 minutes.
17. Place on a nice cake platter for serving.
18. Decorate with a light dusting of icing sugar, if you like, and cut it into wedges to serve.

Have a wonderful springtime! – Ich wünsche einen schönen Frühling!

Tuesdays with Dorie - Mocha Chocolate Chip Cookies

Today´s recipe for the Tuesdays with Dorie group is for Mocha Chocolate Chip Cookies. The recipe for these fabulous cookies was contributed by baker Rick Katz.

The ingredients for these cookies are plain flour, instant coffee powder (I like to use freshly ground coffee instead)…

…baking soda, some salt, unsalted butter, granulated sugar and dark brown sugar, eggs, vanilla (I like to use homemade vanilla sugar), chocolate chunks (I used only dark chocolate with 70 % cocoa solids), and coarsely chopped dried apricots – although apricots are an optional ingredient in this recipe, I decided to add the dried fruits because I found very nice, sweet and plump, dried organic apricots at my favorite health food store.

The combination of granulated and dark brown sugar is a common one, the former adding crunch, the latter a caramel flavor. And the addition of bicarbonate of soda is the most common raising agent in chocolate chip cookies. Overall, a nice and easy recipe.

Of course, you should go for good quality dark chocolate too – the more cocoa there is in it, the more cocoa butter content you will have and the uneven chunks created by chopping your own chocolate gives a better result than even chocolate chips.

These are the ultimate comfort cookies, they are crisp on the outside, chewy and soft on the inside and the addition of dried apricots is quite nice, the dried fruit adds a nice flavor and texture to these cookies. And they are really simple to make with ingredients that, maybe except for the dried fruits, you usually have in your pantry.

To see how the other Doristas fared with this recipe, please do click here.

The recipe can be found at Peggy´s blog - Galettista - "Thank you for hosting today´s recipe, Peggy"!

Chocolate Almond Biscotti - Schokoladen Mandel Biscotti

We all love Biscotti.

Those oblong-shaped biscuits are made dry and crunchy through cutting the loaf of dough while still hot and fresh from baking in the oven and then baking it for a second time.

I have blogged about two wonderful Biscotti recipes in the past, once about delicious Almond Biscotti (Mandel Biscotti) and then about the wonderful Gingerbread Biscotti (Lebkuchen Biscotti) that contain a whole range of  fantastic warm spices.

These crunchy Chocolate Almond Biscotti contain whole as well as ground almonds and cocoa powder as well as chopped chocolate. They are just the thing to accompany a silky dessert or a strong espresso. As fancy coffee shops become more and more popular across the world, to enjoy Biscottis with a cup of coffee has also become very  fashionable.

The name "biscotti" is Italian and literally means "twice baked". Biscotti can be found in all sorts of flavors, but the most common contain anise, hazelnuts, and almonds. In this recipe you will enjoy the delicious flavors of almonds and dark, good quality chocolate. Make sure to use dark cocoa powder as well as your favorite dark chocolate when baking these.

Chocolate Almond Biscotti
(Schokoladen Mandel Biscotti)

Ingredients for  the Biscotti

• 1 1/2 cups (8 ounces/200 grams) whole unblanched almonds – if you like, substitute hazelnuts or even pistachios for almonds
• 3 cups (13.2 ounces/375 grams) AP (plain) flour
• 2/3 cup (3.5 ounces/100 grams) unsweetened cocoa powder (I used “Sarotti” cocoa powder)
• 1 tsp (0.2 ounces/6 grams) baking soda
• 1 tsp  (0.2 ounces/6 grams) baking powder
• a pinch of fine salt (I used French sea salt)
• 2 sticks  (1 cup/226 grams) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 2 cups (14 ounces/400 grams) superfine white sugar
• 3 eggs (L), organic or free range whenever possible
• 1 1/2 tsp pure vanilla sugar (I used homemade)
• 1 cup (4.6 ounces/130 grams) dark chocolate, chopped (I used Lindt Excellence 70% - try to use a chocolate with 70 % or above cacao solids, then you get more chocolate and less sugar)

Preparation of the Biscotti

1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit (150 degrees Celsius).
2. Line heavy large baking sheet with unbleached parchment paper. 
3. Grind 1/2 cup almonds in the food processor and set aside. 
4. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder and salt. 
5. With your electric mixer, using the whisk attachment, beat the butter and sugar to blend. 
6. To the butter mixture, add the eggs and vanilla sugar and beat until well blended. 
7. Beat the flour mixture into the butter mixture.
8. Mix in 1 cup whole almonds, chopped chocolate and 1/2 cup ground almonds.
9. Divide the dough into two equal pieces. 
10. Shape each piece on baking sheet into 2 1/2 inch (6.3 cm) - wide by 14 inch (35.5 cm) - long log. NOTE: At this stage, you can wrap the dough well in plastic wrap and freeze for up to two weeks. Bring it back to room temperature before baking.
11. Place logs on prepared baking sheet, spacing 2 1/2 inches (6.3 cm) apart (logs will spread during baking). 
12. Bake until logs feel firm when tops are gently pressed, about 35 minutes. 
13. Cool logs on baking sheet about 10 to 15 minutes and maintain oven temperature in the meantime.
14. Carefully transfer the baked logs to a large cutting board. 
15. Using serrated knife, cut warm logs crosswise into 1/2-inch (1 cm) -thick slices. NOTE: If you do this while the biscotti are still a bit warm, they will not crumble.
16. Arrange slices, cut side down, on the two baking sheets. NOTE: You can either place each Biscotti slice directly on the parchment onto the baking sheet OR onto cooling racks that you place onto the baking sheets thereby allowing for the hot air to circulate around each Biscotti cookie slice.
17. Return the baking sheets to the oven for a further 10 to 15 minutes, or until crisp, golden-brown and cooked through.
18. Transfer to racks and cool completely. 

The Chocolate Almond Biscotti are not only wonderful with coffee or espresso but also with a cup of  tea or a small glass of sweet dessert wine at the end of a meal – or anytime, really. They do keep very well in an airtight cookie tin/container at room temperature for two to three weeks.

Biscottis make formidable gifts – pack them in pretty cellophane bags and add a nice ribbon or bow to the package, with a tag indicating what kind of Biscottis you baked. Or collect coffee cans and once you have enjoyed the coffee, keep the can as "gift boxes" and "stand" the cooled Biscotti in the cans - ecco - a perfect gift!

French Fridays with Dorie - Orange-Scented Lentil Soup

Today the recipe for the French Fridays with Dorie Group is Orange-Scented Lentil Soup.

Dorie suggests lentils du Puy for this soup, a small slate-green lentil with a delicate blue marbling.

Puy lentils have enjoyed a big comeback lately and as this delicious and nutritious soup shows, with good reason. Puy lentils are considered by many to be the best lentils because of their unique peppery flavor and the fact they hold their shape during cooking. They are the only lentil to be identified by area of cultivation, grown in the Le Puy region of France.

Serve the Puy lentils hot or cold as a salad starter or as an accompaniment to poultry, meat or fish dishes, or use them in soups (as for this recipe) or casseroles.

However, I think that the Puy lentils could also successfully be replaced by Green lentils. They also retain their shape well during cooking and their mild flavor and soft, mealy texture make them suitable for many dishes such as soups, casseroles, vegetable bakes and stuffed vegetables. Green lentils are the ones that I choose when I cook my traditional German version of lentil soup, the "Linsensuppe".

These days, lentils grace the menus of many high-end restaurants. But still we do not seem to use them enough. They are cheap, nutritious (protein, carbs, fibre, vitamin B and iron) and versatile and very tasty. In my house, I will use them at least twice a month. They are especially valuable in winter, when fresh homegrown vegetables are not so abundant.

The building blocks of Dorie´s lentil soup are onion, celery, carrots, chicken stock (preferably homemade), orange peel (organic, of course), black peppercorns, coriander seeds, a clove, and some fresh ginger. This lentil soup is very comforting with all those warming spices that are given a delicious lift by a topping of some nice and thick Greek yogurt or some sour cream or crème fraîche.

The mouth-watering, crisp bacon slices that you should serve alongside the soup by placing them on the rim of the soup bowl, also make a wonderful addition. Hearty and delicious, this Orange-Scented Lentil Soup will warm you up from head to toe.

 Dorie states in her recipe that the soup should be (partially) puréed but I would never purée my lentil soup completely, only a very small portion of it because we love our lentil soup, be it French or Italian or German, with lots of chunks of vegetables.

The last thing before serving the soup is the above-mentioned dollop of crème fraîche, the bacon slice and some organic orange rind…

….and together with a loaf of good crusty sourdough bread you will have a full meal.

Warming and substantial, this makes a very satisfying meal and to see how this hearty Orange-Scented Lentil Soup was prepared by the other members of the French Fridays with Dorie group, please click here.

Sources:

• Soup bowl with deer design  from “Jet by Ter Steege” (http://www.worldofjet.com)
• Deer figurines called "Rothirsch" (red deer) and "Rothirschkuh" (red doe) from "Schleich" (http://www.schleich-s.com)
• Checkered tablecloth  from "Dille Kamille" ( http://www.dille-kamille.nl)
• Silver soup spoons, wooden platter, wooden napkin rings all "vintage" and part of my collection

Rose Petits Fours - Rosen-Petits-Fours

About a year ago I started blogging and there does not seem to be a better occasion than this first blogiversary to feature these wonderful and delicate Rose Petits Fours (Rosen-Petits-Fours).

Petits Fours are small French fancy biscuits or cakes often served at the end of a meal. Strictly speaking they are oven-baked little cakes ("four" is French for "oven") and were classically made with choux pastry or flan pastry. However, a selection of Petits Fours these days covers a wide variety of sweet things not necessarily cooked and made with meringue, marzipan or chocolate.

These Rose Petits Fours are wonderful and delicious layers of sponge cake, marzipan, and rose jelly all in a mouthful.

These delicious rose-scented little cakes have a bit of rose water (Rosenwasser) or rose syrup (Rosensirup) in the icing and rose jelly (Rosengelee) in the filling. And although they seem to be a bit of a fancy and decadent treat, they are wonderful any time of the year.

Rose water is a flavored water made by steeping rose petals in water. It has been used as a flavoring for centuries in Middle Eastern, Indian and Chinese cuisines and it can be added to jellies and syrups, and it is often sprinkled over cakes and puddings.

When using rose water or rose syrup in baking you have to make sure to use a high quality product, otherwise the cake will not have a delicate taste of roses but will  be overpowered by their flavor. I found a manufacturer in Bavaria that uses only roses that they planted themselves to produce a whole range of delicious rose products such as rose jelly, rose sugar, rose salt, rose syrup, and rose liqueur to name but a few.

Recipe for the Rose Petits Fours
(Rosen-Petits-Fours)

Ingredients for the Sponge Cake

• 4 eggs (M), free range or organic if possible
• 50 grams superfine white sugar 
• 80 grams AP(plain) flour
• 20 grams potato starch
• 3 to 4 tbsp orange liqueur (for example Grand Marnier, you can substitute orange juice)

Ingredients for the Filling, Icing and Decoration

• 100 grams rose jelly (I used a rose jelly/"Rosengelee" from "Bergler-Fischer")
• 150 grams marzipan 
• 250 grams powdered sugar
• juice of one lemon
• a few drops red food coloring or alternatively a few drops of raspberry juice (which is what I like to use)
• a few drops of a good quality rose water or rose syrup (I used a rose syrup/"Rosensirup" from "Bergler-Fischer")
• about 75 grams  white chocolate (I used white Lindt chocolate called "Lindor Weiss")

Equipment

• baking sheet (30x40 centimeters)
• parchment paper
• plastic wrap (clingfilm)

Preparation of the Cake

1. Preheat your oven to 180 degrees Celsius.
2. Line the baking sheet with parchment paper.
3. In a large bowl, using the whisk attachment of your mixer, whisk the eggs with the sugar for about five minutes or until light in color and fluffy 
4. In a medium bowl whisk together the flour and starch.
5. Using a spatula, carefully fold the flour mixture into the egg mixture.
6. Spread the dough in an even layer as possible onto the prepared baking sheet and bake for about fifteen minutes.
7. Take the cake out of the oven, turn onto a clean kitchen towel covered with some powdered sugar, peel off the parchment paper – taking care not  to tear the baked sponge cake. Let the cake cool completely.
8. Drip some orange liqueur over the entire cake.
9. Cut off a third of the cake. 
10. Spread the rose jelly on the remaining piece in an even and thin layer.
11. Knead the marzipan with about 50 grams of the powdered sugar and roll out between sheets of plastic wrap to a 2 mm  thickness – the rolled out marzipan should have the same size as the cut cake.
12. Take off the plastic wrap and carefully place the rolled-out marzipan on top of the jelly.
13. Now cut the cake into two pieces and place one third on top of the other third and place the piece that you cut off earlier on top – you will now have three layers.
14. Cover the cake layers with plastic wrap and place in the fridge for about one hour (if you want you can place a plate on top of the cake pieces to “weight them down” a bit while cooling.
15. Take out of the fridge and cut the cake into squares.
16. For the icing, mix together the remaining powdered sugar and the lemon juice plus a few drops of food coloring or red juice (if using).  and the rose water (if using) and stir until smooth. If the mixture is too thick, add a few drops of warm water to 16. Cut the cake into equal sized squares and place them on cake racks.
17. Cover the cake squares with the pink icing and let it dry. .
18. Cut the white chocolate into small pieces using a serrated knife and melt in a water bath. Fill into paper cones and decorate the Rose Petits Fours as desired – you could also just decorate with some white powdered sugar icing.
19. Place organic dried roses on top of the white chocolate and let set completely before serving.

These dainty Petits Fours require patience and a bit of a steady hand but they are certainly well worth the effort.

Serve these pretty Petits Fours with coffee at the end of a dinner party, or as special tea time treats.


Sources:

• Rose jelly (Rosengelee) and rose syrup (Rosensirup) from “Bergler-Fischer” (http://www.bergler-fischer.de)
• Chinese tea with rose petals (China Rosen Tee)  and dried organic roses (Rosenblütenknospen BIO) from “Tee Gschwendner” (http://www.teegschwendner.de)
• Cake platter with rose design  from “Jet by Ter Steege” (http://www.worldofjet.com)

A rose is a rose is a rose...

(1913 "Sacred Emily", Gertrude Stein)

French Fridays with Dorie - Cheesy Crème Brûlée

Today the recipe for the French Fridays with Dorie group is Cheesy Crème Brûlée, a savory version of a French classic sweet dessert - little pots of deliciously creamy cheesy custards topped with fabulous broiled and melted cheese.

Traditionally, Crème Brûlée is a classic bistro dish of chilled creamy custard under a layer of crackling burnt sugar. It is an an important dessert for pastry chefs to master. Dorie´s version, however, has a somewhat different cooking method and the ingredients are savory rather than sweet.

Dorie´s recipe calls for a total of five ounces (140 grams) of cheese, a combination of Parmigiano Reggiano (a hard, granular cheese, cooked but not pressed, named after the producing areas near Parma, Italy) and Comté (a French cheese made from unpasteurized cow's milk in the Franche-Comté region of eastern France), fresh heavy cream (I used 35%), whole milk, and three large egg yolks, plus salt and freshly ground nutmeg and pepper. The Comté cheese is often referred to as the French equivalent of the Swiss Gruyère cheese and it can be found at every good cheese store around here – I always appreciate an excuse to go to my favorite cheese store and marvel at the display while I am waiting to get served – the promise of a delicious Cheesy Crème Brûlée was indeed a fabulous reason to stand in line at the cheese store.

For the baking of these cheesy custards, you will need some shallow ovenproof dishes or  brûlée dishes or large/wide ramekins. And unless you use the broiler in your oven, you will also need a mini blowtorch to brown the cheese on top of the custard. After you lined the brulée dishes with very small cubes of cheese (actually I ended up grating the two cheeses instead of cutting minitaure cubes), you prepare the custard, fill it into the dishes, bake the custard for about fifty minutes, let cool, sprinkle grated cheese on top and either brown the tops using a mini blowtorch or run the custard under the broiler.

The two cheeses used in this recipe taste wonderful together - I often use Comté and appreciate the fact that it melts so nicely for example in a cheese fondue. But I think that Swiss Gruyère would also be perfect in this custard as well. Dorie also suggests Cheddar cheese as an alternative, a cheese not often used around here and since I can easily find good French cheeses, I opted for a fabulous Comté AOC Bronze.

Predictably, I had some Comté and Parmigiano Reggiano left over. So I decided to bake a few savory Cheesy Palmiers. Those pastries are thought to have originated in France around the turn of the 20th century. Around here they are known as "Schweineöhrchen" which can be literally translated as "pig's ears".

Palmiers are made from puff pastry, a laminated dough similar to the dough used for Croissants but without the yeast. Since I am still “recovering” from the two day task of baking the Croissants for the TwD group, I decided to use store bought all butter puff pastry. For the Cheesy Palmiers, you simply roll out the pastry and coat it with grated cheeses of choice, a tiny bit of sea salt, and freshly ground pepper and nutmeg to taste. Then the two sides are rolled up together so that they meet in the middle, making a roll that is best frozen for a good thirty minutes and then simply cut into about 1/4" (0.6 centimeter) slices and baked until nicely browned and really crisp.

For a fun presentation, very carefully thread a nice ribbon through the top of the Cheesy Palmiers and place together with the serving spoon on top of some pretty napkins.

Except for the youngest taste tester (who is all but four years of age), this cheesy creamy custard with the slightly browned cheese top was very well received at our house. And they all happily munched away on those Palmiers. The Cheesy Crème Brulée will certainly be a wonderful dish to serve to guests and I really appreciate the fact that the custards can be baked well in advance, kept in the fridge and quickly be ran under the broiler just before serving. A wonderful and elegant recipe to keep in mind for example at Easter time.

To see how delicious the Cheesy Crème Brûlée made by the other members of the French Fridays with Dorie group turned out, please click here.

Sources:

• Crème brûlée dishes from "TCM" (http://www.tchibo.de) 
• Linen napkins (checkered, dolka dot and mushroom design) and checkered ribbon from "Butlers" (http://www.butlers.de) and "Depot" (http://www.depot-online.com)
• Cutlery and spoons with fairy tale designs from "WMF" (http://www.wmf.de)

Tuesdays with Dorie - Croissants

Today´s recipe for the Tuesdays with Dorie group is for buttery Croissants. The recipe for these traditional French Croissants was contributed by baker and teacher Esther McManus. Basically, a Croissant is made of a simple yeast-risen dough, layered with butter, cut into a triangle and rolled up like a scroll so that the center bulges and the ends taper out. Traditionally, the unbaked Croissant was then curved into a crescent shape, though nowadays Croissants are often left straight.

I decided to make miniature Croissants (crescent shaped),  filled some of them with dark chocolate (66% cocoa solids) and left some of them plain…

….and to make some miniature Pains au Chocolat (rectangular shaped).

To start off the baking of these French pastries, you will need to prepare a croissant dough made of fresh yeast, plain flour, sugar, salt and whole milk. Fresh yeast is readily available and I had no trouble whatsoever finding it around here, I almost always use fresh yeast when baking cakes and breads that call for a yeast dough. For the flour,  I chose to use an all purpose white flour from an artisan flour mill that I visited two weeks ago.

The dough gets an overnight rest in the refrigerator along with 510 grams (4.5 sticks) of unsalted good quality butter – the dough and the butter have to have the same temperature the next day so you will be able to incorporate the butter properly into the dough. After the first rest, the dough needs many more rests and turns and folding and chilling before it can be rolled out and cut and made into delectable Croissants and Pains au Chocolat.

This recipe proves that a warm, buttery Croissant or Pain au Chocolat for breakfast is really one of life’s little pleasures, and you certainly do not need to live above a Parisian Pâtisserie to enjoy them. These French pastries are notoriously laborious to make properly. They require quite some patience and lots of folding and rolling, so you may need to supervise. But it will be worth it once your family is sitting down to Le petit Déjeuner of homemade Croissants, Pains au Chocolat, big bowls of Café au Lait, and French honey and apricot preserves.

Homemade buttery croissants, freshly baked, are a real triumph. And you can feel proud when you succeeded in making them.

This rather labor intensive recipe lives up to all the expectations! A good freshly-baked croissant should be flaky and crisp on the outside, and tender and moist inside with all the dough aerated and evenly baked. There should be no layers of unbaked dough, and the crust should leave very little buttery oil on the fingers.

If you have any leftovers (which we did not) you can store the Croissants at room temperature in a paper bag, to avoid condensation and retain some crispness. For longer storage, you can easily freeze the Croissants, then bake from frozen.

I really enjoyed the experience of baking these Croissants and we loved the way they tasted but next time I might try my hand at a recipe that is a little less time consuming, even if it is just to see and taste the difference.

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

The recipe can be found at Amanda´s blog – Girl+Food=Love- "Thank you for hosting today´s recipe, Amanda"!

French Fridays with Dorie - Chicken Breasts Diable (Poulet à la diable with Homemade Wholegrain Mustard)

Today´s recipe for the French Fridays with Dorie group is Chicken Breasts Diable (Poulet à la diable). Low in fat and quick to cook, skinless chicken breasts are an easy option for a simple supper and this recipe is no exception. The dish gets its “devilish” name from the addition of mustard to the cream based sauce. Mustard is a bit the “unsung hero” of the kitchen cupboard, adding some heat and a depth of flavor to a huge range of dishes. It is actually made from nothing more than mustard seeds and some flavoring ingredients.

Dorie´s recipe calls for sautéeing chicken cutlets and making a pan sauce with shallots and garlic, white wine, cream, and mustard – she suggests that it is best to use either a Dijon mustard (used for example also in salad dressings and marinades) or a wholegrain mustard (prominently used for example also in salmon gravalax sauce and honey glazes for hams).

To round out this chicken with the cream sauce, I bought some fresh spinach and sautéed it in some olive oil with some new spring garlic…

…and made the new “family favorite”, namely Roesti (Rösti) - albeit this time, I made mini versions.

Since I like to make cream based sauces for my chicken or pork every so often, I thought that it was time to make the preparation of this kind of sauce a bit more interesting. I decided to make my own wholegrain mustard to be added to this sauce “à la diable”.

Mustard is available in many different styles and from any shop that sells food. Artisanal mustards have become quite the rage around here recently and we will be visiting an artisan “mustard mill” during the Easter break, but for now, I realized that it could not be easier to make your own mustard. The advantage being that you can make the mustard exactly how you like it and you will have a certain sense of satisfaction that you get when you succeed in making something that tastes better than the store bought variety.

Mustard is made by setting off a series of chemical reactions. The mustard seeds itself are not inherently pungent, they need some grinding and water to spark the distinctive kick, which then needs to be held in place by vinegar and preserved with salt. You can add whatever you like to make it your own, such as some local honey, dried herbs (maybe from your garden), some spices, or even chili. The homemade mustard needs a day or two to mellow. So here is the recipe for a basic mustard that can be adjusted to a whole variety of different tatses.

Recipe for Homemade Wholegrain Mustard

Ingredients for the Mustard

• 6 tbsp mustard seeds (I used 5 tbsp yellow mustard seeds and 1 tbsp brown mustard seeds)
• 2 tsps fine French sea salt
• ½ tbsp mustard powder (I used Colmans mustard powder)
• 6 tbsp white wine or cold water (I used the same French white wine that I also used in the cream sauce)
• 3 tbsp vinegar (I used a Riesling vinegar from our local oil and vinegar manufacturer)
• honey to taste (I always use local honey in all my cooking and baking)
• some dried herbs, turmeric, ginger, or cloves (entirely optional)

Preparation of the Mustard

1. Grind about half the mustard seeds in a pestle and mortar or coffee grinder until fine. It is best to do this in stages.
2. Then add the rest and give them another quick grind. The resulting mixture should be smooth and rough at the same time (some powder, some cracked seeds, a few whole seeds)
3. Transfer the mustard seed mixture to a bowl and stir in the salt and mustard powder. 
4. If using, add one of the optional ingredients now as well.
5. Then pour in the wine or cold water . The mustard can be made a bit more mellow if you substitute warm water at this stage.
6. Stir in the vinegar.
7. Pour into a sterilized glass jar and refrigerate for at least 12 hours before serving. NOTE: You can keep the mustard for a few months in your fridge.

Once you have prepared the chicken breasts for this recipe and prepare the “sauce à la diable”, you can add about three tablespoons of your homemade wholegrain mustard together with the white wine, cream and the other ingredients. Quite delightful!

We all loved this recipe for “Poulet à la Diable with Homemade Wholegrain Mustard”, the sautéed spinach with new garlic and the mini Roesti (Rösti). What a wonderful weekday dinner!

To see how the Chicken Breasts Diable were prepared by the other members of the French Fridays with Dorie group, please do click here.