Choux pastry

 

An unassuming little sugary morsel thanks to Alexandre

From a fascinating lecture on the Antarctic's Ross Sea, an unlikely oasis of fecundity, I dashed to the kitchen to learn how to make choux pastry - and you wonder what entices us to travel!?  We had these, and other wee fancies, delivered to our cabin every night -  instead of traditional pillow chocolates, thank goodness.

The ingredients are simple, it’s the mixing that matters. Who hasn't made choux pastry?

Ingredients

263g eggs (4-5 eggs)

145g flour

125ml milk

125g butter

125ml water

1 tsp or less salt

1 tsp or less sugar

These are just wee morsels but they melt in you mouth

Method

Bring milk, water, butter, sugar and salt to a boil. 

Lower the heat and add the flour and mix till 'dry'. It’s all in the mixing!

Add eggs one by one folding through with a spatula.

Pipe onto a tray and sprinkle with sugar - probably our raw sugar equivalent.

Bake at 180C for 45 mins

Chook’s note:  I didn’t count the quantity we made but I’ve halved the ingredients and reckon this will make a couple of dozen.

Far Breton

 

The lesson was accompanied by French cider

Recipe compliments of Alexandre Chef d’hotel, Commandant Charcot.
Being on board this rather luxurious icebreaker, Le Commandant Charcot for 4 weeks as we navigated around half of Antarctica, gave us ample time to enjoy some cooking classes with the chefs on board, predominantly Alexandre. Our classes were made up of Australian, French and US passenger so discussions were interesting. This is one of many of the dishes that we learnt to make - and yes the French do indeed use loads of eggs and cream and butter. Delicious! And the 
Far Breton is a traditional cake or dessert from Brittany and that is where Alexandre our chef comes from. In this class he was making enough for 8 (so that we all got a taste) so I have reduced the recipe to make one 30cm cake.  

Ingredients
450ml milk
110g flour
105g sugar
3 lg or 4 sm eggs
12g rum
15g butter
200g prunes

Method

Soak prunes in warm water for about 30 mins

In a bowl beat eggs with the flour and sugar. Gradually incorporate the milk without stopping to mix then add the melted butter and rum.

Drain prunes and place in the dish and pour the egg mixture over the top.

Bake for about 1h 20 in 190C oven. *The time and temp are based on cooking a large batch not to mention that the Bretons tend to cook these until the top is quite dark. Just make sure you keep an eye on it and use your own judgement.

Serve warm or cold

Alexandre - a generous teacher

Chook’s note: this was delicious and not unlike clafoutis which we were offered many mornings for breakfast – along with a mountain of other delicious pastries and breads.

Bon appetit!

Hot & sour cherry sauce with crispy chicken

 

I have adapted this recipe from the original which called for a boned flattened chicken to serve 6. This version gives 2 generous serves.

Ingredients
2 chicken Maryland
1 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
2-3 small red onions, halved
coriander sprigs, for serving

Hot & sour cherry sauce
1 cup (125g) cherries, pitted, halved
1/3 cup (70g) brown sugar, firmly packed
30g caster sugar
1 piece star anise
40ml Chinkiang vinegar
1 long green or red chili roughly chopped
A little lemon zest

Method

Preheat the oven to 200°C (180°C fan-forced).  

Place chicken onto an oven tray or shallow pan with baking paper.

Rub chicken all over with oil and season generously with sea salt flakes.
Roast for 1 hour or until chicken is golden brown and juices run clear. If you plan to serve with jacket potatoes toss these in the pan with the chicken. Add onions to the tray halfway through cooking time.

Preparing the sauce 

While the chicken is cooking, combine all sauce ingredients in a medium saucepan. Stir until mixture comes to the boil then cook, stirring occasionally, for about 5 mins or until cherries are soft. Cool slightly, discard star anise; blend until smooth.

Pour sauce over chicken to serve with sprigs of coriander and extra cherries.

Chook’s notes: The sauce makes about 1½ cups. Store any leftovers in an airtight container for up to a week or freeze to use later – it goes well with lamb fillets. The original recipe suggested gently pushing butter under the skin. I think the meat has sufficient rich juices without the need for butter. It's simply a matter of personal choice.

Veal piccata

 

Our veal piccata made with chicken!

Ingredients
8 veal cutlets, pounded 5-6 mm thick
salt and freshly ground black pepper
½ cups plain flour
4 Tbsp salted butter, divided
2 Tbsp olive oil, plus more if needed
2 garlic cloves thin sliced
½ cups dry white wine or sherry
1 cup chicken stock
1 sm lemon, finely sliced into rounds and seeded
1 Tbsp. fresh lemon juice
2 Tbsp drained capers
2 Tbsp coarsely chopped parsley
Serves 4

Method
Season the cutlets generously with salt and pepper, then dredge in the flour, shaking off any excess.
Add the oil and 2 Tbsp of the butter to a large pan over medium-high heat. When it’s hot and shimmering, add enough cutlets to cover the bottom of the pan without overcrowding. Fry, turning once, until golden brown, 3–5 mins. Transfer to the warm plate, then repeat with the remaining cutlets, adding more oil if the pan looks dry.
Add finely sliced garlic to the pan and sauté. Then deglaze with the wine and cook until reduced by half, about 3 mins. Add the stock and lemon slices and boil until reduced by half again, about 9 mins more.
Stir in the lemon juice, capers, parsley, and remaining butter and season with salt and black pepper to taste.
Pour the sauce over the veal and serve immediately.

Chooks note: Never one to stick to a recipe, we added 5-6 small sage leaves to sauté with the garlic (because we love the taste of them) plus 1/2 a small red chili finely sliced and 3 green onions sliced diagonally. I wanted to add more piquance to our piccata! 
The recipe suggests pouring the sauce over the 'veal' but we had o pop the meat back in the pan with the sauce to reheat it.
I made half quantity using 2 chicken thigh fillets (because I had chicken to spare). It was delicious but if you can get good veal then that would be even better I’m sure.

This was delicious but nobody makes veal piccata like Maria at Maria’s Trattoria in North Melbourne. Maria has been cooking and serving delicious Italian home cooking every night since she and her husband opened in the mid 80s.