Serial Cooking Blog

Daring Bakers November Challenge: Cannoli

Nathalie — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 18:42:09 +0000

The November 2009 Daring Bakers Challenge was chosen and hosted by Lisa Michele of Parsley, Sage, Desserts and Line Drives. She chose the Italian Pastry, Cannolo (Cannoli is plural), using the cookbooks Lidia’s Italian-American Kitchen by Lidia Matticchio Bastianich and The Sopranos Family Cookbook by Allen Rucker; recipes by Michelle Scicolone, as ingredient/direction guides. She added her own modifications/changes, so the recipe is not 100% verbatim from either book.

Cannoli are known as Italian-American pastries, although the origin of cannoli dates back to Sicily, specifically Palermo, where it was prepared during Carnevale season, and according to lore, as a symbol of fertility. The cannoli is a fried, tube-shaped pastry shell (usually containing wine) filled with a creamy amalgamation of sweetened ricotta cheese, chocolate, candied fruit or zest, and sometimes nuts. Although not traditional, mascarpone cheese is also widely used, and in fact, makes for an even creamier filling when substituted for part of the ricotta, or by itself. However, cannoli can also be filled with pastry creams, mousses, whipped cream, ice cream etc. You could also add your choice of herbs, zests or spices to the dough, if desired. Marsala is the traditional wine used in cannoli dough, but any red or white wine will work fine, as it’s not only added for flavor or color, but to relax the gluten in the dough since it can be a stiff dough to work with.

I was in a bit of a rush this month to make the recipe. I started a new job a few weeks ago and have had very busy weekends, so I had to keep it simple and went for only one filling, even though I had originally planned to make 3. I wish I could have done more than that, but still the result was a success and I will keep the recipe to play with it when I have more time.

I don’t have cannoli tubes so instead I used cones which my mum gave me recently. The result is somewhat different but still quite nice to look at.
I filled them with an almond-flavoured whipped cream and decorated them simply with sugar confettis. Sooo good!

CANNOLI SHELLS

Ingredients

250g all-purpose flour
2 tbsp sugar
1 tsp cocoa powder
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
3 tbsp sunflower oil
1 tsp white wine vinegar
125 ml sweet Marsala or any white or red wine you have on hand (I used white wine)
1 egg white
Grapeseed oil for frying

Directions

1. In the bowl of an electric stand mixer or food processor, combine the flour, sugar, cocoa, cinnamon, and salt. Stir in the oil, vinegar, and enough of the wine to make a soft dough. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth and well blended, about 2 minutes. Shape the dough into a ball. Cover with plastic wrap and let rest in the fridge from 2 hours to overnight.

2 Cut the dough into two pieces. Keep the remaining dough covered while you work. Lightly flour a large cutting or pastry board and roll the dough until super thin, about 1/16 to 1/8” thick (An area of about 13 inches by 18 inches should give you that). Cut out 3 to 5-inch circles (3-inch – small/medium; 4-inch – medium/large; 5-inch;- large. Your choice). Roll the cut out circle into an oval, rolling it larger and thinner if it’s shrunk a little.

3 Oil the outside of the cannoli tubes (You only have to do this once, as the oil from the deep fry will keep them well oiled). Roll a dough oval from the long side (If square, position like a diamond, and place tube/form on the corner closest to you, then roll) around each tube/form and dab a little egg white on the dough where the edges overlap. (Avoid getting egg white on the tube, or the pastry will stick to it.) Press well to seal. Set aside to let the egg white seal dry a little.

4. In a deep heavy saucepan, pour enough oil to reach a depth of 3 inches, or if using an electric deep-fryer, follow the manufacturer’s directions. Heat the oil to 375°F (190 °C) on a deep fry thermometer, or until a small piece of the dough or bread cube placed in the oil sizzles and browns in 1 minute. Have ready a tray or sheet pan lined with paper towels or paper bags.

5. Carefully lower a few of the cannoli tubes into the hot oil. Do not crowd the pan. Fry the shells until golden, about 2 minutes, turning them so that they brown evenly.

8. Lift a cannoli tube with a wire skimmer or large slotted spoon, out of the oil. Using tongs, grasp the cannoli tube at one end. Very carefully remove the cannoli tube with the open sides straight up and down so that the oil flows back into the pan. Place the tube on paper towels or bags to drain. Repeat with the remaining tubes. While they are still hot, grasp the tubes with a potholder and pull the cannoli shells off the tubes with a pair of tongs, or with your hand protected by an oven mitt or towel. Let the shells cool completely on the paper towels. Place shells on cooling rack until ready to fill.

9. Repeat making and frying the shells with the remaining dough. If you are reusing the cannoli tubes, let them cool before wrapping them in the dough.

CANNOLI FILLING

Ingredients

300ml double cream
2 tbsp icing sugar
1/2 tsp almond extract
sugar confettis

Directions

Whip the double cream with the icing sugar and almond extract until stiff.

Just before serving, fill the cannoli tubes using a piping bag and decorate with the sugar confettis.

Bon Appétit!

BBA #3: Bagels

Nathalie — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 13:53:07 +0000

I did my first batch of bagels several weeks ago. I also took pictures of this first batch to blog them. The bagels were almost perfect and I was quite proud. I even froze some so that my mum and sister-in-law could taste them, because they were coming over a couple of weeks later.

For this first batch, I used sesame seeds and poppy seeds. We had them for breakfast and lunch. They were truly delicious! Once again, it was definitely worth the effort.

The pictures were not too bad but because we bought a new camera last week (and because I had not yet blogged about those bagels), I decided I would make another batch to have even better pictures! And that’s where another kitchen disaster happened…

I almost followed the recipe to the letter. Almost. The fridge being completely full, I thought that leaving the bagels near an open window for the night would be enough to stop the fermentation. Well, despite the low English temperatures at this time of the year, it was not enough. And the bagels continued to rise during the night.

As a result, I had to re-shape them before boiling them. Then I boiled them and baked them. But the result is not convincing. They are too chewy and don’t look very nice. Big disappointment.

That’s why I’ll use my pictures of the first batch. I didn’t even bother taking pictures.

Smoked Salmon & Poached Egg on Toast or How to Impress your Girlfriend on a Sunday Morning

Nicolas — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 22:39:22 +0000

Love is like a wood fire, if you don’t take care of it, it fades away. Some people choose jewelery, holidays under the tropics, or boat trip. But for Nathalie and I, it’s food and walking/hiking.

When you prepare a meal for the person you love, it’s always the best meal ever! You choose carefully your recipe and you’ll try to get the best ingredients. Then the preparation is like waiting for the first meeting: you’re a little scared, disorganised, but you love it!

So, after having chosen our Sunday walk, I decided to cook for Nathalie a “Princess Breakfast”… And guess what: she loved it!

Ingredients

For 4 toasts:

4 English muffins
4 fresh eggs
12 slices of smoked salmon
Some chives

For the hollandaise sauce

3 egg yolks
2 tbsp of white wine vinegar
2 tbsp of lemon juice
125 g of butter

Method

Hollandaise sauce

First, you need to make the hollandaise sauce.

Cut the 125gr of butter into small pieces. It will make your life easier when you add it to the sauce.

Take a large bowl, and whisk the egg yolks with the lemon juice and the white wine vinegar. Put the bowl over a sauce pan of boiling water and start to add the butter. Never stop whisking your sauce until you’ve added all the butter. It should take about 15 minutes.

Once all the butter is gone, remove your bowl from the saucepan, and continue whisking for 3-5 minutes. Add 1 or 2 pinches of salt and your hollandaise sauce is done. Keep it warm, near to you.

Poached eggs on toasts

You’ll have to do each toast one by one.

Start by poaching an egg. To do that, put a fresh egg into a large saucepan of boiling water. Wait for 4 minutes, and remove it with a spotted spoon. It should be fine.

While your egg is poaching, gently toast your English muffin and spread some salted butter on it.

Cover with 2 or 3 slices of smoked salmon, then add the poached egg on top.

Spread some hollandaise sauce on the egg, and add some fresh chives.

Repeat the operation for all the muffins and you’re done.

For a breakfast, you can serve it with a light tea, that’s superb!

Now guys, you’ve got to do some cleaning and washing up…

And you, what breakfast would you make for your sweetheart?

What’s In Your Breakfast?

Nathalie — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 13:45:44 +0000

Did you know that a 30g serving of Kellogg’s Corn Flakes has more salt in than a small packet of Walkers ready salted crisps?

Or that 3/4 of the most popular children’s cereals contain as much sugar per serving as a jam donut?

It’s what I learned today by watching the latest Dispatches programme by Channel 4 - “What’s in your breakfast?”. If you like your breakfast cereals or if you’re simply interested in good healthy food, you should definitely watch this!

Breakfast cereals aren’t all healthy! Too much sugar and too much salt, most of them should be avoided… And I’ll continue on my bread-jam breakfast diet

Watch the video
(you’ve got 26 days left!)

Recipe: Oven-Baked Potato Cakes - Recette: Petits Pains de Pomme de Terre

Daring Bakers: French Macarons Disaster!

Nathalie — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 15:40:31 +0000

The 2009 October Daring Bakers’ challenge was brought to us by Ami S. She chose macarons from Claudia Fleming’s ‘The Last Course: The Desserts of Gramercy Tavern’ as the challenge recipe.

French macarons are so pretty and so delicious that I’ve been thinking about baking some for several months and never actually had the courage to try… aren’t they supposed to be super difficult to make? If you don’t get every single step right, you fail. From the temperature of the egg whites to the oven temperature, via and exact amount of almond flour and the macarooning technique…

So when I saw that the October’s challenge was French macarons, I was very excited and completely terrified at the same time. I took Nicolas’ advice and read a lot about the perfect techniques before actually trying the recipe. I thought I was ready. I thought I would benefit from the beginner’s luck. But sadly, I didn’t.

2nd batch: they looked good once piped…

3 attempts. 15 egg whites, 75g of sugar, 675g of icing sugar and 570g of almond flour. But not one single French macarons. Not one single “foot” at the base of my cookies. The result is not that bad. I mean, I got really nice almond cookies. But they are not macarons and I’m kind of dissapointed. It’s not how I imagined my first time with macarons would be…

This morning I’ve come accross blog posts about this challenge, and I am a bit reassured to see that I am not the only one who had difficulties with this recipe. I might try again another time, with another recipe. Not now. We have eaten enough almond cookies for now. And I could be completely put off if I failed a fourth time in such a short period of time.

1st batch: almond cookies filled with chocolate spread, lemon curd and peanut butter

Claudia Fleming’s Recipe for Macarons

Ingredients

5 egg whites at room temperature
25g granulated sugar
190g almond flour
225g icing sugar

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 200°F (93°C). Combine the confectioners’ sugar and almond flour in a medium bowl. If grinding your own nuts, combine nuts and a cup of confectioners’ sugar in the bowl of a food processor and grind until nuts are very fine and powdery.

2. Beat the egg whites in the clean dry bowl of a stand mixer until they hold soft peaks. Slowly add the granulated sugar and beat until the mixture holds stiff peaks.

3. Sift a third of the almond flour mixture into the meringue and fold gently to combine. If you are planning on adding zest or other flavorings to the batter, now is the time. Sift in the remaining almond flour in two batches. Be gentle! Don’t overfold, but fully incorporate your ingredients.

4. Spoon the mixture into a pastry bag fitted with a plain half-inch tip (Ateco #806). You can also use a Ziploc bag with a corner cut off. It’s easiest to fill your bag if you stand it up in a tall glass and fold the top down before spooning in the batter.

5. Pipe one-inch-sized (2.5 cm) mounds of batter onto baking sheets lined with nonstick liners (or parchment paper).

6. Bake the macaroon for 5 minutes. Remove the pan from the oven and raise the temperature to 375°F (190°C). Once the oven is up to temperature, put the pans back in the oven and bake for an additional 7 to 8 minutes, or lightly colored.

7. Cool on a rack before filling.

3rd batch: lemon curd and chocolate buttercream

Recipe: Squash Soup

Nathalie — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 10:51:44 +0000

Autumn, Halloween, falling leaves, red and orange trees… Squash season has arrived and it’s time for food bloggers to share their best soup/cake/gratin squash recipes!

My first squash recipe of this autumn is a soup… nothing complicated, nothing fancy. Just a hearty delicious bowl of soup to warm you up after a grey autumn day.

I don’t give exact quantities in the recipe below as it mostly depends on the size of the squash and the number of guests you have.
I made a recipe for 3-4 servings and used a small to medium-sized squash, 2 potatoes and 1 small bay leaf.

Squash Soup

Ingredients:

a squash
potatoes
vegetable or chicken stock
milk
bay leaf
salt and pepper

Method:

Peel the squash and potatoes and cut them into chunks. Put in a large saucepan with a bay leaf (a small one for a medium-sized squash, otherwise it will be too strong). Cover with stock and milk (I used approximately 2/3 vegetable stock and 1/3 milk).

Bring to the boil. Reduce the heat and simmer for 30 minutes.

Take the bay leaf out and blend the soup. Adjust seasoning.

Serve in warm bowls or in the squash shell if you want to waouh you guests ;).

Bon Appétit!

Serial Cooking Under Re-Construction!

Nathalie — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 09:41:21 +0000

We are currently working on improved versions of the Serial Cooking blog and web application, which we’re hoping to finish by the end of the year…

The blog will remain essentially the same. I am only going to change the categories a little bit to make it completely about food and cooking, create a recipe index because there are quite a lot now and correct the few bugs I’ve spotted. It should be completely ready for next week, but in the meantime there might be hiccups and I’m sorry for any inconvenience.

The application however is going to be completely re-done. We are re-thinking the whole concept, getting rid of many unnecessary features and implementing a cool and usefeul web app for food bloggers. It’s going to be a long process and there are a lot to do on the technical side of things, but I’m sure it will be worth it.

This could also be the opportunity for you to tell us what you think of Serial Cooking. What do you like (or don’t you like) about the blog? What kind of articles would you like to read more often? Which useful/fun features would you like to have in the web app? If you have anything say, please feel free to do so by leaving a comment on this article or dropping me an email at nathalie.derain@gmail.com.

Cookies… Again!

Nathalie — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 12:29:46 +0000

We all have different ways of letting out stress… I have two: the first one is cleaning. I clean and scrub the house until it’s completely spotless! The second one is baking. It’s not the best for your silhouette, but it’s almost as effective. It’s what happened yesterday.

For a few weeks, I have been actively looking for a job. And by actively, I mean between 2 and 4 interviews a week, sometimes 2 on the same day. First rounds and second rounds. English tests and various assignments. Yesterday I had one in Bath. I was well prepared and quite confident. As usual, I intended to drive there (I don’t trust public transports that much). Unfortunately the car broke down just 1h before the interview! Panicked and completely stressed out, I finally managed to get on the train (running to the station while it was pouring rain), jump into a taxi and arrive on time. Ouf!

When I got home after the interview, I needed to clear my head and do something fun, so I baked cookies and took some time to decorate them. My 18-month-old nephew comes over tonight with his mom and grandma. No doubt he will love them!

The cookie recipe is really basic.

Ingredients (for approx. 24 biscuits)

115g butter, softened
50g golden caster sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 egg, beaten
230g all-purpose flour

Method

Beat the butter and sugar together until creamy. Gradually add the egg. Beat well. Sift over the flour and mix to a soft dough. Lightly knead the dough on a floured work surface for a few seconds, until smooth.

Shape the dough into a ball then flatten slightly into a round. Wrap in cling film and chill for at least 30 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 180°C. Line 2 baking sheets with baking paper.

On a floured work surface, roll out the dough lightly and evenly to a thickness of about 3mm. Use your favourite cookie cutters to make the cookies.

Transfer the cookies to the baking sheets, leaving a space of about 2 cm between each.

Bake for 10 minutes until pale golden brown. Remove from the oven and leave for 2-3 minutes before transferring the cookies to a rack to cool.

Icing recipe

Ingredients

icing sugar
cold water (or freshly pressed lemon juice or orange juice)
food colours

Method

Sift the icing sugar in a bowl. Gradually (teaspoonful) add the water until it forms a thick paste.

Use a piping bag to decorate the cookies (and have fun!!).

BBA #2: Artos & Christopsomos

Nathalie — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 07:51:41 +0000

The second challenge of the Bread Bakers’ Apprentice book is Artos, a Greek celebration bread, along with 2 variations (Christopsomos and Lambropsomos).

I started with Artos and liked it so much that I also tried the Chritopsomos variation - I also wanted to have a go at shaping it because it looked pretty and fun on the picture… It is the same basic recipe to which you add dried fruits and nuts. Perfect for breakfast!

Stir together the flour, salt, yeast, spices, poolish, extracts, eggs, honey and olive oil.

Add lukewarm milk and stir until the dough forms a ball.

Knead the dough for 10 minutes.

Transfer the dough to a lightly oiled bowl, cover with plastic wrap and ferment at room temperature for 90 minutes.

Shape into a boule, ferment a 2nd time and bake for 20 minutes.

Artos bread

Shaping Christopsomos bread

Cross the 2 strands of dough over the top of the boule. Split the ends of each strand and coil them to form a decorative cross.

Ready to bake

Christopsomos bread

Craving for Japanese Food…

Nathalie — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 16:14:24 +0000

I have already written a post about sushis and makis, including the recipe, but it’s become something that we eat quite regularly, and the pictures this time are much better than last time…

This time, we’ve done:

salmon sushis
japanese omelette sushis
salmon and cucumber makis
cream cheese makis
prawn and cucumber makis
seafood sticks makis

And guess what? They were deliiiiiicious!

Serial Cooking Blog

Daring Bakers November Challenge: Cannoli

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