Asparagus and Hollandaise Sauce ©
This is to introduce you to “Hollandaise Sauce.” Most of you will have tried it, some of you will have made it and others will be wishing they could!
So here it is step by step, enjoy the results!
Easy once you have done it !
4-6 Persons
Ingredients
1.5 tbs Court Bouillon for Fish OR
1.5 tbs White Stock for eggs and vegetables
2 yolks of egg
100g butter
1 tbs lemon juice or more
pepper and salt to season
1 bunch of asparagus (5 each) boiled in salted water until just tender, aprox 8 minutes.
Method
Court Bouillon is a stock used for cooking fish, made up of water, vinegar, onions, carrots, shallots and bouquet garni, salt and some times 1-2 cloves. OR
White Stock, with the same ingredients as above, except a whole chicken is used or veal bones, in stead of the fish.
I have a supply of this always in the deep freeze, stored as ice cubes, for when I need small amounts.
Next time you poach a whole fish, or boil a chicken, or make white stock with veal bones, reserve some of the stock in the deep freeze.
1. Place your egg yolks in a heat proof basin over a saucepan of barely simmering water.Basin must not touch water.
2. Add 1.5 table spoons of the Court Bouillon, or White Stock, depending on what you are serving it with. In this case white stock for the Asparagus.
3. Beat continuously until it has doubled in volume and the whisk leaves a trail.
4. Remove from the heat and add cubed butter, piece by piece, not adding the next piece, before the previous is incorporated.
5.Add lemon juice and season.
6. Plunge washed asparagus into boiling salted water. Cook until just tender, approximately 8 minutes, depending on thickness of asparagus.
Can also be served with boiled or steamed fish, eggs or boiled vegetables.
Remove butter from fridge and cut into cubes.
Choose suitable bowl to sit on medium sized saucepan. Fill with water, so that it just, does not touch the bowl. Bring to the boil, turn down to a simmer and then place your bowl containing court bouillon and egg yolks on top.
Whisk continuously until your egg mixture doubles in volume, becomes thick like mayonnaise and the beaters leave a trail.
If at any time the water is boiling to vigorously, turn down to a simmer.
It is important to beat continuously from the start, as you don’t want the egg to over cook where it touches the bowl.
Once it looks like this, remove from the heat and add the butter, cube by cube, not adding the next, until
the first is completely dissolved.
As you add the butter, the heat of the sauce, melts the butter.
Once all the butter is added, it will look like this. Check seasoning and spoon out into suitable serving dish.
Final result ! Delicious…….serve on lightly warmed plates.
Tarte Des Demoiselles Tatin ©
This is my favourite apple ‘Tarte.’ It is light and a delicious combination of apple and caramel with a light filo pastry, which is my adaptation of the usual ‘Flaky Pastry.’ Served warm it is delicious!
There are many photos to assist you……….try it, it is really worth it!
This is a special request from my dear friend Anna, as to how to make caramel…… 🙂
A little more challenging, but worth the try!
6 Persons
Ingredients
900 g Granny Smith/ Green Cooking apples
100 g butter
1oo g brown sugar
1 lemon/Lime zest
For Caramel
100 g caster sugar
100 ml water
Decoration
An edible flower!
Method
Pre-heat oven 200.C
1. First make caramel. Place sugar in small sauce pan, together with water.
2. Heat over high heat and stir to dissolve sugar crystals. These should devolve, before water comes to the boil. If they haven’t, remove the sauce pan from the heat and continue to stir until the last crystal has dissolved. This is important, or your caramel can crystallise later.
3. Once it boils, no longer stir and watch over it to see it turning colour. This will happen fairly quickly after five minutes and you don’t want to over burn it. A nice rich golden brown is required. If it begins to smoke you will over burn it and it will be too bitter. This you will learn to judge. Too pale and it won’t have a taste.
4. Immediately pour into “Oven proof bowl” and using oven gloves, tilt bowl quickly to spread the caramel around the bowl, especially up the sides. Take care the bowl will become very hot.
5. Your bowl is now ready to arrange your “Thinly” sliced peeled apples.
6. First line the base with thin slices of butter and brown sugar. The first layer should be arranged in a nice pattern, as it will be upper most.
7. Cover each layer with thin slices of butter, brown sugar and lime or lemon zest.
8. Continue until the bowl is filled, the thinner the slices the better, or it will shrink back.
9.Cover with 4 layers of ‘Filo” pastry, gently press down and cut around the edge of the bowl, using a pair of scissors. With a sharp knife cut a cross in the center of the pastry, to allow steam to escape.
10. Place in pre-heated oven and cook until golden. If the pastry becomes too brown, cover with grease -proof paper and leave in oven to cook. Depending on apples, this can take up to an hour. It is very important to cook it until it is a deep golden caramel colour through out.
11. Remove from oven,run knife around circumference, place large serving plate on top of bowl and turn out, while still hot.
12. Serve warm together with vanilla ice cream, or on its own, it is delicious! Decorate with a suitable edible flower!
Place caster sugar in small sauce pan.
Add to 100g sugar, 100 ml of water.
With a pastry brush, brush away any sugar crystals that may stick to the sides of the saucepan.
Stir to dissolve all crystals, before it comes to the boil. Once it boils, you must stop stirring. If they have not
had time to dissolve, remove from heat and stir until the water is clear. This is important.
Choose suitable serving dish to match size of oven proof dish. It is good if it has a little depth, as the Tatin
always has some delicious buttery sauce.
Once all sugar crystals are dissolved, leave to boil rapidly, with out stirring.
Now watch carefully, after rapid boiling, boiling starts to slow and sugar syrup starts to colour.
This takes approximately 3-4 minutes.
Colour getting very close to being ready and remember, the heat is great so it goes on browning, after you
take it off the heat. You should therefore take it off the heat a few seconds before the caramel has reached
the colour you desire.
Pour straight away into oven-proof dish, tilting the dish to spread the caramel, before it sets. Note how
much darker the caramel looks in the saucepan, where as in the bowl it is perfect! This is the colour you
want to aim for.
This is the perfect colour. It will have a taste of ‘caramel,’ with out being over browned and bitter.
Tilt bowl and spread caramel around sides. You need to do this quickly, as the caramel solidifies quickly.
This is exactly the same procedure, as when one makes the caramel for ‘Creme Caramel.’
Choose nice crisp green apples. Cooking apples or Granny Smith.
Quarter apples, peel and core. Cut into wafer thin slices.
Prepare ingredients.
Line base with butter and brown sugar and lime or lemon zest and repeat this after every layer of apples.
Start to arrange slivers of apple in a nice pattern.
Continue to arrange apples.
This will result in a nice final finish, when the tart is turned over.
Continue on as above.
Once the first layer is finished you no longer need to keep to a pattern, just arrange evenly.
After first layer of apple is completed, add finely grated zest of lime or lemon.
Add slices of butter and brown sugar at each layer, until you have reached the top of the oven-proof bowl.
Cover oven-proof dish with four layers of “Filo” pastry and press gently down.
Cut filo pastry round dish. Make a cross in center of pastry with sharp knife, to allow steam to escape.
Place dish in pre-heated oven. If pastry starts to brown, cover with grease-proof paper.
This is by no means ready, it needs to look the same colour all the way through…..
When apples are golden and not just the pastry, remove from oven.Run knife around edge, before turning out.
Place suitable serving dish on top of oven-proof bowl and flip over in one action, your “Tart.”
Tarte Tatin, turned out. Decorate with a flower or cream. Serve warm. If you make ahead of time, warm in
oven before serving.
Final result! A really delicious recipe……..
When I was young, we were given duties to do at home…….one was to lay the table every day, the other was to do the drying up!
The most enjoyable of all, was to make the salad dressing! My childhood friend and I used to love this
and to this day we both make, a delicious salad dressing! Good quality ‘cold press’ virgin olive oil and wine vinegar or
lemon juice are essential, together with real sea salt, freshly ground black pepper, good quality ‘Dijon’ mustard and
Greek, mountain grown, Oregano…….
Easy
4 persons
Ingredients
1 large really fresh crisp lettuce
1 spring onion
Chopped fennel
Vinaigrette
1/2- tsp salt
1/2 tsp sugar (optional)
1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper
1 tsp dijon mustard
1 tbs wine vinegar OR lemon juice
Chopped fresh herbs of your choice, Coriander, mint, chives.
Or 1 tsp dried Oregano
3-4 tbs Virgin, cold press Olive Oil
Method
1.Wash lettuce thoroughly in several waters. Then soak in salted water and rinse again. The salt kills any aphids and they rise to the surface.
2.Drain leaves well and place on chopping board. Cut into 2 cm strips and place in lettuce spinner. Spin until no more water comes out, once or twice.
3.Place lettuce in salad bowl, add chopped spring onion and any fresh herbs of your choice.
4. Mix together ingredients for Vinaigrette. Beat with a spoon to form an emulsion. ( See Cookery Terms. )
5. Just before serving pour vinaigrette over salad and toss with salad servers.
This is a simple procedure, but you will be surprised, how difficult it is to really produce a good salad. Once you follow this recipe, you will not look back!
Mix ingredients together for Salad dressing.
Stir with teaspoon until it emulsifies.
Just before serving, not earlier, or lettuce wilts, pour over salad dressing.
Final result !
What's Cooking In Jane's Kitchen 