Crystallized rose petals and marzipan

This week's culinary excursion began with last week's unsuccessful attempt at Bakewell Tart which I won't bore you with. Suffice it to say that I used regular Israeli coarsely ground almonds, and it was all wrong. My daughter-in-law put her finger on it when she said "it doesn't have the marzipany taste of the original."

Marzipan! That put me on the right track, looking for finely ground blanched almonds - which to my delight I found, from a new Israeli firm called Maimon - run, I suspect by French immigrants who wanted quality baking ingredients that were hitherto unavailable in Israel.

I discovered on the Internet that in Germany, the original home of marzipan:

• Marzipan must be two thirds ground almonds to use the name "marzipan" 
• Rose water is used in addition to egg white for binding.

There's your recipe right there - I thought to myself - and so I used:

• 200g finely ground blanched almonds
• 100g icing sugar
• 1 egg white
• 1 Tbs rosewater

And I had my marzipan.

But somehow my mind was running ahead of me, and the mention of rosewater took me on an internet search for kosher violet and rose creams - or at least a recipe so I could make them myself.

Quintessentially English and devised by the Victorians. A soft fondant cream mixed with violet or rose water and dipped in dark chocolate topped with crystallised violet or rose petals.

Sadly, I didn't find any kosher ones, and the requirement for double cream stymied me (it's unknown in Israel) but on one site I found this priceless quote:

People often tell us they are buying our violet creams for their grandmother - but we know better.

Just so! Just what I would have said to the shopkeeper! But of course they're for me - though intricately wound up with my memories of my grandmother, and various other old ladies of my childhood.

So I started looking for crystallized petal recipes and got this basic idea:

• Pick and wash the petals (buds are best as the petals can be used whole and they tend to be thicker than larger petals - which is good)
• Paint them with a mixture of egg white and rosewater using a paintbrush
• While damp, sprinkle liberally on both sides with icing sugar
• Spread the sugar evenly with the damp paint brush
• Sprinkle with granulated sugar
• Leave overnight to dry
• Turn petals over to dry other side

By this morning they were dry on one side and I turned them over. In a couple more hours they were completely dry.

So here are my rosewater flavored marzipans, enrobed in bittersweet chocolate and decorated with crystallized rose petals from our garden. But you'd better come over quickly if you want any. They won't last long.

Savoury Kadaif Hors d'Oeuvres

Last hametz recipe before Passover!

I suppose this is a kind of fusion cooking; or at least fusion between the need to get rid of hametz from the freezer before Passover and the inability to throw away precious ready-made kadaif pastry. I'm sure the Turks don't do this with kadaif.

As we didn't want one of the traditionally sweet Turkish or Greek recipes made with this special pastry, I tried something savoury instead, and kept it butter-free, for serving with a meat meal on Shabbat Hagadol.

I rubbed the pastry with olive oil and pressed it into muffin moulds, making a well in the middle of each one, which I filled with a mixture of:

• walnuts (finely chopped)
• onion (finely chopped)
• courgette (finely chopped)
• salt and pepper
• sugar
• paprika
• garlic
• a drizzle of olive oil
• a dollop of Heinz tomato ketchup

If I'd had minced meat on hand, I think I'd have added some to the filling for a little more body, though the chopped nuts did well enough on their own.

I baked them till golden and will be serving them with a rich beef and tomato gravy, as shown above, poured on just before serving so they don't get soggy. A thickened sauce would have been preferable, it just wasn't practical today.

The test-taste was delicious.

Samosas

One of the quintessential Indian snacks, known and loved around the globe, these are a little fiddly to make, but not nearly so hard as you might have thought. This recipe makes 16 samosas. 

Filling ingredients:
4 medium potatoes
2/3 cup frozen peas
2 chillies, chopped (optional)
2 Tbs lemon juice
4 Tbs oil
1 tsp ground cumin
2 tsp ground coriander seeds
1 tsp garam masala

Making the filling:

1. Boil potatoes till cooked but firm, and leave to cool
2. Peel and cut into 1 cm cubes
3. Stir in lemon juice and salt to taste
4. In a saucepan, heat oil and add cumin, stirring till it releases its aroma
5. Add chillies and fry till soft
6. Stir in peas and remaining spices for 2 minutes
7. Stir in potatoes
8. Leave to cool while you prepare the pastry

Pastry ingredients:
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 Tbs semolina (optional, makes pastry crisper)
3 Tbs oil
1/2 cup lukewarm water

Making the pastry:

1. Mix flour, semolina (if using) and oil till mixture is like breadcrumbs
2. Add half the water and knead to a firm dough, adding more water only if necessary
3. Knead for 1 min
4. Leave to rest for 20 mins
5. Divide into eight pieces

Making the samosas:

1. Roll each piece of dough into a 10 cm circle and slice in half
2. Wet the edges of each half circle and form a cone, pressing to seal the join (Fig 1)
3. Fill cone carefully with about 2 Tbs potato filling, letting the cone bulge out as you fill it (Fig 2)
4. Seal the open end to form a plump triangle, gently shifting the filling around to make an even shaped samosa (Fig 3)
5. When all 16 samosas are formed, fry in at least 2 cm oil, turning once, until golden all over. (Deep frying obviously produces a plumper, rounder samosa)
6. Serve hot with mango pickle, mango chutney and/or tamarind sauce

Fig 1: Form each half circle into a cone

Fig 2: Fill generously

Fig 3: Seal open end and rearrange filling

Fig 4: Repeat till all samosas are ready

Fig 5: Fry, a few at a time, till golden

Chicken in Aspic

My latest culinary experiment was based on a vague memory from a magnificent Shabbat buffet at a hotel in Switzerland many years ago. The catalyst was the need to do something useful with some leftover smoked chicken.

I've wanted to experiment with aspic for years but never got around to it. However, mehadrin kosher gelatine is now so readily available - it positively shrieks at one from the supermarket shelves - there seemed to be no reason to delay further.

Gelatine is sensitive stuff, and one needs to get it right. The principles I learned from my web research were these:

• Stir the gelatine powder into a small amount of warm broth before adding it to the main saucepan of broth.
• For aspic firm enough for solids to be suspended, allow 1 sachet (2 3/4 Tbs) per 5 cups broth 
• Once the gelatine is added to the broth, heat and stir to thoroughly dissolve, but do not allow it to boil, as this destroys the setting power of the gelatine
• Because it is served chilled, aspic - and the food suspended in it - need to have a strong flavour (which is why smoked chicken is good)

I also discovered that the modern kosher gelatine powder dissolves fairly quickly and easily, and is not as time-consuming and complicated to deal with as described in traditional aspic recipes.

How I did it


I used leftovers from a whole smoked chicken - there was about a third of the meat left. When removing the meat from the bones and chopping it up, I kept the tasty golden skin too, but no doubt many cholesterol concious people today would discard the skin. I made a broth with the bones, and then cooked some baby peas in part of the broth and drained them. I garnished the base of the mould with sliced hardboiled egg and cucumber, and mixed together the chopped smoked chicken, boiled and well-seasoned peas, leftover hardboiled egg bits, chopped fresh coriander, and freshly ground pepper. Slices of boiled carrot would have added additional colour (not to mention flavour to the broth), and if I'd been a little more confident that it was going to actually set, I'd have been more adventurous with the decoration, and included some coriander sprigs on top of the egg slices.

I considered making individual portions in a silicon cupcake tray, but couldn't figure out how I'd turn them out without cutting up the tray, so in the end I used a single large oval Pyrex serving dish.

Unfortunately, due to lack of experience, I worried that the aspic wasn't setting and added rather more gelatine that was necessary - making the aspic rather more solid than it should be. (Although you want it firm, to hold up the solids, it should still be soft.) I also moved around the egg decoration in my frustration, so its a little askew. When I put it to bed in the fridge last night I was not even sure that it would set - but joy came in the morning.

We'll be serving it as a first course, accompanied by American jellied cranberry sauce from the new shop across the road from my parents' place.

And now... watch out terrine recipes, here I come...

Vegetarian Christmas Pudding

I know, I know, some of our friends will raise an eyebrow, but we had a really good parve fruit pudding this Shabbos! Based on a recipe by the famous Roopa Gulati, this is easy, suet-free, milk-free, and yummy on a cold winter evening. Ideally it should be made a month in advance, wrapped in greaseproof paper, and stored in an airtight tin to mature; but we made it on Friday and ate it that night, and it was delicious.
Don't be put off by the long list of ingredients. Once you've bought them it's just a question of throwing them together in a mixing bowl.

Ingredients:

• 100g plain flour
• 1 tsp mixed spice
• 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp grated nutmeg
• 1/8 tsp ginger powder
• 100g fresh white breadcrumbs
• 100g dark brown sugar
• 150g chilled margarine or butter, diced
• 150g sultanas
• 150g raisins
• 50g candied peel, diced
• 1 apple, grated
• 50g chopped dates
• 50g honey or golden syrup
• 1 lemon, grated zest and juice
• 2 eggs, lightly beaten
• 60ml brandy

Method:

• Sieve the flour and spices into a bowl and stir in the breadcrumbs and the sugar.
• Rub the fat into this mixture and mix thoroughly.
  Tip: Rupa says the mixture should at this stage resemble breadcrumbs, but unless the fat is very cold that ain't gonna happen. instead you're going to have a mush - but don't worry about it, mush is fine.
• Stir in the sultanas, raisins, peel, grated apple and chopped dates.
• Lightly whisk together the golden syrup, lemon rind and juice, eggs and brandy. Pour into the fruit mixture and stir well to combine everything together.
• Lightly grease a 1000ml pudding basin (or line with greaseproof paper) and spoon in the mixture. Fill to within about 1 cm from the top.
  Tip: We had some mixture left over which we spooned into 12 small silicone cupcake moulds, plopped walnut halves on top of, and baked.
• Cover the pudding with a disc of greaseproof paper and secure with a double layer of foil, tied in place with string.
  Tip: If you're good at that sort of thing, make a string handle to lift the bowl in and out of the saucepan.
• Steam for 3-4 hours, until darkened and firm to the touch.
  Tip: If you use a pressure cooker, an hour would probably be more than enough.
• Leave to cool before turning out (so it doesn't come apart).

Serving possibilities:

• Dredge lightly with castor sugar
• (After a dairy meal:) Serve with hot custard.
• (On a weekday:) Heat 6 tablespoons of brandy in a metal ladle, tilt over the flame so the brandy ignites, and pour it over the pudding.

And here are some of the small cupcakes made with the leftover mixture:

'Ma Simha's Perfect Latkes

Latkes are a Jewish snack traditionally eaten at Chanukah but delicious at any time. Best served hot and crisp from the pan, with with ketchup (modern), sour cream (traditional) or apple sauce (American).


The straggly, crispy bits are an essential component of the perfect latke. Many less experienced latke-machers are unaware of this important nuance.

Ingredients:

• 4 large potatoes
• 1 large onion
• 2 eggs
• 2–3 heaped Tbs flour
• salt and pepper

Directions:

• Grate onion and potatoes in food processor and turn into a large bowl
• Mix in remaining ingredients
• Season with salt and pepper
• Place heaped tablespoons of the mixture in 1 cm hot oil and fry until underside is golden and crisp
• Turn and cook on other side

Truffles from leftover chocolate cake

Frugal and scrumptious!



Some were rolled in cocao, some in chopped walnuts, into some a walnut piece was embedded, and others we left plain. That made four varieties. If we'd had any coconut flakes, chocolate sprinkles and glace cherries around there could have been three more.

For a greater variety a sultana, nut or ball of marzipan can be hidden in the centre of some.