Thursday 30 November 2017

Jam tarts and ring tins.

- A ring and a pot | rachel eats:

- jam tarts and ring tins – rustica RETRO: "Ciambellone"
Ciambelle (Ciambella, singular) are Italian bundt cakes that vary by region, including some savoury varieties.
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Monday 20 November 2017

Schiacciatine by Emiko Davies.

Schiacciatine & the last edition of Italian Table Talk | Emiko Davies:
Schiacciata is a variety of flat bread, sort of like focaccia, frequently seasoned with olive oil, rosemary, etc.
The Florentines frequently use them for making sandwiches.
"Schiacciatine" presumably are little schiacciate.
"The recipe I thought must absolutely be shared with everyone is for the schiacciatine.
Any Florentine bakery worth its salt has these little round discs of schiacciata (like a sort of Tuscan focaccia), sometimes as large as your hand, sometimes slightly larger, sometimes mini versions.
They can be baked plain, but more often than not they’re baked with a simple, single vegetable topping – sweet onions, thinly sliced tomato or maybe some sweet red pepper strips, zucchini or even zucchini flowers, if the season permits.
A few notes: Field indicates that this makes 6 six-inch schiacciate but I like them a little smaller to make 8 (even 10), a size that fits nicely in your hand.
All the resting in the shaping process is to enable the dough to relax while you stretch it to its right size.
Don’t worry, be patient.
Also, don’t be afraid to use lard; it is more traditional as an ingredient and imparts the most delightful crispness to the schiacciata that butter just doesn’t give."
Schiacciatine Fiorentine
For the dough:
7 grams (1 small packet) active dry yeast or 18 grams fresh yeast
375 ml warm water
2 tablespoons olive oil
30 grams lard or butter, at room temperature
500 grams all-purpose flour
1 ½ teaspoons (8 grams) salt, plus extra salt flakes for sprinkling
Olive oil for brushing tops
For the toppings:
1 red onion, halved and thinly sliced
1 tomato, thinly sliced
handful of fresh basil or thyme leaves
salt
For the dough:
Stir the yeast into the water in a large bowl and allow to stand 10 minutes until dissolved.
Add the oil and lard.
Combine the flour and salt in a wide bowl and make a well in the centre.
Pour the liquid mixture into the well and stirring from the centre, gradually incorporate the wet and dry ingredients until you have a dough.
Knead until smooth and soft, about 8-10 minutes.
Place the dough in a lightly oiled bowl and let rise, covered, until doubled in size, about 1-2 hours.
Flatten the dough slightly on a floured surface and cut into 8 even portions, rolled into balls.
Let rest under a tea towel 15 minutes.
Dimple the balls with your fingers, flattening into a disc and rest another 15 minutes, covered.
Dimple again, stretching further.
Brush discs with olive oil, sprinkle with some salt and place on baking trays lined with baking paper.
Let rise 1 hour or until doubled in size, covered with a tea towel.
Dimple the dough once more, brush again with olive oil and top with your selected toppings.
Bake at 220ºC for about 15 minutes or until golden.
Serve warm or at room temperature.
Best eaten on the day they are made.
For the toppings:
You could use any vegetables you like really — thin strips of zucchini lightly sauteed with a little garlic; some leftover peperonata; fresh zucchini blossoms.
The important thing to remember is to only gently cook the vegetable toppings (tomato and zucchini flowers don’t even need any pre-cooking), do not brown them, they’ll get a blast of heat in the oven that will take them a little too far otherwise.
For onion topping, gently sweat the onion slices in a knob of butter and a splash of olive oil with a pinch of salt and some fresh thyme leaves.
Don’t let the onions colour, just cook gently until they are completely soft, sweet and translucent.
For the tomato topping, simply place fresh slices of tomato on the dough, sprinkle with salt and torn basil.

- Schiacciatine & the last edition of Italian Table Talk | Emiko Davies:
- a sort of Tuscan focaccia.
They can be baked plain, but more often than not they’re baked with a simple, single vegetable topping – sweet onions, thinly sliced tomato or maybe some sweet red pepper strips, zucchini or even zucchini flowers, if the season permits.
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Monday 13 November 2017

Adjaruli Khachapuri: The Cheese Boat.

You can cook the dough in the evening and put it in the fridge.
And breakfast will be delicious
Recipe for 4 pieces

Dough
125 g milk
125 g water
7 g dry yeast
1 h spoon salt
2 h spoon sugar
1-2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 piece egg
400 g of flour

Starting
250 g suluguni cheese
250 Imeretian or Feta (Feta)

OR Halloumi, or the mix of halloumi, mozzarella and some feta or low moisture mozzarella and crumbled feta.
4 eggs
Note: the proportion of dough and cheese should be 1:1.

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook, combine
tepid milk
yeast
sugar
small part of flour
- put on 15 minutes in a warm place,
- then add
rest of flour
olive oil,
tepid water,
egg,
salt.

Mix on 1st speed until the dry ingredients are completely hydrated, 2-3 minutes, then increase to second speed and mix until a smooth, wet dough comes together, 3-4 minutes.

Transfer the dough to the oiled bowl and cover the bowl with a lid or plastic wrap.
Set in a warm place until the dough is almost doubled in size, 50-60 minutes.

Make the filling: In a large bowl, combine the cheeses and set aside.

On a lightly floured work surface, turn out the dough.
Divide into roughly 4 pieces and roll into balls each piece gently.
Cover the pieces loosely with plastic wrap and set aside for 15 minutes.
On a piece of lightly floured parchment paper flattened each ball into a flat pancake with a diameter of approximately 25cm i.e roll dough into a circle about 25cm.

Arrange slices of hard cheese cuted into matches at the edges of the flat dough.
Make border all the way around - tightly roll the dough about a third of the way toward the center leaving a 6-7cm wide space between the two rolls.
Pinch the two narrow ends of the rolls together and twist twice to seal, making a boat shape;
Spread soft cheese mixture in the middle, packing down lightly.

Keeping the khachapuri atop the paper, gently slide onto a pizza peel or overturned baking sheet.
Repeat with remaining dough and cheese.

Place a pizza stone in the center of the oven and preheat to 200−220С or max to your oven.

Set the khachapuri aside, uncovered, for 15 minutes, until slightly puffed.
Just before baking, brush the edges of the khachapuri lightly with olive oil, then slide the breads atop the paper onto the stone, spacing them at least 6cm apart.
Bake until the dough is lightly golden brown and the cheese is melted, 14-16 minutes.
Open the oven door and gently pour 1 cracked eggs gently into the center of each boat, being careful not to break the yolks.
Close the oven and continue cooking until the egg whites are just set, 3–4 minutes.
The egg should turn soft, but a white with film on top.
Remove the breads and divide the butter among the center of each loaf;
serve hot.
Note: there is no knife and fork, but only by Hands, only hands!
So: tear off a piece of crust, stir it with cheese-butter-egg, scoop up a little from there and drag it into your mouth.
...the next piece.
At the end there is a bottom: attention!
It must be rolled up and eaten like a pancake.

- Delicious Georgian Cuisine:

Saturday 4 November 2017

Beautiful veggie moussaka by Jamie Oliver.

- Beautiful veggie moussaka | Jamie Oliver:
I’ve taken this classic Greek recipe, usually made with lamb, and transformed it into a veggie delight for the lovely Amanda Holden – this dish is one of her favourite foodie memories from her childhood and it’s pretty damn good!

SERVES 12/6
Ingredients

15/7 g dried porcini
2/1 medium onions, peeled
2/1 cloves of garlic, peeled
olive oil
a few sprigs of fresh rosemary and sage, leaves picked
dried oregano
250/125 ml red wine
100/50 g dried brown lentils
2 x 400 g/1 x 400 g tins of chickpeas
4/2 fresh bay leaves
2 x 400 g/1 x 400 g tins of plum tomatoes
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
4/2 large firm aubergines, trimmed
800/400 g potatoes, peeled
750/375 ml semi-skimmed milk
5/3 black peppercorns
75/40 g unsalted butter
75/40 g plain flour
50/25 g feta cheese
50/25 g kefalotyri or pecorino cheese
2/1 large free-range egg yolks

Method
Preheat the oven to 180ºC/350ºF/gas 4.
Place the porcini in a small bowl, cover with boiling water, then set aside to soak.
Finely slice the onions and garlic, then add to a large pan over a medium heat with a good lug of olive oil, the herbs and 1 teaspoon of oregano.
Remove the porcini to a board, reserving the water for later, then roughly chop and add to the pan.
Reduce the heat to medium-low and fry for around 10 minutes, or until softened but not coloured.
Turn the heat up to high, then add the wine and allow to bubble and boil away.
Stir in the chickpeas (juice and all), lentils, 2 bay leaves and the plum tomatoes, then strain in the porcini water.
Season and gently bring to the boil, then reduce the heat to low and simmer for around 1 hour, or until thickened and reduced, stirring occasionally and breaking up the tomatoes with the back of a spoon.

Meanwhile, peel the aubergines
with a speed-peeler, leaving a little of the skin to create a stripy effect, then slice into rounds, roughly 1cm thick.
Place into a colander, sprinkle with a good pinch of salt and leave aside in the sink to soak.

Meanwhile, slice the potatoes into rough 1cm rounds, then parboil in a pan of boiling salted water for around 5 minutes.
Drain and allow to steam dry, then place into a large roasting tray (roughly 30cm x 40cm).
Season, drizzle with oil and scatter over 1 heaped tablespoon dried oregano, then toss well to coat and spread out into an even layer.
Place in the hot oven for 30 to 40 minutes, or until golden and tender.

Meanwhile, rinse the aubergines in cold water and pat dry with kitchen paper, then spread out into another large roasting tray.
Drizzle with oil, then season with pepper and oregano and place alongside the potatoes in the oven for 30 to 40 minutes, or until golden and cooked through.

Warm the milk with the remaining bay leaves and the peppercorns in a medium pan over a medium-low heat – you don’t want it to boil, so keep an eye it.
Once hot, strain into a jug, then wipe the pan and return it to a medium heat.
Add the butter and allow to melt, then stir in the flour to form a paste.
Start adding the hot milk, a splash at a time, stirring in each before adding the next.
Once all the milk has been added and you have a smooth and creamy sauce, crumble in one-third of the feta and grate in one-third of the kefalotyri (hard, salty white cheese) or pecorino (hard Italian cheeses), then simmer over a low heat for a further 5 minutes, or until thick and smooth.
Leave the béchamel aside to cool slightly.

To assemble your moussaka, spoon half the ragù over the tray of roast potatoes and layer half the aubergines on top, then repeat with the remaining ragù and aubergines.
Whisk the egg yolks into the béchamel sauce, then gently pour onto the aubergines in an even layer.
Crumble and grate the remaining cheese on top, followed by a drizzle of oil, then place in the oven for 35 to 40 minutes, or until golden and bubbling.
Leave to cool for around 30 minutes, then serve alongside a Greek salad.
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