Vol-Au-Vents with The Daring Bakers

After many months of umming and ahhing, I finally plucked up the commitment to join the Daring Kitchen, specifically the Daring Bakers. When I saw the challenge, I was nervous but relieved. The first time I attempted puff pastry it was a total disaster, but earlier this year I went to a pastry class and made a more successful attempt.

The September 2009 Daring Bakers' challenge was hosted by Steph of A Whisk and a Spoon. She chose the French treat, Vols-au-Vent based on the Puff Pastry recipe by Michel Richard from the cookbook Baking With Julia by Dorie Greenspan. You could choose to make large or small vol-au-vents, and any filling. I followed the recipe exactly, with the only substitution being plain flour instead of cake flour.

Vol-Au-Vents

Initially things went well. The dough "wrapper" came together easily, and the butter was shaped into a square and then chilled. The first two turns of the dough went really well, and the butter didn't leak. Yay! Off I went to watch The Wire for an hour before the next two turns. Gritty urban drama and baking. A perfect match.

Turn 3 went wrong. I'm not sure if the dough was over-chilled, or if I rolled it too thin or roughly. The butter burst through underneath, so when I tried to do the turn, the dough was stuck to the worktop! I completed the turn as best as I could, reasoning that given there would be hundreds of layers by the end of the process, and one or two with a tear wouldn't matter.

The rest of the turns went ok, with lots of flouring to make sure there wasn't any more sticking. I think I might have been a bit over-enthusiastic with rolling out the dough too thinly, which was causing it to be prone to tearing. I made it to 6 turns, and added a 7th as the dough was looking a bit streaky in places.

Lots of Vol-Au-Vents!

Now I just had to think of a filling! Initially I wanted to do something Asian inspired, and was considering something Vietnamese as this would suit the French aspect of the pastry. However, I thought it would be strange to pair rich, buttery pastry with a light Asian filling, and I decided to go for something more traditional and "heavy".

The first attempt was large size vol-au-vents for dinner, filled with chicken, lemon and tarragon stew. Although they were delicious, they weren't lookers. They were also a little undercooked. I decided it was best to try again, and to make smaller ones that would be more manageable.

Next day I was flicking through the Saturday papers, and saw a recipe for coronation chicken. This was traditional and heavy, but also had an Asian influence! I also liked the very retro aspect of the dish. I used this recipe here, which was a big success. It's fruity and creamy, with a good spice blend. The mayonnaise isn't too overwhelming either. In fact, I liked this recipe so much I'm copying out by hand to go in my recipe binder. (That's the rule, if I don't like it enough to be bothered to write out the recipe with a fountain pen, it doesn't make the folder.)

Vol-Au-Vent with Coronation Chicken

As you can see from the photos, I didn't get that much rise from my pastry. I think I rolled it too thin again. It was crispy and flaky though, so not a total disaster. I was also proud of the good glaze I got from the egg wash, it was quite shiny in places!

Even though puff pastry takes a while to make, very little of that time is actually active. There's a lot of waiting around for the pastry to chill and rest. However, once you have got the hang of the "book fold" technique, it's a pretty simple and satisfying process. There's plenty of the pastry left in the freezer, so I shan't be buying any ready made puff pastry anytime soon. Given that the pastry can be easily made over a lazy weekend, I might not buy it ever again, and just have a massive pastry making session every few weeks.

Mexican Style Spinach and Chicken Wraps

Although I've moved out of my student flat, I don't get the keys to my new flat for another week. My worldly possessions (including my beloved Le Creuset casserole dish and all my baking equipment) are currently languishing in a self storage unit on the outskirts of Edinburgh. In an attempt to actually get our deposit back, I spent 3 days cleaning the flat. A lack of equipment, energy, time and a kitchen meant I hadn't eaten properly for several days.

I'm currently camping at T's until we can move in to the new flat together, so I decided I should attempt to get something vaguely healthy inside me and recover from the last few days so that the next move won't be so stressful. I'd been planning on some kind of avocado and chicken salad, but the avocado was a bit brown and over-ripe. Instead I mashed it up with some chilli, lemon juice and garlic to make a sort-of guacamole.

Spinach and Chicken Wraps

I poached half a chicken breast, and then wilted a couple of handfuls of spinach in a dry pan. The shredded chicken was put in a wrap, alongside the spinach, guacamole and a drizzle of yoghurt. I would have liked some fresh tomatoes in there too, but there were none in the fridge.

The guacamole and chicken were delicious, and the varying greens when I cut the wraps open made me think I should call this something like "tortilla fresca", but my knowledge of Mexican cuisine is only marginally better than Jamie Oliver's, so I thought better of it.

Letting the side down was the spinach. It was a bit healthy tasting for my liking. The taste of iron was overwhelming, and masked the flavours of the guacamole and chicken too much. Perhaps using baby spinach with a milder taste would have been a better plan.

Anyway, this was a tasty little lunch time treat, and has 2 of my five-a-day. Hopefully all those vitamins and minerals will have me raring to go for another round of hardcore box moving next week...

Grandmother's Chicken Fried Rice

T is a big fan of Chinese food, and if I'm not around at the weekend, he'll often treat himself to a take away. He'd watched a few TV shows about Chinese food, but didn't really have the know-how to cook it at home beyond basic stir-fries. When I saw Chinese Food Made Easy on special offer, I picked up a copy for T. (I am angling for a Girlfriend-of-the-Year Award...)

Even though we don't move to our new flat together (eeek!) until September, already we've begun the process of sorting through our possessions and getting rid of things. Yesterday was the turn of my old PC (I'm a Mac-girl now) so T had spent the day dismantling it and adding the best bits on to his PC to create an uber-PC. I'd spent the day clearing up the casing and getting rid of all the dust that had collected in it over the years! We decided to start off the book with Grandmother's Chicken Fried Rice, as we just wanted something fairly straightforward and quick to have for dinner after a busy day. T also gets this dish a fair bit from the take-away, so he was interested to see how it compared.

We had most of the ingredients already, as I had some rice wine (I decided that Japanese is close enough to Chinese in this case) from making sushi ages ago, so all that was required was a quick trip to the Chinese supermarket I recently discovered to get some dried shiitakes* and some glutinous rice.

As I chopped up the shallots, and grated the ginger, I soaked the mushrooms and cooked the rice. T's flat doesn't have scales, so I had to guess how much rice and how much water to use. After about 10 minutes, there was a horrible burning smell and a rice pancake burnt on the bottom of the pan! Luckily as it was non-stick it just flopped out in one lump straight in to the bin. The second attempt I used a lot more water and a lower heat. This one didn't burn on to the pan, but was very glutinous indeed! It stuck together in a big ball and it was only once I started stir-frying it that it began to separate into the grains.

Second attempt at glutinous rice

After I'd managed to cook the rice, the rest of the recipe was very easy and simple. After briefly frying the garlic, shallots and dried shiitakes, diced chicken was added. Then five spice and rice wine, followed by dark soy sauce. Finally, the rice and peanuts are added, warmed through, and then served seasoned with light soy sauce, toasted sesame oil and spring onion.

Grandmother's Chicken Fried Rice

The dish was really tasty, and I liked how the crunchy peanuts contrasted with the soft chicken and rubbery mushrooms. My main criticism of this dish was the lack of vegetables. Normally I would put in lots of veg and only 1 chicken breast, but I used 2 breasts for this. It felt very meat heavy, I guess I have got used to a less meaty diet lately. The book does have a large vegetarian section, and it seems that a lot of the dishes are meant to be served in conjunction with each other, so if I was to make this again I'd make a bit less and serve a veggie side dish too.

*I don't know why the recipe specifies dried shiitakes over fresh ones, perhaps it is because fresh ones aren't that widely available in parts of the UK? Anyone got a better suggestions?

Food Adventures in Mallorca

Florence had been a gift from T for finishing uni, so I got to boss him around and make him eat weird food. Mallorca was a chill out holiday with friends from uni, and each of us had our own odd food habits. These included, but were not limited to:

• preferring processed cheese over real
• no red meat
• no fish
• no food with "bits" in (such as chocolate chip ice cream)
• no rice
• no white bread
• no brown bread
• no ham
• no chorizo
• only drinks white wine
• only drinks red wine
• no mushrooms
• no spicy food
• no well done meat
• no rare meat
• no dairy
• no butter
• no olives
• no lemon/"acidic" flavours
  

So between seven of us, cooking dinner was a bit of a challenge. We were also feeling quite budget conscious, so we didn't want to eat out too often either. We had a couple of nice barbecues, and one night I made roast chickens with an improvised patatas bravas and spinach salad. I've never roasted two chickens at once, so that was fun. I've also never made patatas bravas, so I cobbled together a vaguely piccante sauce, although the potatoes weren't as crispy as I would have hoped as they were a little crowded in the small roasting tray. As is always the case with picky eaters, five of the group divided up four chicken breasts, while me and another feasted on four legs and four wings between us. I also ate both the parson's noses before the chickens even made it out of the kitchen, which is totally the best bit of cooking for seven.

Monkfish tail with prawns, potatoes and a dollop of caviar

We did go out a couple of times, and I nearly always went for seafood. I scored a decent monkfish tail (with a tiny dollop of caviar on top!) in Portals Nous, and a good attempt at paella in Santa Ponca. In Portals Vells, I had some sickly sardines, but they passed the time while the others sunbathed on the beach. I suspect I might be mildly allergic to sunlight, so I prefer to remain pale and interesting.

Paella with whole langoustines, prawns and mussels

While I don't get Italian food, I love Spanish food, and was disappointed we didn't manage to get to a tapas bar or two. I did get a few cafe cortados though, which is always good. A cortado is similar to a macchiato, in that it is an espresso with a dab of milk, but a cortado uses warm milk, while a macchiato uses foamed. I also tried an ensaimada, a typical Mallorcan pastry, which reminded me of the faworki my Polish grandmother used to make me 20 years ago. A crisp, sweet pastry, where filling and toppings are an optional extra. I think an ensaimada is baked, so the texture was fluffier, but the taste was almost identical.

Ensaimada and Cafe Cortado

The other Spanish delicacy I tried for the first time was deep fried whitebait. They were quite big, so I'm not sure if they were true whitebait, or just mature specimens. It felt a bit weird eating a whole fish (eyes! brains! bones!) but they slipped down rather nicely. The smaller ones were particularly nice, as the larger bones in the bigger fish were quite bitter.

My flatmate A is English, although his parents now live and work in Spain, so he spends a lot of time out there. We would like to attempt a Spanish meal at home, especially as there seems to be a decent Spanish population in Edinburgh, so many of the ingredients are available nearby. Bring on the pan con tomate!

The £7.42 Chicken Challenge: Part III

We've had two dinners this week with the left over chicken from the roast dinner, including some very tasty home-made fajitas. They were probably not very authentic, but they tasted good and there was enough left over for my lunch the next day too.

Next up was some pasta sauce with vegetables. As I am feeling a bit unhealthy after Christmas, I decided this would be a good way to use up some of the chicken and have a fairly well-balanced meal.

Roasted Vegetable Pasta Sauce
Serves 2

1 small aubergine
1 medium courgette
1 green pepper
3 cloves of garlic
1 onion
1 tin of chopped tomatoes
Sprigs of rosemary
Some cooked chicken
olive oil
salt and pepper

First chop up the aubergine, the courgette and the pepper into largish chunks, and put them in a roasting tin. Sprinkle over some salt, pepper, rosemary and the garlic cloves (still in their skins) and drizzle with a little olive oil. Roast at 200C for about 40 minutes. They should be starting to turn black around the edges, but soft on the inside.

Cut the onion up into small pieces, and fry it in a small amount of olive oil. Add in the roasted vegetables, except the garlic. The garlic should be soft enough to squeeze out of the skins into the pan as well. Add the canned tomatoes straight away, and stir it up! I also added some more rosemary, some tomato puree and some pepper at this point.
(You could use real tomatoes in this step, but as the ones in the shops at the moment are pretty rough, tinned was a better option.)

Once that is bubbling away, cut up the chicken in to small pieces. Add it in at the last minute, as you don't want to cook it, just reheat it. The amount of chicken you use is up to you, as I was trying to make this cheap and healthy I didn't use much, but if you put in lots you could probably stretch this to 3 or 4 portions instead of two.

I served this with tagliatelle, but I think it would work best with a chunkier shape like giant conchiglioni, as that would catch the larger vegetables.

Tagliatelle with roasted vegetables and tomato sauce.

The £7.42 Chicken Challenge: Part II

I used the saved carcass from the chicken the other day to make stock. I boiled the carcass and skin with an onion, some celery, loads of garlic, some cloves and a bay leaf. I meant to leave it for 2 hours, but ended up leaving it for four!

I got quite a thick, aromatic, concentrated stock, and managed to get exactly 2 litres out of it. I think I'll probably water it down to 4 litres when I use it, unless I use it in a curry, in which case the spicy element will probably work quite well.

I should make stock more often, once you've chopped things up and put them in the pot, you don't have to do anything to it, apart from skimming off any scum or fat that comes to the surface. I think I spent about 20 minutes working on the stock, and the rest of the time doing other stuff while it bubbled away.

A quick look at online supermarkets reveals that you'd pay about £4 for 2l of fresh stock so worth the effort I think!

The £7.42 Chicken Challenge: Part I

I think one of the worst things about the food culture in Britain is cheap meat. Traditionally, meat has been a treat. It is meant to be more expensive than other ingredients.

When you look at how meat is produced, it's obvious why meat is expensive. To grow some vegetables, fruits, grains or pulses, I can sow some seeds, and then just leave them until harvest time. Rain will water them and birds and insects will help fertilize the plants and eat pests. A totally natural approach probably isn't the most reliable, so I might invest a bit of time and money in putting down compost or soil nutrients, or weeding the field. I might also water the fields, or use pesticides to maintain my crop. By ultimately, I can pretty much leave the plants to their own devices and they will produce food for me.

If I want to get some chicken, beef, pork or lamb, then it is much more complicated. I have find a shelter for the animals at night, and protect them from predators. They might need a lot of land to roam on, with special plants growing on it, or special areas like dirt baths or muddy patches. I have to ensure the animals are fed everyday, and look after their health. I also have to make sure they breed, so I'll have some animals to farm next year. Animals take up a lot of time and effort, and eat the plant crops that I could be eating. Therefore, the yield of meat from animals will be more expensive than plant based food.

In the supermarket the other day, I had a choice of three chickens. One was organic, free range and expensive. For a 1.8kg bird, the price was over £11. There was a value chicken, that at for 1.8kg, only cost £3.40. There was also a free range chicken, that was corn fed, for £7.42. I went for the free range one. I would have paid around £7 just for 2 free range breasts, so paying an extra 42p for the legs, wings and carcass was a good deal.

While I am not totally convinced by the benefits of organic produce, I am convinced by free range. I don't think animals have rights per se, and I would never become vegetarian for ethical reasons. However, I do think animals should be looked after, and not made to suffer just because we are top of the food chain. A quick look around small holder websites reveals that you can't really even feed a chicken for £3.40, let alone look after it properly. Commercial farmers will buy in bulk and have lower costs, but still, it does not bode well. If an animal is going to die so I can eat it, I want it to have had a decent life, with good quality food, outside access, and enough time to mature properly and not killed as soon as they are heavy enough to go to the supermarket.

I know to some extent that you can't be sure about what you are eating unless you have farmed it yourself, and I would prefer to buy all my meat from the farmer's market, where you can talk to the people that raised the animals about the conditions in which they were kept. One of the few good things going for Britain in terms of mass market food is that we do have stricter farming regulations than most of Europe, so a cheap British pork chop is better than a cheap European one, but I still think most forms of intensive farming should be banned, and people should be forced to accept that meat is not cheap.

So now I have my mid-price happy chicken, I need to make sure I get the most out of it. First off, a roast dinner!


We ate most of a breast and a leg with the roast dinner, and shredded the rest of the meat for use later in the week. I also saved most of the fat, skin and all the bones to make stock with.