Peanut and Cheese Choux Pastry with Curry Peanut Dip

I can't remember the last time I've made Choux pastry. There is no recipe here on the blog. That means at least more than 9 years.

This one is savoury and for all peanut lovers. It is a peanut overdose.

Choux pastry is a little tricky to make. Do not let the water boil until the butter is melted, otherwise you will loose too much water to steam and the ratio does not work. 

Dump the flour and starch in the boiling water in one go and with a wooden spoon stir until getting bigger lumbs. These need to cook a bit while stirring. When you do it right, there will be white residue on the bottom of the pot.

Get the dough out in a bowl and let it cool down 3 minutes. Add 2 eggs and with an electric handwhisk try to incorporate them. Beat the 3rd egg and depending on the dough add some of it or all of it.  I used medium sized eggs and needed all 3.

Add baking powder, crushed peanuts and cheese. Stir well and fill in a piping bag.

Preheat the oven 180C fan. Use baking paper and do 7 cm strips.  Bake them 15 to 18 min. Take them with the paper out on a wire rack and let them cool.

Mix the ingredients for the dip. Keep it in the fridge before serving.

Ingredients for the Choux pastry:

100 g crushed salted and roasted peanuts

125 ml water

Pinch of salt

25 g butter

75 g flour

15 g cornstarch

3 eggs

1 tsp baking powder

100 g grated Emmental cheese

Dip:

100 g crushed salted and roasted peanuts

2 fresh apricots

2 tsp apricot jam

300 g Greek yogurt 10%

Lemon juice

1 tsp curry powder

Salt and pepper

Aubergine and Mozzarella Tagliatelle

I harvested aubergines and a bunch of tomatoes this morning. A 15 minute pasta dish was the answer to this harvest.

The long thin aubergines were cut in 1 cm discs and sauteed in some olive oil, halved cherry tomatoes and sliced garlic. A bit of salt and 3 minutes and tomato paste went in. Stirred well and added pasta water, more seasoning followed.

The tagliatelle went in the pan directly from the pot with more water. Cubed mozzarella and ripped fresh basil followed.

That was basically all that was to do.

Recipe for 1:

80 g tagliatelle

4 long thin aubergines

2 garlic cloves

100 g cherry tomatoes

1 tbsp tomato paste

Salt, pepper, bruschetta seasoning

1 tsp veggie stock paste

Brioche filled with Amarena Cherries and Vanilla Cream

An Italian recipe from a cooking magazine my BFF bought for me on Sicily. It is often served around Easter and the middle opening is filled with colorful eggs.

But since it is August, no hard boiled colored eggs today. I read the recipe a long while ago and found an unknown ingredient: Farina Manitoba

I did not know what that was and did not check to learn more about it. Last week my friends were at an bread baking event - where the bakers try to sell their huge ovens for the garden. And they had s shop with all kinds of baking equipment and lots of different kinds of flours. My gift was a kilo of Manitoba flour, yeah!

It took me 5 minutes to find the right Italian cooking magazine and the recipe. The second flour type in this recipe was allready in my storage. 

Ingredients:

200 g Manitoba flour

100 g "00" type pasta/pizza flour

1 tsp salt

50 g sugar

3 egg yolks

12 g fresh yeast

120 ml warmed whole milk

60 g butter softened unsalted

Zest 1/2 lemon

Flour for the work surface

Filling:

250 ml milk + Dr.Oetker backfeste Vanillecreme or creme patisserie

10 Amarena cherries without juice

10 tsp dark cherry jam

Topping:

3 tbsp milk

4 tbsp hazelnut brittle ground

Bake at 180 C for 25 to 30 min in a 26 cm shallow Bundt tin.

I used my Thermomix to make the dough. Just throw everything in and go on dough setting for 2,5 min. Get it out and put it in a large proofing bowl with a lid. Let it proof for 2,5 hours.

Flour your work surface and fold the dough a couple of times. Roll it out rectangular and cut down the middle to have two long strips.

Mix milk and vanilla cream powder for 1 min until it thickend and spoon a long strip in the middle of each dough. Top with cherry jam and single Amarena cherries. Fold the dough over and close it well. Cross both dough two times and in a buttered form put it around the center. Brush with milk and sprinkle brittle on top. 

Tajin and Tajin Habanero on Fruits

I saw it on TikTok and tried to find it in our local supermarkets. No luck.

The spice company OSTMANN came up with a " Let's do spicy fruits" seasoning, but it is nowhere available. AMAZON to the rescue. 

The Reels I saw were all with watermelon. A big one went in my shopping cart. But other fruits go well with the spice blend too. 

My Pineapple dessert was topped with the Tajin Habanero. Very good. Today I had some dessert left and more pineapple chunks, the Tajins made them even better.

Can you get addicted to that combination? I have to try the spiceblend with other fruits soon.

Sugarsnap Peas and Beans with Eggs baked in the Oven

Uova al Forno con Taccole e Fagiolini was the original title of this recipe. It is a vegetarian Secondo piatta.

It is an easy Summer veggie dish. Eggs are a cheap protein and a little Grana Padano can be found in most Italian households.

Just clean the peas and beans and cook them. Use an ovenproof dish and preheat the oven to 180 C fan.

Ingredients for 2:

200 g sugarsnap peas

200 g green beans

4 stalks savoury

4 garlic cloves

3 tbsp olive oil

Salt, pepper

4 tbsp chopped parsley

4 eggs

2 tbsp Grana Padano

Baguette

In pot heat up some water and add 1 tsp of salt. When it boils, toss in beans and peas together with the savoury. Cook for 7 min, then drain and discard the savoury.

While the veggies are cooking, peel the garlic and cut it in slices. Add olive oil to the drained pot, fry off the garlic for 2 min, then add the cooked veggies and the parsley. Season with salt and pepper.

Transfer to an ovenproof dish and make 4 wells in the bean mix. Crack the eggs in and grate Grana Padano on top.

Bake until the eggs are done to your liking. That will take 4 to 7 min.

Serve with fresh crusty bread. I smeared the egg yolk inside the bread and enjoyed that with the veggies.

 

Pineapple on Greek Yogurt Dessert

This is a recipe from Chef Mario Kotaska. I changed it a bit to my preferances.

Fresh pineapple are cheap in the moment at supermarkets. I was looking for a small one, but only the large ones were available. Now a tupperware with pineapple chunks needs to ve eaten too.

The base of this dessert is coconut rusk from the famous factory Brand. In the moment they have problems to deliver and the supermarket racks are empty. But I was lucky to get the last two packages at the nearby drugstore.

Recipe:

60 g coconut rusk (Brand)

100 g chopped almonds

1 tbsp butter

1/4 tsp ground cardamom

3 tbsp Spanish 43 liqueur or Maple syrup

250 g low fat curd ( or Skyr)

200 g Greek yogurt full fat

2 tbsp vanilla sugar

1 tbsp salted caramel ground

200 g fresh pineapple

Mint leaves

Some Tajin Habanero or black pepper

Put the rusk in a blender or crush it in a bag with a rolling pin. 

In a pan melt the butter and toast the almonds for a couple of minutes. Add the rusk and stir very well. Next season with cardamom and finish with liqueur. 

Divide in 4 glass jars and press it down with a small glass. Put them in the fridge until you finish the cream.

In a bowl mix curd, yogurt, vanilla sugar, salted caramel. Top the glass jars with it.

Cut the pineapple and slice in small strips. Put on top of the cream. Sprinkle some Tajin habanero on top and stick some mint leaves in.

Put in the fridge to set for 2 hours.

Food under a Walnut Tree

My friends have a huge walnut tree in their garden. It is a great place to sit under it in the shade and have lots of tasty things from the grill.

They were in Berlin for a week and went to a large butcher shop and stocked up on the famous Berlin Currywurst and awesome marinated steaks.

I brought my famous marinated sweetcorn and a bag of freshly picked and short marinated long thin aubergines.

We had a feast with potato salad, radish salad and Greek salad.

Temperatures over 32 C yesterday weren't a problem sitting outside. It was a dry heat.