Craqueln Choux buns with lemon quark cream

The idea for the Craquelin Choux buns recipe I got from here. The lemon quark cream I added according to my taste:
http://thegreatbritishbakeoff.co.uk/kates-valencian-orange-craquelin-choux-buns/

Craquelin:
60 g of brown sugar
60 g of flour
55 g of butter
Little bit of salt

Choux buns:
110 g of flour
50 g of butter
0,5 tsp of salt
0,5 tsp of sugar
3 beaten eggs (M size)
1 egg yolk, for brushing

Lemon quark cream:
170 g of whipping cream
120 g of sugar
400 g of fat free quark
1 lemon peel

Make the Craquelin. Put sugar, flour and butter in a bowl and stir to even and sticky dough.
Form the dough into a thick disc and place between 2 sheets of food film. Roll it out to 3 mm thick and place the dough (still between the food film) flat in the freezer.

For the Choux pastry, heat the oven to 230°C.

Put milk butter, sugar, salt and 100 ml of water in a pot and heat it until boiling. Add flour and heat the pastry on a very low heat at the same time stirring. Do this 3 minutes until the dough is a thick ball.

Let the pastry cool down in room temperature. Stir beaten eggs in the mixture one by one. The dough should be equal, shiny and it should hold form.

Transfer the dough to a piping bag  and pipe  4 cm-diameter balls on the lined baking sheet, setting them well apart. Lightly brush with finger the top of each ball with beaten egg yolk to flatten.

Remove the Craquelin from the freezer, peel off the food film and use the 3 cm cutter to stamp out the discs. Place a disc on top of each Choux ball. Put the buns into the oven. Immediately reduce the heat to 190°C and bake for about 35 minutes, rotating the sheets after 20 minutes, until the buns are puffed, crisp and golden brown. 

At the same time make the quark cream. Whip cream with sugar and add quark. Whip it more and add lemon peel and lemon juice. Stir it until it's equal. Put cream in the piping bag. Cut the Choux buns half and pipe the cream on the bottom side of the bun. Put the top side of the bun back on. Let the Choux buns chill in the fridge for 3-4 hours before serving.

Mac and Cheese with Valio Viola processed cheese

800g boiled pasta (pasta type Chiffari lisci)

1 tbsp vegetable oil

85 g Alma Eesti butter 250 g

2 tsp wheat flour

750 ml  Alma pasteurised whole milk 3,8-4,2%

250 ml  Alma cream 35%

350 g  Valio Atleet Cheddar cheese 250 g

185 g   Valio spreadable processed cheese with chives and herbs 185 g

salt and pepper

150 g breadcrumb (dry roast white bread (with seeds) in oven and crush with food processor into small crumb) 

60 g Alma Eesti butter 250 g

50 g  Gran Regale cheese 180 g (riivitud)  

chopped dill

Heat oven to 180 C.
Take bigger oven form and grease it with vegetable oil (you could use also small portion oven forms).Set a side.
Boil pasta and it should be a little harder than al dente, because pasta is cooking forward in cheese sauce.

Put vegetable oil to boiled pasta and, mix and set a side.
Grate Valio Atleet Cheddar cheese.
Melt 85 g butter in pan and add flour. Mix all the time and heat flour and butter for 1 minute. Add cold milk and cream to butter-flour mix. Mix all the time to avoid the lumps. Heat sauce until you get a bubbles and then more about 5 minutes.Season with salt and pepper.

Add half of Valio Atleet Cheddar cheese and Viola processed cheese. Heat sauce until it creamy and even, mixing sauce all the time. 
Add pasta  to sauce and mix until all pasta is fully covered with sauce.
Pour half of pasta mixed with sauce into oven form and spread over the leftover of Valio Atleet Cheddar cheese.Add other part of pasta mixed with sauce.
In small bowl mix breadcrumb, grated Gran Regale Cheese, 60 g melted butter and chopped dill. Sprinkle mix over the pasta and bake for 30 minutes.
Serve immediately.

Recipe is made in cooperation with Valio Eesti AS

Celebration cake from rye bread, hazelnuts and Valio Alma wild strawberry quark cream

This cake is very appropriate for celebrating anniversary of Estonia, because it is made from rye bread, what is usual everyday food for us. Why not to use this familiar bread to make celebration cake?  😊

Cake layer ingredients:
100 g black rye bread (dry bread in oven and make a fine breadcrumb in food processor)
110 g hazelnuts (crushed)

5 eggs (M size)

160 g sugar

1 tsp baking powder

Cream ingredients:

100 g Alma cream 35%

200 g  Valio Viola lactose free fresh cheese 200g

300 g Alma wildstrawberry quark cream 300g

80 g sugar

dried strawberries, crushed

For decorations: strawberries, wild strawberries, dried strawberries (whole) and thyme.

Heat oven to 220 C.
Whip eggs with sugar until you get strong foam.
Add rye bread crumbs, crushed hazelnuts and baking powder, what has been mixed before.

For cream whip cream with sugar, add quark cream and fresh cheese. Whip you will get the even foamy cream.

Easiest version - square cake.
Put dough into baking plate covered with baking paper. Bake 5-6 minutes in 220 C and lower the oven temperature and bake more at 175 C for 5-7 minutes. Cool.
Cut the cake edges straight and cut it into four even size pieces. Spread cream and sprinkle dried and crushed strawberries between each layer (on the top of cream).

Decorate cake with berries and thyme. Let cake stand in freezer overnight. 
If you want to make round cake, then you need to bakefor layers in round cake form (diameter 16 cm).

Recipe is made with Valio Eesti AS-iga

Honey chicken

Honey chicken is easy to prepare and tastes like in Chinese restaurant 😊

Chicken:
600 g chicken breast fillet
0,5 tsp salt
0,5 tsp garlic granules
black pepper
4 tbsp water

Honey sauce:
10 tbsp ketchup
5 tbsp sweet chili sauce
3 tbsp sugar
5 tbsp honey
9 tbsp water

Dough for chicken:
1 pcs M size egg
0,25 tsp salt
0,5 tsp garlic granules
150 ml water
65 g corn starch
105 g wheat flour
2 tsp baking powder
2 tbsp vegetable oil

Oil fr frying.
Sesame seeds for chicken.

Cut chicken fillets into 2,5 cm size pieces. Add salt, garlic granules, black pepper and water to chicken pieces.Mix properly and let it stand for 20 minutes.
For making dough mix egg, salt, garlic granules and water. Add baking powder and mix properly, Add corn starch, wheat flour and at the end vegetable oil. Mix into even dough.

For making honey sauce mix all sauce ingredients and boil in low heat ca 10-15 minutes until sauce will became thicker and sticky.

Add dough to chicken pieces and mix so all the chicken pieces will be covered. Fry chicken pieces in hot oil until these are golden brown.
Mix fried chicken pieces with 1/3 part of sauce and shake over with sesame seeds.
Serve with the rest of sauce and vegetable-egg rice.

Bon appetite!

BBQ ribs

In this week we are in America and I thought quite long what to prepare. America is big and very rich because of its different cultures and traditional foods.

But in the same time, there is one food what I always remember in connection with America.
Juicy ribs coated with sticky BBQ sauce. The ribs are so soft that the meat almost falls apart from the ribs. In this time I am cooking ribs, not in BBQ oven, but in regular oven. Believe me these ribs, that are made in traditional oven are almost as good as the ones made in BBQ oven. 😊

BBQ is like a religion in USA and every state has their regional delicacies.
From here you can read more closely about BBQ traditions in USA:
https://www.196flavors.com/united-states-texas-style-beef-ribs/

Recipe idea I got from here:
https://www.instructables.com/id/Smoked-BBQ-Spare-Ribs-Low-and-Slow/

2,5 kg pork ribs.Clean ribs from membranes and fat.

Rub or spice mix to meat:

50 g sea salt
50 g sugar
10 g smoked paprika
8 g black pepper
12 g garlic granules
0,5 tsp cayenne pepper

For meat ca 2 tbsp honey.

Cover ribs with Rub, so the ribs are nicely and evenly covered. Put the ribs into food film and keep in refrigerator for 20-24 hours.
Warm oven to 140 C and take ribs out of food film. Place the ribs into oven pan and cover ribs with foil. Bake for 4 hours.
Raise oven temperature to 230 C. 
Take the ribs out of the oven and remove the foil. Cover ribs with honey and put to oven for 10 minutes.Check if the ribs are ready and the meat is falling down from the ribs.
Brush ribs with Barbecue sauce (recipe below) and put to oven for 10 minutes.


BBQ sauce
270 g ketchup
10 g white wine vinegar
1 tbsp brown sugar 
1 tbsp honey
1 tsp Worchestershire sauce
1 tsp garlic granules

Put all sauce ingredients to pan and boil in low heat for 10 minutes, until sauce will be thick and sticky.
For BBQ ribs suit well  oven baked potatoes with lot of cheese and onion.

Biscotti´s for Valentine's Day

Biscotti´s or twice baked Italian biscuits. These taste especially good when soaked in Espresso and extremely suitable for serving to sweet friends.
Preparing is easy, but takes time.
In this recipe I have used hazelnuts, almonds and dates.

Ingredients:
115 g hazelnuts
55 g almonds
120 g dates
0,5 tsp baking powder
250 g sugar
250 g wheat flour
3  eggs (M size)
0,25 sea salt
grated zest of 1 orange

Chop dates, nuts and almonds to smaller pieces.
Mix flour, sugar, salt and baking powder. Add one by one eggs and mix into even dough. Add dates, nuts, almond and grated orange zest. Knead into even dough.

Heat oven to 140 C (use baking program with fan).
Divide dough into two parts and make two sausage (length  ca 20 cm).
Put sausages to baking plate covered with baking paper and bake in oven ca 40 minutes.

Take Biscotti loafs from oven and let these cool a little. Cut loafs into 1,5 cm thick even slices. Bake slices ca 20 minutes from both sides.
Let Biscotti´s cool down before serving.

Have a nice Valentine' s Day my friends!

Pulled pork Poutine

Canada and Quebec is the place where the Poutine making tradition has begun. It is mix of French fries, gravy and creamy cheese curd. It is Canadian comfort food what has reached all over the world. Classical version with gravy and cheese grain is good, but "advanced" version with pulled pork, bacon and smoked meat gives to Poutine especially tasty nuance.

Pulled pork Poutine recipe I have got from from this page and made some modifications to recipe:
https://www.tablespoon.com/recipes/pulled-pork-poutine/d48e9465-d4d9-44a8-90f3-c1ff71d94b16

Crispy French Fries, juicy pulled pork, creamy cheese curd and beer BBQ gravy. Here in Estonia we do not have such product as cheese curd available. It is possible to replace it with small Mozzarella cheese pieces, if you like.

Ingredients:
1,4 kg pork shoulder
300 g light beer
300 g smoky BBQ sauce
salt, pepper
8 pcs medium size potatoes
Vegetable oil for frying
2 tsp wheat flour
25 g  butter
120 g Mozzarella cheese pulled into small pieces (add if you like)
200 ml whipping cream
white onion rings
spring onion

Season pork shoulder with salt and pepper, cover with food film.Let the meat season overnight in refrigerator.
Next put meat into slow cooker or oven pan (with lid). Cook meat in slow cooker in LOW 6-7 hour or in oven at 140 C for 5-6 hours.
Meat is ready, when it is possible to shred the meat with two forks.
When meat is cooked,then pour all gravy from the meat to the jug. Shred the meat with two forks into smaller pieces. Add so much gravy back to shredded meat, that it will be juicy. Do not add too much. Season meat with salt and pepper, if needed
Make French Fries. Clean and chop the potatoes. Fry in hot oil until potatoes are crispy and golden outside and soft inside. Fry also onion rings in hot oil.

For making sauce melt butter in pan and add flour. Add 200 ml gravy to butter and flour mix. Mix the sauce all the time to avoid the lumps.  Add 200 ml whipping cream and heat until boiling. Season with salt and pepper.

For serving put French fries to the plate and pour over with sauce. Put pulled pork to the French fries and cover meat with fried onion rings. Sprinkle with spring onion. If you wish add also Mozzarella cheese.

Pizza

Pizza time 😊

Take time and make a proper pizza.

I used Jamie Oliver´i Napoli pizza dough recipe:
https://www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/bread-recipes/neapolitan-pizza-base/

Dough wants to prove in refrigerator over night. It takes time to make dough, but what a beautiful flavor.😊

For pizza you can use everything tasty what you can get: tomato sauce, Mozzarella, Prociutto, Forte cheese, basil and etc.

Kaffemik ja Kalaallit Kaagiat

In this time we are in Greenland and we are making typical sweet bread/cake, what Greenland people offering to quests in Kaffemik.

The idea of a Kaffemik is to host a gathering with friends and family in which there happens to be foods to snack on and hot drinks. Kaffemik is organized for different occasions as birthdays, graduating or any other family and/or other event.
Kaffemik is  informal social gathering. It’s common for guests to come and go as they please. Quests stay for 1-2 cups of coffee and some snacks.  It’s good etiquette for those who have been around longest to leave and make place to new quests.😊

More about Kaffemik you can read from here:
https://visitgreenland.com/articles/kaffemik-in-greenland/

A true favorite at any Kaffemik has to be the Kalaallit Kaagiat. Roughly translated, this refers to “Greenlandic cake,” since the Kalaallit are the largest Greenlandic Inuit ethnic group and Greenland’s other name is Kalaallit Nunaat . The cake itself is very easy to make.

I have this recipe with some modifiations made by me:

https://blog.arousingappetites.com/kaffemik-greenlandic-coffee-cake-kaagiat/

Ingredients:
360 g wheat flour
90 g brown sugar
115 g butter
60 g dried raisins
200 g boiling water
50 g lukewarm water
11 g dry yeast
0,5 tsp salt

For the cake topping:
1 tbsp milk
1 tsp powdered sugar

Preheat oven to 205 C and grease pan with butter.
Start by taking a small bowl and sprinkling your dry active yeast over your 1/4 cup of lukewarm water, but do not stir! Simply let the yeast sit and bubble.
In a large mixing bowl, add your raisins, salt, sugar and butter. Once added in, pour in your cup of boiling water over all four ingredients.Mix until butter is totally melted.
Once fully melted, pour your lukewarm water and activated yeast into the mixture as well. Do check, however, that the water temperature in the main mixing bowl has reached closer to room temperature. 
Add flour to dough into parts and mix to even dough. Let the dough to raise 30 minutes.
After 30 minutes, use your hands and knead your dough for at least 3 minutes.Add flour in time of kneading to table and hand, because the dough is quite sticky.
After kneading, form your dough into the shape of a circle and place into the oven. Let the cake bake for  30 minutes.
Take your cake out of the oven and while still hot, generously brush the top of the cake with tablespoon of milk.
While the milk is still wet on the top of the cake, sprinkle with powdered sugar.

Next week we prepare Canadian food. 😊