Showing posts with label jelly. Show all posts
Showing posts with label jelly. Show all posts

Monday, July 27, 2015

Idea Obsessions - Peanut Butter and Jelly Duck Bao

Idea Obsessions - Peanut Butter and Jelly Duck Bao
Idea Obsessions - Peanut Butter and Jelly Duck Bao

Sometimes I get hit by a random food idea that I simply can’t shake. Peanut Butter and Jelly Duck Bao was one of those. In my head, I could taste the combination. Beautiful fatty duck slices, sticky sweet jam, a spicy peanut sauce rounding it out. I wanted it so bad! Cooking complicated meals during the week is a bonus of being made redundant. Ordinarily, it’d be months before I had a spare weekend to cook something like this, but now I can (almost) any time! So on a Friday without plans, I decided to make dinner and the couch Date Night, by making something a little fancier than the norm. Right from the get-go you should know that this is a very involved meal, if you want to do things right and get the full richness of flavours in your jelly and the best fluffiness in homemade steam buns. Good things sometimes really do take time. It is worth it, I promise you that. BUT…if you are time poor, but still love the idea of these PB&J Duck Bao, I won’t complain too much if you simplify things..

So, onto my complicated, enhanced version. I always use the Momofuku Steam Buns recipe for making bao, but I find I always need at least ½ cup more flour than their recipe. But use their amount first, and add more if the dough is too sticky. In this instance, instead of rendered pork fat, I used rendered duck fat.

Given we aren’t in stone fruit season, I decided to make my plum jam with prunes, instead of fresh plums. Given how classic a combination duck and plums are, I didn’t want to deviate for my jam. I always have prunes in the house because I’m a bit of a nanna and love them on my porridge. Finish it off with a simple spicy peanut butter sauce and you have gold! I was going to make my own pickles to go with these, but time got away from me.

Serve with buns, pickle and parsley and coriander leaves and you have a perfectly balanced but rich PB&J Duck Bao.

Idea Obsessions - Peanut Butter and Jelly Duck Bao
Idea Obsessions - Peanut Butter and Jelly Duck Bao
Idea Obsessions - Peanut Butter and Jelly Duck Bao
Idea Obsessions - Peanut Butter and Jelly Duck Bao
Idea Obsessions - Peanut Butter and Jelly Duck Bao
Idea Obsessions - Peanut Butter and Jelly Duck Bao

Peanut Butter and Jelly Duck Bao

½ duck (if you are making a simpler version, 1 large duck breast, skin on)
1 red onion, peeled and roughly chopped
2 cloves garlic, peeled
1 bay leaf
1 tbsp salt
2 litres water
1/2tsp freshly cracked black pepper

Prune and Onion Jelly

1 red onion, thinly sliced
½ tsp salt
2 cups red wine (such as Shiraz or Cab Sauv)
200g prunes, roughly chopped
1L duck stock (included in recipe)
½ cup brown sugar

Spicy Peanut Sauce

½ cup peanut butter
½ tbsp. freshly grated ginger
3 tbsp rice wine vinegar
1 tbsp kecap manis
2 tbsp sriracha (or to taste)

Fillet the breast and thigh piece of the duck, keeping the skin intact. Cover and place in the fridge until later. Remove the fat and skin from the rest of the duck. In a frypan over medium heat, fry the excess skin and fat until the fat renders out. Drain from pan and allow to cool to room temperature. Start making the steam buns, if you are. Read the instructions fully, to understand how much rising time you’ll need all up.

Using a big sharp knife, carefully cut the duck bones up at the joints and fry them off in a stock pot until brown. Add 2 litres of water, the onion, bay leaf, garlic cloves, salt and pepper. Bring to a boil, then simmer for an hour, skimming the foam off the top from time to time. Leave to cool half an hour, then pass through a sieve. You can remove and shred any meat from the duck pieces and reserve for another use – or just discard along with the vegetables and bones.

In a saucepan, heat 1 tbsp olive oil over a medium-low heat and cook the onion slices until translucent, around 5 minutes. Add the salt to allow them to sweat, and cook for a further 10 minutes. They should soften even more, but not colour. Add the prunes, duck stock and brown sugar. Bring to the boil, stirring well, then cover and reduce to a simmer, and leave to cook for around an hour and a half, or until reduced by half. Alternatively, skip the stock making step and use good chicken stock - or just use a good store-bought plum jam or plum sauce.

While this cooks, remove the duck from the fridge to take the chill off, and preheat the oven to 150C. Should take about half an hour.

When the oven is ready, heat a frypan to high. Season the duck on both sides with salt and pepper and place skin side down on the heat. Leave to cook for 5-6 minutes, until the skin is crispy and the fat has rendered. Flip over and cook a further 5 minutes. Spoon some prune jelly over the top of the duck breast and place in the oven to finish cooking for 15 minutes. Take the lid off the prune jelly and keep cooking to reduce to a sticky, jamlike consistency.

Meanwhile, start steaming your buns and make the peanut butter sauce. Add all of the spicy peanut butter sauce ingredients to a small saucepan and place over low heat, stir here and there until smooth and all of the ingredients are fully incorporated. Should be about 5 minutes. Take off the heat and set aside.

Remove the duck breast, cover with a piece of foil and rest for 5 minutes. Slice into thin strips and serve with the prune and onion jelly, peanut butter sauce, pickles, herbs and steam buns.



Idea Obsessions - Peanut Butter and Jelly Duck Bao
Idea Obsessions - Peanut Butter and Jelly Duck Bao
Idea Obsessions - Peanut Butter and Jelly Duck Bao

Monday, May 4, 2015

Showing Your Working - Healthy Espresso Jelly Sandwich Breakfast Cookie


Showing Your Working - Healthy Espresso Jelly Sandwich Breakfast Cookie


Sometimes I feel like presenting my cooking or recipes to people is like a Maths test. Not in the sense where x butter + y flour + z eggs and sugar = cake kinda way and people question my x, y and z’s. But in the sense that a question I get asked most frequently is – how did you come up with that? I’ve said that people refer to my cooking as quirky, rather than conventional and I feel like my little recipe pre-amble is my chance to “show my working”. So I try to present where my thinking starts, winds and ends up at the finished dish. I think a little background shows that it’s not quirky for quirky’s sake, there’s a lot of thought going into the flavour combinations, the textural elements, the overall nutritional content and purpose of the dish. So, on that note, this is my maths for what is a pretty novel, healthy and absolutely delicious breakfast. Something delicious enough to be a dessert, but healthy enough to start your day with, guilt free.


In order to beat the traffic, I get to work early and eat my breakfast at my desk while I check through my emails. It’s usually some form of oats with cultured dairy (yoghurt or buttermilk), fruit and nuts & seeds. Carrot Cake Bircher muesli is a firm favourite, but requires a bit more prep than I can usually be bothered with, so that’s more a once every few months deal. My most regular staple is cold-brewed coffee overnight oats. Caffeine + whole grain awesomeness in one bowl. Soak it overnight, then add some fruit (usually bananas, prunes or berries) crunchy nuts and/or seeds before eating. It is so good and portable….but you’re left with dishes. That’s absolutely fine at work, where there’s a kitchen to do the dishes. But I needed a no-dishes portable breakfast. Something still full of healthy whole grains, the fruit and nuts and….the coffee. All in one. Enter the breakfast espresso jelly cookie.

I decided to stick with the elements of my coffee oats and layered based on wanting different textures. So we have two different ‘cookies’, the bottom is a chewy oat and banana cookie – making up the oat and fruit content of my breakfast. The middle is coffee jelly. This idea came from using excess sangria jelly in my granola to delicious effect. And the top is a nuts and seed granola ‘cookie’ to emulate the nutty crunch of my topping on my oats. I threw in some chocolate because…well, why not? My palate is decided not ‘sweet’, especially in the morning, so feel free to customize by adding ¼ cup of sugar to the espresso jelly (I have my long blacks without sugar normally). The honey in the cookies is more than sufficient for me.

And, if you don’t need the portability, serve with honey whipped ricotta or yoghurt. (Or ice cream!!)

Showing Your Working - Healthy Espresso Jelly Sandwich Breakfast Cookie
Showing Your Working - Healthy Espresso Jelly Sandwich Breakfast Cookie


Healthy Espresso Jelly Breakfast Sandwich Cookies

(Makes 12 formed cookies)

Espresso Jelly

6tbsp ground coffee beans
500mL freshly boiled water
5 tsp powdered gelatin


Lightly spray a lamington tin with cooking spray. Put the coffee beans into a plunger and pour over the boiled water. Leave for 5 minutes, then plunge and pour into a bowl. Sprinkle the gelatin over the top of the coffee and whisk in until dissolved. Pour into the lamington tin and put in the fridge to set for at least 4 hours.

When set, cut into rounds with an egg ring. Chop the excess bits up and serve them with normal oats.

Banana Oat Cookies

3 small very ripe bananas
1 ½ tsp cinnamon
1 tsp ginger
2 tbsp honey
2 tbsp chia seeds
½ cup water
2/3 cup shredded coconut
1 2/3 cup rolled oats


Preheat oven to 165C

In a small bowl, mix the chia seeds and water and set aside to form a gel.

In a large bowl, mash the bananas until smooth, then mix in the spices and honey. Add the chia seed mix, stirring to combine evenly. Then add the oats and stir to coat.

Line a baking tray and lightly grease an egg ring.Place a few tablespoonsful of mixture into the ring and press in tightly with the back of a spoon. Gently lift off the ring, and form the rest of the cookies.

Bake for 10 minutes, or until starting to turn golden on top. Remove, gently flip over the biscuits and bake for a further 10 minutes, until that side is also golden. Cool for 10 minutes on the trays, then on racks.

Showing Your Working - Healthy Espresso Jelly Sandwich Breakfast Cookie
Showing Your Working - Healthy Espresso Jelly Sandwich Breakfast Cookie
Showing Your Working - Healthy Espresso Jelly Sandwich Breakfast Cookie
 

Chocolate Nut Brittle Biscuits

1 ½ tbsp. cacao powder
3 tbsp cacao nibs
1/3 cup pistachios, roughly chopped
1/3 cup walnuts, roughly chopped
1 cup pumpkin seeds
2/3 cup almonds, roughly chopped
1 tbsp vanilla extract
¼ tsp sea salt
1/8 tsp pepper
3 tbsp honey
3 tbsp olive oil

Heat the oven to 165C

Mix the nuts, seeds and cacao nibs together in a bowl. In a separate bowl, mix the oil, cacao powder, pepper, salt, vanilla, honey and oil. Make sure it is well combined. Pour the nut mix into the wet mix and stir to thoroughly coat everything.

Line a tray with baking paper, and lightly grease an egg ring. Place a few tablespoons of mixture into the ring and press it in tightly, pressing down with the back of a spoon. Gently remove the ring, and repeat for the rest of the mixture.

Bake for 15 minutes, or until caramelised and 'solid'. The mixture will spread a little, but still retain the basic round shape. Cool on the trays. Trim the edges to neaten your sandwiches.

Layer one oat cookie, espresso jelly then a nut brittle cookie on top. If you assemble, wrap and store in the fridge. They will last a few days. The cookies will last up to a week separate at room temperature in air tight containers. Store the jelly in the fridge.

Showing Your Working - Healthy Espresso Jelly Sandwich Breakfast Cookie
Showing Your Working - Healthy Espresso Jelly Sandwich Breakfast Cookie

Showing Your Working - Healthy Espresso Jelly Sandwich Breakfast Cookie

Tuesday, February 10, 2015

Sweets for your Sweet - Buttermilk Pudding with Sangria Jelly and Nut Wafers

Buttermilk Pudding with Sangria Jelly and Nut Wafers
Buttermilk Pudding with Sangria Jelly and Nut Wafers
Do you celebrate Valentine’s Day? We don’t. Not really. I’ve never been a flowers and chocolates and teddy bears with hearts kinda girl. But I do love love, and Lance and I are romantic just in general, so I’m all for people taking the opportunity to tell that special someone that you love them. Lance and I are actually going to a comedy show for the Fringe Festival on Valentine’s Day. But we’ll have a nice dinner beforehand. Not sure what yet. All I know is that this is our Valentine’s Day dessert. It’s a little different, a little quirky and is most importantly, a little bit lighter and not too sweet in this summer heat! As an added bonus the components are made early(ish) with chilling time, or can be made a day or so in advance and assembled before serving, making it great for dinner parties. Or romantic dinners, where less cooking time means more couple time!
I am a huge fan of sangria. And buttermilk. And nuts. So this dessert is a combination of all of those things. Luckily, Lance is too – so it can feel like I’ve made it for him. Each element here has a small level of sweetness, which combine for a lovely dessert with a fun play on textures – without overwhelming you with sweetness. The buttermilk pudding is smooth and creamy, the sangria jelly has a little chew – not quite jube, but a bit denser than a normal jelly. Add the crunch of the nut wafers and you’ve got a party going. They, by the way, are the easiest crackers to make. And so delicious!
The jelly and wafers make more than you need for the buttermilk pudding portion, but the crackers in particular are so moreish that you won’t find a problem eating the rest of those by themselves! But they both make the best addition to a cheese platter. And I might’ve had some of the jelly with my breakfast granola. And it might’ve been absolutely delicious!


Buttermilk Pudding with Sangria Jelly and Nut Wafers

 

Sangria Jelly

500mL dry red wine (such as Cab Sauv, or Shiraz)
50 gm caster sugar
8 gelatin leaves
Juice and peel of one orange (peeled in large strips)
Juice and peel of one lemon (peeled in large strips)
2 bay leaves
2 cardamom pods
4 cloves
1 stick cinnamon
Lightly oil a shallow rectangular dish that can will hold 500mL and set aside until required. In a medium pot, bring red wine, sugar, citrus juice and peel, and spices to a simmer and stir to dissolve sugar. Set aside for the flavours to infuse for an hour. Strain through a fine sieve into a clean pot and bring back to a simmer. Place the gelatin into a bowl of cold water and leave to soften. When the wine mixture comes to a simmer, squeeze excess water from the gelatin and gently drop into the wine. Stir to dissolve the gelatin then set aside for 15 minutes to cool slightly.
Gently pour the jelly into the prepared container and refrigerate until set – around half an hour. When ready to serve, turn out of container, and cut into small cubes.
Buttermilk Pudding with Sangria Jelly and Nut Wafers
Buttermilk Pudding with Sangria Jelly and Nut Wafers

Buttermilk Pudding

(makes 4 serves)
1tsp vanilla bean paste
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 1/2 cups buttermilk
3 egg yolks
1/2 cup caster sugar
2 tablespoons corn flour
Combine the vanilla bean, cinnamon and buttermilk in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Cook, stirring, for 5 minutes or until mixture is almost at a simmer. You want it to come to temperature very slowly, so the buttermilk doesn’t separate. It’s much more temperamental when heating than normal milk.
Whisk egg yolks, caster sugar and corn flour in a bowl. Slowly pour the milk into the egg mix whilst whisking. Once it’s all combined, pour into a clean saucepan and put back over medium heat. Cook, stirring, for 4-5 minutes or until mixture thickens. Strain through a fine sieve into a container with a spout, then pour into your desired serving vessels. Tap onto the counter to get rid of air bubbles. Wrap with cling film and pop in the fridge to chill and set, at least an hour.
Buttermilk Pudding with Sangria Jelly and Nut Wafers
Buttermilk Pudding with Sangria Jelly and Nut Wafers
Buttermilk Pudding with Sangria Jelly and Nut Wafers

Hazelnut and Almond Wafers

¾ cup almonds
¾ cup hazelnuts
3 heaped tablespoons brown sugar
Zest of one orange
¼ tsp ground cardamom
2 egg whites
Preheat oven to 180C
Put the almonds and hazelnuts into the bowl of your food processor and pulse until broken up into tiny pieces. You want mainly ‘meal’ texture, but a few bits a little larger is fine. Add the brown sugar, cardamom and orange zest, and pulse to mix. Add the egg whites and pulse until it comes together in a ball. It’ll be fairly sticky.
Lay out a piece of baking paper the size of your baking tray, put the ball of dough on it, then place another piece of baking paper over the top. Roll the dough out evenly, and thinly (around 2mm) to spread across the size of your whole baking tray. Carefully peel off the top layer and put in the oven.
After about 10 minutes, it will have dried fairly considerably and will have turned paler in colour. Remove from the oven and cut into squares/rectangles with a pizza cutter or sharp knife (pizza cutter is a much easier and neater way of doing it). Place back in the oven for another 10-12 minutes or so until golden. The pieces will have shrunk away from each other and formed individual wafers. Watch them carefully this second time as they can burn easily.
Set aside to cool on the tray and finish drying out for half an hour before putting on a cooling rack to cool completely. Store in an airtight container.

Assemble the three components however you artistically like!

Buttermilk Pudding with Sangria Jelly and Nut Wafers
Buttermilk Pudding with Sangria Jelly and Nut Wafers
Buttermilk Pudding with Sangria Jelly and Nut Wafers
Buttermilk Pudding with Sangria Jelly and Nut Wafers