SHORTBREAD :

JUST CALL ME MELLOW YELLOW : Field Guide to Butter & Baking

Recently I have been reading the book TASTE by Kate Colquhoun, in which she describes the creation of English butter as an accident! When people travelled, cream was stored in leather pouches, which bumped and jostled along the route, until it thickened and turned into butter.

I remember learing how to make butter in kindergarden, it was like a field trip - but in the classroom! First we had to quietly get into a straight line (which was easier said than done for 15 little girls) and then each of us was given a glass jar, into which the teacher poured lovely thick cream. Tightly closing the lid, we shook the jars, watching in amazement as pale yellow islands gradually formed. Pouring out the remaining milk, we pressed the butter to remove excess water, rinsed & dried each cube & voila homemade butter!

Butter may have been simple to make but I’ve found that  it can be delicate to cook with, especially when it comes to baking. The New York Times has a great article on how butter holds the key to making great cookie, which seemed particularly appropriate to my current post, as one of only three main ingredients used is BUTTER!

THE BUTTER GUIDE – Here is a snippet:

• Cold butters ability to hold air is the key to prefect dough / pastry!
• Creaming butter softens it & adds the air bubbles
• Preparing refrigerated butter for creaming: Cut butter into cubes, spread out on a plate & leave at room temp (do not use microwave or oven)
• Ready to cream test: when butter is still cool but takes a finger imprint when gently pressed
• Cream for at least 3 minutes at medium speed

RECIPE : SWEET PEA blog

These shortbread cookies (sablés) from Cuisiner Comme un Chef are buttery golden circles with vanilla speckled interiors & sweet sugary edges, that seem to melt in your mouth. They have the perfect harmony of butter, sugar & flour that produces a cookies that is not to sweet, heavy or crunchy.

The only tiny substitution that I made was to use pure vanilla bean instead of vanilla essence & cut the cylinders into 1cm slices instead of 2cm as per the original recipe. And if it is anything to go on, so impressed was I with the result that I made these cookie, not once, not twice but three times in the last few weeks & will shortly be turning into a shortbread or porkchop (which ever comes 1st), if this continues!

• 225 gr unsalted butter (cold from the fridge)
• 100 gr white sugar
• the interior of 1/2 a vanilla bean
• 320 gr white all purpose flour
• pinch of salt
• White sugar for rolling dough cylinders in

1. Cut butter into cubes, spread them on a plat and leave at room temperature.
2. Ready to cream test: when the butter is still cool but takes a finger imprint when gently pressed it’s ready
3. Cream the butter in an electric mixture for 3 minutes, it will lighten in colour.
4. Take 1/2 a vanilla bean pod, slice it lengthwise & remove the inside by scrapping with a teaspoon
5. Add the sugar, salt & vanilla to the butter & cream until mixed
6. I use the paddle attachement now. Add the flour in two batches. Mix until large bread crumbs form
7. Note: handle the dough as little as possible. Split the dough into three portions. Make a ball out of each. Roll each boll into a 3cm diameter cylinder
8. Wrap each cylinder in plastic wrap & chill for 30 minutes
9. Preheat the oven to 180°C / 350°F convection heat
10. Generously sprinkle white sugar onto a clean, flat surface. Roll each cylinder in the sugar until evenly coated
11. Cut each cylinder into 1cm thick slices
12. Space the slices out on a lined cookie sheet & cook for 14 minutes or until cookie edges are just golden
13. Delicately place on cooling rack, the cookies will be less fragile when cooled

{SOUPE FROIDE AUX ASPERGES BLANCHES ET A LA VANILLE} While I know that the asparagus season is officially coming to a close, I wanted to sneak in one last recipe, as there are still bunches of white asparagus appearing in our farmers market, and next spring is a full 365 days away!!

Do not be fooled by my images…. what looks like a sumptuous vanilla cream is actually CHILLED white asparagus soup with the added touch of vanilla bean. This was an intentional trompe l’oeil  (AKA fooling of the eye), which demonstartes my love of taking ingredients, typically used in sweet recipes and using them in savoury ones (& vice versa). The outcome is an awaking of the senses!

Our senses need a wake-up call from time to time, as we all find ourselves EATING THE SAME THING week in week out - does this sound at all familiar???  The problem is not a lack of ingredients or imagination, but more of falling into the cooking comfort zone….  and while I love my traditional asparagus soup, things needed to be shaken up a little – so I removed the onion, added the vanilla bean + white pepper and dropped the temperature to a cool summer chill.  

Besides, it really is too HOT to cook, & heating a saucepan for 10 minutes is my outside limit at the moment!

WHITE ASPARAGUS FACTS

• AKA spargel – the German name for asparagus (where most asparagus is white!)
• Grown covered in soil to avoid photosynthesis preventing the shoots from turning green
• This produces a less bitter, more tender, sweet taste
• Season is from April to June

VANILLA BEAN FACT

• Name : derived from the Spanish vainilla meaning “little pod”
• Vanilla is the fruit of an orchid flower, grown in the form of a bean pod
• Originated in the Gulf of Mexico
• Now grown in Madagascar (3/4 world’s supply), Tahiti : see Chocolate & Zuccini blog, Mexico…
• Over 110 vanilla orchid varieties
• 1 variety, vanilla planifolia (Bourbon vanilla), produces the majority of commerical vanilla beans
• Hand harvested, rinsed, & rolled in blankets to “sweat”, then gently dried in the sun
• Uses: INSIDE – of the bean is used to flavour cakes, ice cream, sweets, drinks etc. PODS – Keep & dry, placing them in a container of white sugar, to give a vanilla perfume. POWDER – finely grind the dried pod and use in cooking!

RECIPE – SWEET PEA Blog

• 16 large white asparagus (approx 560g)
• 2 medium sized potato (approx 140g)
• 2 tablespoon unsalted butter
• 1/2 vegetable stock (bouillon) cube (6g)
• 400ml boiled water
• 100ml full fat cream (25%)
• 1/4 of an vanilla bean (use inside only)
• pinch of white pepper¨

1. Prepare the asparagus : wash with cold water, remove the flat end, peel 3/4 of the stalk (not the pointed end), cut into little 1cm (1/2 inch) pieces, set aside
2. Peel the potato, cut into small pieces & set aside
3. Melt the butter in a medium sized saucepan
4. Add the asparagus & potatoes and cook for 3-5 minutes
5. Boil the water in a kettle
6. In a separate container add the bouillon cube to the boiled water and mix well = stock
7. Now add the stock to the asparagus / potatoes
8. Cover and cook on medium-low heat for 10 minutes
9. Using an electric blender (not a hand mixer – normally not powerful enough), mix the soup well.
10. Add the cream & pinch of white pepper and mix well
11. Cut the piece of vanilla bean. Next open the bean using a sharp knife, cutting a long silt lengthwise down the piece. Scrape out the inside on the bean and add to the soup mixing well
12. Pour into a container and refrigerate for at least an hour or until completely chilled
13. Serve chilled

PEAR JAM with VANILLA BEAN

Seasonal fruit…. a delicacy, a rejuvenation of the senses and a welcomed change with each calender month that passes. But I find it sad how people seem to be increasingly unaware of which fruit belongs to which season and thus buy on a craving basis. It is no wonder though… with the grocery stores offering strawberries, peaches, mangoes, melon… (I could go on here) 365 days a year! Unless you have tasted a hand picked, perfectly ripe, home grown fruit, how are your sense suppose to know the difference.

I am getting off my soapbox … and have decided to dedicate this post to THE PEAR – ‘poire william’ to be exact, currently in season and picked from the farm trees a few days ago.

There are two main types of pears in Europe, the Anjou and the William (or Bartlett as they are known in North America) Anjou pears are a hardy winter pear, light green in colour and available from the autumn through to spring. Whereas the William pears are a sweeter variety (great for jam making) golden yellow with a fleck of red and ready to pick from late summer through the autumn.

RECIPE – ERIKA ALLISTON, Sweet Pea Blog

• 1kg (1000g) peeled & chopped William (Bartlett) pears
• 800g white sugar
• 1 lemon
• 1 fresh vanilla bean  (they are soft and usually sold in a small glass tube)
• 5 jam jars (depending on size)

Jam jar preparation:

1. Preheat your oven to 100°C. To sterilise the jam jars (bocaux) wash them in soapy water, rinse and place open-side up on a tray in the the oven while you make the jam
2. Next squeeze the juice of one lemon and set aside. Now peel the pears, remove the stem and seeds and cut into small pieces.
3. In a very large saucepan (preferably one for making soups) add the chopped pears and sugar.

Jam making:

1. On the stove bring the pears and sugar to a rolling boil, and cook for 10-15 minutes.
2. While waiting prepare the vanilla. Cut the vanilla bean in half and remove the grains from inside by creating a long slit length wise down the vanilla bean and scraping out the inside.
3. Add the grains, the empty vanilla bean pod and the lemon juice to the jam, and cook for another 5 minutes until the “GOUTTE TEST” works (see below)
4. Remove the jam from the stove and take out the vanilla bean pods. Using an electric hand-mixer, slightly blend the fruit until desired texture (ie mix well if you prefer a smoother jam)
5. Remove the jam jars from the oven and with a ladle fill each jar until approx. 1cm from the surface. Cover with plastic or screw tops. Leave to set for 2-3 days.

GOUTTE TEST: a goutte is a drop and as I do not use pectin / certo to thicken the jam (lemon juice helps with this), you need to cook it until, dipping a wooden spoon into the jam and them holding the spoon horizontally over the saucepan, the LAST goutte / drop does not fall off the spoon but holds. You then know your jam will set.