Piece Montee

For the Vanilla Crème Patissiere (Half Batch)
1 cup (225 ml.) whole milk
2 Tbsp. cornstarch
6 Tbsp. (100 g.) sugar
1 large egg
2 large egg yolks
2 Tbsp. (30 g.) unsalted butter
1 Tsp. Vanilla

Dissolve cornstarch in ¼ cup of milk. Combine the remaining milk with the sugar in a saucepan; bring to boil; remove from heat.

Beat the whole egg, then the yolks into the cornstarch mixture. Pour 1/3 of boiling milk into the egg mixture, whisking constantly so that the eggs do not begin to cook.

Return the remaining milk to boil. Pour in the hot egg mixture in a stream, continuing whisking.

Continue whisking (this is important – you do not want the eggs to solidify/cook) until the cream thickens and comes to a boil. Remove from heat and beat in the butter and vanilla

Pour cream into a stainless steel/ceramic bowl. Press plastic wrap firmly against the surface. Chill immediately and until ready to use.

For Chocolate Pastry Cream (Half Batch Recipe):
Bring ¼ cup (about 50 cl.) milk to a boil in a small pan; remove from heat and add in 3 ounces (about 80 g.) semisweet chocolate, finely chopped, and mix until smooth. Whisk into pastry cream when you add the butter and vanilla.

For Coffee Pastry Cream (Half Batch recipe)
Dissolve 1 ½ teaspoons instant espresso powder in 1 ½ teaspoons boiling water. Whisk into pastry cream with butter and vanilla.

Pate a Choux (Yield: About 28)
¾ cup (175 ml.) water
6 Tbsp. (85 g.) unsalted butter
¼ Tsp. salt
1 Tbsp. sugar
1 cup (125 g.) all-purpose flour
4 large eggs

For Egg Wash: 1 egg and pinch of salt

Pre-heat oven to 425◦F/220◦C degrees. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

Preparing batter:
Combine water, butter, salt and sugar in a saucepan over medium heat. Bring to a boil and stir occasionally. At boil, remove from heat and sift in the flour, stirring to combine completely.

Return to heat and cook, stirring constantly until the batter dries slightly and begins to pull away from the sides of the pan.

Transfer to a bowl and stir with a wooden spoon 1 minute to cool slightly.

Add 1 egg. The batter will appear loose and shiny.

As you stir, the batter will become dry-looking like lightly buttered mashed potatoes.

It is at this point that you will add in the next egg. Repeat until you have incorporated all the eggs.

Piping:
Transfer batter to a pastry bag fitted with a large open tip (I piped directly from the bag opening without a tip). Pipe choux about 1 inch-part in the baking sheets. Choux should be about 1 inch high about 1 inch wide.

Using a clean finger dipped in hot water, gently press down on any tips that have formed on the top of choux when piping. You want them to retain their ball shape, but be smoothly curved on top

Brush tops with egg wash (1 egg lightly beaten with pinch of salt).

Baking:
Bake the choux at 425◦F/220◦C degrees until well-puffed and turning lightly golden in color, about 10 minutes.

Lower the temperature to 350◦F/180◦C degrees and continue baking until well-colored and dry, about 20 minutes more. Remove to a rack and cool.

Can be stored in a airtight box overnight.

Filling:
When you are ready to assemble your piece montée, using a plain pastry tip, pierce the bottom of each choux. Fill the choux with pastry cream using either the same tip or a star tip, and place on a paper-lined sheet. Choux can be refrigerated briefly at this point while you make your glaze.

Use one of these to top your choux and assemble your piece montée.

Chocolate Glaze:
8 ounces/200 g. finely chopped chocolate (use the finest quality you can afford as the taste will be quite pronounced; I recommend semi-sweet)

Melt chocolate in microwave or double boiler. Stir at regular intervals to avoid burning. Use the best quality chocolate you can afford. Use immediately.

Hard Caramel Glaze:
1 cup (225 g.) sugar
½ teaspoon lemon juice

Combine sugar and lemon juice in a saucepan with a metal kitchen spoon stirring until the sugar resembles wet sand. Place on medium heat; heat without stirring until sugar starts to melt around the sides of the pan and the center begins to smoke. Begin to stir sugar. Continue heating, stirring occasionally until the sugar is a clear, amber color. Remove from heat immediately; place bottom of pan in ice water to stop the cooking. Use immediately.

Assembly of your Piece Montée:
You may want to lay out your unfilled, unglazed choux in a practice design to get a feel for how to assemble the final dessert. For example, if making a conical shape, trace a circle (no bigger than 8 inches) on a piece of parchment to use as a pattern. Then take some of the larger choux and assemble them in the circle for the bottom layer. Practice seeing which pieces fit together best.

Once you are ready to assemble your piece montée, dip the top of each choux in your glaze (careful it may be still hot!), and start assembling on your cake board/plate/sheet. Continue dipping and adding choux in levels using the glaze to hold them together as you build up.

When you have finished the design of your piece montée, you may drizzle with remaining glaze or use ribbons, sugar cookie cut-outs, almonds, flowers, etc. to decorate. Have fun and enjoy! Bon appétit!

Watermelon & Rollkuchen

Imagine my delight when I spotted a big box of Texas watermelon at the grocery store! Of course my dinner plans changed...

We grew up having this and still have this often during the summer months. It's such a nice refreshing meal to have on a hot summer day! The rollkuchen are fried and served fresh with the watermelon.


Rollkuchen

1/2 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup milk
2 eggs
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
flour

Mix dough, adding flour until you have a nice soft dough that is not too sticky. Knead until smooth. On a well floured counter top roll the dough into a thin rectangle. How thin you roll it is about personal preference, the thicker the dough the softer the rollkuchen. I like to roll it to about 1/8" thick. Using a pizza cutter cut the rolled out dough in 2x5" pieces and also cut a 1" slit in the middle of each piece. Fry like you would for doughnuts. You can either fry them flat or you can take on end and weave it through the slit once to give your rollkuchen the look that you see in the photo.

Enjoy!
Tina

Enchiladas

Mexican Enchilada Sauce

3 tablespoons chili powder
3 tablespoons flour
1 teaspoon cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon garlic salt
1 teaspoon oregano
3 cups water
1 (8 ounce) can tomato sauce

Directions
1. Combine all dry ingredients in a small bowl.

2. Stirring constantly, slowly add enough of the water to make a thin paste.

3. Pour into pan and add rest of water.

4. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until mixture thickens.

5. Stir in tomato sauce.

6. Use in your favorite enchilada recipe. I fried some tortillas and rolled them up with ground beef that I had seasoned with some of the sauce. Then pour the sauce over, sprinke with cheese and bake in the oven till the cheese melts.

7. The amounts on the ingredients are very flexible.

Beans & Fried Bread

Are you on a diet? Should you be on a diet? (you don't have to answer that!) Should I be on a diet? (I plead the fifth, lol) If you you answered yes to any of these questions, walk away. Yes, walk away because once you've tried fried bread you will forever be spoiled.

Growing up one of the staples in our home as with a lot of Mennonite homes was pinto beans, cooked on the stove top but made sort of like baked beans. My dad could live off of this meal, served with bread, tortillas, or fried bread. It was served on a weekly basis in our home and I also prepare this quite often, but serving it with the fried bread is considered a treat.

What is fried bread? Fried bread! And like most foods, once you've tried your bread fried, you'll always want it...

Once again like all other Mennonite recipes, everyone prepares them a little differently. And I don't even know whether all Mennonites are familiar with this or whether it's regional to Mexico or Belize, but try them and judge for yourselves! I've only given rough measurements as most often these are just made by sight or taste, adjusting as you need to.


Pinto Beans:

2 cups raw pinto beans, washed
6 cups water

Let this gently boil in a larger pot until beans are completely tender, the fresher the dried beans are the less time it takes. It can take anywhere from 1 1/2 hours to 2 1/2 hours and you will most likely need to add more water, I like these beans quite juicy so I use quite a bit of water. Once tender add the following:

1/2 cup oil or bacon drippings
1 tbsp salt
1/2 cup canned salsa (adjust to personal taste)
1 tsp brown sugar

Let this gently boil until the broth thickens, usually about 15-25 minutes.

Again this is just how I make them, some add the salsa, some don't. I find the brown sugar helps to thicken the broth and the salsa just gives it a nice flavour. Adding some caramelized onions is also really good. You may need to add just a little bit more oil, you'll have to eye it. We usually serve this with cooked rice, just mix it together.

Now for the bread, you can use whatever white bread recipe you have on hand or you can use mine. I usually make just a small batch of this stuff, not a full bread recipe.

White Bread:

1 cup warm water
1 scant tbsp yeast

Let this sit for 5 minutes, then add:

1/2 cup warm water
1/3 cup oil
2 tsp salt salt
2 tsp sugar
approx. 4 cups white flour

Knead until you have a nice elastic dough, cover and let this rise for a while. I try to let it rise for 30-60 minutes, but if you're pressed for time you could use it right away.

Cut dough into small golf ball sized pieces and flatten with the palm of your hand on a greased counter top. Fry in hot oil just like you would for doughnuts. Now it's your choice if you want to salt the bread as it comes out, it's just like for fries, better if you do and healthier if you don't!

Enjoy!
Tina