Herbed Chicken & Cream Cheese Pastry Parcels

In one of my last posts I was talking about this adorable guy I have been with for 7 years and am still dating.
He's my husband. Yep! Still dating. I'm going to shut up now because I hear that talking openly about your relationship (at least on social media) is an unlikable trait. Strange, I always like hearing about everyone else's relationships! Anyway, I wanted to share our date night dinner with you because this meal hits the list of favourites in this house. Luke brought home a gift for me one day, the most beautifully bound Italian cookbook called Limoncello and Linenwater. It's filled with nostalgia--old black and white photos, quotes from old Italian mamas and old fashioned good housekeeping advice. It's loaded with delightful Italian recipes that make the reader salivate.
The first recipe we both picked out of the book to create was for these delicious herbed chicken and cream cheese pastry parcels.

Encased in a golden envelope of pastry lies a tender chicken breast, marinating as it cooks in cream cheese, fresh rosemary, sage and thyme.

 The smell wafting out of the oven is sensational and the taste utterly enveloping of the senses. Due to its style of cooking in this herby, cheesy sauce, the chicken breast remains moist and tender, and the texture contrast is lovely.
Apologies for the flash photography-that's the trouble with cooking at the end of the day!

 Herbed Chicken & Cream Cheese Pastry Parcels (Adapted from Limoncello and Linenwater by Tessa Kiros pg. 173)

2 x small chicken breast fillets
3 heaped tbsp cream cheese
4 large tyme sprigs
4 large sage leaves
1 small rosemary branch
salt to taste
1 sheet of frozen puff pastry
1 egg, beaten

Preheat the oven to 200C (400F).
Remove the pastry from the freezer to thaw.
Meanwhile, pan fry the chicken on medium heat for a few minutes on each side until the exterior is nicely golden.  Strip the leaves off the herbs and chop finely (you should end up with 2 tbsp of herbs in total).
In a small bowl, combine the cream cheese with the herbs, and season with salt.
Cut the pastry down the middle so that there are two even rectangles. Lather both parts of the pastry with half of the cream cheese mixtire. Lay each peice of chicken on each peice of pastry. Use the remaining cream cheese mixture to spread over each chicken breast. Fold the pastry up over the sides of each breast, making sure to overlap some of the pastry so that it holds together over the majority of the breast. (It's ok to have a small gap at the top where the pastry doesnt cover the meat.) Brush a little of the beaten egg over the pastry and discard the remainder.
Cook the parcels for 25-30 minutes, or until the pastry has puffed up and is glossy and golden. Remove from oven and rest for 10 minutes before serving.
Serves 2

NOTES: The cream cheese can be substituted for sour cream or mascapone.

Chocolate Mint Ganache Tart

There's an insane quantity of chocolate right here. When hubby went to pick up the three blocks of Lindt Excellence Mint, and two Cadbury Dream whites, the check-out-chick must have thought he was out on a weekend binge-or his wife was having an emotional breakdown of catastrophic proportions. Despite being made with five blocks of chocolate, I made two tarts with this quantity, and both measured about 15cm in radius. So that's one giant 30cm tart coming right up! (or a thicker 28cm or 25cm tart, whatever you have on hand in this size range would be fine. I highly recommend using a springform tin if you have one) It will feed an army, and it will be gone before you can look twice at it.

Ever had the pleasure of sinking into one of those delightful Choc mint slice biscuits? They're moreish. And this is just like a giant choc mint slice biscuit, but made by Lindt. And laced with creme de menthe to take it up a notch. 

There is no substitute for good quality chocolate, and I recommend only using the very best for this tart. It will be well worth the money. Also, don't go out and spend up on a bottle of creme de menthe, unless you have it handy already in your liquor cabinet. A little peppermint or mint essence/flavouring will be a budget friendly alternative, and a lot of the mint flavour comes from the top layer of ganache any way. So go lightly on the essence if you use it-the subtle flavours in this made it a heavenly experience for the taste buds.
When you let that splade glide down through the layers, you'll pass through a thick, dark minty lindt layer of fudgy, smooth chocolate ganache, through to a pale green filling made with white chocolate and creme de menthe- finishing off with a thin crust of chocolate shortcrust pastry.

 

 CHOCOLATE MINT GANACHE TART (Adapted from Australian Good Taste - January 2012 , Page 84)

Pastry: 

1 2/3 cups plain flour 
125g butter, chilled and diced
1/3 cup icing sugar
2 tbsp dark cocoa powder 
1 egg yolk
1 1/2- 2 tbsp cold water (I used a little more, to get a smooth texture)

White Chocolate Ganache:

150ml (2/3 cup) heavy or thickened cream
300g white chocolate, roughly chopped (I used about 1 1/2 blocks of Cadbury Dream Chocolate)
2 tbsp creme de menthe liqueur (or about 1/2 tsp mint or peppermint essence/extract)

Dark Chocolate Ganache:

250ml (1 cup) heavy or thickened cream
3x 100g Lindt Excellence Mint Intense Dark Chocolate blocks


Grease your  spring form round tin (I used 2 15cm tins to make this recipe. To make one tart, use a tin any where around 25cm) To make the pastry, process the flour, butter, icing sugar and cocoa powder until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs (feel free to use your hands!) Add the egg yolk and enough chilled water so that the mixture starts to form  a soft dough. Kneed until smooth, then form into a disc shape and wrap in plastic wrap. Rest the dough in the refrigerator for 10 minutes to firm up. 
Remove from refrigerator and place between two sheets of baking paper. Roll to fit into your desired tin, ensuring the pastry comes up the sides of your tin. Trim any excess. Place in the refrigerator for a further 20 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 180C.
Place the tin on a baking sheet and blind bake for 10 minutes. (this is done by placing pastry weights in the tin, or placing a piece of baking paper inside the tin with rice on top of the paper to weigh it down)
Remove the weights. Bake for a further 10 minutes. If any cracks appear, smooth them over with a little egg white. Set aside in the tin to cool.
To make the white chocolate ganache, place the cream in a small saucepan and bring to the boil. As soon as it begins to boil, remove from heat and add the white chocolate. Stir until the chocolate melts and mixes in well with the cream. Add the creme de menthe and incorporate.
Pour this over the cooked pastry and chill for 1 hour to set.
To make the dark chocolate ganache, place the cream in a small saucepan and bring to the boil. As soon as it starts to boil, remove from heat and stir in the Lindt chocolate until melted and well combined. Pour over the set white chocolate ganache and smooth. Chill for three hours before serving.

Notes: Run a knife under boiling water before cutting for a smooth cut. This tart freezes well, so it's great to make ahead! Once the tart is set, wrap in plastic wrap, ensuring the wrap is close against the ganache. Then wrap again, or place in an airtight container and freeze. Thaw by placing on bench top or in refrigerator for several hours.


How to blind bake without pastry weights:

Apricot Tarts with Almond Crumble

If you're anything like me, your pantry will be stuffed with those odd ingredients you used once and don't know what to do with the remainder. Unless it comes time to make that special dish or dessert again, and by then you have forgotten you had that ingredient, and go out and buy more. It tends to accumulate. I should just go in and reorganise my pantry, I suppose, but I'm too busy blogging. Baking something new. Or blogging some more. Oh that's right. And looking after my darlings!
Well, I've had a bag of dried apricots in the cupboard for a while now and it has been sitting at the back of the pantry and my mind, just waiting to be used.  I was too lazy to find a recipe that involved them, so I made up my own.
It turned out beautifully--the perfect dessert to eat straight out of the oven, topped with ice cream and drizzled with a little cream or caramel sauce. It involves a crispy puff pastry crust, encasing a sweet apricot filling, topped with crushed almonds and brown sugar crumble with a simple lattice to decorate. I have to say I'm not a huge fan of apricots or almonds on their own, but the combination is surprisingly delicious and most satisfying. It's a winner! They're the prefect dessert for one of those chilly winter nights, and look particularly impressive with a large scoop of vanilla ice cream on top.

APRICOT TARTS WITH ALMOND CRUMBLE

1 cup dried apricots
3 tbsp. white sugar
2/3 cup water, plus 1/3 extra
1/3 cup whole almond kernels (or almond meal)
1/3 cup brown sugar
1 sheet puffed pastry

Preheat the oven to 180C. Grease 6 regular sized muffin holes, or use silicone for added ease.
Place the apricots, white sugar and water in a small saucepan. Cook on high until boiling, reduce heat to medium and continue to boil for 15 minutes. Stir occasionally, until apricots are tender and soft. You may wish to add an extra 1/3 cup water towards the end of this time if the liquid evaporates before the apricots are tender.
Meanwhile, place almond kernels in  a food blender and blitz until roughly chopped up into meal. Place in a small bowl and stir the brown sugar through the almond meal until combined.
When the apricots are tender, place them, undrained, into the blender and process until pureed into a smooth pulp.
Using a 9cm round biscuit cutter, cut 6 discs from the thawed puffed pastry sheet. Push these into the greased muffin tin holes. Place on heaped tablespoon of apricot filling into each. Top with 1 flatter tablespoon of the almond meal mixture. Decorate with remaining puffed pastry if desired. Bake until puffed and golden, about 45 minutes.
Serve with vanilla ice cream and a swirl of caramel sauce.

Makes 6 individual desserts

Choc-Jaffa Pastry Cornets

So I am back from the most amazing mini break baby moon in the glorious Sunshine Coast Hinterland. It was so relaxing and peaceful, and the little cottage we stayed in was simply divine. Log fire crackling away, issuing that cherry glow over soft rugs, rain on the tin roof, strawberries, chocolate, and a hot spa *sigh*
Why did it ever have to end?
Somehow I enjoyed not being in the kitchen...it's nice when you don't have to prepare dinner. But when I returned home I felt a real longing to get into the baking again...I felt a part of me was disappearing! Mind you we were only away for a few days, but in that time we ate out at cafes and feasted on the continental breakfast that was delivered to our cottage mini kitchen. I didn't lift a finger!
By the time I got home my mind was once again overflowing with a million culinary ideas. Yes that's right...I lay in bed and my mind automatically creates all sorts of delicious things while I try to fall asleep.
I've been dreaming of these delights for ages. A buttery, pastry horn filled with delicious chocolate goo. A chocolate pastry horn filled with delicious chocolate goo. Chocolate pastry? Yes, I had some trouble finding a good recipe for that, so I tested my luck with puff pastry instead. And it was a success!
The awesome thing about my new discovery of these pastry horns is that you can use them for either sweet or savories. When they came out of the oven, looking cute and golden and perfectly cony, a million savory ideas ripped through my head. Look out for some fresh hors d'oeuvres ideas on here in the near future!

CHOC-JAFFA FILLED PASTRY CORNETS

2 sheets puff pastry, thawed
300g good quality dark chocolate
3 eggs, separated
125ml (1/2 cup) light olive oil
2 tsp. orange essence
1 chocolate covered honeycomb bar (Crunchy Bar or Violet Crumble) crushed
100g extra dark chocolate

Melt the chocolate gently in a microwave proof bowl, checking and stirring regularly to ensure it does not burn.
Set aside to cool slightly. In a clean, dry bowl, beat the egg whites until firm peaks form. Add the yolks, one at a time, beating well after each addition until well incorporated. Gradually add the melted chocolate to the egg mixture, beating well until smooth. Add the oil gradually while beating, and lastly, incorporate the orange flavouring. Set the bowl aside in the refrigerator for 4 hours to set.
Meanwhile, cut the pastry into 20 strips (about 1.5 cm wide). Using metal cones and starting at the top (see note), twist each strip of pastry around, overlapping at the edges to hold, to form a cone. Cook in moderate oven (180C) for 30-35 minutes until golden. Cool for five minutes before gently removing.
Melt the extra chocolate and paint the rims of the pastry cones, dipping in broken honeycomb peices before leaving to set.
Using a piping bag and star nozzle, fill with jaffa mixture and refrigerate to set.

Makes approximately 20

Jaffa filling recipe adapted from Good Taste Magazine April 2007

NOTES: if you do not have the traditional metal horns used for making gingersnap cream horns like this one from TESCOMA
 

We have a cheap solution--one packet of ice cream wafer cones and some aluminum foil!

Palmiers or Elephant Ears

Continuing on from yesterdays post about what people will eat--I found an interesting article about the difference in taste buds between the sexes. Apparently women have more taste buds than men, hence women generally have a finer pallet. If we taste the more subtle flavours, that certainly explains the strange phenomenon of men drowning their meals in tomato sauce. Of course I generalise here but I have noticed this is a common occurrence. There can never be enough pizza topping, cheese or tomato sauce.
Anyway, I wanted to share that little scrap of interesting info before telling you about the recipe I'm about to post. Its a delicate little nibble. Called Palmiers or Elephant Ears most commonly, I believe these little pastry coils originate from France and are named after palm leaves. They are very simple, and delicious in that simplicity.  As always, I have added my own spin on these little treats with the addition of cinnamon.

PALMIERS (ELEPHANT EARS)

1 sheet thawed puff pastry
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 tbsp cinnamon
1 tbsp butter, melted

Using a pastry brush, coat one side of the thawed pastry with melted butter. Combine the sugar and cinnamon and generously spread over the butter. Starting at one end, gently roll the pastry towards the middle. When you reach the middle, start rolling the pastry from the opposite end so the pastry rolls meet each other in the middle. Cut into 1cm discs and place on a lined tray. Lather with the leftover butter and place in a moderate oven for 10-15 minutes until puffy and golden.

A Stomach for Sweets

Now I know that everyone has a stomach...but did you know some people have two? Yes, I am one of those. Actually, I have three at the moment with Tiny bubba in the oven but I'm not going to count that one. The extra one I'm referring to is the dessert stomach! Most women have one, I am still trying to work out if the men do.
Yes...the dessert stomach. You're "full as a goog" so to speak, but there's always room for a chocolate or a slice of that apple pie.True story.
My dessert stomach is virtually always empty and well, its not a bottomless pit but lets just say food digests rather speedily in that region.

Mmmh...apple pie.
Speaking of which, there are some things that never go astray, like that dessert to finish off a meal. The marriage of sugar, cinnamon and apple, wrapped up in golden buttery pastry. *drool*
So I concocted a little afternoon tea delight using a combination of all these ingredients and ooh why didn't I make more? The deliciousness of the apple oozed into the cinnamon and sugar and made a lovely syrup at the bottom of these little treats which was just so tasty. I couldn't stop eating them.

APPLE CINNAMON TWISTS

1 granny smith apple
2 sheets thawed puff pastry
1/2 cup brown sugar
1-2 tbsp cinnamon
2 tbsp. butter, melted

Preheat oven to 180C. Keeping the peel on, cut apple into thin slices. Melt butter in a small bowl and with a pastry brush, lather over the two sheets of thawed pastry.
Combine sugar and cinnamon, and spread generously over the entire surface of the pastry sheets. Cut each pastry sheet into quarters and then score from one corner to the opposite (so you have two triangles for each 1/4 of the pastry sheet).
Wrap a slice of apple in each piece of pastry and place on a lined baking tray. Bake for 10-15 minutes until the pastry has puffed up and is turning golden. Serve warm.

 

NOTES: These babies are so good warm and just out of the oven...mmmh! You can also serve them cold and they are almost as delicious. You can use any type of apple preferred, and cut and wrap them in pastry as desired.

The Decadence Of Mille-feuille

I have a fear of flying to new heights. Well, its a subconscious fear I suppose. I know there's nothing grand about making a vanilla custard slice but in the back of my mind I'm scared of that amazingly delicious gooey goo, and creating it and failing at it. Blow it, I'm going to make it anyway.
But I'm not going to cut it and if it fails...I'm going to devour all the evidence before my husband comes home. He'll look at me strangely from head to toe and say "Gee, that baby sure grew quickly in one day!"
"Water retention." I will reply. "By the way, I didn't get the time to make anything to take to your parents house for dessert tonight".
Okay, that didn't seem such a good idea. I didn't fancy going for a jog to work off some of that custard and pastry, or explaining why I said I would make something and didn't..
So I made it--eyes closed just in case I saw it flop into a failure of liquid custard and soggy pastry. I wasn't going to cut it, because I predicted that would be the disaster moment. So I made individual round ones and made one extra for a taste test.
HEAVEN IN MY MOUTH!
Why didn't I make more of these babies?

MILLE-FEUILLE

2 sheets puff pastry, thawed
2 cups milk
4 large egg yolks
6 tbsp. sugar
3 tbsp. cornflour
40g butter, at room temperature
50g dark chocolate, melted
1 cup icing sugar
Vanilla essence, extra

Cut the pastry into 20 equal sized rounds. Place on lined baking trays and cook for 12-15 minutes at 210C until the bottoms are golden. Remove from heat and turn the puff pastry circles over and press gently to flatten. Leave to cool.
Place milk in a small saucepan and bring to the boil.
Meanwhile, in a separate saucepan, combine yolks, sugar and cornflour and whisk over a low heat. When the milk has boiled, add a few tablespoons into the yolk mixture and whisk. Gradually add the remaining milk and whisk vigorously on a medium heat. Custard will thicken. Continue to whisk until boils, and remove from heat. Scrape into a small bowl and sit in a tray of ice, to cease the cooking process. When cooler, add the butter in 3-4 installments, stirring until combined. Add essence, mix and refrigerate.

Meanwhile, combine icing sugar with some water and vanilla essence to make a thin paste. Lather half the pastry circles with icing and place them on a rack. Melt the chocolate gently and place in a piping bag with a thin pencil nozzle. Pipe several horizontal lines on each over the icing. Run a toothpick through the lines to create a leaf effect. Leave to dry.
When the custard has settled, add to piping bag with a large star nozzle on the end. Pipe a swirl of custard onto each of the remaining pastries. Top with the iced pastries and serve.

Makes 10

Time for Dutch Apple Pie

You know me, I like quick and effective recipes...the ones that just look and taste fabulous without any effort. But I like art, and I think especially with dessert, its worth putting in the extra mile to have it looking fancy shmancy. I thrive on that part of cooking. Often its the small details that make all the difference, and turn it from looking everyday to a specialty. Gourmet. Who would eat regular looking stuff over gourmet? Not me. Food snob here.
But I must add, very often something that looks like a bowl of mush often tastes amazing and so on. But...I'm a visual person, I thrive on looks. How very fickle of me.
Anyway, back to my initial point. I had a dessert to make for 18 people for a dinner party. I found a great sounding recipe for Dutch Apple Pie and it looked too irresistable not to make. Okay, part of the attraction was that it was labled Dutch, I admit. What the heck is a Dutch apple pie? Here we go on another tangent.
Dutch apple pie, unlike others such as the American, English and French versions, is often flavoured with lemon juice and lots of cinnamon, and sultanas (which I omitted because I loath the things) They are often decorated with lattice pastry on top or crumble topping and occasionally icing.
What I've been meaning to say all along is...you get to the end of the recipe and you wonder if it was worth while. The time, the effort, the waiting, in exchange for the appearance, taste, the delight and satisfaction. Some things you know will take forever to create and you know in the end it will be worth it. Others--you look at, taste and wonder.
Anyway, this apple pie took ages to make. Probably because I made two, and also because I made the recipe back to front, starting with the apples, filling, and then the pastry--which was ridiculous of me. It was the pastry that took its time. Apparently it was worth it. Those pies went down a treat after dinner and most people went back for seconds. It got a thumbs up all around. And even though the pastry frustrates me, I'm posting the recipe because it was worth it. I wouldn't post it if it was like any other apple pie recipe. This one was different. The apples maintained some firmness, some crunch. The pastry was good! The topping was delicious. The filling...yummy. All the textures and flavours married so well. So, it's a worthwhile recipe! You may use store bought pastry if you're low on time, I assure you it will still be worth it. This recipe makes one large pie. I added and subtracted several ingredients to personalise it, I hope you enjoy it!

Dutch Apple Pie

DUTCH APPLE PIE

Pastry
1¼ cups plain flour
pinch of salt
1 tablespoon sugar
85g butter, chilled, cubed
5-8 tablespoons ice water

Filling
4 large Granny Smith apples
½ cup brown sugar
½ tsp ground cinnamon
Pinch of salt
1/4 cup lemon juice
2 tablespoons butter
½ cup heavy cream

Crumble
1¼ cups plain flour
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup granulated sugar
85g butter, melted

Icing
1 cup icing sugar
2 tbsp water

 In a large bowl, mix together the flour, sugar and salt. Scatter the butter over the dry ingredients and using  your fingers, work the butter into the flour mixture until it resembles breadcrumbs. Then sprinkle the water over the mixture and use a fork to incorporate until it is evenly moistened and the dough will hold together when pinched between your fingers.
Flatten the dough into a disk, wrap in plastic and refrigerate for at least 1 hour, or up to 2 days. After refrigeration, roll it out on a floured surface to a 12 inch round. Transfer the round to a pie dish and press to the base and into the edges. Trim the edges to extend 1/2 an inch over the lip of the dish. Place the dish into the freezer for 30 minutes until very firm and cold. Place the oven rack on the lower middle position and heat the oven to 190C.
Cut a piece of foil big enough to cover the pastry, and sit it inside the pie dish over the pastry. Using pastry weights or rice, cover the surface of the foil. Bake with the weights and foil for 25 minutes or until light golden brown and dry to touch. Remove the foil and weights and return to the oven for a further 10 minutes. Remove the pie dish from the oven and set aside to cool. Increase the oven temperature to 220C.

Peel the apples and core them. Cut each apple into four and each quarter into four or five pieces each. Combine the listed cinnamon, lemon juice, sugar and salt in a bowl with the apples. Heat the butter in a large saucepan until bubbling. Add the apples and cook at medium high for 10-15 minutes until they begin to soften (yet still hold some shape). Using a colander over a bowl, transfer the apples and shake to strain the excess juices into the bowl.

Transfer the juices into the empty saucepan and add cream. Cook this mixture, stirring occasionally until it thickens and a wooden spoon leaves a trail at the bottom of the saucepan. Transfer the apples into the pie shell, top with the hot syrup. Combine the flours and sugars reserved for the crumble mixture in a bowl. Drizzle with melted butter and toss with a  fork until well combined and the mixture forms chunks. Sprinkle this crumble over the apple mixture. Return to the oven until the crumble is nicely browned.
Remove from the oven and cool.
Combine icing sugar and water together to make a paste. Place in a piping bag and drizzle over the crumble on top of the pie. Serve warm with ice cream or cream.