Tarte Flambee ( A French Tarte for IFC - 2)

IFC  or (International Food Challenge ) is an event started by  Sara  & Shobana  where every month we get to post recipes from a specific country .

For this month we were given some recipes from France . This Tarte that I have made is a French Alsacian dish. It is very easy to make though the process may look  a bit complicated and time consuming.

 This is a delicious savory tarte which was enjoyed by all of us .

Ingredients For the base : 

2 cups ...................wheat flour
2 tbsp.....................Maida
2 tbsp....................olive oil
salt
ice cold water


Method  for the base

Mix all ingredients except water very well.

Now add ice cold water and knead a  soft but stiff dough.

Plastic wrap the dough and keep it in fridge for an hour.


Ingredients For the sauce : 

4 tbsp ....................crumbles paneer
4 tbsp.....................sour cream ( or fresh cream)
4 tbsp....................cream cheese ( chenna in hindi)
4 tbsp....................milk
1/2 tsp..................pepper powder
1/2 tsp.................nutmeg powder

Make a sauce by grinding all the ingredients to form a smooth paste for 15 seconds .


To be spread on the top :

1 .........................large onion sliced
6 to 8 ....................mushrooms thinly sliced
200 gm ..................paneer ( cottage cheese ) sliced
1 cup....................shredded cheddar cheese

Saute the onions and mushrooms in 1 tbsp oil till raw smell disappears.




Assembling the Tarte :

Preheat the oven and grease the baking sheet.

Now take out the chilled and wrapped dough and keep it on the baking sheet.

Press the dough with your hands till it fills the greased sheet .



Form a slight border by pinching the edges upwards.

This ensures that the sauces do not spill out while baking.

You can also roll it in a thin rectangular shape.

Spread the sauce evenly on the base .



Sprinkle the sliced onions, mushrooms , sliced paneer and top with grated cheese.

Bake for 20 to 25 minutes till the top becomes golden brown.

Cut in pieces and serve warm with ketchup.

Eggless Choux Pastry with Chocolate Filling ( For Baking Eggless)

Few months back I had tried making the choux pastries and had ended up with a disaster. The eclairs were completely burnt out and I just had to throw that lot.

 Than with a little more courage I tried them again and ended up with tasty and crisp eclairs but which were without proper shape or colour .

Now almost after 2 months when  I read about the baking-eggless  challenge ( Started by Gayathri ) of this month and saw that it was making eggless choux , I was very apprehensive. When I couldn't make them with eggs how was I supposed to succeed  trying to make them without eggs.

So to be on a safer side I used an egg replacer rather than any other substitute wishing to get the results right. And this time I am very happy that I did not fail but made these cute little choux pastry. Thanks a lot to Shey of justnotthecakes for suggesting this recipe .

Also tried making baking some eclairs. The only drawback was that this time I almost reduced the ingredients to more than half and so ended up with very few choux and eclairs and had to promise family members that I will soon make them again.

For the chocolate filling I simply cooked butter, cream and bitter chocolate and got the most delicious and simple filling.

Ingredients for Choux Pastry :

1/2 cup ..............all purpose flour ( maida)
1/2 cup ...............water
1/2 cup.................milk
2 tbsp...............egg replacer
2 tbsp...............butter
pinch of .............salt
1 tsp..................sugar
1/2 tsp...............baking powder


Ingredients for Chocolate Filling :

2 tbsp ......................Fresh cream
1/2 cup......................bitter chocolate
1 tbsp.......................butter

Method  for making Choux Pastry :

Heat water ,salt , sugar and butter in a pan.
When it boils add the maida,  switch off the gas and mix the mixture very well .
Again keep it on slow flame and keep on stirring continuously till the mixture forms a ball.

When it starts leaving the sides of the pan remove it from gas.
Mix the egg replacer with 2 tbsp water and whip well till stiff.
To this stiff mixture add baking powder and mix well again.
If the mixture is still stiff add 1/2 cup milk and mix very well.
The mixture should form a beak like shown in the picture.

Put this in a piping bag and chill it in the fridge for 2 to 3 hours .
Now pipe small chouxs on a greased baking tray .
Bake in  a preheated oven for 30 to 40 minutes at 180 degrees or till golden brown in colour.

Let the chouxs cool completely.

Method for making Chocolate Filling :

Cut the chocolate in cubes and add butter to it.
Melt this chocolate on a double boiler and mix well.
Whip the fresh cream in a chilled bowl till stiff .
Add the melted chocolate to the cream and fold it gently.
Chill it and let it thicken a bit.


Cut the Choux pastry and fill it with the chocolate filling.

Strawberry Eclairs ( Baking Partners)

Since my childhood days , chocolate eclairs was one of  my most favorite bakery item and I would regularly buy it from Merwans cake shop.

 But as I grew there was a secret desire to try them at least once at home ,but the recipe in some cook books  sounded so complex and tedious I never really gave it a try.

And then Swathi  came up with the recipe of  these eclairs for this months Baking Partners  challenge  and finally I got a chance to make them .

Finally I gave it a try and thank god I did it well in advance , because my first try was a disaster. The batter called for five eggs and I got idly like batter consistency which I was not able to pipe so I baked it in cookie moulds , then I goofed up by over baking them and almost burnt them.

So I had to try the second time , this time I reduced one egg but still the batter was not hard enough to be piped . This time I baked in muffin pan and monitored the baking carefully.

Though what I got could not be called perfect eclairs but I was very close to the original pastry as the insides were soft and outside crispy . But now I think I should have baked them for some more time to get golden color.

Thanks Swathi  for suggesting this recipe and giving me  a chance to try my favorite pastry.

Ingredients : 

For the Choux Pastry :

175 gm ( 1 n 1/4 cup)................ All purpose flour
2 tsbp + 2 tsp ..........................sugar
240 gm ....................................water
120 gm................................... unsalted butter ( used homemade)
4 .............................................eggs
a pinch.......................................salt

Method :

Sift flour and sugar in the mixer.
In a pan heat water, salt and butter till it melts.
Simmer it and remove.
Now add the flour and mix well to form a paste like consistency.
Now again heat and stir this mixture till the dough becomes hard and starts pulling away
from the bottom.
The bottom of the pan should look clean when the dough pull away.
While still hot transfer this dough to the blender and blend for a minute to let some heat away.
Now add one egg at a time to the dough and each time blend very well .
The egg should properly mix with the dough.
At the end of adding all four eggs the dough should be able to hold its shape.
When pulled it should resemble the shape of birds beak .( here is where I went wrong)
Now put this mixture in a pastry bad and let it chill for 4 to 5 hours.
Preheat the oven at 180 degrees .
Pour the mixture in the greased muffin tray and bake.
Bake at 180 degrees for 15 minutes and at 150 degrees for 10 minutes more.
What I got was very soft inside and little crispy outside round puffs.

For the filling :

5 tbsp...................strawberry crush
3/4 cup.................whipped fresh cream

Method :

Cut the puffs in the middle and spread whipped cream .
Close the puffs and again spread the remaining whipped cream .
Top with the strawberry crush.

Also sending it to :

   Vallis kids-delight   at    sizzlingtastebuds 

French Baked Potaotes

These baked potatoes are one of the simplest recipest that I recently tried. Simple , easy and yet surely a dish you will want to make again and again is how I would like to describe it.

Tastes superb when had with plain buttered bread toasts.

Made it for dinner recently and was so much liked by all that planning to make it often in future on regular basis.


Ingredients :

4 to 5 ......................potatoes
2 tbsp.......................olive oil
1/2 tsp.....................pepper powder
1 tsp........................parsley ( dried )
2 to 3 ....................garlic cloves ( very finely chopped)
1tbsp........................lemon juice
1tsp........................mustard powder
salt

Method :

Wash the potatoes thoroughly and boil them.
Peel the skin and slice the potatoes.
Take a small glass jar and add all the above except potatoes and shake vigorously for 2 to 3 minutes.

Now take a baking dish and arrange 1/4  potato slices and pour some of the above sauce .
Now repeat arranging slices and pouring the sauce three more times.
Bake in an oven ( for approx 15 to 20 minutes ) at 180 C till the crust is golden brown and crispy.

                                                        Serve hot with garlic bread.




This entry  goes to following events

bake-fest at tangymind      

flavour of france  at shrutisrasoi  

cook-like-mom  

love you mum at tangymind