Culinary Concoctions by Peabody

Shocking yes I know! But this is two recipes now with no sugar in them. Not to worry I will be throwing some uber-sugar ladened fattening treat your way sometime soon.
A cool day emerged out of a string of miserably warm ones and so the yeast was calling my name. Call me the yeast whisperer if you will My husband is always craving pizza of some form. I can make him a pizza using an English muffin and processed cheese and he would be happy(yes, amazingly I still married him). I decided on fococcia bread because it makes a large batch(at least my recipe does) and that way I can make him a pizza version and a version for me. The version I chose for me was blue cheese and walnut. This is a well used recipe around here because you can throw just about anything on top of it and it is good. If I had pears I would have diced some up and thrown those on their too.
Instead of putting onions on top, I sauted them up and snuck them into the dough, so that hubby would eat them. You could certainly add some to the top if you like but I felt that the amount in the dough gave just enough onion flavor for me.

Blue Cheese and Walnut Fococcia Bread

2 ½ tsp dry yeast
¼ cup warm water
2 ¼ cups water, room temperature
4 TBSP olive oil
1 TBSP salt
7 ½ cups all purpose flour
¼ cup onions, minced
½ cup blue cheese, crumbled
½ cup walnuts, chopped

Combine the yeast and the warm water with a whisk until it looks creamy. Let it rest for about 10 minutes while the yeast blooms.
While yeast is resting, heat 2 TBSP of the olive oil in a saute pan and saute the onions until lightly brown, being careful not to burn.
In a large bowl, combine the yeast mixture with the room temperature water with a whisk. Add in the remaining olive oil, salt and flour. Mix to form a soft dough. You can do this by hand or in the mixer. If using the mixer be careful not to over mix the dough. Mix cooked onions into the dough making sure that they are distributed evenly.
Form dough into a large ball and place into a large, lightly oiled bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and lte rise until it doubled in size about and 1 ½ to 2 hours.
Cut dough into two pieces, or three if you want smaller rounds. You can roll the dough into either a rectangle shape or a round. I like the rectangle shape better because of how they fit on my pans. Place the circles or rectangles onto a pan that has been lined with parchment paper. Cover with a clean kitchen towel and leave for 30-45 minutes.
Preheat oven to 400F.
Once the dough has sat, take your finger tips and make dimples in the dough. Brush with some olive oil if you like. Sprinkle walnuts and blue cheese onto dougg. Bake bread in oven for about 25-30 minutes or until the edges are golden brown. It’s best to start watching around the 20 minute mark. Cool and serve.

If you are interested in making the pizza version that I make for my husband. Brush olive oil on top. Followed by a thin layer of pizza sauce. Add some Parmesan cheese and some chopped basil and bake for the same amount of time as the blue cheese and walnut version.

Summer is here. The lines for the cardio machines at the gym are so long, you would think they were waiting to get on the Matterhorn or Space Mountain rather than the stair-climber. Bikini weather is soon upon us and so many people are frantically exercising and eating salads squirted with lemon instead of dressing for their every meal. If however, you feel your pants are too loose, than I have just the thing(actually probably everything on my blog could do the trick).
Fresh corn is every where right now and so to mix it up from my usual way of making it(just sauted in butter with salt and a pinch of cream) I decided that corn chowder sounded good. I have made this several times. It is best with lobster of course, but I was cheap this time around and used shrimp. I use lobster stock, which if you don’t have or your store does not carry it, use fish stock or even vegetable stock in it’s place. The more people you have this to share with the better. I on the other hand had no one(since my husband doesn’t like soups of any kind) and so I was forced to eat half of the pot in one day. I wont have to worry about my pants being loose anytime soon.

Oh, and I have never made this low fat so I have no idea how that would turn out. I wouldn’t suggest it, but then again I rarely suggest anyting be fat free.

Grilled Corn and Shrimp Chowder

¼ cup diced celery
¼ cup diced onion
¼ cup diced carrot
1 garlic clove, chopped
¼ cup of butter plus one TBSP
2 cups russet potatoes, peeled and chopped
½ tsp coriander
a dash of white pepper
sea salt to taste
4 cups of lobster stock(or fish stock if you don’t have lobster stock)
1 TBSP chicken flavor base
2 ½ cups heavy cream
¾ pound of shrimp, raw, peeled and deveined 
1 ¾ cup grilled fresh corn, cut off of the cob after grilling

1.In a large stock pot, cook celery, carrot, onion and garlic in 1 TBSP of butter. Saute for about 5 minutes, until tender.
2.Add potatoes, coriander, white pepper and lobster stock. Bring to a boil. Cover and reduce to a simmer. Simmer for about 30 minutes, while the stock reduces.
3.Add chicken base, cream and ¼ cup butter(bad I know but really good). Simmer another 20 minutes.
4.Check soup to see if it needs salt, it might not.
5.Stir in the shrimp and the corn. Wait for shrimp to turn pink and curl up, about 2 minutes.
6.Ladle into bowls and sprinkle with parsley or maybe crumbled bacon(mmm) if desired.

Left over puff pastry. Check. Leftover Diplomat cream. Check. Leftover peaches. Check.
The need to clean out my refrigerator and my freezer had me come up with this tart. Other than feeling guilty about being a little like the evildoer Sandra Lee over on the Food Network, this tart turned out very tasty. You don’t need to use peaches, any fruit would do. You could get fancy and do a variety of fruits if you so desired. Blueberries, kiwi, peaches, raspberries and strawberries are what I see most often.
It’s a beautiful sunny day out here in the Pacific Northwest, so I am going to take full advantage of it and do what I love best when it is warm outside….stay inside and watch the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Anaheim is winning the series by the way, just as I predicted. I doubt the Cup will be making it’s way back to Canada this year. Sigh.

Puff Pastry Peach Tart

One sheet of store bought puff pastry(rolled out to be 9 by 16-inch) OR one 9 by 16-inch rolled out puff pastry
2 cups Diplomat Cream or pastry cream
5-6 medium peaches, peeled and sliced
apricot jam(for glaze)
toasted almond slices(for garnish)
powdered sugar(for garnish)

Roll out puff pastry dough to a 9 by 16 inch rectangle. Have the long side facing you. Fold over one side of the long side about an inch and a half. Repeat this on the other side of the long side. Place onto a baking sheet. Place parchment paper down on the part of the pastry that was not folded over. Place beans or pie weights on top of that. The goal is to only get the folded over ends to puff up(see photos). Bake at 400F for about 10 minutes…watch it at about the 8 minute mark. Look for it to be golden brown. Let cool completely.
Once puff pastry is cooled. Spread Diplomat cream into the “valley” of the pastry. DO NOT spread onto the puffed up sides. Place sliced peaches in a pattern of your choice on top of the Diplomat cream.
Heat about a cup of apricot jam in a sauce pan for just a few minutes so that it becomes syrupy. Take pasty brush and brush the jam onto both the peaches and the top of the puff pastry(this will help the almond slices stick better). Sprinkle almond slices onto the puff pastry as well as some powdered sugar. Place in refrigerator for at least 30 minutes. Best if eaten that day. When ready to serve, slice cake into 2-3 inch slices.

Pate Feuillete – Puff Pastry:
Makes about 2 1/2 pounds.
3 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for work surface (420 gr)
3/4 cup cake flour (105 gr)
1 1/2 teaspoons salt (7 gr)
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch pieces, well chilled (60 gr)
1 1/4 cups cold water (295.5 ml)
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour (14 gr)
1 3/4 cups (3 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, well-chilled (405 gr)
1/ Make the dough package: In a large mixing bowl, combine both flours with the salt. Scatter butter pieces over the flour mixture; using your fingers or a pastry cutter, incorporate butter until mixture resembles coarse meal.
2/ Form a well in center of mixture, and pour the water into well. Using your hands, gradually draw flour mixture over the water, covering and gathering until mixture is well blended and begins to come together. Gently knead mixture in the bowl just until it comes together to form a dough, about 15 seconds. Pat dough into a rough ball, and turn out onto a piece of plastic wrap. Wrap tightly, and place in refrigerator to chill 1 hour.
3/ Make the butter package: Sprinkle 1/2 tablespoon flour on a sheet of waxed or parchment paper. Place uncut sticks of butter on top, and sprinkle with remaining 1/2 tablespoon flour. Top with another sheet of paper; using a rolling pin, pound butter to soften and flatten to about 1/2 inch. Remove top sheet of paper, and fold butter package in half onto itself. Replace top sheet of paper, and pound again until butter is about A inch thick. Repeat process two or three times, or until butter becomes quite pliable. Using your hands, shape butter package into a 6-inch square. Wrap well in plastic wrap, and place in refrigerator until it is chilled but not hardened, no more than 10 minutes.
4/ Assemble and roll the dough: Remove dough package from refrigerator, and place on a lightly floured work surface. Using a rolling pin, gently roll dough into a 9-inch round. Remove butter package from refrigerator, and place it in the center of the dough round. Using a paring knife or bench scraper, lightly score the dough to outline the butter square; remove butter, and set it aside. Starting from each side of the center square, gently roll out dough with the rolling pin, forming four flaps, each 4 to 5 inches long; do not touch the raised square in the center of the dough. Replace butter package on the center square. Fold flaps of dough over the butter package so that it is completely enclosed. Press with your hands to seal.
5/ Using the rolling pin, press down on the dough at regular intervals, repeating and covering the entire surface area, until it is about 1 inch thick. Gently roll out the dough into a large rectangle, about 9 by 20 inches, with one of the short sides closest to you. Be careful not to press too hard around the edges, and keep the corners even as you roll out the dough by squaring them with the side of the rolling pin or your hands. Brush off any excess flour. Starting at the near end, fold the rectangle in thirds as you would a business letter; this completes the first single turn.Wrap in plastic wrap; place in refrigerator 45 to 60 minutes.
6/ Remove dough from refrigerator, and repeat process in step 5, giving it five more single turns.Always start with the flap opening on the right as if it were a book. Mark the dough with your knuckle each time you complete a turn to help you keep track. Chill 1 hour between each turn. After the sixth and final turn, wrap dough in plastic wrap; refrigerate at least 4 hours or overnight before using.
 
Saint Honore Cream (Rapid Chiboust or Diplomat Cream)
1 envelope unflavored gelatin (7 gr.)
1/4 cup cold water (60 ml)
1/2 cup + 2 Tablespoons sugar (130 gr)
½ cup all-purpose flour (70 gr)
1/4 teaspoon salt
5 egg yolks
2 cups whole milk (500ml)
1 Tb. rum
¼ cup whipping cream (57 gr)
3 egg whitesdash of salt
1/2 cup sugar (105 gr)
Soak the gelatin in the 1/4 cup of cold water.
Put the sugar, flour, and salt into a saucepan and stir together with a whisk. Add the yolks and enough milk to make a paste. Whisk in the remainder of the milk. Place over low heat and stirring constantly, cook until thick. Remove from heat and stir in the rum and the gelatin. Stir until the gelatin is completely dissolved.Stir in the whipping cream. Set the mixing bowl in cold water and stir until the cream is cool. Place the egg whites in a clean bowl and using clean beaters, whip them with the dash of salt. As soon as the whites begin to stiffen, gradually add the 1/2 cup of sugar and beat until they are very stiff. Fold the egg whites into the cooled cream.