Vegetable Wellington, great NYE dinner.

If you hosted both Thanksgiving and Christmas dinner like I did, you may not want to cook for New Year's Eve. I have already made reservations at my favorite country French restaurant, Cafe Sparrow.

However, if you are feeling adventurous, this vegetable Wellington is a show stopper. It is tasty and not too hard to make. A lot of the prep can be done ahead of time. Right now stores should still carry puff pastry. In some places it is considered a holiday item so I stock up. If you want to make it vegan you can use filo dough instead, it is slightly trickier to work with.

I had this dish a number of years ago, prepared by my friend, Laurie. I was so impressed. Recently I asked her for the recipe, by then she had moved on to an entirely plant based diet. She couldn't remember where she got the recipe. Undaunted I looked online but without the benefit of the name of the dish, I searched and searched, finally I just decided to reproduce it from memory. I loved what I came up with, then a month ago she found what she thought was her original recipe.

I still think I like my rendition best ;-)

Laurie's Vegetable Wellington

Ingredients

1 package puff pastry
1 egg
1-2 cups grated cheese, Parmesan or cheddar or jack
2 cups cooked mushrooms
1 cup steamed greens, spinach or chard
2 cups sliced and steamed carrots
1 cup sauteed onions
1 cup sauteed bell peppers

1) I have found that the best way to work with puff pastry is to defrost it in the fridge. That way it takes only minutes out of the fridge to be ready to use.

2) It's important to get all your vegetables ready ahead of time. What vegetables you use is very flexible as long as you cook most of the moisture out of them so your puff pastry doesn't get soggy.

3) Beat one egg with a tablespoon of milk or water. The egg wash also helps to keep the puff pastry from getting soggy.

4) Preheat your oven to 400 F. Line your loaf pan with parchment paper, and spray with cooking oil.

5) Once you remove the puff pastry from the fridge and its packaging, you will want to work fairly quickly. You want to line the pan carefully with puff pastry and brush it with egg wash. You can see it doesn't have to be perfect but do mash the seams together.

6) Now you are ready to layer the vegetables. I suggest putting the carrots on the bottom instead of something wetter like the greens or mushrooms, otherwise I just layer them for nice color contrasts.
I sprinkled the cheese between some of the layers.

7) Now cover  with your last piece of pastry, crimp the edges together and paint with the last of your egg wash and make some slashes across the top.

8) Bake at 400 F for 40-50 minutes until the crust is golden brown. Remove from the oven and then remove from the pan once it cools enough to handle. Allow to rest another 5-10 minutes before slicing. Serve with a large green salad, hearty soup or meat dish. I have to say if you have leftovers, you are lucky, it is great the next day gently warmed in a toaster oven.

Galette Des Rois

Galette Des Rois is French for Kings Cake. I remember this puff pastry almond tart from my childhood in Paris. Before the 6th of January these galettes would show up in the windows of the local patisserie, along with gold paper crowns. They were made to celebrate Epiphany, the time when the three kings came to visit baby Jesus.

They are also made for 12th Night, the end of the Christmas holiday season or Mardi Gras, the celebration before lent...

What I loved was the ritual and the dense almond filling.

First the ritual. Usually served at a party, the youngest person hid under the table while the oldest person cut the cake. From under the table the youngster would call out who would receive each slice. Once the cake was all divvied up, everyone would carefully begin to eat.
Baked inside the cake was a small ceramic figure, whoever got the figure wore the crown and was king !! ( I can hear mothers and dentists cringing at the potential for expensive tooth repairs ;-). In the recipes I found, a dried bean can be substituted for the figure.

Now the recipe...I had made versions of this cake before but was never completely satisfied.
I looked at a lot of recipes online, most had you make your own almond paste and were very complex. I already had some plain marzipan that I wanted to use up. You can find it at most well stocked grocery stores or Cost Plus in season. Or if you want to make it from scratch try this almond filling from David Lebovitz.

In the past the filling had oozed out of the pastry, so I decided to chill the filling for a couple of hours and make the galette in a pan.
Here's what I came up with.

Laurie's Galette des Rois

Ingredients

1 lbs frozen puff pastry ( 2 sheets)
300 grams plain marzipan (about 10 ounces)
1/2 cup butter at room temperature
1/2 cup sugar
2 eggs + 1 egg for an egg wash
1/2 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

tart pan with removable bottom, 11 inch ( other round pans about this size will do)
dried bean or ceramic figure and crown ( optional)

1) To get the puff pastry ready to use I like to defrost it the night before in the fridge, that way it is ready when you are.

2) To a standing mixer bowl add the butter, sugar and marzipan cut into chunks.

3) Mix well.

4) Add the eggs one at a time on low speed.
5) Continue to beat on high speed for 3 minutes.
6) Gently fold in the flour.
7) Chill the filling for several hours or overnight.

8) Preheat the oven to 400 F.
9) Remove the puff pastry from the fridge.
9) Lightly spray your pan with oil.
10) Lay one sheet of pastry on the bottom of the pan, making sure it comes all the way up the sides.
11) Beat one egg and brush on the pastry in the pan.
12) Carefully spread the chilled filling, use your fingers to work it all over the pan.
13) Brush the filling with egg wash. If you want to add the figure or bean, now would be the time to press it into the filling.
14) Cover with the second sheet of pastry and carefully seal the edges by pinching them together. Sorry I don't have photos, I was too busy improvising ;-)
15) Brush the top with more egg wash. Using a sharp knife score or cut a pattern on the top.
16) Bake for 30 minutes. Allow to cool in the pan on a baking rack for an hour.

 17) Carefully remove from the pan.

This galette would make a great brunch treat as well.

Dinner the other night and more.

We had friends over on Saturday, Susan B. said she always checks my blog after she comes here for dinner, she hopes to see the recipes.

Here was the menu:

tomato goat cheese galette
carrot ginger soup
mixed greens fall salad
pumpkin cheesecake

The tomato goat cheese galette used puff pastry as the base. I have found that defrosting it in the refrigerator is the best way to handle it. Bring it out of the fridge right before you prepare the topping, don't forget the eggs wash and the 400 F oven temp.

This galette had:
fresh early girl tomatoes, thinly sliced, enough to cover the sheet of pastry
crumbled goat cheese, about a 1/3 cup per sheet of puff pastry
a teaspoon of fresh herbs
1/2 teaspoon of salt.

I baked for 25 minutes and served it about 5 minutes after it came out of the oven. It doesn't reheat very well, best made and served right away.

 The mixed greens fall salad was great, I had a similar one at the De Young Museum restaurant earlier in the week.

Start with a bed of mixed green, including arugula.
2 fuyu persimmons, peeled and thinly sliced
1 Asian pear, peeled and thinly sliced
1 cup pomegranate seeds
1/2 cup toasted walnuts

For the dressing I made a simple sweet vinaigrette:
1 /2 cup toasted walnut oil
1/4 cup fruit vinegar
1 teaspoon honey
1 tablespoon plum jam ( use whatever jam you have on hand)

Dissolve the jam and honey in the vinegar, whisk in the oil.
If the jam is chunky, strain the mixture.


Earlier last week we had a dinner with visiting family, the food was a big hit. I did most of it ahead of time so I could enjoy the great company.
Here is that menu:

Asian slaw
roasted curried chicken
rice
peanut sauce
pear ginger chutney
yogurt
baked apples

And finally...several weeks ago, I spent a weekend with some of my friends from the American School of Paris. Yes, I lived in Paris for eight years and attended high school there.
Anyway, we had a lovely hike and then potluck dinner.

I brought two dips as appetizers, the recipes were requested.
One was a smoked trout mousse, which I made with trout we had caught and smoked ourselves.

I used the recipe for my smoked salmon mousse.

The other dip was my classic hummus, always a crowd pleaser.

The main course was a lovely salad nicoise salad bar, grilled burgers and sausages.

Rustic summer fruit tart, so easy !!

Recently my brother was here for a quick visit, he loves desserts. I had some very ripe Santa Rosa plums and lots of puff pastry in my freezer. Time for this very simple fresh fruit tart.

The hardest part of this recipe is finding frozen puff pastry in the summer. For some reason Trader Joe's thinks that puff pastry is a seasonal item. Well, I fooled them and stocked up in December. I am guessing that other stores may have different ideas about seasonality. Plus my brother claims puff pastry is not that hard to make, but for now find the frozen stuff.

I prefer to defrost puff pastry in the fridge overnight. You can also do it straight from the freezer to your kitchen counter. The box should give you tell you how long it will take.
You will want to have everything ready to work with before you unwrap the puff pastry. If it gets too warm it is hard to work with. Just chill it for a few minutes in the fridge.

Rustic Fruit Tart

Ingredients

1 sheet defrosted puff pastry
12-14 plums ( peaches, nectarines and other stone fruit work well too)
2-4 tablespoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1 egg (for the egg wash)

1) Preheat oven to 400 F. Get a large baking sheet and a piece of parchment to fit it.
2) Prepare the plums, cutting slices on either side of the pit. (I describe this technique in my post about yellow plums.)
3) Make the egg wash by beating one whole egg.
4) Remove the puff pastry from the package and place it on the parchment.
5) Roll out the pastry, fold the edges.

 6)  Brush with the egg wash.

7) Sprinkle with 1-2 tablespoons sugar and 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon.

8) Place the plums on the pastry, cut side up. Use a fork to press the edges down.

9) Sprinkle on the remaining sugar.

10) Bake at 400 F for 25 to 30 minutes.

This is best served warm and fresh from the oven. The pastry will get soft if you save it and reheat it.

This make a great breakfast served with yogurt or a not too sweet dessert served with whipped cream or  ice cream.

Puff Pastry, I think I finally get it...

Puff pastry is one of those things that it is better to buy than try to make yourself unless you are crazy, an aspiring pastry chef or live somewhere so remote you can't buy it.
I was excited to find that Trader Joe's now carries their own version so I don't have to go to Safeway to get it.
My friend Susan is a whiz with puff pastry, she makes cute little chocolate filled rounds, triangles filled with lemon curd and pockets with winter squash and herbs. All of hers come out golden brown and puffy.
I have tried several different times to make dessert with puff pastry.

They looked good going in the oven...

...I was not very happy with how they came out. The pastry didn't puff and they were soggy. I know partly it was the filling, and they did taste fine.

Here are a few things I have learned about puff pastry:

1) It needs to defrost about 20 to 30 minutes, and the window of time is short. 

If you try to work with it too soon it is still frozen and will break. 
If you wait too long it gets too soft and gooey and will tear.
So have all your ingredients ready and don't be in a hurry.

2) Roll the dough out, this will give you a thinner crust, which will keep your end product from being doughy.

3) Use at egg wash, to both sides. Simple beat an egg and brush it on the pastry before filling. This will help to keep the pastry from getting soggy.

4) Bake in a hot oven, 400 F.
This will help with the browning.

I made goat cheese stuffed triangles the other day and they came out beautifully.
I mixed plain goat cheese with some fresh herbs, oregano, thyme and rosemary.

I rolled out my pastry square, cut it into four sections, did the egg wash thing, stuffed the squares and folded them over, made sure they were sealed.

I baked them for about 15 to 20 minutes.

The hard part was waiting for them to cool enough to eat !!

There are lots of different fillings and uses for puff pastry.
I had an amazing vegetable terrine the other night made by my friend, Laurie. 
And I have tried the little chocolate rolls Susan makes.
It's an easy but fancy appetizer to use little squares of puff pastry with a dab of pesto.
My next adventure will be to try some veggie pouches with the roots I just roasted: carrots, beets, parsnips, rutabagas and yams. I'll post if they come out well.