November 15, 2011

Baking| Perfect Pumpkin Pie … and simple too {#getsmart}

“Vegetables are a must on a diet. I suggest carrot cake, zucchini bread, and pumpkin pie.”
Jim Davis

India is pretty much pumpkin country, the yellow and rather mellow squash that you will find around every nook and corner all year through, a vegetable I looked at rather disdainfully until I made my first Praline Pumpkin Pie 2 years ago. The lad nudges me this time every year to remind me he l♥ves it! This one is for him – a Perfect Pumpkin Pie.Mentally conditioned by food blogs, lovely pumpkin posts painting the net in a orange hue, I eagerly await fall. It makes me look at the pumpkin in wonder, a rather underestimated veggie, yet one that holds a lot of promise. The beautiful flavour of the pumpkin soup I shared with Jamie in London holds a special connect. It was the company, the atmosphere, the euphoria of that first time we all met. Somewhere in the middle of all this, the humble pumpkin got an even more elevated status in my life!I made soup last year, and for some silly reason it never got blogged. This pumpkin pie is the result of inspiration out of the blue. I saw a mail in my inbox saying ‘If you had two extra hours in a day, how would you spend it?‘ … and I thought, hmmm, I wonder!An extra 2 hours for the obsessed baker in me is like an impossible dream. My life seems to run choc-a-bloc morning to night, balancing the fine act of racing through laundry, trying to feed a blog, a brood, a pooch, snatching a few harassed moments to take photographs while the dog is now tall enough to get to table tops {… CUTE as a button too}, grocery {sigh}…and then emails of course!That thought stayed in my mind while I ran the laundry that morning, and teased me while I went to the vegetable vendor, our fabulous sabziwala. Someone was buying pumpkin and the fellow cut a nice bright one for her. That was my cue!Give me 2 extra hours and watch me bake with joy, bake something to fill home with autumnal aromas, pumpkin gently roasting {of course you can buy it canned as well in the rest of the world, but we know no luxuries of the sort in India!}. Much from scratch with this too, I have never had tomatoes or pumpkin out of a can here. I have read though that fresh roasted pumpkin beats the canned one hands down. Got an extra hour? Roast some!

I always have tins of condensed milk on hand after having indulged in this absolutely addictive Vietnamese Coffee Ice Cream from Perfect Scoop. You need less than an hour to make it, need resolve to keep away from the freezer, and finally 10 minutes to polish it off. But if you can grab those two extra hours, then I recommend you head for pie!
The verdict was delicious! The terrible teen screwed up her nose and said “Ewwwwwww …. pumpkin!!,” and then predictably went on to ravenously demolish the slice, and ask for another. There was something about it!! The boy lapped it up … it was his on request after all!!This is a pie right for fall. The filling … silky, smooth and spicy! The crust just right, not too crisp, yet offers a handsome bite, gently teasing the palette with beautiful pistachio flavours and a pleasing texture. I wish I could offer you a slice…it was that good, and it went FAST!

Perfect Pumpkin Pie …with fresh roasted pumpkin puree

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Bake Time: 1 hour, 45 minutes

Total Time: 2 hours

Yield: One 9 inch pie

8-10

Perfect Pumpkin Pie …with fresh roasted pumpkin puree

This is a pie right for fall. The filling … silky, smooth and spicy! The crust just right, not too crisp, yet offers a handsome bite, gently teasing the palette with beautiful pistachio flavours and a pleasing texture. {Filling from Eagle - www.eaglebrand.com/recipes/details/?RecipeId=3929&CategoryIndex=11}

Ingredients

Pumpkin puree

600gm pumpkin with peel

2tsp pumpkin pie spice

50gm powdered sugar

Pistachio Pie Crust for 1 9" pie

100gm unsalted butter, chilled, cubed

150gm cups all-purpose flour

2 tbsp sugar

50gm pistachios

1/2 teaspoon salt

2-3 tbsp cold water

Pumpkin Pie Filling

440gm roasted pumpkin puree {recipe above}

1 can condensed milk

2 large eggs

1/2 vanilla bean scraped

1/2 teaspoon salt

Instructions

Pumpkin puree

Remove seeds etc of pumpkin {I used a long slice}, wrap in foil and bake at 180C for about 45 minutes.
Once warm enough to handle, peel and chop the roasted pumpkin, add pie spice and sugar and puree. I find that the pie spice gets an enhanced flavour in warm puree and matures well.
Yields about 425-440gms of pumpkin puree {approximately 1 15oz can}

Perfect Pie Crust

Blend flour, pistachios, sugar and salt in processor till nuts are ground very fine, {Thermomix: Speed 8, 7 seconds}
Add butter and blend until you get breadcrumb like mix, and then a little more {2-3 seconds}. Add water, 1 tbsp at a time, and process till the dough begins to hold together when you pinch it. {Thermomix Speed 6, 5 seconds}
Turn onto work surface and pat together gently into a ball {donot overwork dough}
Either roll between 2 sheets of baking parchment to line the pie tin, or push into place with your fingertips. Chill for about 30 minutes.
Bake in a preheated oven at 180C for 15 minutes. Cool. {I baked mine in the last 15 minutes while the pumpkin was roasting}

Assembling Pie

Preheat oven to 190C. Whisk pumpkin, sweetened condensed milk, eggs, spices and salt in medium bowl until smooth. Pour into crust. Bake 15 minutes.
Reduce oven temperature to 180C and continue baking 35 to 40 minutes or until knife inserted 1 inch from crust comes out clean. Cool. Garnish as desired. Store leftovers covered in refrigerator.

http://www.passionateaboutbaking.com/2011/11/baking-perfect-pumpkin-pie-and-simple-too.html

And since I had so much extra time, I shot some pictures of out CUTE Coco … she was ‘all eyes’!! Oh to have those extra two hours more often!
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August 12, 2011

Dessert| No Bake Upside Down Mango Quark Cheese Pie … #pieformikey

“Time has suddenly stood still, though, and I’m waiting to wake up and learn to live a new kind of normal.”
Jennifer Perrilo @ In Jennie’s Kitchen

The food blogging community is a tight knit one. Foodies enjoy ‘being’ together, offering loads of positive vibes and camaraderie everywhere they go. Twitter is one place where you can catch most of the action. On Fridays especially, the timeline practically races away! It’s infectious!It’s a place where we all come together, celebrate the highs wholeheartedly, and yet reach out in the face of loss! The outpouring of support, the love, the thoughts, the prayers for Jennifer Perrilo & her girls has been overwhelming. This Friday foodies across the globe are tweeting their love & support for Jennifer with #pieformikey – an outstanding community! The time-line shocked a lot of us a couple of days ago with a tweet saying that Jennifer had lost her husband. She is one brave lady. Her post after she lost Mikey was heart breaking. Despite the terrible tragedy, she shared her strength with one and all inviting her readers to bake a peanut butter cream pie to support her. Jenifer’s Mikey loved Peanut Butter Cream Pie and she kept postponing making it for him. Then suddenly one day it was too late.

I kept telling myself I would make it for him tomorrow. Time has suddenly stood still, though, and I’m waiting to wake up and learn to live a new kind of normal. For those asking what they can do to help my healing process, make a peanut butter pie this Friday and share it with someone you love. Then hug them like there’s no tomorrow because today is the only guarantee we can count on.

Words cannot express the heartbreak we felt on twitter that day. The poignancy of the moment hung heavy. Then there was a call for International Pie Day in honour of Jennifer Perillo. I couldn’t make peanut butter cream pie as I had no peanut butter or cream cheese at home, but I made a no-bake Upside Down Mango Quark Cheesecake Pie … #pieformikey.I had quark and mangoes in the fridge and the BBC Good Food newsletter that had just dropped into my mailbox. It featured Healthy Summer Recipes, and the main picture was an Upside Down Lemon Cheesecake at 185 calories a slice! Healthy? Yes indeed! I adapted the recipe to make my own quark cheese pie for Jennifer! It was delicious!! Take time to enjoy the small things in life… {above photograph taken by my teen}Tragedies like these shake you up. We forget to cherish the special moments, take out time, enjoy the small joys … often so caught up in the race of time.Don’t wait for tomorrow to come. Whether its food, family, friends, pups, photography, nature … whatever you like most, breathe it now. Most of us bake or cook for the family, and that feeds our blogs. Let’s get that wish list going, share the love … like this #pieformikey!

Recipe: No Bake Upside Down Mango Quark Cheese Pie

Summary: A no bake, low fat quark cheesecake pie {eggless} made with seasonal fruit. It’s satisfying, it’s smooth and it’s delicious.

Prep Time: 15 minutes
Total Time: 40 minutes
Ingredients:

375g quark {homemade recipe here}
100g cottage cheese
200ml low fat cream
75gm powdered sugar
20gm honey
1 1/4 tbsp gelatin
Juice of 1 lime + 2 tbsp water
100gm Marie biscuits {or digestive}, crushed
50gms unsalted butter
2-3 mangoes, diced

Method:

Line a platter with cling film and place 8″ dessert ring over it {Alternatively, line an 8″ springform tin with cling film.}
Whiz the quark and cottage cheese in processor until smooth {Thermomix Speed 10 / 10 seconds}
Add the low fat cream, sugar and honey and blend. {Thermomix Speed 8 / 10 seconds, scrape down once}
Sprinkle the gelatin over the lime juice & 2 tbsp water, and allow to bloom. Place the bowl in a pan of hot water until it becomes translucent.
Stir into the cheese mixture, or pour into the processor with it running on low {Thermomix Speed 4/ 5 seconds}
Sprinkle half the chopped mangoes onto base of dessert ring, top with quark mixture, and sprinkle with remaining chopped mango, pushing it in gently with the tip of a knife.
Leave to set in fridge for an hour.
Run the biscuit crumbs with the butter in the processor {Thermomix Speed 10 / 10 seconds}
Once it gets slightly firm, sprinkle the biscuit crumb mix on top, pressing very gently into place. Cover the top, and chill for 4-5 hours, preferably overnight.
Carefully turn out onto a plate to serve. Garnish with slivered pistachios and mango cut outs if desired.
{Note: I added 200ml low fat cream to the milk while making the quark}

December 8, 2010

Baking | Chicken, Mushroom & Roasted Pepper Julienne … where French cuisine deliciously meets Russian Cuisine in India!

“Cookery is not chemistry. It is an art. It requires instinct and taste rather than exact measurements.”

Marcel Boulestin

Yes, I was back at a delicious food blog, The Mansurov’s, a favourite, but lack of time the past 2 months has kept me away from most of my faves. I have no idea what happened to time, but can’t believe that it’s December already! Hello? Still so much to do before the year goes by, bookmarked posts to try, breads to bake, cookies to make, fruit to soak for the cake, drafts to finalise … time to hit the panic button! If 11 months flew by so fast, then the rest of 2010 will be gone in a heartbeat!I’ve always wanted to bake a chicken pie at home, ever since we had some at Harry’s in Sydney way back in November 2008. Harry’s pies were served with peas and mash, and probably had gravy too. It’s been on my list to make forever, but I’ve never found a recipe that appealed to me a 100%. I had a vision in my mind … it would have a yummy ‘chicken with veggies’ interior, held together by a luxurious creamy sauce, with this puff pastry top etc. I repeatedly ‘chickened’ out each time, and my home made puff pastry found other use.This time as well was the same, well almost. Push came to shove, and we had folk for dinner. I sorted out almost sorted out the menu, but couldn’t get the right main course. Browsing the net, I saw this at Lola’s and I just knew it had to be the one. Her opening lines were as delicious as the dish itself. Just the fact that this is where French cuisine met Russian had me virtually eating the julienne right off her blog. Seriously, something strangely beautiful happens to the flavours of the sauce when you roast the flour before you add the butter. I think Lola mentioned clarified butter somewhere in her conversation. Will try that the next time… mmm!It’s become a favourite in our house already. I’ve made it twice in the last 2 weeks. Am contemplating making a vegetarian version of the julienne, maybe using broccoli, mushrooms, roasted bell peppers and cauliflower. The sauce is creamy and comforting. Once it bakes with the chicken and mushrooms, and stands for a short while, it takes all the ingredients into a ‘warm embrace‘ of sorts. YES, it’s quite the dreamy chicken pie I’ve been waiting for!Changes? Yes, but just a few and more for want of substitution. No full fat cream available here, so I went with low fat cream. Added milk to thin the sauce out as mine was very thick the first time around. I added a grating of Gruyère, chopped garlic greens and roasted bell peppers too. The second time around, I sautéed chicken and mushroom in a huge wok and mixed the warm white sauce through. I then ladled them out into the ramekins. I found it easier to work this way as I was making the dish for a crowd. It’s a great make ahead main course dish, and nice for the hoilday season. You can set up the individual ramekins, or one large serving. Top with mozzarella at this time, {or even later}, cover it with foil and refrigerate it. Before serving, heat in the oven covered for about 15 minutes, and then grill for about 10 minutes on high until the cheese is bubbly and golden on the edges. Don’t skip the mozzarella and the pinch of cayenne … it does contribute beautifully to finishing the dish well!

Chicken, Mushroom & Roasted Pepper Julienne
Adapted from Mansoravs
Makes 12-14 small ramekins
Prep: 45 mins | Bake: 20 mins | Oven: 180C
Ingredients:
6 small breasts of chicken, cooked, chopped
200gms button mushrooms, sliced fine
3 cloves of garlic, chopped fine
1 large onion, chopped fine
4-5 stalks garlic greens, chopped fine
3 roasted bell peppers, red & yellow, chopped
3 tbsp vegetable oil
Salt to taste
1 tsp pepper
2 tbsp flour
50gm butter
200ml low fat cream {I use Amul 25% fat cream}
50gm Gruyère, grated {or cheddar}
1 1/4- 1 1/2 cup milk {as required}
200gms shredded mozzarella {I use Himalayan Buffalo Mozzarella}
Paprika

Method:
Heat 3 tbsp oil in a large wok. Sauté the chopped onions, garlic and garlic greens until fragrant, and the onions begin to colour a bit. Add the chopped chicken and mushrooms, and stir fry on high heat till the liquid has evaporated. Season with salt & pepper, and red chili flakes if you like. Take off heat, stir in the roasted peppers, cover and keep warm.
Now make the white sauce.
In a dry heavy saucepan, gently roast the flour on very low heat till light brown and fragrant. Add the butter and stir through well. Almost immediately begin to pour the cream in, whisking with a balloon whisk constantly to avoid lumps getting formed. Follow the cream with about 3/4 cup of milk, keep stirring and adding more milk as required. The sauce should be thick, and will continue to thicken as it cools. Grate in some Gruyère or cheddar, a grating of nutmeg if you like, season with salt and once the cheese has melted through, mix it into the warm reserved chicken, mushroom, bell pepper.
Divide this equally into 12-13 ramekins, or turn into one big baking dish, top with mozzarella, a pinch of cayenne and bake at 180C for 15-20 minutes, until the cheese is bubbling and beginning to turn a little golden. Stand for about 10 minutes, and serve hot.
Serving suggestions: Char-grilled broccoli salad, potato-mushroom croquettes, and a rustic garlic bread.

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