Russian Monday: “Volovan s Gribamy” - Vol-au-vents with Creamy Mushroom & Shrimp Filling

Vol-au-vent is a puffy tartlet from flaky dought. Dough raises up during baking and takes shape of a small cup or basket. Variety of fillings go into baked dough baskets  and they are served cold or hot.

Vol-au-vents are of French origin, first time made by French chef Marie-Antoine Carême. Name of this pastry points to the type of dough used in it. The initial idea behind volauvents was to make them very lite as opposed to the ones made of shortcrust dough. There is another name for vol-au-vents – bouchées. Authorship of first bouchées is attributed to wife of King Louis XV, Maria Leschinsky. She loved small single bite type of foods and hence the name – “bouchées à la reine”, queen’s bites.

Despite of vol-au-vents French origin, they are very popular in Russian cuisine, you can find variety of their recipes in old cook books of Soviet time.

Braised Rabbit with Mustard - Lapin a La Moutarde

This historically traditional French dish is sure to climb into a top spot on anyone's favorite comfort food list. My own personal experience at BOUCHON had inspired me to bring this amazing dish to life. With simple fresh ingredients, I was able to perfectly compliment the Rabbit's flavors, which always are a welcomed change from our typical everyday sources of protein. Easy to make, without being too fancy, yet fit for every occasion or holiday. Enjoy!

Chocolate Cake with Poached Pears in Red Wine and Happy Birthday to Everyone Who Was Born in the Month of July!

I had a desire today to bake something special, not only for my Birthday but for everyone who is celebrating Birthday in July. This is an easily prepared dessert with a sophisticated taste. Warm poached pears coated in a rich red wine sauce on a top of chocolate heaven - who could resist?

Happy Birthday Dear Friends, I wish you all very sweet year!


Adapted from Gâteau «Reine de Saba» by Pierre Hermé

Ingredients:

For the cake:

• 5 oz dark chocolate with 60% cocoa, chopped into very small pieces
• 4 Tbsp. butter, room temperature plus more for greasing
• 3 eggs, separate 
• 1 cup confectioners sugar
• 1/3 cup potato starch 
• 2/3 cup almond flour 

For the poached pears:

• 4-6 pears, peeled and cored 
• 2 cup red wine, recommend Shiraz or Merlot
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 Tbsp. honey
• 1 cinnamon stick 
• 1 anise star
• lemon zest from 1 lemon

Directions: 

To make a poached pears: Combine wine, honey, sugar lemon zest, cinnamon stick and anise star, and bring to a boil. When the wine mixture is boiling, turn heat down to a simmer and add the pears. Simmer pears for 25-30 minutes until they are tender and are easily poked through with a fork. Remove pears and let them cool. Boil wine sauce until the liquid has been reduced by half.

To make a cake: Preheat the oven to 325°F.  Butter an 9-inch pan with 2-inch sides.

Place the chocolate in a heatproof bowl and set over but not touching barely simmering water in a saucepan. Heat, stirring, until the chocolate melts, about 2 minutes. Add the butter and continue to stir until the butter melts and is incorporated. Let it cool.

In a bowl, sift together the almond flour and potato starch. Set aside.

In a large bowl, combine the egg yolks and sugar. Using an electric mixer set on medium speed, beat until creamy, 3 to 4 minutes. Fold in the starch mixture and then the chocolate mixture until blended.

In a clean grease-free bowl, using an electric mixer beat the egg whites slowly until they are frothy. Increase the speed, and continue beating until the whites are stiff and glossy. Stir one-fourth of the whites into the batter, then fold in the remaining whites just until incorporated.

Pour the batter into the prepared pan and level the top. Bake until the top is risen and crusty and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out almost clean, 30 to 35 minutes. Transfer the pan to a wire rack and let cool for 10 to 15 minutes.

To serve, top the cake with the poached pears and red wine sauce.

Mussels in White Wine Sauce with Onions and Tomatoes - The appetizer that should be in every cook’s repertoire!

I of the things I admire about French cooking is the fact that inexpensive foods are given the same loving treatment as the luxury items, and frequently turn out to taste even better. Take mussels. Probably the most popular mussel dish is "moules marinieres", a classic French recipe using wine, garlic, shallots, parsley and butter. This dish is easy to make, and tastes divine. The only different thing with my variation is that I added fresh tomatoes to the sauce. I love it this way. See for yourself when you try this recipe.



Ingredients:

• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 4 garlic cloves, chopped
• 3 Tbsp. butter
• 2 1/2 lb. mussels, well scrubbed and debearded
• 1/2 cup white wine
• 3-5 small tomatoes, chopped
• 1 bay leaf
• salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
• 2-3 Tbsp. fresh parsley, chopped

(On the photo: Boston lettuce for my salad that I had with mussels)

Tip: To clean mussels, scrub the shells well under running water. The beard, a fibrous tuft near the hinge, should not be removed until just before cooking. Grasp it close to the shell and pull on it with a firm tug. Today, with so many farm-raised mussels in the market, beards are less fully formed and are easier to remove. Once the mussels have been thoroughly cleaned, remove and discard any shells that are open or broken and that do not close when tapped.



Directions:

In a large sauté pan over medium-high heat, melt the butter. Then add the onion, garlic and cook until the onions are soft, about 3-4 minutes. Turn up the flame to high and add the mussels. Pour in the white wine, bay leaf, fresh parsley, salt, ground pepper and stir for about 1 minute. Stir in the tomatoes, cover and cook for 5 minutes until all the mussels have opened. Discard any mussels that did not open.
Serve the mussels in large bowl with the broth and baguette slices for dipping.

French Chocolate Cake - Gateau au Chocolat

French Chocolate Cake - Gateau au Chocolat

This is typical of a French homemade cake - dense, dark and delicious.
The texture is very different from a sponge cake and it is excellent served with cream or a fruit coulis.

Serves:  6

Ingredients:

• 3/4 cup superfine sugar, plus some for sprinkling springform pan 
• 10 ounces semisweet chocolate, chopped
• 3/4 cup unsalted butter, cut into pieces
• 2 tsp vanilla extract  
• 5 eggs, separated
• 1/4 cup flour, sifted   
• pinch of salt
• confectioner’s sugar, for dusting (optional, I used cocoa powder)
• 1 lb berries, for fruit coulis, plus extra to serve (optional)
• 1/2 cup superfine sugar, for fruit coulis 
• juice of 1/2 lemon, for fruit coulis

Directions:

For fruit coulis: Put the berries (of your choice) in a pan with ½ cup sugar and heat very gently, stirring with a wooden spoon from time to time. When the mixture comes to a simmer, cook gently for another 10 minutes. Transfer to a blender or a food processor and whiz to a puree, then strain through a cheesecloth-lined strainer into a bowl. Let this coulis cool, stirring occasionally to prevent a skin forming. When cold, stir in the lemon juice.



Preheat the oven to 325°F.

Generously butter a 9_1/2 inch springform pan, then sprinkle the pan with a little sugar and tap out the excess. Set aside 3 tbsp of the sugar, you are going to use it for the egg whites. Place the chocolate, butter and remaining sugar in a heavy saucepan and cook over low heat until the chocolate and butter have melted and the sugar has dissolved. Remove the pan from the heat, stir in the vanilla extract and let the mixture cool slightly.

Beat the egg yolks into the chocolate mixture, beating each in well, and then stir in the flour.



In a clean greasefree bowl, using an electric mixer beat the egg whites slowly until they are frothy. Increase the speed, add the salt and continue beating until soft peaks form. Sprinkle over the reserved sugar and beat until the whites are stiff and glossy. Beat one-third of the whites into the chocolate mixture, then fold in the remaining whites.

Carefully pour the mixture into the pan and tap the pan gently to release any air bubbles.



Bake the cake for about 35-45 minutes until well risen and the top springs back when touched lightly with a fingertip. (If the cake appears to rise unevenly, rotate after 20-25 minutes.) Transfer the cake to a wire rack; remove the side of the pan let cool completely. Remove the pan base. Dust the cake with confectioner’s sugar and transfer to a serving plate.

Kougelhopf - Fruit and Almond Ring, the Perfect Breakfast and Brunch Dessert

Kougelhopf - Fruit and Almond Ring, is the symbol of Alsace baking.

Gugelhupf, Kougloff, kougelhopf, or guglhopf are the various versions of the name of the famous yeast ring cake. The Alsatians have used this name from time immemorial, but they still do not know how to spell it, although they all agree that the cake is part of a good breakfast or something to eat with afternoon coffee. When a glass of Tokay Pinot Gris or Gewurztraminer is offered, a piece of cake should be offered too. Savory versions with diced bacon instead of currants accompany the aperitive.



Its appearance is due to the high-walled wavy mold in which it was baked. Traditional ringcake molds are fired in terracotta and are tile red. The name is derived from German, although it comes from Austria, from where Marie Antoinette brought the recipe to Versailles. An exception is the kougloff of Ribeauville, where the inhabitants claim that the originator of their ringcake was a former village baker.

Ingredients:

• 2 tbsp/ 30 ml kirsch
• 1 cup/ 150 g raisins or (sultanas or Malaga currants)
• 5 cups/700 g flour
• 1 oz/ 30 g compressed yeast
• 2 cups/ 500 ml lukewarm milk
• 5 eggs
• 1 tbsp/ 10 g salt
• 2/3 cup/150 g sugar
• ¾ cup/180 g soft butter
• 2 tbsp almond flakes

Directions:
Pour the kirsch over the raisins, stir, leave covered for a few hours to soak. To prepare the starter dough sieve 2 cups/300g flour into a bowl, make a hollow in the center, crumble in the yeast, pour on half the lukewarm milk and stir. Lightly knead and leave to prove for 2 hours.



Then add the remaining milk, the remaining flour, salt, sugar, and eggs to the starter dough, mix all the ingredients well and beat vigorously for at least 10 minutes, which is very important for the texture of the cake. The loose, semi-solid dough should come away from the bowl easily. Mix in the butter and knead the mixture, until it becomes a smooth, supple dough. Now add the raisins or currants and work them in until they are evenly distributed in the dough.


   
Carefully grease two ringcake molds with butter and sprinkle the almond flakes evenly in them. Fill the mold up to halfway with the dough and leave to prove in a draught-free place.

Preheat the oven to 390F/200C. Bake the kougelhopf for 20-30 minutes, depending on the size of the mold. When the surface is golden brown, remove the cake from the oven and leave it to cool on a cake stand.

Tip: I don’t have two ring molds, so I used one ring mold and one pan for 6 small bandt cakes. Worked perfectly for me. I baked small cakes for only 15 minutes.

A Glimpse at Recipes of The Past: Gateau Grand Marnier - Orange Liqueur Cake

Gateau Grand Marnier - Orange Liqueur Cake
recipe from A Treasury of Great Recipes by Mary and Vincent Pride 1965

This unfrosted cake, saturated with orange juice and orange liqueur, is a special favorite, marvelous with tea or coffee. This recipe came from a little inn in Lorraine, a province of France noted for its fruits and liqueurs, and where the rum-saturated cakes known as babas were invented.



Ingredients for cake:

• 1 cup butter + one more tsp for greasing a pan
• 1 cup sugar
• 3 eggs
• 1 tsp Grand Marnier
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 1/4 cup sour cream
• grated rind of 1 orange
• 1 cup chopped walnuts

Ingredients for topping:

• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 cup orange juice
• 1/3 cup Grand Marnier
• 1/2 cup slivered almonds

Direction:
1. Preheat oven to moderate 350F.
2. Cream butter with sugar until pale and fluffy.
3. Beat in egg yolks, one at the time.
4. Add Grand Marnier.
5. Sift together flour, baking powder and baking soda.
6. Add dry ingredients to butter, alternating with sour cream, beginning and ending with dry ingredients and mixing until smooth.
7. Stir in grated rind of orange and chopped walnuts.
8. Beat until stiff egg whites and fold into batter. Pour batter into a greased 9-inch cake pan.
9. Bake in the moderate oven for 50 to 55 minutes, or until cake tests done.



Topping:
Combine sugar, orange juice and Grand Marnier. Pour over hot cake while it is in pan. Sprinkle with almonds and let cake cool before removing from cake.