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Sunday, February 13, 2011

Five Spice Pumpkin Hazelnut Loaf

1 ¾ cups of all purpose flour                                              
1 heaping teaspoon
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon freshly grated
¼ teaspoon allspice
3 tablespoons
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
¾ cup of dark brown sugar
1/3 of a cup sugar
2 teaspoons of grated orange
½ teaspoon lemon extract
½ cup oil
1 ¼ cups canned pumpkin
1 cup toasted Raw Oregon Hazelnuts / Filberts (1 Pound Bag) chopped roughly
You will need to rub most of the skins off with a kitchen towel

Preheat your oven to 325 degrees and set the rack to the lower third of the oven. Butter and dust with flour a Farberware Bakeware 9-by-5-Inch Loaf Pan. Then put a sling of buttered Kaiser Bakeware Patisserie Reusable Parchment Paper in the loaf pan as show in the photo. Mix together the flour, five spice, baking powder, baking soda, salt, nutmeg, allspice, orange zest, ginger and hazel nuts into a bowl.


Place two eggs into an electric mixer and beat them until they are pale in color. This will take about two minutes. Add the sugars in stages. Then add the oil, pumpkin, vanilla and lemon extract.

Then by spoon full add the flour mixture until just well combined.
Do not over mix. Place in loaf pan and bake for fifty five minutes or until a cake tester comes out clean. Cool before slicing.




Thursday, February 10, 2011

Cornish Pasties

Pastry Recipe

16 ounces white flour
16 ounces white whole wheat  flour
1 teaspoon of
CORNISH SEA SALT - A new, gourmet seasoning from England! Hand-harvested, pure, light & crunchy.
8 ounces unsalted butter
8 ounces of
Armour Star Lard, 1-Pound (Pack of 8)
note you can use all butter (not traditional)
1 1/2 cups of water

Mix butter and lard into the flour until it reaches a meal like consistency. I used a Oxo Good Grips Dough Blender. Pour the water in, reserving a little depending on the flour. It should have the consistency of pie dough. Work the dough as little as
possible. Cover with plastic wrap and then refrigerate
for at least one hour.
 
Filing Recipe

1 1/2 pounds of New York Steak sliced into 1/4 inch pieces
1 rutabaga diced into 1/4 inch pieces
2 potatoes diced into 1/4 inch pieces
1 small onion sliced extremely finely with a Progressive International HGT-11 Folding Mandoline Slicer
1 bunch of watercress
* Filling is traditionally rather bland. You can add
non traditional ingredients such as diced roasted canned chiles, roasted red peppers, garlic, roasted cumin seeds, smoked paprika.
black pepper and salt to taste
egg wash (1 egg yolk mixed with 1 tablespoon milk)
Note you can serve with spicy ketsup too!

Cut the chilled pastry in half. Roll out half of the pastry on a Regency Pastry Cloth & Rolling Pin Cover Set until it is the thickness of pie dough. Take an 8 inch round plate as a tool to cut out 4 circles with a Wilton Pastry Wheel.Repeat the process until you have 8 pasties.

Assemble

Place the swede and onion slices around the center of the pastry. Very lightly salt and pepper. Then layer the meat all over the pastry in a single layer. Very lightly sprinkle with salt and pepper. Then add another layer of potatoes with the watercress leaves left whole and stems removed. Dot with a little butter. Brush one side of the pastry lightly with water. Seal as shown in the photo. Brush pasties with egg wash mixture. Make sure to slit the pastry to let the steam out. Bake in a 425 degree oven for 20 minutes. If they are browning to fast, then turn the heat down to 325 degrees. Bake for 30 minutes more and then turn off the heat. Leave the pasties in the oven for another 15 minutes with the oven door shut.