“The Encyclopedia of Sandwiches Recipes, History and Trivia, For Everything Between Sliced Bread” by Susan Russo and Photographed by Matt Armendariz comes out today- go get it!

I was lucky enough to recieve an advance copy from the cool folks at Quirk Books so I have been waiting for a week or two to tell you about this book. Mostly because I hate getting excited about something that I have to wait to go out and get for myself.
This book is a cool little compendium of sandwiches from A to Zed- well actually W. It starts with “The All-in-One Breakfast Sandwich” and ends with the “Walleye Sandwich”. Stuffed in between is a ton of goodness including lots of variations on each sandwich.
Susan is a longtime favourite blogger of mine from her food blog “Food Blogga” and Matt is someone whose work I am getting to know through his popular blog “Matt Bites”.

A couple of nights ago I decided to make a Croque-Madame. It is one of the variations of France’s traditionally popular Croque-Monsieur or “Crunch Mister” a ham and Gruyere sandwich on slices of white bread (a French Boule in my case) made even more rich by the addition of a bit of bechamel sauce then grilled in butter. Hard to not drool even thinking of one. The Croque-Madame has the addition of a fried egg on top which puts it over the top in goodness as far as I am concerned.
So what are you waiting for? Get your copy now. Picnic season is coming… Breakfast is coming…Dessert is coming!

The perfect shape + the perfect sauce!

A few months ago Quirk Books was kind enough to offer me a review copy of “The Geometry of Pasta” by Caz Hildebrand and Jacob Kennedy. I accepted with enthusiasm and then life got a bit complicated and every time I came to post about it something delaying came up. Well I am sorry it has taken me so long to share this marvelous book with you because it is truly fun and interesting. The design is straight forward and stunning in black and white graphics. The information about pasta- the shapes and history- is fun to read and informative and the sauce pairings are inspired. Critically acclaimed chef Jacob Kenedy and award-winning designer Caz Hildebrand, were recently featured on the Martha Stewart Show!  Have a look: http://bit.ly/9t9e6U.
You can read more about the book here.

I chose to make some Orecchiette (little ears) following the directions in the book I mixed 1 cup and 3 Tablespoons semolina flour and 1/3 cup water,

mixed it kneaded it,

let it rest 20 minutes

and then shaped it into a small log, cut 1/2 pieces off then smeared them with a blunt knife to make the orrecchiette.

These are to be served with a broccoli rabe and sausage sauce. Try the book – you’ll like it- I do!

xo

Individual Kouign Amann aux amandes

“Bretagne Braid”

These are my own version of Kouign Amann. Kouign Amann (which is pronounced “Queen Ah-mahn”) means butter cake in the Breton language. They are the mouthwatering, buttery, salty, caramelized, sweet pastry from Bretagne- the region of Brittany in France.
With the addition of a bit of marzipan and toasted almonds they become a heavenly cross between traditional  Kouign Amann and our favourite almond croissants. They become “Kouign Amann aux amandes”. We think that they are the ultimate – the bomb- the “I’m having a transcendent moment here”  pastry!

I first learned of Kouign Amann through reading  Madeleine Kamman’s lovely book, “When French Women Cook- A Gastronomique Memoir”, written in 1976. Her book takes you through the dishes of several regions of France represented by women she knew growing up there- friends, family and friends of the family-from 1934 to the 1970s.  I wish I could duplicate her journey but sadly those days and places are lost to the march of time and history. She hosted the PBS series “Madeleine Cooks” in the mid 1980s and has contributed much to the interest in and teaching of French Cooking in the USA. I am not using her recipe here, it is an amalgamation of several others I’ve read with my own tweaks added here and there.

I’ve also mentioned before that our favourite local place to buy these if you don’t make them yourself is Les Madeleines Bakery. They are exquisitely made there- lovely, gooey and carmelized. If you live in Salt Lake or are passing through do give them a try- they are worth the trip. Rick and I got addicted to them at Les Madeleines and I remembered seeing them in “When French Women Cook” and several other French cookbooks I own- so I started making them at home.

Back to the pastry…laminating a not too rich dough (you can even start with plain white bread dough) with salted butter and sugar is the secret to making Kouign Amann. They are not difficult to do as long as you keep everything cold, chill between “turns” and are patient in your rolling.  They take a bit of time is what I am saying here- it is at least a two day process so make sure to plan ahead.    (BTW I have made a very good version using homemade quick puff pastry and laminating in sugar with a pinch of salt to make up for the unsalted butter in the puff pastry.)

A word about equipment first- you don’t need lots of special stuff to make these but I find these things helpful:  a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook and also a paddle- a bowl, spoon and elbow grease will do if you don’t have one;  a flexible straight sided ruler 18″ to 24 ” is very helpful -I have a flat plastic graphics ruler that I have marked with black marker at 8″, 12″, 18″ and 24″ increments;  a soft pastry brush; a large french style rolling pin; english muffin rings (or a jumbo muffin pan), a flan ring if making a large version and heavy duty baking sheets lined with parchment or silpats, plus a sharp knife or pastry roller cutter.

Risen Dough

First and Third Turns Marked

Kouign Amann aux amandes

• 1 package active dried yeast = (1/4 ounce) or  1 level Tablespoon of Bob’s Redmill instant yeast
• 1-3/4 cups warm water about 105F
• 1 large pinch of granulated sugar, plus 1-2 cups more for laminating and rolling and for topping the pastries
• 5 -6 cups of all purpose flour (start with 5 add the other if needed -see below)
• 1-1/2 teaspoons sea salt, plus another  pinch  for the  topping
• 1/8 cup melted butter, cooled
• 1 pound best quality SALTED butter, cold (or use unsalted and mix in a little fleur de sel when forming the block)
• 7 ounces best quality home made or prepared marzipan
• slivered almonds- to top -about 1/3 cup total

Mix the yeast, warm water and a pinch of sugar together and let stand until foamy- a few minutes. Place the flour, salt and melted butter in the bowl of the stand mixer fitted with a dough hook and mix together, add the yeast mixture and mix until a smooth dough forms and begins to pull away from the sides of the bowl. This should only take a few minutes.  If you don’t have a stand mixer, use a bowl and a wooden spoon and then turn out to knead on a lightly floured counter until a smooth dough forms. Place the dough in a bowl and cover with plastic wrap and place in a warm place to rise to double- about an hour.  When doubled, punch down and chill for about an hour, meanwhile get the the butter block  ready.

Place the cold butter  in the clean bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment this time, or beat it with a rolling pin between two pieces of parchment paper until it is pliable but still cool. Form this into an  8″ square block (about 1/2″ thick) and cover with parchment or plastic wrap and place on a tray in your fridge to chill. Chill for 30 minutes.  So the dough will have been in the fridge for about one hour and 35 minutes and the butter block that was already cool has joined it in for about 30 minutes. This will make them approximately the same temperature. 

Remove the dough from the fridge and roll it into a uniform 18″ square with the center a bit thicker than the edges. Remove the butter block from the fridge and place it catre-cornered on the dough square- in other words have the corners of the butter point at the center of the sides of the square.  Fold the corners of the dough over the butter to overlap on top and pinch to seal. Roll out to a 24″ by 8″ rectangle – use your ruler to keep the dough straight and squared off, then brush off any flour with a pastry brush. Sprinkle with  about 1/4 cup sugar and press with the pin to roll in. Fold the right edge over the middle third of the dough and the left edge over the whole right side edge you just folded over (as if you were folding a towel or book into thirds, so the 24″ becomes 8″ and the 8″ stays the same dimension.)  Dimple the dough with your finger once to mark this as your first “turn”. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and place on a baking  tray that will fit in your fridge and chill for 30 minutes.  Remove and repeat the rolling and folding but roll the opposite way so the 8″ side of your folded “towel or book”  will become 24″ and the other side will become 8″ when rolled( thats why it’s called a turn- you are turning the dough package to roll and fold the opposite direction from the previous way.  Fold again the same as above, brushing off excess flour and rolling in sugar before folding, and marking two dimples for the second turn. Repeat 2 more times but chill an hour between these turns. When you have completed 4 turns in total (of course chilling between) wrap and chill the dough overnight or for at least 6 hours.  The next morning….

Place some sugar on your rolling surface and roll the dough out to 24″ x 18″, cut to the desired size- I usually make twelve 4″x 4″ Kouign Amann and one larger sized pastry with the remainder of the dough. Knead the marzipan and place in the center of whatever shape you choose, fold the edges over to meet in the center and pinch to seal. Top each pastry with sugar mixed witha tiny pinch of salt and some slivered almonds. Place each pastry into english muffin rings on a parchment or silpat lined heavy sheet pan or even a jumbo muffin pan (no need to grease them) for the 4×4″ size and use a flan ring for the larger size .To make a “Bretagne Braid ” such as the one shown here – make a rectangle and put the marzipan lengthwise down the middle, cut in from the long sides towards the filling  at 1/2″ even, intervals and alternate bringing the side strips over the filling to make a braided pattern, turn under the ends and pinch to seal, place on a parchment or silpat lined baking sheet, cover the pastry with plastic wrap and (proof) place in warm place until slightly puffed- about 30 to 40 minutes. Preheat your oven to 425F. Bake in the preheated oven for about 45 minutes, rotating the trays about halfway through and bake until golden,   and puffed.  Remove to a cooling tray immediately.

They are good warm or cool but they do stale quickly so eat them or share them the same day- although we have nibbled them for up to four days they lose their stellar quality. I have frozen some, untopped, at the preproofed stage to pull them out proof them, top them and bake them as needed.

Proofing individual and large sized pastries

Finished Pastries

They make an awfully good breakfast!

Wow that was a long one! Hope you enjoyed the journey.

xo

WHAT GETS YOU COOKING? 

Macy’s 12 episode podcast series starring Tyler Florence will inspire you with delicious recipes and you have a chance to win a trip for two to San Francisco for a $2500 kitchen shopping spree with Tyler Florence in the Macy’s Keeps America Cooking Video Contest!

This contest sponsored by Macy’s to win a trip to San Francisco to shop with Tyler Florence on a $2,500 shopping spree and a hosted podcast linked to his series.  Nicole from M80 productions contacted me to let me know and asked me to share this with you all too. All you have to do is make a video cooking one of your favourite recipes and share it on the site to be entered to win. The deadline is  April 3, 2009.

Details here at the M80 newsroom or here at  www.macys.com/keepitcooking

Contest overview:
The “Macy’s Keeps America Cooking” contest will be based completely off of user-generated video submissions and viewer-rating of their favorite video or recipe. Entrants are asked to create a video based on an original recipe that demonstrates “What gets you cooking? Is it the magical people in your life? Or the fresh ingredients at your local market?” Each video should be 2 minutes or less, and, similar to how Tyler ends his podcasts with “From my Mill Valley kitchen to yours, Macy’s keeps it cooking,” submitted videos should also end with the line “From my (location) kitchen to yours, Macy’s keeps it cooking!”

Prizes
- The Grand Prize Winner of the contest will receive:
o a trip for two to San Francisco to cook with Tyler
o shopping spree with Tyler for new kitchen products using Macy’s gift of a $2,500 gift card
o a feature spot on their own Macy’s Keeps It Cooking podcast that will show them cooking with their new Macy’s kitchen products
- Nine runner-up winners will also be selected and will each be awarded with a $1,000 gift card from Macy’s
- If winners include mention of what they like about their local Macy’s or macys.com in their videos, they will also receive an additional $500. Winners will be selected on or around April 30, 2009.

Now for this week’s Tyler Florence Fridays:

This is a busy week for me- my son, Ryan, is coming home on leave tomorrow and things are a bit stressful and hectic at work so I went the easy route with Tyler this week.  If you look through his book “Dinner at My Place” you’ll find lots of little helpful recipes for sauces, seasonings and dressings- bits and bobs, odds and sods. This Creamy Pesto Dressing is what I made using his Creamy Dressing Base on page #244. 

For most salads our standard dressing in house is very similar to the French Vinaigrette he gives on the same page -except I add more shallots and usually use Sherry vinegar. I rarely buy bottled salad dressings- they are just so easy to make at home and so much better than a stale sauce in a bottle. Tyler’s base is a great jumping off point for any number of variations when you are craving that type of dressing.  add roasted garlic, salsa, fresh or dried herbs, pesto, roasted peppers, pureed roasted veg, fresh veg, or any other flavour your little heart desires.

The base is basically equal parts mayonnaise and sour cream with a little fresh lemon juice, salt and pepper to brighten and round out the flavour. If you have time make your mayo (I think there is a good recipe in “Stirring the Pot”) homemade- if not Best foods/Hellman’s would be my choice.  When you’re in a time crunch adding 3 Tablespoons (or to taste) from a bottle of prepared Basil pesto makes a quick dressing. It’s not a bad dipping sauce for artichoke leaves or roasted asparagus either.

Let’s check out the other TFF offerings here!

xo