Cooking Class: Baking for English Tea

A couple of weekends ago, we took another baking class at Manchester Community College (our local community college, well-known for its culinary program). This one was with the same instructor (Chris French) as the pizza and focaccia class. Obviously we were so pleased with the first class, we had to sign up for another, and obviously, our baking skills could use some work.

Chef Chris French at his demo station

This class was called, "Baking for English Tea," and it started off with some clarification about English tea, mainly that what people often refer to as "high tea" is actually a less formal, dinner-type setting whereas a tea at which there might be sweets and pastries is traditionally the more formal "afternoon tea." Who knew? The class would focus on the latter, with the goals being to learn and participate in making scones, shortbread, and cream puffs, and to learn via demonstration how to make lemon curd, Devonshire cream, pastry cream and an English trifle. Quite ambitious, but we had five hours together, so we forged ahead.

Amy tried "rub method mixing"

Scone dough

Amy's partner forms our scones

Chris tops his scones with some sanding sugar

First we watched as Chef Chris demonstrated and explained how to make scones, and then we paired up and made our own scones with cranberries and walnuts. The most important thing with this recipe was that we hand mixed the scones, learning how to rub the butter in by hand, which is not as easy as it sounds, but definitely leads to better results. We could choose whether to bake our scones during class or take home the dough to freeze, but since we are "A Couple in the Kitchen," we were able to do both. The scones were fluffier and lighter than we've had in the past, thanks to the hand-mixing method we guess, and we would certainly try the recipe again. When we do, we'll share it with you.

Amy slices her golden-brown shortbread

Next thing we did was make shortbread. Now we have tried shortbread in the past, with relative success, but ours simply does not compare to the buttery crisp amazing cookie we learned in this class. We look forward to topping a sheet of these with some homemade jam or lemon curd and making delicious bars to share with the neighborhood!!!

Making pate a choux

Everyone got a chance to try to pipe the pate a choux dough

Delicious cream puff!

Pate a choux (cream puff dough) we are well familiar with, thanks to Dorie Greenspan and her gorgeous gougere recipe. But we learned a few tips on how to improve our technique, such as using bread flour instead of all-purpose flour, getting a good sheen on the dough by adding in an extra egg, and piping the dough when it's warm and fresh. 

Chocolate Croissants

The scones had been set aside to eat later along with the various curds and creams, and everything else was in the oven. Luckily, Chef Chris was thoughtful enough to bring in some of his homemade chocolate croissants for us to nibble on in the meantime. Just look at these beauties!

Lemon curd, mock Devon cream, whipped cream

The reward for a hard day's work

When the hands-on part of the class was done, we fixed tea and sipped while Chef demonstrated his recipes for pastry cream, lemon curd, and "mock" Devon cream (aka clotted cream). The real Devonshire cream runs for about $7 for a small 4-ounce jar, if you can even find it. Chef's mock version can be made in about 10 minutes and costs a fraction of real Devonshire cream. Here's what you do:

Mock Devon Cream 

recipe courtesy of Chef Chris French

Ingredients:

3 ounces (6 tablespoons) cream cheese, cold

1 cup heavy cream, cold

Using a stand mixer with the whip attachment, beat the cream cheese until it is smooth and lump-free. Add the cream and beat until stiff. Chill before serving. 

A beautiful English trifle

Finally, we tried all of these goodies while watching Chef assemble a beautiful English trifle. We met some great people, had a fun day, and learned plenty of new tricks and tips to help up become better bakers. These recipes would be perfect for Easter, Mother's Day, or just for hosting your own English tea! Once we try any of these things at home, we will be sure to let you know. 

If you are interested in taking a credit-free culinary class at MCC, here is a link to the credit-free catalog. 

Seared Scallops with Blood Orange Gastrique (a stream of consciousness "recipe")

Are those blood oranges in your grocery store? They have been carrying a wider range of products lately. Ooh, what could you do with them? Doesn't matter. They're here. Buy a few and figure it out tomorrow.

A couple of days have passed. Those blood oranges are just sitting there taunting you. But they sure are beautiful. They look like they're blushing. They're just embarrassed oranges.  Wonder what they're embarrassed about.

Why don't you make a gastrique? That sounds fancy. Everyone seems to be doing it. Except for those poor people on Worst Cooks in America. Actually, even they're making a gastrique. Wait. What exactly is a gastrique?

Google gastrique. Huh. Sugar, vinegar and flavoring, like, say, juice. Bet no one has ever made one with blood oranges before. 

Google blood orange gastrique. Okay. So you're not the amazingly creative culinary genius you think you are. But at least now you know how to make a gastrique. And even though everyone is serving it with scallops, that sounds really good so you should do that too.

$16.99 a pound?!?!? Good God! What's in those scallops? Gold nuggets? 

$3.00 off a pound with a silver coin, eh? That's still expensive, but they look really nice. You haven't had scallops in a while. And you're worth it. And the tax refund came today. Splurge on a pound. And get something green to go with. You haven't eaten anything green in a while. And no, the leeks you drenched in cheese don't count. Not brussels sprout - those are gross. How about snow peas? That could work. And maybe some tarragon. Don't people like tarragon with seafood?

Make the gastrique. Emeril's recipe seems pretty easy. Do that one. Got some freshly squeezed blood orange juice, sugar, rice wine vinegar. Oh yeah, baby, you're making gastrique. You are the gastrique queen. Gastrique. Gastrique. What a weird word.

Blanche the snap peas. Quick quick! Get them out! How about a few blood orange segments tossed with them, like a little salad or something? Yeah! Salad! That's healthy!

Now the scallops. Heat the pan. A non-stick pan. A little olive oil. Smokin' hot! Season the scallops with a little kosher salt. Sear the scallops. Don't try to turn them until they stopped sticking - have you learned nothing from all those episodes of Hell's Kitchen?!?!? Okay, now you can turn them. Nice, brown, yummy scallops. You could be on Hell's Kitchen. No...Gordon Ramsay would make you cry.

Make the plate look pretty. Green, orange, and it's not even St. Patrick's Day yet! Drizzle on the gastrique. Awww...what a pretty dinner. Take a few pictures. 

Now taste it. 

Oh yeah. That's yummy.

Foodie Pen Pals February Edition

It's that time again. The end of another month and the day to tell you all about Foodie Pen Pals! Foodie Pen Pals is the brainchild of Lindsay at The Lean Green Bean, and if you go here, you can read all about it. The basics are that each participant is assigned a pen pal to send a fun foodie box to (maximum cost $15), and then receives a fun foodie box from a different participant in return. 

This month, our sender was Beth who was sending our package all the way from Alaska. She contacted us to see if we would be interested in an Alaskan-themed box, and we said, "Heck, yeah!" We aren't even sure we've ever gotten anything shipped to us from Alaska! In the meantime, we spent all kinds of time looking at Beth's two blogs (here and here) and marveling at all her beautiful photos. She really makes us want to go there. Definitely bucket-list worthy!!!

The package arrived today, just in time for our "reveal" day, and it was filled with wonderful gifts. First, we noticed the can of Alaskan silver salmon and the two types of salmon jerky (original and peppered). Chris is a huge fan of salmon AND jerky, so this is right up his alley. 

Also in the box is the perfect envelope of tea for two - Alaskan blueberry herbal tea, to be exact. We can't wait to try it.  

Beth also sent us these handy "bear claw" salad tongs...

a handmade wallet that she said was one of her latest sewing projects (so thoughtful!)...

and a gorgeous little genie-bottle filled with homemade vanilla extract!

As we use all of these great gifts, we will think of Beth out there in the great wilderness and hope we get to see it in person one day! Thank you, Beth!!!

We sent a box filled with "Super Snacks" to our recipient, Kaitlyn, who wrote about it on her blog here. 

You don't have to have a blog to join Foodie Pen Pals. For more information about it, go here. And thanks, as always, to Lindsay for putting this idea into action. It's something we look forward to every month!

Pork and Chipotle Pozole

We are so done with winter, with the snow and sleet and rain and the bitter cold that chills you through and through. But winter doesn't seem to be done with us. Craving warmth, we made this delicious one-pot stew that heated us right up (a little too much heat, actually, but we'll get to that). It's called pozole, and, according to the all-knowing Wikipedia, it's a traditional Mexican dish made with cacahuazintle corn (also known as hominy) and meat, and was originally only served on special occasions. The details about that include cannibalism so we won't go into that here so as not to ruin your appetite.

We were inspired by a variety of recipes we found online and made ours with pork. We weren't sure if we could find hominy, but we did find canned hominy in the Goya section at our usual grocery store, which, we are thrilled to say, seems to be stocking a much wider variety of products as of late. We had a can of chipotle peppers in adobo sauce in the pantry, and we used three of them to flavor the broth, and then decided next time we will only use two. Or maybe one. It was pretty spicy, so be forewarned. 

Other than that, we were delighted by the various flavors and textures in the stew, as we were with the easiness of making it. And as suspicious as that tin of Mexican oregano may look, it really is Mexican oregano and we suggest looking for it if you plan to make this spicy, zesty dish, because it really gave it an interesting flavor. 

Pork and Chipotle Pozole

Ingredients:

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 pound boneless pork sirloin chops, trimmed and cut into bite-sized cubes

1 onion, diced

3-4 cloves garlic, minced

1-3 (to taste) canned chipotle chiles in adobo sauce, chopped

2 teaspoons cumin

2 teaspoons ground coriander

2 teaspoons Mexican oregano (crushed)

2 tablespoons plus 2-3 cups water, divided

2 cups low sodium chicken broth

1/4 cup cornmeal

1 15-ounce can hominy, rinsed

kosher salt and black pepper to taste

juice of one lime

Suggested garnishes: chopped fresh cilantro, tortilla strips, lime wedges

Heat oil in a large stockpot over medium heat. Add the pork and brown on all sides. Remove from pot and set aside. Add onions, garlic, chipotles, cumin, coriander and oregano and 2 tablespoons of water. Stir up all the browned bits from the pork, and cook until onion starts to brown, about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add 2 of the remaining 3 cups of water, chicken broth, then whisk in the cornmeal. Simmer over medium heat, stirring often. Add hominy, then season with salt and pepper to taste. If you want to add the remaining 1 cup of water, depending on taste and consistency, do so here. Continue to simmer until mixture begins to thicken, about 5 minutes. Return pork to the pot and add lime juice. Cook until pork is warmed through, about 5 additional minutes. Serve in bowls and garnish each serving with cilantro, tortilla strips and a wedge of lime (also a glass of water if you used 3 of the chipotles!)

We Got Oinked!

Special thanks today to Jorie over at Fat Pig in the Market who oinked us in today's post! 

If you love food blogs, you have to check this one out. Wicked good stuff.

Potato, Leek and Celeriac Gratin

Ah, gratin. You demon of the side dish world. So full of cream and butter. So unapologetically decadent. So tantalizingly indulgent. We can't resist you. We call you "vegetables" but deep inside we know the ugly truth. We'd likely be better off eating a Big Mac. Still, there you are on our table, beside a rotisseried chicken. Welcome back. Be sure to visit again soon. 

PS You look very nice in your beautiful baking dish! (Thanks, K!)

Potato, Leek and Celeriac Gratin

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups heavy cream

1 large branch fresh rosemary

2-3 garlic cloves, peeled

1 tablespoon unsalted butter

1 leek, halved lengthwise, then thinly sliced

2 medium potatoes, peeled and thinly sliced

1 celeriac (celery root), peeled and thinly sliced

4 ounces grated Gruyere cheese

kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

2 teaspoons herbs de Provence

Preheat oven to 350. In a medium saucepan over medium heat, heat the cream, rosemary and garlic bubbles start to form along the sides of the pan. Turn off heat and set aside. Melt butter in a small skillet and sweat the leeks, seasoned with a pinch of kosher salt, taking care not to brown them (about 5-6 minutes); set aside. Spray a baking dish with cooking spray. Layer 1/3 of the potato slices, 1/3 of the celeriac slices, 1/3 of the cooked leeks and 1/3 of the gruyere. Season with salt and pepper and continue the process a second and third time. Strain the cream through a fine mesh sieve and pour it into the dish over the vegetables. Sprinkle top with herbs de Provence. Cover dish tightly with foil and bake at 350 for 45 minutes, until bubbly. Remove foil and continue to bake another 15 minutes, until top is golden brown.