Ready, Set!

Bavarois a la Crème and Mousse au Chocolat in a Biscuit a la Cuiller

Holy mackerel! The above title makes me feel like an executive patisserie, doesn’t it? I just put the words together, no seriously. For many Japanese, bavarois (ババロア) is a very familiar dessert, light and smooth and a little bit firmer than mousse. This dessert is named after the German town of Bavaria but in fact a famous French chef made a fad warm drink of Barvarian cream (it’s not same as barvarian cream in donuts) at the time into a cold delicacy. That is so coool!  And everybody knows that chocolate mousse comes from moose…I’m just kidding!

I was asked to bring dessert for an early Valentine’s dinner gathering and this is what I came up with. It’s not very difficult but so many components means more things to wash…Arrrr. I become adventurous when it comes to pot luck dinner and forget about the after-mess. Luckily for me I have a live dishwasher. He is lovely I might add.

First make Biscuit a la cuiller –cuiller means spoon. The name comes from the way they used to scoop batter with spoon onto the cooking sheet to make this. Substitute with store bought lady fingers (side only) if you like, piping out nice straight cylinders require some skill and I failed. The bottom biscuit doesn’t have to be pretty because it’s hidden.

Need 1-8x2 ring (mine is actually 8x3),  2 Piping bags, half inch round tip and 1/4 inch round tip.

Prepare two cooking sheets – cut two parchment papers fit to size, trace inner circle of the ring with pen on one. Use a little bit of butter on the cooking sheets and stick the paper on.
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• Egg yolk 53g
• Granulated sugar (1) 40g
• Egg white 85g
• Granulated sugar (2) 45g
• Cake flour or weak power flour 85g Sift twice – discard the flour left in sifter.
• Powdered sugar 3-4 Tablespoon

1. Put egg yolk and sugar #1 in a medium bowl. Beat with hand held mixer at high speed until the color gets lighter and the texture becomes somewhat thick, 1-2 minutes. Set aside
   
2. Put egg whites in the bowl of a stand mixer with whisk attachment. Beat for 30 seconds at low speed, increase the speed to high then add sugar #2  gradually. Whip till stiff peaks form, about 2 minutes.
3. Add one scoop of egg white into the egg yolk mix and gently combine with rubber spatula then fold in rest of egg white until you no longer see white color.
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4. Sprinkle the flour into the egg mixture. If you have a helper, ask them to sprinkle flour for you while you’re combining flour and egg mixture, otherwise sprinkle 1/4 cup at a time. Scoop up from bottom and fold in the flour gently and never stir nor over do this process.
5. Heat oven to 440F. Put batter in two pastry bags. Make a whirlpool design starting out with the center of circle you traced with 1/2 round tip. Pipe out 2 and 1/2 inch long cylinder shape with the smaller tip leaving tiny space between them because it will expand ( but I left too much space),  need at least length of perimeter of the ring – 26 inches plus extra for accidental breakage.
   
6. Sprinkle powder sugar generously, wait for the sugar to dissolve then sprinkle again.
    
7. Reduce the temperature to 428F. Put it in the oven and bake for 5 minutes. Do not over bake. Lift the parchment paper onto cooling rack. 

Bavarois a la crème

• Leaf gelatin 6g (2 sheets)
• Milk 200cc
• 1/2 Vanilla beans pod split in half and scrape out seeds with knife.
• Egg yolks 65g
• Granulated sugar 100g
• Heavy cream 270g

Prepare Ice bath in large metal bowl.

1. Soften the leaf gelatin by submerging in ice cold water for 10 minutes.
2. In a sauce pan, pour milk, 1/2 of sugar, vanilla seeds and pod. Heat it up at medium heat.
3. In a medium bowl, put egg yolk and rest of sugar and beat till color gets lighter with whisk. Set aside.
4. When the edge of milk mixture pan starts bubbling, add soaked leaf gelatin. Turn off the heat and stir with whisk until the gelatin dissolves.
5. Remove the vanilla bean pod.
   
6. Pour half of milk mixture into the egg mixture and combine.
7. Put back #6 mixture into the pan and cook over medium heat. Slowly stir with spatula. When the mixture thickens a little bit (about  2 minutes) turn off the heat. Transfer the mixture to a medium  metal bowl. Put it on the bowl of ice water to cool down quickly. It gets hard around the edges of the bowl first so insert spatula along the side of bowl and stir and mix evenly.
   
8. Whip the heavy cream till very soft peak. Set aside about 1/2 cup of it in a refrigerator to use in assembly process later.
9. Add about 1/3 of whipped cream in the mixture and combine. Put the whole thing back in the whipped cream bowl and gently mix with spatula.

Assembly

1. Set the ring on a flat plate or cardboard. Line sides with parchment paper. Place the round cuiller base of the ring, upside-down, adjust the size by cutting or filling with extra pieces. Pour in 2/3 of the bavarois cream or half way up to the ring then chill for 1-2 hours. If there any left over, pour in a mold or ramekin and chill –for your enjoyment later.
   
2. When the cream is set, carefully remove the ring and the paper. Spread  reserved whipped cream on the side of cream (this use as glue) then stick cylinder shape cuiller around the perimeter of bavarois. Cut little bit of both ends off for a neater look ( I waited till the end to trim the top because I didn’t know how tall it gets).

Mousse au Chocolat

It’s better to make mousse after Bavarois is set.

• Egg white 125g about 4 eggs
• Granulated sugar 35g
• Heavy cream 50g
• Chocolate (61% cacao) 125g Chopped small, put in a large bowl.
• Egg Yolk 40g about 2 eggs beaten

1. Beat egg white for 30 seconds at low speed. Add 1/2 of sugar then whip  until the bubbles get small, about 1 minute. Add rest of sugar then whip till very stiff peaks but not dry. Set aside
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2. Pour heavy cream in a small sauce pan and cook just till it boils. Add to the chocolate bowl, a small amount at a time and constantly whisk to melt.
3. Add beaten egg and mix well.
4. Add 1/3 of meringue to the milk /chocolate mixture and gently fold in. Put rest of meringue and do the same. Do not over mix.

Finishing Assembly

1. Pour the mousse over the set bavarois cream. Chill for 4 hours.
2. Trim the cuiller top with kitchen scissors if nessesary. Decorate with fruits. I drizzled some seedless raspberry jam I thinned with some water over the fruits so that fruits stay in place during transportation. Sprinkle powder sugar.

 

Market find ….Sumo citrus This comical looking orange is a delightful treat.

And this Limequat is $5.99 per pound. $1 cheaper than mandarinquat.  At the register, the casher couldn’t find the price code, she gave me these for free. I’m so glad it didn’t cost me anything. Again, stick with original.

Apprentice son. Making breakfast under my husband’s supervision.He made huevos rancheros. Yikes! Take the cilantro off my plate! Scones – really nice!

Refreshing Strawberry Smoothie! His first experience with Vitamix.Meat loaf any one? He made dinner a couple nights last week. Not bad!

Lettuce wrap had good flavor but it was quite spicy. He admitted later that he accidentally dumped too much red pepper flakes in it.He did a great job over all. Let’s talk about washing dishes next time.

I hope you have a very Happy Valentine's Day!

 

 

 

 

 

   

Trio

Long Nappa Cabbage Rolls

The characteristics of Long Nappa Chinese cabbage are identical to ordinary Chinese cabbage but it has a leaner and more elegant looking body. I was definitely seduced by its handsomeness. One draw back is the cost. I hesitated for a few seconds and then put it in the basket. Hmmm what can I make with this? I had this cabbage roll recipe by Hiromi Sekioka who is a food researcher and food stylist in Japan. She has written several cookbooks also and I wanted to try it for a while. The recipe calls for a trio of meat - beef, pork and chicken to bring out a complex flavor. Her recipe used regular cabbage obviously and that’s neo-traditional but since I have this ‘special’ kind of cabbage, why not? I broke the mold and changed it here and there to create my own version but the essence still remains. This clearly belongs to Slow Food category.

 

Ingredients and instruction for 4 cabbage rolls

• Napa Chinese cabbage or regular cabbage 4-6 leaves. Have an extra in case of tearing.
  
• 1/2 of onion, minced. For great texture, onion must be finely minced.
• 1 Tablespoon of butter
• Japanese style bread crumb (panko) 1/3 cup
• Milk 1/4 cup
• Ground beef 160g
• Ground pork 160g
• Ground chicken breast 70g. I ground it myself with a food processer.
• 1 large egg
• 1 teaspoon of salt
• 1/2 teaspoon (about) of pepper (white preferred)
• 1/2 teaspoon (about) of nutmeg 

1. Dry  the cabbage by leaving it on a colander or shallow basket for 2-3 hours until leaves are wilted. The drying eliminates the need for cooking cabbage separately. I shaved a bit of the white part of the leaf so that it was thinner to make rolling it up easier.
2. Melt butter in a skillet over medium heat and sauté onion until onion turns transparent. Let it cool. Set aside. I skip this process and simply mixed with meat without sautéing. Sautéing onion perhaps bring out more umami flavor.
3. Soak bread crumbs in milk. Set aside.
4. In a large bowl, mix all three meats, sprinkle with salt and knead until color of meat gets whitish and texture is stretchy; about 2-3 minutes by hand.
5. Add onion, soaked bread crumb, egg, pepper and nutmeg and mix well.
6. Put plastic wrap directly over the meat mixture and let it rest for at least 30 minutes in the refrigerator. 

Make Vegetable Bullion

• 1 carrots chopped
• 1 onion chopped
• 1 celery with leaf chopped
• 1-2 green onion cut in 2 inches length
• 2 Garlic skinned and crushed with meat tenderizer or rolling pin.
• 5 cups of water
• 1/3 cup of white wine
• Salt, pepper to taste
• 1-2 bay leaves (optional)

Put everything in a pan and boil. Reduce to heat to low and simmer for about 30 minutes or longer. Strain and reserve liquid. Discard vegetable.

Rolling up and Cooking

Making drop lid – Place large sheet of parchment paper on top of pan that you’re using. Make a crease along side edge of pan. Cut creased line with scissors then make a cross slit in the middle of the circle.

• 1-14.5 oz. can of tomato, I used diced tomatoes. If it’s whole tomato, crushed with your hand over the pan before adding.
• 4 slices of bacon – cut in small strips
• Bay leaves 1 or 2
• Salt and pepper to taste
• Parsley leaves chopped small (optional).

1. Spread about some of meat mixture on top of wilted cabbage leaf leaving 1/2 inch space at either end. Roll up from stem side as tightly as possible. Secure the end with toothpicks if you like. Push the meat in from both sides to prevent the meat mixture from coming out during the cooking process. Suggestion; If there is any left over meat, make hamburger patties or meat balls, put it in air tight bag and keep refrigerated or freeze it for later use.
2. Lay the rolled cabbage seam side down in the pan. Do the rest of cabbage. Fill the empty space with extra cabbage leaf to prevent the rolls from moving.
   
3. Pour vegetable bullion to barely cover the cabbage rolls (use left over for soup later). Pour a can of chunk tomato in, add bacon, salt, pepper, and 2 bay leaves and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low and cover with your prepared drop lid and simmer for 40 to 50 minutes.
   
4. Put a cabbage roll in a soup bowl then spoon over some liquid and bacon. Sprinkle on parsley for color. Serve immediately, like now!

 

Friday Night make your own Takoyaki (direct translation; Octopus bake) This is the ultimatum fun-with-food kind of thing.

I made myself busy by making four apple cakes in the morning then took three of them to three ladies in the afternoon and visited with them. The last precious cake I enjoyed with my family. I am failing off my diet…way off.

You desire Fast Food occasionally. This Beef Curry Udon took 15 minutes to make and I used only two pans. The flavor will develop more if you let it simmer longer but I have a hungry child to feed.

My husband loves kumquats as a snack. I found these darling mandrinquats at Whole Foods for $6.99 per pound…stick with original.

My very first crochet project – Dish Cloth. Teachers (friends) were very patient with me. The cost; $3. Time it took to make; two hours lesson and one and half TV shows. Very therapeutic.