Prazan Burek: Attempt One

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YLAz3kRDPfU

I have recently been faced with a unique challenge: bake a foreign pastry for which I have no recipe and have never tasted. Burek comes in many varieties with a plethora of fillings, flavors, and techniques (plain, meat, cheese, layered, rolled). My goal is to make an acceptable Serbian burek; for my first real attempt, I chose prazan burek, or empty burek.

After trying (and failing) to find an acceptable recipe written in English, I decided to wing it and make my own. Here’s a video of the pro’s…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SL4R_RRB0Qc

I made a basic homemade filo with

4c AP Flour
1c warm water
1.5tsp salt
1.5 c Butter (melted)


In order to make transparently-thin layers of dough, the dough has to be continually worked and stretched to form gluten. Mix all of the ingredients except the butter and knead.

While you get an extensive hand workout, melt the butter.

Knead in about 4 tablespoons of butter.




This whole process took a Really Long Time. I set up shop on my porch and listened to an audiobook for entertainment :)


Work the oiled dough into balls (I believe I ended up using 12?) and let the dough rest.



Brush the dough with more butter...

I couldn't photograph the next part- I was covered in flour and oil- but you can get the general idea from the video above :)

Make sure the work surface is well buttered and brush each layer with more butter throughout the process. (Don't be stingy with the butter- it is necessary! I only used about 1.5 of the 3 sticks, and the result was too dry)
How does it look?
Ah, I have never been so proud of transparency!







Mmmmm!
While this wasn't quite what I would imagine to find in Serbia, it was a tasty first attempt! We ate it in thick slices with kefir.

Excited for attempt two! I plan to use more liquid (my first burek was somewhat dry) and change the time in the oven. Doviđenja! :)

"Space Invader" White Chocolates with Walnuts and Brown Sugar

It has been my recent goal to expand my chocolate-making into the realm of actual filled formed chocolates, rather than just chocolate truffles. For weeks I have been jotting ideas for fillings and combinations, scribbling in crayon on my handy pad of paper I keep in the side of my car door at each stoplight. I have been on the lookout for the perfect chocolate-forming vessel, and, alas, we met.

Although I was originally searching for a basic square tray, there was no way I could decline Space Invaders. How often do you come across a Space Invaders ice tray?! It was just too quirky to pass up. Imagine the possibilities of conversation starters!

For my first attempt, I decided to go with a butter, walnut, and brown sugar filling encased within a white chocolate shell. The inner combination was inspired by a popular crepe filling, and I chose the delicate creamy white chocolate as a complement.




1/3 c Brown Sugar (I mix light and dark; dark brown sugar has a higher content of molasses, which provides added flavor)
2 oz (about 1 cup) Walnuts (toasted at 350 for 15 minutes)
1 T each light and dark Corn syrup
2 T softened Butter


12 oz White Chocolate







Add the toasted walnuts to a food processor, reserving a few attractive halves to decorate the chocolates later.

Pulse lightly with the corn syrup...


and butter. I also added a dash of macadamia nut liqueur :) Don't overpulse the mixture- a few large walnut segments are nice in the completed chocolates.


Waiting to fill the Space Invaders!


Time to temper the chocolate! The general rule for tempering white chocolate is to gently heat 3/4 over a double-boiler until the chocolate reaches 110 degrees, then add the other 1/4 and stir until the chocolate cools to 83 degrees. This can be tricksy...

All of my tools made me feel I was prepping for surgery.



I used 12 ounces of white chocolate (reserving 3 ounces to add back in later).


Smaller uniform pieces help the chocolate to melt evenly.


After the arduous task of tempering, I excitedly filled my little invaders, tapped out the excess, and allowed the shells to cool.


Once the outer shell has cooled, add the filling.


Then, again, cover with white chocolate, scraping off any excess. As you can imagine, I was feeling pretty darn cool at this point.


When my chocolates had cooled sufficiently, I gently overturned them, hoping to release my delightful creations into the world.

It wasn't so easy.

After about 2 hours worth of warming, cooling, bargaining, I decided that I would be satisfied to have just ONE successful Space Invader chocolate. I would photograph the heck out of it, then I would hide the crumpled bodies of my victims in the bottom of the garbage and claim that my chocolates were so delicious that I couldn’t help but eat them all. All I needed was one photo to prove my success…




just one...












please?
























What?! My Space Invaders were defeated by these perfectly (ordinary) round morsels?!

After many fits, tantrums, and angry calls to my mother seeking comfort from the evil which falsely calls itself "white chocolate", I broke down and started over. My brother will be receiving an ice-cube tray surprise; hopefully he will end up cooler for it, using the jokes and opening statements I had originally planned for myself.



Maybe simple and round suits me :)

Lamb Chops with Port Cherries

I love lamb. Growing up, I only ever ate it in restaurants or on the odd occasion my mother let me use her kitchen- she refused to cook (or condone the cooking/consumption of) "Bambi".


This delicious recipe is very cheap if you have the basic ingredients on hand, and takes only 15 minutes which makes it perfect for a weeknight meal (or a student craving some gourmet action). It is all cooked in one pan, which makes cleanup a breeze.

Lamb chops
Olive oil
Black pepper
Sea salt
Butter
Port
Dried Cherries
Shallots
Flour

(I ate mine with spinach, which I sauteed in the same pan while my lamb cooked)


Season the lamb with coarse sea salt and freshly ground black pepper. In a skillet with olive oil, cook the meat on medium-high heat. I prefer my meat medium-rare, which takes about 5 minutes. Go ahead and add your vegetables to the pan while the lamb finishes.



As soon as the lamb is cooked, remove it (and any vegetable) from the pan and allow the meat to rest. To the same skillet, add a couple tablespoons of butter, dried cherries, shallots, a pinch of salt and several grinds of black pepper.


Once the butter melts, dust the cherries with flour (I used roughly 1/2 tsp, but I was making a single serving) and stir to incorporate. Once the cherries are coated, pour in enough port to just cover the cherries and simmer until the cherries soften, about 4 minutes.



Serve and enjoy! I prefer to prepare each lamb-cherry bite separately to achieve the perfect ratio of cherry and port to lamb, so I serve the two side-by-side. If you are feeling adventurous, you can add the seared lamb to the simmering cherries in the last minutes of cooking to further incorporate the sauce.

Chicken and Dumplings

This is one of my favorite comforting meals from childhood. My mother makes hers differently than the traditional puffy biscuit-like dumplings. Instead, her dumplings (which she buys frozen) are essentially glorified pasta slices. When I would ask why she didn't make her dumplings "the right way", she would respond by describing traditional dumplings as "chunks of dough wads."

Maybe she knows, maybe she doesn't- describing any food product as a "chunk" or a "wad" will make it thoroughly and forever unappetizing. To this day, I have never tasted chunky dumpling wads.

I make my dumplings with all-purpose flour, eggs, water, sea salt, black pepper, and Herbes de Provence. I don't use an exact recipe- I work by the feel and taste of the dough, and the amounts change based on how much you want to make and the humidity of the day. I snapped only a couple of dumpling-making photographs (my body was enveloped in flour).

This is a basic recipe:
2 cups all-purpose flour
Sea salt to taste
A few grinds of black pepper
Herbes de Provence
2 eggs
Water

In a large bowl, season the flour to taste. You must be able to taste the salt- I have made this mistake many times. If the dumplings are not salty enough before you cook them, you will never be able to appropriately salt the dish. Form a well in the flour, crack the eggs into it, and slowly incorporate. Once the eggs and flour are thoroughly mixed, sprinkle the dough with water and continue to mix, adding more water as needed until everything comes together. The dough should be easy to work with, but not too sticky. Knead the dough with a series of folds, adding more flour as needed. I kneaded mine for about 45 minutes- an excellent hand workout!

The purpose for working the dough so long is to pack in as much flour as possible and to form gluten- if these are achieved, then the dumplings will be more noodle-like and less doughwad-like. You can tell you are getting close when the dough is no longer sticky and when it will thoroughly stretch without breaking.




The more flour, the better. Any excess flour on the dumplings will help to thicken the overall product.





Form the finished dough into a disc, seal into plastic wrap, and refrigerate for several hours.


Roux time! This dish requires a white roux, so essentially the flour/fat mixture will be heated until just blended but not darkened. I use butter for this roux; as there is very little heating involved before adding liquids, there is no risk of burning the butter solids. You could use oil, but I feel that butter imparts a better flavor in this dish.




Starting with a single ladle, whisk homemade chicken stock into the roux. Once all of the stock is incorporated, taste for salt and pepper and alter as needed. You can further flavor the dish with white wine and/or cognac.


Slice the chilled dumpling dough into quarters and roll them out evenly and thinly on a heavily floured surface.

Slice and set aside, making sure that each dumpling is dusted with flour.

One-by-one, drop the dumplings into the gently boiling stock (this prevents sticking).




Once the dumplings are cooked, add the baked chicken.




Just before serving, I like to add fresh peas and chopped fresh parsley.

Serve and enjoy!