Tag: orange blossom

Categories
dessert French

A Pair of Swans

I met my husband on Dec 31st, got engaged on Jan 14th and we got married in April, between this time we met each other only a couple of times but we talked a lot on the phone. The phone bill ( which my dear parents had to pay) was a clear indication of how much we talked.

Our wedding took place in this town but my parents also hosted a reception in my town. Our family has lived there for four generations and knows so many people who enjoyed being a part of my special day. It was very nice to share our happy day with everyone.

The reception was open doors on a beautiful lawn and the stage was set such that we were overlooking a pool. The pool was full of jasmine and filled the air with amazing fragrance, there was also rose petals everywhere. The back drop against which we stood, had a pair of beautiful Swans, my parents thought those swans represented us, together, ready to fly into our world.

I came to the USA a week after I was married and that separation from my family was not very easy, I missed them very much. There was no internet at home and phone calls were expensive. I remember calling them once a week for 10 mins, it costed $1.25/ min to call India at that time. My dad loves to write letters and we love getting letters from him. In fact, we have an arrangement amongst us siblings about who gets the next letter. Each time Dad writes a letter, one kid gets the original and the rest get a photocopy. At that time, since I was the only one away from home, I always got the originals.

I used to wait everyday anxiously for two people, my husband who would come home at 6, and the postman who would bring letters from India.

My Baba like many other men, does not express his feelings very openly, but his letters exude love, advice, encouragement. In the first letter that Baba wrote, he expressed how he felt when I left India and came to the US. The whole family had come to see me off and Baba was of course there. His words, ” when you said good- bye to us and turned around, you two looked like the pair of swans ready to fly away from the nest’. I have read that letter at least 100 times, and I still cry every time I read it.

My husband made sure to everything possible to make that the transition was easy for me. I love him for that amongst many other things.

When I came to this country, I did not know much about different cuisines other than Indian, and my husband is the one who introduced me to different cuisines. One of the first fancy restaurants we went to was a french restaurant. I still remember eating many firsts like Escargot, Souffle and Profiteroles. I remember the pretty pair of Swans that we had for dessert. Each day is special with him but some are just etched in your memory and that dinner is one of them.

In Roman mythology Swans are sacred to Venus, they say Swans indicate eternal love. We fell in love after we got married and these swans indicate just that, our love for each other.

So swans have a very special meaning for me, the man who gave me life and the man who is my life.

Today’s post specially for our anniversary – it is all about love and I wanted to recreate that dessert from the french restaurant today.

This is a very versatile recipe, today I have shaped them like swans however you can make eclairs, cream puffs and even savory gougres with cheese. I have made these with coffee cream and that tastes amazing

Pate Choux Swans with orange blossom rose

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A Pair of Swans

Its a pate a choux pastry shaped like swans and filled with aromatic rose orange blossom cream 

Course Dessert
Cuisine French
Keyword choux pastry, pate a choux
Servings 8

Ingredients

Ingredients:

  • 1/2 cup  milk
  • 1/2 cup water
  • 1 stick of unsalted butter
  • 1 cup flour
  • 1/2 Tsp of salt
  • 2 Tbsp Sugar
  • 4 eggs

For the filling:

  • 1 cup heavy whipping cream
  • 4 tbsp powdered sugar
  • 1 tsp Rose water or orange blossom water
  • 1 tbsp dried rose petals for decoration

Instructions

Method:

  1. Take a sauce pan. Heat milk, sugar, salt and butter till the butter is melted. While the mixture is heating, get the food processor ready and the eggs cracked in a bowl/cup. 

  2. While the mixture is heating, get the food processor ready and the eggs cracked in a bowl/cup. 

  3. As soon as the butter is completely melted, add flour all at once and cook on low flame for about 2 mins. When the mixture starts sticking to the bottom of the pan, take it off the heat.

  4. Transfer the hot mixture to the food processor and start it on a low speed. Add one egg at a time to the hot mixture and keep processing till a nice homogenous mixture. The dough will be sticky but don’t worry.
  5. Preheat the oven to 375 F
  6. Fit a pastry bag with a large star tip.
  7. Fill the mixture in a pastry bag.

  8. Take a baking tray lined with parchment paper.  

  9. Make a tear drop, if you get pointy tips, with wet finger you can just gently tap it down.

  10. Draw swan neck with a small round tip 

  11. Now bake these in the oven for 30 mins. Once the baking is done, let them sit in the hot oven for another 7-10 mins. Take them out and let them cool. The swan necks would need much less time to bake so keep an eye 

For the filling

  1. Mix sugar, orange blossom water and whipping cream  and whip till you get a nice and firm cream. Keep it in a separate bowl.

Assembly

  1. Take the cooled pastry , you can cut a slit .Slice them horizontally and then cut the top in half.

  2. Fill the pastry with the flavored whipped cream 

  3. Attach the swan necks to the puff 

  4. Sprinkle some rose petal so they stick to the cream, and serve

Recipe Notes

If you want to serve these as cream puffs, you can make an opening at the bottom of the pastry and fill the cream with a round tip

You can pipe these and freeze them and thaw and bake when ready

Pate a choux pastry
Categories
Cookies Persian

Cardamom-Pistachio cookie

two cookies

I am not much of a baker. I love making desserts but baking is another beast which I hope to tame at some point. I make cakes, simple ones and I am always thrilled when they come out good. 🙂 I love trying new recipes if I get some inspiration. I love going to different ethnic grocery stores and looking for ideas, I am always amazed at the various new things I learn each time.

One of my favorite grocery store near my home is a Persian/middle eastern grocery store. Any time I go there, I come back with something new and that starts my experimentations.

It is holiday season and holiday means cookies and cakes and all those yummy treats. I wanted to make cookies but did not which one to pick, they are all so tempting. Traditional chocolate chip, oatmeal resin, Italian biscotti, indian nankhatai, german spice cookie to name a few. So I thought why not a take help from everyone and took  a poll on my facebook page.

And majority of you said that they wanted to see a recipe that is ‘something different’ or with ‘innovative flavors’. I thought of many ideas but somehow this one seemed perfect for the time.

Here I present my first Xmas Cookie ( there are man

Cardamom- Pistachio shortbread with orange blossom glaze

Pistachio-orangeblossom

It stole my heart and the whole house smelt like heaven ( and  a lot like Haleh Bakery).

It is so easy yet looks very fancy and eclectic, you can make the dough ahead of time, keep it wrapped in the fridge. When you want, 15 minutes and you will have fresh batch of cookies.

Print

Pistachio Cardamom cookie

Course cookies, Dessert
Cuisine Indian, Persian
Servings 4
Author Anagha

Ingredients

Cookie dough

  • 1 1/2 Cups All purpose flour
  • 1/2 Cup Powdered Sugar
  • 1/2 Tsp Salt
  • 1 1/2 Stick Unsalted Butter cut in cubes About 12 tbsp
  • 1/2 Cup Unsalted Pistachios, slightly toasted and chopped
  • 1 unit Egg Yolk, you can use chilled milk for vegetarian option)
  • 1/2 Tsp Ground Cardamom

For Glaze

  • 1 Cup Powdered Sugar
  • 1 Unit Egg White You can use 1 Tbsp Milk instead
  • 3/4 Tsp Orange Blossom water ( you can use Rose water as well)

Instructions

Cookies

  1. In a food processor pulse the pistachios, cardamom and flour till the nuts are a little chopped

  2. Add powdered sugar and pulse more

  3. Add the butter and pulse till you get breadcrumb texture

  4. Add the egg yolk/cold milk. Keep pulsing till the dough comes together

  5. Take the dough and roll it into a log. 

    Keep the log in the fridge for a couple of hours for the dough to harden

Baking

  1. Pre heat the oven to 325 F

  2. Slice the log into about 1/4 inch thick pieces and bake for 15-17 mins.

    Let it cool completely.

Glaze

  1. Mix all the ingredients to make the glaze.

Decorate

  1. Take the cooled cookies, top with a small amount of glaze, decorate cookies with sliced pistachios, dried rose petals, saffron strands.

Categories
dessert Fusion Persian

Pistachio tart with Rose-orange blossom custard

We as a family just love food, we are one of those who live to eat. We love trying food at new places,trying different cuisines. We try to find small hole in wall places and prefer those over big chain restaurant. One such favorite of ours is a kabab place,’Isfahan kabob’ not too far from where we live. Last time when we were there, we enjoyed our dinner ( as usual clean plates), but all of us were craving for desserts. Isfahan, does not carry any desserts but there is a small cafe, Haleh bakery ,nearby that has just the best desserts you can think of. It is a persian place which carries great treats with some unique flavors. We can not ever decide which one of those is our favorite, there are just too many amazing ones to chose from. It has a cute little courtyard where you can sit and enjoy fragrant persian tea with these delectable pastries.

At work we celebrate ‘pi-day’ and every year I make traditional pie. This year decided to make something new and that is how this recipe came about.

Today’s recipe takes the inspiration from one of the cookies we ate at Haleh, I don’t remember the name but it is a buttery soft cookie flavored with cardamom, dates and other yummy things.I just love the those flavors come together so I decide to try something today that has those flavors.This is a very easy recipe but needs patience, but I think it is worth it. 

Pistachio Tart with rose & orange blossom custard  

Ingredients

Tart

1 1/2  cup  unsalted pistachios

1 cup  almonds

1 egg white

1/4 cup sugar

1 pinch of salt

1/2 stick melted unsalted butter

1/8 tsp ground cardamom

Custard/filling

1 1/2  milk plus couple of tbsp

7 egg yolks

7 tbsp cornstarch

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1 tbsp orange blossom water

2 tbsp rose jam

Method

Pre heat the oven to 400F

In a food processor pulse pistachios and almonds separately, making sure that it does not turn into a paste. the texture should look something like couscous.


Mix the powdered nuts with the melted butter, sugar, salt and egg white. Mix it till it comes together.
Add the mixture to a 9inch  tart pan and spread it evenly.

    Bake for 12 mins and add a 1-2 min if needed after checking. I baked this shell for 15 mins and I think it turned out a little darker than I would have liked. So watch after 10 minutes of baking.

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Let the shell cool completely.

While the shell is cooling, let us prepare the custard.

Heat the 1 1/2 cup of milk on low heat, make sure you turn it off as soon as you see bubbles. If your milk is too hot, you will have a scramble instead of a custard.

Whisk the egg yolks and sugar in a steel pot. Mix the cornstarch in a couple of tbsp of cold milk to make a slurry. Add that to the egg yolk mixture.

Take the heated milk and add to the egg mixture in a constant stream, whisking continuously. This is super critical since this will ensure that you will have a smooth, velvety texture for your custard.

Cook the custard till it feels like a pudding and not thin.

Strain it in a steel bowl. This step will ensure that if there are any lumps, they are left out.

Now cover the bowl with a plastic wrap. Make sure that the plastic goes all the way to the surface of the custard, this will ensure that there is no crust formed as the custard cools.

img_5083img_5084Cool it in the fridge for at least 2-3 hours.

Take it out and mix the orange blossom water. Depending on the brand and your taste, you can add more or less.

Spread the rose petal jam ( Gulkand) at the bottom. Fill the cooled shell with the custard. I buy Gulkand from the Indian store. Not only does it taste great but also has cooling properties to it, which is why in summer in India and in Persia, people eat desserts flavored with Gulkand.

 Let it set in the fridge for sometime.

You can serve it like this but I decided to top it with some apple roses. I have seen these apple roses popping up on the instagram, pinterest and I have been wanting to try and make them.

If you plan to top them with the apple roses, make sure the custard is thick enough for the apple roses to stay upright.

Apple roses

I feel that knives are super essential in a kitchen and can not only make the job easier but also makes the food look pretty. I have a set of ‘Saber knives’ that I bought from Costco a while ago. I got a cute little knife sharpener as a gift and with that I have been able to maintain the edge.

For making these roses you can either use a mandolin or take a sharp knife and slice the apples paper thin. I did half and half. I started with the knife but ran out of patience and switched to mandolin. Mandolin is another great tool to have. It not only makes the cuts looks pretty but they are also uniform, which makes them cook even too. I love my mandolin especially when I make things like scalloped potatoes.

As soon as you slice them, add them to a bowl of warm water with some lemon juice. The warm water will make them pliable and the lemon will keep them from turning brown.
Roll one slice to form a center and then continue wrapping each slice like a petal to form a flower. I grated some beets and used the juice to color some of the flowers, you can also use red food coloring if you would like.

Some people heat up the apple slices in the microwave to make them soft, which can make them easily pliable, but I feel it also makes them lose the taste and possibly discolor.

I will post a video for making the flowers soon.

Now arrange the flowers in the custard as you go along. You can use combination of apples so the different skin colors add a nice variation.

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Categories
dessert Middle eastern

Knafeeh

We as a family love eating at small food joints, hole in the wall places. If it is run by a family, even better. One such place near where we live is a ‘Falafel place’, and it is one of our favorites. They serve standard menu but their falafels are so good, made fresh using the fava beans. I think the cuisine is influenced by Israeli cuisine,  they have some nice wall plaques that show the glimpses of Jerusalem.  This is where I first tasted Knafeeh.It is by far my most favorite middle eastern dessert.  The first time I ate it, I went back twice that week. The third time I decided to talk to the owner and ask for the recipe. He did not quite know the details but gave me enough to start. I read up and here is my recipe.

There are many ways to spell it like Knafee, Kanafeh but those all are the same dish. This dish is eaten as a breakfast as well. How fun must it be  to start your day with a yummy dessert for breakfast. I can totally see myself doing that.

The first time I made it, I made it in a big tray. It turned out good but when we started eating it, everyone wanted the crispy part. So next time I decided to try making it a little differently.

Knafeh

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Ingredients

Simple Syrup

1 cup sugar
1 cup water
1-2 teaspoons rose  or orange blossom water

For the knafeh

  • 3 cups, or ½ package, of shredded phyllo knafeh dough (kataifi)
  • 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, melted
  • 1 cup ackawi cheese  or fresh mozzarella cheese ( I like to use half and half)
  • 1 cup  ricotta  cheese
  • 1 cups whole milk
  • 1/3 cup farina (cream of Wheat or Sooji)
  • ¼ cup chopped pistachio nuts, for garnish, optional

Method

To make the orange blossom syrup, in a small heavy saucepan, combine sugar, water and lemon juice and bring to a boil over medium high heat. Reduce heat to low and simmer for 10 minutes. Add the orange blossom or rose water , pour into a heatproof container and refrigerate to cool completely.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees with a rack in the middle position.

The katafeh dough is like thin vermicelli. It comes in a pack which is kept in the freezer. you can use scissors to cut it in tiny pieces or in the food processor, pulse the shredded phyllo dough for about a minute to make it into a fine meal.

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Place the phyllo in a medium bowl. Add the melted butter and stir until the phyllo is completely coated.

In a muffin pan, add the buttery dough mixture. Compress it very well by pushing it into the bottom of the pan firmly, first with your hands, then pressing with the flat bottom of a cup, or something similar. You can also use a 10-inch clear pie plate or cake pan.

If the ackawi cheese is too salty, soak it in cold water until some of the salt is pulled out. Change the water every 10 minutes or so. This cheese originates from Akki region in Northern Israel. Stored in brine, it can stay good for a long time. Grate the cheese.

Grate the mozzarella cheese.

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In a medium heavy saucepan, heat the milk over medium-high heat until it is hot, but not boiling. Add the farina and cook for 2 minutes, stirring constantly, until the mixture is slightly thickened. Pour the farina over the cheese and stir to combine.

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Pour the cheese mixture over the knafeh dough in the prepared pan, and smooth the top. Cover with the remaining knafeh dough.

Place in the oven and bake for 30-40 minutes, or until the knafeh is deep golden brown. Remove from the oven and cool for 15 minutes.

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Turn the knafeh out onto a platter and drizzle with ¼ cup of orange blossom syrup. If you are using the muffin tins, take the out on a plate and over over the syrup.

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Garnish with pistachio nuts. Serve immediately or set aside and reheat before serving. Cut into squares or slices and serve the knafeh warm, with more orange blossom syrup poured over each piece.

It is the most divine thing to eat, when you bite into the crispy outside and find this gooey cheesy filling inside.

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Turn the knafeh out onto a platter and drizzle with ¼ cup of orange blossom syrup. Garnish with pistachio nuts. Serve immediately or set aside and reheat before serving. Cut into squares or slices and serve the knafeh warm, with more orange blossom syrup poured over each piece.

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