My Top Five Paris Picks

My top five restaurant picks are over on the Paris Kitchen this week. After spending a considerable amount of my time there "eating" it was harder than I thought to narrow it down to five! Given the research for my next book project is very much in the Bistronomy space, my choices reflect this style although I am going to put up a detailed Paris post in coming weeks with lots of other recommendations and interviews with some great chefs plus recipes.

Thumbprint Freckle Cookies

I regularly write recipes for a kids magazine and for the latest issue we've been working on some more old fashioned style recipes like thumbprint cookies. Here I've used an 'old school' recipe and incorporated raspberry essence and chocolate freckles - one of the benefits of writing for a kids mag means I legitimately get to eat biscuits like these. The results were pretty delicious so I had to share.

Chocolate and Raspberry Thumbprint Cookies

Ingredients

210g plain flour, sifted

30g cocoa powder, sifted

45g dark chocolate, melted

1 ½ tsp baking powder

pinch salt

110g butter

2 tsp raspberry extract

50g caster sugar

2 eggs

50g pure icing sugar (for rolling)

1 bag chocolate freckles

Method

Preheat oven to 175C. Line a baking sheet with baking paper and set aside. Add the flour, cocoa baking powder and salt to a bowl, stir to combine and set aside. Cream the butter, raspberry extract and sugar until pale and thick, add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the vanilla extract and stir to combine. Add the flour mix, in thirds to the butter mixture, blending well after each addition.

Roll into walnut sized balls and then roll the balls in the icing sugar mixture before placing on the baking tray. Leave room between each biscuit for them to expand a little. Press a freckle into the centre of each cookie, depressing it in the centre slightly. Bake for 12 minutes. Remove from the oven and serve warm or allow to cool completely before storing in an airtight container.

The Cheese Guy and a recipe for Beaufort & Thyme Gougeres

One of the benefits of deciding to trek around Mt Blanc is coming across one of the masters of one of your favourite cheeses in a tiny village on a random hillside (aka Savoie region of the French Alps), like Mr Beaufort here, one of the eponymous cheesemakers of the region. We came across Mr Beaufort towards the end of 7 days hiking and let me tell you, stumbling into his little cheese cave out of the freezing winds to smell that cheese and eat a slab of it was heaven reincarnated. He was so lovely, quiet and unassuming - almost as if he had no idea that the cheese he was making was one of the most awarded in France let alone lauded across the world. Trust me if I could have fit a wheel of that stuff into my bag I would have - it was painful to walk out of there empty handed.

A few fun facts on Beaufort Cheese

- Firm raw cows milk cheese, part of the Gruyere family

- There are 3 types - a summer beaufort, winter beaufort and one that is made in the chalets in the alps which is Beaufort d'alpage; all made in the Savoie region of France

- It takes 11 litres of milk for 1 kg of cheese sourced from two special mountain cow breeds Tarine and Abondance

- Making it is high maintenance - the milk is heated, cooled, cast into its concave shape, soaked in brine, rested for a few months during which time it gets salted by hand daily, turned and massaged.

- It's then aged for 6-12 months minimum before you and I scoff it down in disgusting proportions...or is that just me?

And what would a post on cheese be without a recipe with cheese, beaufort cheese gougeres.

Beaufort & Thyme Gougeres

Ingredients

100ml milk
150ml water
120g butter
pinch salt
1 tsp caster sugar
150g plain flour, sifted
3-4 eggs
150g Beaufort cheese, chopped into small pieces
1 tbsp thyme leaves, finely chopped

Method
Preheat oven to 180C.
Combine the milk, water, butter, salt and sugar in a saucepan and bring to the boil over medium heat. Remove from the heat and add the flour. Stir briskly with a wooden spoon until the mixture comes away from the sides of the saupcean. Return to the heat, add the cheese and continue mixing over a low heat for 2 minutes or until the cheese melts and is incorporated.

Transfer the mixture to a mixing bowl, add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. The mixture should become really glossy and thick. Add the chopped thyme at this point and stir to combine. Season to taste.

You can pour the mixture into a piping bag or if like me, you hate the things, I just use two dessert spoons to scoop the mixture straight onto a tray lined with baking paper.

Bake in the oven for 25 minutes, until golden and crisp. You can use an egg wash if you like but I think the eggs and butter in the mix do it for you. Allow to cool on a wire rack before serving. Toss over some thyme flowers if you have them.

Makes 30 if you can resist eating the choux dough while making them.

Bellini Slushies

Bellini Slushies - the perfect drink for the race that stops the nation.

Melbourne Cup is the one day of the year that I don't love what I do. As a freelancer, the joys of not working in an office are endless, except in November when I wish I was with everyone else. Preferably at the race, but if not, off to lunch or enjoying chicken sandwiches and a glass of shampoo together in the boardroom, placing bets and watching the race. I daresay this year though I am prepared. And that preparation comes in the form of bellini slushies for this week's column on Daily Life - a lovely frosty combination of peach nectar and champagne.

The mixed drink seems to have a bad reputation. Sad really when said reputation rarely has anything to do with taste and everything to do with those people who drink something in the hope it says something about how they’d like to be perceived. But let’s be honest, the red wine and cola combo. Heaven. And the lemonade ‘n’ beer shandy. Well, that’s pure genius. The greatest though, hands down, is the Bellini. The heady fruity concoction of peach and the slight tartness of champagne are soul mates, and it is the perfect accessory for the race that stops the nation. It’s pretty to look at, its svelte, long and lean in the glass, it has bubbles and its lower alcohol content means the majority of us can at least numb the pain of the stilettos while maintaining uber-sophisticated race day conversation like ‘form’, ‘handicaps’ and ‘home turns’.

Serves 6

Ingredients

750ml Prosecco

330ml peach nectar

2 tbsp caster sugar

Method

Add all ingredients to a freezer proof bowl. Stir to combine and until sugar has dissolved. Cover and refrigerate overnight. The champagne means the mixture will be icy and pulpy. To serve, quickly run a spoon through the mixture then heap into glasses and serve immediately.

Cooking the Books

Kicking off today's cooking the books is the new title from Valli Little, Home Cooking. Pretty much anyone who has ever picked up a whisk has cooked (knowingly or not) one of Valli's recipes. She is the head of the food team at the ever beautiful Delicious Magazine and again with this hard cover lustworthy book, her recipes don't disappoint.

The book is broken up into seasons with the added benefit of suggested menus to ensure epic culinary efforts in the kitchen. It has the kind of recipes with enough tricks to excite you but with the convenience of relatively straightforward ingredients that won't have you running about town in a tizz trying to get your hands on.

To be honest I found this pretty difficult and I dare say this book is going to suffer from plenty of food stains. But I fear the pages may stick together forever on this one. Here is hoping I commit it to memory before then. It's the beautiful, lust worthy apricot tart. Doesn't it look like summer on a plate? What I love best, is it's a more highbrow version of those Nanna's apricot pies we used to eat on occasion when we were little kids.

 

Valli Little is no stranger to the kitchen - that is probably the be all and end all of what any of us want from someone writing our cookbooks. But beyond that she is also the food editor of the ubiquitous Delicious magazine. She is the author of multiple cookbooks, a trained chef and an old hat at turning out failsafe recipes worth your time and expenditure on ingredients.

Because the recipes are the kind of eating we love to do best. The Spring and Summer chapters are deserving of space under your tree this Christmas. You want people to be making this stuff, who doesn't want to be invited over for something as simple and delicious as peppered tuna. Or there is a recipe for 8 hour pork belly with a peanut relish. Criminal. I've already made it twice. My butcher is now trying to offer me a leaner cut of meat, I think he smells trouble. The kind created by excessive crackling consumption.

This is going to be on high rotation at your old faithfuls - Dymocks and the like. It's online everywhere and a quick google brings up further options. It retails for $49.99 but I'm sure if you put your mind to it, you might find more competitive online prices.

Soft centred chocolate tortini with Ferrero Rocher crumble

If you are thinking “oh no, I possibly couldn’t” or “summer is here” please stop. Walk around the block, mutter a few stern words and give yourself a wee tap on the reality knuckles. This is a TREAT; a use it to woo a lover, eat during an intimate bout of self-loathing, make your skinny friends a little less skinny kind of treat. Comprende? And all that aside, it tastes delicious so why on earth wouldn’t you?  It takes all of 10 minutes to prepare and you can make the batter, refrigerate it in the moulds if time is against you, and whip it out at a moment’s notice like the genius that you are.  I’ll cut to the chase, it’s a winner. And you should cook it now. Then jump on the bat phone and invite me over to eat it. We could be bff’s forever.

Seriously…..

Serves 6

Ingredients

160g dark chocolate (70%), chopped

160g butter, coarsely chopped

3 eggs

3 egg yolks

75g caster sugar

50g plain flour

Vanilla ice cream to serve

Ferrero Rocher crumble

2 tsp good quality cocoa powder

8  ferre roche, refrigerated

Method

Preheat oven to 170C.

Grease and line 6 x 10cm loose-bottom pie tins.

Melt the chocolate and butter in a heatproof bowl over a saucepan of gently simmering water, stir to combine and set aside to cool. Using an electric mixer, beat eggs, yolks and sugar for 6-8 minutes or until think and creamy. Gradually sift over the flour and whisk to combine, then add the chocolate mixture and whisk for another few minutes. Divide the mixture between the pie tins and place in the fridge for at least 1 hour. It is important the mixture is completely cooled to achieve the soft centre when cooking.

Bake the tortini for 10 minutes or until they are firm but their centres are soft. Don’t be alarmed, these are not the sort of desserts meant to rise to lofty heights, you will have thick, dense disks of pudding – more than enough for each person. While the tortini are cooking, make the crumble by gently crushing the Ferrero Rocher in a bowl. Sprinkle over the cocoa powder and toss gently to combine.To serve, gently remove the tortini from the pie tins and place on plates, top with a scoop of ice cream and spoon over the crumble. Serve immediately, then lie down very flat on the couch after you have finished.