trout & hawk | An exploration of flavours and beauty

homemade coconut milk and a book recommendation

7. January 2016

Drinks

To start the New Year fresh and clean I’d like to present you a recipe from Meredith Baird’s Coconut Kitchen, one of my Christmas books. During the summer holidays in Bali I had the chance to literally get immersed in the endless benefits of the coconut, from delicately perfumed body oils, emerald green coconut herbal oil against mosquito bites and sunburn to fresh coconut water and Dadar cakes for breakfast….

Christmas time has been too busy to start out trying new recipes, yet I went reading the delights-to-come before falling asleep. Today I made my first homemade coconut milk. The big advantage to store-bought milk is that it contains much less fat. It’s fresh and tasty, similar to skimmed milk or homemade almond milk with a light coconut flavour.

homemade coconut milk

2 cups shredded coconut, or 1 cup young coconut meat
4 cups water, or more or less depending how thick you would like it
pinch of salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract or scrapings of 1/2 vanilla bean
2 dates

Blend all ingredients until smooth. Run through a fine mesh strainer to remove solids.
Makes 4 cups. Fresh coconut milk lasts up to five days in the fridge. Shake well before serving.

I wish you an amazing New Year

31. December 2015

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coconut pancakes for breakfast and a forest walk

25. December 2015

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Breakfast

Merry Christmas to all of you!

Coconut pancakes with Greek yoghurt and pomegranate

180g rice flour
3 tablespoons sugar
1 pinch of salt
5 eggs
400g coconut cream

2 tablespoons oil or butter for frying

Combine ingredients in a mixing bowl or in a blender. Batter should be rather liquid in consistency.
Heat a non-stick pan over low heat. Pour in a small amount of batter (about 4 tablespoons to form a thin pancake.Continue until mixture is used up.
Serve with fruit and Greek yoghurt – or fill with grated coconut and palm sugar syrup.

chocolate and caramel tart

17. December 2015

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Cakes + Cookies / Sweets

Only 7 days until Christmas. Do you still need an idea for a festive tart, rich and chocolaty, perfect to be served in small bites? Try the chocolate and caramel tart, it’s so good! For a more festive look cover the nuts completely with chocolate and finally sprinkle with gold dust.

chocolate and caramel tart

for the dough:
170g flour
a pinch of salt
40g powdered sugar
115 butter (cut in small pieces)
1 egg

for the caramel layer:
120 walnuts, pecans or hazelnuts, roasted
200g sugar
2 tablespoons honey
25g butter
200g heavy cream (Schlagsahne)

for the chocolate topping:
150g good quality 85% chocolate

1) Form a heap with flour, powdered sugar and salt. Form a well in the middle of the flour mixture and fill it with the egg and the butter. With your hands start mixing the egg with the butter, then adding quickly the flour. Form a ball, flatten it (like a thick pancake) and wrap it in a foil. Let it rest in the fridge for 1 hour minimum.
Preheat the oven to 180°C. Butter the tart pan. Roll out the dough on a floured surface. Fit the dough into the tart pan, gently pressing it against the base and up the sides of the pan. Prick all over the base with a fork. Cover with parchment paper and fill with dried beans. Bake for 10 minutes, Remove the weight and the parchment and bake other 5 minutes. Set aside to cool.

2) Roast the nuts.

3) Melt the sugar in a medium pan over medium heat. When it has completely melted turn down the heat to low, add carefully butter, honey and heavy cream and stir with a wooden spoon for about 10 minutes until smooth and creamy.

4) Spread the nuts on the dough shell and cover with the warm caramel. Set aside to cool.

5) Heat the chocolate in a bain-marie and stir until until completely melted. Pour onto the cool caramel layer. Let it cool for one hour before serving.

pistachio rosewater snowballs

10. December 2015

by troutandhawk

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Cakes + Cookies / Sweets

These cookies have a delicate floral aroma. Rose water and cardamom give them a slight Moroccan reminiscence. They taste wonderful with mint tea!

1 cup (130g) unsalted shelled raw pistachios
2 cups (280g) flour
1 teaspoon ground cardamom
a pinch of sea salt
1 cup (90g) powdered sugar
1 cup /225g) butter, softened
1 tablespoon rosewater

another cup of powdered sugar to roll the warm cookies in

Preheat oven to 180°C. Line two baking trays with parchment paper.
Roast the pistachios for a few minutes in the oven or in a frying pan.
Place the cooled pistachios in a food processor and pulse shortly until finely ground but not a paste.
Transfer the pistachios to a medium bowl together with the flour, cardamom and salt.
In another bowl, using an electric mixer, beat soft butter, sugar and rosewater until pale and fluffy.
With the mixer on low speed, slowly add the flour mixture until well combined. Form a dough with your hands.
Roll the dough into little balls and arrange them not too close on a baking sheet.

Bake the cookies for about 20 minutes. Wenn slightly cooled down, but still warm, roll the cookies in powdered sugar. Voilà your snowballs!

Dresdner Christmas Stollen

3. December 2015

by troutandhawk

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Cakes + Cookies / Sweets

It’s that very special time of the year. I’m burning pine-scented candles (Annick Goutal Noël are the best!), I’m hanging box wreaths around the house and sipping spice tea whenever I have a quiet moment to spare.
During the month of December I want to share with you some German Christmas bakery: the famous Dresdner Stollen, an elegant gold sprinkled chocolate and caramel tart and some easy-to-make pistachio rosewater snowballs.

Dresdner Christstollen

1kg flour
120g yeast
200ml milk
125g sugar
350g raisins
200g candied orange peel
200g candied lemon peel
350g butter
80g almonds, chopped
a pinch of salt
2 shot glasses rum to soak the raisins and candied fruit
2 vanilla pods, scraped
zest of a lemon
a pinch of each: finely ground cardamom, coriander, cloves, cinnamon and allspice (If you happen to live in Dresden, visit Zaffaran Gewürzatelier. They sell an amazing Stollen spice blend.)
2 egg yolks

125g butter and powdered sugar to cover the Stollen after baking.

Mix raisins, candied peel, vanilla, zest, almonds and rum. Let the mixture rest overnight ( minimum 6 hours).
Sieve flour into a bowl. Make a well in the center and pour the crumbled yeast, a tablespoon sugar and 2/3 of the lukewarm milk into the center and mix with a little bit of flour. Cover it with a tea towel and let it rise for 15 minutes in a warm room.
Add the remaining sugar, salt, egg yolks, butter (soft), milk and spices. Knead into the dough. In case you are using a food processor knead for 30 minutes on lowest level. Let the dough rise for 30 minutes covered with a tea towel.
Roll dough and add fruit mixture, without kneading them. Just press them in. Let the dough rise again for 30 minutes covered with a tea towel.
Knead again and shape the dough in a roughly oval form. Fold dough in half lengthwise and put it on a baking. Let it rest and rise for 15 minutes.

Preheat oven to 180°C. Bake for ca. 60 minutes.

Immediately after baking brush the Stollen generously with brown melted butter and sieve powdered sugar onto it.

The Stollen improves upon keeping. So you may bake it 2 weeks before serving . (I never do it; we eat our Stollen right after baking). If you decide to bake it in advance, wrap the Stollen in plastic foil and let it rest in a cool place.

spiced butternut squash bread

19. November 2015

by troutandhawk

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Breakfast / Cakes + Cookies

Spiced butternut squash bread

1 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon vanilla powder
1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom
a pinch of ground nutmeg
1 teaspoon grated ginger
1 cup butternut squash purée *
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 large eggs, beaten
1/4 cup water
1/2 cup toasted chopped walnuts or pecans

* to make butternut squash purée
Cut butternut squash in half lengthwise and remove seeds. Bake at 180°C until squash is soft, about 30 to 40 minutes. When cool scoop out the cooked pulp and blend it until smooth. Measure one cup of squash purée. The rest you may use for other purposes.

Preheat oven to 180°C and butter your loaf baking mold.
In a medium bowl sift together the flour, baking soda, salt and spices.
In a large bowl combine butternut squash purée, sugar, vegetable oil, eggs and water until well blended. Add the flour mixture and stir until just blended. Lightly stir in the chopped nuts.

Pour batter into the baking mold and and bake 50 to 60 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

quince leather / Quittenbrot / dulce de membrillo

12. November 2015

by troutandhawk

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Jams + Preserves / Snacks / Sweets

Once the quince was sacred to Aphrodite, the goddess of love. In the garden of Hesperides it was called the Fruit of Paradise.
Quinces have a soft and furry coat. They are intensely fragrant and have no artificial substitute. They can’t be eaten raw and to handle them you need patience and a good knife. When cooked they change colour from yellow to dark orange.
Quinces make a wonderful jelly because they contain plenty of natural pectin.

Add spices, time to stir and time to dry …. you’ll be rewarded with a heavenly dulce de membrillo.

quince leather / Quittenbrot / dulce de membrillo

2 kg quince, washed, cored and chopped
about 750g – 1 kg sugar (exact amount you see after cooking and blending)
juice and peel of an organically grown lemon
1 vanilla pod, sliced

Put the quince into a heavy bottom pot, cover with water and set it over medium heat. Add the vanilla pod and the lemon peel. Bring to a boil, then turn the heat down and let it simmer until the quince pieces are fork tender. About 30 to 40 minutes.
Strain the water, discard the vanilla pod, but keep the lemon peel. Purée the quince pieces in a blender. Whatever amount of quince purée you have , you will need 3/4 of this amount in sugar.
Transfer the quince sauce back to the pot, add sugar and lemon juice. Over low heat simmer the sauce for another hour or two, stirring frequently.
Spread the thickened sauce on a parchment paper lined baking try. Smooth it out and let it dry in the oven at 55°C. You may leave the purée in the oven for 3-4 hours to dry it entirely. Another option is to leave the quince purée in the oven for only one hour and then forget it in a warm and airy place for some days.
If you happen to have a dehydrator, use it. It will turn the drying process into a true pleasure!

Cut the quince leather into squares and serve it the Spanish way with Manchego cheese.

autumn 2022 version:

apple tart and fern

5. November 2015

by troutandhawk

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Cakes + Cookies / Sweets

To make this fresh and silky apple tart you basically need your hands, 1kg ripe and mellow apples and a few typically German dairy products like Quark (curd) for the crust and Schmand (sour cream) for the filling.

silky apple tart

for the crust:
125g Magerquark (low fat curd)
125g cold butter, cut in small pieces
125g flour

for the filling:
1kg ripe and mellow apples, sliced
the juice of one lemon
400g Schmand (sour cream)
1 sachet custard powder
50g sugar

Optionally you may add raisins or almond slivers on top.

In a bowl add flour, Magerquark and butter. Work the butter and the Quark into the flour using your fingers. Continue working until the dough comes together and forms a ball. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour.
Peel and slice the apples. Sprinkle with lemon juice.

Roll the dough with a rolling pin, transfer to a tart pan, press into the base up the sides, and trim the edge. Place the apple slices onto the crust.
Combine Schmand, sugar and custard powder and spread the mixture evenly on top of the apples.

Preheat oven to 200°C. Bake for 30 minutes or until the rims start to turn golden brown.

marbled walnut guglhupf

29. October 2015

by troutandhawk

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Cakes + Cookies / Sweets

The calmness around the lake of Moritzburg castle is truly magical on a foggy morning. Later the sun came out and the day burst in glorious autumn colours.

I found the marbled walnut gugl in the recipe book of my grandma.

marbled walnut guglhupf

250g butter
200g sugar
1 teaspoon ground bourbon vanilla
2 eggs
100g corn starch
300g flour
3 teaspoons baking powder
100ml milk

150g walnuts, ground
50g sugar
2 tablespoons milk
1 tablespoon cognac or kirsch – or another tablespoon milk

Combine well nuts, sugar, milk and spirit in a small bowl and put aside.

All the other ingredients should have room temperature. Beat butter, sugar and vanilla in a large bowl with mixer on high until fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each. Sift flour, corn starch and baking powder to mix well.
On low speed beat in flour in 3 additions, alternately with milk, just until blended.

Combine 2/3 of the batter with the nut mix.

Scrape nut batter evenly into a guglhupf mold, top with the white batter. Run a fork through the batter to create the marbled effect.

Preheat the oven to 180°C and bake for 50-60 minutes. Be sure to check, time is approximate. When it tends to overbrown reduce the temperature to 170°C. Bake until a toothpick in the center comes out clean.
Cover with couverture chocolate. The thicker the better!

The Guglhupf will be most delicious when you let it rest in the cool overnight: moist and intensely flavoured.