Beef Wellington - gluten free!

Whenever I ask my husband what he wants for dinner for special occasions, he either wants beef wellington or bouillabaisse.  While browsing the web, I found a recipe for individual beef wellingtons that looked doable, and this is a result of that recipe, after many changes. I think the original recipe was an Emeril creation from Foodnetwork.com.  (The special occasion was him completing a 100 mile bike ride — in one day.  And finally paying off his student loans.  Yeah!)

The first trick, and what I have yet to accomplish, is to master puff pastry dough. I used Kate’s recipe that she has for her croissants, and I think the recipe would be just right here. However, I just did not plan far enough ahead, and leave enough time for chilling the dough, etc.  But if you look at her site and see just how fluffy she gets it, you’ll see why it would be perfect.  Just follow the recipe up until you cut it into triangles for croissants.  Then fold the dough a little thicker (I think part of my problem was getting the dough too thin on top).

The original recipe called for both duck or goose pate and then an mushroom/truffle Duxelles (whatever that is!). I found at the store a duck liver mouse that combined the duck liver and truffles with port wine, garlic, and other yummy things. So I used that and saved the step of making the mushroom duxelles. (I have included that recipe just in case you want to make it.)

I cut the recipe in half, and only made two Wellingtons.  And while they weren’t the prettiest, they tasted really good.

Individual Beef Wellington

Ingredients:
4 (6-ounce) thickly cut filet mignons
1 teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 tablespoon olive oil
4 (1-ounce) slices goose or duck liver, or pork country-style pate
One recipe of Kate’s puff pastry
Mushroom Duxelles, recipe follows
1 large egg beaten with 2 teaspoons water to make an egg wash

Directions:
1. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.

2. Season both sides of each filet with ¼ teaspoon of the salt and 1/8 teaspoon of the pepper.

3. Heat the oil in a large heavy skillet over medium-high heat. Add the filets and sear for 1 minute on each side for medium-rare. Transfer to a plate to cool completely.

4. Roll out the puff pastry on a lightly floured surface to a 14-inch square, and cut into 4 (7-inch) squares. (When using gf pastry, divide by four first, then roll out. I made the pastry, adding in the frozen butter, folding over, etc., and then rolled it into four separate sheets, still fairly thick, to keep in the fridge until I was ready for it.)

5. Spread one-quarter of the mushroom duxelles on top of each filet and top each with 1 slice of the pate, pressing to flatten. Place one filet, mushroom side down, in the center of a puff pastry square. Using a pastry brush or your finger, paint the inside edges of the pastry with egg wash. Fold the pastry over the filet as though wrapping a package and press the edges to seal. Place the packages seam-side down on the prepared baking sheet. Brush the egg wash over the tops and sides of each package and bake until the pastry is golden brown and an instant-read thermometer registers 140 degrees F for medium-rare, about 20 minutes. (I cooked it a little less and left it rare.)

6. Remove from the oven and let rest for 10 minutes before serving.

Mushroom Duxelles:
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
2 tablespoons minced shallots
½ teaspoon minced garlic
10 ounces button mushrooms, wiped clean, stemmed, and finely chopped
¼ teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon freshly ground white pepper
2½ tablespoons dry white wine

Heat the butter in a medium skillet over medium-high heat. Add the shallots and garlic and cook, stirring, for 30 seconds. Add the mushrooms, salt, and white pepper, reduce the heat to medium, and cook, stirring, until all the liquid has evaporated and the mushrooms begin to caramelize, about 12 minutes. Add the wine and cook, stirring to deglaze the pan, until all the liquid has evaporated. Remove from the heat and let cool before using.

Yield: 1/2 cup

  

 

Lavash Crackers - A Daring Bakers’ Challenge

This month’s challenge was designed just for us “alternative” bakers.  The recipe was vegan, and was designed to be made either whole grain or gluten free.  The hosts this month were Natalie from Gluten A Go Go, and Shel, of Musings From the Fishbowl.  You never really think about making crackers at home, but they are really easy, and yummy!  So for gluten-free people, this is a great option.  Obviously, I chose to go with the gluten-free version.

Gluten-Free Lavash Crackers

Makes 1 sheet pan of crackers

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups gluten free flour blend
1 tsp xanthan or guar gum to the recipe)
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp instant yeast
1 Tb agave syrup or sugar
1 Tb vegetable oil
1/3 to 1/2 cup + 2 Tb water, at room temperature
*Poppy seeds, sesame seeds, paprika, cumin seeds, caraway seeds, or kosher salt for toppings

Directions:
1.  In a mixing bowl, stir together the flour, xanthan gum, salt, yeast, agave, oil, and just enough water to bring everything together into a ball.  You may not need the full 1/2 cup + 2 Tb of water, but be prepared to use it all if needed.

2.  (The dough should be firmer than French bread dough, but not quite as firm as bagel dough (what I call medium-firm dough), and slightly tacky.)  Lightly oil a bowl and transfer the dough to the bowl, rolling it around to coat it with oil.  Cover the bowl with plastic wrap.

3. Ferment at room temperature for 90 minutes, or until the dough doubles in size.

4.  Lay out two sheets of parchment paper.  Divide the cracker dough in half and then sandwich the dough between the two sheets of parchment.  Roll out the dough until it is a paper thin sheet about 15 inches by 12 inches.  Slowly peel away the top layer of parchment paper.  Then set the bottom layer of parchment paper with the cracker dough on it onto a baking sheet.

5. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit with the oven rack on the middle shelf.  Mist the top of the dough with water and sprinkle a covering of seeds or spices on the dough (such as alternating rows of poppy seeds, sesame seeds, paprika, cumin seeds, caraway seeds, kosher or pretzel salt, etc.)  Be careful with spices and salt - a little goes a long way. If you want to precut the cracker, use a pizza cutter (rolling blade) and cut diamonds or rectangles in the dough.  You do not need to separate the pieces, as they will snap apart after baking.  If you want to make shards, bake the sheet of dough without cutting it first.

5.  Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, or until the crackers begin to brown evenly across the top (the time will depend on how thinly and evenly you rolled the dough).

6.  When the crackers are baked, remove the pan from the oven and let them cool in the pan for about 10 minutes.  You can then snap them apart or snap off shards and serve.

    

We were also asked to make a dip/salsa/topping for our crackers. We had complete creative control over this part, so long as the recipe was both vegan and gluten free.

I decided to make an Olive Tapanade, basically because I like olives. (That’s a good reason, right?)  Other good options would be salsa, hummus, guacamole, etc.

I only sort of followed a recipe.  Basically, I combined olives, capers, roasted red peppers, lemon rind, garlic, olive oil and vinegar.  Very tastey.

 

Peach and Mascarpone Tart

Ingredients:

Crust
25 gingersnap cookies,* coarsely broken (about 6 ounces; about 2 1/4 cups pieces)
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, melted

Filling
1 8-ounce container mascarpone cheese*
6 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
1/4 cup sour cream
1/4 cup sugar
1 tablespoon grated lemon peel
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon finely chopped crystallized ginger

Topping
4 to 5 small peaches or nectarines, halved, pitted, cut into thin slices
1/4 cup peach jam, warmed
2 tablespoons finely chopped crystallized ginger

*(Mi Del brand makes good gluten-free gingersnap cookies)

Directions:

For crust
Preheat oven to 350°F. Finely grind gingersnaps in processor. Add butter and blend until crumbs are evenly moistened. Press mixture over bottom and up sides of 9-inch-diameter tart pan with removable bottom. Bake crust until color darkens, pressing sides with back of spoon if beginning to slide, about 8 minutes. Cool completely.

For filling
Beat first 6 ingredients in medium bowl until smooth. Beat in crystallized ginger. Spread filling in prepared crust. Cover loosely and refrigerate at least 2 hours and up to 1 day.

For topping
Overlap nectarine slices atop filling in concentric circles. Brush with jam. Sprinkle with chopped crystallized ginger. Serve, or refrigerate up to 6 hours.

 

(This was actually as popular at the party as the chocolate cheesecake.  I’d never made it before, and was quite pleased with how it turned out.  I thought the ginger might be a bit weird on it, but it was really good.)

 

Triple Chocolate Cheesecake

Chocolate cheesecake makes everything better.  My life had been hectic, to say the least, over the past few weeks.  I started a new job on September 2, and have been working from about 8 to 6 everyday.  I’m an attorney, it’s what we do.  I still haven’t settled into a routine for getting up earlier, and fixing my lunch, or dealing with dinner later.  So that has been adding additional stress.  But it’s starting to get better.  The second week was definitely better than the first. 

So last Friday, I came home and made my world-famous, triple chocolate cheesecake.  First, I had a reason - I’m going to a party at a friend’s the next night, and several people requested it.  Second, while it might not be world-famous, it is darn good and all my friends ask me to bring it to parties.  I mean, how could it not be good.  Triple.  Chocolate.  Cheesecake. 

The original recipe came off of epicurious.com, but I have made just a couple of modifications.

Ingredients:

For crust:
1 9-ounce box chocolate cookies*
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted (Or just enough to stick the cookie crumbs together)

For filling:
1 1/2 cup whipping cream
1 teaspoon instant coffee powder
12 ounces semisweet chocolate, finely chopped

2 8-ounce packages cream cheese, room temperature
3/4 cup sugar
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1 cup sour cream
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3 large eggs

For glaze:
1/2 cup whipping cream
4 ounces bittersweet/dark chocolate, finely chopped

Directions:

Make crust:
Preheat oven to 350°F. Wrap outside of 9-inch-diameter springform pan with 2 3/4-inch-high sides with double thickness of foil. Spray bottom of pan with vegetable oil spray. Finely grind cookies in processor. Add butter and process until blended. Press mixture onto bottom (not sides) of prepared pan. Refrigerate while preparing filling.

   

Make filling:
Combine cream and coffee powder in medium saucepan. Stir over medium heat until coffee powder dissolves. Reduce heat to low.

  

Add chocolate; whisk until chocolate melts and mixture is smooth. Cool 10 minutes.

   

    

Using electric mixer, beat cream cheese and sugar in large bowl until well blended. Beat in cornstarch.

      

       

Add sour cream and vanilla; beat well. 

 

      

Add eggs 1 at a time, beating just until blended after each addition.

  

   

Whisk 1 cup cheese mixture into chocolate mixture.

Return chocolate mixture to remaining cheese mixture; whisk until smooth.

 

 

Pour batter into crust. Place springform pan in large baking pan. Add enough hot water to baking pan to cone halfway up sides of springform pan.

Bake cheesecake until softly set and slightly puffed around edges, about 1 hour. Turn off oven. Let cake stand in oven 45 minutes. Transfer springform pan t rack and cool. Cover; chill cake overnight.

Make glaze:
Bring cream to boil in heavy small saucepan. Remove from heat. Add 4 ounces chocolate and whisk until melted and smooth. Pour glaze over top of cake. Using spatula, smooth glaze evenly over top. Refrigerate until glaze is set, at least 2 hours. (Can be prepared 1 day ahead. Cover and refrigerate.)

Using knife, cut around sides of pan to loosen cake. Remove pan sides. Cut into wedges and serve.

      

* For the chocolate cookies, use whatever kind of gluten-free chocolate cookies you can find, the crispier, the better.  I’ve even used chocolate & almond biscotti, and those worked quite well.

** As you can see by my picture, I added raspberries to the top for a little extra decoration and flavor.

 

Chocolate Eclairs with Coffee Cream Filling (gluten free)

Chocolate Eclairs

This month I joined the Daring Bakers, and this was our challenge.  I had been reading about the past few months’ challenges as they got posted, and decided that this was something that would push me to improve my baking and overallcooking skills.  I was glad when I saw that this month’s challenge wasn’t as hard as some months had been.  Not to say that making Eclairs gluten-free is easy.  Actually, the part I had the biggest problem with was the pastry cream.  I took these to work the day after I made them and received a lot of compliments from people who don’t eat gluten-free.  Several compliments were specifically about the texture.  So that made me feel good.

The recipe was for “Chocolate Éclairs by Pierre Hermé” and came from the cookbook Chocolate Desserts By Pierre Hermé written by Dorie Greenspan.  The recipe is below, this my commentary in italics.

Éclairs consist of 3 basic elements:

- Pâte à Choux, also known as Choux Pastry or Cream Puff Dough
- Pastry Cream
- Chocolate glaze

The Challenge specified that we had to keep either the chocolate pastry cream or the chocolate glaze (or both).  I decided to make a coffee pastry cream and make the chocolate glaze provided.  Because I am gluten free, I altered the Pate a Choux recipe slightly, but only to change the type of flour used.  I apologize for not taking pictures of each step, but as this was my first challenge, I was having enough trouble getting things done right, that I couldn’t also focus on taking photos.  Maybe next time.

Pierre Hermé’s Chocolate Éclairs
Recipe from Chocolate Desserts by Pierre Hermé
(makes 20-24 Éclairs)

1) Preheat your oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Divide the oven into thirds by
positioning the racks in the upper and lower half of the oven. Line two baking sheets with
waxed or parchment paper.

2) Fill a large pastry bag fitted with a 2/3 (2cm) plain tip nozzle (I went without a tip - just cut the right size hole in a disposable pastry bag) with the warm cream puff dough.
Pipe the dough onto the baking sheets in long, 4 to 41/2 inches (about 11 cm) chubby fingers. (As you can see from the photo, I also made “puffs.”)
Leave about 2 inches (5 cm) space in between each dough strip to allow them room to puff.
The dough should give you enough to pipe 20-24 éclairs.

3) Slide both the baking sheets into the oven and bake for 7 minutes. After the 7 minutes, slip the handle of a wooden spoon into the door to keep in ajar. When the éclairs have been in the oven for a total of 12 minutes, rotate the sheets top to bottom and front to back. Continue baking for a further 8 minutes or until the éclairs are puffed, golden and firm. The total baking time should be approximately 20 minutes.

Notes:
1) The éclairs can be kept in a cool, dry place for several hours before filling.
2) Also, to keep them from deflating, I slit them when they came out of the oven, then put them back in the oven (which had been turned off) on a wire rack, to cool down slowly.

Assembling the éclairs:

1) Slice the éclairs horizontally, using a serrated knife and a gently sawing motion. Set aside the bottoms and place the tops on a rack over a piece of parchment paper.

2) The glaze should be barely warm to the touch (between 95 – 104 degrees F or 35 – 40 degrees C, as measured on an instant read thermometer). Spread the glaze over the tops of the éclairs using a metal icing spatula. Allow the tops to set and in the meantime fill the
bottoms with the pastry cream.

3) Pipe or spoon the pastry cream into the bottoms of the éclairs. Make sure you fill the bottoms with enough cream to mound above the pastry. Place the glazed tops onto the pastry cream and wriggle gently to settle them.

Notes:
1) If you have chilled your chocolate glaze, reheat by placing it in a bowl over simmering water, stirring it gently with a wooden spoon. Do not stir too vigorously as you do not want to create bubbles.

2) The éclairs should be served as soon as they have been filled. (They do hold okay in the fridge overnight, but they tend to get a little soggy. They still taste good, though.)

Now, here are the various parts:

Coffee Pastry Cream
Recipe from JoyofBaking.com
Makes about 1 cup

Ingredients:

1 1/4 cups milk
1/2 vanilla bean, split lengthwise
3 large egg yolks
1/4 cup granulated white sugar
1/8 cup flour (I used sweet rice flour)
Scant 3 tablespoons cornstarch
1/2 - 1 tablespoon instant espresso

Directions:

In a medium-sized stainless steel bowl, mix the sugar and egg yolks together with a wooden spoon. Sift the flour and cornstarch together and then add to the egg mixture, mixing until you get a smooth paste. Set aside.

Meanwhile in a saucepan combine the milk and split vanilla bean and coffee on medium heat until boiling. (The milk will foam up to the top of pan when done, so watch carefully.) Remove from heat and add slowly to egg mixture, whisking constantly to prevent curdling. (If you get a few pieces of egg (curdling) in the mixture, pour through a strainer.) Remove vanilla bean, scrape out seeds, and add the seeds to the egg mixture.  (I just used a little vanilla extract since I was making this coffee flavored.)

Place the egg mixture back into a medium saucepan and cook over medium heat until boiling, whisking constantly. When it boils, whisk mixture constantly for another 30 - 60 seconds until it becomes very thick and it is hard to stir.

Remove from heat.  Pour into a clean bowl and immediately cover the surface with plastic wrap to prevent a crust from forming. Cool. If not using right away refrigerate until needed, up to 3 days. Beat before using to get rid of any lumps that may have formed.

(The next day, the pastry cream had set up like a silicone blob.  Not appetizing.  The recipe had mentioned that if you want a lighter cream, fold in 1/2 cup of lightly whipped heavy cream.  So I beat the blob with my hand mixer to loosen it up, then folded in the whipped cream.  This resulted in a really good, light and fluffy pastry cream.  I’m not sure what I did wrong with the recipe.  I can’t imagine it was the substitution of flours.)

Pierre Hermé’s Cream Puff Dough
Recipe from Chocolate Desserts by Pierre Hermé
(makes 20-24 Éclairs)

Ingredients:

• ½ cup (125g) whole milk
• ½ cup (125g) water
• 1 stick (4 ounces; 115g) unsalted butter, cut into 8 pieces
• ¼ teaspoon sugar
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• 1 cup (140g) all-purpose flour
• 5 large eggs, at room temperature

Directions:

1) In a heavy bottomed medium saucepan, bring the milk, water, butter, sugar and salt to the boil.

2) Once the mixture is at a rolling boil, add all of the flour at once, reduce the heat to medium and start to stir the mixture vigorously with a wooden spoon. The dough comes together very quickly. Do not worry if a slight crust forms at the bottom of the pan, it’s supposed to. You need to carry on stirring for a further 2-3 minutes to dry the dough. After this time the dough will be very soft and smooth.

3) Transfer the dough into a bowl of a mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, or using your hand-mixer or if you still have the energy, continue by hand. Add the eggs one at a time, beating after each egg has been added to incorporate it into the dough.  You will notice that after you have added the first egg, the dough will separate, once again do not worry. As you keep working the dough, it will come back all together again by the time you have added the third egg. In the end the dough should be thick and shiny and when lifted it
should fall back into the bowl in a ribbon.

4) The dough should be still warm. It is now ready to be used for the éclairs as directed above (below).

Notes:
1) Once the dough is made you need to shape it immediately.

2) You can pipe the dough and the freeze it. Simply pipe the dough onto parchment-lined baking sheets and slide the sheets into the freezer. Once the dough is completely frozen, transfer the piped shapes into freezer bags. They can be kept in the freezer for up to a month.

(For the flour, I used a combination that was half Bob’s Red Mill all purpose gluten free flour and half white rice flour.  I’m not sure I cooked it long enough on the stove - but my arm was getting tired!  lol!  Other than that, it was really rather easy to make.)

Chocolate Glaze
Recipe from Chocolate Desserts by Pierre Hermé
(makes 1 cup or 300g)

• 1/3 cup (80g) heavy cream
• 3½ oz (100g) bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
• 4 tsp (20 g) unsalted butter, cut into 4 pieces, at room temperature
• 7 tbsp (110 g) Chocolate Sauce (recipe below), warm or at room temperature

1)In a small saucepan, bring the heavy cream to a boil. Remove from the heat and slowly begin to add the chocolate, stirring with a wooden spoon or spatula.

2) Stirring gently, stir in the butter, piece by piece followed by the chocolate sauce.

Notes:
1) If the chocolate glaze is too cool (i.e. not liquid enough) you may heat it briefly
 in the microwave or over a double boiler. A double boiler is basically a bowl sitting over (not touching) simmering water.

2) It is best to glaze the eclairs after the glaze is made, but if you are pressed for time, you can make the glaze a couple days ahead of time, store it in the fridge and bring it up to the proper temperature (95 to 104 F) when ready to glaze.

Chocolate Sauce
Recipe from Chocolate Desserts by Pierre Hermé
(makes 1½ cups or 525 g)

• 4½ oz (130 g) bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
• 1 cup (250 g) water
• ½ cup (125 g) crème fraîche, or heavy cream
• 1/3 cup (70 g) sugar

1) Place all the ingredients into a heavy‐bottomed saucepan and bring to a boil, making sure to stir constantly. Then reduce the heat to low and continue stirring with a wooden spoon until the sauce thickens.

2) It may take 10‐15 minutes for the sauce to thicken, but you will know when it is done when it coats the back of your spoon.

Notes:
1) You can make this sauce ahead of time and store it in the refrigerator for two weeks. Reheat the sauce in a microwave oven or a double boiler before using.
2) This sauce is also great for cakes, ice-cream and tarts.

(This was a little tedious, since you had to make the chocolate sauce first, then make the glaze. However, having leftover chocolate sauce was not a bad thing. It was great for dipping fruit in. )
 

 

 

Gluten-free Challah

Challah is a special braided bread eaten on the Sabbath and on holidays. According to Jewish tradition, Sabbath and holiday meals begin with a blessing over two loaves of bread. Traditional challah recipes use a large number of eggs, white flour, and sugar. Modern recipes may use fewer eggs (there are also “eggless” versions) and replace white flour with whole wheat, oat, or spelt flour. Sometimes honey or molasses is substituted as a sweetener. The dough is rolled into rope-shaped pieces which are braided before baking. Challah is usually parve, unlike brioche and other enriched European breads, which contain butter or milk.

My friend Rebecca makes the world’s best Challah. Or at least that is what I’ve been told - I met her after going gf. She was kind enough to share her recipe with me so that I could attempt to adapt it. I’ve had to tinker with the recipe a little. And I don’t think the addition of xanthan gum should effect its being kosher and parve, but I need to double check with her. (I think Enger-G brand says it’s K and P.)

Anyone who knows anything about gluten free bread will understand why I did not attempt braiding.  The dough probably was probably sturdy enough to braid, but it was still really sticky, and would have taken way more patience than I have.  However, I saw this method of making it look a little like it was braided, and went with that.

I also only made one loaf, because while experimenting, I never know how it will turn out, and don’t want to be wasteful.  Just double the recipe below for two.

This was my second attempt. My first attempt was too dense and too dry. This version is better, but could probably be a little sweeter. I haven’t given it to Rebecca yet to try, so I don’t have her seal of approval. I’ll let you know when I do! My other problem with this loaf is that I think that my yeast was a little too old, so it didn’t rise quite as much as it should. But that is a user error, not a recipe error.

Ingredients:

1 cup warm water (100-110 degrees)
1/4 cup sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons yeast

1 egg
2 egg yolks
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 teaspoon vinegar (I used apple cider vinegar)

3/4 cup brown rice flour
3/4 cup white rice flour
1/2 cup corn starch
1/2 cup tapioca starch
1/4 cup potato starch
1 tablespoon xanthan gum
1 teaspoon salt

1 egg, beaten, for egg wash

Directions:

- Combine water, sugar and yeast; set aside and allow to proof.

 
- Whisk together egg, egg yolks, oil and vinegar.

  

- Combine dry ingredients in large bowl of mixer.

 
- Add egg mixture and yeast mixture to dry ingredients; mix (I used the dough hook on my Kitchen Aide) on low for about 3 minutes.

 

 
- Turn dough out onto floured board (parchment paper works well here too); form into ball.

 

     

- Place dough into a lightly-oiled bowl; cover.
- Leave in warm place for 30 minutes or until doubled in size.

 
- Turn dough out onto counter; punch down.

 

- Divide dough into 7 even pieces.

 

 

           

 
- Form each piece into a ball; arrange in a greased bread pan.

 
- Cover and let rise for about 20 more minutes.

  
- Lightly brush top of bread with egg.

    

  
- Bake in a pre-heated, 350 degree oven for 25 minutes.