White Truffles

 

Dear all,

 

Let’s start 2015 on a sweet note because I think we all need a bit of sugar. The events in Paris at the beginning of the year made me question if there is hope for Mother Earth. Will we ever be strong enough to forgive all the murders, all the bloodshed, and all the hate crimes? I honestly don’t know but I prefer to remain optimistic.

I don’t want to teach fear of different cultures to our son; however, there is a limit to tolerance. I don’t think any human being has the right to harm another human being intentionally. We all make mistakes and we inflict hurt on others. But when it is done with intent, we cross a line. I don’t know how to deal with the current situation in the world. I just know I don’t want to be one of the people furthering violence, for whatever motive. Nothing justifies violence, not the death penalty, not so-called democratic liberation US style and certainly not jihad.

Having stated this, let’s get back to the kitchen where things are easy and clearly defined. Before Christmas, I make a ton of truffles that I give away to family and friends. There is a big divide in the people who get to taste my truffles. Some love the dark mocha truffles and some prefer the white truffles.

Shortly before Christmas, I was invited to teach making truffles at the Grand Hyatt in Goa. I was astonished about the big interest. I noticed that my white chocolate truffles are quite tricky to make. Not the truffles themselves, but the almond praline that delivers sweet crunch. On my website I only give a short description how to prepare the praline. I intend to remedy this with my first newsletter of 2015.

Praline is a mixture of toasted almonds with caramel. There are two kinds of caramel: dissolving sugar in water and boiling it makes wet caramel. For dry caramel, sugar is cooked by itself until it melts and caramelises. It is easier to make wet caramel because it does not burn quickly. For years I have stuck to wet caramel but I had always problems with gauging the state of the caramel. It bubbles so much that it is difficult to see the colour you have achieved. Then I tried my luck with dry caramel. It is actually not as difficult as I had imagined and tastes much butter.

Wishing you happy cooking, always!

Kornelia Santoro with family

White Truffles

Ingredients:
(for 24 truffles)

• 150 gm almonds
• 4 tbsp cream
• 5 tbsp butter
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 cup icing sugar
• 300 gm white chocolate

Method:
Bring two glasses of water to a boil. Immerse the almonds in the boiling water and soak them for 10 minutes. Drain them, let them cool down and remove the skins.

Toast the almonds in the oven at lowest temperature until they are golden brown. Be careful: they need constant attention as they burn quickly.

Chop the toasted almonds roughly and place them on a buttered cookie sheet.

Making caramel is dangerous! Burns from sugar hurt terribly because sugar needs high temperatures to melt. Keep a bowl with ice water nearby when you make caramel.

Place the sugar in a pan with a heavy bottom over medium heat. The thing to remember when making dry caramel is to treat it carefully. When you move the sugar crystals too much, they tend to stick together and form big crystals instead of melting.

Wait patiently without stirring until the sugar starts to melt around the edges.

When you see a bit of brownish colour, you need to gently nudge the sugar crystals around so the melted sugar at the bottom does not burn. Drag the sugar from the middle of the pan to the outside.

Move the sugar around until it has melted completely and turned golden-copper in colour.

Spread the caramel immediately over the almonds. 

When the caramel is set, cut it into big pieces and chop them roughly. I do this by hand because my blender is not strong enough. You have much better control over the process too. You want crunchy, delicious almond praline chunks in your smooth white chocolate truffles.

Put the white chocolate with the butter and the cream into a double boiler and combine everything well.

Be careful not to overheat it. White chocolate ganache splits easily.

Stir the chopped caramelised almonds into the melted chocolate and place the mixture into the fridge until firm.

Form small balls with the help of a spoon. This tends to get messy.
Roll the truffles in icing sugar. You can keep them about two months in the fridge in a sealed container.

Brussels sprouts top the charts

This vegetable bursts with nutrition; I don’t even know where to start with my praise. This mini cabbages top the nutrition charts in many regards. They deliver more glucosinulates than any other cruciferous vegetable. Glucosinolates are phytonutrients that our bodies use to produce a variety of cancer-protective substances.
They also deliver a huge amount of vitamins and minerals. One cup of Brussels sprouts has more than double the amount of vitamin K you need daily and more than your daily need of vitamin C. Vitamin K is important for healthy bones and proper blood clotting.  It also has serious amounts of folate, manganese, vitamin B6 and other minerals and vitamins.
The origins of Brussels can be traced back to the 16^th century to a region near Brussels, hence the name. During World War I this vegetable spread throughout Europe. Nowadays, they are cultivated everywhere.

Steamed Brussels Sprouts In Garlic Butter

In India, it is quite rare to find Brussels sprouts. For several months now, a farm in the South of Goa offers Brussels sprouts regularly in my favourite supermarket so I wanted to find a way to make them edible for my men and me. When I was a kid, honestly, I hated Brussels sprouts. I remember them as extremely bitter.

But this vegetable is so healthy, that I don’t want to ignore it. Brussels sprouts belong to the cruciferous vegetables that work better when they are steamed. Cooked in a steamer, they bind better with bile acids, lowering cholesterol levels.

However, the flavour of these sprouts needs a strong counterpoint. Crispy fried garlic in butter delivers this. You can prepare this dish in ten minutes what is a big plus for me. I love vegetables, but cleaning and chopping them tends to be a chore. I always get angry when I watch the chefs on TV just chopping vegetables without cleaning and washing them. A big part of cooking goes into this work and I feel slighted when the TV cooks just ignore this part of the job.

Wishing you happy cooking, always!

Ingredients:

(for 4 servings)

• 30 Brussels sprouts (4 cups or so)
• 10 garlic cloves
• 5 tbsp butter
• 2 tbsp sesame
• salt
• pepper

Method:

Clean the Brussels sprouts. Remove the outer leaves, cut away the dry end of the stalks and halve them. Check that there are no insects hiding in the tiny heads.

Wash them and let them sit for about 10 minutes. This helps to develop their health benefits.

Clean and mince the garlic cloves. I love garlic so I use it generously. If you are not so keen on garlic, reduce the amount. Let it oxidise also.

 I use a foldable stainless steel inset that fits into any pot. Place water under the steamer, add the Brussels sprouts, close the lid and let it bubble. Be careful when you open the lid. Escaping steam can cause terrible burns.

While the Brussels sprouts are steaming for five to 10 minutes, melt the butter in a small pan. Add the garlic and fry it over medium heat until it turns golden yellow and crispy. Be careful not to brown it too much.  

 Toss the Brussels sprouts in the garlic butter, season with salt and pepper according to your taste and sprinkle the sesame seeds over the top.

After the holidays, let's get rid of the pounds!

Weightloss Without Diet

Recently I embarked onto a culinary tour de force in my kitchen: profiteroles. This relative of éclairs and beignets is one of our favourite desserts. Albeit, it can be difficult to find good ones here in Goa where we live. Profiteroles have to be fresh to deliver. They cannot sit around because they turn soggy very quickly.
 

The beginnings of this wonderful sweet reach far back. Legend has it that the chef of Catherine de Medici named Panterelli invented the choux pastry in 1540 because he wanted a dough that could be made while travelling. Over time, this dough developed into the choux pastry and was used to make fluffy cakes stuffed with sweet and savoury fillings. The father of the Classical French cuisine, Marie Antoine Carême, immortalized the choux pastry by describing it in his cookbook Pâtissier Royal.
 

I love profiteroles and éclairs. I can resist most sweets but profiteroles dissolve my will power. I write this after having spent an entire day making profiteroles for this newsletter. In the end, I rewarded myself with eating two of the most beautiful ones. The crispy exterior topped with dark chocolate revealing a soft crème makes me forget calories.
 

Making good profiteroles and crème pâtissière involves quite a bit of technique and a lot can go wrong. Today, I had to make two batches until I was happy with the result. The most difficult challenge is to gauge how many eggs you have to incorporate in the choux pastry. Not enough or too much will prevent the dough from rising.
 

Another thing you cannot learn from recipes is the baking time. You have to bake them a lot longer than recipes recommend. They need to turn golden brown all around. My profiteroles need at least one hour in the oven. If you take them out too early they tend to deflate.
 

I have tasted many soggy profiteroles over the years and they do nothing for me. You need the delightful contrast of crunch, sweet softness and almost bitter chocolate. Please follow me on this journey to the perfect profiteroles.

Wishing you happy cooking, always!

Kornelia Santoro

Irresistible Profiteroles

Ingredients (for 24 big profiteroles):

For the choux pastry:

• 1 ½ cups whole wheat flour
• 1 ½ cups (300 ml) water
• 125 grams butter
• 3 tbsp sugar
• 1 pinch salt
• 3 or 4 eggs

For the crème pâtissière:

• 500 ml milk
• 30 grams butter
• 1 cup castor sugar
• 4 egg yolks
• ¼ cup corn flour
• ¼ cup whole wheat flour
• 1 vanilla pod

For the topping:

• 100 grams dark chocolate
• 50 ml espresso coffee or Nescafe

Method:

You start with the choux pastry. Preheat your oven to 200 degrees. The choux pastry has to go into a hot oven or it will not rise properly.

Place the water, the butter, the sugar and the salt into a pot and bring to a boil. The butter has to melt and the sugar has to dissolve. Stir this mixture to make sure everything has melted. Then add the flour in one go and stir quickly to incorporate the flour.

Turn the heat to medium and keep stirring until the dough forms into a ball and starts to coat the bottom of the pot. Keep stirring over medium heat for two or three more minutes. This step is vital for the rising of the dough.

At this point I transfer the dough into a plastic mixing bowl because I incorporate the eggs with my hand mixer and I don’t like to do this in a metal pot because of the resulting noise.

Now add the eggs one by one into the mixture. Incorporate them completely before you add another one. The dough has to develop a glossy shine without turning too liquid. It needs to remain quite firm. If the dough is too pliable, it won’t rise.






Put the dough into a piping bag by placing the piping bag into a high vessel that supports it. Pipe balls onto a buttered cookie sheet or a silicone patch and smooth out the surface with a knife that you dip into water.

Put the profiteroles into the preheated oven and refrain from opening the oven for at least half an hour. Put the cookie sheet in the middle in a gas oven so the dough does not get burnt from the bottom. After half an hour check and turn the profiteroles upside down if you use a gas oven. The profiteroles need to be golden brown all over. If they are not cooked long enough, they deflate. I have baked profiteroles for one and a half hour for optimum results. After 40 minutes of 200 degrees I lowered the heat to 160 and kept going.

While the choux pastry bakes in the oven, start the cream. Place the milk and butter into a pot. Slice open the vanilla pod, scrape out the seeds and add them to the milk. Also add the vanilla pod and half of the sugar. Bring to a gentle boil and let infuse for at least 15 minutes.

Place the egg yolks into a mixing bowl. Beat them with a hand mixer until they are fluffy. Gradually add the remaining sugar. Don’t add the sugar all at once. Egg yolks contain the enzyme amylase that reacts with sugar and coagulates. You want to avoid this curdling to make a smooth cream.

When the vanilla milk has infused long enough, bring it to a gentle boil. Add one third of the milk to the egg cream while stirring it. Bring the rest of the vanilla milk to a rolling boil. Add the egg mix while stirring. At this point the milk should set almost immediately. Keep stirring until the mixture burps, then take it from the fire, place it into a bowl or a pan and cover it with cling film. Let it cool down. To make a smooth crème pâtissière, the eggs should spend as little time as possible over direct fire.

I take a mixture of flour and corn flour because flour makes the crème pâtissière more stable. Corn flour sets well, but if you try to loosen up the cream by stirring it, it tends to dissolve. When you use a mix you can keep the crème in the fridge overnight, stir it the next day and use it. Sometimes I make many profiteroles, only stuff some and keep some for the next day. You absolutely have to eat stuffed profiteroles immediately because they turn soggy after some hours.

When the cream and the puffs have cooled down enough, fill the cream into a piping bag with a thin nozzle. Push the nozzle into the puff and squeeze the cream into it. I like stuffing them a lot so the profiteroles explode in your mouth.
Cut the chocolate into pieces, place it with the coffee into a double boiler and melt it. You can easily make a double boiler by placing a small pot into a bigger one with some water in it. When you melt chocolate, it should never be exposed to a direct heat source. You can also melt chocolate in the microwave, but I don’t recommend that.
Cover the profiteroles with the chocolate. I dip them upside down into the chocolate and let it drip off. Place them onto a plate until the chocolate has set. Enjoy!