NOLAs Beignets and Cherry Rolls with a side of Apple Fritters

It's a trifecta of coffee time treats today and the winner is beignets. I have been longing for beignets and finally I gathered my courage to make them. As with so many times in life, it wasn't that difficult. They worked first time. If I can make them, so can you. 

Perhaps it is the fear of a vat of oil. No, I'm not afraid of hot oil, only oil. I don't like the picture inside my head of me consuming all that oil.  Add in the pillowy softness of the beignet and sweet powdered sugar and all those negative images disappear. These are so darned good! They must be eaten right away and cut immediately before deep frying.

Walnut apple fritters are equally yummy and also are best if consumed right away. Get everything ready to go before guests arrive and then do the baking and frying. Why not have a treat once in awhile?

Beignets

Beignet pronounced ben-yay is a staple in New Orleans made popular by the Café du Monde. These are to be eaten hot and heavily dusted with powdered sugar. 

Beignet dough can do double duty as cherry rolls. One recipe, two presentations. I make one recipe of dough and split it in half. This will make 18 cherry rolls and about 30 beignets.

1 envelope active dry yeast

1/2 c. warm water 125 mL

1 tsp. sugar 5 mL

1 c. evaporated milk 250 mL

2 large eggs, slightly beaten

1 tsp. salt 5 mL

1/2 c. sugar 125 mL

1 c. water 250 mL

1/4 c. shortening 60 mL

7 c. flour 1.65 L

Combine yeast, water and sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer. Let stand 5 minutes. Add evaporated milk, eggs, salt and sugar.

Heat one cup (250 mL) water until hot, about 115 F (46 C). Stir in shortening until melted. Add to yeast mixture. Beat at low speed using the paddle attachment, gradually adding four cups of flour, until smooth. Gradually add up to three cups (700 mL) more flour, beating until a sticky dough forms. Transfer to a lightly greased bowl; roll dough to grease top. Cover and chill four hours or keep in an airtight container in the refrigerator up to one week. 

Turn dough out onto a floured surface; roll to 1⁄4-inch (6 mm) thickness. Cut into 2 1⁄2 inch (6.5 cm) squares.

Pour oil to depth of two to three inches (5 to 7.5 cm) into a Dutch oven; heat to 360 F (182 C). Fry dough, in batches, 2 to 3 minutes on each side or until golden brown. Drain on a wire rack. Dust immediately with lots of powdered sugar. Serve immediately or keep warm in a 200 F (93 C) oven up to 30 minutes. 

Cherry Rolls

1 recipe beignet dough

1 can cherry pie filling

1 c. icing sugar 250 mL

1 tsp. vanilla 5 mL

1 tbsp. milk 15 mL

Gently roll dough between your hands to make a 12 inch (30 cm) rope. On parchment lined baking sheet, loosely coil each rope. Leave two inches (5 cm) between coiled ropes. Cover with a cloth and set in a warm place. Let rise one to two hours or until doubled in size. 

Preheat oven to 400 F (205 C). Press the center of each roll with your fingers until you touch baking sheet. Make indentations about an inch (2.5 cm) wide. Spoon cherry pie filling into each indentation. Bake 15 to 20 minutes or until golden brown.

In a small bowl, combine powdered sugar, vanilla and milk. Beat until smooth. Drizzle buns with glaze. Serve immediately.

 

Walnut Apple Fritters 

I love the doughnut shape of a slice of apple in this fritter. You could also coarsely chop and stir apples into the batter and drop by spoonfuls into hot oil.

1 c. walnuts 250 mL

3/4 c. sugar 175 mL

1 3/4 c. flour 425 mL

1/2 tsp. salt 3 mL

a pinch of ground cloves

3/4 – 1 c. buttermilk 175-250 mL

1 large egg

oil for deep-frying

6 medium sized firm apples

powdered sugar

Preheat the oven to 325 F (160 C). Spread the walnuts on a baking sheet and bake for five minutes until lightly roasted but not too dark. Remove from oven and cool completely.

To prepare the batter, place the cooled toasted walnuts and sugar in a food processor and process until the nuts are ground to a fine powder. Add flour, salt and cloves and pulse a few times to mix.

In a small bowl, lightly whisk the buttermilk and egg together. With the motor running, slowly add the egg mixture to the nut mixture in the food processor, blending until just incorporated. The batter should be thick but pourable. Transfer batter to a clean bowl and set aside.

Heat oil in an electric deep fat fryer or in a deep frying pan to a temperature of 325 F (160 C). While the oil is heating, prepare apples. Leave the skin on the apples and remove the cores using a corer, leaving the apples whole. Cut each apple into four or five slices and carefully dry.

When the oil is hot, dip each apple slice in the batter until completely covered, then place in batches into the hot oil and deep fry for three to four minutes, turning regularly, until cooked, crisp and golden. Using a slotted spoon, remove and drain the cooked fritters on a cooling rack placed in a baking sheet. Continue until all apple rings are cooked. Dust with powdered sugar.  Serve immediately.

The Canadian Food Experience Project - My Earliest Memory of Canadian Food

Have you met Val at A Canadian Foodie? She is a woman of boundless energy and creativity. This is her newest food challenge. She is passionate about good, clean, fair and local food. After attending the Canadian Food Blogger's Conference in Toronto this spring she is searching for our Canadian food identity.

This will be a year of challenges and I hope you join us on this journey of exploration. Every challenge is designed to make us dig deep into our Canadian psyche to record our interpretation of our culture as described through food.

Our first challenge is to share our first authentic Canadian food experience. I am a baby boomer born and raised on a small farm in southeastern Saskatchewan. My family homesteaded this land seven generations ago. We still own a part of that farm although we no longer work it ourselves.

Suffice to say that my first remembered food experience is authentic Canadian. My mental journey back to almost birth has been fascinating and enlightening. My mother was not well most of my life and as a result she did not do a lot of cooking. Our food was very basic but her one passion was baking. I don't even know if she ever used a recipe but we did have one thin book, the Five Roses Flour Cookbook.

We enjoyed home made doughnuts on special occasions. Almost weekly we would have raisin or lemon meringue pie. The cakes were simple but a family favourite was Matrimonial Cake.

When I was very young, as young as three years old, my mother would be in the hospital for extended periods and our neighbours, the Brock's, would look after me and my sister. This is my first memory of food. They cooked with a wood stove. Even we had a propane stove and oven but they still used wood.  We were grain farmers with chickens, ducks and pigs but they had a farm that completely fulfilled their needs. They had a dairy herd, berry bushes and a large garden as well as poultry. I remember them milking the cows by hand and separating the cream. They made butter! That was a treat even way back then when it really was not so unusual. But what I remember most vividly is the homemade bread that would come out of that wood oven almost every day. I remember the yeasty dough fermenting, the darkened bread pans and that oh so heady aroma. Smell is the strongest sense to bring back memories.

I have not made old fashioned white bread in many years. Today we are trendy with sourdough and rustic artisan loaves. This is my contribution to this month's challenge. I am making that wonderful pillowy soft white bread that I remember as a young child.

The Best White Bread     from Annie's Eats

Yield: 2 9-inch loaves

4½ tsp. instant yeast
¾ cup plus 2 2/3 cup warm water, divided (105-115˚ F)
¼ cup granulated sugar
1 tbsp. salt
3 tbsp. unsalted butter, at room temperature
9-10 cups all-purpose flour
3-4 tbsp. unsalted butter, melted (for brushing)

• To make the dough, dissolve the yeast in ¾ cup of warm water in a large mixing bowl.  Stir in the sugar, salt, remaining 2 2/3 cups water, butter, and 5 cups of the flour.  Mix until a dough begins to come together.  Gradually add in the remaining 4-5 cups of flour about ½-1 cup at a time at first, more gradually with the last cup, until the dough is smooth and slightly tacky but not sticky.  Continue to knead about 6-8 minutes, until a smooth ball of dough has formed.
• Transfer the dough to a lightly greased large bowl, turn once to coat, and cover with a clean kitchen towel.  Let rise in a warm place until the dough has nearly doubled in bulk, about 60-90 minutes.
• Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface and gently punch down to deflate the dough.  Divide into two equal portions.  Press one portion of dough into a rectangle, about 9 x 15 inches.  Starting on a short end, roll the dough up tightly into a log and pinch the seam shut.  Roll the ends under the loaf.  Transfer to a greased 9 x 5-inch loaf pan and press down gently to reach the sides of the pan.  Repeat with the second portion of dough.  Cover the pans loosely with a clean kitchen towel and let rise once more until nearly doubled, about 30-45 minutes.
• Place an oven rack in the lowest position and preheat the oven to 400˚ F.  Just before baking, lightly brush the tops of the loaves with some of the melted butter.  Bake for 15 minutes.  Rotate the pans 180˚ and continue baking until an instant read thermometer reads 190˚ F in the center of the loaf, about 15-18 minutes more.  If the tops of the loaves reach your desired golden brown before the baking time is complete, cover the tops loosely with foil to prevent over-browning.  Transfer the pans to wire racks to cool.  Let cool briefly, then turn the loaves out onto the racks.  If desired, brush lightly with additional melted butter.  Let cool completely.

Lilac Sugar

Lilacs are in bloom for such a short period of time and I simply adore them. I have cut them to bring into the house. But did you know they are an edible flower? I could make lilac jelly or simple syrup to make a lilac lemonade. But my kitchen time is limited at the moment and I have chosen to simply make lilac sugar. The bouquet of the lilacs will be absorbed by the sugar and this can be used with sugar cookies or other desserts.

Pull the blossoms from all the green parts and discard green parts. Wash and dry. I used my lettuce spin dryer and then laid them out on a pan for a couple of hours. Toss with sugar and put in a jar with a tight lid. I will let this sit for about a month.

UPDATE: I didn't have the patience to wait until the washed blossoms were completely dry so now I have very crystalline sugar. I am going to keep it (why not?) and whiz it in the blender. Now I have unwashed lilac blossoms pulled from the green parts in a jar of sugar. Only one bug so far!

Then let your imagination run wild. Floral scented sugar has so many interesting applications. Think about tea!

Sea Buckthorn...A Real Super Food

Sea-buckthorn is a deciduous shrub originating in Europe and Asia. Climate and soil conditions are ideal in Saskatchewan and as a result, it is now being grown here. The berries are tightly packed around the branches and surrounded by large thorns.

I purchased these berries from Northern Vigor Berries, a Saskatchewan family business (www.northernvigorberries.com/). I spoke with owner Betty Forbes and she tells a story of her stepfather planting an orchard of these shrubs in 1998. “My stepfather is never afraid of a new venture,” says Betty, President of Northern Vigor. “When he heard about the tremendous nutritional value of sea-buckthorn, he was eager to try this new crop.” Betty and her brother, Gregory Bloodoff, have cared for the crop ever since.

According to Agriculture and Agri Food Canada (www.agr.gc.ca) sea-buckthorn berries are among the most nutritious and vitamin-rich fruits found in the plant kingdom. They are rich in vitamins C, E and K, carotenoids, flavonoids, antioxidants, 18 amino acids, and 24 chemical elements such as phosphorus, iron and magnesium. Oil from the seed contains unsaturated fatty acids and omega 3 and 6.

Harvesting the fruit is the biggest challenge. “The long thorns are dangerous,” Betty says. “We wear protective clothing and even the toughest gloves only last a few days.” The branches are cut and put into trucks operating at -20F (-30C). “They have to be kept really cold because of the high oil content in the berries,” Betty explains. The fruit is then taken to a facility where it is cleaned and packaged.

Finding recipes for new food products is a challenge. I have been playing in my kitchen with these berries and developing recipes. I start by cooking them in water and straining to collect the juice. The flavour of these berries reminds me of a blend of oranges and apricots with an exotic twist. I add vanilla bean to mellow out the tartness but I also see it pairing well with cardamom, almond and even chiles.

The berries will taste good in sorbets, ice cream, fools, baked goods and smoothies. The jelly is bursting with flavour.

Green Salad with Sea-Buckthorn Vinaigrette

1 c. sea-buckthorn berries 250 mL

2 tbsp. honey 30 mL

1/2 vanilla bean

2/3 c. olive oil            160 mL

2 tbsp. white wine vinegar 30 mL

1 tsp. Dijon mustard 5 mL

2 tbsp. shallots            30 mL

1/2 c. whole pecans, toasted 125 mL

1 clove garlic, minced

sea salt, to taste

mixed salad greens

feta or goat cheese

Gently simmer berries in enough water to cover. When berries have popped remove from heat. Strain through a jelly bag without squeezing the bag.  Boil the juice with honey until thickened slightly. Add a few more whole berries, scraped seeds from the vanilla bean and simmer gently. Cool.

Make the vinaigrette but adding oil, vinegar, Dijon mustard, sea buckthorn sauce, shallots and garlic to a jar with a lid. Shake to mix.

Toss salad greens, pecans and vinaigrette. Crumble cheese over the top and serve.

Sea-Buckthorn Jelly

In the recipes I found added pectin was used. A common comment is that these berries are low in natural pectin. I tried making jelly with only sugar and it worked perfectly fine. In my opinion, without scientific tests, these berries do have natural pectin but probably only if you use the whole berry including the seed inside.

sea-buckthorn berries

water

sugar

Put berries into a heavy bottomed pot. Add enough water to cover. Boil until berries have split open. Mash berries to break them up.

Strain in a jelly bag and save the juice. Set pulp aside for another use.

Measure juice into heavy bottomed pot and add equal amount of sugar. Boil gently until approximately 220F (104C) on a candy thermometer. Do a jelly test. If the syrup sheets off the side of a spoon, it is ready and pour into jars. If not, continue to boil until jelly stage is reached. Refrigerate or water bath process the jars until ready to use.

Sea-Buckthorn and White Chocolate Scones                                    adapted from Baking, From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan

1 large egg

2/3 c. cold heavy cream 160 mL

2 c. all purpose flour 500 mL

2 tbsp. sugar 30 mL

1 tbsp. baking powder            15 mL

1/4 tsp. salt 2 mL

5 tbsp. unsalted butter, cut into small pieces and chilled 75 mL

1/3 c. sea-buckthorn berries 80 mL

1/3 c. white baking chocolate, coarsely chopped 80 mL

Centre an oven rack and preheat to 400F (200C). Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Whisk egg and cream.

Mix flour, sugar, salt and baking powder. Add cold butter and cut in until mixture is pebbly. Add the berries and chocolate. Toss to coat with flour.

Pour the egg mixture into dry ingredients and stir with a fork just until a dough forms. Gently knead with your hands.

Turn out the dough onto a work surface and gently knead until it holds together. Divide in half. Pat each into a rough circle, about 1 inch (5 cm) thick. Cut into 6 wedges and place on baking sheet.

Bake 18-22 minutes or until tops are golden. Cool at least 10 minutes before serving.

Duck Breast à la Sea-Buckthorn

1/4 c. sugar 60 mL

2 tbsp. water 30 mL

2 tbsp. tarragon vinegar 30 mL

1/3 c. sea-buckthorn juice 80 mL

2 tbsp. shallots, minced 30 mL

1 1/2 c. chicken stock            350 mL

4 duck breasts, seasoned with salt and pepper

2 tbsp. unsalted butter            30 mL

2 tbsp. sea-buckthorn berries 30 mL

Preheat oven to 350F (175C). Prepare juice by simmering 1/2 c. (125 mL) sea-buckthorn berries with 1/2 c. (125 mL) water. When the berries burst and are soft, strain through cheesecloth. Reserve juice for this recipe and set aside pulp for another use.

Boil sugar and water for several minutes, until the syrup caramelizes and turns golden brown. Add vinegar, shallots, and chicken stock and simmer until sauce is reduced by about half and slightly thickened. Stir in butter, juice and berries and simmer only until berries are soft. This can be made the day before and refrigerated until use.

With a sharp knife, score the skin on the duck breast in a crisscross pattern being careful not to cut through the meat. In a preheated ovenproof skillet, sear duck breasts, skin side down over medium low heat until browned and much of the fat has rendered out. Remove excess fat as necessary. Turn them and place pan in oven to cook until internal temperature reaches 145F (62C), approximately 10 minutes. Remove from oven and cover with aluminum foil to rest for 10 minutes. The duck will continue to cook and reach an internal temperature of 160F (70C).

Pain aux Raisins

My initial goal for my food at the Farmers' Market was to make healthy food.  And although this is my primary focus and indeed noble, I really do miss some of those amazingly delicious and not necessarily healthy but not necessarily bad things I could purchase when I lived in the big city.

Pain aux raisins comes to mind immediately.  I would drive, not walk, two blocks to enjoy this for my breakfast on those days I felt that I needed a treat.  This bakery has since now closed and I have since moved to a little city in the middle of nowhere.  Pain aux raisins are not on the menu out here!

The wonderful opportunity with being a Farmers' Market vendor is that I can make a little or I can make a lot.  If I want to test drive a recipe, then I just make a little.  This recipe caught my eye.  Well, why not?  This is a Peter Reinhart recipe and it is amazing.  I had no clue what was in this delicious treat but knew it was not necessarily without its naughty little inclusions that should only be on my food plan occasionally.

You can find this recipe at Fresh Loaf.

Red Fife and Descendents

This is the name of the afternoon program that was skilfully compiled by Dr. Ron DuPauw of SPARC.  SPARC is the acronym for Semiarid Prairie Agriculture Research Centre.  It is a research centre within the family of Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada.

FYI, Ron DuPauw is a recipient of The Order of Canada.  This is the highest recognition within our country.  He is the Senior Principal Wheat Breeder.  His resume shows a series of publications that would impress any scientist.  He definitely knows his wheat.

What surprised me most is that this is the first time consumers, producers and scientists have come together for a trialogue about wheat.  I think that we all know what the benefits are when all these levels of people who are interested in our food supply get together.

We had presentations from a very auspicious group of scientists and a local organic farmer. Dr. Nancy Ames of the Richardson Centre for Functional Foods and Nutraceuticals in Winnipeg spoke of the 'Health Benefits of Wheat'.  And yes, it is a healthy food.  She predicts that more promotion of wheat's health benefits will appear in the near future.

Another Nancy, Dr. Nancy Edwards with the Grain Research Laboratory in Winnipeg presented some wonderful research  discussing 'Determination of End Use Suitability for the market class Canadian Western Red Spring' (of which Red Fife belongs).  I found this especially interesting for my new found diversion of baking artesanal bread!  I will be using the information as a confirmation of my findings through practical experience and will not second guess my instincts so often.   Both of these presentations were from Winnipeg via live video feed.

Dr. Ron DuPauw with SPARC gave us a light-hearted view of the historical background on wheat from its origins over 7000 years ago to the present  day.  As a Saskatchewan 'born and raised on a farm' woman, I felt we 'owned' wheat.  Not so!  But we grow a very high quality product.  A very impressive genealogy chart left me speechless.  The subject of this afternoon's presentations was Red Fife and this chart showed the descendants.  I would not even begin to count them.  I am modestly estimating over 100 cultivars.

Holly Peterson is a local organic farmer of Red Fife.  She gave us a nice snapshot of the current utilizations of the grain within Canada today.  Read more about her grain in Slow Food Vancouver.  They have a 5000 acre organic farm south of Tompkins, Saskatchewan.

And lastly, Navid Bezghaleh, a PhD student from the University of Saskatchewan, barely scratched the surface on a discussion of 'wheat roots with soil mycorrhizal fungi - comparing old cultivars with new cultivars'.  I think it might be the consensus that we would like an entire session on this whole 'wave of the future' branch of planning your planting.

Thank you so much to all the presenters.  I have not, in many years, had the opportunity to attend such an interesting and educational session.  I had no idea of the resources that were available to me.  It was greatly enjoyed by everyone, presenters and participants alike.  Thank you to Dr. DuPauw for initiating this inaugural meeting of consumers, producers and scientists.

We ended the afternoon by smelling and tasting wheat berries of 11 varietals, unlabelled!  It was a test to see if we could differentiate one from the other!  I was dead wrong in identifying the Red Fife! ( I think there should have been some coffee beans to cleanse our palate between each sniff, eh!)

I am sure that I speak for everyone that we would like this sort of thing to happen on a more regular basis.  Visiting the Research Centre was fondly reminiscent of my university days in Saskatoon at the College of Home Economics.  There is a Research Centre adjacent to the campus and it was just a part of our campus life.