Profiterole

Profiterole

Profiterole or ice cream filled cream puffs, are a classic French dessert. And it is so so good. The cold ice cream with the crispy puffs and the warm chocolate is everything you need in a dessert.

Makes a lot of small puffs

Ingredients:

Cream puffs (pâte à choux):

• 100 g butter, salted

• 200 ml water

• 125 g all-purpose flour

• a pinch salt

• 1 pinch baking powder

• 3 large eggs

Chocolate sauce:

• 160 g dark chocolate

• 250 g heavy whipping cream

• 1 tablespoon sugar

• 1 teaspoon espresso

• 1 teaspoon unsweetened cocoa powder

• ½ teaspoon vanilla paste

Filling:

• vanilla ice cream

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 400℉ (200℃). Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.

Put water and butter in a medium saucepan and bring it to a boil over medium heat. In a bowl sift flour, baking powder and salt. When the butter is all melted add all the flour at once, and stir the mixture with a wooden spoon. Lower the heat and keep stirring until a dough is formed and it pulls away from the sides of the pan and is slightly shiny. 

Keep beating the dough with the wooden spoon until slightly cooled, about 2 minutes.  

Beat all the eggs in a bowl. Add a little of the beaten eggs, incorporating it thoroughly before adding more. Add the egg in small amounts until you have a thick paste but not runny at all.

Fill a large pastry bag fitted with an open tip, with the cream puff dough. Pipe quarter-size circular mounds about 2 inches apart, onto the parchment paper. To get the best tops on the cream puffs stop pressing on the pastry bag before you lift it, make a small circular move with your wrist as you lift the tip of the puff. If you have small tips on the puffs anyway, dab the tops of each puff with a fingertip dipped in water to smoothen the tops. 

Bake the puffs for 18-20 minutes, until they are puffed up and golden brown.

DO NOT open the oven while baking cream puffs, it will cause them to deflate.

Let the puffs cool on a wire rack.

Chocolate sauce:

Heat the cream in a small sauce pan, add chocolate, cocoa, coffee vanilla and sugar, and stir while heating. You don't want it to come to a boil.

Filling:

Fill each puff with about a teaspoon good vanilla ice cream.

Serve the profiterole with the warm sauce on top.

Enjoy!

Red Curry with Seared Duck Breast

Red Curry with Seared Duck Breast

In Denmark we often had curries, but I have never had fresh bamboo shoots before moving to the States. Knowing how good fresh poached bamboo shoot tastes, I will never go back to the ones you can buy canned in the stores. They don't have the soft texture and sweet taste.

This is my take on a red duck curry.

Serves 2-3

Ingredients:

• 1 duck breast, seared and roasted
• 1 red or yellow pepper
• ½ fresh poached bamboo shoot, thinly sliced (can be substituted with canned bamboo shoot)
• 1 can baby corn (or fresh), cut bite sized 
• 150 g mushrooms, sliced
• 1 can coconut milk
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1 teaspoon fish sauce
• 1 handful sweet basil leaves
• 8 lychee fruits
• 1 jalapeño, sliced thinly for topping
• vegetables oil for cooking

Curry Paste:

• 2 dried red chili peppers
• 1 fresh red chili pepper
• ¼ red onion
• 3 teaspoons lemongrass (minced or paste)
• 1-inch (3 cm) ginger, peeled and sliced
• 4 garlic gloves
• 7 black peppercorns 
• 3 teaspoons ground coriander
• 1 teaspoon cumin
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon fish sauce
• 1-2 teaspoons sugar

Directions:

Make the curry paste, by blending all the ingredients in a mini blender until you have a smooth paste. 

Chop all the vegetables in bite sized pieces, and set them aside. 

Heat some vegetable oil in a wok, add the curry paste and cook until fragrant. Add vegetables, a little at a time, so the wok don't cool down. 

Add sugar, coconut milk and fish sauce. Let the sauce thicken a bit while simmering. Season the sauce with fish sauce, pepper and sugar.

Just before serving, add the lychee fruits and basil leaves.

Serve the curry over rice and thinly sliced duck breast.

Enjoy!

Seared Duck Breast

Duck Breasts

In Denmark we have roasted duck for holidays like Christmas, but duck breasts is a great cut of meat, that works great in a lot of dishes. I love seared duck breast on a nice salad with blue cheese, berries or with a bunch of steamed vegetables. The possibilities are almost endless.

Serves 4

Ingredients:

• 2 duck breasts
• salt

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 400℉ (200℃).

Using a sharp knife, score skin in ¾-inch diamond pattern (do not cut into flesh). Sprinkle with a good amount of salt.

Place the duck breasts skind-side down in a cold skillet. Place the skillet over medium heat. The duck fat starts to render and will add enough fat to cook the breasts. This process will add to the crispiness of the skin. Cook the breasts like this for about 5 minutes. Turn duck breasts over and put the skillet in the preheated oven until to desired doneness, about 6-12 minutes depending on size and desired doneness.

Transfer to work surface, cover with foil to keep warm, and let rest 7-10 minutes. Thinly slice duck, and serve on a salad, curry or with all the christmas trimmings as Caramelized potatoes, pickled red cabbage.

Egg Salad

Egg Salad

Egg salad is one of the easiest things to make. When the eggs are boiled and cooled, it will only take 5 minutes to make. And it still packs great flavor. I might not be the healthiest but add a good salad and some vegetables on the side, suddenly you have a great meal.

Everybody has their way to boil eggs. I put the eggs in a small saucepan and just covered with cold water. Over high heat bring the water to a boil, let the eggs cook in the boiling water for 7 minutes. Remove from heat, drain the water and stop the cooking with cold water.

Serves 3

Ingredients:

• 75 g mayonnaise
• ¼ teaspoon mustard
• 2 dash curry powder
• 3 eggs, hardboiled, cooled, peeled and finely chopped
• 1 tablespoon finely chopped chives
• salt & pepper to taste

Directions:

Mix all the ingredients together and season with salt and pepper. 

Serve the egg salad on your favorite bread.

Enjoy!

Stout Ice Cream

Stout Ice Cream

Happy Father's Day, in advance for the US, or belated if you are in Denmark.

My dad didn't drink much alcohol, after becoming a family man. I honestly don't think he shied away from alcohol in his younger days, but that's a whole different story. When we had family gatherings my dad would drink one stout mixed with a sweet lemon soda. It actually tasted quite good, the sweetness went great with the bitterness of the dark beer. 

To celebrate Father's Day, and remembering my own dad, I'm making Stout Ice cream. This sweet creamy ice cream has a lot of caramel flavors with a bitter note in the end. It pairs perfectly with fresh summer berries. I know it sounds weird to have beer and ice cream, but it really works.

Makes about a pint - Somehow some of the ice cream always disappear on the way from the machine to the freezer. 

Ingredients:

• 1 (ml) stout, I used a Guinness Extra Stout
• 5 egg yolks
• 125 g sugar, less if you use a sweet stout
• 400 ml heavy whipping cream
• 200 ml whole milk

Directions:

Bring the stout to a boil, reduce heat and let it simmer until you have a syrup. Let the syrup cool completely. 

Pour  half of the cream into a metal bowl placed in a larger bowl of ice, set aside. 

Warm milk, and 100 g sugar in a medium saucepan until scalding. Make sure the sugar is dissolved completely.

In another bowl, whisk egg yolks with 25 g sugar until light and fluffy. Slowly pour the warm milk into the egg yolks, while whisking constantly, then scrape the warmed egg yolks back into the saucepan, and heat the mixture over medium heat, until it thickens, about 1-2 minutes. Stir constantly in this process and make sure to scrape the bottom of the saucepan, DON'T LET IT COME TO A BOIL. 

Pour the egg/milk mixture into the cold cream through a sift. 

Cool the custard in refrigerator. 

Pour the custard into an ice cream maker and freeze it according to manufacturers instructions. 

Freeze the ice cream in the freezer a couple of hours before serving. Serve the stout ice cream with fresh fruit.

Enjoy!