Caraway

I happened to have some smoked salmon which needed using up – you know, like you do – and I wanted a new blini recipe. The problem with blini is that by about the third, you’re feeling their leaden grip in your stomach. They stop being a vehicle for the topping and become a hindrance. I’d had my eye on Felicity Cloake’s recipe for a while now, as it’s a variation on Richard Bertinet’s, and I think we all know I love Richard’s gallic charm (and his excellent online baking shop).

Felicity trialled a number of batters, and gives her verdict – go have a look – it’s an interesting article and it may well be that the beer batter she mentions appeals more to you…

I liked this one because of the inclusion of the egg whites, which I thought would add an airy lightness to the batter, and it does. Felicity also includes caraway seeds: I’m a definite fan – there are a few recipes on here which include caraway. The batter does take a little longer to make than some variations, but the steps really do require the minimum of work, so it’s really not onerous!

Ingredients:

150ml milk
70g buckwheat flour
70g strong white flour
1 tsp salt
2 tsp caraway seeds
2 free-range eggs, separated
4g dried yeast
100g sour cream
25g butter
Makes about 35

Method:

Heat the milk in a small pan until it just boils. While it heats, put the flours, the salt and the caraway seeds in a large bowl and separate the eggs.
When the milk begins to boil, take it off the heat and stir in the yeast, followed by the egg yolks and the sour cream – you’ll need to stir vigorously with each addition.
Pour the contents of the pan slowly into the bowl of flour, stirring as you do so. When you have a smooth paste, cover and leave in a warm place for an hour, or until spongy – it won’t rise dramatically, but it should have expanded slightly, and have developed a few bubbles on the surface.
Whisk the egg whites to soft peaks and then very gently fold them into the mixture using a rubber spatula or metal spoon. Once thoroughly mixed, cover, and leave for another 2 hours.
When ready to cook, melt the butter in a large frying pan over a medium high heat, then add the batter in teaspoonfuls to the pan and cook until bubbles rise to the top, then flip them over and cook for another minute or so on the other side, until golden brown. You’ll probably need to do this in batches, so keep them warm while you cook the rest – these are best hot from the pan.

Notes:

I only left the second rise for an hour, but it was in a warming drawer. The results were fine, but when I came back later to tidy up, the remaining batter in the bowl was even lighter and more voluminous. Do try to leave it for the full rise if you have the time
I have a Staub crepe pan, which I should have used, but it’s a heavy beast to dig out late on a Sunday night… These actually worked just as well in a non-stick pan
I slightly whisked my egg whites at stage one – stop – they go in at stage two! They were fine take on from there though…
The caraway worked perfectly with the salmon, but it’s not necessary if you don’t like it

You may have realised, by now, that I’m catching up on all the recipes I intended to cook in December! A combination of gas leaks, children’s flu etc, has somewhat disrupted my schedule. One thing I really wanted to cook for my annual quiz night were Andy Bates’ chorizo and fennel seed sausage rolls…

Andy is an amazing advocate of street food, and travels the world exploring the tastiest. Whilst he is an extremely competent chef, often it’s just about great flavour combinations that are accessible to the home cook. I came across this recipe on one of the Food Networks Christmas roundups. They struck me as ideal party food, and much nicer than the usual sausage rolls. The chorizo mini-sausages have been sitting in my fridge for a few weeks now, so it seemed like an appropriate time to get on with them. Frankly they couldn’t be simpler, but this isn’t about complicated food, but simple, quick, scrumminess!

Ingredients:
200g mini cooking Chorizo
1 sheet pre-rolled puff pastry, cut in half lengthways
Egg yolk
1 tbsp fennel seeds (I used caraway)

Method:

Preheat the oven to 180°C. Peel the mini chorizos and roll them in your hands to make a sausage shape.
Lay the mini chorizo lengthways along each piece of pastry. Roll and fold the pastry over the chorizo brushing the inside with egg yolk to help seal.
Using a fork seal the edges and trim any excess pastry, Cut the sausage rolls into individual rolls and place on a baking tray, lined with greaseproof paper. At this point you can transfer to a freezer-safe container, lined with greaseproof paper to cook from frozen later. Please note, cooking times will increase when cooking from frozen and you may need to lower your oven temperature slightly.
Brush with egg yolk and sprinkle with fennel seeds.
Bake for 15-20 minutes or until the pastry is puffed and golden brown.

Notes:

I really would chop your chorizo before you shape it. Firstly this will give you a better and more even sausage shape. Chopping the meat finely would also allow you to get a cleaner cut – I had to saw mine a little…
And this is one of those pastry recipes where it is important to cut the pastry cleanly, as this gives you more rise and layers in your pastry. But don’t swamp the pastry in egg wash, as this will inhibit those layers, so stay away from the edges, and cut cleanly.
If you’re looking at this, I’d highly recommend you check out the pic of Paul Ainsworth’s black pudding variant, which we had at his dinner with Alyn Williams. I think it looks ridiculously good, though by the time I got to it, I’d given up meat… Hubby said it was amazing though!

Make sure you seal the sides of the pastry well

Now don’t you want one of these with a glass of something?

This is Paul’s black pudding pastry – apparently divine!

You can find more of Andy’s recipes in his new book >

Caraway Blini

Chorizo and Fennel Seed Sausage Rolls