Swiss Apple Roesti

Knowledge about food and food habits of specific regions intrigue me in a special way. My interest invariably lies in the understanding of the dessert of a particular region. The more I dig into it the more I realize that it such a vast area of interest, one which personally I am a big fan of. I keep hunting for dessert ideas from different countries and love to try them out in my humble kitchen. 
Swissotel, Kolkata had invited KFB for their Swiss National Day celebrations some time back. Celebration of such sorts are a great learning experience for us where we are exposed to authentic taste of the dishes and are educated about some traditional dishes from the region. We had the grand opportunity to have GM Mr Marco Saxer and Executive chef Mr Pranay Singh sit with us and talk about Swiss Food. Along with some other dishes discussed what enthralled me was the description of this dish called Swiss Apple Roesti. Mr Saxer was very particular about having this dessert on the menu and found a video on Youtube to help the chef make it. 
All of us were stunned by the simplicity and the flavours of this dessert. Crispy chunks of bread with apple pieces sauteed in French butter with a beautiful hint of cinnamon was truly a winner dessert for all of us. We were told that the French butter was specially imported for this dessert. It was served with a scoop of vanilla ice cream and the dessert was drizzled with some vanilla sauce. 
I instantly knew that I just had to try this dessert at home. The high end French butter was replaced with the dairy white butter which is unsalted. Good quality red apples were bought for it especially and a loaf of brown bread was kept for 2 days to make it stale. The entire process takes hardly 5 minutes because all you need to do is throw in a large chunk of butter in the pan and get your bread crisped in it. Add in the chopped apples, sugar and cinnamon and you are done. 
The video is a must watch for the detailed and hilarious take on the traditional Swiss dessert. 
  

Recipe adapted from here : FX cuisine on Youtube

Ingredients : For 2 servings

• 1 apple
• 2 slices bread (stale) (I used brown bread)
• 50 gms white butter
• 2 tbsp powdered sugar(or more)
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon powder(or less)
• handful of pomegranate kernels 

Procedure : 

Cut bread into bite sized squares.

Chop apples in bite size too after removing the seed and with the skin on.

Take butter in a pan and as it melts add the bread. Let it get crisp from both sides which can take 4-5 minutes.

Remove from heat and add the chopped apples and the powdered sugar. 

Mix in the cinnamon powder.

Sprinkle the pomegranate kernels on top and serve with vanilla ice cream. 

Happy Roesti Relishing

Amrita

Tarte Tatin

Vacations in Allahabad are the best time to bake for me. I get all the time and luxury to dig out recipes that have been piling in my note books and try them out. 

Daring Bakers challenge for the month of March was suggested by a very dear member Korena who in the past has suggested some beautiful cakes. Tarte tatin as she describes is a classic French dessert which is a distant cousin of sorts to the famous Apple pie. Tarte Tatin is basically an upside down pastry where apples are first caramelized in sugar in a saucepan, covered with a rough puff pastry and then baked. Usually the same oven proof saucepan is used for both the times i.e. caramelizing and baking. 

Like almost all French pastries, this one has an interesting story too which says that tart gets its name after the Tatin sisters who used to run a hotel and who accidentally forgot to put the bottom crust of an apple pie. The guests loved it so much that it became the hotel's signature dish.

I, as usual, reduced the quantity for my experiment and came out with 2 mini pies. Try and use a firm apple for this recipe, preferably the green Granny Smith variety. 

Recipe adapted from : Korena in the kitchen

Ingredients : serves 2

Rough Puff Pastry 

• 1/4 cup all purpose flour
• 30 gms cold butter
• pinch of salt
• 1/4 tsp powdered sugar
• cold water for kneading

Combine flour, salt and sugar in a bowl.

Cut butter in small cubes and add to the flour.

Rub butter with flour till all is mixed.

Visible bits of butter is fine.

Add water little by little and knead to a dough.

Lightly flour your work surface and roll the dough into a rough rectangle.

Fold bottom third up into the middle and fold the top third down, like folding a letter. This is one fold.

Turn the dough a quarter so that open edge faces you and roll again to a rough rectangle.

Fold again. This is second fold.

Repeat 3 more times making it 5 folds in total.

After the last fold, roll dough into a square and wrap in plastic. Refrigerate for 1 hour or overnight.

Filling : 

• 1 apple (I used a green apple)
• 1/2 tsp lemon juice 
• 20 gms butter
• 1/4 cup + 2 tbsp granulated sugar
• pinch of salt

Peel apple, remove core and cut in slices. 

Place apple slices in a bowl and add lemon juice and 2 tbsp sugar. 

Mix well and set aside for 15 minutes.

Preheat oven to 190 degree Celsius. 

Melt butter in a saucepan over medium heat and sprinkle 1/4 cup sugar. 

Stir until sugar melts and becomes pale smooth caramel.

Remove from heat.

Add the apple slices to the caramel taking care to discard the juice that come out from apples. 

Cook for few minutes till the apple slices get covered in the caramel.

Place the apple slices in a 3" round tart shell.

Roll out the pastry into a rough circle 4" round and lay it over the filling, tucking in the edges at the sides of the tart shell. 

Bake for 20-25 minutes or till the pastry is golden brown.

Serve with a dollop of ice cream or whipped cream and with a drizzle of some caramel sauce.

Happy rich caramel and puff pastry Indulging

Amrita

Apple Pie (Eggless)

An Apple a day keeps the doctor away!!

Ever wondered why an apple manages to keep the doctor away. What about oranges, banana or for that matter the other fruits...who do they keep away!! 

Well on that humorous note, let us be reminded of the time proven benefits of the wonder and easily available fruit-Apple. Enriched with flavonoids, phenols, phytonutrients and Vit C, it helps prevent heart disease, cancers, tooth decay, neurodegerative diseases, reduces Diabetes and high blood pressure and helps to strengthen our immune system.

Baking Partners theme for this month is Pies. Though we had both sweet and savoury recipes, I chose the traditional Apple pie suggested by Gayathri of Gayathri's Cookspot.  The original recipe calls for the use of eggs but I skipped them to get a eggless crispy Apple pie. 

I have modified the cooking style by pre-baking the pie shell and then adding the cooked apples lined with a lattice arrangement of the remaining pastry and then baking them. 

Ingredients: I have modified the amount of the recipe to get a 6" tart

Pie shell:

• 1/2 cup+4 tbsp all purpose flour
• 30 gms unsalted butter cubes(cold)
• 3 tbsp powdered sugar
• 1 tsp milk
• A little cold water for kneading

Filling:

• 2 medium apples 
• 2 tbsp lemon juice
• 1 tbsp unsalted butter
• 2 tbsp sugar (powdered)
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon powder

Procedure:

Pie shell:

Take flour in a bowl, add butter and rub lightly into flour with your fingertips till the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs.

Add sugar, milk and cold water (1 tbsp at a time) and knead the mixture to get a smooth dough.

Wrap in a plastic sheet and refrigerate for half an hour.

Take out the dough (reserve some for the topping)and roll it with a rolling pin on a floured surface. Roll it roughly to a circle with 1/8" thickness. 

Gently press the dough down so that it lines the bottom and sides of the tart tin. Trim excess dough.

Make holes on the sides and bottom with a fork and refrigerate for another half an hour.

Preheat the oven to 180 degree Celsius. Bake the tarts for 15-20 mins or till they get a light brown colour. Take them out and let them cool.

For a step by step illustration of the above steps please refer here

Filling:

Peel and core the apples. Chop them in pieces and toss immediately with lemon juice to prevent discolouration.

Place the butter and sugar in a saucepan over medium heat. When butter has melted, add the apples and cinnamon powder. 

Stir to coat. 

Assembly:

Place the filling in the prepared pie shell with a slotted spoon to drain the excess liquid. 

Reduce the liquid in a saucepan over medium heat to a thick consistency. Now add this thickened fragrant liquid over the chopped apples.

Roll the reserved dough and cut thin strips. Place them on the pie shell with the filling in a lattice arrangement(crisscross) Trim excess. Refrigerate for half an hour(helps the dough to set and prevents shrinkage)

Lattice arrangement

Preheat oven to 180 degree Celsius. Bake the pie or 15-20 mins or till the pastry on top gets a light brown colour.

Enjoy a slice plopped with a dollop of icecream or just like that. You will love the crispness of the pastry with the squishy squashy sweetened and fragrant apples!

Happy Pie Eating
Amrita