Ravioli with Ricotta and Hazelnut Filling in Green Herb Sauce

The pasts machine got another workout last night.  Without trying to sound too ego filled, this is possibly the best pasta dough I have made yet ... my Granny was right, if at first you don't succeed try, try, try again!  While the pasts dough may have been a triumph, the ravioli filling can not really be labeled in the same way ... unfortunately!  Its a shame really, it sounded so nice on paper, but in real life it was a touch bland.  I think next time I'd maybe bump up the amount of garlic and maybe even include some Parmesan or blue cheese to the mix.  Other than that though, this was loads of fun to make and I put the scraps of dough to good use and made spaghetti from it, which I dried overnight and will use in tonight's dinner.  Bonus!

Ravioli with Ricotta and Hazelnut Filling in Green Herb Sauce
1 quantity homemade basic pasta dough (see recipe below, I used my regular pasta dough recipe though)
225g ricotta cheese
1 garlic clove, crushed
120g skinned hazelnuts, grated (or lightly whizzed in the food processor)
1 egg, beaten
150ml single cream
6 tbsp chopped mixed fresh herbs (chives, parsley and dill are good)

Make the pasta dough as described below, then roll out as thinly as you can into long pieces and place on a lightly floured surface.

Mix the ricotta, garlic, nuts and seasoning to taste. Place small mounds of the ricotta mixture about 3cm apart on half the pieces of pasta, brushing around each mound with beaten egg. Cover with the rest of the pasta, pressing down around the edges to try and exclude as much air as possible. Cut between the mounds with a sharp knife or pastry wheel.

Put the ravioli on a lightly floured surface and leave to dry for 30 mins. Drop them into a large saucepan of boiling salted water and cook for 4-6 mins.

Meanwhile, heat the cream and herbs in a small pan, then pour over the drained ravioli and serve.

Serves 4
Good Food, Aug 10

Basic Pasta Dough
200g plain flour (wholemeal, wheatmeal, unbleached white or a mixture. Bread flour made from hard wheat is best)
½ tsp salt
2 eggs (size 3 or large)

Put the flour and salt into a bowl and crack in the eggs. Using your hands, mix the flour, little by little, into the egg until you have a fairly smooth dough.

Set the rollers of your pasta machine to their widest position. Take a piece of pasta dough about the size of an egg, flatten it roughly with your hands, then feed it through the rollers. Fold the piece of dough into three, then feed it through again. Do this six or seven times, until the dough is smooth and pliable, then put aside and repeat the process with the rest of the dough, keeping the pieces in the right order.

Next, tighten the rollers a notch and feed the pieces of pasta through again, once only this time, and without folding. Repeat three times, tightening the rollers a notch each time. Cut the pasta pieces in half if they become too long to handle, and support them as they come through the machine so that they don’t fall in folds and stick together.

Serves 4-6
Good Food, Aug 10

Fresh From The Oven - Kiflice

This months bread bake for Fresh From The Oven was picked by Maja from Cooks and Bakes.  Maja lives in Serbia and asked us to join with her in baking a Serbian treat called Kiflice, traditionally filled with cheese.  Now this is the part where I hang my head in shame ... I ended up having to divert from the original recipe due to some poor planning on my part!  You see our fridge is generally stocked full with goat's cheese (one of the cheeses that can be used to fill these little guys) but when it came time to make the filling I realised to my horror, that they were all out of date.  Oh the shame!  It seems it had been a while since we had last indulged our goat cheese fetish. 

So with the dough made I wasn't quite sure what do to.  A quick flick through the cheese container only turned up plastic cheese slices (I really am hanging my head in shame now!) and I decided that they just wouldn't do the recipe any justice.  Panic set in ... until I saw the jar of Nutella.  Now I realise that Nutella generally isn't a suitable replacement for cheese but I figured I'd be able to turn a savory treat into a sweet one and not waste the already prepared dough.  Apologies to Maja and the other Fresh From The Oven bakers for this cheat ... but I can honestly say that they were pretty delicious!  Below is the recipe as supplied by Maja, I've updated with my changes below.

Nutella Kiflice
Dough
500 g all purpose flour
1 tsp salt
20 g fresh yeast (2 tsp instant yeast or 2.5 tsp active dry yeast)
1 tsp sugar
250 ml milk
75 ml sunflower oil
1 egg
Filling
200-250 g cottage cheese (you may use feta or other fresh cheese)
1 egg white (optional)
To Finish
1 egg yolk
1 tbsp milk
100 g margarine

Crush the cheese using a fork. Add some salt if it tastes neutral. Stir the egg white in, if the cheese is too crumbly. Filling shouldn't be runny, but thick and compact, thicker than the cream cheese, and pretty salty.

For the starter - dissolve yeast with some lukewarm milk in a cup, add a teaspoon of sugar and a tablespoon of flour, stir to get smooth batter. Set aside at room temperature, or near the stove top, to let the yeast activate and fill the cup.

Sift the flour, add salt. Add activated yeast, egg, oil and milk, then combine using a wooden spoon to get smooth dough. The dough seems like too soft and too sticky at the beginning, but don't worry, continue with kneading, and soon your dough should start to separate from the bowl, and thicken. It is not necessary to knead the dough by hands, the wooden spoon works just fine. Grease the cling film with oil, cover the bowl, and set aside for at least an hour, at lukewarm place, to let the dough doubles in size.

Re-knead the dough, divide into 5 equal parts, shape them into balls. Each part should make 8 rolls, so you'll end up with 40 rolls, which should perfectly fit the regular oven pan, if lined in 5x8 order. Flatten each ball by hands over the floury working surface, then use a rolling pin to roll the dough out in a circle, a few millimeters thick. Use a sharp knife to cut the circle into 8 triangles. Take one triangle, stretch it in the air with your hands, to get it extended as much as you can, gently. Put some filling at the triangle base, then fold the edges of the base, to avoid the filling leak out during baking. Roll. Arrange the rolls at the pan (5x8).

Lightly beat the egg yolk with a tablespoon of milk, then brush the top of each roll with the mixture. This is used to prevent forming thick crust, and to improve the color of baked rolls. Sprinkle with some sesame seeds, if you like.

Arrange the small peaces of margarine between the rolls, then bake in the oven preheated to 180°C for about 20 minutes. Be careful not to over bake them. Let them cool to room temp before eating.

Makes 40 rolls

So, in my usual style I started the dough the night before and popped it in the fridge overnight to rise.  The next day I pretty much followed the recipe above, except I subbed the Nutella in for the cheese.  I then sprinkled the rolls with some demerara sugar and some chopped hazelnuts.  Delicious!

Forever Nigella ~ Chocolate and Frangelico Tiramisu

For this month's Forever Nigella the them was Italian.  Originally I was toying with the idea of following Sarah's suggestion and making some gelato but while searching through the various books I stumbled across the recipe that was somewhat of my nemesis at Christmas time.  You see both Nigella and Nigel appeared on TV in the lead up to Christmas preparing recipes that included my most beloved Frangelico.  Ordinarily not a problem except that in this case it had the 'Delia effect' and stocks of Frangelico totally disappeared and my local supplier had a 6 week back order!!!!  You can imagine that finding out the week before Christmas that a batch of my Christmas Cream Liqueur was not going to be available on our table caused a wee bit of a strop.  Bl**dy Nigella!  (We never curse Sir Nigel in this house!)

Now that the Frangelico balance has been restored I felt I was able to forgive Nigella her fopar and graciously I thought I would give her recipe for Frangelico Tiramisu a try and have it for dessert after today's family lunch.  In keeping with the challenge I haven't included the recipe here but you can find it in 'Kitchen'.  The only real change I made to the recipe was to swap the coffee for hot chocolate and I reduced the quantities by half and preparing the tiramisu as individual desserts in glasses.

Sis In Law and I really liked it (she makes a mean tiramisu herself so I was a little worried what her verdict would be!) by Hubby didn't care for it quite so much, oddly enough because the coffee flavour was too strong for him even though there was no coffee in it.  I was surprised to find it did actually have a coffee tang to it, must be the frangelico but it was the lovely nutty side of the flavour rather than the strong bitter side that so often over powers.  Next time I make this I 'll stick to the original quantities and and make it as one large dessert to serve up, it was a bit tricky to make the individual ones look as pretty as they could have been.

Stir Up Sunday Comes Early

Did you know that Stir Up Sunday is this coming Sunday?  That's only 6 sleeps away ... not sure if this helping you or not, sorry if it's not!  The thing is that I'm not going to be anywhere near the close and comfy confines of my wee kitchen on Sunday, I'll be in the Lake District instead for a nice long weekend, so I decided that I had better get ahead of the game and start to get myself organised. 

We are not huge mince pie fans in this house, although it just doesn't seem to be Christmas without the little blighters.  Every year I try to find new recipes to try out for alternative mince pie filling, Rhubarb and Vanilla is my all time favourite but owing to a particularly bad rhubarb season for me this year I'm having to go without ... sigh.  Then when I was flicking through the December issue of Delicious I spotted a recipe that, with a few tweaks, I could make my own and hopefully find a new alternative.  This is what I came up with;

Buttery Apple, Hazelnut and Chocolate Mincemeat
Finely grated zest and juice of 2 large oranges
Finely grated zest and juice of 2 large lemons
1 large (about 300g) bramley apple
100g butter
50ml frangelico
200g raisins
150g sultanas
150g currants
150g chocolate, grated (I used Willie's Supreme Cacao - Indonesian Black)
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
1/2 tsp mixed spice
175g light brown sugar
50g lightly toasted hazelnuts, chopped

Put the orange and lemon zest and juices into a medium pan.  Peel, quarter and core the apple, then grate ot, stirring it into the juices as you go so it doesn't discolour.

Add the butter, frangelico, dried fruits, vanilla extract and spices, then cook over a low heat, stirring frequently, for 1 hour until the apple has broken down, the dried fruits have plumped up and all the liquid has evaporated.  Leave to cool, then mix in the sugar, chocolate and toasted hazelnuts.

Spoon into cool, sterilised jars, press a waxed disc onto the surface of the mixture and seal.  Refrigerate and use within 1 month.

Makes about 1.2kg mincemeat

Adapted from Delicious, Dec 10

* Because this mincemeat is made with butter instead of suet, it keeps in the fridge for no more than a month.  However, it freezes well for up to 6 months.  For a mincemeat with a longer shelf life, omit the butter and stir in 100g shredded suet at the end, along with the sugar, chocolate and nuts.  This will keep for up to a year in a cool dark place.

The smell from this mixture bubbling away on the stove for an hour was so Christmassy and comforting.  The mincemeat is now sitting happily in the freezer at the moment, can't wait to sample it in pie form! 

We Should Cocoa ~ The Hazelnut Challenge

As soon as Choclette announced this months We Should Cocoa challenge I knew that I wanted candied hazelnuts to be the crowning glory.  Now I can fully appreciate that it is far more customary to actually have a dish in mind and perhaps even made before one begins to contemplate the finishing touches ... but I reckon you guys are getting pretty used to me by now and understand that my brain just doesn't function that way most of the time!

So then the challenge became what to use the candied hazelnuts on.  Cupcakes kept cropping up but then that would be too similar to last months event so were promptly dismissed each time.  A torte maybe?  Perhaps a Pav? What about a Mousse?  The options were endless but none of them seemed to tick the box for me.  Then last weekend Hubby requested his favourite cheesecake and the little light bulb went off above my head. 

Decision made ... or so I thought!  Now I needed to decide what kind of cheesecake to make.  This step proved to be just as difficult as deciding what to make in the first place!  After scouring the net and all my books I was still none the wiser so I plucked up the courage to make up something all my own (although the filling is adapted from a recipe that I found in Olive from May 10!)

White Chocolate Truffle Cheesecake with a Roasted Hazelnut Crust
For the Base
150g shortbread biscuits
25g hazelnuts
55-60 butter, melted
For the Filling
150g white chocolate, broken into small pieces
250g mascarpone
75ml double cream
For the Candied Hazelnuts
75g hazelnuts
175g caster sugar
Wooden skewers


Begin by roasting all the hazelnuts (for both the base and the candied hazelnuts) in a 180C oven until they are roasted and the warm nutty scent fills the house!  This takes about 10 mins but keep an eye on them as they burn quickly.  Remove from the oven and place the roasted hazelnuts in a tea towel and leave to cool for a few mins, then wrap them up in the cloth and rub vigorously to remove the skins.
 
Prepare 6 small fluted tart pans with melted butter.
 
To make the base, blitz the biscuits and hazelnuts in a food processor until they are fine crumbs.  Mix well with the melted butter and then place large spoonfuls of the mixture into the prepared pans.  Pat the mixture over the base and sides of the pans and then place them in the fridge while making the filling.
 
To make the filling, put the white chocolate and 65g of the mascarpone into a bowl. Put the bowl over a saucepan of simmering water and stir until the chocolate melts into a smooth sauce. Leave to cool slightly then, using an electric whisk, blend in the remaining mascarpone until smooth. Stir in the cream until thoroughly mixed. Leave for 5 mins or until the texture is smooth and reasonably firm, but not set.  Spoon the filling into the tart pans and then chill in the fridge for 2-3 hours until softly set.
 

 
Meanwhile make the candied hazelnuts.  Place a wooden skewer into each hazelnut so you have a handle for dipping them, be gentle with them otherwise the hazelnuts will split.  Cover your kitchen floor with newspaper and its a good idea to make sure you haven't got bare feet either! 
 

 
Place the sugar in a heavy based pan and place over a medium heat until melted (I didn't stir mine, although I did swirl the pan from time to time to make sure hot spots didn't form).  Have a bowl of ice cold water on hand that you can dip the pan in as soon as all the sugar is melted to stop the cooking process.  (Most recipes then suggest to leave the caramel to cool and thicken for a few mins before using but I found mine was starting to set so I skipped this part!)
 

 
Take a hazelnut and holding the skewer, dip the hazelnut into the caramel and ensure that the hazelnut gets a good covering.  Place the skewer under a heavy chopping board until the caramel has set.  Continue until all the hazelnuts are covered.  Use to decorate the cheesecakes when ready to eat.
 
Makes 6 individual cheesecakes
 

 
If I do say so myself these are pretty heavenly!  They are also decadent to the extreme so my recommendation would be to find someone to share with ... if you can bare it ;0)
 
Its not too late to take part in this month's challenge for We Should Cocoa.  The deadline is the 25th and then the round up will appear on the Chocolate Log Blog on the 26th.  Then all you have to do is to remember to head back here on the 1st November to find out what the next challenge involves ... can't wait to see your creations!

Nutella and Roasted Hazelnut Challah

This is what you do with the monster in your fridge :0)

Nutella and Roasted Hazelnut Challah
450g of Master Dough
4 1/2 tbsp Nutella
Small handful of hazelnuts
1 egg whisked with 1 tbsp water, to make egg wash

Weigh out the correct amount of dough and return the rest to the fridge.  Generously flour your hands and the dough. This is a no-knead dough but there is still some light muscle power needed to shape the dough into a ball, do this by stretching the surface of the dough and tucking it to the bottom all around, rotating the ball a quarter-turn as you go. This creates a taut, smooth surface. Cover witha  tea towel and leave it to come up to room temp while prepping the hazelnuts.

Heat a small fry pan over a med-low heat then add a handful of hazelnuts and roast, continually moving the nuts so that they don’t burn.  Roast until nuts are golden brown and fragrant. Roughly chop the nuts with a sharp chef’s knife and cutting board.  (I cheated and used ready chopped and roasted hazelnuts!)

Cut the dough into 3 equal pieces. (Steamy Kitchen suggests shaping the ball of dough into a log for this step to make it easier to get even sized pieces). Roll each piece with your hands to stretch into a long 3-4cm thick rope. Try not to just stretch it out by pulling, the dough will break, just roll the pieces backwards and forwards, its important that each piece is roughly the same length and thickness.

Take one piece of dough. I used the side of my little finger to create an indent in the middle of the strand. Spoon about a third of the Nutella in this indent.  Strictly speaking I can't say that I stuck to this measurement all that well ;0)

Bring up the sides of the dough, encasing the Nutella and pinch dough closed. Repeat with other strands. 

To braid the bread Steamy Kitchen offers another very good tip ~ start in the middle and braid to the ends!  This means that the dough is (somewhat!) neat at both ends.
 

 
Cover with towel and let rest for 1-1/2 hours. 20 minutes prior to baking, preheat your oven to 180C.
 

When dough is ready, brush top with egg wash and sprinkle with chopped hazelnuts. Bake for 25 minutes.

Makes 1 loaf which is very quickly hoovered up!
Taken from Steamy Kitchen Blog