Wholewheat Shortbreads With Hazelnuts

Sometimes a simple cookie is the best and what can be simpler than shortbreads? So I obviously had to make these shortbreads a bit more complicated by adding wholewheat and hazelnuts but it was worth it, they disappeared quickly from the plate! The key ingredient is butter so it is important to use a good, sweet one to get that lovely shortbread taste really come through!

WHOLEWHEAT SHORTBREADS WITH HAZELNUTS
20 pieces

130 g/ 4,6 oz sugar
250 g/ 8,8 oz unsalted butter
125 g/ 4,4 oz wholewheat flour
125 g/ 4,4 oz plain flour
75 g/ 2,6 oz hazelnuts, finely ground
a pinch of salt
sugar to sprinkle

Beat or stir the butter and the sugar together until smooth.

Stir in the flours, hazelnuts and salt to get a smooth paste. Divide the dough in two and for two balls. Turn on to a work surface and gently roll out two circles between parchement papers 20 cm/ 7.9 in in diameter.

Put the two discs, still between the parchment papers in the fridge to chill for 10-20 minutes. Take them out and place onto a baking tray. Sprinkle with sugar.

Bake in a pre-heated oven (175°C/350°F) for 20-25 minutes, or until pale golden-brown. Cut the circles into wedges and set aside to cool on a wire rack.

I promised an update on the Milan job and here it is

Tomorrow morning very early I'm leaving for Milan again, I came back late Friday evening and it has been nice to have had four days with the family and all that after four hectic days of work. I work with four people from the ad agency Armando Testa (which is one of the biggest in Italy) on the two catalogues, I'm doing what could be called the impact photos while another photographer is shooting the product photos in parallel.

Last week we shot Christmas baskets filled with choice food and wines and such, fine wines, chocolates and champagnes a go go and this week we are shooting flowers and a selection of gifts. And a Christmas tree obviously! In my shots, I have to transmit a feeling rather than a product and I have to say that it is pretty fun and there is a lot of freedom for me to interpret what I see. But I obviously work closely with an art director, well two actually but the one I have on the set is called Fabio and we work really well together, sharing about the same vision of what we are shooting. Everyone I deal with is great actually, the guys from Armando Testa and those who work in the studio I work in, the latter are almost treating me like a queen or at least that what it feels like to me.

The studio space is beautiful, I use the white part which is very relaxing and filled with nice pieces, mostly modern design but also some nice modern rustic stuff. I live in a home filled with things that we desperately are trying to get rid of so I find the sparse environment incredibly relaxing and it makes me realize that I need to throw out a lot of things, we would gain lots and lots by it. 

I stand on my feet all day long and although I don't use my body very much, I am knackered by the end of the day because of the concentration I need to 'employ' for the 9-10 hours I spend in the studio but I think I will get used to that during the next three weeks. This is just a short report because now I have to go and shoot the last of the things I brought with me here and then I have to go and get my train ticket as well. I will report more next week if you still are interested!

Babe or Buddy? Whatever works with Brunkans Långa Bread

I'm doing a Buddy this month because when it was time to post together with my fellow Bread Baking Babes, I was up north in Sweden, organizing C's new life. But at least I was in the right country for this bread because this is a Swedish bread chosen by my Swedish sister-in-law (who I actually managed to meet while in Sweden). What bothered me about not posting on the right date was that I had actually made the bread and even well in advance so I had everything I needed to post as a Babe except the time! It seemed to me that everybody loved Görel's choice of bread and so did I but then I wasn't surprised, having been eating her food, breads and cakes for many years I know she is an excellent cook and baker in addition of being a really nice person too! Anyway, to cut it short, here's the bread and if you feel worried about the long sourdough preparation, don't-it was easypeasy and needed very little input really! To see the breads of my more organized fellow Babes, here's the complete list!

Graham flour sourdough:
Day 1, morning:
Mix 60g/100 ml/0,42 cups graham flour
with 120 g/120 ml/0,5 cups water.
Cover with cling film and leave at room temp.
Day 1, evening:
Add 60g/100 ml/0,42 cups graham flour and
60 g/60 ml/0,25 cups water.
Mix, cover with cling film and leave at room temp.

Day 2, morning:
Add 60g/100 ml/0,42 cups graham flour and
60 g/60 ml/0,25 cups water.
Mix. By now, the sourdough should be a little active (bubbly). If not, add a teaspoon of honey, some freshly grated apple or a teaspoon of natural yoghurt. Leave at room temp.

Day 3, morning:
Feed the sourdough with 60g/100 ml/0,42 cups graham flour and
60 g/60 ml/0,25 cups water.
Mix, cover with cling film and put in fridge.

Day 4
By now, the sourdough should be ready to use. If you don’t want to use it right away, you can keep in the fridge if you feed it as above a couple of times/week.

Brunkans långa
from Heléne Johansson's Bröd

2 large loaves
Ingredients
600 g/600 ml/2,5 cups water
1125 g/2,48 lb high-protein wheat flour
375 g/13,2 oz graham sourdough (see above)
20 g/0,7 oz fresh yeast
150 g/5,3 oz dark muscovado sugar
25 g/0,88 oz honey
30 g/1 oz sea salt

Day 1
Mix all ingredients except the salt. Work the dough in a stand mixer for 10 minutes or by hand for 20. Add the salt. Knead the dough for 5 minutes more. Put the dough in a oiled, plastic box and put the lid on. Leave the dough for 30 minutes.

After 30 minutes: fold one side of the dough against the centre of the dough, then fold the other end inwards, finally turn the whole dough so that the bottom side is facing down.  Put the plastic box with the dough in the fridge and let it rise over night.


Day 2
Set the oven temp to 250 C/480 F. Leave the baking stone in if you use one.

Pour out the dough on a floured table top and divide it lengthwise with a sharp knife. Put the dough halves on a sheet covered with parchment paper and place another parchment paper or a towel on top.Dust with flour if wanted.

When the oven is ready, put in the sheet or shove the parchment paper with the loaves onto the baking stone. Put a small tin with 3-4 ice cubes at the bottom of the oven. (The water releases slowly which is supposed to be better.) Lower the oven temp. to 175 C/350 F immediately after you have put in the loaves.

After 20 minutes, open the oven door and let out excess steam.

Bake for 35 minutes or until the loaves have reached an inner temp of 98 C/208 F.

Let cool on wire.

Thank You, news and a Finger Food Party

I have a lot to say but so little time to say it; first of all I need to thank you for all the fantastic comments and emails I have received from you since my last post here on Lucullian, it confirms yet another time that I have the best readers and friends in the world! I came back late Saturday night with a quite easy heart because in the few days I was in Sweden, I managed to fix a lot of things and I could see how my daughter started to see the light and that she can be happy there. A major reason to why I feel so good about it is that my fantastic friends and family rose to the occasion and embraced C with open arms, she has a great network to lean upon when we cannot help here from down here and I can't praise thank and praise them enough! And the same goes for the school where she goes, never have I encountered such a dedicated headmaster, he too deserves praise for the energy he put into finding a solution and for his positive approach. So although this is a difficult moment, I feel uplifted by all the humanity and love I have encountered!

But this is not the only thing I have to say, tomorrow I leave (unless something happens which seems to be the norm right now) for Milan where I will start shooting two catalogues for a major food chain here in Italy. I will be doing this for a month but I will be back here in Tuscany at least a couple of days each week. I will update you on how it is proceeds and the studio I will be working in which looks great. But this means that there will have fewer recipes to post for a while, I hope it will be OK with you and that you have the patience to wait. On the other hand, you will probably not even notice it so here I go again, giving too much importance to what I do!

So I would like to thank you all with a little party where you can nibble on some easy-to-make finger food, some recipes I have posted here before, some are new! In the photo above, you see Pear Balls With Parmesan and Sesame Seed Coating and Fillo Cigars With Ricotta and Gorgonzola Filling. The latter is easily made with fresh fillo dough that you cut out in long rectangles and onto which you spoon a little ricotta that you have mixed with gorgonzola. Roll them up and bake in a medium hot oven for 5-8 minutes.

Here we have some Mushrooms With Quail Eggs and Pistachio Pesto that you make with big mushroom hats that you drizzle with a little olive oil and bake in the oven until soft. Boil quail eggs, shell and divicde them, put one half into each hat and spoon some pistachio pesto onto them.To the right you find a glass full of Sardine and Chickpea Hummus that you can dip almost anything you want in!

To finish it off, here we have Zucchini Parcels With Herb Infused Mozzarella! Enjoy the party and I will be in touch as soon as I have time!

RED BEETROOT WITH BABY SPINACH, GOAT'S CHEESE CREAM, WALNUTS AND THYME

Sometimes big things happen in your small world that completely turn everything up side down, this is what has happened here in our family. Tomorrow I leave for a blitz visit to Sweden together with my oldest daughter and on Saturday I come back. Alone. She will stay there and finish her schooling and we will go on living here without her here and never in my life could I imagine that such a thing, in itself so natural (her leaving home I mean, after all she is 18), would make me feel so sad. You know that kind of sadness you cannot even really pinpoint because it is just deeply emotional without any real rational 'meaning' to it. I am all for my children living their own lives and I certainly don't want to hinder them to leave home but I wasn't prepared for this knock-out feeling. Anyway, I suppose this will be similar to when she moved out of our bed after 2,5 years of sleeping together, we, parents, felt devastated whereas she happily jumped into her new bed never to return to ours. I have to say that we didn't experience the same feeling when the story repeated itself with the other two which is promising because if I will feel like this again and again, life will be pretty gloomy. Anyway, I will be a bit absent here this week unless I manage to find some time and space to update you but you can always browse here or visit my new but old photography blog  if you feel like it.

Having said that, I will now turn to today's recipe. Red beetroots are back on my menu, I remember so well  how my mother used to eat them simply cooked with some good salted butter melting on the slices in the way only butter can melt, and I still think it is one of the best ways to eat red beetroots but that doesn't mean that you can't eat them like this for example, in a simple salad with a goat's cheese cream embracing their sweetness. And some walnuts and a bit of thyme to make it even better. What do you say, could you eat this?

RED BEETROOT WITH BABY SPINACH, GOAT'S CHEESE CREAM, WALNUTS AND THYME
4 servings

4 medium sized red beetroots
4 handfuls fresh baby spinach leaves. Or some other tender salad that you like.
150 g/ 5,3 oz fresh, soft goat's cheese
150 ml/ 0,63 cup fresh cream
20-25 walnut halves, roughly chopped
fresh thyme
salt

Boil the beetroots in lightly salted water until they are soft. Let them cool down a bit before you slid off the skin and cut them into dice or just slices.

Mix goat's cheese and cream until you have a smooth and thick cream. Add a litte pinch of salt if needed and as much thyme that you like.

Put a layer of spinach leaves on each plate, then a layer of beetroot and sprinkle walnuts over. Finish it all with a good dollop/drizzle of goat's cheese cream and serve.

Links on Sunday

This week I have collected links that don't have much of a thread between them, just some links that maybe will amuse you or make you think:

I like this poem by Charles Bukowski very much and I think about it now and then when a certain type of pressure gets too strong, there are so many ways to live an interesting life.

Douglas Adams, another person who thought outside the lines. Can't help enjoying his books, they transmits something I need.

This is ingenuity on a slice of bread!

Never under-estimate a cast iron skillet.

If you don't like this, maybe someone you know will!

Believe it or not, I like the visions behind the photos here.

Some photos from a small town by the sea

GORGONZOLA, QUAIL EGG AND GRAPE SALAD SERVED IN EDIBLE FILLO BOWL

Imagine how convenient it would be to have edible dishes and cutlery, no dishes to wash and you don't even have to feel guilty because you are throwing them away.  Maybe they could be made with different flavours too, after the meal you could crunch away on your raspberry and chocolate fork and knife or apple-cake and custard plate or to be able to use your plate as an ingredient in your next meal. I would love that, the few times I use disposable plates & Co I feel guilty for wasting resources and being lazy, stupid but still I do. But if I could eat my plate, what a difference that would make to my conscience. Or at least compost it, knowing that I can use it on my plants they can benefit from my previous feast! Alas it's just a dream but at least I have made an edible bowl for this salad and although I made it in the simplest of ways, I see a great future to it, ways of adding flavours that fit the food in it thus making it part of the meal.

Today's salad is a classic but there's nothing wrong with that, quite the contrary, at least you know a lot of other people like it so it should be good. Not that it is always true because I know lots of dishes that I don't like but many do so maybe it was just plain stupid to write that. anyway, here's the salad and it's bowl.

GORGONZOLA, QUAIL EGG AND GRAPE SALAD SERVED IN EDIBLE FILLO BOWL

2 servings

salad

8-10 quail eggs

50-100 g/ 1,75-3,5 oz gorgonzola, it depends on how much you like gorgonzola. I used gorgonzola piccante which is less creamy and a bit stronger and much nicer in my opinion.

10-15 sweet grapes

fresh mushrooms

2 big handfuls of rucola/rocket/argula salad but you can use other salads as well

salt

mild vinegar of your choice

extra-virgin olive oil

bowls

fillo pastry

Start with making the bowl: take a oven-proof bowl of the size you want, remember that the fillo bowl will be slightly larger than then one you choose, and brush it with a little oil so that the fillo won't get attached to the bow. Take three sheets of fillo (obviously on top of each other) and cut out a shape that covers the greased bowl and drape it over the said bowl, folding and pressing it together so that it takes the shape of the bowl. Bake in a pre-heated oven (175°C/350°F) for 3-5 minutes, check now and then because it easily burns. Take it out and let it cool down before you carefully take it off the bowl.

Boil the quail eggs, they don't take long, just a couple of minutes, shell and divide them in two. Divide the grapes in two and take out the seeds if you prefer them seedless. Cut the gorgonzola in small pieces and slice the mushrooms.

Put the salad leaves in a bowl and add the other ingredients. Quickly whisk together olive oil, vinegar and salt and drizzle it over the salad which you give a quick toos.

Put the salad into the fillo bowls just before serving in order to avoid them getting soggy and leaking.

The new light

There's a new light here that is far more kind when you go out to photograph, the hours of harsh, bright light are fewer and I find this light irresistible!

PEAR AND MARSALA CLAFOUTIS

We have a few fruit trees on our garden that I planted when we moved her, the prior owner having 'bulldozed' the garden to a flat nothing with one old tree left and five new forsythia bushes. I had a grand time planting and planting, I went wild on roses and planted 23 different varieties, almost all selected according to smell, I planted bushes and I planted some fruit trees, one of them a white peach tree that is a true survivor and that gives us the most delicious peaches every year. Not always many and never in abundance but that made them ever better, it makes us treasure them all the more, sweet, juicy and full of flavours. This year there were quite a few so I made a clafoutis with some them, I wanted the 'egg cream' to be a bit special so I decided to add some Marsala wine and a wise choice it was as it gave it a Zabaione twist! We devoured that particular peach clafoutis in record time and I had no time to photograph it, neither did I have the willto do it, I just wanted to savour it., but I made another one the other day, this time with a few pears that were laying around and it was almost as good. You can use any fruit you feel like and that is in season right now (I can't vouch for oranges and such because I never tried to make a clafoutis with them but I will this winter!)

PEAR AND MARSALA CLAFOUTIS 
4 servings

3-4 mature pears, depending on how big they are
3 whole eggs + 1 egg yolk
75 g/ 2,65 oz flour
150 ml/ 0,63 cup fresh cream
200 ml/ 0,85 milk
4 tblsp sugar
1 pinch salt
2-4 tblsp Marsala wine, you decide how pronounced you want the flavour to be
butter

Peel and dice the pears.

Whisk eggs and flour quickly until smooth, then add cream and milk together with sugar, pinch of salt and Marsala and mix it well.

Butter an oven-proof form and distribute the diced pears evenly in it. Pour the egg cream over it all and bake in a pre-heated oven (175°C/350°F) for 25-30 minutes or until the cream has solidified and is slightly golden. Be careful not to bake it too long as it gets easily a bit dry.