Oh yummy yummy dumplings [...]]]>

The August 2010 Daring Cooks’ Challenge was hosted by LizG of Bits n’ Bites and Anula of Anula’s Kitchen. They chose to challenge Daring Cooks to make pierogi from scratch and an optional challenge to provide one filling that best represents their locale.

Oh yummy yummy dumplings type food. I love pierogies. There are a few Russian and Polish restaurants in Montreal and when I go I make sure to include some pierogi. I love eating them hot wit a large quantity of sour cream and chives. So hearty. For this challenge I enlisted my friend Karyn (she moonlights as a pastry chef btw). When I told her to come over I think she assumed we were having pierogies for inner. After a glass of wine and chat I suggested we get started. ‘what we are making them from scratch?’ Ah, yes, it is a challenge and you can cook!

Fried pierogis

It turned out o be quite an endeavour to start so late on a week night he he. We ate kind of late but it was so worth it. I had leftovers for another meal. I fried those and I preferred them even better that way actually. I know the challenge asked us to go local…but I am part Russian so I went traditional which remains local for me. We did attempt a sweet version with pineapple and cottage cheese but it got messy and the dough refused to stick with that mixture.

Our challenge was to make the dough from scratch and a savory or sweet filling of our choice. I chose the potato and cheese pierogi.

Makes around 30 dumplings.

Dough:
2 to 2 1/2 cups (300 to 375 g) all-purpose (plain) flour
1 large egg
1 teaspoon (5 ml) salt
About 1 cup (250 ml) lukewarm water or milk

Potato and cheese Filling:
4 – 5 boiled potatoes
4 table spoons butter (60 g) or olive oil (60 ml)
50 ml (3 tablespoons + 1 teaspoon) milk
1 egg white (from medium egg)
about 120 ml (½ cup) farmers’ cheese (any unripened cheese like Indian Paneer)
salt and pepper

1. Combine all the ingredients for the filling (it’s best to use one’s hands to do that) put into the bowl, cover and set aside in the fridge until you have to use it.

2. Place 2 cups flour in a large bowl or on a work surface and make a well in the center. Break the egg into it, add the salt and a little lukewarm at a time (in my situation 1/2 cup was enough). Bring the dough together, kneading well and adding more flour or water as necessary. Cover the dough with a bowl or towel. You’re aiming for soft dough. Let it rest 20 minutes.

Rest well tired dough!

3. Mix well all the ingredients for the filling. Set aside.

potato and cheese, yumm!

4. On a floured work surface, roll the dough out thinly (1/8” or about 3 millimeters) cut with a 2-inch (5 cm) round or glass.

Look at the pastry pro on the go

5. Spoon a portion (teaspoon will be the best) of the filling into the middle of each circle. Fold dough in half and pinch edges together. Gather scraps, re-roll and fill. Repeat with remaining dough.

Before their plunge into boiling water

6. Bring a large, low saucepan of salted water to boil. Drop in the pierogi, not too many, only single layer in the pan! Return to the boil and reduce heat. When the pierogi rise to the surface, continue to simmer a few minutes more ( usually about 5 minutes). Remove one dumpling with a slotted spoon and taste if ready. When satisfied, remove remaining pierogi from the water.

Tips:

• when sealing pierogi don’t allow any filling to seep .. it should seal by itself very tight
• if your dumplings stick to each add a tablespoon of oil into the water
• when boiling your pierogi try to boil each type of filling separately
• Boiled pierogi can also be fried after boiling for a nice crunchy dumpling

Another dough recipe:

½ cup (125 ml) milk (can be whole milk, 2% or skim milk)
½ cup (125 ml) whipping cream
3 large egg whites
1 tsp (5 ml) salt
3 cups (450 gm) all-purpose flour

1. Mix flour and salt, add other ingredients, and knead dough until you have a smooth dough. (I kneaded this dough quite a bit, and it yielded a nice, pliable dough).
2. On a floured surface roll out fairly thin (1/8” or about 3 millimeters), cut into 2” (5 cm) squares, and fill with 1 tsp (5ml) cottage cheese filling (see below).

Other types of fillings:

Cottage cheese
1 lb (455 g) dry cottage cheese (or wet drained for a few hours)
3 large egg yolks
Salt to taste

Russian style pierogi (Pelmeni)
3 big potatoes, cooked & mashed
1 cup (225 g) cottage cheese, drained
1 onion, diced & sauteed in butter until clear
3 slices of streaky bacon, diced and fried till crispy
1 egg yolk (from medium egg)
1 tablespoon (15 g) butter, melted
1/4 (1.25 ml) teaspoon salt
pinch of pepper to taste

Meat and cabbage
200 g (7 oz) cooked meat (minced or cut very finely)
500 g white cabbage (chopped and simmered in a little bit of water, until soft)
1 onion (diced and fried)
1 whole medium egg
1 tablespoon (15g) butter
dry breadcrumbs (add as much to hold the filling together, about 2 tablespoons)
salt and pepper

Sauerkraut filling
2 cups (500 g)  sauerkraut
1 big carrot, grated
1 shallot, chopped and fried with a tablespoon of butter
few (about 3) wild mushrooms (I used dry ones, you can use fresh but chop them and fry on some butter before adding to the sauerkraut cabbage)
salt, pepper and cumin
- Saute all the ingredients together until soft, cool before filling pierogi.

You can also fill pierogi with whole seasonal fruits for example- strawberries, blueberries, morels, grated apples etc. To prevent the fruits from ‘sogging’ just add a little bit of potato flour inside with the fruit and sweeten them after the boiling on the plate rather than putting sugar inside.

Thanks Karyn for cooking with me! Coming over soon again?

It features an article I wrote on about ice cream.

It’s up tight now: NOT your Vanilla Ice Cream

Our hostesses this month, Evelyne of Cheap Ethnic Eatz, and Valerie of a The Chocolate Bunny, chose delicious pate with freshly baked bread as their June Daring Cook’s challenge! They’ve provided us with 4 different pate recipes to choose from and are allowing us to go wild with our homemade bread choice.

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YES that is me! What an honor it was to co-host this challenge with my wonderful partner Valérie. I had so much fun creating this challenge. It was hard picking our recipes and we emailed each other frantically. Being both in the same city really helped too. We even met up for a test tasting lol. Thank you to everyone who participated and congratulations on all your amazing creations. Check out here what everyone else made.

We brainstormed for a while before agreeing on what to throw at you guys. We wanted something suitable for June – so nothing too heavy, or too heat-intensive (for the Northern Hemisphere at least). In the end, we decided that this month’s challenge would be: pâté. It’s incredibly versatile, it has the potential to be beautifully presented, and it’s perfect for summer (think picnics in the park).

Now, we (well, one of us, at least, can you guess which?) had a bit of an existential crisis about what does and does not constitute a pâté. And we’re actually still not sure. Because, while looking through recipes and cookbooks, we also came across the term “terrine” quite a lot, and in a lot of cases, the two words appeared to be interchangeable. Technically, a terrine is a baking recipient, usually ceramic or porcelain, with a lid – but it can also refer to the contents of the recipient. And some of the pâtés we looked at were designed to be unmolded onto a dish and then sliced, while others were meant to be left in the jar or baking dish they were prepared in, and merely used as a spread. It also didn’t help that both of us, being bilingual, looked at recipes in French and English, and that the actual definitions might differ from one language to another!

Traditionally, pâté is meat-based, and often includes liver, or gizzards, or other potentially icky animal parts. But, because we realize that not everyone likes that kind of pâté, we have also included recipes for fish pâté, and vegetable pâté. However, if you know that you enjoy liver pâté, but are a little squeamish about cooking with liver, we urge you to give it a try: after making these, neither of us will ever buy meat-based pâté ever again! Having said that, the meatless pâtés are also very tasty.

Now, since pâté is rarely eaten alone, we are adding a second part to this challenge: you will have to make a bread, to go with your pâté. We’ve included a really good recipe for French baguette. However, because baguette is quite time-consuming to make, and because we know that the Daring Bakers have already made baguette a while ago, we’re also giving you a quicker recipe for a sandwich loaf, which you can also choose to make as little rolls, with white or whole wheat flour. But really, we’re giving you free range for the bread part of the challenge: if there’s a daring bread recipe you’ve been dying to try, and you think it would go well with your pâté, go for it!

Recipe Sources:
- Three Spice Liver Pâté: adapted from Ravenous Couple, which was inspired by White on Rice Couple.
- Chicken Liver Pâté: slightly adapted from Stéphane Reynaud’s Terrine
- Tricolor Vegetable Pâté: from Bon Appétit Oct 1993 on Epicurious
- Trout and Shrimp Pâté: unknown (handed down to Valerie from someone, who got it from someone else, etc.)
- French Baguette: from King Arthur Flour
- Sandwich Loaf: translated from Josée Fiset and Éric Blais’s Pain (“pain” means “bread” in French – no physical suffering involved here!)

Notes:
- For all pâtés: We have each worked with various sizes and shapes of baking pans. We have indicated the size of the pans we used, but feel free to adapt the quantities to the bake ware you have on hand.
- After bakingthe Three Spice Liver Pâté, Chicken Liver Pâté and the Trout and Shrimp Pâté, when taken out of the oven they had all shrunk slightly, and they were swimming in liquid fat. The longer you allow the pâtés to cool, the more the juices will get soaked in the pâté. When removing from the mold, drain the excess fat. You can also drain some of the fat before unmolding, but keeping mind your pâté may be a littler drier.
- Chicken Liver Pâté and Trout Pâté: These recipes involve flambéing ingredients with alcohol. This actually adds a lot of flavor to the dish. However, if you do not wish to consume alcohol, or if you are uncomfortable with flambéing, you can omit this step. IMPORTANT PRECAUTION: When flambéing, make sure to always keep an airtight lid within your reach, in case you need to put out the flames quickly.
- Tricolor Vegetable Pâté: Refrigerate as long as possible, min 8 hours. Freeze it 30 min before unmolding.
- French Baguette: Use the lesser amount of water in summer (or in a humid environment), the greater amount in winter (or in a dry climate), and somewhere in between the rest of the year, or if your house is climate controlled. Spritz the baguettes heavily with warm water; this will help them develop a crackly-crisp crust.
- Sandwich Loaf: We only made the whole wheat version of this bread, and the little rolls where tested, rather than two large loaves. However, they were perhaps a little heavy. If you want to make the whole wheat version, but prefer soft, light bread, you may want to use half white flour and half whole wheat (or use a two-to-one ratio, it’s really your choice). You can also halve the recipe and just make one loaf.
- What to serve your pâtés with, besides the bread? How about some pickles, cheeses, grapes, or an onion confit. Let your imaginations go wild!

Mandatory:
Your pâté has to 1) be baked or refrigerated (or both) for a significant amount of time, so that 2) you have to be able to unmold it onto a serving dish. This is to avoid the possibility of someone puréeing a bunch of vegetables, putting the mixture in a jar, and calling it “vegetable pâté”: that is not a pâté, that is a spread.

Preparation time:
Tricolor Vegetable Pâté: 35 minutes preparation, 8+ hours refrigerating
Three Spice Liver Pâté: 40 minutes preparation, 1 to 1.5 hours cooking
Trout and Shrimp Pâté: 20 minutes preparation, 35 minutes cooking, 30-60 minutes cooling
Chicken Liver Pâté: 40 minutes preparation, 2.5 hours cooking, at least 1 hour of refrigeration
French Baguette: 40 minutes preparation, 19 hours resting, 30 minutes cooking
Sandwich Loaf: 30 minutes preparation, 3 hours resting, 40 minutes cooking (25 if making rolls)

Recipes:

Three Spice Liver Pâté
Yields one 25 by 12,5 cm (10 by 5 inch) terrine or loaf pan

1 lb / 454 grams pork liver (or beef or combination)
1/2 lb / 227 grams ground pork
1/2 lb / 227 grams pork fat (or pork belly)
2 cloves garlic
2 shallots
1 whole egg and 1 egg yolk
1/2 tsp / 2 ml cinnamon
1/2 tsp / 2 ml coriander (ground or crushed)
1/2 tsp / 2 ml cumin
3/4 tsp / 3 ml salt
1 tbsp / 15 ml coarse freshly cracked peppercorns
2 tbsp / 30 ml cognac
2 bay leaves
1 package of bacon

Preheat oven to to 350ºF (180ºC).

Cut liver and pork fat into small pieces and add to food processor. Add ground pork, garlic, shallots, cinnamon, cumin, coriander, salt and pepper. Grind until smooth.

In mixing bowl, incorporate the meat and liver mixture with the cognac and eggs.

Line bottom of baking or ceramic pan with overlapping pieces of bacon. Place a bay leaf on the bottom and then fill with meat/liver mixture. Cover top with another bay leaf and then overlapping pieces of bacon.

Place in oven in the larger baking pan and add enough water to cover 2/3rds of the pan containing the meat/liver mixture. Bake for about 1-1.5 hrs.

The pâté will contract and the juices will be on the bottom. Allow to cool and soak up the juices. Remove any excess bacon and discard the bay leaves.

Chicken Liver Terrine
Yields one 25 by 12,5 cm (10 by 5 inch) terrine or loaf pan

1 tbsp duck fat, or butter
2 onions, coarsely chopped
300g (11 oz) chicken livers, trimmed
3 tbsp brandy, or any other liqueur (optional)
100g (3 1/2 oz, 1/2 cup) smoked bacon, diced
300g (11 oz) boneless pork belly, coarsely ground
200g (7 oz) boneless pork blade (shoulder), coarsely ground (or ground pork see note below)
2 shallots, chopped
1 tsp quatre-épices (or 1/4tsp each of ground pepper, cloves, nutmeg and ginger is close enough)
2 eggs
200 ml (7 fl oz, 3/4 cup + 2 tbsp) heavy cream
2 fresh thyme sprigs, chopped
Salt and pepper

NOTE: If you cannot find ground pork belly or blade, buy it whole, cut it into chunks, and pulse in the food processor. You can also replace the pork blade with regular ground pork.

Preheat oven to 200ºC (400ºF, Gas Mark 6).

Melt the fat or butter in a heavy frying pan over low heat. Add the onions and cook, stirring occasionally, for 5 minutes, until softened. Add the chicken livers and cook, stirring frequently, for about 5 minutes, until browned but still slightly pink on the inside.

Remove the pan from heat. Pour in the brandy, light a match and carefully ignite the alcohol to flambé. Wait for the flames to go out on their own, carefully tilting the pan to ensure even flavoring. Set aside.

Put the minced pork belly and blade in a food processor, then add the onion-liver mixture and the chopped shallots, and pulse until you obtain a homogenous mixture – make sure not to reduce it to a slurry.

Transfer to a bowl, and gradually stir in the chopped bacon, quatre-épices, cream, eggs, and thyme. Season with salt and pepper, and mix well. Spoon the mixture into a terrine or loaf pan, and cover with the terrine lid or with aluminum foil.

Prepare a water bath: place the loaf pan in a larger, deep ovenproof dish (such as a brownie pan or a baking dish). Bring some water to a simmer and carefully pour it in the larger dish. The water should reach approximately halfway up the loaf pan.

Put the water bath and the loaf pan in the oven, and bake for 2 hours. Uncover and bake for another 30 minutes. The terrine should be cooked through, and you should be able to slice into it with a knife and leave a mark, but it shouldn’t be too dry. Refrigerate, as this pâté needs to be served cold. Unmold onto a serving platter, cut into slices, and serve with bread.

NOTE: This pâté freezes well. Divide it into manageable portions, wrap tightly in plastic film, put in a freezer Ziploc bag, and freeze. Defrost overnight in the fridge before eating.

Tricolor Vegetable Pâté
Yields one 25 by 12,5 cm (10 by 5 inch) terrine or loaf pan

Line your pan with plastic wrap, overlapping sides.

White Bean Layer
2 x 15-ounce / 900 ml cans cannellini (white kidney beans), rinsed, drained thoroughly
1 tbsp / 15 ml fresh lemon juice
1 tbsp / 15 ml olive oil
1 tbsp / 15 ml minced fresh oregano or 1 teaspoon dried
2 garlic cloves, pressed

Mash beans in large bowl. Add lemon juice, olive oil, oregano and garlic and blend until smooth. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Spread bean mixture evenly on bottom of prepared pan.

Red Pepper Layer
7-ounce / 210 ml jar roasted red bell peppers, drained, chopped
3/4 cup / 180 ml crumbled feta cheese (about 4 ounces)

Combine peppers and feta in processor and blend until smooth. Spread pepper mixture evenly over bean layer in prepared dish.

Pesto Layer
2 garlic cloves
1 cup / 240 ml fresh basil leaves
1 cup / 240 ml fresh Italian parsley leaves
1/4 cup / 60 ml toasted pine nuts
3 tbsp / 45 ml olive oil
1/2 cup / 120 ml low-fat ricotta cheese

Mince garlic in processor. Add basil, parsley and pine nuts and mince. With machine running, gradually add oil through feed tube and process until smooth. Mix in ricotta. Spread pesto evenly over red pepper layer.

Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight.

To unmold, invert pâté onto serving platter. Peel off plastic wrap from pâté. Garnish with herb sprigs and serve with sourdough bread slices.

Trout and Shrimp Pâté
Yields one 6×3 inch (15×7,5 cm) terrine or loaf pan

1 tbsp / 15 ml butter
1/4 lb / 4 oz / 120g medium raw shrimp, deveined, shelled and tailed (about 12 medium shrimp)
1/8 cup / 30ml Grand Marnier (or cognac, or another strong liqueur of your choice) (optional)
1/2 lb / 8 oz / 240g trout filet, skinned and cut into thick chunks
1/4 lb / 4 oz / 110g raw shrimp, deveined, shelled and tailed (any size)
3/4 cup / 180ml heavy cream
Salt, to taste
Green peppercorn, coarsely ground, to taste
Chives, for garnish

Preheat oven to 375ºF (190ºC).

In a heavy, flameproof frying pan, melt the butter over medium-high heat. Sauté the 1/4 pound of medium shrimp, stirring often, until pink and cooked through. Remove the pan from heat. (NOTE: These shrimp will be used to form layers within your pâté. If you feel they are too thick – like the ones in the photograph, you might want to slice them in half lengthwise.)

Pour the Grand Marnier over the cooked shrimp. Light a match and carefully ignite the alcohol, to flambé the shrimp. Wait for the flames to go out on their own, carefully tilting the pan to ensure even flavoring. Set aside.

Put the trout and the remaining raw shrimp in a food processor and pulse. Gradually pour in the cream and keep pulsing until you obtain a smooth mixture that is easy to spread, but not too liquid (you may not need to use all the cream). Season with salt and green pepper.

Butter a 6×3 inch (15×7,5 cm) loaf pan or terrine, then line it with parchment paper. Spoon in half the trout mixture, and spread it evenly. Place the flambéed shrimp on top, in an even layer, reserving 3 or 4 shrimp for decorating. Top with the remaining trout mixture.

Prepare a water bath: place the loaf pan in a larger, deep ovenproof dish (such as a brownie pan or a baking dish). Bring some water to a simmer and carefully pour it in the larger dish. The water should reach approximately halfway up the loaf pan.

Put the water bath and terrine in the oven, and bake for 35 minutes. The pâté should be cooked through and firm in the center.

Remove the pan from the water bath and let cool. Carefully unmold onto a serving platter. Decorate with the reserved shrimp, and sprinkle with chopped chives. Cut into thick slices and serve at room temperature, with crusty bread.

French Baguette
yield: Three 16″ baguettes

Starter
1/2 cup / 120 ml cool water
1/16 teaspoon active dry yeast
1 cup / 240 ml flour

Dough
1 tsp / 5 ml active dry yeast
1 cup to 1 1/4 cups / 240 ml to 300 ml lukewarm water*
all of the starter
3 1/2 cups / 840 ml flour
1 1/2 tsp / 7 ml salt

*Use the lesser amount in summer (or in a humid environment), the greater amount in winter (or in a dry climate), and somewhere in between the rest of the year, or if your house is climate controlled.

Make the starter by mixing the yeast with the water, then mixing in the flour to make a soft dough. Cover and let rest at room temperature for about 14 hours; overnight works well. The starter should have risen and become bubbly.

Mix active dry yeast with the water and then combine with the starter, flour, and salt. Mix and knead everything together—by hand, mixer or bread machine set on the dough cycle—till you’ve made a soft, somewhat smooth dough; it should be cohesive, but the surface may still be a bit rough. Knead for about 5 minutes on speed 2 of a stand mixer.

Place the dough in a lightly greased medium-size bowl, cover the bowl, and let the dough rise for 3 hours, gently deflating it and turning it over after 1 hour, and then again after 2 hours.

Turn the dough out onto a lightly greased work surface. Divide it into three equal pieces. Shape each piece into a rough, slightly flattened oval, cover with greased plastic wrap, and let them rest for 15 minutes.

Working with one piece of dough at a time, fold the dough in half lengthwise, and seal the edges with the heel of your hand. Flatten it slightly, and fold and seal again. With the seam-side down, cup your fingers and gently roll the dough into a 15″ log. Place the logs seam-side down onto a lightly greased or parchment-lined sheet pan or pans.

Cover them with a cover or lightly greased plastic wrap, and allow the loaves to rise till they’ve become very puffy, about 1 1/2 hours. Towards the end of the rising time, preheat your oven to 450ºF (240ºC).

Using a very sharp knife held at about a 45° angle, make three 8″ vertical slashes in each baguette. Spritz the baguettes heavily with warm water; this will help them develop a crackly-crisp crust.

Bake the baguettes until they’re a very deep golden brown, 25 to 30 minutes. Remove them from the oven and cool on a rack. Or, for the very crispiest baguettes, turn off the oven, crack it open about 2″, and allow the baguettes to cool in the oven.

Sandwich Loaf
Yields two 8 1/2 x 4 1/2 x 2 1/2 inch (21 x 12 x 6 cm) loaves, or 18 individual rolls

For the white version
3 tsp (15 ml) active dry yeast
2 2/3 cups (600 ml) whole milk (3.25 per cent fat), warmed to a temperature of 97ºF (36ºF)
2 1/2 tsp (12.5 ml) salt
2 tsp (10 ml) butter, melted
5 1/3 cups (750g) unbleached white bread flour, + 1/2 cup (75g), for working the dough
2 tbsp (30 ml) butter, for the loaf pan

For the whole wheat version
Use the same amount of whole wheat flour, and add 1/3 cup (80 ml) of milk

To make loaves
In a large mixing bowl, combine the yeast and warm milk, and whisk to dissolve. Whisk in the salt and the melted butter.

Gradually sprinkle in the flour, stirring with a wooden spoon. When the dough becomes too thick to stir, knead it with your hands, for about 5 minutes, until you obtain a smooth, homogenous dough that is soft and a little sticky. Cover with plastic wrap and let rest 30 minutes.

Knead the dough 20 strokes (still in the bowl), cover again, and let rest for 1.5 hour.

Transfer the dough to a lightly floured work surface, and divide in two. Form each half into a slightly oval ball. Butter your two loaf pans and transfer the dough to the pans. Cover lightly and let rise in a draft-free area for 60 minutes, or until doubled in volume.

Fill a large baking pan with hot water (simmering is fine) and place in the oven. Preheat oven to 450ºF (240ºC).

Put the loaves in then oven and bake for 10 minutes. Do not open the oven door during this time. After 10 minutes, lower the oven temperature to 400ºF (200ºC) and continue baking for about 25 minutes, or until the loaves are nicely golden. Unmold and let cool on a rack.

To make individual rolls

Go through the same process as for making the loaves, up until it is time to shape the loaves. Divide the dough into 18 sections, shape each section into a ball, and dust with flour. Butter part of two muffin tins (only butter 18 cavities), and transfer the balls of dough into the cavities.

Cover loosely and let rise in a draft-free area for 45 minutes.

Fill a large baking pan with hot water (simmering is fine) and place in the oven. Preheat oven to 425ºF (225ºC).

Put the loaves in then oven and bake for about 25 minutes, or until the rolls are nicely golden. Let cool on a rack.

Additional Information:

Recipes:
Vegan Nutty pâté
Vegan Mushroom Pâté
Gluten-free French Baguettes

Videos:
Liver pâté preparation
Shaping the French Baguette
Art and History of the French Baguette
Bread Rolls