Crepes with Marinated Beef and Olive and Basil Tapenade

Posted by - Maria from Box of Stolen Socks

Yesterday was not a good day for my cooking. It was a great day for my kitchen floor though! It got a pretty good taste of the Olive and Basil tapenade I was preparing for my French Fridays with Dorie entry and claimed the life of one of my favourite Delimano frying pans. They sure are earth and health friendly but they are not at all floor friendly.

Today, I woke up determined to change my bad karma in the kitchen. I burned some incense, planted a new basil plant next to the one I trimmed yesterday, and went ahead to sacrifice some grass fed beef to appease the angry carnivorous spirits that inhabit my tiny kitchen. 

I questioned my already overworked memory cells hard to figure out with what to accompany the beef and they came up with a wonderful idea: Crepes, this months challenge at Have the Cake. Ethereal, comforting crepes, just perfect to wrap then around succulent strips of herb marinated beef. Comfort food to compensate for today's sudden change in the weather - it is 18C outside and the sky is ominously black.

As for the Olive and Basil Tapenade, I owe it to Dorie and to myself to make it again. What little I managed to salvage yesterday tasted and smelled so good. Salt, lemon, olives and basil are the tastes of the Mediterranean summer and I am lucky enough to have my own organic, olive oil cured olives from a friend's olive groves in Chalkidiki. There was really no one to stop me from making it again...apart from my kitchen floor....

I marinated the beef for about two hours, while I was searching the food blogosphere for the perfect recipe for gluten free, egg free crepes. I did not want to use buckwheat flour, I wanted something lighter that could make a crispier, more elegant crepe. I found it in this great recipe from Scadi Foodie. My namesake, Maria, uses sorghum flour and potato starch to make light and crispy crepes that stay together in one piece so you can actually flip them over in the pan, exactly as I wanted them to be!

The three deterrent elements of this recipe came together beautifully and harmoniously as the flavours really complemented each other. The only dissonance in today's kitchen experience came again from the tapenade which found its way to the kitchen floor again but this time the bowl did not brake.

Should I take this as a sign and stop making it or should I defy the cosmic powers and make it again tomorrow?

Crepes with Herb Marinated Beef and Olive and Basil Tapenade

Serves 2

Olive and Basil Tapenade
Adapted from Around my French Table by Dorie Greenspan
Ingredients
1/2 cup pitted oil-cured black olives, chopped
1 anchovy, drained
3 tablespoons fresh basil, chopped
Zest and juice of 1 lime
Pinch of rosemary
Pinch of thyme

Herb Marinated Beef
Ingredients
300 gr grass fed beef cut in strips
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 teaspoon dried thyme, or 1 tablespoon fresh chopped
1 teaspoon oregano
1 tablespoon paprika
1 tablespoon chives, chopped
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1 tablespoon Gluten Free Soja sauce

Gluten Free, Egg Free, Lactose Free Crepes 
From Scadi Foodie 
Makes 4 medium or 2 large
Ingredients
250 ml soja milk
75g sorghum flour

2 tablespoons arrowroot powder
1 pinch of salt
Olive oil for frying
Procedure
Put the beef strips in a zip-lock bag and add the rest of the ingredients. Marinate in the fridge for at least 2 hours.
Make the tapenade:
Put all the ingredients in a small blender and blend, until the olives are puréed. If you like it thinner you can add more olive oil.
Make the beef:
Heat a deep frying pan and add the marinated beef. Stir fry for 5 - 10 minutes. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
Make the Crepes:
Combine the milk, flours and salt in a blender and blend until smooth. Brush a small frying pan with olive oil and pour a thin layer of the crepe batter on to the pan. Swirl the pan to spread the batter. Cook for a few minutes, then flip over to cook the other side. Continue with the rest of the batter.
Fill the crepe with the cooked beef, spread a little of the tapenade and serve.

July Challenge: Crepes

Posted by - Rena

This month's challenge is to make Crepes. I know this seems simple but you'd be wrong about that. It takes a lot of skill and the right amount of ingredients to make them correctly. Mine are usually way too thick. Being that it's summer now, I thought we'd give the oven a rest for a bit.

There is a little cake shop on the upper east side of NYC called Lady M Confections. They make a cake (pictured below) called Lady M® Mille Crêpes - twenty crepes layered with the most delicious pastry cream you've ever tasted. They are famous for this cake and I can vouch for its deliciousness. They also make a green tea version that is to die for. This cake was the inspiration for this challenge.

There are numerous ways to use crepes and please feel free to make something savory this time if that's the direction you're heading. There is an amazing creperie in Denver called Crepes n' Crepes with scrumptious savory crepes. You can browse their menu to see what delicious varieties they offer and if you ever visit Denver, or live there, please do stop by for a meal. You won't be disappointed.

Happy July!

 Lady M® Mille Crêpes - Lady M Confections

.......

July Roundup

Crackers!

July turned out to be one HOT month! Here in New York, we were over 100 degrees as was the rest of the country. I didn't turn my oven on the whole month.

Thanks to Dorrie, Colleen & Michele for your crackers! I'm glad they came out well. They look delicious.

Nancy is jumping in for the next challenge. I'm so excited about this one!

Cheese Crackers

Posted by - colleen

I finally made my crackers! I found this recipe on MyRecipes. They were delicious! I made a few tweaks-I used a Mexican 4-cheese blend instead of cheddar jack. I used whole wheat flour and Splenda sugar. The dough was not easy to roll out but I decided to just roll it the best I could and then used the pizza cutter to separate them. The shapes were not perfect but the taste made up for it. These would be perfect to bake up with some homemade soup for dinner over the winter. They were a little spicy with the red pepper and just the right amount of cheese. I would totally make these again!

Easy Cheesy Crackers

Posted by - Dorrie

This week, while contemplating what to bring to a play group get together for snack, I remembered that this month's Have the Cake challenge is crackers. Why not kill two birds with one stone?

I searched the internet for a recipe for cheddar cheese crackers and happened upon one that was on several different websites/blogs. It sounded magnificently easy and tasty.

Fortunately for me, I already had my camera in the kitchen because that morning I had mistakenly let Henry try eating yogurt out of a bowl with a spoon. As you can see, very little made it actually into his mouth, but I think he's learning about the whole "spoon" thing...

Henry and the strawberry yogurt

Cheddar Cheese Crackers

1 cup all-purpose flour

3/4 tsp salt

1/2 tsp white ground pepper (optional)

4 Tblsp. cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces

8 ounces grated cheddar cheese

3-4 tsp water

Pulse the flour, salt and pepper, then add butter and pulse until the mixture resembles coarse meal. Add grated cheese a little at a time until the mixture again resembles coarse meal.

Cracker dough in the food processor

Pulse in 3 to 4 tablespoons of water, one tablespoon at a time, and only enough so that the dough forms a ball and rides the blade.

Remove, wrap in plastic, and chill in the refrigerator for 20 minutes or up to 24 hours. Roll the dough out to 1/8th-inch thickness directly onto a baking sheet. I used biscuit cutters to cut out mine, but the recipe recommends using a knife or pizza cutter to cut all of the dough into 1 inch squares.

Cutting out the crackers

Bake at 350 degrees for 15-20 minutes or until the crackers are golden brown.

Finished crackers

I doubled the recipe thinking that it wouldn't make very many from one batch, but as it turns out maybe 60 crackers was a bit much...

These were great crackers, right out of the oven. But they became pretty moist and "biscuity" the next day. The lack of our usual dry Colorado weather has something to do with that I think, as we are current in our "monsoon weeks" with a thunderstorm occurring every afternoon. They might store better next time, but I think if I make these again I might take the time to bake them the day that I serve them.

Blue Cheese Almond Wafers

Posted by - Michele

This month’s Have the Cake challenge was cheese crackers. Alot of people like Cheez Its. I am not one of those people. Well, I don’t really dislike them, but I don’t go crazy over them. I decided to go with this recipe made with blue cheese because I knew I had to like them! I found it in Southern Living All-Time Favorite Recipes.

This recipe would go great with a nice soup or stew, or really just a snack. The original title of the recipe was Blue Cheese-Walnut Wafers, but I don’t like walnuts. I decided to use slivered almonds instead. It was so easy to make. And I’m sure you could incorporate any cheese you wanted to. Thank you, Rena, for choosing this yummy challenge! Here is my recipe if you would like to try it!

Blue Cheese Almond Wafers

1 (4oz) package blue cheese, softened

1/2 cup butter, softened

1 1/4 cups all purpose flour

1/3 cup finely chopped almonds

1. Process first 3 ingredients in a food processor until smooth, stopping to scrape down sides. (Mixture will be sticky) Spoon mixture into a bowl; stir in almonds. Cover and chill 5 minutes.

2. Divide dough in half. Shape each portion into an 8-inch log. Wrap in heavy-duty plastic wrap; chill 1 hour.

3. Slice dough into 1/4-inch thick slices; place on ungreased baking sheets.

4. Bake at 350 for 12 minutes or until lightly browned. Store in an airtight container up to 1 week.

July Challenge: Cheese Crackers

Cheese crackers are my weakness. I can sit and eat an entire box of cheez-its or better cheddars without an ounce of guilt. Ok, that part about the guilt is not true. As we all know, a box of crackers from the supermarket can't be all that healthy. I searched around and found a great post on The Kitchn with an easy recipe. If you can't have cheese or don't like cheese, feel free to make another kind of cracker.

Now get crackerin'!
Oh god, that was so cheesy. :)

July Roundup & Happy Anniversary!

Have the Cake is 1 year old!
Thank you to everyone who was here for the first challenge and thank you to all our members for making this past year so much fun! I hope we have many more years of baking together!

Thanks to everyone who participated in the July challenge and to Sue for the pick! We had a bit of a heat wave in July so this pick was perfect! Anything that involves whipped cream and fresh fruit is good is my book. :)

Sweet Melissa's Pavlova

Posted by - Chaya

Thanks to Jess for being late so I don't have to be the only one. I bet she did not have a fire in her oven and have three fire trucks parked in front of her house. Really. Is that an acceptable excuse. I don't want to do - one better. That was frightening enough.

If it were not for Rina being so understanding, you would not see this recipe. I had one of those silly times where everything goes wrong and the easiest solution seems to be, to give up. I am glad that I did not.

The recipe below is from The Sweet Melissa Baking Book but I made changes. I want to leave the recipe here, untarnished by my changes. Normally, I would not share a recipe from this book but because it is not part of the group, I am going to make this exception. Also, I did find it online so for anyone who is really looking, they can locate it.

I made a quarter of the recipe which was hard to do. I made the meringue in my big mixer and I thought it was going to sit there. It looked ludicrous to see the big machine and one egg's worth of whites. With the whipped cream, I got smarter and used a hand mixer. Even that didn't work. For some reason, I could not get the beaters to stay in the mixer. Never happened before. Also, even in a small bowl, there was very little cream (1/4 cup) and it refused to change for the longest time. At the end, those stiff peaks were soft and pliant but that was the best I could do.

Sweet Melissa Pavlova Peach Melba

Ingredients:

- FOR THE MERINGUE

- 4 large egg whites
- 1 cup superfine sugar
- 1 1/2 teaspoons cornstarch
- 1 tsp white vinegar, (I used champagne vinegar)
- 1/4 teaspoon vanilla
- FOR THE MELBA

- 2 to 3 large peaches
- 1 pint fresh raspberries
- 1 recipe raspberry sauce, see notes

- FOR THE WHIPPED CREAM

- 1 cup heavy cream, very cold
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 Tablespoon sugar


METHOD:

Before you start::

Position a rack in the center of your oven. Preheat the oven to 250 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Draw a 7″ circle on the paper with a pen. Flip over the paper. You will be able to see the line. (I did not draw a line and for my mini pavlova, the circle was between three and four inches.

To make the meringue:

1. In a clean, grease-free bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whip attachment, beat the egg whites on medium-high heat until they hold firm peaks, about 1 minute. Start adding the sugar, little by little, until the meringue holds very stiff glossy peaks, about 2 minutes. You should not feel any sugar grains at this point. If you do, keep beating.

2. Remove the bowl from the mixer. Sift the cornstarch over the meringue, and sprinkle the vanilla and vinegar on top. Using a rubber spatula, gently fold the ingredients into the meringue until just fully incorporated (the goal is to do so without deflating the meringue.)

3. Gently mound the meringue in the center of the circle on the prepared parchment paper, and smooth the edges. Bake for 1 hour and 25 minutes. Turn off the oven, and allow the meringue to cool completely in the oven for an additional hour or more. The meringue may crack as it cools – this is normal. When cool, carefully peel the paper from the bottom of the meringue and place the meringue on a serving platter. The meringue can be made only on the day of serving.

To prepare the fruit:

Peel, pit, and slices the peaches into a large bowl. Place the raspberries on top of the peaches. Pour over 1/2 cup of the raspberry sauce. Using a rubber spatula, gently combine.

To make the whipped cream:

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whipping attachment, beat the heavy cream and vanilla on medium speed. In a slow, steady stream, add the sugar beating until the mixture forms medium-stiff peaks.

To Complete the Pavlova:


1. Mound the whipped cream in the center of the meringue and spread it just up to the edges.

2. Pile the fruit and any sauce left in the bottom of the bowl on top of the cream.

3. Drizzle a little of the remaining sauce over the fruit, and serve the rest of the sauce on the side. Using a large spoon, serve immediately.

NOTES:

To make raspberry sauce: combine two 12 ounce packages of frozen raspberries, 3/4 plus 2 TBS. sugar, and 1 TBS fresh lemon juice in a medium saucepan. Bring to a simmer for 2 minutes. Let cool and strain through a fine mesh sieve. Chill for up to 5 days.

SOURCE: Sweet Melissa Baking Book

A day late Pavlova

Posted by - Jess

Nothing like the last minute! I made the pavlova yesterday...I waited mostly because I was nervous about dealing with egg whites. I decided to make this recipe for the pavlova itself but liked the idea of adding more flavor to the filling so did the pastry cream recipe posted here along with the fruit sauce.

I was unable to remove the pavlova from the parchment pan without destroying it so it was served on the baking sheet. If I made this again I am not sure how I would get around the sticking. But regardless it tasted really good and was very interesting to make.

The layers on the pavlova are pastry cream filling, blueberry sauce, whipped cream and fresh blueberries.

Last Minute Pavlova!

I was quite intimidated by this challenge and the humidity we have had all month has been an great excuse to put it off (and gain tips from my fellow bakers on what not to do and what to look out for)! So on the last day of the month I decided I had to put aside my fears and get baking.
The recipe I chose was from Simply Recipes. It uses the smaller individual pavlovas which I thought would work better.
I started by separating the eggs which was no easy task. As I learned from Rena, even a small amount of yolk would ruin everything so after getting three done perfectly, I slipped and dropped an entire egg in the whites. I tried to fish out the yolk whole but a little dribbled in so, sigh, I started over again. This time I smartened up and did one egg at a time in a different dish and then poured the whites in the mixing bowl when they were perfectly yolk free. I ruined only one more egg this way (and my dog has lots of yolks for dinner the next few nights). So egg whites and salt in the mixer and begin whisking (oh how I <3 my Kitchen Aid mixer)! I then gradually added the sugar and cornstarch. I used Splenda No Calorie Sweetener (NOT the Splenda for baking-that stuff is nasty) instead of regular sugar. After that had mixed a couple minutes I poured in the vanilla and distilled white vinegar, turned the mixer to high and left it going for about five minutes and did all the dishes.
Once it was nice and formed with stiff peaks, I spooned 8 large dollops of the meringue on a lined cookie sheet and put it in the oven. After about a half hour, they started to look a little beige so I did as the recipe said and lowered the temperature and turned the pan around.
I decided to do a fruit topping of blackberries and raspberries, heating them with some sugar until they broke up. I forgot to buy heavy cream for whip so I made up a little glaze for it as well using lemon curd, lemon juice, honey, vanilla and a little water. I just whipped it up until it was a nice thick but creamy substance.
Perfection! A delicious, light dessert!

Posted by -colleen

Almond Pavlova with Fresh Fruit and Berry Grand Manier Sauce

Posted by - Louise

 

It's 10:00 p.m. and I'm beat.  It was a long day at the fair, some days just feel longer than others.  It didn't help that I ate "fair food", which made me feel like I was in a coma for the late part of the afternoon.  Friday is $ 1.00 food tastings, so we make out way out into the fair to have small bites of craziness.  I had a bite of...deep fried Oreo cookie, Pink's hot dog, Tasty Chips, and a cinnamon roll.  You can see now why I ran out of energy by 3:00 in the afternoon.  On stage today we had "Harry's Deli", they were no ordinary sandwich shop.  Harry made me a prime cut steak sandwich with house made mayo, chimichurri, and grilled onions- it was the best sandwich I've eaten in ... well can't remember when.  Definitely going to make my way out there to try the rest of their deli delights.  Other than the drunk guy who trashed my stage last night and tore off my oven door, in an apron no less- today was a good day. 

I recently received a comment on the blog from someone who I noticed had more than one blog herself- interesting I thought, so I clicked away.  So excited to find "Have the Cake", a blogging community of cooks who choose one recipe a month and everyone posts their creative version of ... this month ~Pavlova.  I had to laugh because not only was I interested in joining, but  my demonstrations for the fair today were already planned to be Almond Pavlova.  I agreed with myself it was clearly a sign that I should join.  Since today is the last day of the month I had to - wanted to post before the day was over.  So it's now 10:27 p.m. here I sit writing about this crispy,crackly, gooey,  and oh so sweet dessert we call - Pavlova.  Most recipes call for superfine sugar, but I always have used regular sugar with no problems at all.  The almond extract adds another dimension of flavor and the berry sauce is... good on anything.  I had leftover churro (last post) ganache that I filled each Pavlova nest with as an added surprise under the berries and used fresh gooseberries  to add a nice sour tartness to the mix.  So there ... I did it, my first post for "Have the Cake"...

4 Egg Whites
Pinch of Salt
1 Cup granulated sugar
2 Teaspoons cornstarch
1 Teaspoon white vinegar
1 Teaspoon vanilla extract
1 Teaspoon almond extract
1/4 Cup sliced toasted almonds
2 Cups of fresh berries

Preheat oven to 300 degrees
Add egg whites and a pinch of salt to the bowl of a standing mixer with a whisk attachment
Mix on low until small bubbles begin to form
Turn mixer to high and whisk until soft peaks form
Slowly add in sugar- raining the sugar onto the meringue with the mixer running
Continue whisking until shiny and stiff peaks develop
Add in cornstarch, vinegar, vanilla, and almond extract
With a spatula gently fill a large pastry bag with a star tip
Line a baking sheet with parchment and pipe out 4-5 inch rounds about 2 inches high
Sprinkle with almonds
Place pavlova into oven  and reduce heat to 250 degrees- bake for 1 hour- turn off oven and allow to cool   for an additional hour
Store in an airtight container

2 Cups mixed frozen berries (raspberry, strawberry,blueberry)
Pinch of salt
1 Tablespoon berry fruit spread or preserves
2 Tablespoons honey or agave syrup
Zest of 1 Orange
1 Tablespoon Grand Manier

In a small sauce pot bring berries, salt, fruit spread/preserves, honey, and orange zest to a low simmer
Remove from heat and blend until smooth with a hand held emulsion blender or standing blender
Run blended sauce through a fine mesh strainer
Stir in Grand Manier
Assemble by filling pavlova with fresh fruit and topping with berry sauce

A Tale of Two Pavlovas

Posted by - Rena

I was very excited to make a pavlova. I love meringue cookies, lemon meringue pie and baked alaska. I haven't had the pie or baked alaska in many years but I have made meringue cookies in the past two. I was expecting the pavlova to be totally crunchy on the outside and chewy on the inside like the cookies.

I made the first pavlova with the challenge recipe. It seemed easy enough but I made a fatal error. While separating the eggs, I got a little splash of yolk in the whites. I figured it was a small enough amount that I didn't have to worry. Turns out that's what can ruin the whole thing. After baking for an hour and 15 minutes, the outside was very brown and the inside was spongy but not in a good way. It all looked wrong. I decided to scrap it and start over. My dog was very pleased with this outcome because she will get eggs yolks with her dinner for the next few days.

I was very careful with the second one. It baked for an hour & 15 minutes and looked perfect when it came out. The top cracked a little which put me at ease. It all looked right. I sealed it in foil and left it out overnight. My friend came over for lunch so I whipped up some cream and pasted it on like spackle. That was the best part. I topped it with strawberries, raspberries and blueberries.

So, when we cut into it I was surprised to find it very spongy. Again, I was expecting it to be somewhat chewy so my egg/salmonella paranoia kicked in and I starting fearing for our lives. I think it was perfect but I have such issues with eggs that I'm sure my neurosis made it less appetizing for my guest. We ate all the crunchy bits around the sides and then proceeded to wipe the top clean from any trace of whipped cream and fruit.

I think the problem was that I didn't know what to expect. I had a vision in my head of what it was supposed to be and then when it didn't turn out that way, I immediately started second guessing it. All in all, it was delicious!

Berries Pavlova

Posted by -Shri

 Followed Sue's recipe;  used individual portions and Dawn's post was  really helpful.

This was a first and turned out to be  the new family favourite! Have used black berries, raspberries and blueberries in the recipe. Also used a little bit of orange zest in the whipped cream topping.

Chocolate Pavlova

Posted by - Michele at Alwayz Bakin'

The recipe I chose for this month's Pavlova Challenge was Chocolate Pavlova by Martha Stewart. I was pleasantly surprised by this recipe. It was EXCELLENT!!!!

It was fairly easy to put together, however, I did not follow Martha's recipe for the chocolate cream. I made an adaption of my own by adding the chocolate to my own whipped cream. It didn't turn out as planned, but was delicious anyway. I think next time I will take the time to make her's.

So far everyone's Pavlova's look beautiful! If you would like to try mine, you can find the recipe here at Martha Stewart's site.