Almost-Local Coconut Muesli

There's something very satisfying about supporting your local farmers. They make wonderful things and grow great produce. It tastes fantastic and often has much less packaging (or additives). I'm hoping Local Lent will increase my awareness of what's available from nearby farmers and also get me think to in terms of their products when cooking.

In the recipe that follows, I've used a crushed oats/corn/wheat blend from down the road, where there use a mule to push the mill. These are delivered to natural food stores on a weekly basis. The honey is from a little further away - Clarkesville, Georgia. I gathered the pecans myself, from a large tree two blocks from my house. C. and I spent last weekend de-shelling them. They needed a rinse in warm water before toasting, since a black soot had accumulated on the shells. It's always a good idea to wash your produce before using it. The butter can be home-made, since we have a local source of cream. In the batch I made, I used store-bought. The butter will be home-made next time....

Should you be in a position to dry your own fruit, go for it (thinly sliced, blotted dry, baked on a lined tray for 1 hour at 225 F (110 C), turned over, baked for a further 1 - 1.5 hours). Peaches, pears and strawberries all work well.

On the non-local, but couldn't do this well without it, front, I added dessicated coconut, sunflower seeds, sea salt, raisins (the recipe suggests dried mango and peach), and sliced almonds. For the recipe below, you can switch up the seeds and nuts as you please.

Coconut Muesli
(serves 12)

4 cups rolled oats
2 Tbsp. sesame seeds
1 cup sunflower seeds
1/2 cup slivered almonds
1/2 cup shredded coconut (unsweetened)
1 cup maple syrup (or local honey)
4 Tbsp. vegetable oil (or local butter)
1/4 cup finely diced dried peaches
1/4 cup finely sliced mango
1/2 cup toasted pecans (optional)

Preheat oven to 300 F (150 C). In a bowl, combine the ingredients oats through to the coconut. Heat the maple syrup and vegetable oil in a saucepan over low heat. Add to the oat mixture, toss well, and spread on a greased, rimmed baking sheet. Bake for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.

When cool, add the sunflower seeds and dried fruits. The muesli should remain fresh in an airtight container for ~2 weeks.

Little Cheesecakes with Beer Gelée

It may strike you as an unusual: beer in the dessert course. But the overall effect is delicate and well-balanced. I cannot speak highly enough of it. This dish is also a make-ahead one - something we can all use when cooking for guests.

The cheesecake's batter contains chèvre and crème fraîche, with the tanginess of the fresh cheeses pair nicely with a tart lambic in the gelee. For the crust, I incorporated a spelt-pecan base - not to be difficult but simply because I often have those items in the pantry. They both share a wonderfully nutty flavour. You're welcome to switch flours and nuts in the base, suiting what's on hand in your pantry. I'd rather you did that than have you drive all over town to find the specifics listed below. But give this tangy cheesecake a try. It's not as sweet as some you'll find around town. That's deliberate. What I was aiming for was a rich and elegant end to the meal - more in tune with a cheese course and after-dinner beers (or your drink of choice).

And the gelée. What a fun way to use the end of some good Belgian ales, lambics, or other good-quality beer. When I made this dish, I had already reserved 1/4 cup of several beers that C. had enjoyed earlier in the week (birthday beer dinner). Choosing a few different beers allows you to showcase the lovely colours. One of the most successful was Hanssens oudbeitje, a delicate lambic that is brewed using strawberrys. This created the a gorgeous pale pink gelée, which matched well with the tartness of the cheesecake.

An extra note: if you haven't ring molds, use round cookie cutters, as I do sometimes. Each cheesecake may be a slightly different diameter, but they still bake for approximately the same time. You can always pull the smallest one from the oven first and let the larger ones cook for a few minutes longer, if needed.

Little Cheesecakes with Beer Gelée
(makes 4-5)

Crust:
1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted, plus more for brushing
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup finely chopped pecans
1 Tbsp. sugar (either white or brown)

Batter:
1/2 cup white sugar, preferably extra-fine granulated (castor sugar)
1 large egg
1 large egg yolk
salt
One 10 1/2-ounce log of chèvre, at room temperature
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons crème fraîche (5 ounces)

Beer Gelée:
1 envelope unflavored gelatin
2 1/2 Tbsp. cold water
3 Tbsp. each of strawberry lambic, quelque chose, a Belgian-style golden ale, and a barley wine
4 tsp. sugar

For the cheesecakes:
Preheat the oven to 325° F. Grease a rimmed baking sheet with butter and also brush the insides of four 3-inch-diameter (2 1/2-inch-deep) ring molds with butter.

Using a food processor, grind the pecans and the 1 tablespoon of sugar. Add the flour and pulse briefly to combine. Pulse once or twice more with the melted butter. Set the molds on the baking sheet and pack the crumbs into the molds; press to compact. Bake for 10 minutes; allow to cool.

Meanwhile, in a bowl, using an electric mixer, beat the egg, egg yolk, salt and the remaining 1/2 cup of sugar at medium speed until pale and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add the goat cheese and beat until smooth. Fold in the crème fraîche. You want to avoid whipping too much air in at this stage or else you'll get mini soufflés. Spoon the mixture into the molds and smooth the tops. Bake for about 30 minutes, until the cheesecakes are just set but not browned. Let the cheesecakes cool, then refrigerate them until chilled, at least 1 hour.

Heat a sharp, thin-bladed knife under hot water; dry the knife. Use the blade to gently run around the edge of each cheesecake. Ease the cheesecakes out of the molds; return them to the baking sheet. Cut four 11-by-2 1/2-inch strips of parchment paper. Wrap the paper around the perimeter of each cheesecake to form a collar that extends 1 inch above the surface; secure with tape.

For the beer gelees:
In a small bowl, sprinkle the gelatin over the cold water and let soften. Microwave on high power for about 15 seconds to barely melt the gelatin. Put the 4 beers in separate coffee (or tea) cups. Add 2 teaspoons of the sugar to the golden ale and to the lambic and microwave for 20 seconds; stir to dissolve the sugar. Stir 1 teaspoon of the melted gelatin into each of the 4 beers. chill the beers for about 10 minutes, until just beginning to set (watch closely at this stage). When the beers are just beginning to thicken, pour one of the beer gelées over each cheesecake and refrigerate until chilled and set, about 20 minutes.

Remove the parchment collar from each cheesecake. Plate and serve.

Beer Dinner Course 3

The image is from The French Cafe website, an amazing Auckland institution. Mine didn't look quite the same - call it artistic license - but it still was a beautiful dish to present at the end of the meal: delicate, gently sweet, and with a buttery crunch from the puff pastry round.

Here are the details as I constructed it. Note that some preparation takes place the night before you want to serve this.

Beet and shallot tartlett with chevre quenelle and a red wine reduction
(serves 4)
Beer match: Unibroue's quelque choise

1/2 cup finely chopped Turkish dried figs
2 cups red wine
3/4 cup caster sugar
300g puff pastry
4 medium-large beet, greens reserved for another use
1/2 small shallots, finely diced
~6 tsp. chevre (should be 4 tsp. when shaped into quenelles)

Simmer figs, red wine and caster sugar for 30 minutes then cool overnight.

Roll puff pastry to 5mm thick and cut 4 x 10cm circles. Place on a baking tray covered with baking paper and rest for 30 minutes before baking at 400°F (200°C) until golden brown.

Individually wrap the beetroot in foil and bake until tender, about 40-55 minutes for medium beets. When cool, slice into thin rounds, then stamp out discs with a 5cm cutter.

Peel the shallots and slice thinly. Sweat in a pan with a little olive oil, a pinch of salt, then cover and cook slowly until nicely caramelized.

Drain the figs, reserving the liquid. Chop figs finely, add to the shallots and cook for a further 5 minutes. Adjust the seasoning and allow to cool. Reduce the reserved liquid to make a light syrup.

Divide the goat’s cheese into 4 x tsp. portions. Mold into a quenelle, using two teaspoons to help shape. Flatten slightly on one side. Cover tightly with plastic wrap and put in the fridge to set.

Top the pastry circles with a layer of the shallot mixture then cover with overlapping circles of beetroot. Top with goat’s cheese, season and drizzle olive oil over. Bake for 5 minutes at 400°F (200°C).

To serve, drizzle each tart with a little olive oil and balsamic vinegar and spoon some of the red wine syrup around the outside.

Chef's note: I prepared this dish in stages, cooking the beets and puff pastry rounds the night before. I also cooled and cut the rounds from the beets the night ahead. On the day, it was a matter of making the syrup, assembly, and the 5 minute bake in a hot oven.

Rosemary Truffles

Elegant and rich, a hand-rolled chocolate truffle is one of the simplest things to serve with coffee at the end of a meal. Once you've shaped the ganache, you can set the truffles aside - and out of mind - and set to the other parts of the meal.

I recommend starting this process two days in advance of when you'd like to enjoy these, since the ganache may take a while to set before the rolling out stage. These truffles should keep for several days after you've made them.

Rosemary Truffles
(makes ~20)

14 oz dark chocolate (about 70 % cacao), chopped
1 cup cream
1 sprig fresh rosemary (approx 10 cm length)
1/4 cup cacao powder

Ganache:
Place the chocolate in a tupperware container with a secure lid and at least two cup capacity.

In a saucepan, heat the cream and rosemary sprig to just under boiling. Remove from heat and steep for about 5 minutes (longer/shorter times are fine). Discard the sprig and add the cream to the chopped chocolate. Stir well to help the chocolate dissolve evenly. Set in fridge to cool for 24 hours.

Shaping:
Get a dinner plate ready. Sift cacao powder over it. When the ganache is firm to the touch, use a teaspoon to scoop out small amounts about the diameter of a quarter. Roll each portion into a sphere and toss gently in the cacao powder. Repeat with the next portion. The ganache can still be shaped when slightly soft - you'll just need to reshape later, once they've firmed up some more. Allow some more time in the fridge to set further (especially if reshaping is needed).

White Asparagus with Brooklyn Local No. 1 "Bubbles"

For C's birthday this year he received a 3-course beer dinner. After much humming and haa-ing over the menu, I settled on a few classic pairings with some of the technique borrowed from the oenophile world. The recipe below didn't make the final cut, because the menu already had one semi labour-intensive dish, but it was too good to discard entirely. The idea of a foam on the old-style white asparagus and golden ale pairing impressed me to no end. I present it here for your interest/amusement/inspiration.

White Asparagus with Brooklyn Local No. 1 "Bubbles"
(serves 4 as an appetizer)

For the asparagus:
10 stalks of white asparagus, peeled
Water for blanching
2 Tbsp. of sugar
Salt and white pepper, to taste


Heat the water in a saucepan over high heat. When boiling, add the asparagus and cook covered for approximately 5-7 minutes. Set up an ice bath nearby. Check with a fork for tenderness. When the asparagus becomes fork tender, remove from the pan and immediately transfer to an ice bath. When cool, drain gently and lay flat on towels to dry.

Brooklyn Local No. 1 "bubbles":
1/2 Pint Brooklyn Local No. 1
1/8 cup apple cider vinegar
1 Tbsp. sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1 Tbsp. Crème Fraîche

Cook out the alcohol in the ale. Add the vinegar, sugar, and salt. Let cool and whisk in the crème fraîche. Chill in the fridge until ready to plate.

Assembly:
For the asparagus: Drizzle some nice buttery olive oil and cracked pepper on the asparagus and gently roll around to cover.

For the bubbles: with a balloon or electric whisk, whip the vinaigrette vigorously until bubbles begin to form. Skim the bubbles off the surface with a spoon and rest them over the plated asparagus.