the perfect egg: a recipe for îles flottantes and one for pain brioché

Iles Flottantes

with Lime & Jasmine Blossom Crème Anglaise & Rose Meringue

will serve 4 

for the Crème Anglaise:

3 egg yolks

1/2 cup of sugar

2 cups of milk

2 lime leaves
grated zest of 1 small lime

a handful of lime blossoms

a handful of jasmine blossoms

1 vanilla bean split in two

In a saucepan, bring the milk to a boil with the vanilla bean, grated lime zest, lime leaves, lime and jasmine blossoms.

In a bowl, beat the egg yolks with the sugar until pale yellow and doubled in volume.

Just before the milk reaches the boiling point, remove it from the heat, cool it for one minute and gently pour it on the egg yolks while whisking them.

Return the milk and eggs to the pan, cook over medium heat while stirring continously. 

Do not let the custard reach the boiling point. As soon as the custard coats the back of the spoon, remove from the heat and pour it in a cold bowl, whisk it until cooler. Place the custard in the fridge with a plastic film on top.

For the Meringue:

3 egg whites

2 Tsp of sugar

1 pinch of salt

1 tsp rose blossom water

In a perfectly clean bowl, beat the egg whites with the sugar, salt and rose water until they stiff and shiny.

Spoon on a lightly buttered baking sheet dollops of meringue. Cook at 100C

for 45 minutes, do not let them color too much, remove from the oven and let them cool.

Prepare the Iles Flottantes: pour the custard in a large bowl and float the meringues on top.

For the Caramel:

1/2 cup of sugar

2 Tsp water

In a heavy saucepan, heat the sugar with the water until it forms a syrup.

Let it bubble until it starts coloring, tilt the pan until the color is uniform but do not use a spoon otherwise the sugar will crystallize. Do this until a nice light mahogany color is reached.

Drizzle the caramel on top ot the meringues and serve.

Pain Brioché

makes one loaf or 10 small buns

4 cups of flour

1Tbs of dry yeast

3 tbs of sugar

2 tsp of sea salt

3 large eggs

175grs (6oz) of unsalted butter

1 1/2 cup of milk

Place the flour, the sugar, the salt and the yeast in a large bowl. Mix together.

Melt the butter with the milk in a pan on low heat. When melted, remove from the heat and cool to barely warm. 

Add the eggs and the milk/butter to the flour, mix, then start to knead (it will be sticky), add a little flour if you need to. Continue to knead for 10 minutes. When the dough is satiny and feel springy, place in a buttered bowl and let rise for 2 hours in a warm place. After that time, it should be doubled its size. Punch it down and let rise another 2 hours (if you made the dough in the afternoon, let it rise in a cool place overnight).

Shape it in a loaf or in a braid or make buns.

Let the dough rise 20 minutes after you shape it.

Cook in a preheated oven 200C or 350F for 40 minutes for the loaves and 20 minutes for the buns until golden.

In an Angel's kitchen: Tarte au Chocolat and Cannelés de Bordeaux

Her name is Céleste Mathilde and if her first name suits her perfectly, we should have thought of something more befitting for her middle name, Suzette or Madeleine perhaps?

At three years old, she was already mixing doughs. When she turned six, she had already mastered quite a few simple pastries like crêpes and clafoutis. By the age of ten, she was quite confident with some of the complicated steps of French baking and chocolate éclairs held no more secrets for her. At thirteen, for her 8th grade project, she wrote a twenty five pages essay titled "Cocoa and Chocolate" accompanied by a dozen of cakes and confections. That same year, as if that was not enough, she also baked and decorated the cake for her father's wedding for no less than eighty people.

It is no surprise that today, at eighteen, she is impatiently waiting to graduate from High School to attend "Le Cordon Bleu" in Paris and is working on weekends at a restaurant where she makes desserts and adores her work.
You see, she has it all planned out for a very long time! She already has the concept for her "Salon de Chocolat", what will be served and how everything will look like. Perfect and delightful of course, just like her!
She just needs to grow up a little more, that's all! But inevitably, that will come. And who knows then, what will happen?

Céleste is precious and beautiful like a pearl, fragile and strong, quiet most of the time...

She is captivating; sometimes impossible to understand and, like an exotic butterfly, dazzling and impossible to grasp. She can be patient, poised, collected and calm under fire (the kitchen one, I mean) as much as terribly mischievous, wild with a loyal heart and so very quick witted, it is hard to resist her.

A perfectionist at heart, she can spend hours lost in the making of confections as exquisite as jewels and since her passion is baking, she possesses as well the required cool and inquisitive mind of a scientist, no crazy spontaneity here, nothing like "a little more of this"; perfection is exactitude.

It takes a certain kind of person to be a baker: humble, passionate, obstinate, persistent, curious and very often unconventional. Bakers seem to me as highly creative with the left side of the brain, a paradox of sorts, their creativity managed by logic, like Cartesians in the kitchen, capable to render ethereal visions into tangible and delectable forms, if evanescent, which is part of their beauty.

Céleste's Chocolate Tart
for a 9inch or 20-cm tart pan

For the pâte sucrée:

2 cups or 400grs of flour

pinch of salt

3/4 cup or 140grs  butter

4oz or 120grs confectioner's sugar

the seeds of 1 vanilla bean

1 egg yolk

2 Tbs of heavy cream

In a food processor, blend the sugar and the flour with the salt. Add the butter cut in small pieces, pulse, add the egg yolk, process briefly, add the cream until it forms a ball. Roll in a disk, wrap in plastic and refrigerate for 1 hour.

Preheat the oven at 350ºF or 175ºC.
When the dough is firm, sprinkle some confectioner's sugar on a surface, wait a few minutes for the dough to slightly warm up and roll very thinly, about 1/4inch. Transfer to a tart pan with a removable bottom being careful not to stretch the dough, press gently but firmly the dough against the edges of the pan so it fits tightly; cut the excess dough with a knife, prick the bottom with a fork and refrigerate 30 minutes. After that time, lay a piece of aluminium foil on the dough and fill it with beans, bake for 20 minutes. Remove the foil and beans, bake 10 minutes longer watching that the dough remains pale but cooked. Remove from the oven and let it cool. The dough is fragile, handle carefully.

For the chocolate filling:

250 grs of bittersweet chocolate

100 grs unsalted butter

2 eggs

1 egg yolk

50 grs sugar
1/3 cup heavy cream

a dash of Cointreau

In a bowl, beat with a mixer the eggs, egg yolk and sugar until thick and pale yellow.

Melt the chocolate and the butter in a bowl set over a pan of barely simmering water, stir from time to time until the butter is melted and the chocolate is glossy, add the Cointreau and let cool slightly. Add the heavy cream to the chocolate and pour this preparation in the egg mixture. Pour in the tart shell, cook for 10 minutes max until barely set. (If the top starts to crack, remove at once, it is starting to overcook). Cool until warm.

For the Crème Chantilly:
1 cup of very cold heavy cream
3Tbs confectioner's sugar
2tsp pure vanilla extract or the seeds from 1 vanilla bean

In a very cold bowl, beat the sugar, heavy cream and vanilla with a whisk until it forms soft peaks. Voilà, that's all there is to it! I guess in non-French circles, it's called sweetened whipped cream...

Serve a wedge of tart with a dollop of the Chantilly and some shavings of chocolate on top. If you were inclined to improve on something already perfect, you could, like Céleste, serve this with some strawberry sauce on the side and a little pitcher of lemon verbena Crème Anglaise.

Cannelés de Bordeaux

Cannelés are the beloved little cakes from Bordeaux, where I come from, and Céleste loves them. They are nothing short of an institution in Bordeaux and Maison Baillardran specializes in them and trust me, theirs are perfect! Like many things with ancient and humble origins, they are pretty simple to make and only require a few common ingredients. 

That said, to make a great cannelé is another story! A cannelé should be dark, caramelized and crunchy on the outside, creamy soft and sweet on the inside, redolent of rum and vanilla. Cooking them properly is tricky; letting the batter rest for at least 24 hours is mandatory, you will need to get the copper molds (forget about the silicone ones) and if you want to have a perfect crust, you need either beeswax or a professional pastry spray. 

Not to be discouraged, once you get the "tour de main", making and baking them will become easier; they are nothing more than a cross between a crêpe and a clafoutis batter baked in copper molds.

Batter for 12 cannelés:
1/2 liter ( 1/2 quart) of milk
2 vanilla beans, split
50g (2 1/2oz) butter, unsalted
250 g (8oz) sugar 
120g (4oz) flour, sifted
1 pinch of salt
2 large eggs
2 egg yolks
3Tbs Rum
Heat the milk with the vanilla beans until the boiling point, turn off the heat and add the butter.

In a bowl, mix the flour, sugar and salt, add the egg yolks and mix very gently. When incorporated, add the eggs, mix thoroughly (and gently, not whisking or beating air into it) until the batter is very smooth (no lumps allowed). Do this by hand with a wooden spoon, not an electric mixer. When smooth, add the milk with the butter (barely warm) little by little, then the rum.
Place in the fridge for at least 24 hours (48 hours is better) for the flavors to ripen and allow the air bubbles to rise  to the surface. You do not want the batter to rise when it cooks or your canelés will be ruined, we are not making popovers or a soufflé!
Strain the batter through a fine mesh sieve. Keep it cold.
Heat the oven at 240ºC or 450ºF. Grease very well the molds with either beeswax and butter (1:1 ratio, melt in a small saucepan on low heat 50grs of beeswax, when melted, turn off the heat and add the butter, coat lightly the molds with the warm mixture and invert them on a rack), baking spray or butter. Place in the freezer for 10 minutes.
After that time, pour the batter in the molds, fill until 1cm (1/2 inch) below the surface, place on a baking sheet and cook for 1 hour. The temperature is going to drop: the molds are cold, the batter is cold (in purpose), after 10 minutes, the temperature should have come back to 450ºF, lower to 200ºC or 375ºF and continue to cook for 45 minutes.
Do not underbake, do not burn, that's what tricky: too soft and pale, it's NOT a canelé! Burned, it's not a canelé either and impossible to eat! You need to know your oven and watch like a hawk towards the end (you might want to pick one out of the oven towards the end of cooking, slip it out of the mold and check the color). It's the same as making caramel: it goes from  undercooked to burned in a matter of seconds, you have to stop at perfect in the middle and practice will make perfect!
Unmold after a few minutes, let cool, wait 1 hour and EAT!

Made is getting married!

Made Suarta aka Made Pintar (Smart Made) got married to his long time sweetheart Ketut Sepi (Quiet Ketut). Not only Ketut is quiet and beautiful, she is very patient as well since Made and her dated for 8 years!

Marriage in Bali is one of the last life passages rituals that every Balinese will go through, from birth to death. As in the rest of the world, it is a very important life event and many things have to be prepared. 

First, the Pemangku, the villlage priest, finds an auspicious date for the bride to move in with the groom and chooses another auspicious date for the cerenomy to take place. There is always a lapse of time between these two dates; during that time the bride and groom have to stay in the house compound and are not allowed to leave the property. Made and Ketut had to stay home for 5 days but sometimes, as in the case of one of Komang's friend, it was 34 days!

A high priest is contacted and arrangements are made for him or her to come and  perform the ceremony on the chosen day. Since that day is auspicious for more than one couple, they are in high demand and sometimes the ceremony is very early before sunrise or late in the day, depending of their busy schedule.

It takes a lot of people to prepare for the wedding, many offerings have to be made in the week preceding the ceremony and they all will grace the house and the temple on the wedding day.

All the people who come and give their time to help are offered breakfast and lunch, therefore, there is a special crew of people whose sole occupation is to cook (and need to eat too). It is not rare to have at least 50 people helping every day.

At night, someone (similar to a husher in the West) stands at the entrance door and welcome the guests with a happy "Om Swastyastu", the Balinese words of greetings and protection.

The presents of sugar and rice, piled in a basket and covered by a crocheted top are received by a member of the family and placed in big bags.

These will be distributed amongst all the helpers after the ceremony. No wedding list at Bloomingdale's here, a marriage is not about receiving material presents, it is about a community coming together for this very important occasion. Most of what has been given by someone will be given back to someone else. It is a circle of thankfulness and understanding that, when we all share, we all have plenty.

Jaja Nganten

These beautiful small cakes are made for weddings and represent the union between a man and a woman.

At night, an area is set up for the preparation of the drinks and cakes which are given to the arriving guests. Young girls pass around the guests with coffee or tea and a plate of Jaja, the little cakes all Balinese love to nibble on. 

Dadar Unti

 Crêpes with Coconut and Palm Sugar filling
make 12

Crêpes batter:

1 cup flour

1/4 cup rice flour

2 eggs, beaten lightly

1 Tbsp sugar

pinch of sea salt

1 tsp vanilla essence or 1 vanilla bean, seeds sraped

1 cup coconut milk

1/2 cup water

Coconut filling:

1 cup  fresh grated coconut

1 pandan leaf tied in a knot

1tsp vanilla essence

5oz of palm sugar

3/4 cup water

Sift the flours into a bowl. In another bowl, mix together the eggs, salt, sugar and coconut milk, add the flours, whisking until smooth. Add water. Let rest for 2 hours.

To make the filling, put the palm sugar, water, pandan leaf and simmer until the liquid has somewhat reduced, about 10 to 15 minutes. Strain the syrup and remove the leaf. put the grated coconut in a pan, add the syrup and cook for 3 minutes at low heat. If the mixture seems runny, add some grated coconut.

Brush a small frying pan with a pat of butter, add 1/4 cup batter, swirl it around (it should be very thin) cook until set on the edges, flip it and cook 2 minutes longer. turn out of the pan the crêpe and keep covered with a towel, repeat until all the batter is used.

Fill each crêpe with 2 tablespoons of filling and roll like a spring roll.

The night before the wedding, after all the offerings have been made, it is time to prepare the feast for the wedding. Pigs and chickens have to be killed, spice pastes, satés, lawar and the rice are cooked during the night and will be first placed in the temple as offerings to the gods.  

On the morning of the wedding, a stylist arrives early to prepare the bride and groom. They will be dressed like a Prince and a Princess for the day, wearing the rich (and heavy) Songket woven with gold threads, jewelry and flowers in their hair. 

The Pedanda, most of the time a Shiwa priest, will arrive and perform the ceremony sitting on the temple altar, chanting the rituals mantras in Sanskrit accompanied by the haunting sound of his bell, tying knots in a leaf of alang alang for Made and Ketut to place around their forehead protecting them from the kala, the unseen negative forces (what we would call the demons) and giving them the Tirta, the sacred water scented with flower petals, to drink. And everyone will pray.

And then, all will have been done. Tomorrow will be a new day in the life of Ketut and Made.

A very different landscape

I am staying in Erwinna, a small village in Pennsylvania by the Delaware River for another ten days before I return to Bali.

 This morning, I woke up to a landscape of snow. The roads have not yet been plowed and the world is silent, quiet and very beautiful in its white stillness. Just the soft hush of the snow falling. 

It feels so peaceful and cozy to be in a warm house, snowed in with nowhere to go when suddenly, it dawns on me that I did not buy any food before the storm. Besides eggs, milk and bread, there is barely anything to eat in the house and I have two hungry teenagers waking up, fortunately I let them sleep late!

Today we will make Rice Pudding and Pains Perdus, maybe a soup with an omelet for dinner, we will eat together by the fireplace and all will be peaceful, cozy and well!

Pains Perdus

When I was a child coming back from school in the late afternoon, these would, most of the time, be waiting for me in the kitchen and, as I devoured them, I often wished there were more bread leftovers. My mom used to turn day old bread into delightful sweet things: Pains perdus, Gâteau de Pain, the ultimate Bread Pudding, studded with raisins macerated in rum that she served with vanilla crème anglaise and in the Summer, Charlotte aux Fraises, my favorite!

1 loaf of day old French bread, sliced in medium slices

4 eggs

2 cups of milk

1 Tbs sugar

2 tsp vanilla extract

2 tsp orange flower water (optional)

Beat the eggs, milk, sugar, vanilla and orange flower water together until well mixed. Soak the slices od bread for 5 to 10 mnts in the mix until soft but still holding shape.

In a frying pan, heat the oil and fry the bread until golden. Place on a plate, sprinkle sugar on top and serve.

Riz au Lait (Rice Pudding)

This is the simplest of rice pudding, another staple of my childhood, so comforting and so easy to make that I was allowed to prepare it without supervision at six years old and never stopped making it since then...  

1 1/2 cup of short grain rice, rinsed and drained

1 quart or so of whole milk

1 vanilla bean split in half

Zest from a lemon, left in ribbons

3/4 cup of sugar 

In a large sauce pan, place the rice, half of the milk, the vanilla and lemon zest, bring to a very gentle boil, it should barely look like it's bubbling. Mix with a wooden spoon from time to time, top with more milk (it should never be dry) until the rice looks cooked to your taste and you like the consistency (20/30mnts), I like my rice pudding soft and not dry. Add the sugar, mix it in and continue cooking for another 5mnts. Serve warm.

Life is sweet