TWD: Savory Brioche Pockets

Tuesdays with Dorie baking through Baking with Julia
by Dorie Greenspan 
Contributing Baker: Nancy Silverton 

I was excited to make these, for all the components sounded delicious. Goat cheese is my all-time favorite, and I love caramelized onions; and who doesn't like mashed potatoes!

This was my first experience with making brioche. It really is a wonderful dough to work with. You do however need a heavy-duty mixer to make this type of dough. I have read that this dough has pushed the limits of some mixers - may even have sent one to mixer heaven.

This same dough recipe was used for making the sticky buns made by the group last year at this time; the one recipe I passed on. I still have half the brioche dough in the freezer - maybe I'll attempt them after all.

Unfortunately these were just OK. Not anything like I had inticipated. The flavor quotient needs to be anted up a bit. I'm thinking roasted or grilled asparagus would have been more flavorful and the potatoes were rather bland as well. I wish I had gone with my initial idea of replacing the chives with a mixture of sage and thyme. The spuds also were very dry, to which I added a half cup of non-fat yogurt. I was surprised the recipe does not call for adding salt and pepper to the onion mixture; I did, and it made a big difference in taste - however, it did not help the overall product in the end.

I loved the look of these - they do make for a beautiful presentation. With some flavor enhancement and made smaller, they would make a great appetizer for a party.

Success meter (1-3): 1.5

The sponge. This consists of whole milk (I used half and half - I forgot to buy milk), yeast, egg, and flour. Mix together and sprinkle more flour on top and let rest for 30 to 40 minutes, at which time the flour cracks - the indication that your yeast is alive and well and ready to proceed.

Add to the sponge - sugar, salt, eggs, and flour. This gets mixed for fifteen minutes till the dough comes together and you hear a distinctive slapping sound (I barely heard it) from the dough hitting the side of the bowl. You now have a beautiful soft ball of dough.

Next step is to add the butter which needs to be similar in consistency of the dough. Smear your butter on a cool surface with a pastry cutter or bash it with a rolling pin. Do not handle the butter with your hands or mix it too much. You want it to remain cool - not warm or greasy.  This you add to the dough and mix. Your beautiful ball of dough breaks apart at this time. Do not fret! The dough miraculously comes back together into another soft and supple ball.

Place the dough in an oiled bowl to rise for two to two and a half hours, until doubled in bulk.

After the first rise, deflate the dough by running your hand underneath the perimeter and giving it a little fluff with your hand. Cover and chill overnight.

Prepare your filling by sautéing your onions, boiling your potatoes, and asparagus. I highly recommend roasting or grilling the asparagus for more flavor.

On the advice of another baker, I cut my circles in two different sizes to save time of having to stretch the second circle larger after cutting to accommodate the mound of filling.

 If only they tasted as good as they looked.

As you can see, only the tips of the asparagus are used here. To use up those tipless spears, grill them and use them in Grilled Asparagus and Portabella Mushroom Salad. (Portabella/Portobello. Tomato/Tomahto. Depending who you talk to or read, it's one or the other. Me, I prefer the spelling with o's.) A photo of this salad appears below.

 Oh so very pretty; too bad they don't hold their shape after baking. 

Once all your pockets are formed, give them an egg wash and let rise for twenty minutes.

 The sage leaves I purchased were enormous in size! I folded them in half and gave them a little trim.

After the twenty minute rise, they should be slightly puffy and spongy. Give them a second coating of egg wash and top with poppy seeds and sage leaves.

 Bake until beautifully golden brown.

 Here we have a beautiful (though bland) brioche pocket served alongside the delicious salad mentioned above.

Carrie at Loaves and Stitches is our host for the week, you can find the recipe on her blog. And don't forget to check out the results and other variations of this recipe from all the talented bakers we have in the group. You can find their links on the Tuesdays with Dorie website under the link titled LYL: Savory Brioche Pockets. 

I would like to share a couple of tips with you.:

To keep the dough cool while rolling out and not having to move the dough back and forth from the fridge from it becoming too soft and warm while handling, I placed an ice pack under my marble board. Works like a charm.

I also placed an ice pack between two cookie sheets while forming the pockets. This may have hampered the second rise a bit; I did not feel they rose all that much more, however, it seems no harm was done.

A fabulous tip I learned from my friend Christine, use the butter wrapper to grease your cookie sheets (or bowl in this case). Usually there is just enough butter left on the wrapper if you have let the butter set out to come to room temperature.

WW: Wok-Seared Vegetables

Wok Wednesdays wokking through Stir-Frying to the Sky's Edge
by Grace Young

I wish there was something more to say about this dish, but there isn't other than it was quick, easy, and delicious, as most of Grace's recipes are.

Success meter (1-3): 3

I really wanted to use the cool tool - the kinpira peeler, for julienning the carrots, but I felt they needed be the same consistency as the asparagus (personal preference) so I julienned them the old-fashioned way - with a knife.

One of the rules of the Wok Wednesdays group is we are asked not to post the recipes here on our blog. If you would like the recipe, you will find it on page 223 in Stir-Frying to the Sky's Edge, which you can purchase at your local bookstore or find at your local library. I highly recommend purchasing the book - you won't be disappointed. 

Wok Wednesdays is an online cooking group. If you would like to join us or just want more information, click here or visit us on Facebook.

Linguine with Roasted Asparagus and Almond Pesto

Recipe courtesy of Fine Cooking Magazine

It was not my intention to blog on this recipe. However, upon assembling the ingredients, the colors shouted to me to at least take their picture if nothing else - and I'm so glad I did.

This is such an easy (and healthy!) dinner to throw together on a weeknight. All I can say is to use your favorite pasta. I ended up using a store-brand pasta (.99/lb) as opposed to the visually appealing organic pasta listed for $3/lb.. The store brand, which I have to mention because they have such a following, is Whole Foods. I love this store - just not their pasta - it has a gummy texture. I prefer the Barilla Plus pasta, which Whole Foods carries, albeit a small selection (shapes).

Other than the pasta issue, this was very tasty and a bit different. A nice change. The sauce is an [asparagus] pesto, made with almonds - not pine nuts; which is a good thing for I am not a fan of pine nuts, not only for their taste, but their outrageous price tag; and don't skip garnishing the pasta with the extra almonds - they add a nice nutty, crunchy, and textural contrast to the delicate pasta and tomatoes.

This dish is visually appealing as it is delicious - you may want to add this to your list of recipes to make for company.

Success meter (1-3): 3

WW: Velvet Chicken and Asparagus

Wok Wednesdays wokking through Stir-Frying to the Sky's Edge
by Grace Young

This recipe takes a little bit of advance planning before you can start the actual stir-frying; the asparagus needs to be blanched and the chicken marinated (not for adding flavor, but to create tenderness) thirty minutes prior to cooking - a process called velveting.

If like me, you fail to read the recipe beforehand, you can still get this on the table in a reasonable amount of time - oh the joys of stir-frying!

Chicken breast can and usually turn out dry, no matter how you cook it - until now. To velvet chicken (or other meats/fish) you combine it with some egg white, cornstarch, rice wine, salt and oil. Chill for thirty minutes then give it a quick blanching in some water that oil has been added to. The result after stir-frying is amazing; tender, soft and silky smooth.

I only wish I could use this technique with chicken that I plan on barbecuing. It is not advised to "brown" the meat you have velveted - I'm not real clear as to why not. It has something to do with overcooking the velveting ingredients themselves.

Once again, we have another successful recipe from the book Stir-Frying to the Sky's Edge (a must have!).

Success meter (1-3): 3

 The chicken in the "marinade".

Asparagus is blanched and dried. With stir-frying you want to make sure your ingredients are dry as possible to avoid hot oil splatters and the braising of your dish. I find using a salad spinner works well at getting the water off of the vegetables.

 You can almost see the silky smoothness the chicken has obtained after marinating.

Trust me - you'll get past the eating of "white" (not browned) chicken with the first bite. The velveted chicken is sublime.

A career in food styling is not in my future...

One of the rules of the Wok Wednesdays group is we are asked not to post the recipes here on our blog. If you would like the recipe, you will find it on page 128 in Stir-Frying to the Sky's Edge, which you can purchase at your local bookstore or find at your local library. I highly recommend purchasing the book - you won't be disappointed. 

Wok Wednesdays is an online cooking group. If you would like to join us or just want more information, click here or visit us on Facebook.