It seems that I am not learning from past DB challenges. I won't bore with the details of my busy life, but just know that I am not even working full time, only 2 days at the farmers' market and I can't seem to get organized. Time is flying under my eyes, and I find myself in disbelief every month, with another challenge I haven't even put into my brain for a second. Why do I always find myself at the last minute? Why am I so disorganized? I ended up making the puff pastry on Tuesday but it wasn't until today that I managed to put together the dessert and take pictures. Lesson learned? Maybe..., only time will tell.
The September 2009 Daring Bakers' Challenge has been chosen by Steph of a whisk and a spoon. Steph chose Vols-au-Vent, which we are pretty sure in French means, “After one bite we could die and go to heaven!”For the complete recipe and a wonderful slide show of all the other wonderful creations please visit the Daring Kitchen site.
I had made puff pastry before so I wanted to try something different for this challenge. Since I always wanted to try from Sherry Yard's pistachio recipe from The Secrets of Baking, I decided to give it a try for this challenge. Sherry's recipe is slightly different than the one for the challenge, but the butter amount is the same so I added the 3 ounces of pistachio paste the recipe calls for to the 1 pound of butter. The puff pastry acquired a very pale green color so I didn't bother taking a picture of the dough. The resulting baked vols-au-vent were slightly darker than the ones without the pistachio paste, and to my disappointment they didn't really have a marked pistachio flavor.
I have wanted to make and write about a baked peach dessert for a long time but never managed before until now. So when I went to the market I was really shocked to realize that Fall has arrived and not many stone fruits were left but I found some good looking white peaches. My readers will have to wait until next year to try this, unless they are in the Southern Hemisphere. I used to make a variation of this dessert in the last restaurant where I worked, and it sold really well. The peaches were baked at 375-400F in a sweet dessert wine. Then I made a zabaglione with the same wine, which is lightened with some whipped cream to cut the sweetness. I used to serve the peaches cold with the same pistachio streusel I wrote about here and here. I love this recipe for its versatility, and the crunchiness it adds to desserts.
I had made puff pastry before so I wanted to try something different for this challenge. Since I always wanted to try from Sherry Yard's pistachio recipe from The Secrets of Baking, I decided to give it a try for this challenge. Sherry's recipe is slightly different than the one for the challenge, but the butter amount is the same so I added the 3 ounces of pistachio paste the recipe calls for to the 1 pound of butter. The puff pastry acquired a very pale green color so I didn't bother taking a picture of the dough. The resulting baked vols-au-vent were slightly darker than the ones without the pistachio paste, and to my disappointment they didn't really have a marked pistachio flavor.
I have wanted to make and write about a baked peach dessert for a long time but never managed before until now. So when I went to the market I was really shocked to realize that Fall has arrived and not many stone fruits were left but I found some good looking white peaches. My readers will have to wait until next year to try this, unless they are in the Southern Hemisphere. I used to make a variation of this dessert in the last restaurant where I worked, and it sold really well. The peaches were baked at 375-400F in a sweet dessert wine. Then I made a zabaglione with the same wine, which is lightened with some whipped cream to cut the sweetness. I used to serve the peaches cold with the same pistachio streusel I wrote about here and here. I love this recipe for its versatility, and the crunchiness it adds to desserts.
I also made some pizzette, Venetian style, with mozzarella, tomatoes and anchovies. They turned out pretty close to what you may find in many osterie in Venice, really tasty.
Thanks Steph for choosing this recipe and to Lisa of Mia Cucina and Ivonne of Cream Puffs in Venice for creating this wonderful group and bringing all these wonderful challenges, month after month.
