Miele Evening
Canape
Puff pastry parmesan twists
Soup
Carrot & coriander soup
White yeast bread rolls with seeds
Main
Roasted stuffed chicken breasts
Dessert
Mini lemon tartlets
Steamed pears
Chocolate roulade
Puff Pastry Twists
Makes 32 twists
Ingredients
1 packet of frozen puff pastry, defrosted (2 sheets)
2oz butter
2oz Demerara or granulated brown sugar
½ teaspoon cinnamon
Method
Lay the pastry out flat, with the short side towards you.
Melt the butter in a small saucepan and use a (silicone) pastry brush to brush a thin layer of butter over all of the pastry sheet.
Mix the sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl and sprinkle liberally over the pastry.
Pat the sugar to make sure it sticks, then fold the pastry in half towards you so that the ends meet.
Brush the ‘new’ top of the pastry with butter and sprinkle with sugar as before.
Using a sharp knife to make clean cuts, cut the pastry into strips across the width to give 32 narrow or 16 thicker strips.
Preheat the oven to 220C.
Lay a silicone baking sheet or parchment paper on a baking tray.
Pick up each pastry and twist from both ends and lay flat on the sheet.
Leave enough room between each twist for them to expand to double their size in the oven.
Bake the twists for 10 minutes until golden brown.
Allow to cool a little before removing to a cooling rack.
Serve with dessert or with tea or coffee.
Alternative toppings:
Finely chopped skinned hazelnuts, mixed with brown sugar;
Grated Parmesan cheese;
Spread a thin layer of basil pesto or sundried tomato pesto and a little Parmesan.
Parma ham sheets, torn into strips and twisted with each pastry strip.
Carrot & coriander soup
Serves 4
Ingredients
1 onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 stick celery, finely chopped
500g carrots, peeled and sliced thickly
500ml vegetable stock
3 tbsp cream
Handful fresh coriander
Salt
Pepper
Method
Steam the onion and garlic in a deep, solid steam container for about 5 minutes on Steam Universal 100C until soft and translucent.
Add the carrots and stock into the container, season with a little salt and pepper and steam for 10 minutes on Steam Universal 100C until the carrots are tender.
Add cream and coriander, liquidise the soup and check seasoning.
Once cream has been added, always reheat thoroughly before serving.
White Yeast Bread
Makes 1 large loaf or 2 medium plaits
Ingredients
675g strong white flour, plus extra for flouring
1½ tsp salt
1½ tsp sugar
1 sachet (7g) dried yeast
1½ tbsp virgin olive oil, plus extra for oiling
450ml/1 pint warm water
1 free-range egg, beaten
poppy seeds, for sprinkling
Method
In a large bowl, stir together the flour and salt, sugar and yeast.
Make a well in the centre of the flour and pour in most of the water and the olive oil.
Retain a bit of the liquid; you may need to add more later to get the right consistency.
Stir with a fork and bring together to form a soft dough.
Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead for ten minutes until smooth and elastic.
Place the dough into a large, lightly oiled bowl. Cover with cling film and steam at 40C for approximately 20 minutes, until doubled in size.
When the dough has risen, place it on a clean work surface and, with floured hands, knead it again to 'knock it back'. Knead for about five minutes until smooth and elastic.
Loaf:
You can shape the dough into a large oval with the smoothest side on top.
Dust the top liberally with flour and use a sharp knife to make cuts across the top of the loaf.
To make a plait:
Divide the dough into three equal pieces and roll to form three even strands.
Plait the three dough strands together to form a large loaf and place onto a lightly floured baking tray.
Preheat the Miele oven on Moisture Plus setting to 200C.
Cover the loaf or plait with cling film and return to the steam oven at 40C until it has risen to about one-and-a-half times its size. This will take between ten and 15 minutes.
Glaze the plait with the beaten egg and sprinkle the poppy seeds on top.
Bake the loaf or plait in the oven for 20-25 minutes.
The bread is cooked when it is risen and golden and sounds hollow when tapped underneath.
Roasted stuffed chicken breasts
Serves 4
Ingredients
4 skinless chicken breasts
1 ball mozzarella, sliced
6-8 cherry tomatoes, halved
a handful of basil leaves, sliced finely
8 slices of Parma ham
Method
Heat the oven to 190C.
Make a horizontal slit through each chicken breast to form a pocket.
Season with salt and pepper.
Stuff each pocket with slices of mozzarella, 2-3 cherry tomato halves and a quarter of the basil.
Season with black pepper.
Wrap each chicken breast with 1 or 2 pieces of Parma ham, depending on the size of the breasts.
Put on a baking sheet and cook for 20-25 minutes or until cooked through.
Serve on a bed of spinach which has been steamed for 1 minute.
Alternative fillings
Fry off mushrooms with a little garlic in a tablespoon of olive oil.
Sprinkle in a few chopped thyme leaves.
Chop finely and stir in a little low-fat cream cheese to bind.
Stuff the chicken breast, wrap in Parma ham and bake for 20-25 minutes until cooked through.
Lemon Tart
Serves 8
Ingredients
350g plain flour
a pinch of salt
225g butter, cubed
100g icing sugar
3 egg yolks or 2 large eggs
Eggs, beaten for egg wash
Filling:
grated zest and juice of 3 lemons
175g caster sugar
6 eggs
150g butter, softened
Method
To make the pastry, rub the butter into the flour until it resembles coarse breadcrumbs.
Stir in the icing sugar, then add enough egg to form a smooth but not wet dough.
Wrap the dough in cling film and chill in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes or freeze until required.
Preheat the oven to 180C using the Intensive Bake function.
Roll out the pastry finely between 2 sheets of cling film and use it to line a greased large tart case. Cover with cling film and chill until required.
To make the filling, place the lemon zest and juice, sugar and eggs into a saucepan.
Cook while whisking constantly, over a medium heat until the sugar has dissolved.
Add in the butter, a quarter at a time and cook, stirring constantly, until the mixture is thickened.
Remove from the heat and whisk occasionally as it cools.
Pour the mixture into the pastry case and bake the lemon tart until set, around 30 minutes.
Note: Intensive Bake provides a higher heat from the bottom of the oven, cooking the base of tarts and quiches without the need to blind bake the pastry first.
Alternatively, blind bake the pastry first and then cook again with the filling added for a further 20 minutes until set.
Pears steamed in dessert wine and vanilla
Serves 4
Ingredients
400ml dessert wine or white wine
1 vanilla pod, slit open and the seeds scraped out
4 pears, peeled, halved and cored
Method
Place the wine and vanilla pod and seeds in a solid steam container with the pears.
Steam for 15 minutes at 100C (Cook Universal) until the pears are tender.
Leave to cool in the cooking liquor.
The pears will keep in their liquor for up to 4 days once completely covered and kept in a sealed container.
Chocolate Roulade
Serves 6
Ingredients
sunflower oil, for greasing
6 free-range eggs, separated
6oz caster sugar
2oz cocoa powder, sifted
10½fl oz double cream
Seasonal fruit e.g. strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, steamed pears
2oz cocoa powder, sifted
Method
Preheat the oven to 180C.
Lightly grease a 23cm x 33cm/9in x 13in Swiss roll tin with a little sunflower oil and line with baking parchment.
In a clean bowl, whisk the egg whites until stiff peaks form when the whisk is removed.
Remove gently to a large bowl and place the egg yolks and sugar into the whisking bowl and whisk until light and pale and thickened slightly.
Sift the cocoa powder into the egg yolk mixture and whisk until completely combined.
Add half of the whisked egg whites to the cocoa mixture and mix together well, then gently fold in the remaining whisked egg whites until just combined.
Pour the mixture into the Swiss roll tin, moving the tin gently so that the mixture spreads evenly into the corners.
Transfer to the oven to bake for 20-25 minutes, or until firm to the touch, then remove from the oven. Place a clean, dry tea towel on top of the roulade and on top of this place another clean tea towel that has been soaked in cold water and well wrung out. Leave in a cool place for an hour.
Whisk the cream until soft peaks are formed when the whisk is removed.
To serve, remove the tea towels from the sponge, and turn out onto a piece of baking parchment that has been dusted with sifted cocoa powder to prevent the roulade sticking to the paper.
Gently, peel the lining paper from the sponge and spread the whipped cream mixture evenly over the top. Sprinkle the fruit evenly across the whole roulade.
Starting from a long end, roll up the sponge, using the cocoa-dusted paper to help lift the cake as you roll it forward.
Once rolled up, gently lift onto a platter and dust the roulade with more sifted cocoa powder.
