ESZTERHAZY CHICKEN RAGOUT - ESZTERHÁZY CHICKEN RAGU

Not a spicy dish, but the mustard, the bay leaf and the lemon rind add unexpected piquancy to this otherwise mild ragout. 

Esterhazy Chicken Ragu 

2 pieces of chicken breast 

2 Tbsp olive oil 

1/8 cup butter 

1/2 cup diced onion 

1 carrot 

1 parsnip 

1/4 celery root 

2 Tbsp flour 

1 heaping Tbsp Hungarian paprika 

1 bay leaf 

2 half inch strips of lemon rind cut into thin strips 

salt and pepper to taste 

1/2 cup 14% sour cream 

1 Tbsp mustard 

parsley 

• Slice the chicken breasts horizontally and cut them into thin uniform strips. 

• Peel the carrot, parsnip and celery root and cut them into strips matching the meat. 

• Using a large, deep walled, non stick sauté pan, slowly heat the oil and butter.

• Add the chicken strips and the onion and slowly sauté until no more pink is showing on the meat. 

• Add the carrot, parsnip and celery strips and sprinkle 2 Tbsp of flour on top. 

• Give it a good stir. 

• Add water but just to cover the ragout. 

• Bring it to a slow simmer. 

• Stir in the Hungarian paprika and add a bay leaf and the lemon rind strips. 

• Sprinkle with salt and freshly ground pepper. 

• Continue to sauté on low heat until the chicken breast and the vegetables are crunchy tender. 

• In a small bowl, combine sour cream and mustard. 

• Take a little warm juice from the pan and stir it into the sour cream mixture. 

• Add the sour cream mixture back to the pan and stir to combine.

• Taste and adjust the salt if needed. 

• Sprinkle the ragout with parsley. 

• Serve with buttered pasta.

SUMMER FRUITCAKE BY ZSUZSA

Use That Jam Foam! 

Going back a couple of months I found this: “Jam foam is generally discarded and yet it contains valuable proteins besides sugar. I was eying the jam foam I put in the fridge from jam making the other day. I didn’t want to tax my ageing microwave with turning it back into jam, so I thought why not bake with it? That was day before yesterday and Jimre has been consuming said cake with relish ever since. I saw we still had three and a half squares left and thought I better take a photo of it.” 

That’s where I left the jam foam cake back in July and then moved onto other things. It just dawned on me the other day I am 74, which means I have been 73 for two years. Well I found the folder with the photos and the ingredient list was on a slip of paper somewhere… I always jot down when I concoct something new in case I want to make it again. 

One can use jam foam in a variety of cakes, loaves and muffins as long as it is treated part of the recipe; the amount of jam foam is part of the sugar and liquid content. In other words, if you use jam foam, use less sugar and less liquid the recipe calls for. Any fruit foam can be used, just make sure the chopped fruit pairs well with the flavour of the fruit foam. Here I paired apricot foam with dark cherries. It was a stretch, but for the top I used a tiny amount of raspberry coulis from the fridge… Well it worked! Now let’s see if my memory works. 

Summer Fruitcake by Zsuzsa 

Cake:

1/2 cup very soft sweet butter 

1/4 cup oil 

1/2 cup sugar 

3 eggs 

1 cup apricot foam, divided 

2 1/4 cup flour 

1/2 cup finely ground almonds 

1 tsp baking soda 

1 tsp baking powder 

1/2 tsp salt 

12 fresh dark cherries cut in half, stone discarded 

1/2 cup full fat, 3.25% buttermilk 

1/2 cup white chocolate chunks 

Topping: 

1/2 cup white chocolate chunks 

1/2 cup raspberry coulis 

• Preheat oven to 350F. 

• Line a 9X13 inch cake pan with parchment paper. 

• Add soft butter, oil, sugar, eggs, and half of the apricot foam to a beater bowl and beat it until fluffy. 

• Place the cherries in a medium sized bowl and add 1/4 cup of flour. 

 • Tipping the bowl, coat the cherries with the flour. 

 • Scoop the flour coated cherries into a smaller bowl and set them aside. 

 • Add the remaining 2 cups of flour to the medium bowl. 

• Add the almond flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt and whisk the flour mixture with a balloon whisk to combine. 

• In a measuring cup whisk the buttermilk with the remaining jam foam. 

• Alternating, gradually add the flour mixture and the buttermilk mixture to the butter mixture, stirring with a wooden spoon to combine. [From here on don’t beat the batter] 

• Gently fold the flour coated cherries and the white chocolate chunks into the batter. 

• Transfer the batter into the prepared cake pan. 

• Bake in the preheated oven for 30 minutes. 

• Test for doneness, remove from the oven and place on a wire rack to cool. 

• Next divide half a cup of white chocolate between two small bowls. 

• Add 1/2 cup of raspberry coulis to one of the bowls. 

• Melt the contents of the small bowls in the microwave starting at ~ 50 seconds. 

• Stir them smooth. 

• With a teaspoon drop thin strips of melted white chocolate alternating with the white chocolate and raspberry coulis mixtures over the cake top.

COOKIE CRUMB BARS

 

When you bake for Christmas, you bound to end up with a bagful of broken, sometimes misshapen cookies and bar cookie trims. You can eat it as is or reinvent it a few months later. Surveying the deep freeze downstairs I thought it was time to use the freezer bag of rich cookie crumbs I made last Christmas. You can use graham crumbs instead, in which case more butter and sugar will be needed to get the right flavor and consistency. I started with two cups of cookie crumbs and ended up using three… after I put in the sour cream. It tasted great even though I am not a fan of peanut butter. Inspired by the Hungarian version of cookie crumb roll made with jam, but wanting a lot less sugary confectionary, I opted to use peanut butter and dark chocolate chips. Speaking of chocolate chips, Chipits will pass, but I found Costco’s own brand of Chocolate chips is better. 

Cookie Crumb Bars 

Base: 

2 to 3 cups of home made cookie crumbs 

1/3 cup soft butter 

1 cup icing sugar 

1 1/2 cups deep roast peanut butter 

2 Tbsp full fat sour cream 

salt to taste 

Topping: 

2/3 cup good quality dark chocolate chips 

1/3 cup soft butter 

• Line a square baking pan with parchment paper. 

• Starting with just 2 cups of cookie crumbs using a large bowl, combine the first three ingredients by hand. 

• Stir in peanut butter. Mix really well. 

• Add the remaining crumbs and the sour cream, gradually, as needed. 

• When you have the right consistency, taste the mixture and add salt to taste. 

• Press the mixture into the prepared pan. 

• In a small, microwave-safe bowl, heat chocolate chips for about a minute. 

• Add the soft butter and stir. 

• Pour over the base and spread evenly. 

• Let the chocolate firm up and lightly score the top. 

• Chill and slice.

Jimre likes it melted