Les Calissons, homemade

A few years ago a French girlfriend gave me some Calissons for Xmas. It was love at first bite, and I always wanted to make them myself.

I looked around on the net, as you do, but I didn’t find a recipe I liked, or a recipe that made me think of that taste… one blog had a recipe with apricot jam among the ingredients, but I was sure I didn’t taste apricot jam in those Calissons from Aix en Provence!

So I got out my copy of the Laorusse Gastronomique, a good French tome, not very precise when it comes to describe Italian food, but for French food… well, it is my best reference. There was not a recipe, only indications that they are made with 40% blanched almonds, and 60% crystallized fruit (melon with a little orange), mixed with sugar syrup and a little orange flower water.

I blanched some almonds, like for the marzipan, and used my usual mixture of candied melon/papaya. I had some orange blossom water, very strong, so I decided not to add candied citrus peel.

I used 80 g of almonds for 120 g of fruit. I didn’t want to add more sugar to the mixture, so I heated the fruit with 50 ml of water until the water was almost all evaporated and the fruit was soft. I blended the fruit with the almonds and then added the orange blossom water. The mixture wasn’t very fine, I suppose it was too little to mix properly in the food processors, but I also liked the texture I got.

I spread it over a rice paper sheet, and covered it with some baking paper to roll it evenly with a rolling pin.

Then I made the icing, traditionally this is made with egg white and icing sugar, but Vegans can use water. This need so much sugar! About 8 tbsp for an egg white, depending on its size.

I spread the icing over the Calissons, and then I waited for one hour and made some incisions with a knife. I did this because I feared that if I were to cut the Calissons when the icing was set it would crack. Also note that I do not have a Calisson mould, I had to invent my own method!

I left the Calissons to rest overnight, and then I cut through the incisions.

Very pretty, very tasty, and guess what my French girlfriend is getting this year for Xmas from me!

Photos and Recipes by Alessandra Zecchini ©

Quick filled pasta

Ok, I cheated a bit: I didn't roll the pasta! Instead I used some Chinese wonton wrappers, and they were perfect for a very quick improvised first course. I had to make 6 portions, and as it was just a 'starter' I needed to make only 18 big 'ravioli'. For filling I used some spinach, cooked with olive oil, garlic and salt, and then mushed. I added some crumbled goat feta (crumbled tofu would be good for vegans) and simply folded the pasta wrappers into triangles.

When folding filled pasta make sure that there are no air bubbles inside. Also I needed to wet the borders with water before sealing them because they were a bit dry and wouldn't stick, but this is quite normal with bought wanton pastry.

Drop in salted simmering water (simmering, not boiling!) for a few minutes: it is ready when it rises to the surface. I lifted it out, piece by piece, with a slotted spoon and placed it straight into a pan with butter melted with a few sage leaves. To serve I decorated it with some fresh calendula petals (which are edible). Ready to go to the table!

Sorry about the first and the last photo, they were taken in a hurry with the iPhone, it was dark and we had guests. Not easy to take photos of pasta when you have guests waiting!

Photos and Recipes by Alessandra Zecchini ©

Rucola and Cashew Dip

Rocket, roasted cashews, lemon juice, olive oil and a pinch of salt. The easiest dip ever!

Photos and Recipes by Alessandra Zecchini ©

Almond, Sesame and Fennel Dukka

Yep more almonds, but for something savoury today. I love dukka, and I wander why I don't make it more often, but as I still have lots of almonds no excuse! My base recipe is in my book Savour, yet the beauty with dukka is that it can be personalized each time, and it is always good. For this one I toasted 100 g of almonds (not blanched) in the oven for 10 minutes, then I added one tbsp of sesame seed, one tsp of cumin seeds and half tsp of fennel seeds and put everything back into the oven for 4-5 more minutes.

All in the food processor, and then grind until fine but still a little chunky.

At the end I added some smoked paprika and some salt. Dukka can be used as a rub, a topping (great on hummus) and as a dip. And it can be made with a variety of nuts, seeds and spices.

The best way to eat it, for me, is to use it with bread: dip some bread in extra virgin olive oil first...

And then in the dukka!. Quite addictive, and the perfect party food. It lasts a few days in a sealed tin container.

Photos and Recipes by Alessandra Zecchini ©

Home Made Marzipan Fruit

It is raining in Auckland today, but the bush looks happy and green, and the water tank is filling nicely (yes, we drink rain water!). It is also the last day of school for my daughter, holiday mood in the air, Xmas trees alight. The boy is already home, with a friend who is staying for a sleep over. They are playing with lego: domestic bliss for me!

Yesterday I posted about making your own marzipan, and today I'll show you my little fruit.

For the marzipan recipe click here, and for the colours I used some spirulina powder dissolved in hot water, and some juice from berries.

Shape the fruit with your fingers, you can either colour the marzipan before, or you can paint it later using a small brush, or opt for a combination of the two for a stronger colour.

For the stalks I used the smallest cloves that I could find, but this is because I made some miniature fruit! I like miniatures, in a past life I am sure that I belonged to a Jane Austen world where ladies painted miniatures and embroidered delicate patterns (or so I wish!).

To show you the scale of the fruit I put a NZ dollar coin in the mini basket. The kids didn't have the heart to eat the fruit yet: they told me that it is too pretty! But they will get over that soon!

Photos and Recipes by Alessandra Zecchini ©

Home Made Marzipan Sweets

This is another recipe from my book Sweet As, and something that I love to make for Xmas.

I would like to say that for marzipan you should get the best almonds around, natural, but here in New Zealand the almonds taste different from the ones in Italy. They are imported, not sure where from most of the time, but they are not top grade almonds.

Still, with a few tips, you can make your marzipan taste great even with 'regular' almonds! Buy them natural, not blanched, you need to blanche then yourself or the result will be too dry.

To blanch them you need to put them in boiling water for a couple of minutes, and then add cold water and take the skin off, one by one. For this recipe you will need:

200 g almonds

100 g icing sugar

5 apricot kernels.

As I was saying before, the almond here have little taste, so I like to collect the stones from apricot and get the almonds out. They are a real pain to crack! In the photo above you can see apricot stones and kernels.

The apricot kernels too need to be blanched, in fact the skin is poisonous! And you should not eat too many, 5 for 200 g of normal almonds is what I use, and they give the marzipan a nice almondy taste. In the photo above you can see an apricot kernel (left) , and a normal almond (right). Try and taste an apricot kernel, they are bitter, but more aromatic.

Blend the blanched almonds and apricot kernels, still wet from blanching, until they are very fine, almost a paste. You may need to do this a few times, scraping the sides of the food processor.

Place in a bowl with the icing sugar and mix, first with a spatula, and then with your hand, like for a dough. At first it will seem dry and crumbly, but then it will all come together in a paste.

And here you have it, almond paste to work with. If you like you can also add a little grated lemon zest, or use vanilla sugar for a delicate floral hint.

You can colour your marzipan. I like to go for natural colours, so I made green with spirulina powder dissolved in water, and red with berry juice.

Roll and cut, like for gnocchi, and then shape with your fingers. For my main sweets I made simple shapes, but you can make fruit (on the blog tomorrow!!).

To top the marzipan with fruit I used more blanched almonds and pistachio, plus some walnuts. I made a syrup with a little sugar and water, and when hot I put the nuts into it to coat them and make them shiny and sticky. Then I placed a nut over each little marzipan sweet (I used tweezers for this, as the sugar was still hot!).

Ready to be eaten, and pretty too! A perfect Vegan and gluten free Christmas treat! And you can also use it to stuff dates and dried figs, or cover it with bitter dark chocolate.

Photos and Recipes by Alessandra Zecchini ©






I am entering this recipe in the Blogging event 
Sweet New Zealand for the month of November 2011, hosted by Mairi of Toast.

Vegan Panforte

As a child I always had panforte for Christmas. It came in a packet, and my brother and I loved it: it was special. Then I moved to London, and panforte became an even more expensive luxury. Let's not talk of Japan and New Zealand! So about a decade ago I decided to make my own. It took me a while to get the taste I was looking for, and my original recipes, also published in my book Sweet As... is here.

A made a few variations this year. In a recent comment Yari from Il cucchiaio di legno blog told me that industrial Vegan Panettone is not exactly 'nice'. I thought that it is hard to be a Vegetarian or a Vegan at Xmas. Panforte is almost Vegan.... it has honey in it. It may be interesting to know, for some of you, that in New Zealand there are some Vegans who eat honey, in fact they are bee-keepers. They say that they don't kill the bees when collecting honey, and that the insect are vital if we are to get fruit in this country. But NZ must be an exception, for all I know Vegans in other parts of the world do not eat honey, so I decided to make this panforte with golden syrup, for Yari :-)

Ingredients

Golden Syrup, 2 tbsp

Vanilla flavoured sugar, 2 tbsp

Vanilla Icing sugar, 2 tbsp, plus more for dusting

Almonds (natural), 150 g /5½ oz

Citrus peels, 150 g / 5½ oz

Candied Fruit (I used a mixture of papaya, melon, and mango) 200 g / 7 oz

Plain flour, 100 g / 3½ oz

Powdered coriander, 1 tsp

Powdered cinnamon, 1 tsp

Powdered nutmeg, ¼ tsp

The vanilla flavoured sugar is white sugar kept in a sealed jar with a vanilla stick in it.

Put the golden syrup, vanilla sugar and icing sugar in a bowl with two tbsp of water, and dissolve on low heat in a pot of water (Bain Marie or double boiling).

Remove from heat and add fruit, almonds and all the other dried ingredients. At this point you will start to fill the aroma of the spices, it really feels like Christmas!

Line a 22-23 cm round tin with baking paper and, if you have it, line it with some rice paper. Fill with the mixture and cover with more rice paper, pressing down well. Wet the top rice paper with water so that it will not burn.

Bake at 160°C (325ºF) for 30 minutes, Remove from the oven, but leave in its baking tin, and cover with a thick layer of icing sugar. Serve cold, and only small slices (it is quite filling!).

Photos and Recipes by Alessandra Zecchini ©

With this recipe I take part in the Contest It is not Christmas without... form Pasticci e Pastrocchi. Grazie Claudia!