LEVEL FOUR BEGINS: PASTRY

Tonight is our first night ruling the roost as Level Four students. We're in new groups, and once again the group I'm in is the largest (six students). One of our Level Three groups was dissolved because there isn't an Entremetier station for Level Four. There are some drawbacks to having more people but the new group is not without some familiar faces and past partners and being that we're starting in pastry and Level Four students do two dishes a night in Pastry and Garde Manger it will probably be nice to have a few extra hands...

After the jump a breakdown of how it all shook out...

For reasons unbeknownst to us all I thought we were doing Monday recipes on a Friday. I prepared for two recipes, the Raspberry and Cookie Napoleon (Mille-feuilles aux framboises), and the Coconut Panna Cotta in a Plum Soup (Panna Cotta A La Noix de Coco et Sa Soupe Aux Prunes Fraiches. The recipes really on the night's menu were the Crunchy Peach Tart (Tarte Croquante Aux Pêches) and the Warm Chocolate "Brownie" with Cherries and Pistachio Ice Cream (Moelleux Au Chocolat Et Cerises, Glace A La Pistache). But that wasn't the only surprise in store for me-- a few of our classmates didn't make it to class. About ten out of 21 students were mysteriously absent. Now everybody's entitled to a day off but it does affect the dynamics of the kitchen when that many people don't come in, especially on the first day doing two recipes for restaurant service.

It was time to get down to business.

DISH: Crunchy Peach Tart (Tarte Croquante Aux Pêches)

RECIPE:

The Candied Walnuts
20 G Egg Whites
50 G Walnuts
Superfine Sugar

The Rugelach Dough
225 G Butter, En Pommade (Softened Butter)
225 G Cream Cheese
75 G Sugar
3 Teaspoons Ground Cinnamon
½ Teaspoon Salt
200 G Flour

The Peaches
16 to 18 Peaches
100 G Butter
175-200 G Sugar
Pinch of Salt
Juice of 2 Lemons

The Streusel Topping and Assembly
115 G Flour
85 G Light Brown Sugar
85 G Butter
60 G Walnuts, Finely Chopped
60 G Oats
Crème Fraîche

Procedure:

CANDIED WALNUTS Preheat the oven to 350°F. Beat the egg whites to a froth, add the walnuts, and toss to coat. Add enough superfine sugar to keep the walnuts from sticking together. Spread the coated nuts on a sheet pan and bake until golden. Remove from the oven and, when cool enough to handle, chop them finely and reserve.

RUGELACH DOUGH Cream the butter and cream cheese together in the bowl of the tabletop mixer fitted witht the paddle. Add the sugar, cinnamon, and salt and mic the dough well, scraping down the sides of the bowl. Add the flour and reserved walnuts and mix gently until combined. Remove the dough from the bowl and wrap in plastic wrap. Refrigerate it for at least 1 hour or for as long as overnight. Roll out the dough to a thickness of 1/8-inch and refrigerate until firm. Dock the dough and bake in the 350°F oven just until firmed. Remove the dough from the oven and, while it is still hot, cut it with a ring cutter. Bake the discs a second time until they are cooked through but have not achieved any color; they are going to be baked again for 10 minutes with the peaches. Remove them to a cool sheet pan.

PEACHES Peel the peaches with a vegetable peeler, and then dice them in large macédoine. Heat the butter in a wide sauté pan and, when it is hot, add the peaches. Sauté the peaches until they are golden. Try not to flip them too much or they will not color. Once the peaches start to caramelize, add the sugar, salt, and the juice of 1 lemon. Continue cooking until the peaches are tender and approching a compote consistency. Remove the peaches from the apn and drain well, reserving the syrup. Taste and adjust the acidity of the syrup with the remaining lemon juice.

STREUSEL TOPPING Mix the clour and brown sugar in the bowl of the tabletop mixer fitted with a paddle. Add the butter and mix until the miture resembles peas. Add the walnuts and oats and mix until evenly distributed. Spread the crumbs on a half-sheet pan lined with parchment paper, and bake at 350°F until dry. You may need to stir the streusel once or twice to ensure even baking. When the crumbs are cool, break them up slightly using your hands or a rolling pin.

ASSEMBLY Butter 12 rings and place them on the 12 rugelach circles. Fill each ring with the drianed peach compote. Bake the tarts for 5 to 6 minutes until the peach compote starts to bubble around the edge. Spread a tablespoon of the warm syrup over the hot tarts. Return them to the oven and bake until sthe syrup is glossy and starts to bubble around the edge. Remove the tarts from the oven and cool. When the tarts are cool, remove the rings and coat the sides and outer ½ inch of the top rim of the peaches with the walnut crumbs. Serve with the remaining peach cyrup and some lightly whipped crème fraîche.

DISH: Warm Chocolate "Brownie" with Cherries and Pistachio Ice Cream (Moeulleux Au Chocolat Et Cerises, Glace A La Pistache)

RECIPE:

The Ice Cream
6 Egg Yolks
100 G Sugar
500 ML Milk (a litle less than 2¼ Cups)
60 G Pistachio Paste
15 G Almond Paste
35 G Pistachios, Peeled and Roughly Chopped

The Cherries
315 ML Red Wine (about 1 1/3 Cups)
100 G Sugar
Pinch of Ground Cinnamon
1 Teaspoon Black Peppercorns, Tied in a Sachet
785 G Cherries, Pitted

The Moelleux
265 G Unsweetened Chocolate, Chopped in Small Pieces
225 G Butter
400 G Sugar
½ Teaspoon Salt
1 Teaspoon Vanilla Extract
5 Eggs
175 G Flour, Sifted
Chopped Pistachios, For Garnish

Procedure:

ICE CREAM Whisk the egg yolks with 50 grams of sugar until pale (blanchir). Boil the reamining sugar with the milk in a saucepan, and whisk in the 2 pastes, allowing them to dissolve. Temper the yolk-sugar mixture with the milk and then return it to the same pan. Cook it gently, stirring continuously, until the mixture coats the back of a spoon (napper). Strain it through a fine chinois into a container set over an ice bath and allow it to cool, whisking occasionally. Process in the ice cream machine and then fold in the chopped pistachios. Freeze until needed.

CHERRIES Bring the wine, sugar, and spices to a boil, and then add the cherries. Simmer gently for 30 seconds and then strain. Return the syrup and the peppercorns to the pan and reduce until syrupy. Discard the sachet and set the reduction aside.

BROWNIE Preheat the oven to 325°F. Melt the chocolate and butter together over a bain-marie and then whisk in the sugar, salt, add vanilla. Whisk in the eggs one at a time and then whisk in the sifted flour. Pour the batter into buttered rings and bake for 10 to 12 minutes or until slightly undercooked.

FOR SERVICE Unmold a warm brownie in the center of a plate and spoon some of the cherries and syurp aroung. Top with a quenelle or scoop of ice cream and sprinkle on some pistachios. Serve immediately.

BREAKDOWN: As I noted above we were shorthanded as a class tonight and our group ended up consisting of me and one other person for the first 45 minutes. We ended up having a three-person group for the rest of the night and though we had to rush our dinner, we didn't have a problem getting the dishes done on time, though I should concede that we used a dough that had previously been made (at right, plates going out for service).

For restaurant service we mulitplied the 'brownie' recipe by five. The 'brownie' was in fact more like a molten chocolate cake with a soft center. I'd tasted the cake when the Level Four students made it before but hadn't tasted it with the wine-soaked cherries and the pistachio ice cream (left, poor picture quality due to me forgetting my camera and having to rely on the camera on my phone). Their addition to the cake was a welcome treat-- the cake by itself was good but nothing outstanding.

The other dessert I was much less fond of, mostly because the rugelach dough seemed flat and the oats in the walnut mixture that was cupped along the outer rim didn't provide a texture that I needed in contrast to the soft peaches and the sweet syrup. For restaurant service we multiplied the rugelach dough and the candied walnuts by three. There were plenty of people who were interested in the dish-- we had to fill many orders for it over the course of the night. It's just not something I'd need to make for myself.