Bakery: Brioche and Kamut Bread

What’s going on in Pauline-Cuisine?

I would like to focus my weekly note on baking. I love baking and I like eating bread; I try to do make bread as many as I can. A day without bread is not a good day :).

Every Friday, I bake a brioche in order to have it ready for a delicious Saturday breakfast. Last Friday, my usual mould for doing my brioche was used for my delicious bread (a test that I have done, I will explain it below), so I decided to use a square one. I was not convinced at the beginning because I thought I won’t have enough dough for fill in. So I gave a try, and then put the dough in the mould in the cupboard where the hot water tank is. It is so convenient because the environment is really warm but not too much; I think this system exists only in UK. So, I put it for 1 hour, I was so impatient to see the result and it was worth to wait. After one hour, the dough has filled completely the mould. I was so impressed by the strength of the yeast…. So, I decided to share with you this really easy recipe and so delicious … Look at the picture, don’t you want to eat it.

I have used my “brioche” mould for doing a bread experience. In fact, I was quite bored about my usual bread, so I have tried a new technique: bread on “poolish”. I tried this new technique with my favourite flour: Kamut flour. A few months ago, I was disappointed because I couldn’t find this flour and suddenly I found it at the supermarket. So I decided to give a try to this new technique with my newly found again flour. This new technique takes more time for making the bread because you need to let rest the poolish for one day before making the bread. But one more time, it is worth to wait because the bread is really airy. You should try it if you want to have really tasty and airy bread.

I wish you a nice week and I will share with you a new recipe next week.

Fresh salmon salad

What ‘s cooking in Pauline-Cuisine ?

The cold days are settled and I will need to find and experiment new recipes for cooking hot dishes. But before sharing with you hot lunch boxes, I would like to give you my last summer recipe. Why, I am still in summer because I went on holidays most part of September. So this week, I will share with you a salad with fresh salmon for your lunch box.

I went to the fish market one week ago and I bought my favourite enormous piece of salmon. It is always surprising to see how big a salmon can be and how fresh it is when it is bought from the market. On my way back, I was thinking about cooking it and I remind one of my day out when I went to the restaurant where I took a salmon salad, I was surprised that the salmon was fresh and not smoked as usual.  So I decided to cook a salad with fresh salmon. As the baby vegetables were discounted, I decided to add them on the salad. The result was really nice and colourful but the most important is that was really tasty. No question, I will cook it again, no matter if we are in winter… there are heaters at the office.

I hope you will enjoy cooking this salad with fresh salmon. And promise I won’t let you down as I have done it in September.

Apples and Strawberries Compote

What ‘s cooking in Pauline-Cuisine ?

I hope you have enjoyed your bank holiday. I took the opportunity of these three free days to clean up all the cupboards of my kitchen and I am now ready for a busy September. Today, I went to the street market in order to buy some vegetables and fruits, I am glad that every traders are back. I bought apples because in my mind, I wanted to do compote. As on Friday, I received my grocery order and I have ordered a large amount of strawberries and we don’t have time to eat all of them. I decided to give a try to a new idea: strawberries and apples compote.

I was a little bit worried during the cooking because the smelling was really strong, the entire kitchen smelt hot strawberries. When all the fruits are cooked, again I was not convinced by the appearance but this time the smelling was great. I put all on the blender in order to have smooth compote.  The texture is really nice, it is a little bit like a mousse. The taste is really wonderful, and I wanted to share with you this new recipe with seasonal fruits. Quite easy to do, tasty and so healthy.

I wish you a nice week and see you next week for another great recipe.

Caramel Jelly

What’s cooking in Pauline-Cuisine ?

This week, I would like to share with you a new dessert recipe: a flamby, that is a kind of caramel jelly. It was a quite emblematic dessert, when I was younger and I remember really well the TV ad on it. The funny value-added of this dessert is the little sticker on the bottom of the pot, you need to remove in order to let the jelly to go on the plate and the caramel spread around the jelly.

Last week, I went to a second hand market and I found some jelly mould, so I decided to give them a try and a start my various recipes of flamby. The first try was a mess, as I have tried to do my homemade caramel. That was a huge mistake because when you put the fresh and really hot caramel on the bottom of the mould, the plastic has melted with the caramel. I was disappointed but I decided to give a second try with my spare moulds. This time, I decided to use Agave syrup instead of caramel as it is easier to find this syrup in UK. Moreover, I decided to use some agar-agar, that is vegetal gelifiant. The huge challenge with this kind of powder is to find the right balance between a jelly texture and something not really smooth. So, for my second try I have only included 1 g of Agar-Agar that was not sufficient for 650 ml of milk and the jelly stay liquid. At the end, my third try was great, so I decided to give you the right recipe to try. 

I hope you will enjoy eating this funny dessert, reminder of childhood.

I wish you a nice week and see you next week with other delicious recipes.

Spring salad

What’s going on in Pauline-Cuisine ?

This week I would like to share with you a new lunch box recipe: spring salad. This salad is really easy to do and healthy, so that checks all the boxes for a great lunch at work. That can be a served as a dish for a light dinner as well.

Last time when I went to the corner supermarket, I was struggling to find lamb lettuce, so I decided to give a try to the iceberg salad. It was a good experience because it is really tender to eat and it is really easy to prepare. You washed it quickly with the bottom on the top, then take a large sheet and cut it in small pieces. The light green of this salad add some colour to the salad.  This try was a huge success and I totally adopted this new salad. Moreover, the value-added is that it is easy to find and it is cheaper.

For doing this salad, if you are struggling with peeling the eggs, don’t forget to put some cold water on it when they are cooked, the cold water on the hot eggshell helps to break the shell.

I hope you will like to cook this spring salad. Don’t hesitate to post a comment on it.

See you next week with another delicious recipe.

Salmon nigiri and salmon maki

What’s going on in Pauline-Cuisine?

Last weekend, thanks to the sunny weather, I got up early on the morning and I took the opportunity to go to the London wholesale fish market. It was a long time without buying fresh fish. When I came back, the fish smell was really nice and I though that it will be great to do some nigiri and maki.

The first step was to slice the half salmon that I had bought then to slice thinly a salmon piece in order to do the top of salmon sushi. This part of the work is easy but you absolutely need to have a good knife for doing it. The hardest thing for me when I do sushi is to cook the rice. Indeed, the cooking way is important in order to have the right texture and make the sushi sharp. The easiest way to cook the rice is using a rice cooker but you can do it in a traditional way with pan and water. When the rice is ready, put some mirin in your hand for modelling the rice. I like the texture of the mirin and that helps to not burn the hand skin with the really hot rice.

As I had some leftover from the salmon filet, I decided to make some salmon maki. My sister offered me a “easy suhi” for Christmas, it took me a long time to try it but now and I can confirm that is a brilliant accessory. You just have to pour it with all the ingredients that would like to add on your maki and then it makes the job.

I wish you a nice weekend full of sun.

See you next week with other amazing recipes.

Lunch box: salad with 2 cabbages

What’s cooking in Pauline –Cuisine?

The sun is back and that is a great news because the salads are back too. This week, I have enjoyed cooking fresh lunch boxes and eat them in the office’s terrace. Yes, I need to confess that I am really lucky to have this terrace which allows me to have sun bath during lunch time. Salads are perfect match with that. As I would like to celebrate sun, I wanted to create something new to eat. I had a quick review of some cook books, I picked up some idea of dishes and idea of sauces, then rushed to my kitchen in order to create my new lunch box: salad with 2 cabbages.

I am not a huge fan of cabbages but this mix of colors is so attractive. The crispy of the cabbage, fresh raped carrots and beansprot is so delicious. But the “must have” of this salad is the sauce.  I was fed of the basic vinaigrette but I was too tired to do a complicated sauce. So the fact to use lemon juice instead of vinegar was really great idea. The mix of mustard + lemon juice is so tasty that you don’t need to add pepper or salt.

For sure, I will eat a lot cabbages salad as I like the texture and the mix of colors add a joyful touch to my lunch break.

I wish you a nice weekend.

See you next week with a quick and delicious chocolate dessert.