Paul's [recipe] Corner

2 – 3 cups of plain flour or bread flour
2 teaspoons of dried yeast
2 teaspoons of sugar – raw or white
1 tablespoon of butter- unsalted or salted - softened
½ cup of milk
½ cup of water - hot
4 teaspoons of bi carb
4 cups of water
Baking paper
Salt flakes – Murray river salt or Maldon

Preheat oven to 230°c or 210 fan forced

Combine the milk and the hot water into a glass jug, the mixture should be warm but not hot. Add the sugar, yeast and the butter to the warm milk /water mixture and give it a stir then set aside. After about 5 – 10 minutes the yeast should be active and you will see lots of yeasty froth sitting on top of the liquid.

Using a cake mixer with a dough hook put 2 cups of flour into the mixing bowl and turn the mixer on. Give the yeast mixture a stir and then slowly add it to the flour and mix. The flour will come together but will be quite wet still so add some of the extra flour a handful at a time until the dough begins to form a ball. You do not want this dough to be too dry or stiff, it is very soft and slightly sticky dough. Turn the dough out on to a lightly floured surface and give it a knead for about 5 or so minutes until the dough texture changes to a more silky character. Put the dough into a floured glass bowl – I usually spray some oil around the inside of the bowl and then sprinkle flour around it as this stops the dough from sticking to the glass. Cover and set aside for an hour or two or until the dough has at least doubled in size.

Once it has doubled turn the dough out of the bowl onto a floured surface and shape it into a log. Cut this log in half and then each half in to three pieces. Roll each piece out to be about 30 cm long how ever there is a trick to this and that is – leave a fatter bit in the middle. Imagine a snake has swallowed a football (or an oblong shape) and that shape is sitting in the middle of this 30cm long snake. This fatter section is probably about 6 cm long. As this dough is quite soft you probably won’t be able to roll it on the bench so the easiest way to roll it is to pick it up and hold it between your hands – palms together thumbs pointing to the roof, and make like you are rubbing your hands together to warm them. Allow the dough to hang down and as you rub your hands together the dough will slowly fall down towards the bench as you stretch it out with the rolling action. This all makes perfect sense when you DO it. Let the dough drop to the bench and then repeat the process starting from the other end of the dough. In order to get the fatter bit in the middle start the rolling motion 4cm past the centre of the dough and when you turn the dough and do the other side start that 4 cm past the middle section and voilà you will end up with a 30cm long piece of dough with a fat section in the middle. With practice comes perfection!

To make a pretzel shape have your rolled ‘snake’ lying on the bench in front of you. Pick up either end and hold it above the bench so it forms a big “U� shape now cross your hands in a circular motion so that the “u� swings, turns and twists around itself and then lay it flat on the bench still holding on to the ends. Place one end on top and to the side of the fat middle section and the other end on the other side. Wet your finger and dab where the two ends rest on the fat section to seal them down.

In a fry pan bring the four cups of water and the Bi-Carb to the boil and then dunk a pretzel into the boiling water for about 10 seconds before turning it over and letting it sit for another 10 seconds. Remove from the boiling water and place on an oven tray that has a sheet of baking paper on it. Repeat with the other pretzels. Sprinkle the pretzels generously with the salt and put in to the preheated oven. Cook for about 8 to 10 minutes or until pretzels are a dark golden brown.

Remove and try and wait until they are a little cooler before you devour them. Of course eat with your favourite beer.

Makes six

You could use a Porter for this if the Porter had lots of coffee overtones and a nice bitterness. Some porters are quite chocolatey which for this recipe means you might lose them in amongst all the chocolate in the recipe. The Stout stands out because it adds another complexity to the Brownies. I wanted to put chili in this recipe also but my kids didnt want me to. They love the Brownie as is - although I still reckon an addition of Mexican chili powder of Chipotle powder would be awesome! If any one tries it with chili let me know.

125g of unsalted butter – diced
155g of good quality milk chocolate
100g of good quality dark chocolate 75%
125g/ ¾ cup plain flour
½ cup of brown sugar
3 eggs - 55g cracked weight each
¼ cup of Coopers Best Extra Stout
2 tbls of Cocoa powder
½ cup of chopped Macadamia nuts
½ cup Nestle white chocolate chips

Pre heat you oven at 160°

Chop the milk and dark chocolates and put in a glass bowl along with the chopped butter. Place the glass bowl over a saucepan of gently simmering water – making sure the water does not touch the bottom of the glass bowl. Stir gently until all ingredients melt and combine. Remove from heat and set aside to cool while you beat the eggs.

Using an electric mixer beat the eggs and sugar together until light and fluffy approx 10 – 15 minutes. Then add the beer and mix again. While the eggs and sugar are being beaten combine the plain flour and the cocoa powder in a bowl then set aside.

Once the chocolate mix has cooled for about ten minutes add it into the bowl with the sugar, eggs and stout and mix thoroughly. Remove the bowl from the electric mixer and sift in the flour and cocoa mix and fold through the wet mix until well combined. Add in the macadamia nuts and the white chocolate buttons and mix through.

Grease a brownie tin or shallow baking tin that is about 18cm wide by 30 cm long and 3 cm deep and line with baking paper. Pour the brownie mix into the tin and spread evenly. Bake in the preheated oven at 160° for about 15 minutes.

Remove from the oven and cool on a wire rack.

Scotch Ale and Ricotta Cheese Muffins

2 cups of self raising flour
80g butter melted
8 tbls of brown sugar
2 eggs
3 tsp of chopped fresh rosemary
1 cup of ricotta cheese
1 cup of Red Hill Scotch Ale
Pinch of salt

In a bowl mix the flour and chopped rosemary together. In another bowl add the eggs, cheese, sugar, beer and melted butter and give this a really good mix to combine all the ingredients. Tip the wet mix in to the bowl with the flour and fold through until combined – do not over mix.

Dived mixture evenly in to a 12 cup muffin tray that has been either oiled or has large paper pans inserted in to the muffin holes. Bake in a pre heated oven at 160° for about 15 – 20 minutes.

Note – the Red Hill Scotch Ale is a malt driven dark ale with quite a sweet character and carries 5.8% alc. Not many breweries in Australia are making a Scotch Ale.

Substitute beers: Porter, Amber Ale, Stout.

Makes 12

From Ep 4 Food Trail Tasmania

(goes great with the mussels)

600g of flour
1 tsp salt
350 mls of warm water
2 tsp dried yeast powder
Pinch of sugar
1 tblsp Olive oil
Peeled potatoes sliced very thinly
Sea Salt
Crushed garlic
Rosemary sprigs
Olive oil

Method: add a pinch of sugar to the 350 mils of warm water along with the olive oil and 2 tsp of dried yeast. Give it a stir and let sit for a few minutes. Add the salt to the flour and mix through then either in a bowl or on a work bench make a well in the centre of the flour. Gradually add the yeasty water to the flour and incorporate until you have a ball of dough. You may not need all the water or you may need to add a little more. Once you have a ball of dough give it a good knead on a floured work surface for about 5 minutes or so. Place the dough into a lightly oiled bowl and loosely cover with Cling wrap and leave in a warm area until the dough doubles in size. Turn out of the bowl again onto a floured work surface and roll into a long sausage. Cut this into six equal portions, roll into balls and there you have the bases for 6 pizzas!

Roll out your dough and place on an oiled pizza tray. Cover the pizza dough base with a layer of over lapping thin potato slices, sprinkle with salt, crushed garlic, fresh rosemary sprigs and drizzle a little of the olive oil over it. Put in a hot oven until it is cooked.

From Ep 4 Food Trail Tasmania

Olive oil
Garlic finely chopped
Red Capsicum finely sliced
Paprika powder
Red chili finely sliced – as much or as little as you want
1 100mg jar of Tas Saf saffron – filled up with water the night before
2 cups short grain Rice – I use Arborio or buy Spanish rice - Arroz Calasparra
10 cups of chicken stock
1 can of chopped tomatoes
4 Rennoch Quails – boned and cut in quarters
2 chorizo sausages sliced 5 ml thick on the diagonal
8 – 10 Chipolata sausages
250 g of scallops
10 mussels in the shell
Peas
Green Beans

Heat olive oil in paella pan, sprinkle in some Paprika and garlic then add the quail and sausages. Coat well with oil and paprika frying until just cooked and coloured. Add the chorizo 5 minutes after the quail and cook also. Remove all meat from the pan and keep warm. Add a little more oil to the pan if needed and then add some garlic, chilli and the capsicum – cook till softened. Add in the canned tomatoes bring to boil and then add the rice. Coat rice well allowing it to absorb any moisture from the tomatoes before adding the Saffron and some chicken stock. Traditionally you are not supposed to stir a Paella just adding in all the stock and letting it cook but I tend to do mine a little more like a risotto – add some stock give it a stir and let the rice absorb the stock then add another ladle give it a stir….etc just like cooking any rice dish you don’t want it to cook too fast or too slow so keep an eye on it.

When you have used about ¾ of your stock you should then put in your seafood, peas and beans more stock give it a stir and let the rice absorb the liquid. Finally check for seasoning and then arrange the warm quail and sausages in the rice, add the rest of the stock cover and cook – no more stirring – until the rice is to the texture and consistency you like ie not too dry not to moist. At this stage a golden caramelised crust – called a Socarrat will form on the bottom of the pan -in Spain this is considered the best part.

If you are cooking in a Paella pan on a Webber or BBQ then you can add soaked wood chips to the coals and cover the Webber (or put the BBQ lid down) so as to encourage the smoke to be absorbed by the rice adding another layer to the Paella. In fact the Paella pan was designed to encourage the smoke to come up the sides of the pan and into the dish itself!

Traditionally you should eat directly out of the pan with friends gathered around. Paella goes great with Sangria, Pinot Noir or Pinot Gris or a cracking good Pils.