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You can also use puff pastry for a soup topping, and this is the biggest challenge of all
(see recipe). Once you learn how to produce puff pastry, you can use it many different ways in
your cooking. If you're timid in the kitchen, you can find commercially prepared puff pastry in
the grocery store’s frozen foods section.
Any of these toppings are also excellent over stews.
Puff pastry coat for soups and stews
Making your own puff pastry is a useful skill to have. It is not an easy kitchen task, yet
takes no more than average experience. Puff pastry is so versatile for many savory and sweet
preparations, that it is worth the effort to learn how to make it. Make your own (see recipe
below) or buy a commercial preparation from the freezer section of a high-end market or well-
stocked supermarket. A well-puffed, cinnamon-brown pastry covering a bowl of soup (or stew)
is positively a show-stopper presentation. The guests don't even mind the struggle to cut through
it to get to whatever you've hidden below.
Ingredients
1
1
recipe puff pastry (about 1¼ pounds or 570 g) (see recipe under Desserts)
egg, beaten with 1 tablespoon water
Procedure
. Let the chilled dough warm up slightly for about 5 to 10 minutes. Roll it into a very
1
thin sheet on a flour-dusted wax paper. Using one of the individual serving bowls as a guide (in
which you plan to serve the soup or stew), cut the dough and the wax paper together with a sharp
knife into circles a finger wider than the bowl. Place the circles on a baking sheet wax paper
down and refrigerate for 15 or 20 minutes to chill the dough and relax the gluten before baking.
Preheat the oven to 475°F (250°C). While waiting for the dough to chill, you may use the pastry
scraps to create decorative motifs for each bowl that you’ll stick on top of the pastry. They can
be any design, names, initials, even poems, if you wish.
2. Bring the soup to near boil. When the soup is hot and the puff pastry is chilled, lay out
6
individual ovenproof serving bowls. Brush a small amount of beaten egg on the outside rim of
the bowls, then fill the bowls with hot soup. Place the chilled circles of dough over each bowl
wax paper side up, and press the edges of the circles against the outside rim of the bowls. The
egg acts as a glue, sealing the dough to the edge of the bowl. Peel off the wax paper and cut
ventilation slits in the puff pastry dough. If you have decorative pieces, stick them on top now
with another dab of beaten egg. Work quickly before the puff pastry warms up too much. Brush
the entire creation with egg wash.
3. Place the bowls on a large baking sheet and bake in the middle of the preheated oven
for 10 minutes, or until the pastry is beautifully brown. Since it is thin, it bakes quickly.
Makes 6 servings.
A chilling thought
Chilled or iced soups have always been popular in France and in cuisines influenced by
play © erdosh 31
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