Elite Bakery, and an Apology.

First off, I'd like to apologize for being MIA as of late. A close friend was in a car accident a couple weeks ago, and was in a drug-induced coma for a week. It was a trying time, but all his family and friends pulled together, comforted each other, and sent a lot of prayers and positive thoughts his way. He just got out of the hospital a couple days ago and is recovering at home.

I took so many photos of food in my absence that I exceeded my 4 gig SD card, so I *do* have some posts for this next while! I'm aiming to post all of the 2009 eats within 2009...so I hope we're snowed in for a little bit, because there is a fair share of things to write about! ;)



Elite bakery is situated in South Burnaby on Rumble Street, just east of Royal Oak Avenue. On the outside, it looks dingey and old school, but apparently they do catering and do wholesale pastries and other baked goods for other food establishments!

After a harrowing commute from Richmond back home, I spied Elite bakery out of the corner of my eye, and decided to pay them a visit. It was a nice treat and from the moment you walk in the door, you're tempted by the wafts of sweet pastry and buttery goodness. I picked up three items: copenhagens, a mocha boat, and a Kranse Kage.



First up was the copenhagen. I devoured one on my way home happily, as it was made from two layers of puff pastry sandwiched together by an almond paste / butter mixture. The puff pastry was shatteringly crisp, while the almond paste / butter mixture was rich and decadant. Although I bought two and ate one on the way home, I wished that I'd paced myself, as I totally spoiled my appetite. It was very delicious, however, and if the crispness of the pastry was any indication of their other products, I'm sure that I now have to make another stop soon to pick up one of their magnificent looking apple strudels, or their Kringle!



The Kranse Kage is a pastry filled with an almond-meal mixture and drizzled with icing. Do not let its' appearance fool you, the Kranse Kage was actually the least sweet of the three items I picked up that day. There was a strong almond extract flavour, and although I am not a huge fan of almond extract, it would make a nice snack - not too sweet, good chewy texture, and if anything, as a former co-worker used to say, "Nuts are good for you, it contains nuts, so it cancels all the bad stuff out." heehee! Somethings just stick in your memory.



The mocha boat was a tart shell filled with a "light" coffee buttercream and a small strip of fruit (berry?) jelly and coated with chocolate. I say "light" buttercream as it is full-fat buttercream - silky, creamy, and rich, but light on the coffee flavour. It was my second favourite. I could only have a small portion at a time though, as I could almost feel my arteries harden a little. On the plus side, it reminded me of one of the pastries at Notte's Bon Ton. I'm sure I'll visit Elite Bakery again in the near future as I am not too fond of driving all the way out to the west side for a European pastry craving!

Elite Bakery
5238 Rumble Street
Burnaby BC
P: (604) 437-4121

Recipe: Simple Mushroom Tart!

If you remember, I bought some mushrooms at the Richmond Specialty Mushroom Farms stall at the Trout Lake Farmers Market one weekend.



I bought a combination of crimini and portobellos, and rounded out the mix with some dried lobster mushrooms that I'd bought the same afternoon at Whole Foods.



I have to admit, as I was strolling about the farmers market that day, this recipe materialized in my head. An assortment of mushrooms sauteed with shallots in a light wine & cream base, and baked atop puff pastry. A variation on this would be a cream of mushroom soup with the puff pastry tops baked on to individual ramekins - yum!



...forgot to mention that I bought a pair of gigantuan shallots at the Langley Farmers Co-Op stall at Trout Lake as well: check them out! they were about three inches in diameter!

Ingredients
About 8 to 10 large mushrooms - I used crimini and portobello, sliced
1/3 cup dried lobster mushrooms
1 huge shallot, or 2-3 smaller ones, sliced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 t thyme
Salt & Pepper to taste
1/4 c Dry white wine
1/4 c cream
1 recipe rough puff pastry, chilled, or thawed overnight in refrigerator if previously frozen
2 T chopped parsley, divided

Method
Soak the lobster mushrooms in about 1 cup of cool water for at least 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 425ºF.

Meanwhile, prepare the fresh mushrooms by heating a couple tablespoons of olive oil in a large pan over medium heat. Saute the shallots, stirring to coat with oil. Cook for 1-2 minutes. Add garlic; cook 30 seconds, stirring. Add sliced fresh mushrooms and stir to coat with oil. Season with salt, pepper, and thyme, and cook 2-4 minutes, stirring. Add drained lobster mushrooms.

Deglaise the pan with white wine; allow to cook off and add cream. Cook until mixture has thickened slightly. Taste and reseason if necessary. Stir in 1 tablespoon of chopped parsley.

Remove from heat and cool to room temperature.

Roll out puff pastry on a floured surface to a rectangle approximately 14" x 12". Using a long, sharp knife, trim the dough. Cut approximately 1/2 off each side of the rectangle for the border. Press these strips onto the rectangular base. Chill dough at this point if necessary.

Transfer crust onto parchment-lined baking sheet.

Spoon mushroom mixture onto puff pastry dough. Arrange any mushroom tops attractively on top. Sprinkle with remaining chopped parsley. Bake for 20-30 minutes or until pastry is crisp through. Enjoy warm.



I do have to say that this is very classically French. I don't know what drew me to make something like this - I guess clean, rich food and flavours?

Looking forward to cooking with more Farmers Markets finds this year!

Recipe: Quick (Rough) Puff Pastry

I made a "quick" puff pastry for a mushroom tart with mushrooms that I picked up from the local farmers market.

While I love puff pastry, I don't want to spend three days preparing it, or spend money on expensive store-bought doughs!

After some quick research, I found a recipe for a rough puff pastry that required a food processor. Since I am really ghetto, I don't have a food processor either, so I prepared the puff pastry by hand in a day.

There's a term that my chef instructor (Chef Patrice!) taught us for preparing a tender short crust pastry. Sablé, a method of gently kneading cold butter and flour together to form a thin layers of butter and flour. While I still "turned" the puff pastry a number of times, I believe the sabléing lended some tenderness to the pastry.

Here's a short video on the method (sorry for the graininess - I know *nothing* about video shooting / editing):



Ingredients
1 c unsalted butter
1 2/3 c all purpose flour
3/4 t salt
1/4 c ice-cold water, more if needed

Method
Dice butter and place in freezer for 15 minutes.

Sift together flour and salt into a large bowl. Add about half of the butter cubes to the flour mixture and sable until all butter has been kneaded. Chill if necessary (if it is a hot day, or you feel that the butter has softened too much!). Add remaining cold butter cubes and sable again. Do not work the butter in too much - you want a shaggy appearance.

Mix in ice water with a spoon or spatula. Gather the rough dough together and place onto parchment paper. Place another layer of parchment paper on to and flatten with your hands. Chill the dough for fifteen to thirty minutes at this point if you are working on a warm day.

Fold the dough into thirds and roll out. Turn the dough 90 degrees and fold into thirds again. Repeat the turning process two more times, then chill until firm, fifteen to thirty minutes.

The dough may be used in your recipes, or stored, wrapped, in the freezer for up to two months.

I'll post the recipe for the mushroom tart later - here's a side view of the puff pastry. Not too bad for handmade!