January 26, 2016

Hello, all!  It's a lovely, sunny (but very cool) day in Nevada.  I, however, am stuck indoors, sick, so figured it was time to slow down and write another blog.

I also blog once a month with a group of chefs I met while doing cooking demos for Wolf-SubZero products.  Couldn't ask for a lovelier group of women!  Our blog site is www.cookingwithsteam.com.

This recipe was my post from earlier in the month.  These Apple Pastry Roses are so much fun and so easy, I had to add the recipe here.

A few weeks ago I was in the mood to be creative and remembered a post I saw on Facebook demonstrating how easy it is to make pastry roses using puff pastry and sliced apples.

Hmmm…great idea!  I had puff pastry in the freezer and apples sitting on the counter. And---I wanted to do something nice for the girls at work. (There are some advantages to working with a chef, lol)






First,  thaw the puff pastry (1-2 hours in the refrigerator or 30-45 minutes on the counter).  Preheat your oven to 375 degrees F. Then I cut two red apples in half, cored them and sliced them into thin slices. This can be done by hand or with a Mandolin. The apple slices need to be soft in order to be “rolled” into a rose shape.   You can peel them or not, it’s a personal preference.  If you are using red-skinned apples, the red adds more to the illusion of an actual “rose” in appearance.  Either way, your pastry will be tasty.

Next I placed the apple slices into a microwave-safe bowl with some lemon water and microwaved them for about 4 minutes.  Drain the apples, discarding the lemon water.  You can add a small bit of sugar and/or cinnamon at this point to further flavor the apples.

Unroll your thawed puff pastry onto your lightly floured work work surface.  Cut each sheet into six strips. Spread apricot jam over the cut strips, then lay the apple slices (overlapping slightly) at the top of the strip so that a portion of the round end of the apple is above the edge of the puff pastry stip.  Fold the opposite side of the puff pastry strip onto the bottoms of the apple slices, then roll them up slowly, taking care not to displace the apple slices.

Place your apple slices into a muffin tin (this will help them hold the shape much better than “free-forming” the pastries on a baking sheet).  Bake them at 375 degrees F for 20-25 minutes, or until golden brown.  Let them cool in the pan for about 5 minutes, then remove them from the pan to cool on a wire rack.  By taking them out of the pan to cool, the pastry roses won't get soggy bottoms. Before serving, dust your Apple Pastry Roses with powdered sugar and serve.  They are YUMMY!


Last weekend, Jordan and I drove to San Francisco to attend the Fancy Food Show.  Technically it started Sunday, but we drove down Friday so we could attend classes on Saturday.  They offer all kinds of education for people who want to bring food products to the market but also help those already in the food business.  It was very informative, covering everything from packaging, pricing, labeling, to food trends, what age groups are buying what (millenials, GenX, etc), co-packers, distributors, brokers, and on and on...

And then there were the vendors from all over the world!  Vendors who sold spices, coffee, chocolate, candy, snacks of every variety, healthy, organic, vegan, vegetarian, cured meats (charcuterie), cheeses of every kind and variety, cookies, baked goods, crackers, soups, gluten-free products, wine, alcohol,...  I could go on and on.  It was almost overwhelming, there was so much to see and try!

We had heard about a vendor that had a product that used bugs as a source of protein.  Animals that we eat as a source of protein take 75% of the world's resources but only feed 25% of the world's population.  That means there are people looking for alternative sources of protein, like vegetables and insects.  Turns out the woman who had the "bug product" went to Harvard and studied African studies.  Which meant she spent some time in Africa, ate bugs, and discovered they weren't that bad.  Huh..  So she and another Harvard grad came up with chips made with cricket flour, corn flour, flax, and a few other things and there she was.  There were 3 different flavor profiles.  Jordan and I decided to be brave our last day and try the chips.  Not bad, not bad.  Funny after taste, not a bad taste, but one that is hard to describe.  Just different.

While we were in San Francisco, we had a chance to eat out a few times.  We ate Franch food at Mathilde French Bistro, Italian food at Buca di Beppo, and Ethiopian food at Sheba's Piano Bar and Lounge.  We met the owner at Sheba's as well, lovely woman!  She seated us and then stayed and talked a while (it was kind of early and we were the first customers, lol).

That's all that's going on in my world right now.  Hope you try the "roses," they really are tasty!