Daring Baker's Challenge : Puff Pastry

The September 2009 Daring Bakers' challenge was hosted by Steph of A Whisk and a Spoon. She chose the French treat, Vols-au-Vent based on the Puff Pastry recipe by Michel Richard from the cookbook Baking With Julia by Dorie Greenspan.

This month we were challenged in making Puff Pastry and for me it was the first time making it so it was a real challenge !! Obviously I made many mistakes (like rolling the pastry too thin, not cooking the layers together,not having the oven hot enough and so on) but certainly got over the puff pastry terror and will make it again !

The savory vol au vent were filled with shrimps and salsa rosa (simply mayo and ketchup)

The sweet ones were filled with zabaione and a simple raspberries' compote on a raspberries' coulis

And with the shrimps' leftovers ?? Shrimp Bisque ! With the vol au vent flowers as croutons !

Thank you very much Steph !!

I Heart Cooking Clubs : Potato Cakes with Smoked Salmon

The theme of the new group I heart cooking clubs for this week is Family Favourites and I can't really say I have made these Potato Cakes many many times before, but Anita loves very peculiar and special eating (sushi or smoked salmon, for instance) which compared to Carlo's taste (white pasta and frittata) sounds more challenging for a cooking freak. So, looking for something that would surprise her in these sad first days of the real school, I found this very fast and easy recipe (you can find it here) . I must say it will become a family favorite: plain for Carlo and with loads of salmon for Anita.

The salmon I used was smoked in a thick slice, different but very good !