Egg Pastry Food

BACON, EGG AND CHEESE TURNOVERS

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
• Put a large skillet over medium heat. Add the bacon and cook, flipping once, until crispy, about 7 minutes. Remove to a paper towel-lined plate to cool, then roughly chop. Set aside.
• Whisk together 4 of the eggs in a medium bowl until homogeneous, then stir in the chives and mozzarella.
• Heat the butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Pour the egg mixture into the hot skillet and cook until the bottom is set. Use a spatula to gently pull the bottom cooked parts to the sides of the skillet to make space for more of the mixture to cook. Repeat this gentle pulling process one or two more times until a majority of the mixture is set, then transfer the mixture to a bowl. The eggs should still be be quite wet, as they'll continue to cook in the oven. Season them with salt and pepper and a few shakes of hot sauce.
• On a work surface, roll out the puff pastry to a 10-by-15-inch rectangle. Cut into six 5-inch squares. Top each of the squares with a schmear of scallion cream cheese, then a bit of the bacon and finally a spoonful of the scrambled eggs, distributing them evenly and leaving a 3/4-inch border around the edges.
• Beat the remaining egg with 1 tablespoon water in a small bowl to make an egg wash. Brush the edges of the puff pastry squares with the egg wash, fold them in half to make rectangles and pinch the edges to seal them well. Transfer them to the prepared baking sheet, placing them 1 inch apart. Brush the tops with the egg wash and top with the Everything Bagel Topping. Bake until golden brown; begin checking for doneness at 30 minutes. Let cool slightly and serve with ketchup. Leftovers can be refrigerated and reheated in a toaster oven.
• Combine the sesame seeds, poppy seeds, dried minced garlic, dried minced onion and salt in a small bowl.

FOOLPROOF SHORTCRUST PASTRY (FOOD PROCESSOR METHOD)

Steps:

• Cut the butter into small cubes and arrange on a small plate. Freeze for 20 minutes.
• Add the flour and salt to a food processor, then pulse to combine. Add the butter and process for 10 continuous seconds, until the mixture looks like coarse breadcrumbs.
• Add the egg and process for 5 seconds. Add the ice water and process for 20 seconds. The dough should now start clumping together. Turn the mixture out onto a work surface. The mixture will easily hold together when pressed. Using your hands, gather the dough into a ball then flatten into a disk, kneading it as lightly as possible.
• If you're making shortcrust pastry right before you need to use it, gather it into a disk, set it on a lightly floured surface, and roll it out to the required size. Ease into a pie or tart pan, lay flat on a baking sheet, or cut out and fit into muffin pans if making tartlets. Refrigerate for 30 minutes to an hour. Use as instructed by the recipe.
• You can alternatively wrap the ball of shortcrust pastry in plastic wrap and refrigerate it for 3 days, or freeze for 1 month.
• Bring refrigerated shortcrust pastry back to room temperature at least 30 minutes before rolling. Thaw frozen shortcrust pastry overnight in the refrigerator, then bring back to room temperature at least 30 minutes before rolling.

EGG CUSTARD TARTS

Steps:

• Make the puff pastry: Cut the butter into 3/4 cup flour in a medium bowl with a fork, then knead with your hands until the dough comes together. Transfer the "oil dough" to a piece of plastic wrap and pat into a 7 1/2-inch square; wrap in the plastic and refrigerate 20 minutes.
• Meanwhile, mix the egg, water and remaining 3/4 cup flour in a separate bowl, then knead with your hands until the dough comes together, adding more flour as needed if the dough is too sticky. Transfer the "water dough" to a piece of plastic wrap; wrap in the plastic and refrigerate 20 minutes.
• Unwrap the "water dough" and roll out into an 11-inch square on a lightly floured surface. Place the "oil dough" square on top and turn it so that it looks like a diamond. Fold the sides of the "water dough" over the "oil dough" to enclose completely.
• Roll out the folded dough into an 11-inch square and mark it into thirds. Fold in the outer thirds over the center third, like a letter. Roll out the folded dough into a large square again. Repeat twice (folding like a letter, then rolling into a square), refrigerating the dough as needed if it becomes too soft.
• Mark the square of dough into fourths. Fold the outer fourths into the center, then fold in half like a book and roll out again. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 20 minutes.
• Butter 12 small (2 1/2- to 2 3/4-inch-diameter) fluted tart pans. Unwrap the dough and roll it out on a lightly floured surface to a 1/4-inch thickness. Cut out circles with a round cutter (about 1/4 inch larger than your tart pans). Refrigerate 20 minutes, then press the dough into the tart pans. Refrigerate until ready to use.
• Make the egg custard: Heat the sugar and water in a saucepan over medium heat until the sugar dissolves, 3 to 5 minutes. Let cool completely.
• Whisk the eggs into the cooled sugar syrup, then stir in the evaporated milk, vanilla and salt. Strain through a fine-mesh sieve into a large measuring cup.
• Preheat the oven to 350˚ F. Arrange the tart pans on a baking sheet. Divide the custard among the pans, filling each about three-quarters full. (Do not overfill or the tarts could overflow; you may not use all of the custard.)
• Bake until the crusts are golden and the filling puffs slightly, about 45 minutes. Let cool 5 to 10 minutes in the pans, then carefully tap the bottoms to remove the tarts and transfer to a rack to cool completely.

SCRAMBLED EGGS IN PUFF PASTRY

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 375 F degrees.
• Roll out the puff pastry a bit, so that it's about 18 inches x 14 inches. You'll need about 4 inches down the center of the pastry, so start cutting 1 inch strips, leaving the 4 inches in the center.
• Add a tablespoon of butter to a skillet and melt it. Add the mushrooms and kielbasa and fry for a couple minutes. In the meantime, whisk together 6 eggs and mix with the shredded Swiss cheese.Add the eggs to the skillet and cook. Add the parsley for color and season with salt and pepper.
• Let the scrambled eggs cool. Place the scrambled eggs in the center of the pastry.
• Take a strip from each side and fold over the eggs. One from each side at a time, sort of forming this braid.
• Brush the pastry with the egg wash and bake in the oven for about half hour or until nice and golden brown.

EGG PASTRY

Steps:

• Put flour and salt in the bowl of a food processor and pulse a few times to mix well.
• With the motor OFF, cut in the cold butter and margarine.
• Pulse until the fats are in about 1/4 inch pieces.
• Put the lemon juice OR vinegar and the egg, beaten into a measuring cup and add enough ice water to make 1/2 cup.
• Start your processor and feed water in a slow stream through the tube.
• Watch what your doing as you may not need all the liquid, because as soon as the dough begins to gather together stop the machine.
• The dough does not have to form a ball but it should be soft and silken.
• Turn dough out onto waxed paper, form into two balls, wrap and chill for 30 minutes.

EGG PASTRY

Steps:

• Sift flour and salt into a mixing bowl. Using a pastry cutter, cut in shortening until until particles are the size of small peas.
• In another bowl, combine egg, water and lemon juice. Sprinkle over dry ingredients tossing and stirring with a fork until mixture is moist enough to hold together.
• Divide in half; shape into 2 flat balls.
• Roll.
• Makes 1 8 or 9 inch 2-crust pie.