Pave Des Romaines Food

GALETTE DES ROIS

Steps:

• For the cream filling: Cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Stir in the almonds, then the egg, rum and vanilla. Beat until smooth with a fork. Cover and chill until firm, at least 1 hour.
• For the pastry shell: Lay an 8-inch/20 cm round plate on one sheet of cold pastry and go around it with a knife. Do the same for the top round, but then roll this one a little with a rolling pin to make it slightly larger than the bottom round. Lay the smaller round of chilled dough on a dampened baking sheet. Spread the chilled cream filling over, leaving a good 1-inch/2.5 cm margin all around the edge. Hide a bean somewhere in the cream. Brush the border with egg wash. Lay on the top round and press the edges well to seal. Score the edge all around with the blunt side of a knife to seal. Make a cross in the center for steam to escape and draw spirals out to the edges for decoration. Brush with egg wash all over the top, avoiding the edges, so that they'll puff up easily. Chill in the freezer until very firm, about 20 minutes.
• Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F/230 degrees C. Bake the cake until puffed up high and dark golden in color. Sprinkle with a thin coating of confectioners' sugar and blast under the broiler or melt with a blowtorch. You can also brush with melted apricot jam for a glaze.

DES ALLEMANDS CATFISH DELIGHT

Steps:

• Heat the oil in a large, deep pot to 350 degrees F.
• Pat fillets dry with clean paper towels and season, to taste with salt, lemon pepper, and garlic powder. Dust lightly with 1 cup of the dry batter mix. Mix the 2 remaining cups of dry batter mix with the water and add the chopped pecans.
• Coat the fillets with the batter and place in the hot vegetable oil. Fry until golden brown, approximately 5 minutes. Set aside on paper towels.
• Sauce:
• In a saucepan over medium heat, melt butter and add chopped green onions and parsley. Saute for 3 minutes. Add the soups, cheese, and liquid crab boil and continue to cook for 10 minutes. Add crabmeat and cook an additional 5 minutes. Season, to taste, with salt and pepper.
• Prepare a bed of sauce on a serving platter and place fish on sauce. Partially cover fillets with sauce. Garnish with pecans and parsley.

FRATTATA RUSTICO DES MOINES

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.
• Heat olive oil in a 10-inch cast iron skillet.
• Add potatoes, peppers, rabe, and saute. Combine eggs and cream, and cook for 2 minutes on a medium flame. Add olives, and place in an oven and bake for 15 to 20 minutes. Garnish with a dollop of ricotta and sprinkle with fresh marjoram.

ACRAS DE MORUE

Steps:

• For the batter, mix the flour and the seasoning together in a medium-size bowl. Make a well in the middle of the flour mixture and break the eggs into the well 1 at a time while beating the mixture has become a thick, uniform paste.
• Cover the bowl with a dampened cloth and allow it to rest for 1 to 4 hours. For the fish, place the flaked codfish, thyme, parsley, scallion, chives, allspice, and chile in the bowl of a food processor and grind them together into a thick paste. Fold this paste into the acras batter.
• Meanwhile, heat 2 inches of corn oil to 350 to 375 degrees F in a heavy cast-iron pot or deep fryer. Drop the acras into it by the teaspoonful. Fry until they are light brown, turning once. When done, remove with a slotted spoon and drain on paper towels.