What the heck is a croffle?
It is a croissant waffle hybrid. You bake a piece of puff pastry in a waffle machine / iron. The waffle machine crisps up the puff pastry and gives it some very cool waffle patterns.
Make Quenelles to Make Impressions
To make something into a quenelle shape is to transform it into an egg or oval shape. It is very elegant and it doesn’t seem to be going out of fashion. So you cannot go wrong with making little quenelles with your salmon cream cheese.
I first heard about a quenelle when I was at University. It was almost as if the lecturers worshiped the quenelle shape and if you wanted to impress them you’d make anything you could into a quenelle shape. Ice cream, pâtés, mashed vegetables, sorbets, mousses, etc. You can even present meat in a quenelle shape. We once had a professional chef come and demonstrate how she cooks a dish. Whilst she demonstrated how to make a quenelle shape, she used to say ‘a beauuuutiful quenelle’. We still laugh about it.
I am definitely not a quenelle shape expert, but it’s definitely worth learning the skill and practicing it. 😛
Making a beauuuutiful quenelle requires you to have the correct spoons. The spoons you use should have a longer shape instead of a rounder shape. Oval spoons are the ones you are looking for. They should have a deep ‘bowl’. For softer, mouldable dishes, like ice cream, sorbet and mousses, you can use only a single spoon to make the quenelle shape. For dishes that need to be pressed together in order to keep its shape, using two spoons is ideal.
Here is a great video to show you how it’s done: http://www.saveur.com/video-how-make-quenelle
This is also a very informative video on how to quenelle ice cream: http://www.bonappetit.com/test-kitchen/how-to/article/how-to-quenelle
Avocado roses for your love
Avocados are very high in demand at the moment and people are experimenting with all sorts of dishes trying to include it in their diets and to replace it with unhealthy ingredients.
The most beautiful way to present an avocado is by far in a rose shape. They are pretty and quite easy to shape. I definitely need some more practice. 😛
You can learn how to make an avocado rose here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mu09bcxZc5E
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All butter puff pastry would obviously taste the most delicious, so try and get your hands on some.
By charring the tomatoes, you add some depth to flavour. They will now have a hint of smokiness and they will be extra sweet because of their natural sugars that have been caramelised.
Salmon cream cheese is a really brilliant and inexpensive way to include the wonderful taste of salmon in your dish and getting the velvety goodness of cream cheese. Everyone loves the combination of salmon, cream cheese, and dill, so this is sure to be a winner as well.
Hope you enjoy!
Ingredients
- 1 Roll Ready-made Puff Pastry (thawed)
- Salmon Cream Cheese
- 2 Avocados
- Packet of Roma Tomatoes (halved)
- Olive Oil
- A Lemon Wedge
- Salt & Pepper
- Dill
Instructions
- Cut the puff pastry in 4 squares. You can use round cutters, but I did not want to waste any pieces, so I cut it into squares.
- Pre-heat the waffle pan and spray with non-stick spray.
- Add a splash of olive oil to a pan. Once the pan is hot, place the tomatoes face down onto the pan. Leave the tomatoes face-down until they are a little bit charred.
- Once the waffle pan is hot, add one puff pastry square at a time. Bake until the pastry is crispy and golden brown on the outside. Immediately put the croffle on a plate and start finishing the dish.
- Add about 2 teaspoons of salmon cream cheese per croffle. Making two small quenelles would look great!
- Place half an avocado onto croffle. Learn how to make an avocado rose in the blog.
- Squeeze some lemon juice over the avocado.
- Top the croffle with the charred tomatoes.
- Finish off with freshly ground salt and pepper to taste and some pieces of dill.
Wow this looks amazing!