CHI Bite: Grasping at Strawberries

June 12, 2009 Trouble viewing this email? Read it online... WHIP IT UP: STRAWBERRY RHUBARB DANISH Grasping at Strawberries If 10,000 Chicago Biters make this recipe with strawberries from local farms instead of from nonlocal farms, we'll direct a collective $40,000 to area berry growers. Recent efforts to find the perfect dessert prove futile? Don't give up yet - try this sweet and just-tart-enough Strawberry Rhubarb Danish from Hot Chocolate pastry chef Mindy Segal. Like everything else she makes, this rich, gooey deliciousness comes from Chicago-area, just-plucked ingredients. Eat 'em now before the season ends and there's nothing left. Strawberry Rhubarb Danish Serves 6 Ingredients: (fresh, local, and organic whenever possible) Danish ingredients: 1 3/4 cups bread flour 1/2 cup cake flour 3/4 tsp dry yeast 1 1/2 tsp salt 3 Tb sugar 8 oz butter (cold and cubed) 1/4 cup water (room temperature) 1/2 cup milk (room temperature) 1 egg (room temperature) 3 Tb honey Powdered sugar to taste Strawberry & Rhubarb Jam ingredients: 1 pint strawberries, cleaned and halved 2 stalks rhubarb (rinsed in cold water, then dried and cubed) 1 cup sugar Filling ingredients: 8 oz cream cheese 2 Tb honey (clover or orange blossom is great if you can find it) 1/2 cup granulated sugar 1 egg 1/4 tsp vanilla extract Pinch of salt 1 tsp orange zest Poppy Seed Streusel ingredients: 4 oz butter cubed (cold) 3/4 cup light brown sugar 1 cup, 1 Tb all-purpose flour Pinch of salt 1/4 cup poppy seeds Directions: Combine dry Danish ingredients in a mixing bowl. Add butter with paddle attachment. Mix on low for 3 minutes or until mixture resembles cornmeal. Add wet Danish ingredients and mix on medium for about 2 minutes, until batterlike. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 24 hours. For jam, place strawberries and rhubarb into a sauce pot and cook on medium heat until water evaporates (about 15 minutes). Stir frequently to keep from scorching. Let cool completely and refrigerate until needed. Place chilled dough on a floured surface. Flour the top of the dough and roll into a 12-by-4-inch rectangle. With the rectangle horizontal to you, fold the right third of the dough over the left creating a letter fold. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate 30 minutes. Repeat the letter fold twice more (alternating left, then right). Refrigerate 30 minutes. To make the filling, beat cream cheese, honey, and sugar. Add egg, vanilla, salt, and orange zest. Mix until smooth. For streusel, beat all ingredients on low speed until the mixture crumbles. Place dough on a floured surface and roll out to 1/4-inch-thick square. Cut into 3-inch squares and place 1/2 tablespoon each of filling and strawberry rhubarb jam into the center of the square. Sprinkle the streusel on top and bring corners into the center forming a pouch. Bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes or until golden brown. Let cool and dust with powdered sugar. Seedling Fruit, Green City Market, south end Lincoln Park. Strawberries, $5/pint; rhubarb, $3/pound. Hot Chocolate, 1747 N. Damen Ave. (773-489-1747). Green City Market - Map It Hot Chocolate - Map It SPONSOR A long-held legend claims that at the end of the Beatles' song "Strawberry Fields Forever," John Lennon says "I buried Paul," when really he just says "cranberry sauce." SHARE           FORWARD TO A FRIEND           ADD TO MYBITES           BLOG WITH US           COMMENT ON THIS TIP EDITORIAL POLICY  |  PRIVACY POLICY  |  TERMS AND CONDITIONS PRESS KIT  |  ADVERTISE  |  CONTACT US Copyright 2009 Ideal Bite, Inc. 340 Brannan St. Ste 402 San Francisco, CA 94107