A recipe from Smith & Daughters - Warm Spanish Doughnuts with Chocolate Pâté

Shannon Martinez and Mo Wyse are the brains behind celebrated vegan restaurant Smith & Daughters, and they’ve just released their first cookbook, Smith & Daughters: A Cookbook (That Happens to be Vegan).

We’ve featured a delicious recipe from the cookbook below, and if you drop by our Carlton shop on Thursday 3 November you can meet the talented duo themselves! Find details here.


WARM SPANISH DOUGHNUTS

Rejoice! The doughnut recipe! Shannon’s got many a doughnut recipe up her sleeve, but these are everyone’s favourite restaurant doughnuts. Serves 4 – 6.

INGREDIENTS

11/2 teaspoons active dried yeast
125 ml (4 fl oz/1/2 cup) warm water
pinch of sugar
550 g (1 lb 3 oz/32/3 cups) plain
(all-purpose) flour, plus extra for dusting
pinch of salt
1 teaspoon mixed spice
145 g (5 oz) caster (superfine) sugar
2 teaspoons no egg powder
250 ml (81/2 fl oz/1 cup) warm soy milk (not hot!)
80 g (23/4 oz) butter
olive oil spray
vegetable oil, for deep-frying
cinnamon sugar for dusting, or your favourite doughnut coating

FILLING IDEAS

Spanish quince paste
Chocolate Pâté (see recipe below)

INSTRUCTIONS

Place the yeast, warm water and sugar in a small bowl and stir well to combine. Allow to sit for 5 minutes or until the mixture is bubbly.

Place the flour, salt, mixed spice, caster sugar and no egg powder in the bowl of a stand mixer with a dough hook attachment. Combine the yeast mixture with the warm soy milk and, with the stand mixer running on low speed, slowly pour the liquid into the dry ingredients. Continue to mix until the liquid is completely incorporated. If the mixture seems too sticky, add a little extra flour, 1 tablespoon at a time, until the dough begins to pull away from the side of the bowl.

Add half of the butter to the dough, increase the speed to medium and mix for 1 minute before adding the remaining butter. At this stage the dough may look like it doesn’t want to take in the butter. If necessary, add a little extra flour again, 1 tablespoon at a time, until the dough just begins to pull away from the side of the bowl again. Knead on medium speed for around 4 minutes or until the dough is very soft, smooth and elastic. Place in a bowl that has been sprayed with olive oil and cover with plastic wrap. Set aside to prove in a warm place until doubled in size. This could take anywhere between 30–60 minutes depending on the temperature of the room.

Dust your work surface with flour and dump the dough on top. Dust a rolling pin with flour and roll out the dough until it is approximately 1.5 cm (½ in) thick. Cut out doughnuts using a round cookie cutter of any size, then transfer to a baking tray sprayed with olive oil. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and allow to prove again until the doughnuts have increased their size by half. The dough should feel very soft and bounce back slowly when pressed with your finger.

Heat enough oil for deep-frying in a deep-fryer or large heavy-based saucepan to 170°C (340°F) or until a scrap of dough dropped into the oil turns golden in 15 seconds. Carefully drop a few doughnuts into the oil, making sure not to overcrowd the pan. Fry the doughnuts for approximately 1 minute before turning over and frying for a further 1 minute. Obviously, if you decide to make larger doughnuts the cooking time will be a little longer, so just go on the colour and make sure you have a beautiful golden brown on both sides. Test one by breaking it in half to make sure they are cooked through. Transfer to paper towel and allow to cool slightly.

This is the point where you can get creative and fill the doughnuts with whatever you like. At the restaurant we coat them in cinnamon sugar and fill them with Spanish quince paste that has been whipped with a little hot water to make it easier to use in a piping bag. But Shannon’s favourite way to eat these is simply dusted in cinnamon sugar and dipped in chocolate pâté.

CHOCOLATE PÂTÉ

The origin of this dish comes from Shannon’s childhood and her grandad. Shannon has great memories of her Puppy, her father’s father, going to the Preston market and buying slabs of dark chocolate in bulk. Once home, he’d use a hammer to break the chocolate into bits and put it between bread with olive oil and salt and that would be lunch. He never made it into pâté, and Shannon didn’t realise it was a Spanish thing. She just thought it a bit of an eccentric Puppy thing to do, but then, after cooking and travelling in Spain, she tasted the real deal and realised Puppy had obviously had it before and just made a weird ghetto Aussie version for her. It’s really a shame he’s not alive to see this book or recipe come to life. This one’s for you, Puppy. Serves 4 – 6.

INGREDIENTS

125 ml (41/2 fl oz/1/2 cup) chickpea water (the juice that chickpeas share the tin with; strain the chickpeas and save them for another use)
pinch of citric acid
200 g (7 oz) caster (superfine) sugar
200 g (7 oz) dark chocolate (at least 60% cacao)
50 g (13/4 oz) butter
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon

GARNISH IDEAS

fennel seed baguette or regular baguette, sliced and toasted (optional)
strong-flavoured extra-virgin olive oil
sea salt flakes
fennel seeds, toasted and crushed (optional)

INSTRUCTIONS

Place the chickpea water and citric acid in the bowl of a stand mixer with a balloon whisk attachment and whisk until firm peaks form. This may take up to 5 minutes, so be patient. Slowly add the sugar in a steady stream and whisk until the meringue mixture becomes stiff and glossy.

There are two ways you can melt the chocolate: either place in a microwave-safe bowl and heat at 10 second intervals until melted; or put the chocolate in a bowl and set it over a saucepan of simmering water and stir until melted.

Don’t let the bottom of the bowl touch the water in the saucepan. Once fully melted, add the butter and cinnamon and stir well to combine.

Using a spatula or metal spoon, gently fold the melted chocolate through the meringue until evenly mixed through, then pour into individual ramekins or a large serving dish. Set aside in the fridge for at least 1 hour until set.

Serve the pâté with a side of toasted bread and drizzle with a strong extra-virgin olive oil and sea salt flakes. At Smith & Daughters, we use a beautiful fennel seed baguette, which goes really well with the chocolate, so feel free to sprinkle a little toasted crushed fennel seeds over the pâté along with the salt.


Smith & Daughters: A cookbook (that happens to be vegan) is available now, online and in-store, at the special price of $39.99 ().

Cover image for Smith & Daughters: A Cookbook (That Happens to be Vegan)

Smith & Daughters: A Cookbook (That Happens to be Vegan)

Shannon Martinez,Mo Wyse

This item is unavailableUnavailable