The Refectory;
housing the monastery’s recipes


STARTERS,
MAIN DISHES,
SIDE DISHES,
PASTRIES, DESSERTS,
&&

Sweet Potato-Peanut-Spinach Curry

    servings


  • 1 yellow onion
  • 2 cm ginger root
  • 600 g sweet potatoes
  • 2 tbsp sesame oil
  • 1 tbsp tomato paste
  • 2 tbsp curry powder/paste
  • 400 g sieved tomato
  • 400 ml coconut milk
  • 3 tbsp peanut butter
  • 3 tbsp roasted peanuts
  • 0.5 bunch of coriander
  • 100 g baby spinach
  • pinch salt
Peel the onions and finely dice them. Peel and finely grate the ginger. Peel the sweet potatoes and cut into 2 cm cubes.

Heat oil in a saucepan, sauté onion over medium-high heat until translucent. Stir in the ginger and fry briefly. Stir in the tomato paste and curry and roast for 1 minute while stirring. Pour in the passata, coconut milk and 400 ml water and bring to the boil. Stir in the peanut butter and diced sweet potatoes. Season generously with salt. Cover and let simmer for about 25 minutes.

Meanwhile, rinse the rice in cold water in a sieve and place in 500 ml of boiling salted water. Boil again over high heat. Reduce the heat to low and let the rice soak, covered, for about 20 minutes.

Meanwhile, roughly chop the peanuts. Pluck the coriander leaves.
Remove curry from heat and stir in spinach until wilted.
Serve the curry with rice, sprinkle with peanuts and coriander and serve.

Hayashi Rice

    servings


  • 2 carrots
  • 1 onion
  • 250 g button mushrooms
  • 300 g thinly sliced beef (or constitute with fried tofu)
  • 50 g butter
  • 1 clove of onion, minced
  • 1 tbsp flour
  • 150 ml red wine
  • 250 ml gravy (from instant gravy mix)
  • 2 tbsp tomato ketchup
  • 1 tsp sugar
  • 200 g canned diced tomatoes
  • 1 bay leaf
  • 1 tbsp light soy sauce
  • 1 tbsp oyster sauce
Peel carrots & onions. Clean button mushrooms. Slice all vegetables. Cut the beef into bite-sized pieces.
Melt half of the butter in a pan to fry the beef. Afterwards, put the beef into a bowl and set aside for later.

Melt the rest of the butter and fry onions, garlic and carrots. Mix in the flour and douse with the wine and gravy. Add ketchup, meat, mushrooms and sugar and let simmer for 5 minutes.

Add tomatoes, bay leaf, soy sauce and oyster sauce and keep simmering on high heat for 10 ore minutes. Mix occasionally.
When done, remove the bay leaf and serve with steamed rice.

Lentils

    servings


  • sufficient butter
  • bit of flour
  • 1 onion
  • 2 garlic cloves
  • 2 cans of lentils (~250g)
  • 1 bay leaf
  • thyme
  • 1 bouillon cube (vegetable or beef)
  • Lemon juice or vinegar
Make a roux with butter & flour. Drain the lentils & catch their juice. Add more butter to the roux & fry diced onion and garlic until fragrant.

Add the juice of the lentils and a bit of water, bring to a boil. Add bay leaf, thyme and buillon cube and let boil until the cube is dissolved.

Add the drained lentils. Add a splash of lemon juice or vinegar for tartness.

Let the lentils cook for a while until the sauce has thickened & it is ready to serve with Semmelknödel and optionally fried bacon.

Zwetschgendatschi

400 g Flour

150 ml Milk

1 cube of Yeast

125 g Sugar

100 g Butter

1 Egg

Pinch of Salt

Plums

+ Flour

+ Sugar

Warm the milk, add yeast & a little bit of sugar. Let rest for a couple of minutes.
Mix soft butter with the egg and sugar until creamy. Add the mixture and the yeast-milk to the flour, add a pinch of salt and knead. If the dough is sticky, add more flour.
Let it rest for 40 minutes.

Butter and flour the pan. Knead the rested dough before putting it in the dish, then let rest again for 20 minutes.

Prepare the plums. Arrange them on the dough and sprinkle a little sugar on it (or add streusel – 2:1:1 flour - butter - sugar). Bake for ~30 minutes at 175°C.

Hot Cross Buns

30 g Yeast

110 g Caster Sugar

375 ml Warm Milk

640 g Flour

2 tsp Ground Cinnamon

2 tsp All Spice (or Cardamom, Nutmeg, Cloves etc.)

1/2 tsp Salt

210 g in Dried Fruit & Candied Peel

Zest of 1-2 Oranges

50 g Melted Butter

1 Egg

+ Extra Flour

+ 75 g Flour

+ 5 tbsp Water

+ Sugar, Spice & Water Glaze

Make a pre-dough.
Place flour, pre-dough, sugar, all spices, salt in a large bowl. Briefly mix. Add butter, milk, egg, dried/candied fruit and zest.
Mix until a smooth elastic dough forms. Dust a work surface with flour and knead by hand for 10 minutes. Dough is kneaded enough when it's smooth and does not break when stretched.

Leave dough in the bowl, cover and place in a warm place to rise until doubled in size. This will take anywhere between 30 minutes to 1 1/2 hours depending on how warm it is.

Line a tray with baking paper. Deflate dough. Shape into a log & cut into 12 pieces. Form pieces into balls.
Loosely cover tray. Return tray to warm place and leaver 30 - 45 minutes, until the dough has risen by about 75%. Preheat oven to 180°C.

Mix flour and water until a thick runny paste forms. Pipe or spoon on crosses.

Bake for 22 minutes, or until the surface is a deep golden brown.
Make a glazing with water, spices and sugar or marmelade/jam. Brush with glazing mixture while warm.

Earl Grey Chiffon Cake

3 g Earl Grey loose tea leaves, powdered

5 g Earl Grey loose tea leaves

90 ml hot water

3 large eggs

85 g sugar

40 ml neutral oil

75 g cake flour

3 g corn starch

Preheat the oven to 170ºC. put 1 Tbsp of Earl Grey loose tea leaves in a fine sieve over a bowl. Next, pour 90 ml of hot water over the tea leaves to steep. Let it cool, then remove the tea leaves. Measure 60 ml of this brewed tea and set it aside.

Separate the egg yolks and whites. In a large bowl, beat the egg yolks and one-third of the sugar with a hand whisk. Whisk vigorously until it's a creamy pale yellow color.
Add the oil and 4 Tbsp of brewed tea to the egg mixture. Whisk all together until combined. Add the powdered Earl Grey tea to the egg mixture and mix well. Sift in the flour mixture and incorporate carefully.

Beat the egg whites and gradually add the remaining sugar in small increments. Beat vigorously until stiff peaks form.

Add & fold in beaten egg whites to the batter in thirds.

Pour into chiffon pan & bake at 170°C for 30 minutes.

Castella

4 Eggs

140 g Sugar

70 g Honey

2 tbsp warm Water

130 g Flour

+ 3 tbsp Honey

+ 2 tbsp warm Water

Preheat the oven, line a 18cm long rectangular baking pan with parchment paper. Take the eggs out of the fridge 30 minutes before starting the batter.

Beat eggs and sugar with an electric mixer for at least 5 minutes until the mixture has at least quadrupled.
Warm the honey up, mix in water and add it to the eggs & sugar. Sift in the flour and incorporate quickly.

Fill the batter into the pan and bake at 160°C for 35 to 45 minutes.
Once the Castella is done, take it out of the pan and brush with the additional honey & water (mixed).
Wrap in plastic wrap and keep it cold for at least 12 hours.

To get the classic castella look, also cut off the sides before serving.

Applestrudel

Apples

Caster sugar

Ground cinnamon

Butter

Breadcrumbs

Puff pastry

Peel and pit the apples. Dice them into bite sized cubes or a little smaller.
Take as many apples until a pan is filled to the brim with them.

Add sugar and cinnamon to the apples, stir, let the apples sit on medium-high heat until they start to sweat and the sugar caramelises. Add more sugar and cinnamon to taste.
Continue heating the apples until they have grown a little soft and there is caramel on the bottom of the pan. Add a little water.

While this happens, melt butter and add breadcrumbs to create a crumble. The crumble should be a chestnut brown, but not burned.

Spread the crumble on a pastry sheet.
Add apples and close the pastry on top and on the sides. Brush the strudel with butter (optional).
Bake according to the directions for your chosen puff pastry.

Binging with Babish Sourdough

    For g bread flour in the dough.


    Levain:
  • 35 g bread flour
  • 35 g whole wheat flour
  • 35 g mature starter
  • 70 g water

    • Dough:
  • 810 g bread flour
  • 90 g whole wheat flour
  • 680 g water
  • 18 g fine sea salt
Mix levain ingredients and rest in a warm area (70-80℉) for 5 hours.

One hour before your levain is done, mix together your bread flour and whole wheat flour. Add 580g of your water to the flour mixture (keeping 100g to the side for mixing later).

Mix just until your dough comes together. Cover with plastic wrap and let it rest in a warm area (same as your starter) for 1 hour.

Mix your dough and levain together using a little of your separated water to help incorporate. Rest 20 minutes.

Add your sea salt and the rest of your separated water and mix until incorporated. Slap and fold for 2-4 minutes or until your dough is smooth and begins to catch some air. Rest 15 minutes in the same warm area you placed your starter.

Perform 6 sets of stretch and folds spaced out by 15 minutes for the first 3, then 30 minutes for the next 3. Make sure to place your dough back in the warm area for each rest.

Let your dough rest for a remainder of 1.5 hours, for a grand total of 4 hours.
Dump out and divide your dough into 2 even pieces. Preshape each piece into a light boule and rest 5-10 minutes.

Shape your dough into 2 batards and place into bannetons dusted with either rice flour or all purpose flour. Chill in the fridge overnight.

Preheat a cast iron combo cooker in your oven from cold to 500℉ for 1 hour. Carefully place a dusted loaf into the hot pan, score the top, place the larger lid on top, and bake for 20 minutes. Remove the top from the combo cooker and lower the oven temperature to 450℉. Bake for an additional 20-30 minutes, or until the loaf is deep brown. Remove and cool on a wire rack until room temperature. Repeat with the other loaf.