English Patis

Butter Cut-Out Cookies

2012-01-31T21:05:00.004Z

My youngest is doing her Confectioner's badge for her Girl Guides. One of the tasks is to do icings on cookies (biscuits). I took this opportunity to blog about this very simple recipe I found on the internet that I've been forgetting to post for the last 3 years!

I was trying to find a butter cookie recipe with the least amount of ingredients to make for my kids at the time. This recipe I adapted from the about.com website was the simplest but probably the most mouth-meltingly delicious butter cookie we've ever baked. It's got a very similar taste to those buttery, crumbly French sable breton that we were able to sample from my food-blogging friend Shalimar.

Anyway, my daughter was very much hands-on in the baking and especially in the decorating. She rolled the dough ...

Did her very first cookie decorations with royal icing ...

And finally the finished products ...

Best of all, her fellow Guides loved them a lot !

Butter Cut-Out Cookies

188 gm [3/4 cup] butter - softened
95 gm [3/4 cup] icing sugar
1 egg yolk
250 gm [2 cups] all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp vanilla (optional)

Beat butter and icing sugar in a bowl until light and fluffy (about 3-5 minutes).
Add in egg yolk and vanilla (if using) and mix until well combined.
Tip in the flour and using a spoon, mix well with the butter mixture until you can form into a ball. If the dough is too soft, wrap in cling film or plastic bag and chill in the fridge for about 30 minutes or until firm enough to be rolled.
Preheat oven to 190C/fan 170C/375F degrees.
Roll on a floured surface (or in between baking paper and cling film) to a even thickness of about 1/8 inch.
Cut out or roll into shapes, arrange in a baking tray and bake for 10 minutes.
Let cool in the baking tray for about 5 minutes then move onto racks to cool completely.
If desired, decorate with icing, coloured sugars, or sprinkles.

Waldorf Salad

2011-12-27T23:57:00.003Z

The only good recipe that came out of the new ones I made this Christmas is this tweaked version of Waldorf Salad from the Epicurious website. The key here is to let the salad sit in the fridge overnight so that the flavours meld well.

This salad is a great refreshing contrast to lots of rich and fatty food that is often served during the holiday seasons. I highly recommend this one folks especially with the Sweet Spicy Pecans that adds a bit of crunch and strong flavour.

Waldorf Salad

1 1/3 cups very thinly sliced celery
1 1/3 cups red seedless grapes - cut in half
4 Golden Delicious apples - cored (not peeled) and sliced into 1/2-inch pieces
2/3 cups dried cranberries
1 cup boiling water

*Dressing:
1/2 cup mayonnaise
3 Tbsp sour cream or plain full-fat yoghurt
1 tsp sugar

Put dried cranberries in a heatproof bowl and pour the boiling water on top. Let soak until soft - about 10 minutes. Drain and set aside.
Combine all the ingredients for the dressing in a big bowl. Stir until well combined.
Add all the other ingredients. Season with salt and pepper. Toss to combine.
Chill in the fridge overnight.
Serve on a bed of lettuce and with a sprinkling of Sweet Spicy Pecans on top.

Adobong Mani

2011-05-10T00:10:00.000+01:00

This is best paired with a tall glass of Coke with lots of ice. Yum! One of the favourite snacks of Pinoys is this deep-fried peanut aka adobong mani. Why it's called adobo, with nary a sight of vinegar nor soy sauce, I do not know. I just go with the flow or rather the flavour and do not attempt to explain things away.

I used to watch my more enterprising younger sister make this when she was still in elementary school. She then proceeds to package it into small plastic bags and sell it via a corner store. Me and the rest of our siblings? We gamely volunteered to pack it for her with the eye of course of sneaking every other spoonful in our mouths. You can probably guess that my sister's business didn't exactly flourish. Hahaha.

The thing with deep frying the peanuts is once it reaches the cooked stage it can very quickly burn in a matter of seconds. So it is imperative to immediately remove all of the peanuts from the deep fryer once you think it's cooked otherwise you will have a mix of crunchy well cooked ones and some burned ones. Not nice at all.

My sister did not have any deep fryer thermometer nor use a timer when she was cooking this. All she had for indicator was the garlic - if it turned to golden crispy and the peanuts are of the right colour then it is done. You can use that as a guide although timing it and pre-heating the cooking oil to the right temperature would help a lot from guesswork.

Adobong Mani
Deep Fried Red-Skinned Peanuts

dried red-skinned peanuts
garlic cloves - smashed skin-on
cooking oil
fine salt

Pour some cooking oil into a saucepan to reach at least 1/2-inch up the side. Heat until it reaches 180C/350F in temperature.

Deep fry the garlic and peanuts in batches making sure that the peanuts are submerged in oil. Cook for 3 - 4 minutes for peanuts with small kernels and 4 - 5 minutes for big kernels.

Set a metal sieve or strainer on a deep bowl. Once the peanuts are cooked, pour the whole lot in the strainer making sure that the bowl will catch the hot oil. Drain and transfer to a serving bowl. Add fine salt to taste.

Pour back the oil in the saucepan, re-heat to 180C, and repeat for the next batch.

Baked Pork Chop Rice

2011-04-15T23:53:00.001+01:00

This is my homage to Hong Kong-style fastfood restaurants that ushered me gently into the wonderful world of Hong Kong food. At the start my stint in the former British colony in the early 1990s, I was quite intimidated of walking into any restaurant for fear of being reprimanded or ignored due to my lack of Cantonese language skills. So the fast food restaurants of Maxim's and Cafe de Coral were heaven sent for me. If the staff does not speak English I simply point to the brightly coloured pictures of mouth-watering food on the wall and I get served pronto!

Thank god the fast food there were so much healthier than the usual Western ones. The mains were almost always a rice-based meal or noodles with meat. Although there are some pretty weird ones like Hot Lemon Coke. Once I plucked the courage to order one to satisfy my growing curiosity. How did they do it? They filled up a tall glass with Coke, stuck in a microwave and nuked it then, just before handing it to me, dropped a slice of lemon in it. Et voila - hot lemon coke! I was laughing pretty much of the time I walked to my table. The concoction had a strange chemical potion taste to it. Similar to a medicine you're forced to swallow when you were small except it's hot. It was okay though I'm not hurrying to order another one any time soon. LOL.

Baked Pork Chop Rice is one of my favourites among Cafe de Coral's menu. It is simply fried pork chops (marinated and floured), put on a bed of egg fried rice, topped with a tomato-based sauce and grated cheese then baked. Just remembering the smell when it comes out of the oven onto my plastic tray and the wonderful taste of the succulent chops starts me drooling.

My well-thumbed Chopsticks Recipes Introduction cookbook by Cecilia J. Au Yeung is where I got the recipe that I adapted.

Baked Pork Chop Rice

500 gm pork chops or pork rib steaks or pork shoulder steaks
flour
grated cheddar cheese

*Marinade:
2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
1/2 tsp garlic salt
1/2 tsp celery salt (optional)
1 tsp light soy sauce
2 tsp rice wine
2 tsp sugar
1 Tbsp water
1 Tbsp cooking oil

*Sauce:
1 medium onion - chopped
2 medium tomatoes - chopped
1/2 cup of chopped vegetables - carrots, peas, sweetcorn, celery, etc.
1 Tbsp tomato paste or ketchup
1 cup stock
1 Tbsp light soy sauce
1 tsp sugar
freshly ground black pepper
1 Tbsp cornflour
3 Tbsp water
1 cooking oil

*Egg Fried Rice:
4-5 cups cooked rice
2 beaten eggs
3 Tbsp cooking oil
salt to taste

Pound the meat with a meat mallet or the back of a cleaver knife to tenderise.
Combine all ingredients for the marinade and mix with the meat. Marinate for 15 minutes.
Add the oil and marinate for another 10 minutes.

While it is marinating, make your egg fried rice. Heat the oil in a wok.
Add the cooked rice plus salt according to taste.
Stir fry for a few minutes.
When it is almost done, push the rice to the sides of the wok and drizzle a little oil in the middle. Pour in the beaten eggs and cook in the middle for a few seconds until almost completely set. Then combine it with the rest of the rice breaking it up as you stir it in.
Remove from heat and set aside.

For the sauce, heat the cooking oil in a sauce pan.
Saute the onion in medium heat until translucent.
Add the tomatoes and cook until soft. Mash the tomatoes with a spatula.
Tip in the soy sauce, sugar, tomato paste, pepper, stock, and vegetables.
Bring to boil and then simmer until the vegetables are cooked (about 5 minutes).
Dissolve the cornflour in the water and then add to the sauce.
Bring to boil on medium heat and stir until thickened.
Remove from heat and set aside.

Pre-heat oven to 220C/fan 200C/430F.
Dredge the marinated pork chops in flour.
Deep fry or pan fry until golden brown - about 3 minutes each side.

*To assemble:

Divide the egg fried rice into oven-proof bowls.
Top each one with one fried pork chop.
Spoon sauce on top.
Sprinkle grated cheese.
Bake in oven for about 15 minutes.
Serve while hot.

German Apple Pancake

2011-03-18T23:35:00.006Z

Lesson for this recipe: use a non-stick pan! As you can see from the pictures the brutality of the removal from the pan I used is quite evident. :) I swear I'll post a better illustration later.

Despite the messed up appearance of the final product the flavour was sublime. Yum! Most especially since it is not particularly sweet. If you need further sugar boost, copious amount of maple or golden syrup over it will do the job.

This is adapted from excellent The New Best Recipe cookbook which is currently providing me with a lot of culinary ideas.

German Apple Pancake

3/4 cup whole milk (or half single cream and half whole milk)
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 large eggs - lightly beaten
1/2 tsp fine salt
1 Tbsp granulated sugar
1/2 cup plain flour
1 Tbsp unsalted butter
3 medium Golden Delicious or Granny Smith apples
1/4 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
2 Tbsp icing sugar (confectioner's)

Pre-heat oven to 260C/fan 240C/500F.
Peel and core the apples and cut into 1/4-inch slices.
Mix the milk, eggs, vanilla, salt and granulated sugar until well combined. Set aside.
In a 10-inch non-stick oven-proof pan, melt the butter.
Add the apples and sprinkle the brown sugar over.
Cook over medium-high heat while stirring occasionally until the apples turn golden (about 10 minutes).
Remove the pan from the heat. Pour the batter around the edge of the pan then over the apples.
Place the pan in the oven and reduce the temperature to 220C/fan 200C/425F.
Bake until puffed and browned - about 16 minutes.
Loosen the edge of the pancake with a heatproof spatula. Invert the pancake on a serving plate and dust top with icing sugar. Serve immediately with warm maple syrup.

Marzipan

2011-02-22T00:32:00.004Z

I'm so happy, I'm so giddy, I'm so happy and giddy and gay! (to the tune of I Feel Pretty). Why do I feel this way? I found these chocolate covered marzipan in my local Lidl shop. You know how I loooooove these ground almond concoction. And now knowing that I can have my twice-a-year marzipan fix made me so so much happier. See, Lidl only sells these during Christmas and Easter time. I know the latter is still a good 2 months away but the shops are already awash with Easter eggs. I wouldn't complain with the crass materialism of a supposedly religious event as long as I can have my yummylicious chocolate marzipan. LOL.

Well, actually I can have them any time of the year by buying from premium brands. But there's no way my conscience can get over the guilt of spending so much. So these very good value for money Lidl ones are what I eagerly await twice a year! Not having them often makes them even more a reason to celebrate during these times.

Beef Rendang

2011-01-26T19:41:00.006Z

This is one of my all-time favourite winter comfort food. It's rich, spicy, flavourful, and very Southeast Asian. Like our adobo, there are a lot of variations on it as there are households. But from what I can gather, the essential ingredients besides the meat are the spices (onion, curry leaves, curry powder, turmeric, and chili pepper) and the coconut milk. All the other ingredients are fair game to the diversity of adaptations. And when I say lots of variations that means you will see more versions of this particular dish that I will experiment on and will invariably be seen in this food blog sometime later. In the next decade perhaps? ;)

I love the resulting sauce in it (eaten with lots of hot steamed rice) after a long stew. According to my Malaysian friend, people in the northern parts of Malaysia and Indonesia cook it until the sauce dries out and the meat is fried in the rendered oil from the sauce. This they say is primarily done to preserve the meat and not spoil easily. Believe me, I tried this once and it was superb! It's wonderfully good with some white fluffy bread with some lettuce and cucumber stuck in.

This recipe is adapted from an old Asian cookbook in the Bromley Library which I forgot to write down the name. In fact, the title of the recipe in the book was 'Dry-Fried Beef Curry'. The instruction was to cook until dry but I love the sauce very much that I put in the option of not doing this if preferred.

Tamarind liquid is used here. You can make this two ways: first by diluting tamarind paste with water; secondly by soaking about 1 Tablespoon (add more or less depending on the sourness you want) of tamarind pulp in 1/2 cup of hot water for about 15 minutes then strain the liquid through a sieve and discarding the pulp. The tamarind pulp I get here in the UK are all in rectangular block shape. While in the Philippines (well at least in our barrio), it is formed into balls and are called tipe (ti-pe). My lola (grandma) used to always ask me to buy some from the corner sari-sari store whenever we have pinangat na isda (stewed fresh fish) for our meal. We make tamarind liquid with it which is then mixed with either our home-made patis (fish sauce) or heko - the scum skimmed from the boiling talyase (big wok) of liquid during patis-making. Yumm-mmy !

Beef Rendang

1 kg stewing beef - cut into serving sizes
2 medium onion - chopped
6 fat cloves of garlic
1 Tbsp chopped ginger
3 fresh red chillies - stalk removed
2 tsp sea salt
2 cups [400 gm] coconut cream or thick coconut milk
1 tsp ground turmeric
2 tsp chili powder (optional)
2 tsp ground coriander
6 curry leaves
1 stem fresh lemon grass
1 tsp galangal or ginger powder
1/2 cup tamarind liquid
2 tsp sugar

Place garlic, onion, ginger, fresh chillies, and 1/2 cup of the coconut cream in a blender or food processor. Blend until smooth.
Put in a wide mouthed casserole. Wash out the blender with the remaining coconut cream and add to the casserole.
Add the rest of the ingredients except tamarind liquid and sugar.
Bring to boil then add the tamarind liquid. Lower heat to low and simmer until meat is tender (about 1.5 hours) while stirring from time to time.
By this time, the sauce would be reduced and thick. Add the sugar, stir and cook for about 2 minutes more.
Dish up and serve with hot steamed rice.

*Note: If you decide to do the dry-fry version:

Cook this uncovered. When the sauce gets too dry add a little water just prevent it burning before the meat is tender.
Continue simmering until almost dry. Stir often.
When oil separates from the gravy, stir in the sugar. Allow the meat to fry in the oily gravy until dark brown while stirring constantly.

Victoria Sponge Sandwich Cake with Tate & Lyle

2010-11-15T23:35:00.003Z

My eldest daughter J9 had her birthday a few weeks ago. This time I asked her pointedly on what birthday cake she likes that she will eat. I did not want to repeat previous yeas when I buy or bake something and was eaten by all lonesome me. Sigh, they're too finicky these kids. Who are their parents?

Anyways, she said she wanted a Victoria Sponge Sandwich cake which we have been baking regularly this year and always gets eaten within a day. It's a favourite not only because of its nice buttery flavour but it's so easy to make. Before I used to have this notion that sponge cakes are technically challenging for your average baker. Well, not this sponge. Although I haven't tried it yet, I bet you can do a one-bowl mixing of all the ingredients. It's that simple.

This particular cake is also known as Victoria Sponge or Victoria Sandwich. Both of which pertains to a sponge cake with fillings in between layers.

I had some help in the guise of one of my favourite brands in the sugar department. One of Tate & Lyle's marketing people sent me some samples for my own baking use. To be honest I really don't need any introduction to it since I use Tate & Lyle regularly but any free samples is most welcome! As with the march of social networking websites that seems to be making blogs less popular, they have their own Facebook site that you have a peek at - We Love Baking.

Victoria Sponge Sandwich Cake

250 gm [1 cup] butter - at room temperature
250 gm caster sugar (superfine)
250 gm plain flour
2 tsp baking powder
4 eggs
3-4 Tbsp whole full-fat milk

Preheat oven to 180C/fan 160C/350F. Butter two 20cm round cake pan or a 9x5-inch loaf pan and line its bottoms with greaseproof paper.
Mix the flour and baking powder until well combined. Set aside.
Beat the butter and caster sugar together until light and fluffy (about 5 minutes).
Add the eggs one at a time, followed by the flour mixture. Mix until well incorporated.
Add enough milk to the batter so that it falls off easily from a spoon.
Divide the mixture between the two prepared pans.
Bake for 20-25 minutes for the round pans or 50-55 minutes for the loaf pan or until a skewer poked in the middle comes out clean.
Turn out on a rack and cool completely.
Either level the top of one of the cake layer and spread the fillings on it or spread it on the bottom without leveling the top.
Put the second cake layer on top and dust a little icing sugar over it.
You have a choice of fillings below or spread whatever you like on it which in my daughter's case means - Nutella !

*Traditional Filling:
100 gm butter - softened to room temperature
125 gm icing sugar
1 cup strawberry jam

Beat the butter with the icing sugar.
Spread this first then put the strawberry jam on top of it.

*Filling 2:
1 cup double cream
fresh strawberries
strawberry jam

Whip the double cream to stiff peaks.
Assemble the fresh strawberries on the first cake layer then spoon a little jam on it.
Spread the whipped double cream on it.

Fudges Savoury Biscuits

2010-10-15T23:45:00.000+01:00

Fudges has been quite generous to send me some of their delectable savoury biscuits. I'm quite familiar with the brand although only their sweet cookies are ones I have repeatedly purchased before. And like their sweet products, these new savoury biscuits are very good. We lost no time in trying them with different spreads, dips, drinks (teas and coffees) but I personally like them with soups which in these increasingly colder weather is very welcome indeed.

My favourite is the mature cheddar flavour while my husband prefer the stilton and walnut ones. Thanks Fudges Bakery!

Chicken Inasal

2010-08-31T22:10:00.005+01:00

I've been experimenting with concoctions for a chicken inasal recipe ever since I read this article about the wonderful piquant barbecued chicken from the Visayas region. Just reading that article and imagining the smoky, well marinated, juicy piece of chicken heaven made me salivate so much. I had to have one and fast!

Most of the recipes I read in the internet said not to scrimp on the spices. Most also suggest to marinate for 1 hour only. But I did get a lot of flavour when I extended that to 6 hours. It was great tasting!

One of the secrets, according to Mang Melchor, is in the vinegar. Use your best and most acidic 'native' vinegar and you cannot go wrong. A lot of people swear by the use of Star margarine or butter in the basting sauce. But on my two trials I used the rendered fat from the chicken itself with nothing but achuete to colour it and it came out good. Next time I'll put some butter and salt in it. We'll see ...

This recipe is still in the tweaking stage so the proportion and ingredients will most likely change later on as I continue to discover the best way of grilling these chicken delights.

Chicken Inasal

1 kg chicken legs
6 Tbsp vinegar
6 Tbsp calamansi or lemon juice
1 Tbsp sea salt
2 tsp brown sugar
3 Tbsp minced garlic
3 Tbsp minced ginger
freshly ground black pepper

*Basting Sauce:
3 Tbsp rendered chicken oil or vegetable oil
1 Tbsp achuete (annatto) seed

Trim excess fat and skin from the chicken and set aside. Make diagonal slits on both sides of the chicken legs.
Combine all other ingredients then put in a plastic ziploc bag together with the chicken legs. Marinate for at least 2 hours.
For the basting sauce, cook the reserved chicken fat and skin with a little water. Once the water evaporates, drizzle a little oil. Fry the chicken fat until well crisp.
Remove the crispy chicken fat/skin and add the achuete seeds. Lower heat and cook for about 1 minute or until the achuete gives off its deep red colour. Strain the achuete seeds and discard. Set aside the coloured oil for basting.
[Optional] Place the chicken legs in a baking pan tightly covered by aluminum foil. Bake at 350F/180C/160C-fan for 25 minutes.
Grill chicken on a charcoal barbecue while basting with the achuete oil from time to time. Cook until outside is crisp and well browned.

Note: If you skipped the oven-cooking, grill the chicken on indirect heat in the barbecue for at least 15-20 minutes to ensure that the inside is cooked. Then move it to direct heat for the last 5-10 minutes of browning.

Chocolate Date Fudge Cake

2010-07-15T00:01:00.005+01:00

It was the apple monster's 19th birthday and this is what he requested - the same chocolate cake I made about two years ago for his father. Although I have to reduce *a lot* of the sugars since my lasting memory of it was tooth-achingly sweet. He loved the icing which was buttercream-based so that stayed in. The caramel filling has to go because it packs in too much of the sweetness and we really don't want it too sweet. I adapted this from the Great American Food cookbook by . Well, actually in the book it was titled - Chocolate Fudge Turtle Cake. I couldn't for the life of me make turtle-looking mounds with the icing and you have to put in pecans as their 'feet'. My kids don't like nuts in cakes so I didn't have to do it - yay! The cake itself was very moist and the icing really lovely especially if you chill the cake first in the fridge. Very nice. I hope you like it, too.

Chocolate Date Fudge Cake

80 gm [1/2 cup] chopped pitted dates
1/2 cup boiling water
3/4 tsp bicarbonate of soda (baking soda)
170 gm dark chocolate (at least 70% cocoa content) - broken into pieces
65 gm [1/3 cup] caster sugar
4 large eggs - separated
125 gm [1/2 cup] unsalted butter - room temperature
220 gm [1 cup firmly packed] brown sugar
240 gm plain self-raising flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp fine salt
1/4 cup cold water
1/2 cup sour cream
1 tsp vanilla extract

* For the Chocolate Frosting:
130 gm [2/3 cup] granulated sugar
375 ml [1 1/2 cup] double or whipping cream
170 gm dark chocolate (at least 70% cocoa content) - broken into pieces
pinch of salt
125 gm [1/2 cup] unsalted butter
1/4 - 1/2 tsp instant espresso or ordinary coffee granules
1 tsp vanilla extract

Put the chopped dates in a heat-proof bowl and pour the boiling water over them. Add 1/4 tsp of the bicarbonate of soda and stir to combine. Let stand for at least 30 minutes.
Puree the mixture in a food processor or with a stick blender. If you don't have a blender, mash it with a fork. Set aside.
Combine the dark chocolate, date puree, caster sugar, and 1 egg yolk in a saucepan. Cook over low-medium heat while stirring constantly until all of the chocolate is melted and the mixture well combined. Do not allow to boil. Remove from heat and cool.
In a bowl, sift and combine together the flour, baking powder, remaining bicarbonate of soda, and the salt. Set aside.
Mix the sour cream, cold water, and vanilla in another container. Set aside.
Butter and flour two 9-inch round cake pans. Preheat the oven to 180C/fan 160C/350F.
In a big bowl, beat the butter with the brown sugar with an electric mixer until light and fluffy.
Add the remaining 3 egg yolks, one at a time, beating well after each addition.
Mix in the flour and sour cream mixtures alternately in 3 parts ending with the dry ingredients. Make sure to beat well after each addition.
Add in the cooled chocolate mixture until evenly combined.
In a separate clean bowl, whisk the 4 egg whites until stiff but not dry.
Using a metal spoon, fold the egg whites into the cake batter gently but thoroughly.
Pour the batter equally between the two prepared cake pans and bake in the oven for 25-30 minutes or until a skewer poked in the middle comes out clean.
Cool in the pan for 5 minutes then turn out on a rack and cool completely.

* For the frosting:

Mix the sugar, cream in a heavy saucepan and bring to a gentle boil over low-medium heat.
Reduce to heat to low and simmer while stirring occasionally until the sugar is completely dissolved.
Remove from the heat, add in the chocolate and coffee granules. Stir until chocolate has melted.
Add the rest of the ingredients and stir until butter has melted.
Cool the mixture and put in the fridge for about 30 minutes-1 hour.
By this time the mixture should be thicker. Beat the frosting with an electric mixer until the colour changes slightly and it has a spreading consistency.

* To assemble:

Level the top of one of the cake layers by slicing off the excess. Spread about 1/2 cup of the frosting on it.
Put the other cake layer on top and spread the rest of the frosting generously over the top and sides of the cake. Refrigerate for about 30 minutes before serving.

Mac & Cheese

2010-06-26T23:10:00.008+01:00

It's been quite a while since I've blogged and I'm missing it a bit. My virtual life has to be put on hold so that I can take care of important things in real life. There is no dearth of materials, mind you. I've a number of recipes in a queue waiting for me to pick up my blogging keyboards again.

Possibly the most common recipe I have to continually look in my cookbook is the macaroni and cheese recipe. My kids request it almost every week now.

I was wondering about the elbow-shaped pasta very common in the Philippines which is usually used for this recipe. The fact is, I cannot find it here among the local UK supermarkets. The only places I saw them are in - surprise, surprise - Pinoy food shops. So I normally use penne or rigatoni pasta or any tube pasta except, ironically, macaroni itself. The macaronis here are quite small and thick. I'd really prefer a lighter bite on the pasta hence the choice of other pasta shapes.

As expected, I adopted the recipe from The Ultimate Recipe Book. I think I'll be cooking virtually every recipe in there. It suggested putting breadcrumbs as a topping. But everytime I did I end up coughing and choking on the little breadcrumb grains. So that is definitely off with only the cheese adorning the top.

Macaroni & Cheese

275 gm of grated cheese (any combination of Cheddar, Parmesan, and Gruyere)
300 gm of tube pasta
750 ml [3 cups] full-fat milk
50 gm butter
1/4 cup plain flour
1 tsp Dijon mustard
salt and pepper

Reserve about 1/3 cup of the grated cheese for topping.
Boil and cook the pasta according to the manufacturer's instructions.
Melt the butter in a saucepan over medium-low heat.
Add in the flour. Cook for about 2 minutes while continually stirring.
Stir in the milk about 1/2 cup at a time. Bring to gentle boil while making sure to stir until smooth before adding the next 1/2 cup in.
Once all the milk is in, simmer over low heat for about 5 minutes while stirring from time to time.
Remove from heat. Add the mustard, stir until blended. Add the cheese, stir until blended as well.
Add in salt and pepper to taste.
Mix in with the pasta. Pour into a greased 7 x 11-inch heatproof dish. Sprinkle the reserved grated cheese on top.
Bake for 15 minutes in an oven at 190C/375F/fan 170C.
Grill for about 5 minutes or until the top is golden brown.
Serve while still hot.

Variation: Replace the reserved cheese topping with fresh breadcrumbs - process two slices of fresh bread (you may remove the crust) in a food chopper or processor and sprinkle on top of the pasta before baking.

World Bread Day 2009: American Sandwich Bread

2009-10-16T21:18:00.002+01:00

It's World Bread Day! The previous year's blog event for this special day always passed me by. Bread making wasn't really in my arsenal of kitchen skills. But now that I've done bread making more often than I used to, I thought taking part in this once-a-year event would be the best thing. Zorra has been wonderfully hosting this event for the past three years.

One thing that helped me recently is my Panasonic bread maker. It's more than a year old actually but I've only used it several times. We're not too keen with the quality of the baked bread it churns out. The bread itself (or the middle) comes out too moist or wet. We've tried making many different kinds of bread in it (using the recipe book that it comes with) but they all come out the same. I tried reducing the liquid but the bread was worse. So nowadays I just use it as a bread kneader and first riser which it does beautifully. My bread making efforts are definitely reduced and there is less mess all around.

Okay this is not the first ever bread that I did but I was hoping to perfect this bread to use as a staple in our pantry. Perfect as in looking, smelling, and tasting like ones we buy from shops. My benchmark actually is Warburton Toastie which my family loves and in our opinion is the best commercial sandwich bread around. The Best Recipe Cookbook (my constant guide mowadays) provided the recipe that I adapted.

How did it go? It was good although my youngest and my husband was put off by the yeasty smell. So I guess next time I will reduce the yeast considerably. Mind you, I used active dry yeast successfully in the bread maker which in all its instructions always say to use instant dry yeast. But active dry yeast is just fine. All you have to do is 'wake it up' or activate it by dissolving in warm liquid and letting stand for a few minutes. I find it's helpful as well in knowing if your yeast is still good when you see (or not see) it foaming. With the instant dry yeast you won't know until after the first rising and by then all that dough is wasted.

American Sandwich Bread

520 gm bread flour
1 tsp fine salt
1/3 cup warm water
1 cup warm milk
3 Tbsp sugar
2 Tbsp unsalted butter - melted
1 package (2 1/4 tsp) instant yeast or active yeast

Mix the flour and salt in a bowl. Set aside.
Mix the water, milk, butter, sugar, and yeast. Stir to dissolve yeast and sugar. If using active dry yeast, let stand for about 10 minutes until the mixture starts to foam.
Hand method: Mix yeast mixture with the flour until it comes together enough to handle. Turn out on a lightly floured surface and knead for about 5 minutes until the dough is smooth and satiny. Shape into a ball. Put the dough in a lightly oiled bowl, rubbing it around to coat it lightly with oil. Cover with a plastic wrap and place in a warm place until the dough doubles in size (about 2 hours).
Bread machine method: Pour the yeast mixture in the bread machine then pour the flour and salt mixture on top. Set machine to dough setting and turn on. This will take about 2 hours to complete the kneading and rising.
Once the first rising is done, place the dough on a lightly floured surface and knead for a few minutes. Shape into a log and place in a greased 9 x 5-inch loaf pan. Press it gently so it touches all four sides of the pan. Cover with greased plastic wrap and place in a warm place to rise until double in size (about 1 hour).
Bake in a 350F/180C/fan 160C pre-heated oven for 40 to 50 minutes.
Remove from pan and tap bottom of bread. If it sounds hollow the bread is ready, if not return to pan and oven for another 5 minutes. Turn out onto a wire rack and cool completely.

Note: If you want a crispy crust, put another baking pan below the loaf pan in the oven. Fill this with about 1-2 cups of boiling water. This will provide moisture throughout the baking of the bread making the crust crispy.

There Are Phases I Remember

2009-10-03T20:08:00.002+01:00

My family knows that I operate in phases. Even in food and cooking, they certainly remember those weeks when all I try to bake and think about are egg tarts or any baked custard. Then came the phase of anything muffins or cupcakes. Another time of all pies. It is the same with my life in general. I have these passing phases of obsession. Besides the constant passion in reading, there was a period not long ago that I was interested in anything "New Age". Consequently I was into meditation, alternative medicine, and the likes. I even attended some Tibetan meditation class. Most of the things I learned during this time I retained though sadly I do not meditate as regularly as before.

As expected from me, I was very interested in the accessories that came with the Buddhist meditation. You know things like round kapok pillows, bells, incense, burners, etc. One thing that caught my attention that I haven't used one yet is what they call the singing bowls. The sound from the singing bowls works in much the same way that chanting a certain word or phrase can enhance a person's meditation or put him in an altered state of mind. These were traditionally used by Tibetan monks and ordinary people in their meditation. There are currently Tibetan Singing Bowls that are available in the internet. Among the newer types of singing bowls are the Crystal Singing Bowls which, being made of crystal, creates a purer and clearer tone and a sound of higher volume that traditional singing bowls. Whichever one you choose they certainly look good and are hopefully effective in healing and meditation. I hope I'd be able to sample one of these soon and see what its effects on me.

Meringues

2009-09-30T21:48:00.003+01:00

It's not very pretty. In fact it looks like some ... oh never mind. I never thought meringue making is this easy. It only consisted of 3 ingredients, imagine that! It was so easy even our 14-year-old nephew was able to make it all by himself. Thus the poo-looking mounds in the picture. Hahaha!

Actually he was the one who made the second batch because the first one I made was gone in a minute. Really yummy! The recipe was adapted from Angela Nilsen's The Ultimate Recipe Book

Next time I will make some Eton Mess with it. Thinking of which, I have to hurry up because strawberries will be disappering soon.

Meringues

4 egg whites
115 gm icing sugar (confectioner's)
115 gm caster sugar (superfine)

Preheat oven to 120C/fan 100C/250F. Line baking sheets with parchment or baking non-stick paper.
Beat egg whites with an electric mixer on medium speed until stiff peaks stage (stands up in stiff peaks when the blades are lifted).
Continue beating though this time on high speed. Start adding the caster sugar one tablespoon at a time. Continue beating 3-4 seconds after each addition. It should be thick and glossy after all the sugar has been added.
Sift one-third of the icing sugar on the beaten egg whites. With a metal spoon or rubber spatula, gently fold in it. Continue sifting and folding the icing sugar a third at a time. Do not over mix.
Using a dessert spoon, heap the mixture into small mounds (or you can pipe them) onto the lined baking sheets.
Bake for 1 1/2 hour or until the meringues sound crisp when tapped at the bottom.
Leave to cool completely on a wire rack.
Suggested serving: sandwich two meringues with softly whipped cream

Pinakurat

2009-09-12T17:20:00.000+01:00

What's the best dip companion for crisp fried danggit? Why spicy vinegar of course, smothered in copious amount of hot steaming fluffy rice. I have to admit spicy hot food have not always been my cup of tea. When it comes to these fire-breathing, tongue-scorching food I'm a bonafide coward. My tongue tends to be on the sensitive side and needs some TLC. I prefer distinguishing distinct spice flavours instead of being swamped and overwhelmed by heat. It's no wonder I use spicy hot dips sparingly.

Pinakurat, the spicy vinegar dip from Iligan City, was introduced to me by my BIL Derek. Unlike most spicy vinegars from the Philippines, Pinakurat managed to get the sourness, spices and hotness balanced just right. It actually tastes of some other spices other than the ubiquitous chillies. Mind you the hotness comes to you gradually not like an in-your-face typical hot spiciness common among other brands. Pinakurat is now my choice dip for crispy fried anything including the excellent danggit, tocino, and tapa. Yum!

Note: This is not a paid advertisement.

5th Anniversary

2009-08-30T01:02:00.002+01:00

Happy birthday my blog, happy birthday my blog ...
It's been more than five years now since I started pounding the keyboard to breathe virtual electronic life to the recipes that were just filed in my folders. From the prolific output of about twice a week posts to a dearth of once a month, I still hang onto this beloved blog.

I felt that five years is a milestone enough to warrant changing of the blog template as you can see. I wish the main window is wider so I can post bigger pictures but this is a free template and I don't have Photoshopping powers to alter it. That's alright. I think it's cute and a nice change from the bright one I had before.

Please bear with me I haven't included all the links that I had in the old template. Plus I'm still in the process of tweaking it here and there. I have to say Blogger's new modular template style is much better than before. It makes it much easier to add things or what it calls 'widgets'.

Happy anniversary again to my blog ... here's to five more years of food blogging.

Grease Is The Word

2009-08-12T00:17:00.004+01:00

My bundt cake pan saw first action today after languishing in my cupboard for the last 4 years. I've never done a recipe that requires one maybe because as they say out of sight out of mind? The apple monster requested another apple cake - as expected. Since I have a tub of sour cream about to expire I quickly trawled through the net to find recipes that would marry these two ingredients. The apple-sour cream concoctions I found were running on similar threads. Ingredients list are similar which only vary slightly in quantities. I printed off the two most promising and averaged the quantities. Lo and behold ! It was the best apple cake I've done ever and my family eagerly concurred.

However, the presentation was all ruined by a dearth of grease. If only I wasn't too lazy to patiently put more butter in it. Besides, I was too stubborn to follow instructions to grease AND flour the darn bundt pan. So there you are - apple cake volcano - after the eruption !

Not wanting to be classified as an 'old dog', I resolved to make it again this time making sure I learn my new 'tricks'. Generous amount of grease went to the smallest crevasses of the bundt pan then floured it generously as well. Some cinnamon was added but even without the cinnamon it was still delicious. The second attempt was a success. Just look at those nice unblemished contours made by the bundt pan. And like the first time it had the loveliest flavours as well.

Apple Sour Cream Cake

1 cup butter - softened
1 3/4 cups granulated sugar
3 large eggs
1 cup sour cream
2 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon (optional)
1 tsp vanilla
3 cups coarsely chopped apples

*Filling: (optional)
1/4 cup brown sugar - firmly packed
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 cup chopped nuts

*Glaze: (optional)
3 Tbsp icing sugar (confectioner's)
1-2 Tbsp milk

Preheat oven to 350F/180C/fan 160C.
Generously grease and flour a Bundt pan or cake pan. Set aside.
Combine the flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda, and salt in a bowl. Set aside.
Mix all the filling mixture in another container. Set aside.
Beat the butter with 1 1/2 cups of the sugar in a big bowl until light and fluffy.
Add the eggs one at a time making sure to beat well after each addition.
Add vanilla, mix well.
Using a wooden spoon, stir in the flour mixture alternating with the sour cream. Blend well.
Mix the remaining 1/4 cup sugar with the chopped apples. Then stir the apples into the batter. Mix well making sure that the apples are well distributed.
Pour half of the batter into the prepared baking pan.
Sprinkle the filling mixture on top (if using).
Then pour the rest of the batter in the pan.
Bake for about 60-70 minutes or until a skewer poked all the way in the middle comes out clean.
Right after coming out of the oven, immediately turn the cake out on a rack or plate. Cool completely.
If using the glaze, mix just enough milk to the icing sugar to make a thin drizzling consistency.
Drizzle the glaze all over the top of the cake.

Nutty Puffs

2009-07-24T23:29:00.001+01:00

I forgot to include in my previous post of favourite things this ampaw that I can't resist. In my younger years, whenever we go back home to Amaya I never fail to ask for this peanut covered ampaw when we pass by a bakery in Zapote. I know this has a Chinese name but just can't remember it now.

As you can see the outside has been rolled in crushed peanuts while the inside is all crispy puffy ... things. The ingredients list says that it contains glutinous rice, sugar, glucose, water, and peanuts. Very few ingredients but the technique and procedure for making it looks complicated. But it doesn't matter I have no intention of making this at home because I'm afraid I'll scarf them all down if I learn to make them. Yum yum!

I simply remember my favourite things and then I don't feel so bad ...

2009-06-30T23:30:00.011+01:00

What can I say? I had a great two-week break back home in the Philippines. As expected I didn't fail to eat all my favourite things. Though sometimes with all my yakking with friends and relatives I forgot to take pictures of some. Fortunately here are a few that I made sure to make kodak of.

My first morning there saw me staring at a plastic bag of bualaw (binatog for the rest of the Phils.). This is one of my all time favourites that I continually reminded my mother to get me it before I flew in. The simplicity of the cooked, slightly sticky corn mixed with freshly grated coconut then simply enhanced by a sprinkling of salt makes me want to eat it all day. Give me more please!

Next in line is the venerable karyoka. A snack or dessert (depending on how hungry you are) that is made of fried puffed glutinous rice balls drenched in some sweet sauce made from panucha (a type of muscovado sugar) and coconut milk. Like most of my favourite things - simple but yummy!

That karyoka was delivered via a family gathering held just before I left for the UK. A sort of despedida. You won't know my family (or probably any Pinoy family) unless you see the amount of food we have in this kind of gathering. We had pancit luglog, lumpiang shanghai, lumpiang sariwa, Pinoy spaghetti (thus sweetish), tokwa't baboy - these are the ones cooked from scratch by my dear aunts. Bought food are the karyoka, pizza, ice cream and all the drinks. This is supposed to be snacks okay not dinner or supposed to be heavy.

Before all these I had a chance to have lunch at Dencio's restaurant in the atmospheric city of Tagaytay. Our table was in roofed but open-sided/open-air veranda that over looks Taal volcano. Lovely! The great food also completed our visit. I have here only a few of the ones that are memorable. The crispy pata was so-so hence not included. It didn't taste fresh enough or crispy enough for me. Although I forgot to take a picture of our appetiser, the excellent Crispy Kangkong, because I was too busy trying to dissect the dish and plotting on how to make it at home. There's a picture in the internet here if you're interested.

The pancit canton was good although a little more sauce would be nice.

The sizzling bangus belly was nice, too. My mother was complaining about the amount of cholesterol in it but even she couldn't help to take a bite.

And the winner is --> pork sisig! This is the best tasting pork sisig I have had so far. Just plain pork sisig with the right tutong (crispy bits) at the bottom and no creamy dressing whatsoever. Yum-my!

If all that eating had us tired, all we had to do was turn on our side and gaze at the view of Taal Volcano right there on our table. *sigh* I wish I could come back soon.

Boston Cream Pie

2009-05-08T22:05:00.003+01:00

Once upon a time, my husband had his birthday. Well actually, it was January this year but seems like ages has passed after a multitude of things happened since then. As in any birthday, a cake is in order for the family celebration which is really a fabulous chance (excuse?) for me to try different cake recipes.

Thumbing through my new (relatively) The New Best Recipe cookbook, we've decided on a Boston Cream Pie. Now why this is called a 'pie' is beyond me because it is one great cake - layers of sponge cakes with custard sandwiched in between then drizzled with chocolate. Just thinking of it make me drool!

The making of the cake itself is a bit of a trek (so to speak) but is definitely worth it. And that's why I love the cookbook where I adapted it from because the instructions are so precise and meticulous it was easy to follow. The authors, Cook's Illustrated, must have written this for OC cooks like me. It is packed full of tips for beginner and experienced kitchen adventurers. I keep on saying I will blog about it but still haven't found the time. :(

Anyways, here is the recipe I used for this delicious cake from Boston (it's true!). Apologies for the pictures of the actual cake. The angles of my shots make it look like a top hat. ;)

Boston Cream Pie

1 recipe of Pastry Cream (recipe below) - chilled
1 recipe of Foolproof Sponge Cake (recipe below) - cooled

*Glaze:
1/4 cup light corn syrup or golden syrup
1 cup double cream (heavy cream)
250 gm dark chocolate
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Prepare pastry cream first, then the sponge cake, and then do the glaze last.
Put golden syrup and double cream in a saucepan and bring to a full simmer over medium heat.
Remove from heat and add the chocolate. Cover and let stand for about 8 minutes.
If the chocolate has not completely melted put back on cooker and heat gently while stirring constantly until all the chocolate is melted.
Add vanilla and stir gently until smooth.
Cool until tepid or when a spoonful drizzled back into the pan mounds slightly.
You can also put it in the fridge to speed up the cooling process but you have to stir it every few minutes to ensure even cooling. Once you get the consistency you want take it out of the fridge.

*To Assemble:

While the glaze is cooling, put one cake layer on a cardboard round (optional) then set on a wire rack over a plate or greaseproof paper. Cut excess cake from top if it is not level.
Spoon the pastry cream carefully on top and spread evenly up to the edges.
Place the second layer on top making sure that they line up properly.
Pour the glaze on the middle of the top layer and let it flow down the sides. Use a metal spatula to completely coat the cake.
Let the cake sit for about 1 hour to make the glaze fully set. Serve the same day.

Pastry Cream

1 cup single cream (light cream)
1 cup whole milk
100 gm [1/2 cup] granulated sugar
pinch of salt
5 large egg yolks
3 Tbsp cornflour (cornstarch)
60 gm [4 Tbsp] cold unsalted butter - cut into cubes
1-1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Heat the milk, cream, 3/4 of the sugar, and salt in a saucepan over medium heat until simmering. Stir occasionally to dissolve the sugar.
While the cream mixture is heating, whisk the egg yolks in a bowl. Add the remaining sugar and whisk until the sugar has begun to dissolve (about 15 seconds).
Whisk in the cornflour until well combined and the mixture is thick (about 30 seconds).
When the cream mixture reaches full simmer, gradually whisk this into the bowl of the yolk mixture.
Return all of this to the saucepan and over medium heat make it simmer again while whisking constantly until thick and glossy and until a few bubbles broke to the surface (about 30 minutes).
Remove from heat and add the butter and vanilla.
(Optional) Strain the pastry cream through a fine-mesh sieve over a medium bowl.
Put a piece of cling film or slightly wet greaseproof paper directly on the surface to prevent a skin forming.
Cool or refrigerate until completely set. This will take at least 3 hours.

Foolproof Sponge Cake

1/2 cup sponge flour (cake flour)
1/4 cup plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
3 Tbsp milk
2 Tbsp unsalted butter
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
3/4 cup sugar
5 large eggs - room temperature

Grease two 8 or 9-inch layer pans and line the bottom with greaseproof paper. Pre-heat oven to 350°F/180°C/fan 160°C.
Separate the 3 eggs and put the egg whites in a mixing bowl. Combine the 3 egg yolks and 2 whole eggs in another mixing bowl. Set aside.
Combine the flours, baking powder, and salt in a small bowl. Mix thoroughly; set aside.
Heat the milk and butter over low heat in a small saucepan until all the butter melts. Remove from heat then add the vanilla extract. Cover and keep warm.
Beat the egg whites with an electric mixer at low speed until foamy. Increase the speed to medium and gradually add 6 Tbsp of the sugar. Keep beating until the it has soft, glossy, and billowy peaks (do not overbeat).
Now beat the egg yolk mixture with the remaining 6 Tbsp of sugar gradually added. Beat at medium speed until the mixture is very thick and pale yellow colour (about 5 minutes).
Add the beaten eggs to the egg whites.
Sprinkle the flour mixture over the beaten egg mixture. Fold very gently 12 times with a large rubber spatula.
Make some space on one side of the batter and pour the milk-butter mixture into the bowl.
Continue folding (about 8 more strokes) until it shows no trace of flour and the rest are evenly mixed.
Immediately pour the batter into the prepared pans.
Bake until the tops are light brown and springs back when when touched. This is about 20 minutes for 8-inch pans and 16 minutes for 9-inch pans.
Immediately run a knife around the sides of the pans and turn out on cooling racks. Cool completely.

Crisp Comeback

2009-04-22T00:37:00.000+01:00

It was a case of long-time-no-see. My son brought this home a few weeks ago. I haven't seen this one favourite crisp (potato chips for the 'Merkins) flavour of mine for years! Supermarkets used to stock these in small and big packets and I never leave for home without it. I wonder why Walker's discontinued selling these? They haven't even distributed them in big supermarkets. The only places we can get these are in small corner shops or news agents. Anyhow, it's nice to enjoy one of my all-time favourite crisp flavours back in town.

Steamed Chicken

2009-03-21T16:39:00.009Z

It's nearly bye-bye time for the Miele Steam Oven that I blogged about a few weeks ago. They're picking it up next week. During the three weeks that we had the privilege of trialling it, we cooked a varied number of dishes besides the fact that my kids using it a lot for re-heating food. They're actually sad that it's going soon.

One of the things I used it for is on embutido. Everyone knows that you have to steam them for 1 hour which is not a problem in this oven.

I found it very useful in steaming a batch of potatoes for one evening that we need it for mashed potatoes.

Several times I steamed veggies in it like these broccoli. It was excellent, the broccoli retained its vibrant green colour while being cooked through and full of flavour.

The one we were wanting most to steam was a fresh sea bass. We got our wish when we visited the Bull Ring Indoor Market in Birmingham and came away with a good sized one to steam Chinese-style.

I also managed to try new recipes like this steamed chicken that I adapted from my well thumbed Chinese Cuisine cookbook by Huang Su-Huei.

Steamed Chicken with Green Onion

1 kg whole chicken of whole legs
1 Tbsp cooking wine
1 Tbsp salt
1 green onion - cut into 4 pieces
2 slices of ginger
1/2 cup shredded green onion
4 Tbsp shredded ginger
fresh ground black pepper
1/2 Tbsp cornstarch
1 Tbsp water

Combine the cooking wine, salt, green onion (the one cut into 4 pieces), and the slices of ginger. Set aside.
Combine the cornstarch and water in another bowl. Set aside.
Wash the chicken and pat it dry.
Rub both the outside and inside of the chicken with the salt mixture. Leave the mixture inside the chicken. Let stand for 1 hour.
Place in a steamer breast-side up and steam over high heat for about 35 minutes.
Remove the chicken and reserve the liquid.
Chop the chicken into bite-sized pieces and put in on a serving platter.
Sprinkle the shredded onion, ginger, and ground black pepper on top.
Heat 1/2 cup of the reserved steaming liquid up to a boil.
Stir in the cornstarch mixture. Let cook for a few seconds or until thick. Pour over the chicken.

Easy Crepes

2009-03-08T22:57:00.009Z

Since we're talking about kitchen machines, I happily stumbled upon a long sought after machine/cooker. I first saw this 'automatic' crepes maker when I visited relatives in Toronto way back in 1994. Ate Eva, my SIL and popular cook among friends and relatives, was making crepes with this machine for use in lumpiang sariwa she's making. Ever since then I've been trying to bag one of those effort-saving crepe maker. And even Ate Eva was searching since her's conked out a few years ago. Seems like they don't sell them anymore in US and Canada and not at all here in UK. I've all given up until I saw this in my sister's kitchen in Geneva! It's branded as Trisa of Switzerland though there's no indication on the box on where it was actually made.

She and my BIL were generous enough to give it to me. They probably saw how desperate I was. :)

It comes with all these accessories (see above). The manual was right it was very easy to use and because the hotplate's surface is teflon coated it's easy to clean as well.

All I have to do is heat up the hotplate then mix up a batter for crepes. Transfer it to the plastic batter pan. Then simply dunk the hotplate onto the batter pan, turn the hotplate up and let it cook. When one side is browned, lift it and cook the other side.

Here's a tip: the longer you hold the hotplate in the pan, the thicker the crepe will be. Now isn't that easier than the usual way of swirling the batter in a crepe pan which invariably takes time and practice to perfect. While with this machine you get right at your first go.

Our favourite filling is the finger-lickingly good Nutella, golden syrup, or just plain sugar. As you can see the batter was not mixed well. My kids couldn't wait to cook them and they're willing to eat blobby crepes just so they can try the crepe maker.

Just a couple of gripes, once you lifted the hotplate from the pan and turn it for browning there would almost always be one of two holes on the crepe. And then there's the size which is limited to the size of the hotplate. You can't make it any bigger.

Here's a basic crepe batter recipe from the accompanying manual:

Crepes

450 ml whole milk
2 large eggs - beaten
50 gm butter - melted
pinch of salt
250 gm plain flour

Mix milk, eggs, and salt in a bowl.
Add flour and melted butter.
Beat until there are no more lumps and is well combined.
Cook either in a crepes machine or by spreading about 1/4 cup at a time on a heated crepe pan.

Full Steam Ahead

2009-02-26T15:24:00.001Z

Steamed food has always appealed to me. Why wouldn't it? Steaming brings out the best flavour and locks in nutrients of most ingredients more than any other cooking method. Though this does not mean that I'm willing to do it often. All the hassle of dragging out all the cooking utensils from cupboards for steaming is something I could do without. And not only that, as a consequence of this I will expectedly have a mountain of pots, pans, steamer basket, etc. I have to wash up. I'm not a happy bunny after all that palaver.

But the kitchen gods must be smiling on me when Matt of Miele was kind enough to give me a more relaxing way of steaming by way of lending me a steam oven for a trial period. Now it's my new best friend. I just love the ease of cooking in it whereas, like what I said before, I used to dread the prospect of steaming. With the Miele steam oven all I have to do is fill up the water jug on its side, set the temperature and timer and away it goes. No fiddling with water laden pots, nor making the lid as tight fitting as possible, or worrying about running out of water (it warns you if water is running low). Once set-up, I shut the door and wait for it to chime indicating end of cooking time. I was quite surprised with the speed it reaches the usual cooking temperature of 100°C or the time it takes to cook things. It's almost like a microwave. I even defrosted frozen chicken in it with very good results. My kids love reheating food frequently using it in favour of our microwave oven.

My first foray in it of course is by way of dessert - steamed puddings of course. All the steamed puddings I have in my arsenal of recipes in this blog I tested in this steam oven. They all came out perfectly. The steamed treacle pudding that I've been wanting to do since time immemorial was the first one I cooked in it. Flavours from Delia Smith's recipe that I adapted were really really addictive that I have to steam one for the second time! It's best eaten with generous lashing of warm custard. I promise you it tastes so much better than how it looks in my picture below. Fantastically great comfort pudding on a winter's night. Do try it - both the steam oven and the treacle pudding.

Steamed Treacle Pudding

3 Tbsp golden syrup
175 gm self-raising flour
1 tsp baking powder
165 gm [2/3 cup] butter - softened
175 gm soft light brown sugar
3 large eggs
1 Tbsp black treacle
3 Tbsp warmed golden syrup (optional) - extra for topping
greaseproof baking paper
aluminium foil

Butter well a 1.2 liter (2 pints) pudding basin. Pour the golden syrup in the bottom of the basin. Set aside.
In a mixing bowl, mix the flour and baking powder.
Add all the other ingredients and beat with an electric mixer for about 2 minutes or until smooth and well combined.
Pour into the pudding basin. Smooth and level the top with the back of a spoon.
Measure the baking paper and foil into a size of about 16-inch x 12-inch. Put the foil on top of the baking paper. Fold and make a pleat in the centre.
Place this on top of the pudding basin with the foil side up. Pull it down the side of the basin and tie with a string or rubber band. Trim the excess baking paper and foil all around.
Steam for 2 hours.
Using a butter knife, loosen the pudding all around the side. Invert into a warmed plate. Pour the extra golden syrup on top (if using). Serve with custard or creme fraiche.

Broccoli Chicken

2009-01-27T22:10:00.010Z

When I saw the picture of this dish in Ken Hom's Hot Wok cookbook, I thought I just gotta make one like it. The combination of chicken and broccoli I definitely cannot resist. But you know how it is with Ken Hom's recipes, you have to tone the saltiness way way down. I wonder if he has any kidney problems?

The very first time I cooked this it was sooo salty that me and my husband were not able to continue after a few spoonfuls. So this time the patis is reduced to a third, oyster sauce and soy sauces reduced as well and I eliminated the salt. Perfect!

Broccoli Chicken

500 gm boneless chicken thighs - cut into 1-inch pieces
2 Tbsp chopped garlic
1 medium onion - quartered
2 Tbsp rice wine or cooking wine
2 Tbsp water or chicken stock
3 medium tomatoes - quartered
2 Tbsp oyster sauce
1/2 Tbsp patis (fish sauce)
1 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
2 tsp sesame oil
450 gm broccoli - cut into small florets
1/2 cup cooking oil

*Marinade
1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper
1 tsp patis (fish sauce)
1 tsp light soy sauce
cornflour - for dusting

Marinate the chicken meat in the black pepper, patis, and light soy sauce for about 30 minutes.
Drain meat from marinade and roll the pieces in cornflour, shaking off excess.
Mix the oyster sauce, fish sauce, sesame oil, pepper, and sugar in a small bowl and set aside.
Boil or steam the broccoli until just cooked. Immediately plunge in cold water. Drain thoroughly.
Heat a wok with the cooking oil over medium heat. Once hot, fry the meat pieces until golden brown. Drain on paper towels and set aside.
Drain off all the oil. Heat the wok again and add 1 Tbsp oil. When it is hot add the garlic and onion. Stir fry for 1 minute.
Add the broccoli and continue to stir fry for 1 more minute.
Add the rice wine and water and continue to stir fry on medium-high heat for 4 minutes.
Stir in the oyster sauce mixture and the tomatoes. Continue to stir fry for 30 seconds.
Add the chicken and stir-fry for another 2 minutes or until the chicken is heated through.
Dish up to a warm platter and serve at once.

Eggless & Nutless Chocolate Cupcakes

2008-12-20T11:58:00.003Z

Trust my youngest daughter to come up with a baking challenge for me. She said she needs 5 cupcakes to take to school for their Christmas party. But one of her classmates is allergic to eggs, nuts, and peas (she spelled it as 'pees' hahaha!). So I have to find a suitable cupcake recipe that is not only eggless but nutless as well (I seem to remember someone like that - hehehe!).

I remembered reading something about the celebrity chef Giorgio Locatelli concocting all sort of non-allergenic recipes for his daughter who is suffering from allergies to a number of food stuff. Thankfully Google yielded his recipe for an eggless and nutless chocolate cake. I just adapted it to cupcake sizes and reduced the baking time.

It came out quite nice actually in a non-rich cake sort of way. I baked it the night before my daughter was about to take it to school. Come morning I took a bite of one and realised that it was not sweet enough and needed a sugar boost. So the next few minutes saw me frantically beating a chocolate icing worthy enough of this recipe. It was really hectic. My daughter was almost out of the door and I was still desperately trying to smear icing on the cupcakes!

Thank goodness the feedback from her classmates were quite positive. In fact, the teachers asked for some as well.

Eggless & Nutless Chocolate Cupcakes

450 gm plain flour
2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
6 Tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
300 gm caster sugar
300 ml [scant 1 1/4 cups] water
2 Tbsp distilled white vinegar
125 ml [1/2 cup] vegetable oil
2 tsp vanilla extract

* Chocolate Icing:
1/2 cup unsalted or slightly salted butter - softened to room temperature
1 1/3 cups icing sugar (confectioner's)
3 Tbsp cocoa powder
1/4 cup double cream
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 180C/fan 160C/350F/gas mark 4.
Mix the wet ingredients in one bowl.
Sift the dry ingredients into another bowl.
Slowly add the wet to the dry ingredients and beat until smooth.
Pour into lined cupcake/muffin tin and bake for 20-25 minutes or a skewer poked in the middle comes out clean.
Remove from oven and cool completely in wire racks.
Add chocolate icing on top.

* For the icing:

Sift the icing sugar and cocoa powder onto the softened butter in a bowl. Beat until smooth.
Add the double cream and vanilla. Beat until well mixed.
Pipe or swirl on top of cupcakes.

Autumn Pasta

2008-12-03T00:10:00.002Z

Tenderstem broccoli has been in supermarket shelves of my local supermarket for quite sometime now but it's only recently that I got to try it. It wasn't hard to convince me since I like the regular broccoli. This tenderstem is a cross between Chinese kale and broccoli. Its appearance is similar to the Chinese gai lan with a slender and tender stem and a darker colouring than broccoli.

October's recipe in our BBC GoodFood calendar has this pasta recipe using the tenderstem. I've been eyeing it for a full month before I organized all the ingredients. And stupid me, even when I was mixing the herbs and pine nuts, did not realise I was making a rough pesto. Duh!

This dish is a welcome change to our usual spag bol, meatballs, or baked pasta that we have week in-week out. I must say it's quite healthy, too, what with those dark green tenderstem, herbs, and pine nuts.

Autumn Pasta

1 garlic clove - finely chopped
25 gm toasted pine nuts - chopped
1 Tbsp chopped flat-leaf parsley or basil
4 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
25 gm parmesan - coarsely grated
200 gm tenderstem broccoli
100g Chanterelle or chestnut or other wild mushrooms - sliced
2 slices Parma ham or streaky bacon - cut in long strips
175 gm spaghetti

Chop finely half of the tenderstem broccoli and slice the rest in half diagonally.
Drop the chopped tenderstem in a pan of boiling water, cook for 2 minutes. Drain and put into a bowl.
Add in the parmesan, pine nuts, garlic and parsley into the cooked tenderstem.
Drizzle 3 Tbsp of the olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Toss well.
Cook the spaghetti according to the package instructions but 3-4 minutes before the end of cooking time add in the sliced tenderstem.
While the spaghetti is cooking, heat the remaining 1 Tbsp olive oil in a frying pan. Fry the parma ham or bacon then drain on some paper towels.
Add mushrooms to the pan and fry for 3-4 minutes. Season with pepper.
Drain the spaghetti and sliced tenderstem in a colander. Return to the pot and toss with tenderstem pesto and and the mushrooms.
Serve onto warmed bowls topped with the crisp parma ham or bacon.

Caramel Cake

2008-11-29T00:11:00.005Z

I've gone over to the dark side ... the dark side of caramel syrup I mean. I got so distracted with John Sargeant's dance of the pasa doble in Strictly Come Dancing's current season. The hilarity of seeing him dragging Kristina Rihanoff like a man taking out the rubbish was enough to make me forget the caramel syrup I was boiling. Let's just say it got quite dark with just a tinge of bitterness in it which I think is fabulous. So a thank you is in order to John and Kristina for making me burn the syrup. Hehehe!

Now getting back to baking, this month's Daring Baker's challenge is - Caramel Cake by Shauna Fish Lydon of Eggbeater and an optional Golden Vanilla Caramels from Pure Dessert by Alice Medrich. It would have been a tragedy had I not made the latter since me and my family including all my work colleagues and all the classmates of my three kids ABSOLUTELY loved those chewy caramels. Never in my life have I encountered such moreish morsels of sweetness. Once you begin it's quite hard to stop. You have been warned!

As for the cake itself, it was lovely and really really appropriate for my birthday. Definitely a keeper though I'll just have to tone down the sweetness of the icing since it also has that caramel syrup glaze. As you can see from the last picture below, I got to practice my icing piping skills though the drizzling of the caramel was a bit of a disaster. Not to worry, afterall it's for my family's consumption so the caramel catastrophe lasted for quite a finite amount of time.

The fantastic group among the Daring Bakers who are the responsible for this are: Dolores of Chronicles of Culinary Curiosity, Alex of Blondie and Brownie, Jenny of Foray into Food, and Natalie of Gluten-a-Go-Go.

So without further ado, here are the recipes:

Caramel Cake
with Caramelized Butter Frosting

155 gm [scant 2/3 cup] unsalted butter - softened at room temperature
1 1/4 cups granulated sugar
1/2 tsp fine salt
2 eggs - room temperature
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups plain flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 cup milk - room temperature
1/3 cup caramel syrup (recipe below)

Preheat oven to 180°C/fan 160°C/350°F/gas mark 4. Grease a deep 9-inch/23cm round cake pan.
Sift flour, baking powder, and salt together. Set aside.
With an electric mixer, cream or beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
Add eggs one at a time making sure to mix well after each addition.
Add vanilla extract. Mix well.
Using a spatula or wooden spoon, fold one third of the flour mixture into the butter mixture.
When incorporated, add half of the milk a little at a time.
Add another third of the flour then add half of the milk and finish with the last third of the flour mixture.
Pour the batter in the greased cake pan.
Bake for about 45 minutes or until a skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean.
Cool completely before icing it. Cake will keep for three days at room temperature.

Caramel Syrup

2 cups granulated sugar
1/2 cup water
1 cup water - for stopping caramelization process

In a small stainless steel saucepan with tall sides, mix water and 1/2 cup sugar. Brush down any stray sugar crystals with wet pastry brush.
Bring to boil in high heat. Cook until smoking slightly and the colour becomes dark amber.
Very carefully pour in one cup water. Caramel will jump and splutter about. Be careful!
Stir over medium heat until it has reduced slightly and feels sticky between two fingers. (Obviously wait for it to cool in a spoon before touching it.)
Remove from heat and cool completely. Syrup may be stored in jars.

Caramelized Butter Frosting

3/4 cup unsalted butter - softened
260 gm [2 cups] icing sugar (confectioner's) - sifted
5 Tbsp double cream
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 Tbsp caramel syrup
sea salt to taste

Cook butter in a saucepan until brown (about 5 minutes). Strain through a fine mesh sieve and set aside to cool.
Beat melted butter in a bowl while adding icing sugar a little at a time.
Add double cream and caramel syrup. Add salt to taste.

Golden Vanilla Caramels

1 cup golden syrup
2 cups granulated sugar
3/8 tsp fine sea salt
2 cups double cream
3 Tbsp unsalted butter - cut into chunks, softened
4 tsp vanilla extract

Line a 9-inch/23cm square baking pan with aluminium foil and grease the foil.
Combine the golden syrup, sugar and salt in a heavy saucepan.
Cook over medium heat while stirring with a wooden spoon until it begins to simmer around the edges.
Wash the sugar and syrup from the sides with a pastry brush dipped in water.
Cover and cook for 3 minutes. Meanwhile, rinse the wooden spoon before using it again.
Uncover the pan and wash down the sides once more.
Attach a deep frying or candy thermometer to the pan, making sure it does not touch the bottom.
Cook uncovered without stirring until the mixture reaches 305°F.
Meanwhile put the double cream in a small saucepan and heat until tiny bubbles form around the edges of the pan. Turn off heat and cover the saucepan to keep it hot.
When the sugar mixture reaches 305°F, turn off heat and stir in the butter.
Gradually stir in the hot cream. It will bubble up and steam dramatically so be careful.
Turn the heat back on and adjust it so that the mixture boils energetically but not violently.
Stir until any thickened syrup at the bottom of the pan is dissolved and the mixture is smooth.
Continue to cook, stirring occasionally, to about 245°F.
Then cook while stirring constantly to 260°F for soft chewy caramels or 265°F for firmer chewy caramels.
Remove pan from heat and stir in the vanilla extract.
Pour the caramel into the prepared cake pan.
Let it cool completely and set for 4 hours or overnight or until firm.
Lift the foil liner from the pan and invert the caramel onto a sheet of baking parchment paper. Peel off foil liner.
Cut caramel with oiled knife. Wrap each caramel individually in wax paper or cellophane.

Digital Lives

2008-11-28T23:45:00.006Z

Nowadays our PCs and laptop has been so integral in our daily family lives that it would probably take quite a while to wean us away from them if there is any chance it would happen. Not only are they indispensable in getting information for homeworks, job hunting, TV schedule but most of all for surfing the internet and blogging. One heavy use for our PC is in storing and editing pictures from our digital camera. It is equally very handy in tweaking pictures to make it just right.

I have also noticed in the past few months that our TV viewing habits are changing. The prevalence of more and more TV shows and movies available through the internet means we are watching more of these in our PCs and laptop. Take for example our favourite BBC shows like Heroes, Dr. Who, Spooks, Strictly Come Dancing, etc. We don’t have to rush home to catch them or setup our VCR to tape them. All we have to do is go to the BBC iPlayer website and have a pick and mix of our favourite shows. Even in buying copies of them, recently iTunes have been helpful since they’re not only selling TV show episodes but also movies besides their usual music.

I guess the only drawback from watching in the PC is the limitation of the size and resolution of your monitor. It’s really best to watch shows in LCD TV. The sharpness of the images and gorgeous colours are just superb. There’s always been an ambition to buy a large one, you know the kind that fills a whole wall, when funds are available. That’s why we’re always on the lookout for bargains on LCD TV, PCs, laptops, and other electronic goods. One easy way we do this is see price comparisons in growing number of websites such as Savebuckets which lists the best prices for various consumer goods of a number of shops such as Currys, PC World, etc. We have used them several times and they are quite reliable and up to date.

Food Art

2008-11-26T21:07:00.003Z

I saw these wonderful pictures made of entirely food stuff like vegetables, fruits, bread, you name it he uses it. Buying copies of them and hanging them in our kitchen would be really cool. Have a look in the online version of the Telegraph - click here. You can get them here if you're willing to shell out a bit of money.

Ginger Cake

2008-11-23T00:09:00.004Z

It was my birthday 2 weeks ago and as accustomed I baked some goodies for my family and colleagues at work. A ginger cake is always welcome with the people I work with and my old standard recipe never fails. This year I decided to try another from my well-thumbed 101 Cakes & Bakes of BBC GoodFood. It's not as dark as my old one but equally delicious and very gingery as well. The icing recipe is provided below but I used the icing of the old one to drizzle on it. Nice it was.

Ginger Cake

200 gm unsalted butter
175 gm molasses sugar
3 Tbsp black treacle
150 ml [scant 2/3 cup] milk
4 pieces stem ginger - drained and finely chopped
2 eggs - beaten
1 Tbsp ground ginger
1/8 tsp fine salt
300 gm self-raising flour

*Icing:
4 Tbsp ginger syrup (drained from the jar of the stem ginger)
300 gm golden icing sugar (confectioner's) - sifted
140 gm unsalted butter - softened
2 tsp lemon juice

Grease and line the bottom of a 23cm/9-inch round cake pan. Preheat oven to 325°F/160°C/fan 140°C/Gas mark 3.
Mix the flour, ground ginger, and salt in a bowl. Combine thoroughly. Set aside.
Gently melt the butter, sugar, and treacle in a saucepan. Remove from heat and transfer to a heatproof bowl. Cool slightly.
Beat in eggs then add the chopped stem ginger.
Fold in the flour mixture and make sure to combine thorougly.
Pour the batter into the prepared cake pan and level the surface.
Bake for about 40-45 minutes or until a skewer poked in the centre comes out clean.
Cool in the cake pan for about 1 hour and then transfer to a wire rack.
Prick the top of the cake all over then drizzle 2 Tbsp of the ginger syrup on top.
Beat together the icing sugar, butter, lemon, and the remaining ginger syrup. Spread all over the cake.

Kitchen Geek

2008-11-10T13:07:00.003Z

Everyone in my family knows I'm a sucker for kitchen equipments. If my husband has an electronics catalog for bedtime reading, I would almost always have either a cookbook or a kitchen catalog. You know me, lusting for those kitchen items that would make my baking and cooking life a breeze besides the ones that are essential for the everyday needs of a kitchen diva like me. ;)

Since I spend an inordinate amount of time in the Internet, it is but inevitable that I would surf over to websites serving the needs of the kitchen enthusiasts. And since I'm skint as well I'm always on the lookout for ones that offer good value for money. Specifically those that have restaurants supplies and equipments are my favourites. They most certainly offer hard-wearing and durable equipments at reasonable prices.
When my sister-in-law, who's based in America, asked for recommendations of websites to buy chafers for her upcoming party I readily gave her US-based sites such as Lion's Deal which offers some excellent kitchen equipment discounts for their good quality products. For someone like her who loves sales deals, it was like a magnet for her attention. I myself have always wanted chafers if ever I want to host a party. Asian food are almost always served hot so equipments to keep them piping hot is essential. I especially love them with roll-top covers like the one above. Hmmm ... until when am I gonna dream on?

Homemade Pizza

2008-10-29T07:00:00.007Z

It's the first time I've baked pizza completely from scratch - well actually I didn't make the mozarella and peperoni - but other than those I made ones from raw flour, yeast, etc. to make the dough. I especially like the dough kneading and rising. One tick in my list of things I wanted to do all my baking life plus one less block off my phobia of yeast.

I love the texture and billowy softness of the dough after the overnight rising. It was like a baby's bottom. Though it's also this quality that makes it a bit tricky to stretch and toss since the softness makes it so easy to expand it too thin. My dough actually suffered holes in the first two times which reminded me not to do too much stretching. Only one toss is for me is enough. More than one toss and you're really stretching it too far.

The Daring Bakers are the 'culprits' in this latest experimentation. This month's theme is currently hosted by Rosa and is also done in memory of Sherry who was supposed to be the co-host until her untimely death last July of a massive heart attack. Here's to you Sherry wherever you are.

It's funny, we were asked by Rosa to take pictures of ourselves tossing the pizza but my kids were more afraid of me dropping the dough on them or worse on the floor. Nothing of the sort happened of course but no picture materialized.

I know what you're gonna say - why make a boring peperoni pizza? Well it's the topping that my family likes so I don't really care what anyone says. Also, for me to experiment I have to start from the most basic before moving on to more adventurous pastures. Avoiding waste was also in mind since I was wary that it would all go wrong so I don't really want to buy exotic pizza toppings for now.

I don't have a pizza stone so I thought the next best thing would be to use the smooth underside of my cast iron grill. It worked particularly well if I must say so, turning out crisp evenly baked crust.

My problem was in the transferring of the assembled pizza to the hot cast iron pan in the oven. I didn't have any semolina or cornmeal to slide it in easily. So I used a lot of flour on the chopping board though it doesn't work all the time which sometimes make the pizzas into odd shapes. Well, rounded or not the pizzas were gobbled up as soon as they come out of the oven. So the irregular shape really does not matter as much as the all important taste.

I'd just like to say thank you for the great dough recipe which is adapted from The Bread Baker's Apprentice by Peter Reinhart. It's something that me and my family would definitely have again and again.

Basic Pizza Dough

4 1/2 cups white bread flour, chilled
1 3/4 tsp fine salt
1 tsp instant yeast
1/4 Cup olive oil or vegetable oil
1 3/4 Cups water, ice cold (40° F/4.5° C)
1 Tbsp sugar
Semolina/durum flour or cornmeal for dusting

*Day One

Mix together the flour, salt and instant yeast in a big bowl.
Add the olive oil, sugar and cold water and mix well with a wooden spoon to form a sticky ball of dough.
On a clean surface, knead for about 5-7 minutes, until the dough is smooth and the ingredients are well distributed. If it is too wet, add a little flour (not too much, though) and if it is too dry add 1 or 2 teaspoons extra water.

Flour a work surface or counter. Line a baking sheet with baking paper/parchment. Lightly oil the paper.
With a metal or plastic dough scraper, cut the dough into 6 equal pieces. You may weigh them to divide them equally. Each piece should be about 180 gm in weight.

Sprinkle some flour over the dough. Make sure your hands are dry and then flour them. Gently round each piece into a ball.

Transfer the dough balls to the lined baking sheet and mist or brush them generously with spray oil. Slip the pan into plastic bag or enclose in plastic food wrap.
Put the pan in the frige and let the dough rest overnight or for up to three days.

Exactly 2 hours before you make the pizza, remove the desired number of dough balls from the refrigerator. Dust the counter with flour and spray lightly with oil. Place the dough balls on a floured surface and sprinkle them with flour. Dust your hands with flour and delicately press the dough into disks about 1/2 inch/1.3 cm thick and 5 inches/12.7 cm in diameter. Sprinkle with flour and mist with oil. Loosely cover the dough rounds with plastic wrap and then allow to rest for 2 hours.
At least 45 minutes before making the pizza, place a baking stone or a cast iron pan upside down (you will use the underside of the pan for baking) on the upper third of the oven. Preheat the oven as hot as possible (around 500°F/260°C/fan 240°C).
Generously sprinkle the back of a jelly pan or chopping board with semolina/durum flour or cornmeal. Flour your hands (palms, backs and knuckles). Take 1 piece of dough by lifting it with a pastry scraper. Lay the dough across your fists in a very delicate way and carefully stretch it by bouncing it in a circular motion on your hands, and by giving it a little stretch with each bounce. Once the dough has expanded outward, move to a full toss.

When the dough has the shape you want (about 9-12 inches/23-30 cm in diameter - for a 6 ounces/180g piece of dough), place it on the back of the jelly pan, making sure there is enough semolina/durum flour or cornmeal to allow it to slide and not stick to the pan.
Lightly top it with sweet or savory toppings of your choice.

Slide the garnished pizza onto the stone in the oven or bake directly on the jelly pan. Close the door and bake for abour 4-6 minutes.

Take the pizza out of the oven and transfer it to a cutting board or your plate. Rest it for 3-5 minutes before slicing or serving to allow the cheese to set a little.

SHF 48: Mango & Cardamom Upside-down Cake

2008-10-26T18:20:00.001Z

SHF was the very first blogging event that I joined way back in autumn of 2004. Those were the days when blogging was so new and exhilarating. You know almost all of the food bloggers by heart because there were only a few of us around that time. Now bloggers are in the thousands and that's just in the food category. How time flies.

After a long while of not being able to participate in SHF, I made it a point to make sure I do it this time besides the fact that my blog needs the regular update once and again. The current theme of SHF is spice, hosted by Anita of Dessert First.

There were two choices for me to bake, either a spiced creme caramel or this mango upside-down cake. Well the sight of some Indian mangos in the supermarket did it for me. And so it was, only if I waited a little longer for it to ripen the cake would have been perfect. But that is the point of trying, isn't it? Give it a go, if it's not to your liking then do adjustments the next time.

As for cardamom, I fell in love with this spice when I started sampling Indian sweets. I love its heady aroma and the way it melds well with ingredients like chocolate. I will surely be making use more of this fragrant spice.

Paul Rankin's recipe is the one I adapted from the BBC GoodFood magazine of November last year.

Mango & Cardamom Upside-down Cake

160 gm butter - softened
100 gm caster sugar
2 large eggs
175 gm self-raising flour
2-3 Tbsp milk
1 Tbsp lime or lemon juice
lime or lemon zest (optional)
2 Tbsp soft brown sugar
2 cardamom pods, seeds only, crushed
1 slightly ripe mango - peeled and sliced

Preheat oven to 375F/190C/fan 170C/gas mark 5.
Beat 100gm of the butter with the caster sugar in a bowl until light and fluffy.
Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.
With a wooden spoon, fold in the flour.
Add the milk and mix to a soft dropping consistency. If it is too thick, add more milk.
In a 20 cm oven-safe frying pan, melt the rest of the butter (60 gm) with the brown sugar, cardamom, lemon zest and lemon juice. Stir to mix.
Add the mango slices and cook for about 3 minutes. If you're using a separate baking pan instead of the frying pan, pour the mango slices into the baking pan.
Arrange the cooked mango slices well at the bottom then spoon the cake batter on top.
Bake for 20 minutes or until risen and beginning to shrink away from the sides.
Remove from oven. Slide a knife around the edges of the pan then turn the cake out onto a serving plate. Serve warm with some Greek yoghurt or cream.

Steamed Apple Pudding

2008-10-13T23:37:00.010+01:00

The dicing of the apple into small pieces is, frankly, quite tedious but in the end it was all worth it. The steaming method guaranteed a moist and luscious cake. Plus the tangy sour-sweet apple topping is so lovely marrying well with the treacly fragrance of the golden syrup in the cake. I have to restrain myself from catching a whiff of it whenever I pass by the table. But if you think that combination is good wait 'til you eat it with some warm custard - it is simply delicious! One of those comfort food you'll love to have on a chilly day.

This is my entry to the food blogging event Eating with the Seasons (ably hosted by Maninas) which I think is a great idea. Cooking and eating whatever is in season is simply common sense since you get the produce at the peak of its flavour and availability which in turn would mean cheaper prices for it that would certainly help us in this time of crumbling financial systems and sky-high consumer prices.

It's October now and getting chilly by the day. The one thing we most welcome in autumn is the glut of apples in season you have in the groceries and supermarkets. You get top flavours with more varieties you can shake a stick at and prices are cheaper than at any other time of the year. This is also the time of the year that the family's resident apple monster (eldest son) is often requesting for anything with apple which I'm more than happy to oblige.

Some cooking notes: I thought the amount of apple is too much but after about 2 hours of steaming it sort of deflated and in the end it was just right. My improvised steamer (basically a wok) ran out of water about 2 times but it did not seem to have any noticeable damage. The recipe from Olive magazine is the one I adapted for this keeper of a recipe.

Steamed Apple Pudding

4 baking apples - diced (about 4 cups)
100 gm butter
6 Tbsp golden syrup
100 gm golden caster sugar
zest of 1 lemon (optional)
2 eggs - beaten
125 gm self-raising flour
1/4 cup milk
custard to serve

Grease with butter and lightly flour a 1.2 litre heatproof pudding bowl. Set aside.
Heat a frying pan on medium heat and melt 4 Tbsp of the golden syrup and 25 gm of the butter. Let it bubble for about 1 minute.
Tip in the diced apple, stir and cook for another 5 minutes. Remove from heat and set aside.
In a clean bowl, beat the remaining butter and caster sugar until light and fluffy.
Beat in the eggs for a couple of minutes.
Add in the milk, flour, and golden syrup. Mix well.
Put the apple mixture in the prepared pudding bowl.
Pour the flour mixture over it.
Cover with a double piece of greaseproof paper or foil with a pleat in the middle. Tie a string or rubber band around the top part of the bowl to secure the paper.
Cook in a steamer for about 1 1/2 to 2 hours or until a skewer poked in the middle comes out clean.
Turn out on a plate and serve with warm custard.

Ludlow Food Festival 2008

2008-10-07T00:18:00.004+01:00

This is one long post on a wonderful food-filled day two Sundays ago at the Ludlow Food Festival. I've always liked that market town where amidst the fascinating old timbered buildings and its castle it regularly has a farmer's market every Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday in the square opposite the entrance to the castle. This time in addition to the market lots of stalls and demonstration tents were assembled inside the castle grounds by the organisers to highlight and celebrate all the wonderful produce around the Marches (the England-Wales border area).

[Click on the pictures for a bigger view]

Just look at the beautiful timber-framed old buildings in Ludlow's streets. This is the old Feathers Hotel which used to be the residence of Rees Jones a lawyer for the Council of the Marches area sometime in the early 1600s.

Old buildings in Ludlow are not only preserved but used quite well. These parade of shops are very interesting to behold indeed with the ancient buildings they are housed.

The main festival was within the castle grounds but the festivities and exhibitions were not confined there. Numerous other shops, pubs, and restaurants in Ludlow laid out tables outside to sell their wares and of course the regular market was in full swing as well.

Before we went inside we had lunch among the food stalls that came out especially for this 3-day event. I got my lovely paella from this stall. £3.00 for a small plate that had 2 slices of chorizo in it, chicken, some veg and lots of flavourful Spanish rice. Yum!

My daughters had their usual jacket potato with cheese (no baked beans this time). They raved on the deliciousness of the potato and cheese from this stall so much so that my youngest insisted on getting another one on our way home. So we'll keep them in mind if we come across them next time.

Lechon! Look at that steaming hot roast pork being pulled into shreds. Over here roast pork is eaten one way by putting the shredded meat in a bun with gravy. It's nice but I prefer mine in chunks with liver sauce. Better yet any leftovers stewed in liver sauce as Lechon Paksiw. Okay we're digressing a bit ... let's get back to Ludlow. See all those shops and food above - that's just outside of the festival grounds. And now we come to view the festival itself.

As I said before, the festival was in the grounds of Ludlow castle now a ruin. The castle had a very rich history which was very much entwined with the history of English throne. It was here that Prince Arthur (Henry VIII's elder brother) died while on honeymoon with his bride Catherine of Aragon who after his death became Henry VIII's first of six wives.

Entrance fees are a reasonable £6.00 for adults and £2.00 for kids. Then they give you this red wrist band to separate you from the racing pigeons. ;)

Here was a map of the place in case you need to find yourself.

There were loads of stalls of small scale producers. Come to think of it I didn't see any big-named companies there except probably for Tyrell's who was the main sponsor. But then they're not really that big - yet.

Oh yes there's one for Veuve Clicquot champagne where you can dine with some hot seafood dishes with your champagne.

I've always wondered how apples juices are extracted and this traditional press was on hand to show us how.

He must be feeling really hot in front of that pizza oven. We saw him sitting there all day.

I nabbed 3 bags of different flours plus a nice hessian bag from this stand. Bacheldre Watermill produces stoneground flours of very good quality. Later I will definitely blog about the results of my baking using their flours.

We love this bottled spring water. For me it tastes like very clean rain water. Really soothing to drink especially when chilled. We definitely recommend Wenlock spring water if you ever have a chance to come across it.

They have several huge tents where most of the smaller producers exhibited or sold their products. There were a large variety of exhibitors which range from farms showing their meat products (see previous picture collage) to ice cream makers, vegetable retailers, etc. The following were also in the tent:

Quite a number there were small breweries making distinctive ales and spirits. As expected these were very popular with the male guests.

Chocolate makers, other sweet producers and bakers were also on hand. Though there were not too many of them.

Lots of dairy producers were in attendance. We like the organic yoghurt of The Dairy House. They were very creamy and had lots of different interesting flavours.

Cheese galore!

Some non-edible things were also there in the form of cookbooks (still food-related).

These are well crafted hand-made ceramic products in fun and colourful designs.

Fancy smoking your salmon while driving? It can be done!

The army came in culinary force as well, treating people to some inexpensive but tasty soup and bread.

The music on offer were top-notch as well. Good enough to make a whole gaggle of people crowding in front of them while scoffing their tasty nibbles and drinks.

This trio on the other hand entertained people who patronized the cafe in the dry moat of the castle. They were very good, too.

They even have the resident fairy to sprinkle twinkly dust on everyone. ;) Well actually these are visitors as well, why they dressed like that I've got no clue. Must be a hen party? But he's a bloke ...

The little ones were not neglected. A circus tent was provided where they can try out different circus skills under the guidance of some circus masters.

They even make the kids do some artificial milking. :) How cute.

I've been very complimentary of this festival and its exhibitors. I just want to make it clear that I am in no way affiliated with any of them nor was I paid to do some kind of advertisement. I am just happy, despite previously moaning about the dearth of foodie places in the West Midlands, to discover all these artisanal producers almost at my doorstep. It's so heartening to know that they're out there in the countryside. I just have to drive about 25 miles west and I'm in foodie country!

WTSIM: Chicken Satay

2008-09-26T22:49:00.007+01:00

Sorry Andrew, although you asked us to make something more uncommon Indonesian fares for the latest installment of WTSIM, I just couldn't help doing this chicken satay recipe that I have bookmarked about two years ago. When I read how Mike of Lafang gushed about his friend's satay recipe I thought just have make this and the current theme of Indonesian for WTSIM seems the perfect excuse for me to do it.

The very first time that I had Indonesian food was when I lived in cosmopolitan Hong Kong. Back then I was aware that our country's neighbor's food is similar to ours although a bit more on the spicy side. So when a Dutch friend invited us in Cinta restaurant down in Wan Chai, we didn't lose time ordering the likes of rijsttafel, nasi goreng, sago malacca, and of course chicken satay. The latter was served imaginatively where a small charcoal grill is brought to the table and you grill the skewered chicken on right there. Lovely!

As you can be gleaned from some of the names of traditional Indonesian dishes, there were Dutch influences in the country by way of the Dutch East India company that colonised it starting in the 17th centrury. Rijsttafel - means rice table and is a collection of small amounts of different dishes, rice or vegetables in a wide platter. Sort of like a precedent of the tasting menu. It was perfect for me since I love sampling different dishes in one sitting.

Anyway, this satay recipe is really good. I just made a small adjustment in the salty department. I thought it needs a little bit more seasoning so the adjustment is already there. The one lesson for me here is to cut the meat in chunks not in thin slivers! At the grill, my slivers were either sticking to the metal grills or disintegrating altogether. But they were oh so tender. Love them!

Chicken Satay

1/2 tsp ground fennel seeds
1/2 tsp ground coriander seeds
1 medium onion or 6 shallots - chopped
2 cloves garlic
1 stalk lemon grass, white part only - chopped
1 tsp turmeric
1 inch fresh ginger - peeled
2 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp fine salt
1 tbsp vegetable oil
750 gm chicken thighs or breasts - cut into 1-inch chunks
bamboo skewers

Grind or pound the garlic, ginger, fennel, coriander, onion, lemon grass, turmeric into a paste.
Add sugar and salt, mix well.
Marinate chicken into this mixture for at least 2 hours or overnight.
Soak bamboo skewers in water for about 30 minutes. Thread the marinated chicken through the skewers.
Brush with oil and grill on hot charcoals.
Serve with peanut sauce and fresh salad.

Peanut Sauce

1 medium onion or 6 shallots - chopped
2 cloves garlic
2 stalks lemon grass, white part only - flattened or chopped
2 dried red chillies - soaked, drained and chopped
4 tbsp peanut oil
1 tsp ground coriander seed
1 tsp ground turmeric
1 1/2 cups coconut milk
1 1/2 Tbsp sugar
1/2 Tbsp fish sauce
1/2 cup peanuts - finely chopped
1 1/2 Tbsp tamarind paste
salt to taste

Grind or pound the onion, garlic, lemon grass, and chillies into a paste.
Heat the peanut oil in a saucepan.
Saute the onion mixture in the hot oil on medium heat for a few minutes or until fragrant.
Add the coriander and turmeric. Cook for about a minute.
Stir in the coconut milk and bring slowly to a boil while stirring continously.
Add the fish sauce, sugar, tamarind paste, and peanuts. Simmer while stirring occasionally until thick or desired consistency is achieved.

Oreo Strategy

2008-09-08T23:17:00.001+01:00

Oreo cookies has become a mainstay of UK supermarkets and grocies in recent times. We used to buy them in some obscure shop or ones that specialise in American products before we can have our fill of this chocolate biscuit of my youth. Fortunately my kids like them as well so we normally share them. I have to confess I've got a different way of eating Oreos from my kids. I only like the cookies itself and not the white cream filling. So the ritual of scoffing them involves pulling apart the twin cookies, scraping off the middle then that's the only time I can start eating the dark chocolate biscuits. Yum!

How about you how do you eat your Oreos?

Chocolate Eclairs

2008-08-31T22:00:00.005+01:00

The August 2008 theme of the Daring Bakers' Challenge is Chocolate Eclairs brought to us by our gracious hosts Tony and Meeta.

I was anxious not to miss this month's since I didn't get the chance to bake last month's which was the Praline Cake. This time the challenge was not that hard although since the recipe was adapted from Pierre Hermé's Chocolate Desserts you could be sure that the ingredients and procedures are long to ensure maximum yumminess. :)

Did I say it wasn't that hard? Well the last time I did choux pastry was about 20 years ago when I was still single! But I was right the pastry was not a problem at all. It came all together just as I added the last egg. My only problem was grappling with piping it onto the baking sheets. After attempting it with folded parchment paper, I found an easier solution by putting the dough in a plastic bag then cutting one of the ends and it gave me my desired finger-like strips of dough. They came beautifully from the oven though I have to skip the instruction in the original recipe to keep the oven door ajar. I was sure it would not work in my fan-assisted/convection oven. The only thing I added is the slitting of the sides of the pastry right out of the oven then putting it back for another 5 minutes.

As reported by my fellow DBers, the pastry cream filling was heavenly. I did not use chocolates and substituted a few teaspoons of vanilla. I was not keen on having an all-chocolate eclair. Having contrasting vanilla then chocolate in a crispy pastry was what I was after. Lovely! Yum yum!

Chocolate Éclairs

• Cream Puff Dough (see below for recipe) - fresh and still warm.

Preheat your oven to 375F/190C/fan oven 170C. Divide the oven into thirds by positioning the racks in the upper and lower half of the oven. Line two baking sheets with waxed or parchment paper.
Fill a large pastry bag fitted with a 2/3 (2cm) plain tip nozzle with the warm cream puff dough.
Pipe the dough onto the baking sheets in long, 4 to 4 1/2 inches (about 11 cm) chubby fingers. Leave about 2 inches (5 cm) space in between each dough strip to allow them room to puff. The dough should give you enough to pipe 20-24 éclairs.
Slide both the baking sheets into the oven and bake for 12 minutes. After the 7 minutes, rotate the sheets top to bottom and front to back. Continue baking for a further 8 minutes or until the éclairs are puffed, golden and firm. The total baking time should be approximately 20 minutes.
Once out of the oven, quickly make slits on one side of each of the eclairs. Put them back to the oven for a further 5 minutes.
Remove from oven then cool completely on a rack.

Notes: The éclairs can be kept in a cool, dry place for several hours before filling.

*Assembling the éclairs:

• Chocolate glaze (see below for recipe)
• Chocolate pastry cream (see below for recipe)

Slice the éclairs horizontally, using a serrated knife and a gently sawing motion. Set aside the bottoms and place the tops on a rack over a piece of parchment paper.
The glaze should be at room temperature. Spread (or dip it in) the glaze over the tops of the éclairs using a metal icing spatula. Allow the tops to set and in the meantime fill the bottoms with the pastry cream.
Pipe or spoon the pastry cream into the bottoms of the éclairs. Make sure you fill the bottoms with enough cream to mound above the pastry.
Place the glazed tops onto the pastry cream and wriggle gently to settle them.

Notes:

If you have chilled your chocolate glaze, reheat by placing it in a bowl over simmering water, stirring it gently with a wooden spoon. Do not stir too vigorously as you do not want to create bubbles.
The éclairs should be served as soon as they have been filled.

Cream Puff Dough

1/2 cup (125 gm) whole milk
1/2 cup (125 gm) water
1/2 cup (115 gm) unsalted butter - diced
1/4 tsp sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup (140 gm) all-purpose flour
5 large eggs - at room temperature, slightly beaten

In a heavy bottomed medium saucepan, bring the milk, water, butter, sugar and salt to the boil.
Once the mixture is at a rolling boil, add all of the flour at once, reduce the heat to medium and start to stir the mixture vigorously with a wooden spoon. The dough comes together very quickly. Do not worry if a slight crust forms at the bottom of the pan, it’s supposed to. You need to carry on stirring for a further 2-3 minutes to dry the dough. After this time the dough
will be very soft and smooth.
Remove from heat then using your handmixer or if you still have the energy, continue by hand. Add the eggs one at a time,
beating after each egg has been added to incorporate it into the dough. You will notice that after you have added the first egg, the dough will separate, once again do not worry. As you keep working the dough, it will come back all together again by the time you have added the third egg. In the end the dough should be thick and shiny and when lifted it should fall back into the bowl in a ribbon.
The dough should be still warm. It is now ready to be used for the éclairs as directed above.

Notes:

Once the dough is made you need to shape it immediately.
You can pipe the dough and the freeze it. Simply pipe the dough onto parchment-lined baking sheets and slide the sheets into the freezer. Once the dough is completely frozen, transfer the piped shapes into freezer bags. They can be kept in the freezer for up to a month.

Pastry Cream

2 cups (500 gm) whole milk
4 large egg yolks
6 Tbsp (75 gm) sugar
3 Tbsp cornstarch
2 1/2 Tbsp (40 gm) unsalted butter - room temperature
2 tsp vanilla extract
200 gm dark chocolate - melted (optional)

In a small saucepan, bring the milk to a boil.
In the meantime, combine the yolks, sugar and cornstarch together and whisk in a heatproof bowl.
Once the milk has reached a boil, temper the yolks by whisking a couple spoonfuls of the hot milk into the yolk mixture. Continue whisking and slowly pour the rest of the milk into the tempered yolk mixture.
Strain the mixture back into the saucepan to remove any egg that may have scrambled.
Place the pan over medium heat and whisk vigorously (without stop) until the mixture returns to a boil. Keep whisking vigorously for 1 to 2 more minutes (still over medium heat).
[Optional] Stir in the melted chocolate and then remove the pan from the heat.
Pour the pastry cream back into the heatproof bowl and stir in the vanilla.
Set the bowl on an ice‐water bath to stop the cooking process. Make sure to continue stirring the mixture at this point so that it remains smooth.
Once the cream has reached a temperature of 140 F remove from the ice‐water bath and stir in the butter in three or four installments.
Return the cream to the ice‐water bath to continue cooling, stirring occasionally, until it has completely cooled. The cream is now ready to use or store in the fridge.

Notes:

The pastry cream can be made 2‐3 days in advance and stored in the refrigerator.
In order to avoid a skin forming on the pastry cream, cover with plastic wrap pressed onto the cream.
Tempering the eggs raises the temperature of the eggs slowly so that they do not scramble.

Chocolate Glaze
(makes 1 cup or 300g)

1/3 cup (80 gm) heavy cream
100 gm dark chocolate - chopped
4 tsp (20 gm) unsalted butter - cut into 4 pieces, at room temperature
7 tbsp (110 gm) Chocolate Sauce (recipe below) - warm or at room temperature

In a small saucepan, bring the heavy cream to a boil. Remove from the heat and slowly begin to add the chocolate, stirring with a wooden spoon or spatula.
Stirring gently, stir in the butter, piece by piece followed by the chocolate sauce.

Notes: It is best to glaze the eclairs after the glaze is made, but if you are pressed for time, you can make the glaze a couple days ahead of time, store it in the fridge and bring it up to room temperature when ready to glaze.

Chocolate Sauce
(makes 1½ cups or 525 g)

130 gm dark chocolate (or combination of milk and dark) - chopped
1 cup (250 gm) water
1/2 cup (125 gm) crème fraîche or heavy cream
1/3 cup (70 gm) sugar

Place all the ingredients into a heavy‐bottomed saucepan and bring to a boil, making sure to stir constantly.
Reduce the heat to low and continue stirring with a wooden spoon until the sauce thickens.
It may take 10‐15 minutes for the sauce to thicken, but you will know when it is done when it coats the back of your spoon.

Notes:

You can make this sauce ahead of time and store it in the refrigerator for two weeks. Reheat the sauce in a microwave oven or a double boiler before using.
This sauce is also great for cakes, ice-cream and tarts.

Grazing in Cornwall

2008-08-23T23:50:00.001+01:00

On our recent trip to Cornwall, we had the chance to sample some restaurants in the area around the Lizard peninsula and Falmouth. Our base was nearest to Mullion - a pretty village on the western edge of the Lizard peninsula. In our first evening we decided to try the local chippies there.

The fish and chips shop is called The Galleon Mullion.

We were quite impressed with the freshness of the fish and how tasty it was. You could almost taste the sea with every bite. The batter was crisp and cooked just right. The chips looks a bit soggy but it was good as well though not as crispy outside as the ones we were used to. Could it be because of the variety of potato they used? The mushy peas were nice though we noticed that the baked beans were microwaved.

Overall, this unfancy fish and chips shop is recommended if for just the fresh fish that they use. We will certainly be back if we are in the area. It's a shame it is currently on sale. I do hope the next owners will at least keep the quality of their offerings.

The Galleon Mullion
Nansmellion Rd
Mullion
Helston
Cornwall TR12 7BZ

The other one worth mentioning is the Waterside café in the National Maritime Museum in Falmouth. They’ve got a daily board specials in addition to the standard café fares of sandwiches, tea fodders, and snacks. The food was great with the fresh produce they used shining through in all the dishes we ordered. Besides the food, the café has a wonderful setting of having a front-side view of Falmouth harbour. While there we saw boats big or small come and go including a huge luxury cruise ship. I was so engrossed with all the goings on in the harbour that I forgot to take pictures of the food. All I have is the picture of our view (see above) isn't it great?

National Maritime Museum Cornwall
Discovery Quay
Falmouth
Cornwall TR11 3QY

The downer we experienced was with the restaurant of the Roskilly’s organic farm in St.Keverne, Helston. It’s an organic farm that produces dairy products. The small farm was charming looking more like someone's backyard. Their ice cream is simply fabulous. I especially love the unusual flavours they have. Naturally we thought it their restaurant offerings would be great as well so we stayed on for their evening grill. Well we were let down by the cooking to say the least. The grilled mackerel I had was not grilled enough on the outside. My husband's steak was the same. The grill probably was not hot enough. The accompanying leaf salads were limp with the rice curried one looking a bit too gooey for me never mind that the rice was undercooked. We should have known the portends of things to come when we sat down and there was the pervading stink of cow poo all over the place. I know it's a farm but ... well ... I don’t think it's ever appetising to eat with that smell hanging in the air. Sorry Roskilly we'll gladly take you ice cream, yoghurt, clotted cream and milk but we will have to give your restaurant a miss. I didn't get to snap any picture of the food because my family was just too anxious to get out of there.

Roskilly's Ice cream & Organic farm
Tregellast Barton
St. Keverne
Helston
Cornwall TR 12 6NX

On a visit to Tintagel to take a peek on King Arthur's fabled castle ruins, we stumbled on a great find. There is this modern-looking cafe in the main road of the town where we had afternoon tea. We thoroughly enjoyed the nice spaghetti bolognese (for my son) and my scones with clotted cream and strawberry jam. Downed of course with Earl Grey tea. They were delish!

The prices were reasonable plus the dining areas at the back get a great view of the coast. If ever you're in the area we recommend you try Cream Cafe.

Cream Cafe Bar
Atlantic Road
Tintagel
Cornwall PL34 0DD

Cornish Sea Salt

2008-08-21T23:24:00.003+01:00

Being someone on the look out for new things to try food-wise, I was delighted to spy this local Cornish Sea Salt when we visited the Lizard Peninsula in Cornwall. It's just appropriate for the area to produce this since they are largely surrounded by sea water. Though I don't think I would be hurrying to buy the next box because it costs a whopping £4.00 while the top brand of flaky sea salt in supermarkets costs only £2.00! Seriously the sales people of this company should reconsider their pricing unless they want to market it in the upper bracket of the populace or foodie suckers like me who grab anything unusual and exotic.

Us Filipinos normally prefer to use sea salt because its superior taste to the normal fine table salt is essential not only for cooking but for eating fruits. Whether sweet or sour we would have a small mound in our palm dipping the fruit we're eating from time to time. You won't see that trait in many places. I think the Thais and Malaysians do the same so it must be a Southeast Asian thing.

Allrecipes UK

2008-08-15T20:05:00.006+01:00

Calling all Cookery Masterminds!

To celebrate the launch of Allrecipes in the UK, us and our friends at Waitrose are offering you the chance to win £100 worth of grocery vouchers by proving you know your basil from your bay leaves!

To prove yourself as the UK’s Cookery Mastermind you will need to do the following:

Find the answers to the five questions listed below.
Take the first letter of each answer to make a secret code.
If your guess is correct you could stand a chance of winning a bumper weeks grocery shopping.

What type of cheese is needed to make Nanmurat's legendary salad? Hint: Click here - Allrecipes.

The Cobb Salad was invented in which country? Hint: Click here - Allrecipes.

Which way does Norma Macmillian make her pear pudding? Hint: Click here - Allrecipes.

Edie Moon's strawberry salad is both sweet and ______? Hint: Click here - Allrecipes.

Polly Welby's heavenly chocolate mousse does not include which poultry product? Hint: Click here - Allrecipes.

Got your code? Click here - Allrecipes - to enter the lucky draw.

Good luck and happy cooking!

Berries Lime Drizzle Cake

2008-08-07T13:24:00.001+01:00

This was meant for the last SHF#45 hosted by Susan of Food Blogga. But as expected I forgot that the deadline was last Sunday! Never mind, I'd just like to share this very nice seasonal cake that got better as the days passed. It's not one that is to be eaten straight from the oven. I did that, after drizzling the lime syrup, and didn't like it at all. It was so sour and the lime syrup was so strong that I was afraid I would have blisters on my tongue. To the bin I was meaning to consign it but after 2 days of lying about on our dining table I tried again and was amazed by how much the flavour mellowed and everything came together. Fab! In fact this is great because it means this will be in the list of my do-ahead cakes which I can do at my leisure instead of being frantic the day before a party. Wonderful!

One of my well-thumbed favourite cake cookbooks, BBC Goodfood Cakes and Bakes, provided the recipe which I adapted. The batter base is of the butter variety and really tasted nice with that tangy lime syrup soaking it. I just wish the fruits were more evenly distributed in the middle rather than all sank at the bottom.

Berries Lime Drizzle Cake

225 gm butter - softened
225 gm caster sugar (superfine)
4 eggs - slightly beaten
250 gm self-raising flour
25 gm ground almonds
1/8 tsp fine salt
1 tsp grated lime zest (optional)
3 Tbsp lime juice
100 gm blueberries
100 gm raspberries

* For the syrup:
6 Tbsp lime juice
100 gm caster sugar (superfine)

Grease and line the base and sides of an 8-inch/20cm square or round cake pan. Preheat the oven to 350F/180C/160C fan.
Beat the butter with the caster sugar together until light and fluffy.
Continue beating while adding the eggs in a steady stream until fluffy.
Beat in the lime zest (if using) then with a wooden spoon fold in the flour, salt, and ground almonds.
Fold in the lime juice making sure to incorporate it well.
Fold in three-quarters of the raspberries and blueberries.
Pour the batter into the cake pan. Scatter the rest of the berries on top.
Bake for about 1 hour or until a skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean.
While the cake is baking, gently heat the lime juice and caster sugar without allowing to bubble.
Once the cake is out of the oven while it is still hot, prick all over with a skewer and spoon the syrup evenly over the top.
Cool completely then turn out from the pan. Store in a covered container and leave to mature for a day (or overnight) before serving.

Crabtastic

2008-08-06T23:00:00.002+01:00

I love seafood - that includes not only fish but most importantly prawns and crabs. It might have something to do with me growing up in a fishing village and eating seafood almost everyday. Of all the ones I mentioned, it is only the crab that I haven't tried buying fresh and cooking here in UK. Like prawns they are quite pricey and you get less per weight because of the thick outer shell. But man, once you get into the meat it is heaven!

Of particular note is the Alaskan king crab which is particularly noted for its size. Their legs/claws are usually more than a foot long. And of course they are also known for their very white tasty meat. Unfortunately, the dwindling numbers of Alaskan king crabs, notwithstanding the dangerous environment for their fishing offshore of Alaska, means higher prices for us consumers.

Nevertheless, it does not prevent me from dreaming of cooking them, eating them, etc. I even clipped recipes of the likes of Maryland crab cakes (yum!), Singaporean chilli crabs (drool!), and even crab linguini (slurppp!) in the hope that someone (a friend?) might give me, say, a bucket of Alaskan king crabs and ask me to cook them. Hah! What a dream ...

Lahore Kebab House

2008-08-03T16:59:00.005+01:00

As some of you may already know I am a sucker for cheap but tasty eats. Nothing excites me more than finding through word of mouth an eating joint that charges you reasonable prices for more than good tasting grub.

Several of my colleagues at work mentioned this fast-food restaurant/take away joint so it was expected that I dragged my husband one day to an unfamiliar destination deep into the city of Birmingham. My colleagues simply said go to Ladypool Road and therein lies the problem. A number of restaurants in that same road has the name 'Lahore' in them so which one is it? As they say go where the locals go and you can't go wrong. In this instance Lahore Kebab House was packed with locals from the Pakistani/Indian community that gave me a warm fuzzy feeling that we hit the right one.

The restaurant has two seating rooms. One is a fast-food type where the open kitchen is also located. The other is a more proper (though informal) sit-down area. You can bring in your drinks whether alcoholic or not. It is a kebab restaurant so their speciality is anything from their grill or from the fryer which for the price did not disappoint one bit. They are mild to medium spiced and not everything tastes the same which tends to be the case with some mediocre kebab place. Here are some of what we ordered:

This is their beef steak - grilled, well seasoned and spiced served with french fries and a little salad. Gosh, I'm dooling just looking at it.

My daughters had what they call Lahore chicken. Again well spiced, as you can see, deep fried with fries and salad on the side.

Mine was this Masala Fish, covered with spicy batter then deep fried. It was light and not as oily as what you get in regular fish n chips joint. Delicious!

They also serve curries which are okay though nothing to write home about. You can also order sides like naan breads, rice of different varieties, the usual sauces, even samosas. I have to warn you that this is not the most tidy or cleanest of establishments. When we were there, some of the tables were not properly cleaned of the previous occupants' debris and there is an exposed sink for washing your hands in the fast-food area. I guess you get what you pay for, which for the tastiness of their food is very reasonable indeed.

I have gone back once already and have enjoyed my food as well but I will look for other tidier places with the same standard of food and report here of my finds. In the mean time, if you're in the area and have gotten tired of bland food head over to Lahore Kebab House for some tasty reasonably priced grub.

Lahore Kebab House
202-208 Ladypool Road
Birmingham
West Midlands B12 8JS
Tel: 0121 766 8477

Roast Chicken

2008-07-26T22:41:00.002+01:00

As I have mentioned several times in this blog, my main purpose here is to have an online repository of my recipes. I am doing just that except that sometimes some dishes are so simple and so common in our dining table that I've forgotten that I haven't blogged it yet. One of these is the Corned Beef Hash that I finally remembered to blog last week. The other is this simple roast chicken that my kids often request in the weekends.

Inasmuch as I'd like to have a perfect smooth-skinned roasted chicken, my picture belies the fact that I use a rack. Having a rack tends to dry out the bottom of the pan a little. I like to have some crusted bits in there to give lots of flavour to the gravy.

There are so many ways of roasting chicken. Some recipes have the chicken positioned upright, some puts the chicken on one side then move to the other side after a period of time, for some you have to put in butter underneath the skin, some asks you to put in everything with it, and so on. What I'm recording here is the very simplest way that I know to roast a chicken while still retaining that all-important juiciness in the meat - specifically in the breast (picho) area.

To do this, you can see in my procedures that for the first half of the baking/roasting the chicken is placed breast-side down. This makes the juices to run down to the breast area and keep it moist. The downside is it will result in a little bit flattened breast in the final product. Silicone anyone? ;) But I'm sure you'd trade flat chests ... er... breasts with extra juiciness, wouldn't you?

Okay so much for breasts. Lemon is optional because recently I've been noticing that sometime it lends some bitterness in the underside of the chicken. This comes from the lemon skin and I really have no clue how to resolve it. Though it does give a boost of a little sourness in the gravy which greatly enhances it. If I don't use lemon in the inside I just squeeze about a tablespoon of lemon juice in the gravy.

If price is no object, I would definitely suggest you use organic free-range chicken. In my experience, they consistently give the best flavour not only in the meat but results in much better gravy as well. I have heard from Stel and read from my current cookbook bible (The New Best Recipe) that brining the chicken before roasting improves the flavour by a mile. I shall try that next time and report the results here.

Roast Chicken

1 whole chicken (about 1.8 kg)
3 tbsp butter - either in room temperature or melted
salt and pepper
herbs and spices (optional)
lemon (optional)

Preheat the oven to 375F/190C/170C fan.
If you buy the chicken from supermarkets they are usually bound by a string around the wings, legs and feet. Remove all the strings from the chicken.
(Optional) Tie the chicken around the feet only.
(Optional) You may use half or a whole lemon. Pierce it all over by a fork then put it in the breast cavity via the hole at its end.
If using melted butter, spread the it all over the chicken with a pastry brush.
If using room temperature softened butter, use your fingers to slather the butter all over the chicken.
Sprinkle salt and pepper all over.
(Optional) Sprinkle all over whatever herbs or spices you want to put on it. If need be, omit the salt and pepper.
To calculate how long to bake, give 25 minutes for every 500 gm of chicken. So our 1.8 kg bird is to reside in the oven for a total of 90 minutes.
Place the chicken breast-side down in a metal roasting pan (you may use a rack if desired). Bake in the preheated oven for half its baking time.
Remove from oven and turn it so that it is now breast-side up. At this point I usually sit it on a rack but it's up to you if you want one or not.
Immediately return back to the oven and bake for the remainder of its baking time.
When done, remove from oven and place on a serving dish. Cover with foil and let rest for about 10-15 minutes while you're making gravy.
Serve sliced with roast potatoes, gravy and veggies.

Classic Pound Cake

2008-07-23T23:25:00.000+01:00

The last time I remembered I ate a pound cake it was of the Sara Lee variety. You know those frozen ready-made ones you get from the supermarkets. Don't get me wrong I love them and they are of the perfect texture, taste, and richness. But I have this long-running challenge to myself of seeking out the best recipes for everything and this recipe for pound cake I found in The New Best Recipe cookbook (which I will blog separately later) certainly looked intriguing.

Pound cake would be called butter cake around here and I guess is a cousin of the Madeira cake. All are butter-based cakes with only subtle hint of vanilla, almond or lemon in them. I was intrigued enough with this recipe because it did not have any leavening (i.e. baking powder, baking soda, etc.) and relies primarily on the lifting power of six eggs. Not only that, the eggs are not added whole one by one into the batter, as you would usually do, but first lightly beaten then added as a thin stream while beating.

Thankfully, I did succumb to finally making it last weekend otherwise I would not have known the best butter-based cake I have ever baked. I kid you not, I wholly recommend this recipe just look at that high peaking cake below. Probably the only thing I would change is the type of sugar. Next time I would use caster sugar instead of the coarser grained regular granulated. It blended in fine but you can clearly see at the top crust the small round granules of the sugar. I'd like it to have a smooth golden surface next time and then it would be perfect. Move over Sara Lee!

Classic Pound Cake

250 gm [1 cup] unsalted butter - soft at room temperature
260 gm caster sugar (superfine)
3 large eggs - room temperature
3 large egg yolks - room temperature
1/2 Tbsp vanilla extract
1/2 Tbsp water
1/2 tsp salt
170 gm [1 1/2 cups] cake flour or plain flour

Preheat oven to 325F/160C/140C fan. Grease a 9x5-inch loaf pan and line with parchment paper.
Lightly beat the egg and egg yolks in a small bowl with a fork.
Mix in the vanilla and water. Set aside.
Using an electric mixer, beat the butter in a large bowl until smooth and shiny.
Add the sugar in slowly while continually beating.
Beat the butter-sugar mixture until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes.
While the mixer is still running, slowly add the egg mixture in a thin stream.
Finally beat in the salt.
Sift 1/2 cup of the flour on the batter and fold gently with a rubber spatula until well incorporated.
Repeat this procedure in 1/2 cup increments until the flour is used up.
Pour the batter into the prepared pan and smooth the top.
Bake for 70-80 minutes or until a skewer pierced into the middle top comes out clean.
Remove from oven and let rest in the pan for 5 minutes.
Turn out and let cool completely. Serve.

Hawaiian Delight

2008-07-21T23:48:00.002+01:00

I know, Ernie, this post is way too tardy! We received these very yummy gifts from our dear architect-family friend Ernie all the way from sunny tropical Hawaii. You don't know how uplifting it was to receive such brightly packaged things in the height of winter. By the time we received his email a day or two later the macadamias were demolished! The lightly salted smoked nuts were the first one to go. I tell you once you've eaten one you can't help reaching out for more.

I love love love the wonderful aroma and flavour of the teas which thankfully we're still enjoying now (it's because the kids don't drink tea that's why). I can't decide which one I liked better but they're definite favourites of me and my husband when we sit in front of the telly at night once the kids are in bed.

Thanks very very much Ernie! We owe you lots. :)
Wish we could be there ...

Life Lock

2008-07-20T11:06:00.003+01:00

The advent of easy access to data and information helped by great advances in computers and in the internet spawned a great deal of new generation of thieves that deals with stealing identity data from you. This would include, but not limited to, getting hold of your personal details such as name, birthdate, addresses, phone numbers, family details, work details, etc. But more worryingly they are able to acquire financial details such as bank accounts, credit cards, credit reports, etc. The result of which usually ends up with the victim being conned and scammed of hard earned money, his/her back account emptied, or credit cards used to the limit and left the bill to be taken cared of by the victim.

There are a number of companies that you can employ to help you be protected. One of them is Life Lock - a company that has a comprehensive scheme of reporting and safeguards that can help you with a comfortable level of protection. It a well established company in the US that has assisted a lot of people in controlling and preventing identity theft.

Life Lock currently have an ongoing discount promotion. You can avail of this by simply clicking on lifelock promo code at lifelock.com and enter the word 'RD17'.

BBC GoodFood

2008-07-19T23:40:00.002+01:00

One of my favourite food magazines of all time is the BBC GoodFood magazine. I've got so many of it that I reluctantly had to rip out the recipes I want and throw away the magazine to give me more space for the next issues. I keep forgetting to blog here that they already have a website where you can see recipes not only from them but also from sister magazines like Olive. I have to emphasize that this is quite different from the BBC food website which has also been a source of recipes and good advice for years.

The GoodFood magazine's big colourful pictures is especially appealing to me including the big fonts and clear instructions in recipes. They've got blogs, forums, even competitions on the site. Mind you they did not pay me to write this but I always post tips on things I found in the hope that it might help others.

Small Baths

2008-07-18T12:35:00.002+01:00

** Sponsored Post **

Ever since we moved to our current house two years ago we have been wanting to renovate our bathroom and toilet. It's not in a very good state right now although it is still usable. There are always DIY magazines strewn about in the house for us to plan or dream on what we can do. We also visit bathroom stores from time to time and drool at the gleaming spanking new fixtures. It progressed on to even drawing out plans and a rough bill of materials for our dream bathroom.

As we found out one of the constraint in this country is the size of the houses and consequently the bathrooms. Space is cramped so wanting to have a big bathtub or a jacuzzi is a constant challenge. Fortunately, British traders supply demand for small baths and small everything for the bathrooms. So you can find lots of designs and types of small baths in all DIY and home improvement shops and on the internet market.

The one beauty of having small baths is you don't use up as much water as a big sized one. This is a boon for water-conservation minded people or people like me who hates any kind of waste. A lot of people I know, and probably most people in the UK like me, have a bath only a few times a year. Wait a minute, don't think that we stink for the rest of the time. A shower is what we usually have. My point is why have a huge bathtub if you're only going to use it a few times a year? A small bath would be good enough to have.

Winds of Change

2008-07-16T00:00:00.003+01:00

It's nearly the fourth anniversary of this blog of mine. For most of the time, my blogging have been centred on anything food related. I thought of adding in different types of posts to fit in with the changing times - which really means the changing depth of my pocket. :) Okay okay let's call a spade a spade. In other words I will be posting paid advertisements here. I will not try to cover up my paid posts and try to pass them as personally my own. They will be here because I chose to and I hope you will still continue to visit this blog because I will definitely still be blogging on food and cooking and baking and lots of other things. If you're interested in the ad posts, do click on the accompanying links. If not, just click on by and ignore them. You'll still find nuggets of food stories and recipes around here.

Cheerio mi amigas! ;)

Sweetcorn Soup

2008-07-08T17:10:00.001+01:00

I'm not too fond of soups because it fills me up quickly which means less room for the main course that would be a tragedy.

Occassionally when the weather is chilly you need all the help you can get to warm up. One of my favourites is this Chinese restaurant standard - sweet corn soup. It can have a variety of meat in it but the popular ones are either chicken or crab.

Before trying to cook this I didn't know that it is this easy to make. It is basically creamed corn (usually canned variety) cooked in stock then a diluted beaten egg or eggwhite is stirred in. And that is it! Of course you can prettify it with some chopped green herbs sprinkled on top but other than that it is really a doddle to make. This recipe is a hybrid from the ones in The Food of China and Deh Ta Hsiung's Taste of China.

Sweetcorn Soup

250 gm minced pork or chicken or shredded crabmeat
5 cups chicken stock
3 Tbsp rice wine or cooking wine
400 gm can of creamed corn
1 tsp sea salt
2 Tbsp cornstarch
2 egg whites or 1 large egg
1/2 tsp sesame oil
salt and pepper to
chopped green onions

Mix the meat with 1 Tbsp of rice wine. Set aside.
Mix together the cornstarch and 1/4 cup water. Set aside.
Whisk the egg whites or whole egg until frothy. Stir in the cornstarch mixture until smooth.
Combine the stock with the creamed corn and remaining rice wine in a saucepan and bring to boil.
Add the meat and marinade. Stir to separate the meat.
Lower heat and simmer for at least 5 minutes.
Bring the heat to medium and then slowly stir in the egg mixture in a thin stream to the soup until well blended.
Stir in sesame oil.
Taste and adjust seasoning with extra salt and pepper if needed.
Serve garnished with chopped green onions on top.

Danish Braid

2008-06-29T23:23:00.005+01:00

This is my second Daring Bakers' challenge. Thanks to Kelly and Ben for hosting this month's challenge which is Danish Braid or to be more generic - laminated dough. Indeed it was quite a challenge for me as you will see later.

Like my previous DB project, I wouldn't say that this is a resounding success. let me start with the dough which I found extremely sticky when it came to kneading it. Only the constant sprinkling of flour just about allowed me to finish it. One thing to bear in mind is to keep everything cold or chilled or you will have problems in stickiness and handling.

It was a very warm day when I decided to do this which made it very tricky. By the time I did the second rolling and folding I thought I was getting the hang of it and felt mighty pleased with myself when I finally parked the four-times folded dough in the fridge for the final chilling. This is when I think it all went wrong. It was supposed to be chilled for the last time for up to 24 hours. Of course the next day I forgot to take it out and bake it instead it took me another day so that was 48 hours not 24. So I rolled, filled, and braided it then proofed it in a slightly warm oven. Two hours later it still looked the same. I thought to myself maybe at baking time it will finally puff up to all its glory. It didn't! *waaah* My yeast phobia is all coming back to me.

Well actually the top puffed up a little but nothing more. The apple filling was problematic as well. I substituted Golden Delicious for the Fuji and it was sooo runny despite simmering it for more than 10 minutes. I have made the necessary adjustment in the recipe below so I won't make the same mistake next time I decide to make it. All is not lost though, the aroma was wonderful and when me and my son tasted it was actually delicious despite having a bottom crust that was on the hard side.

Danish Dough
(makes enough for 2 Danish Braid)

*For the dough:
1 oz fresh yeast or 1 Tbsp active dry yeast
1/2 cup whole milk - chilled
1/3 cup sugar
zest of 1 orange - finely grated
3/4 tsp ground cardamom (optional)
1/2 Tbsp vanilla extract
1/2 vanilla bean - split and scraped
2 large eggs - chilled and slightly beaten
1/4 cup fresh orange juice
3 1/4 cup plain flour
1 tsp fine salt

*For the butter block:
250 gm [1 cup] cold unsalted butter - cut into cubes
1/4 cup plain flour

Combine yeast and milk in a bowl with a whisk.
Slowly add sugar, orange zest, cardamom, vanilla extract, vanilla seeds, eggs and orange juice. Mix well.
In another bowl combine the flour and salt. Make a well in the centre and pour in the milk mixture. Stir initially with a wooden spoon then as it gets sticky use your hand to combine.
Once they come together, transfer to a well floured surface and knead until smooth and easy to work with (about 5-7 minutes).
Cover with a plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
Beat the cubed butter and 1/4 cup flour with an electric mixer on the slowest speed until smooth and lump free. Set aside.
Remove the dough from the fridge and turn out on a lightly floured surface.
Roll the dough into a rectangle approximately 18x13 inches and 1/4 inch thick. The dough may be sticky so keep lightly dusting it with flour.
Spread the butter evenly over the right two-thirds of the dough.
Now fold the left third of the dough over the right, covering half of the butter.
Fold the right third of the rectangle over the centre third; pinch the edges a little. The first turn has now been completed. Mark the dough by poking it with your finger to keep track or use a stick tape and keep a tally.
Place on a baking sheet and cover with a plastic wrap. Refrigerate for 30 minutes.
Put the dough lengthwise on a floured surface. The open ends should be to your right and left. Roll the dough again into approximately 18x13 inches, 1/4 inch rectangle.
Again fold the left third of the rectangle over the centre third and the right third over the centre third. No additional butter will be added. The second turn has now been completed. Refrigerate for 30 minutes.
Roll out, turn and refrigerate the dough two more times, for a total of four single turns.
Refrigerate the dough after the final turn for 5 hours or overnight.
The danish dough is now ready to be used. If you will not be using the dough within 24 hours, freeze it. To do this, roll out the dough to about 1 inch thickness, wrap tightly in plastic wrap and freeze. Defrost slowly in the refrigerator for easiest handling. Danish dough will keep in the freezer for up to 1 month.

Apple Filling

4 Golden Delicious apples - peeled, cored, and chopped into 1/4-inch thickness
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 vanilla bean - split and scraped
2 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
4 Tbsp unsalted butter
1 Tbsp flour

Toss all ingredients except butter in a bowl.
Melt the butter in a saucepan until slightly nutty in colour (about 6 minutes).
Add the apple mixture and saute until the apples are softened and caramelised (10-15 minutes).
Transfer to another container. Cool and set aside.

Danish Braid

1/2 recipe of Danish Dough
2 cups apple filling, jam or preserves

For the egg wash: 1 large egg plus 1 large egg yolk

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
On a lightly floured surface, roll the Danish dough into approximately 15x10-inch, 1/4 inch thick rectangle. If the dough seems elastic and shrinks back when rolled, let it rest for a few minutes, then roll again.
Place the dough on the prepared baking sheet.
Along one long side of the pastry make parallel, 3-inch long cuts with a knife or a rolling pastry wheel, each about 1 inch apart. Repeat on the opposite side making sure to line up the cuts with those you have already made.
Spoon the filling you have chosen to fill your braid down the centre of the rectangle.
Starting with the top and bottom flaps, fold the top flap down over the filling to cover. Next fold the bottom flap up to cover filling. This helps keep the braid neat and helps to hold in the filling.
Begin folding the cut side strips of the dough over the filling, alternating first left, then right, left, right, until finished. Trim any excess dough and tuck in ends.
Whisk together the whole egg and yolk in a bowl and with a pastry brush, lightly coat the braid.
Lightly oil one side of a piece of plastic wrap and place over the braid.
Proof at room temperature or if possible in a controlled 90F degree environment for about 2 hours or until doubled in volume and light to the touch.
Preheat oven to 190C/fan 170C. Bake for 10 minutes then rotate pan to bake evenly.
Lower oven temperature to 180C/fan 160C and bake for another 15-20 minutes or until golden brown.
Cool and serve the braid warm or at room temperature.

Beautiful Bones: Family-style Bean Curd

2008-05-30T09:08:00.000+01:00

I am massively supporting Susan's (of Food Blogga) blogging event called "Beautiful Bones" to highlight osteoporosis. This is one event that I really feel close to my heart. I do feel strongly mainly because my mother's side of the family have been blighted by osteoporosis and other bone diseases. And if me and my siblings are not careful we would be victims as well later on.

My dear old grandma, Lola Ebia, is in her 95th year. Her spine is bent forward making it difficult for her to move around. Worse off was her late older sister, Lola Ine, who was not only bent almost 90 degrees from the waist up but whose spine was shaped like a big letter S on her back. It did not seem give her that much health problems (or maybe I just didn't hear much about it) but it did present a great difficulty for her physically moving about. Me and my cousins were joking then at what shape her coffin would be when she died.

It did not end in my grandma's generation. My mother and her siblings are now beginning to feel various forms of bone diseases. And it's not confined to the women even our uncle who is very fit and follows a healthy lifestyle succumbed to some problems with his hipbone and had to be operated on when he was only 65. So me and my cousins better beware and heed the signs to take better care of ourselves or we will suffer in later years.

As what Susan mentioned in her blog, there are lots of food sources of calcium ranging from the usual dairy products to vegetables to nuts and lots of others. Bear in mind to temper the consumption of these with fibre since too much fibre restricts the absorbtion of calcium by the body. To strike a balance between consumption of calcium and fibre-rich food would be the optimum goal. As usual moderation is the key.

I have chosen to cook this dish rather than the usual dairy product sources since the soya bean in the bean curd and the green bokchoy are rich in calcium and would do well in balancing our intake of healthier food. Sorry for the limp overcooked bokchoy. Distractions while cooking can be hazardous to the final cooked products.

Family-style Bean Curd

1 pkg bean curd (4 squares)
2 green onions - sliced into 1/2-inch pieces
6 slices ginger root
5 pieces dried Chinese black mushrooms
1/2 cup sliced bamboo shoots
3 pieces bok choy - cut into quarters lengthwise
1/2 tsp hot chilli paste
1 cup stock
2 Tbsp soy sauce
1 Tbsp oyster sauce
1 tsp sugar
1/2 Tbsp cornstarch
1 Tbsp water
oil for frying

Soak the mushrooms in hot water for about 20 minutes or until soft. Squeeze out water then slice into 1/2-inch pieces lengthwise.
Combine stock, soy sauce, oyster sauce and sugar in a container. Stir until sugar is dissolved. Set aside.
Mix cornstarch and water in another bowl, stir and set aside.
Cut the bean curd into thin triangles. Deep fry or pan fry until golden brown. Set aside.
Heat a wok and add 2 Tbsp oil. Stir fry the green onion and ginger until aromatic.
Add the Chinese mushrooms, chilli paste and bamboo shoots, stir to mix.
Then add the bok choy and stir fry in high heat for a few seconds.
Add the oyster sauce mixture and fried bean curd.
Bring to boil and cook for 3 minutes or until the liquid has reduced to half.
Add the cornstarch mixture and bring to boil to thicken.
Dish up and serve immediately.

White Opera Cake

2008-05-29T00:00:00.004+01:00

My First Daring Bakers' Challenge!

I've always wanted to join in the fun of the Daring Bakers. It took me several months to muster up enough courage to send an email to the organizers and start the excitement of waiting for the next challenge's announcement. And guess what my first challenge was - opera cake! My most dreaded and nervousness-inducing pastry creation. I always tried to avoid making this, thinking it was too tedious, too difficult, or just too time and resource demanding. As it turned out, if you do parts of it ahead of time it won't be too daunting a task.

How did I fare? Not bad, though I would not qualify this as a resounding success. Despite my results I learned a lot from doing this and if ever I am brave (or nagged) enough to do this again I have every confidence I can do it well. Thanks very much to the organisers of this month's theme for their detailed instructions and their patience in answering our countless questions and shoring up our flagging confidence. Our organisers decided that the theme should not be the usual chocolate opera cake but with white chocolate and whatever light flavouring and spring-themed decoration you desire.

I didn't find much problems in the making of the joconde (cake) and syrup. They were straightforward and were easy peasy to make. I made them at least 2 days before with the syrup flavoured by lemon juice since I've decided to do a citrus flavoured opera cake.

The buttercream was another matter altogether. Me and my 7-year-old daughter were happily beating the eggs with the hot syrup very slowly dripped into it. It came out light, very fluffy and wonderfully marshmallow-like flavoured. Problem came when we beat in the softened butter. I thought it was softened enough but as I put in the first lot I actually saw it go deflate - pfffft! So the first lesson was make sure the butter is not just soft but room temperature - as in almost at melting point. The buttercream still came together but it was not as fluffy as I expected. And if I were to do this again I would make 1 1/2 of the buttercream to make sure there's enough for it to spread around.

Next was the disappointing white chocolate. I had two lots to do, one for the mousse another for the glaze. Needless to say the Mernier white choc I bought refused to completely melt! And all along I thought a more expensive one would give me an easier to handle ingredient. How wrong I was. I should have stuck to the cheap supermarket-brand baking white choc. Anyways, after my futile attempt to melt it in the double boiler I transferred it in a saucepan where it almost burned. Finally, it melted, removed from the heat and cooled it a bit. But by the time I have beaten the double cream to soft peaks the melted white choc was becoming grainy! So off it went back on the cooker with me stirring like a woman possessed. I cooled it again though this time watching it like a hawk and stirring it from time to time. When it was about room temperature I was finally able to successfully fold it into the whipped cream. The original recipe said to use 7 oz or 200 gm of white choc. I thought it was a bit much too sweet so I only used half required.

The original glaze for me is too sweet as well plus it did not spread too well. Therefore the recipe below is adjusted to double the cream and reduce the white choc a little.

The assembly was the easiest part for me. Although I could have put more syrup in the joconde to make the lemon flavour more prominent.

As I said before, I learned a lot from this exercise and have marked here all my learning points to avoid any future disasters.

White Opera Cake

Syrup

1/2 cup water
1/3 cup granulated sugar
2 Tbsp lemon juice

Put all ingredients in a saucepan and bring to a boil.
Simmer until all the sugar is dissolved.
Remove from heat and set aside.

(Note: This can be done up to 1 week in advance covered in the fridge.)

Joconde

6 large eggwhites
2 Tbsp granulated sugar
2 cups ground blanched almonds
1-1/2 cups icing sugar
6 large eggs
1/2 cup plain flour
3 Tbsp unsalted butter – melted

Preheat oven to 220C/200C fan/425F.
Butter and line 2 swiss roll pan (about 15-inch x 10-inch) with parchment paper.
Beat eggwhites until soft peaks. Add sugar gradually and beat until stiff and glossy.
In another bowl, beat eggs and icing sugar and ground almond until light and voluminous (about 3 minutes).
Add flour and mix just enough to combine. Do not overmix.
Gently fold the meringue into the almond mixture. Fold in the melted butter.
Divide the batter between the two pans, spread evenly and bake for 6 to 9 minutes or until lightly brown and springy to the touch.
Remove from oven. Run a knife along the edges to loosen the cake. Cover each with parchment paper, turn it over, unmold the cake and carefully remove the parchment paper lining. Let it cool to room temperature.

(Note: This can be made 1 day in advance and kept wrapped in room temperature.)

Buttercream

1 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup water
1 large egg
1 large egg yolk
200 gm [3/4 cup + 2 Tbsp] unsalted butter – softened to room temperature
1 Tbsp orange extract

Combine sugar and water in a saucepan and cook over low-medium heat until the sugar dissolves.
Continue to cook without stirring until the temperature reaches 225F on a jam or deep-fry thermometer.
While the syrup is heating, beat the egg and egg yolk at high speed until pale and foamy.
Once the syrup reaches the required temperature, remove it from the heat, reduce the mixer speed to low and begin to very slowly pouring the syrup down the side of the bowl being very careful not to splatter the syrup onto the path of the whisk.
Some of the syrup might spin onto the sides of the bowl but don’t worry about this and don’t try to mix it in the mixture as it will harden.
Raise the speed to medium and continue beating until the eggs are thick and satiny and is cool to the touch (about 5 minutes).
While the egg mixture is beating, place the softened butter in a bowl and mash it with a spatula until you have a soft creamy mass.
With the mixer on medium speed, add the softened butter in two-tablespoon chunks. When all the butter has been added, mix in the 1 Tbsp orange extract and raise the mixer speed to high and beat until buttercream is thick and shiny.
Chill the buttercream in the fridge, stirring often until it’s set enough to spread on the cake.

(Note: This can be done in advance packed in an airtight container – 1 month frozen and 4 days refrigerated. To use simply bring buttercream to room temperature and then beat briefly to restore its consistency.)

White Chocolate Mousse

100 gm white baking chocolate - chopped
1-1/4 cup double cream
1 tbsp liquer of your choice such as Amaretto, Limoncello, etc. [optional]

Put 1/4 cup double cream in a saucepan and cook on gentle heat.
Once bubbles start to appear on the edges, add in the white chocolate.
Stir to ensure it's smooth and that the chocolate has melted.
Add the 1 Tbsp liquer and stir. Remove from heat and set aside to cool completely.
In a bowl, whip the remaining 1 cup double cream until soft peaks form.
Gently fold the whipped cream into the cooled chocolate to form a mousse. If it’s too thin, refrigerate it until it’s spreadable.

(Note: This can be made ahead on the day and refrigerated until you’re ready to use it.)

Glaze

250 gm white baking chocolate
1/2 cup double cream

Put the double cream in a saucepan and heat gently.
Once bubbles start to appear on the edges add the white chocolate.
Stir until melted and smooth. Let cool for about 10 minutes.

(Note: This should be done right after the cake has been assembled and chilled.)

Cake Assembly:

Cut and trim each sheet of joconde (cake) so that you have 2 pieces: one 10-inch square and one 10 x 5-inch rectangle.
Place one square of joconde on a cake stand or parchment lined baking sheet.
Brush gently with lots of the flavoured syrup. Spread about 2/3 of the buttercream evenly over this layer.
Top with the two rectangular pieces of joconde, placing them side-by-side to form a square.
Again, brush these pieces with lots of the flavoured syrup. Spread the remaining buttercream on top. Then place the remaining square of joconde on top of this.
Use the remaining syrup to moisten it and spread all of the white chocolate mousse on top.
Refrigerate for at least two hours to let the mousse to firm up.
Make the glaze and after it has cooled, pour and spread it on top of the chilled cake.
Refrigerate again to set the glaze. Serve the cake slightly chilled.

CCC2: Pasta Broccoli

2008-04-28T23:35:00.002+01:00

Chris over at Mele Cotte is replaying for the second time his great idea of a blog event to highlight one of the scourge of our age - cancer. To encourage us to cook food that combats this disease.

I don't know if you notice, it seems cancer is spreading to epidemic proportions. Rare it is to find anyone who does not personally know someone who is afflicted with cancer. My husband's family is not stranger to it. An aunt and an uncle in his mother's side died of lung and breast cancers respectively. Then his several aunts and uncles in his father's side also has/had it in various forms. For me, an old high school classmate died of breast cancer at the age of 36 leaving behind 5 young kids whose father had long abandoned the family when he learned of her illness. How heartbreaking is that?

What I can do about it? Not much except maybe support them however I can in prayers, care, and whatever help I can extend. But I think the better way would be to take care of myself and my nearest loved ones in hopefully these would not befall us. One of the obvious thing to do is to eat healthily which this post will help in giving a recipe with several cancer-fighting ingredients.

A blogging friend sent me some of these lovely orecchiette (ear shaped) pasta which she got me from Italy. Thanks Sha! I've never tried these shapes before and quite curious of its texture and quality.

Then I got this recipe in the latest Delicious magazine. Their May edition is an all Italian issue. I had to halve the recipe because there's just too much of it. This recipe I adapted contains broccoli, garlic, and chilli peppers which are touted to be top cancer-combating food. I love the simplicity of this dish which can be had on its own or with other meats.

Pasta Broccoli

200 gm orecchiette pasta (ear-shaped)
1 big garlic clove - thinly sliced
1 red chilli - deseeded and sliced
3 Tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
2 anchovy fillets (bottled or canned)
250 gm broccoli - cut into small florets

Blanch the broccoli in boiling water for 2 minutes. Drain and set aside.
Cook the pasta 1 minute less than the pack instructions. Drain and set aside. Reserve some of the pasta water.
A few minutes before the pasta is done, gently heat 1 Tbsp of olive oil and saute the garlic and chilli. Do not let it burn.
Add the broccoli and cook for about half a minute. Add another 1 Tbsp olive oil. Stir to mix.
Add about 1/4 cup of the hot pasta water and the anchovies. Cook in low heat while stirring frequently until the anchovies dissolve.
Season with salt and pepper.
Add the pasta and stir to combine. Cook for another 2-3 minutes to allow the broccoli to cook some more.
Add the last 1 Tbsp of olive oil and mix well. Dish up and serve immediately.

Pear-Chocolate Clafoutis

2008-04-25T20:47:00.002+01:00

I was hoping to enter this in the Hay Hay It's Donna Day #19 blogging event but it's only now that I read the rules carefully. It turned out that you have to follow a certain recipe using either berries or plums. Darn!

Never mind, I've always wanted to do this pear clafoutis recipe adapted from Green & Black's Chocolate Recipes cookbook. And I've never done clafoutis before I thought this would be a good chance to experience one.

If you don't like your clafoutis a little gooey in the middle then this is not the one for you. The extra liquid from the poached pears ensure that the middle part (at least) of the the cake is a bit wet. I absolutely love the moist, smooth texture of the conference pears with the sticky chocolate cake.

Pear-Chocolate Clafoutis

*For the poached pears:
6 pears
75 cl red wine or 3 cups water
110 gm [1/2 cup] caster sugar (superfine)
juice of 1 lemon

*For the batter
110 gm [3/4 cup] self-raising flour
1/8 tsp fine salt
100 gm [1 cup] ground almond
165 gm [3/4 cup] caster sugar (superfine)
2 large egs
1 large egg yolk
175 ml [2/3 cup + 1 Tbsp] full cream milk
75 gm unsalted or slightly salted butter
100 gm dark chocolate (minimum 60% cocoa solids)

To poach pears:
1. Peel pears but leave the stalks on (it's easier to turn pears around).
2. Put wine (or water) in a saucepan with the lemon juice and caster sugar. Stir to dissolve sugar. Bring to boil slowly then lower the heat to a simmer.
3. Cook/poach the pears the pears in the syrup for 10 minutes. Turn the pears from time to time.
4. Take the saucepan off the heat and leave the pears in the liquid to cool for about 2 hours.
5. After cooling, drain the pears and slice them in half lengthwise. Using a small teaspoon or melon baller remove the cores carefully. Cut off the stems if you like.

For the batter:
1. Preheat the oven to 200C/400F/gas mark 6.
2. Grease a 13 x 9-inch oval baking pan or two 9-inch baking pans.
3. Break up the chocolate and melt with the butter in a heatproof bowl over a saucepan of simmering water. Mix well then set aside and cool a little.
4. Put the flour, almond, sugar and salt in a bowl and mix well.
5. Whisk the eggs, egg yolk, and milk together then add to the flour mixture. Blend until smooth.
6. Stir in the melted chocolate mixture until well combined.
7. Pour the batter into the prepared pan(s) and arrange the poached pears in the batter placing the thin end facing towards the centre of the pan.
8. Bake for 20-25 minutes. The centre of the cake will always be gooey because of the extra liquid in the poached pear so do not be alarmed if a skewer inserted in the middle does not come out clean.
9. Serve hot or cold with some cream or creme fraiche.

Canteen

2008-04-19T23:14:00.005+01:00

Pictures of my lone dinner to the restaurant in the Spitalfield Market area called Canteen didn't come to the surface until now. I went there last October when I had a training down in London. Because of my long illness right after that I didn't get a chance to review all the pictures I took until now that I'm generally better.

Canteen is one of the most ideal restaurant for me. I never hid the fact from anyone that when it comes to dining places the environment and ambiance are way down my list of criteria. First and foremost for me is the food (that's what it's all about innit?) secondly is the price - it had to be at least good value for money. So you can just about guess that down to earth places with reasonable prices and great food are my absolute favourites. If the surroundings and cutlery are nice then I would consider that a bonus.

This restaurant is no fancy place but had good settings in a minimalist way. The name was true to its word - it looks like a canteen. Most of the food are standard pub fodder but done in the best way possible. I likened the whole enterprise as like stripping a restaurant naked and exposing and highlighting the fabulous food it offers at prices that would not break the bank - I promise!

I ordered a steak (and ale ?) pie with mash and greens. The mash was the best I've tasted outside of my kitchen. Very buttery, creamy and ultra smooth. And the pie? On the outside the pastry was crisp and the inside was a great thick and flavourful beef stew. Although the filling was quite hot making me regret scoffing a spoonful as soon as I broke into it. I was wondering to myself how they managed to retain the crispiness of the pastry. Maybe they have them ready as baked shells and then fill it, top it then baked to crisp the outside. Hmmm ... food for thought.

Thank god the greens didn't come out cooked to death. It was handled just right making a fine complement to the pie and creamy mash. Oh before I forget, the gravy was delicious enough to bind them all together to give me a very satisfying meal.

Now I couldn't remember exactly the ice cream I had for dessert. I think it was raspberry one with a pistachio biscotti sticking like a tower on the side. But I could distinctly remember that the fruit flavour was vivid in a starring-role style not like some insipid ice cream whose intended flavours barely registered in your tongue. And did I say it was as creamy as a premium Italian gelato?

Well, what else can I say? It's obvious that I enjoyed my food in Canteen and will be definitely be back with a vengeance if I'm in the vicinity. I just hope they keep up the quality of their offerings and hope they won't get diluted once they start branching out. Please Canteen promise me you won't be another Wagamama ...

Canteen
2 Crispin Place
Spitalfields
London E1 6DW

Tel. No.: 0845 686 1122

White Chocolate-Blueberry Cheesecake

2008-03-10T23:20:00.001Z

Look ma, no baking so no oven needed! Gary Rhodes' article in the BBC Good Food magazine provided me with the recipe to adapt for this confection which is really very easy to make!

I know, I know, the picture doesn't look too polished. I brought this to our nephew's baptism reception and there wasn't any plate big enough nor a knife to properly slice it. So a squashed pie plate was produced and everybody just hacked it with plastic forks and spoons. Not a pretty sight but well worth having as it was not too sweet with just the right balance of the white chocolate and cream cheese and with nary a smidgen of sour cream. The topping of course are lovely blueberries that always marries well with cheesecakes.

White Chocolate-Blueberry Cheesecake

*Biscuit Base:
225 gm plain Hobnobs* - crushed to fine crumbs
100 gm unsalted butter - melted

*Cheesecake:
300 gm white chocolate - chopped
200 gm cream cheese (or Philadelphia cheese) - at room temperature
25 gm [5 tsp] caster sugar
2 cups double cream

*Topping:
350 gm blueberries
100 gm icing sugar (confectioner's)
2 Tbsp water

Line bottom and sides of a 23cm/9-inch round springform pan with greaseproof paper.
Mix crumbs and butter. Press into the bottom of the prepared pan. Chill in the fridge.
While the the crust is chilling, melt white chocolate in a heatproof bowl set over simmering water in a saucepan. Remove from heat and cool a little until warm.
Beat cream cheese and sugar until smooth.
Stir in melted chocolate. Mix well.
Whip double cream to very soft peaks then gently fold into the white chocolate mixture.
Pour into the prepared pan. Spread and smooth top. Chill in fridge for 2-3 hours or overnight.

For the topping:
1. Place blueberries, icing sugar and water in a saucepan and warm gently until sugar has dissolved and the berries are starting to soften but still retains their shape.
2. If syrup is too thin, take the blueberries with slotted spoon into a container. Leave a few pieces and mash these to release the juice. Continue simmering the syrup for a few minutes to thicken.
3. Combine with the blueberries. Leave to cool.

To assemble:

Remove cheesecake from baking pan then spoon the cold blueberries with syrup over the top.

*Note: For the crust, you can use either Hobnobs (or any oaty biscuit), Digestives, or graham crackers.

Buttermilk Scones

2008-02-15T09:38:00.002Z

Scones here are more or less the equivalent of what the Americans call biscuits. They are favourite staples of afternoon teas. I love to have them with some clotted cream and strawberry jam plus a steaming cup of Earl Grey. They are one of the more easier quickbreads to make. So easy even my daughters can make them without my help at all.

One of the secrets in making a flaky, fluffy and well-risen scones is by using buttermilk. It reacts with the baking powder in the self-raising flour to give us light and airiness in the scones. Also when rubbing the butter into the flour, lift it a little bit to incorporate more air in the mixture. The other one is in dipping the cutter in flour before cutting into the dough. If it's not well floured it tends to crimp the edges which prevents it from rising well.

This particular recipe is adapted from Angela Nilsen's The Ultimate Recipe Book. I reduced the milk to make it less sticky and increased the sugar a little for more sweetness.

Buttermilk Scones

450 gm self-raising flour
1/2 tsp fine salt
75 gm [5 Tbsp] caster sugar (superfine)
100 gm chilled butter
1 cup buttermilk
1/4 cup milk
a little flour for dusting

Preheat oven to 220C/fan 200C/gas mark 7. Lightly grease a baking sheet.
Mix flour and salt in a bowl.
[Optional] Cut butter into small pieces.
Add butter to the flour mixture and using a pastry cutter or two butter knives, cut the butter into the flour mixture until they are pea-sized. Then shift to using your fingers and rub the butter and flour mixture lifting as you go along to aerate the mixture until it more or less resembles bread crumbs. Try not to over rub as the scones will be lighter if the mixture is a bit flaky.
Add sugar and mix well.
Mix the buttermilk and milk. Make a well in the middle of the flour mixture and pour the buttermilk mixture in it.
Gently mix them together until it forms a soft and sticky dough.
Put the dough in a lightly floured surface and knead 3 or 4 times only to get rid of the cracks. Do not overwork the dough or it will become tough.
Pat the dough gently to a thickness of about 1-inch. Dip a 2-1/2 inch round fluted cutter in flour and cut out the scones by pushing down quickly without twisting. Make sure to dip the cutter in flour every time before cutting through the dough.
Cut out the rest of the dough by gathering the trimmings lightly then patting to 1 inch thick again.
Place in the baking sheet and sift a light dusting of flour on top or glaze with beaten egg. Bake for 10-12 minutes or until well risen and golden.
Cool on a wire rack uncovered for crisp tops or loosely covered with a tea towel if you prefer it soft.
Serve with clotted or whipped cream and strawberry jam.

Roasted Teriyaki Salmon

2008-01-04T20:38:00.002Z

We usually go for something different on either Christmas lunch or dinner. In the last one we had the kid's favourite roast rib of beef for lunch so I thought of keeping it a little lighter for dinner.

Often salmon is dealt with in our kitchen by grilling it. This time it is baked with some veggies stuffed in it. I think it still needs a little more seasoning although my husband it was just right. Anyway he said we always have a dipping dish of soy sauce and lemon on the side. However as a variation, this dish can be marinated first with teriyaki sauce to make the salmon more flavoured. But forget my gripes, I highly recommend this as an alternative to your usual turkey or beef roasts.

This was adapted from the Good Housekeeping magazine from the mid 90s. Enjoy!

Roasted Teriyaki Salmon

4 spring onions
225 gm asparagus (optional) - halved lengthwise
225 gm carrots - peeled and julienned
225 gm leeks
1 large red or orange bell pepper
3 garlic cloves - finely minced
50 gm canned water chestnuts - julienned or roughly chopped
4 Tbsp olive oil
1/4 cup teriyaki sauce*
2 salmon tail fillet (about 1.8 kg in weight) - skin on and scaled
sea salt flakes
fresh ground pepper

Cut off the ends of the leek and into about 4-inch lengths crosswise then cut into julienne strips.
De-seed the bell pepper and cut into julienne strips.
Heat 2 Tbsp of oil in a wok. Saute the garlic for a few seconds.
Stir fry the rest of the vegetables for 2-3 minutes.
Add in the teriyaki sauce and cook for about 1 minute.
Remove from pan and set aside to cool.
Preheat the oven to 200C/180C fan.
Put the salmon fillets cut side up on a work surface. Sprinkle some teriyaki sauce, sea salt and pepper on them.
Place the cooled vegetable on top of one then cover with the other salmon fillet, cut side down.
Tie the salmon tightly together at intervals using cotton strings.
Brush the of the salmon on top with the rest of the olive oil and sprinkle with sea salt and pepper.
Put the salmon in a roasting pan and bake in the oven for 20-25 minutes or until cooked through.
Remove from oven and put under a hot grill (or increase the oven to 250C/230C fan) for 2-3 mins to brown the salmon.
To serve, cut into thick slices and with lemon and soy sauce.

*Notes:

You may use store-bought teriyaki sauce.
This can be prepared ahead by doing to end of step 10 up to one day ahead. Chill in the fridge until ready to use.
When baking from chilled, cook for 35-40 mins.
The salmon may also be marinated with the teriyaki sauce for about 15 minutes to increase flavour.

Sticky Toffee Pudding

2007-12-29T20:43:00.000Z

This was intended as an entry for the SHF #38 with a theme of pudding. I thought the deadline was end of the month I forgot that this is a Friday event. Duh! So I missed it again as I always do ... arrrgggghhhh!

Nevermind, I still want to include this in my list of recipes here as a reference for moi. For I have found my ultimate sticky toffee pudding - at last! I first sighted this in the Good Food magazine as far back as 2006. I have made this before but just forgot (there's that word again) to take a picture. So Christmas dinner this year provided the perfect excuse to indulge in our most favourite of all puddings.

Among the commercial varieties the only one that pass my family's finicky taste is Marks & Spencers. My husband buys only their sticky toffee pudding when he occasionally hankers for one. The rest of the store-bought ones didn't get enough points for us to buy a second time.

This type of pudding is typical of traditional British ones. Though upon research I found out that it was anything but ancient. There is controversy regarding its origins. Some say it's from a Lake District hotel some say it's from somewhere else. In any case, hats off to whoever it was for inventing a totally addictive pud.

When I was making this I realised that the most important bit is really the toffee sauce. Once you get the right balance of the ingredients for the sauce, it does not matter whether the pudding itself does or not have any dates in it. Actually I think even if you have just plain sponge as a base but have the perfect toffee sauce then it is all well and good exactly like the better store-bought ones.

The recipe is very good and easy to do. My only gripe is the black tracle in the toffee sauce causes it to turn a slight greyish tint when it cools off which can be a little off-putting for some people. So I'm recording that down as optional. I highly recommend this especially when served warm with cream or custard. Yum!

Sticky Toffee Pudding

*Pudding:
200gm pitted and chopped dates
2/3 cup boiling water
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 eggs
175 gm self-raising flour
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda (baking soda)
85 gm butter - softened
140 gm demerara sugar
2 tbsp black treacle or dark molasses
1/3 cup + 1 1/2 Tbsp milk
cream or custard to serve

*Toffee Sauce:
175 gm light muscovado sugar
50 gm butter
1 cup double cream
1 Tbsp black treacle or dark molasses (optional)

Pour the boiling water on the dates in a bowl. Let soak to soften for at least 30 minutes. Mash the dates with a fork or puree with a liquidiser. Set aside.
Pre-heat the oven to 180C/160C fan/gas mark 4. Butter and flour seven small pudding molds or cups (about 200 ml in size).
Mix the flour and bicarbonate of soda well. Set aside.
Cream the butter and sugar with an electric mixer for several minutes.
Add eggs one at a time mixing well after each addition.
Beat in the black treacle.
Using a large metal spoon, fold in one-third of the flour mixture alternately with half of the milk while making sure not to overmix. Repeat until all the flour and milk are used.
Add in the mashed dates and stir until just incorporated.
Divide the batter evenly among the seven pudding molds. Place molds on a baking sheet and bake for 20-25 minutes.
Remove from the oven, cool for a few minutes then loosen them by running a butter or pallet knife on its side. Turn out from the molds to cool completely.
While the pudding is baking, make the sauce by combining the sugar, butter and half of the double cream in a saucepan.
Bring to boil in medium heat while stirring all the time until sugar has dissolved.
(Optional) Stir in the black treacle if using.
Let it simmer away for about 2 minutes while stirring from time to time making sure it does not burn.
Remove from heat then stir in the rest of the double cream.
To serve, pour the sauce over the upturned pudding in individual plates or bowls with cream or custard.

*Note: The pudding will taste even better if it sits in the sauce for a day or two. Cover the bottom of a baking dish with some of the sauce. Sit the upturned puddings on the baking dish and pour the rest of the sauce over it. Cover with a loose tent of foil so it will not smudge the sauce.

To reheat, you can put the covered baking dish in a 180C/160C fan oven for 15 minutes. Though I prefer to microwave the individual puddings because baking tends to dry out the sauce a little making it a tad sweeter than I would like it to be.

Fish Fillet with Broccoli

2007-11-29T22:01:00.001Z

Here's a recipe for fish fillets with a healthy dose of veg. The sauce is mild and not overpowering at all. Such a nice detour from the usual spicy or strong flavoured dishes we do with fish fillets. I got this from my good 'ol favourite Chinese Cuisine by Huang Su-Huei.

Fish Fillet with Broccoli

500 gm white fish fillet
1 Tbsp cooking wine
1/2 tsp sea salt flakes
1 egg white - beaten lightly
1 1/2 Tbsp cornstarch
oil for frying
1 green onion - cut into 1/2-inch slices
6 slices ginger root - julienned
250 gm broccoli - cut into small florets

*Sauce:
1 tsp sea salt flakes
1 tsp sugar
dash of black pepper
dash of sesame oil
5 tbsp water
1 1/2 Tbsp cornstarch

Mix all the ingredients for the sauce in a small bowl and set aside.
Steam the broccoli for about 3 minutes or until just cooked. Set aside.
Score the fish fillet lightly in criss-cross pattern.
Cut the fillets in bite-sized pieces.
Add cooking wine and salt. Mix well.
Add in egg whites - mix.
Add the cornstarch - mix again. Set aside for a few minutes.
Heat a non-stick pan with about 1 1/2 Tbsp oil.
Before frying add 2 Tbsp oil into the fish mixture and mix well.
Once the pan and oil is hot, fry the fish fillets in batches until cooked.
In a wok, heat about 2 Tbsp oil.
Stir fry the green onion and ginger for about 30 seconds.
Add in the broccoli. Stir fry for about 30 seconds until heated through.
Add the fried fish fillets and the sauce.
Turn the heat to high and stir quickly to mix.
Remove from heat and dish up.

Lasang Pinoy 21: Pancit Bihon Guisado

2007-10-29T19:07:00.002Z

The 21st edition of Lasang Pinoy is brought to you by Bryan of Fire Water Husband (blog under renovation) who has this great idea of Cooking for Heroes. It's just as well that our current logo features the exact hero I want to cook for - Andres Bonifacio.

Even in my elementary school days I feel our dear old Andy Boni got a raw deal. I do believe he should be our national hero for he started the Katipunan, he started the ball rolling to begin the revolution and break free from the colonial masters. And what did he get for all his heroism and troubles? He got salvaged (executed) for being a rival party in the election for the head honcho of the revolutionary government. Then he lost out again almost a hundred years later in being a national hero. If that's not a raw deal I don't know what is.

It's no use arguing now about his place in history but what is undeniable is his courage, heroism, and his love of his country and fellow Filipinos. To you Andres, a big lambanog toast for being a real Pinoy! Thank you for all the things you have done for us.

What I have in mind to cook for him is something that can be considered essentially Filipino and at the same practical and nutritious for a revolutionary who had to eat on the go. And I thought why not our classic pancit. It's a complete meal in itself. It's got carbs, protein from the meat, and some wholesome veggies thrown in the process. Sounds like a good idea to me. :)

For the pancit recipe itself, this is the culmination of several years of my family's sacrifice of eating pancit as soggy and undercooked or dry and a bit tough or almost tasteless (prompting lots of toyo and lemon juice heaped on it). It took me awhile to get the hang of cooking the noodles just right. There is also the case with the oil, I used to put as little oil as possible while at the same time wondering what makes my mother's pancit well separated and really nice. Well I increased the oil exponentially with each batch - et voila! The oil is crucial! (I bet my doctor's not happy about this.) Too little will make it dry (obviously) and will tend to make it clump together. I also took my mother's advice of cooking the veggies separately to prevent it getting soggy. So like most dishes, cooking pancit successfully has a lot to do with timing. One revelation as well is that the richer your stock the better tasting your pancit will be. That my friend is guaranteed. :)

Pancit Bihon Guisado

250 gm thin or medium rice noodles (bihon)
3 Tbsp oil
1 Tbsp minced garlic
1 medium onion - roughly chopped
1/3 cup jullienned carrots
1/4 cup sliced celery (optional)
15 pieces mangetout (sitcharo)
1 cup shredded cabbage
1 cup sliced meat - chicken, pork, shrimp or combination of these*
1 1/2 cups rich stock
2 Tbsp soy sauce
freshly ground pepper
salt
additional stock or water

Soak the noodles in tepid water for about 20-30 minutes or until soft. Using scissors, cut into desired lengths. Drain and set aside.
In a wok, heat 1 Tbsp of the oil in medium heat. Saute the half the garlic and half the onions.
Add the meat and stir fry a little. Season with salt and pepper.
Add about 1/4 cup stock or water and simmer until done. You may have to add a bit more stock from time to time to keep it from drying out.
When the meat is done, add the carrots, mangetout, and celery. Stir to combine. There should still be some liquid in the wok if not add about 2-3 Tbsp stock and then cook under cover for 2 minutes.
Add the cabbage, stir fry for a few seconds and cook under cover for 1 minute.
Remove from heat and transfer to a dish. Set aside.
Using the same wok (no need to wash unless there's some burnt crust in the bottom), heat the remaining 2 Tbsp oil on medium heat.
Saute the remaining garlic and onion until onion is translucent.
Tip in the stock and any sauce drained from the meat and veg mixture.
Add the soy sauce and season with black pepper.
Bring to boil then add the noodles. Bring to boil again then lower heat to medium.
Toss the noodles (preferably with large forks for easier tossing) in the sauce until all the sauce is absorbed and the noodles are fully cooked. The tossing also make sure that the strands are separated and do not clump together. Don't worry if the bottom is getting a bit crusty. At the end there should be no sauce left but the noodles should still be moist, cooked but not soggy.
Add half of the meat/veg mixture and toss to mix.
Dish up and transfer to a dish. Top with the rest of the meat/veg mixture. Serve with calamansi or lemon on the side.

*Note: You may use precooked meat in which case add it in at the same time as the carrots and mangetout.

Prawns with Peas

2007-10-23T00:09:00.000+01:00

The short-lived summer here UK is only alleviated by the onslaught of fresh seasonal vegetables. One of my favourites - green peas - is a very much welcome addition to our table anytime. I tell you frozen peas is no match to the sweetness of fresh green peas especially if it's freshly picked right off your garden. I'm still trying to find the numerous ways of cooking it though this marriage with prawns is not bad at all. In fact, it's more than good because in all its simplicity I love it! This is adapted from my all-time trusted Chinese Cuisine by Huang Su-Huei.

Stir-fried Prawns With Peas

250 gm raw prawns or shrimps - shelled and deveined
1 tsp cooking wine
1 Tbsp egg whites - slightly beaten
1 Tbsp cornstarch
1 green onion - cut into 1-inch pieces
6 slices of ginger root
1 cup green peas - precooked
oil for frying

*Sauce:
1 tsp cooking wine
1 tsp sesame oil
1/8 tsp salt
2 tsp cornstarch
1/4 cup water
ground black pepper

Combine all sauce ingredients in a container. Set aside.
Place prawns in a bowl and season with salt.
Add cooking wine, egg whites, and cornstarch. Mix well.
Heat a wok then add about 2 Tbsp oil. Swirl the wok around so the oil coats it well.
Fry the prawns in medium heat for about 3 minutes. Remove from the wok and set aside.
Put 1 Tbsp oil in the wok, heat up and stir fry the green onions and ginger over medium heat.
Add the prawns, stir fry for a few seconds.
Add the sauce, turn heat to high and stir fry quick just enough to mix.
Dish up and serve.

Peeling Pineapples (Piña)

2007-10-15T12:08:00.000+01:00

In my first few months here in UK (back in the mid-90s), I missed Asian food so much that I was always scouring the aisles of our local supermarket for anything mildly Oriental or Southeast Asian. You could just imagine my delight when I saw a stack of fresh pineapples (pinya or piña in Tagalog/Spanish) in our local supermarket. What's more, it's got a sign saying that they will peel it for free. I thought that would save me a lot of effort and time so off I went and bought one. The lady on the counter got my pineapple, chopped off the top and bottom, sat it on a metal contraption with a big lever. Then she got hold of the lever pulled it down in one big motion - whoosh! Out came my pineapple in a perfect cylindrical shape with a hole in the middle looking exactly like what you get from cans. Well, at least it was done in no time at all but I have to lament the large amount of wasted pineapple! I'm one person who hates waste and I was just flabbergasted with how much was taken off my pineapple.

As an alternative I'll show you how pineapple is peeled in the Philippines wherein you can get the most out of your 'multi-eyed' fruit. See the series of pictures below on how you can peel your pineapple. It may take a bit more time but the satisfaction of having a more aesthetically pleasing and less wasteful way of doing things will surely encourage you to try this.

[Click on the pictures for a bigger view]

First off you start with your pineapple. Have a chopping board and a sharp knife ready.

Chop off both ends. If you're using this as a centre-piece in a buffet table, don't take off the leafy end to make it more interesting and exotic looking plus making sure that the bottom is level.

Now slice off the skin from top to bottom taking off just enough to expose the flesh.

Once you have peeled off all of the skin you will be left with just the 'eyes' or 'dots' that go deep into the flesh. We're now ready to connect the 'dots'. The idea is to remove the eyes without cutting out too much of the flesh. If you have a melon baller you can scoop out the eyes one by one thereby making it even less wasteful. But if you only have knife read on ...

If you notice the eyes are arranged by nature so that they have natural diagonal alignments. The lines they form are either slanted left to right or right to left. Choose one of the lines to follow (I usually take the less slanted one). Now, connect the eyes along the line that you chose by making a V-shaped canal with your sharp knife (usually you connect two eyes at a time).

Do this for all the eyes until you get a nicely patterned fruit as shown above.

To serve, slice vertically along the core of the pinapple into wedges. Best served chilled with a little salt on the side. Yum!

Screenshot

2007-09-28T22:24:00.000+01:00

An easier tag I have from Stel had me quickly tapping on the printscreen key. Here is my/our current desktop screen ... well actually the picture changes every 4 hours. See we got this neat Magentic software that provides these great background pictures and screensavers. We highly recommend it and the best bit of all is it's free!

The icons I usually click above are Mozilla and iTunes. How's that - music while surfing. :)

I like colourful and calming or funny pictures as my wallpaper on screen hence this Zen-like peaceful image.

Gee, I'm supposed to tag five other people but I don't have any energy left to bloghop around. So if any of you bloggers reading this want to show your current screens, consider yourself tagged.

My Desktop Free View Instruction:

A. Upon receiving this tag, immediately perform a screen capture of your desktop. It is best that no icons be deleted before the screen capture so as to add to the element of fun. :glasses-slip:

You can do a screen capture by:
[1] Going to your desktop and pressing the Print Scrn key (located on the right side of the F12 key).
[2] Open a graphics program (like Picture Manager, Paint, or Photoshop) and do a Paste (CTRL + V).
[3] If you wish, you can “edit” the image, before saving it.

B. Post the picture in your blog. You can also give a short explanation on the look of your desktop just below it if you want. You can explain why you preferred such look or why is it full of icons. Things like that.

C. Tag five of your friends and ask them to give you a Free View of their desktop as well.

D. Add your name to this list of Free Viewers with a link pointing directly to your Desktop Free View post to promote it to succeeding participants.

English Patis
Babyrambutan
Thesserie
iRonnie
Dom Lawrence
Rebecca
Blue Panjeet
Revolution Motion
Kauderwelsch
A Dialogue With K
Tales Of A Melodramatic Moron

Organic Food Festival 2007

2007-09-05T14:17:00.000+01:00

Heavy traffic in the M5 motorway nor the generally overcast weather did not deter me and my family to visit the 2007 Organic Food Festival in Bristol last weekend. It was held at the harbour side of the city. A perfect backdrop to some ethically and pesticide-free food and products available in the numerous stalls. Although I have noticed that, excepting the big-name companies, most of the stallholders are from the Southwest England. Hmmm ... I thought this would be a food festival that would encompass all organic producers from the whole of England. Oh well, it doesn't matter much to me as long as I have my fill of high-quality organic produce from whatever farm it came from.

Here are some pictures from that family outing (click on the picture for a larger view):

After paying our reasonably priced entrance fees, we each got tagged with a red wrist band. J3 said she felt like a pigeon (maybe a homing one at that).

The Soil Association is the organiser of this whole extravaganza.

Here's a view of the harbour and foot bridge at the back of the festival ground.

The one stall I forgot to take picture of is an umbrella-shaded wheeled cart with a young lady giving free Yeo Valley strawberry yoghurt. My daughters loved it so much that we kept coming back to get more from the patient lady. Between us we might have consumed more than a dozen sachet tubes! Other big organic companies were in attendance as well:

There are of course more of smaller producers represented in the different stalls:

One of the most favourite stall (it certainly was mine) is Green & Black's chocolates. They were giving out whole chocolate mini bars in big volumes! They were not even breaking them up in little pieces. You should see how they disappeared once the staff laid down one plateful of these gorgeous chocs.

My husband and youngest (J3) love cheese so it's just natural that they gravitate to the cheese stalls. One such interesting stall is Villanova Food where J3 particularly requested for a chunk of Grana Padano to buy.

I took the opportunity to buy some organic sirloin steaks at a discount (they were doing a buy 2 get 1 free promotion). And Brown Cow's steaks did not disappoint at all. We cooked them on a stove top grill right after we arrived home. It was one of the best I've tasted ever, very tender and flavourful. My only regret was I only bought three thinking my kids won't finish theirs like they normally do. But as it turned out everyone enjoyed it very much that all had clean plates. :)

There was also a kitchen demonstration tent where the likes of Sophie Grigson and Darina Allen did some cooking demos.

Besides food stalls, there are also other non-food organic stalls that were promoting or selling things like plants and herbs, toiletries, clothes, cleaning products, etc.

It's good that they provided entertainment as a minor distraction from all the wonderful food around. Here is the band The Courgettes dishing out funny food-related adapted songs like 'Beat It' which turned out into 'Eat It'. I must say they were good.

A different type of music were performed by the Bollywood Brass Band at the main Millenium Square stage.

We had a good day out that Saturday despite the overcast skies. I just wish the delicious organic food and produce were all more affordable. Well, just goes to show you can't have the best of both worlds.

Cannelloni

2007-08-31T23:01:00.001+01:00

Early this year my good blogger friend from Boston gave me Mario Batali's Molto Italiano a real gem of a cookbook. Stella must have known that we're a big fan of Italian cooking and what a great gift it is. Full of authentic Italian recipes, you know, the kind that Italian women traditionally cook at home for their families.

My son was nagging me to make this and since I have a batch of lasagna pasta to use up I decided to give it a go. Just a few modifications and alterations later I could say we've successfully adapted Mario's recipe. Actually my favourite of the whole lot is the basic tomato sauce which I like so much I froze the leftovers for use another day.

First you make the basic tomato sauce and beschamel sauce:

Basic Tomato Sauce

2 Tbsp olive oil
1 onion - diced
4 cloves garlic - sliced
1/2 cup finely chopped carrots
3 Tbsp chopped fresh thyme or 1 Tbsp dried thyme
2 x 400 gm cans of plum tomatoes or chopped tomatoes

In a big saucepan, heat the olive oil on medium heat.
Saute onion and garlic until soft and translucent - about 6-7 minutes.
Add carrot and thyme; cook for another 5 minutes or until carrot is soft.
Add the tomatoes and bring to a boil.
Lower heat and simmer until thick - about 20 minutes. Season with sea salt.
This can be stored in the fridge up to 1 week or frozen up to 6 months.

Bechamel Sauce

1/4 cup plain flour
5 Tbsp unsalted butter
3 cups whole milk
1 tsp ground sea salt
1/4 tsp freshly grated nutmeg

Heat a saucepan over medium heat then add butter to melt.
Add the flour and stir until smooth. Continue cooking until light brown while stirring. This will take about 5 minutes.
Stir in the milk 1 cup at a time. Bring to a boil while whisking constantly until smooth.
Cook for about 10 minutes or until thick while still whisking constantly.
Remove from heat and season with the salt and nutmeg.
Let cool completely. You may transfer to another container, cover and refrigerate until ready to use.

Cannelloni
(Cannelloni al Forno)

1 Tbsp butter
250 gm minced pork
250 gm minced veal or beef
3/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
1 cup whole milk
1 Tbsp flour
1 large egg - beaten
1/2 tsp ground sea salt
pinch of freshly ground nutmeg
black pepper
lasagne pasta sheets
1 1/2 cup tomato sauce
1 cup bechamel sauce
stock

Cook lasagne pasta sheets according to instructions. Drain and lay flat on kitchen towels.
In a medium sauce pan, melt the butter on high heat.
Add the meats, cook stirring to break up any lumps until browned.
Add salt and a little stock. Bring to boil then simmer for 15 minutes, stirring from time to time. At the end of 15 minutes there should be very little juice left in the pan.
Stir in the milk, 1/2 cup parmesan cheese, and flour. Bring to a boil then reduce heat and cover to simmer for another 15 minutes, stirring frequently.
Remove from heat and cool completely.
Add the egg, season with nutmeg and black pepper. Set aside.
Preheat oven to 350F/180C/160C fan.
Put about 3 Tablespoonful of meat filling along the long side of a cooked lasagne sheet. Roll up the pasta around the filling to form a log or cylinder. Repeat with the rest of the pasta and fillings.
Spread about 1/3 of the tomato sauce on the bottom of a wide baking dish. Arrange the cannelloni 'logs' seam side down in the single layer in the baking dish.
Top with the remaining tomato sauce and then with the bechamel sauce. Finally sprinkle the remaining parmesan cheese on top.
Bake in the oven for 25 minutes until the sauces are bubbly and the pasta edges are crisp and brown. Serve hot.

Garlic-Black Beans Pork

2007-08-12T00:28:00.000+01:00

I was wondering to do different with a slab of pork belly. I could always impose an adobo on it but where's the fun in that. So a quick scan among my posse of oriental cookbooks yielded this very easy stew. The ingredients are easy to source, too. Nothing exotic nothing out of the ordinary but resulted in a very good and tasty pork stew great with steamed rice. This is adapted from the Australian Women's Weekly's Chinese Cooking Class Cookbook.

Garlic-Black Beans Pork

750gm pork belly - chopped in serving-size pieces
1 Tbsp fermented black beans - roughly chopped
1/2 Tbsp minced garlic
2 1/2 Tbsp dark soy sauce
2 tsp grated ginger
2 Tbsp oil
2 tsp cornflour
2 tsp cooking wine
2 Tbsp water

(Optional) Heat the oil in a pot or wok and brown the pork pieces for a few minutes.
Combine pork, black beans, garlic, ginger, and soy sauce in a pot.
Pour enough water to cover the pork.
Bring to boil then lower heat and simmer for about 1 hour 10 minutes or until meat is tender.
Add a little hot water from time to time if it is drying up too much. But at the end of the cooking there should be only a little sauce left.
Combine cornflour, wine and water. Stir into the pot and simmer until sauce thickens - about 1 minute. Remove from heat and serve.

Lasang Pinoy 20: Lumpiang Sariwa

2007-07-30T23:23:00.001+01:00

The current theme of the 20th edition of Lasang Pinoy blogging event is called binalot or 'wrapped-up'. Mita of The Unofficial Cook, who is hosting it this time, announced this blogfest a few weeks ago.

I already knew what I was going to make and dutifully called my mother and aunt at the weekend to get the recipe right. This is my very first time to make Lumpiang Sariwa so please give me some slack if you think it looks a bit far off from the traditional.

Lumpiang Sariwa literally means 'fresh springroll'. Well it's not exactly all fresh because the filling is fully cooked although that lone leaf of raw lettuce would probably qualify it for freshness. I guess it's called 'fresh' as opposed to the usual fried lumpia. The traditional wrapper for this is the same one that you use for the fried lumpias. But in the recent years it became more crepe-like in size, taste and texture.

The recipe is a medley of my family's and my sister-in-law, Ate Eva, in Toronto. And I just remembered (it's been years since I ate one of these) as I was taking a bite that I really don't like camotes or potatoes in it. I much prefer it with just veggies and whatever meat is included. I also found the wrapper quite rich so next time I'm gonna reduce the eggs and probably add a little salt to make it more savoury. The sauce or paalat reminded me that fresh minced garlic is preferred over crispy fried ones. Well, like most first time attempt of mine these are just a few from a litany of changes I plan to make next time I make it besides the fact that I should really make the size of the lumpia smaller.

Lumpiang Sariwa
(Fresh Springrolls)

*Filling:
100 gm pork belly - thinly sliced
200 gm shirmps or prawns - roughly chopped
2 cups julienned sweet potatoes
3 cups shredded cabbage
2 cups shredded green beans (bitchuelas)
1 cup shredded water chestnut (apulid)
1 cup julienned carrots
1 cup bean sprouts
1/2 cup stock
2 Tbsp oyster sauce
1/2 Tbsp minced garlic
1 medium onion - sliced
1/2 tsp salt
2 Tbsp oil

Put sliced pork in a pot and add salt and just enough water to cover it.
Bring to a boil then simmer until all the water evaporates. As soon as it starts sizzling add the oil and fry the pork until golden brown. Set aside.
Saute garlic and onion until the onion is translucent.
Stir in the shrimps and cook for 2 minutes.
Pour in the stock. Add the oyster sauce. Bring to boil.
Add the sweet potatoes; cover and cook for 2 minutes on medium heat.
Add the carrots, beans and water chestnuts. Cook under cover for another 2 minutes.
Add the bean sprouts and cabbage. Cover and cook for another 2 minutes.
Remove from heat. Cool and drain in a colander for several hours. Reserve drained liquid.

*Wrapper:
3 eggs - beaten
1 1/2 cups water
2 Tbsp melted butter
1 1/4 cups flour

Mix eggs, water, and butter.
Add flour and beat until smooth and lump-free.
Gently heat a 10-inch wide non-stick pan (a crepe pan would be best). Brush it with a little butter.
Once hot enough pour in 1/3 cup of the batter. Swirl quickly to cover the bottom of the pan completely.
Cook on low heat until the edges start to peel off the pan. Turn over and cook for a few seconds more. Dish up and repeat.

Note: I usually put butter for the first wrapper only.

*Sauce (Paalat)
stock
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 Tbsp dark soy sauce
1 tsp salt
2 Tbsp cornstarch
3 Tbsp water

Dissolve the cornstarch in the water. Set aside.
Take the liquid drained from the filling and add enough stock to make up 2 cups.
Put this in a saucepan and add brown sugar, soy sauce, and salt. Bring to boil.
Add the cornstarch mixture and bring to boil again. Remove from heat.

*To serve:
2 Tbsp minced garlic
roughly ground roasted peanuts
fresh lettuce leaves

Lay the wrapper on a plate. Put a lettuce on top then put about 2 Tablespoonfuls of the filling. Sprinkle some ground peanuts on top.

Fold the wrapper to enclose the fillings.
Serve with the minced garlic, ground peanuts and the paalat sauce.

Leather Lane Market

2007-07-29T00:37:00.000+01:00

I was on a 1-week training course in the Holborn area of London the week before. Whenever I think of Holborn, the image conjured was a vast expanse of tall office buildings virtually desert-like in terms of foodie shops. How wrong I was!

The training house I went to was in the Rosebery Avenue-Clerkenwell Road area. While doing a walk-about after our usual sandwich lunch, I discovered a small market in Leather Lane which is parallel to the jewellery centre of London - Hatton Gardens. See the pictures below, to see more closely click on the pictures for an enlarged version.

Leather Lane has the usual low-priced stalls for you name it - books, clothes, bags, shoes, jewelries, flowers, etc.

But what made my eyes widen with delight are cafes, delis, food stalls, and restaurants that offer interesting food that are not of your usual fastfood chains.

First, let me show you some of the cafes:

This one serves not only burgers and chips but also kebabs, doners, and other Middle Eastern delights.

As the name suggests, they do nice bagels plus curries, couscous ... more Middle Eastern fares.

Oasis is of healthy-organic food genre. You should see their offerings - they looked so delicious.

Here is one of a few juice bars in the market. They looked pretty busy on the day.

Now we come to the curry kiosks. The one on the left is the Indian variety and on the left is the Thai variety. Goodness, just smelling the waft of spices from these stalls made my mouth water even though I've just eaten my lunch at the time!

This is probably the kiosk with the longest queue, one that offers authentic-looking Mexican food.

There must be quite a number of Mediterranean residents here as gleaned from the number of cafes and restaurants offering the cuisine like this one ...

... and this one.

There are also authentic Italian delis in the area like Terroni & Sons in Clerkenwell Road.

This one is on Theobald Road which is about 2 minutes walk from Leather Lane.

Above is just one of the authentic-looking Italian restaurants in the area which together with the delis and an Italian Catholic church nearby suggests a high concentration of Italian immigrants in the place.

Leather Lane Market
Leather Lane
London EC1

Opening times: Monday-Friday 10:00AM - 3:00PM
Nearest tube station: Farringdon or Chancery Lane

Kangkong Blachan

2007-06-30T23:19:00.001+01:00

I've always wanted to cook this dish ever since I saw this posted years ago by my good blogging friend Stel and Hawaiian food blogger Reid. So when I finally got hold of fresh kangkong in a local (well, not so local since it's about 20 miles away!) Chinese grocer I decided there and then to cook this. Kangkong is also called ung choi or tung choi or water spinach in other lands. Funny how vegetables so common back home that didn't merit so much as a second glance suddenly becomes like a goldmine find when you finally see it on a shop shelf.

How did the dish go? It should have been great but either the 1 tablespoon blachan is too much or the brand I bought is especially salty. It resulted in me and the husband fishing out the strands of kangkong from the salty sauce then smothering it with lots of steamed rice. And the whole house smelling like a shrimp stink bomb exploded. That's why in the recipe below I drastically reduced the blachan to just 1 teaspoon then I'll just go from there. But it's so nice to have a veg quite different from the usual ones especially when paired with hot grilled fish. Yum!

Kangkong Blachan

350 gm kangkong (ung choi, tung choi)
1 tsp blachan (belachan, shrimp paste)
2 Tbsp hibe (dried shrimps)
2 red chillies - chopped
2 cloves garlic
2 Tbsp oil
1/2 cup water

Cut the kangkong into 3-inch lengths. Rinse well in water then drain.
Soak the hibe in hot water for 20 minutes. Drain.
Grind or pound the blachan, hibe, red chillies, and garlic until fine.
Heat oil in wok and stir fry the blachan mixture for about 3 minutes.
Turn up heat and add in the kangkong. Stir fry for about 2 minutes.
Add the water and cook for 1 more minute.
Serve immediately.

Spaghetti Carbonara

2007-06-11T23:22:00.001+01:00

This is probably the 5th and last experiment we had with Spaghetti Carbonara. For the last year my family were in search for that ultimate (in our taste) non-cloying rich carbonara recipe. A lot that went through our plates and stomachs before was much too rich that often ended up in the rubbish bin. Just look at the picture below, admittedly I handled the camera better that time but notice the difference with it having a lot of creamy sauce. It was fine in the first forkful but after that oh my it was nakaka-uta (too rich).

It wasn't until I stumbled upon Angela Nielsen's recipe in the BBC GoodFood magazine that I found a carbonara without any cream! It proved to be just the right taste that we wanted aided by that technique of adding a few tablespoons of pasta water to keep it moist and glossy. You have to keep in mind that timing is essential here. It is important to keep the pan off the heat while stirring the pasta with the egg mixture otherwise the sauce will curdle. Also keep your serving bowls warm to prevent the loss of heat in the pasta while eating. Cold carbonara is not too enticing believe you me.

Spaghetti Carbonara

125 gm pancetta or streaky bacon - chopped
40 gm Parmesan cheese - finely grated
40 gm Pecorino cheese - finely grated
3 large eggs - beaten
2 garlic cloves - peeled and left whole
60 gm (1/4 cup) butter
300 gm spaghetti
salt and pepper to taste

Mix the 2 cheeses together then add about 3/4 of it to the eggs mixing well. Set aside 1/4 of the cheese for garnishing.
Slightly squash the garlic by pressing under the blade of a knife.
Bring a big pot of water to boil then drop in the spaghetti. Cook according to package instructions (usually bring to boil then start timing for 11 minutes).
While the spaghetti is cooking, heat a large wide pan and melt the butter.
When the butter has melted drop in the garlic and pancetta.
Fry on medium heat until pancetta is crisp and golden.
Remove the garlic cloves. Keep the pan on low heat.
When the spaghetti is ready, drain but making sure to reserve some of the pasta water.
Put the spaghetti in the pan and mix well with the pancetta.
Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the egg-cheese mixture.
Stir to mix well adding about 2-3 tablespoons of the reserved pasta water to keep it moist and glossy.
Serve immediately on warmed bowls sprinkled with the reserved grated cheese and freshly ground black pepper.

Posh Lugaw

2007-05-22T16:49:00.000+01:00

Okay okay, so my risotto needs some more sauce. Well actually lots of sauce. But I was mighty pleased with my first try in cooking this much celebrated (hyped?) dish. The rice grains came out perfectly cooked with an al dente centre and not mushy at all. All I need is more stock in it!!

I've always been intrigued by risotto and as more cookbooks and magazine articles I read lauding its virtues I was actually intimidated. I had to get a very precise recipe to guide risotto newbies like me. Luckily, I just got Angela Nielsen's The Ultimate Recipe Book from where I adapted this recipe.

Lesson learned: use a heavy, wide pan. Mine was heavy but it was a pot not a wide pan. Therein lay my main problems, I found it hard to stir towards the end. Actually I used a cast iron pot so when I finished and turned off the heat it still had lots of residual heat that dried out my risotto. So probably next time I'll just settle for a thick bottomed wide pan.

My primary objective here besides having a go at cooking risotto is to use seasonal ingredients. Asparagus season here in UK is quite short. It starts from late April up to June-early July only. Many regard British asparagus as one of the best in the world. They even have an asparagus festival at the Vale of Evesham late this month which I hope I can attend just to satisfy my curiosity. Peas, one of my fav vegs, are also in season so that gets my nod in here. But not broad beans, I've not been fond of them types, so I omitted that in my risotto.

Well, what do I think of it? I love it! Especially when eaten with the crunchy asparagus and wholesome peas. It's already a complete meal so you can perfectly eat it on its own though I'm thinking of what meats I can serve it with if ever. That said I don't think I can eat more than a big bowlful of it because I find it quite rich. Maybe I should reduce the cheese or mix the stock with some water?

I can't help comparing this with lugaw, that rice comfort food loved by Filipino. It's not far off to be honest I'd like to think risotto is the posh, more upscale sister of lugaw. :) For me, the main difference is in the cooked grains. The risotto's grains retains its shape thereby avoiding it being mushy while lugaw is meant to be mushy and more porridge like. I wonder if I can cook the malagkit rice variety like a risotto and retain its shape. Abangan ang susnod na kabanata! Wait for the next installment.

Risotto Primavera

1 Tbsp olive oil
65 gm [1/4 cup] butter
1 garlic clove - minced
3 spring onions - finely chopped
4 shallots - finely chopped
350 gm risotto rice (Carnaroli, Arborio, Vialone)
1/2 cup white wine
200 gm shelled fresh peas (or frozen ones - thawed)
250 gm asparagus
100 gm parmesan cheese - finely grated
5 1/2 cups of chicken or vegetable stock

Snap the woody bases from the asparagus and slice each into 4 diagonal pieces.
Put the stock in a pot and bring to a simmer. Keep this simmering while cooking the risotto.
In a thick bottomed wide pan (beside or close to the simmering stock), heat olive oil and 2 Tbsp of the butter until bubbly.
Saute the onions and garlic on medium heat for about 3 minutes until soft.
Stir in the rice and cook while stirring often for about 2-3 minutes.
Add the wine and keep stirring until almost all the wine has evaporated.
Put the timer on for 20 minutes.
Add 1 big ladleful of stock to the rice and bring to simmer (do not boil; you may have to lower the heat) while stirring constantly until all the liquid has been absorbed.
Repeat adding ladleful of stock and stirring when the previous amount has been absorbed.
After 14 minutes (meaning 6 minutes left in your timer), add the peas to the rice.
At the same time drop the asparagus in the stock. Let the asparagus simmer for 4 minutes while you're stirring and adding stock to the rice. After 4 minutes, remove with a slotted spoon add it to the rice mixture.
At this point you should taste the rice, it should be soft but still with a bite in the centre. Also add seasonings if you think it needs some.
The timer should have gone off by now and you should have the desired texture. If not, continue adding stock and stirring until done.
Take the pan off the heat then add half the parmesan and the rest of the butter plus a little of the stock to keep it moist.
Cover the pan and let it rest for about 3 minutes.
Serve with a sprinkling of parmesan on top.

Chocolate Cake

2007-05-12T23:56:00.000+01:00

Once upon a time when I was still in my early 20s, I decided to start teaching myself to bake. After all, I thought to myself, we've got an oven I've got all my baking utensils and most of all I've got my handy Betty Crocker cookbook so what could be harder than bake some cakes? Like most people I tackled my first baking project with a brownie which was a resounding success. So feeling very brave I decided to bake another chocolate concoction - a 2-layer chocolate cake complete with buttery icing.

I went about buying all the ingredients and baking pans including a brand new hand mixer. I followed the recipe religiously (or so I thought) and in it went in the oven. When it came out I noticed it was looking particularly dark but I just shrugged thinking maybe that's what it was supposed to be. I proceeded to lovingly put icing on and in between the whole structure. Then I took a slice and eagerly tasted it. Ackk! I spat it out as quickly as I put it in my mouth. It was the most bitter cake I've tasted in my life! Which means I forgot to put in sugar!! Oh the agony and disappointment after all the trouble I went through. But most of all I dreaded getting teased by relatives for the rest of my life! Mwahahaha!

The cake was ready to be consigned to the rubbish bin but my father came to the rescue. He ate it despite the extremely bitter cake. He just slathered more of the icing. For 1 whole week he diligently ate 1 slice a day until he finished it - all by himself as you would have guessed since not even our dogs nor cat wanted it. I'd like to think he did it just for me but probably he just hated to have all the ingredients and my efforts go to waste. ;)

Ever since then I never attempted baking a chocolate cake until a few years ago when I came upon Angela Nielsen's recipe she dubbed The Ultimate Chocolate Cake in the BBC Good Food magazine. Well, I liked the idea of a recipe tested so many times to perfection and I tell you she did not lie. It was indeed a moist and very chocolately with just the right balance of sweetness. I had to alter the chocolate ganache since my kids are not fond of dark chocolate so I had to put in half dark and half milk chocs. I didn't bother to decorate it with chocolate curls since it would get readily devoured anyway. As proof just look below how I found my newly baked cake when I left it to cool ... hmmm ... there must be lots of chocolate monsters around my house stealthily scarfing down slices of it.

Next time, I will experiment with buttercream and whipped cream icings to see which ones can better complement it.

Have some?

Chocolate Cake

200 gm butter - cut in pieces
200 gm dark chocolate (about 60-70% cocoa solids)
85 gm [1/2 cup + 1 Tbsp] self-raising flour
85 gm [1/2 cup + 1 Tbsp] plain flour
1/2 cup hot water
1 Tbsp instant coffee granules
1/4 tsp bicarbonate of soda (baking soda)
200 gm [1 cup + 1 Tbsp] golden caster sugar
200 gm [1 cup + 2 Tbsp firmly packed] light muscovado sugar
25 gm [1/4 cup] cocoa powder
3 medium eggs
5 Tbsp buttermilk
grated chocolate or curls for decoration (optional)

*For the ganache:
100 gm dark chocolate (like above)
100 gm milk chocolate
1 cup double cream (heavy cream)
2 Tbsp golden caster sugar

Preheat oven to 325 F/160 C/140 C fan/gas mark 3. Butter a 20cm (9 inch) round baking pan and line the base.
Dissolve the instant coffee in the hot water, set aside.
Put a heatproof bowl over a saucepan of simmering water and melt in it the chocolate and butter.
Once melted remove from heat and add in the coffee. Stir just enough to combine.
In a small bowl, beat the eggs and stir in the buttermilk, set aside.
In another large bowl, combine the flours, sugars, cocoa, and bicarbonate of soda.
Stir in the melted chocolate mixture and the egg mixture. Mix everything until well blended and have a smooth consistency.
Pour the batter into the prepared baking pan and bake for 1 hour 25 minutes or until a skewer poked in to centre comes out clean.
Cool slightly in the baking pan then turn out to cool completely on a wire rack.
When completely cool, slice horizontally in half.
Pour a little of the ganache in the bottom layer and sandwich it with the top layer.
While sitting it on a wire rack, slowly pour the rest of the ganache on top letting it drip down the sides and smoothing with a spatula or palette knife.

*To make ganache:

Break the dark and milk chocolates into pieces in a heatproof bowl.
Meanwhile, put the double cream and sugar in a saucepan and heat until it is about to boil.
Pour immediately onto the chocolates. Stir until all the chocolates have melted. Cool for a few minutes.

Sweet and Sour Meatballs

2007-05-08T21:36:00.001+01:00

Finally, a sweet and sour dish without the tell-tale red tinge of ketchup. This is quite a departure from the usual Chinese standard though not entirely alien to the Filipino cuisine since we have ketchup anaemic 'agridulce' sauces used as a dip or (obviously) as sauce.

Warning: don't overcook the meatballs because they will turn dry and tough once it's been sitting on your dinner table for a few minutes. That's what happened to me first time I attempted this. The red hot chilli peppers (not the band) is entirely optional while the vegetables can be varied according to your taste. Just think of the colour, texture, and taste combination when you decide on some other veggies to put in the mix. My beloved Chinese Cuisine by Huang Su-huei provided the recipe that I adapted. This is actually on the cover of the cookbook!

Sweet and Sour Meatballs

500 gm minced pork or beef
1/2 tsp salt
1 Tbsp cooking wine
2 Tbsp cornstarch
1/4 cup water
1 cup mangetout/snow peas (sitcharo) - topped and tailed
1 cup button mushrooms - [the smaller the better]
1 cup sliced carrots - precooked
1 red chilli pepper - sliced
1/2 Tbsp minced garlic

*Sauce:
3 Tbsp sugar
3 Tbsp vinegar
3 Tbsp soy sauce
1/2 cup water
1/2 Tbsp cornstarch
dash of sesame oil

Mix all the sauce ingredients in a small bowl and set aside.
Dissolve the salt and cornstarch in water and cooking wine. Mix well with the meat and form into about 1-inch balls.
Deep fry meatballs for about 3 minutes. Drain and set aside.
In a wok, heat up 2 Tbsp oil. Stir fry the chilli pepper and garlic until aromatic.
Add the snow peas and button mushrooms and stir fry for 1 minute.
Stir in the carrots and meatballs. Cook for a few seconds.
Add the sauce and bring to boil. Simmer for 2 minutes. Dish up and serve.

Lasang Pinoy 17: Egg Pie

2007-04-21T22:42:00.000+01:00

Well, thank goodness the resurrection of Lasang Pinoy coincided with my re-entry into the fold of Pinoy food blogging. It was fortuitous enough for me to have a post waiting for a chance to be published. This edition is hosted by Afbeercan of Eat Matters - a food blog with beautiful delectable pictures.

More than a month ago, Stel and Sha were witness to my obsession with custards at the time. I baked daan tart (Chinese egg tarts) - the delectable kind you find in dimsum trolleys. A Chinese dim sum cookbook (with English translations of course) was whipped out and I followed the recipe to the letter. My kids were eagerly awaiting the tarts, anxiously peering through the oven glass door. Five minutes after I took it out of the oven they were gobbling it up. They only ate one each and left the rest to completely cool off. But when it did it was met with "Yecchh! It's green !" Indeed, the custard turned greyish-green. Hahaha! It was all right when I tasted it but had that very unappetising colour of molting fungus. Did I overcook it? Could it be that the only ingredients of the custard are egg yolks and syrup? I didn't try to find out because I've just about given up on having a 'eureka' moment for daan tart (that was my fourth experiment).

Instead I turned my obession to egg pies. You know, that type of custard set on a pastry case. Of course my earliest memories of these would be the one you get from bakeries on the Philippines - less eggy more on the milky side set on sweet shortcrust crumbly pie shell with a very dark skin on top. Lately in my travels here and in France I would encounter something similar various names - creme tart, creme flan, nature flan, custard tart, etc. but it would always be that same custard on a pie crust. Although I have to admit the European model is more on the eggy side.

My search for a recipe in the internet started several years ago but I can't find a decent one. Then when I was flicking through various cookbooks that has been neglected gathering dust in the book shelves, I came upon Gordon Ramsay's Sunday Lunch cookbook. (Even though I abhor his constant swearing on the telly, his recipes has been very reliable, quite accurate and really works based on my experience.) He has in there a custard pie recipe which I didn't lose time in adapting and trying out. It turned very very successful ! At last my long lost egg pie/creme flan/creme tart I've found you !

I will have to make it another time without the beating of the egg whites. Let's see if adding whole eggs without beating it separately will result in the same delicious pie. Take note, this is not exactly like the commercial version we buy in the Phils. This is a more eggy version which for me is preferable. Try to use the best possible eggs and milk. If budget permits organic, go for it. As always, the quality will shine through the finished product.

Egg Pie
(Custard Pie/Tart)

* For the pastry:
125 gm [1/2 cup] unsalted butter - at room temperature
90 gm [1/3 cup + 1 Tbsp] caster sugar (superfine)
250 gm [1 cup + 2/3 cup] plain flour
1 egg - beaten
1-2 Tbsp cold water

* For the filling:
2 1/3 cup milk
4 eggs - separated
100 gm [1/2 cup] caster sugar (superfine)
1 1/2 Tbsp cornflour (cornstarch)

To make the pastry:
1. Combine flour and sugar in a bowl.
2. Cut in the butter with two butter knives or a pastry cutter. Then rub in the butter with your fingers until it resembles coarse breadcrumbs.
3. Mix in lightly the egg and knead the dough until it just about comes together. If necessary sprinkle cold water if the dough seems dry.
4. Knead for a short while and form into a ball.
  Wrap in plastic or cling film and chill in the fridge for 30 minutes.
5. Roll out thinly on a floured table top to a circle about 12 inches in diameter.
6. Line a 23 cm (9 inch) pie pan or fluted flan tin making sure to press the pastry well into the sides.
7. Put the tin on a baking sheet and bake blind: line the pastry with foil and baking beans.
8. Bake in a preheated oven to 200C/400F/gas mark 6 for 15 minutes.
9. Remove foil and baking beans then return to oven to bake for another 5 minutes.
10. Trim the excess pastry from the edge of the flan tin with a knife.

To make the filling:
1. Turn the oven temperature down to 180C/350F/gas mark 4.
2. In a bowl, mix the flour, sugar, and egg yolks.
3. Stir in the milk into the mixture.
4. Whip the egg white to soft peaks and fold into the milk/egg yolk mixture.
5. Place the pastry lined flan tin on a baking sheet.
6. Pour the filling in the tin and bake for 20 minutes until the top is brown.
7. Bring down oven temperature to 110C/250F and bake for a further 1 hour until the custard is just set. The centre should wobble a little.
8. Remove from oven and cool completely.

Panettone Pudding

2007-03-29T22:19:00.000+01:00

I love shopping right after Christmas as soon as the shops open. Not only are the prices most often cut in half, I can also get my favourite food of the season at an affordable price. One of these is the Italian Christmas bread called panettone (pa-ne-to-ne). It's usually tall, round, domed-top bread. Sometimes topped with chunks of sugar with an oh so light, almost fluffy brioche-like inside dotted by little pieces of candied orange, lemon, and raisins. Serving it in vertical slices is the usual way accompanied by mascarpone, or whipped cream, or ice cream or some sweet dessert wine. Me? If I'm feeling civilised, I slice it, toast a little then slather butter on it and eaten delicately with some hot Earl Grey tea. But if I'm ravenous (which is often) I just tear off a piece and promptly scoff it down with some suitably agreeable noise ... hmmm hmmm. I absolutely adore the light-as-air texture of this bread. A little bite plus a whiff of its smell never fail to lift up my spirits.

My current stash of this wonderful bread was about to expire and I was left with a choice between having indigestion in eating it all up or be less greedy and make some panettone bread and butter pudding. Bread and butter pudding, I now realised, is simply custard-soaked pieces of bread. It's a wonderful ending for my beloved panettone because the recipe I adapted from the BBC Goodfood magazine was easy to do and utterly divine. The original recipe is here if you're interested.

Panettone Pudding

250g panettone (about 5 medium slices)
1/2 cup double cream
1 cup milk
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 Tbsp caster sugar (superfine)
icing sugar (for sprinkling - optional)
softly whipped cream, to serve

Grease a 850ml/1½ pint (about 3 1/2 cups - a 9inch x 9inch deep pan will do) baking dish with a little butter.
Preheat the oven to 160C/gas mark 3.
Cut the panettone into wedges then in half, leaving the crusts on. Arrange the bread in the baking pan.
In a bowl, whisk together the eggs, cream, milk, vanilla extract and sugar and pour evenly over the panettone. Let it soak for a few minutes.
Put the dish in a deep roasting pan and pour hot water around it to a depth of about 2.5 cm/1 inch
Bake for 35 minutes until the pudding is just set.
(Optional) Dust top with icing sugar and serve with whipped cream or ice cream.

Tocino

2007-03-22T01:20:00.000Z

I've always wondered on how commercial tocino acquires its taste with apparently just 3 ingredients - salt, sugar, and saltpeter (sodium nitrate). The latter as far as I know, is only required as a preservative. Since tocino has been around for probably more than a century I think our ancestors never used saltpeter and just relied on the preserving properties of salt and sugar. For years, I tried marinating pieces of pork in different proportions of salt, sugar and varying additional ingredients such as anisado wine, pineapple juice, etc. But it still lacked that certain taste common in shop-bought tocino.

Then an email exchange with the Karen, our Kapampangan-cuisine expert food blogger, cleared the haze of mystery - it had something to do with fermentation! She said that in the old days when most people make their own tocinos they keep the salt and sugar cured pork in glass jars and let it ferment for a few days. Crucially, according to Karen, the rule of thumb in curing tocino is 5 days in the fridge or 3 days without refrigeration. Care should be taken here since as you well know there is a fine line or a short period between being fermented and getting rotten! I played around with the curing/storing time in the fridge and my current standard is 5 days minimum and 7 days max. After that the meat really goes off and you don't really want to eat stinking tocino, would you?

It's only now that I realised why people would get shop-bought tocino instead of making one themselves. In this age of TV, fast food, and instant gratification, imagine waiting for almost a week to get your homemade tocino fix! I think I'll make several batches and try to freeze it next time.

See that picture of tocino below? It is naturally reddish after the fermentation so red food colouring prevalent in commercial version is not needed. You would also avoid any artificial ingredients by avoiding the said food colouring. My proportion for the salt and sugar here is still at the tweaking stage so please adjust it to your liking as you see fit. Plus I'll be also experimenting in adding honey or pineapple juice or golden syrup or brown/muscovado sugar. I will surely keep this post updated whenever I make any progress.

Tocino

1 kilo pork (preferably shoulder)
1 Tbsp fine salt
5 Tbsp granulated sugar

Slice the meat into about 1/4-inch thick and into serving sizes.
Mix salt and sugar well in a bowl.
Add the pork and mix in, making sure that it is well coated.
Put in a covered glass container and store in the fridge for about 5 days.

To cook:
1. Put tocino in a non-stick pan and add just enough water to cover it.
2. Bring to boil then bring heat down and simmer for about 30 minutes or until tender. Add hot water a little at a time if it is drying up too much.
3. When the water has nearly evaporated (this should be near the end of 30 minutes), drizzle some oil on it, turn heat to very low and let it fry gently. Stir occassionally and let the meat scrape the sticky residue in the pan. Cook until golden brown.

A Parcel From Boston

2007-03-16T22:05:00.000Z

Look how blessed I am, receiving another parcel out of the blue just 1 month from the one from Hawaii. This time it came from Boston sent by a long-time blogging friend who was generous enough to send me uncommon Pinoy ingredients, my favourite 'quamoy' dried plums, and a great cookbook by Mario Batali. I was flicking through the pages and quickly marked out a lot of pages that I want to try out. She also sent a steam plate tongs that I've been searching for in all the Oriental groceries I happen to visit here in UK. I distinctly remember having several when I was in Hong Kong but it disappeared when we moved here. And I've been tong-less ever since. ;)

Thanks very very much, Stel, for the wonderful gifts you sent my way. It is greatly and hugely appreciated, my friend. I've been wanting to send some to you and other blogging friends but my current killer work schedule just makes it so so hard. I hope I can make it up to you soon. :)

Sarnie Spreads

2007-03-09T23:54:00.000Z

A reader recently asked on how to make tuna sandwich. I told her I will posting something about sandwich fillers. Little did I realise that the pictures and my post saved on draft for the past year do not have the tuna one she needs. I had to quickly do some this morning so I could post the pictures here. It would have been complete if I had something for cheese pimiento. Maybe I can do that some other time.

These are very simple sandwich spreads which I am posting mainly for my kids. You must have noticed "sarnie" at the title. Like a lot of things here in Britain, that is the nickname for sandwich. As for the name itself, it was bestowed on two slices of bread with a meat (usually) in the middle after the Earl of Sandwich. The medieval earl apparently loved to eat these a lot.

Chicken Sandwich Spread

3 cups cooked chicken meat - chopped or flaked
1 1/3 cup mayonnaise
3 1/2 Tbsp chopped sweet pickle relish
2 Tbsp finely chopped onion
freshly ground salt and pepper

Combine all ingredients in a bowl. Taste and season with salt and pepper if needed.

Egg Mayo

5 hard boiled eggs - chopped
2/3 cup mayonnaise
freshly ground pepper

Combine all ingredients in a bowl. Taste and season with salt and pepper if needed. If you use Hellmann's mayonnaise, usually no additional salt is necessary.

Tuna-Mayo-Sweetcorn

2 x 185gm cans of tuna in oil
1/2 cup cooked sweetcorn (or sweetcorn from cans)
1/3 cup mayonnaise
salt and pepper to taste

Drain tuna from oil then flake it in a bowl. Add all other ingredients. Taste and add salt and/or pepper if needed.

Tuna Mayonnaise

2 x 185gm cans of tuna in oil
2 Tbsp chopped onion or green onion
1 Tbsp chopped sweet pickle relish
salt and pepper to taste

Drain tuna from oil then flake it in a container. Add in all other ingredients. Taste and add salt and/or pepper if necessary.

Beef Fried Rice

2007-03-05T19:52:00.000Z

Here's what you can do when you've got that odd small quantity of beef left. Too little to freeze, too fiddly to stir-fry with vegetables, and especially too much of a waste to throw away. I adapted this from my old reliable Chinese Cooking For Beginners by Huang Su-huei. It originally had 1 tsp sugar in it but I completely omitted it since I really don't want a sweet fried rice. This is very adaptable such that you can add in other veggies or left over meat in it.

Beef Fried Rice

150 gm [about 1/2 cup] minced beef
1 cup chopped onions
2 1/2 cup steamed rice
3 Tbsp ketchup
1/2 tsp fine salt
1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
2-3 Tbsp oil

Mix ketchup and salt in a small bowl. Set aside.
Heat a wok and add the oil. Fry the onion until translucent (about 3-5 minutes).
Add the ground beef and cook in medium heat until cooked (about 5-6 minutes). Make sure to separate the tiny beef pieces with your spatula or cooking spoon.
Sprinkle the Worcestershire sauce on the beef and cook for a few minutes more.
Add the ketchup mixture, mix well. Then add in the rice and stir fry until rice is heated through and mixed well.

Carrot Soup

2007-02-28T19:10:00.000Z

I overspent on carrots last week so I had this big bunch sitting in my fridge's vegetable box waiting to be used. I've never done a carrot soup before so I guess that was the natural direction it was taking. Luckily, there was this reader recipe in the current edition of the BBC Good Food magazine (is it obvious I like that magazine?!) that was precisely what I was looking for. Jenny Martin was gracious enough to share her recipe to all readers and here I am tweaking it a little bit here and there according to my taste. For one thing, I found the pureed carrots on the sweet side. Well, unless I wanted a dessert, a few twist of the salt mill did the job of making it more savoury.

Carrot Soup

1 medium red onion - chopped
1 tsp minced garlic cloves
2 Tbsp olive oil
1 small sprig of fresh thyme or rosemary - use the leaves only
6 large carrots (about 800 gm) - peeled and chopped
1 Tbsp sherry or rice wine (optional)
725 ml [2 1/2 cups] stock
fresh chives - snipped (optional)
cheese - grated or crumbled (optional)
salt and pepper to taste

Gently cook the onion, garlic, and thyme in oil in a pot until the onion is soft and translucent (around 10 minutes). Stir occasionally.
Add the carrots, cook for about 3 minutes.
Increase heat and add the wine (if using). Let simmer until almost all of the wine has evaporated.
Pour in the stock and bring to boil. Lower heat and simmer until carrots are soft - about 30-40 minutes. Add more water or stock if it's becoming too dry.
Using a blender, food processor or hand-held blender, whizz the soup until completely smooth.
Return to the pot and heat through. Taste and season with salt and/or pepper.
Serve in bowls with grated cheese and sprinkled chives on top.