As always I'm on the lookout for use of apples in anything baked. I found this Rachel Allen recipe in the Good Food Channel website. This is one very fluffy, soft, and yummy apple cake. The only thing I changed is the way the sliced apple is added to the batter. I didn't put it on top as she suggested but put it about 2/3 down the way in the cake tin to make sure they sink to the bottom. Otherwise, it's perfect as it is.
Dutch Apple Cake
175 g caster sugar (superfine)
2 eggs
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup milk
85 g [1/3 cup] butter
125 g plain flour
1/2 tsp cinnamon
2 1/4 tsp baking powder
2 cooking apples - peeled, cored, sliced thinly
1 Tbsp sugar
- Preheat oven to 200°C/fan 180°C/400°F. Line and butter an 8 x 8-inch (20 x 20 cm) baking pan with greaseproof paper.
- Melt the butter with the milk in a saucepan. Set aside.
- Sift and combine the flour, cinnamon, and baking powder in a bowl. Set aside.
- Beat the eggs and sugar in a bowl with an electric mixer for about 5 minutes or until the mixture is thick and mousse-like.
- Pour the melted butter and milk into the egg mixture while whisking all the time.
- Fold the flour mixture carefully into the mixture just enough to wet the dry mixture.
- Pour about 1/3 of the batter into the prepared baking pan.
- Arrange the sliced apple on top and then pour the rest of the batter to cover it. This is to make sure that the apple slices sink to the bottom.
- Sprinkle the 1 Tbsp sugar all over the top.
- Bake for ten minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 180C/fan 160C/350F and bake for a further 20-25 minutes or until well risen and golden brown.
- Remove from the oven and allow to cool in the baking pan for 10-15 minutes. Remove from pan and cut into squares. Serve warm with cream.
This was supposed to be my submission for the Daring Cooks in October. But for some reason I wasn't able to blog. So here it is and what a very good recipe to keep. Actually, I made a lamb biryani earlier using a recipe from another book. You could probably hear the crash it made when I tossed it in the rubbish bin. The dish that came out of that was vile! And the meat was so tough I wasn't able to eat it. Well I say good riddance. One less cookbook on my bookshelf.
My ever reliable cookbook by Angela Nielsen, The Ultimate Recipe Book, was the source that I adapted for this keeper of a recipe. The accompanying tomato raita paired very well with it. My only gripe was that it took quite sometime to make and involved a lot of steps and ingredients. But it is perfect for those infrequent special occasions where your effort will be well rewarded with one delicious complete meal.
600 g lean boneless leg of lamb - cut into 1-inch pieces
*Marinade:
1 Tbsp minced or grated garlic
1/2 Tbsp grated ginger
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
3/4 tsp turmeric
1 tsp sea salt
150 g natural yoghurt
*For the rice:
300 g basmati rice
1 cinnamon stick - halved
5 green cardamom pods - lightly bashed
4 cloves
1 tsp cumin seeds
700 ml chicken stock
*For the drizzle:
5 Tbsp lukewarm milk
generous pinch of saffron strands
1 tsp garam masala
25 g butter - melted
4 medium onions - cut into half lengthwise then very thinly sliced
5 Tbsp vegetable oil
1/2 tsp hot chilli powder
1 - 2 fresh chillies - chopped (optional)
60 ml [1/4 cup] hot water
*To serve:
1/2 cup toasted almonds or cashews
1 Tbsp finely chopped fresh mint leaves (optional)
1 Tbsp finely chopped fresh coriander leaves
Coriander and Tomato Raita
- Marinate the meat - combine the yoghurt, garlic, ginger, cinnamon, turmeric, and salt in a bowl. Mix in the lamb and marinate for 2-3 hours or more.
- Dissolve the saffron in the lukewarm milk. Set aside.
- Combine the melted butter and garam masala. Set aside.
- Once the lamb has marinated, saute one of the sliced onions in 1 1/2 Tbsp oil in a saute pan. Fry over medium-low heat until it has softened (about 5 minutes).
- Add the marinated lamb (including the marinade) a tablespoon at a time, cooking and frying briefly before adding the next one. This helps stop the yoghurt from curdling.
- When all the lamb has been added, cook for about 10 minutes.
- Add the chilli powder and/or fresh chillies (if using) and fry for a few seconds.
- Mix in the hot water. Bring to boil and then turn the heat to low and simmer covered for about 1 hour or until meat is very tender. Stir from time to time.
- Put the rice in a bowl cover with cold water and soak for about 20 minutes. Drain. Set aside.
- While the rice is soaking and the meat is cooking, cook the rest of the onions in a large saute pan with about 2 Tbsp oil on medium heat. Sprinkle salt on it to stop it from burning.
- Fry for about 25 minutes or until golden brown all over. Tip the onions onto kitchen paper towels, spread them out in thin layer and set aside to cool.
- To cook the rice - heat the remaining 1 1/2 Tbsp oil in the pan used for the onion. Fry the cinnamon sticks, cardamom, cloves and cumin seeds for about a minute or until you could smell the aroma.
- Add the drained rice and fry for a minute, stirring all the time. Add in the stock and bring to boil. Cover and cook over medium heat for about 6-7 minutes or until the all the stock has been absorbed. Take off the heat, let stand but keep the cover on.
- Heat the oven to 180°C/fan 160°C/350°F. Butter a 2.5 litre casserole dish or pot.
- Fluff the rice with a fork while picking out the spices from it.
- Spread in half of the lamb at the bottom of the casserole.
- Scatter a third of the fried onions on top.
- Spoon half of the rice on top of the lamb and onions, then pour the spiced butter all over.
- Repeat the layers and finish with a sprinkling of the spiced milk on the rice, then the rest of the fried onions and toasted nuts.
- Cover tightly with foil then put the casserole cover on and bake in oven for about 20 minutes.
- Sprinkle with mint (if using) and coriander. Serve with coriander and tomato raita (see below).
1/2 tsp cumin seeds or powder
300 g natural yoghurt
1 medium tomato - deseeded and chopped finely
about 1/2 cup chopped fresh coriander
salt to taste
- If using cumin seeds, briefly dry-fry the seeds in a small pan until toasty and aromatic. Grind to a powder.
- Combine cumin powder and all the other ingredients in a bowl.
- Add salt to taste. Mix well.
Originally, this was sourced from the BBC Food website but has since discovered that it was virtually the same as Hershey's Perfectly Chocolate Cake except for the salt and sugar! So I will credit them both since I combined them for this version of mine.
Easy Chocolate Cake
225 g [1 3/4 cups] plain flour
375 g [1 3/4 cups] granulated sugar
90 g [3/4 cup] cocoa powder
1 1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda (baking soda)
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup milk
1/2 vegetable oil
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup boiling water
*For icing: use Chocolate Ganache or Chocolate Buttercream Icing (even plain buttercream is good)
- Preheat oven to 180°C/fan 160°C/350°F.
- Grease and flour two 9-inch round (or one 13 x 9-inch) baking pans.
- Combine all ingredients except the boiling water in a bowl and beat until well combined.
- Add the boiling water a little at a time while beating until the batter is smooth.
- Divide the batter into the prepared pans and bake for 30-35 minutes (for 13x9 cake tin - 35-40 mins.) or until a skewer poked in the middle comes out clean.
- Remove from the oven and cool completely while still in the pan.
*To assemble: Remove the cakes carefully from the tin and spread a little of the icing on top of one then put the other cake on top. Spread the rest of the icing on top and all around of the cake stack.
The June Daring Cooks’ challenge sure kept us rolling – meatballs, that is! Shelley from C Mom Cook and Ruth from The Crafts of Mommyhood challenged us to try meatballs from around the world and to create our own meatball meal celebrating a culture or cuisine of our own choice.
Meatballs especially ones dunked on top of pasta is a favourite in our family. So as expected I have already done quite a number of meatball recipes in this blog. There's our usual spaghetti meatballs, the soupy almondigas, the Spanish albondigas for tapas, even a sweet and sour meatballs. I've been wondering what to cook until I spied this Classic Beef Meatballs recipe from ABC News. Although our usual family meatballs is almost the same as other Italian-style meatballs around, this one had a significant variant in the form of ricotta cheese. That had got me all intrigued enough to try it. And I wasn't disappointed, the cheese made it very moist and soft. The golf ball-sized meatballs weren't to my liking, however. I like them smaller, easier to handle and bite - probably the size of a conker is best for me. So here is my adaptation of that classic beef meatballs.
Classic Beef Meatballs
1 kg minced beef (80% lean beef)
1 cup (250 g) ricotta cheese
1/2 cup dry breadcrumbs
2 eggs - slightly beaten
2 tsp sea salt
1/4 tsp crushed pepper flakes (optional)
1 tsp dried oregano
1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley or 1 Tbsp dried
1 tsp minced garlic
olive oil
*For the tomato sauce:
3 Tbsp olive oil
2 tsp minced garlic
1 medium onion - chopped
1/2 tsp dried oregano
4 x 400 g can of chopped tomatoes
2 tsp sea salt
freshly ground pepper (to taste)
1 bay leaf
2 Tbsp double concentrate tomato puree (tomato paste)
*Do the tomato sauce first:
- Saute the onion and garlic in olive in a heavy-bottomed saucepan on medium heat until the onion is translucent.
- Add the oregano, ground pepper and sea salt. Cook for about 1-2 minutes.
- Add the tomatoes, tomato puree, and bay leaf.
- Bring to boil then lower heat to simmer for 1 hour (if making as sandwich filler) or just 10 minutes (if making for pasta) making sure to stir from time to time to avoid burning. Taste and add more salt if necessary or a little sugar if too sour.
*For the meatballs:
- Grease a 13 x 9-inch metal baking pan generously with the olive oil. Preheat oven to 230°C/fan 210°C/450°F.
- Mix all the other ingredients for the meatballs in a bowl. Combine well.
- Shape into balls about the size of a conker (around 1 inch in diameter) making sure to pack the meat firmly. Arrange closely in the greased pan (they should be touching each other).
- Bake in the oven for 15 minutes. A meat thermometer inserted in the middle should read 74°C/165°F.
- Now, if you want this for sandwiches, spoon the tomato sauce on top of the meatballs and return to the oven for another 15 minutes.
- If, however, you want this for pasta, pour all the roasted meatballs in the tomato sauce pot and continue simmering for 1 hour.
Our lovely Monkey Queen of Don’t Make Me Call My Flying Monkeys, was our May Daring Cooks’ hostess and she challenged us to dive into the world of en Croute! We were encouraged to make Beef Wellington, Stuffed Mushroom en Croute and to bring our kids into the challenge by encouraging them to create their own en Croute recipes!
I decided to go with the flow of the season and do a salmon covered in pastry since it's currently on sale! Even my stuffing is more spring-like: blended combination of spinach, watercress, and rocket (arugula). I used a combination of cream cheese and ricotta (left-over from another recipe). They were quite nice although I must say I was right in seasoning it well. Otherwise it comes across as too bland.
The BBC Good Food magazine provided me with the recipe to adapt to. This is so easy to make what with the ready-made puff pastry you can get from almost any supermarket. The only thing a bit hard is when moving the whole encased salmon from the assembly area to the baking pan. Otherwise, it was all a breeze frankly.
500 g salmon fillet - skinned and deboned
500 g puff pastry
150 g mascarpone or cream cheese
100 g combined spinach, watercress and rocket
1 medium egg - beaten with 2 tsp milk
- Combine the cream cheese and the watercress, spinach and rocket in a food processor and whizz until well mixed. Season well with sea salt. Set aside.
- Heat the oven to 200°C/fan 180°C/375°F. Butter or oil a baking sheet.
- Roll the pastry out to a size that will enclose the salmon completely, with a thickness of around 1/8 of an inch. Lay it on the prepared baking sheet (it will hang over the edges) and put the salmon in the middle. If it has a thinner tail end, tuck it under.
- Put half of the cream cheese mixture on the salmon. Fold the pastry over to make a neat parcel. Trim the edges and seal with a fork or by crimping.
- Make three slashes in the pastry to allow the steam to escape. Brush the pastry with the egg glaze.
- Bake for about 30-35 minutes or until the pastry is crisp and browned. Dish up and serve with the rest of the watercress puree.
For the April Daring Cooks Challenge, Lisa from Parsley, Sage and Sweet has challenged us to debone a whole chicken, using this video by Jacques Pepin as our guide; then stuff it, tie it and roast it, to create a Chicken Ballotine.
A few years' ago I was an eager participant to the Daring Baker's food blogging monthly event. It has now morphed into a Daring Kitchen which includes the Daring Cooks challenge. Well, I say the more the merrier! I wanted to get going again after a few years absence but since my big oven conked out months before, all I could participate in is the Daring Cooks challenge.
I love this month's one, deboning a whole chicken. I've always wanted to learn how to do it but always beaten back by procastination. So this kind of dare is the very thing to spur me on. This particular technique of Jacques Pepin, is the simpler one since the back of the chicken is cut open. Next time I hope to learn the more tricky way of deboning poultry without cutting the skin which is the one used in the Filipino chicken relleno or chicken gallantina.
How did I fare? Well, I watched the video at least three times to remember the techniques and the order of the steps. Going back and forth to the computer while my hands are soiled is not something I planned on doing. So after memorizing the process, the deboning itself was quite straight forward. It's the sliminess that I found difficult at times usually when I have to grab the bones. But other than that I must say it went quite well. What I found tricky was the tying of the string! I can't make it 'link' to one another. So I had to refer to the end of the video and had to see it several times. Jacques did it very quickly and I didn't notice at first that he turned his hand to twist the string!
I didn't make the sauce in the recipe and instead used my usual gravy one but included it here in case I'll have the chance to make it next time around. The stuffed, bound and tied chicken was brushed with melted butter and sprinkled with a little salt and pepper then roasted. I served this for our Easter family dinner and it went down quite well. There's something about slicing so easily into that chicken without worrying about bones that makes this so appealing. I'm definitely doing this again.
1 whole chicken (about 1.8 kg) - deboned
1/4 tsp sea salt
1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper
Red Rice Stuffing or Spinach, Cheese, and Bread Stuffing (see below)
*Gravy Sauce:
1/3 cup water
1/2 cup dry red wine or chicken stock
1/2 cup diced celery stalk
1 small onion - diced
1/3 cup diced carrot
1/2 tsp potato starch or cornstarch/cornflour dissolved in 1 Tbsp water
1 Tbsp dark soy sauce
1 Tbsp chopped fresh parsley
melted butter
- Preheat oven to 200°C/fan 180°C/400°F/gas mark 6.
- Lay the deboned chicken skin side down and sprinkle the salt and pepper.
- Spread the cooled stuffing mixture evenly over the chicken - stuffing the legs, too. If using the spinach stuffing, sprinkle the cheese and bread cubes on top of the spinach.
- Roll the chicken up, tie it with kitchen string, brush with melted butter and place in a roasting pan.
- Roast in the oven for about 45 mins - 1 hour or until the temperature in the centre of the chicken ballotine is 70°-74°C/160°-165°F. Check the chicken midway through the roasting time to see if it is browning too much in which case you can reduce the temperature to 190°C/fan 170°C/375°F/gas mark 5.
- Remove from oven and lift from pan into a serving platter. Let rest for at about 10 minutes before serving.
*For the gravy sauce:
- Skim off and discard most of the fat from the drippings in the pan. Add water and wine (or stock) to deglaze the pan, and heat over medium heat, stirring to loosen and melt the solidified juices.
- Strain the juices into a saucepan. Add the celery, onion and carrot. Bring to a boil in high heat. Cover, reduce the heat to low and boil gently for 5 minutes.
- Stir in the dissolved potato starch and soy sauce. Bring back to boil while stirring to thicken it. Remove from the heat.
Red Rice Stuffing
115 g [1/2 cup] Wehani rice
300 ml [1 1/4 cups] chicken or vegetable stock
1/4 tsp sea salt
15 g [1/2 cup] dried mushrooms (such as porcini) - rinsed and broken into pieces
1 cup chopped leek (white part)
1 onion - chopped
1 Tbsp olive oil
60 ml [1/4 cup] water
- Combine the rice, stock, salt and dried mushrooms in a large saucepan. Bring to a boil, cover and reduce the heat to low. Cook for 1 hour or until the rice is tender. Set the rice aside in the pan, uncovered.
- In another saucepan, combine the leek, onion, oil and water and bring to boil. Cover, reduce the heat, and cook in gentle heat for 5 minutes. Remove the lid and continue to cook until all the water is gone.
- Add the rice, mix well and let cool to room temperature.
Spinach, Cheese, and Bread Stuffing
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 tsp finely chopped garlic
140 g baby spinach leaves
1/4 tsp sea salt
1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper
1 cup grated Gruyere or matured cheddar or mozzarella cheese
1 1/2 cups cubed bread
- Heat the oil in a large saucepan or skillet. Add the garlic, spinach, salt, and pepper. Cook for 1 minute or until the spinach is wilted.
- Transfer to a sieve set over a bowl. Drain and let cool to room temperature.
I've held out on posting this recipe for quite sometime because I was waiting for a chance to have a picture of it with lovely swirled icings on top. But since my big oven is out of action for the last few months I don't think I would have that chance soon enough. So I'll just post the plain cupcake in here to make sure that I won't lose the recipe because this is simply one of the best I have come across.
One thing going for this is that it's an all-in-one-bowl recipe in a Nigella Lawson-esque kinda way. Dump everything in a bowl then beat to mix and presto you've got your cake batter. It can't get any easier than that! I adapted this from my latest favourite Cook's Illustrated's - The New Best Recipe cookbook.
1 1/2 cups [210 g] plain flour
1 cup [200 g] sugar
1/2 tsp fine salt
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup [125 g] unsalted butter - softened to room temperature
2 large eggs
1/2 cup sour cream
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- Preheat oven to 180°C/fan 160°C/350°F. Line a cupcake/muffin pan with paper liners.
- Mix all the dry ingredients in a bowl and combine well.
- Add all the other ingredients in the bowl and mix with an electric mixer until smooth and well combined.
- Fill the cupcake tin to about 2/3 full and bake for about 20-24 minutes or until a skewer poked in the middle comes out clean.
- Remove from pan and cook completely on a wire rack.
- Spread your choice of frosting on top.
Thanks to my husband's colleague Dave who gave us his prized hybrid chillies he got from a specialist grower. They added a complexity of flavour and a variety of spiciness that is departure from the usual. The heat I felt was around the mouth and back of throat which was surprisingly pleasant for me not like the usual in-your-face hot spiciness that just gives you pain. For someone who's a chilli wimp this was a great adventure.
This chili is a departure from the usual recipes where they normally use minced (ground) beef. True Texan chili I've read and heard - never use minced meat only cut-up pieces of well-marbled beef. Thus the use of braising or chuck beef was important. I think other stewing beef parts like the shin would be good as well. And that is only one of the differences. It also never use beans nor tomato sauce. And I guess bell peppers would be sacrilege as well!
Texas Chili
1 kg braising beef (or chuck or stewing beef) - cut into 3/4-inch pieces
6-8 pieces of dried New Mexico, guajillo, or pasilla chillies (or combination)*
1 1/2 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp whole black peppercorn
2 tsp sea salt
5 Tbsp (approx.) lard, butter, or vegetable oil
1 medium onion - finely chopped
3 cloves garlic - minced (about 1 Tbsp)
2 Tbsp masa harina (corn tortilla flour)*
2 cups beef stock
1 Tbsp firmly packaged dark brown sugar
1 Tbsp white distilled vinegar*
sour cream
lime wedges
- [Optional] If you're using dried chillies, lightly toast the dried chillies in a pan over medium-low heat about 2-3 minutes on each side. Be careful not to burn them or they will taste bitter. Put in a bowl and soak in very hot water until soft (about 30-45 minutes).
- Split the chillies; remove and discard the seeds and stems. Chop roughly.
- Place in a blender or food processor and add salt, ground cumin, and 1/4 cup water. Blend/process until a smooth paste forms. Set aside.
- In a heavy pot, heat 2 Tbsp of the lard or oil. Brown the beef on at least two sides in small batches over medium heat. Add more oil if needed. Set aside.
- Reheat pot and add more lard/oil if needed. Saute the onion and garlic. Cook for about 4 minutes over low-medium heat.
- Add in the chilli mixture and quickly saute for a few seconds. Watch out, this might sting your eyes and throat so just cook them very briefly.
- Add the beef, mix briefly. Then add the beef stock.
- Slowly add the masa harina while stirring. Cover and bring to boil. Lower heat and simmer for about 1.5 hours or until beef is tender. (Note: I used a pressure cooker and it did not seem to affect the quality)
- Stir in the brown sugar and vinegar and cook a few minutes more until dissolved. Taste and add more salt or pepper if desired.
- Serve with sour cream and wedges of lime with long grain rice or chips (thick french fries).
*Notes: - You can use plain tortilla chips if you can't find masa harina. Grind them into fine crumbs before using.
- Dried chillies are not mandatory. You may use fresh chillies; just skip procedure no. 1 above.
- I used cane vinegar for this recipe and it was okay.
I never thought that these cream soups that I so love during winter time is so easy to make. Well, it's even easier when they come out of a tin can but the real thing is so much more flavourful and healthier that making it from scratch can be deemed mandatory.
The only specialized equipment needed is a stick blender or a regular blender or a food processor. This is to puree the soup to a smooth and fine consistency. Although it won't hurt even if don't puree, you'll just have more texture in the soup which for some people is preferable.
The picture of the finished product isn't that great so I'll put that at the bottom. I'll post a better one next time I cook this again. Darina Allen's recipe in the BBC GoodFood website is the recipe I adapted.
450 g chopped leek (you may use just the white part if preferred)
1 small onion - chopped
450 g potatoes - peeled and diced
50 g butter
1 litre [4 cups] chicken stock
250 ml [1 cup] milk*
sea salt and freshly ground pepper
- Remove the tough outer layer of the leeks. Chop and wash thoroughly to remove soil and sand.
- Melt the butter in a heavy-bottomed saucepan.
- Add in the onion and leek and cook on medium heat for about 1 minute.
- Add the diced potatoes; stir, cover and cook on low heat until vegetables are soft (about 5-10 minutes).
- Pour in the stock, bring to boil then turn heat to lowest and simmer until the vegetables are soft.
- Remove from heat and puree everything with a stick blender or in batches with a regular blender or food processor.
- Taste and adjust seasoning with salt and freshly ground black pepper.
- Reheat gently and stir in the milk. Serve hot.
*Note: You can use single/double cream or a combination of milk and creams.
