For the Love of Butter

French Coffee Macarons (w/ step by step pictures)

2012-02-13T20:56:00.000+11:00

This is my 5th attempt at macarons. And it's finally worthy of being blogged about. YEAH!

Let's recount each attempt:
#1:
Ingredients: 2 unaged egg whites, 1/2 cup of almond meal, 1 cup of pure icing sugar, 2 tbsp instant coffee granules, 5 tbsp granulated sugar.
Result: Not bad. Actually pretty good for my first attempt. Nice feet, shiny surface and all that, but a bit dome-y on the top. Tasted...like a macaron.

See? Ugly dome. BUT there's a nice looking batch if you scroll a bit.

#2:
Ingredients: Same as attempt #1. Except the I used icing mix (i.e. powdered sugar with a touch of cornflour) instead of the pure
Result: TERRIBLE. No feet, dome-y, stuck to the parchment paper. And surface was spongey looking.

#3:
Ingredients: Mostly the same as attempt #2, since apparently cornflour wasn't the culprit in the failure of #2. This time, the egg whites were aged for 18 hours (i.e. separating the whites and the yolks and letting the whites rest at room temperature. And no, they don't go off.)
Result: Still bad.

#4:
Ingredients: 1 unaged egg white, 1/4 cup of almond meal, 1 cup of pure icing sugar, 1 tbsp instant coffee granules, 2 tbsp granulated sugar.
Result: Same as #1. Macronage was still too thick, I thought it was runny enough but it wasn't. I think I was a bit paranoid.

#5:
Ingredients: Same as #4. Except that my egg whites came right out of the fridge.
Result: :D I mixed my macronage for thoroughly (i.e. the macaron batter)

The feeeeeeeeeeet. (and yes, this photo has to be x-large)

What I found about macarons:

1. Aging egg whites doesn't really make a difference for me, or even bringing them to room temperature.
2. Cornflour is bad. Very bad. Cornflour in macarons = massive FAIL
3. Just stir the macronage. Don't be too scared.
4. Almond flour doesn't have to be TOO fine. If it can get pushed through a sieve, good enough, but you will get a smoother, shiner top if you do.
5. They don't have to be completely dry to the touch. Mine never dried like that sometimes. I just left it to rest for about 10-15 minutes just so it could finish spreading.
6. You don't have to weigh each ingredient. Medium egg, large egg, worked fine for me.
7. Just plop in all the granulated sugar, you don't need to add it gradually. Although sometimes I do anyway just because.
8. If you do have a little peak after you've piped them, only use a slightly damp finger to pat them down, not a wet one.

The recipe below can easily be doubled. I got one or two that had cracks, but that's my oven's fault. You might need a couple of tries since all ovens have different personalities.

Fail.

French Coffee Macarons (as in coffee flavoured, French meringue not French coffee)
Makes: 9 large sandwich cookies
(adapted from David Lebovitz's French Chocolate Macaron Recipe which can be found here)

Macarons:
1/4 cup almond meal
1/2 cup pure icing sugar
1 tbsp instant coffee granules
1 egg white (from egg around ~59g)
pinch of salt
2 tbsp granulated sugar

Ganache Filling:
50g dark chocolate, chopped (since the macarons would be pretty sweet already)
1 tbsp heavy cream

Combine the almond meal and pure icing sugar and grind with a stick blender, blender etc until consistency is much smoother. Pass through a sieve.

Grind the coffee (I find a mortar and pestle works very well). Sift onto the almond meal and icing sugar mixture. Set aside.

Beat the egg white and a pinch of salt in a clean, grease-free bowl until soft peaks form.

Add all the granulated sugar and beat until glossy, stiff peaks form.

Add in all dry mixture and fold until combined.

Now keep folding, until the batter is runny. When the spatula is lifted, the batter should run down and there should be no track marks on the surface of the batter after about 10-20 seconds. Basically, it shouldn't hold its shape. If it looks like the image on the left, KEEP FOLDING.

Fill a piping bag with the mix and pipe rounds, leaving a generous amount of space in between. Leave to dry for about 15 minutes. (this image is from another batch, so they're smaller. I find bigger ones are better in terms of the shiny surface and feet. I don't know why)

Preheat your oven to 160 degrees C while the macarons are resting. Then slide them in. Bake for 15 minutes. Then cool on the same tray. The macarons can then be carefully peeled off, or use a metal spatula and slide it under the macarons.

While the macarons are cooling, make the ganache. Heat the cream (in the microwave) and pour over the chocolate. Stir. If necessary, heat the chocolate further in a double broiler or in the microwave (in 5-10 second intervals). Cool to room temperature, making sure that the consistency is thick and doesn't run everywhere (about 20 minutes).

Drop a teaspoonful of the ganache onto the flat side of each macaron. Place the other side on top and gently press and twist simultaneously to even sandwich the filling.

These can be stored in a DRY airtight container. Macarons can easily get soggy if the container is damp.

Coconut Roughs

2012-01-10T16:20:00.002+11:00

First of all...THESE ARE THE BEST THINGS EVER. Coconut Roughs are...flakes of coconut and chocolate. There's a shop (which my closest one CLOSED DOWWWN.) which only sells it in the winter, and is quite pricey (honestly not that worth it actually). But what if I want it summer?. Apparently it needs to be cold or something? Well. So...I'm tackling coconut roughs in very, very warm weather.

The first time I made them was when I used dark chocolate instead of milk (because dark is just so much better) and melted it over a double broiler. I then added the coconut and plopped it onto a sheet of greaseproof paper. I ended up with coconut and chocolate puddles. I mean, they tasted good and everything but... So I'm thinking that the coconut released some oil which made the chocolate really runny and also I should have waited longer before spooning it onto the sheet...a bit like a ganache truffle filling I s'pose.

I've also seen some variations online that use copha or a making a toffee thing with sugar, butter and cocoa. It seems overly complex. Simplicity is the key! I wanted to stick to two ingredients... and I was all common sense. I mean, if you are going to make this, you probably don't even need follow any instructions. I'm pretty much just stating the obvious.

By the way, the chocolate I'm using is probably not considered "good-quality" since it only has about 45% cocoa solids, but it's pretty inexpensive and it's really smooth. There's a really popular brand (I dunno if I should mention it or sth...I'm paranoid I can't because blah blah) which is not that cheap and which has a sickly sweet milk chocolate and is really grainy. I can feel...I assume it's the milk powder or the sugar (maybe cocoa?) which isn't fine enough...

Coconut Roughs
Makes about 20

200g dark chocolate
1 cup of desiccated coconut

Melt the dark chocolate over a double broiler (or microwave, but microwave large amounts can easily burn). Let it cool to room temperature (today was about 23 degrees and it took...30-40 minutes?). Add the coconut and fold it in. Place the mixture in the fridge for about 10 minutes, or until quite thick, but not yet solid. Drop teaspoonfuls onto a sheet of greaseproof paper and place in the fridge to set. Once solid, quickly peel them off and store in a pretty jar.

Eat.

Mango Sorbet

2011-12-18T18:26:00.001+11:00

I like mangos. Hence, I like mango sorbet...I also own an ice-cream maker (which makes better sorbets than ice-creams).

Umm. Mango skins? ;)

Unfrozen mango purée mixture thingy isn't the prettiest thing in the world. But smells so good. Also, there may seem to be a lot of lemon juice...but you can't taste it. But it makes all the difference. Otherwise it gets kinda sickly. Just try it. You'll see what I mean. Hopefully. Why am I typing such short sentences today?

Oh yeah...I was taking photos of sorbet in direct bright, bright sunlight...and you can see the bottom of it melting awaaaaay!

Mango Sorbet
Makes 1L

1/2 cup water
1/4 cup sugar
1 tbsp vegetable oil
1/3 cup lemon juice
flesh of 3 mangos (~500g)

Bring the water, sugar, oil and lemon juice to a boil, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Remove from the heat and add the mango flesh. Purée with a immersion blender (or blender, food processor, masher etc) and place in the fridge until chilled. It should take about 3 hours, but preferably overnight. Churn in a ice maker according to manufacturer's instructions. Alternatively, freeze for two hours or until just frozen at the edges and then beat with electric mixer. Repeat 2 or 3 more times.

...I think that the ice maker will result in a much smoother, and generally better sorbet. My personal opinion though.

Chocolate and Caramel Tarts

2011-12-07T20:07:00.000+11:00

Does anyone else dislike condensed milk? Well, I hate it. I can hear my mum now, telling me, "Don't say hate, it's a very strong word". Well, I haaaate it. Sorry if you do like it though. I don't find it disgusting, I just find the milk powdery taste rather...overpowering. Buuut...I like caramel? Besides there are those recipes that boil a can of condensed milk for about 5 hours, and then have to wait for it to cool so it doesn't explode. I'm making it from scratch. Hey, I think it's likier to fail this way (i.e. crystallisation)...but I like the flavour a lot better and it's faster. I also don't own a candy thermometer and I've always bluffed my way through these recipes...they always work.

By the way, I was searching up pictures of caramel tarts...and I just wanted to say that I don't want to see soft ganache style chocolate and runny caramel. I want a chocolate topping that SNAPS and caramel that is not runny, not chewy/hard but just right. It should provide (I sound kinda formal here?) that slight resistance when you bite into it and teeth marks will be visible and...combine that with the flaky pastry and... I wanna another one.

Also, please excuse some of the photos. The process photos were taken at night with the dodgiest lighting. And the others at... 7am in the morning. Except the one with the bite marks (at about 4pm that same day) because...~~because the teeth marks looked cool.~~

1. Cutting the butter into the flour.

2. My caramel wasn't actually that dark. It's just the lighting...although I do prefer it slightly bitter.

3. So. It was waaay prettier than this. Yes, that may possibly be a single chopstick.

4. Chocolate.

5. Caramel that has chilled. Why does it look kinda oily?

6. Shiny, shiny, runny chocolate.

It's a different photo from the one at the top. I promise!

Hard chocolate that snaps and not too soft, not too firm caramel.

They're like caramel slices, but I recently hold a hold of some tart tins. And it looks a lot nicer, albeit a bit more time consuming.

Chocolate and Caramel Tarts
Makes 8 (7.2cm in diameter)

Pastry:
35g cold butter, cut into small cubes
1/2 cup +1 tbsp plain flour
pinch of salt
~1 tbsp cold water
**Or use my sweet pie crust recipe, although you would only need a third of it...meaning you'd need 1/3 of an egg.

Caramel Layer:
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 tsp lemon juice
1/2 tbsp water
3 1/2 tbsp double cream
3g butter

Chocolate Layer:
50g dark chocolate, preferably with at least 70% cocoa solids

For the Pastry:
Cut the cold butter into the plain flour and salt, and add 1 tbsp of water. Roughly stir it in until it forms a rough, slightly patchy coloured ball, adding more water if necessary. Chill for around 10-15 minutes. Preheat the oven to 200 degrees C. Divide into 8 pieces and press it into the tart tins (7.2cm in diameter). Prick each base twice with a fork and then bake for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown. If necessary, take them out halfway and squish down the bases. I find that blind-baking is too bothersome for small tarts. Set aside to cool for about 10 minutes.

For the Caramel:
Add the sugar, lemon juice and water into a small saucepan. Melt the sugar over low heat until the sugar has dissolved and the caramel is a dark golden colour, about 10 minutes. Remember to brush down the sides with cold water to get rid of any crystals of sugar as to prevent the caramel from crystallising when it cools later on. Do not stir (which I still sometimes do, because I get booored). Heat the double cream for about 20 seconds in the microwave and then add it with the butter and salt to the caramel. **Be careful, the caramel with boil upwards rapidly. Boil on a high heat for another 2-3 minutes, until a drop of caramel in cold water turns into a soft ball (soft ball stage...but I think that just applies to the syrup)

Cool for about 3 minutes and then pour into the bases evenly, roughly about 1 tablespoon each. Chill until completely cool.

Melt the chocolate in the microwave in about 20 second intervals or less to prevent overheating. Alternatively, use a double broiler (but c'mon, how much chocolate are we working with here?) Spoon roughly 1 teaspoon over the caramel. Tap each tart a few times to evenly distribute the chocolate. Chill again until the chocolate has set.

Remove from the moulds and serve.

Blueberry Pancakes

2011-11-29T19:51:00.000+11:00

So I don't really like plain pancakes...especially with honey or maple syrup. I'm not sure why though. But when I saw these adorable little fresh blueberries on sale, I thought, "..." Actually, I didn't think of anything. I just felt like buying them, even though they're still rather expensive. At least these ones were blue-ish, not purple. So at 10pm, I decided I wanted pancakes...which I totally shouldn't 'cause eating so late will make me grow sideways. But I said to myself, "I'm just making them ahead for breakfast tomorrow so I don't have to wake up extra early. I'll only eat one."

I ended up having four. Psht.

I like my blueberry pancake batter a bit sweeter because I don't serve them with any other sweet syrup. I love how the blueberries just burst when you bite into the warm pancake. Omnomnom.

Hey look!~ Mini pancake with one blueberry...oh...wait a moment! Correction: I ate 4.25 pancakes tonight. ;D

Blueberry pancakes
Makes about 15 (7cm in diameter)

1 cup minus 2 tbsp self-raising flour
2 tbsp sugar
pinch of salt
1 egg (~59g)
~3/4 cup milk
25g melted butter
extra butter for greasing
~125g blueberries

Mix the flour and sugar together in a medium sized bowl. Add a beaten egg and 1/2 cup of the milk. Mix together and add the butter while stirring to prevent the butter from solidifying. Add the rest of the milk gradually or until the desired consistency is achieved. Heat a skillet to medium-low and grease using melted butter and a pastry brush. Pour about 1/4 cup minus 2 tbsp of the batter per pancake. Just as the first signs of the bubbles start to appear, gently press in (or throw in, just to see where it might land!) about 5 blueberries, or more if desired. When the surface looses its wet, shiny appearance and is dotted with small holes (about a minute or so), flip and cook until golden. Try not to press the pancake when cooking, or the blueberries might burst (which happened to me, 'cause I got bored while waiting). Repeat and until all the batter has been used up.

Serve hot or warm with butter and a dusting of icing sugar.

Seafood Marinara w/ Penne

2011-11-19T20:35:00.000+11:00

Um, I like penne because it holds sauce better than spaghetti? And puréeing the tomatoes slightly with a stick blender would be nice. I didn't do it, but next time, I definitely would...especially since I now own a stick blender~

What else do I want to say...? I also like seafood. If there is a day where I don't have seafood, I'm probably eating Vietnamese beef noodle soup. I love it to the point of addiction/obsession.

The seafood in this recipe can be changed to other kinds like scallops or smoked fish if desired.

Sauce w/o the seafood.

Seafood marinara w/ Penne
Serves 6-8

1 medium raw calamari (~100-150g)
10 medium raw prawns (~300g)
10 black/blue mussels (~250g)
1 tbsp olive oil
1 medium onion, finely chopped
3 large cloves of garlic, finely chopped
2 small red chilis
100g mushrooms, sliced
1 tbsp tomato paste
1/2 cup of white wine
2 tbsp chopped oregano
1 bay leaf
800g can of chopped tomatoes
1/2 cup cold water
salt and pepper, to taste
500g penne
shaved parmesan, to taste
extra oregano to garnish

To clean the seafood:
Clean the calamari by pulling out the head from the body and discard the innards. Pull of the 'wings'. If you're unlucky, you might find a giant fish as you pull out the head. Cut out the eyes and squeeze out the beak from the between the tentacles. From the body, remove the clear piece of cartilage (the quill) and cut down the body. Peel off the reddish coloured layer and make diagonal cuts on the inside of the calamari's body so that when it cooks, it curls up nicely. Slice the pieces into approximately 3cm by 5cm in size. Set aside.

Pull of the prawn heads (can be used for stock, so don't discard) and then peel the prawns, removing the tail as well. Then cut down the back of the prawn and remove the sand vein. Using scissors, cut down through the same cut so that there are two halves of a prawn. Repeat for the rest of the prawns.

Using a knife, scrape off any dirt or extra shells attached to the outside of the mussel, Pull out any brown weed-like clumps from the mussel as well.

Heat 1 tbsp olive oil in a pot and quickly fry the prawns for several seconds, making sure they have a little golden brown crust, but are not cooked through completely. Transfer to a plate and set aside. Heat another 1 tbsp of oil in the same pot over medium heat and saute the onions for about 3 or 4 minutes or until softened and translucent. Add the garlic and oil and fry for another minute. Add the mushrooms and cook until softened, about 2-3 minutes. Stir in the tomato paste, then the white wine, oregano and bay leaf. Add the chopped tomatoes and cold water and simmer on a low heat for 20 minutes.

Meanwhile, cook the penne according to package directions in lightly salted water. Drain, reserving a a tablespoon or two of the pasta water.

Increase the sauce heat to high and add the prawns, calamari and mussels to the sauce. Cover for about 3 minutes or until the majority of the mussels have opened and add the drained pasta and water.

Serve with extra oregano and shaved parmesan.

Curry Puffs

2011-11-12T21:16:00.000+11:00

I totally suck at crimping the edges. LOOOOK! They're so bad. But! They tasted good? So the pastry was all flaky and... and totally awesome and it made up for the hideous edges. The pastry was pretty crumbly anyway, so crimping is pretty hard. After I made these, I saw this version where you roll it up into a swirl and then cut it into slices. Then it gets wrapped around the filling and deep fried and then all the layers just slightly separate and...ooh. But anyway, I was aiming for a pastry that wasn't like a hard piece of cardboard-y biscuit. You know? No? Oh. Alright then.

The green onions can be substituted with half a small onion and a bit of finely chopped ginger and garlic can also be included...

Cutting in the butter.

The two doughs (water & oil).

LOOKIE!! Swirly dough... flaky~

Cold Filling...

Curry Puffs
Makes 24 pastries

Filling:
1 tbsp oil
2 long green onions
3 tsp curry powder
250g pork mince
2 tbsp white wine
1/3 cup desiccated coconut
2 small-ish/medium potatoes, diced into 1cm cubes
1 1/3 cup of water
salt to taste
2 tsp corn starch mixed w/ 2 tsp water

Pastry/Dough:
Oil Dough

1 1/2 cup plain flour
50g cold butter, chopped into small pieces
~4 tbsp oil
Water Dough
1 1/2 cup flour
1/2 tsp salt
cold water

Egg wash:
1 egg (~59g)
1 tbsp milk or water

For the filling:
Heat the oil in a large frypan over medium-high heat and add the green onion (or finely chopped onion). Stir constantly until slightly softened, about 1 minute (onions would probably take longer). Add the curry powder and mix well. After a minute add the pork mince, breaking the meat up into small pieces while browning thoroughly. Add the white wine and the coconut, then stir to combine. When all the alcohol has evaporated, mix in the cubed potatoes and water. Cover and cook over a low heat for about 20 minutes or until potatoes are soft and the mixture has only a little liquid left. Add the corn starch and water and stir quickly to combine. Take the filling off the heat and leave for several hours to cool completely.

For the Pastry:
Rub the cold butter into 1 1/2 cups of plain flour. Add the oil gradually, and add enough until just combined. Set aside. Mix the salt with the other 1 1/2 cups of plain flour and add enough cold water to create a firm dough. Roll out the water dough into a strip about 8cm wide and 4mm thick. Spread the oil dough on top. It may not be rollable, so just spread it evenly with your fingers. Roll up the dough into an 8cm wide cylinder. Roll out until 1cm thick and roll again. Roll out until 2-3mm thick and divide into 24 pieces.

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees C. Mix the egg and 1 tbsp of milk/water. Fill each dough with a heaped tablespoon of the cooled filling, or as much as possible without breaking the dough. Fold the edges together and brush with the egg wash to stick together. Crimp the edges with more success than I did. The pastry is quite crumbly, so it can be quite difficult. Place the curry puffs on the tray and brush with the egg wash. Bake for about 15-20 minutes until lightly golden on the middle rack of the oven.

Serve hot/warm.

ANZAC Biscuits (chewy)

2011-11-03T23:09:00.001+11:00

So, I know that it's nowhere near ANZAC Day and stuff...but I like ANZAC Biscuits. Besides, I bought a packet of desiccated coconut yesterday 'cause I felt like it (and no, don't tell me it's impulse buying...you know who you are). I made chocolate cupcakes with coconut icing yesterday as well and had them for breakfast. How healthy...

ANZAC Biscuits have quite an interesting history from what I remember... *goes to search it up*
...Hmm, apparently, they should NEVER be referred to as cookies. ANZAC cookies. Eww. Sounds weird. ANZAC Biscuits are better. Isn't cookies like an American term anyway?

Also, I've always preferred quick oats to rolled oats, even though the rolled will give a chewier texture... or something. I like chewy biscuits. CHEWY FTW!...excuse me. Got a bit excited there. Um, actually I only baked half the dough and froze the rest of it in a cylindrical shape so that I could slice it into rounds next time I bake the biscuits.

So... I took a couple of nice photos which I can't really insert here and there between the text. So here they come.


Melting the Butter.

Beginning to mix the...mixture.

How perfectly round!

Squish!~


Just out of the oven.

A biscuit stack...in the garden.

ANZAC Biscuits:
Makes 2 dozen

125g butter
2 tbsp golden syrup
1 cup quick/rolled oats
1 cup desiccated coconut
1 cup plain flour
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup dark brown sugar
1 tsp bicarbonate soda
2 tbsp water

Preheat the oven to 160 degrees C. Melt the butter and golden syrup over medium heat, stirring occassionally. Meanwhile, combine the oats, coconut, flour, the two sugars in a large bowl. Then mix the bicarbonate soda and water in a small, separate bowl and add it to the melted butter and golden syrup, keeping in mind that it will expand and froth. Add the butter and golden syrup mix to the dry mixture and combine well. Scoop level tablespoonfuls of the mixture and roll into balls, placing them on a baking tray lined with greaseproof paper about 4-5 centimetres apart (I got 12 on per tray). Then using you hands/fingers or the bottom of a glass, press down on each ball until they are 1 cm thick and about 4 or 5 centimeters in diameter. Bake in the middle of the oven for about 15 minutes. Watch them carefully and take them out as soon as they are lightly golden brown since any longer will result in a more crisp biscuit. Cool slightly on the tray (~5 minutes) or they'll break and then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Serve with a glass of milk or teaaaa. ;)

Marrons Glacés

2011-10-30T13:54:00.001+11:00

Well. Sort of.

Does anyone else think that the plural of marron glacé sounds better as marron glacés? Rather than marrons glacés?... or is it just me?

Oh! You know, I love that plate/saucer thing. I think it's so pretty...which is probably why we've never used them before, even though we have like a 20 piece set. Why? 'cause things can get pricey when they're made from fine bone china and platinum :D. But we have them anyway because...we have them.

Day 1...actually the first 5 minutes.

Day 2/Day 3

So. I'm pretty lazy...because I used packaged, roasted (but more like boiled though) and peeled chestnuts...which are no where near as good as fresh, fresh chestnuts (read: use fresh chestnuts instead~). But hey, it's so much easier.

... Aaaand maybe I finished 12-24 hours too early... but I kinda like the really glossy sticky-ness on the outside, even though that's not technically right...

Don't ask we why some of them got really dark. They did a tad... but then I think the camera did something weird. Eh.

Marrons Glacés
Makes: ~~(not that many)~~ ~10, depending on the size of the chestnuts.

150g of peeled and cooked chestnuts (if cooking and peeling yourself, start with 250g-300g)
1/2 cup of sugar
1/2 cup of water
1 tsp vanilla extract (or even better, vanilla bean)

Melt the sugar over low heat with the water and simmer for 5 minutes. Add the vanilla then the chestnuts and let it gently for another 10 minutes. Set aside for 12 hours. Then bring to the boil and simmer for 1 minute. Cool and set aside for another 12 hours. Repeat this process 3 or 4 more times in which all the liquid is absorbed. If not (like me, cause I like syrup) reserve the syrup for anything really (e.g. ice-cream, pancakes)

Serve by itself, use for mont blanc, on ice cream or as a garnish for other desserts.

Eggplant, Mushroom and Pearl Barley Risotto

2011-10-21T18:08:00.003+11:00

I honestly think that risotto is pretty ugly. Not really pleasant to photograph since it's kinda brown and gooey...and brown. I used pearl barley because the result is slightly lighter than a risotto that uses arborio rice...or maybe that's just me. And the pearl barley is very filling which can be served a side, main, whatever...

What type of mushroom is up to you, but keep in mind that some of their flavours might be a rather...strange combination. Like shiitake. Button mushies, Swiss brown, Porcini...neh. Sure. The stock can be chicken stock, or vegetable if you're cooking for vegetarians...or, if you're using dry mushrooms, then the clean soaking liquid can be used. I'm not one for stock, because I find their quite fake tasting, full of flavour enhancers and whatnot...so I generally use 500mL of stock and water for the rest.

Please excuse the very brown photos. Not pretty, I know. D<
Oh and look! Home grown green onions, and the chopped store bought. It's so biiig~

Eggplant, Mushroom and Pearl Barley Risotto
Serves 4-6

2 tbsp butter
2 stalks of green onion, chopped
1 clove of garlic, finely chopped/grated
1 small red chilli, thinly sliced or to taste
~150g eggplant, cut into 1 cm cubes (or diamonds :D)
1 tbsp oil
1 italian pork sausage, sliced (optional)
200g pearl barley
2 bay leaves
1/3 cup white wine
1.25L chicken stock/liquid (5 cups)
~200g mushrooms, sliced/diced
Dash of cream, or sour cream
1/4 sharp cheddar, or any sharp cheese
Parmesan, to taste
Parsley, to serve (which I didn't have D:)

Brown the butter in a large, heavy-bottomed pot (~4L) on a medium/high heat, stirring constantly. Reduce the heat to medium/low and add the green onion, garlic and chilli. Cook for about 30 seconds, stirring constantly and add the eggplant and oil. Cook until the eggplant has softened and then add the sausage until cooked through.

After the addition of the wine and 1 cup of stock...

Wash the pearl barley in cold water, a few times (3-4) or until water is clear. Drain thoroughly and add to the eggplant/sausage mix. Fry on medium heat for 2 minutes. Add the bay leaves and wine and stir until the alcohol has evaporated and the liquid has been absorbed on a gentle heat. Add one cup of the stock and stir until the liquid has been absorbed. Repeat the process, adding 1/2 cup of stock until the barley is plump and tender (this should take about 50 minutes). However, just before the last 1/2 cup of liquid, add in the mushrooms. After all the liquid has been absorbed, turn off the heat and add the cream and cheese. Remove the bay leaves.

Garnish extra shaved parmesan and parsley and serve hot.

**You can add salt or pepper to taste.

Strawberry and Raspberry Jam (without Pectin)

2011-10-10T21:13:00.001+11:00

Right now, is the season for strawberries (at least where I live~). But I don't know if it's just me, but they're not that sweet. They have a really nice colour, they smell really strong and fragrant, they have a strong strawberry flavour...but there's just no sweetness. Actually, quite perfect for jam~ and in contrast to a previous post (profiteroles), I made an insanely small amount. And, that might just be due to the fact that I like my jams to be; more fruit, less sugar and good to eat just with a spoon.

Don't you love that little wooden knife in that photo? I just thought I'd bring your attention to it 'cause its cute. I got it ages ago from someone who went to Sweden who brought some chocolate, salty liquorice, a rather pretty lobster tea-towel and an adorable fuzzy moose fridge magnet.

Now, onto what I really wanted to talk about (which is completely not related to jam). So since I'm just lying at home being super studious and pretty much getting moldy from the lack of enjoying the outside world, I got dragged out of the house and into the CBD. And instead of being, let's take this opportunity to buy pretty clothes and shoes and whatnot, I decided -- let's go explore the great world of tea, other foods and $600 stick-resistant fry pans (and watches too!). So I went to this arcade; it's kinda one of those classy(?), antique-ish ones with a really nice atmosphere. And here's a photo I copied and pasted off the internet because, why would I take a photo and be a tourist when I can go there anytime?

Anyway, I went to this little tea shop. It has all these nice varieties of teas, like fruity raspberry or mango, or strange herbal ones to help with menopause (err... interesting) and chinese teas like teas fermented for 20 years (pu-erh). And then I went to another one, but it was a really fail kind of tea shop. I mean, who puts tea leaf samples in open tea cups? The first one used tea caddies w/ tightly fitted lids. Anyway, this one had really nasty teas, like butterscotch black tea which had chunks of butterscotch swimming amongst the tea leaves. There was this ice tea sample, and this woman next to me tried it and was like, "wow, it's really good" and I was like, "Really? Hmm, I'll try some then..." Bad idea. It had an overpowering vanilla flavour with random bits of berry, apple, kiwi and god knows what. So, after a small sip I realised that I had to finish it? Like, I can't chuck it in the bin because they'll notice and also I can't throw liquid in a bin...besides, it was only a large mouthful... So I thought, "Suck it up, Jenn!" Ergh. Not pleasant. So I went back to the other shop and got a 100g packet of Earl Grey with Blue Flowers (way better than supermarket stuff)...when I got home and opened it, the smell was so strong and fragrant (yay! no stale tea)

On to another rather interesting food item. I had my first macaron! So, according to many, the Lindt Cafe has really good macarons. So off I went, trekking all the way to the Lindt Cafe to buy two macarons which cost $2.90 each. So, I can't say that they're really good or bad macarons because I can't compare them to anything. But...eh. They're just normal...nothing spectacular. Anyway, I bought a 70% dark chocolate and a hazelnut flavoured one, after rejecting the pistachio one. When I asked the dude behind the counter, whether I should choose pistachio or chocolate, he was like "pistachio" but then when he asked which chocolate I was referring to (there was also a milk) he vehemently suggested chocolate. And then I knew what was coming..."You could always buy both?" -sigh- Oh, I also saw 99% cocoa chocolate block. So, so scary. I've had a little before... not insanely bitter. Not bad. But sorry, I'm a 70% person.

This led me to the thought of making macarons, wouldn't it be way cheaper to make them yourself? Which led me to calculating the cost of making the profiteroles (again, go visit that post!) on the train ride home. It cost me a maximum of $5, half of which is actually the price of very nice, but not-so-cheap chocolate...and if you buy one at a cafe/patisserie/bakery/whatever they could easily cost you $3-$4 each.

So back to the sort-of jam. What I love about this jam, is that it's got a bit of a gelled texture, but its easily spreadable. The thing is, I'm a sandwich perfectionist. Anything in my sandwich must always be perfectly even and thin if necessary. That's what I hate about commercial jams (apart from the lack of fruit and stuff) is that I smush the jam from one side to the other, the rest of the blob follows. Argh...

I had my fruity jam with a slice of freshly baked earl-grey bread and a cup of hot earl grey tea!~

Strawberry and Raspberry Jam:

Makes about 3/4 cup

250g strawberries (~1 cup after sliced)

1/2 loosely packed frozen raspberries

3/4 cup of granulated sugar

3 tbsp freshly squeezed orange juice (strain the pulp away) or Lemon

Slice the strawberries in 3mm thick slices. If they are really large, cut in half. Combine strawberries, raspberries and sugar in a saucepan and place it over a low heat for some liquid to emerge. Then increase the heat to medium and bring to the boil. Add the orange juice and simmer for 5 minutes. Check if the jam will have set (although at this stage, probably not) by dripping a little onto a frozen plate and waiting a few moments. Simmer again for 5 minutes, stirring constantly and checking again. You want to be looking for a slightly thick and gelled texture/appearance when the plate is tilted. If you're making this much, its not worth canning. Cool completely.

Serve ~~with a spoon.~~

Tempura Soba (w/ Prawns)

2011-10-02T16:27:00.000+11:00

When I had almost finished the grocery shopping, I suddenly felt like tempura prawns... So off I went to the fish shop and bought 12 prawns. And the funny thing is (well, not really), there's this man standing next to me, and he buys about two kilograms of banana prawns for around $26 and then two seconds later I say, "Can I have twelve paradise prawns?"...which is like $2.50. Actually, my favourite type of prawn are tiger prawns, or any prawn that has really dark green (almost black) stripes. I only bought paradise prawns today because they looked pretty fresh anyway and weren't as big. For me, I always find frozen prawns in a bag kind of icky since they have some sort of thing that makes them crunchy and a bit weird. Not fresh at all anyway. I also prefer to buy shelled prawns and to peel and devein myself because having that amount of control over cleaning my own prawns allows me to be as obsessive as necessary.

Cleaning and preparing the prawns is quite complicated, but many of the steps could be skipped if you really don't care. But following the process (in the recipe below) is so much better...don't worry there are only twelve prawns! Again, this is another recipe that I bluffed my way through with the process. I've eaten tempura-ed prawns and vegetables numerous times and this is my second attempt at making it. My first attempt was many, many years ago and it was pretty good, also not spectacular...because I used a recipe I found.

Buy soba noodles made in Japan or Korea or...any eastern Asian country because the quality will clearly differ. Some of the noodles will break as soon as they are picked up and don't have that nice chewy texture. If you can't read the instructions, it doesn't matter. I also use instant dashi powder for the soup because: #1 I'm lazy and #2 I can't get ingredients to make it from scratch. You can also go ahead and dip vegetables in the tempura batter as well. I had some green peppers, which I cut in half length-ways, deseeded, battered and then fried. Ooh...Spicy~

If you can't find potato starch/flour, corn starch/flour is a suitable substitute even though I find that the potato starch gives a better and crunchier texture...maybe it doesn't and I'm just imagining things. Who knows?

And, hey, it may not be 110% authentic ("soup"-wise) but it's pretty close. ;) But hot diggity that batter's good.

Tempura Soba
Serves 4

For the Noodles & Soup:
4 bundles of soba noodles
~4 tbsp of dried wakame (type of seaweed)
2 tsp miso paste
1 tsp instant dashi
1 stalk of green onion

For the Tempura:
12 raw medium prawns, unpeeled (200-250g)
1 tbsp of potato starch/flour (or corn starch/flour)
1/4 cup of potato starch/flour (or corn starch/flour) + extra for dusting
1/4 cup of plain flour
1 tsp bicarbonate soda
1/2 cup of beer or soda water, cold
Oil for deep frying

To prepare the prawns, twist off the head and peel until you get to the last "section" and the tail. Then using a knife, cut a shallow line down the prawn's back and remove the sand vein. Rinse all the prawns thoroughly and put in a dish. Add 1 tbsp of potato starch and toss and rub the prawns with the starch to remove any unpleasant fishy odour. Leave for a minute or two and rinse the prawns thoroughly. Then pat the prawns dry on a paper towel and remove the small dark vein on the underside of the prawn and gently press the prawn on a hard surface, underside down to keep straight. Then sift a light layer of potato starch on both sides. Set aside.

Heat a pan/wok of oil with enough oil to deep fry. The oil needs to be around 180 degrees C, or when a small drop of batter floats on the top and bubbles. To make the batter, combine the flour, 1/4 cup of potato starch and bicarbonate soda. Add the beer and gently combine with a whisk. Don't worry about any small lumps. Use the batter immediately, otherwise the bubbles will disappear and the batter will end up being rather heavy. Preferably using a long pair of chopsticks, dip and thoroughly coat the prawns in the batter and cook in the pan for about 3-4 minutes rotating once if necessary. Make sure that the prawn have a nice light golden colour all over. Place the cooked prawns on a paper towel to remove excess oil.

For the soba noodles, follow package directions or bring a generous amount of water to the boil and add the noodles. Cook for a few minutes, 2-4 minutes, check by breaking the noodle in half and making sure there is no hard, white bit in the centre. Strain the noodles and rinse in ice water. Dip the noodles in boiling water to refresh and place in the serving bowl.

For the soup, bring 3 cups of water to the boil and add the dashi powder, miso paste and green onion. Boil for about 30 seconds more to get rid of the alcohol in the miso. Check the saltiness and add more miso or dashi if necessary since different types of miso can be more or less salty, same with dashi powder. I used a awasemiso which is a combination of akamiso and shiromiso. Ladle the soup evenly into each bowl. Top with tempura prawns and chopped green onion (and anything else you feel like).

Serve hot immediately.

Profiteroles (choux à la crème)

2011-09-24T21:29:00.000+10:00

Light-as-air choux pastry filled crème patisserie with hints of vanilla dipped in melted dark chocolate... What can I say? Absolutely drool-worthy.

Okay, so the first and second attempts I made at choux pastry puffs were rather... dismal. The first time... it deflated slightly and wasn't very airy and the second time? Well, it deflated completely and stuck to the baking paper underneath and was as flat as...an ironing board. Oh, and it was quite soggy too. So, this time what did I do differently? My wise words of the day, "Forget any recipe on the internet and let's WING it" And it went PERFECTLY.

Oh my gosh. It was SO good... But somtimes when you don't have a recipe, you might end up making a lot. And, I ended up with over 40 puffs and there are also three people in my household... I wonder what we're having for dinner tonight...

Um, I'm not in the mood to write a million words so I'll need to mention some important things. After you add the flour, cook it really well or you'll end up with a lovely...pancake. And after baking, make sure the profiteroles are a deep golden colour so it'll hold it's shape once it's cooled. Of course, they're best eaten within a few days, and after a day or so, they'll start to soften up but will still taste great.

If you have a strong dislike for custard, then whipped cream is a good substitute for the filling (that's what mum prefers)... but even though I'm not big on custard, I still think that the crème patisserie is perfect with the choux pastry and chocolate. So in the end, I used half my recipe below for crème patisserie and used a whipped cream filling for the other half. Oh, and honestly, I don't actually like my pastries really full of filling. Half-full or three-quarters is more my kind of thing...so if you like yours really full, you might run out of crème patisserie. But, the pastry doesn't even need a filling, so you know, its all good. ;)

Here's what it the choux puff looks like inside (so hollow!~):

Profiteroles with a Crème Patisserie filling:
Makes approximately 40 profiteroles

Choux Pastry:
1 cup minus 1 tbsp of water
80g of butter
1/2 tsp salt
1 tbsp granulated sugar
1 cup flour
4 eggs (~59g)

Crème Patisserie (adapted from Margaret Fulton's Encyclopedia of food and cookery pg255):
1 1/2 cups of milk
6 tbsp of flour
4 eggs (~59g)
1/2 cup of sugar
1 tsp of vanilla extract (or better yet, use a vanilla bean)

Chocolate Topping:
150-200g good quality dark chocolate, roughly chopped

For the Crème Patissiere:
Bring the milk to a boil (put the vanilla bean with the milk if using). Meanwhile, whisk the flour, eggs, sugar and vanilla (if using extract) together well in a bowl. Remove vanilla bean and add the hot milk into the egg mixture. Mix again, and transfer to a saucepan. Cook on a gentle heat stirring constantly, while making sure it doesn't boil. Continue until mixture is quite thick, around 5-10 minutes. The crème patisserie should fall of the spoon in one go when scooped with a tablespoon and dropped. Also, when the filling is mixed, it should leave marks behind, not combine together quickly and create a smooth surface. Strain to remove any lumps and transfer to a bowl to cool and cover the surface with plastic wrap so the surface doesn't dry out. Place in fridge until needed.

For the Choux Pastry:
Preheat oven to 220 degrees C. Place the water, butter, salt and sugar in a medium saucepan and bring to the boil. As soon as it boils, add the flour all at once and cook, mixing constantly on medium heat. When the dough starts to pull away from the sides of the pan, reduce the heat and keep mixing for another 5 minutes. Remove the pan from the heat and cool for 5 minutes giving it a stir every so often to let the heat escape faster. Add the eggs one at a time mixing vigorously. Don't worry if the mixture separates because it will and it just needs to be stirred very, very hard. It is unlikely, but you many not need ALL of the last egg. The final batter should be quite heavy, thick and stretchy. Pipe, or spoon heaped teaspoonfuls onto a sheet of ungreased baking paper (use a tiny bit of batter to stick the paper down in the corners if necessary). Make in the middle rack of the oven for 20-30 minutes. Watch for a deep golden colour. Then, take it out and gently push the prongs of a fork in the base and leave to cool on a rack upside down (this allows the steam to escape slightly).

When choux pastry is cool, use a knife and poke it through the bottom gently to create a small slit. Pipe the crème patisserie through using a small nozzle or hole if using a zip-lock bag (~<0.5cm in diameter). Then dip the top surface in melted chocolate. Leave until chocolate has set, and serve.

Double Chocolate Raspberry Muffins

2011-09-16T11:42:00.000+10:00

This is not one of those muffins which are super light and airy. PLEASE DO NOT BE MISTAKEN. These muffins are more like brownie-muffins... In fact, these are almost based on my brownie recipe. But with cocoa powder instead of chocolate because there was no chocolate on hand. There is also quite a bit of butter... Not to mention, it's a one bowl recipe!

If you have a look at the ingredients, you'll see that there is a generous amount of sugar. It's not actually that much, because you need to keep in mind that we're using cocoa powder. Another thing to note, is that I'm using regular cocoa (since I can't seem to find any Dutch-processed cocoa around here...NOOOO!) and this will affect the rising of the muffin. You would need to add baking soda. How much? Unfortunately, I don't know since I've never worked with Dutch-processed. In fact, the final result actually (sort of) looks like it uses dutch-process.

Anyway, this muffin yields a rich, dark-chocolatey texture with bursts of raspberries. I find that it's much easier to use frozen raspberries in the batter, because this batter is really, incredibly stiff and folding in fresh raspberries will result in...a disaster. You can always use fresh raspberries for garnish, or be awesome like me and oh-so-carefully microwave one frozen raspberry so that it looks like a fresh one because raspberries are around $12 dollars for around a 125g punnet. *le gasp*

The only presence of chunky, actual chocolate are the chocolate chips. In my opinion? COMPLETELY OPTIONAL. In fact, if you are going add them, don't be like, "...because I'm, like, such a chocoholic, I'm going to, like, add more chocolate chips". Seriously, the cocoa already makes the chocolate muffin so, so chocolatey that too much extra chocolate will weigh it down and ruin the balance of flavours. When I mean that the extra chips are optional, I mean it. This isn't one of those recipes that say that the chips are optional but when you don't add it, the final product is bland and disgusting. It's there for a little bit of texture and a little surprise. Trust me. Please also add the coffee, even if you don't coffee because it provides that depth and sophistication to the flavour of the muffin. And as always, don't stir the batter too vigorously, since we don't want gluten to develop. Once it's mixed, stop.

The crust is a practically brownie crust, and so I feel that there is absolutely no need for icing. You know, I DON'T EVEN LIKE CRUST... but on the muffin/oversized-cupcake, it is so, so good. The balance works wonders with the fudgy, yet still muffin-y inside. However, if you want a icing anyway, I suggest you skip the chocolate chips and use a ganache.

A little secret? If you want a darker brown, add one or two drops of blue food colouring after stirring in the cocoa powder. Sound weird? Not to worry, when you have been painting with watercolour for over 2 years it'll make sense. Don't get too excited and add more. Remember, we want a darker brown not a blue chocolate muffin. Trust me...again.

Well, without furthur ado;

Double Chocolate Raspberry Muffins
Yields: 10-12 muffins

150g of butter
3/4 cup of granulated sugar
2 eggs (~59g)
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup normal cocoa powder (~60g)
3/4 cup self-raising flour
60g of roughly chopped chocolate, or chocolate chips
1 cup of frozen raspberries
1 1/2 tbsp of instant coffee

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C. Line a muffin tray with muffin liners (no need to grease).Cream the softened butter and sugar in a large bowl and then add the eggs (If it the mixture separates at this stage, ignore it, it will be fine). Dissolve the instant coffee in an equal amount of hot water and it to the butter with the vanilla extract and cocoa powder and fold it in with a spatula. Then add flour and fold it in. Fold in the chocolate chips and the frozen raspberries. Fill the mixture (using a ice scoop helps) almost to the top. **Don't worry about any gaps at the bottom, since the mixture will 'melt' into the liners when baking. Bake for 20-25 minutes until a skewer inserted into the centre of the muffin comes out clean, remembering not to mistake the raspberries and chocolate chips for uncooked batter. Cool on a wire rack for 10 minutes.

Serve warm or cool, with a cup of tea, coffee or a glass of milk.

Artisan Bread

2011-09-12T18:32:00.000+10:00

Isn't it so pretty? You know, no two breads will ever look the same, like a tongue print... what a bad analogy... This recipe yields a bread that's like an almost-sourdough and it has a lovely crust and a chewy, soft centre. I think its absolutely fantastic that you don't have to go through the process of making a sourdough starter with the high risk that it's quite probable that it's going to die, or not even become alive in the first place and the bread will still have similar qualities to a sourdough. Of course, not as good as a real sourdough, but good nonetheless.

I usually use bread/strong flour since it has a lot more gluten which results in a nice chewy bread, but I've seen this been done with all-purpose flour. This recipe has been adapted from somewhere, and so I found numerous recipes everywhere, all leading back to the NY Times recipe. My process, however, is only slightly different; like where I let the yeast activate in warm water. I always activate the yeast, even though it may not be necessary, but I find that the result is usually better and it also lets you know if the yeast you're using is dead before you waste a lot of flour... Helpful yes?

Also, take note that after the 15-18 hour resting time, you'll see it being super bubbly/frothy and when you starting pulling the dough out of the bowl, you'll see that it's REAAAALLY stringy. That, my readers, is gluten! Pretty cool huh? And I don't have a photo because, well... I just don't.

Also, baking the bread with a lid or tightly covered for the first 1/2 hour will slightly steam the bread at the same time, leaving you with a chewy, dense crust. And this bread will only keep for a few days, maybe even less since it doesn't have any preservatives. It will taste way better on the first day than the next and you should definitely be able to tell the difference. Just letting you know...

This bread is a no-knead bread that takes quite a while. It takes hours, but there's very little hands on effort. I mean, only step that requires actual contact between hands and bread is a dusting of flour to fold the dough a few times.

Overall, the bread needs around 1/2 an hour of hands on effort, and maximum 20 hours of waiting and 1 hour of cooking time. So, please don't start at a time that will cause you to wake up at an ungodly hour just to fold the dough. Here's a little something to help:
1. ~15 min to mix ingredients
2. 15-18 hours of resting
3. ~5 min to tip the dough out and fold it
4. 15 min to rest
5. 2 hours to rest in a cloth
6. 1 hour to bake

Artisan Bread (No-Knead)
Yields an approximately 750g loaf

3 cups of bread flour (strong flour), plus extra for dusting
1/4 tsp of instant yeast
1 1/2 tsp of salt
1 1/4 cup + 2 tbsp of warm water

Combine yeast, salt and warm water and leave for ~10min and then add the flour. Leave at a warm room temperature for approximately 15-18 hours (at least 20 degrees or more).

Generously flour a surface and place the dough on it. Sprinkle more flour and let it rest for 15 minutes and then fold the edges towards the centre 3 or 4 times. Dust a towel (not a terry cloth) with more flour and place the dough seam side down and pull the corners of the towel together and tie it up, keeping the dough enclosed. Let the dough rest for an additional 2 hours.

Preheat an oven with to 230 degrees C with a heavy pot like a cast iron or even a heat-proof glass mixing bowl (minimum 3L). When the dough is ready, flip the dough into the pot so the seam will be facing upwards and shake one or two times if you missed the pot really badly. Cover with a lid or tightly with foil and bake for 30 minutes. Remove the lid/covering and continue to cook for 20-30 more minutes. When golden, lift the bread out of the pot and cool slightly on a rack.

Serve warm ~~or at room-temperature~~ with a good quality, salted butter.

I have very nice friend who apparently thinks that the first photo of this looks like a rabbit. Or a chicken. Does anyone else think he's a little strange?

Pan Fried Chicken

2011-09-07T20:52:00.000+10:00

You know, as I was writing the list of ingredients, I thought, "Yep, all good. Nice and neat"...AND I FORGOT TO WRITE DOWN THE CHICKEN ~~BOOBIES~~ BREAST!! And, you might (or might not) notice the lack of photos of the uncooked/marinating chicken. Why? Because taking photos of raw chicken sucks. IT LOOKS TERRIBLE. *moans* Simply unacceptable.

The number of servings maybe a little inaccurate since it might only serve one and a half people...unless you're serving with something else. And a few friends know that sometimes, I don't eat very much. One of them apparently finds it very funny to imitate me eating a crumb and then going, "I'm full now". Gee, I'm just overwhelmed from the hilarity of it.

Um, don't flip the chicken too much alright? You know, because the juice will run out and you'll be left with a lemony, slightly spicy, slighty garlicky piece of cardboard. Not fun.

I made this some while ago for lunch, and I had the warm, juicy chicken in a fresh roll of bread from the bakery, with avocado, butternut lettuce and some mayo...

If you're a super garlicky person, add another crushed clove of garlic instead of mincing it. Crushing makes it easier to remove before cooking, because I don't know about you, but I absolutely detest little pieces of minced garlic on my chicken, I just feel as if I need to pick each piece off ...but I can't be bothered. However, I have no problem with the lemon zest since it sort of seems to disappear. Hmm...

No paprika?Then use cayenne. No cayenne? Use some other sort of chilli powder. No chilli powder? Use some/all of a fresh chilli. No fresh chilli? Don't have any of those? Don't make it. Have paprika/cayenne/chilli powder/fresh chilli but absolutely chilli intolerant (for some mad reason)? Then become chilli tolerant before trying this out. Uh, yes. The marinade looks kind of ugly. Better than the photo of the raw marinating chicken. *shudders*

Pan fried chicken (with Lemon, Chilli and Garlic)
Serves: 2

1/2 boneless Chicken Breast (~300g-350g)
Zest of a lemon (~1/2tsp)
Juice of 1/2 lemon (~2tbsp)
2 tbsp of White wine
1 tsp of paprika, or to taste
1 clove of garlic
Salt, to taste (~1/4 tsp)
1/4 cup of Vegetable Oil
2 tbsp of Butter

Combine the lemon zest, lemon juice, white wine, paprika and salt in a zip lock bag. Cut the chicken in more manageable slices (~3-4) and pound it (with a meat mallet, or a heavy pan) until it is around a 1 cm thick. Add it to the marinade and let it marinate for at least 30 minutes, max 4 hours (overnight is probably overkill). Heat up a non-stick pan on medium and add the oil and butter. Once the butter has melted, pat the chicken dry and carefully place in the pan. If the chicken has skin, place the skin side down first. Flip, only once or twice for about 4 minutes. Let the chicken rest for a few minutes before serving.

Serve hot with creamy mash potato, a slightly sweet and creamy sauce to balance out the flavour of the lemon juice or even mayonnaise.

**You can use a meat thermometer to check if it's cooked or if you have to, cut into the chicken and check.
**Go ahead and turn up the heat in the last half a minute or so if the chicken isn't getting a nice golden colour/caramelisation.

Grilled Corn

2011-09-03T15:45:00.000+10:00

This recipe is a rather unexpected one. I was only planning to have one more (not this one, that is) before the school holidays start...

But you know, when you see corn in it's husk at the fruit and veg shop for 49c each, you can't help but get excited. I mean, I don't even like corn that much. I may be more impartial towards Asian-style corn (for a lack of a better name), its the kind thats chewy and sticky and oh-so-lovely, but I can only buy it frozen WITHOUT A HUSK here. So, when I saw the sweetcorn at the shop I remembered the time when I went on holidays to Shanghai, China, and I was walking along the street, not used to bitter cold and seeing street vendor's selling sweet potatoes and corn on a grill with the hot smokey-ish steam rising into the air. And you could also see that husk of the corn was all nice and charred. Oooh~

But sweetcorn is alright too, I s'pose...

Um, this recipe requires so little effort, which is why I felt like eating corn? I don't even know if this could be classified as a recipe. Seriously. You know, I can't even stand for more than 20 seconds (LITERALLY) without feeling the need to sit or rest. My legs are so sore!~ ...because I went to the city and walked for 7-8 hours straight (no exaggeration) to sell badges for charity. AND I raised ~$600! All by myself. *feels proud*

Back to the topic of corn...
Usually, when I think of grilled corn, it's "let's spend an hour setting up a giant charcoal barbeque and grill two cobs of corn". So, I 'grilled' it in a skillet. And I love those little dark 'grill' patches that give it a really nice flavour and make it look so pretty, so I when grilled two cobs of corn, only one ended up having pretty grill marks because I ate the other one.

I practically devoured it like the Cookie monster on Sesame St eating a cookie (well not really, 'cause technically he doesn't even eat the cookie).

There's a lot of steaming going on while its cooking in the skillet, because... well, because I felt like it. This was one of those recipes where I go;
"Hmm, what shall I do? Okay I'll do this. Why? I dunno. 'Cause I feel like it. What for? Who cares?... wait, wait! How long did I cook it for? I need to write it down! Well, um, 15-20 minutes? No idea. Something like that. Eh."

And in case it's not that clear, I'm talking to myself.

Also, the cooking can be quite smokey at times, so turn on a range-hood. Which I forgot to do in the beginning and the fire alarm went all: BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEEEEEP! By the way? Don't pick it up with your hands. It's hot... erm, which reminds me...I picked it up with my hands and it wasn't a problem. Hmm... but if you burn yourself, don't blame me.

Oh, and if you're going to serve it with butter. Use a good SALTED butter. I mean, forget that its high in sodium blah, blah, high in this and that and it's soooo unhealthy. It's just a teaspoon or something, so it's cool right? RIIIGHT?

Grilled Corn
Serves: 2

2 Cobs of Corn (with husk)
Salted Butter (optional, to serve)

Peel off a few layers of the husk of the corn if there are many layers (leave about two-three layers). Then peel back the remaining layers, keeping it intact with the the corn. Remove all the silk and then rinse the corn. Soak the corn in cold water for around 10 minutes. Heat a skillet on medium to medium-low heat and squeeze the excess water gently from the corn then place the corn into the pan and add an extra 1-2 tablespoon/s of water. Put on a lid and let it cook until all of the water has evaporated. Once evaporated, rotate the corn and add another 1-2 tablespoon/s of water. Repeat this for around 15-20 minutes.

Optional: Peel back the husks, but leave intact for presentation and grill the corn directly on a high heat in the skillet, rotating every few seconds for grill marks, being careful not to burn the corn.

If you want to be really fancy, then you can add herbs/spices into the corn just before grilling. Some suggestions? I have no idea. Try garlic, oregano or basil?

Serve hot with ~~or without~~ butter.

Pie = 3.141592... (Pie crust)

2011-08-31T19:28:00.000+10:00

Raspberry and Peach Pie.
Pie crust? Spectacular.
Pie Filling? Eh, not bad. Maybe even a little disappointing...

I've only got photos for the final result, considering I made this a long, long, LONG time ago. Few months ago?

So, even though the pie looks really pretty, this will be a recipe for the pie crust. This pie crust recipe is for sweet fillings and it's buttery, crumbly, flaky AND doesn't get as soggy, especially at the base like other pie crusts I've made. Even though I didn't even blind bake it, the base stayed better than other's that I had blind baked (soggy-wise).

It's advisable to handle the dough as less as possible, since the pulsing of the butter, flours and sugar enables the butter to create little 'pockets' when the butter melts while baking, enable a FLAAAKY pastry. Not only that, but it prevents too much gluten from forming from the flour, so you get a crumbler, flakier pastry. Lots of gluten is good in crusty, artisian bread (coming soon), but not in pastry. Another tip that I have is: Put the pie in the lowest rack in the oven since it enables the base to cook more thoroughly because more heat is concentrated there.

So do you see the flaky-ness? (Bottom, Right)

There's enough pastry for a pie dish that's ~20cm in diameter, and 2-3cm deep. Although, since I had a lattice top for my peach and raspberry pie, I had a little left, just a little since I had a lattice top. The lattice top is just so pretty. ^3^ There's also a light egg wash to enhance the golden colour of the pastry. But if you're not going to have a lattice top then there's also the option of a light sprinkling of caster sugar.

By the way, does anyone know ways of cutting a slice of pie that is nice and does not collapse? Especially the first slice?

HEY LOOK! there's BUTTER~

Sweet Pie Crust:

150g cold butter
~1 cup plain flour
~1/2 cup self raising
1/4 cup caster sugar
1 egg (~59g)

For the top of the pie:
**1 or 2 tsp caster sugar
OR
1 egg with 1 tbsp milk

Roughly cut the butter into relatively large pieces and place in a food processor with both flours and sugar. Pulse the mixture until it resembles bread crumbs. *Adding more flour (~1-2 tbsp) may be necessary if the mixture is rather wet. Add the egg and process until combined into a dough. It is recommended that the dough be separated into flat, cylindrical shapes to make the rolling out easier. Place in the refrigerator for ~20 minutes, depending on the size of your dough. The chilling time prevents the dough from melting everywhere since its contains a large amount of butter.

Then its ready, and there's no need to grease the pan. However, there may be a need between the pastry and greaseproof paper when blind baking. Then bake the pie for 40-45 minutes, or until golden. (When using pastry for one whole pie).

*After chilling, if the dough is too hard, then leave somewhere like a kitchen counter to soften a little, if it's still too soft, then return to the fridge for another 5-10 minutes before checking again.

One more picture...

Classic Custard

2011-08-28T16:12:00.000+10:00

Here's another blog post.
About custard. Sans butter. BUT WAIT! It has thickened cream and full cream milk.

It uses four egg yolks, leftover from the Angel Cake. Although, I usually make custard with the whole egg since I normally don't know what to do with the whites.

This custard can be used to make ice-cream, but it'll probably need more sugar. I'm guessing maybe 1/3 of a cup instead of 1/4?

Anyway. So I was going to use a double boiler, considering its way more foolproof. I wanted to be able to walk away for a little while without coming back to see it had boiled and curdled and died and gone to heaven.

But then I got impatient and transferred to a pot and heated it directly. *smiles* ...and you might notice that I have a particular attachment to a certain red spatula. I didn't notice that it was in a lot of the photos...oops?

It's a good custard. Oh, and I used hazelnut liquer instead of the traditional vanilla since I'm not much of a vanilla person.

(Almost) Classic Custard

Serves: 4-6 (Depending on how it's going to be served)

Ingredients:
1 3/4 cup of milk
1/2 cup of thickened cream (min 35% milk fat)
4 egg yolks *from ~59g whole egg
1-2 tsp hazelnut liquer (or vanilla bean/extract)
1/4 cup sugar

Combine milk, cream and hazelnut liquer in a saucepan and heat it until just before it boils. *Or, you could just bring it to the boil and leave it to cool slightly for a few minutes. Remember to constantly stir, otherwise a skin will form over the milk and cream.

Meanwhile, combine the egg yolks and sugar in a large bowl. Then add approximately 1/2 cup of the milk mixture and stir. Once it's thoroughly mixed, pour in the rest of the milk stir until well combined. Then strain it to remove any eggy lumps. Return it into a saucepan and stir constantly over low heat, making sure IT DOES NOT BOIL. Cook for arount 15-20 minutes until the custard thickens and coats the back of a metal spoon.

Strain it one more time to get rid of any lumps and serve it hot, warm or cold.

For chocolate custard, add 100g of chopped chocolate after the custard has thickened right after the custard has finished cooking.

---

Ooh, on an interesting and completely irrelevant to custard note; I bought gummy bears today. It was those more pricey ones (sold per 100g) where you can just stand there with a mini shovel and stick it in a bag. And so, I stood there, hoping the guy in the store wouldn't yell at me for stealing most of the blue gummy bears. Which he didn't. So now, my bag of gummy bears has a suspiciously high abundance of blue ones, whilst the section in the lolly shop has a suspiciously low abundance of blue gummy bears...

Hey, but it's not like I picked them one by one... I just aimed for the sections with lots of blue gummy bears.

GUMMY BEARS!~

Angel Cake

2011-08-27T20:42:00.000+10:00

Hey guess what?
My first EVER blog post is a recipe which has no butter.

I'm just so witty!

And so, here's a photo I took a long time ago which may match your facial expression right now after reading that.

This is a blog about a recipe for angel cake.
It's healthy. (gasp)
And it takes like two seconds to make and two seconds to clean up afterwards. Which is saying something, considering I'm quite messy and slow.

Alright, it took 20 minutes to prepare everything and combine and throw into the oven.

Seriously. [although, maybe not throw]

Generally angel cake recipes are all like, take the egg whites of 12 MILLION eggs. A bit of an exaggeration, I know. But seriously, there are so many eggs, the resulting cake is a giant and it needs one of those ugly cake pans with an ugly hole. So, here's a prettier, smaller, more normal sized one with 4 eggs. Yay!~ Oh, and it has no hideous hole.

One thing I wanted to tell you before I start with the recipe. I actually hate to fold. You have to be patient and nice to the mixture when folding, BUT THAT'S OKAY. I don't mind too much. This is where my sort-of OCD side of myself comes in. When you fold, you can't help but deflate it a TAD. Obviously. But I just hate to see it do that. I always think, "IT MUST NOT DEFLATE BY A SINGLE BUBBLE!" By the way, if you don't fold properly, GAME OVER, YOU FAIL.

This recipe also does not have any cream of tartar because honestly, I don't want to buy a container of cream of tartar, only to use about a teaspoon or two before it passes its best before date. 'Cause that really sucks.

Let's see, what else...oh, the lemon juice and salt are to stabilise the egg whites. And here's a reaaaally pretty picture of glossy egg whites just before the flour step. Such pretty stiff peaks...

Who would have thought it started from this:~

At the end, it was rather funny when the cake was cooling upside down. It amuses me. Otherwise it just deflates. See? ---->

Oh, I wish I used weights for ingredients like flour because its just SO MUCH MORE ACCURATE, but I just don't have a kitchen scale. T^T

Anywhoo...

Angel Cake

Ingredients:
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup granulated white sugar
~1/2 cup egg whites (4 eggs at room temp) *~59g whole egg.
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp lemon juice
1 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 180C (~350F) with a rack in the centre of the oven. Keep a springform pan ready (20cm diameter) *PLEASE use something with a removeable base because the pan won't be greased and you end up having to rip the cake out of the pan in 20 pieces.

Place the egg whites in a CLEAN, DRY, GREASE-FREE bowl and beat until foamy(using a electric mixer, or if you're really buff, then have fun and do it by hand). Add the salt and lemon juice and continue beating until soft peaks. Then gradually add the sugar, ~1 tbsp at a time until glossy, stiff peaks form. Add in vanilla and beat until combined. Gradually sift in flour while simultaneously FOLDING it into the egg whites.

Pour the batter into the ungreased pan and gently smooth the top. Bake in the oven for ~30 minutes. Allow the cake to cool for ~1 hour upside down. E.g. a rack. When cooled, carefully use a spatula (or knife) to loosen the cake and then pop it out.

Then you can have it plain, or with whipped cream, fruit etc.
I had whipped cream with a generous splash of hazelnut liquer and strawberries.

Here's a really dodgy photo. I guarantee it looked infinitely times better in real life.

Full Recipe Archive

2011-08-26T12:00:00.000+10:00

Hi, welcome to the full recipe archive!~ Have a look around and let me know what you think by leaving comment under any of the posts...

Sweet:
Angel Cake
ANZAC Biscuits (chewy)
Blueberry Pancakes
Chocolate and Caramel Tarts
Classic Custard
Coconut Roughs
Double Chocolate Raspberry Muffins
French Coffee Macarons (w/ step by step pictures)
Marrons Glacés
Mango Sorbet
Pie = 3.141592... (Pie crust)
Profiteroles (choux à la crème)
Strawberry and Raspberry Jam (without Pectin)

Savoury:
Curry Puffs
Eggplant, Mushroom and Pearl Barley Risotto
Grilled Corn
Pan Fried Chicken
Seafood Marinara w/ Penne
Tempura Soba (w/ Prawns)

Not quite Sweet, but not quite Savoury...
Artisan Bread