Fuzz Free Food

Garlic shrimps

2013-01-27T20:49:00.001+01:00

I hope everyone had a great weekend. Mine was filled with grocery shopping and watching movies. With the snow and all I’m not really in the mood to do anything else. But today it started to rain. I never thought I would be so happy to see rain. The snow just melted away. Having 2 weeks of winter with snow and scrapping my car windows is more than plenty for me. Please let the spring start soon.

On Saturday I bought a bag of frozen, peeled and deveined shrimps. Talk about shortcuts. Normally I buy them with shell, so this was a nice change. I always try to have a bag of frozen shrimp in the freezer. Never know when I need them.

I don’t know if I should call this post garlic shrimps or shrimp garlic given the amount of garlic I marinated them with. I know my boss will not be too happy tomorrow at work. Somehow he always knows when I had garlic. But that doesn’t stop me from eating it. I just love garlic!

For these super simple garlic shrimps I used:

- About 25 pieces of peeled and deveined shrimps

- 4 cloves of garlic

- 1 teaspoon of salt

- Fresh ground pepper

- Some slivers of fresh chili

- 1 teaspoon of garlic powder

- Dash of olive oil

I started with mincing the garlic and sliced some slivers of chili. I don’t like it too hot so just a couple would do.

To this I added the salt, the pepper, the garlic powder and the olive oil.

Then I butter flied the shrimp, making sure I didn’t cut them all in half and mixed them with the garlic mixture. I let it marinate for a day, but if you are in a hurry you can use it after a couple of minutes also.

In a hot wok I added a bit of olive oil and one teaspoon of butter. The moment the butter melted in the oil I added the shrimp.

Shrimp cooks so fast, so the whole process took no longer then 2-3 minutes. There is no doing anything else while the shrimp is cooking so you’ll have to be there and keep an eye on them. When one side was done I turned them around and after everything turned pink it was time to serve it.

We ate it with some toasted bread, but it was good just like that also; a great, fast and simple snack before dinner.

PS: try these shrimps on top of a salad!

Lemon passion fruit semolina cake

2013-01-20T19:49:00.000+01:00

I know it is bit late but I think it is never to late for a happy new year! I hope this year will be all that you want it to be.

Looking back at last year I can say that it’s been a very good one. Now that I’ve think about it, I don’t think I had any bad year at all. Or maybe I’m just good at ignoring any bad past.

Anyway it’s been really good taking a break from blogging and focusing more on getting healthier. I’ve stopped running since the days are getting shorter and the nights longer, but as soon as the temperature goes up to somewhat decent running temperature; I will be picking up where I left. Still have that wedding to go to in June...So far I haven’t gain any kilos, but I’m afraid I can’t hold that off for long.

I checked my pantry and notice that I had a bag of Semolina that was about to expire. I looked everywhere for a recipe and then I remembered that my Greek neighbor use to make semolina cake. All the recipes I saw were using 6 or more eggs. Somehow I just can’t justify using 6 eggs just for 1 cake. So lucky I found this recipe and decided to tweak it a little: http://www.taste.com.au/recipes/20192/lemon+semolina+cake

For the cake I used:

- 130 grams of unsalted room temperature butter

- ½ cup of sugar

- Zest of one lime

- 2 eggs

- ½ cup of milk

- 2/3 cups of all purpose flour

- 1 ½ cups of semolina

- 1 teaspoon of baking soda

- ½ teaspoon of salt

Since I had a lot of passion fruits I decided to use them in the syrup.

- ¼ cup of passion fruit juice

- 1 cup of water

- 1 cup of sugar

- Juice of 1 small lime

- Pinch of salt

I started with creaming the sugar, the butter and the lime zest.

Then one by one I added the eggs. After the eggs were incorporated I added the milk.

I preheated the oven on 180C degrees.

In a different bowl I mixed the flour, semolina, baking soda and the salt. After the milk was mixed in I added the dry ingredients. I used a spatula to mix it a bit first and then with the hand mixer I made sure everything was mixed well.

I use a bit of butter to grease a square baking tin and added the mixture. I made sure it was somewhat flat on top.

The cake was in the oven for about 40 minutes.

This gives me more than enough time to make the syrup. I cut about 7-8 passion fruits in half and scooped out the seeds. It went into a pot and on the fire so it can boil for a little. After that I drained the seeds and poured 1 cup of water on top. I made sure I extracted as much flavor as I could. Then the pot went back on the fire. After it boiled it added 1 cup of sugar, a pinch of salt and the juice of 1 small lemon. I let the syrup boil for about 8 minutes.

By now the cake is done and has a really nice golden crust. To make sure the syrup can go through the whole cake I punched some holes. Then I poured about 2/3 of the hot syrup on the hot cake.

After it cooled for a bit I cut the cake in squares. I can see that the cake has not sucked up all the syrup so lucky I had some left so I could pour a bit more on top.

It was a very nice and easy cake to make. The only thing I would do different is I would double the amount of syrup so I can let the cake soak in more and maybe shorten the oven time to 30 minutes. This time I only poured it on top so the cake wasn't wet enough for me. Still a very good first try.

Canh dau hu he (tofu chives soup)

2012-09-06T20:56:00.004+02:00

As you know I haven’t been blogging much (well not at all) anymore, but I’d like to give you an update of what is going on. Since I stared running I’ve been able to lose 6 kilos in total! I’m still trying to get rid of the last couple of kilos, which are the hardest but I’m heading in the right direction. I’m on 58 right now and my goal is 55. I know it won’t make me happier, but it will for sure make me feel better about myself.

There is no secret in losing weight and unfortunately there is no easy way to do it either. It’s something everyone knows, but so it’s hard to follow. All you need is to eat less and to exercise more. Easier said then done for sure.

To loose the weight I had to cut back on carbs (only one carb meal a day, which for me is two sandwiches for lunch) and have as less carbs as possible for dinner. Sometimes a bit more and sometimes a bit less.

And I’m running at least twice a week for 45 minutes per run. If possible every other day would be even better, but with the Dutch weather that is not always possible. No running in the rain for me.

I eat a lot of veggies and salads and cut out most fried food. And I drink lots of water, at least 2 litters a day. No snacking…well ok every once a while in a blue moon…you’ve got to live a little right?

I just love soups and it’s something I can eat every day. I pack mine with lots of veggies and some kind of protein; minced pork, beef or chicken.

This is soup is inspired by some freshly grown Chinese chives. My mom grows them in their back yard and ask me to take some home. These plants are so strong, they keep coming back, even after the cold cold Dutch winters.

It’s one of the easiest and fastest soup you can make and not only that, it’s also sort of healthy for you. At least that’s what I think =)

You can make the stock with all kinds of meat, but I prefer pork. It’s what I grew up with so that’s what I’m using. My mom usually make it with thinly sliced pork, but since I had some pork ribs I used that.

For this soup you need:

- some pork (ribs or whatever you have at hand)

- salt, pepper

- 1 fresh tofu

- handful Chinese chives

- 1 tomato (I didn’t had one, but if I had I would put it in)

- 2 beaten eggs

I cooked the pork ribs with some salt and pepper till tender. If I had a tomato I would quarter it and add that at this point. To have a clear broth I scooped the foam off a couple of times.

You can cut the tofu anyway you like (mine were square) and add it to the broth. Boil everything till the tofu is cooked.

I stirred in the eggs to get egg threads and just before I was ready to serve I added the chives.

All I had to do then was to boil it for a couple of seconds and it was dinner time.

For some extra flavour I sprinkled some spring onions on the top. I ate the soup just the way it is, but for those who love their carbs, you can also eat it with rice.

Enjoy!

What am I up to...

2012-07-18T21:25:00.000+02:00

I realize it’s been too long since I logged on my blog and it’s even longer since I took time to visit other blogs. Remember a couple of months ago I wrote that my relationship with food would totally change? That was like beginning of the year…Nothing really happened till the end of May when I actually started to change my eating habits. I’ve been cutting down on carbs and increasing the exercise. Every day the weather is nice I try to get my running gear on and go for a run for about 30-40 minutes. I was lucky that so far I manage to run a minimum of 2 times a week and in a good week it’s 4 times.

I’m happy to say that now I can run the whole way without needing to stop and catch my breath. I’m also very happy to lose 4 kilos making my weight a total of 60 kilos. Not bad for 2-3 months of exercising and cutting down on carbs. But it hasn’t been easy and I didn’t want to tempt myself by looking at all the good stuff everyone is blogging about, so I kept a very low profile. I want to reach my goal and bring my weight back to 55 kilos so I still have some losing to do. I know I can do it, because I manage to do it before, and I want to do it the right way. Once I reach this weight I just need to maintain it and that’s even harder than losing it in the first place. I’ve been neglecting my body and I really need to feel comfortable in it again. Besides I have a wedding in California next summer and I want to wow everyone there =)

I’m also thinking about what I want to do, since my work is no longer satisfying. It is just not the same anymore with all the rules (that can change per day). It used to be a very good job with all the extra little benefits, but without them, it’s just a job like no other. It’s a shame because I’ve been working there for 10 years and it’s almost my second home. The week always went by so fast and I never mind going to work and go that extra mile if needed. Now I just go in, do my job and go home asap. I miss the good old days, but I’m afraid they are gone forever. So if I don’t work here, what will I do then? It’s a question I haven’t been able to answer yet.

So my dear friends, I haven’t forgotten about you. I’m doing well but just need time to work on myself and to find something I like to do...

I hope to get back to blogging soon. I still have some great recipes I want to share. Unfortunately great recipes are mostly not the healthiest ones!

Fried chicken fingers

2012-06-16T14:14:00.001+02:00

The Dutchies are very very nuts about soccer and the last few weeks the streets were decorated with orange flags. Holland has one more chance to go to the next round, but if they lose the next game I’m sure all the orange will disappear soon. I’m not a big fan of soccer. Well I’m not a fan at all, so while my hubby is watching the game I had time to prepare some finger food. I wanted to buy some chicken nuggets at the supermarket, but when I saw that only 80% was chicken and the other 20% something else I decided to make some myself. At least it will have 100% chicken in it.

I used 3 chicken breasts which I rinsed, dried and cut in finger size bits.

Then I set up my batter station.

To my store bought bread crumbs I added some salt, pepper, garlic powder and some freshly minced parsley.

To get a really nice crust on the chicken I covered it first with some plain flour. Then it went in the egg mixture and last in the bread crumbs. I know I could probably bake them in the oven, but since we were all pretty hungry I fried them in some oil.

It only takes a couple of minutes to brown and after they are done I drained them on a piece of paper.

The chicken fingers were so good they disappeared in no time.

The parsley really gave it a nice touch and although I didn’t season the chicken first they were still full of flavor and super moist.

My hubby already said no more KFC for him since these chicken fingers were way better!

Hope you all are enjoying the weekend. I'm going back to the kitchen for a father's day

Black Forest cake or Schwarzwälder Kirsch cake.

Strawberry cloud birthday cake

2012-06-10T19:34:00.002+02:00

Today marks a very special day for one little lady. Although it’s her 22^nd birthday in my eyes she’s still little…that is till I realize how old she is. It makes me old thinking about it. In my mind I’m still 25 at most…

Since it’s her special day I’ll tell you a little something about her. You’ll have to know that my family has 4 girls and she is the last in the row. My other sisters and I are 2 and 4 years apart, but since this one was an attempt of having a boy we are 11 years apart. I remembered I had to take care of her when she was a baby because I was the big sister. Even now I’m taking care of her since she lives with me and my husband while she is in college here in The Hague. Our deal is: you pass every year and granulate or you go back to mom and dad. So far so good…she’s still here.

For her birthday she didn’t want to invite any friends over. Instead she’s at home playing on her laptop and chill out. This doesn’t mean that there is no cake. I saw this cake on Annabel Langbein’s show. Again one of those easy to make cakes that I had to give it a try and I followed her recipe to the letter. Well almost to the letter. Click here for her recipe.

The only thing I did different is using about 300 grams of whole grain biscuits and about 300 grams of strawberries.

I like a thicker biscuit layer so I used more biscuits. Here I’m mixing up 300 grams of biscuits, 100 grams of melted butter, 2 cups of shredded coconut and 1 teaspoon of cinnamon.

What I would do different next time is mashing the strawberries first before mixing it. Because I left the strawberries still a bit chunky they went flying everywhere when I started mixing it. I’m mixing 300 grams of strawberries, 2 egg whites, 1 cup of sugar, 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract and 1 tablespoon of lemon juice.

Also I would mix it on low speed first and then increase it to max till it fluffs up. And I would mix it a bit longer too. This morning when I checked on the cake some of juice was running out of the cake.

This probably means that I haven’t beaten it well enough. I would also reduce the sugar; 1 cup was a bit too sweet, so I’d go for ½ cup next time.

The cake was really fluffy and tasted like cotton candy. Who knew you could make something this easy with just 2 egg whites and some soft fruits.

Apparently you can freeze this cake to so after we all had a slice I put it in the freezer. Hopefully it tastes even better frozen!

Happy birthday baby girl!

Chocolate Truffles

2012-06-07T22:20:00.001+02:00

I used some of my ganache as a topping for my chocolate cakes (also a recipe by Annabel and will follow soon) and I still had so much left. I only used 250 ml whipping cream and 250 grams of chocolate, but it was still more then plenty to coat a big cake.

So I used part of it for some chocolate truffles, just like Annabel. She said whenever she made ganache she always have to make truffles. They were easier to make then I thought.

I poured some warm ganache in a bowl and added some butter. Depending on how much ganache you have, I’d use a tablespoon of butter or a teaspoon. A little bit goes a long way, but if you don’t put enough butter in it won’t get hard. That’s not a problem since the flavour will still be good; it’s just difficult to roll it into little balls. I also added a bit of liquor. I had Amaretto at hand so I used that, but I know some like Cointreau.

After it’s all mixed it went in the fridge so it could harden.

In a different bowl I mixed the ganache with some shredded coconut and some butter so I could have 2 flavour truffles.

I used a teaspoon to form little balls and roll them between my hands. After that I dropped them in coco powder and swirl the bowl around so the truffle gets a nice coco layer. I found out that it’s less messy if you just scoop a table spoon of ganache straight in the coco powder and form them into balls after they are coated.

As you can see I didn’t make too much…Have you noticed the little chocolate cupcake in the back?

This is all we have...thank god, because they were so good I could eat them all in one time!

Chocolate Ganache

2012-06-07T21:52:00.005+02:00

Have you ever heard of Annabel Langbein aka the Free Range Cook? She’s this Australian lady who pretty much grows everything in her garden and who makes fantastic food using whatever she grows. Of course you can’t grow a cow or a pig so she gets her protein from farmers markets and friends. If you watch her show her food looks so easy to make, you can easily copy after watching the show.

What she has, is considered one of my dreams…to have a great big garden with all kinds of fruits, veggies and herbs.

I love to see her disapear in her garden and come out with all kinds of veggies and fruits. So far I’ve been able to grow is some viges, blueberries, grapes and a couple of herbs; nothing comparing to what she gets out, but it’s a start.

This year my peony bush finally bloom! I bought this tiny little sprig and finally after 2 years it gave me 7 flowers in total.

Isn’t it pretty?

It’s overpowering my grapetree right now so I’ll have to do something about it this weekend. I grow it right in front of the house so it’s the first thing I see when I leave the house. One of my neigbours even complement me on it. She loves passing by and see the flowers blossem a bit day by day.

Anyway the other day she made chocolate ganache in her show. Her recipe was just too easy: equal parts of whipping cream and dark chocolate. She used 500 ml cream and 500 grams of chocolate. And she always uses the best chocolate she can find. Since I don’t really taste the difference between high quality chocolate and cheap stuff, I go for the cheap stuff. Maybe when my taste buttons develops more I’d switch to the high end stuff.

All you’ll have to do is cook the cream till you see little bubbles form on the edge of the pot. Then take it off the fire and put all the chocolate in.

Let it sit for a couple of seconds and then mix it all together till it’s one smooth and shiny mixture.

Pour it in a jar and store it in the fridge. How simple is that?

This ganache is a great base for chocolate truffles which I, just like Annabel, also ended up making.

On my BBQ table: freshly made garlic herb butter

2012-05-30T23:31:00.000+02:00

You only know what you have when it’s gone. This is so very true. The last couple of days we had amazing weather. Although there was a lot of complaining about the heat and the pollen in the air, it was so nice. It was like having a holiday in our own country. After work we went biking to the beach and to Delft and we spent lots of time outside soaking in the sun. And of course in one week we had like 2 bbq parties!
After being spoiled for a week or so the temperature dropped and the sun somewhat disappeared. And it got cold! Well not really cold, but cold comparing to what we use to have. But it’s only spring so we have high expectations for a warm and sunny summer.

To prepare for the bbq season and because everyone seem to love my bbq parties I will share some of the party flavours with you.

If you are planning a bbq party or attending one, I have this amazing, but yet simple, recipe for something that can be eaten with pretty much everything. It’s great to have on your bbq table and even better to bring it as a present when you are invited. Of course I’m talking about garlic herb butter! I don’t know how common this is worldwide, but we Dutchies love our garlic herb butter!

You can use a much or as little of the ingredients as you like; there is no right or wrong with this recipe.

All you’ll need is:

- Good room temperature butter (I used 250 gram)

- Finely chopped chives (3 big tablespoons)

- Finely chopped parsley (3 big tablespoons)

- Garlic cloves (4 cloves finely grated)

- Few drops of lemon (about a teaspoon)

- Salt and pepper (1 teaspoon salt and as much pepper as you feel like having)

I was so lucky that I could use fresh herbs from my yard! They look so fresh, vibrant and green. I just love my garden!

I started with chopping all the herbs as finely as I could.

Then I added the salt, pepper, lemon juice and the minced garlic cloves and mixed this in with the butter. I put it in the fridge for a couple of hours and took it out about 30 minutes before dinner.

This butter is AMAZING on some French bread and it will taste even better if you put the bread on the bbq so the butter can melt a little...

You can even put a bit on top of your steak or use it to rub it under a chicken skin before roasting it. How about brushing some of it on a corn on the cob? Or adding it to some mash or roast potatoes? The possibilities are endless!

You can keep this butter in the fridge for a couple of days and I believe you can even freeze it in the freezer. But to keep the nice fresh herb flavour I would just make enough and make more when needed. Something this easy doesn't have to be made in bulk.

I hope you’ll think about this butter when you’re having a bbq party!

Ps: I haven’t found any place where I could donate some of my food at…still searching. Also my body is sore all over from running, biking and exercising. Hopefully it pays off in a couple of weeks!

Cinnamon sugar coated mix nuts

2012-05-23T23:19:00.001+02:00

It seems like I’m back on the horse again! Well as a figure of speech…(I’m afraid of horses, especially the big ones). After sharing a few recipes I’m really in the mood for blogging! And to visit other blogs to see what I’ve been missing since my long break.
I’m soooo happy! For a while it looked like I didn’t have any inspiration at all!

Before I share this recipe…remember a while back I mentioned that I wanted to lose some weight? Well I actually tried to run here and there while I was on holiday beginning of this year, but after I got home it was quite difficult to motivate myself. When it’s cold outside, I’m not really in the mood to run or to make any move at all hihhi.

Yesterday the weather was extremely nice so my coworker and I agreed on running every Tuesday right after work. Since running one day a week doesn’t really make you lose anything I decided to try and see if I can run every day. Well at least when it isn’t raining then. Today after work I went home and started to run. Although it was not even for 30 minutes I was very proud that I did it! My whole body hurt from yesterdays run, but I still did it. Bonus points for me!

If I can only do it for 30 minutes (to start with) every day I might be good to go by the end of the summer. I miss the days that I could run for 45 minutes straight without having to stop for air. Now I can only run for 5 minutes and then I’ll have to walk for about 1-2 minutes to get my breath back!

But I’m determined and it has to happen now. I’ve been eating way too good and been packing on some more then I wanted. Starting beginning next month I’ll be on a low carb diet…so no more rice, potato, bread, pasta…and all other stuff I like so much.

That reminds me…I need to find someone to donate my food to. Well not the low carb stuff, but the bread, cakes and cookies I’m still planning on baking. Just because I can’t eat it (well shouldn’t eat it) doesn’t mean I can’t make it right? The neighbors can only eat so much also, so maybe a charity or something…I’ll need to look into that.

Anyway these cinnamon sugar coated mix nuts are so easy to make. All you need is 2 handful mixed nuts (or just almonds, cashews or whatever nuts you like), 3 tablespoons of sugar, a sprinkle of salt and a pinch or 2 of cinnamon.

I started with toasting the nuts in a non stick pan.

When they started to release some flavor I added 3 tablespoons of sugar, the salt and cinnamon and mixed that with the nuts.

Because all the sugar was stuck to the nuts I added 2 tablespoons of water and waited till the sugar turned to caramel and coated the nuts.

When all the nuts are covered with the sugar /caramelmixture I poured it on a baking sheet so they could cool a bit and I could pull them apart. Not all the sugar dissolved so you can see some clumps of sugar. I think next time I would melt the sugar with a bit of water first and then add the toasted nuts.

I ate a few of them after they completely cooled and they weren't bad. Even though I didn't add any butter, they some how tasted like I did!

It’s a good thing my parents are coming over tomorrow so they can finish the rest of the nuts. You’ll have to admit; they look much more appealing than the nuts in the first picture.

Banana jam

2012-05-20T19:37:00.001+02:00

After baking those lovely mini brioches today I was in the mood for some more “experimenting”. I have 3 so very over the top ripe bananas that had to be eaten. One more day and it was ready for the trash. So I really really had to use them. I didn’t want to make any banana bread or banana cake or anything else for that matter. I still have a lot of brioches we have to finish so it had to be something that could go with them. What else would go better with homemade brioche than some jam? This is just too easy. I’ve made jam before…I even accidently made jam when I wanted to make syrup! So this is what I did:

I squeezed the juice of one lime in a bowl. This was a very juicy lime so I ended up with about 60 ml juice. Then I pealed the bananas and sliced them about ½ cm and dropped them in with the lemon.

I don’t really like my jam too sweet so I started with adding 7 tablespoons of sugar; if needed I could always add some more. Then I added a good pinch of salt and about a teaspoon of cinnamon. I mixed everything and started to cook it in a pot.

Just when the sugar started to dissolve I had a taste. It was just perfect. It had a nice balance between sweet and sour, just the way I like it.

I added a drop of rum flavorings and cooked it till the jam thickens. There was a bit of foam so I scooped that off. The whole house smells so nice now...great combination of cinnamon and banana.

I poured it in a sterilized jar and let it rest upside down for a bit. After 15 minutes I turned it back up and after it cools off it will go in the fridge. Hope it will thicken more when it cools.

And it did!

It was sooo good with the brioche!

Mini brioche bread

2012-05-20T12:07:00.004+02:00

I haven’t been so excited about food for a long time. The reason why…

Little brioche molds! I’ve found these last Friday and I spend all Saturday looking for a brioche recipe! I even look at some videos online and I never do that! So I knew it was serious. Even though the hubby said no more cooking I had to do it.

My sister in law got me these super cute measurement cups. No more converting cups to grams! Thanks sis!

I’ve found several recipes, some very easy (mix all the ingredients together and you’re good to go) some more time consuming. As much as I would like to go for an easy recipe the pictures of the end product didn’t look as airy and fluffy as I wanted it to be. I wanted to have a brioche that didn’t need like 8 eggs and a ton of butter but still turned out light and fluffy. So I picked this one because most recipes talk about making a sponge first and this recipe seems to describe the steps the easiest:

http://www.food.com/recipe/brioche-51546

I know the 38 steps on the site are quite intimidating, but I’ll break it down in lesser steps to make it easier. Everything is mixed in a stand mixer with a dough hook so there’s really no need to knead it by hand. Also it takes a lot of (resting) time before you can bake the brioche so make sure you either have plenty of time or make one day ahead.

For the about 50 mini brioches or 3 loaves you’ll need to make the sponge first:

Put 1/3 cup of lukewarm milk, 2 1/4 teaspoons of active dry yeast, 1 egg and 1 cup of all purpose flour in a bowl and mix it till everything is blended. There will be lumps of flour in there but don’t worry, this will all smoothen out. Then cover the mixture with 1 cup of flour and set it aside uncovered for about 30-40 minutes.

After the resting time you should see some cracks indicating that the yeast is active and doing what it has to do. If you don’t see any cracks this means your yeast is dead and you’ll have to make a new batch.

Now it’s time to add the rest of the ingredients:

- 1/3 cup of sugar

- 1 teaspoon of salt

- 4 room temperature eggs slightly beaten

- 1 package of vanilla sugar (about 1 teaspoon)

- 1 ½ cup of all purpose flour

- 185 grams of unsalted room temperature butter (I know the recipe talks about 6 ounces (about 170 gram) but I use a bit more)

Add everything to the sponge mixture except for the butter and ½ cup of flour. Mix it in your stand mixer with the dough hook on low till medium speed till all the flour is incorporated then add the ½ cup of flour and mix it again for about 15 minutes till you have a smooth dough. Make sure you stop every now and then to scrape down the sides and the hook. A lot of dough will get stuck and try to work their way up, just stop and push it back down. I don’t think I made the 15 minutes since my stand mixer was bumping up and down like crazy and I didn’t want to overwork the machine. So I stopped when they dough got together and wrapped itself around the hook. At this point the dough won’t be stuck to the sides either.

Now it’s time to incorporate the butter. Since it is room temperature it’s easier to mix it in the dough. Mix it tablespoon by tablespoon till all the butter is incorporated. Mix it till the dough wraps itself around the hook again and slaps to the sides of the bowl. If needed add some more flour.

Butter a big bowl and pour the dough in. It should be elastic and shiny. Cover it with plastic wrap and let it rest at room temperature for about 2-2 1/2 hours or till it doubles in volume.

Then leave the dough in the bowl but use your fingers to tuck the sides in. Work your way around the dough till you tucked it all in and all the air is out. Then cover it again and let it rest in the fridge for at least 4-6 hours, but preferably overnight.

The next day the dough double in size again and is ready for baking.

Since I had so much dough there was room for experimenting. I made 20 mini brioches in a brioche mold and 20 in my trusted mini muffin molds. And even then there was some dough left, so I chopped some dark chocolate and filled the dough to make some chocolate brioche.

After forming the bread it had to rest for about 1 hour or till it doubled in volume again.

Brush it with some egg wash and bake it in a preheated oven (190C degrees as in the recipe is way too hot, 170C degrees is better) for about 15-25 minutes till they are golden. By now the house smells like a French bakery!

The brioche was so light and fluffy. This recipe is a winner! I’ve never made brioche before so if can do it…everyone can!

PS: if you like your brioche sweet you should add some more sugar. For me it wasn’t sweet enough!

Me throught Vannie's eyes

2012-05-18T10:42:00.001+02:00

Yesterday my dear friend Tuyet invited us over for dinner. It was a last minute dinner plan but that’s the way we roll. We’re not much into making an appointment way ahead. If we feel like seeing each other we just call and drop by. So when she invited us yesterday I wanted to bring her something nice. I made some shredded pork and she loved it.

She and her husband Cuong have 2 wonderful daughters, Vannie and Rosa. Now that they see us more often they aren’t so shy anymore. They always like to take me up to their room where they play (either together or by themselves) and goof off. And those girls love to goof off! They are also very much into drawing and all kinds of creative activities. They even like to help cooking!

Anyway Vannie and Rosa made me some drawings.

This is how I look like according to Vannie. She’s very talented isn’t she! I think she made me much prettier then I actually am =)

Some more drawings from the girls. I love how kids make things seem so simple.

Tuyet thank you so much for the invite and the food that we got to go! We’ll see each other very soon!

PS: I’ll put the recipe for the chocolate dessert up in a few days!

Homemade citrus jelly

2012-05-18T10:17:00.000+02:00

To celebrate the start of nicer, warmer weather I’m sharing this super easy jelly recipe. I wish I could say I invented it myself cuz its brilliant, but I didn’t. I’ve seen it on tv somewhere and though darn, that’s a great recipe. Unfortunately I don’t quit remember where and from whom the recipe is. All I know is that the original recipe was made with lots of mandarins.

I love mandarins (when they are in season) but they aren’t anymore. And my mom still buys them so I ended up with 2 kilo’s of mandarins that weren’t really tasty to eat like that. But they are great for this jelly!

I ended up using all the citrus fruits I had. For this jelly I use:
- whole bunch of mandarins
- some Minneola tangelos (a crossing between a grapefruit and a tangerine)
- some oranges
- 5 sheets of gelatin (7,5 gram)
- 2 tablespoons of sugar
- 1 pinch of salt
- 1 sharon fruit (kaki or persimmon)

Do you like my squeezer? It’s a UFO and so super cute. And very helpful too. I normally stick a fork in half a citrus and twist it around till all the juice is out, but this works a lot better for a big bunch like this.

I squeezed all the citrus till I had about 500 ml of juice. After tasting it I decided to add 2 tablespoons of sugar to make it a bit sweeter. I also added a pinch of salt.

I like my jelly smooth so after straining the juice a splash went in a bowl so it can heat it in the microwave for a couple of seconds. I need some warm juice so I could dissolve the gelatin. I always soak the gelatin sheets in some cold water first till they are flexible and rubbery. This would make them dissolve better.

When the gelatin is completely mixed I added it to the rest of the juice. I pealed one sharon fruit and diced it in little cubes.

I added a couple of cubes in a little container and poured in the juice. After wrapping them up in plastic foil they all went in the fridge.

Crossing my fingers that they’ll set…and they did!

I enjoyed my jelly lots. It’s a great way of using citrus fruits.

I’m off doing my yard…most of my plants survived the harsh winter so I’m very pleased. Hopefully this year we’ll have lots of blueberries, raspberries, figs, strawberries and herbs. I love homegrown food!

Cha ca chien (fried fish cakes/balls)

2012-05-18T09:41:00.000+02:00

I’ve been thinking about my blog in the back of my mind for weeks now and it feels a bit awkward to come back. I’ve been MIA for so long that it’s strange to pick up where I left.

It was quite nice to not have the pressure of taking pictures of everything I made and to blog about it and I realized how much time I had for other things (mainly watching movies and reading books). I have a lot of respect for people who manage to blog on a frequent base and whose pictures blow me right out of the water. It takes a lot of time and effort to maintain a blog. But it’s been a lot of fun as well. I just need to find that balance again between blogging, working and spare time.

The other day I was trying to find a recipe online for “cha ca chien” (fried fish cakes/balls) and I couldn’t find any at all. Most recipes talk about “cha ca la vong” which is a traditional fish and dill dish. Although it’s quite nice, it wasn’t really what I was looking for. In fact it didn’t even come close!

I remembered that mom used to make it with a fish known as whiting. It’s a pretty inexpensive white fish, with not a very strong flavor of its own so it’s perfect for these fish cakes/balls since it can absorb all those nice flavors I add to it.

I used:
- 3 kilo whiting with everything on it (or any white fish with firm meat)
- 2 packages of backing powder (30 gram)
- 5-6 pieces of spring onion sliced
- 4 gloves of fresh garlic finely minced
- handful of dill finely chopped
- 2 chili peppers finely cubed (optional)
- 1,5 teaspoons of salt
- fresh grounded pepper
- 2 teaspoons of garlic powder
- enough oil for frying

I know 3 kilo is quite a lot, but I bought whole fishes so I had to chop the heads off, clean and debone them and pull the skin off so I ended up with maybe 1,5 kilo, maybe 2 fish filets at most. Now I remember why mom didn’t make it that often. It took me about 2 hours to prepare the fish and luckily I asked my fish guy to give me the biggest fishes he had!

If handling a whole fish kinda grose you out you can use fish filet also. I don’t prepare a whole fish that often so it did grose me out a bit too. But I pulled myself together and got the job done.

I seasoned the fish with some salt, pepper and garlic powder and popped the bowl in the freezer. Don’t put too much salt since the fish meat is a bit salty already. I think the fish texture will be better if you grind the fish while it’s a bit frozen (not frozen solid). Before grinding the fish in a food processor I mixed in 2 packages of backing powder. This will help to make the fish light and chewy; just the way we like it.

After all the fish is made into paste the next step is to add all the other ingredients (spring onions, dill, chili peppers and fresh garlic) and to mix it all together with your hands.

There are 2 ways of making these cakes. You can make them into small patties and fry them or make little fish balls. Since we all love the chewy fried texture we decided to make balls. Before you touch the fish make sure you grease your hands with a bit of oil so the paste won’t stick. The easiest way to form balls is to hold some paste in one hand and gently squeeze some paste out and then use a spoon to scoop it off and drop it in the hot oil.

It takes a couple of minutes to fry them till they were golden brown. They make great snacks with some sweet and sour chilly dip and they will taste wonderful with some rice noodle, fresh green herbs and fish (dipping) sauce.

We at it with plain white rice and stir fired sugar snaps.

It was a lot of work, but totally worth it since you can freeze them and heat them up in the microwave for a couple of seconds before you eat them. But they were so good they didn’t make it to the freezer!

Butter cookies

2012-03-06T22:24:00.000+01:00

Last Saturday I went to see the newest addition to our family. My cousin had her first baby boy and we just had to swing by the house to see him. The family so far has 45 people in Holland and baby Tobey is number 46. Can you imagine the chaos we have when we have family dinner? I guess that’s why we haven’t thrown a house warming party yet. I’m panicking only thinking about it, but this summer I’m making the jump. After 2 years in the new house it’s about time.

I was running a bit late and I really wanted to bring something besides the cutest stuffed animal and the cutest little baby outfit I could find. This cookie recipe is just perfect; everything can be done within 30 minutes.

For about 15-20 cookies depending on how big you make them you’ll need:

- 40 grams of powdered sugar

- 100 grams of room temperature butter

- 2 egg yolks

- 1 bag of vanilla sugar

- 125 grams of flour

- 1 teaspoon of lemon zest

- A pinch of salt

This is the first time I use this nice scale my sister got me for Christmas. It took me a couple of minutes to figure it out, but it can’t be that hard when there are only 2 buttons. So I started with weighing the sugar.

Then the flour…

And because I didn’t plan it well my butter came straight out of the fridge. I didn’t had time to wait till it soften so I popped the bowl in the microwave for just a couple of seconds…just enough to soften it.

I started with mixing the sugar with the butter till it was nice and creamy. Then the egg yolks went in one by one. Now it’s time to preheat the oven on 180C degrees.

When the eggs were incorporated I added the flour, the vanilla sugar, the salt and the lemon zest and mixed it till I’ve got a smooth dough. It will still be a bit wet, but that’s ok because this is not a roll out cookie. This cookie needs to be piped.

My piping skills needs some practice, but it still looked pretty good for an amateur.

The cookies only need 12-15 minutes in the oven and then you’ll have these delicious treats. When they were done I put them on a rack to cool for a bit.

Unfortunately I didn’t had a nice box to put them in so I sacrificed one of my little plates.

Now this looks like a great treat for a new mom and dad! A little bit of plastic wrap and a nice ribbon makes a world of difference.

Spaghetti with shrimps and zucchini

2012-03-06T00:04:00.000+01:00

I hope you all had a great weekend. Mine was quite packed with social activities, but I manage to bake some cookies and will share the recipe very soon. So happy I’ve got some baking done.

Monday’s is always somewhat busy for me because every Monday night at around 7 pm I have a date. A play date that is. It started when my hubby and my Greek neighbor John had Dutch lessons together one evening a week. Me and Georgia (the wife) would get together and cook and hang out. There is not much cooking going on nowadays, but lots of playing with Spyros aka “the monster”. Since we are not blessed with any kiddies of our own I love my play time with Spyros. We play with trains, puzzles, footballs, balloons; basically whatever he gets his hands on. He’s starting to talk and sometimes forget that I don’t speak Greek. I try to pick up some words here and there, but thank god he does understand English as well. It’s always good fun. Because he has to go to bed in time I try to go over there at around 7. This means I have about 1 hour to make and eat dinner. That’s very tight considering the time I need to cook. Today I actually had time left. I made this super easy spaghetti dish using just a few ingredients:

- Spaghetti (one handful)

- Shrimps (as much or as little as you like)

- Some white wine (again as much or as little as you like)

- 1 zucchini

- Garlic (I used a lot, about 5-6 cloves, but you can use more or less)

- About half a lemon

- 1 big tablespoon of crème fraîche

- Salt and lots of fresh grounded pepper

I started with cooking the spaghetti in water with some teaspoons of salt. I always salt the water after it boils because if you do it ahead it takes longer for the water to boil.

As my shrimps came out of the freezer I put them in a bowl with some lukewarm water so they could defrost enough for me to peel them. If you have fresh and peeled shrimp you could make this dish even faster. To make it look more I sliced them in half.

I used a potato peeler to cut my zucchini in nice thin ribbons. Now it’s time to put it all together.

I put some chopped garlic (2 cloves) in a bit of olive oil and let them brown a bit. Then I added the shrimp shells. The shells have lots of flavor so I normally keep them and try to extract as much flavor as I can. When the shells change color I added a bit of white wine so the flavor could infuse in it. Then I put it all aside. You can skip this step if you are in a hurry.

Again I added some olive oil and the rest of the garlic. I started on low heat so the garlic can flavor the oil a bit. Then I put it on high and added the shrimp. I seasoned it with some salt and lots of fresh pepper.

Then I added the zucchini ribbons and the liquid I got from the shrimp shells.

When they soften a bit the spaghetti went in and another splash of wine. And to make it nice and creamy I added one big tablespoon of crème fraîche. To finish it all I squeezed a good amount of lemon on top.

I’ve never made this before so I’m very happy it turned out like this. It was so good my hubby and sister went back for seconds. Yah to stress free Monday meals!

Easy apple pie cheese cake

2012-02-29T20:49:00.003+01:00

I've been IMA for so long it feels quite weird to start blogging again. But I noticed that I've missed it so I'll try to post more frequently.

I hope to be able to persuade you to make this. It's a real "Dutch" treat. Or at least I think it is a Dutch treat since I've never seen it made like this anywhere else.

This cheese cake is not your traditional cheese cake, but it’s a nicer “lighter” version. Normally I would make it with quark, which is a slightly thicker version of yoghurt, but it works with yoghurt as well. And you can make it in any flavour you like. All depending on what flavour yoghurt or quark you have.

I’ve been wanting to make this for a while now, but somehow it wasn’t the right time. Now that the expiration date is coming closer I didn’t had a choice. Either I use the ingredients or I had to through them in the garbage. So I gathered all the stuff and just got started.

For this super easy cheese cake I used:

- 500 grams of Dutch spice cookies (speculaaskoekjes)

- 75 grams of butter

- 300 ml of whipping cream

- 500 ml of apple pie yoghurt

- 5 tablespoons of sugar

- 6 sheets of gelatine (= 9 grams of gelatine powder)

- Juice of half an orange

I stared with crushing the cookies with my pestle. It takes quite some time to crush them so if you have a food processor…use it!

You can use any cookie you like. I know that some people like to use Graham crackers, but I like to use a cookie that already has lots of flavours so I don’t have to add any extra. I think ginger cookies will work as well.

While I’m working hard on the cookies I headed some butter in the microwave, only for 30 seconds. Just enough to make it melt.

Then I added the butter to the cookie crumbs and mixed it together till all the crumbs are coated with butter.

I poured the mixture in a big cake mould and started to press it with a glass to make it all stick together and to make a smooth bottom. This will go into the fridge while I prepare the rest of the cake.

I mixed the whipping cream with 5 tablespoons of sugar till it was nice and firm and set it aside.

In the meantime I soaked the gelatine sheets in some cold water till they feel rubbery. I heated the juice of ½ an orange and dissolved the gelatine in it.

Then it was time to mix the yoghurt with the orange/gelatine mixture. And when that was well mixed I added the whipped cream and mixed it for just another couple of seconds.

The whole mixture went on top of the cookie bottom and back in the fridge so it could set.

It set perfectly! The bottom was nice and thick and worked so well with the light and fluffy yoghurt.

I normally make it one day ahead so all the flavours can combine. Since I used a big cake mould there was plenty to share with my neighbours.

As you can see I like my cake plain, without any decorating. I figured there are a lot of calories in the cake already so I don't have to add any extra. And I don't feel too guilty taking another slice...

Next time I would make it in a glass so everyone can have their own individual servings. Give this cheese cake a try. You'll love it!

To the love of my life...

2012-02-14T23:14:00.001+01:00

I celebrate every day we spend together. Even when we are apart I know you are thinking of me and that you will be by my side soon. You've taken me on an incredible journey, showed me your view of life and gave me so much happiness. You accept me for all that I am; the good, the bad and the worse.

You are my best friend and the best husband I could wish for. I would be lost without you.

This is the first Valentine's day in years that we are apart and yet I'm not lonely or sad. Every day with you is Valentine's day! I know I'm being loved.

Happy Valentine's day honey!

Happy New Year!!

2012-01-02T01:57:00.000+01:00

I hope everyone had a great ending of 2011 with lots of good food and even better company. I’d love to hear how you all celebrate the beginning of 2012.

Looking back to 2011 we have lots to be thankful for. I made some great friends online who continue to inspire and amaze me. I have a loving hubby who is the just the best. We’re in it for better and for worse and so far it’s just getting better and better. If 2012 is as good as 2011 then there are no complains.

We ended 2011 by flying over to the States on the last day of the year. We had a direct flight to Houston and landed just on time at 14.00 hours. It was great being back in the States after the last time 2 years ago. We got picked up by one of my hubby’s best friends and of course headed straight over to have some banh cuon and che. Darn it’s sure good to be back. Wish we could do this every year. With the twins in Vietnam and the rest of the family in the States we have to divide our time and holidays by flying either to Vietnam or to the States. This year it was time for the States.

Miss Lou and her hubby throw this awesome New Year’s party that started the evening we arrived so we made it in time. There was plenty of food; appetizers, bbq ribs, fried rice, several salads and as dessert pecan pie and coffee/coconut jellies.

As usual there was lots of poker games involved and fireworks as well. The adults and kids had a blast lighting up the sky. At midnight we toasted with some champagne. It was a great beginning of 2012.

Today we woke up quite early and I made a start of getting more healthy and back to shape. I’m so proud of myself that I went for a short run this morning. It was only for 15 minutes to get back in the routine, but it surely felt good. My goal for this year is to lose the 10 kilo that I packed on after losing it in 2010 and maintain it. I know I can do it, I just have to get things straight in my mind. Last time it took me 3 months and a low carb diet to lose the kilos and to feel better so hopefully it will work this time as well.

I am on 64 kilos now and I have to get back to 55 at least. Next to getting myself and the hubby healthier I want to make more time to get to know my fellow bloggers better and to blog more myself. It will be quite a challenge to change the way I think about food, but it’s just something that has to be done. This love affair has been going on for too long and it has to change for the better.

For now I just try to run a bit every day and to make the best out of our holiday.

What are your goals for this year?

Season Greetings 2011

2011-12-21T06:08:00.002+01:00

Happy Holidays fellow bloggers,

This is Joe, I am the virus Yen previously mention. :) I just hacked into her account and would like to share holiday greetings. Her laptop is back to optimal state so she will be able to blog again when she has time.

During the next few weeks, we will be enjoying the beauty and pageantry of the holiday season. We hope all of you likewise with your love ones.

I recently glanced at Yen's blog and noticed many well wishes upon her eyes procedure.
I am glad to update that everything went well and she is very happy and no longer required
contacts or glasses. I would like to thank all of you for supporting her blog and providing Yen with positive encouragement. She is a very creative and inventive; willing to try all sort of combination of ingredients and cooking techniques. Sometimes I feel like a crash test dummy (food junkie) but it is my way of supporting her endeavor. I have to admit the only dish on her blog that strike fear into me is the "Bitter melon" incident. Perhaps it the horror of my youth or the taste just doesn't suit me. Everything else is as the Dutch say "Lekker Lekker" !!!

In closing I would like a share a short piece about my wife. Sometimes a reminder of how special we are can provide us with the extra step in our daily walk in life.

My "secret trophy" wife

When I close my eyes,
my senses are awaken
I can hear her laughter
I can feel her joy
Her sweet whisper
drops upon my ears
Can no one else hear?

When she enters the room,

her scent fills each breath
My memories are a playback
to when we first met.

Her gentle touch
confirms her presence
The sweet taste upon her lips
plants reassuring thoughts
that only we share.

My eyes open and I realize
It is best that others
can only see her as my wife
A secret I'll gladly keep
for the remainder of my life.　

Joe

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year everyone

The mini series: chocolate flower cups

2011-12-01T22:19:00.001+01:00

After making apple pie I still had a bit of dough left. It was sitting in the fridge waiting for me to come up with a smart idea. Although the apple pie was good I didn’t want to make more. I decided to roll the dough out as thin as possible and to put them in a mini muffin tin till I figured out what to make.

I used a peanut butter jar to roll the dough out. Who needs a fancy rolling pin anyway =)

And yes, I left it in the same plastic bag I stored it. I was watching tv and didn’t want to dirty more stuff.

With a cutter I cut cute little rounds and put them in the muffin tin. I barely had enough for 24 cups but I made it. Now what? Chocolate is always a good idea. And chocolate with some orange zest is just heaven; 24 pieces of heaven it is.

I melted one bar or dark chocolate (about 100 gram) and added about a teaspoon of orange zest. I just love the smell of those two together.

Then I mixed 2 eggs and one tablespoon of flour with the chocolate. That wasn’t a good plan at all. The chocolate turned from smooth to lumpy. I didn’t want to throw it out (of course not!!) so I had to stir till my arm fell off. It got a bit smoother, but since I would bake it in the oven I thought I would be ok.

I preheated the oven on 180C and in the mean time I scooped a bit of chocolate in the cups. You see that lump? At least it’s a lump of chocolate, could’ve been worse. I lucked out cuz again I had enough.

I baked them for 10-15 minutes till the chocolate double in volume.

They were so cute when they came out! Like little flowers...the best time to eat them is when they are still slightly warm.

Ps: I want to thank everyone for their support during the eye surgery process. It’s very much appreciated! One more eye to go next Tuesday.

Not your granny’s apple pie

2011-11-19T16:07:00.001+01:00

You know when time flies when you check out your blog and find out that it’s been almost 20 days since your last post. The past 20 days went by in a heartbeat and I wonder where they went. I could still remember the beginning of 2011 and now 2012 is almost knocking on the door.

I know my American family and friends celebrated Thanksgiving last Thursday and I hope you all had a great time with your loved ones. I wanted to make Thanksgiving dinner but the hubby didn’t want me to; too much trouble for just the 2 of us. So instead of having turkey we ate Vietnamese goi cuon.

It’s been almost 2 weeks since I got my first eye done and things are going just great. The whole procedure wasn’t as bad as I thought and after about 30 minutes later I was ready to go home. After the check up the next day I went straight to work.
So if you are thinking about having your eyes done, you should go and see what the possibilities are. Just to see if you are a candidate, because not everyone is. They first have to check if your eyes are suitable for it and then they have to determine what works for you. All you hear about eye correction is lasik or lasek, but there is more. And maybe better suitable for you. Yes it was a lot of money, but so far it’s been worth every penny.

I haven’t made apple pie in ages and I had about 4 Jonagold apples that had to be eaten. You know your apple has past the expiration date when the skin is getting somewhat oily. When that happens I normally lose my appetite in eating it raw, but for an apple pie they are still good enough.

So apple pie it is. I know the title is “not your grandma’s apple pie” and it’s not to offend any grandmas. Not that my grandma ever made apple pie, but I can imagine some grandmas do. Ok enough rambling let’s get baking!

I even made my own dough using:

- 350 grams of flour

- 1 teaspoon of baking powder

- Zest of one lime

- 100 grams of sugar

- 200 grams of butter

- ½ teaspoon of salt

- 2 eggs (1 extra egg for brushing the top)

- ½ teaspoon of cinnamon

The stuffing had:

- 4 big apples + 1 small one

- Zest of one lime

- 1 tablespoon of sugar (or more if you have tart apples)

- 2/3 cups of raisins

- ½ teaspoon of cinnamon

- 1 handful of grapes

- 2 tablespoons of lemon curd

In a big bowl I put in the flour, baking powder, sugar, salt, cinnamon and butter and used my finger (tips) to mix the butter with the other ingredients. It’s like making crumble but without junks. Then I added the zest of one lime.

I beaded 2 eggs and slowly added that to the dough. You can slowly see it come together and form a nice ball of dough. After kneading it for a couple of minutes the dough was ready!

Normally now it’s time to chill the dough before you roll it out, but I thought I would be easier to put my dough in the mould first and chill it later. Because I don’t have a rolling pin I had to do it slightly different.
I took a piece of dough and flatten it out between my hands. Then I used something with a flat bottom to flatten it out more, in my case a drinking glass. I used the same glass to flatten en smoothen out the sides. It wasn’t the fasted way, but it worked.
There was enough dough to cover the bottom and the sides but make sure you keep some aside for the top.
Now it was time to chill it in the fridge while I make the stuffing.

I peeled, cored and sliced 4 apples in big junks and put time in a pot with the cinnamon, the sugar and the lime zest.

I washed the raisins (yes, you always should wash them first!) and added them to the apples.

I turned the heat on low so the apples could release some liquid and the raisins could soak in it for a bit. Then I found a handful of grapes and thought they would taste good in the pie as well so I peeled and deseeded them.

I just wanted the apples to soften so I didn’t cook them for long. The small apple I kept aside was added to the rest of the apples raw, just to give it some more texture. As the apples released some liquid I added one big tablespoon of flour and gave it a good sire. This will bind it all together.

After the apples were cooled down a bit it was time to put the pie together. I scooped 2 big tablespoons of lemon curd on the bottom and made sure the crust was covered before I poured the apple mixture in.

I used a bottle to roll the dough out and with a cutter I made nice ribbons.

Then to make the top nice and shiny I brushed it with a bit of egg wash.

I preheated the oven on 180C degrees and baked the pie for 1 hour and 20 minutes. The pie came out beautifully!

It’s been ages since my last apple pie and this one was sooo good it was gone in 2 days!

Ps: I still had a bit of dough left…wait till you see what I did with that.

Sup mang cua (chicken crab asparagus soup)

2011-11-09T19:18:00.000+01:00

I realize that it’s been quite some time since my last post. To be honest it’s been quite some time since I’ve been online and reading other people’s blogs as well. But today I tried to keep up with some of my regular blogger friends. I’ve been missing so many great recipes! But I’ll try my best to keep up from now on.

Remember I went to the clinic for a check to see if my eyes were suitable for lens implants? About 2 days after they called me and they had the lenses in stock. I am scheduled to have the first eye surgery next Wednesday. I’m exited but super scared as well. The other day I had to come back so they could make tiny small holes in my iris to prevent any pressure on my eyes. Of course I was scared, but everything went well and looking back it wasn’t as bad as I thought. I hope I can say this after Wednesday also. The second eye will be done on 9 December and I know I will be so relieved after that.

About a week ago I hit a nasty computer virus again. And again all the pictures I took were gone….*sigh*. I don’t know what the deal is with those viruses, but after hitting 2 after another it wasn’t much fun anymore. Luckily I already added the picture for this post in a draft. I’ve made this soup about 2 weeks ago. We normally eat it at special occasions but I just make it whenever I crave it. That’s one of the advantages of being the “chef” in the house.

For a big pot of soup I started boiling some chicken with some slices of ginger and salt. I used 3 chicken thighs and 2 legs and scooped all the foam out to get a clear broth.

In the meantime I shred 400 grams of crab sticks (imitation crab) and put it aside. Since it’s already cooked it will go in last.

When the chicken was nice and tender I took them out and shred them in pieces.

To the broth I added the juice of 4 small cans of white asparagus and the asparagus cut in 2-3cm pieces. Also the shredded chicken went back in.

After boiling it for a couple of minutes I added the crab sticks. Those are the white/pink “strings” you see in here. If you have fresh crab meat you can add that now. Make sure you taste the broth to see if it is to your liking and add salt if needed.

To make the soup thicker I used some potato starch. As far as I know this is the only starch that binds and stays clear so make sure you use this and not let’s say corn starch.

In a bowl I poured some broth, let that cool down a bit and then added some spoons of starch. Don’t add it straight into the hot broth otherwise you’ll get lumps. The starch always sinks to the bottom so you will have to mix it well before you add it to the soup.

I normally make sure the soup is boiling and with one hand I’m stirring the soup and with the other hand I slowly add the starch mixture. I keep stirring it till all the starch is in. You can instantly see the soup thicken. I cooked it for another couple of minutes and then it was time to eat.

I scooped some soup in a big bowl and added some coriander and spring onions on top. Just some grounded fresh pepper on top and it was time to dig in!

We all ate like 2 big bowls so there were barely any leftovers. Even with the imitation crab it was that good.

Hope you all enjoyed the weekend. I'm getting mentally ready for work tomorrow...

The mini series: chocolate lava cupcakes

2011-11-03T22:20:00.001+01:00

After the teaser pics in my last post I just had to make the chocolate lava cakes. It just wouldn’t be right not to. Besides I have something to celebrate. Well it might be a bit too soon to celebrate, but hey, any excuse for making lava cakes works for me.

As you all know I’ve been wearing my glasses for a bit more then a month now. Yesterday I had a check up and my eyes are suitable for a lens implant. WHOEHOE! I’m so exited! Especially since the doctor will num my eyes with drops in stead of needles. I’m a big chicken, super scared of needles but the drops are awesome. They gave me one drop during the check up and I didn’t feel anything!

The only down sight is that if they don’t have the lens in stock it will take up to 12 weeks to custom make it for me. That would mean I can’t have it done this year, but have to wait after I come back from my holiday. Oh well, I can wait…another 3 months won’t kill me. I’ve taken the first hurdle…another 2 to go.

So back to the mini lava cupcakes. I bet you’re all exited…here goes:

As I don't remember what I did the other day I tried to remake it. It was tasty, but didn't quite taste/looked the same.

For 20 mini cupcakes I used:

- 100 grams of room temperature butter

- 4 table spoons of sugar

- 1 tablespoon of cocoa powder

- 4 big table spoons of all purpose flour (3 if you like it soft and moist)

- ½ teaspoon of salt

- 1 egg

- ½ teaspoon of baking powder

- 1 bar of dark bittersweet chocolate

I stared with mixing the butter with the sugar, salt and the cocoa powder.

Then the egg and baking powder went in. I mixed it till the sugar dissolved.

Last but not least I added the flour. I added it spoon by spoon, making sure all the flour was well incorporated before I added another spoon.

I chopped the chocolate bar in little bits, small enough to fit the molds, but big enough to have it "run" out of the cake. This bar was a bit too much so I still had some bits I could snack on.

I preheated the oven on 180C degrees and while that was doing its thing I filled the molds with one scoop of batter.

In the middle I pressed one piece of chocolate. It’s ok if it’s still sticking out for a bit. The cakes will rise and the chocolate bits will slightly sink.

After about 20 minutes they were done.

They didn’t rise as much as I though they would and they weren’t as moist as the first time.

But that sprinkle of sugar dust does make them pretty =)

The outside had a nice crunch like a cookie, but the inside was moist and had that running chocolate. It was good, but not like the first time at all. Luckily I know what made the difference. It was that extra scoop of flour. So if you like your cake soft and moist, add 3 tablespoons of flour instead of 4.