didally.com
Of Food and perhaps a little about me
Archive for June, 2007
June 27, 2007 at 2:18 am · Filed under Bakes
Apart from baking simple cakes and muffins from recipes in cookbooks, I’m accustomed to searching for recipes online. I first discovered the wonders of food blogs about 11/2 years back when I was looking for recipes. I remembered the first one that made me so impressed was Shiokalicious.com, a local food blogger. She even had some of her recipes, along with other countries’ foodies’ recipes published in a ebook. But sad to say, it’s no longer around. So along the way, I found more food blogs, and from each food blog, finding my way to even more blogs. And from all these blogs, I learnt new ingredients and how they can be paired up with other ingredients I would never thought possible.
When it comes to baking, I realized there is also a trend. Back then it were the cupcakes craze. Home bakers busy piping and decorating their cupcakes, and selling them too. Remember? A while ago, I joined in the trend to learn how to make cupcakes taught by Kuidaore.
Macarons. Yes! It’s the in thing now. And you start to see these colourful pastry popping up at the cafes. And home bakers too, are now busy learning how to make this oh-so-delicate cookie. Kuidaore is now teaching you how to make the perfect macarons at Shermay Cooking School. Smart move eh? They sure know what home bakers want to learn. And why the need to master this skill? Cos it’s so expensive to get the commercially made ones. I got mine at Bakerzin as I am curious how they taste like after I see Aunty Yochana happily making her own macarons too.
So would I even dare to think of mastering this skill? Well, for a start, maybe. But nah, I can’t even pipe properly. It’s like doing fine arts you know.
Macarons are not to be confused with coconut macaroons. They are 2 pieces of dome-shaped cookies sandwiched together with buttercream. Underneath the cookie, is a chewy, cake-like layer and there is this skirt called the feet. Obsessed you may think, but many home bakers struggle to achieve the perfect feet in their macarons. I was warned that it’s sweet. Ironically I could accept the sweetness maybe due to the really nice and light crisp cookie. And it makes me craving for more. I bought only 3 assorted flavors to try out. Bluberry, Lemon and Pistachio. And I think it’s the Pistachio craze now. Haha. You know just like a few years back, it was everything green tea, wasabe, then seaweed.
I know why they are expensive due to the difficulty in making them well. The best macarons are said to be from Pierre Hermé. If you know Pierre Hermé, you are probably familiar with their most known creation, Ispahan. Evan from Bossa Café recreated it. I think it really looks gorgeous. You can order some from Evan too.
Can I have a box of macarons for my birthday? Haha…
June 10, 2007 at 2:27 am · Filed under Bakes
Pineapple tarts. What do they remind you of? Yes! Chinese New Year! How can we resist this buttery, melt-in-your-mouth pastry, chock-full of pineapple jam? My Chinese New Year will not be complete without them. In fact, I never understood why everyone is so crazy about these tarts when I was younger. Our taste for food and things changes as we grow. There are so many I-do-not-eat food when I was still a kid. Eg. red bean paste bun, and I still don’t eat them now. When adults were going gaga over how delish those tarts are, I didn’t know what I was missing out.
Till one day, a few years ago, my cousin gave us a tub of homemade pineapple tarts. It’s not the commonly tart, where the pineapple jam are exposed on top. This one has the jam wrapped inside. I guess I was in an adventurous mood that day that I decided to give it a try. The jam was not too sweet, with a tint of sourness. And the crust does not crumble when you take a bite. So that was it. I was hooked! And now I have to control myself whenever the festive arrives. Ok, I tell myself 2 will be the max for today. At the end of the second one, I just thought, one more doesn’t hurts. Woohoo… counting all the calories.
So it’s already June, and why am I still talking about pineapple tarts? I just wanna share some pics I took during Chinese New Year when we girls were having a baking session. There isn’t many times where you can really do girly things with your girlfriends, other than shopping, chatting over coffee. I thought why not do something more fun. Let’s have a bonding session while baking. Since it was near Chinese New Year, baking pineapple tarts would be so appropriate.
We baked up a storm at AC’s house. I love baking sessions like this cos everyone shares the bakes. And shares the calories load too! Hehee…
Since we had a whole afternoon to spare, we added 2 more items to the bake list. Orange Chocolate Chip Muffins and Chocolate Chip Cookies. Orange goes so well with chocolate and this one has orange zest in it which really brings out the flavour of the fruit. In fact, chocolate goes hand in hand with so many other ingredients like, mint, hazelnut, bananas. And yes, there are even chocolate durian cake!
Look, whose the greedy one with lots of chocolate chips mixed into the muffin batter.
Next is the Chocolate Chip Cookies. The original recipe didn’t call for cocoa powder. Being the choc lovers, we added some to the batter for a even more chocolaty cookie.
It was really fun churning out the pineapple tarts, which took up most of the time. Luckily PS had made the pineapple jam in advanced, else we wouldn’t be able to finish baking by nightfall. It’s not easy working with the buttery dough, really needs some skills rolling them. It’s soft and thus we had a hard time pushing it out from the cutter. We made some berry jam tarts out of the very nice and cute flower cookie cutter as the pineapple jam are all used up. Looks so pretty.
Orange Chocolate Chip Muffins
Recipe adapted from Fonia at Kitchen Capers
Makes 12 Muffins
Dry Ingredients:
½ cup plain flour
½ tsp baking powder
½ tsp baking soda
½ tsp salt
½ cup semi-sweet chocolate chips (coated with 2 tsp plain flour)
Wet Ingredients:
½ cup butter, melted
½ cup sugar
3 tbsp (45g) melted cream cheese
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1½ tsp grated orange rind
¾ cup orange juice
½ tsp rum (optional)
- Preheat oven to 190°C. Sift the dry ingredients (except the chocolate chips) into a large bowl and mix well. Make a well in the centre. Set aside.
- Melt butter in microwave at HIGH for 30 secs or till totally melted; Add sugar into the hot butter, stir till sugar dissloved; Add in the rest of the wet ingredients & stir till well-combined.
- Pour the wet mixture into the centre of the dry mixture. Using a whisk or a spatular, stir till just moisten (mixture will be lumpy). DO NOT OVER STIR! Muffin batter are supposed to be lumpy. Sprinkle the chocolate chips into the batter, stir lightly with 1 - 2 strokes.
- Spoon the batter into the prepared muffin cups (¾ full). Bake for about 20 mins or until tester inserted to the centre comes out clean.
We are planning another session soon. So stay tuned!
June 7, 2007 at 3:31 am · Filed under Recipes: Pasta
I’m back after a short hiatus from blogging. Not that I’m out of town. It’s just that I’m a little hooked on my DS Lite. *grin*
Yes, we’re in a frenzy. Mushroom frenzy!
Some time back, Chipmon introduced me to Mycofarm Mushroom Farm. She got me really interested. I’ve only ate dried shitake mushrooms and canned button mushrooms my whole life. SM organized a steamboat session at her place so we bought some willow mushrooms and oyster mushrooms from Mycofarm. And the mushrooms didn’t disappoint me. They were really fresh and delicious.
Needless to say, B and I went back again to buy some for our pantry. Bought our favorite white button mushrooms and again the willow and oyster mushrooms. The only down side from buying direct from the farm is that they sell in large quantity.
These delicious fungi grow by attaching themselves to naturally decaying barks and soils and can be cultivated under controlled conditions. Gourmet mushrooms can be found in all supermarkets. But you probably get them with minor bruises. I mean, let’s face it. I am also guilty of going grocery shopping, pressing to test if they are fresh even if there isn’t a need. All the touching and pressing will not happen if you get them straight from the mushroom farm.
The myth about mushrooms, as having no nutritional value is absolutely incorrect. However, you can only gain its nutritional benefit upon cooking. Fresh mushrooms are of the high nutritional value of mushrooms, which are an excellent source of high quality, digestible protein greater than most vegetables and only slightly less than meat and milk. They are also high in low caloric dietary fiber, all the essential amino acids, and very low in calories and fat! Plus the goodness of vitamins thiamine, riboflavin, niacin, biotin and ascorbic acid. Mushrooms are among the oldest examples of foods containing disease-fighting nutrients, for example, they have a very high concentration of antioxidants. Antioxidants are thought to be helpful in reducing allergies, heart disease, cancer and aging effects.
Preparing the mushrooms
When cleaning fresh mushrooms, do not soak them in water as they will become soggy. To clean, just brush off the dirt from the mushrooms. If you have to, rinse them quickly under running water.
Storing them
Store mushrooms wrapped in kitchen towels before you put them into the plastic bag. A brown paper bag would be good. Do not put them in containers or plastic bags as the mushrooms will get in contact with water and turns soggy.
Ways to cook them
What I love about mushrooms is you can cook them in so many ways. Saute them with butter. Braise them with meat. Toss them with your favorite pasta (yes! my favorite). Oh, and how can you do without the lovely morning scramble eggs with mushrooms? Fry them with your daily veggies. Throw them into your hot soup. The possibilities are endless!
Pasta is kind of a staple lunch for me. It’s easy to prepare and cook. And you can mix them with so many types of ingredients, like meat, vegetables, seafood. It can be served as the main entrée or as a salad. I am getting abit sick of having a tomato-based pasta. I would love to have creamy ones, but it’s too rich for me. So I’ve been doing the simple fry-and-toss pasta. And of course, I’m gonna share one of my favorite pasta recipe.
You can use any pasta of your choice. Spaghetti, fusilli, penne.. etc. As for the mushrooms, any will do. But I prefer button mushrooms and shitake.
Butter Sautéed Mushroom Pasta
180g dried pasta
100g fresh mushrooms of your choice (I like it more, and mushrooms shrinks a lot after cooking)
½ medium size bell pepper (I am crazy over the red and yellow ones)
1 medium size tomato, diced
½ cup white cooking wine (optional)
50g butter
3 garlic cloves, chopped
½ tsp chilli flakes
½ tbsp dried parsley (if using fresh parsley, you can double the amount)
- Cook pasta till al dente. Reserve ½ cup of pasta water. Drain the pasta and set aside. You might want to toss them with some olive oil so that they won’t stick together.
- Heat pan, and add the butter to melt.
- Saute the garlic till fragrant or till they are slightly browned.
- Add mushrooms and bell peppers and fry for about 2 to 3 mins.
- Add white cooking wine and the reserved pasta water.
- Add chilli flakes and parsley.
- Add the tomatoes last.
- Turn off the heat, throw in the pasta and toss quickly.
- Serve on plate and add some parmesan cheese if you like.
Serves 2. More pasta recipes to come!
