Using what is in season : Strawberries Tart

I made a strawberries tart to bring to a friend's house warming last Saturday. When whatever fruits are in season, they are often cheaper and tastier! Noticing the arrival of strawberries season, I have accumulated a few recipes featuring strawberries. Can't wait to try all!

But first, this Strawberries Tart that I made. The recipe came from Martha Stewart's Everyday Food. I noticed a few bloggers have tried the tart with rave reviews, so I thought I would join the band! Because I need to bring this to a gathering, I decided to use the frozen tart dough. You know, just in case I couldn't make the tart shell right from scratch. Maybe I should be more adventurous next time. For the frozen tart dough was a bit too thin to my liking...

I like the idea of using light cream cheese rather than the pastry cream that other recipes suggested. Guess I am not a custard person... Another simple yet tasty recipe from MS, how can I not adore this woman?

Strawberries Tart

FOR THE CRUST:

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour (spooned and leveled) plus more for handling dough
1/2 cup (1 stick) cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
1/3 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt

FOR THE FILLING:

1 bar (8 ounces) reduced-fat cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup sugar
1 1/2 to 2 pounds strawberries, hulled and halved
1/4 cup seedless red currant jelly

1. Make the crust: Preheat oven to 350°. In a food processor, blend flour, butter, sugar, and salt until moist crumbs form (this may take up to 1 minute). Transfer dough to a 9-inch round tart pan with a removable bottom.

2. With floured fingers, press dough evenly into pan and up sides. Dip a dry-measuring cup in flour, and use it to press dough firmly into bottom and against sides of pan. Freeze crust until firm, 10 to 15 minutes.

3. Using a fork, prick crust all over. Bake until golden, 25 to 30 minutes, pressing down gently once or twice with a spoon during baking if crust puffs up. Cool completely in pan.

4. Make the filling: In a medium bowl, mix cream cheese and sugar until smooth; spread mixture evenly in bottom of baked crust (still in tart pan).

5. Starting from outside edge, arrange strawberry halves, stemmed side down, in tight concentric circles on cream cheese.

6. In a small saucepan, heat jelly on medium-low until liquefied. Gently brush strawberries with jelly; let set at least 20 minutes. Chill in pan at least 1 hour (and up to 6 hours); remove from pan just before serving.

Note: To hull strawberries, insert the tip of a paring knife below the strawberry's stem. Gently cut around to remove only the base of the stem and the white core.

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Summer BLT Pasta Salad

We have a bit of leftover built up in the fridge from previous dinners. So I opt to cook something simple tonight, just for dinner. ( normally I will have to cook enough for the night's dinner and OCT's next day lunch).

Tonight's recipe is also suitable to bring to picnic too. Did I tell you how much I love to go picnic? Last Friday we had a picnic with a group of friends before the Julius Caesar play. It was so much fun! Everyone brought something different, and we nibbled a bit of everything. It was quite a feast. Before we knew, we were too full to finish the rest of the food.

Uh....That's just part of the food....

Since we are on last Friday's picnic, maybe I should share some more photos here:

Guess what was OCT doing?

He was washing his hands with the water dispenser!( actually I don't know what it is called!) There's a pedal where you can step on to get tap water. And there was soap and even papers to clean your hands! What a genius design!

I keep pestering OCT on having another picnic soon. "Because," I reason to him, "that now we have the picnic mat, cooler bag, gorgeous weather and thousands of picnic recipes!"

Coming back to the BLT Pasta Salad.

It's more like a recipe to use up all the odds and ends in the fridge to me.

BLT Pasta Salad

8 oz fusilli, cooked rinsed and drained
1 pint cherry tomatoes -- or grape tomatoes cut in half
6 scallions -- white and light green parts, sliced thinly
1 cup thinly sliced celery
1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
3 tablespoons red wine vinegar
kosher salt and freshly ground pepper to
taste
6 slices smoked bacon -- thick cut, cooked until very crisp and crumbled
Shredded Parmesan cheese

In a chilled bowl, combine pasta,celery, tomatoes and scallions.

Whisk oil, mustard, lemon juice and vinegar together in a small bowl. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Add vinagrette to the pasta and tossing warm bacon and shredded parmesan to the pasta just before serving.

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Playing with a new condiment: Chipotle- Orange Chicken Cutlet

Tonight dinner features a new condiment- Chipotle Chile in Adobo Sauce. I have seen this being used in a few recipes but never got round to buying it until a grocery trip lately.

Chipotle Chile is known for fiery hot, so I am actually expecting something really spicy for tonight's dish. Maybe Malaysians are more attuned to spicy food, I don't find the chipotle chile to be overly spicy. On the other hand, I kind of like the sweetness that the chile added to the dish.

OCT thinks the dish is quite good, but he doesn't want to know what condiments I have used. After living with me for 9 months he is finally confident that I am not going to poison him with some exotic ingredients...or rather, he has come to accept his fate. He has to wash down whatever I cook anyway, poison or not. hehehe. I am just kidding on the last part.

When I told OCT that I don't really like tonight's dish, he insisted that it was very delicious. To prove his point, he even refilled another bowl of rice. Well, what can I say? One man's meat is another man's poision? Maybe it's good that we have different likings. So that we won't fight for the same food. And let the other have MORE of what he/I likes. This will then lead to the deception that "She loves me so much that She gives up her delicious share for me" and vice versa. Who says couples must have the same taste?


Chipotle-Orange Chicken Cutlet

4 (6-ounce) skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
1 tablespoon butter
1 tablespoon canola oil
1/3 cup all-purpose flour (about 1 1/2 ounces)
2 teaspoons ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup thawed orange juice concentrate, undiluted (I used orange juice and hoisin sauce)
1/2 cup water
2 teaspoons finely chopped chipotle chile, canned in adobo sauce (about 1 chile)
2 tablespoons water (optional)
2 cups hot cooked rice
1/3 cup chopped fresh cilantro (omitted, i hate cilantro!!!)
Cilantro sprigs (optional)

Place each chicken breast half between 2 sheets of heavy-duty plastic wrap; pound each piece to 1/4-inch thickness using a meat mallet or small heavy skillet.
Melt butter and oil in a large nonstick skillet over low heat.

Combine flour, cumin, and salt in a shallow dish. Dip chicken in orange juice concentrate; dredge in flour mixture. Reserve concentrate.

Increase heat to medium-high. Heat pan for 2 minutes or until butter starts to brown. Add chicken; cook 3 minutes on each side or until done. Remove from pan; keep warm.

Stir in reserved concentrate, 1/2 cup water, and chile. Bring to a boil; cook 2 minutes. (Thin sauce with 2 tablespoons water, if needed.

Serve with chicken. Garnish with cilantro sprigs, if desired.

Serves 4.

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Linguine Alla Carbonara

Tonight's dinner is Linguine Alla Carbonara. Something I really like to order in Italian restaurant. The extra creamy and cheesy sauce with crispy bacon bites = very fattening. Because of this reason, I have put off the recipe for some time until tonight.

Apparently, this expensive Italian pasta dish is pretty easy to put together, judging from the instruction and ingredients on the recipe. Man am I wrong! It is not as easy as I thought! My supposedly creamy Carbonara comes out a tad too dry, and is not as tasty as I remembered it. The recipe is from Martha Stewart. So it has been to be the user's error.

I guess I have to pay more attention to the instruction.....if I ever made Carbonara again. I doubt so. But on the other hand, I really want to master this dish...

Linguine Alla Carbonara

1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
5 ounces bacon, cut into 1/2-inch dice
1/2pound spaghetti
1/2 cup heavy cream, plus more if needed
2 large egg yolks
1 cup grated Parmesan cheese(about 5 ounces), plus more for garnish
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Bring a large saucepan of water to a boil. Heat a medium skillet over medium heat. Add the olive oil and bacon to skillet, and cook until the bacon is browned, 3 to 4 minutes. Remove skillet from heat, and keep warm.

Cook spaghetti in boiling water until al dente, about 8 minutes. While spaghetti is cooking, whisk cream, egg yolks, Parmesan, salt, and pepper in a medium bowl until combined. Drain pasta, and return to saucepan. Immediately stir in egg-and-cheese mixture until well combined. Add warm bacon and fat from pan. Toss well. Thin sauce with additional cream, if necessary. Serve immediately, garnished with grated Parmesan cheese.

Serves 2.

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Carrot cupcakes

Our church friends Gary and Jenny invited us over to pick raspberries today after Sunday service. I am thrilled, as this is my first raspberries picking experience. They also invited us over for lunch! So, I thought I should bring something. Maybe some dessert.

Initially, I wanted to make a Strawberries Tart, but we have run out of strawberries. After searching through some tried and tested recipes, I decided to make a batch of Ina Garten's Carrot Cupcakes.

I ended up grating carrots the whole night yesterday!I need a pound of the grated carrots for the recipe. Not to mention the time spent on sieving powder sugar using my sieve that's way too small for the job. When I finally finished baking and frosting the cake, it was past midnight...

The recipe yields 12 cupcakes and one 9" x 9" square cake. We brought the cupcakes to the lunch and wonder what we should do with the square cake..

Our friend Melvin took a nicer photo of the cupcake here:

The cakes are very moist and tender. But we know we could never finish them on our own. So we cut the cake down into several portions and pass them to our friends.

Afterall, friendship is about sharing, right? That should include the calories, which would otherwise be consumed by the baker herself....

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Picnic Food : Chicken Satay, sushi and banana cake!

I made satay sauce using Ina Garten's recipe yesterday.And it tastes quite like the real thing I had in Sabah. Isn't this ironic? Learning my own country's food from a foreigner? Considering the sauce is made from scratch, Ina Garten's version is really quite authetic.

Satay Sauce (makes 1.5 cups)

[A]:
1 tbsp good olive oil
1 tbsp dark sesame oil
2/3 cup small diced red onion (1 small onion)
1.5 tsp minced garlic (2 cloves)
1.5 tsp minced fresh ginger root
1/4 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
[B]:
2 tbsp red wine vinegar
1/4 cup light brown sugar, packed
2 tbsp soy sauce
1/2 cup smooth peanut butter
1/4 cup ketchup
2 tbsp dry sherry
1.5 tsp freshly squeezed lime juice

Cook [A] in a small pan on medium heat until onion is transparent. Whisk in [B] and cook for 1 min. Cool and use as a dip for the chicken. This can be kept in refrigerator for a month.

When I excitedly present the sauce to OCT, he said it was not as good as the Singapore's version. Well, what can I say? An American's recipe + Malaysian's interpretation is not going to taste anything like Singapore Satay! We then spent some time arguing which country has better satay...quite pointless actually.

My point is, the satay sauce I made, taste like the Malaysia's version. And I am happy about it! I put the chicken strips that I marinated overnight under broiler just now, and this is what I get:

Nothing close to the BBQ version, but better than none for the time being, until we go back Malaysia / Singapore for the real thing....

And I also make some sushi, to finish up the nori sheets. I think I won't have the craving for sushi for sometime after eating sushi twice this week.

And a banana cake, using Rose Levy Beranbaum recipe again.

Apparently, OCT's colleagues like my banana cake with dark chocolate ganache! Yeah! And now, I have a few bananas being frozen to be used at a later time. Guess I will stick with this banana cake recipe in the future.

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Olive Fried Rice with Kielbasa and Roast Cherry Tomatoes

Tonight's dinner is something familiar with a new element as a twist. We have olive fried rice with kielbasa. The essence of fried rice is really on using whatever you have on hand, or simply using what's leftover. Along the way, I get to try different combinations because everytime we have different leftover food. And I find today's combination is not too bad! I shall keep this combination in mind....

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A bag of pistachio

Yesterday, I received a small packet of pistachios and a recipe book from California Pistachios Commission. Yeah! I love samples and I love pistachios! I can't wait to incorporate them in my baking soon.

I will be happier if the sample packet could be bigger. Still, a small packet is better than none, right?

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Tuesday Dinner: Fine Shrimp Sauce stirfry chicken + eggplant with spicy soy paste

Yesterday OCT brought the not so yummy penne to school for lunch and dinner. He reckoned that he will need to stay back to prepare his presentation for today's committee meeting. However, my highly efficient OCT called around 7:15p.m and told me that he has completed his work and can come back for dinner instead. He said he would be back by 8 p.m and was REALLY hungry.

Uh-oh, I didn't have any plan for dinner...and all the meat was in the freezer. I quickly pull out 2 pieces of chicken breasts and immersed them in cold running water. And ran through all the options in my mind. Something fast and simple......That got to be stirfry. Now come to the sauce. What sauce? We just had the hoisin sauce not long ago. It's too late to marinate it for the scallion & ginger chicken stirfry....Maybe, I will try the shrimp sauce. But has anyone use shrimp sauce to stirfry chicken? It is normally used to fry kangkong, as far as I know.... Time was ticking, I need to take make a decision. So I went ahead to prep the chicken and tossed it with some cornstarch before sauteing. A tablespoon of the greyish shrimp sauce was added, together with a dash of sambal oelek and dark soy sauce. Oh, and some sprigs of green onion and diced ginger.

The eggplant is pretty easy, and always a guarantee winner. In case the chicken doesn't turn out well, we will have the eggplant to go with the rice at least. Surprisingly, the chicken turned out to be not too bad. It wasn't a "wow" dish, but OCT seems to enjoy it. He even refilled his rice twice. I suspect he would not eat the chicken if he knew I added shrimp sauce, so I only smile politely and nodding my head when he complimented the dish.

Sometime it's funny that I try so hard to make different dishes and yet he could hardly remember what he has eaten. On the contrary, a simple repetoire can make him the most satisfied diner of the world.

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Monday Night Dinner: Penne with Tuna and Tomato Sauce

The meal is so-so only. Not worth to mention at all. I thought I should still post a photo, so that I will remember what I have eaten. By the way, the recipe is from Everyday Italian. For some reason, I seldom get impressive result from most recipes I tried from this book. I wonder why I keep on giving it chance after chance....

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Banana cake with dark chocolate ganache

I went grocery shopping yesterday and found OCT favorite fruit- banana on sale! Usually, it's selling at 59 cent/lb. But I got a full bag of almost 6 lbs bananas for $1.99. The bananas are all in good condition, except a few with dark spots on the skin. A hint of ripeness. For some reason, people here don't like their bananas with spots. But you know what? I like that! Afterall very ripe bananas are what I need to make banana cake / bread!

There are of course other fruits like strawberries, mango, grapes etc going on sale. I picked some seedless grapes for OCT's committee meeting tomorrow. Afterall, that's the main purpose for me to go grocery shopping yesterday. After picking up the 6 lb bananas, 2 lb grapes and 2 gallons of milk, I have reached my weight limit and it's time to go. I guess I have to go back sometime later for the red wine that "has a hint of chocolate". I saw that on my way to the cashier.

After home, I searched through the piles of cookbooks I have for the perfect banana cake recipe. I kind of like the one I made sometime ago, but I didn't jot down the recipe....So, I got to hunt for another recipe again. The one from Martha Stewart's Baking Handbook seems nice, but it requires 16 oz of mascarpone cheese. I only have 8 oz left. I flipped through Nigella Lawson's "How to be a Domestic Goddess". Her version requires rum, which I don't have either.....

The search continued for hours until I settled for Rose Levy Beranbaum's version from The Cake Bible. The same one I made sometime ago. The next question, is whether to frost the cake or not. It isn't an easy one for me. Weighing between health and taste.. In the end, taste won. I decided to make a frosting. With dark chocolate!

The end result is pretty sinful. I think I will just have a piece and pass the rest to OCT's labmates....

Banana Cake with Dark Chocolate Ganache

For the cake:
2 cups sifted cake flour
3/4 cup plus 2 Tbs sugar
1 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 large ripe bananas
1/2 cup sour cream
2 large eggs
1.5 tsp pure vanilla extract
10 Tbs unsalted butter, at room temperature

For the ganache:
1/3 cup (3 oz) heavy cream
4 ounces best-quality bittersweet/dark chocolate


Preheat the oven to 350F. Spray a 9-inch round springform pan with cooking spray, line the base with a round of parchment paper, and spray the parchment paper.

In a large bowl, stir together the flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.

In a medium bowl, mash the banana,and add in sour cream, eggs, and vanilla. Stir them until they are all well mixed together.

Add the softened butter and about 2/3 of the banana mixture to the dry ingredients in the bowl. Beat to combine. Scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula; then add the rest of the banana mixture, beating just to combine.

Pour and scrape the batter into the prepared pan. Bake for 35-45 minutes, until the cake is golden and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean and dry. Remove the cake from the oven, let cool for 10 minutes, and then remove the other rim of the pan. Invert the cake onto a wire rack, and carefully remove the base of the pan and the parchment paper. Allow the cake to cool completely.

For the frosting:
Bring 1/3 cup of heavy cream to a near boil in a small saucepan.When it is steaming well, remove it from heat and pour over the chopped chocolate. Stir or whisk until the chocolate is melted. The mixture should be smooth. Let stand until the ganache is warm enough to be poured over the cake.

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Crepe with Strawberries

This week, I experiment to make crepes. I got the recipe from this month's cookinglight. The magazine offers a few variations using the simple crepe recipes. I think it will be a fun project. I remember ordering the ham and cheese crepe everytime I visited Marche back in Singapore. It costed 7-8 dollar for one. Can I reproduce the same thing in my humble kitchen? That's a question I wanted to know too!

I gladly put this simple recipe to test and am plesantly suprised by how fun and relaxing the crepe making process turn out to be! I could have make a savory crepe but I wanted to try the original flavor before making the variation version. So I go for the basic crepe recipe and paired them with strawberries and maple syrup later.

OCT has three crepes with bacon and cheese filling, and one with his favorite Neopolitan flavor ice-cream. With one recipe, we tried it with savory ingredient, sweet ice cream and simply fruit. One conclusion from this experiment: crepe is nice to be eaten with other ingredients but not alone.

Basic Crepe

1 cup all-purpose flour (about 4 1/2 ounces)
2 teaspoons sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup low-fat 1% milk
1/2 cup water
2 teaspoons butter, melted
2 large eggs

Lightly spoon flour into a dry measuring cup; level with a knife. Combine flour, sugar, and salt in a small bowl. Combine milk, water, melted butter, and eggs in a blender. Add the flour mixture to milk mixture, and process until smooth. Cover batter; chill for 1 hour.

Heat an 8-inch nonstick crepe pan or skillet over medium heat. Pour a scant 1/4 cup batter into pan; quickly tilt pan in all directions so batter covers pan with a thin film. Cook about 1 minute. Carefully lift the edge of the crepe with a spatula to test for doneness. The crepe is ready to turn when it can be shaken loose from the pan and the underside is lightly browned. Turn crepe over, and cook for 30 seconds or until center is set.

Place crepe on a towel; cool completely. Repeat procedure with the remaining batter, stirring batter between crepes. Stack crepes between single layers of wax paper to prevent sticking.

Yield: 13 crepes (serving size: 1 crepe)

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Weekend Baking: Pineapple tarts

I never thought I will have a chance to bake Pineapple tarts again before Chinese New Year. Frankly, I have quite a thick pile to " to try list" which could last me for months. But a friend called and asked if I am interested to help to bake some pineapple tarts for an upcoming event for a good cause. What can I say? I am more than happy that she finds my tarts worth selling!

So, before the actual sale, I need to make one batch again. Just to be sure I get the proportion of the ingredients right. Anyone who made pineapple tarts before know that these goodies are real time and labor consuming. First, I have to cook 2lb of crushed pineapple into a thick jam. That took me one and a half hour. I am only thankful that I don't have to grate the pineapple myself. But then of course, if I am willing to go that extra mile, the pineapple tarts would have turn out even nicer...

On the next day, I made the dough, and rolled the pineapple jam into same size balls. Normally, I am not too particular about making all tarts into the same size. Because I need to tell my friend the amount of ingredients needed and also the yield, I painfully scooped out equal size of filling and dough onto the baking sheet....

After all this work, I am rewarded with 56 pineapple tarts. 2 days of work and only 56 tarts. No wonder the tarts cost a bomb....

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Sushi after 9 months

I haven't had a single sushi for 9 months since I came to St Louis! Today however, I have make up for it by eating more or less ten pieces on my own. And I didn't buy them, I made them. Yeah! I have almost forgotten my love for Japanese food. Not that there isn't any decent Japanese restaurants here in St Louis. In fact, there are at least 3 Japanese restaurants just below our apartment. OCT is lovely enough to wanted to treat me to one of these places but I didn't really get around trying them. Maybe because I am more $$ conscious nowaday because I am not working....

Whataver.

I reckon it would not be too difficult making them myself, since I saw Ying Ying making them back in Singapore before. So I borrowed the bamboo mat from my friend, and gathered all the necessary ingredients needed for sushi making.

It's my first time. I am pretty satisfied with the result. OCT however think that they are so so only.....:( ok, there's still plenty of room for improvement..

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Small Talk

"OCT, help me to open the new red wine I bought. I need to use it to make beef stew"
"OCT, this wine is delicious, you want to try?"
"OCT, you know, research showed that red wine is packed with antioxidant and 8 oz a day is good for your heart too. Maybe I should drink red wine more often. Moreover it's so cheap in the US!"
"Do you know research ALSO shows that regular exercise benefits your health?" OCT answered smugly.
".........."

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Curry Turkey Burger

Sunday night, I tried Rachael Ray's Curry turkey burger. It was really delicious! The curry poweder, red pepper and other condiment added a sophisticated taste to the otherwise bland and dry burger. I am only too happy to find an alternative for mince beef. And in my humble opinion, this is even better than the turkey meatballs I made earlier on. Seems like things are getting better over here.

Curry Turkey Burger

1 1/3 pounds ground turkey breast, the average weight of 1 package
2 scallions, thinly sliced
A handful cilantro, chopped very fine, about 2 tablespoons, optional (I omitted it)
1 inch piece fresh ginger, grated or minced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 red bell pepper, finely chopped (I used roasted pepper)
Coarse salt
2 tablespoons mild curry paste or a handful of curry powder (Preferred brand: Patak's Mild Curry Paste)
Drizzle extra-virgin olive oil
5 crusty rolls, split ( I used whole wheat bread)
Toppings: (optional)
Bib or leaf lettuce
Sliced vine-ripe tomatoes
Mango chutney (preferred brands: Major Grey's or Patak's Mango Chutney)
Serving Suggestions: Thai Slaw Salad, recipe follows and root vegetable chips (preferred brands: Terra Chips)

Combine first 8 ingredients and form into 5 patties.
Brush or drizzle patties with extra-virgin olive oil. Grill patties 6 minutes on each side on indoor electric grill or pan fry for same amount of time in a large nonstick skillet over medium high heat.
Pile patties on split crusty rolls with lettuce, tomato, and chutney spread liberally on roll tops as a condiment. Serve curry turkey burgers with Thai Slaw and root vegetable chips.

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Espresso Walnut Cake

As I have mentioned in my previous entry, I am not too satisfied with the outcome of the Espresso Cupcake. It left me a hollow space in my chest waiting to be filled, and make me really want to bake something smells and tastes coffee....And also because I have bought 2 bottles of espresso powder on a whim not long ago. The powder which I think is only good for baking, but not for drinking (at least not for me). For these reasons, I am in search of recipes to bake some caffeine goods. It doesn't take me too long to find one on the Cookinglight.com.

I glance through the ingredients and notice that it only called for 5 tablespoon of butter, and a fraction of sugar that other coffee cakes required and used non fat yoghurt to moisten the cake. Seems like a healthy snack cake to me! And the cake comes together in a snap. I don't even have to use my mixer.

Because I made it on Sunday night before bed, I only got to taste it on Monday morning. It was ok. It has enough sweetness from the brown sugar, and moistness from the sour cream that I subbed for the yoghurt. And the crunch from walnut pieces. However, I couldn't detect a hint of espresso in the cake, which I am frankly quite disappointed. Maybe a tablespoon of espresso powder really doesn't give the coffee addict in me much kick. In fact, I think it should simply be called a coffee cake instead of emphasize it as a ESPRESSO Walnut cake.

Maybe it is a good introduction to people who do not drink coffee/espresso at all.

Espresso Walnut Cake

Cooking spray
2 teaspoons all-purpose flour
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
3 tablespoons finely chopped walnuts
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 tablespoon instant espresso or 2 tablespoons instant coffee granules, divided
5 tablespoons butter
1 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
2/3 cup plain fat-free yogurt (i used sour cream)
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour

Preheat oven to 350°.
Coat an 8-inch square baking pan with cooking spray, and dust with 2 teaspoons flour.

Combine brown sugar, walnuts, cinnamon, and 1 teaspoon espresso granules in a small bowl.

Place the butter in a large microwave-safe bowl. Cover and microwave at high for 1 minute or until butter melts. Add granulated sugar, stirring with a whisk. Add eggs; stir well. Stir in yogurt, vanilla, baking soda, and salt. Lightly spoon 1 1/3 cups flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Add flour and 2 teaspoons espresso powder, stirring just until blended (do not overstir).

Spread half of the batter into the prepared pan, and sprinkle with half of the brown sugar mixture. Carefully spread remaining batter over brown sugar mixture, and sprinkle with remaining brown sugar mixture.

Bake at 350° for 25 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes in pan on a wire rack. Cut into squares.

Yield: 9 servings (serving size: 1 cake square)

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Espresso Cupcakes

I have borrowed Nigella Lawson's "How to be a Domestic Goddess" for awhile. Hence I think it's high time for me to try some of the recipes in the book. Actually quite a few of them caught my eyes, but I decided to go for something simple first. The Espresso Cupcake, for instant, for a start.

The recipe requires self-rising cake flour which I couldn't find here. So I substitute it with cake flour + baking powder + salt, as recommended by the baking911 website. The recipe also calls for instant espresso powder, melted chocolate and cocoa powder. It seems like a winner recipe to me.....And so I proceed. After 1 hour, this is what I get:

This is the inside of the cupcake with the small piece of chocolate I inserted in the centre:

Overall, the cupcake tastes a bit bitter, a bit dry and a bit burnt. Probably because they were left too long in the oven. Unfortunately, not a very good first impression with the cookbook Diva who takes other part of the world by storm...I am sure it must be the user error..... I am still determine to give other recipes in the book a try. Well, maybe some other time.

But I don't have to wait too long. Because our friend Adeline actually asked me to make a batch with her yesterday for her labmate's birthday...Errr, ok. So maybe the cupcake is not as bad as I have described. Anyway, we baked a batch yesterday with a special finish touch. The M&M was my idea, the smiley face's hers.

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Update!

OCT is finally home. I show him to the place where I last saw the cockroach. He gingerly removes some clusters in the wardrobe and reports that the cockroach is already dead. I feel a surge of relief. Hopefully this guest doesn't bring with it some other guests.

I showed OCT my previous entry, he said the title should be "unexpected pest" instead of "unexpected guest"!

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Unexpected Guest

I am still feeling a bit unsettled now. I have an unexpected guest in my apartment. It turned up while I was cooking in the kitchen. At first, I thought it was my illusion. Then, I kneeled down to confirm...To my dismay, there it was. A cockroach!

Oh my God! I was cooking half way through, so I decided to finish cooking before attending to it. I was just talking about unexpected guest in my last entry, and never really expect what I kidded would come true. Maybe the cockroach read my blog? And wanted to come for a fresh chocolate chips cookie.

I was horrified when I saw it just after I finished cooking dinner. It scurried from the kitchen into the carbinet in the living room right in front of me! I gingerly open the carbinet and took out the broom, ready to kill. In one swift move, it scurried across the living room into our bedroom, and moved right into our wardrobe! Oh, why does this have to happen to me?

I hope OCT will come back soon, to deal with the guest, who apparently still in our bedroom now....

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In Search of the Ultimate Soft & Chewy Chocolate Chips Cookies

Despite the fact that I am a full-time stay at home wife, I always opt for simple meal ideas instead of the more complicated recipes. Although I have the whole day to prep for the meal, I choose to do it the very last minute, every night. I feel so ashamed of my irresponsible behavior as a wife.....

So when OCT mentioned his fondness for chewy chocolate chips cookies this afternoon, I quickly decided to whip up a batch for him. Nevermind I have never succeeded in my past attempts. Though I have made countless batches, not a single one passed his definition as "soft and chewy"......In short, I am in a search for the perfect chewy cookies recipe.And I need one now! I remembered seeing one from Cook's Illustrated. So Cook's Illustrated it is! Only this time, I follow the recipe to the letter, including the tonnes of brown and granulated sugar and maximum recommended chocolate chips in the recipe. Not only that, I also pay a closer attention to the cookies in the oven than ever before.

While shaping the dough, I thought this is definitely the cookies you want to make for your worst enermies. Though not potent enough to kill them, these cookies can make them fat if not obese, and suffer from either high cholesterol, heart attack or type 2 diabetes. Just make them a batch every week, and you will see the result pretty soon. What a wicked thought! I am just joking on this, so please ignore this altogether. What I really want to say, is that these cookies are so darn good. It's simply irresistible and so addictive!I bake six cookies, and keep the rest of the shaped dough in the freezer."So that you can pull out the dough and make fresh cookies when unexpected guests turn up" said the magazine. Well, I am not sure about the unexpected guest's part, but freezing them for a later time sounds like a good idea. At least I know I won't end up eating most of them, and digging my own grave. I have also packed three of them for OCT to give to his lab mates tomorrow. Out of sight, out of mind,right? I think I am pretty safe right now.

I am not sure if this is THE ultimate chocolate chips cookie, but it surely make me a very happy girl today. Who say happiness is hard to find?

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Ginger Chicken and roasted cauliflower

Tonight's dinner is another east meet west kind of meal. Ginger chicken is one dish that I learnt from my good friend cum ex-housemate Ying Ying back in Singapore. Though I have cooked it plenty of times, I think hers is still the best!

I have a head of cauliflower that I bought on impulse last week, still sitting in the fridge. It has treaten to rot, if I decided not to eat it up soon. So, I checked out a few trusted sites to get some inspirations to cook it up. Of course I can steam, boil or simply stirfry it. But to be totally honest, I am never a cauliflower fan. And I deeply regret buying it just because it was on sale. Now, I have to turn this veggie that I don't care much into something I enjoy...not to forget OCT who doesn't seem to have any interest in cauliflower too.

In the end, I decided to roast the cauliflower. I have pretty good experience with roasting vegetables so far. It is simply a process of caramelizing the veggie under a very high heat. Plus this is a recipe from Emeril Lagasse! And the many positively reassuring reviews on this recipe.

It is a pretty simple recipe. Just toss the cauliflower florets with olive oil, salt, pepper, minced garlic and some lemon juice (from 1 lemon) and bake in 500F oven for 15 mins. It couldn't be simpler! And it tastes so good! This is going to be my official method of cooking cauliflower in the future. I can't wait to eat the leftover tomorrow!

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Penne with turkey meatballs

What we have for dinners pretty much reflects what are on sale in the grocery store on that particular week. Being a poor pHD student's wife means we are living on a shoestring budget. (ok, maybe I have exaggerated a bit, but you get the idea) Unlike the time when I earned my own paycheck, I have to forego some of the luxury I took for granted last time. Having said this, I am still pretty amazed by how well we are fed with the limited allowance.

I think the key is really to stock up when price is low, and buy more fresh products. It's more expensive to buy processed food here, which is good news to us. This is because we hardly buy processed food! We may be short on money, but time is what I have. Plenty of time, if you ask me. So, I really don't mind spending some time to skin and bone the chicken thighs, and peel the prawns! And nothing gives me more satisfaction than cooking and baking from scratch! Errr, ok, most of the time. Sometime, I choose the shortcut to make life a bit easy for myself.

This week for example, we bought 2 pounds of ground turkey. First pound was being used in a new recipe that I saw from Giada De Laurentiis's "Everyday Italian". I am familiar with beef meatballs and meatloaf, but turkey meatballs? I never heard of that. Still, I am curious how it will turn out, as turkey is much leaner and healthier than beef.....

The ground turkey was first mixed with onions, garlics, parmesan cheese, egg, milk, crumbs, salt and pepper. Use hands, if you want everything to mix really well. Then, the mixture was rolled into golf balls size and dropped into the heated skillet. It was a slow process, especially when you have lots of meatballs. My 1 pound recipe required me to repeat the process 3 times.

After the meatballs were cooked, I drained the oil, and deglazed the pan with tomato basil sauce. The meatballs were then returned to the pan. We were pretty pleased with the meal, and I am surprised that this turkey version has just as much flavour as the beef meatballs. This will definitely return to our dinner table soon.

The total cost of this meal is less than 3 dollar. And we have it for dinner and next day lunch. This brings the cost per person per meal to less than 1 dollar. Isn't that pretty impressive?

Penne with Turkey Meatballs (adapted from Giada De Laurenttis)

1/4 cup plain dried bread crumbs
2 tablespoons whole milk
1 large egg, lightly beaten
3/4 cup grated Romano
1 onion,minced
3 cloves of garlic, minced
1 pound ground turkey, preferably dark meat
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
5 cups tomato sauce
1 pound dried penne pasta

In a large bowl add bread crumbs milk and mix until well combined. Mix in eggs and 1/2 cup Romano cheese, onion and garlic and mix well. Add turkey and gently combine, being careful not to overwork the meat. Season with salt and pepper. Shape into golf-size balls.
In a large skillet heat the oil over medium high heat. When almost smoking, add meatballs and without moving or turning the meat, allow it to brown for about 3 minutes. Turn meatballs and brown other side. Continue to cook until all sides are golden brown, about 8 minutes total. Add tomato sauce and bring to a boil. Lower heat and allow meatballs to simmer for 5 minutes. Turn off heat and keep warm on stove. Be careful not to overhandle the meatballs since they are soft and fragile.

In a large pot, bring to a boil 6 quarts of salted water. Add pasta and cook until al dente, about 8 minutes. Drain pasta in a colander. Do not rinse pasta with water since you want to retain the pasta natural starches so that the sauce will cling to the penne.

Remove meatballs from sauce and place in serving bowl. Pour some tomato sauce over meatballs, but leave about 1 cup of sauce in skillet. Place the cooked penne into the skillet with the remaining sauce and toss well. Pour sauced pasta into a large serving bowl. Serve alongside the meatballs.

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Picnic!

Thank God the weather is lovely, so we can go picnic! It's such a simple wish, but we never really get around doing it. Back in Singapore, it seems too luxurious a thing to do on a precious precious Saturday....

But on a bright sunny Spring morning, we overcome our inertia to finally do picnic. Nevermind it's just going to a nearby park.....I packed some sandwiches, cookies, cake, chips and fruits for our first ever picnic. It's a 15 mins walk from our apartment, to a spot with shade and fountain.

Not many people are there, so we find ourselves a bench facing the fountain, and tuck-in!Such a serenity day, with no crowd and no place to rush. We eat quietly, listening to the fountain and birds chirping and twittering among the trees. We can't make out what kind of birds they are. But they sing the most harmonious song in the nature. Time becomes still, until the sun moves above us and shine directly on us. A sign that we should go.

How I wish we can go picnic more often...

A walk to the park....

First, we must walk into the unknown wood.

Then we see the steel bridge.

And see the train track beneath it

"Don't get distracted! or we will never reach the fountain" said OCT

"Hey, there's another bridge! Errr...are we there yet?" I am getting a bit hungry already.

"See, here's the fountain!"

"Err.. can we find a bench to sit down first?"
"See, I make you roast beef sandwich"
And lemon cookie in heart shape!
Don't take my picture when I am eating!
"OCT do you like picnic?hey, that's my coffee!"
"see, is this a heart shape?"

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Shrimp Florentine with Caramelized Garlic

Friday is either pasta or pizza day! Tonight, I decided to have pasta. The recipe is one from Cookinglight. I really like their simple and yet tasty recipes. However, I don't have the half & half and chicken broth that the recipe called for. Undeterred, I decided to make some "adjustments" along the way.

First the cleaned and skinned garlics were roasted in a 350F oven for 25 min while I went on to prepare other ingredients. Because I used raw prawns, I had to peel them. But this was worth the effort as raw prawns have more flavour than the cooked one. I reserved and freeze the prawn shells for use in seafood stock next time......Ok, i shouldn't bore you with the detail.... you can see it all from the recipe I attached. More importantly, in my opinion, is that it's a simple and delicious meal. Nothing out of this world, but certainly satisfying. We like the caramelized garlics in our pasta. I will definitely go through the trouble to roast them again when I need some intense flavor in my pasta. Maybe I will also stirfry some chopped garlic in the skillet with the rest of the ingredients next time. What can I say? I am a garlic lover. In place of the half & half and chicken broth, I used milk + white wine. And omitted the butter in the recipe. I reckon that it may not have substantial flavour, so I added in 8 oz of baby portabella mushrooms (which coincidentally is what I like, and was on sale last week!)

Well, maybe I have made far too many changes to the recipe that it no longer taste anything close to what it should taste. Maybe it would have tasted better if I adhere closely to the recipe. Maybe next time I should measure all the ingredients as suggested insteads of follow my instinct. Whatever. At least now I know roasted garlic tastes good in pasta.

Shrimp Florentine with Caramelized Garlic

Garlic:
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
20 garlic cloves, peeled
Cooking spray

Shrimp:
2 teaspoons olive oil
1 pound medium shrimp, peeled and deveined
1 teaspoon butter (omitted)
3/4 cup half-and-half (sub with milk)
1/2 cup fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth (sub with white wine)
1/3 cup (about 1 1/2 ounces) grated Parmesan cheese
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper
1/8 teaspoon black pepper
2 cups frozen loose-leaf spinach, thawed, drained, and squeezed dry
4 cups hot cooked linguine (about 8 ounces uncooked pasta)
*I also added 8 oz of sliced baby portabella mushrooms*

Preheat oven to 350°.
To prepare garlic, combine 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt and garlic in a bowl. Place garlic mixture on a jelly-roll pan coated with cooking spray. Bake at 350° for 25 minutes or until browned, stirring occasionally.

To prepare shrimp, heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add shrimp; sauté 3 minutes or until done. Remove shrimp from pan.

Heat one tablespoon of oil in the same skillet, saute mushrooms until they are no longer hard. Stir in half-and-half, broth,(milk and wine, in my case) cheese, 1/4 teaspoon salt, red pepper, and black pepper. Cook 1 minute or until cheese melts, stirring constantly. Stir in shrimp and spinach; cook 1 minute. Combine shrimp mixture, garlic mixture, and pasta in a large bowl; toss well. Serve immediately.

Yield: 3 servings

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