Crunchy Vietnamese Chicken Salad

I have never had Vietnamese food before I came to St Louis. It sounded a bit funny considering how close Vietnam is to Singapore and Malaysia. We are neighbors who have never met one another before.

I blame it on the scarcity of Vietnamese restaurants in Singapore. And the polite Vietnamese colleague whom I worked with for not trumpeting the delicious-ness of her country cuisine. Only after I travelled a zillion miles to United State have I been exposured to the amazing cuisine. Still, better late than never right?

Being an absolutely unadventurous eater, I usually steer myself to the safe side when comes to ordering. "A beef pho for me please" is what I order. Oh and a cup of Vietnamese coffee of course. How could I not get a cup of this addictive stuff. It's almost therapeutic to see the coffee slowly dripping down onto the condense milk. Until the incessant nag and complaint comes from OCT. "Yike, this is too sweet!You shouldn't order this next time,it's not good for your health....." All I could think of, is where can I buy the coffee press. So that I can have it everyday. If you know, please drop me a line.

Oh, I really shouldn't be telling this boring and unrelated story. Because this entry is about a Vietnamese recipe I made a couple of nights ago. It's a crunchy Vietnamese Chicken Salad. I like recipe with name like this. It preps you for what you are expecting.

Except, it's better than I envisaged. The dressing was flavorful and distinctly Asian. What with the fish sauce, rice vinegar, lime juice and thai basil, I almost felt like sitting in a shaded table somewhere along a burstling street; Eating and sweating at the same time at a roadside hawker stall.

Because I don't normally keep chile, cilatro and mint at home, I omitted them and replaced with some thai basil. It worked for me and I am delighted to find a new recipe to bring to the next dinner party.

Curiously the dressing reminds me of the green mango/papaya salad I had in Thailand. I guess as far as Southeast Asia cuisine is concerned, we are influenced a lot by our neighboring countries. I would try this dressing with green mango if lady luck handed some green mango on my lap.(which is fat chance) But I am equally happy to use green cabbages, which are abundant and cheap here.

Crunchy Vietnamese Chicken Salad
adapted and modified from Eric and Sophie Banhs via Foodandwine.com

Chef Way- The Banhs like to poach the chicken for this vibrant dish, then toss the salad with a homemade scallion oil.

Easy Way- To save time, use store-bought rotisserie chicken and skip the scallion oil; the salad already gets plenty of flavor from the spicy, vinegary dressing and abundance of fresh herbs.

ingredients
2 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon Asian fish sauce
1 1/2 tablespoons fresh lime juice, plus lime wedges for serving
1 1/2 tablespoons distilled white vinegar (I used 2 tablespoons of rice wine vinegar)
1 tablespoon water
1 serrano chile with seeds, minced (omitted)
1 small garlic clove, minced
1 cup vegetable oil, for frying (I used just enough oil to shalow fry the shallot, maybe three/four tablespoons)
2 large shallots, thinly sliced
Salt
4 cups finely shredded green cabbage (from 1/2 small head)
2 carrots, finely shredded
1/2 small red onion, thinly sliced
1/4 cup coarsely chopped cilantro (omitted, and replaced with a palmful of shredded Thai Basil)
1/4 cup coarsely chopped mint (omitted)
3 cups shredded rotisserie chicken (from 1/2 chicken)(I roasted 6 drumsticks in a 400F oven until cooked to make the shredded chicken)
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
3 tablespoons coarsely chopped unsalted roasted peanuts

In a small bowl, combine the sugar, fish sauce, lime juice, vinegar, water, chile and garlic and stir until the sugar is dissolved. Let the dressing stand for 5 minutes.

Meanwhile, in a small saucepan, heat the vegetable oil until shimmering. Add the shallots and cook over high heat, stirring constantly, until golden, 3 to 4 minutes. Drain the shallots on paper towels; reserve the oil for another use. Sprinkle the shallots with salt and let cool.

In a large bowl, toss the cabbage, carrots, red onion, cilantro, mint (if using) and shredded chicken. Add the olive oil and the dressing and toss. Sprinkle with the peanuts and fried shallots and serve the chicken salad with lime wedges.

Serves 4 -6 people.

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Can you keep a secret?

What is your favorite kind of cookies? For me, I can't resist biscotti. Chocolate biscotti, to be specific. The first thing I see on the biscotti recipe is not the description one provides, but the ingredient list. I want to know whether butter is used in the process.

Called me stubborn, or even ignorant, but I steer myself clear from biscotti made with butter. I don't care what others say about the crispier texture when butter is used. It just doesn't feel right for me. I think it has to do with one article I read couple years ago before I started baking biscottis. It mentioned that the "real deal" is made without butter. Ironically, I can't even remember where I saw that article, let alone its authenticity. But the message somehow stuck in my illogical brain.

Having established my weird logic on biscotti recipe, it should not catch you by surprise that this batch of biscotti is made without butter. And the means of how this recipe travel from the book onto this blog is quite embarrassing, if not scandalous.

It was on a sunny morning after I walked OCT to school and decided to spend some leisure time browsing the new cookbooks in the nearby Barnes & Nobles. The sparkling new Dolce Italiano that was displayed on the feature rack caught my eyes. I picked up the book and found a quiet spot. Sitting on the comfortable couch, I started to peruse the book. Little did I know when I picked up the book that the authour- Gina DePalma, is the pastry chef of Mario Batali's Babbo Restaurant! (Ok, I am ignorant) Unlike many dessert books in the market, DePalma has a clear vision and sharp focus on what she wanted to convey. And it was Italian desserts. Not only did she manage to cram so many delicious sounding recipes in the book, it is also packed with stories and information. I think it will serve as a great reference for anyone who is interested in making or simply wanting to know more about Italian desserts.

Usually, I could easily finish reading a cookbook in one sitting. But not this book! I had a hard time digesting all the information the book offers. It feels almost like lovers who haven't met and talked for a decade! So I decided not to rush through it, and skipped to the section where the biscotti recipes are. And I did something that may not gain your approval. I copied the recipe of this biscotti. A very rough guide though, which consists of the ingredient list and simple instructions. Such is the distance I would go, to give you, my friends, the recipe of this fantas-bulous biscottis. I hope you will keep it to yourself. But certainly make it and share it with your loved ones.

Just save the part where your friend here risked being scorned by the store manager and other medical students to bring this recipe to you. Oh, and please, by all means, get a copy of Dolce Italiano. After trying the Mosaic Biscotti, I would strongly recommend this book to anybody who have a passion for Italian desserts.

Here's goes the gist of the recipe and my modified instructions:

Mosaic Biscottis
adapted from Dolce Italiano

3.5 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
2 cups granulated sugar, 1 tsp granulated sugar for glaze (I used 1.5cups and it's the right sweetness for me)
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp kosher salt
2 cups of pistachio, coarsely chopped
2 cups of hazelnuts, corsely chopped (I used 1.5 cups, because that's what I have left)
12 oz semisweet or bittersweet chocolate (I used 1 pack (11.5oz)of Ghiradelli Bittersweet Chocolate chips because I got it on offer :))
4 large eggs, at room temperature
2 eggyolks, plus 1 eggwhite for glaze (optional), at room temperature
2 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 325F.Line two large baking sheet with parchment paper. Set aside.

In a bowl of electric mixer fitted with whisk attachment, beat the whole eggs, eggyolks and granulated sugar until the mixture holds a ribbon-like trail on the surface for a few seconds when you raise the whisk.

Switch to the paddle attachment. With mixer on low speed, add the vanilla extract and the flour mixture. When it's well combined, add in the nuts and chocolate and stir by hand, using a large spatula.

Using the spatula as a guide, drop the dough by spoonful into a 2.5-inches wide and 18-inches long log directly onto the parchment paper. Slightly flatten it to 1/2-inch thick. Leave 2 inches space between logs.*** Brush eggwash over logs. Sprinkle with granulated sugar, if using.

Bake, rotating pan halfway through, until logs are just firm to the toch, 20-24 minutes. Transfer baking sheets to a wire rack to cool completely, about 40 minutes.

Lower the oven temperature to 200F. (I wasn't very patient, so I stick with 300F. This way the biscottis will dry fasterin the second bake)

When the logs are cool enough to handle, use a serrated knife to cut biscotti log on the diagonal, into 1/4-inch thick, or if you like, 3/4-inch thick (which is more durable to be send off as care package.

Arrange slices on the baking sheet and bake until biscottis are firm to the touch and completely dry. 10 to 12 minutes. Carefully turn the biscottis to the other side and bake for another 10 to 12 minutes, or until dry.

Remove pans from the oven;Let biscottis cool completely on the rack. They can be kept in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 2 weeks. I keep them in the freezer when I don't feel like sharing with others. They can be kept there for months.

*** Note: you can also shape the dough into individual log before baking. But I find it easier to just drop the dough onto the parchment paper to form a log. It's less messy this way. Especially when the dough is sticky.

Tip: If you have baking racks, you can also place the biscottis on them for the second bake. This way, you don't need to turn them when one side has dried.

Suppose to make 4 dozen biscottis, (I have more than that!)

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Penne with Roasted Vegetables & Goat Cheese

As an effort to maintain a healthy diet, I try to make vegetarian meal once a week. Unfortunately, we haven't been able to adhere to this regime the past weeks for some reasons. Ok, they are mostly excuses, so I shall not bore you with the detail.

This week however, I am determine to stick with this resolution. As I was looking for a tried and tested recipe for our vegetarian meal, I came across one listed by Robyn1007 on the Cookinglight bulletin board. Although it called for yellow squash and zucchini which I didn't have on hand, I thought I could swap it with other vegetables. In my case, I used red bell pepper and eggplant. The result is one hearty satisfying meal. The transformation of the few humble vegetables after roasting is simply amazing. I like the fact that they are easy on the waist but huge in flavor.

I can't stop raving about my love of roasting vegetable! Whenever I find a vegetable that I don't like, I would just roast it. And then, they will be welcome as VIP on my favorite list. Like cauliflower. I only eat it when it's roasted with garlic, salt and lemon juice.(yum!) Using the roasting method, I have recently became acquainted with sweet potato too. My mum would be so proud of me. She couldn't persuade me to try her favorite purple sweet potato the last time I was home.

Note: I am excited to learn from the lovely Anh that Morgot of Coffee and Vanilla is hosting the Vegetarian Awareness Month in October. I am sure there will be more vegetarian ideas for me come early November.(When the roundup is up!)Oh, and I shall not forget to submit this pasta dish as my contribution for the Vegetarian Awareness Month.

Penne with Roasted Vegetables & Goat Cheese
Adapted from Cookinglight.com

1/2 pound uncooked penne (tubular-shaped pasta)
1 medium eggplant,cubed
1 large red bell pepper, remove seed and roughly chopped into cubes
1 cup thinly sliced red onion, separated into rings
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1 garlic clove, minced
A handful of cherry tomatoes
1 1/2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
1 cup (4 ounces) goat cheese
3 tablespoons chopped fresh basil
1 1/2 tablespoons chopped fresh thyme


Preheat oven to 475°.

Cook pasta according to package directions, omitting salt and fat. Drain, and set aside.

Combine eggplant and next 6 ingredients (squash through garlic) in a large bowl; toss well to coat. Arrange vegetables in a single layer in a jelly-roll pan. Bake at 475° for 20 minutes, stirring after 10 minutes.Add the cherry tomatoes to the jelly roll pan. Roast until all vegetables browned. Drizzle vinegar over vegetables; toss well.

Combine pasta, vegetable mixture, goat cheese, basil, and thyme in a large bowl; toss well.

Yield
4 servings (serving size: 1 1/2 cups)

note: the original recipe uses 2 cups of sliced zucchini and sliced yellow squash respectively.

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Birthday Mango Cream Cake

I have just gone through some of the recipes I made but have not published on this blog yet. And I am now torn between blogging about something new or something old. I guess it won't really matter to you, so here's what I made last week for OCT's birthday. A Mango Cream Cake. Mango cake holds a special place in our household. We don't normally bake it because of the lack of good sweet mango here. And I also can't seem to find a reliable recipe on mango cake. The only time it graces our dining table is either OCT or my birthday.

These are time when I am more adventurous and not stress about the outcome. Unlike baking cakes for friends' birthdays when I have to pray hard for the cakes to turn out well. Luckily most of them request for chocolate cakes, which I am quite competent now. Our birthdays, as it turns out is the best time to experiment. To be fair, I did ask OCT what cake he wanted for his birthday. The answer was consistent all the time, and he said he only wanted mango cake. Even if there's a possibility of having an "inedible birthday cake". You can probably tell that OCT is quite a mango aficionado now.

With that in mind, I started to creat one cake based exclusively on trial and error. With the exception on the cake base. I used a base I had tried with good result before. Strictly speaking, I only need to get the mango cream filling and topping right to fulfill my husband's birthday wish. Even if it turned out miserable, I guess we can still scrap out the yummy cake base to eat.

Because I wasn't sure how much filling I would need, I ended up making a lot more than required. As a result, the birthday cake turned out having a bulging top.Maybe if I didn't try to be creative and used lady fingers to line up the pan and dropped in a can of lychee, there would be more room for the mango cream. But both the lady fingers and lychee proved to be worthy for the space they occupied. They just added so much interesting flavors to the cake.

For the decoration, I initially wanted to pipe "happy birthday" only. But then I melted too much chocolate and I didn't want to waste it. So it ended up on the cake, as you can see in the picture below. I simply pipe whatever I could think of. And the result was a casual and messy cake. I probably would have made the cake more formal and piped "OCT" instead of "Baby" if we invited other friends. But since it's just the two of us, I guess I can call him whatever I want. :)

Before OCT was home, I tied the cake with a satin ribbon, so it would look like a present. I feel rather guilty for not getting him anything because he always shower me with gifts on birthdays and anniversaries. Anyway, he said he wanted no present and a low key birthday. So I guess I have to grant the birthday boy his wish!

I am also submitting this mango cream cake as my entry for the latest edition of "Waiter, there's something in my....Layered Cake", which is hosted by Andrew of Spittoon Extra. Be sure to check out the round up later on Andrew's blog.

Mango Cream Cake

For the cake
2 cups cake flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/8 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 sticks(10 tbsp) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup sugar
3 large eggs
1 large egg yolk
1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
3/4 cup buttermilk

For the filling and topping ***(see note below for suggestions of the amount of ingredients used)
About 2 pounds of mango flesh
2 cups of heavy whipping cream
sugar to taste
2 packets of gelatin powder
1 can of lychee in syrup, with lychee drained and roughly chopped; reserve syrup

lady fingers
melted dark chocolate

To make the cake base,
Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 350F. Butter two 9x2 inch round cake pans, dust the inside with flour, tap out the excess and line the bottoms of the pan with parchment or wax paper. Put the pans on baking sheet.

Sift together the cake flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.

Working with a stand mixer, fitted with a paddle attachment, or with a hand mixer in
a large bowl, beat the butter on medium speed until soft and creamy. Add the sugar and beat for another 3 minutes. Add the eggs, one by one, and then the yolk, beating for one minute after each addition. Beat in the vanilla; don't be concerned if the mixture looks curdled. Reduce the mixer speed to low and add the dry ingredients alernately with the buttermilk. adding the dry ingredients in 3 additions and the milk in 2 (begin and end with the dry ingredients); scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed and mix only until the ingredients disappear into the batter. Divide the batter evenly between the two pans and smooth the tops with a rubber spatula.

Bake for 28 to 30 minutes,rotating the pans at the midway point. When fully baked, the cakes will be golden and springy to the touch and a thin knife inserted into the centers will come out clean. Transfer the cakes to a rack and cook for about 5 minutes, then run a knife around the sides of the cakes, unmold them and peel off the paper liners. Invert and cool to room temperature right side up.

To make mango filling and topping,
Puree mango flesh with some sugar syrup from canned lychee. Taste and adjust sweetness accordingly.Pour out the pureed mango into a large bowl.

Sprinkle 2 packets of gelatin powder with 1/4 cup of sugar syrup from the canned lychee. Heat the mixture in microwave for 30 seconds until the gelatin solution dissolves and turns clear. Leave to cool slightly.

Using a stand mixer with whip attachment, beat whipping cream until stiff.

Slowly dribble gelatin solution into pureed mango.Stir to mix well. Set aside 1/2 cup of mango mixture in another medium bowl for topping. Fold some whipped cream into the remaining mango mixture to lighten. Continue to fold the remaining whipped cream thoroughly but lightly into the mango mixture.

To assemble
Carefully place one cake layer on the bottom of a 9-inch springform pan or a cake ring. Brush the top of the cake with some sugar syrup from canned lychee. Scatter the chopped lychee on top of the cake.Brush one side of the lady fingers with the same syrup before lining them on the sides of the ring. Brushed side facing inward.

Carefully pour in the mango cream and top with the second cake layer. Brush the top with syrup. Pour the rest of the mango cream on top.Followed by the reserved topping.

Chill overnight before decorating.

***Note: you will have way too much mango cream using the above recipe.1 cup of whipping cream and 1 packet of gelatin powder, with the same amount of mango flesh (2 pounds) should yield a more intense mango flavored cream. Having said that, I have not tried out this combination yet.

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Dinner from Scratch

The crisp Fall weather has certainly put me in a cooking and baking mood. Unlike summer when I prefer dinner to be ready in less than 30 minutes, I love lingering in the kitchen longer now.

That also means I am more receptive to the ideas of making elaborate, labor intensive recipes and meals. Not that I am connoting these descriptions with the recipes below. In contrary, I have a recipe which I would consider as comfort food for OCT and myself.

From the tropical countries we come from, comfort food means something that's light and preferably not piping hot. That's comfort food for a country with summer weather 365 days a year. A hearty sandwich in my opinion fits the bill.

Because of my weakness in resisting a good seafood(especially shrimps!) recipe, I have my eyes on the Shrimp Rémoulade Po'boy recipe from Cookinglight magazine and a hamburger bun recipe from a blog I like. I think I would call this concortion a Shrimp Rémoulade Sandwich since the authentic Po'boy uses french bread/Baguette. Making this meal certainly requires some planning. Especially when you want to pair the freshly baked bun with the Shrimp Remoulade filling.

I started my bun making in the early afternoon and had them ready before I prepped the shrimp. According to Joe, the hamburger buns freeze well. It eliminated my worry for having to finish a dozen of them in one meal.

If you have baked bread before, you would understand the moment of joy when the bread comes out of the oven. Because I substituted whole wheat flour for some of the all purpose flour required, mine turned out slightly fibrous. Not exactly the kind you would expect in a soft storebought hamburger bun. I prefer it this way though as it stands up to the Rémoulade sauce without making the whole thing soggy.

I also made a fresh corn salad, which unfortunately was not memorable. If you must try, the recipe is here.

Shrimp Rémoulade Sandwich
adapted from Cookinglight, July 2007 and hamburger bun from this blog

Rémoulade sauce:
1/3 cup reduced-fat mayonnaise
2 tablespoons finely chopped onion
2 tablespoons finely chopped celery
2 tablespoons finely chopped green bell pepper
1 tablespoon prepared horseradish
2 tablespoons ketchup
1 teaspoon minced fresh basil
2 teaspoons lemon juice
2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 small garlic clove, minced

Remaining ingredients:
24 large shrimp, peeled and deveined
Cooking spray
4 (3-ounce) French bread loaves, sliced horizontally (I used homemade hamburger buns)
1 cup chopped iceberg lettuce
1 cup chopped tomato


To prepare sauce, combine first 11 ingredients in a medium bowl. Chill.
Prepare grill.

Thread shrimp onto 4 (10-inch) skewers. Place skewers on grill rack coated with cooking spray; grill 2 minutes on each side or until shrimp are done.

Preheat oven to 350°.

Hollow out bread halves, leaving a 1-inch-thick shell. Place bread on a baking sheet; bake at 350° for 5 minutes. Place 1/4 cup lettuce, 1/4 cup tomato, and 6 shrimp in bottom half of each loaf. Spoon 1/4 cup sauce over each sandwich. Cover with top bread halves.
*I used homemade hamburger buns in place of the french bread. See recipe below.
Yield
4 servings (serving size: 1 sandwich)

Hamburger Buns

1 cup milk
1 cup water
2 tablespoon sugar
2 tablespoons butter
1 1/2 teaspoon salt
5 1/4 cups all-purpose flour, divided ( I substituted 1 cup of all purpose flour with whole wheat flour)
2 1/4 teaspoons instant yeast

Egg wash

1 large egg yolk
1 tablespoon water

In a small saucepan, add milk, 1 cup water, sugar, butter and salt. Heat over low just until the butter melts - cool to lukewarm.

In a medium bowl, whisk together 3 cups flour with the yeast.

Pour the milk mixture into a large mixing bowl. Mix in the flour/yeast mixture, 1 cup at a time, until all 3 cups are in, beating until smooth. Stir in enough of the remaining flour to make stiff dough.

Scoop the dough onto a lightly floured surface. Knead until smooth and elastic (about 8-10 minutes), adding enough of the remaining flour to prevent the dough from sticking to your hands. Move dough into a large bowl lightly coated with cooking spray. Cover and let rise until doubled, about 60 minutes.

Uncover and punch down the dough. Evenly divide into 12-16 pieces, depending on how large you want the buns to be. Form each piece into a tight ball and place about 2" apart on a parchment lined baking sheet - you may need to use 2 sheets depending on the size. Slightly flatten each ball. Cover and let rise until doubled - another 30 to 45 minutes.

Preheat oven to 400.

In a small bowl, whisk together egg yolk and water. Gently brush egg wash over each bun.

Bake about 20-25 minutes, until golden and they sound hollow when tapped on the bottom. Transfer to a wire rack and cool completely.

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Warming up the oven with M&M Cookie Bars

I am home! Although we are only away for 4 days, I feel like we have left for a long time. And the feeling of returning home is comforting. No more map navigating and eating out daily for awhile.

And here we are. Finally coming to the end of a series of interview processes. All the possibilities have been unfolded, and it's up to OCT to decide where we are going to call home next.Of course that has to be a place which best matches his career interest. Unfortunately, it has become apparent that we will not be going to Seattle, although both of us have left our hearts there. Too bad one can not make his career move based on where the best croissants (or coffee)are served.

Oh well, we won't be moving until next year, so I shouldn't be thinking too much about that now. When we touched down at St Louis last Saturday, we were greeted with a pleasantly cooler weather before we left. That made me miss my oven, and I couldn't wait to heat it up and bake a batch of something. But what should I bake? While we were in Atlanta, OCT teased me that I better bake/cook something or I would have nothing to update my blog. "You better do some experiments, or you won't have materials to publish!" He assimilated my blog to his research work.

I decided to bake a batch of M&M cookie bars as home welcoming treats for us. Besides, I am looking for an opportunity to use up some of the pink M&Ms I bought. They are available this time of the year in support of the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation and National Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Being a woman and having an aunt suffered from breast cancer, the National Breast Cancer Awareness Month holds a special place in my heart.

Seeing my aunt braved herself for the chemotherapy sessions and suffered the side effects from it, lossing her weights, hair and appetite; it saddened all our family members. How I wish she had armed herself with more information about breast cancer earlier and know to seek treatment sooner. She was diagnosed more than 2 years ago and started chemotherapy right away. Because of that, she couldn't attend my wedding. And I couldn't tell you how sad and disappointed I was, not having my favorite aunt there with me, on my big day.

So here's my contribution for the National Breast Cancer Awareness Month, and my wish that there will be better cure for the disease, and awareness of the disease among women around the world.

M&M Cookie Bars

As seen in Joe's blog- Culinary in the Country

2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour, sifted
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup butter, melted (I let it go on the stove until it started to turn a little brown and nutty)
2 1/4 cups brown sugar
3 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups M&M's

Preheat the oven to 350. Lightly spray a 10 X 15" jelly roll pan with non-stick spray.

In a large bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, and salt.

In another large bowl, combine the melted butter and brown sugar, stirring until evenly distributed. Allow to cool slightly. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating very well after each one. Mix in vanilla extract. Stir in the flour mixture and when combined add in the M&M's. Spread the batter into the prepared pan.

Bake for 24-26 minutes, until they are shiny and golden brown on top. Try not to overbake these or they will be dry. A cake tester will most likely not come out clean. Remove from the oven and cool completely before cutting.

*****Note: I cut the recipe in half and bake it in a 9x9 square baking pan. It takes 20 minutes to bake. Because I used 2 eggs, the texture of the cookie bars turned out on the cakey side.

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Where have I been?

hey friends, I am so sorry to leave you without a word for such a long time. I had shamelessly tagged OCT along on his interview trip to Seattle. And since we made a trip there, we decided to spend a couple more days in that wonderful city. You know, sipping lattes and eating as much as we could, especially croissant, which we are seriously deprived of, here in St Louis. Well I hope I would plucker up enough courage to tackle that recipe when the weather gets cooler. Anyone wants to do this together? It's one of my to do list, along with losing weights. What an irony. ha!

So, that explained part of the reason of my absense and lack of entry. Another part was because I was down with flu. I call it the full package covering each and every spectrum of flu symptoms. Certainly that includes fever, sore throat, runny nose, coughing and lethargy. I spent a week having a good time in Seattle and another week a dreadful time, mostly on bed. And with this, I hope you will forgive me for not being able to visit and leave comments on your blogs and response promptly on the comments you left here.

Although I have not fully recovered, I am happy to inform that I am 90% there. And by Wednesday, I expect a full recovery. I HAVE to. Because I am tagging along for ANOTHER interview trip. This time, we are going to Atlanta. Even though it's a short trip. Hopefully we get to see, or rather, EAT as many yummy local cuisine as possible.

But I digress. The purpose of this post is to share with you another variation of my favorite low fat marble cake. I marbled two of my favorite ingredients: matcha and cocoa to produce these green and brown cupcakes. The matcha powder that I used was potent, so a teaspoon for a cup of batter (see recipe below) produced my desired color and taste. It has a clean green tea flavor without overpowering, in perfect harmony with its chocolate marbled half.

I have bought another 2 tiny tins of matcha powder from Seattle, enough to experiment with more ideas I have in mind!

Chocolate Matcha Marble Cake/Cupcake


2 cups cake flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon instant espresso or coffee powder
1/3 cup dutch-process cocoa powder
1 1/3 cups sugar
1 whole egg
1 egg white
6 Tablespoons unsalted butter
1 cup low fat yogurt
1 teaspoons vanilla extract
1.5 teaspoons matcha powder

Have all ingredients at room temp. Preheat oven to 350 degrees with rack in the lower third of the oven. Spray 8-10 cup tube pan with cooking spray.

Use a whisk to combine four, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Sift together. Set aside. In a small bowl combine the espresso powder, cocoa and 1/3 cup of the sugar with 1/4 cup of water. Whisk until smooth. Set aside. In another small bowl, whisk whole egg with egg white. Set aside.

Cut the butter into pieces and place in an electric mixing bowl. Beat for 1 minute to soften. Gradually add remaining 1 cup of sugar and beat at high speed for about 3 minutes. Dribble eggs in slowly, about 1 T at a time, beating constantly for about 2 minutes. On low speed, beat in a third of the flour mixture. On medium-high speed, beat in half of the yogurt. On low speed, beat in half of the remaining flour. On high speed, beat in the rest of the yogurt and the vanilla. On low speed, beat in the remaining flour.

Measure out 1 1/2 cups of yogurt batter and mix into the cocoa mixture. Set aside. Add matcha powder to the rest of the yogurt batter in the mixing bowl.

Use a large spoon to fill the bottom of the pan with about three quarters of the green batter placed in dollops. Cover the green batter with dollops of chocolate batter. Top the chocolate batter with small dollops of green batter spaced so that the chocolate batter shows through. Use a table knife to marble the batters together with a circular or zigzag motion; be careful not to blend them too much.

For cupcakes, scoop a heaping tablespoon of either green or brown batter into each paper liner, and cover it with the alternate batter. Marbling the batter with a knife is optional. If you do not marble the batter, you will get a two tone cake instead of a marble cake. Which I think looks equally elegant and appealing.

Bake for 45-50 minutes for cake, (20-25 minutes for cupcakes) or until the cake starts to pull away from the sides of the pan and a toothpick inserted in comes out clean.

Cool for 10-15 minutes on a rack. Unmold the cake. Cool completely before serving or storing.

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Thai Basil: A great herb to try

We don't go to the Asian grocery stores very often. But whenever we go, I make sure that a pack of fresh Thai Basil lands in our shopping cart. Ever since I got back from a Bangkok trip 5 years ago, I have been mesmerised by Thai cuisine. There's something intriguing in Thai cuisine. No doubt it's almost always spicy, rich-because of the coconut milk used. But on top of that there's something else. Something uniquely Thai. Maybe it's the spice and herb they use.

Ironically, the mystery is only solved after 5 years and a move to another continent later. I finally learn that part of the mystery flavor is imparted by Thai Basil. Ever since my first encounter with Thai Basil, I use it in every single Thai recipes. And it never fails to offer the flavor I love and miss from Thailand. Unlike the sweet basil which we use in Italian cooking, Thai Basil has a more assertive flavor. OCT think it's pungent. However, I find it hard to express in words its complexity. For some reason, it reminds me of fennel bulb. Other than that, Thai Basil is a highly compatible herb with Asian cuisine. I like to add it towards the end when cooking red/green curry. Sometime even in sweet and sour dish, which one could associate with Chinese/Thai cuisine.

Recently I find another use of this beloved herb in a recipe from July issue of Bon Appetit. A glance at the ingredient list, I know it would be perfect for our weekly vegetarian meal. The original recipe used egg noodle, but I swapped it with angel hair with no problem. Despite its simplicity, this dish is one which packs with lots of Oriental flavors. The use of three types of fragrant oil with ginger, garlic and vinegar is certainly a clever way to infuse lots of flavors without loading on fat. I further reduced the amount of oil by 1.5 tablespoons and increased 2 more cloves of garlic without missing much flavor. It was a perfect light Oriental meal for summer.

Thai basil may seems unassuming, but adding it to any stirfry, or in this case pasta; would instantly enhance the flavor. If you haven't already tried cooking with Thai basil, I strongly urge to do so. It would certainly surprises you how simple it is to add a "Thai touch" to the standard stirfry.

I am submitting this dish which features Thai Basil as my first entry to Weekend Herb Blogging hosted by Myriam of Once upon a Tart this round, and be sure to check out more about Weekend Herb Blogging at Kalyn's Kitchen.

Spicy Sesame Noodle with Chopped Nuts and Thai Basil
adapted from July 2007 Bon Appetit

1 tablespoon peanut oil
2 tablespoons minced peeled fresh ginger
2 garlic cloves, minced ( I used 4 gloves,because I love garlic!)
3 tablespoons Asian sesame oil (I used 1.5 Tbps)
2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
11/2 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon (or more) hot chili oil*
11/2 teaspoons salt
1 pound fresh Chinese egg noodles (about 1/16 inch in diameter) or fresh angel hair pasta ( I used dried angel hair)
12 green onions (white and pale green parts only), thinly sliced
1/2 cup coarsely chopped roasted peanuts
1/4 cup thinly sliced fresh Thai basil leaves

*Available in the Asian foods section of many supermarkets and at Asian markets.

Heat peanut oil in small skillet over medium heat. Add ginger and garlic; sauté 1 minute. Transfer to large bowl. Add next 6 ingredients; whisk to blend.

Place noodles in sieve over sink. Separate noodles with fingers and shake to remove excess starch. Cook in large pot of boiling salted water until just tender, stirring occasionally. Drain and rinse under cold water until cool. Drain thoroughly and transfer to bowl with sauce. Add sliced green onions and toss to coat noodles. Let stand at room temperature until noodles have absorbed dressing, tossing occasionally, about 1 hour. Stir in peanuts and Thai basil; toss again. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Serve at room temperature.

Makes 4 to 6 servings.

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One chiffon cake, Two ways

As much as I love my trustworthy chocolate cake recipes, I decided it's time to try my hands at making chiffon cake last week.But which recipe should I entrust my first chiffon cake experiment? In the end, I decided to go with Espresso Chiffon Cake with Caramel Glaze from Carole Broom's Essential Baker. Surely I can't resist a recipe with name like this! And what would be a better breakfast item to bring on OCT's weekly lab meeting?

The final result was light and flavorful. But not too sweet. I like how the espresso aroma filled the room when the cake was out from the oven. The soft and airy texture was reminiscent of my childhood. This is the kind of cakes which I liked to buy from the Asian bakeries. Often filled with chocolate buttercream. I was instantly transformed back to my childhood.

Needless to say, I am ecstatic that I could replicate this familiar comfort food memory in my apartment kitchen. Never mind that I am zillion miles away from home. I cut a huge piece for myself after the cake was frosted with caramel glaze, and paired it with a cup of coffee. It was a great afternoon tea. The rest was packed and sent for the next day's breakfast meeting.Now that I have a taste of my childhood chiffon cake, I can't stop thinking about it. I decided to do something unprecedented in my short baking life. I baked the same chiffon cake again! This time, frosted with a bittersweet chocolate ganache for a dinner party.

The effect is not unlike a woman who takes off her serious working clothes and put on an elegant evening gown. The version of Espresso Chiffon Cake adorned with Bittersweet Ganache albeit simple, was sophisticated and elegant. Not to mention, delicious; with the accompaniment of ice cream.

I have to admit, I much prefer the second version. But I maybe bias, as I like anything with coffee and chocolate together.

Espresso Chiffon Cake with Caramel Glaze
adapted from Carol Bloom's Essential Baker

Ingredients for Espresso Chiffon Cake:
2 tablespoons instant espresso powder
2/3 cup water
1/2 cup unflavored vegetable oil (canola or safflower)
2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract or vanilla paste
2 1/4 cups cake flour (I used all purpose flour with no problem)
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups superfine sugar, separated
6 extra large eggs, at room temperature, separated
1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar

For Caramel Glaze:
2/3 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
2 ounces (4 tablespoons, 1/2 stick) unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
3 tablespoons heavy cream
1/4 cup confectioners' sugar, sifted

For Bittersweet Chocolate Ganache:
6 ounces bittersweet chocolate (I used 72% chocolate), finely chopped
3/4 cup heavy cream
1 to 2 tablespoons rum
1 tablespoon granulated sugar
Center a rack in the oven and preheat it to 325F.

Cut a round of parchment paper to fit the bottom of the pan and cut out a hole in the middle to fit the center tube of the pan. This cake is baked in an ungreased pan because greasing the pan would keep the batter from rising and gripping the sides of the pan as the cake bakes.

In a large measuring cup or medium bowl, dissolve the espresso powder in the water, Add the oil,vanilla and eggyolks. Whisk until well combined.

Over a large piece of parchment paper or bowl sift together the flour and baking powder. Add 1 cup of sugar and salt and stir together.

Make a well in the center of the mixture by pushing the dry ingredients towards the side of the bowl. Add the espresso mixture. Using a rubber spatula, stir together until thoroughly combined.

Place the egg whites in the grease free bowl of an electric mixer or in a large grease free bowl. Using the wire whip attachment or a hand held mixer, whip the egg whites on medium speed until they are frothy. Add the cream of tartar. Slowly sprinkle the remaining 1/2 cup of sugar and continue whipping until the egg whites hold glossy and firm but not stiff, peaks, about 5 minutes.

Fold the egg whites into the cake batter in 3 to 4 stages, blending thoroughly after each addition. Transfer the batter to the tube pan. Use the rubber spatula to smooth and even the top.

Bake for 1 hour, or until the cake tester inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean.(Mine took 45-50 minutes).

Remove the pan from the oven and invert it over a cooling rack onto its feet or over a funnel or a thin necked bottle. Let the cake hanf to cook completely. Don't set the pan on a cooling rack on its base. This will cause the cake to collapse onto itself.

Don't shake the cake out of the pan before it is cool. Once the cake is cool. use a thin blade knife or flexible blade spatula to run across the outer edge and the inside tube to help release the cake from the pan. Invert the cake onto a rack, then reinvert onto a serving plate.

Making the Caramel Glaze:
Place the sugar, butter and cream in a saucepan over medium heat. Stir until the mixture is very smooth. Remove the pan from the heat and cool slightly. Stir in the confectioners' sugar until very smooth.

Place the cake on a rack over a lined baking sheet. Drizzle the glaze over the top of the cake and let it run down the sides. Let the glaze set for 10 minutes, then cut into serving pieces.

Making Chocolate Ganache Glaze:
Heat cream, sugar, rum in a saucepan over medium heat until it simmers and bubbles forming on the sides of saucepan. Remove from heat and pour cream over chopped chocolate. Using a rubber spatula, stir to melt chocolate with hot cream until the mixture turns glossy and smooth. Let the chocolate ganache cool to pouring consistency. Pour over the chiffon cake. The leftover is delicious to eat with a spoon or as spread on bread.

Serves 12 to 14.

Note on keeping:
The unglazed cake can be kept in room temperature for 3 days and up to 4 month in freezer, when tightly wrapped in plastic. If frozen, defrost overnight in the refrigerator and bring to room temperature before serving.

Once the cake is glazed, it can be kept, lightly covered with waxed paper and then tightly covered with plastic wrap, at room temperature for 1 day. (Mine was kept in refrigerator for 3 days with no problem)

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Yay, I won!

On top of its contribution as our dinner party dessert, this cake also won me the "Best in Edibility" category in DMBLGIT August 2007! It's my first time participating in this event, and I am honored that the judges selected mine out of so many drool-worthy pictures.Honestly, I think everybody did extremely well this round, and I am a bit embarassed to tell you I won.... (shhh....so we will keep it low-key, ok?)

Maybe this is what they call "beginner's luck"? Anyway, thanks to the kind people who like this pic and my friends (yes, YOU!) who frequent my blog and leave me encouraging comments. I won't have cared to style my food and decorate my baked goods if it wasn't for you.

I am a happy girl now. I wish I could share a piece of Lychee Cheesecake with you now. Oh, and you can see the roundup of DMBLGIT August 2007 here. Hmmm, I wonder which photo should I choose to participate in the September DMBLGIT? Would you tell me which one is your favorite!

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When life hands you tomatoes.....

We love tomatoes in our pasta and sandwiches. So it was a delight to see all the juicy ripe tomatoes at the farmer's market last week,indicating a good harvest. As much as we tried to restraint from buying too many tomatoes, OCT and I still bought far too many for our weekly consumption. Sure tomatoes aren't expensive, but my heart still aches remembering throwing out lots of those that went bad. A consequence of overbought what we could consume.

Anyway, I was thinking of trying out a new recipe I had bookmarked from the september issue of Cookinglight. The recipe that garnered the test kitchen's highest rating is a sure way to catch my attention.

Chicken Breasts with Gorgonzola-Tomato Salsa is a simple dish that packs in lots of flavors. And I love its bright color.It instantly transformed the dull chicken breasts into a photo-worthy kind of dish. Since there's just two of us here, I cut down the amount of chicken used and paired it with way too much salsa. But nobody is complaining. Eating the juicy ripe tomatoes at their peaks is a real treat! Not to mention its many beneficial properties, of which "rich in antioxidant" is one of them.Because I didn't have red onion on hand, I simply omitted it and substituted with shallot. It still tasted pretty good. I think the recipe is fairly forgiving and one can certainly use more or less of the ingredients listed, to taste. Just remember to use the ripest tomatoes you can find!

I am submitting this anti-oxidant packed recipe to Sweetnick's weekly ARF 5-A-Day. Be sure to check out the roundup at her blog later tonight!

Chicken Breasts with Gorgonzola-Tomato Salsa
adapted from Cookinglight Sept 2007

Combine the ingredients for the salsa--except the cheese--up to a few hours before dinner, and store at room temperature; pound the chicken ahead of time, and keep chilled.

Ingredients
2 cups chopped tomato
1/3 cup minced red onion
1/3 cup finely chopped fresh basil
2 teaspoons extravirgin olive oil
1 teaspoon kosher salt, divided
6 (6-ounce) skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Cooking spray
3 tablespoons crumbled Gorgonzola cheese


Preparation
Combine tomato, onion, basil, oil, and 1/2 teaspoon salt in a medium bowl. Let stand at room temperature.
Place each chicken breast half between 2 sheets of heavy-duty plastic wrap; pound each piece to 1-inch thickness using a meat mallet or small heavy skillet. Sprinkle both sides of chicken with remaining 1/2 teaspoon salt and pepper.

Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Coat pan with cooking spray. Add 3 chicken breast halves to pan; cook 4 minutes on each side or until chicken is browned and done. Remove from pan; keep warm. Repeat procedure with remaining 3 chicken breast halves.

Stir cheese into tomato mixture. Place 1 chicken breast half on each of 6 plates; top each serving with about 1/3 cup salsa.

Yield
6 servings

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Soba's what for dinner!

When you spend a lot of time reading the delicious food blogs out, many things can happen to you. Do you know that by simply staring at the food on the computer screen can make one gain weights? Ok, this may not sound scientific, and I don't have any concrete research work done on this yet. But that is certainly the case for me. Sadly, as of the last time I weighed, I have gained some more pounds from looking at food that I didn't eat! I am serious. Really.

Another thing, that may or may not happen to you, is an impulsive change of menu for dinner. Yes, this happens a lot of time around here... You know, the menu I planned sounds great, and the necessary ingredient has been taken out to thaw. But thing changes in a matter of one click. Like the time when I see the entry about soba here and here.

"Isn't it great?" I told myself. "I have soba in the pantry which I bought for a recipe I read somewhere. But couldn't find it anymore after soba comes on board." A change of menu is inevitable, lest I forget where I see the recipe again. So much on food blogs overloaded.

Speaking of soba, I wish I could tell you more than it's noodle made of buckwheat flour and I have seen it made fresh from the Japanese restaurant display window. Other than that, I know very little about soba. If you are interested to know more, check out here.If you are only interested in eating (like me), skip the link, and drag the cursor down because I want to tell you about my first soba experience.

You know how sometime you have never tasted a new thing and don't know what to expect? That was my case with soba. Would it taste like the Italian's spaghetti or Asian's instant noodle? The answer is none of the above. In fact, I tasted a mild nutty flavor in Soba. Since I have not tasted anything made with buckwheat before, I wouldn't know if that's the typical "buckwheat taste".

Anyhow, I sort of incorporated these two recipes into one, because I don't have some of the ingredients in the respective recipes.ha! The thing with cooking (at least Asian's cooking) is, it is very forgiving. You can safely incorportate more of certain condiments to suit your taste, or leave it altogether.(With some exceptions of course, but that's not the case here, at least)

While I am sure both recipes taste marvellous, I am happy to report that my modified version was pretty good too. With an auspicious beginning with soba, I have since optimistically bought a few more packs of soba (with different brands)from my local Asian's grocery store. They are now sitting neatly with their Italian and Chinese counterparts!

Does any food blog make you try something new lately?

Spicy Soba Noodles with Tofu, Shiitake mushroom and Red Pepper

Makes 4 servings

For sauce
1/3 cup water
1/3 cup soy sauce
2 to 3 teaspoons Korean hot-pepper paste (sometimes labeled “gochujang”)
1 tablespoon packed brown sugar

For noodles
3 tablespoons sesame seeds
1/4 cup vegetable oil
2 tablespoons finely chopped peeled ginger
1 tablespoon finely chopped garlic
10 dried shiitake mushrooms, soaked in water to soften, stemmed and thinly sliced
1 block (12oz) of firm tofu, cubed.
6 scallions, thinly sliced
8 to 9 ounces soba
1 red pepper, cored and thinly sliced

Stir together all sauce ingredients until brown sugar is dissolved, then set aside.

Toast sesame seeds in a dry 12-inch heavy skillet (not nonstick) over medium heat, stirring, until pale golden, then transfer to a small bowl.

Heat oil in skillet over medium-high heat until it shimmers,add tofu and cook, stirring occasionally, until all sides are browned. Remove from skillet. In the same skillet,sauté ginger and garlic, stirring, until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add shiitakes and red bell pepper and sauté, stirring frequently, until tender, about 4 minutes. Reduce heat to medium,return tofu to the skillet and add most of scallions (reserve about a tablespoon for garnish. Add sauce and simmer 2 minutes.

While the tofu mixture is cooking, cook soba in a pasta pot of boiling salted water (2 tablespoons salt for 6 quarts water) until noodles are just tender, about 6 minutes. Drain in a colander and rinse under cool water to stop cooking and remove excess starch, then drain well again. Transfer to a large bowl and toss with sesame seeds and tofu mixture. Serve sprinkled with reserved scallions.

If you aren’t able to find Korean hot-pepper paste, substitute 3/4 teaspoon Chinese chile paste and reduce the amount of soy sauce to 1/4 cup.

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Matcha Again?!

Hmmm... Yeah. Sorry, I am really obsessed with Matcha lately. I am sure you will see more Matcha related recipes on my blog until I finally finish using my tiny tin of Matcha powder. I will try to spread them out over the weeks, so Green will not be the only color you see in this blog.As you may recall,I have blogged about the Matcha Brownie and mini matcha cheese tarts here not too long ago. But the first recipe I tried after I acquired the Matcha powder was indeed these Matcha Cookies, which Kelli from Lovescool had so kindly shared on her blog.

Now you probably have seen it on Fanny, Veronica,Mae and some other beautiful blogs before(sorry I am sure I have seen a lot more bloggers' entries on this sweet but I can't remember where!), and I don't have to sound like a broken record telling you just how amazing these cookies are. I simply love its melt in your mouth texture and distinct matcha flavor. Eating the cookie is almost like drinking the matcha tea itself. However, if Matcha is not your cup of tea, then maybe you would find it a bit grassy.OCT for one, finds the cookies too "green/grassy". I nodded to his comment, and secretly happy that I could have the cookies all to myself! Well, I guess we can say:"one man's meat is another man's poison?" Like how I adore chocolate of high cocoa percentage, but OCT finds it too bitter.Just my 2 cents anyway.

But I am urging you, green tea lovers out there to give this a try, and remember: Don't waste it on your tea-hating friends. They may not enjoy it, so save the precious morsels for yourself!Like how I baked a batch, offered OCT a tiny bite and kept the rest all to myself!

In Kelli's version, she rolls the cookies in sugar. I followed the method in my first batch but decided to play around with the subsequent batch. Since I always have some sweet tart dough in the freezer, I defrosted some, rolled it thin and glued to the Matcha cookie dough.

After the dough firmed up, the dough was sliced and baked in the oven. I think I like the second version better. The outer ring of sweet tart dough added a nice buttery flavor to the cookies and I prefer the cookies without the crunch from granulated sugar.

Thank you Kelli, for your generosity in sharing your award winning Matcha Cookies recipe! Your recipe nudged me to get my first tin of Matcha powder, and ignited my obsession with Matcha ever since.

Have you made these cookies yet?

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Something sweet for the weekend

Don't listen to people who tell you,"You are too small to achieve great things". Look at the wine cork, it has the strength to lift up a Nutella Tart which probably is a thousand times heavier than its weight.


Have you made any plans for the weekend? I am not sure about others, but I like to pack my weekends with lots of activities. Most of the time, ambitious plans which I ended up not achieving much.

Ideally, our weekend should begin with a hearthy homemade breakfast with coffee/orange juice. After which, we would take a 45 minutes walk to the park near our apartment and take in some fresh air. Then, we will make a trip to the farmer's market where we will be considered the early birds, and will get to pick the freshest, prettiest produce first without joustling with the rest of the customers.

Lunch will either be a picnic at the park, or a sandwich at our favorite spot in the Italian neighborhood. Then we would stroll around the neighborhood with freshly made cannoli on hand. Maybe we would catch an afternoon movie after that? It would be dinner time after the show.

Then I would leave OCT alone to play computer game, while I bake something in the kitchen.....

This, as I have mentioned, is my over-ambitious weekend plan.

A typical weekend usually begin when we wake up after we have slept to our hearts' content. I won't tell you the time, let's just say it would be too hot for a leisure walk to the park and the farmer's market will already be packed with people.

Then we will debate on whether we should go directly for lunch or make a detour home to put down our loot. On summer, it's generally too hot to do anything, so we normally head straight home and stay in the comfort of indoor air-conditioner.

And stay indoor for the rest of the day.

Boring, I know. This weekend, I make the same ambitious plan, and let's see how much I can accomplish.

I am going to leave you with this Nutella Tart I made awhile ago, from Pierre Herme's Chocolate Desserts Book. It's the tart Monsieur Herme developed for his wife who loves Nutella. Oh, how romantic! I wish I could tell him it's my favorite too. Too bad I don't speak French! Even if I could, I must transport myself to Paris first! Anyway, have a great weekend,you all!

Nutella Tart
adapted from Pierre Herme's Chocolate Desserts

The crust:
1 fully baked 8 3/4 inch (22cm) tart shell made from Sweet Tart Dough, cooled to room temperature

Keep the cooled crust, with the tart ring still in place, on the parchment-lined baking sheet.( The crust can be made up to 8 hours ahead and kept at room temperature.)

The Filling:
2/3 cup (200g) Nutella
4 3/4 ounces (140g) bittersweet chocolate, preferably Valrhona Noir Gastronomie, finely chopped
7 tbsps (3 1/2 ounces, 200g) unsalted butter
1 large egg, at room temperature, stired with a fork
3 large egg yolks, at room temperature, stirred with a fork
2 tbsp sugar
1 cup (140g) hazelnuts toasted,skinned and cut into large pieces

Center a rack in the ove and preheat the oven to 375F (190C).

Spread Nutella evenly over the bottom of the crust and set it aside while you make the ganache.

Melt the chocolate and butter in separate bowls either over-not touching-simmering water or in a microwave oven. Allow them to cool until they feel only just warm to the touch [104F (40C)], as measured on an instant read thermometer, is perfect).

Using a small whisk or rubber spatula, stir the egg into the chocolate, stirring gently in ever widening circles and taking care not to agitate the mixture- you don't want to beat air into the ganache. Little by little, stir in the egg yolks, then the sugar. Finally, still working gently, stir in the warm melted butter. Pour the ganache over the Nutella in the tart shell. Scatter the toasted hazelnus over the top.

Bake the tart for 11 minutes- that should be just enough time to turn the top of the tart dull, like the top of a cake. The center of the tart will shimmy if jiggled- that's just what it's supposed to do. Remove the tart from the oven and slide it onto a rack. Allow the tart to cool for at least 20 minutes, or until it reaches room temperature- the best temperature at which to serve it.

Makes 6 to 8 servings .

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My first taste of cherry clafoutis

Over the weekend, I was lucky to find some cherries from our farmer's market even though the cherry season has long passed. It finally gave me a reason to try my hand on making cherry clafoutis, a recipe that I have been thinking a lot about, when cherries were abundant, but never got around to making it.

So, I took this as a sign that it's my time to make clafoutis. You see, I have been hesitant for a long time, because I am not really into custardy desserts. But seeing it popped up on lovely Bea's blog a couple of times, it made me suddenly craved for one! And this was how I finally decided to charter into the clafoutis land.

Being a timid and undecisive baker/blogger that I am, I did a bit of blog-hopping before I settled on a fool-proof clafoutis recipe. It's not one from Bea's though, because at 10p.m, I realised I had ran out of heavy cream, an ingredient required in her recipe. So, I settled for another great recipe. One that this blogger said it's a good clafoutis recipe and another blogger made it with stunning result too, that gave me enough assurance to dive right in!

Surprisingly the making of clafoutis was pretty easy. I beat everything by hand (without breaking a sweat), and within 30 minutes, they were sent into the oven. I was apphensive about the outcome, so with the little waiting time I had, I went to bake something else. You know, in case the cherry clafoutis turned out "not my cup of tea" I will have something comforting as backup.

I settled for plum galettes. Mainly because I had seen it not long ago on Martha Stewart's website and I had some gorgeous plums. Well, to tell you the truth, I have debated with myself on whether to bake the plum galettes. They are so sweet and perfect to be eaten on its own. What if there isn't anymore plums in the farmer's market when we return the next week? I asked OCT for his opinion, and even told him the pros and cons of baking up a batch of plum galettes. I don't remember whether he gave his seal of approval, but evidently a batch of galettes was made nonetheless.

Since there's a batch of pate brisee in the fridge, all I had to do was to slice the plums into pieces, mixed them with some sugar and cornstarch, and "tried" to arrange them decoratively on the pate brisee. The galettes were baked in the same temperature as the clafoutis which was great. They could keep one another company and discuss their fates once they were out of the oven. But they didn't stay together for long, as the time for the cherry clafoutis was up.

It gave me great joy to see the clafoutis rose to such heights even before I tasted one. They reminded me of souffle (even though I have never made one, but one can imagine right?)I asked OCT to check out the "fake souffles" too. They were quite stunning but I wasn't sure if that's how clafoutis should behave. At least I don't remember seeing them so puffed up on Bea's blog. I could have overwhipped the milk mixture or baked them slightly too long. But my worry was unfounded because the clafoutis collapsed once they cooled down.

Time for verdict! I tentatively took a small bite, and then another, and before I knew it, I almost finished one clafoutis by myself. OCT was summoned in for tasting and it was love at first bite for him too! However he complained about the trouble of having to spit out the cherry pits. "It imparts an almond flavor to the clafoutis!" I pretended to be knowledgable and knew what I was doing, while in fact I obtained the information from other fellow bloggers. Sometime I love to pretend I know more than OCT when it comes to food.ha!

The plum galettes however, turned out to be on the sourish side. I tried to sweetened them up with some powdered sugar, but the attempt was futile. After sitting forlornly in front of the sour plum galettes for about half an hour, a light bulb moment came. The idea was to make a sweetened apricot glaze and smothered on top of the galettes! This certainly worked and I was relieved that there won't be any sour plum galettes to haunt me in my dream!

The next morning, I packed a few galettes and a few clafoutis for our friends. The intended recipients however were not at church, so we passed them to another family. Little did I know that such simple act of giving would bring so much joy to that family! Their daughter was so excited when presented the box of clafoutis and asked if they were cookies. (She didn't see the content of the box initially)

I won't forget the smile and excitement on her face, as if it's her Christmas present on Christmas morning. I haven't felt so appreciated in a long time and almost forget how good it feels. It's totally worth the effort to make something for people who would appreciate what you have done, don't you think?

Plum Galettes

1 recipe Pate Brisee (see recipe below)
1 tablespoon turbinado sugar, plus more for sprinkling
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour, plus more for work surface
1 tablespoon granulated sugar
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
5 cups pitted plums, sliced 1/4-inch thick (about 5 medium)
1/2 teaspoon lemon zest
1 tablespoon unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
1 large egg
apricot glaze

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a nonstick baking mat.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Sprinkle a lightly floured work surface with 1 tablespoon turbinado sugar. Roll out dough into several 5-inch rounds, about 1/4-inch thick.

In a small bowl, mix together 1 tablespoon flour, granulated sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg. In a large bowl gently toss together plums and zest. Sprinkle the flour mixture over plums; gently toss until evenly coated. carefully place a few pieces of plum on top of dough, leaving a 1-inch border all the way around. Fold border over plum mixture, overlapping where necessary and gently pressing to adhere the folds.Repeat with the rest of the dough rounds.

In a small bowl, beat together egg with 1 teaspoon water. Brush edges of dough with egg mixture, and sprinkle with turbinado sugar. Bake until crusts are golden brown and juices are bubbling, about 30 minutes. Transfer the baking sheet to a wire rack to cool. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Pate Brisee

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon table salt
1 teaspoon sugar
1 cup chilled unsalted butter (2 sticks), cut into small pieces
1/4 to 1/2 cup ice water

Place flour, salt, and sugar in the bowl of a food processor; pulse to combine, about 30 seconds.

Add butter; pulse until mixture resembles coarse meal. While pulsing, slowly pour in 1/4 to 1/2 cup ice water; process until dough begins to come together. Divide dough in half; shape into two disks. Wrap in plastic; chill at least 1 hour before using.

Note: I used a pastry cutter to make the dough with no problem.

Cherry Clafoutis
adapted from Ceres and Bacchus

3 eggs
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup butter, melted
1 cup all purpose flour
1 cup milk
1/2 tsp. vanilla
2 cups of cherries
some chopped pistachios (optional)

Preheat the oven to 400 F. With a mixing bowl, beat the sugar and eggs with a wire whisk until they turn lighter in color. Gradually add in the melted butter, beating to incorporate. Add the flour all at once and whisk until the batter is a homogeneous mixture.

Slowly pour in the milk and vanilla,whisking to combine. The batter should be very smooth and shiny.

Distribute the cherries in 7 disposable aluminium dishes,(or you can also use a buttered glass or earthenware baking dish, cake pan (9 or 10 inches in diameter) or skillet, as the original recipe suggests). Pour the batter over the fruit. Bake for approximately 20-30 minutes (longer if you can using a bigger pan), until slightly browned and almost completely set in the middle. Serve warm, at room temperature or cold. (I baked them at night, had one before sleep and another one for breakfast the next morning.)

Top some chopped pistachio on the clafoutis before serving.

Make 7 individual size clafoutis for weekend breakfast.

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Happy Birthday M&M!

It's Malaysia's birthday today! 50 years ago, our first Prime Minister Tunku Abdul Rahman declared our independent at the Stadium Merdeka with the resounding : "Merdeka! Merdeka! Merdeka!" (independence!) I can't help but filled with emotion and pride everytime I see the clip as if I was there, 50 years ago.

Coincidentally, my birthday falls in the same month as Malaysia's Independence day. And my name starts with the letter "M" too! So, for our birthdays, I made a cake that starts with "M" too. Mango cheesecake, that is!




OCT was really sweet and offered to bake me a cake. After making so many birthday cakes for others, I felt rather pampered having someone made me one for my special day. We decided on something simple, yet special. What would be better than cheesecake right? That way, OCT doesn't have to worry about all the "beating, mixing, folding, icing, confusing" instructions an elaborate cake entails. I wanted a mango cake, because that reminds me of home. In the place I grow up, every household has at least one mango tree! Mango is such an indiscrimating fruit that it practically grows anywhere you throw the seed. Alright, I may be wrong on the second part. Or perhaps even the first part about every household having at least one mango tree. But for Sabahans, we are bound to have friends/relatives who have mango trees. And the mango from A's garden might taste different from B's garden. I beg not to pretend as an expert in this aspect, I can only assure you that I was a happy girl when a ripe, peeled, carefully cut mango landed on my lap.

So mango always conjure up happy memory. And it is fitting for a birthday celebration. After some research on potential recipes, we settled on a basic baked lemon cheesecake from Bon Appetit with pureed mango as topping. The initial plan of incorporating mango in the cheesecake batter was thwarted after many negative feedbacks on the changed texture and taste of mango after baking.

A mango mousse would be nice, but the cream added might dilute the mango flavor. Besides I wanted the mango flavor to be intense and unadulterated. In order to achieve this, I decided to do as little to the juicy sweet mango flesh as possible.



Maybe a mango mirror, I thought. With nothing more than a little gelatine powder, lots of mango pureed and sugar to taste. As little luck as I had with gelatin before, this actually worked! The mango mirror was firm when we cut the cake on my birthday!

Unlike other birthday cakes I made in the past, we left this cake unadorned. We didn't even bother to pipe "Happy Birthday" on top and the resulting cake, as you can see turned out to look pretty simple and unassuming.

The resulting cake, is a low fat tangy lemon cheesecake with a sweet mango topping. I like it for many reasons. One being it's a mango cake, and of course the fact that OCT was very involved in the whole baking process. He crushed the crumb manually and even attempted to beat the cream cheese by hand! The later was aborted after we found that task to be insurmountable. Why should we while we have the trustworthy Kitchen Aid by our side?

So here's a mango cheesecake for Mandy and Malaysia's birthday. Selamat Hari Merdeka to my fellow Malaysians.



Note: Oh, and my friend Adeline and Sean were so sweet to give me a surprise just before we cut my birthday cake. Guess what they brought? A huge and most delicious (also the first) ice cream birthday cake for me!



I was genuinely surprised when they turned up at our apartment. OCT did a great job by acting normal the whole night! I initially thought it would be a quiet night with simple dinner for my birthday like we always do on birthdays!



Thanks Adeline and Sean for giving me my first ice-cream birthday cake and spending my last "20-something" birthday with me!

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Give me something cold for dinner

I saw this simple recipe from the Southern Living magazine, and it immediately captured my attention. I have been wondering what to do with the fresh tomatoes I got from the farmer's market the past weekend. Normally, they would inevitably end up in pasta,my usual and not-so-creative salad or sandwiches. I mean, what else can you expect a humble tomato to do in spite of its many supportive roles in various cuisines.

Perhaps everyone deserves to be put under the spotlight once in awhile. And for the same reason, tomato was put on the spot, at the center of our dining table not many nights ago.The vines that bear all these tomatoes would be proud,if only they could see how pretty the bright, succulent tomatoes was, basking in the equally delicious peach and basil vinaigrette. And the smile and satisfaction they brought to their eaters' lips. It was a new taste to our palate, but a welcoming one. We ate simply that night, with only this salad and some sliced sourdough. The bread was the perfect vehicle to soak up all the remaining juice on the plate. Do we miss the meat? Not me. But I guess OCT probably thinks that another meat dish won't hurt...

I am submitting this anti-oxidant packed recipe to Cate's weekly ARF 5-A-Day. Be sure to check out the roundup later tonight!

Tomatoes with Fresh Peach and Basil Vinaigrette
adapted from Southernliving

1/3 cup white balsamic vinegar
1 garlic clove, minced
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
1/8 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 large peach, chopped
1 1/2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil

Whisk together first 5 ingredients until sugar is dissolved. Whisk in olive oil. Stir in chopped peach and basil. Serve immediately.

Yield
Makes about 1 1/4 cups (serving size: 1 tbsp.)

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A very rough guide for making scones

Even since I learned how to make scones last year, I always keep an extra batch of scone dough in the freezer. It's something handy to have, especially for Saturday morning when we don't feel like eating pancakes (our weekend breakfast ritual).All we have to do, is simply to heat the oven to 425F and transfer the scone dough from freezer straight to the oven. It's our sort of "fast food".

This recipe which I adopted from Bon Appetit made the scones baking process even faster and simpler than my favorite standby recipe. I like to make a batch of the dough and bake it fresh whenever the scone craving hits.

While scone isn't exactly the hardest pastry to make, please allow me to share with you my experience in making scones, on what works for me, for the benefit of others who haven't chartered into the scones territory. Yes friends,I am talking about you!

Oh, one more good news to get you started: you don't need a mixer or even a food processor to make scones! All you need is a mixer bowl and a pastry cutter. IF you are not willing to invest $3 for that, you can use 2 forks to stand in for the cutter too.

Here goes my very rough guide of scone making:

Rule 1:
Start with everything COLD. You want to be able to cut the butter into the flour, to the size of coarsemeal.So that when they bake, all the butter will melt and form multiple pockets in the scones, and give them the flaky texture.

Rule 2:
Handle the dough with TLC and as little as possible. Obviously you want your scones to be tender and crumbly and not rock-like. So, minimum handling helps to do just that.

Rule 3:
Freeze the dough for at least half an hour before baking. Remember the dough is handled minimally? It will tend to crumble and fall apart if you attempt to bake it immediately. What works for me, is to freezer the dough after I formed it into a circle. After it firms up, I will simply cut them into equal parts of triangle. Of course you can cut it with round cookie cutter, but I am too lazy to wash one more item.

In this batch of scones, I used dried cranberries,raspberries chocolate chips and lemon zest. The original recipe used meyer lemon zest and dried blueberries. I figured this recipe is so flexible that you can use any citrus zests and other dried fruits with great result. If dried fruit is not your cup of tea, replace it with chocolate chips. A trick which works for the finicky eater in my household.

Because this recipe makes a lot of scones for just the two of us, I always halve the recipe.

Lemon and Dried Cranberries Scones with Raspberry Chocolate Chips
adapted from Dec 2006 Bon Appetit

3 cups self-rising flour
1/2 cup plus 1 1/2 tablespoons sugar
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) chilled unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
1 cup dried cranberries
1 cup plus 1 tablespoon buttermilk
1 1/2 tablespoons finely grated lemon peel
1/2 cup raspberry chocolate chips ( or semisweet/bittersweet chocolate chips)


Line large baking sheet with parchment paper. Whisk self-rising flour and 1/2 cup sugar in large bowl. Using pastry cutter or 2 forks (or use your fingers) to cut the chilled butter until pieces are size of small peas. Add dried cranberries and raspbeey chocolate chips and toss to coat. Mix 1 cup buttermilk and finely grated lemon peel in glass measuring cup. Pour buttermilk mixture into dry ingredients and stir until dough begins to form (some of flour will not be incorporated). Transfer dough to lightly floured work surface and gather together. Knead dough briefly, about 5 turns. Divide dough in half. Form each dough half into ball and flatten into 1-inch-thick disk. Freeze the dough for at least half and hour or up to a month.

When ready to bake, preheat the oven to 425F and like baking sheet with parchment paper. Take the dough out from freezer and each disk into 6 wedges.

Transfer scones to prepared baking sheet, spacing 1 inch apart. Brush tops with remaining 1 tablespoon buttermilk and sprinkle with remaining 1 1/2 tablespoons sugar. Bake until scones are golden brown on top and toothpick inserted into center comes out clean, about 25 minutes.

Makes 12 servings.

Note: Before I succumbed to the temptation of buying self rising flour, (which I don't use very often other than making these scones) I used all purpose flour to make half of the recipe. In place of 1.5 cups of self-rising flour,I used 1.5 cup of all purpose flour+ 2 tsp baking powder + approximately 1/2tsp baking soda + 1/4tsp salt.

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