white aromatics, leeks, sweat.
add in green peas, lemon grass, kaffir lime leaves.
cover with stock, bring to boil and cook for 5 mins.
puree, garnish with lime juice and optional lime zest.
saute spam with broccoli florets, garnish for soup for more substance.
Sunday, September 9, 2012
Tuesday, August 28, 2012
grits
Tomato sauce with anchovies
grits, cooked with water, salt, tomato sauce
heat roasted chicken
parsley, chilies, radish and cheese. mix, bind with one egg.
olive oil, salt, pepper
grits, cooked with water, salt, tomato sauce
heat roasted chicken
parsley, chilies, radish and cheese. mix, bind with one egg.
olive oil, salt, pepper
Thursday, March 29, 2012
dinner
Oven baked mashed potatoes (cooked in skin, 450 for 35 mins), peeled and crushed with butter and EVOO. Steamed eggplant, meatballs, oyster sauce, sesame oil, diced cabbage. Needs something green, coriander perhaps. Hot peppers would work.
Steamed egg with ginger-garlic-onion-siracha paste. Roasted pork, dark soy. Water. Stir fried vegetables. Rice and couscous.
Steamed egg with ginger-garlic-onion-siracha paste. Roasted pork, dark soy. Water. Stir fried vegetables. Rice and couscous.
black and strawberry ricotta pie
Having made a batch of sweet pie dough from the Ottolenigh cook book which is beautiful to make some tartlets a couple weeks ago, a pie was in order.
The recent trip to the supermarket yeilded a punnet of black berries and a tub of ricotta cheese. A quick search on tastespotting yeilded multiple ricotta pies which as it turns out, is an Italian Easter tradition. We may be two weeks early but who really cares. The dough itself is very easy to make and is not too difficult to work with (butter content isn't too high). The filling itself is also very simple - rich and smooth ricotta cut with the acidity of a little lemon, black berries and strawberries that have been slightly cooked down and pureed. This is then bound with eggs, a little vanilla for body and a little extra sugar for sweetness.
Some thoughts however - the tart could have been baked for way longer. Trying to get it out of a non-spring form pie tin is was a pain and a mess was created, though a neat looking tart never tastes as good as a messy one. Right? Also a little more sugar in the ricotta filling would have been nice, it was borderline bland even with the fruit puree. Finally to make it lighter, I think separating the whites and beating them into soft peaks and then folding it in would have made a lighter filling.
And what does one do with leftover rolled out pie dough? Quasi shortbread!
Moving on: Chocolate bacon macarons. There's really no reason why the two can't be combined. A chocolate ganache is enlivened by the textural crunch of rendered bacon and the richness from the fat basically replaces the butter. Couple notes again, the ganache itself could have been slightly sweeter, a less dark chocolate could have been used. Perhaps if I paired it with a maple butter cream or something... gasp, pancake breakfast macarons!
The recent trip to the supermarket yeilded a punnet of black berries and a tub of ricotta cheese. A quick search on tastespotting yeilded multiple ricotta pies which as it turns out, is an Italian Easter tradition. We may be two weeks early but who really cares. The dough itself is very easy to make and is not too difficult to work with (butter content isn't too high). The filling itself is also very simple - rich and smooth ricotta cut with the acidity of a little lemon, black berries and strawberries that have been slightly cooked down and pureed. This is then bound with eggs, a little vanilla for body and a little extra sugar for sweetness.
Some thoughts however - the tart could have been baked for way longer. Trying to get it out of a non-spring form pie tin is was a pain and a mess was created, though a neat looking tart never tastes as good as a messy one. Right? Also a little more sugar in the ricotta filling would have been nice, it was borderline bland even with the fruit puree. Finally to make it lighter, I think separating the whites and beating them into soft peaks and then folding it in would have made a lighter filling.
And what does one do with leftover rolled out pie dough? Quasi shortbread!
Moving on: Chocolate bacon macarons. There's really no reason why the two can't be combined. A chocolate ganache is enlivened by the textural crunch of rendered bacon and the richness from the fat basically replaces the butter. Couple notes again, the ganache itself could have been slightly sweeter, a less dark chocolate could have been used. Perhaps if I paired it with a maple butter cream or something... gasp, pancake breakfast macarons!
Thursday, January 19, 2012
Tiramisu
A few years ago when I worked in this small Italian restaurant back in Singapore named Alba, I was essentially their pastry guy making the desserts, not that any of the stuff I made was my own recipe but I was the one that did it anyway. We made a really awesome flour-less chocolate cake which is dead easy and once when we had a big party in, some pregnant lady ate like 3 slices of the stuff. Rich, gooey but at the same time light (it was meringue based), its a crowd please-er.
Anyway the other thing i made was Tiramisu, clearly a very Italian restaurant staple. Honestly I have yet to have found a better tasting tiramisu as opposed to the one we made. Some people didn't like it though as when presented it was essentially two peices of coffee soaked lady fingers with the tiramisu cream on top. We heard complaints that it was essentially just lady fingers and cream - which is what it essentially is. You can't please everyone so whatever.
When it was MK's birthday the other week she requested tiramisu since it is now my tradition to make people cake for their birthdays, since we should all have cake, birthday or not. The recipe that I used in the restaurant consisted of mascarpone mixed with egg yolks of which then cream sweetened with icing sugar was folded into along with a bit of rum. It was light, it was silky, it was delicious and i ate way to much of it. The lady fingers we were lazy and just bought them in.
For Christmas, aunt E gave me an Italian cookbook from some lady that she met and learned some stuff from. Anyway her recipe was more or less the same except instead of cream she used the egg whites to make a meringue which was folded into the mascarpone cream. It's been a while since i made the other recipe and i really didn't want to bother with cream, plus, having to store egg whites for another use even though there are plenty is an extra step i couldn't be bothered with. The resulting cream was just as delicious as the one made with cream, and less fattening too if you think about it.
Another thing was the lack of lady fingers at the supermarket, but you know what, lady fingers are pretty easy to make too. It's almost like a basic sponge cake except there's no leavening and in fact, once we ran out of lady fingers in the restaurant so we just used sponge cake. I can now proudly say that i truly made tiramisu from scratch. Though i guess if i milked the cows and grew the wheat...Sorry i don't have any photos, totally forgot to take them in the middle of all the eating.
Tiramisu
Enough for 8, or for one if your like MK and is greedy
250g Lady finger biscuits (since i made them fresh, i used about 7 of the fingers i made, whatever fits into your container i guess)
1 shot of espresso (maybe a little more, just make 2 shots and drink the remaining. If you can't get espresso make the strongest coffee possible. The stronger the better)
250g of mascarpone
3 eggs, seperated
3 tablespoons caster sugar
3 tablespoons marsala/sherry OR 2 tablespoons of rum (whatever liquor is your fancy)
Cocoa powder for dusting
Put the mascarpone and egg yolks in a fairly large bowl and mix until totally incorporated. Refrigerate. Whisk your egg whites with the sugar until you get stiff peaks, either by hand or with a mixer. Fold into the mascarpone mixture in thirds, adding your liquor at the end. Refrigerate whilst you make your espresso/coffee. When you make your coffee, cool it down. Get your lady fingers and line them up on a dish (i used a pyrex rectangular shaped dish). Dip lady fingers into coffee and make a layer full of lady fingers down on the dish. Try to get it as soaked as possible for the fullest coffee flavor, though not too much that it totally breaks apart. Put half of the cream mixture and spread it out evenly then lay on the 2nd layer of the fingers and cover with the remaining cream. Dust with cocoa powder just before serving.
enjoy!
Anyway the other thing i made was Tiramisu, clearly a very Italian restaurant staple. Honestly I have yet to have found a better tasting tiramisu as opposed to the one we made. Some people didn't like it though as when presented it was essentially two peices of coffee soaked lady fingers with the tiramisu cream on top. We heard complaints that it was essentially just lady fingers and cream - which is what it essentially is. You can't please everyone so whatever.
When it was MK's birthday the other week she requested tiramisu since it is now my tradition to make people cake for their birthdays, since we should all have cake, birthday or not. The recipe that I used in the restaurant consisted of mascarpone mixed with egg yolks of which then cream sweetened with icing sugar was folded into along with a bit of rum. It was light, it was silky, it was delicious and i ate way to much of it. The lady fingers we were lazy and just bought them in.
For Christmas, aunt E gave me an Italian cookbook from some lady that she met and learned some stuff from. Anyway her recipe was more or less the same except instead of cream she used the egg whites to make a meringue which was folded into the mascarpone cream. It's been a while since i made the other recipe and i really didn't want to bother with cream, plus, having to store egg whites for another use even though there are plenty is an extra step i couldn't be bothered with. The resulting cream was just as delicious as the one made with cream, and less fattening too if you think about it.
Another thing was the lack of lady fingers at the supermarket, but you know what, lady fingers are pretty easy to make too. It's almost like a basic sponge cake except there's no leavening and in fact, once we ran out of lady fingers in the restaurant so we just used sponge cake. I can now proudly say that i truly made tiramisu from scratch. Though i guess if i milked the cows and grew the wheat...Sorry i don't have any photos, totally forgot to take them in the middle of all the eating.
Tiramisu
Enough for 8, or for one if your like MK and is greedy
250g Lady finger biscuits (since i made them fresh, i used about 7 of the fingers i made, whatever fits into your container i guess)
1 shot of espresso (maybe a little more, just make 2 shots and drink the remaining. If you can't get espresso make the strongest coffee possible. The stronger the better)
250g of mascarpone
3 eggs, seperated
3 tablespoons caster sugar
3 tablespoons marsala/sherry OR 2 tablespoons of rum (whatever liquor is your fancy)
Cocoa powder for dusting
Put the mascarpone and egg yolks in a fairly large bowl and mix until totally incorporated. Refrigerate. Whisk your egg whites with the sugar until you get stiff peaks, either by hand or with a mixer. Fold into the mascarpone mixture in thirds, adding your liquor at the end. Refrigerate whilst you make your espresso/coffee. When you make your coffee, cool it down. Get your lady fingers and line them up on a dish (i used a pyrex rectangular shaped dish). Dip lady fingers into coffee and make a layer full of lady fingers down on the dish. Try to get it as soaked as possible for the fullest coffee flavor, though not too much that it totally breaks apart. Put half of the cream mixture and spread it out evenly then lay on the 2nd layer of the fingers and cover with the remaining cream. Dust with cocoa powder just before serving.
enjoy!
Monday, January 16, 2012
leeks, rice, pesto, stock, mushrooms, tomatoe
saute 1/4 onion in olive oil, green portion of leeks in thin slices added in and sauteed for about 4 mins. 5 thbsp of stock added in, 3 shitakes, and 1/2 cup of cooked dried rice. cook for another 3-4 mins, then 4 thsbp of pesto. season to taste. tomatoes in quarters.
Monday, December 5, 2011
Pulled Pork
A very good friend of mine from Eh-Spain once told me his dream was to come to America, go to the southern states and eat pulled pork. Whilst most things involving porky delights is generally excellent, i never really understood his primal and somewhat strange urge towards pulled pork. To be fair the only memories of pulled pork that i really remember is from Hard Rock Cafe - acceptable but not the OHHH DIOS reaction that this Eh-spanish friend had, whom i shall address as P.
Anyway E, the roommate requested me to make pulled pork, so P, you had all the chicken rice but not the pulled pork (in joke).
The dilemma came about in whether to brine or not. Research has taken me to a route where it seems a brine will develop a more "hammy" flavor with a slightly different texture as from what i''m told, the brine denatures the proteins. Sure.
I opted out for the brine because that meant more work also the piece of meat i have has a nice layer of fat already in it so i'm not worried about it drying out - the main point of a brine i feel. So a dry rub was deployed. The flavor profiles was something I wasn't too sure about but looking it up most of the rubs out there more or less had repeating factors: cumin, rosemary or thyme, coriander, fennel etc. So in no particular amounts, i used a mixture of paprika, cumin, ground coriander, dried rosemary, sea salt, pepper, a little all spice and a little nutmeg - basically i threw in every dried ground spice i had in the cupboards. The pork was left overnight in the fridge and when i woke up in the morning i took it out of the fridge, got ready for school etc and then placed it in the oven at 225F when i left.
Came back after 4 hours, pork was on its way and got the bbq sauce ready. Used a bottle of the pumpkin spiced home brew, some extra water, left over spice rub, ground cinnamon, parsley stalks, ketchup, tamarind extract, siracha sauce, serrano peppers, light and dark soy sauce, salt and of course, pepper (peppercorns actually).
Basted it every 30mins for another 2 hrs and it was ready to be pulled though not after picking at it. Made a quick slaw of cabbage, onions, tomatoes, celery and parsley dressed with a little lime, olive oil and sesame oil. Served everything on a hoagie roll. Damn that was a fine dinner and its time for a nap.
Oh yea, ever wonder what happens when you leave egg whites uncovered for 2 months in the fridge?!
Anyway E, the roommate requested me to make pulled pork, so P, you had all the chicken rice but not the pulled pork (in joke).
The dilemma came about in whether to brine or not. Research has taken me to a route where it seems a brine will develop a more "hammy" flavor with a slightly different texture as from what i''m told, the brine denatures the proteins. Sure.
I opted out for the brine because that meant more work also the piece of meat i have has a nice layer of fat already in it so i'm not worried about it drying out - the main point of a brine i feel. So a dry rub was deployed. The flavor profiles was something I wasn't too sure about but looking it up most of the rubs out there more or less had repeating factors: cumin, rosemary or thyme, coriander, fennel etc. So in no particular amounts, i used a mixture of paprika, cumin, ground coriander, dried rosemary, sea salt, pepper, a little all spice and a little nutmeg - basically i threw in every dried ground spice i had in the cupboards. The pork was left overnight in the fridge and when i woke up in the morning i took it out of the fridge, got ready for school etc and then placed it in the oven at 225F when i left.
Basted it every 30mins for another 2 hrs and it was ready to be pulled though not after picking at it. Made a quick slaw of cabbage, onions, tomatoes, celery and parsley dressed with a little lime, olive oil and sesame oil. Served everything on a hoagie roll. Damn that was a fine dinner and its time for a nap.
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