Balsamic Tomato Bruschetta

Chicken and Thyme Penne

Roasted Tomato Soup

Mushroom Vols-au-Vents

Spinach and Cheese Triangles

I made these delicious triangles for a picnic and they were easy and tasted great. I always loved cheese and spinach triangles that came from the freezer, and these ones were very close. The only problem is that the filling wasn't as creamy and cheesy.

I could only find frozen spinach that came in 250g packages so I used that. Once all the liquid has been drained, it's weight decreased even more, but the ratio of spinach to cheese was just right.

The holidays are nearly over so I hope you enjoyed them, and see you soon!

Ultimate Mashed Potatoes

It is the holidays once again, and this time I plan on finishing all my work within the first few days so I can have the rest of the holidays off. I plan to, but most likely I will end up cramming on the last few days.

Moving on, I made mashed potatoes! I used to love mashed potatoes and gravy from KFC, but I detest KFC hence I don't get to eat much mashed potatoes. But I will in the future now that I have this recipe. Normally I would boil potatoes in water until it is soft, but this recipe uses chicken broth which adds a lot more flavour. The soften potatoes are then mashed with cream, butter, sour cream, bacon and chives - only I didn't have chives so I substituted with spring onions.



This was amazing and is far tastier than that KFC crap. I love bacon and it gives the mashed potatoes texture and flavour. The hardest and most tedious part of the recipe is peeling potatoes, but once you try a mouthful of mashed potato it all becomes worth it.

Have a great school holiday!

Teriyaki Chicken and Soba Noodle Salad

I made this salad for myself when I had a friend over. It was flavoursome and refreshing. The soba noodles were light and the vegetables were crisp. I made my own teriyaki marinade, but I recommend using store-bought which has much more flavour.

The chicken breasts I marinaded for many hours, which enhanced the flavour. The soba noodles were very easy to cook, and not much different to pasta. I didn't have beansprouts so I left those out. I had some trouble when I cooked the chicken though because the pan I used was too hot. I ended up steaming the chicken to prevent the outside from burning and the inside remaining raw.

The combination was unbelievable. It was sweet and salty and cool. I will definitely be making this when I am feeling hungry.

Caramelised Onion and Mozzarella Omelette

I wung this recipe when I was away from school. I was hungry for something salty, but I didn't have many interesting ingredients in the fridge or pantry. I did have half a bag of mozzarella cheese stored in the freezer, so I decided to use that.

First I caramelised half an onion. This is actually the most time-consuming part, but you do not have to do much work. I cracked a few eggs and mixed it with salt, pepper and water. Pour the eggs over the onions and cook. Sprinkle over some cheese, fold over and you're done. I was expecting this to be nice with the onions and cheese. It wasn't nice, it was mind-blowing.

The cheese was gooey and stringy, and the onion lent great flavour. Served this with a drizzle of tomato sauce and you have one of easiest but most delicious lunches out there. You should serve this with an undressed salad of lettuce and tomatoes.

Penne alla Boscaiola

Heh, who knew having an eye infection for three days can give me time to cook loads of yummy food.

I was feeling hungry yesterday and I looked in the fridge, then the pantry, then back at the fridge. I had bacon, mushrooms, cream and some other vegetables. I decided on pasta, which seemed the easiest way to go. I boiled some Penne, and made half a batch of Boscaiola sauce to top it with.

Boscaiola sauce is made with bacon, mushrooms, onions, parsley and cream. This sauce was quick and tasty. I think I used the wrong type of mushroom, though. Oh well, most mushrooms taste the same anyway.

I think I am really getting the hang of cooking pasta. This recipe is a keeper.

Pumpkin Soup

Just a pre-message: I know (nearly) everyone who reads this blog, and most are from my school, but I still appreciate comments. I mean, here I am rambling on about some crap I made a few days ago and it feels like nobody's listening. If you read this blog please comment once in a while, even just to say hello, because it gets lonely here, and comments cheer me up. So if you read, please comment (and subscribe!).

I was excited about making something from Simply Heaven again, and this time it turned out far better than last time. The pumpkin soup had very clear flavours and it was very healthy. The only 'fat' in the soup was Philadelphia Spreadable Light Cream Cheese, which added richness and creaminess to the soup. Other recipes I found online used regular cream, which contains more fat than Philly, so the choice is obvious. I actually found the soup just a tiny bit too rich, and after eating (drinking?) a bowl of it, my throat got a bit itchy. My whole family loved though, which was surprising.

The absolute hardest part of making this soup is cutting the pumpkin. Definitely. It's not difficult, as such, but the amount of pumpkin you have to cut into wedges and scoop seeds out of is very large. A kilo is needed, which is about a whole pumpkin. I literally spent an hour preparing the pumpkin and cutting it into a rough dice. The pumpkin is then tossed in some olive oil, along with an onion and a head of garlic. It's then baked until tender, then boiled with 6 cups of stock. I shamefully admit that I use stock cubes, but they are just so cheap!

Next comes another tedious part - the processing. Normally, if you don't mind a chunky soup, you can skip processing and eat it as is. This doesn't apply to pumpkin soup because the pumpkin is so stringy that the texture is wrong, and looks unappetising. I don't have a food processor or a blender, so I have to use a 'Magic Bullet Blender' which only blends a bit at a time. All in all, I think I made about 10 trips to the 'blender' and back. The hard work pays off though, as the result is smooth and creamy, and delicious. The croutons are just slices of bread that I baked, cubed and baked again in the oven until crisp. It's very nice with the soup.

This was definitely a success, and I hope to make more of it in the future.

Recipe

Obtained from Simply Heaven, by Philadelphia

Serves 6.

1kg pumpkin, peeled and chopped
1 onion, roughly chopped
1 head garlic, broken into cloves and peeled
1 tablespoon olive oil
6 cups chicken stock
250g Philadelphia Spreadable Light Cream Cheese
Salt and pepper, to taste
Parsley and croutons, for garnish

1. Toss the pumpkin, onion, and garlic in oil. Place on a lined oven tray and bake in a hot oven 200°C for 20-25 minutes or until tender.

2. Place roasted vegetables in a large saucepan with stock and bring to the boil. Remove from the heat and allow to cool slightly. Blend or process the soup until smooth then return to the saucepan.

3. Whisk the Philly into the soup until smooth, simmer for a further 5 minutes until well heated. Season to taste then ladle into serving bowls and garnish with parsley. Serve immediately.

Caramelised Onion and Goat Cheese Tartlets

Remember how I made a batch of goat cheese the other day? Well by itself, it tasted bland and I didn't quite like it. It's probably the fact that I've never tasted commercial goat cheese before, or goat milk for that matter. But why would I dive head-first into cheesemaking with goat cheese? Well it was to make Caramelised Onion and Goat Cheese Tartlets. I've searched online, and it seems only goat cheese goes well with caramelised onions in this recipe, so as to avoid paying more for commercial cheese, I made my own.

Cheesemaking involves heating milk to a boil and adding acid, like vinegar or lemon juice to it, to separate the curds and whey. Once separated, the mixture is poured into a colander lined with a cheesecloth (I just used a kitchen towel) and the whey is strained out. Depending on how dry you would like your cheese, you can tie the cloth up and let it drip for an hour to further extract the whey. In my opinion, goat cheese should not be overly dried.

Because I didn't know just how salty commercial cheese is, I was wary of adding salt. I add a teaspoon, tasted, added some more, tasted again. I seriously could not tell the difference. As much as I hate to say it, it really depends on your taste. I didn't add any herbs because I didn't have any on hand, but herbs would have added a nice touch.

The tartlets were okay, but the crust was too hard. I opted to make my own shortcrust pastry, but I didn't know what went wrong. It was extremely hard, and shrunk every time i rolled it out. They were placed into the fridge for 20 minutes and blind baked for 10 minutes. I made less than planned because the cases that were not in tartlet cases flattened into discs of thick pastry. I caramelised the onions, and they were delicious. Onions are my favourite vegetable when they are cooked, but I don't quite like them when they're raw. They make me cry too much. I topped each pastry case with a quinelle of caramelised onion, and a quinelle of goat cheese. They looked very cute. I brought them to a picnic with a bunch of friends, along with a batch of ham and pineapple pizza scrolls. Adults seemed to like the tartlets, but children seemed to stay away from them and took the scrolls instead.

Now that I have tried cheesemaking, I may make my cheeses from now on. With cheeses so expensive these days, people really should start making their own.


Recipe(s)

Goat Cheese

1 litre goat milk
1/8 cup lemon juice or vinegar
Salt and herbs
Candy thermometer (I had to use this because I didn't know when to take off the heat)
Cheesecloth, or a clean kitchen towel
Colander
Large bowl


1. Pour the milk into a large pot (Do not use aluminium) and heat on medium-low heat.

2. Heat milk to 180-190°F (82-87°C) and take off heat. Pour the lemon juice or vinegar into the milk and stir. Leave for 15-30 seconds to let the milk separate.

3. Place the colander over the large bowl and place the cheesecloth over the colander.

4. Carefully pour the milk into the colander and stir constantly.

5. Once most of the liquid has drained down into the bowl you can tie the corners of the cheesecloth together and attach to a stick, like a wooden spoon. Let hang over a bowl and let drip for 1-1.5 hours.

6. Remove the cheese from the cheesecloth and season with salt and herbs.

~

Caramelised Onion and Goat Cheese Tartlets

Obtained here.

Makes about 20 tartlets.

2 tbsp olive oil

4 onions, thinly sliced

2 sprigs fresh thyme

Salt and freshly ground pepper

3 sheets shortcrust pastry

Butter

100g fresh goat's curd

1. Heat olive oil in a heavy-based pot. Add the onions and thyme and season with salt and pepper, cooking over medium heat and stirring frequently for 10-15 minutes.

2. The onions on the bottom should become quite dark but not burnt - when it darkens, remove from heat and allow to sit for 3 to 5 mins for the onions on top to sweat and soften those underneath.

3. Stir well, return to the heat and continue to cook for about 10 mins until the onions are completely soft and dark, golden brown, removing the pot from the heat occasionally to allow further softening. Adjust seasoning if necessary.

4. Preheat oven to 180°C.

5. Lay the pastry sheets out on the bench and cut into 5cm circles. Line buttered tartlet cases (you could also use muffin trays) with the pastry and refrigerate for 20 minutes. Bake blind for 10-12 minutes or until golden. Set aside to cool.

6.Spoon equal amounts of caramelised onion and fresh goat's curd into cases and serve.

Carrot Cake

In my efforts to explore and taste all the different types of food in the world, I made a vow to myself that I will try at least one new recipe each week. Sometimes, there are exceptions when I just don't have the time, or don't have the ingredients. Sometimes, the results are absolutely delicious, and I put that recipe into a special file labelled 'Good'. Other times they are quite disappointing. Then there's recipes which I couldn't give a damn about. It may not be a bad recipe, just one that doesn't appeal to me, for some reason or another.

Such recipes include yesterday's carrot cake. I was browsing recipes for bundt cakes to bake in my fluted tube pan (yes, I'm still psyched). I made a list of cakes that I want to bake, and I was planning on having some sort of Bundt Cake Marathon. First up was a carrot and walnut bundt cake, with cream cheese frosting, from Epicurious. I had no idea what carrot cake tasted like, and after extensive research, I gathered it did not taste anything like carrots. I then bought a carrot slice from the school's canteen, but that tasted random. I reckoned it tasted bad because it was filled with artificial crap.

I'm still learning the ins and outs of my fluted tube pan, and still haven't managed to find a reliable technique to stop things sticking. Before, I've buttered it and floured it, but that didn't work. This time, I sprayed it with cooking spray, but a piece of cake still stuck to the pan. I've got a feeling that this contributed to my neutrality to this cake. I was glad the glaze/frosting covered up the cracks, but it was tooth-achingly sweet. When I was pouring the 3/4 powdered sugar over the measly-looking pieces of cream cheese, I said to myself, 'This is gonna be sweet!' Guess what? I was right. The lemon juice and zest cut off a bit of the sweetness but ow it was sweet. I hope the rest of my cakes turn out better.

Recipe

Obtained from here.

Makes 8 servings.

Carrot Cake

1 1/4 cups all purpose flour
4 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 1/4 teaspoons baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 cups sugar
3/4 cup olive oil
3 large eggs
1 1/2 cups grated carrots (about 3 large)
3/4 cup chopped toasted walnuts

Cream Cheese Icing
 
3/4 cup powdered sugar (I'd put less)
3 ounces (85 grams) cream cheese, softened
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1 teaspoon lemon zest
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 cup (or more) whipping cream.


1. Place rack in center of oven and preheat to 350°F.
 
2. Grease 12-cup nonstick Bundt pan.
 
3. Whisk flour, cinnamon, baking soda and salt in medium bowl until well blended.
 
4. Using electric mixer, beat sugar, oil and eggs in large bowl on medium speed until pale and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Add flour mixture, beating just until blended.
 
5. Fold in carrots and walnuts.

6. Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake cake until toothpick inserted near center comes out clean, about 50 minutes.

7. Cool cake in pan on rack 1 hour.

8. Meanwhile, blend softened cream cheese, sugar, lemon juice, lemon zest and vanilla until combined. Add enough cream to form a thick but pourable icing.

9. Invert cake onto plate. Cool completely. Drizzle icing over top of cake, allowing icing to flow down sides.

Lebanese Bread Pizza

Alas, a savoury recipe!

I was at school last last friday and they were selling pizza for 2 dollars a slice. But they weren't ordinary pizzas with a thick, tough doughy base. No, they had a crispy thin base that broke off like Doritos. On top was some tomato pase, chicken pieces, onions, cheese and I think dried oregano. I drizzled mine with sweet chilli sauce, but I think I had forgotten how sweet sweet chilli sauce was. I could not taste anything but the sticky sweetness of the sauce, except for the occasional chicken piece. But the thin crispy base was enough to get me excited about making this pizza.

The problem with pizza recipes are that they tell you how to make your own pizza dough, and exactly what toppings to put on your base. I think the art of pizza is the fact that you can put almost anything on your pizza. So I have long given up searching for pizza recipes. I have one staple pizza dough recipe which came with my bread machine, and basically just top up with whatever we've got in the fridge. But since the base is premade (Lebanese bread), all  had to do was to get my mum to drive to the local store and buy some chicken and cheese.

I had read somewhere that you had to crisp the bread up first, then top, then bake. It said to grill on high for three minutes. Of all the five settings on my oven, I've only ever used one, conventional, so I was hesitant to try the grill setting. But I did, and I set it to the highest temperature and put 2 halves of bread on a foil-lined baking tray and put it in the oven. I then went to check the marinating chicken while my grandma sliced some onions. I can't cut onions because they make me cry alot. When the timer went off, it smelt like something had burnt, but I couldn't see because the light inside the oven went off. When I opened the door, I saw the bread was completely black and was on fire. As the smoke alarm went off, the tray was quickly rushed outside. We turned the fan on to let all the smoke come out.
 
All bakers have to have what they are baking catch on fire at least once. I'm glad I've had mine now, so it won't happen when I'm serving highly-anticipated guests at my restaurant in Paris. Hey, I've got dreams too!

Anyways, I ended up crisping the bread up in my sandwich press instead. I think it works better than the oven because it heats both sides of the bread evenly. I topped off each halve of bread with mushrooms, chicken marinated in BBQ sauce, onions, corn, Mozzarella and Tasty cheese, and dried oregano. Then I baked it in the oven once the smoke had gone. It was really good, but I wouldn't serve this to hungry workers, though. Now I know why you need such thick bases on pizzas - to be filling. There's just nothing there to eat, so I would only make it again for lunch or a snack.


Recipe

Note: This is only what I did. You can put whatever toppings you like.

Makes 4 slices of pizza

2 slices Lebanese bread, cut in half
150 grams dice chicken thighs
1/2 cup BBQ sauce or marinade
1/2 onion, sliced into rings
3/4 cup tomato paste or pasta sauce
1/2 cup corn kernels
1 cup Mozzarella cheese, grated
1 cup Tasty (cheddar) cheese, grated
Dried oregano


1. Place chicken pieces in a bowl and pour BBQ marinade on top. Stir to coat, and cover with cling wrap    and place in fridge. Marinade for 20 or more minutes.

2. Crisp up bread halves in sandwich maker or in a skillet, until hard.

3. Preheat oven to 200°C.

4. Briefly heat the chicken pieces in a pan until just cooked.

5. Divide tomato paste equally onto the bread. Divide onion, corn and chicken between the bread.

6. Top with cheese and oregano. Bake for 10-15 until cheese melts.

7. Eat immediately.