Q: Panna cotta ?

A: No thanks.

I bring stuff to work to share all the time and most often than not I am able to get people to eat it. Strangely, the boy with healthiest of appetite, a most oft recipient of my baking, who'd happily tuck into my crème brulée and crème caramel, declined my offer of panna cotta. Several times. Evvverrry time. (Not offended, just a tad suspicious. Perhaps a traumatic panna cotta incident. Dunno.)

I took a day off work last Thursday, in the morning I had this for breakfast (I subbed double cream with fresh cream, hmmm so it's almost guiltless really), lazed around at home for awhile. Friend cancelled lunch last minute, impromptu I caught a bus towards a beach where I lied on soft warm sand, sunnies on and a good book in my hand to occasionally distract me from the view. Was really delightful!

Panna cotta
From Silver Spoon, p.1030
Serves 6
10 gr gelatine leaves
100 ml milk
500 ml double cream
100 gr caster sugar
1 vanilla pod, slit

Fill a small bowl with water, add the gelatine and leave to soak. Pour the milk into a saucepan and bring to just below simmering point, then remove from the heat. Do not allow it to boil. Drain and squeeze out the gelatine and add to the milk.

Pour the cream into another saucepan, add the sugar and vanilla pod and bring to the boil over a low heat, stirring constantly. Immediately remove the pan from the heat, remove the vanilla pod and stir in the milk mixture.

Pour into ramekins or panna cotta moulds or as per the book, it recommends a rectangular cake tin. Chill in the refrigerator for several hours until set. Turn out on a serving dish and serve.

I like to have mine with raspberry coulis... compliments the richness nicely. I normally use frozen raspberries, the food processor would turn it into an almost sorbet like concoction. Quite luvly.... see ?



Raspberry Coulis
Larousse des desserts p.102
Makes 500 ml
Juice of 1 lemon
750 gr raspberries
80 gr sugar
100 ml water
Puree everything with a food processor. (I can't be bothered to follow the instructions)

Nothing to note really.
*kisses*

Extra extra ! Lunch box blog #1

Am going to give me 2 points for this because I also made the curry paste. Wheee...!! This is the panaeng curry I made last week by the way, I used the recipe from a Taste of Thailand again. Though I don't think it is meant to look anything like this because the Vatch said that it's supposed to be a rather dry curry. I had to add quite a bit of water to dilute the saltiness, I suspect that I must have not measured the fish sauce correctly? Next time I'll taste test one tablespoon at a time, overall though... pleased with the result. I still have some of curry paste in the fridge, yay!

Panaeng curry
A recipe by Vatcharin Bhumichitr from a Taste of Thailand, p.87 and 90

125 ml or 1/2 cup coconut cream plus 15ml for garnish
30 ml or 2 tbsp oil
1 garlic clove, finely chopped
15ml or 1 tbsp Dry curry paste (recipe to follow)
30 ml or 2 tbsp fish sauce (you've been warned)
5 ml or 1 tsp sugar
180 gr lean beef, diced
2 lime leaves, chopped very finely
15 holy basil leaves
1 long chilli, slivered

In a small pan, gently heat the coconut cream but do not let it boil. In a frying pan or a wok, heat the oil until a light haze appears, add the garlic, fry until golden brown. Add the curry paste and stir fry for a few seconds.

Add the warmed coconut cream (reserving 1 tbsp for garnish), and stir until it curdles and thickens in the oil. Add the fish sauce and sugar, stir. Add the beef, stir and cook gently for 3-4 minutes. Add the lime leaves and holy basil, cook for 1 minute.

This is meant to be a dry curry, but add a little water during cooking if you feel it's drying up too much. It is ready when the beef is cooked through. Serve, garnished with the extra coconut cream and slivered chilli.


Dry curry paste (Panaeng)

10 dried long red chillies, deseeded and chopped
5 shallots, chopped
30 ml or 2 tbsp chopped garlic (about 4 cloves)
2 stalks lemon grass, chopped
2.5 cm piece galangal, chopped
5 ml or 1 tsp ground coriander seed
5 ml or 1 tsp ground cumin
3 coriander roots
5 ml or 1 tsp shrimp paste
30 ml or 2 tbsp roasted peanuts

Using a pestle and mortar or a grinder, blend all ingredients together until they form a smooth paste. You should have about 6 tbsp / 90 ml of paste.


Note :
I confess to have improvised a fair bit here...
1. I subbed beef with chicken.
2. I added water liberally because I think the fish sauce lent a too strong fishy note and left my curry too salty. Was a good move though, because then I could add some vegetables to 'lighten' it up.
3. Coconut cream replaced by coconut milk. Roasted peanuts and coriander leaves and chilli for garnish. How very take away thai.
4. As I write this in a major hurry as am sleepy, this post is officially one of my lousiest I think... This might well be, the first and only lunch box blog.
5. Ah well... I'm going to click 'publish post' and go to bed.
6. Sweet dreams! xoxm

Just Vatch me

Someone please enlighten me, as to why the letter 'W' is double u in English, but it's double v in French ? I just thought about it and isn't it rather peculiar... and why is it that door isn't pronounced the same way as 'oo' in poor ? or cook ? or book ?

Cookbooks and baking books by the way, I love!! I used to want a big library full of them, but I now tend to be more selective and am content to have few reliable ones. Though I must say that I've been quite spoilt to have been given some nice ones these recent years. So actually I have no excuse not to be able to complete my own challenge this year. My Silver Spoon book alone, has over 2000 recipes! yes it's written on the cover! I'm not short of recipes, it's life that is rather short.

Amongst the few I bought for myself last year, is this picture-less Thai cookery book by Vatcharin Bhumichitr, a Taste of Thailand. No illustration whatsoever! It was of course on sale that's why I got it but it is rather unappealing that I hadn't tested out anything up until a few days ago. Last weekend I made my way to a Thai grocer and got everything I'd need for some pad thai and panaeng curry.



My... my... seldom would I praise myself but I'm quite proud at how my pad thai turned out. I quite like the fact that it's practically meatless... bar the odd tablespoon of dried shrimps. What amazes me and quite don't get how... is the fact that I didn't seem to have to add any seasoning and yet there was a nice balance of salt, sour and sweetness. I must say though, it tastes unlike pad thai from my local thai resto but I think it's yum yum nevertheless.

Pad thai
a recipe from a taste of Thailand p.84
(The total cooking time for this dish shouldn't exceed 2-3 minutes)

4 tbsp (60 ml) oil
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 egg
4 oz (120 gr) dry Sen Lek noodles (see note), soaked in water for 20 minutes until soft, and drained
2 tbsp (30 ml) lemon juice
1 1/2 tbsp (22.5 ml) fish sauce
1/2 tsp (2.5 ml) sugar
2 tbsp (30 ml) chopped roasted peanuts
2 tbsp (30 ml) dried shrimp, ground or pounded
1/2 tsp (2.5 ml) chilli powder
1 tbsp (15 ml) finely chopped preserved turnip (chi po)
30 gr beansprouts
2 spring onions, chopped into 1 inch pieces
1 sprig coriander leaves, coarsely chopped
lemon wedges, to garnish

In a wok or frying pan, heat the oil, add the garlic and fry until golden brown. Break the egg into the wok, stir quickly and cook for a couple of seconds. Add the noodles and stir well, scraping down the sides of the pan to ensure they mix with the garlic and egg.

One by one, add the lemon juice, fish sauce, sugar, HALF the peanuts, HALF the dried shrimp, the chilli powder, the preserved turnip, HALF of the beansprouts, and the spring onions, stirring quickly all the time.

Test the noodle for tenderness. When done, turn onto a serving plate and arrange the remaining peanuts, dried shrimp and beansprouts around the dish. Garnish with the coriander and lemon wedges.



Note :
1. As long as you have all the ingredients pre-chopped and measured, everything comes together in 3 minutes, for real!
2. Couldn't find nice beansprouts and substituted it with cabbage... and I omitted the spring onions because I thought I had some, alas they were beyond dead when I fished them out of the fridge. In the future I think I'll sub it with garlic chives.
3. Sen Lek noodle : a medium flat rice noodle, about 2 mm wide, and usually sold dried.
4. Preserved turnip (chi po) : used only in small amounts, usually chopped fine. Found in Chinese and oriental stores.
5. Don't mistaken chi po with tang chi which is preserved radish! I nearly got the wrong one. In the end I had to ask for the lady man at the cashier whether I got the correct one, and he/she smiled demurely to me and nodded.
6. I got the smallest packet of chopped chi po which is 400 gr, even though I have made pad thai a couple more times last week, I have no idea what else I could do with 375 gr or so of thai preserved turnip. Please contact me if you do.

It's vintage Vogue lemony pop !

I bought my first Vogue Entertaining when I was in my teens (read: late teen) and here I am now in my *gulp* early thirties! Golly! How time flies! So fast that I tend not to re-read the same book there are so many books I want to read before I die. Likewise there are so very many recipes to try I with much restrain stop myself from using the same ones.

Hummm this is a tried and tested recipe by the way. (I lost control, happens often)



One of my old favourite along with sponge cake with passionfruit cream, and carrot cake. I have a few lemon and poppy recipes but have stuck to only 2 and this is one of them, though I never seem to have bothered making the syrup.

Lemon loaf with poppy seeds
A recipe by Ro Francis’ aunt Mary, Vogue Entertaining Aug/Sep ’96 p.142
Cake :
125 gr butter
1 cup raw sugar (I only used about 2/3 cup)
2 eggs
zest of 1 lemon
1 1/2 cups self-raising flour, sifted
1/2 cup milk
1/4 cup poppy seeds or to taste

Syrup:
Juice of 1 lemon
1 cup caster sugar
1 cup water
julienned zest of 2 oranges, 2 lemons and 2 limes

To make the cake : butter and flour a 25 x 8cm loaf tin. Preheat the oven to 180°C. Cream the butter and sugar together until light and creamy. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Stir in the zest, flour, milk and poppy seeds and mix well. Spoon into the prepared tin and bake on the centre shelf of the oven for 20 minutes or until cooked when a skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean. Turn the cake out onto a wire rack to cool.

To make the syrup : combine the juice, caster sugar and water in a small saucepan and stir, over medium heat, until the sugar dissolves. Add the julienned zests and cook until soft and translucent. Drain the zest and reserve the syrup. Spoon the syrup over the cake and pile the drained zest on top.

Note:
In case you think this is a lousy post, FYI I was ready to post yesterday. Then catastrophe happened I don't know what my naughty fingers pressed and pouf! whatever I had typed disappeared and seconds later, even naughtier blogspot auto-saved. Aaarggh!

Wish I had...

taken a picture of the cherry tomatoes and cherry bocconcinis... I would've come up with a more catchy title for this post. (Alas I didn't)

Uh oh! March the 8th today and ideally I should've posted at least 10 things to make 12 by the end of the month. Doesn't look like it's going to happen, *frown*

unless I devise a plan of attack. *deep frown*

Agent Figgy pulled out from dishwashing duty, and I'll have to fly solo. *gulp* Mission impossible. But I'll try.

This is only my number 5 I think ? (FYI I'm talking my new year's baking resolution, in case you're not following)



Focaccia farcita
A recipe of Eric Treuille & Ursula Ferrigno from Bread (p.104)

2 tsp dried yeast
350 ml water
500 gr strong white flour
1 1/2 tsp salt
3 tbsp olive oil

500 gr cherry tomatoes
150 gr mozzarella or like me, replace with bocconcini
125 gr rocket
rosemary sprigs, for topping

Sprinkle yeast into 250 ml water, stir to dissolve and leave for 5 minutes. Mix flour and salt in a big bowl, make a well and pour in the yeasted water and olive oil. Incorporate the flour, adding the remaining water to form a soft sticky dough. Add more water 1 tablespoon at a time if needed.

Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface and knead until smooth, silky and elastic for about 10 minutes. Put the dough in an oiled bowl and cover, then leave to rise for 1 1/2 to 2 hours until doubled in size.

Meanwhile, prepare the filling. Place the cherry tomatoes on a baking pan and sprinkle with 1 table spoon olive oil and season with salt, then bake in a preheated oven at 200°C.

Knock back and divide dough into 2 equal pieces. Leave for 10 minutes to rest, then roll out each piece into a 24cm round and place one on an oiled baking sheet. Arrange the tomatoes, cheese and rocket then seal in the filling using the second round.

Cover the dough loosely with a tea towel, prove until doubled in size about 30 minutes. Use fingertips to gently press into the surface of the dough to form dimples about 1 cm deep. Sprinkle with some salt flakes and 1 tablespoon olive oil then top with rosemary leaves.

Bake in a preheated 200°C oven for 30-45 minutes until golden, then drizzle immediately with sloshes of olive oil and serve warm.

Note :
1. I forgot to dimple the top :( anyhow it turned out quite yummy :)
2. Rocket rocks! but I couldn't find decent ones that day that I had to replace them with baby spinach.
3. I threw away my old measuring cups only to realise that my new pretty ones are not so accurate and I blame them for all my recent failures!! I didn't use all the 350ml water but maybe it's because I wasn't correctly measuring it anyway.
4. It's rainy night and I'm feeling positively mushy. Here's an image I discovered recently and absolutely adore. I am now going to slip under my blanket and watch Amelie until I fall asleep.
5. Good night. xo

Eggs, butter, chocolate, that's all...

No added sugar! Rather outrageous no ? Only 3 ingredients, and they call us the Daring Bakers!


The February 2009 challenge is hosted by Wendy of WMPE's blog and Dharm of Dad ~ Baker & Chef. We have chosen a Chocolate Valentino cake by Chef Wan; a Vanilla Ice Cream recipe from Dharm and a Vanilla Ice Cream recipe from Wendy as the challenge.

Hummm have I told you lately that I have a tiny fridge ? Consequently I skipped the ice cream challenge... (oups!) So it was an easy month which suited me perfect as I have been feeling mighty discouraged by some baking catastrophes of prior weeks. I left it really late, I attempted the challenge only this morning and what can I say, the Chocolate Valentino was a piece of cake (I know! What a lame pun but I had to, I just had to).

I decided to inaugurate my mini muffin pan, and out came some cute as button rather puffed up mini chocolate cake. Now, I am not out to slag this recipe... but with so few ingredients, I think one is forgiven to say that this cake just doesn't shine on it's own. So I paired mine up with a store-bought coconut macaron from the Lindt café, and some raspberry coulis.


Most things look prettier with a macaron on top (I think).


Chocolate Valentino
Preparation Time: 20 minutes

16 ounces (1 pound) (454 grams) of semisweet chocolate, roughly chopped
½ cup (1 stick) plus 2 tablespoons (146 grams total) of unsalted butter
5 large eggs separated

1. Put chocolate and butter in a heatproof bowl and set over a pan of simmering water (the bottom of the bowl should not touch the water) and melt, stirring often.
2. While your chocolate butter mixture is cooling. Butter your pan and line with a parchment circle then butter the parchment.
3. Separate the egg yolks from the egg whites and put into two medium/large bowls.
4. Whip the egg whites in a medium/large grease free bowl until stiff peaks are formed (do not over-whip or the cake will be dry).
5. With the same beater beat the egg yolks together.
6. Add the egg yolks to the cooled chocolate.
7. Fold in 1/3 of the egg whites into the chocolate mixture and follow with remaining 2/3rds. Fold until no white remains without deflating the batter. {link of folding demonstration}
8. Pour batter into prepared pan, the batter should fill the pan 3/4 of the way full, and bake at 375F/190C
9. Bake for 25 minutes until an instant read thermometer reads 140F/60C.
Note – If you do not have an instant read thermometer, the top of the cake will look similar to a brownie and a cake tester will appear wet.
10. Cool cake on a rack for 10 minutes then unmold.