Sweet Cherrie Pie

I have moved....

2011-06-01T11:02:00.001+10:00

For those that may have missed it, I have moved

You can see me now on https://cherriemoore.wordpress.com/

Bon Appetite,
Cherrie

Moved to WordPress

2011-05-31T15:12:00.000+10:00

This blog has moved to https://cherriemoore.wordpress.com. See you on the other side...

Review: Quang Vinh

2011-05-27T21:32:00.000+10:00

Quang Vinh is my favourite Vietnamese place in St. Albans. And it looks like a lot of people feel the same way as it's the only place that's buzzing on a Saturday night.

I have been there many times for dinner and this time I thought I'd write a post on it. They are very popular amongst the locals. In fact they are so popular, they decided to buy the store next door so they could expand. We like to go early to try to avoid the crowds but it by the time the food arrives at our table, most tables are filled.

They have an extensive menu where you can have economical dishes that come with rice or have main dishes that stand alone. Like so many places like this one, the service is not great. However, most times they take the right orders and the food comes out fast.

3 colour drink

Hubby had the Lemon grass and chilli chicken with fried rice

I had the broken rice. It's tasty and the egg is runny.

Thomas and Deanna had the crispy chicken with tomato rice. They ate the whole plate up

Quang Vinh
66 Alfrieda street
St. Albans

Bon Appetite,
Cherrie

Cook Book Challenge : Hush Puppies

2011-05-18T10:28:00.068+10:00

Theme 8 : Crunchy

Cook Book : Jamie Oliver. Jamie's America

Recipe : Hush Puppies

I love this cook book. I've made a few things from it already. I was keen on making hush puppies because I've heard of it many times but didn't actually know what it was or what it tasted like.

It's very crunchy and it's moorish. It's quite easy and takes no time to make. This would go really well with a nice cold beer. We had it as a side for dinner. Even though there is beer in the batter, it's not too strong in it. It's perfect for children as all children love crunchy finger food.

recipe: (makes 25-30)

300g fine cornmeal or polenta

100g self-raising flour

300ml bottle of beer

100g of sweetcorn (I used frozen)

4 spring onions, sliced finely

120g grated cheese

salt and pepper

vegetable oil for deep frying

1. Put the cornmeal and flour into a bowl, add your beer and leave to sit for a few minutes. Add the corn, spring onions, cheese and pinch of salt and pepper.

2. Using a fork, mix well.

3. Heat the oil in a large pot or pan on a high heat until it reaches 180degC

4. Using a tablespoon, carefully drop spoonfuls of the batter mixture into the oil.

5. Let them fry for about 3-4 minutes, then remove with a slotted spoon, and drain on kitchen paper towel.

6. Serve with a sprinkling of a little sea salt. Best eaten while hot.

You can check out previous posts on my 2011 cook book challenge here.

Bon Appetite,
Cherrie

Kulinarya Cooking Club April 2011 : Champorado (Filipino Chocolate Rice Pudding)

2011-05-14T09:10:00.000+10:00

Kulinarya was started by a group of Filipino foodies living in Sydney, who are passionate about the Filipino culture and it's colourful cuisine. Each month we will showcase a new dish along with their family recipes. By sharing these recipes we hope you find the same passion and love for Filipino food as we do.

This month's theme is Decadence.

For me, anything other than toast or cereal for breakfast is decadent. Firstly, I eat breakfast quickly in between getting both children fed and ready for the day. Secondly, if I do eat, it's pretty boring. I eat just enough to get me through to lunchtime.

To have Champorado for breakfast is very decadent for me. Not only it's because it's more than the usual dull cereal but because it's chocolate. Chocolate for breakfast, I recommend it.

Champorado is usually eaten for breakfast in Philippines. It's usually accompanied by fried tuyo (salted dried fish). It's stinky but lovely. I opted not to include in my breakfast. It really does stink out the house when you cook it therefore I am forbidden to cook it indoors. The only option was to cook it outside but I wasn't brave enough to face the cold.

1/2 cup glutinous rice

5 cups water

5 tbs white sugar

2 tsp cocoa powder

50g dark chocolate, chopped

evaporated milk

1. In a pot, add the glutinous rice and water. Boil till the rice is tender and most of the water has been soaked up by the rice.

2. Combine the sugar ad cocoa powder in a small bowl then add to the rice. Stir to combine.

3. Add the dark chocolate.

4. Stir and leave on gentle bubble till the chocolate has melted and it has thickened.

5. Serve with a drizzle of evaporated milk on top.

NB: If you want it sweeter, simply sprinkle more sugar on top

You can check out what the other members of the Kulinarya club made for this month's theme here.

Bon Appetite,

Cherrie

A Sweet Mother's Day Breakfast at Luxbite

2011-05-08T21:40:00.003+10:00

I must be the last food blogger to try out Luxbite. I have heard many good things about Luxbite and have been wanting to go for a long time. Hubby finally took me on Mother's day weekend. To be honest, the decision to take me was due to the reason pictured below.

They recently started serving breakfast and this dish was the special for the Mother's day weekend. It is called Sweet Benedict. It consisted of donuts, bacon, burnt butter maple dressing and white chocolate hollandaise. It was also dotted with fresh kiwi and decorated with a chocolate heart.

When we ordered it, we were not expecting it to look this beautiful. It was hard to eat it because we didn't want to destroy the look of the dish. However, it only took a few seconds of that thought before we plunged right in.

The donut was crunchy and delightful. The saltiness of the bacon worked really well with the sweetness of the rest of the dish. The fresh kiwi gave it the freshness it needed. Personally, the best part of the dish was the pork crackling and lemon crumbs. This added a savoury element to the dish. All in all, this weekend special was delicious and I hope this makes it back onto the menu on a regular basis.

We also ordered the waffles. The texture was more bready than the usual skinny waffles you would normally get and together with the spices, it had a more substantial feel and made it moorish. The Heilala Vanilla roasted plums were sweet and tangy at the same time. Deanna happily ate the waffles with lashings of the whipped honey butter.

Now, how can I write about Luxbite and not mention their macarons. They are much talked about. They have many unique flavours. I wanted to try them all but I let Deanna choose what she wanted to eat. So she chose watermelon and yoghurt, strawberry, passion fruit and the chocolate sprinkles.

I loved my first experience at Luxbite and I will happily go back again. In fact, I am planing to going back again real soon. After all, I have to try every macaron and cake they offer, don't I?

Luxbite
38 Toorak Rd
South Yarra
www.LuxBite.com.au

Bon Appetite,
Cherrie

Cooking the books: Nigella Lawson. Kitchen

2011-05-04T19:25:00.002+10:00

Well, another round of "cooking the books" lunch and it was a stomach-aching success. While at our last lunch, it was decided that we will cook from Nigella Lawson's Kitchen cookbook this time round. This time we were able to have it at www.cookingspace.com.au

Food Bloggers make the best companions for such feasts as everyone brings enough great food to induce a food coma to last days.

Agnes from Off the Spork blog made Beer-braised pork knuckles with caraway, garlic, apples and potatoes

Agnes chopping up the pork knuckles. Everyone jumped in for the crispy skin

Potatoes that were cooked with the pork knuckles from Agnes

Kat from Urban Cook's Journal Blog brought along Mexican Lasagne

Kat also made avocado salsa to go with the mexican lasagne

Thanh from I eat therefor I am blog made Spanish chicken with chorizo and potatoes.
Notice the eaten piece tucked up at the top? Thanh couldn't wait!

Shellie from Iron Chef Shellie blog made meatballs and Rocket and lemon cous cous.
Shellie is Meatball Queen

Celeste from Travelling in my Mary Janes blog made Chorizo and chickpea soup.

Celeste also brought along buglar wheat

Kat (and Josh) from Spatula, Spoon and Saturday blog made pigs in a blanket. Kat also made Risotto Bolognese.
For some reason, I don't seem to have a photo for :(

I made African chicken.

We were all so full from lunch but we managed to fit in dessert...just. After all, we cannot have a blogger lunch without dessert.

Thanh also made Venetian Carrot cake with rum cream

Emma from Cake Mistress Blog made Torta al Giandula

Celeste made Key Lime Pie

Agnes made Peanut Butter Cheesecake

Shellie made Lemon Meringue Fool. No doubt, Deanna's favourite on the day

I-Hua from Ms I-Hua Blog made Macadamia chocolate fudge

I made Coffee Toffee Meringues

African Chicken Recipe: (serves 4)
80ml Worcestershire sauce
4 tbs tomato sauce
2 tsp English mustard powder
1 tsp ground ginger
1 tbs apricot jam
1 onion, finely chopped
8 chicken drumsticks (I used 1kg of wings and separated the wingettes and drumettes)
1 tbs of garlic oil. (I used olive oil and 1 clove of garlic, smashed)

1. Preheat the oven to 200degC.
2. Marinate the chicken in the Worcestershire sauce, tomato sauce, mustard powder, ground ginger, apricot jam and the chopped onion. Leave to marinate in the fridge overnight.
3. Pour the olive oil and garlic into an ovenproof dish and arrange the chicken in the dish snugly. Pour over any remaining marinade.
4. Cook for 45 minutes to 1 hour, basting once or twice, until the chicken is cooked through.

Coffee Toffee Meringues. (makes 8-10)
for the meringues:
200g caster sugar
50g light brown sugar
2 tsp instant espresso powder
pinch of cream of tartar
4 egg whites

for the toffee sauce
15 g butter
75g golden syrup
25g light brown sugar
60ml cream

600ml double cream

1. To make the meringues, preheat the oven to 140degC.
2. Combine the caster sugar and the light brown sugar, the coffee powder and cream of tartar in a bowl and set aside.
3. Whisk the egg whites till soft peaks and have started to form. Begin to add the sugar mix 1 tablespoon at a time while whisking until the mixture is glossy and thick.
4. Line a baking sheet with baking paper and spoon out dollops of the meringue (I used 1/4 cup). Spike or fluff the tops to give texture.
5. Put in the oven for about 45 minutes. Take out of the oven but do not remove them form the baking paper.
6. To make the toffee sauce: melt the butter, golden syrup and light brown sugar in a pan over a low heat, swirling gently occasionally. Bring to the boil and let bubble for 2 minutes.
7. Take the pan off the heat and whisk in the 60ml cream. Pour into a small jug to get cold.
8. To serve, dollop some of the double cream on top of the meringues and drizzle the toffee sauce over it.

Deanna, the fairy had a great time eating and chatting with friends :)

Deanna with her favourite dessert ( photo taken by Agnes)

We are already organising our next one, this time will be a Momofuku Fest. Can't wait!

Bon Appetite,
Cherrie

Cook Book Challenge : Egg Pin Wheels for an Afternoon Tea Dinner

2011-04-30T11:05:00.000+10:00

Theme 7 : Eggs

CookBook : The Dairy Book of Home Cookery by Sonia Allison

for the Milk Marketing Board of England and Wales

Recipe : Pin Wheel Sandwiches

With my Hubby and his family originally from England, we were all excited for the Royal Wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton. My mother in law came over for dinner but instead of eating dinner I prepared an afternoon tea affair. The cookbook I used actually belong to Hubby's Nan in England. She let me keep it during our holiday there a few years back. This version was published in 1978 and as you can see it's been well used. To this day, my mother in law still cooks dishes that she got from it.

Pin wheel sandwiches shows up regularly in afternoon teas, alongside other fabulous finger foods, sweet and savoury. It can be filled with any filling you like. I chose Egg.

Tea is, of course, compulsory though coffee can also make an appearance. I even took out our special Harrods tea towel just for the occasion.

Other dishes I also prepared for the Afternoon Tea Dinner :

My Afternoon tea table

Salmon sandwiches and cheese and cucumber sandwiches

Victoria Sponge Cake

After dinner, Hubby made Pimm's Deuce.

Recipe :

4 hard boiled eggs, peeled and chopped

2 tbs mayonnaise or salad cream

1/2 tsp English mustard powder

salt and pepper

6 white or brown bread slices, crusts removed

butter

alfa alfa

1. In a bowl, place the eggs, mayonnaise or salad cream, English mustard powder salt and pepper. Set aside

2. Using a rolling pin, roll over a slice of bread to flatten.

3. Spread with butter and 1 - 2 tablespoons of the egg mixture.

4. Sprinkle alfa alfa over the egg mixture.

5. Roll tightly to enclose the filling. Place on place, seam side down.

6. Repeat with the remaining of the egg mixture.

7. Refrigerate for 30-60 minutes to firm up a little

8. Cut into 3 or 4 even slices. (as you can see, I didn't cut them evenly hehe)

Check out my previous posts on this year's cookbook challenge.

Bon Appetite,
Cherrie

My Easter 2011 in Pictures

2011-04-28T10:24:00.001+10:00

Good Friday at Mother in laws

Thomas finding Easter egg up a tree

Deanna searching for Easter eggs

Corn fritters with sweet chilli sauce

Thai corn soup

Baked salmon with lemon pepper

Strawberry milk jelly

Easter Sunday at home

Easter egg hunting at home

Easter Sunday breakfast

Full English Breakfast for 4

Easter Sunday at mum and dad's

BBQ! lamb, pork and sausages. YUM!

Dessert. pandan cupcakes, coconut macaroons and my Chocolate angel food cake

With the cousins after another Easter egg hunt

Easter Monday at Hilda's Home

Beautiful lunch. From left: Warm prawn and fennel salad with mandarin, caramelised onion and mushroom tart, lamb chops and a chicken, egg and avocado sandwich

Hilda also made mini carrot cupcakes

What did you eat during Easter?

Bon Appetite,

Cherrie

Easter Bread and Butter Pudding

2011-04-20T22:19:00.001+10:00

I love mid week desserts. Especially ones that are quick and easy to make. I particularly like the ones that only requires a quick assembly before easily placing in the oven. I can sit back, make a cup of tea or coffee and just wait for the pudding to be baked.

My family loves bread and butter pudding. It's especially special when I use Hot cross buns. We had a packet in the freezer (when I over eagerly bought too many packets and couldn't consume prior to the use by date) and it would be a shame not to use it in this pudding. This recipe is inspired by Nigella Lawson's recipe but as usual, I tweaked it a bit to make it my own. In the recipe, the buns (or bread) is smothered with lots of butter and jam. I used strawberry jam but you can use any flavour of jam, maramalde or conserve. It gives it an extra umph to the dish so it's not all one flavour as you eat your way through.

The pudding is best served straight of the oven with custard but can easily be eaten with cream or ice cream or if you're so inclined, eat it by itself.

1 packet of hot cross buns

butter

strawberry jam

4 egg yolks

1 egg

3 tbs caster sugar

500ml thickened cream

200ml full fat cream

2 tbs demerara sugar

1. Preheat oven to 180degC

2. Slice the hot cross buns in half

3. Spread the buns with butter and strawberry jam

4. Place in an ovenproof dish, spreading out evenly

5. Make the custard by placing the egg, egg yolks, cream, milk and sugar in a small bowl and mix to combine

6. Pour the custard over the bread and let sit for 10 minutes for the custard to seep into the bread

7. Sprinkle the demerara sugar on top

8. Bake in the oven for about 40-45 minutes

9. Serve warm with custard.

Happy Easter!

Bon Appetite,
Cherrie

Easter Chocolate and Dulce de leche Cake Pops. An International Incident Party.

2011-04-17T10:38:00.001+10:00

I've been looking forward to this month's International Incident Party. As always, it's hosted by the lovely Penny from the Jeroxie blog. This month's theme is Cake pops. Some might say that they are the new cupcakes. They're cute, they're cool and they're fun and easy to make. I've made cake balls before but have never made pops. Bakerella is known worldwide for this little ball of sweetness. You can see her demonstrate on how to make them here.

There may be many steps to create these little cakes but it is actually quite easy to make. I wanted to make Easter Cake pops and I got my daughter to help decorate them. It's a great kitchen project for children. They can get really creative.

You don't have to freshly bake a cake just to make cake pops (though you can, of course) but you can use left over cake trimmings. Just freeze any left over cake (no icing) in the freezer. It can keep for a few months. When needed just defrost in the fridge.

I had left over devil's food cake from when I made my Christmas cake balls. Instead of using the usual cheese cream frosting, I used a can of dulce de leche. I make these from cans of condense milk. You can get recipe here. The dulce de leche makes it luscious and sweet, just the way Hubby and my children like it. You don't have to make balls, you can make any shape you like. I experimented and made little bunnies too.

To make cake pops:

Crumble the cake until until it resembles bread crumbs. Add about a third of a can of dulce de leche and mix thoroughly until the mixture is moist enough to make balls. Don't add too much dulce de leche or the mixture becomes too sticky and hard to shape.

Take a heaped tablespoon of the mixture and roll in the palm of your hands. Shape the balls into eggs and place on baking paper on a tray. Place in the refrigerator for about an hour to harden a little.

Melt chocolate in a bowl over barely simmering water until shiny and smooth. Take a lollipop stick and dip about 1cm of it into the chocolate. Insert the stick about half way into the cake pop. Let it set for a minute.

Dip the cake pop into the chocolate and cover the whole cake. Don't move it around too much as you might lose some crumbs into the chocolate or the cake might come off the stick. You can decorate straight away with sprinkles or any lollies or you can let the chocolate harden and then decorate with liquid gel pens.

Deanna had fun decorating them

Dry the cake pops by sticking them into styrofoam. Or you can do what I did and stuck it in a box that I made little holes in.

Deanna and I enjoyed decorating these. We spent the whole afternoon do this so it gave a great opportunity to have mummy-daughter time. When you make this, make them with children. If you don't have any, borrow someone else's.

You can check out everyone else wonderful creation :

Cook Book Challenge : Chocolate Meringue Roll

2011-04-13T16:26:00.000+10:00

Theme 6 : Celebration

Cookbook : Australian Women's Weekly. Cook

Recipe : Meringue roll

I love this cookbook. It has nearly everything in it and I want to cook nearly everything in it. It's my "go to" book when I can't find a recipe in my other cook books.

For the Celebration theme, I wanted to make something for my sister in law's birthday. She was having a little family gathering and since she had just given birth to my beautiful nephew a couple weeks ago, family were bringing dishes to contribute to the party.

I decided to make a Chocolate meringue roll. I changed the recipe a little because I wanted to include the last of my kalamansi that I harvested from my tree.

The recipe was just plain vanilla meringue but I added cocoa powder and sprinkled flaked almonds to add a crunch so the dessert is not all one texture. The filling was vanilla cream and kalamansi curd. I used the left over curd to fill my Easter chocolate creme egg cupcakes. I have made the kalamansi curd so many times and I prefer it to lemon. It has a little sweetness to it that the kalamansi has though the curd is still quite tart.

4 egg whites
1/2 cup caster sugar
2 tbs cocoa powder
2 tbs of extra caster sugar
1/2 cup thickened cream, whipped
50g flaked almonds
kalamansi curd. (you can get the recipe here)

1. Preheat the oven to 200degC (180degC fanforced). Grease and line a swiss roll pan (26cm x 323cm)
2. Beat the egg whites until soft peaks form. Add the sugar, one tablespoon at a time, beating until the sugar dissolves between each addition. Sift the cocoa powder into the egg whites and gently fold in.
3. Spread the mixture into the baking pan, and sprinkle the flaked almonds evenly.
4. Bake for about 10-12 minutes or until browned lightly.
5. Turn meringue onto baking paper, that has been sprinkled with the extra caster sugar. Gently peel away the lining paper and let stand for 2 minutes.
6. Spread the whipped cream onto the cake leaving about 2-3cm along the edge. Spread the kalamansi curd on top.
7. Using the baking paper as support, roll the meringue firmly from the long side. Transfer carefully onto serving dish.
8. Refrigerate at least 30 minutes before serving.

You can see my previous posts for this years CookBook Challenge here.

Bon Appetite,
Cherrie

Easter Creme Egg Cupcakes

2011-04-10T13:37:00.004+10:00

Easter is coming up. Every year I tell myself, I'm going to bake this and cook that. Every year, I have the same excuse on why I didn't. I ran out of time. I made an effort this year. I wanted to make something that resembled the Chocolate Creme Eggs you can buy at the supermarket. I think you all know which one I'm talking about. I'm not a big fan of those as it is way too sweet for me. Hubby loves them though, so I was inspired to replicate it whilst giving it my own twist.

My version is a double chocolate mud cupcake filled with whipped cream and kalamansi curd. I had left over kalamansi curd in the fridge but you can make lemon or orange curd. You can make everything from scratch or you can buy good cupcakes and decorate them yourself. If you want, you can also use lemon curd from a jar to make these beauties for a quick treat for your Easter table.

I am quite happy at the way these Easter sweet treats turned out that I have entered them in a competition run by Ellie over at the Kitchen Wench blog.

Double chocolate mud cupcake:
60g dark chocolate, chopped coarsely
160ml water
90g soften butter
220g brown sugar
2 eggs
100g self raising flour, sifted
2 tbs cocoa powder, sifted
40g almond meal

To decorate:
100ml cream, whipped to soft peaks
1/4 quantity of kalamansi curd (get the recipe here)

1. Preheat oven to 170degC (150degC fanforced). Line a 12 hole muffin pan with paper cases
2. Combine the chocolate and water in a small saucepan. Stir over low heat until smooth
3. Beat butter, sugar and eggs until light and fluffy
4. Stir in sifted flour and cocoa, almond meal and warm chocolate mixture. Divide evenly among cases.
5. Bake large cakes about 35 minutes or smaller ones about 25 minutes.
6. Let cool on a wire rack
7. To decorate, using a knife, mark a circle at the top of each cupcake. Using a teaspoon, scoop out the cake within the circle. Make sure you take out any cake crumbs.
8. Dollop some of the whipped cream into the hole
9. Drop a small portion of the kalamansi curd in the middle and smooth it out.

Happy Easter.

Bon Appetite,

Cherrie

Kue Lapis - Indonesian layered cake

2011-04-06T14:22:00.002+10:00

My first experience of the kue Lapis was many years ago. My friend and then co-worker, HT-F had brought back this layered cake from her recent trip back home to Indonesia. She gave me a slice and after that first bite, I was hooked.

I looked for this cake at Asian bakeries and grocery stores but couldn't find any. Unfortunately, the only time I was to have any of this delicious cake was when she went back home and bought me some. Her Auntie is famous for baking these for family and friends especially during the Chinese New Year. She makes large trays of it. So, the last time she went back, I asked her if she was able to not just bring me back some cake but also her Auntie's recipe.

And so, my friends, here is the recipe. HT-F is so generous to let me share it with you. I hope you give it a try. It isn't difficult but it does take about 4-5 hours and you need to be attentative.

We decided that we would try to bake this together. As HT-F didn't actually watch her auntie make it, she translated the recipe and went on from there. We also texted her mum, who is back in Indonesia, for help and tips. Our version turned out good for a first attempt. The layers were not even and not evenly cooked so the colour wasn't consistent throughout the cake. I also didn't chop the almonds fine enough so there were large chunks. Overall, we were happy that it resembled a Kue lapis and it also tasted like one.

25 egg yolks

500g of dutch butter

75g plain flour. sifted

250g caster sugar

1/4 cup condensed milk

1 1/5 tsp kue lapis mixed spice

15g finely chopped almonds

Extra butter. melted

1. Preheat oven to 200degC (180degC fanforced) and prepare a square baking tin with butter

2. Cream the butter and condense milk together

3. Add the yolks and sugar and beat till light and fluffy.

4. Incorporate the flour and kue lapis spice into the yolk mixture

5. Add the butter and mix to combine

6. Add the chopped almonds and mix.

7. Take about 2 tablespoons of the batter and spread out thinly and evenly into the baking tin.

8. Place in oven and bake for 5-7 minutes until brown.

9. Flatten the cake with a flat utensil. (I used a cake decorating tool to smooth out fondant)

Flattening each layer

10. Spread with the extra butter that has been melted until shiny.

11. Turn oven to grill

12. Add another 2 tablespoons of the batter and spread thinly and evenly

13. Place under grill for about 3-5 minutes until browned. Flatten cake

14. Spread more of the melted butter.

15. Repeat steps 12 to 14 until you have used up all the batter.

Bon Appetite,

Cherrie

Cookbook Challenge : Chocolate Chunk Brownies

2011-04-04T07:14:00.001+10:00

Theme 5 : American

Cookbook : The Good Taste Collection : Chocolate

Recipe : White and Dark Chocolate Chunk Brownies

There were so many options for this fortnight's theme. American's are known for their fast food, their burgers and hotdogs, and their brownies. As you can see, I chose to make the latter. I love brownies and I've made many different versions from many different recipes.

This time I chose to make the one from this book. Simply because I've never made this one before. I like this recipe. The brownie turned out fudgey and gooey. Though the recipe calls for white chocolate chunks only, I added dark ones as well. Only because I love dark chocolate.

Makes 24

200g dark cooking chocolate, roughly chopped

200g butter, cubed

3 eggs, lightly whisked

1 tsp vanilla paste

115g plain flour

30g cocoa powder

220g caster sugar

125g white chocolate, broken into chunks

125g dark chocolate, broken into chunks

1. Preheat oven to 170degC (150degC fanforced). Line the base of a 20cm square baking pan with baking paper, allow to overhang the sides.

2. Place the dark cooking chocolate and butter in a heatproof bowl over a saucepan of simmering water and stir occasionally until the mixture is smooth. Remove and set aside to cool slightly.

3. Add the eggs and vanilla paste and whisk to combine.

4. In a bowl, sift the flour and cocoa. Then add the sugar and melted chocolate mixture. Stir to combine. Add the white and dark chocolate chunks.

5. Pour the mixture into the baking pan and bake for 45 minutes or until crumbs cling to the skewer inserted in the middle of the brownie. Cool completely in the pan.

Note: If you can resist jumping into it straight away, it's much easier to cut if you set aside overnight and cut the next day.

Check out other posts in my cookbook challenge 2011

Coconut Rice Pudding with Caramelised Sweet Potato

2011-03-31T10:00:00.004+11:00

A challenge has been set. " #TaytoRiCo. Thinking outside the box." What is that, you ask? @Jmfield, @TangledNoodle and @Dailyspud have created a challenge to come up with a dish that includes potato (Tayto), rice (Ri) and coconut (Co).

The dish can come in any form and whatever derivative of the 3 main ingredients. I had so many ideas and didn't know what to make. I became inspired by the Autumn weather we are now having. Something warm and comforting. Unfortunately, the day I decided to make this, the day was sunny and warm. Oh well, it was delicious to eat, nonetheless.

I decided to make a rice pudding and give it a Asian/Filipino twist. I had joked around with my twitter friends that it's not so much of an "out of the box" idea but more of "sitting on the edge" of it.

I substituted some of the milk with coconut milk and served with a caramelised sweet potato. I've seen similar rice puddings but have never made it myself before. The idea of the sweet potato came to me when my mum made kamote cue. This is a popular Filipino snack where sweet potato is deep fried then caramelised with brown sugar. I did a healthier version where I simmered in water then caramelised it. It didn't come out crunchy and crispy like the original version but I wanted to get a softer texture to go with the rice pudding.

Rice Pudding recipe
1 cup pudding rice (or aborio rice)
2 cups coconut milk
2 cups full fat milk
1 tsp vanilla paste
5 tbs of caster sugar

Caramelised Sweet Potato
1 medium sweet potato, halved then thinly sliced
1 large knob of butter
3 tbs brown sugar

1. Preheat oven to 170degC (150degC fanforced)
2. In a 1.5liter capacity oven dish, place all the ingredients for the rice pudding.
3. Cover dish with foil and bake for 1 hour and 15 minutes. Remove the foil and bake for a further 35-40 minutes
4. To make the caramelised sweet potato, pour water into a large frying pan, about 3-5 cm deep.
5. Simmer the sweet potato until all water has evaporated or until the potato is tender. If not yet tender, add more water
6. Add the butter and brown sugar to the potato.
7. Cook until the sugar has melted and has covered the potato all over.

To serve, place the rice pudding in serving bowls and top with the sweet potato. Drizzle some of the caramel over the rice. The rice pudding can be eaten hot or cold. Hubby suggested cold rice pudding can be eaten with a dollop of your favourite jam.

Bon Appetite,
Cherrie

Kulinarya Cooking Club March 2011 : Pinakbet

2011-03-27T09:42:00.000+11:00

This month's theme is Vegetables.

Filipinos are known for their fatty and fried foods. But there's more to Filipino cuisine to just lechon and chicharon. We love to eat vegetables. We also love seafood since the Philippines is made up of more than seven thousand islands, we are surrounded by ocean.

I chose to make Pinakbet. This dish is a popular vegetable dish and is usually made up of bitter melon, okra, eggplant and fermented fish sauce. I rarely have this but when I do, I love all the different vegetables that go in this dish. The bitter melon and okra (lady fingers) are vegetables I rarely eat unless it's in this dish. This is my mum's recipe and she makes it all the time. Needless to say, whenever I crave this, I just go over to her place to enjoy.

1/4 pumpkin (500g) cubed

1 bunch snake beans cut into 5cm batons

5 lady fingers, topped and tailed

1 bitter melon, halved then sliced into 3-4cm thickness. Soak in salted water for 10-15mins

1 onion, chopped

4-5 small eggplants, cut into quarter's lengthwise

1 tomato, large dice

1 knob of ginger, julienned

1/4 cup anchovy sauce (bagoong balayan)

100g pork, diced (optional)

100g raw prawns (optional)

1. In a large pot, saute the onion, garlic and ginger until transparent.

2. Add the tomato and cook for another 2-3 minutes.

3. If adding pork, add and simmer until cooked a little

4. Add the snake beans. Stir.

5. Add the anchovy sauce that has been mixed with 1/4 cup of water

6. Add the rest of the vegetables

7. Add enough water just to cover (about 1 cup)

8. Add the prawns

9. Simmer until vegetables are cooked through.

10. Serve with steamed rice and a piece of fried fish.

You can check out what the other members of the Kulinarya Cooking Club cooked up for this month's theme here

Bon Appetite,

Cherrie

Cookbook Challenge : Rosemary and Garlic Focaccia

2011-03-26T10:01:00.000+11:00

Theme 4: Outdoors

Cookbook : The big book of bread

Recipe : Rosemary and Garlic Focaccia

I'm a little behind in the posting of my cookbook challenges. However late, I am still excited and feel inspired to keep going.

For this fortnight's outdoors theme, I chose bread. Bread is so versatile. It can filled with delicious meats and salads or can be left plain. It is portable and can be taken anywhere.

This recipe was made in a bread machine but I'll also give the manual method. Baking bread in Melbourne can be hit and miss because of the unpredictable weather, so it's handy having a bread machine. Having said that though, it is also thoroughly satisfying kneading the dough by hand and giving it all the attention it needs.

I topped my focaccia with garlic and rosemary but any combination can be used.

400g strong bread flour

1 tsp salt

2 tsp dried yeast

3 tbs olive oil, plus extra for drizzling

200ml of tepid water

2 stalks of rosemary, leaves taken off the stem

4 garlic cloves, thinly sliced

1. For machine bread: place all the ingredients into the baking bucket according to manual instructions. (note: The order of adding ingredients is important because it keeps the yeast away from the liquid ingredients until it's time to knead them together). Then set the machine to the dough setting. (mine takes about 1 1/2 hours)

To make manually: Sift the flour and salt into a large bowl, then stir in the yeast. Make a well in the center, then add 3 tablespoons of olive oil and water, mixing to form a soft dough. (don't add all the water at once, add 3/4 of it then add more if needed). Turn the dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth and elastic (about 10-15 minutes). Shape the dough into a ball, then place in a lightly oiled bowl, cover and leave to rise in a warm place until doubled in size.

2. Once the dough has risen either from the machine or manually, knock back the dough on a lightly floured surface and roll out into a rough rectangle about 2-3 cm thick. Transfer the dough onto a greased baking tray. Using your finger tips, make little dents into the dough. Leave to rise again for 30 to 45 minutes till it slightly rises.

3. Preheat oven to 200degC (180degC fan-forced). Drizzle olive oil over the dough and sprinkle with the rosemary and garlic, spreading it out evenly.

Bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until the focaccia has risen and turned golden brown.

Please check out my previous posts on this year's Cook Book Challenge

Bon Appetite,

Cherrie

Mamon (Filipino Sponge Cakes) for Harmony Day

2011-03-22T14:09:00.000+11:00

Harmony Day celebrates multiculturalism in Australia. It is celebrated on March 21st every year. The message for Harmony Day 2011 is "Everybody belongs". You can find out more about Harmony Day here.

Deanna's Kindergarten celebrated the cultural diversity at it's school by asking the students to bring in a national dish and to wear their national costume. This introduces the children to each other's different backgrounds and learn how to appreciate and respect them.

Deanna in her English Soccer strip holding a Filipino Mamon

I made Mamon for Deanna to take into Kindergarten. I love Mamon but I haven't had it in years and I've never made it before. My parents brought these tins back from the Philippines for me so I was able to make them in these.

Mamon is popular in the Philippines and are sold in bakeries all over the country. It's a light and fluffy sponge cake and it doesn't need any filling or frosting. It is always baked in individual portions and not as big cakes.

I found this recipe on the internet. It seems like it's the most popular one. I'm not sure who originally posted it as it's been replicated on many sites. So, to who's recipe this is, I thank you.

This recipe filled 8 brioche tins or one 12 hole muffin tin.

Recipe :
1 cup self raising flour
1 cup caster sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp vanilla extract.
6 eggs, separated
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 tsp cream of tartar

1. Preheat oven to 160degC(fanforced). If using brioche tins, brush with butter, making sure to cover the whole tin. If using muffin tins, line with paper cups
2. In a bowl, beat the egg whites and cream of tartar till soft peaks. Gradually add the sugar while beating. Add the vanilla and vegetable oil.
3. Sift the self raising flour and baking powder twice. Sift once more into the egg whites. Keep beating on low.
4. Add the egg yolks one at a time, beating in between each addition until just combined.
5. Pour into prepared tins about 2/3 the way up
6. Bake for about 20-25 minutes until golden brown and cooked through.
7. Let cool completely in the tin before turning out of the tins.

Bon Appetite,
Cherrie

Homemade Cornick. An International Incident Party.

2011-03-20T10:01:00.002+11:00

Another month, another International Incident Party hosted by Penny. No matter how busy I am, I always look forward to this time of month when I challenge myself with whatever theme has come our way. This month's theme is Nostalgia.

Food always conjures memories of people and places. I grew up in a typical Filipino family home in Melbourne so every meal almost involved rice. Occasionally, we would have a roast on a Sunday and we would call it "Australian" food. Back then, as a child, I didn't appreciate how my parents tried to keep us in touch with our heritage through food. As an adult, I crave these dishes and snacks and every bite brings back memories.

Growing up, even though my mum and dad would cook up delicious Filipino dishes for our daily meals, it was hard to get our hands on snacks and Filipino delicacies. There were no Filipino grocery stores like there is today. (even though only a handful). We would wait for one for our friends to holiday back to the Philippines and bring back lots of goodies. Nowadays, Australian customs are strict and bringing delicious goodies back in is very hard.

One snack that I would love to receive was cornick. Cornick (also known as corn nut) is a popular corn snack and can be made with adobo, chilli or garlic flavour. You can get commercial ones but the best ones are home made and sold in local stores or on the side of the street.

I wanted to make this but this was definitely a challenge as I had no idea on how to do so. And to be honest, it wasn't a complete success but it wasn't a complete failure also. The process seemed easy but I wasn't sure if it will work. Some of the corn kernels popped but the texture was still fine. The successful kernels that didn't pop tasted and felt like the real deal. I made garlic salt to serve with it.

As this involves hot oil and deep frying, please be careful. If you have an outside kitchen, it's probably best to make this outside. The kernels can also be roasted. Maybe I'll try that next time.

Method:

Take corn kernels, (I used popping corn) and soak in water for 3 days. Change water and rinse out the kernels every day. On the third day, dry the kernels. Make sure you dry them well because everyone knows, water and hot oil do not mix.

In a large pot with a lid, add vegetable oil, about 2-3cm deep. On a low medium heat, oil temperature about 120-130degC, throw in a handful of the kernels and let it fry. Place the lid on top just in case the kernels pop. The aim is to try to fy the kernels without popping. If the oil is too hot, they will pop, so please keep an eye on the temperature.

Only do a handful at a time with the lid on. If they do pop, which mine did, wait till the popping stops before removing the lid. If you find that they are popping straight away when you put them in the oil, turn the heat down or turn off straight away. Fry the kernels for about 3-5 minutes and drain on paper towels. Serve with garlic salt.

For the garlic salt, I simply gently fried whole cloves in the oil until golden. I added it to the salt and smashed it with a fork and mixed to combine.

If you would like to join us for our next party, check out our forum.

Check out what other party goers made for the party.

Kalamansi Meringue Pie

2011-03-09T21:40:00.000+11:00

I am lucky to have a kalamansi (or Calamansi or kumquat) tree. It's hard to find kalamansi in stores. It's also rare to find in Asian groceries. I've had the tree for about 10 years. I guess I decided to get one because my parents have a few and my brother has one too. It has always been a belief that having a round fruit tree in your front garden gives your household good luck. It doesn't hurt to give it a try, doesn't it?

My little tree is probably about 5 feet tall but it fruits aplenty. I hope this translate to a lot of good luck for me. I have juiced the fruit that I harvested and froze it for future use. I am sure I will conjure up different ways on what to do with all that fruit.

With my first batch that I harvested, I decided to make a kalamansi curd. But what to do with the curd? Obviously, kalamansi meringue pie! A Filipino twist to a classic English dessert. Definitely a winner in my household.

Crust:

2 1/4 cups plain flour

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp baking powder

220g chilled unsalted butter, cubed

4-6 tbs ice water

Curd Filling:

1/2 cup kalamansi juice

100g butter

1/2 cup caster sugar

3 egg yolks plus 1 egg

Meringue:

2 egg whites

100g caster sugar

1. Make the crust. Sift the flour, salt and baking powder into the food processor bowl. Add the butter and pulse till it resembles bread crumbs. Drizzle 4 tablespoons of the ice water and keep pulsing until the dough forms a ball. You may need to add a little more water but do it only half a tablespoon at a time. Roll out and transfer to a tart tin with a removable bottom and trim the edges. Cover with cling wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour. After resting, prick the bottom of the pastry with a fork and cover with a baking paper with weights. Place in a preheated oven 170degC for 15 minutes. Remove the baking paper and weights and cook for a further 8-10 minutes until golden brown. Remove and let cool on a rack.

2. Make the filling. In a saucepan, over medium-low heat, place the kalamansi juice and the butter. Stir until the butter is melted. Add the sugar and egg and egg yolks. Whisk continuously until the mixture thickens slightly (about 5-7minutes). Leave to cool completely before using.

3. Make the meringue. In a bowl of an electric mixer, beat the egg whites until foamy. Gradually add the sugar a spoonful at a time until stiff and glossy.

4. To assemble. Pour the kalamansi curd into the pastry making sure it's spread evenly then cover with the meringue. Bake in a hot oven (200degC) for 7-10 minutes until the meringue has browned a little. Refrigerate for half a hour before serving.

Bon Appetite,
Cherrie

SBS Food Journey Festival 2011

2011-03-08T09:42:00.003+11:00

With the picturesque Royal exhibition building in the background and delicious aromas wafting through the late summer air, you wouldn't want to be anywhere else.

I was at the SBS Food Journey Festival. It was the first year this event was held for the Melbourne Food and Wine Festival. The interesting thing about this festival was that half of the stalls were outside. Usually these type of food festivals, the stalls are all indoors. The stalls indoors were producers of all sorts like Ganache, Movepick and Toscana to name a few. The outdoors stalls were the food stalls where all kind of cooking was being done. We managed to buy a few different foods to try but it was just too many to chose from.

There were numerous stages dotted around the garden where performances or demonstrations were being held. The main stage was the Feasting Stage where Maeve O'Meara hosted a variety of presenters that have been featured on Food Safari. There were also other popular chefs that were scheduled over the 3 days of the festival. Adriano Zumbo, Tetsuya and Gabriel Gate to name a few.

Maeve O'Meara hosting a cooking demonstration

A few food bloggers were invited by @SBS_Food to come along to the event. I was lucky to be one of them. Adrian, Shellie, Thanh, Penny and I met up at the Alfresco Dinning Area to have a few bites to eat before heading off to each of our assignments for the day.

I had a while before my scheduled task so, along with Hubby, Mother-in-law, Deanna and Thomas we wandered around to take in the sight and smells of the festival.

Soo Twisted Potatoes Stix. A snack that has recently found it's way to peoples heart and stomach

The Senor BBQ stall grilling up a storm

The Senor BBQ boys

The Senor BBQ chorizo sandwich

Mobile Wood Fired Ovens were cooking pizzas

A load of bull pizza from Mobile Wood Fired Ovens

Paellas being cooked

Inside the Royal Exhibition Building

Movenpick Ice Creams

Ganache Chocolates

Toscana oils and balsamic Vinegar

Tasmanian Gourmet Sauce Company

SBS stand where Costa Georgiadis was signing books

Thanks to @SBS_Food, I was a guest and was able to attend this first ever event and even got to review the internationally renowned chef, Gabriel Gate's cooking demonstration. You can read it on the SBS Food Website

It was a great day of eating, sampling, watching and meeting chefs and producers.

Bon Appetite,

Cherrie

Quezo Chiffon Mini Cupcakes (Filipino Chiffon Cake with Cheese)

2011-03-04T22:37:00.000+11:00

I was flicking through some of my Filipino food magazines that I collected when I went back a few years ago and I saw this. I've been wanting to make this cake since I first saw it years ago. Even my friend, Hilda, made an Indonesian version of this cake for me a few times. So I decided to make it for the Cooking The Books lunch I hosted at my house.

Now you might think that cheese does not belong on top of a cupcake. But I have to tell you, this works. The salty cheese goes really well with the sweetness of the cupcake. It also gives the cake a different texture. I urge you to try this. You will be surprised.

cupacakes
1/2 cup plus 2 tbs of self raising flour
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 cup caster sugar
3/4 tsp baking powder
2 egg, separated
1/4 cup water
1/4 tsp vanilla extract
1/8 oil
1/4 tsp cream of tartar
2 tbs sugar

butter icing
1/2 cup unsalted butter
1/2 cup icing sugar

For topping, Edam cheese, grated (or if you have it, quezo de bola)

1. Preheat the oven to 180degC and line 12 hole mini muffin pan.
2. Place in a large bowl, flour, salt, sugar and baking powder. Using a whisk, stir until there are no lumps. Make a well in the center and add the egg yolks, water, vanilla and oil. Blend till smooth.
3. In another bowl, whisk the egg whites and cream of tartar until soft peak form. Gradually add the 2 tbs of sugar and continue beating till stiff.
4. Fold a third of the egg whites into the cake mixture then gently fold in the rest. Do not over mix the batter.
5. Fill the cupcake cups 3/4 full and bake for 10-12 minutes. Cool completely on a wire rack.
6. Make the butter icing but combining the butter and icing sugar in a bowl and mix till light and fluffy
7. Once the cupcakes are cooled, spread the butter icing on top and sprinkle with the grated cheese.

Bon Appetite,

Cherrie

Cook Book Challenge : Raspberry Delight

2011-03-03T07:39:00.000+11:00

Theme 3: Love

Cookbook : Little Kitchen by Sabrina Parrini

Recipe : Raspberry Delight

Love. This theme can be interpreted in many ways. The way I interpret this week's theme is Deanna. Yes, I love her but the reason I chose her for this theme is that she loves to cook and bake. She recently turned down an invitation to attend a previous blogger lunch, simply because there will be no cooking involved, unlike the last one she attended. You have seen many posts on her and her kitchen creations and I am certain you will see many more in the future.

Having children in the kitchen can be a bit messy but they always have fun. So if you don't worry about what needs to be cleaned up afterwards, children can get be quite helpful

Since this recipe came from a children's book, it's very easy and really only requires a few ingredients.

300ml cream
1 tsp vanilla bean paste
2 punnets raspberries (we used frozen mixed berries)
2 tsp caster sugar

1. Put the cream and vanilla bean paste into the bowl of an electric mixer. Beat till soft peaks form
2. Tip half of the berries into a small bowl and mash them with the sugar using a fork until it forms a runny sauce
3. Arrange a layer of cream in a glass then spoon a layer of the berry sauce then the whole berries. Repeat till you have about 2-3 layers of each or until you reach the top.

We also add crushed up biscuits (scotch finger) to the top and Hubby and I drizzled some butterscotch sauce on it as well.

Deanna layered her own glass (with a little help from me) and I did the other. She also made another two smaller ones but they didn't photographed well (read : messy) but all 4 glasses were very delicious no matter what they looked like.

Check out my previous posts on this year's Cook Book Challenge

Bon Appetite,
Cherrie

Cooking the Books - David Thompson's Thai Street Food.

2011-03-01T08:20:00.000+11:00

Cooking the Books was started by a group of food bloggers on twitter. It's a lunch where a cookbook is chosen and everyone brings along a dish that they made from that cookbook. This is actually the third cooking the books lunch. I missed out on the first one because I was sick and the second one because I was holidaying at Lindeman Island with my family.

This time round the cookbook chosen was Thai Street Food by David Thompson.

I was happy to host the lunch at my house. I was more than happy to open my house and kitchen to what I knew was going to be a feast.

I decided to make Madtarbark with beef with cucumber relish. I chose this recipe because the ingredient list wasn't as long as most of the dishes in the book and it looked delicious. I made the dough the night before and left it overnight to steep in the oil. I was quite nervous that the dough would not turn out. The recipe calls for the dough to be stretched out by fingers and being flung out onto an oiled surface, but for the less dexterous a rolling pin can be used. Needless to say, I used a rolling pin. I also tweaked the recipe a little. I added a little more beef and also added holy basil because I love the smell and taste of the herb.

It was a great lunch. Below is what everyone else brought along.

Kat from Urban Cook's Journal made Pat Thai

Kat from Urban Cook's Journal also made Green Papaya Salad (Som dtam malakor)

Thanh from I eat therefore I am made Deep fried cured pork ribs (Naem sii krong muu tort)

Kat from Spatula, Spoon and Saturday made Grilled pork skewers (Muu Bing)

Agnes from Off My Spork made Chiang Mai curried noodles and chicken (Kao soi gai)

Michele from Iron Chef Shellie made Wonton and barbeque pork soup (Gioo nahm muu daeng)

April from My food trail made braised pork hock with star anise (Khaa muu parlow)

April's hubby and I digging into the bone marrow from April's dish. YUM!

The Thai Fest

For dessert, Shellie also made an Orange chiffon cake

I made a Filipino chiffon cake with cheese (Quezo chiffon mini cupcakes)

(to be posted soon)

Matarbark Recipe

Dough Recipe
1/4 tsp salt
125g self raising flour
1/2 egg (about 30g), lightly beaten
15g butter, broken into small pieces
1/2 cup oil

Filling
2 tbs chopped red shallots
good pinch of salt
1 tbs chopped garlic
1 tbs chopped ginger
1 heaped tbs curry powder (recipe below)
100g minced beef (I used 140g)
2 tbs fish sauce, to taste (I used 1 tbs of Filipino fish sauce)
pinch of white sugar
1 smal white onion, quite finely sliced
3 tbs chopped spring onions
2 tbs chopped coriander
1 handful of holy basil.
1 egg beaten

Curry powder (makes about 1/2 cup. You can store in the fridge)
5 long dried chillies
1 tsp black peppercorns
1 1/2 tbs coriander seeds
1 tbs cumin seeds
1 tbs cloves
1 tsp fennel seeds
4 green cardamom pods
2 tbs turmeric powder
1 1/2 tbs ground ginger

1. To make the curry powder, place the whole spices in a ginder or mortar and pestle and grind to a powder. Add the tumeric and ginger then pass the powder through a sieve.

2. Make the dough. Mix the salt into 1/4 cup of water. Sieve the flour into a bowl and make a well in the centre. Add the egg, stirring to form a crumbly dough, then gradually work in the salted water. Knead for about 15 minutes until the dough is smooth and soft. Transfer to a bowl that has been rubbed with a little of the butter and leave to rest for about an hour.
3. Roll the dough between cupped hands and then divide into 3 equal sized balls and roll a little to smooth their surface. Return them to the bowl and cover in the oil and dot with the butter pieces. Cover and leave for at least 3 hours or overnight.
4. Meanwhile, make the filling, using a pestle and mortar, pound the shallots with the salt then add the garlic and ginger. Pound to a fine paste. Stir in the curry powder.

5. Fry the paste in a frying pan with 2 tablespoons of the oil. Fry until fragrant then add the minced beef and cook for 4 minutes, stirring to prevent it from clumping. Season with the fish sauce and sugar. Allow to cool, then stir in both the onions, coriander and egg.

6. Oil the bench and hands well with some of the oil. Take out on of the dough balls and press against the bench with two or three fingers, spreading the dough to make a disk about 15cm in diameter. Now, cast the dough by holding one edge of the disk and, using a throwing motion, stretch it until it is really thin and transparent. If you want, you can also use a rolling pin (like me)

7. Heat a large frying pan ad melt a smear of the oil in it, then carefully lay the pastry in the pan. Let it cook for a moment then place a third of the filling in the center, pressing down to flatten and spread it. Fold opposite sides of the pastry into the center, then repeat with the other two sides. Make sure the each flap overlaps to secure the filling inside. Continue to cook until the both sides are golden brown.

8. Allow to cool slightly, then cut into squares. Serve warm with cucumber relish.

Cucumber Relish

1/4 cup white vinegar

1/4 cup white sugar

1/2 tsp salt

1 small cucumber. quartered and sliced

3 red shallots, coarsely sliced

1/2 long red chilli, chopped

1 tbs chopped coriander

1. Simmer the vinegar, sugar and salt with a few tablespoons of water until the sugar has dissolved.

2. Take off the heat and allow to cool. (This syrup can be made in advanced and be kept in the fridge indefinitely)

3. Just before serving, stir in the cucumber, shallots, chilli and chopped coriander.

A the end of the lunch, much food was eaten, much wine was consumed and best of all, much laughter was had. Everyone left for home with full tummies and eagerly looking forward to our next Cooking The Books lunch.

Bon Appetitie,
Cherrie

Kulinarya Cooking Club February 2011 : Morcon

2011-02-23T11:38:00.001+11:00

This month's theme is aphrodisiac foods

When Pia chose this theme, she also gave us links to what foods are aphrodisiac. I chose to make morcon. A Filipino Stuffed Beef Roll. I changed the recipe a bit from the traditional one so that there are several ingredients in this dish that has aphrodisiac properties. My version has 4 of the ingredients listed. I added asparagus to the filling along with the traditional carrot. In the sauce there is garlic and a little bit of ginger. I served this on Valentines Day dinner for Hubby, however you don't need an occasion to serve this delicious dish.

500g beef steak, cut and flattened into large sheets (I made 5 sheets)
2 tbs lemon juice
4 tbs soy sauce
Pepper
olive oil
5 cloves of garlic, crushed
1 onion diced
2cm piece of ginger, peeled and grated
1 cup tomato passata
2 bay leaves
3 cups beef stock
3/4 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
1 tsp sugar
2 tbs lemon juice

Filling
5 canned hot dogs or frankfurters, sliced into strips
1 small carrot
3 asparagus spears, split down the middle
2 hard boiled eggs, quartered
sharp cheddar cheese

1. Marinate the beef for 20 minutes in the lemon juice, soy sauce and pepper.
2. Drain the beef and reserve the marinade. Lay the beef on a flat surface and arrange the filling in rows lengthwise. Roll the meat and enclose the filling and tie with kitchen string in several places. Roll the meat in flour and remove excess flour.
3. Heat the olive oil in a large saucepan and brown the beef on all sides. Remove and set aside while you make the sauce.
4. In the same saucepan, add the reserved marinade, garlic, onion, ginger, tomato passata and bay leaves and cook over high heat until the liquid is reduced. Add the beef stock and bring back to the boil.
5. Return the meat to the saucepan and slowly simmer for about 1 hour until the meat is tender. Season with salt, pepper and sugar.
6. When cooked, transfer the meat to a platter, remove the string and slice crosswise. Drizzle the sauce over the meat and to freshen it up, squeeze the lemon juice over the dish.

Please go and check out what the other member of the Kulinarya Coking Club has cooked up.

Bon Appetite,

Cherrie

Strawberry Ice cream Sandwich

2011-02-20T21:35:00.002+11:00

This is my first time to join the Pinoy Foodista Cooking Challenge. I am happy to join this group of fine Filipino Foodies. You can find more about them here. Please click here and vote for my sandwich.

This month's challenge is "Strawberries in a sandwich". I have to credit my sister-in-law with this one. She suggested doing an ice cream sandwich. I ran with that idea and made a Strawberry meringue ice cream in a Triple chocolate cookie sandwich.

I don't have an ice cream maker so I had to find a easy ice cream recipe that I can make. I found this recipe while watching a children's cooking show. Yep, that's right. The best thing about this recipe is that it's very simple and children can help you make it.

I got Deanna to help me. She loves cooking and as soon as I told her what I was going to make, she put on her apron straight away.

Strawberry Meringue Ice cream

250ml double cream

4 heaped dessert spoons natural yoghurt

4 level dessert spoons icing sugar

12 large strawberries, hulled and smashed with the back of a fork

2 meringue nest

1. whisk the cream in the bowl, until it’s light and fluffy.

2. Add the yoghurt and icing sugar to the cream and whisk it more.

3. Place the strawberries in the mixture.

4. Hold a meringue nest over the bowl and crush it in your hand and then drop it into the mixture and give it a gentle stir.

5. Pour the mixture into the lidded container and put it in the freezer for at least two hours or preferably overnight.

Take out of the freezer about 30 minutes before sandwiching in the cookies to soften a little.

Triple Chocolate Chip Cookies
125g unsalted butter, softened.
1 1/4 cups tightly packed brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla essence
1 egg, lightly beaten
1 1/2 cups plain flour
2 tbs cocoa powder
1/2 tsp baking powder
a pinch of salt
3/4 cups dark chocolate chips
3/4 cup white chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 180degC. Place butter and sugar in a bowl and beat until light and creamy. Add vanilla and egg and stir to combine. Stir in the sifted flour, cocoa powder baking powder and salt until just combined. Fold through the rocky road.

Place spoonfuls of cookie mixture on a lined baking tray, allowing room for spreading. Cook for 15-20 minutes, until they turn pale gold.

Allow to cool on the tray for 5 minutes before placing biscuits on a wire rack to cool further.

Bon Appetite,

Cherrie

Banoffee Sundae. An International Incident Party

2011-02-20T14:02:00.002+11:00

This month you are all invited to our Sundae International Incident Party and as always, it's hosted by the lovely Penny from Jeroxie Blog.

I love ice cream, and who doesn't, right? For this month's theme, I was dreaming up all sorts of combinations and concoctions. I was feeling ambitious. However, as usual, time got the better of me and so I needed to do something quick and easy.

For my contribution this month's theme I made a Banoffee Sundae. A banoffee pie is an English dessert containing bananas, toffee and cream in a pastry or biscuit base. This makes for a great combination for a sundae.

I don't have an ice cream maker but after some research and brain storming, I came up with a way to make a delicious no-churn banana ice cream. It's very easy and it only uses 3 ingredients. It freezes well. Just remember to take the ice cream out of the freezer 30 minutes before you want to eat it so it softens a little.

Banana Ice cream recipe

5 ripe bananas

1 x 395g sweetened condensed milk

1/2 cup cream

1. Peel and chop the bananas. Place in a snap lock bag and freeze over night.

2. Whip the cream till soft peaks. Set aside

3. In a food processor, place the frozen bananas, condensed milk and cream. Whiz till the ingredients are well combined and the bananas have been pureed.

4. Pour into a container and place in the freezer. Stir the mixture every hour for 2-3 hours. Freeze for at least 4-5 hours or even better, overnight.

Butterscotch recipe

150g brown sugar

150ml cream

125g chopped butter

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Place all the ingredients in a saucepan, bring to the boil and simmer for 5 mins.

Hot Fudge Sauce recipe

140ml cream

30g unsalted butter

45g coco powder, sifted

70g caster sugar

60g soft dark brown sugar

pinch of salt

Place all the ingredients in a saucepan and stir over a gentle heat until the mixture is melted and smooth. Let it cook for 2-3 minutes.

To assemble the sundae.

No churn banana ice cream

butterscotch sauce

hot fudge sauce

biscuits of your choice, crushed

fresh bananas

In a bowl or dish, place 2-3 balls of the banana ice cream. Drizzle the butterscotch sauce and the hot fudge sauce all over ice crea. Sprinkle the crushed up biscuits. Garnish with slices of fresh banana.

You can see my posts for previous International Incident Party themes here

Go and check out what everyone else brought to the party by clicking below or by going to our forum.

Chocolate Eclair Hearts for Valentines Day

2011-02-12T21:03:00.001+11:00

To all my readers, I'd like to wish you all a Happy Valentine's Day.

Hubby and I don't really celebrate Valentine's Day anymore. When we first met, we used to go out for a lovely dinner. Nowadays, I prefer to cook something at home for him and our children. After all, the way to a man's heart is through his stomach. And as you can tell, I love cooking and baking. This year I decided to make my family, chocolate eclair hearts.

I've made choux pastry once before when I made my Hot Dog Cakes. I used to be scared of making choux pastry but I'm glad that I have overcome that fear. My piping technique, however, needs more work. I drew heart shapes on the baking paper to use as a guide but some of my choux pastry hearts still didn't look like hearts. That's OK, it just makes my eclairs look rustic. Anyway, the important thing is the taste. And according to Hubby, it tastes great.

Makes 12 (depending on size)

Choux Pastry

40g butter

1/2 cup water

1/2 cup plain flour

2 eggs

1. Preheat oven to 220degC (200 Fan forced). Prepare an oven tray by drawing heart shapes onto the baking paper. (I used a heart shape cookie cutter as a guide)

2. Combine butter with the water in a saucepan and bring to the boil. Add flour and beat with a wooden spoon over the heat until the mixture comes away from the sides of pan and forms a ball. Transfer to a small bowl and the beat in the egg with a electric mixer until it becomes glossy.

3. Spoon the mixture into a piping bag fitted with 1cm plain tube. Pipe the mixture onto the heart shapes on the baking paper on the trays. Bake for 7 mins. Reduce the temperature to 180degC (160 fan forced) and bake another 10 mins or until they are browned lightly and crisp. Carefully cut them in half and remove any soft center. Bake for another 5 mins or until eclairs are dried out. Leave to cool.

Pastry Creme Recipe
1 cup milk
1/2 vanilla bean, split or 1/2 tsp vanilla bean paste
3 egg yolks
1/4 cup caster sugar
2 tablespoons cornflour

1. Bring milk & vanilla bean to the boil in small saucepan.
2. Discard vanilla if using the bean.
3. Meanwhile, beat egg yolks, sugar & cornflour in small bowl with electric mixer until thick.
4. With motor operating, gradually bet in hot milk mixture.
5. Return custard mixture to saucepan; stir over heat until mixture boils & thickens

To assemble, pipe the pastry cream into the bottom half of the choux pastry shells. Place the other half on top. Carefully spoon melted chocolate on top of the eclair. Leave to set.

This post is also for Sweets for a Saturday for Lisa's Blog

Happy Valentine's Day.
Cherrie

Zucchini and Walnut Loaf

2011-02-11T21:27:00.000+11:00

I love this! I've never had a vegetable in a cake/loaf before. I wanted to try this because my brother @MrEdwardPuzon was abundant with zucchinis. It's a little dense because it's a loaf. And because it's dense, it's best served smothered with butter and jam.

3 eggs

1 1/2 cups firmly packed brown sugar

1 cup vegetable oil

1 1/2 finely grated zucchini

1 cup coarsely chopped walnuts

1 1/2 cups self-raising flour, sifted

1 1/2 cups plain flour, sifted

extra chopped walnuts

1. Preaheat oven to 180degC. Grease 15cm X 25cm loaf pan and line the base and long side with baking paper with 2cm overhanging the sides

2. Beat the eggs,m sugar and oil in a bowl with electric mixer until combines. Add the zucchini, nuts and sifted flours in 2 batches. Mix to just combined. Pour into the pan. Sprinkle the extra chopped walnuts.

3. Bake the load for about 1 1/4 hours or until cooked through. Let stand in the tin for 5 minutes then turn onto a wire rack and let cool.

note: when you grate the zucchini, squeeze a little to get rid of some of the liquid.

Bon Appetite,
Cherrie

Cook Book Challenge : Bibimbap

2011-02-08T21:24:00.000+11:00

Theme 3: Rice/Noodles

Cookbook : Jill Dupleix - Lighten up

Recipe : Korean Bibimbap

I was looking forward to this fortnight's theme. I actually haven't had Korean Bibimbap before but Hubby had it once and really liked it and asked me to cook it. I found the recipe in Jill Dupleix's book. I have to admit I don't know much about Korean food so I also did a little bit of research and found a good recipe by Kitchen wench. So below is a recipe by Jill with a little inspiration from Kitchen Wench' version.

250g beef mince
4 tbs soy sauce
1 1/2 tbs sesame oil
salt and pepper
100g baby spinach, washed
1 carrot, peeled and cut into matchsticks
1 small zucchini, cut into matchstick
1 medium onions, sliced
100g bean sprouts
sesame oil
fish sauce
hot cooked rice
4 eggs

1. Marinate the beef mince in the soy sauce and sesame oil for 1 hour.
2. Saute the carrots in a little bit of oil. Add a small splash of fish sauce and sesame oil. Remove and set aside in a bowl.
3. Saute the baby spinach, onions, zucchini and bean sprouts, the same as the carrots.
4. Cook the mince, including the marinade, until well done.
5. Fry the eggs, sunny side up.
6. Divide the rice in 4 bowls and add the the meat and vegetables on top. Place the fried egg on top.
7. Serve with thick chilli sauce or Korean Gochujang.

Check out my previous posts on this year's CookBook Challenge

Chocolate and Nutella Thumbprint Cookies for World Nutella Day

2011-02-05T17:57:00.002+11:00

World Nutella Day is held on February 5th and was the brain child of Sara, and Michelle . The idea behind World Nutella Day is to celebrate and get creative with Nutella. You can follow them on twitter or become a fan on facebook.

My family loves Nutella, especially simply on toast for Breakfast. My contribution is Chocolate and Nutella Thumbprint Cookies. This is yummy. The cookie is chewy and soft and the drop of nutella on top is a perfect match.

1/2 cup butter

2/3 cup sugar

1 egg, separated

2 tablespoons milk

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 cup all purpose flour

1/3 cup baking cocoa

1/4 teaspoon salt

1. In a bowl add the butter, sugar, egg yolk, milk and vanilla and mix til light and fluffy.

2. Sift the flour, cocoa and salt in a separate bowl then gradually add to creamed mixture,stir to combine.

3. Cover and place in the refrigerator one hour, or until firm enough to shape into balls.

4. Take 1 tablespoon of the mixture and shape into balls

5. Using your thumb (or back of a 1/4 tsp) make an indentation in center of of each cookie.

6. Bake at 160degC for 10 to 12 minutes, or until center is just set.

7. Let the cookies cool before filling them

Makes 24 cookies

Fill the centers with Nutella.

I also made some peanut butter ones.

There are many other fillings you can use but I think Nutella is the best one.

Bon Appetite,
Cherrie

Macarons and Food Bloggers

2011-02-04T09:51:00.003+11:00

Looks can be deceiving.

Nowadays, blog events and meetups all start over a conversation on twitter. This is how our macaron session was conjured up. A few of us were tweeting our fear of THE Macaron. I had made them before but they have never come up perfect. This is when we decided that we will form a Macaron Support Group and have a mac tweetup session where we will, together make the perfect macaron. The Mac support group consisted of myself, Thanh, Liz, I-Hua, Penny, Agnes and Kat

Hopes were high, that day. We all turned up with positive attitudes, determined to make the elusive perfect macron and to be able to bring home some edible ones to our partners and families.

Before getting into it tho, we fed our tummies. We all brought a dish each and we were all full after lunch.

I brought along pasta in a grilled tomato sauce

Kat brought Sping rolls

Thanh made lamb chops

Liz made chicken wings

I-Hua also made chicken wings

Agnes brought along lamb Biryani

Penny made beef empandas

For dessert, Agnes made custard tarts

and Liz brought along pineapple tarts.

I also brought along my daughter. She loves to bake and she even made new friends. **cough. Agnes. cough**

Below are a few photos of us getting busy in the kitchen.

As you can see from the above photo, we didn't get the results we were hoping for. After many speculations, we had a few reasons on why they didn't turn out. We didn't mix the egg whites to the right consistency or we added too much of the liquid flavourings which made the mixture too wet or we didn't know the oven well enough that we couldn't control the temperature. So, all or none of these could be the reason and we were disappointed but truth be told, in the end, we enjoyed ourselves and there was probably more laughter and joking around than cooking and baking.

Having this failure hang over my head, I didn't wan't to be defeated. The next day I decided to make more macarons but at home and with an oven I was familiar with.

I made coconut macaron shells. One filled with pandan (top pic - filled with pandan buttercream) and the other, I called monte carlo. (bottom pic - filled with vanilla butter cream and triple berry jam). They turned out better than the day before but as with my previous attempts, they are still not perfect. So, I forecast more attempts in my future.

Recipe :

Coconut Macaron shell:

4 large egg whites

120g ground almonds

220g icing sugar

40g fine caster sugar

1/4 cup dessicated coconut

2 tsp coconut essence

To make the shells

1. Preheat oven to 150degC. Finely grind the dessicated coconut, almonds and icing sugar in a blender or food processor. Sieve the mixture over a baking tin lined with baking papar and cook for 5-7 minutes. Let cool.

2. In a mixing bowl, beat the egg whites till soft peaks using an electric mixer. When it starts to stiffen, gradually add the caster sugar, beating constantly. Add the coconut essence. Mix to combine. Sieve the almond-sugar mixture over the egg white and fold carefully.

3. Fill a piping bag using a round piping nozzle. Pipe out 4.5cm circles onto a baking tray lined with baking paper. Let it stand for about 30minutes or until a crust forms on the surface. Bake for 8-10 minutes. Let the shells cool, then remove using a small palette knife.

For the butter cream, I used 1 cup of unsalted butter and 1/2 cup of icing sugar. Mix to combine. For the pandan one, add a few drops of the pandan essence and for the vanilla one, add the seeds from a vanilla bean (or 1/2 tsp of vanilla paste)

When the shells cool, spread the filling over half of the shells, then top them with the remaining shells. Chill for 1 hour before serving.

Macarons

Bon Appetite,

Cherrie

Kulinarya Cooking Club January 2011 : Pandan Chiffon Cake with Macapuno Cream

2011-01-29T22:06:00.002+11:00

This month's theme is "What Filipino dish (savoury or sweet) would you like to have on your birthday?"

There was no doubt in my mind what I wanted to do for this challenge. For every birthday, there has to be a birthday cake. My cake of choice is Pandan Chiffon Cake. I love all things pandan and so this is my ultimate cake. I don't like frosting on my pandan cake so just a dollop of macapuno cream goes perfectly to make it that little extra luxurious.

8 egg whites
6 egg yolks
1/2 tsp cream of tartar
1 cup self raising flour, sieved 3 times
3/4 cup sugar
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 cup coconut milk
Pandan extract (green)

Beat egg whites with cream of tartar until stiff and then gradually add 1/2 of the sugar.
Mix flour, half of the sugar, oil, coconut milk, egg yolks, and a few drops of the Pandan extract.
Mix egg whites and flour mixture together.
Pour mixture into an angel food tin.
Bake in moderate oven (180C/375F) for 35 minutes
When cooked, take the pan and turn upside down and leave to cool completely.

To make the macapuno cream simple add macapuno from a jar to a bowl of whipped cream.

Check out what the other members of the Kulinarya Cooking Club made for this month's theme.

I've also entered this post in Sweets for a Saturday on Sweet as sugar cookies Blog.

Cook Book Challenge : Chicken with Curry-Lime Butter

2011-01-27T20:14:00.000+11:00

Theme 2 : Citrus

Cookbook : Tyler FLorence - Tyler's Ultimate

Recipe : Ultimate Chicken with curry-lime butter.

I love chicken accompanied with any citrus. This one doesn't disappoint. This is the first time I've had lime with chicken but I'm glad I tried it. The curry-lime butter is just subtle enough that you can still taste the chicken but it gives the chicken a lift in flavour. You can use any chicken pieces you like. The recipe calls for chicken wings but I used wingettes and drumettes. With any curry butter you don't use, you can freeze and use for another time.

Preheat the oven to 200degC. Drizzle the chicken pieces with olive oil then season with salt and pepper and toss to coat. Spread out onto a baking tray and roast for 30-40 minutes or until the skin gets crisp and brown the meat is cooked through.

To make the curry-lime butter, add 125g soften butter, 2 tsp Thai red curry paste, zest and juice of 1 lime, 1 tbs honey and a splash of soy sauce (I didn't have Thai red curry paste, I used 1 tsp of Madras curry paste instead) . Season with salt and blend to mix. Place in a large bowl

When the chicken is cooked, place in the bowl with the butter and toss till all the chicken is coated.

If you would like to join the cookbook challenge, pleas visit the forum here.

Bon Appetite,

Cherrie

Australia Day Green and Gold Lamingtons

2011-01-25T20:57:00.000+11:00

Happy Australia Day to all my fellow Australians.

We like to spend Australia Day having an Aussie Barbie in the backyard and like to end the day by going into the city to see the huge Melbourne fireworks. This year we'll be having lunch at my mother in laws' and so I decided to make my green and gold lamingtons to bring along.

If you don't know what to make for your own celebrations, these lamingtons are very easy to make and delcious to eat.

6 eggs

150g caster sugar

50g cornflour

75g plain flour, sifted

50g self raising flour, sifted

160g desiccated coconut

1 pkt 85g lime jelly

1 pkt 85g mango jelly

1. Preheat oven 180degC. Grease a lamingtom pan (20cmx30cm)

2. Beat eggs in a bowl with electric mixture for about 10 minutes or until thick and creamy. Gradually beat in the sugar making sure it's well dissolved in between each addition. Fold in the flours and then spread the mixture into the baking pan

3. Bake for about 30mins. Turn cake onto baking paper covered wire rack to cool.

4. While cake is cooling, make the jellies according to packet instructions. Place in the fridge to set a little.

5. When the jelly has set a little, cut the cake into 20 pieces. Dip into the jelly then cover with the coconut. Place on wire racks to set.

Bon Appetite,

Cherrie

Quick side dishes for an Indian Feast.

2011-01-24T21:48:00.000+11:00

A couple of weeks ago was Hubby's birthday. We went out for his birthday dinner at Newmarket Hotel in St.Kilda. You can read about it here.

We also had his family over for dinner. Hubby asked his mum to make his favourite chicken curry, which of course, she obliged.

I decided to add a couple of quick side dishes to add to the feast. A quick carrot salad and a quick tangy lemon pickle. These dishes were inspired from Jamie Oliver's 30 minute meals.

Tangy lemon pickle

1. Cut 1 lemon into 8 and remove seeds, then slice.

2. In a pan add 1 tbs olive oil. Add 1 tsp black mustard seeds (I used yellow mustard seeds as I didn't have any black ones), crumble a little dried chilli, add chopped fresh chilli, and 1 tsp tumeric

3. Add the lemon and cook for 10 - 15 seconds. Mix.

4. Cool down to room temperature to serve

Carrot Salad

1. Grate 4-6 carrots and place in a large bowl

2. Add chopped coriander, grated ginger and 1 chopped chilli. Mix together.

3. Add salt and squeeze half a lemon and 3 tbs of olive oil.

4. Toss. It can be served with roasted almonds sprinkled on top.

My Mother-in-law's chicken curry.

Pappadams

Naan, reheated in the toaster.

Tumeric rice.

Needless to say, Hubby (and the rest of the family) thoroughly enjoyed the Indian feast.

Bon Appetite,

Cherrie

Hubby's birthday dinner at Newmarket Hotel

2011-01-18T22:05:00.006+11:00

Another year, another Hubby's birthday dinner at another one of Paul Wilson's Hotels..

Hubby's birthday last year, we went to Middle Park Hotel. We loved it. You can read about our great meal here. This year, Hubby's choice for dinner was at Paul Wilson's new establishment, Newmarket Hotel in St. Kilda. This time, the menu has a South American/Spanish theme, unlike his other hotels, which is more of an English theme. Hubby even said that the bread and butter pudding from Middle Park Hotel was the best he's ever had. I guess I have to work on mine then.

We have already met Chef Paul Wilson through twitter (@chefmrwilson) and we wanted to meet him in person so when we saw him at the restaurant, Hubby and I approached him and we introduced ourselves. I was relieved when he recognised us as his twitter followers and have had conversations with him.

Upon arriving we ordered a pitcher from their cocktail menu. Confederate cup ( honey liqueur, mint, orange, strawberries and peach iced tea. This was tasted beautiful and it was also visually gorgeous.

We decided to order a few different meals instead of ordering just a couple of mains. So we ordered pork carnitas with soft taco, baby gem lettuce, pickled pineapple and hot adobo sauce. This was a flavour explotion. The pork was tender and full of flavour. The inclusion of the pickled pineapple made the dish sweet but it pulled it all together.

We also ordered soft taco with wood roasted bone marrow with chimichurri and ranchero brisket. When I first heard there was bone marrow somewhere on the menu, I know I had to have it no matter how it was served. I do have to say, though, that I thought the chimichurri over powered the bone marrow a little. But when I got a big chunk of the marrow by itself, it was meltingly good. The brisket was very spciy but I didn't mind the spice.

Catalan pizza - spiced lamb, grapes, purple basil and pomegranate molasses. This was awesome. It was big on flavour. I don't usually like thin based pizzas but it was crispy and had a good bite to it. The molasses gave it a sweetness which paired nicely with the lamb. The grapes gave little sweet explosions when bitten into.

The roast of the day was roasted Wessex saddle back suckling pig with blood plums and a radicchio, fennel and broad bean salad. When the waitress came over and was in the process of telling us what this dish was, Hubby's and my eyes glazed over when she said the crackling is aaammmaaazzing. That was the deal breaker and we didn't hear anything else she said after that. And let me tell you, this roast suckling pig did not disappoint. The crackling was crispy but melting at the same time. To die for.

To finish off the meal, we ordered two desserts to share. One was latin style chocolate pot with bananas and dulche de leche. The chocolate was dark and bitter, just the way I like it. The sweetness of the banana and dulche de leche help balanced out the rest of the dish. Yum!

The second dessert was peach, raspberry and amoretti pie. It was more of a cake than a pie but it was delicious none the less. The pie was crunchy on the outside and light and fluffy on the inside. The raspberry sorbet went great with the fresh fruit.

Overall, Hubby and I enjoyed our meal and experience at Newmarket Hotel. We will come back and next time we will try everything else we didn't have.

Bon Appetite,

Cherrie

Hot Dog Cakes. An International Incident.

2011-01-16T11:36:00.003+11:00

So this is our first International Incident Party for 2011 and I'm pretty excited. This month's theme is Hot dog. Penny from Jeroxie Blog, is again hosting this great monthly event. If you would like to join, please visit our forum.

I've had this vision to create a cake that looks like a hot dog after making my hamburger cupcakes. I thought that this was the perfect opportunity. This also ticks off another challenge I set myself that I will conquer all dishes that have intimidated me. I have always been afraid of making choux pastries. I love to eat it, Yes. But to make it, I have been too afraid to just think about it. I don't know why I was so afraid of it. I was quite easy, actually.

Devil's Food Cake
(I only used one of the cakes. I froze the other one for use another time)
185g softened butter
1 3/4 cup caster sugar
3 eggs
1 1/2 cups self raising flour, sifted
1/2 cup plain flour, sifted
1/2 tsp bicarb of soda
2/3 cup cocoa powder
3 tsp instant coffee granules
1/2 tsp red food colouring
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup milk

1. Preheat oven to 180degC (160 fan forced). Grease and line two deep 18cm round cake pans.
2. Beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs, one at a time. Fold in sifted flours, soda, cocoa and coffee. Combine the colouring, water and milk and pour into dry ingredients.
3. Bake about 25-30mins. Turn cakes out onto racks to cool completely.

Cream Cheese Frosting

45g cream cheese

45g butter, softened

1/2 cup icing sugar

Beat the cream cheese and butter in a small bowl until as white as possible. Gradually beat in sifted icing sugar.

To make the sausages, crumb one of the cakes and add the cream cheese frosting. Mix thorough till well combined. Take about 1 heaped tablespoon and shape like a sausage. Let it sit in refrigerator for an hour to set.

Choux Pastry Buns
80g butter
1 cup water
1 cup plain flour
3 eggs

1. Preheat oven to 220degC (200 Fan forced). Prepare two oven trays.
2. Combine butter with the water in a saucepan and bring to the boil. Add flour and beat with a wooden spoon over the heat until the mixture comes away from the sides of pan and forms a ball. Transfer to a small bowl and the beat in the egg with a electric mixer until it becomes glossy.
3. Spoon the mixture into a piping bag fitted with 1cm plain tube. Pipe 10cm lengths of the mixture 3cm apart on to the trays. Bake for 12 mins. Reduce the temperature to 180degC (160 fan forced) and bake another 10 mins or until they are browned lightly and crisp. Carefully cut the "buns" in half and remove any soft center. Bake for another 5 mins or until eclairs are dried out. Leave to cool.

Pastry Creme Recipe
2 cup milk
1 vanilla bean, split
4 egg yolks
1/2 cup caster sugar
4 tablespoons cornflour

1. Bring milk & vanilla bean to the boil in small saucepan.
2. Discard vanilla.
3. Meanwhile, beat egg yolks, sugar & cornflour in small bowl with electric mixer until thick.
4. With motor operating, gradually bet in hot milk mixture.
5. Return custard mixture to saucepan; stir over heat until mixture boils & thickens.

To assemble the hot dog, pipe the pastry cream into both halves of the choux pastry. Take the sausage and sandwich in between the choux pastry buns. For the ketchup and mustard, I used red and yellow writing gel.

Bon Appetite,
Cherrie

Please check out what everyone else brought to the Hot dog party

Cook Book Challenge : Peach and Mixed Berry Slice

2011-01-08T20:55:00.002+11:00

Theme : Stonefruit

Cookbook : Bill Granger - Every Day

Recipe : Peach and Mixed Berry Slice

So... Here I am again. Another cookbook challenge but this time, I'm determined to see this challenge all the way through. After much discussion on twitter and at our cookbook finale lunch, it was decided to change it from weekly to fortnightly themes. This will make it easier for all participants to keep up. Talking from experience, if you fall behind, even a week, it's very hard to catch up.

I have decided to use Peaches for this fortnight's theme of stone fruit. It is one of my favourite fruits. Even though I don't usually cook fruit, as I like to eat them fresh, I decided to make a slice that also includes berries. I used frozen berries but by all means use fresh ones.

I loved this. It's sweet and tart, chewy and crunchy. It was a hit with the family. It is something I would make again.

185g Plain flour

1 1/2 tsp baking powder and 1/2 tsp extra

125g chilled and diced butter

115g soft brown sugar

115g caster sugar

3 ripe peaches

90g frozen berries

2 tsp vanilla extract

1 egg, lightly beaten

185ml milk

1. Preheat the oven to 160degC fanforced and grease and line the base of a baking tray 20 x 30cm.

2. Peel the peaches by scoring a cross in the skin with a sharp knife, then blanch for 30 seconds in boiling water. Refresh in cold water and peel the skin away from the cross. Slice into wedges.

3. In a large bowl, sift the flour and baking powder then rub in the butter with your fingertips. Stir in both sugars.

4. Press half of the mixture over the base of the tray. Lay the peaches over the top and sprinkle with the berries.

5. In a small bowl, combine the egg, milk and vanilla extract. Add the extra baking powder tot he rest of the base mixture. Add your wet ingredients and mix. Don't worry if it's lumpy

6. Pour evenly over the top of the fruit and bake for 45-50 minutes. Cool in the tray then cut into squares when ready to serve.

If you would like to join, please register here.

What to do with Left Over Lobster? Lobster Torta, of course

2011-01-04T22:27:00.000+11:00

What? Left over lobsters? That can't be! Who ever has left over lobsters? Well, we did, or actually my mum did. For our media noche (New Year's Eve midnight meal), we feasted on lobster, prawns, barbecued fish and fantastic barbecued ribs. My mum over did the feast and we ended up with left overs. We left for home in the new year with full bellies

I took 2 whole lobsters home and made a fabulous meal with it. I made Lobster Torta or Fritters.

2 cooked lobsters

2 spring onions, (scallions) chopped

3 cloves garlic, crushed

1 egg, slightly beaten

1/4 cup thickened cream

1/4 cup bread crumbs

1 tsp mustard powder

salt and pepper to taste

Oil for frying

1. Pick out the lobster meat from the shell. Set aside

2. In a frying pay, sautee the spring onions and garlic till transparent. Cool a little then add to the lobster meat.

3. Add the egg, cream, mustard powder and bread crumbs and the salt and pepper to taste.

4. Add more oil to the frying pan. Place 1 very heaped tablespoon of the lobster mix in the pan and flat to make a pattie. Cook till golden brown on a medium heat.

This is best serve hot and with a squeeze of lemon or with a tangy homemade thousand island dressing.

What other dishes can you make with left over Lobsters?

Bon Appetite,

Cherrie

Christmas Eve Feast 2010 in Pictures

2011-01-02T23:21:00.000+11:00

STARTERS:

Country Pate I made three days before Christmas Eve

Hubby made Nachos with his infamous chilli. You can get his recipe here.

My de-constructed prawn cocktail

Peking Duck

MAIN DINNER:

Roast Turkey. I also had a Coke glazed Ham but somehow I don't have any photos of it

Now that's a drumstick!

Prawns waiting to be roasted in the oven

Pigs in a blanket

Steamed green beans with butter

Honey glazed Carrots

My Newphew made a mocktail called Summer breeze that we had when we were all at Lindeman Island

DESSERT:

I made Christmas cake balls inspired by Bakerella

Sister in law made buttersnap cups

My mum made Puto Maya. This is a traditional Filipino sweet dish made of glutinous rice cooked in coconut milk and coated with fresh grated coconut and sugar.

My brother, @MrEdwardPuzon made his much-loved Trifle.

I also made an Angel Food cake with cream cheese and berries.

Photos taken by @MrJamesMoore and @MrEdwardPuzon

Bon Appetite,

Cherrie

New Year's Resolution 2011

2011-01-01T17:02:00.004+11:00

Photo courtesy of @mredwardpuzon

To my dear readers, Happy New Year to you and your family. 2010 has been a great year for me and my family. It was a good year for eating, cooking and baking. So many yummy experiences. I'm looking forward to more good eats and I wish that upon to all of you too.

So... my New Year's Resolution. To be honest, I was not planning on having one this year. All my previous resolutions did not see through the whole year so I thought it wasn't worth thinking about it this year. That is until, I was deciding on what sweet to make for our New Year's Eve celebration at my parent's house. I wanted to make something that I haven't made before. It also had to be round. We like to have round dishes on our "media noche" or "Midnight meal" table for good luck in the new year. It was then I decided to make macarons. I've made it a couple of times before but the whole process always intimidates me. It's precise baking. But I did it and I'm quite happy with the way it turned out.

Because of that, I have decided that my New Year's Resolution 2011 is to cook or bake dishes and recipes that have intimidated me in the past.

A while back I came across "macarons" by Berengere Abraham The book has great step by step detailed instructions and it's easy to follow. I used the recipe to make the lemon macaron shell but I used AWW recipe for the filling.

I doubled the recipe to make 25-30 macarons depending on how accurate you size them.

Macaron shell:

4 large egg whites

120g ground almonds

220g icing sugar

40g fine caster sugar

yellow food colouring

2 tbl lemon juice

Filling:

80ml pouring cream

180g white chocolate chopped coarsely

6-8 tbl lemon juice (depending on how lemony you like it)

To make the shells

1. Preheat oven to 150degC. Finely grind the almonds and icing sugar in a blender or food processor. Strain the mixture over a baking tin lined with baking papar and cook for 5-7 minutes. Let cool.

2. In a mixing bowl, beat the egg whites till soft peaks using an electric mixer. When it starts to stiffen, gradually add the caster sugar, beating constantly. Add a few drops of food colouring and the lemon juice. Mix to combine. Strain the almond-sugar mixture over the egg white and fold carefully.

3. Fill a piping bag using a round piping nozzle. Pipe out 4.5cm circles onto a baking tray lined with baking paper. Let it stand for about 1 hour until a crust forms on the surface. Bake for 8-10 minutes. Let the shells cool, then remove using a small palette knife.

To make the filling

1. Bring the cream to the boil in a small pot then remove from the heat. Add the chocolate and stir until smooth. Now add the lemon juice.

2. Let stand at room temperature until spreadable. I found I needed to whip it a little and I also refrigerated it for a while.

When the shells and filling is both cool, spread the filling over half of the shells, then top them with the remaining shells. Chill for 1 hour before serving.

Is your New Year's Resolution food related?

Bon Appetitie,
Cherrie

Macarons

My Christmas Cake 2010

2010-12-28T22:23:00.000+11:00

It is now tradition that I make Christmas cake every year, even though I actually don't eat fruit cake. Basically, I make this solely for Hubby and my mother in law.

I usually use Delia's classic Christmas cake recipe but I thought I'd change it up a bit. This year I used Bourke street bakery's recipe. This is the first recipe I used from this book and I think it's a good one so it may be the one I make every year from now on. It's dense, rich, moist and full of flavour. The good thing about fruit cakes is that you can use any combination of fruit you like and you can use any alcohol of your choice. Just make sure you have the same total quantity of fruit in the recipe. The original recipe makes two 12.5 cm cakes but I decided to make one bigger one. I just cooked it a bit longer on a lower heat. Make sure to line the tin with double the amount of baking paper to avoid the sides burning.

It should be made 12 to 15 weeks before Christmas. The fruit needs to be soaked for 5 weeks and then the cake needs to be fed for 8 to 10 weeks. Unfortunately, I started the cake a little late. I started it 10 weeks before hand but Hubby still liked it and preferred it to last year's cake.

Recipe:
Fruit soak (make it 5 weeks in advance)
55g caster sugar
55ml water
160 brandy ( I used port)
90g sultanas
80g currants
80g chopped pitted prunes
80g chopped pitted dates
150g raisins
55g mixed peel
135g chopped dried figs

Cake:
100g plain flour
1/2 tsp mixed spice
15g ground almonds
110g unsalted butter
100g soft brown sugar
2 tsp honey
2 tbl treacle
1 tsp honey
1tsp marmalade
3 eggs lightly beaten
150ml brandy for feeding (Hubby chose Pimms)

1. To make the fruit soak, put the sugar and water in a saucepan over a high heat and bring to boil. Remove from heat when sugar has dissolved.
2. In an air tight container, add all the fruit, the sugar syrup and port. Mix well to coat. Keep at room temperature for 5 weeks, feeding it with the alcohol of your choice every 3-4 days.
3. To make the cake, preheat oven 160degC and grease 20cm round cake tin and line with baking paper.
4. Sift the flour, mixed spice and ground almonds together in a large bowl. In a mixer bowl, using the paddle attachment cream the butter, sugar, honey, treacle and marmalade until pale.
5. Add the eggs a little at a time, making sure it's incorporated before adding more.
6. As soon as all the egg is combined, add 900g of the fruit soak and fold in.
7. Pour mixture into prepare tin and place on an oven tray and bake in the oven for 2 to 2 1/2 hours, turning the tin half way through. If the top starts to brown too much, cover with foil. Remove from oven and leave in the tin to cool.
8. Make about 20 - 30 holes in the cake with a skewer. I left my cake in the tin though the recipe says to place the cake on a layer of foil and baking paper and scrunching it up to the top of the cake to prevent leakage when feeding it. I just found it easier to leave it in the tin.
9. To feed the cake, brush over about 1 tsp ( or a capful) of your alcohol of choice. Repeat every 3 - 4 days for 8 - 10 weeks. Make sure the cake is well covered to stop evaporation, which will lead the cake to be dry. Keep the cake in an air tight container and keep in a cool dark place.

To decorate,

1. Turn cake out of the tin and trim the top to make it level.

2. Turn the cake upside down.

3. Plug any holes made by the fruit with marzipan or almond paste.

4. Brush some apricot preserve all over the cake. This will help the icing to stick to the cake

5. Roll out marizpan or almond paste to about 1 cm thick and cover the cake. Make sure to cover it completely and smooth it out as much as you can.

6. Roll out fondant or white icing to the same thickness and cover the marzipan icing.

7. Decorate as you please.

I think this will be the Christmas Cake I will make every year.

Bon Appetite,
Cherrie

Kulinarya Cooking Club December 2010 : Spanish Bread.

2010-12-20T22:22:00.003+11:00

This month's theme is Homemade Food Gifts.

When I read that what this month's theme was I was super excited. The possibilities were endless. So many choices on what to make. Because of that, I couldn't make up my mind and I spent weeks trying to decide. I even consulted with my cooking mentor, my mum.

In the end, I decided to bake Spanish bread.

Originally, I wanted to make ensaymada, which is popular during Christmas time in the Philippines but I decided to make a variation of the same dough recipe. Spanish bread is a also another popular bread in the Philippines. It is a sweet bread layered with butter and sugar. I researched the net on why it's called Spanish bread but it seems, no one is certain why.

I searched for a good recipe and I found this one by Kusina ni Manang. I liked this version as it uses a bread machine, which made it a lot easier. And anything that makes things easier for all the Christmas baking I'm doing, is a winner for me.

Recipe :

2/3 cup warm milk

1/2 cup warm water

1 egg

2 egg yolks

85grams butter

1 1/2 tsp salt

4 1/2 cup bread flour

1/2 cup sugar

1 1/2 tsp yeast

Filling:

250gram softened butter

1 cup white sugar

Make the dough in the bread machine according to instructions. My machine instructions suggest to put the liquid ingredients first then add the dry ones except the yeast. Make a well in the center of the flour then add the yeast in the middle. By doing this, the yeast doesn't touch the liquid too early enabling the yeast to work better.

Meanwhile, to make the filling, mix the butter and sugar together until totally incorporated.

Once the dough is ready, divide equally into 24 portions. Roll out the dough into long ovals. Spread the butter and sugar mixture evenly over the dough.

To roll the dough, start at one end and roll tightly. Gently cover it with breadcrumbs and place carefully on a tray, cover and leave to rise for 30minutes.

Place in a preheated oven of 180degC and bake for 15-18 minutes or until golden brown.

These are best eaten warm from the oven. It can be kept for 3 days in an air tight container and can be reheated up in the oven.

Other members in the Kulinarya Coioking Club is listed here.

Colourful Christmas Trifle. An International Incident.

2010-12-19T14:32:00.000+11:00

I was looking forward to this month's IIP as this month's theme was very open and there were many ideas running through my head. This month's theme is COLOUR.

I decided to make Christmas trifle. It's full or colour and my Christmas nowadays is not complete without a trifle of some sort. We're lucky in Australia to have Christmas in Summer. There are lots of beautiful fruits that are available. I decided to add strawberries, kiwi and mangoes in my trifle. Not only will it be colourful but also delicious.

There are no hard and fast rules on making trifle. You can add any fruit and as many layers you like. Your trifle can be quick and easy by using store bought cake and custard or you can make it as complicated as you like. You can also make it in a large trifle bowl or make individual ones. There is only one rule when you want to make trifle. You need to be organised. The buttercake needs to be made a day before you want to make the trifle that way it holds up a lot better. You also need to make the jelly before hand so it's set before using.

In my house, my English Hubby is actually a little picky about his trifles and likes the traditional ones. I listened to his "suggestions" and tweaked it a little.

My first layer was buttercake that I crumbled a little. I placed the cake pieces in a single layer at the bottom of the bowl. I then made raspberry jelly according to packet instructions (less 50ml water) and poured over the cake. Place the bowls in the fridge for a couple of hours to set the jelly.

My second layer is an assortment of fruits. Be as colourful as you can, after all, it is for Christmas. I diced them into smallish pieces and placed them randomly over the cake and jelly layer. I also pre-made lime flavoured jelly and cut it to the same size pieces and scattered that in as well. For another flavour contrast, I add dollops of my homemade strawberry jam I made earlier in the week.

The next layer is a nice thick layer of custard and then topped with whipped cream.

Recipe for Buttercake:

250g softened butter

1 tsp vanilla extract

275g caster sugar

3 eggs

335g self raising flour, sifted

180ml milk

1. Preheat oven to 180degC and grease 22cm round cake pan

2. Beat butter, vanilla and sugar in a bowl and beat with electric mixer until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, then stir in flour and milk, in two batches.

3. Spread the mixture into pan and bake for 1 hour. Stand cake in pan for 5 minutes then turn out onto wire rack to cool.

Recipe for Custard:

300ml milk

300ml cream

6 large egg yolks.

2 rounded tbs cornflour

4 tbs caster sugar

1. Bring the milk and cream to the boil in a non-stick saucepan. Beat the egg yolks, cornflour and sugar together in a bowl, then gradually wisk in the hot milk and cream.

2. Return the mixture to the pan and cook over a low heat, stirring constantly for about 10 minutes. The mixture should be thick enough to coat the back of the spoon. Do not let it boil or it may curdle.

3. Transfer to a bowl and leave to cool.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to everyone, especially those who attended the party.

Perfect Christmas Gift - Homemade Strawberry Jam

2010-12-17T22:08:00.000+11:00

I love making and baking food Christmas gifts. If I am organised enough, I like to make gifts for my family and friends. I find it more satisfying to give homemade gifts rather than store bought ones.

I decided to make jam, after finding I had an abundance of strawberries when we went strawberry picking. I've never made jam before. I guess it's because I've always thought it was complicated to make. It couldn't be further from the truth.

I discovered this jam setting sugar. It definitely makes it easier to make jam. All you need are strawberries (or any other berries you like), jam setting sugar and a knob of butter to give it a bit of a gloss.

Place 1 kg of strawberries in a pot and smash them. I like to leave it a little chunky so the jam has a little texture after it's cooked. Add 1 kg of the jam setting sugar and place on a low heat. Keep stirring until the sugar has dissolved. Turn up the heat till the mixture gets to a rolling boil. Let it boil for 4 minutes. To check if it's ready, place a small dollop of jam on a saucer. Drag your finger through it, and if it wrinkles, it's ready. Skim off the foam on top and pour into sterilized jars.

I will definitely make jam again. If I knew it was this easy to make, I would've made this long ago.