WTSIM - Baked Raspberry and Nectarine (pan)cake

Oh hello there. I bet you're wondering which hole I just crawled out from? ;) I must be a very rare species to be coming out of hibernation so late in the northern hemisphere summer.

Please, allow me to introduce myself. I am from the 'lost my blogging mojo' species. Have you ever heard of us? We hide behinds our (notebook/pc) screens daily, pondering on what we should post on, while stalking everyone elses blog for inspiration. What do you mean you've never heard of us? You mean I'm the only one of a kind????? ........

Hmm.. it is rather pathetic isn't it? Can't believe it's been over 2 months since I blogged and I even missed my own blog anniversary - 2nd one too, I might add. My only saving grace is that I have been planning a big long post about what I've been up to. However, that isn't quite ready to be published yet. So you'll have to be content with this for now...

I also realised that I've not participated in any blog events since Menu for Hope, Peabody's House Warming Party and WTSIM back in November when I arrived in London. Not sure I could even call this a food blog anymore. :P

I think that it's only fair that my first post in a while be something that is food related. After all, it's been a freakin long time since any food related posts graced this blog. So, for now, please accept my humble offering of an adaptation from Bill Granger's latest cook book, Holiday.

Bill made a Baked Apple Cake by caramalising some apples with butter and brown sugar in a oven proof pan and then adding the batter onto the pan and baking the whole thing (fruit/cake/pan and all!) in the oven.

I didn't have any apples around but had some pretty ripe nectarines and threw in some rapsberries for a good measure. I also didn't have an oven proof pan so this went in an oven proof dish instead.

Baked Raspberry and Nectarine (pan)cake
adapted from Bill Granger's Holiday

Ingredients:

1 large knob of butter
2 tbsp of brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
3 nectarines, cut into 1/8th
1 punnet of raspberries
1 tbsp flour (for dusting)

3 eggs
3/4 cup of milk
3/4 cup of flour
1 tsp baking powder
a pinch of salt
1 tbsp of caster sugar

1. Preheat oven to 180 deg C.
2. Sift baking powder, salt and flour together into a large mixing bowl.
3. Add in the caster sugar.
4. Using a whisk, slowly mix in milk and one egg at a time until the mixture is just combined (do not over mix). Once combined. Set aside.
   
5. Melt butter and brown sugar in an oven proof pan.
6. Once butter is melted, add in the the nectarines and cook for approximately 5 minutes.
7. Add in 1/3 of the raspberries towards the end of the cooking time and turn off the flame.
8. Toss the remainder of the raspberries in the flour.
9. At this stage, if you are using an oven proof pan; scatter the remainder of the raspberries into the pan and pour the batter on top of the fruits. If using oven proof dish, transfer the nectarines and berries into the dish before pouring in the batter.
   
10. Bake in the oven for 15 - 20mins until set.
11. Serve with vanilla ice cream or for a breakfast/healthy option, serve with greek yoghurt drizzled with honey.
    

The verdict:

For various reasons, this didn't come out the way I thought it was going to/should taste:-

1. Perhaps the oven dish didn't conduct the heat as well, because I ended up having to increase the cooking time as the middle of the cake wasn't quite cooked.
   
2. I didn't have enough nectarines so it ended up being a bit on the tart side because of the raspberries.
   
3. At first it tasted almost pudding like, but later on the batter tasted like a thick gooey pancake - not very nice...
4. It looks heaps better than it tasted.
   

Overall, the berries and nectarines tasted really good and both fruit and cake went well with vanilla ice cream but I must admit I was a little disappointed. Bill's recipes are generally well liked (by this household) and usually turn out quite well so I am quite surprised at the outcome of this. I must try this again to make up for the disappointment....

perhaps.. the failure was just my own self justification for being out of practise in the kitchen.... ?

For a late entry to Waiter, there's something in my berries... this month hosted by the up and coming media star - Cooksister, Jeanne.

Waiter! There's some pears in my topless tart!

Have I told you how much I miss my kitchen back home? If I haven't,

"I MISS MY KITCHEN!"

I miss my kitchen full of gadgets. My favourite measuring cups, my favourite measuring spoons, my new electronic scales which measures liquid and dry ingredients with a single touch of a finger, my "on its last legs" Kambrook food processor, Alv's mum's Sunbeam mixmaster (which she has never used), all my baking tins and even the not so favourite temperamental gas oven.

What's that I hear you say?

"Chill out dude, it's not like they're irreplaceable?!"

Well, I know they're not irreplaceable. In fact, I did consider bringing some of my "I can't live without you" gadgets with me to keep me company. But I have sooo many of them, I didn't know where to begin and then there was also luggage space to consider. I mean really..it's not like it's forever...??

Sigh, I know I'm being really silly. But it's just that, I miss turning around knowing that I could just grab my Nuscup measuring cups stuck on the freezer door, rummaging through the utensil drawer for my favourite spatula and making tart pastry the quick and easy way. *sulk*

Now that I think about it, I can't believe how much kitchen gadgets I've accumulated since I moved out from home 5 years ago. (And this is from someone who has never cooked anything beyond instant noodles back when living at home with the parents!) They've all become a part of my kitchen routine - measuring spoons and pastry brush on the first drawer, Nuscup on the freezer door, the good spatula in the third drawer by the kitchen stove. I can almost recite the location of every piece of equipment that I have - except when it's been misplaced by someone...

Anyway, thank you for putting up with my kitchen rantings. With that out of the way, let us get down to some serious food talking. :)

So, HOW on earth did I make that tart pictured above if I haven't got my tart pans and my precious food processor?? Hehehe.. The real question should be WHEN?! I actually made this 7 weeks ago in the midst of the final weeks panic in Melbourne. What a surprise it was to find that Jeanne has actually picked "tarts" to be the theme for the monthly "Waiter! There's something in my.. " event. I for one am thankful, because it means that I can join in the fun!

The above tart is the Pear Bourdaloue from The Cook's Book. It's one of the few recipes that I tagged when I first bought the book all those moons ago. When we made the decision to relocate to London, I made a list of recipes that I had to try before I left and this was at the top of the list. So I made sure I cleared my schedule for one of the weekends before I left, just so I can make this. :)

When I first saw the original recipe in the book it was made using pear halves in a 22cm round pan. For some reason, whenever I think of this particular recipe, the image morphs into the shape of a rectangular sized tart and it is topped with pear slices instead of pear halves. Since pears aren't exactly at the top of my favourite fruits list, I decided to take the suggestion as a sign and went ahead and made it the way it appeared in my head.

The recipe below is for the original tart of 22cm round pan. So if you're thinking of trying a different sized pan, you might find that you'll end up with some extra pastry and pear slices at hand. (Sorry, it's been a while since I made it and I can't quite remember the exact measure of ingredients left to give you a guide to my rectangular sized tart.)

The only other change I made to the recipe was to use the remainder of my cloudberry jam as the glaze instead of apricot jam.

Pear Tart Bourdaloue
adapted from this book.

Original recipe makes a 22cm tart

Pre-preparation required for:-
1. Pears
2. Pâte Brisée or your favourite shortcrust pastry recipe

Ingredients
1.1kg firm, ripe pear
6 tbsp lemon juice
1 litre water
1/2 vanilla pod, halved and grated
300g quantity of Pâte Brisée
280g quantity of Almond cream
1/2 pot of Apricot/Quince jam (I used cloudberry jam)

Day 1: Pre-preparing the pears

1. Peel pears and remove cores.
2. Place the pears in a non-metallic bowl and coat them with 3 tbsp of lemon juice.
3. In a large saucepan, bring to boil 1 litre water, 3 tbsp lemon juice and vanilla.
   
4. Add in pears and place a cartouche on top.
   
5. Simmer for 10 - 15mins.
   
6. Cover and let cool/infuse over night.
   

Day 2: Pâte Brisée & Almond Cream

1. Preheat oven to 180 deg C.
2. Roll out pastry 3mm thick and line pan.
   
3. Spread almond cream evenly onto the tart shell and place strained pears* on top.
4. Bake tart for 30mins.
   
5. Allow tart to cool to lukewarm and the remove from tart pan and let cool on rack.
   
6. Before serving, warm jam in a pan or microwave and brush surface of tart with melted jam.

*I sliced my pears before placing them on top of the almond cream

Pâte Brisée
Makes 1 kg of pastry

375g unsalted butter (at room temperature)
2 scant tsp salt
1 egg yolk
2 scant tsp caster sugar
100ml full-fat milk, (at room temperature)
500g plain flour, sifted.
plus extra for dusting.

Using a food processor:

1. Place butter, salt, egg yolk, sugar and milk into the food processor and process until the mixture becomes a smooth and cream like.
2. Add the sifted flour into the mixture.
3. Pulse until the mixture just starts to come together.
   
4. Stop pulsing as soon as the pastry has formed a ball.
   
5. Remove the mixture from the processor and wrap in cling film. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours.
   

Almond Cream
makes 800g

135g butter
165g icing sugar
10g cornflour
165g ground almonds
2 eggs
1 tbsp dark rum (I used cognac)
200ml creme fraiche

1. Cut butter into pieces and place in a bowl.
   
2. Cream butter with with spatula to soften.
3. Combine icing sugar, corn flour, almond in a bowl and sift into butter mixture and mix well
4. Add the eggs into the mixture one at a time, ensuring that the first egg is well mixed before adding in the remaining egg.
   
5. Add in the rum and creme fraiche and combine until smooth.
   
6. Cover with cling wrap and refrigerate. If not using within 36 - 48hrs freeze until required.
   

My verdict:

The recipe is a tiny bit complicated but it's do-able with good time management. The strangest thing was that this recipe did not require the tart shell to be blind baked. I was very intrigued by this as I have never made/eaten tarts that have never been blind baked. In fact the main reason tarts appeal to me is because of the crispy tart shell!

The pears were soft from poaching but it wasn't mushy after being baked which was good. Taste wise it had a hint of vanilla but other than that the pear taste remains and the cloudberry jam glaze didn't really over power the taste of the pear.

The pastry itself wasn't as crispy as your blind baked tarts, but as you can see from the photos the top was still quite crumbly and because it wasn't blind baked, the almond cream and the pastry sort of melted together (as it cooked in the oven) and so the first bite was as though the pastry and almond cream was the one layer.

I had a cold slice of the tart but I reckon if you actually warm it up a little before serving, it might just melt in your mouth!

Has this tart changed my perception of tarts with non-blind baked shells?

You bet!

Maaate! There's something on me barbie!

As far as Saturday goes, you could almost say winter has long deserted us and Elvis spring is in the house baby! The weather forecast for this week is very springy - Monday: mid 20's [°c], Tues: 20, Wed: 18, Thu: 22(!) then it's back to 15 on Friday and 18's on the weekend.

I was considering participating in this round of WTSIM (Waiter,,there's something in my ... meatless barbecue) at Jeanne's by sticking something in the oven (because it's just a bit silly to be bbqing in winter). But the weather on Saturday (22°c) convinced me that dragging out the barbie(cue) wasn't such a bad idea after all. I figured, it's highly unlikely that anyone can accuse me of insanity seeing that it's absolutely fabulous weather that day - if there was anyone at home to see me that is.

Alv was lanning at a friends the whole day, his mum was out and about with her mahjong crew so it was just me, myself and I the bbq.

This round of WTSIM as the title suggests is a meatless affair, but Jeanne loosened her definition of "meatless" to allow the inclusion of seafood. Woohoo... I love meat but if I have to become a vegetarian I would be a seafood-eating-vegetarian. Which sort of defies the point really... Since seafood got a tick from Jeanne, I decided to go with prawns and since no meal of mine is 'complete' without some veges, I added some asparagus to the menu bbq.

For the prawns, I made a quick marinade of sumac and chopped coriander/cilantro. Sumac is one spice that I've never really quite work out how to use. I remember buying a bottle of the spice because a friend of mine was raving on about how good it was and how I should try it. So I bought a small bottle of it and only used it once on some chicken for a bbq we had last year. It didn't really impress me that much then, and it just stayed in the corner of my cold dark pantry for the last 10 months, until now.

Out it came from the little nook in the pantry. Twas about time to give it ago again.

Sumac has a mild berryish-lemony-tangy sort of flavour. So I thought that it would suit a seafood type dish better than the chicken I marinated with last time. I paired it with some coriander in reference to a lemon and coriander marinade that goes really well with seafood. Marinated (about 30mins) some prawns (300g) with 1.5 tsp of sumac and 1/4 cup of chopped coriander, a drizzle of olive oil and some salt and pepper. Skewered it and cooked it on the barbie for about 10mins on each side.

The asparagus was grilled and divided into two portions. On one side (left) it was simply served with a few dots of Jaden's lime, cilantro and wasabi butter and the other half (right) was drizzled with a balsamic and olive oil dressing. It was meant to be topped with some de-seeded and finely chopped tomatoes (ala bruschetta) but at the last minute, the tomato that I thought we had in the fridge went missing. (mind you, I just found it today behind a whole bunch of other vegetables)

My verdict:
The asparagus was superb! or I should say Jaden's butter and the simple balsamic dressing was superb. The prawns however, were totally unimpressive.

This sumac herb still baffles me! I'm not sure I will ever use the remainder of my bottle of sumac because the prawns was just totally disappointing. Maybe I didn't put enough sumac in or I didn't put in enough coriander. There was barely any taste to the prawns except for the excessive amount of salt and pepper that I added in (I'm nuts about s&P). Sigh. Even the extra sprinkling of sumac before serving didn't do anything to justify the herb's place in my kitchen pantry. I'm afraid, this girl's never going to buy another bottle of sumac...

Sumac experiment no 2 was a failure. Oh well.. at least I had the daffodils to brighten up my day :)

For a super late entry to Waiter, there's something in my meatless bbq. Don't forget to head to Jeanne's for the round up! :)

Dreaming of a pie in the sky....

I've been pretty busy at work lately. So busy that I can barely find time to read/get my daily dose of foodporn. When home, I'm busy trying to sort through my travel plans with a friend. I'm going on a big massive holiday in about 3 weeks.. if everything goes well! (travel visa still pending!...)

Stumbled on this whilst flickering through an old issue of Donna Hay magazine (Issue 16). I asked Alv if he would eat it, he said "mm Maybe". Good enough response. So I made it, just in time for this months Waiter, there's something in my... pie, hosted by Jeanne.

Chicken, potato and bacon pie
*slightly modified from Issue 16, Donna Hay Magazine

2 tbsp oil*
500g chicken thigh fillets, chopped
3 rashers of bacon, chopped (I used short cut bacon)
2 small sebago potatoes (or 1 large potato)
1/2 brown onion (or 1 small brown onion), chopped
1 tsp rosemary (I used dry herbs)
1 clove garlic
1.5 tbsp plain flour
40ml water
65ml chicken stock
65ml milk
1 sheet of shortcrust pastry
1 egg beaten

Preheat oven to 220 deg C.

Wash, peel and boil potatoes in a pot of salted water for about 10-12 min or until just tender. Drain, slice in to thin pieces and set aside to cool.

Heat a large saucepan with 1 tbsp oil and cook the bacon to your liking (in my case, crisp!), remove from pan and set aside. Add the remaining oil* and chicken and brown for about 3 - 4 mins and set aside. Add the onions, rosemary and garlic, cook for approx 3 - 4mins until fragrant. Return chicken to the pan and mix well.

Combine flour and water in a small bowl. Add the chicken stock, milk and flour/water mixture into the pan. Cook for approx 10mins, stirring until the sauce becomes thick. Remove chicken filling from pan and set aside to cool.

Roll out the pastry between two sheets of baking paper until approx 3mm thick. Place on a lightly greased tray. Place the cooled chicken filling in the middle of the pastry and top with slices of potatoes. Fold the pastry up around the filling. Baste with egg wash and bake for 15 - 20mins until the pastry is golden.

Serves 4.

*Note: If using middle bacon or other fatty bacon, reduce oil to 1tbsp.

The verdict:
I have to say, this is a easy pretty pie to make. What's more it's a free-form pie! Always wanted to make a free form pie. :)

Taste wise it's pretty well balanced considering there was no salt in the ingredients. The chicken stock made up for the salt I think. For good measures, I added some cracked pepper to taste and left it in the oven for an extra 5mins to get a nice crisp on the potatoes.

I had grand plans for this month's WTSIM-Pie.. apple crumble pie... plum pie... green curry pie... but in the end all I have to show is this little chicken and potato pie. Though I do like the crispy potato bits.

Talking about pies is making me crave for my favourite Green Curry Chicken pie from Pie in the Sky in Mount Dandenong. Tender pieces of chicken in a lightly spiced green curry sauce and crisp pastry mmm...*drools* They make some of the best pies in Melbourne. We use to go for a one hour drive on the weekend to Olinda just for their pies. Sigh...If only there is time..

Pie in the Sky ™
43 Olinda-Monbulk Rd
Olinda
Ph 03 9751 2128

Waiter, there's something in my ... stew

When Andrew of SpittoonExtra announced the first theme for Waiter, there's something in my.. as 'stew' my first reaction was "nooo....that's winter food!" Of course, it would only make sense for Andrew to pick stew as a theme, it is winter in the other side of the world at the moment, not everyone one is as ungrateful as I am about summer down under.

For the record, I am not ungrateful that we are experiencing the beautiful summer weather. I did grow up in Malaysia, where it's hot and humid all year round except in the monsoon seasons, when it's hot, humid and raining! Give me hot weather any day vs cold winter days. It's just that.. it's.. very.. hard... to bring yourself to cook something like a hot stew (cold stew just don't do it for me) when it's scorching 30s every day...

Still, I am living in the city of four seasons, so I didn't give up hope that my city would bring me at least one miserable change of weather in the 15 days leading up to the entry deadline... and mates.. the City of Melbourne, ALWAYS delivers! I may sound like I'm exaggerating but ask any Melbournian/Melburnian (whichever is your fancy) and they'll tell you that the weather in our beautiful city is extremely unpredictable, even in summer.

And YES! I got my change of weather in the weekend of 13/14 Jan. It was a sunny but chilly weekend for summer but I could not ask for a better weekend :)




Nikujaga, literally meat and potatoes is the japanese version of a meat stew. According to Obachan, it's one of the dishes that all the young ladies in Japan are graded on as a measure of what sort of housewife one would make. The other dish is miso soup. (Phew, glad I'm not Japanese, I've only made stew once and that was by throwing everything into a pressure cooker!)

The recipe I chose to make from one of my favourite books, Yoshoku by Jane Lawson. I remember pouring through the book when I first bought it, bookmarking every single thing in sight that I was interested in trying. But you know how it goes with a new book, it always sits at the top of the pile (of books you were previously really keen on). You're always eager to try new recipes so the new book's would have all these post-it tags marking the pages and recipes to try...and then when the next new book comes along, a new favourite sits on top of the pile and the old favourite is soon forgotten. Those recipes that you had eagerly bookmarked never reached the kitchen for trial.

This was one of those forgotten recipes. I remembered that the only reason I bookmarked it was because the ingredients listed japanese beer and sake as two of the key ingredients for the stew. ;)

The original recipe was for lamb shank and potatoes. I'm not a big fan of lamb shanks, so I've substituted the lamb shanks with beef and added some carrots to the dish.

Nikujaga
*adapted from lamb shank and potato stew in Yoshoku by Jane Lawson

700g all purpose potatoes*
2 tbsp vegetable oil
1 large onion, cut into thin wedges
1.5kg lamb shanks (approx 6 large lamb shanks)**
ground white pepper
1tsp sesame oil
2 tsp dashi granules
125ml Japanese beer (I used Kirin)
60ml Japanese soy sauce
125ml sake
2tbsp dark brown sugar
60g drained, sliced bamboo shoots
1litre of water

*I substituted 1/2 of the potatoes with carrots
*I substituted the lamb shanks with about 1kg of chopped scotch fillets because there weren't any chucks available.

Chop up potatoes into 3/4cm chunks and soak in cold water for 30mins. Drain potatoes after soaking and pat dry with paper towels.

Heat 2 tsp of vege oil in a dutch oven or a large saucepan over medium-high heat and cook onions until lightly browned. Remove and set aside. Add another 2 tsp of oil and fry the potatoes until lightly golden. Remove potatoes from heat and set aside.

Lightly season beef (or lamb) with salt and pepper. Add remaining oil into the pan and brown the beef on all sides.

Return onions to pan along with dashi granules, beer, soy sauce, sake, sugar and water and stir to combine. Increase heat and bring to boil, skim off any foam that rises to the surface. Cover and reduce to a simmer and cook for 1 + 1/4 hours.

After 1 + 1/4 hrs, add the potatoes and bamboo shoots and cook uncovered for a further 45mins or until potato and beef are very tender but not falling apart. Continue to skim off any foam from the stew. (I added my carrots when the timer had 30mins left)

Serve in bowls with a little of the broth in Japanese style with a bowl of rice and miso soup or with some hot bread rolls.

For a richer dish:

Remove the meat and potato (and carrots) from the pan, cover and set aside. Increase the heat to high and boil the remaining liquid for 20 - 25mins until it is slightly reduced. Return the meat and potatoes to the pan and coat in the sauce and let it heat through.

The verdict:

I actually prefer the less richer version of the stew. I tasted the stew at the first cooking point and thought that it was ok but could do with a bit more flavour. So I let it cook further and then found that it was a bit too rich for my taste.

I found that I could only taste a hint of the beer every now and then, the stew liquid was too sweet and salty because of the combination of brown sugar and soy sauce. The beef was very tender and the potatoes was probably a bit over cooked. The part I love most is the bamboo shoots, it adds a bit of crunchy texture to the stew.

The best part about this stew was that I managed to convince a non-stew eater to eat it! Alv doesn't like stews, he calls them try hard curries... because there's potatoes and onions in it, the meat's cooked til tender but the sauce is not spicy like curries. He changed his mind though after having it for dinner the next day. He said that he didn't mind it though he reckoned that I should tone down with the beer (I don't think so..). And.. he actually said that he wouldn't mind having it again.... SCORE one for Me!!!


Notes:
Jane recommends beveling the edges of the potatoes with a sharp knife or vegetable peeler so that it's slightly rounded. This will soften the shape of the potatoes and prevent them from breaking up too much during cooking

If you prefer a less sweet sauce, reduce the amount of brown sugar to 1tbsp.

For a less salty sauce, try using light soy sauce.

Waiter, there's something in my... is the new 2007 blog event created by Andrew of SpittoonExtra, Jeanne of Cooksister and Johanna of The Passionate Cook.