Shelled Ones

This one was found at the front garden on a summer's day

which brought back wonderful memories of its cousin found on the other side of the planet, one winter day

go for escargot at Saint Michel Restaurant, along the Seine in Paris

Grapefruit Tart (and Tartlets)

A harvest of grapefruits one lovely summer day meant that the fruits had to be put to good use.  A previous play on lemon tart yielded good results - this time, the experiment was to substitute the grapefruits for the lemons. A choice too safe, you'd think, especially for this adventurous cook! But there were some folks coming over and I can't risk serving a completely untested recipe!

So grapefruit tart it is.

I just followed the same steps as per the previous recipe, and just directly substituted the juice of 3 grapefruits instead of lemon juice. Since this grapefruit was slightly sweet, the result was also quite nice.

the pastry rolled out and into the tart tin

Well, one big tart and 3 tartlets  :p

bake it blind at 180C for around 15 minutes

let cool for a bit and serve with a dusting of icing sugar and vanilla ice cream

Previous grapefruit mug shot here and here

Chicken with Quince

Quince. The first time I've had it was in its paste form, eaten with cheese, and I thought it was delightful. Having seen some fresh quince fruit in the market, I took the chance to get some and then figure out later what to do with it. Although I did want to put it in a savory dish.

Two days and a couple of google searches later I found this recipe for Quince and Okra Tagine. Perfect!

So this dish was meant to be cooked in a tagine, a traditional clay pot with a flat and circular base with low sides, and cover which is cone or dome-shaped that rests inside the base during cooking. The aim of the cover is to ensure that the condensation returns to the base or bottom. When cooking is done, the base is served on the table.

However, since there is no tagine (YET!!) in this kitchen, this was cooked in a heavy-bottom large saucepan.

The only change I made was that I used asparagus instead of okra, just because it was the only veggie available in the fridge at the time!

before sealing the deal, i mean putting the cover

served with couscous

Breakfast Pizza

No it's not from some delivered pizza the night before, conveniently tucked under the sofa for easy access. Think of it as a flat bread cheese sandwich with some tomatoes and fresh parsley.

This pizza dough recipe requires no proofing - so you don't have to leave it to rise for a couple of hours. Quick and easy. Thin and crispy. Yum.

This makes 2 thin crust pizza bases (around 33cm in diameter)

2 cups plain flour
1 tsp active dry yeast
1 tsp sugar
1 cup warm water
pinch of salt

Pre-heat oven to 225C. If using a pizza stone, best to place it in the oven so that it heats up together with the oven.

Dissolve the sugar and yeast in the warm water. Add to the flour, mix in the salt, and mix until you get a nice ball of dough. Knead until smooth. Divide into 2 balls. Roll into desired shape. Add desired toppings - this time it was 1 tomato from a tin, crushed and spread across the crust, topped with shredded tasty cheese, grated parmesan, a bit of salt and cracked black pepper.

After all these, the oven should be hot enough. Place the pizza on the pizza stone (if using) or just place in a baking sheet and bake for around 12-15 min, until the sides are golden brown and the cheese has melted.

I prefer adding the chopped fresh parsley last just for a fresher flavor.

Serve with tabasco! And a mug of hot coffee!

Previous pizzas here and here.

White Chocolate Mousse with Pomegranate

I just had to get one of those pomegranates - bright red things, who wouldn't be enticed?

Pomegranate - from "pom" meaning 'apple' and "granatus" meaning 'seeded', is rich in vitamin C and is quite tart. It is used on various savory dishes, from salads to soups. The ancient Egyptians fermented its juice to make wine, but it is also used to make grenadine. Only thing is just it's a bit tricky to get the arils - those red juicy sacs - out of peel and white membranes. The juice can stain everything on their sight, so best to be careful.

get the pomegranate and line the counter where you will be working on. coz it will be messy.

cut crown and bottom part. score (not cut all the way through) the peel into 4 segments and submerge the fruit into a bowl filled with water

break the fruit into quarters (which should be easy because you've scored it beforehand!) the arils should sink and the membranes should float. remove the arils from the membranes. drain the arils. for this recipe get around 2 tablespoons of the arils and gently smash it with a mortar to release its juices.

Melt 80 g of white chocolate with a teaspoon of butter in a bain marie or in the microwave. When the chocolate is fully melted, whisk in 1 tablespoon of milk. In a separate bowl whip 1 egg white until soft peaks form, then fold into the chocolate mixture. Fold in the 'smashed' pomegranate bits.

(I would have made this with cream but I ran out!)

Spoon into tall shot glasses and chill in the fridge for about an hour, or until set. Top with more arils before serving. This made 4 shot glasses.

Ceviche

Ceviche is a citrus marinated seafood dish, fresh and spicy, with no cooking required. In the Philippines we have a version called "kinilaw", and my father makes a mean spicy version, either with fish (usually fresh giant anchovies - we would get a kilo from the wet market, and I'd get the task of painstakingly deboning each and every one of them! But well worth the effort!) or even boiled pork tossed in a similar acidic marinade (like vinegar, something like this)

This one is made with john dory fillets, a mixture of lemon and lime juice, the zests were also used. I cannot recount the quantities used for this (it's a secret...not!), as I just measured them by eye and depends on the amount of fish (usually white fleshy fish). The goal is to have a perfect balance of citrus flavors, heat and spice (depending on your tolerance). Bits of minced cucumber counteract the heat and citrus as well. I used minced bird's eye chili and red chili, minced garlic, a bit of spanish onion and brown onion (also minced), and chopped coriander to finish.

the minced aromatics and the fish

refreshing!

The fish was sliced into thin slivers. The acid in the citrus actually cooks the fish, and since the fish was sliced thinly the 'cooking process' just took around 7-10 minutes - you can tell by the way the flesh of the fish is not longer translucent.

This was actually served as a fishy Saturday treat alongside yellowfin tuna sashimi, sake and (obviously homemade irregularly rolled) cucumber sushi rolls

[rolling those sushi rolls made me recall one of the best japanese restaurants IMHO - Jamon Sushi - a must try!!! A bit pricey, but with good reason - this place is not for the conventional nor play-by-the-rules person, because once you sit down in one of the 18 seats in this intimate setting, the best way to go is to leave it to the hands of the chef and you will never regret it.]

Morcilla

Morcilla (mor-si-yah) is the Spanish blood sausage usually with onions and spices but depending on the region the ingredients vary of course ;)

So just like any sane people who should make good use of just about every part of the pig - even its blood shouldn't go to waste! So fresh off a slaughtered pig, onto a receptacle and into the kitchen it goes to make this sausage! (or this perhaps if you want a soupier version)

can't go wrong with all that fat either!

Like the black pudding it is great simply sliced, fried, and served with brown bread!

cheddar and chorizo (the pink slice on top) are optional!

the bread in this instance is fried on the oil where the sausage has rendered its fat as well

deadly and yummy hehe

quick brekky

Tamales con Guindillas Pequenas y Especias

Tamales with Chillies and Herbs

A tamale is a Mexican steam-cooked corn dough wrapped in corn husks or banana leaves, with or without a filling. The filling can sweet or savory. This is considered a traditional dish, (so I hope that I didn't screw this one up.)

A bag of masa lista or masa harina (maize corn meal/corn flour) was also one of the items picked up from the previous visit to the Spanish store.

This same masa is used for the tortillas but I figured I'd start with this recipe picked up from Mexican Cantina Cooking, a $10 spanish cookbook randomly picked up from Borders quite some time ago :)

corn husks soaked in warm water for around 30 minutes

it's supposed to look like that!

The tamales dough is made of

125g softened butter

600g masa harina

3 cups of chicken stock

2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

Beat the butter until light and creamy. In another bowl mix the masa lista, baking powder and salt with the stock. Mix the butter to the masa and beat until the mixture forms a smooth dough. To check if the dough is ready, drop a little bit of it in a bowl of cold water and it should float, otherwise the dough needs to be 'beaten a bit more' :)

The filling (chillies and herbs)

1 onion

3 cloves garlic

3 green chilies (roasted, seeded and chopped - but I was lazy so I just chopped fresh ones!)

1 red bell chili

2 tbsp fresh oregano, chopped

2 tbsp fresh parsley, chopped

salt and pepper to taste

a drizzle of olive oil

(the recipe also called for marjoram and some creme fraiche but i didn't have some at hand, so i just skipped it!)

Heat oil in a pan and fry onion and garlic until golden brown. Add chilies, salt and pepper, until chili is wilted. Set aside.

To assemble

Pat corn husks dry, place around 2 tbsps of the dough in the middle of the husk and flatten it. Add a tablespoon of the filling on to the dough. Take another tablespoon of the tamale dough, flatten it again ensuring it covers the filling completely. Fold the corn leaf over the parcel, fold another corn leaf around it in the opposite direction and tie with kitchen string.

(yeah big slices of chili. too lazy to mince!)

Steam for around 30-45 minutes or until completely cooked (when the dough pulls away from the corn husk).

Serve hot!

Parma Grandeoso

Remember the Albion Hotel and that slight mention of ParmaRama night? Well almost a year after that post it just so happened that the whole gang had mustered enough motivation to go out for Parma Night - except it's not just for your ordinary parma, but for the Grandeoso Challenge.

The Grandeoso is a serving of double parma with chips and salad.

Doesn't sound intimidating at all, until you sit there and they serve it to you.

try this on for size

This is not for the faint-hearted, small-stomached, chicken-allergic person.

notice there are two layers about 1.5cm each.

chips are underneath.

the fork shown is your proper-sized fork (ehm, standard restaurant fork size)

To sign up for this challenge is to have the determination of a 45 year old virgin going to a nightclub to get lucky (or just succumbing to peer pressure perhaps!). Shell out $25 and a pint if you're brave (or crazy) enough!

To guys, this could appear to be not a problem at all, but statistically speaking, out of the gang, there was a 50% success rate (or at least of the known 'contestants').

Check out the Hall of Fame and other details here

Paella

In my previous post I had mentioned about going to the Spanish store in search of a caldero – a paella pan – for my paella experiment. Here is the result of this Spanish alchemy.

I was meaning to go for the ‘authentic Paella Valenciana’ recipe which is primarily chicken and rabbit meat, but because a more famous dish ordered in Spanish restaurants include a wonderful array of seafood such as mussels, prawns and clams, I figured it would be disappointing from a guest’s perspective if Sunday Paella didn’t have any crustaceans in it. Hence this recipe was revised a bit to add a couple of prawns and mussels to chicken and rabbit pieces, simmered in chicken stock flavored with saffron.

The recipe was pretty much based on this , with just the addition of the seafood around 15 minutes before the heat was turned off, just thought that since the mussels and prawns were not completely submerged it may take a bit longer to cook them. I also pounded the saffron with salt (I saw it on TV!) before adding it to the mix.

bubbling away

finished product

I used Calasparra rice (a bit expensive but well worth it!) and the pan is an investment and is good for 6 servings.

The paella was pretty tasty and will definitely do more of these to get the hang of the proportions of the water/stock and the rice.

Tips that I picked up from researching prior to making this dish :

- NEVER stir the rice after you've added it in

- Let it sit/rest for around 10 minutes before serving

- It is best to cook it in an open fire rather than an electric stove to ensure better, even heat distribution. Unfortunately this is my constraint. Will probably try it over the bbq next time!

- The perfect paella has a soccarat - from the verb socarrar, which means to toast lightly - a crust of rice that sticks to the bottom of the pan. (tutong in tagalog!)

One thing is for sure - it was tastier the next day!