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. In celebration of food and dining experiences . |
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Exploring and discovering new restaurants Dining and chilling out with my loved ones Baking and cooking over the weekends Sharing my love for food with others
Vanilla bean pods (one can never have enough) Valrhona Cocoa powder Valrhona chocolate Macarons from Laduree and Pierre Herme Madelines mold Pretty cake stands (I only have one and only one) YUZU from Japan! (They taste great in almost anything) A food tour to Italy and France Opportunity to study at Le Cordon Bleu |
Thursday, June 12, 2008 Italian cookout!
My family was away to attend a relative's wedding dinner. We decided on preparing our own dinner instead of going out to eat. The theme was Italian. And we decided to hit on the Italian classics- Mushroom soup with foccacia bread, Aglio olio penne, and the "pick me up" of all time- Tiramisu. We tried to recreate Michelin-star chef Andrea Canton's Mushroom and beer soup. We didn't go to the extent of using porcini mushrooms because of the cost. After substituting a few ingredients here and there, we created a decent cream of mushroom soup. A good first attempt with this recipe. Though it could be so much better with real porcini mushrooms. I figure that this is pretty healthy as it doesn't contain any cream. In any case, it's a hearty soup. We had it with the olive foccacia bread I bought from Le Bijoux (at Kiliney Road). The pasta was a pretty staple for us so that was QED. I enjoyed the most was our homemade tiramisu that we made earlier in the day. Did I mention how much I like the process of making tiramisu? It's so simple. You don't even need real baking tools to make that (just that, you'll probably tone up your arms quite a bit). I love to see the yellow mixture turn all pale creamy yellow.  View from the top I got the recipe off "The Silver Spoon" but adjusted it a little. The Silver Spoon recipe is for the good-old tiramisu with the savoiardi (ladyfingers) to be soaked with just coffee. I added some Kahlua too just because I'm an alcoholic. The tiramisu was perfect-smooth and creamy. It wasn't too rich or too sweet- a good contrast with the bittersweet cocoa and dark chocolate shavings and the nicely soaked up ladyfingers. I think I could just eat this every week. The quality of savoiardi makes a big difference as I had discovered. The ones I bought are a direct import from Italy. Once soaked in the coffee mixture, it becomes a soft, sponge-like cakey texture. Lovely. We should have completed the meal with an Italian movie or music but we were pretty tired after cooking dinner that we simply showered, munch on cherries and channel- surfed.  The sweetest cheeries *** Cream of Mushroom & Beer Soup (Adapted from Chef Andrea Canton's recipe) Serves 8 30g unsalted butter 30ml extra virgin olive oil 5 shallots, peeled and chopped 50g smoked pancetta (bacon), julienned 50g dried shitake mushrooms, soaked in cold water 1 thyme sprig (I used rosemary) 1 tablespoon of plain flour 200ml of beer (I used Heineken) 200ml chicken stock Parmasan cheese/or any other cheese 400g fresh mixture of mushrooms (use the more flavourful ones like portebello and shitake) salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste 1. Heat the unsalted butter and live oil in a non-stick pot and stir fry the chopped shallots. 2. Add in the julienned bacon, dried shitake(without the water), thyme and saute over low heat for a couple of minutes. 3. Add in the flour and let it cook for awhile before adding the beer, the water that is used to soak the dried shitake and chicken stock. 4. Simmer for 20 minutes, season with salt and ground pepper, blend and strain. 5. Lastly add in a little parmasan cheese (or other cheese) and blend again. 6. Saute the fresh shitake mushrooms with some olive oil and season to taste. 7. Ladle the soup in a serving bowl and garnish with some sauteed shitake ***  Tiramisu (Recipe adapted from The Silver Spoon) Serves 10 2 egg whites 1. Stiffly whisk the egg whites in a grease-free bowl. 2. Beat the egg yolks with the sugar in another bowl until pale and fluffy. 3. Gently fold in the mascarpone, then the egg whites. 4. Add in Kahlua to the cooled coffee in a flat container. Dip the ladyfingers into the coffee and kahlua mixture and line a layer of the coffee and kahua infused ladyfingers on the base of a deep, rectangular serving dish. 5. Cover with a layer of the mascarpone cream and sprinkle with a little of the grated chocolate. Continue making layers until all the ingredients are used, ending with a layer of the mascarpone cream. 6. Dust with cocoa and chill in the refrigerator for at least 3 hours. Best left overnight.
link | posted by simin at 8:42 PM |
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