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. My Tasting Palette .
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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 |
Wednesday, December 17, 2008 J's long-overdued birthday cake  I asked J what cake he wants for his birthday cake. I threw up a few suggestions but he quickly settled on the old-fashioned carrot cake- The spiced cake with plump golden raisins and chopped walnuts with a thick layer of zesty cream cheese frosting. The English carrot cake is definitely a perennial favourite amongst the English (but of course) and now, it’s becoming more ubiquitious in Asia. I went to google its origins: It all started during the medieval times with the carrot pudding before it evolved during the Middle Ages when carrot was used to substitute sweeteners in Britain. There you have it! *** I have baked the carrot cake many times now since it’s one of my favourites. This time, I have played around with some adjustments this time round and the results were lovely! I made an extra batch of cream cheese frosting so I had a bowl of leftover cream cheese that could be used as spread on warm toasts. J loved his cake even though it’s way past his birthday. I’m also baking this cake this Christmas- it’s my yearly tradition. The spiced cake with fruit and nuts is totally christmasy. I’m chucking my gingerbread house idea since it is unduly unpopular with the family. My dad protested (almost) fervently when I raised that idea, “But we can’t eat it!” So Christmas would be here in 6 days. I’m looking forward to my favourite holiday of the year. I’ll be putting up my Christmas tree this weekend to the refrains of ‘Let it snow’. *By the way, did you notice the new glass cake stand that I bought? I love it! It comes with a dome shaped glass cover- Perfect for a dinner party. The best part is that I didn’t have to pay a ton for it, for that I have to thank Ikea for making furniture and household pieces so affordable.  Labels: baking, Cake, Carrot Cake Sunday, August 31, 2008 The way to a man's heart is through his stomach
The genoise
Making the chocolate mousse The cake was put together, gingerly, layer by layer. We are really proud of our creation. The genoise could be improved. Kahlua could be added to the coffee syrup to give it a stronger flavour. And the caramelized almonds could have been watched over more carefully. But it was good.
 Zoom in on the layers: genoise cake soked in coffee syrup, chocolate mousse, genoise cake, covered with dark chocolate ganache Decorated with caramelised blanched almonds and rochers
Marinating the lamb: stuffing it with rosemary and marinating it with oregano, black pepper, sea salt, olive oil and pinot noir
The leg of lamb with the potato puree The starter was a simple one but the wonders of the flavours and textures made this a light but delightful start.
Red plums with proscuitto on rocket The star of the dinner was, however, the often-neglected potato puree or mash. People often treat dish as carbs to fill the stomach or an unexciting side dish. You wouldn’t say the same once you have tasted the rich, buttery, smooth potato mash by Joel Robuchon. His secret lies in having lots and lots of good butter. About a ratio of 1:1 for potato to butter. The trick to having a perfect mash texture is to pass the puree through a sieve. It’s definitely TEDIOUS work. J can attest to that. But rest assured that your efforts would be well-rewarded.  Melting the french butter with the potato mash
the loveliest mash Dessert was unintended, for a lack of a better word. I just thought we should end off dinner on a sweeter note. Having leftover chocolate mousse and coffee syrup from Saturday’s cake, we decided to throw together a simple dessert. We experiment with colours and flavours to form distinct layers.
Easy dessert Labels: Cake, Carioca, Celebrations, Genoise, Joel Robuchon's mash Wednesday, August 13, 2008 National day weekend baking I cherish every public holidays especially those that falls on Friday or Monday. Long weekends just feels great! I'll never fail to get that inspiration to bake/cook. This National day weekend, I bbq-ed, and baked, and baked again. It started off with Friday baking for J. My friend, R, gave me a biscotti to munch as an afternoon snack. That started our conversation on biscotti and how perfect those Italian biscuits go with coffee, tea or on its own. I was reminded how I have not baked them in a long, long while. This time, I was convinced to do something different, not the usually almond biscotti but one with lemon, pine nuts and raisins. I found the recipe on delicious days and added the raisins to which my dad thinks that the taste of the raisins and lemon do not quite go while the others think that it taste great. I should have baked it longer cause Nicky from delicious days actually mentioned that she tweaked the baking time as she prefer the biscotti less than "rock hard". I, however, feel that these twice-baked biscuits should be so. In any case, they were great and all finished up by the end of Saturday. I would go back to my almond biscotti recipe just because I prefer the rich flavour of the almonds as compared to the mildly flavoured pine nuts.  Biscotti loafs waiting to be sliced before baking again  Lemon & Pine nuts biscotti On Saturday, I tried a new recipe off Cuisine & Wine magazine for a pavlova. That was supposed to be the light dessert after the bbq since I could not find mascapone cheese for the tiramisu. Sad to say, after 2 hours, the pavlova wasn't meant to be. The texture was not right. You can't imagine my disappointment. In a fit of anger, I poked it all over, cursed it and threw it away. J found me quite scary at that moment. Well, let's just say that I might have overreacted. We had to contend ourselves with grilled fruits for desserts for our bbq. There are just great as well. Try grilling sliced green apples and sweet honey pineapples. You will be handsomely rewarded! Believe me! Sunday afternoon was spent in the kitchen. Chocolate two-ways. Actually, J and I only had the intention of baking the tart since we had remainder sweet pastry dough and a pint of raspberries. To cut the story short, we baked a chocolate tart and a chocolate cake in the end as a result of 'unforeseen miscalculations'. Well, who's gonna complain about having too much chocolates. And so, we ate happily and my family didn't have to worry about tea break snacks. My grandma is one big fan, always nagging at me to start up a pastry shop on my own. How I wish. For now, I'm content with the sublime moments of baking and cooking.  Close-up Chocolate cake sprinkled with raspberries and almonds  Very pretty Chocolate Raspberry Tart  I have never found a chocolate tart that I enjoy eating so much *** Pignoli Cantuccini (Biscotti) Adapted from deliciousdays Recipe source: Biscotti, Lou Seibert Pappas, p.18 Prep time: 15min., baking: 40-50min. . Ingredients (yield: ~30 pieces): 90g pine nuts 100g butter 150g sugar 2 eggs 2 tbsp lemon juice zest of one lemon 300g flour 1 1/2 tsp baking powder a pinch of salt ( I threw in raisins too) Preheat oven to 170°C (325°F). Toast pine nuts in a shallow pan over medium heat for about 6 minutes or until nuts are fragrant and (lightly) browned. Then set aside to cool. In a bowl beat soft butter and sugar until light and creamy, then add eggs, lemon zest and juice. Stir well. In a separate bowl combine flour, salt and baking powder, then add to the first bowl and mix until well blended. Finally fold in the toasted nuts. Divide the dough into two equal parts, form thin loafs and place on a cookie sheet (lined with parchment paper). Make sure they are neither too close to each other nor to the sides of the sheet. My dough was a little sticky, but when I dusted the board and my hands with flour, it worked fine. Bake in the preheated oven for about 25 minutes or until lightly browned. Remove from oven and transfer to a wire rack, allow to cool for a few minutes. Place on a cutting board and carefully slice slantwise into 1/2 - 3/4 inch slices. Lay slices flat on the baking sheet and return to the oven for an additional 20 minutes (same temperature), turning them once after 10 minutes. Then remove from oven and let cool on the wire rack. Store at room temperature in an airtight tin or container. Note: I think that you can afford to bake it longer if you like your biscotti rock hard. *** |
