Mad about Tarts

I think tarts are just so elegant, both savoury or sweet. Oh except in Bridget Jones Diary. I must say, that movie kinda messed with my appreciation of tarts as an elegant pastry. You remember the scene, right? The one in which Renee Zellweger shows up at what she thinks is a 'tarts and vicars' costume party in a bunny-girl outfit (you know, like a playboy bunny) not realising of course that the theme had been scrapped. Yeah, so now every time I hear the word tart, I think of her slightly plump person in that costume. Funny scene, funny movie but not a terribly elegant image. 

Ok, I need a minute to get that image out of my head. Today, we're talking about pastry. Tarts. 

I love tarts. I especially love how tart pastry is so buttery and delicate that it literally crumbles once it's safely in your mouth (not before, God forbid). I also love how versatile a tart can be. Add some sugar in the pastry and fill it with fruit or custard or chocolate and it's a perfect dessert. You can also add cocoa into the pastry in which case you get a chocolate-crusted tart. Or coconut, even. Alternatively, for a savoury tart, mix in herbs, spices or cheese for a delicious tart crust that's extra tasty. 

This weekend, I went tart-mad! I made one large batch of pastry and five different savoury fillings to go in them. 

There are two components to making a good tart: the pastry and the filling. 

First: the pastry. Making short crust pastry isn't difficult. Gently rub cold butter into a bowl of flour (generally the ratio of flour to butter is about 2:11/4) until it resembles crumbs; add just enough ice cold water to bind the mixture together to form a ball of dough. Chill. Roll and bake. For sweet tarts, you'd add a little bit of powdered sugar to the flour; for savoury tarts, add some salt: a large pinch will do. 

That's he basic recipe which I learnt to make years ago. Since then, I've come across variations to the recipe, some that have worked amazingly, others that weren't too spectacular. Basic variations include swapping the ice cold water for ice cold milk. Or, you could replace about 1/4 of the flour with ground nuts (walnuts, hazelnuts, almonds or peanuts). Or, replace 1/4 of the plain flour with wholemeal flour or oats. Adding a couple of tablespoons of cocoa to the flour. Add a little more flour and an egg yolk to the dough. These are the variations that I love. 

Today, I added toasted caraway seeds into my pastry and it was fantastic. 

Next: the filling.

I had a few ingredients to play around with: beetroot, ricotta cheese, Gruyere and cheddar cheese, organic mushrooms, peppers, zucchini, parsnip and cauliflower. I mixed and I matched and I came up with five different fillings. Some worked — the Mushroom and Cheddar Tarts, the Zucchini, Ricotta and Parsnip Tart and the Peppers and Cauliflower Tarts and some needed more work (the Beetroot and Ricotta Tarts). 

I'll include the recipe for the Mushroom and Cheddar Tart.

Pastry

(makes 30 mini tarts)

120g plain flour

65g cold butter, cut into cubes

pinch of salt

2 − 3 tbsp ice cold water

11/2 tsp caraway seeds, toasted. 

Mix the flour, salt and caraway together. Using your finger tips, rub the butter into flour mixture, gently lifting the mixture up as you rub. Once the mixture begins to look like breadcrumbs, add the water (a tbsp at a time) and bring the crumbs together to form a ball of dough. Wrap in clingfilm and chill for at least 30 mins. Once it has chilled, roll the dough gently but swiftly and mould it into the tart tin. Using a fork, poke holes on the base of the tart to allow steam to escape (this way your pastry won't shrink when you pre-bake it). Bake it in a preheated oven (170C) for about 15 mins. (You don't need to add pastry weights since you have poked holes all across the base). 

Filling:

1 cup cauliflower florets

1/2 cup milk

1 cup mushrooms (I used oyster), diced

1/2 cup cheese, grated (Gruyere and/or cheddar)

chives, chopped small

olive oil

Toss the cauliflower in some olive oil and bake for about 20 mins (170-180C) or until the florets start to get golden. Remove and place in saucepan with 1/2 cup milk. Cook on low heat until the milk starts to boil and the cauliflower gets soft. Season with salt, pepper and chilli flakes. Remove from heat and puree till smooth. 

Put a tablespoon of olive oil in a skillet and gently saute the mushrooms till they are lightly browned. Season. 

Mix the pureed cauliflower, half the mushrooms and half the cheese together.

Assembling the tart

Spoon the cauliflower puree to fill half of the pre-baked tart case. Top with the remaining mushrooms and then the cheese. 

Bake for 10-15 mins. Remove and garnish with chives.

Japanese Cheesecake

There was a time when I devoured cheesecakes. I ate them so much, it began to show on my person. My waistline grew and my clothes needed to be altered. I am serious; ok maybe a little exaggeration. But I was obsessed. I think it was sometime in the late 1980s. A new cheese cake shop opened in town - I think it was actually called The Cheesecake Shop - and I was introduced to a whole array of flavours to my favourite cake. There was chocolate, chocolate marble, Oreo ... oh my. It was heavenly. I used to visit the shop on my way back from school (I was in the sixth form and took the public bus home. The Cheesecake Shop was a slight detour but, hey, I felt I earned a slice every now and then).

That was a long time ago and it's been a while since I craved cheesecake like that. In fact, it has been a while since I've eaten any cheesecake at all.

Truth be told, I may have gone off cheesecakes. If I could eat a whole slice by myself in a split second before (ok, who am I kidding ... I could eat two slices, easily), I now can't even take a bite before feeling like I've had too much.

So, it was mighty strange that I woke up this morning with an urge to make .... cheesecake. 



Go figure, right? So, yeah, I wanted to make a cheesecake but I didn't want to make a creamy cake that sat on a biscuit crumb. I wanted something lighter, something more cakey and not too rich. I was about to give up and make something completely different (like a quiche or a crepe -- yes, my thoughts are always so random) when I remembered a Japanese cheesecake I'd eaten a long while ago (like five years ago) that I really liked. Yes! Perfect!

The Japanese Cheese Cakes (I'm not quite sure if it really does originate in Japan; I have never eaten one there either of the times I'd been there) are light and soft and have a more subtle (though not at all insipid) taste of cheese. The cake isn't overly sweet and there is no crust, so put away our digestive biscuits!

The cake also comes unadorned. There are also no toppings (no strawberries on top, no Oreo cookies in he middle ...) and though I have tasted a matcha-flavoured one before, I prefer the authentic, unflavoured Japanese Cheesecake the best.

 
Some compare the texture of this cake to flan, a souffle or a chiffon cake but, truth be told it's also almost like eating a slice of brie (although no brie is used; only cream cheese). The texture is the result of the emulsification of corn starch and eggs in the recipe -- this is what I've read. I figure it also has to do with the whipped egg whites (six, mind you) that are gently folded into the batter.

I don't know the science of it ... yet ... but I like the result. This cake is light, cheesy, not too sweet and oh-so-comforting. I am pleased that this is one cheesecake I am still fond of.

Japanese Cheesecake
(from thelittleteochew)
Ingredients
140g Castor sugar
6 egg whites
6 egg yolks
1/4 tsp cream of tartar
250g cream cheese
50g butter
100ml milk
1/4 tsp salt
60g cake flour
20g corn flour

1. Melt the butter, cream cheese and milk by combining them in a bowl and placing the bowl atop a pot of boiling water. Do not allow the bowl to actually touch the water. Stir until the cheese and butter melts. Set aside and allow to cool.

2. Sieve the flours and add the salt and whisk together.

3. Preheat the oven to 160C. Line a 24cm spring form pan with parchment paper.

4. When the butter mixture has cooled, add the egg yolks and flours and stir to mix.

5. Beat the eggs whites and the cream of tartar using the whisk attachment of your mixer until the eggs get frothy. Add the sugar and whisk on high speed till soft peaks form.

6. Fold in the whited to the batter, gently but well.

7. Pour batter into lined pan.

8. Fill two ramekins with hot water and place them diagonally in the bottom tray of your oven (below the rack where your cake is going to sit). Put in the cake and bake for 70 mins.

9. When the cake is done, turn off the oven and let the cake cool in the oven with the door slightly ajar for 30 mins before removing the cake. This helps prevent the top from cracking.

Zucchini Cheese Loaf

My Pullman Loaf pans have been sitting at the back of the kitchen drawer for a very long time. About a year, actually. Both of them, untouched, for a year. I bought them about two years ago when my colleague Jane and I started a sandwich enterprise — which we called Crazy Juliet — making sandwiches for sale at our workplace. I say 'enterprise' and not business since we were both more concerned with concocting new sandwich recipes rather than making money. We kinda called it quits after a year and a bit when the job became a little too routine and a little less fun. We did make some money from it... i think.

See? I told you we were so NOT businesswomen.

So anyway, the enterprise ended, the pans went at the back of the drawer and that was it for a year. Until yesterday when I felt the urge to play around with sandwich fillings once more. And for that, I had to first make the bread for the sandwiches.

What are Pullman loaf pans?

The Pullman Loaf Pan

They're narrow pans, about a foot or so long, with a slide-on lid and they're used to make Pullman loaves or as we all call them, sandwich loaves. The pans allow the bread to rise evenly into a rectangle, allowing you to slice even, square slices of bread for sandwich making. Mine were inexpensive and made from aluminum and they look pretty beaten up, but I love them all the same.

Yesterday, I felt like experimenting a little with the bread. Instead of a plain white or wholemeal loaf, I decided on a flavoured loaf.  I'd tried Jamie Oliver's recipe for zucchini bread (not a quick bread but a proper, yeasted bread) some time back and I vaguely recall what goes into it. I decided to take a chance and incorporate his ideas into this zucchini and cheese loaf.

The zucchini is grated fine and added to the flour, yeast, sugar and salt at the very start of the process. Because the zucchini is full of water, I had to be very careful with the water added to make the bread dough. Usually, for 500g bread flour, I use about 315 ml water. This time, I added 100ml water first with the intent to add more as needed once the dough came together. As it turned out, I didn't need to add much more, maybe just another 30 to 50 ml.

I also added some cheese when kneading the dough. I remember Jamie Oliver used goats cheese but I only had cheddar and mozzarella and so I used a bit of both.

Oh, and thyme too.

Unlike the dough of a typical Pullman or sandwich loaf, this one was a little wet and sticky. The zucchini obviously added extra hydration to the dough and even with reducing the water for the recipe, the dough remained wet.

This is by no means a problem. All it meant was the kneading process would be a little more messy: wet or grease your hands when kneading to avoid too much dough sticking to your hands. Or, you could flour your hands and the surface though you may end up using a lot of flour and thereby changing the consistency of the dough.

Also, the wet dough resulted in a loaf that wasn't as dense. Which was nice, really. It held together enough to use it for a sandwich but it was also light enough to eat with just a spread: I slathered some cream cheese onto a slice and it was divine. Hummus worked well too.

Zucchini and Cheese Loaf
500g bread flour (a little more on standby)
3 tsp instant yeast
1 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp salt
100-150 ml tepid water
2 large zucchinis, shredded/grated fine
1/2 cup cheese, grated
a tbsp thyme, leaves only

Mix the flour, yeast, sugar and salt together in a bowl. For a well in the centre and add 1/3 of the water along with the thyme and zucchini. Starting from the middle, stir the flour into the wet mixture with a fork, gradually bringing in more flour into the well. The dough will start to look stodgy, like porridge. Add more water and continue to bring in more flour. Once the dough comes together — it will be wet and sticky still, wet, grease or flour your hands and start kneading: fold the dough, stretch and fold again. Pick it up and slam it on the counter (floured or greased counter top, please). Repeat until you get a silky, elastic dough. Still sticky: about 15 mins.

Grease a bowl and tip the dough into the bowl, making sure all sides of the dough is oiled. Cover and leave to rise for about an hour or till it doubles.

Once the dough has risen, punch it down lightly with your knuckles and gently knead the cheese in. Shape the dough and gently lower it into the Pullman pan. You can also use a basic loaf pan or shape the dough into a round and place it on a greased baking sheet.

Allow it to proof for another 30 mins and preheat the oven to 180C.

Bake for 30 − 40 mins or till the top gets crusty and the loaf sound hollow when knocked.

Not-Bacon Breakfast Muffins

I love Sunday mornings. There's a distinct feel about Sunday mornings, don't you think, that just isn't present any other morning of the week. It's ok to be lazy on Sunday mornings. You can sleep in, not brush your teeth till noon, stay in your pajamas, read a book in bed or bake something special that's loaded with flavour and calories, hips and waist be dammed.

As much as I like to roll around in bed, my internal alarm clock wakes me up at 5am everyday, completely oblivious to how special Sundays are. I stopped fighting it years ago. 

And, when I get up, Mojo (my adorable but spoilt dog) gets up too. So this Sunday morning, after playing with Mojo for a bit (yeah, the neighbours must hate me for throwing a bone for Mojo to fetch at 6am) I decided to bake.

Hot out of the oven. 

On the menu this Sunday morning was a savoury breakfast muffin I adapted from a recipe from Dine & Dish. The original is a bacon (yes, real bacon of the pork variety) and cheese muffin. It looked appetizing. Naturally, I had to adapt it to make it vegetarian. 

Now as it turns out I bought a packet of vegetarian bacon when I was in New York City last week. Yup. It was in Chinatown (where I swear you can find anything). I usually am not a big fan of fake-meats but vegetarian bacon — this one I could not resist. I had to try it. 

When I became a vegetarian 23 years ago, the hardest thing for me to  give up was bacon. I loved my bacon. But, I'd made a choice that I was sure of and I gave it up. 

Don't get me wrong, I have no misgivings. I don't have any desire to eat bacon although when I watch chefs/cooks using it in the recipes and extolling the taste it brings to a dish, I understand. So to have a vegetarian version of bacon in front of me... well, I was skeptical. The person who could replicate the taste of bacon using purely vegetarian ingredients must surely be a genius.

Seriously? Vegetarian bacon?

Visually, the vegetarian bacon looks somewhat like real bacon. A little paler, perhaps. There is even that layer of fat as you can see in the pictures above. But taste-wise? Well, it really tastes nothing like the bacon I remember eating years ago.

Not bacon and eggs. Nah...

What did I make with the vegetarian bacon? Well (fake) bacon and eggs, of course. The eggs were good. The bacon ... well, it was ok. It was tasty but not tasty enough to be eaten on it's own like this. I wouldn't make this again but what I thought I would do was use the fake bacon to add flavour to other recipe or to add texture to a sandwich, maybe (for it crisps up well).

I decided to use it also to add a little something to these breakfast muffins.

The bacon was the star ingredient in the original recipe on Dine & Dish but not in mine. I added mushrooms, chopped and sauteed in garlic oil. I added herbs (basil and chives) and I added something else I bought in NYC: Sriracha hot sauce (see pic below).

I know, I know. Who goes to NYC and comes back with chilli sauce? Seriously it's amazing. Have you ever tried it? It's bloody good. Spicy and tangy, it's the real deal. Not half-assed at all. I brought a bottle home but how I wish I'd brought three or four.

So, yeah. Forget about the fake bacon. Go for Sriracha. Originally a Thai Chilli dipping sauce, this bottled Sriracha sauce is actually produced in the US by Huy Foong Foods (founded by Davin Tran, a Chinese Vietnamese who came to the US in 1980) since 1990.  

Of course, you can substitute this with any hot sauce you have (the Tabasco jalapeno hot sauce is a close second) or you can add chilli flakes. But if you can, try Sriracha. 

Mushroom and Cheese Breakfast Muffins (with fake bacon and Sriracha)

2 cups all purpose flour

3 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp black pepper

1 egg

1/4 cup olive oil

1 cup milk

2 tsp Sriracha chilli sauce (or any hot sauce) or 1 tsp chilli flakes

1/2 cup chopped mushrooms, lightly sauteed in garlic oil/olive oil

8 strips fake bacon, crisped and crumbled (optional)

1 cup cheddar cheese (I used mozzarella as that was all I had)

1 tsp chopped chives

3 basil leaves, chopped

Preheat oven to 200C.

Whisk the egg, milk, oil and chilli sauce. Add the cheese, mushrooms, fake bacon and herbs and stir to combine. 

Sieve the flour, baking powder and salt and mix in the black pepper. Add to the egg mixture and stir to combine.

Spoon the batter into greased muffin cups and bake for 15-20 mins or till tops and slightly golden and a knife inserted comes out clean.

You're so very cheesy, cracker!

I love cheese crackers, cheese-flavoured pretzels, cheese straws, cheese puffs, cheese anythings. I even love cheese-flavoured Twisties! And Cheezels. Cheetos? Oooooh, yeah. The key word, as you may have already figured it out, is cheese.

So, when I found this recipe for homemade Goldfish crackers (you've seen them in the grocer, surely, right?) in Tasty Kitchen, I was delighted. What? Make my own Goldfish crackers? Dozens of crackers for myself? Yay!

The problem? I didn't have a cookie cutter in the shape of a goldfish. Or any fish for that matter. Drats. What did I do? I tried to improvise. Didn't work. My fishes looked like mutated whales. Moby Dick wouldn't be pleased. they looked like tadpoles, almost. Urrgh. 

So, I gave up and made crackers in all shapes. I had a fish platter though, as if that helped.

After I got over the initial disappointment of not being able to make actual goldfish crackers (I know, I am quite ridiculous), I got on with the job, all the while waiting in anticipation to eat the cheesy crackers while watching the latest episode of TV series, Homeland.

Turns out, the crackers are easier to make than I imagined. Mix grated cheese, flour, salt and butter together an add some ice cold water and voila — rows of deliciously orange crackers that are cheesy, puffy and crunchy all at once. It's definitely a snack I will be making over and over again. And again. And again. Get the picture?

Not Goldfish Crackers

225 g cheddar cheese (sharp or mild, it's up to you), grated
1 cup flour
1/2 tsp salt

60g cold butter, cut into cubes

2 tbsp cold water

Whisk together the cheese, flour and salt till incorporated. Add the butter and pulse (in your food processor or mixer) till it resembles coarse crumbs. Add the water one tbsp at a time till the crumbs come together. Use your hands to bring the dough together. Wrap in cling film and chill for at least 20 mins.

Preheat the oven to 180C.

Once the dough is chilled, remove and roll out and cut into shapes. Gather the scraps and roll again. And cut. Arrange the shapes on a lined baking sheet and bake for 15 mins or till the crackers have puffed up and crispy. 

Saganaki, sort of

Cheese. That's all this post is about. Cheese. 

Though it sounds Japanese, Saganaki Cheese is a Greek appetizer comprising a hard cheese — Feta, Kefalograviera or kasseri — that can be withstand the heat of a warm pan without getting all oozy and gooey. The only hard cheese I had was halloumi which I figured would do just as well.

If I were to describe Saganaki Cheese, I'd say it was flaming, drunken cheese. Seriously. There are basically just five steps to making Saganaki cheese. 

Step 1: Cut the cheese into rectangles or squares or triangles. It's up to you.

Step 2: Coat the cheese in plain flour, dip it in egg and then flour again

Step 3: Heat up 3 tbsp olive oil in a skillet and sear the coated cheese in the oil till the cheese develops a nice, deep golden crust on both sides (flip over halfway)

Step 4: Once golden, transfer the cheese to a shallow bowl and pour the hot oil from the pan over it. Douse it with 2 tbsp brandy and set it on fire. Yes, fire!

Step 5. After about 30 seconds, douse the flames with a squirt of lemon juice.

Eat with bread or on its own.

Yummmmmm.

Because any of these hard cheeses are already quite salty, the only seasoning necessary is black pepper. Or not. It's up to you.

Cheesy Scallion Scones

When you think of scones, it's only natural, I guess, to think of clotted cream and jam. Thick, sweet, strawberry jam. Drool, right?

But wait. These flavoured savoury scones are pretty good without the cream or jam. These scones  — full of cheese (two types) and finely chopped scallions — are best eaten with just butter, fresh out of the oven of course.

Oh so good is what they are.

As you may have guessed, scones are my latest obsession. Since I made the strawberry and cream cheese scones a couple of weeks back, I have been having quite a bit of fun playing with different flavour combinations for scones, some savoury, some sweet. Raisins, mixed herbs, lemon and cheese, orange (and rum) and pineapple (and rum) were among the flavours I played with. While they were all tasty (the rum-flavoured scones are a work-in-progress and will be featured separately once perfected), these cheese and scallion scones were my absolute favourite.

Now scones don't take long to make. They may be in the bread family but they're quick breads which basically mean they don't use yeast. As a result, you don't need to wait for the dough to rise before you shape or bake them.

And, because the secret to a soft and light scone is not to overwork the dough, you don't need to knead the dough. Less is more when it comes to handling the dough.

I used cheddar + cream cheese for these scones but I am going to try some other cheese combinations: feta would be good, I am sure, with the cream cheese. As would Swiss white cheese. Parmesan, yup. Gruyere, am sure would work too.  The scallions can be replaced with chives or dill.

Cheesy Scallion Scones
1.5 cups all purpose flour
1.5 cups whole wheat flour
1 tbsp + 2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1/2 cup cheddar cheese, grated
1/2 cup cream cheese, softened
1/3 −1/2  cup chopped scallions
1 egg
1 cup milk

Preheat oven to 200C.

Whisk the flours, salt and baking powder together. Add the cheeses and gently stir with a fork so they are incorporated into the flour. Add the milk and eggs and again, gently stir with a fork till the mixture forms a soft dough. Add a couple of tbsp more flour if necessary (but bear in mind the flour must be soft and slightly sticky.

Transfer to a floured surface and shape into a circle, about 2 cm thick.

Don't overwork the flour.

Cut the circle into 8-10 segments/wedges.

Transfer onto a lined baking sheet and let it rest for 10 mins.

Bake in the preheated oven for 15-20 mins or until the scones begin to get golden.

Remove and cool on a rack. Eat warm with butter.

French Onion Soup

This picture of a dark broth with pieces of sodden bread and clumpy cheese floating on top doesn't look like much but, take my word for it, this bowl of French Onion Soup is so, so good. It may well be the best French Onion Soup I have ever made.

The French Onion Soup is my perfect rainy-day soup. I've made it quite a few times and each time, I try a different recipe just out of curiousity. Most recipes are pretty standard (the standard ingredients are onions, stock, cheese and day-old bread) and often it is just the measurements that differ.

The process is always the same: you begin by caramelising of the onions.

I've always thought that I make a pretty decent French Onion Soup. I am generous with my cheese and sprinkle it liberally both inside the soup as well as on the pieces of french bread that lie atop the soup. Because I put quite a lot of cheese, my soup is often thick and where wonderfully chewy.

So, I've been pretty content with my soup .... UNTIL I came upon this article on crookrookery.com about caramelising onions as I was browsing some food sites. The article, titled Caramelising Onions: Three Ways, explains how to caramelise the onions to perfection, thereby getting the best out of them for a truly flavourful French Onion Soup.

The flavour of the soup, says the article (which quotes food writer John Thorne who wrote, among other things, a Treatise on Onion Soup)  rests largely on the way the onions have been caramelised. The stock is important too but the onions are more important.

I smelt trouble. I read on and it didn't take long for me to realise that tasty though my French Onion Soups may be, I have not been caramelising my onions as they should be. My soup has been imperfect. Mediocre. Not done properly. Apparently I have not been doing the classic soup any justice! Grrrr....

Actually, I was not bummed out. Rather, I was quite excited. I wanted to rush right home (I was at work) so that I could make the soup as it should be made, according to Thorne. I wanted to taste how different the soup would be if I followed the proper process. I wanted to do it immediately but I I couldn't skive off work. I had to wait.

Later that night, I went at it.

I usually caramelise the onions required for the soup for about 45 minutes to an hour, from start to finish. This article recommends a slow, slow, caramelisation process that takes about two hours: and that's two hours of standing vigilantly by, stirring the onions so that they don't stick to the bottom of the pan or burn. A cast-iron pan or Dutch oven is recommended just so that the heat is distributed evenly and the onions cook down better. I had one. Yay.

So I grabbed my notebook computer and settled myself in the kitchen: I made sure I spent two hours on my onions (I stirred and I played online Scrabble at the same time. It's amazing how time flies when you're losing at Scrabble!).

Watching the onions transform, from white and crunchy to golden and chewy is actually quite magical. The smell of the caramelising onions is intoxicating and the anticipation of the soup that would come out of all this was huge.

The result: absolutely satisfying. The extra cooking time for the onions obviously paid off as the flavour was more intense, sweeter and richer. Who knew onions could have so many layers of flavour?

Here are a few tips from Daniel of cookrookery.com.

1. slice the onions thin.
2. salt them to take out as much moisture as possible before putting them on the heat.
3. Use really low heat. Really low.
4. Be patient. Be vigilant. Don't let the onions burns. A little bit of blackened onions is fine, not a whole pot full of charred onions.

French Onion Soup
350g sliced onions (yellow is good, red is fine too)
11/2 tbsp butter
1 tbsp olive oil
1/4 tsp salt
pinch of sugar
1 litre vegetable stock (a mushroom-based stock is preferable)

1 cup grated cheese (Gruyere is great, parmesan is fine or you could use cheddar too)
1 baguette, cut into slices
1/4 cup chopped parsley

Toss the sliced onions in salt and let them rest for about 15 minutes for the moisture to ooze out. Drain and gently wipe down with a tea towel.

Melt the butter and oil in a dutch oven/cast iron pan. You can use a saucepan too but be careful the onions don't burn. 

When the butter has just melted, add the onions into the pan and toss/mix so that they are evenly coated with the fat. Don't let the butter boil/heat up too much. You don't want a sizzle when you put in the onions. Keep the heat low.

Cover and let the onions cook uninterrupted for about 15 mins. Remember: low, low heat.

Remove the cover and stir the onions. The onions will continue to release moisture, keep stirring periodically so that those at the bottom don't burn.

The onions will soon wilt. Add a pinch of salt and sugar to help with the caramelising. 

Keep vigilant and stir from time to time. The onions should start to brown. Keep them on a very low heat, stir more frequently now.

Keep this up until they turn reddish and reduce in volume by at least half. The entire process should take about 11/2 to 2 hours. 

Once the onions are nicely caramelised, add the stock. The onions should plump up. Let it simmer for about 30 mins (still low heat), season. Add about 1/4 cup of white wine to the soup just before its ready to come off the stove.

While the stock is simmering,lightly toast your bread. Also, lay your soup bowls/ramekins on a baking sheet. Preheat the oven to 170C.

When the soup is ready (after 30 mins), take it off the heat and ladle it into the prepared bowls till it's almost full. 

Add some cheese into the soup, stirring gently.

Float three or four slices of the toasted baguette on the soup and pile on the cheese. Let there be a mound, I say. 

Transfer the tray to the oven and bake for about 20 mins. Preheat your broiler and place the soup bowls under the broiler for a few minutes for the cheese to brown a little.

Garnish with parsley and eat the soup while its warm.

Flatbread, sweet, salty and cheesy.

]

Honey, salt. pepper, cheese and fresh herb — all come together on a crispy flatbread. 

Aren't you curious? Well, I was when I saw this recipe on Smitten Kitchen. It was the honey and salt combination that hooked me. I never thought of mixing the two together but the more I thought about it the more I was sure it would taste fantastic. 

I was right. The flatbread was fabulous. Perfect as a scrumptious snack or a delicious dessert or even dinner if you, like me, prefer to eat really light at night.

Flatbreads are mostly unleavened or made without yeast. It's a humble bread made with flour, salt and water. This flatbread from Deb of Smitten Kitchen  is a little less humble as she uses olive oil (a fantastic flavour contributor) for  the dough. And then there is the topping: cheese, honey, parsley (well, Deb used thyme but I had none) and sea salt. 

The recipe makes four flatbreads, each the size of a sheet of A4 paper (or thereabouts, the pieces are irregularly shaped and so this is an estimation). 

I decided to play around with the flavours: while they all had cheese on them (I love cheese and couldn't bear excluding the cheese from the recipe), I used the honey+salt+parsley combination for only one of the flatbread. For the second one, I topped the cheese with some caraway seeds and black pepper. for the third I paired the honey with some dried chilli and parsley and for the final piece, just cheese, parsley, chopped and toasted almonds and pepper. 

They all tasted good but the stand-out was the honey+salt pairing simply because of the complexity of flavours on the crispy bread.

Flatbread with honey, cheese and parsley (and anything else you please)

13/4 cups all purpose flour

1 tsp baking powder

3/4 tsp salt

1/3 cup olive oil

1/2 cup water

Topping

1/2 cup grated cheese (I used cheddar)

1/4 cup chopped parsley

5 tbsp honey

sea salt

pepper

The flatbread is made completely by hand. Well, and a wooden spoon, briefly. It takes about 30 minutes to make, from start to finish.

First, pre-heat the oven to 220c and put a baking sheet in the middle rack to heat up.

Next, whisk the flour, baking powder and salt in a bowl till well incorporated. 

Make a well in the centre and pour in the water and the oil.

Using a wooden spoon, gently mix the liquid in with the flour mixture till a dough forms.

Use your hand and form the dough into a ball.

Transfer onto your work surface and knead the dough about four to five times. The dough will be slightly oily.

Divide the dough into four equal portions.

Roll one portion of the dough on a piece of parchment paper. Roll it very thin. Very, very thin: about 1 mm thin. Some portions will be slightly thinner or thicker: that's ok. 

Remove the baking sheet from the oven (remember to use oven mitts!) and slide the parchment onto the sheet and transfer to the oven. Bake for 5 mins or till the bread is lightly golden.

Remove from over, sprinkle the grated cheese all over and return to the oven for 3-4 mins — the sides should be browned. 

Remove and drizzle the honey all over (as much as you wish), sprinkle the sea salt and parsley. 

Repeat with the other three pieces of dough. You can change the toppings at the end but you may want to add more cheese if you are omitting the honey or else your nuts/caraway/etc may not stick to the bread. 

The flatbread is best eaten warm. If you want to save it for later, remove it from the oven a couple of minutes before it is ready and don't add the toppings yet. Just before it's time to eat them, pop them into a pre-heated oven for 3 mins and then add the toppings.

Pesto cheesecake

So here's the story.  I saw these edible flowers in the supermarket I had to get them. I was going to make a savoury cheesecake today and since you can't ice a savoury cheescake, I though it'd be cool to decorate them with flowers right? I thought they'd be so pretty. It's Spring after all ... well, not in Malaysia but ... aren't they pretty?


The cheesecakes that we know and love are mostly dessert cakes: sweet, creamy, rich and sometimes, a little tart. If there is one dessert I find impossible to resist, its the cheesecake. I remember when I was a teenager, there was a franchise called The Cheesecake Shop in Kuala Lumpur which served an array of delicious cheesecakes. Those cakes are the reason why I fell in love with cheesecakes, my favourite at the time was the strawberry cheesecake and the marble cheesecake. And the blueberry cheesecake. And, the ungarnished, non-fussy New York cheesecake. Oh I love them all.

But have you tried cheesecake as an entree? A savoury cheesecake with a side of roasted vegetables? Oh, and a garnish of flowers (he he).

Savoury cheesecakes aren't very popular ... yet. Recipes are evolving as we speak. In fact, if wedding cake specialist Jan Kish is to be believed, savoury cheesecakes are becoming an option for wedding cakes -- for those with specific allergies or dietary inhibitions. Check out her savoury wedding cheesecake creation.

This definitely isn't a dish for non-cheese fans. Oh no. But, if you're a cheese fiend like me and an after-dinner cheese platter makes you break out in a smile, well then you'll just love savoury cake. The flavour of the cheese is full-on.  I used purely cream cheese (with just a bit of Parmesan) but you can use  a blend of cheeses: cream+ricotta, ricotta+goats cheese, Stilton, mascarpone ... options abound. 

I stumbled upon this recipe for a Pesto Parmesan Cheesecake on fatgirltrappedinaskinnybody.blogspot.com and played around with Julia Costa Mesa's recipe just a little. I used her measurements to make two cheesecakes just to experiment with flavour. The first, I made a pesto filling/garnish just like hers. The second, I tried making a sun-dried tomato pesto filling instead. Both were sublime. I've got many more variations in my mind. Apples would, I am certain, go deliciously well with this dense cheese cake. As would zucchini. 

But that's for another time. Today, we'll try the pesto cake. 

Pesto Parmesan Cheesecake

For the crust

1 cup breadcrumbs 

80 gm butter, melted

1 tbsp roasted garlic

For the filling

600g cream cheese at room temp

1 cup Parmesan, shredded

3 eggs, room temp

2 tbsp flour

1/4 cup sour cream

2 garlic cloves, minced

1/2 cup pesto ( I made my own basil pesto)

1/4 cup toasted walnuts, chopped fine.

Garnish (optional)

1/2 cup pesto 

A handful of shaved Parmesan 

Preheat oven to 180C.

Mix the breadcrumbs, butter and garlic in a bowl and press into a 23-cm (9-inch) pan. Bake for about 10 mins. Remove and allow to cool.

Prepare your pesto. 

• 1/2 cup pine nuts (you can use any walnuts or even pumpkin seeds, toasted)
• 3-4 handfuls of basil
• 1/4 cup grated Parmesan
• olive oil
• 2 cloves garlic, minced 
• I use my mortar and pestle to make my pesto, especially since the amount is very little. Bash up the garlic with a little salt. Add the basil (bit by bit to fit the mortar) and pound till it becomes a nice paste. Add the toasted nuts, oil and cheese and massage with the pestle till you yield a gooey paste. 

In the bowl of your electric mixer, cream the cream cheese, Parmesan, eggs, flour, sour cream and garlic till smooth. Gently stir in the walnuts.

Pour half the cheese mixture onto the pre-baked crust. Slather on the pesto and pour the remaining cheese mixture over the pesto.

Turn up the heat of your oven to 200C. Bake for 10 mins and then lower the heat to 180C and bake for another 40-50 mins or till the cake doesn't jiggle, esp in the centre.

You can spread some pesto over as a garnish. Or use flowers like me. Or you could eat this cake with a side of roasted vegetables. I skipped the pesto garnish as it was a tad too strong for me. My basil pesto was a little too potent -- homemade pesto often is a lot stronger than the ones you get in jars. 

Enjoy.

Let's all get cheesy

How good is The Good Wife, right? I could watch episode after episode after episode (I'm halfway through the second season), ignoring the laundry that's spilling out of the basket (so easy to forsake) and the dog that's whining for attention (not so easy cos he's persistent and just so darn cute). I was kidding... about the dog. He watches the Good Wife with me though I don't think he's that fond of it.

So now you know. I've been up late most nights watching episodes of The Good Wife. And you know as well as I that a good TV marathon requires good snacks.

So, before I settled comfortably in front of the telly, I baked myself a few batches of one of my all-time favourite snacks: cheeses crackers.

Loaded with cheese (sharp, sharp cheddar), these crackers are buttery and so crunchy but not brittle. The They aren't pretty to look at but that's not important. They taste divine.

The ingredients for these crackers are few: cheese, flour (plain + bread flour) and butter. The seasoning, you can play around with. I added some smoked paprika and sea salt. You can add some dried herbs, cracked black pepper and add some parmesan with the cheddar.

Here's the recipe:
Ingredients
2 cups grated cheddar, at room temp
1 cup plain flour
1 cup bread flour
1/2 tsp red chilli flakes
1/2 tsp paprika
150g unsalted butter, at room temp
1/2 tsp salt

Preheat the oven to 180C.

Sift the flours and add the chilli flakes, paprika and salt and whisk to mix. Cream the butter and cheese till well combined. Add the flour mixture and mix with your hands to form a dough. Chill for 15 to 30 mins.

Roll the dough out till the dough is about 1/4 of an inch thick.

Cut into squares or rectangles.

Bake for about 20 mins or till the crackers are lightly brown and slightly crisp on the outside. It's ok if they seem a little soft in the centre; they will harden as they cool.

Sprinkle with some paprika and salt and you're ready to snack.

WARNING: These go down real easy so make time for the gym real soon!

Brinjal and cheese puff

I was going to make some spinach puffs with feta and pine nuts (kinda like the Greek spanakopita) but then I decided to try something different. Eggplant! Yes, a Baba Ghanoush-like filling with white cheese sounded good.

It didn't really matter because, quite honestly, almost any filling would taste great in delicious, buttery, home made puff pastry  .... right? Well, I think so anyways. You can tell I am still on a high from the success of making puff pastry from scratch .....*glow*

So anyway, I put the spinach away and took out the sole eggplant I had in my fridge.  It was nice and plump, and a gorgeous deep purple... just right for the roasting. Yes, the first step is to roast the eggplant.

Step 1.
Roasting the eggplant is easy. Simply place it in a roasting pan, prick it with a fork in a few places and stick it in the oven (pre heated at 200C) for about 40 mins. No oil or butter necessary.

Step 2

Once you've roasted the plant, cover it with plastic wrap and let it cool. Then, gently srape away all the black skin and place it in a colander to drain for about 30 mins. 

Step 3

The mash up! With a fork (or your hand blender/food processor), mash the eggplant. Don't let it get to be a puree ... leave a little chunky pices in there. If you want, get rid of some of the seeds as you mash (I did this). 

Add about 1/2 tsp of lemon juice, 3-4 tbsp of greek yoghurt, a handful of chopped fresh parsley (I used chevril) and season with salt and pepper. That's it. Your filling is good to go.     

Step 4

The accompaniments. What would go well with mashed eggplant? I decided on white cheese (or you could use feta). Note: you may want to ease up on salting the eggplant if you're using white/feta cheese as these cheese are pretty salty already.

Preheat the oven to 200C.

Step 5

Making the puff. Roll the puff pastry while chilled (not frozen) as you want the butter to remain firm. Cut into rectangles or sqaures (depending on whether you want a circular puff or a square one. The size of your rectangles/circles really depends on how big you want your puff to be).

Spread the filling on the bottom half of your pastry dough, leaving a 1.5 cm border for the edges. Don't forget to add your cheese to the filling! Fold the top flap over and seal the edges tight with your fingers. Use a fork to press the edges clse and so you get a nice ridges pattern.

Step 6

Egg wash. Beat an egg and add 1 tbsp milk/cream (optional). Brush the puffs with the egg mixture.

Step 7

Bake for 15- 20 mins or till the puffs are nicely ... err... puffed and are beginning to get golden. 

Step 8

Devouring the puff. Whatcha waiting for? Eat it quick as puff pastry is best eaten hot outta the oven.