Pumpkin, Spinach and Caramelised Onion Quiche

It's been a while since I made a quiche for myself. You see, I've kinda been fascinated by millet - my new favourite ingredient (a post on millet will soon be up) which I cook for myself almost three times a week, sometimes five. :) Yeah, I guess I am obsessive that way - I find an ingredient I love, eat it till I'm sick of it and then, move on to the next best thing.

But I was reminded of how much I actually love quiche after Ivy of hungryc.com showed me photographs of a slice of quiche she had in Sydney recently.  It was a pumpkin and mushroom quiche - she sent me photos of the quiche through instant message while she was having it - talk about the wonders of technology, huh? - and all she said about it was was: "so yumm!". Now that speaks volumes, surely.

What a brilliant idea - pumpkin in quiche.

I wasn't going to Sydney anytime soon, so I decided I just had to make a quiche with pumpkin in it myself.

I resisted adding mushrooms to my pumpkin quiche though. I tend to use mushrooms as my go-to ingredient many of my dishes as it's a sure-thing, really - how can you go wrong with mushrooms, right?

Well, unless you're my husband who hates not only the taste but the smell of 'shrooms. So yes, I omitted them so that he could (and would) taste the quiche too.

I used spinach and caramelised onions instead. Sure, that meant more prep time as caramelising onions does take some time - but I roasted the pumpkins as the onions were slow cooking and also sauteed the spinach with garlic.

For the crust, I added some finely chopped hazelnuts - you should try this too (in any other quiche you may make) cos it added not only texture but flavour to the buttery pastry.

The result? It was, as Ivy puts it, so yumm.

* Check out this earlier post for a basic quiche recipe and replace the fillings with roasted pumpkin and anything else you fancy. For cheese, I used mozzarella.

Sunday Tea: Victoria Sponge

Before I try my hand at making a classic cake, I do a lot of research first. This pleasant Sunday (it was muggy, but I was so glad it wasn't scorching like it was during the week) I decided to make the classic Victoria Sandwich, also known as the Victoria Sponge, for tea. 

I read at least a dozen recipes and incorporated tips from the best of them to make my own version of the dessert - Mary Berry, Dan Lepard and Felicity Cloake had my three favourite recipes. I was sure I'd end up with a superb cake. 

I did. It was very, very fine. So fine that I actually had a sit-down tea - just me, my tablet, my cake and a cup of freshly brewed spiced tea. 

The husband? Sleeping upstairs. You snooze, you loose, buddy! 

The key to making a great Victoria Sponge is getting the sponge cake right. Since Felicity Cloake (in her 'How to make the perfect ...' column in The Guardian) had already done the hard bit by testing various techniques out, I followed her recipe ... almost to a T. You can view her recipe here.

The secret? You have to measure the eggs (in their shells) first. Then, using the weight of the eggs as a guide, you measure equal portions of flour, sugar and butter. My three eggs weighed 192gms and so I measured 192gms (or thereabouts) of self-raising flour, sugar and butter. 

For the method though, I referred to master baker Dan Lepard. I was intrigued by his technique which I'd never come across before.

The usual method I use when making most cakes is pretty straightforward: first cream the butter and sugar till light and fluffy; then add the eggs one at a time till incorporated and then fold in the flour, baking powder and salt (sieved and whisked together). 

Lepard uses a different method. 

He creams the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. But ... BEFORE adding the eggs, he adds 1/3 of the flour (minus the baking powder and salt). This, he says, is an old baking technique that makes the cake a little more moist. Once the flour is mixed into the butter and sugar mixture, you add the eggs and then the remaining flour + baking powder + salt.

More moist? I had to try it. 

My cake turned out super moist! Lovely.

The next step to a fabulous Victoria Sandwich is the jam. Traditionally, raspberry jam is used. I used strawberries - they're cheaper and just as delicious.  

To make the jam, I washed and hulled the strawberries and then combined them with some sugar and a little water and cooked them over low heat until the fruit and it's juices become one gooey, sweet mush. 

Now Lepard's Victoria Sandwich has only jam as a filling. Some versions use cream. I decided to use jam and buttercream because ... well, I had some leftover buttercream from a cake I made a couple of days ago and also because buttercream lasts longer than cream. 

I may like the cake but I wasn't going to eat the whole thing in a day. Not even two. So, it needed to keep.

Just a little buttercream. A thin layer of sweetness to counter the tart jam (my strawberries were not all that sweet).

And there you have it. A lovely cake that's perfect for a lazy Sunday!

Seeded Sourdough Bread

Have you ever seen anything so beautiful? Well, when you're nervously trying to culture your own leaven and make your first sourdough loaf, this is indeed a sight to behold. This leaven was alive and active and ready for action. 

This is my second attempt at making sourdough bread. 

Six months or so ago I started making my own leaven but because I neglected to care for it and feed it regularly, it kind of died. I threw it out and put off trying to make one again.  

So when Jane, the sourdough expert in my circle of friends, offered to give me some of her well-matured leaven, I accepted without hesitation and promised to care for it and feed it well.

I did. I fed it for three days and used it on the fourth day.  

[If you want instructions of making and feeding your own leaven, I suggest you read Jane's very detailed post on her blog, The Wayward Oven].

[A sourdough starter isn't difficult to make but it requires time and attention. All you need is a clean jar with a lid, some flour and water. And some patience for you have to feed and replenish it daily for six days or seven before it is ready for use. As it develops, the starter will collect the spores of airborne yeast which is what gives the starter it's character and flavour.]

I was very nervous, making sure I read the recipe (I adapted Jane's recipe for a seeded Sunflower Bread which she adapted from a Dan Lepard recipe) carefully and followed it closely.

I'd only ever used commercial yeast before and while I am confident when making breads with dry, active yeast, this was my first go at using a leaven. I wasn't sure what to expect - how would the dough rise, how long should it take to rise, how should it look when it's risen enough?

So, yeah, I followed the instructions of the recipe to the T.

[Of the started you create, you use only a small portion - about 100g or so, depending on the recipe - for the bread. The remaining 100g or so you keep and feed for future use]

I had to knead the dough briefly in two ten-minute intervals before leaving the dough to rest for an hour, to rise.

After an hour, the dough barely rose and I was panicky. Was it not working? Worried, I decided to just continue on - I was to shape the dough into a round and place it in a proofing basket or a floured kitchen cloth and place it in a deep bowl to rise further, for 1.5 hours.

I waited. Anxiously. Peeping in every 30 minutes or so. Yeah, I was a Nervous Nelly alright.

[I must mention that I woke up at 5am to start on my bread. It was 8am and I couldn't wait to see the dough after the second rise.]

I peeked inside the cloth again and was pleased to see it had risen. Not as much as I'm used to with the dough that uses commercial yeast, but it had risen. Surely that was a good sign. Perhaps leaven takes longer to rise, allowing the flavours to develop slowly?  [I consulted Jane later and she confirmed that for a bigger rise, more time is needed. So I made the loaf again later in the day and let it rise for longer - about 4 hours - and true enough, the rise was significantly more and the flavour superior.]

Pleased with the moderate rise (or rather, because I couldn't wait to taste this bread), I proceeded to bake it.

I preheated my oven to 220C. Instead of placing the shaped bread on a baking sheet, I decided to bake it in my saucepan (I've done it before and it comes out lovely). So I placed the saucepan (stainless steel) in the oven to heat up. 

After 10 minutes, I removed the pot and carefully transferred the shaped dough into the pan, seam side down. I put it in the oven and waited. It took about 30 minutes for the bread to be baked. 

Whoooopp! Yup. I think I half-yelped as I took the pot out and saw the lovely crusted dome in the saucepan. What do you know! It looked beautiful. Nice and crusty [the sourdough crust is part of what makes it so popular and sought-after - nicely crisp and crunch] ... and it smelt divine. I couldn't wait to cut it open and peer ... no, gaze ... no gawk at the inside of my bread.

I cut it while it was still hot (after photographing it, of course) and it was glorious. It was still steaming and it smelt .... yes, once again, divine. Delicious. I knew it would taste great too. I just knew it would.

And it did. The pumpkin seeds (the original recipe called for sunflower seeds but I love pumpkin seeds and decided to swap) were a yummy addition and added crunch and flavour to the already tasty bread.

For the recipe and the very detailed instructions, head on the The Wayward Oven.

I called Jane immediately (well, a little later as I didn't think she'd appreciate a call from a howling, screeching me so early) and thanked her profusely for her starter and her recipe.

Even Mojo, my 12-year-old dachshund kept sniffing at the bread on the dining table and though he's on a strict diet (the vet says he's 1.5 kg overweight - for a small dog, that's a LOT) I gave him a tiny piece of the bread. He loved it (but then again he loves anything edible. Or even inedible).

The bread didn't last a day - I let a few friends and colleagues sample some and I ate the rest for dinner. It was too good to keep!

Garlic Twists and then some Empanadas

Sometimes the best things happen by chance. Like these garlic twists. They were the result of some extra dough from a batch of empanadas I made for a tea party (read: Chinese New Year gambling do) later today. I didn't make quite enough filling and so I ended up with some dough left over. Not a lot, just enough for about seven twists.

And they were delicious.

I first made empanadas more than a year ago. It was one of the Daring Bakers' challenges and I tried one of two recipes for the dough that was provided by that months' host, Patri (she blogs at Asi son las cosas).

It is an oil based yeasted-dough that's flavoured with salt and chilli flakes. It's crispy on the outside (even without the egg glaze) and slightly chewy inside. And it stays that way even after a couple of days (when you take it out of the fridge and re-heat it). 

For my vegetarian filling, I combined two types of mushrooms with brussel sprouts and hazelnuts with some garlic, parsley, chilli flakes and cream.

For the empanada dough recipe, click on this link, please.

Now for the garlic twists.

I set the dough aside as I prepared the garlic for the twists: cut off just enough of the top of a head of garlic so the cloves are exposed.

Pour 1 tbsp oil in small oven-proof bowl and coat the bottom with the oil. Place the head of garlic, exposed side up, in the bowl and sprinkle some salt over. Cover the bowl with aluminium foil.

Bake in a preheated oven (180C) for about 45 mins.

When the roasted garlic has cooled, squeeze the flesh out of the skins (it will be like squeezing toothpaste from a tube!) into a bowl.

Roll the dough out into a rectangle and spread the garlic on the top surface. Fold the dough in half, lengthwise, and roll it thin (about 3mm).

Cut 1cm strips and twist the dough - hold both ends of a strip and twist in opposing directions.Bring both ends together and seal them by pressing the ends together tight. The look like cute little wreaths.

Lay them on a baking sheet (line it, I didn't and I had a hard time scrubbing it later!). Brush some olive oil on the tops of each twist and sprinkle some salt and/or grated cheese on each one.

Bake in a preheated oven (180C) for about 20 mins.

Fruit and Nut Shortbread

Fruit and Nut shortbread? I couldn't believe it.

When I saw pictures of these pretty shortbread cookies on the online food log, Tastespotting last week, I knew I had to rush home and get right down to it. I love shortbread and the thought of yummy, colourful fruit and crunchy, delicious nuts in the melt-in-your-mouth treats just fired my engines right up.

I read through the recipe from Tasty Kitchen and decided to experiment a little with the basic shortbread recipe on the site. I'd read columnist for The Guardian, Felicity Cloake's post about "How To Make Perfect Shortbread" some time back and was inspired to try some of the different techniques she explores in her quest for the best shortbread.

I tried four different mixes:

The first was the straight forward blend of butter, sugar and plain flour along with the fruit and nut, chopped roughly. It was delicious. Nice and short. I could have stopped right there but I was curious. If there was the perfect shortbread, I wanted to know how to make it. 

The second was a blend of plain flour and corn flour, butter, sugar and the fruit and nuts. The corn flour altered the texture of the cookie. It was crunchy still but it also melted in the mouth as I bit into it. I liked that it did and was quite pleased.

But wait. There was another recipe with rice flour.

The third mix combined plain flour with rice flour, salt sugar and the fruit and nuts. This time, the shortbread was a little more crispy and a tad grainy. Nice but I much preferred the corn flour version. However, I did like the generous pinch of salt from this recipe.

So, for the final batch, I incorporated the second and third mix: plain flour +corn flour, salt, sugar, butter and the fruit and nut. Perfect. 

Aside from me being curious and trying four different recipe, shortbread is actually the easiest cookie to make from scratch. Because the dough should not be handled much (to keep the lightness and shortness of it), there is very little time spend handling the dough. In fact, most recipes advise you not to roll the dough but rather pat it into shape or into a sheet before you cut it. 

Or, you could just shape it into a log and cut circles. Really rustic and rather cool.

Fruit and Nut Shortbread

200g plain flour

70g corn flour

1 tsp salt

200g butter

85g sugar

1/4 cup dried cranberries, chopped roughly

1/4 cup candied lemon or orange peel, chopped roughly

1/4 cup  pumpkin seeds, chopped roughly

1/4 cup  walnuts, chopped roughly

1/4 cup  sunflower seeds, chopped roughly

Whisk the flours and salt together. Set aside.

Cream the butter and sugar together till light and fluffy. Gently fold in the flours and the nuts and fruits and bring the dough together with your hands. 

Divide the dough in two and shape into logs. Wrap tightly in cling film and refrigerate overnight or for a couple of hours, at least.

Pre-heat the oven to 150. Cut the logs into 0.5 cm slices and lay them on a lined baking tray. Bake for 15 mins or until the sides just start to brown. Remove and cool. 

Daring Bakers: Whoopie Pies

The December Daring Baker's Challenge had us all cheering. The lovely and talented Bourbonnatrix of Bourbonnatrix Bakes was our hostess and challenged us to make fun, delicious and creative whoopie pies! Delicious little cake-like cookies sandwiching luscious filling in any flavours we choose... what else is there to say but "Whoopie!".

Incidentally, that was exactly how this cake-biscuit treat got it's name. Apparently, according to the ever reliable (?) Wikipedia, Amish women used to sneak this into their husband's lunch boxes every now and again. When the men opened their lunches and discovered the treats - after a long morning's work - they let out a "whoopie"!

This is my first attempt at making whoopie pies. I've eaten them before but have never gotten around to actually making them. I like me a big old cake rather than mini cookie cakes ... they just require so much more work. 

But this was fun because while I chose the very basic chocolate for my pies, I experimented with the filling a little and settled on this yoghurt, lemon and coconut cream cheese filling. Whoa, that's a mouthful.

Chocolate and coconut go together well, no doubt about that. I didn't want a really rich filling like buttercream or marshmallow simply because I don't have a sweet tooth. Yoghurt, though, I love. And lemon? Double love. 

The filling was definitely luscious but also a little too soft. It didn't hold together all that well which proved a little messy when handling the pies. I chilled them and that made it a wee bit better.  I think perhaps it could be because I opted for low fat cream cheese which is a little softer than the full fat version. 

Also, because the tops of the pies are curved, they are a little wobbly when set on a plate or surface. Oh heck, let me just say they toppled. Well, some of them did. I should have consulted the daring baker's forum for tips because only after I'd assembled my pies did I see Agos of Sabor Pastel's top of weighing half the pies down with a baking tray once they're out of the oven so they'll have a flatter base. Genius! 

Nevertheless, loved the challenge and the pies. Especially the filling!

Chocolate Whoopie Pies

2 cups flour

1/2 cup cocoa

11/4 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

1 cup buttermilk

1tsp vanilla extract

113g butter, softened

1 cup brown sugar

1/4 tsp instant espresso (optional)

1 egg

Sift the flour, cocoa, baking soda together and whisk in the salt. 

Mix the vanilla extract and buttermilk.

Cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the egg and mix till incorporated. With the mixer on low, add the flour and buttermilk, alternating between the two until the batter/dough (it's a thick batter) is well combined.

Preheat the oven to 180C.

Using a table spoon, drop mounds of dough on a lined baking sheet, about 1.5 inches apart as they expand slightly.

Bake for 11-12 mins. 

FIlling

1 cup Greek yoghurt

113g cream cheese

3/4 cup sugar

1/4 cup dessicated coconut

Cream the cream cheese, yoghurt and sugar till light and well combined. Add the coconut and mix. Chill until the pies have cooled and you're ready to fill them. 

Picnic Basket PIe

So Jane, Ivy and I have become hooked on British competitive cooking show, The Great British Bake Off which just concluded it's fourth season some months ago. We decided to have a bake off of our own for our Don't Call Me Chef column in the newspaper this month. You can read about our mini challenge here.

Well, ours wasn't really a bake-off. We weren't judges and there wasn't any prize money at the end of it all. We each identified a challenge which the participants done during the season and tried our best to recreate it, following their recipe and the stipulated time they were given.

It was hard.

Those home bakers are amazing and their recipes are really challenging (and super long).

I chose to make Bake-Off finalist Ruby Tandoh's Vegetarian Picnic Basket Pie. I chose Ruby's pie because it was vegetarian and also because it looked great and sounded delicious.

That's the picture of my pie on top. It doesn't look too bad, right? Actually I was quite pleased with the result. But it's not nearly as beautiful as her's (see the picture below!)

Ruby Tandoh's Vegetarian Picnic Basket Pie

Ain't it cute?

Looks aside, this pie was delicious. Judge Paul Hollywood described it as being "sublime" ... which isn't too high praise, I think, for such a masterpiece. You can click here for the full recipe.

Let me start by extolling the virtues of Ruby's pastry. It's a shortcrust pastry which I have made countless times before. But Ruby adds a little baking powder to the mix which lightens the pastry. Delicious. And, amazingly, though flaky and short, it's sturdy too.

And, I had fun making the lattice top of the picnic basket pie.

Next: the filling. Ruby's pie has a layered filling. The top and bottom layers are made of cous cous which she flavours with sundried tomatoes. Oh my! It's yummy and it also prevents the moisture from the other layers from making the pastry soggy.

Next there is a thick layer of roasted vegetables: eggplants, red peppers and zucchini. 

Then there is a layer of Mozarella cheese and another of Halloumi, grilled.

The combination of flavours are just so yummy and the layers look so pretty (see the picture above).

I was so inspired by her pie that I've made it a few times since, changing the fillings each time. My favourite at the moment is one I made with leeks, mushrooms, roasted cauliflower puree, carrots and sweet basil.

I dare say that these pies debunk the myth that vegetarian pies are inferior to meat pies. I kid you not. Even with the notoriously bland cauliflower (which simply transforms when roasted) and the unglamorous carrot (pickled with some vinegar and it's a slaw to die for).

Dan Lepard's Lemon Drizzle Cake

I simply cannot resist lemons. Every time I go to the market, I buy some home even though there are probably already a couple in the fridge. It's not just the colour that gets me - so sun-shiny bright - but also the sharp, citrus flavour that cuts through everything. Lemons make everything better. Almost.

This weekend, after a particularly stressful week, I needed to make something out of lemons. Lemonade just wouldn't cut it so I resorted to making a cake. It was, after all, my husband's birthday and since he said he didn't have a particular favourite cake (well, he did say he liked the Spekkoek - the Indonesian layer cake - a lot but honey, I said, I made that once and vowed never to try it again - not even for you!), I chose to make a lemon cake.

Every baker has a lemon cake recipe or two (or four) in her (or his) baking repertoire, right? Just like the butter cake, pound cake or chocolate cake - a lemon cake is basic cake. But one of my favourites has to be a recipe by expert baker Dan Lepard. His Lemon Drizzle Cake recipe (published in the Guardian) is just absolutely fabulous. Ab fab, I tell ya.

It's lemony but not too tangy. It's sweet and moist and sticky. It's perfect. 

It's not the typical cake you'd stick some candles in for a birthday do - for it's baked in a loaf pan - but, hey, I figure after a certain age, round, multi-tiered, birthday cakes are no longer a necessity. No, actually they're embarrassing. Come on. You agree, right?

What you want is a great cake that'll make you feel happy. Celebratory. Gleeful. This is the cake.

Lepard uses a generous amount of lemon juice and rind in his recipe - 90ml juice (about 2 lemons) and the zest of 2 lemons - but the cake isn't overpoweringly tangy. Perhaps it was his addition of ground almonds to the cake. You taste the lemon, most definitely, but just the brilliant brightness of it, not the shocking tartness. Even with the lemon-strong glaze that forms a nice, crisp (and pretty) crust as the cake cools. 

Lovely. So, yeah, check his recipe out and give it a go. The birthday boy was happy. But that could also be because of the fabulous pressie I bought him (after being dragged to the store and told, "I want this!"). The recipe isn't included in the post but you can get  it here, straight from Lepard.

Try the cake! Really, try it. 

Decadent: Chocolate Buttermilk Cake

Oh! For the love of chocolate.

Sometimes it pays to be a little lazy. This Chocolate Buttermilk Cake, a Tish Boyle creation, called for shredded chocolate inside the chocolate batter. Shred? Oh that sounded like too much work, particularly since I was baking this at 10pm on the eve of Deepavali, the festival of lights celebrated by Hindus the world over. Yes, I kept my baking to the very last minute and I had one day to make 6 desserts. Yes, I am silly that way.

So, shred the chocolate? I resorted to "roughly chopping" instead and ended up with uneven chunks of dark chocolate. Doesn't matter, I thought - it'd melt in the batter as it bakes anyway. Right?

Well, they didn't completely melt away in the batter which was .... PERFECT. Apart from the rich, chocolate flavour of the cake (for Tish's recipe is really solid), there are chunks (oh! thank goodness for my laziness) of chocolate within the cake. In every bite, literally, you bite into soft, almost melted chocolate that's sandwiched in the tender and moist crumb of the cake.

Oh, and I must admit: I increased the quantity of the chocolate too. :) I just couldn't help myself.

Really. You need to try being lazy. This cake turned out better than I could have hoped for. It is super, duper chocolatey. I mean, really. Super duper.

I can't take credit though.

Just like all her other cakes which I've tried (her pound cake is great too), Tish Boyle's Buttermilk Chocolate Cake is a winner. Using buttermilk almost guarantees a very soft and almost creamy texture which - to use a cliche - melts in the mouth.

Tish's recipe is for individual cakes baked in mini bundt pans. I didn't have mini bundt pans plus I really wanted to make a whole cake. I baked mine in an 8-inch round tin and had to extend the baking time by about 10 mins so that the center was cooked through.

The cake doesn't need icing. I just decorated it with some powdered sugar which I dusted through my brand new stencil - isn't it pretty? It's not a terribly sweet cake either which means you can eat more than a piece with a little less guilt :)

Tricky treats for Halloween

Horrifically healthy pumpkin patch - pic by Yap Chee Hong

We don't celebrate Halloween here in Malaysia. Kids don't walk the streets in their neighbourhoods for candy and adults don't decorate their houses to look like something out of a horror flick. It's not that we don't love our share of horror -  practically everyone has a ghost story or two (real, mind you) to share, whether it's something they'd heard from a friend or an experience they've had themselves. I've got a few myself which I will re-tell upon request :)

Nevertheless, my colleagues at work and I decided to create some Halloween-inspired food for a fun spread (any excuse to eat!) and I was initially stumped for ideas on what to make. I'm not good with decorating cupcakes (my colleague Yuha did an amazing job though - check out her cupcakes below) and I wasn't too keen on making cake eye balls (Ann Marie did that gory job). Julie made a mummy (and yummy) vegetarian lasagna and Jane of The Wayward Oven made a giant spider bread with a creamy, cheesy and bloody dip. Check out some of the photos below.

I settled on making something horrifically healthy instead. Candy? No way! I made a pumpkin patch. The pumpkins were made from ... err... pumpkins. Well, pureed roasted pumpkins, roasted cauliflower and tempeh to be precise. The soil was made from tri-coloured quinoa, minced mushrooms and black sesame seeds. And the leafs? Rocket. 

It wasn't a visual masterpiece, I have to say. But it was a whole lot of fun to create and it tasted pretty damned good. I discovered that pumpkin, tempeh and cauliflower go really well together and, well, you can't go wrong with quinoa and mushrooms.

Halloween Pumpkin patch

For the 'pumpkins'

500g pumpkin, cubed 

60g tempeh, cubed fine

200g cauliflower, cut into florets

handful of parsley, leaves only

breadcrumbs - between 1/2 to 1 cup

salt and pepper

olive oil

Drizzle some olive oil on the pumpkin and cauliflower and toss to coat. Roast in a preheated oven (180C) for about 30 mins. 

Fry the cubed tempeh until they're brown and cripsy. 

Once the pumpkin is cool, puree with half the tempeh. Roughly mince the cauliflower. Add to the puree together with the parsley, breadcrumbs (use as much as needed to bind the pumpkin) and remaining tempeh. Season. 

Form the puree into balls and bake (180C) for about 20-25 mins. 

For the soil

1/2 cup uncooked quinoa

6-7 button mushrooms, roughly minced 

1 clove garlic, minced

2 tbsp black sesame seen, toasted

handful of walnuts, roasted, chopped roughly

salt and pepper

Wash the quinoa under running water to remove the bitter coating (as you would wash rice). Drain.

Heat a skillet with 1 tbsp olive oil. Add the drained, washed quinoa and gently toast it for about 2-3 minutes. Transfer into a saucepan. Add 1 cup water/stock and cook on medium heat. When the water starts to boil, reduce the heat and cover. Cook for 15 mins. Remove pot from the heat. Uncover, place a paper towel or kitchen cloth over the mouth of the pan and place the lid over (the cloth will absorb any remaining moisture). Let it sit for 15 mins.

Heat another tablespoon of olive oil in the skillet. Add the garlic and after a minute or two, the mushrooms. Cook till the moisture from the mushrooms leaves. Season and remove from heat.

Mix the mushrooms with the quinoa, black sesame seeds and walnuts. Drizzle in some extra virgin olive oil (or regular olive oil) and mix to toss. 

Onion and mushroom stuffed bread

So, it's November already (how ridiculous is that???) - my dog just turned 12 (yes, he's growing old - boohoo) and I recently turned ... well, I'm not telling how old I am although some days, I feel as if I'm 102 (especially everytime my knees crack when I squat to get something from a low shelf!). 

Needless to say, I've been feeling a little dreary. I was in dire need of something to pick my spirits up.

A stiff drink would've worked but I needed something stronger. 

I needed to make bread.

It's been ages since I last made anything other than a five minute (ok, maybe 15 minute) salad. So when Jane of The Wayward Oven brought a super tasty spider bread (a garlic and cheese bread shaped into a giant spider - we were doing a Halloween food shoot in the office), I was motivated to get back to bread baking. 

I liked Jane's bread which she made from a buttermilk and egg-enriched dough. I decided to use her recipe (and her idea of making a stuffed S-shaped loaf) and make my own stuffed bread.

Jane used two fillings: salted fish pickle (paste) and garlic and oven-dried tomatoes. Doesn't that sound super? I didn't try thinking of a vegetarian alternative to salted fish - there really is no equivalent, I think. 

I decided on onions for my first filling and mushrooms for my second. 

I blanched some red onions, chopped them up roughly and pureed them before mixing the paste with some rosemary.

For the second filling, I minced some mushrooms and sauteed them with some garlic and then added some sliced brussel sprouts. The sprouts are optional, really; mushrooms and garlic alone would be great too.

The onion paste was a little wet and I was worried that the moisture from the paste may affect the outcome. I started to panic a little, especially when shaping the stuffed dough into an S-shape on the baking tray: the paste oozed out in places, making the dough a little stodgy. 

"Oh my god," I yelled inwardly. "I'd messed it up!"

So, with the remaining dough (there was enough dough to make two medium-sized loafs) I decided to play safe and make a stuffed round dome - like a boule. 

Well, as it turned out, the onion paste didn't ruin the bread at all. If anything, it added moisture to the crumb and what I ended up with was a moist, tender bread that was deliciously onion-y. 

I was especially thrilled to see the pink of the onions peeking through the insides of the bread, a lovely contrast to the dark mushroom and brussel sprout filling. The two went fabulously well together too! Oh joy!



Onion and Mushroom Stuffed Bread

For the bread (adapted from the wayward oven)
350g bread flour
11/2 tsp active yeast
1 tbsp sugar
2 tsp salt
1 tbsp oil
200ml buttermilk
1 egg

For the onion paste
3 medium red onions
2 sprigs of rosemary

For the mushroom (and brussel sprout) filling
3 cloves garlic, minced
10 button mushrooms
6 brussel sprouts
salt and pepper
2 tbsp olive oil

Whisk together the flour, salt and sugar. Add the yeast and mix it in. Heat the buttermilk until it starts to simmer. Take it off the heat and lightly beat in the egg and oil. When the temperature has cooled slightly (enough for you to stick a finger in for 10 seconds), pour the liquid into the flour mixture gradually and bring together to form a dough. Knead the dough for about 5 minutes until it becomes nice and smooth. Cover and leave for 10 mins. After 10 minutes, knead again about 8-10 times and cover for another 10 minutes. Repeat twice and then cover with a tea towel and leave the dough to rise for about 60 mins.

Drop the peeled onions into a pot of boiling water and blanch it for about 5-7 mins. Drain, roughly chop and puree to a paste. Add the rosemary, stir and let it sit - covered.

Heat a pan of water. When the water boils, add the brussel sprouts and let it cook for about 5 mins. Drain and slice thinly. Mince the mushrooms roughly. Heat the olive oil in a skillet and add the minced garlic. Add the minced mushroom and cook under a low fire until the moisture evaporates. Add the sprouts and mix. Season and take off the heat.

Once the dough has risen, gently punch it down to deflate. Divide the dough in two (or you can make one large loaf).


For the S-loaf, gently roll the dough out into a rectangle with the longer side facing you. Spread the onion onto half the rectangle. Fold the other half (the half without the filling) over the onion paste. Now, spread the mushroom filling on top of it.

Pre-heat the oven to 190C.

Turn the dough around so that the longer side of the rectangle is facing you.
Roll the dough up (from the side nearest you) into a log (as you would a swiss roll). Roll it as tight as you can. Seal the seam as well as you can. Now, shape the log into an 'S'. Let the S-shape dough rest for about 15 minutes.

Bake for 30-35 mins or until the bread browns on top and is cooked through.



For the stuffed boule, simply roll the dough into a round. Spread the paste in the middle of the dough and then spoon in the mushroom filling Fold the edges of the circle around the fillings and seal the dough into a nice round parcel. Smoothen the dough into a nice ball and let it rest, seam side down, for about 15 minutes.

Bake for also around 30 mins.