Chicken Wings with BBQ Sauce

I prepped these last night so that we could have something to munch on while watching the Arsenal vs Barcelona match this morning. Its nearly 6.30am and the game is into its 80 minute mark soon. The score when I walked away to start up my laptop was 3-1 to Barcelona. :(

Oh well.... at least the chicken wings were yummy... :)

Chicken Wings with BBQ Sauce

• 1kg Chicken Wings (Tips discarded, Wings and Drumlette separated)
• Juice of 1 lemon
• 2 tablespoons dry spice mix
• 1/2 cup BBQ Sauce

Method:

1. In a large bowl, marinate the pieces of the chicken wing with about 2 tablespoons of the dry spice mix. Then squeeze the juice of one lemon over the chicken wings. Mix well and cover the bowl with some cling wrap and place into the fridge to marinate overnight.
2. When ready to cook the wings, remove from the fridge and pre-heat the oven to 180C.
3. Arrange wings over a cake cooling rack (sitting over a tray to catch the drippings) and bake for about 20 mins.
4. Remove from oven and generously brush each wing with some BBQ sauce. Switch the oven to the grill setting and return the wings to the oven for another 2-3 mins
5. Take the tray out, flip the wings over, brush with BBQ sauce and return to grill for another 2-3 mins.
6. You should be able to see the BBQ sauce start to bubble and caramelise. Remove from the oven and serve immediately.

Fresh Tomato Salsa

Beef burgers has kinda become a fortnightly weekend event in our household. We still try to come up with different accompaniments to have with our burgers. We did the blue cheese sauce before. This time I was thinking of something fresh but still with a bit of bite. So instead of just adding a few slices of tomato and onion to the burger as the salad section, we ended up making some fresh tomato salsa to go as a topping to our beef burgers. The salsa really does take the burgers to a totally different dimension.

Fresh Tomato Salsa

• 4 ripe tomatoes (diced)
• 1 jalapeño chilli (leave the white ribs and seeds if you want it hotter, otherwise remove them, finely sliced) - Omit if you are not a chilli fan.
• ½ cup Onion (diced)
• One garlic clove (finely minced)
• ¼ cup spring onion (finely sliced)
• ¼ cup fresh coriander leaves and stems (stems finely sliced, leaves roughly chopped)
• ½ teaspoon sea salt
• fresh ground pepper
• Juice of 1 lime

Method:

1. Place the diced tomatoes tossed with a pinch of salt into a colander over the sink (or bowl) and let drain for 20~30 minutes.
2. Discard the juice and transfer tomato to the bowl. Add the rest of the ingredients and stir to combine. For more heat, include both the ribs and seed of the chillies.
3. Taste and adjust the flavour with lime juice, salt and pepper. If the salsa becomes a bit too acidic, add a little sprinkle of sugar to balance things out.
4. The fresh salsa should be covered, and placed in refrigerator to rest for 30 minutes. Doing this will allow the ingredients to bind together, creating a more intense and well-incorporated flavour.

Beef burger with a dollop of salsa on a not-so-lightly-buttered-bun.. :)

Chinese Dried BBQ Pork - Bak Kwa

I did it. I made my own Bak Kwa ~~~~~~ !!! Woot !!

When I saw the recipe on pigpigscorner, I knew I had to try it out. The original recipe calls for the meat to be baked in the oven for 20 mins on low and then 15 mins more on high. I found that with 15 mins on high, my Bak Kwa came out a bit more burnt than I would have liked. So I cut it down to 5 mins on each side.

I also used pork neck and minced the meat myself in my Magimix food processor. You can just use pork mince from the butcher. But ask for one that has a higher content of fat. The fatty parts is what makes the Bak Kwa taste so yummy. :)

Chinese Dried BBQ Pork - Bak Kwa

recipe adapted from pigpigscorner.com

• 500g of Pork Neck (minced)

Seasoning:

• 1½ tablespoon Fish Sauce
• 1 tablespoon kecap manis
• 1 tablespoon Cheong Chan Thick Dark Soy Sauce (Thick Caramel Sauce) - Optional
• 1 tablespoon Light Soy Sauce
• 1 tablespoon chinese rice wine
• 1 teaspoon chinese 5 spice powder
• 1 teaspoon oil
• ½ Cup Sugar

To brush on top of meat:

• 1 tablespoon Honey mixed with ¼ cup of hot water

Method:

1. Mince the meat up in a food processor.
2. In a big bowl, add the seasoning to the minced meat.
3. Stir the mixture with a pair of Chopsticks in one direction, until minced meat becomes like glue.
4. Put some of the gluey minced meat on a baking paper. Cover the meat with a big cling wrap or plastic sheet and use a rolling pin to roll the meat to about 2mm thick.
5. Remove the plastic sheet and put the entire baking paper with the minced meat on a baking tray.

Baking:

1. Bake in preheated oven at 120C for 20 minutes.
2. Then increase the temperature to 180C and bake for about 5-7 minutes.
3. Remove the baking tray from the oven and let the meat cool for about 5 minutes.
4. Flip the meat over onto a fresh baking paper, brush with some of the honey water and bake for another 5 minutes at 180C.
5. Cool the bak kwa and cut into pieces (I used a pizza cutter) before storing in air-tight container.

Tsukune - Japanese Chicken Meatballs

If you've been to an Izakaya joint in Japan, then you'll know why I'm such a sucker for these mince chicken meatballs. For those who haven't.. An Izakaya is a type of 'Japanese Drinking Establishment' which serves all sorts of tapas style food to accompany the drinks. If I remember correctly, these chicken meatballs are usually found at the BBQ skewers or Yakitori section of the menu. And they are absolutely delicious. :)

This is my first attempt at replicating these. I managed to find a few reference recipes online, but as always.. its hard to find authentic japanese recipes written in english. I was actually pretty pleased with the end result, as it actually tasted quite similar to what I remember having in Japan.

After mincing and putting all the ingredients together in my Magimix food processor aka Petals, I found the mixture to be quite flimsy. I had already added some cornflour to help the mince meat stick together. But I wasn't sure if the chicken mixture would be able to hold it's 'meatball' shape when I grilled it. So instead of throwing them straight on a grill pan, I decided to put them in some boiling water so that the outer 'meatball' shell is formed first.

Thats about when I stumbled upon this recipe from Rasa Malaysia and realised the author also boiled the meatballs prior to grilling them. Her yakitori sauce also made a bit more food sense. I had run out of ginger at home, so that may account for the slight discrepancy in taste. The next time I make these, I'll definitely try with some ginger.

Tsukune - Japanese Chicken Meatballs
Recipe adapted from Rasa Malaysia

For the Chicken:

• 300g chicken mince
• 1 cup chopped spring onion
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1 egg
• 1 tablespoon sesame oil
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1 teaspoon light soy sauce
• 1 teapsoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon white pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon cornflour

Additional Items:

• Skewers (soaked in water for at least 30 mins)
• Water
• tablespoon salt

Yakitori Basting Sauce:

• 4 tablespoons sake
• 5 tablespoons light soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon mirin
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon corn starch blended with 1 teaspoon water

Method:

1. Blend the spring onions and garlic into the food processor
2. Using the bigger bowl in the food processor, mince the chicken, then added processed spring onions and garlic and combine well.
3. Add egg and the rest of the seasoning ingredients to the chicken mince. Mix until all the ingredients are combined.
4. Wet your hands and scoop about a tablespoonful of the mixture into your palm. Shape it into a small ball about the size of a golf ball.
5. Bring a saucepan of water with about a tablespoon of salt to boil
6. Add the chicken balls and boil for about 7 minutes, or until the color of the meat changes and the balls float to the surface. Scoop out and drain on a plate covered with paper towels.
7. In a small pan, mix all the ingredients for the yakitori sauce, except for the corn starch solution. Bring the mixture to boil, and then reduce the heat and simmer for about 5 minutes or until the sauce slightly reduced. Add the corn starch solution and stir until the sauce is thickened. Transfer to a small bowl.
8. Thread 3-4 balls on to each bamboo skewer. Grill the skewers on a grill pan. Brush them with the yakitori sauce and turn the skewers frequently until the balls turn brown.
9. Serve while its hot with a wedge of lemon. Sprinkle with shichimi togarashi (Japanese chile powder with sesame seeds) and some yakitori sauce if you like.

Ultimate Beef Burgers

Yay.. Its the 1st day of holidays..Wishing a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all !

We made these for lunch while waiting/preparing the other courses for our Christmas dinner.

Ultimate Beef Burgers

Serves 6

For the beef burgers:

• 1 small onion (grated)
• 2 tablespoon Dijon mustard
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper
• 1 kg ground beef
  

Toppings:

• 6 Cheese slices
• Pickled Cucumber or Pickled Gherkin
  
• Tomato sauce
• Mustard
  
• 6 hamburger bun

Mix together all the ingredients together in a large bowl. Wet hands in some cold water and divide the beef into 6 parts and shape into 6 round patties.

Place on top of some baking paper and place the patties in the fridge for at least 1 hr before cooking.

Place about a tablespoon of oil in a heated saucepan and then add the burgers to the pan. Cook for about 7 minutes on each side.

About 1 minute left into the cooking, place a slice of cheese on top of the beef patty. And let the cheese melt. Once the cheese starts to melt, remove from the pan then place on top of the burger bun.

Add pickled cucumber or gherkin, mustard and tomato sauce on top of the cheese.

Creamy Mushroom Risotto Balls

Risotto balls or Arancini balls make great starters or finger food type snacks. Once you have the base risotto made up, the process to make them into risotto balls is really quick and easy. All you really need is some flour, beaten up eggs and breadcrumbs. As a little extra, I prefer to add a small cube of cheese into the risotto ball. The deep frying process melts the cheese and crisps the breadcrumb layer. So that each little ball is crispy on the outside with its own molten cheesy center. Now how can anyone resist that ??! :P

Creamy Mushroom Risotto Balls

Adapted from Fratelli Fresh's recipe on Arancini Balls in Vogue Magazine

For the Risotto:

• 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1 medium onion (chopped finely)
• 1 leek (white and light green part only, finely sliced)
• 1 bay leaf
• 3 - 4 cloves garlic, peeled and finely chopped
• 250g mushrooms (sliced)
• ¼ teaspoon Salt
• ¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
• 2 cups Arborio rice
• 250ml white wine
• 4 pieces of dried porcini mushroom
• 1 litre chicken or vegetable stock
• 2 tablespoons finely chopped parsley
• 2 tablespoons chopped sage
• 2 tablespoons chives (finely sliced)
• 100g Parmesan cheese
• 1 tablespoon butter

1. Bring the broth with the dried porcini mushrooms to a simmer
2. Heat a large pot over a medium-high flame. Add in the olive oil and butter.
3. As the butter melts, saute the onion and leek for 1 minute until it softens but doesn't brown.
4. Add in the bay leaf, sliced mushrooms and chopped garlic and cook for another minute
5. Season with freshly ground black pepper and salt
6. Add the rice and saute for another minute, until it turns translucent.
7. Pour in the wine and cook until the alcohol has evapourated and the rice as absorbed all the liquid.
8. Begin to add the broth. One ladle at a time. Add the next ladle only when the previous liquid has been aborbed. Stir occasionally.
9. Finely slice up the soaked porcini mushrooms (that was in the broth) and add these into the risotto rice
10. Stop adding the broth when the rice has cooked to the equivalent of al dente for pasta.
11. Add in the fresh herbs - in this case some parsley, sage & chives.
12. Stir in the grated Parmesan Cheese then the butter.
13. Cover the pot and let rest for about 3 minutes. This is the part that helps the risotto turn really creamy. Remove the lid, taste and add salt or more seasoning if required.
14. Spread the rice out into a tray and allow the rice to cool to room temperature

For the Risotto Balls:

• Risotto (cold) - See recipe above
• Plain flour for dusting
• Beaten eggs (one or two, depending on amount of risotto)
• Meltable cheese - anything from mozzarella to cheddar (sliced into 1cm cubes)
• Breadcrumbs
• Vegetable oil for deep-frying

1. With dampened hands, take a spoonful of risotto and flatten it out a bit in your hand
2. Place the cheese cube in the middle then shape cold risotto into 4cm or so balls.
3. Roll balls in flour. Shake off any excess flour.
4. Roll balls in the beaten eggs
5. Transfer and roll balls in breadcrumbs. Shake off any excess.
6. Heat the vegetable oil in a deep saucepan until its hot enough for frying
7. Deep fry the balls until golden brown.
8. Remove the balls and let rest on a plate covered with paper towels
9. Season with some flaky sea salt and serve immediately with a sauce of your choice.
   

Notes:

• To turn these up a notch, you can drizzle in a couple of drops of truffle oil into the risotto once its finished cooking.
• You can refrigerate the risotto balls and repeat the 'egg - breadcrumbs' stage again to yield a slightly thicker crunchier coating.
• The dried porcini mushrooms are optional, but a little bit of these babies do go along way in terms of taste
• For the fresh herbs, I used Parsley, Sage and Chives. You can substitute with whatever you have available.
• You can make this recipe up to a day ahead, and leave the pre-formed risotto balls in the refrigerator for up to a day. Just remember to cover them up well so the rice doesn't dry out too much.
• The mushrooms can be substituted to any other flavoring ingredient like parma ham, seafood, pumpkin and other vegetables.

Buffalo Wings

These are a different version of Buffalo Wings to the ones you can get from a pub in the States. I tried to make these a bit more 'healthier', so therefore these are oven baked and not fried. I also marinate them in some lemon juice and freshly grounded cumin before baking them. After baking the wings, I throw them into the saucepan with the prepared sauce and then put the sauce-coated wings under the grill for about 3 mins. Just enough for the sauce to start bubbling on the wings.

You can serve these with some blue cheese sauce or have them just as is. The perfect snack during poker game nights. :)

Buffalo Wings

Marinate, mix together and let stand for about 1-2 hrs:

• 1 kg Chicken Wings (separated, tips removed)
• Juice of 1 lemon
• 2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 2 teaspoon of cumin (grounded)
• 3 garlic cloves (roughly chopped)
• 1 teaspoon of salt
• 1 teaspoon of freshly grounded black pepper

Bake wings on a wire rack (with a baking tray below to catch the juices & oil dripping), at 180C for about 10 minutes.

Sauce:

• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1 tablespoon Tabasco sauce
• 6 tablespoons hot sauce (I used Frank's)
• 1 tablespoon of Worcestershire sauce
• 1 tablespoon of white wine vinegar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon grounded black pepper

Melt the butter in a saucepan, then add in the remaining ingredients for the hot sauce and let heat up to a slow simmer.

Add in the baked chicken wings and toss together so that the sauce coats the wings.

Arrange wings in a baking dish and put back into the oven on the grill setting. Let the wings grill for about 3 minutes on high or until you can see the sauce on the wings start to bubble up.

Serve immediately.

Pesto Mayonnaise & BLT Sandwich

With the 2nd batch, I was able to make about 1 cup of the Garlic Mayonnaise (Aioli). Of which, the first few tablespoons I used on top of some toasted bread. The next half of that batch, I used by just dumping it on top of some hot roasted potatoes. Which by the way, was super yummy !

I still had quite a bit left afterwards (about 1/4 cup in fact) and I think I had just about reached my limit with the 'garlic breath' side effects.

So I turned it into a Pesto mayonnaise, and used it in my super BLT sandwich. Which is pretty much just BLT (bacon, lettuce & tomatoes) with anything else thats available in my fridge.

Pesto Mayonnaise

Mince together in a food processor (you can do this by hand if you like):

• 1/2 cup packed fresh basil leaves
• 2 tablespoon lightly toasted pine nuts
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• couple of grinds of black pepper
• 4 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 4 tablespoons freshly grated Parmesan
• 1/4 cup garlic mayonnaise (see this recipe)

If you are using normal mayo from the supermarket, then add in 1 garlic clove into the pesto mix.

BLT Sandwich

Makes 2 sandwiches:

• 6 slices wholemeal bread (lightly buttered)
• 4 slices bacon
• 2 ripe tomatoes (sliced)
• 4 leaves iceburg lettuce (washed & passed through a salad spinner)
• Pesto Mayonnaise (see recipe above)
• salt & pepper to taste

The following ingredients are optional - Its just something I decided to add in (in an attempt to clear out my fridge):

• Mushrooms
• capers
• cheese

I started off with the 1st slice of bread, added in the cheese, and mushrooms (which I quickly cooked in the pan I had used for the bacon) and a slice of bacon. Drizzled on some pesto mayo. Topped that with another slice of bread (wanted to keep the BLT part a bit separate), and added the remaining bacon, drizzle on more pesto mayo then added the sliced tomatoes and lettuce. Sprinkled a few capers over the layer of lettuce and closed the sandwich off with the last slice of bread. Repeat to make the next sandwich.

Slice the sandwich in half and secure with some toothpicks.

I actually think this looks more like a club sandwich than a BLT now. :)

Choc Chip Banana Muffins

I'm stuck with some 'I-Think-I-Should-Throw-These-In-The-Bin' type bananas again. After throwing away the ones I don't even think I should attempt to peel, I was lucky enough to be left with enough bananas for my muffin recipe. I change my recipe a bit this time, and used 1 more egg, added some chocolate chips I had lying around and also added some rum extract to give it a bit more of a kick. :)

Chocolate Chip Banana Muffins
recipe originally adapted from allrecipes.com.au

• 4 Large bananas (mashed)
• 2/3 cup brown sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1/3 cup soften butter (about 100g)
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 cups flour
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon rum extract
• 1/3 cup of Dark Choc Chips

Method:

1. Pre-heat oven to 200C.
   
2. Sift and combine the flour with baking soda, baking powder and salt. In a separate bowl blend butter with the sugar until it goes a light creamy colour, add in the eggs then mashed bananas and vanilla and rum.
   
3. Fold the wet mixture into the dry flour bowl. Sprinkle in the chocolate chips. Be careful not to over stir.
   
4. Spoon mixture into a buttered muffin tray, about 3/4 full, then place into the oven for about 15-20 mins.
   
5. You should be able to prick a toothpick into the center of the muffin and it should come out clean.

Makes 6 large muffins. Enjoy :)

Grilled Eggplant with Miso Sauce - Nasu Dengaku

This is a healthy, nice and easy snack or side dish to make if you manage to get your hands on some eggplants. If you have the thin & long version, then you will need at least 4-6 eggplants. Eggplants is probably the only vegetable that you cannot under cook. With this recipe, I first grill the eggplant pieces until they are nearly done, then I brush on the miso sauce, and place the eggplants under the broiler (in the middle of the oven - so the miso sauce doesn't burn too easily) for about 5-10 mins. Until at least the miso sauce has start to bubble and brown just a bit. I also find that if I soak the sliced & scored eggplant in some cold water for about 1 hr beforehand, then it retains its white fleshy colour. Even after grilling. :)

Eggplants on the Grill Pan

Grilled Eggplant with Miso Sauce - Nasu Dengaku

For Eggplants:

• 2 big round eggplants (cut into halves & score a criss-cross pattern across the eggplant)
• vegetable oil for brushing
• sprinkle of sesame seeds

For Miso Sauce:

• 1/2 cup dashi (I mixed 1 tablespoon of dashi granules in 1/2 cup of boiling hot water).
• 2 tablespoon sugar
• 2 tablespoon mirin
• 2 tablespoon sake
• 1/3 cup of miso paste
• 2 teaspoons corn starch

Method:

1. To prepare the miso sauce, place all the content into a measuring cup (except the hot water). Mix to combine it together (the sake and mirin should help thin out the miso paste), then pour in about 1/2 cup of boiling hot water (the water line should come up to the 1 Cup mark now). Continuing mixing until all the contents have dissolved into the hot water, making a slightly thick sauce.
2. To prepare the eggplants, slice them in half lengthwise and then using a knife score a criss-cross pattern into them. This helps with cooking and to retain the sauce.
3. Brush the eggplants with some oil and place on a grill pan to grill until the eggplant is cooked. This should take about 5 mins on each side, and the eggplant should be soft to touch when cooked through. Remove eggplants from the grill pan and place into a foil-lined baking tray.
4. Start the oven in 'grill' mode.
5. On the criss-cross sides, brush a thick coating of the miso sauce then sprinkle with sesame seeds over the top of the sauce.
6. Place the eggplants on the middle tray section of the oven, with the grill setting to get the miso sauce to caramelise a bit. This should take about 5-10 mins.
7. Remove eggplants from oven when you see the miso sauce start to bubble and start to turn brown.

Notes:

• If you aren't using dashi granules, then you will need to place the dashi broth and the rest of the ingredients in a saucepan and heat it up until the contents dissolve and start to thicken.
• When grilling the eggplant in the oven, try to keep an eye on the eggplants as the sugar content in the sauce makes the sauce burn rather easily.
• I find that placing the eggplants in the middle section (instead of directly under the broiler\grill) helps cook the eggplants for a bit more as the sauce is able to caramelise slower.

Breakfast Baked Puff Pastry Pies

I've been having a rather hectic week at work. In at 9am and out at about 3am. Been pretty much just living off Domino's Chicken Wings and Pizza every single night at work. So after pulling myself out of bed this morning, I went to check out what was available in my fridge.

I had a leftover sheet of puff pastry in my freezer (after my banana tarte tatin adventure the previous week), some eggs, bacon and mushrooms. My open puff pastry pie recipe came to mind for a lazy Saturday brunch.

This recipe is actually quite versatile, you can substitute the main ingredients with almost anything you have available. I have made this before with left over roast pumpkin, sundried tomatoes and feta cheese. However, for today I pulled out my usual big breakfast ingredients, stir fried them for a bit, then placed them in a large muffin cups lined with puff pastry and poured some egg over the top. This recipe pretty much lets you add anything into the puff pastry cups. The egg which can be beaten or left whole is used to hold the ingredients together. One thing to remember, is to place the muffin tray with just the puff pastry into the pre-heated oven until the pastry just starts to puff. Its then removed and the cooked ingredients are added with the raw egg then placed back into the oven for about 15 mins at 180C or until egg has cooked.

Breakfast Baked Puff Pastry Pies

• 1 buttered large muffin tray
• 1 sheet of Puff Pastry (divide the sheet into 4 smaller pieces)
• 4x Eggs (lightly beaten)
• 1/2 cup of shredded cheddar cheese
• Salt & Pepper

The following can be substituted with whatever you have available:

• 1 cup mushrooms (sliced)
• 2 pieces of bacon (sliced)
• 1/2 Onion (sliced)
• Cherry Tomato (halved)
• Olives (pitted)
• Shallots (finely sliced) - Optional

Method:

1. Butter the muffin tray and preheat oven to 200C
2. Drape & press the puff pastry into the tray molds and place into the oven until the puff pastry as just started to turn golden brown. (should take no longer than 5 mins). Lower the oven to 160C after the puff pastry molds have been removed.
3. Meanwhile, stir fry together your chosen ingredients. I had mushrooms, bacon, onions, tomato and olives. Then set aside.
4. Lightly beat the eggs, add in shredded cheese and season with salt and pepper.
5. Take the puff pastry tray, and spoon in about 2 tablespoons of the egg & cheese mixture, top with the stir fried ingredients. Then pour in the remaining egg & cheese mixture.
6. Sprinkle with some shallots over the top of the puff pastry pies.
7. Then place into the oven at 160C for about 15-20 mins.
8. Remove from the muffin trays and serve with some tomato sauce squeezed over the top of the pastry pies.

Makes 4 puff pastry pies. Enjoy.. :)

Another Use for Leftover Egg Whites ...

After I've had my little bit of fun making the vanilla ice cream, I was leftover with about 6 egg whites. I was thinking meringues.. but.. again ?!... (I could already hear the moans & groans coming from my household if I produced another meringue related dish again). And then I saw this post from Not Quite Nigella... ~ The perfect saviour for my 6 egg whites !

Now I just have to get my hands on some lemon extract... :)

Milan Cookies
Recipe from Not Quite Nigella with reference to Gale Gand, from the Food Network website

• 170g unsalted butter (softened)
• 2 1/2 cups powdered sugar
• 7/8 cup egg whites (from about 6 eggs)
• 2 tablespoons vanilla extract
• 2 tablespoons lemon extract
• 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour

Cookie filling:

• 1/2 cup thickening cream
• 200g semisweet chocolate, chopped
• 1 orange, zested

Method:

1. In a mixer, cream the butter and the sugar.
2. Add the egg whites gradually and then mix in the vanilla and lemon extracts.
3. Sift in the flour and mix until just well mixed.
4. With a small (1/4-inch) plain tip, pipe 1-inch sections of batter onto a parchment-lined sheet pan, spacing them 2 inches apart as they spread -- I used a sandwich bag with the tip of one corner cut off as a 'piping bag'.
5. Bake in a preheated 350F/160C degree oven for 10 minutes or until light golden brown around the edges. Let cool on the pan.
6. While waiting for the cookies to cool, in a small saucepan over medium flame, scald cream.
7. Pour hot cream over chocolate in a bowl, whisk to melt chocolate, add zest and blend well.
8. Set aside to cool (the mixture will thicken as it cools).
9. Spread a thin amount of the filling onto the flat side of a cookie while the filling is still soft and press the flat side of a second cookie on top.
10. Repeat with the remainder of the cookies.

Notes:

• I think the next time I bake these, I will try putting the temperature a bit higher. The edges of the cookie were really yummy and crisp, but the middle was a bit more chewy then I would have liked. I noticed the ones where the bottom had completely gone a golden brown colour were a lot less chewy.

I wonder how long its going to take for us to devour 3 dozen cookies ?! :)

Eggs Benedict

Its a public holiday in Sydney today. Which means.. A) We get to sleep in... and.. B) I actually get to spend sometime in the kitchen (on a weekday) to make some breakfast brunch.

I had quite a bit of sauce left over from the eggs florentine recipe I made yesterday afternoon. Since I don't want to let it go to waste, I wanted to make brunch with the leftover sauce. So I went for the next closest thing... Eggs Benedict. But substituting the traditional Hollandaise sauce with the mornay sauce I had left over. Is it still called Eggs Benedict if you don't have it with Hollandaise sauce ?! Not too sure about that one. Anyone ?

Anyways, here's the recipe for my non-so-traditional take on eggs benedict.

Eggs Benedict a La Astrogirl
(with spanich & béchamel mornay sauce)



Ingredients:

• 2 tablespoon white wine vinegar
• 1 teaspoon of salt
• 4 large free range eggs
• 2 large pieces of lightly buttered bread (toasted)
• 4 slices of bacon
• 1 batch of warm mornay sauce (originally hollandaise sauce)
• 1 bunch of boiled spinach (optional - i had some leftover from yesterday)

1. Bring a medium-size pan with water (about 3 inches) to the boil and add the vinegar & salt. Break the eggs into separate small bowls.
   
2. Gently slide in the eggs from the bowl into the water. Place a lid on top of the pan and turn the heat off. Leave lid on for about 2-3 minutes. The eggs will set into a neat round shape. Remove with a slotted spoon. Hold the spoon above the pan for a couple of seconds to let any water clinging to the egg drain off.


3. Butter the toast, place two slices of bacon on top, add boiled spinach, then top with two eggs. Spoon over the remaining sauce and serve at once.
   
   
   

Pork Sausages Broiled with Japanese Mayo

One of the things I've picked up after coming back from Japan...

....and thats to put Japanese egg mayo on top of everything !!

These are sausages I've got from the butcher that I first cooked on my grilled pan. With the oven switched onto the grill setting, I generously squeezed japanese 'baby brand' mayo over the cooked sausages, then placed it under the grill for about 2 minutes. Until the mayo has melted.

As you can see from the picture, I topped up some of the other pork sausages I had with some fresh mayo - just to see what it would taste like. I would probably just leave it to the broiled mayo only next time.

And it was good. Tasted very much like the japanese fatty pork on skewers with mayo you can get from Izakaya places in japan.

Banana Muffins

I spent most of last night cleaning out my fridge, and judging by some of the 'expired goods' I had found.. its something I haven't done in a while. Amongst some of the items I found that were possibly still in the 'usable goods' department, I found 4 rather brown bananas. Super ripe bananas makes super yummy banana bread...banana cake or muffins. I went with the muffins option this time.

Did I say that the bananas were super ripe ??

Banana Muffins
recipe adapted from allrecipes.com.au

• 3-4 Large bananas, mashed (I use 4 because I had 4 left in my fridge)
• 2/3 cup white sugar (original recipe calls for brown sugar)
• 1 egg
• 1/3 cup soften butter (about 100g)
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 cups flour
• 1 teaspoon vanilla

Pre-heat oven to 200C.

Combine and whisk flour with baking soda, baking powder and salt. In a separate bowl blend butter with the sugar until it goes a light creamy colour, add in egg then mashed bananas and vanilla.

Fold the wet mixture into the dry flour bowl. Be careful not to over stir.

Spoon the mixture into a buttered muffin tray. About 3/4 full. Bake for about 15-20 mins, until it starts to brown. Makes 6 large muffins.

Notes:

• Cut the butter into small cubes so to soften it faster.
• I added about a couple of splashes of milk (about 1/4 cup) into the mixture at the end. The original recipe doesn't call for it, but I added it because my mixture was looked a bit gluggy and dry.