Brocolli Miso Soup

I have a new toy ~~~~~~~ !

Introducing Bethany... my new Bamix deluxe handheld blender. :)

So its bye bye to my dear old Sunbeam StickMaster...

I've been aching to try out Bethany since I picked her up off the shelves from Peters of Kensington over the weekend. So yesterday night after work, I picked up some veggies from the local green grocer and went straight home to try out this soup recipe I had previously stumbled upon.

I've always been a sucker for blended soups. Mushroom, Pumpkin, Tomato... but this was one I haven't tried before. The recipe stood out because the idea behind it was fascinating. The recipe uses Miso paste to add depth and flavour to the soup. And yet no milk, cream or stock is required. Just Veggies, Miso paste, herbs and water. Yummo!

I first saw the recipe from WellFed. The original can be found here, the recipe below is slightly modified as I made it in a pressure cooker to save time. But I'm sure the recipe will still work fine if not using a pressure cooker.



Brocolli Miso Soup
As seen from WellFed

Ingrediants:

• 2-3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 1 medium onion, finely chopped
• 2 carrots (finely chopped)
• 2x bunches of broccoli (About 500g - florets removed from the stems, the stems peeled with a vegetable peeler and diced)
• 4 tablespoon white miso dissolved in 1 cup of water
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
• Salt and Pepper to taste
• Cheddar Cheese (shaved) - Optional

Method:

1. Using a pressure cooker, over medium heat, add in olive oil, bay leaves and cook the carrots and onions until slighly softened.
2. Add in the broccoli stems and cook them until slightly softened also.
3. Next add in the broccoli florets and then the dissolved miso paste
4. Cover pressure cooker lid and set to 8 PSI and turn heat on high to bring to pressure.
5. Once pressure is obtained, lower heat and cook for 15 mins.
6. Release pressure, check that the vegetables are soften and remove bay leaves.
7. Blend the contents with an immersion blender.
8. Taste and adjust with salt and pepper if required (salt may not be required depending on the type of miso being used).
9. Serve just is or with some shaved cheddar cheese (optional).

Notes:

• If using a large stock pot instead of a pressure cooker then it has to be simmered on medium heat for 35-40 mins after bringing to boil.
  

Oven Roasted Asparagus with Parmesan & Lemon Juice

I've only managed to make simple things since moving into the apartment. Mostly because, every time I've looked up a new recipe, I would realise I was missing at least 2-3 ingredients. This I put down to my ridiculously small kitchen and it's non-existent pantry (read previous post on new kitchen and lack of space).

So ... its back to basics. :)

Oven Roasted Asparagus w/ Parmesan & Lemon Juice

Ingredients:

• 2 bunches of Asparagus spears (thicker spears are better for oven grilling)
• Drizzle of 1-2 tablespoons olive oil
• Pinch of Salt
• Pinch of freshly ground black pepper
• Freshly grated Parmesan
• 1 Tablespoon of fresh lemon juice

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 180C
2. Bend a stalk of Asparagus (near the thicker end), and let it snap naturally. The ends can be frozen to be used to make chicken stock later on.
3. Line a baking tray with grease proof paper, then place Asparagus on top in a single layer
4. Drizzle olive oil over the top and sprinkle evenly with salt and pepper
5. Place tray into oven and bake for 12-15 minutes. Asparagus should be tender when done
6. Grate a couple of slices of Parmesan over the top and top with a squeeze of fresh lemon juice. Serve immediately

Notes:

Here is some tips on getting the most out of a bag of lemons...Using either some freezer bags or sandwich bags and an ice-cube tray:

• Peel the Lemon rind and place in bag to be frozen.
• Juice of lemon can be frozen in batches using ice-cube trays to be used later on.

Coleslaw

At the moment, I'm still kind of waiting for my renovations to complete, so its a bit hard to get back to my regular cooking routine. So when my friends asked me to bring something along for a weekend BBQ get together, the only thing I could commit to was a salad. I immediately thought of making a coleslaw. For me, coleslaws are a must-have item with BBQ meats. The tanginess of the coleslaw gives a nice break to all the meat being consumed. :)

I prefer a coleslaw that doesn't have too much mayo used. So this time, instead of using mayonnaise, I substituted it with a Greek style yogurt. I still added in the Dijon mustard and some whole grain mustard for some extra tang.

Coleslaws are quite flexible with what ingredients you add in. When I was searching online for a base recipe to refer back to, I found Ina Garten's Blue Cheese Coleslaw. If I had some blue cheese, I would have added it in, but I didn't have time to go out and buy some before going over to my friend's place for the BBQ. The next time I feel like making coleslaw again, I would definitely give the Blue Cheese Coleslaw recipe a go.

Coleslaw
preparation time: 30 mins

Ingredients:

• 1/2 small head green cabbage (sliced using food processor or mandolin)
• 1/2 medium-sized head purple cabbage (sliced using food processor or mandolin)
• 2 large carrots (peeled, then shredded using a food processor or grater)
• 200g Greek Style Yogurt
• 1/4 cup Dijon mustard
• 2 tablespoons whole grain mustard
• 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
• 1 teaspoon celery salt
• 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley leaves (roughly chopped)

Method:

1. Process the cabbages and carrots through the thinnest settings of your food processor. If you don't own a food processor, you can use a mandolin or grater.
2. Place sliced cabbage and carrots in a large salad bowl and add in the yogurt.
3. Then add in the Dijon mustard, whole grain mustard, cider vinegar and toss to mix well.
4. Season with a teaspoon of celery salt, sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
5. Add the parsley leaves, toss the coleslaw until the mixture is even. Taste and adjust seasoning if required.
6. Keep refrigerated until ready to serve.
   

Duck Fat Potatoes (2) - Pommes de Terre Sarladaise

If you can recall, I still have close to 1/2 kg of duck fat sitting in my freezer. Apart from duck fat potatoes I haven't really ventured into anything else with the duck fat yet. One of these days when I do have time to spare, I will try to tackle the duck confit. But not now.

I actually think this method is better than the way I was making them before (which is why I'm reposting this).

You might be thinking.. Its duck fat potatoes... can they really go wrong ?! Well no. You can't. But after several tries on different versions (all of which were extremely tasty), there was one standout recipe.

Well... Crispy coating. Soft fluffy interior. :)

So here is another take on Duck Fat Potatoes.

Duck Fat Potatoes (2) - Pommes de Terre Sarladaise

• 3-4 Red Skinned Potatoes (peeled - cut into rough chunks)
• 2 Cloves Garlic (Crushed with the flat side of the blade, skin left on)
• 8-10cm Sprig Rosemary
• 3 tablespoons Duck Fat
• 1/2 teaspoon Salt
• Freshly grounded Black Pepper and sea salt for seasoning

Method:

1. Bring a large deep saucepan with water to boil add the 1/2 teaspoon of salt.
2. Place the peeled and cut up potatoes into the water, bring to boil and reduce heat and let simmer for about 15 mins. Or until the edges potatoes start to soften.
3. Pre-heat oven to 180C with a tray lined with a piece of baking sheet.
   
4. Once the potatoes are done, drain them and give them a quick jiggle in the colander to rough up the edges a bit
5. Using a pan, melt the duck fat and add in the crushed garlic and rosemary sprig.
6. Add in the drained potatoes and toss the potatoes around until they are covered in the duck fat.
7. Carefully remove tray from the oven.
8. Transfer potatoes, fat, garlic and rosemary on to the baking sheet lined tray and place back into the oven. Cook for 35-40 minutes or until potatoes turn golden brown.
9. Remove from oven and season with some freshly ground black pepper and sea salt flakes.

Daring Cooks Challenge - Risotto with Caramelized Onions & Roquefort Cheese

The 2010 March Daring Cooks challenge was hosted by Eleanor of MelbournefoodGeek and Jess of Jessthebaker. They chose to challenge Daring Cooks to make risotto. The various components of their challenge recipe are based on input from the Australian Masterchef cookbook and the cookbook Moorish by Greg Malouf. The main requirement of the challenge was that we must make our own stock and the risotto base.

The base consisted of wine, rice, oil, stock, cheese and butter. Then we had to choose our own variation of risotto after the base was made. I had some Roquefort blue cheese waiting for me to consume, so decided on a risotto with caramelized onions and Roquefort. I can't remember where I first saw this risotto combination (either through blog surfing or in one of my recipe books). I think I originally came across it when searching for a base recipe for the Caramelized Onion, Mushroom and Blue Cheese sauce to go with my Beef Burgers. The risotto I had in mind, was quite different to that cheese sauce. I haven't been able to locate the original recipe, but I do remember there was the port, red onions and blue cheese in the ingredients list.

Making your own stock made a major different in taste. I used a couple of chicken thigh pieces instead of a whole chook. Originally I was thinking just adding the caramelized onions was going to be a bit dull, but it actually enhance the base flavour of the risotto.

I usually use butter for my base instead of olive oil, but I think the olive oil did work better. At least I don't have to be careful about getting my butter burnt. Thank you Eleanor and Jess for the wonderful challenge! :)

Chicken Stock

Ingredients:

• 1 large chicken 2-3 pounds about 1 kg
• chicken bones 2-3 pounds 1 kg
• 2 onions, roughly diced
• 1 medium leek - white part only, roughly diced
• 2 sticks celery, roughly diced
• 2 cloves garlic, halved
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 1 tsp. white peppercorns ( Any type of whole peppercorn will do)
• 2 bay leaves (fresh or dried, it doesn't matter.)
• peel of 1/2 lemon
• 1/4 tsp. allspice

Directions:

1. Wash the chicken and bones and places in a 5 Litre pot, cover completely with water and bring to a boil
2. Skim away any scum as it comes to the surface
3. Add the vegetables and bring back to a boil
4. Add the rest remaining ingredients and simmer very gently, uncovered for 1.5 hours
5. Carefully lift out the chicken, set aside. The chicken meat can be removed from the chicken, shredded off and used for other things like soup!
6. Simmer the stock gently for another hour. At , at the end you should have around 2 Liters
7. Carefully ladle the liquid into a fine sieve, the less the bones and vegetables are disturbed in this process the clearer the stock will be. 

8. The stock is now ready for use. Freeze what you don't need for later use.

Risotto Base

Ingredients:

• 60 ml olive oil
• 1 small onion (quatered)**
• 400g rice (Any type of risotto rice will do. I use Arborio but the recipe itself says Vialone Nano. Another to look for is Carnaroli)
• 60 ml white wine
• 1 L chicken or vegetable stock , simmering

Directions:

1. Heat oil in a pan and add onion. Fry for a few minutes to flavour the oil then discard. (We diced ours and left it in as we like onion).
2. Add the rice and stir for a few minutes to coat each grain of rice with oil and toast slightly.
3. Add the wine and let it bubble away until evaporated.
4. Add enough stock to cover the rice by a finger’s width (about an inch or two). Don't actually stick your finger in, it will be hot. Just eye it off.
5. Cook on medium heat, stirring with a wooden spoon from time to time, until most of the stock has been absorbed.
6. Repeat Step 5 making sure to leave aside approximately 100 ml. of stock for the final step.. Repeat, save 100ml for the final stage.
7. Once you are at this point, the base is made. You now get to add your own variation.

** Note: Since I was making a Caramelized Onion Risotto, I diced up my onion into smaller cubes and left them in also.

Risotto with Caramelized Onions and Roquefort Cheese

• 1 litre chicken broth - See recipe above
• Risotto Base - See recipe above
• 4 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 2 large red onions (thinly sliced)
• 2 twigs fresh thyme
• 1 cup ruby port
• salt and pepper
• 1/4 cup freshly-grated parmesan cheese
• 60g Roquefort (or try goat cheese for a non-blue option) - about 1 tablespoon per serving

Method:

1. In a separate 10-inch pan with a lid, melt 3 tablespoons of the butter over medium heat. Add the red onions and cook for about 5 minutes to soften. Sprinkle with a pinch of salt, cover the pan, and reduce the heat to low.
2. Continue to cook for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. Raise the heat to medium-high and add the port. Simmer the onions and let the port reduce until completely dry, about 25 more minutes. Remove pan from the heat and set a side.
3. While the onions is cooking, in a heavy base pot (I used my dutch oven pot) make the risotto. See risotto base recipe above.
4. Once you are at the final stage of the base risotto, pour in the last 100ml of stock, then stir in the remaining tablespoon of butter, Parmesan cheese and the caramelized onions.
5. Cover the pot with the lid, and let the risotto sit and rest for about 5 minutes.
6. To serve, spoon the risotto into shallow bowls and sprinkle the top with small pieces of Roquefort.

Green Papaya Salad - Som Tum Thai

Green Papaya Salad or Som Tum Thai consists of mainly dried shrimp, peanuts, cherry tomatoes and of course green papaya. Snake beans are also added, but I didn't have any on hand. But the reason why green papaya salad is one of my favourite Thai dishes is the dressing that ties all the ingredients together. Its a combination of smashed garlic and chilli with fish sauce, lime juice and palm sugar. The end result is a salad that tastes equally sweet, sour and spicy....which I find really addictive. :)

Its the palm sugar that makes all the difference. I've tried substituting with white sugar before, but it just didn't taste the same.

I also prefer to pound up the dried shrimp until its light and fluffy. I'm not really a fan of munching on small bits of harden dried shrimp. Also P usually avoids anything that resembles the shape of a prawn, but with the shrimp pounded, its all good. Its not like he doesn't know I'm slipping shrimps into the dish, he is the one pounding it.

This is a salad you can just have on its own, or as an side dish with other red meats or seafood. I like to serve it on top of a whole Snapper or any other white fish that has been pan fried until the skin is crispy. The tanginess and spices from the salad transforms the simple pan fried fish into a totally different dish.

Green Papaya Salad - Som Tum Thai

Recipe adapted from Chez Pim's Green Beans Salad

• 1 tablespoon Dried Shrimp
• 1 1/2 Cups Shredded Green Papaya
• 2 cloves Garlic
• 1 Thai Bird Chilli
• 1 tablespoon Roasted Peanuts
• 8-10 Cherry Tomatoes (about a handful - big ones sliced into halves)
• 2 tablespoons Palm Sugar
• Juice of 1 lime
• 2 tablespoon Fish Sauce
• 4 Long Beans (Cut into 1/2" Lengths) - Optional

Method:

1. Slice Green Papaya into fine strips and place into a glass or ceramic bowl
2. In a mortar, pound and grind the dried shrimps until they turn into fluffy flakes, remove from the mortar and set aside.
3. Gently mash up the garlic cloves in the mortar, then add the chilli and continue to grind until its turned into a chilli\garlic paste.
4. Add in the tomatoes and gently press down on them to burst and bruise the cherry tomatoes.
5. Add in the peanuts and pound them with the pestle until the peanuts are lightly crushed.
6. Using a spoon, remove the mixture from the mortar and place into the bowl with the green papaya strips
7. Add the palm sugar into the mortar and grind into a thick paste, remove from the mortar and mix into the bowl of papaya.
8. To the bowl, add fish sauce and fresh lime juice and continue to stir until the contents are well mixed.
9. Pour in the reserved shrimp flakes, stir and toss well to combine.
10. Taste to check the seasonings, add palm sugar, lime juice or fish sauce as needed.

Notes:

• If you only have blanched peanuts, just lightly toast them in a dry pan prior to using.

Miso Soup - Miso Shiru

I've finally got most of my backlogged posts published. Which considering the last two months was no easy feat. I never mentioned it before, but I was out of the country during the last two weeks of January and traveled back home to Perth to be with my extended family during Chinese New Year. Then I ended up scheduled to work every weekend since I was back in Sydney until now. I actually got most of my posts finished up last weekend, when I was working onsite. I had to wait for the other teams to finish before I had to do my part. That wait took 5 hours. Most data centers are like a large and very noisy walk-in refrigerator. This one was one of those. All I could think of while waiting (and typing up my posts), was that I wish I had a nice hot bowl of miso soup with me.

In that environment, I don't think there could be anything that could be as soul satisfying than sitting there with my hands cupped around a hot bowl of miso soup, sipping away, savouring each mouthful.

And you guessed it, as soon as my part was done, I got home, boiled some water, added some dashi granules, miso paste and some other ingredients found in my pantry and fridge and 10 mins later... ta-daaa.. Miso Soup...!

Miso is a great base for a seafood based soup too. Whenever I do have enough seafood bits and pieces on hand (and the spare time), I make a Fisherman's Soup with the off cuts of seafood (eg. Fish head, Mussels, salmon, prawn) with miso. But this time, it was just a simple miso soup with some Enoki mushrooms thrown in... And boy did it hit the spot. :)

Miso Soup - Miso Shiru

normally serves 2, or 1 in this case (if you want seconds)

• 1 teaspoon Dashi granules
• 3 cups water
• 2 tablespoons White miso paste *
• 1/2 tablespoon Mirin
• 1 piece package Silken tofu (diced into cubes - 1 piece is about 75g)
• 1 tablespoon Wakame seaweed
• 70g Enoki Mushroom (washed, brown roots removed) - Optional

* you may need to adjust this depending on the type of miso used

Method:

1. In a medium saucepan over medium-high heat, add in the dashi granules to the water and bring to a boil.
2. Reduce heat to medium, pour in the mirin and whisk in the miso paste.
3. Add in the Enoki mushrooms and seaweed.
4. Stir in the tofu cubes.
5. Simmer gently for 2 to 3 minutes before serving.

Duck Fat Potatoes - Pommes de Terre Sarladaise

This sign at my local butcher caught my eyes... Duck Fat $14/kg.

A kilo of duck fat. I wasn't exactly sure what I should do with 1 kilo of duck fat, so I asked if I could have 1/2 kg instead. And they happily obliged.

Hummm.. Roasted potatoes cooked in duck fat. Sounds soooo wrong... Yet so right :)

I didn't really know how much I would need, but 1/2 kg would surely be enough. After I spent a couple of minutes on Google, I realised I would probably only need about 3 tablespoons.

Crap...Now what am I going to do with 1/2kg minus 3 tablespoons of duck fat ????

I decided to try a slightly different method with the potatoes. Instead of parboiling them first and then roasting them in the duck fat later, I sliced the potatoes into thick 1cm chips and tossed them in a skillet pan with the duck fat, garlic and rosemary before finishing them off in the oven.

Let me just say... These were good.. Very good. A perfect side dish for our steaks.. :)

Duck Fat Potatoes - Pommes de Terre Sarladaise

Adapted from this recipe on Gourmet.com

• 2 Cloves Garlic (Bruised with the flat side of the blade, skin left on)
• 8-10cm Sprig Rosemary
• 3 Red Skinned Potatoes
• 3 tablespoons Duck Fat
• 1/4 teaspoon Salt
• Freshly grounded Black Pepper

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 180C
2. Wash the potatoes, removing any dirt.
3. Leaving the skin on, slice potatoes into 1cm-thick slices.
4. Rinse in 2 or 3 changes of cold water until water runs clear. Drain and pat with a paper towel until potatoes are very dry.
5. Heat the duck fat in a nonstick skillet pan over medium heat until melted.
6. Add in the garlic and rosemary
7. Toss in the potatoes with about 1/2 teaspoon of salt. Toss and turn the potatoes gently, until they are all coated with fat.
8. Pour the contents of the pan into a oven baking dish and place into the oven for 20-25 mins.
9. The potatoes should be golden in colour with a slightly crispy outer layer when done.

Agedashi Tofu

After making the Steamed Tofu with Fish Paste & Black Bean Topping, I still had quite a bit of tofu leftover. In a standard box of 900g Silky Firm tofu, you get about 12 pieces. I still had 6 pieces remaining after yesterday night's dinner. I also still had a bit of fish paste left, but I'll leave that for later. Right now I just wanted a quick snack.

Tofu.. Snack ? Agedashi Tofu ?

Fried tofu with dashi stock ... humm.. yes pls.. :)

If your not looking for an over rubbery version of Agedashi Tofu, then Potato starch probably works best, better than cornflour actually. Also try to look for Silken Firm Tofu in the grocery store. The softer tofu types makes it a bit harder to handle during the coating and frying process. I actually had quite a bit of dashi stock still leftover, feel free to halve the dashi stock or just fry more tofu pieces. I prefer to retain some of the crispiness of the tofu pieces. To do this, just avoid pouring the stock over the tofu pieces and only pour enough so that it comes to about 1/2 way up the tofu pieces.

Agedashi Tofu

• 3 pieces of Silken Firm Tofu
• Potato starch (with a couple grinds of salt) - enough for dusting the tofu pieces
• Grapeseed oil - enough for shallow pan frying
• 3/4 cup dashi stock (1 tablespoon dashi granules dissolved in 3/4 cup of hot water)
• 1 tablespoon mirin
• 1/2 tablespoon light soy sauce

For the Toppings:

• Daikon - Japanese white radish (grated)
• Roasted seaweed strips
• Bonito flakes
• Spring onions (finely sliced)

Method:

1. Place the tofu pieces on top of paper towels, and let sit for about 15 mins to remove the excess moisture. Carefully turn the pieces over let sit for another 5 mins.
2. While the tofu pieces are drying, mix the dashi stock with mirin and light soy sauce and set aside.
3. After the tofu pieces have dried, coat them thoroughly with the lightly seasoned potato starch.
4. In a saucepan, pour in enough oil so there is about 0.5cm layer. Enough to shallow fry the tofu pieces. Carefully put the coated tofu pieces in to fry, turning every couple mins on each side. When every side has turned golden, remove and drain on paper towels to remove the excess oil.
5. Place the tofu pieces in a bowl. Garnish with roasted seaweed strips, grated daikon, bonito flakes and sliced spring onions. Pour some of the dashi stock into the bowl (not over the top of the tofu pieces), until it reaches about 1/2 way up the tofu pieces and serve immediately.

Steamed Tofu with Fish Paste & Black Bean Topping

Fish paste is available at most Asian grocery stores and most Asian fishmongers would actually make their own 'ready to cook' version. If you want to make your own fish paste at home, then this post by Red Cook would probably be what I would recommend.

The fish paste I buy from the fishmonger is already seasoned. If you aren't sure if yours are, drop a teaspoonful of the paste into some hot boiling water and taste it. If it isn't seasoned, then add in about 1/2 teaspoon of salt and mix well.

The cling wrap used while steaming helps to keep the water from the condensation out of the tofu. This is an optional process as you can always just pour the water out. But after the time when I lost one of the tofu pieces.. it fell into the sink as I was trying to pour the water out.. doh!.. I've just used the cling wrap method instead. If you are employing this method, use a good quality known brand cling wrap, like GLAD or something similar, so that it wouldn't break and will survive the steaming temperatures.

This dish is like a steamed version of 'Yang Tau Foo' - which is like a fried tofu stuffed with fish paste - that I've had in Singapore before.

Steamed Tofu with Fish Paste & Black Bean Topping

makes 6 pieces

For the Tofu:

• 6 pieces of silky tofu (usually 1/2 the packet)
• 300g fish paste
• dash white pepper
• 1 teaspoon cornflour

For the Topping:

• 1/2 teaspoon minced garlic
• 1 heaped teaspoon fermented black beans (coarsely chopped)
• 1 tablespoon light soy sauce
• 1/4 teaspoon sugar
• 1 teaspoon Chinese cooking wine (Shaoxing wine recommended)
• 1/2 teaspoon red chili (finely chopped) - optional
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• Fresh Coriander and Spring Onions (finely sliced diagonally) - Optional

Method:

1. In a bowl, mix the fish paste with the white pepper and cornflour.
2. Place a piece of tofu on your palm, then using a butter knife or a small spatula, take some of the fish paste mixture and spread it over the top of the tofu.
3. Repeat until all the fish paste has been evenly divided amongst the pieces of tofu. Arrange on a plate and cover with cling wrap ready for steaming.
4. Bring some water to boil in a wok and place a steamer rack inside.
5. While you are waiting for the water to boil, prepare the black bean topping.
6. In a small bowl, add the garlic, fermented black beans, light soy, sugar, Chinese rice wine and chilli (if using) and mix well.
7. Once the water in the wok is boiling, turn the heat down to medium-low and place the plate of tofu on top of the steamer rack. Steam for about 10 mins, until you can see the fish paste is no longer transparent and is cooked.
8. While the tofu is steaming, in a small saucepan, pour in 1/2 of the oil and turn the heat on high.
9. Once the oil from the saucepan is steaming hot, pour it over the garlic and black bean mixture. This will cook the black bean and garlic.
10. After 10 mins, remove the plate from the wok and discard the cling wrap.
11. Pour in the remaining vegetable oil back into the same saucepan and place it back on high heat.
12. Carefully spoon on top of the fish paste about 2 teaspoons of the black bean and garlic mixture. Drizzle the remaining soy sauce over the tofu pieces.
13. Garish with coriander and some finely sliced spring onions.
14. Once the oil is hot, remove from the heat and carefully pour (bit by bit) over the coriander and spring onions so that it sizzles and cooks. This helps to release the aroma and also makes the strong flavour of fresh coriander a bit more subtle.

Anchovy Dressing

I still had a lot of fancy lettuce leftover from making these burgers. The easiest way to use up a lot of lettuce leaves would be to use them up in a salad. I was thinking of a Caesar salad for lunch. That was until I realised the mayo in my fridge had expired about 8 month ago. Oppps... It still looked ok. But I didn't think I should risk it. So it went straight to the bin.

I didn't feel like walking to the shops, and making mayo from scratch seemed a little bit overboard for what was supposed to be a quick Caesar salad. So instead of making a creamy Caesar salad dressing, I ended up putting together this Anchovy dressing instead. I added in capers and balsamic vinegar for some extra tang. The goats cheese actually worked really well with the dressing.

Anchovy Dressing

• 1 Tablespoon Sage (coarsely chopped)
• 2 Teaspoons Caper (drained, rinsed)
• 4 Anchovy Fillets
• 2 Tablespoons Balsamic Vinegar
• 2 Tablespoons Olive Oil
• Couple grinds of freshly ground black pepper

For the Salad:

• Oak leaf Lettuce (can substitute with any other type of lettuce)
• Goats cheese
• Tomatoes
• Olives
• Poached Egg

Method:

1. In a food processor set to pulse and blend together the anchovy fillets, capers and sage.
2. Scoop out the contents into a bowl and add balsamic vinegar, olive oil and pepper to taste.
3. Mix to combine well. Set aside.
4. Prepare the ingredients for the salad. I used whatever was available in my fridge, so feel free to substitute with what you have.
5. Toss salad with the anchovy dressing. Serve with some extra goats cheese and top with a poached egg.

Oven Baked Dijon Potatoes

We opted for Charcoal BBQ chicken from our local for dinner last night. I think their Charcoal BBQ chicken is one of the better ones in Sydney. However, their chips are just the plain old frozen ones that goes straight from the bag into the oil. Sigh.. If only they do hand-cut chips... then that would be perfect !

So I put these together instead.

The dijon mustard mixture gives the potatoes a light, tangy edge thats makes me able to consume more than my usual carbohydrate intake.

The mustard also keeps these babies from getting too brown as the potatoes cook, and also keeps them very moist.... And did I mention a rather tasty coating !? :)

Oven Baked Dijon Potatoes

Serves 2

• 2 - 3 potatoes (washed, cut into 1 inch cubes)
• 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
• 2 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 tablespoon fresh rosemary (finely chopped)
• 1 clove garlic (unpeeled, smashed)
• Salt & Pepper to taste

Method:

1. Cut potatoes into 1 inch cubes. Leave the skin on.
2. Smash the garlic with the flat side of a knife. Combine with the remaining ingredients into medium bowl and mix well.
3. Add potatoes and toss well to coat. Add a couple of grinds of salt and pepper.
4. Place potatoes in the oven on a baking dish and bake at 200C for about 35 minutes.
5. You should be able to easily insert a knife into one of the potato cubes when they are done.
6. Discard the garlic clove.

Thai Style Cucumber Relish

Work has been pretty busy for the past week. So by the time I get home, the only thing I could really put together were some quick dishes to have with some steam rice with either roast chicken or duck from the shops.

This recipe is really easy and quick to make and goes well as an accompliment to roast duck, deep fried chicken wings, thai fish cakes and thai-styled satays.

Thai Style Cucumber Relish
recipe adapted from David Thompson's Book - Thai Street Food

• 1/4 cup white sugar
• 1/4 cup white vinegar
• 1/4 cup water
• pinch of salt
• 1 cucumber (quartered & sliced)
• 4 red shallots (finely sliced)
• 1/4 red chilli (chopped)
• 2 tablespoons Coriander (chopped)

Method:

1. Simmer the sugar, vinegar, salt and 1/4 cup of water. When the sugar has dissolved, take off the heat and allow to cool.
2. Put the cucumber, chilli, shallots and coriander into a bowl. Mix together with the sugar & vinegar solution and serve as an accompliment for satays or Thai fish cake.

Ricotta Stuffed Zucchini Flowers

I'm a sucker for Zucchini flowers.. If they are on the menu, I would order them. No questions asked. Making them however, is a totally different story. Its always been a bit of a mess. The batter goes everywhere. Ricotta stuffing drips out. Or the batter would either be too thick or too thin... blah ~!

I think though.. I may have finely got it right this time. The difference is draining the ricotta cheese beforehand. By doing this, the cheese has more form and makes it easier when transferring from the batter mix into the deep fryer. Also, coating the stuffed zucchini flowers in a thin layer of cornflour before dipping it into the batter mix, helped to keep the batter coating on. The batter mixture itself had to pass the chopstick test. By that I mean, dipping the ends of a chopstick into the mixture, and when you pull out the chopstick, there should be a coating of batter around the ends that doesn't all drip off.

Ricotta Stuffed Zucchini Flowers

• 6 zucchini flowers
• 1/2 cup of ricotta cheese (drained)
• 1 egg
• 1/3 cup of freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano
• 1 clove of garlic (minced)
• 5 fresh sweet basil leaves (finely chopped)
• 1 Anchovy fillet (minced)
• Couple of grinds of fresh Pepper
• 1 small chilli (finely chopped) - Optional

For the Batter & Frying

• Enough vegetable or canola oil for deep frying
• Enough Cornflour for coating the stuffed flowers
• 2/3 cup all-purposed flour
• Teaspoon of Bi-Carbonate of Soda
• 1/2 cup of icy cold water

For serving

• Sprinkle of sea salt flakes
• Lemon Wedges

Method

1. In a large bowl, mix together the drained ricotta, egg, garlic, basil, cheese, anchovy fillet and fresh pepper. Once the mixure is combined, using a sandwich bag, spoon the ricotta mixture into the bag and set this aside.
2. Clean each flower by patting it with a damp cloth. Gently spread open the petals of each flower and carefully pinch out the filaments inside.
3. Using a pair of sissors, snip off one of the corners of the sandwich bag so that it turns into a pipping bag.
4. With one hand holding the flower and opening flower petal, and the other with the pipping bag, fill up the zucchini flower with the ricotta mixture. You should be able to use the ends of the petal and give it a slight twist to keep the ricotta mixture in place. Lay these down onto a flat tray or plate. Repeat until all the zucchini flowers have been stuffed with the ricotta mixture.
5. Sprinkle a thin layer of corn flour over the zucchini flowers. Turn each flower and make sure they are evenly covered.
6. Heat about 1 1/2 inches of oil in a deep saucepan over medium-high heat until its hot enough to start frying.
7. Mix together the remaining ingredients for the batter mix. Add more water if the batter is too thick. Or more flour if it is too thin.
8. Once the oil is ready, taking one flower at a time... dip the flower into the batter, turning to coat completely. Lift out and let the excess drip off. Gently slip the battered flowers into the hot oil and fry until golden brown on all sides. This should take about 4 minutes. Using tongs or a slotted spoon, transfer the blossoms to paper towels to drain off any excess oil.
9. Season with some sea salt flakes and serve immediately with some wedges of lemon.
   

Tips:

• You can test this with a piece a small piece of bread. Or simply dip in the ends of a chopstick, and if it starts to bubble around the chopstick, then the oil is ready. It should not be smoking hot. If it is, the food will burn too quickly, turn the heat off to cool the oil until its no longer smoking.
  
  

Eggplant Curry (Brinjal Curry)

I've been trying to replicate this dish for a while. This was something I had while I was working in Singapore from the '3 veg & rice' food court store. It's like a curry, only it was more intense and rich in flavor but wasn't overly hot in the chilli spice compartment. I didn't have much luck trying to find a base recipe online though. Most the returns from Google on eggplant curry didn't seem to use the ingredients I remember tasting. I tried using 'Aubergine' instead, but didn't have much luck either. I found this recipe by chance, when another site mentioned the Malay word for eggplants - Brinjals ... and I used that in my search instead :)

Eggplant Curry (Brinjal Curry)
Adapted from Rich Brinjal Or Long Bean Curry

In a food processor or pestle mortar combine the following ingredients:

• 5 shallots
• 3 garlic cloves
• 3 tablespoons dried shrimp (rehydrated in water, finely chopped - water reserved)
• 1 thumbsized piece of fresh ginger
  
• 2 thumbsized pieces fresh young turmeric

Discard stalks of brinjals. Slice into two, lengthwise. Then crosswise into 5cm slices. Soak in cold water for about 1 hr. Drain the eggplants, then stir fry them in a heated wok with some oil

• 300g Eggplants (Sliced & soaked in water)
• 2 tablespoons oil

Remove the eggplants and set a side.

Add in a bit more oil to the wok and pour in the turmeric mixture from the food processor

Add in the following and stir fry to combine together:

• 3 fresh red chillies (chopped finely)
• 1 tablespoon shrimp paste

Pour back in the cooked eggplant and mix in with the fried turmeric mixture. Add in the following:

• 1 cup of coconut milk
• Salt to taste

Bring to slow boil until vegetables are soft and cooked. Sprinkle some fried shallots over the top of the curry before serving. This part is purely optional. Serve with some steamed rice.

Stuffed Capsicum & Black Bean Sauce

I remember posting up a similar dish, but using eggplants instead of capsicum. I'm usually not a capsicum fan, but we had quite a bit left over in the fridge after our recent thai curry escapade. The boys seemed to enjoy it a lot more than the eggplant version though. They managed to finish all the steam rice I had cooked for the night (I usually have enough leftover to be able to make fried rice the next day !!) with just this dish alone.

To key is to be able to get your hands on some fresh fish paste. I've tried using frozen ones from the Asian groceries and it never really taste the same. Most Asian fishmongers will have fish paste. Or you can use a food processor and make your own with some inexpensive white fish. If you are making your own, after processing it through the food processor, you need to grab the paste in one hand and throw it down into a large bowl so it makes a 'spat' sound for a couple of minutes. This process, which my daddy taught me (and he is a chef), makes it turn in a fish paste that he calls 'sticky' and it holds together better. And also according to him.. I quote: 'Has a nicer texture when eating it'.

I have only made my own fish paste once (before I discovered it was readily available at my local Asian fishmonger at $5 a packet), after that I've never really bothered to make my own. It was just a bit too much work. >.<

Stuffed Capsicum with Black Bean Sauce
Original recipe passed to me from my grandma

• 2x Capsicums (seeds removed, sliced into 1/4 lengthwise, then halved again crosswise into chunks)
• Small bowl of Cornflour (to be used during the 'stuffing' process)
• ~300g White Fish paste (from chinese grocery shops)
• 2 tablespoon of dried shrimp (soaked in water, finely chopped - water reserved)
• 3 tablespoons of coriander (roughly chopped)
• 1/2 teaspoon of salt & a pinch of ground white pepper

Sauce:

• Dash of vegetable oil
• 2 garlic cloves (smashed and finely chopped)
• 1 tablespoon of fermented black beans (fresh or use black bean paste from chinese grocery shops)
• 1 fresh red chilli (finely chopped)
• 2 tablespoon of light soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon of oyster sauce
• 2 teaspoons of white sugar

Method:

1. To prepare the capsicum, remove the seeds and slice into quarters lengthwise, then crosswise into half. You should have 8 pieces from each capsicum.
2. Mix together the fish paste with dried shrimps and coriander. Season with salt and white pepper.
3. Rub some cornflour on the insides of the eggplant piece and place about 1 tablespoon of the mixed fish paste into the eggplant. (The cornflour helps hold the fish paste in place).
4. Shallow fry the stuffed capsicum pieces in some hot oil.
5. Remove the pieces as the capsicum pieces start to blacken a bit and set aside.
6. In a medium hot wok, add the oil then stir in the garlic. Add in the stuffed capsicum pieces and pour in the mixture of black bean, chilli, soy sauce, oyster sauce and sugar. Keep on stirring the contents around so it wont burn too easily.
7. Add a couple of tablespoons of the reserved shrimp water in and continue stir frying the stuff capsicum pieces around. Each piece should have a coating of the black bean sauce.

Serve with some steamed white rice. Enjoy :)

Thai Cucumber Salad - Yum Tang Gwa

My lovely cousin is in town this week. While we were out at dinner last night, we were talking about the things she missed most while working abroad. A nice home-cooked meal was something that was mentioned. So I asked her what type of food did she feel like having and if she was free to come over to dinner tonight. She replied .. "Yes... Thai food please".

Darn.. She picked the one cuisine that we probably make the least at home.

Cantonese, Italian, Steak, Casseroles and Japanese type cuisine dishes would be what we usually stick with.

But, alas.. Thai it was. I opted for my Thai Chilli Mussels (just because it was a work day, and its simple enough to whip up in a flash), I did add more liquid and coconut cream so it also doubled as a soup. I made a pot of Green Curry Chicken (full recipe to come later) and a Thai Cucumber Salad as a side dish to help offset the fullness of the coconut milk in the other dishes.

This is based on a recipe I found on Chez Pim's site. I changed it slightly to just stir frying the shallots and sprinkling in some already fried shallots I had in my pantry instead. I also drained some of the water out of the cucumber by tossing some salt through it. And added some lime zest to give it a bit more zing. :)

Thai cucumber salad - Yum Tang Gwa
Original recipe from Chez Pim - Thai Cucumber Salad

• 2 large cucumbers (peeled then sliced thinly)
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 cup of mint (roughly ripped by hand)
• 1/4 cup of basil leaves (roughly ripped by hand)
• 1/4 cup coriander leaves
• 1 cup of shallots (thinly sliced)
• 2 tablespoons desiccated coconut
• sprinkle of dried fried shallots

For the dressing

• 1/4 cup fish sauce
• 3 tablespoons lime juice
• Grated lime zest of 1 lime
• 2 tablespoon rice vinegar
• 2 tablespoon of palm sugar
• 2 red chillies (finely chopped) <-- You can add more if you like.

Method:

1. Peel and cut the cucumbers into thin slices.
2. Toss the cucumber in some salt, and let stand for 30 mins or so in a colander.
3. Place a pan over low heat, add the coconut flakes and stir constantly until they are evenly brown. Set aside.
4. Wipe the pan clean, add some oil into it and place it over medium heat. When the oil is hot, add the shallot slices and stir fry, stirring occasionally, until it starts to turn golden brown. Remove from the pan and set aside.
5. To make the dressing, first you nuke the palm sugar (in a bowl in the microwave) for 20-30 seconds just to melt it and make it easier to blend with the other ingredients. Then add the fish sauce, stir to blend. Add the lime juice, zest, then the rice vinegar. Taste it and see if you need more acidity, if so, add more rice vinegar to taste. Add the chopped chilli
6. In a salad bowl, add the cucumber slices. Reserve a bit of the coconut, and the herbs for garnish. Dump the rest into the salad bowl. Pour in about 2/3 of the dressing, toss well.
7. Taste it and see if you'd like a bit more dressing, then add more as needed. Sprinkle with the fried shallots, coconut, and herbs and serve.
   

Notes:

• Due to time constraints, I didn't bother with deseeding the cucumber before slicing it. In retrospect, the next time I make this again, I will probably take the time to deseed the cucumber.
  

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.

Cauliflower Cheese

Making this cauliflower cheese reminds me of the time my grandma used to take us out to this old-style cafeteria around the Aherns department store in Perth. And we would have pork roasts with veggies and Crème caramels for lunch. Yes, for lunch.. Dinner was always back at home and was always chinese food. So every time my grandma would suggest going to Aherns for shopping, we would always tag along.

I guess pork roasts with crackling, 3 vegs and crème caramels doesn't seem to be much. But for someone that just has chinese food all day... any break from that... is a much welcomed break. :)

The 3 vegs would always be mashed potatoes, roast pumpkin and cauliflower cheese.

I would mix the mashed potatoes and pumpkin up with the gravy. But the cauliflower cheese was always satisfying just by itself.... :)

The secret is in the extra thick belchamel sauce and not to overcook the cauliflower so that it doesn't completely fall apart when you pick it up with your fork.

This is my version of a more 'spiced up' cauliflower cheese, with the addition of anchovies, mustard and garlic into the bechamel sauce.

Cauliflower Cheese

Ingredients:

• 1/2 head of white cauliflower (steam removed, trimmed and broken into florets)
• 1 tablespoon butter - more for greasing the oven dish
• 4 anchovy fillets (finely chopped)
• 2 tablespoons plain flour
• 1 garlic clove (finely chopped)
• 2 cups milk
• 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
• Pinch of freshly grated nutmeg
• 150g Cheddar (grated) - more for topping
• 1 tablespoon fine fresh white breadcrumbs
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C.
2. Cook the cauliflower in boiling salted water until just tender - should be no more than 5 minutes. Remove from the salted water, run the cauliflower through cold water under the tap, then drain thoroughly in a colander.
3. Grease the sides and edges of an ovenproof dish then tip the cauliflower in.
4. To make the sauce, melt the butter in a medium-sized saucepan. Add the chopped anchovy fillets. Stir the butter around until the anchovy fillets start to melt into the butter. Spoon in the flour and stir for about 1 minute.
5. Add in the chopped garlic. Continue stirring for another minute or so.
6. Lower the heat and gradually beat in the milk.
7. Add in the mustard and nutmeg. Bring the sauce back to a slow simmer for and about 3-5 mins and keep on stirring while it simmers.
8. Stir in the Cheddar cheese and season generously with salt and pepper.
9. Taste the sauce, it should be a bit on the saltier side.
10. Pour the sauce over the cauliflower.
11. Sprinkle the extra Cheddar over the top, then the breadcrumbs and top with a couple of grinds of salt and pepper.
12. Bake for 25-30 minutes, or until the top has turned golden brown and bubbling.
    

Notes:

• Running the cauliflower straight after cooking under a cold water tap helps stop the heat in the cauliflower to 'continue cooking' it.
• The cheese sauce should be at a slightly thicker consistency, but still runny enough to be able to pour out of the saucepan.
  

Butternut Pumpkin Souffle

I had some left over butternut pumpkin from last night's roast in the fridge. Instead of heating up the roast pumpkin and having it again for dinner tonight, I tried to make something different with it. I'm kinda in a savoury Souffle phase at the moment. So I had a go at making a butternut pumpkin souffle. I based my recipe along a cheese souffle recipe that I'm pretty accustomed to, but substituting the cheese with the pumpkin. The results turned out quite tasty and the souffle was very fluffy. Although next time I might try roasting the pumpkins with some honey to help add a bit of sweetness.

Butternut Pumpkin Souffle
An Astrogirl recipe

Preparing the Ramekins

• 2 tablespoons of butter
• 4 ramekins (single serve)
• Parmesan cheese (crumbled\grated)

Butter generously the inside of four ramekins with the softened butter. Divide the grated Parmesan among the ramekins and rotate them so the butter catches the cheese. Tap out any excess. Place ramekins into the fridge until ready to be used.

Roux
In a saucepan combine together:

• 4 tablespoons of unsalted butter
• 4 tablespoons of all-purpose flour
• 1 cup milk

Cook Roux for about 1 min, then take saucepan off the heat and mix in:

• 4 egg yokes (whites to be used later)

Base Flavored Mixture
In a food processor, blend together, then add into the Roux:

• 500g roasted butternut squash flesh (if not using leftovers, then just roast in oven for 1hr at 180C, then scoop out the flesh).
• 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
• 2 garlic clove, finely chopped
• 1/2 handful of fresh sage leaves
• 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
• freshly ground black pepper

Egg Whites
In a clean glass bowl, beat the following together till soft peaks form:

• 4 egg whites
• 1/4 tsp baking powder
• pinch salt

Preheat an oven to 180°C.

Mix a quarter of the egg whites in with the butternut pumpkin mixture in the saucepan. Then gently fold in butternut pumpkin mixture into the remaining egg whites in the glass bowl with a spatula.

Divide the souffle mixture into the 4 ramekin, about 3/4 full. Place the souffle on a baking tray then place into the oven and bake for 20-25 minutes.

Remove and serve immediately.