Cherry, Cherry. Oh So Many!

Cherries in Rose & Vanilla Syrup

When I was little, I loved the thrill of waiting for a certain festive season to come so I could feast on special food to commemorate the occasion.  For instance, it was only during Eid that we Malays would seriously indulge in a mind-boggling, appetite-inducing festive spread that included ketupat (rice cake in weaved coconut leaves), rendang (spicy beef dish), lodeh (vegetables in coconut milk), sambal goreng (spicy vegetables), kueh tart (pineapple tart), kueh makmur (sweet peanut roll)...the list goes on.  I'd better stop here before I start drooling on my keyboard.  Back then, it would be unusual to see such food on the dining table outside of the festive season.  In a way, it kept the festive excitement and mood in check until it was really time to celebrate.  However, times have changed.  These special dishes are now available all year round, ignorantly assassinating the festive thrills.



Gorgeous red cherries.  My mum-in-law had intentionally picked them prematurely as otherwise,
none will be left because the possums will be feasting on them, right from the tree! 

Because of the temperate climate here in Australia, I'm glad to be able to redeem the thrills of waiting for seasonal crops.   I came from summer-all-year-round Singapore, a tropical city-state that sits comfortably on the equator.  That means seasonal food is virtually unheard of unless it's to do with tropical fruits like durian, rambutan, mangosteen, longan, etc.  Even then, with modern techniques, they have been cultivated to become available almost all year-round.  That has somewhat led to a further loss of seasonal thrills for me.

As I'm writing this, mangoes, peaches, plums and cherries, just to name a few are in season now in Australia.  Our peach and plum trees in the backyard are already bearing fruits and will likely ripen for picking in the next couple of weeks  [Seasonal Thrill Part I].  I had "harvested" a massive amount of roses, Youtubed for recipes and concocted my debut organic rose water/syrup in my kitchen [Seasonal Thrill Part II].  Then, as if premeditated, my mum-in-law gave us heaps of cherries from her garden [Seasonal Thrill Part III].  That's a lot of thrills to last me for the whole season! I pondered for a moment.  What's a woman to do with cherries and rose water?  I could be whimsical and take a long rose water bath a la modern day Cleopatra and while at it, cue my husband to feed me cherries.  That would be the mother of all thrills for this season!  

I was pretty excited to make my organic rose syrup from rose petals for the first time.
The liquid's reddish colour comes from the petals' natural stain.  Roses harvested from our garden. 
I made too much of the water, thankfully the cherries from my mum-in-law came at the right time

As I had way too many cherries than I could possibly chew, I thought I should learn  how to preserve them and thereafter, make another round of My Blackforest Cake, cherry pie and the likes.  Besides being great ingredients for desserts, relish and even homemade jam, the cherries are also good in salads and will make nice food gifts.  I skimmed through a recipe book for ideas and with a blink of an eye, produced two jars of Cherries in Rose & Vanilla Syrup [Seasonal Thrill Part IV].  They're sitting pretty in my fridge now until I'm ready to use them for further seasonal thrills.  As for the rose water bath, it's in the works! ;)       

The essential ingredients for preserving the cherries

Ingredients:
(makes 1 litre)

1kg cherries
750ml organic rose water (or commercial rose syrup)
1 tsp vanilla essence (or 1 vanilla bean, scraped)
1/2 cup white sugar
Strips of orange rind


Preparation:

1.  Add vanilla to pan with rose water, sugar and orange grind.  Stir over medium heat until sugar has dissolved and micture comes to a boil.  Reduce heat and simmer for 5 minutes.

2.  Add cherries and simmer gently for a further 5 minutes.  Transfer cherries out of the mixture into a sterilised clean jar using a slotted spoon.

3.  Boil liquid for a further 8 minutes.  Pour liquid over cherries in the jar.  Let mixture cool completely before sealing the jar.  Can be kept refrigerated.      



Fearlessly Simple & Home Cooked

My Lazy Lasagne

I had cheated with my meringue dessert recipe (by using store bought meringues instead of making them) and now "lazy" is the adjective of choice for my lasagne dish.  In case I'd given you the impression that I'm a slothful cook who operates from a super messy kitchen littered with empty packages of instant mixes and microwave food (God forbid!), I'd better clarify that I am just a huge fan of efficiency.

 

Keep some bottles of this fabulous pasta sauce handy, in case laziness hits you
at the time when you need to obey your Italian food craving  

When translated to my cooking style, it means I am the sort who takes recipes with a pinch of salt, often modifying the ingredients and exploring alternative techniques that are within my means.  I do not relish complex and tediously long cooking methods, which just put me off.  I want to retain my keeness towards cooking, to use fresh ingredients most of the time but to also have the freedom to include modern provisions where I can.  Excuse me for seeking some relief but I would like to sum all that up as "smart cooking". Heehee.  Having said that, I indulge in demanding traditional cooking styles once in a while, when I'm less lazy, that is. 

I also stock up on canned champignons in case I run out of fresh mushrooms
when the recipe calls for them. 



I flipped through the Italian cook book in search of lunch ideas and decided on lasagne.  I wasn't exactly in the mood for elaborate cooking that afternoon, so the sight of bottled pasta sauce in my grocery drawer made me ditch the idea of cooking the Bolognese sauce from scratch as per the cook book.  (See Beef & Mushroom Spaghetti if you'd like to make your own sauce).  With some quick mental modifications of the original lasagne recipe, I amassed whatever I could from my drawer and fridge. Then, as if the spatula was my magic wand, the lasagne was ready in record time.  I wasn't the least bothered by how picture imperfect the lasagne had turned out because it tasted excellent.  I felt really satisfied with the outcome and slouched back on the couch for my post-cooking reading pleasure of Marian Keyes' latest fiction.  

My confidence was boosted later in the day when my husband repeatedly commented,"What superb lasagne this is!". It wasn't just a husband's show of random support but a genuine appreciation of deliciousness.  Now that wasn't fiction, thanks! 



(L to R): White sauce and Bolognese sauce; the layering process;
and the dish almost ready to be baked


Ingredients:
(Serves 4)

1 bottle Bolognese sauce (or make your own)
350g minced beef
12 dried lasagne sheets
1 tbsp olive oil
25g butter
1 can champignons - cut into halves
50g grated Parmesan cheese

For the white sauce
50g butter
25g plain flour
300ml milk
50g grated cheddar cheese

Preparation:

1.  Heat oven to 190*C.  Fry minced meat without oil until cooked.  Set aside.

2.  Heat olive oil and butter in a medium saucepan over a medium heat.  Add minced meat and mushrooms and cook gently until mushrooms are soft.  Add Bolognese sauce and mix well.  Remove from heat.

3.  Heat butter in a saucepan until melted.  Add flour and stir, then pour in the milk, stirring until teh sauce thickens and forms a smooth consistency.  Add cheese and stir to combine.

4.  Put 1/3 of meat sauce into teh base of a square or oblong baking dish; layer with 1/3 of the white sauce followed by the lasagne sheets.  Repeat the layers, finishing a layer of lasagne sheet topped with white sauce.  

5.  Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese and bake in oven for 25-30 mins until bubbling and brown on top.

Fearlessly Simple & Home Cooked

GQ Men of the Year 2010 - Chef of the Year

Congratulations to one of my favourite chefs,

CURTIS STONE



[30 Nov 2010] Chef of the Year Curtis Stone posing outside the Sydney Opera House 





Fearlessly Simple & Home Cooked

Cheat's Meringue with Berries & Cream

I discovered that food cravings can be quite creepy.  Recently on Facebook, I was exchanging information with B, one of my food loving friends in Singapore (we're Food Nation citizens, remember?).  Although we're physically separated by the vast and deep blue ocean, in our own private epicurism and without any coordination of any kind, we found out that we had been thinking about the same food for several days in a row.  Call that bewitching telepathy or simply like-minded gluttony.  Either way, her food thoughts were a dead ringer for mine and vice versa!

  

The store bought meringues are perfectly sweetened, crunchy
and flavoured (strawberry, vanilla, orange etc).  Toothsome!

For instance, a day after I made this meringue dessert (and without a clue that I had had it), B said she was entertaining the thought of having Eton Mess.  Now, that common craving was quite something as this British original is not a typical dessert of choice among us Singaporeans.  In other words, it's not as common as ice kacang (shaved ice dessert) or goreng pisang (banana fritter).  I had made this meringue dessert only because berries are in season here in Australia.  Seeing how foolproof the recipe was and what a pretty after dinner pleaser this dessert could be, I went to the shop and grabbed the ready made strawberry meringues.  Yes, ready made ones, hence the recipe title "Cheat's Meringue...".  I could have made them myself but I believe we all should take short cuts whenever we can so cooking remains enjoyable (what a perfect kitchen thief's excuse!).

So, with meringues and berries on hand, there's nothing much left for me to do.  I dunked the thickened cream into the mixer, gave it a good spin and voila!  A breathtaking dessert was born in a matter of minutes. The best part was it's totally fuss-free to prepare, looks stunning and tastes absolutely divine!  It's a definite crowd pleaser, so it's a must-have item on your menu when you're entertaining guests.  As for Eton Mess, the ingredients are the same, all you have to do is crush the meringue into a serving bowl and mess it up with the cream and berries.  It's called Eton Mess not for nothing :-D.

Ingredients:

Store bought meringues

Mixed berries - raspberries, blueberries, strawberries (frozen ones are fine)

Thickened cream

Preparation:

1.  In a mixer, beat the thickened cream for 2-3 minutes until fluffy.  Do not overbeat as otherwise cream will turn into buttermilk.

2.  Scoop cream onto 1 piece of meringue.  Top with berries.  Serve immediately.

Tips:

- The meringues are usually sweetened so there's no need to add sugar when beating the cream.  

- Prepare the dessert just before serving to keep the meringue crunchy.

                      

Fearlessly Simple & Home Cooked

Lamb Chop with Cheesy Flat Mushroom & Salad

I put this meal together by accident. I mean, when I opened my fridge and saw lamb, mushrooms, cheese, yada, yada, yada I didn't have a clear concept of what I'd do with them.  I stared long and hard at those ingredients, long enough for my fridge to beep deafeningly, signalling that I'd left the door ajar for a while (and I think I heard it exclaim, "Make up your mind for a meal now!").  As I shut the fridge door and shifted my glare to the kitchen top, images of my favourite celebrity chefs (read: Jamie Oliver, Curtis Stone and the likes) played in my head.  Sorry to disappoint you, I wasn't fantasizing anything for mature audience only but I was recollecting recipes I've seen them make with similar ingredients I had on hand at that time.  Pure thoughts all the time!

I love the meaty and succulent taste of this Large Flat Mushroom
(Photo credit: taste.com.au)

Greek salad used to be my top favourite salad.  But eversince I started using freshly squeezed orange juice for my DIY salad dressing, I've never looked back.  It's so organic and refreshing.  I've managed to seduce my husband into loving orange salad as his ultimate favourite too.  I see that as an achievement because he's a true blue salad eater who most certainly knows what he wants in his greens.  So, there.  I would like to be a contender for "Swing Your Husband to Like Your Salad" reality TV contest, if there's any.  

I've never loved lamb so much until I came to Australia.  You can't blame me for having developed frequent "lamb cravings" because the meat here is so fresh, sweet and succulent everytime.  It's got to do with the fact that Australian lamb is entirely grass-fed, reared on pasture. Marvellous!  As we have heaps of rosemary growing in the garden, I didn't have to think twice about seasoning the lamb for this dish with the magical herb. The aroma is so delectable and therapeutic that it's almost aromatherapy on the grill.  And that flavourful, cheesy mushroom - I can't find a suitable expression to tell you how heavenly it is.  You've got to try it to understand my speechlessness.    

Ingredients:
(Serves 1)

250g lamb chop
1 large Flat Mushroom - remove stalk
3 tbsp shredded Mozarella cheese
2 leaves iceberg lettuce
2 leaves red lettuce
1/2 cup rocket salad
1 tomato - wedged
1/2 fresh orange
1 stalk fresh rosemary (optional)
Olive oil
Salt & pepper to taste


Preparation:

1.  Season lamb with salt & pepper.  Heat pan with 1 tsp olive oil.  Fry lamb (or grill it if you prefer) with rosemary herb on low-medium heat for 7-10 minutes on each side, then fry each side again on high heat for 2 minutes until lightly charred but meat is still tender.  Remove meat from heat.

2.  Season mushroom with salt & pepper.  Using the same pan (with the lamb flavour), sautee the mushroom 3-4 minutes on each side or until mushroom is softened and cooked.  Remove mushroom from heat.  Turn mushroom so the flat head is resting on a plate.  Sprinkle mozarella cheese onto the mushroom and microwave on high for 5 seconds (just enough for the cheese to melt onto the mushroom).

3.  In a salad bowl, combine all vegetables.  Add 2 tbsp olive oil, salt & pepper.  Squeeze orange juice onto salad, scrape the leftover orange pulps and add them to the salad.  Toss salad to harmonize the ingredients.

4.  Serve lamb, mushroom and salad on a plate.


Tips:

- You can vary the vegetables for salad to your liking.
- Orange can be substituted with lemon or grapefruit.
- Serve with BBQ/ketchup/chilli sauce, if desired.


Fearlessly Simple & Home Cooked

My Blackforest Cake

I had stated "My" Blackforest Cake as the title for this confectionery because as you can see from the picture, the cake looks pretty unfinished, unrefined and sits on a weird base paper that I had amateurishly torn and recycled from my kitchen.  The truth is, I'd never participated in any cooking or baking class before to care about how the cream should be professionally plastered onto my cake.  So, in case any cake connoiseur raises the alarm that this is not a bonafide or conventional blackforest cake, I'd better claim responsibility from the onset for making it look a little queer.  As a token of self-pity for my lack of cake decorating skills, I would like to say it's my personalised version of the cake.  No harm done to the gorgeous taste of the cake, though.  Thank God ;)



I have to confess that the freshness of a homemade cake is so remarkable that it convinces me even more that we shouldn't buy food if we can help it.  Cook your own - it's healthier, fresher and more satisfying 

It was my husband's birthday and he loves his Blackforest Cake.  I've enjoyed cooking so much since I came to Australia that I even decided to make a birthday cake instead of buying one for him.  With Morello and fresh cherries going for a song here, I didn't take long to propel into cake making motion.  I didn't have any cream piping bag but was not very keen to drive out just to get one optional apparatus.  Towards the end of the cake making process, I arranged the cherries on the cake and apologetically said to my husband, "This must be one of the ugliest cakes you've ever seen in your life".  He smiled and took the first bite.  Then like an ego fertiliser for me, his eyes shut in contentment and lips spread in a small smile (I would like to believe that's a universal body language which means "heavenly!").  He gleed in delight and moved on to the second bite, the third, the fourth, the fifth...and I gave up counting! 

Ingredients:

2/3 cup self-raising flour
2 tsp cocoa powder (optional)
4 eggs - separate whites from yolks
1/2 cup castor sugar (for cake)
1/2 cup sugar (for cherries)
1 1/2 cups cream
425g pitted Morello or canned cherries
Grated chocolate or chocolate flakes
Fresh or maraschino or canned cherries for decoration


Preparation:

1.  Pre-heat oven to 180*C.  In a saucepan, mix Morello cherries with sugar and cook over low heat for 7 minutes, stirring it occasionally.  Turn heat off.  Transfer into a bowl, let cherry mixture cool down before refrigerating it for about 1 hour.    

2.  Brush the base of a round baking tin (20cm wide) with butter.  Lace the base and sides with baking sheets.  Set aside.

3.  In a cake mixer, beat egg white until fluffy.  Add sugar, one spoon at a time.  Continue to beat mixture until sugar is dissolved and mixture appears shiny.  Add egg yolks and beat for a further 20 seconds.  Turn off the cake mixer.  

4.  Add cocoa and self-raising flour.  Using a spatula, gently fold in the mixture.  Transfer into the baking tin and bake cake for 15-20 minutes until cake is fully cooked.

5.  Take cake out of oven and let it cool in the baking tin for 5 minutes before transferring it out onto a cooling rack.  When cake is cooled, slice into halves at the middle section, overturning the halves so that both the sliced surfaces are facing up.  These are the surfaces that you will be working the cream on later.

6.  In a cake mixer, beat the cream for 2-3 minutes.  Do not overbeat as cream will turn into buttermilk with overbeating.

7.  Working on one of the sliced halves of the cake, smear the cream on the surface.  Top the creamed surface generously with the sweetened and cooled Morella cherries.  Cover the layer with the other slice of the cake so they become sandwich-like.  Smear the remaining cream all over the cake's surface and sides.  Decorate the cake with grated chocolate and cherries to your liking.  

Tip:

- Cake is best served chilled.  When left in the fridge, remember to cover the cake with a cake cover as otherwise the cream will harden.

- I didn't add cocoa powder to my cake mixture, as it's optional. I had also sliced the cake into 3 layers instead of 2.  Use your creativity and customise the cake according to your liking. 

       

Fearlessly Simple & Home Cooked

Daging Masak Kicap (Sweet Soya Sauce Beef Stew)

If there is one Malay dish that deserves the world's attention, I would not hesitate to nominate "Daging Masak Kicap", an elegant and beautifully aromatic beef stew.  I have cooked this awesome dish and served it to family members and guests of various ethnic backgrounds and taste palettes so many times that I have lost count.  What remains vivid in my memory though is everyone's delightful "Hmmm" and "Oh wow!", followed by "What's the recipe for this, please?".  My husband loves this dish so much that he nearly petitioned for me to make it everyday.  Typically eaten with plain white rice, it's one of my personal favourites too.  Although I have been eating it since I was a toddler because my mum made it wonderfully, I still go "oooh!", "aaah!" with every bite of my own version.  I must have gotten the knack for making this dish from my mum. So, this one's made lovingly in her honour.      

          

Champignons a.k.a button mushrooms are sold in cans.  I adore the soft and rubbery
texture of these little gems

When you were looking at the first picture above, I bet visions of the French's traditional stew, Beef Bourguignon, were playing in your head.  Uncanny resemblance, huh? I have never tried making BB but I remember a scene from the movie "Julie & Julia" in which Julie, while making BB, fell asleep and nearly burnt her kitchen down - the result of an elaborately long cooking time.  If you're anything like me - enthusiastic about cooking but a little lazy to wait around the stove or oven for hours - Daging Masak Kicap will bring you instant gastronomic pleasure minus the sweat.  It is sweet, salty, aromatic and mildly spicy (coriander & cumin seeds).  A bonus if you could get the right cut of fresh and tender meat as every bite of the succulent beef promises an ultimate satisfaction.     

With rice or bread, this Daging Masak Kicap is a crowd-pleaser

If red wine is the answer to a good BB, the non-alcoholic secret weapon for this Malay stew is "kicap manis" (sweet soya sauce).  There are many Indonesian versions of the sauce and there are varieties of Chinese sweet soya sauce too.  But the one that does the trick for this dish is Habhal's Kicap Manis Cap Kipas Udang from Malaysia.  Remember that brand, a mouthful notwithstanding.  I can write a lot about this outstanding sauce and make everyone familiar with it drool on their computer keyboard or iPhone but I'll leave that to next time.  Suffice to say that it is so good, it even has its own Facebook fanpage. If you're living in a non-Asian country, globalisation has enabled us to find exotic or foreign ingredients pretty easily in the Asian section of major supermarkets.  I nearly clapped my feet in the air for having found Habhal's Kicap Manis Cap Kipas Udang at my grocer's here in Australia.  Daging Masak Kicap for world domination! Yeeeha!

Some of my comfort food including Habhal's Kicap Manis
Cap Kipas Udang (bottle on right)

Ingredients:

Grind to form a paste

2 large red onions

4 cloves garlic

2cm fresh ginger

1 tsp coriander seeds

1 tsp cumin seeds 

****

500gm gravy cut beef - cut into 4cm cubes, wash and drain

1 tbsp chilli or curry powder

1 fresh carrot - cut in 1/2cm circles

2 potatoes - deskinned and cut in wedges

1 can of champignons - cut into halves

100ml Habhal's Kicap Manis Cap Kipas Udang (or any Indonesian sweet soya sauce)

1 cinnamon stick

2 star anise

2 cloves

2 cardamoms

1 1/2 cups water

Cooking oil

Sugar to taste 

Coriander/parsley leaves for garnishing

Preparation:

1.  In a medium non-stick pot, heat oil and add cinnamon stick, star anise, cloves and cardamoms.  Add the ground paste and chilli/curry powder.  Fry for 3-4 mins until fragrant.  Stir occasionally to prevent paste from sticking to the base of the pot.

2.  Add beef.  Fry and stir the paste until beef is lighly covered. 

3.  Add kicap manis (soya sauce) and water.  Let it simmer for about 20-30 minutes until beef is tender, stirring it occasionally.

4.  Add potatoes and boil further until the potatoes are soft.  Add carrots and champignons.  Add 1-2 tbsp sugar to taste.  Cook until the stew becomes slightly thicker and meat fully tender.  Turn heat off and serve with white rice or bread.    

Tips:

- Other vegetable subsitutes include baby corns and tomatoes.  If tomatoes are used, add it just before turning heat off to prevent them from bleeding and getting over-cooked.

- This stew can be kept in the fridge for days.  Re-heat in microwave when serving left-over portion.

Fearlessly Simple & Home Cooked