Posts

Showing posts with the label Bake

Creamy Cheddar and Ricotta Cheesecake

Image
The addition of milk and ricotta in this recipe makes for a light, fluffy and creamy cheesecake. Cheddar and Ricotta Cheesecake Ingredients 110g cheddar cheese slices, roughly torn 40g butter 125ml milk 70g ricotta cheese 20g plain flour 15g corn flour 2 egg yolks 3 egg whites 1/4 tsp cream of tartar 80g sugar Method Grease and line an 8 inch square baking pan with baking paper. If using springform pan, wrap the outside of the pan with 2 layers of aluminium foil as the cake will be baked in a water bath. Prepare a large roasting tin (large enough to fit the baking pan in). You can start boiling some water for the water bath. Preheat oven to 150C. Place cheddar cheese, butter and milk in a bowl and place over a pot of simmering water. Stir the ingredients until dissolved and the mixture turns smooth and creamy. Remove from heat. Then stir in the ricotta until evenly mixed. Sift the plain flour and cornflour into the mixture and fold through until smooth. Then, stir in the egg yolks. In ...

Best Ever Italian Almond Cookies

Image
These are the BEST EVER, absolutely moreish and delicious Sicilian almond cookies you'll ever taste. With a thin and crispy crust outside, and amazingly soft and chewy inside, it's quite impossible to stop at one. The secret is to use roasted almond meal, which gives it a rich nutty and almost caramel-like flavour. Continue reading for the recipe. Italian Almond Cookies Adapted from Good Food Ingredients 250g roasted almond meal 3 egg whites, beaten until stiff 150g white sugar 1/2 tsp vanilla essence 1/2 tsp almond essence Icing sugar, to coat biscuits Flaked almonds Method Using your hands or a large spoon, mix all ingredients (except icing sugar) together in a bowl and rest for 1/2 an hour. Preheat oven to 180C. Make small balls of about 3 cm by rolling them between your palms, then lightly roll them in the icing sugar. If the mixture is too soft, that's okay. Just drop spoonfuls of the mixture in the icing sugar and gently roll them until covered all over with sugar. ...

Light and fluffy Ricotta Cheesecake (with homemade ricotta)

Image
I made ricotta cheese. Did you not know you could do that, with only 3 ingredients in less than 10 minutes! And all with curds and whey, I felt like Little Miss Muffet now waiting for a spider to pounce at me. So why make ricotta? Apparently, homemade ricotta gives the cheesecake a fluffier texture, and it did turn out to be light, fluffy and creamy, with a subtle taste of ricotta. I used a gingernut biscuit base just to add some flavour and texture, although you can omit that to make a crustless version. This is not a very sweet cake, unlike your typical New York cheesecake. It's probably closer to a Japanese cheesecake except for the fine graininess of the ricotta. If you like, you can serve it with some berry coulis to satisfy that sweet tooth. I find that the cake tastes best after it has "matured" for up to 3 days in the fridge. The flavours seem to have developed and the texture is somehow creamier too. Ricotta in the making Homemade Ricotta Adapted from Smitten Kit...

Chinese Roast Pork (Siu Yuk)

Image
There can never be too many recipes for chinese roast pork (or "siu yuk" as commonly known in Cantonese). Over the years, I have attempted various recipes and methods for achieving the perfect crackling - crispy and brittle enough that it doesn't break your teeth when you bite into it. It has always been a hit and miss for me. Either the skin doesn't fully crackle all over (leaving some parts soft and chewy), or the meat's dried out, or the crackling is burnt in some parts. But now, I have successfully made the almost-perfect roast pork, twice in a row. Woo-hoo! I must be doing something right there? There's nothing particularly difficult about making roast pork (except the part where you have to prick a zillion holes in the skin). You just need the right ingredients, the right technique and the right tools. Someone gave us a pork-skin-pricking tool for Christmas two years ago, which you see below. Roast pork fanatics who make their own at home might have thi...

Beef Sliders on Brioche with Sticky BBQ sauce and Thousand Island Dressing

Image
Ever since I started baking brioche buns (see my Pulled Pork burger with Korean Slaw ) and using them for mini beef burgers (a.k.a. sliders), there was no turning back. Given a choice, brioche wins over plain hamburger buns (particularly those that are sold by the dozen at the supermarket). Not all brioche buns are created equal. I have ordered brioche burgers before when dining out, and have come across really thick, heavy, dense and sweet buns that makes the mammoth of the burger a feat to eat (and enjoy). The recipe that I've used for these brioche buns is adapted from Taste.com.au magazine (August 2014 edition). Rich, melt-in-your-mouth and buttery with a hint of sweetness, these brioche buns make supremely delicious burgers. I've also tried buttermilk brioche buns and they are equally good, with the slightest tang from the buttermilk. These beef sliders are saucy, juicy and packed full of flavours. To make them even more awesome, I made a sweet and tangy barbe...

Cream cheese cinnamon rolls with blueberries and white chocolate icing

Image
I've come across many recipes for cinnamon rolls, from yeast-free doughs to the fancier ones using buttermilk or cream cheese. The key to a good cinnamon roll (or scroll/bun) is to use good quality cinnamon and in the right proportion to the sugar filling. The addition of a syrup (like maple syrup) makes for a sticky cinnamon roll, and you can add nuts or fruits to that as well. In my "search" for cinnamon, I learnt that there are hundreds of types of cinnamon, but the main ones are Ceylon Cinnamon, Chinese Cassia Cinnamon, Saigon Cinnamon and Indonesian Korintje Cinnamon. In this recipe, I've used Indonesian cinnamon which has a strong aromatic flavour that is sweet and spicy, and perfect for cinnamon rolls. Make sure you check the label on your bottle of ground cinnamon to see where it's sourced from. In this recipe, which I have adapted from Saveur , I made a few changes and substitutions. I've made Anna Olson's Soft Blueberry Stick Buns  a few years ag...

Roast Chicken with Creamy Parsley and Fondant Potatoes

Image
I purchased Gary Mehigan's new book " Favourites " a couple of weeks ago during his book-signing at Costco. I love that he has put together his all-time favourite recipes in one book, because honestly, there are way too many recipes out there that I would love to try. I may be dreaming of cooking chilli crab one minute and baking kouign amann the next, and sometimes I just end up making more that I can fit leftovers in the fridge. So far, I've attempted two recipes from the book. One is the XO sauce, which is utterly, utterly delicious. I was a little skeptical about making a big batch of it, but I'm so glad I did because it means I can eat more of it with more of everything! The other recipe that tempted my tastebuds was the Creamy Parsley and Nutmeg , which I found a little unusual yet intriguing with the combination of parsley and cream. A little like creamed spinach, but with a herby taste, I suppose? It turned out to be one of the most amazing things I've...

Pulled Pork Burger with Spicy Mayo and Korean Slaw

Image
  This started with a craving for a Korean-style slaw with a spicy gochujang dressing. Gochujang (as many of you might be familiar with) is a Korean red pepper paste that are sold in tubs and come in varying degrees of "heat". You can usually tell by the number of chillies on the label. I chose one with 3 chillies I think, as these things can pack quite a punch in terms of heat and intensity of flavour. So, I was wondering what would go with Korean slaw, and thought of bo ssam (Korean boiled pork belly with lettuce wraps). I found David Chang's bo ssam recipe using pork shoulder/butt and decided to turn that into a pulled pork burger with Korean slaw. And what's a burger without mayonnaise, especially a spicy gochujang mayonnaise? And to top it off (no pun intended), I baked these wonderful buttermilk buns (or brioche) which were moist, tender and didn't fall apart like most buns do when you're halfway through a burger.     Korean food doesn't just stop a...

Cinnamon Rolls with Cream Cheese Frosting

Image
Breads are actually pretty easy to make. You mostly let the machine do the kneading, then leave the dough to rise while you go about doing your chores, updating your Facebook status and checking out what's happening on Twitter, enjoy a cuppa etc. Then, it's time to roll out the dough and shape them into whatever you like, which doesn't really matter because after you let them rise again, they somehow bounce back into shape. I hardly make breads because I'd have to make a big batch, and they are best eaten on the same day.   These cinnamon rolls however, can be kept overnight refrigerated, about two days. All it takes is a few seconds in the microwave, and you've got fresh, soft and tasty cinnamon rolls all over again. I was never a big fan of cinnamon rolls as I find them a little too sweet and sticky for my liking. These, on the other hand, are not sticky nor overly sweet. It's the combination of that cream cheese frosting and the almost-savoury cinnamon f...

Portuguese Chicken with Piri-piri Sauce

Image
Piri-piri is a Swahili word for "pepper pepper", and is also known as African Bird's Eye chilli. It is the predominant ingredient in making piri-piri sauce - a tangy, garlicky, fiery hot chilli sauce that is popular in South Africa cuisine. If you didn't know already, piri-piri chicken (also known as Portuguese chicken) originated in Mozambique (some say Angola), which were former Portuguese colonies. Hence, the influence of spicy Portuguese cooking found its way into South African cuisine. It's probably more accurate to refer to this dish as piri-piri chicken, rather than Portuguese Chicken. After all, it did not originate from Portugal. It's a bit like Hainanese Chicken Rice, which did not originate from Hainan Island in China, but is one of the national dishes of Singapore (next to Singapore Chilli Crab, I suppose?). Anyway, piri-piri sauce is a great way to dress up your next roast chicken, and tastes fantastic especially if you love chillies, lemon and ga...

Roast Chicken with Russian Salad {Best Ever}

Image
  This is the most amazing and easy roast chicken ever. I'm dreaming of having this chicken again as I write this. I actually ate this three days in a row and never got tired of it. In fact, it tasted even better the following days, with the flavours from the marinade (and the pan juices) having absorbed into the chicken. I was a little sceptical about the Russian salad (although it was really the "exotic" reference to "Russian" that enticed me to try out this recipe) as I don't usually have cold creamy salads with roast chicken. Well, I was pleasantly surprised that they complemented each other really well and I just kept going back for more (and more, and more). I made sure the egg was cooked just right, with a jellied yolk centre, because that's the best way to have 'em!   Roast Chicken with Russian Salad Adapted from Gourmet Traveller (July 2013) Ingredients 2.4 kg chicken marylands (whole chicken leg) 2 lemons, quartered Spice rub: 1 tbsp groun...

Moroccan-spiced Roast Chicken

Image
  I was inspired to make a Moroccan-style roast after having some super tasty barbecued chicken at Gladstone Park Bowling Club recently. They also served up the most amazingly crispy and delicious roasted potatoes. Best I've ever had. I'm still trying to figure out they made those potatoes, and if I do, you'll see it here first! Anyway, I came across this recipe for Moroccan-spiced roast chicken and thought it might be close to what I was searching for. Well, it turned out really good, and I loved the idea of tossing the cauliflower and sweet potatoes with the spice mix. This is a nice change from the usual lemon and herb roasted chicken I usually make for the family. And with summer just around the corner, this spice rub will be perfect for barbecued chicken wings and thighs.     Moroccan-spiced Roast Chicken Adapted from Leite's Culinaria   Ingredients   One whole  chicken (1.8kg / 4lbs) Coarse salt and fresh...