Again, this is another first for me - I seem to have the habit of trying out new dishes instead of sticking to regular ones, especially regular Asian dishes. When I first arrived, sure, I went nuts and cooked up a flurry of Asian dishes but right now, it’s just Western/European dishes. I don’t know why really. I guess it’s a new learning experience for me and besides, I married an ang moh so don’t you think I ought to learn a thing or two about cooking ang moh dishes?

Today, it’s Moussaka, a dish that originated from Greece. There are a few variations - the one thing great about cooking is that it evolves and adapts to communities around the world - but it usually contains eggplant, mince meat (lamb or beef), béchamel sauce and cheese.

This is a dish that I would say is halfway between being hearty and light. The eggplant gives it an added smooth quality, the kind you get from roasting or grilling eggplants. And I just realized that I read the recipe wrong. Instead of dry-frying my eggplant slices, I (shallow) deep fried them! =.=

Anyway, putting that blunder aside, do take note that this dish oozes liquid out and it’s from the tomatoes. There isn’t much you can do about it except treat it like any baked dish and scoop up the broth with rustic nut bread. In my case, it’s not exactly healthy because of my mistake. If I do make this dish again (and I will - it’s really quite yummy), I plan to just line the pan with fresh eggplant (soaked in salt water to remove the bitterness in the veg) instead of browning them separately…

Moussaka

Ingredients

2 eggplants, thinly sliced
450gms ground beef
2 onions, thinly sliced
1 tsp finely chopped garlic
400gms canned tomatoes
2 tbsp chopped fresh parsley
2 eggs
1 1/4 cup lowfat plain yoghurt
Pizza cheese (Parmesan alone is fine)
Salt & pepper to taste

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180 C. Dry-fry the eggplant slices, in batches, in a nonstick pan on both sides until browned. Remove from pan.
2. Add the beef to the pan and cook for 5 minutes, stirring until browned. Stir in the onions and garlic and cook for 5 minutes until browned.
3. Add the tomatoes, parsley, salt and pepper, then bring to a boil and simmer for 20 minutes or until the meat is tender.
4. Arrange half the eggplant slices in a layer in an ovenproof dish. Add the meat mixture, then a final layer of the remaining eggplant slices.
5. Beat the eggs in a bowl, then add in the yoghurt, salt and pepper to taste. Pour the mixture over the eggplants and sprinkle some grated cheese on the top.
6. Bake the moussaka in the oven for 45 minutes or until golden brown. Serve straight from the dish.

Yup, that’s right, I actually forgot all about the new dishes I made while Mum was around…until I whipped out the camera for some lovely Moussaka I made (more about that later).

Anyway, in no apparent order of yumminess, may I present the missing dishes?

Recipes will be up later - right now, Nil is bugging me for a go at the computer. =.=

Since the weather was going ultra crazy hot on me - y’know, it’s 34 C during the afternoons here (!) - I thought I’d whip out my recipe book and dig around for something fruity yet cool and refreshing. Ice cream popped up and I toyed between the usual strawberry (which are in season) or the frozen blueberries (my favourite) that had been sitting in the freezer for a month now.

As you can tell, my favourite won hands down!

Making ice cream by hand isn’t really all that difficult; it just requires plenty of time and patience especially when it comes to the blitzing (think food processor). As usual, I made some adjustments to the original recipe which was for strawberry ice cream. Colour-wise, the blueberry initially gave the cream a reddish-purple swirl effect. I didn’t mix the two together very well which turned out to be alright since the next few blitzes will evenly distribute the colour. As it settled in the fridge, the colour began to intensify and I ended up with a dark shade of wine. But make no mistake about it - if you add water to your utensils (especially after blitzing your blueberry), it’ll turn the water a dark purple blue!

Taste-wise, it’s creamy (too creamy according to Nil - I must add that he prefers sorbet over ice cream any time!), rich with blueberry bits (instead of throwing away all the pulp, I kept some to give it some variation in the colour) and a little grainy. I shouldn’t compare it to commercially made ice cream or even gelato which has different ingredients.

All in all, I’d think that this attempt turned out something in between sorbet and ice cream! Not too bad really… I ought to try it again soon but this time with half-fat cream or with a custard (egg + milk) base instead!

Home-made blueberry ice cream

Ingredients

250gms frozen blueberries
1/2 cup brown sugar
330ml whipped cream

Method

1. Remove the frozen blueberries from the fridge and thaw for at least 30 minutes. Once thawed, place the blueberries and sugar in a food processor and blitz/purée until smooth. Remove and strain, discarding the pulp. Place the purée in the fridge until it’s very chilled.
2. Using a stand mixer/whisk/hand mixer, whipped the cream until it is firm and forms soft peaks or falls gently from the whisk. Fold in the purée and pour into a freezeproof container.
3. After two hours (or when the edge has set), remove from the freeze and beat in a food processor/mixer or using a hand mixer or fork until it is smooth. Repeat this at least twice.
4. After six to eight hours, the ice cream should be ready for serving. Dish out as it is or decorate with some fresh berries or fruit.

With fresh strawberries now in season, it’s only right therefore to cook up some yummilicious breakfast muffins! Nil and I had been talking about ways of spending more money than usual; one of which was to eat homemade food more often… Since he just has a cup of espresso (or not) (the espresso machines work) every morning, I thought it would be healthier if he brought some muffins to work for brunch or just have them for breakfast instead.

This is a first for me - using baking powder and regular white flour instead of self-rising flour. The texture was rather moist anyway, because the recipe called for milk and melted butter (instead of creaming the butter with sugar). I didn’t add a full cup of sugar as per the recipe since I thought it might be too sweet, but as it turns out, the muffin just wasn’t exactly sweet enough - Nil likes it though. The strawberries gave it a “just nice” tangy-sweet fragrance and taste.

If I were to do this all over again, I’d add more strawberries and a hint of vanilla flavouring to the whole thing. And yes, I used simple baking paper to line my muffin tray and double up as muffin paper cups. I think it adds a pretty rustic touch to the whole thing.

Simple strawberry muffins

Ingredients

3 cups flour
3 eggs
1 tbsp baking powder
1 cup sugar
1 cup diced strawberries
1 cup milk
125 gms melted butter
Icing sugar/honey glaze/syrup

Method

1. Preheat the oven at 200 C. Sift flour, baking powder and sugar together, and mix well.
2. Add in milk, eggs and butter and still until just blended (and lumpy). The batter doesn’t have to be smooth; be careful not to overmix as it will result in a tough texture.
3. Fold in the diced strawberries and spoon into muffin molds.
4. Bake for 20 minutes or until golden brown. Allow to rest for several minutes before sprinkle the tops with icing sugar or brushing the muffin tops with some honey glaze/syrup.

That whole “espresso machines” thing was intentional, btw…

Apologies for the lack of photos; we were too busy eating to do anything else!

One of the many things Switzerland is known for is the ever humble yet ultra delicious fondue. The word “fondue” comes from the French word fondre which means “to melt”. It is basically cheese melted in an earthenware pot known as a caquelon over a small burner and the process of enjoying fondue is pretty fun and easy as well; just spear a cube of bread with a prong and swirl it around in the melted fondue mix for your cheesy find. Take care not to burn yourself when you’re attempting to put the hot cheesy bread into your mouth.

Fondue can be made with many varieties of cheese and toppings; this one is a moitié-moitié (half-half) which consist of Gruyère and Vacherin Fribourgeois. Some people use Emmental or raclette cheese and then there is of course the chocolate fondue thing! You can even add in tomatoes or mushrooms if you like.

The preparation technique is similar to what is written on Wikipedia,

There are many kinds of fondue, each made with a different blend of cheeses, wine and seasoning, mostly depending on where it is made. The caquelon is first rubbed with a cut garlic clove, then wine and cheese slowly added until melted. A small amount of potato starch (or corn starch, cornflour or flour) is added to prevent separation and the fondue is almost always further diluted with either kirsch, beer, black tea, and/or white wine. The most common recipe calls for 1 dl (100 ml) of dry white wine per person and a 200 g mix of hard (such as Gruyère) and semi-hard (such as Emmental, Vacherin or raclette) cheeses. The mixture must be stirred continuously as it heats in the caquelon. Crusty bread is cut into cubes which are then speared on a fondue fork and dipped into the melted cheese.

Oh and try not to lose your bread while you’re dipping it, you might just end up having to either swim in the lake nearby or kiss someone!

Anyway, this dish is excellent during winter because of the hearty feel of the cheese and the warmth of the wine in it. Best to be eaten in a group of four - it’s more fun - but you can still chow on it with your partner alone. For those lazy buggers out there, fondue mixes are available in packs, usually for a serving of two.

Btw, how does one blog about speaker mounts? I’m beginning to run out of ideas - I just put mine on stands. O’well…

I thought I’d share some photos of our simple yet very fulfilling meals of lately. And no, Nil and I are not on a diet!

Because ginger is great for that bloaty feeling, I like the taste (and crunch when it’s fried to a crisp), and the lap cheong or Chinese sausage makes everything a whole lot sweeter! It’s quick to prepare and cook up too! *yum*

…topped off with some yummy fresh passion fruit and cheesecake for dessert!

Dinner today was a first-time (again) for me. I am not really a fan of leek (well, you hardly get it in Malaysia) and lets just say that quiche or anything pastry-like is not a big hit in the house. Still, I thought it would be nice to try and make this dish, just to see how it would go. Initially, I toyed with the idea of using bacon and mushroom but found it typical and seeing leeks on sale were, well, intriguing.

So yes, my mind was made up. Smoked salmon, leeks and mushroom it was… I start preparing this dish about an hour before the actual baking - the pastry spent most of its time sitting in the fridge as I chopped up mushrooms, salmon and leeks while watching Carolyn Bigsby (sp?) take a store hostage. Desperate Housewives Season 3, in case you’re wondering…

It turned out surprisingly yummy, leeks, that is. A little bit onion-y during preparation but once I cooked it, it was very sweet and tasty. Definitely a keeper on my veg list!

Smoked salmon, leek and mushroom quiche

Ingredients

(A) Pastry
Flour
Butter
Cold water

(B) Filling
Leeks
Fresh button mushrooms
Smoked salmon
200ml cream fraiche
4 eggs
1/4 cup of milk
Grated Gruyère cheese (strong)
Salt & pepper to taste
Olive oil

Method

1. Prepare the dough by rubbing the butter into the flour with the tip of your fingers, producing a breadcrumb-like texture. Slowly add in the water and mix until a dough is formed. Cover and refrigerate while preparing the filling.
2. Cut and halve the leeks into 1 1/2 inch slices, coarsely dice the mushrooms, and chop up the smoked salmon.
3. In a pan/pot, saute the leeks and mushrooms with some olive oil, salt and black pepper to taste. Once the leeks soften, turn off the fire and place aside to cool.
4. Remove the pastry from the refrigerator and roll out until it reaches the appropriate size (this depends on the size of your pan). Cover, trim off the excess, poke holes into the bottom with a fork and place in a preheated oven at 190 C to bake for 5 to 10 minutes.
5. In a bowl, pour in the cream fraiche, eggs, salt and pepper to taste and whisk until well-mixed.
6. Pour in the milk and stir well.
7. When the pastry is cooked, remove and add the filling in this order - leek & mushroom, smoked salmon, cream fraiche + egg mix and lastly the Gruyere cheese.
8. Bake in the oven at the same temperature for 40 minutes or until the top is golden brown.
9. Serve fresh from the oven with salad or as it is.