Truffle eggs with cheese

Tags

black truffle, black truffles, bread, breakfast, brunch, cheese, easy, easy meals, easy recipe, Egg, eggs, Home Cooking, scrambled eggs, scrambled truffle eggs, truffle eggs

Just another quick picture post on some scrambled eggs I made while I was in London. Found some black truffle at Borough Market, so I shaved some over the eggs. I still think nothing beats the aroma of Alba winter white truffles!

A minute twist to ordinary scrambled eggs… add some truffle oil and mild cheddar cheese shavings to give boring ol scrambled eggs a little kick! Top with chopped chives and serve over slices of sourdough bread, pan toasted in butter. Recipe for the basic scrambled eggs here.

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Rurouni kenshin seaweed art

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anime bento, bento, character bentos, cheese, creative food, cute food, food art, himura kenshin, Home Cooking, Kyaraben, rurouni kenshin, samurai x, seaweed, seaweed art

Another seaweed art I did over the long weekend. I’ve been wanting to do a rurouni kenshin one for over a year now and finally have some free time to stay home and mess around with seaweed. Perfect time for rurouni kenshin as two of the movies are out this year!  

 First step? Again, draw the character of your choice, it should be either a line art or just black and white, not grey tones or anything cuz you can’t distinguish that in the seaweed.

2nd, I skipped this step because I plain forgot… trace out your character on a clean sheet of paper using ink, then block the black parts in. Since I forgot, I just used this as a topper and didn’t eat it (couldn’t bear to anyway!). OR you can combine the first and second step by just printing out the lineart/black and white image of your choice and just use that if you’re not particularly comfortable with drawing freehand.

 3. Next, prepare your tools! My brother and sister got me a new set of bento cutting tools (a great design cutter!) and pincers since my older set is in Singapore. Clip the drawing on top of the seaweed against the cutting board.

 4. Start cutting all the WHITE parts out! This is a particularly intricate piece and had many tiny details. I accidentally cut out some seaweed lines which could have been rectified by snipping small lines of seaweed, but of course by the end of it I just couldn’t be bothered anymore.

5. Cut the small white pieces first. If you cut out the large pieces, the seaweed will shift around and make it impossible to cut the tiny ones. Use pincers to remove the paper and seaweed as you go along.

 Phew! There’s the face done.

Once in a while, flip up the paper to have a look if your seaweed is being cut cleanly and properly.

And you’re done!

Transfer the seaweed careful and stick it on a slice or two of cheese. I might try a harder cheese next time so it is easier to handle, but this cheese is sticky and the seaweed sticks very well onto it.

 6. Cut the cheese and trim it around the seaweed.

 7. Add to your bento! Or in this case, tomato soup. One of the many ways to jazz up boring canned soup. 

Although some croutons wouldn’t hurt as well!

 It was so difficult to photograph as the light kept shining off it! I wish I had daylight to take a proper photo of it.

Panda bear sandwich and chick

Tags

bento, boiled egg, cheese, healthy, Kyaraben, lunch, lunchbox, panda, panda sandwich, quick meal, Sandwich

Just a quick picture post 😉

Kakashi Kyaraben

Tags

anime, bento, character bentos, cheese, food art, Home Cooking, japanese, Kakashi, kakashi bento, Kyaraben, naruto bento, seaweed art

Edit: Just updated the post with a couple of photos from the slr. Thought it would look a little nicer 😉

I’m really really behind on my posts! I’ve got sooooo much to blog about, but have been too busy travelling the past month.

Now to complete this post!

As always for seaweed art in bento making, you need the cutting board, cutter for intricate designs, a piece of paper, binding clips, paper, a slice of cheese, a large sheet of seaweed, a pencil, a pair of small sharp scissors and tweezers.

Firstly trace out the shape of your bento box onto the piece of paper. Then and only then do you start drawing/sketching your favorite character within the drawn boundaries. Something not too complicated, with simple and clear lines would be good. Otherwise you’d be snipping the life out of the seaweed!

Another tip. Try not to handle the seaweed with your bare hands as much as you can. The heat and moisture from your fingers will cause the seaweed to go limp and difficult to manage. Use the tweezers instead.

Once you’re done with the drawing, place the drawing on top of the seaweed and clip both drawing and seaweed to the cutting board. To ensure that the drawing doesnt move around while you’re cutting, ensure that the drawing is as close to the clipped area as possible. If you’ve left a lot of space between the drawing and the binding clips, it will make cutting a whole lot more difficult as the seaweed and paper are more prone to moving about and tearing.

Start cutting out the white bits! Start by cutting out the small white bits first. Once you’re done with the little tricky bits, you can then cut out the larger white bits. 

Here I’ve cut off the larger bit after completing the smaller parts. Of course, I couldn’t perfectly cut everything. I accidentally cut off the eye area but that’s ok. I can use another piece of seaweed to create another eye.

For the thinner lines such as the hair and the scar, it would be better to use the scissors rather than try to attempt to cut out fine lines using the cutter.

Fix on the thinner strips of seaweed onto the cheese to complete the character.

Lastly, trim the cheese if you prefer, and place as a decoration on top of your completed bento. I shan’t show my actual bento here because it was sloppy and simple. Just egg sandwiches that night.

Hopefully in my next bento attempt I’ll create something nice and cute! Something perhaps a little different from seaweed art.

Truffle part 7: Mushroom, Egg & Cheese Pastry with truffles and Salad with lemon mayo honey dressing

Tags

almonds, appetizer, brunch, cheddar, cheese, Egg, egg and cheese pastry, egg and cheese pastry with truffles, healthy, light meals, lunch, mushrooms, pastry, Puff pastry, salad, Snack, starter, truffle oil, truffles

Almost finished with the truffle series! Here I made two simple dishes with the truffles, a puff pastry and a salad. Really easy and yummy stuff.

Puff Pastry Ingredients (for 1 pax)

1. A quarter of ready made puff pastry (I used Jus-rol, the 500g packet)
2. Grate a good handful of your favourite cheese (I used cheddar)
3. Sliced mushrooms (about 3 fresh swiss brown mushrooms)
4. 1 teaspoon of truffle oil
5. 1 egg
6. 1 egg white to glaze
7. Black pepper and salt

Salad Ingredients (for 1-2 pax depending on how greedy)

1. 7-8 almonds sliced (If you can buy them pre sliced, that’s even better
2. Handful of cranberries
3. Juice and rind from half a yellow lemon (omit the rind if you don’t like it)
4. 3 tbsp mayo
5. 1-2 tbsp honey
6. Enough salad leaves for 1-2 pax

Instructions

1. Roll out the ready made pastry into a square and trim off the sides so that it’s nice and neat. 
2. Preheat the oven to 220°C (200°C for fan assisted ovens). You should follow the instructions printed on the wrapping, oven temperatures and timings may differ.
3. Cut a little more of the ready made pastry and roll it out to make 4 strips, you will need to place each strip at the edge of the pastry square so it holds the ingredients (and egg) in.
4. Arrange the cheese and mushrooms in the pastry, leaving space in the middle. The egg will be added here later on. In the meantime, brush the pastry with the egg white for that golden brown colour
5. Bake the pastry for about 12 minutes (this would depend on the total time you need to bake the pastry. If you need to bake it for 20 minutes, add the egg 3-4 minutes before completion). If I remember correctly I baked it for 15 minutes, so I slid the egg into the middle after 12 minutes. You can add more cheese around the egg after that if you wish. Then drizzle the truffle oil over the pastry.
6. Once the pastry is golden brown and the egg is cooked, remove from oven.

1. While the pastry is cooking, wash and drain the salad leaves, slice the almonds and fry them til golden in color. Pat the excess oil off almonds with a kitchen towel and set aside.
2. Mix the lemon juice and rind, mayo and honey together in a separate bowl.
3. Place salad leaves in a salad bowl and toss with the honey lemon and mayo mixture. Add cranberries, sliced almonds and shave some of that black truffle on top. Serve.
4. Season pastry with black pepper (and, if you chose a mild, not-so-salty cheese, some salt) and add some truffle shavings. Eat!

You can add other things to your salad, I added cherry tomatoes to mine.

If you like your egg less cooked then just cook it for 1.5-2 minutes before removing from the oven. For me, as long as the whites are cooked I’m all good.

Mushroom Quiche

Tags

breakfast, brunch, cheese, light meal, mushroom, pastry crust, pate brisee, quiche, Snack, vegetarian

Mushroom Quiche

Sometimes I really crave a mushroom quiche, topped with gruyere cheese and chives with a nice buttery flaky crust. When I think of flaky crust I also think about the effort required to make this flaky crust 😦

But it is worth it. Forget about buying a tube of frozen crust from the freezers at the supermarket. Those are pretty tasteless. It is worth all the effort and time to make the pastry crust from scratch.

I found a good recipe from simply recipes for the butter crust as well as the mushroom quiche. Making a pastry crust is similar to making scones in the sense that you need to have really cold butter and it has to be mixed into the flour quickly so the butter doesn’t melt. You’d have a bread-like texture if the butter is fully incorporated into the flour. Aim for tiny pieces of cold hard butter coated with the flour. Then and only then will you get the beautiful flaky crumbly texture that a well-made crust should have.

Website source:

• http://www.simplyrecipes.com/recipes/all_butter_crust_for_sweet_and_savory_pies_pate_brisee/
• http://www.simplyrecipes.com/recipes/mushroom_quiche/

Pie Butter Crust (Pâte Brisée)

(I’m going to disclaim..because I’m lazy, I’m going to lift from the website itself but will add comments here and there)

Ingredients (for 1 pie crust)

• 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour, plus extra for rolling
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon sugar (increase to 1 1/2 teaspoons if for a sweet recipe)
• 8 Tbsp (1 stick) unsalted butter, frozen, cut into 1/2 inch cubes
• 3 to 4 Tbsp ice water (keep a little more ice water at the side, just in case you need to add more)

Instructions

1. Cut up a stick of butter into smallish (about 1/2-inch) cubes, and put it into the freezer. The colder the butter the better luck you’ll have with creating a flaky crust. Freeze the butter at least 15 minutes, better an hour or overnight.

2. Place the flour, salt, and sugar into a food processor and pulse until well combined. Add half of the butter cubes and pulse 6 to 8 times. Then add the other half of the butter cubes and pulse 6 to 8 more times. You should have a mixture that resembles a coarse meal, with many butter pieces the size of peas. (If you don’t have a food processor, you could manually cut the butter into the flour and use your hands to break up the butter and coat the butter pieces with flour continuously. Just make sure you keep the butter cold and hard. )

• Picture source: Simplyrecipes

3.  Add a couple of tablespoons of ice cold water (without the ice!) to the food processor bowl and pulse a couple of times. Then add more ice water, slowly, about a tablespoon at a time, pulsing after each addition, until the mixture just barely begins to clump together. If you pinch some of the crumbly dough and it holds together, it’s ready, if not, add a little more water and pulse again. Try to keep the water to a minimum. Too much water will make your crust tough.

4. Remove the crumbly mixture from the food processor and place on a very clean, smooth surface. If you want an extra flaky crust, you can press the heel of your palm into the crumbly mixture, pressing down and shmooshing the mixture into the table top. This is a French technique, called “fraisage”. Do this a few times, maybe 4 to 6 times, and it will help your crust be extra flaky. Then, use your hands to press the crumbly dough together and shape into a disc. Work the dough only enough to just bring the dough together. Do not over-knead or your crust will end up tough. You should be able to see little bits of butter, speckling the dough. When these bits of butter melt as the crust cooks, the butter will help separate the dough into flaky layers. So, visible pieces of butter are a good thing, what you are aiming for, in the dough. Sprinkle the disc with a little flour on all sides. Wrap the disc in plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 1 hour. (At this point you can freeze the dough disk for several months until ready to use. Defrost overnight in the refrigerator before proceeding.)

5. When you are ready to roll out the dough, remove the disk from the refrigerator and place on a clean, smooth, lightly floured surface. Let it sit for 5 to 10 minutes to take just enough of a chill off of it so that it becomes easier to roll out. Sprinkle some flour on top of the disk. Using a rolling pin, roll out the dough to a 12 inch circle, to a thickness of about 1/8 of an inch thick. As you roll out the dough, check if the dough is sticking to the surface below. Add a few sprinkles of flour if necessary to keep the dough from sticking. Place on to a 9-inch pie plate, lining up the fold with the center of the pan. Gently unfold and press down to line the pie dish with the dough.

Mushroom Quiche

Ingredients (Serves 6-8)

• 1 recipe pie dough
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 medium shallots, thinly sliced
• 1 pound assorted mushrooms, quartered or sliced (I prefer brown mushrooms, sliced)
• Salt and freshly ground pepper
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 3 large eggs
• Pinch nutmeg
• 6 ounces Gruyère cheese, grated (1 1/2 cups)

METHOD

1 On a lightly floured surface, roll dough into a 12-inch circle. Fit into a 10-by-1 1/2-inch round tart pan (with or without a removable bottom), pressing dough into corners. Transfer to freezer to chill for 30 minutes.

 

The pictures above are from simplyrecipe, while the ones below are my attempt at it. Please forgive the black beans, didn’t know what else to use 🙂

Mushroom quiche ingredients

2 Preheat oven to 350°. Line pastry with parchment paper, wax paper, or aluminum foil, pressing into the corners and edges. Fill at least two-thirds with baking weights – dried beans, rice, or aluminum pie weights. Bake first for 15 minutes, remove from oven and let cool a few minutes. Carefully remove parchment paper and weights. Poke the bottom of the pie pan with the tongs of a fork and return to oven and bake an additional 10 minutes or until lightly golden. (Fork holes are for any air to escape.) Transfer to a wire rack to cool while making filling.

 

Pictures above are from simply recipe, the one below is a picture I took of the cream and eggs mixture, with a bay leaf floating aimlessly on top :D.

3 Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium high heat. Add shallots, and cook, stirring, until translucent but not brown, about 1 minute. Add mushrooms, and season with salt and pepper. Cook, stirring frequently, until mushrooms first release their liquid and then liquid evaporates and mushrooms are dark golden brown, 8 to 10 minutes.

 

4 Place tart pan on a baking sheet to catch any run-off there might be (especially if you are using a pan with a removable bottom.) Sprinkle half the cheese evenly over the bottom of the crust. Spread mushrooms over the cheese and then top with remaining cheese. In a medium bowl, whisk together milk, cream, and eggs. Season with nutmeg, salt, and pepper. Pour over cheese. Transfer to oven, and bake until just set in the center, 30 to 35 minutes. Cool on a wire rack for about 10 minutes before slicing.

Compare the quiche above by simplyrecipe, and the quiche I made below. The result was actually pretty delicious! Some of that egg mixture actually leaked out of the crust as there was still some mixture left and the tin couldn’t take any more… yet I still tried to pour all the cream in as a result of my not wanting to waste any of the cream and eggs!

Other than that little mishap, it was good! The crust was flaky and golden and the filling was creamy, custard-like and cheesy and oh so yummy! Top with a generous sprinkle of chopped chives and serve.