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

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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.

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Greek Sloppy Joe

Tags

bread, lamb, light meals, pita, Sandwich, Snack, western

I don’t eat beef for religious reasons. It’s also pretty hazardous on the skin as, being ‘heaty’ it causes acne and pimples. I’ve stayed away from beef even as a kid. But I cannot ignore the fact that beef is universally enjoyed and the aroma of it even in student kitchens was mouthwatering. Admittedly, it was very difficult for me in the UK especially back in boarding school (Concord college) where they would have 4-5 choices of mains and most of them would be something beef. Beef stew, fried beef slices, beef lasagna, roast beef and the list goes on. The only choice I could go for is the only non-beef main that’s always prevalent… the vegetarian choice. Vegetarian lasagna anyone? I love my meat so the vegetarian option always leaves me craving for something juicy and meaty. The closest substitute I have to beef is lamb, which shares almost the same bloody, red and juicy meat tendencies as beef.

This is a dish I dreamt up after watching yet another beef-related cooking show on food network and Asian food channel. Sort of a Greek play on Sloppy Joe with the thick creamy greek yoghurt and lamb and mint. And it is so rich and gamey, with some arugula and mango to lighten up on the richness and provide some texture to the sandwich. Perfect snack or a light meal to quench my meat cravings. Lamb chops are even better but I’ll save that for another time.

This sloppy joe may not look pretty but aren’t the ugliest dishes sometimes the yummiest?

I’ve adapted this from http://www.simplyrecipes.com/recipes/sloppy_joes

Ingredients (Serves 2)

1. 1 Tbsp olive oil
2. 1 medium onion chopped
3. Optional: 1 medium carrot chopped
4. 2 cloves garlic, minced
5. Salt
6. 500g ground lamb, marinated with 1/2 teaspoon salt and some black pepper
7. 2 squirts of tomato ketchup
8. 1/2 cup tomato sauce
9. 1 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce
10. 1 Tbsp red wine vinegar
11. 2 Tbsp brown sugar
12. 1/2 teaspoon dried rosemary
13. Black pepper
14. 4-6 pita breads
15. Mango, thinly sliced
16. 1/2 tbsp of greek yoghurt per pita bread
17. Thinly sliced mint leaves (1 mint leaf per pita)
18. A handful of arugula, washed and lightly dressed in the creamy Japanese sesame salad dressing you can find in most supermarkets.

1. Heat olive oil in a large sauté pan on medium high heat.
2. Add the carrots (if you’re using them) for about 5 minutes before adding the chopped onion.
3. Cook, stirring every now and then until onions are translucent.
4. Add the minced garlic and cook for 30 more seconds. Remove from heat and set aside in a bowl.
5. Using the same pan, heat the pan on high. Crumble the ground lamb into the pan and ensure that you do not overcrowd the pan. Do this in two batches if need be.
6. Do not stir the lamb mince, just let it cook until it is well browned on one side. Then flip the pieces over and brown the second side.
7. Return the vegetables to the lamb mince in the pan, add the ketchup, tomato sauce, Worcestershire sauce, red wine vinegar, rosemary and brown sugar to the pan and mix well.
8. Lower the heat to medium low and let simmer for 10 minutes. Adjust seasonings to taste.
9. Lightly toast your pita bread so that it’s a light golden on the outside (you can do this in a frying pan) and cut it three quarters of the way through to form a “pocket”.
10. Spreads the greek yoghurt on the insides of the pita bread, spoon some of the lamb mixture topped with mint into it along with a slice or two of mango and some arugula leaves.

Amah’s Orh Kuay (Steamed Yam Cake)

Tags

Chinese, light meals, nonya, Snack, South East Asian

 

 

Steamed yam cake topped with red chillies, fried shrimp, spring onions and fried shallots

This is a snack found in South East Asia, each family would most likely have their own special recipes of making the steamed yam cake. I like to think of it as a Straits Chinese (Nonya) dish as I always eat it straight out of my Amah’s kitchen and I’m unashamedly Nonya-biased.

This is a dish that takes some preparation time as well as plenty of practice to get the consistency right. A dry batter would give a tough cake while a wet batter makes for a cake that falls apart too easily. Once you’ve got the basic yam cake, pair it with chilli sauce (my Amah also has a good recipe for this) and top with plenty of sliced red chillies,   fried shallots, shrimp, and spring onions. Coriander works as well too.

Now I have to disclaim, my Amah’s sense of measurement is, like many chinese grannies out there, by agaration (sense of feel, with no particular weight towards using measuring tools). Agak agak all the way. Apparently the amount of ingredients she uses each time changes as well according to my aunt. So this is as close as I could get for proper measurements.

 

Ingredients (for one turnip cake, enough to feed 10-12)  

1. 500g dried shrimp, heh bee (soaked overnight in water)
2. Rice flour (1/2 pack which would be around 300g, Erawan brand – a thai brand)
3. 1 large yam (make sure its firm not mushy)
4. Aginomoto (1 tsp)
5. White pepper (6 shakes)
6. Salt (1 tsp)
7. 3-4 bowls water (I suppose this is a soup bowl size? Refer to pictures to agak agak the water content)
8. Sliced Red Chilli, chopped spring Onions and fried Shallots for garnish
9. Cake tin

Cooking Instructions

1. Soak shrimp overnight in water. Drain the shrimp and reserve shrimp water

2. De-skin the yams and cut into chunks. If you’re like me and have never handled yams before, here’s a pictorial:

3. Wash the yams, drain off the water and set aside.

4. Mix the shrimp water, rice flour, aginomoto, pepper and salt along with the bowls of water and stir til combined 

5. Deep fry the drained shrimp on high fire with lots of oil to cover it. Doesn’t matter if it bubbles over, make sure its fried long enough so when it cools it is crispy

6. Remove shrimp from the wok and get rid of excess oil, leave enough oil to fry the yams.

7. Fry yams until tender on high fire, make sure there’s enough oil so it doesn’t stick. May want to cover the wok while it cooks

8. Add a helping of shrimp to the rice water mixture

9. Once you’re able to easily break into the yam with a fork, add the rice water and shrimp mixture and lower the fire to a slow burn.

10.  Stir til mixture thickens to a paste, randomly mashing but not overdoing it

11.  Ladle into the greased cake tin once it’s become thick and gloppy

12. Steam for an hour

13.  Serve with fresh red chillies, fried shallots, fried shrimp, chilli sauce and I’d put in coriander as well. It tastes best with homemade chilli sauce and fried shallots instead of store made ones. Will put up the recipe for chilli sauce soon.

And there you have it, a savoury yam cake topped with bright garnishes and sweet spicy chilli sauce. A snack I often ate in the sweltering hot weather under the cooling fan in my Gran’s living room. Nothing beats the homemade flavor.

Steamed yam cake topped with red chillies, fried shrimp, spring onions and fried shallots