I love Choux!

Dessert

There is something quite extraordinary about pastry. I find it truly amazing that a simple mixture of butter, flour and water can magically transform in the oven into a light, airy puff, or develop a multitude of flaky layers. There are so many desserts that would be amiss without pastry. What would the world be without the 'pie' in apple pie, the buttery crust of a lemon meringue tart, or the light softness of a chocolate éclair?

Japchae

Noodles

I adore noodles. Whether it be rice noodles, egg noodles, soba, vermicelli or udon, in a soup, salad or stir fry, give me a bowl of them and I will be a happy girl. But, despite my deep love for noodles, the bizarre reality is that we don't eat them at home anywhere near as often as I'd like to. All that is about to change; I have finally found the perfect noodle recipe that is quick, easy and relatively fail-safe. 

An easy recipe for Portuguese Custard Tarts

Baking

There is nothing quite like the scorched top of a freshly baked Portuguese Tart. The contrast of the irregular, blackened spots which stand out against the golden, gleaming baked custard is so alluring, as is the shattering crunch that sounds upon biting into the crispy, multi-layered pastry. 

Pistachio and lemon curd cake

Dessert

The saying goes that we eat with our eyes. This is a notion highly applicable to the realm of sweets. The difficult thing about baking cakes is that, often, they can come out of the oven looking less than spectacular – at least compared to the photos in recipe books. This cake throws any worry of a wonky rise or volcanic cake peak out the window. 

In anticipation of summer | A foodie bucket list

cooking


With Sydney’s recent chilly cold snap this week and a calendar which seems to be flipping ever so rapidly towards the end of the year (What? Only four months until Christmas?! WHAT?!), I’ve been dreaming ever so blissfully of warmer weather and all the glorious summer fruits and vegetables that will come into season. To fulfil those wishful musings, I thought I’d write a post about all the things I’m looking forward to this not too distant summer.

Ginger-Spiced Pumpkin Loaf

Dessert
Sometimes you find yourself craving cake, but don’t feel like eating something that leaves you with a lingering sugar high. You have an urging desire for that delicate, soft crumb, to consume a scrumptious piece of baked goodness, just not of the sweet variety.

Black Sesame Tong Yuan

Chinese
Imagine if someone told you that all the best features of Asian sweets existed in a single dessert. The sticky, chewy texture of mochi, the roasted aroma of black sesame, ginger's signature hot zing, and the warm fulfilment of a sweet dessert soup, melded together to create what encompasses the pinnacle of everything that I love about Asian cuisine. 

Chinese New Year, for many Chinese families, is a celebration bigger than Christmas. It's a time when multiple generations get together, exchange well wishes, and gather to eat a banquet of traditional, well-loved foods which are destined to give good luck for the new year.

Spiced Pumpkin Pie Recipe

Recipe
We don't tend to celebrate Thanksgiving here in Australia as much as it's celebrated in America. Thanksgiving is a national holiday celebrated widely in the United States, on which thanks is given for the harvest season or simply to celebrate and be thankful for the preceding year. Traditionally held on the fourth Thursday of November, it is a family affair that evokes the aromas of roast turkey, cranberries, cornbread, baked root vegetables and good ol' pecan pie. 

Stuffed Capsicums Recipe

Lunch
What do you do when you have an abundance of capsicums in the fridge? Stuff them, of course!

Seasonal produce can lead to the creation of many an inventive meal. I wish I was the kind of cook who could conjure up a meal, with complementing textures and a balance of flavours, from whatever I have in my fridge. But I'm not. Instead, I'm happy to share with you that I have a confidant in Google and my reliable cookbooks.

Cookbook recipes are the inspiration for my cooking, as well as a form of entertainment. For me, reading a cookbook is like reading a magazine, except that one will be greeted with the extra bonus of being able to glimpse and drool at a collection of beautiful food photos along every page. The way I read a cookbook is the same way I read a magazine - front to back, reading every word on every page, starting with the ingredients and ending with the final step of the method. I'm methodical like that.

Strawberries & Cream Sponge Cake

Baking
I must confess that prior to beginning the journey of this recipe, I had a slight aversion to (or rather, fear of) sponge cakes, for two main reasons.

Reason number 1: The recipe requires the whipping of egg whites. Not that I am scared of this, but rather the lack of a stand-mixer in my kitchen requires a labour of love and 10 minutes of semi-vigorous physical activity to achieve glossy, stiff-peaked whites.

Reason number 2: It's hard to predict how successfully the cake will turn out, as there are a number of variables that could cause it to go downhill. For example, overbeating the egg, beating too much air out of the mixture or having a cake that disappointingly deflates upon taking out of the oven. I say this because the latter happened to me the last time I attempted a sponge to make lamingtons. I later realised I hadn't left it in the oven long enough to rise and become stable.

Never-fail Crumble Recipe

Dessert

You know those recipes that manage to be fool-proof, fail-safe and crowd-pleasers all at once? The kind that you can whip up with your eyes closed on demand, with whatever ingredients you can manage to find in your fridge? Those recipes fall into two categories, savoury or sweet. While the savoury recipes tend to be a little bit easier to master because they rely largely on taste and less on exact measurements, there are few sweet recipes that are just as easy and simple. Crumble is one of those recipes I turn to when in need of a dessert fix but can't be bothered to grease and line a cake tin and break out those handheld electric beaters. It's easy to adapt to any kind of fruit, and requires little preparation or washing up.

Pear and Raspberry Cake

Baking

My love for cooking began when I started baking in the kitchen. I began by making simple things - chocolate chip cookies, lime and coconut loaf, cupcakes and muffins. Then I started becoming more adventurous with homemade pastry, tarts, pies, biscotti and this cheesecake.

Homemade Apple Pie

Recipe

In America the homemade pie seems to be the standard dessert staple of every household. Americans love their pie - whether it be blueberry, key lime, chocolate cream, pecan, or even varieties like pumpkin that would seem a little unusual to us Australians. To add to this fascination there are even multiple varieties of pie crust that one can conjure: double or single crust, sour cream crust, graham cracker crust, flaky or a short, buttery crust....

But nothing says pie like the humble homemade Apple Pie. Though popularly baked in Autumn when the leaves turn golden and start falling off their branches, apple pie to me is what pie is all about. A golden, flaky, butter-laden crust, filled to the brim with sweet, soft chunks of disintegrated apple flavoured with hints of cinnamon and nutmeg, eaten with scoops of creamy vanilla ice cream. The crunch and the sloppiness, the hot and the cold.... the ultra perfect homemade dessert.

That 's not to say making a pie at home is easy. In fact, it requires a small amount of skill if you choose to make your own pie crust from scratch. That's not to say you shouldn't make a pie using store-bought pastry - it's great for time-poor home cooks, and we use it often - but it just wouldn't be the same if you wanted a true, real deal homemade pie. And there's just so much satisfaction that comes with making your own pastry dough; you know exactly what goes into it and have the pleasure of rolling and lining the pie dish with a pie crust that you can feel proud of having made all by yourself!




I've been wanting to make my very own pie, crust and all, for a very long time. This is because part of me was always afraid the pastry wouldn't turn out right, and part of me just didn't really feel like going to all the effort to make a whole pie. Up until now.



Part of what persuaded me to attempt this feat was the simplicity of the pastry in this recipe from Curtis Stone, which I stumbled upon in an issue of delicious magazine. The pastry consisted of just plain flour, butter, iced water and a couple of tablespoons of caster sugar, whizzed together to form a loose dough and then rested in the fridge. I followed my own recipe for the filling, in which pieces of Granny Smith Apple were cooked on the stovetop with spices, sugar and water until just tender.



I have to admit that the longer the resting time for the dough, the the easier it was to work with and use to line the pie dish. After a second chilling, the slightly cooled filling was tumbled on top and sealed with another layer of pastry, then crimped and shaped around the edge and slit on top to allow steam to escape. A brushing of milk and sprinkling of raw sugar was all that was needed before popping in the oven to cook for just over an hour.


What came out of the oven was a completely transformed dessert, golden on top and with a crispy, flaky crust. It retained its heat for a long time after being taken out, and so didn't need reheating at the time of eating. Cutting into the buttery layered crust produced a satisfying *crunch* sound, although the dish wasn't greased well enough so the crust was quite resistant in coming out when we tried cutting it up into generous pieces. What resulted was a mess of a piece of pie, a somewhat rustic, deconstructed version that still tasted absolutely divine (albeit a little bit messy and crumbly).

Before and after shots






Recipe
Pastry from What's for Dinner? by Curtis Stone; filling an original recipe.
Makes one large 24 cm pie.

Ingredients:

Pastry:

  • 2 1/2 cups plain flour
  • 250g chilled unsalted butter, chopped
  • 2 tablespoons caster sugar
  • 1/2 cup iced water
Filling:
  • 6 Granny Smith Apples, cored and cut into 1.5cm thick slices
  • 1/4 cup caster sugar
  • 1/4 cup water
  • 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

To decorate:
  • 1 tablespoon milk
  • 2 teaspoons raw sugar

Method:
  1. Grease a 24cm wide pie dish with butter or cooking spray
  2. Place the flour, sugar and 1 teaspoon of salt in a food processor and process until sandy and coarse. Gradually add the water in a slow stream until moist clumps form (don't add too much, just until it comes together).
  3. Divide the dough into two halves, one slightly larger than the other, and enclose in glad wrap and leave to rest in the fridge for 30 mins or overnight. 
  4. Preheat oven to 180 degrees celcius (fan-forced). 
  5. For the filling, place all ingredients in a large saucepan and cook over a medium heat for around 8-10 mins or until just tender and still. Let cool.
  6. Once the pastry has rested, take the larger half out of the fridge and roll carefully between two sheets of baking paper until it is slightly larger than the bottom of your pie dish. Carefully transfer the rolled out pastry into the dish (find it easier if it is draped slightly over the rolling pin) and press into the bottom to line the dish. Leave any overhanging pastry as it is and chill the lined dish for a further 15 mins. 
  7. Fill the chilled dish with the apple filling mixture, leaving any juices from the cooking process behind so that the crust won't get soggy. Roll out the second piece of chilled pastry until it is wide enough to cover the top of the pie, then use to cover the filling. Trim the overhanging pastry to 1cm and press the edges together to seal, folding the excess underneath itself if necessary to form a neat edge. Decorate as you like (I crimped with the edge of a fork). 
  8. Brush the top of the pie with the milk and sprinkle over the raw sugar evenly. Cut 4 slits on the top of the pastry to allow steam to escape in the oven. 
  9. Place in the oven and bake for 50 minutes or until golden on top and the filling is bubbling and hot. Take out to cool, then enjoy! Best eaten warm with a large scoop of vanilla ice cream. 

Italian Baked Ricotta Cheesecake

Dessert


Papa's Pasticceria in Haberfield is famous for its light, fluffy and unique Ricotta Cheesecake, a cake no sweet tooth (or anyone, for that matter) could ever resist. The cheesecake is not heavy or 'cheesy', per se, but is wonderfully spongey, creamy and airy. Unlike traditional cheesecakes, Papa's cheesecakes is encased all around in a layer of spongey pastry, inside of which reveals a sweet, white ricotta cheese filling. Cinnamon and icing sugar is dusted on top in a criss-cross pattern, a sweet and delicate finish.

I've loved this cake from the moment I had my first mouthful, and have had it on numerous occasions since, one of which was on my birthday. It is one of my all time favourite cakes to eat, so when I stumbled upon this recipe post on Wholesome Cook by blogger Martyna Angell, I knew I just had to try making one for myself.

Homemade Date & Nut Energy Balls!

Date and nut balls
There comes a time during the day when I get so ravenous that a piece of fruit or handful of nuts won't satisfy my stomach. The aching feeling of hunger creeps up on me slowly, a hollow chasm that grows larger and larger until I have to eat something. You know that feeling of a persistent, begrudging hunger? The one that won't disappear unless you eat a big meal? I get that at around 11am on a weekday, and it's a feeling I often feel guilty fulfilling, wanting to wait until lunchtime to eat my proper lunch. I get scared that I'll get myself full before I'm meant to, at a time in the day that you're not meant to get hungry. Some may say you should have a bigger breakfast, but what if I've had one that has made me stuffed but am still hungry when it comes to the mid-morning munchies?


I've read about these healthy date snacks everywhere under the guise of a range of different names - Larabars, Energy Bars, Protein Balls - but essentially they're all made up of the same base of processed dates and nuts, just flavoured and shaped in different ways. They're raw, gluten free and good for you in all different ways, and only require a small amount of ingredients and effort to make. They make a perfect portable snack that will fill you up when you're feeling hungry, and are jam-packed full of good nutrients that nourish and replenish you when snacking time arrives.

Make your own homemade Bubble Tea!

Asian

I must confess that my first real taste of Bubble Tea was only just this year. And it wasn't even here in Sydney, it was in Japan. I'm not quite sure what EasyWay or Chatime Bubble Tea tastes like - I'm still to try them - but I only know that the milky, sweet bubble tea I tasted in Japan was pure bliss on a hot, sunny day. A bliss that was made even better with the addition of chewy, sticky, jet black tapioca pearls.

My first taste of pearls, however was 4 years ago in Mango Milk Tea. Not such a good combination, if you ask me, and it put me off them for a long long time. Up until now.