My Chanukah Miracle

Last week, we hosted a small Chanukah party for our family. We fried up the annual latkas, made my trustworthy meatballs and roasted cauliflower, one of my favorite new roasted veggies, especially with a bit of curry powder.

At the last minute, I decided to try rugelach, an experiment given that I had never done it before. I generally don't make it a habit to try new recipes on guests, but Tally Abecassis tried them before me and said they were delicious....PLUS they are an Ina Garten recipe, they never fail. Barefoot Contessa outdid herself again, she made these bakery quality rugelach on her "holidays" episode with brisket and chopped liver...been meaning to try her brisket as well. My mother in law and husband had 5 a piece.....

Equipment: baking sheets, parchment paper, rolling pin, KitchenAid

Rugelach
Barefoot Contessa Parties
Makes 48 Cookies

8 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
1/2-pound unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/4 cup granulated sugar plus 9 tablespoons
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 cup light brown sugar, packed
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
3/4 cup raisins
1 cup walnuts, finely chopped
1/2 cup apricot preserves, pureed in a food processor
1 egg beaten with 1 tablespoon milk, for egg wash

Cream the cheese and butter in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment until light. Add 1/4 cup granulated sugar, the salt, and vanilla. With the mixer on low speed, add the flour and mix until just combined. Dump the dough out onto a well-floured board and roll it into a ball. Cut the ball in quarters, wrap each piece in plastic, and refrigerate for 1 hour.
To make the filling, combine 6 tablespoons of granulated sugar, the brown sugar, 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon, the raisins, and walnuts.

On a well-floured board, roll each ball of dough into a 9-inch circle (rolling out dough is hell!). Spread the dough with 2 tablespoons apricot preserves and sprinkle with 1/2 cup of the filling. Press the filling lightly into the dough. Cut the circle into 12 equal wedges—cutting the whole circle in quarters, then each quarter into thirds. Starting with the wide edge, roll up each wedge. Place the cookies, points tucked under, on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Chill for 30 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Brush each cookie with the egg wash. Combine 3 tablespoons granulated sugar and 1 teaspoon cinnamon and sprinkle on the cookies. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, until lightly browned. Remove to a wire rack and let cool.

Enjoy! They are delicious.

Roasted Sweetness

I have recently become addicted to roasted beets. I had never even tried a beet until I ordered a yellowtail and beet appetizer at Telepan on the Upper West Side. Since this summer, I have been making them almost weekly at home. When beets are roasted, they taste so sweet that you wouldn't believe they are good for you. You can pair them with candied walnuts and goat cheese to make a beautiful looking salad. Golden beets are yellow/orange are just as delicious. They're high in potassium, fiber and folacin, yet low in calories. Another benefit is that they keep in the fridge's crisper for a week or two before you roast them and stay in the fridge for a couple of days after you make them. They make a great and filling snack, so make extra!

Sherri's Roasted Beets (Serves 4)

5 Red or Golden Beets

olive oil

kosher salt

pepper

1 Orange

Preheat oven to 400. Cut off beet leafs, wash and peel beets. Cut them up into small 1 inch pieces, so they roast faster. Spread out on a baking sheet and mix with kosher salt, pepper and olive oil. Roast for 40 minutes, turning them around once half way through.

Place beets in a bowl, squeeze orange juice onto beets and place in fridge.

Serve cool or at room temperature.

Pancakes with a Light Hand

While small in build, I don't think anyone would describe me as "delicate". For starters, I have big hands for a small girl and on top of which, I am often known to be heavy handed... just ask my macarons. Overbeating may as well be my Red Indian name.

What does any of this have to do with pancakes? Indulge me while I explain how elusive light, fluffy pancakes have been for me until now.

I've tried numerous recipes — some using buttermilk, others just plain old flour, milk and eggs... and maybe a pinch of baking soda. After wielding my whisk to these unfortunate batters, I invariably find myself with pancakes that bear more resemblance to unleavened bread or leather pucks. You know the kind — chewy as a kitchen sponge, just like they serve in some backpackers' hostel in a Third World country, studded with aged bananas and drenched with diluted maple syrup.

Then last Sunday morning, I woke up looking for something new to whip up for breakfast. I reached into a book I haven't touched since I bought it two years ago and there it was: Buttermilk Pancakes. I all but gave it a quick glimpse — and luckily I did. Because it said, "Stir BY HAND until the batter is evenly moistened."
By hand! Could it be my hand alone, sans whisk or rubber spatula, could yield a lighter touch? No harm trying...

I am pleased to report that I made pancakes so good that morning, that I roused C from his Sunday sleep-in to have a taste.

Mixing it by hand helped meld all the ingredients together lightly and quickly so the gluten in the flour doesn't have time to stretch and render chewy pancakes. Of course it occured to me to try mixing my macaron batter by hand too — just in case it could help with my overbeating. Um, that didn't work so good.

Oh well, one thing at a time.


On another note, I've received a couple of emails and comments suggesting I add an RSS feed to this blog. Now the only reason why I hadn't done so is because I am a luddite and I had no idea how. Anyways, after 5 hours of trying, I think I've managed (see the bar on the right). If it doesn't work, let me know or better still, leave idiot-proof instructions as to how. Thanks everyone :-)



Buttermilk Pancakes
(adapted from a recipe from The Culinary Institute of America Breakfasts & Brunches)

2 cups all purpose flour
1/4 sugar
4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
2 1/4 cups buttermilk
4 eggs
1/4 cup butter, melted and cooled

1. Sift the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt into a mixing bowl.
2. Make a well in the centre of this mixture.
3. In another bowl, mix the eggs, buttermilk and melted butter. Pour this mixture into the well and stir by hand until the batter is evenly moistened.
4. You can now use this batter or store it for up to 12 hours in the fridge.

Marinated Mushrooms

After our trip from Spain, I decided to host a tapas party at Casa Sparaga. We loaded up the fridge with Sangria and put together a Spanish menu from "The New Spanish Table" and Cook's Illustrated. We enjoyed delicious patata bravas, tomato and red onion salad, sizzling garlic shrimp, meatballs, marinated mushrooms and even a cheese plate (no, I didn' do it! Corryn handled all cheese-related chores). For dessert, my signature molten cakes.

The mushrooms were very easy and tasted delicious. I made them the day before and pulled them out of the fridge an hr before guests arrived. They are also only 110 calories per serving.
On Sunday after the party, I had leftovers for breakfast with some baguette and tomato while reading Travel & Leisure. That's the life.

This week, I also capped off a work day at Boqueria on 19th Street between 5th and 6th for the first time. I enjoyed some great red wine, pan con tomate, blistered peppers and patata bravas. Highly recommend it.

Marinated Mushrooms (another hit from Cooksillustrated.com)

Skillet size limits the yield of this recipe; if you would like to double it, cook the mushrooms in two separate batches but marinate them together.

Thyme, parsley, or basil makes a good last-minute addition--use only one, however, not all three.

INGREDIENTS
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil , plus 1 tablespoon for finishing
1/8 teaspoon red pepper flakes
Table salt
1 pound cremini mushrooms or white button mushrooms, cleaned, left whole if small, halved if medium, quartered if large
2 tablespoons lemon juice from 1 lemon, plus 1 tablespoon for finishing
1 medium clove garlic , sliced very thin
1 large shallot , chopped fine (about 1/4 cup)
1/4 small red bell pepper , chopped fine (about 1/4 cup)
1 teaspoon minced fresh thyme leaves or 1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley or basil
Ground black pepper

1. Heat 3 tablespoons oil, red pepper flakes, and 1/2 teaspoon salt in 12-inch skillet over medium-high heat until shimmering but not smoking. Add mushrooms and 2 tablespoons lemon juice; cook, stirring frequently, until mushrooms release moisture, moisture evaporates, and mushrooms have browned around edges, about 10 minutes. Spread mushrooms in single layer on large plate or rimmed baking sheet; cool to room temperature, about 20 minutes. When cooled, transfer mushrooms to medium bowl, leaving behind any juices. Stir garlic, shallot, and bell pepper into mushrooms, cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate at least 6 or up to 24 hours.

2. Before serving, allow mushrooms to stand at room temperature about 1 hour. Stir in remaining 1 tablespoon olive oil, 1 tablespoon lemon juice, and thyme and adjust seasonings with salt and pepper just before serving.

Cupcakes: A Birthday Bash and Baby Shower

'Tis the season for cupcakes in our household, thanks to several friends who wanted custom cupcakes for two special occasions. The first was a birthday bash for a glamour-puss nominated Member of Parliament that co-incided with a Pink Party for a certain mobile phone brand. The brief, naturally, was "Think Pink", so I spent a few days trawling through my books to come up with ideas for the cupcake tower. Butterflies, roses, gifts and periwinkles made it on my list, and in the end, they chose a pink tower of rose-themed cupcakes.

Truth be told, I was terrified that the fondant was not going to make it in this heat. It certainly didn't help that the party was held outdoors, by the beach on Sentosa. But they were only slightly worse for wear by the time the cake was cut.



The top tier is a moist chocolate cake covered in pink fondant and embellished with a hot pink ribbon, while the rest of the cupcakes were a strawberry sponge topped with royal icing and fondant roses. On top of these, I also made "eating" cupcakes. (While fondant cupcakes are pretty, I can't say they make for the best eating — I know only two people apart from children who like the overly sweet taste of fondant or royal icing).


Of course, these dessert cupcakes were in pink flavours — strawberry with fresh cream frosting, pink velvet with cream cheese frosting and rose with, well, rose frosting.



The following weekend, I had such fun creating these fondant cupcakes for a baby shower. I just love those mini booties and babies in a blanket.

A Month of Macarons!

Whoopee! It's October and the start of Canele's much-awaited (well, by me anyway) Macaron Festival. Just for this month, Chef Patissier Pang Kok Keong (Singapore's answer to the likes of Pierre Herme and Paco Torrablanca) has created a range of six special macaron flavours, packed in an irresistibly pretty box with a charming illustration of a Thumbelina-esque girl wearing macaron booties.

These limited edition flavours — Marron Glace (chestnut cream and candied chestnut), Pistache et Griottine (with pistachio cream and brandied cherry), Sesame, Matcha, Noisettine Truffe (truffle cream and roasted hazelnut) and Citron Vert (with green lime cream)— are sold in boxes of 6 or 12.



I'm trying to go through my precious stash slowly, which means so far, I've only tried the Citron Vert and Marron Glace. The former is a tangy, fun flavour, with the buttercream tasting surprisingly like lime soda. The latter has all the lovely, mellow sweetness of chestnuts. I'll let you know when I've sampled the other flavours in the days to come. (Believe me when I tell you that every ounce of self-restraint has been called upon to prevent myself from inhaling them all at once).

Already my friends and I are planning to head down to Canele sometime next week to try the Entremets (more lavishly assembled macarons). I'm looking forward to the Passion Chocolat, which promises an oversized macaron sandwich filled with milk chocolate cream, light passionfruit cream and caramelised bananas.

Meanwhile, I'm also hoping to check out the high tea macaron buffet (available on weekends) at Macaron (which sits beside Canele). For $55++ per person, you get a choice of appetizer and entree from Macaron's regular menu, followed by a buffet offering 18 macaron flavours, 7 macaron entremets and 2 ala carte servings of Canele's homemade ice creams or sorbets. Sounds like heaven to me.

Chicken Soup and Matzo Balls

Once we got home from Spain, it was already holiday time and my parents and sister were coming to New York for Rosh Hashanah for the first time. Although I was busy getting back into the grind, I was determined to make my first chicken soup for Erev Rosh Hashanah. I e-mailed my mother to get the recipe and called home a few times to clarify the procedure. The recipe started with my bubby and was passed on and tweaked by my mother. My family thought mine tasted just as good!

Set aside a couple of hours on a Sunday, while you're doing something else. It takes 3 hours to make the soup. The soup is great to freeze and have on hand for days when you're feeling under the weather.

Bubby and Mom’s Chicken Soup

Serves 10

2 Parsley Root/ Parsnips (with green leaf)
1 bunch Fresh Dill
1 bunch Celery (just tops)
2 Leeks or 1 Whole Onion
3 cloves Garlic
8 Carrots
1 Bay leaf

Chicken

5 Legs
5 Backs (same as thighs)
4 Large Breasts
1/8 cup at a time Croyden House (the powder version of chicken stock)

1. Clean Chicken with hot water and put in a large pot. Cover chicken with water
and bring to a boil. Keep it covered. As grey stuff comes to top, skim the top of the soup
with slotted spoon (10-15 minutes).

2. Place Dill in Cheesecloth & tie up (I didn't use a cheese cloth or tie it up). Add Seasoning. Keep on simmer for 45 minutes to hour.

3. Add vegetables, bring to a boil again and then lower and simmer another
hour. Adjust seasoning. Skim the top of the soup. Put ½ dill in for the second time (15
minutes before the end), raise to medium, bring to a boil and simmer for another 15
minutes.

4. Cool for 1 1/2 hours without cover on another burner and strain. Remove fat after
frozen.

Matzo Balls (Streit’s)

Makes 12

4 eggs beaten

1/3 cup canola oil

1/2 cup water

salt, pepper

1 cup matzah meal

Boil 1/2 hr in boiling water.

Beat eggs and add water, canola oil, salt and pepper. Mix well, add matzo meal, stir thoroughly. Refrigerate overnight. Form into balls (10-11 per recipe) and drop them into boiling, bubbling salt water. If the balls stick to your fingers, wash and dry your hands. Cover and keep on medium, watch pot and lower to medium low (30 minutes total). Freeze on baking sheet with parchment uncovered. Place in freezer bags.

Enjoy!

Two Special Cakes

I spied a basket of fresh figs the other day and couldn't resist picking them up. I'd been meaning to try this recipe for a while, and with a half packet of frozen raspberries sitting forlornly in the fridge, there was no better time than now. Jodie's Fresh Fig, Raspberry & Almond Cake from Kylie Kwong's Heart and Soul is the kind of cake I love — dense and slightly wet, a texture you only get from a batter heavy with almond meal. Left overnight, the cake's moisture content improves and you get a fantastic tea cake that makes for a great breakfast slice too.

Red Velvet Cake



I've always been curious about Red Velvet Cake. It's not something you find on the bakery counters here, Singaporeans being partial to more European desserts (except, of course, cheesecake). By all accounts—and by that, I mean from what I've seen on TV (Oprah, The Apprentice—yes, my goggle box diet needs reviewing)—it's a Southern (American) favourite.

Almost luridly red, the cake gets its colour from a good splash (or three) of red food colouring. Although, technically, the reaction between the white vinegar and cocoa powder should be sufficient to render a reddish hue. I can't vouch for the latter since I unloaded quite fair bit of red food colouring into my batter.

The good news is, taste wise, this cake rocks. It is wonderfully moist, tender and light, with the lovely flavour of buttermilk and an almost alkalinic lilt. A swirl of cream cheese frosting is all it needs, making this one of the best cakes I've made in a while.

Pan Con Aceite De'Olivo

Lee and Sherri in Palma De Mallorca
A Cliff between Deia and Soller
Above: Lee and Sherri in Gaudi's Parc Guell, Barcelona
Below: Vegetables at La Boqueria market, Barcelona

Sherri and Lee at Hotel La Residencia, Deia

One of many cappucinos

The Pool at La Residencia, Deia
Patata Bravas at El Xelini Barrigon, Deia
Hotel La Residencia Front Lawn
Paella at Las Palmeras, Deia

We just got back from Barcelona and Deia, a village 30 minutes outside of Palma De Mallorca. After a year of reading Travel and Leisure, Food and Wine and Frommer's in preparation for our big trip, it finally came and went.

Why does everything taste better in Spain? The tomatoes tasted nothing like the ones in New York- they were sweet and juicy. The olive oils (or "aceite d'olivo") with fresh bread at the beginning of each meal got me so full, I was ready for dessert after my appetizer. The sangria was a perfect end to every lazy day. I always knew I liked tapas, but this was the real stuff. How am I going to live without daily patatas bravas?

We found many gems in Spain, so here is a guide of where to find them:

Deia- a village 30 minutes outside of Palma De Mallorca in the hills

Eat at El Xelini Barrigon: Xelini is the village tapas restaurant housed in one of many stone buildings. The locals and tourists flock here alike. After reading about Xelini in Elle, we went there on our second day for lunch. Through out our 6 days in Deia, we ate at Xelini 4 times. The patata bravas, chorizitos, tomato and onion salad, mushrooms and chocolate mousse were unreal. We also tried tumbet, a Mallorcan vegetable dish with a layer of potatoes, eggplant and tomato sauce. If you are in Mallorca and decide to drive up to Deia, this is a must stop. We ate at a few really expensive places in town and this well-priced tapas place tops them all.

Barcelona

1. Divina Pasta, 115 Bailen in Eixample- While walking on our Gaudi tour between Casa Mila and La Sagrada Familia, we came across Divina Pasta, there was a large crowd of locals laughing loudly. There was no English menu and not a tourist in sight. We sat down and ate homemade pasta. I had the best pasta dish I have ever eaten (I haven't been to Italy though)- "Papardelle con tomato natural, hierbas aromaticas y aceite suave de ajo". The place is well-priced and phenomenal. It's owned by Argentine Italians and a Uruguayan.

2. Taller de Tapas is a modern tapas place on Ramblas Catalunya. They have outside seating on the cobblestone walkway and serve great tapas. I had the creme catalan, their version of a creme brulee, and it was delicious! If you're staying on Las Ramblas, this place is really close without the Time Square tourists.

3. Cuines Santa Caterina is a modern restaurant in the Mercat Santa Caterina, which is famous for its coloured, tiled, rippled roof in the middle of El Born/La Rivera. The produce comes right from the market stalls 2 feet away. It is very close to the cathedral in the Barri Gotic and to The Picasso Museum in El Born. Lee had an incredible omelette.

4. La Boqueria- Our first morning in Barcelona, we walked over to La Boqueria and had a great capuccino at Bar Pinoxto. We roamed around all of the stalls of gorgeous produce, meat, chicken and lots of jamon! Fun place to sample a bit of everything.

I came to the realization after eating in numerous fancy restaurants like El Olivo and El Raco D'es Teix in Deia, Restaurant Gaig in Barcelona and Comerc 24, a restaurant that is famous for its molecular gastronomy (read: FOAM PARTY), that the local well-priced places are the best. Although all of these restaurants were good, I didn't think they were great.

When we got home from Spain, I made my new quick dinner:

Roasted jumbo shrimp with garlic and olive oil

Buy Jumbo Shrimp in the frozen section of Trader Joe's. Run water on the shrimp for 5 minutes to defrost them. Throw them in the oven with some minced garlic and olive oil for about 10 minutes at 350. When they come out of the oven, squirt lemon juice on top of the shrimp. If you want to make life really easy, roast asparagus with the same garlic and olive oil for 15 minutes on the same baking sheet. A healthy, one pan meal.

Eggs Over Easy

Again, inspired by Marc Bittman, a seriously old-school dish that's just so nostalgic. I haven't had devilled eggs since I made a batch in home-ec class decades ago. And even then, I don't remember it being this good. It was the shrimp that sold me — I'll eat shrimp in anything — and despite what everyone says about how bad it is for you, I adore egg yolks. The olives — an ingredient I can't say I am fond of — were an inspired addition. The overall dish made for great, simple children's party food, or a 1950s style hor'dourves.

As for these eggs en cocotte, I like them best with a teeny dollop of truffle salsa at the bottom.





Devilled Eggs with Shrimp
Adapted from a recipe by Mark Bittman in the New York Times

Serves 4

4 eggs
5 green olives, pitted and chopped
125 grams prawns, shelled, boiled and chopped
half a white onion, minced
1 1/2 tbsp English parsley, minced
1 tbsp Worchestershire sauce
2 tbsp mayonnaise
salt and pepper to taste

Boil the eggs. Shell the eggs and cut into half. Gently remove the yolks from the whites.

Mash the yolks with one tbsp of the parsley and all the other ingredients. Then use a teaspoon to stuff the egg yolk mixture back into the whites.

Sprinkle with the remaining parsley and serve.


Eggs En Cocotte
Serves 4

4 large fresh eggs
15g butter (divided into four portions)
4 tbsp thickened cream
1 tbsp chopped parsley
salt and pepper

Bring a kettle of water to the boil and preheat your oven to 180 degrees C.

Break each egg into a saucer then slide it into a ramekin (each egg should have its own ramekin). Season each with a tiny pinch of salt and a dash of pepper and top each egg with a portion of butter. Lastly, top with a tablespoon of cream.

Place the ramekins in a baking tin and place it in the middle shelf of your oven. Pour boiling water into the baking tin until it comes halfway up the sides of the ramekins.

Let the eggs bake for 15 minutes if you like them soft and runny, and 18 minutes if you like them more set. Bear in mind that the eggs continue to cook for a few minutes after you’ve removed them from the oven.

Sprinkle a little parsley over each baked egg 1–2 minutes before the end of cooking time.

Kneadless Pain

Had I known bread could be this easy to make, I would have started a lot sooner. I first read about the miracle that is kneadless bread in The New York Times when Mark Bittman, better known as the Minimalist, extolled its virtues. But it wasn't until Jeffrey Steingarten waxed yet more lyrical about this loaf that I decided to give it a shot.

The entire process involves less than 15 minutes of work (or more like pottering about, if you ask me) spread over 20 hours or so. More a question of shrewd timing than technique, this wonderful loaf is like a cross between a soft country loaf and sourdough. Apparently experimenting with various types of flour will yield different results (read more about it if you can get your hands on a copy of the May issue of American Vogue). I've only tried the basic recipe using Waitrose Bread Flour and I've also found that you need a standard sized oven to do this successfully. In my smaller, standalone oven, the loaf tends to start burning slightly before the baking time is up.



This recipe was adapted from Jeffrey Steingarten's amazing article in American Vogue.

3 cups bread flour, and more for dusting
2 tsp fine salt
1 tsp instant yeast
1 1/2 cups water, at room temperature
1/2 cup coarse wheat bran*

Equipment
- A heavy casserole dish, preferably enamelled cast iron. You could also use a good glass casserole dish.
- 1 coarse dish towel

1. Combine the flour, salt and yeast in a large bowl.
2. Pour in the water and with your fingers or a spoon, mix for about 30 seconds until a rough wet dough forms and all the flour has been absorbed.
3. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and allow the dough to rise at room temperature for about 18 hours. (You can leave it for longer or shorter, up to just 8 hours. The longer the rise, the better the texture of the bread. But past 24 hours, the dough will begin to collapse, which is not what you want).
4. Heavily flour your work surface. Invert the bowl over the surface. It will spread like a formless blob.
5. Dust the dough with flour and stretch it into a rough square, about 25cm per side.
6. Fold the square into thirds to make a puffy strip about 10 cm wide and 25 cm long.
7. Cover lightly with plastic wrap and let rest for 15 minutes
8. Meanwhile, spread the dish towel on a flat surface. Rub a generous amount of flour into one half of the towel, and sprinkle a few tablespoons of bran over the flour. This prevents the dough from sticking to the towel.
9. Fold the dough in thirds again, beginning at one of the short ends of the strip. You should have a dough that’s shaped like a rough cube.
10. Gently lift the dough with both hands onto the floured half of the dish cloth that you prepared earlier.
11. Sprinkle the top of the dough with a little flour and bran. Cover with the other half of the towel or with plastic wrap. Let rise for 2 hours.
12. When an hour has passed, place your casserole and its cover in the oven. Set the temperature to its highest setting, probably about 220 degrees to 240 degrees.
13. When another hour has passed, open the oven and remove the casserole cover. Bring the loaf to the casserole and up-end it into the casserole. Shake the casserole sideways if the loaf needs to be neatened.
14. Cover the casserole and bake for 30 minutes.
15. Uncover the casserole and bake for another 20 to 30 minutes until the loaf is a lovely golden to dark brown. Remove and let it cool on a rack until barely warm to the touch.
16. This bread is best eaten when it has almost cooled completely.

*Wheat bran or bran flakes can be purchased at organic or health food stores like Nature’s Farm.

La Scarpetta on a Sunday

Cathy at A Blithe Palate surprised me with an e-mail asking me to participate in a food blogging event about a new cookbook that she and Ivonne from Cream Puffs were organizing. Last week, Adventures of An Italian Food Lover by Faith Hillinger, arrived by snail mail. Adventures of An Italian Food Lover is a recipe in itself: 1/3 cookbook, 1/3 coffee table book and 1/3 a local tour guide's Italy. It's not only about the recipes, it's about relationships and experiences. Her sister, Suzanne, painted exquisite watercolor drawings and each recipe has a foreword about a person or place she is intimate with in Italy. If you have no intentions of being in Italy anytime soon, you can still enjoy it while drinking a few glasses of wine and pretending.

My plan was to choose a recipe and cook it with Geneve, the woman who is responsible for enlightening me with blogging back in April '06. We have been meaning to cook together (and watch Barefoot Contessa marathons) for months since she has arrived here from LA for the summer. Her summer has been very productive; she is a recent grad of the French Culinary Institute's Techniques class and just completed a stage at New York's #1 restaurant. Adventures of an Italian Food Lover is very us. We met seven years ago while both of us were on semester abroad. We bumped into eachother while walking along Tamarama Beach in Sydney and discovered we were both McGill students. A 24 hour flight to Sydney to find a friend at school in Montreal?

Last Sunday, we went to Whole Foods in Union Square and picked up the ingredients for Scquacquacio di Mare, a dish that Hillinger explains is from a wine bar in Venice called Mascareta. She vividly decribes the eclectic sommelier, Mauro Lorenzo, who owns the Inoteca.

Geneve taught me that when you make mussels, all of the mussels should be closed before being cooked. When they are cooked, they should all be open, any closed mussels should be discarded.

We enjoyed the simple and light Watery Seafood Mess and some vino blanco. There was something very European about dunking our baguettes into the zesty sauce of tomato, white wine vinegar and chili peppers. The Italians call it "La Scarpetta", I call it heaven.

Turkish Delight Ice Cream

I've never liked roses. Not the flower (I'm more a peony kinda girl) and certainly not the taste. Maybe it was an over-flavoured Indian dessert that I ate as a child—restraint never having been a virtue in my greedy life, I bit off a huge chunk rather than nibbled to taste, and the heady flavour of the flower exploded in my mouth. To this day, when faced with a rose-flavoured anything, I balk, images of a colourful Indian street flooding my mind, a firm warning that should I so much as lick the food in question, my mouth would fill with that potent sweet essence and linger there until the sacred cows on my imaginary Indian street amble their way home.

So imagine my surprise when I decided to throw caution to the wind and make a Turkish Delight ice cream with a whole 50ml of rose water, and ended up loving the delicate flavour of it.

Incidentally, I can't admit to being a fan of Turkish Delight either (must be the rosewater component, you think?), but this ice cream, part of a composed dessert by the always affable chef Geoff Lindsey at his Melbourne restaurant Pearl, was just too pretty not to attempt.

The dessert encompasses the ice cream strewn with vanilla Persian fairy floss and served with bits of glace ginger, fushia pomegranate seeds and rose petals. I was going to serve it with just the Persian fairy floss, which my cousin bought from Sydney's Jones the Grocer along with a box of their lovely Turkish Delight (the best I've ever tasted), but he forgot to bring the fairy floss to dinner that day, so it was just the ice cream. But no matter. What a wonderful ice cream it was. The bits of Turkish Delight, though turned hard in the freezer, yields quickly to the warm temperature of your tongue. The delicate flavour of the rosewater was just lovely, nothing like the cacophony of sharp, sweet gusto that I had imagined.

Other items on the menu that night included Osso Bucco with Risotto Milanese. A friend gave us a bottle of Spanish saffron stamens to try and they flavoured and stained the risotto a lovely shade of golden yellow.



My brother recently returned from a trip to Italy, so we also had a load of shaved parma ham, which we walloped with baguettes and a wonderfully fresh-flavoured salad of buffalo mozarella, juicy vine cherry tomatoes and fat basil leaves.

Berries in Bronxville

Chris, Karina, Lisa and I
Berry Crumble

Todd, Jorge, Adam, Steve, Josh and Lee

About two years ago, Lisa, a friend from my old job, and her husband, Steve, hosted a bunch of friends from work to a beautiful dinner party. She set a high standard for entertaining; great food and a beautiful table. Two years have past and many dinner parties later, the inevitable has happened. Chris and Josh sold out and moved to Pelham. Three months ago, Karina and Jorge off to Bronxville. Now, Lisa and Steve are moving to a suburb of Boston. The last 4 stand strong. Todd and Adam are safe for a little while longer.


Our diverse crew is headed to the burbs and even worse, they are trying to PUSH the burbs on anyone who will listen. Our friends, Karina and Jorge, have become real estate agents. "Why do you live in the city? If you lived in the burbs, Lee could be closer to golf, you could have a big kitchen and Lee could still lie on the couch all day!"A great pitch, but not so fast....Although, the stench from grilling in my apartment is getting old.


Last night, Karina and Jorge had a lovely party to say goodbye to Lisa & Steve. Karina made a beef tenderloin with olive oil and rosemary that was cooked to perfection. Along side, she served a fabulous spring mix salad with pine nuts and pears and Persian rice with cherries (mmm... for those Venezuelan Persian friends!).

Earlier yesterday, my 9-year old niece, Stacie, and I baked a berry crumble for dessert. I first made this over two years ago for a bridal shower to rave reviews and haven't made it in a long time. It's easy to make and is a perfect summer dessert with vanilla ice cream and/or some whipped cream! It looks so good in this picture thanks to Todd, who taught me that you don't take pictures of your food with a flash. Ooops.

Mixed Berry Creme Fraiche Crumble
FoodNetwork.com, Serves 8

4 cups mixed berries (I used 3 packages of blackberries, blueberries and raspberries)
1/2 cup flour
1/4 cup sugar
1 cup creme fraiche*
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp salt
3/4 cup melted butter

*If you can't find creme fraiche, you can substitute 1 cup of creme fraiche with 1/2 cup each of sour cream and whipping cream; or 1 cup whipping cream and 3 tablespoons buttermilk; cover and let stand 12 hours.

Preheat oven to 375. Mix together the berries, flour and sugar and pour into a 8 x 8 baking dish. Spread the creme fraiche over the top of the berries evenly. Mix together the brown sugar, flour and salt. Mix in the melted butter. Top the creme fraiche with this mixture. Bake for 35 minutes or until topping is golden brown (the recipe calls for 25 minutes, but it doesn't bake enough in 25 minutes...).

Bon Appetit!

Cupcake Madness

It was like a scene straight out of Ugly Betty. An order of 100 cupcakes, which I felt needed to be delivered as fresh as possible. So I baked them the afternoon before they were to be sent and frosted them after dinner. A task that took me through to 2am, when I finally crawled into bed only to wake early the next morning to deliver the bounty.

I call these Adult Cupcakes. In two flavours—banana and chocolate—both with dark chocolate whipped cream frosting.Kids don't like them. I know because my friend's four-year-old daughter took one bite of it and screwed up her face really bad. "It ain't sweet, Mommy!" she cried. Her embarrassed mother attributed it to her daughter's Americanised palate.

Another friend ordered these for her nephew's birthday party. She later reported that few of the kids even touched the mini-cupcakes, but the adults polished them off with ease.




Personally, I like them for the moist cocoa flavoured sponge—in which I use corn oil rather than butter so they stay soft even when kept in the fridge. The frosting, made of fresh cream and melted 64% Valrhona Manjari chocolate, provides a lush, ever so slightly bitter edge that offsets the sweetness of the cake perfectly.



The banana cupcake is a lot richer, but no less delicious. Made with plenty of butter, they are better served at room temperature. Again, the deep chocolate whipped cream frosting cuts through the sweetness of the cake, but this time, the mouth feel is buttery, decadent and deliciously sinful.

The Fat of the Matter

Before I left for Tokyo, my friend G’s very kind mother-in-law invited me to their home for a lesson in de-veining foie gras and foie gras terrine. I adore foie gras. I had my first taste of it back in the day, at the tender age of 18, in a mock aircraft while undergoing training to be an air stewardess. It was a lesson in in-flight meal service; the most fun part of the class was devouring the food we were pretending to serve.

It probably wasn’t even real foie gras, come to think of it. More like duck liver as opposed to goose, but at that age, how was I to know? All I knew was that it was delicious. The most delicious, unctuous, deep-tasting moussy thing my palate had ever known. I was hooked—even if for years I had made it very clear to my mother that I did not like and would never eat any kind of liver.

Over the months that followed, I stole pieces of foie gras from my colleagues’ meal trays the moment any of them so much as hinted that they didn’t care for foie gras. Over the years, I indulged like a true freeloader at media events—the most memorable being under a huge white tent lining up more than a few times with a colleague for nuggets of pan-fried foie gras just before the Chanel show. If the models weren’t eating, I certainly was.

One of my family’s favourite Sunday brunches is at Raffles Hotel’s Bar and Billiard Room, where they serve all the foie gras you can eat—pan-fried or terrine. So far the record stands at 15 servings of pan-fried foie gras, set by my cousin G. Granted he arrived at brunch fresh from completing a full marathon, but he also devoured four lobsters, three servings of terrine, countless oysters, lots of grilled meats, cheese, some salad and dessert. Good thing both he and his father are doctors—he’ll need all the cholesterol meds he can get.

The little hole in the terrine you see here comes from not packing the foie gras in the dish tightly enough.

Back in my friend’s kitchen, her mother-in-law M, who was visiting from Lyon, showed me the intricacies of de-veining the goose liver. Her version of foie gras terrine is extremely simple—“home-style” as she likes to call it. Seasoned with herb salt, pepper and a sprinkling of nutmeg, the foie gras is tucked neatly into a terrine dish which was sealed with paste of flour and water and carefully cooked in a bain-marie. M even thoughtfully brought me a terrine dish from Lyon since they seem to cost a fortune here in Singapore.

With strict instructions to let the dish rest in the fridge for five days, she sent me along. It was a good thing then that I was off to Tokyo for exactly that duration, and when I came home, it was foie gras all week. Even then, at the end of week, I had to call in The Cleaners, otherwise known as my cousins, who lived up to their moniker impeccably.

Key Lime Bars sponsored by FedEx

First of all, I apologize for my blogging frequency. The good news is I am too busy with my new gig to cook as often and to blog...maybe, I have more of a life now? Amy- try to resist. I also don't have time for pretty photos, but read the comments (READ: co-workers insert how much you liked my key lime bars) and you will see I am not messing around.

Anyway, Lee and I were in Florida last month for Grandma's 90th Bday. My aunt Beth and uncle Jack hosted a beautiful dinner at their house. Aunt Beth made beautiful floral arrangements, set a gorgeous table with tasty food and had a chocolate fountain (I got it to work!). She made a delicious key lime pie from Joe's Stone Crab. It was my first time enjoying key lime pie with real key limes. Within 24 hours, aunt Beth had stopped by Publix to pick up a bag of key limes that I could take back to New York. Somewhere between the front desk of the Marriott and my room, my limes faded into oblivion. Maybe someone wanted to make a pie, hope they didn't choke on it. Thieves! Make a long story short: a couple of days later, a FedEx arrived with a bag of key limes and a pack of Knorr's vegetable soup mix (I liked her dip recipe!). Aunt Beth was determined to get me my limes and when she is determined, stay out of her way, she will make it happen!

What was I to do with these key limes? I wanted to try something new and am very loyal to my own key lime pie recipe. A few weeks went by and I started getting scared that I was going to waste all the effort that had been invested in getting me my limes. At the prompting of Beatus and Bernstein, I was forced into action. Beatus told me she had had enough of my almond macaroons and Bernstein told me that he thought I was all talk. To the kitchen I went.

As mentioned in my last post, I just got a subscription to cooksillustrated.com and found this recipe online. So far, they are 2 for 2. Initially, I wasn't thrilled about paying $24.95 for an annual membership for something that should be free. However, if I look at ROI, this might not be such a bad idea considering I pay more than that for each cookbook and haven't opened many of them!

I tweaked the recipe by changing the crust from animal crackers to Keebler graham crackers.

The result was a tart bar with buttery sugary crust. Perfect for a summer treat and would look great on a plate with my lemon bars- a little lemon and lime!

Key Lime Bars

Cooks Illustrated July 2006, Makes 16 2-inch bars

If you aren't lucky enough to have aunt Beth send you Key limes, use regular (Persian) limes. Do not use bottled lime juice. Grate the zest from the limes before juicing them, avoiding the bitter white pith that lies just beneath the outermost skin. The optional coconut garnish adds textural interest and tames the lime flavor for those who find it too intense. I am not a coconut fan, so left it off. The recipe can be doubled and baked in a 13- by 9-inch baking pan (I will do this next time I bring these to work!); you will need a double layer of extra-wide foil for the pan (each sheet about 20 inches in length) and should increase the baking times by a minute or two.

Crust
5 ounces Keebler graham crackers (recipe calls for animal crackers)
3 tablespoons packed brown sugar (light or dark)
Pinch table salt
4 tablespoons unsalted butter , melted and cooled slightly

Filling
2 ounces cream cheese , room temperature (YES, I ATE CHEESE!)
1 tablespoon grated lime zest , minced
Pinch table salt
1 (14-ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
1 egg yolk
1/2 cup fresh lime juice , either Key lime or regular

Garnish (optional)
3/4 cup sweetened shredded coconut , toasted until golden and crisp

1. Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 325 degrees. Place foil in a 8 x 8 pan and let foil hang over the sides. Spray foil with nonstick cooking spray.

2. TO MAKE THE CRUST: In workbowl of food processor, pulse graham crackers until broken down, about ten 1-second pulses; process crumbs until evenly fine, about 10 seconds (you should have about 1 1/4 cups crumbs). Add brown sugar and salt; process to combine, ten to twelve 1-second pulses (if large sugar lumps remain, break them apart with fingers). Drizzle butter over crumbs and pulse until crumbs are evenly moistened with butter, about ten 1-second pulses. Press crumbs evenly and firmly into bottom of prepared pan. Bake until deep golden brown, 18 to 20 minutes. Cool on wire rack while making filling. Do not turn off oven.

3. TO MAKE THE FILLING: While crust cools, in medium bowl, stir cream cheese, zest, and salt with rubber spatula until softened, creamy, and thoroughly combined. Add sweetened condensed milk and whisk vigorously until incorporated and no lumps of cream cheese remain; whisk in egg yolk. Add lime juice and whisk gently until incorporated (mixture will thicken slightly).

4. TO ASSEMBLE AND BAKE: Pour filling into crust; spread to corners and smooth surface with rubber spatula. Bake until set and edges begin to pull away slightly from sides, 15 to 20 minutes. Cool on wire rack to room temperature, 1 to 1 1/2 hours. Cover with foil and refrigerate until thoroughly chilled, at least 2 hours.5. Loosen edges with paring knife and lift bars from baking pan using foil extensions; cut bars into 16 squares. Sprinkle with toasted coconut, if using, and serve.

Leftovers can be refrigerated up to 2 days; crust will soften slightly. Let bars stand at room temperature about 15 minutes before serving.

Sweet On Tokyo

It’s been almost two decades since I last set foot in Tokyo and when my sakura-obsessed friend A suggested we head there for cherry blossom season, I found it very hard to resist. Of course it helped that A’s brother currently lives and works there and he very kindly agreed to let us…well, me really…stay in his pad.

Life has been a bit of a whirlwind lately, so from the time we decided to make the trip to the time we stepped on the plane at almost 6am on a humid Monday morning, I barely had time to do any research on the best places to eat in the Japanese capital. In any case, I figured A’s brother Tim, having lived there for over eight months now, would be able to offer recommendations. So I did what any dessert-obsessed girl would do—I downloaded a list of French patisseries and chocolatiers, from Pierre Herme to La Maison du Chocolat, and braced myself for numerous packed-to-the-rafters subway rides. Oh, and I also brought along a dedicated foldable bag for all the macarons, chocolates and other goodies that I would hand-carry home.

Tokyo did not disappoint. It heaves with people at all hours of the day. Getting from one place to another during our first couple of days was a mission in itself, and on day one and two, we found ourselves snoring in bed by 10pm, having eaten nothing but bowls of ramen (and what good ramen it was) all day. Indeed, we got lost more times that we liked, and we got caught without umbrellas in very cold rain to boot.

On day three we realised that we had found our groove with the city and learned to seriously map our routes before going anywhere so we wouldn’t get too lost (or frustrated). The Japanese were also very kind to us—giving directions even when we could barely understand one another, for shops and patisseries that were just around the corner yet unexplainably invisible to us two guileless gaijins.



In the end, I lugged home a foldable bag bursting with chocolate truffles and macarons from Jean Paul Hevin and Pierre Herme, dark chocolate studded with sesame seeds and matcha truffles from Patisserie Sadaharu Aoki, two chocolate and chestnut cakes and a tin of black Russian tea from Joel Robuchon, several packets of beautifully wrapped wagashi, and more bags of rice crackers.

Food-wise, Tokyo turned out to be less expensive than we expected. While we didn’t dine anywhere posh, everything we ate—from the beautifully packaged bento boxes and egg sandwiches at the train stations to sukiyaki at a counter in Isetan Shinjuku—was divine. The Japanese not only take pride in the way their food looks and tastes, they also use the freshest ingredients that make all the difference (I’ve never tasted fresher eggs in my life).

Here then is my must-hit list of places in Tokyo, as varied as they are incredibly appealing—at least to a greedy chick like me:

For macarons, head to Pierre Herme (of course) at these addresses. Jean Paul Hevin has various outposts in the city and I found that his macarons travelled better than the ones from Pierre Herme.

Other fantastic patisseries include Patisserie Sadaharu Aoki, for its amazing selection of chocolates, cookies, teas and cakes (see their online shop on the website for the selection) and Joel Robuchon’s boutique at L’Atelier Joel Robuchon in Roppongi Hills.




Incidentally, L’Atelier Joel Robuchon is a fantastic place to sample the renowned chef’s cuisine at friendly prices. A four-course dinner costs ¥6,800 per head, plus taxes (about S$80), without wine. And what a fantastic meal it was. The entire experience was very pleasant, from the food to the service (the dishy waiters helped some too). The restaurant doesn’t take reservations, so either go early or early in the week—and be prepared to get in line.

If you can pull yourself out of bed at the ungodly hour of four or five in the morning, the Tsukiji Fish Market is worth a trip. This site has some pretty detailed pictures and information on the market. The market closes every Sunday and on alternate Wednesdays and Saturdays, so be sure to check before you head down.



The Japanese are incredibly polite, but I couldn’t help feeling like I was getting in the way of the fishmongers who are busily ferrying giant tunas along the narrow rows of the market. Us camera-touting tourists must be the bane of their existence—a right nuisance in the midst of their daily grind.

The best part of the fish market is the sushi you’ll have after. Everyone seems to head to Daiwa (Tsujiki Market, Bldg. #6, 5-2-1, Tsujiki, Chuo-ku, Tokyo | P: 03 3547 6807), much touted as the place for a sushi breakfast. I’m not much for queuing that early in the morning, so we headed to a little sushi bar (we didn’t even get its name), in which we spied several older Japanese folk having breakfast. If it’s good enough for them, it’s good enough for me.



Everyone’s been talking about the new Tokyo MidTown in Roppongi. It’s huge, it’s posh and well, it’s a mall. It’s kinda like Little New York, with its coffee and bagel shops and two Dean & Deluca outlets (one little coffee shop and the bigger gourmet store). It is also home to Jean Paul Hevin and Patisserie Sadaharu Aoki outlets.

No self-respecting foodie should miss the experience of a Japanese supermarket. The noisiest, most crowded and most interesting by far is The Food Show in the basement of Tokyu in Shibuya. It has everything—from fresh fruit, meat, fish, cooked food stalls, patisseries, chocolatiers—everything. And it’s chock full of vendors screaming across the crowds, from one end of the place to the other.

Finally, for quirky home items, check out Tokyu Hands. Give yourself at least an hour (more, to be realistic) because it’s eight floors of everything from kitchen supplies to hardware to cleaning equipment and camping equipment to stationary.