Sunday, April 11, 2010

Pudding Roti mamaoci

holaa kali ini edisi masakan amatir dari dapur ochi. kebayang2 pudding roti cinnamon bikinan mamahnya MBF, jadi pengen cobain bikin sendiri. resep dapet dari puding roti di suatu buku bonus dari margarine, tapi dimodif sendiri ditambahin taburan coklat =P~
ini perdana bikin beginian, laen kali mo cobain another modif.

bahan:
roti tawar *terserah mau berapa lembar, tergantung tempat yg dipakai ;p
susu cair
telor
garam secukupnya
gula sesuai selera
esens vanili
daun pandan
bubuk cocoa dicampur gula pasir
margarine *utk olesan di loyang, tapi pas masak ini lupa makein @_@

caranya:
campur susu+gula+garam+vanili, aduk rata terakhir baru masukkan telor dan aduk kembali.
olesi loyang dengan margarine, susun roti sesuai selera, siram dengan hasil adukan. utk daun pandan selera aja, supaya wangi baunya. taburin bubuk cocoa yg sudah dicampur gula pasir diatasnya.
tinggal kukus sampai mengembang, jadi deeh... hidangkan hangat2, bisa ditaburi susu kental manis vanilla.

*bikin adonan jangan terlalu penuh yaa, karena kan mengembang. kalo terlalu penuh bisa luber kemana2 ntar.

Taste you...

You all know that I'm obsessed with redhair girls... Julianne Moore, Florence & The Machine, Shirley Manson, Lilly Cole... and now, taking the advantage that she's releasing her new album, I can say it loud: I love Mellissa Auf Der Maur.


I met Melissa when she was playing the bass at Hole, the band from Courtney Love (a person I really don't like). Since the first time I saw her, I knew she was speciall, although she was singing the backgrouds vocals I listened to her voice with more interest than Courtney.

In 2000, I had the pleasure of seeing her with The Smashing Pumpkins at the Sacred and Profane tour. She was there instead of D'arcy, who has left the band, and I can only say that she as gorgeous, very friendly and near to the public.



When she released her first album, I bought it without doubt; it was brilliant. It was 2004 and is called Auf Der Maur, the same name she uses as an artist. Taste you, Real Life and Followed the Waves were the singles of this glorious debut.

And now, finally, after so many years (and a EP released in 2008), we can finally have Out of Our Minds, her new album. I just have listened to it and I love it; her voice is as great as always, and I can't wait for seeing her again in a live show...




Did you know Melissa? What do you think about her?

Polish Kielbasa with Caramelized Onions, Sauerkraut and Crispy Potato Pancakes

Today's post on, "What Should I Have for Dinner Tonight?" is the latest guest post. It is my pleasure to introduce a meal prepared for us by Mary Bishop - who writes very successfully for Helium.com under the pseudonym, Tierney O'Hara. Mary (Tierney) has not only prepared this meal for us but even gone to the bother of preparing settings and drinks accompaniment suggestions.

Without further ado, I will hand over to Mary - in whose own words this wonderful and delicious recipe appears...

Polish Kielbasa with Caramelized Onions, Sauerkraut and Crispy Potato Pancakes

It's late and I'm tired and hungry. I want something that is filling, that is easy to prepare and something that exists in my pantry or refrigerator right now. I throw on some sweat pants and a tee shirt because on this rainy day, I want comfort - in my clothes and in my food.

The pantry yields a large can of sauerkraut, a new bag of yellow onions and three pounds of russet potatoes. A quick look in the fridge says I have dry vermouth sitting on one shelf and a jar of Plochman's Kosciusko mustard on another. A six pack of Stella Artois sits cold and golden next to the mustard, and there are a couple of eggs still left in the carton. I open the freezer door to take a look see, and a loop of Polish sausage just about calls my name.

It was then I knew exactly what I should have for dinner tonight:

Polish Kielbasa with Caramelized Onions, Sauerkraut and Crispy Potato Pancakes

Preparation is simple, cost is minimal, calories? I didn’t count them, but I suggest you eat this meal on a day when you’ve skipped lunch.*

Ingredients

16 ounces Kielbasa
16 ounce can of sauerkraut
2 large onions
2 large eggs
5 medium potatoes
2/3 cup dry vermouth
Salt and pepper to taste

Method

Cut the Kielbasa into about 10-12 pieces on the diagonal. Place them into a non-stick skillet and heat on low. As the sausage cooks, the fat will seep out of the sausage and into the pan to add incredible flavor and color to the onions and the sauerkraut. After about five minutes, put the heat up to medium and add the two onions which have been cut into a large dice. Cover.

Next get your box grater and place it into a large bowl. Remove the skin from 5 potatoes and rinse and dry them. Grate the potatoes and when done, spill out the darkened water. Then add about 1/2 to 3/4 cups of flour, 2 eggs and salt and pepper. (Don’t add grated onions or garlic as they will soften the pancake and it won’t be crisp.)

Heat a second non-stick pan to medium. Lightly grease the pan with vegetable oil and using a large serving spoon, drop potato batter on to the hot surface. Cook until the edges are very brown, and then flip. Keep warm in a hot oven by placing them on a rack over a cookie sheet.

After about fifteen minutes, remove the lid from the sausage and onion pan and stir. Continue to stir to color the onions with the caramelized juices that have accumulated in the pan. Let the mixture cook until the juices have almost evaporated, then pour in the vermouth. Stir again, then push the sausage and onions to one side of your frying pan. Add in the can of drained sauerkraut and cover again. Let simmer on low until you are ready to serve.

On the next damp, rainy day when you are tired and hungry and you just don’t know what you should have for dinner –cook up this quick and simple peasant meal and I promise you that you will love it.

*Okay so it isn’t the healthiest meal but it’s not the worst either. Sauerkraut is low in calories and good for you as are onions and potatoes. The Kielbasa today is quite lean compared to years ago and my favorite Hillshire Farms brand has an unbeatable flavor. You can’t have a smoky sausage with hot mustard and a crispy, potato pancake without a beer, can you? I think there’s a law that says you can’t...

More Polish Cooking Recipes and Ideas

If you want more suggestions for delicious Polish meals, you may like to consider these two excellent books, both currently available on Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk. Simply click on the image for further details and/or to make a purchase.



Alternatively, you may wish to browse Amazon's book store or shop for yourself, to see if you can pick up any further deals. In order to do so, simply click on the relevant link below:

Amazon.com Bookstore

Amazon.co.uk Book Shop

Teaching Mom to Cook

Henry and I have long believed that, at some point in life, your parents become your children.  That's fine and we can deal with it when it happens but here's the scary thing:  we're the parents! 

Sometimes I see it when we're around the kids and we do or say something they think is idiotic (which is frequent) and they just look at each other and roll their eyes.  You know that look.  It's something like "did they really just do that?  Clearly they are starting to lose it."  They're probably thinking about what nursing home they're going to put us in and how in the hell they're ever going to get the basement cleaned out.  Whatever.

I will admit though, when Andy was home recently, I learned a few cooking tricks from him.  Lord, I hope he never reads this blog!  But as I mentioned before, he's got that food gene and he knows how to balance tastes.

Since he was keeping kosher for Passover while here (which meant no restaurants, bummer), he stocked my kitchen so he could prepare meals for himself.  I cringed when he brought home dehydrated minced onion.  He also brought something called "zahatar."  It's an Israeli spice mix, primarily with sesame seed and coriander.

One day he made himself a salad for lunch.  I wasn't paying much attention, busy doing whatever (probably making gefilte fish) so I didn't notice what he put in it.  Then he offered me a taste.

Holy crap, it was amazing.  It was crunchy, salty, savory, lemony, oniony and flat-out delicious.  What on earth did he put in it?

Turns out it was similar to a salad he had in Israel (he loves the place).  He recreated it.  I can't give you an exact recipe, but I can tell you what he put in it.  Make it according to your taste, but trust me (you can, I'm not skinny) MAKE IT!

ANDY'S SALAD

Salad greens (he used heirloom lettuce leaves, slightly sturdier than mesclun mix)
Dehydrated minced onion, to taste
Pistachio nuts, to taste
Crumbled goat feta, to taste
Zahatar seasoning, to taste
Fresh lemon juice and extra-virgin olive oil, to taste
Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Place salad greens in a bowl.  Add remaining ingredients and toss well to blend.  That's it.  Make it for 1 person or make it for 20. 

So much for my food integrity.  Those dehydrated onions turned out to be crucial to the salad.  Who knew?

Oh, and remember that macaroon recipe I posted recently?  He tweaked that one also.  He made it into a macaroon pie (again kosher for Passover) and he added orange and cardamom.  It didn't look pretty, but it sure tasted good! 

ANDY'S MACAROON PIE

10 oz. bittersweet or semisweet chocolate
20 oz. almonds (not roasted)
2 cups granulated sugar
1 1/2 cups egg whites (about 9 extra-large eggs)
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1 teaspoon ground cardamom
1 tablespoon orange zest
Candied orange zest for garnish (if desired)

Preheat oven to 350-degrees.  Lightly grease two 9-inch glass pie plates or baking dishes.

Melt chocolate in a double boiler over very low heat until smooth.  Set aside to cool.  In a food processor, grind almonds and sugar together (in batches) until very fine and almost powdery.  Place in bowl of electric mixer and add remaining ingredients.  Beat on low speed until just blended; do do overbeat.  Alternatively, you could do this by hand with a whisk or large wooden spoon).

Pour mixture into prepared pans and bake for 15-20 minutes.  It will still seem soft in the midde, but it will firm up as it cools.

Let cool to room temperature before serving.  Top with candied orange peel and whipped cream, if desired.

Serves 12-14

Well, if I do end up becoming their children, at least they know how to cook!

This weekend...


I've been taking pictures...                                   (read more)




I ate mexican food with Nati, RocĂ­o and Micky...


And we drank pink panther's milk...

Now I'm ending my work for tuesday and I'll take a shower in a while for going into the city center.... more pictures!

What did you do this weekend?

'Still got the cake' - Life after Masterchef

It’s all over. Those weeks and months of hard work and secrets. The challenges, the travels, the interviews and (just occasionally) the cooking.



My time as a Masterchef finalist is done and I can look back with pride at what we all achieved: heaving hot boxes through the courtyard of a thousand year old castle; working alongside some of the best amateur chefs in the country and then progressing to the final and running a restaurant with two of the nicest chaps I could ever have hoped to meet; cooking Alain Ducasse’s own signature dessert and serving it to the legendary man himself (not to mention a table full of Michelin starred chefs); transforming offal and other seldom used cuts of meat into dishes fit for a prime time BBC1 cooking show. To name but a few of the once-in-a-lifetime challenges that we faced.



Except it’s not over. It’s only just beginning.

By Thursday morning my inbox was registering almost 700 unread emails that had come in since Wednesday’s final episode. Amongst them were job offers, enquiries from agents and, most lovely of all, messages from people I have never met. People who were kind enough to take the time to write and say how much they enjoyed the show and send their congratulations at my reaching the final.

Thank you to you all. I will reply, I promise - but I may be some time. In a real sense rather than an ominous Captain Oates sense.

There are a number of very exciting projects in the pipeline, amongst them a book and a restaurant - both of which, I must add, are in the very early stages of development. But as soon as there is more news, it will be announced right here on my blog.

So watch this space.



In the mean time, the chocolate and coffee pot recipe that dazzled the critics is available here, on the BBC Food website (but don’t freeze the espuma!). However, if you’re looking for something more hearty and warming, might I suggest this lamb breast recipe, which is currently slow-roasting in my oven, albeit a more spiced version. It’s amazing what you learn from cooking in India for a Maharajah.

Oh, and I’m on Twitter: please drop by and say hello.

Wicked-cool spaghetti pics by the amazing @photolotte