Eggs baked in Ham and Potato Hash - Potato Week # 1

A week of school break passed by so quickly. Now that Lydia is in kindergarden, I do feel the spirit of school holidays, the breath of relief that I do not need to wake up that early to prepare her, hahahaha!!

Well, I didn't go anywhere except back to my mom's for a few days and meeting up with Lena over for lunch. I didn't take any pictures with her, except that to tell you, she's a very nice lady. She came to pick me up at my mom's as I didn't drive that time, wasn't allowed to! We chatted for almost.... 4 hours. Hahaha, if it's not for the rain, it'll be even longer. Thanks Lena for the tarts, my nieces walloped every piece except for one that I ate. Hahah!

I had been sewing and sewing during the school break. 14 windows and glass doors needs to be adorned with curtains, which brings to 14 pairs of curtains and 13 pairs of screens, which comes to 27 pairs = 54 pieces of curtains!!! Crazy? Yes. My SIL asked me, why didn't I just pay to get it done. Gosh, if you have invested in a good sewing machine and yet pay thousands to get the curtains... then the machine would've gone wasted. I only used less than RM600 for 54 pieces of curtains. Less than 10% of what I would've been charged to get it done.

Many years back, I bought a book at Doulos. If you have no idea what Doulos is, it’s a ship that sells books. Yes, you go on the ship and buy books!!! It was only RM10 for a 256 colour filled country kitchen cookbook. A steal, so I didn’t really look through.

That time, I wasn’t exposed much to western food, besides what fast food outlets offer or, Steak houses(The Ship, Victoria Station, and the rest), so called western food that are all steaks, potatoes and boiled vege. When I flipped the book when I got home, I was only interested in 1 recipe, Duck Casserole with Chestnuts. The rest seemed unappetizing to me. Casseroles and everything jumbled up in one pan is not my thing that time.

Now, as I grew older, and as my cooking knowledge increases through blogging and surfing, I seem to go beyond the looks and look into the recipes.
Few days back (or months back), while chatting with Pei-Lin, I flipped through this book again, and I just found myself mesmerized by so so many of the recipes in a book I once made a white elephant.

Here’s the first recipe I tried from this white elephant that will now be made a treasure trove.

Eggs baked in Ham and Potato Hash
Recipe source: Country Cook's Companion by Liz Trigg
Servings: 4

200gm cooked ham (I used ham chips, and requested for the thicker chips)
200gm cooked russet potatoes (2 medium sized ones)
1 can of corn nibbles (the large one, I added this, because it's on the brink of expiry. It wasn't in the recipe itself)

3 pieces sliced cheddar cheese (That's the only cheese I have)
1 medium sized onion (about 70gm)
2 Tbsp Ketchup (I forgot to put, and it'll definately taste better with this)
200ml whipping cream (I put this in last minute because I was worried about the dish being dry)
4 eggs
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
50gm butter
1 heaped tsp chopped fresh rosemary (I had a pot of this, had**)
Some parsley for garnish

Method:

1. Dice ham, potatoes, cheese and chop the onion.
2. Preheat oven at 160/180
3. In a pan, melt half the butter and and pour the butter into a 8 inch baking dish/4 small dishes. Swirl the butter around and pour back into the pan.
4. Put in chopped rosemary and let it heat for few seconds. Pour rosemary infused butter into a bowl, Set aside.
5. Melt remaining butter and cook the onions until soft.
6. Pour the onions into a large bowl and put in ham, potatoes, cheese, and ketchup.
7. Taste. If not salty enough, season with salt and pepper.
8. Spread the mixture in the buttered dish/dishes.
9. Make 4 wells in the dish/dishes (picture above), drizzle in the whipping cream and bake for 15 minutes.
10. Remove from oven and pour egg into the wells and and drizzle the rosemary infused butter over the dish.
11. Bake for another 15-20 minutes until eggs are set.
12. Garnish with parsley and serve.

My kids loved this dish. Especially Lydia

Picture taken months ago, they do look older now.

Blueberry Yeasted Sugar Tart - Berry Week #5

Remember the Apple Yeasted Sugar Tart? It was so delicious that I made another version 2 weeks later with blueberries. My blueberries were wrinkled... hahaha. But then it won't matter when it's smothered with cream and baked.


Recipe here

Simply sprinkle the blueberries on top instead of pressing the apples in at step (8). The rest of the instructions remain the same.
Because the blueberries weren't pressed in, the yeast tart might puff up during baking and cause the cream topping to flow down the sides. To prevent this, I shaped a ring around it, with small pieces of dough.
I also changed my baking temperature to 180C (first bake) and 150C(second bake after putting on the cream). Colour was better this time. The baking temperature may vary with your oven.

Verdict:
Frankly, I preferred the apple version. The inserted apples gave the tart a moist and soft texture. This version is not as soft, but still nice.

I'm taking a week off.

Happy School Break to all parents and students

and see you again on

21st March 2011

I am submitting this to Aspiring Bakers March 2011 Fruity March

One Bowl Blackberry Cake - Berry Week #4

I’ve seen blackberries last year and they were super expensive, like about RM25 per punnet. And few weeks back (the time I wrote this post) I saw them at Jaya Grocer for RM15.90. I just got to buy them!!!
I came back, kept them in the fridge, I had no time to make anything as Christmas was around the corner and Lyanne’s birthday was soon to come too (that time).

After everything passed, I finally could get my hands on the blackberries. I used a few for the pizza cake and the balance I made them into this cake.
I didn’t have milk and lemon, but then I thought of the apple juice I have in the fridge. Haha, could use that instead to substitute the acidic part of the recipe. And I also reduced the sugar as I found 2/3 cup plus extra for sprinkling to be a bit too much, plus, now I’m using apple juice, so better reduce, not the usual 30% for American recipes, but more.

A simple one bowl cake, Lydia’s first cake. She helped with the stirring and putting in the blackberries. That girl put her finger into the batter bowl and licked it. “Yucky, I don’t like this!”
Haha, I told her, it’s not cooked yet. Wait til it’s out from the oven, then you tell me it’s yucky.

Kids : )

One Bowl Blackberry Cake
Recipe Source : Espresso and Cream

135gm cake flour
½ tsp baking powder
½ tsp sodium bicarbonate
80gm sugar + 20gm sugar for sprinkling (reduced from 2/3 cups(135gm) +extra for sprinkling)
125ml unsweetened apple juice (substituted the milk and lemon juice in original recipe)
55gm melted butter
1 egg
1 cup black berries (I used less than one punnet)

1. Preheat oven at 170(fan)/190C. Line the base of a 9 or 10 inch shallow pan. (I used 10)
2. Sift flour, baking powder and sodium bicarb into a mixing bowl. Mix in 80gm sugar.
3. Make a well and pour in apple juice, melted butter and egg. Mix until combined.
4. Pour batter into lined pan and arrange blackberries(I cut each into half) onto cake.
5. Sprinkle sugar over batter
6. Bake cake for 20 minutes (the baked cake is only about 1.5cm tall when cooled down)

Verdict:
The moment Lyanne saw the cake, she yelled “Pizza!!”. Hahaha, she didn’t give the same reaction when she saw her birthday “Pizza Cake”. I wished she said the same when she saw her birthday cake. Ok, about the taste, simply divine. It may be thin, but it’s not dry. Soft and fluffy and the sugary crust was simply delicious. Best eaten warm so that the sugary crust remains crunchy. When I brought this cake down to Mike’s office, people looked at it, asking me whether it’s sweet, due to the look of it, but when they all tasted it, they said, not sweet, and it’s just nice and very yummy.

If you cannot find blackberries, feel free to use other berries. But don't forget to change the name to fit the cake.

I am submitting this to Aspiring Bakers March 2011 Fruity March

Berrylicious Yogurt Ice cream - Berry Week #3

This is a cleaning the fridge ice cream.

The strawberries has been in my freezer for many many months. More than 9 months, I guess. And a punnet of blueberries almost on the brink of being totally dried up by the fridge, half a lemon left from a rhubarb juice, a carton of half finished yogurt and a bit of whipping cream left in a large carton.

What better way than to use them all up in an ice cream. So I made this up.. and the outcome was really good. But weirdly, this melted faster than my Blueberry Ripple Yogurt Ice Cream, although this version contains more gelatin. The actual fact is that this version contains more cream than the former version. Maybe that’s why.. maybe.. I’m saying maybe.

I also made some into popsicles

Berrylicious Yogurt Ice Cream
Recipe source: Wendyywy

125gm blueberries
125gm strawberries, hulled
100gm sugar
2 Tbsp lemon juice
1 tsp lemon zest
1 tsp gelatin
1 Tbsp water

170gm plain yogurt
300gm whipping cream

1. Cook strawberry blueberries and sugar until the syrup turns into a nice purplish colour.
2. Turn off the heat and put in lemon zest and juice.
3. Let it cool down and blitz to a puree. Set aside.
4. Place gelatin and water into a larger bowl. Let it sit for 2 minutes.
5. Heat 1/3 of the puree until it is hot and pour into gelatin mixture. Stir until gelatin melts.
6. Mix with the rest of the puree. Combine with the yogurt.
7. In a cold bowl, whip the cream to soft peaks.
8. Pour 1/4 of the puree into the whipped cream and fold with a whisk.
9. Repeat step (8)
10. Pour in all the puree and fold.
11. Pour ice cream mixture into prepared moulds (a loaf pan or popsicle moulds)
12. Chill overnight until totally frozen.

I am submitting this to Aspiring Bakers March 2011 Fruity March

Red Berries Tray Bake with Cheesecake Ripple - Berry Week #2

I am a girl and I love pink. Well, maybe a woman now, hehe.

Well, girls seem to be born with this liking for pink. My girls love pink. I never teach them to like pink.

I am not pink crazy that I love my car or room to be pink, dressed in pink from top to toe, pink lipstick and eyeshadow, but when cakes or desserts come in pink, I am totally swooned. Absolutely swooned!!! So, when I saw this cake on Technicolor Kitchen, I just can’t say no to it, and I have half a block of cream cheese left from my Pomegranate Cream Cheese Orange Salad. And I also have strawberries left over from the “tomato sauce” for the Pizza Cake. And I just bought some raspberries too.

Not that I don’t love plums that I don’t want to use them like Patricia did. Red plums are in season now, and I just saw them at RM12/kg. Not too expensive, cheaper compared to using rasps and strawberries. But since I already have those ingredients in hand, so just use them, rather than go and buy 4 plums for this. Plums when baked are very pretty. They have this wonderful pinkish hue from their skin. It doesn’t look as pretty when the fruit is raw, but when baked, the colour is super pretty. You can see how pretty it is in my plum and nectarine cobbler.

At first I wanted to use some blueberries too, but then I don’t want to spoil the “pinkness” in this cake. Feel free to use blueberries or even fresh peaches (Australian peaches in season now!!!!).
Basically, any soft fruit will work with this cake. Substitute with whatever you have on hand. But don't forget to change the name to fit the cake. A cake with blueberries can't be called red berries tray bake, or a cake with peach can't be called a berry cake too, as peaches are stone fruits, a category in its own.
I also changed the method for the cake. I used creaming method, just to reduce slightly the amount of baking powder used. I didn’t reduce the sugar content as my fruits are rather tart. If your fruits are really, really sweet, then reduce the sugar, as the sourness of the fruits seems to intensify after baking.

Red Berries Tray Bake with Cheesecake Ripple
Sources:

As seen on Technicolor Kitchen

Original recipe from : Waitrose

Cream cheese mixture

125gm cream cheese

2 Tbsp sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

Cake batter

120gm butter

120gm soft brown sugar

2 eggs

½ tsp vanilla extract

140gm all purpose flour

1/ 2 tsp baking powder

200gm raspberries and strawberries

1. Rinse fruits and set aside to air dry.

2. Fully line a 8 inch shallow square pan with overlapping baking paper.

3. Preheat oven to 160(fan)/180C.

4. Sift flour with baking powder, set aside.

5. Beat cream cheese, vanilla and sugar until creamy, put into a plastic bag.

6. Cut the strawberries and tear raspberries into halves.
7. Cream butter and brown sugar until light and fluffy.
8. Add in eggs one by one, beating well after each addition. Beat in vanilla extract.
9. Put in half of sifted flour and beat until combined and beat in the balance of flour.
10. Put 40% of the batter into the lined pan, spread it around.
11. Snip a corner (abt 8mm) off the plastic bag with cream cheese in it. Squirt ½ the cream cheese all over the spread out batter.
12. Arrange half the fruits over the batter. Gently press them in.
13. Dollop remaining batter over fruits, press and spread the batter over the fruit.
14. Squirt the balance of cream cheese over cake and arrange the balance of fruits. Gently press the fruits in.
15. Bake for 35 minutes or until skewer comes out clean.

Verdict:
Very soft and moist!!! The cream cheese ripple added a special dimension to the taste of the cake. Creamy and dense compared to the soft moist cake. Yummylicious! As predicted, the berries turned tarter after being baked. The strawberries were still fine, but the rasps are…. Hahaha, squince a bit when you eat. But then, the next day, the tartness mellowed and was longer as sharp. Same thing happened to my Stone Fruit Tea Cake 2. It only tasted fragrant and sweet the next day. So, if you ever find the cake to be too sour for your tastebud, keep it for one day, it’ll be much better.

Do not keep it at room temperature for more than 24 hours. It contains cream cheese and you better chill it to prevent it from turning bitter and bad. Warm it in the microwave for 10-20 seconds, and the cake is very nice when eaten warm.

I am submitting this to Aspiring Bakers March 2011 Fruity March