The Cooking Ninja

Last Sunday, all mothers and mothers-to-be celebrated Mother's Day in France. This year, Little One's class, together with their teacher, made a lovely heart-shaped card with a poem and a hanging mirror with crystals all around it. What a lovely surprise gifts! Little One had been so excited about it and couldn't wait for Mother's Day to give it to me. The poem says 'There are millions of bees in hives, there are millions of birds in trees but there's only only 1 mommy.' Although it's not written by her, still I can't help being all weepy about it. Yes, us women and our hormones...

To celebrate this special day, we decided to make a lovely strawberry tart with crème patissière as strawberries season has just began. They are still kind of expensive but heck, why not indulge ourselves?

This is a very simple yet tantalisingly delicious tart to put together. Definitely an all time family favourite.

Strawberry Tart (with crème patissière)

Ingredients

• 1 or 2 packets strawberries
• crème patissière (French Pastry Cream)

Pâte Sablée (Sweet Shortcrust Pastry)

• 250 g Plain Flour
• 125 g Chilled Butter (cut into cubes)
• 80 g Sugar
• 1 egg
• A little water (ice cold)

Directions

Pie Crust

1. In a large bowl, mix the flour and sugar together and put in the diced up butter.
2. Using your fingers, rub the butter into the flour until it is crumbly (like sand). To make sure that all butter are rubbed in and there is no big lumps left, scoop some mixture into your hands and rub it in a rubbing motion.
3. Make a small well in the middle, crack in the egg and just a little bit of ice cold water. Mix the dough mixture with your hands until it forms a ball of dough. It will be a little bit sticky but the dough should hold together and comes off the bowl easily. Do not work the dough too much.
4. Wrap the ball of dough with a plastic wrapper and refrigerated it for 1 hour.
5. After 1 hour: Roll out a clean piece of cloth on the table; sprinkle generously some flour on it.
6. Flatten the dough slightly with your hands and dust the dough lightly with flour before rolling the dough out with a rolling pin. Start rolling at the centre of the dough and work outwards. Roll the dough into a circle and larger than the size of your pie dish.
7. Put your pie dish face down to the centre of dough. Put your hand underneath the cloth (centre of the dough) and gently flip the dough over.
8. Without stretching the dough, press the pastry firmly into the pan and trim any excess dough from the edge.
9. Prick all over the pastry bottom with a fork and put a smaller pie dish on top of it and bake it at 200°C (400°F - gas mark 6) for about 20 minutes or until it is golden brown. However if you don't have a smaller pie dish, cover the top with either baking paper weigh the pastry down with either beans or uncooked rice.
10. Remove pie crust from the oven and allow it to cool totally.

Making Crème Patissière

1. While pie crust dough is resting in the fridge or baking, make your crème patissière (French Pastry Cream) and set it aside to cool.
2. Keep your crème patissière chill in the fridge until it is ready to use.

Assembling Strawberry Tart

1. Rinse your strawberries and pat dry them with a towel.
2. Cut them into half and remove the stem. Set them aside.
3. Place the pie crust on a big plate, spread a layer of crème patissière on it (even it out smoothly).
4. Carefully place the half strawberries on top of it starting from the outer circle working your way to the centre of the tart.
5. Serve it immediately or keep it chill in the refrigerator until it is ready to be served.

The Verdict

This is one of Pierre's favorite dessert: it is sweet and provided you put it in the fridge before serving, very refreshing as the water and crème stay cool. All those components (crust, crème patissière and of course strawberries) actually can be eaten on their own, but together they also form an amazing combination!

Notes

If you have a food processor, to save time, process the dough ingredient with it. And if you can't bake your dough on the same day, wrap the raw dough pasty in a cling film and put it in the refrigerator - it can stay there for 2 or 3 days. It can also be kept frozen for up to 3 months. When required, simply defrost it slowly in the refrigerator.

Strawberries are very perishable, so only purchase them a few days prior to use. Choose those that are firm and have shiny deep red colour with attached green caps. When buying prepackaged strawberries, make sure they are not packed tightly and the container looks clean (no sign of stain or moisture). Before storing it in the refrigerator, check for any strawberries that are mouldy or damaged. Remove them from the the good ones or they will not contaminate others. Store them unwash in its container in the fridge.

Woohoo! It's about time! I'm back online again with my spanking new hand-me down laptop (Pierre's new toy finally arrived). I was slowly withering away in withdrawal syndrome of not being able to write new entry on my blog and keeping in touch with my readers and friends for a month. However something good did come out of this, like Little One getting 110% of mommy's attention and the house too (yes, the dreaded housework got done faster). Being without a computer for a month taught me quite a few things but I'm not going to bore you with this right now (later, I promise). Ah... lots of news and recipes to share with all of you.

Before we dive into my new recipe, I want to draw your attention to some NEW features on the Blog (courtesy of Pierre's programming talents):

• Print button (bottom right) - to print your recipe easily
• Translate button (bottom right) - different languages like French or Italian etc. I have checked the French translation and it was pretty good, even the measurement units get translated.
• Picture of each dish when you do a search by main ingredient or cuisine

And the following recipes to look forward to:

• Cuban Roast Pork & Black Beans (Frijoles Negros)
• Chapati with Potato stuffing
• Curry Coconut Prawns
• Chocolate Velvet Pound Cake

Now just before my infamous laptop failed me, I joined a food blogger book club This Book Makes Me Cook - besides reading the nominated book of the month (of course), we also make a book inspired dish as the club is aptly named. I'm very late at this but hey, better late than never! Anyway, April book review was Can you keep a secret by Sophie Kinsella - a light hearted and humorous chick book with kind of predictable scenarios (sometimes a bit over-the-top) but a good read all the same. I enjoyed it thoroughly, even laughed out loud many times at some hilarious situations. The story begins with the heroine, Emma Corrigan, who is aviophobia (fear of flying) babbling out all her secrets to a total stranger seated next to her on flight during a very bad air turbulence, thinking the plane was going to crash. Unfortunately for her, that stranger unexpectedly become a permanent fixture in her life.

There was a company family picnic day scene in this book that inspired me to make this no-knead brioche. I figured that if it works on bread, no reason why I can't make a brioche the same way? Et voilà! It's as easy as 1, 2, 3. From now on, I don't have to knead my brioche anymore - makes my life a lot simpler (pssst... because I suck at kneading big time). Just stir everything in, let it rise, punch it down and let it rise over-night covered in the fridge or a very cool place. Bake it the next morning and you have a lovely delicious breakfast.

No Knead Brioche (with M&M Peanuts)

Ingredients

• 1 tbsp plain flour
• 11 g dried yeast
• 60 ml milk or buttermilk (lukewarm)
• 300 g plain flour
• 45 g sugar
• 3 eggs (lightly beaten)
• 125 g salted butter (melted, cooled)
• 1 tsp vanilla essence
• a few handful of peanut M&M's

Directions

1. In a big bowl, mix 1 tbsp plain flour with dried yeast and stir in lukewarm milk making sure it is well mixed. Leave it for 15 minutes.
2. Mix the rest of plain flour and sugar together. Pour it on top of the yeast mixture.
3. Make a well in the centre, pour in lightly beaten eggs, cooled melted butter and vanilla essence.
4. Stir until everything is well incorporated.
5. Let it rise on the table for about 2 hours or until it doubles in volume.
6. Lightly punch it down and pull/fold the outer edge of the dough to centre.
7. Cover it with a plastic film and let it proof in the refrigerator or a very cool place overnight.
8. Lightly flour your work surface, turn the dough out and lightly dust it with flour. Roll it out into a big rectangle.
9. Sprinkle M&Ms all over the surface.
10. Roll in from the longest side like a swiss roll. Cut it into 6 or 8 even slices and arrange them loosely in the prepared round baking pan lined with baking paper.
11. Melt butter and sugar together in a small bowl. Brush this mixture on top of the brioche and let it rise for 1 hour.
12. Bake it in preheated oven at 160°C (325°F - gas mark 3) for 40 minutes.
13. Coat the top with some melted buttery sugary mixture again and let it cool.
14. Serve it with a cup of tea or coffee. Savour it.

The Verdict

It really tastes as good as the kneaded brioche. Pierre suggested using M&M's instead of the traditional pralines: OK, so it looks like a clown that has been thrown into a carwash, but it actually taste great and the peanuts still give the same crunchy sensation as the pralines

Notes

If you are living in cool climate country like me, I let my dough rise overnight outside on my window sill in spring or autumn but the coolest part of the house during winter.

I'm sending this No Knead Brioche recipe to YeastSpotting!.

You might like this too:

• Brioche Aux Pralines
• No Knead Bread
• Chinese Steamed Buns

Dear Readers, my apologies for not blogging anything new for a week. After my laptop died on me a few weeks ago, I started using my old PC (used to work on this PC before Little One was born) as an alternative but there were a few things I didn't quite bargain for. Like it used to have very weak Wifi signal that would most of the time prevent me from saving my post, but that was finally fixed by Pierre with a €69 plug. However it didn't fix the age of this PC - surfing or even typing something online is something else when we are also used to newer and faster PC. Just to give a general idea: I can type faster than it can print the letters on screen! I can take 40 winks while reading newspaper or blogs. Yep, it's that slow. So please do bear with me for a while until I get a new laptop.

Today, we are going to make a Verrine. I'm sure you have seen lots of cookbooks specialising on Verrine and even had it in the restaurants, as they have become very popular lately. You might be wondering like I did, what precisely is Verrines?

"A verrine is a confection, originally from France, made by layering ingredients in a small glass. It can be either sweet or savoury, making a dessert or snack." (Wikipedia)

So what has today's 'Verrine' got to do with The 4 Velveteers? Well, after our great adventure at making au naturel Red Velvet Cake (hence our name sake - Aparna, Asha, Alessio & I) and enjoyed it thoroughly, we decided to make it into a monthly event to spur each of us to great heights in our cooking/baking arena. For this month, we decided to make a savoury Verrine. To make it more challenging, we decided to do a blind concoction: each of us picked a secret ingredient and the 4 ingredients were revealed at the same time. I picked Salmon, Aparna chose Cheese while Asha decided on Squash/Pumpkin. Now, of course, Alessio being Al, has to throw all of us out of the loop with his pick of Chocolates. Yes you read it correctly. CHOCOLATES!

This month challenge is quite a difficult one for me as I'm not a great cook like Aparna, Alessio, or Asha. I still have a lot to learn. To be honest with you, I have never made anything with pumpkin or made a verrine before. The last time I tried to make a pumpkin tart, it turned out to be a disaster but my in laws and Pierre bravely ate it all the same. (Well that's another story) Anyway, I toyed with different mix and layers in my head for weeks. At first I wanted to make a curried pumpkin version to go with fresh salmon like sashmi but my curried pumpkin turned out awful. (had to dump it in the bin) so I stroke off that idea. Smoked salmon came to my mind a little bit too late as we have already done our grocery shopping for the week, so I had to stick to original idea of using fresh salmon. Then my mind was roused by the delicious fragrance of steamed gingered salmon with nice crunchy refreshing cucumber. Now how to pair it with cheese, pumpkin & chocolates was another challenge. Soon the idea of chived mixed with cottage cheese with small bits of dark chocolates started playing in my mind - then came the idea of having something crispy like chips ...voilà pumpkin chips was born. So with all that in mind, I finally set out to make my very special verrine. Hope you'll like it too.

4 Velveteers' Verrine

Ingredients

• fresh salmon (cut into cubes)
• ginger (peeled, julienned finely)
• a bit of light soya sauce
• some pumpkin slices (thin)
• cottage cheese or mozzarella (cubed)
• grated dark or small broken bits chocolates
• some chives (chopped finely)

Directions

Preparing Salmon layer

1. In a small bowl, marinate salmon with a bit of light soya sauce, pepper & ginger. Steamed the salmon for about 10 minutes or until it is cooked. Taste and adjust seasoning if needed. (Adjust the steaming time accordingly if it's a big plate of salmon)
2. Set it aside and keep warm.

Making Pumpkin Chips

1. Grease a plate (microwave safe) with a thin layer of olive oil.
2. Coat each slices of pumpkin with olive oil and spaced them out on the prepared greased plate.
3. Microwave it for 2 to 4 minutes. Then turn each pumpkin slices over and microwave it another 3 to 5 minutes.
4. Take them out and let it crisp up on a clean plate. Continue to do same with the rest of the pumpkin slices.
5. Voilà, you have your crispy pumpkin chips.

Preparing Cheese layer

1. In a small bowl, mix cottage cheese or mozzarella cheese with chopped chives and dark chocolates bits.
2. Set aside.

Assembling Velveteers Verrine

1. Take a verrine or a glass yogurt pot, spread a thin layer of diced cucumbers.
2. Spread a layer of gingered salmon on top of the cucumber.
3. Spoon a layer of cheese mix on top of the salmon layer.
4. Spread a layer of roughly crushed pumpkin chips on top of the cheese.
5. Serve immediately.

The Verdict

To my great surprise, it actually turned out good. The ingredients really blends well. The crushed layer of pumpkin chips gives a good flavour and texture to the chived cheese. The introduction of dark chocolate bits in the cheese was kinda odd at first but once we get over the surprise, we start to enjoy this new taste and find that it actually fits. The gingered salmon turned out really good. Overall, you have a very fragrant taste with a crunchy yet springy and refreshing savour all at once.

On the hindsight, I think mozzarella cheese would have been more ideal than cottage cheese as mozzarella is more firm and springy in taste which would go better with the soft textured salmon. For the salmon, perhaps it might have been better to steam it as a whole instead of in small pieces, to make it firmer. And also a more generous layer of roughly crushed pumpkin chips on top. I would like to make this again with this adjustment and experiment with making one with fresh raw salmon with a squeeze of lemon juice (perhaps).

Notes

When making pumpkin chips, it is best to wipe the plate now and then or else oil accumulates and your chips will turn out to be very oily.

The 4 Velveteers (as we called ourselves) are hosting a monthly event that explores food, cuisine or our passion about something that catches our interests. All of us shares our recipes, experiences and verdicts on our blogs. Every month will be a surprise - we never know what we'll make next. So if you're interested in joining the Velveteers, please feel free to drop by our food blogs and leave a comment and we will get back to you.

Do check out what the other Velveteers have come up with:

• Aparna created Verrine: Savoury Pumpkin Coconut Mousse With Herbed Mascarpone.
• Asha created Zucchini-Cocoa, Lime-Ginger and Smoked Salmon Mousse Verrine.
• Alessio created Fresh Zingy Richness in clear glass.

Dear Readers, immediately after I rejoiced blantantly to all that Spring is finally here in my post last Friday, winter slapped me hard on my face the next day with freezing cold below zero temperatures. As if that was not enough, winter threw in some snow on us last Sunday, as if to make sure that we understood that it was here to stay for a while longer and to stop dreaming about spring. Since last Sunday, the temperature stayed -3°C with snow fall now and then. On such cold days, the best way to warm ourselves up is to cook a pot of spicy hot curry like chicken curry or mutton curry or soup like tomato or leek & potato.

Leek & Potato Soup is one of the greatest classics of French homemade soups. I can easily understand why, for it is not only delicious, aromatic, nutritious but also inexpensive and filling. Leeks belongs to a vegetable family called the Allium vegetables like garlic and onions. Leeks are a very good source of manganese, vitamin C, iron, folate and vitamin B6.

How to choose Leeks?

Choose leeks that are firm, straight with dark green leaves and white necks. It should not be yellowed or wilted, nor have bulbs that have cracks or bruises. Buy only leeks with a diameter of 1 1/2 inch or less, as large leeks are generally more fibrous in texture. Store fresh leeks unwashed and untrimmed in the refrigerator in a loosely wrapped plastic bag : this will help to retain moisture and keep them fresh for 1 - 2 weeks. Cooked leeks will only stay fresh in the refrigerator for about 2 days.

Here's the simple version of the Leek & Potato soup that my mom-in-law and sis-in-law often cook at home. Hope you will like it as well. Enjoy!

Leek & Potato Soup (Soupe aux poireaux)

Ingredients

• 1 big onion (chopped)
• 4 leeks (washed and chopped)
• 2 potatoes (peeled & diced)
• 1 litre water or chicken stock (approx.)
• salt & pepper
• sour cream or crème fraîche or milk (optional - for serving)

Directions

1. Trim the leeks and remove the top tough green leaves, leaving on the tender green parts. Slice each leek longwise twice (like a cross), wash it and chop the leeks from top to bottom.
2. Heat a pot with some olive oil. When oil is hot, add in the chopped onions. Stir-fry it till fragrant & translucent.
3. Add the chopped leeks and potatoes to the pot. Stir-fry the leeks until it is soft.
4. Add in the water or chicken stock to the pot and bring it to a boil.
5. Season it with salt & pepper. Lower the heat and let it simmer covered for about 30 minutes or until the potatoes are cooked.
6. Purée the soup using stick blender. Taste, adjust the seasoning accordingly.
7. Serve hot plain or with a spoonful of crème fraîche or a bit of milk.

The Verdict

This soup is simply delicious - creamy, full of flavour and tasty. Little One loves this soup, even Pierre who dislikes leeks likes it. It's an all occasion soup: as comfort soup or under the weather or just to warm us up on a cold day. It's simple, quick & easy to make and healthy too.

Notes

The above recipe is the base. You can add other herbs to it or any other ingredients like bacons, mushrooms, chicken or fish, etc if you want. You can also freeze the soup but it must not have milk or cream in it.

Canada is buzzing with excitment... an euphoria so different from the sombre mood that kicked off the Winter Olympic 2010 on 12 February, with the loss of life of a 21 year old Georgian luger, Nodar Kumaritashvili during a training run a few days earlier. For the first time in Canadian history, an olympic gold medal was won on home soil by Canadian mogul skier Alexandre Bilodeau. This is the 3^rd Olympics held in Canada but the Canadians never won a gold in any of those Olympics. What a big celebration that must be for them!

We too, at BloggerAid, are buzzing with excitment of our own kind, cheering alongside all the athletes who have trained so vigorously and represent their respective countries. No, we aren't putting on our skiis or skates. Our sport is FOOD, so we'll be woking & whisking along with them in BloggerAid-CFF Culinary Olympics - an excellent idea by Val and Giz, the founders of BloggerAid :

« In many ways BloggerAid-Changing the Face of Famine (BACFF) members are also athletes. We represent over 60 international countries who have created and developed a communication and friendship that has brought our world a little closer together with a mission to raise awareness. What better way to come together than to create a Culinary Olympics where we can share our pride for our nations cuisine. »

Did we say FOOD? Now, you are talking to the right person. We, Singaporeans pride ourselves in knowing our food - it's sort of a National pride and past-time. Oh, an advice: never start a food conversation with a Singaporean. Go down that road if you dare but don't say I never warned you. Cuisine of almost all cultures can be found on this tiny island called Singapore. Hence we earn ourselves the name 'Food Paradise'. Bon! Today, we aren't going to talk about Singapore but France - the country of LOVE and its haute cuisine - as it is the place that I call my home today.

I was pleasantly surprised to learn some interesting facts about the country I'm representing, like:

• Pierre Frédy, Baron de Coubertin (1 Jan 1863 - 2 Sept 1937) founded the International Olympic Committee in 1894 and was considered as the father of the modern Olympic Games. He also created the official Olympic Rings & Flag, wrote the Olympic Motto, Oath and Creed.
• The first Olympic Winter Games, originally known as "Winter Sports Week" (but was later officially recognized as "Olympic Winter Games" in 1926) was held in Chamonix, France in 1924. It was a great success attracting 10,004 paying spectators.

All these calories burning winter sports commands a good winter dish to energize us back in form like Cheese Fondue or the Poulet à la crème (creamy chicken) that I'm going to introduce to you today. This recipe is traditional of the Bresse region and is particularly simple to dish up - created by Eliza Blanc, a very talented cook famously known as la mère Blanc who cooked exclusively with only simple and fresh products found in Bresse. In 1929, She was awarded a Star by the Guide of Michelin. In 1930, she was bestowed 1^st prize in le Touring Club de France's culinary competition. And in 1933, the Prince of Gastronomy, Curnonsky declared that la mère Blanc is the best cook in the world. She was also the grandmother of great French chef Georges Blanc.

Poulet à la crème comme en Bresse (Creamy Chicken)

(from Ma Cuisine Des Saisons by Georges Blanc)

Ingredients

• 1.8 kg whole chicken (deboned & cut meat into medium sized pieces)
• olive oil or vegetable oil
• 2 to 3 tbsp plain flour
• ½ litre (500 ml) thick cream or thick crème fraîche
• 3 egg yolks (to mix with thick creme)
• 1 onion
• 1 clove
• 1 small branch thym
• ½ bay leaf

Directions

1. Put the chicken carcase in a pot with some water. Cover and let it brew. Keep some chicken stock aside.
2. Salt and pepper the chicken pieces.
3. Heat up some olive oil on a big pan or wok on high heat and lightly brown the chicken pieces.
4. Add in the onion prick with a clove on it, thym and bay leaf.
5. Add in a bit of butter or olive oil, stir in the plain flour. Mix, let it blend and cook for a minute or two.
6. Add in some chicken stock, enough to cover the chicken pieces (half way) but not submerging it nor cover 3/4 of it.
7. Stir and bring it to a boil. Stir to blend it together. Cover and cook under low heat for about 30 minutes.
8. At the end of 30 minutes, take out the chicken pieces and put it aside - keep warm.
9. Filter the sauce with sieve to filter out the herbs and spices n onions.
10. Reheat the sauce, add in the thick cream already mixed with egg yolk. Stir to blend it. Cook it under low heat so that it doesn't boil.
11. Adjust the consistence of the sauce according to your taste by diluting it with a bit more stock or thicken it with more cream.
12. Adjust the seasoning according to taste and complete the seasoning with a light squeeze of lemon juice.
13. Serve immediately hot with rice or pasta.

The Verdict

This dish is very rich, creamy and deliciously aromatic. The chicken has to be top quality here, you'll taste the difference. I would highly recommend to add in morsels of mushrooms (morilles is my favorite with this dish).

Notes

Alternatively, you can simply chop up the chicken pieces with bones on it and cook as per above but just add water instead of chicken stock. If you use a good quality chicken for this recipe, you won't need any commercial chicken stock to make this dish taste good. I didn't take out the chicken and sieve to filter out the spices from the sauce.

The members of BloggerAid-Changing the Face of Famine have published a cookbook BloggerAid CookBook where 100% of the proceeds target children and education through the World Food Programme called School Meals. The highly successful BloggerAid-Changing the Face of Famine Cookbook continues to be available through the Create Space e-store. The e-store is a direct connection of Amazon but the book cannot be found directly on the Amazon.com site. We have chosen to deal exclusively with Create Space where our children in the School Meals Programme will benefit the most! This professional cookbook makes an excellent gift for family and friends. So let's keep the momentum going. Tell your friends, who will tell 2 friends, who will tell another 2 friends...

Have you ever been served by rude waitress, cashiers or customer service people? I did, not just once or twice, but many times and I'm sure you did too. Sometimes they were so bad that you'd think they are suffering from a bad case of constipation. Perhaps they are lacking prunes or dried plums in their diet!

Prunes or dried plums? What is the difference? None at all. Dried plums is just a new name for an old classic name of prunes. I'm sure not many of us know that they are also high in antioxidants. The fruit and its juice are well-known for its natural laxative effect, thus making it a common home remedies for constipation. So next time if you get bad service, give them a packet of prunes. Maybe that will help them give better service and look less constipated. LOL!

As for me, whenever I get bad services, I always remember the stories from my ex-Management professor on how he dealt with such situations. First he would kindly enquire after the well-being of the said person, much to the said person's surprise and unease, then he would ask if he/she had a rough day at work or is having some personal problems, etc. And if all answers came to a 'NO', he would then politely tell that person: 'If you aren't happy with your job, QUIT. Why make yourself and others miserable? If it's not the case, then why the bad mood?' I can assure you that teacher was truly capable of it. LOL! Would I dare do it like he did? To this date, I haven't mustered that kind of courage. Perhaps I'm a product of how my parents brought me up - the old fashion Asian culture way. So how would you react to such bad treatments? Do you remain quiet and suffer it through or do you tell them off?

Like many, Pierre and I aren't a big fan of dried prunes but what if I tell you there is a way to encourage the young and old to eat it? Eight years ago, when I first arrived in France, my mom-in-law served me this delicious French classic appetizer made of bacon wrapped prune, baked to a nice crisp. Pop one in your mouth, you will be sent on a delicious taste trip. Try this appetizer today, you will love it. Everything taste better with bacon, right?

This is my contribution to this Weekend Herb Blogging #217 hosted by lovely Anna from Anna's Cool Finds.

Crispy Bacon Wrapped Prune

Ingredients

• 12 strips bacon (thin slices)
• 24 dried prunes (pitted)

Directions

1. Preheat oven at 230°C (450°F - gas mark 8).
2. If the bacon strip is long, cut it into 2.
3. Lay a strip of bacon on a plate or board, place a dried prune at the beginning edge of bacon strip. Roll, wrapping it tightly around the dried prune until end of strip.
4. Using a toothpick, pierce through centre of wrapped prune to hold it in place.
5. Bake it for about 15 minutes or until bacon is grilled slightly crispy on both sides. Flip and grill the other side at mid way.
6. Serve warm.

The Conclusions

I never thought that this combination would this oh-heavenly-delicious. The taste of sweet-slightly sourish flavour of prune mix with salty crispy taste of bacon all rolled in one bite. Once you starts eating them, it's hard to stop as we are forever chasing after that 4 flavour, bite after bite. And it's obviously super-easy to make, which doesn't hurt.

Notes

You can also cook them under grill mode of your oven or pan-fry them without oil if you don't have an oven.

La galette des rois (kings' cake) is sold all over in France starting from 1^st January until end of January to celebrate the Epiphany on January 6. There are traditionaly two versions - in the South, it is a brioche covered with sugar and some fruit paste while the northern part of the country, it is a richer pie made with frangipane (a sort of almond paste) filled puff-pastry. Besides the paper crown that comes with the cake, there is also a hidden porcelain figurine 'la fève' (a charm) in the paste and the person who finds it in their slice will be crowned king or queen for the day. Traditionally, to distribute the slices randomly, the youngest member of the family will go under the table and calls out the name of the person around the table whom she wants the next slice to be served until everyone has their slice on their plate. Then that's where the fun begins, everyone looking at each other wondering who got the lucky 'fève'... and chewing carefuly as not to end up at the dentist!

In Pierre's family, this tradition of slice distribution used to fall onto my sister-in-law until Little One was born. So when she turned 2½ years old last January, she took over that important role. Being a little chipmunk, the idea of going under the table and commanding who gets the first slice greatly appeals to her. That being said, she couldn't help and keep peeping out of the table just to make sure that we didn't cheat. Needless to say, she wants to be crowned PRINCESS of the day regardless who got the fève. LOL!

January has always been my special and favourite month of the year. Do you know why? Have a guess! But now there's another reason to like this month even more - I get to eat my favourite Galette des Rois through out the whole month. YEAH! Last year I made my very first attempted to make this galette and much to my surprise it was so easy to make. One simply can't go wrong except maybe if you are half as distracted as me while making it, in which case you'll ended up with a very brown galette (as shown in picture below). LOL!

Galette des Rois (Kings' Cake)

Ingredients

• 2 packets puff pastry (home-made or store bought)
• 90 g ground almonds
• 70 g icing sugar
• 90 g butter, melted (I use semi-salted butter as usual)
• 2 eggs
• 1 1/2 tbsp heavy crème fraîche or heavy sour cream
• 1 tsp almond extract (optional)

Ingredients

1. Preheat oven at 220°C (425°F - gas mark 7).
2. In a big bowl, mix ground almonds and icing sugar together.
3. Stir in 1 1/2 beaten eggs to the dry ingredients until combine. Keep the rest of 1/2 beaten egg aside.
4. Mix in the melted butter until it is well incorporated before stirring in the crème fraîche or sour cream. Make sure each new ingredient is well incorporated into the mixture before adding the next ingredients.
5. Lastly mix in the almond extract.
6. Lay out the first puff pastry (with it's baking paper) on a baking tray and lightly fork it all over the surface except the border.
7. Spread out the frangipane evenly on the puff pastry leaving a space about 2 - 3 cm from the border (so that you can seal the dough well later).
8. Now pick any spot and place the charm (la fève) lightly into the frangipane.
9. Lightly wet the border of the first puff pastry.
10. Align and place the 2^nd puff pastry over the 1st pastry and frangipane, press to seal the edges making sure there is no big air bubbles underneath it. . If it happens, don't sweat over it. Your tart will come out just as nice but puff up in the centre.
11. Mix a little bit of milk into the left over 1/2 beaten egg. With a pastry brush, brush this milky egg mixture all over the surface of the puff pastry, making sure that every corner is covered.
12. With the sharp end of a sharp knife, start carving designs on the top without piercing it through.
13. Bake it for about 20 minutes or until pastry is puffed up and golden brown. If your pastry is browning too quickly, lightly cover the top with a foil or baking paper.
14. Let it cool a bit before serving. It can be served slightly warm or room temperature.
15. Before serving it, make sure the youngest of the family is under the table calling the name whom she wants a slice of galette to be served first. And lastly, don't forget to have a crown ready to crown the King/Queen who finds the charm (la fève).

The Verdict

Mmm... sorry to say that it tastes even better than the ones from the bakery. Yes, I'm conceited. I love the mixed taste of sweet mingled with just a tint of salt (salted butter!) and the almond flavour is just right with the crispy puff pastry... mmm... Simply yummilicious!

Notes

For those who have a very sweet tooth, do increase the quantity of sugar as sweetness of this recipe is just nice. If you don't have almond extract, you can replace it with vanilla essence.

Ho! Ho! Ho! Merry Christmas!

This Christmas, Santa is bringing lots of presents for everyone as they have been good through out the whole year, especially Little One who has been sleeping through the night for the past month. Her mommy told her every night before she sleeps 'If you sleep through the night every night, Santa will bring you lots of presents but if you don't, Santa will know and will not bring you any presents'. To my surprise, she whispered secretly to my ear: 'Shh! Mommy, don't tell Santa if I didn't sleep through the night. It stays a secret between us.' LOL! I told her 'Mommy can't lie to Santa. He knows everything and can see straight away if I lied. Now be good and sleep through the night like a big girl' Sleep through the night she did except for a few times where she was woken up by noises made by the radiators or some storm.

This year like every other year, we celebrate Christmas and New Year with traditional dishes like foie gras, scalop sautée with butter vinegared onion sauce (delicious!), good wine and desserts like home-made chocolate truffles, orangettes etc. However this year, together with my sister-in-law, we got a little zealous a bit earlier and made a classic Italian cookie, amaretti and a great French classic, îles flottantes.

Îles flottantes, literally translated as floating islands, is one of the great desserts of classic French cuisine. It's basically a lightly cooked meringue floating in custard sauce, crème anglaise. This dessert is a prominant feature on the menu of many French restaurants (along with crème brûlée) and tourists like you and me (well before I came to live in France) who don't know any better pay an indecent amount of money just for the taste of it. Well, now you don't have to travel all the way to France to savour it, you can do so at home - it's a rather easy dessert to make.

Île Flottantes

Ingredients

• crème anglaise (French custard)
• 6 egg whites
• 3 tbsp sugar

Caramel

• sugar
• water

Directions

1. Prepare your crème anglaise (French custard) in advance and let it chill in refrigerator.
2. Preheat oven at 200°C (400°F - gas mark 6).
3. Beat egg white until peaks formed and firm (when you turn your bowl upside down, it sticks to the bowl).
4. Continue to whisk the white while adding the sugar until you get a shiny meringue.
5. Transfer it to a baking bowl and bake it on marie-bain covered at 200°C for about 15 minutes or until the meringue gets a bit brown on top.
6. To serve: pour some crème anglaise in a small dessert bowl, scoop a large spoonful of meringue and place in the middle of the dessert bowl. Sprinkle either bits of Pralines or drizzle with caramel sauce (or both) on top of the meringue and serve.

Preparing Caramel

1. Put some sugar and water in a small pot and heat it up on medium heat.
2. Once it turns bubbling brown and golden, turn off the heat.
3. Drizzle a bit of the caramel on top of the meringue.

The Verdict

It's one of the funniest dessert: it's like sweet clouds floating on a lake of vanilla! The meringue is light and fluffy and goes well with the cream.

Notes

Alternatively, you either poach spoonfuls of the egg white in boiling water, or in microwave oven on low power for 45 seconds (I haven't tried this out) or in a pot of hot milk for 2 minutes.

Crème Anglaise, literally translated as "English cream" is a French (!) dessert sauce (liquid custard) with vanilla flavour. Why it is called Crème Anglaise - I have no idea! This sauce is classicly used in a French classic dessert called îles flottantes (floating islands), but it is also frequently served along with cakes and pastries. It can also used as a base for ice cream or crème patissère or as a sauce for some dry cakes, dark chocolate cakes etc.

This sauce is easy to make at home. So why get one from the shelf of a supermarket when you can easily make a delicious one without preservatives or coloring?

Crème Anglaise

Ingredients

• 1 litre full cream milk (or semi-skim milk)
• ½ vanilla bean pod
• 8 egg yolks
• 150 g sugar

Directions

1. Slit open the vanilla bean pod and remove the seeds. Put both seeds and vanilla pod in the milk and bring it to a boil. Turn off heat. Cover and let the vanilla bean infuse in the milk for 20 minutes to ½ hour.
2. In the meantime, whisk egg yolks and sugar together until it is creamy.
3. Remove the vanilla bean pod from the milk.
4. Pour the hot milk into the egg mixture a little by little while whisking continuously to avoid curdling. And then stir in the rest of the milk until the mixture is well combined.
5. Transfer the whole mixture into a pot and heat it under medium fire. Stir it constantly with the wooden spoon or spatula scraping the sides and bottom until the foams disappear (critical stage).
6. Once the foams disappear, watch out carefully. The creme anglais will be done in about 2 minutes. The mixture will start to feel slightly thicker (not liquid like water). Stop once the mixture coats the back of your wooden spoon or spatula.
7. Remove from heat and transfer the crème anglais into a big serving bowl to let it cool.
8. Let it chill in the refrigerator until it is ready to be served.
9. The crème anglaise can be eaten as it is or compliment as sauce to cakes or other type of desserts.

The Verdict

This is a great way of enjoying vanilla, as the flavor stands alone in giving taste to this sauce. This is a dish where a real vanilla pod will clearly make a big difference against artificial vanilla flavoring. This traditionnaly is great along with a strong chocolate cake, something with raspeberries or a cake too dry to eat without some sauce.

Notes

The sweetness of this version is just right and to our liking. However, if you like it sweeter or serve it with something light in sugar, you can probably increase the sugar amount a bit.

Don't throw away the vanilla pod after removing it from the milk. Dry it and store it in a container with some sugar to get natural vanilla flavoured sugar.

Macarons... that tiny lovely delicious, elusive traditional French pastry that got the whole world raving about. How something this small, made up of only egg white, ground almonds and tons of sugar managed to command such worldwide admiration? I don't know... I guess it's the variety of flavours and colours and of course, sugar is always addictive! Personally I didn't find anything special about it. LOL! Perhaps it's because I'm sweet enough as it is; any more of it, I'll make the world go ditzy like the macs.

The history of macarons goes all the way back to the 18^th century and the popular sandwich macaron filled with cream we devour today was invented by the French pâtisserie Ladurée. Many have tried to make these macarons, some succeeded while others failed. Those who failed tried to understand where they went wrong, why their macarons cracked, had no feet, oozed out etc. There are many possible reasons but diagnostic is always hard for the baker. The only thing you can do is to try again and again, tweaking this and that, going by trial and error, then cross your fingers and hope for the best. And of course, anyone who managed to get the infamous mac FEET, will, without fail, do the MAC FEET DANCE in their kitchen like they have won a million dollar lotto, laughing and shouting to the whole world 'I GOT FEET! I GOT FEET! WOOHOO!' - that exhilarating feeling, adrenaline shooting in every parts of our body... you get so excited that you would even kiss a toad if it was right there at that moment (erhm... maybe not on 2^nd thoughts).

I remember when I got my FEET at my 2^nd attempt at making macarons. Boy, was I feeling on top of the world. I was doing the MAC FEET DANCE in my kitchen, shouting, jumping and laughing 'I GOT FEET, honey! I GOT FEET!' nonstop. All this time, Pierre was upstairs in his office thinking that the macaron fever had made me go nuts. LOL! Like all trends, my macaron fever came and went as fast.

It wasn't until recently, Jamie and Deeba got caught up with the macaron fever and dared each other to make it. Jamie got hers right at first try but sweet determined Deeba had to go through 6 egg whites before she finally got her FEET. However, poor Aprna, she still couldn't find her FEET. She felt very despondent over it. Don't give up, Aprna. You'll definitely find your feet. Their enthusiasm over macs soon spread and reached out to others, hence the birth of MACTWEETS a virtual Mac Kitchen, a place where all of us could gather, share advice and share laughs, find encouragement and solace, cheers or pats on the backs. So tell me, how could I not join in their fun?

This time around, I decided to try my hands on tea flavoured macs - 1^st batch is red fruits tea infusion flavoured (a mix of strawberries, raspberries etc.) and 2^nd batch is green tea matcha.

Red Fruits Infusion Macaron & Matcha (Japanese Green Tea) Macarons

Ingredients

• 1 egg white (sit out and aged 24 hours)
• ½ cup icing/powdered sugar
• ¼ cup ground almond
• 2½ tbsp sugar
• 1 packet Red Fruit Infusion or 1 tsp matcha (Japanese Green Tea) powder

Vanilla Buttercream

• 1 egg white
• ½ tsp vanilla extract
• 60 g sugar
• 110 g salted butter, softened

Directions

1. Put ground almond, icing sugar and red fruit infusion or matcha (green tea) in the food processor and pulse it a few times until they are finely ground. Alternatively, you can mill the infusion before mixing it together with icing sugar and ground almonds.
2. Sieve the ingredients and set it aside.
3. In a big bowl, whisk egg white until very frotty (foamy), then slowly add in the sugar. Continue to whisk the egg white until you obtain a glossy meringue or a stiff peak.
4. Fold in the dry ingredients and food colouring (if you are using) with the egg white with quick strokes until you don't see any white or dry streaks on the batter (or the colour is blend). You don't need to fold it gently like you are making a sponge cake.
5. The batter should flow like a thick ribbon. Test a small amount of batter on plate. If the top flattens, the batter is ready. If there is a small beak, give the batter a few more foldings.
6. Put your batter in a pastry bag fitted with a plain tip (Ateco #807 or #809). And if you don't have one like me, place 1 «V» end of a freezer plastic bag in a cup (helps it to stand), fill it with batter. Then snip the 'V' tip off.
7. Pipe small rounds onto parchment paper or on non-stick reusable baking sheet. Tap your tray a few times to let any bubbles in the macarons surface.
8. Let the macarons rest for 30 minutes to an hour to harden their shells a little.
9. Preheat oven to 170°C (325°F - gas mark 3).
10. Once the macarons are in oven, lower temperature to 150°C (300°F - gas mark 2). Bake it for 10 to 15 minutes, depending on how small or big are your macarons.
11. Let it cool before lifting the macarons off the paper.
12. However, if you have trouble removing the shells, pour a bit of water under the baking paper while the sheet is still warm and the macarons can be easily removed. Do not let macarons sit on it too long before removing or else it will become soggy.
13. The macaron shells are ready for filling.

Making Vanilla Buttercream

1. Whisk egg white until foamy. Then add in the sugar.
2. Continue to whisk the mixture on bain-marie until all sugar dissolves, the mixture becomes whitish and hot to touch.
3. Remove it from bain-marie and continue to whisk until the mixture cools down.
4. Add vanilla extract, then butter bit by bit while continueing whisking the mixture until all butter is well incorporated.
5. Put your buttercream in a pipping bag with a small nozzle or freezer plastic bag.
6. Your buttercream is ready to be piped.

Assembling your macarons

1. Find matching shell size and arrange them in rows with one facing up and the other facing down. This way, you will know which shell to pipe the fillings on.
2. Pipe a small amount of buttercream in the centre of your macaron shell. Then cover it with another shell.
3. Voilà your macarons is complete and ready for degustation.
4. Macarons taste best if let sit in the fridge for a day.

The Verdict

I love both versions. The red fruit infusion macaron is very aromatic and sweet. One doesn't even have to bite it to savour the flavour, the smell is enough! The mixture of this fruity macarons with vanilla buttercream is sublime. It's my little girl's favourite.

The taste of green tea macarons is a bit special if you haven't had Japanese green tea before. It tastes slightly bitter (as expected) but I simply love the seaweed flavour that it oozes out with each bite. As you can see from the picture, my green tea macarons didn't quite turned out right as I was experimenting with new recipe and temperature. Pierre always told me not to mess around with my recipe if it isn't broken but did I ever listen. LOL!

Notes

Sandwiched macarons keep for a week in the fridge. Let the macarons comes to room temperature before serving. That said, we ate it right out from fridge and it's as good.

If you aren't using the macaron shells right away, store them in an airtight container at room temperature for a few days or you can freeze them.

I find baking macarons on non-stick reusable baking sheet works best for me. I can lift them off easily sans problem. And it is best not to make macarons during rainy days due to high humidity.

Lastly know your oven well. Some oven heats up real fast. If need be, play around with the temperature of your oven to see which temperature gives you the best results for your macarons.

To avoid your macarons from getting brown too quickly, either put your tray at the lowest rack or put another tray above your macaron.

For more information on troubleshooting your macarons, read the following : Syrup & Tang, Joe Pastry, David Lebovitz, Tartelette, Kitchen Musings & Mactweets