Last Minute Fruit Tarts

Rushing to get these fruit tarts done for my sister, a simple pate sucre, thin layer of raspberry jam, vanilla pastry cream, and fresh fruits. I had some extra pink modeling chocolate lying around so I did some quick roses out of that while watching tv (I love multi-tasking, haha).

Goat Cheese Dessert

Goat cheese for a sweet concoction may seem strange but it's still a cheese and it lends itself very well to a variety of fruits. This dessert isn't too sweet and is quite light on the palate even though goat cheese on its own can be quite strong. It is a goat cheese mousse with red wine roasted fruits and an oatmeal crumble.

Goat Cheese Mousse:

100g goat cheese
25g cream cheese
1 gelatin sheet, bloomed
140g cream
20g sugar

-scald 1/3 of the cream with the sugar and add the gelatin to dissolve.
-cream the cheeses together and add the warm gelatin mixture and whisk till smooth
-whip the remaining cream and fold it into the above mixture once it's cooled down
-pour into molds and freeze

Roasted Fruits:

15 blackberries
1 pear, diced
small handful of dried apricots, quartered
300ml red wine
80g brown sugar
1 vanilla pod
5 cloves
1 cinnamon stick

-toss everything together and roast in a 350F oven till fruits are soft and wine has reduced slightly. cool

Oatmeal Crumble:

100g butter
100g brown sugar
100g flour
50g oatmeal
pinch of salt

-mix everything till crumbly and bake in a 350F oven till golden brown.

Doughnuts

I love brioche. In any form. Brioche a tete, french toast made with brioche, brioche cinnamon buns, fried brioche. Yes, deep-fried brioche, aka: doughnuts! This is a recipe from Johnny Iuzzini's Dessert Fourplay that has citrus notes to it. He fills his with a creamy cheese mixture but I left mine plain 'cause I was too lazy to make a pastry cream.

Doughnuts

from Dessert Fourplay by Johnny Iuzzini

Sponge:
1 1/2 tsp dry yeast
1 cup lukewarm water (I used milk because I didn't have enough milk powder)
1 tbsp sugar
1/2 cup milk powder
1/2 cup flour

-sprinkle yeast over water and stir to dissolve. stir in remaining ingredients and leave at room temp till bubbly

Doughnut:
2 tbsp butter
2 cups flour
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg
1 tsp salt
grated zest of 1 lemon
1/2 tsp lemon oil

-mix above ingredients till smooth. add the sponge and knead till elastic and smooth
-leave to proof overnight in the fridge.
-roll out the dough to 1/3 of an inch and cut out rounds
-proof till doubled in size
-fry in oil and drain on a paper towel
-toss immediately in a mixture of sugar and citrus zests (I used a drop each of lemon and lime oil)

The result was about 2 dozen of sugary, fluffy doughnuts scented with lemon. Yum.

Chocolate, Pear, Hazelnut

Gianduja mousse atop a chocolate feuilletine base. Slices of caramelized pear with a pear mousse to top it all off.

Steak Cake

A steak dinner complete with a baked potato and vegetables, all made from fondant and cake. The steak itself was a devil's food cake filled with chocolate buttercream. I really liked how the baked potato skin turned out as well as the broccoli florets.

Breakfast

French toast with maple syrup breakfast sausages. So calorific and so good! I soaked Challah bread in a mixture of egg, half and half, sugar, and orange blossom water overnight and pan-fried them over low heat with some honey butter (equal parts honey and clarified butter).

The Making of a Cake

The request was for a cherry blossom cake for a chocolate lover. No fondant. The cake itself is two layers of chocolate sponge sandwiching an orange ganache, topped with a chocolate mousse and a thin feuilletine layer.

I decided to show all the steps involved in the decorating process. This isn't even that elaborate of a cake so you can imagine how long it must take for those amazing cakes you see on "Ace of Cakes".



Step one was making the white modeling chocolate and tinting it to form the cherry blossoms. I cut out and rolled with a gum paste tool to create the petals and let those dry before dusting them with a pink food coloring and dotting in the stamens.



After the cake froze, I trimmed the edges and glazed it with a chocolate glaze.


I piped the the branches with a chocolate water mixture, trying to make it look natural. Adding water to chocolate will make it seize but if you have the right ratio, the mixture will still be smooth and you'll be able to pipe it. I usually start off with just a few drops of water and add till I get the desired consistency. Most of the time, you want a texture similar to Nutella.


Adding the cherry blossoms.



And the finished product!

Hot Pot for One

I'm sure I'm not alone when it comes to trying to minimize the amount of dishes I need to wash at the end of dinner. Especially when I'm eating alone, I don't find it really worth it to use a bunch of pots and pans to cook one meal.

Here I've just cooked everything like a hot pot. One pot with water, boiled with green daikon and carrot till almost cooked through, napa cabbage for additional sweetness and flavor of the broth, and some dumplings, fish cake, and finally, cilantro to finish.

Honey Garlic Marinade

This is my go-to recipe for a marinade that's great for beef or chicken. I've done it here with some chicken thigh chunks and skewered them. It's best to marinate the meat overnight but even a few hours is good. I remember this recipe from a newspaper clipping a long time ago and have tweaked around with the ingredients a bit.

Honey Garlic Marinade

3 tbsp soy sauce
3 garlic cloves, minced
3 tbsp honey
1 tbsp hoisin sauce
2 tbsp plum sauce
1 tsp sherry vinegar
pinch of black pepper
1 tbsp olive oil

-whisk all

Chicken Noodle Soup

The chicken noodle soup that I remember was never great. Liptons from a bag (of which was the saltiest and tasted the least like chicken), Campbell's soup ( not horrible but not great), or my mom's which was chicken broth from a can heated up with macaroni. I think the latter might have been the worst because the macaroni was overcooked and the broth was bland.

I decided to take a stab at it though, even knowing that I have a large chance of failing as I'd never made stock at home before. So I bought some chicken bones and threw that in a pot after I roasted them with mirepoix, parsley, and some garlic. I got a little worried when I found only a tiny stub of carrot so I threw in a parsnip that I found in the fridge but this turned out fine. I cooked it down till it was reduced to maybe 1/2? This turned out pretty good and after chilling, it actually gelled a bit.

So I have stock, sliced carrots, onion, broken up linguine, chicken chunks, and the best part, kale! This was seriously good. The kale was actually sweet and the frilly leaves held the soup really well. I ended up having it again tonight but took out the chicken chunks and instead, mixed in a raw egg. Yum!