Biscuits, Lunch, and Dinner

Never mind the fact that Im sitting alone in a Portland hotel room, nervous-eating tortillas out of a bag. Never mind that. Thats neither here nor there. Well thats actually here, and happening. Suffice it to say that this book tour has me out in the world doing things that I wouldnt normally do. Its awesome, exciting, and tortilla binge inducing. Thats a complicated phrase.

Can we daydream about something while I sit here and work on this tortilla stack? In my daydream arebiscuits (which are totally breakfast), lunch (which I wish could always be fries), and dinner (which I always want to me mashed potatoes but isnt). Come over. Daydream with me. Ill totally share my bag of tortillas.

(gosh I wish I werent so weird.)

Why havent I invited you over for a biscuit and bourbon party?

Why is that just now crossing my mind? These Brown Sugar Bacon Biscuits would be perfect!

Tis the season forHot Cross Biscuits. Golden brown and studded with currants.

If you! didnt g ive up biscuits for Lent these might just have your name written all over them.

Biscuits transition. Biscuits were born to transition from morning to afternoon and evening. This Caramelized Mushroom with Chive Buttermilk Biscuits tastes like a double hug.

ThisSpinach, Feta, and Blood Orange Salad is such a beautiful occurrence. Its the perfect reminder that the world is absolutely stunning, on your plate, and edible.

I sometimes cook in color themes.

Green Goddess Israeli Couscous Salad.

Pretty vegeterian patties from Heidi Swanson. Lemon, Green Olive, and Parsley Quinoa Cakes.

This recipe has salty olives and fresh parsley. I want them every day! Health!

In real life, if Im not eating biscuits, tortillas, or doughnuts I have a deep desire to eat spicy lentils.

This Ginger and Lentil Soup is a life-saver.

Nothing heals like Sunday pasta and wine.

Well except a bag of flour tortillas. Those heal too.

Tremendous.

Eggs royale with pink peppercorn green tea poached salmon

Ok this will be a quick one. I wanted to put up part 2 of the food escapade in Singapore but the photos arent edited, nothings done with it and Im all of a sudden, too busy. So here is a quick one.

Ive been loving cooking breakfast like these during the weekends (when I have no classes to teach). Its cheap and delicious and healthy! (OK maybe you can ignore the Hollandaise sauce when it comes to being healthy, but surely better than nasi lemak or bah kut teh?) So Ive got this piece of salmon and I thought of poaching it instead of panfried/ grill for a breakfast option.

I found a recipe for poached salmon here and just made it without the rice. Then under it are 2 slices of bread, 2 poached eggs and hollandaise sauce (which I used ghee instead of butter)

Eggs Royale uses smoked salmon to substitute ham in the usual Eggs Benedict. There are so so so many variations that I wouldnt mind trying them ALL!! Eggs Florentine uses spinach, Irish Benedict replaces ham with corned beef or Irish bacon, but the most common ones here are probably just Eggs Ben and Royale.

And then we have the other main ingredient, Hollandaise sauce, the mother sauce! It is anemulsionofegg yolkandbutter, usually seasoned withlemon juice,salt, and a littlewhite pepperorcayenne pepper. Poured over a poached egg, then when the yolk cracks, with the hollandaise sauce, oh ! dear I c an eat this dish anytime anyday.

Eggs Royale with Tea poached Salmon

(serves 2)

Poached salmon

150g-200g pc fillet salmon fish (depending on how much u want to eat anyway)
1 green tea bag
pinch of sea salt
1 tsp pink peppercorns

Hollandaise Sauce

2 egg yolks
70g clarified butter or ghee (I used melted ghee)*
few drops of lemon juice
2-3 tsp water
salt

4 eggs
dash of white vinegar
handful of chopped parsley

Method

1.To poach the salmon, fill a medium saucepan with water, add the tea, pink peppercorns and salt. Let simmer for about 7 minutes, then drain it restoring the liquid in a bowl.

2. Return the liquid in the saucepan, add the salmon fillet and bring to boil. Simmer for about 10 minutes or until the salmon is just cooked through (pinkish inside is good). Take out the fillet and leave to cool. Fork the fillet into bite sized pieces.

3. To make hollandaise sauce, melt butter or ghee in a small microwavable bowl.

4. Bring a small pot of water to boil. Then bring down to simmer. The bowl on top has to be slightly bigger so the base of the bowl doesnt touch the water. Its the steam that heats up the bowl.

5. In a bowl, crack in egg yolks and 2 tsp of water. Whisk over double boiler continuously till it resembles a light sabayon, or somewhat thicker and lighter in colour (about 62 C). Remove from heat. Whisk in melted ghee a little at a time and slowly whisk till it combines. You can use a blender if the amount is huge. But otherwise, a whisk will work just fine. There should be no separation of oil or curdling.

6. Lastly, add in lemon juice! and sal t to taste. Some uses a reduction of vinegar and water or sherry to replace lemon juice.

7. To poach eggs, bring a pot of water to simmering. Add in a dash of white vinegar. Meanwhile, crack eggs in a small bowl.

8. Use a spatula and stir the water in 1 direction so it creates a whirlpool thingy. Lower the heat, pour in egg and count! Well usually it just takes about 1 minute for me.(Pictorial method here )

9. To assemble, lightly toast bread (english muffins are good too, recipe and method here), top with salmon then with poached egg. Drizzle over Hollandaise sauce. Sorry drizzle is not the right word, POUR over Hollandaise sauce and season with salt and pepper if needed. Chopped parsley makes a good flavour.

10. EATTTT !!!!

Thats it. I can live on this everyday.

Lunch @ El Cerdo, Changkat Bukit Bintang, Kuala Lumpur

Oink oink... says the pig.

When the "Top 5 Malaysian Restaurants" in The Miele Guide 2011/2012 was announced, I looked at the list and thought "Hey I've eaten in them all except for El Cerdo". This needs to be fixed, pronto!

We had a free afternoon recently and decided to go there for lunch. We were early so we got a parking right in front of the restaurant, but seriously Changkat Bukit Bintang is a nightmare for parking (esp if you don't want to walk far or park in the sun). We only found out when we arrived that El Cerdo dining area is actually closed during lunch and all diners are placed next door in El Cerdito. We sat at the front of the restaurant (high bar stools) since the lighting is slightly better compared to the back of the restaurant. The menu we got to order from was still from El Cerdo's though.

For lunch, you can order either from the regular a la carte menu or the set lunch menu. From the set lunch menu, you can enjoy the salad & cold appetizer buffet for RM25++ or set lunch with the buffet, mains and desserts for RM44++ or RM48++. We thought the set lunch sounded like a great deal and a good way of sampling their offerings hence went for this option.

Bread basket

All things porky..


The selection from the cold appetizer and salad buffet was pretty good. We we! nt for s everal rounds as we enjoyed most of them, if you like cold cuts, you can just go for this buffet and fill yourself up. There was pig head jelly, salchichon, pig trotter terrine, lomo, chorizo, honey ham salad, roasted pork with tuna sauce, jamon serrano, and more. They kept refilling the buffet, so no worries about turning up late and missing the good stuff. Do try the cold cuts with the rock melon - salty and sweet works well together!

Pig's head jelly - it hasn't really got much taste to it, but was interesting just to try. ;)

Salchichon - mild taste, nice texture, this was one that I liked.

Pig trotter terrine - this was also nice.

Lomo - a delicacy from Andalucia, cured loin with very little fat.

Honey ham salad - this was yummy too, a mix of cubed ham with onions, carrots and gherkins.

Salad

Roasted pork with tuna sauce - the meat was really tender and surprisingly the tuna sauce went well with it. I never thought that tuna and pork would work together.

Jamon serrano - one of my favorites with rock melon.

Can't remember what this was called, but it was some sort of pate.

Round 1

Round 2

Round 3

Round 4 - I ain't called Baby Sumo for nothing LOL

Both of us went for the RM48++ set lunch since the mains sounded much more interesting. The RM44+ set lunch consists of mainly sausages and pasta. Hubby had the Hickory smoked pork soft ribs served with BBQ sauce and mash potatoes. While the ribs were cooked til tender, we thought that the BBQ sauce was a little too overpowering. My choice of mains was slightly better, marinated pork shoulder steak (which happens to be one of their signature dishes) whereby the meat has been marinated for 48 hours with paprika, herbs, onions, garlic and mild Dijon mustard. It was served with a potato salad and mild mustard sauce. The table next to us had the suckling pig, which looked good, they even had a chopping ritual which was rather amusing to watch. Will come back to try this (RM358 for whole piglet - definitely not cheap!).

Hickory smoked pork soft ribs

Marinated pork shoulder steak

Round 5 - more cold cuts while waiting for our desserts LOL. I think I'm turning into a pig.

For desserts, there were 4 choices. Hubby went for the Spanish flourless chocolate cake which was decent enough to enjoy. We both loved the mango tiramisu, we wouldn't mind ordering this again next time.

Spanish flourless chocolate cake

Mango tiramisu

Inside El Cerdito

The cold appetizer & salad buffet counter - help yourself to as many rounds as you like!

More piggies

Went next door to El Cerdo for a peek

Check out the door handles!

Verdict: We enjoyed the cold appetizer buffet and desserts. Would return for the roasted suckling pig when I'm feeling a little richer. LOL ;P

Service: Good.

Price: RM48++ for se! t lunch. Available Mon to Fri 12.00 - 2.30pm.

Location: El Cerdo, 43 & 45 Changkat Bukit Bintang, 50200 Kuala Lumpur.

Tel: 03- 2145 0511

Website: www.elcerdokl.com

Vegan chef wows with meatless meals

Preparing vegan meals is about being creative. Photo courtesy of www.gardenguides.com

NEW YORK, March 13 For chef Chloe Coscarelli preparing vegan meals is more about being creative and adding variety with new ingredients and flavours than simply not using animal products in her recipes.

Coscarelli, who stopped eating meat while still a child, is a classically trained chef who shot to fame after winning the US cooking TV competition Cupcake Wars in 2010, after impressing the judges with a variety of vegan cupcakes.

In her first cookbook Chloe's Kitchen the 24-year-old California-based chef dishes up 125 recipes and proves that vegan food can be exciting, delicious and creative, as well as healthy.

Q: What made you decide to become a vegan chef?

A: My love for animals inspired me to choose a vegan way of eating and cooking. But once I went to college I just decided I wanted to intern in a restaurant and learn more creative ways to prepare vegan food because a lot of the old-fashioned notions are that it is dry or bland or boring. It was my mission to break those stereotypes and find delicious creative ways of eating vegan.

Q: How do you dispel the belief that a vegan diet is bland?

A: For me as a chef, flavour is the most important thing. It is not so much about taking away ingredients and making this a restrictive diet, but instead opening it up to more creative possibilities and adding more flavours and relying on a more varied array of produce and vegetables and spices and herbs. And it is really making sure that no flavour is sacrificed when you are taking out the animal fat.

Q: How difficult is it to cook without butter and milk and cheese?

A: It is much easier that you think. With just a couple of tricks you can veganise almost any traditional recipe. For example, when I make my cupcakes I rely on a very simple techniq! ue, and that is using just a couple teaspoons of vinegar in the batter. I know that sounds disgusting and I promise you won't taste the vinegar actually in the cupcake. It is just a chemical trick. The vinegar reacts with the baking soda and it binds the cupcake and makes it rise, so it replaces the egg. That is an extremely reliable technique.

Q: What are the main sources of protein in a vegan diet?

A: It has been proven that vegetarians and vegans actually consume more proteins than people who follow a traditional diet because if you are following a healthful vegan diet you are eating vegetables, grains, beans, legumes, nuts, seeds, all these different sources that you may have never consumed before and they are packed with proteins.

Q: How do you develop most of your recipes?

A: I have been cooking for a while. My mom is the one who taught me how to cook before my whole family was vegetarian, and we took a lot of old family recipes and actually veganised them. We used some simple techniques that I developed to make them vegan. I like to get a lot of my inspiration from things that are not vegan and turn them vegan.

Q: What would you advise to someone who is thinking about switching to a vegan diet?

A: I would say try it. Try it once a week, twice a week. I think the worst thing is when people get bogged down with thinking this is an all or nothing type of diet. That is not the case, at all. Every vegan meal that you eat, every vegan cupcake that you bake is a healthier option. It is great for your environment. It is great for the animal and it is great for your body. It is just fun to try something new.

Q: Does being a vegan help to maintain a healthy weight?

A: I found that it did for me. When you are a vegan you are naturally slashing out so many fat sources and calories sources. You are eating a cholesterol-free diet because vegan food has no cholesterol. You are eating a much, much lower content of saturated fat because you are cutting out all the animal! fat and also you are eliminating a lot of processed foods because those usually have hidden animal ingredients.

Chocolate Strawberry Shortcake Cupcakes (Makes 14 cupcakes)

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (or gluten-free all-purpose flour plus teaspoon xanthan gum)

1 cup sugar

1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup cold coffee, water, or coconut milk

1/2 cup canola oil

2 tablespoons white or apple cider vinegar

2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

Frosting

1 cup non-hydrogenated vegetable shortening

3 cups powdered sugar

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

2 to 5 tablespoons soy, almond, or rice milk

Garnish

1 1/2 cups hulled and sliced fresh strawberries

Powdered sugar

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line 2 (12-cup) cupcake pans with cupcake liners. In a large bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda, and salt. In a separate bowl, whisk together coffee, oil, vinegar, and vanilla. Pour the wet mixture into the dry mixture and whisk until just combined. Do not over mix.

Fill the cupcake liners about three-quarters full with batter. Bake for 16 to 18 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the centre of the cupcake comes out clean with a few crumbs clinging to it. Cool the cupcakes completely before frosting.

To make the frosting: Using a handheld or stand mixer, beat the shortening until smooth. With the mixer running on low, add powdered sugar, vanilla, and 1 tablespoon non-dairy milk at a time, as needed, until frosting reaches a spreadable consistency. You may not need to use all of the non-dairy milk. Beat on high for 2 more minutes until light and fluffy.

Once the cupcakes are completely cooled, slice off the top 1/3 of each cupcake and slather with frosting and sliced strawberries. Place the top of the cupcake back on top and add an additional bit of frosting and sliced strawberri! es. Dust with powdered sugar. Reuters

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