Portuguese custard tarts

Image 1: Portuguese custard tarts

Food synopsis: Canola puff pastry encasing fresh home made custard baked into a tart

Verdict: Sweetness was just right. Custard too runny. Pastry not fluffy enough and not enough in comparison to amount of custard. Didn't use butter puff pastry, so probably the major problem. May need to blind bake canola puff pastry before adding custard.

Recipe
Source: Donna Hay Magazine, Autumn 2012, page 100
Prep 20 min
Baking 30 min

Roast chicken drumsticks & butternut squash

Image 1: Roast chicken drumsticks with butternut squash

Food synopsis: Dry heat applied to chicken drumsticks massaged and marinaded with Italian herbs, freshly ground black peppercorns with a hint of lemon and olive oil.

The chicken flesh is steaming with juicy goodness, semi-encased by crispy skin which really shouldn't be eaten if you're looking after your health.

The pumpkin has that slightly dehydrated and shriveled look. But one bite through the crispy caramel skin reveal so tender  orange flesh soaked with the lemon and juices from the bottom of the pan.
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My first roast, prepared without help from those more experienced at cooking than myself.

Mini pizza scroll (tangzhong method)

Image 1: Mini pizza scrolls with tomato, onion and cheese

Food synopsis: A rolled ball of soft bread, intertwined with freshly diced tomato, onion and a sprinkling of cheese on top.


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It's definitely not the best looking, but the bite-sized flavours that reminded me a bit of  fresh, thick-based pizza, and the cheesy scrolls I used to get at Brumby's at South Yarra for a breakfast on the way to school.

It's quite clear from the photo that this was me experimenting with bread dough, made using the tangzhong method. This was the second time I was making bread using the this method. The first time worked out really well; I couldn't believe how soft and bouncy the bread was even after a day sitting on the counter!. Usually when I've

Sweet Almond Soup aka 杏仁糊 “hun yun wu”

Image 1: Sweet Almond Soup (杏仁糊 “hun yun wu”)

Food Synopsis: 杏仁糊 (“hun yun wu”) is a sweet, thick and hot 'soup'. It is made from almond meal (almond nuts ground into a powder), glutinous rice flour as a thickening agent, sugar to make it taste sweet and boiling water. It’s served in bowl and eaten/drunk with a spoon, so I guess that fits the criteria for being a ‘soup’. Even just a small bowl (~300ml) is very satiating and satisfies my constant craving for steaming hot food in this chilly weather!

I recall it being served to me as a snack or dessert when I was a kid, although I came across one website that suggested that it’d be a “nutritious breakfast”. English translation: ‘Sweet almond soup’.

Honey and Almond Slice

Image 1: Cubes of Honey and almond slice with mandarin

Food Synopsis: Honey and almond slice is a very simple cake made of honey and almond meal. It is dense and sweet, can be eaten straight from the fridge, at room temperature or warmed in the microwave. Whilst most cakes become more stale with time, the flavour of this one improves significantly. The cake becomes more moist the longer it sits in the fridge, probably due to the high concentration of simple sugars in the cake. These simple sugars, being polar molecules, attract moisture from the air, bringing it into the cake and making the cake more moist as time goes by.

In the freshly baked product, there is a crunch to  the edges, but as you bite in, the soft, nutty flavour of the cake is so delicious that the burn from the hot, sweet honey doesn't prevent you from taking the next bite. 

Dinner: salmon, chicken satay, pumpkin

Image 1: (Clockwise from top left) Stir-fried bok choi, satay chicken, steamed butternut pumpkin, white rice and pan-fried salmon

Basic bread using tangzhong (湯種)

Image 1: Breads and scrolls made using tangzhong method

The Tangzhong Method 湯種


Tangzhong (湯種) is a “flour roux”, the secret ingredient to making Asian breads so soft and fluffy. E.g. Bread top bread. Apparently, it can do this because gluten is able to absorb moisture best at 65°C, hence allowing the resulting bread loaf/recipe to keep moist for days when incorporated into bread dough.

Recipe

Adapted from Christine's recipes (great home cook and blogger!) http://en.christinesrecipes.com/2010/03/japanese-style-bacon-and-cheese-bread.html

Ingredients of 湯種
This amount is enough to make two loafs:
50gm/ 1/3 cup bread flour
250ml/ 1cup water (could be replaced by milk, or 50/50 water and milk)