Saturday 28 June 2014

Mushroom frittata by Angeline Lim

This is a easy and versatile recipe, with the egg base, you can choose to add any ingredients of your choice like ham, bacon, chicken, broccoli, asparagus, corn and the list goes on. Very kid friendly as well.
Ingredients
    6 large eggs
    2 tbsp milk
    Salt and black pepper to taste
    unsalted butter
    1 onion, thinly sliced (omitted as didn't have any at home)
    1 box Swiss brown mushrooms, sliced
    1 garlic clove, minced
    Some mixed herbs, those bottled type. Can use fresh herbs like basil or of your choice
    Tomatoes as much as you like, I use cherry tomatoes sliced into half
    About 1/2 cup shredded Cheddar or Parmesan cheese
Method
In a mixing bowl, whisk together the eggs, milk, salt, a few grinds of pepper. Add cheese and combine

In a pan heat up some butter and the onions and garlic till fragrant, add in the mushroom and cook in medium heat for 2 to 3 minutes till the mushrooms have soften. Season with salt and pepper.

Pour the mushroom and egg mixture into your baking tray, stir to even spread the mushroom. Add in the tomatoes. Bake it in the oven at 170c for about 20 to 25 minutes. Press the centre of the frittata, it should be firm to the touch when done. You can sprinkle some cheese on top if you like it to be more cheesy.

Let it cool for a few minutes before cutting.

Crunchy Top Moist Blueberry Yogurt Muffins by Stef Patt

Recipe: Crunchy Top Moist Blueberry Yogurt Muffins



Makes about 10-12 regular size muffins

Ingredients:
384g plain flour
4 level teaspoons baking powder
1/2 level teaspoon fine kosher salt
2 eggs, room temperature
200g caster sugar
1 cup(~250ml) Chobani blueberry 0% fat Greek yogurt, to use after 30min at room temp
1/2 cup sunflower oil
1 teaspoon vanilla paste or extract
1 & 1/2 cups fresh blueberries

Method:
1. Preheat oven to 210 degree Celsius. Line muffin tin with muffin liners. Set aside.
2. In a large bowl, sift together flour, baking powder & salt. Set aside.
3. In the mixer bowl, whisk together eggs and sugar at medium speed until combined. Mix in yogurt, oil, and vanilla till well combined. Mixture will be very runny.
4. Make a well in the middle of the flour mixture from step 2 & slowly pour in the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients.
5. Gently fold everything together using a wooden spoon or spatula. About 10 folds later, add in the blueberries & continue gently folding for another 10 to 12 folds. To avoid overmixing, ensure you fold gently until there are no big pockets of flour remaining. Small specks of flour all over the batter is fine. Note : The batter will be very thick and lumpy.
6. Using a dessert spoon or cookie batter ice cream scoop, scoop the batter into the prepared muffin liners, filling all the way to the top.
7. Bake at 210 degrees Celsius for the 1st 5 minutes then reduce oven temperature to 190 deg and continue to bake for abt 20-25min until the tops are golden and skewer comes out clean.
8. Allow muffins to cool for 10 minutes in the pan before chomping on the muffins!

Crunchy muffin tops taste best on the day of baking but will soften thereafter.

Mixed Paella by Felicia Heng

Mixed Paella
Ingredients:

•    A variety of fresh seafood – mussels, clams, prawns, squids, etc
•    1 boneless chicken thighs, cut into chunks, seasoned with salt and pepper
•    2 spicy Italian or chorizo sausages, cut into chunks
•    1/2 medium onion, chopped fine
•    2 cloves garlic, minced
•    1/2 small red pepper, seeded and cut
•    1/2 small green pepper, seeded and cut
•    1 tomato, skinned, seeded and cut
•    1 1/2 cups rice, use short grain rice like Bomba, Arborio or Calrose
•    3 cups warm chicken or seafood broth
•    1/4 cup olive oil
•    1/4  tsp saffron
•    1/2 tsp paprika
•    1/4 tsp dried rosemary
•    1/4 tsp dried thyme
•    1/8 tsp ground cumin
•    Salt and pepper
Note: Sun-dried tomatoes go well in a meat paella.
Other herb and spices, like oregano and tumeric can also be used.

Method:
1.    Heat some olive oil in a frying pan and brown the sausages and set aside.
2.    Next, in the same pan, brown the chicken pieces and set aside.
3.    Fry the onion and garlic for a couple of min before adding the tomato and the peppers and fry for a few minutes.
4.    Add the rice and cook until rice is translucent.
5.    Crush and sprinkle the saffron into the warm broth and add broth into the rice mixture together with all the spices that you are using and stir until well mixed.
6.    Transfer to a pre-heated paella pan.  Add the chicken, sausages and the seafood. (Alternately, you can lightly cook mussels and prawns separately in some of the broth and set aside to be added to the dish when it is almost done)
7.    Bake uncovered in the oven (on a lower shelf) for about 25-30 min until rice is tender and broth has been absorbed. (Alternately, cook over the stove over low heat.  If do so, ensure heat is even under the whole pan if possible.)
8.    Do not stir or disturb the rice while it is cooking.
9.    Remove from heat, cover with foil and allow paella to “rest” for 5 minutes before serving.


Felicia Koh

Chocolate-pandan Triple Magic Custard Cake by Susanne Ng

Chocolate cupcake with mascarpone frosting by Karen Yee


Chocolate Cupcakes with Mascarpone frosting
•    1¾ cups all purpose flour
•    2 cups granulated white sugar
•    ¾ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
•    1½ tsp baking soda
•    ¾ teaspoon salt
•    2 large eggs
•    1 cup buttermilk (or substitute by putting 1 tbsp white vinegar in a cup then filling the rest up with milk; let stand 5 minutes until thickened)
•    ½ cup butter, melted
•    1 tbsp vanilla extract
•    1 cup hot coffee (or 2 tsp instant coffee in 1 cup boiling water)
Directions:
1.    Preheat oven to 180C. Line two 12-cup muffin tins with paper liners; set aside.
2.    In the large bowl of a standing mixer, stir together flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda, and salt. Add eggs, buttermilk, melted butter and vanilla extract and beat until smooth (about 3 minutes). Remove bowl from mixer and stir in hot coffee with a rubber spatula. Batter will be very runny.
3.    Divide batter among prepared muffin cups, filling each no more than two-thirds full. Bake 20-24 minutes, or until cupcakes feel slightly springy when you gently press their centres. Transfer cupcakes to wire racks to cool completely before frosting.

Mascarpone frosting:
•    250g of Mascarpone frosting
•    ¼ cup of icing sugar
•    1 cup whipping cream
•    1 ½ tsp of vanilla extract
Directions:
Whip the cream till stiff peaks with the vanilla extract.
In another bowl, mix the sugar and the mascarpone together till well combine.
Fold in the whipped cream.
Frost immediately.

Wholemeal Chia Seed Sausage Buns by Nina Resis

Wholemeal ChiaSeed Sausage Rolls
(Recipe adapted from MagicBreadhouse)

Bread Flour : 100g
Wholemeal Flour : 50g (organic)
Sugar : 25g (organic)
Egg : ½ (~30g)
Milk : 80g
Yeast : 3g
Salt : 2g (Kosher)
Unsalted butter: 20g
ChiaSeed : 1 shot (~5g)
Sausage : 5 pcs
Egg : for egg wash

1) Using breadmachine to knead the dough.
2) 1st proof 60min (double in size)
3) Punch down, divide equally into 5 parts, roll into balls.
4) Rest 10min.
5) Shape each dough into long strips, twirl around the sausage, tug both ends in and place on the baking pan to prevent the bread dough from coming apart.
6) 2nd proof 50-60min (double in size).
7) Gently egg wash the rolls and bake @175 degC for 30min, tent if nec.

Enjoy!

Savoury Fish Pie by Felicia Heng


Savoury Fish Pie

Ingredients:
•    About 500g to 600g firm white fish (I used
     fresh halibut fillets)
•    ¾ yellow onion, chopped
•    1½ large carrots, minced fine
•    1 box white button or brown mushrooms,
quartered
•    About 14g baby spinach, wilted (put in a metal
colander over a pot of boiling water for a few
mins, squeeze gently to remove excess liquid.)
•    1 cup low fat cheddar cheese (I used block and
shredded it coarsely)
•    1½ to 2 tsp dried dill
•    1 bay leaf
•    1¾ cup low fat milk
•    1 heaped tbs cornflour
•    Salt and pepper to taste
•    4 russet potatoes, cubed, boiled and mashed with 1 tbs butter, pepper, tiny bit salt and some milk (about ¼ cup)

Method:
1.    Put about 1¼ cup of the milk to boil with the bay leaf in it.  When boiling, turn fire low and gently poach the fish and then the mushrooms.  Break the fish into bite sized pieces and debone and arrange the 2 in a deep pyrex dish or baking tin.
2.    Remove the bay leaf from the milk used for poaching, pour out the milk, top it up to the amount required by the recipe and stir in the cornflour and put it aside.
3.    Put a little oil in a pan, fry the onions and carrots till over a medium flame.  Add the dill, pepper and fry till wilted, about 5 to 8 mins.
4.    Pour in the milk and add the cheese.  Mix well to cheese melted and sauce thickens, add salt to taste.
5.    Take sauce off the heat and pour over the fish and mushrooms.  (At this point, you can refrigerate or freeze for another day.  If doing so, prepare the spinach and mashed potatoes only on day you are cooking.)
6.    Spread the wilted spinach on top of the sauce in a thin layer, then cover with the mashed potatoes. 
7.    Bake at about 190 deg C for 20 to 30 minutes till top golden brown.  May need to bake slightly longer if pie mixture below is cold from the fridge.