Onion Tart

Ever since son is done with his exam, he is basically living in either his bed or on the couch!  

I am sure, by now, you know what is that magnetic force is, that actually glued my hyper-active son to be able to sit down for hours!  It is that damn PHONE and his PSP!  

Yes, these days, kids evolved around gadgets so much into their life that they can't live without them!  They lacked the social skill, they lacked the communication skill and they lacked all skills that deal with human! 

The standard of communication got lost in the lingo that me, this generation finds it hard to comprehend.  They don’t seem to be able to form thoughts and feelings into one proper sentence anymore. 

Though my son loves to read, his English was never powerful!  He doesn’t even know that you need to begin with Capital letter after a Full Stop!  Unbelievable isn’t it?

One might question, why in the first place I provided those gadgets!  I was once told off by a “so called good friend” that if I deprived my child from material stuff, he will end up stealing! 

To date, I still stood firm my belief whether a wants and needs for my child.  I refused to supply my kids with the latest gadgets or material things.  I need to teach my child the values rather than succumb to peers’ influence. 

Well, to cut long story short, the phone was intended for communication between him and me.  Unfortunately, with the advance technology, it is hard to find a basic phone with the standard phone subscription.   Thus the list of promises NOT TO DO was signed on the dotted line. 

Then again, the phrase "promises are meant to broken" exists in son's dictionary and that becomes a challenge.

As for the PSP, it was a gift by my sister to reward him for doing well in his PSLE.  Luckily, this was only available during school holiday and now after exam.

Enough said, I am really tired of dealing with this.  He better pray that he won't exceed his sms quota this month, if not, it will leave me with no alternative but to have his phone grounded again!

Since I can't get my son off those couch, I managed to get my hubby and girl to help me with lunch today.  Girl was helping me with the crust pastry while hubby was grating the cheese.  

I had wanted to bake an Onion Tart for the longest time.  I was totally blown away by SY's onion tart that she bought to my house last year.  Unfortunately I didn't manage to get her recipe and thus I lifted one off the internet.

My girl and I love it!  It was sweet and tasty.  The gruyere cheese really blends very well with this recipe.  I like the crust too.

Next was the Smoked Salmon Quiche.  The smoked salmon was a gift from LT's NZ trip.  Didn't really know how else to eat it and thus I turned it into a Smoked Salmon Quiche.  After all, I never attempt on Quiche before. 

KW also came by to give me some plants and I invited him for lunch. 

Seems like the boys all preferred the Smoked Salmon Quiche!   Personally, I think I can still improved on this.  Son commented a little salt will be perfect.

Overall, we had a very filling lunch and all of us are happy and guess what, my little one is so proud of herself for helping to prepare lunch.   

Steak, guinness and cheese pie

Just a quick note. 

Many thanks for those who dropped me well wishes comments and emails.  I am getting better now and praying hard that I am on the road to recovery.  After six sessions of acupuncture, it seems to be improving.  At least now, I can somehow sit through a meal and was able to cook simple dishes.  I still need alot of bed rest but now the pain is manageable.

It helps too with friends visiting me to kill the boredom.  Thanks buddies! Actually being an active me, lying down is just plain "torture" for me but I know I have to be a good girl and really take this opportunity when hubby is around to really rest for next week, he will be on the road again and I am on my own again.    

Now I wanted to share this awesome tasting Steak, guinness and cheese pie that I done few days back.  You can easily do this in one morning or afternoon but I split it into two days' preparation because I didn't want to stretch myself. 

These days, seems like this is the easiest and fastest way to serve dinner. I actually prepared the filling first. I tried using charcoal to slowly braise the beef and it turned out to be the right choice. Just love the melt in the mouth feel.  Also gives me in between breaks to rest my back.


Since we really like the texture of the chicken pie crust minus the sweetness, I decided to replace the puff pastry as recipe stated with this and omitted the sugar. This time round, I make it thicker as I was afraid that the Steak, guinness and cheese filling will be too soggy and soak through the crust.


The dough is really easy to handle and thus makes my life really simple. I was able to get the dough together very quickly. Rest it in the fridge while I rest my back as well.


After the fillings had been cooled down, it was time to roll out the dough. I even used disposable pie foil to save the hassle of washing. As this dough recipe isn’t a sticky dough, I was able to roll and shape it into the foil easily.

My helper helped me to fill up the pie. Roll another piece of dough to cover up and glaze it quickly.


By the time I rest my back again, the pies were already baking in the oven.   I love the crust because I don't have to waste time blind bake it first and yet it yield a really flaky crust!

Am pretty satisfied by the overall result.  Son’s comment was to add a little bit more salt.

Try it, it is really delicious! and easy!

P.S: The background table mats were gift from my son who visited Vietnam during the June school holiday.

I might be crazy to participate in this event given my condition but since I am at this, why not have some fun.

This post is linked to the blog hop event, Cook like a Star, organised by Zoe, Bake for Happy Kids

Cook like a Star - July 2012
Source: Jamie Oliver

What you need:

olive oil
3 medium red onions, peeled and chopped
3 cloves of garlic, peeled and chopped
30g butter, plus extra for greasing
2 carrots, peeled and chopped
2 sticks of celery, trimmed and chopped
4 field mushrooms, peeled and sliced
1kg brisket of beef or stewing beef, cut into 2cm cubes
a few sprigs of fresh rosemary, leaves picked and chopped
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 x 440ml can of Guinness (I used two cans)
2 heaped tablespoons plain flour
200g freshly grated Cheddar cheese
500g best-quality ready-made all-butter puff pastry
1 large free-range or organic egg, beaten


Method:

Heat wok, drizzle a little oil.  Stir fast onions first and then garlic till fragrant. 

Add beef and browned it.

Add the vegetable, herb and mushroom.  Give it a quick stir.

Pour in Guinness, bring to a boil and let it simmer till soft.  The stew is rich and dark.

Add water along the way if meat is still not done. 

Once meat is tenderised, mixed a little water with the flour.  Bring up the heat and stir in the flour solution while stirring. 

The sauce should thicken and season with salt and pepper. 

Add in the cheese and stir till cheese completed melted.  Set aside to cool.

For dough, I used the Easy chicken pie's recipe.

Seafood Pie / Chicken Pie

Have I been missed?  Maybe not but I just wanted to document this painful period for my memory sake.  Good or bad, it is still precious moments to me.

From now on, I have to pray each day that I am in good health. In the month of May, I was bedridden with a bad back. A "twist" while unpacking resulted in that. It was bad but bearable. I recovered subsequently after seeking  treatment from a sinseh. Apparently because of my slipped disc and pressed nerve, the blood flow was restricted and thus resulted in the pain.


After three courses of medication, I was well! Yes I was totally delighted because suddenly I felt so much lighter with no pain on the leg. Freedom!

Then I acted hero, I went on to do something that I shouldn't. I lifted flower pots, hoping to do up my hubby’s dream garden.  After 3 trips of few flight of stairs up, I realised that something was wrong. The next day, I totally was bed ridden once again.


I thought maybe I rested like the last time, and make my way to see my sinseh, I will get okay but I got a bad news. This time, it was no longer blood flow. This time I hurt my back!!!!!!!!!

Went home, more bed rest .... things didn't look promising, in fact, it was going down hill.  With no hubby around, I endured the duties of cooking for the kids, bringing my girl to and fro school and tuition visits. Those days were totally like hell for me. I couldn’t sleep, I couldn’t really eat because I can’t sit!  I tried to function and grit the pain.  I had to do it, there isn’t anyone that can relief me!  I also didn’t want to trouble my aged parents.

(this seafood pie was done just before I fell ill)

What you need:

Potato Topping

500g potatoes
50g butter
2 ½ tbsp fresh or evaporated milk
¾ tsp salt
½ tsp white pepper powder

Filling

500g fish fillet (use sole, red snapper or any other white –fleshed fish)
1 cup milk
1 tbsp lemon OR lime juice
1 tbsp butter

Sauce

100g prawns, peeled and de-veined
50g butter
2 tbsp plain flour
1 cup milk
2 hard-boiled eggs, shelled and sliced
3 tbsp chopped fresh parsley
1 tbsp capers, drained, optional
¼ tsp salt

Method

To make topping, boil unpeeled potatoes in saucepan of water for 20 -30 mins till very very soft; peel. Mash peeled potatoes with butter, milk, salt and pepper. Set aside.

Cut fish into 4 to 5 pieces and place in a shallow dish with the 1 cup milk and 1 tablespoon lemon juice. Dot top of fish with butter and bake in a pre-heated 180ºC for 15 to 20 minutes till cooked. (to test if the fish is cooked, insert a fork in the centre – the flesh should break easily.) Break fish into bite size pieces and retain juices.

To make Sauce, melt butter over Medium Heat, add flour and stir-fry for 1 minute. Add milk, the fish juices, salt and prawns; stir-fry till prawns are cooked and sauce is thick. Add caper (but I love to have this to balance the seafood taste), hard-boiled eggs and parsley.

Add fish and stir so that seafood mixture is well mixed.

Cool seafood mixture in a medium-sized pie dish, then place in the freezer for about 15 minutes to firm up texture. (This makes it easier to spread the potato topping over it)

Remove seafood mixture and spread mashed potato over it. Smooth potato topping with the back of a spoon and using a fork, form patterns on it. 

Bake in a pre-heated oven 180ºC for about 20 minutes till potato topping is golden brown.  

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My GP only prescribed stronger painkiller, saying that if my bowel stopped then I really need to be admitted.  I can see my son, my daughter and my helper were really worried for me. Actually I myself too, I was so worried that I will need to go A&E again. But with the last operation I had, I know my problem will never go away.

I wanted to seek alternative treatment.  While I limped to the wet market to get some meat, I asked the butcher where I can seek acupuncture treatment. Seriously I don't know whether that will work but it just came to my mind. Went home and consulted my sister and she too gave me the same clinic.

My parents came to know that I was ill and mom actually cooked some dishes to last me for the week. They also brought me to the sinseh for acupuncture.  (I was heart pain to hear that after all the cooking, my mom fell ill – now you see why I didn’t want to trouble them?)

After one session, I was beginning to feel some improvement.  I started having some hope that I can be well again.  Though I still needed alot of bed rest as standing up actually cause pain but I am feeling upbeat.  At least I don’t have to go under the knives again.  Phew.   Things were looking good especially now that hubby is back, he took over the ferrying of the kid.  That gave me more time to rest as well.

Now I am into my fifth treatment and am well enough to sit here for a short while to type this post and even well enough to cook Chicken Pie for dinner.

Hahaha… I needed two days to type this out … but hey it is an achievement. 

Though this painful experience, I was very comforted to find out that my son is such a filial child.  He actually took "leave" from his soccer training so that he can be home early to watch over me.  Somedays, he didn't even bother to open the gate, just jumped over it to come home to see me.

Thank God for blessing two wonderful kids who loves me!   
Thank you 王远医师 for helping me to stand up again.

Source: Frozen Wings, Yum Yum magazine

What you need:

Pastry:

250g plain flour, sifted
150g cold butter
1 tbsp sugar
a pinch of salt
1 egg yolk
1 tbsp cold water

Filling:

2tbsp oil
100g mixed vegetables
140ml water
2 medium onion, diced

300g chicken breast meat, diced
260g potatoes, boiled, peeled and diced

Seasoning:

2 tsp salt to taste
some black pepper
2 tbsp cornstarch + 4 tbsp water for thickening (I didn’t put this and finds it dry)

Glazing:

1/2 egg + a little salt, lightly beaten

Method:

Pastry:

Put all ingredients ( except egg yolk and water) into a mixing bowl and mix to a crumble.

Add in egg yolk, water and mix into a soft dough.

 

Keep dough in the fridge and rest for 30 minutes.

Filling:

 
Heat up oil in wok, fry the onion until soft. Add chicken meat, mixed veggies, fry for a while to break up chicken. Add in potatoes, water and cook for about 5 minutes. Add in sugar, salt and black pepper. Add in the cornstarch and stir to thicken mixture. Taste and leave to cool for later use.

Take some dough and press into pie or tart cases. Poke hole on the base using a fork, place filling on top and press firmly. Cut another piece of dough to cover the top. Using fork, poke a few more times on the cover of the pie and glaze with beaten egg.

Bake in a preheatd oven at 180 ºC for 30 minutes.

Apple Pie

Before I had kids, seeing mommies trying to coax their child to eat frightens me.

Just like my GP who told me, babies are like computers, it is YOU who decides what program to load in.

With that "advice", I exposed my kids to all types of food when they reached solid food stage. I was a happy mom during meal time for a good 10 years or so until my son turns teens. It was this time that he become such a picky eater or rather selective eater.

For example, he used to love Granny Smith apples but now he doesn't even look at it. He used to eat whatever is being served. Now he picks and choose.

It is hard to cater to his whims especially when you are cooking for a small family as a whole. When he likes it, he can whacked two cookie jars of chocolate chip cookies within two days! When he doesn't, he won't even entertain you by eating his share!

That is my son for you. Is this normal?

On the other hand, feeding hubby is such a joy. He eats everything! Even bitter gourd! When I know him, his variety of food is pretty limited. Now I am glad he learns to appreciate food. Luckily, my girl takes after her dad. They have good appetite and enjoy food. It is a joy to feed them both.

Now with a bag of Granny Smith in the fridge waiting for no takers, I need to turn them into something before they rot. So Apple Pie from Martha Stewart’s Pie and Tarts it will be.

I love the crust of this pie. It is really nice, buttery and light in the mouth. The fillings could have been a little sweeter though. I used freshly grate nutmeg and boy, it definitely makes the difference.

Will be so perfect with a scoop of homemade vanilla ice cream.

Now I have to remind myself that I better not buy green apples the next time.

Pate Brisee
What you need:

356g plain flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
240g unsalted butter, cubed
1/4 cup ice water

Method:

Pulse flour, salt and sugar in a food processor.

Add butter and pulse till fine crumbs.

Drizzle in 1/4 cup water. Pulse again till it the dough comes together.

Divide dough into two disc. Chill in fridge till firm.

Roll according to the size of your pie pan.

Chill again for approx 30 mins.


Apple Pie

1 Pate Brisee
1 large egg yolk, for egg wash
1 tbsp heavy cream, for egg wash

3 tbsp plain flour
5 Granny Smith apples (cored, peeled and cubed)
2 tbsp lemon juice
1/4 cup castor sugar (I will increase to 1/2 cup)
1 tsp ground cinnamon (I increased this to 1.5 tsp)
1/4 tsp freshly grated nutmeg (1 increase by another 1/4 tsp)
a pinch of salt
1 tbsp cold unsalted butter
Coarse sanding sugar (I used fine as I don't have this)

Method:

Preheat oven to 200 deg.

Whisk cream and egg yolk. Set aside.

Toss apples, flour, lemon juice, sugar cinnamon, nutmeg and salt together. Mix well and pour mixture into the chilled pie shell. Piling in the centre and dot mixture with butter.

Roll out the remaining disk of dough.

Brush the bottom crust with egg wash.

Cover the apple with the dough.

Cut slits in top of dough. Tuck and trim the overhangs.

Brush pie with egg wash and sprinkle generously with sanding sugar.

Chill till firm approx 30 mins.

Bake on lowest rack until crust begins to turn light brown. Approx 25 mins.

Reduce heat to 180 deg and further bake till curst is golden brown. Approx 1 hour.

Note: High initial temperature helps the crust set quickly, keeping the crust from becoming soggy.

Reducing the help helps the apples to cook without burning the crust.

Remove pie and cool lightly before removing from pan to cool completely.

Serve warm with vanilla ice cream.

Banana Cream Pie

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Do join me on this Heritage Food Trail if you have the time. I am sure it will be an opportunity to get to know other dialect food cuisine.

This applies to both your own dialect or your spouse's.

Closing date: 31 August 2011

Entries should be at least based on this month posting.

************

I think a month or two ago, PW, CY and myself agreed to meet up for luncheon as it had been a long time since we last met. Should not be a problem because my girl was finishing school at 3:30pm.

Then, last night my girl told me that there won’t be any remedial! I panic because I can't possibly disappoint the girls, after all we had waited so long for this date.

With reservation made at one of the bistro in MBS, it makes me even harder to cancel this meeting.

Back up plan was then to have my helper taking a train down and bringing her home but I was really sceptical about it because she had never done this before.

Luckily for me, I did a check with JY this morning and she was free to bring my princess home. Phew. I am so happy, now everything is back as planned.

I had a really good lunch with great company. We ended about half hour later as my daughter was really home, fed and showered. So I didn't think I had to rush home to bring her for her 4:30pm tuition.

I was darn wrong. Waited for 10 mins for the first bus, along the way, I saw that I could take a direct bus #2 home, waited and waited and waited.

I even called up the bus company to see whether I got it wrong. The operator told me that it does have a service to my place.

By now, I noticed that another lady was also waiting. She later confirmed that we were taking the same bus. Guess what, after numerous calls, finally someone is giving the real information. The bus service only operates on weekends!

By then I really was fuming. I tried many times to flag down a taxi but without success. In the end, I took bus #3 and later switch to bus #4. At last I was home.

Pick up my girl and rush to her tuition centre.

What a day isn't it?

Well, hubby is coming home today. Yea, and I had prepared a Banana Cream Pie to welcome him home.



According to this recipe, it is supposedly to be lighter than the norm and I totally agree with the author. I used the left over dough crust that I made for my Cherry Pie and it blends in so well.



Love it! It is really delicious! I strongly urge you to try.

I am submitting the cherry pie to Aspiring Bakers #10: Easy As Pie ( August 2011) hosted by Janine of Not The Kitchen Sink

Source: Sarabeth's Bakery

Banana Cream

What you need
2 tsp gelatine powder
2 tbsp cold water
4 large egg yolks
72g castor sugar
12g cornstarch
1.5 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla bean paste
3 ripe banana, cut
3/4 cup heavy cream

Method

Sprinkle gelatine over water and let it bloom.

Whisk the yolks, sugar and cornstarch.

Heat milk in a saucepan until very hot.

Slowly drizzle the hot milk over the yolks mixture stirring continously as you drizzle.

Pour the egg mixture back into the saucepan and slowly stir on low heat till the custard thickens.

Pour into a bowl, place a cling wrap over the custard sealing off the air. Set aside to cool.

Fold in the cut bananas and pour into the baked pie crust.

Set to chill.

Whip the cream with sugar till stiff peak. Spread over the pie. Either garnish with cocoa powder or almond slices.

Never can take the spirit out of us

Since I discovered facebook late last year, I started to locate all my long lost secondary school mates. Yah, since we left school back in the 80s, I haven't seen most of them for a good 27 years. To be honest, the day I found out that my yearbook went missing, I felt a sense of lost as memories within that 4 grey walls left a deep deep impression of many wonderful moments for me and it was slipping away. I am so proud of my school and I bet all of us felt the same way. The spirit among us is simply awesome. We had so many happy and hilarious moments that even now, when we talked about it, always left us laughing and smiling. JWM and FML were back for the festive period. Yeap, they couldn't make it for the reunion late next month so we decided to have a little tea time chat on 2nd day of Lunar New Year. We had such a blast, GL whom I known since primary school still looks the same. JWM still as cool as before and FML, love that bubbly personality!!! Couldn't believe how time flies. It was so fun catching up and reminising the good old days. Anyway, FML is leaving this weekend, thus she arranged for another get together at her place. Not bad, despite her tight schedule, she is providing dinner for all of us. This time round, we managed to gather CLC and VC. Since the time I heard about French Pear Tart and its gotten really good review (Baking from my home to yours), what better way than to share it with good old friends. Unfortunately, I got a feel that I burnt the crust. I was rushing through the baking process as son's teacher just rang to update me on his progress. Well, what news do you think I received? So in the midst of baking and finding all his lost worksheets and also to prepare the second stage of the pie. I overlooked the temperature. Darn... too late. Personally I find that I over handled the dough and I will reduce the sugar the next round. The presentation to create that lovely pear fan was a clumsy and failed experience for me. Actually the presentation didn't do justice to the taste. It was good and knowing that the girls love it, puts a smile on my face.

Orange curd tart, Strawberry Friand

I had mentioned earlier on that there were plenty of oranges in my fridge. So I turned some into Orange Curd.

My first exposure with curd was at L's house. It was L who first introduce Lemon curd to me. Her lemon curd tart was yummy. Sourish yet sweet. Sad to say, for whatever reason it was, I won't be able to savour that anymore.

Whatever it is, it didn't stop me from making some on my own. I have tried from Sue Lawrence's and it was great. Now, I chanced upon another recipe and I decided to find out whether it is better than Sue's.

This version is softer and silkier and it really brings out the orangy tang in it. I also tried making Friand that YW so proudly declare that it is much better than any other cakes that she savoured.

As I was preparing this, I have no clue how this cake taste like and how it is being prepared. I was totally amazed by the method too. It seems to easy to believe. In fact, I was having doubt when I was half way through the process that I turned on my computer just to compare with other recipe that the steps are really that simple.

Decided to have an impromptu tea and invited who else but my long time friend and also my "camp" neighbour to savour my "harvest". I pair this off with my all time favourite tart crust. To be honest, it was really well received by all, even my kids. Orange Curd Tart I.

I still have no clue how friand taste like, but my Strawberry Friand is really delicious.

Want to join us on our lazy afternoon rest and relax tea time?

What you need:

190g unsalted butter, softened
100g ground almonds
6 egg whites
75g plain flour
100g fresh strawberries
115g castor sugar
Icing sugar for dusting

Method

Preheat oven to 175 °C. Grease 12 small friends tins with a little of the butter.

Whisk egg whites.

Add all the ingredients in a large bowl, reserving half of the berries until just combined.

Pour the batter into the prepared tins and scartter the remaining berries on the top.

Bake for 25 min until golden and firm.

Cool in tin for 5 mins. Turn friand out onto rack to cool completely.

Serve dusted with icing sugar.

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These are my last two orders before son's final term exam. Will be taking a break from my little venture.



Posted by Precious Moments @ 10:47 PM :: (3) comments

Never give up

Wasn't too happy with my beef pie so I decided to make a real pie crust today. Using my leftover fillings, I baked a FULL pie crust, hoping that it will have a crispy base. What I did was that I first half baked the crust, then fill the pie and lastly put on a "top". Verdict: After my second attempt, my conclusion I think lies with my fillings. Nevertheless, I am still proud of myself as this is the first time I did a full pie crust. Pretty?

My own creation

Since beef pie is one of my hubby's favourite and I remembered during one of our holiday in Australia, he can have it everyday. With my kind of standard, it is hard for me to replicate something similar so I decided to do one based on my own creation.

I used Lin Lin's pie crust recipe as the base and improvise the top with the yukon potatoes that I bought the other day. I read that Yukon Potatoe makes the best potatoe mash and it is so true and now I present you Edith's Beef Pie.

Verdict: Don't know why my pie crust base is soggy. Next time, I will semi bake it before I put in the fillings. Overall, it is tasty.

How time flies

Today is the last day of school for my little one. It seems like not too long ago, I witnessed her walking confidently into her classroom on her first day of school. The teachers have planned for a year-end party for the class and each student is suppose to bring an item to share. I didn't have time to really think, I decided to just find the easiest recipe on hand. So, my little one bought Apple Crumble to school. We had so much food and even the parents sat around and had a munch. After the sumptuous feast, the teachers organised some games and the kids really had fun. We ended the day with hugs and well wishes. We exchanged numbers and promised to keep in touch as some of us, either move on to a new school and some, like myself is switching to another session. My little one will be moving on to nursery. Hopefully, she will have a fruitful and meaningful year.