mushroom quiche

A quiche is basically an open-faced pastry crust with custard filling garnished with any savories that goes well with eggs. Traditional quiche is filled with spinach and mushrooms, but for this variation of the traditional mushroom quiche, i added some leftover roasted chicken from last night. Cheese is the quintessential element in a quiche and good quality Gruyère or Comtè is the normal choice. Again, for this variation, i stick to good old fashion Mozzarella for cost-saving measure, though it is as savory, and enough for my palate. A proper quiche shell must be deep enough to allow you to cook the custard propertly, which is why a traditional 9-inch ring mold is the preferred choice. If the shell is too shallow, you wont have a luxurious enough custard to offer the fundamental pleasure.

Serve 6-8

2 medium shallot, thinly sliced

a  pound of assorted mushroom (shitake, swiss brown, white button, etc.)

1/2 cup of milk

1/2 cup of double cream

3 large eggs

1 1/2 cups of grated Mozarella cheese

salt and freshly ground black pepper

extra virgin olive oil

Prepare the shell by making your basic pie dough. Blind bake the shell and let rest while you prepare the fillings. Heat oil in a large saute pan over medium high heat. Add shallots, and cook, stirring, until translucent but not brown, about 1 minute. Add mushrooms, and season with salt and pepper. Cook, stirring frequently, until mushrooms are dark golden brown, around 8 to 10 minutes.

Sprinkle half the cheese evenly over the bottom of the shell. Spread mushrooms over the cheese and then top with remaining cheese. In a medium bowl, whisk together milk, cream, and eggs. Season with salt, and pepper. Pour over cheese. Transfer to oven, and until 30 to 35 minutes. Cool for about 10 minutes before serving.

muffin

Muffins are essentially flavored pancake batter; they can be sweet or savory, and garnishes with berries, diced fruit or vegetables, nuts, spices—are limited only by your imagination. They’re so easy to make i wonder why should one ever need to buy them in bakery shops whenever we crave for them. You could basically think of a muffin you desires and by an hour you would already be munching them.

The golden rule to making muffin is understanding the ration of flour-liquid-egg. The rest is garnishing variations and sweet factor. The most basic and solid ratio for muffin is 2-2-1-1, that is 2 parts flour, 2 parts liquid (milk), and one part egg and butter each, while leavening is achieved by baking powder. As a rule of thumb, a teaspoon of 4 ounces flour. Increase the amount when you increase the volume of the flour when you’re making larger batch.

Another variable is sweetness. Most muffins preparations are sweet. But the type of muffin you’re making should determine the level of sweetness. If you have a lot of sweet garnish, banana for instance, or if your muffin is to be served with a very sweet accompaniment, you might want your batter somewhat less sweet. But another good rule of thumb for muffins is to add as much sugar as butter.

Makes 10 muffins

8 ounces flour

4 ounces sugar

1 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons baking powder

8 ounces milk

4 ounces eggs (2 large eggs)

4 ounces butter, melted

Preheat your oven to 350°F.

Combine the flour, sugar, salt, and baking powder. In a bowl, combine the milk, eggs, and butter. With a whisk or a hand blender, whisk or blend the mixture until the eggs are uniformly distributed. Add the dry ingredients. Whisk just to combine. If you’re adding additional garnish, such as citrus zest or fruit, do so now.

Pour the batter into muffin tins or a loaf pan (butter the pan first). Bake for about 30 minutes, or as much as 50 minutes for a loaf, until the blade of a paring knife inserted in the center comes out clean.

chocolate chip cookies

When it comes to chocolate chip cookies, there are hundreds of variation and ways to prepare them. In the end, chocolate chip cookies are chocolate chip cookies whatever thevariations. What i picked up from Michael Ruhlman is the most basic, easiest way of how to make them, and as he noted, will not give you art or the best chocolate chip cookie ever made, not ever close to that of the closely guarded secret of Famous Amous, but it will give you a good solid cookie. This recipe calls for equal parts butter, sugar, and flour, so has a very high proportion of fat, which will cause them to spread considerably and result in a very thin crisp chocolate chip cookie. If you prefer your cookies crisper, simply reduce the amount if butter to half.

8 ounces unsalted butter (2 sticks)

4 ounces white sugar (about ½ cup)

4 ounces brown sugar (about ½ cup)

1 large egg

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

½ teaspoon salt

8 ounces flour (about 1 ½ cups)

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 cup chocolate chips or chopped chocolate

Preheat your oven to 180 degree C.

Combine the butter, sugars, egg, and vanilla and mix thoroughly in a standing mixer using the paddle attachment or by hand. Combine the remaining ingredients except the chocolate and fold them into the dough. Fold the chocolate into the dough.

Drop heaping tablespoons onto a baking sheet. Give them some room because they’ll spread. Bake for 10 minutes or until the edges begin to darken.

pie dough (Pâte Brisée)

Pie dough or Pâte Brisée (PA-TAY BREE-SAY) is your standard pastry kitchen 101, everyone (at least those who owns an oven) should know how to make it. This is your basic dough, from it variations are made to transform them into other shell such as tarts. It is so easy to prepare, even after only a few tries one should be able to make them with both eyes closed! Pie dough is best made by hand since it results in a delicate crust. But if you’re making a big batch then a stand mixer should lessen the burden. All you need to know by heart is the ratio of flour:fat:water, which is 3:2:1. That is why when you go to culinary school, they always refer its name as 3-2-1 pie dough. Understanding the ratio will make you golden and escape the wrangle of pie/tart recipes. Simply increase or decrease the amount of ingredients using the ratio.  Then insert the filling, whatever you desire. The important factor is the choice of fat. I prefer butter to lard or vegetable shortening since butter is flavorable. Use salted butter will lessen the use of salt to season it, using unsalted will lessen need more salt to taste. I prefer to measure the volume of flour-fat-water by weigh instead of volume. This is because the content of flour differs according to temperature.

Variation to pie dough is its counterpart known as Pâte Sucrée, which includes sugar, for sweet dough use for tart shells. To cover a standard 9-inch pie pan, 12 ounces of flour is sufficiently enough, about 2 1/4 cups. Thus follows 8 ounces of butter and 4 ounces of cold water. Create a flaky pie crust by multiplying the layers of dough separated by fat (butter/lard/shortening). The other important factor is tenderness – crusts will be dense and tough if you overwork the dough. When water is added, mix the dough gently and just until the combine together, then wrap in plastic and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes or until ready to be rolled.

To cover a 9-inch pie pan (with top)

12 ounces flour

8 ounces butter

2 to 4 ounces cold water

Combine the flour and butter in a mixing bowl and rub the butter to create small beads of fat and plenty of pea-sized chunks for a flaky crust. Add the ice water gradually and a good pinch of salt and mix gently, just until combined. Shape the dough into 2 equal disks and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes or until ready to be rolled.

Blind baking: We “blind” bake a dough especially for fruit tarts when we are not required to bake the filling of the tart. To do so, we need to fill the shell with something heavy to prevent the crust from buckling. Pie weights are made specially for this purpose but a layer of baking sheet lining the pan with a pound of dried beans on top does the same job well. Bake in oven for 20 to 25 minutes at 160-180 degree C, then remove the weight and continue cooking in the oven until the crust is golden brown and cooked through.

strawberry meringue tart

I picked-up a great technique to judge the doneness of a meringue from Jamie Oliver. Whisk the egg whites to the point that when you hold the bowl upside down on your head, the mixture does not pour over you! This is a lovely dessert which can be made with any fruit combination you fancy.

Pastry for 9-inch tart shell

9 ounces flour

6 ounces butter

2 to 3 ounces ice water

1 egg yolk

a pinch of salt

1/2 cup of sugar (omit if you prefer unsweetened tart)

Filling

3 cups quartered strawberries

1 cup sugar

1 tablespoon lemon juice

1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoon water

3 tablespoons cornstarch

Meringue

5 large egg whites

1 teaspoon lemon juice

1/2 cup sugar

To make the tart shell: Combine the flour, butter and sugar in a mixing bowl and rub the butter between your fingers until they form small pea-sized bead chunks. Add the egg yolk, salt and water and whisk until they just combined. Shape the dough into a log, wrap in plastic and chill at least 30 minutes in the refridgerator. On a lightly floured surface, roll out the dough to just under 1/4 inch thick and line a 9 inch tart shells. Trim, and “blind” bake in oven for 15-20 minutes over 180 degree C. (To blind bake, line the pastry shell with a baking sheet and fill the pastry with dried beans. The reason for this is to prevent the crust from buckling.)

To make the filling: Stir strawberries with sugar, lemon juice and the 1/2 cup of water in a bowl and let sit for 20 minutes. Strain the liquid into a small saucepan, heat up to a simmer and stir in the cornstarch and the balance 2 tablespoons water while whisking. Stir until thickened, then remove from heat to cool. Once cooled, fold the liquid back into the strawberries and pour the whole thing into the baked tart shell. Chill in refridgerator while preparing the meringue.

To make the meringue: Whisk the egg whites to a soft peak (if you prefer not to have stiff arms, use a standing mixer). Add the sugar and whisk in. Adjust the sweetness according to your preference by adding a bit more sugar if necessary.

Assembly: Fold the filling into the baked tart shell, then dollop the meringue on top and peak it with a fork so it’s not all smooth and flat. Bake in oven oven 200 degree C for 2-3 minutes until the meringue is lightly golden. Serve hot or cold.

pavlova

There’s this old Australian/New Zealand (origins still hotly debated until today) dish which is sweeping the nation into a frenzy, Pavlova. This meringue-based desert, named after a Russian ballerina, Anna Pavlova, is basically French/Swiss meringue topped-off with whipped cream and fruits such as berries. I’ve never actually heard of this desert until the missus made me swear an oath to find her one and from there i learned it’s existence. I had to search hi and low for this, going to every single Ben’s and Delicious’ joints where they seem to run out of. Honestly, there’s nothing really special about the desert (that is worth fighting over it my dear Aussies and Kiwis), but it is simple enough and fun to make, and satisfying for those sweet tooth cravings.

Make one 9-inches meringue

3/4 cup fine sugar

2 teaspoons cornstarch

3 egg whites, room temperature

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

3/4 teaspoon white vinegar/lemon juice

fresh strawberries, lots of them

Preheat oven to 120 degrees C. Line a baking tray with a baking sheet or parchment paper. Whisk the sugar and cornstarch in a bowl until they combine into a single mixture. In another bowl, whisk egg whites until they are foamy and have a thick, ribbony texture. Pour the sugar mixture gradually into the egg white mixture while whisking vigorously until completely incorporated, and continue whisking until the egg whites are glossy and thick. Add the vanilla and vinegar/lemon juice into the egg white mixture; continue to whisk until you can lift your beater or whisk straight up and the egg whites form a sharp peak that holds its shape. Spoon the mixture onto the prepared baking sheet; spread out into a 2-inch high by 6-inch wide circle, but they need not be symmetrical. Bake in the preheated oven for 1 hour. Turn off the oven, crack open the oven door and let the Pavlova cool for one hour.

To serve, transfer Pavlova to a serving plate. Top with whipped cream and fresh strawberries (or any fruits that you desires).