Killer Club Sandwich (Ree Drummond)

Killer Club Sandwich (Ree Drummond)

Recipe source :  Ree Drummond

The moment I came across this club sandwich, I wanted to try it out. YS and I love eating club sandwiches. The last one we ate was at a hotel and that burnt a hole in my pocket.  Club sandwiches don't come cheap and not all restaurants have this in their menu. 

Ingredients ( makes 2 sets )

6 slices wholemeal bread, toast until golden brown
2 tbsp mayonnaise
1 tbsp basil pesto
1 tbsp tomato paste  ( original recipe used sun-dried tomato pesto )
1 packet bacon, fry until crispy and drain on paper towel
150g pineapple glazed ham
150g turkey ham
2 tomatoes, sliced    ( original recipe used avocados )
4 slices cheese
2 pieces lettuce

 Turkey ham and pineapple glazed ham 

 Streaky bacon

 Packaged basil pesto

Instructions

1. Mix 1 tsp of basil pesto with 1 tbsp of mayonnaise. Set aside to be used as a spread for the toast.
2  Mix 1 tbsp tomato paste with 1 tbsp mayonnaise. Set aside to be used as a spread for the toast.
3  Ree's blog shows a detailed step-by-step guide on assembling the sandwich.

YS snapped this photo just before biting into it

I am linking this post to "Cook Like A Star" 

 

Hosted by Baby Sumo of Eat Your Heart Out, 

Zoe from Bake For Happy Kids and Mich from Piece of Cake 

Egg Noodle With Shimeji Mushrooms 白玉灵兰菇炒面

Egg Noodle With Shimeji Mushrooms 白玉灵兰菇炒面

Recipe source :  Doris Choo

As I was browsing through the shelves of  a supermarket, a sales promoter offered me shimeji mushrooms which were on promotion. The sample she offered me was cooked in sesame sauce. The promoter said it is very easy to cook this type of mushroom. She further told me that it'll taste just as great stir-fried in oyster sauce. I was looking for something to cook noodles and I thought to myself, "why not?". 

The package comes in twin packs and they are said to be rich in vitamin B2, D, niacin, fibre, potassium and amino acids. They were neatly packed and looked very fresh. The simple recipe provided inside the package mentioned about cooking these mushrooms with pasta.  So coincidentally that was what I had in mind, except that I had planned to cook them with home-made egg noodles instead. 

White bunashimeji

Bunashimeji

I used the same recipe for  home-made egg noodles, but this time round, I used the noodle maker to cut them into flat thin strips as shown in picture below.

 Flat home-made egg noodles

Ingredients

250g home-made egg noodles
20g ginger, grated
2 tbsp garlic, chopped
2 stalks spring onion, cut into short sections
2 stalk Chinese celery, cut into short sections
150g bunashimeji mushrooms
150g white bunashimeji mushrooms
2 tbsp oyster sauce
3/4  tsp salt, or to taste
1 tsp sesame oil
1/2 cup water
2 tbsp cooking oil

Instructions

1.  Prepare the home-made egg noodles as described in my previous post and blanched them in boiling water accordingly. Rinse and drain dry.
2.  Heat wok until hot. Add cooking oil and saute the chopped garlic and grated ginger until fragrant.
3.  Add mushrooms and stir them quickly. Add oyster sauce, sesame oil, and water.
4.  Stir briskly and add in salt before the water dries up.
5.  Add in the spring onion and Chinese celery
6.  Toss in the par-boiled egg noodles and mix them up evenly.
7.  Dish up and serve hot.

Yum-Yum!

 

Cream Puffs With Curried Minced Pork Fillings 咖喱肉碎泡芙

Cream Puffs With Curried Minced Pork Fillings 咖喱肉碎泡芙

Recipe source :  Adapted from Ellice Handy

I always admire photos of cream puffs and used to drool over them. I have not attempted to make any as I thought making cream puffs was very difficult. Do you know what finally spurred me to make this batch of cream puffs? 

Well, I was in the office the other day, when a colleague offered me a cream puff. All the ladies tried the cream puffs offered and they were good! Mind you, the one who offered the cream puffs was a guy and he boasted that he made them all by himself the night before. We all knew this guy can't cook but then he managed to make cream puffs. He claimed it's his specialty! As we savoured his cream puffs, he taught us how to make them but then he declined to give us the recipe which he claimed was his wife's.      
                                                                                                                                                              
I looked up my old recipe books and came across recipes by Ellice Handy. Both the cream puffs and curried minced pork were in her cookbooks but they were featured separately. Ellice Handy mentioned that one can fill up the cream puffs with either sweet or savoury fillings.  I mixed and  matched her recipes and came up with this version. 

I remember Jasline is hosting a Choux Party this month. Great timing!
 

Ingredients

(  make 30 cream puffs )

1 cup water
1/2 cup butter ( 125g )
1 cup sifted plain flour
4 eggs
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder

Method

 
1.  In a saucepan, heat water to boiling, then add salt and butter.
2.  When butter is melted, add the flour, all at once. Stir well with a wooden spoon till the mixture forms a  ball and leaves the sides of the pan.
3.  Remove pan from heat and cool mixture slightly.
4.  Beat in eggs, one at a time, breaking the mixture after each addition and beating hard till the mixture is smooth.
5.  Add baking power and continue beating.
6.  Use two teaspoons, form teaspoonful of mixture and place them on slightly greased baking trays, space a little apart.
7.  Bake at 200 degree C until well risen and golden brown.

Ingredients for Curried Minced pork

300g minced pork
2 tbsp Quaker oats
2 tbsp curry powder
3 tbsp water
2 tbsp chopped shallots
2 tbsp cooking oil
1 tbsp flour
1 tsp soy sauce
1/3 tsp salt

Method

 
1.  Heat wok and saute chopped shallots until fragrant.
2.  Add minced pork and stir-fry to break the lump.
3.  Add curry powder, Quaker oats and water.
4.  Stir-fry until almost cooked and add flour to thicken.
5.  Dish up and cool before stuffing into the cream puffs.

I am submitting this post to Aspiring Bakers #34 : Choux Party!

hosted by Jasline @ Foodie Baker

And I'm sharing this with :
Cook-Your-Books #3 hosted by Kitchen Flavours

                                                                                                                 

Cherry Cheesecake (Nigella Lawson) 黑樱桃芝士蛋糕

Cherry Cheesecake (Nigella Lawson) 黑樱桃芝士蛋糕

Recipe source : Nigella Lawson

Nigella's cherry cheesecake tastes terrific! The only downside is, it is so rich and fattening.  The recipe calls for a 20cm spring form tin. I do not have a 20cm tin so I used a 23cm tin instead. That's why my cheesecake is much flatter.

Ingredients

125g crumbled digestive biscuits
75g soft butter
300g cream cheese
60g icing sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract  ( I did not use this )
1/2 tsp lemon juice
250ml double cream
1 jar black cherry spread

Method

1.  Blitz the biscuits in a food processor until beginning to turn to crumbs, then add butter and whizz again.
2.  Press the mixture into a 20cm spring form tin. 
3.  Beat together the cream cheese, icing sugar, vanilla extract and lemon juice in a bowl until smooth.
4.  Slightly whip the double cream and then fold it into the cream cheese mixture.
5.  Spoon the cheese filling onto the biscuit base and smooth with a spatula.
6.  Put it in the fridge for at least 3 hours or overnight.
7.  When you are ready to serve the cheesecake, unmould it and spread the black cherry over the top.

This post is linked to Cook Like A Star 'Nigella Lawson' organised by Anuja from Simple Baking,  Zoe from Bake for Happy Kids and Joyce from Kitchen Flavours.

Fish Paste Porridge 鱼滑粥

Fish Paste Porridge 鱼滑粥

Recipe source :  Doris Choo


Last weekend, we woke up to a sunny and beautiful Sunday morning. The day before, SK made Yong Tofu and there is some fish paste left-over in the fridge. So I thought of making porridge using the fish paste. The real reason I made porridge again was because I was still thinking and craving for the peanut porridge with century eggs that we had last week. However, there wasn't any peanut or century eggs in my pantry, so we have to settle for whatever we have in hand.

Ingredients

270g rice
1.5 litres chicken stock
1.5 litres water
200g fish paste
2 tsp preserved tung choy
2 tsp salt, or to taste
dash of pepper
2 tbsp shallot oil or ginger oil
1 stalk spring onion, chopped
2 pieces yau char kwai ( optional )

Instructions

1.  Wash rice. Fill with just enough water to cover the rice grains. Freeze in the refrigerator overnight.
2.  Place the frozen rice grains, chicken stock and water into a pot.
3.  Boil until the rice grains are broken.
4.  Use a wet spoon to scoop the fish paste one spoonful at a time and add into the boiling porridge.
5.  Add in preserved tung choy, salt and the shallot oil or ginger oil.
6.  Switch off flame.
7.  Serve with chopped spring onion as garnishing. 
8.  It is great to have yau char kwai dipped into this porridge. 

 

Mooncake : Wheat Flour Figurine (Koong Chai Paeng) 公仔饼

Mooncake : Wheat Flour Figurine (Koong Chai Paeng) 公仔饼

Recipe source :  Flavours Magazine (courtesy of Radison Hotel & Convention Centre)


I made these figurines because of nostalgia more than anything else. Seeing wheat figurines being sold around town in anticipation of the coming Mid-Autumn Festival brought back childhood memories. When my siblings and I were young, our maternal grandmother would buy for each of us,  beautiful lanterns. In addition, she would be visiting us bearing boxes of mooncakes. I was attracted more to the wheat flour figurines than the round mooncakes. I still remember some of the figurines which were in the form of piglets with accompanying tiny red plastic baskets encasing them. 

I remember all of us siblings coveted the figurines possessively to admire and to play with rather than eating them! But of course, eventually all those biscuits ended up in our tummies!

Once YS discovered that there is no filling inside this "mooncake", he did not bother to taste it! I guess one needs to acquire a taste for this to fully appreciate this old-time biscuit from a different generation. But then again, if no one passes over the baton, cultural values and tradition will be lost!

Ingredients For Crust  (makes 27 pieces)

800g Hong Kong flour
600ml syrup
200ml cooking oil

Egg wash

1 egg, beaten

 The wooden mould that I used

 The lion-shaped mooncakes just knocked out from its mould

I stuck two black beans as 'eyes' for the lions 

Brushing egg wash over the mooncakes

Instructions

1.  Mix flour, syrup and oil thoroughly. Cover with a cloth and set aside for 3 hours.
2.  Sprinkle the mould with flour. Press dough into the mould and shape it accordingly.
3.  Put in baking tray and bake about 30 minutes at 180 degree C or until slightly browned.
4.  Remove from oven and brush with egg wash.
5.  Bake for another 10 minutes.

 

I think they look cute instead of fierce-looking

I am linking this post to Cook-Your-Books #3

Organised by Joyce of Kitchen Flavours

Home-made Noodle Soup 清汤面

Home-made Noodle Soup 清汤面

Recipe source :  Doris Choo


I used the whole 500g of freshly-made egg noodles  to cook noodle soup. The amount almost filled up my whole wok to the brim. There is no way the three of us at home could finish that amount of food! Knowing  that soupy noodles has to be eaten almost immediately, I quickly packed them into a tiffin carrier for my sister-in-law who lives a few blocks away from our house. SK's sister was all smiles when he delivered the tiffin carrier containing the hot and steaming home-made noodles to her doorstep.

Ingredients

500g fresh home-made egg noodles 
350g lean pork, marinated with 1 tbsp soya sauce and 1 tbsp cornflour
100g shrimps
5 pieces deep-fried fishballs, sliced
4 stalks of ( choy sum), cut into sections
800ml chicken stock
1000ml water
1 tbsp minced garlic
2 tsp salt, or to taste
1/2 tsp pepper
2 tbsp cooking oil

 

 Home-made Hong Kong-styled alkaline egg noodles

 Please visit my post on egg noodles for the recipe and instructions

Choy sum, pork slices, shrimps and fishball slices

Instructions  

1.  Prepare 500g of egg noodles which has already been par-boiled. 
2.  Heat wok until hot. Add cooking oil and saute the minced garlic until fragrant. 
3.  Add chicken stock and water and bring to a full boil.
4.  Add choy sum, marinated pork slices, fishball slices and shrimps.
5.  Once the contents start to boil again, add in the par-boiled egg noodles.
6.  Let simmer for 3 to 4 minutes and switch off the flame.
7.  Serve immediately.
8.  Portion is enough for four to five people.

Looks so yummy!

See the texture of the egg noodles ? 

They are definitely different from the store-bought yellow noodles

Making Hong Kong-style Alkaline Egg Noodles 港式蛋麵

Making Hong Kong-style Alkaline Egg Noodles
港式蛋麵

Freshly made noodles

Blanched noodles

Recipe source :  Madame Huang's Kitchen


I have earmarked this recipe for more than a year. Finally, today, I got to try out this fabulous recipe. The blog described in details the step-by-step process of making the noodles.

I am very happy that my attempt has been successful. However, I believe it can be further improved. The colour and texture of these home-made egg noodles are different from the store-bought yellow noodles. It is definitely worth the extra effort to make my own egg noodles. I am already thinking about the possibilities of great noodle dishes I can create using these egg noodles. 

The basic recipe yielded about 500g of raw egg noodles which is  sufficient to serve four to five people.
 

Ingredients

 
1/2 tsp alkaline water
2 tbsp filtered water
2 1/4 cup flour
3 large eggs
Extra flour for rolling out the dough

Instructions

 
1.  Pour alkaline water into filtered water before mixing it into the flour and eggs.
2.  Form a soft dough, cover it with a cloth and let it rest for about 30 minutes to relax the gluten.
3.  Cut the dough into four portions and roll out the dough, dust with flour to prevent the dough from sticking together.

Some pictures to show the step-by-step process :

Put all ingredients into the bowl of a mixer

Mix until a soft dough is form. Cover with a cloth and let it rest for 30 minutes

Cut into four portions. Cover the other three portions with a cloth while you work with the first portion.

I used a noodle maker to roll the dough until smooth

Then I passed the dough through the cutting rollers to make thin noodles

 The raw egg noodles dusted with flour 

This batch has been par-boiled

This is the first time I am making noodles at home and also the first time I am using a noodle maker which is brand new. I had bought it at a 70% discount more than a year ago!  I guess given more practice, I can improve on the processes. 

N.B. Freshly made noodles are best eaten on the same day.

To par-boil the noodles :

1.  Bring a large pot of water to a full boil.
2.  Add noodles to the boiling water and stir gently until the water boils again.
3.  Cook the noodles until barely tender then drain in colander set in the sink.
4.  Rinse the noodles with cool running water.
5.  Drain and set aside for later use.

As this post on the making of egg noodles has already taken much space here, I shall post the cooking of this egg noodles in a separate post.

Updated :  Please visit my post on

1)  home-made noodle soup

2) Egg Noodle With Shimeji Mushrooms

Meanwhile, I am linking this post to Baby Sumo of Eat Your Heart Out

This event is linked to Little Thumbs Up

The event is organised by Zoe of Bake For Happy Kids

and Doreen of My Little Favourite DIY

The ingredient for August is 'egg'