Freakin'-Easy-Tata

It's hopeless!!

I'm hopeless!!

I can't stand it anymore!!

It's not possible!!

I can't do this!!

Drama ..... in the 1st degree.

I'm sure some of you might agree with me when it comes to dieting. I've read several blogs about people going on diets and losing 2 - 3 kgs in a week. I hate you.

Dieting makes one (me) crabby, negative, depressed (not really), dramatic for sure.

I've been given several suggestions from eating for my blood type to having just fruits for breakfast. I've tried the Atkins diet .... that worked, really it did, but coming from a society and upbringing of having rice or noodles at least 5 times a week, it finally turned into a raging crave of carbs that had me bingeing on an equivalent to 4 cups of rice in one sitting ... not good.

I do the exercises, mainly tennis about 3 times a week, less now having been afflicted with rotator cuff tendonitis.

Cut the sugar. Yup, doing that as well. (I am so craving for a cheesecake right now.)

I can't last. My will power is weak .... especially when it comes to food. Being a food blogger doesn't help, unless I start blogging about healthy stuff. Yeah, right.

Forgive me if I don't visit as regularly as before. This is a compliment to you. You know your food posts make me drool and this really is not helping.

So, while I still have some semblance of will power left in me, I'm trying to cut the carbs, come up with some energy food, enough to get a good tennis game going and not get thrashed by my fellow players.

This one is freakin' easy and it has enough stuff in it to satisfy my cravings for a while ..... until the next meal? Sigh ....

*Note: Not recommended for dieters.

INGREDIENTS

3 eggs beaten

1/2 cup milk

pinch of salt

ground black pepper

coarsely chopped bacon (lean bacon if you must)

2 small waxy potatoes, sliced thinly (I know, I know, potatoes are hi-carb. Cheez, lighten up, will ya? I did say "small")

a handful of coarsely chopped rocket leaves

METHOD

Preheat oven to 200˚C.

Line a 7" X 7" non-stick baking tin with parchment. You don't have to do this. I just thought it would be easier to lift out when it's done.

Line the bottom with the sliced poatoes, overlapping them.

Place the chopped bacon and rocket over that.

In a separate bowl, beat together the eggs, milk and salt.

Pour that into baking tin over the bacon and rocket.

Bake for about 25 mins.

Serve hot.

Raspberry Ripple Cheese Tart

I did say I couldn't get myself into the mood to cook nor bake at this point of time but things are starting to look up a little. Also there are certainly no shortage of seriously tempting recipes around to get me going.

This was one of many. And I've also not made a cheesecake for the longest time. My family likes the non-baked ones, which is what I usually do (one day, that will get posted ... one day). The baked cheesecakes have always been a little too rich for me.

But when I saw this on Charles' page @ Five Euro Food, I knew I needed to make this and my tummy actually growled in approval! Definitely a good distraction from my worries for the moment. Not only that, the raspberry coulis, I knew, was going to balance out the richness of the cheesecake, so this was going to be a good one!

I called it a tart coz I'd sort of halved the recipe and it fitted perfectly into my flan pan ... and a couple of teeny tartlet tins. If you'd like the full recipe, please visit Charles, check out the English gentleman, ogle at his food and pics and get that idea of "English people eat only jellied eels and fish and chips" out of your head .... what? Nobody thinks that? Only me? Whoops .... (sorry, old chap) ... I forgot about Chicken Tikka Masala :)

(Please don't hate me).

INGREDIENTS

8 digestive biscuits

40g butter

250 g cream cheese

1/3 cup cream

1 tbs plain flour

80 g sugar

1 egg + 1 egg yolk

1/4 cup raspberry coulis (I used frozen berries pureed with 1 tbs lemon juice)

METHOD

Preheat oven to 180˚C

For the base:

Place biscuits in a food processor. Buzz til you get fine crumbs.

Melt the butter in the microwave and stir into the crumbs. (It should resemble wet sand)

Press into the bottom and sides of a shallow pie tin or in this case, I'd used an 8" tart / flan pan.

Bake for 10 minutes.

Remove and cool.

*Note: I made this a second time without baking the crust first and it also worked fine. I'd placed it in the fridge while I made the filling.

For the filling:

* Here you can use a hand/electric whisk. I'd used my food processor again after cleaning it of the crumbs.

Put in the cream cheese, eggs and flour. Buzz to mix evenly. Use a spatula to scrape the sides and bottom if needed.

Add the sugar and cream. Process until smooth.

Pour mixture into cooled crust.

Drizzle the coulis over the top. (I'd used a chopstick to make the streaks)

Bake for about 30 minutes.

Cool and place in refrigerator for a couple of hours to set a little (this was the hardest to do ... the waiting!)

(Don't ask me how long it keeps for, coz this was gone within 24 hours)

Revamped: Coconut Banana Pudding Pie

This is going to be a very popular category in my list real soon ... Revamps.

I love taking a basic recipe and revamping it with all sorts of variations and this one seemed the perfect candidate for it.

The Coconut Pie was certainly one of the most easy recipes I've come across in my years of baking (which isn't many ... I was a late learner and still learning). It is definitely a very good recipe on its own already. It isn't fussy and I doubt anything can go wrong with it so I figured it would be good to use as a base recipe for my kitchen "adventures".

I had some bananas ripening faster than I know what to do with. So I had decided to try adding them in here knowing that bananas and coconut go very well together since many of our local cakes and desserts have that combination. What turned out was more of a pudding since the added mashed bananas changed the texture and the level of moisture in this. You can omit the dessicated coconut since the coconut cream is enough to compliment the bananas... unless you prefer the gritty texture of it. The magical separation of the custard and dessicated coconut in the basic recipe doesn't happen here since the filling is way too dense.

The amounts for this is small since it was an experiment so feel free to double up the recipe if you like. The suggested baking time is just perfect for this size so you may have to adjust for a larger pie.

Oh, and I've discovered that this tastes great when it's cold! Well, that's just my tastebuds talking ... you decide for yourself which you prefer.

INGREDIENTS

See Easy as Coconut Pie recipe

1 medium / 2 small ripe bananas, mashed ... mushed would be better, unless you prefer it slightly chunky

METHOD

See Easy as Coconut Pie recipe

Serve warm or cold with ice cream, custard, milk ...

Easy as Coconut Pie

You know those days when you see a recipe that you like and don't have nice pieces of paper at hand and so you just grab the nearest teeny piece of what's available and scribble down as much as you can in that teeny space? Thank goodness for computers today so that we can clip, cut, copy, bookmark, print ...

Well, I'd found this very yellowed piece of paper .... hang on, ... oh, it's a Post It, it's supposed to be yellow! Anyway, it's old, wrinkly and crumpled. Scrawled on it was this recipe for I-have-no-idea-what-the-name-is cake. I don't know where I'd copied it from, or maybe someone told me about it and I wrote it down or I'd hurriedly copied it from a cooking show on tv .... and no picture reference to know if this turned out right.

BUT ... I can tell you this .... it is delicious! The fragrance and richness of the coconut cream really works here.

I'd call this a cake/pudding/custard pie. The magical part about this, other than being incredibly easy to whip up (no whipping required, actually), is that the cake sorts itself out into separate layers of coconut at the top and the custardy cake below.

Don't believe me? Try it out for yourself.

Oh, this is a reduced sugar recipe. All sweet toothed folks can add another 1/4 cup sugar to the mix.

INGREDIENTS

1/4 cup plain flour

1/2 cup (scant) sugar

1/2 cup dessicated coconut

2 eggs, lightly beaten

1 tsp vanilla extract

60 g butter, melted

1/2 cup milk

1/2 cup coconut cream

METHOD

Preheat oven to 180˚C.

Lightly grease pie dish. (I used a 6 1/2" square pie dish)

Sift flour into mixing bowl.

Stir in everything else. Mix until combined.

Pour into pie dish.

Bake for about 40 - 45 mins or until the top is golden.

Serve warm or cold, with ice cream, custard or on its own.

* Didn't I tell you it was incredibly easy?

PS: I've finally got Ping's Pickings onto facebook and Google+. In case google friend connect really goes away, you're always welcome to visit and follow me here and here.

See you there!

PPS: I've had some good reviews about this and seen them (beautifully made) at these places ... go visit, ogle at their pics and check out their verdict. I'm soooo happy! (If you'd made this and posted about it and would like to join the fun here, please let me know and I'll link you up. Thanks for trying it out!) ... who'd have thunk a teeny, crumply piece of paper could produce so much happiness? :D

~ With a Glass

~ Three Cookies

~ Makacska konyhája

~ Cranberry Jam

Turducken Pie

Turkey + Duck + Chicken = Turducken, has been around for awhile now, but I've only recently been opened to the idea of making one myself. Instead of the usual chicken-in-duck-in-turkey roll (who says it has to be that way anyway?), I've deconstructed and reconstructed it into a pie! Not surprised? Guess you know me quite well ... PING STRIKES AGAIN!!! Nyahaha!! (Say it with your tongue sticking to the roof of your mouth and in a seriously nasal tone). A blogger friend made a comment recently and made me realise I can't seem to stick to the basic recipe of most dishes. I guess that could probably be termed "weird", "strange", "stubborn", but maybe for a better choice of word ... "eccentric". Yeah, I prefer that one.

Anyway, this was part of the buffet for our Christmas Eve family dinner, with a few good friends. Over the next few posts, I will feature some of the goodies we had that night. And if you figure you want to make them and 25th December has passed, doesn't the song say we have 12 days of Christmas? Party on, folks! Also, something to keep in mind for next Christmas.

For this recipe... I've preroasted the meats, seasoned with just thick caramel soy, molasses and a little oil. You can always season it anyway you like.

INGREDIENTS

1 cup diced roasted turkey meat

1 cup diced roasted duck meat

1 cup diced roasted chicken meat

1 1/2 - 2 cups finely chopped leaks, white parts only

1 1/2 cups milk

1/3 cup flour

1 cup diced parboiled waxy potatoes

1 tbs dijon mustard

1 cup grated cheese (I used a mix of 3/4 cup grated strong cheddar and 1/4 cup grated mozzarella)

puff pastry (I used store bought stuff), or you can use shortcrust (see Quickie Quiche post)

salt and pepper to taste (depending on how salty your cheddar is and if you used salted bacon)

lightly beaten egg for eggwash

grapeseed oil and butter for frying

Ingredients I'd love to have put in but didn't due to fussy eaters and 'non-kosherness' :

chopped cooked bacon

fresh thyme

freshly grated nutmeg

METHOD

Heat butter & oil in pan.

Saute chopped leeks over medium heat until soft.

Stir in flour and stir until lightly browned.

Add milk to the leeks, stirring constantly until mixture is smooth and thickened.

Remove from heat and stir in mustard and cheeses.

Stir in meats and potatoes. Also add in bacon, if using, herbs and spices.

Season to taste.

Leave to cool.

Meanwhile, preheat oven to 200 C, roll and cut out pastry to desired size (you can make hand held sizes like what I did here or make bigger ones).

Press cutout pastry into muffin/pie pans. Fill pastry, brush edges with eggwash, cover with more pastry.

Brush the tops with eggwash, poke a teeny hole on top for it to breathe and bake for 18- 20 mins or until golden.

Serve warm. That's when the cheese gets all sticky, melty, gooey and yummy!


*Freezes well cooked or uncooked.

Christmas Buffet 2011

Disclaimer: Quality of photos are not up to the usual standards due to ravenous guests' growling tummies.

Submitted to: Your Recipe. My Kitchen

Savoury Custard Flan

(Thank you everyone for helping get this to FoodBuzz Top 9)

Or shall I just call this a Tart, or Quiche or maybe .... a Flartche? If you can come up with a better name, please let me know. I can think of another combination but it really doesn't sound too appetizing and neither does "leftover flan".

Anyway, this was another throw-together thingy. We had some leftover roast chicken that was clogging up my freezer space and at the same time, I was trying to unclog my brain to figure out some lunch. There was this packet of lovely fresh herbs given to me by a friend (from her garden!). I had a small block of mature cheddar and a whole lot of egg yolks leftover from making macarons. I did the math and the solution ... a Flartche.

INGREDIENTS

1 small onion, diced

1 waxy potato, diced (I'm using this instead of the russet as I wanted some bite)

1 cup roast chicken meat, coarsely shredded

4 egg yolks

1 cup cream

1 cup grated mature cheddar (you can substitute with cheese of your choice)

1 handful fresh sage leaves

prepared shortcrust pastry

METHOD

Preheat oven to 180 - 200ºC.

Line a 20cm round quiche pan with prepared pastry, pressing in the bottom and sides. Trim edges.

Line pastry with parchment paper. Fill with baking beads and bake blind for 15 mins.

Carefully remove beads and parchment, and bake a further 2-3 mins. Do not over-brown. Cool.

Stir fry diced onions and potatoes in a little oil until lightly browned. Stir in shredded chicken. Cool.

Beat egg yolks with cream. Stir in the shredded cheese, leaving about 3 tbs for sprinkling later.

Evenly spread out the onion/chicken/potatoes mixture into the pastry crust.

Top with a few leaves of sage.

Pour egg/cream/cheese mixture over filling.

Bake in preheated oven for 15 mins.

Sprinkle remaining cheese on top and bake a further 20 - 25 mins or until custard is set and the top is golden brown.

Leave to cool for a few minutes before tucking in.

Serve with some fresh ground black pepper.

Spike!

(Thank you everyone for helping get this to FoodBuzz Top 9)

Meet "Spike", my portable pie.

Portable pies, hand held pies, small little pies that fit into the palm of your hand, are so convenient, cute, lunchbox and portion-friendly .... freezer-friendly too! So convenient to just pop one or two into the oven or microwave for that spur of the moment pangs of hunger .... I seem to be getting a lot of that these days. I've almost totally scrapped the word "diet" from my vocabulary. Can someone remind me again what that blinking word means?

I'd made these for the Culinary Smackdown Battle @ Pretend Chef in the Hand Held Meat Pies Category. The gears in my head have been grinding for the last 2 weeks and finally settled on this, combining the Onion Jam recipe that I'd posted earlier with some very basic breakfast ingredients and packed them all into a mini breakfast pie! Breakfast on the go!

INGREDIENTS

Shortcrust pastry (for recipe, click here)

Onion jam (for recipe, click here)

Smoked bacon rashers

Small Eggs / Quails' eggs

METHOD

Preheat oven to 180˚C.

Roll out pastry and cut out to fit base of pie cases. Prick bottom of cases with a fork several times.

Fill with a layer of onion jam.

Fold a bacon rasher into half, lengthwise, and coil it around the inside of pie case, leaving a hole in the center for the egg.

Crack in 1 egg.

Brush sides of pastry with egg white and cover with pastry. Press the edges to seal. Brush top with beaten egg. Make a small hole/slash in the top to prevent cracking.

Bake in preheated oven for 20 - 25 mins or until golden.

Best eaten warm.

A Reminder: Virtual Potluck Party

Quickie Quiche

Tonight is lazy night. My fridge is semi-empty and so is my brain. Can't think of anything to make for dinner. No, make that, there are lots of things I'd like to have for dinner but there is always that one or two essential ingredients from the recipe that I don't have in my pantry or fridge. So, I'll just try to fix something from whatever I can find in my freezer, fridge and pantry. Let's see ...... we have ....

bacon, half a fennel bulb, chives, shredded cheddar, onions, some eggs left in the carton, some butter, about a cup of cream, hmmm ......

and in the pantry ..... flour ...... hmmm ......

INGREDIENTS: SHORTCRUST PASTRY

10 oz plain flour

5 oz cold, unsalted butter

1/4 tsp salt

1 egg, slightly beaten

*Note: this makes enough pastry for two 8" quiche pans. I can't make for one coz it's kinda hard to measure out half an egg.

METHOD

Pulse together flour, salt and butter in a food processor (I did mention I was feeling lazy today) until it resembles breadcrumbs.

Add beaten egg and pulse to mix until it forms into a ball of dough. Do not overmix.

Remove, wrap with plastic and leave to rest in the fridge for about 20 mins.

Roll out dough and press into base and sides of quiche pan. Pierce a few holes at the base of pastry with a fork. Refrigerate 20 mins before baking.

Preheat oven to 200˚C.

Line pastry with parchment and fill with baking beans/beads. Bake 15-20 mins. Remove beads and parchment and bake for another 2-3 mins. Do not allow to brown.

Pour filling into crust and bake 25-30 mins or until the top of the filling turns golden brown.

Remove from oven and let stand 10 mins before digging in. Serve with a fresh green salad.

INGREDIENTS: FILLING

(These are just estimates since I was trying to clear out whatever was left)

1 cup coarsely chopped bacon

1/2 cup coarsely chopped fennel bulb

1 small onion, diced

3 eggs

1 cup cream

1 cup shredded cheddar (you can always use parmesan/gruyere)

3 tbs chopped chives

salt and pepper to taste

METHOD

Place bacon in a pan and saute until lightly browned, not crisp. Add in chopped onion and fennel. Stir until onions are soft. Leave to cool.

Beat together eggs and cream in a bowl until evenly combined. Stir in bacon mixture and chopped chives. Season to taste. (If bacon is salty, reduce or leave out the salt)

Pour into crust. Bake as above.

*You can make one large quiche or smaller individual ones.

PS: This turned out pretty good. Sometimes the simplest, throw together dish can be the yummiest!