Mushroom and Chestnut Puds with Red wine sauce

A very interesting vegetarian version of traditional suet pudding. The earthy and nutty taste from the mushroom and sweetness from the chestnut makes the pudding taste meaty. An absolute veggie food but even committed canivores will also love it.

I know the picture on your left is not exactly appetizing, I looks more like halloween food, but honestly, it looks greatin real and taste even better. Trust me.

Mushroom and Chestnut Puds with Red wine sauce

Ingredients:
For the filling
1 tbsp olive oil, plus extra for greasing
250g pack portabellini mushrooms, quartered (or mixed mushroom, like chestnut, oyster, shiitake)
1 clove garlic, crushed
½ x 200g pack Merchant Gourmet Whole Chestnuts Roasted & Ready To Use
1 tbsp tomato purée
100ml red wine


For the suet crust:
150g self-raising flour
75g Atora Light Shredded Vegetable Suet


Method:
1.Lightly grease 2 x 300ml pudding basins with a little oil and set aside. Heat the olive oil in a large frying pan and add the mushrooms. Fry for 3-4 minutes, stirring often, until they start to turn golden. Add the garlic and cook for another minute. Stir often to avoid catching at the bottom. Fry the mushroom until the liquid from itself is absorbed. Stir in the chestnuts, tomato purée and red wine. Season, bring to the boil then reduce the heat and simmer for 5 minutes or until the sauce is reduced by half. Check and adjust the seasoning if necessary, then remove from the heat and allow to cool.


2.To make the pastry, sift the flour and a good pinch of salt into a bowl. Stir in the suet, add 100-150ml cold water and mix to a stiff dough. Reserve a quarter of the dough. Cut the rest of the dough in half. On a floured surface, roll each piece into a circle large enough to line each pudding basin, leaving a little overhang. Once the basins are lined, spoon in the cooled chestnut and mushroom filling.


3.Cut the reserved pastry in half and roll out each half into a circle to cover the tops of the puddings. Brush the edges with a little water and lay over the filling, pressing the dampened edges onto the overhanging pastry to seal. Trim away any excess. Cover with a piece of oiled kitchen foil and secure with string. Place the puddings in a bain-marie, make sure the water is above half way of your pudding bowl. Cover the bain-marie with 2 layers of foil to avoid browning the top. Bake in a 180C/ gas mark 4 oven for 1 hour.

Rose and Lychee Sorbet

I found this recipe in 'The Cook's Book', however, I have altered the recipe so that I could use egg white in my sorbet. The egg white gives the sorbet a velvety texture.

3 cans tinned Lychee in syrup
80g caster sugar
100ml water
1 ½ table spoons rose syrup (red)
½ tablespoons rose water (clear)

2 egg whites, whisk to soft peak

1. Blend the lychees with the water into food processor until it becomes a runny pulp puree.
2. Pour the pulp into a sauce pan, add the sugar and bring it to boil. Simmer it until the liquid reduced by half, about 20-30 minutes, stir occasionally to avoid catching at the bottom. Stir in the rose syrup and water, remove from heat, and then blend it with hand held blend until smooth. Chill the mixture over night or at least 4 hours.3. Churn the mixture in ice-cream machine until it becomes slush. Fold in the whisked egg whites, while the ice-cream machine is churning. Churn until the mixture is smooth and the egg white is mixed well in. Put the sorbet mix into a plastic tub and freeze over night. Take it out from the freezer 10 minutes before serve.

Apple, Walnut and Celery Salad with Camembert Dressing

The opening of a grand dinner without meat......

Apple, Walnut and Celery Salad with Camembert Dressing
Serves 6 for starter or 2 for lunch

Ingredients
Dressing:
250g round, ripe camembert
2 tbsp crème fraîche

Salad:
110g Cox’s apple, sliced
2 Hearts of Romaine
2 celery sticks

Garlic croutons:
50g bread, cut into small cube
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 cloves of garlic, crushed

Methods
1.Preheat an gas mark 4, 180oC oven.

2.Place the bread into a mix bowl, together with olive oil and garlic. Stir them around so that they get an even coating.

3.Arrange them onto a baking tray, bake them for 10 minutes or until they are crispy and golden. You may need to turn them around to get all sides crispy. Don’t go away from them, it is only 10 minutes, stay near the oven, otherwise you will forget.

4.Allow them to cool and leave them on one side until they are needed.

5.Then prepare the dressing. You can either peel the camembert skin carefully so you won’t waste too much, but I have found another method to do the trick. Put the whole cheese, with skin and everything (not the plastic wrap and the wooden case of course) into the microwave oven. Heat it at high heat for 2 minutes. The inside of the cheese will be melted, but still holding shape by the skin. Now, cut a circle at the top, then scrap the melted cheese into a sauce pan, and try to resist the smelly temptation.

6.Put the crème fraîche into the cheese, if you have dry cider at home, dash 1 tablespoon into it, so that the sauce would be less thick.

7.Now the salad, prepare them just before serving, tear the hearts of Romaine leaves into manageable pieces. Arrange them onto the serving plates, then the apple slice, and celery and then the walnut.

8.Scatter the croutons onto the salad and dress it with melted camembert. The dressing might start solidify at this point, re-warm the dressing under low heat until it is thin enough to serve.

Les Trois Mousquetaires and fondant fancies

I have been busy for a good few days. Regardless that I have taken the last few days off work, I have had no rest practically.

It is all because my beloved hunky boyfriend, Z kept me busy every night. No, I don’t mean like that. It was annual panto presented by Woolton Drama Group. I’m no actor in the group, but my culinary skills do make me lots of friends. Last year’s King Arthur brought bucket load of laughter to us, so we decided to portrait another monarch, however, this year the background is set in France....The Three Musketeers.

Z is the director of the panto. As the ‘woman’ behind the successful man, there are lots of background work needed to be done and iron out. Even with my busy schedule of work, gym, family and being pretty, I did my best to lift some of the stress from my loved one. As always, I was stressed through the last week, busy on making tabards for the musketeers and fondant fancy for the interval refreshments. I have been thinking hundred of time that I will not do all these again, it is always stressful and frustrated if the product didn’t turn out well. However, the compliment from the audience about my confectionary was rewarding, especially from those who don’t know me at all. One of the actress’ mum went to see the show, the first thing she said to her daughter after the performance was not about her appearance on stage, it was about my fondant fancies. They absolutely loved it. After all the hard work and time I put in, and then I heard that, it gives me a heart-warming feeling and passion for next creation.

Well, enough lollygagging, let’s get down to business. So, what is fondant fancy?

Fondant fancy is basically sponge cake, cut into square, brushed with jam all sides, with a dollop of butter cream on top, and then cover with fondant icing. Each fondant has to be iced individually, and coated all side. It was highly labour-intensive, a pair of hand is not enough to make ‘industrial’ quantity, even with Z’s helping hands. Therefore, I changed it into Victoria sponge with a twist.

Victorian Fancies (about 12 portions)

Sponge
3 eggs
6 oz caster sugar
6 oz spreadable butter
½ tsp lemon extract
6 oz self raising flour
2 tsp baking powder

Butter cream
175g icing sugar
75g butter

Rosé lime and lemon marmalade

Icing
1 Lemons, zest and juice
2 drops of natural yellow food colouring
250g-350g icing sugar

1.Preheat a 180oC/gas mark 4 oven.

2.Whisk the eggs and sugar together. Then mix in the butter and beat until fluffy.

3.Lemon extract goes in, and then sieve the flour and baking powder into the mix.

4.Fold the flour into the butter mix until lumps of flour disappeared.

5.Line a 12”x8”x1”deep baking tray with greaseproof/ non-stick baking paper.

6.Pour the mix into the tray and bake for 20 minutes.

7.Meanwhile, beat the butter and icing sugar to pale and fluffy, put a few drops of water if the mix is to stiff to work with.

Tips: You can test the sponge by pressing the top of it. If it bounced back and left no finger print, that’s done.

8.Cool down the cake at room temperature, it takes a few hours, but I usually cool it down over night. You should have a sponge about an inch thick.

9.Slice the sponge into two half-inch thick layers. Spread one layer with butter cream and then spread marmalade on top. Cover it with the second layer, then cut the cake into 12 squares, about 1.5 inches x 1.5 inches.

10.To make the icing, mix the lemon juice and zest and food colouring together.
Mix in the icing sugar gradually, beat until it reaches a cream-like consistency, add more icing sugar if it’s needed. Use it immediately.

11.Put the cake squares onto a griddle, put a tray underneath to catch dropped icing. Pour the icing on top of the cakes, let the icing flow over the edges and cover the sides. Don’t move it until it sets.

Vegetarian Night

After the last successful ‘Nancy Boy’ dinner on my birthday, me and Emma decided to make another one, but with total vegetarian food, and yes, we do like challenge sometimes.

Shamefully, I actually don’t have much experience on veggie cooking. My culinary skill on this particular category is limited to veggie stir-fry and using meat substitute to make most of meat dishes into vegetarian. It has been some difficulties for two devoted carnivores to set up a quality vegetarian menu, but we got our starter and desserts sorted quite easily. I guess most of starter and desserts are vegetarian, it was not too hard to pick a good one. The hard bit was the main course, it has to be something more substantial, more powerful on visual impact and it should fill you up, so you feel satisfied. However, for an exquisite dinner, veggie lasagne, veggie cannelloni, veggie chill con carne, curry or stir-fry is not going to be good enough. Finally, we decided to make a pudding like steak and kidney pudding, but instead of those ‘bloody’ fillings, heart warming Portobello mushroom and chestnut are the ones to give you a winter hug.

So, what exactly is the menu? Brace yourselves, here we come.

Cold Starter
Heart of Romaine with apple, walnut and celery with camembert dressing

Warm Starter
Broccoli Cheese Souffle

Sorbet
Pear Sorbet

Main
Chestnut and mushroom pudding with seasonal vegetable and red wine gravy

Desserts
Passion fruit tart with cardamom white chocolate mascarpone ice-cream

Some of the recipe will be posted on here soon. Keep checking!!

Answer to email: Smoked salmon and Spag Bog

Recently I received an email from my first blog fan. He asked me how to make smoked salmon and he had some difficulty when making pasta sauce. I can’t say that I’m an expert in Italian dishes. However, Spaghetti Bolognese is one of my mum’s crowd pleaser for many years, and I have picked up some tips from time to time.

Smoked Salmon & Cured Salmon

Facts of Smoked Salmon and Cured Salmon

Smoked Salmon is fresh salmon that has undergone a smoking process, usually by one of two methods-hot-smoking or cold-smoking. Most of supermarkets sell both types of smoked salmon. However, the delicate flavour of cold-smoked salmon makes it becomes people’s favourite. Also, it is very easy to use in cooking, either directly put on soda bread with sour cream as canapé, or slightly cooked in pasta.

Cured Salmon is practically raw fish. The method has been used for centuries to prevent food from spoiling. The process usually involved good quantity of sugar or salt or both. Herbs or citrus peel can be put into to make a dry rub mix which is then applied onto surface of the fish. It takes a few days to a week to ‘cook’ the fish, depends on the size of the fish. The sugar and salt draws a large amount of liquid from the fish and replacing it with sugar/salt mixture, thus gives the fish ‘cooked’-liked finish.

Even though, they are different in making process, their tastes are similar and can be applied in cooking in same way. However, of course, cured salmon has no smokiness.

Gravlax
This Swedish speciality of raw salmon cured in sugar-salt –dill mixture is famous around the world. The fish is sliced paper-thin and served on dark bread with mustard-dill sauce as appetizer.

I adopted the original recipe and came up with a citrus-flavoured cured salmon. I love it, and all of my family and friends love it, why don’t you give it a try.

450g/1lb salmon fillet (preferably middle-cut), pin bones removed
25g/1oz coarse sea salt
25g/1oz caster sugar
1 tsp crushed white peppercorns
1 lemon, zest only

Get two salmon fillets of total weight 450g/1lb. Ideally, they are about the same size. Wash the fillets and towel dries them.
Then mix the salt, sugar, pepper and zest in a mixing bowl. Lay a large piece of cling film on your worktop, and then put a quarter of the salt mix in the centre of the cling film. Put one fillet on top of the salt, skin side down. Then rub and other 2 quarters of the mixture on the salmon, put another piece of salmon on top, sprinkle the rest of the salt on top.
Wrap the fish with the cling film tightly. Then place the parcel on a shallow dish to prevent leaking of the liquid. Place another plate on top of the parcel, and apply some weight. Keep the fish in fridge for at 48 hours but no more than 3 days. Some liquid may leak out from the parcel, but don’t worry, that’s normal.
Before serve, unwrap the parcel, wash off any residual mixture from the fish with cold water, and then serve it the way you like.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Spaghetti Bolognese

A world famous pasta dish that everyone loves, Spaghetti Bolognese is originated in Bologna, Italy. This pasta dish is with a meat based sauce, sometimes taken to be tomato sauce. However, the original recipe has very small amount of tomato paste, perhaps a couple of tablespoons.

The traditional ingredients of Bolognese sauce (Ragù) were confined by the recipe issued in 1982 by the Bolognese delegation of Accademia Italiana della Cucina. It involves beef, pancetta, onions, carrots, celery, tomato paste, meat broth, white wine, and milk. However, there are numerous of interpretation worldwide, and nowadays the term ‘Bolognese’ usually applied to a meat-tomato sauce, which vaguely bear the resemblance of traditional Ragù.

Ma Luk’s Spaghetti Bolognese
Serves: 4

450g/1 lb mince beef
3 cloves garlic, crushed and chopped
1 large onion, finely chopped
2 tomatoes, coarsely chopped
750ml pasta sauce
1 teaspoon sugar
Salt and pepper
150g Cheddar cheese, grated

350g dried pasta (Spaghetti, Penne, Rigatoni or Tagliatelle or any pasta you like)
30g butter, cut into knobs
1 tablesppon olive oil
2 teaspoon sugar
3 tablespoon ketchup

Heat 2 tablespoon of oil in a frying pan, fry garlic and onion to golden brown but do not burn, then fry the mince until just cooked.
Tip away some of the oil in the pan, then add the sauce, tomatoes and sugar. Stir through the mince and let it simmer for 15-20 minutes uncovered or until the sauce is reduced to two-third. Then add salt and pepper to taste. Set aside.
Preheat a 220oF/ gas mark 4-5 oven. Meanwhile, boil a large pan of salted water. Put the pasta into boiling water. Stir to avoid sticking and cook for 10-15 minutes or until al-dente.
Strain the pasta through a colander, put the pasta back into the pan. Put butter, oil, sugar and ketchup onto the pasta and mix until all pasta are coated.
Pour the pasta into a casserole dish, add the Bolognese on top, sprinkle grated cheese all over the top, then bake it in oven until the cheese is melted and golden.

Ben’s Spag Bog
Serves: 4

450g/1 lb mince beef
3 cloves garlic, crushed and chopped
1 large onion, finely chopped
1 tinned chopped tomatoes
300ml passata
1/2 tablespoon tomato paste
1 tablespoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon sugar
Salt and pepper

350g pasta
Parmesan cheese, finely grated to serve

Heat the pan with a few tablespoon of olive oil, then shape the beef into small meatballs, about less than an inch diameter and brown them all round. Remove them from the pan and set aside.
Use the same pan, fry the onion and garlic until golden but do not burn them. Pour in the tinned tomatoes, passata, tomato paste and oregano, mix well. Simmer the sauce to reduce to two-third, about 15-20 minutes. Then put the cooked beef balls into the sauce, simmer at low heat. Add salt and pepper to taste.
Boil the pasta according to instruction on the package. Then strain them and put it back to the pan. Stir through a couple spoons of olive oil, then pour the sauce into the pasta, mix through and serve with grated parmesan and extra black pepper.

Tips: if the sauce was runny, but you would like to have good amount of sauce. Thicken the sauce with flour and water mixture (1 tablespoon of flour to 2.5 tablespoon of water). Do not pour the mixture all at once, pour them in portions and stir until it thickens to your like.


As I mentioned before, spaghetti Bolognese has different interpretation. You could put more vegetable, such as mushroom and celery. You also could use basil instead of oregano. I hope you all are happy making spag bog with your own style J

Starter : Beetroot Cured Salmon with Horseradish Sour Cream

Hi everyone, Christmas is getting close, where are you going to have your favourite Chirstmas Dinner? Posh Restaurant? Friend's House Party? for me, a wholesome home-made Chirstmas Dinner is unbeatable. The following dish that I have served on my birthday dinner as a starter also fit well in Christmas. The dark red beetroot taints the edge of salmon slice in red and leaves the middle orange pink. Horseradish gives it an extra dimension on the fish, you definietly can 'Taste the Difference'. With horseradish cream and Irish soda bread, this dish is the perfect starter for a lot more to come.

For the Salmon:

2 skin-on salmon fillets (about 1.3kg/3lb in total)

200g caster sugar

140g sea salt flakes

85g grated horseradish from a jar

3 medium raw beetroot (about 250g/9oz), coarsely grated (no need to peel)

1 bunch dill , chopped

For the Sour Cream:

200ml tub sour cream

juice 1 lemon

2 tbsp grated horseradish from the jar

handful dill fronds, roughly chopped

Soda Bread (I chose Paul Rankin’s) for serving

1. Lay the salmon fillets, skin side down, on a board and brush your hand along it. If you feel any little pin bones pinch them out with your fingers or tweezers. In a bowl, mix all of the other ingredients for the salmon together to make the cure.

2. Stretch two large sheets of cling film over a work surface and spoon over some of the cure. Lay one of the fillets, skin side down, on the cure, then pack over most of the cure, and sandwich with the remaining fillet, skin side up. Top with the last of the cure and wrap both fillets together tightly with lots of cling film. Place in a container with sides, like a large roasting tray, put a smaller tray on top and weigh it down with a couple of tins. Leave in the fridge for at least three days or up to a week. Don't be alarmed by the amount of liquid that leaks out, this is normal. Once a day, pour away the liquid, turn the salmon and re-apply the weights.

3. To serve, unwrap the salmon from the cling film and brush off the marinade. Slice the salmon into thin slivers. Make the dressing by mixing all the ingredients together with some salt and pepper, and pour them into small ramekins, one for each guest. Serve each guest with a few slices of salmon, few slices of soda bread and the dressing at the side. Once made the salmon will sit happily in the fridge for up to a week and can be used just like smoked salmon.

FoodSnapper

Was it crazy to take picture of food? It is quite embarrassing when someone you know do that excessively, and I m sure I have embarrassed Z and a few friends of mine in numerous occasions. My appreciation of food doesn’t stop at the point I finished it, in fact, it escalates when I break down the food in my mind, thus I want to remember and learn from the goods and avoid the bads. It wouldn’t be a good idea to keep a portion of my creation for future reference, so at least I would like a picture as a trophy.

For years, I thought I am the only loony in the bin, putting pictures of my own sweet creations on facebook. If I said there was nothing to do with self indulgent, it would be a lie. However, receiving comments and genuine interest about food from the others are far more satisfying than the praise on its own. Recently, someone contact me thorough facebook, told me about a website called FoodSnappers, a website full of ‘loonies’ (in a good way) like me. It was great to see like-mind people have same passion on cooking and food. This public blogsite encourage us to take picture of food and drink, to share the joy of having good food and prolong the moment of indulgences. If there is an ‘xtube’ on food and drinks, FoodSnappers is the master of amateur ‘gastroporn’. Of course, visual stimulation is not the only high in the website. Recipe section is the place for amateur or even professional chef to share recipe and discuss culinary skills. Some of those recipes are developed from experience, failure and then modified. Blogmaster Joe regularly posts seasonal recipe with article and pictures that makes you feel the urge of cooking. After all, FoodSnappers is the blogsite for all amateur chefs, food critics, foodies or generally food lover to exchange skills, recipes, opinion and the joy of cooking.

http://www.foodsnappers.com

Perry Jelly and Summer Fruit with Elderflower Ice Cream

It is the time to post more recipe. The following recipe is not from mine, it is from Great British Menu Series 2, Pudding King - Mark Hix’s winning dish. The beauty of this recipe is not only tastes good, looks good, it helps me to understand how to make a good ice cream mix. The proportion of cream and milk and also the fat content of the milk has to be 4.5%+. From then on, I have made lots of different ice cream, with different flavour, traditional or innovations. More ice cream recipe at my blog ice-cream for Saturday

Perry Jelly and Summer Fruit with Elderflower Ice Cream

Preparation time 1-2 hours
Cooking time less than 10 mins


Ingredients

For the elderflower ice cream

300ml/½ pint whole milk, preferably Channel Island

6 medium free-range egg yolks

100g/4oz caster sugar

300ml/½ pint Jersey or clotted cream, or a mixture of the two

200ml/7fl oz elderflower cordial

For the perry jelly and summer fruits

4 gelatine leaves

500ml/18fl oz perry (sparkling pear cider)

75g/2¾oz caster sugar

125g/5oz mixed berries, such as blueberries, raspberries and wild strawberries

Method

1. For the elderflower ice cream, bring the milk to the boil in a heavy-based saucepan, then remove from the heat. Whisk the egg yolks and sugar together in a bowl, pour in the milk and whisk well. Return to the pan and cook over a low heat for about five minutes, stirring constantly with a whisk. Do not boil. Remove from the heat and whisk in the cream and elderflower cordial. Leave to cool, then churn in an ice cream machine (according to manufacturer's instructions) until thickened. Decant into a clean container and place in the freezer.

2. For the perry jelly and summer fruits, immerse the gelatine leaves one at a time in a shallow bowl of cold water and leave for a minute or so until soft. Bring 100ml/3½fl oz of the perry to the boil in a medium saucepan, add the sugar and stir until dissolved. Drain and squeeze the gelatine leaves, then add to the hot perry and stir until melted. Remove from the heat, add the rest of the perry and stir well. Put the pan of jelly somewhere cool, but do not let it set.

3. Divide half the berries among four individual jelly moulds, or use one large mould. Pour in half of the cooled jelly. Chill for an hour or so to set, then top up with the rest of the berries and unset jelly. (This ensures the berries stay suspended and don't float to the top.) Return to the fridge to chill until set.

4. To serve, turn the jellies out onto plates and place a scoop of the elderflower ice cream in the middle of each one.

The recipe is copied from BBC Food Website : Perry Jelly and Summer Fruit with Elderflower Ice Cream

Family Do: Lunch at Mr. Thomas's

English Chop House, the first thing came into my head was Aberdeen Angus Steak House which is Scottish in fact. I apologise for my lack of chop house experience. In my mind, I couldn’t get around the idea of steak pie and grilled steak, such simple, no gimmick, somehow uninteresting dishes, could be famous nationally and internationally, and plus, I don’t need to travel tens or hundreds of miles into those remote villages and their local gastro pubs, a gastro pub in town, can’t be that authentic. Fortunately for me, I proved myself wrong on the day.

The day wasn’t as good as we wanted it to be, so my Adventure in Clitheroe has to postpone. I was so looking forward to the outing with my surrogate family. My interests never get far away from food and drink, going to Clitheroe is not only for landscape, castle, or herons. I expected visiting local restaurants and bars, having some traditional pub food would be my high-light of the day. Unfortunately, the weather wasn’t on our side, we have to think of something else for this family do

After some serious discussion, Mr Thomas’s Chop House is the place, Za decided, I have no idea what is this restaurant like. I only have this mental image of a posh Wetherspoons, scally free, playing cosy music in the background, not long before I had this Victorian building in front of me. Entering it I found myself in a smallish English pub as I went blind at the same time because of condensation. It was peak lunch hour on Saturday, the queue was surprisingly not bad. We have waited for 10 minutes to get a table which I considered lucky. At the point stepping in the restaurant part, the mystery of famous English Chop house finally unfolded. My inner tourist-self came out with my brick-like camera, started observing for potential snap materials. Floral lights hanging down from the ceiling, the incandescent lighting on beige tiles tainted the whole room into a canteen like dinning hall, without the shouting from the dinner lady and the chance of beaten up by a bully over a pudding. The tiling of the restaurant, from floor to ceiling are original, you can feel the bareness but also layers of characteristics. Most of diners were family and couples, they all seemed having a great time.

I was amused by the choice in the menu, traditional fish and chips, steak and kidney pudding to hash and flame grilled steak. I stuck with my favourite, steak and kidney pudding, even the smell of hash that the lady sat next to us was enjoying, made me have a second thought. The pudding came with peas, chips and gravy. I wouldn’t expect less on the chips from a famous chop house, and they didn’t disappoint me. The gravy was a real meaty one instead of those brown glue with bits of disintegrated onion. They were very good but not enough to blow me away though. The peas were something I want to know more. Crunchy, and somehow have this meaty and smoky flavour. I guess it would be fresh peas roasted with bacon or lardoons, it was divine. Last but not least, is the huge pudding, perfectly cooked. Breaking into the just dried outside, steamy, fluffy, doughy goodness were flowing out, not only the juice, but chucks and chunks of steak and lamb kidney. The pudding soaked up all the juice, leaves enough for lingering between the meats, not too much to transform itself into a doughy mess. While I was having my orgasm with my gastroporn, Em wasn’t impressed by her fish and chips. She insisted me to give a second opinion, and it wasn’t bad. However, for 13 quid, I do expect more than it was. The fish wasn’t seasoned well, batter was ok, but on the thick side and then it dripped out oil in my mouth. It might be because of Em sent the first one back to kitchen, because the fish was overcooked, they rushed out a new one without enough time to drain the grease. Other than that, everyone was happy about their main course.

With all the girls around me, pudding was a compulsory. Banoffee Sundae did catch my eyes, but Za and Bec had put their mark on it, as I kindly chose lemon posset instead. Em ordered a sticky toffee pudding, so we can share a bit of everything. I rest my case for lemon posset, it was something to die for. The texture and flavour just perfect, it melted at the second you put it in your mouth and burst out citrus tang, gorgeous! Sticky toffee pudding was great too, very spongy, strong treacle flavour with a runny buttery toffee sauce, it was just the thing for a cold rainy day. I was glad I haven’t ordered the Banoffee Sundae, dry stale toffee sponge cubes at the bottom, seemed like trimming from the toffee pudding but dried. Chucks of banana, with condensed milk like fresh out from the tin without caramelised, just enough to coat them, leave the sponge cubes dry and crumbly. Strongly not recommended.

Price: Lunch £30 per head (including main course and desserts, 3 bottle of house wine shared between 5 people and 10% service charge)

Mr. Thomas’s Chop House
Victorian Bar, Restaurant and Coffee Shop
52 Cross Street
Tel: 0161 832 2245
http://www.tomschophouse.com/

Happy Birthday !!!!!!!

To me. I m officially 28, started from 3 days ago. I apologise that I haven’t updated my blog for days. Last week, I was not well for a few days, then I had my holiday on Thursday and Friday to prepare my birthday dinner.

Describe that was a 7-course meal, I wasn’t stressed out. I had plenty of time to prepare the dinner, I was on top of my schedule. I was even able to have a break between 6 – 7pm. Everyone arrived about the same time, we started with some appetizer, with Z and Lance helping, the party started…….

Appetizer

Kir Royal

Starter

Beetroot Home-cured Salmon with Soda Bread and Horseradish Dressing

Butternut Squash Risotto with Truffle Oil

Homemade Pear Sorbet

Main

Gressingham Duck with Beetroot Purée and Autumn Vegetable with
Port and Red Wine Gravy

Desserts

Passion Fruit Tart with
Homemade Cardamom White Chocolate and Mascarpone Ice-cream

Amaretto Chocolate Torte (Courtesy to Bec)

Cheese Board -

Wensleydale, Mature French Brie, St Nectaire, Camembert, Smoked Lancashire, Ploughman Cheddar, Organic Bishop Stilton, Roquefort

That was the biggest dinner I have ever made. Even tho, there are numerous amount of dishes, the portion of every course was in perfect size, not too big, not too small. It was good enough to taste and remember, but not filling you up. Em was very impressed of the dinner, she loved all the courses and for once she didn’t feel that her stomach was going to explode after the dinner. It is always good to want more after a dinner, that gives you a better memory of the meal, a lot more enjoyable. I made a stuffed mushroom for Bec’s main, it was very easy to made and she was equally impressed as we carnivores.

The dinner started at 8:30pm, cheese came around at 11:00pm. It was a delightful night, with all my closed friends and family. Bec made me a chocolate torte for birthday cake, serve on this marble stone plate. The torte is very rich but nicely rich with amaretto kick. It was very nice that Bec made me a birthday cake, that's always better than a birthday I made for myself. It was the best birthday so far. Seeing everyone enjoying my food, all the hard work suddenly seems insignificant.

I don’t usually enjoy the food as much as when I m a guest. However, I was so please of the outcome. All the dishes were up to my standard, of course there were a flaw here and there, but in general it was a success.
Unfortunately, I forgot to take picture for my dishes, may be some other time when I made them again. All the recipe will be posted on here in the future, but when…..I don’t know :P if anyone would like to get the recipe sooner, please email me, and I will do my best.

Something I read : GayBanker

Recently, I read the blog from blogger Gay Banker. It was interesting to start with, however, after a few blog, about the relationship issue of this blogger, it does get on my nerve a little bit. He seems like a person who is hard to please, and always wants to get the best of both, a bit greedy, general speaking.

I m not here to talk about him tho, but about something related to him and me, might relate to you too.

Relationship. Have you ever think about yourself having a partner for life, but you do not live with him/her? And why do we think a couple have to live together? Was it about love? Can’t we love each other without seeing each other everyday? For me, I would like my bf lives closer to me, but not with me. I used to think a couple have to live together, if we truly love each other, it should not be a problem to see each other day and night. However, the more I grow up, the more I become independent, the more I enjoy my free time and do the things I really enjoy. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy seeing Z, but b’cos he lives in Liverpool and I m in Manchester, weekend seems the only choice for us to catch up. Sometimes, I would like my weekend on my own, go to gym, keep in shape, or paint, or whatever really. It would be nice if he lives closer so he can come over for dinner in the week, catch up and the rest of it :P, it doesn’t have to be in the weekend. However, if we live together, I don’t feel I should do things on my own by ignoring him, and it is not nice to ignore someone you love.

I found this situation of me and Z is good for us both. We have been together for 3 years, we have never lived together, and we haven’t plan to, and it works perfectly. I met a few people, and they asked me that how could I trust Z not being naughty behind my back. My first question for them is, define cheating. Some people would say, having sex with another one….for me, cheating is more like having a relationship and fall in love with them behind my back, if they told me before I found out, that doesn’t count as cheating either. I have been cheated on, by Z to be precise, he dumped me over another guy b’cos he was in love with him, and I found out before he told me. And why on earth I got back with him? He does have lots of quality besides what was happened. This story taught me a good lesson about relationship, when we are with someone, there is no guarantee that you or your partner would not cheat.

Everyone has tendency to be a cheater, usually b’cos of lust or occasionally love. by using restraints, such as living together, marriage, off-springs and what have you, people thinks that is a good idea. Yes, for some people, but fundamentally, what is the point to keep someone if they are going to drift off? If you truly love them, you want them to do what they want, you give you opinion, and let them do their thing, and same apply to relationship. In my point of view, if a side line relationship is going to happen, there is nothing you can do and should do, so just let it happens, move on and be happy for them. Remember, he/she is not all you have got. Since there is nothing you can do about it, so why worry at the first place.

The key thing about a sustain relationship is power balance. B’cos of you don’t worry about it, you are less possessive, you are more confident about the relationship and most of all about yourself. You know that he/she is not all you have got and b’cos of that, you both will be more appreciated each other’s existence.

Ice cream for Saturday

The coming Saturday will be my birthday dinner. Last year, I had a party with friends and family at home, it was great fun with great food from me and Em. This year I rather have a Nancy boy dinner, essential guests only. I have booked Thursday and Friday off to prepare the dinner, even tho I'm off today too, because I'm ill. It is crap to be ill at anytime, but ill just before my holiday and birthday, it is very not fair.

Anyway, for the dinner, we are going to have sorbet between starter and main course, and ice cream to serve with passion tart as desserts. Instead of posting all the recipe in one lot, since I have made the ice cream, why not spreading the words now. Both recipes are adopted from Internets (somewhere) I could not remember. However, I have put my own twist in it, so let's see what you all think about it.

Pear Sorbet

Ingredient:
900g Ripe pears, cored, diced (preferably Comice or Willliams)
6 tbsp Lemon juice
9 tbsp Caster sugar
2 egg whites

Method:
1. Put all ingredients except egg whites into a sauce pan, stir and bring it to boil. Stir from time to time to avoid catching at the base. Then simmer until pears are soft and liquid is thicken. It takes about 30 - 45 mins. Set aside and cool to room temperature.

2. Blend the mix to smooth, like a pear puree. Then Freeze the mix in a shallow container for an hour. Scrap the slush around the edge and mix them back in the pear mix. Repeat this steps for another 2 times.** Now you should have a smooth slush pear mix, and it is ready to mix with egg white. For the egg whites, beat them until stiff peak then fold into the pear mix. Pour into a tub and freeze at least 4 hours. Take it out in room temperature 20 mins before serve.

**If you are using ice cream machine, chill the pear puree and then churn them in the machine to slush and follow the rest of the recipe.**

Cardamom White Chocolate and Mascarpone Ice Cream

Ingredients:
8 Cardamoms, crushed with pestle and mortar
350ml Full fat milk (preferably Channel Island milk)
4 Eggs yolks
180g Caster sugar
350g Mascarpone
100g White Chocolate, coarsely grated

Methods:
1. Put the crushed cardamoms and milk in a sauce pan, bring to boiled then simmer for 10mins. Turn of the heat, let it infuse for futher 30mins.
2. At the meanwhile, beat the egg yolks and sugar together until pale and fluffy.
3. Strain the milk and bring back to just boil, then pour onto the egg and sugar mix.
4. Mix well and then pour the mixture back into the sauce pan. Simmer it on medium-low heat, make sure it doesn't boil. Keep stirring the mix at all time. When it reach a custard texture (it should coat a wooden spoon) or 84 degree C (if you have sugar thermometer), remove from heat and pour into a mix bowl quickly. (if you leave the mix in the pan, they will continue cooking and curdle).
5. Mix the mascarpone into the custard mix. Chill for at least 4 hours.
6. Gfet it out from the fridge, fold the grated white chocolate into it. pour it into a shallow container. Freeze for 1 hour and scrap the frozen bits at the edge, mix them back into the mixture. Repeat this step every hour for 3 times, or alternatively pour the mix into an ice cream machine and follow the manufacturer instructions.

I hope you like the recipes, and happy ice cream making.

My Baby Evan

It was great to see my son again, this weekend. I have not seen him for a good few months. I know I am not a perfect dad material, actually I am, but I cannot afford him at the moment. He has two sweet mums to look after him, I have nothing to worried about.

Some of you might ask, what is this all about? A puff, has a son? No, Evan was not a mistake, he was planned, and we all love him very much. Well, I start to be a sperm donor about 2 years ago. I always want a child when I am not too old. It might be easy for you, but not for me. I knew Z was on this website that is called http://www.free-sperm-donations.com/ , he told me I can set up a profile and there will be couples to contact me, straight or gay, so I did. About a month after, T and L contacted me. They are Chinese (L) and German (T) lesbian couple, T was the one who want to carry the baby, so they will have a Chinese and German half cast baby and look-a-like them.

Anyway, I went to Belfast to see them all with Z. We arrived at early evening on Saturday. T picked us up at the airport. The day was very nice and dry, bright warm sunshine, you wouldn’t think that was the end of summer. Evan was in the car looking at me suspiciously. Last time he met me was half a year ago, he was only 2 months old. He probably didn’t remember me at all. Instead of greeting me, the second I got in the car and said hi to Evan, he started crying, no matter what I did, he just kept crying. It was very embarrassing to be honest, people around might think it was child abuse.

Finally we arrived at T & L’s place. Once Evan back to his throne, had his food, he was full of beans again. For a 7-month old baby, he can walk with help from us. In no time, he will walk around the place and wreck it.

We stayed in and caught up on things. I had 2 and a half bottle of wine, very insensible. The next morning I woke up with hanging headache, anything I drank from then I threw up straight away. It was the worst hang over ever. After an hour struggling in bed, Zoran gave me some painkillers and then emotional blackmail me that they were going to this food festival in the park. I have to say the blackmail worked beautifully. I suddenly had this momentum to get myself out the bed, went to the shower and got out the house.

It was a beautiful day, even tho I was still half pissed, I managed to have some food and had a good time with Evan and all. I was very nice to have an outing with the girls, my son and Zoran and we get on very well. I m sure Little Evan had a good time too, he giggle all the time when we were in the park. I can see he really wants to walk on his own, he never stop turning here and there when I was holding him.

After that, it was about time to go to the airport. I would love to stay a bit longer. Before we went, I gave T & L my calligraphy of Evan’s name in Chinese. They were delighted. I also leave a life casting kit at them, so next time, we can cast Evan’s baby foot and hand, that will be good fun.

White Truffle

Last weekend, I was planning my birthday dinner at Lance’s (my bro). One of the starters will be butternut squash risotto with white truffle oil. I have had truffle oil in dishes in several occasions, I found it not as special as people describe, or may be the restaurant I went to was stingy about, so I have not had a good analysis on the taste of it.

For those who have not heard of truffle, I am here to give a little intro for these ugly and unappetizing but precious fungi. Truffle is a type of edible fungi that grows 3 to 12 inches underground, often near oak trees. They are not as visible as their conventional counterpart. Truffle farmers train pigs and dogs to sniff truffle out in forests. Because of its labour intensive harvesting method, thus their shelf life is only a few day in refrigerator after they have been exposed, these make truffles extremely expensive.

To make sure I put what I want to taste in my dish, there is only one way to find out. I bought a little bottle of this white truffle oil in Morrison. It costs me £3.50, it is not cheap but it is cheaper than I expected. The taste of oil actually tastes like one of the Chinese medicinal herb, Dong Quai – Chinese angelica. It has a very pungent aroma. I tried it on some scallops, it goes very well. Although, I do not know is this truffle oil good or not but we like it.

I did not take the oil back to Manchester with me, I thought I could get them in Waitrose, and so I did. However, it is from a different brand and the smell of it is different to the one at Lance. The smell is more gasoline, a lot more earthy. I cannot say I am very keen on the smell of it. Actually they both taste similar, but I prefer Lance’s to the one I bought. Nevermind, I have spent good money on this little bottle of oil, I just hope it will go well with my risotto.

Viva Piñata: A Game form of Heroin

Most of gamer what am I talking about here. The second game of the sequel has just been out. I have not tried it yet, there are still a few things I need to do on the first one. It was a year or so the first game launched. I have seen it in shops, quite frankly, the cover of Viva Piñata is not something could attract serious gamer. The game targets a wide age range, basically, 8 – 80 can play the game in a different manner, but still have their own way to enjoy it. When Z bought it 3 months ago, I was not sure about the game. Z asked me to give it a go, and I was hooked straight away. Now, I am the Master of Piñata in the house.

The addictiveness of the game can compete with Facebook©. Of course it depends on individuals, but if you are like me, having a collector’s gene, then please prepare to lose your social life for a couple of months. 58 in total, the number of species of Piñatas, to meet them all, then make them visit, live and romance in your garden is not as easy as you think. On top of those, every Piñata has 3 colour variants, to get everything done could be a long journey.

Thankfully, regardless of my late start, I will soon finish the game and Z will buy me the sequel, Viva Piñata: Trouble in Paradise. Apparently, this time they have more mini game and fun factor. I so look forward to it.

Popping Rosy White Chocolate Mousse Cake

I know sooner or later I have to post something related to my blog title. And yes, finally, I am going to post this recipe that I have tried on my lovely landlady, Em’s birthday. 20 of us in the party were so impressed about the cake that I made. That cake was a show stopper, I am not flattering myself, the cake looks great, taste great and absolute ladies’ cake. The cake weights nearly 4 pound, a twelve inches cake, not a piece left over.

I cannot say the cake is easy to made, you do need some experience on cake making, otherwise you will find it very difficult to get a light fluffy texture. With white chocolate rose mousse, popping candy praline base and strawberry, this cake is something to die for. On here, I have to give courtesy to Heston Blumenthal. He is a cock in lots of way, I’m sorry, but he is. However, this recipe of his popping candy base, it is very interesting, and not as crazy as his usual fancy experiment. The combination of this cake is my creation, and I'm proud of it. On Emma’s birthday cake, I covered the cake with light Chantilly cream, and sprinkle of violet petals round the edge. If you are up for the challenge, please tried to do so, it makes the cake looks even more professional. However, you need a good pair of plastering hands to get a nicely smoothed cream cake. Practice makes perfect, I have been a novice too.

Popping Rosy White Chocolate Mousse Cake

Preparation time: 2 hrs
Cooking Time: 1 hr

Serve 8

Ingredients:

For Chocolate Sponge:-
2 medium free-range eggs, separate
3 ½ oz self-raising flour (preferably good quality sponge flour)
¾ oz cocoa powder
4 oz spreadable butter
½ tsp baking powder

For Popping Praline Base:-
85g whole hazelnuts
40g milk chocolate
2 tsp mixed spice
100g popping candy/ space dust (preferably strawberry flavour)

For Rosy White Chocolate Mousse:-
150g white chocolate
3 medium free-range eggs, separate
½ cup icing sugar
250ml whipping cream
½ tbsp rose water
2 ½ tbsp rose syrup
½ tbsp/ ½ sachet gelatine powder
200g Strawberries, chopped

For Toppings:-
15 fresh strawberries
3 tbsp good quality strawberries jam

Methods:

1. To make the sponge, preheat the oven to 180C/ 350F/ Gas Mark 4. Beat the egg yolks and suger to pale and creamy. Whisk in the butter until well combined, then sieve in the self-raisng flour, cocoa powder and baking powder and mix well. Beat the egg whites to soft peak in a clean mixing bowl, fold the egg white into the cake mix. Double line the side and bottom of an 8” cake tin with greasproof paper, pour the cake mix in and bake for 25 – 30 minutes. To check the sponge, lightly press the sponge with your finger when it is near the finish time, if the finger print springs back, the sponge is ready. Take the sponge out of the oven, remove it from the cake after 10 minutes and peel off the greaseproof and set aside until cool down completely. Remember! Don’t put the sponge in the fridge, it will make it dry and absorb the smell from your fridge. You can bake it the night before, cover it with tea towel and cool down in room temperature.

2. To make the base, preheat the oven to 180C/ 350F/Gas Mark 4 and roast the hazelnuts for about 10 minutes until lightly coloured. Blend to a paste in a food processor, then set aside. Melt the milk chocolate in water bath (put a bowl over a sauce pan with simmering water — take care that the water does not touch the bowl) and then stir in the ginger spice and popping candy. Next, fold in the hazelnut purée. Place the 8” ring mould on a serving dish and gently press in the base mixture to a depth of about 1cm. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours, until hard.

3. Meanwhile, chop the chocolate for the mousse and set aside. In the mixing bowl, beat the egg yolks and suger until pale and creamy. Put the chopped chocolate in another bowl, place it over a pan of simmering water. Stir the melted chocolate gently, but not too much. Pour the chocolate into the egg mix and mix well, the mixture is very thick. Whip the cream until stiff and set aside. Beat the egg white in a clean bowl to soft peak then pour in the rose water and syrup and whisk until stiff. Fold the whipped cream into the egg and chocolate mix until well combined, then fold in the egg white. Heat up 4 tbsp of water in a bowl, sprinkle the gelatine powder to the water, leave until it goes spongy. Stir until all the gelatine is dissolved, make sure there is no lumps. Stir the gelatine into the mousse mix.

4. To assemble the cake, place the popping candy praline base in an 8” cake tin, then pour half of the mousse mix into the mould. Evenly distribute chopped strawberries on top. Trim and slice the 8” sponge to 7” diameter and 1cm thick. Place the trimmed sponge on top pour the rest of mousse mix into the tin, smooth the surface and place in fridge until set, it takes at least 4 hours, preferable over night.

5. To decorate the cake. Quater the strawberries, arrange them from the edge of the cake towards the centre until it is covered with strawberries. Melt the jam in a sauce pan on low heat, stir in 1 tbsp of water, leave to cool slightly. Brush the strawberries with the jam mixture, place in fridge until serve.

Savina - The Transforming Mexican

Z (my BF) was so sweet and considering recently, probably because I was a bit upset and feeling unsettle. We have been together for 3 years, I moved to Manchester a year ago because it is closer to work. He lives in Liverpool, seeing him every weekend could be a chore when my schedule is packed and work is stressed. Sometimes I wish he lives closer to me (but not with me), we can meet up for lunch or just pop in for tea in week nights. In some weekend, I would rather be alone. Anyway, today, we are not talking about that, it is about Savina - the posh Mexican.

Z’s dad came over last week, usually I would be the cater for them. Z’s dad, Mick loves good food, apparently his wife is not a brilliant cook, in that sense, I am confident to say, Z is a lot luckier than Mick. It was a Wednesday night, I went over to Liverpool from Cheadle Hulme after work. Z insisted to dine out as a treat. I have not dinning out since I got a proper job, my parent stopped funding me, so even I'm earning more than when I was a student, I also spend more on basic expenses.

We went to this Mexican restaurant called Savina. He has tried them twice and he likes it. Although, I'm sceptical about it, he is a very appreciative person and anything taste semi-decent he would say that they are good. There were a few diners when we arrived, the receptionist was nice, non-English by her accent, kindly showed us a table with a nice window view.

We did not ordered wine, Z was driving and I was too tired to get tipsy. The décor of the place is trendy, red in colour, a bit too red I would say. In my mind, Mexican restaurant would be more down to earth, not pretentious, cosy and simply no fuss, Savina has not got these boxes ticked.

The main menu was not full of choices, but that is not the problem. A limited menu means stocks gets used quicker and fresher most importantly. There were about 5 starters, 3 of them are Nachos with different amount of toppings. 5 grilled steak dishes in Mexican Style, of course those special term appeared on the menu, like chipotle, aioli, cilantro to make these basic dishes sound authentic. There are a few more fish dishes, they sound nice but not interesting enough. At the point I was thinking, ‘grilled steaks can’t be their major diet, can it?’ I read further down of the menu, the 5 chef specialé were the ones I was looking for, I’m sure there are plenty more down to earth, hearty dishes in Mexican cuisine.

We started with Nachos Supreme which we quite enjoyed. Main course arrived straight after we finished the starter. Me and Mick ordered Cochinita Pibil, a stew dish, with braised pork, in tomato, onion, garlic, cumin orange and cilantro (coriander) sauce. A flavourful dish with a warm welcome, it is a perfect comfort food for week evening. The sweet and sour from the tomatoes and orange, with a hint of smokiness I would think that’s from smoked paprika, and coloured by chipotle, with coriander’s fragrant underlined. Even though, the traditional way is served in banana leaf parcel, I did not care much. Z had a chicken dish in a spiced cream sauce, served in similar way but with sautéed potatoes with chorizo, they are tasty too.

The only last criticism about the food is, the portions are small, and the warm, simple, rustic, grounded presentation does not match the attitude of the restaurant’s décor. There was a crashed when they tried to get a balance of both worlds. I do not mean Mexican cuisine cannot be trendy and posh, even so, a harmony between the taste and visual pleasure is needed. Price-wise, three of us shared a starter, a main course and a beer each, the bill came at 60 quid. I could not say it was a rip off, but for a 12 quid main course, they could have done more than that.

Like a Virgin...

Hmm....my first blog, what should I write on here? To be honest with you, I don't exactly know what kind of thing I should post on here, but I always like the idea having a blog. In this boring (at work), stressful (I'm skint) and dull (English weather) afternoon, I couldn't bear to sit on my ass and drag myself into the dungeon of boredom. That's the reason why this blog exists, it's not very convincing isn't it? I know. I'm not here to be a famous blogger/ blog author, my English is not perfect, I have not got a huge passion on blogging like the others, BUT I have a LIFE, a life full of weird things and people, a life I enjoy and I grunt at the same time. I'm sure most of us have similar kind of life, but I decided to share it.

So why puff patisserist? I’m not a professional pastry chef, an amateur one may be. I love baking with passion, I make good cakes and desserts and I’m a puff, doesn’t need much more explanation I guess. If anyone had question about baking, cooking, party planning, or even being gay, send me an email, I'll try my best to help.

My blog bascially all about food and a bit of gayness. Picture about Gok Wan as a chef.... oh yes, you got it!