: easter egg hunt :

We all know that Easter is all about chocolate, eggs, and chocolate eggs. So I decided to make a chocolate cake pop egg to celebrate the holidays.

Literally.

I made the eggs using the cake pop method with some leftover chocolate cake I had in the freezer. I even hid a little surprise in each of my egg-shaped pops... keep reading to find out what!

I melted some white chocolate slabs using a double boiler, and attempted to dip half of each egg and then let dry before I dipped the other half. I quickly realised this method was not ideal. The white chocolate was too thick and was leaving blobs on my eggs.

This was not going to work out.


I decided the try doing a pour-over method instead, thinning out the white chocolate with shortening. I placed my eggs on a rack over a tray and poured the white chocolate mixture over it, making sure all sides of the eggs were covered.


This yielded a much better result. So much so infact, that one has to wonder...

Is this an egg? Or an egg?


And when you bite into it....

There's even a yolk! (Made with yellow cake mixed with frosting).


I actually first tried to make this using a sponge cake I had in the freezer, but the cake was too yellow and although I dyed the yolk part with yellow food colouring, there wasn't much differentiation.

For a more "authentic" cakey-hard-boiled egg, try it with a white cake (but remove the top/bottom/side which will brown during baking), and then dye the yolk bit yellow.

Happy Easter!!

: roasted beet risotto :

There's something really glamorous about risotto that I just can't quite grasp. Maybe it's the fact that it's so labour intensive to make. Maybe it's that it just tastes so decadent.

Well, whatever the reason, I decided I wanted to try and make a beet risotto as I had some leftover in the fridge I wanted to use up. I recently visited the St. Lawrence Farmer's Market where I had bought some farm-fresh veggies:


I thought that by roasting the beets, the sweetness that resulted would meld really well will the savoury saltiness of parmesan cheese... mmmm...

To roast the beets, I sliced them up (approx. 1/2 inch) and placed them on a baking tray with some olive oil and roasted them in a 400F oven.


About 15 minutes later, I flipped the beets over so they would cook evenly on both sides. About another 15 minutes later, I took them out of the oven and let them cool.

Then I used a fun cookie cutter and cut some of the beets into flower shapes for decoration. I finely diced up the rest of the beets to add to the risotto.


When you add the chopped beets to the risotto, it will turn the most fabulous shocking magenta colour!

The resulting dish looked gorgeous and was soooo delicious.


Roasted Beet Risotto (makes 6 servings)

Ingredients:
10 Small beets, roasted (approx. 1.5 cups small dice)
Olive oil
1 small Onion, finely diced
3 Garlic cloves, minced
4-5 sprigs of Thyme
2 cups Arborio rice
1/2 cup Red wine (I used Chianti since that's what I had lying around)
7 cups low-sodium Chicken stock (or you could use half regular stock, half water)
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese, grated
Salt and Pepper (for seasoning)

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 400F. Peel beets and slice into 1/2 inch slices. Place slices on a baking sheet and drizzle with olive oil, making sure beets are coated on both sides. Place in oven and bake for 15 minutes.
2. After 15 minutes, flip beets over and let roast for another 15 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool. When cool to the touch, chop beets into small dice (brunoise), or you can cut them into fun shapes. Set aside.
3. Place a large saucepan/pot to medium heat and add 1-2 tablespoons of olive oil. Add onion and saute until translucent.
4. Add garlic and thyme sprigs and saute until fragrant. (As a note, I don't bother pulling the leaves off the thyme as by the end up this, all the leaves will fall off the stems anyway).
5. Add the arborio rice and stir until all the grains are coated.
6. Add the red wine and stir until wine is absorbed into the rice. The rice will turn a very unattractive cloudy grey-ish colour... but not to worry! This is only temporary :)
7. Add chicken stock, 1/2 cup at a time and consistently stir until rice has absorbed each batch of liquid. Towards the 7th cup of liquid, the rice will start to get a little creamy as it releases its starches. Depending on how you like your risotto (al dente), you can add a little bit less liquid. Just have a taste and see what tickles your fancy.
8. When all liquid has been absorbed, turn off the heat, and IMPORTANT: pull out all thyme stems!!! Nobody wants to eat a stem.
9. Add grated parmesan cheese and diced beets and stir through until thoroughly combined.
9. Season as you wish with salt and pepper, and serve!

: braised pork, tofu and eggplant :

My roommate is a picky eater. So, I take it upon myself to cook foods she claims not to like and try to force her to enjoy it :) But in all seriousness, I think most people claim not to like certain foods because they've only tried it cooked in certain ways. In this dish, I've taken two of my roommate's least favourite ingredients, tofu and eggplants (which taste relatively bland by itself), and braised it with pork in a delicious spicy and savoury sauce. The good thing about tofu and eggplants is that they're like sponges, so they suck up all the saucy goodness, turning them from flat to flavourful! Needless to say, this dish is now a favourite in the house.





Braised Pork, Tofu and Eggplant (serves 6)

1 T vegetable oil
1 lb lean ground pork
1 large eggplant, cut into 1/2 inch dice
1 package (425g) regular/medium tofu, cut into 1/2 inch dice
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup chicken stock
3 T oyster sauce
1 T dark soy sauce
2 T chili garlic sauce (or more/less depending on how much you like spice!)
1 T cornstarch
1 green onion, sliced thin
Pinch of white pepper

Directions:

1. Add oil to hot wok (or pot/saucepan) and fry garlic and ground pork until just cooked through.
2. Add eggplant, chicken stock, oyster sauce, dark soy sauce and chili garlic sauce and bring to a simmer. Turn heat to medium, cover and let braise for 7-10 minutes or until eggplant is tender.
3. Add tofu and mix around to make sure the tofu gets all saucy.
4. Simmer for another 15 minutes on medium heat for the tofu to absorb the sauce.
5. Mix cornstarch with a bit of cold water and add to mixture to thicken the sauce.
6. Add white pepper and sliced green onions at the last minute.
7. Serve with rice!

: get fruity :

I've never really considered myself much of a baker. As much as I love cakes, pastries and sweets, I've always been more of an eater, and less the maker. So it's a bit surprising to myself that most of my posts thus far have been about desserts.

I think the one thing I've discovered since creating this blog is that desserts are one of the most fun foods to jazz up! It's so easy to make a simple dessert look completely elegant, or oh so cute. (Okay, maybe those ducks actually did take quite some time to make! But you get the idea). As such, I've currently been mostly experimenting with desserts and how to make them look delicious and attractive (on camera and off!).

I made this fruit flan in my Culinary Desserts class, and it looked so good that I just had to share. The recipe is also dead simple, and straight from our class workbook. And it's actually quite good! Measurements are all in grams/ml, and some adaptations apply.



Fruit Flan (makes one flan)

Ingredients:
Pastry:
100g Sugar
170g Shortening
3g Salt
1/4 t Vanilla extract
1 Eggs
25ml Milk
300g Pastry flour

Custard:
375ml Whole milk
75g Sugar
30g Cornstarch
1 Eggs
1/2 t Vanilla extract
Pinch of salt

Melted chocolate (about 1/4 cup, enough to cover your pastry crust bottom.
Fruits (of your choice)
Apricot jam, heated up with a little bit of water to a glazing consistency

Directions:
1. To prepare pastry crust, cream together sugar, shortening and vanilla until light and fluffy.
2. Add eggs one at a time, scraping down bowl. Add milk and just disperse.
3. Sift and add flour. Blend until incorporated - DO NOT OVERMIX.
4. Work dough on floured table. Chill until needed.
5. For the custard filling: In a saucepan, combine milk, cornstarch and 1/2 the sugar and bring to a boil.
6. In a bowl, whisk eggs with the remaining sugar until pale and slightly thickened
7. Temper the egg mixture and add to saucepan.
8. Whisk until mixture thickens, ensuring it is smooth and lump-free, then remove from heat and add vanilla and mix through.
9. Pour pudding onto a clean sheet of plastic on a tray (to prevent skin from forming) and refrigerate and let cool.
10. Roll out pastry crust to 1/4 inch thickness and line flan or tart pans. Poke holes with a fork in the dough. Bake shell in 350F oven until golden brown (15-30 min).
11. When pastry shell is ready, let cool slightly and 'paint' on melted chocolate to prevent soggy bottoms.
12. When chocolate has cooled completely, add custard and smooth out.
13. Arrange a variety of fruits in an artistic design covering all cream (I used strawberry, tangerines and kiwis).
14. Glaze fruits with melted apricot jam.

: the mommy diaries :

I'm sure many chefs and home cooks alike will agree that their love of food stemmed from their parents' home cooking. I'm no different. Growing up, the best cook I knew was definitely my mother, and I draw many of my inspirations from her home cooking. I remember when I was a young'un, I wanted to be just like her and would pretend to cook "carrots" (cut-up pieces of orange construction paper), "onions" (cut-up pieces of white construction paper), and "celery" (you get the idea) in my "saucepan" (old cookie tins).

Of course, back in those days, all I did was just make a mess of confetti. These days, I try to re-create my mom's cooking whenever I'm craving comfort food, and this simple Thai-Style Fried Rice with Chinese Sausages is one of my favourite adaptations. And I hope it can be yours too! And mom, you're still my favourite chef!! :)

Thai-Style Fried Rice (makes approx. 7 cups)

Ingredients:
4 cups cooked rice (rice stored overnight in the fridge works best)
2 x Chinese sausages (laap cheong), small dice (or you can use chicken, etc.)
1 x Tomato, small dice (flesh only)
1 medium onion, small dice (about 1 cup)
3/4 cup Green peas
3/4 cup Corn kernels
2 x Eggs, cracked into a bowl and whisked with 2 T of water
2 x Garlic cloves, minced
2 t canola oil
1-2 Birds Eye Chili, sliced thin (optional)
1 x Green onion, sliced thin (optional)
3 T Fish Sauce
Juice from 1/2 lime

Directions:
1. Heat wok, and add 1 teaspoon of oil. Saute onions on medium heat.
2. Add garlic, making sure not to burn! Add tomatoes.
3. Stir fry until tomato juices have evaporated, and then add peas, corn and chinese sausages. Fry until everything is heated through.
4. Remove from wok and set aside.
5. Add 1 teaspoon of oil to wok, and add egg mixture. Cook until you have a fluffy omelette. Break up omelette into small pieces (uniform with diced sausages, peas, corn, etc.)
6. Add vegetable mixture and rice into the wok and combine.
7. Add fish sauce and lime juice and combine.
8. Add sliced chilis and green onions (if adding).
9. Serve and enjoy!