(Sea Salt and Rosemary) Focaccia

After few months of absence at Random Recipe challenge, I am so glad to be participating again.  The theme this month is all about bread.... And lucky me, the only cookbook I brought with me is River Cottage Baking: Breads and Puddings.  I have truly enjoyed baking home-made breads and with practise, I've gained  more confidence and now I can't stop baking breads at home.

The recipe I selected at random is Focaccia.  I love this Italian bread, especially simple ones like this, topped with the classic olive oil, sea salt and rosemary.  I think focaccia is best enjoyed warm, few minutes after it's out from the oven... lovely by itself or you can make a dipping with extra virgin olive oil and balsamic vinegar... delicious!

This is a pretty easy recipe and if you want to, you can make the dough using a food mixer; but I like playing with my food and I find kneading to be a great workout :)

As you can probably tell from the picture below, I didn't use fresh rosemary because I have no idea where to find it here.  So, I used dried rosemary instead and it worked just fine... And one quick note on the recipe below: it states that you need 325 ml of water, but I ended up using 375 ml to get the nice smooth and elastic dough.  But obviously only add extra water if yours needs it.  

Focaccia

Recipe from River Cottage Baking: Breads and Puddings

Makes 1

500 gr strong white bread flour

5 gr powdered dried yeast

10 gr fine salt

325 ml warm water

About 1 tablespoon olive oil, plus extra

To finish

A generous drizzle of olive oil

A sprinkle of flaky sea salt

A couple of rosemary sprigs, leaves stripped and finely chopped

Equipment

Lightly oiled, shallow baking tray, 26 x 36 cm

To knead by hand, in a large bowl, mix the flour, yeast, salt, water and oil, and mix to form a sticky dough.  Then, transfer to a clean work surface and knead for about 10 minutes or until the dough is smooth and silky.

Or, if you want to, you can make the dough using a food mixer that's been fitted with a dough hook.  Add the flour, yeast, salt and water to the mixer bowl.  Mix on low speed until combined, then add the oil and leave to knead until smooth and silky.

Shape the dough into a round and coat it with a little extra oil.  Leave to rise in a bowl, covered with clean tea towel or plastic wrap.  Leave for 45 minutes to an hour.

When the dough has doubled in size, tip it onto the work surface and press into a rough rectangle.  Then place in the prepared baking tray.  Press the dough with your fingers, right to the corners.  Cover the tray with tea towel or plastic wrap, and leave to rise again for half an hour or so.  In the meantime, pre heat the over to 250 C.

When the bread looks puffed up an airy, use your fingertips to poke deep holes across the whole surface, almost to the bottom.  Drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle with seas salt and the finely chopped rosemary.  Bake for about 10 minutes, then turn the oven down to 200 C and bake for a further 10 minutes.

Take the bread out of the oven and leave to cool on a wire rack for few minutes before serving.

Sweet Potato and Coconut Steamed Cupcakes

I got so excited when I found mom's recipe collections... It's like finding a treasure chest full of gold (I wonder if mom has that too... because that would be awesome!).  There are clippings from magazines and newspapers, hand-written recipes and recipes typed with typewriter.  Seriously, gold stuff. 

One of the recipes that caught my attention straight-away is sweet potato and coconut steamed cupcakes...   It may sound unusual to steam cupcakes, but they're so delicious, I've got to share it with all of you.

Unlike regular cupcake batter, this one has yeast in it and the batter needs to prove like making breads.  But the yeast here it really is the only raising agent. The cupcakes will bloom up and crack as they cook in the steamer. I prefer the cupcakes when they're still warm... soft with a nice chewy texture.

Just a note, because of the coconut content, if you happen to have some leftovers, they need to be stored in the fridge and re-steam before serving.  

Sweet Potato and Coconut Steamed Cupcakes
Recipe by Mom
Makes about 35 mini cupcakes

200 gr sweet potato
500 gr plain flour
325 ml water
125 gr palm sugar, or substitute with dark brown sugar
125 gr caster sugar
2 eggs
300 ml coconut milk
11 gr dried yeast

Start by steaming the sweet potatoes until they're cooked.  Peel the skin and finely grate them.  

In a sauce pan, add 250 ml of water with the sugars and cook on medium heat, just until the sugars dissolved.  Take it off the heat and let it cool.

In the mean time, in a small bowl, add 125 ml of water with the dried yeast and 4 tablespoons of the flour.  Give them a mix and leave for 10 minutes.  The mixture will be foamy which is a good sign, meaning the yeast is alive and working. 

Using a hand/free-standing mixer, whisk the eggs for few minutes until it doubles in volume and form ribbons when dripped from the whisk.  Add the yeast mixture, cooled sugar, remaining flour, baking soda, sweet potato, coconut milk and whisk again until all is nicely combined.  Cover the batter with cling film or clean tea towel for 45 minutes to an hour.  Now is a good time to line your little cups with mini cupcake/muffin paper cases, and also to prepare your steamer.

When the batter has doubled in size, it is now time to fill the little cups.  The easiest way to do this is by using a spoon.  Try to handle the batter delicately as we want to keep as much air as possible.  It's about a couple of heaped tablespoons for each little cup, but that really depends on the size of cups you're using.  Steam the cupcakes for 12 - 15 minutes.  To test if the steam cupcakes are ready, insert a skewer into the cake and see if it comes out clean without wet batter.    

Serve warm or at room temperature.  Store the leftovers in the fridge and they can be re-steamed before serving.

Zebra Cake 2.0

To be honest, there's nothing wrong with the previous zebra cake recipe.  It is a delicious dense cake.  But that's also the problem.  With denser cake like this, I find that I can only eat one slice at one seating and that's just not ideal for someone greedy like me.  

I don't know about you, but I find greed to be a great source of inspiration and motivation.  So after playing about with the recipe and experimenting... a total of five cakes; Mom and I, we came up with the recipe which will give you a moister and lighter cake.  Using my mom's own recipe for zebra cake, I updated the flavour a little bit.  I was a bit skeptical when I first read the recipe, but who am I to question my mother, who was a pastry chef.

The base for the cake batter is basically a meringue, with ovalette added to the egg whites.  Ovalette is a gel type stabiliser which gives extra volume and stiffness to the egg whites.  But if you can't find it, cream of tartar can be substituted.  To the meringue, the rest of the ingredients are then added.

To create the distinctive zebra stripes pattern inside the cake, I've given up using piping bags.  Patience is virtue I just don't possess.  I use soup ladles which is much quicker and it works just fine!

And one last note, the cake isn't too sweet which I like, but do add more sugar if you want it sweeter.

Zebra Cake 2.0

Recipe by Mom

250 ml egg whites, approximately from 5-6 large eggs
1 tsp ovalette
180 gr caster sugar
125 gr plain flour
100 ml water
125 ml vegetable oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon + 1 teaspoon cocoa powder, sifted
1 teaspoon instant espresso

Grease, line, grease again and flour a 23 cm round cake tin.  Preheat the oven to 180 C.

In a free standing mixer, whisk the egg whites and the ovalette until they are holding soft peaks.  Keep whisking and gradually add the sugar a little at a time.

When you have a firm meringue, put the mixer on low and slowly add the flour and water.  When everything is incorporated, stop the mixer and fold in the vegetable oil using a spatula or a big spoon.

Divide the batter into two.  To one batter, add the vanilla extract; and to another, fold in the cocoa powder and instant espresso.  Using two ladles of the same size, one for each batter, ladle one batter in the middle of the cake tin.  Then ladle the other batter right in the middle of the first batter, and keep alternating the batter, creating a loosely speaking target pattern.

Bake in the preheated oven for 25 - 30 minutes.  When the cake is done, let it cool in the tin for 15 minutes before turning it out.  Make yourself a cup of tea and enjoy the cake.  I stop eating after three slices, just so you know.

Slow Roast Shoulder of Lamb and more...

These are some dishes I cooked a while ago, but for some reason never got around to post them.  And with Easter approaching in a couple of days time, and you still don't know what you'll be cooking, here are some delicious ideas.  

When I think of a roast for Easter Sunday, I immediately think of lamb.  I adore lamb and my favourite cut is the shoulder.  The reason being is it's cheaper than the leg... Yes, shoulder of lamb is a tougher cut, but slow-roasting it makes it so, so tender...

I marinated the shoulder of lamb in a mixture of all-things-that-are-delicious-with-lamb, such as lemon, garlic, chillies, rosemary, anchovies and olive oil.  A proof that too much of a good things can be wonderful indeed.  Simply whiz all the ingredients in a blender until smooth and massage it to the lamb.  Let all the flavours marry overnight in the fridge.

The next day, the lamb would have absorbed all those wonderful flavours.  Take the lamb out of the fridge about an hour before cooking to come to room temperature.  Chop one red onion into wedges and throw them in the roasting tin, along with few cloves of garlic, unpeeled.  Season with generous amounts of sea salt and freshly grated black pepper.  Then it can go into a hot oven for half an hour or so to get the colour going.  Then take it out and cover it with tin foil, and put it back in the over, lowering the oven temperature.  Three hours later, you will get this absolutely delicious, tender roast lamb... I am salivating just thinking about this dish...  When the lamb is out of the oven, let it rest for a few minutes, covering with foil to keep warm while you prepare all the trimmings.

Not that it needs it to be honest, but I quite like the idea of having a refreshing dip/sauce to go with the roast lamb.  I love tzatziki and it goes beautifully with lamb.  In a bowl, simply mix Greek yoghurt, diced cucumber, minced garlic, lots of finely chopped fresh mint leaves and fresh coriander/cilantro and lemon juice, a little salt and pepper, and that's it.  You can definitely make this ahead of time and keep it in the fridge.  I actually like my tzatziki fridge cold and with the hot lamb... heaven!

Now salad, again very easy... It's Greek inspired cherry tomatoes, olives and feta salad with red onions and parsley, which I simply dressed with red wine vinegar, extra virgin olive oil and dried oregano. 

And last but not least, dessert.  I don't have a sweet tooth (that is one big huge fat lie...), but most of my friends always insist on something sweet at the end of the meal, and I am very happy to accommodate their needs.  My vanilla and lemon curd tart is super easy to make, especially if you use good-quality store bought shortcrust pastry.  Make this ahead of time, in the morning or even the day before and just keep it in the fridge until when you and your friends are ready...

  

And I have a video too when I make the roast lamb, tzatziki and the salad.  So I hope you enjoy it :) And the recipe for the vanilla and lemon curd tart can be found below.

Happy Easter weekend everyone! x

Vanilla and Lemon Curd Tart

Serves 4 - 6 (I managed to cut it into ten slices)

375 gr ready-made shortcrust pastry

Zest and juice of 4 lemons

200 gr caster sugar

100 gr unsalted butter, cut into little cubes

4 eggs, lightly beaten

The seeds from 1 vanilla pod, or 1 tsp vanilla bean paste

If you are using ready-made shortcrust pastry, bake it in a 26 - 28 cm tart tin according to the packet's instruction.  Though if you're feeling adventurous and want to make your own pastry, find the recipe and instruction, here.

To make the vanilla and lemon curd, put the lemon zest, juice, sugar and butter into a heatproof glass bowl.  Sit the bowl over a pan of simmering water and do make sure that the water is not touching the bottom of the bowl.  Stir the mixture until the butter has melted.

Add the eggs and the vanilla seeds to the buttery lemon mixture and whisk to combine.  Then cook for ten minutes or so.  At first the mixture will look wet, but I promise it will thicken.

Pour the vanilla and lemon curd to the pastry case.  Let the curd cool a bit before putting it in the fridge to set for 4 - 6 hours or overnight.  And you know what to do next...   

Tuna in Spicy Kaffir Lime Leaves Sambal

One of the things that I have been doing whilst home is testing and stealing mom's recipes.  This is another one of her recipe that I absolutely love and I think you will too.

I love tuna fish and when it's cooked in this spicy, but at the same time, refreshing sambal, it is out of this world.  The tuna is first fried in some vegetable oil and then shredded.  Just use regular tuna here please; don't waste your money and getting the grade A tuna or often called sushi/sashimi grade tuna which are best enjoyed rare. 

Now, the all important spicy kaffir lime sambal.  Start with basic sambal mixture of red chillies, garlic, shallots and tomatoes; and to that add some galangal.  Put all of them in a blender to create a smooth paste.  If you haven't come across galangal before, it looks almost like ginger (they could be cousin) and it has a mild, peppery flavour.

Cook this paste in some vegetable oil in a pan big enough to hold the shredded tuna later.  To that add a couple of stalks of lemongrass which need to be bruised a bit to release its flavour; and the magic ingredient, lots of kaffir lime leaves which I like to snip into little pieces so that they disperse in the sambal.  The combination of the aromatic citrus of the kaffir lime leaves with the sambal is just beautiful.  You may need to add a bit of water if the sambal looks like it's drying out.  Adjust the seasoning with salt, pepper and sugar.  For this particular sambal, I like it quite zingy, and this is my own addition, lime juice.  

When the sambal is cooked, throw in the shredded tuna and toss it around so that it's all coated with the sambal.  Serve over hot white rice.  Yum...