Tiramisu

Tiramisu.. Yummm... What do I love the most about Tiramisu? Everything in it. It's quick and easy dessert. I always enjoy making this sweet treat and the balance combination of coffee and mascarpone is always comfort me. Here they are, I present you my favorite desert of all time. 


Tiramisu







Ingredients
500g Mascarpone
4 Egg Whites
240 ml strong Espresso
185ml Coffee Liquor 
Cocoa Powder, to serve
Dark Chocolate, shaved, to serve
500g packed of Savoiardi Biscuit


Zabaglione
4 Egg Yolks
100 g Caster Sugar
80 ml Coffee Liquor


Method
1. For Zabaglione, whisk Egg Yolks and sugar in a heatproof bowl over a saucepan of gently simmering water until thick and pale (4-5 minutes). Add Coffee Liquor and whisk until tripled in volume and mixture holds a trail. Cool. 

2. Place mascarpone in a bowl and beat until smooth, add zabaglione and fold to combine, In a separate bowl, whisk egg whites until soft peaks form, then gently fold through zabaglione mixture.

3. Combine espresso and Coffee Liquor in a bowl. Dip biscuits in espresso liquid, place 2 in each base of 6 serving glasses, top each with 1/4 cup zabaglione mixture and repeat twice more with biscuits and zabaglione mixture. Refrigerate for 3 hours or overnight. Serve dusted with cocoa and chocolate shavings.

I'm craving for second round.

Crumbed Lamb Cutlets with Brandy Sauce

This Crumbed Lamb Cutlets recipe is inspired by Australian Good Food Magazine on November Edition. This dish is  perfect for weekend cooking when I just want to feel lazy at home and eat comfort food. I like to eat my lamb with drizzling sauce and adding my way of cooking mashed potato. To be honest, I don't cook Lamb very often and I normally use this brandy sauce when I cook beef fillet steak. I love the crunchiness of the crumbed lamb cutlets, the lamb itself is also moist and tender. The sweet corn potatoes is actually hubby's favorite dish. He always asking for more. Well, I guess he also deserves to be spoiled after he recovered from gout last week. Overall, this dish is becoming one of our weekend dish or quick fix weeknight dinner. 

Crumbed Lamb Cutlets with Brandy Sauce

Ingredients

12 Trimmed Lamb Cutlets

1 tablespoon Olive Oil

30g Butter, plus 30g Extra, melted

1 cup (70g) Fresh Bread crumbs

2 tablespoon chopped Thyme Leaves, plus sprigs to serve

1 Garlic Clove, finely chopped

2 1/2 teaspoon Dijon Mustard
Cooked Spinach

300ml Beef Stock

45ml Brandy 

Method

1. Preheat Grill on high. Line two baking trays with baking paper

2. Season Cutlets well. Heat oil and butter in a large frying pan on high until butter is foaming. Cook Cutlets in batches for 1-2 minutes each side until lightly browned. Remove from pan. 

3. To make a brandy Sauce: Pour off the butter from the pan, add the brandy away from the heat, then reduce over a low heat. Add the stock, bring to the boil and reduce by two thirds. Season to taste.

4. Mix together extra butter, bread crumbs, thyme and garlic in a bowl. Brush one side of each cutlets with mustards. Press bread crumbs mixture over mustard to evenly coat. Place cutlets, crumbs sides up, on prepared trays. Grill for 3 minutes, until golden.

Sweet-corn Potatoes

Ingredients
250g Mashed Potato
200g canned Sweet corn, well drained
75 g Bread Crumbs
1 small Egg Yolk
30 ml Olive Oil

Method

1. Place the mashed potatoes in a bowl and season to taste. Add the sweet corn, bread crumbs and egg yolk and bind to a firm mix. Shape into 4 evenly sized balls, then flatten to make patties.

2. Heat the oil in a non-stick frying pan and fry the patties for 2-3 minutes on each side, until golden.

Serve the cutlets on the plate with sweet corn potato cakes and cooked spinach. Drizzle with the brandy sauce.

Mini Lemon Meringue Pies

(Adapted from Australian Good Food Magazine, November 2010 Edition)

I've been abandoned my little blog after having a rough week with minor car accident and hubby's swollen foot. Hubby is feeling much better now and our car will be on the repair soon. Well, at least things are sorted bit by bit and it's time for me to reunite with my blog. Last but certainly not least,  I deserve something sweet to end the week. 

I was flicking through on November Issues, Australian Good Food Magazine and this Mini Lemon Meringue Pie caught my attention. It's cute, sweet and only need 4 ingredients. We have a lemon tree growing numerously on our backyard at this time of the year, which normally we give away to our friends or neighbor.

I made some amendment on the last step of the recipe. According to the magazine gas blow torch was mentioned to brown the tops of the meringue. Unfortunately, I don't own one in my kitchen, instead I put them in the oven for few minutes. I must admit that I didn't achieve the brown color on the top of the meringue, I wish I have one of this gadget at this stage. Well, as time is approaching close to Christmas, I could add gas blow torch along with ice cream machine on my christmas wish list.

Mini Lemon Meringue Pies

Ingredients

Lemon Curd

250g Caster Sugar

125g Unsalted Butter

Finely Grated rind of 4 Lemons, plus 250ml Lemon Juice

4 Eggs, lightly beaten

Meringue

3 Egg Whites

165 g Caster Sugar

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 120º C. Meanwhile, combine sugar, butter, lemon rind and juice in a heatproof bowl. Set over a pan in simmering water on medium-low heat. Stir until butter melts. Remove from heat. Cool for 10 minutes. Add eggs and cook, stirring constantly, over pan of barely simmering water on low heat for 15 minutes, or until curd thickens and coats back of a spoon.

2. Strain into a jug and divide between 1/4 cup capacity of each shot glasses. Chill for 30 minutes.

3. To make meringue, using an electric mixer, beat egg whites until soft peaks form. Add sugar, 1 tablespoon at a time, beating constantly until thick and glossy. Spoon into pipping bag fitted with a 5 mm round nozzle. 

4. Bake for 10-15 minutes. Leave in the switched-off oven for 30 to 45 minutes to dry and cool completely.

How can I resist this sweet temptation?

Profiteroles with Coffee Mascarpone and Chocolate Sauce - Guest Post on Kimbas Kitchen

About couple weeks ago, Kimbas kitchen announced on twitter, " Would you like to be my guest blogger of the month?". I was immediately interested and excited on her idea. It would be an excellent idea to shine my food blog. I decided to do a sweet thing for Kimbas Kitchen's  guest post. I always love mascarpone cheese and coffee, the combination of two of them into one are mouth watering.

Please check out Kimbas Kitchen to explore the recipes for Profiteroles with Coffee Mascarpone.

The Ultimate Steak Sandwich

I always believe the old saying, "The way to get a man's heart is through his stomach". According to my hubby, I made a killer steak sandwich. He made top 10 list of his favorite food and this steak sandwich is apparently falls under his top 5. This may be sounds tacky but compliment from hubby is always means heaven to me. 

Enough said about me, this steak sandwich is suitable for quick dinner fix or brunch at times. I normally use turkish pocket for steak sandwich, which I get them from the deli in Victoria Market but they ran out very quickly if you don't get there early in the morning, so this time I use Olive focaccia.  

The balance of Onion Jam, Homemade Aioli and Tomato Chutney on the top of the scotch fillet steak are amazingly delicious. 

The Ultimate Steak Sandwich

Ingredients

2 tablespoon Vegetable Oil

175 g Scotch Fillet

50 g Button Mushroom, chopped but not too thin

2 Rashers streaky bacon

Egg, to fried

Washed Spinach

Focaccia or Turkish Pocket

Onion Jam (see below recipe)

Aioli (see below recipe)

Tomato Chutney (see below recipe)

Method

1. Heat 1 tablespoon of the vegetable oil in a frying pan, add the mushroom and cook well, season to taste and put aside.

2. Heat a pan until smoking, season the steaks with salt and pepper.  Wrap few mushrooms, few spinach leaves in slice bacon and secure with a cocktail stick, place them on the hot pan and cook until it's browned. Brush the steaks with oil and cook until steaks are done to your liking.

3. Meanwhile toast the focaccia, spread the aioli, then top the bases with spinach. Arrange the steak on top, followed by generous dollop of tomato chutney, onion jam and fried egg.

4. Close the focaccia half way through, and arrange the sandwich with bacon sticks on top and the side. Serve with some crispy french fries.

Short order of Onion Jam, Aioli and Tomato Chutney

Onion Jam

Ingredients

45 ml Olive Oil

15 g Unsalted Butter

2 Onions, thinly sliced

40 g Sugar

1 teaspoon picked fresh thyme leaves

100 ml White Wine Vinegar

Salt and Pepper, to taste

Method

1. Heat the oil and butter in a pan, add the onions, sugar and thyme. Cook over a low heat for 10-12 minutes until golden, soft and caramelized.

2. Add the vinegar, cook for a further 10 minutes until the onions take on a sweet and sour flavor, remove and season to taste and allow to go cold

Aioli

Ingredients

3 Egg Yolks

1 teaspoon Dijon Mustard

1 teaspoon White Wine Vinegar

Salt and freshly ground white pepper

1 Garlic Cloves, crushed

250 ml Vegetable Oil

2 teaspoon Lemon Juice

Method

1. Place the egg yolks, mustard, crushed garlic salt and pepper, white wine vinegar on a food processor.

2. With motor running, add the oil continuously until it begins to thick in texture. Add the lemon juice and adjust the seasoning to taste.

Tomato Chutney

Ingredients

400 ml Cider Vinegar

200 g Sugar

3 Garlic Cloves, crushed

2 cm piece root Ginger, finely grated

1 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1.5 kg Dice Tomatoes

2 Granny Smith Apples

Method

1. Place the vinegar, sugar, garlic and ginger and spices in a large pan, slowly bring the contents to boil, stirring regularly until sugar has dissolved.

2. Lower the heat, add the tomatoes and apples, cook over low heat for 30 minutes to 1 hour. Cool before use.