Bucking the trend

Several nights ago, I decided to buck the trend of serving a simple midweek dinner and surprise M with something more special since he's been working so hard lately. Since M is a big fan of fish, I thought I'd make him some salmon. Given that time is still a constraint on weeknights, I found this recipe which features a Parmesan crusted salmon that is not difficult to make but which is paired with multiple elements that help make for a restaurant-style presentation. In fact, all the elements of this dish - basil pesto, mashed potatoes, sauteed asparagus and Parmesan crisps - can be whipped up in a jiffy.

I have to say it was really fun decorating each plate. What really completed the look though, was definitely the Parmesan crisps. Although incredibly simple to make, that crisp, delicate wafer standing proudly in each plate transformed an ordinary home-cooked meal into something a little more special.

When I served M the dish that night, he was surprised alright. Mission accomplished :)

Parmesan Crusted Salmon
From this site

2 salmon fillets, skinless
1/4 cup Parmesan, finely grated
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Basil pesto
Parmesan crisps
Sauteed asparagus
Mashed potatoes

Lightly season the salmon with salt and pepper. Generously coat one side of the salmon with the finely grated Parmesan. In a non-stick saute pan, add approximately 3 tablespoons vegetable oil and place over high heat. When the oil is hot, carefully place the salmon in the pan cheese side down. Turn temperature down to medium heat and allow the salmon to cook about 4 minutes before flipping over. The idea is to form a nice, crispy, lightly brown crust. Turn salmon and allow to cook another 3 or 4 minutes. Remove from pan and set aside in a warm place until plating.

To plate, place a small mound of mash potatoes in the center of the plate. Place the asparagus on top of the mashed potatoes at an angle. Then put the salmon nicely on the plate, overlapping the asparagus. Drizzle the plate with the basil pesto and garnish the plate with the Parmesan crisp by securing it in the bed of mashed potatoes.

Serves 2

Reminiscing about a trip to Morocco

I made a trip to Morocco two years ago during spring break when I was in business school. I know, Morocco is not your typical spring break locale but honestly, since I was no longer in college but in grad school, I really didn’t need to be doing the whole Cancun / Miami beach party scene. There were about 14 of us on this trip which lasted 8 or 9 days and took us through Casablanca, Rabat, Ouzarzate and Marrakesh. It was my first time in Morocco and I found myself mesmerized by what I saw. In particular, I remember vividly a camel ride through the Sahara dessert to watch the sunrise, the souks that were filled with all kinds of vendors hawking their wares and the food.

While many of my friends quickly got bored with the never-ending supply of tagine, I found that I could eat it day in and day out, each variation more delicious than the next. Thus, when Arabesque by Claudia Roden was released, I knew I had to get myself a copy and try to recreate the flavours of Morocco at home.

One of my favourite recipes from this book is the couscous with lamb, onion and raisins which combines a meltingly tender lamb stew with a caramelized onion and raisin compote of sorts. Although this dish takes a fairly long time to make, due mostly to the need to simmer the lamb till it falls apart when you touch it, the actual preparation involved is fairly easy. The presentation of this dish also looks quite impressive (I'm afraid my photography skills don't do it justice) so it’s a great dish to make whenever you’re entertaining and that’s exactly what I did when M and I had guests over this past weekend.

The first time I made this I accidentally put in an extra teaspoon of cinnamon in the lamb. I was worried that this would make the cinnamon taste overpowering but having since compared this with a version made with the amount of cinnamon called for in the recipe, I would actually recommend adding a little more cinnamon if you like the taste.

Couscous with lamb, onions and raisins
From Arabesque

1 kg lamb, boned shoulder or leg
1.25 kg onions
salt and black pepper
1/2 - 1 tsp ground ginger
2 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
4 cloves
1/2 tsp saffron threads or powder
40g butter
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
2 tbsp clear honey
150g raisins, soaked in water for 20 minutes
200g blanched almonds

Prepare the meat broth in a large pan. Put in the meat, with about 250g of the onions, chopped, and cover with 1.75 litres of water. Bring to the boil and remove the scum. Add salt and pepper, ginger, 1 teaspoon cinnamon and the cloves. Simmer for 1 1/2 hours. At this point, add the saffron and more water if necessary, and simmer for another 30 minutes or until the meat is so tender you can pull it apart with your fingers.

At the same time, prepare the honeyed onion tfaya. Cut the remaining onions in half and slice them. Put them into a pan with 250ml water. Put the lid on and cook over a low heat for about 30 minutes until the onions are very soft. Remove the lid and cook further until the liquid has evaporated. Add the butter and oil and cook until the onions are golden. Stir in the honey and the remaining 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon, the drained raisins and a pinch of salt. Continue cooking for another 10 minutes or until the onions caramelize and become brown.

Separately, prepare the couscous according to your favourite recipe.

Fry the almonds in a drop of oil until golden, turning them over, then drain on kitchen paper and coarsely chop about half of them.

To serve, place the couscous in a baking dish or large round platter. Moisten the couscous with a ladle of broth and mix in the chopped almonds. Shape the couscous into a mound, and make a wide shallow hollow in the centre. Put the meat into the hollow, cover with the onion and raisin tfaya, and sprinkle with the remaining whole fried almonds. Serve the broth separately.

Serves 4-6

A much needed midweek pick-me-up

As you’ve probably heard by now, there’s been a tube strike in London (which as of the current time has been suspended). Its inconceivable to me that such a thing could happen. That all but 3 tube lines could shut down and essentially leave millions of people stranded trying to find a way home. Luckily for me, the Piccadilly line which takes me to and from work was still operating. Still, since the lines that were still operating had to handle the overflow from the shut lines, going home on Monday evening was less than a pleasant experience. Thus, on Tuesday, to avoid being packed like sardines on a train for about 15-20 minutes, I decided to hike it to work.

I’ve actually started experimenting with walking to work about three weeks ago and I must say I really like it. Its relatively quiet and peaceful at 8 in the morning and my walk takes me through the length of Hyde Park. You can still hear the birds chirping at that time (before they get drowned out by the sounds of traffic) and it feels good to get your body going after a night of sleep.

Yesterday, after walking both to and from work – which takes a good hour each way – I was pretty beat by the time I reached home. Thus, I decided it was time for a midweek pick-me-up. So I flipped through my cookbooks and found a recipe for a cookie that was simple to make yet sounded incredibly decadent – Deluxe Double-Chocolate Cookies from Tartine, a cookbook that I’ve been dying to sample a recipe from.

As I expected, the cookies were quick to make. However, the 7-8 minutes that it took to bake felt interminably long as once the cookies were put in the oven, they started to puff up beautifully and I just couldn’t wait to taste them. And the smell – just a deep, rich chocolate-ty smell that started to permeate the kitchen after just a minute or two in the oven.

When the first batch of cookies first came out from the oven, they were very soft and fragile, but they did get slightly firmer as they cooled. As an experiment, I baked the next batch of cookies about a minute longer and found that the cookies were slightly firmer, though still crumbly inside, which I preferred.

The cookies are great on their own and tied with a ribbon, they make cute little gifts.

Deluxe Double-Chocolate Cookie
From Tartine


225g bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped

155g all-purpose flour

50g cocoa powder

2 teaspoons baking powder

115g unsalted butter, at room temperature

225g sugar

2 large eggs

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/3 cup whole milk

Preheat the oven to 175C. Butter a baking sheet or line with parchment paper.

Melt chocolate in a bowl over a bain-marie, stirring occasionally, just until the chocolate melts and is smooth. Remove from the heat and let cool.

Stir together the flour, cocoa powder and baking powder in a bowl. Set aside. Using a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment beat the butter on medium-high speed until creamy. Slowly add the sugar and mix until the mixture is completely smooth and soft. Stop the mixer and scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula as needed. Add the eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition until incorporated before adding the next egg. Beat in the salt and vanilla, and then add the melted chocolate and beat until incorporated. Add the milk and beat until combined. Finally, add the flour mixture and beat on low speed until incorporated.

Drop the dough by heaping tablespoonfuls onto the prepared baking sheet, spacing them about 1 inch apart. Bake the cookies until they are just barely firm on top when lightly touched but are still very soft underneath, about 7 minutes. They will get firmer as they cool. Transfer the cookies to a wire rack and let cool. They will keep in an airtight container at room temperature for several days.

Makes about 36 cookies

My favourite meal of the day

My favourite meal of the day, hands down, is breakfast. Unless of course you consider brunch a meal, in which case brunch would win. But since brunch is really a combination of two meals, I think it doesn't really count.

I'm not quite sure when my love for breakfast came about. In fact, growing up it used to be the one meal of the day that I always skipped. At that time, the extra 15 minutes of sleep that I could get by skipping breakfast were just more important. Now I know better and I'm sure you have also seen the countless studies that have shown breakfast to be the most important meal of the day. Not that I need a reason to want to eat breakfast anymore. You see, sometime in the last few years, I've developed a love affair with cereals and granola.

It probably started out with Post's Blueberry Morning cereal. Prior to that, much of my cereal eating had been confined to kiddy favourites such as rice krispies and frosted flakes. Blueberry Morning showed me there was more to cereal than strangely coloured fruit loops and overly sugared cornflakes. Blueberry Morning was my first grown-up cereal.

Last June I discovered a new favourite breakfast combination when I visited Stockholm for the first time - a Swedish granola called Start eaten with fil (a kind of soured milk similar in taste to yogurt but much less viscous). In fact, I was such a fan that I left Stockholm with 2 boxes of Start in my suitcase and since then, whenever M goes back home or I visit Sweden, they are on my must-buy list. I have since discovered that you can buy Start and fil at a little Swedish grocery store in London but it costs at least twice as much. Rather than pay the exorbitant prices, I've discovered a good granola recipe and have modified it to suit my tastes. Its great with fil, regular yogurt or even just with plain milk. In fact, I sometimes even have it for dinner!

Almond granola with berries

4 cups old-fashioned rolled oats
1 cup sliced almonds
1/2 cup soft brown sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1/8 ground cinnamon
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup honey
4 tsp vanilla extract
2 tbsp sugar
1 cup dried berries

Preheat the oven to 300F (150C).

Mix together the oats, almonds, brown sugar, salt and cinnamon in a large baking pan.

Heat together the vegetable oil, honey and sugar in a heavy saucepan until it just comes to a boil. Remove from the heat and stir in the vanilla extract.

Pour the liquid mixture over the oat mixture in the baking pan and stir well to mix.

Place the baking pan in the oven and bake for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally to ensure that the granola browns evenly.

Remove the granola from the oven and leave it out to cool. To encourage the granola to form clusters, refrain from stirring during the cooling process. When cool, stir in the dried berries and store in an air-tight container.

Prosciutto, mozzarella and sun-dried tomato panini

Since my previous experiment with bread making went pretty well, I've been wanting to bake more bread. The problem, however, is that bread making usually requires quite a bit of advance planning since the starter typically has to be left overnight before the dough can be made. This week, I finally got my act together and started on my next bread experiment, home made ciabatta, Friday evening after I got home from work. Still, in order to be able to use the ciabatta for lunch today, I had to wake up pretty early today to mix the dough. Thankfully, that step only took about 20 minutes so I was able to get back to sleep to try to recover from my jet lag.

Although the recipe warned that the dough would be moist and sticky, I wasn't completely prepared for just how sticky it would be. I found myself sprinkling quite a liberal amount of flour on the dough to make it more manageable. Even so, at one point, I thought I had completely ruined the dough because I could not get the parchment paper off! With some patience though, I was able to save the dough and M and I were able to have home made ciabatta for lunch. This time, I chose to top our sandwiches with prosciutto, mozzarella and sun-dried tomatoes, and served the sandwiches with a side of watercress, spinach and rocket salad. M raved about the sandwiches so I think this recipe is a keeper. What toppings do you like on your sandwiches?

Whole Wheat Ciabatta
From HomeBaking

Poolish:
1/8 tsp active dry yeast
1 cup lukewarm water
1 cup all-purpose flour

Bread:
1 cup milk
1/2 cup hot water
1/2 tsp active dry yeast
1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
3 to 4 cups all-purpose flour
1 tbsp salt
1 tbsp olive oil

To make the poolish, in a small bowl stir the yeast into the water until well dissolved. Stir in the flour to make a smooth batter. Cover and let stand overnight or for as long as 24 hours, at room temperature.

When ready to make the dough, stir the milk and hot water together in the bowl of a stand mixer. When the mixture is lukewarm, stir in the yeast to dissolve it completely.

Fit the stand mixer with the dough hook. Add the poolish and the 1 1/2 cups of whole wheat flour and mix at low speed until smooth. Sprinkle on the salt and 3 cups of all-purpose flour and mix for 1 minute. Add the oil and mix at medium speed for 3 minutes. The dough will be smooth, very moist, and soft.

Transfer the dough to a large clean bowl, cover with plastic, and let rise for 3 to 4 hours. It will double in volume, will not bounce back when prodded with a fingertip, and will probably have several large air bubbles on the top surface.

Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Use a dough scraper or a sharp knife to cut the dough into 4 pieces. Let rest a moment, loosely covered. Place four 12-inch lengths of parchments paper or wax paper on a work surface or on several baking sheets. Sprinkle each generously with all-purpose flour.

Flatten 1 piece of dough, then roll it up into a cylinder, jelly rol style. With the seam side down, flatten the dough back out into a rectangle about 10 inches long and 4 inches wide; you want it to have good square corners. Place seam side up on one sheet of parchment paper and dimple firmly all over with your fingertips. This will help the bread stay flattened and stretched. Cover with plastic wrap; roll and flatten the other pieces of dough, placing each on a sheet of floured paper. Let stand, well covered, for 1 3/4 to 2 hours, until puffy-looking.

Meanwhile, place a baking stone on a rack in the center or upper third of your oven. Preheat the oven to 425F. Set a sprayer filled with fresh water and a bowl of water by your work surface.

Rub a peel well with all-purpose flour. Place the peel over one bread, then flip the paper over so the bread is resting on the peel. Lift off the paper (it will stick a little, so peel it off carefully). Wet your fingers well with water, then dimple the bread deeply all over with your fingertips. Place on the baking stone, leaving room for another bread. Repeat with a second bread.

Spritz the breads with water two or three times in the first 5 minutes of baking. They will be ready in about 20 minutes, golden on top, thin crusted, and hollow sounding when tapped on the bottom. Transfer to a rack to cool. Repeat with the remaining breads.

When they're cool, cut crosswise in slices. Or, to use for sandwiches, slice crosswise in half, then split horizontally.

Makes 4 loaves