Baked Salmon With Herbs With Grilled Asparagus & Mashed Potatoes

Yummy dinner..... What a combo! Even the kids love them to the bits! :)

                                            The baked salmon......

The grilled asparagus.....

The mashed potatoes.....



What you need:

1 salmon fillet (I used 800g)

5 cloves of garlic - finely chopped

1 tsp chopped parsley

olive oil, salt , black pepper

Marinade the fillet with salt & pepper, keep in the fridge for 1hour

Prepare a baking dish/pan, lightly grease and place the fillet on it

Sprinkle chopped garlic and parsley, and olive oil

Bake in preheated oven of 175degC for 20minutes approximately

(use a fork to check whether it's cooked, poke on the fillet and twist the fork a little to see the inner part)

For the asparagus:

Cut the bottom part of the stem, wash clean, place on the preheated non stick grill pan which has been lightly greased with olive oil. sprinkle with a little salt and pepper, cook both sides

For the mashed potatoes:

Steam 3 potatoes til well cooked, peel and mash til fine and mix with a dollop of butter, a little garlic oil and salt and pepper

(adding with chopped parsley would be nice too, but I didn't)

Simple and yummy dinner - indeed :)

Custard buns

I love anything with custard, including bread :)
Got the recipe from Cathy's site - only one word to describe: yum! :)

I added some chocolate paste for the remaining custard filling for the topping - double yum! :)

I made some ham and cheese buns with the same dough too :)

The bread is still as soft the next day! :)

What you need:

For the filling:

A

200ml fresh milk

20g castor sugar

B

1 egg yolk

20g castor sugar

1 tsp vanilla essence

C

50ml fresh milk

10g corn starch

15g plain flour

D

10g butter

Mix A in a pot on low fire til sugar dissolved, off heat

Mix B with whisk til combined

Stir C til combined

Add C into B til combined

Pour A slowly into the above mixture, keep on stirring

Strain and pour back into saucepan

Heat on low fire, keep stirring til thickened, off heat

Stir in D, cover and let cool

For the buns:

270g bread flour

30g plain flour

3g bread improver

1 tsp instant yeast

1 egg

30g castor sugar

150ml fresh milk

30g butter

Using breadmaker:

Pour egg and milk into the bread pan, followed by flour, bread improver, sugar and lastly, yeast

Set into 'dough' and after kneading for 5mins, add in butter

The program is 1hr 30mins

After done, take the dough out, punch and knead for awhile on lightly floured surface

Divide the dough into 8 portions & place some custard fillings in the center of the dough, seal the edges thoroughly & shape them into balls
Proof the dough til doubled in size (45mins to 1hr)
Brush the tops of the dough with fresh milk & pipe the remaining custard forming a spiral (I added some chocolate paste into the remaining custard)

Bake in a preheated oven @ 180°C for 15mins

As for the ham & cheese buns, what I did was I flatten the dough, place 1 slice of round ham on top, roll it up, fold the rolled dough forming U shape, cut the top part and place on the pan, cut part on top, sprinkle some grated cheddar and mozzarella and a pinch of parsley

That would be the bun on the left side in the pic above

The bun on the right side, I placed the ham and grated cheddar then rolled it up, sprinle some mozzarella cheese and a pinch of parsley on top of the bun

Caramelized Apple Cinnamon Bread Pudding

One more yummy dessert from leftover bread :)

Soft, moist, creamy, sweet = total yumminess - very addictive! :)

Recipe is from Hesti's site

What you need: (modified a little by me)

2 1/2 cup fresh milk

4 large eggs

1/2 cup sugar, divided into 2parts

1 tsp vanilla essence

1/2 tsp grated lemon zest

1 tsp ground cinnamon

6 slices white bread (preferably whole wheat) - use the white part only

2 tbsp raisins

1 tbsp butter - softened, plus 2 tbsp - divided into 2parts

2 ripe apples - peeled, halved, cored

1 tbsp juice of a lemon

Heat milk on medium fire, keep stirring til smoky - around 5mins

Lightly beaten eggs in a big bowl, add in 1/4 cup sugar while stirring

Slowly pour in hot milk - stir continuously

Add in vanilla, lemon zest and  cinnamon

Add in bread and raisins in the milk mixture, slowly stir

Lightly press the bread to make them sink in the milk

Cover and set aside

Grease a baking dish (I used round 22cm diameter) '- with 1 tbsp butter

Preheat oven to 190degC and boil water to use for steam baking later on

Cut the apples thinly and stir in lemon juice

Heat 2 tbsp butter on non stick pan and add in the remaining 1/4 cup sugar

Arrange apples on it, let them caramelized - no need to stir

Turn apples to the other side, leave it til golden brown

Pour apples in the baking dish, arrange nicely forming a circle

Pour in the remaining syrup

Pour in the milk bread mixture and press lightly

Bake au bain marie for 1hr 15mins til the top golden brown and the middle part is set

Take out from the oven and leave it in the baking dish for 45mins

Slide a cake lifter at the bottom of the pudding from all sides and turn the pudding upside down to the serving plate

Cut and enjoy! It's heaven, believe me! :)

Homemade Hamburger

Saw this from Vivian's site (for the burger bun) and here (for the patties)
We had this as our dinner - what a good feeling to eat homemade stuff, especially knowing that out there, this meal is considered junk :)

If you see the bun in the picture below is square shape, I put them too close to each other during proofing, they ended up sticking one another, so I had to pull them apart and cos of that, their shape turned square instead xixixi....

What you need:

For the burger buns:

300g bread flour

15g sugar

4.5g salt

1 1/2 tsp instant yeast

190ml water

15g shortening

Using breadmaker:

Pour water into bread pan followed by flour, sugar, salt and yeast lastly

Set into dough cycle and let it do the kneading for 5minutes before you put in shortening in it

Let the machine continued - approx 1hr 30mins

Take out dough from the pan and put on lightly foured surface

Punch and knead for awhile to let the air bubbles out

Divide dough into 8 parts and shape into balls, arrange on lightly greased baking pan

Proof for 15minutes, after that flatten slightly and then proof again for another 30minutes

Brush with milk just before putting them in the oven

Bake at 190degC for 12minutes

For the burger patties:

400g minced chicken (or pork)

1 medium onion - diced finely

4 tbsp breadcrumbs

1 egg

1 tsp salt

1 tsp pepper

1 tbsp spice (I used mixture of parsley and oregano)

Put all ingredients in mixing bowl - stir til well incorporated and very sticky

Divide into 8 portions , shape and chill in the fridge for a few hours

Heat up oil on non stick pan, pan fry the patties both sides on medium fire til cooked

Note: these patties can be made ahead and kept in the freezer for months

How to serve:

Cut burger bun opened, put 1 sliced cheese on 1 side and toast for a few minutes

Place on a serving plate, lay iceberg lettuce, a slice of tomato, and the patty

I add honey mustard sauce on top of the meat and also bottled chilli sauce

Close the bun and open your mouth wide *grin*

Yum!!!

Nagasari

Made this Indonesian kuih since I have 'pisang raja'- the sweetest banana ever, so difficult to find in Singapore :)

Ideally, this snack is sold wrapped in banana leaf to get the perfect fragrant, but I was too lazy to do all the hassle of wrapping furthermore I don't have it ready at home so I just steamed the whole thing in a square pan layered by a heatproof plastic and cover the top with another layer
It still tasted yummy, especially with the banana oh so sweet, but the next time I make these, I will definitely replace the plastic with banana leaf - at least some fragrant will still linger even though it's just a layer at the top and bottom - and it's not a hassle at all for sure :)

What you need:

200g rice flour
30g sago flour
120g sugar
1/4 tsp salt
2 pandan leaves - tied together
800ml coconut milk (I mixed 500ml Kara coconut milk with water)
pisang raja - steamed , peeled and halved

Mix rice flour with half portion of the coconut milk - set aside
Boil the remaining coconut milk, mix with salt and pandan leaves
Add in the flour mixture, stir continuously til thick
Off heat, add in sago flour bit by bit slowly while stirring continuously til forming a smooth thick paste
Pour half the batter on a square pan laid with banana leaf, arrange bananas, pour the remaining batter on top of the bananas, and cover the top with a layer of banana leaf
Steam on high heat for 30minutes
Let cool and cut

Yum! It tasted the same - if not better - as Bengawan Solo's one *grin*

Chocolate Cake Balls

Remember the strawberry cheese swiss roll I made yesterday?
Actually there is some leftover batter that I did bake together with the swiss roll in separate pan - same size
I was thinking I would make another swiss roll - mini one
I think my brain didn't function properly - how could I put such a little amount of batter in the pan that big?
I ended up with a super thin cake - I think it's 5mm max
And as expected, it's almost impossible to peel off the baking paper so I had to tear the cake apart pppfff...
I almost threw the cake away when suddenly I thought about cake pop
Ok, now I know what to do - I was telling myself :)

So, here it is...

Soft & moist inside...



What I did was to make the cake into crumbles, mix with a few tablespoons of chocolate ganache and sweet condensed milk (my leftover in the fridge) and a dollop of margarine

Mix them til sticky enough to form into balls

Take 1 tbsp each and form into balls, roll them on chocolate rice

Keep them in the air tight container and keep it in the fridge

As simple as that - loved by my kids especially :)

So glad I managed to make something yummy and pretty from something that I thought it'd end up in trash bin :)



Strawberry Cheese Swiss Roll

Recipe is from Kevin Chai's book - Elegant Swiss Roll
Found the book at Popular big sale at Brash Basah Complex - grabbed one copy right away - still have high level of curiousity in mastering swiss roll :)
Some other books I managed to get, too - so happy :P

This is one soft, cheesy and yummy cake - my kind of cake, but I think this time I didn't get it real round hihihi.....

What you need:

6 eggs
120g caster sugar
130g plain flour
20g grated parmesan cheese
80g butter - melted
25g cheddar cheese

Preheat oven to 200degC
Grease baking tin and line with baking paper (I used square 25x25x2cm)
On high speed, beat eggs and sugar til light and fluffy (ribbon stage)
Fold in sifted flour and parmesan cheese
Take a few tablespoons of the batter and mix in a small bowl with melted butter, mix back with the remaining batter - mix well until combined
Spread batter on baking tin, sprinkle cheddar cheese over mixture, bake for 10mins - leave to cool on cooling rack

For the filling, I used buttercream - recipe can be viewed HERE
I mixed with 175g cream cheese

Transfer the cooled cake on a baking paper
Spread the filling on the cake, arrange fresh strawberry cut at one side of the cake (the side closer to you where you will do the first folding before rolling the cake
After the strawberries nicely arranged, fold one time to seal the strawberries cut - tighten it and continue rolling using baking paper slowly til the cake completely rolled
Wait for approx 15minutes before you open the baking paper

I'm submitting this cheesy roll to Aspiring Bakers #9 Swiss Roling Good Times hosted by Lynn from Obsessedly Involved with Food at this LINK

At the same time, I'm submitting this entry to NCC Swiss Roll Week which will end tomorrow :)