It all started when I was last in London, and I had a scoop of the most perfect Pistachio ice cream at the Fortnum & Mason cafe. Wanting desperately to replicate it, I trawled through the internet looking for pistachio ice cream/gelato recipes, but each and every single one of them called for this elusive ingredient – pistachio cream/paste. (All the online stores selling it only either shipped it in industrial-sized tubs, or wouldn’t ship to Asia due to customs regulations.) After a couple of weeks, I started looking to try and make this darned paste on my own, only to be shot down again – you need some specialized heated rollers to extract the oils out of pistachios and mash them into such a smooth paste. And as much as I love pistachios, I wasn’t about to go that far, so I all but gave up the hope of ever getting my hands on any, especially when I couldn’t even find it last December in New York.

Fast forward to last month, where you’ll find the bunny and I trundling around Tokyo on a quick weekend trip. We were staying at the Ritz, which is conveniently located just off Roppongi, above Tokyo Midtown, aka home to patisserie Sadaharu Aoki (where you’ll find the best eclairs in Tokyo), and a Dean & Deluca store. While nosing around D&D one morning, I happened across an entire shelf of these petite clear bottles, each containing 5oz of a pale green paste. I swept as many bottles off the shelf and into my basket as the bunny would allow, and – grinning to everyone I skipped past – exultantly made my way to the cashier.

Once I got back to HK, I started digging around my bookmarks for all the recipes I’d found, and came across a rather recent addition – just one month prior, a recipe for Pistachio Eclairs had been posted over on Cafe Fernando. The bunny not being a fan of chocolate, I made a few tweaks, subbing a salted caramel sauce for the chocolate glaze, and reducing the sugar slightly in the pastry cream.

All I can say is, I regret not buying more pistachio paste. But all’s well – a bunch of friends are headed to Tokyo in July, and a few thoughtfully proffered eclairs have ensured that they’ll be saving some space in their luggage for my next stash of pistachio cream. :)

Pistachio Eclairs

Pistachio Pastry Cream (adapted from cafe fernando):

280ml whole milk
3 large egg yolks
2.5 tbsp cornflour, sifted
30g caster sugar (2 heaped tbsp)
140g (5oz) pistachio cream

Prepare an ice bath in a baking dish about 2-4 inches deep. In a heavy-based saucepan, scald the milk, then set aside. While the milk is boiling, whisk together the egg yolks, cornflour, and sugar until pale.

Whisking constantly, slowly pour the hot milk into the egg yolk mixture to temper it. Once all the milk has been added, transfer the mixture back into the saucepan and cook over medium heat, whisking vigorously, and bring it to the boil. Boil for 1-2 minutes, still whisking, then remove from the heat, and whisk in the pistachio cream. Place the entire saucepan into the prepared ice bath, and – stirring frequently – cool the mixture to 60C.

Scrape all the mixture out into a piping bag, clipping the mouth and tip as close to the pastry cream as possible, creating an airtight seal, and refrigerate until cold. The pastry cream will keep for 2 days, refrigerated.

Yield: About 2 cups

Salted Caramel Butter Sauce (from David Lebovitz’s The Perfect Scoop):

40g unsalted butter
75g caster sugar
125ml heavy cream
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 tbsp coarse sea salt (fleur de sel)

Melt the butter in a heavy-based saucepan over medium heat. Once the butter has liquefied, add all the sugar and cook, stirring, until the sugar turns a deep golden brown and just starts to smoke.

Remove the pan from the heat and whisk in half the cream (be careful – it will splatter!) until smooth. Whisk in the rest of the cream, then add the vanilla extract and salt. If there are any lumps, whisk the sauce over a very low heat until it has all dissolved. The sauce keeps for 2 weeks in the refrigerator, and can be rewarmed over a low heat on the stove, or in the microwave.

Yield: Makes about 3/4 cup, which is much more than you’ll need, but it’s excellent drizzled on pancakes, ice cream, and pretty much anything else you can think of.

Pâte à Choux (from Sherry Yard’s The Secrets of Baking):

1/2 cup bread flour
1/2 tsp sugar
1/8 tsp salt
1/4 cup water
1/4 cup whole milk
3 tbsp unsalted butter
2-3 large eggs

Preheat your oven to 220C with the rack in the centre of the oven and place a heatproof baking dish or pan on the floor of the oven. Prepare a baking sheet by lining it with parchment paper (you can glue each corner of the parchment to the sheet with a dab of choux paste to keep the paper in place). Sift together the flour, sugar, and salt in a medium bowl. Set aside.

Bring the water, milk and butter to a boil in a medium-sized saucepan over medium heat. At the boil, remove the pan from the heat and add the flour mixture all at once. Using a wooden spoon, beat vigorously to combine.

Return the mixture to medium heat and stir constantly in figure eights. Cook for about 4 minutes, or until the mixture has a smooth, mashed-potato-like appearance. This helps to break down starch and develop gluten. Remove it from the heat, and continue to beat for 2-5 minutes, to cool the mixture down to about 80C. Add 2 of the eggs, one at a time, mixing until thoroughly incorporated before adding the next. Pinch off 1 teaspoon of the dough between your thumb and index finger, then pull your fingers apart – the dough should stretch rather than break. If it breaks, add the last egg. (I didn’t need to add the last egg.)

Fit a large plain tip into a large piping bag and fill the bag halfway with pâte à choux dough, pushing the contents towards the tip. Pipe 2″ strips, leaving 1″ of space between each strip. If desired, before baking, score each eclair with the tines of a fork or a sharp knife to aid the expansion.

Place the puffs in the oven and pour a cup of hot water into the pan on the oven floor. Quickly close the door to keep all the steam in the oven. Bake for 10 minutes, or until the puffs begin to rise, then turn the oven down to 175C and rotate the baking sheet. Prop the oven door open slightly with a wooden spoon and bake for an additional 10-12 minutes, or until the puffs turn nutty brown.

Remove from the oven and cool completely on a rack, about 15-20 minutes, before filling and serving.

To fill: either cut the eclair shells open horizontally, or use a piping nozzle with a long tip to pierce the side and fill with the pistachio pastry cream. Spoon or brush a little salted caramel sauce onto the tops, allowing it to drip down the sidest.

Yield: about 25 mini eclairs.

Okay fine, it’s not summer (in Hong Kong – or anywhere in the Northern Hemisphere – anyway), but I think we’re all too familiar with those weeknights when you need to rustle up a quick dinner. And whether it’s a hot summer’s day where you’re dreading the idea of spending a few hours in a hot kitchen, or it’s a gloomy wintry evening where all you want is to curl up on the couch with a warm plate of dinner in front of the tube, this pasta’s for you.

I’ve been cooking a lot more these days. Honestly, as much as I love food and cooking, I only used to average about 3-5 meals a week where I cooked. But in the last couple of months, I’ve been packing daily lunch bentos for the bunny and I, as well as cooking many more dinners (and weekend brunches) for the two of us. It’s probably also got something to do with the new kitchen, which has much more space than the old one did. :)

This pasta is one of my weeknight staples – it’s really easy, and most of the ingredients are things I tend to have on hand: a couple of fresh, good-quality sausages, a handful of fresh prawns (or scallops, or lump crabmeat), chilli flakes, and garlic. It goes great with short pasta like fusilli or shells, which grab bits of the crispy sausage meat, but I don’t see why it wouldn’t work just as well with noodles if that’s all you’ve got in the larder. If you don’t have any seafood around, you could just leave it out, and even use different types of sausages (like fresh lamb ones). And last night’s addition of roasted cherry tomatoes added a delightful explosion of tangy sweetness in every other mouthful.

And, I know I say this in pretty much every recipe I post (but only because it’s true!), it’s really fast and easy to do. By the time you’ve roasted off your tomatoes, the pasta will be cooked and you can add everything into the pan where your sausage and prawns are to combine it all. Seriously – 25 minutes tops and you’ll be out of the kitchen. Time yourself and see!

Pasta with Sausagemeat, Prawns, and Roasted Cherry Tomatoes

100g cherry tomatoes, halved
2 good-quality fresh pork sausages (I used spicy spanish ones here)
5 large cloves of garlic, peeled and sliced
10 fresh prawns, peeled and deveined
chilli flakes
200g dried pasta
olive oil
salt and pepper
pecorino or parmeggiano for grating

Preheat your oven to 200C and bring a pot of salted water to the boil. Lay the cherry tomatoes cut side up on a baking tray, drizzle over some olive oil (about 1-2 tbsp) and season quite liberally with salt and pepper. Roast for about 20 minutes, or until they’ve shrunken by about half.

Once your tomatoes are in the oven, cook your pasta according to the packet instructions, or until al dente, and prep the rest of your ingredients (slice the garlic, peel the prawns, squeeze the sausagemeat out of their casings).

Heat 2 tbsp of olive oil in a sauté pan and cook the sausagemeat over high heat. Break up any clumps of meat with the back of a wooden spoon, and fry until the meat is well browned and slightly crispy. Add in the garlic and sauté for a couple more minutes, then push the meat and garlic to one side and fry the prawns until just pink – about 1 minute per side. Season well with salt, pepper and add about 2 tsp of chilli flakes (or more, to taste).

Once the pasta is cooked, drain it, reserving a little of the cooking water, and add it to your sauté pan, together with the roasted tomatoes. Toss it all together, adding a little of the cooking water to loosen it, so that the “sauce” clings to the pasta. Taste, and correct the seasoning if necessary.

Divide between two warm plates, and grate over a generous amount of cheese. Serve immediately, and enjoy!

PS: If you had some on hand, a sprinkle of freshly chopped flat-leaf Italian parsley would be great to brighten up this dish, both visually and with that slightly peppery bite.

Yield: Serves 2

It’s no secret around here that I love eggs. A friend and I were recently – and, rather excitedly – comparing our Top 5 egg-dishes, and there was one rather obvious common thread: we both love them runny.

Now, I haven’t always loved runny eggs. In fact, I still don’t really like the Singapore coffee-shop style of coddling eggs in a tub of hot water for a couple of minutes, until the whites are barely set and the yolks are still completely liquid. Two of these – as far as I’m concerned – completely uncooked specimens are cracked into a saucer, and doused in soy sauce and stirred into a pulp. Thankfully, while I still am not a huge fan of runny whites, I’ve learnt to love runny yolks, which are also the perfect sauce.

Oeufs en Cocotte (the fancy french name for Baked Eggs) are something I’ve read about for a long time. For some reason, I never really got around to making them till this past week – ramekins too small; ovenproof dish too shallow; no cream in the house…. All I can say is that I am one helluva fool for procrastinating for so long.

The entire dish comes together in about 15 minutes, and can be customised for any time of the day – add a little chopped ham or crisped bacon under the eggs for breakfast, unmould over a frisée salad for a light lunch, or serve in the shell, topped with a little caviar, for an elegant starter with grilled asparagus spears for dinner. Whatever the time of day, and however you choose to garnish it (or, eat it plain as below), if you love eggs even a quarter as much as I do, I’m sure you’re going to really enjoy this one.

Oeufs en Cocotte

4 eggs
butter for greasing
40g freshly grated cheese (I used emmental here, you could also use a mild cheddar, gruyere, parmesan, or any other melty cheese that tickles your fancy)
60-100g cream
salt and pepper

optional:
nutmeg
a few tablespoons of shredded/chopped ham/bacon/leftover roast chicken
a large handful of spinach, blanched and drained well

Preheat your oven to 180C, and butter two appropriately sized ramekins or oven-proof dishes (you want a dish approximately 10-15cm in diameter and 3-5cm deep). Sprinkle most of the cheese evenly into the base of the dishes. If using any of the optional extras, scatter the meat/veg in a thin, even layer over the base, then crack two eggs into each dish. Drizzle half the cream around the yolks (I prefer to have the egg yolks exposed), then season well with salt and pepper, grate over a little nutmeg, if using, and sprinkle the rest of your cheese over.

Bake in the preheated oven for 7-10 minutes. When done, it should still be pretty wobbly – the yolks should be runny and the whites just set. (Feel free to take them out a minute or so before the whites are set, as they will continue cooking from the residual heat.) Serve with plenty of buttered toasted bread to mop all the egg up, and a tall glass of iced coffee.

Yield: Serves 2

I find it a little disconcerting that I’ve never posted about les croque monsieurs et madames before. I’m not the hugest fan of sandwiches but I don’t think the words exist to adequately describe my love for these. Stripped back to its core, you really have little more than a glorified ham and cheese sandwich, but oh what a difference that little makes. In one of my most recent food posts, on Mac & Cheese, I waxed lyrical about the joys of pasta, cheese and bechamel. Here, that same heavenly combination of cheese, bechamel and carbohydrate perform in an equally loved sequel, only with ham making his debut.

Of course, no sandwich ever lamented the addition of an additional egg, and that’s where the croque truly shines in my opinion. A sunny side up is the perfect ingredient to any dish – especially if you like it the way I do, that is slightly browned around the edges. From one little 2 oz package, and in a single mouthful, you have the ultimate dish really – a combination of textures, flavours, and a self-saucing one at that. Naturally, the gooeyness of an egg yolk lends itself well to sandwiches which, especially when toasted, might turn a shade dry.

Now, simple as this sandwich is, I’m not going to try to convince anyone that it’s a dish one should be whipping up every morning for breakfast. It’s a little too rich for that, for starters. But on a lazy Sunday morning, I can really think of nothing I’d rather be eating on my balcony with the bunny. Plus, if you made mac & cheese earlier in the week, all you need to do is save a couple of dollops, and thin that out on Sunday morning with a splash of milk for a croque that will come together in no time. :)

Croque Madame

2 tbsp unsalted butter, plus more for spreading
2 tbsp all-purpose flour
500ml full cream milk
nutmeg
150g freshly grated cheese (I like using either a mild cheddar or gruyere)
4 large slices of country bread
1 tsp of dijon mustard
2 thick slices of smoked leg ham (or as much as you want to pile in)
olive oil
2 eggs
salt & pepper

Preheat your oven to 200C with a rack on the upper third of the oven. Melt the butter in a small saucepan over low heat. Once it is liquid, pour in the flour, and stir briskly so that the butter and flour are evenly incorporated. Turn the heat up to medium, and, stirring often, cook for about 2-3 minutes, or until the butter starts to smell nutty, but before it takes on any colour. Slowly whisk in the milk, adding a little at a time and whisking all the while, to get a smooth sauce. Once all the milk is added, turn the fire down to medium-low and let it simmer, stirring and scraping the bottom every couple of minutes until it reduces into a velvety sauce. Season with salt and white pepper, and grate it about half a nutmeg. Whisk in 100g of the cheese, then set aside and keep warm.

While the bechamel is simmering, spread your bread on both sides with a little butter and toast it lightly. You don’t want it to get too brown, just to very lightly colour it. One one side of each slice, smear a little dijon mustard. Assemble each sandwich from the bottom up as follows: bread (mustard side up), ham, 1/4 of the cheese, bread (mustard side up again), a generous dollop of the cheesy bechamel, and another 1/4 of the cheese. Place the two sandwiches on a baking tray and bake for about 5-10 minutes, or until the sandwich is just warmed through and the cheese is bubbling and lightly browned in spots.

While the sandwiches toast, fry two eggs sunny-side up, or to your liking. Once the sandwiches are done, top each with an egg, sprinkle with salt and pepper, and tuck in!

Yield: Serves 2

Note: It’s hard to make the bechamel in a much smaller quantity than this, so I’d either save a little bechamel from another dish, or save the rest to use later. If you’re refrigerating bechamel, store it in an airtight container, with a little piece of clingfilm pressed to the surface (to prevent a skin from forming). It will thicken (or solidify, really), but you can thin it out easily but whisking a splash of milk in, and – if necessary – reheating it gently on the stove top. I don’t think it’ll keep for very long, but a little tub of bechamel has never lasted more than 2 days in my fridge anyhow. :)

I’m a huge fan of macaroni & cheese. I mean, what’s not to love? Perfectly cooked pasta (I quite casually use whatever shell, tubular or twisty short pasta I’ve got lying around interchangeably), creamy béchamel, and – swoon – oh, the cheese. I also really love that it’s one of those dishes you can eat unadorned, but it stands up so well to additions of protein, vegetables, or whatever leftovers you’ve got hiding out in your fridge.

This version that I’ve finally come to rely on is one that really doesn’t utilise too many things that you aren’t likely to have lying around. And since we’re just back from a holiday to Tokyo, and still suffering some withdrawal symptoms from it, it’s the perfect dish to whip up, while savouring the last financier from Pierre Hermé or peeking at the hoarded èclairs from Sadaharu Aoki. (But I’ll talk more about that holiday in another post soon!) A little milk, some seasonings, a little butter and flour come together to make a béchamel, which you then stir whatever mixture of cheeses you so desire into. Leftover roast chicken, crisped bacon lardons, or even steamed broccoli florets can be stirred in if you don’t feel like having it plain, then cook your pasta al dente and fold that in gently. If you’ve made your roux (and béchamel) in an ovenproof pot, the entire thing can then go under a hot grill (with a couple more handfuls of cheese scattered over), and once bubbling, browned and almost-burnt in spots, you’ve got a delectable one dish meal. Or a sinful side that would be in danger of showing up whatever main you’ve got on display.

Either way, please, please, PLEASE put those boxes of Kraft Mac & Cheese away. This one takes as much time to assemble as it does to cook your pasta, and is so, so worth it. I mean, c’mon – just look at the picture at the top of this post and tell me that hasn’t got your mouth watering already.

My Favourite Mac & Cheese

20g unsalted butter
20g all-purpose flour
500ml whole milk
200g freshly shredded mozzarella
100g freshly grated parmesan
250g dried macaroni (substitute with the same amount of any other short dried pasta)
salt & pepper
optional: a couple sprigs of thyme or rosemary, leaves picked and roughly chopped
optional: shredded leftover roast chicken, crisped bacon lardons etc

Preheat your grill to 200C. Bring a large pot of generously salted water to the boil.

Melt the butter in a medium-sized, preferably ovenproof, pot or dutch oven over medium heat. Add the flour in, and stir with a wooden spoon, until the pan starts to smell slightly nutty, regulating the heat to ensure that the roux does not brown. Gradually add in the milk, stirring or whisking all the while so you get a smooth, velvety mixture. Once all the milk is added, simmer over low heat to reduce until you have a sauce that coats the back of a wooden spoon.

Add the mozzarella and half the parmesan, a little at a time, then season to taste with salt and plenty of black pepper. If using, stir in the herbs and whatever proteins or vegetables you’d like to include. (I suggest around 1/4-1/2 cup of shredded leftover roast chicken, or 3-4 rashers worth of lardons.) Cover, and keep warm.

Cook the pasta until just al dente, then drain, reserving a little of the cooking water. Fold the pasta into the sauce, taking care not to break the pasta up. If necessary, add a little of the cooking water to loosen the sauce. Sprinkle the remaining 50g of parmesan over the top, and put the entire pot into the oven. (If you don’t have an ovenproof pot, transfer the mixture to an ovenproof dish or casserole before sprinkling the parmesan over.) Cook under the grill for just 5-10 minutes, or until bubbling, the sauce is browned in spots, and the edges are getting kind of crispy.

Yield: Serves 2 as a main dish, or 4 as a side.

I don’t even want to know how many cherry-dish posts have been so titled. But it’s alright, I’m not gonna think about it. Nor am I going to think about how I didn’t even actually make Cherry Pie, but Cherry Clafoutis.

I first became a little obsessed with making a clafoutis over a year ago, when I kept seeing recipes popping up in the food magazines I often flip through, and for some reason none other than one filled with ripe, sweet, nuggets of cherries would do. I’m not even sure why – considering my aversion to cherries (chalked up to one too many sour ones that I’ve over-enthusiastically bit into). Then the season passed, and the idea was pushed to the back of my mind, lost in a tangle of all the other ones filed under “To Make”.

Fast forward to a weekend, early last month, where you’d have find me wandering the aisles of a supermarket, picking out ingredients for an upcoming dinner party. I did a double take as I ambled by the produce section, where there were a few trays of Royal Rainier Cherries stashed between their usual deep red counterparts.

For those of you who’ve hesitated making clafoutis, you really shouldn’t – take it from me. It’s a ridiculously simple process, and if you’ve ever made pancakes from a box, then you’ve got all the necessary skills. Cherry Clafoutis is originally made with unpitted cherries, which imparts a slightly nutty, almost almondy flavour to the pie. I didn’t really like the idea of one of my guests crunching down on a pit and breaking a tooth, though, so I’ve added in that nuttiness by means of amaretto and some ground almonds. As Rainier Cherries are also quite a bit sweeter (and somewhat lacking in tartness) in comparison to the more common Bings, I’ve also added in a little lemon zest to perk it up and reduced the amount of sugar.

Rainier Cherry Clafoutis

500g Rainier Cherries, pitted (substitute with other types, or other fruit if unavailable)
100g ground almonds
100g all-purpose flour
4 large eggs
100g granulated sugar (increase the amount accordingly if using different fruit)
1 tbsp amaretto
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 (375g) cups whole milk
pinch of salt
100g pine nuts (optional)
butter for greasing
icing sugar for dusting

Preheat oven to 175C. Butter a 9 inch pie tin (or another appropriately sized baking dish), and add the cherries in.

Combine the ground almonds and flour in a large bowl, and whisk briefly to combine. In a separate mixing bowl, whisk together the eggs, sugar, amaretto, vanilla extract, milk and salt until thoroughly blended. Gradually pour this into the flour mixture, whisking continuously, until all the liquid has been added and there are no more lumps. Gently pour this into the prepared pan over the fruit, then scatter the pinenuts over the batter, if using.

Bake for 40-50 minutes, or until lightly browned and a toothpick inserted into the centre comes out clean. The clafoutis will still jiggle a little when you shake the pan.

Cool in the pan on a rack, then serve, dusted with icing sugar and a dollop of whipped cream (or vanilla ice cream).

Yield: Serves 6-8

I’m really sorry for having let an entire month go by without posting a single thing. (It also feels like every other post I write starts with an apology on how infrequently I’ve been posting!) But I only had about 13 days in August where I was in HK, and I spent about a week of that time fretting over my laptop which decided that harddrive failure was the way to go to keep me on my toes. I’m picking up the laptop tomorrow (finally) and I’ve got 98% of my drive recovered in a new external harddrive right here! But on to the post proper:

Now, I’ve mentioned once before that the bunny isn’t a fan of chocolate. (In fact, she downright dislikes the stuff!) So you can imagine my surprise when one day she requested for Marble Cake, and the quizzical expression I had when I asked, “Doesn’t marble cake have chocolate in it?!” But nope, along with Hot Chocolate, Marble Cake falls into that strange twilight zone of chocolate things that apparently don’t taste of chocolate.

It’s all the better for me anyway, since marble cakes are incredibly easy to make, and the asymmetrical swirls of chocolate batter through an otherwise blond cake generally seem to inspire many an admiring recipient. And I’m pretty sure all 5 of you who read this know what a big fan I am of dishes that look a lot more difficult to make than they actually were! And this one – a recipe taken from one of my favourite baking books, whose recipes never fail to give me a delicious, beautiful and consistent result – is one of those that can be whipped up in a flash, even if you’ve got three screaming kittens making a disaster zone of your house while trying to get your attention, and you’re in the midst of stressing out over a failed harddrive :P

Marble Cake
(From Martha Stewart’s Baking Handbook)

4oz unsalted butter, at room temperature, plus extra for the pan
1 3/4 cups cake flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup sugar
3 large eggs, at room temperature
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
2/3 cup buttermilk, at room temperature
1/4 cup + 1 tbsp Dutch process cocoa powder
1/4 cup boiling water
Milk Glaze (recipe follows)

Preheat the oven to 350F/180C. Generously butter a 9×5″ loaf pan (I used three mini loaf pans); set aside. Whisk together the cake flour, baking powder and salt; set aside.

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter and sugar together on medium-high speed (about 5 minutes). Add the eggs one at a time, beating for a minute after each addition, and scraping the sides of the bowl as necessary. Mix in the vanilla. With the mixer on low speed, add the flour mixture in two batches, alternating with the buttermilk, and beginning and ending with the flour. Divide the batter into two bowls – with two thirds in one bowl and one third in another.

In a bowl, mix together the cocoa and boiling water until smooth. Add the cocoa mixture to the smaller bowl of batter, and stir until well combined.

Spoon the batters into the prepared pan in two layers, alternating spoonfuls of vanilla and chocolate to simulate a checkerboard. To create marbling, run a table knife through the batters in a swirling motion. Be careful not to overswirl the batter, or the marbling won’t be as pretty!

Cake, rotating the pan halfway through, until a cake tester comes out clean, 40-50 minutes. Transfer pan to a rack to cool 10 minutes. Turn out cake from the pan and cool completely on the rack. Pour glaze over cake, letting it drip down the sides. Cake can be kept in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days.

Milk Glaze
(From the same book)

1 cup confectioners’ (icing) sugar, sifted
2 tbsp milk

In a medium bowl, whisk together the sugar and milk until completely smooth. Immediately drizzle glaze over cake.

I feel like I’ve been on some perpetual search for the elusive perfect cake most of my life. To me, it should be moist, but with a light, tender crumb. The buttery richness shouldn’t be outweighed by a heavy handed baker adding too much sugar, the eggs should give it a beautiful golden hue. There should be enough flour to give it structure and density, but not so much that it becomes leaden, dense or dry. A playful whiff of vanilla would be a fantastic foundation, and perhaps a citrusy glaze or an asymmetrical marbling of chocolate to build the complexity of flavours never hurt. But the search is over.

Having been sorely disappointed by one too many store-bought cake slices, I usually end up baking a cake for myself when the craving strikes. Some days, I’ll want to experiment; to trawl through my cookbooks for one of the earmarked recipes, but often it’s the familiar that I crave. When I’m in the mood for the latter, it’s my favourite cake that I invariably turn to – blondies. It is perfect on its own, doused liberally in a butterscotch or salted caramel sauce, yet somehow that perfection is surpassed when topped with a generous quenelle of home-made ice cream. The best part? It’s really simple and quick to whip up – it takes about 30 minutes to whip up the batter, and in the time it takes to bake, the dishes miraculously clean themselves, and you still have enough time to make the sauce. Really, the hardest part is waiting for the cake to cool and for the golden crumb to swell and soak up the caramel sauce.

And of course, it goes perfectly with that afternoon cup of tea. Hits the spot, every single time.

The only thing about baking an entire cake is that if I don’t want to gorge on an entire 9-inch, double-layered cake within the fleeting window when it remains at the height of perfection, it generally means there’ll be a distribution run to a bunch of happy friends. And after the last gazillion requests I’ve received for this particular recipe from said sticky-fingered recipients of the leftovers, I figured it was high time I just posted it up here. That way, the rest of you can enjoy it too. :)

PS: Sorry for the slightly long break I took between posts – I’ve been in and out of the country, and have had visitors in town (the HK Sevens was this weekend!), and also somehow managed to catch bunny’s non-contagious sinus infection. I have a couple more posts in my draft folder so will try to bang those out once I get a couple of minutes to breathe.

Blondies
(Adapted from Sherry Yard’s The Secrets of Baking)

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
½ tsp salt
6 oz unsalted butter, softened
65g caster sugar
1 cup packed light brown sugar
4 large eggs
1 tbsp plus 1 tsp light corn syrup
1 tbsp vanilla extract
200g chopped toasted pecan halves (optional)
1 cup Salted Butter Caramel sauce (recipe below)

Preheat the oven to 175°C. Adjust the rack to the centre of the oven. Grease a 9×13 inch baking pan and line the base with greaseproof paper. Grease the paper.

Triple sift the flour, baking powder and salt into a medium bowl and set aside.

Using a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter on high speed until soft and creamy (about 1 minute). Slowly add the sugars and beat on high speed until fully incorporated and the mixture is light and fluffy (about 10 minutes). Stop the mixer and scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula as needed.

Add the eggs, one at a time. Be sure each egg is completely incorporated and scrape down the sides of the bowl before adding the next one. Add the corn syrup and vanilla.

Slowly add the dry ingredients and mix on low speed until just combined.

Pour the batter into the prepared pan, and smooth the top. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the centre of the cake comes out clean.

Poke holes in the surface of the cake with a skewer or fork. Pour the caramel sauce over the cake. Let the cake cool in the pan on a rack, then cut into 2-inch squares before serving.

The blondies will last wrapped airtight at room temperature for 3 days, or frozen for up to 3 weeks, but frankly they never survive that long around my house. :)

Yield: About 2 dozen 2-inch squares

Salted Butter Caramel Sauce
(Adapted from David Lebovitz’s The Perfect Scoop)

85g unsalted butter
150g sugar
250ml heavy cream
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 tsp coarse salt (fleur de sel)

Melt the butter in a large, deep, heavy-based saucepan or Dutch oven. Stir in the sugar and cook over medium heat, stirring frequently, until the sugar is a deep golden brown and starts to smoke.

Remove pan from the heat and immediately whisk in half of the cream and stir until smooth. (Wear an oven mitt since the mixture will steam and splatter, and may bubble furiously.) Stir in the rest of the cream, then the vanilla and salt. If there are any lumps of caramel, whisk the sauce gently over very low heat until they have been dissolved. This sauce can be stored in the refrigerator for 2 weeks. Rewarm it gently in a microwave or by stirring in a saucepan over very low heat.

Yield: Makes about 1.5 cups (so you can either just dump it ALL over the cake, or save the remainder for drizzling a little extra over the cake when you serve it. I am lazy and normally just opt for the former.)

There are no words to describe this pie. You need to make it, you need to eat it. There’s no two ways about it, so get to it already. The first crunch of your serving spoon breaking through the puff pastry top, releasing the steam and aroma into your dining room will be more than worth the effort. And then you’ll get to the pie. Oh god, I think I might pass out from happiness, just thinking about it again.

I’m considering this pie for one of those last-meal-ever stock answers. It’s that good.

PS: For those of you who read this from a feed reader, I’ve recently changed the look of the blog, so you should click into a browser and check it out. I’m more or less done with the small tweaks to the theme I’m using, so this is pretty much how it should look until I next get bored with the layout. :)

Steak & Guinness Pie
(Adapated from Jamie Oliver’s Jamie At Home)

Olive oil
3 medium red onions, peeled and chopped
3 cloves garlic, peeled and minced
30g butter, plus extra for greasing
2 carrots, peeled and chopped
2 sticks celery, trimmed and chopped
4 field mushrooms (I used portabellos), peeled and sliced
1kg beef brisket (or other stewing beef – I used a combination of brisket and shin), cut into 1-inch cubes
a few sprigs of fresh rosemary, leaves picked and chopped
sea salt & black pepper
1 x 440ml can Guinness
2 heaped tbsp all-purpose flour
250g freshly grated Cheddar cheese
500g ready made all-butter puff pastry (I used the ready-rolled sort to cut down the work even more)
1 large egg, beaten

Preheat the oven to 190C. In a large ovenproof pan, heat a couple tbsp of olive oil on low heat. Add the onions and fry gently for about 10 minutes – try not to colour them too much. Turn the heat up, add the garlic, butter, carrots and celery, then scatter in the mushrooms. Mix everything together before stirring in the beef, rosemary, a pinch of salt and a level teaspoon of pepper.

Fry fast for 3-4 minutes, then pour in the Guinness, stir in the flour, and add just enough water to cover. Bring to a simmer, cover the pan with a lid and place in the preheated oven for about 1 1/2 hours. Remove the pan from the oven give it a stir. Return it to the pan (uncovered, this time) for another hour, or until the meat is very tender and the stew is rich, dark and thick. A perfect pie filling needs to be robust, so if it’s still quite liquidy, place the pan on the hob and reduce until the sauce thickens. Remove from the heat and stir in half the cheese, then correct the seasoning if necessary (I usually add quite a lot more pepper), and leave to cool slightly.

If you’re not using ready-rolled puff pastry, cut about a third of the pastry off the block. Dust a clean work surface with flour and roll both pieces of pastry out evenly with a floured rolling pin until they’re both about 2-3mm thick. If you’re using ready-rolled, you might have to patch 2 squares together to make one large one, plus another single sheet – base this on the size of your dish. Butter an appropriately sized pie dish (I used a well-seasoned 10 1/2-inch cast iron skillet), and line with the larger sheet, leaving the edges dangling over the side. Tip the stew into your lined dish and even it out, before sprinkling over the remaining cheese. Brush the edges of the pastry with a little beaten egg.

Cut the other rolled sheet of pastry to fit the top of the pie dish and criss-cross it lightly with a sharp knife. Place it over the top of the pie and fold the overhanging pastry onto the pastry lid to make it look nice and rustic. Brust the top with beaten egg, then bake the pie directly on the bottom of the oven for 45 minutes, until the pastry is cooked, puffed and golden. Delicious served simply with peas.

Yield: Serves 4-6

Okay, bad rhyme. But I can’t help it – cheesecakes just get me into a certain sort of silly mood. As with most desserts, I’m generally not too hot on funny mutated variations, and I keep my tweaking to the minimum flavour-wise. Cheesecake doesn’t get any special treatment from me in this respect – I love it plain, rich, heavy, and with a buttery biscuit crust. No Oreos, no chocolate, no marbling, no fruits. Well, maybe I could do with a little compote or coulis on the side, but it should never be baked INTO the cake. I’m also not too fond of the Japanese souffle-style light cheesecakes. I want a cheesecake that’s so rich I can barely eat more than a sliver at a time – I just keep going back to the fridge for multiple slivers :)

This recipe is one that I found in my mom’s little scrapbook of recipes, where she’d paste her magazine and newspaper cutouts haphazardly, faded black and white pictures interspersed along with the recipes, and her scribbles on the notebook alongside the scraps, noting down changes she may have made. I was particularly intrigued by this one because it was on a tiny 2×2″ square of paper, with no title and only the vaguest of directions. It was barely more than the ingredients and the instructions to “combine ingredients, pour over crust, bake at low temp for 40 min”. Goodness knows where she even copied it down from. Over the past 10 years, my mom and I have experimented with this cake and I’ve now got my version of it, and hopefully with my notably more long-winded instructions, you’ll be able to add this to your list too.

Because of how rich the cake is, I can never eat a normal-sized slice at once. I like to bake it in an 8.5″ or 9″ square cake pan so that I can cut it into small, neat squares (or not-so-neat other shapes), but you could always use a 9″ round springform pan instead.

Cheesecake
(Adapted from my mom’s recipe scrapbook)

10 McVities Digestive Biscuits
60g unsalted butter, melted, plus more for greasing
3 x 8oz packets of Philadelphia cream cheese, at room temperature
100g caster sugar
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
fine sea salt
4 large eggs, at room temperature

Preheat the oven to 160C. Grease an 8.5-9″ square cake pan or a 9″ round springform pan well with butter (both the sides and the base). Line the square pan with a strip of greaseproof paper that hangs over the edges of the pan (this will make unmoulding the cake a lot easier), or the base of the springform pan. Butter the paper as well.

Place the digestive biscuits into a bowl or a resealable plastic bag and crush. It doesn’t need to be 100% homogeneously crumbled into a fine dust but you don’t want any huge lumps. Add the melted butter and a pinch of salt, stir together (it should look like damp sand), then press this firmly into the base of the prepared pan. Keep the pan in the fridge while you assemble the cake.

Beat the cream cheese in a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment at medium speed for 2 minutes to further soften it. Gradually add the sugar and a pinch of salt, then cream for 5 minutes on medium-high speed until it’s fluffy. Add the eggs one by one, scraping down the sides of the bowl between additions, then beat in the vanilla extract. Pour the cream cheese mixture into the prepared pan, then transfer the pan into the preheated oven and bake for 70-80 minutes, or until the middle is just set. If you prefer that the surface of your cake not be browned, you can also tent some foil loosely over the pan.

Once the cake is done, set the cake, in its pan, on top of a wire rack to cool completely, then unmould and refrigerate until completely cold. I love it as is, but you can always top it with some whipped sour cream, strawberry or blueberry compote, or I suppose no one will stop you if you even want to drizzle some chocolate sauce over!

Yield: Serves 6-10