and the living is easy

Chestnut Tart

Mon, 10 Dec 2012 15:37:00 +0800

chestnut tart from pierre herme’s plaisirs sucres

Chestnuts are the edible equivalents of wearing your favourite oversized sweater on a cold, rainy, dreary day. There’s just something really comforting and gut-warming about the way it gathers into a starchy, lush paste in your mouth as well as that mellow sweetness which quickly dissipates leaving behind a vaguely earthy aroma.

Recipe
The recipe makes one 25cm tart. Use a tart recipe of your choice. Blind-bake the pastry dough for about 25 minutes or until brown.

Caramelised chestnuts
300g cooked, shelled chestnuts
50g butter
80g castor sugar

Melt the butter over low heat. Sprinkle the chestnuts and sugar over the butter. Stir constantly over medium heat until well caramelised. The book suggests heating it to the stage where the caramel forms a thin, crunchy layer over the chestnuts. I couldn’t get it to this stage so I just brought it off the heat once it was well browned. Try not to break any of the chestnuts while stirring but don’t worry if some of it gets mashed. Chop the caramelised chestnuts into chunky bits.

Chestnut custard
140g unsweetened chestnut puree
80g chestnut cream (approximately 50% sugar)
6 egg yolks
2 eggs
60g butter
115g heavy cream

Cream chestnut puree, chestnut cream and butter until smooth. Stir in egg yolks, eggs and cream. Sieve before pouring it into the blind-baked tart shell. Scatter chopped caramelised chestnuts over the custard. Bake in a 180 degree celsius oven for approximately 10-15 minutes. It is ready when the middle jiggles slightly when prodded. Serve warm.

Notes:
Chestnut cream is different from chestnut paste and chestnut puree - it is spread-like in consistency and typically comes in a deep umber shade. If you can’t find chestnut cream, you can make your own. Add enough sugar to either chestnut paste or chestnut puree to make a 50% sugar and 50% chestnut mixture. Add approximately 10% of the mixture’s total weight in liquid; use any liquid you want, I opted for an equal proportion of water and rum. Stir in the sugar and liquid until homogenised. Cook on low heat, while stirring, until the chestnut paste becomes darker in colour and takes on a sticky and glossy consistency. Resist the urge to turn the heat up; the chestnut paste will dry out and turn lumpy.

Do not over bake the tart! Although the photo in the book shows a totally solid set filling, I think the tart tastes better when the centre flows ever so gently like a slightly over done chocolate fondant. To get that consistency, I baked the tart until the centre is approximately 165 degrees fahrenheit.

Pierre Herme's Galette Ispahan

Mon, 05 Nov 2012 01:20:00 +0800

inverse puff pastry, rose flavoured frangipane, lychees and raspberries (from ph10)

Notes:
As with all pastry dough, keep the puff pastry cold at all times. If it becomes finicky when rolling, pop it in the chiller for 10 minutes or so to allow the fats to solidify. Also, chilling the dough before piping and cutting allows the gluten to relax which reduces shrinkage when baking.

The frangipane should be relatively cold i.e. not oozing when piping. If it is too warm, it will spread and affect the seal of the galette. My sealant of choice is plain water; it is less fussy and more reliable than egg wash.

Use the sharpest knife you can get your hands on to cut puff pastry. If the knife is blunt, you risk crushing the layers you’ve created. Sad puff pastry is short puff pastry.

The next time I make this, I’ll definitely use more raspberries; the tartness of the raspberries tempers the sweetness of the lychee and the aroma of the rose syrup

pound cake

Fri, 24 Aug 2012 03:23:00 +0800

comparison between pichet ong’s condensed milk pound cake, rose levy beranbaum’s pound cake and joanne chang’s version

On flavour:
Beranbaum’s version is, quite simply, the platonic ideal of a pound cake; it is the pound cake that you remembered having as a child, redolent of butter and moreish. The condensed milk in Ong’s variant adds a subtle milkiness and slight undertones of caramel that complements the taste of butter. Chang’s pound cake, when compared to the its counterparts, is bland and insipid.

On texture:
Chang’s was a mess of crumbs (although it might have been some mistake on my part). Sure, it is lighter but, to be honest, if you’re looking for something light, you’re looking down the wrong hole. Ong’s version was pleasantly dense and has a heft that makes it slightly chewy. The cake seems to exude a little oil which coats the mouth with every chew; this greasiness is a little off-putting. The crumb of Beranbum’s pound cake is tight and velvety but ever-so-slightly dry.

cleaning out my freezer (part dos) - apples, almond paste, raspberries

Thu, 17 May 2012 11:14:00 +0800

cleaning out my freezer (part dos) - apples, almond paste, raspberries

cleaning out my freezer (part uno) - caramelised bananas, dark...

Wed, 16 May 2012 15:48:00 +0800

cleaning out my freezer (part uno) - caramelised bananas, dark chocolate with rum soaked raisins

Wild Mushroom Tart

Sun, 06 May 2012 09:22:00 +0800

caramelised shallots and pan fried mushrooms - with just enough custard to hold the filling together - baked in a flaky pie base and served with a sprinkling of fresh thyme

Recipe
This makes one 9 inch tart.

Pie Crust
Roll the chilled pie dough to a thickness of approximately 0.35cm. Transfer the dough to a 9 inch tart pan, gently easing it into the pan and pressing the sides down to ensure that the dough adheres to the pan. Trim the edges with a knife. Refrigerate for at least half an hour before baking.

Caramelised Shallots and Mushroom Filling (adapted from Tartine)
Caramelise 4 finely sliced shallots over a medium high flame with 45g of butter. Add 450g of sliced mushrooms (use any fresh mushroom you can find; I used a mixture of portobello and button mushroom) and pan fry until the mushrooms exude a little water and becomes very moist; the pan should be fairly dry at this point in time. Season liberally with salt and pepper. Using the juice of half a lemon, get all the yummy caramelised bits off the bottom of the pan. Let it stand till it is no longer hot to the touch.

Whisk 3 egg yolks with 50g of sour cream until completely lump free. Gently whisk 190g of heavy cream and a little freshly grated nutmeg to the egg yolk mixture. Add the cooled mushrooms to this egg yolk mixture. Reserve a little egg white for later use.

Assembly
Instructions from the book: Blind bake the pie crust in a 190 degree celscius oven for about 20 minutes. Remove the parchment paper and apply a thin coating of the reserved egg whites to the pie shell. Continue baking for a few more minutes until the crust looks dry with no opaque area. I’ve tried the instructions from the book but thought that the crust ended up a little too limp and soggy.

To get the dark brown crust in my pictures, after removing the parchment paper, continue baking the crust for another 20-30 minutes. You might need to cover the sides with aluminium foil (or a slightly bigger, inverted tart pan) to prevent them from overbrowning.

Lower the oven to 180 degree celscius. Pour the custard with the mushroom into the pan and bake for another 20 minutes. It is done when the middle of the tart jiggles a little when you shake the pan; the middle of the tart should reach an internal temperature of at least 160 degrees fahrenheit. The tart will continue to solidify on standing. Sprinkle a little thyme before serving.

Notes:
1. As with all pastry doughs, the dough should be kept cold at all time. If possible, work in a cool environment. If necessary, stick the dough into the freezer to let the butter solidify before proceeding with the recipe (always err on the side of being too careful).

2. Chill the pie crust dough as specified; chilling it allows the gluten to relax which minimises shrinkage during baking.

3. Try to use materials that are heavier e.g. ceramic pie weights or coins when blind baking. Ensure that the you use enough of it to fill the tart tin all the way to the top. This will prevent the sides from slumping/shrinking during baking.

Tarte Tatin

Fri, 20 Apr 2012 06:15:00 +0800

flaky pastry base, caramel pastry cream, twice-baked apples, dollop of mascarpone and sour cream

Apple pastries are often stewy, stodgy affairs spiked with caradamon or cinnamon; while such desserts, served warm with a generous helping of custard, are gut-warming and absolutely divine when the weather is dreary and cold, they just don’t quite cut it when the sun is out.

This tarte tatin is the antithesis, or rather, the summery counterpart. The apples are meltingly moist and tender, disintegrating into a mass of pulp and juice with the slightest pressure from your tongue. Its flavour is, for the lack of words, unadulteratedly apple-y, clean and not muddled by the usual spices. The mascarpone and sour cream topping adds a complementary tang and richness. Like most pastry cream recipes published in japanese books, the caramel pastry cream is gloppy-er than what I would normally like but its viscous texture helps to integrate the, otherwise, disparate textures of the apple and galette dough.

Recipe
The following recipe makes six 7-8 cm tarte tatins. I’ve not provided a recipe for the base of the tart so use any flaky pastry of your choice. I used the galette dough recipe from Tartine (mainly because I always have some stored in the freezer) but the classic puff pastry dough, quick puff pastry dough or even store-bought puff pastry dough will work just as well.

Puff Pastry/Galette Base
Sprinkle a little castor sugar and brown sugar on the top of the pastry. Follow the instructions in the recipe of your choice and bake until the puff pastry is completely baked and crispy. You might need to dock the pastry and/or weigh the pastry with a heavy pan when baking to prevent over-rising. As a guideline, it will take approximately 30 - 45 minutes in a 180-190 degree celcius oven.

Caramel Pastry Cream
Heat 50g of sugar until it is completely melted. In the meantime, scald 50g of heavy cream. Once the melted sugar reaches the desired colour (the darker it is, the more bitter it tastes), pour the cream into the sugar and mix until completely combined. Reserve approximately 20g of the caramel for the baked apples.

Heat 125g of full cream milk. While the milk is heating, whisk one egg yolk together with 27g of castor sugar, 5g of cake flour and 5g of corn starch. When the full cream milk reaches a gentle simmer, pour it into the egg yolk mixture slowly while whisking vigorously. Heat the egg yolk and milk mixture over medium heat while whisking constantly. Once the first big bubble emerges, remove the custard from the heat and pour it into a seperate receptacle immediately. Whisk 10g of unsalted butter and the remaining caramel into custard until completely emulsified.

Twice Baked Apples
Use any apples - as long as they keep their shape after baking - that are in season. I used a mixture of Pacific Beauty (for crisp and firm flesh), Granny Smith (for tartness) and Red Delicious apples (for mushiness and sweetness) in a ratio of 3:1:1.

You’ll need approximately 5-6 apples. Peel and core the apples; reserve the peel and cores for later use. Slice the apples into 8 pieces and bake them in a 160 degree celcius oven. While the apples are baking, heat the reserved peel and cores with 20g of castor sugar over a stovetop. Crush the core and peel using a wooden spatula to extract all of the juice. Add a little hot water if it gets too dry. Sieve the mixture, pressing and squeezing it against the sieve, to extract all the liquid. On standing, this liquid will turn slightly-glaze like due to the pectin in the apples.

Fill the bottom of a muffin tin with approximately 2g of the reserved caramel from the caramel pastry cream. Pile the dry-baked apple slices into the holes of the tin. Drizzle 2tsp of the apple glaze over each hole. Sprinkle with a little vanilla sugar and bake in a 170 degree celcius oven for an hour. Let it cool to room temperature before putting it in the fridge.

It needs to sit in the fridge for at least 2-3 hours; it is a lot easier to get the apples out in one piece when it’s completely chilled.

Mascarpone and Sour Cream Topping
Whisk 16g of mascarpone and 16g of sour cream together with 10g of castor sugar. Slowly whisk in 50g of heavy cream until the mixture is stiff.

To assemble
Spread approximately 20g of caramel custard on the galette/puff pastry base. Remove the baked apples from the tin carefully and place it on top of the caramel custard. Dollop the mascarpone and sour cream topping over the baked apples. Chill the tartes tatin until ready to serve.

Note:
There will be a fair bit of caramel pastry cream left unused. I’d not recommend making a smaller batch of pastry cream; I’ve went down that road and trust me, it’s ridiculously frustrating to work with anything less than the quantities I’ve listed. I’m not sure what you can do with the leftovers but eating it by the spoonful (after folding a little whipped cream into the pastry cream) is a sinful, but delicious option.

Caramelised Banana Tart

Sun, 01 Apr 2012 03:38:00 +0800

almond tart base, almond cream, dark chocolate ganache, caramelised bananas spiked with rum and baked cream cheese custard

A snapshot of the sensations on my tongue when eating the tart - unctuousness of the roasted bananas and custard, crunch from the tart base, moist cake-like texture of the frangipane, crackle of the caramel-coated hazelnuts; the heady fragrance of roasted bananas, mellow bitterness from the caramel and dark chocolate ganache, slight tartness from the cream cheese custard, nuttiness of the frangipane and hazelnuts.

Components for the Tart
For the following components, use any recipe of your choice:
60g of frangipane
1cm thick genoise or any foam-based cake
180g of almond pate sucree tart base

Dark Chocolate Ganache
Melt 50g of dark chocolate (preferably 70%) with 15g of cream. Let it cool to room temperature before using.

Cream Cheese Custard (adapted from a japanese book)
Melt 45g of cream cheese using a water bath or the microwave. Stir in 3g of cake flour and 36g of sugar. Briefly whisk 1 large egg, 50g of sour cream and 85 of heavy cream until combined. Whisk the egg mixture into the cream cheese mixture in small additions until completely lump free.

Caramelised Bananas (adapted from a japanese book)
Heat 100g of sugar in a saucepan over high heat until completely melted and dark-brown in colour. Add 15g of butter to the melted sugar and stir to incorporate. Add 5 bananas (either sliced or halved) into the saucepan and turn them gently, ensuring that they are completely coated with caramel. Pour 15g of rum into the caramel and heat until the alcohol dissipates. Take it off the heat and let it cool to room temperature before using. The bananas do not need to be cooked through at this point.

To assemble
Line an 20cm tart pan with the almond pate sucree tart base; the tart base should be approximately 25mm thick. Blind bake for 30 minutes in a 160 degree celcius oven. If necessary, cover the top with aluminium foil or an inverted 9” tart pan to prevent overbrowning. Let the tart base cool to room temperature before proceeding. Spread the frangipane across the cooled tart base. Dollop the dark chocolate ganache across the frangipane layer. The genoise goes on top of the dark chocolate ganache. Next, pour the cream cheese custard into the tart base until almost completely full; the genoise layer will soak up a good bit of the custard. Lay the caramelised bananas on top of the genoise layer. Drizzle a little cream cheese custard and caramel from the bananas to create a rustic marbled effect. The caramelised bananas should be partially submerged and peeking through the custard. Bake in a 180 degree celcius oven for 32-35 minutes.

Let the tart cool before slicing; the tart can be served either cold or warm.

Note:
There will be a little custard and a fair bit of caramel left unused. The former can be baked together with the tart in a oven-proof receptacle; the latter can be kept in the fridge for repeat attempts or thinned with a little cream and used as a sauce when serving .

Strawberry Shortcake

Mon, 13 Feb 2012 17:00:00 +0800

Soft, moist, fine-textured sponge cake that dissipates with a tinge of graininess, fresh cream, slightly tart strawberries and a sprinkling of crisp dried madeleine biscuit.

Chiboust Cream (from Beranbaum’s Rose’s Heavenly Cakes)

Scrape the seeds of half a vanilla bean into 131g of full cream milk. Heat the milk until boiling point; cover and keep hot. Whisk 37g of egg yolks with 50g of sugar until pale yellow and fluffy. Add 1 tbsp of cornstarch and 0.75 tsp of powdered gelatin into the egg yolk mixture. Mix until well blended. Pour the hot milk into the yolk mixture slowly while whisking to combine.

Return the mixture to the saucepan and bring it to a boil whilst whisking constantly. Once it reaches a boil, bring the heat and let it simmer for 1 minute while whisking. Pour the mixture into a bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Let this cool to room temperature (try to let it cool outside of the refridgerator to prevent it from setting around the edges).

When the pastry cream is cooled, whisk 174g if heavy cream (at least 35% fat) until soft peaks form. Fold in the pastry cream. Use at once or cover and chill for up to 3 days.

strawberry souffle

Mon, 23 Jan 2012 02:58:00 +0800

dried madeleine biscuit, sponge cake, souffle cheesecake, fresh cream, strawberries

The various components are delicious alone but they just didn’t meld together as well as I imagined. I’ll probably add a little more cream cheese/sour cream/yogurt to the soufflé cheesecake the next time I make this; the subtle cheese flavor and aroma was completely overwhelmed by the other elements of the cake.

Souffle Cheesecake
(adapted from The Little Teochew)

Melt 250g cream cheese, 50g butter and 100g full cream milk; heating it in 10-second spurts with a microwave on the highest setting is my method of choice mainly because there are less dishes involved. Add 60g cake flour, 20g corn flour, 108g egg yolks into the mixture and mix well.

Whisk 192g egg whites with 140g castor sugar until the soft peaks stage.

Fold the egg whites into the cheese mixture as delicately as possible to minimise foam destruction. Line a 8 inch pan (non-springform) with parchment paper; the collar should be 2 inches taller than the pan. Bake the cheesecake in a water bath for approximately 70 minutes at 160 degree celcius.

Dried Madeline Biscuit Base
(adapted from Blumenthal’s In Search of Perfection)

Melt 56g unsalted butter with 15g full cream milk. Whisk 33g honey and 70g egg until still completely you can form stiff peaks with the batter. It will take approximately 5 minutes on a stand mixer at the highest speed. Slowly fold in 67g plain flour, 33g sifted icing sugar, 5.6g baking powder to the whisked egg in 3 additions. Fold in the butter mixture until just combined. Pour the batter into a lined 9 inch by 13 inch baking pan. Bake for 10 minutes in a 200 degree celcius oven. Cut it into your desired shape. After that, drop the temperature to 100 degree celcius and continue baking for approximately 90 minutes until deep golden brown and crisp.

Other Components:
Freshly whipped cream: I used approximately 600g of fresh cream for this recipe. It is sweetened with 10% sugar i.e. 60g of castor sugar.

Sponge Cake: Use a genoise recipe of your choice.

White chocolate: I used white chocolate to create a waterproof layer to ensure that the madeline biscuit remains crisp. Just so you know, there were comments about how it is a little difficult to slice/fork through the white chocolate covered biscuit so you might consider omitting this part.

To assemble:
Ensure that the genoise, souffle cheesecake and madeline biscuit layers are completed cooled. Slice both the genoise layer and the souffle cheesecake layer horizontally to create 2 equal halves. Trim the madeline biscuit layer into an 8 inch circle with a serrated knife. If necessary, use a microplane grater to file away the jagged edges.

Spread the melted white chocolate over the madeline biscuit layer. Put one layer of genoise over the white chocolate. If necessary, slather the genoise with sugar syrup. Spread a thin layer of cream over the white chocolate and cover the cream with sliced strawberries. Repeat with the souffle cheesecake layers and the remaining genoise layer. Do not be stingy with the amount of strawberries you use in between the layers; I was too frugal with mine and regretted the decision.

pineapple tarts

Wed, 11 Jan 2012 20:42:00 +0800

Pineapple tarts are probably the quintessential Chinese New Year snack. Pastry shops line their shelves with jars of these treats and each has their own take on the traditional cookie - open-faced ones, log-shaped ones, balls studded with little cloves and some come in esoteric flavours like charcoal powder, cheddar cheese etc.

The word tart is probably a misnomer since the shape plays no part in defining this “tart”; the only criteria is a buttery crust with a non-chewy crumb and a dollop of pineapple paste. Every year, my family makes our own pineapple tarts (mainly because selected members border on being obsessive about the qualities a good pineapple tart should possess).

We favour little bite-sized, ball-shaped pineapple tarts - open-faced ones are generally a no-go since the filling gets a little too dry and crusty in the process of baking; huge ones are a complete mess to eat and inevitably leaves a cloud of crumb in its wake.

The pineapple filling is made with a mixture of honey pineapples and the regular ones. The former breaks down into a paste upon cooking while the latter retains a slightly stringy/pithy texture which adds a little chew and tempers the sweetness with a sourish tang. The pineapples are grated and gently reduced over the stove till it reaches a jammy consistency. Brown sugar is then added to taste. Some people add spices like cinnamon and cloves to the paste but my mum thinks that aroma of the spices muddle the taste. The final consistency of the pineapple paste affects the keeping qualities of the cookie - we prefer a wetter paste since the moistness goes really well with the crumbly crust but the humidity has an adverse effect on how long the cookie stay fresh.

The crust, like good shortbread, is made with a ridiculous amount of butter so it crumbles and completely disintegrates in your mouth. We use a little milk powder in the dough for slightly more depth and nuance. Also, this is probably the only time where I use salted butter in my baking. The salt content is not enough to make you go “hmmm, savory cookie” but (and I know this probably sounds a little strange) the salt, together with the milk powder, has this gut-warming, nostalgic whiff which makes the pineapple tarts a little more addictive.

flourless chocolate souffle cake

Fri, 16 Dec 2011 16:33:00 +0800

why yes, yet another chocolate souffle cake (this time, it’s the flourless souffle cake from tartine).

Recipe

Line the bottom of an 8 inch springform pan with parchment paper. I used a flourless chocolate sponge and chopped toasted walnuts as the base for the souffle cake.

Stir 200g of melted dark chocolate (I used a 70% bar) and 92g of melted butter. Whisk 63g of egg yolks with 42g of sugar until the mixture if light and fluffy. Fold the elixir of life (otherwise known as the chocolate and butter mixture) into the whipped egg yolks.

Whisk 112g of egg white with 42g of sugar until medium-stiff peaks. Stir in one third of the whipped egg whites into the egg yolk mixture to lighten it; gently fold in the rest of the egg whites. Pour the mixture into the lined springform pan.

Bake in a 325F oven for approximately 30-25 minutes until the top of the cake is no longer shiny. Chill the cake for at least 3 hours before unmoulding.

To unmould, wrap a damp and warm towel around the pan to loosen the cake.

nibby walnut cookies

Fri, 30 Sep 2011 06:52:00 +0800

Call me crazy or mildly obsessive, but I think there’s a difference between being crispy and crunchy. Crispy is a light crackle and crunchy is a substantial thud; the former quickly disintegrates leaving little but a faint aroma or flavour while the latter has a pleasing heft that changes in both texture and taste with every bite.

The nibby walnut cookies (from alice medrich’s bittersweet) is closer to crispy than crunchy. Coupled with the earthy, bordering on tannic flavour of cocoa nibs and flavorful fattiness of walnuts, these buttery cookies are, to me, seriously addictive.

Nibby Walnut Cookies
Mix 113g of unsalted butter with 75g of sugar, ¼ tsp (2.5g) of coarse salt, 2 tsp of rum and ¼ tsp of vanilla paste with a handheld mixer or wooden spoon, incorporating as little air in it as possible; you want it smooth and creamy but not fluffy. Stir in approximately 3 tbsp (17g) of cocoa nibs and 50g of coarsely chopped and toasted walnuts. Add 130g of all-purpose flour and mix gently just until incorporated.

If you favour little deformed buttons, roll the dough into a long log; else, spread the dough into a thin sheet of approximately 0.6cm thick. Refrigerate the dough for at least 2 hours, preferably overnight. This will allow the taste of the cocoa nibs to develop and infuse into the cookie.

Bake the cookies in a 180 degree celcius oven for 12-14 minutes. The book says that the sides of the cookies should be light golden brown but as always, I prefer my cookies ever-so-slightly overbaked for that comforting shade of brown and the slightly toasty/charred flavour. Let it cool at room temperature before storing it in a airtight container.

"Each man kills the thing he loves"

Wed, 21 Sep 2011 18:58:00 +0800

hopei:

(from CL)

because once in a while, we all need a little reminder.

"In every interview I’m asked what’s the most important quality a novelist has to have...."

Fri, 02 Sep 2011 05:01:22 +0800

“

In every interview I’m asked what’s the most important quality a novelist has to have. It’s pretty obvious: talent. Now matter how much enthusiasm and effort you put into writing, if you totally lack literary talent you can forget about being a novelist. This is more of a prerequisite than a necessary quality. If you don’t have any fuel, even the best car won’t run.

The problem with talent, though, is that in most cases the person involved can’t control its amount or quality. You might find the amount isn’t enough and you want to increase it, or you might try to be frugal and make it last longer, but in neither case do things work out that easily. Talent has a mind of its own and wells up when it wants to, and once it dries up, that’s it. Of course, certain poets and rock singers whose genius went out in a blaze of glory—people like Schubert and Mozart, whose dramatic early deaths turned them into legends—have a certain appeal, but for the vast majority of us this isn’t the model we follow.

If I’m asked what the next most important quality is for a novelist, that’s easy too: focus—the ability to concentrate all your limited talents on whatever’s critical at the moment. Without that you can’t accomplish anything of value, while, if you can focus effectively, you’ll be able to compensate for an erratic talent or even a shortage of it. I generally concentrate on work for three or four hours every morning. I sit at my desk and focus totally on what I’m writing. I don’t see anything else, I don’t think about anything else.
…
After focus, the next most important thing for a novelist is, hands down, endurance. If you concentrate on writing three or four hours a day and feel tired after a week of this, you’re not going to be able to write a long work. What’s needed of the writer of fiction—at least one who hopes to write a novel—is the energy to focus every day for half a year, or a year, or two years.

”

- Haruki Murakami in What I Talk About When I Talk About Running

pierre herme's satine

Fri, 12 Aug 2011 04:58:00 +0800

almond tart base, biscuit soaked in passionfruit and mango juice, baked cheesecake, light cream cheese mousse, poached oranges & marmalade glaze

Most cheesecakes I’ve baked/had are relatively simple affairs - a digestive or graham cracker base, baked cheesecake batter and a sour cream or fruit spread. Satine, a Pierre Herme creation, is a decidedly different creature.

Satine uses a twice-baked almond pate sucree as its base. I’m not sure if it’s a result of double baking or the ridiculous amount of butter in the recipe but the base retained its bite, albeit less crisp than ideal, despite the humid weather (and the resulting condensation) in this part of the world.

If you look really closely at the photos, you will see that the thick blob of cream cheese is actually made up of 2 different layers - a baked cheesecake and a cream cheese bavarian which has a mouthfeel that is similar to mousse. The ladyfinger (essentially sponge cake sans butter) and cream cheese bavarian layer help to temper the usual stodginess that one might associate with cheesecakes. The orange & marmalade glaze has a refreshing acidity that complements the creaminess of the cheese layers.

I was extremely close to giving up when perusing the recipe - the book is in French and I have zero knowledge of French; some of the quantities listed were really weird and don’t seem to tally with each other; the instructions were extremely sparse and, at times, confusing. If you intend to make this cake, just soldier on and wing it when in doubt. I strayed from the recipe and made a few minor changes -

Instead of three or four 6-inch cakes, I halved the recipe and made an 8-inch cake along with a handful of cupcakes
Instead of passionfruit juice, I used a combination of passionfruit and mango juice to soak the ladyfingers. On hindsight, that was a bad decision. The mango diluted the tartness and masked the heady floral fragrance that passionfruit has.
The recipe says to strain the poached orange slices; I’m not sure if we are supposed to squeeze the juice from the orange slices to form a pulpy mass or to merely strain the slices from the poaching syrup. I went with a mixture of both i.e. squeezed the juice from half of the orange slices and strained the other half. Even after chilling the cake overnight, the glaze is a little too watery.
I used sheet gelatin in place of Pectin NH to set the neutral glaze.
Pierre Herme decorates the cake with thin slabs of white chocolate sprinkled with Fleur del Sel. I used white chocolate shavings mixed with River Murray salt. To be honest, I’m not a fan of the combination though I might have been too heavy-handed when adding the salt destroying the delicate sweet-salty balance.

sidenote: I can’t believe school has started again; the fact that this is my last year (well, assuming that I pass all my remaining modules) makes it all the more surreal.

"It will need little lubrication. A light, mild olive oil will do. Any oil too fruity or peppery may..."

Thu, 11 Aug 2011 01:15:00 +0800

“

It will need little lubrication. A light, mild olive oil will do. Any oil too fruity or peppery may overpower. Butter is better. While the spears are cooking, soften, rather than melt, some sweet unsalted butter. It must be very fresh as any taint from the fridge does not go unnoticed in such simple fare.

The traditional method involves tying the spears together and cooking them in enough boiling, salted water to come half way up their length. The point is to boil the tougher, thicker stalks while the tips cook gently in the steam.

Meanwhile, soften the butter in a small pan or in a warm basin set close to the cooker. Remove from the heat when it is soft enough to dip your finger in and leave a deep hole but catch it before it becomes transparent. Drain the asparagus. Place the spears on large plates. Whisk the butter with a fork till smooth, then pour it over the tips. Tilt the plates slightly so that the butter runs to one side. Eat the spears with your fingers, dipping the points into the golden butter. Only the coy would use a knife and fork.

”

- Asparagus with melted butter from

Real Cooking by

Nigel Slater

apple galette

Sat, 06 Aug 2011 15:56:00 +0800

galette shell, a thin layer of almond frangipane, homemade apple spread and thinly sliced apples.

Tartine’s recipe for galette, as mentioned in previous entries, is ridiculously flaky and buttery. The frangiepane layer is extremely moist and nutty and also acts as a waterproof layer which prevents the bottom of the galette from turning too soggy. The apple spread, which is made with granny smith apples and a minimal amount of sugar, is pleasantly tart and has a nice jam-my consistency. The only letdown was the layer of sliced apples which turned slightly leathery upon baking; I think little dabs of butter should help to keep it moist.

Frangipane (loosely adapted from a translated japanese pastry cookbook)

Cream 100g of unsalted butter with 80g of icing sugar. Add in 1 egg and 1 additional egg yolk to the creamed mixture. Stir in 10g of sour cream and 4g of milk powder. Add vanilla extract to taste. Stir in 120g of almond powder. Chill the mixture overnight.

Apple spread (loosely adapted from a translated japanese pastry cookbook)

Pour 100g of water and 30g of apple/lemon liquor (or 130g of white wine), 10g of lemon juice and 1 cubed medium sized granny smith apple into a small saucepan. The size of the apple is not important since you’ll be adjusting the taste based on your liking later. Cover the saucepan with a lid and heat the mixture over low heat. When the apples turn completely translucent, remove the lid and add in 30g of castor sugar. Continue heating the mixture over low heat, adding more water if necessary to prevent the mixture from burning, until the apples caramalise and becomes golden in colour. Taste the spread, adding more lemon juice and sugar if necessary.

jasmine tea tuiles

Thu, 28 Jul 2011 20:29:00 +0800

jasmine tea tuiles from alice medrich’s pure desserts

they were very delicate and crunchy but a little too sweet. i think the jasmine tea leaves that i bought either lost their potency or they weren’t good to begin with because, as per the previous chocolate genoise, the jasmine flavour/smell was not strong enough.

i made these as a garnish and textural foil to some tofu cheese mousse that i made but i think the tofu cheese mousse needs a little more tinkering.

raspberry chocolate genoise

Mon, 25 Jul 2011 20:13:00 +0800

chocolate sponge soaked in jasmine tea sugar syrup, whipped chocolate ganache, jasmine tea infused whipped cream and raspberries.

i need to find a way to inject more jasmine flavour.

also, handling any cream-based icing is hell when the room temperature is 32 degree celcius and you don’t have an air conditioner in the kitchen.