Rustic Goodness

As you might have noticed, I'm a huge bread addict. As such, I'm always on the hunt for new bread recipes. So when I saw this recipe, I knew I had to bake this, simply because it has two of my favourite terms - rustic and bread.

Rustic breads have always been my favourite, but I am attempting to bake these types of breads only recently. I want to be as authentic as possible, I even bought a baking stone in order to achieve the nice crust characteristic of rustic breads. So here is my Rustic Potato Loaf, with a moist interior and crispy crust.


If you look at the original recipe by Gattina, you would have noticed a vast difference between our loaves. I'm embarrassed to say, my skills still have a long way to go. Gattina is one who bakes some very beautiful breads and also takes excellent photos. Er.. so for my loaf, pardon my skills. But the taste come first, aesthetics can be improved along the way.

Char Char Char

After all that pork dishes from the last post, I don't wish to bore you. But can I just show two more dishes with pork as the ingredients?

I made this char siew using a recipe from one of the members in KC. This recipe actually calls for grilling the char siew. Coincidentally, I found a recipe for 'Shanghainese Wok Fried Char Siew' in one of my recipe books. So I combined these two and got this.

I found that by preparing the char siew this way, it is not as dry as grilling directly. Also saves me from switching on the oven just for grilling.

After preparing the char siew, I turned them into these pastries.

I used a recipe for 'Siew Pau' from Kuali. However, the skin turned out to be more flaky like 'Char Siew Soh'. It has been a long time since I had Siew Pau, so I cannot remember how the skin is supposed to be like. But anyway, these pastries turned out to be flaky and quite good I must say. So now I must go in search of the 'true' Siew Pau.

This recipe for Char Siew is kindly shared by a member of Kitchen Capers. I just modified the quantity and the method of cooking.

Ingredients :

500g pork belly (pork must have some fat in it to be tender. Do not use lean pork loin)

Marinade :
2 tbsp oyster sauce
2 tbsp tomato sauce (I omitted this)
2 1/2 tbsp soya sauce
1 1/2 tbsp dark soya sauce
1/2 tsp sesame oil
1 tbsp sugar
1/2 piece red fermented beancurd
1/2 tbsp chinese wine
2 cloves garlic, finely minced

1) Cut pork belly into 3/4 to 1 inch thickness. I didn't cut as I used two separate pieces bought from the supermarket.
2) Mix all the ingredients for marinade together and marinate pork pieces for at least 4 hours, even better overnight in the refrigerator.

Method for wok frying - adapted from the recipe 'Shanghainese Pan-Fried Char Siew' in the book Hawkers' Fare - Best of All Times Favourites.

1) It's best to use a non-stick wok(mine's anodized and cleans easily) for this, otherwise you'll have a hard time scrubbing later.
2) When ready to cook, add 250 ml of water into the wok and pour in the marinade from the pork. Bring to a boil.
3) Add in the pork pieces. Once the water boils again, lower the flame to medium. Let the mixture slowly simmer, uncovered. Turn the pork over every 3-4 minutes.
4) Once the water has dried up, lower the flame to small. Pan-fry the pork until your desired level of crisp-ness and 'charred-ness'. Watch it carefully to prevent burning.
5) Dish up, slice and enjoy.

If you prefer to grill, here is the method from the original recipe.
1) Take meat out from refridgerator 1/2 hour before grilling.
2) Grill/broil the meat until cooked. While grilling, turn the meat 3-4 times to allow even browning.
3) When meat is cooked, brush with honey glaze(1 tbsp honey mixed with 1 tbsp water) and remove.

Two Lunches

I gave myself a long holiday. Since yesterday's a public holiday, I also took leave on Thursday, wanted to get some rest. Well, I guess it's half rest, the other half spent in the kitchen.

Managed to cook a simple pasta lunch for lunch yesterday. You may have noticed I quite like Italian fare. That's one of my weakness, besides japanese food. Tried to create a dish which we have frequently enjoy in a food court. It's actually fettucine with prawns and rucola leaves in a tomato-cream sauce. I whipped up one using vermicelli with squid and prawns. Here it is.


As for today, we went 'Chinese'. Cooked a simple soup, simple by putting all the ingredients into the slow cooker and just let it boil. As my hubby likes pork dishes, I prepared one by using a recipe from the book Hawkers' Fare Simplified. Verdict: not bad at all.

Recipe for Pork Loins in Tomato Sauce

This recipe is adapted from the recipe Supreme Pork Chop in the book Hawkers Fare Simplified.

300g pork loin

Marinade:
½ tbsp oyster
½ tsp sugar
½ tsp salt
½ tsp sesame oil
½ a beaten egg
2 tbsp water
1 tbsp plain flour
2 tsp kiwi juice *

Sauce
2 tbsp tomato sauce
1 tbsp chilli sauce
1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
½ tbsp sugar
½ tsp salt
1 tsp light soya sauce
3 tbsp water

60g corn flour

Oil for deep frying

Method:
1) Cut pork loins into 1 cm thick pieces and pound with the back of the cleaver. Add in the marinade ingredients and mix well. Marinate for at least 1 hr (I prefer overnight).
2) Add in corn flour and mix to coat. Heat up oil. Put in pork loins and deep fry until golden brown. Drain.
3) Leave about 1 tbsp oil in wok, add in sauce and cook until slightly thickened. Add in fried pork loins and mix well to coat evenly. Dish up and serve.

* The original recipe uses bicarbonate of soda. I replaced with kiwi juice, which also has tenderizing effects.
** The above recipe is only half recipe for my family of two. Double all ingredients if you have a big family to feed.

Boring?

I haven't been doing much baking and cooking for the past week. Finally managed to churn out some buns today. These are made using my Sesame Sweet Buns recipe, I just adjusted the amounts of ingredients to fit my baking pan.

Nothing beats freshly baked bread from the oven. I simply love the aroma that fills the kitchen while the buns are being baked.

Before I end off, just want to say thanks to someone. Today I received a package all the way from the States. It's from a friend, who very kindly mailed me some recipes and info on making rustic breads. Cat, if you're reading this, my heartfelt thanks to you. I hope I will be able to succeed in making these type of breads.

Grissini Torinesi

I've been looking for a recipe for Italian Grissini for some time. I can't remember what got me hooked on these breadsticks, but I vaguely recall I had some really nice ones at an Italian restaurant. As usual, I thought it might be good if I can make my own, can satisfy my craving and save some money.

This recipe is from the book Ultimate Bread by Eric Treullie, the same book where the french baguette recipe is from. It's also kindly posted by the same KC member. I did not follow the full instructions though, replacing the plain flour with half bread flour and half plain flour, simply because I ran out of the latter. Not sure if the bread flour played a part, but the resulting grissini had just the right balance of crunch(the exterior) and chew (on the insides).

Perfect for dipping into a steaming bowl of soup or just munch on it, like what I did with five sticks as soon as they were cool enough to eat.

'Labour Day'

Today is Labour Day, a public holiday here. What better day to make something that's time-consuming, but all worth the time and effort?

After seeing Seadragon's Dim Sum Chicken Pies, my hands are itching to make some. I'm also using the recipe from the book 'Chinese Dim Sum in Pictures', which is the same as Seadragon's. But I used all butter for the pastry cases and used smaller fluted moulds. The filling is prepared using a recipe from KC.

These are my Chicken Dim Sum Tartlets.

I really shouldn't have made mini ones, as they are so addictive and I had stop myself from popping them one by one into my mouth. Hubby also couldn't stop eating.

Also made a few items yesterday (should have posted them together in yesterday's post)

A basic tomato sauce which I plan to use for pastas and pizzas. Recipe courtesy of Giselle of KC.

Great as a dip for warm, toasted foccacia.

Grilled a chicken for a simple dinner, using Gina's recipe. Pardon my poor presentation skills on this, though it doesn't look impressive in this picture, the taste is fantastic.

Lastly, a simple pound cake for dessert.