ten-ele-ven

My company organised a whiskey appreciation night. We had someone come in and give us the 101 on tasting notes of several types of whiskeys. Unfortunately, I didn’t come away being smarter about whisky. ‘Cos I didn’t pay much attention to what was going on as I was fully occupied with eating my sushi and catching up with some colleagues whom I haven’t seen in a while.

I like whiskey neat. Or occasionally, diluted with some water. I know next to nothing about it though. If I like it, it is good. And if I don’t, then it is not very good. This is one of those few corporate events where I left feeling quite happy that I turned up for it.

xoxoxoxo

I have been glued to the computer watching several animes recently, and haven’t gotten around to updating some of the posts that I have been working on.

Plus work hasn’t altogether been terribly inspiring, which simply means that it is mentally draining (and more often than not, emotionally draining).  So I have been seeking solace in my usual place at home – in front of the computer and my iPad.

Two weeks ago, I had to go to Shanghai for a work conference. I didn’t see anything of Shanghai on that trip. I spent one day flying up, another day in the conference, and the next day flying back home.

The trip was quite a waste of time. The good thing about it was that I managed to eat a bowl of my favourite Tsui Wah noodles while transiting in the Hong Kong airport.  I love the fish soup vermicelli from this chain  – the broth is soooo fabulously tasty.  As I had only ten minutes to eat before boarding the plane, I wolfed down the bowl of vermicelli, and not being to savor the broth properly.

*sigh*  Maybe it is time to make a short trip to Hong Kong.

One more day to the weekend…I am so looking forward to the arrival of Friday.

I made Dutch babies for breakfast over the weekend, after reading about them in a food blog! They are soooo easy to make and I wonder why it took me so long to learn about these German pancakes, or Bismarcks. (Wiki explains why these pancakes are called Dutch babies.)

Unlike the classic pancakes which have to be cooked over the stove, the batter for the German pancakes are poured into an oven-proof skillet and baked in the oven, till they rise, all golden and puffy.  The one in the photo above looks flat, having deflated after being taken out of the oven.

Dutch Babies
(Recipe from here)

Makes 2 large pancakes, 4-6 servings each

4 eggs
1 cup milk
1 cup flour
1 teaspoon sugar
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter

Lemon wedges
Powdered sugar
Berries
Pure maple syrup

Preheat oven to 425° F.

Whisk eggs, milk, flour, sugar and salt in a large bowl, or whiz in a blender. Let stand for 30 minutes at room temperature.

Divide butter between two 9 or 10-inch cast iron skillets, glass baking dishes, or one larger rectangular roasting pan. Place in oven until butter melts. Remove pans, swirling butter to coat sides. Divide batter between pans. Bake on lowest rack until golden brown, set on center rack and allow to bake until sides rise high above the sides of the pans, 12-15 minutes. (The skillets have to be very hot for the batter to rise properly.)

Slice pancake into wedges and serve with dusting of sugar, berries and a squirt of lemon juice, or just some good maple syrup.

We ate ours with icing sugar and some lemon juice, accompanied by coffee and a glass of freshly squeezed orange juice.  Scrumptious.  I like that the batter, made using basic ingredients, is very easy to whip up.  And because it cooks in the oven, I don’t have to wipe the stove afterwards. 🙂

^ An iPhone photo of the Dutch babies rising in the oven.

In the last year or so, thanks to Kaixo, I have the opportunity to enjoy the very tasty flavours of Basque food without having to be in San Sebastian. I have come to love eating peppers, onions and tomatoes sauted in olive oil. The fragrance and flavours produced from this combination of vegetables are so delicious and comforting.

To satisfy my curiosity about Basque food, I bought a cookbook featuring Basque recipes called The Basque Table sometime ago. There is a chicken recipe in the cookbook that I have been meaning to try out in the kitchen for a while and I finally got around to doing so this weekend.

Chicken Basque-Style
(Recipe from The Basque Table)

Ingredients:
One 3 to 3.5 pound chicken, cut into pieces
Coarse salt
3/4 cup olive oil
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 medium onion, cut into strips
2 red bell peppers, cut into strips
2 medium tomatoes, peeled, seeded and diced
Salt
1-1/2 tsps sugar
1 cup dry white wine
Juice of 1/2 lemon
2 tbsps chopped flat-leaf parsley

Directions:
1. Sprinkle the chicken generously with coarse salt. Set aside.

2. In a skillet, heat 6 tablespoons of the olive oil over medium heat. Cook the garlic for 1 to 2 minutes, until it turns golden brown. Add the onion and sauté it for about 10 minutes, until softened. Add the red peppers and tomatoes, mix well, and season with salt and sugar. Cook, stirring, for about 15 minutes, until the tomatoes release their liquid.

3. In a deep skillet or stockpot, heat the remaiing 6 tablespoons olive oil over high heat. Add the chicken, and cook it for 10 to 15 minutes, turning it, until it is lightly browned on all sides. Add the pepper-tomato mixture and the wine, and mix well. Reduce the heat to medium, partially cover the pot, and cook for about 40 minutes, until the sauce thickens and the chicken is cooked through.

4. Gently stir in the lemon juice and cook 5 mintues more. Serve the chicken and sauce garnished with parsley.

The method of cooking and flavors of this chicken dish remind me of the Italian version known as Chicken Caciatore (which I also love), except that the Basque version is slightly lighter in flavor. Instead of a dry white wine, I used Txakoli, the classic Basque white wine which is crisp and delicious. I can drink an entire bottle on my own and I almost always have a few bottles in our wine fridge.

We paired the chicken with white rice and it was yummy! The gravy goes really well with rice. I have alot of leftovers from lunch which I will be freezing for weekday dinners. I am sure the dish will taste even better after a few days when the flavours come together.

xoxoxo

I haven’t been posting as regularly as I would like to because I have been spending most of my spare time reading the Lady Julia Grey detective novel series AND watching and rewatching the ongoing Korean drama The Master’s Sun.  I love my addictions even though they take me away from things that I ought to be doing.  Like doing the laundry, ironing the laundry, cleaning the house, going cycling, etc.

It has been a while since I found a detective novel series that I cannot stop reading. Having an iPad Mini and a constant supply of iTunes gift cards make it easy for me to indulge in reading every book in the Lady Julia Grey series.  I am enjoying this week-long reading marathon while lying on my sofa with a cup of coffee or a glass of wine (which I really shouldn’t be drinking because of a persistent cough that just wouldn’t go away).  Whenever I take a break from reading, I glue myself to the computer, watching and re-watching The Master’s Sun.  I am such a Korean drama addict.  I am less of an addict now, as compared to what I was before, but I cannot un-glue myself from the computer screen whenever a drama has my favourite male and female leads, and is written by my favorite scriptwriter.

Anyway, I managed to tear myself away from the iPad Mini and the computer to do some baking.  I had some strawberries that were languishing in my fridge and I thought it a pity to throw them away. I don’t like eating fresh strawberries, unless they come from Japan or Korea.  These ones sitting in my fridge, unfortunately, were from neither country.  They were kind of sour and tasteless.

Recently, I had two friends who shared photos of buttermilk cakes that they baked – one was a blueberry buttermilk cake and the other a roasted strawberry buttermilk cake.  Both cakes looked luscious.   So I decided to bake one using the fast expiring strawberries.  I Googled for a recipe and found one on a blog called Sugar & Spice by Celeste.  The recipe looked fairly simple and straightforward, something that I could certainly manage without  turning the kitchen into chaos.

Ta-dah!  The buttermilk cake turned out really well. It was light, airy and quite delicious. I whipped a little cream to go with it but I like it plain just as much. Unlike fresh strawberries, I find roasted strawberries to be fragrant and tasty. I am definitely going to make another one this weekend. It keeps quite well in the fridge for a couple days and we had a slice for breakfast several mornings in a row.  Perfect with a cup of expresso.

Fresh Strawberry Buttermilk Cake

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
6 tbsp. unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup plus 2 tbsp. sugar, divided
1 large egg
1/2 cup buttermilk
1 tsp. vanilla
1 lb. strawberries, hulled & halved
2 cups freshly whipped cream

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter a 9 inch spring form pan (may also work in a 9 inch cake pan or deep dish pie pan), set aside.

In a medium sized bowl, add flour, baking powder & salt and whisk together, set aside.

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together the butter with 1 cup sugar until fully incorporated and light & fluffy. Add in the egg, buttermilk & vanilla and beat on medium speed just until incorporated.

Reduce mixer to low and gradually add in the flour mixture, beat until just incorporated. Remove bowl from stand and pour batter into prepared pan.

Place the halved strawberries cut side down on to the top of the batter. Arrange them in a single layer, you may not use quite all of the strawberries, but should use most of them. Sprinkle remaining 2 tbsp. of sugar evenly over top of the cake.

Bake cake for 10 minutes, then reduce oven to 325 degrees and continue baking for 50 more minutes, until cake is lightly golden brown and a toothpick inserted comes out clean.

Keep cake in pan and place pan on cooling rack to cool completely. Once cool, release outside of pan if using spring form pan. Store cake in airtight container. Serve topped with freshly whipped cream.

A very unusual birthday ‘cake’ made for TBH by his colleagues. A layered ‘cake’ with alternating slices of Spam and omelette topped with cherry tomatoes.

We shall enjoy this very thoughtful ‘cake’ – he loves to eat luncheon meat and eggs – with a glass of wine when we celebrate his birthday tomorrow!