Monday, 16 February 2009

Le Pate A Choux Le Chef Safura....




Cream Puff, profiteroles, eclairs, paris brest, religieuse, cygnes, gougeres, saint honore, crullers...these are some of the different names, varieties that come from Pate A Choux....Chous Pastry. The last time I learnt to make profiteroles was when I was doing my Bar in London, I used a recipe from Sainsbury's cookbook....it was a success, but I used the instant custard and cream as filling.
Yesterday, I had the opportunity to learn from my master chef Safura, of how to correctly do the choux pastry, learn loads of tips, made the swan version "cygnes", cream puffs, eclairs, gougeres (cheese) and the fried version crullers. We also learnt how to make the my so called custard cream, but Saf's version is called Vanilla Pastry Cream....the picture above was the Vanilla Pastry Cream covered in cling film to be chilled, after that we folded whipping cream (yehah...the beginning of the operasi clogging arteries!!)!
Pate A Choux - the recipe... all copyrights belong to Safura Atan


125 g water
125 g milk
100 g butter
1/4 teaspoon salt
150g flour
5 eggs


1. Sift flour on paper.
2.Place water, milk, butter and salt in a pot and heat until butter melts and the mixture starts to boil.
3. Remove from heat and pour in all the flour while continu beating.
4. Put back on the stove and mix until the dough forms a ball and leaves the side of the pot.
5. Remove the pot and pour the dough into a mixing bowl. Using a beater start beating the dough for 2 minutes.
6. Add eggs one at a time making sure thoroughly mixed. Dough should be soft and shiny.
7. Place into piping bag and pipe into shpaes.
8. Bake in a preheated oven 180C until it's golden brown.
The picture above shows French Crullers ready to be ngaped! Sedap....a hint of lemon peel in the crust and dipped in sugar cinnamon dip.....1000 kali kalah rasa Auntie Anne's pretzels...its was a "now you see, now you don't affair" with this cruella devil cruel tasting crullers!!
Frying the crullers in hot oil.
The piped crullers on aluminium foil, ready to be fried.
Maizura, kawanku from BBGS (now dah jadi Pavilion) yang ku kenali semula semenjak join Saf's class....trying her skill piping the cruella devil cruelly tasting crullers on aluminum foil. I, then slide the crueller into the hot oil! Didnt know that one can actually fry choux pastry... Of course, Maizura and I had the most scolding from Saf, as we were hingarq, comparing notes and creating our own recipes and gossipped about god knows what during the teaching learning session!! Just like in BBGS dulu-dulu!!
Half of the swan's body is cut and the top part cut into halves to make the swan's wings....and then after we ate the swan...we were all ".....flying without wings", sedap tak terkata!
The piped swan body....

The swan....ahhh, look at the Vanilla Pasrty Cream oozing from the body of the swan...to die for! Here's the recipe for Vanilla Pastry Cream....

Vanilla Pastry Cream...all copyrights belong to Safura Atan

330g milk
1/2 vanilla pod/1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla essence
110g sugar
40g corn flour
6 egg yolk
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup whipping cream- until soft peaks form

1. Scald milk and vanilla pod, let it infuse for 5 minutes.
2. Mix the egg yolks, sugar, salt and corn flour making sure there are no lumps.
3. Heat the milk until it starts to boil.
4. Pour 1/3 of the milk into the yolk mixture and pour back the yolk mixture into the pot.
5. Continuously stir using a whisk until small bubble appear. Cook for another 2 minutes. Remove and pour into another container and cover with cling film. Cool down and chill for 2 hours.
6. Once cold fold in the whipping cream. Place in fridge until ready to use.

For lunch, Saf served us with Tuna Quiche! And to me it so berbaloi to attend any of her classes as she is very very generous with her tips and dos and don'ts and I think her recipes are different from others, and most of the time she uses those ingredients that one can easily find from the neighbourhood baking supplier...So, let's all jopm to her next class....Classic Italian Pizza and Pasta in March. To see Saf's works you can look out for panidolce.wordpress.com !

We started at 9 am thereabouts and finished at around 1.45. I left later, because I had questions on some of the utencils that she uses and the busted tak jadi cross between Martha and Amy cupcakes that I made about 3 weeks ago...rupanya I used liquid cup for measuring my flur and sugar...tha....will give it another go, soon!
Conclusion from Saf's class yesterday...yes Maizura the cream puffs were "da bomb"!!

I dropped by my mom's house to jengok orang tua tu and then head straight to Bagus to get butter and souffle cups to make cupcakes for Umar to bring to school today.....ingatkan can go to zzz land early last night, but Bad, Liza and their brood came after maghrib and tanya...."oii , orang rumah masak apa hari ni?"...I had to prepare dinner in a flash, so we had kari ikan tenggiri, telorq dadar, udang goreng kunyit and lada hitam and sayurq kailan....At around 10 pm my lovely guests left, and so did all the food and the cupcakes that I made ( I made extra for Bad and his family and my childrean...tak cukup!!) Hmm , what a lovely close for a weekend, I slept smiling!!

Wednesday, 11 February 2009

Yani Went Berserk In The Kitchen Last Weekend....







My Saturdays have always been very hectic...head to pasar tani after solat subuh, get the kids ready for breakfast and ustaz will arrive at 8.30, I will take a breather if not prepare lunch siap-siap, or send Khadijah for her co-co at school, send Yusof for his tuition, lepak kejap while waiting for lunch....and get Umar and Ibraheem ready for Lorna Whiston and also make sure Khadijah have her lunch and send her off to french class...

Last Saturday, I teringat nak makan cupcakes by Wondermilk. I lurve their vanillas, hubby thinks I'm very kampung, I call myself as classic...sounds better eh!So, after we settled Umar, Ibraheem (in TTDI)and Khadijah (in Pusat Bandar Damansara), we head straight to Wondermilk in Damasara Utama, I had one vanilla cuppa and tuna toastie with hot latte...hilang kempunan.

Mak called and said she, Anis and Nadia will be spending the weekened with us sebab Monday is a public holiday due to Thaipusam...so, apa nak masak ye? Hubby said, senang buat roast chicken (which recipe I tak yahlah letak, anyone can make roast chicken...but I prefer to marinade the chicken with fresh rosmary, some mustard and worchestershire sauce and a bit of honey..and stuff with a green apple(learnt this from Sham to make the chicken juicy!), we made 2 roast chickens..tak sempat nak ambik gambar to post here, they are all gone. Had it with garlic bread (slice french loaf, sapu with garlic butter, tabur italian herbs)roasted potatoes and fresh butterhead lettuce and baby carrots...yum sangat sangat(angkat bakul sendiri!)

Anis and Nadia are my younger sister's only children, my sister is a double doctor (medical doctor and Phd doctor) and she so lurve books, dari kecik sampai sekarang study and buat research tak habis habis...so the kesian her girls, always lepak at my place whenever they can and if Mak Tok nak drive over. So, that night after dinner I thought I bake cuppas (senang ma!) with Anis...Nadia is fast becoming her mother, tenggelam in books, she'd rather go through Khadijah's story books upstairs! So, I made the cuppas (using Nigella's sure jadi no fail recipe) and let Anis and Ibraheem to do the icing......the kids ngap half the cakes malam tu jugak and after watching High School Musical 3, the kids went to their tidorland soundly...

The next day, I woke up early to bersilat in the kitchen...I was to make nasi tomato and ayam masak merah for Superwomanwannabe's lunch/birthday makan for her Johan and Sara. Here's the recipe for Nasi Tomato and Ayam Masak Merah:

Nasi Tomato (for 16 pax)

Ingredients

1 kg beras basmathi (or 5 pot sukat tin susu), wash, soak for 15 mins, drain and set aside
200 gm tomato puree (I like to use Du Chef or Hunts, not so sour), otherwise you can use tomato paste but kurangkan and add in blended fresh tomatoes (2 medium)
1/2 cup ghee, for tumis
1/2 cup cooking oil...habislah arteries all clogged up!, for tumis
rempah tumis...basically corriander seed, anis and cinnamon bark, for tumis
daun pandan...shread and simpul, for tumis
2 medium onions, finely sliced, for tumis
to blend...2 medum onions, 5 cloves garlic, 2 inch ginger, for tumis
1/3 evap milk, I love Ideal milk..lemak berkrim..mmm

Method

1. Heat ghee and oil, tumis the sliced bawang merah, daun pandan and rempah tumis first..until fragrant and golden colour.
2. Add in the blended mix of onion, garlic and ginger..until fragrant and golden.
3. Add in the tomato puree, tumis until pecah minyak on slow fire.
4. Add water, 7 1/2 sukat tin susu and evap milk...let it to a good boil, add salt to taste.
5. Add the basmathi rice...last time in Aber I used long grain...sedappp
6. Lift from stove and cook in electric rice cooker...bila air kering you can add mint leaves or raisins..I used raisins this time, lupa nak beli mint leaves...leave to cook, if sangsi takut tak masak, cover with corning pinggan...inshaallah masak cantik beras sebiji sebiji...

Ayam Masak Merah (somehow, Nasi Tomato goes very well with this dish!)

1 chicken, potong 16, clean, and marinade with garam and serbuk kunyit, deep fry, drain minyak and leave aside
2 onions, finely sliced, for tumis
rempah tumis, anis, corriander seed and cinnamon bark
to blend, 2 onions, 4 cloves garlic and 1 inch ginger
1/2 cup blended dried chilly, depends on your taste, if you want it pedas, add more
1/2 cup chilly sauce
1/4 cup tomato sauce
1/4 cup evap milk, leftover from the nasi tomato tadi
1 cup minyak for tumis...clogged lah lagi arteriesku!
corriander leaves or raisins, if you like to garnish

Method

1. Tumis the sliced bawang and rempah tumis.
2. Add in the blended bawang, garlic and ginger until fragrant and golden.
3. Add in the blended chilly, fry until pecah minyak
4. Letak air assam jawa a bit.
5. Add the tomato and chilly sauce, sampai pecah minyak.
6. Add salt to taste and ayam goreng, mix well.
7. Add in the evap milk and raisins or corrander leaves.


I made acar timun, slice timun, pineapples and carrots and awang and red chilly with a dash of cuka padi and salt and sugar to go with the rice and ayam...

Made nasi for 40 pax, took it to SW's house, noticed the guests makan dengan gamaknya...also met Izreen, Lanotzz, Mrs N and Charms Allure there...Charms Allure sudah bukak booth and moi sudah beli 2 charm bracelets, ne black peral and one tourmaline....hai gaji tak masuk lagi. I asked Zu, kalua payment in kind boleh tak...go and makan my nasi tomato, he he...she just smiled!

That afternoon, we rushed leaving the kids at SW's house, to watch PGL the Musical...wont say much, except too much peluk peluk, feel pelik and geli when melayu melayu buat like that, I perefr the movie better...MNasir so deserve to be Hang Tuah yang gagah perkasa and macho...not S***p**n ..

Mak, Anis and Nadia left early on Monday...si Kitchen Guardian ni got another agenda in the kitchen for Monday...it's Laksa Johor!...Dah penat dah makan laksa johor orang lain buat, mahal tapi tak sedap...so here's the recipe:

Laksa Johor

Ingredients

1 kg ikan kembung, prefers this tu tenggiri yang fleshy tapi tawar, clean and steam, take flesh only...the leceh part!
For paste: 120 gm rempah kari ikan Babas's; blend 4 large onions, 6 cloves garlic, 2 inch ginger, 5 stalks serai (only the soft part ah!); blend 3 inch isi ikan kurau, 5 ekor fresh prawns, about 20 gm dried prawns, 1 inch belacan
4 keping assam keping
2 inch lengkuas, ketuk
minyak untuk tumis
santan pekat from 3 biji kelapa...or depends whether you like it lemak sangat or not.
1 tablespoon kerisik

Method

1. Panaskan minyak, tumis the blended bawang, garlic, ginger untyil fragrant.
2. Add in the rempah kari, tumis until pecah minyak.
3. Add in the blended isi ikan kurau, prawns and dired pawns, belacan...until garing
4. Pour in the coconut milk, letak lengkuas, assam keping and kerisik, boil on slow fire, add salt to taste.


Serve with sphagetti, the ulams will be timun, kacang panjang, daun selasih, daun kesum, bunga kantan, bawang besar and sambal belacan.....
SW and dr hubby dropped by to help us enjoy the laksa johor, they were dropping by my periuks from yesterday....Being a true Johorean, Jab had his laksa makan pakai tangan! Barulah berasa makan laksa johor buatan sendiri!!

They left for Low Yat and moi and hubby zzzz, what a bliss, lepas makan tidor coz my kids were all in school!
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