Camembert and Cranberry Stuffed Eggplant with Pesto

I am going to Singapore from tomorrow for 8 days. Past couple of days have been a struggle between clearing what's left in the fridge and buying what I'd like to cook with. Eventually I did a pretty good job having just a bunch of parsley and basil left. With such combination, one naturally thinks of Pesto. I would just like to emphasize the beauty of chopping instead of processing: you get these bits and bites of nuts and the ingredients that you don't get with the homogeneous paste from processor. It's a lot of patient and work especially so in a hot kitchen - you may want to make it a point to whoever you make it for. I have no doubt Adrian is well aware of the effort I put in to this pesto.

Here is something I made long before that I have always wanted to redo. It's a very intricate combination of flavors from the tartness of dried cranberry, creamy Camembert, savory pesto served with the ambiguous mushroom. Unfortunately despite all these varieties of mushroom they are showcasing during the Nine Emperor Festival, I couldn't find the wide, flat mushroom that I needed for this recipe. So what was I going to do? I bought eggplant. I knew I have made it my mission to challenge Adrian's taste bud but this time it was unintentional.

Instead of using dried cranberry, I used Homemade Cranberry Sauce made from dried cranberry. If you don't have the time for a proper pesto, go to the original recipe and follow its use of rocket leaves.

We liked the play of different elements in this recipe. Although I think mushroom is still the better choice than eggplant. I may do it again with mushroom when I come back if Adrian decides not to do anything with the extra pesto for the next 8 days.

Updated: I came home from Singapore and guess what? The extra pesto was left intact in the far corner of the refrigerator. No surprise there. Hence I decided to repeat this recipe with Portabella mushroom. You can use any flat mushroom. Remember to pick the big ones because mushroom shrinks in size when cooked. The method is basically the same:

• Fry mushroom (stalk removed) in a ovenproof pan until golden brown all over.
• Arrange mushroom with the bottom side up in the pan. Pile cheese and cranberry on the mushroom. Sprinkle with salt, pepper and basil leaves.
• Bake until cheese has melted.
• Serve with pesto.

I made this into a main dish by serving it along with a Cheesy Cheddar Corn Polenta. The real essence develops when the foods are slightly cooled and it is much better with mushroom than with eggplant. Two hours after the dinner, while I was preparing Sticky Date Pudding and Adrian slouching on the coach slaying yet another alien on X-Box, he said "dinner was really good". And guess who I made it for?

Ingredients:
(makes 2 servings)
For the Pesto:

• A few bunches of parley and basil
• 3/4 C Parmesan, grated
• 3 gloves garlic
• A handful of raw pine nuts (or walnuts/ pecans)
• Extra virgin Olive oil
• Freshly squeezed lemon juice
• Sea salt

1. Start chopping the some of leaves. Add some Parmesan, garlic and nuts as you chop. Add more of the leaves, Parmesan, nuts and garlic as you continue to chop and chop and chop.... until they become more or less homogenized.
2. You'll need approximately 1 Cup of pesto for this recipe. If there's extra, press them into a cake in a jar, cover with extra virgin olive oil and keep refrigerated for future use.
   
3. To the 1 cup pesto, mix in 2 tablespoon lemon juice, 2 tablespoon olive oil and pinch of salt. Taste and adjust with more oil, lemon juice, and salt as needed.

For the Eggplant:

• 1 eggplant, sliced lengthwise
• Olive oil
• sea salt
• 1 Cup Homemade cranberry sauce (or dried cranberry)
• 125g Camembert, cubed
  

1. Preheat oven to 180C. Rub eggplant halves with oil and salt. Let roast for about 30 minutes, until the cut sides are browned.
2. Remove cooked eggplant from the oven. Top it with cranberry sauce and cubed Camembert. Return to the oven and let bake for another 20 minutes, until Camembert melts.

To serve:
Place eggplant halves onto individual serving plates. Drizzle pesto over and serve warm.

Roasted Tomato Caprese on Parmesan Polenta Fries

I'm not a big fan of caprese but I thought caprese with roasted tomato sounds tasteful. Instead of using pre-made polenta log as the recipe does, I substituted it with a recipe for Parmesan Polenta Fries. I was so proud of how these came out - they were truly delicious! Roasting the tomatoes adds so much flavor, and stacking everything on top of the polenta makes for a beautiful presentation. Not to forget the yummy-licious garlic mayo dip! This is the way Adrian describes it "it reminds me of fast foods - it gives the same kind of guilty pleasure of eating fast food except it's not sinful". That should summarize how delicious this is.

Polenta Crust

• 1/2 cup uncooked polenta
• 1/2 cup of water
• 1 cups of milk
• juice and zest of 1/2 lemon
• 1/4 cup of chopped herb of your choice (I used fresh basil, thyme and oregano)
• salt and pepper
• 2 oz. butter (optional)
• 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese (grated)

1. In a saucepan, bring water and milk to a boil. Stir in polenta and reduce heat to low. Let cook while stirring constantly.
2. Add lemon juice and zest, herbs, butter and Parmesan.
   
3. Season with salt and pepper.
4. Line a 8x8" baking pan with parchment paper. Layer polenta mixture evenly over the bottom. Let cool for about 5 minutes and transfer to freezer for at least two hours (I left it overnight).

1. Preheat oven to 200C. Take the pan out from the freezer and remove the parchment paper. You can either cut polenta into 1.5" strips (like fries) or into 4 squares (as I did).

1. Lay parchment paper over a baking sheet. Place the polenta strips or squares on the sheet and brush with melted butter.
2. Bake in the oven for about 20-30 minutes or until golden brown, turn once and continue to bake. Remove from the oven, sprinkle with a little salt & pepper.

Garlic Mayo Spread:

• 1/4 c. Japanese mayonnaise
• 1 garlic glove, minced
• 1 tbsp. lemon juice
• dash of Tabasco sauce and Tonkatsu
  
• salt and pepper
• Herbs (optional. I used spring onion, thyme, oregano and parsley)
  

Mix all ingredients and serve as dipping for fries or spread over Polenta squares as you would for burger or sandwiches.

For the Caprese:

• 1 large roma tomatoes, sliced
  
• 2 tablespoons olive oil, divided
• 1 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
• 1 large garlic cloves, minced
• 1/2 teaspoons sugar
• sea salt and pepper
• 4 ounces fresh mozzarella, sliced
  
• 4-5 fresh basil leaves
  

1. Arrange tomato slices in one single layer on a sheet pan. Drizzle with olive oil and balsamic vinegar. Sprinkle with the garlic, sugar, salt, and pepper. Roast for 1 hour until the tomatoes are concentrated and begin to caramelize. Allow the tomatoes to cool to room temperature.
2. Place polenta squares onto plates. Spread garlic mayo over the top and stack each squares with tomato slices, fresh mozzarella and basil leaves. Serve at room temperature.
   

Red Lentil Soup with Lemon and Caramelized Onions

I chose this lentil soup recipe for three reasons:

1. There's a box of frozen cooked red lentils that I was yet to use.
2. I'm leaving to Singapore in two days and there a big bunch of fresh parsley yelling at me.
   
3. Adrian likes caramelized onions.

So I adapted the recipe for the cooked red lentils. You can click here if you are using uncooked red lentils. Both of us like sourly taste hence the lemony touch suits us just fine. As predicted, Adrian was very impressed with the caramelized onions. I believe his words were "I can eat a whole bowl of just this". Why didn't he say it before? I could have just fried up the onions and be done with.

Ingredients:
Serves 2

• 1 cup cooked red lentils
• 2 cup water
  
• 1 tablespoon miso paste
  
• pinch of cayenne pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon turmeric powder
• sea salt and pepper to taste
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 1 C parsley, chopped

• 1 small onion, sliced thin
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  
• 1 teaspoon natural cane sugar
• 1 Tablespoon lemon juice
• sea salt and pepper
  

1. To caramelize the onions, melt the butter over moderate heat. Throw in the onion and cook until beginning to brown. Sprinkle cinnamon and sugar evenly over onions and continue to cook until caramelized. Stir in lemon juice, salt and pepper.
2. In a saucepan, heat 1 tablespoon of butter. Stir in turmeric, cayenne, salt and pepper, and cook for 1 minute. Add cooked lentils, stirring to coat.
   
3. Combine with miso soup and bring to a boil. Turn off heat, and stir in chopped parsley and lemon juice. Ladle into bowls and serve with caramelized onions.

Parmesan Polenta with Chili-roasted Mushroom

I have been wanting to make this savory polenta since the day I bought the polenta. For some reasons I kept getting sidetracked by the sweet polenta recipes:

• Polenta and Ricotta Cake
• Polenta Lemon Muffins with Homemade Lemon Curd

Anyway here it is. It's better than I thought it would be. Parmesan goes very well with the otherwise bland polenta. I must also credit it to the chili-roasted mushrooms: It started with the inspiration coming from chili-roasted tomatoes that I made last night and the bottle of chili oil that I whisked up months ago for Hummus on Fire. Last but not least: my latest discovery of egg frying trick.

If you don't have cream, use 1 Cup milk to 1 Cup water. I ran out of milk hence the use of cream.

Ingredients:
(2 main servings)

• 1/2 C uncooked organic polenta
• 1/2 C cream
• 1 1/2 C water
• salt and pepper
  
• Mushrooms, cut into bite-sized chunks
  
• Splash of dried chili-infused olive oil
• sea salt and black pepper
• Pinch of paprika
• 1/2 C Parmesan cheese, shaved
• Chives, chopped
  
• 2 Eggs

1. Preheat oven to 200C.
2. Coat chopped mushrooms with chili oil, sea salt, black pepper and paprika. Roast in oven for 15 minutes.
3. In a saucepan, mix together polenta, cream, water, salt and pepper. Bring it to boiling over medium heat, turn to low heat and let cook over cracked lid.
4. In a skillet, heat a tablespoon of butter over medium heat until sizzling. Crack the eggs over. When egg whites set, pour a couple tablespoons of water over and cover with lid. Remove when egg yolks are cooked to desired doneness.
5. Stir Parmesan into cooked polenta and spoon into individual serving plates. Top it with chili roasted mushrooms, fried egg and garnish with chives.
   

Blossom Your Taste Buds to Vegetarian Wonders

Mia and I had this joke about the overt Anusara expression. So when I half-jokingly requested for a theme for the home-cook dinner at her house, she replied with "Blossom Your Taste Buds to Vegetarian Wonders/ - Anusara Mia". John Friend would have been proud.

Mia and Fredrik make the prefect Swedish couple I know. Everything about them just seem so perfect: the tidy white apartment (less so now that Ludvig is in their life), perfect manner, charming charisma, well dressed.... everything about them is just so..... CLEAN. They are like the couple in 70's Sci-fi movies. Like this (except they have blonde hair):

It was a fun night with great companions (and charming baby) where I gladly played Chef de Cuisine and Mia the Sous Chef, Fredrik the Chef de Plunge, and Adrian the Food de-Vourer. I simply can't bear the sight of the mess I made. God bless the dishwasher.

I didn't take the pictures of the dishes - didn't want to creep them out - hence the use of my old photos. Here's a rundown of our dinner menu:

Couscous and Spinach Pilaf with Labneh and Chili-roasted Tomatoes

Exactly the same recipe as Barley Pilaf with Roasted Vegetable and Deep Fried Goat Cheese. We made these changes:

• Labneh instead of deep fried goat cheese. Mia and Fredrik prepared homemade labneh the night before. It's flavored with minced garlic.
• Zucchini instead of pumpkin.
• Organic wholewheat couscous instead of cooked barley.

Again, this dish takes a while to prepare but works well with planning and it never fails to impress even the carnivores. Despite the rainbow combination of colorful vegetables and herbs, the unassuming, darkly colored, cinnamon-spiced lemony caramelized crispy onions always win. My Swedish friends were talking about making this for their non-vegetarian parents back in Sweden during Christmas.

Veggie Inside-out Lentil Burger

An adaptation of the Veggie Chickpea Burger. The patties are made up of lentils, eggs, onions and homemade breadcrumbs. Use black lentils if you may - they hold up the shape better than red lentils. We (or rather Fredrik) sliced the patties into two halves and used Couscous Pilaf as the filling. If you have extra labneh, spread them generously over the cut side of the patties. Mia liked the idea of turning patty into burger bun and called it the inside out burger.

Vegetarian Tortilla Soup

The combination of roasted tomatoes, sun-dried tomatoes and goat cheese sends everyone into ecstasy. The oven-toasted tortilla shell (or taco shell) gave it an interesting crunch.

Vegan Coconut Chocolate Pudding

I was talking to Dan (our chef friend) the morning before and he mentioned "no matter what you cook, how good the main course is, dessert ALWAYS wins". Coming from a pro chef with years of experience, he must be right. This is a relatively easy dessert that you can make in advance. The secret is coconut milk. YUM~ I seriously need to work on my measuring skill: there were 3 large servings left at the end of the night. I took home one. It never hurts to have more chocolate.

Pumpkin Goat Cheese Salad with Walnut and Cranberry Orange Vinaigrette

The key to this salad is the cranberry orange vinaigrette dressing that come with just a tinge of ginger. It is rather simple provided you have homemade cranberry sauce (not that you can't use commercial brand but why would you?) at hand. You can make a big batch of it and use it whenever you need that delicious dressing for your greens. When in hurry, simply omit the roasted pumpkins, and use fresh goat cheese instead of deep fried - I'm just in the mood for it since I made it with the Barley Pilaf. For aesthetic reason I spooned the dressing into the orange halves. You can dress it any way you like.

This dressing is a keeper.

Ingredients:
(makes 2 sides or 1 large)

Vinaigrette Dressing:
1/4 cup freshly squeezed orange juice
1/2 cup homemade cranberry sauce
1 teaspoon fresh ginger, peeled and finely minced
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
1 teaspoon natural cane sugar
sea salt and Pepper to taste

1. Whisk the juice and cranberry sauce together in a large bowl until thoroughly blended.
   
2. Add in the ginger, olive oil, vinegar, sugar, salt and pepper to taste and mix. Keep refrigerated until ready to use.
   

Salad:
Salad greens
1/4 large pumpkin, peeled and cut into wedges
4 tablespoons olive oil
pinch of salt
2 tablespoons chopped walnuts
2 tablespoons dried cranberries

Deep Fried Goat Cheese: (optional)
60 gram goat cheese, freeze and cut into bite-sized chunks
Unbleached all-purpose flour
1 egg, beaten
Breadcrumb

1. Preheat oven to 180C.
2. Coat pumpkin wedges with olive oil and salt. Bake in oven till tender.
   
3. Place flour, egg and breadcrumbs in three separate plates. Coat goat cheese with flour, egg then breadcrumbs.
4. Heat a pan with pure coconut oil. Fry coated goat cheese for 2 minutes on each side.
   
5. Pile the salad leaves either on one large bowl or two individual plates. Top the greens with roasted pumpkins, walnuts, cranberries and goat cheese.
6. Drizzle vinaigrette over to serve.
   

Homemade Cranberry Sauce with Dried Cranberry

Living in non-seasonal, tropical region of the world means many things. One of it being: expensive imported berries. Hence my attachment with affordable locally-produced frozen berries; I just wish they can bring out more frozen blueberry than they do with frozen strawberry. Nevertheless I thank the farmers up in Northern Thailand whose hard works find their way into my list of homemade's.

I have made countless bottles of homemade strawberry jam and raspberry jam from frozen local produce. This time, it's homemade cranberry sauce with dried cranberry. Making your own cranberry sauce is simple and delicious. And it’s a great winter immune system booster. Not that we have that weather spell here but it is raining a lot, and heavily so, these days. My first encounter with cranberry was its expensive juice said to contain proanthocyanidins that can prevent the adhesion of certain bacteria, such as E. Coli, to the urinary tract wall hence prevention of urinary tract infections. This anti-adhesion properties of cranberry may also inhibit the bacteria associated with gum disease and stomach ulcers.

Getting hold of fresh or frozen cranberry is a challenge; it's rare and often expensive. That's why this recipe is so good. Just bear in mind that dried cranberries are often sweetened - be cautious about how much sugar you add; it could be overly sweet. I prefer it to be on the tart side and used no more 1/4 cup of sugar.

Updated: Some serving ideas -

Use it as filling and top with the crispy walnut crust from this Apple Crisp recipe.

Serve it with pesto in this savory baked Camembert and Cranberry-stuffed Eggplant.

Ingredients

• 2 oranges, juiced
• zest of 1 orange
  
• 2 C dried cranberries
• 1/4 - 1/2 C natural cane sugar
  
• ½ tsp ground cinnamon
• 1 apple, peeled and grated

1. Wash the cranberries in a bowl of hot water, to remove any oil coating. Drain.
2. Put cranberries and orange juice with 100ml water in a pan. Cover and simmer very gently for 10 minutes, until the cranberries are starting to plump up. Leave covered for an hour.
3. Add 1/4 cup of sugar, cinnamon and apple, and simmer for 15 minutes, until the sauce has thickened.
4. Check for sweetness and add more sugar, if necessary.

Dill and Buttermilk Biscuit with Smoked Salmon and Cream Cheese

My first attempt of this recipe was almost disastrous. I added only half of the required flour and didn't listen to my gut feeling. It was too late when I saw how the batter had gone flat after 5 minutes in the oven. I literally squatted in front of the oven and watched for the next 15 minutes as it continued to bake. Even Adrian knew something was amiss-ed. It ended looking like a jigsaw puzzle/ world map/ deformed pizza. Nevertheless it smelled really good. Adrian took a small piece of it and proclaimed "WOW!". So I decided to let it be.

It would have been the envy of breakfast club with a pretty looking fried egg. Anyway I'm glad I didn't throw the now-deformed biscuit away. It was really good. The credit must go to the sharp cheddar, which was the best I've bought so far (it came buy-one-free-one, too! Go get it now at Paragon's Gourmet Market.)

I also came to learn a new trick frying egg: wait for the egg white to set and pour in a couple tablespoon of water to the skillet. Cover so the yolk steams and set to your liking.

Anyway my undying spirit swore to make a come back - immediately the next day. You'd think I'd stick to the core of the recipe. Tsk, tsk, tsk. I decided to substitute the flour with 1/2 cup wholemeal, double the amount of baking powder and added an extra splash of cream to the batter.

As it turned out, with the correct shape and form, Adrian proclaimed "It's all good and delicious, but I prefer the messed up one." What do you know? Accidents make geniuses.

With sun-dried tomato scrambled egg.

Ingredients:

(makes 6 bun-sized or 12 cookies-sized)

For the Biscuit

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 5 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into bits
• 2 oz coarsely grated extra-sharp Cheddar
  
• 3 tablespoons chopped fresh dill
• 1 cup buttermilk (1 TB lemon juice + 1 C milk)
  

1. Mix the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a bowl. Add the grated butter and mix until coated in flour.
2. Add the dill and the buttermilk until you get a sticky dough. Line a baking sheet with baking paper and preheat oven to 200C.
3. Spoon 6 mounds (or 12 for cookies-sized) of dough about 2 inches apart onto an ungreased large baking sheet. Brush with melter butter.
4. Bake until puffed and pale golden, 15 to 20 minutes (or less if you make it into cookies-sized).

For the Cream Cheese:

• 1 box cream cheese
  
• juice from 1/2 lemon
• 15 capers
  
• 1 tbs chopped dill
• salt and pepper to taste

1. Mix the cream cheese with the lemon juice, capers and dill, add salt and pepper to taste.

To serve:

1. Slice biscuit into halves.
2. Spread cream cheese over the inside of biscuits.
3. Put rocket salad on top of cream cheese, followed by smoked salmon and fried egg. Top with the other halve of biscuit.
   

Barley Pilaf with Roasted Vegetable and Deep Fried Goat Cheese

This was an adaptation of one of the very first dishes I made when we moved into our current apartment. I made this dish many times in the beginning because it was very good and I wasn't that much of a skilled recipe-hunter then. Looking back, it was courageous of me to cook this pilaf as a novice - the recipe itself requires quite a lengthy preparation and proper planning ahead, to top that, I added roasted vegetables. I have tried this recipe with homemade labneh, cream cheese, and yogurt. This time I put deep fried goat cheese and cooked barley into it to come to this Barley Pilaf.

Want to know what Adrian said? "if there were a restaurant that serves this, I'd be eating there everyday" =) This is a really good recipe. It has a very intricate and complex taste: we like the compliment of lemony caramelized onions with chili-roasted tomatoes. There's also the subtle hint of mint with very bite. Although the deep fried goat cheese was good on itself but it didn't seem to fit in with the rest.

I prefer to make part of the dish in advance; the chili-roasted tomatoes (and optional roasted vegetables) may be served hot or cold over the pilaf. If you are going to make deep fried goat cheese, remember to freeze it before hand. Now, I'm going to try and make the whole thing looks as clear as possible by breaking the steps down into its elementary preparation. Have fun!

Ingredients and Methods:

For the tomatoes:
12 cherry tomatoes, halved
4 TB olive oil
2 TB balsamic vinegar
1 - 1 1/2 tsp harissa*
2 tsp natural cane sugar

(*Instead of using harissa, I used a mix of cumin, coriander, chili flakes and cayenne pepper)
They can either be hot or at room temperature when you add them to the pilaf, so you could do this part in advance.

• Preheat oven to 150C.
  
• Mix together the olive oil, balsamic vinegar, harissa, some salt and pepper, and pour this over the tomatoes. Turn them over, making sure they get coated, ending with them cut-side up. Sprinkle the soft brown sugar over the top and put in an oven. Cook for 30 - 35 minutes, until the tomatoes are shrunken and sweet.
  

For the Roasted Vegetables: (optional)
1 red bell pepper, cut into wedges
1/4 large pumpkin, cut into cubes
1/4 C olive oil
2 TB balsamic vinegar
Pinch of sea salt
This, too, can be prepared in advance.

• Preheat oven to 200C.
  
• Toss vegetables with olive oil, vinegar and sea salt.
• Roast until vegetables are tender and cooked through, tossing occasionally.
  
• Remove and cut bell pepper into cubes.
  

For the Pilaf:
1 onion, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves
1 C cooked barley
10 1/2 oz spinach, leaves only
leaves torn from a small bunch of mint, torn

• Saute chopped onion with a generous pinch of salt. When the onion is soft and translucent add garlic and cook for another couple of minutes. Tip the cooked barley into the pan, toss to coat evenly. Remove from heat.
  
• Immediately stir in chopped spinach leaves and let cooked in the hot barley.
  

For the onions:
2 onions, very finely sliced into ring
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 1/2 tsp natural cane sugar
juice of 1/2 small lemon
sea salt and pepper

• Quickly cook the finely sliced onions in very hot oil till golden brown and crispy. For the last minute of cooking time, add the cinnamon and brown sugar. Stir this around and, once the sugar has melted and begun to slightly caramelize, add lemon juice and some salt and pepper.

For the Deep Fried Goat Cheese
Goat cheese, frozen and cut into bite-size
Flour
1 Egg, beaten
Breadcrumbs

• Place the flour, egg and bread crumb in 3 different bowls. Dip the cheese in the flour, then egg and finally the breadcrumbs. Place carefully into the hot skillet. Let cook about 2 minutes until brown on the bottom, carefully flip over & cook the other side another 2 minutes.

FINALLY!!!

Layer the different components in a broad, shallow bowl: tip in the barley + spinach, sprinkle on half the mint, then the tomatoes and roasted vegetables, then the rest of the mint. Now strew the onions on top, followed by goat cheese, and serve.

PHEW~!!

Barley Salad with Honey Dijon Balsamic Vinaigrette

Barley has been used as foods for human and animals since ancient civilization, but also to make alcoholic beverages through malting. I remember reading from somewhere that Greek gladiators were fed barley prior to battle. They were hence also known as "eaters of barley". My wise husband thought that's probably because barley was dirt cheap.

As a type of whole-grain, barley has been shown to help in lowering blood cholesterol level, and stabilize blood glucose level, which may benefit diabetic. As a child growing up, I was always told to drink barley water during hot days. It was conceived as good for sore throat and fever. Apparently it has been used for its medicinal properties since ancient times by many cultures. Koreans for one consume barley tea the way Japanese do with green tea.

I made many changes to the recipe that I found; it just didn't taste right. I'm so glad I'm a more "mature" cook now or I would have been so lost. Firstly, something was missing in its vinaigrette recipe - I decided to add Dijon mustard and seasoned with salt and pepper. Instead of boiling barley with vegetable stock, I boiled it with plain water and seasoned with miso paste. I also substituted feta cheese with homemade labneh.

I'm proud to say that after all the changes, it earned me many "Mmmmm", "Wowww", and a "it feels like the right thing for the tummy" from my (one and only) loyal patron.

Ingredients:
(serves 2 as side dish)
1/4 barley
1 TB miso paste
1 C cherry tomatoes, halved
Homemade Labneh, crumbled
1/4 C Basil leaves, chopped
1/4 C Green onion, chopped

For the vinaigrette:

• 1/3 cup balsamic vinegar
• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
• 1 tablespoon honey
  
• salt and pepper to taste

1. Soak barley in water for at least 1 hour. Drain.
   
2. Bring barley and 4 cups of water to boil, reduce heat and let cook until barley is tender but still firm to bite; about 30 minutes. Drain and stir in miso paste. Let cool completely.
   
3. Whisk together vinaigrette ingredients and set in refrigerator to chill until ready to use.
4. Mix tomatoes, basil, green onions and labneh into cooked barley. Toss in vinaigrette to coat evenly. Serve slightly chilled or at room temperature.
   

Upside Down Cake

Two summers ago, Adrian and I were in New York visiting his friends. I have very mixed feeling about this world-famous city that I grew up getting to know through movies, news, magazines and papers. I'm not going to get much into that here. However I have to confess how disappointed I was by the quality of foods in New York. Despite the ingredients and freshness they promised, it felt like something was missing in the foods; they taste rather "mechanical".

Of the many meals we had in New York, one that we enjoyed the most was home-cook at Adrian's friend's in Manhattan. This friend of Adrian, Mark, is a self-taught cook with multi-talent: food stylist, private chef, food consultant. I felt so honored to be served by a professional cook at his own abode. Not only were we treated to delicious home-cook dinner but also intellectually stimulating conversation (his partner, Neil, is a Ph. D in Genetic Engineering). Their apartment, by the way, was the most "homely" place I've been in New York; a proper HOME.

So we were indulging in great foods and company. Just when I thought things can't get any better, Mark took out the dessert. A pan of cake. Allow me to rephrase it: cake in a cooking pan. Or shall I say skillet? That was my first gustatory experience with Peach Upside Down Cake. It totally blew my mind and I haven't stopped thinking about it since then.

One of the reasons the Peach Upside Down Cake took me by storm was the caramel - it's my personal reminisce of the Australian Sticky Date Pudding. Unlike Sticky Date Pudding, the tartness of the fruits in Mark's Peach Upside Down Cake was a heavenly contrast to the sinful melt-down of sugar and butter. You'd think it'd take me sooner than this to make the cake but it somehow took me more than 2 years to finally bake it. I have no excuses except to blame it on my just-over-1-year kitchen experience. Anyway I digress.

Pinwheel of mixed fruits.

I found the recipe by the famous American pastry chef - David Lebovitz. I literally used all the fruits that he suggested: apricot (frozen), plum, peach, dried cranberry (pre-soaked in hot water and drained), and pear. It was quite a "panful" of fruit pinwheel, in two layers. I ended up worrying about not having enough batter - it barely covered all the fruits. As I predicted, once baked some of the fruit wedges were popping out of the cake (the Down-side). I wanted to flip it over so desperately to see the bottom layer (the Upside).

The "Down-side"

It helped that we went out for a movie and it took my mind off the cake for a few hours. As soon as I got home, I flipped it. And Gosh! It's pretty!

The "Up-side"

The wedges are best served warm with either whipped cream or vanilla ice cream. The real secret is: a day-old wedge is even better than fresh.

Go here for the recipe.

Berry Yogurt Cake with Chocolate Chips

This recipe is an adaptation from here. It has a very posh French name: Gâteau au Yaourt à la Framboise, a.k.a Raspberry Yogurt Cake.

A basic Yogurt Cake is just a very simple, moist and fluffy cake. It lends itself to a great variations such as the one below. You can add citrus juice, zest, or peel for a delicious lemon or orange cake, you can add chocolate chips or nuts to the batter, you can slice the baked cake in two and spread a layer of jam in the middle, you can frost the cake with a chocolate frosting -- whatever strikes your fancy. I decided to throw in some chocolate chips along with mixed berries just because they have been sitting in the far-reached corner of the fridge for quite some time now.

I'm using the almond meal that came from my Homemade Almond Milk. You can either buy from the store or simply grind some.

• 1 C homemade yogurt
• 1 C natural cane sugar
• 1/4 C virgin coconut oil
• 1 1/2 C unbleached all-purpose flour, sifted
• 1/4 C almond meal
• 3 eggs
• 1 TB baking powder
• 300 g mixed berries (fresh or frozen): strawberry, blueberry, raspberry
  
• 1/2 C unsweetened chocolate chips (optional)
  

1. Preheat the oven to 180C. Copiously grease and flour a 9" springform pan.
2. In a large mixing bowl, combine yogurt, oil and sugar with a spatula. Add eggs, one at a time, stirring after each addition.
   
3. In a medium bowl combine flour, baking powder and almond meal. Add flour mixture to the batter in three or four batches, and stir until just combined. Do not over mix.

4. Pour half the batter into the cake pan. Cover evenly with half of the mixed berries and half of the chocolate chips (if using). Pour the other half of the batter, and arrange the other half of the raspberries on top. Sprinkle with the other half of the chocolate chips (if using).

5. Put into the oven to bake, for 50 to 60 minutes, until the top is springy and a cake tester comes out clean.

6. Let rest on the counter for ten minutes, then run a knife around the cake to loosen it, and turn out on a rack to cool completely.

Brunch Time!

For some time now Nook and I have been talking about getting together and cook. Now that she has finished with her Master's and is free for the weekends, I managed to drag her over to my house on Saturday morning. Unfortunately she is having a recurring back pain that doesn't give her much agility. Hence, the standing behind watching over my shoulder the entire time while I cooked. I got her to do the dish-washing after anyhow.

My other guest, Elaine, is a fellow Malaysian whom I met at Yoga Elements. Lucky for Elaine, she escaped the washing by leaving early. At least she brought me fresh Australian strawberries =)

Here's the brunch menu. Click on the picture or link to view the recipes.

Pomegranate with Maple-spiced Walnut and Honey-Mint Lemon Salad

Strawberry Cheesecake French Toast with Homemade Strawberry Jam

I used homemade Ricotta cheese for this Strawberry Cheesecake French Toast. I can't tell if it 's better than store bought but it's no less superior.

Smoked Salmon Frittata

Mulled Hot Chocolate

Smoked Salmon Frittata

Ingredients:
(serves 6)

• 6 large eggs
• 1 cup sour cream
  
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon Tabasco sauce
  
• 1/4 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
• 1/4 pound smoked salmon, torn into pieces
• 1 cup shredded Gruyere cheese
• 5 green onion, chopped
• 2 TB fresh dill
  
• 1 TB butter
• Dill sprigs and sour cream to serve (optional)

1. Preheat oven to 180C.
   
2. In a large bowl, whisk together eggs, sour cream, salt, and Tabasco sauce. Blend in flour to combine. Stir in salmon pieces, cheese, onion, and dill.
3. In a ovenproof skillet, melt the butter. Pour in egg mixture. Allow the bottom to set and transfer to oven to bake for 20 minutes or until the top browned.
4. Cut into wedges, serve with dill sprigs and sour cream.