Goat Cheese, Roasted Tomatoes and Chives Stuffed Portobello Mushroom

I bought a packet of large portobello mushrooms the other day. Nothing specific in mind. Just that the big ones don't come often, and they are good for stuffing. It wasn't a very clever purchase since I am about to leave Bangkok for three weeks, and there isn't much dinners to make in the coming days. I didn't want to buy another bunch of greens and Camembert to make another pesto for stuffed mushroom although we did like them very much. Anyway I bumped into this recipe that uses goat cheese, which happened to be one of the four cheeses that Pi Soo gave me and that I'm yet to use. In the recipe it uses Pancetta (a kind of cured pork belly), not very vegetarian-friendly. I thought sun-dried tomatoes would go well with goat cheese but the last bits went to this morning's breakfast. Therefore I roasted some cherry tomatoes, which also needed to be rid of before Tuesday.

This is a very strong savory dish. Personally I liked it. Although I can imagine how some people may get turned off by the pungent goat cheese. If you are making this, I suggest to use big button mushroom instead of Portobello - you'll get a big enough well to hold up the stuffing when the stem is removed. Portobello mushroom is kind of flat. The stuffing sort of melt over the place while baking. Nothing major really.

Ingredients:

• 4 large Portobello mushrooms, stem removed, washed and dry
  
• 2 oz cream cheese (soften at room temperature)
  
• 1.5 oz goat cheese (soften at room temperature)
  
• 4 cherry tomatoes, halved
  
• 1/2 red onion, chopped
• 1 clove garlic, minced
  
• 1 small bunch fresh chives, minced
  
• Breadcrumbs
• Sea salt and ground black pepper

1. Preheat oven at 180C.
   
2. Toss and coat tomatoes with enough olive oil and sea salt. Bake in oven at 180C for about 45 minutes - tomatoes will shrink in size.
   
3. Place mushrooms bottom side up on baking pan. Sprinkle with sea salt.
4. Blend together cream cheese and goat cheese. Set aside.
   
5. Saute onions and garlic till fragrant. Stir into the cheese mixture. Add roasted tomatoes, chives, salt and pepper.
6. Divide filling into 4 and spoon over mushrooms. Top with breadcrumbs and drizzle with olive oil.
7. Bake in oven for 15 - 20 minutes, until the top is nicely browned. Top with chopped chives if desired.
   

Mascarpone Pancake with Grapes and Blue Cheese Sauce

Our neighbor, Pi Soo, gave us 4 blocks of cheeses her husband brought back from France. Apart from the blue cheese and goat cheese, which I'm familiar with and distinctive enough to distinguish, I have no idea what the other two blocks are. Pi Soo, too, has no idea what they are besides "this one is the strongest". Thanks.

Today's pancake is yet another showcase of putting what's available to the table. I vaguely remembered making some blue cheese grapes salad some time ago - I knew this sweet fruit and acquired cheese will work in compliment. But it somehow didn't seem right to have blue cheese salad for breakfast.

Then my thought wandered into ricotta pancake, sour cream pancake, cream cheese pancake.... etc. What about blue cheese pancake? I don't see why it wouldn't work. But I wasn't going to risk the most important meal of the day on my experiment and decided mascarpone pancake would be more of a sound thing to do.

Since Adrian was making a savory omelet with the "strongest cheese", it seemed gastronomically correct to balance it out with a little more sweet. Hence the addition of honey, which went surprisingly great with the blue cheese sauce.

Ingredients:
(serve 2)
Blue Cheese Sauce

• Blue Cheese
• Cream cheese (soften at room temperature)

I didn't measure the amount used. The cheeses were more or less in equal part. You may add a splash of whole milk to thin it out if necessary. Blend the ingredients to a smooth consistency.

Roasted Maple Pecan

• Pecan nuts, roughly chopped
• Coconut oil
• 1 tablespoon Real Maple syrup
• 1 teaspoon natural cane sugar

Use just enough coconut oil to coat pecan nuts evenly. Toss the nuts with maple syrup and sugar. Bake in the oven at 150C for 10 - 15 minutes. Remove from oven and let it cool.

Mascarpone Pancake

• 3/4 cup all purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 - 2 Tablespoons natural cane sugar
• 1/4 cup homemade mascarpone (soften at room temperature)
  
• 1/4 cup whole milk
  
• 1 egg (lightly beaten)
• 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1/2 teaspoon lemon zest

To serve

• Seedless green grapes and black grapes, halved
• Nectarine, cut into wedges
• Blue cheese sauce
  
• Honey
• Roasted Maple Pecan
  
• Mint leaves
  

1. Sift together flour, baking powder, and sugar. Set aside.
2. Whisk together mascarpone, milk, egg and vanilla essence.
3. Fold the mascarpone mixture to flour mixture. You may add more milk to desired consistency. Stir in lemon zest to combine.
4. Coat and heat a 8" saucepan with coconut oil. Pour 1/2 of the batter to the heated pan and fry until the surface is bubbly. Flip and fry the other side till lightly browned. Repeat with the remaining batter.
5. Serve with fresh fruits and blue cheese sauce. Sprinkle with pecan nuts and drizzle honey around. Garnish with mint leaves.
   

Pesto Cheesecake

I chopped up a bunch of basil and parsley with pecan nuts the other night to make pesto - what a delicious good way to preserving vegetables before they wilt. Cover it with enough olive oil and it just basically sit, fresh as it is, in the corner of refrigerator for a long enough time till I need it again. Usually I would leave out salt and lemon juice until just before using the pesto.

I scaled the recipe down to a 4" x 7" casserole dish, good enough for two persons. You may triple the volume and bake it in a 8" springform pan as you would with ordinary cheesecake. The recipe I found uses breadcrumbs as crust. I used the wheat biscuits left from whatever dessert I last made with. The crust was a tad to the sweet side, which turned out to be an interesting compliment to the savory cream cheese pesto layer. I also threw in some sun dried tomatoes because I was thinking they had been sitting in the fridge for a wee bit too long.

Adrian enjoyed this very much. Initially he was going to save a piece for next day. Then he kept picking at the crumbs. Eventually he devoured what's left of the picking with a cup of coffee.

I guess this dish is meant to be some Italian appetizer to serve over garlic bread or cracker. But why limit my imagination? I just happened to fry up some sunny-side up to supplement the nutritive profile of our Sunday breakfast. OH! Not the forget a bed of fresh from the farm organic lettuces, courtesy of my lovely friend, Pinnada :)

Ingredients:

• 4 pieces wheat biscuits, crushed
• 1 Tablespoon Parmesan cheese, grated
• 1 Tablespoon butter, room temperature
• 4oz cream cheese, soften
• 1/3 homemade ricotta cheese
• pinch of salt and cayenne pepper
• sun dried tomatoes, chopped
  
• 1/3 cup homemade pesto
• Pecan nuts

1. Preheat oven at 160C. Lightly grease a 4"x7" casserole dish.
2. Roll together biscuits, Parmesan and butter. Press to the bottom of prepared dish. Bake in the oven for 10 minutes, until the crust is lightly browned.
3. Blend together cream cheese and ricotta until smooth and fluffy. Fold in sun dried tomatoes and pesto. Season with salt and cayenne pepper to taste.
   
4. Pour evenly over biscuit crust. Sprinkle with pecan nuts. Bake for 45 - 60 minutes - center should move just slightly when shaken.
5. Cover and refrigerate overnight. Loosen the edges with knife and transfer to individual serving plates.
   

Homemade Bagels with Maple Walnut Cranberry Cream Cheese and Smoked Salmon Spread

I used to make bagels before I started this blog. I remembered how impressed Adrian was. He was telling everyone that I made bagels - "handmade, not machine. I didn't even know that's humanly possible!?!" The lady whom I'm doing rehabilitation work with even suggested I should start selling; seeing the lack of quality bagels in Thailand. Although I'm flattered, but apparently there are tonnes of others in the world who make bagels, with hand, at home.

I'm doing it again after so many months because Adrian is craving for good bagels. He even asked Sandra to buy bagels back from The State after her Thanksgiving trip in San Diego. Let's say we established that's not possible. Eventually he decided to ask me to bake them. As all good wives do, I obliged.

This time I'm using the recipe from Peter Reinhart's The Bread Baker's Apprentice. This intimidating looking book is the only food book that I bought (or I made Adrian bought for me). It is a shame but I have to admit I haven't been making good use of the book since I got it through Amazon months ago. However, from what little I have gone through, I know it is THE book for amateur bread baker. It's full of recipes and instructions to experiment with artisan breads, also, basic concepts of bread baking, the science of bread, and information about equipment and ingredients. It also includes an extremely useful section on the twelve stages in the life of bread. What I like the most about this book is it helps me to understand why the recipe does what it does.

I made a mistake by making too many bagels at once: I forgot we have a small kitchen and refrigerator with limited space. Besides, 12 bagels is a lot of kneading to do with bare hand. Next time, I'm leaving the arm works to the American who craves for good bagels.

I made the bagels with two different toppings: poppy seeds and white sesame seeds to go with sweet filling such as Maple Walnut Cranberry Cream Cheese, and minced onions and garlic to go with savory filling like Smoked Salmon Spread.

I'm too lazy to type out the recipe but you can go to The Fresh Loaf for it. Nevertheless I'm happy to share our favorite bagel fillings:

Maple Walnut Cranberry Cream Cheese

Most recipes use a mix of sugar and maple syrup but why would you do that? I certainly don't.

• 8 oz cream cheese, softened at room temperature
• 1/2 cup walnuts, coarsely chopped
  
• 1/2 cup dried cranberries, chopped
  
• 1/4 Cup pure maple syrup
• 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
  

Whip cream cheese until smooth. While continuing to whip, slowly add all of the remaining ingredients. Cover and chill until firm (at least an hour or two).

Smoked Salmon Spread

• 4 oz cream cheese, softened
• 4 oz smoked salmon, chopped
• 1 Cup sour cream (lemon juice + cream)
  
• 2 tablespoons fresh dill, chopped
• 1 tablespoons capers, drained and chopped
• Salt and pepper
• 1 teaspoon lemon and zest
  

In large bowl, stir cream cheese until light and fluffy. Fold in salmon, sour cream, dill, capers, 1/4 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper. Stir in lemon juice and zest. Cover and refrigerate at least 1 hour and up to overnight.

Chocolate and Peanut Butter Torte

For days Adrian was craving for peanut butter and Nutella. I thought I would make a Thanksgiving dessert with peanut butter and chocolate that will "wow" him. And so I decided to make this cheesecake torte with combination of a peanut butter mousse filling and Oreo crust. Unfortunately he told me he thought Oreo was disgusting. Granted Oreo isn't the best food in the world. Neither is it the most healthy thing on the supermarket shelf. But is Nutella? So I decided to go ahead with my plan and vouched to make him begging for more.

Thrice during the making of this torte I encountered ingredients problem: first, the springform pan was broken. Then I forgot to buy Oreo - the single most important ingredient for the crust. For the first time in my life I was thankful for 7-11. The next day when it was ready for the chocolate ganache, I ran out of cream. My foodie Indian neighbor came to rescue. If I were the least superstitious, I may have given up on this recipe. However the taste testing during the making told me to never turn back. At first glance this recipe may seem time consuming and overwhelming. However it is really easy and fun to make.

I used to bake cheesecakes, nothing else but cheesecakes, lots and lots of them. It's been years since I made them. This torte is most likely the best cheesecake I've ever made. After having a slice of it, Adrian and I looked at each other: we both knew the other person wanted more. Adrian even asked what happened if he finished the whole cake. I wouldn't have allowed that to happen without having a share of it, I said.

This recipe is unlikely to make it to the "top healthy foods you must eat before you die" list. It's a Thanksgiving treat for the fat boy/ girl in all of us.

Ingredients:

For the crust:

• 32 Oreo cookies, finely processed into crumbs
• 5 1/3 tbsp. unsalted butter, melted and cooled
• Small pinch of salt

1. Preheat the oven to 150C. Lightly grease a 9" springform pan.
2. Mix cookies crumbs with melted butter and salt. Toss to blend well.
3. Press the crust mixture into the base and side of springform pan. Refrigerate for 10 minutes.
4. Bake in the preheated oven for 10 minutes. Remove and set aside.
   

For the crunch:

• 1 1/4 cups salted peanuts, finely chopped, divided (for the filling, crunch and topping)
• 1/2 cup mini chocolate chips
• 2 tsp. natural cane sugar
• 1/2 tsp. espresso powder
• 1/4 tsp. ground cinnamon
• Dash of ground nutmeg

1. Mix 1/2 cup chopped peanuts, chocolate chips, sugar, espresso powder, cinnamon and nutmeg together and set aside.
   

For the torte filling:

• 2 cups cream
• 1 1/4 cups confectioners’ sugar, sifted
• 12 oz. cream cheese, at room temperature
• 1 1/2 cups natural creamy peanut butter
  
• 2 tbsp. whole milk

1. Beat cream with sugar until medium peak is form. Keep it in refrigerator until ready to sue.
2. Beat soften cream cheese until smooth. Add peanut butter, milk and 1/4 cup chopped peanuts. Beat to combine.
   
3. Using a spatula, fold in 1/4 chilled cream mixture to lighten the mousse. Then add the crunch and the rest of the cream mixture to the cream cheese mixture. Mix well with spatula.
4. Pour this mousse over the crust. Mounding and smoothing the top with the back of a spoon. Keep it in refrigerator for overnight (or at least 4 hours). Keep it covered once it's firm.
   

For the ganache topping:
1/2 cup heavy cream
4 oz. bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped

1. Bring a saucepan of water to a boil. Put chocolate in a heatproof bowl set over the saucepan. Let the chocolate soften and just beginning to melt. Remove from heat.
2. Bring the cream to a boil.
3. Gently fold cream to the melted chocolate. Using a spatula, swirl to blend until the ganache is smooth.
4. Pour the ganache over the torte, smoothing with a metal spoon. Sprinkle the top with the remaining chopped peanut butter. Let it chill for at least 20 minutes or until the ganache is firm. Remove from the springform pan and keep in refrigerator until ready to serve.
   

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.
   

Homemade Labneh

Labneh is a recipe from the old-world. It is basically salted, drained yogurt. Not only is it easy to make, but also easy to preserve - you can store them for months! You can eat it as it is, or mix in chopped garlic, fresh herbs, pepper flakes, or anything you would for herbed cheese. Or simply drizzle it with olive oil, some lemon juice and cumin and serve it as dip. Either way it is so delicious I think every household should have it as staple.

It would be really unwise to throw the drained liquid away. It's a natural component of cultured yogurt called whey. Whey contains some of the most important vitamins and minerals in yogurt. I keep it for use for soup and blend it into smoothie.

I used my homemade yogurt instead of Greek. Hence, it took me up to two nights to get the consistency of cottage cheese. It's kind of like draining it into Greek for the first night, and further transforming it into labneh for the second night. Remember the portion will be reduced by half after draining; if you are expecting 1 cup labneh, you may want to start with 3 cups yogurt.

Ingredients:
6 cups Greek Yogurt or Homemade Yogurt
2 teaspoons sea salt

1. Pour yogurt over a bowl and stir in salt.
2. Spoon the salted yogurt to the center of a piece clean cheesecloth. Pull and tie the corners tightly.
3. Suspend it from a stationary object over a bowl to catch liquid. Let it hang for 12 hours (or up to 2 days if you are using homemade yogurt). When done, yogurt will become cottage cheese-like.
4. Remove from the cloth. Store covered in refrigerator until needed.
   

Apple Pie with Cream Cheese Crust

Ever since my first success with dough, I've been itching to place my hands on a second. I have my eyes on some pie recipes for awhile and now is time to put my skill to test.

One reason I chose this recipe out of thousands other: it uses cream cheese for the pie crust and I happened to have extra from the Cream Cheese Dip with Tomato and Basil. It is also a little bit more tedious than a basic pie crust would be; it satisfies my need for challenge. However, 1/2 way through the dough, I cursed my stubborn need: should have stick with basic - The consistency of the dough wasn't the same as the recipe describes. Nevertheless I marched on.

Then came the real challenge: waiting time. It requires at least another 3 hours from preparing the filling to pulling the pie out from the oven. You know that little voice coming from nowhere inside of you? I heard it many times: "Uh uuuh" And I stubbornly ignored it. Only while I was waiting for the last part of chilling - after the assembling, before baking - that I realized I didn't add butter to boiling the juice. "UH UUUHHHH". Big time. It really was no turning back at this point.

Tick Tock Tick Tock.... it was excruciating to wait when you knew something had gone awry. Anyhow I survived the 50 minutes baking time, AND another 120 minutes of cooling - you want to make sure it cools completely before cutting it.

Verdict: It passed! I wouldn't have thought otherwise if I didn't knew about the missing butter. Neither did Adrian not my neighbors (they still don't know). Now, I'm curious to find out how different it would be if I had not forgotten the butter....

Ingredients:
Cream Cheese Pie Crust
(makes two 9" pie crusts)

• 12 Tbsp cold unsalted butter, cut into small cubes
  
• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp baking powder
• 41/2 oz cream cheese
• 2 Tbsp ice water
• 1 Tbsp apple cider vinegar

1. Place a medium sized bowl in the freezer to chill.
2. Place flour, salt and baking powder into a bowl. Cut in the cream cheese until the mixture becomes a coarse meal.
   
3. Spoon the mixture and the cold cubed butter into a ziploc bag. Expel air, seal and using a rolling pin flatten the butter into thin flakes. Once done put the bag of flour mixture into the freezer till firm. About 10 minutes.
4. Transfer flour mixture to chilled bowl. Sprinkle with ice water and vinegar. Toss to mix.
   
5. Divide dough into 2 and put each portion into separate ziploc bags. Knead until the dough holds together and is slightly stretchy when pulled.
6. Wrap and flatten into discs. Refrigerate overnight or at least 45 minutes.

The Apple Pie Filling

• 6 medium Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored and sliced into 1/4" thick
• 1 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
• 1/4 cup packed light brown sugar
• 1/4 cup castor sugar
• 1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 2 Tbsp unsalted butter
• 1 Tbsp + 1 tsp cornstarch
  

1. Before making the pie filling, roll out one half of the pastry and line a pie pan. Wrap and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes or up to 3 hours.
2. Macerate apples with lemon juice, brown sugar, white sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt for between 30 minutes to 3 hours. Then transfer to a colander and collect the juices.
3. Boil down the juice to between 1/2 and 1/3 cup with the butter.
4. Toss the apples and the cornstarch until there are no more traces of the cornstarch. Pour boiled juice over apples.
5. Roll out top crust ready to cover the pie. Fill the lined pie pan with the apple pie filling, brush edges with a little egg yolk and then cover with the top sheet of pastry. Trim the edges, crimp the edges, make 3 slashes on the top pastry. Brush the top with egg white. Refrigerate 1 hour.
   
6. Bake at 200C for 45 - 55 minutes. Let cool before serving.
   

Cream Cheese dip with Tomato and Basil

Apart from challenging Adrian's aversion of certain foods (beet root, eggplant, scones), I enjoy finding ways to getting rid of ingredients (such as zucchini) before they turn bad. That's also one of the factors running a kitchen in a household of two. As a result, I often find myself searching for recipes based on what I no longer want to see in the refrigerator. One of my favorites is turning ingredients into preserves or jam (strawberry, raspberry). Sometimes freezing foods prepared ahead helps too.

This time, I foresee no dinner at home for the next 5 days. What have I got? Let's see: wilting basil, browning parsley and ripe tomatoes. I was going to make tomato jam (which takes 1 1/2 hour of constant stirring) and, again, basil-parsley pesto. Then I came across a dip that would use all of the above, plus cream cheese. A tempting combination that save time.

You may substitute cream cheese with cottage cheese. What to do with it? I intend to serve it over toasted sourdough muffin with mashed hard-boiled egg for breakfast sandwich (did I tell you Adrian's lack of faith for egg sandwich?) or as dip/ spread on bruchetta for appetizer.

On toasted sourdough muffin with sun dried tomatoes and sunny-side-up.

As omelet filling.

Scrambled egg

Ingredients:

(Makes about 1 1/4 cups)

• 125gram cream cheese, softened at room temperature
• 2 ripe Roma tomatoes, finely chopped
• 2 TB real mayonnaise
• salt and pepper to taste
• lots of basil and parsley, chopped
• 2 TB fresh squeezed lemon juice
• 2 TB Parmesan cheese, grated

1. Stir and blend all the ingredients with a fork.
2. Taste, season and adjust with salt, pepper and lemon juice.
3. Chill lightly and serve as a dip, spread or with bruschetta.
   

The Carrot Cheesecake that brought me Homemade Pizza and Brownies

The idea of putting carrot into a cake troubled me. First of all, I'm not usually big on carrots. Second, why would anyone be making pastry with a root vegetable? Apparently, there is a bit of history to it: Early on in the history of Europe, sugar was an insanely expensive commodity and was rarely available to the masses. In order to sweeten cakes, people looked for the sweetest ingredients available. Carrots, which are the second sweetest vegetable (sugar beets have the most sugar, hence the name), were always at hand. So it made sense to use carrots to sweeten a cake. Carrot cake was/is usually topped with a cream cheese-based icing and it was only a matter of time that someone decided to top a carrot cake with cheesecake, which is also usually made with cream cheese. And that's the kind of carrot cake I'd eat.
I'm a big fan of cheesecake. It's such a delightful treat. I like its creamy texture and tart sweetness. It's the way to pamper one's taste bud.

Carrot Cheesecake
I mus thank Pee Wee for her carrot cupcakes. It reminded me of the carrot cheesecake back in KL that I liked so much. It always gave me idea of what to do with the carrot that I had left from the Butternut Squash Apple Soup.
The recipe calls for coconut but I didn't find it at Central Tops. How bizarre; no dried coconut at Thailand supermarket, the land where coconuts are aplenty? Never mind. I substituted it with dried blueberry. Instead of crushed pineapple, I could only find sliced pineapple. I figured they must be not that different?

Ingredients:
***Cheesecake***
16 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
3/4 cup sugar
2 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 tablespoon flour
3 eggs

***Carrot Cake***
3/4 cup vegetable oil
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
8 1/2 ounces can crushed pineapple, packed in juice, drained well, reserve juice
1 cup grated carrots
1/2 cup coconut
1/2 cup chopped walnuts

***Pineapple Cream Cheese Frosting***
2 ounces cream cheese, softened
1 tablespoon butter, softened
1 3/4 cup confectioners' sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon reserved pineapple juice

In large bowl of electric mixer, beat cream cheese, sugar and vanilla until smooth. Beat in flour, eggs and vanilla extract until smooth. Set aside. Meanwhile prepare Carrot Cake.Carrot Cake:
In large bowl, combine oil, sugar, eggs and vanilla extract; mix well. Stir in dry ingredients; mixing well. Stir in drained pineapple, carrots, coconut and walnuts.

Spread 1 1/2 c. carrot cake batter over bottom of greased 9 springform pan. Drop cream cheese batter over carrot cake batter by spoonfuls; top with large spoonfuls of remaining carrot cake batter. Repeat with remaining cream cheese batter, spreading evenly with a knife. Do not marble with a knife. Bake in preheated 175C oven for 50 to 65 minutes or until cake is set and cooked through. Cool to room temperature, then refrigerate. When cake is cold, prepare Pineapple Cream Cheese Frosting.

Pineapple Cream Cheese Frosting:

In a bowl of electric mixer, combine cream cheese, butter, confectioners' sugar, vanilla extract and reserved pineapple juice. Beat until smooth and of spreading consistency. Frost top of cheesecake. Refrigerate 3 to 4 hours before serving.

What I like most about this carrot cheesecake, deliciousness aside, is that it brought me and Adrian a homemade pizza and chocolate brownies. I took a slice of the cake to my neighbor, Divya, whom, by the way is a great mom and cook. She was making dinner for 6 guests (on top of her two sons and husband). I was asking about making pizza dough and she offered to show me. The demonstration turned out to be my dinner.

It wasn't an ambitious night for us. I even told Divya not to give us too much brownies because we kind of had too much sugar from the night before (friend's birthday). But they were so good that despite the sugar rush up in my head, I couldn't resist having more. I especially like the chewiness. And who would have guessed it's vegan?
And the thin crust spinach sun-dried tomato pizza was a real bomb! If there's any food that would turn two not hungry yogis into eating, this is it. Good words aside, Divya later text me and said she forgot to add basil to our pizza.

I'm flooding Facebook with food pictures, no more

Just this evening, I was experimenting self-concoct recipes with leftover from weeks ago. They turned out to be surprisingly good. As I was proudly chattering about my genius cooking skill to the man whom very existence is the reason I enjoy cooking, this same man whom also acts as my inspiration jabbered with his mouth full "you should keep a blog".

Moment of revelation - he's bored of listening to my kitchen story. Just kidding.

I was hesitant of having a food blog because I get my recipes from other bloggers. But then, they too get their recipes from other bloggers/ cookbooks. I guess it's no secret that most of us cooks are not original anyway.

Also, I have been flooding my Facebook account with food pictures; pity my friends who can only drool and subsequently dream of the foods at night. I shall spare them the pain and move my "food archive" to a proper food blog.

Now that I have set up Cook from Scratch, I'm rather eager to post something. Should I start with the dinner that result from leftovers? What about the many pretty food pictures from before? Do I cook them again so I can blog about it? Can I just post all the past recipes so my blog looks active? Hmmm..... One step at a time, Shiang Ying, one step at a time.....

So, here's what transpired from the leftovers I found in the refrigerator:

Fresh Tomatoes and Zucchini Gratin that I adapted from Pinch My Salt . The recipe calls for yellow squash and Tabasco green sauce, which I didn't have on hand. I used yellow and red bell peppers, and smoked Tabasco instead. The original recipe swears by the MUST of Tabasco green though. The "gratin" turned out just fine with a flavourful taste. Looking at this picture, I should definitely put more effort in presentation.


Ingredients:
1 zucchini, sliced into coins
Half a yellow bell peppers, sliced
Half a red bell pepper, sliced
1 large tomato, cut into wedges
1/2 Cup grated Parmesan cheese
2 Tablespoon of fresh basil, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
3 Tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
Pinch of salt

1. Preheat oven to 180C.
2. In a large bowl, combine the first 4 ingredients together.
3. In a small bowl, whisk together basil, garlic, salt and extra virgin olive oil.
4. Toss the olive oil dressing into the large bowl.
5. Pour the mixture into a baking dish and sprinkle with Parmesan cheese.
6. Bake in preheated oven for 30 minutes, or until zucchinis are soft.


Baked Smoked Salmon Cream Cheese with Pesto Quinoa that I dreamt up in my head. I made quite a bit of basil pesto two weeks ago. Some of it went to a Stuffed Portobello Mushroom with Camembert and Cranberries, and some was made into a pesto quinoa crust for a Baked Smoked Salmon. This Pesto Quinoa was leftover from the latter. Also, I've been very into baking bagel lately. Among the bagel spreads that I made is smoked salmon cream cheese. Hence another leftover.


Ingredient:
2 Cup Pesto Quinoa (frozen)
1.5 Cup salmon cream cheese
1.5 Cup grated Parmesan cheese
2 Tablespoon parsley, chopped

1. Preheat oven to 180C.
2. Press quinoa into the bottom of a baking dish to form a crust base.
3. Mix parsley and salmon cream cheese together. Pour over quinoa crust.
4. Sprinkle Parmesan over top.
5. Bake until browned.

I totally made this dish up. I willl post the recipes for pesto quinoa and salmon cream cheese from my previous cooking soon. Also, most of the steps I took tonight are spontaneous and not to scale. I shall be more precise in the future with proper measurement. (Note to self: Blogging takes a lot of works)

Last but not least, the true star of the night:

Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Pudding
It's an open secret that I have a super-sweet tooth. I never feel bad indulging in sweets. I'm a strong advocate of moderate eating with a balance diet of everything good (for health) in life :) Besides, knowing the good quality ingredients I used in this no-no for Atkin's makes my sweet tooth tinkles with joy. This decadent dessert is so easy to make it would seem silly to buy from outside. Following is the original recipe, I've made a few changes to my own preference.

Peanut Butter Pudding:

1/2 cup sugar
5 teaspoons cornstarch
1/8 teaspoon salt
2 1/4 cups whole milk
1/2 cup creamy (smooth) natural peanut butter (made with only peanuts and salt) (Note: I used crunchy peanut butter simply because I like it.)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract (Note: I use only pure vanilla although it's more expensive but, you know....)

Dark Chocolate Pudding:
6 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons cornstarch
2 tablespoons natural unsweetened cocoa powder
Pinch of salt
2 cups whole milk
4 ounces good-quality dark chocolate, chopped (Note: I always choose 85% Lindt when it come to baking)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Topping:
1 cup chilled heavy whipping cream
1 tablespoon powdered sugar
chocolate shavings or curls, or cocoa (Note: I opted for ground cinnamon)

Directions
Make the peanut butter pudding:

Place the first 3 ingredients in a large saucepan and whisk them to blend. Whisk in the milk and bring it to a boil over medium heat. Boil until thick, whisking constantly, about 30 seconds. Whisk in the peanut butter, then boil until thick again, whisking constantly, about 1 minute longer. Turn off the heat and whisk in the vanilla, then divide among 6 glasses. Chill, uncovered, while you make the chocolate pudding.

Make the chocolate pudding:

Whisk the first 4 ingredients in heavy large saucepan. Gradually whisk in the milk, then whisk over medium heat until mixture comes to boil. Boil until thick, whisking constantly, about 30 seconds. Add the chopped chocolate and continue boiling until the chocolate melts and the pudding is thick again, whisking often, 1 to 2 minutes longer. Turn off the heat and whisk in the vanilla. Cool the pudding 5 minutes, then spoon it atop the peanut butter pudding in the glasses, dividing equally (about 1/3 cup each). Chill puddings uncovered until cold, at least 2 hours.

When you’re ready to serve, whip the cream with the powdered sugar into soft peaks. Spoon whipped cream on top of the puddings and garnish with shaved chocolate or cocoa.

Makes 6 servings.

Note: I never knew whipping cream takes THAT long to whip into peaks, even with blender. It helps to keep the cream REAL chilled before whisking. I had to stop and put it to freezer before I whisk it again, at high speed. I always have frozen raspberry in hand. It goes very well with the pudding. I'm also a big fan of ground cinnamon. I add it to almost everything sweet.