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.
   

Fresh Fruit Mascarpone Pavlova

I left a message on Adrian's Facebook that said "Pavlova". He asked WHO was Pavlova - the only Pavlova he could think of was the train station in Prague. Funny. Given his intelligence I thought he would have it figured: I was making Pavlova at that time. Then I thought maybe he didn't know about Pavlova - the meringue based dessert that hails from either Australia or New Zealand. It was so named in dedication to an ethereal Russian ballerina whom was touring the region back in 1920s. If she were anything like the dessert indicates, she must be light, airy and sweet.

I have been actively looking for more meringue recipe since my last. When I chanced upon this Pavlova recipe that uses homemade mascarpone, I was hooked instantly. Despite my paranoia and the many attempts to check on the meringue as it was baking, it turned out just fine: firm on the outside, crunchy to the bite. I loved having macadamia nuts in it - it's more complex and imparted to it a palatable fat nutty taste.

It's when I make dessert like this that I tell myself I shall have desserts from home only. Most of the desserts out there are either too sweet or I don't trust the ingredients. Not to mention many of them make me dizzy, and give a funny feeling to my stomach.

Homemade Mascarpone

In Passionate About Baking, the writer uses low fat cream. I'm a proponent of the least processed possible, I welcome food in its most complete. The writer mentioned heating the cream to 82C before adding lemon juice.

• 1 Liter fresh whipping cream
• 2 Tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice

1. Bring to gentle boil over a waterbath. Stir in lemon juice and reduce heat to medium low. Keep it at that for a few more minutes.
2. Remove from heat, cover and let sit at room temperature until it is cooled. Refrigerate overnight. It will thickened further the next day.
3. Pour it in a strainer lined with cheesecloth. Let the whey drain in refrigerator for 24 hours.

Meringue

Sugar is a crucial part of meringue. Besides adding them spoon by spoon to aid easy dissolution, the finer they are, the faster they dissolve, the better to avoid moisture. I figured if powdered sugar is just superfine form of regular sugar, why not blend them? And I did.

(make 2 servings)

• 1 large egg white
• 1/4 cup powdered natural cane sugar
• 1/3 teaspoon corn flour, sifted
• 1/4 teaspoon lemon juice
• macadamia nuts and cinnamon powder (optional)
  

1. Preheat oven to 120C.
   
2. Beat egg white, at low speed, until it's bubbly. Add 1 tablespoon of sugar, increase the speed to medium high and beat to form soft peaks. Continue to add sugar, one tablespoon at a time, beating at high speed, to form stiff peaks.
3. Fold in corn flour and lemon juice. Beat for another 2 minutes or so to combine.
4. Stir in macadamia nuts and cinnamon powder if using.
5. Line the baking tray with baking paper. Separate the batter into two mounds. Use the back of a spoon to make a well in the center of each mounds.
6. Let bake in the oven for 60 minutes.

Filling

• 1/3 cup cream
• 2 teaspoon powdered natural cane sugar
• 1 - 2 tablespoons homemade mascarpone
• A couple pieces of 85% chocolate
• Fresh fruits: grapes, pomegranates, blueberries, etc.
  

1. Melt chocolate over a waterbath. May add maple syrup if necessary. Let cool slightly.
2. Whip cream with sugar till firm. Fold mascarpone in to mix. Be gentle and mindful not to lose volume.
   
3. Paint the base of Pavlova well with melter chocolate. Fill up with mascarpone mix. Top with fresh fruits to serve.
   

Grape, Celery and Blue Cheese Salad with Toasted Walnuts

What is it with celery that I always need to use up the extra? Looking back, there have been more than once occasions where a recipe calls for little or not enough to use up the big bunch that they sell at the store. This is just another one of them.

This recipe uses grapes as its main ingredient and celery as a companion for a twist on the classic Waldorf. Fennel, endive or arugula also pair nicely with the grapes if you happen to have any of those on hand. Any of these will make a tasty substitute for the celery. For color and flavor variety, I used different green and red seedless grapes. Do not fool by this seemingly unassuming salad - wait till the blue cheese kicks in. "You redefine fruit salad"; "Extraordinary" YUM~

Ingredients:

For the dressing:

• 1 medium red onion, chopped
• 2 Tablespoon lemon juice
• 2 Tablespoon apple cider vinegar
• 7 Tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
  
• sea salt and black pepper to taste

Whisk ingredients together and keep in refrigerator until ready to use. This recipe makes enough for 4 - 6 servings. You can keep the extra dressing in refrigerator for future use.

For the salad:

• seedless grapes, halved or quartered
• ribs of celery, sliced
  
• walnuts, toasted and chopped
• blue cheese, crumbled

Toss all the ingredients together in a salad bowl. Pour dressing over to serve.

Pomegranate Salad with Maple-Spiced Walnuts and Honey-Mint Lemon Dressing

I love a good fruit salad. It's the kind of dish that doesn't seem like much and requires some thought to make an impression . You know what I mean? Most fruit salads I have at restaurants are just mindless jumble of seasonal fruits. The more creative ones would add yogurt as topping. And that was my education of fruit salads through eating out.

I'm glad I'm a learner and I educate myself pretty well otherwise I may never discovered the beauty of a GOOD fruit salad. Especially the type that is filled with season's best, picked at their peak, and speaks FRESH in every bite. This fruit salad is a winner because it's tossed in a light sauce of fresh squeezed lemon juice, honey, fresh mint and a touch of cane sugar: just enough to bring out the natural sweetness in the fruits without overwhelming it while the fresh mint works as a refreshing compliment.

The key is to use fresh ripe fruit. Under ripe or overly ripe will kill it. And if you must, canned fruit such as mandarin orange wedges or even peaches can be used, but fresh is truly best. This is a very versatile recipe; you can use other fruits combination: blackberries, apples, pears, peach, etc.

This salad would be perfect for breakfast, brunch, dessert or potluck. It will also serve as compliment to French toast, waffle, or pancakes.

Ingredients:
(makes 4 side servings)

• 1 banana, peeled and sliced
  
• 1 pomegranate, peeled and break seeds apart
• 1 C seedless grapes, halved

Honey-Mint Lemon Dressing

• 3 TB pure honey
• 3 TB fresh mint, chopped
• 3 TB fresh-squeezed lemon juice
• 3 TB natural cane sugar

Combine all ingredients together in a bowl. Refrigerate until ready to toss with fresh fruits.

Caramelized Walnuts (optional)

• 1/2 C walnuts
• 1/3 TB Maple syrup
• salt and pepper
  

Combine walnuts, maple syrup, pinch of salt and pepper in a medium bowl, tossing well to coat. Spread pecan mixture evenly onto a baking sheet coated with oil. Bake at 180° for 15 minutes, stirring after 5 minutes. Cool completely and break nuts into small pieces.

Mix cut, fresh fruits and Honey-Mint Lemon Dressing in a serving bowl. Toss to coat evenly. Sprinkle with chopped caramelized walnuts. Garnish with sprigs of fresh mint.