Mango and Avocado Salsa

Nook Thanyaporn has mango trees growing around her house. It's mango season and she has more produce than she and her family can stomach. So she brought me 6 of them, still green. I gave away three and wrapped the other three with towel, and stored them in the kitchen cabinet. I was told to wait for a few days.

5 days in the closet and still no sign of ripening. I patiently await. Two weeks and the mangoes still look suspiciously premature. By this time, not only has Nook's family eaten whatever left of their harvest, but people whom I gave the mangoes to, too, had enjoyed the sweetness from these homegrown fruits. I was told my kitchen is not as warm. Hmmm....

16 days after first received and TA TAA!!! Not uniformly yellow but I could smell the sweetness nonetheless. First mango was used in an impromptu mixed fruit salad - not much to rave about. Since they were gifts from friend I felt they deserve better. Dessert? Mango lassi? Sticky rice?

For some reason Adrian craved for avocado coconut milk shake the other day and bought more than needed for a one-time fling. I decided to put two together and make a Mango Salsa. It's easy to put together and refreshing to serve in many way. In any case I know Adrian would definitely approve of the sweet tartness of the salsa. This would at least keep him happy and more opened to the Beet Hash Brown that came with it on breakfast table.

And it did.

Ingredients:

• 1 mango, diced
• 1 avocado, diced
• 4 cherry tomatoes, diced
• 1/2 jalapeno pepper, chopped
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1/2 red onion, chopped
• 1 Tablespoon lemon juice
• 2 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 1 Tablespoon cilantro leaves, chopped
• salt and black pepper to taste
  

Mix all the ingredients together, toss to coat well. Adjust and season with salt and pepper. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes before serving.

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.
   

Tomato Mozzarella Basil Tart

It came out nicely browned.

I bought rice for this recipe. Why? Because I don't have baking beads and do not know where to buy them. Besides, I was told by a professional baker it was not necessary to use baking beads. Beans and rice would suffice. Hence, I bought the cheapest, smallest package available on the shelf. Sorry, no organic, no whole wheat, no brown rice.

As with my previous recipes (with cream cheese, with pesto), this dough, too, is flavored. This time with garlic and basil. The recipe is pretty straight forward. I substituted 1/4 C of unbleached all purpose flour with whole wheat flour for a more crunchy crust.

The basil topping enhances the garlicky basil crust.


Love the oozy melty cheese.

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.