Wholemeal Tortilla

I've got some leftover roast chicken drumsticks after a big meal with my buddy. What I normally do with the leftover chicken is to tear out the meat and store in the fridge for making sandwich on the next day. Guess what!? The meat normally taste better than the day it's roasted. This time I choose tortilla bread to sandwich the chicken rather than using normal bread or French loaf. I make this wholemeal tortilla before but haven't got a chance to take any pictures. It's great that I can share something here this time. It's not 100% whole wheat tortillas but still consists 25% of wheat flour. Well, I think it's still have a bit of goodness there. Whole wheat tortilla is not very soft kind, but definitely edible when you think of its goodness. I try to roll it as thinner as I could then trim off the edges which was terribly rolled by my lousy skills.

Other than making sandwich, I like to use the leftover tortilla to make tortilla chips. Simply cut them into rectangular shapes then brush some olive oil and topped with some shredded cheddar cheese or Parmesan cheese, toast them in the oven until they become harden and crispy. Either eat straight as a snack or go with some dipping. I made some pesto to go with it, simple and nice!

Tortilla Recipe 孟老师的100道面包

150g bread flour

50g whole wheat flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/8 teaspoon yeast

1/8 teaspoon baking powder

110g water

10g olive oil

1. Knead all the ingredient except olive oil. When the consistency appear crumbly start to add in olive oil. Continue the kneading process until it become a smooth dough.
2. Proof for 60 minutes at a cool dry place.
3. Divide the dough into 5 portion and roll them into round balls. Rest for about 10 minutes.
4. Roll out the dough into 20cm round disc and cook at a preheated frying pan without oil. The pan shouldn't be too hot, over cook will harden the tortilla.

Spinach, Walnut & Garlic Pesto:

In a food processor, combine 3/4 cup toasted walnut, 1 cup fresh baby spinach, 1/2 cup fresh wholemeal breadcrumbs, 2 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil, 3 cloves minced garlic, 2 teaspoon fresh lemon juice, salt and grounded black pepper

I've a great day!

My buddy took a day off to accompany me again! I really appreciate that she makes so much efforts just to visit me and brought me lots of food stuffs and also recipe books. Really enjoy the day together. Chatting, laughing, eating, blogging and so on... I just hope that the time can be stopped in that moment. Thanks buddy! You've brighten up my day! Have a restful evening!

Mint Chip Ice Cream

Daddy gaves me a pot of mint leaves. I'm so glad to receive this pot of mint although it's just a little pot but I think it's enough for my usage either for decoration on a cake or cooking. This little pot of mint growing quite fast and it show that I must use it up before the old leaves go dry. I pick some for making this mint chip ice cream.

A recipe from Artisan Gelato, it's quite straight forward like the other ice cream recipes I've been using. However, I find the ice cream don't have the stronge mint effect and quite dissapointed with the pale color. I'm actually expecting a sharp green leaves color also a powerful mints flavour. Although I can feel the "cool" but not that "WOW" effect. I guess it might not enough mint leaves although I've followed exactly the recipe which ask for two cups of mint leaves. I think four cups would be great! Anyway, the ice cream is nicely done with the creamy texture and the bit of cooling effect is still nice for this hot weather. I add in some chopped dark chocolate as I think this would become a classic mint ice cream.

Mint Chip Gelato (Artisan Gelato) 

480ml whole milk

150g granulated sugar (I used 100g)

2 cups fresh mints leaves

4 large egg yolks

240ml heavy cream

1/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

90g chopped dark chocolate

Pour the milk into a medium size, heavy bottomed saucepan, add approximately 100g (70g) of the sugar, place over medium heat, and cook, stirring occasionally, until the mixture register 77C on an instant-read thermometer. Remove from the heat, add the mint leaves, and stir to make sure that they're fully submerged (don't worry if they float to the top). Cover and let steep for 2 hours. (The longer the mint leaves steep, the stronger the mint flavor will be.)

Strain through a fine-mesh sieve into a clean, medium size, heavy bottomed saucepan, pressing on the mint leaves to remove as much flavor as possible. Discard the mint leaves and place the steeped mixture back on the stove top over medium heat. Warm, stirring occasionally to keep the bottom from scorching, until it registers 77C on an instant read thermometer.

In a nonreactive, medium-size bowl, whisk together the egg yolks and remaining 50g (30g) of sugar until foamy and slightly thickned. Carefully temper the eggyolks with the hot milk mixture by slowly adding about half of the hot liquid to the eggs, whisking continously. Pour the heated egg mixture into the sauce pan with the hot milk and return to the stove top. Stirring continously with a wooden spoon or heatproof rubber spatula, cook the mixture over medium heat until it register 85C on an instant read thermometer or is thick enough to coat the back of the spoon or spatula, taking care to make sure the mixture does not boil. Remove from the heat. Emulsify the mix, if not completely smooth, before incorporating it into the cold cream.

Pour the heavy cream into a clean, large stainless-steel or glas mixing bowl set over an ice bath. Pour the heated custard through a fine mesh sieve or strainer into the cold cream, add the vanilla extract, and stir until fully incorporated. Stir occasionally about every 5 minutes until teh mixture has fully cooled. This should take about 1/2 hour. Remove the mixing bowl from the ice bath, dry off the bottome of the bowl if necessary, cover with plastic wrap, and chill in the refrigerator for at least 8 hours or overnight. When ready, pour the chilled mixture into the ice-cream maker and about 2 minutes from being done, slowly add the chopped chocolate. Finish processing the gelato.

Remove the finished gelato from the ice cream maker and place in a plastic continer. Cover with plastic wrap by pressing the wrap gently against the top of the gelato, affix lid to container, and place in the freezer to fully harden before serving.

Fruits Crumble

I really miss the life in the UK especially my dear friends and the fascinating village. It just simply unforgettable. I remember my first time having an apple crumble in my friend's cottage few years back, that's remarkable one! Dining in a cottage with a hot crumble during the cold weather, such a typical English lifestyle. I fall in love with crumble from that day onwards. It was my first time had a hot dessert go with vanilla ice cream, custard or yogurt. I've not been making it after I moved into Singapore. It's just happened that my crumble's mood came back again last weekend although we're having such a hot and humid weather here but I can't wait to make it for our dinner dessert. This crumble recipe I had with me for many years is the best one for me especially the crumble toppings. Crumbly yet buttery rich flavor that goes so well with the bit of sourly fruits. Further more, the scoop of ice cream that slowly melting on the hot crumble that make me feel like sitting in a the English cottage again....

Preheat the oven to 200C. For the filling, you could use apple, pear, plum, figs, etc with some berries like blueberries, blackberries or raspberries. This time, I use plum and pear. Peel, quarter and core the pear and plum into large chunks. Place in a shallow ovenproof dish. I used a small one for serving two person. Adding one orange zest and juice to the fruits. Mix together with hands. Toss over the blackberries, and scatter over some sugar (I didn't add any sugar on it as I feel the fruits is sweet enough for me). For the crumble topping, place 30g ground almond, 70g flour, 45g polenta, 70g cold butter and 55g raw sugar in a food processor and pulse briefly several times, just to mix. The mixture should look like coarse breadcrumbs. Tip out into a bowl and add a splash of water. Use a spoon to mix briefly, it should be quite clumpy. Sprinkle the crumble mixture over the fruits. Place in the oven and bake for 20 minutes. If you have leftover crumble, store in the freezer or fridge and use it later for your crumble muffins, that's what I like to do. Turn down the heat to 180C and cook for another 10 - 15 minutes until the top is nicely browned and bubbling. If you like the fruits to stay crunchy, adjust the baking time. Otherwise bake longer to have a soft texture of fruits. Serve while it's still hot. The crumble served with my homemade raspberries ripple ice cream. You could serve with custard or yogurt. Enjoy!

Lemon Pound Cake

Hello! I'm still alive! Please don't forget about me. I know I haven't been doing much baking but I'm still reading all your lovely updates. Here is the latest update of my baking, Lemon Pound Cake. It's very unusual of me baking a butter cake for my own consumption.  

Well, this is my first attempt on pound cake and I choose the most easiest recipe and also my favorite lemon flavor. Another reason for choosing this recipe because the batter is small enough to fit into my Daiso pound cake pan. I'm quite happy with my first pound cake. It's nicely baked and the lemony taste gives the cake a lighter texture. I use to bake banana loaf cake to give away and now here is another good choice. I like this pound cake and hope you do.

Recipe from 点心达人，轻松学 

(Pound cake pan 18 x 8 x 6.5cm)

120g plain flour

1/3 teaspoon baking powder

120g unsalted butter

50g caster sugar (I used 30g)

2 egg yolks

2 tbsp fresh lemon juice

1 lemon zest 

1 drop vanilla extract

2 egg whites

50g caster sugar

• Grease and line the pound cake pan with baking paper. Shift the flour, baking powder and ground almond.
• In a clean bow, beat the butter then gradually add in the caster sugar until the sugar dissolved into the butter and the mixture become pale in color.
• Mix in the egg yolk one at a time until just combine. Then  mix in the lemon juice and zest together with the vanilla extract. 
• In another clean bowl, beat the egg whites with a pinch of sugar until the bubbles appear then add 1/3 of the sugar. Gradually beat in the rest of the sugar until the egg whites become peak foam. 
• Gently mix in half the egg whites into the butter lemon mixture, don't have to mix too much. Then mix in half of the flour ingredients and combine everything. 
• Gently fold in the remaining egg whites then add the remaining flour ingredients until well combine.
• Pour the batter into the pound cake pan and bake in a 170C preheated oven for 10 minutes. 
• Took it out and use a knife to cut a line at the center of the batter, continue to bake for 35 to 40 minutes until and skewer insert into the cake and come out clean.
• Let it cool down on a wire rack and enjoy!