I recently had the great privilege of attending E’s wedding (she of ET Artisan Sweets fame).

Like my husband and me, E and YH had dated for quite some time before they got engaged, so we were just thrilled to find out last year that they had gotten engaged, and even more delighted to attend their beautiful wedding service and reception at the end of February. By far and away, this was one of the most beautiful, classy, and more importantly joyous weddings I have ever attended.

Being familiar with E’s creations, most guests like myself expected a pretty exceptional dessert spread at the wedding, but whatever expectations we’d had were blown right out of the water when we got to the reception. Little gasps of awe and wonder were heard across the room as we came face to face with the 8-meter long (yes, 8-meter) table of exquisite desserts that E’s little team of magic helpers had put together. Not only was every single item on the table outstandingly beautiful, each one also tasted as good as it looked (at least those that I tried were, and err… I tried an embarrassing number of things…)

Here are some not-great pictures taken with my iPhone (and still you can see just how gorgeous everything was). For more (and better quality) pictures of the mind-bogglingly beautiful dessert spread, check out the ET Artisan Sweets Facebook Page.

First up, the fairytale wedding cake (in the unique and lovely color theme of red and teal), along with one of three or four different selections of petit fours:

Next up are some of the prettiest cupcakes you will ever see (dressed in the most baffling laser cut cupcake wrappers), and E’s signature macarons:

There was even a selection of handbag cupcakes! Here’s one that my hubby brought to our table. And I just loved that the wedding favours (E’s signature choc chip cookies) were beautifully packaged in theme-colored boxes that bore silhouette prints of the sweet couple.

I will never not ever be able to bake or decorate like this. But I’m so glad I have a friend who can! =D

Yay I’m finally back in my kitchen (in more than just the physical sense)! Tonight we had some good friends over for dinner, so my heart and mind finally came back from vacation and kicked into culinary mode =)

I decided to be gentle on myself and make two of my favorites – Nigella’s One Page Sage & Onion Chicken & Sausage, and Harumi’s Carrot & Tuna Salad, and attempt just one new dish – Quiche Lorraine.

I had noticed this  quiche recipe on Ju’s blog sometime back, and printed it right away because I knew I would definitely try it sometime. As it turns out, it was easy to make and very yummy. And it’s just plain satisfying making your own quiche, know what I mean?

So here we go, my take on The Little Teochew’s Quiche Lorraine, with some little modifications to the pastry…

Quiche Lorraine
(You will need an 8-inch pie dish or pie tin with a loose bottom.)

Pastry Dough (adapted from La Fuji Mama)

Ingredients:
- 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour, sifted
- 156g butter, softened
- 1 egg
- 1/2 teaspoon salt

Directions:

1. Heat oven to 180degC.

2. In a large mixing bowl, mix together the flour, butter, egg, and salt together with a wooden spoon, or with a hand mixer on the lowest speed. Mix until the dough comes together into a cohesive mixture.

3. Put the bowl into the refrigerator for half an hour so the dough is easier to manage.
*I added this step and the next because it’s a very greasy dough!

4. Take the dough out of the refrigerator, throw on a small fistful more flour, and roll it up into a ball.

5. Place the dough ball into the pie dish/tin, and use your fingers to flatten the dough out and up the sides of the tin.
*I’m not so good at working with very sticky dough so I usually put my hand into a small plastic bag before flattening out my dough.

6. Tuck a sheet of aluminium foil into the dish so that it fits nicely on the crust, and pour beans or rice into the dish.
*I also added this step, and the next one. Something I’m used to doing when making tarts. The beans/rice help to weigh down the dough so it doesn’t rise too much in the oven.

7.  Put dish into the oven for 15-20 minutes till edges brown slightly. (If using a pie tin with removable base, first place tin onto a baking tray, then put tray in oven.) Remove from oven and allow to cool to room temperature.

Pictures of steps 2, 4, 5 and 6!

Quiche Lorraine Filling (adapted from The Little Teochew)

Ingredients:
- 3 eggs
- 4 to 5 slices of bacon, cut into small pieces
- 1 jar creme fraiche or substitute^ (200-240ml or about 1 cup)
- Salt and pepper to taste

^I simply couldn’t find any creme fraiche, so I made a substitute based on some stuff I found online. Take 1 cup of heavy/thickened cream (35-40% milk fat), mix in 1tbsp of sour cream, cover and allow to stand at room temperature overnight or for at least 8 hours.

Directions:

1. Heat oven to 140degC.

2. In a skillet, fry bacon bits for about 5 minutes till edges turn dark. Set aside to cool.

3. Mix 3 eggs, creme fraiche (or substitute), salt and pepper till well combined.

4. Sprinkle the base of your pastry shell with bacon bits. Pour egg mixture in slowly.

5. Bake quiche for 35-40 minutes till the egg mixture sets and surface turns golden brown. (Baking on low heat prevents the mixture from rising into a ‘dome’ and cracking.)

6. Remove from oven, allow to cool for at least half an hour and serve. Delish =D

Pictures of steps 2, 3 and 4!

And the finished product.

I miss my blog! (And I of course miss my husband heaps more *sob*). I am once more several thousand miles away from home, though this time for work…

I hope you are all having good post-CNY dieting weeks dear readers

But enough of my whining! As most of you know by now, my husband and I just came back from an Australia road trip. We took the Great Ocean Road and drove from Melbourne to Port Campbell to Mount Gambier to Adelaide. It was a little tiring, but without a doubt the best vacation we’ve had since our honeymoon. We enjoyed it so much I thought I may as well do a little highlights post, just in case you are thinking of attempting the same journey in the not too distant future.

Melbourne to Adelaide (Highlights)

Sightseeing

1. Twelve Apostles (Port Campbell National Park)

There are only seven left now, and no one really knows why it was called the Twelve Apostles in the first place. Still, it is breathtaking, particularly if you make it there at sun-down like we did.

2. Flagstaff Hill Maritime Museum & Village (Warrnambool)

Because it’s good to remember, once every now and again, that things haven’t always been automated. Also it’s a very pleasant and amusing way to while away an hour.

3. Blue Lake (Mount Gambier)

As you can see, words are not necessary…

But be sure to visit between November & March. (Apparently it’s grey the rest of the year!) And when you’re done you can stop by Umpherston Sinkhole, another fascinating natural wonder.

4. Haigh’s Chocolates Visitors Centre (Adelaide)

The smell of chocolate everywhere, lots of free chocolate, and a peek into the making of. What’s not to like?

5. National Wine Centre (Adelaide)

This was fantastic for someone like me who was absolutely alcohol-illiterate. And their cafe serves up very respectable culinary fare. See this brilliant ariel shot my husband took of the wine cellar!

Shopping

6. Darriwill Farm (Warrnambool)

We had very little opportunity to shop on this trip, but I wanted to make mention of this darling little store in Warrnambool. It is 500 sq ft of all my favorite things – ccokware, bakeware, serveware; spices, preserves and other condiments; and it also has a healthy selection of wines from the region. Here’s me exercising my tourist dollar:

Eating

We also didn’t get to visit most of the restaurants that were recommended to us, but the two we did make it to were simply divine.

7. Vue de Monde (Melbourne)

Vue de Monde is an experience. When you get there, you aren’t given a menu. You are simply asked for your dietary restrictions and your preferred number of courses, and the food begins to appear. This was our first meal in Australia, and it was a delight. It reminded us of some very excellent meals we had in Paris two years ago, which we’ve never been able to find close substitutes for in Singapore. I also had there the best chocolate soufflé I’ve ever had in my life! Oh what I would give for the recipe…

8. Penfolds Magill Estate (Magill, near Adelaide)

Our very last meal in OZ was also our best. The restaurant on Penfolds Magill Estate overlooks their beautiful vineyard and is splendid yet relaxed. Our waiter Aaron gave us impeccable service, and the food, like at Vue de Monde, was artistic, surprising, gorgeous, and completely delicious. The chef dreamt up dishes like rabbit with pumpkin, lemon, bacon, dates and coffee jelly – not a set of ingredients you would ordinarily think to serve together, but somehow it all worked beautifully. (My apologies to all bunny fans for using this example!)

It really was a marvellous vacation. Two enthusiastic thumbs up!

This recipe for the classic Coq au Vin was given me by a good friend quite some time ago. Since I’m cooking mostly meat and very little carb these days (I save my carbs for when I bake =), I thought it’d be a good time to try my hand at this recipe.

The dish looks very purple because the meat and vegetables get to stew in red wine for a good long time. And there is no tomato involved in this recipe (some Coq au Vin recipes call for tomatoes – the dish comes out looking more orange in those cases). It is simple to make, fairly healthy, and very delicious. And great if you, like us, are constantly trying to use up excess reserves of wine.

So without further ado, my friend’s excellent Coq au Vin recipe, re-ordered and re-worded by yours truly.

Coq au Vin

Ingredients (in the order that you will need them)(serves 4-6 persons):

Day before cooking:
1 onion, sliced
1-2 carrots, sliced
1 stick of celery, sliced
3 cloves of garlic
Bunch of fresh rosemary, thyme and parsley; or 1 bouquet garni

Day of cooking (2.5 hours before serving time):
4 rashes backbacon
4-6 pieces chicken leg
2 handsful of mushrooms and pearl onions (I omitted the pearl onions because I didn’t have any)

Just before serving:
75g softened butter
1 tbsp flour

Directions:

1. In a pot, combine onions, carrot, celery, garlic and herbs. Pour in 0.5-0.75 bottle of red wine and cover. Leave overnight in the fridge.

2. The next day, heat up a pan and fry bacon. Set aside bacon, and use oil from bacon to brown the chicken. (Just brown the skin slightly – no need to cook through.)

3. Heat up wine and vegetable mixture, and add the browned chicken and bacon.

4. Simmer for 1.5-2 hours on low-medium heat. In the last 20 minutes, add mushrooms and pearl onions.

5. Dish chicken and vegetables onto serving plates. The stock will likely not be thick enough to serve as sauce, so add butter and flour to thicken it.

Et voila!

(There’s chicken under there somewhere. No really.)

As some of you may recall, my husband made a trip to QB foods recently. That’s where he got the lovely shabu shabu beef that I used to make Harumi’s Beef and Vegetable Rolls. Well, he didn’t just get shabu shabu beef at QB… He pretty much got us a whole freezer full of meat. Steak, minced beef, shabu shabu beef, shabu shabu pork, pork ribs, fish etc. etc.

So I thought I should use the nice rack of pork ribs that he got. I remembered seeing a recipe for barbecued pork ribs in one of my Donna Hay magazines (which I think my friend Lazy Susan might also have used some time ago), so I went and fished it out, and it looked perfect. Easy to do, and would allow me to use:
a) Mustard powder, which I bought in December to make Nigella’s Coca Cola Ham, as well as
b) Worcestershire sauce, which I always have in my refrigerator because I use it to make Nigella’s One Page Sage & Onion Chicken & Sausage, which my husband loves.

I have to say the ribs we used weren’t the meatiest, and there were limits to how effectively I could barbecue using an induction stove. But the marinade was great! And definitely worth a repeat. So here’s the recipe verbatim,  because it really is quite straightforward.

Classic Barbecued Pork Ribs

(Donna Hay)

Ingredients (serves 4-6):
1kg rack American-style baby back pork ribs
1/4 cup tomato sauce (ketchup)
2 tbsp tomato paste
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup cider vinegar
1 tbsp olive oil
2 cloves garlic, crushed
2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
2 tsp mustard powder

Directions:
1. Place ribs in a large saucepan of cold water and bring to the boil. Reduce the heat to low, cover, and cook for 30 minutes. Drain and place in a dish.

2. Combine the tomato sauce, tomato paste, sugar, vinegar, oil, garlic, Worcestershire sauce and mustard, pour over the ribs and toss to coat. Cover and refrigerate for 30 minutes to marinate.

3. Heat a barbecue or large char-grill pan over high heat. Cook the ribs for 6-8 minutes on each side, brushing with the marinade every 2 minutes or until golden and sticky. Cut into pieces and serve.

*This is actually a pre-scheduled post. I am in Donna Hay’s home country as we speak, so after one more pre-scheduled post, mrsmultitasker.com will be quiet for couple of days. Gong xi fa cai, dear readers!

Ok I finally did it. I made pineapple tarts.

When I was at Fairprice some days ago, I spotted a rack of nice-looking and cheap pineapples, and thought, hey why not? So I lugged four of them home. And I regretted it almost immediately. I couldn’t fathom having to chop up four pineapples, slave over the stove for hours to cook them, and then make the pastry to hold the jam. The very thought made me feel exhausted.

So I didn’t do anything with the pineapples for several days. I just let them sit there. Until last night.

Nothing special happened really. My tau yu bak was simmering on the stove, my husband had gone for a workout, and I was left with an awkward period of time in which to do something or other. So I decided I would make use of those unloved pineapples which, by that time, were extremely ripe, very soft and near impossible to grate. Hoorah. I chose to skip the grating altogether and just chop up the pineapples =)

Oh before I go on, I should mention that the recipe I used for making the pineapple jam and tarts came from Mrs Leong Yee Soo’s “The Best of Singapore Cooking.” (I got the book from Borders a couple of weeks ago at a real bargain!) I wanted to use a recipe from an experienced elderly Aunty =)

Anyway I chopped up the pineapples, removed whatever juice I could, cooked the flesh, and refrigerated it. Then today I made the tart pastry. Again lots of work. But Mrs Leong’s recipe is quite brilliant and the pastry is beautiful. Light, crumbly and delicious. The pineapple jam, however, was very wet and tasted like Western pineapple jam – I think because I didn’t cook it long enough (no fault of the recipe, but of my own impatience). Next year, I am buying pre-made pineapple jam!!

So here you go, Mrs Leong Yee Soo’s recipes for the pineapple filling and tarts, with my comments. (I scaled down the ingredients to make about 70 tarts. The original quantities, which I have below, should yield about 100-120 tarts.)

Pineapple Filling

Ingredients:
6 pineapples
Coarse sugar (1 cup of sugar -> 1 cup pineapple)
3 cloves
1 piece cinnamon stick (I omitted this)
3 segments of star anise (I omitted this too, but I think you should include it)

Directions:
1. Remove skin and eye from pineapples.
2. Grate pineapples coarsely. Use muslin to squeeze out juice from pineapples. Do not squeeze too dry. Chop grated pineapples till fine.
As I mentioned earlier, I was too lazy to grate the pineapple, but you really should do before you chop it up.
3. Place chopped pineapples, sugar, cloves, cinnamon and star anise in a heavy-bottomed aluminum saucepan.
Mrs Leong says 1 cup of sugar: 1 cup of pineapple, but I used a lot less sugar than that and the filling was still a little too sweet. I recommend starting with little and adding as you go along if necessary.
4. Cook over moderate heat till almost dry (about 1 hour). Continue cooking over a low heat till mixture is thick. Keep stirring all the while.
Don’t cook it for just an hour like I did! Cook till it truly looks dry. It’s amazing the water content in a teeny bit of pineapple.
5. Cool. Store overnight in refrigerator.

My family really liked the tarts yay =), but my mum suggested that I should cook the pineapple with some five spice powder the next time. A pretty good suggestion me thinks, and if you use five spice powder you can do away with the cloves, cinnamon and star anise. The powder should contain all three.

Pineapple ‘Open’ Tarts

Ingredients:
680g flour
1 tsp fine salt
2 tbsp fine sugar
455g butter (this is a LOT of butter)
1 egg
55ml iced water
2 tsp vanilla essence
3 drops yellow food coloring (I omitted this)
1 egg yolk with 1 tsp water (for glazing, because I didn’t want to use food coloring)

Directions:
1. Pre-heat oven to 175degC.
2. Sift flour with salt and sugar.
3. Rub butter into flour till mixture resembles breadcrumbs.
Ju had a great tip in her blog post on pineapple tarts, that you should use a fork to stir the butter through the flour. If you absolutely must use your hands, you should use only your fingertips.
4. Beat egg lightly, add to flour. Add iced water, vanilla essence and coloring to form a pastry dough. Chill for 1/2 an hour.
5. In the meantime, roll pineapple filling into little balls. Put back in refrigerator.
6. Roll pastry to 0.5cm thickness on floured board or marble top.
I think it’s better to make the tarts in 2-3 batches, so remove only 1/3 or 1/2 of the pastry from the refrigerator at a time.
7. Cut with special tart cutter and arrange cut pastry on cookie tray. Glaze tarts with a pastry brush.
My tart cutter was just ridiculous! So hard to use. And it gave my tarts little tendrils!! Try to pick one that’s easier to use.
8. Place pineapple filling on pastry.
9. Bake for 15 minutes at 175degC.
10. Reduce heat and bake for another 10-15 minutes till light brown.
Mrs Leong doesn’t specify what the lower temperature should be. I set my oven to 150degC and it worked fine.
11. Cool tarts on wire rack before storing in airtight container.

Pictures of the recipe book, and steps 2, 4, 5, 6 and 7!

The finished product! As you can see, my glazing is not so good. DO NOT use a cheap silicon brush like I did – get a proper pastry brush (the hairy sort!).

*A big shout-out to The Little Teochew, who was my main source of encouragement and inspiration to undertake this venture! Thank you Ju! For those of you who haven’t visited Ju’s blog, you really should. It’s one of my favorites.

Here’s a recipe I’ve been wanting to try for some time but only just got round to a few days ago. It looked easy and sounded yummy so I thought I’d try making it for a friend’s birthday. I got it from the Sunday Times a couple of months back, where it had been adapted from Anita Chu’s Field Guide to Cookies.

As it turns out, it was easy to follow. And the crinkles did taste nice, though I would have preferred them with a little more sugar. (I did however keep the recommended amount of sugar in my adaptation of the recipe below, and you will find out why in Step 6) . Also I think the dark chocolate I used wasn’t dark enough (I used 55% cocoa Equatoriale, so try to use something with a slightly higher cocoa content).

I got my husband to try a piece, and asked “How is it? Too salty right? Not sweet enough right?” And after chewing on it for a bit (pun intended), he said, “Tastes fine to me.” Haha. But when I asked if he would want me to make it again, he said, “I’d rather you make the chocolate mendiants again!” =) Ah wells.

Still, it’s worth a try if you want a simple chocolate pastry to serve at parties or give as a gift. Plenty folks in the blogosphere seem to really like it.

So here it is, my adaptation of the recipe from the Sunday Times article which adapted it from Anita Chu’s Field Guide to Cookies.

Ingredients:

170g dark chocolate (>=60% cocoa)
85g non-salted butter
1 tbsp brandy (optional) (I used Kahlua because I had some on hand)
185g plain flour
2 tbsp cocoa powder
3/4 tsp baking powder
115g sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla (Nielsen Massey Vanilla from Shermay’s is great, but very expensive)
1/2 tsp sea salt
Icing sugar

Directions:

1. Place chocolate, butter and brandy in a metal or heat-resistant glass bowl, and set over a pot of simmering water. The bottom of the bowl should not touch the water. Stir till evenly melted and set aside to cool.

2. Sift together the flour, cocoa powder and baking powder. Set aside.

3. Using a mixer, beat the sugar and eggs until thick and smooth. Add vanilla and melted chocolate and mix until combined. Add flour and cocoa mixture and salt and mix until combined.

4. Cover mixing bowl with cling wrap and refrigerate for at least two hours till dough is firm enough to scoop out.

——-

5. Pre-heat oven to 170degC. Take mixing bowl out of fridge and let dough soften slightly while oven preheats.

6. Line a baking tray with parchment paper. Scoop out generous tablespoonsful of dough, roll into 1-inch balls, roll balls in icing sugar, and place on cookie sheet about 4cm apart. If you don’t use up the dough at one go, put the unused dough back in the fridge.

*I am very cross that the Straits Times article omitted the bit about rolling the balls of dough in icing sugar!! It was only after I had made the crinkles and surfed the net a little that I realized all crinkle recipes called for the crinkles to be covered in icing sugar. You should do it – it will add a good and needed sweetness to the crinkles, and make them look prettier too.

**The article said to space the cookies 3cm apart, but they do spread a fair bit in the oven and I had several cookies welded together, so I recommend a little more space between. For some reason the crinkles in the article still looked very round after baking, but crinkles shouldn’t look like that.

7. Bake 10-12 minutes till tops are cracked. Let cookies cool on cookie sheet for five minutes, then transfer to wire rack to cool completely.

8. Store cookies in airtight container.

Packaged and ready to go =) (Don’t you love the cute ribbon from Daiso? And the French words actually make sense! What a rarity. And on a side note, I haveta say that Daiso’s stuff is just getting better and better. And oh how I love that everything’s just $2…)

First, I would like to say that making Chinese New Year goodies is HARD WORK. I have a newfound appreciation for all the amazing women who churn pineapple tarts, love letters and kueh bangkit out by the truckload from their homes.

I’ve been dabbling a little in CNY munchie making… I started off trying to make Kueh Bulu (Bolu? Baulu?), which looked easy enough: mix your egg and sugar, add some flour and baking powder, pour into mould, bake. As I discovered, appearances (of recipes) can be deceiving. Let’s just say my various attempts at Kueh Bulu were a total disaster. Maybe I’ll blog about it one of these days when I’ve over the shock.

Yesterday, I decided to try my hand at making kueh bangkit instead, and I am pleased to say that it really went quite well. Not the best kueh bangkit I’ve ever had, but very respectable for a first attempt (and not any worse than the kueh bangkit I bought from NTUC a few days ago). It doesn’t melt the second you put it in your mouth, and it’s a little crunchier than the kind of kueh bangkit I like best, but it’s very fragrant and still tastes good.

I got the recipe from the blog of Baking Mum, and reproduce it here with a few minor changes, and comments in red. (Thanks Baking Mum!)

Kueh Bangkit

Ingredients:

300g tapioca flour/starch
3-4 pandan leaves
20 gm margarine or softened butter
1 egg yolk
120g icing sugar
140 ml coconut milk (original recipe asked for 120ml)
1/4 tsp vanilla powder

Directions:

1. Heat oven to 170degC.

2. Fry tapioca flour with the pandan leaves over low flame until fragrant and light. Set aside to cool. Best to leave it to cool overnight or 1 to 2 days.
*I left the pandan leaves in the flour when I stored it for a couple of days, and by the time I used it it was wonderfully fragrant.

3. Sift tapioca flour and combine with sifted icing sugar and vanilla powder.

4. Lightly beat the egg yolk with the coconut milk. Add the mixture into the flour, along with margarine or butter. Knead until dough is pilable. If you find dough too dry and crumbly, add more coconut milk a tbsp at a time, and knead until it is workable.
*Yes that’s right you knead it with your hands. Hard work! And you will almost certainly have to add more coconut milk, and frankly the more the merrier (as long as the dough doesn’t become mush). The cookies taste better when they are more lemak (i.e. have a stronger taste of coconut).

5. Roll out dough on a lightly floured surface to about 1/2 cm thick. Cut with cookie cutters. Arrange them on a lined baking tray (best to use the non-stick parchment paper).
*I advise you to work with 1/3 or 1/2 the dough at a time. Much less painful that way. And be sure to leave the resting dough covered.

6. Bake in a preheated oven for 15-17 mins or until a light brown (not too brown). Cool it on a wire rack and store in an airtight container.
*I suspect the melt-in-your-mouth quality I’m after has to do with the temperature + baking time, so you might like to play around with both. I’ll probably bake it at a slightly lower temperature the next time.

———

Here, my cut-out dough awaiting its heated destiny….

And the final product =)

A little sampling for my mummy to try. Both my mum and mum-in-law love Kueh Bangkit so I really should try to get this recipe perfected…

Mother & Child Project

Some time last year, I wrote a blog post on Kiva, a US-based micro-loan organization that allows you to provide microloans to needy people all over the world, to help them forge a sustainable living.

Recently I stumbled upon another organization geared towards helping the needy make a living, but this one hits much closer to home. The Mother & Child Project is a Singapore enterprise that aims to provide home-based work for disadvantaged mothers and their children so they can become economically self-sufficient. Many of these women are widows or former victims of abuse.

I love this project, not only because of their mission, but also because they produce really gorgeous stuff! I received the adorable Samsui Women Paperweight you see above from a sweet friend at Christmas. And today a friend and I had the privilege of visiting the M&C booth at the The Shophouse Fair, where we got to see a few pieces of their handmade jewelry and bags, and everything was exquisite. My friend ended up picking up a lovely necklace, and I came home with a pretty little silk lunch bag =)

If you’re looking for a delightful and meaningful corporate gift, or just gifts for family, do give the website a visit to see more of their stuff (I’ve pasted some of their product shots below) and find out how you can order/buy what you like.