Tag Archives: homemade

Quiche Lorraine

Posted in Food, French, Recipes by

I am happy to report that my first attempt at making a proper quiche was a success. I have been devouring quiches for years now like there’s tomorrow and me attempting to make one from scratch was long overdue. Watching an episode of Masterchef Australia sparked my flame of quiche making. This one here is a Quiche Lorraine. I had Lily and D over for a French-themed dinner and Lily made it clear to me that she loooooves quiche Lorraine.

Menu for the night:

  • Entree – Mushroom soup
  • Main – Quiche Lorraine (recipe follows)
  • Dessert – Tarte au citron from La Galette de France in Subi sponsored by Lily
  • Drinks – Rekorderlig and Sangria sponsored by D (not really French but any alcohol would do)

Ingredients

Shortcut pastry
240 grams plain flour
125 grams butter, chilled and cut into cubes
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 egg
2-4 tablespoons (or more) cold water

Filling
3 tablespoons butter
1/2 onion, diced
1 clove garlic, minced
1 leek (white part and some green), roughly chopped
200 grams bacon, cut into small cubes
3/4 cup grated Gruyere cheese

Custard
3 eggs
2 egg yolks
300 ml cream

Makes 1 large quiche or 4-5 mini quiches

Method

1. Preheat oven to 200 degrees Celsius.
2. Lightly grease a large loose-bottom tart tin.

Make the pastry shells
3. In a food processor, add in flour, salt, and chilled butter and blend/pulse until the mixture looks like breadcrumbs. Add in egg and process until the mixture forms a ball. Add 1 tablespoon of cold water at a time if the mixture is not forming into a ball. Dump the dough onto a floured bench and need for about 1-2 minutes until it becomes a smooth dough. Shape the dough into a disk and wrap in plastic wrap and let it rest for 15 minutes in the fridge.

2. After the dough has rested, take it out of the fridge and work on a floured bench. Flatten the dough with your palms. Then using a rolling pin roll the dough until it is about 2-3mm thick. Ensure that it is bigger than your tin. Gently lift the dough and place it into your tart tin while gradually pressing the dough onto the tin. Ensure that you lightly press the dough to the shape of the tin including the bottom round edge.

3. To get that perfect fluted pattern (if using a fluted tin), instead of trimming the excess dough with a knife, I use a rolling pin to roll over the tin itself then peel off the excess dough. Dough will slightly shrink during baking so lightly press the dough on the side of the tin upwards – about 3-5mm higher than the tin. Then prick the base and sides of the dough with a fork.

4. Top the dough with a sheet of baking paper with loose sides that will be easy to lift out after baking. Fill the baking paper with uncooked rice or baking beads to serve as weights for the pastry shell.

5. Pop the pastry into the oven and bake for about 15 minutes. Then remove the baking paper and rice or baking beads and return the pastry into the oven and bake for a further 10-15 minutes until golden in colour.

*Pastry shell/s can be made in advance. I made mine 1 day prior to making the actual quiche. Let it cool completely and store in an airtight container or wrap with a plastic wrap.

Cook the filling
6. In a medium sized pan, melt the butter and cook the onions and leeks until onions are translucent and leeks are soft. Transfer the mixture onto a plate and set aside. In the same pan, cook the bacon until some of the fat has rendered and it starts browning. Add back the onion mixture and mix well to combine. Set aside.

Make the custard
7. In a medium bowl, whisk together egg, egg yolks, and cream until well combined.

Assemble the quiche
8. Spread the bacon, onion, and leek mixutre on the base of the cooked pastry shell. Pour in the egg mixture. Egg will shrink slightly after it’s baked so fill the whole pastry with the egg mixture up to the top of the shell but ensure that it doesn’t overflow. Then top with a generous amount of Gruyere cheese.

9. Carefully place the tin in the oven and bake at 200 degrees Celcius for 17 minutes. Drop the temperature to 160 degrees Celsius and continue baking for about 15-18 minutes until the custard is set. You can test this by inserting a toothpick into the centre of the quiche and if it comes out clean the quiche is set.

*Note that if making the mini quiche, baking time would be about 2-3 minutes less.

10. Take the quiche out of the tin and transfer to a serving plate.

11. Serve and enjoy.

About these ads

Recipe: Crepe Suzette

Posted in Coffee & Desserts, Food, French, Recipes by

Last night, as it was raining kittens and puppies, I was in a major dilemma about feeding my need of something sweet after dinner (but then again it wasn’t just last night – I need sweets after every meal otherwise I go into a rage). With limited stuff at home because, admittedly, I haven’t been cooking at home for the past couple of weeks, or close to a month, hence I haven’t stocked up on ingredients. And our oven is busted too so that really leaves me with limited sweets to make. Thankfully enough one can make crepes with super basic ingredients. My previous attempt at making crepes was limited to reheating store bought crepes because the box was sitting in the freezer for years! With that all consumed I had to make my own crepes from scratch.

I researched for a couple of minutes for a simple recipe and found this. Simple enough. I peeked inside the fridge and saw 6 eggs and just enough milk for tonight’s dessert and tomorrow’s breakfast. Then off to the pantry. Ok, no flour so I had to use my trusty wholemeal flour instead resulting in “healthier than usual” crepes. The recipe called for the flour to be sifted so I willingly followed it while watching Ross and Rachel have a baby. Turns out I just wasted precious time sifting 1 cup of the wholemeal flour because the wheat couldn’t pass my sieve so I had to dump the whole thing into the bowl anyway. For the 2nd cup I just mixed it vigorously with the previously sifted flour et voila, no lumps. Then make a well and add in the eggs and whisk until blended. Is it just me or is it really hard to beat eggs and flour together in winter? After lifting weights at the gym 2 hours before I had no more energy to whisk the stubborn eggs and flour mixture. So I sat there, whinged and asked K to come help me.

Then time for the liquid (milk). I searched everywhere for the measuring cup and couldn’t find it. Turns out that the culprit who threw it out was Auntie J. Well in that case a mug would just have to do. The recipe says 2 1/2 cups of milk. I don’t know how much liquid a mug can hold. I’ve never even bothered to find that out before so now it was just a guessing game. K said she thinks 1 mug is more than enough for 2 1/2 cups. The batter looked too runny so I added more flour which I will later find out that it was not a good idea.

Finally after all that debacle I realised that I have not added any sugar. Was that right? I like my crepes a little bit sweeter on their own without the toppings and fillings so I just had to have sugar in it. Guess what? There’s no caster sugar in the house. What I found was icing sugar. Okay fine, no biggie, no caster sugar. I cooked and tested 1 crepe and it was thick and tasteless so I had to figure out where to get my sugar. Lo and behold, a maple syrup bottle in the fridge was staring right at me so I poured in a few dollops of maple syrup to the batter. That worked well, I must say. That and a little more milk to thin out my batter resulted in some very tasty crepes.

K loved the crepes on their own. But me? I needed something more. Well I really wanted to use up the butter that’s been sitting in the fridge for so long so I decided to make a few Crepe Suzettes. Now I’m back to my problem. No caster sugar. Lemon juice would be too sour without the sugar and luckily there were some oranges sitting on the table. I tasted a few drops and turns out they were sweet! My first Crepe Suzette of the night was made with just butter and orange juice. It was so-so but lacking something. I knew it was the sugar. I couldn’t resist it anymore so I ended up using the icing sugar with my butter and orange juice mixture. That worked well too. Oh wow, the things I learn when ingredients are limited. I was so pleased with the crepes I had 4 big pieces last night. Oh boy. Well Crepe Suzettes are traditionally flambee-ed as well with cognac or orange liquers but I did not plan on setting the house on fire so I skipped that part. I made a few extras and brought them to work for snacks. Popped them in the microwave for 30-40 seconds and they are just as good as freshly made.

Enough of my wonderful adventure with the French dessert, here’s the recipe (which I’ve altered a little bit from the original source):

Ingredients

Crepes (makes 15-20 crepes)
2 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 eggs
1 1/2 mugs (2 1/2 cups) milk
1 tablespoon vanilla essence
4 tablespoons butter, melted
3-4 tablespoons maple syrup

butter or oil for pan

Orange butter glaze (approximate measurements per crepe)
1 tablespoon butter
2 teaspoons icing sugar
2 tablespoons orange juice

Method

1. In a medium sized mixing bowl, sift together flour and salt. Then make a well in the centre and add in eggs. Beat the eggs while incorporating the flour.

2. Then slowly add in milk while whisking the mixture until well combined. Add in vanilla, butter and maple syrup. Mix well.

3. Heat pan and brush it with butter or oil. Using a ladle, pour in about 4 tablespoons of batter into the pan and swirl the pan to make reasonably thin and round crepes. Cook for about 1 minute then flip to cook the other side. Transfer onto a plate.

4. To make the glaze, melt the butter and sugar in a pan on low heat. Add in orange juice. When the mixture starts to thicken and caramelise, put in 1 crepe and heat through. Add a little more orange juice if you like. Then flip the crepe and cook for another 30 seconds. The glaze should now be caramel in colour and sticky. Fold the crepe into quarters and transfer to a plate.

5. Serve and enjoy.

La Galette de France @ Subiaco

Posted in Coffee & Desserts, French, Perth by

Three things that render my weekend well spent – markets, sweets and strolling. What could be better than accomplishing all these in 1 place? Conveniently located inside Station Street Markets in Subiaco, La Galette de France Subiaco definitely makes my weekend routine complete. There are 3 La Galette shops – South Perth, Nedlands, and Subiaco – but Subiaco is the one I frequent. I get up, head down to Subi, buy loads of fruits and vegetables and then treat myself to some french pastries. Yes, some pastries because I can never settle for just 1 pastry. The pastries available depend on what time you get to the markets. Arrive too early and not everything will be out yet. Arrive too late and most would have already been sold. The best time to get there would be noon so that you can have a wide array of pastries and pies and bread to choose from.

La Galette’s stall is just before the fruits and veg stalls so be prepared to squeeze through a sea of onlookers and passers-by.

La Galette de France: shopfront

Here, I am always greeted with a smile and fast service and the waft of freshly baked croissants always draw me back for more. One of the things I like about La Galette de France is that they are not sugar crazy. Everything is just sweet enough which is how I like my sweets. My top picks are: any of the petits fours, particularly the lemon tart and chocolate tart, pain au chocolate, the mini bag of palmier and the quiche ratatouille. The lemon tart, whether small, medium or large, is super tangy. The lemon curd is not eggy at all making it a genuine tarte au citron. The chocolate tart is filled with a rich dark chocolate ganache. The sweetness does not overpower the richness of the dark chocolate which makes me appreciate it even more. Both tarts have a very nutty pastry shell. Yum yum!

La Galette: tarte au citron et tarte au chocolat

The pain au chocolat (chocolate croissant) is very flaky but not overly greasy like some of the croissants I’ve had elsewhere and is filled with rich dark chocolate. Size is a bit too small for my appetite though.

La Galette: pain au chocolat

The bag of palmier is one bag of crunchy goodness that even my granny LOVES. In fact, she was the one who bought it and tempted me to share it with her because she felt guilty finishing the whole pack by herself.

Macarons? Yes, they sell macarons too but they are not the best ones around. It’s better to spend your money on the tarts.

And for the first time last week I had something savoury. Not a lot of hot pies and quiches left late in the afternoon. There were only 2 kinds of quiche that I could choose from – quiche lorraine (ham and cheese) or quiche ratatouille (tomatoes, zucchini and other veggies). Of course I had the quiche ratatouille because ham and cheese were too plain. I made the right choice though because this was one very tasty quiche. It was packed with rich tomatoes with only a little layer of egg.

La Galette: quiche ratatouille

As with every other shop that hand makes their products and make them as close to authentic as possible, prices would be an issue if you are the stingy type. Petits fours cost $2.30 each for 1 bite; pain au chocolat is $3; quiche is $4. But the adage “you get what you pay for” is certainly very true in this case. This is certainly one of the best French patisserie and boulangerie that I have ever been to in Perth.

My rating: 9/10
La Galette de France on Urbanspoon

www.lagalettedefrance.com.au

Big Bowl @ Northbridge

Posted in Chinese/Asian, Perth by

Finally a place in Perth where I can indulge in noodles semi-guiltlessly (semi, because I am trying a diet of low carbs). If you need to be reminded…I have a very unhealthy addiction to noodles. Noodle soup, stir-fry noodles, deep fried noodles with sauce, boiled noodles, claypot noodles, salad noodles – in whatever way noodles are cooked I will eat them all (but noodles in a heart warming broth is my number choice).

Today on a very chilly day I ventured out to the city for some harmless shopping. I had the craving for a good bowl of soup, battling between minestrone or asian soup. In the end, asian soup craving won so I headed on foot to Northbridge for a big bowl of noodle soup. I have read that Big Bowl Noodles along William Street makes their own noodles so that alone is enough to convince me to give this place a try. The restaurant was not overly busy when I walked in seeing as it was already 2:30pm then. There were only 3 other tables occupied so service was very quick.

They have this on their wall explaining something about noodle making -

Big Bowl: info about noodle making

- and they are right. Noodle making is an art. Big Bowl makes their own noodles called La Mien, as in noodles pulled by hand, but we are now in the modern ages so they actually use machines to “pull” the noodles. There are 3 machines – 1 for regular noodles, 1 for wholemeal noodles, and 1 for thicker regular noodles – and the noodles are “pulled” to order. Place your order then choose your noodle and the waitress presses a button on the machine and, voila, noodles come out and she passes them on to the chef.

Big Bowl: here comes my wholemeal noodles

There are some 50+ combinations of noodles on the menu – some soup, some stir fried, some vego..etc. and it did take a while for me to decide which one to indulge in. Finally I chose the fish skin with prawn dumpling noodle soup with wholemeal noodles. Wow, it was heaven in every slurp. And made even better with a little bit of chili. It was unusual to have wholemeal la mien because I have never been to a chinese restaurant that actually makes and serves wholemeal noodles. This worked just fine for me because I currently have an obsession with anything wholemeal (for that added texture). The soup was very simple yet tasty. Just broth, I’m guessing pork broth, and not loaded with msg seeing as I was not left dehydrated after I finished my bowl of noodle soup. They were generous with the veggies too. The only real problem with my meal were the dumplings. They came in only 4 pieces and were mediocre. The wrapper was too big and I could not make out where the fish skin was.

Big Bowl: fish skin with prawn dumpling noodle soup

The staff there can speak little English, enough for them to get by and understand me. I was going to try ordering in Chinese but I felt so embarrassed with my broken Chinese that if she asked me something else I would’ve just turned red and replied in English. The lady who served me looked a bit uptight but she did turn out to be friendly upon “chatting” with her about the noodles. I loved my wholemeal noodles so much that I ordered fresh ones to take home. I did not know that you can actually just order fresh noodles until a man came in and ordered 4 large containers. So I copied him and ordered 1 large container for myself. And this was when I “chatted” with the lady about the different types of noodles and how I should store and cook them at home.

Big Bowl: take home fresh wholemeal noodles

I am literally contained with excitement about cooking the noodles at home. I finally found a place where I can get quality noodles to feed my addiction.

My rating: 8/10

Big Bowl on Urbanspoon

Cabin Fever @ CBD

Posted in Breakfast/Brunch, Coffee & Desserts, Perth by

There’s no better way to enjoy a day off than chilling out in a very homey cafe that is Cabin Fever. Buried deep in Bon Marche arcade along Barrack Street, this little coffee shop is like the kitchen I’ve always wanted where friends would come over and we would spend the whole day chattering away whilst munching on sweet little goodies. Everything about this cafe screams home. And there is absolutely nothing wrong with that. If only they could rent out this place to me once a week I’d be a happy camper.

Cabin Fever: counter and bar

Cabin Fever: "dining hall"

Cabin Fever: display of goodies

Cabin Fever: wall of cups and saucers

Adorned by a wall of cups and saucers, frames of drawings and furniture you’ll find at nanna’s place and looked after by such friendly and cheerful people, it did not take long at all for me to fall in love with this place. It was rather busy when I walked in -Business people in suits were waiting for their takeaway coffees, business issues were being discussed over at that “dining hall” and friends of the baristas were sprawled across the couch. The menu is limited to bread, muesli and muffins and quiche for this particular day (as it was today’s special). I placed my order of a skinny latte and a homemade banana and walnut bread (that came up to a total bill of $7) and settled myself onto a green wing chair. Oh what comfort! There is a coffee table next to my chair and a big table lamp so it was perfect for some reading. I took out my book and happily nibbled my toasted and buttered banana bread and sipped my coffee. It was a very light and delicious breakfast. The banana bread was very moist and delicious but could have been better with more bananas. Having it toasted gave it a nuttier flavour that was just absolutely divine! To go with it was a cup of beautifully crafted coffee that I have enjoyed to the last drop.

Cabin Fever: toasted banana and walnut bread with a latte

I sat on the green wing chair close to about 2 hours because I was desperately trying to finish reading Water for Elephants, which I did, but mostly it was just because this little coffee place made me very happy. It had such a positive energy that makes me want to spend the whole day there. If only I had another book with me. Oh, there’s free wifi too.

When I realised the time after finishing my book I finally got up to leave…but not before snapping up some photos. It’s a photo heaven for try-hard photographers like me! I bought a homemade brownie to go which is very sinfully rich and headed out the cafe and into the shop next to it called The Pigeonhole, which is owned by the same people (Cabin Fever is owned by The Pigeonhole), and that is another story.

My rating: 9.5/10

Cabin Fever on Urbanspoon

www.cabinfever.com.au

Nao @ Perth CBD

Posted in Japanese, Perth by

At first sight I would never have even thought of stepping into this little Japanese restaurant. The place does not strike to me as some place posh. In fact, it is a little bit icky when you step into the restaurant. The floors just seem like they are covered in grease and I would no doubt refuse to put my precious bags on them, the tables are not exactly pristine clean specially when you are not the first to have occupied them, and the walls I dare not even touch.

It is through my cousin’s recommendation that I sort of reluctantly agreed to have dinner at Nao. After all, it was almost the end of night shopping hours; most places have already closed their kitchen and the restaurant next door was way worse than this shabby place. Plus I was very, very, very hungry that anything to feed my hunger would suit me just fine.

We placed our orders just in time before Nao’s kitchen closed. It was too hard to choose what to order partly because Japanese food is not among my favourites and the menu is quite worn out which did not help convince me that food here will be good. Anyhow, what made this shabby little place special was that they make their own ramen. And not just 1 type. They come in 3 flavours: egg, chilli and spinach (or as they call it: yellow, red, green). Any place that makes their own “raw ingredients” is, in my opinion, convincing enough to give them a go. And this I do not regret.

I ordered the “Spicy miso chicken ramen with red noodles” and it was darn good. The noodles were al dente (as the Italians would describe it) and they tasted nothing like instant ramen noodles. Even though it’s called spicy miso and I had the chilli ramen with it the noodle soup was not spicy at all (and that’s coming from me, who is not a big spicy dish eater). All ramens come with bamboo shoots, nori, sesame seeds, and the meat of your choice. On my first visit I was really disappointed to see that I was given only 3 thinly sliced chicken pieces. The disappointment quickly fades though once you slurp that first spoonful of soup. The second time I was there I had the “Spicy miso chasu ramen with red noodles” which was exactly the same as the chicken one except for the meat of course. If you are too health conscious I’d say go for the chicken, or seafood. The chasu is indeed like American bacon. It is thinly sliced pork meat with a big layer of fat encircling it. The spicy miso soup was a tad too salty for my liking (and again, this is coming from me, the sodium queen) so by the 3rd  time I went there I opted for the regular miso soup instead and it was divine. It was just the way miso soup should taste like and just the right amount of sodium (or miso paste) was added. The dish is served in an oversized bowl that makes your noodles and soup seem little. But don’t be fooled. For an average of $10.50, you will leave feeling really, really full specially if you ordered takoyaki or gyoza on the side and managed to woop those down too!

Nao: red noodle

Nao: spicy miso chasu ramen

Speaking of takoyakis and gyozas – these are 2 notable Japanese entrees that you must try if you think you have enough room in your tummy to fit them all in. The takoyaki comes in 6 pieces, a little bit smaller in size than the ones you get from other Japanese restaurants. Size doesn’t really matter to me since I can barely eat them anyway after having my ramen but it is worth a try. They are served by the friendly staff as soon as they come off the takoyaki pan so you can be guaranteed that they will have a crunchy outside and a steamingly hot inside. The same goes for the gyoza. You eat them as soon as they come off the grill but that means you have to wait for maybe 20 minutes for a plate of 4 gyozas. They came after I was halfway done with my ramen (and if you know how fast I eat you will know that this is indeed a long time to wait for an entree). And the presentation was not as good as it should have been. The gyozas clearly got stuck to the pan/grill as evidenced by the missing bits of the skins and they seemed to have been cooked in a non-wiped previously used pan as evidenced by the burnt black bits sticking to the skin. If the taste wasn’t good then this was unforgivable but the taste was indeed good so I would no doubt order this again.

Needless to say, I was taken by surprise with Nao. It went from a barely noticeable restaurant to a Friday favourite of mine. I now usually stop by Nao for dinner after work on Friday nights before embarking on my shopping spree (in hindsight this is probably not a good idea because you won’t be able to fit into anything after finishing off that tasty bowl of ramen).

My rating: 6.5/10

www.naojapaneserestaurant.com.au

Nao Japanese on Urbanspoon

*photos from Nao’s website