Tag Archives: brunch

Coconut Club, Singapore

30 Wednesday May 2018

Posted by in Breakfast and Brunch, Restaurant review, South East Asian, Uncategorized

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Hands down, the best nasi lemak in Singapore. It’s comparable if not better than the famed Village Park nasi lemak in KL, by virtue of its superior fried chicken and convenient location, nestled within Ann Siang hill. I would, however, give Village Park the edge for its sambal.

The coconut club adopts a no straw policy. A minor inconvenience that’s for sure but I believe it’s a good notion, whether or not they’re trying to skimp on the cost of plastic straws.

You’re given a basic nasi lemak option and the option of jazzing it up with additional items like more egg, extra chicken and the such. I can’t quite remember the drinks unfortunately, although I most likely went for the Milo. Nasi Lemak and Milo, what a winning combination!

I greedily opted for an extra fried egg and almost regretted it when the food arrived. Portions are generous when it comes to their exceptional nasi lemak, not that I’m complaining at all as I love my food.

The fried eggs are nicely browned just around the edges and yolks ooze a perfect molten gold. Fried chicken is seasoned well and manages to be a tantalizing crisp golden brown on the outside and all tender juiciness on the inside. Even the ikan bilis is crisp and crackling perfect, nudging away every memory of stale, chewy ikan bilis in lesser eateries. And what is nasi lemak without the full monty ? There’s a generous helping of peanuts and the usual side of cucumbers to help combat the spice of some very delightful sambal. It can get a tad spicy, so fair warning.

We ended the meal with a bowl of chendol each. The shaved ice is so fine it tastes like it belongs in the acclaimed powder snows of Niseko. However, I tend to mix my chendol up and stir it into a soup before I eat it, so the texture was unfortunately lost on me. I would have preferred more gula melaka and other toppings but this was a decent go.

One of my favourite haunts these days, should I decide to let loose and go on a binge!

4.5/5 for the nasi lemak!

Address: 6 Ann Siang Hill, Singapore 069787

Pan-fried Ham and cheese sandwich

03 Thursday Dec 2015

Posted by in Bread, Breakfast and Brunch, Home Cooking, sandwich, Snack/Light Meals

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There’s now a recipe for a simple ham and cheese? Blasphemous!!! So it may be easy to slap some ham and cheese between two slices of bread and call it a ham and cheese. Indeed the basic definition of this sandwich is fulfilled.

I just took it a step further that’s all, with the specific use of a certain type of ham, cheese, bread and other additional fillings (cravings of the day) to make it taste a little more special.


Above Left: Mushroom pie (updated recipe for this to come soon!) topped with puff pastry)

Bottom right: Sinfully crispy ham and cheese

So without further ado, here are the basic ingredients:-

  1. Thick sliced bread – I used milk loaf as I love its softer crumb, delicate buttery flavour and large surface area. Large sandwiches make for a more impressive presentation
  2. Sliced ham – I’m not so fond of the traditional Blackforest ham used in a ham and cheese, so I replaced it with Mortadella ham (I was lucky to have some Truffle Mortadella ham so I made this a truffle themed ham and cheese). This option is entirely up to you, you’d know best your ham of preference after all.
  3. Salted butter for spreading
  4. Cheese – I used a mix of Emmental cheese and Gruyere. Although I have to say the cheese didn’t melt very well. I might try grating cheddar cheese and using that instead next time
  5. Optional – dijon mustard, truffle oil, truffles. I suggest you don’t mix mustard and truffle products though.

Preparations coming along. Cheese and butter at room temperature before use.

Butter one side of the bread generously. Get the butter into every nook and cranny and leave no surface unbuttered!

Flip the bread over and start to assemble your sandwich. If you’re not using truffle, spread some Dijon mustard onto the unbuttered side of the bread before layering your cheese on top.

Then add the ham, and more layers of cheese. As you can see below I’ve also added a couple slices of truffle and a little truffle oil before the final cheese layer. Yes, the picture is not the right way around. Oops.

Top with the final slice of bread, and butter the outer surface of the bread. Both sides of the sandwich have to be buttered as you will be pan frying it.

Place the sandwich in a frying pan large enough to fit it and turn the heat on very low. Slowly fry until the entire surface of the bread is an even dark golden brown. Then carefully flip the sandwich on its other side to fry the remaining side to the desired dark golden brown. Its got to be crispy but not burnt.

Once done, slide onto a serving plate, slice it up and serve!

Trust me when I say pan frying the sandwich makes a world of difference. It is not enough to toast the bread and butter it before assembling.

Quick and easy, yet it does look pretty presentable!

Shepherd’s Pie

22 Thursday Oct 2015

Posted by in Breakfast and Brunch, Dinner, Home Cooking, Lamb, Lunch, Mains, One bowl meal, Sauces

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I’ve been itching to have a go at making this pie for a while now! What’s not to love about creamy mashed potatoes and a hearty thick lamb mince ragu all in a single bowl? It’s a pretty balanced meal is it not? Carbs, protein and vegetables? Let’s forget for a moment about the amount of cream and cheese that went into it and label it as the ultimate balanced meal.

Comfort food. Easy to put together. I will definitely make this again! The recipe calls for peas and corn as well but I made do without them since I’ve got a picky eater on my hands today!

Ingredients 

Meat Layer

  • Minced lamb – around 700 grams
  • 2 carrots, diced into smallish cubes
  • 1/2 cup fresh corn kernels
  • 1/2 cup fresh English peas (if you’re feeling lazy there’s always the frozen mixed vegetables option which has carrots, corn and peas all in one convenient bag. Use 1.5 cups of the mix then)
  • 4 cloves garlic finely minced
  • 1 cup minced onion
  • 3 tsp chopped rosemary leaves
  • 3 tsp thyme leaves
  • 1 1/2 cups chicken broth
  • 1 cup dry red wine
  • 3 tbsps Tomato puree, have an additional 3 tbsps on hand if you prefer more of it in the ragu
  • 2 tbsps Worcestershire sauce – other recipes call for 1 tsp, I found it insufficient and ended to my taste, so add to your taste
  • 2 tbsps all purpose flour
  • pepper to taste

Potato Layer

  • 700 grams peeled russet potatoes approx.
  • 200 ml cream
  • 30g salted butter
  • pepper to taste
  • 1 tsp garlic powder (optional)
  • 1 cup grated cheddar cheese
  • fresh thyme leaves

Cooking Instructions  

  • Heat up butter in a large deep skillet on medium high heat
  • Add the chopped onions first, and cook until translucent and starting to caramelise.
  • Add the garlic and fry for about half a minute or so until that’s soft
  • At this point if the mixture is getting a tad too dry, add a little more butter. After which we can now put the lamb mince into the pan to brown. Break up the meat into small pieces (the smaller, the smoother the ragu will be, but that’s only if you like it that way)
  •  Mix in the vegetables, we’re only adding them now as we don’t want to overcook them
  • Sprinkle the thyme and rosemary over the mixture and give it a good stir.
  • Pour in the red wine, chicken broth, Worcestershire sauce and tomato puree and flour.
  • Bring the sauce to a boil and lower the heat to simmer for a couple of minutes. The flour should thicken the sauce in the process.
  • Turn the heat off and cover with a lid.

  • As for the potatoes, place them in a large pot and cover with cold water
  • Add salt to the water
  • Bring to a boil. Once they are pierced easily with a fork, drain them. Check in about 10 minutes, if the potatoes are still resistant to the fork the leave for a bit longer. However, take care that you don’t overcook them. Don’t want mushy potatoes!
  • Press the potatoes through a ricer (or mash them by hand) and put aside.
  • Meanwhile, melt the butter in a saucepan and add the cream. Bring this to a gentle simmer before adding the potatoes to the cream and mixing it all up. Season with salt and pepper.
  • (Additional step:- you can put the mashed potatoes through a sieve to get rid of all the lumps for that smooth mash)

Ladle the ragu into your prettiest deep dish (one that is oven-compatible). Sprinkle a layer of cheese over the ragu.   Spread the mashed potatoes evenly over the ragu like so.
After which you’re done. You can use a fork to create patterns on the mash which will turn out a little crispy after some time in the oven. My ideal meat ragu to potato ratio  is 3:1.

However, you can add more if you like your mash. Here, I decorated the top by squeezing the potatoes through a decorative nozzle.

Sprinkle some cheese over the top of the mash layer, and arrange some thyme leaves strategically into the top layer as a sort of garnish and for the fragrance.

Bake at 205 Celsius for around 20-30 minutes
Added some chopped chives before serving, just because I like chives.
  

Truffle eggs with cheese

08 Thursday Jan 2015

Posted by in Bread, Breakfast and Brunch, Eggs, Home Cooking, Lunch

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Just another quick picture post on some scrambled eggs I made while I was in London. Found some black truffle at Borough Market, so I shaved some over the eggs. I still think nothing beats the aroma of Alba winter white truffles!

A minute twist to ordinary scrambled eggs… add some truffle oil and mild cheddar cheese shavings to give boring ol scrambled eggs a little kick! Top with chopped chives and serve over slices of sourdough bread, pan toasted in butter. Recipe for the basic scrambled eggs here.

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Truffle part 7: Mushroom, Egg & Cheese Pastry with truffles and Salad with lemon mayo honey dressing

06 Monday May 2013

Posted by in Bread, Breakfast and Brunch, Eggs, Healthy, Home Cooking, Lunch, Salad, Snack/Light Meals, Starter

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Almost finished with the truffle series! Here I made two simple dishes with the truffles, a puff pastry and a salad. Really easy and yummy stuff.IMG_4661

Puff Pastry Ingredients (for 1 pax)

  1. A quarter of ready made puff pastry (I used Jus-rol, the 500g packet)
  2. Grate a good handful of your favourite cheese (I used cheddar)
  3. Sliced mushrooms (about 3 fresh swiss brown mushrooms)
  4. 1 teaspoon of truffle oil
  5. 1 egg
  6. 1 egg white to glaze
  7. Black pepper and salt

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Salad Ingredients (for 1-2 pax depending on how greedy)

  1. 7-8 almonds sliced (If you can buy them pre sliced, that’s even better
  2. Handful of cranberries
  3. Juice and rind from half a yellow lemon (omit the rind if you don’t like it)
  4. 3 tbsp mayo
  5. 1-2 tbsp honey
  6. Enough salad leaves for 1-2 pax

Instructions

  1. Roll out the ready made pastry into a square and trim off the sides so that it’s nice and neat. 
  2. Preheat the oven to 220°C (200°C for fan assisted ovens). You should follow the instructions printed on the wrapping, oven temperatures and timings may differ.
  3. Cut a little more of the ready made pastry and roll it out to make 4 strips, you will need to place each strip at the edge of the pastry square so it holds the ingredients (and egg) in.
  4. Arrange the cheese and mushrooms in the pastry, leaving space in the middle. The egg will be added here later on. In the meantime, brush the pastry with the egg white for that golden brown colour
  5. Bake the pastry for about 12 minutes (this would depend on the total time you need to bake the pastry. If you need to bake it for 20 minutes, add the egg 3-4 minutes before completion). If I remember correctly I baked it for 15 minutes, so I slid the egg into the middle after 12 minutes. You can add more cheese around the egg after that if you wish. Then drizzle the truffle oil over the pastry.
  6. Once the pastry is golden brown and the egg is cooked, remove from oven.

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  1. While the pastry is cooking, wash and drain the salad leaves, slice the almonds and fry them til golden in color. Pat the excess oil off almonds with a kitchen towel and set aside.
  2. Mix the lemon juice and rind, mayo and honey together in a separate bowl.
  3. Place salad leaves in a salad bowl and toss with the honey lemon and mayo mixture. Add cranberries, sliced almonds and shave some of that black truffle on top. Serve.
  4. Season pastry with black pepper (and, if you chose a mild, not-so-salty cheese, some salt) and add some truffle shavings. Eat!

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You can add other things to your salad, I added cherry tomatoes to mine.IMG_4672

If you like your egg less cooked then just cook it for 1.5-2 minutes before removing from the oven. For me, as long as the whites are cooked I’m all good.IMG_4666

Egg and Bacon Salad with honey mayo mustard dressing

22 Monday Apr 2013

Posted by in Breakfast and Brunch, Eggs, Healthy, Home Cooking, Lunch, Salad, Snack/Light Meals, Starter, Western

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I saw this in one of Nigella Lawson’s cookbooks and had to make it! I love green salads with eggs. Caesar salads for one =p. The recipe in Nigella’s book calls for mustard, vinegar and worcestershire sauce for the dressing but I used honey, mayonnaise and Dijon mustard. It was as I liked it 😉 sweetish sour with a slight kick from the mustard.

Ingredients (Serves 4 as a starter, or Serves 2 as a full meal)

  1. 4 eggs
  2. 1 head escarole or frisee (I used Romaine lettuce, you can use other leaves of your preference)
  3. 1 teaspoon garlic oil
  4. 200g smoked lardons or smoked streaky bacon cut into chunks (I just cut up some sliced bacon)
  5. small bunch of flat-leaf parsley, chopped
  6. For the dressing: 1 tsp Dijon mustard, 4 tsp cider vinegar, a dash of Worcestershire sauce
  7. Parmesan cheese (Optional)
  8. 1 Chicken fillet (Optional)

Instructions

  1. Put the eggs into a saucepan of water, bring to the boil, let boil for 1 minute, then turn off the heat and let the eggs sit in the pan for 10 minutes (the egg would come out still golden in the centre and not hard boiled all the way, and the whites would be silkier).
  2. Wash, drain and tear the salad leaves into bite sized pieces and place it into a bowl.
  3. Heat the garlic oil in a frying pan and fry the lardons/bacon until crisp.
  4. Drain the water from the egg pan and run cold water on the eggs. Once they are cool to the touch, peel them.
  5. Transfer the lardons/bacon with a slotted spatula onto some sheets of kitchen roll.
  6. Add Dijon mustard to the juices in the bacon pan and whisk to mix, then add the vinegar and a dash of Worcestershire sauce, whisk again and pour this over the salad leaves, tossing to mix. (Here, I just mixed honey, Dijon mustard and mayonnaise together until I liked the taste. No extra bacon oil here)
  7. Now add the bacon to the salad and toss again. Then quarter the eggs and add them along with the chopped parsley, before giving the whole salad a gentle mix to combine.
  8. If you’re adding chicken, brush the chicken with olive oil, then sprinkle salt, pepper other herbs of your choice. Place in a baking tray and bake at 190 degrees celsius and roast for 15-25 minutes depending on the breast size until the juices run clear. Remove from oven, let it rest for 15 mins before slicing/shredding to add into the salad

Result… a very filling and satisfying salad! Omit bacon and cheese to make it healthier 😉

 

 

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Daiwa Sushi 大和寿司

16 Tuesday Apr 2013

Posted by in Breakfast and Brunch, Fish, Healthy, Japanese, Lunch, Restaurant review

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Tsukiji Fish Market (築地市場)20130416-130509.jpg

When it comes to sushi at Tsukiji Fish Market, two places immediately come to mind: Sushi Dai and Daiwa Sushi. Personally I never tried Sushi Dai, I’ve only gone to Daiwa sushi. And I’m so well satisfied I can’t imagine another place topping it. I should also think that they are similar in quality and standards according to some of the comments on the web.

The queues are always long at both in any case. The very morning I landed in Tokyo (around 6 am) I immediately dropped my bags and headed to Tsukijishijō Station (築地市場駅, tsukiji shijō eki) and meandered my way through forklifts, grumpy ojisans and the overwhelming smell of fish which, by the way, you can smell even in the station as it is right next to the fish market.

Finally got to Daiwa Sushi at 9am (just look for super long queues and the signboard). I was in line for 20 minutes, which was not too long of a wait as it is easier to seat one person compared to two people.

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The fish market is probably one of those places in Japan where you do not get much politeness and you may get yelled at or pushed if you’re in the way. Don’t be surprised by it.

This is the “menu”, their set is pretty value for money as well. For 3,500 yen you get 7 nigiri sushi, one rolled sushi and miso soup. Good stuff. That day I went for a la carte and the bill came up to 5,400 yen but its all worth it.

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Its a tight squeeze in there, barely enough room to squeeze through to sit even.

This is just some of the fresh offerings that they had that day. Oh by the way, I went to Daiwa twice during my stay XD it was that good.

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Friendly chefs.

I was worried the grumpy obasan would not allow us to take photos at all, the last time we came and took out a camera or a phone to take pictures, she was like “NO NO CAMERA” -___- I was so upset then. But this time around I think they’ve completely relaxed that rule. People around me were taking pictures to their hearts content!

And so I started to order:

Akami (the leanest part of the tuna) and Tai. Large slabs of fresh, fresh fish, perfectly marinated with soy sauce and a dab of wasabi. You don’t actually need to pour more soy sauce into the little saucer. As a maguro lover, I absolutely loved the temperature, texture, and taste of their maguro. The sushi rice is of the sticky short grained variety that Japanese rice is expected of. Delicious. I rarely order tai (red snapper) but I thought I’d try it this time. The way that they slice the fish is also different. Did you realize that on the maguro you do not see any sinew? Compare this to a usual sushi joint, a maguro slice would probably consists of 4-5 bits of tuna joined together by sinew. Maguro without sinew like this one just melts in your mouth and you’re allowed to concentrate on the full flavour of the lean tuna. Whereas on the tai, the skin is left on and is cut in such a way so that you enjoy the taste and texture of this variety of fish. It was sweet and the best tai I’ve ever had.20130416-131012.jpg

A generous bowl of miso soup that comes with your meal, made with seaweed, little clams and lots of spring onions ❤

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Next up, chutoro (semi fat tuna) and hirame (flounder).

Chutoro again, well sliced without sinew and laced with fat to make it richer than the akami, but not as buttery as the otoro. Still melts in your mouth XD Nice and thick slice there to satisfy my maguro craze. The hirame has more of a chewy texture which releases a subtly sweet flavor. Spend a little bit of time to chew on this so as to fully appreciate the taste of this. Would suggest to eat this first before heavier tasting fish like aji or maguro.

I forgot to mention, all of the fish come at room temperature, which is the perfect temperature (to me that is) to experience their natural flavours.

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Then two orders of uni!! I had a little problem with this…. it was so tall and packed with uni that I couldn’t fit it into my mouth. I tried to take a bite out of it but the uni spilt out onto my hands T___T Then I learnt my lesson, please put the sushi into your mouth, uni side first, then stuff the rest of it in. Its a good problem to have =)

The uni was fresh obviously, and had no fishy smell. Just creamy, briny, meltingly amazing dollops of golden roe.20130416-131110.jpg

Then came the hamachi (Japanese amberjack), with a bit of its skin, and beautiful pink flesh. I had this fish fresh from the sea when I was at the Maldives and its flesh is indeed beautifully pink. Its taste is a little stronger than the other white fish I had, and is fatty too.

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The next picture shows anago sushi (from my second breakfast at Daiwa…you didn’t think I could eat that much in one sitting did you? =p) which was nicely broiled and glazed with that sweet sauce. Really well done. 20130416-131210.jpg

And here’s another photo of chutoro and akami, as I forgot to take a picture of the otoro, which was mind blowingly good. Absolutely buttery and melt in your mouth.

I need to go back soon. When I think of all the expensive restaurants I’ve been to in comparison to this sushi place at a smelly fish market? There is no comparison if you want to put value and quality together, Daiwa sushi wins hands down for me.

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If you’re looking for a Japanese sushi breakfast, please do consider this place. Try not to come too late as I’m not sure when they will run out of fresh fish as they did once some years back at 11am!

Daiwa Sushi. 03-3547-6807. Tsukiji / Sushi. Tsukiji-Shijo 5-2-1 #6.

Closed on Sundays and National holidays (and some Wednesdays)

Opening Hours: 5.30am – 1.30pm

Truffle Part 4: Foie Gras and fried onions crostini with truffles

10 Sunday Mar 2013

Posted by in Bread, Breakfast and Brunch, Snack/Light Meals, Starter, Western

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I’ve previously tried a foie gras pate and fried onions combinations. I just thought I’d try something one step further and use foie gras lobes and top everything with my beautiful winter black truffles ❤

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Ingredients (Serves 2 pax)

4 slices of french baguette bread

2 lobes of foie gras at room temperature

1/2 a large onion

Black winter truffle shavings

Fleur de sel and black pepper

Instructions

1. Heat some oil in a frying pan on medium heat. Once the oil is hot, add the onions. Fry until golden brown and caramelized.

2. This is where I made a mistake, I used the same pan to fry the foie gras and didn’t wash it. The pan should have been dry and hot as foie gras is already oily as it is. But as I reused the pan there was some residual oil and bits of fried onion T_____T. Not that it makes much difference to the taste, it just looked bad afterwards.IMG_4625

3. Sear the foie gras for about 45 seconds on each side.

4. Remove from the pan and slice thickly (see above).

5. Lightly toast the baguette slices IMG_4627

6. Assemble your crostini! Place some of the caramelized onions on the toasted baguette, arrange the foie gras slices on it and season with fleur de sel and black pepper. For the finishing touch, just go crazy shaving the truffles all over the plate! IMG_0305

Its a little hard eating the crostini as bits of onion tend to fall off but its totally worth it. The fatty rich foie gras with the sweet onions and delicate aromatic truffles truly make a heavenly bite!IMG_0317

Mushroom Quiche

26 Sunday Feb 2012

Posted by in Breakfast and Brunch, Lunch, Snack/Light Meals, Western

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Mushroom Quiche

Mushroom Quiche

Sometimes I really crave a mushroom quiche, topped with gruyere cheese and chives with a nice buttery flaky crust. When I think of flaky crust I also think about the effort required to make this flaky crust 😦

But it is worth it. Forget about buying a tube of frozen crust from the freezers at the supermarket. Those are pretty tasteless. It is worth all the effort and time to make the pastry crust from scratch.

I found a good recipe from simply recipes for the butter crust as well as the mushroom quiche. Making a pastry crust is similar to making scones in the sense that you need to have really cold butter and it has to be mixed into the flour quickly so the butter doesn’t melt. You’d have a bread-like texture if the butter is fully incorporated into the flour. Aim for tiny pieces of cold hard butter coated with the flour. Then and only then will you get the beautiful flaky crumbly texture that a well-made crust should have.

Website source:

Pie Butter Crust (Pâte Brisée)

(I’m going to disclaim..because I’m lazy, I’m going to lift from the website itself but will add comments here and there)

Ingredients (for 1 pie crust)

  • 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour, plus extra for rolling
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon sugar (increase to 1 1/2 teaspoons if for a sweet recipe)
  • 8 Tbsp (1 stick) unsalted butter, frozen, cut into 1/2 inch cubes
  • 3 to 4 Tbsp ice water (keep a little more ice water at the side, just in case you need to add more)

Instructions

1. Cut up a stick of butter into smallish (about 1/2-inch) cubes, and put it into the freezer. The colder the butter the better luck you’ll have with creating a flaky crust. Freeze the butter at least 15 minutes, better an hour or overnight.

2. Place the flour, salt, and sugar into a food processor and pulse until well combined. Add half of the butter cubes and pulse 6 to 8 times. Then add the other half of the butter cubes and pulse 6 to 8 more times. You should have a mixture that resembles a coarse meal, with many butter pieces the size of peas. (If you don’t have a food processor, you could manually cut the butter into the flour and use your hands to break up the butter and coat the butter pieces with flour continuously. Just make sure you keep the butter cold and hard. )

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  • Picture source: Simplyrecipes

3.  Add a couple of tablespoons of ice cold water (without the ice!) to the food processor bowl and pulse a couple of times. Then add more ice water, slowly, about a tablespoon at a time, pulsing after each addition, until the mixture just barely begins to clump together. If you pinch some of the crumbly dough and it holds together, it’s ready, if not, add a little more water and pulse again. Try to keep the water to a minimum. Too much water will make your crust tough.

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4. Remove the crumbly mixture from the food processor and place on a very clean, smooth surface. If you want an extra flaky crust, you can press the heel of your palm into the crumbly mixture, pressing down and shmooshing the mixture into the table top. This is a French technique, called “fraisage”. Do this a few times, maybe 4 to 6 times, and it will help your crust be extra flaky. Then, use your hands to press the crumbly dough together and shape into a disc. Work the dough only enough to just bring the dough together. Do not over-knead or your crust will end up tough. You should be able to see little bits of butter, speckling the dough. When these bits of butter melt as the crust cooks, the butter will help separate the dough into flaky layers. So, visible pieces of butter are a good thing, what you are aiming for, in the dough. Sprinkle the disc with a little flour on all sides. Wrap the disc in plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 1 hour. (At this point you can freeze the dough disk for several months until ready to use. Defrost overnight in the refrigerator before proceeding.)

5. When you are ready to roll out the dough, remove the disk from the refrigerator and place on a clean, smooth, lightly floured surface. Let it sit for 5 to 10 minutes to take just enough of a chill off of it so that it becomes easier to roll out. Sprinkle some flour on top of the disk. Using a rolling pin, roll out the dough to a 12 inch circle, to a thickness of about 1/8 of an inch thick. As you roll out the dough, check if the dough is sticking to the surface below. Add a few sprinkles of flour if necessary to keep the dough from sticking. Place on to a 9-inch pie plate, lining up the fold with the center of the pan. Gently unfold and press down to line the pie dish with the dough.

Mushroom Quiche

Ingredients (Serves 6-8)

  • 1 recipe pie dough
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • 2 medium shallots, thinly sliced
  • 1 pound assorted mushrooms, quartered or sliced (I prefer brown mushrooms, sliced)
  • Salt and freshly ground pepper
  • 1/2 cup milk
  • 1/2 cup heavy cream
  • 3 large eggs
  • Pinch nutmeg
  • 6 ounces Gruyère cheese, grated (1 1/2 cups)

METHOD

1 On a lightly floured surface, roll dough into a 12-inch circle. Fit into a 10-by-1 1/2-inch round tart pan (with or without a removable bottom), pressing dough into corners. Transfer to freezer to chill for 30 minutes.

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The pictures above are from simplyrecipe, while the ones below are my attempt at it. Please forgive the black beans, didn’t know what else to use 🙂

Mushroom quiche ingredients

Mushroom quiche ingredients

Quiche - Blind baking

2 Preheat oven to 350°. Line pastry with parchment paper, wax paper, or aluminum foil, pressing into the corners and edges. Fill at least two-thirds with baking weights – dried beans, rice, or aluminum pie weights. Bake first for 15 minutes, remove from oven and let cool a few minutes. Carefully remove parchment paper and weights. Poke the bottom of the pie pan with the tongs of a fork and return to oven and bake an additional 10 minutes or until lightly golden. (Fork holes are for any air to escape.) Transfer to a wire rack to cool while making filling.

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Pictures above are from simply recipe, the one below is a picture I took of the cream and eggs mixture, with a bay leaf floating aimlessly on top :D.

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3 Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium high heat. Add shallots, and cook, stirring, until translucent but not brown, about 1 minute. Add mushrooms, and season with salt and pepper. Cook, stirring frequently, until mushrooms first release their liquid and then liquid evaporates and mushrooms are dark golden brown, 8 to 10 minutes.

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4 Place tart pan on a baking sheet to catch any run-off there might be (especially if you are using a pan with a removable bottom.) Sprinkle half the cheese evenly over the bottom of the crust. Spread mushrooms over the cheese and then top with remaining cheese. In a medium bowl, whisk together milk, cream, and eggs. Season with nutmeg, salt, and pepper. Pour over cheese. Transfer to oven, and bake until just set in the center, 30 to 35 minutes. Cool on a wire rack for about 10 minutes before slicing.

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Compare the quiche above by simplyrecipe, and the quiche I made below. The result was actually pretty delicious! Some of that egg mixture actually leaked out of the crust as there was still some mixture left and the tin couldn’t take any more… yet I still tried to pour all the cream in as a result of my not wanting to waste any of the cream and eggs!

Other than that little mishap, it was good! The crust was flaky and golden and the filling was creamy, custard-like and cheesy and oh so yummy! Top with a generous sprinkle of chopped chives and serve.

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