Japanese Beef Noodles

I have to say, Japanese ingredients selection in local supermakets with their asian shelves, is pretty poor. I was disappointed not to find most of what I needed, and having to search for something as simple as wasabi in two supermarkets. However, the taste that we got in the end, was still delicious and conducive to Japanese dish.

5 tablespoons dark soy sauce

2 garlic cloves, crushed

1 tablespoon cornflour

1 tablespoon wasabi

450g lean sirloin steak, trimmed of fat and cut into thin strips

300g ribbon noodles, or even better - soba if you can find them

sunflower oil

1 large red pepper, seeded and thinly sliced

1 bunch of spring onions, sliced diagonally into 5 cm (2 in) lengths

125g shiitake mushrooms, sliced

1 cup beef stock (or dashi stock for authenticity)

1 sheet nori if you can find it, cut into thin strips

15g fresh coriander, chopped

1) Mix together soy sauce, garlic, cornflour and wasabi in a medium-sized bowl. Add the beef and stir until well coated. Set aside.

2) Depending of what kind of noodles you have, bring them to ready-to-eat condition (it helps with straight-to-wok noodles to cover them with hot water and then separate them with a fork). Drain and set aside.

3) Heat a wok or heavy-based frying pan until really hot, then add about 3 tablespoons of oil and swirl to coat the wok. Toss in the red pepper, spring onions and mushrooms and stir-fry for 4 minutes or until softened. Remove from the wok with a draining spoon. 

4) Heat about same amount of oil in the wok, then add the beef and stir-fry for about 5 minutes or until just tender, stirring pro-actively. Remove with the draining spoon.  

5) Pour the stock and 2 more tablespoons of soy sauce into the wok and add the noodles and vegetables with the nori (if using) and coriander. Toss well, then add the beef and toss again. Pile the noodles, vegetables and beef into bowls. Serve immediately. 

Lemon Olive Cake

This recipe features extra virgin olive oil, which gives this cake distinctive flavour. Not too sweet, but yet not savoury.

4 eggs, separated

0.5 cup sugar, plus 2 tablespoons for dusting

0.5 cup olive oil

4 heaped tablespoons flour

2 tablespoons cornflour

1 lemon, first zest grated and then juice squeezed

1) Sift flour and cornflour together into a bowl. Add grated lemon zest and mix it in.

2) Beat yolks with half the sugar until creamy and thick, about 3 minutes. Beat in olive oil and lemon juice, until just combine. It may appear separated. Stir in flour until just combined.

3) Beat egg whites with a clean whisk until soft peaks. Keep beating after that, adding rest of sugar by tablespoon, until stiff peaks.

4) Gently fold egg whites into yolk mixture and mix thoroughly but softly.

5) Pour into greased and lined baking tin (preferably springform), tap the tin few times to release any trapped air. Sprinkle extra sugar on top. Bake at 170-180C for about 30-40 minutes, until toothpick comes out clean.

Cool cake in the tin on a rack for 10 minutes, then run a thin knife around edge of the tin and remove sides. Cool cake to room temperature, about an hour. Remove bottom of pan and peel off baking paper.

Pasta Pesto Salad

 

For this summery light salad you will need to toss together:

300g cooked pasta shapes

200g cherry tomatoes, quartered

200g mozarella, torn into strips

There's penne on the picture, but I personally found that thinner and smaller pasta will work better. Something like farfalle.

After you brought it together, add your pesto and mix well but gentle.

for the pesto:

two handfuls basil leaves (makes about 25g)

2 garlic cloves, roughly chopped

half cup ligtly toasted pinenuts (at 170C in the oven, very briefly as they burn fast)

cup finely grated parmesan

enough olive oil to make it moist (about half a cup)

salt and ground black pepper

For a really rustic pesto, just mash and bash ingredients in a mortar: first basil leaves and garlic, then pinenuts; then mix in parmesan and olive oil, season and presto!

But if you prefer finer pesto, process it mechanically before adding parmesan and olive oil.

It smells and tastes so much better than store bought pesto!

Croissants

It might take a long time, but it takes a little effort, and makes up for a great breakfast!

Makes 8 medium-sized croissants:

half cup milk
1 tablespoon butter
1 tablespoon sugar
half teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon dry active yeast (one that needs to "activate" in warm water)
1/4 cup warm water

1 1/2 cup flour
130g butter at room temperature to layer

Making the dough:

1) Combine milk, first amount of butter, sugar and salt in a small pot and bring to a boil. Remove from the heat and cool to room temperature.

2) Dissolve the yeast in warm water, let it stand in warm place for about 10 minutes until it forms a foam on top. Then add it to the cooled milk. Add the mixture to the flour and mix with a spoon or a table knife quite vigorously until the dough is well mixed, it would be elastic and sticky.

Place in a bowl, cover with a tea towel and let rise in a warm place until double in bulk, about 1 1/2 hours. Place in refrigerator and chill for 30 minutes.

Tip: Each time you refrigerate the dough, cover securely to keep air out. This prevents the dough from drying out. 
3) Roll the dough on a floured board to form a 0.5cm thick rectangle. Spread the butter over 2/3 of the rectangle closest to you. Fold the unbuttered third over the center third. Then fold the bottom 1/3 over the doubled portion. Swing the dough around a quarter turn. Roll it again into a 1/4-inch thick oblong. Fold again in thirds.Cover the dough and place in the refrigerator for 2 hours or more. 

Tip: It is important to keep the dough cold while working with it. This can be achieved by working fast and rolling the dough on a cool worktop surface.

4) When the dough is chilled, remove from the refrigerator and repeat the folding and turning twice more. 

Making the croissants:

5) Roll the dough to 0.5cm thickness once more. Try and roll it into rectangular shape that will allow for cutting it in two lenghtwise. Then, in a zigzag motion, cut the dough to make triangles. At this point, you can put the filling at the wide side (the base) of each triangle. It can be:

>semi-soft cheese with freshly cut herbs;

>cubes of cooking chocolate (2 cubes per each)

>teaspoonful of jam etc.

Tip: Cut the dough of recipe croissant with a very sharp knife or pizza cutter.

6) Roll each triangle beginning with the wide side, then shape the rolls into crescents (or leave them straight). Place on baking sheets lined with baking paper. Leave enough room for each croissant to double in size. Chill for 30 minutes in the refrigerator before baking.
7) Preheat oven to 200C. Bake for 10 minutes. Reduce heat to 170C and continue to bake another 10-15 minutes.

Resist eating your croissants when they come from the oven. Croissants need time for the layers of dough to settle.  And yes, sometimes jam runs away :)

Blueberry Cheesecake

In this recipe, you ony bake half of the cheesecake, topping it with berries and whipped cream. I will later be trying another recipe where all of the cheesecake is baked altogether. So, this is Cheesecake Recipe No.1

 

50g butter

1 cup crushed biscuits (easy to put in a plastic bag and roll with a rolling pin)

350g tub plain Philadelphia cheese

3 tablespoons sugar

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

150g double whipping cream, whipped with 2 tablespoons sugar

150g blueberries and half-cup blueberry juice, or same from a tin

1 tablespoon cornflour

1) Melt the butter and mix with the biscuits. Press the mixture over cake tin, lined with baking paper. Best if the tin is a springform one. Allow for borders for your cheesecake, when you are spreading the biscuit mixture.

2) Beat the creamcheese with sugar until smooth, then beat in eggs and vanilla. Spoon this into the tin on top of biscuits, and bake at 180C for about 25 minutes. It will shrink a little. Don't worry, it's normal. Let cool completely.

3) Dissolve cornflour in blueberry juice and heat over the hob until starts to bubble. Add blueberries and take off the heat. You might want to add few drops of lemon juice to deepen the flavour. Spoon blueberry mixture on top of your baked base cheesecake.

4) Top the cheesecake with whipped cream and chill in the fridge for at least an hour.

Sweet-And-Sour Aubergines

Caponata

 

1 large aubergine, diced

half-cup olive oil

6 celery stalks, chopped

1 onion, chopped

1 tablespoon tomato puree

salt and ground black pepper

400g tin plum tomatoes

3 tablespoons sugar

3 tablespoons red wine vinegar

1 tablespoon capers

12 green or black olives, chopped

2 tablespoons chopped parsley

1) Toss aubergine dice with salt in a colander and set aside for half an hour. Then wash in running water and dry on paper towels.

2) Saute celery in about 4 tablespoon of olive oil until browned, then spoon out. Add some more oil and fry aubergine until tender. You might need to add more oil in the process. Set aside.

3) Pour rest of the oil, and saute onion until golden. Add tomato puree and tomatoes, and simmer for about 10-15 minutes. Add sugar and vinegar, and cook for 10 minutes to make a nice thick sauce. Season. 

4)Stir in your sauce: capers, olives, celery, aubergines and parsley. If it looks too dry, add a ladleful of water. Check and season to taste, if necessary.

Walnut Fingers

Extremely simple recipe, leading to delicious result!
This pastry is good for any filling, really, as long as you roll it relatively thin, think 0.5cm as a guide.

 

100g butter

1.5 cup flour

100g sour cream

1 tsp baking powder

100g walnuts, roasted slightly at 180C for 10-15 mins, and finely chopped

100g sugar

2 tbsp honey

1) Chop butter while cold and add it to the flour. Rub it with your fingers until roughly combined. Don't spend too much time on it. As long as there's no big lums of butter left, it's fine. Add baking powder and sour cream, and bring the dough together using your hand. Shape it into a ball and put in the fridge for 20-30 mins. The whole process of making the dough should not take longer than 20 minutes itself, so do not dwell on it.

2) Combine roasted walnuts, sugar and honey in a bowl.

3) Take the dough out of the fridge and roll it into an oblong sausage form, approximately 3cm in diameter. Cut small pieces off and roll them into thin circles, 3-5mm thick. Put about a teaspoon of walnut mixture onto each, working one by one, then roll it into a roulade, pinching the ends close.

4) Brush lightly with milk. Bake on the tray lined with baking paper, at 180C for about 20 minutes or until golden brown.

La Dolma Vita - Stuffed Peppers and Aubergines

This is another Azeri (Turkish) dish, slightly adapted. In addition to aubergines and peppers, you can use tomatoes.

Dolma

250g lamb mince

1 onion, chopped

1 teaspoon freshly cut or dry mint

1/2 teaspoon dry basil

1 teaspoon cinnamon (optional)

salt ans ground black pepper

pinch of chilli flakes

olive oil

half a cup any rice, boiled plain in salted water, drained

3 long thin aubergines, or 6 small round ones

6 small bell peppers, green and red work best

cup chopped tomatoes (tinned work just fine)

1) Rub aubergines and peppers with olive oil, and bake them in the baking tray at highest temperature, turning once until they are lightly charred and soften up. It should not take not more than 20 minutes. Tomatoes will need much less time. Aim is to keep them wholesome while half-cooked and roasted on the surface.

2) Heat couple of tablespoons of olive oil in a pan and lightly fry onion. Then add minced lamb, mint and cinnamon, and season with salt and pepper. Fry mince, breaking it up constantly with a spatula, for about 10 minutes, or until water from the mince evaporates. Set aside.

3) When vegetables are done baking, let them cool just a bit out of the oven. You need to cut the stalk top off the aubergines and discard it, but cut the top off the peppers with the stalk and keep it to use as peppers' "lids" later (same with tomatoes if using). Slit the aubergines lengthwise, but not through, as if you wanted to butterfly them. Now stuff the vegetables with your mince, take care not to over-stuff. Lay them, compact and neat, inside a spacious pot drizzled with olive oil, ideally in one layer, but it is not crucial. Top the peppers and tomatoes with their lids and stand them upright next to the aubergines.

4) Pour the chopped tomatoes out of the tin over your vegetables, sprinkle with basil and chilli flakes, and add about a cup of water, or to almost cover the dolma.

5) Cook on top of the stove at low setting (electric 2-3) for about 20-30 minutes. Be gentle with dishing it up, if you want to preseve the shape.

Nush Olsun! (Bon Appetite!)