Month: June 2011

The Pink Pastry Song for me!

So right, one day, out of the blue I got this email. With a link to a video.

It is called, “Pink Pastry for Kimberly Low”.

According to the email, it was specially made in response to my blog post about making strawberry chocolate sponge roll.

# – I imagine this is the first strawberry chocolate sponge roll in the world to have spawn a music video.

First of all, I’m honoured these people have taken the time and effort to make a music video about my strawberry roll. It is both flattering and a little weird….but mostly flattering :)

Secondly, I know this is some sort of campaign funded by Paypal and bravo x 500 times because yeah, you’ve gotten my attention! So what is this Promise you guys are singing about?

Lastly, thank you for making my day :)

Mustard beef pie, a recipe to impress.

This dish was actually inspired by Rachel Allen’s Individual Beef Wellington, which I saw her made in her show, Rachel Allen’s Dinner Parties. Thing was, all I had in hand was minced beef so instead of a traditional Beef Wellington, I made Mustard Beef Pie instead :D

Still, if it weren’t for Rachel Allen, I wouldn’t have thought of making this dish.

# – Mustard beef pie.

The ingredients:

  • 200 grams of minced beef
  • 2 carrots, chopped
  • 1 onion, chopped
  • 3 shallots, finely chopped
  • 1 chilli, finely chopped
  • 3 cloves of garlic, sliced
  • 150 ml of water or stock
  • 8 pieces of puff pastry squares
  • 3 tablespoons of mustard powder (you can use whole grain mustard for better texture too)
  • Salt and pepper
  • 1 egg yolk

For the gravy:

  • 200 ml of milk
  • 1 beef stock cube
  • 1 tablespoon of corn flour, dissolved in 2 tablespoons of water

# – First, marinade the minced beef with 3 tablespoons of mustard powder and some salt for about 15 minutes.
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# – In the meantime, fry up the onions, shallots, garlic and chillies in a pan.

# – When browned, throw in the carrots.

# – Followed by the water or stock.

# – A dash of salt to bring up the flavours. Leave to simmer for about 10 minutes or till the carrots are softer.

# – Time to throw in the beef. Stir to combine.

# – When the beef has almost cooked through, remove from heat and set aside to cool down.

# – Roll out the puff pastry squares. Puff pastries are easier to handle when chilled otherwise they become very sticky. Just stick them back in the fridge to chill for a bit if they’ve gotten too sticky or soft to manage.

# – Spoon a few tablespoons of fillings onto one puff pastry square. Make sure they’re right in the middle of the square.

# – Take another puff pastry square and lay it over the filling. Use a fork to press the edges down to seal it up.

# – With a knife, poke a hole at the top of the pie. This is to release steam when it’s baking in the oven.

# – Decorate the pie with leafs cutouts and errr…cherries from leftover puff pastry.

# – Generously brush egg yolk all over the pies. This will give the pie a beautiful golden colour.

# – Stick them in a preheated oven of 160 degrees celcius for 25-35 minutes.

# – Mustard beef pies, done!

# – Serve with steamed sweet holland beans.

# – Make a simple gravy by adding a beef cube and mixture of 1 tablespoon of corn flour dissolved in 2 tablespoons of water into 200 ml of milk that’s been deglazing the pan used to cook the beef earlier. Stir till thickens slightly.

# – Pour the gravy all over the pie before eating for a delicious, moist pie :D

I guess the BF really liked em, as he hoovered up 3 pies, which led him to twit nonsense like this….

# – LOL

Juicy, beefy filling in flaky, buttery pastry. Of course I ate a lot of pies too!

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Refreshing mozzarella, tomato and parsley salad.

Every Friday, I have to think up something light for dinner as it’s badminton night for the BF. He doesn’t like playing the game with a stomach full of food. At first, I thought, hey…this is easy.

But as weeks go by I realised it’s actually not easy to whip up something that is both delicious and light. How can anything light be delicious, right? There are exceptions though, for instance this recipe (tooting own horn).

# – Mozzarella, tomato and parsley salad.

The ingredients:

  • 200 grams of mozzarella, cut into bite size
  • A handful of cherry tomatoes, halved
  • A handful of Italian parsley, chopped up
  • 2 tablespoon of olive oil
  • 1/2 teaspoon of coarse sea salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon of ground black pepper

# – The stellar cast.

# – First, cut the mozzarella into bite sizes.

# – Throw in the halved cherry tomatoes.

# – Chop up the Italian parsley.

# – Throw the parsley in as well.

# – Drizzle olive oil all over…

# – A sprinkling of ground black pepper…

# – Lastly, some coarse sea salt to finish it off.

# – Mozzarella, tomato and parsley salad, DONE!

No cooking involved. Just cut some stuff up, pour some stuff in, sprinkle some stuff over and it’s done. Taste like a million bucks and most importantly, it’s light.

Perfect to prep the stomach up for KFC after, hehehe. (kidding)