Tiramisu v.2 and 3

Here are the tiramisus I made, using the same recipe as last time's.

Instead of putting it in cups, I just made a pan of it. I used a bigger pan than planned for, so the actual pieces were super thin.

This one I made while at an apartment near the sea. I had forgotten to bring chocolate powder, so I took a couple of speculoos cookies and crumbled that to sprinkle on top.

Here it is, served with an additional speculoos for decorative purposes.

Soup and Tofu

I made lunch today, for a bunch of people (we were 7 around the table).

Potato Soup:
This was based on a soup one of my teachers used to make which was delicious. However, I didn't have the recipe, and tried making it from memory... there wasn't enough potato, and there was too much spices.

Since it wasn't quite there yet, I won't post up the recipe.

Sweet and Sour Tofu:

I tried imitating my aunt's tofu. Again, not quite there yet. My cousin helped me a lot.

Italian

A pasta salad I made because I went on a trip where there wasn't much vegetarian food available, so I brought my own. Simply penne pasta, eggplants, fresh spinach, feta cheese, with a side of tomatoes and kidney beans. The dressing is homemade, with mustard, salt, sugar, pepper, olive oil, and balsamic vinegar.

Then today, my aunt made homemade pizza ^^

The trick for the aromatic oil (much like those found in restaurants). The first time I made the oil, it wasn't very spicy. Actually it barely was. So this time around, I took a certain amount of oil, and crushed dried chillies into it. I also added some dried-up rosemary, but it wasn't very fragrant. Covered it and left it to marinate for over a week, then strained the oil into the bottle. So this oil was spicy, but not too much.

I also recommend keeping a branch of rosemary whole, and stuffing it into the bottle for decorative purposes. Mine isn't very pretty, because the only rosemary I had was half-dead and dried up. But it still serves its purpose.

Love gratin

Successful heart this time~

Recipe~ (6 servings)
Ingredients:
- 6 servings of pasta
- 1 tbs flour
- a little less than 1 L milk
- butter
- Italian seasoning
- grated cheese
- 2-3 mushrooms (brown or white)
- salt and sugar to taste

Procedure:
1. Cook pasta according to instructions.
2. Heat the flour in a dry saucepan over low heat. Stir constantly to avoid burning.
3. Add in butter.
4. Slowly stir in the milk. Avoid making clumps.
5. Add a few pinches of Italian seasoning.
6. Pour pasta and diced mushrooms in an oven pan. Mix well.
7. Pour sauce over, cover in cheese. Top with Italian seasoning.
8. Optional: Make a design on top with seasoning.
9. Bake until golden. Enjoy~

Here's another one:
Photography credits to my cousin~

I had a friend over, so I made this. It is also a pasta gratin, except there are no mushrooms this time. The sauce was also super liquid, so it was harder to serve.

Egg-free tiramisu

I got the recipe off ChocolateSuze but due to some ingredients being different... I "boudoirs," or ladyfingers usually have eggs, and I wanted to make a tiramisu completely egg-free since my dad doesn't eat eggs. So I used speculoos (completely appropriate to the flavor) instead.

Recipe~ (i got about 8 servings this time...)
Ingredients:
- Coffee, brewed (or decaf, the flavor's all that matters)
- Speculoos cookies
- 1/3 cup golden sugar
- 2 cups whipping cream
- 200 g Mascarpone
- Chocolate powder to top

Procedure:
1. Brew your coffee, and put it in the fridge to cool.
2. Mix mascarpone and sugar until smooth.
3. Chill your egg-beating machine and your bowl. Then beat the cream at medium speed until soft peaks form.
4. Fold in the mascarpone mix.
5. Take your coffee out, and your recipient(s). I used individual glasses so that the layers would be visible, but anything's fine. Even a cake tin.
6. Dip your speculoos cookies in the coffee until desired softness. Don't let it crumble. Set it down at the bottom of the recipient. Once the whole bottom covered, spread a layer of the cream mix.
7. Repeat step 6 on top of the first layers. You can choose to put 2 layers of cookies before one layer of cream, since speculoos cookies are pretty thin. If you're using sponge cake or ladyfingers, it's not necessary.
8. Your last layer should be a cream layer. Sift some chocolate powder on top of that. Cover with a plastic wrap, and refrigerate. I think at 3 hours should be the minimum. I put mine in for 1 hour and 30 mins, and it wasn't enough.

Enjoy~

Roasted chickpeas snack

Here's a snack I just tried. I got the recipe from SkinnyTaste that worked pretty well. Due to lack of material, as well as some religious reasons for avoiding onion and garlic, I adapted it for my own.

Flameshaft's Version of the Recipe~
Ingredients:
- 1 can chickpeas, drained.
- 1 tsp curry powder (special powder without garlic)
- 1/2 tsp nutmeg
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 tsp paprika powder
- some olive oil

Procedure:
1. Preheat oven at 190°C
2. Drain chickpeas and pat them dry with a paper towel.
3. Roast them in oven until crunchy (not soft) even inside. Every 10 min, shake the pan. (for some reason, mine would not roast at the same time, so I had to take some out each time)
4. In a bowl, mix the spices.
5. Put the chickpeas in a bowl, add a dash of olive oil, and shake it so the oil's spread evenly.
6. Add in the spices.
7. Store in an airtight container. Enjoy~

Note: mine needed a bit more salt. I suggest trying it out whatever way you want. You can add any spice you want, too~

Asian poached tofu

Note: Serving sizes may vary. I cook with what I have, for those who need food at the time.

This is a typical dish that my parents or aunts make often.

Recipe~ (5-6 servings)

Ingredients:

- 2 pieces of soft tofu (not silky, just soft)

- Soy sauce

- Ginger

- Mushroom seasoning (as explained here)
- Salt, sugar, pepper to taste

Procedure:
1. Dice the tofu.
2. Put the tofu in a pot along with all the seasoning.
3. Add minced ginger.
4. Cover the pot, then cook on low heat for a long time, occasionally stirring so the tofu is cooked evenly.

Pizza Bread

Note: Serving sizes may vary. I cook with what I have, for those who need food at the time.

This one's pretty simple. It's just store-bought stuff put together.

Recipe~ (makes 8 breads)

Ingredients:

- Pre-cooked breads, cut in half

- Tomato concentrate

- Water

- Salt, sugar to taste

- Italian seasoning

- Grated mozzarella cheese

Procedure:

- In a small pot, put together the tomato concentrate, seasoning, and flavoring along with water until desired consistency (a sauce, kinda like a pizza base consistency)

- Take the bread out of the fridge. Spread sauce on, and sprinkle cheese on top. Add some Italian seasoning on top of that so it will bake with fragrance.

- Toast in oven until golden. Enjoy~

Warning: Sauce may be very hot, so eat with care.

Fried rice

Note: Serving sizes may vary. I cook with what I have, for those who need food at the time.


I always felt that traditional Asian fried rice was too dry. In High School, I used to put some mild ketchup in it to eat it. Then I read Cooking Master Boy and I saw Mao putting tomato sauce on his fried rice. So I got inspired.

Recipe~ (4 servings)
Ingredients:
- 2 servings of cooked white rice
- 2 servings of cooked sarrasin
- 1 can peeled tomatoes
- 1 can pineapple rings (the cans I use have 4 rings in one can)
- 4 leaves basil
- 1 tofu
- 1 eggplant
- some ginger
- 2 potatoes

Procedure:
1. Dice the tofu, potatoes and the eggplants. Cook the eggplants until tender. Boil the potatoes, then mash them with a potato masher.
2. Crush the peeled tomatoes, then heat them up. Season it until it tastes good. I added, chopped in, 2 rings of pineapple. Then add in the mashed potatoes. Chop some ginger up and put it in as well.
3. Mix the rice, sarrasin, tofu, and eggplants together, and fry them in a wok. I used some olive oil for fragrance, and sunflower oil. Keep on stirring to keep it from sticking to the pot.
4. Plate the fried rice as an oval dome. Pour the sauce over half of that. Cut the remaining pineapple, and decorate the sauce part with it. Finally put a leaf of basil in the middle. Enjoy~

Gratin dauphinois

Note: Serving sizes may vary. I cook with what I have, for those who need food at the time.

A gratin that is mainly composed of potatoes and cream.

 As you can see, I wanted to make a heart on top with Italian herbs, but the cream over-bubbled, and ruined it >.<

Recipe~ (5-6 servings)

Ingredients:

- Potatoes (sorry, I don't know how much)

- 80 cl cooking cream

- Nutmeg

- Salt, sugar to taste

- Grated cheese

Procedure:

1. Wash and peel your potatoes. Fill a pan halfway with water and set it to boil. Cook the potatoes in the pan. It's ok if the water doesn't cover the potatoes. Cover the pan with a lid to steam the protruding pieces of potatoes. Don't cook them all the way. If you can stick a knife in, it's too cooked for this dish.

2. Slice the potatoes and set them like roof tiles in one layer in an oven dish.

3. In a bowl, whisk together the cream, some nutmeg, and the salt and sugar. Pour the mix over the potatoes.

4. Cover with grated cheese, and spread herbs on top. This will allow the herbs to be fragrant without having the taste to be overwhelming. 

5. Stick in the oven at around 180°-200°C. After about 30 mins, it should be ready. Your cheese should be toasted and golden. Enjoy~