Ina's Fleur de sel Caramel

Still remember as a young child, thumbing through a children's cook book and chancing upon a supposedly easy to make fudge/candy to make - put all the ingredients into a pot and boil. Even after boiling for the required cooking time of 35 mins, the thick and sweet mixture remained as liquid as ever and ended up in the bin. Feeling cheated, left the book forgotten at the bottom of the cupboard.

Now, many years on and having read more cook books, realize that to successful make candy it is vital to use a candy thermometer. . Without one, it is hard especially for novices to judge when the hot mixture is ready.

Take note that the hot sugar liquid is very HOT and dangerous, absolutely no licking until it is cooled.

These salted caramel turned out SO ABSOLUTELY DELICIOUS that Master Prince gave me 110 marks declaring that this is the best-ever EVER thing I have made!! ...ok, haha not sure whether to be flattered here.

Recipe source here

Ingredients
1 1/2 cups coarse sugar (375g)
1/4 cup light corn syrup
1 cup heavy cream (250g)
5 tablespoons unsalted butter (75g)
1 teaspoon fine fleur de sel, plus extra for sprinkling
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/4 cup water

Method:

1. Line an 8-inch-square baking pan with parchment paper, allowing it to drape over 2 sides, then brush the paper lightly with oil.

2. In a deep saucepan (6 inches wide and 4 1/2 inches deep), combine 1/4 cup water, the sugar and corn syrup and bring them to a boil over medium-high heat. Boil until the mixture is a warm golden brown. Don't stir, just swirl the pan.

3. In another small pot, bring the cream, butter and 1 teaspoon of fleur de sel to a simmer over medium heat. Turn off the heat and set aside.

4. When the sugar mixture is done, turn off the heat and slowly add the cream mixture a little at a time to the sugar mixture. Be careful, it will bubble up violently. Stir in the vanilla with a wooden spoon and cook over medium-low heat for about 10 minutes, until the mixture reaches 248 degrees F (firm ball) on a candy thermometer.

5. Very carefully (it's hot!) pour the caramel into the prepared pan and refrigerate for a few hours, until firm.

6. When firm, take caramel out for 20 min before cutting it up to smaller bite size pieces and sprinkle with a little bit of fleur de sel.

7. Wrap in glassine or parchment and store in the refrigerator.

The ULTIMATE Ina Garten's Brownie

The outcome of the combined combo of Ina's Outrageous Brownies and her peanut butter brownies. If you compare both recipes, it is actually the same except one uses walnuts and the other substitutes it with peanut butter.

Me thinks I've been consuming one too may 3-in-1 instant coffees, haha!

Was all set to try out another recipe when her's rolled up. And since I'm a big fan of hers, the decision was set.

If you are allergic to nuts, just omit the nuts as it is still a good recipe or perhaps substitute it with cream cheese, yum that would be a great combo too!! ;)

Brownies may seem easy to bake but actually it is the more challenging one compared to a chocolate cake. A properly baked brownie is done when it is slightly crisp on the outside but soft, damp and squidgy within. If you have been baking cakes, your automatic logic would usually insist that you bake until the skewer comes out clean instead, if you do, tendency is that you would have over-baked it. So turn off your auto mode when baking brownies. :)

Needless to say, it was gorgeous. But if I had to do this again, maybe I might split the pan to 50:50 - walnuts:peanut butter, just for the yin-yang contrast and let guests decide whether they want theirs with walnut or peanut butter. In my crowd, they'll probably just insist on the combo!!

Ingredients
453g unsalted butter
1 pound plus 12 ounces semisweet chocolate chips
6 ounces unsweetened chocolate
6 extra-large eggs
3 tablespoons instant coffee granules
2 tablespoons pure vanilla extract
2 1/4 cups sugar
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
3 cups chopped walnuts

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 170C degrees.

2. Melt together the butter, 1 pound of chocolate chips, and the unsweetened chocolate in a medium bowl over simmering water. Allow to cool slightly. In a large bowl, stir (do not beat) together the eggs, coffee granules, vanilla, and sugar. Stir the warm chocolate mixture into the egg mixture and allow to cool to room temperature.

3. In a medium bowl, sift together 1 cup of flour, the baking powder, and salt. Add to the cooled chocolate mixture. Toss the walnuts and 12 ounces of chocolate chips in a medium bowl with 1/4 cup of flour, then add them to the chocolate batter. Pour into the baking sheet.

4. Bake for 20 minutes, then rap the baking sheet against the oven shelf to force the air to escape from between the pan and the brownie dough. Bake for about 15 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean. Do not overbake! Allow to cool thoroughly, refrigerate, and cut into 20 large squares.

Ina's Brownie Pudding

As you know, I'm a big fan of Ina Garten. This recipe didn't dissapoint - it hit all the right notes for a really yummy chocolate cake: chocolatey, soft, decadent and yet still light.

Recipe found in her cookbook Back to Basics or here .

Ingredients
2 sticks unsalted butter, plus extra for buttering the dish
4 extra-large eggs, at room temperature
2 cups sugar
3/4 cup good cocoa powder
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
Seeds scraped from 1 vanilla bean
1 tablespoon framboise liqueur, optional

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 170 degrees F. Lightly butter a 2-quart (9 by 12 by 2-inch) oval baking dish. Melt the 1/2 pound of butter and set aside to cool.

2. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the eggs and sugar on medium-high speed for 5 to 10 minutes, until very thick and light yellow. Meanwhile, sift the cocoa powder and flour together and set aside.

3. When the egg and sugar mixture is ready, reduce the speed to low and add the vanilla seeds, framboise, if using, and the cocoa powder and flour mixture. Mix only until combined. With mixer still on low, slowly pour in the cooled butter and mix again just until combined.

4. Pour the brownie mixture into the prepared dish and place it in a larger baking pan. Add enough of the hottest tap water to the pan to come halfway up the side of the dish and bake for exactly 1 hour. A cake tester inserted 2 inches from the side will come out 3/4 clean. The center will appear very under-baked; this dessert is between a brownie and a pudding.

Half way through baking, I got very excited to see that my cake went up so tall - almost souffle like. Actually was rather worried that it might collapse, fortunately it didn't.

Although it shrunk a little after taking it out of the oven.
Still really yummy though!

Homemade strawberry jam - Barefoot Contessa

Got two punnets of Cameron Highland strawberries on offer. As some of you may know they are not the sweetest but good enough for making jams!!

Yum! Perfect for scones.

Source from Ina's Back to Basics cookbook

Ingredients
3 pints strawberries, washed, hulled & cut into half
3 cups sugar
2 tbsp Grand Mariner or orange flavoured liqueur
1/2 granny smith apple , cored and diced finely*
1/2 cup blueberries, washed

Method

1. Mix together in a heavy base post the strawberries, sugar and liquor.

2. Boil using medium heat, stirring often.

3. Add apples and blueberries and keep fire at rolling boil, stirring occasionally until temperature on a candy thermometer reaches 220C degrees (about 25-35 min).

4. Skim any foam that rises to the top and discard.

5. Cool jam to room temperature before storing in sterilized jars in the refrigerator. Can last for at least 2 weeks.

*Note - Pectin makes jams gel and found in underripe fruit. Granny Smith Apples are available year-round and contain lots of pectin.

My version

320g (washed, hulled & cut) strawberries
75g caster sugar
1/2 vanilla bean
1/4 granny smith apple, diced
1 tbsp organic honey
zest of orange/lemon (optional)

Method - follow above.

This was an earlier batch I made but added some water to the jam ingredients while cooking. It all came together in the end - just longer cooking time. But realised from using Ina's recipe, no need to add the extra liquid as there's plenty from the strawberries themselves!!

Bench notes - The amount of sugar used in cooking the jam will usually determine the length of time you can keep/store the jam. So do keep this in mind if you plan to reduce the amount of sugar in your recipe.

Pretty tasty on toast too...ahh, nothing beat homemade stuff! :)

French Apple Tart - Barefoot Contessa

Barefoot said in her introduction to this recipe that this is her 'all time favourite dessert'.

Have had good results so far with Ina Garten's recipes so decided to give this ago.

Recipe source from Back to Basics

Dough
2 cups all purpose flour, sieved
½ tsp salt
1 tbsp caster sugar
170g chilled unsalted butter, cut into small cubes
½ cup iced water (may not need to use all)

Method:
1. In a large bowl, mix in flour, salt and sugar.

2. Rub in butter until resemble breadcrumbs.

3. Add water as required until dough comes together into a ball.

4. Chill in refrigerator for at least 1 hour.

5. Roll dough out into thin rectangular pizza, trim edges if you wish to keep it looking neat. Using a fork, poke some holes on the dough. Store in fridge while you prepare the apple filling or until ready to bake.

Note if in a rush, can use puff pastry for the base instead.

Filling
4 granny smith apples (cut into slices)
½ cup sugar (use caster sugar cos when I used brown sugar it was not sweet enuf!)
65g butter, cut into small cubes

6. Arrange apple slices over the dough - overlapping slices of apples diagonally down the middle of the tart and continue making diagonal rows on both sides of the first row until the pastry is covered with apple slices.

7. Dust sugar on top of apples and ground cinnamon (optional).

8. Scatter/dot butter over the apples and bake in pre-heated oven at 180C degrees for 40-45 min until pastry and apples start to brown. Rotate pan once during cooking.

Glaze
½ cup apricot jelly
2 tbsp water/rum

9. In a small saucepan, gently warm up glaze up before brushing glaze on top of baked apples.

10. Allow to cool and serve warm with a big scoop of vanilla ice-cream! :)

Have a good weekend everyone.

Ina Garten's Chocolate Cake

Made this for CNY eve dinner. Was initially a little concern as the batter was slightly watery but it turned out well in the end. Will definitely make this again. Cut out tiger stencil on a piece of paper then sieved some icing sugar for the outline.

Adapted from Ina's recipe found here.

Ingredients

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for pans
2 cups sugar
3/4 cups good cocoa powder
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp kosher salt
1 cup buttermilk, shaken
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 extra-large eggs, at room temperature
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 cup freshly brewed hot coffee

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180C.

2. Grease 8-inch round cake and line bottom with parchment paper, then butter and flour the pans.

3. In a bowl, sift the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder and salt.

4. In another bowl, combine the buttermilk, oil, eggs, and vanilla. With the mixer on low speed, slowly add the wet ingredients to the dry. With mixer still on low, add the coffee and stir just to combine, scraping the bottom of the bowl with a rubber spatula.

5. Pour the batter into greased cake tin and bake for 35 to 40 minutes, until a cake tester comes out clean. Cool in the pans for 30 minutes, then turn them out onto a cooling rack and cool completely before decorating cake with chocolate ganache.

Fancy a slice anyone?? :)

Ina's Roasted Tomato Caprese Salad

Who doesn't know Ina Garten, otherwise known also as Barefoot Contessa!

Based on my search over the internet, everyone who tried this recipe had great reviews and things to say. Can only re-confirm that it was indeed simply FAB and have since made it twice!! Don't be put off by the time involved to prepare this. Best part is that since its all slowly roasting in the oven, leaving you with lots of free time to do other things :)

Ingredients

12 plum tomatoes, halved lengthwise, seeds (not cores) removed

16 ounces fresh salted mozzarella

12 fresh basil leaves, julienned

freshly ground black pepper

Seasonings

1/4 cup good olive oil, plus more for drizzling
1 1/2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
2 large garlic cloves, minced
2 teaspoons sugar
pinch of kosher salt


Method (my own adaptation):

1. Preheat oven to 150C.

2. Wash and pat dry tomatoes. Cut tomatoes into half and scoop out the seeds including the 'heart'.

3. Mix in a small bowl the seasonings and scoop evenly into centres of halved tomatoes.

4. Before baking sprinkle some black pepper.

5. Roast for 2 hours (yes, a long time but well worth the wait) until the tomatoes are concentrated and begin to caramelize. Allow the tomatoes to cool to room temperature.

6. Before serving, cut mozzarella into slices slightly less than 1/2-inch thick. Layer the tomatoes alternately with the mozzarella on a platter and scatter the basil on top. *did you notice from the top picture I missed out the basil, sigh*

7. Serve at room temperature with slices of mozarella and crumpled basil leaves.

Caramelized Pearl Onions

If you like onions (like me) then you definitely have to make this dish. Lovely as a side dish and a perfect accompaniment with any roast meat.

My good friend S actually served this for Xmas eve dinner. It was just so good that I vowed to make it again.

There are two ways you can prepare this, S personally prefers the second method which involves roasting in the oven (less standing time required over the stove - makes a lot of sense to me too). For this, I tired the 1st method and it came out delicous too. As I was cooking this, the whole house was just engulfed with the lovely sweet and comforting smell of fried onions and that in my books is better than any perfume (well almost :) )

Ingredients

400g small red pearl onions

1 tbsp olive oil or butter

1/4 tsp salt (to taste)

pepper (to taste)

1 tbsp brown sugar

1 tbsp red wine vinegar

Method 1

1. Blanch onions with skins on in hot boiling water for 40 seconds. Drain and rinse in cold water. Remove the skins on the onion.

2. In a heavy pan, heat olive oil and pan fry on low heat for about 15 min, stir occasionally to ensure that they do not over brown on one side.

3. Add in other seasonings, cover and continue to cook for another 15 min.

4. Uncover and cook until onions are nicely browned and tender.

5. For a more flavourful taste, you may stir in 1 tsp of butter at the end.

Method 2

1. Melt butter and sugar on fry pan or heat proof baking dish. Add peeled onions and toss to coat.

2. Cook on low heat for 10 min until onions start to brown. Mix in vinegar and seasonings.

3. Place pan/baking dish into oven and roast at 180 degrees for 15-30 min until tender.


Bench notes - The flavour of onions taste better after a few days so do try to prepare them ahead which is a great time saver since it will be one less dish to worry about on the actual day of your dinner party.