This is not a cooking recipe. It’s really a matter of assembling but it works so well! I learnt it from my sister who said she learnt it from Nadia Hussein, the British celebrity Bake Off winner.
It’s too simple but so elegant looking. I used store bought ready rolled puff pastry and scored the edges. Using a fork, poke the base. Spread store bought basil pesto. Sprinkle cheese and later vegetables of choice.
For the vegetables, I used pan fried thinly sliced brinjals. I used up the left over thinly sliced capsicums from the focaccia as well as mushrooms. Once baked, I sprinkled Parmesan cheese and baby salad leaves. Make sure the bottom of the pastry is well cooked. No soggy bottoms!
Rosemary leaves add that fragrant touch too.Olive oil, grated Parmesan and salad leaves for the finishing touches.It’s easy to eat a whole pie 😅
Been wanting to make this for the longest time. I used Jamie Oliver’s easy focaccia recipe and it works. Not exactly the tastiest recipe out there but it’s quick, basic and perfect for Everyday baking.
The risen dough. The second time I baked this, the dough was even bigger and airier! Whatever topping you have at home. Dont waste! I prefer this design.
So today for Father’s Day I didn’t cook anything new. I made saffron rice, roasted lamb shoulder encrusted with a tahini lemon marinade, fired up some sirloin steaks and baked some zaatar chicken wings. My sister came over and brought a Iranian salad which she made. And I made kunafa again – though this time with mozzarella and queso blanco cheese as the filling.
But it was a day to thank the fathers in my family – my husband, my brother and my brother-in-law. My own father passed on 17 years ago. Time really does heal and sometimes I feel anxious when I forget certain memories. All I can do now is to gift him a prayer.
The saffron rice with some cute Australian boiled eggs and pomegranate seeds. Sirloin with roasted tomatoes on a vine.Roasted lamb shoulder. I marinated overnight with tahini, lemon juice, garlic and salt. This time round I made sure I made a wall from then kataifi base to get a full kataifi encrusted kunafa. Delicious salad made by my sister. I added cubes of grilled haloumi because I had some leftover and didn’t want to waste.
Happy Father’s Day to all daddies out there. Continue to uphold strong values and be wonderful role models to your children. ☺️
So I was channel surfing and caught a small segment of a food show featuring Donna Hay and some very adorable kids. They were making a carrot cake. Totally inspired, I made some for this morning’s breakfast and to bring some over for teatime later at the parents.
Try as I might, I couldn’t find the exact recipe of hers which she featured on the show. Maybe because I’ve no idea what the title of the show was! But I did find her recipes for carrot cake and carrot cake muffin. And so I used it but added some things which she did on the show – like mixed spice and ground cinnamon!
The outcome was quite delicious. It’s moist, definitely moist, but also moorish? It’s thick. Ok by Asian standards perhaps this is huge! One piece of this muffin and I’m full! But it is delicious.
I also copied her maple syrup cream cheese frosting. In the show, she added ricotta but as you know ricotta is not easily available here and Super expensive so I added one tablespoon of clotted cream instead.
I even used Australian olive oil. It’s very simple to make. The only difficult part is grating those carrots. And the recipe called for 3! I used 2 and still it was too much. I used big fat Australian carrots here. Beautiful. We love the fresh produce from Australia (I’m getting some Australian eggs later! 🤭).I followed her recipe strictly but it was way to thick. I knew it can’t be right so I added a splash of olive oil and a splash of whole milk to make it wetter. I overfilled some of them. This batter calls for exactly 12 muffins. Make sure you don’t frost all of them. Well, for us we don’t really like frosting so I only frosted three to try. The rest will be on the side for those who would like some frosting. Even my kids don’t like sweet things. Sprinkled some Chia seeds on top. A delicious teatime treat!
I’ve had two packets of smoked mackerel pâtéfor a few months now. They keep very well in the freezer but I never knew what to do with them. I think when I bought them I had some idea to make croquettes but never had enough inspiration to do anything with them.
Until today that is. Suddenly inspiration came as I was scouring YouTube and the Internet. I decided on making pâté because I had a beautiful loaf of sourdough gifted to me by my generous sister.
It’s so easy to make! I improvised after watching a few videos and tasting until I like what I tasted.
In a food processor, add 450g of smoked mackerel, 100g butter, 130 g Philly cream cheese, 1/4 finely diced purple onion (or one whole shallot), one heaped teaspoon of ground black pepper. Whiz till very very smooth and add half a lemon worth of juice. Don’t add salt! Well, unless you like it salty. I find the smoked mackerel salty enough. Best eaten super chilled and with very good toasted sourdough slices.
This is 500g I’d smoke mackerel. I took away one piece of that for decoration and for future use (thinking of scrambled eggs with smoked mackerel). Whiz whiz whiz. Make sure it’s very smooth.
The Occasional Cook 