The salted chocolate blog : savoury

Showing posts with label savoury. Show all posts

Soft, pink beetroot pizza dough slathered with pesto and topped with mushrooms, eggplant and cheese.

There are few things better than pizza on a rainy day.

Except pink coloured pizza. Seriously?!

Pink pizza coloured with beets.

I saw a nice large Beetroot sitting on my counter when I returned home after 2 weeks. No one used it? Only it was growing shoots and lying on it's death bed. So pizza was on its way.

This pizza dough is any ordinary pizza dough, with the addition of puréed beets. Peel, chop and roast the beets, before puréeing them or finely grating. Add it to a mixture of yeast, water, flour, salt and honey, and pizza dough is born.

You don't have to use my combination of toppings for this pizza- you could turn use leftover chicken, pineapple chunks, seafood, sausage, tomatoes, grilled peppers - anything you can find in your refrigerator that needs using up works great on any pizza. It's the combination of flavours, herbs, spices and ingredients that makes a good pizza great.

I am embarrassed to say that I finished the whole pizza. Okay I was hungry. And I missed cheese. And pizza. And the soft, chewy (and pink) dough.

Beetroot Pizza Dough

Recipe adapted from Bakers Royale

(Makes 2 12-inch pizzas)

1 cup lukewarm water

2 tsp active dry yeast

17 ounces or 3 3/4 cup all purpose flour

1 1/2 tsp salt

2 tsp honey

3/4 cup puréed beets (about 2 large beets)

Combine water and yeast and let stand for about 5 minutes.

Add flour, salt, honey and beets.

Knead for 10 minutes or so until the dough is smooth but still tacky. Add more flour a tablespoon at a time if dough is too sticky.

Let the dough prove for 1 1/2 to 2 hours or until doubled in size.

Preheat oven to 230 degrees celsius.

Divide the dough into 2 portions. Using your fingers or rolling pin, press or roll the dough out into your desired shape and thickness. Spread with your desired toppings and bake for 10-15 minutes until the cheese is bubbly and melty.

Note: I halved the recipe and used half of the dough to make the pizza pictured above. I used the other half of the dough to make 2 large flatbreads.

Soft, pink beetroot pizza dough slathered with pesto and topped with mushrooms, eggplant and cheese . There are few things better than pizz...

Soft, tender scones swirled around in a sweet and salty Sundried tomato chutney and cheddar cheese.

I was thinking of making cinammon rolls, but I simply couldn't wait for bread dough to proof. Then I realised I had some Sundried tomato and olive chutney in the fridge.

And tadaa these scone rolls were born.

I got the inspiration to make these savoury rolls from the Bake with Anna Olsen series, where she made different versions of these savoury scone rolls by using garlic cream cheese and Sundried tomato bacon.

I used my favourite scone recipe, added less sugar and more salt, rolled it out to a large rectangle, slathered on the chutney and sprinkled on the cheddar. Then you roll it up and cut, just like you would cinammon rolls, but without all that extra effort :P

These guys are soft, tender, cheesy, sweet, savoury, and slightly crusty from the exterior parts of the scone. Lovely breakfast treat.

Who needs to wait for bread to prove when you can get scone rolls in under 30 minutes?

Sundried Tomato Chutney and Cheddar Scone Rolls

2 cups self raising flour

1 tsp sugar

1 1/2 tsp salt

60g cold butter, chopped

3/4 cold buttermilk

About 1/4~1/2 cup Sundried Tomato Chutney

Cheddar Cheese (To taste)

1. Preheat oven to 200 degrees celsius.

2. Mix the flour, salt and sugar together.

3. Rub in the cold butter using your fingertips until it resembles coarse breadcrumbs.

4. Mix in the fold buttermilk until a smooth dough is formed. Add a little more flour or buttermilk if your dough is too wet or dry.

5. Turn the dough out to a floured work surface mind knead gently.

6. Using a rolling pin, roll the dough out to about 1/4 inch thick.

7. Spread the chutney on the dough and sprinkle on the cheddar cheese.

8. Roll the dough up and cut to about 3/4 inch slices.

9. Arrange on a parchment lined baking sheet and bake for 12-15 minutes.

Soft, tender scones swirled around in a sweet and salty Sundried tomato chutney and cheddar cheese. I was thinking of making cinammon rolls...

Smooth, chewy, soba noodles with oozy egg.

I feel so unproductive today. I know there's a whole lot of math mugging to do for my one lasttt exam, but you know when you're so near yet so far so never feel like doing anything. Especially when it's math. So here's the warm bowl of goodness you'll need.

Doesn't the egg look like lava? (Sorry, I must I have studied too much geography after I flunked that exam.)

This special egg is called 温泉卵 (Onsen tamago). If you've been to Japan before, especially during winter, you would have gone to the Onsen, where they have lovely spring baths with hot spring water that's supposed to make smooth and beautiful.

Not that eating this egg will make your skin smooth and beautiful but.

It clears my mind from anything else there is in this world.

Anyway, if you've eaten ramen with this egg that is not quite hard boiled but is not quite soft boiled, this is it. The egg white is firm all the way though, and the egg should still be quite runny. They usually cut it open for you to tempt you to eat it.

And I usually savour it with every bite. Because it is that good.

The trick is to put the egg into boiling water (with a drop of vinegar) for exactly 6 minutes. Then take it out and dunk it in icy cold water to stop the cooking process. Just like giving the eggs a good Onsen bath.

Meanwhile, make the broth to go with the noodles and the eggs. Just use whatever you have. A traditional Japanese noodle soup stock uses dashi or kombu, shoyu and mirin, but I skipped the mirin and used sesame oil instead. Tastes just as good! You can also add in some minced meat, meat balls or any other sides to go with your noodles. I just dropped in some minced pork into the soup.

Now the soba noodles are the most finnicky noodles I've made. I've you've made pasta before, it's nothing compared to these. The dough is incredibly easy to put together, with buckwheat flour, plain flour and water, and is just as smooth as pasta dough, but with that little speckles of black and grey. Beautiful. It looks like a nice fine grained pebble. Only bigger, better, and edible.

Then you roll it out using a rolling pin or through your pasta maker. Warning: this dough is very delicate! Buckwheat flour is gluten free, so it doesn't have that stretchiness as homemade pasta dough which uses plain flour. Soba noodle dough tears easily so be really really gentle with it. I mean really really really gentle with it. I don't have to tell you how many times I tore the dough and rerolled the whole thing.

When you've rolled it out to the second thinnest setting on your pasta machine or about 0.1mm by hand, cut the noodles! You can pass it through the spaghetti setting on your pasta machine or by hand. I failed at cutting it by hand but it works pretty well too!

Looks like a grand grey carpet. Well...

Let the noodles dry a little. Warning 2: coat the noodles lightly with flour! I didn't, and they ended up sticking together, so I had to carefully remove them. Oh well at least they were still edible. Letting the noodles dry for about 10-30 minutes ensures they get nice and chewy. Just like making pasta noodles.

Lower these delicate noodles into boiling water for a few minutes and you've good beautiful soba noodles!

Now back to math... :(

Homemade Soba Noodles with Lava Egg

For the Soba Noodles

1 cup buckwheat flour

1/3 cup plain flour

100ml water

Store bought soba noodles, cooked according to package directions

For the eggs

2 eggs

1 1/2 tsp of white vinegar

Water, just enough to cover an egg

For the broth

3 cups of water, or more or less depending on your preference

About 1 tsp of dashi, adjust according to taste

A splash of shoyu (soy sauce)

A drip of sesame oil, optional

Grated ginger, optional

Spring onions for garnish, optional

Minced meat or other toppings

Make the soba noodles by sifting the flours together and adding the water. Knead until a smooth dough forms.

Roll out the dough using a rolling pin or a pasta machine, until about 0.1mm thickness or about the second thinnest setting on a pasta machine.

Feed the dough through a spaghetti setting or cut by hand. Lightly coat the noodles with flour to prevent them from sticking and let dry for 10-30 minutes.

To cool the noodles, put them in boiling water for a few minutes. They should cook within about 5 minutes. Dunk them in icy cold water to prevent them from sticking. These noodles are great served cold as well.

Meanwhile, cook the eggs. Heat the water and vinegar until boiling, then lower the egg into the boiling mixture and cook for exactly 6 minutes. Dunk into icy cold water immediately. When they have cooled, peel off the shell and slice in half lengthwise to reveal their sunny yellow yolks.

Make the soup by bringing all the ingredients together and bringing them to a rolling boil. Serve warm or cold.

Smooth, chewy, soba noodles with oozy egg. I feel so unproductive today. I know there's a whole lot of math mugging to do for my one la...

I'm so happy. Well, not exactly. It's like you know you've got a weekend with lots of work to done and exams coming up and you have got a hungry stomach but you don't feel like doing anything. Well, anyway.

Let's get straight to these.

Doesn't the salmon look amazing? It's perfectly baked in the oven and it cooks in no time. Salmon is one of my favourite fish, because it doesn't have too strong a fishy taste and it's really versatile.

I simply seasoned this fish with a little olive oil, salt and pepper, and some onion and garlic herb seasoning. That's the trick to make people think you toiled in the kitchen for the whole day. When it took you only 1 minute to season the fish and 15 minutes in the oven.

Now the pasta. I freeze my pasta once I've made it by putting them individually on a sheet of parchment paper and put them all in a large freezer bag. That way, whenever you need pasta cooked in 5 minutes, you've got them waiting in the freezer. Just cook them while they are frozen (no need to thaw them), throw them into a pot and cook them until theny float to the surface.

And they look super cute.

Grilled Salmon with Homemade Bow-Tie Pasta

Serves 1

Ingredients for the Grilled Salmon

1 salmon fillet

1 tablespoon of oil

1 teaspoon garlic and onion herb seasoning (alternatively, replace with 1 teaspoon of fresh minced garlic and onion each)

Pinch of salt and pepper

Dry the salmon fillet in between pieces of paper towels, until they are only slightly moist.

Place the salmon fillet skin side up on a baking sheet or tray. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with herbs, salt and pepper.

Massage them into the fish.

Bake for 180 degrees celsius until the skins are scorched and the salmon is cooked through.

Homemade Bow-Tie Pasta

1 cup all purpose flour

1 egg

(A cup flour serves about 1. Feel free to double or triple the recipe as needed.)

Make a well in the centre of the flour and add the egg in.

Mix with your hands or a spatula until a shaggy dough forms.

Add more flour or a sprinkle of water if the dough is too wet or too dry. The dough should be smooth and should not stick to your hands.

Let the dough rest covered loosely with plastic wrap for about 10-30 minutes. This helps to loosen the gluten in the dough and make it even easier to work with.

Roll out the dough thought a pasta machine or a rolling pin. Cut the dough into small squares.

Pinch the squares together and set aside on a parchment line baking sheet.

Place the baking sheet in the freezer to freeze for 30 minutes or longer before placing them in a freezer bag.

I'm so happy. Well, not exactly. It's like you know you've got a weekend with lots of work to done and exams coming up and you h...

The perfect snack- salty, garlicky and cheesy fluffy biscuits. Perfect for a rainy day.

These cheesy biscuits are made from sharp red cheddar cheese and really simple ingredients right from your pantry! All you need are all purpose flour, your leavening agents, the cheese, garlic, butter and buttermilk!

The leavening agents used here are baking powder and baking soda.

Baking powder is necessary to give the biscuits a soft and fluffy rise while the baking soda reacts with the acid in the buttermilk to make the biscuits rise beautifully.

If you haven't heard of buttermilk, it is basically "sour milk", or milk that has been curdled with an acid, such as lemon juice or white vinegar. To make your own buttermilk, substitute one cup of milk with 1 tablespoon of vinegar or lemon juice and fill the rest of the cup with plain milk. Leave the mixture to curdle for about 5 minutes and you've got your very own buttermilk! No need to search high and low for this important ingredient in your local supermarket. Buttermilk is also an important ingredient in make fluffy pancakes, scones and cakes.

I used shredded sharp red cheddar in this recipe, but you could definitely replace this with shredded mozzarella or white cheddar, depending on your taste. I find sharp red cheddar gives this biscuits a beautiful orange hue and lots of cheesy flavour, but any cheese works fine! Try not to use processed cheeses- you will realise the flavours will be quite different!

Cheese + Garlic= Matchmake in heaven. I mean, who doesn't love cheese and garlic? My mum found these a little too garlicky, but it was the perfect combination for me! The original recipe uses garlic powder, but I used fresh garlic instead! I minced my garlic up finely and just dropped it together with the dry ingredients. Go ahead and use whatever you have on hand.

At this point, you can also add any flavourings you like. Go ahead and mix a variety of cheeses into your biscuits. I added cayenne pepper, which added a great kick of spiciness into these biscuits. Adjust the flavours if you like and suit them to your taste :)

Red Lobster Cheddar Bay Biscuits

Adapted from "http://www.browneyedbaker.com/2013/04/18/red-lobster-cheddar-bay-biscuits-recipe/"

INGREDIENTS:

2 cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

½ teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon granulated sugar

¾ teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon garlic powder

¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper

4 ounces sharp cheddar cheese, shredded (about 1 cup shredded)

1 cup buttermilk, cold

½ cup unsalted butter, melted and cooled for 5 minutes

For the Topping:

2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted, divided

½ teaspoon garlic powder

1 teaspoon minced fresh parsley (or ¼ teaspoon dried)

DIRECTIONS:

1. Preheat oven to 475 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a non-stick baking mat; set aside.

2. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, sugar, salt, garlic powder and cayenne. Stir in the cheddar cheese; set aside.

3. In a medium bowl, stir together the buttermilk and melted butter until the butter forms small clumps.

4. Add the buttermilk mixture to the flour mixture and mix gently with a rubber spatula just until a dough forms and no dry ingredients remain. Use a greased ¼-cup measuring cup to scoop out portions of dough. Place on the prepared baking sheet, leaving a little more than an inch between biscuits.

5. Bake until the biscuits are golden brown, about 12 minutes. While the biscuits are in the oven, stir together the 2 tablespoons melted butter, garlic powder and parsley. Remove the biscuits from the oven and immediately brush with the topping mixture. Allow to cool for at least 5 minutes before serving. Leftovers can be stored in an airtight container or zip-top back at room temperature for up to 3 days.

The perfect snack- salty, garlicky and cheesy fluffy biscuits. Perfect for a rainy day. These cheesy biscuits are made from sharp red ched...