Cooking with Papa - Seafood Spaghetti Aglio Olio

Yesterday I finally got my father to agree to sign up for my first ever cooking lesson! Imagine this... a man who has managed to avoid cooking an entire meal from scratch (there was a period of 2 months when he had to reheat mum's pre-cooked meals in Gabon while she went home to Malaysia to give birth to Mark) for over 50 years... saying he wants to learn to cook. How could I not totally jump on it?

So earlier this afternoon, just before it started pouring down with rain, I dragged him to the grocery store to pick up ingredients (we have enough supplies, but I figured he should learn the entire process for the first time). I was going to teach him to make a vegetable tian and easy roast chicken, but on the way there, he said "I love spaghetti aglio olio... is that easy to make?"

Heck yeah. The easiest.

Before I continue to gush overmuch about how proud I am, let's just get on with the recipe.

Seafood Spaghetti Aglio Olio

• 500g spaghetti
• 100g breadcrumbs
• Fresh Italian parsley
• 1/2 cup (or thereabouts) extra virgin olive oil
• 4 garlic cloves, diced
• 3 dried chili peppers, crushed
• 5 sundried tomatoes, chopped
• 6 medium sized fresh squid, cleaned and sliced across (I made him clean them)
• 500g fresh prawns, peeled and deveined (hahah he hated that part)
• Juice of 1 lemon
• Salt to season

1. Cook the pasta in a pot full of boiling salted water until just before al dente, remove from heat, drain and toss in a knob of butter (optional), then set aside in serving dish while you prepare the dressing

2. Toast the breadcrumbs and finely chopped parsley in a preheated oven for about 5-8 minutes, remove and set aside for the last step

3. Drizzle some olive oil in a heated open frypan, then add the diced garlic, chili, and sundried tomatoes and toss until softened and the aroma starts to fill the kitchen.

4. Add the prepped squid and prawns and cook until just done. Season with salt to taste. There should be a lot of liquid in the pan from the squid and prawns. 

5. Pour the mixture over the pasta and toss to mix thoroughly. Drizzle more olive oil and squeeze the juice of 1 lemon over to toss in as well. 

6. Add the breadcrumbs and parsley garnish and add more salt if needed
7. Serve immediately! 

Well, it was an easy dish to begin with, he's got it saved on his phone for future reference. I really hope this won't be the first and ONLY time we cook together. It was so much fun, and from the sounds of it, he's really looking forward to making another dish next week. Maybe we'll try that vegetable tian and some milk roasted chicken. Mmmm

Strawberries & Cream muffins

It's past midnight, I retreated into my room after watching the late night news with my parents more than two hours ago. I've taken a shower, changed into my "Proud to be well adjusted" t-shirt I got from a chiropractor's convention in Las Vegas (long story, not for this entry) and sleep shorts, I have read a chapter of Crazy Rich Asians (get a copy if you haven't already)... and I can't sleep.

I keep thinking. My brain won't quit talking to me. The images keep speeding at me. Voices, memories, thoughts, hypothetical conversations with myself, questions I don't want answered, recipes, more recipes, cake decorating ideas, and oh my God, before you know it... I'm in the kitchen again, I've put the apron on (I only ever wear an apron when I'm baking in my pajamas, cos I don't want to get sugar in my bed), the oven is preheating and I'm flipping through my "Keep Calm and Carry On" red notebook of recipes.

Late night baking. It's surprisingly quite a normal thing to do for young professionals who love baking. It's also an excellent method of quieting the mind to ready yourself for bed. I've talked about the benefits of baking in approaching anxiety issues before... this time it's no different. I can't sleep cos I'm afraid, so I bake and worry about getting the measurements just-so instead of thinking about all the stuff I can't change.

Late last night, I decided to make breakfast muffins as I wanted to wake up to something positive. After a quick look in the fridge, I decided the strawberries I bought a few days ago would definitely go bad in the next two days, so the recipe just HAD to be strawberry based. No bananas, or else I would have made brown butter strawberry banana bread (an old late night baking favourite of mine), but the pantry told me I have an excess of white chocolate. Then I knew just the muffin I wanted to have my morning latte with.

Strawberries & Cream Muffins
Yield: 12 5.5oz muffins

• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 1 tbsp baking soda
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup caster sugar
• 2 cups whipping cream
• 1/4 cup sunflower oil
• 1 large egg
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 cup chopped strawberries
• 1 cup white chocolate chips

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C and prepare your muffin tin or muffin liners (I used 5.5oz standalone cups)
2. Combine the flour, baking soda, salt, and sugar in a medium bowl and set aside
3. In a smaller bowl, whisk the cream, oil, egg, and vanilla until incorporated
4. Pour the cream mixture over the flour mixture and stir with a spatula until thoroughly combined
5. Add the chopped strawberries and white chocolate chips (leaving roughly 1/4 cup of each to sprinkle on top of the muffins later) and fold into the batter
6. Scoop up the batter into the prepared muffin tins or liners, top each muffin with some more strawberries and white chocolate chips, then transfer into the preheated oven. Reduce the heat to 165°C/fan-forced and bake for 20-25 minutes or until the tops appear golden and a skewer inserted at an angle comes out clean (depending on the size of your muffins). Remove from the oven and allow to cool in the pan for 5 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely

Clean up, wash up, go to sleep, then wake up 4 hours later when your alarm clock goes off and enjoy a fresh muffin, reheated quickly if you like, and a cup of brewed coffee. This happens to me at least twice a week, nobody in my house ever says anything about it, but they'll quietly watch me over breakfast as I set up my little studio and snap pictures of my late night baking spoils.

Fig Frangipane Tart

I hate to admit it, but I'm a hoarder. Except my compulsion is in ensuring I have a sufficient supply of baking ingredients in my pantry (thanks, mum, for allocating an entire section of the pantry for me); I can't walk past a grocery store without buying a block of butter, a bag of flour, and at least one special ingredient (usually a type of fruit to incorporate into the dessert). So what I'm left with at the end of the day is a pantry filled with flour, sugar, and for some reason... ground almonds.

In keeping with the New Years theme, as all my friends and acquaintances reflect on the Gregorian calendar year that just whizzed past us (seriously, is it just me or did 2013 sneak by us?), I made it my personal mission to use up the stuff I have in my pantry. Adopting the First In First Out method (I've been spending a lot of time with a particular chartered accountant... but that's a story for another day *grin*) I've stacked my ingredients properly and in plain sight where I can't avoid them.

There's a recipe I've been dying to try that uses up quite a lot of ground almonds, so this was the way to go. It's also perfect that it's Fig season (though they still cost a helluva lot of moolah here in Malaysia) as I love fig tarts! I tried a Fig Mascarpone tart in London when I was up there in October and kind of fell in love, but I'll save the mascarpone tarts for later. This week is about clearing the almonds before they become unusable! This tart was a hit in my household, as soon as I declared it OK for consumption, my family (parents, siblings, aunts, uncles, and cousins) dove in and it was all gone within the half hour. So if you're short on time and you want a dessert to impress, this may be the one to go with.

Fresh Fig Frangipane Tart
Time: 1 1/2 hours (prep & baking)
9inch springform tin

For the crust:

• 1 1/2 cup all purpose flour
• 1/2 cup icing sugar
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 114g / 1/2 cup butter, cold and cubed
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1 tbsp cream or lukewarm water

1. Combine the flour, sugar, and salt in your food processor and whizz to mix
2. Add the cubed cold butter in one shot and pulse until mixture resembles coarse crumbs
3. Add the egg and cream and pulse again, but don't leave it for too long or you'll get a tough crust
4. Transfer the dough into a prepared springform tin and press up the sides and bottom. Freeze the crust for up to 30 minutes
5. When ready to bake, preheat the oven to 180°C and pop the tin into the oven for 30 minutes. There's no need to weigh the crust down as it was frozen, but you can do so if you want to

For the frangipane filling:

• 2 tbsp butter
• 230g ground almonds
• 141g caster sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 tsp almond extract
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 tbsp cream (other recipes call for dark rum, but I chose to use cream)
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 tsp grated lemon zest

1. In a small saucepan, heat the butter until it boils and turns brown and a gorgeous aroma rises
2. In a medium sized bowl, combine the ground almonds, sugar, eggs, almond and vanilla extracts, cream, salt and lemon zest
3. Pour the browned butter into the mixture and stir to combine
4. Pour the frangipane into the baked crust
5. Slice figs into quarters or lengthwise and arrange over the frangipane filling. Bake at 180°C for 40 minutes, remove from the oven when the frangipane has turned golden and allow to cool before serving. Best to serve this tart fresh and warm with a dollop of freshly whipped cream

Whether or not you're celebrating the New Year, bake a tart and eat it too! 

Much love,

Nabsy

A well balanced diet

The Happiness Initiative has been going fantastically well, and I think my constant smiling state has been pissing quite a few people off around the office. I'm sorry if I'm too perky in the morning, I'm sorry if I gush about how yummy my lemon and cucumber flavoured water is, I'm sorry cos I totally get it. I hate perky people! lol

4 days into THI and Alena and I are totally (I've also been using the word totally far too much) excited about trying the many different recipes we've found or just thrown together as a result of random stuff we have in the fridge.

Today, I'm going to share the recipe for Pistachio Baked Salmon fillets and Alena's Mango Salsa:

Pistachio Baked Salmon fillets

• 4 fresh salmon fillets
• 1/4 cup lemon juice
• 2 tbsp dijon mustard
• Ground pistachio (measurements relative)
• Salt and pepper to taste

1. Preheat the oven to 200C, and line a baking tray with foil
2. Line the salmon fillets skin side down on the tray, lightly season with salt and pepper (very sparse, ok?)
3. Spread dijon mustard over the top of the fillets, but also a light layer, then scatter ground pistachio to cover
4. Pour lemon juice over all fillets, and drizzle sparsely with olive oil (I think I used about 1 1/2 tbsp or less)
5. Then season once more with salt and pepper
6. Pop into the oven and bake for 20 - 25 minutes

Mango Salsa 
Recipe courtesy of Alena

• 2 yellow mangoes, diced
• 1/2 a large cucumber, diced
• 1 tsp chilli flakes
• Handful fresh coriander leaves

1. Mix all ingredients in a bowl

I would never have paired salmon with mango salsa, but I suppose you learn something new every day.

Also, my cousin came up from Borneo this week with her daughter, who celebrated her 2nd birthday yesterday. I baked her a wittle rainbow chocolate cake, and she put on a Snow White costume and proceeded to be cute and princessy about the house! I think I'm in love, guys, seriously, this little girl with her apple cheeks and tinkling laughter just stole my heart. Baking for children who totally love your cake is my new high. Warning: I'm gonna be that aunt with the cake to all my friends kids.

Love!