Dani’s Son-In-Law Eggs from the MasteChef Magazine

The first time I had Son-In-Law eggs was at a friend’s house back when I was in high school. My friend’s dad made it for us and served it with some steaming hot rice as an afternoon treat. I remember thinking, how on earth am I going to eat this. I hate runny eggs.

A number of years later, my palette has certainly changed. I now love runny yolks and never eat eggs that are overcooked and rubbery. When I saw the recipe on the MasterChef magazine, I knew I had to try to make the dish myself.

I made this dish using Quail eggs instead of your standard chicken eggs. Soft boiled quail eggs have a delicious flavour and I prefer to use them for this dish.

Dani’s Son-In-Law Eggs

Ingredients 

12 quail eggs (room temperature)

2 tablespoons of tamarind puree’

1/4 cup of caster sugar

1/3 cup of water

Zest and juice of 1 lime

2 long red chillies (we only had the small super hot chilli. I used half of that)

Vegetable oil for frying

Salt or fish sauce to taste

1. To soft boil the quail eggs, put the eggs in a saucepan of cold water. Bring to the boil, carefully swirling the eggs so that the yolk stays in the middle. As soon as it boils, turn the heat off and run cold water on the eggs to stop the cooking process. Carefully peel the eggs and set aside.

2. In a small saucepan, add the tamarind puree, sugar, water, zest and lime juice. Stir until combined and bring to a boil until the mixture is thick and syrupy. Season with salt to taste, I used a few drops of fish sauce instead as tamarind and fish sauce are a great flavour combination.

3. Fill a saucepan with vegetable oil. Bring the heat up to around 180. You can drop a small piece of bread into oil to check if it’s ready. If the bread starts to sizzle, then the oil is ready for frying.

4. Fry the eggs until they are golden brown. Let them drain on some paper towel. Serve the eggs on top of some salad leaves or steaming hot rice. Top with the sauce and some thin slices of chilli.

I found that the quail eggs cooked a little more during the frying stage. I would suggest draining the eggs from the boiling water as soon as it comes to the boil, put the eggs in some icy water to cool it down quickly. Peeling the eggs can be very time consuming so be patient. 

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Kulinarya Cooking Club - June Theme "White Food"

Thanks to Adora from Adora’s Box and Diona from Tita Flips for this months Kulinarya Theme “White Food".

I must admit, it's been a few months since I have had the chance to do a Kulinarya Dish. It was so good to be back in the Kitchen with Mama Eugenio.

I love learning new desserts and dishes from her. This Cassava Cake recipe is one of my favourite desserts. The best part of this dessert is the topping. When I read my email and saw the theme, I knew that this was the dessert to make.

Cassava Cake With Lanka (Jackfruit)

Cake
 

Ingredients

2 packets of grated cassava (454 grams per pack)

4 cups coconut milk
1 cup of caster sugar
50 grams butter (melted)

1 can of jackfruit in syrup

Method

1. Preheat your oven to 200C.

2. In a bowl, add the grated cassava, coconut milk and caster sugar. Stir until the mixture is combined. Make sure to break down all the cassava, as it tends to be a little lumpy.

2. Drain the jackfruit from the syrup and slice into thin strips. Add half of the drained jackfruit to the cassava mixture. Add the melted butter and stir.

3. Pour the cassava mix into a wide pyrex dish. Bake in the oven at 200C until the top starts to set (approximately 30 minutes).

Topping

Ingredients

2 eggs

1 and half cans of condensed milk

Method

1. Beat the eggs using an electric mixer. Slowly add the condensed milk until combined.

2. Pour the topping over the top of the cassava cake and bake for a further 15 minutes or until the topping is a golden brown.

This is a delicious dessert perfect for a party. You can use the jackfruit syrup instead of the sugar for taste. This dessert is also delicious with buko (young coconut) instead of jackfruit.

Kulinarya Cooking Club was started by a group of Filipino foodies living in Sydney, who are passionate about the Filipino culture and its colourful cuisine.

Each month we will showcase a new dish along with their family recipes. By sharing these recipes, we hope you find the same passion and love for Filipino Food as we do.

If you’re interested in joining our Kulinarya Cooking Club, please feel free to drop by our foodblogs and leave a comment – we would love to hear from you!

To access the list of members and their blogs just go to Kulinarya Club

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Tapas - Dinner Party

I am finally back. It’s been pretty busy at Camp A Cupcake or Two. Travelling, moving offices and work in general kind of took over my life for a while there.

I did a post on my blog last year, about a class that I did at Kei’s Kitchen. Kei and her daughter Masako do a range of Japanese cooking classes from Kaiseki to everyday Japanese food. I learnt how to make some fantastic dishes in the class, but I also met some new friends.

Tony from my class decided to host a dinner party. We had to plan this early as one of our classmates actually lives in Japan with his wife and daughter. Thats Tony below, proudly wearing his Junior MasterChef Apron and Chef Hat :)

We decided to do a Tapas theme. Trinh brought along some marinated quail and beef tongue. Both were cooked on the BBQ at the last minute. The quail was delicious and sweet and the tongue was so full of flavour. This was actually the first time I had tongue prepared this way.  

Thanks to Bianca from PEPR, I was able to bring along some Chorizo from Manolete. The Chorizo has a very subtle flavour and best grilled in thick slices or in a Paella. You can purchase the Chorizo from Harris Farm, Quattro Formaggi or Encasa Restaurant.

I also brought along some Sangria. So dangerously GOOD..

My cousins Queenie made some Garlic Prawns which were quickly marinated in some smoked paprika. The prawns were so sweet and succulent and the paprika added a real bite to this simple dish.

Diana made some Marinated Baby Octopus that she marinated over 3 days. It was packed with flavour and the pieces of baby octopus melted in your mouth. This was served on a bed of Salad and some eaten accompanied by some freshly baked sour dough.

Justin prepared a very simple dish that showcased the flavours of Heirloom Tomatoes. He simply put them on a bed of rock salt and baked them in the oven. The rock salt drew the sweetness of the tomatoes out and made it such a pleasant dish to eat.

Our host Tony made some Stuffed Chicken Wings. He deboned the wings and filled them with some Vietnamese sausage. He put the in the oven after coating them with some chilli oil. This was the perfect fusion of Asian and Spanish flavours. 

The dinner party was loads of fun. So many stories shared and lots of alcohol makes for an extremely happy bunch of people. I am a big believer in the saying "Food Brings People Together". It has certainly brought this small group together. 

I would like to say a big Thank You to Tony and his wife Jasmine for hosting...

Below is the recipe for Diana's Marinated Baby Octopus. It is a really simple dish to make. The process takes a few days but is well worth it.

Marinated Baby Octopus 


Ingredients


1 kilo baby octopus
Handful of parsley finely chopped
Half a bulb of garlic crushed
1 tablespoon vegeta (stock powder)
1/2 teaspoon of cracked black pepper
200 grams of green olives
1 cup of good olive oil
1 cup balsamic vinegar

To Serve
A mixture of salad leaves


Method

1. Boil the octopus until it is cooked. It normally takes about 20 minutes. Cut the cooked octopus into halves.
2. Add all the other ingredients together and stir until combined. Put the octopus into an airtight container and store it in the fridge for 3 days. Stir the mixture, once a day.
3 After the 3rd day, serve the marinated baby octopus on a bed of salad greens.

Enjoy....

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Spice It Up - Buffalo Wings with a Blue Cheese Dressing

I must admit I am a sucker for LOVE. The romance, looking into each others eyes and the random I Love You's makes me all giddy inside. Since Valentine's Day is just around the corner I thought I would change my outlook on LOVE. Instead of making something sweet, I decided on something Spicy. These Buffalo Wings with a delicious Blue Cheese Dressing will WOO any Man. Its spicy and delicious. It'll probably put a spring in his step.. Now to find myself a man to WOO ahahahaha..

Blue Cheese Dressing
Adapted from The Barefoot Contessa

120 grams blue cheese (I used Danish Blue)

1 cup whole egg mayonnaise

½ cup light sour cream

1 teaspoon worcestershire sauce

salt and pepper to taste

½ teaspoon cider vinegar

1. In a food processor, add all the ingredients and pulse until well combined.

2. Set the blue cheese dressing aside in the fridge until you are ready to use it.

I am a big fan of blue cheese so I normally make sure that the dressing is a little chunky. If you want a smooth dressing just blitz in the food processor until all the chunks of blue cheese have disappeared. This dressing tends to get a little too thick. Add about a teaspoon of skim milk to loosen the dressing before serving with the Buffalo Wings. 

Tip: If you are not a fan of Blue Cheese, why not try making it with an Ash Brie or even Goats Cheese works.

Buffalo Wings

12 chicken wings

½ cup flour

1 teaspoon garlic salt

1 teaspoon pepper

2 tablespoon tabasco (use 1 tablespoon if you don't want them too hot)

1 teaspoon cayenne pepper

125 grams butter

1 teaspoon tomato sauce (for colour)

1 teaspoon red chilli flakes (optional)
1 teaspoon salt

oil for deep-frying

1. With a sharp knife, cut the wing tips of the chicken. Cut through the chicken from the elbow joint. This should give you a mini drumstick and a wing. You should now have 24 pieces of chicken. Dry the chicken with some paper towels.

2. In a large zip lock bag, add the garlic powder, pepper and flour. Seal and shake to mix the ingredients together.  Take the chicken and add it to the seasoned flour.

3. Heat some oil in your deep fryer. Cook the chicken in batches until they are golden brown. Set aside in the oven, set to low to keep them warm.

4. In a small saucepan, add the butter, salt, cayenne pepper, tabasco and tomato sauce together. Heat until the butter is melted, whisking constantly on a medium heat. Don’t let the sauce boil.

5. Put the warm chicken wings in a deep heatproof bowl. Add the sauce to the wings and gently mix using a pair of tongs.  Set aside to cool slightly. This will allow the hot sauce to be absorbed into the chicken wings.

Serve the wings with some celery sticks and blue cheese dressing.

These wings are delicious. Perfect for a loved one or just for a party. You can make them a little less naughty by putting them in the oven instead of deep frying... Enjoy..

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Strawberry and White Chocolate Cupcakes

Happy New Year everyone. I hope you all had a fantastic Christmas and a fun filled New Year. I still can't believe it's 2011. Time flies so fast.

Strawberries are really sweet at the moment, they are smaller in size but each punnet of strawberries that I have bought have been so sweet and juicy. What better way for me to do my first post on these delicious cupcakes. I found this recipe from www.taste.com.au, I tweaked it a little based on what ingredients I had at home.

These cupcakes are not only easy to make but really delicious too. They addition of almond meal gives it texture and keeps the cupcakes moist.

Strawberry and White Chocolate Cupcakes

(adapted from www.taste.com.au)

Ingredients

125g butter, at room temperature

155g (3/4 cup) caster sugar

2 eggs

150g (1 cup) self-raising flour

90g white chocolate, melted

80g (2/3 cup) almond meal

185ml (3/4 cup) skim milk

1 x 250g punnet strawberries, washed, hulled

300g (2 cups) icing sugar mixture, sifted

2-4 teaspoons milk

1. Preheat oven to 180C. Line twelve 80ml (1/3-cup) capacity muffin pans.

2. Use an electric beater to beat the butter and sugar until pale and creamy. Add the eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Gently fold the flour into the egg mixture. Fold in the chocolate, hazelnut meal and buttermilk until smooth.

3. Divide among the prepared pans and smooth the surfaces. Bake for 18-20 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the centres comes out clean. Set aside in the pans for 5 minutes to cool before turning onto a wire rack to cool completely.

4. Roughly chop 4 strawberries and place in a medium bowl. Use a fork to crush them slightly. Stir in the icing sugar. Gradually add milk until the icing is spreadable.

5. Spread icing over the cakes. Halve remaining strawberries arrange on top of each cupcake.

When making the icing, I would suggest leaving the strawberries coarsely crushed. It will break down the sweetness of the icing and the specks of crushed strawberries look great on top of the cupcakes.

I cant end this post without encouraging everyone to donate to the QLD Flood Relief. This has really affected me because its so close to home. I feel for the thousands of people that have lost everything. I don't go a day without thinking of all the people that have lost their lives and all those helpless animals that have struggled to survive. 

Every dollar counts. So please dig deep and donate.

Red Cross

RSPCA

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