Portobello mushrooms stuffed with Gouda Cheese and Don's Salami

Thanks to Nuffnang and DON Smallgoods, I had the privilege along with 4 other Sydney food bloggers (Leona, Howard, Helen and Melissa) to attend the "Great Salamis of the World Lunch" with Matt Preston (Australian respected food critic and MasterChef judge) and Gerhard Feiner (DON's leading Fleischmeister in Australia) at The Victoria Room.

Literally translating to "meat masters", Fleischmeisters are the craftsmen responsible for overseeing the making of specialty smallgoods and other meat products, and are the custodians of traditional European recipes brought to Australia from their homelands. Often taking five to seven years to become a fully qualified Fleishmeister, the role is the highest level attainable as a meat specialist in Europe.

We were given a detailed introduction of Salami (the history of salami, the process of making a good salami, the various types and tastes of salami) before we were introduced to the new range of DON's salami products developed by Fleischmeister Gerhard Feiner and his team.

Matt Preston

Gerhard Feiner

The venue (The Victoria Room) did remind me very much of the Long Bar at The Raffles Hotel in Singapore, which is the birth place of the famous cocktail Singapore Sling, except for the absence of peanut shells on the floor (you will get what I mean if you have visited the Long Bar). Both venues have the earthy deco inspired by the British-Raj style of the 1920s.

The Victoria Room, Sydney

Long Bar, Raffles Hotel Singapore

The lunch was exquisite. We were served a 3-course lunch plus two canapes which had been specifically created for this occasion.

Canapes: Fresh Figs with Gorgonzola and DON Prosciutto

Canapes: Coffin Bay Oysters with crisp DON Chorizo and caramelized balsamic

Entree: Antipasto featuring DON White Hungarian Salami, DON Hot Hungarian Salami, DON Danish Salami and DON Pepperoni Salami

Main (option #1): Twice cooked confit of duck with orange, pistachio and DON Pepperoni Salami on a beetroot relish

Main (option #2): Roasted lamb rack with warm salad of rocket, goat cheese, peppers, DON White Hungarian Salami and garlic chips

Dessert (option #1): Sour cream cheese cake with coffee roasted apples

Dessert (option #2): Lemon bread and butter pudding with maple infused cream

My blog name did lead Matt Preston to talk about his filming experience with Anthony Bourdain during the Melbourne episode in the recent series of No Reservation.

Last but not least, I am ending this post by sharing a great recipe that was inspired by this occasion:

Portobello Mushrooms Stuffed With Gouda Cheese and Don's Salami Recipe

Serves 6 as a starter

Ingredients

2 tbsp olive oil, plus extra to drizzle

2 red onions, thinly sliced

6 Portobello mushrooms, stalks trimmed

1/3 cup roughly chopped sundried tomatoes, drained

250 g Dutch Gouda cheese, sliced (substitute other washed-rind cheese, Brie or Taleggio)

1 tbs chopped parsley leaves

6 Don's White Hungarian Salami slices, cut into strips

* Note: I have selected DON White Hungarian Salami which is marbled in appearance, has Hungarian origins (not surprisingly) and boasts a lovely smooth texture and length of flavour, characterised by mild smoked meats, tomato paste and a salt and black pepper spiciness.

Method

1. Heat oil in a saucepan over medium heat. Add onions and cook, stirring occasionally, for 10 minutes or until caramelised.
2. Preheat the oven to 180C. Place the mushrooms in a baking dish, cup-side up. Divide the tomato, onion and salami among mushrooms.





3. Then top with cheese.

   

4. Season, drizzle with extra oil, then bake for 20 minutes or until the mushrooms are tender and the cheese has melted.

5. Garnish with parsley and serve.

Espresso Tea Cake with Kahlua Icing

Optimistic and freedom-loving
Jovial and good-humored
Honest and straightforward
Intellectual and philosophical

On the dark side....

Blindly optimistic and careless
Irresponsible and superficial
Tactless and restless

This pretty much summarises who I am.

Espresso Tea Cake with Kahlua Icing Recipe
(Adapted from Delicious Magazine April 2008 issue)
Serves 8

Ingredients

170 g unsalted butter, softened
170 g caster sugar
3 eggs
170 g self-rising flour, sifted
3 tsp hot espresso or strong plunger coffee
Chocolate, coffee or vanilla ice-cream, to serve

Khalua Icing:
90 g unsalted butter, softened
90 g cream cheese
250 g icing sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tbsp Khalua (or other coffee liqueur)

Method

1. Preheat oven to 170C. Grease and line the base and sides of a 22 cm round springform cake pan with baking paper.
2. In teh bowl of an electric mixer, cream butter and sugar until light and pale. Add eggs, one at a time, adding 1 tbsp of lfour after each addition, and beating well. Fold in remaining flour, then coffee. Spoon mixture into prepared pan and bake for 35 minutes or until a skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean. Cool in pan for 30 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack.

   

3. For the icing, put all ingredients in a food processor and blend until smooth. Spread icing liberally over cooled cake, then slice and serve with ice cream.

Matcha (Japanese Green Tea) Tiramisu

I woke up one morning with this crazy idea of combining two of my favourite desserts into one: Matcha Ice Cream and Tiramisu.

Mr J is a huge coffee drinker, he was not too enthusiastic with my idea. I kept putting off from making it until yesterday when I found a great opportunity to show case my crazy idea.

It was another fun-filled event with fellow Sydney food bloggers Lorraine, Katherine, Trisha and Betty: Forensic Dinner Party at Trissa's house. Each of us had to bring a dish (entree, main or dessert) for the party guests to guess the ingredients.

I brought two dishes: French Anchoïade (recipe will be available later this week) and Matcha Tiramisu and many more dishes were brought in by other food bloggers. You can read more about the event HERE.


For now, please enjoy the recipe of the Matsha Tiramisu. If you prefer the classic Tiramisu, my recipe can be found HERE.

Matcha (Japanese Green Tea) Tiramisu
Serves 8

Ingredients

1 cup strong Japanese Green Tea
2 eggs
75 g caster sugar
250g Mascarpone cheese
300 ml double cream
1 packet Savoiardi sponge fingers (you can replace them with sponge cake)
Matcha powder
Chopped pistachios

Method

1. Combine the eggs and caster sugar in an electric mixer and whisk together until thick and light. The mixture should be thick enough to leave a trail on the surface.
2. Put the Mascarpone cheese into a large bowl. Stir in a little of the egg mixture. Fold in the remaining egg mixture. Fold in the double cream.
3. Cut the sponge fingers to fit the size of the base of the serving glass.
4. Line the bottom of the glass with a layer of sponge fingers. Drizzle green tea over the sponge fingers.
5. Sprinkle over a thick layer of matcha powder, then spoon Mascarpone mixture on top (3-4 tbsp, enough to cover the sponge fingers). Level the surface.
6. Repeat the layers until it reaches the top of glass.
7. Decorate with the remaining matcha powder and sprinkle generously with chopped pistachios.
8. Cover and chill for 4 hours.

Malaysian Sambal Ikan Bilis and Kaya Vols-au-Vents - Daring Bakers' September 2009 Challenge

The September 2009 Daring Bakers' challenge was hosted by Steph of A Whisk and a Spoon. She chose the French treat, Vols-au-Vent based on the Puff Pastry recipe by Michel Richard from the cookbook Baking With Julia by Dorie Greenspan.

This was one of those disastrous day. Everything seemed to go wrong. Firstly, my one-week old (new) food processor decided to stop working after it had been used only once. Then my kitchen scale started to act funny. There wasn't anything I could do to complete the puff pastry component for my Daring Bakers' Challenge. The fillings were ready but the pastry was not. I hate to waste the fillings. Hence I resorted to using ready-rolled puff pastry.

I have decided to do a Malaysian theme for this month's DB challenge. I made two different fillings for the Vols-au-Vents. One savoury and one sweet. The savoury one is filled with Sambal Ikan Bilis (Anchovies with Sambal) and the sweet one is with Kaya (Coconut Jam).

Sambal can be a condiment, an ingredient or a dish which will always contain a large amount of chilis. Sambals are popular in Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, the southern Philippines and Sri Lanka, as well as in the Netherlands and in Suriname through Indonesian influence. It is typically made from a variety of peppers, although chili peppers are the most common. Sambal is used as a condiment and as an ingredient for a variety of dishes. It is sometimes a substitute for fresh chilis. It can be extremely spicy for the uninitiated. Some ready-made sambals are available at exotic food markets or gourmet departments in supermarkets in many countries. A sambal can also be a pungent dish of its own in which a large amount of chili peppers is used. Dishes called a sambal include sambal sotong (with cuttlefish), sambal udang kering (with dried prawns) and sambal lengkong (with ikan parang/wolf herring).

Kaya is Malaysia's favorite spread, usually serves at breakfast with toast, or as filling for pastry or bun. Kaya means 'rich' in Malay language because of its golden colour. What makes kaya so wonderfully delicious is the richness of coconut cream combining with the distinctive taste of the caramelised sugar. It's also common to enhance the flavour further by adding pandan (screwpine) leaves or honey.

Sambal Ikan Bilis (Deep-Fried Dried Anchovies with Sambal Sauce) Recipe

In Malaysia, dried anchovies are known as "ikan bilis", with "ikan" being the Malay word for fish. They are used to make fish stock, sambal, or are deep fried.

I deep-fried a handful of dried anchovies (make sure you washed and dried them properly before deep frying) which can be bought from Asian grocery stores.

Mixed it with the sambal sauce which I have prepared ahead. Recipe for sambal sauce can be found HERE. It's best served with thinly sliced cucumber.

Kaya (Coconut Jam) Recipe

Kaya recipe is available HERE. It's best served with shredded coconut.

Michel Richard’s Puff Pastry Dough
(Adapted from Baking with Julia by Dorie Greenspan)
Yield: 2-1/2 pounds dough

Ingredients

2-1/2 cups (12.2 oz/ 354 g) unbleached all-purpose flour
1-1/4 cups (5.0 oz/ 142 g) cake flour
1 tbsp. salt (you can cut this by half for a less salty dough or for sweet preparations)
1-1/4 cups (10 fl oz/ 300 ml) ice water
1 pound (16 oz/ 454 g) very cold unsalted butter
plus extra flour for dusting work surface

Method

1. Mixing the Dough: Check the capacity of your food processor before you start. If it cannot hold the full quantity of ingredients, make the dough into two batches and combine them. Put the all-purpose flour, cake flour, and salt in the work bowl of a food processor fitted with a metal blade and pulse a couple of times just to mix. Add the water all at once, pulsing until the dough forms a ball on the blade. The dough will be very moist and pliable and will hold together when squeezed between your fingers. (Actually, it will feel like Play-Doh.) Remove the dough from the machine, form it into a ball, with a small sharp knife, slash the top in a tic-tac-toe pattern. Wrap the dough in a damp towel and refrigerate for about 5 minutes. Meanwhile, place the butter between 2 sheets of plastic wrap and beat it with a rolling pin until it flattens into a square that's about 1" thick. Take care that the butter remains cool and firm: if it has softened or become oily, chill it before continuing.
2. Incorporating the Butter: Unwrap the dough and place it on a work surface dusted with all-purpose flour (A cool piece of marble is the ideal surface for puff pastry) with your rolling pin (preferably a French rolling pin without handles), press on the dough to flatten it and then roll it into a 10" square. Keep the top and bottom of the dough well floured to prevent sticking and lift the dough and move it around frequently. Starting from the center of the square, roll out over each corner to create a thick center pad with "ears," or flaps. Place the cold butter in the middle of the dough and fold the ears over the butter, stretching them as needed so that they overlap slightly and encase the butter completely. (If you have to stretch the dough, stretch it from all over; don't just pull the ends) you should now have a package that is 8" square. To make great puff pastry, it is important to keep the dough cold at all times. There are specified times for chilling the dough, but if your room is warm, or you work slowly, or you find that for no particular reason the butter starts to ooze out of the pastry, cover the dough with plastic wrap and refrigerate it . You can stop at any point in the process and continue at your convenience or when the dough is properly chilled.
3. Making the Turns: Gently but firmly press the rolling pin against the top and bottom edges of the square (this will help keep it square). Then, keeping the work surface and the top of the dough well floured to prevent sticking, roll the dough into a rectangle that is three times as long as the square you started with, about 24" (don't worry about the width of the rectangle: if you get the 24", everything else will work itself out.) With this first roll, it is particularly important that the butter be rolled evenly along the length and width of the rectangle; check when you start rolling that the butter is moving along well, and roll a bit harder or more evenly, if necessary, to get a smooth, even dough-butter sandwich (use your arm-strength!). With a pastry brush, brush off the excess flour from the top of the dough, and fold the rectangle up from the bottom and down from the top in thirds, like a business letter, brushing off the excess flour. You have completed one turn. Rotate the dough so that the closed fold is to your left, like the spine of a book. Repeat the rolling and folding process, rolling the dough to a length of 24" and then folding it in thirds. This is the second turn.
4. Chilling the Dough: If the dough is still cool and no butter is oozing out, you can give the dough another two turns now. If the condition of the dough is iffy, wrap it in plastic wrap and refrigerate it for at least 30 minutes. Each time you refrigerate the dough, mark the number of turns you've completed by indenting the dough with your fingertips. It is best to refrigerate the dough for 30 to 60 minutes between each set of two turns. The total number of turns needed is six. If you prefer, you can give the dough just four turns now, chill it overnight, and do the last two turns the next day. Puff pastry is extremely flexible in this regard. However, no matter how you arrange your schedule, you should plan to chill the dough for at least an hour before cutting or shaping it.

Forming and Baking the Vols-au-Vent
Yield: 1/3 of the puff pastry recipe below will yield about 8-10 1.5” vols-au-vent or 4 4” vols-au-vent

Ingredients

In addition to the equipment listed above, you will need:
Well-chilled puff pastry dough (recipe below)
Egg wash (1 egg or yolk beaten with a small amount of water)
Your filling of choice

Method

1. Line a baking sheet with parchment and set aside.
2. Using a knife or metal bench scraper, divided your chilled puff pastry dough into three equal pieces. Work with one piece of the dough, and leave the rest wrapped and chilled. (If you are looking to make more vols-au-vent than the yield stated above, you can roll and cut the remaining two pieces of dough as well…if not, then leave refrigerated for the time being or prepare it for longer-term freezer storage. See the “Tips” section below for more storage info.)
3. On a lightly floured surface, roll the piece of dough into a rectangle about 1/8 to 1/4-inch (3-6 mm) thick. Transfer it to the baking sheet and refrigerate for about 10 minutes before proceeding with the cutting.
4. (This assumes you will be using round cutters, but if you do not have them, it is possible to cut square vols-au-vents using a sharp chef’s knife.) For smaller, hors d'oeuvre sized vols-au-vent, use a 1.5” round cutter to cut out 8-10 circles. For larger sized vols-au-vent, fit for a main course or dessert, use a 4” cutter to cut out about 4 circles. Make clean, sharp cuts and try not to twist your cutters back and forth or drag your knife through the dough. Half of these rounds will be for the bases, and the other half will be for the sides. (Save any scrap by stacking—not wadding up—the pieces…they can be re-rolled and used if you need extra dough. If you do need to re-roll scrap to get enough disks, be sure to use any rounds cut from it for the bases, not the ring-shaped sides.)
5. Using a ¾-inch cutter for small vols-au-vent, or a 2- to 2.5-inch round cutter for large, cut centers from half of the rounds to make rings. These rings will become the sides of the vols-au-vent, while the solid disks will be the bottoms. You can either save the center cut-outs to bake off as little “caps” for you vols-au-vent, or put them in the scrap pile.
6. Dock the solid bottom rounds with a fork (prick them lightly, making sure not to go all the way through the pastry) and lightly brush them with egg wash. Place the rings directly on top of the bottom rounds and very lightly press them to adhere. Brush the top rings lightly with egg wash, trying not to drip any down the sides (which may inhibit rise). If you are using the little “caps,” dock and egg wash them as well.
7. Refrigerate the assembled vols-au-vent on the lined baking sheet while you pre-heat the oven to 400ºF (200ºC). (You could also cover and refrigerate them for a few hours at this point.)
8. Once the oven is heated, remove the sheet from the refrigerator and place a silicon baking mat (preferred because of its weight) or another sheet of parchment over top of the shells. This will help them rise evenly. Bake the shells until they have risen and begin to brown, about 10-15 minutes depending on their size. Reduce the oven temperature to 350ºF (180ºC), and remove the silicon mat or parchment sheet from the top of the vols-au-vent. If the centers have risen up inside the vols-au-vent, you can gently press them down. Continue baking (with no sheet on top) until the layers are golden, about 15-20 minutes more. (If you are baking the center “caps” they will likely be finished well ahead of the shells, so keep an eye on them and remove them from the oven when browned.)
9. Remove to a rack to cool. Cool to room temperature for cold fillings or to warm for hot fillings.
10. Fill and serve.

Indian Matar Paneer (Paneer Cheese with Green Peas)

Paneer is a firm Indian Cheese, made by curdling hot milk with lemon juice or vinegar, then straining through muslin, rinsing off in water and pressing into rectangular blocks. It has the unusual properties of being suitable for frying and it does not melt when cooked, but stays in soft, neat little chunks.


Matar Panner is one of my favourite Indian vegetarian dish. I cook it very often and sometimes I replace the peas with spinach. It's not a difficult recipe and do try out this wonderful exotic vegetarian dish.

Indian Matar Paneer (Paneer Cheese with Green Peas) Recipe

(Adapted from Rick Stein's Coast to Coast)

Serves 4

Ingredients

275 - 350 g (10 - 12 oz) Paneer

3 tbsp sunflower oil

1 small onion, finely chopped

1 garlic clove, crushed

2 1/2 cm (1") piece of fresh ginger, peeled and grated

2 medium-hot green chillies, seeded and chopped

1 tsp cumin seeds

1 tsp ground coriander

1/2 tsp turmeric powder

1/2 tsp cayenne pepper

2 vine-ripened tomatoes, skinned and roughly chopped

350 g (12 oz) fresh or frozen peas, 900 g (2 lb) in the pod

1 small bunch coriander, roughly chopped

Salt and fresh ground black pepper

Rice or naan bread, to serve

Method

1. Cut the paneer into 2 1/2 cm (1-inch) pieces.
   

   

2. Heat half of the oil in a large shallow pan, add the paneer and fry gently until lightly golden on all sides. Lift onto a plate and set aside.
   

   

3. Add the rest of the oil and the onion, garlic, ginger, chillies, cumin seeds, coriander, turmeric and cayenne pepper to the pan and fry gently until the onion is soft but not browned.
4. Add the tomatoes, peas, 3/4 tsp salt and 2 tbsp of water and simmer for 5 minutes. Stir in the paneer and cook gently for another 5 minutes.
5. Stir in the coriander and sprinkle with a little black pepper to garnish. Serve with rice or some warm naan bread.

Thai-Marinated Roast Chicken

I love roast chicken for dinner. It's very easy to prepare. Find a good marinate recipe and in the oven. No messy cooktop and very little effort needed.

This is one of the marinate that I love for my roast chicken. I have cooked it many times and always a popular dish on our dinner table.

Thai-Marinated Roast Chicken Recipe

Serves 4-6

Ingredients

1 large (1.8 kg) chicken, butterflied (ask your butcher to do this)

4 garlic cloves, finely chopped

4 lemongrass stems, outside leaves discarded, centres finely chopped

4 cm piece ginger, peeled, chopped

2 red chillies, deseeded, finely chopped

3 coriander roots (or stems), chopped

1 tbsp honey

1 tbsp fish sauce

Juice of 1 lemon

Method

1. Using a pestle and mortar, grind garlic, lemongrass, ginger and chilli together with 1 tbs salt to make a rough paste. Add chopped coriander and 1 tbsp pepper. Continue to pound to a semi-smooth paste. Stir in honey, fish sauce and lime.
2. Place chicken on a roasting pan. Rub chicken well with paste. Marinate in the fridge for at least 3 hours.
3. Heat the oven to 180C and roast for 45-55 minutes or until it's golden brown and cooked.
   

Grilled Sambal Fish with Banana Leaf (Ikan Bakar)

You haven't fully appreciated the beauty of Malaysian cuisine if you haven't tasted sambal.

Sambal can be a condiment, an ingredient or a dish which will always contain a large amount of chilis. Sambals are popular in Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, the southern Philippines and Sri Lanka, as well as in the Netherlands and in Suriname through Indonesian influence. It is typically made from a variety of peppers, although chili peppers are the most common. Sambal is used as a condiment and as an ingredient for a variety of dishes. It is sometimes a substitute for fresh chilis. It can be extremely spicy for the uninitiated. Some ready-made sambals are available at exotic food markets or gourmet departments in supermarkets in many countries. A sambal can also be a pungent dish of its own in which a large amount of chili peppers is used. Dishes called a sambal include sambal sotong (with cuttlefish), sambal udang kering (with dried prawns) and sambal lengkong (with ikan parang/wolf herring).

This recipe is without a doubt the best grilled sambal fish I have tasted so far. This is the 3rd time I have made it during a luncheon I have hosted with some of the Sydney food bloggers. You can read more about the party here:

Here Comes The Food - Almost Bourdain Blogwarming
Hungry.Digital.Elf - Malaysian & Dutch luncheon at Almost Bourdain
Raspberri Cupcakes - Almost Bourdain's Malaysian and Dutch Feast

Grilled Sambal Fish (Ikan Bakar) with Banana Leaf Recipe
(Adapted from Rasa Malaysia)

Ingredients

1 x 800 g / 1.8 lb red snapper (cleaned and scales removed)
A few sheets of banana leaf (rinsed with water thoroughly and pat dry with paper towels)

Sambal Paste:
6 oz. / 170 g fresh red chilies (seeded and cut into small pieces)
1 tablespoon toasted belacan (Malaysian shrimp paste)
4 oz. / 113 g shallots
1/4 teaspoon salt (or to taste)
2 teaspoons fish sauce
2 1/2 teaspoons sugar (or to taste)
1/2 lime (extract juice)
2 lemongrass (cut into thin slices)
4 tablespoons oil

Method

1. Prepare the sambal by grinding chilies, shallots, belacan and lemongrass in a food processor. Make sure the sambal paste is well blended and smooth.

   

2. Heat up a wok and stir-fry the sambal paste until aromatic or when the oil separates from the sambal paste. Add the seasonings: salt, sugar, line juice and fish sauce and do a quick stir, dish out and set aside.

   

3. Grease a flat pan (I use our barbie) and then lay a few sheets of banana leaves in the pan. Add 1 tablespoon of cooking oil on top of the banana leaves and spread the oil evenly. Lay the fish on top of the banana leaves and add half of the sambal paste on top of the fish.
4. Heat up the pan on your stove top over medium heat and cover it with a lid.
5. Wait for 8 minutes or so and flip the fish over to the other side. Add the other half of the sambal paste on the other side. Cook for another 8 minutes or so. By then, you can smell the sweet aroma of burnt banana leaves and grilled fish.
6. Dish out and serve immediately.

Note: Special thanks to Lorraine for sharing these beautifully taken pictures (Picture 1, 2 and 5).