Baked Butternut Squash Rounds with Szechuan Pepper
Sunday, October 18, 2020This super easy and delicious side dish is melt-in-your-mouth tender and packed with flavor! The squash rounds are drizzled with melted butter, then roasted in the oven with smashed garlic, fresh thyme, spiked with mouth-numbing Szechuan peppercorns, and well balanced with a zesty squeeze of lemon juice right before serving. The Szechuan peppers aren't peppers at all. They actually belong in the citrus family. It has a sharp, bright flavour, which is known to enliven food. It is also known for its numbing feature. If you ever tried Szechuan food, you know that tingling sensation. So don't overdo the peppercorns.
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- Preheat your oven to 210C/425F. Cut the neck off of the butternut squash and keep the base for another use. Cut the stem from the end and peel. Cut the squash in slices crosswise, about 1/2 inch thick.
- Transfer the butternut squash rounds to a lightly oiled baking pan. Arrange garlic around the butternut squash slices. Drizzle the melted butter over the squash slices. Finally, sprinkle each round with some chopped thyme leaves, a pinch of salt, black pepper and Szechuan peppers.
- Roast the butternut squash in the oven for 30-35 minutes, depending on the thickness of your butternut slices, until tender and golden on the edges.
- Remove from the oven, drizzle the baked butternut squash slices with lemon juice, then transfer to a serving platter with garlic. Garnish with fresh thyme if you like. Serve immediately!
Marbled Chocolate Brioche
Friday, October 16, 2020I am a fan of swirls, be chocolate, beetroot, or matcha, threading though any kind of baked goods. There's something just so fun about it and plus it makes a beautiful presentation on any dinner table and a lovely gift.
This marbled chocolate brioche is fairly straightforward to prepare since you prepare and knead the dough in the mixer until smooth and elastic. Marbling the plain and chocolate doughs together requires a little patience and effort, but it's pretty easy once you have got the hang of dough plaiting technique.
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- Butter a 26x12x9-cm loaf pan and line with parchment. Dissolve the yeast in the lukewarm milk in a bowl. Set aside for 10 minutes until foamy.
- Place plain flour, whole spelt flour, sugar, and salt in the bowl of your stand mixer with a dough hook. Add in eggs, yolk and milk-yeast mixture. Mix on low for 3 minutes. Increase the speed to the second level and mix for about four minutes more. Next, add the softened butter one cube at a time until fully incorporated. Knead again for 2 minutes until smooth, elastic and soft.
- Cut slightly more than 1/3 of the dough, about 240 grams. Shape the rest of the dough into a ball. Place it in a bowl. Cover with plastic film. Leave to rise in a warm place for about an hour or until doubled in size. Add cocoa powder and nutella to the 240 grams of dough and knead until it's well combined. Cover and leave to rise until doubled in size.
- Turn out and punch each dough down. Cover again and let rest for 10 minutes.
- Roll out each dough into a rectangle. Place the chocolate rectangle on top of the plain one. Roll it up like jelly roll and pinch the sides together. Using a bench scraper or a knife, carefully cut the log vertically in half making sure the seam is side down. Plait and fold into 3 layers. Place the stacked dough into the prepared pan. Cover with plastic film and proof until it's double in size, about 90 minutes.
- Preheat the oven to 190C/375F. Brush the top with some egg wash and sprinkle some almond slices over if desired. Bake the bread in the center of hot oven for about 35 minutes until nicely golden brown. Remove and turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely before slicing.
Mussakhan Palestinian Roast Chicken with Sumac and Red Onions
Wednesday, October 14, 2020Mussakhan, one of the beloved national dishes of Palestine, is just one of those dishes that you have to eat it with your hands. "Mussakhan" (literally means "something that is heated"), is roasted chicken, heavily spiced with sumac and a few other Middle Eastern spices. It's a simple, hearty, oniony and packed full of fingerlicking flavour dish that you absolutely need to try.
Mussakhan is usually served over taboon bread which soak up the juice and olive oil, but it's equally delicious over a bed of rice or alongside a seasonal salad.
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- Place chicken drumsticks in a large bowl. Separate thighs and drumsticks if using chicken quarters. Add in 3 tablespoons of olive oil, the sumac, allspice, cumin, cinnamon, lemon juice, garlic, salt, and pepper. Mix well, using your hands to rub the marinade into the meat. Add the onion and toss with the chicken, then cover and refrigerate for at least 1 hour or overnight in the refrigerator.
- When you are ready to cook the chicken, set a rack in the top third of the oven and preheat to 190C/375F.
- Line a large baking tray with aluminum foil, then add the chicken drumsticks. Scatter the onion around the pan. Drizzle any extra marinade over. Roast until the chicken skin is deep golden and its juices run clear when the chicken is pierced with a paring knife at its thickest parts, 40–50 minutes.
- Remove the baking sheet, then tent the chicken with aluminum foil and let rest while you prepare the toppings. Leave the oven on. Place the bread on a clean baking sheet and transfer to the oven to warm it through and lightly toast it.
- In a small skillet over medium-low heat, add the remaining tablespoon of olive oil and the pine nuts. Cook, stirring constantly, until the nuts are fragrant and light golden brown, about 2 minutes. Transfer to a plate lined with kitchen paper to drain and cool slightly.
- Remove the bread and transfer to a large serving platter. Top it with the chicken drumsticks and onion, sprinkle with the pine nuts, a little sumac, and the chopped parsley, then drizzle with any remaining roasting juices and more olive oil as needed to moisten the bread. Enjoy!
Coffee Rubbed Chuck Eye Steak with Mango Salsa / Tomahawk with Lime Cilantro Butter
Tuesday, October 13, 2020Coated in a spiced coffee rub and roasted in oven turns this humble beef cut into something extraordinary. It's naturally gluten free, low carb and healthy! The spiced coffee rub and lime cilantro butter ensure that this bone-in thick cut Tomahawk ribeye cooks perfect medium rare with lots of flavour.
Spiced coffee rub is an easy way to bring a phenomenal flavour and texture to any cut of meat. The acidity of coffee grounds replicate tannins in wine, which work as perfect complements to both protein and fat. They soften the fat found in meat, making it more tender, juicy and flavourful.
Mango Salsa | Lime Cilantro Butter | |
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- Combine all spice ingredients to make a rub. Pat the chuck roast dry with kitchen paper, and rub melted tallow or olive oil into the roast. Evenly season the chuck roast with 2 tablespoons of rub. Store the rest of rub in a jar for up to a month. Cover the rubbed roast with plastic wrap and refrigerate at least two hours, but overnight is best.
- Put the diced mango, red onion, chilli, spring onion, and parsley or cilantro in a medium bowl. Toss with lime juice. Season to taste.
- Mash all the butter ingredients together, then wrap into a sausage shape in clingfilm and chill until ready for use.
- Remove the roast from the fridge and let sit 1 hour to come to room temperature, which will help them cook quickly and more evenly.
- Preheat oven to 230C/450F and place roast in a roasting pan in a sheet pan and roast for 10 minutes. Reduce heat to 160C/320F, roast approximately 40 minutes until roast reaches an internal temperature of 57C/125F for medium rare doneness.
- Allow the chuck roast to rest for 10 minutes before slicing. Serve, sprinkled with a bit of salt flakes and mango salsa. Or cut the chilled butter into discs and serve on top of the rested steak.
Dill Garlic Bread Loaf
Sunday, October 11, 2020This wonderful, aromatic dill garlic loaf is great to serve with salad, soup or pasta. It also makes amazing sandwiches. I used fresh dill and minced garlic, half the quantity if you choose to use dried one. I love how it turned out---with a nicely golden crust but still soft, tender and satisfyingly chewy.
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- Put all of the ingredients in the bread pan in the order listed in the INGREDIENTS and select the dough setting.
- After your bread machine beeps that the cycle is complete and the dough ready, using a rubber spatula, remove the dough from the machine and drop it out onto a lightly oiled work surface.
- Punch the dough down and knead briefly to release the air. Pat the dough into a 1cm thick rectangle and roll it up like a jelly roll. Place the dough roll in a 22cm, parchment lined loaf pan with the seam side down.
- Lightly spray the top of the loaf with olive oil to prevent sticking when it rises. Cover it with a piece of plastic film. Allow it to rise in a warm space for about an hour or until it is doubled in size.
- Preheat the oven to 190C/375F about 10 minutes before the bread will finish its rise. Once the bread has risen, carefully remove the plastic wrap.
- Brush the top of the loaf with a bit of egg wash. Bake the bread in the middle of the hot oven for about 30 minutes until golden brown.
- Remove the bread from the oven and tip the loaf out of the pan onto a wire rack to cool completely before slicing.
Plum Arugula Salad with Maple Curry Vinaigrette
Thursday, October 08, 2020Fresh and peppery arugula is topped with ripe, juicy plums, grape tomatoes, spiced pumpkin seeds and toasted pine nuts with a maple curry vinaigrette. Simple, delicious and flavourful--what's not to love? If desired, add a salty, creamy and chunky blue cheese or a few slices of mild, soft rinded uniquely tangy goat cheese to make it more satisfying and exciting. I used red plums here, but it would work with most plums.
Curry Vinaigrette | |
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- Combine ACV, shallot, ginger, curry powder, and honey in a blender. Let stand 15 minutes for curry powder to bloom. Process on high speed until smooth, about 1 minute. With blender running on low speed, slowly drizzle in olive oil until emulsified. Season with salt, and set aside.
- Arrange tomatoes, plums, arugula and fresh herbs if using, in a large serving platter. Drizzle 2-3 tablespoons of dressing over and sprinkle with some pepita and pine nuts.