A Beautiful and Surprised ending to 2009!

There goes another year and another new year to begin with. So many memories and events that happened during 2009. Funny, I still haven't accomplished what I wanted to do from last year. Maybe I should brought forward the balance? :-) I did participated in BloggerAid Cookbook as I announced earlier in my latest blog entry BUT I think the most unexpected surprise for me was one of my recipe was selected by Saveur.Com ~ Best Of The Web: Sites We Love!

This really meant a lot to me and came unexpectedly before year ending. I found out accidently when I glanced at my site's Live Feed and saw some links or viewers were from Saveur.com! It really jump-started my senses ... :-D I clicked one of those links and voila! The page unfurl in front of my eyes. For an unknown food blogger like me, to have a small part in such well known magazine online and offline in the Culinary World, it encouraged me to improve myself further but also made me felt my efforts are not a waste of time! Thank you so much to Saveur.Com!

It took me some time to mention about it as I felt who am I compared to other established Food Bloggers that are famous and even produced their own cookery books nowadays. Then, inside me was a voice saying,"Hey, if this can happened to you, why not to others?" So, I decided to do this entry (actually, early this morning after I sent my son off to school) after months of silence. I want my Foodie Friends not to feel let down by all the rejections from online food galleries or if your dishes didn't turned right after you followed them to the T...:-D Yes, I do envied those gorgeous Photos in the food blogs :-P 90% of the time, I don't have the right location or using improper set ups, blah, blah, blah... but hey, someone out there did notice the effort!

I wanted to wish all my wonderful foodie friends and not forgetting 'Viewers' and particularly 'Anonymous' posters who left encouraging (and also discouraging) comments in my blog ~ Thank you so much and Happy New Year and best wishes to you and family ~ Let's start cooking for year 2010!

STOP PRESS!!! The BloggerAid-Changing the Face of Famine Cookbook is finally here!

Finally, the much awaited and talked about 'The BloggerAid Cook Book' is here! In aid of World Food Programme, food bloggers around the world like you and me, teamed up to form BloggerAid. We realised that we can make a difference to make the world a better place for the needy by contributing something we all love and share the passion for... Food. Armed with that and the aid of Internet (who says Internet is bad?), over a hundred bloggers who never met each other had worked together through this medium as a team. Throughout the process, we not only achieved the vision that we believed in but also new friendships were cultivated.
The 100% proceeds from the cookbook will be channel towards children and education through the World Food Programme called School Meals. Besides providing vital nourishment, school meals act as a safety net for poor families and also help keep children in school especially girls who may not be given the opportunities to study.

Recipes from bloggers around the world making a difference!

By BloggerAid-CFF, Rhonda Renee, Mark Haak, Peter Georgakopoulos, Deeba Rajpal

Food does not simply nourish the body; food also celebrates what makes the world diverse, as well as, what unites us. The BloggerAid Cook Book is a collection of international recipes illustrating that we can work together and unite for a greater cause. The authors of this cookbook are food bloggers from around the world who have endeavored to make a difference by raising funds for the World Food Programme and encompassing their passion for "all things foodie" at the same time. Through these recipes they share their traditions and insatiable curiosity about new flavours. They pay tribute to the home cooking of our grandmothers, while celebrating the exoticism and richness of a world brought closer together by their hopes to make a difference. With recipes such as Tomato-Cheese Ravioli with Eggplant Sauce, Spicy Serundeng Tuna and Peanuts, Serrano Ham Paella with Oyster Mushrooms, Raspberry Mascarpone Bites and Triple Layer Orange-Passion Fruit Tart we are doing our part to say that bloggers can change the face of famine. 

We chose the United Nations' World Food Programme (WFP) to receive the funds generated by the cookbook because of the wonderful work this organization does. The WFP has touched the lives of our members, many of whom are from countries where poverty is often a way of life. More specifically, 100% of BloggerAid's proceeds from the cookbook will benefit the WFP's School Meals Programme, which benefits an average of 22 million hungry children each year. School meals are important on many levels. In countries where school attendance is low, the promise of at least one nutritious meal each day boosts enrollment and promotes regular attendance. 

This book is a virtual way for all of us, wherever we may be and however rich or poor we may be, to pull up a chair at the same table and share what we have.

The BloggerAid-Changing the Face of Famine Cookbook is now available through the Create Space estore. The estore is a connection of Amazon. You won't find the book on the Amazon.com site - royalties for the School Meals Programme are much higher through the estore. The children need as much support as we can give them!!! 

Please spread the word, purchase a copy for yourself and more for your love ones and friends as gifts for this coming festive seasons in the aid of children of our future... Thank you for your help! Seasons Greetings & Happy New Year 2010 to all my fellow food bloggers and readers around the world.

Stilton en croûte aux Champignons et Épinard

The weather is getting colder these few weeks in the coast and for several days it rained continuously. Looks like Winter maybe earlier this year! My little boy caught the cold and coughs from his Dad. Felt like I'm started to have the symptoms too ... sigh... :-( Anyway, I don't want this to upset my day, grabbed few food mags and newsletters from couple of shops my family frequent to. Sometimes, you can get very good deals when the supermarkets and wholesalers on promotions. Few months ago, I got few promo packs of 2 + 1 Galbani Cow Mozzarella for € 2.99! I missed the one that gave 1 tub of Ricotta Finetta :-( Back in my hometown, that price is for 1 piece of the same item! Of course, at the same time, I bought Buffalo Mozzarella too. It's a must in my menu :-D Both items shared the same shelf anyway :-P.

So, this time I was keen to try out some recipes with Stilton cheese and I saw one version called Melty Mushroom Wellington in Good Food magazine, October issue. Now, 'Wellington' in the culinary world is informally used to describe other dishes in which meat or fish are baked in a puff pastry not boots! That reminded me fondly of Paddington Bear and his cute yellow wellington boots :-D Anyway, instead of the usual fare of having Stilton, I was torn between cooking a soup with Stilton or bake the savoury pastry. In the end, I chose the savoury pastry recipe as I want to use up an 'ancient' ready-to-roll pastry in the freezer. It would be great for l'heure de l'apéro before dinner and I'll have the Stilton (again!) to end the dinner with :-D. I want to try out the recipe because it's vegetarian and it looked quite easy. I'm not that good in baking and I want to improve it seriously. By the way, anyone follows BBC's Masterchef: The Professionals? It's really a great challenging cooking shows among chefs. I skipped others cooking challenges just to watch it.

One more thing, if you have those Stilton cheese that came in ceramic jars, you need to spoon it out thinly to layer the fillings for this recipe. It's easier if you can find sliced Stilton (or any sliced Blue Cheeses). I was lucky this time to taste Stilton from Paxton & Whitfield (last Stilton-in-a-Jar I had was from Harrod's) brought back by my father-in-law during his trip to London recently. Here's my adaptation of the original recipe. I'm not sure if I followed it correctly in the pastry steps but the Verdict? It's delicious and will definitely make it again!

Stilton with Mushroom and Spinach Puffs

(Stilton en croûte aux Champignons et Épinard)

Serves 4

4 Medium-size White/Brown Mushrooms

300 g Spinach leaves

1 Tbl Thyme leaves ~ hand picked

1 clove Garlic ~ chopped finely

1 Shallot ~ chopped finlely

4 Tbl Olive Oil

1 Egg ~ plus a good pinch of salt, beaten for brushing and taste :-)

100 g Stilton Cheese (or any Bleu Cheese you fancy)

1 x 32 cm ⌀ Roll Ready Made Butter Puff Pastry (or x 500g block)

Flour for dusting

Salt and Pepper to taste

Method:

1. Heat the oven to 200 ºC/180 ºC Fan.

2. Remove stalks from mushrooms. In a pan enough to cook the mushrooms all at once, heat half of the olive oil and sizzle the mushrooms for 3-4 minutes on each sides until golden and cooked through (depends on the size of the mushrooms, you may need longer time to cook them). Lift the mushrooms out onto kitchen paper for a moment. Set aside.

3. In the same frying pan, heat the rest of the oil. Fry garlic for few seconds and add in the chopped shallot. Fry until the shallots turn transparent, then add in the spinach. Cook for 2-3 minutes over high heat until completely wilted. Season with salt and pepper. Remove the cooked spinach into a sieve to drain the liquid thoroughly.

4. On a cleaned, lightly floured working surface, scatter the picked thyme leaves and roll out the puff pastry on top of the herb. Light press the pastry surface evenly to make sure the thyme leaves stick to it nicely. Using a cutter, cut out 4 size pastry rounds 2 cm wider than the mushrooms for the base and 4 pieces of 4 cm wider rounds for the tops (that is 4 cm wider than the measured base).

*After several attempts to maximise the yield of the ready-made rolled puff pastry, it gave me about 4 pcs x 8 cm base and 4 pcs x 10 cm top. I was lucky to find smaller mushrooms than the base size.

5. To Esemble:

Divide the cooked spinach into 4 portions and stilton cheese into 8 portions. Place the smaller circles on a lined baking sheet. Top with 1/4 of the spinach and making sure that the amount isn't wider than the size of the mushroom. Top with 1/8 of the stilton cheese and then a mushroom, top side up and another 1/8 portion of stilton cheese. Brush the edges with beaten egg. Top it with one larger puff pastry round and gently stretch the pastry over the mushroom ~ trying not to trap any air, then press the edges together with a fork. Trim the edges if needed and brush the top generously with beaten egg. Complete the rest of the cut out puff pastries with mushrooms, spinach and cheese.

6. Bake for 25-35 minutes or until golden brown. Leave them to cool for few minutes before serving. (Depends on the types of oven, you may need to adjust the temperature or the pastries may burn. Please read the manufacturer's manual).

Tip: This recipe can be made several days before as it freezes well and it's great for tea time as well.

Note:

If using large mushrooms like Field mushrooms or Portobellos, it's best to use a 500 g block Ready-made Puff pastry. Scatter the thyme leaves (or suitable fresh herbs available) on floured surface, roll out the block to the thickness of 3 mm. Cut out 4 pieces pastry rounds 5 cm wider than the mushrooms and 4 pieces of 10 cm wider rounds for the tops, re-rolling the trimmings if needed. If you're short of time (like me), you can use 2 ready-to-roll puff pastries; 1 for the base and 1 for the top (like making Ravioli) and follow Step 5 to finish.