Birthday food, after the fact

Ini adalah gambar makanan yg dihidangkan masa birthday AH. Tapi gambar diambil lepas birthday event coz lupa bawak turun camera ke dapur. The pictures are taken on National Geographic subscription FREE camera. Camera yg sungguh basic dan takde apa2 butang utk adjust shot. Takde flash pun (or maybe inbuilt and auntie tak tau). Sungguh seksa nak ambik gambar. Bila la Canon Powershot auntie boleh dibaiki. Sigh!

BLACK PEPPER LAMB PIES

Rupa is 3/10 (10 ratu semalaya and 1 ratu bukit setongkol) tapi rasa adalah 10/10 according to AH (well, maybe 9/10 la, coz dia kata all is perfect except kalau lagi ada more gravy in the inti is better)


Auntie use flaky pastry. Pastry recipe is from Anna Olsen with some modification. It goes like this:

Ingredients:
150g butter
165g cream cheese
(Auntie discovered Australian Tatura cream cheese in tesco. Cheaper than Kraft but more genuine and yummier)
2 cups all-purpose flour (tepung gandum la tu!) (minus a few tbsp kalau mau flakier)

Method (easy-peasy lemon squezy):
Since pastry dough is a bit delicate and tak tahan panas, better do this at night. Kalau you have the luxury of air-cond kitchen can do any time la. Bila auntie dok rumah baru, harus auntie akan buat dough in the living room coz got air cond. Anyways, caranya ialah:

Butter and cream cheese at room temperature ie about 3 hours after taking them out of the fridge. Don't be tempted to nuke them in the microwave from the fridge. Cream them until semi-fluffy. Then just add flour gradually (maybe in 3 or 4 batches) and stir. Then use hands to incorporate into pastry dough. Make sure hand is not too warm so maybe go and put hands in ice or fridge for a few minutes (kidding!). Should incorporate lightly. Jangan uli macam roti. As long as dia dan jadi big ball cukup. Kalau too oily (coz tangan panas), masuk dalam fridge sat before mixing again. Kalau lembik sangat add a sprinkle of flour. Roll lightly sampai bentuk square yg tebal. Wrap in cling film and simpan dalam fridge for at least 1 hour. Overnight also can.

After taken out from fridge, roll more thinly, fold down 3rd of top part and fold up 3rd of bottom part. Then roll again. Divide lagi in third macam tadi and roll thinly again. Use big-size cookie cutter (if you are that sophisticated a baker) or big bottle cap or mug or glass or whatever round shape you can find to tekap the dough. The dough for bottem of pie should be slightly bigger than for the top. Line the dough onto foil pie dish or whatever bekas you are using. Auntie uses the smallish foil pie dish. Kalau nak buat big pies, can use the bigger pie pan/ dish. Bubuh inti and tutup ngan top dough tu. Brush with egg/ milk. Bake in 150C oven for about 20-30 minutes .


Last two pies with extra filling. Yg tak semenggah tu adalah last kopek nye dough so kena tampal2.

The lamb filling:
2 ketul leg of lamb chops (or mana2 parts yg lembut), diced or sliced thinly
1-2 onion (ikut suka), chopped
1 tbsp chopped ginger
1 carrot, diced
1 celery stalk, diced
5 or more button mushrooms (fresh or canned), sliced
(auntie got to use fresh coz tesco got sale that day)
2 bay leaves, fresh or dried (if dried, keromotkan dia sikit)
1 tsp Italian spices (ikut suka)
3 tsp or more (ikut suka) gound black pepper
a few tbsp berry juice (any one, ribena also can)
some worcestershire sauce
some salt
1tbsp flour plus 1/4 cup water (mixed)
olive oil



Method:
Sear the lamb pieces in a bit of olive oil (ie bubuh sikit olive oil dalam kuali, api tinggi, then masukkan lamb, kacau cepat2, half-cooked tapi luar dia macam masak, then angkat and put aside).
Add a bit more olive oil to the pan, then saute onions, carrot and celery. Add in bay leaves. Add the lamb. Add the mushrooms. Then season with the spices, pepper, sauce, juice and salt. Last sekali pour in flour-water mixture and kacau. Kalau nak lagi banyak kuah, tambah air.


BLUEBERRY CAKE/PIE WITH TRIMMINGS

Ini bukan part of birthday deal tapi telah menjadi AH punya desert since New Year. Recipe dimodify from Nigella Lawson's.

Blueberry pie slices served with sliced bananas and ice-cream. Tengoklah pinggan yg sungguh classic. Kat rumah Wan pun ada pinggan ni dulu.
Blueberry pie recipe (easy- no electric mixer required):
250g butter, melted
3/4 cup or less sugar (3/4 cup to dah rasa cam manis sangat)
4-5 eggs
(kalau tesco size A eggs use 5, if you can get bigger size A eggs from other producers, use 4)
2 cups self-raising flour + 1/2 tsp soda bicarbonate
(If using plain flour, add 1 tsp baking powder and 1/2 tsp s.b. to the flour)
1tsp vanilla essence
1 jar blueberry jam/ filling (auntie use stefi jam, made in germany)
1/2 tsp salt

Method:
Beat egg and sugar (using hand-whisk only la). Add vanilla essence and salt. Pour in slighly-cooled melted butter. Beat. Add in flour gradually and mix well.

Pour jam content into bowl. Add 2 tbsp hot water and stir (jam will still be thick but more spreadeable)

Use round medium pie dish. This recipe will make 2 medium pies (kalau nak buat muffins pun boleh auntie thinks). Fill dish halfway with cake mixture. Spread jam over the cake mixture. Then top the jam with cake mixture (up to 3/4 of pie dish). Bake in 175C oven for 20-30 minutes or until cooked.


One batch of Auntie's pie keras sikit coz Auntie ter-guna bread flour. Like most dishes auntie makes, rupa tak lawa, tapi rasa selalunya OK. A picture of the whole pie (photoshopped) can be seen here.


For New Year party Auntie served with canned (aerosol) cream. Tapi AH suka jugak tambah ice-cream and pisang.

This is the full-caloried serving. Who cares!!