Mozzarella and Slow-cooked Tomatoes

It's been rather gloomy here the past few days, and I thought why not bring the summer inside. So, I cooked this simple mozzarella and slow cooked tomatoes. OK, the tomatoes take 3 hours to cook, but in the meantime, you could be doing other things. For me it's house chores or just about anything but the actual work I should be doing.

To serve this "summer on a plate", grill slices of country bread, then rub one side of each bread with garlic and drizzle with good olive oil. Pour yourself a well-chilled drinks and enjoy.

Mozzarella and Slow-cooked Tomatoes
Recipe by Stéphane Reynaud
Serves 6

12 heirloom tomatoes
8 garlic cloves
80 ml olive oil
fleur de sel
1 tablespoon herbes de Provence
6 balls buffalo mozzarella
1 bunch basil, leaves picked

Preheat the oven to 100 C. Place the tomatoes in a roasting tin. Peel and chop the garlic, scatter the garlic over the tomatoes, add the olive oil, the fleur de sel and the herbes de Provence. Bake for 3 hours.

To serve, place 1 ball of mozzarella and 2 lukewarm tomatoes in each serving bowl and add some cooking juices and basil leaves.

Buttermilk Scones and Easy Strawberry Jam

My friend from work, Janet, recently announced that she is expecting her second child. Another colleague, Deanna and I thought it'll be nice to surprise her with a little congratulations party at work. So today we had some lovely treats to go with our afternoon tea or coffee.

Deanna baked some delicious red velvet cupcakes with cream cheese frosting topped with edible red glitter. She also prepared some fruit kebabs made of strawberries, grapes and kiwis. Janet currently has cravings for salty food like pretzels and crisps, so we made sure there's plenty of that.

I cannot have afternoon tea/coffee without scones, so I baked a batch of Nigella's buttermilk scones. This is such an easy recipe. I measured out the dry ingredients last night and in the morning I just need to rub some butter and vegetable shortening, and mix in a tub of buttermilk to form a dough. Cut out into scones with fluted cutter and 12 minutes in hot oven... done, freshly baked scones.

With the scones, it's only right to have Cornish clotted cream and though I prefer a generous drizzle of golden syrup on top, today I went for a more traditional route and had strawberry jam... home-made strawberry jam.

It's true, you can buy perfectly decent strawberry jam from the store and it's quicker and cheaper, but you know, this feeling of smugness... is priceless. Nobody needs to know that it's so easy to make this jam.

Easy Strawberry Jam
Recipe by Ina Garten

3 pints fresh strawberries
3 cups superfine sugar (or use caster sugar)
2 tablespoons orange flavoured liqueur
1/2 Granny Smith apple, peeled, cored and small-diced
1/2 cup fresh blueberries

Place strawberries in a colander and rinse them under cold running water. Drain and hull the strawberries. Cut the larger berries in half or quarters and leave the small berries whole. Place the strawberries in a deep, heavy-bottomed pot (I use le creuset) and toss them with the sugar and the orange flavoured liqueur.

Bring the berry mixture to a boil over medium heat, stirring often. Add the apple and blueberries and continue to keep the the mixture at a rolling boil, stirring occasionally for about 25 to 35 minutes. Skim and discard any foam that rises to the top. Allow the mixture to room temperature and then store covered in the fridge. It will keep for at least 2 weeks. To keep the jam longer, pack and seal in sterilised jars.  

Eating in Medan: Barbecued Pork Karonese Style

So, next in my eating adventure isn't actually in Medan, but not too far from there. Situated in the cool and pleasant highlands, is a beautiful little town called Berastagi, home to the expressive Batak Karo people. Berastagi is the about 2 hours drive from Medan and is a popular weekend getaway destination.

Beyond the town and green fields, Berastagi is also dominated by two volcanoes worth trekking: Gunung Sibayak and Gunung Sinabung. I believe they're both active volcanoes. But if that doesn't tickle your fancy, you can also visit the uber relaxing natural hot springs or the beautiful waterfalls.

One place my family and I love visiting is the farmers market which offers varieties of fresh fruits, vegetables and flowers all grown locally. Berastagi is famous for its passion fruits and oranges.

Outside the market, you can find many street stalls selling fresh sugar cane juice and steamed or grilled corn on the cob; also souvenirs shops and even pets... just look at these two adorable little bunnies.

Now, let's talk about the local food here. Batak people are mainly Christians, so they are not restricted to halal food. For pork lovers, you've got to try the BPK, an acronym for Babi Panggang Karo, meaning barbecued pork Karonese style which is adored by locals and has become nationally famous.

BPK consists of grilled pork slices with a couple of must-have accompaniments: a bowl of broth made from the essence of boiled pig's bones and a saucer of tongue-numbingly hot chilli sauce. Grab a plate, scoop in the rice and eat with your hands the way the locals do - you may find yourself asking for second. Did I have second? Don't be silly, of course I did.

We also had some tender grilled ribs. They're beautifully seasoned, sweet and sticky from the lovely coating of sweetened soy sauce marinade.

And because it's always good to have something green on the plate, cassava leaves. They are popular throughout Indonesia. I'm not sure what's exactly in this cassava leaves dish, but all I know is it's delicious.

The eating continues...

Girdlebuster Pie

The theme for this month's Forever Nigella challenge hosted by Arthi at Soul Curry is all about iced desserts. I just knew straight-away the dessert I wanted to make and eat: girdlebuster pie!! Basically, it's an ice-cream pie... how good does that sound already? Well, you wait and see...

The base is made by mixing crushed digestive biscuits, soft butter and dark chocolate. Nigella uses a mixture of dark and milk chocolates, but I'm more of a dark chocolate kind of guy... the darker, the bitter, the better.

The filling is coffee ice-cream... YUM! I use store-bought Colombian coffee ice-cream. But by all means, you can make your own, it's not difficult, just requires patience which I do not have. You'll see, I'm going to prove it.

The pie is then topped with luscious and smooth butterscotch sauce made with some of my favourite ingredients: golden syrup, light brown sugar, butter, bourbon and double cream... I even added extra bourbon, just because "too much of a good thing can be wonderful" and I know Nigella will approve.

Now, the pie should be completely frozen before slicing it. I put it in the freezer for 5 minutes, but knowing something so delicious is in there, I could not resist but to cut me a slice...

Now, if you'll excuse me...

Girdlebuster Pie
Recipe by Nigella Lawson
Adapted by Me

For the base:
375 g digestive biscuits
75 g soft butter
100 g dark chocolate pieces (or good chocolate chips)

For the ice cream filling:
1 litre coffee ice cream

For the topping:
300 g golden syrup
100 g packed light muscovado sugar
75 g butter
1/4 teaspoon Maldon salt or pinch of table salt (optional)
4 x 15 ml tablespoons bourbon
125 ml double cream

Process the biscuits with the butter and chocolate pieces or chips until it forms a damp but still crumb-like clump. Press into a 23 cm pie plate of flan dish. Form a lip of biscuit a little higher that the plate or dish if you can. Freeze for about an hour or so until it gets really hard. In the meantime, let your ice cream soften, just enough to be scooped, in the fridge. Spread the ice cream into the hard-biscuit-lined dish to form a layer. Then cover with cling film and replace in the freezer.

Put the syrup, sugar and butter into a saucepan and let it melt over a low to medium heat, before turning it up to boiling for 5 minutes, the turn off the heat and add the bourbon, letting it hiss in the pan. Add the cream and stir to mix into a sauce, then leave to cool. Once the sauce is cool, but not set cold, pour it over the ice cream layer and then put it back in the freezer. Don't worry if the ice cream bubbles to the top. Once frozen, cover with cling film again.

When ready to serve, remove from freezer, take the whole pie out of its dish and cut into slices. Should you have any pie left over, slip it quickly back into the dish and return, covered with cling film, to the freezer.

Eating in Medan: Nasi Goreng and Sate Padang

Nasi Goreng means fried rice, simple as. I cannot stress enough the importance of rice in Indonesia, perhaps South-East Asia in general. Rice is the staple food and it is consumed daily, three times a day... like drugs. Not that I know anything about drugs. I have never taken any illegal substance...

Anyway, you can find nasi goreng anywhere you go in Indonesia. In Medan, there's one place my family, my dad in particular loves: nasi goreng pandu. It is located at pandu street, hence the name, in an alley and only open in the evening until after midnight. We've been going here for as long as I can remember. Throughout Indonesia you can find thousands of street side stalls selling nasi goreng. It's quite exciting I must say watching the cooks stirring the rice in a giant wok with shovels.

Sri Owen, an Indonesian food writer based in London writes "there are right and wrong ways of making nasi goreng. A bad one is oily, garnished only with a leathery fried egg... A good nasi goreng is light and hot; the rice grains moist but separate, and quite fluffy".

Nasi goreng pandu ticks all the good boxes. It's garnished with freshly cooked egg omelet (you can also ask for sunny side up if you wish), topped with spicy shredded beef and each customer gets a small plateful of prawn crackers, pickled shallots, carrots and bird's eye chili.

Not that you need an accompaniment for this fried rice, but because we're greedy family and it's nice and healthy (I'm making excuses here to cover up the greediness) we also had stir-fry vegetables, an Indonesian dish that is influenced by Chinese food.

And sate Padang (Padangese Satay) to share. Sate (pronounce as saté) Padang is also a very popular dish in Indonesia.  They're full of meaty goodness, often beef but also oxtounge or even squid. The meat is thinly sliced and then skewered through wooden sticks and barbecued on charcoals. The savoury sauce is thick and spicy and gets its yellow colour from turmeric among other spices like cumin and coriander. They're best served with ketupat (rice cakes) and a sprinkle of deep fried crispy shallots.

Back to fried rice, I think it is an everyday dish that can be served with whatever you have. Whenever I have leftover vegetables or meat, I like making fried rice, though more often I use noodles when feeling impatient. Cooking fried rice doesn't take long, but to get a good result, the rice should be cooked at least 2-3 hours before, so that it has time to get cold. Here's a recipe from Sri Owen I think you'll enjoy:

Nasi Goreng
Recipe by Sri Owen
Serves 4 - 6

2 tablespoons peanut (groundnut oil)
1 tablespoon butter
3 shallots or 1 small onion, very finely chopped
1 teaspoon sambal ulek or 1/2 teaspoon chilli powder
1 teaspoon paprika
2 teaspoon tomato purée or tomato ketchup
2 tablespoons light soy sauce
3 carrots, very finely diced
115 g button mushrooms, cleaned and quartered
2 tablespoons hot water (optional)
salt to taste
450 g cooked and cooled long-grain rice

Heat the oil and butter in a wok or a large frying pan. Stir-fry the shallots for 1-2 minutes, then add the the rest of the ingredients, but not the rice. Continue stir-frying for about 6 minutes until the vegetables are cooked. Add the rice, and mix thoroughly so that the rice is heated through and takes on the reddish tinge of the paprika and tomato. Adjust the seasoning. Serve hot on a warmed serving dish - by itself as an accompaniment to a main course; garnished with sliced cucumber, sliced tomatoes, watercress and crisp-fried shallots; or topped with seafood or meat.