Checkerboard Biscuit

Shortbread is very popular in the UK. It is a good choice for the tea time. When X’mas is coming, shortbread becomes more popular. There are lots shortbread gift boxes. My friend, Miss S, tells me that shortbread gift box is a very good gift for people during X’Mas. So, we can see lots of these sold in the shops.

So, I decide to do shortbread again. But, a little different. Checkerboard style.

 

Oven Temperature Setting: 160C/325F/Gas Mark 3

Baking Time: 20~25 minutes

Recipe

 

 

Step of Shortbread

(1) Place flour and sugar in a bowl. Mix them well.
(2) Add butter into the bowl. Rub butter into the flour. It will be crumble-like

(3) Add milk into the mixture. Lightly knead it into a ball. Cover with kitchen film or put in a food container. Set in the fridge for 30 minutes.

 

Step of Chocolate Shortbread
(1) Place chocolate powder, flour and sugar in a bowl. Mix them well.
(2) Add butter into the bowl. Rub butter into the flour. It will be crumble-like

(3) Add milk into the mixture. Lightly knead it into a ball. Cover with kitchen film or put in a food container. Set in the fridge for 30 minutes.

 

Step of Assembly
(1) Roll shortbread into a 15 x 25 cm rectangle. Then, cover with a kitchen film.
(2) Roll chocolate shortbread into a 15 x 25 cm rectangle. Then, place shortbread over the top off chocolate shortbread. Cover with a kitchen film. Set in the fridge for 30 minutes.

(3) Slice into a 0.8 cm wide stripe.

(4) Brush some egg at the side you would like to stick with another stripe. Make sure the color is cross-over.
(5) Wrap with kitchen film and Set in the fridge for 60 minutes.

(6) Slice the dough into 0.8 cm height. Place the dough on the baking tray. Send into the pre-heat oven at 160C/325F/Gas Mark 3 for 20~25 minutes.

 

The biscuit is not hard to make. The only thing you need is PATIENCE. As a baking lover, we won’t feel tired even stand in the kitchen all day. Our satisfaction comes from the big smile of our family and friends. So, enjoy it.

Tomato Stew Beef

The weather in the UK backs to normal, around 10 degree C recently. It is nice. Not so cold as long as it is not so windy. X’Mas is coming soon that my friend and I were discussing what kind of X’Mas movies we should watch together? I have no ideas what she talked about, like “Miracle on 34th Street” or “It's a Wonderful Life”. For me, X’mas movies are like “Home alone” or “The Holiday”. HAHA… It is a huge difference. I have no ideas what those movies are. And I don’t think they are broadcasted in Taiwan. But, I will definitely watch those classic movies in the UK to experience the real X’MAS.

Recipe: Serve for 3~4 people
 

Steps of Tomato Stew Beef

(1) Prepare a saucepan. Add some oil in. Switch the medium heat on. Add the beef in. Fried the beef until the surfaces turn golden. Then, pour the beef into a bowl. Set aside.

(2) Add the chopped onion and carrots into the pan. Cook around 5 minutes until it turns soft

(3) Add the quartered tomatoes into the pan. Stir it with onion and carrots. Boil it until tomato start to juice.

(4) Use a kitchen blender to blend all ingredients

(5) Add 2 table spoons of tomato puree, 1 dried basil and beef into the tomato sauce. Bring it to boil. Then, switch off the heat.
(6) Pour tomato stew beef to slow cooker. Turn it to the low heat and cook around 3 hours until beef turns tender. Then, season with salt if it is necessary.

 

I like tomato stew beef that I never tried this before. This is my first time to cook this. It is very delicious that my friend and I want more after we ate out all. Will definitely cook this again. Eat with pasta, rice, or bread. Or, any way you like. Enjoy it.

Creamy Chicken

Finally, “The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 2” is in the cinema now. My friend and I went to watch it yesterday. Because it is off-peak time that only 8 people were there. But, no matter how many people there, they still need to play the movie. All of us hope they can skip advertisements and trails and jump into the movie. HAHA… No… we still spent 20 minutes to watch it. Anyway, the movie is good. Although we know what the ending is, we still cried at the end. Jennifer Lawrence is an excellent actress that she makes this movie better.

Recipe: Serve for 1 person

Steps of Creamy Chicken

(1) Prepare a sauce pan. Add a table spoon of oil. Fry chicken by medium heat until it turns golden at both sides. Then, set aside.

(2) Use same pan. Place onion in the pan and fry it around 5 minutes until it turns soft.

(3) Add mushrooms into the pan. Fry another 2 minutes.

(4) Add cream and water into the pan.

(5) Add grazed cheese and chicken into the pan. Bring it to the boil. Simmer it another 5 minute. Add some salt.

 

It is very easy to make this creamy chicken at home. Just around 20 minutes then you can have a very delicious chicken to eat. It is good for you during the week when there is no time prepare lots of meals. Then, you just need a pan to cook everything. Enjoy it!!

 

Chinese Pork Rib Soup with Mushrooms

Cold winter needs lot of HOT soup and food. I like to drink soup when I was in Taiwan. If it is possible, I would like to drink soup every single day. But, most of Chinese soups takes long time to cook so that I always cooked a big pot and leave in the fridge.

When I start to use slow cooker, I find out it is really easy to cook soup and you can just leave there when you go to work. After finishing the work, you can have fresh soup to drink. I think slow cooker is a good helper for every family.

Recipe: Serve 2~3 people

 

 

Steps of Chinese Pork Ribs Soup with Mushrooms

(1) Put Chinese mushroom in the bowl. Add the hot water in. Wait around 20~30 minutes.

(2) Wash pork ribs. And put in the pan.

(3) Add the mushrooms in. Add water in. Water needs to be covered over the ribs. Cover the lid. Switch to high and cook around 2 hours until the pork becomes tender. Add salt in. Serve it in hot

 

Drinking hot soup in the winter is a very happiness thing. It helps me against the cold and keep warm. So, would you like to try Chinese soup to help you warm up? Enjoy it.

Egg Custard Tart with Blackberry Apple

Last Saturday, It snowed in the UK. It is really unusually. Before coming to here, I always thought that it is very normal to see snow when countries at higher latitude. But, I was wrong!! Having snow depends on what kind of geography it is. Although here is at high latitude, but there is a few high mountains. So, it is unusual to have snow. Maybe in January. Just maybe. But, this year, having snow in November let me expect to have white X’mas. Oh… I definitely look forward to it. Anyway, it is very cold here. So, please keep warm.

My friend’s friend gave us some apples last week. I don’t really like to eat apple, but it like to use it in my cooking and baking. Although I just backed egg custard last week, I still want to eat more. I got apple and I want to eat Egg Custard. So, why not bake Egg Custard Tart with some apple filling?

Oven Temperature Setting: 180C/350F/Gas Mark 4

Baking Time: Around 20~25 minutes
Recipe: A 7" Egg Custard with Blackberry Apple

 

 7” Shortcrust Pastry Link

 

Steps of Egg Custard Tart with Blackberry Apple

(1) Place chopped apple and blackberry in a saucepan. And 20 g sugar in the pan. Switch the small heat on. Cook the apple until it turns soft. Dry it and set aside.

(2) Place eggs and sugar in a sauce pan. Switch the small heat on. Stir it until sugar is melted into the egg.

(3) Add milk and cream into the pan. Switch to medium heat. Keep stirring it. Cook until there are some bubbles floating up to the top. Switch the heat off.

(4) Pour the batter through a sieve twice. This movement can smooth your batter.

(5) Place the blackberry apple filling over the top of pastry. And then, pour the batter over the top of filling. Send it to the pre-heat oven at 180C/350F/Gas Mark 4. Bake it around 20~25 minutes until it is set but still slightly wobbly in the middle.

 

I think I like this fruit egg custard more than egg custard. It has more flavor for the tart. If you eat pure egg custard too much, sometime, you will feel too much. But, adding with some fruit, it balances. Um.. it is YUM.. Enjoy it.

Cheesy Tiger Bread

Yes… Yes… Tiger Bread AGAIN!! As I blogged in Tiger Bread, my friends LOVE Tiger Bread!! They love this simple, but with a little crispy top of bread. They ask me if I could bake another Tiger Bread!! My answer is, “Of course, YES”

But, baking same recipe will make me feel boring so that I decide to add knead some cheese into the bread. Why not? My kitchen is my playground that I can do whatever I want to do.

Oven Temperature Setting: 200C/400F/Gas Mark 6

Baking Time: 12~15 minutes
Recipe: 8 Cheesy Tiger Bread

 

Steps of Cheesy Tiger Bread

(1) Add flour, salt and sugar into a big bowl. Mix a little.
(2) Add 200 ml milk with instant yeast and egg into the bowl. Knead it into the chunk
(*Selena’s Kitchen Talk: I leave 1 Table Spoon of egg for the brushing later.
**Selena’s Kitchen Talk: My instant yeast’s instruction is to add yeast in the water around 5 minutes. Check the instruction before using it.)
(3) Knead olive oil into the dough. Then, keep kneading the dough until it turns softer and more elastic.

(4) Knead the grazed cheese into the dough until it is distributed equally

(5) Shape the dough into a ball and put back to the bowl. Leave the dough in a warm place to double its size. It takes around 90 ~ 120 minutes

(6) Prepare the topping: Mix all topping ingredients together and then leave their 20 minutes.

 

(7) After the first grow-up, move the dough to the working table with light flour. Separate it to 8 small balls equally. Brush some egg.
(8) Then, scoop the topping over the topping of breads. Leave the bread at a warm place to double the size again.

(9) Send it to the pre-heat oven at 200C/400F/Gas Mark 6 and bake around 15~20 minutes until the top turns golden and crispy.

(10) Try to brush some butter over the top that it makes it look shining.

Because of cheese, the bread is very soft even we ate at the third day after baking. Guess what kind of Tiger Bread I will bake next time? Enjoy it.

Egg Custard Tart

I have baked a mini egg custard this year for a party. On the party, my friend told me how much she likes egg custard. Her mother always baked lots of egg custard for her when she was a little girl. What a coincidence, egg custard was very popular in Taiwan when I was a little girl. I remembered we always had some in the weekend.

HaHa… my friend and another friend will go traveling so that I decide to bake a egg custard for her to eat during the traveling.

Oven Temperature Setting: 180C/350F/Gas Mark 4

Baking Time: Around 25~30 minutes
Recipe: A 7" Egg Custard Tart

 

7” Shortcrust Pastry Link

 

Steps of Egg Custard Tart

(1) Place eggs and sugar in a sauce pan. Switch the small heat on. Stir it until sugar is melted into the egg.

(2) Add milk and cream into the pan. Switch to medium heat. Keep stirring it. Cook until there are some bubbles floating up to the top. Switch the heat off.

(3) Pour the batter through a sieve twice. This movement can smooth your batter.

(4) Pour the batter over the top of pasty. Sprinkle some nutmeg over the top of egg custard batter. Send it to the pre-heat oven at 180C/350F/Gas Mark 4. Bake it around 25~30 minutes until it is set but still slightly wobbly in the middle.

 

 

Um… YUM YUM… Another friend visited our house yesterday. She saw the egg custard and said, “WOW… I want it… I want it… It is what I always had when I was a little girl.” Hee… I think egg custard is our SWEET memory when we were a little girl. So, enjoy it.

Toad in the Hole

Again, Yorkshire pudding is my favorite British food. We used some casserole for the giant Yorkshire Pudding last time. This time, I would like to show you what we eat normally, Toad in the Hole.

Traditionally, it is eaten as a side dish with Sunday Roast Lunch. But, people love to eat Yorkshire pudding a lot so that they find out some new way to eat it. They add sausage into it. Why it is called toad in the hole? Someone says because of its look?! Someone says because it is pub food for a pub game. I’m not sure which one is really. The only thing I know is that it is YUM YUM...

Oven Temperature Setting: 220C/450F/Gas Mark 8

Baking Time: 40~45 minutes
Recipe: Serve for 2 people

 

Steps of Toad in the Hole

(1) Put sausage on the baking tray. Bake it for 20 minutes until it turns golden.

Well-use the time of baking sausage, we are going to prepare the Yorkshire pudding

 

(2) Mix flour and salt in a bowl
(3) Make a hole in the middle. Add two eggs into the bowl. Mix with flour

 

(4) Add milk and water into the batter gradually. Set aside.
(5) Take the sausage baking tray out of the oven. Pour the batter into the dish. Send back to the oven and cook for around 20~25 minutes until it is grown and turns golden at the edge and the middle.
(Selena’s Kitchen Talk: Stir the batter again before pouring into the dish.)

 

Eating Toad in the hole with gravy is the most delicious food. We enjoy it a lot. The batter of Yorkshire pudding absorbs the oil of sausage. The flavor is too good. It is a torture for my friend’s doggie. His nose keeps moving and smelling. Sorry… Archie (Doggie’s name) I know it is yum and yum. But, you cannot have it. 

Butternut Squash Soup

There was a fish and chip party  on Wednesday evening last week. So, my friend and I thought we need to have a light lunch to balance it. Otherwise, it will be too much within a day. If you say a light lunch in the UK, it will be a sandwich, salad, or soup. It is cold here now so that drinking soup is better than eating cold sandwich and salad. HAHA… Though I have stayed in the UK over a year and I like to eat sandwich and salad, I still want to choose HOT food in the winter. More Taiwanese style. HOT food.

Recipe: Serve 2~3 people

Steps of Butternut Squash Soup

(1) Chop butternut squash into chunks. Place them on the baking tray. Drizzle some olive oil over the top of butternut squash with some salt and black pepper. Roast it for 45 minutes at 200C/400F/Gas Mark 6 until it turns tender. Then, set aside.

(2) Melt butter in the saucepan. Add finely chopped carrot and onion in the pan. Cover the lid. Cook for around 5~10 minute until it tender.

(3) Put cooked butternut squash, onion, and carrot in a bowl. Purée everything with a hand blender until it turns silky smooth.

(4) Pour all purée back into the pan. Add water and stock and simmer around 20 minutes after boiling. And then, mix cream into the soup. Simmer another 10 minutes. Add some salt if needed. Serve in HOT.

 

 
The taste is lovely. Butternut squash soup is so smooth. Just have one sip that you feel how amazing this soup is. I like this soup a lot, but I am not going to try light lunch anymore.
I was too hungry after my light lunch that I ate muesli, fruits, chocolate bar, and ice cream between my light lunch and fish and chips party. HEE… Anyway, enjoy the soup.