Chocolate Gateau

This super rich chocolate cake was one of the best indulgences I've ever had. At the same time it was so heavy that I didn't even need to eat dinner. The recipe is still being made in moderation but at the same time I wouldn't want my lovely people to miss out on something this grand. I shared it with my roommates, and they loved it. Simple as that. 

 Ingredients
1. 400 grams of 70% Dark Chocolate
2. 400 mL's of heavy cream
3. 8 pieces of gram crackers
4. 1/2 cup of butter
5. 2 tablespoons of sugar
6. Powdered Sugar for garnish

Prep Time: 2 - 5 Min
Cook Time: 5 min
Refrigerator Time: 1 - 2 hours






Directions
1. Break up your gram crackers into pieces and put it in a food processor. If you don't have a food processor I suggest you put the crackers in a bag or some cloth and bang the crap out of it until they're all into little chunks; here, i'm using a food processor. Throw in your melted butter and sugar. Blitz. 

2. Once all the crumbles, butter, and sugar is mixed well together. Get your cake tin and just pour your mixture over it. Press it down towards the tin and make a nice layer. You're basically making the crust for your gateau. 

3. You wanna start by making a ban marie, get a pot of bowling water and then put a bowl on top of that. You wanna start putting in your chocolate in the smaller bowl. This way, you're melting the chocolate with indirect heat so it's much safer. Also I'm using a 9" inch cake tin, so if you have a 4 inch cake tin; divide all the ingredient amounts by 2. So melt your chocolate all the way. 

4. In another boiling pot, heat up your cream until it reaches boiling point. At this stage, just combine your cream and chocolate. Mix well together. You can also throw in a small amount of butter to give it a shine. I threw in some mint leaves instead to try and cut the richness....but there was too much chocolate.

5. Once you're done mixing. Pour your chocolate mixture over your crust. At this point, the crust should be set right now. Once you've poured it all into your cake tin, make sure to tap the bottom so that everything evens out. Set it in the fridge for 1 to 3 hours and then you can serve!

Garnish it up with some powdered sugar, and I tell you, it is one of the most delicious and best things you can ever make. It's super easy and you can def impress your friends with it. 

ITS DA SHO SIMPLE

Chocolate Souffle

                            A souffle is a lightly baked cake that's rich and moist on the inside. It's served as a savory main dish or sweetened for dessert. Today I decided to make a sweetened version combining the flavor compounds of chocolate and passion fruit. This was the best chocolate and passion fruit indulgence I've ever had the fun of making AND eating. This wasn't my first time making a souffle, but it was definitely my first time making a chocolate and passion fruit souffle. There aren't a lot of recipes out there when you're trying to serve 2 people; so I had to guess on the amount of ingredients, and what do you know...it turned out amazing! If you want to serve 4 guests or 6, just multiply the amount of ingredients by 2 or 3.

Ingredients
1. 40 grams of  70 % chocolate 
2. 2 eggs
3. 1 TB spoon + 2 tspns of butter
4. 1 TB spoon + 2 tspns of flour
5. 1/4 cup of milk
6. 1/4 cup of sugar

Powdered sugar to garnish 

Prep Time: 15 min
Cook Time:  17 min





Directions

1. I had a 10 oz ramekin but you can also use two 8 oz ramekins and it'll be plenty. Melt down your butter and combine it with your flour. On a low - medium heat, mix it well together until it looks somewhat like a paste. Set that aside, you don't want to over cook it. Next melt your chocolate over a bain marie. Combine together until it becomes a homogeneous mixture. 

2. Throw in your egg yolks and mix it in with the chocolate paste mixture. Next get your egg whites and whisk. You can use a electric mixer to speed up the process. Once it turns into a foamy white, throw in half of your sugar. Wait 10 seconds and then throw in the rest of your sugar. Whisk/Mix until they form streaks or soft peaks. 

3. Throw in 1/3 of your egg whites and mix it well with your chocolate paste. Don't worry about the folding part. Just mix it well enough with the 1/3 of the egg whites. Now you can throw in the rest of your egg whites and fold it in. Throwing in the 1/3 of the egg whites helps change the texture of the paste, making it a bit easier to fold when you're throwing in the remaining 2/3's. Fold in gently until it becomes homogeneous. 

4. Brush your two 8 oz ramekins with butter. Brush up ways having vertical streaks. If you don't have a brush like me, just grab a chunk of butter and rubbadubdub. Get some sugar or cocoa powder and line the ramekin. Once you're done with that fill the ramekins with your souffle mixture. Make sure to bang the bottom of it so it can reach the bottom. Sometimes, air gets trapped within the middle of the ramekin so by banging it, you're doing it a favor. Fill it all the way, get a knife and level it. Clean the sides so that it rises evenly. 

5. Bake the Souffle mixture at 375 Fahrenheit for 17 minutes.  If you're using a 10 oz ramekin, bake it for 18 to 20 minutes. Once it's poofed up, take it out and garnish that delicious baby with some powdered sugar. Serve it while its hot. If you got some Creme anglaise sauce on you, pour that baby in and just dig in. It is so rich and moist. Light and fluffy. It's a bit hard to describe, but it's one of the best things to indulge on when you're a chef. I absolutely love it. Make it for your special person, or if you're like me, just all to yourself. enjoy. 

Delicious  

Black Mussels in White Wine Sauce

This was my first time working with mussels...EVER. I"m glad I had a friend from the seafood department give me some advice. So what I learned was that when buying fresh mussels/clams, to store it you'd want to put it over a bath of ice. Fresh mussels usually last a good 2 days in the fridge. If you see any open ones, immediately throw them out, otherwise you might end up with food poisoning or other harmful effects. I wanted to make this go with a pasta dish but...I ended up screwing up the pasta dough so I decided not to use it LOL alright lets go. 

Ingredients
1. 1/2 a pound of Black Mussels
2. 5 or 6 Cherry Tomatoes
3. 1 cup of White Wine
4. 3 cloves of Garlic
5. 1 or 2 Red Chili peppers
6. Parsley 
7. Capers

Prep Time: 5 minutes
Cook Time: 10 - 15 minutes 






Directions 
1. Mince up your garlic and chop your chili. Get a pan and heat it up on medium heat. Add your olive oil and sweat out your garlic and chili for a good 2 to 3 minutes. Chop your cherry tomatoes in half and throw them in. Chop up your parsley as well and throw that in. 

2. De-glaze your pan with your cup of white wine, now add your mussels and let them steam for a good 5 minutes or at least once they're open. Make sure when you throw them in the pan that they're all closed. NEVER THROW IN OPEN MUSSELS. You don't want to over steam them other wise they get a rubbery texture. 

3. This is optional but if you want to add cream and make it sorta like clam chowder that works too. Just make sure when you finish steaming the mussels immediately add in your 1 cup of cream and give it a mix and bring it to whatever consistency you want it to be. And now you're ready to serve!

Fast. Super Easy. Delicious 

Fizzy Lemon "Dry Ice" Ice Cream

               My friends, if you have never made ice cream in your life; you have to try it. I'm not just talking about making the base ice cream and then freezing it, or using a ice cream machine. I'm talking about freaking solid carbon dioxide. That's right, I used dry ice to make ice ream and let me tell you; it is the most childish and exciting way to make ice cream, ever. I made a hangout with my friends after a game of ultimate Frisbee and I swear when we were making that delicious ice cream we screamed like little girls. The dry ice creams a cauldron looking type of thing and it's the coolest thing ever. Maybe I'm just a huge dork, I dunno, but I had so much fun making this.

Ingredients

1. 2/3 cups of sugar
2. 3 egg yolks
3. 3/4 cups of milk
4. 3/4 cups of heavy cream
5. Lemon Zest  

Prep Time: 5 - 10 min
Cook Time: Varies 







Directions

1. Separate your egg whites and yolks. Combine your egg yolks and your sugar. Get a mixing machine to mix it up. You're looking for a light yellow, and when it has the consistency of a pudding. This will probably take 5 minutes.

2. Combine your milk, cream, and lemon zest. The lemon zest you can add as much as you want. As long as the aroma is strong enough then you'll be okay. You can choose any flavorings you want but I just thought the idea of lemon soda was pretty cool. Mix all those together in a pot and bring it to a simmer.

3. Once your liquid mixture is brought up to a simmer, combine your egg yolk mixture into the pot. Now put it on medium heat and keep stirring. We're going for a low and slow method. The main idea is to get the mixture up to at least 150 degrees Fahrenheit. That is the perfect temperature to create the best texture for this ice cream. Anything further past 150 F can lead to a eggy tasting ice cream. If you don't own a probe, always check the back of your spoon/wooden spoon. Run a line across the back of your spoon, if it doesn't close, your mixture is ready to turn into ice cream!

4. Now for the fun. If you have dry ice, just start chucking it in. Trust me. It works. Now I had to crush my dry ice into a powder form so it gets more surface area. It still works if you just throw in chunks of dry ice. Now if you don't have dry ice or an ice cream machine; putting it in the freezer and mixing it every 45 minutes works lovely too. It's just not as instant as you would get it with dry ice.

The carbonation from the dry ice creates the same type of feel when you drink soda! It's so awesome and it's so yummy. The fizziness that you get from the dry ice and the taste of the lemon zest mixed in with the ice cream; you basically get lemon soda flavored ice cream! It's amazing. Everyone needs to try making this at least once in their life time. Your friends will be impressed, and you can def. say to yourself, "I know how to make ice cream now"

Fast. Easy. Fun and Delicious 

Shang Hai Pan Fried Beef Dumplings

             These are so easy to make its balls ridiculous. They were so juicy and man I was just craving dumplings. Usually in Chinese culture, most of the dumplings you would eat in restaurants would mostly be pork. Even when I was traveling in Hong Kong, most of the dumplings and wontons was minced pork inside. I'm telling you bruh you can use any meat AND veggies you want to make dumplings. But for this specific recipe it's gonna be beef today. Alright lets get started.

Ingredients
1. 1 cup of flour
2. 0.4 cups of water
3. Minced beef
4. Chopped Ginger
5. Shaoxing wine
6. Salt and Pepper
7. Chopped Green onions

Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 12 - 15 minutes









Directions

1. First you wanna make sure your minced meat is at room temperature. Reason being is that you want your meat to cook evenly, and you don't want it to be raw. Leaving it to room temperature is going to make it easier, and quicker to cook the mince out. So first season your meat with the shaoxing wine, salt, pepper, and chopped ginger. You can add sesame oil and what ever kinds of seasonings you want as well; just have fun and experiment with different things! Give it a good mix and set that aside

2. Next you want to prepare the dough. Combine your Flour and your water. If you're afraid of getting all the sticky wet flour on your hands, flour a chopstick/wooden spoon and give it a good mix. Now if you've been following my blog you know what we gotta do next. Knead dat dough though. That's right, knead it for a good 6 minutes. Depending on how strong you are you can probably finish before 6 minutes as well. 

3. Roll out your dough into a sausage shape. Cut them into 2 inch cubes and keep cutting till you reach the end. Now you're going to want to shape them into circles. Use a rolling pin and try the best you can, it doesnt have to be perfect. Just as long as you have enough space to put in your meat and you'll be fine. 

4. Fill your minced meat into the flattened dough. You can have the minced beef shaped into meat ball sized balls as well. Sorry I dont have pictures but you'll just have to deal with it. Now in my picture you don't really see the traditional crimping of the dumplings. I did a way easier style. Just grab the edges of the dough and bring it together. Next, twist it and just fold the damn thing. That's right cause what you want is that round top...it's like cheating I know. So once all thats settled onto the pan!

5. Get a pan that comes with a cover, trust me you'll need the cover. Set it on medium - high heat. Add in your vegetable or olive oil, it really doesnt matter. I added a bit of sesame oil to mix it up but thats optional. Put in your dumplings with the crappy looking side touching the pan. What you're looking for is a golden brown color. Once you got the color you achieved, next use 3/4 cup of water and just pour it in. What you're doing now is steaming the dumplings so it can cook nice and evenly. This will probably take a good 8 minutes. After you're done steaming it, you can enjoy that nice piece of dumpling goodness. 

See that wasn't so hard, sorry there werent any pictures but yeah I"ll have to make note anytime. Instead of pan frying them you can boil them for soups as well as deep fry them as well if you want it more like a gyoza. Well thats that. 

Fast.Easy.Delicious 

Creamy Pumpkin Soup

This delicious pumpkin soup is a great comfort food for the holidays. Too bad I freaking started school today. OH WELL. For those of you who have no idea what to do with pumpkin, you can use it for soups like I did, or put it in raviolis, risotto..or even pair it with some delicious poultry. Those of you who don't know, you can actually go to the asian supermarkets and buy a pumpkin for a dollar and seventy cents. I went to Vons once and bought myself a 5 pound pumpkin; they priced it at 8 bucks. That's ridiculous. I bought a freaking pumpkin at a asian supermarket for 1/5th of that. Well now you know and here I am to share some of that knowledge with you. Anyway lets begin 

 Ingredients
1. Pumpkin
2. 4 cups Chicken or Vegetable Stock
3. 1 cup of cream
4. 3 cloves Garlic
5. Salt and Pepper 

Cook Time: 8 minutes
Prep Time: 20 to 25 minutes 








Directions
1. What you first want to do is cut your pumpkin in half. Sorry I didn't post up a picture but you're pretty much going to be cutting it like you were going to prepare a layer cake. Save the rest of your pumpkin for next time. Now I forgot to mention the pumpkin you get at the asian markets are green so don't freak out if you dont see any of the traditional looking pumpkins

2. De-seed your pumpkin and crush your garlic cloves. Now just put them right in the center of the pumpkin. That's right, you're not doing anything to them. The oven is going to slowly roast the pumpkin along with the garlic. You can even put in some thyme or rosemary if you want as well. Roast it for a good 20 to 25 minutes at 375 degrees

3. Once your pumpkin is done, use a spoon and scoop out the flesh of the pumpkin. Get a nice pot and just add your roast pumpkin, stock, and cream. Season with some salt and pepper. Now i'm sure at this stage it doesnt have the texture that a soup has. Once you're done cooking it out for the next 8 minutes put it in a blender and just blitz it. And now you're ready to serve

This is one of the easiest satisfactions you could possibly make. You can even throw in a knob of butter if you want just to make it a bit more creamy but one of my friends wanted me to make a somewhat partial vegetarian dish so there you go. Enjoy! First day of school done, a crap ton more to go....

Fast.Easy.Delicious 

Herb Crusted Lamb Chops

It's like 3 in the morning and I'm still thinking about food. I'm so hungry. Anyway, I made a herb crusted lamb chops. I decided to take the same concept that I did for the Swai that I cooked in my recent blog and apply that to this rack of lamb. The crunchy affinity of the bread crumbs just adds such a nice bite and texture when you're chowing down on this baby. It was amazing. I rarely cook lamb, like ever. So I wanted to give it a shot. 

Ingredients

1. Rack of Lamb

2. 1 cup of bread crumbs

3. 1 cup of parsley

4. Grated Parmesan cheese

5. 2 Tbspn of Olive oil 

6. Dijon mustard

7. Salt and Pepper to season

Prep Time: 10 Minutes

Cook Time: 20 minutes

Directions

1. First get your parsley. Finely chop up your parsley. Put your parsley and your bread crumbs into either a food processor or a blender. Add in your grated Parmesan cheese. This keeps the lamb nice and moist when its coated. Drip in your olive oil and blend together. It should come out like the picture seen on the right hand side. I have a 15 year old blender, but it still worked just fine

                                                                           

2. Get a nice hot pan and drip in your olive oil.Getyour pan to medium - high heat. This is the first stageso you're only coloring the lamb. Cook it on the skinside down. Color it for a good 3 to 4 minutes until it's nicely browned. Next you're going to want to setyour oven to 400. Bake those bad boys for a good 10 minutes. Once they're out of the oven, get a brush. Brush your lamb with the dijon mustard and coat it with your herb crumbs  and finish it off in the oven for 5 minutes.                                                                             

NOW you're ready to eat that delicious, juicy, lamb chops that you've been eyeing on for the past 20 minutes. It is a well deserbed meal since you've put so much effort into it. Well actually I did, but I"m sharing my wonderful food with you all. It tasted amazing. Oh and for those of you that don't know if it's cooked in the middle or it's rare, medium or well done. I suggest you get a thermometer. It's difficult to tell if you can't see what it looks like inside of course. 125 F is rare, 145 F is medium, and 165 F is well done. So I hope you guys enjoyed this recipe it's pretty easy, the only downside is it takes alot of preparation to make but I think it's worth it in the end. 

AbsolutelyDelicious