Lemon Curd Bites - Experimenting With Meyer Lemons

My business travels wreak havoc on my blogging activities but they also give me interesting new exposure to elements that very often turn into inspirational fodder for my blog.... provided if I find time to tap into those inspirations before they fade away in my memory....

I was back in the Big Apple region for almost 3 weeks, working on business plans. Between the cold rainy weathter, the floods in New Jersey and the first transfixing images of the engulfing tsunami in Japan, I was still fortunate enough to be blessed with 2 sunny, fair weathered weekends to roam the streets of New York. 

I saw these Meyer Lemons at Dean & Deluca on my first weekend in town. Fascinated by the collection of cross-bred citrus varieties available, I made a mental note to bring home some blood orange, meyer lemons and mandarinos... Unfortunately by the time I returned again on the weekend just before my departure, the stock has already dwindled to a haggard looking bundle, stripped of the barrels of sunshine I had seen a week earlier. I picked out half a dozen of the best looking Meyer Lemons I could find and hand carried them on my flight home.

Just a little bit of background on the Meyer Lemons for those who are interested - this citrus is a cross bred between a lemon and a mandarin orange. Believed to have been first bred in China for ornamental purposes, US started to consume this in the early 1900. However, I believe I have only become aware of this after I have seen this featured in gourmet magazines and Martha Stewart's recipes over the last 2 years.

Rounder than the ordinary lemon with a deeper orangey hue, the fruit smelt gorgeous like a sweet grapefruit with a mild hint of the lemony zest.  Taste wise, it is less tart than an ordinary lemon but with alot more tang than a sweet orange. I would think that the juice of the Meyer Lemon would be perfect as it is for a lemonade drink without the need for additional sugar.

I deliberated over what to do with the Meyer Lemons when I got back. Now, on hind sight, I have to admit that I had been too narrow minded and was too boxed in by my own pre-conception that to test a lemon,I would need to make a lemon curd. I played safe and fell back on Tish Boyle's Lemon Curd Bites from her The Good Cookie cookbook. 'The miniature tarts made with a tender cream cheese dough was filled with tangy lemon curd. Very posh, very sophisticated.' - I was sold.


These turned out to be pretty little things and yes, I could imagine them looking posh and sophisticated among a tea party spread but I have to admit that the Meyer Lemons did not quite give the right taste to the tarts. Lemon curd, I have come to conclude, should be smooth and tart. One expects the lemon curd to be bright and zesty. However, the subdued tartness of the Meyer Lemons was not enough to deliver the kick. With this recipe, I found that the curd was a little lost in its flavour. At one point, I think my disappointment even wryly hallucinated me into thinking that I was tasting Benadryl...  now I am really lost...

I have not lost heart. I still have 4 lemons in my fridge. I will think of something.....

After thought : I probably should have cut the sugar for the lemon curd by half and that would give me a more tart finish...


Recipe
Lemon Curd Bites (from Tish Boyles's The Good Cookie)

Cream Cheese Dough
1 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup confection sugar
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/8 tsp salt
1/2 cup cold unsalted butter cut into tablespoons
3 oz Cream chees,cut into 1/2 inch chunks and frozen for 30mins
1 large egg yolk
1 tsp vanilla extract

Lemon Curd
1 large egg
4 large egg yolks
1 cup plus 2 tbsp granulated sugar
1/2 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
2 tsp finely grated lemon zest
Pinch of salt
6 tbsp unsalted butter cut into tablespoons

Method:
Dough
1. In the bowl of a food processor, combine the flour, confectioners' sugar, baking powder, and salt and process for a few seconds, until blended. Sprinkle the butter and cream cheese pieces over the mixture and pulse about 18 times until the butter pieces are the size of peas and the mixtures resembles coarse meal. In a small bowl, whisk together the egg yolk and vanilla with a fork. Add the mixture to hte processor and pulse just until the dough starts to come together.

2. Turn the dough out onto a work surface and gently press it into a disk. Wrap the dough with cling wrap and refrigerate for at least 1 hour, until firm.

3. Position a rack in the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 400F (205C). Coat 2 12 cup miniature muffin pans with non-stick cooking spray. Cut out twenty-four 2-inch squares of aluminum foil.

4. Remove the dough from the fridg and divide it in half. Divide each half into 12 portions. Shape each piece of dough into a ball. Place one ball in each muffin cup and press down into the center of the ball with the knuckle of your index finger to form an indentation, then press the dough up the sides of the cup to its rim. The cups should be completely lined with dough. Prick the bottom of each crust with a fork. Line each crust with a alumninum foil and fill with a few pie weights, dried beans or rice.

5. Bake the crusts for 10mins. Transfer the muffin pans to a wire rack and reduce the oven temperature to 350F (175C). Remove the foil and weights from the crusts and bake the crusts for another 7 to 9 mins until golden brown around the edges. Cool down the muffin pans completely before removing tart cases from the pan.

Lemon Curd
1. Set a fine mesh sieve over a medium bowl and set aside. In a medium sized heavy nonreactive saucepan, whisk together the egg, yolks and sugar until blended. Stir in the lemon juice and zest, salt and butter and cook over medium heat, whisking constantly until the mixture thickens, 7-10mins. (do not let the mixture boil, or it will curdle). Immediately strain the mixture through the sieve, pressing it through with a rubber spatula. Cover the bowl and refrigerate the curd until chilled, about 1 hour.

Assembly

1. Placing the chilled lemon curd in a pastry bag fitted with a medium star tip, pipe a generous rosette of lemon curd into each crust.

Palm Sugar Rice Cakes (Kuih Kosui)

South East Asian cuisine, as one knows, is diverse in a rich and colourful way. Distinct sharp flavours often puctuated by the clever use of exotic spices and earthy fresh ingredients have come to depict the identity of SE Asian cuisine to many.

Needless to say, gastronomy nostalgia for me, with my Singaporean roots, will always have to involve food or ingredients that transport me back to the region. Dessert will always be a category that grips many and for many of us who reside in the South East Asia, Kuih, those bitesized snacks that come in a myriad of textures, colours and taste will always evoke fond memories and comfort.

Common ingredients for Kuih include coconut products, root vegetables such as tapioca or sweet potato, rice flour (SE Asia's staple carb component) and.... Gula Melaka (palm sugar) which transforms our sweets further with its exotic sweetness. Commonly used in Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesian cuisine, the palm sugar resembles brown sugar but has a more distinct caramel or butterscotch like flavour. The palm sugar, being more accessible and cheaper than refined white cane sugar was very often the sweet note on the simplest desserts such as sago pudding, coconut milk based chendol and in this case, the no frills, straight forward rice cake, Kuih Kosui.



I have to admit that Kuih Kosui has never been my favourite kuih but it is possibly the one that best celebrates the flavours of palm sugar. Commonly steamed in a tray and cut into rectangular slices to be coated with grated coconut, there are others who also steam these in little cup molds. I have decided today to try to work with these little leaf cups which I had bought at a wet market in Chinatown, Bangkok. However, I must admit regret in dressing up the kuih in these cups for the the dried leafy cup carries with it a scent that I feel do not meld with the palm sugar.

Overall though, this is definitely one classic dessert which sets off the sweet exotic flavours of Gula Melaka in an honest, earthy manner and for many of us who hail from the region, I have no doubt that it will bring back sweet dessert memories we grew with.


RecipePalm Sugar         100g
Water                 100ml
Sugar                  60g
Rice Flour           5 tbsp
Tapioca Flour     2 tbsp
Alkaline water     1/2 tsp
Grated coconut    50g (salted and steamed)
Salt                      1/2 tsp

Method :
1. In a heavy saucepan, place palm sugar and water. Heat up to dissolve the palm sugar. Add castor sugar, and continue to heat until sugar dissolves.
2. Add Alkaline water and Rice flour and Tapioca flour and mix well.
3. Return the saucepan over the stove and over low heat and with stirring, cook the batter until the batter starts to become a thicker flowable batter.
4. In a spearate pot, heat up water to prepare for steaming.
5. Pour (3) into molds (either a rectangular tray or small cups)
6. Steam (5) over high heat for about 15mins.
7. Cool down and garnish with salted grated coconut.

Luxe Pound Cake With Kumquat Compote

The regulars who read my post would know that there are a few cookbooks that I tend to cook from alot. Bourke Street Bakery is my latest favourite and there is Keiko Ishida's Okashi which has inspired me again and again. For anyone who is interested in baking, Tish Boyle's classic duo, The Cake Book and The Good Cookie would probably be part of their baking bibilical collection. Her books are the type of rare classics which you know, just by reading the recipes, you can trust. The books have  a straight forward, down to earth quality which suggests 'tried & tested' - goodness and authenticity guaranteed.

Hence, when I decided to bake a simple, authentic pound cake to go with the Kumquat I lugged back from Korea, I knew I had to turn to Tish Boyle for inspiration. The Kumquat, macerated in a vanilla flavoured syrup has been known to pair well with a simple, buttery pound cake. When one returns to basic simplicity devoid of frou frou and destractions, you know you have nowhere to hide and have to make sure that the recipe delivers 100%.  A good example is the sponge cake. As basic as it appears to be, I am still afraid of making the genoise sponge. When technique is not on point, you risk ending up with a coarse, dry cake, but thankfully, most of the time, we dress up the cake with other frills such as frosting,fruits and chocolates, making the less than perfect cake less noticeable.

Tish Boyle's Luxe Pound Cake needs none of those frilly 'life-savers' . The combination of vanilla and almond extract gives this dense, moist cake an uncomparable flavour. If you've never tried combining vanilla and almond extract together, I strongly urge you to do so as this is possibly one of the best pairing I have worked with- especially for basic recipes such as butter cake, pound or sponge.
The Luxe Pound cake has a fine crumb and it was so delicious that when I tasted my first slice of  the freshly baked cake, I actually did a little dance.  So, instead of smothering the cake with the Kumquat compote, I decided to just leave it on the side as a garnish and a taste exciter.  I imagine the cake would taste equally good with orange flavoured fresh cream. Make yourself a nice cup of Darjeeling or Earl Grey, you would have the created for yourself, the perfect Luxe Afternoon Tea.



Recipe : (From The Cake Book by Tish Boyle)

Cake Flour           342g
Baking powder     1/4 tsp
Salt                       1 tsp
Unsalted butter      227g (softened at room temperature)
Castor sugar          600g (I used 360g)
Eggs                      7
Vanilla extract        1 tbsp
Almond extract      1.5 tsp
Heavy Cream         240ml

Kumquat Compote
Kumquat               100g
Castor Sugar         100g
Water                    100g
Vanilla paste          1tsp

Method :

Pound Cake
1. Preheat oven to 160C. Sift flour, baking powder and salt together. Set aside.
2. Place softened butter in a mixer fitted with a paddle fixture. Cream butter at medium low speed. Add sugar in 3 separate additions, allowing sugar to be incorporated with butter after each addition. The butter should be creamy and pale after all sugar has been well mixed.

3. Add eggs one at a time, allowing the egg to be mixed well with the butter after each addition.
4. Add vanilla and almond extract.
5. Reduce mixer speed to low and add flour mixture in 3 portions, alternating each addition with a portion of the heavy cream until all flour is added.
6. Pour batter into a lined/ buttered pound cake pan.
7. Bake at 160C for 50mins or until a skewer inserted into the cake comes out clean.
8. Cool down cake to room temperature before turning out the cake carefully from the baking pan.
9. Serve with Kumquat Compote.

Kumquat Compote.
1. Clean Kumquat and slice each kumquat horizontally in half. Remove pits.
2.. Place sugar and water in a heavy saucepan. Heat up the saucepan until sugar dissolves and just begin to simmer. Add Kumquats and simmer for about 5 mins.
3. Cool down to room temperature. Place a round piece of baking paper over the kumquat to keep it submerged in the syrup. Leave this in the fridge overnight.
4. Strain kumquat from Syrup. Return syrup into saucepan. Heat up syrup to a low simmer. Add vanilla paste and let simmer for 3 minutes.
5. Remove from heat. Pour syrup over kumquats in a storage container. Cover and refrigerate overnight.

Strawberry Soy Pudding

My first quarter of 2011 was already totally done in before 2010 could end. 2 months into the new year and I am already in a daze.... I can't imagine how I could have travelled to Bangkok, India, Australia, Shanghai, Korea, celebrated Chinese New Year and still blog in the last 2 months... Just 2 weeks ago, I had been given a new assignment by the Singapore office. With our office lease expiring this year, we are now evaluating our next office space option. I sit on the office project committee and have been given the enviable task of being responsible for the interior design of the office.

I love tasks that allow me to spend other people's money, especially one that lets me work with aesthetically pleasing items. I knew I wanted a clean and fun  modern decor for our office,inspired by the colourful and fun spirit I had seen once at the Google office. When CSN notified me that they had expanded yet again their sites to include AllModern.Com, I immediately went on-line to gather inspiration. So many things caught my eye but these bean bags, in particular were unforgettable. If CSN would ship these to Singapore, I would order these for the new office in a heartbeat!   

I imagine these bean bags going into our cosy corner where we can chill out and unwind - occasionally I can bring treats like these Strawberry Soy Pudding and have my colleagues be my taster.... Dreamy satisfaction.


These puddings were made with the remaining strawberries I had lugged back from Korea. No longer as fresh and luscious as they were last week, I decided to incorporate them into a strawberry mousse and marinated the sliced strawberries in a syrup for garnish.
To keep this a light dessert, I had also chosen to work with a soy pudding base - with a texture that is very similar to the soya bean curd.

When I distributed these little pudding jars over lunch at the office, everyone went... 'wah'.... and I beamed....


Recipe
Soy Pudding  (adapted from The Sweet Trick by ES Koyama)

Unsweetened Soya Milk            300g
Castor Sugar                             25g
Gelatine Sheet                           4g
Fresh Cream                             130g

Method :
1. Place sugar and soya milk in a saucepan and heat until sugar dissolves. Turn off heat. Add in softened gelatine sheet and stir until completely dissolved.
2. Run (1) through a fine sieve into a mixing bowl.
3. Cool down (2) over an ice bath and add in liquid fresh cream.
4. Fill half a glass/ jar with the soymilk pudding and refrigerate until set.

Strawberry Mousse
Strawberries              180g
Gelatine powder         8g
water                         50ml
Milk                          100ml
Castor sugar              30g
Lemon juice               1 tbsp
Fresh cream               100ml

Method :
1. Puree strawberries in a blender. Add lemon juice to Strawberry puree.
2. Mix gelatine powder with water until it turns transparent.
3. In a saucepan, heat milk and castor sugar until sugar dissolves. Turn off heat and add (2) and stir until dissolved.
4. Sieve (3) through a fine sieve and cool over an ice bath.
5. Add (1) to (4).
6. Whip fresh cream until soft peaks are formed. Fold the whipped cream into (5).
7. Scoop (6) into jars with set soymilk pudding. Refrigerate to set.

Marinated Strawberries
Strawberries         100g
Sugar                   100g
Water                   200g
Lemon juice          1 tbsp

1. Cut strawberries into slices or sections.
2. In a heavy saucepan, add water and sugar. Heat until sugar dissolves. Continue heating to reduce syrup until volume is halved.
3. Add lemon juice into (1). Add the hot syrup from (2) to the strawberries. Refrigerate and keep overnight.
4. Use marinated strawberries as garnish and scoop a little syrup over the set pudding.

Strawberry Cream Puff

Strawberry Clan.... a term that is used in Taiwan to refer to those precious youth born in the 80's into small single child families. This is a generation that is born into a relatively affluent society where the pressure on survival and living is not as prevalent as during the more tumultous times experienced by our parents or grandparents. This generation generally demonstrates lower threshold for hardship and setbacks.. they bruise easily at the slightest pressure and wilt quickly in adverse conditions... fragile creatures that don't last well.... just like Strawberries!

I now fully appreciate the analogy. I had gushed about the strawberries I ate in Korea last week.... pretty, garnet ingots that were bursting with sweet flavours. When I raved about the strawberries to L over messenger, he was skeptical. I can't quite blame him, for indeed most of the imported strawberries we get in Singapore/ Malaysia are mild in taste at best and unappealingly sour as they get worse.... The Wednesday morning I was to leave for the airport, I bought 2 punnets of the ruby red fruit, taking care to choose the less ripened ones so that they would last a little longer. The store assistant was quite adamant that they wouldn't be able to last till Saturday - I foolishly chose to ignore her believing that my super intelligent Panasonic fridge would be able to preserve the fruits well. True enough, when I took them out today, I can already spot wilting signs on the pock-marked berries.... a touch of yellow on the calyx, a small smudgy bruise at the tip....
Now I understand why the strawberries we import are usually tasteless... to ensure that they travel well, they must have been harvested before they have a chance to fully develop the sweetness in them...

As I wondered what to do with the strawberries, I had been reluctant to pulp or puree these gorgeous fruits. I had wanted to keep the fruits intact without processing them too much. 2 options came into mind : a strawberry cheesecake topped with fresh strawberries and/or a strawberry choux cream puff. I woke up this morning knowing that I no longer have the luxury to dither and opted for the very basic choux puff pastry and vanilla pattiserie cream. The whole puff was light and refreshing. I had deliberately chosen the butter free pattiserie cream from Bourke Street Bakery's Berry Tart. This was easy to prepare and the simple vanilla custard allowed the strawberries to take center stage.


As I looked at the cream puff photos, I realised there was something 'bare' about them... then it hit me... I should have dusted a little powder sugar over the puffs... well, nothing's perfect but I am contented.


Recipe :

Choux Puff Pastry
All Purpose Flour                 30g
Bread Flour                         30g
Unsalted Butter                    40g (cubed)
Water                                 100ml
Castor Sugar                       2g
Salt                                     1g
Eggs                                    2

Pastry Cream (Please refer here)

Method :
1. Preheat oven to 200C.
2. In a heavy saucepan, place water, sugar, salt and butter. Heat until butter is melted and mixture just starts to boil.
3. Remove from heat and add flour. Using a spatula blend flour with butter liquid until a dough is formed and is well mixed.
4. Return dough in saucepan to heat. Continue heating and stirring dough to evaporate moisture.
5. Continue heating dough until dough becomes sticky and forms a thin membrane at the bottom of saucepan.
6. Remove from heat and bit by bit , add beaten eggs into warm dough and mix until well combined.
7. Using a piping bag fitted with a 1cm round piping tip, pipe 3 small rounds side by side on to a baking sheet.
8. Lightly brush the dough mounds with egg wash. (or mist lightly with water spray)
9. Bake at 200C for 30mins. Cool completely and split 'eclair puff ' horizontally.
10. Pipe in custard (pastry cream) and garnish with strawberries.

Petit Fours : Lemon Meringue Tart

Psst... I am cheating with this one. Put together haphazardly before I left for Shanghai last week with the intention of finishing up my lemon curd from the Lemon Meringue Cupcakes. I then realised that it didn't quite help to clean out the clutter in my fridge because to get this, I found myself making up a huge batch of Pierrre Herme's  sweet tart pastry dough..... Consolation is that this keeps well for a couple months in the freezer and I suppose friends and colleagues will be happy to hear that I could potentially whip up an Apricot Chocolate/ Orange tart or 2 in the coming weeks for them.... or I could try to work on something gorgeous with strawberries... it is raining strawberries here in Seoul. I am lucky to be in the middle of what appears to be the peak season for strawberries in Korea. The fruits are a glossy garnet red (unlike the pale hue that I typically see for imported Korean strawberries in Singapore), sweet and flavourful with a tender bite. I am setting aside luggage space for 2 punnets to be brought home!

I had chosen to make these into petit fours, tiny bite sized treats that can be devoured in one single mouthful. I am a fan of miniature sized sweet treats. Sweets, I feel, are best enjoyed in small doses. Their ability to delight is indirectly proportional to their sizes. A fist sized cupcake or a 2"  macaron has little appeal for me.

Hence, I leave you this for now... my next teleconference's calling.



Recipe

Lemon Curd and Meringue : Please refer to recipe for Lemon Meringue Cupcake
Sweet Tart Dough : Please refer to recipe for Orange Tartlet

Herbed Crumbed Sutchi Fillet

Fish & Co,as many in Singapore and Malaysia would know, is a popular local western seafood restaurant chain. Their fish and chips is outstanding and has a loyal following in Singapore. Since their establishment in 1998, the company has expanded their business to include a Teochew Restaurant(Chaozhou Inn) , a Mediteranean Fusion  western restaurant (F.I.S.H) and now, as I have just learnt, a quality seafood wholesaling and distribution business.

The food & beverage business is a very competitive industry in Singapore. Not only has Fish & Co. made their business sustainable, I am impressed that they have actually identified market needs and opportunities and found ways to bring additional value to the market. Specialising in processed seafood with longer, more economical shelf life, Oceana Seafood, Fish & Co Group's distribution arm, distributes a range of Black Tiger Shrimp, Fish Fillet, Mussel, Sea Bass and Squid.
When I was asked to develop a recipe with their frozen Sutchi Fillet, I was keen but had my reservations. The Sutchi fish, a specie of the shark catfish is primarily fished from the big rivers in Asia . The flesh of the Sutchi is flaky and tender making it very suitable for a battered or breaded fry... and yes, Fish & Co. uses this for their famous Fish & Chip dish. I don't normally cook with frozen fish, with the exception to the cod and I have never really liked river fish due to their muddy odour. As much as I was tempted to just deep fry it to mask any possible fishy staleness and muddy smell, I decided to take a chance and work with a more healthy recipe that would call for baking it with herb infused bread crumbs.




The bread crumbs gave the fish a lot of structural stability,making it easy to handle. The use of fresh bread crumbs needs to be stressed. I pulverised some lightly toasted baguettes for my crumbs but you can use practically any kind of bread you have. The fresh crumbs bring a whole new dimension of texture to the dish. Upon baking, the crisp bite from the herbed crumbs contrasted beautifully with the tender flaky flesh of the Sutchi fillet. Served with a light squirt of fresh lemon juice, I am not coy to proclaim that this is one the tastiest fish dish I have ever prepared. I would gladly order this in a restaurant or serve it at a formal dinner.

Available at NTUC Fairprice and priced at S$3.30 per packet of 3 long fillets, this, I feel is one of the most economical way to enjoy a fish dish.

So, share with me if you will - have you ever prepared Sutchi fillets? How did you prepare it?



Recipe :
1 cup (70g) Fresh bread crumbs
1 tbsp Chopped dill
1 tbsp Chopped flat leaf parsley
Dash Salt & Pepper
50g Melted butter
2 fillets Oceana Sutchi Fillet (thawed)

Preparation :
1. Preheat oven to 200C.
2. Mix bread crumbs, chopped dill and parsely together with salt and pepper. Add melted butter to bread crumbs and mix well.
3. Season fillet with salt and pepper on both sides.
4. Pack (2) onto the top of fillet and bake in the oven at 200C for 20mins or until fish is cooked.
5. Serve with lemon wedge and salad.