Lemon Panna Cotta

My first attempt of making panna cotta and it was a success!! yay me!! The hardest part I find about making panna cotta is getting the consistency right because working with gelatin can be a pain, but I guess if first you don't succeed, try and try again, its not as hard as it seems to be.

Lemon is one of my favourite ingredients to cook with plus I didn't want my panna cotta to be too sweet hence I wanted to add abit of acidity to it. I also attempt to make a brittle which was actually a success as well, but I think I might have overcooked my sugar abit so the brittle was a tad bit bitter. Other than that I was very very happy with my first attempt and would definitely like to experience with different flavours that can cooperate well with panna cotta.

Prep time: 10 mins | cook time: 25 mins plus 25 mins resting and 3-4 hours cooling | serves 8

Ingredients
For the panna cotta
1 1/4 cups of full cream milk, divided
3 cups thickened cream
1 vanilla bean, split and seeds scraped (can be substitute with vanilla essence)
zest of 8 lemon ( I recommend cutting it down to 7 to decrease the bitterness)
1/2 cup of white sugar
2 1/2 tsp gelatin

For the brittle
1 cup white sugar
1/4 cup water
3 tbsp nuts of your choice

Methods

1) In a medium saucepan, combine 1 cup of milk with the cream, vanilla and lemon zests over medium heat. Bring to low simmer which will take about 5 minutes, and continue to simmer gently for 5 minutes stirring often. Remove from heat and allow flavours to meld for 25 mins.

2) Strain cream mixture through a fine-mesh strainer, rinse the saucepan clean and return cream to the saucepan. Add sugar to the liquid and bring to a low boil over medium heat. Reduce heat and simmer for a further 2 mins stirring constantly, then remove from heat.

3) In a small saucepan, add remaining 1/4 cup of milk and sprinkle gelatin on top. Let sit for 2 mins the heat over medium heat, stirring constantly for about 2 mins or until gelatin dissolve, then remove from heat.

4) Pour gelatine mix into hot cream and stir thoroughly. Place saucepan in bowl of ice water to cool, stirring to evenly distribute gelatin.

5) Prepare 8 remekins or any mould of your choice and carefully pour cream mixture into each cup. Place the remekins in refrigarator to chill uncovered for 3-4 hours or until firm.

6) To make the brittle, line a large baking tray with baking paper or wax paper.

7) In a small saucepan, comimbine sugar and 1/2 cup of water over low-medium heat and cook until sugar dissolves, increase heatb to a boil and let cook without stirring for about 7 minutes or until syrup turns amber, occasionally brushing down sides of pan with a pastry brush dipped into water and swirling pan.

8) Immediately pour out mixture onto prepared baking sheet and sprinkle nut over sugar. Working quickly and carefully, tip tray in all directions to allow the caramel to run into a thin and transparent layer. Let cool completely.

9) To serve, break brittle into large uneven pieces and garnish each panna cotta with some of the brittle to serve.

 and sooooo

<< The finishing dish >>

Image Superstore Cafe

As my coffee hunting adventure continues, I stumble across this picture perfect little cafe located just a few minutes walk from Melbourne University. Being a photographic themed cafe, the interior of the cafe is just spectacular, with different furnitures being displayed in every corner of the cafe, pictures of Audrey Hepburn and Marilyn Monroe hanging on the wall plus the music played has a totally different feel and elegance, giving the customers a little 60's experience.

Oh yes, time to talk about the food and drinks shall we? They don't serve any main meals in the cafe, just the usual muffins and pies and sandwiches. I don't think the prices are worth it but the drinks are alright. I had their vanilla chai smoothie which was absolutely delicious! This is the first time I had a cold version of chai latte and I am absolutely loving it! There's always room for something new in one's life :) I also tried their caramel latte. No complains there from me. Anne tried their oh so vanilla chai latte and their soy latte. She gave the thumbs up as well! Oh! she also tried their banana and nuts muffin and let me tell you she was a very happy Anne ;)

Yeap, this post is full of pictures and hey, a picture says more than a thousand words. :) You know where to find me during my breaks now! Sipping vanilla chai smoothie at the Image Superstore Cafe.

Prawn Fettuccine

It's been awhile since I tried making something new so after an intense week of mid-sems and reports, I decided to take some time off and try out one of Curtis Stone's recipe >>

 Prawn Fettuccine with chilli, tomato & parsley.

For any pasta lovers out there, I highly recommand this recipe cause its easy as ABC and 123! The flavour of the pasta is simple and light plus the tomatoes just freshen up the entire dish as well. Depending on the wine you choose would play a big part of the flavour, for example if you used moscato (which I don't recommand) your pasta would have a more sweeter flavour because essentially the wine would infuse into the pasta. I would recommand using sauvignon blanc.

Prep time: 15 mins | Cook time: 15 mins | Serves: 4

Ingredients
350g fettuccine pasta
3 tbsp olive oil
600g medium raw crystal bay prawns, peeled and deveined, tail on
2 shallots, finely diced
1 garlic clove, crushed
1 fresh red chilli, finely chopped
1/2 cup white wine
2 tbsp roughly chopped parsley
4 medium vine ripened tomatoes, diced
1 tbsp lemon juice

Method

1) Bring a large pot of salted water to the boil. Add pasta and cook according to package directions.
2) While pasta is cooking, plac 2 tbsp of oil in a large frying pan with high sides overmedium-high heat. Add prawns and cook for 2 minutes stirring often. Season with salt and pepper.
3) Add shallots, garlic and chilli to prawns and cook for a further 2 minutes.
4) Add white wine to the pan and simmer for 2 minutes.
5) When pasta is al dente, drain in a colander and add pasta to the prawns and toss gently to mix.
6) Add parsley, tomato and lemon juice to the pan with the pasta along with the remaining tablespoon of oil. Season to taste with salt and pepper and toss well to mix.
7) Swirl a quarter of the pasta using a fork. Slide the pasta off the fork, letting it mound in the centre of the pasta bowl. Repeat with remaining pasta.
8) Spoon prawns and remaining sauce from the pan over and around each bowl of pasta and serve.

~ Zee Finishing Dish ~

By Korea

Being back in Uni means that lunch sessions are always a must. While having lunch with my girls, Chian Woon decided to take us to By Korea for some korean food. I vaguely remember being here few years back (yes, few years back. you've read right LOL), and I really liked their chicken dol sot bibim bob. This time scanning through their lunch menus, I decided to get their octopus dol sot bibim bob. Chian Woon had the octopus as well but instead of bibim bob she had the grilled babyoctopus bento ricebox while Sharon decided on their kimchi stew with rice. Jiamin and Dari took a while to decide what they wanted but finally they both decided to get kim chi and pork bibim bob and katsu don respectively.

Overall I think lunch was well worth it although I would love more octopus on my bibim bab. Oh! The weekdays lunch special comes with a soft drink as well but yea lunch dates with my girls are always delightful and there would definately be more to come :)

 

Char Siu House

Bexie is back! which means a catch up session is a MUST with the girls! Ethel has been telling me about Char Siu House so we decided to head off there for dinner. Upon entering the place, it really reminded me of a typical restaurant in Malaysia, the tables and the surrounding atmosphere, feels just like home :) They had tea served in those little Chinese cups which I really loved.

We were all really hungry so we wasted no time in ordering our food. Irene decided on their shredded pork with soft egg sauce on rice noodles. Bex ordered their roast pork with veges on noodles while Ethel and I had their house specialty, mixed roast of two kinds with rice. Ethel choose their roast duck and roast pork whereas I choose their roast pork and char siu. The flavours were good but for the portion of roast pork I had, there were huge bones in it so I didn't really had much meat to munch on which was abit disappointing. I also think that they should put more bak choy on the dish to balance out the texture of the dish.



Dinner was good but the company was even better. Chatting and laughing, its like Bex had never left :) After dinner we went to have a little dessert, good ol' classic mcflurries with little twists. Maccas introduced 4 new flavours for a limited amount of time which was double choc fudge, strawberry crumble, caramel cookie and bubblegum squash! Bex, Ethel, Irene and Jess all had double choc fudge and I had the caramel cookie. You can never go wrong with mcflurries ;) best thing ever created!

Overall it was a lovely night and I really love hanging out with my girls. Loads of love to my darlings Bex, Irene, Ethel and Jess! xoxo

The League of Honest Coffee

Becoming a recent coffee lover, I have been scouting for good coffee places around Melbourne. Gaga suggested that I have to try the coffee place downstairs from where he lives so we decided to head of to The League of Honest Coffee for a good coffee fix after class with Nic.

Upon entering the cafe I could instantly smell the beautiful burst of coffee aroma. I was freaking jealous when Gaga told me that he could smell the coffee aroma when he wakes up every morning all the way from his apartment. I reckon waking up to the sinful smell of coffee is one of the pleasurable things in life :). The sight of the cafe was small but cosy, the interior of the cafe is simple and its a good place to just catch up with friends or to settle in with a good book. There was a corner of the cafe where you can browse and purchase coffee beans, coffee mugs, coffee flasks etc. This place is literally a coffee heaven.

Nic and I was feeling mocha that day so we each ordered one. Their mocha was lovely, rich bitter dark chocolate with a hint of caffeine. Although it was bitter but it was a good bitter? You don't even need to add sugar into it. I reckon their mocha might be even better than seven seeds :P. Gaga ordered their cuppachino. I had a sip of it and boy that cappa was oh so smooth~ no sugar was needed as well! I would actually say that this is one of the best coffee places Melbourne has to offer, highly recommended to coffee lovers out there! Oh! and I also had their white choc raspberry muffin to go with my coffee and it was delightful, not too sweet with chunks of white chocolate, it was a very satisfying afternoon tea session indeed.

Grigons & Orr

Hidden away in north Melbourne, nestled in the corner of a street is Grigons & Orrs. This cafe is one of my all time favourite places to visit when I just want to hide away, settle in with a good book and enjoy a good cup of coffee. The interior of the Grigons & Orr kinda reminds me of an Asian convenience store that they have back home in Malaysia. When you first walked in, you'll see shelves stacked all the way up to the ceiling, selling everyday goods such as pastas, baked beans in cans, wasabi and a whole lot of random stuff one can think of. The cutest thing is they actually do sell whatever on display so if you are ever running out of milk or oil, you can just pick them up from the cafe, talk about convenience!

The cafe itself is really small, fitting only 4 tables inside with a coffee counter displaying different lollies and pastries. Perfectly baked shaped scones, cupcakes covered with rich smooth icing, man they are so hard to resist! There are more seats outside the cafe and one thing which I find real sweet of them is that they have nice cosy quilt lay out for customers to just snuggle in on a cold day.

Having been there a couple of times, I am loving their coffees! They seem to have a variety of juices as well but I have yet to try them, definitely will in the near future. So below are the coffees I've had. One of my favourite would be their hot chocolate cause they come with marshmallows as well xD a playful touch on a classic drink which I really love.

Hot Chocolate with marshmallows

latte

Cappuccino

Mocha

Besides their coffees, they do breakfast and lunch as well. So far I've tried their steak sandwich which consists of a grilled rib eye steak serve in a warm ciabatta roll with rocket, aioli and Dijon mustard. The steak was cooked medium-well done but it wasn't tough and dry, instead the meat was juicy and it went well with the Dijon mustard and aioli. I have also tried their BLT which is essentially bacon, lettuce and oven dried tomatoes with aioli and tomato jam on toast. It's simplicity at its best but I would recommend trying other dishes that are available on the menu. What used to be my ultimate favourite is their tofu steak served in a bed of sauteed Spanish and mushrooms with balsamic glazed. Unfortunately they changed their menu and they no longer serve it, I was so sad when I found out! But the new dish on the menu which is their pork sandwich is now my new favourite dish! It is slow cooked pork shoulder serve with capers, anchovies, aoili and garlic butter. I took Chian Woon there for lunch after uni and we both tried it. The first thing Chian Woon pointed out was that she could see chunks and chunks of whole roasted garlic in the garlic butter which she just loved. When we pop it into out mouth, it literally dissolve together with the anchovies and aoili. The pork shoulder was braised to perfection and just melts in our mouth as well. Guys, you just HAVE to try it to understand what I am talking about ;) One of the cakes that is often displayed on the counter is their passion fruit curd cheesecake and it is delicious! Beautiful texture and not too sweet, just right for the pallet to end a wonderful lunch.



BLT





Steak Sandwich





Tofu Steak ~R.I.P~





Pork Sandwich





Passion fruit Curd Cheesecake



I would advise going early in the weekend if you want a seat cause they don't take reservation and it tends to get quite pack due to the limited amount of space. But yes, I hope you guys will enjoy Grigons & Orr as much as I did :).