A Quick Update

(aka a list of things to do/make).

I've been making soba like it was going out of style. Mostly cos that's all I have.

-thumb print cookies
-sugar snap salad
-scallopped tomatoes recipe

Nom nom!

yup, I certainly did spell "caramelized" wrong. Oh well. Please don't judge.

I've never been much of a baker, mostly because I like to make things up as I go and that's not really a trait that works well with baking. There's a precision and a certain something that comes with the baking territory and I possess neither. But I'm trying to do different things and be more adventurous in my undertakings in the kitchen... So I settled for baking cookies. I mean, who doesn't like cookies?

I saw a recipe for a cornflake choco chip cookie and then I remembered the recipe I saw for caramelized cornflakes for another cookie recipe. I put them together and tweaked a couple of things and the results were favorable...and delicious.

Carmelized Cornflakes 

adapted from Momofuku for 2

1 1/2 c cornflakes

6 tbsp milk powder

2 tbsp sugar

(almost) 1 tsp salt

7 (5 would have been better) tbsp melted butter

Preheat oven to 275 F. Lightly crush cornflakes with wooden spoon in a bowl/container (I did it in a tall plastic container). Mix together milk powder, sugar and salt in another bowl. Melt butter and pour over cornflakes. Toss evenly until cornflakes are coated and toss milk powder mixture with the cornflakes. Spread on baking sheet and bake for about 20 minutes.

Let it cool completely before use*.

*I didn't... not really.

DISCLAIMER: Honestly, this is going to sound disgusting... but I was pretty tired from my day of work and when the cornflakes were done and I tried some, I would have been more than content to have just eaten the cornflakes like that as a dessert. Yeah. Gross. BUT DELICIOUS.

Also: I never used to think the Christina Tosi was that amazing - but mostly because I don't like hype. But any woman who loves the use of milk powder as much as she does deserves some sort of praise. She has certainly won me over - but she's probably used to that sort of thing... you know, fandom. OH. I'm excited for the upcoming cook book. So very excited. 

Cornflake Choco Chip Cookies 

adapted from Cook Republic

Approximately 9 tbsp (although next time I will use less) unsalted butter, chopped & softened

150 ml of caster sugar (also will use less next time because of caramelized cornflakes & added corn syrup)

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 1/4 cup of flour, sifted

2 tbs milk (I upped the milk because the dough seemed a bit dry)

1 1/2 caramelized cornflakes

2/3 c of semi-sweet choco chips

1/4 cup of corn syrup (you could skip this... the syrup just made the cookie kinda chewy)

Cream together butter, sugar, and vanilla until pale and fluffy. Add flour a bit at a time, mix on low speed until well combined. Add milk. Stir in cornflakes and choco bits. Bake for about 10-12* minutes until light golden.

*I baked mine for about 11 minutes because I only had a small scoop and the cookies were pretty miniature. My first batch was burnt and so I adjusted the baking time. The edges gets all crispy and because mine were so small that the cookie wasn't that chewy. But chewy enough. I think.

Corniness

As much as a beautiful shoe, a quirky print, or a buttery soft bag can complete my outfit and make my day --- a soup hits the spot when I've had a long week. Trust me. It has been a long week and I can't wait for a break.

As much as I wanted to make Sophie Dahl's Tom Kha, I lack the proper equipment (food processor) to do so. I managed to borrow my grandma's blender for soup making. There's something unsurpassed about making soup in the fall - especially when it's a simple one.

Toumorokoshi no kurīmusūpu (Japanese Corn Cream Soup)
Adapted from The Well-Seasoned Cook
3 ears of corn, shucked, de-cobbed (is that a word?)
1 tablespoon of unsalted porn butter
1 tablespoon of canola oil
(Roughly) 1 cup of low-sodium chicken broth
1 cup of water
3 stems (?) of green onions, white part only, chopped
1 small onion, diced (roughly)
1 small avocado, sliced
Salt, to taste


In a semi-large sauce pan, melt butter and add canola oil over medium-low heat. Add diced onions and the chopped green onions and cook on medium heat until translucent. Add corn. Cook until corn kernels have cooked through, salt to taste, add broth and water, simmer for a bit. Add mixture to blender and blend until well-blended. Taste mixture, add salt if needed.

Because I didn't have any milk or cream on hand, I added sliced avocados for creaminess.

The So Very Famous Tomato Sauce

If you read cooking blogs at all, I'm sure you know that most food bloggers are quite taken by the tomato-onion-butter-sauce. I don't know if I really need to talk about how wonderful it is - I think you need to make it and stuff your face.

Tomato Sauce with Butter and Onions
(which I adapted from Smitten Kitchen who adapted it from Marcela Hazan)
28 oz of whole peeled tomatoes from a can
14 oz of crushed tomatoes (left over from another cooking adventure the night before)
"5 tablespoons" of butter (I don't think I actually used 5, probably less)
1 medium onion, halved
6 packages of raw Plantation sugar
black pepper to taste

Place tomatoes (whole and crushed) into the pot, with halved onion and add about 1 table spoon of butter on medium heat. I like letting the butter melt and I stir it in with the spoon - I let it simmer on low-medium heat. Stirring every so often. I add 3 packages of sugar (stolen from Starbucks - found at my grandma's... cos I didn't steal it. Just saying) and stir some more, add another 1.5 table spoons of butter. Repeat about 20 minutes in (sugar and butter), cover and simmer until sauce has thickened. After, discard onion and mix with pasta.

I usually use penne or something spirally but I saw the Zita No 10 and thought it was awesome. No, I was wrong. It wasn't and the longness of the pasta didn't work well with the sauce. So I just took a pair of scissors and cut them into a shorter pasta.