Good morning

My dough bug is slowly coming back. I made challah last night, in a loaf pan. Easy does it, as far as dough is concerned.

We had it for breakfast, with generous cups of coffee, awaiting the weekend to unfold.

Good morning and have a good weekend to you all.

I make - Oatmeal raisin cookies

Starting from last year, I've been increasingly more into cookies (and candies) than cakes. Preparation wise, it's less demanding. No beating the eggs until the volume has tripled that kind of thing. Most cookies are also quite amenable for variations. I wouldn't say more than cakes but let's say I am catching up my lost cookie time lately. I've been having fun.

According to this, the first ever recorded oatmeal raisin cookies recipe was dated back in 1896. It was labelled as "health food". Well, who am I to object? It's got the cholesterol lowering oat, good-for-you nuts and naturally sweet raisins. Any time, any day, please.

As you can see, my cookies are actually disguised as blondies, but you know what Shakespeare says about a rose.

Oatmeal raisin cookies, based on this

1/2 cup (un)salted butter, melted
1/3 cup light brown sugar
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
pinch of ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon salt (optional if unsalted butter is used)
1 large egg
1 1/2 cups rolled oats, quick cooking or old-fashioned
1/2 cup dried fruits (sultanas and sour cherries are my favorite)

1/2 cup broken nuts (walnuts or pecans are great)

1/2 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 cup all-purpose flour

Preheat the oven at 180C.

In a large bowl beat together butter, sugar, vanilla, spices, salt (if using) and egg until sugar melts completely into the mixture. Stir in oats, dried fruits and nuts. Use a rubber spatula to mix thoroughly. Finally, sift in flour and baking powder. Stir to combine.

If baking the traditional way, shape the dough into individual small balls, roughly at golf ball size. Put them on a baking trays (you may need two trays) and bake for 12-15 minutes.

If baking as blondies, pour the whole oat mixture into a round or square cake tin (20cm should do). Smooth the top with a rubber spatula or back of a spoon. Bake for 25-30 minutes.

Either way, let the cookies cool in the pan for 30 minutes before serving or cutting.

About vegan

No, I am not becoming one, nor do I feel any emotion towards it. I simply love steaks too much.

However, I re-discovered vegan way of cooking recently and I am hugely impressed. Bygone are the days when vegan cooking meant cooking with commercial veganized products. You know what I meant, store-bought egg replacer, vegan spread, vegan cream, vegan cheese, plant based textured proteins, all these things which did not exist in nature. For me, using those commercial "veganized" products for cooking does not mean eating vegan and certainly does not sound healthy when you read the ingredient list. It's a horrible way of ingesting a whole lot of highly processed food and convincing yourself that it's healthy and morally acceptable.

With vegan cooking (or with food in general), I highly agree with what Sarah (from My New Roots) said: if you can't make it at home, don't eat it.

I started to get in touch with vegan cooking from My New Roots. I wasn't looking for vegan or vegetarian cooking specifically. I was simply drawn by Sarah's ability to make every plant based dish look so scrumptious. I feel like I am browsing someone's garden, post after post. Each dish was carefully arranged and expertly created. From Sarah, I learned that cashew cream is an excellent substitute for conventional dairy cream, both in savory dishes and desserts. Don't tell me that you are not drooling over her recent chocolate torte?

Angela from Oh She Glows is another genius in vegan cooking. You have to know the quality of each ingredient very well in order to create vegan food with least/none processed ingredients, such as almond tuna salad, lentil walnut loaf, 7-vegetable cheese soup, chocolate truffle, chocolate fudge, Elvis bars. Wow.

Another trick I learned from those very creative vegan blogs is to thicken almost anything with ground flax seeds (linseeds) or chia seeds. Both seeds upon adding water produce mucilage which becomes gel consistency. It has been used as egg replacer for vegan baking, Chocolate chia pudding, Berry chia pudding, salad dressing. I am in awe.

Finally, do you know what this scallop dish is made of? Don't cheat.

I rest my case.

I make - parsley yogurt sauce

This sauce came up because I wanted to use up the other half bunch of parsley sitting in the fridge. I planned smoked mackerel for dinner so I made the sauce with smoked fish in mind.

By the way, plain yogurt is such a great creamy base for almost any kind of dipping sauce. I just can't live without yogurt!

Parsley yogurt sauce

- enough parsley, roughly 1/2 cup after being chopped
- juice from 1 lemon (you can add the zest too)
- 1 teaspoon of prepared horseradish sauce (or mustard)
- 1/2 - 1 cup of plain yogurt (it depends on how herby you like the sauce to be)
- 1 tablespoon of cream/creme fraiche/tahini/cashew cream/olive oil (this is to thicken the sauce)
- 1 teaspoon of dried dill
- 1/4 teaspoon of sugar
- salt and pepper to taste

Mix everything and taste. Adjust the seasoning to your liking. It's great with smoked fish and should be good on grilled meat too. I even enjoyed the sauce on its own just with rye crackers.

I make - All-in-one pasta

As much as I like to cook from scratch, there is something to say about the all-in-one method of cooking pasta. Less pots to clean, less water required and possibly less time (if you are an efficient cook). To be fair, this so called "all-in-one" method is no different from the method for paella or fideua which I both love and cook numerous times. But, it's always good to think outside of the paella box.

I made my first all-in-one pasta last night. Judging from my most fierce food critic's feedback, I think it's a good one. My recipe is inspired by these two recipes but I already deconstructed it further in my head (professional habit dies hard!) for future exciting experimentation.

Last thing, you may have noticed that my posts are pictureless these days. I can't find my battery charger since house moving and I don't want to buy yet another one. Sorry folks. May I kindly ask you to exercise your best imagination skill before my charger decides to turn up?

All-in-one pasta
Generous portions for two; starter size for four

Pasta base
- 1 tablespoon of olive oil
- 4 cloves of garlic, minced
- 1 onion, minced
- a handful of cherry tomatoes (or increase the amount of tomato sauce)
- 200-250 g linguine, broken in thirds
- 2 to 3 cups of hot water (or stock)
- 2 cups of your favorite tomato sauce (or canned tomato)
- fresh or dried basil
- half cup of rindless brie cubes (or other cheese which melts well)

Protein option
For seafood, shrimp, mussels, white fish or a mixture.
For meat, grilled sausage chunks, pancetta/bacon strips, chicken thigh
For plant eaters, how about some roasted veggies?

Heat a tablespoon of olive oil in a large pan, saute onion until translucent. Add in garlic for a few minutes. Then throw in cherry tomatoes (if using). Cook the mixture until cherry tomatoes are about to burst. Add in broken linguine and hot water. Make sure that all pasta submerge under the water and the water level is no more than 1cm above pasta.

Bring the pot to a lively boil and turn the heat to medium. You may want to stir the mixture a few times to separate pasta strands in the beginning (if you are a cooking geek like me, you will love this experiment). Cook for 5 minutes, uncovered.

Preheat oven to 160C.

Add in your favorite tomato sauce along with basil. I used mushroom and pepper sauce last night. Cook for another 5 minutes. If the mixture seems dry, add more water (1/2 cup each time). Taste and season with salt and pepper. You probably want to be light with the salt considering the cheese afterwards. Stir in brie cubes. This is your pasta base. If you want this to be a vegetarian dish, you can stop here after adding any other vegetables your heart desire. If you are an omnivore like me, proceed to the next step.

Now it's time for your preferred protein option. I stirred in a pack of mussels cooked in garlic and white wine sauce last night and topped the pasta with two slices of white fish dusted with salt and pepper. Bake it in the oven for 20 minutes or until fish is cooked.

Sprinkle Parmesan before eating, optional, but why wouldn't you?

I make - chimichurri

It has taken me a long time to like parsley. I had always found parsley smelling grassy and couldn't understand why so many chefs finish their plates "with chopped parsley ". I would have easily gone for coriander any time.

It all changed when i was introduced chimichurri.

Once in an Argentine steak house, I ordered a sauce to go with my steak. Bearnaise is usually my preferred choice but to go along with the south American theme, i heard myself say chimichurri. When it came sitting unglamorously in a dipping dish, i thought i'd wasted my money. "At least let's have a taste", I said to myself. After taking a bite of chimichurri dipped sirloin, my eyes opened up. I didn't realize parsley can taste so refreshing. Wonderful with grilled meat. I also found out later that chimichurri goes well with seafood. I even stir into my paella just before serving. It is a versatile sauce.

Since then, I've become friends with parsley.

My chimichurri uses equal amounts of oil and vinegar. Sometimes i substitute lemon/lime juice for vinegar. I also add a pinch of sugar to round the sauce up. There are many recipes on the web and mine is based on this.

Chimichurri sauce

Two big handful of parsley, leaves and stalks enough for a half cup after chopping）
1-2 cloves of garlic
1 teaspoon of dried oregano
Pinch of dried chili pepper flakes (optional)
1/4 cup of olive oil
1/4 cup of vinegar
Pinch of sugar
Salt to taste

Chop parsley and garlic finely. Combine everything in a bowl or a glass jar. Stir well. Taste and season with salt if needed.

Alternatively you could make it with a food processor.