Lamb Cutlets & Creamy Pasta!

A couple of weekends ago, for the first time, I cooked lamb cutlets! I have never cooked lamb before... I'm not sure whether it is an asian thing, but we were never really brought up to eat much beef or lamb - we ate pork or chicken much more! Asian people often think lamb and beef have a "smell". Anyhow, these cutlets were easy to cook! You should try it sometime!

Taken from Jamie Oliver's cookbooks, he suggested to marinate the cutlets with olive oil and thyme leaves (I added in some garlic myself :P) and then for medium cooked lamb, 3mins on each side. Talk about accurate! The cutlets came out just right! :)

The recipe also suggested field mushrooms which I chucked dry over the pan to heat it up and then once warm to put it into the bowl, which the cutlets went into when cooked and to squeeze lemon juice (weird you might think but it was an excellent touch! Probably took away any potential "lamby smell"!), swirl some olive oil and to season with salt and cracked pepper.

To accompany the cutlets, I made a creamy garlic, mushroom and spinach seeded mustard pasta! Yummy! I received an excellent review from my dinner partner! Haha! :)

Hummingbird Cake!

This is called a Hummingbird Cake! Huh you might say?! Where is the bird?! No bird... just some yummy cake! I'm still not sure why it is called a Hummingbird cake - since there are no seeds or any bird related ingredient!!!


A colleague at work brought in a cake his wife baked - and it was YUMMO! He was so sweet, totally promoting his wife's cake and he was right - it was lovely! A very nice home baked type of cake - the ones that make you feel totally comfortable as you take a huge bite out of it! It's a very homely type of cake, and the beauty of it is that it is SO simple to bake. The ingredients are banana, crushed pineapple and chopped up walnuts. I always have my doubts when a recipe is too easy - esp with desserts - so I decided to give this a go! They were right - this one was literally throw everything in the mixing bowl, do a few swirls and DONE! :) and it worked!!!

It was a heavy dense type of "afternoon tea with a good friend and cup of tea" type of cake! :) It was a very satisfying bake! :) The cake rose perfectly and ahhhh.... talk about a wholesome type of cake!

Talking about cakes - I am starting cake decorating classes this Thursday for 7 weeks - so I'll try to post some pictures up! I have been waiting for YEARS to do this - super excited! :) Let's see if it's everything I've imagined it to be! :) Hope you are all doing well - drop me a line sometime! :)

I'm back! - with a little Japan!

Hihiii!!!

I'm back! Well I have heaps of entries, so stay tuned... although I might appear to have been MIA - I have lots of pictures to post and things to write about, so thank you for being patient! And thank you to all those who have asked where I have been! Hope you all have been doing well!

Okay a few entries ago, I mentioned that I had something a little Japanese to post! (sorry title may be a little misleading... I didnt go to Japan :P)

So here it is... green tea cookies! Have you ever felt that green tea tastes like fish food? It's bizarre, but it actually tastes like the smell of fish food! The odd thing is that I still eat green tea stuff! By the way, Baskins and Robins has some great green tea ice-cream!

Anyway these cookies were a little different - I was a little too generous with the matcha (green tea powder). This cookie had a bit of a different texture - it isn't crispy and light like choc chip cookies, in fact it felt a little denser but still a nice change! And it's green! Try it for a change!

Receipe courtesy of this fantastic food blog called "Lovescool" : http://www.lovescool.com/

Green Tea Sweets

Ingredients
Yield (2” leaf shape): Approx 25

3/4 cup (2.25 oz) Confectioners sugar
5 oz Unsalted butter, cut into cubes
1 3/4 cup (8.5 oz) All-purpose flour
3 Large egg yolks
1.5 TBS Matcha (powdered green tea)
1 cup Granulated sugar (for coating)

Directions

• Preheat the oven to 350F. Line a sheet pan with parchment paper.
• Whisk the confectioner’s sugar and green tea together in a bowl.
• Add the butter and green tea/sugar mixture to the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Mix until smooth and light in color.
• Add the flour and mix until well combined.
• Add the egg yolks and mix just until the eggs are fully incorporated and a mass forms.
• Form the dough into a disk and chill in the refrigerator until firm (about 30 minutes).
• Roll the dough out to ½” thickness.
• Cut the dough with a leaf cookie cutter.
• Toss each cut cookie in a bowl of granulated sugar to coat.
• Place the sugar-coated cookie on a parchment lined pan. Bake at 350F for 12-15 minutes, or until slightly golden around the edges.