this hipster cooks

a cynic and alleged hipster discovers joy in cooking. everything i do is a 5-minute fad. let's all follow the latest cooking trends!

[hipstercook]

Spinach and feta tarts I “supply” to a good friend’s cafe. I use the inverted commas because Mr Anti-hipster can inhale more tarts in a day than this. It’s just one pie a week but I’m so incredibly excited it’s a little sad. 

recipe adapted from martha stewart. have found that the temperature given results in a too dry (for customer's palate) crust. and spinach alone was just a little too boring. 

ingredients for crust:

3/4 cup wholewheat flour

3/4 cup all-purpose flour

1 tsp salt

1/3 extra virgin olive oil

1/3 water

2 tbsp sesame seeds

ingredients for filling:

1 large onion

2 cloves minced garlic

250g spinach (steamed and coarsely chopped)

100g shiitake mushrooms

60g feta cheese

allspice, salt, pepper, bit of feta brine

i need to be more consistent though. a longer caramelising of the mushrooms and onions. making it in a big batch really throws the flavour off which i wasn't too happy with. trial and error i guess.

the meagre earnings from this tart exercise will be going into my Visit Japan 2015 fund. so far, there's a one night stay in a really cheap room. but hey, it's a start.

[hipstercook]

Tiny pies need to be blind baked with weights. Last night's bite-sized tarts were delicious (seasoned well with a nice crust) but they had gone all out of shape before I had a chance to go all food stylist on the filling. But they were also gone in three or four bites, so I didn't grieve their pitiful appearance too long.

[hipstercook]

31 Easy Dinners With No Meat To Make In 2015

Happy No Meat New Year!

[hipstercook]

Using a pastry recipe from Jordan Winery:

3 cups all purpose flour

226g cubed cold butter

1 cup cold water

on a side note, the  3 (cups flour), 2 (cubes butter), 1 (cup water) method of recalling the ratios sadly doesn't work for poor me. that's what living with the metric system does to you. it fucks up catchy mnemonics.

anyway, what I liked was not so much the recipe, but the technique. folding over the dough a few times (but not kneading it) for something puff pastry-ish.

blind baked it at 200C for 20 minutes even though the recipe didn’t call for it. am I living dangerously or what? and i’d do it again! for an additional 10 minutes the next time round. The bottom of the crust wasn’t sufficiently mind-blowing for my tastes.

the filling is a simple broccoli tart from BBC food.

ingredients:

1 head of broccoli, cut into small florets

1 yellow zucchini, grated

2 cloves garlic, thinly sliced

180ml full cream milk

2 eggs

1/4 cup grated cheddar

salt and pepper

instructions:

blanch broccoli for 3 minutes in salted water

drain and set aside

squeeze water out of the zucchini

sauté garlic, add zucchini. season.

whisk milk and eggs together, season.

spread zucchini over tart bottom 

place broccoli florets evely (and facing up) over tart

carefully pour in savoury custard mix

scatter cheddar over surface

bake at 180C for 40 minutes.

[hipstercook]

Life, as I know it, will never be the same. I feel like archimedes's dumber younger sibling. When Jamie Oliver said shortcrust pastry dough is essentially a ratio of half fat to floor, it was a gigantic eureka moment for me. It sort of lifted a mental barrier which did not allow me to make pie crust. The crust I made last night was a 125g unsalted butter and 250g all-purpose flour, 1/2 tsp kosher salt and approximately 3 tbsp cold water. Blind baked at 220C for 25 minutes. Mr Anti-hipster will be eating tarts and pies for quite some time.

[hipstercook]

Mr Anti Hipster mentioned offhandedly that he loves pumpkin. As we were passing the rows and rows of squash. So we picked one up.

In my first attempt, am pretty relieved that no fingers were harmed during the slicing of this vegetable.

It was very easy to peel after it’d cooled down. I turned it into a soup which blew my mind. Can’t believe I’ve spent 30 odd years on this planet without having a good hearty bowl of warm and cinnamon-y pumpkin soup.

Fills your right down to your toes.

[hipstercook]

Couldn’t resist a cute little tiffin carrier (supposedly for packed lunch). charred eggplant soba and roast broccoli salad.

read an article about how salting eggplants does not make any difference, but somehow i can't stop myself. my grandma used to salt her aubergines before cooking, "to remove the bitterness," she told me.

and who am i to argue with grandma.

roast broccoli salad

ingredients:

1 sweet potato, cubed

1 head broccoli, cut into florets

1 red onion, sliced thinly

3 tbsp golden raisins

1 tbsp sour cream

1 tsp dijon mustard

1 tsp tarragon, finely chopped

1 tbsp milk

boil sweet potato for 5 minutes in salted water

drain and set aside to cool slightly

place broccoli, onions, raisins and sweet potato onto baking sheet

toss with a little olive oil

roast at 180C for 20 minutes

stir sour cream, mustard, milk and tarragon in a small bowl. season.

dress salad and eat

eggplant soba salad

ingredients:

1 eggplant, cut into 1" slices

1 large tomato, halved or 100g cherry tomatoes

3 spring onions, sliced

1 pack soba noodles

1/4 cup soy sauce

lemon juice to taste (original called for 1/4 cup)

2 tsp sesame oil

1/4 cup cilantro / parlsley, chopped

directions:

oil eggplant and tomato

grill until tender, 4-5 minutes a side

boil salted water, cook soba noodles (according to package about 5 minutes)

drain noodles and rinse in cold water

mix eggplant, tomato, spring onions, noodles, soy sauce, sesame oil, lemon juice and parsley 

[hipstercook]

Oui oui, it is confit!

was researching confit recipes before jumping headfirst into a a vat of olive oil. changes were made for reasons of pure hunger and laziness.

look, i come home from work with a hankering for confit, i want it within the same 24-hour interval. not the next day. anyway, what i did was a combination of google results and surprisingly no chicken legs were wasted in this attempt.

chicken confit

ingredients:

2 chicken legs

approximately 300ml olive oil

5-6 garlic cloves

thyme springs or dried thyme

1/4 tsp salt 

1/4 tsp ground black pepper

directions:

pat chicken legs dry with paper towel

season all over with salt, pepper and thyme

sit for 15 minutes (this step seems purely psychological)

place chicken legs into a snugly fitting, high-sided dish

cover almost completely with oil

cook at 150C for 2 1/2 hours

increase heat to 190C for the last 15 minutes

[hipstercook]

This hipster went shopping today. I'm not too sure what to do with mass produced boxes with artfully distressed printing. But hey, cat cups!

[hipstercook]

In anticipation of tomorrow being meatless monday, thought to fill my beef quotient for lunch. Also, Mr Anti-hipster isn’t around today, so there aren’t any pesky dietary restrictions. (I kid, dearie, I love you.)

Mustard Beef For the rub: Mustard powder Salt + pepper Dried oregano

Balsamic cherry tomatoes (‘nuff said)

Mushed mint peas 500g frozen peas 1 tsp sesame oil (originally tahini) 1/2 cup fresh mint Zest of 1/2 lemon Juice of 1/2 lemon 1 garlic clove Salt + pepper Extra virgin olive oil

Tarragon roast potatoes Handful of fresh tarragon Pat of butter 4 garlic cloves Zest of 1/2 lemon Salt + pepper

Chop potatoes into 1-inch pieces. I didn’t want to parboil, smaller pieces would roar quicker. Toss with finely chopped tarragon, butter, lemon zest, garlic. Season and dump into 250 degree calcium oven for 30 mins.

Boil frozen peas for 3 mins, drain and rinse in cold water. Chuck with lemon juice and zest, mint, garlic, sesame oil, and olive oil, blend till smooth.

Halve cherry tomatoes, season and drizzle with balsamic vinegar.

Watch some netflix until there’s 5 minutes left on the timer for the potatoes.

Heat pan and oil lightly. Crank up to high heat and cook beef on each side for approximately 2 minutes a side. Eyeball it for doneness. I like my red meat medium rare.

Voila, Sunday lunch for the happy omnivore.

[hipstercook]

Sending happy thoughts to my seedlings. Since I may I inadvertently killed my basil with my unresearched vinegar/water “cure”. Sigh.

[hipstercook]

Just lost a long windy post. A sign to be more succinct perhaps.

In a herculean effort, I researched dinner recipes, picked up groceries and got two dishes on the table by 9pm.

If that isn’t a great for any white collar worker, I don’t know what is.

So after a self-imposed meat ban at home since we moved in June, I rewarded myself with some chicken.

Chicken’s always gotten a bad rap, even I’ve never picked it first in gym class. But done correctly it is pretty damn appetising.

I picked Jamie Oliver’s mustard chicken for myself, and a pan-roasted salmon for Mr Anti-hipster.

I messed up using bone-in, skin-on thigh which was a bit uneven and affected doneness (a disturbing pinkness alerted me to my failure) but the divine leek cream sauce made up for it. Crispy salmon skin was so good, I kept stealing bites of it off his plate.

Chicken approximately 35 mins Salmon took 6

In the war of Effort vs Tastiness, salmon kicks chicken butt (or thigh as it were) all the way to Uzbekistan.

I’d recommend them both, happy cooking and weekend errrbadi.

[hipstercook]

After the thyme withered but the basil flourished, I decided I may not have green thumbs but I could give this a try. Ordered some delicious sounding seeds online: blue curled kale, black beauty eggplant, wonder peppers, and bell peppers. Am trying a couple of tiny planters, wish me luck!

[hipstercook]

[hipstercook]

And now this hipster plants. The gap on the left is the roots of a spring onion I'd gotten two days ago. Had soaked it and already I could see fresh green tips. From ltr: spring onion, chives, oregano, tarragon, and lemon basil. My first time growing herbs, so am just going to wing it with a once a day watering (morning) and see how it goes.

[hipstercook]

[hipstercook]

Still making hipster dishes. Zucchini noodles and a strawberry, apple, and pineapple smoothie for dinner. Took a break from this blog since we were moving house. And now that we've moved in I'd like some time to enjoy my home before tackling my food one more. To any followers, thanks for your support. Cheers!