These puff pastry squares are a super easy and yummy. 1 piece (a quater) is perfect as a starter and 2 pieces are enough to fill you up.
I used my brownie tin for these, which is a perfect size. Line the tin with some baking paper and place the puff pastry squares inside. Overlap them slightly at the edges and press together, I kept a bit of an upstanding edge at the sides of the tin.
Cut the courgette in 3’s and cut these into long not too thin slices. Pan-fry the slices until slightly colored and still have a bit of a bite, season with salt and pepper. Leave to cool. Slice the mushrooms and pan-fry until they’re nicely brown, I hate chewy slippery mushrooms. Season with garlic powder, salt and pepper during pan frying. Leave to cool. Cut an onion so you have thin slices that stay together.
Sunday 25th of July we had a full blown NOM Fest. High Tea at Lof der Zoetheid. We had lots and lots of savory and mostly sweet yummy goodness. It was our first time eating there and it will certainly wont be our last. I definitely want to try the meatballs in tomato sauce that were tempting me while we were waiting for our own table.
LdZ has a nice decor which is a mixture of vintage and clean crisp design. There is one big modern table at the center of a bunch of old salvaged school tables and stools. An old record player plays some jazzy tunes. Acousticly it isn’t very ideal, sounds resonate all over the place.
The suspects:
The loot:
Rest of the pictures behind the cut cuz I have loads of them. Excuse any photography fails, my mind was elsewhere… (hmmm.. food) Read more
My birthday was on the 25 of July. Turned 31 (omg).. I’ve been craving lobster, since it has been about a year since I last had any. We went to Grand Palace in Rotterdam.
We chose to types of dim sum:
Char Siu Cheong Fun, Chinese bbq pork wrapped in rice noodle sheets with soy sauce.
Turnip cake, steamed rice flour and Asian radish with dried shrimp and pork cut into slices and panfried. One of my all time favourites, especially when the outside has turned crispy.
As our mains we had half a Peking duck and lobster together with some steamed rice. I really wanted some pork belly, but they had run out.
Thinly cut pieces of Peking duck with crispy crunchy skin.
Pancakes and toppings (cucumber, spring onion, pickled cabbage and hoi sin sauce) for the peking duck.
Om nom nom! It’s making my mouth water.
And my all time favourite which I just don’t have often enough.
Lobster with ginger, garlic and spring onions.. I ate my first lobster as a kid with Chinese New Years. It’s been a long time since I celebrated it with my family and only recently discovered the dish at a local restaurant. Sadly though it was a bit tough, because it was slightly overcooked. I still loved it though and the sauce on it’s own it just yummy.
It has been a while since we bought some snacks from St. Anny in Rotterdam. We were in the neighbourhood scored some Chinese roasted pork at May Fung went by St. Anny’s and got these goodies.
Fried Cha siu bao. We never seen or had these before. The outside is nice and crispy and the inside has the soft firm texture of my scones. The bread seems slightly sweet which goes well with the cha siu filling. Will definitely buy these again.
On the left, Ham sui kok a fried glutinous rice ball filled with meat and vegetables. I’m guessing this one only has pork. These didn’t have that much filling, but they were fine none the less.
On the right is a Chinese chicken pie, it’s about the size of my index fingers and thumbs making a circle. It’s flat like a cookie, has a crumbly top (like pie crust) and a flaky puffpastry like bottom. It’s filled with a chicken, onion and corn mix. A nice little snack for when you aren’t too hungry.
Made another cheat’s Mapo Tofu. This time I couldn’t find any ground pork and I don’t really like it with ground beef. The solution, pork sausages! Works fine and the sausage seasoning doesn’t ruin the flavor. Made this with another packet of black bean sauce, chopped onion, frozen peas and red chillies. Perfect with steamed rice and a little cucumber for a bit of fresh crunch to balance the spiciness.
I haven’t been updating a lot recently. It all leads back to my “stomach” pains. I’ve been having these pains of and on for about 10 years now, in the center and right of my ribcage, radiating to my back. Many years ago I had several tests and the conclusion was, “You’ll just have to live with it.” Now lately it’s been bothering me more often than usual. Finally went back to the doctor and he ordered an ultrasound. Don’t have the results yet since the doc is on vacation (yay..), but it appears to be a gallbladder/gallstone problem.
I haven’t been able to eat very well and also haven’t had much energy to go on cooking sprees. Hopefully I will get my results soon and they’ll be able to fix these damned pains.
So there’s the reason why I haven’t updated much. Hope you don’t forget my corner of the web and come back to visit every once in a while.
Live on the Flip Side has featured my cheesecake at the end of their video. Make sure to comment and subcribe to their Youtube Vlog. They just gave me an excuse to make another cheesecake. For those who aren’t as patient, see my Raspberry Cheesecake recipe and just leave out the raspberries.
I came across a Maangchi tofu sidedish recipe and I just had to try it. I had most of the ingredients at home, I just didn’t have the hot pepper flakes. Since there is no Asian supermarket nearby, I replaced it with a chopped up chili. No idea wether the taste is similar, but it was great with chili as well.
Wanted to go to Wah Nam Hong in Rotterdam yesterday, but we were 15 minutes too late. So still no hot pepper flakes . In the photo above you see the panfried tofu and a Maangchi rolled omelette sidedish. I had these with some left over rice, roasted pork belly and some salad. The meat wasn’t really necessary, but I wanted to finish up our leftovers.
Tofu close up.
My rolled omelette was a bit sloppy and I was unable to get a rectangle shape to it. Practice makes perfect though . I’ll be having this more often though, especially the tofu.
I love Indonesian pasties or pastel goreng as they are sometimes called. If you want more info or pics search for “Pastel Goreng”. They are deep fried pastries with meat filling. For the recipe I followed a Dutch website. As these weren’t exactly perfect I wont post a complete recipe. I also had way too much filling for the amount of dough I made.
I stuffed these with ground beef, rice noodles, garlic, onion, cube of beef stock, carrot, chopped boiled eggs and salt and pepper to taste.
The dough was a bit too firm, the recipe didn’t give out the amount of water needed. I think next time I’ll use more water next time. All in all, it wasn’t a bad attempt and we still enjoyed eating them. It’s a bit of a shame that you have to make big batches of these, mostly it’s just the BF and I.
. I’ll be having this more often though, especially the tofu.
