Open Source: Grandma Ople's Apple Pie

I went apple picking the other week, and I picked at least 15lbs of apples..I always over pick when I go fruit picking. :P The funny thing is that I don't actually like eating apple on its own..! haha but this gives me a perfect opportunity to bake apples pies. :)

This is a apple pie recipe that I've been using for awhile now, it's absolutely incredible and really easy to make. (Modified from the original grandma ople recipe)


INGREDIENTS
1 recipe pastry for a 9 inch double crust pie
1/2 cup unsalted butter
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon of cinnamon
2 teaspoon of lime juice
3/4 cup white sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
8 apples (try to have at least 3 different varieties) - peeled, cored and sliced

DIRECTIONS
*Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.

1. Toss all of the apples with 1/4 cup of the sugar, place in a colander set over a large bowl and allow to drain for 1 1/2 hours. Save the drained liquid (should have at least 1/4 cup).
   
2. Melt the butter in a saucepan. Stir in flour to form a paste. Add the drained liquid from the apples, white sugar and brown sugar, and bring to a boil. Reduce temperature and let simmer. Mix in cinnamon and lime juice.
   
3. Place the bottom crust in your pan. Fill with apples, mounded slightly. Cover with a lattice work of crust. Gently pour the sugar and butter liquid over the crust. Pour slowly so that it does not run off.
4. Bake 15 minutes in the preheated oven. Reduce the temperature to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Continue baking for 35 to 45 minutes, until apples are soft.

Yumm-o!

 

Tip: Dicing Onions

(I'm demonstrating with the shallots I cut from the chili sauce) It's very easy to dice onions if you don't cut all the way through when you make your first horizontal cuts

Leaving just enough to keep the whole thing attached, so when you cut the cross sections the whole onion will be really easy to handle, you can even cut it with one hand! lol

Open Source: Chinese Hot Chili Sauce

I just happen to have leftover shallots so I had the idea of making an aromatic hot chilli sauce with some of the spices I have around in my spice cabinet. :) It actually turned out really well, smells amazing and it really spices up any food you add it to. Check it out, it's super easy to make.
 

INGREDIENTS:
5-6 cloves of garlic (minced)
1 whole shallot (chopped)
1 tbspoon fermented black beans
3 cups of whole dry red chili peppers
1 tspoon of sesemi oil
1 cup of olive oil
sea salt to taste

INSTRUCTIONS:
*Note: make sure there's no water in the blender or jar when you store the sauce, it'll keep longer.

1. Blend chili peppers in blender/food processor into bits (you can try cutting it too, but it's kinda tough to cut dry peppers)

2. Heat the olive oil in the pan till hot, stir fry the chopped shallots till lightly browned
3. Lower the heat to medium low and add in black beans and red chili flakes, stir fry for 3 minutes (you can hear the popping sounds of the flakes in the oil, it smells awesome :) )
4. Add in the minced garlic and salt and turn off the heat
5. Drizzle the sesemi oil on the sauce and let it sit to cool.

Store the sauce in a glass jar, if you kept everything clean it'll probably keep for a coupe of months in the frige. :)

Open Source: Dark Chocolate Marble Ricotta Cheesecake

I know some people are wondering about my recipe for the cheesecake.. so here it is! Following the open source concept, feel free to try the recipe out, modify it, and share any new ideas! :)

INGREDIENTS:
12 oz of whole milk ricotta cheese, I sometimes put a little more than 12 ozs (the more the lighter and milkier, but could also be less smooth)
1 8oz bar of cream cheese
1/2 tablespoon of honey
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
4 large eggs
3/4 cup of sugar
1 cup of Semi-sweet chocolate chips

INSTRUCTIONS:
*Preheat oven to 350F

Cheesecake Batter
1. Drain the ricotta cheese, take out as much moisture as you can, put
it in a cheesecloth and squeeze some liquid out. (if you don't have cheese cloth, paper towel work just as well)
2. Blend the ricotta cheese till smooth then add and blend in the cream cheese + sugar.
3. Blend in honey + vanilla extract
4. Mix in the eggs till just blended.

Chocolate Marble Batter
1. Heat and melt the semi-sweet chocolate in a bowl.
2. Add in half cup of the Cheesecake Batter you made, mix well.

Pour the cheese mixture over the crust in the pan. Spoon on chocolate marble batter and swirl the batter with a knife. Place the pie pan in a large roasting pan. Pour enough hot water into the roasting pan to come halfway up the sides of the pie pan. Bake until the cheesecake is golden and the center of the cake moves slightly when the pan is gently shaken, about 1 hour and 5 minutes (the cake will become firm when it is cold).

Transfer the cake to a rack and cool 1 hour. Refrigerate until the cheesecake is cold..then devour! :)

Tip: Chocolate Marble Cheesecakes

So maybe everyone already know this, but it's actually really easy to make a swirl/marble and not have to worry about it sinking or doing something unexpected. All you need to is to melt some semi-sweet chocolate chips and the trick is to mix that with a cup of the actual cheesecake batter then spoon some on top of the poured batter and just use the knife and swirl it around to make the marble pattern, this way you get the dark chocolate taste without the difference in texture or density(not too much at least). :)

Just baked this dark chocolate swirl ricotta cheesecake yesterday, probably not a great picture representation of a marbled cheesecake.. but you get the point. :)

Review: Sakura Garden Japanese Steakhouse

I had a pretty heavy lunch today at work so I decided to go have some sushi for dinner with one of my college friends. Naturally I decided to go to Sakura Garden in Glastonbury. It's one of my favorite Japanese place around here, there's not that much options, but this one is pretty nice I'd say.

One thing I really enjoy about this place is the ambiance of the dining area, it's got a trendy techno feel, kinda different from a lot of the other places in CT.

I wish I had my real camera with me, so I apologize for the bad quality photos, it will not happen again. >_< haha though I wanted to try out the geotagging function of the pre camera. (for those of you who knows me knows how obsessed I am over this phone and its functions.. maybe I should start a phone blog too? haha)

Anyhow, Khanh and I shared a boneless grilled honey ribs as our appetitizer:

It was pretty good, taste kind of exactly like what you would get for roast pork from a Chinese restaurant, except a bit sweeter. It's in a interesting bowl that looks like a plate from the top down but its actually a bowl on the bottom (did I mention this restaurant has neat plate set? Seems to be a trend in most Japanese places). The honey glazed pork was hot, and it was laid on top of a bed of cold pineapples, the combination went together surprisingly well. Nothing too special tho.

But of course I was there really for the sushi. I ordered a smoked eel avocado roll and a spicy tuna roll:

The rolls were delicious, the eel rolls were slightly smaller than the regular rolls but it's got the flavor to rival against. The eels were nicely cooked, very juicy and goes down smoothly with the avocado. I was pleasantly surprised with the amount of filling they give you in the spicy tuna roll:

(you want some rice with that tuna?)
Some people might not like it that way, but seriously.. why not?? The roll was tasty, though it was not really spicy, but I am usually disappointed at the lack of heat in spicy rolls. I do like the fact that they add a bit of the crispy tempura pieces in the mix to add that little crunch factor, could definitely use a little more though.

Overall it was a good experience as usual, I always feel pretty good after eating sushi, kinda refreshed and light. Definitely a good choice after a heavy lunch day. :)

Here's my first time making a geotag photo map, it's pretty awesome.. basically my phone gps automatically embeds location coordinates on the photos I take with my phone and I can load them onto the computer and it'll automatically map themself to google map (after going through some setup process of course).

Sakura Garden
120 Hebron Ave, Glastonbury

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Spur of The Moment

In the spur of the moment I decided to create this blog. I mean.. I've actually always been thinking about it: a blog about food. It's only natural, since food has always been one of my passion, it's silly I know. But I just love eat food, describing them, and I even love taking pictures of food, what can I say? :) So now I have a home for all my enthusiasm! Haha be prepare to come with me on a culinary journey through life, let it be restaurants, cooking, or any food related topics.. I'll be there.

With that said, I dunno why I am creating a food blog at 2:27AM at night when I have to wake up for work tomorrow at 8AM, this just goes to shows how committed I am doesn't it? haha

-Aiki