7 Experiments

Focaccia:

This is my favourite. I always like baking Focaccia. I put a lot of toppings on this and this turned out to be a meal in itself. I used the recipe from Paul Hollywood’s 100 Great Breads for reference.

Ingredients:

500g strong white flour
15g active dry yeast
1 tablespoon dried Italian herbs
300 ml water
Olive oil
Sprigs of rosemary water

Toppings: Black olives, rosemary sprigs, thinly sliced tomatoes, deep fried garlic, onion rings, rock salt and mozzarella cheese.

1. Soak the yeast in warm water with a little sugar for 10 minutes (till it has become frothy).
2. Form dough with flour, water and olive oil and yeast. (I deliberately did not add salt to this as salt reduces the efficacy of yeast. Instead sprinkle rock salt generously before baking).
3. Let it rise for 1 hour. Place flattened dough on the baking sheet and let it rise for another hour.
4. Make indentations on the surface with the finger.
5. Brush with olive oil (I love my new silicone brush for this. It does the job and is so easy to clean. I’d recommend this instead of using the fibrous type).
6. Ok back to the focaccia – Put all the toppings except the cheese and bake in a preheated oven at 180 degrees Celsius for 20-30 minutes. Just when it looks almost done top it with the cheese and bake till it has melted.
7. Have it warm with a generous amount of butter!

Chocolate Chunk cookies:

I chose to make the thick and gooey chocolate chip cookies These were a lot of fun to bake. I must admit, I tweaked the recipe a bit, but the results were marvellous nonetheless (No major modifications, I halved the recipe and cut down on the chocolate).

The sad part was that one batch of cookies slipped from my hand and crumbled on the floor leaving me with only half the amount to enjoy.

I think it’s appropriate to say that my new year’s resolution is going to be to work on my photography.

Lasagna

I got the time to make an entire post on it earlier this month. You can check it out here

Chicken Quesadillas:

The mix of colours of the filing made it look very visually appealing.

For the flour tortillas, you can check out a step by step guide at La Gringa’s Blogicito However, that’s not the exactly the method I followed. I made my tortillas in a more local fashion (like making rotis) that you can understand about here.

Salsa:
2 big tomatoes, chopped
1 small red onion
1 green chilli finely chopped
Juice of half a lime
Chopped coriander

Mix all the ingredients and refrigerate for the flavours to meld till the quesadillas are ready.

Filling:
Grated Monterey Jack/Cheddar cheese
Diced boneless chicken (marinated for an hour with garlic, olive oil and salt and then pan fried)
Sliced black olives
Jalapeños
Strips of yellow and red pepper
Oregano and salt for seasoning
Cherry tomatoes, halved

After filling the tortillas, heat oil in a pan and toast it. Serve it with the salsa.

Other things that could be added: kidney beans, corn.

Jerk Chicken:

This was modified to quite an extent. Not the ingredients, but the cooking method. I needed to make this real quick, so didn’t have the time to roast it in the oven for 50 minutes. Instead, I pan fried it.

I used the recipe from Bon Appetit.

The vinegar made it a little too tart, but the chicken turned out to be very soft and moist.

Modifications made:

1. Used boneless chicken
2. Omitted the rum
3. Used a Scotch bonnet chilli sauce instead of the chillies, due to lack of availability.

Chocolate Chip Sponge:

By far the richest sponge I’ve made. And I didn’t use tiny choc chips but huge chocolate chunks. :D

I used the same recipe like every time, only difference being that instead of the sugar, I added the leftover mixture of icing sugar and almonds from the Yule Log challenge. This is what made the cake so rich; and of course, a generous amount of buttah! You can check the recipe here.

Fruit Ham Sandwich:

I feel I’m missing something here. I just don’t see how fruit with meat is a likeable mix. Even at the Christmas Brunch there was the traditional Roast Turkey served with assorted fruit sauces (apple, cranberry). I found it to be quite unpalatable. I guess it’s probably not acceptable to the heavily seasoned Indian palate. I enjoyed the turkey just by itself.

Inspired by Sticky Creamy Gooey Chewy I made the sandwich with the following:

• Sliced cheddar
• Thinly sliced apple
• Chicken Ham
• Apple preserve
• Honey mustard

I couldn’t even finish my sandwich. But I’m glad I tried it.