CHOCOLATE FUDGE TART

Recipe from Perfect Desserts Cookbook

Ingredients:
Serves 6-8

flour for sprinkling
12/oz/350 g ready-made unsweetened pie dough
confectioners' sugar for dusting

Filling:
5 oz/ 140 g semisweet chocolate, finely chopped
6 oz/ 175 g butter, diced
1 3/4 cups granulated sugar
3/4 C all purpose flour
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
6 eggs, beaten
2/3 C heavy whipping cream, whipped
ground cinnamon to decorate

1. Roll out the pie dough on a lightly floured counter and use to line an 8 inch/20 cm deep loose bottom tart pan. Prick the dough base lightly w/ a fork, then line w/ parchment paper and fill w/ dried beans. Bake in preheated oven, 400 degrees F, for 12-15 minutes, or until the dough no longer looks raw. Remove from the oven, take out the beans and paper, return to the oven and bake for 10 minutes more, or until the dough is firm. Let cook Reduce the oven temperature to 350 degrees F.

2. To make the filling, place the chocolate and butter in a heatproof bowl and melt over a pan to gently simmering water. Stir until smooh, then remove from the heat and let cool. Place the sugar, flour , vanilla extract, and eggs in a separate bowl and whisk until well blended, Stir in the butter and chocolate mixture.

3. Pour the filling into the pastry shell and bake in the oven for 50 minutes, or until the filling is just set. Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Dust with confectioners' sugar before serving with whipped cream sprinkled light with cinnamon.

Bought this brand new tart pan at the thriftstore for $1. I buy old cookbooks at thriftstores and i happened to spot this tart pan.

BRAISED GAI LAN WITH HOISIN SAUCE (CHINESE BROCCOLI)

Gai Lan a.k.a. Chinese Broccoli or Chinese Kale. This is a dimsum veggie staple, with a drizzle of oyster sauce on top. This dish is simple, easy yet delicious and very healthy. I'm serving mine with hoisin sauce instead of oyster sauce. I like the sweet and tangy sauce with my gai lan.

TIP: Wash and soak any green leafy vegetables with a tsp of salt and water for few minutes. Salted water will help bring out little bugs that are in every nooks and crannies in the vegetables

Cut the end stems of the vegetable just like you would with asparagus, it'll snap up to the soft part of the stem. If the stems are big you blanch them in boiling water by dipping them first for few minutes until the stems are soft yet crisp. Next dip the leafy part and blanch for few minutes until the leaves are tender and crisp.  Normally with this process you are suppose to put them in an ice bath to stop the cooking and to maintain the bright green color but for gai lan it's not necessary since they will stay bright green w/o the ice bath.

In a pan, saute some chopped garlic and onions until cooked. Put in the blanched veggies and toss until the veggies are coated w/ the flavored oil. Arrange the braised gai lan on a platter. Using the same pan heat up some hoisin sauce then pour the sauce on top of the gai lan.

This dish will be perfect as a meal served w/ rice or a side dish just like what i did w/ my PORK SATAY .

Vegetarian Stir Fry With Soba Noodles

This is a morphed dish, a no recipe recipe.

Morphed dish because the veggie and the sauce i used for this dish are "left overs" from my PORK SATAY,PLS CHECK HERE FOR THE RECIPE . I didn't want to waste the extra peanut sauce from my pork satay, thanks to LisaMichele a co-Daring Cook, she gave me an  idea on how to make use  of  the extra sauce. So, both the gai lan (Chinese broccoli) and the sauce will become ingredients to a totally different dish.

No recipe, recipe because this is an eyeball thing or taste as you go style of cooking. You may add any vegetable you like.  Oh, except for the peanut sauce!

Ingredients: (Serves 2)

Peanut sauce  CHECK RECIPE HERE
Gai Lan (Chinese Broccoli) about 8 leaves including stems (leaves chiffonade, stems thinly sliced)
Soba Noodles -2 bunches
Firm tofu ( I used Japanese firm tofu but Chinese firm tofu is better)
Bell peppers - diced (tri color peppers would be great to add color to the dish)
Sesame oil - 1/2 tsp
Scallions - chopped (sweet onions could be used)
Garlic - 2 cloves chopped
Water - to thin out the peanut sauce
Ponzu - 1 T (Japanese citrus seasoned soy sauce) or use plain soy sauce
1 lemon - you'll need just the juice.
Sriracha sauce or Sambal Oelek - 2 tsp (optional)

1. Follow Soba noodles cooking instructions (they are cooked like spaghetti noodles)

2. While your noodles are boiling, cut tofu into cubes or dice. Shallow fry them. Set aside.

3. Using the same pan you used in frying the tofu, saute' garlic and onions until tender. Mix in the veggies cook until gai lai stems are cooked. Set aside.

4. In the pan, mix peanut sauce, sesame oil, ponzu, lemon juice, sriracha sauce and let simmer. Add little water if sauce is still thick. Taste and re-season if you want.

5. Add the the noodles, the veggies into the sauce and carefully toss everything together until they are incorporated.

6. Serve and place the tofu on top.

7. You can garnish this w/ chopped peanuts or toasted sesame seeds.

SOBA NOODLES

VEGETARIAN STIR FRY SOBA NOODLES

YOU CAN ADD SEAFOODS AS WELL.