Bucket List - Blue Mountains, Sydney, Australia

One of my many bucket list is going to the Blue Mountains in Sydney, Australia. When my boss decided to send me to Sydney for a couple of meetings, I've already decided to apply for a day leave after that to fulfil this bucket list of mine. Blue Mountains National Park is located in Katoomba, which is a 2-hour train ride from Sydney city. It is a massive rainforest with abundant species of eucalypts which some of them can only be found here in the Blue Mountains, these eucalypts trees release tiny oil droplets into the air and  produce a blue-like mist when they came into contact with the sun which explains the origin of its name. It is also gazetted as UNESCO World Heritage due to this reason.
However, my trip was at the end of winter month (August) hence not much sun can be expected. Albeit I couldn't get to view its 'blueness' with the absence of the sun but the trip was life changing. Subhanallah and Masyaa Allah were the words that can describe it.

Blue Mountains - CHECKED!

Salmon & Mushroom Quiche

Pie Dough

Ingredients:
130g all purpose flour (can also use pastry or cookie flour)
20g shortening
70g cold butter - diced
Cold water as needed
A pinch of salt

Instructions:

1. Preheat the oven to 180C.
2. Sift flour into a mixing bowl and add salt. Rub the fats into the flour until it resembles coarse breadcrumbs. Add a tablespoon of water to the mixture and gently knead until a soft dough ball forms. Cover with a plastic wrap and refrigerate for 10 minutes.
3. On a lightly floured surface, roll out the dough into a circle with a diameter of 10 inches. Line an 8 inch tart pan with the pastry. Press down into corners and sides. Trim the edges and prick the pastry base using a fork.
4. Blind bake for about 10 minutes.

Salmon Filling

Ingredients:
1 yellow onion - finely sliced
1 tbsp butter
2 eggs
150ml cream
1/2 cup grated cheese - more if you like
About 50g salmon fillet - thinly sliced
Salt and pepper to taste

Instructions:

1. Preheat the oven to 180C.
2. Melt butter on a frying pan over medium heat. Add the onion and cook until caramelized (translucent and a bit brown) while constantly stirring.  Remove from the heat, transfer the onion into a clean bowl and set aside.
3. Using the same frying pan over medium heat, add the mushrooms and cook until the moisture slightly dried out. Set aside.
4. Whisk eggs and cream in a medium bowl. Lightly season with salt and pepper. 
5. Spread the onion and mushroom onto the cooled pastry case. Scatter the salmon slices on top and sprinkle with grated cheese. Gently pour the cream over the filling.
6. Bake for 20 minutes until golden brown and the filling set.

Fruit Tartlets

Sugar Pastry

Ingredients:
100gm icing sugar
100gm butter, at room temperature
 1 egg
1/4 tsp vanilla
250gm all purpose flour

Instructions:

• In a bowl of a  stand mixer, beat the butter and sugar until light in color and fluffy.  Beat in the egg and vanilla. Add the flour mixture and beat on low speed until combined. Take the dough out and form a ball. Wrap the dough with a plastic wrap and refrigerate for 20 minutes.
• Roll the dough onto a lightly floured surface. Using a medium round cutter, cut the pastry and press them into tart shells.
• Bake at 190C until golden brown.
• Let them cool completely before piping the vanilla cream.

Vanilla Pastry Cream

Ingredients:
350 ml milk
70gm white sugar
4 yolks
40gm cornstarch
35gm butter
1 tsp vanilla

Instructions:

• Combine 300gm milk and sugar in a pan and bring them to a boil over medium heat. Remove from heat. 
• In a separate bowl, whisk the remaining milk, yolks and cornstarch until smooth. Temper the egg mixture by slowly beating about quarter of the hot milk in a thin stream. 
• Pour the egg mixture into the hot milk and return them over the heat and bring them to a boil, constantly whisking.
• When it starts to thicken, remove from the heat. Stir in the vanilla and butter until completely blended in.
• Transfer to a clean bowl and cover with plastic wrap to avoid the cream from forming a crust.
• Cool in refrigerator.

Assembly:
Pipe the cream into the shells and arrange the fruit of your choice such as strawberries, peaches, kiwis, cherries or grapes. 

Classic Genoise

Another basic recipe that I learned from the chef is Classic Genoise. A genoise is an Italian sponge cake which is using whole eggs, unlike American sponge cake where yolks and egg whites are beaten separately. What we did in the class was preparing a genoise for the Strawberry Shortcake layers. As it is very hard to get a nice and sweet strawberry in the supermarket now, I thought I could use these recipe for my Lemon Mascarpone Layer Cake. I guessed the Strawberry Shortcake needs to wait until end of the year or early next year when it is easier to get good strawberries...wow! that's a long wait...errr...let's see. At the meantime, here is the recipe for a Classic Genoise.

Ingredients:

3 eggs
80g caster sugar
80g cake flour
20g cornflour
20g melted butter

Instructions:

1. Preheat the oven to 180C. Grease two 6-inch round baking pan and line their bases with a parchment paper.
2. Prepare a double boiler. In a bowl of a stand mixer, combine and whisk the eggs and the sugar. Put the bowl on the double boiler, continue whisking until the mixture is slightly warm and foamy. Remove from the heat. Put the bowl in the stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment. Whisk the eggs mixture to a ribbon stage.
3. Sift the flour onto the eggs, add in the melted butter and fold carefully until just incorporated. It might be a little bit lumpy bit it is okay. You do not want to over-mix the batter or it might deflate.
4. Spoon the mixture evenly into the pans. 
5. Bake for 10-12 minutes until golden brown.

Note: 

A genoise can substitute lady fingers in making a tiramisu. It also can be used to make a roulade or swiss roll.