cheese Archives - Page 2 of 4 - The Wifey's Corner

December 4, 2016September 11, 2023

Black Cherry Cheese Tart

Since I bought a jar of jam for bolu gulung weeks ago and still got half jar left on the fridge, I decided to give this cheese tart recipe a go. Rather than jut let the jam to go to waste, we should make use of it, right? I don’t usually have my bread/toast with jam and hubby prefers Nutella himself, so if I ever bough jam it would mainly for my baking experiments only.

A while ago I noticed recipe for these little cheese tarts with pretty patterns and of course, I put this on my to-try list. I think using blueberry jam will make the colour more pop out and prettier purplish. But since I have only black cherry jam, we shall use that instead.

For the tart pastry I use this eggless recipe simply because hubby prefers this texture than the one with egg. I think it is crispier and less crumbly compared to ones with eggs.

And here are the ingredients for the cream cheese filling (source here):

300 grams cream cheese at room temperature
80 grams icing sugar
1 teaspoon lemon paste (I used 1.5 teaspoon of lemon juice)
15 grams vanilla essence (I used 1 teaspoon vanilla extract)
50 grams whipping cream
25 grams sifted corn flour
2 large eggs
your favorite jam for topping

Whisk cream cheese and icing sugar until fluffy and creamy.

Add in lemon paste, vanilla essence and egg one at a time while mixing until everything is combined.

Add in the whipping cream, mix well.

Fill the cream cheese filling to half-baked tarts. Then scoop your favourite jam on the top and make the swirling motion using a toothpick for marble effect.

Baked on 180C for 15 – 20 minutes or until the filling is set.

Let it chill before serving, the cheese custard texture will also harden up after refrigerated.

cheese-tart2 — Still learning and experimenting on how to make a pretty marble pattern or heart pattern (still!)

Tips from me:

I think just like baked cheesecakes, better to leave the tarts cool to room temperature inside the oven after finish baking. Just let the oven door open very slightly and let the tarts sit inside until cool to avoid crack on the surfaces of cheese tarts.

October 29, 2016

Kobe Jones Riverside Teppanyaki, Melbourne

We did the 13-course Spring Renewal Degustation at Kobe Jones finally. Have been wanting to do that for a while now and went for it while we were at Melbourne. You’d ask why do a Kobe Jones degustation at Melbourne while we also have Kobe Jones at Sydney. Well, we were looking for something special for our anniversary dinner and remembered I still had that Best Restaurant gift card which is expiring really soon. Then hubby said why don’t we go to Kobe Jones, something we have already been want to do. And as it happens our anniversary was while we were at Melbourne, hence the Riverside Melbourne branch.

Booking was easy enough through their website or phone them. We booked for 6pm thinking we’d have lots of spare time after dinner to catch the Melbourne Star ferris wheel ride. Obviously 6 pm is early for dinner, the restaurant was pretty much empty when we got there. The restaurant is made up of two sections, a larger section (our guess is the main section) consists of their kitchen and teppanyaki style seating; then on a separate smaller section is the sleek riverside seating area for Kobe Jones dining.

One of the great thing about degustation is that we don’t need to make any decisions, no fuss over which menu to order etc. And on top of that, you’ll get to taste a little bit of many dishes, excellent! The original Spring Revival degustation is a 12-course, but we upgraded to include their famous lobster and glass of champagne. Without further ado, let’s get into our courses of the night:

kobe-jones14 — Glass of Möet & Chandon Brut Impérial NV

Number One Special - crab salad with avocado wrapped in Hiramasa kingfish and nori, baked in a secret sauce and topped with bittersweet soy glaze — Number One Special – crab salad with avocado wrapped in Hiramasa kingfish and nori, baked in a secret sauce and topped with bittersweet soy glaze. This tasted soooooo good…. My second favorite of all dishes that night.

Crab croquette - creamy crab and corn croquettes shallow-fried in soybean oil with jalapeno salsa and tonkatsu sauce — Crab croquette – creamy crab and corn croquettes shallow-fried in soybean oil with jalapeno salsa and tonkatsu sauce. Love the crispy outside and creamy inside texture, not oily at all.

Wagyu Tataki - seared, chilled and topped with bush herbs and soy onion dressing — Wagyu Tataki – seared, chilled and topped with bush herbs and soy onion dressing. The wagyu are tender with delicate seasoning, a very refreshing dish.

Dragon Egg - tuna tartare sushi mixed with chipotle mayonnaise on a shiso leaf, topped with avocado and finished with ponzu sauce — Dragon Egg – tuna tartare sushi mixed with chipotle mayonnaise on a shiso leaf, topped with avocado and finished with ponzu sauce. This is hubby’s favorite dish of the night, actually this picture really didn’t do justice of the taste. It is very delicious.

Volcano Roll - oven-baked scallops layered on a crab salad avocado roll with special cream sauce and sesame seed and shallot sprinkle — Volcano Roll – oven-baked scallops layered on a crab salad avocado roll with special cream sauce and sesame seed and shallot sprinkle. Another pretty dish, but also delicately delicious!

Somen and tofu salad - somen noodles and crispy tofu with mixed leaves and soy dressing — Somen and tofu salad – somen noodles and crispy tofu with mixed leaves and soy dressing. Love the dressings and those crispy tofu. Up to this point, I started feeling full and yet we were only half way through.

Kobe’s Miso Soup - housemade dashi with a blend of red and white miso to create the perfect umami flavour — Kobe’s Miso Soup – house made dashi with a blend of red and white miso to create the perfect umami flavour. We love that the miso soup is very well seasoned, not too salty as you might find it in many places.

Whiting Slyder - tempura sand whiting served in a brioche bun with shredded cabbage, mayonnaise, Japanese pickle and egg — Whiting Slider – tempura sand whiting served in a brioche bun with shredded cabbage, mayonnaise, Japanese pickle and egg. Honestly, I’d prefer to have it without the brioche 🙂

Yakitori - robata-grilled skewers of marinated chicken with baby leeks and teriyaki sauce — Yakitori – robata-grilled skewers of marinated chicken with baby leeks and teriyaki sauce. This is probably our least favorite dish, we both found it too bland and not enough sauce or not marinated enough. But, the chicken is well cooked and succulent.

Wagyu hot rock - self-cook your own wagyu sirloin AA5+ just the way you like it, with dipping sauces — Wagyu hot rock – self-cook your own wagyu sirloin AA5+ just the way you like it, with dipping sauces. This dish is a bit of fun dish where they were delivered raw sitting on top of the hot rock and you can cook them to your liking. Probably we left ours a tad too long, hence slightly chewy beef.

Miso Citrus Lobster Tail - baby lobster tail lightly cooked in a wafu thermidor sauce, drizzled with miso citrus sauce and served on a bed of steamed vegetables — Miso Citrus Lobster Tail – baby lobster tail lightly cooked in a wafu thermidor sauce, drizzled with miso citrus sauce and served on a bed of steamed vegetables. My favorite dish for the night! I love everything about this dish, yummy lobster tail with yummy sauce.

Flaming Anko - green tea crème brûlée with red bean served flaming to the table for a caramelised finish — Flaming Anko – green tea crème brûlée with red bean served flaming to the table for a caramelised finish. Now this one is definitely theatrical, it is served flaming – we were too amazed to take pictures and by the time we remembered, the flame has gone. This dessert is a great way to close the degustation, very creamy and has the earthy matcha flavour, not overly sweet. I would have eaten a lot of this, had I not been too full.

It was a superb experience for us, we enjoyed almost every single dish they have. And don’t be fooled by the size of each course. We left with super full and heavy stomach ლ(´ڡ`ლ) For me, I was already so full after course 8 and for the rest I just tasted a little, except the lobster tail. It is evident that they have used fresh and good quality of produce, not to mention the beautiful plating up. Definitely give this a try if you are into Japanese fusion meal, and lobster upgrade is absolutely a must!

Kobe Jones Riverside Teppanyaki

G16/18-38 Siddeley St, Docklands VIC 3005

(03) 9329 9173

kobejones.com.au

October 23, 2016August 25, 2023

Patricia Coffee Brewers & Mr Burger

I think during our stay in Melbourne, we probably had too much coffee per day. But then again, how can you resist those little coffee shops with long queue? Another coffee shop we found from online review is Patricia Coffee Brewers and as it turned out also located nearby to City Tempo, we decided to go.

A short walk from the hotel and thanks to the trusted Google Map we reached this little coffee shop. There were already many people lining up in front of that tiny door for their morning dose of caffeine. And so were we joining in the queue, which didn’t take too long at all. By the looks of it, a lot of the customers are regulars that all the staffs seemed to know their names. Love such places, don’t you? The cafe is small and only standing room (no seating area inside as far as I can tell) and only few chairs outside. The staff will serve sparkling water to waiting patrons, which we think was a great service.

A friendly lady at the cashier took our orders efficiently and since we couldn’t decide which coffee blend we wanted, we just ordered one of each. And both single origin and house blend were very nice, one is smooth while more fruity taste on the other. Service was really quick, coffee were at good temperature, everything was just spot on.

patricia — Look at people lining up in front of that tiny door!

patricia2 — Glimpse of coffee counter from outside, it was too crowded inside to take pictures 😛

From here we walked around to Queen Victoria Market then took a tram back to city centre and walk through shopping arcades and lane ways. It was a fun walk, so much to see and got excited about! Suddenly we came out on Flinders Stations and decided to take the tourist tram and complete a full city circle ride 🙂 The ride went up to Docklands and then made a way back to LaTrobe St, which then we took off near Swanston St.

queen-victoria-market2 — Our most favorite place of the market – the deli section! Super clean, no any funky smell or whatsoever. And seriously look at those cheeses and antipasto, bread, pasta, and the list goes on – beautiful!

queen-victoria-market4 — Even wines and tea and coffee…

melbourne-alleys — The arcades and alleyways

We headed to Mr Burger, a place we spotted on our first day arriving at Melbourne. This one is located on corner Swanston St and LaTrobe St. There are about five or six tables in front of the “truck”with couple of high tools surround each table. Hubby chose a Mr Hot; whereas I got the Mr Chicken, still not sure why I made that choice. We also shared a large Trucker Chips, which was sooooo yummy…..

The buns are soft with a very slight hint of sweetness that balances the sauces and meat really well. They are generous with the sauces and yes it always messy when you eat a good burger. The chicken was actually very succulent with crispy on the outside, but we felt it was just ok, nothing to rave about. Hubby’s Mr Hot was really good, with crispy bacon and although it says Mr Hot, it was not very spicy at all. The chips are great, lots of spicy mayo and cheese with tiny bits of bacon, we were over the moon ~(˘▾˘~) (~˘▾˘)~

Patricia Coffee Brewers

493-495 Little Bourke Street (Corner Little Burke and Little Williams St), Melbourne VIC

Phone: (03) 9642 2237

Mr Burger

Melbourne Central

Corner Swanston St and LaTrobe St, Melbourne VIC

mrburger.com.au

October 9, 2016

Yarra Valley Wine Tasting Tour

February 9, 2016October 5, 2023

Kastengel aka Cheese Stick Cookies

As mentioned on previous post of Putri Salju Cookies, kastengel is also another very popular cookie among many delicacies served during those festive seasons in Indonesia (or by Indonesians live overseas even). Whilst putri salju is mainly a sweet cookie, kastengel is the opposite that it is a savory cookie with strong cheese flavor. I always hesitate to attempt making kastengel cookies due to the lengthy process of cutting the dough, lay them one by one on the baking pan, brush each cookie with egg yolk and sprinkle more grated cheese on each one of them. But trust me this recipe is truly worth all that time and hard work 🙂

Again there are so many variations of this kastengel recipe, ranging from egg less to with egg yolk only, and different types of cheese used. Because cheese is the main ingredient for kastengel, I think it is best to use aged hard cheese as they have stronger flavor, such as Edam, aged cheddar, Gouda, or Parmesan cheese. Try to get the better quality cheese to showcase the taste once they are baked.

The recipe I used is copied from here. This results of this version is melt in your mouth texture due to the use of egg yolks, not the crunchy types of cookies. Here are the ingredients and methods:

300 grams butter at room temperature
200 grams aged cheese, grated (I used Edam cheese)
400 grams flour
2 tablespoons of milk powder
2 egg yolks
For egg wash: 1 whisked egg yolk and grated cheddar cheese

kastengel edam2 — I only made half of the recipe and got 1 full tray plus few extras 🙂

Mix the butter and egg yolk until all combined.

Add in grated Edam cheese and shifted flour with milk powder, combine them well with a spatula.

I rest my dough in the fridge, wrapped in cling wrap for about 30 minutes.

Flatten the dough to about 2 mm thickness and cut in the shapes of rectangular. Lay them on baking pan, lined with non stick baking paper. Brush the top with whisked egg yolk and sprinkle with grated cheddar cheese.

Baked on preheated oven at 130 C (I used 150 C) until golden brown.

Let the cookies cool to room temperature before transferring to cookie jar.

Some tips:

Do not over mix the butter and egg yolk mixture
The cookies will expand a little while baking, so do not put them too close to one another on baking pan