Spinach Pesto

These nice yummy healthy spinach pesto that you can use it to spread on sandwich or mix with your fav pasta as the sauce is so easy to make. The recipe is slightly adapted from the Woolworth recommended recipe with a slight twist to meet the preference of my eldest.

Ingredients:

• 2 cloves of garlic
• 1 small handful of basil (roughly 4-5leaves)
• 1 big bunch of spinach, roughly one cup
• 6-7pcs of almond (you can either used skinned or those not)
• 1 small floret of broccoli
• 3-4 tbsp of extra virgin olive oil

Steps:

1. Wash and dry all the leaves to be used.
2. Put all the ingredients in the blender (I used only the small mini hand blender).
3. Blitz them for about 1-2mins. Open up and scrap the side and continue blitzing.
4. If the mixture is too dry, try adding a little bit more of the EVOO.
5. If you will like to use this for adult or older kids that will prefer a little bit more seasoning, you can just flavour it with some home made anchovies stock powder or chicken stock powder or even parmesan cheese powder.

Apple Strudel

Had been thinking and thinking for a long time and finally, managed to do it this time. If you want it easier, you may buy ready made pastry, otherwise make yourself. If you making yourself, start with the pastry, while resting it in the fridge, do the apple filling, then work on the pastry again and the custard cream and back the pastry. This way, you can maximise your time.

Do note that I had used brown sugar instead of castor sugar and I had reduced the amount. If you using castor sugar and have sweet tooth, top up a bit of it.

Ingredients

For the pastry:

• Puff Pastry, refer to recipe here
• 35g brown Sugar (if castor sugar, 70g)
• 1tsp cinnamon powder
• 1tbsp melted butter

For the apple filling

• 5 small size apple
• 50g butter
• 70g brown sugar (if castor sugar, 90g)
• 1/2 tbsp cinnamon powder
• 30g raisins
• Juice from half a lemon
• 7g corn flour
• 1 tsp water

For the custard cream

• 2 egg yolks
• 1/3 cup of brown sugar
• 2tbsp plain flour
• 1 cup cream milk mixture (I used 80% cream and 20% milk)
• 1/2tsp vanilla

Steps:

1. Prepare the puff pastry as per instruction of the recipe link provided.
2. Prepare the filling. First, peel the apple, core it and cut to either small chunks or slices up to your preference. Mine was cut to small slices. Sprinkle half of the lemon juice to the apple to prevent it from browning.
3. Melt the butter in the pot, add in all the apples and stir it till it is well coated. Cook with medium low fire and continuously stir to avoid it from burning.
4. Once the apple is soft and a little wilted, add in the sugar and cook till it dissolved.
5. Sprinkle in the cinnamon powder and continuously stir it.
6. Mix the corn flour with water and the balance of the lemon juice. Set it aside.
7. After cooking for about 5-6mins, slowly pour in the corn flour mixture and stir till it is thicken. Turn off the fire, set aside to cool
8. Next, prepare the custard cream. Stir in the yolks and sugar in a pot till it is creamy. 
9. Add in flour and stir till it is even and no clump.
10. Finally, add in all the other ingredients and turn on the fire, low and stir. The mixture must be stir continuously.
11. Once it started to thicken, turn off the fire and continue to stir till it cool down. Scoop into a container and let it cool in the fridge.
12. Roll out the pastry (half of the recipe, unless you using store bought one) to roughly 1cm thickness and cut it to 3pcs.
13. Mix the sugar and cinnamon and set aside. Brush the butter to the top of the pastry, and then sprinkle the sugar cinnamon mixture to the top of the pastry.
14. Preheat the AF at 200c for 2mins (if using oven, preheat at 180c for at least 10mins). 
15. Place the pastry into the AF and air fried it for 16mins at 160c. If using oven, 190c (fan forced) for 16mins too.
16. Once done, take it out to cool before plating.
17. Arrange the first piece of the pastry and top with some custard cream, apple filling, then the other piece of pastry, custard cream and apple filling and finally covered with the last piece of pastry. Sprinkle some icing sugar to it if you like and serve. 

Below is the other version that I had made using the curry puff mould.

Puff Pastry

The easiest puff pastry by Gordon Ramsay that I had slightly amended the recipe after some test and trial.

Ingredients:

• 100g of bread flour or strong flour or high gluten flour
• 150g plain flour
• a pinch of salt
• 220g of butter, at room temperature
• 130ml cold water

Steps:

1. Mix the flour and salt together till they are even.
2. Cut the butter to small pieces and use your hand to mix them into the flour, pinching it to mix.
3. Add in cold water and knead till it forms a dough. It may be a bit of wet, but it is ok. Cover with cling wrap.
4. Chill in the fridge for 20mins or more.
5. Dust the work bench with flour and dust the dough too. Roll it out one direction.
6. Fold left to the middle and right to the middle, as though the dough is 3part.
7. Now, roll the dough out again on one direction but the other way of what you work on just now (if earlier you work on landscape, it will be portray now).  Again, fold up the dough, like in step 6.
8. Cover in cling wrap and chill in the fridge again for at least another 20mins. 
9. Repeat steps 5, 6 and 7 for one more time and chill the dough for at least 40mins this time.
10. The pastry is ready for use now.