Fischbrötchen, Hamburg, Germany

During our trip to Hamburg one of the stops was the historical warehouse district, Speicherstadt and also the new extension to Hamburg the Hafencity. Here you get the contrast of the historical warehouses and modern tall buildings on the other side to house the ever growing population of Hamburg.

As we were exploring the part of the city where the new Hamburg Philharmonic is going to be built we stopped along one of the Fischbrötchen (eng. fish bread) stalls along the river. Obviously being in a port city, it's always great that you can get snacks like this easily.

Salmon fish bread. The cured salmon was pretty salty but went well with the bread and sauce.

It was a mighty fine day for a stroll out in town. Enjoy some of the pictures we took of the surrounding area.

The new Hamburg Philharmonic under construction.

One of the many nice canals on our way to Speicherstadt.

St. Katherinen Church

The historical Spericherstadt

Unique building in Hafencity

*This is a guest post by The Unc.


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Recipe: Caramelised shallot & mushroom toasts (Gordon Ramsay)

I am loving Gordon Ramsay's "Fast Food" cookbook. So far the ones I have tried are really easy to make and taste really good. I made this caramelised shallot and mushroom toast from his book since I love these two ingredients. A simple, delicious brunch option.

I saved a few thick slices of the Champion Toast I baked the previous evening to make this. Shallots, garlic and thyme are sauteed together until the shallots are softened, then sugar is added to caramelise it slightly and finally mushrooms and butter are added to the pan. Then top it on your toasted bread and you have one healthy, delicious lunch!

I reckon a poached egg on top would work well too.

Caramelised shallot & mushroom toasts
Recipe by Baby Sumo, adapted from Gordon Ramsay's Fast Food
Preparation time: 10 minutes
Cooking time: 5-7 minutes
Serves 2


Ingredients
6 shallots, peeled and thinly sliced
1 tbsp olive oil
2 sprigs thyme, leaves only
1 clove garlic, peeled and crushed
1/2 tsp caster sugar
200g white button mushrooms, thinly sliced
2 tbsp butter
A splash of sherry vinegar (red wine vinegar)
A small handful fresh parsley, roughly chopped
Salt and freshly ground pepper
2 thick slices rustic white bread (I used Champion Toast)



1. In a large saucepan, heat oil over medium heat. Add shallots, crushed garlic and thyme, and saute for 2-3 minutes, until shallots are softened. Season with salt and pepper.

2. Add sugar and increase to high heat, stirring and cooking for 1-2 minutes, until the shallots are lightly caramelised.

3. Add the mushrooms and butter, then saute for a further 2 minutes, until cooked, then add a splash of red wine vinegar and season with more salt and pepper, as necessary. Discard the garlic, then add the parsley and mix well.

4. Toast the bread and place on two plates. Divide the shallot/mushrooms on top of the toast and serve immediately.

* I am submitting this to the "Cook Like Gordon Ramsay" event which I am co-hosting with Zoe of Bake for Happy Kids and Mich of Piece of Cake. To join, simply cook or bake any recipe from any Gordon Ramsay websites or cookbooks for the whole month of August 2014. You can link your posts at one of the host's pages.

Your post must be a current post i.e. posted in August 2014 - please do not link older posts.Please mention Cook like a Star in your post and link back to Zoe of Bake for Happy Kids, Mich of Piece of Cake and Baby Sumo of Eat your heart out.

Happy cooking! Do check out the other bloggers recipe below:





* I am submitting this post to "Cook-Your-Books #15" hosted by Joyce.

If you enjoyed reading my posts, LIKE me on Facebook! You can also follow me on Instagram (@babysumo) for more photo updates. Thanks :)

Recipe: Slipper Lobster, Avocado and Mayo Crostini

I was inspired to make these crostinis for lunch after seeing Gordon Ramsay's recipe for crayfish, avocado and mayo toasties in his cookbook "Fast Food".  I had to make some adaptations to suit the ingredients I had in my kitchen - we can't get hold of crayfish easily here in KL, so I used slipper lobster instead.

Slipper Lobster, Avocado & Mayo Crostini

I also made crostini instead of toasties. Crostini is an Italian appetizer, similar to bruschetta consisting of a small sliced of toasted or grilled bread with toppings. You can use baguette or any good quality rustic bread. I sliced the baguette and toasted it under a hot grill for a couple of minutes. The crunchy baguette is then topped with creamy avocado and mayo slipper lobster. I also decided to add quartered cherry tomatoes for colour and it also enhances the overall taste.

Lots of great textures and flavours in these little bites, certainly an enjoyable and quick to prepare meal. Great for a hot sunny afternoon.

We had some ebikko in the fridge, so topped it on some of the crostinis - I really liked it!

Slipper Lobster, Avocado and Mayo Crostini
Recipe by Baby Sumo, inspired by Gordon Ramsay's Fast Food
Preparation time: 10 minutes
Cooking time: 2 minutes
Serves 3-4

Ingredients
200g slipper lobster
2 tbsp mayonnaise
1/4 tsp truffle oil
Salt and freshly ground pepper
1 ripe avocado
2 calamansi limes
1 French loaf, sliced at a diagonal 1cm thick

Optional toppings
4-5 cherry tomatoes, quartered
2-3 tsp ebikko (shrimp roe)

1. Bring a pot of water to the boil. Once boiling, lower to medium heat then add the slipper lobster and cook for about 1 minute, until cooked through. Remove from pot and plunge into a bowl of ice water for about 2 minutes. Once cooled, drain and chop the slipper lobster into bite-sized chunks.

2. Place slipper lobster in a bowl and add mayo and truffle oil. Season with salt and pepper and mix well.

3. To pit the avocado, first you need to find the stalk and remove it. Hold it horizontally, with a knife through the centre until you hit the seed then move the knife in a circular motion until you go all the away around. Twist the avocado halves in opposite direction and it will come apart easily into 2 halves. Sink the knife into the avocado seed and remove. Peel off skin. Squeeze calamansi lime juice all over to avoid discoloration. Chop the avocado into bite-sized chunks. Season with salt.

4. Arrange bread slices on a baking tray and place under hot grill for about 1-2 minutes, until lightly toasted.

5. To serve, top each piece of bread with avocado, followed by the slipper lobster. Garnish with cherry tomatoes. Serve immediately. You can also top with ebikko (optional).



Note: Original recipe uses crayfish and rustic white bread and served as toasties.

Nice and simple

Beautiful vibrant colours 

* I am submitting this to the "Cook Like Gordon Ramsay" event which I am co-hosting with Zoe of Bake for Happy Kids and Mich of Piece of Cake. To join, simply cook or bake any recipe from any Gordon Ramsay websites or cookbooks for the whole month of August 2014. You can link your posts at one of the host's pages.

Your post must be a current post i.e. posted in August 2014 - please do not link older posts.Please mention Cook like a Star in your post and link back to Zoe of Bake for Happy Kids, Mich of Piece of Cake and Baby Sumo of Eat your heart out.

Happy cooking! Do check out the other bloggers recipe below:




* I am also submitting this post to "Cook-Your-Books #15" hosted by Joyce.

If you enjoyed reading my posts, LIKE me on Facebook! You can also follow me on Instagram (@babysumo) for more photo updates. Thanks :)

Recipe: Plain White Loaf (Wu Pao Chun Champion Toast 金牌土司)

Every year, I make a resolution to make more bread for my family but on the other hand, I have a love/hate relationship with yeast (I don't always have luck with it and sometimes the yeast is dead and our bread doesn't rise and we end up with a brick).

Recently, I saw many of my blogger friends making the plain white loaf (recipe originating from the famous Taiwan's Master Baker Wu Pao Chun), also known as Champion Toast. It looked so good, I knew I had to try it too!

Plain White Loaf.... perfect to be eaten anytime of the day!

Making this bread is very easy as I can use my KitchenAid to knead the dough. The dough rose beautifully, and for the first time, I felt really happy baking bread.

The bread tasted delicious and the texture was great -so soft and fluffy. We bake this almost everyday now, and enjoy this as our daily loaf. Most days though my kids and Hubby would eat almost 3/4 of the loaf before the end of the evening when it's hot out of the oven. That's how much they love it!

My son assists me everyday when he is on school holidays :) My lil baker boy.

Champion Toast... yeah!

This white loaf is perfect for making French Toast. We would always save a couple of slices to make this for breakfast the next day!

Plain white loaf (Wu Pao Chun Champion Toast 金牌土司)
Recipe by Baby Sumo, adapted from here

Preparation time: 15-20 minutes

Cooking time: 30 minutes

Makes 1 loaf (11cmx20cm)


Ingredients

375g bread flour
30g caster sugar
3/4 tsp fine sea salt
20g salted butter, cut into small cubes
1 tsp instant dry yeast
240g cold milk

1. In a mixing bowl, place the flour, sugar and yeast. Mix well. 

2. Then, add in salt and milk to the mixing bowl. Using low speed with hook attachment (speed 1 on KitchenAid) mix into a dough, about 2 minutes.

3. Add in butter, then knead using low speed for another 15-20 minutes until you get a shiny and smooth dough.

3. Shape the dough into a bowl and place back in bowl. Cover the mixing bowl with a cloth and proof until doubled in size, about 1 - 1 1/2 hour. To test if it has sufficiently risen, press a finger into the dough and withdraw it quickly, the indentation should remain.

After first proofing

Test to see if it has sufficiently risen

4. Gently punch the centre of the dough with your first to deflate it. Divide dough into 3 balls. Flatten each ball, then roll into a rectangle shape (like rolling a swiss roll), and place into a lightly greased 11x20cm Pullman tin. Cover and allow to rise in a warm place for another 1 hour, until the tin is 90-95% full.

Place dough into Pullman tin for second proofing

5. Cover the Pullman tin, bake in a preheated oven at 190°C (fan-forced) for 30 mins.

Perfect white loaf for breakfast! This one has got raisins.

Note: If you intend to add filling to the bread such as raisins, cranberries or nuts, add them in Step 4 while you roll the bread into rectangle shape. Also note that it is normal for your Kitchen Aid to be very noisy and hot after kneading for 10 mins.

Bread with Bordier butter = simple irresistible!

Freshly baked, spread with some homemade roselle jam

French Toast with bananas, apricots, caramel sauce and maple syrup. Oh and some crushed Maltesers as well.

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