Flammekuechen

Flammekuchen (German), or tarte flambée (French), is a speciality of the region of Alsace. It is composed of bread dough rolled out very thinly in the shape of a rectangle or oval, which is covered with fromage blanc or crème fraîche, thin-sliced onions and lardons.

I love this dish. I love this ever since the first time I tried it in Germany. There's one flammekuchen specialty shop in Mainz that I really love and always make an effort to go if I were in Mainz.

Since I missed Germany, I asked my friend to give me an authentic flammekuchen recipe. Here's the one that he sent, I made, and my family love these!

Tarte Flambee Alsace (For 4 persons)  

Preparation:   

Overall time        2 hrs 

Working time      20 min 

Rest period          1 hr 

Cooking time      40 min  

Ingredients for 4 persons:  

Wheat flour           400 gram 

Dry yeast               20 gram 

Lukewarm water   250 ml 

Olive oil                3 tablespoon 

Bacon                    125 gram 

Onions                   500 gram 

Sour cream            200 ml

Whipping cream   200 ml

Steps:

1. For the dough, mix the dry yeast with a little bit of the lukewarm water and let it rest for 10 minutes. 

2. Sift the flour into a bowl, add the yeast mixture, the rest of the lukewarm water, the olive oil and a little bit of salt. 

3. Knead everything to a smooth dough and cover and let rise in a warm place for around 30 minutes. 

4. In the meantime, cut the bacon into fine strips. Peel the onion, cut in half and finely slice it. 

5. Whisk the sour and whipping cream with salt and pepper.  

6. Quarter the risen dough. It is best to roll out each piece of dough on a large piece of baking paper into a wafer-thin rectangular sheet. 

7. Spread 1/4 of the cream mixture on each and sprinkle with onions and strips of bacon. (of course, I have to make a few different variations based on what I have at home)

8. Bake the tarte flambee individually in a convection oven at 220 degrees for 10-15 minutes until golden brown. (I use 200 degree C for 15 minutes)

Sine I have a few bottles of self made funghi sott’olio and pomodori secchi sott’olio, I have made totally 4 different variations of flammekuechen this round. All of them have onions and bacons as base, but the other toppings are slightly different.

preserved mushroom in olive oil and broccoli 

sweet peppers and broccoli

sun-dried tomatoes and mushrooms preserved in olive oil,
sweet peppers and cheddar cheese

mushrooms preserved in olive oil, broccoli and greek cheese

Just like pizza, you can make any flavoured flammekuechen you like. I'm glad that I will have tons of experiments to try later.

Be creative, and have fun!

Pomodori Secchi Sott’olio (Sun-drier Tomatoes Preserved in Olive Oil)

I am obsessed with making my own fermented and preserved food recently. 

A few months back, I started to make my own Chinese style fermented vegetables. 

After I had some really good Melanzane All'olio from WTF Studio, I'm crazy with verdure sott olio ever since. I have made Melanzane All'olio, and a few batches of funghi sott’olio (because I want to try the texture of different types of mushrooms). 

Here's how I have my first trial of sun-dried tomatoes preserved in olive oil:

1. Clean the tomatoes (of course)

2. Cut them in half, and clear out the seeds.

3. Sprinkle salt on the tomatoes and dry them under hot sun. (well, we have plenty. haha)

For my case, I dried them over the period of 7 days as the last few days were a bit cloudy and rainy.

4. After the tomatoes are dried, cook them in a pot for 5 minutes (I use 1:4 ratio of vinegar and water)

5. After 5 minutes, take out the tomatoes and pat dry them. Leave them under the fan for about 2 hours to dry them again.

6. Put the dried tomatoes in a jar. Add sliced garlic, peppers and dried oregano in between layers.

7. Finally, pour in the extra virgin olive oil to cover the tomatoes.

Make sure the tomatoes are fully submerged in the olive oil

8. Close the lid properly and put it in refrigerator. Now let time do the magic. (Refrigerate at least 2 days to let flavours develop.) 

2 days after I bottled the sun-dried tomatoes, I used them for my flammekueche and I love this!

折叠浴桶

宅在家里都一年多了，玩了各种各样的projects，连房间的minor makeover也弄了不少：

 

前几天在survey着bathroom makeover project ideas时看上了小型的金属浴缸，觉得我那小小浴室应该装得下这种小型的，于是突然之间很想拥有个浴缸，这就到shopee上瞧瞧。

就这样子，让我发觉了这世界上竟然还有人卖成人的折叠式浴缸（产品称为折叠浴桶，应该是因为这真的不是“缸”，呵呵）。我犹豫了几个小时，就很冲动的下单了。碰巧遇上Raya Holiday的隔天，出货稍微延迟了一点，但我还是在一个星期内就收到我的新玩具了。

以“浴缸”来说，这很迷你

“浴缸”和它的配件

折叠着，收藏处的选择不少（不过这不是最终储藏处）

看，我可以很舒服的躺在里头

朋友问我排水怎么办啊？别怕，人家都替你想好了

当天晚上，把以前在酒店拿的那些泡泡浴用上，点了一些蜡烛，泡了茶，拿了我的Kindle，就这样子享受了一个晚上。如果你注意看下图，它是有盖的。这折叠浴桶一共配上三个部分的包围式保温盖，温度可以锁得更久，甚至可以玩汗蒸。我当晚只用了一部分的保温盖试试。

同时，我也在网上买了个竹架子，简简单单的设计，不用时挂在墙上当架子，放着我的一棵绿植，没有丝毫违和感。

没有工作的日子，把“浴缸”设好，开了水喉让它慢慢注满水。与此同时，拿了妈妈烘的muffin，泡了一壶茶，开了音乐，拿了kindle，摆好阵。水满后在浴缸里丢下一粒bath bomb，撒上一些花园里刚采下的花瓣，这样子就可以在家里享受spa的感觉，悠游地泡上一个午后。

Funghi sott’olio 意大利式腌蘑菇

几个星期前做了Melanzane All'olio，上瘾了，决定再试试腌制别的蔬菜。
另一个想要尝试的，就是蘑菇。我又是上网看了几个不同的食谱，依据自己的喜好以及现有的材料稍作更改。

以下几个都是我的参考：
Cuoredicioccolato - MUSHROOMS in OLIVE OIL Italian recipe - 这YouTube channel的食谱看起来都不错，改天还有很多玩意儿可以试试。

ITALIAN MARINATED MUSHROOMS By Hank Shaw 

Miss Fluffy's Cooking - Funghi sott'olio mushrooms in oil

我的步骤：

1. 把蘑菇清洗干净，沥干备用。

2. 在锅里倒入1:1的清水和白醋，加上两汤匙的盐，把这煮沸，然后加入清洗后的蘑菇煮约十分钟。

3. 十分钟后熄火，把蘑菇捞上，沥干。

4. 我把沥干后的蘑菇放在干净的布上，再放到风扇底下吹一吹，给它们再干一些。

5. 在此同时，准备香料：把三瓣蒜头切片，用手撕几把dill和oregano，切一条小辣椒，拿一小把黑胡椒粒。

6. 放干后的蘑菇开始排入玻璃罐里，一层蘑菇，一层的香料。

7. 最后，倒入extra virgin olive oil即可。挺简单的。

入罐后必须等上一个星期方可食用

第二批的试验品

Melanzane All'olio 意大利式腌茄子

最近迷上时光酝酿的味道。改天开家餐厅，专卖以腌制的食材烹饪的美食。

自制的Melanzane All'olio

前阵子买了两个泡菜坛，没事儿就泡几坛。上个星期在WTF Studio吃了Melanzane All'olio，惊为天人，这就买了一大条茄子试一试。

我在网上看了几个不同的食谱，自己依据自己现成有的材料稍作更改。以下几个都是我的参考：

1. OrsaraRecipes - Eggplant in Olive Oil Antipasto (Melanzane sott'olio) - 这意大利uncle挺可爱的，食谱看起来都蛮靠谱。
2. Melanzane sott'olio by FOOD52
3. Marie’s Melanzane Sott’Olio (Pickled Eggplant)
4. Melanzane sott’olio (Eggplant Cured in Oil) from Memorie di Angelina.

我的步骤：

1. 茄子洗净、去皮，再把茄子切条状。

2. 加入盐和醋，搅拌至均匀，然后放入个滤盆里。

3. 找个碟子，放在茄子上，然后用个比较重的东西把它给压住。我盖上布，放隔夜。

4. 隔天，许多水份已经被挤压出来了。

5. 找个锅，放1:1的白醋和开水。煮沸后把茄子挤干放入锅里煮2分钟。

6. 过后，晾凉，然后再次把水份给挤干。

7. 切两瓣的蒜头、擂一些辣椒干、准备一把oregano。

8. 把挤干水份的茄子一层层地放入玻璃瓶里，每一层都加上蒜头、辣椒干和oregano。最后倒上橄榄油（我用extra virgin olive oil）即可。

腌制一天后，就可以吃下午茶啦~ 我觉得稍微酸了一点，改天要么稍微减少醋，要么尝试一下white wine vinegar。

Tom Yum Goong Banglamphu

I discovered this humble road-side stall back in 2018, and I was hooked ever since. I hope they are not impacted by Covid-19 and I wish they are still open as their customers are mainly local. I'm looking forward for the time that I can finally visit them again.

This family run stall is located at Soi Kraisi, very near to Khao San. Once you are at Soi Krasi, you won't miss this stall as there's always a long queue in front of the stall.

From my observation, it looked like Uncle handled the tom yum goong and most of the salads, while Aunty handled the stir fried and deep fried dishes.

The first time I went, I was aiming only for the tom yum goong. Little did I know, they are actually the king of wok! No joke, the "wok hei" here was amazing. Every single dishes that we ordered was outstanding. They really have excellence control of the "fire" (火候).

First, of course, we have to talk about their tom yum goong. Of course I haven't tried every single Tom Yum Goong in Thailand yet. But I am sure, this must be one of the best!

Their broth was extremely rich and buttery, with layered of flavours, and wonderfully aromatic. All that creamy fatty butteriness came from the freshwater shrimp. Their freshwater shrimp cooked just nice. A few seconds longer will be overcooked and a few seconds shorter will be undercooked. Really. They must have run the hell of Design Of Experiments to get this perfect texture and juiciness. 

While I love every dishes here, still, I have to highlight their omelet. How do you make something so simple so incredible tasty? Crispy outside, tender inside. Yes, some complaint that it is oily, but come on, please bring your "healthy standards" some where else, don't come judge and spoil these rare authentic food.

Did I tell you that their crispy pork is very good too? You can order just as it is, or you can ask them to use this to stir fry various types of vegetables.

They served very good Thai salad dishes. I think it is mainly due to the freshness of their raw material, and how they ingeniously mix all the difference spices so well.

Also, order anything stir fried. You won't regret. Their "wok hei" guaranteed the quality!

There's also a small stand just right in front of Tom Yum Goong Banglamphu. They sell very good fish cakes and prawn cakes. You are allow to order and eat at Tom Yum Goong Banglamphu while waiting for your food to be served.

Another stall that I have to mention, is the fruit juice stall right opposite of Tom Yum Goong Banglamphu. They have very big menu with all kinds of fruits, and also all sorts of combinations. Very reasonable price. These juice go extremely well with the food at Tom Yum Goong Banglamphu.

Bangkok itineraries:

2013 - Thailand: 5D4N Bangkok + Ayutthaya + Lopburi

2016 - Thailand: 4D3N Bangkok

2017 - Thailand: 4D4N Bangkok for First Timer

2018 - Thailand: 4D3N Bangkok Food Hunting

2019 - Thailand: 4D3N Bangkok