Wimbledon is here, so could strawberries be far behind?

It feels only right to celebrate the English summer and what better way to do it than with strawberries and bubbles!
The month of July means Strawberries which are plentiful at your local farmers market. These British Gems are a great source of fiber and vitamin C. At Cinnamon Club, we love cooking by the seasons and absolutely love strawberries. Waiting for the English strawberry season to begin, for us, is a bit like the feeling children  waiting for their Christmas presents!

 It’s the time to create yet another delicious recipe using strawberries… only this time, with a twist! Ever tried strawberries with coriander?

 

Shrikhand Cheesecake with fennel, coriander and strawberries 

Cheesecake 

250 g – Greek yoghurt (hung in muslin overnight)

100 g – Mascarpone cheese

100 ml – double cream, whipped to soft peaks

50 g – Sugar

½ tsp – Cardamom powder

For the crumble

250 g – Flour

250 g – Sugar

180 g – Ground Almonds

250 g – salted butter, diced

Method:

For the crumble base, mix all the ingredients till a homogenous mixture is achieved. Spread on a baking tray lined with greaseproof paper and bake in the oven for 10-12 minutes until golden brown. Allow to cool and ‘crumble’.

For the cheesecake, fold all the ingredients together gently and chill.

To make up the cheesecake, place the crumble at the bottom of a dish or ring 2-3 cm thick. Fill the rest of the mould with the cheesecake mix and chill for a few hours before serving.

To macerate the berries

250 g Strawberries or any other berries as in season

Juice of half a lime

Rind of half a lime

2 mint leaves shredded

1tsp fennel seeds, roasted and crushed

1 tsp coriander seeds roasted and crushed

Pinch salt

Pinch sugar

To serve, cut a few strawberries, mix together the rest of the ingredients and toss .Let macerate for 10-15 minutes and serve with the cheesecake.

Wine tip

Strawberry cheesecake accompanied with our decadent Rose Champagne is a must. Our wine expert Laurent Chaniac is proud to be working with such a revolutionary champagne house such as “Ayala Rose Majeur”. Rose is a firm favourite of many on a sunny day with friends and family. It does exactly what it should do, energizing your senses and make you feel happy!

Tags: best cheese cake, champagnes, easy recipe, recipes, wimbledon 
Author: Priyanka

Tags: food festival, taste of london, taste theatre 
Author: Priyanka

It’s hard to imagine but WGS in Singapore has been going for 14years now…Obviously it’s Chef Armin Leitgebs a great celebration of Singapore’s love of gastronomy, and 12 of the most unique chefs from around the world  are invited to participate in the two week extravaganza organised by Peter Knipp and his team every year.

Needless to say when it was an honour to be invited to take part in this year’s celebrations as a Masterchef . I was hosted by the legendary Indian restaurant Rang Mahal where our tasting menus were served for a week and among other things, there was a hands-on cookery masterclass for 24 people and a charity dinner for 350 guests in aid of Community chest. Thanks to Peter’s efforts, I believe circa 600000 SGD were raised from the evening which is fantastic by any standard anywhere in the world!

It was a true celebration of world food and gastronomy and an experience to meet and interact with chefs like Greg Doyle and Grant King of Peir restaurant in Australia, Bruno Menard from L’osier in Japan, Andrea Berton of Ristorante Trussardi Alla Scala in Italy and Lai Yau Tim from Tim’s kitchen in Hong Kong. It was great to see our very own Alex Chow from Kai restaurant in Mayfair also there!

Interestingly it wasn’t just about international guest chefs raiding Singapore…it was very good to see that the entire restaurant fraternity in Singapore was just as excited about the event and well and truly backing it with everything they’d got. Generally speaking the quality of restaurants and dining out in Singapore is of a quite high standard and I was very impressed by the spread laid out at some of the events I got a chance to attend. My humble house, Les Amis and Majestic House particularly impressive! 

Lau pa sat or Long Beach- Pepper crab or S’pore Chilli Crab?

With tonnes of mise-en-place to prepare for our various tasting menus there wasn’t much time to get to try all the local delicacies, so Awanish, James and I decided to scour the squeaky clean streets of Singapore and try all the hawkers that would remain open or serve after mid-night!

One such late evening was spent at Laupasat with serious discussion over whether the pepper crab was better or the chilli crab! Another was spent in Clarke Quay  trying out the famed Singapore chilli Crab at Jumbo restaurant… the discussion remained the same!

Pamela Tan , our friend and guide in Singapore seemed to find it all quite amusing and so insisted we try the Long Beach restaurant, one that is credited with creating the famed chilli crab, on the way back to the airport!

The jury is still out on which of the crab dishes are better…

 Volcanic Ash

When I first heard on Thursday that flights were disrupted , I didn’t take it seriously thinking things would surely be back to normal by Sunday ( when I was supposed to be flying!)

No way were the governments let the entire economies come to a virtual stand-still, certainly not when things were so delicate! How wrong was I??!!

Couldn’t believe my luck but there I was! Well the positive is that I got to attend FHA ( Food Asia ) exhibition that week and also had the most amazing opportunity to attend Ferran Adria’s workshop!

So all in all, it wasn’t all bad at all and truth be told, there were worse places to get stranded in!

Tags: celebration of world food, charity dinner community chest, chef Armin leitgebs, cookery masterclass, indian restaurant rangmahal, volcanis ash, World gourmet summet singapore 
Author: Vivek