I am not a coffee drinker. I don't need coffee to start my day. I find them quite smelly especially first thing in the morning! It is like the smell of strong coffee passing through your urine.

But for experiment sake, I made this toasted dandelion root "coffee", which to my surprise, it tasted rather nice! It has the mouthfeel of the coffee but kind of herbal-ly and smoother than the actual coffee. Definitely feeling healthier after drinking it. So much goodness of this plant that we all regarded it as weed. We will try all sort of ways to get rid of it from our precious garden. It is such a waste!

So far, I had tried the dandelion flowers to make a cake. It was delicious. Now I only need to eat the leaves to complete my experiment with dandelion!

The dandelion "coffee" is rather easy to make. First you need to gather as much as you can the dandelion roots. Discard the leaves, wash thoroughly. Pad dry them and then cut them into small pieces. 

Once you have done the cutting, put the root in a metal baking tray and roast it in the preheated oven (150'C) for 90mins. And then 180'C for 15mins (all ovens are different, you have to experiment and use your own judgement. I think once it is dried and brown, you can stop the cooking process).

Take the roasted dandelion root out of the oven and let it cool down completely. I left it overnight before the final preparation stage.

In the morning, I put the cool dandelion root in a pan (with a pinch of dried lemon peel, this is optional, I think the lemon peel add a touch of zing-ness to the final product!) and dry roast it for few minutes until the root pieces have just toasted and slightly "burn". Remove the pan from the heat and take out the pieces and then let it cool down complete before grind them into fine powder.

To make the coffee, instead of pouring hot water over the powder. I made the coffee Greek way by cooking the water and dandelion root powder for few minutes. Then strain the liquid through a coffee filter. Add sugar to taste..YUM! I was surprised that the liquid ended up so much like a real dark coffee despite of the light brown colour of the roasted root.

Give the dandelion a try! How can you not look at this "weed" in a different light from now! It is such a useful plant! 

Two days ago I celebrated my first anniversary working as a savoury chef at the Real Patisserie Kemptown. A year ago, from a passionate home cook, I ventured into a professional kitchen without any prior experience. I was expected to start from dish washing but I am grateful that I was given the opportunity to learn to make their signature savoury quiches. 

A month of intensive training with Jo, I was given the chance to work on my own for their savoury section making 12 quiches a day. Three days a week...and a year later...I have made at least 1750 quiches! 8 pieces a quiche, so that make at least 14000 customers had eaten my quiches. OK, Maybe 13997 customers! As I know a regular customer who always come for the bacon, leeks and free range eggs pie. Someone so in love with of one of the chicken coriander quiches that I used to make, he came back later that day to buy another piece but unfortunately it was sold out by then and a woman so addicted to the bacon, courgette, mushroom and wholegrain mustard quiche; that is the ONLY quiche she wants to eat!

I am glad that Jo let me go a bit crazy with the decoration of each of the quiches and let me try new flavour combinations and products. I really want our customers to feel that they are giving themselves a special treat (both visually and taste-wise) whether it is for their regular lunch out or for a special occasion. 

I have so much fun working there and learned a great deal of how to run a section in the well established local bakery. From morning ingredients stocks check, place daily order with the supplier, make soup, produce the quiches and all the background food preparation. 

I was quite comprehensive initially when they offered me a trial to work there. From all those "dramatised" cooking/ restaurant programmes on television, I get the impression that working in the professional restaurant will be quite unpleasant with all the shouting! I am a quiet and calm person, I don't feel I will be able to fit in! But at the bakery, everyone is helpful and working together to make sure things run smoothly. Other chefs, patissiers and bakers are friendly and willing to share their knowledge. I learned so much by observing or just being around at the bakery!

Yes, working at a professional kitchen is stressful, but it is a kind of good stress that keep you motivated. Even though a bakery is different from a restaurant, we do have to keep the schedule of getting food ready for the shop on time. 7am breakfast, 10am for quiches to be on display, 11am soup should be ready for lunch time and all the preparation for the next day. 

One year on, I feel that I am no longer a home cook, but a chef! Everything I cook from now will have to be to the professional standards!

Come try our quiches at REAL PATISSERIE Kemptown (Brighton) if you have not done so!

Get ready for the summer garden parties! But the problem at the moment is the weather. Why is it getting colder again? And the grey and the rain! All the cherry blossom are being ruined. I hope there will be summer!

These beautiful and vibrant raspberry creme tarts will surely bring a little bit of the summer feeling back on the table. Such a festive colour scheme. It is almost like Chinese New Year celebration all over again! 

I have been thinking to make some unusual tarts, something that is visually stunning and full of summer flavours. I was planying with the idea of tart au citron, but using fresh and frozen raspberry instead of lemon. After some initial research for the basic, I spent many hours in the kitchen experimenting and making all these tarts from scratch; the chocolate sweet pastry (probably needs to put more cocoa powder to make the tart cases darker), the raspberry creme and the jelly. The sharpness of the fresh raspberry jelly complement very nicely with the raspberry creme. Perfect with the chocolate tart case.


For me, these tarts are like little edible artworks. I am always excited when people can/ willing to eat my creations (experiments!)...and I have a guinea pig..:)

I am quite happy that I have learned one more sweet pastry making skills..Everytime when things turn out exactly as my vision, and turn out looking professional, I have the urge to push myself a little bit further to do something even more exciting and difficult!

What's next!!