Anna-ther Session With Anna Olson

Most people would've considered themselves fortunate to have been able to attend ONE Anna Olson demo. Me, well, ahem, I was able to attend TWO, and not just ANY two, but the First and the Last of her demos in Malaysia of her inaugural south east asian tour. When I mentioned that to her (yes, there was actually CONVERSATION involved, albeit brief), she mentioned something about "that's good, the starter and the dessert". Something to that effect.

Anyway, round two was at the Electrolux Showroom in Kota Damansara. Thanks to Saw Leng of Electrolux for the invite. Large canopies were set up along the road, so it was hard to miss, much like a wedding "kenduri" (a wedding banquet). Also present were Alilfatmonkey, and Cumi&Ciki.

There is a brief intro by the Electrolux people, and lo and behold, Ms Anna Olson. Now, I often wonder if celebrities are forced to say good things about their host country, and if so, how much of it is genuine. But Anna somehow exudes such warmth, and genuine-ness, there is no cause to doubt her when says how wonderful we Malaysians are, (hmm, did she say that), or more specifically, how wonderful our fruits are. She raves about gula melaka, is ambivalent about durian, though she did mention she would love to try it in a dessert, AND, in the same breath, mentioned that she was told that the CHOCOLATE DURIAN CAKE by Just Heavenly is a must try. Wow, to have been mentioned by Anna Olson. Of course, a series of tweets and facebook updates appeared, as we all tried to "tumpang glamor" by knowing Just Heavenly.





Our MC for the night, and also kitchen assistant, Xandria Ooi. So many celebrities in one room. Speaking of which, Rohani Jelani made a grand entrance, after Anna herself had already started. And of course, being a celebrity herself, Rohani was ushered to the front row seats.


I have to say that she is such a delightfully pleasant person, someone you can imagine being the livewire in any occasion or party, but despite her celebrity status, she seems remarkably down to earth.


I simply LOVE gula melaka, Anna proclaims.


And I will spank you with this spoon if you disagree with me.


Kudos to Xandria for being able to super multi task. Talk, converse with Anna, hold the mike in one hand, while caramelizing the bananas in another. Very impressive.


Oh, before I forget, she was demonstrating the Caramel Banana Cheesecake. You can get the recipe here at Masak Masak's Blog. She attended the atas event, with champagne and all.


With each step, there is already a prepared "ready for TV" product, eg, when she does the biscuit base, there's a ready made one that comes out of the fridge within 10 seconds of her putting the freshly made one in. Likewise, with the actual cake, tah dah, the wonders of television, pour the batter into tin, and TAH DAH, the cheescake is ready!!!!! I need to get me one of those.





Likewise, with the caramel, which went from piping hot to "ready to use" in seconds. Oh, Anna uses a term called Smellavision, referring to the fact that with all the technological advances, we've yet to achieve being able to smell through the tv. I can see that might be a real double edged sword though.


She pours the gorgeous caramel onto the cake.


Unlocks the springform....to reveal a gorgeous looking cheesecake, that drew oohs and aaahs from the audience...



And the finished product.

We actually got to sample the cake, (not this one but some premade ones), together with a lovely dinner put together by Electrolux.

The cake was lovely, velvety, surprisingly not cloyingly sweet, nor artery chokingly rich, ALTHOUGH it contains nearly 1kg of cream cheese.

At the press conference, Alex of Fried Chillies interviewed Anna briefly. Even I managed to ask her a question. Ooh, my question was, would you get the same result if you use a food processor. Since my other buxom idol, the domestic goddess, swears by it.

Anna says yes, you will get the same result, but when incorporating the eggs, to just pulse it in.

Meanwhile, I am awaiting my pics with her. The one taken at the first round, at LeMeridien, by The Nomad Gourmand, apparently could not be retrieved. Looks like I might have to resort to photoshopping myself next to her as PROOF that I actually met the dear lady.

Thanks again to Electrolux and SL for the invite.

ANNA, come back, we want to see you again!!!!!!!

Sweet Secrets With Anna Olson

Years ago, I posted about MY FIRST DATE.... who was square... inspired by the series SUGAR, hosted by the inimitable Anna Olson. Little did I dream that some day, I'd get to MEET the Queen of Sugar herself in person...with front row seats too. Sigh...[faraway glazed look].

Since Sugar, Ms Olson has moved on to the new series, Fresh With Anna Olson, but I have to admit I haven't really had to chance to watch many of the episodes. I blame those DVD boxsets that have kept me glued to frivolous tv serials and the like, and keeping me away from one of my culinary idols. When opportunity knocks, as it sometimes does, and presents you with an invitation to attend a demonstration by the lady herself, one can only let go a resounding YES, and lift hands into the air in thanks to Providence...and Alice George PR company.

I distinctly remember the invite said 2-5pm, but when I appeared at 2 sharp, I saw the poster saying that it began at 2.30pm. Must be the PR agency's way of ensuring tardy Malaysians show up on time, but even that failed, because at 2.30pm, people were still trickling in. We didn't have to wait long though, before she was introduced.

She actually looks a lot slimmer than her Sugar days, and has absolutely gorgeous eyes, and such a likeable disposition. Not diva-ish at all, as one might expect of a celebrity chef.


What WOULD we do without AFC? I have to say, they have been very good in bringing in celebrity chefs, Laura Calder, Bob Blumer, Bobby Chinn, etc.


The venue for the event, Le Meridien, in a function room next to Favola.


All laid out for the lady to perform, the ingredients for all the 3 items shown. If only our kitchens were so organised and everything laid out so nicely for us. I reckon I can do 8 cakes in an hour.


The AFC compere. I think he's Malaysian. I've seen him before. But he didn't introduce himself.


The many faces of Anna, demonstrating how to make the tart pastry. She really makes it look so simple. Now, she did share with us that of course, on TV, it looks even simpler, because of all the editing, ...it takes 10 hours to produce a 6 minute clip kinda thing. (I don't think I have the patience to be a celebrity chef, amongst the whole list other things that I lack to become one). But even in real life, she manages to simplify it, while multitasking, and giving a running commentary all at the same time.


She is also not one to hog the limelight, and allows the Le Meridien pastry chef, MiFong to assist.


Of course, when you're a celebrity, any little mundane task even, is lapped up by the Paparazzi, even a simple task of breaking an egg. Cameras and flashes in a cacophony of sound and light, capturing that precious moment when the egg tumbles out of its cosy shell. She also pointed out why its better to crack the egg on the table, and not on the side of the bowl. Why? To avoid splinters of egg shell in your bowl, that's why. But of course, I knew that ages ago.


We get to sample, after each demo, the particular item, in this case, the Butter Raisin Tart. Apparently it is a Canadian favourite. The pastry is delicious and buttery, while the filling is on the sweet side. For those with a sweet tooth (or is it "For those with sweet teeth"?), this dessert would be a boon. Most importantly, they're really easy to make, and I reckon you can cut down the sugar content. It does remind me somewhat of our egg tarts, but a denser version.


The second item, Maple Walnut Icecream, took her all of 10 minutes to whip up, but as Murphy's Law would dictate, the ice cream maker decided it was going on a sabbatical that afternoon, and decided it was just not going to work putting the poor Le meridien pastry chef under a lot of stress no doubt. Fortunately for US, these things are all premade for tasting, so we still did get to sample a finished product. Which was yummy. The crunch of the walnut with that glorious maple syrup taste, that isnt sickeningly sweet.









The last item which she jokes is ZERO calorie, because of its healthy ingredients, like wholemeal flour, bran, etc, and ONLY 60ml of oil, which divided by 12 muffins, is only 5ml of oil per muffin....the apple cheddar date muffins. The savouriness of the cheddar complement the wholesomeness of the muffin, and the sweetness of the fruit.


Another recipe that took less than 10 minutes to whip up. (okay, everything WAS premeasured and cut up so yeah, add another 10 minutes to 30 minutes depending on how fast or slow you are in preparing those things).



The demo was extremely educational. She regaled us with bloopers, tales of glutes and gluten, answered questions from the floor, revealed to us her favourite comfort foods are ROAST CHICKEN in winter, and a nice steak, seared on a special cast iron pan, with a side helping of fresh summer tomatoes, explained to me when you need to prebake a pastry crust and when you don't. Some lucky peeps won the lucky draw which included her new book, Fresh With Anna.

The good news is, her demos ARE open to the public, at LeMeridien, on 27 & 28th of November, 11-3pm, with lunch and FREE FLOW MUMM CHAMPAGNE, at RM330++ per head. Check it out HERE. Definitely worth it, if you ask me.

Anyway, thanks to Alice George PR for the invite.

My First Date....

...Square.

They're available in all shapes and sizes these days. Plump, shrivelled, dried, fresh, juicy, Egyptian, Californian, take your pick. If dates were human, there'd be no singles left on this earth.

It was quite timely, therefore, that SUGAR, on AFC, featured Dates as the main ingredient. Today, (I can hear Anna Olson speaking) we're going to use Dates. While she is no Nigella, (or not endowed like Nigella), I quite enjoy her cook show coz the stuff looks fairly easy to do, AND some of it actually looks rather delicious. You know how there are some cook shows you wonder why you even bother watching, coz the stuff they churn out looks like something you'd cook when you're a poor student who's one stop short of going to a soup kitchen.

Anyway, her two date recipes featured date squares and date crostada. The latter actually looked more delicious, but date squares sound so easy to make. And they ARE:

The recipe can be found here, but if you're like me, and too lazy to click on links, then I shall do you a favour by plagiarising it and reproducing it here.

3 cups pitted dates. (I just used the generic cheap ones, coz they're gonna be mashed up. No Bateels or Medjuls here)
Zest of 1 orange
1 cup water
25 gm butter (ah, see, my plagiarism has benefits for the metricly inclined...her measurements of butter are in cups and spoons).

Chuck the entire list of ingredients into a pot, and cook until boiling. Remove from heat, and blitz in a blender or processor. Contrary to her recipe, I didnt bother waiting for it to cool down.

For the base and topping,

2 ½ cups rolled oats
1 ¼ cups flour
3/4 cup brown sugar
2 tsp cinnamon
½ tsp salt
125gm unsalted butter, melted

Now I actually ended up thinking this wasnt enough. I might change it to 3 cups oats, 1½ cups flour, and 150 gm butter the next time.

Now, its unbelievably easy. Just chuck dry ingredients in a mixing bowl, and add the melted butter, like glue, to bind it all together. This can be done by stirring, or ....stirring.

Line an 8" square thin, with parchment overhanging on all four sides. I tried to save parchment, by overhanging on just two sides, north and south, ignoring east and west. I later on had difficulty removing it, coz the dates were sticky, (like some girlfriends), and clung on to the edges of the unlined tin. Hence, it is better to use protection, rather than get stuck with the sticky date.

Line the base of the tin with 2/3rds of the oat flour mixture. Spread the layer of the mashed dates evenly over the biscuit base, and sprinkle remaining oats as topping. Bake in 180C oven for about 40 minutes. Leave to cool in pan before removing.

Now, if you like dates, you'll probably like this, but warning, it does tend to be on the sweet side, but nothing that can't be countered with a cup of strong americano or espresso, with NO sugar. Mmm, sadly, no one ELSE in MY family is a date fan, so, I've been scoffing these for breakfast. Sigh, since no one else in my family likes dates, it also means it's unlikely I'll make them again. Which is a pity, because I'm sure all those oats, and fibre from the dates, is really good for toileting.

If you want to be really decadent, (which I have not been), plonk on a dollop of clotted cream to combat the sweetness.