Pate Chaud and Raspberry Buttermilk Cake

For Mother's Day, I was given the tasks of appetizer and dessert. My family is Vietnamese so I wanted to impress them by making something Vietnamese for the FIRST time ever. I found the perfect recipe on Ravenous Couple for Pate Chaud. They are similar to empanadas, but taste different and are more flakey. This was a very easy to follow recipe, and a great blog for getting into the world of Vietnamese cuisine. Thanks Hong & Kim!

My version is slightly different from theirs but only because I'm lazier, haha.

Ingredients:
1 lb of ground chicken (you can use pork too)
1 medium yellow onion diced
1/2 tbs ground pepper
2 tbs fish sauce
1 package of puff pastry
1 egg, beatened
1/4 cup bean thread noodles
1/4 cup chopped carrots

I forgot to picture the fish sauce and black pepper, but it's a pretty short ingredient list.

Soak a small amount of the noodles in warm water for about 10 minutes so they become soft.

Chop up your onion, carrots and noodles.

Mix chicken, onion, fish sauce, pepper, noodles and carrots together!

I couldn't find pre-cut squares, so I just rolled mine out and cut each sheet into 6 squares.
Put a little meat on one side, fold over into a triangle.

Seal with egg and use a fork to close the edges. Then brush egg on top so they get golden brown in the oven.

Pop them into a 400 degree oven for 40 min. Since mine seemed bigger than the original recipe, it took longer, where as theirs took 15. So I'd just monitor them until they're golden brown and cooked on the inside.

They were a HUGE hit! Everyone was very impressed and it was really easy to make. It has just the right amount of salt, and the flakey pastry is so good. I want one right now! I actually prepared the meat the night before to save time.
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My family isn't big on sugary cakes, so I decided to make Smitten Kitchen's Raspberry Buttermilk Cake. I've made her Cream Cheese Pound Cake before, which is now a staple dessert for me.

Ingredients:
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 stick unsalted butter, softened
2/3 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 large egg
1/2 cup well-shaken buttermilk
1 cup fresh raspberries (about 5 oz)

Preheat oven to 400°F with rack in middle. Butter and flour a 9-inch round cake pan.

Whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt and set aside. In a larger bowl, beat butter and 2/3 cup sugar with an electric mixer at medium-high speed until pale and fluffy, about two minutes, then beat in vanilla. Add egg and beat well.

At low speed, mix in flour mixture in three batches, alternating with buttermilk, beginning and ending with flour, and mixing until just combined.

Place raspberries evenly over top of smoothed batter. If the raspberries are 'upright' they won't sink into the batter as much while in the oven. That's you're preference though.

Bake for 20-25 minutes and is golden. Cool in pan 10 minutes, then turn out onto a rack and cool to warm, 10 to 15 minutes more. Invert onto a plate. I sprinkled some powered sugar on top just to make it a little fancier.

The cake was a big hit too! Great flavor, and very easy to make.