Baked Rainbow Trout with Dill & Caviar Sauce

Ingredients:

• Rainbow trout, 300-400g each (each trout serves 2-3)
  
• Fresh dill
• Lumpfish caviar (black)
• Whole garlic
• Rock salt
• Cooking sherry
• Heavy cream / creme fraiche / white pasta sauce

Method:

• Clean out rainbow trout, and marinate with rock salt
• Wash off excess rock salt, and stuff belly with 3-4 sprigs of fresh dill and 1-2 cloves of garlic
• Place in oven-safe terrine, and add cooking sherry to form a 1/2cm-deep layer
• Seal tightly with foil, and bake at 200C for 15 mins
• Remove foil and bake for another 5 mins until most of the sherry has evaporated. Pour off excess liquid from terrine.
  
• To make sauce, heat up heavy cream / creme fraiche / white pasta sauce in skillet. A small quantity of butter can be added to make it creamier if you prefer, and a small dash of lemon juice is also optional for extra zest.
• Tear out 2-3 sprigs of dill leaf by hand and add to cream
• Turn off the heat once at a boil, and add 3 teaspoons of caviar followed by a gentle stirring action.
• To serve, ladle caviar sauce around the fish and sprinkle with a bit of garnishing salt (fleur de sel) to taste.

Posted by R. at 7:55 PM | Permalink | Comments

Assam Fish

Posted by R. at 3:40 AM | Permalink | Comments

For Starters - Salmon-Chickpea Rolls in Lobster Reduction

Now if you have any of that yummy lobster stock left, here's what you can do!

Ingredients:

• Smoked salmon slices (plain)
• Hummus
  
• Fresh dill
  
• Salmon roe
• Lobster broth
• Saffron

Method:

1. To make the lobster reduction, take 2 cups of lobster broth and heat in a skillet
2. Add 5-10 saffron threads, leave to simmer for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally
3. Add just a little salt so that it ends up slightly saltier than the smoked salmon
4. Dissolve 1 teaspoon corn flour in a bit of water, and add this to the broth. Stir frequently and simmer till 1/3 of the original volume is gone, then leave to cool.
5. Lay a slice of smoked salmon on a surface board, and place a teaspoon-sized mound of hummus on the lower 1/3 of the slice. Roll it up so that the entire thing resembles a sushi, and stand it on the round end.
   
6. Place a generous teaspoon of salmon roe on top, garnish with a small piece of fresh dill.
7. To serve, arrange the rolls on a plate, pour in lobster reduction at the base, and chill for 30 minutes before serving.
   

Posted by R. at 7:59 PM | Permalink | Comments

Lobster risotto

Ingredients (serves 3-4):

• Fresh slipper lobsters x 4-6 (the more lobsters, the better your stock)
• Lobster stock / prawn stock / lobster bisque
  
• Arborio rice
• Butter 1/2 stick
• Salt / pepper
  

Method:

1. Wash and scrub slipper lobsters. Throw into boiling water with a tablespoon of salt and cook for 10 minutes
2. Remove lobsters, save the stock.
   
3. Cut lobsters into half, lengthwise, and leave aside to cool.
   
4. Add pre-made lobster stock/prawn stock/lobster bisque into the stock pot, boil for 5 minutes and set aside.
   
5. Prepare arborio rice - melt 2 tablespoons of butter in a saucepan, and add rice. Stir continuous under high heat until rice grains turn translucent and you get this delicious nutty smell.
   
6. Add lobster stock one ladle at a time to rice, all the while stirring continuously. When rice is almost dry, add another ladle of stock and so on. The continuous stirring will help to release starch from the rice grains, lending to it risotto's characteristic texture.
   
7. Cooking time should be 15-20 minutes. Once the arborio rice is soft but not mushy, turn off heat. Add rest of butter and fold into rice, then add a final ladle of stock.
   
8. Serve warm with halved lobsters.
   

Now for the prawn stock part - I find that it is extremely useful if you save up prawn shells along the way. Prawn heads add a tremendous amount of flavour (and cholesterol). Keep a ziplock bag in the freezer just for shells, and when you do soups or dishes that need de-shelled prawns, chuck them into this bag! (You will, of course, have to do some explaining to your mom/girlfriend/wife about this .. Try to reassure them that you are not a psychopath.) To make a beautiful prawn stock:

1. Defrost your stash of shells.
2. To a saucepan, add 1 tablespoon of butter and melt it.
   
3. Dump in prawn shells and stir-fry until red and crisp.
4. Add a selection of stem and root vegetables, all cubed - carrots, onions, a touch of garlic, celery, a sprig of parsley, parsnip etc. Cook until just very slightly soft.
   
5. Add 1L of water and bring to the boil for 30 minutes - 1 hour. If you have a pressure cooker, by all means use it. The gold standard by my reckoning is still to leave the stock to simmer over charcoal overnight, but that's just me.
   
6. When you're satisfied that no more flavour can possibly be extracted from the ingredients, sieve the stock and freeze it up. Remember that this is unsalted, which leaves you a lot of room when you do use the stock.
   

Posted by R. at 6:24 PM | Permalink | Comments

Flambéd foie gras with Lavender Jus, Celery Whiskers and Sale con Tartufo Nero



Ingredients:
Whole lobe of duck foie gras, deveined and sliced to 2cm thick portions
Food-grade lavender buds
Black truffle sel gris
Celery - 1 stalk
Sodium bicarbonate
Wild aragula

Method:

1. Prepare a basin of ice-cold water and dissolve the bicarbonate into it.
2. Chop the celery stalks to 10cm in length each.
3. "Skin" the celery stalks by thinly slicing the outer 5mm of each stalk - we need to use the skin, and save the core for another dish! Julienne the celery into thin slices of 5mm in thickness and soak in the ice-cold water for 10 minutes, or until the celery whiskers start curling up nicely.
4. Pre-heat a non-stick pan, and very quickly sear each portion of foie gras. 30 seconds on each side will do very nicely - cook it enough so that a very thin brown crust appears, but without the foie gras melting entirely. Reserve the fat for the lavender jus.
5. To flambé, turn off the fire and add 10ml of 80-proof alcohol into the pan (I used Absolut Voka). Using a long fire-starter and after warning any bystanders to back off - Yx had a nasty shock tonight - light the side of the pan. Allow the flames to burn themselves out.
   
6. Chuck the cooked foie in a gentle warmer (an oven heated to 40 or 50C works very nicely).
   
7. Prepare a roux by mixing 1 teaspoon of flour into the reserved fat while maintaining a fine simmer. Add in 1 teaspoon of lavender buds and let simmer for 5 minutes- it's a lovely experience, with your kitchen smelling of lavender! Sieve the mixture out and discard the buds.
   
8. Present by placing a tablespoon of the jus in the centre of a plate, then placing a bed of celery whiskers on top. Sit the foie gras right on top, and sprinkle with a hint of truffle salt. Present with a few more lavender buds mixed with truffle salt on the side. This one will go well with a very light, young white wine with predominantly floral notes.
   

Posted by R. at 3:18 AM | Permalink | Comments

New England Clam Chowder



Background:
Just one of those out-of-a-whim projects during my leave recently. I've actually been thinking of making this for a month or so and even had a can of clam meat ready. Trust me, you'll never settle for the weak imitations outside again!

Ingredients: (serves 6)

• Fresh clams 500g
• Minced clams in juice
  
• Heavy cream
• Butter
• Dried parsley
• Dried terragon
• 1 bay leaf
  
• Flour
• Bacon (4 rashers) - diced into 1cm x 1cm or smaller
  
• 1 onion - diced
  
• 2 garlic cloves - finely chopped
  
• 1 small leek (may be replaced with celery) - diced
• 2 large potatoes - skinned and diced
  

Method:

1. Soak the clams in fresh water. They should open up in 5 mins or so, then swirl them around to get rid of the sand inside. Drain the water, then add more water and swirl. Repeat for 5-6 times as necessary until the water runs clear.
   
2. Pre-cook the diced potatoes in a pot of boiling water, and simmer for 10 minutes then net them out. Reserve the potato broth for cooking the clams.
   
3. Add a small amount of oil to a skillet, then add diced bacon. Don't let the bacon brown! Add the chopped garlic, onions and leek, and gently saute till the bacon lets off a lovely smell and the veggies are soft.
   
4. To the pot of potato broth, add the bay leaf and clams and cover at low heat until all the clams have opened. Inspect them after 10 minutes, and discard any that have not opened.
   
5. Add the potatoes back in to the pot, and all the veggies and bacon from the skillet. Dump in the can of minced clams, juice and all. Turn back on to low heat and simmer.
   
6. Clean the skillet, and add 1/2 cup of butter. Melt it under low heat, then add 4 tablespoons of flour slowly, stirring as you do so. Add in 3/4 bottle of heavy cream.
   
7. Pour the milky contents from the skillet into the pot. Add salt (sparingly! About 2 teaspoons is plenty, as the clams are salty to begin with) and pepper to taste, and more flour solution or heavy cream as desired.
   
8. Add in 1 tablespoon of dried parsley and 2 teaspoons of dried tarragon. Read to serve!

If you're feeling a little adventurous and feel like entertaining in a big way with the clam chowder as the centerpiece, proceed with the following:

1. Preheat the oven to 200C
   
2. Let the clam chowder cool, then dish out into individual oven-safe soup bowls.
3. Make (oh gosh, the work!!) or just buy a sheet of puff pastry. Using a cookie-cutter, cut out round pieces that are 1 inch larger than the diameter of your soup bowl.
4. Beat an egg and paint the edge of the entire round piece of puff pastry. Invert it over the bowl and press down to seal firmly on the sides.
   
5. Bake the whole thing, bowl and all, until the pastry has puffed up and is steaming, about 20-30 minutes. Let rest for 15 mins and serve.
   

Posted by R. at 10:47 PM | Permalink | Comments

Arthichoke & Aragula salad



Background:
Nothing really exciting, actually. Just wanted to have a guilt-free alternative to a heavy lunch, and those veggies at Cold Storage were really good-looking.

Ingredients:

• Aragula (rocket) leaves - 1 part
• Iceburg lettuce leaves - 1 part
• 1 small head of broccoli
  
• Artichoke antipasto, preserved in oil - 3-5 artichokes to taste, sliced thickly
• Focaccia bread - a 1"x4" slice, torn roughly
• 100g shaved ham
• Balsamic vinegar 3 tablespoons
• Dried terragon 1 tablespoon
  
• Canned corn kernels, 1/2 cup
• Salt & pepper to taste
  

The method:

1. Wash & dry the rocket and lettuce leaves
2. Cut broccoli into bite-sized chunks, then blanch in boiling water until just tender and cool off in tap water
3. Combine all the ingredients except the vinegar and dried terragon in a salad bowl, and top off with a sprinkle of salt and generous amounts of pepper
4. For the dressing, mix 3 tablespoons of the oil that the artichoke was soaked in with the balsamic vinegar and terragon.
   
5. Pour dressing over and serve!

This salad tastes all artichoke-y and somewhat Mediterranean. If you're looking for something more chunky and heavy, I would suggest adding salted feta cubes and crumbles of hard-boiled eggs.

Posted by R. at 6:27 AM | Permalink | Comments

Risotto ai funghi



History:
Mushrooms have always held sway over my imagination. They seemingly sprout from nowhere, dotted on the ground, like earth's very own culinary presents. Mushrooms are also shrouded by many tales of elves and fairies - why, even Tolkien's hobbits love mushrooms. They taste of the earth itself, and are hopelessly easy to prepare. Best of all, they store well and come in a variety of shapes and textures. I love using mushrooms in dishes, but so far the most luxurious of all is this risotto which really condenses and celebrates the taste of the humble mushroom.

This recipe calls for porcini, which tastes as mushroomy as you could imagine, but unfortunately fresh porcini is almost impossible to get locally. If you're lucky enough you might chance upon sliced and dried porcini. If you do, reconstitute them by soaking in lukewarm water for 30 mins then coarsely chop them up - and remember to save the water ("liquor") for later. If not, I discovered this gem of a bottle - powdered porcini. This stuff is moste potente, so a little goes a long way! I've also improvised by adding Shimeji mushrooms, which apart from providing a beautiful rubbery texture (which is why I added them last), can be used whole to give the dish a mushroomy look.



Ingredients: (serves 6-7)

• Arborio rice -4 cups
• 1 large onion, sliced or diced
  
• 5 large fresh shitake mushrooms, sliced
  
• 5-6 large white button mushrooms, sliced
  
• Half a packet of shimeji mushrooms, with 1cm of the the bottom stalk removed
  
• 5-6 fresh porcini mushrooms (no luck getting these in Singapore) or 1.5 tablespoons porcini powder
  
• 1 litre chicken broth
  
• 10 tablespoons cold salted butter
• 100g Parmesan cheese
  

Method:

1. Heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a pot, and add onions. Cook until soft and slightly brown. Turn to high heat.
   
2. Add shitake and button mushrooms (or fresh porcini if you have them), cook until tender
3. Add arborio rice and stir around a bit, letting it soak up some of the mushroom juice.
   
4. If using porcini powder, dissolve 1.5 tablespoons of it in 250ml hot water and let soak for a while.
   
5. To the rice, add about 1/4 of the chicken stock, and stir frequently to prevent the rice from sticking and also to release the starch in the rice. Add in more stock whenever the rice looks like drying out, and finally add the porcini-powder infusion. During the cooking process, the rice will turn from an opaque white to translucent, about 20 mins. Risotto should be cooked to al dente, where the released starch causes it to turn into a creamy slurry but you should still be able to bite on individual rice grains.
   
6. The next stage is the mentecatura. Turn off the heat, and mix in the shimeji mushrooms. Next, stir in the cold butter and parmesan cheese.
   
7. Let the risotto stand for just a bit to cool down, and it's ready to serve.
   

Cost breakdown:

Arborio rice $8 (Greengrocer.com.sg; I used 1/3 of the packet so it should cost about $3)
Fresh shitake mushrooms $1 (Cold Storage)
5-6 large white button mushrooms $2 (Cold Storage)
Half a packet of shimeji mushrooms $3 (Cold Storage) or $2 (wet market)
Porcini powder $30 for a bottle that should last forever (Greengrocer)
1 litre chicken broth $3
100g Parmesan cheese $6

Total = $47 for the first batch ($8 per person) or $17 for subsequent batches due to the porcini powder ($3 per person!)

Posted by R. at 5:35 AM | Permalink | Comments

Slow-cooked quail with grilled white asparagus and Jus of saffron and red wine



History:
This was quite the culinary adventure, and really fun as well. The birthday gang friends trooped over to my place on 3 March 08 for an early birthday cheer and brought their own food too. Just 2 weeks ago I was thrilled to chance upon the very seasonal white asparagus and decided to design a dish just for the asparagus. In that same shopping trip, I saw some quails in the grocer's freezer and that really set the stage for it. There's just 1 little problem though of marrying the ingredients and making the dish work. White asparagus has a very mellow flavour, while quails are after all game birds - I can only describe the flavour as "gamey", like what you'd taste with wild boar or venison. And though using them in the same recipe will not clash, something needs to be there to really tie down the dish as a whole. Inspiration for the Jus came from a show Yx and I watched together - "No Reservations" starring Catherine Zeta-Jones with her Saffron Quails. So there you go - the concept.

Quails are small, rather skinny birds that can easily become dry and overcooked. I was recently enthralled by a cooking method, sous-vide. Unfortunately, I have neither a water bath nor a vacuum machine, so the next best solution would be to slow-cook the birds. This recipe takes a good 2 hours in total, so set aside plenty of time for an enjoyable afternoon of cooking!

Ingredients: (makes 12)

• 12 Medium quails - 150-180 grams, available frozen
• 24 White asparagus - washed and peeled, with bottom 1/2" of stem removed
  
• Oven bags
  
• Fresh thyme
  
• Streaky bacon
  
• 1 Lemon
  
• Olive oil
• 2 tablespoons dried tarragon
• 2 tablespoons dried basil
• 2 large onions, diced
  
• 300ml Dry red wine
• 1/3 cup cooking sherry
  
• 1 tablespoon Saffron
• Salt & pepper to taste

The method:

Quails

1. Preheat oven to 150C
   
2. Remove necks (save them for making the sauce), rub salt generously inside and out. Wash quails thoroughly, removing any remaining viscera such as the lungs as these can add very funky - and not necesarily pleasant - flavours to the bird.
   
3. Immerse in a solution of brine for 20 mins.
   
4. Mix half the diced onions, olive oil, terragon and basil. Stuff into cavity of each quail and stuff in half a rasher of bacon.
   
5. Place into oven bags, arranging the quails in a nice position. Pop into the oven for 10 mins, then turn off the heat. Allow to slow-cook in the oven thereafter (with heat off) for 1 hour.
   
6. Remove from oven bags, and arrange on top of a layer of oiled aluminium foil. Turn up oven heat to 250C. Drizzle juice of 1/2 a lemon on each quail, pop back into oven for 5 minutes.
   
7. Reserve any remaining juices for the Jus.
   

Asparagus

1. Bring water to a vigorous boil in a pan, and cook asparagus for 3 minutes until slightly soft. Drain.
   
2. Bring to high heat in a skillet, add 1 tablespoon butter, and sear the asparagus spears quickly, about 1 minute.
   

Jus

1. In a large pan, add 2 tablespoons butter and sear 4-5 rashers of bacon until slightly crispy. Add the juices reserved from the quails, the remaining half of the chopped onions and quail necks. Simmer for 10 minutes then strain.
   
2. Add cooking sherry, red wine and a generous amount of saffron. Whisk in starch solution, then reduce the jus to a slightly thick consistency. Add generous amounts of salt to balance out bland quail flavour.
   

To serve, spoon out Jus on a place, and arrange quail and 2 spears of white asparagus. Sprinkle with leaves of fresh thyme and some dried tarragon on the quail. Accompany with a full-bodied red wine.

Cost and materials:
12 Quails - $70 (from greengrocer.com.sg)
24 White asparagus - $24 (Cold Storage, very seasonal. In fact, almost annual.)
200g streaky bacon - $3.50 (Cold Storage) or $15/kg from Greengrocer
Fresh thyme - from my own garden. Can be bought from Cold Storage/Seng Siong for about $2 per packet. A little goes a long way, so be prepared to use it for the rest of the week, or freeze it to keep!
Dried tarragon - from fridge stock. Ranges from $4-6 at Cold Storage. Once again, a bottle this lasts forever so it's a great investment.
Saffron - from fridge stock, bought from Dubai Airport (hmmm...). Costs about $10 from Cold Storage for a tiny bottle, but that's just about the best you can easily get. I would recommend dashing it all and buying a good-quality product online if possible.
Lemon - $0.50
Cooking sherry - $5 (Cold Storage)
Oven bags - $5 (Cold Storage)
Red wine - from fridge stock, but you can use any low-end wine that costs $20 or so.

Total: $144 for first batch ($12 per person) or $100 for subsequent batches ($8 per person)

Posted by R. at 5:22 PM | Permalink | Comments

History:

I love chocolate chip cookies, especially the soft baked type. The first time I had soft baked cookies was on a conference trip to Toronto, when it was given as part of the lunch packs. Those cookies were huge, bigger than the size of my hands. They were great as a late afternoon snack, and were a life-saver during one of the late days. Back in Singapore, it was really hard to find the soft bake types, I only know Subway stocks them, but I've never tried. Recently, I found the soft backed series by Pepperidge Farm and after trying them, I decided, I shall try to bake my own soft baked cookies.

Ingredients:
90g softened butter
1 cup white sugar
1 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp baking soda
2 tsp hot water
1/2 tsp salt
3 cups flour
2 cups chocolate chips
100g macadamia nuts


Method:

1. Preheat oven to 175 degrees C
   
2. Cream the butter, white sugar and brown sugar until smooth
3. Beat in the eggs
4. Stir in the vanilla extract
5. Dissolve the baking soda in the water
6. Add to the batter
7. Add in the salt
8. Stir in the flour
9. Stir in the chocolate chips and nuts
10. Use a large spoon to drop batter onto baking sheets on an ungreased pan
11. Bake for 10mins
12. Take the cookies off the pan immediately to cool
13. As soon as the cookies cool, store in air-tight containers

Note:
Do not overbake the cookies or else they will become the hard type
Cooling immediately after baking is very important as the pan is hot and continues to bake th cookies even after removal from the oven
There is no need to cream the sugar into the batter completely. I had some sugar crystals in the cookies, but nobody noticed/cared. :P
Precutting the baking sheets into individual sheets for each cookie makes removal from the pan much easier
The cookie dough can be stored as is, up till step 6. I have another batch sitting in the fridge and I think I shall try another flavour within the week. :)
Air-tight storage is very important!!!

Posted by R. at 1:15 AM | Permalink | Comments

Seared Rosemary Lamb Chops with Mint Jelly and Asparagus



History: Yx was having quite a nasty flu at that time, and just about the only meat she could taste would be lamb! I was also aching for some proper meat, not the thrash you get outside.

Ingredients:

• Lamb chops - about 2 pieces per person is plenty, 1 if you eat like a bird
• Mint jelly
• Fresh mint leaves
• Dried rosemary
• Salt & pepper
• Asparagus - try to get the huge Australian kind!
• Olive oil
  
• Cooking wine - chinese cooking wine is a godsend, as usual
  

The method:

• Using a mortar and pestle, pound the dried rosemary until powdered
• Marinate the lamb chops in some cooking wine and a pinch of salt for 10 mins
• Evenly coat each chop with powdered rosemary
• Skin the tough outer coating of the asparagus if you're using the large type
• Blanch the asparagus in boiling water for 2-3 minutes until tender
  
• Lightly oil a frying pan, heat till very hot, and sear the chops on one side
• When the chops are browned at least 3/5 the way through, flip over to the other side and continue cooking for 2-3 minutes
• Serve with a dollop of mint jelly on top and garnish with fresh mint leaves
  

Posted by R. at 7:42 AM | Permalink | Comments

Recipe: Serves 6

1) medium crabs x 4 (1 kg)
2) 6 tbsp vegetable oil
3) 16 cloves of garlic, finely chopped or blended
4) 16 large fresh red chilli, finely chopped or blended
5) 16 chilli padi, finely chopped or blended
6) 2 eggs
7) 4 spring onions, chopped to about 2 inches long
8) 2 tsp fresh lime juice
9) 1 small bunch of coriander

Sauce ingredients:
1) 2 cups of water
2) 10 tbsp ketchup
3) 4 1/2 tbsp sugar
4) 3 tbsp cornflour
5) 2 tsp preserved brown soyabean paste
Mix all ingredients well

Method:

1. heat the oil well
2. fry the garlic for only 1 minute
3. add in the chillies and fry until fragrant
4. add in the crabs and fry until they start turning red
5. Add in the sauce ingredients and stir well
6. Simmer until the crabs turn completely red
7. Add in the eggs and stir to streak the eggs
8. Simmer until eggs cook
9. Add in the lime juice and stir
   
10. Add in the spring onions and fry for a short while
11. Garnish with the coriander and serve with some bread

Posted by R. at 3:51 AM | Permalink | Comments

History:

Just one last cooking session before I start work! An attempt to enjoy one of those simple pleasures in life ... Anyway, this recipe is very easy and versatile, feel free to substitute and experiment! I made enough for 5, and this took a mere 1.5 hours. Excellent for parties, and to brighten up sunday afternoons, together with a hot cup of Earl Grey or hot honeyed lemonade.

Ingredients:

Mini Toasts (available at Cold Storage)
Cream cheese
Pig liver pate (tinned)
Mint jelly
Smoked salmon
Black olives (tinned, sliced)
Streaky bacon
Shrimps
Baby button mushrooms (fresh)
Fresh thyme
Fresh oregano
Fresh spearmint
Ebiko (shrimp roe, available at Japanese grocery stores)

The method:

• Prepare the shrimp by de-shelling, and boiling it till tender. Drain and chill in fridge.
• Prepare bacon by pan-frying till crisp, then crumble with fingers.
• Wash mushrooms, remove stalks and slice thinly. Add to a pan with butter and saute till soft, with a pinch of salt.
  
• Spread mini toasts with a generous layer of cream cheese.

Shrimp, ebiko & bacon

Arrange 1 shrimp per mini toast, spread ebiko around the shrimp and top with just a touch of bacon.

Pate, bacon & oregano

Spread pate over half of the mini toast, arrange bacon crumbs on other half and garnish with 1 single oregano leaf. Be very careful with this one - it's the most savoury-tasting, and yet can turn out very wrong if any of the ingredients are overpowered.

Mushroom & thyme

1 heaping teaspoon of mushroom slices per mini toast, and a small sprig of thyme for that extra zest.

Minty salmon

This one is very, very interesting and complex. Mind you get the right mix of salmon vs flavouring so neither gets overpowered! Roll up a large piece of smoked salmon and place on the mini toast, such that it takes up about half of the toast. Place a slice of mint jelly next to it, taking up approximately a quarter of the toast, and garnish with 1 single fresh mint leaf. If you'd rather be less adventurous in pairing mint with salmon, it can also easily be replaced with fresh dill. Be extremely careful with dill - a little goes a very long way!

Posted by R. at 6:59 AM | Permalink | Comments

History:

Yx and I prepared this stew 1 day in advance for an LHE gathering on 20 March 2007, together with a Smoked Salmon & Honey Lemon Muffin (recipe coming soon!)

The materials (Recipe for 10):

The main stuff
Beef ribs (1kg)
Beef (2kg) - cheaper cuts will be great, as stewing tenderises them like mad. So stuff like shoulder and harder cuts are suitable.
Green zucchini
Yellow zucchini
Potatoes (1 kg)
Large onions (3)
Carrots (3 large ones)
Parsnip root (1)
Pearl onions

Bouquet garni
Parsley (3 stalks) - I used only the bottom-most 2 inches of stem
Bay leaves (8, dried)
Basil (1 teaspoon, dried)
Thyme (4 stalks, fresh) - I used mainly the leaves and discarded most of the stem
Marjoram (1/2 teaspoon, dried) - use VERY sparingly!
Saffron (1 teaspoon)

To complete the broth
Good red wine (1 cup)
Canned oxtail soup (1/2 can)
Corn flour
Salt & pepper to taste

The method:

• Fill a large pot with 5 litres of water and bring to a boil
• Add chopped onions to boiling water, and herbs. Traditional bouquet garni can be made by tying the herbs into a bundle, but if just added loose they will be fine too. Add beef ribs to make a broth, and let it boil under low heat for 15-20 minutes
• For the beef, trim off gristle and fat, and cube. Add to the pot of broth, and continue boiling under low heat until tender. I stewed this mix for 1 full day on charcoal, but if using a gas stove this can also be achieved in 2-3 hours.
  
  
  
  
• Peel potatoes and pearl onions, cube the potatoes and add both potatoes and whole pearl onions into broth. Add carrots, and stew for another 30 minutes-1hour.
  
• Finally, cube the zucchini and parsnip and add to broth, and stew for another 30 minutes.
• Add wine, canned oxtail soup, and cornstarch solution to thicken the stew.
  
• Add salt and pepper to taste.
  

The process Yx and I used was very much longer and complicated than this, but obviously for a stew the longer you let it stand, the better the flavours develop! Once again, beware of fathers who steal unfinished broths. =)

Posted by R. at 7:29 AM | Permalink | Comments

Background:

Had to cook dinner for myself this CNY, since everyone's off in Malaysia. Happened to have the terragon in preparation for a bouquet garni-based dish for tomorrow, and bought the salmon while shopping for chicken breasts for Brownie.

The materials:

Salmon fillet, at least 1" thick
Shallots, peeled and sliced thickly
Fresh terragon
Fresh parsley (optional - just a sprig of it will do)

For toppings:

Plain honey
Tabasco sauce
Fresh ground pepper
Cooking wine (Chinese cooking wine is fine)

The method:

1. Prepare the salmon by rubbing with salt, and washing the salt off.
   
2. Grease a shallow pan, and heat at high heat for a minute or so, then add the sprig of parsley.
   
3. Turn the heat to the LOWEST POSSIBLE. This is very important!!
4. Sauté the salmon fillet under low heat, until more than half the thickness turns the usual powdery pink colour.
   
5. Add sliced shallots and fresh terragon sprigs to the side of the pan, leave until shallots are soft.
   
6. To cook the side of the salmon that has skin on it without damaging the skin, remove the fillet temporarily from the pan. Spread the shallots out in a thin layer over the pan, then flip the fillet over and cook - still at low head - skin-down.
   
   
7. Test for doneness at the thickest portion of the fillet, place on dish with shallots scooped onto the top.
   
8. Drizzle 1 teaspoon of honey, 1/2 teaspoon of tabasco, 1/2 teaspoon of wine and a dash of freshly-ground pepper.
   
9. Serve warm with a sprig of terragon and side dish (I used fish fingers) for garnish*

*Note: If you intend to eat the fresh terragon later, make sure you strip the stem off and eat only the leaves - the stem's flavour can become overpowered easily.

Posted by R. at 7:09 AM | Permalink | Comments

History:

My favourite drink at Hoo Ha! Cafe - somehow the oysters blend in seamlessly with the Bloody Mary.

Ingredients:

Fresh oysters (don't even try using frozen - I did, once, and .... urghhh.) - available occasionally at Cold Storage Jelita.
A shot glass
Vodka
Tomato juice, or mixed vegetable juice that includes tomatoes
Lemon juice
Worcestershire sauce
Tobasco sauce
Ground pepper
Salt

The method:

• The hardest part of this drink is shucking the fresh oysters. Hold the oyster with a towel (I learnt this the hard way, the shell is SHARP!!) and insert a small, thin knife into one side, between the 2 shells. Run the knife round the oyster until you get to the other side, then use a twisting motion to pry the shells apart. Sounds easier than it really is, so yes. Shucking oysters is freakin' hard work.
  
• Scoop the oyster out whole, and if there are any natural juices (called "liquor" - yes. The same name for amniotic fluid, but try not to think of women breaking water when you're cooking) , drip some into the shot glass - the oystery taste gets better.
• Prepare the Bloody Mary in another glass filled with ice. I use about 1/3 vodka, and 2/3 tomato juice. Add a dash of lemon juice, worcestershire sauce and a few drops of tobasco sauce. A tiny pinch of salt and some pepper can be added if you like.
  
• Tip the Bloody Mary (without the ice) into the shot glass, stir gently, and serve immediately.
  

Posted by R. at 7:00 PM | Permalink | Comments

This dish is kind of disgusting if you think about it, really. Stuffing the poor prawn's eggs into its own body! Anyway, here goes -

Ingredients:

Large prawns
Ebiko (Japanese seasoned shrimp eggs - available at Japanese food markets cheaply in frozen form)
Mayonnaise
Salt

The method:

• Using a pair of scissors, snip off the front 1/4 of the prawn's head, the spike, and front legs
  
• Place prawns in boiling, salted water for 1 minute, turn off heat and leave to slowly cook in the hot water for 4-5 minutes
• Quickly submerge in cold water, and carefully peel off the shell but leaving the head and tail intact.
  
• Use a sharp knife to slice the middle section open, and wash off innards.
• Place prawns on a dish, straightened out and such that the slit in the body faces upwards. The middle portion should open up nicely to form a depression.
• Scoop up a teaspoon or more of ebiko, and place in the depression.
• Top with a spot of mayonnaise

Alternative method (the original concept):

• Prepare the prawns as described above, and cook as before.
• Remove the head and shell, but leave tail intact.
• Using a sharp knife, slice the prawn open totally to the tail portion.
• Make an ultra-thin egg omelette (1-2mm thickness) in a pan, and dish it out carefully.
• Cut out rectangular sections of omelette 5cm in breadth, and with a length matching the length of the prawns.
• Smear a thin layer of mayonnaise over the entire prawn, excluding the tail.
  
• Layer some ebiko between the 2 halves of the prawns, and wrap with the omelette. Seal the end of the omelette with a dab of mayonnaise.
  
• The prawns, if done this way, can be presented lying on their sides instead!
  

Posted by R. at 9:47 AM | Permalink | Comments

Had a fresh wave of inspiration tonight, but no time to get these tested yet. Will update these when I do try them out! (This weekend, hopefully)

1. Bundled pregnant prawns

Prawns, seared quickly with wine, pepper and a dash of lemon. Cut into halves, stuff with ebiko, and wrap with egg crepe.

2. Apple-marinated beef

Baking tray lined with greased paper, layer of fresh apple slices. Layer super-thin beef on top of apple, and yet another layer of fresh apple. Add some water, bake at low heat till just cooked. Caramelise apple sticks, wrap beef around sugared apple sticks and hold with toothpick.

3. Seafood platter

Centre of Bloomin' Onion, surrounded by:
a) Baby squid in tangerine sauce
b) Skewered salmon belly
c) Soft-shell crabs
d) Breaded wasabe prawns
e) Mussels

4. Hotate seafood plate

Steam hotate, deep-fry whole nori and boil fa-cai. Hotate on nori, fa-cai on hotate, skewer with toothpick and top with salmon roe.

Posted by R. at 6:28 AM | Permalink | Comments

History:

This is an absurdly-easy dish to do, and is delicious as well! I was trying to use up a chunk of minced beef I bought - which was originally intended for kidney-and-steak meatballs, but I didn't have any kidney or breadcrumbs with me. Partly also because I missed Scotland quite a bit these days, and thought of doing up a better version of the microwavable chili con carne I had there.

The herbs I used can easily be substituted with whatever you have at hand, and the degree of spicyness is really an individual choice. In this recipe I used 3 different types of chiles, mainly because my first attempt using only chilli padi turned out to be rather 2D in taste.

Ingredients:

• 300g topside minced beef
• 100ml canned tomato puree
• 400ml canned diced tomato with basil
• Sage (1 teaspoon)
• Tarragon (1 teaspoon)
• Saffron (1/2 teaspoon)
• Canned pinto beans
• Canned red kidney beans
• Chilli powder
  
• Chilli padi
• Canned Jalapeno chilies
• Salt & Pepper
  

Method:

• Heat 2 tablespoons of butter in a skillet and fry minced beef until just brown
  
• Add diced tomato, tomato puree and herbs. Heat until mixture boils, and simmer.
• Add chilli powder to taste (I used 2 tablespoons), throw in the canned Jalapenos and add chilli padi to taste. For the chilli padi, I sliced them length-wise and crushed them with the flat of the knife before throwing them in. Simmer with the chiles for about 5-10 minutes.
• Discard most of the liquid from the canned beans, and add them in. Simmer until the chili becomes piping hot.
• Chili con carne can be eaten as-is, served over rice or frozen and re-heated (this reportedly develops its flavours.) Dad and sisters used it as a salsa dip substitute and claim that it's excellent for nachos!
  

Posted by R. at 4:21 AM | Permalink | Comments

History:

I think a little explanation is in order, regarding the use of packeted cheese sauce. I'm a huge fan of making ingredients from scratch, but Yx and I experimented with cajun cheese sauce with absolutely no success at all! After spending half an hour in the kitchen with milk, parmesan and olive oil, we ended up with a congealed gunk that looked (and smelt) like vomit. This dish was made today as a little snack, to test out the packeted cheese sauce. One word of warning - beware of hungry Brownies (or any other dog for that matter) gobbling up salmon and linguine!

Ingredients:

• Salmon fillet
• White wine
  
• Linguine pasta
• Cheese sauce / cajun - packeted
• Large prawns
• Butter
• Salt & Pepper
• Dried tarragon
  
• Olive oil

Method:

• For the salmon - rinse the fillet and rub with rock salt, then marinate with full strength white wine for half an hour at least. I did this one overnight, and it was great! Quickly poach the salmon in boiling salted water, cool and tear up into flakes.
• For the linguine - Bring a pot of salt, water and olive oil to a rapid boil, then add the pasta. Cook for 20 minutes or until soft, stirring occasionally. Sieve out the pasta, cool under tap water, and toss with a tablespoon or two of olive oil.
  
• For the cajun cheese sauce - Follow instructions on packet. Milk is required for most instant packet formulas.
  
• For the Prawns au naturale - use only very, very, very fresh prawns for this dish, since no marinate is used at all for the prawns! Remove the shell, but leave the head and tail on. Keep the whiskers on especially - these will char very nicely in the pan to produce delightful prawn-ey smells. Slit the prawn's body part-way down the middle (do not end up cutting it into 2!) and remove the innards. To cook, melt 2 tablespoons of butter in a shallow saucepan, throw in a pinch of salt (roughly 1/2 teaspoon) and a few twists of ground peppers. Arrange the prawns in the saucepan in a nice curved shape, and sear each side for 2 minutes. The 2 sides of the pranws will fan out nicely while cooking, and finally sear the fanned-out portion (now the top of the prawn) for a minute or 2 till just that wee bit brown.
  
• Putting it all together - toss in the salmon flakes, cajun cheese sauce and linguine in a plate, toss well together, then sprinkle generously with dried tarragon over the top to add some colour and taste. Arrange the cooked prawns by the side, and serve - ideally with a chilled glass of blanc.
  

Posted by R. at 12:28 AM | Permalink | Comments

History:
We learnt about this drink from an old-time JC friend, Xiaoyan, while in Edinburgh. Sparkling (tap) lemonade is not easily available in Singapore, so we did some adjustments to the recipe - it still turned out fine!

Ingredients:
Martini Bianco - 25ml
Bickford's Lemon Barley Cordial - 50ml
Schweppes Soda Water - 150ml
Ice

Method:
Mix and drink!


*****

Some variants of the above recipe -

Instead of using a cordial-based lemonade, a sparkling lemonade made by Schweppes (not their Bitter Lemon drink) most-accurately reproduces the drink they serve in Scotland.

I've also tried to use Sanpellegrino's Limonata, which was EXCELLENT. It ended up being an exotic, utterly-complex cocktail with various shades of citrus especially in the aftertaste.

Posted by R. at 10:43 PM | Permalink | Comments

History:
Just a last-minute omega-3 food, which yx and I presented to her housemates in Madison. It started off with XT's great attempts at pan-frying salmon with lemon, and I experimented with some honey. Surprisingly, the mellow sweetness of honey flushes well with the wild, fierce flavour and sweetness of good salmon.

Ingredients:

• Salmon fillets, with skin if possible. Scale the fish first!
• 1 lemon
• Wild honey - use only those that are semi-solid/solid at room temperature, not the liquid ones spiked with molasses.
• Cooking wine/Chinese cooking wine
• Olive oil (do not use extra virgin!)
• Salt and pepper
• Fresh dill - salmon's never complete without this!
• Light soy sauce
• Salt and pepper
• Butter

Method:

• First, coat the salmon with rock salt for 5-10 minutes, then wash away.
• Marinate the salmon fillets with the juice of 1 lemon, a teaspoon or 2 of honey, olive oil, 1 tablespoon of wine, roughly-chopped dill, 2 tablespoons light soy, pepper and a pinch of salt. Leave to stand for at least 10 minutes - about 30 minutes would be excellent.
• Lightly grease a frying pan, and melt a little bit of butter and some olive oil under medium heat.
• Sear the salmon fillet on the side without skin first, until 40% of its thickness turns a bright pink.
• Flip over, skin-side down, and until most of it turns pink. The trick to cooking the perfect salmon is never to cook until the flesh flakes off - once that happens, you're screwed. So slightly undercook it at first - the residual heat most often does the rest of the job, leaving a nice juicy interior.
• For a bit of extra crunch, lightly smear the skin-side with a layer of eggwash, then powder ever so lightly with flour before pan-frying.
• Serve with a drizzle of liquid honey over the salmon, a sprig of dill as top-garnish, and a slice of lemon by the side.
• For presentation freaks like me, an easy sauce can be made to lay as the base of your serving plate. After the salmon's been cooked, leave aside for a moment (do not place on serving plate yet). Add a quarter cup of boiling water to the pan in which the fish was fried, let boil and pulverise any residual fish crumbles in the pan. Reduce to 3/4 volume, add a pinch of cornflour to thicken, 1 teaspoon of dark soy sauce, a splash of worchestershire sauce and a pinch of sugar. Ladle on to an empty plate till you cover an area just slightly larger than the fillet itself. Then present in the usual manner above.

Posted by R. at 3:30 PM | Permalink | Comments

History:
I can't remember exactly the occasion for which I made this soup, but I do remember that my dad stole a staggering 1/3 of that huge pot BEFORE I had finished cooking it. Must have been good.

Ingredients:

• Oxtails - try to get the skinny ones with less fat on them. They're tastier.
• Cubed beef to add more punch
• Dried bay leaves
• Bouquet garni
• Butter
• Dried oregano
• Meat tenderiser - you can use pineapple juice, young papaya leaves or commercial tenderisers. Tough oxtails are unpalatable, trust me.
• Various vegetables that keep their form when cooked. My favourites are yellow squash (adds a fresh splash of colour), zucchini, carrots and celery (can be substituted by fennel, although fennel's a bit too sharp for my liking).
• White button mushrooms, if desired. Slice thinly.
• A father that doesn't steal unfinished masterpieces. =p

Method:

• Quickly tenderise the oxtails for the desired amount of time.
• Heat a pan under moderate heat, put in a small slice of butter, and quickly sear the oxtails and cubed beef till they're brown to seal the meat. If mushrooms are used, this is a good time to fry them as well, till just soft.
• Prepare a slow-cooker at low heat, add boiling water and bouquet garni. Allow to steep for 5-10 minutes, add 1-2 bay leaves and oregano, and add beef and oxtails (and mushrooms). Allow to cook really slowly. I like to leave them to stew overnight, to really bring out the beefy flavour. *Caution* Do not add salt if there is a risk of people who steal food ;) The best deterrent around. Otherwise, a pinch of salt will be excellent.
• Next day, add more boiling water if the soup is too strongly-flavoured. If not, dice up the vegetables and add to the soup, and boil briskly till soft. Just use a bit of common sense - indestructable ones like carrots first, of course.
• Add salt and pepper to taste, remove bouquet garni and bay leaves.
• Garnish with fresh herbs, present and serve.

Posted by R. at 3:17 PM | Permalink | Comments

History:
Ah, just a little treat for Brownie when he was ill one day (diarrhoea actually - it was an attempt to get him to drink more fluids). But still, this is an invigorating and strangely tranquil kind of dish to nourish the lonely soul.

Ingredients:

• Chicken breast, unskinned - size of 2 fists
• Salt

Yeah, that's all. Now, the method:

• Thinly slice the chicken breast, and toss with skin into a pot of boiling water. Boil for as long as you like, typically at least 30 minutes.
• Serve hot with a pinch of salt and some of the chicken.

Posted by R. at 3:13 PM | Permalink | Comments

Ingredients:

• Mussels (500g for this recipe)
• Cheap white wine or cooking wine
• Bouquet garni - either pre-packaged, or make your own
• Bay leaf - 1 leaf per 500g mussels
• Dried ikan bilis to make fish stock; or, just use the dried cubes

The method:

• First, discard any mussels that smell bad, or are not opening
• Pull out the threads and scrub the mussels if needed
• Soak them in water for 1 hour or more
• Drain the water, then soak again for a few more minutes. If you're a cleanliness freak like me, you could do this cycle for many many many times.
• Prepare a pot, add 500 mls of water, throw in a handful of dried ikan bilis and boil for at least 20 minutes. Or, just do it the simple way and use fish stock cubes.
• Sieve and remove the ikan bilis from the stock, then add bouquet garni and bay leaf, and leave to simmer for a further 15 minutes.
• Add 250-750mls of white wine (depending on how drunk you want it to taste)

Now, there are 2 methods of preparing the next step, depending on whether you want the soup to be good, or the mussels to be good.

1. Add the whole lot of mussels into the stock, cover and simmer for 15-20 minutes. OR
2. Steam the mussels separately for 15 minutes, then add to the stock. Remove the whole pot from heat, and leave to stand for 15 minutes so that the mussels soak up the flavour.

• Add salt and pepper to taste.
• Finally, add just the pinch of corn starch to some hot water, stir and add into the finished soup and stir well. Remove the bouquet garni and bay leaf from the soup.
• The dish can be served on its own, or with an accompanying dip made of the juice of half a lemon, 3 tablespoons mayonnaise, 1 teaspoon of sugar and a small pinch of salt.

Posted by R. at 12:08 AM | Permalink | Comments

History:
A lovely dish I learnt from a lovely acquaintance, Giselle, when I visited Madison in March last year. She's Dominican, and apparently this is quite a common kind of food. I modified it somewhat, adding a little more texture and blanding down the beefy taste.

Ingredients:
1 bell pepper per serving - I like the colourful ones, and they tend to taste nicer than the greens.
75-80g minced beef per pepper - I use weight-watcher's, but that's not necessary.
Steamed rice - to add just that little bit of texture to it. Cous cous is an interesting alternative that I've yet to try, but should work out nicely too.
Seasonal vegetables - again, for the texture. Favourites are zucchini, yellow squash and mushrooms.
Assorted herbs - really up to you, but so far terragon with sage has been really great.
Seasoning for beef - soy sauce, wechestershire sauce, sesame oil, cooking wine (the chinese version works great!)
Parmesian cheese - grated or shredded

The method:

• Preheat oven to 200C.
• Slice off the top of the pepper neatly to form a sort of cap, and remove the seeds etc from the body to form an empty cup.
• Mix the beef with various seasoning sauces, then add salt and pepper to taste. Add various herbs to the mix. Leave to marinate at room temperature for a while.
• In the meantime, chop up the veggies into small cubes.
• Over medium heat, stir-fry the beef until 90% cooked at least, then add the diced veggies and mix well.
• Add this filling to steamed rice at a ratio of 3 parts beef to 1 part rice - more rice, if you want the mix to be fluffier.
• Fill the peppers with the stuffing, replace the peppers' caps, then cook in oven. I don't quite know the precise time, but just check with a chopstick once in a while. The peppers should be soft and indented easily, yet not overcooked to the extent of changing colour.

Posted by R. at 10:39 AM | Permalink | Comments

Ingredients:

White onions - the more the merrier!
Sugar - brown is good, but refined works too
Beef broth - or dark chicken broth if you can't get beef
Croutons
Butter
Parmesian cheese - shredded

The method:

• Thinly slice the white onions. There really should be half as much onion by volume, as the total soup volume, to make a really decent soup.
• Caramelize the onions in a saucepan, adding 1 tablespoon of butter. To aid the caramelization, just a pinch of sugar can be added. It should take almost 20 minutes at least, until the onions look like a brown, sticky, soggy mess. Not very attractive, I know.
• Add beef broth into the pan of onions, bring to a boil and let simmer for 10 minutes or more.
• For added ooomph, serve up into oven-safe bowls, then liberally top with croutons and shredded parmesian cheese. Place in pre-heated oven (200C should work fine) for 10 minutes, and the cheese should melt beautifully to form a crunchy later on top of the bowl.

Posted by R. at 9:51 AM | Permalink | Comments