Roasted Brussels Sprouts With Balsamic Glaze

Nicely roasted.

Last month, while on vacation, I chanced upon The Pioneer Woman on television. If you don't know who she is, she is great blogger (and a very funny one) who writes extensively on food, recipes as well as snippets of her family and life on the ranch. I love her blog and her style of writing! :) 

As I was saying, she was preparing a holiday feast for her family and one of the dishes she made was roasted brussels sprouts with balsamic glaze. She made it look so easy and delicious that before long, I bought myself a bag of brussels sprouts just to try it.  

Roasted brussels sprouts by itself is already a lovely dish, with the vegetable caramelizing at the edges as it roasts. So, if you are looking for a shortcut, you can omit the glaze and the dried cranberries. But paired with the balsamic glaze, it does give it an extra oomph, making it a very suitable appetizer, with the right amount of acidity to further whet your appetite for the next course! :)

For this recipe, I used dried cherries because I don't have dried cranberries which was what the original recipe calls for. The cherries I had were quite tart so I would pair it with cranberries the next time instead because I believe that will lend itself a slightly sweeter flavor.

Roasted Brussels Sprouts With Balsamic Glaze (from The Pioneer Woman)

Ingredients
3 pounds Brussels Sprouts
1/2 cup Olive Oil 
Salt And Pepper
1 cup Balsamic Vinegar 
1/2 cup Sugar 
1 cup Dried Cranberries

Trim/clean Brussels sprouts, then cut them in half if desired (or you can leave them whole). Arrange on two baking sheets and toss with olive oil. Sprinkle with plenty of salt and pepper and roast at 375 degrees for 25 to 30 minutes, or until brown.

Combine balsamic vinegar and sugar in a saucepan. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to medium-low and reduce until very thick, about 15 to 20 minutes.

Drizzle the balsamic reduction over the roasted sprouts, then sprinkle on dried cranberries. Toss and serve immediately.

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Chinese BBQ Pork Ribs

Glistening pork ribs, slightly charred at the edges to give a smoky flavor.

The hubby and I have been eating meal after meal of pasta recently cos:

1) I was testing out new pasta recipes
2) I wanted to use finish some stuff in the fridge ie: ricotta and mascarpone cheese

and so the craving for Chinese food hit me pretty fast and hard and before long, I was reminiscing about the Hong Kong spare ribs I used to eat at the zi char stall near my hubby's house. While I contemplated just going to a Chinese restaurant here for a quick fix, curiosity got the better of me and I decided to try making it myself hurhur.

Well, it turned out simply delectable! It was juicy on the inside, and slightly charred at the edges to give a nice smoky flavor. I used the fleshier kind of pork ribs this time so it was a bit like eating char siew. I'm going to try using the boney kind of spareribs the next time I make them! :)

Paired perfectly with some fluffy white rice. Yums!

Chinese BBQ Pork Ribs
1 tablespoon of Chinese five-spice powder 
1 full rack St. Louis-style spareribs, cut into individual ribs (about 3 pounds total)
1/2 cup hoisin sauce 
1/4 cup shaoxing wine or dry sherry 
2 tablespoons soy sauce 
1/4 cup honey

Sprinkle five-spice powder evenly over ribs and rub into them until thoroughly and evenly coated. Set ribs aside.

Combine hoisin sauce, shaoxing wine, soy sauce, and honey in a zip-lock bag. Add ribs to bag and mix until evenly coated. Seal bag, transfer to refrigerator, and let ribs marinate at least overnight and up to three nights.

When ready to cook, preheat oven to 375°F. Remove ribs from bag, wiping off excess marinade with your fingers (reserve the marinade). Line a rimmed baking sheet with foil, set a wire rack on it, and spread the ribs evenly over the rack. Cover with aluminum foil and roast for 1 hour. Remove foil, brush ribs with marinade, increase heat to 450°F, and continue to roast until charred, glazed, and sticky, about 15 minutes longer, rotating ribs and basting with marinade once more during cooking (I did it after a 10-minute interval).
 
Let rest 10 minutes, then serve.

Adapted from Serious Eats. 
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Pasta with Bacon, Roasted Bell Peppers & Peas

You won't believe how delicious this pasta is until you've tasted it for yourself! This is one of my favorite pasta dish and the last time I did it, I ate way too many helpings than I normally would cos it was just so flavorful!

The smokiness from the roasted bell peppers/capsicums, the sweet peas, the salty and fatty bacon and the cheesy cream that binds them all together - to describe it in Singaporean style - it was super shiok!

Not to mention easy! You can whip it up in no time, and here's how! 

Pasta with Bacon, Roasted Bell Peppers & Peas
(serves 4)

Ingredients
3 strips of thick-cut uncured bacon (you can use normal thick-cut bacon too), cut into 1/2-inch pieces
2 red bell peppers
3/4 cup of tiny frozen peas, thawed
3/4 cup of heavy whipping cream
2 tablespoons of butter
2 teaspoons of vegetable oil
3/4 cup of freshly grated Parmesan cheese, plus more for sprinkling
1/2 pound of pasta, preferably short, tubular ones like macaroni or penne
Salt
Black pepper

Roast your bell peppers until the skin is charred and black. You can place them in the broiler of your oven or over a grill. If you can't do either one, you can also use a skillet. But the charring would be less uniform if you use this method. Simply bring an your skillet (with no oil) on high heat. Sear the sides of the bell peppers until they are blackened.

When the bell peppers are done, put them aside to cool. Then, remove the charred skin from the capsicum. The flesh of the bell pepper should be tender but not mushy. Remove the seeds and cut them into small cubes.

Cook your pasta according to the package's instructions.

While your pasta is cooking, melt the butter with oil over medium heat. Cook the bacon in the butter for 4 minutes.

Add the peas and cook for one minute, stirring to coat well.

Then, add in the peppers, stirring for half a minute or less.

Add the cream, a pinch of salt and several grindings of pepper and turn up the heat to high. Cook, stirring constantly, until the cream thickens.

Toss the sauce with cooked, drained pasta, mixing the Parmesan cheese in at the same time. Serve immediately, with extra grated cheese on the side.

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Perfect Yorkshire Pudding With Beef Roast

My perfect little yorkies!

I've been itching to make a batch of yorkshire puddings since a week ago. The only other time I've tried a yorkshire pudding was at lawry's with my mom and sis, which had left an indelible impression on me. So, with my new muffin tins, I decided to make a batch at home!

But of course, these yorkies are meant to go with some nice gravy, so I took out my trusty italian cookbook and picked a beef roast recipe.

At first glance, the beef recipe looked easy enough, but that was because my eyes glazed over the words "larding needle" So when I actually got my hands down to doing it, I realised I had to lard the beef! To be honest, I didn't quite know how to do that so I had to google it. As I didn't have a larding needle, I used my good old chinese chopsticks as suggested by Marcella, but still, it was quite a feat! After fighting larding my beef, I felt pretty accomplished!! :D

Beef that was so tender, with fat and juices running over.

But still, the star of the day had to be those yorkies. It was so fluffy with the perfect hollow in the centre to lap up all the onions and gravy. Mmm... I was glad I made it cos it was hubby's first yorkie and he really enjoyed it! Loved the hint of milk in the pudding. Yorkies FTW!

Perfect hollow in the center.

I saved one yorkie for my friend who doesn't eat beef, and plonked a tablespoon of strawberry jam in the middle. Delicious! Yorkies can also be eaten as desserts by topping them with some compote or ice-cream. Lovely! Will definitely make these yorkshire puddings again, probably the next time with a thicker gravy (this onion sauce runs a little thin).

Yorshire Pudding (from Simple Bites)
Yields: 12

• 7/8 cups of flour (250 grams)
• 1/2 tsp of salt
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1/2 cup water
• 2 large eggs
• 2-3 Tablespoons butter or lard (for pan)

TIP: Have all ingredients at room temperature.

1. Sift salt and flour together into a bowl. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients, into which pour the milk and water. Beat thoroughly with a whisk.
2. In a separate bowl or measuring cup, beat the eggs until frothy and add to the batter. Beat the better well.
3. Cover batter with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least one hour or overnight.
4. Preheat oven to 400°F and generously butter a 12- cup muffin tin.
5. Remove Yorkshire pudding batter from fridge and beat until small bubbles rise to the surface.
6. Place the buttered muffin tin into the oven until butter is sizzling and slightly browned (about a minute and a half). Remove pan from oven and quickly pour batter into muffin cups, distributing the batter evenly between the 12 cups.
7. Return to oven as speedily as possible and bake for about 18-20 minutes or until golden brown. You may need to raise the pan to the top shelf of the oven to get a nice browning on the tops.
8. Remove from oven, and with a fork, pop Yorkshire pudding into a waiting napkin-lined basket. Serve immediately.

Beef Roast Braised With Onions (From Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking)
What is remarkable about this roast is that it is braised with only the juices that flow from the onions on which the meat rests. Eventually, the juices vanish, the mean becomes tenderly impregnated with sweet onion flavor, and the onions themselves turn deliciously brown.

The only fat used is the pancetta with which the beef is larded. If you don't have a larding needle, push strips of pancetta into the meat using a chopstick of the traditional hard Chinese rather than the soft, breakable Japanese kind, or the other blunt, narrow stick, or similar object. Pierce the meat following the direction of its grain.

For 4 to 6 servings

1/4 pound pancetta or salt pork in a single piece
2 pounds boneless beef roast, preferably the brisket
5 cloves
4 medium onions sliced very, very thin
Salt
Black pepper, ground fresh from the mill

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

2. Cut the pancetta or salt pork into narrow strips about 1/4 inch wide. Use hald the strips to lard the meat with a larding needle, or by an alternative method as suggested in the introductory remarks above.

3. Insert the cloves at random into any 5 of the places where the pancetta was inserted.

4. Choose a heavy-bottomed pot just large enough to accomodate the roast snugly. Spread the sliced onion on the bottom of the pot, over it distribute the remaining strips of pancetta or salt pork, then put in the meat. Season liberally with salt and pepper, and cover tightly. If the lid does not provide a tight fit, place a sheet of aluminium foil between it and the pot. Put on the uppermost rack of the preheated oven.

5. Cook for about 3 1/2 hours, until the meat feels very tender when proded with a fork. Turn the roast after the first 30 minutes, and every 30 to 40 minutes thereafter. You will find that the color of the meat is dull and unlovely at first, but as it finishes cooking and the onions become colored a dark brown it develops a rich, dark, patina.

6. When done, slice the meat and arrange the slices on a warm platter. Pour the contents of the pan and the juices left on the cutting board over the meat, and serve at once.

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Roast Chicken With Lemon & Rosemary Roast Potatoes

November's here! Where did all the time go?

It's the month of Thanksgiving, and I thought, instead of sharing a turkey recipe, I am going to share a roast chicken recipe. I think a chicken is the perfect bird for a small family, like my husband and me! I love this recipe because it is relatively straightforward, and the end result is one tasty, juicy chicken. I had at least 1/2 inch of juices in my tray, perfect to slurp it up with the potatoes! The lemon helps to tendorize the chicken, but the good thing is it doesn't leave a strong lemony after taste. For those who doesn't like lemony chicken, like my hubby, that should be good news for you.

Just a note, I didn't have fresh thyme with me, so I substituted it for oregano. I also added butternut squash to the recipe because I love its slight nutty flavour, and it pairs well with the juices. J follow the same steps with the squash as with the potatoes. Finally, there is a part of the recipe that asks you to toss your potatoes in a pan after boiling them. I tried skipping that step, as well as sauteing the potatoes with a little olive oil after boiling, and the difference is pretty great. The potatoes were definitey tastier and a little more crisp when sauted before popping them into the oven.

So, are you ready? Then pick up your spring chicken and let's start cooking!

Roast Chicken With Lemon And Rosemary Roast Potatoes (from Jamie's Dinners)

Ingredients
4 1/2 pounds free-range organic chicken
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
4 1/2 pounds potatoes, peeled (note: I used one large potato, and 1/2 small butternut squash)
1 large, preferably unwaxed, lemon
1 whole bulb of garlic, broken into cloves
a handful of fresh thyme (note: I used oregano)
olive oil
a handful of fresh rosemary sprigs, leaves picked
optional: 8 slices bacon

Rub the chicken inside and out with a generous amount of salt and freshly ground black pepper. Do this in the morning if possible, then cover the chicken and leave in the fridge until you’re ready to start cooking it for lunch or dinner. By doing this, you’ll make the meat really tasty when cooked.Preheat your oven to 375ºF. Bring a large pan of salted water to the boil. Cut the potatoes into golf-ball-sized pieces, put them into the water with the whole lemon and the garlic cloves, and cook for 12 minutes. Drain and allow to steam dry for 1 minute (this will give you crispier potatoes), then remove the lemon and garlic. Toss the potatoes in the pan while still hot so their outsidesget chuffed up and fluffy – this will make them lovely and crispy when they roast.

While the lemon is still hot, carefully stab it about 10 times. Take the chicken out of the fridge, pat it with paper towels and rub it all over with olive oil. Push the garlic cloves, the whole lemon and the thyme into the cavity, then put the chicken into a roasting pan and cook in the preheated oven for around 45 minutes. Remove the chicken to a plate. Some lovely fat should have cooked outof it into the roasting tray, so toss the potatoes into this with the rosemary leaves. Shake the tray around, then make a gap in the center of the potatoes and put the chicken back in. If using the bacon, lay the slices over the chicken breast and cook for a further 45 minutes, or until the chicken is cooked and the potatoes are nice and golden. (You can tell the chicken is cooked when thethigh meat pulls easily away from the bone and the juices run clear.)

I like to remove the bacon from the chicken and crumble it up over the potatoes. Then I remove the lemon and garlic from inside the chicken, squeeze all the garlic flesh out of the skin, mush it up and smear it all over the chicken, discard the lemon and rosemary and carve the chicken at the table. Heaven! Tweet