Home Fried Chicken

This is one good fried chicken. Granted, this is not the healthiest thing on planet earth and I'd usually oven bake my chicken for a healthier alternative but ooh, who doesn't love a good ol' crispy fried chicken once in a while? And I am speaking for my hubby as well haha! :)

HFC! Home Fried Chicken

Ingredients
4 chicken thighs with skin on
1 large egg
2 tablespoons of water
1 tablespoon of hot sauce
1 cup of self-raising flour mixed with 1/2 teaspoon of black pepper
2 teaspoons of salt
1/2 teaspoon of garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon of black pepper
Vegetable oil (I use Canola oil)

Mix the salt, garlic powder and black pepper together and season the chicken thighs with it (don't use all the seasoning for a less salty version). Set aside.

In a medium-sized bowl, beat the egg with 2 tablespoons of water and the hot sauce.

Spread the flour on a plate, to be used for coating later.

Pour oil into a large pot, until it reaches the halfway mark (do not fill it to the brim). Heat the oil until it reaches 375 degrees. I test the oil by dipping my wooden spoon into it. If it sizzles around the edges, it is ready.

Coat the chicken thighs with the egg, and then with the flour. Drop them into the pot and cook them for 10 minutes.

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The Real Mushroom Soup

When I first saw this recipe in Jamie Oliver's cookbook, I was really excited. What drew me to this recipe was the use of as many different fresh wild mushrooms as you can find. I knew that the depth of flavor for this soup would really be one of a kind with such variety. So, the moment my new food processor arrived in the mail, I immediately dropped by my supermarket and bought my mushrooms! :D I was that excited! Haha!

Although I was not able to find all the mushrooms he mentioned, I was able to get a decent variety: dried porcini, crimini, white, shitake and oyster. The end result? Delicious! :)

The Real Mushroom Soup (adapted from Jamie's Dinners)
(serves 6)

Ingredients
a small handful of dried porcini (if you were to use a field of Portabello mushrooms to make a soup, just adding a tiny but of dried porcini into the base would make the whole thing more luxurious)
600g/1lb 6oz mixed fresh wild mushrooms (chanterelles, girolles, trompettes de la mort, shitake, oyster), cleaned and sliced
2 cloves of garlic, peeled and finely sliced
1 red onion, peeled and finely chopped
a knob of butter
a handful of fresh thyme, leaves picked
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 litre/1 3/4 pints chicken or vegetable stock
a handful of fresh flat-leaf parsley, leaves picked and roughly chopped
2 tablespoons of mascarpone cheese
1 lemon (I omitted this cos I didn't want any lemony taste in my mushroom soup)
optional: truffle oil

Place the porcini in a small dish, add boiling water just to cover, and leave to soak. Get a large casserole-type pan nice and hot, then add a good couple of lugs of olive oil and your fresh mushrooms. Stir around very quickly for a minute, then add your garlic, onion, butter and thyme and a small amount of seasoning. After about a minute you'll probably notice moisture cooking out of the mushrooms and at this point add half of your porcini, chopped up, and the rest left whole. Strain the soaking liquid to remove any grit, and add it to the pan. Carry on cooking for about 20 minutes until most of the moisture disappears.

Season to taste, and add your stock. Bring to the boil and simmer for around 20 minutes. I usually remove half the soup from the pan and whiz it up to a purée at this point, then pour it back in, adding the parsley and mascarpone, and seasoning carefully to taste.

You can serve this soup as you like, but there are a few things to remember when finishing it off. Mix together a pinch of salt and pepper with the zest of one lemon and the juice of half of it, then spoon a little of this into the middle of the soup. When you go to eat it, stir it in and it gives a wonderful flavour. Other things you can consider are little slices of grilled crostini put into the bottom of the bowls before the soup is poured over. Or you could even quickly fry some nice-looking mushrooms – like girolles, chanterelles or oysters – and sprinkle these on top of the soup. If I was going to use truffle oil, then I would use it on its own – a few drips on the top just before serving.

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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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Gravlax (Cured Salmon) With Delicious Side Salad

Stained by the beetroot to a lovely fuchsia hue.

I have been rather obsessed with curing salmon lately. Ever since I knew how to do it, I've been buying truckloads of fresh salmon to cure at home. I still cannot wrap my head around the simplicity of the whole process!

It is wonderfully easy, really. I'm going to share two different ways to cure your salmon today. The picture above is a recipe adapted from Jamie Oliver, which is rather elaborated with lots of condiments to cure the salmon with. You can watch the video here:





The second one (picture below) is the much simpler, standard version. It is also saltier than the above recipe.

Salmon cured in one of its simplest forms.

I've paired the salmon with a salad that I've been simply addicted to. My hubby and I have been chomping on those leaves for the past few days, and I still can't get enough of it!! The secret is in the dressing, that is both tangy and sweet at the same time. Love it!!

So yes, try curing your own salmon at home today! It's fun and it definitely beats store-bought ones!

Gravlax (simple version)
(serves 4)

Ingredients
1 pound of fresh salmon, with skin on
1/2 cup salt
1/2 cup brown sugar
zest of one lemon
Optional: 2 handfuls of dill, chopped finely

After washing the salmon, pat it dry and coat it with salt and brown sugar. Top it off with the lemon zest and dill. Place the salmon in a ziplock bag and refrigerate it for 24 hours to 48 hours (I actually like it better after just one day, as opposed to 48 hours because the salmon is less cured, but that's me, heh). Weigh some heavy items on the whole salmon (ie: big, heavy books or bricks) to aid in the absorption of the condiments.

When the salmon is ready, remove it from the ziplock bag and wash it under running water to remove the salt and sugar. Pat it dry with a paper towel. Then, skin the salmon by sliding your knife across it, between the skin and the flesh. (I love the fatty layer of fish just beneath the skin, so I'd really scrap my skin clean. But that's just me, heh.) Discard the skin.

Slice the salmon into thin strips. Serve with a little squeeze of lemon and a side salad.

Gravlax With The Works!
(serves 6)

Note: I've adapted Jamie Oliver's recipe in terms of the ingredients, but due to the different size of the fish and a little ambiguity in the instructions in his video, I've tweaked the measurements a little for this recipe.

Ingredients
1.5 pound of fresh salmon, with skin on
5 tablespoons of salt
2 tablespoons of brown sugar
1 beetroot, grated (get those baby beetroots, not the large mature ones, and not the canned ones)
1 heaping tablespoon of horse radish
3 handfuls of dill, chopped finely
1 shot of schnapps (or brandy)
zest of 1 lemon

Wash your salmon and pat it dry. On a large tray, place salmon skin down. Top it off with the salt, brown sugar, beetroot, horse radish, dill. lemon zest and schnapps. Massage the condiments in a little, and then wrap the tray with cling wrap. Put the salmon in the refrigerator for 48 hours, weighed down by heavy items such as books or bricks, etc.

When ready, use a paper towel to brush all the condiments away from the fish. Then, skin the salmon by sliding your knife across it, between the skin and the flesh. Discard the skin. Slice the salmon into thin strips.

To make the cream to go with the gravlax:
Mix 3 tablespoons of sour cream with 2 teaspoon of wholegrain mustard, 1 teaspoon of horseradish, a pinch of black pepper and 2 tablespoons of lemon juice.

Delicious Side Salad
(serves 4)

Ingredients for the salad: (actually, you can put anything you one inside, but this is one of my favorite combinations)

3-4 handfuls of mesclun salad
2 tomatoes, diced
1/2 zucchini, diced
12 black olives, each cut into 3 parts
a handful of salted pistachio nuts
1/2 handful of crumbled feta cheese

Ingredients for the dressing
3 tablespoons of balsamic vinaigrette (I like Trader Joe's one)
1/2 teaspoon of garlic, chopped finely
1 1/2 tablespoons of olive oil
1/2 teaspoon of honey, or to taste
1 pinch of salt and pepper

Mix the ingredients for the salad dressing in a small bowl until combined. Adjust according to taste. Toss the salad with the dressing and then top it off with the crumbled feta cheese.

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Broccoli With Olive Oil & Garlic

Looking for a new spin on broccoli? Then try this! It is a simple two-step recipe, requiring you to just boil the broccoli first before sauteing it.The flavor definitely beats just boiling or steaming those veggies with a squeeze of lemon. Do note that if you don't like parsley, you may want to omit it because the end product has quite a distinct parsley taste.

Broccoli with Olive Oil & Garlic

Ingredients
a bunch of fresh broccoli, chopped
4 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil
2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
2 tablespoons of chopped parsley
Salt to taste
Optional: a wedge of lemon

Boil chopped broccoli in pot of salted boiling water for about 5 minutes, or until the stem is easily pierced by a fork.

In a skillet (get one that is big enough to fit all the broccoli in comfortably), saute the garlic with the olive oil over medium heat. When the garlic turns light brown, add in the broccoli, a tiny pinch of salt and parsley. Coat the vegetables evenly for 2 minutes and then serve with a wedge of lemon.
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Cabbage Soup With Meatballs & Wolfberries

This is what I call yummy goodness!

If you've never made Chinese soup before, this recipe is a great way to start. It is easy, doesn't require double-boiling and is full of flavor. Cabbage is one of my favorite vegetables because not only is it packed with fiber and antioxidants, it is also pretty versatile! You can make slaw with it, fry it, steam it, boil it, etc. I especially enjoy cooked cabbage because the heat brings out its natural sweetness. Paired with wolfberries, this becomes one big, nutritious slurp! :D

My mother used to make this soup for me all the time, but I've tweaked it a bit, especially for the minced meat part, to make it tastier. Personally, I just can't get enough of the meatballs! Heh

Cabbage Soup With Meatballs & Wolfberries
(serves 4)

Ingredients
Bones of 3 chicken drumlets (or the equivalent weight of other chicken bones)
Half a head of cabbage, chopped
1 pound of minced pork
1 tablespoon of dried wolfberries
2 tablespoons of light soya sauce
1 1/2 tablespoons of shaoxing wine
1 tablespoon of sesame oil
1/2 cup chicken stock
white pepper

In a bowl, combine the light soya sauce, shaoxing wine, sesame oil, a generous amount of white pepper with the minced pork. Mix well.

Put a cling wrap over the bowl and refrigerate the minced pork.

In a large dutch oven/casserole, bring 3 quarts of water to a boil and put the chicken bones in. Remove any scum that floats to the surface of the pot. Boil for 10 minutes.

Turn the heat down to low-medium heat. Add the cabbage and chicken stock then simmer for 45 minutes.

Remove the minced pork from the refrigerator. I like to stand beside the stove, form the meatballs and drop them straight into the dutch oven/casserole instead of making all the meatballs at one go on a plate. Using a tablespoon with your right hand, scoop out 3/4 of a tablespoon of minced meat and put it into the middle of your left palm. To form the round, spherical meatball shape, simply rotate your left fingers in a circular motion. If you are left-handed, swop it the other way around.

Once done, drop the meatball into the soup. Do this for the rest of the minced meat. Be careful to give ample space between each meatball. Use your ladle to move the cabbage around to create space. When done, check if the water level is just above the cabbage and meatballs. If not, add a bit more water until just covered.

Simmer the soup for another hour to an hour and a half. 10 minutes before you off the stove, add in the wolfberries. Serve hot. Tweet

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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Homemade Chirashi Don

One of the good things about making your own bowl of chirashi don (mixed sashimi ricebowl) is that you can put anything you want on it, how ever much you desire. If you have a soft spot for hotate (scallop), load it up! If your favorite sashimi is ika (squid), put it down. As you can see, ikura (salmon roe) is my favorite and I've generously topped it, along with those creamy sake (salmon). What is not obvious in this picture is that I've lined a layer of shredded seaweed on top of the rice, making it sort of like unrolled sushi.

Making my own chirashi don is not only more economical than having it in a restaurant, it is a very fuss-free affair. Besides making the sushi rice, you just need to chop the rest of the ingredients up. You don't even need to cook them (unless you want to make your own tamago (egg), which I want to try someday!).

Sushi Rice(serves 2)

1 cup medium grain rice (I use Calrose)
1 1/2 to 2 tablespoons of mirin/sweet cooking rice wine/sushi seasoning - adjust to taste. I like mine with slightly more mirin.

Wash the rice until the water runs clear. This is to remove all the starchy coating on the rice.

Cook the rice in the rice cooker according to package directions. Mine didn't come with any, so I cooked it as how I normally would with jasmine rice.

Then, spread the rice out on a large bowl or a hangiri (a wide wooden tub) like how it is traditionally done by the Japanese. Stir in your mirin. Make sure to coat the rice evenly and to use the folding method, so as not to smash the cooked rice.

Then, wait for the rice to cool to room temperature.

When done, place a bed of shredded seaweed on top of the rice, followed by your favorite toppings. Itadakimasu! Tweet

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

Bolognese Meat Sauce

Oh happy day! My photo of sambal goreng udang was featured on Tastespotting! If you who are visiting my blog from Tastespotting's link, thanks for checking this out and a big welcome to you! This is a rather new food blog, but do stay tuned and subscribe for I'll be posting more exciting recipes and reviews in time to come! :) Also, feel free to leave a comment and say hi!

Today, I'm going to share with you one of the best, if not the best, beef bolognese recipe!

Although this recipe requires hours of preparation, it is not difficult, and your efforts will pay off. I've never had better beef bolognese in my life, not even in restaurants. This recipe is from my favorite italian cookbook, Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking by Marcella Hazan. Love her work, love her recipes, love her book!

I'd usually save at least my afternoon and evening to make this because you need at least three hours to simmer the sauce and that is not counting simmering the milk and wine before that. But, it is worth the time because you can make a huge batch and portion them out (like what I did in the picture) and keep them in the refrigerator (more on that in the after note). So I'd say if you have a day, give this a shot and savour one of the best beef bolognese!

Bolognese Meat Sauce (from Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking by Marcella Hazan)

Some things to note:
Ragu, as the Bolognese call their celebrated meat sauce, is characterized by mellow, gentle, comfortable flavor that any cook can achieve by being careful about a few basic points:

The meat should not be from too lean a cut; the more marbled it is, the sweeter the ragu will be. The most desirable cut of beef is the neck portion of the chuck.

Add salt immediately when sauteing the meat to extract its juices for the subsequent benefit of the sauce.

Cook the meat in milk before adding wine and tomatoes to protect if from the acidic bite of the latter.

Do not use a demiglace or other concentrates that tip the balance of flavors toward harshness.

Use a pot that retains heat. Earthenware is preferred in Bologna and by most cooks in Emilia-Romagna, but enameled cast-iron pans or a pot whose heavy bottom is composed of layers of steel alloys are fully satisfactory.

Cook, uncovered, at the merest simmer for a long, long time; no less than 3 hours is necessary, more is better.

Ingredients
(2 heaping cups, for about 6 servings and 1 1/2 pounds pasta)

1 tablespoon vegetable oil
3 tablespoons butter plus 1 tablespoon for tossing the pasta
1/2 cup chopped onion
2/3 cup chopped celery
2/3 cup chopped carrot
3/4 pound ground beef chuck
(see prefatory note above)
Salt
Black pepper, ground fresh from the mill
1 cup whole milk
Whole nutmeg
1 cup dry white wine
1 1/2 cup canned imported Italian plum tomatoes, cut up, with their juice
1 1/4 to 1 1/2 pounds pasta
Freshly grated parmigiano-reggiano cheese at the table

Put the oil, butter and chopped onion in the pot and turn the heat on to medium. Cook and stir the onion until it has become translucent, then add the chopped celery and carrot. Cook for about 2 minutes, stirring the vegetables to coat them well.

Add the ground beef, a large pinch of salt, and a few grindings of pepper. Crumble the meat with a fork, stir well, and cook until th beef has lost its raw, red color.

Add the milk and let it simmer gently, stirring frequently, until it has bubbled away completely. Add a tiny grating - about 1/8 teaspoon - of nutmeg and stir.

Add the wine, let it simmer until it has evaporated, then add the tomatoes and stir thoroughly to coat all ingredients well. When the tomatoes begin to bubble, turn the heat down so that the sauce cooks at the laziest of simmers, with just an intermittent bubble breaking through to the surface. Cook, uncovered, for 3 hours or more, stirring from time to time. While the sauce is cooking, you are likely to find that it begins to dry out and the fat separates from the meat. To keep it from sticking, continue the cooking, adding 1/2 cup of water whenever necessary. At the end, however, no water at all must be left and the fat must separate from the sauce. Taste and correct for salt.

Toss with cooked drained pasta, adding the tablespoon of butter, and serve with freshly grated Parmesan on the side.

Ahead-of-time note: If you cannot watch the sauce for a 3- to 4-hour stretch, you can turn off the heat whenever you need to leave, and resume cooking later on, as long as you complete the sauce within the same day. Once done, you can refrigerate the sauce in a tightly sealed container for 3 days, or you can freeze it. Before tossing with pasta, reheat it, letting it simmer for 15 minutes and stirring it once or twice.

Variation of Ragu with PorkPork is an important part of Bologna's culture, its economy, and the cuisine, and many cooks add some pork to make their ragu tastier. Use 1 part ground pork, preferably from the neck or Boston butt, to 2 parts beef, and make the meat sauce exactly as described in the basic recipe above.

And that's my beef bolognese, all set and ready to go! :) Tweet

Baked Hoisin Chicken

While searching for recipes online a few months ago, I would often come across the ingredient "hoisin sauce". I never had any on hand at those moments so one day, I decided to buy a bottle to put on standby.

As fate would have it, after I did that, I never saw a recipe calling for that ingredient anymore. Still, I was adamant about using it and decided to just bake the bird with it. I love how the sauce reminds me of one of my favourite dishes, peking duck! Maybe I should try making that someday. Meanwhile, here's the recipe I used. I'm not even sure if I should call it a recipe because it is so simple. Some recipes would steam the chicken and then spread the hoisin sauce over it. However, I prefer to bake both the chicken and sauce together because I love how the sauce will caramelize on the chicken skin towards the end. The result? A plate of tasty chicken that is sweet and salty on the outside, and juicy and tender on the inside. YUMS!

Baked Hoisin Chicken
(serves 2)

Ingredients
4 pieces of chicken thigh
3 ounces of hoisin sauce (I use Lee Kum Kee Hoisin Sauce)

Marinate your chicken thighs with the hoisin sauce and place it into a ziplock bag. Ensure that all the air has been pressed out before zipping it up. Leave it in the refrigerator overnight.

Preheat your oven to 400F. Place the chicken thighs on a baking tray with its skin facing up. Chicken is a self-basting bird so it would not get stuck onto your baking tray without an aluminium foil. However, if you want to prevent the hoisin sauce from sticking/staining your baking tray, then you can layer the aluminium foil on the baking tray.

Bake the chicken thighs for 15 minutes before flipping them over, with the skin facing downwards. Cook for 10 minutes before flipping them back up. Cook the chicken for another 10 minutes or until the chicken thighs turn a dark golden brown (like the photo above). Depending on the size of the chicken thighs, some may get burnt quicker than others. So, always keep a watchful eye on them and not let the skin get charred! Tweet

Creamy Corn Korokke

I love korokke! Not so much those potato kinds, but the creamy ones that ooze with bechamel sauce and stuffed with corn nibblets. I used to over snack on those in Secondary school. Being in a foreign land brings out even the most distant cravings, and so I decided that it is time for a korokke that afternoon!

Luckily, making one doesn't require much ingredients and you probably have most of the stuff in your own kitchen. Although the origins of a korokke is not from Japan but France (korokke = croquette), it is has been deeply embraced by the Japanese and have since been modernised to include various stuffings. You can add to the bechamel sauce corn nibblets (like me), or crabmeat, tuna, etc. But whichever ingredients you decide to use, make sure that they are cut into small pieces. The last thing you want is a 3-inch crabmeat snaking its way out of your otherwise perfect korokke!

Creamy Corn Korokke
(makes 5 to 6 pieces, depending on the size of your korroke)

Ingredients
1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup all-purpose flour for the sauce, and some for dusting
440ml of milk, warmed (stir it over a low fire or place it in a hot water bath)
150g of corn nibblets
panko
1 egg, beaten
Canola oil
Salt and black pepper to taste

In a medium-sized saucepan, melt the butter with a little bit of oil over low heat. Blend in the flour and stir for about 2 minutes.

Remove the saucepan from heat. Make sure the sauce is not bubbling before pouring in the milk. Beat the mixture vigorously with a whisk to blend the milk thoroughly with the roux.

Set the saucepan over medium-high heat and bring it to a boil, stirring it constantly. Reduce the sauce until it is viscous and consistent, with no lumps. Add salt and pepper to taste. This is your homemade bechamel sauce. When you are satisfied with it, add in the corn nibblets, stir it through quickly and remove it from heat.

Pour your creamy corn mixture into a tray or container and set it aside to cool for a few minutes. Then, put it into your freezer until the mixture becomes semi-solid (it has to be manageable when you take it out to roll it in flour and panko).

Meanwhile, prepare pour out your panko onto a plate, and the flour onto another separate plate. Take out your creamy corn mixture and shape it into round balls, about 3-inch wide. Here's the process: Coat it with flour, then egg, and lastly panko. If your mixture is still somewhat creamy and you are pressed for time (like me), depending on the dexterity of your hand, you can still give it a shot, as long as the mixture is not falling apart all over your hands and you get a decent panko ball at the end.

Heat your oil on a skillet over high heat. You need at least oil that is half and inch deep to get a good crsip. Make sure that the oil is heated to about 365 F. My favourite way of checking this is using a wooden chopsticks. Just stick it in. If there are bubbles forming at the side, your oil is ready. If not, until it is. Make sure your wooden chopsticks/spoon is not coated with oil when you test, because you won't get those bubbles even if your oil is very hot.

Fry your korokke in the oil until each side is golden brown. I'd advise against putting all in at one shot, because you need space to flip your soft korokke in the pan, and you don't want to risk bursting it. In the event that it does burst, just continue frying and try not to let the cream spread too much into the oil. Putting two korokke into the pan at one time would be good.

So there you have it! Homemade creamy korokke! Best to pair it with an episode of The Simpsons like what the hubby and I did. :) Tweet

Sambal Goreng Udang

I'm really excited because a very special friend from Singapore is coming to visit today! :) So between sprucing up my place and a starving hubby, I didn't have much time to prepare lunch. So, pre-mix to the rescue!

Although I don't often use pre-mix, I don't think there is any shame in using it. Sure, it's a shortcut, but if you are very pressed for time, then why not?

This dish takes less than 15 minutes to make. In fact, I'd turn on my rice cooker and before the rice is done, the dish is ready! Easy peasy!

Sambal Goreng Udang

Ingredients
16 large prawns, shells removed
1 green capsicum
1/2 onion
1 tablespoon of canola oil
1/4 cup of water
one packet of Sambal Goreng pre-mix (I use Indofood brand)

Heat oil in skillet over high heat. Fry onions until fragrant then add the capsicums. Stir fry the capsicums until semi-soft.

Add the pre-mix into the skillet and fry for one minute. Add water and fry for until capsicums are tender before adding the prawns. If the sauce is too spicy for you, add a bit more water. If it is too watery, just reduce the sauce by saueting it further. Tweet

Spanish Eggs

If there's one thing I love in fall, it's piping hot breakfast on a chilly morning. That morning, I was reminscing about those spanish eggs I used to have at Jones The Grocer. I don't know about you, but I love my yolks runny. To me, a hard yolk mutes out the rich flavor of an egg. To combat the craving, I decided to make my own version of spanish eggs!

Although most recipes would call for ramekins, I don't own one so I decided to use my trusty skillet in place of it. Turns out to be a good substitute as you can see from the picture! It was so good that I just ate it off the skillet. Having said that, I think ramekins would be a great way to brown the parmesan cheese.

For those who prefer a meatier option, you might like to throw in some chorizos. 

Spanish Eggs
(serves 2)

Ingredients
4 eggs
1/2 a can of diced tomatoes
1/4 medium onion, finely chopped.
1 clove of garlic, finely chopped
2 stalks of fresh thyme, stem removed
2 stalks of fresh oregano
1 teaspoon of dried rosemary leaves or 1 big sprig of fresh rosemary
1 tablespoon of olive oil
2 tablespoons of freshly grated parmesan cheese
salt & black pepper to taste

Heat oil in a skillet over medium heat. Fry garlic and onions until fragrant.

Put in the chopped tomatoes and add a little salt and pepper to taste. When the sauce is bubbling, add in the herbs.

Cook the sauce for about five to eight minutes. Sprinkle the parmesan cheese and carefully crack two eggs on it. Cover the skillet and wait for the eggs to be cooked to your preferred doneness. Serve hot.
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