couple with a kitchen

Cooking Hiatus

2007-06-26T14:23:00.000Z

It has been 3 months since my return to London, and during this period of time, I believe that I have more or less exhausted the recipes I can cook from my two recent cookbooks. It's just a week more before I return to Singapore and for this time, I am just going to cook our favourite dishes from these cookbooks. They are:

1. Mediterranean fish stew
2. Lasagne
3. Pasta with proscuitto and mushrooms
4. Pasta with cherry tomatoes
5. Butternut squash risotto
6. Minestrone soup

And since I am going to be working back in Singapore for my stay, I don't foresee myself cooking much unless I have to do so for my "boss." But still, I wouldn't be experimenting with new dishes for such meals. So, the next real post will probably be in September and hopefully, I will have a number of new cookbooks to play with.

Parma ham wrapped chicken with a rich tomato sauce

2007-06-21T19:01:00.000Z

First cut chicken breasts (4) into 3 pieces. Wrap each piece in a slice of parma ham. Heat the oil in a frying pan and cook the chicken for 12-15 minutes till it's cooked. Remove from the pan. Add 1 finely chopped garlic and 3 spring onions chopped diagonally and cook for 2 minutes. Stir in a can of tomatoes, 1 tsp of lemon juice and creme fraiche. Bring to the boil, lower the heat and simmer covered for 3 minutes. Stir in 3 tbsp of parsley and a pinch of sugar. Season to taste. Return the chicken to the pan. Heat for 2-3 minutes. Serve with cooked pasta, and freshly grated parmesan cheese.

M's verdict: 7/10
N's verdict: 7/10

I tried reducing the amount of lemon juice from 1 lemon, to 1/2 a lemon but it's still not enough as the sourness of it, is simply too overpowering. That said. I love the combined taste of the parma ham and the chicken. I think with less lemon juice. this would be an 8.

Roasted butternut squash risotto

2007-06-20T19:25:00.000Z

First peel the butternut squash and chop it into 2 cm cubes. Pour 2 tbsp of olive oil into a roasting tin and place into preheated oven 190 degrees for minutes. Add the buttersquash and 5 cloves of garlic unpeeled and whole. Roast for 25-30 minutes. Cook 275g of arborio rice in olive oil at high heat for a few seconds. Add a pinch of saffron and 150 ml of white wine and bubble fiercely until the wine has evaporated. Meanwhile heat 1 litre of chicken stock in a separate saucepan and keep it at a steady simmer. Reduce the heat till low, and add the chicken stock ladle by ladle till the rice is cooked. Turn off the heat and stir in 1 tbsp of fresh parsley finely chopped, 1 tbsp of fresh oregano finely chopped, parmesan cheese and seasoning. Cover and leave to stand for 203 minutes. Remove the skins from the roasted garlic, add it to the risotto with the butternut squash and mix gently. Serve with parmesan cheese.

M's verdict: 8.5/10
N's verdict: 9/10

M thinks the seafood risotto is still better. I think they are the same. I like how the natural sweetness of the butternut squash complements the richer flavours of the cheese and saffron.

Shellfish stew

2007-06-20T13:07:00.000Z

After 4 weeks or so of cooking from the Italian cookbook, I took a break from it by using a recipe from my one-pot cookbook. Normally, the fish stews i cook are tomato based, I thought it would be interesting to try a cream based recipe. For this , first melt 50g of butter over moderate heat. Add 1 finely chopped garlic clove, 2 shallots finely chopped, 2 celery stick finely chopped, 1 large leek finely chopped and cook for 7-10 minutes until the vegetables are just soft. Add 250g of chestnut mushrooms and cook for another 4-5 minutes. Add 100 ml of white wine and 300ml of fish stock to the vegetable, add 1 bay leaf and bring to the simmer. Add diced salmon fillets, diced cod fish fillets and cook till the fish is opaque. Stir in 300ml of cream and some cooked mussels, prawns, crab sticks and squid and simmer for 2 minutes. Season and stir in 3 tbsp of finely chopped fresh parsley.

M's verdict: 8/10
N's verdict: 8/10

An interesting break from tomato based fish stews, delicious and rich. Unfortunately, it can't beat the complexity of the mediterranean fish stew.

Chicken and prawn stacked ravioli

2007-06-18T19:37:00.000Z

I think this is one of the prettiest dishes I have cooked. First heat olive oil in a large pan, add 1 finely chopped onion and 1 finely chopped garlic clove and cook for 5 minutes. Add 450g of cooked chicken pieces and fry for 4 min. Stir in 1 chopped tomato, deseeded, 150ml of white wine, 150ml of cream and bring to the boil. Lower the heat and simmer for 5 minutes until reduced and thickened. Stir in 250 g of cooked prawns, 2 tbsp of chopped fresh tarragon and season with salt and pepper. Heat the sauce through gently. Cook 8 lasagne sheets. Cut into half. For each plate, place 2 sheets and divide half the chicken mixture among them. Top each serving with a second sheet and divide the remainder among them. Top with a final layer of lasagne and serve immediately.

M's verdict: 9/10
N's verdict: 8/10

Nice and simple dish despite the 'ravioli' word. I like the mixtures of flavours, particularly, the tarragon and the tomatoes. Perfect as a starter for a three course meal.

Oven baked pork balls with peppers

2007-06-16T19:52:00.000Z

This is my first time making pork balls, and amazingly, they didn't distintegrate into little bits and pieces during the cooking process. First, mix 500 g of minced pork with 1 finely chopped garlic clove, 4 tbsp of fresh basil, finely chopped and 3 sundried tomatoes, finely chopped. Season with salt and pepper. With damp hands, roll the mixture into balls and reserve. Spoon 3 tbsp of olive in a large roasting tin and place in the preheated oven at 200 degrees for 3 minutes. Stir in the pork balls, 1 finely chopped garlic cloves, 3 peppers, cut into chunks and bake for 15 minutes. Remove from oven and stir in 225 g of cherry tomatoes, and season to taste. Bake for another 20 minutes. Remove the pork balls from oven and stir in 2 tbsp of balsamic vinegar. Serve with garlic bread.

M's verdict: 5/10
N's verdict: 8/10

M doesn't like the pork balls as the taste of the pork is too strong, overpowering. I don't have any problems with that. I quite like it as it is a mediterranean recipe, full of the natural flavours of the peppers and tomatoes. Too bad, M doesn't like it, but i am sure my parents will. I think this is definitely one of the dishes i will cook for them.

Seafood risotto

2007-06-13T20:30:00.000Z

First, fry 1 finely chopped onion in olive for 4 minutes until softened but not coloured. Add 120g of arborio rice and stir for minute. Slowly add 75ml of white wine. Bring to the boil and boil rapidly until reduced by half. Bring 700ml of fish stock to a gentle simmer, then add to the rice, a ladleful at a time. Cook, stirring frequently until the stock has been added and the rice is cooked. Add the seafood you like depending on how long it takes to cook them in the rice mixture although for fish, it's better to poach it or fry it separately before placing it on top of the risotto. Stir in 25 g of butter, 1 tbsp of freshly snipped chives, 1 tbsp of freshly chopped dill, 1 tbsp of freshly chopped parsley. Season with salt and pepper. Serve with freshly grated parmesan cheese.

M's verdict: 9/10
N's verdict: 9/10

This was a huge success. Light and not overly rich, it was light on the stomach. The trick for me, is not to use 'natural' chicken stock and to use stock cubes as you need quite a lot of seasoning to get the appropriate taste. Oh and don't be an idiot like me, when I cooked this for the second time, i forgot to descale the salmon. While the taste was still good, it wasn't that enjoyable biting into the scales.

Cream of butternut squash soup

2007-06-12T19:07:00.000Z

Cook 900g of butternut squash, peeled and cubed in olive oil for 2-3 minutes, coating it completely with oil. Add 1 finely chopped onion, 1 finely chopped leek, 1 finely chopped carrot, 4 garlic cloves finely chopped and 2 finely chopped celery sticks into the pan and cook for 5 minutes. Cover the vegetables with 1.7 litre of chicken stock and bring to the boil. Season with salt and pepper and 1/4 tsp of nutmeg. Cover and simmer for 15-20 minutes until all the vegetables are tender. Blend the mixture. (I like my soups to be a bit chunky, with bits and pieces of the vegetables so I don't blend it till it forms a smooth puree.) Adjust the seasoning, add 140 ml of cream. Bring the soup to boiling point, add 1/4 tsp of chilli powder and serve with a swirl of cream on top and warm bread.

M's verdict: 7/10
N's verdict: 7/10

Good, wholesome natural food. Excellent for a quick dinner. But as M points out, it's just a soup. Nothing exceptional about it, and so the maximum it can get is a 7.

Oatmeal and raisin cookies

2007-06-10T16:36:00.001Z

We were watching the movie 'Stranger than fiction' and Ana Pascal was making cookies for Harold Crick. That gave us the idea of making cookies. We spent quite a lot of time burning the first batch of cookies on Saturday but at least by the end of that day, we were more or less sure of the time required in the oven. On Sunday, it turned out pretty ok. This recipe is taken from the goodhousekeeping website.

Ingredients
1 cup all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup butter or margarine (1 stick), softened
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 large eggs
3 cups old-fashioned or quick-cooking oats, uncooked
1 1/2 cups raisins
Directions
1. Preheat oven to 220 degrees. Line large cookie sheet with nonstick foil (or use nonstick cookie sheet).

2. On waxed paper, combine flour, baking soda, and salt.

3. In large bowl, with mixer at medium speed, beat sugars and butter until creamy, occasionally scraping bowl with rubber spatula. Beat in vanilla, then eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. At low speed, gradually add flour mixture; beat just until blended, occasionally scraping bowl. With spoon, stir in oats and raisins.

4. Drop dough by heaping measuring teaspoons, 2 inches apart, onto prepared cookie sheet. Bake cookies for 6 minutes or until tops are golden. Cool cookies on cookie sheet 1 minute, then transfer to wire rack to cool completely. Repeat with remaining dough.

Baked codfish with anchovies and parmesan cheese

2007-06-09T19:46:00.000Z

A really interesting recipe from my Italian cookbook. I don't think I have had anything similar in my life. First, deskin 2 cod fillets. Divide them into half lengthwise. On each of these portions, place 1/2 tsp of chopped anchovies. If the anchovies are salted, soak them in water to get rid of the salt. Roll the fillets up from the thickest side and reserve. Pour boiling water oven 250 g of spinach and leave for 2 minutes. Drain and squeeze out as much moisture as possible. Place the spinach in the base of an ovenproof dish. Arrange 2 tomatoes sliced on top of the spinach. Arrange the fish on top and pour over 100ml of cream. Place 1 slice of wholemeal bread, and 25g of rocket in a food processor and blend until finely chopped. Stir in 25g of grated parmesan cheese. Sprinkle the topping over the fish and bake in preheated oven at 220 degrees for 16 minutes until the fish is cooked. Serve with freshly cooked pasta.

M's verdict: 8/10
N's verdict: 9/10

I really like this dish for its uniqueness and how the taste of the anchovies complement the simplier taste of the codfish. Need some practice cooking this dish, as the fish was undercooked. That's why i increased the time in the oven from 10 minutes (in the cookbook) to 16 minutes.

Herb baked chicken with tagliatelle

2007-06-08T21:54:00.000Z

A really simple dish to prepare, which doesn't require any frying. First place 3 chicken thighs on a baking dish. Season with salt and pepper. In a bowl, mix 1 and a half slices of wholemeal breadcrumbs, 1 tsp of oregano, 1 tbsp of sundried tomatoes paste and 1 tbsp of olive. Press the breadcrumbs onto the chicken thighs. In another bowl, mix 1 can of plum tomatoes, 1 tbsp of white wine and 1 tbsp of chopped fresh basil. Season with salt and pepper. Spoon the tomato mixture onto the sides of the chicken thighs in the baking dish. Place in a preheated oven 200 degrees and cook for 30 minutes. Serve with cooked tagliatelle.

M's verdict: 6/10
N's verdict: 7/10

M think it's boring. She likes the breadcrumbs though and that's probably why it's a 6 rather than a 5. I quite like this dish, it's simple, healthy and I do like the breadcrumbs as well.

Classic minestrone

2007-06-08T13:42:00.000Z

I have always thought that the distinctive taste of minestrone soup is from beef stock. I only realised that it is actually the bacon that gives it that wonderful flavour when I cooked it yesterday. First chop up 3 bacon rashers and fry it in butter and olive oil for 3-4 minutes. Leave the juices in the pan and add 1 large onion finely chopped, 1 garlic clove finely chopped, 1 celery stick finely chopped and 2 carrots finely chopped. Add one ingredient at a time, stirring well after each addition. Cover and cook gently for 8-10 minutes until the vegetables are softened. Add 1 can of chopped tomatoes, 1.1 litre of stock,bring to the boil, cover the saucepan, reduce the heat and simmer gently for 20 minutes. Stir in 175g of finely shredded green cabbage, 50 g of french beans, trimmed and halved and 50 g of spaghetti pieces. Cover and simmer for another 20 minutes. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Return the bacon to the soup, bring it the boil and serve with crusty bread.

M's verdict: 8/10
N's verdict: 8/10

M really likes the soup, she said that it was extremely savoury, full of the taste of the various vegetables. Of course, she may be biased as she had the soup at 3am, having had no dinner previously. I enjoyed the soup as well, and at least in my view, it did taste exactly like minestrone soup. The recipe requires 3 tbsp of peas as well but as M abhors peas, it's not in my cooking. So if you like them, by all means add them.

Gnocchi and parma ham bake

2007-06-06T18:34:00.000Z

Cook 1 finely chopped onion and 2 finely chopped garlic cloves in olive oil for 5 minutes till softened. Stir in 175g of plum tomatoes, peeled and skinned, 2 tbsp sundried tomatoes paste and 250g of cream cheese. Season with salt and pepper. Add 1/2tbsp of finely chopped fresh tarragon. Bring to the boil and lower the heat, simmer for 5 minutes. Add cooked gnocchi to a large oven proof dish. Add the tomato sauce and toss gently to coat the pasta. Combine 125 g of finely grated cheddar cheese, 50g of white breadcrumbs and 1/2 tbsp of fresh tarragon. Scatter over the pasta mixture. Top with 50 g of parma ham and 10 halved pitted green olives. Cook in preheated oven at 180 degrees for 25 minutes until golden and bubbling.

M's verdict: 7/10
N's verdict: 7/10

Very intense tomato taste. I find it too strong. M is fine with it. I like the texture of the gnocchi which becomes something like mashed potatoes after its time in the oven. The parma ham is a nice crisp topping for this dish. The key problem is the olives. I think I should have washed the olives to get rid of the brine as it gave a sour flavour to the overall package.

Mushroom risotto

2007-06-05T12:57:00.000Z

I had the most wonderful mushroom risotto at Marcus Wareing at The Savoy. It was rich, full of the taste of mushrooms, yet light: it didn't feel heavy on the stomach. And of course, as I mentioned in the entry on this restaurant, it had a poached egg on top, an interesting complement to the mushrooms. Well, as you all would expect, I decided to try to make mushroom risotto. This recipe is taken from the BBC website.

Ingredients
1 tbsp dried porcini mushrooms
2 tbsp olive oil
1 onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
225g/8oz chestnut mushrooms, sliced
350g/12oz arborio rice
150ml/¼ pint dry white wine
1.2 litres/2 pints hot vegetable stock
2 tbsp chopped fresh parsley
25g/1oz butter
salt and freshly ground black pepper
freshly grated parmesan cheese, to serve

Method
1. Soak the mushrooms in hot water for 10 minutes, then drain well. Heat the oil in a large, heavy based saucepan and add the onion and garlic. Fry over a gentle heat for 2-3 minutes, until softened. Add the mushrooms and fry for a further 2-3 minutes, until browned.
2. Stir in the rice and coat in the oil. Pour in the wine and simmer, stirring, until the liquid has
been absorbed. Add a ladleful of the stock and simmer, stirring again, until the liquid has been absorbed. Continue adding the stock in this way, until all the liquid has been absorbed and the rice is plump and tender.
3. Roughly chop the soaked mushrooms and stir into the risotto, along with the parsley, butter and salt and pepper. Serve with freshly grated Parmesan cheese.

M's verdict: 6/10
N's verdict: 7/10

The texture of the risotto was perfect, at least to me, and it wasn't the ridiculously creamy kind normally served at Italian restaurants in England. The problem was, unfortunately, the taste, which is my fault, I guess. Or the supermarket's fault actually. They were out of dried porcini mushrooms. As an alternative, I just grabbed a packet of dried wild mushrooms and it simply didn't have the intense flavours associated with porcini mushrooms. I will have to try and make this dish again with porcini mushrooms to see whether I can recreate that taste i savoured at Marcus Wareing. Oh and there's no poached egg, as well, I am embarassed to say this, I can't seem to poach eggs.

Tagliatelle with chicken, asparagus and mushrooms

2007-06-03T18:30:00.000Z

This is my first time cooking with asparagus. It has been always been an enigmatic vegetable to me. It just looks so different and tastes so different from everything else. For this recipe, first melt 1 tbsp of butter in a frying pan, then add 2 spring onions chopped and 180 g of diced chicken. Fry for 2 minutes. Add 8 chopped chestnut mushrooms and continue frying for 2 minutes. Add 1 tbsp of white wine and allow to reduce. Pour in 150 ml of cream and 1 tbsp of chopped chives. Cook gently for 5-7 until the sauce has thickened and the chicken is tender. Mix in cooked tagliatelle, toss and mix thoroughly. Serve with freshly grated parmesan cheese.

M's verdict: 5/10
N's verdict: 5/10

Was hoping the asparagus added a special taste to the sauce but it turned out to be an average creamy pasta. Nothing exceptional.

Traditional lasagne

2007-05-30T19:08:00.000Z

Garfield's favourite food and one of my brother's as well I think: lasagne. Another traditional Italian recipe to master for my education in Italian cuisine. Cook 2 slices of smoked bacon and 250 g of lean beef mince for 10 minutes. Add 2 celery sticks finely chopped, 1/2 onion finely chopped, 8 button mushrooms finely chopped and 1 carrot finely chopped. Cook for 4 minutes. Add 1 tbsp of flour and 1 garlic clove finely chopped. Mix well and cook for 1 minute. Add 1 tsp of mixed herbs, 1 cup of beef stock and 3 tbsp of tomato puree. Bring to the boil, cover and simmer for 45 minutes.

Meanwhile, melt 30g of butter in a small pan and stir in 3 tbsp of flour, 1 tsp of English mustard and a pinch of nutmeg until well blended. Cook for 2 minutes. Remove from heat and gradually blend in 2 cups of milk until smooth. Return to the heat and bring to the boil, stirring until thickened. Gradually stir in 30 grams of grated cheddar cheese and 30 grams of grated parmesan cheese until melted. Season to taste.

Spoon half the meat mixture into the base of an ovenproof dish. Top with a single layer of precooked lasagne sheets. Spread over half the white sauce, and scatter more parmesan and grated cheese. Repeat the layers finishing with the cheese. Bake in a preheated oven, at 200 degrees for 30 minutes, or until the pasta is cooked the top is golden brown and bubbly.

M's verdict: 9/10
N's verdict: 9/10

Need to make sure the pasta sheets are properly cooked though.

Pasta with spicy red pepper and anchovy sauce

2007-05-29T18:38:00.000Z

Another simple and quick recipe to prepare. First roast 2 red peppers under a grill, until the peppers are charred and soft. Remove the skins and chop finely. In a pan, fry 1/2 a finely chopped onion with olive oil for 5 minutes. Add 2 garlic cloves finely chopped, 4 anchovy fillets and 1 finely chopped chilli and continue cooking for 5 minutes. Add the red peppers, a can of chopped tomatoes and the juice of half a lemon. Mix well. Bring to the boil and simmer for 5 minutes. Add 1 tbsp of fresh basil and serve with cooked pasta and freshly grated parmesan cheese.

M's verdict: 7/10
N's verdict: 6/10

It's a bit plain but i guess that's what you get for a simple meal.

Chicken cacciatore

2007-05-29T12:24:00.000Z

I have been experimenting with different recipes for Chicken and tomato casseroles, to find out which is the best and whether I can combine elements of it together to form what i consider the perfect chicken and tomato casserole. So far, I have chicken chasseur, chicken with olives, capers and tomatoes, chicken and porcini casserole, chicken with chorizo and now chicken cacciatore, the Italian version of this recipe. I think the conclusion so far is that the chicken and porcini casserole is the best.

Anyway, for this recipe, first fry 125 g of diced bacon in olive oil for 2-3 minutes till they are golden brown and crispy. Reserve. Brown chicken pieces dredged in seasoned flour for around 15 minutes. Reserve. Stir 2 cloves of chopped garlic into the pan and cook for about 30 seconds. Add 125 ml of red wine and cook. Bring to the boil and reduce by half. Add 1 can of chopped tomatoes, 150 ml of chicken stock, 12 small oinions, 1 bay leaf, 1 tsp of brown sugar, 1 tsp of dried oregano and stir well. Season to taste. Return the chicken and bacon to the pan and bring to boil. Cover and simmer for 20 minutes. Stir in 1 green pepper, deseeded and chopped and 225g of mushrooms. Simmer for 15-20 minutes till the chicken and vegetables are tender. Serve with pasta.

M's verdict: 6/10
N's verdict: 5/10

A very average chicken and tomato casserole.

Pasta with broccoli and bacon sauce

2007-05-25T19:43:00.000Z

Something less rich and filling for dinner today. First, cook 450g of broccoli florets in boiling water for 8 minutes. Drain, allow to cool and chop finely. Cook 50g chopped bacon in olive oil for 5 minutes till brown and crisp. Add 1 chopped small onion and cook for 5 minutes. Add 2 finely sliced garlic cloves and cook for 1 minute. Add broccoli to the bacon mixture. Add 200 ml of milk. Bring slowly to the boil, simmer for 15 minutes. Add cooked pasta to the sauce and mix well. Season with salt and pepper. Serve with freshly grated parmesan cheese.

M's verdict: 5/10

Because M doesn't really like broccoli

N's verdict: 6/10

Spaghetti Bolognese

2007-05-25T13:03:00.000Z

My self taught education in Italian cuisine (well I hope the recipes in my Italian cookbook are authentic) cannot be complete without one of the most traditional Italian recipes: Spaghetti Bolognese. I don't normally order this dish in restaurants as they tend to taste artificial with lots of preservatives and I am glad that mine turned out bursting with natural flavours.

First, saute 450g of minced beef and 125g of smoked bacon until browned. Add 1 finely chopped carrot, 3 finely chopped celery sticks, 1 finely chopped onion and 2 finely chopped garlic cloves. Cook for 3 minutes until the vegetables are soft. Add 1 tbsp of flour and cook for 1 min. Add 150ml of red wine, 1 can of chopped tomatoes, 2 tsp of mixed herbs and 1 tsp of sugar. Season with salt and pepper. Bring to the boil, cover and simmer for 45 minutes. Spoon over cooked spaghetti the sauce, garnish with oregano leaves and serve with freshly grated parmesan cheese.

M's verdict: 9/10
N's verdict: 9/10

It's something I don't mind cooking for guests.

Creamy chicken and chorizo pasta

2007-05-23T19:19:00.000Z

So far, this has been a week of rich flavours. For today, it is the combination of the intense taste of smoked spanish sausage: chorizo, red wine and cream cheese. First, pan fry 3 shallots for 3 minutes till the shallots are golden. Set aside. Next, brown 4 chicken thighs for around 5 minutes. Reserve. Pan fry chestnut mushrooms and chorizo for 3 minutes till brown. Set aside. Add the chorizo, chicken and shallots to the pan. Add 1 tbsp of chopped fresh thyme, 1 chopped garlic clove and 1 tbsp of paprika. Cook for 1 minute. Add 75 ml of red wine and 150 ml of chicken stock. Season with black pepper. Bring to the boil, lower the heat and simmer, covered for 15 minutes. Add the mushrooms and continue simmering for 15 minutes until the chicken is tender. Add in 200g of cream cheese, stir well and heat gently. Serve with pasta.

M's verdict: 6/10

Because it's too smoky.

N's verdict: 7/10

I absolutely love the taste of chorizo but it's not a dish you can eat on a regular basis as it's really heavy.

Mediterranean fish stew

2007-05-22T19:35:00.000Z

No more mediterranean fish soup for us. I have discovered that that soup is just the basics of fish soup. This is the real stuff, a much more complex blend of different flavours. In a saucepan, cook 1 finely chopped onion, 1 finely chopped fennel, 3 finely chopped celery sticks and 5 garlic cloves thinly sliced in olive oil at low heat for 15 minutes until the vegetables are soft and beginning to brown. Add 1 can of chopped tomatoes, 1 tsp of mixed herbs, 1 bay leaf, 1 tbsp of fresh oregano finely chopped, 1 tsp of saffron strands and the juice of 1 orange. Bring to the boil and simmer for 5 minutes. Add 3 tbsp of white wine and 750 ml of fish stock, bring to the boil and simmer for 20 minutes. Add 500g of fish ( I used cod fish and salmon, cut into 5cm cubes) and simmer for 3 minutes. Add 225g of prawns and continue cooking for 5 minutes. Serve with crusty bread.

M's verdict: 9/10
N's verdict: 9/10

It's my best fish dish so far.

Gnocchi with grilled cherry tomatoes sauce

2007-05-19T10:52:00.000Z

Jamie Oliver and Gordon Ramsay have been complaining about how people don't bother to cook their meals these days, relying on frozen meals and takeaways instead. Well, this dish is really quick and easy to prepare. You can do it in 15-20 minutes. Place 500g of cherry tomatoes (halved lengthwise) in a shallow flameproof casserole dish. Add 1 tbsp of chopped basil, 1 tbsp of chopped thyme, 1 tbsp of lemon juice, 1/2 tsp of sugar, 2 tbsp of olive oil and 2 thinly sliced garlic cloves. Mix well. Cook under a pre-heated grill for 10 minutes or until the tomatoes are charred and soft, stirring once or twice. Serve with cooked gnocchi and grated parmesan cheese.

M's verdict: 7/10
N's verdict: 6/10

I added too much lemon. The recipe requires the zest of half a lemon. I think it's way too much so I have now reduced it to just 1 tbsp of lemon juice

Pasta with proscuitto and mushrooms

2007-05-17T18:13:00.000Z

I used to dislike the taste of parmesan cheese until I realised that the taste of freshly grated parmesan cheese is completely different from the packet ones. For this dish, place dried porcini mushrooms in a small bowl and pour over hot chicken stock. Leave to soak for 15-20 minutes until the mushrooms have softened. Heat olive oil in a large frying pan, add 1 finely chopped small onion and cook for 5 minutes over a medium heat until the onion is soft. Add 2 finely chopped garlic cloves and cook for 1 minute. Add roughly chopped prosciutto, (it's a kind of italian ham) and cook for a further minute. Drain the porcini mushrooms and reserve the liquid. Roughly chop and add to the frying pan together with fresh mushrooms and cook for 5 minutes or until softened. Pour the reserved liquid into the pan. Stir in 3 tbsps of creme fraiche and chopped parsley and heat gently. Season with salt and pepper and serve with pasta and top with grated parmesan cheese.

M's verdict: 8/10
N's verdict: 8/10

Simple yet flavoursome dish.

Pasta and pork ragu

2007-05-17T12:30:00.000Z

I first tried pork ragu at Angela Hartnett at The Connaught and I was quite impressed with the dish. So, I was delighted to find it in my new Italian cookbook. First, fry 1 leek (trimmed and thinly sliced) in a frying pan with sunflower oil, stirring frequently for around 5 minutes till soft. Add 225 g of pork fillet (diced) and cook, stirring for 4 minutes. Add 1 crushed garlic clove, 2 tsp of paprika and 1/4 tsp of chilli powder to the pan and stir until the pork is lightly coated in the garlic and pepper mixture. Pour in 150 ml of white wine and 450 mil of chicklen stock. Add 4 chopped sundried tomatoes and 2 carrots diced. Season with salt and pepper. Bring the sauce to the boil, lower the heat and simmer till the carrots are cooked. Add cooked pasta to the pork ragu, drizzle some extra virgin olive oil over it, toss well and adjust the seasoning. Serve with chopped parsley and freshly grated parmesan cheese.

M's verdict: 5/10

Because M doesn't like pork.

N's verdict: 7/10

Chicken with porcini mushrooms

2007-05-15T18:38:00.000Z

I first cooked this a few years ago when I bought this Italian cookbook from The Works in Nottingham for my mom. Interestingly, it was also the first time I cooked for an audience; it was a Christmas dinner party at my uncle's place. So when I took this book, from my mom, back to London, it's one of the first recipes from it that I wanted to cook from it as I recall it was quite popular at the dinner.

Fry brown 5 chicken thighs (deboned) with olive oil in a frying pan. Remove the chicken and reserve. Add two crushed garlic, stir into the juiices and cook for 1 minute. Pour around 1/2 cup of white wine into the pan and season to taste with salt and pepper. Return to the chicken to the pan. Bring to the boil, reduce the heat to low and simmer for about 20 minutes. In another frying pan, heat some butter and add 15g of porcini mushrooms (hydrated with boiling water for 20 minutes previously) and 400 grams of mushrooms. Fry for around 5 minutes or until the mushrooms are golden. Add the mushrooms to the chicken. Season to taste, then add 1 tbsp of chopped fresh oregano. Stir together gently and cook for 1 more minute. Serve with rice or pasta.

The dish has a strong white wine taste so if you don't like such flavour, this dish isn't recommended.

Chicken and porcini casserole

2007-05-09T12:39:00.000Z

I love using porcini mushrooms. There's a certain richness that it generates in stews and soups, that you can't get from normal button/chestnut mushrooms. For this recipe, place 20g of porcini mushrooms in a bowl and cover with 1/4 cup of boiling water. Leave for 5 minutes until the mushrooms are fully hydrated. Lightly toss 1.5 kg of chicken pieces in 1/4 cup of seasoned plain flour to coat. Heat oil in pan and cook the chicken over medium heat in batches until browned. Set aside. Add 1 chopped onion and 2 cloves of chopped garlic to the pan and cook for 3-5 minutes. Stir in 1/4 cup of chicken stock. Return the chicken to the pan with the porcini mushrooms and the liquid. Add 1/3 cup of white wine, 1 can of chopped tomatoes, 1 tbsp of balsamic vinegar, 3 sprigs of thyme and 1 bay leave. Cover and simmer for 30 minutes. After 30 minutes, add 300g of field mushrooms. Cook, uncovered for 20 minutes until the sauce thickens. Serve with pasta.

Beef carbonnade

2007-05-07T20:42:00.000Z

Yet another recipe from the One Pot cookbook. First, preheat the oven to 180 degrees. Brown beef chunks (1kg) with butter and olive oil. Remove from the pan. Cook 2 sliced onions, and 2 crushed garlic cloves at medium heat for 4 minutes. Add 2 tbsp of plain flour, stir well and cook for 1 minute. Combine 1 1/2 cups of brown ale with 1 1/2 cup of water and add to the pan. Stir well, bring to the boil and return the meat to the pan. Add bouquet garni, season with salt and pepper, and return to the boil. Transfer to a casserole dish, cover well with foil and cook in the oven for 2 1/2 hours. Spread French bread slices with dijon mustard and butter. Place bread on stew, and cook uncovered for 20 minutes until the bread becomes crusty.

Balti chicken

2007-05-04T12:57:00.000Z

I am on a roll, this week. The One Pot cookbook is really excellent, so far I have cooked 5 recipes from it, and they all turned out pretty well. For Balti chicken, first fry 1 diced onion over high heat for 5 minutes until softened but not browned. Add 4 cloves of garlic finely chopped and 1 tbsp of grated ginger and continue frying for 3 minutes over medium heat. Add 2 tsp of ground cumin, 2 tsp of ground coriander, 1 tsp of ground tumeric, 1/2 tsp of chilli powder, 1 tsp of salt and 1/4 cup of water. Increase the heat to high and stir fry for 2 minnutes until the mixture has thickened. (Don't burn it!) Add 1 can of chopped tomatoes and 1 cup of water and cook, stirring often for 10 minutes until the mixture is thick and pulpy. Add 1 kg of chopped chicken thigh fillets, reduce the heat and simmer for 15 minutes. Add 1 diced capsicum and 1 diced chilli and simmer for 25 minutes until the chicken is tender. Stir in 4 tbsp of chopped coriander and 2 chopped springs onions. Serve with rice or in our case, prata!

Pork, coriander and potato stew

2007-05-03T12:57:00.000Z

I used to abhor and detest coriander but recently i have started to move towards a nonchalance about it with the carrot and coriander soup i had on a regular basis at the Uni's cafeteria. I am actually even cooking with it now. I am really getting old. Anyway, this is the second of the four recipes I had planned for this week, pork coriander and potato stew as taken from my one pot cook book.

First marinate pork fillet cubes (800g) with 1 1/2tbsp coriander seeds (crushed) and 1/2 tsp of cracked balck pepper. Season with salt. Leave to marinate in the fridge overnight. Toss the pork in 1 tbsp of plain flour and brown the pork over high heat. Remove from the pan. Add 1 diced onion and 2 chopped potatoes to the pan and cook over medium heat for around 3-4 minutes. Return the pork to the pan and add 1 1/2 cup fo red wine, 1 cup of chicken stock and 1 tsp of sugar. Add 1 tbsp of chopped fresh coriander. Bring to the boil, reduce the heat and cover and simmer for 1 hour. Serve with fresh coriander.

Saffron chicken and rice

2007-05-02T12:26:00.000Z

It's been two weeks since I returned from Singapore/Paris. Been sorting out some administrative matters and I haven't really settled back into a routine of cooking till this week. Last two weeks, I have been cooking old favourite recipes, just to get myself reacquainted with my london kitchen. So this week, I have bought the ingredients for four new recipes, taken from the two cookbooks that I brought from Singapore. For this post, it's Saffron chicken and rice, taken from Favourite One-Pot recipes, a present from my mom.

First brown 6 chicken thighs with olive oil at high heat. Then remove them from the pan. Next, at medium heat, cook gently 1 diced onion and 1 diced green pepper for five minutes. Stir in some paprika and cook for 30 seconds. Add 1 can of chopped tomatoes and simmer for 1-3 minutes till it thickens. Stir in 3 1/2 cups of boiling water, add 1 1/4 cups of rice and 1/2 tsp of ground saffron. Stir to combine. Season with salt and pepper, bring to the boil, reduce the heat and simmer for 20 minutes, till the liquid has been absorbed and the chicken is tender.

Baked salmon with fresh herbs and lemon

2007-03-25T05:06:00.000Z

Saw this on a JO show. First, scatter salt, black pepper and lemon rind on a chopping board. Drizzle some olive oil on it. Place the salmon fillet on the board. Place some fresh dill, basil and parsley on top of the fish. Place another piece of salmon on top of it. Season with more salt and pepper. Drizzle more olive oil. Place some lemon slices on top of the salmon and bake in the oven, 180 degree for around 15-20 minutes.

Penne with pan fried chicken and capers

2007-03-21T05:14:00.000Z

If you like pesto, this is the dish for you. First, mix in a bag, 25g plain flour, salt and pepper. Add diced chicken breast (4) and mix well. Fry the chicken with olive until the pieces are golden brown. Set aside. Add 1 sliced red onion and 1 chopped garlic to the pan and cook for 5 min until softened. Return the chicken to the pan and add 5 tbsp of pesto and 200g of cream cheese. Stir and mix well. Then add 1 tsp of whole grain mustard, 1 tbsp of lemon juice, 2 tbsp of chopped basil and 1-2 tbsp of capers. Mix cooked penne with sauce and serve with shavings of parmesan cheese.

Chickpea and chorizo stew

2007-03-19T21:22:00.000Z

A Nigel Slater recipe in the Guardian magazine.

2-3 tbsp of olive oil
2 large onions
4 cloves garlic
3 chorizo sausages - about 400g
crushed dried chillies
a glass of dry sherry, vermouth or white wine
5 or 6 decent-sized tomatoes
2 x 400g tins of chickpeas
small bunch of parsley

Warm the olive oil in a deep, heavy-based pan. I use a cast-iron casserole. Peel the onions, roughly chop them and add them to the oil, stirring to coat them, then letting them cook at a moderate heat. Peel the garlic, slice it thinly and stir it into the onions. Leave to cook, partially covered by a lid, until the onions are soft and pale gold.

Cut each sausage into about four fat chunks. Mix these in with the softened onions, then add a teaspoon or so of crushed, dried chillies.Pour in a glass of dry sherry, vermouth or white wine and bring it to an enthusiastic bubble. Chop the tomatoes roughly, add them and bring them to the boil. Add the chickpeas, drained and rinsed, then pour in a can of water. Season with salt and black pepper, bring to the boil, then turn down to a simmer and leave to cook slowly, half-covered with a lid, for 45 minutes.

I would give it a stir from time to time, and check the liquor levels.What you want to end up with is a rich, brick-red sauce with a spiciness from the chillies and chorizo.

Just before serving, chop the parsley, roughly, then stir into the stew. Serve in shallow bowls.

Spring onion pastry

2007-03-19T08:32:00.000Z

Crystal Jade Xiao Long Bao has excellent spring onion pastries, and according to l, this restaurant at Tiong Bahru has it as well. I have been there before, around eight years but I can't remember whether it's that good. I have always had the impression that it was difficult to make but thankfully it isn't. My mom came to me one day and said that it was really easy to make and that I should try it. And I did. I have to confess, I didn't really participate in most of the steps. The preparation of the dough, with flour, water and oil, I watched my mom while she did it. Neither did I season the spring onions with salt and oil. But the preparation of the pastry, I made a number of them.

It was perfect in all aspects except the taste, we added too much salt but i guess that's an easy thing to remedy.

150 g sifted plain flour. Pour slowly into the centre of the flour, 150 ml warm water, and mix well. add 2 tbsp of oil and knead till smooth. Cover with moist kitchen towel for 15 minutes. 150 grams of spring onions, add 1/2 tsp of salt before adding 2 tbsp of oil, mix well. Roll the dough

Baked salmon and mushrooms linguine

2007-03-05T10:39:00.000Z

My Italian craze continues although I suspect that it might end when I visit Paris in April. First, poach salmon fillets (deskinned) in simmering water seasoned with salt and pepper for around 6-8 minutes. Flake the salmon into a dish and keep warm. Melt 3 tbsp of butter at low heat and add 3 tbsp of flour. Pour in 300 ml of chicken stock and whisk until the sauce has thickened. Pour in 150 ml of whipping cream. Pan fry chopped mushrooms in butter for around 2-3 minutes and add them to the white sauce. Pour half of the sauce into a pan of al dente linguine and spoon the pasta onto a oiled baking dish. Add the flaked salmon into the rest of the white sauce and pour over the pasta. Sprinkle some breadcrumbs and grated cheddar over the pasta and bake in a pre-heated oven at 190 degrees for 15-20 minutes. Serve with parsley.

Pork chops with apples and sage

2007-03-03T05:31:00.000Z

I am getting quite tired of the crockery at my London apartment, and so it's refreshing to be using my mom's kitchenware in Singapore. My grandaunt gave her a set of rectangular dishes, the ones you see in posh restaurants and I have been using them ever since.

This is another of JO's recipes. His new cookbook is actually not too bad, there are some interesting recipes that I would like to try in the future. Pan fry pork chops, seasoned with salt, pepper and dried sage in olive oil, till they are brown on both sides. Place the pork chops in a baking dish and fry sliced apples and chopped sage for around 2 minutes. Place the apples and sage on top of the pork, season, and drizzle some olive oil over. Add a knob of butter on top of each pork chop and bake in the oven at 200 degrees for 8 minutes.

Penne with mixed peppers and bacon

2007-02-28T05:05:00.000Z

These days, in Singapore, I rather spend my time at home, cooking then to venture out and mingle with the crowds. My mom has a whole lifetime's worth of cookbooks and I have been poring over them, looking for interesting recipes to try out. I do enjoy cooking for my family, and I have some friends coming over for dinner in the next couple of weeks.

This recipe is from an Italian cookbook I got for my mom from the UK, a few years ago. It's simple and the flavour of the bacon blends well with that of the roasted peppers. First, roast three peppers, yellow, red and green under the grill until the skin is blackened and blistered. Place them in a ziploc bag and allow them to cool. The skin should fall off easily. Remove the skin and thinly slice the peppers. Next, fry chopped celery, bacon, onions and garlic for 4 -5 minutes till the onions are soft. Add peppers and continue frying for 1 minute.Pour in some chicken stock and simmer for 20 minutes. Mix in cooked penne and serve with chopped parsley and grated parmesan cheese.

North sea fish soup

2007-02-26T07:21:00.000Z

This is an excellent alternative to the mediterranean fish soup. Instead of a tomato base, this soup uses cream and egg yolk to give it a silky finish. First, bring 60 ml of white wine, 600 ml fish stock and 2 chopped shallots to the boil. Add in around 500 g of fish, prawns and scallops. I used salmon for this. Simmer for around ten minutes till they are cooked. Mix together 1 egg yolk and 1 tbsp of cream. Remove the soup from the heat and mix in the cream mixture. Add in one peeled, seeded and chopped tomato, chopped parsley and serve with croutons.

Baked fish with home made tomato sauce, capers, olives and mozzarella cheese

2007-02-23T11:17:00.000Z

I have been really busy for the last month or so, preparing for the viva and my return to Singapore. I am now back, and instead of cooking for M, I am now cooking for my parents. I will continue posting pictures of my cooking here in Singapore, although technically speaking, they are not really appropriate for this webpage, since it's food for my parents. But I shan't be pedantic about this.

For today's dinner, I baked some white fish fillets. I am not too sure what fish it is, as it's my mom's selection and not mine. This is a Jamie Oliver recipe. First, gently fry some chopped garlic, dried oregano, chopped basil stalks and chilli in olive oil till they are fragrant. Pour in a can of plum tomatoes. Do not break up the tomatoes as according to JO, the seeds will make the sauce bitter. Simmer for around thirty minutes and add in basil leaves and 1/2 tbsp of balsamic vinegar. Season with salt and pepper. Pour the tomato sauce into a baking dish, and place the fish fillets on top. Season lightly with salt, black pepper and some lemon juice. Scatter some olives and capers over the fish. Drizzle over the the fish some extra virgin olive oil. Sprinkle some mozzarella cheese over the fish and bake in the oven at 200 degrees for around 15-20 minutes till the cheese is brown.

Chicken with paprika, garlic and lemon

2007-02-08T13:54:00.000Z

Been busy preparing for my viva tomorrow, and so I was unable to cook anything complex. This chicken dish is simple and quick, it can be done in under 20 minutes. Simply fry diced chicken with shallots, crushed garlic, paprika and diced capsicums till the chicken is brown and cooked. Add in the juice of a lemon and some fresh parsley. Season with salt and pepper and serve with cooked pasta. Done.

Avocado pesto linguine

2007-02-03T12:47:00.000Z

I've been sick for the last week or so, fever and cough. Thankfully, M was there and she took good care of me. She cooked sukiyaki for me and it turned out pretty well. So I haven't been cooking for quite some time. This pasta dish is probably my first serious comeback in the kitchen. It's a Waitrose recipe and honestly, they do have some interesting stuff around. For this dish all you need to do is blend 1 avocado, deseeded and chopped, the juice of a 1/4 of a lemon, 1 chilli, deseeded and chopped, 25g of fresh flat parsley, 40 g of fresh basil, 25 g of hard italian cheese, 1 garlic clove and 1 tbsp of olive oil, add it to cooked linguine and mix well. And amazingly, that's it.

Normandy pork with crusty bread

2007-01-23T15:05:00.000Z

This is another recipe from the BBC website. As always, just click on the title of this entry for the recipe. I modified the recipe by quite a bit. I added fresh mushrooms and carrots to the casserole, and I added a bit of cream to the sauce before I baked it under the grill. I also sprinkled some cheese on top of it before I served the dish to M. The taste of this dish is alright, although it would be much better, if instead of condensed mushroom soup, chicken stock and porcini mushrooms or any other strong tasting mushrooms were used as the base for the casserole. I would also add more cream to it. I will experiment more with this recipe one day.

Belgos

2007-01-22T15:08:00.000Z

Since I moved to London, there is one restaurant that I have been to, more often than any other eating places here, and that's Belgos, a Belgium seafood restaurant. Last weekend, we were there for dinner. Belgos is clearly a very popular venue as even though we were there at 6pm, there was a 1 hour waiting period as we were without a reservation. We had to walk around Covent Garden for a while. The starters were as unexceptional as ever. We ordered chicken liver pate, cheese sticks and a smoked haddock and potato soup. There's nothing really much I can say about them. The only reason why anyone should go to Belgos is the 1kg Steamed Mussel Pots. We ordered the Green Thai Curry, and the Traditional (white wine sauce) mussel pots. The portions were as enormous as ever, they are 1 kg each after all and the mussels were large and juicy. For 12 pounds, this is actually quite a good deal for seafood in London.

M's favourite food: Rosti

2007-01-21T16:50:00.000Z

This is undeniably M's favourite food: Rosti and to be precise, creme fraiche since, as you can see in the picture, she's perfectly capable of eating a spoonful of creme fraiche without anything else to eat it with. This is, therefore, one of those recipes that M forces me to make, on a very regular basis. I think it's three times in a week so far. She bugs me so often about it that she's actually willing to make it herself when I refuse to do so. But sadly, she is not very receptive to instructions. To cook this, you have to first grate the potato and mix it with melted butter then season it with salt and pepper. Then, you are supposed to fry it with olive oil until the potato is crispy and cooked on both sides. Unfortunately, she has an unhealthy obsession with butter and so she decided to fry it with butter instead of olive oil. What happened was that the butter turned brown rapidly, burning the rosti in the process. She was quite distraught to find a blackened rosti when she removed it from the pan.

Thankfully, I can follow instructions and so it looks perfectly fine today.

Spaghetti carbonara

2007-01-19T13:18:00.000Z

I have always assumed that carbonara sauce requires the use of cream, and so I was quite surprised to find a recipe that omits it. This is taken from the BBC website. I am just going to cut and paste the recipe here.

Ingredients
½ pack fresh spaghetti
¼ pack wild mushrooms
30g/1oz butter
2 egg yolks
50g/1½oz parmesan cheese

Method
1. Cook the spaghetti in plenty of boiling salted water for 3 to 4 minutes.
2. Fry the mushrooms in the butter, until they darken and release their juices.
3. In a bowl lightly beat together the yolks, parmesan cheese and season with salt and freshly ground black pepper.
4. Stir the fried mushrooms into the egg mixture.
5. Drain the pasta, add to the sauce and stir immediately.

I added a bit of fresh parsley as a contrast to the richness of the cheese, and also to get rid of it since it's expiring soon. By the way, M says that this is fake carbonara as there's no cream. I am just going to ignore her.

Eat Thai

2007-01-14T23:36:00.000Z

We were back at St Christopher's place today to meet M's friend from Singapore and we found a Thai restaurant there that we are likely to frequent from now on. It's called Eat Thai. Click on the title of this entry to get to their webpage. The restaurant itself has a simple layout; no gaudy statues of Buddhas or monkeys on tables or hanging on walls. It's just white, minimalist decor: tables and chairs; the bare minimum. You can tell that this is the kind of furnishing that I prefer.

We ordered special seafood cakes served with sweet chilli sauce, steamed king scallops with red curry paste, coconut cream, egg, palm sugar, fish sauce, basil leaves and kaffir lime leaves and green curry with chicken. There's not much I can say about the seafood cakes and the green curry except that it's competently cooked; for me, I can't tell the difference between exceptional green curry and average green curry. I can only tell when it's mediocre. The scallops, on the other hand, were impressive. The scallops were fresh and meaty. Served on their shells, they came with a rich red curry paste. I have never contemplated eating scallops with red curry paste and I was pleasantly surprised that it was an excellent combination. Egg white was drizzled on top of the paste and I think it was to tone down the spice. The basil and lime leaves added a further complexity to its taste, a natural freshness that contrasted well with the curry. In all, it's just that one dish that really impressed me. M and I wouldn't mind going back there again just to try out the rest of its menu.

Tomato soup

2007-01-11T13:11:00.000Z

Had a nice dinner with L and J in Singapore the last time I was back and tomato soup was what I made as a starter for them. Fry diced onions, carrots and celery until they have softened. Add tomatoes quartered (as ripe as possible), garlic, a bay leaf, some mixed herbs and fry for a while. Add some chicken stock and simmer for 30 minutes. Puree the vegetables and return to the soup. Serve with basil leaves and warm bread.

Udon soup

2007-01-10T12:57:00.000Z

For dinner, we had Udon soup and while it may look like I have cooked a packet of instant noodles, I am happy to inform you that the soup was made from scratch. Ok fine, I used the Yamasa Konbu Tsuyu Strait Sauce for the soup, added it to chicken stock. Its the sauce that you use for dipping cold japanese noodles. Fresh ingredients, mushrooms, carrots, pak choi, pork, egg, tofu, udon noodles and thats a complete meal.

Fifth Floor at Harvey Nichols London

2007-01-08T18:58:00.000Z

Three or four years ago, my parents and I had a really good meal at the Fourth Floor at Harvey Nichols Leeds. Although,I have to admit, I have absolutely no recollection of what I ate that day for lunch, I just remember queueing up at 12 noon sharp as they don't take reservations. I guess this is one reason why I am writing about my restaurant experiences so that I remember the good ones to introduce to parents and friends. Anyway, we decided to try out the Fifth Floor at Harvey Nichols London to see whether its of the same standard.

We walked in for Sunday lunch. It wasn't full, which in London is a bad sign and so I was a bit apprehensive. The decor as M puts it, was space-age like, minimalist and very white and blue. So on to our selections. For our starters, I ordered a smoked duck salad with parmesan croutons, pomengranate seeds and shallot dressing and M chose the eggs benedict. For our mains, because of a miscommunication between M and I, both of us ordered the same thing, stuffed chicken leg with truffles and mushrooms, braised lentils and a cream sauce. For dessert, we shared a pineapple cannelloni, with passion fruit, white chocolate sticks, mango sorbet and a raspberry dressing.

Verdict: Excellent meal. Not as good as the Savoy Grill but still of a very high standard. My smoked duck salad was a excellent blend of flavours, the burst of sweet juices from the pomegranate seeds, the crunchiness of the parmesan croutons and the sweet and sour taste of the shallot dressing. All these flavours complement the smoked duck and the salad well. No one flavour dominated the taste buds. The duck was lightly smoked. In all, the salad was light, natural and a good start to the meal. M's eggs benedict was well prepared as well. The thing about eggs benedict is that so many things can go wrong. You can make a mess of poaching the egg, something, which has happened to me in the past. The hollandaise sauce takes a lot of work to prepare if you are making it from scratch. Some cooks make it too rich such that it overpowers the taste of the ham and the egg. The chef at this restaurant performed all these tasks admirably (and of course she should, for the price we are paying). The hollandaise sauce was just right.

As for our mains, stuffed chicken with truffles and mushrooms, the chicken was (I think) poached for a while before placed under a grill so that the skin is brown and slightly crispy. It was poached to the point where the chicken is just cooked and slightly pink. It was moist and very tender. The only problem I had with this dish is that it's just a tad too salty. I am not too sure whether I have tried lentils before in my life but I really like it, soft and slightly crunchy, it went well with the cream sauce. Interestingly, this dish is almost identical to the one we had at the Connaught, another one of Gordon Ramsay's restaurants and on checking the profile of the chef at this restaurant, we realised that she had worked with him before.

The dessert was literally bursting with fruitiness, raspberry, pineapple, passionfruit, mango but it tasted natural and I did not suffer from a overdose of sugar.

So a pretty good Sunday lunch, it's 26.50 pounds for three courses which is not so bad for the quality of the food. If you go on a weekday, it's only 17-19 pounds. The service was excellent (the waiters and waitresses smile!) and I needed that after my experience with the waiters at Sofra.

Scrambled eggs with peppers

2007-01-06T13:14:00.000Z

The weather is extremely bad in London these days; wind speeds up to 25 mph and heavy rain. Last week, we were stuck at a tube station for almost an hour as we didn't have umbrellas with us. Today, we woke up to dreary skies and a slight drizzle. Also, it didn't help that the weather forecast was for heavy rain in the afternoon. So it looks like a lazy day ahead for us.

Simple food was what we needed for brunch and so I made scrambled eggs with peppers, another recipe from my French cookbook. I guess its nothing really special despite the French label attached to it but still its filling and warm, good enough for winter brunch. Sautee some chopped onions in olive oil till soft and add chopped peppers and diced garlic. Sprinkle some paprika and fry for around 5 minutes till they are soft. Make sure that most of the liquid in the pan has evaporated. Add in a can of chopped tomatoes and season with salt, pepper and some mixed herbs. Simmer at medium heat for around 15 minutes till most of the liquid in the pan has evaporated and the mixture is thick. Add in lightly beaten eggs and cook at low heat for 5-7 minutes, stirring constantly till the mixture has the desired mixture. Serve with parsley and grated cheese.

Chicken fricassee

2007-01-02T12:34:00.000Z

Didn't do much cooking for the past few days as it was the new year weekend. There were people to meet up with for lunch, and generally, I was too lazy to cook when I have just spent the whole day outside, wandering the shopping streets. Incidentally, we discovered a pretty good pizza and kebab takeaway. So the only serious cooking I did was this French dish, Chicken fricassee. According to my French cookbook, a fricassee is a classic dish in which poulty or meat is first seared in fat, then braised with liquid until cooked. I modified the recipe as I wanted more vegetables in it, the celery and carrots are not in the recipe itself.

Anyway, to cook it, first sear chicken portions with butter over medium heat till they are golden in colour. Sprinkle with flour and turn the pieces to coat. Cook over a low heat for around 4 minutes. Pour in white wine, bring to the boil and add chicken stock. Push the chicken pieces to one side and scrape the base of the casserole, stirring until well blended. Bring the liquid to the boil and add bouquet garni and some fresh rosemary. [At this stage, I added the chopped carrots and diced celery] Cover and simmer over a medium heat until the chicken is tender. During this time, fry mushrooms with butter and 1 tsp of lemon juice over a medium high heat in a separate pan until the mushrooms are golden. Remove the mushrooms and add water, sugar and onions to the pan. Mix well. [The recipe actually requires small white onions but I am not a fan of eating whole onions so I decided to just dice a shallot for this] Simmer the onions, water and sugar for 10 minutes and pour the mixture over the mushrooms. When the chicken is cooked, remove it from the pan and discard the bouquet garni. Add the cooking juices from the vegetables to the casserole. Bring the boil and whisk cream into the sauce and cook for 2 minutes. Add the mushrooms and onions and cook for a further 2 minutes. Adjust the seasoning and pour the sauce over the chicken, sprinkle with parsley and serve.

Instead of having this with pasta, M made dumplings (from a packet mix) and added them to the casserole while the chicken is simmering. Thats the four lumps you see in the picture.

Sofra

2007-01-01T19:30:00.001Z

The Christmas sales are now on, with massive discounts up to 70%, and of course I was dragged to Oxford St by M so that she could continue her shopping. I have already endured two days of this, once on Boxing day and on Saturday. [At least, I had a really good meal at Gold Mine with D and his gf.] So this is my third day trapped in the hordes. Interestingly, I didn't buy a single thing even though numbers and percentages were flashing at me at every turn. I guess all that I am concerned with is being fed.

So we went to St Christopher place to try out some of the restaurants there. Its a tiny area at the side of Bond St, with a number of high end stores populating it. M saw this Turkish restaurant Sofra and wanted to try it. We were hoping that its as good as Antalya, the Turkish restaurant in Nottingham but sadly it was not to be. M ordered Broccoli soup and Chicken tagine. For me, its the Borek platter and the Kofte.

The soup was alright, competent but nothing exceptional. M didn't like it as there was no cream in it.

My Borek platter consisted of a chicken and leek pasty, a corned beef pasty and a feta cheese and corianger pasty. Again, nothing really special and I think Antalya does it so much better.

M didn't like the chicken tagine as well. The chicken was overcooked, probably because it was braised in the tomato mixture for way too long.

I like my rice and I was trying to figure why it tasted so good. Trust the butter expert to tell me straight that the rice was cooked with butter. The kofte was savoury, its basically grilled minced lamb meatballs with herbs but I have this nagging suspicion that its premade, cooked from a packet as it didn't have a certain texture to it, it felt too crunchy, like a fish cake, the Chinese kind with all the preservatives. Again, Antalya does it so much better. I am starting to get a really strong craving for Antalya's food, I might go there when I go for my viva in Feb.

In all, a very average lunch experience. I prefer to look elsewhere for Turkish food especially since the service was absolutely atrocious. Aside from this restaurant, I have never seen waiters with no expressions on their faces whatsoever and a refusal to look you in the eye when you speak to them. At least, Chinese waiters look at you with utter disdain.

Burgundy beef stew

2006-12-29T13:51:00.000Z

I don't normally cook beef, for health reasons, red meat and all but for the last few weeks, I have been craving for beef stew, probably the result of trying the one at Cafe Rouge and being of the view that mine is better. This beef stew is one of the first recipes I tried from my French cookbook. During that time, I had a housemate E who was allergic to chicken and couldn't try most of my cooking since I normally cook chicken 80% of the time. So I made this stew for us, one day. He really liked it.

So to cook this, fry some bacon/gammon till they are brown and remove from the pan. Add stewing beef to the pan and brown on both sides. Remove from the pan when done and add in diced carrots, garlic, celery and onions. Saute till soft and add in 1 1/2 tbsp of flour. Mix well. Pour in red wine (preferably Burgundy) and add 1 tbsp of tomato puree and bouquet garni. Bring to the boil and return the meat to the pan. Add enough beef stock to cover the vegetables and simmer for 3 hours. Meanwhile, saute some mushrooms in butter till golden and add them 30 minutes before the end of the cooking time. When cooked, remove the bouquet garni and stir in some fresh parsley.

Olive oil roasted chicken with mediterranean vegetables

2006-12-25T14:22:00.000Z

Our Christmas roast chicken lunch was quite a success. The chicken came out of the oven, the skin crispy and savoury, and the flesh moist and tender. I can't wait to cook this recipe for my family and friends, should they visit.

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees. Rub the chicken all over with olive oil and season with pepper. The chicken I used today was 1.175kg. Place a lemon quarter in boiling water and cook it for around a minute. Stuff the lemon inside the bird along with a sprig of thyme and some sage leaves. Put the chicken, breast side down, in a roasting tin. Roast for 30 minutes. Remove the chicken from the oven and season with salt. Turn the chicken right side up and baste with the juices from the tin. Surround the chicken with potatoes, mix well with the juices and return to the oven to continue roasting for 20 minutes. Add capsicums, (I used one yellow, one red and one orange capsicum), diced celery (2 sticks) and 6 garlic cloves (unpeeled). Drizzle more olive oil and mix in 3 sprigs of thyme and more sage leaves. Return to the oven and cook for another 30 minutes till the chicken is cooked, turning the vegetables occasionally.

Chicken tomato bake

2006-12-24T19:53:00.000Z

Roast chicken meal is postponed to tomorrow lunch as per the orders of M. Instead, I modified my mom's baked rice recipe to make what I call, Chicken tomato bake. Basically, pan fry diced chicken, celery and leeks in olive oil till the vegetables are soft and the chicken is brown on both sides. Add in mushrooms and continue frying for around 2 minutes. Pour in a can of tomatoes, mix in some fresh parsley and season with salt and pepper. As is the case with baked rice, place cooked rice in a baking dish and pour in the chicken tomato mixture. Spoon in a layer of creme fraiche and sprinkle lots of cheese on top. Interestingly, we found out that if you use mild cheeses like mozzarella, you get a nice layer of melted bubbling cheese on top. But if you use medium cheeses like cheddar, you get a crispy layer of cheese. Anyway, bake in the oven at 200 degrees for around 15 minutes or till the cheese is brown.

M prefers this to the traditional baked rice as she doesn't like tinned soup. She thinks its cheating.

Farfelle with chicken and cherry tomatoes

2006-12-24T13:26:00.000Z

So its Christmas eve lunch and M is busy at work. (I know its sad, we all think its sad). Left by myself, I didn't want to demean the occasion (as insignificant as it may be) by having instant noodles and also so that I can take photographs of my food in sunlight, I decided to make a proper meal. Obviously, I didn't want to mess up the kitchen especially since I am going to make roast chicken with stuffing and all for Christmas eve dinner, (M says that she will be home), the logical choice was pasta.

Place diced chicken in a bowl and mix well with diced rosemary and white wine. Season with salt and pepper. In a pan, fry onions at medium heat for around 5 minutes. Add in the chicken and fry till the chicken is white on both sides. Add cherry tomatoes, balsamic vinegar and paprika. Simmer for around 5 minutes till the chicken is cooked. Mix in cooked farfelle and diced rosemary. Season and serve.

Chicken with chorizo

2006-12-20T20:35:00.000Z

For those who don't know what chorizo is, its a spicy Spanish pork sausage with a texture akin to that of Chinese sausages (lap chong) but with a stronger smoked, rather than sweet, taste. It goes very well with tomato based casseroles as it adds a rich complexity to the sauce. I have another recipe for chorizo, chickpea and chorizo stew but as M can't stand the taste of chickpeas, its going to be hard for me to cook it.

First, spread paprika evenly on chicken portions and season with salt. Pan fry it with olive oil till the chicken is brown. Be careful not to cook it at too high a heat as paprika burns easily. Remove the chicken from the pan and place in an oven proof dish.Fry sliced onions for a while and add garlic and chopped up chorizo. Fry for around two minutes and add white wine, canned tomatoes and bay leaves. Bring to the boil and pour the tomato mixture over the chicken. Bake the chicken in the oven at 190 degrees with a lid for around 40 minutes. Remove the lid and cook further for another 30 minutes. Serve with pasta and bay leaves to garnish.

Carrot soup

2006-12-16T12:24:00.000Z

I used to dislike carrot soup although I suspect that is because I have never tried it before. During my Phd years, the school cafe served carrot soup once every week and without any other hot food to eat (only hot food is soup at the cafe), I tried the soup and I have fallen in love with it ever since. Chop up potatoes, onions and carrots and fry them with olive oil till softened. Add chicken stock, a pinch of nutmeg, lots of paprika if you like the kick, bay leaf and the juice of an orange. Simmer for around 40 minutes and puree the vegetables. Return the puree to the pan and the remaining liquid and reheat.

My last picture of carrot soup wasn't exactly that good as it wasn't taken in sunlight. These days, I am starting to develop this habit of cooking enough for three meals so that I have food for lunch as well as be able to take photographs in sunlight.

Fish soup

2006-12-13T13:15:00.000Z

M doesn't like a lot of things. Vegetables, beef, lamb. The list goes on. Sadly, fish is one of them. Specifically, the cooked fish should not have any bones, it shouldn't taste fishy and she won't eat salmon or trout. Cooking for M requres adherence to a long list of rules and guidelines.

Anyway, fish soup is what I cooked for dinner. All it involves is frying some diced onions, celery and garlic. Add some white wine and simmer for 1 minute. Add canned tomatoes, a bay leaf and fish stock and simmer for 8 minutes. Finally, add diced fish ( I used a mixture of cod, haddock and tuna) and simmer yet again till the fish is cooked. Add some shredded basil and serve hot with bread.

Marcus Wareing at The Savoy Grill

2006-12-10T16:52:00.000Z

We had a lovely lunch at The Savoy Grill, another one of Gordon Ramsay's restaurants. The weekend menu is quite good value. 25 pounds for three courses. M had the foie gras parfait, the wild mushroom risotto with poached egg and parmesan shavings and the blackberry trifle. I had the Scottish smoked salmon and gravadlax, served with classic accompaniments, roast rib-eye of Scottish beef with Yorkshire pudding, roasted vegetables, potatoes and beef sauce and the royal chocolate cake.

M really loved her foie gras. She said that it was light but with no concessions to the richness of the foie gras. The prune and raisin compote and the salad were excellent complements to the sweet taste of the foie gras. Interestingly, there may be some japanese influence on the dressing for the salad as we can detect some Japanese sesame oil in it. There's definitely a whole lot of mushrooms in the risotto. It was literally bursting with mushroom goodness. The risotto was light as well. Normally, you get a heavy cream-based risotto and after you eat it,you can't eat anything else. But this risotto was definitely light on the stomach. M actually finished all of it. The poached egg went very well with the risotto as the egg yolk gave a silky texture and an additional complexity in taste to the sauce. The dessert came on a trolley, with everything on the dessert menu laid out for all to see. Its perfect for M as it allowed her to choose the most aesthetically pleasing dessert of them all. Her blackberry trifle was made with real fresh blackberries, not the processed ones you see even in a pot of Marks and Spencer trifle pudding.

My Scottish smoked salmon was sadly nothing exceptional. Perhaps, my tastebuds are not developed or it could just be that they have been messed up by copious quantities of smoked salmon i have had at buffets in Singapore. I can't tell the difference between the smoked salmon you buy at the supermarkets and the ones smoked by the cooks themselves. Of course, we don't really know whether they smoked it themselves. Still, I always enjoy smoked salmon and the potato salad went well with it. My roast beef however was exceptional. The beef was tender and juicy. When you have a bite of it with the sauce, you could tell the difference between the beef gravy and the taste of the beef itself. Its quite possibly one of the best roast beef I have had in my life. Its certainly comparable to the ones I have had at Lawry's in Singapore. My royal chocolate cake was brillant, not too sweet, just the natural taste of the cocoa and dark chocolate.

M considers this her favourite restaurant in London so far and I have to agree with her for the price and the quality of the food

Chicken stew

2006-12-09T21:32:00.000Z

M cooked today! (I am checking whether there's a blue moon outside.) Ok, there is an actual valid reason for this. Its my birthday and she decided to cook dinner for me as a gift.

Once upon a time, in our nottingham days, when we were still young and she, particularly carefree as she was a student then, she was a better cook than me. And this chicken stew with dumplings is what she used to prove her point then. That and her magnificient mushroom soup. So it is nostalgic for me to have this again. It has been 6 years since she has last cooked a proper meal for me. Hopefully,it doesn't take another six years for her to cook next as she is actually still pretty good at it.

Fish! Borough Market

2006-12-09T17:23:00.000Z

Its back to Borough Market again. Its my birthday today and M decided that we should go to one place in London where we will both enjoy ourselves rather than go to yet another designer warehouse sale where I will be left bored and cranky in a corner, kicking at dust bunnies.

So we spent the afternoon browsing through the wares at the stalls. We bought more escargots, eggs fresh vegetables, onion bread and extremely expensive French cakes picked out by the extravagant one herself. There's really so much here for foodies, olive oil, wine, truffles, cheeses, organic juices, fresh pasta, tofu and meats everywhere. Its one place I will definitely bring my parents to when they visit me.

For lunch, I wanted to try out this fish and chips stall I saw at the corner of the market. On closer scrutiny, I realised that they had a restaurant next to it, serving seafood. (what else?) And being in "I don't feel like walking around and eating my food" mood, M and I decided to try the food there. As you can see from the picture above, the restaurant is called Fish! Borough Market.

M had the grilled scallops wrapped in pancetta on a roasted mushroom with salad and roasted cherry tomatoes. The scallops were fresh and well cooked with a strong grilled taste. I love that taste. (M: not bad.) The only problem with it was the price, an exorbitant 17 pounds but I guess that's the price you have to pay for scallops and M really loves scallops.

I ordered the fish and chips. The cod was competently cooked with a light batter. Nothing really special about it. It could do with a bit more salt and the fish, I suspect, wasn't that fresh as it had a slight fishy taste. The chips on the other hand, were excellent and you could tell (hopefully, I am right) that they were freshly cut. The best part of the meal was surprisingly the mushy peas. I am not a big fan of mushy peas but today, i finally found one that I really enjoyed. Savoury with a hint of lemon and mint. I don't mind going back here again just to try out the rest of its seafood dishes. I have this strong suspicion that the rest of their dishes are much better than their fish and chips

Summer tray baked salmon

2006-12-08T20:07:00.000Z

M has to work overtime tonight and thats why salmon is on the dinner menu. (M doesn't like salmon, not even smoked salmon). This is another of Jamie Oliver's recipes, from Jamie's dinners to be precise. Cook some mixed vegetables, such as peas, beans, cauliflower and carrots for about 5 minutes. For me, I just used a packet of Bird's Eye frozen vegetables. Drain and place the vegetables in a baking tray. Add some butter, olive oil and lemon juice. Season with salt and pepper. Mix well. Place the salmon steak, seasoned with salt and black pepper, on top of the vegetables. Sprinkle some dill and basil over the fish and vegetables and cook in the oven for around 10-15 minutes at 230 degrees.

Potato, rocket and cheese soup

2006-12-05T23:20:00.000Z

I first had a bite of rocket/roquette at the No 5 Bistro in Bath with my parents and I have fallen in love with it ever since. I just love its peppery taste and the sensation of oils released onto your tongue when you chew on it. Sadly, M isn't a great fan of it and so I don't get to eat it that often. But there's one of M's rules that I managed to exploit which is that if she can't see the vegetable in its full solid glory, it is more likely than not that she is willing to eat it. And so the end result is this soup, potato, rocket and cheese soup where the rocket has been dissolved into. It tasted just like broccoli and stilton soup but thats probably because I chose to add cheese to the bbc recipe. We had it with Waitrose ciabatta. Wonderful dinner for a winter night.

Oyako-don

2006-12-04T23:42:00.000Z

When I was rummaging through the dark recesses of my kichen cabinets, I came across a bottle of dashi that M's mother had left. Alarms bells started ringing when I saw the expiry date: 8/12/2006. I decided to use it immediately. So I went online to check out what I can do with the dashi and Oyako don was the answer. Its really simple and easy to prepare, especially suited for quick dinners since M is coming home late these days. As a preliminary note, each bowl of oyako don should be prepared individually. Mix 40ml of dashi with 60 ml of chicken stock and bring to the boil in a pan. Add in diced chicken and diced onions and simmer till the chicken is cooked. Add mushrooms and simmer for around 2 minutes. Add in some spring onions and pour in beaten egg. Cook accordingly depending on how cooked you want your egg to be and pour over some cooked japanese rice. Serve with japanese chilli powder.

And to think I used to make oyako don without the dashi sauce...

Chicken and butternut squash casserole

2006-12-03T21:55:00.000Z

Praise to the Powers that be for the BBC food website! I am really running out of chicken recipes to cook but thank goodness, I managed to find something interesting to cook from it. That said, the recipe does seem strange. It would not normally occur to me to make use of butternut squash and red wine in the same dish. But it turned out alright. I wouldn't say that the taste was heavenly but it it was quite savoury; the mixture of red wine, chicken stock and butternut squash. [M: "quite good, quite good, the stock is quite good."]

Oh and I added mushrooms to make the meal a more balanced one.

Bayswater / Gold Mine

2006-12-02T19:04:00.000Z

We went to another warehouse sale. This time, its at Portobello and again we are reminded of how small M is. She found a few items that she liked but as she is simply not as big as her caucasian counterparts, none of them fitted her. Thankfully, I have no such problems but I didn't buy anything in a show of solidarity. (M: Liar!) Ok, its because I didn't feel like spending money on clothes when I don't need them till next year September.

As Bayswater is close by, we decided to go there for lunch. M had a craving for Peking duck and so we went to Gold Mine, a Chinese restaurant recommended by her sister. I honestly can't stand Four Seasons even though their duck is pretty good for Chinese duck in this country but their service is just atrocious. These days, I have little patience and tolerance for bad service. Thankfully, the service at Gold Mine was pretty alright. We can't really expect Chinese waiters to be friendly/cheerful/amicable but at least we got unobstrusive service. And the food was quite good as well

We ordered salt and pepper squid and we are pleased to announce that we have found a successor to the Nottingham version. It was just good. A light batter, not overly floury. Not too fried, not too oily and definitely savoury. The only problem I see with it is that its a bit too salty. But M has no problems in that aspect. She says that such squid is supposed to be salty. Thats why its called salt and pepper squid. Duh.

The Peking duck was delicious too, again for the standard of Chinese food in this country. I have definitely had better in Singapore but still it was good. M really likes it. The meat was tender but could have been more succulent. More importantly, the skin was thin and crispy and that is enough to satisfy M's tastebuds.

Just one note: the photos are smaller because I am using my mobile phone to take the pictures of the food. I still feel very self conscious using a camera in a restaurant.

Seafood pasta

2006-11-30T22:17:00.000Z

Another one of Waitrose's recipes. I had the urge to cook it after eating the marinari at Picasso last saturday. I wanted to compare a tomato based seafood pasta with a garlic butter based one. Fry garlic with butter, add in diced spring onions and chilli. Add in your seafood selection. I used a mixture of haddock, prawns, crab sticks and mussels. Cook for a few minutes till the seafood is piping hot. Place cooked spaghetti on top and mix well. Serve with parsley and black pepper.

Conclusion: I think I prefer the tomato based seafood pasta as the taste is richer with the tomatoes and white wine. This is fine as well, its just that the taste is not as complex. Furthermore, do not use wholewheat spaghetti with this dish as the taste of the pasta itself will overwhelm the garlic butter sauce. [M's view and I concur]

Egg noodles with creamy egg sauce

2006-11-30T14:20:00.000Z

D is here again. Well, he was here for the last few weeks, its just that the things I cooked weren't good enough to post on the blog or I have already done so previously. For example, two weeks ago, I made fish curry. Unfortunately, it was not from scratch, it was from a packet mix. Anyway, today, I made egg noodles with creamy egg sauce, the kind you see listed on takeaway menus. Its really simple, just stir fry an assortment of meats, mushrooms, vegetables and seafood, pour in some chicken soup and crack a few eggs into the mixture. Pour over cooked egg noodles. The trick to making the creamy egg sauce is that while the egg is stirred into the soup, it should only be half cooked when you pour it over the noodles. Oh and you need quite a huge number of eggs. Very cholestrol laden meal. Serve with crispy onions on top of the noodles.

Salt and pepper chicken

2006-11-29T20:17:00.000Z

I am officially running out of chicken recipes to cook, from my cookbooks that is. I think I need a new cookbook. *explicit hint.* After an afternoon wracking my brain, poring over these books, I finally settled on this dish, salt and pepper chicken with M's favourite porridge. When M and I were at Nottingham, one of our favourite chinese dishes was the Szechuan salt and pepper chicken wings/prawns/squid/ribs at HK Hse, the best Chinese takeaway in Nottingham. Sadly, they have since changed their management and the standard of their food is nowhere near its once giddy heights. We are still searching for a takeaway/restaurant to replace it but sadly to no avail. So I guess its up to me to make an attempt to replicate it. Unforunately, i am missing one key ingredient the szechuan peppercorns but I thought I'd try making it without it just to see whether its alright.

To cook it, mix flour, salt, white pepper and 5 spice powder. If I had the szechuan peppercorns, I would add it here. Coat the chicken pieces in the flavoured flour and deep fry them till golden, crisp and cooked. It turned out pretty well, the taste obviously wasn't right but still, it is crispy chicken after all and its hard to not like it.

Mediterranean chicken

2006-11-27T20:36:00.000Z

I love the natural flavours of this dish, the tomatoes, sundried tomatoes, celery, onions and red peppers combining into a rich vegetable sauce, healthy yet delicious. M was literally salivating to this dish, Mediterranean Chicken. She kept gushing about how the chicken skin tasted just like the chicken skin she loves at KFC, crispy and savoury. I think the secret is paprika as I sprinkled quite a bit of it on top of the chicken before I baked it in the oven. So to cook it, first saute onions and garlic in a pan for 4 minutes. Add in the red pepper and celery. You can include courgettes in the list of vegetables. Its in the recipes in my Chicken cookbook. Its not in my cooking as I hate it. Cook for 5 minutes and add in the tomatoes, sundried tomatoes and some balsamic vinegar. Place the vegetables in a oven proof dish. For the chicken, stuff some cream cheese into the space between the skin and the flesh. Put the chicken on top of the vegetables, drizzle some olive oil, sprinkle the key ingredient, paprika and bake in the oven for 45 minutes at 180 degrees.

Serve with pasta and you get a happy beaming M.

Potato and mushroom soup

2006-11-27T12:57:00.000Z

When I first saw this recipe, I thought it was some strange fusion soup as it required soya sauce and after our fiasco with our carrot cake, we were both expecting and wary of another culinary disaster. M was practically shaking in fear that our dinner would turn out to be a mess. But I persevered, refusing to take the easy way out by making a soup that I am familiar with. Furthermore, I haven't cooked any new soup recipes for some time and so I was determined to discover the next brillant soup. Thankfully, it worked out well. M ranks this soup third behind tomato soup and fish soup. The soup looks exactly like cream of mushroom soup but once you try it, it tastes of potatoes, shallots and mushrooms, a more complex tasting soup perhaps.

Welsh rarebit

2006-11-26T15:15:00.001Z

So its Sunday Brunch again. We made Welsh rarebit, a recipe from the BBC website. At first, I thought that it was a recipe for rabbit stew, rarebit and rabbit, the two words just sound and look alike. But on closer scrutiny, I discovered that its actually an egg and cheese recipe. According to the dictionary, rarebit: a dish of melted and seasoned cheese on toast. Its simple to make and excellent for lazy Sunday lunches. Just click on the title of the entry for the recipe

Picasso

2006-11-25T18:29:00.001Z

Kings Road is not a good place to have a meal without proper planning. If you went there on a Saturday, with no idea where you were going to have your lunch, you would be just like us, wandering up and down the road like a bunch of lost sheep. At some point in time, we got so sick of the search, we just went into the nearest restaurant and had our lunch. The place was called Picasso and even though, it was situated along the bland row of fashion chains populating Kings Road, it was surprisingly good. Home cooked Italian food, rustic, simple and wholesome. I had the marinara, spaghetti with clams, prawns and squid. It had a rich tomato sauce, a sauce with actual depth unlike the stuff they serve at Cafe Nero and an enormous helping of seafood. M had the penne ragu. She said that it tasted just like the way her mom cooks it. So I assume thats good. So a good discovery in the middle of exorbitant shopping land. Unfortunately, the food left me extremely thirsty while I waited for M; she was doing her usual window shopping so I guessed they must have added a great deal of salt into the food. When we got home and ran an Internet check on the restaurant, we were amused to find that it is one that Gordon Ramsay frequents.

We also went to the Chelsea Farmers' Market. I was expecting something like Borough Market but as M puts it, its not even a real market. Its just an area with some shops and thats it. We went to an organic supermarket there(L, you will love it) and bought some organic icing sugar and caster sugar for our planned attempt to make carrot cake tomorrow. (Fingers crossed(Edit: sadly it didn't turn out that well, we will try again next week) I bought some white tea as well. I am really going into a tea craze, I have green tea, white tea, some flower tea and earl grey in my cupboards and I even bought a teapot today from Habitat. It was quite a good bargain, 6.80 pounds for a Bodium teapot with a detachable compartment for the teabags/tealeaves. Oh and I finally bought a coffee mug to replace the one I broke for my coffee machine.

For dinner, we ordered takeaway. Our very first takeaway meal at our London apartment. Not too bad, we actually resisted getting any takeaway for almost three months. But the craving for greasy Chinese food became too much for us to overcome and so we ordered it. I was also too lazy to cook anything for dinner after our day out. So we ordered from this restaurant, Taste of China, Chicken fried rice, King prawns and broccoli on crispy noodles and salt and pepper prawns. The chicken fried rice was good, the classic taste of takeaway fried rice. M had a huge craving for it. The crispy noodles was unfortunately not crispy anymore but the sauce was alright. Similarly, our prawns weren't crispy but again, the taste was the one we were looking for. Conclusion: the food is alright if you have a craving for greasy chinese food but the delivery time was too long for it to be a really good meal. That said, we might order from this takeaway again, dishes that would not be affected by the delivery time.

Pork chops with tomato sauce

2006-11-21T21:53:00.000Z

Strangely, this week, I have been cooking food which I messed up the first time round for this blog with the use of the wrong ingredients. The last time I tried making this French dish, pork chops with tomato sauce, I used basil and that really had an adverse effect on the taste of the sauce. This time, its the right herb, tarragon and yes, the sauce is finally acceptable to both M and my tastebuds. The picture looks better too.

Mashed carrots / Spaghetti with chicken and tarragon sauce

2006-11-20T20:04:00.000Z

This time, I got it right. The use of single cream instead of creme fraiche does make a huge difference to the sauce. Its now thick, with a smoother consistency as compared to the last time I cooked this. To make this more of a pasta dish rather than a chicken dish, I deboned the chicken portions, mixed it into the tarragon sauce before pouring it onto the spaghetti.

I wish I could take all my photographs in daylight as it really does make a difference but as long as one of us is working, its hard to do so. What I can do now is to take close up photos of my food as the surroundings can look very drab at night.

Chocolate fridge cake

2006-11-20T10:02:00.000Z

Sunday is going to be our pudding/dessert making day (hopefully) from now on provided we can finish eating whatever we have made the sunday before. Instead of going out, we will just spend the day at home, messing up the kitchen with flour, digestive biscuits and syrup to produce (hopefully) something decent. Beginner's luck prevailed for us or perhaps the recipe we used is easy (lesson 101: pick easy dessert recipes), our first stab at making a cake was a success. We made chocolate fridge cake, a recipe we found on the bbc webpage (once again, click on the title of this entry for the recipe.) I first heard of such a cake, a flourless cake from my mom. She had seen it on the Jamie Oliver show but didn't manage to write down the details of the recipe.

The chocolate fridge cake tasted just like brownies with apricots and raisins within.

Sunday lunch: Souffle omelette with fresh herbs and cheese / Baked tomatoes

2006-11-19T14:46:00.000Z

Food photographs tend to look the best in the daytime. Natural light just gives it a certain glow and its impossible to replicate it using a camera (I think). So today, we decided to make use of the fact that M doesn't have to work on Sunday to cook something nice and to make full use of the sunlight for our photos. As its sunday, brunch food is well in line with the day, we made omelettes with tomatoes. I said we as M actually did the most difficult task of all for the omelette, whisking the eggs BY HAND till they are stiff. I can't whisk. I honestly can't. I just can't master the strange circles I have to make with the whisk. She spent 20 minutes whisking it, heh and I only then realised that we had an electric whisk hidden in the depths of our cupboards. She wasn't exactly happy after that. Anyway, this is no ordinary omelette as you should have already guessed from the fact that M has to whisk the egg. I got the recipe from the bbc website, so you can just check it out yourself. Just click on the title of this entry. For the tomatoes, I drizzle some olive oil and balsamic vinegar, seasoned the tomatoes and baked them in the oven for around 10 minutes.

The Big Easy

2006-11-18T19:28:00.000Z

We went to yet another posh street, Kings Road for M to do her weekly obligatory window shopping although today she managed to break through the window, into the shop to purchase a couple of items. For lunch, (the only thing I am interested in today), we went to The Big Easy, an American restaurant on Kings Road. This restaurant came strongly recommended by a number of food guides. (http://www.timeout.com/london/restaurants/reviews/516.html) Its also said to be one of the top five restaurants to have steak at in London

I had the The Classic Chophouse Burger "prepared from the Finest Prime Chopped Scotch Beef with French Fries & House Made Coleslaw. Aberdeen Angus beef burger char-grilled & served with lettuce, tomato, red onion & a pickle." I can say that my craving has been satisfied. It was a good burger. For me, the beef has to have that char grilled taste, it must not be dry, it should be moist and juicy and it must be savoury obviously. The burger does meet all these criteria and so I am a happy camper. I don't mind coming back again to try their steaks.

M had the Bar-B-Q Home Smoked Ribs "Hand trimmed, extra meaty ribs, slow smoked & finished on the char-grill with our special recipe Bar-B-Q. sauce." Her favourite ribs is the one at Tony Romas and she said that the one we had today compared favourably to it. It was meatier than the ribs at TM but the sauce was not as good. Therefore, she considers it a tie.

Tuscan chicken

2006-11-16T20:35:00.000Z

With this dish, we finally used up all the peppers we bought from Borough market, a grand total of 6. Basically, we made roasted peppers and tomato soup on monday, the tuna pasta with red pepper sauce on tuesday and the tuscan chicken today. We did not take a picture of the soup as it looked too much like tomato soup. (M: it was tomato soup, just that there's pepper inside it), Are we sick of peppers yet? M says no but thats from someone who's not planning the cooking. Anyway, Tuscan chicken, a recipe from my Chicken the best ever recipe collection cookbook. Brown chicken portions on both sides in olive oil and remove from the pan. Saute onions and red pepper till soft and add in crushed garlic. Return chicken to the pan and add in white wine, a can of tomatoes, sun dried tomato puree and oregano. Bring to the boil and simmer till the chicken is cooked. Sprinkle breadcrumbs on top and put it under the grill till the breadcrumbs are golden.

Oh almost forgot, I was supposed to add cannellini beans into the mixture but as M can't stand beans (in general, actually), I didn't do so.

Chinatown / C and R restaurant

2006-11-12T17:10:00.000Z

Singaporean / Malaysian food is quite difficult to locate in England but we managed to find a restaurant for it. Its called C and R restaurant and its located close to the infamous Wong Kei in Chinatown. I decided to treat D and his gf to a meal there to celebrate the completion of my phd thesis. I have eaten there on a number of occasions previously. D and I had Singapore fried prawn noodles (sotong mee), His gf C had the hainanese chicken rice while M had the Prawn noodle soup. All in all, we were quite happy with the food as the cooking was at least equivalent to that of the average hawker stalls in Singapore. In addition, we had teh tarik, kopi tarik and ice kachang for dessert. For a bunch of people who have been away from Singapore for some time, this was truly heavenly fare.

Subsequently, we did some shopping in Chinatown, specifically, I bought more cai sim. Its practically impossible to find cai sim in the British supermarkets here. They do have pak choi but for a very exorbitant price. So, I normally go to Chinatown to stock up on such green vegetables. M needs some greens in her diet. As we wanted to have udon soup tonight, we bought udon and japanese chilli powder. M bought some strange flavoured crisps. I hope its nice.

So for dinner, I added sukiyaki sauce to chicken stock to make udon soup. I also marinated some pork in teriyaki sauce and grilled it for a while before adding it to the noodles. And the white stuff is tofu.

Borough market / Baked eggs italian style / Baked escargots with truffle butter

2006-11-11T19:53:00.000Z

Was dragged out of bed, early in the morning by M to go for a Reiss warehouse sale at Brick lane. Aside from having to navigate through lanes of a dubious nature, we could not find anything to buy even though the the prices were low. I was understandably cranky. But things got better subsequently after we went over to Marylebone high street to do some window shopping. According to M, she likes the place more than Angel as its quieter. It is after all a posh part of town, full of shops with articles I can't afford. It is good just to look around especially the kitchenware stores. After that, to get rid of her KFC craving as she puts it, (keep eating KFC until she's sick of it) we decided to go to KFC yet again just eight days after our last trip. Thankfully, she seems to have gotten sick of it. She had, on her own, 2 pieces of chicken, 1 hot wing and 1 crispy strip. Hopefully, I don't have to have it for a long long time.

After lunch, we went to Borough Market at London Bridge, a gourmet food market where as you can see in the picture, we bought quite a bit of stuff for the fridge and larder.

a) Melon
b) Cherry tomatoes
c) Red and yellow peppers
d) Ciabatta and foccacia (Buy one get one free!)
e) White truffle cake and Plum cake (25% off!)
f) A jar of escargots in truffle butter
g) eggs

So with our purchases, I made baked eggs italian style, a recipe from the cooking for one cookbook. Just crack an egg into a ramekin dish, mix chopped and deseeded tomatoes, basil, chives, olive and place the mixture on top of the egg. Cover it with cheese and bake in the oven at 200 degrees for 20 minutes.

In addition, we baked the escargots and ate it with the ciabatta which M used to make garlic bread. Its pretty good value, 27 snails (M counted it)in that jar for just 5 quid and yes, it tasted really good. And yes, the snails do look like they are in an assembly and its thanks to M that they look as such.

Chicken braised with red wine (coq au vin)

2006-11-10T21:03:00.000Z

M didn't think that this dish is nice initially as it didn't look good. I have to agree that the dish's appearance isn't that colourful like some of my other cooking and that it just looks brown and bland. Can't really do anything about it as the dish is essentially braising the chicken and vegetables with red wine such that everything just looks brown. But thankfully, the taste of it was alright. M said that if she closed her eyes when she ate it, it would taste good. She also commented that the colour of the sauce looked like that of red bean soup and she hates that soup. Well, I loved this dish, L and J have had it and they have said they liked it as well. To cook it, brown the chicken portions on both sides and set aside. Fry whole shallots for 2 minutes and add flour to it. Mix well and add red wine. Bring to the boil and add chicken stock, the chicken, mushrooms and bouquet garni. Simmer for 45-50 minutes. Remove the meat and vegetables and boil to reduce the sauce by 1/3. Return the chicken and vegetables to the pot and reheat. Season and serve with either rice or pasta.

M, at the end of the meal, has declared that she likes the dish now and that she has overcome her initial aversion to the colour.

Chicken, bacon and leek casserole

2006-11-06T21:46:00.000Z

The first time I cooked this, I made the mistake of adding salt to the casserole and it turned out really really salty. So this time, I wised up, the salt from the bacon was sufficient. So to cook this, brown chicken pieces on both sides and remove from the pan. Fry bacon till brown and add in the leeks, cook till the leeks turn brown as well. Place leeks and bacon into casserole dish and place the chicken on top. Add a bit of chicken stock, cover tightly and bake in the oven for 1 and a half hours. The leeks should have the consistency of cooked cabbage and melt right into the sauce. The meat should fall off the bone easily. Serve with pasta

Spaghetti with garlic, chilli and mushrooms

2006-11-06T12:36:00.000Z

A quick and simple pasta lunch. Just fry some garlic in olive oil, add in diced mushrooms and chilli and mix in the cooked spaghetti. Season with salt and pepper. Drizzle some good quality olive oil. Add some parsley on top and its done. I ate this with some smoked mackerel. Yums

Tortellini with sundried tomatoes

2006-11-05T14:33:00.000Z

With M on leave, its been meal after meal outside. KFC, Ubon, La Tasca. Yesterday, M wanted to go to some designer sampler sale and so we had to wake up early in the morning and go all the way to the city so that the best of the stock would not be lost in the span of an hour. She went on her merry way, into the sale, I went my tired way into Cafe Nero where I had a strong cafe mocha, a almond and blueberry tart. I read half of Eragon there. We watched Wicked the Musical after that. Its not too bad but not fantastic. The songs were not memorable but the storyline was brillant, funny and subversive, the way I like my fairy tales. Its essentially the backstory to the Wizard of Oz. I am going to get my hands on a copy of that book.

So today, we decided to spend it on mundane chores, grocery shopping, ironing (her, mwhahah she's going to be stuck in front of the ironing board for the whole board, leaving me free to do my own stuff mwhahahah). For lunch, I cooked tortellini (Asda: I obviously can't make stuffed pasta yet, maybe one day, in the distant future) with sundried tomatoes. So to cook it, fry carrots and onions for 5 minutes and add chicken stock, can of chopped tomatoes, crushed garlic and tomato puree. Simmer for 10 minutes till the carrots are soft.Add in the chopped sundried tomatoes and basil and mix well with the tortellini. Serve with grated cheese and black pepper.

For dinner, we decided to have something light so its just tomato soup with orzo pasta and garlic bread with cheese. M made the bread!

Ubon by Nobu

2006-11-03T20:01:00.000Z

Went to Ubon by Nobu for lunch today. M's treat for my submission of my thesis and finding a job at last. This is probably the most expensive Japanese meal I have had in my life. Thankfully, its one of the best. We had miso chips with tuna and scallops for starts. Interesting mixture with a sweet sauce. Ingredients blended well and I quite like it. Its just for 4 such pieces, 7 pounds is just too exorbitant. Luckily, the mains were much more value for money. I had the Ubon In and Out Bento box. Its 31 pounds and yes, it is pricey but you get so much in the boxes that the price is worth it. There's tempura prawns, black cod with miso, tuna sashimi, 9 pieces of sushi, rice with some sauteed vegetables and miso soup. The tuna sashimi was absolutely amazing, with a shallot, wasabi and sesame sauce. M's main was the beef and tempura luncheon set for 25 pounds. For that, you get a mountain of beef, i am not joking, I can see two steaks in those beef slices. I am not a big fan of it though. The beef was not very tender and you could not taste much of its natural taste. The sauce reminded me too much of Southern American cooking and I am never a fan of that. The tempura was good though although with tempura, you can tell if its poorly cooked easily but you can't tell the difference between good tempura and mind blowing tempura. For dessert, we had the chocolate bento box, a chocolate fondant with green tea ice cream. I quite liked it although the price was a bit steep, 9 pounds.

I would go there again, just to try out some its more unique dishes, like the wagyu skewers and the crab claws. oh another thing, do people use spoons to drink miso soup? M says they do. I have never done it

Oh go catch Borat. Its hilarious. Well, Borat just makes me cringe a lot but the reactions of his American victims, in relation to homosexuals, the Iraqi war and Jews, absolutely priceless.

Creamy boscaiola

2006-11-02T20:40:00.000Z

The Italian (or more specifically, pasta) craze continues. But before that, M is on leave today and we went out to the city to satisfy one of her many cravings. KFC. She's been talking about sinking her teeth into a chunk of fried chicken since she got here and finally today, we had the chance to get it for her. We ordered initially, a variety meal: 3 pieces of chicken, 2 hot wings, 1 crispy chicken strip, 1 large fries and 1 large coke. I have to admit, it was good. I haven't had KFC for at least a year, if I am not wrong. Amazingly, it wasn't enough for her even though we divided it evenly. I had to get two more pieces of chicken, shared between us of course, to satisfy the craving. Well, at least she's happy and sometimes thats all that matters. I wonder what her next craving is.

Anyway, for dinner, we had creamy boscaiola, another recipe from my Cooking for one cookbook. Its really simple and its like carbonara without the eggs. Fry bacon and mushrooms in olive oil. Add cream and boil for 5 minutes till the sauce thickens. Mix in chives and pour over cooked spaghetti. Serve with parmesan cheese (not for me), parsley and black pepper.

Roasted butternut squash fusilli

2006-11-01T19:42:00.000Z

I think I am getting bored of cooking French food for my western dishes, been doing that for quite some time and I decided a change of cuisines was necessary. Since L was saying how she had an italian cookbook and that she wanted to use it, this gave me the impetus as well as the inspiration to move into that field as well. So yes, its pretty much official. I am going to cook more italian food from now on. So to start with, I made Roasted butternut squash fuslli today. Roast the squash in the oven at 200 degrees for 40 minutes or till its soft and mashable. Blend the squash with chicken stock, cream, parmesan cheese and a pinch of nutmeg till you get a smooth sauce. Mix cooked fuslli with the sauce, add some chopped chives and spring onions, warm it a little and serve.

M absolutely loved the dish and parmesian cheese actually, she added an amount way beyond that stipulated in my cooking for one cookbook. I am not really a fan of parmesan cheese, I am more a cheddar and mozzarella person and so i found the taste of the sauce way too overpowering for me. I think the next time I cook this, I am going to leave the cheese out from the blending and add it only on top of M's plate.

Chicken and vegetable soup / Tuna souffle

2006-10-29T23:01:00.000Z

Getting bored of using the same cookbook for most of my dishes and so I decided to use a cookbook I haven't really read for a long time. Was at Junction 8 Bishan NTUC, waiting for my mom, browsing through cookbooks and I thought this wasn't too bad. Cooking for One and so I got it for my student days. For today, as we had a heavy lunch at Tiffinbites, we decided to have something light. Just a soup and something special.

The weather is changing and so chicken and vegetable soup was on the menu, to make sure that M doesn't fall ill while braving the cold. She is rather susceptible to invisible organisms especially since she's been putting in a lot of OT these days. So all I did for this soup is to throw in some chicken meat, peas, carrots, cauliflower, onions and potatoes into chicken stock, simmer till they are all cooked and you have a really healthy meal.

To prevent this meal from being too bland, I whipped up something special from the cookbook. Tuna souffle. This is my first time with this recipe and I honestly didn't expect anything to happen, i.e. the souffle to rise and puff. I was staring at it through the oven glass initially. I went to check something on the internet. I came back and I was astonished to find that it was actually rising. The recipe involves mixing bread crumbs, cream and spring onions and letting it stand for 2 minutes. Add in tuna, lemon juice and eggs. Mix well, season and pour it into the ramekin dishes. Cook for 20-30 minutes in the oven at 200 degrees till the souffle is golden and well puffed. Serve with spring onions on top. I am really really happy with this dish.

Steamed fish with minced pork, mushrooms, ginger and chilli

2006-10-26T17:47:00.000Z

Having fish at a chinese restaurant is an extremely expensive affair. It can easily go beyond 10 pounds (fish for three to four persons) depending on the restaurant of course. D said he hasn't had it for some time and I said me too, so I decided to cook it for lunch today. Did quite a lot of prepatory work for this dish. Went to Asda early in the morning to buy a sea bream (farmed in Greece!). The fish has to be really fresh or else it won't taste nice. Corresponded with my mom on how I should cook it. I knew the basics behind it, the problem was how long I was supposed to cook the fish for. Thankfully everything came out alright. For a sea bream around 15 cm long, I steamed it for around 14 minutes and it turned out just right. Not overly cooked. The seasoning has to be adjusted a bit,its a bit bland, but just a little. All in all, I am quite happy with it.

Tender and crisp chicken legs with sweet tomatoes

2006-10-25T19:17:00.000Z

Another one of Jamie Oliver's recipes and a very good one at that, after I made certain modifications to it. Its really simple to make it and its pretty healthy as well especially if you are like me and you deskin the chicken. In a way, you can't call the chicken crisp in my case as there's no skin to be crisped up by the oven heat. So how simple is it? All you need to do is to place chicken portions in a casserole dish, add basil with the stalks, a variety of tomatoes, halved or quartered depending on its size, garlic cloves with the skin and chopped chilli. Season with salt and chilli powder. Add a bit of chicken stock and bake in the oven at 180 degrees for 90 minutes. Serve with pasta and you get a full meal, meat and vegetables.

Spaghetti with tuna, mushrooms and tomatoes

2006-10-23T12:35:00.000Z

To get the energy necessary for me to go through my gym routine, I started eating pasta for lunch. This is a really simple and quick pasta recipe, you just need around 15 minutes to prepare and cook it. Saute minced garlic, tuna and mushrooms. Add in canned tomatoes. Simmer till the mixture is heated through. Add cooked spaghetti to it. Mix well and season. Sprinkle some cheese over it. I am using leftover mozzarella cheese. Not too sure I am supposed to do that. I think we are supposed to use Parmesian cheese but oh well, I needed to get rid of my mozzarella cheese as M has spotted its expiry date. This is basically the core of the recipe as adapted from a Jamie Oliver recipe. You can add lots of stuff to it such as olives, anchovies and roasted peppers. It still tastes good without all these stuff though. Interestingly, M claims that she likes it as well.

Kitchen

2006-10-22T20:18:00.000Z

Oh I should have done this a long time ago. This is a photo of our kitchen.

Cafe Rouge / Steamed egg with minced pork

2006-10-22T19:24:00.000Z

Had lunch at another franchise restaurant, Cafe Rouge, a French restaurant. You can see it in most cities in the UK. L, you are probably sniffing or snorting, being the food snob you are but yes, in a way, you are right this time. I have had meals at this restaurant many many times, in Nottingham, London, Strathford upon avon but tt wasn't that good this time perhaps because of our selections. I had French onion soup, it was strangely thick, I don't recall onion soup being thick. It tasted alright at the beginning but as I drank more of it, I realised that it was too salty. I should cook onion soup. M's potato, leek and spinach soup was fine though. Note to one self, try using spinach, the next time you make potato and leek soup. My main was thankfully alright. Salmon fish cakes and chips. Nothing spectacular. M's bacon, onion and mushroom tart looked absolutely disgusting. It was brown and black. I don't think its actually burnt but it just doesn't look that appetising. It tasted alright though. However, when food doesn't look that good, M doesn't eat it. Its as simple as that.

http://www.caferouge.co.uk/

"My hair is drinking the soup!"

So its porridge day. I realised I have never taken a photo of my porridge despite us eating it on a regular basis so you can see it today. Oh, M is finally sick of it so we are having noodles every week from now on, with the chicken stock. Woohoo! I definitely prefer noodles to porridge. Had steamed egg with minced pork with it. Its a dish that I have eaten all my life with porridge as well. My mom has been cooking this ever since I was born.

Chicken with tarragon sauce / Potato and carrot mash

2006-10-22T18:51:00.000Z

M has been really busy but on friday, she managed to get back on time to have dinner. I made another dish from the French cookbook, chicken with tarragon sauce. Have to admit, it wasn't very successful as in my attempt to save money ie using creme fraiche when I am supposed to use whipping cream since I have creme fraiche left over from my tomato soup, the sauce became too watery. Reminder to one self, creme fraiche is for pouring, its not meant to be heated. Anyway, for this dish, boil chicken breast in chicken stock, white wine, dried tarragon and garlic till the chicken is cooked. Remove chicken from pot. Boil the sauce till its 2/3 evaporated. Add WHIPPING CREAM and boil till 1/2 is evaporated. Add fresh tarragon, season and pour over the chicken.

The carrot and potato mash was thankfully much more successful. I am proud to say that I made this dish up on my own. Boil carrots, potatoes. oranges, with dried herbs, cumin and salt till the carrots and potatoes are soft. Pour away the water and mash the mixture. Add olive oil to ensure a smooth texture. Season with salt and pepper.

Oh and I tried sushi from Waitrose. California Roll, to be precise. It was horrible. Really really horrible as they used normal rice instead of japanese rice. Sushi is not supposed to be crunchy.

三杯雞 (Three cups chicken)

2006-10-19T13:19:00.000Z

Another one of those traditional chinese dishes that I love but M hates. My mom gave me this recipe when I was in my chinese cooking phase, before I got my French cookbook and starting exploring western cuisines. My initial experiments with this dish were not that successful, I fried the chicken for too long before adding the sauce. A breakdown in communication as I thought my mom said fry the chicken till its completely dried. Lets just say the end product wasn't that good. At least, I have learnt from my mistakes. Anyway, fry garlic cloves and ginger slices in sesame oil till fragrant, add in the chicken and just fry it till its brown on both sides. Add soya sauce, sugar, chinese wine and simmer till the chicken is cooked. Mix in some spring onions and serve with rice. The three cups is referring to 1 cup of soya, 1 cup of chinese wine and 1 cup of sesame oil. I am assuming that the cups are quite small. Its actually quite cute, the names of these recipes.

La Tasca

2006-10-15T19:24:00.000Z

Went to catch The Departed at the cinema near our place. Had lunch at a La Tasca branch there, a Spanish Tapas bar and restaurant franchise. What I like about this place is that you can just order a few tapas, get a few drinks and just chill out there for a while especially with the view of the West India Quay outside the restaurant. We ordered chicken croquettes, potato bravas, deep fried king prawns and aubergine with cheese, tomatoes and herbs. We ate all that with olive and sun dried tomato bread. The thing about franchises is that you can expect, at the worst, average food so in a way, you are hedging your bets by not trying some fancy restaurant which you may not exactly like. For example, Sabor. The food was alright. I really like the potatoes bravas although M didn't like it as she wanted the potatoes to be crispy. We had no issues with the chicken croquettes and the aubergines. M didn't like the prawns as she found it too small. She obviously hasn't stayed in the UK long enough as its quite difficult to find the real king prawns that you see back in Singapore. All in all, we were fine with La Tasca.

http://www.latasca.co.uk/

As for the movie, I really enjoyed it and I think its better than the HK version primarily because the dialogue in Infernal Affairs is too cleaned up, the policemen and the triads don't sound like people from that side of the line. But The Departed, the language is gritty and hopefully true to the culture of the Boston police force and the Irish mobsters. I am not too sure which ending I prefer though. M likes the HK ending.

Sabor

2006-10-14T17:03:00.000Z

Went back to Angel to explore the place as I didn't manage to do it last week, had to rush back to prepare the meal for M's friends. We saw a South American restaurant called Sabor on the toptable website with pretty good reviews and so we decided to try it for lunch. The starters were excellent. I had skewered chicken with a lime and citrus dressing with sweet potatoes with a cheese and mustard sauce. The flavours were sharp and delicious. M had corn fritters. I don't really like corn so I can't appreciate it. She said its good though. We were really looking forward to the mains but sadly, they don't meet up to the standard set by the starters. I had steamed red snapper in a banana leaf with coconut rice. The fish was alright, nothing really special and the coconut rice was way too coconuty for my taste. I am not a big fan of coconut so I guess I am biased. M had the cornmeal dumplings. I thought they tasted like muffins and the dressing for the salad that came with it was too strong, an overdose of mustard I think. M didn't like it as well. So not exactly a very enjoyable lunch experience but I guess for the price of 15 pounds per person, I shouldn't complain that much.

http://www.sabor.co.uk