A Living Room

Wow. Its been 4 months since I last blogged. It wasn't that my love for food has died. Maybe I was lazy? But one thing I have learnt for sure, is that food is meaningless if you are unhappy. The best food came out of chefs who are smiling. Your mood affects the outcome of your food. When you spirits are up and you are enjoying the cooking process, all the favours and portions will come together, like a well conducted symphony. I am sure you have never seen a cranky and grouchy conductor. A great conductor simply guide and glide with the music that comes from his effortless hands.

In these 4 months, I did make a few memorable dishes....pork ribs in red wine sauce, expanded my pasta repertoire to include mussels vongole, pasta with bread crumbs, anchovies and olives, black sea bass in tomatoes...all because of a brand new cookbook by Mario Batali! Yeah. His recipes are really simple and the results are always spectacular. And of course, I bought Marcella Harzan, a guru of Italian cooking. Her cookbooks are similar to Julia Child's - no pictures! But chokeful of detailed instructions and tips. I once made a potato soup from scratch and I know her recipes are fail proof.

We discovered a little bistro tucked away in Joo Chiat, which we passed by on numerous occasions because it didn't look unique or different from the tons of restaurants/eateries lining Joo Chiat. Well, due to recent physical inconvenience, we happened to walk into it one rainy afternoon. And we have been back ever since. They serve the best cheesecakes ever, yes, better than Cheesecake Cafe! Its creamy and delicious, with fresh spin on traditional flavours, including (burp) durian!

Their lunch and dinner menu impresses too. Had a pizza and pasta, plus beef stew one Suhday afternoon and the food was really good and affordable. They won't charge you Orchard Road prices. Pizza was thin and crispy with fresh toppings. The sausage and cream pasta was heavenly without being cloying. Beef stew was probably a Eastern European version with cabbage and spices. I expected a French version, since I could make one on my own. But it was a nice surprise. And ladies, they serve over 25 types of tea with exotic combinations like rasberry, hibiscus, cranberry, lemon, myrtle, echinecea, passionfruit, lavender etc. I have ordered a different tea every single time.

But the best part has yet to come - being in the restaurant is like being in your own living room. Cosy, comfortable with warm and personal service. Big day beds with lots of cushions and soft decor makes the place so inviting you really feel like falling asleep in. And you definitely do not want to leave. Cannice and her team have done a fantastic job in creating a little 'home' in Joo Chiat.

Chezcake Bistro it is. Check it out.

Pasta

Whoa, its been 3 months since I blogged....think I was busy with work, training for my half marathon. In between I did have some interesting adventures but all in all, quiet and unremarkable.

M has a passion for cooking, honed from her stint at Olio Dome where she was waitressing a long time back. Its nice to hang around with someone who loves food as much as I do. We have been comparing notes on Julia Child, complete with a trip to Tanglin supermarket. I wanted to show her where are all the fresh ingredients, as well as to convince her why its important to use only the best. One must pick up good habits when learning to cook and not go the lazy, shortcut way of using processed or packaged stuff. I hope she agrees... :-)

I got myself two Italian cookbooks. Well, I needed a fresh perspective with pasta. Quite sick of my usual recipe of sausages, bell peppers, or a simple mushroom, garlic and chili aglio olio. Mario Batali did not disappoint me! Am trying out a spaghetti with olives, anchovies and breadcrumbs, as well as a pork rib stew in tomatoes and red wine. The kitchen is smelling so good now!

Still sick from another bout of sinustis, taking anti biotics and generally no appetite. Hopefully tonights dinner will do some wonders as I missed my runs last week. What a bummer. I hate it, especially since I am running above target now. God, I would be so disappointed if I have to restart my training again.

Trick for priming the body for intensive training - vitc c, multivits, glucosamine and lots and lots of healthy food laden with protein.

Wish me luck.

Beouf Bouguignon

I did it! I finally made a dish out of Julia Child's cookbook and what a classic French dish this is! Yup, I did make some mistakes (hell, its the first time!), but it turned out amazing. I think I got it 80% right, which is not bad really.

All aspiring chefs be warned - French cooking is laborious. It took me 5 hours to put together 3 dishes: beouf bouguignon, gratin dauphinois (potato gratin) and a morroccan couscous. Her recipes are very precise and if you think some steps are illogical, you will realise later they are there for a reason. For example, she asked that beef cubes (rump steak cut) be cut into 2 inches size. I bought 880g of meat but was unsure it will feed two very hungry men, so I decided to cut them a little smaller. You are suppose to brown the meat cube by cube in the bacon fat. Eh I was my usual impatient self and made a mistake of shoving all the meat into the casserole. Well, as many experience chefs will tell you, it causes the meat juices to run and not all the meat was browned evenly. After 3 hrs of stewing in the oven at 190 degrees celsius, the meat is so soft it literally falls apart. So, had I cut them into 2 inches size and brown them evenly, it will not be so. It was kind of nice to eat broken pieces of beef but of course, it will be most ideal to serve them upright and complete.

When buying ingredients for this dish, follow exactly what she states. I bought a good bottle of South African cabernet sauvignon. It must be young, but as you know, Julia has expensive wine taste which I cannot afford - Bordeaux St Emillion..... Good beef stock from Jones the Grocer, french butter, chunck of bacon. The Le Creuset casserole was such a good investment. It browns meat to a nice crisp and holds heat evenly. And it cleans out easily!

The potato gratin was really easy to make. But I had to dry each slice of potato, just like the beef cubes. Layer and add cheese and butter. I grated two types of Swiss cheese - Gruyere and Edmenthal. Sprinkle salt and pepper, pour boiling milk over, stuff it into the oven at 220 degrees celsius and voila, its ready in 45 mins. Both dishes were so good it was cleaned out completely. I was complimented several times and that made me happy. What is most gratifying to know is that I can do a pressure test and get it about 80 - 90% right. Only chefs with talent could achieve that.  If you don't know what a pressure test is, you should watch the Masterchef and Junior Masterchef series. You are basically given an hour to follow a recipe and reproduce the dish in exactation.

Which recipe next? Fish? Chicken? Hmmmmm.....

I should seriously consider giving up my job. A years tuition at Culinary Institute of America costs USD200,000. Must buy lottery.

Daniel Boulud

OK I finally had a chance to dine in a restaurant helmed by a Michelin star chef. Singapore happen to have not one but four of such restaurants. Wolfgang Puck, Guy Savoy and Joel Robuchon.

DB is easily the most affordable of the lot. At Wolfgang Puck, each dish starts at SGD100... Gulp. Dinner for two would mean almost SGD1,000. That's a bit insane don't you think? Now I understand why food afficiandos save up to eat at ridiculously priced but world's best restaurants. I can understand the orgasmic experience of dining in one of these but eh, I believe there is great food out there without paying through your nose.

We had two starters, two mains and cocktails. Bill came up to SGD230. That's not too bad. The oysters were a tad too small. Well its Singapore, not Florida! But it was fresh and pairs perfectly with two types of dipping sauces.

The platter of terrine, cured meat and toasted bread was really good. Terrine is very fresh and flavorful. The cured meats were excellent. And the breads? I must admit I love the sourdough...!

Next was the venison ragout with shell pasta and slow oven baked ocean trout. The ragout was a knockout - rich and robust with hints of red wine and herbs. The trout was soft and tender, atop a mix of pea mint and horseradish sauce.

The restaurant has three sittings and even at the second sitting, it was very busy. But it died down at around 8 pm and became enjoyable after that. Most diners order the signature DB burger, which we probably should. But why waste a nice dinner over a burger? And it was a birthday dinner.

I hope V enjoyed it. He is so fussy about food and critical of restaurants in Singapore. I have to agree with him. The best we have been is in HK. Impeccable service. And I mean absolutely flawless. Here they try but you know its never going to be amazing.

Bon appetit!

Crabs

I have not eaten crabs or have a decadent seafood meal for quite a while. Fate has it that I will get a chance to savour this delicacy, which I am not particularly crazy about. I am ambivalent about seafood, especially crabs, prawns, abalone, etc because I have a mild allergy to crustaceans. The allergy rears its ugly head as I get older. Maybe my body is getting cranky? So seafood does not feature much in my diet, except fish, although I seriously love prawn noodles and I know I can make a mean one. We eat lots of omega rich fish at home - salmon, sea bass, cod, mackerel...They are pricier than the usual fishes in the market but its very nutritious and delicious. You do not need alot of fancy work to prepare such fishes. A simple grill or pan fry with a squeeze of lemon juice will work.

So off we went to Mellben Seafood at Ang Mo Kio Ave 3 which I heard was famous for its crab bee hoon. Well, my knowledge of good eating places for crabs is limited to the one down the street I live - Eng Seng at Joo Chiat Place, and the ubiqutious No Signboard, Jumbo, Long Beach... Ang Mo Kio is really the boonies for me so I was looking forward to be surprised.

And I was more than surprised. To be honest, it was the best crab meal I have ever had. The crab stock that comes with the bee hoon is milky, robust and so flavourful! Its simply heaven! They serve the bee hoon in a bowl on the side, as well as an extra bowl of crab stock. This is in addition to the main course which is of course a mid size crab in a claypot filled to the brim with the same stuff. I am a Cantonese so when it comes to good soup, I can recognise one right away. And this is AWESOME! I was happily slurping and enjoying each mouthful. But the best has yet to come...

The butter crab is so divine.....silky smooth, creamy buttery sauce much like liquid gold! Its probably similar to a French butter sauce. Everyone at the table was lapping up every single drop with chunks of man tou. If they could lick off the plate, they would!

And the last dish was the perfect finish to a fine meal. Crabs crusted with salted egg yolk. It takes great skill to fry crabs with salted egg yolk as it can burn easily since there is no liquid to create a barrier. But the chef demonstrated such delicate skill - the crab was well coated and the crust was delicious, with a hint of honey to help caramelise and bind the salted egg yolk.

My head and palate were bursting with symphonies throughout the entire meal. Folks, its definitely worth a try. There are 7 of us, - three crab dishes plus four other main dishes comes up to SGD239. Good value for money!

Cast iron casserole

I finally bought my cast iron casserole from Le Creuset. Costs $289 for a 27 cm oval casserole instead of the original $590, because of a 50% discount from Takashimaya. Picked up a stoneware baking dish as well, in the signature orange red that you can spot from miles away in the kitchen of any serious chefs. Anna Olson has at least 8 types sitting in her kitchen in all sorts of colours. Envious!

I was actually toying between a black cast iron casserole, instead of the enameled version. It looks so rustic, the way it should be when soldiers, farmers, wandering gypsies, priests traversed across Europe in the 1500s armed with nothing much except their cast iron pot that pretty much cooks everything,  in every way. Fried, stewed, boiled, braised etc. Completely black and with much larger iron pores that will turn into a coat of sheen with heavy usage and over time. The biggest downside is that it will rust easily. So a lot of care is needed. Well, for a busy person like me, that didn't sound right... So I ended up with the nice and pretty enameled version.

Ok I always manage to learn something with every culinary adventure. I didn't know the black phenolic knob at the top of the lid has a temperature limit of 190 degrees celsius. I was wondering why and was getting fairly alarmed, since I only discovered this when I reach home! In my mind, I often imagined a cast iron casserole allows one to cook in the oven for a long period in high temperature. Long period = 8 hrs. Ah yes and no! Yes it allows you to stew or braise for that long, but the magic of a cast iron casserole is that it retains heat and evenly, without raising the temperature of your cooking. It is not designed to cook long over high heat. Rather, its over low and medium heat. I further validated by double checking Julia Child's recipe for beouf bouguignon - 375 degrees farenheit indeed. Phew!

The next step is to read that recipe in detail and assemble my ingredients for a first culinary foray into classic French cooking! I did ask myself, why am I starting with something far more advance. Eh....I guess I wanted to prove to myself that I can do this even though I am still an amateur? Or maybe we are all serious meat lovers?

Haha.

Getting It Right The First Time!

We are having some friends over for dinner (well, its a common social activity for people who love to cook!) and its always easy to serve up a Western menu. I decided to replicate my French Onion soup and Chicken Roasted with Rosemary, Garlic and Butter, and test a new recipe. Instead of a salad, I am going to make a vegetable couscous. I have distinctive memories of couscous - a whole grain salad often filled with many ingredients. So I search the internet for a suitable couscous recipe (there are loads of them!) and found a great one by Rachael Ray. Ok, there are very simple couscous recipes where only 3 ingredients are used and I could have easily chosen that. But I wanted a more robust and tasty couscous.

The rest of the menu consists of a Roasted Beef with Tuscan Herb Rub on a bed of vegetables, and Prawn Tagliatelle. I had only two hours to shop for for food and another 3 hours to prepare. So we ran around, from Tekka Market, to Jones the Grocer and Tanglin Marketplace. Folks, if you want to roast a good cut of meat without paying through your nose, go to Joe's Butchery at Tekka Market. A 1.5kg sirloin cut costs only $45. It will double if you go to Swiss or Huber's. 1 kg of mid size prawns costs $10. What!

As I mentioned in my previous blog, a good French Onion soup is determined by the stock. And Jones have premium stock that does the job beautifully. And I learnt something at Tanglin Market - 8 white onions costs $22 and 3 vine tomatoes costs $8. Gah!

The roast beef recipe was from Jamie Oliver. In the original recipe, the beef just need a salt and pepper rub. I varied with a Tuscan Herb Rub that I picked up from the butchery. Tuscan would probably meant basil, oregano, parsley sort of thing. Anyway, it sits on a bed of carrots, celery, onions and fresh thyme. I love the smell of thyme.... Its a match made in heaven with any meat.

The roast beef was the first to go into the oven, taking about 80 mins. It turned out slightly medium. As for the chicken, ahem, my youngest daughter Rachel did everything. She cleaned, pat dry and marinated the chicken and it turned out to be the best dish of the night. I am so proud of her!

The couscous turned out perfect, except its a wee bit dry. I think I added a bit too much couscous. But the combination of onions, zucchini, pumpkin, tomato, cilantro, parsley and lemon juice cooked in organic chicken broth with a hint of cumin and coriander powder was so delicious! Again, I got it about 98% right the first time so I must be a good cook???? Need validation here!

The only disaster was my tagliatelle was a bit overcooked but overall, each dish was a success. One critique was that the pasta does not sit well with the rest of the dishes although each were very good on its own. Point taken. In future, I have to pay more attention to the overall fit of each dish. A judge from Iron Chef America once said, it should be a journey that brings you to different experiences of the same place. Maybe a pesto pasta would have worked better with the chicken and beef? Or a tajine of sorts eaten with flat bread? Then the soup should have been Morroccan! Wah...

Everyone was stuffed and we had decadent cheesecakes from the cheesecake cafe at Siglap for dessert. I enjoyed myself and must say, I would not have been able to prepare dinner on time without the help of my two sous chefs who did the chopping, washing, frying, stirring.

Thank you Rebekah and Rachel!

Nothing like home cooked food

We like to entertain our guests with simple home cooked food. All our friends work long hours during the week, are usually single ladies/guys who have no time to whip up a proper dinner, or are based here because of work and their families are in Malaysia. So they always look forward to having dinner at our home because that is precisely what I will serve up.

Tonight's menu features the following dishes:

Pork rib soup with daikon, cuttlefish and chinese ham
Gourd fried with eggs and prawns
Kang kong with garlic and chilli
Leeks with pork
Roast duck with salted vegetables
Pan fried mackerel with teriyaki sauce
Stewed fatty pork with black soya sauce

Is it too much for 4 adults and 2 kids? I am known to over order, over feed people. I might drop one dish...

I hope they like what I am preparing. Nicole will eat anything. She shares the same passion about food and enjoy the same type of food. In fact, I am now hooked on the programme Junior Masterchef Australia because of her! Trust me. When you see 8 - 12 year olds preparing gourmet dishes with depth and technicality way beyond their years, it validates the old adage from the movie Ratatouille - ANYONE CAN COOK!

Fried Rice Paradise

I always believe a good plate of fried rice should not have more than 3 key ingredients. Too many ingredients creates a plethora of tastes that causes confusion to the palate. One does not know which to focus on. Its basically the same principle as a pizza. You find many 'confused' pizzas in Singapore, especially with big fast food chains like Pizza Hut. In Italy, they make pizzas with only tomato sauce, cheese and basil. Or vary with pepperoni, salami, olives etc.

Back to fried rice. Its one of my favourite dishes because its so simple to prepare and very substantial. On lazy days and if I happen to have some leftover cooked white rice in the fridge, I can whip one up in less than 30 mins. The most important ingredient is actually overnight cooked white rice that has been chilled till each grain is bouncing on its own.

Fried rice is also versatile - you can substitute with strong, savoury ingredients according to your personal preference and the result will always be the same. Absolutely delicious!

Here is my recipe which I stumbled upon when rummaging a near empty fridge. Other combinations include lap cheong (chinese sausage) and dried shrimps, salted fish and silver fish, ikan bilis and green chillis. All are fried and rounded up with eggs, spring onions and minced garlic. Of course, if you like a spicy fried rice, what better way than to fry it with sambal belachan. I found one fantastic version from a small stall at Farmart, off Choa Chu Kang Road. Its a wholesale market tucked away in the boonies but you can find free range chickens, quail, rabbit and even crocodile meat. And fresh seafood off the tank. A live seabass costs about SGD7.00 which is a big steal!

A big bowl of overnight cooked white rice that serves 2
Minced pork meat
Pickled radish (chye poh)
Minced garlic
Eggs
Spring onions
Soya sauce and pepper to taste.

I am not stating portions because fried rice is prepared in a very personal way. You moderate the ingredients based on what you like. I love salty food so tend to add more pickled radishes. In turn, I do not add salt and let the soya sauce impart flavour.

1. Fry the minced garlic lightly, than add the pickled radish. Fry till it is slightly crispy.
2. Add the minced pork meat and fry till the meat is cooked.
3. Next, add the rice and stir throughly till all the ingredients have been evenly distributed.
4. Pour the egg quickly and fry till each rice grain is dry and coated with egg.
5. Pour some soya sauce and pepper over and continue to fry
6. Lastly, add the spring onions. Keep frying till you can see rice grains 'dancing' around.

It is best eaten with some cut red chilli padi, soya sauce and a squeeze of lime.

By the way, authentic Yang Zhou fried rice has only 3 ingredients - char siew, spring onion and eggs. If you see corn, peas and carrots etc, you are being hoodwinked by pseudo hawkers again!

Red Fermented Bean Curd

Any Cantonese will be familiar with 'nam yu'. Its basically:

Red fermented bean curd (traditional Chinese: 紅豆腐乳/南乳; pinyin: hóng dòufu rǔ/nán rǔ), incorporates red yeast rice (cultivated with Monascus purpureus) with the brining liquor for a deep-red color, thickened flavor and a distinctive flavor and aroma.

The smell is reminisence of my grandmother stewing a big pot of 'zai' (vegetarian) during Chinese New Year. Its a dish eaten only at that time, or served in Chinese temples during special occasions.  Really easy to prepare but you must get good quality nam yu. You should  get it from your regular dried goods store in the wet market, and not from the supermarket. Its usually stored in small hand sized vats and you must specifiy to the store owner you want the more expensive variety. If you are lucky, they will have it. Most people don't know this, but dried goods stuff have different grades. I always pay a bit more for quality lap cheong, dried anchovies, shrimps, mushrooms, scallops etc.

I will stew this over a claypot, but if you do not own one, a non-stick pot is better than a stainless steel one. Although this is really a personal preference.

4 cubes of nam yu mashed to a paste
A bulb of garlic, whole and peeled
A handful of lily bulbs, soaked in water and the heads trimmed
8 pieces of woods ear, soaked in water and sand washed out. Slice each into half
4 pieces of tau pok, sliced in triangles. I actually prefer the rounded ones as they soak in the gravy more
A bunch of dried mung bean, soaked in water

1. Gently fry the garlic cloves in 2 tablespoons of heated oil
2. Fry the nam yu paste till it smells fragrant, about a min or so. Be careful not to burn it
3. Drain and add the rest of the ingredients except the mung bean
4. Stir fry till the nam yu has coated most of the ingredients, add 3-4 cups of water or till it covers
5. Stew over low heat for at least 1.5 hrs till everything turns soft
6. Add the mung bean 30 mins prior to serving.
7. Add salt to taste. Nam yu is salty in itself so practise moderation

Nam yu can also be fried with kang kong, garlic and sliced red chillies, or stewed with fatty pork. Its a hearty and rich dish that will add interesting notes to your dining table, and best eaten with a bowl of steaming white rice.

I have been very sick the last 4 days and made a fatty pork nam yu for dinner last night. Absolutely delicious and it added some taste to my otherwise bland taste buds.

For tonight, its going to be a simple kampung black chicken soup with red dates, wolfberries, wai san and yook jook (wai san is Chinese yam and yook jook is Solomon's seal). Hopefully my head will clear and I am no longer part of the flu epidemic statistic!

Dishwasher

Most Singaporeans do not have a dish washer in their house. But we decided to get one after spending so much time cleaning up after dinners and parties. V and I had to scrub and clean even though we are so tired. And my hands are becoming all wrinkly and dry...

So thanks to V, our lives are simpler now. I can focus on ploughing through Julia Child's cookbooks!

Where should I begin?

The books have arrived! Oh I was having so much fun reading through the recipes. So precise and no-nonsense. Everything is made from scratch.

But heebers geebers, all measurements are in the US system - quart, pounds.... Eh, I need to manually convert for each recipe using a pencil. But which recipe should I tinker with first? There is a total of 500+ recipes to choose from. I will wait for inspiration.

And I need measuring spoon sets. A trip to TOTT, an upmarket kitchen equipment store in Bukit Timah is beckoning. I can only imagine going ga ga over copper pans and pots and ingenious kitchen equipment.

Most of all, I need a cast iron casserole and oven dish.........

I hope someone is listening :-)

Authentic Cantonese Roast

An unapologetic meat eater, I am quite fussy about the state of my char siew - it must be roasted till its a deep dark red, glistening with fats, and covered with a layer of black burnt crust. Wimpy bright red char siew does not work for me. Its really a case of culinary sloppiness and loads of Singaporeans are fooled by such hawkers.

I live in Joo Chiat, a few doors away from the famous Fei Fei Wanton Noodle stall and sadly, they serve this pathetic looking char siew with their noodles. 

Folks, the real deal is at Kay Lee Roasted Meat, 125 Upper Paya Lebar Road. Run by a pair of Cantonese women, one with a very masculine voice, their roast meat is definitely authentic and exactly the way it should be. Roast pork - crackling and absolutely juicy without being dry. Roast duck - roasted till almost black in colour with a crispy skin and succulent meat. Roasted char siew - as I have described above. They serve Chinese sausages made with pork too. I haven't tried that one but it looks smacking delicious. In fact, every morsel they hang on their display counter is dripping with fatty goodness.

I always order a mix of char siew, roast pork and roast duck. Comes with a bowl of rich, dark soya sauce made with meat drippings which you must pour over your white rice. And they serve up a mean repertoire of Cantonese soups too. Salted vegetables with duck, watercress with pork ribs, winter melon soup, lotus root etc. They are double boiled with a generous amount of ingredients, including expensive stuff like red dates, dried oysters, dried chinese ham. The soups are a great accompaniment to the roast meats in that it cuts down the oiliness and act as a palate cleanser. You feel good after having the soup.

Parking is a real problem so get there by 11.00 am. Pricey to pack as a full duck costs SGD40. But each bite will make you sigh with comfort. This place is home to me.

Iron Chef America (ICA)

I am a big fan of this cooking competition reality show.

Reality shows are the inventions of loud, crass and OTT Americans. The pioneers have to be the Bachelor/Bachelorette, as well as Survivor. It has now evolved to the Kardashians, Giuliana & Bill, Kimora etc. Well, those are mindless peeks into the equally mindless lives of American celebrities. I only enjoy the Amazing Race, and reality shows from the BBC. Except of course, ICA.

The original Iron Chef was the Japanese version, with a cheesy Chairman full of exaggerated expressions and poses at its helm. The American version is slightly understated but with a better looking Chairman. For folks new to this world, an Iron Chef is usually a top American chef chosen from a very exhaustive competition that features many mind boggling levels of culinary tests. In each episode, a Challenger, usually a top chef in his own right, picks an Iron Chef from a stable of 5, and enters into a 60 min battle to create 5 courses, using the Secret Ingredient. It can range from avocados, to bourbon, to figs, to beef. Some of these ingredients can really rack your head. One of it was chocolate and chile....yikes, that's one tough ingredient!

Of all the Iron Chefs, my favourite is Michael Symon. He has won 24 competitions and lost only 3. His dishes are always so innovative and unexpected, and has so many layers of complexities. That's what I am poor at. Layering flavours. The maximum I can go based on my own instincts is probably 3. Michael could layer up to 6 or 7 for just a simple sauce... Very much like Gary Kasparov playing chess. In your one move, Gary could visualise 14 possible moves. Genius.

I am looking forward to the new season of ICA featuring the latest winner of the Next Iron Chef, Marc Forgione. He is the youngest Iron Chef, and more importantly, came from a family with illustrious culinary legacies. Yups, he is the son of Larry Forgione, THE authority of American cuisine. I didn't know till I read up on his bio. His father was very good friends with James Beard, the father of American cuisine. The James Beard Foundation Awards is one of the highest award an American chef would hope to have in his career. Besides the Michelin stars...

Its on Food Network Asia.

Nespresso!

There is a new Nespresso machine in the house. And befittingly in red. Folks actually knew it will be in that color because the recipient of this wonderful gift is...flamboyant? Hmmmm.

There's 15 flavors to choose from. And the machine has come a long way since 2002, the year I first knew of this product from Nestle. Back then, the capsules need to be manually 'jammed' into a spout and its messy and cumbersome. Now you just need to slot into a neat little trap and it collects nicely into a plastic container. Looks great too, all futuristic.

Funny thing is, I don't drink coffee. I have a robust circulatory system so coffee is a hell of a stimulant which elevates my heart rate and cause sleepless nights. That is why I turn bright red after half a glass of wine. Champagne will send me to drunk land very quickly. So if you want to pull a fast one on me, that is the way to go.

Listed price is SGD677 and we got it at SGD478. Not bad eh?

Only the pure in heart can make a good soup - Ludwig van Beethoven

Ms N wants a Cantonese soup recipe.

Most folks think they are really easy to prepare - just throw everything into the pot and boil for ages.

Well somewhat true. But there are tips and tricks to a pot of clear and robust soup. First of all, the pot you boil in. No metal pots as they give off a strong metallic taste to the soup. I use a Tanyu claypot, which is quite pricey but worth the investment. You can stew and boil for a long long time. My grandmother and aunts boil their soups in claypots over charcoal fire. That is really the best method.

You have to preboil the meat bones for one round to get rid of the scum before adding in the rest of the ingredients. You can buy a soup skimmer in most Japanese supermarket.This applies only if the base of your stock is pork bones. Chicken gives off less scum .

Every virtuous wife should have the following in her fridge:

Red dates
Dried oysters
Dried scallops
Black beans
Red beans
Dried squid
Wolfberries


They add complexity to any soup!

Here's a recipe for expecting mummies.

Threadfin fish soup with black beans. Threadfin is an expensive fish, also known as ma yau yu in Cantonese. If you cannot afford the whole fish, get the fish head and bones only.

Boil with black beans and few slices of ginger for about 2 hours on a low fire. Serve with a teaspoon of Chinese wine or even better, cognac. Sprinkle some chopped spring onions.

Enjoy Ms N!

40

Julia Child started her culinary journey at the grand old age of 40. So I am not too old! She stumbled upon it during her husband's attachment to Paris, enrolled herself in Le Cordon Bleu and the rest is history.

I only knew about her from the movie Julie & Julia. Her cookbook, Mastering the Art of French Cooking, is one of the most influential in America, almost revered on the same plane as The Joy of Cooking by Irma Rombauer.

That was the Christmas present V is getting for me. Am now waiting patiently for it to arrive and can't wait to start toying with the recipes.... My weight? Hmmmm. Her recipes are almost about butter, butter and more butter. Yet French women are always slim and elegant. What's the trick of eating like a queen but still maintaining your figure? There was an article a long time back about this. I need to research and understand.

If you must know, her recipes are photoless and chock full of instructions and tips. A dry read compared to most cookbooks nowadays. But, Julia Child is pure substance. Not a flash in the pan.

Every single review I read in Amazon was so positive and is highly recommended as a must have for any aspiring chef hoping to raise their culinary skills to another level.

Yups!

French Onion Soup

V and I had to bring forward our little Xmas party because he will be away that week. Nothing fancy, just a few good friends, and simple rustic food. I was determined to make French Onion Soup. It should be a no brainer right?

Well, I printed off a Julia Child recipe and the instructions and ingredients were simple enough. For soups, the key ingredient that differentiates between a great soup and an average soup, is the stock! So off we go, to Jones the Grocer, and picked up 4 packs of beef stock, a baguette, and two tubs of salmon dip. Total costs - S$83. Huh? That's expensive for just stock. But hey, you pay peanuts, you get monkeys. And in Singapore, its expensive to eat healthy and well. I will blog about this issue another time.

Dry white wine - bought two bottles of Chilean dry white wine for S$32. Not too bad. Started off with chopping the onions enough to fill a big bowl. I once saw an episode of Master Chef hosted by Gordon Ramsay. The first cut of the competition is the ability to chop onions evenly. Ok, here we go....I concentrated on evenness!

Sauteed the onions as instructed but Julia says 'till it colours'. Wait a minute, till it turns transparent or caramelized? Sugar is added to the frying process but the onions were sweating and making a little stock pool with the butter and olive oil. I must have gotten it wrong.. I learnt later from Sheree at Chez Papa, that you are suppose to heat the pan till very hot so that the onions brown nicely. In the end, after adding the stock and white wine, and boiling it for 90 mins in an open pot, it turned out so rich and brown and absolutely delicious.

I served it without gruyere or parmesan cheese broiled and melted on top - did not have enough hands to do that and V was busy entertaining the guests. Next round - need to plan and anticipate a little earlier. Overall, everyone enjoyed the soup with a nice toasted slice of baguette and Mediterranean salad mixed with organic extra virgin olive oil, sea salt, pepper, balsamic vinegar from Modena, old English mustard, and some minced garlic. Simple dressing but tastes so good. Roasted quails with thyme and rosemary butter, and seafood pasta with prawns and scallops.

Bon Appetit!

I finally did it!

Yes...it has taken me months to finally sit down and create a blog dedicated to one of my favourite passions - cooking! I would rate myself as a pretty good amateur chef - could follow a recipe for the first time and get it 98% right... An intuitive cook, I regulate ingredients based on what I imagine the dish will eventually taste!

My repertoire includes traditional Chinese stir fries, full-bodied Cantonese soups, curries, roasts, pastas, salads, Italian, French, Mexican... Well, the potential to expand is limitless!

Well, here's a toast to myself for starting this journey. Why liken this personal walk of mine as a sojourn through the Savannah? The Savannah is an open plain grassland common to the African continent. Vast open spaces symbolises freedom. I guess I am looking to free myself and discover who I truly am with this blog. Very much like Julie in Julie & Julia, one of my favourite movies.