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!