Did I last post in April? Oh crap. Well firstly, I hardly bring my laptop home over the weekends and secondly, you guess right, I cannot access this in the office.
Lots of stuff happened since April. We bought a new place and sold our current. It is a very nice change as our new lifestyle is now more outdoors based and we get to enjoy simple pleasures like having dinner or coffee in the terrace facing the east coast skyline....
We bought a new equipment too - an Outback BBQ with 3 gas burners. Awesome stuff. Cooked a couple of steaks over Sunday and it turned out burnt and perfect. Tons of possibilities on the wonder barbie - roasting, grilling, smoking....got to get our hands on some good barbie equipment and download recipes. If you watch License to Grill or Boy Meets Grill, you will grilling is so versatile. What makes it a tad more interesting is the marinades, dips and salad dressings.
Ok ok, I did raise the concern on carcinogens but apparently, so long you do not use any form of sugar that caramalises or changes in chemical composition, we are good on this front. So no basting of molasses etc.
With some great and cheap meats from Melbourne, we are set for a fantastic grastronomical journey!
Food is the soul that feeds the spirit!
Colors of green, red, yellow, purple....
Monday, November 19, 2012
Monday, April 9, 2012
New Adventures!
Ha! I did venture into some new dishes these past months. First up, a chicken fricasse with leeks, cream and white wine. And a basil and semi dried tomatoes pasta dish. Very simple but goes well with the heaviness of the other dishes. Made a greek salad as well..now I know why they dribble the feta cheese when ready to serve, and not toss it all up, which is what I did! The feta cheese became a bits of wet cheese and well, didn't look too presentable but Hashim loved it anyway.
I am going through bouts of despair at my job and sprinkling moments of joy, delight and hope of training to be a chef. Who cares about bloody expats and idiotic jobs for equally boring engineers. My company is absolutely the most boring place to work for...uninspiring products, poor talent and atrocious processes. I might be better off slaving in a hot kitchen surrounded by the things that I love and find inspiration from... My soul breathe and live from any form of creative spirit, be it music, art, food, fashion. I often beat myself up as to why I am where I am. I hate it to the core and find no joy in what I am doing. On the other hand, beauty inspires me, uplifts my jaded spirit and provide endless possibilities in my mind. Beauty in the shape of a beautifully crafted dish, a symphony of tastes, a colourful and well tailored garment, a painting that evokes emotions...stuff like that makes me want to live and be alive.
Oh man. My only solace is to keep cooking...and doing little things to keep my spirits alive. I made a beouf bouguignon again but due to a lack of time in the oven (need 3 hrs!) and wrong type of stock (only Jones the Grocer...), it didn't turn out as thick and robust as I would like. But its time to move away from this dish as I made it so many times. Should try doing a coq au vin or a veal dish. Or maybe a roast lamb from the Cumulus cookbook. Its a beautiful cookbook with very elegant ingredients. Very refine dining at its best. Not sure if it should even be replicated at home! I can't emulate the physical experience to match the elegance of the dishes....
We will be having a seafood lunch this Sunday. Thanks to my colleague's recommendation of a seafood wholesaler in Woodlands. Three large mackerel for SGD10? Unbelievable. Bought mussels, cod and salmon to last us for months. I will be making a mussel with pasta and white wine sauce, grilled mackerel with tomatoes and capers and maybe a black sea bass stew. Can't wait for the weekend to come. I don't give a shit for my work!
Help, anyone wants to hire a amateur chef, waiter, maitre'd for the same salary? Who will be that crazy? I am praying for a sponsor to send me to chef school....:-O
I am going through bouts of despair at my job and sprinkling moments of joy, delight and hope of training to be a chef. Who cares about bloody expats and idiotic jobs for equally boring engineers. My company is absolutely the most boring place to work for...uninspiring products, poor talent and atrocious processes. I might be better off slaving in a hot kitchen surrounded by the things that I love and find inspiration from... My soul breathe and live from any form of creative spirit, be it music, art, food, fashion. I often beat myself up as to why I am where I am. I hate it to the core and find no joy in what I am doing. On the other hand, beauty inspires me, uplifts my jaded spirit and provide endless possibilities in my mind. Beauty in the shape of a beautifully crafted dish, a symphony of tastes, a colourful and well tailored garment, a painting that evokes emotions...stuff like that makes me want to live and be alive.
Oh man. My only solace is to keep cooking...and doing little things to keep my spirits alive. I made a beouf bouguignon again but due to a lack of time in the oven (need 3 hrs!) and wrong type of stock (only Jones the Grocer...), it didn't turn out as thick and robust as I would like. But its time to move away from this dish as I made it so many times. Should try doing a coq au vin or a veal dish. Or maybe a roast lamb from the Cumulus cookbook. Its a beautiful cookbook with very elegant ingredients. Very refine dining at its best. Not sure if it should even be replicated at home! I can't emulate the physical experience to match the elegance of the dishes....
We will be having a seafood lunch this Sunday. Thanks to my colleague's recommendation of a seafood wholesaler in Woodlands. Three large mackerel for SGD10? Unbelievable. Bought mussels, cod and salmon to last us for months. I will be making a mussel with pasta and white wine sauce, grilled mackerel with tomatoes and capers and maybe a black sea bass stew. Can't wait for the weekend to come. I don't give a shit for my work!
Help, anyone wants to hire a amateur chef, waiter, maitre'd for the same salary? Who will be that crazy? I am praying for a sponsor to send me to chef school....:-O
Sunday, February 12, 2012
Slice That Became a Pie!
I need a weighing scale.
We had friends over for dinner and as usual, its a perfect opportunity to try my hand on a few new recipes. I always make it a point to plan dishes that compliment each other in tastes. It should not cause a cacophony of confusion in your taste buds but eases you on a sweet and slow journey of discovery. Good food must create a memory in your head. Whether its an explosion of richness or a wonderful balance of flavors, every dish should give you lasting impressions.
After flipping through four cookbooks, I decided on the following:
Pork ribs in red wine stew
Chicken fricasse with red cabbage
Grilled mackerel
Creamed spinach
Zucchini slice
Pasta in green olive sauce
Conclusion: Julia Child's recipes are for those who have an entire day to perfect one dish...:-) Her recipes are flawless but incredibly laborious!
I have never done the fricasse and zucchini slice before. The ficasse turned out very well. The dish was almost emptied out and the red cabbage has completely melted into a dark and rich mass of gooey goodness. The only mistake I made was the pan I used was not suitable for pan frying the chicken till it turns brown. Cheap Ikea stainless steel saucepan. The skin sticked to the bottom of the pan and never came off. Even after de-glazing with red wine and simmering for a while. It transformed into a burnt crust basically. The fault lies with the quality of the pan. I need a new 30 cm covered non-stick saucepan. TANGS, here I come.
Well, the zucchini slice was a bit of an interesting twist. Its meant to be a slice, like a stacked filo pastry. I made a mistake of not weighing out the flour and simply estimated. It wasn't enough and the slice collapsed into a moist pie, much like a shepered's pie. After 15 mins in the oven, it was not solidfying enough and was actually bubbling. Oh crap, I might have to forego that dish and not serve it out if it becomes a disaster. After 30 mins, it was cooked with a slight burnt crust on top. Hey. maybe it isn't so bad. Worse comes to worse, it will just be a normal pie. I added another 10 mins of cooking and when I took it out of the oven, it looks really nice, like a professional pie!
I served it out and believe it or not, everyone loves it. I couldn't believe my luck in turning a disaster into a triumph. Woo hoo, I should be more confident of myself going forward.
Food was emptied out. I was really happy. And my other half said I have progressed so much in my cooking skills I should seriously do something about it...
As always, thanks to my two sous chefs. Without their sweet little help, I wouldn't have been able to finish everything in time.
We had friends over for dinner and as usual, its a perfect opportunity to try my hand on a few new recipes. I always make it a point to plan dishes that compliment each other in tastes. It should not cause a cacophony of confusion in your taste buds but eases you on a sweet and slow journey of discovery. Good food must create a memory in your head. Whether its an explosion of richness or a wonderful balance of flavors, every dish should give you lasting impressions.
After flipping through four cookbooks, I decided on the following:
Pork ribs in red wine stew
Chicken fricasse with red cabbage
Grilled mackerel
Creamed spinach
Zucchini slice
Pasta in green olive sauce
Conclusion: Julia Child's recipes are for those who have an entire day to perfect one dish...:-) Her recipes are flawless but incredibly laborious!
I have never done the fricasse and zucchini slice before. The ficasse turned out very well. The dish was almost emptied out and the red cabbage has completely melted into a dark and rich mass of gooey goodness. The only mistake I made was the pan I used was not suitable for pan frying the chicken till it turns brown. Cheap Ikea stainless steel saucepan. The skin sticked to the bottom of the pan and never came off. Even after de-glazing with red wine and simmering for a while. It transformed into a burnt crust basically. The fault lies with the quality of the pan. I need a new 30 cm covered non-stick saucepan. TANGS, here I come.
Well, the zucchini slice was a bit of an interesting twist. Its meant to be a slice, like a stacked filo pastry. I made a mistake of not weighing out the flour and simply estimated. It wasn't enough and the slice collapsed into a moist pie, much like a shepered's pie. After 15 mins in the oven, it was not solidfying enough and was actually bubbling. Oh crap, I might have to forego that dish and not serve it out if it becomes a disaster. After 30 mins, it was cooked with a slight burnt crust on top. Hey. maybe it isn't so bad. Worse comes to worse, it will just be a normal pie. I added another 10 mins of cooking and when I took it out of the oven, it looks really nice, like a professional pie!
I served it out and believe it or not, everyone loves it. I couldn't believe my luck in turning a disaster into a triumph. Woo hoo, I should be more confident of myself going forward.
Food was emptied out. I was really happy. And my other half said I have progressed so much in my cooking skills I should seriously do something about it...
As always, thanks to my two sous chefs. Without their sweet little help, I wouldn't have been able to finish everything in time.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)