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.