Seafood Pasta With White Wine Sauce

Lately, I've been craving for the yummy seafood pasta at Restaurant Ember back home.

I was at Dome for lunch last Sunday & on their menu I saw a seafood pasta, so very naturally I ordered it. I was shocked when the pasta arrived, drenched in what looked like a can of carnation creamer. It was totally different from the picture on the menu & I had it sent back to the kitchen !

I attempted my own version of seafood pasta for dinner on Tuesday. I wouldn't say it was really yummy, at least the ingredients used were of good quality & good enough to satisfy my cravings.

Recipe :

500g Dried pasta (I've used vermicelli)
500g Prawns (peeled & deveined) & fish fillets
250g Scallops
2 Tbsp Olive oil
50g Butter (I've used Lurpak)
6 Cloves garlic, minced
1 Red chilli, deseeded & finely chopped
1 1/2 Cup White wine
2 Tomatoes, chopped
Flat leaf parsley, chopped, to garnish
Salt & pepper to taste

1. Cook pasta accordingly to package instructions. Drain & set aside.

2. In a large pan, heat olive oil with half the butter till warm, add garlic & chilli, cook for a few mins till fragrant. Add prawns & fish to pan, cook for a few mins, remove from pan with a slotted spoon when they're almost cooked & set aside. Add white wine & bring to boil, reduce heat & let simmer till slightly thick, add the remaining butter. Return the prawns & fish to the pan, followed by scallops & chopped tomatoes, season with salt & pepper.

Toss cooked pasta through the sauce, sprinkle with chopped parsley & serve.

Fried Hokkien Prawn Noodles

Besides the fish ball noodle, this is another must have noodle dish for me each time I head home.

This Singapore version of fried Hokkien prawn noodle is different from KL's version of Hokkien Mee , which is thick yellow noodle braised in dark soya sauce. We have the dark version as well, I'm not sure where the noodle originates from. But I know how my family members differentiate this two noodle dishes, accordingly to my brother-in-law, this version is Fried Hokkien Prawn Mee whereas the dark version is simply Hokkien Mee.

Since this is not available in KK, I've got to find a way to curb my craving. I've tried the ready-to-cook paste from Prima Taste but the taste just don't seem to be the one I'm looking for !

I tried the version from Local Delights, under the series of Joy Of Cooking books & everyone likes it !

I have the habit of freezing the shells after peeling prawns, so I'll have enough shells to yield extra flavour each time I need to make prawn stock. I always double the quantity called for in a recipe.

Ingredients :
Serves 4

200g Belly pork
250g Medium-sized prawns
300g Squid (skin, eye & ink sac removed)
850ml Water
2 Tbsp Fish sauce
1/2 Tbsp Sugar
4 Eggs (beaten)
400g Fresh yellow noodle (scalded)
200g Rice vermicelli (scalded)
300g Bean sprouts
2 Tsp Chopped garlic
100g Chives (cut into 5cm lengths)

Condiments :
2 Limes (halved)
Chilli sauce to taste (smabal chilli, not Maggi)

Cook belly pork, prawns & squid in boiling water. Cut belly pork into strips. Remove prawn heads & shells. Slice quid into rings.

Combine fish sauce & sugar with the water from boiling the pork, prawns & squid. Mix well to make stock.

Heat wok till hot, add 4 tbsp of oil, pour in beaten eggs. When the eggs are cooked, cut into smaller pieces using spatula.

Add noodles, rice vermicelli & bean sprouts. Pour in 1/3 of the stock then cover & cook over moderate heat till noodles are almost dry.

Add another 1/3 of the stock & cover. Continue to cook till noodles are almost dry.

Push noodles to one side of wok. Add 2 Tbsp of oil & chopped garlic. Saute garlic till fragrant, add remaining stock, chives, belly pork, prawns & squid. Stir-fry ingredients till stock has almost dried up.
Serve with condiments.

* I've ommitted the belly pork in this recipe.

Prawn Risotto

One blink, it's been 2 weeks since my last post & this is my first in September ! Can't believe I've been busy, lazy, tired ???


Been craving for risotto for quite a while, finally found time to cook some on one of the week nights.

Serves 4-6

1Kg Raw prawns
2 Tomatoes, chopped
1 Carrot, chopped
1 Celery stick, chopped
2 Bay leaves
1 large onion, chopped
5 Cloves garlic, crushed
1 Cup (250 ml) white wine
Pinch of saffron threads
1 Tbsp Olive oil
20g Butter
1 1/2 Cups (330g) Arborio rice
1 Tsp Finely grated lemon rind
3 Tbsp Finely chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
1 Tbsp lemon juice
Shaved Parmesan, to serve

Peel & devein the prawns. Reserve the heads & shells. Cover the prawns, then refrigerate. Place the heads & shells in a large saucepan & add 1.5L water. Bring to the boil, then reduce the heat & simmer for 5 minutes.

Strain the liquid into a clean saucepan & add the tomato, carrot, celery, bay leaves, half the onion & half the garlic. Bring to boil, then reduce the heat & simmer for 45 mins.
Strain into a bowl, pressing the solids for any juices, then return the liquid to the same pan - you should have 1.25L liquid, if not, add water. Add the wine & saffron, bring to the boil, then reduce the heat & keep at a simmer.

Heat the oil & butter in a large saucepan over medium heat until the butter melts, then add the remaining onion & cook for 5 minutes, or until soft. Add the rice and remaining garlic and stir for 1 min, or until the rice is well coated.

Ladle 1/2 cup (125 ml) of the stock into the rice and stir constantly until it is all absorbed. Add stock, 1/2 cup at a time, stirring constantly for 25 mins, or until all the stock is absorbed, adding the raw prawns and lemon rind with the final portion of stock. When the prawns are pink and curled and the rice is tender and creamy, stir in the parsley and lemon juice. Season and serve with Parmesan.

* I omitted the shaved Parmesan as I do not like it.

Angel Hair Pasta With Crab, Chilli & Lime

I was left with the last packet of frozen crab meat that my mum gave me during my last trip back home. I think it's from Sri Lanka crab as the flesh is really big chunk & even though it's frozen, the taste is so sweet & fresh, not fishy at all !

I didn't want to make crab meat omelette again like what I did the last time, I wanted olive oil based pasta this time.
Found this Gordon Ramsay recipe :

Serves 4

Ingredients :

• 200g angel hair pasta *
  
• 3 garlic cloves, peeled
• 1 red chilli *
  
• 4 spring onions
• Approx 75ml dry white wine
• 1 lime
• 250g white crab meat
• Handful of flat leaf parsley *
  
• Salt
• Black pepper
• Olive oil
• Extra virgin olive oil

1. Bring a large pan of salted water to the boil. When it comes to a rolling boil, add the pasta and cook according to pack instructions until al dente (approximately 3-4 minutes).

2. Heat another large pan with the olive oil. Chop the spring onions, thinly slice the chilli (deseed if you prefer) and crush the garlic. Sauté for 1-2 minutes and season with salt and pepper.

3. Add the wine to the pan and cook out for a minute to reduce. Add the crab meat, stir together and allow to heat through.

4. Drain the pasta and drizzle with extra virgin olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Add the pasta to the crab mixture, chop the parsley and toss the ingredients to combine.

5. Divide between warm plates and serve immediately with a generous squeeze of lime juice, and a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil.

*I've used vermicelli instead of angel hair for the pasta. Chilli has been omitted, well because of the girls. I was lazy to drive to TH to get a bunch of flat leaf parsley so I used dried parsley leaves.
This is a very simple pasta, very easy to cook & so yummy, will defintely cook it again the next time I stock up on crab meat again !

Seafood Stew

One of our weekday lunch lately, when it was raining the whole week. This is such a simple hearty meal, served with crusty bread.

The recipe was adapted from one of the issue of Super Food Ideas :

Serves 4

1/4 Tsp Saffron threads
1 Tbsp Olive oil
1 Brown onion, finely chopped
2 Garlic cloves, crushed
1 Tsp Ground paprika
2 Tbsp Thyme leaves
3 x 400g Cans Italian chopped tomatoes
1 Cup Fish stock or water
1 Lemon, rind finely grated, juiced
2 Large Potatos, cut into 2-cm cubes
500g Thick white boneless fish, cut into 3-cm pcs
12 Mussels, cleaned, beards removed
12 Green prawns, peeled, deveined

Place saffron threads into a bowl. Add 1 Tbsp hot water, allow to stand for 5 mins. Heat oil in a large deep frying pan over medium heat. Add onion & garlic, cook for 3 - 4 mins, stirring or until tender. Add paprika & thyme, stir until well combined. Cook for 1 - 2 mins or until aromatic.

Add tomatoes, stock, lemon rind, 1/3 cup lemon juice, saffron mixture & potatoes to pan. Bring to boil, reduce heat to medium-low. Simmer, uncovered, for 10 mins or until potatoes are just tender.

Add fish, mussels & prawns to pan. Cover, cook for 8 - 10 mins or until seafood is cooked through. Season with salt & pepper.

* I've omitted the mussels & instead of 500g of fish, I've used a mixture of 500g of fish, scallop & squid. I didn't have fish stock on hand so I changed it to chicken stock.

Garlic-Mustard-Grilled Beef Skewers

We had a great lunch today. Of all cooking styles, I suddenly crave for grilling today, in the intense heat outside. I just had to finish up the 2 pcs of tenderloin I have in the deep freezer.

I've been looking for beef skewers recipe & happened to find this garlicky recipe from Bobby Flay's Grilling For Life.

Ingredients :
Garlic-mustard glaze

1/4 cup Whole grain mustard
2 Tbsp Dijon mustard
4 Cloves garlic, finely chopped
2 Tbsp white wine vinegar
1 Tbsp Soya sauce
1 Tbsp Honey
1 Tbsp Finely chopped fresh rosemary leaves
2 Tsp Spanish paprika
1/4 Tsp salt
1/4 tsp Freshly ground black pepper

Grilled beef skewers

2 Pounds beef tenderloin
Twelve 6-inch wooden skewers, soaked in cold water for 30 mins

Preparation
For garlic-mustard glaze

Whisk together all of the ingredients in a small bowl, cover & let sit at room temperature for at least 30 mins & up to 4 hrs before using.

For grilled beef skewers

Heat your grill to high.

Cut the tenderloin lengthwise in half, then cut the halves lengthwise in half again. Slice crosswise to make 24 equal pcs. Skewer 2 pcs of beef onto each skewer, keeping them together at one end of the skewer. Place the skewers in a baking dish or on a baking sheet, pour half of the glaze over the meat & turn to coat.

Grill the meat, turning once & brushing with the remaining glaze, for 4 - 6 mins until golden brown, slightly charred & cooked to medium-rare. Transfer the skewers to a cutting board & let rest for 5 mins.

Place the skewers on a platter & serve hot.

* I only have a pound of tenderloin so I halved the garlic-mustard glaze. I cut the beef into cubes so it'll be easier for the girls to handle. I don't have Spanish paprika (don't know what this is) so I used Hungarian paprika from McCormick (wonder id they are thye same ?). The fresh rosemary leaves has been substituted with dried ones as I only have fresh thyme in my fridge. I left out the whole-grain mustard as some readers commented that the mustard flavour is too overpowering. Since I only have a pound of tenderloin, I halved the glaze recipe & poured it over the beef cubes to marinate for 3 hours in the fridge. Just remove the beef cubes an hour before cooking & drain the marinate. I've also threaded some cherry tomatoes & onion onto the skewers before grilling. The skewers were cooked on a grill pan on a gas hob & they only took about slightly over a min on each side.

This recipe yields 12 skewers, with cherry tomatoes & onion,

Baked Cha Shao

I hardly buy or cook pork. But when I do, it's usually well marinated before cooking, be it stewing or baking. Another of our favourite will be tonkatsu, I'll always prepare a batch of these & freeze them. Besides ribs, the only part we eat is the tenderloin.

Frankly, I enjoy watching people indulge in their belly pork, especially samgyeopsal (grilled belly pork) in Korean restaurants. But still, I rather stick to my tenderloin.

Since the girls are on their long summer holiday break, I have more time to really bake & cook, yes baking still comes first !
The girls, especially JF, likes cha shao a lot. She'll always ask for cha shao to be on her kon lau mee on Sunday breakfast.

I got this baked cha shao recipe from a friend's house in Labuan. I remembered about 8 years ago when we stayed there while hubby had a RC car competiton, I was so bored so I went through all the books I could find in the house & copied recipe after recipe, manually.
This is from one of the Chinese book, not sure who's the author :

Ingredients :

600g Pork, cut into 1/2 " strips
3 Tbsp Honey

Marinate :

2 Tbsp Oyster
1 Tbsp Dark soya sauce
1 Tbsp Shao Tsin wine
1 Tbsp each Garlic, Shallot, Bean Sauce (minced)
1 Tsp each Sesame oil, ginger juice
3 Tbsp Sugar

Combine all marinate ingredients in a large bowl, add meat & mix well, cover bowl & leave to marinate overnight in the fridge.

Drain marinate, place meat on grilling rack, grill at 210C for 15 mins. Turn meat over & grill for another 7 mins. Remove meat & brush all over with honey, grill for another 5 mins till golden brown.

I usually cook the marinate till boiling & sieve it as sauce for the cha shao. Just serve it with plain rice & some steamed vege.



We couldn't finish the cha shao in one meal. So I chopped up the remaining, with an onion, 4 beaten eggs, one huge bunch of spring onion & cooked rice, we've got ourselves fried rice for dinner that night.

Barbeque Ribs

This has been our favourite rib recipe ever since I tried it for the first time 2 years ago.

Each time we have cravings for Tony Roma's, I'll cook this, with a side dish of coleslaw.

Recipe is adapted from allrecipes.com :

4 Pounds Pork spareribs
1 Cup Brown sugar
1/4 Cup Ketchup
1/4 Cup Soya sauce
1/4 Cup Worcestershire sauce
1/4 Cup Rum
1/2 Cup Chilli sauce
2 Cloves garlic, crushed
1 Tsp Dry mustard

Preheat oven to 175C. Cut spareribs into serving size portions, wrap in double thickness of foil, bake for 1 1/2 hours. Unwrap & drain drippings. Place ribs in a large roasting pan.

In a bowl, mix together brown sugar, ketchup, soya sauce, Worcestershire sauce, rum, chilli sauce, garlic & mustard. Coat ribs with sauce & marinate at room temperature for 1 hour or refrigerate overnight.

Preheat grill for medium heat. Place ribs on grill & cook for 30mins, basting with marinate.

* I usually place the ribs & marinade in a large zip-lock bag, leave it in the fridge overnight. I baked them in an 220C preheated oven for 30 mins. I left out the chilli sauce & add a dash of black pepper, for the girls.

Kalbi, Marinated Beef Short Ribs

I'm so so into Korean food these days.

Frankly, I've never like Korean food. The only Korean food I knew while growing up was Seoul Garden in Singapore. It's a Korean BBQ buffet restaurant with so many varieties of heavily marinated meats (with tenderizer I think !!).

In the past year, we started trying out Korean restaurants around KK & I start to fall in love with Korean food. Guess what ? I'm beginning to enjoy Kimchi ! So far, I think Kimchi at Hi-Seoul, Likas Square, is the best, so fresh, so crunchy. I'm looking forward to my Korean friend's new restaurant opening at City Mall.

I even started cooking Korean at home. In fact, Korean cooking is not difficult, just the right ingredients you'll get the dish right.

I was shopping at Merderka Supermarket 2 weeks ago & spotted some beef short ribs in their freezer section. Immediately, Kalbi came to my mind. I know hubby likes ribs so I grabbed a kilo of it. This is quite a big portion for 4 of us as the ribs were cut into thin slices.

After browsing through my recipe books, I found a great recipe :

1 Sweet Chinese pear, peeled
1 Tart green apple, peeled
1 Onion, peeled
1kg Beef short ribs, sliced

Marinade :

6 Tbsp Soya sauce
3 Tbsp rice wine
2 Tbsp sesame oil
3 Tbsp Sugar
2 Tbsp roasted sesame seeds, crushed
6 Cloves garlic, crushed

Finely grate the pear, apple & onion into a large bowl, add the beef short ribs & mix thoroughly. Set aside to allow the meat to tenderize.

Combine the marinade ingredients in a bowl, mix well & pour it over the beef, mixing thoroughly until the beef is well coated with the marinade. Cover & let marinade for at least 4 hours or overnight in the fridge.

Heat a frying pan or grill over medium heat until very hot. fry the beef ribs, in batches, for 2-3 mins on each side until golden brown. Remove from heat & transfer to serving platters. Garnish with roasted sesame seeds & serve with rice.

We had this over 2 meals in a day, lunch for hubby & I, and dinner for the 4 of us. Hubby thought it was good, very well marinated with natural ingredients.



Now, what is Korean food without any side dish ? No, I can't make Kimchi. So I could only come up with their most common salad, the sigumchi namul, which is seasoned spinach. But I don't have any spinach in my fridge that day, so I've substituted the spinach with choy sum.
How to :

300g Choy Sum, chopped & washed
3 Tbsp Soya sauce
2 Cloves garlic, minced
2 Tbsp Sesame oil
1 Tbsp Roasted sesame seeds, crushed
1 Tsp Sugar

Bring 3 cups of water to boil, blanch the choy sum for about 1min. Remove from heat & rinse in cold water. Drain & squuze out the excess water from the vege.

Mix all other ingredients in a large bowl. Add the blanched choy sum & toss the mixture thoroughly, making sure it's well coated with the seasoning.

Place in an airtight container & chill in the fridge for at least 1 hour before serving.

Parmesan-Crumbed Baked Fish

This is one over due post, a weeknight dinner 2 weeks ago

I'm always on the lookout for easy meals that I can prepare in a rather short time. I wanted a simple meal that can be cooked in the oven so I turned to this website for their trustworthy & yummy recipes. This time , I set my eyes on this easy Parmesan-crumbed baked fish recipe.

Ingredients :
(Serves 4)

1/2 Cup Fresh multi-grain breadcrumbs *
1/4 Cup Flat-leaf parsley leaves, finely chopped *
1/3 Cup Finely grated Parmesan cheese
1 Tsp Finely grated lemon rind *
1 Tsp Olive oil
4 (200g each) Thick white fish steaks *
Olive oil cooking spray
salt & pepper
Steamed green beans, boiled potatoes & lemon wedges, to serv

Preheat oven to 200C. Combine breadcrumbs, parsley, parmesan, lemon rind, salt & pepper in a bowl. Stir to combine. Drizzle mixture with olive oil, stir until breadcrumbs are coated in oil.

Press mixture onto flesh-side of fish fillets to form an even topping.

Place fish, skin-side down, onto a baking tray. Spray with oil, bake for 15 mins or until crumbs are light golden & fish is just cooked through. Serve with steamed beans, potatoes & lemon wedges.

* I've used panko instead of fresh breadcrumbs, it's so convenient. And I substituted the flat-leaf parsley leaves with 1 Tbsp of dried parsley. I didn't bother grating the rind off a lemon so I've added some lemon pepeper to the panko. As for the fish, I've used garoupa fillets. As I've mentioned before that I don't like any kind of beans, so I've made a tomato salsa. It's made with combining : 1/2 packet of cherry tomatoes & 1/2 packet of golden cherry tomatoes, chopped, 1 small red onion, finely chopped, 1 small Japanese cucumber, chopped, 2 tsp of balsamic vinegar, 1 tsp of olive oil, 1/2 tsp of sugar - toss well to serve. Besides this, there's also steamed broccoli.

My Quarter Pounder !

This is the burger that JF talked about in her Mother's Day 'certificate' for me.

It's been a long time since we last had home-made burger. Reason ? My tight baking schedule. We've been having a lot of simple vege & meat/seafood kind of meals lately.

Last Thursday, when I told hubby that I'm not cooking lunch, he asked if it was chicken rice again ? So feeling rather guilty about it, I decided I could cook something. I used to take my own sweet time when it comes to food preparation & cooking. However, I can whip up something really fast nowadays. I guess I've been 'trained' by myself, juggling my time between baking & cooking.

As usual, from the deep freezer, I've got minced beef, so burger came to my mind. There's cabbage, carrot, cheese slices, mayonnaise, tomatoes & gherkins in the fridge, breadcrumbs in my pantry. I just had to run out to get a bag of burger buns.

My version of burger patties :

500g Minced beef
1 Onion, finely chopped
1 Egg
2 Gherkins, chopped *
1/4 Cup Breadcrumbs
2 Tbsp Tomato ketchup
1 tsp Liquid smoke *
1 tsp Dried oregano
salt & pepper to taste

Place all ingredients in a large bowl & mix till well combined, cover & set aside in the fridge.
Divide beef mixture into portion, we had 125g each & the girls had a 60g portion. Heat some oil in a frying pan, cook patties till browned on each side.

To assemble, split a burger bun, toast it & spread some butter on it. Place tomato slices, onion rings, burger patty, cheese slice on one half of the bun, top it with the other half & serve. Add a sunny side-up to the burger if you want.

I've also included a home-made coleslaw to go with the burger.

* I've always like the smokey flavour in my meats so I make sure I add some liquid smoke each time I make burger patties or meatballs. Hubby likes his gherkins chopped & mixed into the minced beef mixture as he likes the sweet, sourish crunch of it in his burger.

Tamagoyaki

Tamogoyaki , Japanese sweet omelette is a popular egg dish among my girls. In fact I think most kids like this sweet omelette. Each time we eat in a Japanese restaurant, my girls will have plate after plate of Tamago sushi.

Frankly, I don't really like the idea of ordering Tamagoyaki in restaurants because they make in bulk & keep in the refrigerator, wrapping it with just cling film !

Once, I got a friend to teach me how to make Tamagoyaki. After watching her, I decided that I could do it, no skills, just a little time & a square pan, that's it ! Well, not quite a square pan, more like a rectangle, I got mine 15 x 20 cm.

Here's the ingredients :
Yields 1 15cm roll

4 Eggs
1/2 tsp Dashi granules
1 tsp Soya sauce
1 Tbsp Mirin
1 Tbsp Sugar

Oil for cooking

Beat everything together with a fork until well combined. Sieve the egg if you prefer a more even mixture. I didn't bother with mine that's why you see specks of egg white in my omelette !

Heat the pan on medium heat, grease well with the cooking oil, using a piece of kitchen towel.
Put in 1/3 cup of egg mixture into the pan, lowering the heat if necessary. Cook till the bottom is just set & top still slightly runny, roll it up with a pair of chopsticks to one side of the pan.
Grease the pan again, put in another 1/3 cup of the egg mixture, making sure the egg flows under the cooked part, so that it'll 'bind' the omelette together. Roll the egg to the opposite side of the pan. Repeat this step until the egg mixture is used up.

I made some on Sunday afternoon for my girls. I had it thickly sliced for them to include in
their lunchboxes. I found home-made Tamagoyaki softer as compared to restaurants made ones, theirs seem to have been pressed because the texture is heavy & not as fluffy.


After the first roll up

Half-way through

My Tamagoyaki is done !

I had them cut into slices for my girls's lunchboxes.

Stir Fried Celery With Fish

We were watching Jamie Oliver on AFC last Sunday & while he was chopping celery for a salad dish, hubby commented how celery goes so well with fish in a stir fry dish.

He even commented that we don't seem to have celery in our greens. My I was feeling so guilty, I've never cooked celery as I dislike it a lot !
My girls told me they like raw celery sticks, something I've never fed them, they probably had them at some parties or hotel buffets !

Alright, I have to be honest, I don't cook what I don't eat, so besides celery, you won't find all kind of beans on our dining table, I'll try to add them into our meals from now on ...... I hope.

Stir Fried Celery With Fish

4 Stalks celery, strings removed with a vegetable peeler, cut into lengths of abt 1 1/2".
300g Fish fillet (I've used garoupa), sliced
1/2 Carrot, thinly sliced, about same length as celery
1/2 Can button mushroom, halved
2 Cloves garlic, minced

Sauce ingredients :

1/2 Cup water
1/2 tsp chicken stock granules (no MSG)
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp Hua Tiao wine
1 tsp soya sauce
1/2 tsp corn flour

Combine all ingredients in a bowl & set aside.


Marinate fish slices with pinch of salt, 2 tsp each of sesame oil & Hua Tiao wine, 1 tsp sugar, dash of pepper & 1 tsp corn flour. Heat a wok with 1 Tbsp oil till hot, add fish slices, remove them from wok when they're half cooked. Add minced garlic, cook till lightly browned, add carrot & mushroom, followed by celery. When everything are well combined, add sauce ingredients & return the fish slices to the wok. Toss well & dish up to serve.

Saturday Lunch

I woke up feeling very 'hardworking' this morning & sure I did........

Home from my weekly marketing :

1. cutting & sorting out the meats to go into the deep freezer
2. marinated/deep fried a batch of pork ribs & freeze them for cooking next time
3. stewed a piece of beef shin, let it cool & into the refrigerator for Monday's lunch
4. boiled some barley drink
5. went out to get my organic greens for next week & did some grocery shopping

By the time I finished all the above, it was only 10am. So I thought I could handle more tasks. Last week JF told me we haven't had home-made pizza for a long time. Sick of buying chicken rice for lunch on Saturday, I decided that we could have pizza for lunch today.

I started making the pizza dough when I got home. While my mixer was kneading the dough, I got all the topping ready. I've got tomato sauce, pepperoni, prawns & mozzarella cheese in the freezer, canned pineapples & ham in the chiller.

I know I won't be using the more than half can of pinaepples I have in the chiller. While waiting for the pizza dough to rise, I made a batch of ham, pineapple & cheese pizza scrolls which uses the similar ingredients.

Everyone of us enjoyed the pizza we had for lunch this afternoon & I even threw in desserts ! It was the strawberry tartlets I made yesterday.

After a morning of 'hardwork', I'm going to enjoy my afternoon nap now (haven't had time for naps for along time !) zzzzzzzzzzzzz

Baked Terriyaki Cod Fish

Terriyaki sauce is an essential sauce in my kitchen, I'll always have a container of it in my freezer. I don't buy commercial made one, it'll always be cooked from scratch. In fact, this is so easy to make & it keeps well in the freezer.
Terriyaki sauce goes well with meat, fish, seafood, even just over plain rice, it's so yummy !

As & when I need some terriyaki sauce, I just get the container out of the freezer, scoop out the portion I need & back to the freezer it goes. The sauce will just be thickened, not hard frozen, even when kept in the freezer.

I make my terriyaki sauce with :

3 Cups Kikoman soy sauce
1 Cup Mirin
1 Cup Sake
1 Cup water
Rock sugar to taste
1 Bulb garlic, left whole (optional) *

Place all ingredients in a saucepan, bring to boil, uncovered, turn down heat & let simmer till sauce thickens slightly.

* If using garlic, peel a layer of the outer skin of the garlic bulb & simmer together with the sauce ingredients, remove the garlic with a slotted spoon when the sauce is done.

This time I baked some cod fish fillets with terriyaki sauce. I'm not a big fan of frying fish as I smell like one after cooking & I hate it !!
What I did was to marinate some cod fish fillets in some terriyaki sauce (enough to coat the fish) & a dash of sesame oil, leave it in a container in the fridge for a few hours for the flavour to penetrate the fish. An hour before cooking, remove the fish from the fridge. When it's time for cooking, preheat oven to 230C, line a baking tray with aluminum foil for easier & less messy clean-up. Place the cod fish fillets on the tray, pour the marinate over them, bake for 15-20 mins, depending on the thicken of the fish.

Korean Potato Noodle

On Tuesday morning while I was doing my morning run, food was the only thing on my mind. In fact, not just food, but my girls' lunch boxes ! I've not prepared or cooked anything the day before, so there was nothing I could heat up. Many things came to my mind - pasta, dumplings, thin bread..... they've had these already, suddenly Korean potato noodle came to my mind. I did a quick memory search, I have carrot, spring onion, some minced chicken, so ok I can do a quickie one.

This is the original ingredients list :

(Serves 4)

300g Potato noodles
4 Tbsp Dried cloud-ear fungus
1/4 Cup sesame oil
2 Tbsp Vegetable oil
3 Cloves garlic, finely chopped
4 cm Ginger, grated
2 Carrots, cut into 4cm matchsticks
2 Spring onions, cut into 4cm pcs
500g Bok Choy
1/4 Cup Japanese soy sauce (kikoman)
2 Tbsp Mirin
1 Tsp sugar
2 Tbsp Sesame seeds

Cook the potato noodles in a large pot of boiling water for about 5mins, or until the noodles are translucent. Drain & rinse thoroughly under cold water until the noodles are cold. Use a pair of scissors to roughly cut the noodles into lengths of about 6" (or to your liking). Pour hot water over the cloud-ear fungus & soak them for about 10 mins. When it's soft, cut into thin slices & set aside.

Heat 1 Tbsp of the sesame oil with the vegetable oil in a large heavy-based pan. Cook the garlic, ginger for 3 mins over medium heat, stirring regularly. Add the carrots, stir -fry for a min. Add the cooled drained noodles, spring onion, bok choy, remaining sesame oil, soy sauce , mirin & sugar. Toss well to coat the noodles with the sauce. Cover & cook over low heat for 2 mins, add the fungus, cook for another 2 mins. Remove from heat, sprinkle with sesame seeds & serve immediately.

* Since I have all the sauce ingredients in my pantry, garlic & ginger in my fridge, I did a simplified version with just carrots, spring onion & minced chicken. The girls loved it, this noodle will be a regular lunch box item from now onwards.

Flat Rice Noodles

This is our dinner tonight. Yes, I know it's just a portion of some braised meat over what looked like flat rice noodles or commonly known as kway teow. You're right, this is braised beef shin served over kway teow. This is home-made, I mean the kway teow, I made them from scratch !

Alright, people may be thinking that there's no big deal, it's just kway teow & it's easily available in wet markets & supermarkets too ! But I don't think so, we are a health conscious family, I bake my own bread, prepare 3 meals Monday to Friday, bake my own cakes, my own desserts. I cook with olive oil, very little salt & we don't take fatty meat, stick to chicken breast & I hardly cook pork, if I do it'll only be shin & ribs. I've switched to organic vegetables & have heard of horrible additives in our food nowsadays !

We eat a lot of noodles, usually store bought. I've never fancy the oily yellow noodles but CJ seems to like it, so if I have to cook it, I'll look for it at a shop in Foh Sang which sells the noodles with less lye in it & that will only be a once in a blue moon meal. I love kway teow & the thinner the better. So each time if I want to order kway teow, I'll ask the stall owner if the kway teow he/she uses is the thin type, if not I'd rather have vermicelli (mifen).

Frankly, making my own kway teow never cross my mind. I've heard of boric acid but that didn't really bother me. What I can say is the strange smell we get in store bought kway teow & I always blanch them before I cook.

It was only when I came across Zurin's that I realised that kway teow can be made at home. That motivated me but I was really busy during the festive season last month so I put the idea aside. Then last week, I saw on Terri's blog about making kway teow again. Wow these 2 super ladies really make me want to try making my own.

So, this morning after sending the girls to school, I came home & started my venture of kway teow making. I followed the recipe given by Zurin but changed the wheat starch portion to 2 tablespoon as per Terri's as I like the bite in kway teow. Well, the results as follows :





I've used a square shallow baking pan for steaming. The cooked thin layer of batter.


Rolled rice noodles, ready to be cut


Voila ! The end results


After the guinea pigs (hubby, CJ & JF) tried my kway teow, I asked them for opinion. Both the girls said it was nice, I'm not sure if they can tell the difference between home-made & store bought. The moment I told them I made it, CJ said " Wow Mummy u know how to make kway teow ? Cool " Then the fussy one, hubby said it was ok but tasted floury. I'm not sure if it was too thick or he's just too used to the commercial type. I'm making it again & will try to go thinner even though I've already poured a very thin layer of batter into the pan.
I followed the recipe & it yields 500g of kway teow & guess what ? I didn't get to taste it ! It wasn't enough for the 4 of us, so I have to go though my pantry, used dried vermicelli for my portion. The next time I'll make 1.5 portion & that will be very soon............

Thank you Zurin & Terri for the great recipe & tips !!!

Spiced Beef Shank

Besides stewing our beef shank, this is another way of cooking it that all of us love.
Just like the way they serve at Chrystal Jade, where the portion is small & we can never get enough of it. In fact this can easily be cooked at home.

Ingredients :

1 kg Beef shank
1 Pc ginger, cinnamon stick, mandarin peel
2 Stalks spring onion
2 Star anise
6 Cloves
1 Tsp Szechuan peppercorn

Sauce :

3/4 Cup Soya sauce
3 Cups water
4 Tbsp Shao Tsin wine
75g Sugar
2 Tbsp Dark soya sauce

Boil beef shank for 5 mins. Remove, rinse & drain. Place the rest of the ingredients with the sauce ingredients into a saucepan & bring to boil. Add beef shank & bring to boil again, turn down the heat, let simmer for 2 hrs.

Leave shank in the sauce till completely cooled & refrigerate overnight. Remove shank from the sauce, slice thinly & serve.

Serve shank with some sauce from cooking, with chopped garlic, spring onion, dash of sesame oil & black vinegar.

Roasted Garlic Chicken

This is one of the mains on Friday night too. In case anyone wonders if I'm out of my mind, 3 mains in a meal !! Yes, I just love to cook & feed my guests well, I only get the chance to have friends over once or maybe twice a year !

The secret to a perfectly roasted chicken is to brine the chicken before roasting as brining makes the chicken so moist & flavourful even if roasted breast side up ! I get perfect crispy, moist roast chicken every time !


Roasted Garlic :


Preheat the oven to 200C. Peel the outer layers of 3 garlic bulbs, leaving the skins intact. Using a knife, cut off 1/2 inch of the top of cloves, exposing the individual cloves of garlic.

Place the garlic heads on a baking pan. drizzle a couple teaspoons of olive oil over each head, using your fingers to amke sure the garlic head is well coated. Cover the pan with aluminium foil. Bake for 30-35 mins, or until the cloves feel soft when pressed.

Allow the garlic to cool, use a cocktail fork or your fingers to pull or squeeze the roasted garlic cloves out of their skins.


Roasted Garlic Chicken

1/2 Cup roasted garlic cloves
2 Cups water
1 Tbsp salt
1/2 Tsp black pepper
1 Tbsp olive oil
1/2 Lemon, cut into 4 wedges
2 Bay leaves
1 x 1.5 - 2 kg chicken


Prepare the brine by combining garlic, water, salt, pepper & olive oil in a blender. Squeeze the juice from the lemon wedges into the brine, bland. Stir in the bay leaves.

Place chicken in a large, resealable plastic bag. Pout the brine all over the chicken in thebag. Add the (already squeezed) lemon wedges. Squeeze out all the air from the bag & seal. Refrigerate overnight, for 12 hours.

Preheat the oven to 180C. Remove the chicken from the brine & pat dry with a kitchen towel. Sprinkle salt & pepper all over the chicken. Place the chicken on a rack, in a roasting pan, breast side up. roast for an hour or until the juices run clear from the thigh when pierced with a fork. Let the chicken rest for 10mins before carving & serving.

Paella

I love starchy rice, especially risotto & paella because it has plenty of seafood in it & the flavour is fantastic but the preparation & cooking time is tedious though !

This is not an every-day meal, too indulging even though deep in my heart I am hoping I could have this frequently & get an over dose of seafood, yummy yummy.......
The last time I cooked this was in March so I decided I should cook ourselves another pot last Friday. I planned my time well, was shopping for the seafood last Tuesday & I got Tina to chop all the ingredients accordingly after I've done the shopping.

Ingredients :

12 Mussel halves, scrubed (I've used frozen ones)
300g Prawns, peeled & deveined
150g Calamari, cut into rings
150g Fish fillet, cut into pcs
1 red onion, finely chopped
2 Rasher bacon, finely chopped
4 Cloves garlic, crushed
1 Small red capsicum, finely chopped
1 Can diced tomatoes in juices
1/2 Cup Frozen peas
90g Chorizo or pepperoni, sliced
1 Cup short-grain rice (calrose)
Pinch saffrons strands
2 Cups hot chicken stock
2 Tbsp chopped parsley

Infuse the saffron strands in the hot chicken stock for the flavour & natural colour to develop. I never use tumeric to cheat & I hate it. So I make sure I'll always have a little boc of saffron strands in my pantry.

In a large frying pan, heat 2 Tbsp olive oil or butter, add prawns, fish & calamari to the pan & cook for a min. Remove & set aside.

Add bacon, onion, garlic to the pan, cook for 5 mins or until onions are soft & bacon browned. Add the chorizo or pepperoni, salt & pepper to taste, add the tomatoes & capsicum. Add the white wine & rice, stir to mix well.

Add 1/2 cup of the stock to the rice, bring to boil, cover the pan & reduce the heat to low & simmer, stirring occasionally & adding more stock until it's absorbed & rice almost cooked. At this point, add the frozen peas. With the last addition of stock, place the prawns, calamari, fish & mussels on top of the rice, continue to cook over low heat until rice is cooked through. Sprinkle with chopped parsley before serving.