Father's Day Brunch

Brunch at home

It's Father's Day today and me and mom started our prep for brunch. We decided the day before what we were going to have. So there were pancakes, apples and celery (Dad's fav), scrambled eggs, hash browns, tomatoes, cucumber, rocket leaves, pickled onions, cold cuts and its condiments.

I made the cold platter and pancakes whilst mom did the eggs, hash browns and apples.

Cold Platter

Cucumbers and tomatoes with cracked black pepper, then sprinkled Maldon salt on both. Laid the chicken ham, rocket leaves and placed the onions in the middle. We had Jalapenos as well but left that to the side for my bro whose more adventurous with his tolerance for heat. Either way Dad and bro really enjoyed the cold platter. The pickled onions go really well with the cold cuts and to top it up - some whole grained mustard. Yum. The morning-afternoon was spent with good food and good conversation.

Soup Course

Supper was prepared at home as well. Initially we thought of having an early dinner since it was Sunday but we were still reminded of brunch by our rumbling tummy (overworking because of all that we ate) that we decided to have supper instead. We had Cream of Mushroom with dinner rolls. Followed by panfried chicken legs with potato wedges and creamed spinach. For dessert we had brownie cake.

Main Course

I prepared the dinner rolls the night before so they were proving in the oven. Soup was done by 7pm and i started pre-heating the oven (without the rolls inside of course !) Marinated chicken marylands (deboned) were to be panfried and potato wedges baked in the oven. Mom started her creamed spinach and it was so quick and delicious.

The brownie cake from Polar Cakes was quite a disappointment. It was really hard even after bringing it to room temperature. And the cake was dry. It was too bad we didn't have ice-cream. But luckily Dad was too stuffed for dessert, so he had a tiny weeny slice and didn't complain.

Happy Father's Day Dad !

Weekend Pasta

Angel Hair Pasta with Anchovies and Pangritata

T'was the weekend and i was sitting at home pondering if i should just get a take-out for lunch or make it myself. Since i don't really get the opportunity to cook during the week, i thought i'd cook.

I was looking at Jaime's cookbook yesterday cos i wanted to make bread for Father's Day tomorrow. And i happen to chance upon the recipe on spaghetti and anchovies. Similar to the Ceaser Salad, i had the urge to use the anchovies sitting in a tiny container in the refrigerator.

I was super fast .. seriously. I boiled some water in a kettle (to save time). Poured the hot water into a deep saucepan. Added salt, a little oil and the angel hair pasta.. suffice for one hungry girl.

Pangritata

1 toasted bread, crushed
1 clove garlic, sliced
a good lug of olive oil
fresh thyme
salt and pepper to taste

For the Pangritata, Jaime called for breadcrumbs, which i couldn't be bothered to check if we had any. So i toasted a slice of bread till crispy and crushed it with my hands. Presto breadcrumbs.

In a hot pan, pour the olive oil. Fry the garlic and when fragrant add the breadcrumbs. Then add the thyme and taste for salt and pepper.

Pasta with Anchovies

Angel Hair Pasta (I prefer them)
A good lug of olive oil
1 clove garlic, crushed
6 anchovies
lemon juice
salt and pepper

Cook the pasta till al dente. In a frying pan, add the oil and garlic. Then add the anchovies and they will start to melt and disseminate into a thick paste. Add the lemon juice and then the pasta and coat the pasta in the sauce. Season with salt and pepper.

To serve

Place the pasta on a plate and sprinkle the Pangritata on top. Nice. (I would have prefered more anchovies though)

Soup Spoon

Mushroom soup in a Breadbowl

Lunch time, me and my colleagues A and S decided to go to Soup Spoon for lunch. Mainly because i wanted to go to Bugis to check out the prices of things at Four Leaves Bakery. Anyways, we waited in line and i was contemplating what soup to try.. minestrone .. too vegetable-ee, mushroom.. too common, tomato and pumpkin.. nah.. i think the other soup had beef so that was a straight up no and so i finally chose clam chowder.

The clam chowder was really thick and it was packed with ingredients. It was more of a chunky soup. There were potatoes, clams (of course), celery and much more. A had the same whilst S had mushroom soup in a bread bowl. Now who ever came up with that idea was a genius! (I'm guessing he/she is dead by now .. if not .. oops)

Bread and soup, perfect combination and after you're done less surface to clean. For those skilled eaters.. no cleaning at all.. ha. S's bread bowl soup was too much for one person but it only comes in one size. Therefore, unless you have a mammoth appetite, i suggest this dish better serves two.

By the way, the restaurant serves sandwiches and wraps too.

Breakfast Fit for a King

Peanut Butter and Banana Sandwich

Sitting at home right now too sick to go to work today. Sigh. I feel so drained but Mom said i had to have breakfast. Walked into the pantry and saw the bright blue Skippy jar staring at me, looked around somemore and there were some bananas too. An Elvis sandwich perhaps...

So toasted my bread, spread my peanut butter and laid the sliced bananas for breakfast. Easy, breezy, beautiful breakfast!

High Tea Buffet at the Goodwood Park

Goodwood Park Hotel

Today i brought my Granny to the Goodwood for high tea. I prefer the Goodwood because it's all English. There's no Asian items, i mean i have nothing against Asian food but i can't justify Mee Goreng or Popiah for high tea. I had been to the high tea before and i really enjoyed their savoury section. A commendable selection of items i must say.

Anyways, i picked up my Granny late and so had to quickly call the restaurant to secure my reservation. Complimentary tea or coffee is served but i don't drink either. But this is high tea right.. i mean how can you have high tea without the tea ? And so i had Rose hip and Hibiscus whilst Mom had Earl Grey.

Granny

Granny came in her beautiful sari and started with the cold sandwiches. There were so many of them and in different shapes too. The rectangular one was egg, square was ham and mustard, triangle was tuna and roast beef and another square was cucumber. Other cold dishes were smoked salmon and salad, foie gras with candied oranges, smoked salmon canape with caviar, filled vol-au-vents, croissants with ham, prawns and beef, just to name a few.

Sandwiches and Canapes

We didn't have the beef items but the rest of them were really good. There was this particular item, crostini with cream cheese and dried tomatoes. Oh my god it was delicious ! Then there was the hot section with potato croquettes, some long-ish fried spring roll (they couldn't keep it all English i guess), panini with cheese and rocket (good !!) and pasta bake (really good!!). The panini was crisp with rocket and cheese and pasta bake had heaps vegetables and cheese which was really nice as opppsed to mouthfuls of filling pasta.

Desserts

The dessert section...mmm... there were scones, bread and butter pudding, apple tart, matcha and white chocolate tart , chocolate mousse cake. What we had on the plate were, strawberry tart, eclair, custard cup (i call it that because i have no idea what it was), blueberry cake and lemon meringue tart. The lemon meringue was different in that the base was filled with frangipani and then finished with a dollop of lemon curd and a swirl of meringue, perfectly torched to brown the edges.

Creme Brulee

Mom simply adored the Creme Brulee. The custard was good and i like the tiny vanilla seeds that settled at the bottom. However, the sugar didn't impress me. I felt it was too coarse. I could still see and eat the sugar grains. Not good in my book. I reckon finer sugar should have been used so that when torched there is layer of burnt sugar without the texture of grains. Mom couldn't care less and was helping herself to heaps of them. She reckons its the best she's had so far in Singapore at least. I actually preferred the ones Mom made for dinner once. Weird.

Opera Cake

The Opera Cake was okay. I found the butter cream a bit too much to handle. Maybe it was Italian butter cream because it left a film in my mouth after finishing it which i didn't really like. But i am always amazed by layers in cakes and the perfect cuts where the layers don't run into each other when they're sliced.

Chocolate Ice Cream

The ice cream though limited in selection, there's only vanilla and chocolate, is excellent. The vanilla ice cream is bespeckled with tiny vanilla seeds and tastes oh so divine and pure. Pure because it tastes like really good home made vanilla ice cream. The chocolate ice cream at the Goodwood is always special. It's smooth creamy and laden with chocolate flakes. Can you see the flakes in the picture. The ice cream is kept in these metal canisters and so they're not really rock hard but really soft. Too bad to all those who like their ice-cream solid. So anways, my scoop gave in to the heat real fast and so i could see the flakes swimming arond in my cup. Really really yummy stuff people.

English Afternoon Tea
Goodwood Park Hotel
L'Espresso
2-5pm Mon-Thurs
2.30-5pm Fri - Sun and Public Holidays

Cost : S$33 ++ (price as of June 2009)

Ceaser Salad

A different Ceaser Salad

I had got some romaine leaves last Friday with the intention of making ceaser salad as the week before i had got some anchovies. I had got the recipe whilst watching Jaime on TV in Australia. I haven't combed through his books yet but i'm guessing the recipe should be there somewhere.

I didn't have chicken, bread or croutons. Jaime's recipe called for baking chicken legs over a bed of torn bread so that the juices from the roast would be soaked up by the bread. Anyway i did it with what i had. Into a bowl i through in the romaine lettuce (washed and dried of course), some tomatoes (usually not in Ceaser's), mom had made lamb that day so i tore a few pieces of that into the bowl and that's all the items i wanted in my salad.

Now the salad dressing. In a pestle and mortar, i put in a whole clove of crushed garlic (my mistake .. the correct amount was half a clove. i had the taste of garlic in my mouth the whole afternoon..sigh) Then i added six anchovies and mushed them all together. Then one heaped tablespoon of yogurt (the actual recipe called for creme fraiche) and 1 part white wine vinegar and 3 parts olive oil. Salt and pepper and mushed it all up. Taste test and it was yummy!!!

Poured it over the leaves and tossed it around. I didn't have parmesan or all the trimmings the recipe called for and yet the salad was really good. So with the trimming it would have been out of this world i reckon !

Mexican Fiesta for my bro

Nachos my style

This year i decided on a Mexican theme for my bro's birthday. One because its easy to prepare and two because we've never had it. So over the next few days i went about listing the things i wanted to do...

Nachos for Starters/Snacks
Guacamole and Salsa for dips
Tacos and Burritos for dinner
Birthday cake for dessert

Honesty i was amazed at how effortless it was. I did have a few hiccups which i perfectly resolved (some of them anyway). Most of the time is spent cutting up and preparing the ingredients, which can be done and stored ahead of time.

For the nachos, i made some homemade salsa which was uber good according to G and some guacamole which was bad (because of the avocado). I squeezed the top of the avo and it was soft so i thought it would be ripe enough. Came home, split the avo open and to my horror it was not ripe .. i couldn't mush it.. sigh.. i had to resort to a ricer but needless to say it was bad.. when i do it again with RIPE avos i'll blog about it then.

As for the Nachos, got my chips and salsa from the supermarket and all i had to do was the cheese. I hate the grated-cheese-over-the-nachos-and-bake-till-it-melts-and-then-hardens-again version.. i like my cheese gooey all the way through so i melted my cheese with a little bit of cream which i then drizzled generously over the nachos.

Salsa

The salsa.. really simple ingredient and that is what Mexican food is to me.. fresh and natural. First i chopped some red onions and steeped it in lime juice. Then in another bowl, I added chopped tomatoes (without the seeds), some chopped cilantro and some chopped garlic.
Then i added the onions and the juice they were steeped in. Salt and pepper for seasoning an that's all !!!

Hard Shells or Soft Shells

You are either a hard shell person or soft shell and i am most defenitely soft.. i don't even like my subway toasted because i like soft and soggy bread. Anyways, since the family hasn't had either before, i got equal numbers for each. Accompaniments to Tacos/Burritos were seasoned lamb (the seasoning comes in the taco kit), taco sauce, sour cream, grated cheese, lettuce leaves, chopped tomatoes, sliced onions and re-fried beans (they were like dried baked beans so nothing extraordinary).

I have since found out that my family prefers burritos to tacos. All the burritos were gone and no one wanted a second taco.

After the cake my bro had to leave to meet his friends but he really enjoyed himself and i for once was not tired after a dinner party.

Hummus

All done in a blender

Before i went to uni, there was this place in Arab Street that we always went to for a late night meal or some seesha... i think the place is still there.. haven't checked recently though. The restaurant was called Cafe LeClaire (i think). It was a Middle Eastern cafe with Turkish kebabs, Moroccan lamb stews and Hummus. I love Hummus. I love anything that's creamy so naturally Hummus would fall into that category.

For those who are still wondering what Hummus is, it's a Middle Eastern (Arabic to be more precise) dip made from cooked chickpeas, tahini (sesame paste), olive oil, lemon juice, garlic and salt.

It can be eaten with flatbreads, chips or i just eat it with my fingers. Yum!

All prepared and ready for storage.

I really don't know how long it can be kept in the fridge for because in my house it doesn't really last for more than three days. So i guess it can stay for about a week maybe.

Hummus recipe from the Straits Times

300 g chickpeas, soaked, cooked and drained or use tinned chickpeas
1/2 tsp salt
2 cloves of garlic
1/2 cup of tahini
4 Tbs lemon juice
4 Tbs water

Blend everything in a blender till smooth. Add more lemon juice or salt according to taste.

Scoop into a bowl and drizzle olive oil over it. Garnish with some corriander or sumac for colour.

For a spicier hummus, add some finely chopped red chilli or some cayenne pepper.

Recipe makes about 2 cups.


Tahini

Tahini is available in most supermarkets so i suggest you can just buy them off the shelve. But for those who are more adventurous here's the recipe.

2 cups sesame seeds
1/2 cup olive oil

Preheat the oven to 180 Degrees Celsius. Toast the sesame seeds for 5-10 mins, moving around frequently with a wooden spoon. Do not allow them to brown. Cool for 20 mins.

Put the seeds into a blender and add oil.

Blend for around 2 mins. It should be thick yet pourable.

Add more oil and blend again if necessary.

Leftover tahini can be stored for up to three months in the refrigerator in a tightly closed container.

Makes about 1 cup.

Macarons from Paris

Rose Macaron with Raspberry Chips

Last Friday, i had called G out for grocery shopping. He told me R was in back in Singapore from Paris and that he had got me something. I knew they were Macarons. They just had to be! Me and Paris equals Macarons or other goodies i talk about but no one in my family understands.. sigh..

Once we got home, he gave me the box. Hmm this was new. I had never seen Macarons in a box. No i mean packaged this way. Inside were cute little macarons without the usual buttercream.
They were really good and all the time i was munching on them i kept thinking .. this is from France... it's crossed the seas just to get to me... gave some to G (reluctantly) but i think he didn't or should i say couldn't appreciate their value .. pft what does he know ?

For those who have tried to make macarons and cried in agony over no feet or no shape or too sweet would understand the delicate balance a macaron requires. I sadly have not achieved the delicate balance yet. My macarons look good (better than the ones you see in this package) shiny smooth top.. frilly feet but their too sweet. Sigh.. i shall continue this experiment and get it right sometime.

Eat me .. Eat me

These macarons were crisp on the outside and moist on the inside. They were not too sweet but still i couldn't have more that five or so. Their shells though were lumpy and so that didn't score points with me. But their taste made up for it.