Post #79

Dinner for 1 x 2

this one for me:


-Cherry tomato + fennel couscous with chilli and yoghurt-

was going to make some steak fillet to go with the couscous, but since i'm eating by myself, there's no need for the meat.

this one for hubby:


-Stir fry spinach flat noodle with cabbage + fried egg-

used the sauce from the fatty pork to stir fry the noodle. so so nice! added some cabbage and shallot, with fried egg on top. this one looked more appetising than mine ~:(

Post #78

cooked chinese tonight.

had a big packet of tofu tonight. i dont know why they dont sell these firm ones in smaller packets *well, not where i shopped anyway*. they are v filling!!


-Steamed tofu with pork mince-

added some finely chopped dried shrimp and shallot into the pork mince. not bad, and will make again. i wonder if it will work on the soft silky tofu?!

also pan fried some radish cake donated by mum, who had them from a close family friend! first time i tried pan frying radish cake with some cabbage (because i have some in the fridge) and an egg. they worked quite well together!


-Pan fried radish cake with cabbage and egg-

cooked a leek, tofu and corn soup also *yes, tofu AGAIN.. it was a big packet* but forgot to take a pic... am happy to use up the last corn tho :)

Post #77

how do i even begin what happened last night?!

whilst the perch fillet survived miraculously in the fridge *and absolutely no fishy taste*, my worst ever kitchen disaster happened, just when the judges were giving callum and adam their final scores on masterchef grand finale... the piece of baking paper and/or the rash of prosciutto in the little oven was caught on fire!!! i wont go into the details, but it involved sacrificing a big kitchen towel, setting off the fire alarm, black smoke and tiny ash dusts everywhere...

anyways... the fish pasta was nice. with a bit more sauce it would be nicer, as it seems that the thin angel hair pasta absorbs a lot of sauce. i wonder if the lemon zest and dill i mixed with the fish days before helped to keep the fishy taste away?!


-Lemon perch angel hair pasta-

was going to add both creme fraiche and fresh cream into the sauce, but after adding the creme fraiche, the taste was right - still light and lemony, so i didnt put any cream in. also added some fried shallots in, i know pasta is not asian, but it added a nice crunch :) just like fried breadcrumb i suppose...

Post #76

last night was planning to cook this fish pasta dish and specifically sneaked out during lunch to buy a piece of perch fillet from the only and pricy fish shop at wynyard. then got side-tracked and ate out in the end.

tonight, hubby's on call, so he's generally late. i thought that'd be perfect. i can do all the prep first, have everything chopped and all ready to go, when he rings to say he's leaving work, i can start cooking.

great plan, but plans don't normally go according to plan. 10.00pm hubby said he's got a case booked for 1.00am. riiiigggghhhhht. so i take it there will be no fish pasta tonight.

then what do i eat?!?!

on the way home i grabbed some cherry tomatoes and rocket from super, so as to finish off the bocconcini in the fridge. i remember reading a recipe somewhere where big slices of buffalo mozarella were deep fried - i want to give something like that a try. imagine the slightly crunchy outside with oozy softness inside!! as part of the prep work (whilst waiting for hubby), i tried coating the cheese balls with flour, whisked egg and breadcrumb and off they went into the hot oil! first time ever that i tried deep frying anything - small scale is kinda acceptable... kinda...

deep frying cheese in action. quickly went to grab my camera, and after the shot, cheese started to ooze out. uh oh...



it was some time after this deep frying process that i found out hubby will be real late. then i came to realise that i will need to eat all 6 cheese balls by myself!!! *i dont suppose hubby would want to eat deep fried cheese ball when he comes home at 3.00am*


-Rocket, tomato + deep fried bocconcini salad with balsamic vinaigrette-

Yum! but after eating 3 cheese balls, i thought that was quite enough... then after eating all 6, i got this horrific fear i quickly looked up on bocconcini to find out what its exactly made up of. according to wiki, it's pretty much just milk. *small sigh of relief* but 6 is still most definitely over the limit.

as to the piece of fish fillet, i'm just hoping that it can fight for another day in the fridge!

Post #75

Last minute, we decided to go out for dinner tonight! so i could stay away from the stove tonight... well, so i thought :)

thats ok. lets see what to dig out from my blog archive...


-Udon salad with sesame vinaigrette dressing-

ok, this dish is kinda stealing ideas from here and there. original idea came from eating a similar dish at a jap restaurant where they used a black sesame salad dressing. i just nicked the sesame dressing recipe for a tartare sashimi dish and used it on this salad. the recipe uses sesame paste rather than ground black sesame, but still quite nice. had some skinny eggplants in the fridge so i blanched them and chucked them in the salad as well. Nice~!

so, back to tonight... hubby said he wasnt full when i was about to brush my teeth and asked if we have dessert. err... lucky there's still half a packet of sweet dumpling in the freezer.


-Black sesame dumpling sweet soup with soft egg-

added some coconut seeds in just for fun and whisked an egg in just as i turn off the stove - beautiful soft scramble. :)

Post #74

special request from hubby after watching one episode of "So Good" - Braised fatty pork with chinese pickled mustard green. i was VERY reluctant to try out this dish. as far as i know that this dish can taste extremely scrumptious, the fattening layers of pork meat puts me off... *i can already feel my cholesterol level on the rise!!!*

but hubby rarely makes food requests, and perhaps this might help with his slow weight gaining plan by a fraction of a kilo?! (promise i wont cook it anywhere near often!)


-Braised fatty pork with soy + chinese pickled mustard green-

i have already attempted to get the smallest possible piece of fatty pork from the butcher (but its still v big), which makes quite a large pot of meat! i guess we'll just have to eat it over a few days... for me, the best part is the sauce and the pickled veg. and you can breeze through bowls of rice with that! *er... maybe not a v good idea...* the dish is v easy to make, but it does take a lot of cooking time. i started cooking the dish the night before and dumped the pot into the thermal cooker overnight. and tonight, i continued the second half of the braising process - cook it for another half hour and then turn the gas off, and let the meat sit in the pot for 20 mins with the lid on. and by that time, the rice is cooked!!

Post #73

now that i'm back to some daily cooking routine, i can understand how cooking can become a bit like a chore, as it's more "duty" driven rather than "fun" driven.

cooked veg soup tonight as its the quickest way to get rid of the veg (including some seriously dying celery) in the fridge. i've cooked this before with success but this time it's lacking flavours... ha, and just checked my old veg soup post and discovered that i dropped out a few ingredients from the soup.. no wonder =.= how can i forget onion and tomato?!?! in the end i had to add in some chicken stock and tomato paste in the hope of reviving it. it got better, but not great, and i didnt bother taking a pic of it...

then of course i cant starve hubby with just a veg soup *even tho that would have been plentiful for me*! so i made a chunky steak and mushroom "pie". making pie pastry is definitely one of the things thats totally beyond my cooking capability, so i did a ramekin version ;p


-Beef steak and mushroom shepherd pie-

caramelise the marinated steak pieces, then cook the sliced mushrooms with garlic and the white parts of shallots, then adding a dash of stock and some flour to thicken the sauce. put the steak pieces back in the pan. whilst simmering, add creme fraiche, paprika and chopped parsley. stir through, then fill in ramekins before sealing them with mashed potato! so minutes before hubby arrives home, i shoved them into the oven for a quick grill to brown the mash on top. drizzle with truffle oil and a sprinkle of chopped parsley on top.

view of the inside.

Post #72

had quite an ambitious menu tonight... and watching masterchef and cooking at the same time obviously didnt help. so we ended up eating late again. hm...

but but but. the food was nice tonight! i felt a bit bad for not having dinner ready till late again, but looking at hubby's satisfying face, i guess it was worth the wait... kind of... :)

made the smoked salmon and mashed potato dumpling again (as hubby hasnt tried it before), but in flat triangular shapes to save a bit of wrapping time. hehe, not sure why two times i made this dish my sauteed leek still turned out a little burnt, even when the leek was chopped differently =.=


-Smoked salmon + mashed potato dumpling with sauteed leek-

and finally finally, i got to try out Luke Nguyen's prawn and green mango salad!!!! so exciting, thanks to sis for her green mango donation. it was so so nice! love the zestiness and the diff layers of textures - the silky green mango flesh, the fresh mint, the salty dried shrimps, the crunchy peanut and fried red onion, matching perfectly with the fish sauce, lime and chilli dressing - absolutely delicious!!


-Vietnamese prawn + green mango salad-

also baked a piece of salmon marinated with soy, mirin, grated ginger and honey and served on pumpkin mash.


-Baked salmon with pumpkin mash-

and extra happy to have finally finished the packet of wonton sheets, the leftover pumpkin, the leek, and close to getting rid of the bunch of dill (well, those surviving sprigs anyway...)!

Post #71

mum's out tonight, and sis came over to have dinner with us.

bought a bunch of beetroot for only $1 on the weekend, so of course we're having that as it's one of sis' favouritessssss *yes, sis has lots of favourites* =.=

cooked a beetroot risotto again, but with lamb cutlets this time. i must say... my beetroot risotto actually tasted better than the one we had at bathers. last time we ordered a duck confit with beetroot risotto at bathers and the risotto didnt taste so nice - didnt have that vibrant red wine colour and seriously lacked beetroot flavours. i cant cook duck confit tho... and bathers is still my fav cafe!! :)


-Lamb cutlets with beetroot risotto + fresh ricotta-

no shaved asparagus this time (it was v hard to shave them...) but made a salad with plenty of thinly sliced fennel, celery and shaved apple. lucky mum gave me the worlds best knife!!!


-Shaved fennel, apple and celery salad-

i ran out of time to candy some nuts to go with the salad, and thought it would be a good idea to utilise some of the never ending crumble (from the souffle), but i was so wrong!! the butter taste in the crumble was such a mismatch with the salad... :(

and lastly, citrus fruit salad. simply because we have lots of oranges, and a dying tangerine and mandarin.


-Citrus fruit salad with honey syrup and mint-

Post #70

once in a long long while i get the pleasure of hubby cooking for me! :) even though it was just noodles :) and soy chicken from chinese bbq shop. Yum!



and on the weekend, we bought some sashimi home for dad as he's leaving tonight. great variety at the wellstone seafood shop!

tis made by sis:

-Sashimi platter-

tis made by me:

-Kingfish + salmon sashimi with soy + ginger vinaigrette-

Post #69

souffle must be one of the best desserts to have in winter! i originally thought souffle involves lots of egg whites like meringue, but whites from 2 eggs were actually enough to make about 4 small souffles! *i have this thing about using just yolk or just white... it puts me off from trying...*

i've made some pretty bad chocolate souffles before (although it got better each time i tried again), so i was a little scared and reluctant to try out the masterchef souffle recipe. but it was kinda irresistible, so i gave it a shot!! masterchef gary used rhubarb and blackberry with his. i happened to have some apple and fresh blueberries at home, so i twisted the recipe a little.

the apple didnt release any liquid while simmering in the pan with sugar.. i wonder if it was because i added a squeeze of lemon juice in it to prevent the apple from discolouring?! but adding lemon juice whilst making strawberry jam is ok... or rhubarb releases liquid when it's cooked?! *never played with rhubarb before...* but i do remember that gary's souffle base was quite runny... anyways, i added a splash of water and kept smashing the apple flesh to get a closer consistency.

finally got there after a lot of bashing up of the apple flesh. souffle going into the oven:


just came out of the oven before sprinkling with some crumble on top and re-entering the oven:


LOOK! success!!! purple souffle =.=

-Apple + blueberry crumble souffle-

Post #68

ok, i really shouldnt be posting this tonight...

3 nights in a row i had to eat by myself, and i have ran of creative food ideas. and having left work at 8.30pm, i had little energy left to cook anything slightly interesting, or... anything at all! so i've finally surrendered to noodles - instant noodles.


-Instant noodle with homemade char siu + shaved celery-

ha, at least there's a good bit about it - mum's char siu!! YUM! and the shaved celery to make it a tiny little bit more interesting -> appetising :)

Post #67

invested in a packet of chilli flakes a while back, and i'm starting to make regular use of it. when i come to think of it, is there any hard and fast rule for using diff forms of chilli? like when to use fresh chilli, chilli flakes, chilli sauce and chilli oil? i've never really used chilli flakes in cooking before i bought this packet, but it hasnt let me down so far. at least no chopping is involved so i dont get burning fingers!!

last week mum gave me a nice piece of pork fillet and i used chilli flakes to stir fry it. perfect to finish off the half red and half green capsicum in the fridge.


-Stir fry pork strips with capsicum-

and tonight, as i ate by myself again *i felt i could be a little daring and irresponsible* i made a tomato and bocconcini stack with herb salad, and made a strange dressing to go with it - heating up a tablespoon of brown sugar with fish sauce, water, tint of salt, a dash of balsamic vinegar and a pinch of chilli flakes and let it simmer to get a slightly syrupy consistency. the herb salad is a mix of some picked parsley leaves, celery leaves and some chopped dill, with a drizzle of olive oil, a squeeze of lemon juice and seasoned.


-Tomato bocconcini + prosciutto stack and herb salad with brown sugar vinaigrette syrup-

hehe. this combo was actually a result of the dying ingredients in the fridge, as my aim was to maximise the use of most of the stuff in the fridge. i had no idea what the combo would taste like and would never have tried it if i'm cooking for other than myself tonight! but SURPRISE SURPRISE, it was quite tasty!! a nice change from the original caprese salad combo!! :)

Post #66

cooking for one again tonight - so the basic criteria is... SIMPLE.

ate heaps during our hunter valley trip and in fact for the entire weekend... so feeling a bit guilty, i thought i should have a light dinner. first came to mind was noodle, then wonton... but i really wanted something with less carb, but also something hot and still quite filling as its wet and cold tonight. so i've decided on soup and ridding of the can of creamy chicken soup that's been sitting in the pantry for centuries! so to gourmet-ise the soup (to make me feel like i'm not eating boring junk when i'm eating by myself), i added real vegetables and a small handful of alphabet pasta into the soup.


-Canned creamy chicken soup with vegetables + sauteed fennel-

a little mountain of sauteed fennel, surrounded with creamy chicken soup cooked with diced carrot and celery, alphabet pasta and corn, and finished with a drizzle of lemon olive oil :) a pleasant meal for one.

Post #65

took friday off for a weekend getaway to the hunter valley!! and successfully lured the siblings to come with us ;p FUN!! wine cheese chocolate, here we come!!

ok, aside the wine, cheese and chocolate tasting, we actually COOKED on the one night we stayed!! we deliberately chose to stay at a villa so that we didnt have to venture out into the cold darkness looking for food. i made sure the villa has a kitchen so that we can do some really simple cooking and stay warm watching tv and playing board games! we decided on pizzas and baked mushrooms, as they're easy and fun to make! only to find that there's no oven in the villa...

now, time to test on cooking survival skills. i was totally defeated... then everyone started to release their utmost positive energy to make the cooking possible. and we ended up making pizzas on... frying pan, even the toppings, but separately cooked and then skilfully placed onto the pizza base!!



not gourmet, but it was good enough! and its wonderful how food can taste so much better when you're with ppl you love! :)