Post #142

after we had the mussels, i saved up the leftover broth. that liquid gold full of mussels and vegetable goodness. with a few more mussels left, i decided to cook a risotto using the leftover 'stock' and added pork to add substance and extra flavour to the rice.

so here it is:


-Pork + mussels risotto-

so so so tasty!! i'm glad i commanded that noone can touch the broth when we had our mussels meal!! the rice has an intense mussel flavour *afterall there were 1.5 kg of mussels in that pot* and the pork gives it a meaty sweetness.

on the plate:



and of course we had to invite sis over for this meal!! ^^ and especially so when sis offered to make pizzas for us!!


-Mushroom + truffle salsa pizza-


-Prosiutto, tomato + rocket pizza-

and we cant have a meal without a good portion of veg!!!


-DIY caesar salad-



it was fun to do it DIY style, particularly when we had to use our hands for the pizza anyway. we dont have caesar salad dressing at home, so i just put in the blender cream cheese, mayo, capers, anchovy, lemon juice, lemon zest and olive oil for a quick whiz. not exactly the same thing, but good enough :) it has a lovely lemon-y flavour. v refreshing!

Post #141

cooked a bit of a storm tonight. its saturday!!! and with nothing planned after voting, taking mum to the airport and getting groceries, we spent the rest of the afternoon at home. spent it baking and preparing dinner, whilst hubby cleaned up the home. :)

i wanted to cook seafood tonight since we normally dont get to do so on weeknights. and having had mussels recently, i sooo wanted to try it out myself!!! also made some other dishes, plus sis brought some over. it was a great dinner! and a fabulous way to spend saturday ^^


-Mussels in tomato, celery + mushroom creamy broth-

so so easy to make *altho it does take a while to brush clean the mussels* but sooo rewarding!! basically get the right broth going in the pan *whichever combo and flavour you like*, then simply chuck in the mussels, cover the lid then wait till they open up!

now the other dishes. mussels arent v filling, so i tried out jamie oliver's cheat "roasted" potatoes. ha, roasted without using the oven. it was amazingly delicious!!


-Pan fried crushed potatoes with bacon, marjoram + bayleaf-

being not much of a potato person, this was probably my fav dish for the night, as it tastes much tastier than i expected! will definitely cook again!!

other dishes:


-Prawns salsa-

the salsa had some cubed cucumber and tomatoes, crushed avocado and prawn meat, and the sauce i just randomly mixed together thousand island, lime juice, verjuice, lemon olive oil and tobasco.


-Kingfish carpaccio with apple + lime vinaigrette-


-Korean beef tartare-

and these ones made by sis~ yum!!


-salmon sashimi with salmon roe-


-Scallop sashimi-


-Miso minced tuna ball-

sis also brought us a bottle of moscato!!! YUM~


heheee... we wiped everything clean, just amongst the 3 of us =.= and... we even managed to have this cheese plate 2 hours afterwards:



was a fun night!!!

Post #140

i saw this sweet snack @ citrusandcandy, and since its so simple to make, i thought i'd give it a go!! but minus the custard as its slightly beyond me :)


-Deep fried banana fritters-

so in place of the dipping custard, i rolled my tiny fritters into a cinnamon sugar mix. not a bad hassle-free substitute!!

deep frying action:



and a close up of the inwards:



these are quite morish! firm chewy texture with a good banana flavour. the outer cinnamon sugar was a nice touch too, a bit like the chinese fried meringue dumplings with sugar coating, but with cinnamon flavour. :) unfortunately these dont keep and need to be consumed on the day!

Post #139

congee has always been the ultimate comfort food for many chinese. for me, the white congee chaozhou style is like my utmost homely comfort food because we almost only have it at home, or when i'm with my closest family. its simply a staple home food. an ancestral thing.

i think i've mentioned before, the chaozhou version of white congee has a thicker consistency than the canton version, and we cook it only till the rice start to split, so you can still see the grain. and have the congee with pickles or salty condiments.


-Chaozhou white congee with pickled cucumber, dried shrimp in sweet soy, pickled olive + fermented tofu-


-with stir fried radish cake-

Post #138

we stocked on a new pan last weekend, especially bought one with a handle that can endure high heat so i can now place the whole pan into the oven!!! *excited~*

pan frying, baking and serving, all in one pan! haha. good stuff.


-Paprika spiced chicken drumsticks with chorizo + feta-

i had no idea what to use to marinate the drumsticks... it was kinda an exercise of chucking in whatever i have in the pantry and whatever leftover that we need to rid of. recently bought some cumin seeds, so i roasted a teaspoon, ground them, then add in garlic, paprika, lemon zest, dried chilli, a dab of leftover salsa verde, chopped parsley, little squeeze of honey, squeeze of lemon juice, salt and olive oil. score the drumsticks *so that the marinade gets in*, then rub the marinade all over the drumsticks. fry off some chorizo, then the drumsticks, once there's some nice caramelisation happening, *here's the exciting part!* chuck the whole pan into a pre-heated oven!! hoho.

when almost done, add the asparagus *seasoned with salt* on top, sprinkle some crumbed feta, then put the pan back in the oven on grill!!



i thought i was a bit aggressive chucking in all the different stuff into the marinade, as i was tired from work and was literally thinking at the time "whatever!" but lucky it worked well. v v tasty!

Post #137

remember the hairy melon risotto? i attemped more hairy melon cooking with the other half of the melon. plus mum scored 2 more hairy melons from her friend and gave me one more ^^ fun time cooking hairy melon ~ but normal chinese style this time :)

this one - braised hairy melon, using chinese roast pork, garlic and chopped dried shrimp to start the wok. then add spoonfuls of stock, and let it bubble away~~ the melon absorbed all the lovely flavours and was soooo soft and juicy! delish~~!


-Braised hairy melon-

next - hairy melon in thick julienne pan fried with smoked duck, onion and egg omelette. with half a melon left, i just came up with this last minute idea. chuck in the leftover meat, chopped onion *generally a good neutral ingredient that gives nice sweet flavour and goes well with anything*, then round it off with scrambled egg. :) the hairy melon would need a while to cook through even in thick julienne form. the melon turned out a little bit to the raw-er side... the dish looked a bit like a doggies breakfast, but its not bad taste wise~


-Pan fried hairy melon + smoked duck omelette-

finally - a lovely hairy melon soup. this is a cheat version as i had about half an hour to cook up this soup. i chucked in some pork pieces, stock *i used homemade abalone chicken stock donated by mum~~*, water along with the hairy melon, rounded off with a salted egg and a century old egg. YUMMMMMM!!! love a beautiful soup :)


-Hairy melon soup with salted + century old egg-

Post #136

the other day, with hubby staying back at work and having loads of already-cooked food supplies in the fridge *thanks to the mumS!!*, i had some time to bake! no special occasion, but i had this cake idea in mind for a while, only i've been too busy to try it out. baking a cake like this takes a good 3 hours!!

the cake recipe requires 3 eggs, but i only had 2 in the fridge =.= so had to downsize the cake. choc sponge cake cut into 3 layers. not v good knife work there... hee....



the finished product:


-Layered chocolate + coffee cream cake-

see the layers!! i think i'm a little obssessed with anything layered. hehe. kinda excites me to see the layers when its cut up :) 3 layers of choc sponge cake, brushed with expresso coffee, with layered chocolate ganache and coffee mascarpone cream!!



with the chocolate ganache, i was quite conscious that this cake might get too sweet, so i deliberately reduced the quantity of sugar. hehe, probably gone a tad too far. will need a little bit more sugar next time. and MORE coffee flavour too!! but otherwise it was NICE~~!!

Post #135

saw some mini capsicums at super the other day, and *again* i couldnt resist, i had to grab a pack to try! hee.

so cute and colourful!!



so i simply halved these cute little babes, roasted them lightly, then added some couscous, currant and pine nuts, sprinkled with feta cheese and put it under a grill for a few minutes. finished off with a balsamic vinaigrette. NICE~!! these mini's dont really taste sweeter than their large counterparts, they have thinner flesh but otherwise, they are just... v cute :p


-Roasted mini capsicums with feta, couscous and balsamic vinaigrette-

along with the capsicums i also pan fried some pork cutlets with thyme, adding a drop of honey at the end.


-Pan fried pork cutlets with thyme, herbed butter + white wine jelly-

plus a simple salad :)


-Green salad with pear + feta-

Post #134

made a dessert the other day. i'm not sure which dessert category it falls under. its kinda like a trifle but tasted a bit like a cheesecake. its one of those that sits embarrassingly in the category of trifle as it has a biscuit base and uses cream instead of custard. and also sits uncomfortably in the category of cheesecake as it doesnt contain any cheese, but uses creme fraiche.

anyways, this is what it is:


-Instant layered cheesecake with stone fruits-

i mistakenly bought some plums because they're on special. normally you would have thought that whatever's on special means that its either dying or its in season. these plums looked shinny and firm, so i bought a bag full of it. only to find that they're super sour >.< so in the pan they go with other chopped stone fruits, a mix of brown and white sugar and some thyme. yes... thyme. set aside to cool when the fruits are starting to soften.

with the creme fraiche, i just mixed it with some icing sugar, vanilla paste and some milk to loosen it up.

now the layering. put some crushed ginger biscuits on the bottom, then some creme fraiche, some fruits, then repeat. the thyme made the flavour so much more interesting! and the sourness in the creme fraiche made the dessert taste a little like a cheesecake.

p.s. with a bunch of thyme in the fridge, i've been trying to use it as much as it is gastronomically allowed. the latest discovery is to add some in chinese style scrambled egg with bbq pork, also adding some onion. absolutely delish~~!

Post #133

felt a bit low on food inspirations, i announced quietly last night that we should go out for dinner tonight. hubby gave me a half-hearted glance and said in a light-heartedly tone, i feel like lamb, let's have lamb tomorrow night! riiiiight... obviously didnt get my point. running out of steam. get it?! and the man had already turned his head away and devoted his full attention back to the tv.

lamb. once the word hit the brain, it kinda turned on some sort of a switch. ideas started to float. then materialised as i remember sis gave me some curry leaves a few days ago. lamb curry. never made one before! and it was like an engine starting in the head, what type of curry? what ingredients? what do i need to buy?

did a few recipe searches on the net, trying to find a curry recipe that requires minimum types of spices. i dont have a wide range of spices in my pantry. my current collection was a result of standing in front of the spices section inside the supermarket, gazing at each of the spices for a whole 10 minutes, deciphering which spice would most likely be used more than once. in the end, i surrendered. it seems that turmeric is like a must if you want to make a curry from scratch. so welcome turmeric to my spice family! :)

my first indian type curry:


-Lamb cutlet + sweet potato curry-

this curry is tomato based and i used milk instead of coconut milk. lamb and sweet potato - its like a match made in heaven, they go so so well together. the other components you can sort of grab anything you like. i chucked in some carrots, cucumber, peas and chickpeas, just because i have some available. for me, one thing about making curry is that you need to keep taste testing it, making different adjustments till it tastes right for you. and there is no fixed formula whatsoever, as presumably the ingredients and the quantity used differ each time. this curry, i ended up adding some honey in to balance the sourness from the turmeric and the tomatoes.

also tried out jamie oliver's 10 sec lemon pickle! i couldnt find mustard seeds at coles express and in the end resorted to using wholegrain mustard *shame shame >.<* it does add an interesting layer of flavour tho!


-Cucumber yoghurt-
-Jamie Oliver's lemon pickle-

and just enough to pack some lunchboxes too! one for each of moi, hubby and sis!!

Post #132

last week, mum gave me a home grown chi qua (aka hairy melon) that she scored from her friend, who i imagine must have a mega size garden patch in their backyard. so far, we've already been rationed with diff types of veg including heirloom tomatoes, bok choy, cucumber etc!! the ration was sometimes enough to feed the extra 2 mouths who have moved out of the home (i.e. moi and hubby)! this chi qua was beautifully fresh and hairy *beautiful and hairy... hm...* but you know what i mean! apparently the hair-ier they are, the younger and fresher the melon!! and they dont like cold temperature, so best store them in a cool place but not the fridge.

this morning on the train platform, i was thinking, maybe i can use the melon to make an asian risotto. it would just be like a congee soup but cooked in the risotto way. later in the day, i casually ran this by sis and received a half-shocked/half-hesitant response...

and it looked liked this:


-Bacon, hairy melon + mushroom risotto-

I kept it pretty asian, apart from the bacon and the white wine (which on reflection i probably shouldnt have added, as it gives a bit of a sour flavour). so i added onion, hairy melon dices, button mushrooms, chinese mushrooms and wood ear. cooked with the chicken/abalone stock (made by mum!!!)

it was nice! actually tasted fairly asian, and as expected, almost like a congee soup but the rice has more of a bite to it. the hairy melons are like tiny bursts of subtle sweetness. i guess it should work with other melons like winter melon and choke too!