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.