The UnProfessional Chef

2006-05-07T20:51:00.000+08:00

Of Champagne Wishes and Foie Gras Dreams....

I’m just back from a delightfully decadent vacation in France! Needless to say, we (Mr UnProfessional Chef and a couple of other friends of mine) ate till we dropped. Far too well and far too much. Anyway, we ate much too much for me to recount everything but I really must tell the story of two fabulous meals that we had in the Champagne region (back to back, I might add). The rest of the trip was spent trying to recover from these excesses. In any case, the reason for my title will become apparent soon enough ….

First stop – A. Lallement. This was the name of a restaurant run by a youngish chap whose family operates a great little hotel L’Assiette Champenoise in the tiny town of Tinqueux near Reims. The misleadingly simple dégustation menu which comprised five or six courses on paper opened up like a Russian doll when plate after plate arrived for only apparently one course each! On average, each course consisted of 2 or more distinct portions of food! I will let the pictures speak for themselves.

Mr UnProfessional Chef and I had different dégustation menus in order that our greedy palates would get to sample alternatives. We started with an amuse bouche of a smooth cucumber-y purée topped with a lightly creamy froth – just the thing to tickle our palate with. Doesn’t it look gorgeous?

Next up was a simple sounding platter of Green Asparagus with Balsamic Jelly and Bacon Granité. What resulted were three gorgeous interpretations of the asparagus which was clearly in season. The first of these was a pair of simply poached asparagus tips with bacon granité. Fun and delicious! This was followed by asparagus mash of some sort sitting stop a thin layer of divine balsamic flavoured jelly. Finally, it was the asparagus in creamy form with froth on top and slivers of parmesan cheese. Again, sublime.

The other set’s first course was simply referred to as Leek with Foie Gras, Potatoes and Ham. Again, this came in three forms. The pyramid-shaped slab of foie gras – untainted by pan frying of any sort was smoothly satisfying, though sadly, I was only allowed to taste a teensy portion given my status as expectant mother. There was then a dishful of leek with a tiny portion of mash potatoes with more jelly and a separate platter of leek mosse atop which was layered tiny slivers of ham and chorizo sausage. All lip-smackingly delicious!

We were of course stunned. Not to mention that at this point, about six types of bread arrived on our table which we just had to sample with the freshest French butter possible. We were seriously worried about how we were going to make it through dinner.

Our (only) second course was just as bad. For one menu, it was Foie Gras with Hot Bouillon, Ice-cream, Mousse and Coulant (sorry, I have no idea what this translates into). This was cooked so I was allowed a bit more of it. What arrived was a simple glass of the most flavourful foie gras stock with foie gras mousse, cream and deep fried foie gras balls out of which oozed the most decadent-tasting foie gras cream. Utterly superb.

The other menu had a break at this point so we moved onto the next round together. I was served a portion of John Dory fish with Champagne froth and little bits of bacon and vegetables. Delicious, and just the allegedly slightly more healthy thing to have after the wickedly sinful foie gras in many interpretations. A little green portion of vegetable cream in a martini glass complemented the fish wonderfully. You will have to forgive the beginning here of a breakdown in blog quality and photos because I was getting delightfully high on the great food despite the lack of alcohol on my part!

The other menu dished up something called Bar de Ligne, Betterave, île flottante au raifort in another little martini glass, which I had no clue about but it was pink, frothy and delicious. This was also accompanied by Monkfish with round discs of jelly. All of this disappeared down everyone’s throat very quickly indeed.

Arriving finally at my main course of Veal cooked in a Hot Pot and Vegetables. This perfectly cooked portion of veal was again gorgeously done (the photo totally doesn’t do it justice but I was working with candlelight only, so forgive me) but just a little bit too pink for me to eat it all. Mr UnProfessional Chef benefited a great deal!

The other menu served up a Pigeon encrusted in a Tart alongside (more!) Foie Gras and Young Spinach. This received rave reviews round the table. Simply the best possible tart-like game dish anyone could have prepared and which we were privileged to try.

We thought we were near the end when the cheese platter arrived, but just look at that cheese platter! I’m not sure what we ate in the end but my hard cheeses (the only ones I’m allowed too) were fabulous. French cheese just seems to taste best in France.

The simple promise of dessert was a little Russian doll of its own. First up, before the actual desserts arrived, came the sweet tray. This seemed to be a staple in all fine French dining establishments and is said to be the chef’s answer to reminding his guests of their childhood sweets. There was hardly any space on the table for the selection of cotton candy, the marshmallow strip (complete with hefty scissors to cut it up with), mini lemon tarts, chocolates, pâte de fruits, caramels, nougat and lollipops. I don’t think I can show it all, but don’t these just look lovely?

Finally reaching dessert, we were given the choice of chocolate or fruit interpretations. Both were anything but light. The fruit choices comprised Mango cubes on a Biscuit and topped with Coconut ice cream, Passionfruit ice cream/mousse in a rounded Ginger Snap cone and Sushi of Pineapple and ‘Wasabi’ ice cream. Fresh, familiar yet fabulously original at the same time. I'll just show the first.

The chocolate dessert came in four forms, each equally sinful. Rum Baba with Chocolate Mousse, Hot Chocolate with a Hot Chocolate Ball and Chocolate ‘stirrer’, a Chocolatey Cake with Vanilla Ice Cream and a White, Dark and Milk Chocolate Terrine. It was just utterly fantastically decadent. Let’s just not think about the calories that were added on in just that one course.

We thought at that point that this had been the meal to end all meals, but there was still the following day’s lunch, more of which I will describe in my next post. The evening’s meal left us totally sated, such that we had to take a walk out in the cold spring evening and do several rounds around the pretty chateau before staggering back into our rooms to rest our full bellies. A top-class meal indeed and a must-visit if you are ever near Reims, France.

A. Lallement
L’Assiette Champenoise – Chateau de la Muire
40, Avenue Paul-Vaillant-Couturier
51430 Tinqueux (Reims)
Tel: 03 26 84 64 64

2006-03-25T20:45:00.000+08:00

Sumptuous Shanghai

Sorry friends, it’s been a too long a hiatus again between posts, but life has caught up with me of late and reduced the amount of time I’ve had to cook and post. I did however manage to find the time to visit a dear friend in Shanghai recently and by the by, had several sumptuous meals.

The first of these was at the utterly delectable Jean Georges, where, for a fraction of the price one would have to pay at the main Jean Georges restaurant in New York, we got to feast on seven courses of the dégustation menu featuring the restaurant’s signature dishes. This excluded the (not very little) petit fours that came at the end of the meal in spite of our enormously satisfied tummies.

Egg Caviar

First up was Egg Caviar. This consisted of the most perfectly done scrambled eggs topped with cream and utterly sinful beluga caviar. The harmonious balance of flavours between the otherwise simply-done eggs and the luxurious briny caviar brought out the best of both foods and provided a wonderful start to our meal.

Sea Scallops with Caper-Raisin Emulsion and Caramalised Cauliflower

This was followed by Sea Scallops with Caper-Raisin Emulsion and Caramalised Cauliflower. The scallops were delicately grilled to just the right doneness and nicely complemented by the cauliflower. Far less rich than the first dish, but just as delicious.

Young Garlic Soup with Thyme and Sautéed Frogs Legs

We were then presented with the delightful Young Garlic Soup with Thyme and Sautéed Frogs Legs. You can just about see the tiny, crisply-fried frogs legs in the background of the photograph. These were then bathed in the delicately flavoured soup. These proved so delicious that I could have honestly eaten far more frogs legs than the two pieces provided. But then, room had to be left for more delights to come.

Turbot with Château Chalon Sauce, Tomato and Zucchini

We moved onto something light – Turbot with Château Chalon Sauce, Tomato and Zucchini. My dining companions didn’t find too much to shout about this dish, but I found the lightly cooked fish with the slightly winey tasting sauce a nice balance to the rich flavours we’d been receiving so far. My plate was again wiped clean.

Lobster Tartine, Lemongrass, Fenugreek Broth and Pea Shoots

Then came one of my favourites (vying neck to neck with the Egg Caviar) – Lobster Tartine, Lemongrass, Fenugreek Broth and Pea Shoots. Every single component of this dish was simply perfectly done. The tomato-based broth which was lightly flavoured with fenugreek provided a great accompaniment to the lobster leg. The pea shoots, done to al dente crispness, lent a nice healthy aspect to the dish.

Broiled Squab served with Onion Compote, Sautéed Foie Gras and Corn Pancake

Just when we thought we couldn’t consume any more, our main course arrived – Broiled Squab served with Onion Compote, Sautéed Foie Gras and Corn Pancake. This was a heavy but flavourful dish. Perhaps by this stage, I was feeling just a little too full to appreciate the wonders of the (again) perfectly done squab but persevere I did and polished off my entire serving. It is a testament to the high standards of the chef that every single component of all the dishes so far was cooked with thoughtfulness and commitment to excellence. Nothing was out of place, nothing was sloppily presented and nothing was overcooked nor underdone.

Molten Chocolate Cake and Citrus and Hazelnut Mousse Cake

Strawberry Jelly with Frozen Strawberries and Cream and Three-layer Liquid Chocolate Delight

I couldn’t of course roll out of the restaurant without sampling Jean Georges’ famous and trend-setting Molten Chocolate Cake. This came presented with a scoop of ice-cream and chocolate sauce (as if it needed more enhancement) and THREE other desserts. Needless to say, we were horrified, but ate everything nonetheless. I could see why this was the grandaddy of all the molten chocolate cakes that have come after it. Rich, just the right texture for breaking open with the spoon and the perfect amount of molten warm chocolate sauce flowing out of it to be lapped up in delight. Not to be outdone were the other desserts – Strawberry Jelly with Frozen Strawberries and Cream, a Three-layer Liquid Chocolate Delight that was sucked up with a straw, and a Citrus and Hazelnut Mousse Cake which could have easily been the star of any other restaurant’s dessert menu. At this stage, the strawberry dessert was the favourite of my dining companions for the tart relief it gave to our exhausted tastebuds.

Petit Fours

Homemade Mini Macaroons

Of course this was subsequently undone by the petit fours (of which we just had to try one of each) and the homemade mini macaroons. A filling but fitting end to a fabulously sumptuous meal. Luckily we were able to walk the length of the Bund after that to work a tiny fraction of those calories off….

Jean Georges
Floor 4, No. 3, Zhongshan Dong Lu
Shanghai

2006-01-26T11:03:00.000+08:00

Comeback Canalés

Canalés

Apologies! It’s been a rather long hiatus since my last post. The past few weeks had been a whirlwind of activity with the start of the new year and all its frantic scrabbling around to get things done, start new projects, prepare for the business of 2006 and just sheer exhaustion from it all that I sadly had to ignore my blog for a bit.

But I am back! My dear girlfriend D and I had just before Christmas developed a sudden huge addiction to canalés. Those gorgeous chewy rummy delights can’t be found in many places here in Singapore but we had a memory of canalés past from our trip to France last year and had been thinking about it for sometime. Some months ago we discovered a new pâtisserie, aptly called Canalé, which served up a plethora of delightful French pastries, cakes, macaroons, and of course, canalés, of a significantly higher standard than most of the so-called French pâtisseries here.

Inspired to make our very own, we sought the help of friends from France who were returning to Singapore for a vacation to buy us genuine individual copper canalé moulds from the bakeware supply shops in Paris. Our recipe also came from France courtesy of Clotilde’s instructions in Chocolate and Zucchini. These vintagey little orange-coloured devices arrived sometime back and had been sitting forlorn in my cupboard while I went off cooking and blogging for a bit but finally this morning, chancing upon an off day from work, I decided to christen them. Darling D had been a lot more efficient and had started experimenting with making the canalés some weeks back. The first couple of attempts were pretty tough exercises in finding just the right temperature and baking times as well as devising the best means of making sure the canalés did not stick steadfastly to their moulds. By reducing the baking time and buttering the inside of the moulds with copious amounts of butter, D hit jackpot two days ago. Bouyed by her success, as well as her kindness in giving me some of the extra batter (made of rum, vanilla pod, sugar, eggs, milk, butter and flour) she had prepared (a girl can only eat so many canalés ☺), I simply poured the mixture into the individual moulds, whacked them into the oven at 250ºC for 20 minutes, then reduced the heat to 200ºC for another 30 minutes or so and voilà, six little aromatic mouthwatering delights popped out! Gorgeously crisp with an almost caramel-like flavour on the crust containing a tasty chewy heart, these tiny delights pack a mighty punch.

2006-01-02T11:49:00.000+08:00

A New Year and New Recipes

Welcoming the New Year by having a meal with either family or friends was simply the best way to enjoy the long holiday weekend we were having. Barely had the excessive feasting of Christmas subsided that the next round of merry-making hit us a week later. While the body may groan at the thought of more rich food, booze and desserts, the celebratory spirit soldiers on for one last burst of wining and dining before settling down to face the reality of work in the New Year.

First up – celebration. I had over for dinner three dear friends, two of whom were at the crossroads of their professional lives. One had just completed her PhD and we were all really chuffed at being able to call her ‘Dr’ after her seven years of hard work! Congratulations #1! The other dear friend is just about to head off to pursue her MBA at Insead – a goal she has always dreamt of achieving and we were all very happy indeed to be seeing her off on this next step of her journey in three days’ time. Congratulations #2!

Standing Rib Roast of Pork with Fennel Seeds, Coriander and Garlic

To mark these special events, I decided to attempt something I had not tried before – cooking pork. I had previously stuck to poultry or beef, but knowing that my guests’ dietary preferences headed in the opposite direction, I decided to push my own limits and try something new. On hindsight, perhaps I should have practiced first, but since I enjoy making each cooking expedition a true adventure, my friends had to suffer slightly from the experimental nature of it all.

I decided to try preparing a Standing Rib Roast of Pork with Fennel Seeds, Coriander and Garlic from the Zuni Café Cookbook. This recipe called for a really good cut of pork rib roast (which I purchased from The Butcher at Chip Bee Gardens, Holland Village) to be cut at crucial points then seasoned for at least three days ahead with crushed garlic paste, fennel seeds, coriander seeds (I didn’t have any so I used dried coriander leaves instead – probably wasn’t quite right, but it didn’t taste all that bad) and salt. The salt had the effect of brining the meat over the three days and rendering it beautifully soft and tender. After three days of sitting in the fridge, the entire roast was then placed in the oven to roast for between one to one and a half hours. Ideally, one should be armed with a meat thermometer in order to determine the precise doneness of the meat, but lacking one of those, I went with sheer guesswork. It didn’t do any harm, but certainly added to the excitement level of the cooking adventure.

The roast turned out beautifully. The brining process did indeed create an extremely tender cut of meat brimming with the smoky flavours of the fennel seeds and coriander. However, in my experimental enthusiasm, I overdid the salt at some spots leaving the meat eventually too salty in some portions. But barring the edges, the rest of the meat turned out well and I noted with a sigh of relief that my guests finished their portions to the bone.

Salad of Arugula Leaves, Red Onion and Red Grapes

To off set the extreme meatiness of the main course, I prepared a salad of Arugula Leaves, Red Onion and Red Grapes. This did not come from any cookbook recipe as such, but from a memory of having previously eaten something similarly delicious at another friend’s home. The greens were simply tossed with olive oil and balsamic vinegar. The greens, in particular, the grapes, were a juicy refreshing complement to the roast – who knew simple grapes were capable of this effect?

Rosemary Roasted Potatoes

For carbo, I served up a portion of Rosemary Roasted Potatoes that I’d previously talked about. A perennial pleaser, I’d made sure I had a good-sized portion just in case the meat turned out to be an absolute disaster. It didn’t, thanfully, but the potatoes disappeared nevertheless!

Dinner ended with my standard Apple and Almond Crumble from How to Eat which I used to prepare ad nauseum for any and all dinner parties. I hadn’t done so in a while and thought it would be fun to do it again given its general failsafe quality.

HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL!

2005-12-26T23:37:00.000+08:00

Big Bird on Boxing Day - Diva Dining #3

Cheeky Turkey with Leeks and Trimmings

A belated Merry Christmas to everyone! I've spent the last few days contemplating how to tackle my yearly attempt to cook a decent turkey - that is, not ickily dry or tasteless. Countless cookbooks suggest countless ways of keeping the moisture in, but by Jove, I think I've found the perfect solution.

I had my usual bunch of harpies over for dinner on Boxing Day along with their other halves. As usual, they demand a big bird and it's become a kind of tradition for one of us to roast a huge turkey to stuff our faces with. The wonderful thing is that all my diva girls absolutely love eating and it's always a pleasure to cook for an appreciative audience, isn't it? So, despite the trepidation with which I undertook the task of the turkey, the effort was worth it.

I used a recipe from Jamie Oliver's website - Cheeky Turkey with Leeks and Trimmings. It turned out to be a classy yet fuss-free method of roasting turkey. Basically I had to separate the legs from the body of the turkey, roast that first with onions, then toss in leeks, red wine, dried porcini mushrooms, whole garlic bulbs, thyme and sage before resting the seasoned, buttered crown of the turkey (that had been draped with generous amounts of smoked bacon) on top of the whole mixture. It was then just bunged into the oven for 2 hours and forgotten till the gorgeous smells emerged to inform that dinner was ready. It really was much simpler than the previous recipe for turkey I had used which used far too much butter and required constant basting. This turkey was super moist and very flavourful thanks to all the herbs and the smoked bacon. The gravy was also sublimely flavoured by the leeks and given a robust kick by the soft garlic flesh that was squeezed into the gravy just before serving. Alongside the homemade cranberry sauce and my buttermilk potatoes (five pounds worth mashed diligently by my hardworking girlfriends), this silenced my girlfriends into an eating frenzy for a good half an hour before anyone could stop eating for a long enough time to chat. I didn't even have time to snap a decent picture of the turkey before it was demolished, but I was immensely pleased.

Roasted Onion, Corn and Watercress Salad

It wasn't all unhealthy. One of my dear girlfriends brought along a Roasted Onion, Corn and Watercress salad. Healthy yet completely gorgeously flavoured with macademia oil and lemon juice, this had all of us eating our requisite amount of greens for the day.

Bacon and Mushroom Aglio Olio Linguini

Another darling girlfriend upped the carbo quotient by bringing along a spicy, tasty Bacon and Mushroom Aglio Olio Linguini dish. Despite the massive portions of carbo we had, most of this dish disappeared too!

Crème Brûlèe

To round it all off, I had prepared Crème Brûlèe the day before. Basically consisting of egg yolks, cream, vanilla paste (or the seeds of the vanilla pod) and sugar, this was a tiny delectable delight that perfectly ended our decadent dinner. It was also very much fun to break out my blowtorch to create that lovely crackly caramel topping on top of the Crème Brûlèe.

We couldn't walk much after dinner and one of my harpy girls even had to lie down, so full of food was she.

2005-12-24T17:55:00.000+08:00

A Christmas Revelation

Cranberry Sauce with Orange Zest

I had earlier blogged about the thrill of locating fresh cranberries when I thought sadly that the only cranberries I would ever see here were the dried ones or those already processed beyond recognition in the form of Cranberry Jelly and the like. In my excitement, I’d purchased two bags worth and frozen them. With the little dinner I had planned for my diva girlfriends coming up on Boxing Day, I decided to make good use of the cranberries by turning them into home made Cranberry Sauce for my roast turkey before they became forgotten at the back of my freezer.

For some strange reason, I’d always imagined the recipe for Cranberry Sauce to be some magical secret potion involving hours spent over a hot stove stirring and stirring and stirring. Imagine my somewhat dumbfounded ‘duh!’ surprise when all the recipes I located had one thing in common – they were dead easy. Basically, one cup water, one cup sugar, 12 ounces of cranberries. Boil. If required, add in, as you like, orange peel, pecans, raisins, etc (basically anything you could imagine would taste good with cranberries). Simmer for 10 minutes. Cool, then chill.

The entire process took all of 15 minutes including the time I took to zest some orange peel to add into the mixture, as well as washing up! It was a Christmas 2005 Revelation indeed and the best reason never never never to buy bottled cranberry sauce again – the trip to the supermarket and battle with the traffic is simply not worth it.

2005-12-18T17:37:00.000+08:00

'Twas the week before Christmas...

Christmas Chocolate and Manuka Honey Panforte

With Christmas just one week away, I decided to do some pre-preparation for the diva dinner I’m going to have on 26 December with my girlfriends. I’d learned the recipe for this traditional Christmas delight - Italian panforte (literally hard bread in Italian) from Chef Oscar Pasinato of Buko Nero (a lovely little Italian restaurant here in Singapore which is so consistently good that it has a month-long waiting list for dinner).

The biggest selling point of the panforte was the fact that it can keep for up to a month! Chef Oscar had told us (perhaps jokingly, just perhaps) that in Italy, they even prepare it at Christmas and eat it all the way up to Easter. Whatever the case may be, I was sufficiently confident that it would keep for at least two weeks to feed whoever might drop by my home (Santa, can you hear me?).

The recipe contains honey, chocolate, dried apricots, blanched almonds, sugar, ground cinnamon, a pinch of salt and flour. I opted to use Manuka honey - so my dear friends, you know you're getting the good stuff! The honey and sugar are heated and melted together, then mixed with the dried apricots, almonds, cinnamon, salt and flour. The melted chocolate is then quickly stirred in to form a super dense mixture that bakes in the oven for between 25 – 45 minutes (mine took much longer to bake than the version at the cooking class – perhaps my oven temperature is not what it purports to be). A ultra sweet and chocolatey chewy ‘bread’ is the result. Not meant to be eaten in large quantities due to the huge amount of sugar, it is simply perfect in the teeny tiny pieces shown in the picture alongside a great cup of expresso.

2005-12-18T00:30:00.000+08:00

A Chinese Feast

I finally managed to gain entry into Xi Yan this evening thanks to the resourcefulness of two foodie friends who scored a reservation (despite a 2-3 month waiting list) and decided to invite more people along to share this superlative dining experience. Xi Yan is a relatively new restaurant which brings to Singapore the Hong Kong concept of private kitchen dining. Basically, this means that all the diners in the tiny restaurant (just 5 tables of about 7-10 people each) are to eat exactly the same thing and commence dinner at exactly the same time.

The dinner was the definition of perfection. I am not a great fan of Chinese dinners normally because they are usually starchy, heavy affairs. But Xi Yan has really made me appreciate Chinese cuisine again even despite the fact that I was nursing a cold and was not in the best control of my tastebuds. However, it has to be said that the food at Xi Yan was really more fusion in execution than the standard Chinese fare we normally get and therefore much more unusual. I stupidly did not bring my camera as my camera battery was flat! So, photos sadly will not accompany this blog entry unless my kind dining companions who did bring their cameras email me their photographs subsequently.

We started the first of our 13(!!) dishes with Prancing Lobster with Two Sauces – this was the freshest, most simply cooked lobster served with a mint sauce and a tangy Thai-style spicy sour sauce. This proved to be a refreshing start to the multitude of dishes coming our way. Our next appetizer of Japanese organic Tomatoes in Sesame Sauce was simply breathtaking. Three of the fattest, hugest, juiciest and sweetest tomatoes were presented to the table alongside a topping of sesame sauce remniscient of Japanese shabu-shabu. None of us had tasted tomatoes this sweet and juicy before and I am now certainly inspired to go a-hunting at the local Japanese supermarkets for these tomatoes. We then had Cold Tofu with Pork Floss and Salted Egg. Again, the cold, clean taste of the tofu was set off beautifully by the pork floss, perfectly fried shallots and salted egg that gave the dish an added kick. This was followed by Northern Style Chinese Dried Chicken done Singapore-style – i.e. the chicken was treated with some sort of marinade before being frozen in the deep freeze and subsequently steamed. This resulted in a unique version of dried yet flavourful chicken meat. We finally ended the appetizer round with Cloud Ears with Wasabi. This traditional Chinese fungus which is ubiquitous in many a vegetable dish at Chinese restaurants was very lightly prepared. Topped with flying fish roe and accompanied by a wasabi-spiked sauce, it was surprisingly crisp and crunchy, and not in the least bit heavy on the palate.

Our tummies were seriously full by this stage and we hadn’t even started on the mains yet! One of our fellow diners who had eaten at the original Hong Kong branch of Xi Yan doggedly finished every last drop of the appetizers placed before us, as his earlier experience had indicated that the appetizers were generally much better than the mains. However, we were all very gladly proved wrong (and he had to groan and moan through the rest of the meal). The mains were again, out of this world. We started with Orange Beef – this was moist and tender beef shin cooked in an orange sauce and dried chilies then topped jauntily with preserved Chinese orange peel. The flavours, as they had done thus far, melded together to create a beautifully satisfying dish, with each individual taste complementing the other. Next up was Salivate Pork – literally. The minute the platter arrived, we started drooling. Thinly sliced tender pork was given the ‘ma la’ Sichuan hot pot treatment and wisely served alongside century egg and Japanese konyaku noodles that helped to absorb the heat of the sauce. Extremely special and surprisingly balanced between the numbing heat and the cooling freshness of the noodles, this dish was one of the favourites (though absolutely none of the dishes were disappointing) for its unique flavours. Eating our way through the spectrum of species, the chef then presented to us Shrimp Sauce Grouper with Pomelo. This again was an unusual combination of flavours common to Chinese cuisine. Shrimp Sauce is normally used to fry chicken, and I would never have thought it worked with deep fried fish. It did, very well in this case, again nicely balanced out by the tart juiciness of the pomelos. Just when we thought we could not be surprised further, a bamboo platter of Crab Roe Glutinous Rice was placed before us. The waiter advised us that the crabs, which were beautifully presented on top of the rice, were not the star of the dish. In this case, it was the rice, which had absorbed all the gorgeous crab juices and crab roe flavours that was the sweet pièce de resistance. He was right. The crab though still sweet, had given of its best to the rice which was infused with the best crab-iness flavour ever.

By this time, my fellow diners were declaring that they were beyond the ‘Full’ tank gauge reading. Understanding this and in preparation for the rest of our meal, the chef served up a palate cleanser of Mixed Fruits in Plum Sauce. Simple Fuji apples, Japanese pear, Chinese pear and Jambu were given a new lease of life by the just sour enough plum sauce. We happily crunched our way through the fruits and were revived in time for the Fresh Ginseng Chicken Soup – a clear, extremely healthy and very delicious broth. The mains finally finally ended with Braised Mushrooms with Pickled Cucumber. Despite the state of our tummies, the fragrant smells wafting out from the perfectly cooked Shitake, Portobello and Abalone mushrooms led us to dig in one final time with our chopsticks.

But, how could one forget dessert? Indeed, it was again a standout. Simply billed as Xi Yan Tang Yuan, the two innocuous looking dough balls floating in their bowls of ginger soup contained within them a treasure trove of delights. I doubt that nowhere else will I ever again taste tang yuan that is made up of salted egg, sesame, peanuts, sugared winter melon, and butter.

While lolling in our seats, we were greeted by the affable and very young chef (which is so impressive in itself), who presented us with one final touch to our meal – a Xi Yan cocktail shot of Calamansi juice, Honey and Whiskey. It was, like all the dishes before, a superb blend of the best ingredients, presented in a unique and refreshing way.

How could we not but book ourselves in for yet another meal on our way out of the restaurant? Hope we’ll be back in January!!

Xi Yan
38A Craig Road
Singapore 089676
Tel: 9695 4957

2005-12-17T00:07:00.000+08:00

Bedtime Baking

Butter Pecan Cookies

A sudden uncontrollable urge to bake something, anything, hit me at around 10.20 pm tonight. Perhaps it had been the relatively long hiatus (well, one week) since my hands had prepared something edible, but it was an itch that needed desperately to be scratched.

The practical side of me however recognized that a late Friday night was not the time to attempt creating a lavish multi-layered cake spread with tempered chocolate ganache, or prepare a water bath for crème brulèe. It had to be something simple which could be baked in a jiffy that would leave me enough time to post this entry and still get sufficient beauty sleep.

I decided on Butter Pecan cookies, the recipe of which I’d downloaded from a fellow blogger (sorry, I’ve forgotten which one – thanks anyway!!). It was certainly simple enough, just requiring one to cream the butter, add in the sugar, vanilla essence, a pinch of salt, and flour, then folding in the pecans, before engaging in PlayDoh action with the dough, rolling it into balls and patting them into shape with a glass. One could also top it off with some sprinkled sugar. The cookies were then popped into the oven and baked till golden brown (about 15 – 20 minutes).

Just this short while later, they emerged beautifully aromatic and filling the air with the sweet heady smell that only the combination of butter and pecans can achieve. Alongside a long cool glass of milk, the crunchy, hearty cookies were the perfect late night baking and snacking fix, not to mention, a piece of cake (or cookie rather) to make!

2005-12-10T18:18:00.000+08:00

Self Help Remedy

Cranberry Orange Cake

I am a huge fan of the gorgeous cakes and bread from Cedele Depot, a chain of bakeries that have sprouted up around the island. I for one am pleased at its success. It churns out a plethora of tasty, homey cakes, scones, muffins, brioche and bread, all of consistently high quality, and in some cases, even healthy (for e.g. some of its breads contain no eggs or use only wholegrain). I am addicted in particular to its simple loaf cakes like Almond Sugee, Vanilla Sand, and Cranberry Orange (my absolute favourite!).

Seeing as this has resulted in becoming a very expensive addiction indeed, especially since I have a tendency to buy a variety of individual slices (after all, a business needs to be profitable to stay afloat), I decided to remedy the situation by figuring out how to make my own version of the Cranberry Orange loaf.

I thought that the beautifully described Orange Cake from Paris Sweets which the author, Dorie Greenspan, had adapted from the version at Pâtisserie Arnaud Larher (a famous pâtisserie in Montmarte in Paris) would work wonderfully. I was particularly tempted by the intriguing instructions to rub the sugar and orange zest with the fingertips. To turn it into a Cranberry Orange loaf, I merely tossed a couple of dried cranberries into the finished batter before baking. It turned out fantastic. I had an especially good premonition about the result while I was rubbing the sugar and orange zest together. The process filled the entire kitchen with a fresh sweet orangey aroma. I just knew something delicious would come out of anything that contained this special blend orange sugar. Apparently it works just as well with lemon zest and vanilla too, so this is one trick that is going into my standard repertoire of baking methods. The moist 'ambro-sugar' was whipped with eggs, crème fraîche, and a touch of Grand Marnier before gently incorporated with the sifted flour, double acting baking powder and salt. In a highly unusual method (to me at least, I’ve only ever creamed butter and sugar at the start of the process!), the butter was only mixed in last, after having been melted and left to cool.

While the cakes were baking and tanning nicely in the oven in their loaf pan sun beds, I decided that it would be far too much of a waste to toss out the oranges that were now bereft of their zest and looking much like sad shorn sheep. I used about one orange’s worth of juice mixed with enough icing sugar to turn it into a dense orange topping. (I sliced and ate the other orange for my requisite daily supply of Vitamin C).

Et voilà, the loaves were simply finished by spreading the icing over them after they’d been left to cool and topped with the extra dried cranberries that added a glorious spot of colour to the end product. I’m pleased to say, the good feeling about the cakes was fulfilled – a freshly-cut slice was gorgeously moist, flavoured refreshingly with the orange zest and given a nice bite by the plump cranberries.

Food and Drink
Baking
cake
Food

2005-12-05T22:40:00.000+08:00

'Da Pow-Low' Dinner Hainanese Style

Black Bean Beef Hor Fun

Well, dinner was not from the Italian restaurant chain that made a splash into Singapore's gourmet scene some years ago (and still going strong with at least four restaurants I know of), but came courtesy of the more old-school Hainanese version of noodles. Indeed, perhaps hor fun or kuay teow (flat rice noodles) prepared in a variety of ways did inspire Marco Polo during his sojourns to the East to bring home ideas for the huge smorgasbord of pasta dishes that have now mushroomed in Italian restaurants all over the world.

Feeling like we'd had a slight overkill of Western meals, we decided to forego our original plan for takeout pizza in favour of 'da pao' (takeaway) Black Bean Sauce Beef Hor Fun from a nearby Hainanese restaurant - Kim Moh Hainanese Restaurant. The Hainanese people in Singapore have a long history of being extremely talented in the kitchen - they created the absolute best chicken rice to be found on this earth and staffed many of the top restaurants in the past, both Western and local. This neighbourhoood restaurant is located in an F&B space which suffers from a bit of an identity crisis given its former life as some sort of Jack's Place style steak place complete with checked tablecloth and interesting props that definitely do not relate to any Hainanese heritage. However, it sings of its heritage loudly and clearly through the food.

Although it is most well-known for the soup-based version of beef noodles in beef broth, I think their semi-wet hor fun dish is the best thing on the menu here. It may not look like much in the picture, but this is one classy yet simple dish. Perfectly al dente kuay teow smothered in luscious black-bean flavoured sauce topped with a generous portion of tender beef slices, and garnished with spring onions, flavoured with a touch of spice from cut chili pieces are combined to produce a dish that is a piquant yet a filling and smooth meal on its own. The gravy does not resemble anything from the ubiquitous bottles of processed black bean sauce available on supermarket shelves. Whatever the chef has done to it with his special wok hei (breath of the wok) powers has transformed it into a noodle dish that holds its head as high or higher than the best pasta dishes in Italy.

The best part? After rushing around all day at work, this well-run establishment will take your orders by phone and have it ready for you to pick up in time for a quick yet satisfying dinner on an otherwise painful Monday evening. The restaurant does a whole lot of other tradtional Hainanese dishes as well at a pretty high standard and the nice thing is, they are very very proud indeed of their Hainanese food heritage. So there, Marco Polo.

Kim Moh Hainanese Restaurant
Laguna Park Block 5000F
Marine Parade Road
Tel: 64428900

Food and Drink
Food

2005-12-03T22:28:00.000+08:00

Real Food Daily

Tray-baked Rack of Lamb with Aubergine, Tomatoes, Olive Oil, Garlic and Mint Oil served with Buttermilk Mashed Potatoes

I’d recently caught on Discovery Travel and Adventure a couple of episodes of Jamie’s School Dinners – a documentary following Jamie Olivier’s travails in attempting to improve the meals available for school children in London by chucking out junk food (e.g. chicken nuggets in the shape of a football player which turned out to be made out of the vilest parts of a chicken) and introducing fresh real healthy food on the menu. If you haven’t yet seen it, do try to catch it if it is available on a cable channel near you. The cynic may view this project just as an exercise in publicity for him, but there is something to be admired about a celebrity chef who, instead of sitting back and doing more of the same cooking-travelling-eating TV shows or concentrating on running his restaurant, embarks on a project which does not just involve overhauling the food management in school kitchens or teaching the dinner ladies new methods of cooking, but hardest of all, convincing the kids to give up their junk food in favour of salads (the horror!) and real meat (even worse!!). It was indeed food for thought (pardon the pun) to realise just how much junk food has become a part of the average kid’s consumption and how unaware all of us are in respect of what we are actually putting into our system when we hit the fast food joints.

To tip my glass to Mr Olivier for his efforts, I decided to roast a Tray-baked Rack of Lamb with Aubergines, Tomatoes, Olive Oil, Garlic and Mint Oil based on a recipe from his book Happy Days with Jamie Olivier. This is one of his typically nutritionally complete meals which involves roasting the sides of aubergine and plum tomatoes in the same roasting pan as the meat – all of it real visible food. I first browned the aubergine slices by lightly pan-frying them in some olive oil. These were then placed alongside the halved tomatoes which were topped with dried oregano, fresh basil, pepper, salt and whole garlic cloves. I scored the skin of the rack of lamb which would apparently render it nice and crisp. This was then seasoned and fried lightly in the pan to brown then drizzled with olive oil and baked in the oven for 30 minutes. Instead of relying on bottled ‘mint jelly’, the recipe called for a quick and easy preparation of mint oil by simply blitzing a handful of mint leaves with a dash of red wine vinegar and olive oil.

I also decided to include a carbohydrate for the sake of a hungry Mr UnProfessional Chef in the form of more potatoes from the Zuni Café Cookbook which is turning out to be a real treasure trove of tasty delights. I elected this time to prepare Buttermilk Mashed Potatoes which is apparently one of their most ordered side dishes. This was a superbly easy one to do too. The potatoes were skinned, cut into small pieces, boiled for about 15 minutes till tender, then mashed with a couple of tablespoonfuls of butter, buttermilk and half-and-half (milk plus cream).

The result – a sumptuous dinner with no preservatives included – just the freshest possible ingredients dressed together to create a healthy, albeit huge feast. The lamb was juicy and flavourful, though I would have cooked it for a bit longer as it was still rather pink within. The mint oil was a hit with Mr UnProfessional Chef with its super fresh taste that set off the lamb perfectly. My real favourites though were the vegetables. The aubergine had roasted slowly into a soft, smooth texture while retaining its uniquely meaty taste. The tomatoes were likewise flawless – still juicy though their outer skins were nicely wilted and flavoured beautifully with the fresh basil leaves and garlic cloves (which were also delightful to munch on their own after melting into a fragrant beige mash packing a powerful punch). The potatoes were a real winner – even better than the roast rosemary potatoes I’d prepared last week. Silkily smooth and creamy thanks to the various types of milk, they were given an unusual slightly sour flavour from the buttermilk, which was simply great.

Recipes like these, which are not overly difficult nor time-consuming, are ample proof that with just a little effort, real food daily is available to us all.

Cooking
Food and Drink
Food

2005-12-03T18:08:00.000+08:00

Upside-Down Cake - Take #2

Cranberry Upside-Down Cake

After last weekend’s morning baking fiasco, I was determined to have another go at baking an upside down cake. I’d previously always avoided doing so for want of a cast iron classic tarte tatin pan, but despite last week’s failed attempt, I realized that a regular springform pan appeared to work just fine too.

With Christmas just round the corner and planning beginning for various meals I intend to cook for my friends and loved ones, I decided to bake a Cranberry Upside-Down Cake from Nigella Lawson’s How to be a Domestic Goddess (isn’t it evident what my true ambition in life is? ☺). I love upside-down cakes and I love cranberries, and having only just discovered that Jason’s Supermarket at Tanglin Mall actually stocks fresh cranberries (albeit Ocean Spray, not exotically organic ones), I was pretty excited about this recipe.

I determinedly and carefully followed each step of the recipe to the letter and was reasonably successful in creating a cake that looked pretty close to her version in the book. It was much much simpler to make and though it didn’t look as pretty as the apple version last week as the sugar hadn’t completely caramalised in places, it tasted wonderful. I’d say that between the two recipes, the apple version from Bill’s Sydney Food would make for a more sophisticated dessert as the apple had been gorgeously enhanced with lemon zest and vanilla – hence, I’ll probably make that one for Christmas instead (with all the steps right!). Be that as it may, I had a REAL cake this time and the fresh cranberries burst with beautifully tart flavour when bitten into. Along with a scoop of Waitrose Cornish Double Cream ice cream, this was a delightful, sinful way to spend a cool Saturday afternoon.

Food and Drink
Baking
cake
Food

2005-11-28T22:34:00.000+08:00

A Languid Dinner

Red Wine Braised Beef Cheeks with Parsley Potatoes

The best part about cooking a stew or braised dish is that it can be prepared in advance at one’s leisure and heated up for quick dinners during the working week. The worst part about cooking a stew or braised dish is that it has to be prepared in advance and left to sit - one has to be tortured by the delicious aromas wafting from the stewing pot during the cooking process and not be able to eat it immediately.

Over the weekend, I christened my newly-purchased bright red “La Cocotte” Dutch oven by cooking a dish adapted from a recipe of Red Wine Braised Beef Cheeks learnt from Chef Patrick Heuberger of Au Petit Salut. The original recipe, which apparently is a real hit at his restaurant, calls for beef cheeks and veal stock, but both of these were not immediately available, even at the speciality butcher where I shopped – hence I had no choice but to replace the beef cheeks with other stewable parts of the beef and used chicken stock instead of veal.

My attempt resulted in having to spend much of my Sunday afternoon inhaling the winey, gorgeous smells emanating from my oven as the beef slowly cooked in a mixture of red wine, chicken stock, rosemary, thyme, bay leaf, clove, garlic, onion, carrots, celery, mushrooms, tomatoes, whole black peppercorns and salt, without being able to eat any of it immediately! The wine was first warmed up in “La Cocotte” to boil away the alcohol, the beef placed in on its own, followed by the rest of the ingredients which were simply roughly chopped up and thrown in, the whole mixture brought to boil and then placed in the oven at 150° Celsius. Chef Heuberger had advised that the meat needed to sit for at least one day after being cooked to enable all the gelatin in the beef (beef cheeks will give the best result) to break down into a moist, fork-tender scrumptious piece of heavenly meat. At the end of two and half hours of slow cooking in the oven, there was therefore nothing I could do but salivate, stick “La Cocotte” into the fridge and wait more than 24 hours before being able to sample the promisingly aromatic dish.

Fast forward to Monday evening – I came home from work, leisurely set some potatoes to boil, slowly warmed up the little red treasure pot of braised beef, tossed some baby spinach with a light dressing of olive oil, lemon juice and mustard, roughly mashed the cooked potatoes with a fork together with a handful of flat leaf parsley, and dinner was served. The meal was fabulous. The beef was indeed as tender and flavourful as promised after imbibing the essence of the wine, vegetables and herbs it had been cooked with. The gravy went beautifully with the fresh-tasting parsley potatoes and best of all, the only oil present in the meal was the olive oil in the salad! We felt very healthy (though we ate a huge portion each, so perhaps the good effects were negated) and our fine dinner brightened up an otherwise blues-filled Monday evening. Along with a glass of good red wine, it felt pretty close to a restaurant meal (albeit we were slumming it in our T-shirt and shorts) despite being so very simple to make. Best of all, I’d made a double portion of braised beef so there is more of this to look forward to later this week!

Food and Drink

2005-11-26T21:01:00.000+08:00

Ten Reasons Not To Bake Before Breakfast

Upside-Down Biscuit with Apple and Cinnamon

I woke up this Saturday morning feeling bright breezy and ready to tackle a whole list of things I’d planned for the weekend. My penchant for doing five things at the same time made me decide on the, on hindsight suicidal, task of using the two and half hours before I had to head off for a birthday lunch to bake a cake – specifically, a delectable-looking Upside-Down Cake with Apple and Cinnamon from Bills Sydney Food. I decided that to save time, I would skip breakfast (and most importantly, my coffee) and jump straight into action after my shower. What a bad move.

Here are ten reasons why one should not attempt to bake before breakfast:

1. Fresh out of the shower, wet hair (still dripping) and parchment paper do not a good combination make.
2. Eyes are insufficiently focused in the morning and are prone to misreading instructions in the recipe such as ‘four eggs (separated)’ as ‘four egg yolks’, resulting in the tossing out of four egg whites down the sink and discovering too late that said four egg whites are a necessary ingredient.
3. Scrambling for more eggs to supplement tossed egg whites and discovering that there are none, and realising that with Mr UnProfessional Chef (aka sous chef #1) out playing tennis, there is no one available to run to the store for more eggs.
4. Having to adapt recipe to cope with lack of egg whites resulting in having to pour back already measured plain flour and replacing it with self-raising flour.
5. Spilling said plain flour over entire kitchen due to pre-caffeine lack of dexterity in the hands.
6. Having to fly blind and stressing out about whether cake will rise by replacing plain flour with self-raising flour.
7. Realising that the rising of the cake is the least of one’s concern when resulting dough, sans egg whites, is unpromisingly dry.
8. Thanks to unfueled brain, forgetting to preheat the oven, hence resulting in further delay and wondering if one will make it in time for one’s lunch appointment.
9. In stressed-out frame of mind, not having the common sense to realise that caramel sauce in bottom of springform pan plus heat of oven equals drips through edges of said pan and therefore omitting to place parchment paper below pan to catch the drips.
10. Producing an Upside-Down Biscuit with Apple and Cinnamon instead of Cake as a result of said screw-ups in attempts to follow recipe.

Well, the end result, as you can see from the picture, wasn’t all that bad, but the thought of what it could have been made my heart break a little. Thankfully, I had dredged up sufficient mental alertness to cook the apples and caramel properly before the second half cake-making fiasco, so that tasted good at least. I will certainly reattempt the recipe when I’m more awake and less pressed for time!

2005-11-23T22:31:00.000+08:00

An Evening in Provence …

…well, not quite, but it was as close as we could get here right next to the Equator.

Blu at Shangri-La Hotel had invited a two-star Michelin chef, Laurent Taurridec from “Maison” Leï Mouscardins, a restaurant in the very chichi town of St Tropez, to bring some Cote d’Azur culinary magic to Singapore for about a week. True, it was terribly decadent of us to indulge in such fine dining on a working Tuesday night, but the experience, up in the lovely top floor restaurant, with fine views of the city and great company of friends, was worth it. I’ll be very happy to detox this weekend for this.

Mr UnProfessional Chef, myself and our fellow foodie friend all elected for the tasting menus which reflected the best of the earthy flavours of Provençal cuisine. Mr UnProfessional Chef opted for the lighter ‘La Provençal’ whilst the two greedy girls had ‘La Balade’. Due to the ultra dim lighting, my photographs were mostly of the blurry and dark variety, hence, only the better ones will be posted.

Grilled Atlantic Scallops with Raw Endive Salad

Mr UnProfessional Chef’s starter of Thin Potato Galette, Gnocchi Dough, Wild Brittany Sardines “Pizza” Style was a cute little round of delicious potatoes with fresh shiny whole sardines atop it. Simple and delicious, yet unusual for Singapore, since over here, we generally see our sardines in tins, he was pleased with the dish, though it could have been served a bit warmer (I must say that this was a problem throughout our dinner, except of course for dessert – our dishes were served at best lukewarm and not piping hot as I would have preferred). We greedy girls had Grilled Atlantic Scallops with Raw Endive Salad (topped with pure olive oil and vinegar) which were delectably sweet and quite unlike the bland tasting scallops I encounter far too often at many restaurants here.

French Green Beans Gazpacho with Tapenade Croutons

Our next courses of Artichokes served with Boned Ham and Shallots, with White Wine Reduction and French Green Beans Gazpacho with Tapenade Croutons were equally delightful. Artichokes are always a pleasure and this warm dish was balanced with the nicely tart white wine reduction. The Gazpacho was a smooth cool little number. The purèed mix of French beans and garlic (and possibly other herbs I couldn’t quite detect in the darkness) was set off well by the tomato based soup. Again, both dishes were lovely illustrations of Provençal cuisine, which is significantly different from classical French cooking, though infused with the same sensibilities of reliance on fabulous ingredients, technically superior cooking and imaginative combinations.

Mr UnProfessional Chef took a break while the greedy girls pushed on with our next plate. Our plate of House Made Pasta Like A “Risotto” with Wild Winter Morels and Shaved Truffles was a winner. The gorgeously warm orzo pasta was infused with the superb complex flavours of the wild fungi that had clearly taken life from French earth and was our favourite savoury dish of the night.

Grilled “Wagyu” Beef Tenderloin with Winter Vegetables and Red Wine Emulsion

Despite the fact that our bellies were already nicely filled by the time our main courses arrived, we were able to wolf down the Traditional Bouillabaisse of Monkfish ‘Lei Mouscardins’ Style and Grilled “Wagyu” Beef Tenderloin with Winter Vegetables and Red Wine Emulsion. The bouillabaisse was a lovely and robust rendition of this traditional dish (I tasted my very first bouillabaisse in a tiny port side restaurant in Marseille, right next to the Mediterranean, more than 10 years ago and have been hooked ever since) with substantial chunky pieces of monkfish to satisfy. It was so good but there was clearly far too little soup because Mr UnProfessional Chef slurped it to the last drop. It would have been the star of the show had it been piping hot (again, a major complaint, we are in Singapore after all, it shouldn’t require that much effort to serve a hot plate of soup). Our beef, however, was underwhelming. We expected a very nicely marbled melt-in-your-mouth piece of meat, but this was not one of the best versions I have had. Perhaps the inverted commas over the word “Wagyu” in the menu should have been a warning. However, the winter vegetables on the side were divine. Complex and tasting of the pure essence of the Mediterranean climate, these must have come straight from the farms of Provence since I have never tasted such lovely mushrooms, carrots and courgettes in Singapore before. There is much to be said about eating vegetables that have been grown naturally in the earth, not mass produced on a hydroponics farm which creates pretty lookalikes of vegetables that taste of nothing.

Chocolate Leaves served with Milk Jam and Lime Sorbet

Our meal ended with superb desserts. We were pleasantly surprised by the inspired creations of Chocolate Leaves served with Milk Jam and Lime Sorbet, and Thinly Shaved Slices of Melon with a Spicy Jus and Melon Sherbet. The milk jam was particularly good, being a creamy milky buttery spread with the consistency of light clotted cream. It complemented the paper thin chocolate slices which were used to sandwich the dollops of jam in just the right proportions. We could have had a double serving though – it was that good. The melon slices were also gorgeously matched with a startlingly spicy light jus topping that brought out the sweetness of the fruit.

Although the meal didn’t quite match up to all my very high expectations of the two Michelin starred Monsieur Taurridec (it’s unfortunately been the case with other Michelin starred chefs who have visited Singapore as well – perhaps the ingredients don’t travel well or the chefs are not in the relative familiarity of their own kitchens), our evening of Provençal cuisine was still an enjoyable virtual visit to the South of France, with the meal bringing back memories of warm heady days scented with lavender spent walking through sunflower-filled fields.

Blu Restaurant
Shangri-La Hotel Singapore
22 Orange Grove Road
Singapore 258350
Tel: 67373644

2005-11-20T23:33:00.000+08:00

Super Simple Sunday Supper

Chicken Breast Baked in a Bag with Mushrooms, Butter, White Wine and Thyme
served with Roast Rosemary Potatoes

Weekends are meant for rest. My weekends however, are usually chock-a-block with all the things I want to do but don’t have time for during the week. This weekend was a nicely packed one, with nary a minute to spare between attending lunchtime parties, giving my dog his weekly bath, changing a couple of light bulbs at home (they all uncannily blew out at the same time), catching a theatre production, doing the weekend grocery shopping and attending cooking class. My fingers however, were itching to do some real cooking again, since of late, my kitchen adventures have strictly been limited to baking.

Given the tight schedule, I turned to Jamie Oliver, he of the ‘just a lad in the kitchen’ persona, for his minimum fuss, simple recipes. From his book Happy Days with the Naked Chef, I elected to make Chicken Breast Baked in a Bag with Mushrooms, Butter, White Wine and Thyme. This could not have been easier. It basically involved mixing all of the above ingredients (the mushrooms were a mix of fresh button, shitake and dried porcini) plus garlic, then bunging it into a giant bag constructed with aluminum foil (double bagged for safety) and baking it in a very hot oven for 25 minutes. The result – delectably moist and tender chicken flavoured and complemented by the harmonious mixture of the mushrooms, wine, butter, garlic and thyme. I would have been a bit less liberal with the porcini mushrooms which were very strong (I was greedy and put in a really big handful since the recipe mentioned one handful but didn’t specify how large it should be!), used better white wine (I bought a really cheap bottle, and it showed), and perhaps thrown in a dash of sea salt to bring out the flavour, but Mr UnProfessional Chef loved it and I was reasonably pleased at the result of a mere hour of cooking (including chopping, baking and cleaning up).

Alongside this and prepared within that same hour, I served Roast Rosemary Potatoes, the first (of hopefully many!) recipe I decided to try from The Zuni Café Cookbook. Again, so straightforward, it is impossible to mess this up. Potatoes (peeled or not, depending on how lazy one feels – I was very lazy) cut into about 2-3 cm irregular chunks, parboiled in salted water for about 10 minutes, then tossed with copious amounts of extra virgin olive oil, a stalkful of bruised rosemary, spread over a baking tray and thrown into the oven alongside the chicken to roast for about 20 – 25 minutes till the outer edges are browned and crisp. I sprinkled a little fleur de sel (another treasure brought home from Borough Market) over the potatoes while they were roasting too, just for fun. They turned out gorgeous. Hot and crisp on the outside and meltingly fluffy on the inside and just infused enough with the salt and perfume of the rosemary leaves. Best of all, this is definitely the simplest and quickest method of roasting potatoes I have come across. The method is a keeper.

Easy Peasy Sticky Date Toffee Pudding

Spurred on by the effortlessness of preparing dinner, I decided to go one further and make dessert. Again, very appropriately titled Easy Peasy Sticky Date Toffee Pudding, a recipe I learnt recently from Shermay Lee at her cooking school. I didn’t bring out my mixer for this one, just a bowl and a good spatula were sufficient. Brown sugar, flour, one egg, milk, melted butter and vanilla essence were mixed together before adding in chopped dates (I just used a pair of kitchen scissors to snip the dates directly into the batter). This mixture was poured into a pudding dish, then topped with brown sugar, more butter and a significant amount of boiling water (yes, you read that right). This eventually cooked into a beautiful, simmering bowl of sweet, gooey pudding – perfect for a winter night. Well, it isn’t exactly winter here, but with the seasonal monsoon bringing a lovely cool breeze to our apartment this time of year, the warm pudding topped with a dab of crème fraiche was a perfect ending to our simple Sunday night supper.

2005-11-19T23:52:00.000+08:00

Books for Cooks

My cookbook collection prior to today numbered less than 10. However, I managed, in one fell swoop this afternoon, to increase it by 40%. Instead of cramming with the shopping crowd in the start of the Christmas present-hunting frenzy, I parked myself in Kinokuniya’s cookbook section, which has an excellent variety, and managed to spend a horrendous amount of money reliving my delicious days in Northern California and seeking new pastures. I decided on four cookbooks today, though there are many many more I have my eye on.

Baking with Julia by Dorie Greenspan looks like a surefire classic. With it I hope to improve my very amateur baking skills. There is just simply something very satisfying about mixing a bunch of ordinary ingredients together to create a wonderfully homey cake or batch of biscuits. The second book, Paris Sweets is also written by Dorie Greenspan. Looking delightfully like a road map to sugary nirvana, I can only hope that it will enable me to come close to some of the heavenly pastries I’ve experienced in Paris.

The other two books I picked up for completely nostalgic reasons. I had patronized both The Cheese Board in Berkeley, California, from which comes The Cheese Board Collective Works, and Zuni Café in San Francisco (The Zuni Cafe Cookbook), where I was pursuing a postgraduate degree some years back (UC Berkeley that is, not either one of the establishments, though a postgraduate culinary degree would have been wonderful). The Cheese Board in particular was a real favourite. Uniquely run as a co-operative (well, I was in Berkeley after all), I queued there regularly for the best pizza in the world (I exaggerate not – I have yet to meet a better pizza four years on), which only came in one flavour daily. It was only open for limited hours but I very luckily lived a mere seven minute brisk walk away. I still think about it with much fondness and droolingly reminisce about it with fellow ex-Singaporean Berkeley-ites. I’d only been to Zuni Café once (mind you, there were just so many good places to eat in Northern California) but have yet to forget its one and only roast chicken with bread salad. I hope this will let me recreate some of its other superb dishes at home.

At this point, I also have to confess my non-cooking related weakness for trashy fashion mags at this point, which is why you can see the latest copy of InStyle in the background too.

I look forward to producing many delights from these books for cooks!

2005-11-19T12:03:00.000+08:00

A Rant about Sugar (and other cake ingredients)

Madagascar Bournob Pure Vanilla Extract and Vanilla Bean Paste

In case you are confused by the juxtaposition of the title of this post against the photo, I should clarify that this post was intended to be one that extolled the joys of vanilla. I had brought home two vanilla pods from Borough Market in London (very well-travelled pods they were, coming originally from Papua New Guinea) from my recent trip and purchased a bottle each of (very expensive but worth it) Madagascar Bourbon Pure Vanilla Extract and Vanilla Bean Paste from Shermay's Cooking School and was looking forward with great excitement at baking with these for the first time (yes, up till now I have never split a vanilla pod and have been using the awful artificial vanilla extract available in all supermarkets near you). This momentous occasion called for a very special recipe that possessed a quintessential ‘vanilla-ness’ to its entire whole. I thought I had hit jackpot with Vanilla Bean Loaves from Amanda Hesser’s Cooking with Mr Latte.

Vanilla Bean Loaves

It promised so much with the liberal appearance of vanilla in the sugar to be used, in the number of vanilla beans to be used in the batter and the syrup, and the extra dose of vanilla extract (one whole tablespoon full!) in the batter. During the baking process, the aroma from the vanilla and the fabulous melding of butter, sugar and eggs filled my little kitchen, causing me to salivate greedily in anticipation of the two beautifully rising and browning loaves. Even the way they looked when they came out of the oven promised lovely rustic cakes impregnated with the gorgeously unique flavour of real vanilla.

But the sugar, why, the sugar! Actually, to that I should add, the eggs, why so many eggs? I should have been awfully suspicious while heaping copious amounts of sugar into the bowl during the process of creaming the butter and cracking egg after egg after egg into the mixture. I know this was a double recipe and indeed, I was rewarded with a substantial amount of cake, but eight eggs for two small loaf cakes? Five hundred grams of sugar? I am a stickler for following recipe amounts as closely as possible but this experience has taught me a lesson about adapting recipes to my own tastebuds. I love sweet rich things, but perhaps I should have been more careful with American dessert recipes which tend to be on the ultra sweet side. These cakes, despite the lovely scent of vanilla prevalent in every bite were simply too sweet for me, though they were certainly edible. On top of the cake base itself, which was where the aforesaid 500 g of sugar went into, the recipe called for an additional layer of sugar syrup topping flavoured with vanilla. It was so sweet my teeth ached. However, it is worth noting that Mr UnProfessional Chef did not find it too sweet and indeed, after one or two days, the sweetness of the sugar mellowed somewhat to render the cake much more palatable, allowing the vanilla-ness to come out much more beautifully.

So, word of warning if you would ever like to use this recipe – cut down on the sugar, a lot. I would even say it would benefit from a slight reduction in the amount of eggs and butter since the cake was super rich and moist. But if you have an extremely sweet tooth and love very rich cakes, then don’t make any changes. My only consolation is that the vanilla bean pods, genuine paste and essence, were wonderfully aromatic and proved the best reason to avoid artificial vanilla essence in future.

2005-11-13T20:39:00.000+08:00

Baking Bounty a.k.a. Diva Dining #2

You know who your friends are for life when you make it a point to see them on a very regular basis, when not having met for a month feels like far too wide a gap in time, and when you really want to hear everything about the other persons’ lives, even though your paths and interests have diverged wildly over 17 years. Despite everyone’s very busy schedule (including that of one full-time working new mum and one actress whose show is just about to open), we decided to get together for a late Sunday afternoon tea. Very sadly, the last essential member of our little group of friends was called away on work at the last minute and had to be present in spirit.

Completely undecided about what to prepare, I decided to bake three tea-time treats – a bit on the excessive side, but I figured I could always keep the extras or my dear divas could bring home the ones they liked best. As it turned out, it was a great idea to do all three since we managed to wolf down almost all of it and completely ruin our dinner in the process!

Flourless Lemon Almond Cake

Of course, I didn’t have time to sit down and bake all three treats in one morning and certainly had a packed schedule this weekend. Choosing simple, quick recipes for cakes that could keep resulted in a three day leisurely baking exercise resulting in a nice bounty for the weekend. I started late on Friday night with a Flourless Lemon Almond Cake adapted from Nigella Lawson’s recipe for Clementine Cake in How to Eat. This was the most time-consuming but a very straightforward process involving boiling whole lemons in water for two hours, before pulping it and mixing well (without even needing the KitchenAid!) with eggs, sugar, finely-ground almonds and the baking powder, then baking for an hour in the oven. I then prepared a thin glaze of lemon juice and icing sugar to drench the cake and topped it off with an experimental caramalised/baked lemon slice. I say ‘experimental’ because I hadn’t the faintest idea how to do this. However, it turned out looking pretty dried out, which was what I was aiming for, so the experiment appeared to work reasonably well. This cake is apparently at its best about a day or two after it’s been baked and certainly, it was delicious! Very smooth, intensely lemony (perhaps a little bitter from the skin) and gorgeously aromatic from the almonds. One of my diva girls could not believe it had no flour in it and even my lovely dog Z, was hanging about as close as possible (as you can see in the background of the picture above) when the divine smells of the baking lemons and almonds filled the air.

Peanut Butter Pound Cake

The Saturday procedure had to be a super quick one since this had to be squeezed in in between errands, lunch, cooking class, a birthday party and a family dinner. I opted for a simple yet rich Peanut Butter Pound Cake from The San Francisco Chronicle Cookbook. This was the book that really piqued my interest in cooking when I was a graduate student in Northern California some years ago. It was my first real cookbook, purchased from a secondhand bookstore, and it has proven to be one of my best buys - a trusted, reliable source of wonderful meals and a friend I often turn back to. Not one recipe has let me down over the years. This one certainly didn’t. All that was required was simple creaming and mixing of butter and sugar, creamy peanut butter (any old brand), eggs and flour. Simple as that. It didn’t look very spectacular but tasted absolutely fabulous and old-fashioned. Cakes like these are the best reason to eschew the processed preserved stuff masquerading as cakes and breads on the supermarket shelves and doing it by yourself homestyle. It’s not in the least bit difficult and very rewarding indeed.

Baklava Muffins

Finally, on Sunday afternoon, just before my gaggle of girlfriends arrived, I whipped up Baklava Muffins, courtesy of Nigella Lawson again, from How to be a Domestic Goddess. Described by her as ‘sticky buns for the slapdash cook’, these were certainly very quick and easy - the perfect dish to whip up in a hurry. The filling for these muffins comprised walnuts, demerara sugar, cinnamon and butter. These were encased within the muffin dough, which contained, buttermilk (unusually), sugar, flour, eggs and butter. Topped with honey, these very chewy and caramelly muffins were ready after being popped in the oven for a mere 15 minutes, just in time to be eaten hot and fresh in between pockets of juicy gossip and chatty catching up.

The baking bounty proved a lovely accompaniment to a great girly afternoon (albeit inclusive of two husbands, one baby and a dog!).

2005-11-11T21:28:00.000+08:00

Japanese Hideaway

In a little corner of a sleepy old shopping centre in the East Coast of Singapore, far from the madding crowds of Orchard Road, a hideaway for fans of Japanese food who want top quality without having to pay top dollar, can be found. Wahiro, which means ‘Good Harmony’, led by chef Hozumi, is a tiny gem of a restaurant which serves a wide range of innovative dishes worthy of the finest Japanese restaurants (at least here in Singapore), while retaining the lovely casualness of a neighbourhood restaurant where one would feel rather out of place in high heels and designer bags. Mr UnProfessional Chef and I, being tired out by a long week, were not in the mood for a formal dining despite it being a Friday night and were aiming to eat quickly and casually before heading home for a quiet night watching comedy DVDs (the first season of ‘Arrested Development’ is hilarious and highly recommended by the way).

Wahiro certainly fit the bill and more! We got our fast dinner, while managing to savour fine Japanese cuisine at a reasonable price. Opting for their seasonal Kaiseiki menu (which changes every month), we were delighted by eight courses of excellently prepared small dishes. First up was Shiromi Sakana to Ankimo – this was a dish of raw angler fish liver encased in white fish sashimi served in a cold soy broth and topped with chili chutney and lots of fresh spring onions. The key to Japanese sashimi is the level of freshness. The angler liver was clearly pretty fresh off the boat and was delicate yet nicely creamy, and beautifully set off by the sparkling clean flavour of the white fish sashimi.

Raw angler fish liver encased in white fish sashimi served in a cold soy broth

This was followed up by Otsokuri, an even fresher selection of sashimi. Comprising tuna and two unidentified white fish (I think one of them was kingfish), these were simple and simply delectable. They went wonderfully with my cheap bottle of sake, which I have of late discovered, is truly truly best enjoyed with fine Japanese food.

Chef's selection of fresh sashimi

Our third course of Anchovy Mushroom tasted surprisingly Western. But we were not complaining because the whole fat Portobello mushroom was grilled to perfection and topped with home made anchovy butter. The softly firm (is there such a thing? It was though!) mushroom pieces had a nice salty bite thanks to the anchovies.

Grilled Portobello mushroom with anchovy butter

Next up was Sakana no Misozuke. Fish fillet preserved in miso was presented in a pretty arrangement on top of soft tofu and konbu seaweed steamed in dashi broth. It tasted supremely healthy while not stinting on the complexity of flavour.

Fish fillet preserved in miso on top of soft tofu and konbu seaweed steamed in dashi broth

Then came the most interesting course – Gyunyuu Tofu. Described as special tofu custard made from milk, this was cold silken tofu with a twist. Truly milky yet possessing all qualities of good smooth tofu and topped with freshly grated ginger, this was a dish that could easily have been at home in the famous kitchens of Tetsuya in Sydney and his ilk.

Special tofu custard made from milk

Not all of chef Hozumi’s innovations worked though. Our next dish of Kinoko Age, though sounding promising in the menu, was a slightly disappointing, though expertly prepared, deep fried patty of minced prawn, shimeji and enoki mushroom. There was nothing wrong with the dish technically, and it would certainly have passed muster in many a fine Japanese establishment. But having experienced the five previous dishes, this was surprisingly ordinary. It tasted exactly as described.

Deep fried patty of minced prawn, shimeji and enoki mushroom

We ended with Shirasu Gohan. Rice tossed with silver anchovies and sesame served with miso soup was a nice filling dish, though, again, not particularly special. But it was done well, with the anchovies lending a mouth-watering savoury kick to the rice.

Rice tossed with silver anchovies and sesame served with miso soup

Sadly, the promised dessert of lemon sherbet (presumably yuzu, which I love) was sold out and we had to settle for the usual green tea ice cream. That said, Wahiro is a fabulous, comfortable Japanese dining experience. While it serves up the usual preferred dishes offered by many a Japanese restaurant favoured by Singaporeans, it also produces creative and delicious inventions that keep its loyal fan club coming back for more. Shhh, don’t tell too many people about this place but hop into your preferred mode of transport and head straight for East Coast Road now!

Wahiro
112 East Coast Road 01-28/29 Katong Mall
Singapore 428802
Tel: 6342 2252
Open for lunch and dinner everyday except Monday

2005-11-09T23:03:00.000+08:00

Another Dazzling Bistro

We’d heard about Racine from the same Times review that praised Galvin and had also heard consistently good things about the place from other reviewers and bloggers. It certainly matched up to our lofty expectations and proved that good French food can be found in many places on the 'wrong' side of the English Channel.

Significantly more old-school in look and feel than Galvin (it was located in Knightsbridge after all) and with much dimmer romantic lighting (which was a cause of exasperated bemusement for a neighbouring diner who was completely unable to read his bill due to the lack of light), the service was just as impeccably polished and friendly. We came away extremely satisfied that evening having had our palates and minds tickled by the 'more than the usual' bistro dishes.

I had a very good value prix fixe menu for £17.50 which offered a sufficiently wide variety of options and looked nothing like the usual scrimped on versions of set menus at other establishments. To start, I had Poached Skate with Pink Fir Apple Potatoes and Caper Mayonnaise. The tiny potatoes were wonderfully sweet and went well with the heavy mayonnaise and tender fish.

Poached Skate with Pink Fir Apples and Caper Mayonnaise

Mr UnProfessional Chef had a Garlic and Saffron Mousse with Mussels. Amazingly luscious and rich, the robust dish, both in size and flavour, was just what a French bistro should serve. The paper-thin reservation I had about both our starters was just this – they were just so heavy and rich that we were stuffed by the end of our first course. Perhaps our Asian palate just could not stomach all of that creaminess. Just a very tiny complaint though and largely due to our own greediness in picking these ultra-rich dishes.

Garlic and Saffron Mousse with Mussels

Two birds followed. I had Pheasant served with Red Cabbage and Tarragon Chantilly – again super heavy (just look at the huge size of the scoop of chantilly!) but delicious. The meat was lovely and tender and the red cabbage lent a nice sharpness to complement the rich tarragon chantilly.

Pheasant served with Red Cabbage and Tarragon Chantilly

A whole tiny Roast Partridge served with Savoy Cabbage and Chocolate Sauce arrived for Mr UnProfessional Chef. This proved to be an interesting combination and was scrumptious. The partridge, which we’d only previously encountered in a pear tree around Christmas, was beautifully roasted – crisp on the outside and tenderly moist inside.

Roast Partridge served with Savoy Cabbage and Chocolate Sauce

My set meal ended with a perfect Apple Crumble with Custard. Although the least exciting dish of the night, it was fresh and had a nice bite and had obviously been prepared with much pride despite being a fairly common and pedestrian dessert.

Apple Crumble with Custard

Again seeking a light touch for the end of dinner, Mr UnProfessional Chef had a ‘Colonel’ or lemon sorbet with ice cold Russian vodka. Certainly not your kid’s ice cream! Very mouthwateringly fresh and a soothing balm for our overly creamed stomachs.

Racine is 'must-eat' for all lovers of French bistro food.

Racine
239 Brompton Road
London SW3 2EP
Open everyday

2005-11-08T00:06:00.000+08:00

Going Native

After several days of feasting on cuisine from all other cultures, we finally decided to have a robust proper English meal. English cuisine has long had a bad reputation for us. For both Mr UnProfessional Chef and myself, English food in our university days meant boiled-to-death vegetables, greasy fry-ups of black pudding and sausage, and tinned baked beans on toast. But English chefs have roared back over the past couple of years with the likes of Heston Blumenthal of The Fat Duck and Gordon Ramsay of his eponymous restaurants making the headlines for reviving the reputation of English cooking.

We decided to forego both the above since Gordon Ramsay does French cuisine and it was simply too impossible to get into The Fat Duck on short notice. Instead, we headed to St John – a restaurant set in an historic old smokehouse with a striking all-white interior, which prides itself on serving quintessentially English fare with a definite focus on meat, meat and more meat. Indeed, the mantra of its chef Fergus Henderson is ‘nose to tail eating’ and its location, a stone’s throw away from the historic Smithfield meat market, was a significant message that this was indeed what our meal would primarily consist of. Though I was feeling mildly ill by this time given the excessive eating we’d been doing, I looked forward to what promised to be a most interesting meal.

Onion, Squash and Bacon soup

The starting entrèes were superb. I had Onion, Squash and Bacon soup which was bright orange and delightfully robust with huge pieces of squash flavourfully mellowed by the melt-in-your-mouth onion bits and smoked bacon.

Grilled Venison Heart, Beetroot and Pickled Walnuts

Mr UnProfessional Chef had Grilled Venison Heart, Beetroot and Pickled Walnuts. This turned out to be a true eye-opener. Despite its macabre moniker coupled with visions of Bambi and his mother frolicking in the fields of my imagination, the juicy tasty hearts were delectably good and tasted like the best meat possible, not at all gamey or strange. The beetroot and pickled walnuts helped set off the meat with their sweet tanginess.

Roast Lamb and Aioli

Given my unsettled tummy, I opted for the safest choice possible for my main course – Roast Lamb and Aioli. I was a bit nonplussed by the arrival of rather simply done very pink medium-rare lamb but this baby was roasted to perfection. The crisp skin and soft, subtle meat allowed one to taste the purity of the exceptional lamb’s flavours without being too overbearing. The garlic aioli was fairly overpowering but proved a decent complement to the ‘rawness’ of the meat.

Rabbit Saddle and Lentils

Mr UnProfessional Chef had Rabbit Saddle and Lentils. Being a meat lover, he was on cloud nine after this dish. The rabbit tasted not the least bit gamey, yet possessing a unique flavour (I refuse to make comparisons to chicken or pork) and was top-quality. Tenderly roasted and paired thoughtfully with lentils of all things, this was enjoyed tremendously by both of us.

Pear and Sherry Trifle

With all that meat sitting like heavy weights in our tummies, one would expect sensible restraint in regards to dessert. But these were enormous! A Pear and Sherry Trifle so huge it burst out of the picture above. This was topped with the densest, richest cream ever – I’d say quadruple cream at least – and nicely sugared almond flakes. Simply delicious, but even I, the dessert queen, was defeated by the copious amount of never-ending cream.

Butterscotch Ripple Ice Cream

Mr UnProfessional Chef thought he was having the light option of Butterscotch Ripple Ice Cream but the kitchen must have been using bowls as ice cream scoops. Three enormous scoops of ultra-creamy and very sinful scoops of homey ice cream served with crunchy thin butterscotch biscuits were not a light option at all. But, as we had discovered, ‘nose to tail eating’ certainly did not equate to ‘moderate eating’, it was however synonymous with unique and delicious almost-forgotten traditional English dishes.

Stuffed to the brim, we rolled back out into the cold, down the road and into the Tube. Thank goodness for the long walk home from the Tube station which burnt off maybe 1% of the calories gained?

St John Bar and Restaurant
26 St John Street
London
EC1M 4AY
Mon – Fri: Lunch from 12 noon to 3 pm
Mon – Sat: Dinner from 6 pm to 11 pm

2005-11-06T23:27:00.000+08:00

Deluxe Dining Pleasures

I’d read about this new-ish French bistrot in The Times in which the ordinarily-critical (and very funnily so) food writer, Giles Coren, had waxed lyrical about and named Galvin Bistrot de Luxe one of the best restaurants he’d eaten in this year. He was right. By far one of the highlights of my trip, coming a close second to the entire Borough Market experience, Galvin was a sleek modern restaurant that managed yet to retain that distinctly French bistro-like feel.

It being a typically cold and rainy London day outside, both Mr UnProfessional Chef and I decided to begin our meals with hot soup. I started with a Jerusalem Artichoke soup served with a side of Hazelnut Brioche. The smoky distinctive flavour of the artichoke set off perfectly by the crisp, freshly-baked brioche was devastatingly perfect. Mr UnProfessional Chef opted for the bargain prix fixe menu which began with a White Onion and Cider soup. This turned out smashing and very unusual. It was a revelation of creaminess set off by the surprising tanginess of the cider.

Jerusalem Artichoke soup with Hazelnut Brioche

Having already stuffed ourselves at various other places, I opted for a light main course of ‘Pot au Feu’ of Landaise chicken. The chicken was cooked to a tender whiteness and served with the freshest flawlessly prepared carrot, celery, onion, potato and leek. It was finished with a clear, parsley-filled broth, resulting in a clean-tasting combination that proved both satisfying and healthy (so I tell myself). It certainly proved that French cooking is not just all about heavy creams and rich fats.

"Pot au Feu" of Landaise chicken

Mr UnProfessional Chef opted for Plaice Meuniere with Capers and Cornichons. Expertly pan-fried to exquisite perfection, the crisp yet soft fish disappeared down his throat pretty quickly indeed. I however, managed to snap this picture before it did.

Plaice Meuniere with Capers and Cornichons

To finish, I had a St Emilion au Chocolat, a sweet, dense chocolate mousse with sponge swirled into the mix and topped with a smattering of crunchy nuts and cocoa powder. This was immensely rich but I felt suitably justified in having this given my super-healthy chicken dish. Mr UnProfessional Chef’s Panna Cotta with Oranges (fresh and candied) and Prunes arrived looking exactly like a soft-boiled egg topped with black truffles! Tasting nothing at all like that but equally delicious, the panna cotta was smooth and sublime with little visible flecks of vanilla beans set off very nicely indeed by the fruit. And just when we didn’t think it could get any better, we received two of the best chocolate nut truffles ever.

Panna Cotta with Oranges and Prunes

A truly magnificent, deluxe meal for very undeluxe prices - the prix fixe was a mere £15.50. Book your air tickets now!

Galvin Bistrot de Luxe
66 Baker Street
London W1U 7DH

2005-11-06T21:57:00.000+08:00

Lip-smacking Lebanese

The sheer amount of variety of cuisine in London is a testament to the degree of multiraciality prevelant in this great city. Amongst the many nationality of peoples London draws are the Lebanese, bringing with them their traditional Arab dishes and mezzes. Indeed, the kebab stand is not only ubiquitous in London, but in many towns and cities across Europe.

Noura Central, however, was no hole-in-the-wall greasy kebab joint. Originating from Paris, this was an ultra-chic, silk lamp-lit glamourous sanctuary, basking in sumptuous soft purple and pink hues and with plenty of soft cushions to lounge about on. It was also extremely dimly-lit, which explains why I only have two decent photos to post.

Innocently unaware of the huge portions soon to set before us, we ordered the Noura meal, which comprised a selection of 10(!) mezes – five cold and five hot – served with Lebanese flat bread (freshly baked in a massive oven in front of us). The five cold dishes of aubergine cream, hummus, okra mixed with tomatoes and parsley leaves, cucumber yoghurt and a chopped parsley and tomato salad sparkled with freshness and flavour. In particular, the aubergine cream managed to be both creamy and smoky at the same time, enveloping the taste buds in sheer delight. The parsley salad was also refreshingly tart and gave a sour crunchy balance to the dips.

Five hot mezes

The five hot mezes comprised three huge mini-puffs (well, they were meant to be mini, but certainly after we ate them all, they felt very huge indeed in our tummies) individually containing cheese, spinach, and lamb, and two croquettes of lamb and beef, which deserves special mention for being topped with a wonderfully crusty sesame seed exterior. These were completely satisfying and completely filling. We were completely stuffed, and our main courses were still to come! These turned out to be wonderfully aromatic kebabs of chicken, lamb and beef. Certainly not of mere street-side quality, these were juicy, tasty and melt-in-your-mouth tender.

Delectable scoops of lemon sorbet, rose ice-cream, pistachio ice-cream and milk ice-cream (hidden)

At this point, we were seriously exploding, but had to hold out for one last course (or should I say three) of dessert. Considering how much we’d eaten, we wolfed down every last bit of our desserts which were four amazing scoops of ice-cream and two varieties of traditional Arabic crisp nutty pastries. The ice-cream was the star of the entire show, which is saying a lot, considering the overall classiness of the food. Tart lemon sorbet so dense it stood up on its own when scooped, a light rose ice-cream, vanilla with fresh pistachios and non-cloying milk ice-cream. Our Arabian night of feasting was completed with thick, sweet Lebanese coffee.

Noura Central
22 Lower Regent Street
London SW1Y 4YJ

2005-11-06T01:42:00.000+08:00

A Feast for All Senses

Within literally hours in London, we discovered this gem, this most exhilarating of all our food experiences on this trip – Borough Market, where were you all these years? I was stumped beyond belief as to how I could have missed this paradise of the freshest organic fruit and vegetable produce, cornucopia of cheeses and bread, and haven of fresh and smoked meats despite having lived in the UK for three years during my university days, and repeated visits for the past couple of years. I must thank, very very gratefully indeed, Cindy from Food Migration, for blogging about this place on her own recent visit and inspiring me to hunt down this little market tucked into a corner close to London Bridge tube station.

Borough Market

Borough Market was certainly a feast for all our senses. Our noses were invaded by the glorious cooking smells of the freshest organically-reared meats ranging from venison burgers to ostrich kebabs. Straight out of the oven breads, tarts and other delectable goodies competed with the mountain of cheeses, huge slabs of Echire butter, vegetables so fresh the brussel sprouts were still on their stems, and homey freshly-squeezed juices for our attention. I was like a kid in the proverbial candy store and simply did not know where to begin looking and more importantly, tasting.

Brussel Sprouts - still on stem!!

Since we’d arrived in London in the wee hours of the morning, we decided to have both breakfast and lunch there – we fully intended to eat our way through the market, either substantially or grazing and nibbling on the free samples offered. We started with a roast pork loin sandwich with stuffing and applesauce – pretty satisfying, but turned out to be the weakest performer in the show that was our meal. This was followed by the best cheese in Britain, whose name I didn’t record in my enthusiasm to eat it, which tasted like a subtle goat’s cheese and was delicious. We moved on to parma ham so thinly sliced and delicately flavoured which in no way resembled the tough pieces of rubber we usually get served back home. It was then time for a coffee break at Monmouth Coffee Company – the aroma alone was worth the 1.80 quid for the takeaway cup.

Huge leg of Parma Ham

Rested, we resumed our eating marathon. We discovered Bergblumenkäse, a mildy-hard Swiss cheese that had been wrapped in meadow grass to mature - it was absolutely sublime and tasted of Alpine flowers, making me wish I could be Heidi for a few months in order to live on mountains and on this cheese. Mr UnProfessional Chef, needing another ration of meat, moved on to a venison burger from the West Country. Despite being pretty stuffed by this time, the burger was so juicy and tasty that we scarfed it down in record time. Another beverage break was required at this point and was more than adequately filled by freshly-pressed apple juice so flavourful we could taste that particular apple’s complexity and aroma.

Cheese Alps

It was then time for dessert. I selected a wonderful, caramelly pecan tart, tasted black dried strawberries, bought a loaf of warm walnut bread, and sampled (and bought) handmade chocolate truffles flavoured uniquely by orange and cardammon, honey and ginger etc.

Dark Sugar handmade truffles

That’s not all folks – we loved it so much, we decided to come back on our last day in London to bring some of the lovely goodness of the market home. We visited all our favourite stores for the cheeses and parma ham, adding on a Gruyère cheese from the same Swiss cheese stall, and an excellently tart lemon crunch cake from Konditer and Cook. It being lunch time, we joined the queue for freshly-grilled chorizo sandwiches from Brindisa. These were simply out of this world – the best sandwiches I have ever eaten. Hot, crisp, juicy chorizo were embraced by BBQ grilled bread buns, peppery fresh rocket leaves and spicy piquillo peppers. This was finished with a generous dosing of olive oil. Best of all, despite the queue, we didn’t have to wait long – the staff were friendly and efficient, doling out the sandwiches to the hungry masses speedily. I’m still dreaming about those sandwiches long after touching down in Singapore.

Brindisa's smoking chorizo sandwiches

Borough Market is truly a moveable feast for the senses and was a fantastic way to start and end our vacation.

Borough Market
Between Borough High Street and Bedale Street, Winchester Walk and Stoney Street
London SE1
Fri: 12 noon – 6 pm
Sat: 9 am – 4 pm

Monmouth Coffee Company
2 Park Street
Borough Market
London SE1
Mon – Fri: 7.30 am – 6 pm
Sat: 7.30 am – 5 pm

Konditor and Cook
10 Stoney Street
Borough Market
London SE1
(No opening times stated)

2005-10-28T00:48:00.000+08:00

Leaving on a jet plane

Blog entries will cease for one and a half weeks while Mr UnProfessional Chef and I take a short break to London. I promise to bring back many stories of food adventuring!

To all in Singapore - Happy Holidays!

2005-10-27T00:07:00.000+08:00

Fast Food, Shanghainese Style

In anticipation of the massive round of eating we have planned for our upcoming trip to London, Mr UnProfessional Chef and I resolved to eat ‘more healthily’ this week, particularly after the excesses of the weekend. This basically meant avoiding three course meals(!) and having huge sinful desserts at the end of every meal(!!), which we’d been doing most of last week(!!!).

But that didn’t mean we had to sacrifice good food. Tired out after a long day of work and hunting for food after 8pm in the middle of the work week meant that we wanted something quick, cheap, comforting, yet not unduly calorific. Happily, we found the perfect solution in one of our fallback favourite restaurants – Crystal Jade Xiao Long Bao.

The Crystal Jade chain is ubiquitous in Singapore. In Ngee Ann City alone, there are at least four or more related restaurants serving up different styles of Chinese food ranging from dim sum to high end Cantonese cuisine. The outlet we chose serves mostly different types of handmade noodles (lamian) and snacks (assorted dian xin) aimed at providing cheap and fast nutrition to as many customers as possible at a cheerful, brisk speed, and most importantly, at a consistently satisfying standard. This explains the constant stream of hungry customers coming in one door and happily satiated ones leaving through the other. It is a testimony to the quality of the food that a queue to be seated was still in existence when we traipsed in well after 8pm smack in the middle of the week.

Tonight, it lived up to that promise once again. I had lamian with Sichuan vegetables and shredded pork in a clear soup topped with lots of coriander and spring onions. The noodles were springy and perfectly cooked and the soup, tasty enough but clearly not laden with huge quantities of MSG. The Sichuan vegetables provided a nice sour crunch in contrast to the meaty shreds of pork. This is comfort food of the highest level and was the noodle dish with which I commenced my love affair with Shanghainese food. On the side, we had xiao long bao - Shanghainese dumplings stuffed with minced meat and a superbly tasty broth topped with vinegar and thinly sliced ginger. The test of a good xiao long bao is that its skin must be fine and thin, yet thick enough to retain the copious amount of broth within its interior walls. This will result in the quick surrender of the skin to the teeth and produce a juicy gush of broth, meat and vinegar that should result in a tasty melody of meaty sharpness. The version here is not the most refined nor exquisite I have sampled, but it hits close enough to the spot with great regularity.

Despite being a simple, quick dinner, the healing abilities of hot soup and juicy dumplings managed to melt away the tiredness of our day and reminded me once again why this reliable friend continues to remain one of my favourite fast food outlets.

Crystal Jade Xiao Long Bao
391 Orchard Rd #04-27 Ngee Ann City
Tel : 6333 6436

2005-10-25T00:04:00.000+08:00

Easy-peasy Night-time Night and Day Cupcakes

Burnt out by a frustrating day at work, I headed to Jason’s supermarket to grab a quick dinner and stock up on baking supplies. Now, the wonderful thing about baking is the magic that can be created by the simple yet wondrous combination of flour, eggs and butter. It being a Monday, I decided that this special pick-me-up was just what I needed to help me get through the rest of the week.

Nigella Lawson’s How to be a Domestic Goddess contains a great selection of easy baking recipes. I’ve converted about 10 of them into delicious successes, with only one crumbling apart on me (but still tasting suitably edible, chocolatey and decadent), so it was a safe bet relying on Ms Lawson’s directions this dreary post-work evening.

If I must say so myself, I made an extremely inspired choice of producing her Night and Day Cupcakes. This basically comprised a simple chocolate cake base made extraordinary with a cream cheese frosting lightened with a squirt of lime juice. All it took was about an hour’s work, washing up included. A quick whirl of dark muscovado and caster sugars with self-raising flour, Valrhona cocoa powder, eggs, milk and vanilla extract in my trusty KitchenAid mixer produced the batter for the cakes, which took a mere 20 minutes in the oven to bake. Another even faster whirl of the cream cheese, icing sugar and lime juice resulted in a very grown-up version of utterly sinful cake frosting. This was simply slathered on and topped with chocolate covered expresso beans. The result - divine. The chocolate cake base was given a richly sweet flavour by the dark muscovado sugar which was set off perfectly by the tangy creamy cream cheese frosting. Plus, I got to eat all the extra chocolate-covered expresso beans!

Completely delicious and pretty good-looking to boot, these cupcakes were the perfect night-time baking cure for the woes (and the headache brought on by deciding what to do about breakfast) of the work week.

2005-10-23T21:04:00.000+08:00

An Excessive, Cloudy Sunday

What better way to mourn the imminent end of the weekend than by having a four and half hour brunch? Upon the suggestion of my wine aficionado friends, five of us burnt out professionals headed for Saint Pierre, a French restaurant located at in the quiet locale of Central Mall for brunch on this cool Sunday afternoon. The occasion? A one-off wine tasting session pairing wines from Cloudy Bay winery in New Zealand with Chef Emmanuel Stroobant’s unique brand of fusion French cuisine. As you can see, a mega event justifies a mega blog entry with multiple pictures of dishes that were as beautiful to consume visually as they were to eat.

Oysters with Tobasco Jelly and Lemon Zest; Charred Salmon Belly with Cabbage Salad, Daikon and Fresh Wasabi; and Braised White Leek with Cep Jelly, Steamed King Prawn, Ikura and Caviar-infused Sour Cream Dressing

We commenced our decadent day with a lovely selection of canapés, although by the time they arrived, we’d already merrily finished at least two glasses of the crisp, bright Cloudy Bay Sauvignon Blanc 2005 which was simply perfect for Singapore’s tropical mugginess. When the plate arrived, we did not know where to start. Oysters with Tobasco Jelly and Lemon Zest; Charred Salmon Belly with Cabbage Salad, Daikon and Fresh Wasabi; and Braised White Leek with Cep Jelly, Steamed King Prawn, Ikura and Caviar-infused Sour Cream Dressing competed for our attention. I’m not a big fan of raw oysters so my share of that was left to Mr UnProfessional Chef to slurp down with a satisfied grunt. The slippery semi-cooked salmon belly went nicely with the sweet salad with the fresh grated wasabi lending just the merest hint of spice without overpowering the fish. The jelly had an unusually bland flavour on its own but blended with the sour cream, prawn and ikura to form a harmonious tasty whole.

Seared Hamachi King fish with Scallop Yakitori, White Wine Emulsion and Prawn Quenelle

The second course was a warm seafood combination of Seared Hamachi King fish with Scallop Yakitori, White Wine Emulsion and Prawn Quenelle arrived soon after. It was paired with a Cloudy Bay Chardonnay 2003. On its own, we generally did not much like the wine due to its overtly buttery oaky tones, but it complemented the rich seafood excellently. The dish was faultlessly done, in particular the hamachi king fish and the scallop which were cooked to perfection and retained the flavours of the ocean.

Cold Salad of Japanese Noodles with Julienne of Smoked Duck Breast and Pepper-crusted Foie Gras

We then came to the star dish on the menu – Cold Salad of Japanese Noodles with Julienne of Smoked Duck Breast and Pepper-crusted Foie Gras paired with Cloudy Bay Late Harvest Riesling 2002. All of us, save one healthy girl, were certainly candidates for gout after consuming this. We wolfed down the firm slippery soba with the creamily smooth foie gras in rapid time. The duck breast added a tasty, almost Parma ham like element to the dish without raising salt levels too much. The honeyed syrupy sweet Riesling balanced out the fattiness of the foie gras, fooling our certainly clogged arteries into freeing up our tastebuds for more of the same.

Blanquette de Veau

By this time, we were pretty stuffed, but the main course was still to come! Blanquette de Veau paired with Cloudy Bay Tekoko 2002 awaited. The veal was topped with baby carrots, a rich creamy sauce, shaved black truffles and mixed fresh mushrooms. We breathed in the fragrant, heady fumes of both the veal and the woody, smoky wine (an extremely unusual rendition of Sauvignon Blanc) before attacking the dish with the gusto of starving orphans in spite of our rounded bellies. The tender veal fell with the merest touch of the fork and was flavoured delectably by the robust truffle flakes. The equally weighty wine complemented the veal beautifully. Immensely satisfying

Assorted French Cheese Platter

The innocuously-titled Assorted French Cheese Platter with Cloudy Bay Pinot Noir 2003 offered further opportunities for us to go up two clothes sizes. A selection of five French cheeses ranging from mild Reblechon to a strong, tasty goat cheese was served up with crisp toast and a paper-thin baked apple slice. The flavour of the first three milder cheeses was brought out spectacularly by the Pinot Noir, which, as all of you whose knowledge of this grape variety stems entirely from watching or reading Sideways, is one of the most difficult to turn into great wine. This version did no disappoint. The only red wine in the selection, it was fruity and not too dry. It however did not combine well with the blue or goat cheeses. After some drunken experimentation however, we discovered that these cheeses went very well indeed with the Late Harvest Riesling! Who says there are strict rules for food and wine pairing sessions?

Petit Fours

The meal (if it could be merely referred to as a ‘meal’, it was a feast of Roman proportions) was fittingly completed with a selection of petit fours and a latte for me. The petit fours were little pieces of heaven: a semi-frozen lychee, a cloud of sweet meringue, a choux pastry stuffed with vanilla cream and a biscuit topped with raspberry and more cream.

Shocked into submission, our bodies slumped in our chairs – we were sated, full and satisfied with all manner and variety of great food and wine (thanks to the friendly wait staff who topped up our glasses unceasingly). It was at least a good half hour after our last bite that we were finally able to summon up ourselves out of our food-filled stupor and roll ourselves back home in time to recover for the week of work that lay ahead of us.

Brunch had been worth every penny.

Saint Pierre
3 Magazine Road, #01-01 Central Mall
Singapore 059570
Tel: 6438 0887
Fax: 6438 4887

2005-10-22T13:56:00.000+08:00

Saturday morning brunch

Thank goodness for the weekend – a great time to chill out, take it easy and generally do everything at a slower pace than the frenetic, adrenaline-charged pace of the work week.

Mr UnProfessional Chef and I woke up to an uncharacteristically cool and gentle Saturday morning in the tropics. I say ‘gentle’ because over here we are either otherwise struggling to keep out the blazing sun or battling to avoid being soaked in monsoon thunderstorms. Inspired by the spot of mild weather which reminded me of happy times in the temperate climes of Berkeley, California, we headed off for a slow, relaxing brunch at Sebastien’s, a French bistro in the heart of the quiet residential estate of Greenwood Avenue.

Sebastien’s is a lovely little bistro done up to look as close to a traditional French bistro is possible, complete with red and white checked tablecloths, 1920s French posters and clay ‘Thé au Ceylon’ pots. While the décor borders slightly on the kitschy side, I can think of far worse places to spend one’s Saturday morning. Heartened first by fresh toasted crusty bread alongside a huge pot of strawberry jam that looked and tasted homemade due to the lack of the usual overt sweetness of commercial jam, we were treated to huge bowls of coffee and tea. My coffee grand au lait was just right. Not as strong as expresso but certainly more robust and flavourful than the usual coffee from the office machine, its warm milkiness was a comforting wake-up call most suited for lazy weekend mornings. I also enjoyed the novelty of slurping it out of a huge blue bowl instead of the usual coffee cup.

The menu wasn’t very wide, and seemed to consist mostly of a variety of eggs done in different styles alongside standard servings of sausage, bacon, baked beans and mushroom ragout. Mr UnProfessional Chef selected Eggs Florentine, and I had poached eggs with soldiers. [Note: It actually had a fancy French name that I’ve forgotten and my Internet research turned up nought on this – apparently, it’s not usual for the French to have eggs, sausage and bacon for breakfast!!] Mr UnProfessional Chef’s version was a ramekin of eggs that looked fairly soft-boiled and topped with a few shreds of foie gras. Mine was a served atop a slice of ham and toast with Hollandaise sauce. Both were tasty and suitably sinful when mixed with the homemade sausage (which for once, didn’t taste too processed or salty) and bacon. My poached egg in particular was done just right, nicely tidy and firm on the outside but breaking open to reveal oozy creamy yolk within. All in all, we enjoyed our meal. I wouldn’t say it was the greatest ever breakfast I’ve had (first choice is still a traditional Continental breakfast that we had in France cooked for us by a 2 star Michelin chef in the Loire Valley that contained the most delectable homemade jams, fragrant breads and the creamiest butter ever that I still dream about regularly), but it hit the spot. The eggs and the side dishes were competently cooked and were neither bad nor unusually wonderful – my only complaint though was that they weren’t served as piping hot as I would have liked. But, like I said, no major problems and the lovely atmosphere and opportunity to while away time at the start of a weekend increased the pleasant experience immensely. We’ll be back.

Sebastien's
12 Greenwood Ave
Tel : 6465 1980

2005-10-18T23:42:00.000+08:00

"Dieting"

Given my love for food, I have overindulged once too often, resulting in clothes that are too tight and a face that’s getting pudgy. I’ve thus been of late attempting to eat less during the course of the working week in order to enjoy the weekends. Often however, the attempts have failed, hence the “ ’’ around the title.

Today was one of those days. I’d planned to run a couple of errands at Raffles City during lunchtime and thought it’d be the perfect day to diet since I hadn’t made a lunch appointment with anyone. An ideal menu for today would have consisted solely of a selection of fruit from the numerous fresh cut fruit stalls that dot the shopping centres in the vicinity of my workplace. However, by noon, even before it was time for lunch, my stomach was growling ravenously for substantial, tasty, calorific actual food. To top it all off, the monsoon season brought about a downpour just as I headed out, which made me crave something hot and satisfying.

To quell my hunger yet assuage my guilt about not going for the healthy fruit fix I’d planned, I headed for my favourite soup joint. There aren’t many places in Singapore where one can get decent Western soups at equally decent prices. Most places serve runny, MSG-loaded liquids that pass for cream of something or other. The Soup Spoon is a surprisingly happy exception to the rule which serves up a wide variety of consistently high-quality, hot and chunky soups.

Departing from my usual choice of cream of mushroom (the version here is awesomely creamy and tasty and so laden with chopped mushrooms that it resembles a stew rather than a soup), I opted to try one of the rotating new flavours suggested. Today’s was Chicken Gumbo ‘inspired by New Orleans’. I’ve never been to New Orleans, so I don’t know what real chicken gumbo tastes like, but this tasted great anyhow and a lot better than the awful picture I took of it! Huge pieces of chicken jostled for space alongside triangular bites of red peppers, celery, carrots and large cubes of potato in a deceptively mild-looking but kickass spicy soup base. I didn’t see any chilies but they must have been in there somewhere because this soup left me draining my entire bottle of Orangina rouge in double-quick time in an attempt to put out the fires set by the gumbo at the back of my mouth.

But I doggedly persevered, masochistically enjoying the fiery, satisfying soup to the last drop. Certainly the perfect antidote to a wet and rainy lunch hour (though not to the woes caused by my ever-expanding waistline!).

The Soup Spoon
252 North Bridge Rd
#B1-03
Raffles City Shopping Centre
Singapore 179103
Tel: 6334 3220

2005-10-16T00:23:00.000+08:00

Weekend wining and dining

Ah, the weekend! The time to take a break from the routine flurry of work and settle down to the creation of meals and sit-down dinners at home with friends. Though I was probably on my feet more today than I normally am during the working week, it was thoroughly relaxing to measure ingredients, mix dough and assemble the various components together to produce a great dinner. Moreover, my two girlfriends came over early to help in the kitchen, so our meal was sprinkled with laughter and gossip as water boiled and pastry baked.

I had Chef Sebastian, whom I mentioned in my last post, to thank for tonight's dinner. His recipe for miso cod worked out excellently! Having marinated the cod for two days, I fished it out of its lovely miso-mirin broth, cleaned off the excess and roasted it for about 20 minutes in the oven. The cod was then held under the grill for just a few minutes to caramalise the miso-mirin layer and seal in its delectable sweetness. We served it up with mashed potato using 8 medium potatoes (boiled thoroughly and peeled), a 100 g of butter, oodles of mayonnaise (the Japanese brand with the baby on the bottle is best!), some cream, lots of freshly-ground pepper and salt, and, since we were feeling decadent, drizzles of truffle oil. On the side, we quick blanched sweet peas in salted boiling water for slightly under a minute as a crisp, fresh accompaniement to the rich tasting cod.

It was absolutely delicious. Although we'd burnt the cod slightly, I'd forgotten to debone it and our plating skills left much to be desired, the cod was melt-in-your-mouth tender and permeated thoroughly with the sweet fumes of the miso-mirin broth. The home style mashed potatoes and sweet peas set off the fish perfectly and provided sufficient carbohydrate sustenance to Mr UnProfessional Chef. We were enormously chuffed that a dish we had previously only partaken of in a restaurant could be recreated at home without too much fuss.

But more was to come. At that same cooking class, Chef Sebastian had also taught a recipe for chocolate tart. The plain ole title of 'chocolate tart' says absolutely nothing about the mind-bogglingly superb chocolatiness of his creation. First, the tart shell had to be baked. This was the most difficult, requiring the tart dough to be mixed and left in the fridge for at least 4 hours to rest, before being rolled out and painstakingly shaped into mini tart tin and baked 'naked'. Then, a ganache comprising butter, brown sugar, cocoa powder and cream had to be made. This was to form the surprising heart of this dessert but turned out so good it could be eaten on its own. Finally, a mousse-y chocolate mixture of eggs, sugar, great quality dark chocolate, butter and flour was prepared to create the hiding place in which the ganache centre could nestle. Thus assembled, the chocolate tart was baked for about 8-9 minutes before being finished off in any form of decoration preferred. Given that I had some blood oranges indented from the Ritz-Carlton Millenia, we placed some small wedges on the top of the tart. Lacking in icing sugar, we settled for the artfful sprinkling of cocoa powder over the tart and plate.

The final result left the chocaholics (ie all three of us girls) craving for more! The softer texture of the chocolate mousse exterior broke nicely to reveal the warm, melty goodness of the ganache within. We polished off our individually-assigned portions of tart in quick succession but then split the extra two tarts in greedy desire.

A great dinner and evening in the company of my closest friends is one of life's greatest pleasures. In these days of uncertainty, war, threat of pandemics and terrorism, living life to its fullest while we can is a great way of beating down the bleak outlook. Happy weekend!

2005-10-14T00:15:00.000+08:00

Cliffhanger cooking

I'm having two girlfriends over for dinner this Saturday and we wanted to whip up something healthy. I settled on miso cod and chocolate tart. Well, at least the fish will be good for us....

I'd never made this miso cod dish before and have to admit that I'm rather nervous about how it will turn out. I first tried it at one of the best restaurants in Singapore, Restaurant Ember at Hotel 1929 - I digress at this point to say 'Try it! Everything's good!'. The chef, Sebastian Ng, kindly revealed to us how to make this dish during a cooking class I attended recently. Charming, engaging and reassuring, he convinced us that this dish was very simple and essentially required just miso, mirin and water to cook the cod. It has to be marinated for at least two days before being roasted in the oven till caramelised and tender.

As usual, what professional chefs carry out with simplicity and ease, the UnProfessional Chef sweats buckets over and creates a right mess in the process. Following Chef Sebastian's explanations, I measured, boiled and cooled the broth while leaving blobs of miso all over my kitchen top. After it had cooled (and I had watched a whole riveting episode of 'Lost'), I slathered it onto the best cod I could find. The chef had strongly recommended using Chilean sea bass, but it's difficult to find these days. I replaced it with snow cod that I picked up at Meidi-ya, a great Japanese supermarket, where I also bought mirin, miso and a round slice of Hokkaido Camembert (the last is not an ingredient for this dish, just the product of a greedy 'end-of-day' supermarket shopping excursion). The result is the rather ugly large glob of broth with uncooked fillets of cod swimming in it, for now.

To respect Chef Sebastian's intellectual property rights in the dish, I'm not going to post the proportions - happy experimenting!

Now I just have to cross my fingers and wait for the concluding episode on Saturday night! Will it work out? Did I successfully boil off all the alcohol in the mirin? Will the change of fish sink this dish? Will Jack find out who murdered Boone? Tune in to find out ....

Restaurant Ember
50 Keong Saik Road
Tel: 63471928 (please call for opening times)

Meidi-ya Japanese Supermarket
177B River Valley Road Riverside
Liang Court
Basement One

2005-10-13T13:54:00.000+08:00

Tea for Two

A burst of rain showers just before lunch time today stirred up a longing for something hot, spicy and soupy. However, in typical tropical island fashion, just as Mr UnProfessional Chef arrived to pick me up for lunch, the blazing muggy sunshine appeared. Determined not to let our plans dry up, we persevered in our plans to have ‘tea for two’ at a nearby bak kut teh joint.

But what a joint Outram Park Ya Hua Rou Gu Cha turned out to be! We first had to experience the ‘excitement’ of having to pick our way through loose earth and dodgy staircases with no handrails to get into a building undergoing renovation before finding ourselves in a 70-seat fully-packed, noisy establishment specializing in bak kut teh (rou gu cha in Mandarin), or literally, pork spare ribs tea.

This deceptively clear and simple-looking soup (look at that pale nondescript bowl on the top left of the photo) is an immigrant dish put together by the Chinese who migrated to Singapore and Malaysia in the early 20th century. In its best manifestation, it combines around seven different Chinese herbs alongside cumin, fennel, star anise and a ton of peppercorns (black and white) with the cleanest, freshest pork spare ribs to produce a lip-smacking, consomme-like soup. Its herbal flavour bursts in the mouth and its peppery afternote punches the back of the mouth with myriad sensations, leaving you gobsmacked and salivating for more.

The bak kut teh here did not disappoint. After a half hour wait that only served to whet our appetites to fever pitch as we watched bowl after bowl of soup pass us by, the goods arrived. Freshly prepared with meat so tender it fell right off the pork ribs, this bowl matched all my conceptions of the perfect bak kut teh. Alongside that pungently herb-y, peppery soup were servings of juicy braised peanuts, tangy salted Chinese vegetables and crispy, chewy yu zha kueh (deep fried dough sticks for dipping in the soup). Actual strong black Chinese tea was available to wash it all down but we passed on that. We dug into the savoury soup, dipped the tender meat into thick dark soy sauce flavoured with fresh cut red chilis, slurped every last drop of soup and alongside at least 200 other customers, waved unstintingly at the caffeine-charged frenetic serving staff for the complementary unlimited refills of soup.

When at last, we could eat no more, and full of warm, herbal goodness, having to then head back to the office smack in the middle of the working week seemed just a little less awful.

Outram Park Ya Hua Rou Gu Cha
7 Keppel Road #01-05/07
Tel: 62229610
(Open mostly only up till lunch - 7 am to 3pm)

2005-10-12T16:20:00.000+08:00

Diva Dining #1

The best thing about having very, very old girlfriends is knowing that it matters far less where we meet to eat than what we meet to talk about. That said, when I met my dearest friends whom I've known for over 17 (!) years tonight, we went to a rather more adventurous than usual place. EN, a Japanese dining bar , or izakaya, was a smoky, cozy, informal place that served up a wide range of sashimi, Okinawan and sumiyaki cuisine.

Hungry but anxious to get straight into catching up and gossip, we ordered quickly, since the nice thing about knowing your dining companions well is being able to delegate that task to just one person and the rest will happily wolf down her choices. Despite being distracted by the fast flowing conversation, we were silenced by the quick arrival of a refreshing multi-variety sashimi salad, juicy wafu steak (cubes of sizzling beef with a fresh side salad), perfectly al dente edamame beans sprinkled with sea salt, flavourful grilled scallops, hot plated tofu steak, agadeshi tofu swimming in soy-based sauce topped with a cheery bright orange ginger and spice, the fattest slice of gindara or grilled cod with teriyaki sauce, bacon wrapped enoki mushrooms, sinfully salty grilled chicken wings and simply salted (again!) shitake mushrooms on a stick. Alongside that were two large portions of the garlic fried rice so tasty, it couldn't have been that good for us.

The food was demolished in half an hour. Dessert was even quicker with four scoops of green tea and sesame ice cream and one black sesame pudding disappearing in 10 minutes.

Let's just say I had to yell 'Stop!' multiple times in order to steal a couple of photos before the food vanished straight down the throats of five hungry (and not very ladylike) divas.

Well, it wasn't the most sophisticated diva dining experience ever, but it certainly hit the spot in satisfying our craving for all things savoury and tasty and brought back fond memories of our schooldays when we had to settle for heavily salted french fries (in the days when our budget only took us as far as fast food joints) to chat over. All too soon, it was time to head back to our non-diva lives of work, families and one hungry baby that needed to be breastfed.

The tastiness of the chatter and food will however remain on our tongues.

EN Japanese Dining Bar
207 River Valley Rd #01-57 Singapore 238275
Tel : 6735 2212

2005-10-11T18:14:00.000+08:00

Barbeques and the food of friendship

Hi everyone

This is my maiden foray into the blogsphere. I hope to share my love for food and cooking all manner of foods with everyone in cyberspace and would love to hear from all of you! I promise photos in due course once I get my act together.

This being my first post, I thought I'd start with the most fundamental experiences in cooking - the barbeque (it was also, coincidentally, my first time hosting one). I didn't do much cooking incidentally - this barbeque was a team effort.

Living as I do on a sunny tropical island, the farewell barbeque planned for two dear friends and my godson was supposed to be a sure-fire bet. The equally tropical downpour for most of that day set up some anxious moments. However, the heavens smiled on us with enough sunshine subsequently to save the day.

Building the fire fazed my main man. The charcoal pieces were arranged in their tidy tripods but try as we might, the fire, once started, wouldn't continue burning. Cue aforementioned 'friends-in-whose-honour-the-barbeque-was-held' to the rescue. G the barbeque vetran tidied up the charcoal structure, and our fire got going. We threw water-soaked hickory wood chips on the fire for good measure.

I'd ordered great meats from a speciality Brazilian butcher which did not disappoint. Piece after piece of tender, tasty lamb chops, succulent cheese sausages, lip-smacking, juicy steaks were efficiently grilled by a rotating roster of 'chefs' (ie anyone who just could not stuff anymore food into their mouths and had to stand up in order to aid disgestion). If you've never been to a barbeque before, start that fire immediately and slap those meats on. Nothing beats that delicious, slightly burnt woodsmoke flavour of meats that have been grilled over an open flame, not even the most expensive professional grill out there. You might want to ensure provision of some crisp, cold salad to balance all that meat. If you can get your hand on Japanese sweet potatoes, just wrap them in foil, toss them into the coals and ignore them for a few hours - they're just fabulous. Oh and if you can count 'The UnProfessional' Bartenders amongst your friends, get them to concoct lots of sparkling cool, juicy sangria to top it all off.

Sated with meat and alcohol, the most truly satisfying part of barbeques though is the fact that it is best enjoyed amongst the company of good friends. Under that starlit night, laughter and memories filled us more than the overdose of meats combined. So G, J and G, though it's adieu for now, here's to more barbeques!