Roasted Chicken with Herb and Lemon Stuffing

 I'm not sure if I can hold my head up high as I write this. I could feel my cheeks slightly flushed with embarrassment. It's true. I have never attempted roasting a chicken since I started cooking years ago. It's one of those tasks that seems huge and too much work to me. I think I used to assume that anything that takes more than 30 minutes to cook must be hard.

I started reading up on how to roast a chicken and was surprised to learn that it's really... all in my head. The preparation work may take a tad longer than what I am used to, but having a fresh roasted chook in our humble kitchen is pretty amazing. More like a sense of achievement (ha ha, yes i know, simple things amazes me). The crisp skin, moist meat and addictive stuffing.. argh.. why haven't I discover this little secret before?

But you will not laugh at me... will you?

Roasted Chicken with Herb and Lemon Stuffing (serves around 5-6)
1.6kg of organic free range chicken
2 tablespoon of olive oil
sprinkle of salt

Stuffing
3 cups of a day old multigrain breadcrumbs
a tablespoon of margarine
2 tablespoon of mixed herbs
1 tsp of lemon zest
1 tablespoon of garlic
half an onion sautéed

wash and pat chicken dry. Trim any fat that you can see. Preheat oven at 200C.

Combine stuffing together. Spoon stuffing into chicken cavity. Tie legs together. Brush or using your hands, oiled chicken. Sprinkle generous amount of salt on chicken. Roast it for 1 hr till golden brown. Serve with crisp potatoes and veges.

UPDATE: Don't forget the blog giveaway!!! It ends TOMORROW (28th of Oct)!

Spicy Bean Mash

It's seriously difficult to photograph a chunk of meat. To me anyway! I tried the top approach, the left side, right side, half dish..and it still looks..

like a chunk of meat.

How in the world did Donna Hay make a piece of meat looks so good? grrrrrrrrrrrr

I spied this Donna Hay Spicy Bean Mash with a simple pork cutlet. It looks so simple but so hearty!

It's the bean mash that won my heart in this meal though. Who would have thought? It's almost like a dip, but good enough to be served as a side.. Ahhh...

Spicy Bean Mash (Serves 4)
2 tins of Cannelloni Beans or white beans drained
1/2 lemon juiced
2-3 tsp of cumin
1/2 tsp of chili powder
1/2 tsp of paprika
1 clove of garlic minced

Microwave beans for 1 min. Add all ingredients and mash with fork. Serve as a side dish with grilled meat and beans.

Chicken and Leek Pie

There is something about Spring and Autumn that makes me want to make pies. Moreover, I love cooking with the oven. It's really time saving- and easy. I like to roast some vegetables with it usually. Again, just marinating the vegetables with some olive oil or even some sweet chili sauce makes it tasty.

This time round, I made a one dish chicken and leek pie. It's much easier than making them individually. One thing though,  making pies individually makes them more freezer friendly (easier to defrost one at a time).However, by making a one dish pie, there is less wastage. Often, I find myself lost on what to do with those leftover ends of the pastry! LOL

As usually, I added some chili flakes for abit of a zing. I don't think I can do without chili flakes these days. I like my food spicy! Must be something to do with my grandmother teaching me how to enjoy spicy food since I was 5 years old.

Chicken and Leek Pie (serves 4-6)

500 grams trimmed and diced chicken thighs
2 leeks washed and sliced
1 red onion sliced 
1-2 tsp chili flakes
white pepper
salt
dash of white wine if you have
1/2 cup of water
1 piece of puff pastry defrosted


2 cups of soy milk or milk
2 tablespoons of flour
2 tablespoon of spread
1 cup of low fat cheese

Preheat oven 180C.

In a separate pot, melt spread. Stir in flour till it becomes golden brown. Add milk and whisk in low heat till smooth. Add cheese. (add more milk if mixture is too thick)

In a pan, saute leeks and onions. Add chicken and cook till brown. Season with chili flakes, salt, pepper and white wine. Add some water if mixture appears too dry. Add the bechamel sauce and simmer. Do a taste taste. Spoon into oven proof dish. Line with puff pastry, scoring the top and then placing pieces of pastry in a cross action on the top. Bake for 25 mins. 

Onion and Mince Pie

My goodness! This is certainly been a winter meals week hasn't it been? I was flipping through Jamie Oliver's Minstry of Food book and the delish looking mince pie caught my attention this time. It was easy to do too, so I decided to try making a classic English pie for dinner one evening.

I think I didn't put enough flour in because the gravy isn't as thick as what I thought it should be. Nevertheless, we enjoyed a hearty pie with the crisp crust and tasty mince. What surprised me was that Jamie Oliver used marmite in this dish! woohoo, so grandma is not the only one who do that for her stews. Wait a mind, maybe Jamie Oliver took the idea from Grandma? Or maybe Grandma was influenced by the British way of cooking in her days as working as a nanny in British households (the days when Singapore was governed by British)?

English Onion and Mince Pie 

2 red onions chopped 
500 grams beef or lamb mince
1 bunch of rosemary coarsely chopped
1 carrot diced
1 cup of beef stock
1 small bunch of celery chopped
1 tablespoon of flour
1 tablespoon of marmite
seasoning. 

1 piece of puff pastry defrosted

Pre heat oven 180C.

Cook onion till translucent. Add mince and break it up as it cooks. Add all ingredients (just not flour). Simmer for 5-10 mins. Stir in marmite. Do a taste test and adjust taste accordingly. Stir in flour till mixture thickens. Cool slightly.


Spoon mixture in heat proof dish. Seal with puff pastry, slitting a cross in the middle and patching it up with some reminder of the puff pastry. Bake for 30 minutes till golden brown.

ps-one tip is to place the dish onto a baking tray so that it is easy to remove from the oven.

Slow Cooked Caramelised Onions Lamb Shanks With Polenta

I saw my colleague eating polenta and got really curious about it. I have seen it before but never knew how to prepare it or how it taste like. So after a chat with her, i did a goggle and found out that it is made of corn!

From chatting with my colleague, I decided to pair polenta with lamb shanks. I found a recipe in the Australian Women's weekly featuring red wine and onions. I love how rich the flavours are in this dish! Next time, I would have ask the butcher to trim it as my shanks looked like huge drum sticks!!

Slow Cooked Caramelized Onions Lamb Shanks With Polenta

3 lamb shanks
1 tablespoon sugar
2 cups red wine
2 cups beef stock
garlic
1 trimmed celery stalk
1 tablespoon plain flour
1 tablespoon tomato paste
1 tablespoon rosemary coarsely chopped


Pre heat Oven 150C

Cook lamb till all browned over. Stir in sugar, wine, stock and garlic. Bring it to boil. Place mixture in oven proof dish, bake for 4 hours, turning twice.

 Caramelized Onion

40g spread
2 medium red onions
1/4 brown sugar
1/2 cup of stock

Melt spread in saucepan, cook onion for 15 mins till brown and soft. Stir in sugar and stock till caramelized. 

Polenta 

1 cup of polenta
3 cups of water
1 tablespoon of spread
seasoning 

Bring water to boil. Add polenta and keep whisking gently. Keep stirring for 5-10 mins till mixture is soft. Remove from heat. Add in spread and seasoning. You can also add parmesan cheese.

Chorizo Chicken Meat Loaf

It happens rarely but sometimes, I get ideas for a meal randomly. Does it ever happen to you?

This happened when I had 1 chorizo sausage in the fridge and some chicken mince. Not quite sure what to do with it, I decided to make a simple meat loaf combining both ingredients together. The strong flavours of chorzio certainly added flavour to the loaf!

What I would have done differently though is to pan fry the chorizo till the fat melts-this way, it reduces the amount of oilyness in the loaf without compromising the taste of it.

Chorizo Chicken Meat Loaf
1 chorzio sausage diced
400 grams chicken mince
1 carrot shredded
1 red onion chopped
1 tablespoon of garlic
cracked pepper
1 tablespoon of Worcestershire sauce
sprinkle of sea salt
1 egg
2 tablespoon of corn flour

Combine all ingredients together. Press into pre lined loaf. Marinate for around 20 mins while preheating oven. Bake in oven for 40 minutes. Serve with green salad.

Twice Cooked Red Wine and Rosemary Lamb Racks

We are very blessed to have a friend who is a chef. On a gathering one evening, he brought gorgeous sexy looking meat for a bbq. Alas, they (and the rest of the crew) wanted steamboat and the meat was kept aside. As we were leaving, C started splitting the meat (I still have 2 pieces of steak in the freezer) and handed us the dorper lamb racks. They are the lamb to have in terms of best quality. The 1. something kg of lamb would have at least costs us AU$40ish if we buy it at retail.

You can just imagine my excitement.

 I decided to marinate these gems with some red wine, rosemary and garlic. Then, I was at abit of a loss. Should I roast it or pan fry them? Luck has it that I under cooked them by around 5-10 mins (hey, my first lamb racks, i wasn't sure how long to cook them for, at least i under cooked it! ;p), and I finished them but quickly searing them on high heat.

Then, I pour the sauces into the pan, stir in some flour and some magic beautiful red wine gravy was born.

Twice Cooked Red Wine and Rosemary Lamb Racks
around 1 kg of lamb racks
1 red onion chopped
2-3 springs of rosemary from the garden
2-3 tablepoon of garlic
2 cups of red wine
sea salt
pepper

Wash and clean racks. Score the meat and marinate with onion, rosemary, garlic, salt, pepper and red wine for around 20 mins or so. Pre heat oven at 200C. Roast meat for around 20 minutes. Rest. Slice cutlets up and sear in high heat for around 1 min on each side.

Gravy-after roasting, keep gravy aside. Pour gravy into pan and add around 1 tablespoon of flour. Stir and stir. When it is thicken, lower heat. Simmer. Serve lamb with gravy and roasted veges.

Satay Chicken Triangles

Back in Singapore and Malaysia, Satays are a treat! Skewers of tender tasting meat, marinated for hours...cooked on a flamed grilled bbq and served with spicy nutty sauce. ooo.. just thinking about it makes me drool!

The version of Satay appears to be different in Australia. When I first saw satay on the menu, I was mortified to see "Satay chicken", "Satay lamb"..etc. And they are pretty much just meat simmer in a nut sauce. Not the tender tasting skewers of meat that I was used to!

Still, the casserole version tastes fairly decent. It's pretty much just peanut butter chicken casserole! (That sounds sooo mid western!). I wrapped the mixture in some puff pastry and viola! A pie is formed!

Satay Chicken Triangles  

Filling
1 chicken breast sliced thinnly
1 cup of peanut butter (i used the chunky kind)
1 red onion chopped finely
1/2 cup of chicken stock
1 carrot diced
1 cup of frozen corn
2-3 tsp of chili flakes
seasoning

3 puff pastries-defrosted
1 egg yolk

Saute onion till soft. Cook chicken till nearly done. Add chili flakes, stock and veges. Simmer for around 10 minutes. Add peanut butter. Stir till it melts and the casserole turns creamy. Do a taste test and season accordingly. Cool

Cut each pastry up to 3 squares. Spoon mixture into each square and fold across. Seal with egg yolk. Brush each pastry with some egg yolk. Bake in a 180C pre heated oven.

Spicy Bacon and Bean Soup

Sometimes, just in a very odd day... I do not feel like cooking.

Ever have one those days?

You know, those days when it is probably towards the end (or start) of the week.. when it has been a long long week, where everything that could have gone wrong has gone wrong. And when you snap at loved one around you who asked you to  to count your blessings ( you know it wasn't that bad afterall). When the last thing you want to do is to face the kitchen and think about what you and your family would like to eat.

I experienced one of those days recently.

The thing is, on those days, action counts. And once I am in there, knowing that I am making something simple and comforting seems to relieve the "pain" for just that 15 mins that I am in the kitchen. When chopping veges actually cleared your head. And slipping hot spicy soup brings warmth to your heart.

What will we do without soup?

Spicy Bacon and Bean Soup (Serves 4-5) 
Beef stock (1 ltr) 
1 can of mixed beans
1 packet of lean bacon (I used weight watchers) chopped
1 onion chopped
1 tsp of chili powder
 1 can of chopped tomatoes
1 red capsicum chopped
1 cup of mushrooms chopped
4-5 stalks of celery chopped 
1 cup of frozen corn (make that 2 please!)
2 fresh tomato chopped 

some Parmesan cheese and toasted bread to serve

Heat soup pot. Cook bacon till it is slightly brown. Add onion and cook till translucent. Toss veges and beans through add stock. Simmer for15-20 minutes. Taste and season. Serve with cheese, cracked pepper and bread.

Spinach, Feta and Chicken Triangles

And so I am a fan of taking a few short cuts here and there. Having a few friends over for lunch, we decided to have a variety of dishes-the previous dish, honey pumpkin pecan salad was one of them. The plan for this one was to mix up some spinach, feta and chicken, wrap it in filo pastry, bake it and viola! lunch is served!

Two days before the lunch, I realised that in between coming home from church and preparing lunch in 45 minutes means time is tight! Not to mention, I am still a novice in handling filo pastry! I picture torn pastries, with spillage from the filling to the tray from my incomplete mess of trying to handle filo. So I chickened out and used spring roll pastry instead!

Surprise surprise, it was better than expected. Still with the crunch factor but not as flaky as filo of course. I think it was a tad dry and should have less chicken and more feta. Instead of shallow frying, I sprayed the parcels with some oil and baked it for 20 minutes. Lunch was served just in time!

Spinach, Feta and Chicken Triangles (makes around 12) 

1/4 of roast chicken shredded
50 grams of feta cheese crumbed
150 grams of slightly wilted baby spinach leaves
1 tsp of garlic
squeeze of lemon juice
cracked pepper and sea salt
2-3 tsp of poppy seeds

6 spring roll wraps cut in halves.

Mix mixture together. Spoon it on to spring roll wrappers and wrapped it from corner to corner to create triangles. Place them on trays. Spray with some oil and sprinkle poppy seeds over them. Bake in pre heated oven of 180 C for 20 minutes or till golden brown. .

The Hubby's Birthday Adventure P1- Crispy Grilled Salmon on a bed of herb potatoes and prosciutto wrapped asparagus

Cooking for the hubby's birthday is a challenge-especially when it falls on a weekday. He requested for salmon and I know he wants it crispy skinned. A penchant for bacon, he has always wanted to try prosciutto but cringed at the price.

So arriving home after 07:15pm and started cooking within that 5mins-finishing up by 08:30pm is pretty decent don't you think? Not only that, we even managed to squeeze in the movie Avatar at 09:15pm! (Imagine 25 mins of scoffing down food that took me 1 hour and 15 mins to prepare!).

All worth it though. It's not my best but it was  good enough... (see P2 and P3)!

Crispy Grilled Salmon on a bed of herb potatoes and prosciutto wrapped asparagus 

2 portions of salmon

2 potatos chopped
olive oil
 1 knob of butter
herbs lots of mixed herbs

1 bunch of Asparagus
50 grams of prosciutto


Heat pan till hot with olive oil, grill salmon skin side down first till crisp. Lower heat and sear salmon. Once cook, rest aside.

In another pan, melt butter and olive oil together. Saute potatoes with herbs. Sprinkle with salt at the end.

Wash and prepare asparagus but shaving off the wooden tips. Wrap prosciutto around it. Grill it for around 5-10 mins.

Try juggling 3 pans at once and see what turns out! :P

Swiss Adventure- Rosti and Halomi at home

During our trip to Switzerland (Interlaken), we hurried to try the local cusine. Cheese Fondue with white wine-checked. Rosti- Checked. While I wasn't ready to try out the strong cheese fondue at home (just didn't sit too well in my tummy), I love love love the rosti.

Re-creating dishes that we try and love overseas back at our humble kitchen is one of my passions. While our little rosti cakes did not look anything like what we had in Switzerland, it brought us back memories. The human brain is so amazing, recording our memories not just by sight, but by all senses. Having this, just brought us back a little more of what we have experienced. I can't help but drool with the sight of the runny egg on a bed of potato!

At home, I grated the potato, added some melted spread, season and proceeded to shape them in little cakes. It worked really well and turned crispy despite not having much oil added to the pan. I suppose it would have to be the butter on the potato cakes.

The shredded delights hit a big spot in us. We paired it with a light salad with grilled halomi cheese.  While I tried this cheese briefly in cafes, I have not thought of using it in salads before. Grilling it made it slightly crispy and I was greeted with the crispy outer and creamy cheesey insides. Superb!

 

Rosti with Halomi Salad (Serves 3-4) 

50 grams of Halomi cheese sliced to 2 pieces

Rosti 

2 potato grated

2 tablespoon of spread melted 

lots of freshly cracked pepper

1 tsp of chilli flakes 

1 tsp of minced garlic 

1 tsp of mixed herbs 

sea salt  

Mixed all ingredients together. Shape into patties. Preheat pan with a little oil. Fry rosti up.

ps- I like my potato with a little bite so I didn't pre boil it.  

Grilled Halomi- Preheat another pan with oil. Grill it till it turns crispy on the outside. Serve on bed of salad. 

Chicken Breast Stuffed with Semi-Sundried Tomatoes and Cheddar

I am so loving my copies of Australia Healthy Food Magazine. A friend recommended me (thanks Laynee- I know u r reading this!) and I got very addicted. It is MY kind of food magazine (I can see AR rolling his eyes because he thinks every food magazine is my kind).It is filled with lots of healthy facts and ways to prepare good tasting food without the scary amounts of calories. From suggested snacks that fill me up to quick dinners to health information, I read it from cover to cover.

This is what I picked up from one of the mag one day. Chicken Breast Stuffed with Semi-sundried tomatoes and chedder. For sides? I mashed potato with cream sweet corn. My friends, you know my pendent for sweet corn of course so this is NO exception.

Honestly, it is not my thing to stuff anything. One deep reason- everything I stuffed comes out. I just can't seem to do it right. Not this time though, I sliced the chicken breast into half, place the sem sundried tomatoes in there, half a slice of chedder, sew it up with a toothpick, rub it with some olive oil and season it with cracked pepper and salt. Then I throw it into a pre-prepared hot pan and hear it sizzle.

A few minutes and then I turned sides. Oh, not forgetting the edges of course. Mashed the potatoes with the sweet corn instead of cream or butter and it was a steal.

And check out the little ruby tomatoes-aren't they calling for you?

Chicken Breast Stuffed with Semi-Sundried Tomatoes and Cheddar   (Serves 2)
2 Chicken Breasts
30 grams of 98% fat free Semi Sun dried tomatoes drained
1 piece of cheddar

Seasoning

Preheat grill pan. Quickly cut chicken breast lengthwise, to open it up to a butterfly. Be careful not to cut through it. Place sundried tomatoes and cheddar in the cavity, seal it up with a toothpick. Season and rub olive oil on them. Place on grill and sizzle. Cook for around 5 minutes on each side and dont forget to sear the edges as well.

Mash 2 potatoes with a can of sweet corn. Season. Serve with salad on the side.

HAPPY AUSTRALIA DAY! This marks my 10 years in Australia already. So HAPPY 10th Year anniversary between me and you Australia!

Lamb Pies with Mash and Mushy Peas

A few years ago, I tasted pies from Harry's Cafe De Wheels. Then more recently, I went back to Miami Bake House in Mandurah and totally fell in love with their pastry there. We ate one pie there around 3-4 years back and didn't think it was great but Miami Bakehouse have certainly gone up a few notches with its pastry!

Again, this is my attempt to bring something similar to our little home kitchen. I was too lazy to use the pie maker and just folded the pastry into half instead! I cheated and used store bought gravy-still it made a good Friday meal with little fuss!

Lamb Pies with Mash and Mushy Peas

300 grams of lamb mince
3-4 tablespoons of Worcestershire sauce
2 tsp of soya sauce
2-3 tsp of mixed herbs
1 cup of chopped mushrooms
generous dashes of pepper

2-3 pieces of puff pastry cut into quarters

2 potatos boiled and mashed
1 cup of peas defrosted in the freezer, mashed with reduced fat butter, milk and pepper.

Saute lamb mince. Add sauces and herbs and mushroms. Add around 1/4 of water or stock and simmer. Cool.

Preheat oven to 200C. Once meat mixture is cooled, spoon a few tablespoon onto pastry, fold and brush with egg wash. Bake for around 25 mins.

Garlic Pepper Steak

Rarely do we have a "Meat and vege" dinner. Just the thought of having a big chunk of meat as a meal does not appeal to me that much. It does however appeal to the hubby-so when he requested steak for dinner, I gave in.

I marinated these sirloin steaks with some garlic powder, mixed herbs and lots of freshly grounded cracked pepper. The result was one tasty yummy steak-and it didn't costs us AU$30 either! The potatoes were over baked with olive oil and mixed herbs- I didn't have the time to leave it in the oven abit longer for it to become crisp.

Garlic Pepper Steak  

Sirloin Steak (I rubbed in some freshly grind sea salt and left it for around 10 mins. Rinse then pat dry)
2 generous tsp of garlic powder
2 tsp of mixed herbs
freshly grind black pepper.
1 tsp of olive oil

Rub oil, herbs, garlic powder and black pepper onto meat. Preheat grill pan to very hot. Grill each side for around 3 minutes or cook till your liking.

A Simple Beef Burger

I have always wondered why burgers at Fast Food chains are so popular. When I was in their trap previously, I like the juicy, fatty quick fix...but now, I just can't stomach the oil from burgers in Fast food joints any longer..

and GASP..I have sort of become a fast food snob.



Not that I'm turning my back against them, I have my rare occasion Golden arch lean beef burger and just couldn't resist that ONE more fry that magically appear in front of me. But overall, most people would say that their burgers aren't always the best.

Not that mine is that great either. I just somehow feel better chewing a burger that I know exactly what goes in there.



A Simple Beef Burger (for 4)
300 grams lean beef mince
1/2 red onion chopped finely
2 cloves of garlic minced
1 chilli finely chopped
2 tsp of corn flour
1 egg
1 tsp of chilli powder
1 tsp of cumin
1/2 cup of spicy bread crumbs
1 tsp of mixed spice
seasoning.

1) Marinate lean beef mince with everything listed. Shape into patties and fry it (no oil).

2) Cut a bread roll into half and toast it. Assemble with your favourite real cheddar cheese (not the fake kraft type!) and tomato sauce. Serve with salad and potato wedges.

22 Days to Christmas- Apple Plum Meatloaf

Following Kenny from Life is for beginners' suggestion, I think it's an awesome idea to have a countdown to Christmas. Nearly like an advent calender -except that I will have difficulty posting everyday! I will however endeavor to post as often as every other day. =)

My other idea for Christmas is to do a meatloaf. Does apple plum sounds festive? Funny enough, I was never game enough to mix sweet and savory together but this odd phrase of experimentation in food is now unleash in me and I'm now game to do so! It's tangy which makes the meatloaf more interesting.

Now, I just need to convince my grandmother and AR"s brother (who are visiting this Christmas) to be happy with this meal idea...


Apple Plum Meatloaf (Serves 4-5)
300 grams of lean beef mince
1/2 onion finely chopped
1 cup of breadcrumbs (I used packaged spiced)
1-2 tsp of Lea and Perins Worcestershire sauce
1 egg
2 tablespoons of plum sauce (Be generous!)
seasoning

1 apple sliced thinnly
Glaze with plum sauce.

1) Marinate beef mince with all the ingredients listed (except apple and glaze) for 30 mins or so.

2) Preheat oven to 200C. Line baking loaf with baking paper. Stuff mince into loaf and pack deeply. Place sliced apple on top and glaze with plum sauce.

Serve with salad.

Crepes Florentine

One of the things I love about Australia is the cafe culture. I have grown to love the coffees and good food. It's a very relaxing to be able to sit in your favourite cafe, looking out to the sunshine, sipping a cup of freshly made cappuccino, reading a magazine or newspaper and digging in to your plate of breakfast or brunch.

Somehow, I consider crepes to be "cafe food". Crepes Florentine is inspired by Eggs Florentine-a classic breakfast. My vision of it is thin crepes covering eggs florentine. Rather than poached eggs, I was thinking of wet scrambled eggs with lightly beaten eggs (so that the whites is still showing) with bites of crumbed feta cheese through it.

By now you are probably familiar with "Daphne's moments" in the kitchen. Which really means "mistakes that shouldnt have been made" or a simple "DOH". Well, this time round, my mistake was to add 2.5 cups of flour into the mixture rather than 1/2 cup of flour. You can imagine how puzzled I was when I had really STICKY dough rather than a smooth crepe batter!!!!

What happened was that I made a batch of cookies just before making crepes florentine and that recipe called for 2.5 cups of flour. I was probably still in "cookie mode" rather than "Crepes florentine" mode resulting in a dough like mixture rather than smooth batter.

The optimistic me went "doh" and chunk out the batter, oping to try again than to add 4 times the amount of milk to make the dough into batter (that means 36 crepes!!!!).

So finally, I had smooth batter..and the cooking process begin.


Or rather..the flipping process.




See what I mean?


Doesn't that bring back memories?


But finally, I did it!! A nice looking crepe!



=)

Cafe food at the comfort of your home. Bliss!


Crepes Florentine

Crepes
1/2 cup of flour
200ml milk
1 egg
1 tablespoon of butter melted

eggs florentine
1 tablespoon of butter
3 eggs
3 cup of baby spinach leaves
20 grams of crumbed feta
sea salt and cracked peper
(optional-rashers of bacon)


1) Crepe Batter-Whisk milk, egg and butter in a jug. Sift flour in bowl. Make a well in the middle. Add wet ingredients. Use a whisk to stir, gradually drawing flour to make a smooth batter. Cover and set aside or 30 minutes or so.

2) Make crepes- heat crepe pan or non stick frying pan. Add oil or brush the pan with some more butter. Ladle a generous scoop of batter into the pan. Swirl it till it cover the base. Cook for around 2 minutes before turning it over. cook for 30 seconds. Transfer to plate and cover to keep warm. Repeat for 5-6 more crepes.

3) Using a small pan, quickly melt a tablespoon of butter. Saute spinach. Set aside. Lightly beat eggs. Pour into pan and scramble lightly. Add spinach. Crumbed feta over it. Spoon mixture onto each crepe. Serve! (if using bacon, saute bacon with spinach).

Steak with Bean Mash

What a fabulous 2 weeks of the Olympics huh? I did not manage to catch much of it, but what I watched, I appreciate. The hard work of the Olympians, training for so many years just to achieve their dreams is so inspiring.

I'm a big believer of setting goals and having a vision for one self. Dreams help to fuel those I suppose. Without life goals and dreams, life will become meaningless no? =)

AR and I attended our first marriage prep session on Saturday. We completed a multiple choice questionnaire with 165 questions aim to look at our personalities, communication and plans for the future. Sitting in an empty room with the pieces of paper, we joked about some of the questions and took others more seriously. At the end of the day, we returned with a few discussion questions that allowed us to talk freely. One of our discussion question was about the vision for our relationship and how we are going to work on it.

To change the topic quite drastically and back on to the topic of dreams and the purpose of this blog, food! One of my major goals in the kitchen is to cook a mean steak. Since reading Jaden's post on how to tenderize steaks, it has changed my fear of cooking steaks. Still, I have my hit and misses at times.

This time round, I decided to trim the steaks to a smaller portion. Firstly, I cannot stomach a whole chunk of steak, and 2ndly, it allowed me to practise on more pieces of meat. Of course, the time require to cook these treasures are shorter as well.



I also decided to serve this with mash butter beans rather than potatoes. Certainly an interesting touch and add abit of a dimension to the usual "Steak and mash" nights. I also did a avocado, tomato, corn and edaname bean salsa.



Steak with Bean Mash (serves 2)
2 pieces of rump steak trimmed
sea salt
chili flakes
cracked pepper
olive oil

Bean mash
1 can of butter beans drained
1 tablespoon of butter
salt n pepper
1/4 cup of milk

Avocado, corn, tomato and edaname bean salsa
1 avoacdo,
1/2 cup of corn kernals
1 tomato chopped
1/2 cup of edaname beans-after shells r removed.
2-3 tablespoons of lemon juice.
salt n pepper.

1) Sprinkle or grind fine sea salt all over steaks liberally. Set aside for around 20-30 minutes.

2) Meanwhile, boil and drain butter beans. Mash with butter and milk. Season.

3) Chop avovado and mix with corn, tomato and edname beans. Stir in lemon juice and season.

4) Heat grill to very hot. Rinse salt of steaks. Pat dry. Lightly season with chili flakes and cracked pepper. Toss some olive oil over it. Grill each side for around 3-4 minutes.

5) plate them up and enjoy!