Grilled Prawns with Garlic and Cheese

Prawn is my all time favorite and the kids too. I like it in whichever way it is cooked. I can have it everyday if not for the cholesterol, because I love to suck on the head too! Would it be a waste to throw it away?

Anyway, I had to stop myself from finishing the whole lot on my own. I didnt buy a lot of prawns as they were rather expensive due to their size. It will be either difficult to put in the stuffing if the prawn is too small or there wont be much stuffing.

If you have friends coming over, serve this. Its fast and easy. I bet they will love it too!


Ingredients:

• 8 large Prawns, cleaned
  
• 2 tablespoon Butter, soften
  
• 5 tablespoon Grated Parmesan Cheese
• 1/2 tablespoon grated Garlic
  
• 2 teaspoon Coriander stem, chopped
• A pinch of salt
  
• A dash of pepper (optional - you wouldnt need it if your prawns are fresh)

How to do it:

1. Preheat oven to 170C.
2. Mix all ingredients except prawns together and set aside.
   
3. Trim off the legs, antenna and the sharp thingy (whatever you call that) on the head off the prawns. :P
   
4. Slit the back of prawns, using either a kitchen scissor or knife.
   
5. Skew the prawn if you want the prawn to be straight.
6. Stuff the slit back with the butter mixture.
7. Top with extra Parmesan cheese if you like.
   
8. Grilled till prawns are cooked and the stuffing is slightly brown.
9. Serve immediately.

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Little Cheese Men

My son likes ham and cheese sandwiches but the most he will eat is a slice of bread if its with sliced cheese even if in cute shapes. However if its with ham alone, he can eat two slices. So I gathered that it got to do with cheese.



I tried Parmesan Cheese and guess what? He can eat more than three slices! Sure he likes it. It smells nice and is crunchy too!

* Marching Little Cheese Men *

Today we had cut-out little men and flowers (not shown here) on the remaining bread. It was really easy to make too.



Just butter the bread. Have a bowl of grated Parmesan Cheese ready. You may want to use unsalted butter since Parmesan Cheese alone is salty enough. Then press the bread with butter side down to the cheese. Shake off excess cheese. After which, you can toast it in your oven, cheese side up.



I was too lazy to bring out my oven so I used frying  pan instead. Toast the plain side first then turn over to toast the side with cheese. Remove them once they are slightly brown. Cool them on the rack before giving them to your kids.



Oh! Your kids can do this too. Its fun! Just remember to do the toasting for them.

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BREAKING NEWS Food Wishes Has Been Acquired by Allrecipes!

It is with tremendous pride and gratitude that I announce Food Wishes has been acquired by Allrecipes.com. Not only is this tremendously good news on a personal level, but it also means joining forces with the worlds number one digital food brand.

While I’ve done a decent job of growing the brand, I’m very much looking forward to having our content in front of a new, significantly larger audience, and that’s exactly what this makes possible.

If you’re worried this move is going to result in fewer, or differently formatted videos, relax. If anything, this move allows me the freedom to produce more content than ever before, and this was one of the main reasons I decided to take the deal.

A million thanks for all your amazing support and generosity. This would not, could not, have happened without you. Stay tuned!

Click here to read the official company press release!

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Blanched Cockles with Garlic 蒜香伴氽烫血蚶

Blood Cockles. You either love it or hate it. Both me and my husband loves it. My son eats it too.



My father used to buy 5kg of cockles to make his famous chilled dark soy sauce cockles. Each time he made it, he will bring some over to him. I tried and tried but I just couldnt get the taste of cockles that my father made. He even bought the dark soy sauce to me once but still I just could get the right taste. His is still the best!



I had wanted to try my hands making my fathers version of chilled cockles but realised I didnt have dark soy sauce with me. So change of plans. :P



This is (another) replica of what we have tried at Putien Restaurant sometime back. I shall try to conquer my fathers revision another time.

* Giving the cockles a good body scrub. Hate doing it but its all worth it. *

Ingredients:

• 350g Cockles


• 1 Red Chilli, de-seeded and chopped finely


• 2 tablespoon Minced Garlic


• 1/2 tablespoon Cooking Oil


• 1/2 tablespoon Mirin or Chinese Cooking Wine


• 1/2  tablespoon Light Soy Sauce


• Chicken Powder or Salt to taste

How to do it:

1. Prepare the garlic first by heat oil in pan.


2. Add in chilli and Garlic and stir-fry till fragrant but not browned.


3. Add in Mirin, Light Soy Sauce and Chicken Powder. If you are using Chinese Cooking Wine, add a pinch of sugar too.
   
   


4. Stir to coat well.


5. Let the seasoned garlic cool.


6. Now, scrub the cockles clean. I used a toothbrush here.


7. Soak clams in salted water to let it spit out sand.


8. Boil a pot of water enough to cover the cockles.


9. When the water is boiling, turn off fire and throw in all the cockles.


10. Drain them out in 3 seconds. *1


11. Place them in cool water or normal tap water and drain so its not too hot to handle. *2


12. Remove half the shell and any dirt that maybe be there.


13. Place some seasoned garlic on each cockles and place then on a dish.


14. Chill in fridge for at least 30 minutes. *3

Note:

• I blanched then for 3 seconds here. If the cockles you bought are bigger or if you preferred them more cooked, ie, less bloody, blanch for 5-7 seconds. Anything longer than that, its likely that will be cooked. *1


• Cool the blanched cockles partially is to stop it from continue cooking and also to make it less hot to while removing the shells. *2


• The cockles taste better when chilled but if you cant wait, go ahead to have it immediately. *2

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NOYA Traditional Chinese New Year Cookies

Every year about a moth before Chinese New Year you would be able to see a lot of these so-called Chinese New Year cookies at bakeries, supermarkets and etc. This year we are delighted to receive some early New Year goodies from NOYA (Tai Sun (Lim Kee) Food Industries) which we could try out some of their products that are on sales at major local supermarkets such as Cold Storage, FairPrice, Giant and etc. 

Traditional Pineapple Tarts (380g | S$10.80/jar) with good balance of base and golden pineapple jam on top. We love the taste of the pineapple jam which is not too sweet and without those commercial artificial taste.

Rolled Pineapple Tarts (380g | S$10.80/jar) with good proportion of pastry to fillings and each is coated with golden glazed layer to enhance the buttery taste of the tarts. If to make a choice between the two types of Pineapple Tarts, my vote would goes to the one with pineapple jam on top of the pastry as I felt it taste much better compared to the rolled type.

Personally I love those round Almond cookies from Hong Kong or certain pastry shop whereby the cookie will melt in your mouth when eaten. But this Almond Delights (300g, | S$10.80/jar) from NOYA was rather special with a after taste of sweet and salty mixture that makes you crave for more. And for your information this is also one of NOYA bestselling signature cookies which made from Tai Suns premium USA Almond.

This Macadamia Delights (300g | S$11.80/jar) has a slight crunch on the outside and a lovely creamy texture inside which made from top-quality of macadamias nuts from Australia. Furthermore the few of us who had tried all comes to a conclusion that this cookie has a very special taste which is quite similar to Horlicks .

The Kueh Bangkek (250g | S$6.50/jar) on the other hand was rather a bit disappointed for my taste as I was expecting something more fragrance with those melt-in-mouth texture. Although it has a light pandan fragrant but I think the taste could be better in order to bring out that traditional taste.

Traditional Jade Delights (300g | S$8.90/jar)  are actually green peas cookies in pale green colour which resembles Jade. I love the nutty and buttery flavour which comes with hint of salty taste lingering in your mouth.

Ah-Ma Love Letters (400g | S$11.80/tin) comes in those old school tin can and each piece of the Love Letters are made with traditional recipe using cane sugar. Although they are light and flake but to us we think it still lack of some coconut fragrance.

Lastly I would like to thank Esther from Tai Sun who sent us these lovely NOYA traditional Chinese New Year Cookies.

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Grilled Sambal Winglets 烤参巴鸡翼

Chicken wings or winglets are the familys all time favourite. You can do it in all sort of ways. One of my favourite is in sambal chilli.



I cant take spicy food (although I love it) so its always good to be able to make it on my own so I can adjust how hot I want the sambal to be. Add dried chilli and more chilli padi if you want it more spicy. I cant do that cos if I do, Ill be full drinking water. :P

Ingredients:

• 8 Chicken Mid-joint


• Additional 1 Calamansi to be squeezed over grilled winglets (optional)

Sambal:

• 10 Fresh Red Chilli, de-seed


• 3 Chilli Padi, more if you like it spicy, de-deed


• 3 Shallot


• 1 teaspoon brown sugar


• Juice of 1 Calamansi


• Salt to taste

How to do it:

1. Blend, all ingredients for sambal into paste and set aside.


2. Pat dry winglet and marinate with half the sambal for at least an hour.


3. Lay winglets on oiled rack for grilling.


4. Spread half of the remaining sambal on the winglets.


5. Spray on a bit of cooking oil if possible.


6. Grill in preheated oven at 200C for 30mins, turning the winglets mid way.


7. Spread the remaining sambal on the winglet when you turn the winglets for further grilling.


8. Serve with a additional squeeze of calamansi if you like.

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Fish Cake or Faux Crab Cake

Where have I been? Eating my way around Vancouver, B.C. the past few days. I love that city so much; the weather was beautiful, the people were nice, and oh the food. It almost feels like home away from home but Seattle will always hold a special place in my heart. Im still a little tired so just a short recipe today of something I made before I left for my trip. Actually there are so many photos and recipes in my "to post" folder, I call it my "blog clog." One of these days Im going to have to sit down and publish everything *gulp*.

Anyway onto these yummy fish cakes. Steven said, "Hmm... these cakes remind me of something." Couldnt quite put his finger on it but eventually we figured out that the texture of pollock was reminiscent of crab leg meat. These fish cakes are essentially faux crab cakes! (Faux crab cake sounds a lot better than imitation crab cake, which sounds distressingly fake and rubbery with a hint of artificial pink.) You can substitute another white fish for pollock, like cod or tilapia, but the texture wont be the same.

First the fish is cooked through by steaming with salt, pepper, lemon juice and white wine. You can also poach or roast the fish but I chose to steam it because I felt like it would prevent the fish from drying out without leeching out flavor. When making Chinese steamed whole fish, I add a little rice wine to cut the fishiness, so this is why I added a little white wine to the fish in this recipe. I love the airy crunchiness of panko bread crumbs so much that they have replaced regular dried bread crumbs in every application. So in goes some panko. Only the green parts of the scallions are used because the green top is milder and can be used more like an herb, whereas the white bottom is more like an onion, and the stronger flavor would be too overwhelming. After adding the rest of the ingredients, the cakes are chilled to prevent them from falling apart while cooking. Finally, they are dredged in flour and pan fried to a beautifully browned and crisp crust.

Fish Cake or Faux Crab Cake
1 lb pollock (or another white fish)
Salt and pepper
2 tbsp lemon juice (juice from half a lemon)
2 tbsp white wine
1/4 C chopped scallions (green part only)
1 tbsp chopped fresh parsley
1 egg, beaten
1/4 C mayo
1/4 C panko, or more if needed
1/2 tsp Old Bay seasoning (optional)
1/4 C flour
3 Tbsp vegetable oil

Tartar sauce for serving (optional)

Salt and pepper the fish, drizzle with lemon juice and steam until the fish is throughly cooked and flakes easily, about 5 - 10 minutes.

Drain the liquid. Break up the fish, leaving some large clumps and wait for the fish to cool to room temperature. Meanwhile in a small bowl mix the egg and mayo.

Once the fish has cooled, add the chopped scallion and parsley, panko, Old Bay (if using) and the mayo-egg mixture, and gently fold everything together. If the mixture looks too wet, add a little more panko.

Divide the mix into 4 portions and form into thick cakes. Cover and chill for 30 minutes or overnight.

After the chill, add the flour to a plate and dredge both sides of the cakes with flour. Heat oil in a nonstick skillet over medium high heat. Cook the cakes until the outsides are crisp and browned, about 4 - 5 minutes per side.

Serve with tartar sauce if youd like.


Variation:
Replace the fish for lump crab meat and voila! you have a (real) crab cake.

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Sufferin Succotash Salad

Ive been looking for a tasty way to show off this ultra-fast and easy barbecue sauce vinaigrette idea, and this almost raw succotash salad proved to be a perfect vehicle. And to think, I almost ruined it by doing it the right way.

Originally, I was going to grill the corn first, and then slice the cooked kernels into the salad. As I started to prep, I took a little nibble off the end of the ear, and it was so sweet and juicy that I decided to change the plan, and go au natural.

Thanks to the sweet, starchy crunch of the raw corn, the combination of tastes and textures in this salad is outstanding. Sure, you could certainly add more than the four ingredients called for here, but Im wondering if that would really make this any more perfect.

This succotash salad is great for those occasions when you need to bring a side dish to the company picnic, or family reunion, and want to arrive with something that looks like you put in a lot more effort into it than you actually did.

As youll see in the clip, the dressing could not be simpler, but will rely on a quality barbecue sauce to bring everything together. I used my wife Micheles famous SFQ sauce, but your favorite barbecue sauce should work out as well (assuming its deeply-flavored, complex, and kind of spicy).

Anyway, this may not be the most exciting, or visually thrilling thing weve made around here, but what it lacks in aesthetic charm, it more than makes up for in everything else. I hope you give it a try soon. Enjoy!

Ingredients:

2 ears fresh sweet corn

1 large red bell pepper, small dice

4 green onions, chopped fine

1 can white beans, rinsed, drained

salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste

Dressing:

2 tablespoons barbecue sauce

2 tablespoons rice vinegar

2 tablespoons vegetable oil

View the complete recipe

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You Can Count on Monte Cristo Benedict for Mother’s Day Brunch

I always get a ton of food wishes this time of year for creative brunch ideas, and I was thinking about doing some new type of eggs Benedict, when I happened to see a photo of a Monte Cristo sandwich. At first, it just made me want a Monte Cristo sandwich, but after that wore off, I started thinking about how I’d seen these topped with fried eggs before.

Long story short, I decided to simply make an open-faced version of the famous stuffed sandwich, and top it with poached eggs, and hopefully a new American brunch classic was born. Of course, Ill let you decide, but there was nothing I didn’t love about this plate of food. Okay, the salad was kind of phoned in, but the rest was awesome.

The base is a variation of our famous Restaurant Style French Toast recipe, which marries perfectly with the ham, cheddar and havarti. It was so tasty you really don’t even need the poached eggs. Actually, forget I said that. Do the eggs. If only so you can pop those yolks, and watch them run. Besides the eating, that has to be the best part.

I’ve also re-posted a poached eggs demo below, since poaching your eggs ahead of time is the only way to go, especially if you have a larger group. By the way, you can hold the Monte Cristo bases in a warm oven while you pull the rest of the meal together. I hope you give this new Benedict a try soon. Enjoy!

Ingredients for 4 portions:

For the batter:

2 large eggs

1/4 cup cream

1 tbsp sugar

pinch of salt
pinch of cayenne

1/4 tsp cinnamon

1/8 tsp allspice

4 thick slices of French bread
1 tbsp butter

8 slices ham

4 slices cheddar cheese

4 slices havarti cheese

8 poached eggs

chive to garnish

How to Poach Eggs 

 

View the complete Poached Eggs recipe

View the complete Monte Cristo Benedict recipe

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Giving Back to NYC

Since New York City and surrounding areas are still in such desperate need of help, I thought I’d post links to some of our favorite NYC-inspired recipes, in the hopes you’ll think to yourself, “After all the delicious food the Big Apple has given to us, the least I can do is give a few bucks to the Red Cross to help them out.” After enjoying some pizza, cheesecake, blintzes, and pastrami, please follow this link and give what you can. Thanks and enjoy!

Make Your Own Pastrami	New York-Style Cheesecake
Easy Cheese Blintzes	No-Knead Thin Crust Pizza

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Hearty Spaghetti and Meat Sauce

(updated from archives)

I grew up on spaghetti with Ragu. Not the lowercase italicized ragu, but the capital R followed by a copyright sign Ragu. And it was Hunt’s more often than not since it was cheaper. As a child, I always wanted the meat flavor thinking that it sounded better than plain tomato. Then one day, I thought it was odd that there wasn’t actually any meat in the sauce. Upon further inspection, the sauce was merely “flavored with meat.” Gross.

When Steven and I first started dating (now nearly a decade ago, crazy right?), he made some spaghetti for me with his mom’s homemade meat sauce. The sauce had actual pieces of real meat, onions, chunks of tomatoes, and oh my god are those herbs?

This is also how Steven introduced me to cheese. Like many Chinese people, my family was very suspicious of cheese. Stinky tofu? Bring it on! Fermenting milk? Nooo thank you. But Steven eventually won me over with a little freshly grated parmesan on my pasta.

When I started cooking, I first learned how to brown meat and chop and saute an onion. I doctored up jarred spaghetti sauce with ground beef and onions. Then I bought my first jar of herbs, Spice Island Italian Herb Blend, and added some of that. I eventually switched the jarred, overly salty stuff to plain tomato sauce. Over the years, I added more and more ingredients like diced tomatoes and some red wine, and finally topped it off with some fresh basil. This recipe has come a long way.

Hearty Meat Sauce
2 Tablespoon olive oil
1 pound lean ground beef or mix of ground beef with Italian sausage
1 large onion, chopped fine
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 medium garlic cloves, minced or pressed through a garlic press
1/4 cup red wine
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
14 ounce can tomato puree
14 ounce can diced tomatoes, drained
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano

Pasta of your choice
1/2 cup fresh basil, chopped or chiffonade
1/2 cup grated parmesan for serving

Heat a tablespoon olive oil in a large saute pan or Dutch oven and brown the ground beef. Drain the fat through a fine mesh sieve and set aside.

Add a tablespoon of olive oil to the pot and heat over medium heat until shimmering. Add the onions and 1/2 tsp of salt and cook until softened. If the bottom of the pan is turning too brown, add a little bit of water and scrape up the bits as you go. Add the garlic and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add the wine to deglaze the pan and cook until the wine is completely gone. Add the tomato puree, drained diced tomatoes, pepper, and oregano.

Cook the sauce at a gentle simmer over low heat, partially uncovered for 2 - 3 hours or until the sauce is thicken and ground beef is tender.

Cook spaghetti according to package instructions

Serve over pasta, topped with basil and parmesan or use in lasagna

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Green Tea Cheesecake White Chocolate Brownie

Green tea is one of my favorite flavors for sweets, from cakes, cheesecakes, puddings, ice cream (I cant tell you how much I adore green tea mochi ice cream), to drinks like milkshakes and frappucinos (I would be drinking this stuff 24/7 if only it wasnt so expensive and not to mention fattening). Up until a few years ago, its use as a dessert flavor was fairly localized to Asia but now its growing in popularity around the world, working its way into very French desserts like macarons and madeleines. I received my bag of green tea (matcha) powder a long time ago from Stevens parents who brought it back from Taiwan. It is absolutely precious to me so rather than using it, the bag of matcha sat untouched safely in the pantry. A few days ago I looked at the bag again, and although it was entirely in Japanese, from what I could understand it expired last month. Ack! Now I need to use up the powder and theres no excuse for letting it sit around, so stay tuned for a flurry of green tea sweets.

I never understood blondies. It seems only natural that if brownies are made with chocolate, then blondies should be made with white chocolate. Instead, blondies are more like bar cookies made with brown sugar and chocolate chips rather than melted white chocolate. So this leaves the poor white chocolate brownie without a proper name. Its a tragedy. :( As a result, this dessert has an abnormally long name, but I cant think of anything better. This will be my entry for Myriams 2nd Browniebabe of the Month. Helen and Meeta also made white chocolate brownies, we must all be on the same Daring Baker vibe.

Notes:
- Matcha powder can be quite expensive especially the high quality stuff used for tea ceremonies, baking quality matcha is often more affordable.
- The green tea cheesecake swirls can be omitted for a regular white chocolate brownie/blondie
- The amount of matcha you need will depend on its strength. Since mine is really weak (perhaps due to the expiration date), I had to use almost 2 tablespoons in the cheesecake filling, but this is highly unusual. Usually 1 to 2 teaspoons of matcha is enough so start out with a little bit and taste it.
- The brownies were almost a tad too dense (I usually really love fudgy brownies) but next time I will add 1/4 tsp of baking powder to the batter.
- When I made these I was expecting something identical to a regular brownie but with white chocolate flavor. However, the texture of these brownies was very different from what I was expecting, I cant put my finger on it exactly. I think it might have to do with the different proportions of cocoa butter and other stuff in white chocolate vs. semi/bittersweet. They also didnt have a crust on top.

Green Tea Cream Cheese Swirl White Chocolate Brownie

Brownie base
8 Tbsp butter (1 stick), cut into 1-in pieces
5 oz. white chocolate, chopped
2 eggs
5 Tbsp sugar
1 tsp vanilla
3/4 C flour

Cheesecake swirl
8 oz bar of cream cheese, room temp
1 egg
3 Tbsp sugar
2 tsp green tea/matcha powder
About 2 tsp of water, hot but not boiling

Preheat the oven to 325ºF.

Mix the green tea powder with a bit of hot water to form a paste. Mix the cream cheese, egg, and green tea paste until smooth. Taste a bit and see if its strong enough.

Melt the butter with the white chocolate. Mix in the sugar, eggs, vanilla, and flour (and baking powder if you want to experiment with it). Whisk until smooth but do not over mix.

Line a 8 x 8 square baking dish with a sheet of foil (with overhang for easy lifting) or grease and flour it. Pour in half of the white chocolate batter. Then drop half of the cream cheese mixture on top in spoonfuls. Top the batter with the rest of the white chocolate brownie batter, then finally add the remaining half of the cream cheese mixture on top. Use a knife and swirl the brownie and cream cheese together to create a marbled pattern.

Bake the brownies at 325ºF for 40 - 45 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out with moist crumbs. The center should be almost set. You dont want the toothpick to come out clean because that would mean the brownies have overbaked. Cool in the pan for 5 then lift the brownies out and cool to room temperature. Theyre best served cold so chill them in the fridge for about 3 hours.

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Instant Ice Cream

I received an email the other day from someone wanting to know how they can make ice cream without the machine I demonstrated in our vanilla ice cream video. I replied that you really can’t, since it’s the churning of the mixture while it freezes that gives you the desired texture.

Then, the very next day, I saw this video from my friend Johnathan Lynch, showing how to make a berry ice cream with no ice cream machine. Technically it’s frozen yogurt, but still. You do need to find a food processor, but if you can, this trick does work very well, and as you can see, its very fast and easy. 

By the way, yes, that is Fabio Viviani making a cameo appearance! Thanks to Johnathan for sharing, and I invite you to check out his YouTube channel for more. Enjoy!

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Meatless Meatballs! Celebrating the Magical Meatiness of Mushrooms on Earth Day

I’ve wanted to turn our famous veggie burger recipe into a meatless meatballs recipe for a long time now, and figured there would be no more appropriate occasion than Earth Day to reveal the results. After all, as I joke about in the clip, eating mushrooms is about as close to literally consuming the earth as you can get.

Despite being completely free of meat, at least the animal kind, these “meatballs” were fantastic. Thanks to a thorough browning, the mushrooms provided more than enough savoriness, and the garlic, cheese, and parsley did the rest. As impressive as I thought the taste was, what really blew me away was how close the texture was to actual meatballs.

For me, the true test of any alternative meatless recipe is whether I would eat it again, based on taste and texture alone, and not just because it’s meatless. In this case, I would…many times over. No, I’m not giving up real meatballs, but for a delicious and vegetarian-friendly change of pace, these really were tremendous.

So, whether youre going to make these because you’re a vegetarian who has been searching for a meatless version, or you’re a hard-core meat eater who just can’t believe your ears and eyes, I hope you give these a try soon. Have a happy Earth Day, and as always, enjoy!

Ingredients for 16 small meatballs:

(recipe can easily be doubled!)

1 pound white mushrooms, chopped into very small pieces

2 tbsp olive oil

pinch of salt to sauté mushrooms

1 tbsp butter
1/2 cup minced onions

4 minced garlic cloves

1/2 cup instant oatmeal

1/2 cup breadcrumbs

packed 1/4 cup chopped Italian parsley

1 ounce by weight, Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, very finely grated on a microplane

(Note: it looks like a ton of cheese in the video, but it was only 1-oz. Because I used a microplane to grate it, it created a huge looking pile of cheese. It would be about 1/2 cup if you measure, but use weight for this ingredient!)

1 tsp salt

freshly ground black pepper and cayenne to taste
pinch of dried oregano

2 eggs

3 cups of your favorite pasta sauce.

*Let mixture sit overnight in fridge. Bake meatballs for 12-15 at 450 degrees F., then simmer in sauce for 30-60 minutes before serving.

View the complete recipe

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Blueberry Crumb Bars

Med school is off to an intense start with a 6 week block of anatomy. We had our first exam after only three days of class. I’m pretty much in class and lab for 8 hours a day and studying the rest of my day so when I say I have no free time, that’s why. I told myself going into this that blogging is a priority, but not important enough to lose my precious sleep over. I do still want to keep it up, and right now were in the eye of the tornado so to speak so I have some time to squeeze this update in.

The last few months, my blogging frequency has dropped significantly due to a variety of reasons and Ive always been making updates trying to explain myself (making excuses) and making outlandish goals ("101 Things to Cook This Summer" ring a bell?) in an attempt to get back to the way things were. Sadly, as much as I wish I could, I wont be able to post multiple times a week for, most likely, a very long time. With this final update post, I want to let everyone know that I will be busy indefinitely and if I haven’t posted for weeks, Im probably studying my ass off. I will still be posting recipes but I wont be able to visit and comment on my food blogging buddies’ blogs as much as I want to. I also won’t be able to answer the comments on here individually like I have been in the past but even though I may not answer your comment, please do continue to leave comments because I do read each and every one of them! If you have a burning question about something, especially about a recipe, shoot me an email and I will answer it. If you leave a comment I might not get around to answering it for a few days. Please dont hate me or think Im being selfish because at this point Im just trying to stay sane. After the content stealing fiasco, a rude comment someone left, and just the time consuming maintenance and upkeep (I still havent updated the banner, which Ive been meaning to do since spring... but hey if you want to make me a banner lemme know) I wanted to take some time to remember why I blog.

At first I started this blog as a way of talking about food and release all my nerdy excitement when talking about cooking that no one I know wants to hear about. In the beginning days, with only a handful of readers, it was essentially a one way conversation. But now after blogging for over a year, I love sharing my recipes with my small-but-growing reader base. The best part is when you guys write me an email or leave a comment saying that you tried a recipe and it turned out great. That is my absolute favorite part about it all. Blogging has made me more aware about eating seasonally and locally. When you see 10 different recipes on 10 different blogs using apples in the fall or fava beans in the spring, its kinda hard to be oblivious to fact that food is supposed to be enjoyed at its peak. On a similar note, Steven and I are eating more locally sustainable and organic foods too, especially after signing up for our CSA box, which is totally awesome by the way. Not only do we eat our 5-a-day, but we feel good about where we get them. And finally, while I already have hundreds of things I want to cook, I still see creative and delicious looking recipes on other blogs that make me say to myself "Wow I have to make that!" Food bloggers as a group never fail to impress me with their originality and creativity.

This recipe is an example of why I love the food blogging community—because we inspire each other. I made this a month ago at the height of blueberry season. Blueberries have disappeared by now but if youre lucky you may have some stashed away in the freezer. Right now my freezer is filled with strawberries from July, as well as blueberries and blackberries (from my backyard) from August. Im hoping this berry stash will carry me through the dreary winter. I first saw this recipe on Susans blog Sticky, Gooey, Creamy, Chewy. The instant I saw this, it was one of those "gotta make this" moments and I went ahead and made it later that week. Susan had seen these on Debs Smitten Kitchen who got the recipe from All Recipes.com. Now Im making my version with very minor adjustments from Debs recipe (which had minor adjustments from the All Recipes recipe).

I definitely recommend this recipe especially if you need to make a quick dessert for a party. I brought this to a potluck and it was just one of the best potluck desserts Ive ever made. Its one of those ridiculously simple things to make that tastes so unbelievably good.

Blueberry Crumb Bars
From Smitten Kitchen and Allrecipes.com

3 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 C white sugar (original recipe calls for 1 C, feel free to use that much if you like sweeter desserts)
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 cup cold butter (2 sticks or 8 ounces)
1 egg, beaten
1 tsp of vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon salt
Zest and juice of one lemon
4 cups fresh blueberries
1/4 cup white sugar
4 teaspoons cornstarch

Topping:
Confectioners/powdered sugar

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Butter and flour a 9 x 13 baking pan.

In a medium bowl whisk together the 3 cups of flour, 3/4 C sugar, baking powder, salt, and lemon zest. Use a pastry cutter or fork to cut into the butter until the butter is in peices no larger than a pea then mix in the egg. Or you can do this in a food processor. The dough will be crumbly but stick together when you squeeze it. Pat half of the dough into the pan.

In another bowl, mix the sugar, cornstarch, and lemon juice. Add the blueberries and gently toss them to coat. Pour the blueberry mixture on top of the dough in the pan. Then crumble the rest of the dough evenly over the surface of the berries.

Bake in the preheated oven for 45 to 60 minutes, or until the top is slightly browned. Cool completely then cut into squares. Dust with powdered sugar if preferred. Can be stored in the fridge for a few days.

Oh also, I havent forgotten about the xiao long bao and croissant recipes, both of them are just extremely long. In fact I have the xiao long bao post all written up but its 4 pages long (yeah, I know) and I havent gotten around to editing it. Im sure there are some pretty embarrassing grammatical errors interspersed in there. Ill post that after I get around to editing it.

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Pan Fried Ribs with Rosemary 迷迭香煎排骨

This is one of the earlier dishes I did using the Happy Call Pan (HCP). Again, this was hidden away in the draft folder till now. :P  Ages catching up. Ill be 41 on my coming birthday. :o Memory is failing. :p



I havent been using my HCP much lately. Just too lazy. I have been letting the oven do most of the work. Perhaps I should use the HCP to make this dish again.



If remembered correctly, the ribs done with the HCP was rather juicy as compared to using the oven. However, I usually oven grill the ribs with the onions. It adds the sweetness of the onions to the ribs. Im unable to do so with the HCP as it will burn the onion. The onions here is served as a side. Please omit it if you dont like it. I love onions though. ;)

Ingredients:

• 2 Pork Ribs


• 1 teaspoon Minced Garlic


• 1 sprig Fresh Rosemary or 1/2 teaspoon Dried Rosemary


• 1/2 Onion, sliced


• Salt and Pepper to taste

Marinade:

• 2 teaspoon Cooking Wine


• 1/2 teaspoon Light Soy Sauce


• 1 teaspoon Minced Garlic


• a pinch of Salt


• a dash of Pepper

How to do it:

1. Add ribs to marinade.


2. Set aside and let it marinate for 20 mins.


3. In the pan, heat 1 tablespoon oil.


4. Add in onions and half of minced garlic.


5. Saute fragant and onions are soften.


6. Season with salt and pepper.


7. Side aside.


8. Using the same pan, place the ribs and sprinkle rosemary over.


9. Covered the pan and cook for 2 mins on each side on medium low heat till just done.


10. To have the ribs more charred and brown, turn up the heat a little and pan fried each side well, uncovered.


11. Remove and serve with onions.

Note:

• Time required to cook the ribs depends on how thick/meaty the ribs are.


• You can use any cooking wine you like.

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Dim Sum Victors Kitchen Sunshine Plaza

Being located on ground level in Sunshine Plaza, Victors Kitchen was only a few stalls away from the well-known "Parklane Zha Yun Tun Mee House" that sells pretty good Wanton Mee. Victors Kitchen has very simple interior layout with wooden tables and red plastic stools and after securing a table and seats you just need to grab the paper menu from the counter and start ticking off what you want to order.

Finally last weekend I managed to set foot at this coffee-shop style dim sum eatry which I always drool over their Custard Bun whenever I read/saw the related tweets.

Since they dont have Ice Milk Tea on the drinks menu, we decided to try this H.K Summer Ice Ying Yang(香港夏日兵镇鸳鸯)which is a common item on most of the occupied tables. Nothing fancy about this drink which is just a cup of coffee with tea mixture served in a bowl of crashed ice. For us we find the coffee taste is too overpower and cant seems to blend well with the tea which cause it a bit bitter in taste.
Price: H.K Summer Ice Ying Yang(香港夏日兵镇鸳鸯) @ S$2.50 per cup

This is the reason I came here for their famous Golden Egg Yolk Lava Bun(黄金流沙包) or also known as "custard bun". Since I have read some mix reviews on these buns regarding about their fillings being too dry out and etc. I immediately cross my fingers when these pipping hot bun arrived and hope that it will have that oozing flow type of custard when we break it open. And thanks God what we had that day was really good from the photo show above, the flowing custard was so tasty with mixture of sweet and savory flavour that makes you crave for more.
Price: Golden Egg Yolk Lava Bun(黄金流沙包) @ S$ 3.50 per plate of 3 buns

Although this is known as "Queen Size" Siew Mai but some how or rather we guess it was just another "nickname" as it is not as huge as those serve in "Yum Cha Restaurant(饮茶酒楼)" or neither it is smaller than the usual size. After all we find their siew mai consists more proportion of pork than prawn which makes it more firm and with a "porky" taste too.
Price: Tasty Queen Size Siew Mai (美味蟹皇烧卖) @ S$3.50 per basket

Steamed Glutinous Rice parcel is always one of the must have dim sum items during our visit to any dim sum eateries. The glutinous rice in this Chicken and Sausage in Glutinous Rice(干贝蛋黄腊味珍珠鸡)was soft and with right texture that combines well with the rest of the ingredients.
Price: Chicken and Sausage in Glutinous Rice(干贝蛋黄腊味珍珠鸡) @ S$4.00 per plate

Lastly I was quite disappointed with one of their famous dish which is this Scallop, Sausage Carrot Cake with XO Sauce(XO酱干贝腊味蒸箩卜糕). First there was no trace of either scallop or sausage mentioned. Secondly the top layer of the carrot cake seems to be not fully cooked as we still can taste and see the sticky flour mixture on top. And personally I still preferred pan-fried carrot cake compared to this that look soupy like "steamed minced pork" texture.
Price: Scallop, Sausage Carrot Cake with XO Sauce(XO酱干贝腊味蒸箩卜糕) @ S$4.00 per plate

Other than the above mentioned dim sum, Victors Kitchen also provided some other common dim sum such as Spring Roll, Chicken and Fish Porridge, Assorted Cheong Fun, Dumplings and Double-boiled Egg White and etc. So if you like traditional style of Hong Kong dim sum or you happen to by-pass Sunshine Plaza area perhaps you can consider to try out some of their famous dim sum dishes. Prices for their Dim Sum range from between S$2.50 to S$4.30 per plate.

Victors Kitchen
91 Bencoolen Street
Sunshine Plaza
#01-21
Telephone: 9838 2851

Opening Hours:
Tuesday - Sunday: 10.30am to 8.00pm (closed on Monday)

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Fettuccine Alfredo

Steven recently mentioned something about me making a "good kitchen purchase" (I cant remember what he was referring to) so I asked him what he thought was a "bad" purchase. I personally think all of my kitchen items are great and cant-live-without necessary. That madeleine pan? Yup, absolutely essential, how else am I going to make madeleines, right? ;) He thought for a moment, Im not sure if he realized he was treading on thin ice here, and said, "pasta machine." I gasped, I protested, but, as much as I hate to admit it, he was right. Ever since I made bought it many months ago, I had only used it once. Instead of trying to justify why I needed a pasta machine, I made it a personal mission to make good use of it and created a long list of fresh noodle and pasta dishes I planned to make. I have to stand up for my gadgets after all, and yeah, I also do want to prove Steven wrong, but he cant complain because he reaps the delicious benefits of handmade pasta.

This was my first time making fresh pasta so I reached for my copy of Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking cuz you cant go wrong with Marcella Hazan for Italian. I kept it simple and made the classic alfredo sauce. In the past Ive tried to make alfredo reasonably healthy because all that cream, butter, and cheese is a little alarming. My light version was a roux, milk, and cheese, essentially a bechamel and parm (or a Mornay). It was alright, but thats all it was, a bechamel with parm, it was not alfredo sauce. Since I was going through the trouble of making my own pasta this time, I didnt hold back. This isnt something I would make everyday, but when I do choose to indulge, theres no reason to skimp right?

Mmm... cream, butter, and cheese, deeeelicious.

Fettuccine Alfredo
Serves 2 - 3 as a main dish, 3 - 4 as an appetizer

Fresh Pasta
1 C flour
2 large eggs

First make a mountain of flour on your work surface, then create a crater in the center. Add your eggs in the crater. Use a fork and beat the eggs in the crater incoroporating a little bit of the flour at a time. Once the egg mixture begins to look like a batter, you can start incorporating more of the flour into the dough. After incoporporating all the flour, you will end up with a dough. If the dough is still sticky, add some more flour. Knead by pushing with the heel of your palm, fold the dough in half, give it a half turn, and repeat the process for 8 minutes or until it feels smooth. Marcella did not specify to let the dough rest but I let the dough rest (covered) for 20ish minutes.

Cut the dough into 3 equal portions. Take one portion of the dough and press it flat, then run it through the pasta machine on the widest setting. Fold the dough in thirds and run the narrow end into the machine again. Repeat twice more. Do this to the remaining 2 portions of dough. Now you should have 3 portions of dough that have been passed through the widest setting 3 times each. Go up one setting, and run each portion of dough through twice, but do not fold in thirds this time, just run it straight through twice. Repeat with the two other pieces of dough. Go up one setting, and repeat again. My machine has 7 settings and I stopped on setting #3 for fettuccine because I want my noodles a little on the thicker side. After running the pasta through the #3 setting twice more, run it through the fettuccine cutter (the wider cutter). Separate any noodles that did not get cut all the way through. Lightly toss the noodles in some flour.

Bring a pot of water to a boil, salt the water, then add the pasta. Cook for 1 1/2 - 2 minutes or until the pasta is al dente. Drain the pasta reserving some of the pasta water to thin out the sauce if necessary.

Alfredo Sauce (enough to dress the pasta made from the above recipe)
1/2 C heavy cream
1 Tbsp butter
1/2 C grated parmigiano-reggiano + additional if needed at table
Pinch of ground nutmeg
Freshly ground black pepper and salt to taste

Simmer the cream, butter, and nutmeg in a saucepan over low heat until it has thickened somewhat, about 5 minutes.

Toss the pasta in the cream, add the grated cheese and toss until evenly distributed. If the sauce is too thin, add a little of the pasta water. Add freshly ground black pepper and salt to taste, add additional cheese on top at the table.

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Day 5 Kaminarimon 雷門 Asakusa

Asakusa (浅草) is located in the center of Tokyo with Sensō-ji Temple (金龍山浅草寺) as its main attraction. Kaminarimon Gate (雷門) or also known as the "Thunder Gate" is the outer of two large entrance gates that leads to the Sensō-ji Temple. With its Giant Red Lantern and statues this attraction is popular with tourists as well as hot spot for photos taking too.

Asakusa is accessible by the Ginza Subway Line, Asakusa Subway Line, Tsukuba Express and etc. And from Asakusa you could also take a 20 minutes walk across the Sumida River to the new Tokyo Skytree (東京スカイツリー) attraction.

From Tokyo Station
Take the JR Yamanote Line to Kanda Station (2 minutes, ¥130 Yen) and transfer to the Ginza Subway Line for Asakusa (10 minutes, ¥160 Yen).

From Shinjuku Station
Take the orange JR Chuo Line to Kanda Station (10 minutes, ¥160 Yen) and transfer to the Ginza Subway Line for Asakusa (10 minutes, ¥160 Yen).

Since we were at Ginza area after visiting the Tsukiji Market (read more HERE) , we decided to take a 10 minutes subway ride to visit the well-known Kaminarimon gate.

Kaminarimon gate was built more than 1000 years ago and it is the symbol of Asakusa. Cross the gate, there is this Nakamise shopping street that leads from Kaminarimon to the temple grounds.

As you could see, Nakamise Shopping Street (Nakamise-dori) stretches from the entrance of Kaminarimon gate to the main grounds of Sensoji Temple. Along the stretch it is lined by more than 80 over shops which offer local specialties, food and array of souvenirs for tourists.

BBQ Rice Crackers

Matcha Mochi Manju with red bean filling @ ¥80 (SG$0.80) each

Osenbei (rice crackers)

Ningyoyaki

Pastry master making Ningyoyaki which is small cake filled with red bean paste. These small cakes various in shaped like hello kitty, animals, traditional lanterns and etc.

View of Tokyo Skytree from Nakamise shopping street

About 100m towards the entrance of the Sensō-ji Temple, on the right, you would be able to catch a view of the magnificent Tokyo Skytree. We are unable to go up to the Skytree tower due to the festive crowds (Thanksgiving Day Holiday in Japan, 23 November) and tourists who had already pre-purchased the tickets.

History of the Sensoji Temple

Main entrance of the Sensoji Temple

Sensoji (金龍山浅草寺) is a Buddhist temple located in Asakusa. It is also one of Tokyos most colorful and popular temples that was built in 645 making it the oldest among all. Often there are various events held throughout the year in the Sensoji Temple area. The biggest of them is the Sanja Matsuri which is an annual festival of the Asakusa Shrine that helds in May.

Amazake (甘酒) @ ¥300 (S$4.00) per cup

Along the way back due to the cold weather, we decided to try this Amazake (甘酒) which is a sweet Japanese drink made from fermented rice. It tasted slightly sweet fragrance which makes it a best hot beverage for cold winter night.

Due to winter, the street gets darker earlier like what shown above even though it was only around 5.30 pm in the evening.

Opposite the main entrance of the Kaminarimon gate, there is a famous Dorayaki (銅鑼焼き) shop know as Kamejyu (亀十) which is just seconds away from Tokyo Metro station and Kaminarimon has being serving Dorayaki for more than 80 years.

Most people come for their Dorayaki but other than that, the also have Kintsuba (Sweet red bean paste), Monaka (Sweet red or white bean paste in wafers), Mamemochi (Sticky rice cake with beans), Candice Blackbean/Chestnut and etc.

Above shown is their signature Dorayaki (銅鑼焼き) which comes with either sweet red or white bean paste at ¥315 (SG$4.00). These are definitely the best Dorayaki that we had which is soft and fluffy, filled with refined fillings that made with beans from Hokkaido.

KAMEJYU （亀十）
2-18-11 Kaminarimon, Taito-ku, Tokyo
(東京都台東区雷門2-18-11)
Telephone: 03-3841-2210
Website: http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e3004.html

Opening hour:
10.00am - 8.30pm

Itinerary of our Japan travelogue are as follow:-

~ [Day 1] Our Family Trip to Tokyo, Japan
~ [Day 1] Exploring Harajuku (原宿) and Takeshita Street (竹下通り)
~ [Day 2] Day Tour to Katsunuma Winery, Lake Kawaguchi and Koyodai In Narusawa
~ [Day 3] Exploring Shinjuku (新宿)
~ [Day 3] RAKERU （ラケル） @ Shinjuku, Tokyo
~ [Day 4] Tokyo Disneyland (東京ディズニーランド)
~ [Day 5] Tsukiji Fish Market (築地市場)
~ [Day 5] Tsukiji Sushi Kiyoshi (築地寿司清本店)
~ [Day 5] Kaminarimon (雷門) @ Asakusa
~ [Day 5] Fujisoba (名代 富士) At Akihabara, Tokyo
~ [Day 6] Tokyo Ramen Street
~ [Day 6] Shabu Shabu @ Shabujo, Shinjuku
~ Exploring The Convenience Stores and Bakeries In Tokyo, Japan

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