The ultimate roasted potatoes set

Another one of those days that little tummy says it doesn't want rice for dinner.

And I spotted really pretty tiny potatoes at giant yesterday which beckoned to me to buy them home!

What else is better than roasted potatos? :p Totally can't forget how awesome the potatoes tasted in Europe, which kinda started my flame of love for roasted potatoes.

Aren't the brastagi baby potatos absolutely small and cute?!

nuff said.

Let's start with the modified recipe of the ultimate roasted potatos I found here

Retailing at $1.25 from giant. A good deal considering this portion is sufficient for 3 human's potato consumption

1. Scrub clean and hard the surface of the potatoes to ensure all dirt, mud and soil has been removed. Roasted potatoes taste better with the skin on. Besides, vitamin A resides on the skin of the potatos!(:

Some extra pork ball, hotdog and mushroom to whip up some pasta for the 2 hungry men at home who needs more carbs

2. Evenly coat the insides of the metal tin used for baking the potatos evenly with margarine and place them in the preheated oven of 200degrees for 5-10mins.

 Modified from the original recipe of using fats.

3. After washing the potatoes, put them in a pot of water that barely covers the potatoes, boil till the bubbles are roaring, before bringing them to a simmer for 2 minutes. Drain these little cute things and shake them in the sieve to fluff them up.

4. Coat them with a thin layer of flour( to increase crispyness when they are baked). I used potato flour at home since it was the only available flour I can find in the fridge.

5. After baking them for 15 mins on one side, take the potatoes out and give them a few gentle tosses. Add some minced garlic and all purpose herbs ( mine's from Mc Cormick) and put them back into the oven at 15 mins

6. After you are satisfied with the texture of the potatoes, add a pinch of salt and shake em well.

shake it baby, shake it

7. Eggs for sunny side up. Heat up the pan, add some butter, and crack in the egg.

8. Heat up some butter, throw in the sliced button mushrooms and saute them until golden brown. Sprinkle all-purpose herb powder for some herbish taste

9. Cut some slits on the sausages and pan-fry them using butter.

Pardon me on lack of photos of the others as they are quite easy, and my main focus is really on the ultimate roasted potatoes! 

*drools*

Dinner is served! 

yum yum tum tum.

Brother totally loves the roasted potatoes. He says my platter looks good enough to be served for $18. I think it's kinda over-priced. He's too kind :D I'll give him sibling discount. $15 will do :p

But he says the potatoes are done better than some of those outside. YAYYS.

Not bad for a first timer of the recipe. But also, the recipe was easy to follow, though I modified some of it and was struggling with cooking the pasta, and ensuring that everything is well heated to be served at the same time.

*pats my own shoulder*

Good job!

Summary of the ultimate roasted potatoes set

Ingredients:

-Tiny potatoes

-Sausage

-Mushroom

-Egg

-Minced garlic-Mc Cormick (optional)

-All-purpose herb-McCormick (optional)

-Flour 

1. Scrub clean and hard the surface of the potatoes to ensure all dirt, mud and soil has been removed. Roasted potatoes taste better with the skin on. Besides, vitamin A resides on the skin of the potatos!(:

2. Evenly coat the insides of the metal tin used for baking the potatos evenly with margarine and place them in the preheated oven of 200degrees for 5-10mins.

3. After washing the potatoes, put them in a pot of water that barely covers the potatoes, boil till the bubbles are roaring, before bringing them to a simmer for 2 minutes. Drain these little cute things and shake them in the sieve to fluff them up.

4. Coat them with a thin layer of flour( to increase crispyness when they are baked). I used potato flour at home since it was the only available flour I can find in the fridge.

5. After baking them for 15 mins on one side, take the potatoes out and give them a few gentle tosses. Add some minced garlic and all purpose herbs ( mine's from Mc Cormick) and put them back into the oven at 15 mins

6. After you are satisfied with the texture of the potatoes, add a pinch of salt and shake em well.

shake it baby, shake it

7. Eggs for sunny side up. Heat up the pan, add some butter, and crack in the egg.

8. Heat up some butter, throw in the sliced button mushrooms and saute them until golden brown. Sprinkle all-purpose herb powder for some herbish taste

9. Cut some slits on the sausages and pan-fry them using butter.

time to TUCK IN!

Poon Choi round 2

A little tutorial for myself on my second attempt ( 2 days ago being the first attempt, and yet the first attempt turned out better. boos,prolly cos le bf was there to help)

Oh wells, at least lesson learnt!(:

Following the steps from Eric teo's poon choi recipe-double boiling of the abalone for 2 hours. Instead of putting the whole can in to double boil as per the recipe, I poured it out on a bowl since my pot wasn't deep enought. I might eventually skip in the future as double boiling the abalone didn't seem to help in the texture or taste. And I nearly made it a disaster.oops

Making of the oyster sauce stock from Lee Jin ji's premium oyster sauce, chicken stock, abalone stock from the canned abaloned, and water from soaking the scallop and oyster. It's approx 3/4 pot of stock with 250g of oyster sauce, ( ok I didn't measure) oyster sauce. I basically just added in the oyster sauce til I felt that the taste was satisfactory :D Afterall, what's better than the tastebuds as the judge? (;

Simmering the pork leg. After pouring in the can of pork leg, bring to boil and after which bring it to simmer for 30 mins so the meat is tender enough and the sauce is thick, gooey and goooood.

What is simmering? Simmering basically is bringing the food to boil first, and later reduce the heat till minimal bubbles are formed. In contrast of what the bf told me- Heat it till it boils, cover it and switch off, letting the remaining heat simmer the food inside. wrong! no wonder the pork leg didn't seem very different from the original contents during our first poon choi attempt :p

After cutting the yam into smaller sizes, double boil it till its soft. Poke a chopstick through it, and if it makes a hole, yay, its done! Instructions as per le bf chef

Prepared some button mushrooms and dried chinese mushrooms (soaked in water)

Add some oil and ginger, fry till golden brown, and throw in a mushrooms to give them a good stir. Lazy me didn't add in the oyster stock to let them simmer prior putting into the poon choi. But maybe next year I'll be a good girl and do that (;

About 300g of five flower pork (literal translation from 五花肉), marinated with some salt and soya sauce. Fried with ginger till approx 80% cooked since it's gonna go into the poon choi later on to continue its simmering journey.

Disaster!

);

I know right...): the result of insufficient water to double boil the abalone for 2 hours. Luckily it wasn't that bad. But the abalone had a tad of burnt smell and taste. boos.Smoked abalone maybe?

But nonetheless, the pot was ruined and have to be dumped. But, maybe its not a good thing cos this gives me an excuse to dispose of the pot. Too many pots at home! 

Fish maw that my auntie helped to soak in water to soften it and cut into smaller pieces

Time to throw stuff into the pot. YAY! no more hassled cooking!

Fry the yam with some oil to make it fragrant.

Add in oyster stock added earlier on. Note to self, perhaps I should add  more stock. Since, after simmering for some time, the stock below would be used up and the yam at the bottom will be abit burnt.

Throw in the fish maw and add more stock. Love adding in fish maw cos it absorbs all the goodness of the stock. And it becomes really soft and flavourful.

*drools*

In goes the  五花肉

Blanch broccoli for 5 minutes in boiling water. Since it's gonna sit into the poon choi for some time, you don't need to cook it for to long else it will 'disintegrate'

Note: turn the cover of the poon choi inwards so that the steam will not scald your hand when you lift the cover up ( of cos with your gloves ;p)

Double boiling of the scallop for 20 minutes before adding it into the pot of poon choi. Ensure there is enough oyster stock to cover the oyster so that it becomes soft enough.

Tadah! its done! To mask the slight burnt taste of the abalone, I immersed it into the oyster stock for more simmering. And last note to myself.

Add in the broccoli last! ): see from the picture above, all my broccoli disintegrated. boos.

In my first attempt (as seen below), I added it last after all the ingredients were sitted nicely. This time, I added them in first (I don't know why, maybe i was lazy and wanted to clear a step first) and my broccoli was floating around  furiously in all that empty space. And as a result of trying to rearrange them, they protested and disintegrated.

But at least, now I know! (;

After lunch, its time to head over to le bf's grandma house 

Happy new year everyone!

HUAT!!

Reunion dinner 2013

Sea cucumber with pork and fried leek with minced pork by auntie.

After 3 hours of preparation. A different reunion dinner this year compared to previous tradition of steamboat.

First attempt of Poon choi with modification of celebrity chef, Eric teo's poon choi recipe and zao an ni hao receipe by Liang YongHua and yours truly.

Poon choi:

Abalone, Scallop, Oyster, Prawns, Fish Maw, Roast Pork, Roast Duck, Broccoli, Pork leg, Mushroom, yam and fa choi.

First layer: Yam (steamed, coated with flour, fried before putting it in the clay pot.

2nd layer: Pork leg and fish maw ( which absorbs the essence of the gravy. slurps)

3rd layer: Flower mushroom sauteed with seasame oil and ginger

Top layer: Fried roasted pork and duck to make them more crispy, oyster ( soaked dry and cooked with oyster stock- made from chicken stock, water, water from soaking oyster and scallop), abalone- double boiled for 2 hours, scallop soaked and steamed for 20 mins, prawns.

Fresh fish from Senoko: steamed for 15mins, pour away water. Saute ginger, red onions, garlic till fragrant, scoop up the oil and set aside. Add light soya, fish sauce and water and bring to boil with ingredients. Pour over fish and drizzle hot oil over.

Dad was very satisfied with the meal considering the poon choi costed less than $100 for 5 mouths. Especially the fish maw that soaked up the oyster stock essence and the soft tasty yam.

And the $100 also included excess scallops, oysters, mushrooms and roasted duck that couldnt fit into the claypot- which he specially bought since he said it only costed $11.90, even though we have a claypot that's bigger at home.

And he happily declared that he wants a 2nd round since there are extra ingredients, including the abalone he managed to snag at a whooping good deal of $29.90

tsk tsk! greedy dad. He happily gobbled down the rest of the food in the claypot after I said that it seems that the food quantity can be finished today and need not keep till tmr.

But i'm glad the dinner turned out to be a success. yayys!

Happy CNY 2013!



These chinese year, I have dedicated my 2 first times. My first time doing poon choi, and also my first time taking part in the smoke festival-->  going to the temple to offer incense at the wee hours.

It's really pretty interesting to see bazuka style joss-sticks and super kanjiong aunties running towards the gate when they are let in batch by batch by the temple adminstrator. But oh, really really smoky affair.

See my little bazuka at the right side of the picture.

heehee.

Salty Affair

Salty affair

Parties in the affair:

1. Cherry tomatoes

2.German Biershinken

3. Egg

4. Onion flavoured cheese

5. Bread

6. Magarine

1. Fry the egg till cooked ( I didn't fry the egg till the egg yolk is thoroughly cooked, I like it abit runny )

Sprinkle abit of salt and pepper when it is still in the pan cooking

2. Soak cherry tomatoes in water and slice them into half

3. Slice the german biershinken

4.  Dice the cheese into the size you want

5. Apply magarine on the bread and heat  it up for a while on the pan

6. Eat them!

I personally like this kinda german biershinken as compared to the normal picnic ham. Its abit more saltish, and the texture is abit softer. But the saltiness is diluted with the slices of white bread and tomatoes.

A simple english breakfast to give me calories to burn off for my kickboxing class later.

Got to run!

good bye! <3

Happy weekends!

psst: there's ikea sale later and I'm so going! yayys (:

obsession

my latest obsession is

...

...

...

...

a cozy kitchen!!

Okay. not literally a kitchen kitchen. but a wonderful blog i stumbled upon, created by this ingenious girl called adrianna. ALL her recipes are SO delicious looking and wonderful i simply have to try them!

Below are a few of my recipes.

Do check out this amazing blog!

Ham Spinach and Gruyére Quiche

Ham Spinach and Gruyére Quiche

Print this recipe!

Crust:

2 cups all-purpose flour

1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

8 tablespoons unsalted butter (1 stick), cold and cubed

1/4 cup cold water

Egg Filling:

1 teaspoon olive oil

3 handfuls of spinach

4 large eggs

1/2 cup heavy cream

1/2 cup whole milk

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon freshly ground pepper

1/2 cup cubed ham (sliced to a 1/4-inch thickness)

1/2 cup cubed Gruyére

1. In a medium bowl, mix the flour and salt together. Working quickly, and using your fingers, add the cubed butter to the flour mixture and break up until butter is in pea-size bits. Make a well in the center of the mixture, pour in 1/4 cup cold water, and incorporate it into the mixture it’s moistened and comes together forming a ball. Note: If you find it to be too dry, add a tablespoon at a time until it comes together. Wrap the disc of dough in plastic and place in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.

2. Meanwhile, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add the handfuls of spinach and cook until wilted. Drain in a colander (or on a handful or paper towels) and set aside.

3. Pre-heat oven to 350F. In a medium bowl beat eggs together with cream, milk, salt and pepper.

4. On a lightly floured work surface, roll out dough to a 12-inch circle (or just a bit bigger than your tart shell–mine was 9.5 inches). Fold the dough in half, place in a pie pan, and unfold to fit the pan. Gently press the inside bottom edges of the dough against the sides of the tart pan to eliminate any air bubbles. Roll the rolling pin across the top surface of the tart shell to cut off the crusts’ edges.

5. To the bottom of the tart shell, add the wilted spinach, cubed cheese and ham. Pour 3/4 of the egg mixture over top and transfer to a baking sheet. Place in oven on rack and top off with the remaining egg mixture (this way it won’t spill over!).

6. Bake for 50 minutes to an hour. The top of the quiche will be puffed and golden brown. Remove from oven and let cool slightly until serving. It’s delicious warm or at room temperature.

French Onion Soup 

After you’re done slicing up all of your onions (and wiping your tears), then you just throw all the onions in the pot with a little olive oil and butter.

But you want them to be a deep, dark color, so this is a good time to add a little salt and sugar.

Cook them for 35 more minutes. Oh yeah, and leave the pot uncovered.

I added a little white wine and beef broth. If you’re a vegetarian, you could of course use vegetable stock, too. I love options!

After 30 more minutes of simmering, it’ll look like this. It’ll be thick, rich and really REALLY amazing. Give it a taste. See if it needs some salt. Mine didn’t need any which I’m guessing had to do with the stock I used–it wasn’t low-sodium.

Then I added them to some little bowls and put them on a baking sheet. This is when French Onion Soup gets real. Really real.

Cut up some crusty, French bread. Add it to the top.

At this point, I wanted to drink it/eat it.

Then add the gruyere. And I piled it on because I love cheese. And because it’s a free country.

And then I baked it for 15-20 minutes. The recipe said 30 minutes, but I don’t have the patience of Julia Child.

I saw the cheese was melty and brown, so I took it out.

French Onion Soup and pretty nails. Double-win.

French Onion Soup

Tweaked Recipe from Mastering the Art of French Cooking by Julia Child

(My best friend bought this book for me a few years ago and it’s really a must have! Put it on your xmas list!)

Print this recipe!

1 1/2 lbs. or about 5 cups of thinly sliced yellow onions

3 tablespoons of butter

1 tablespoons of olive oil

1 teaspoon of salt

1/4 teaspoons of sugar (helps the onions to brown)

3 tablespoons of all-purpose flour

2 quarts beef stock

1/2 cup of dry white wine

Salt and Pepper to taste

Slices of French Bread

1/2 cup of gruyere, grated

Cook the onions slowly with the butter and oil in the covered saucepan for 15 minutes.

Uncover, raise heat to moderate, and stir in the salt and sugar. Cook for 30-40 minutes stirring frequently, until the onions have turned an even, deep, golden brown.

Sprinkle in the flour and stir for 3 minutes.

Off the heat, blend in the boiling liquid.  Add the wine.  Simmer partially covered for 30-40 minutes or more, skimming occasionally. Correct seasoning.

Preheat oven to 400F.

Pour into soup cups.  Top with a slice of crusty bread and a handful of grated Gruyere cheese. Place soup on a baking sheet and bake for 20 minutes, or until cheese is melty and brown.

Stand’s Toasted Marshmallow Milkshake

’s only fair.

Why is this milkshake so special? Well because it’s comes from Gourmet, who was genius enough to figure out what’s in Stand’s famous Toasted Marshmallow Milkshake.

The recipe calls for roasted marshmallows blended with vanilla ice cream, a spoonful of yogurt and a tablespoon of milk; it’s then topped with a dollop of whipped cream and a few perfectly golden marshmallows.  What does this mean? It means that as your slurping this thing up, you’ll be met along the way with little speckles of toasted marshmallow-awesomeness.

This is Summer happiness.  Get on it!

Stand’s Toasted Marshmallow Milkshake

Recipe from Gourmet via Cupcakes and Cashmere

Print this recipe!

I recommend getting all of the ingredients ready in the blender and then toasting the marshmallows.  You want your marshmallows gooey and hot when you throw them in the blender so they incorporate nicely.  Marshmallows tend to get sticky and harden upon cooling down.

3 scoops vanilla ice cream (use a high quality ice cream or make your own)

1 tablespoon whole milk

I large dollop of plain yogurt

5 Kraft Jumbo Jef-Puffed marshmallows (or homemade)

Whipped cream

Toast marshamllows under a broiler, or, if you’re frisky, over a flame until they just start to blacken evenly (the trick is to make sure it’s evenly toasted and dark, but not turned to charcoal).

Put the milk, yogurt, and then ice cream in the blender. Blend carefully, just until you get a “donut”—when you see the shake holding to the sides of the blender with a hollow core.

Add three of the toasted marshmallows to the blender, and whirl it just until they’re all broken up and distributed evenly. Be careful not to overblend it, making it too melty.

Pour shake into a glass, top with a dollop of whipped cream, break the last two marshmallows on top, and serve with an extra-wide straw.

Repeat if necessary. And it will probably be necessary

Homemade Ding Dongs

You’ll need some wax paper and a pencil. And some scissors. I like feeling crafty in the kitchen. You’ll want to place them on the bottom of the cake pans (and grease them) since this batter is a little sticky.

Brew some strong, hot coffee and pour it over chocolate. The chocolate will melt and basically make an amazing mocha situation. This is good.

Per usual, there’s the typical flour, cocoa, dry ingredients sifting that’s necessary. Then there’s the wet mixture thing and you have to combine the two. Easy peasy. Bake them and you’ll be met with two gorgeous looking cakes:

While the cakes are cooling, you’ll want to make the ganache and 7-minute marshmallow filling. Both easy. Messy but easy.

This is when the fun begins! Take a biscuit cutter and cut out as many circles as you can. You can use the scraps for cake pops.

P.S. You can actually freeze them for later since you’ll have ding dongs, and in my opinion they kind of taste better than cake pops.

Flip the cake cut-out over, and taking a knife (or smaller cutter), cut out a smaller hole in the center. Set the cut out aside. Fill the center with the marshmallow frosting…

And replace the hole. See!

Gently turn it over, and using a pastry brush, lay on the ganache. I placed mine on a baking sheet (lined with parchment) and stuck it in the fridge to set.

Since this lacks all the chemicals, they’ll be messy when you eat them. But that’s the good part, right?

Homemade Ding Dongs

Recipe slightly adapted from Smitten Kitchen and Beantown Baker

Yields 15 ding dongs

Print this recipe!

2 ounces fine-quality semisweet chocolate
1 cups hot brewed coffee
2 cups sugar
1 2/3 cups flour
1 cups unsweetened cocoa powder (not Dutch process)
1 1/3 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
2 eggs
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 cup well-shaken buttermilk
1/2 tsp vanilla

Preheat oven to 300°F. and grease pans. Line bottoms of 2 10-inch round cake pans with wax paper and grease paper. If you don’t have 10-inch cake pans, you can make 2 9-inch cake pans and a dozen cupcakes.

Finely chop chocolate and in a bowl combine with hot coffee. Let mixture stand, stirring occasionally, until chocolate is melted and mixture is smooth.

Into a large bowl sift together sugar, flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. In another large bowl with an electric mixer beat eggs until thickened slightly and lemon colored. Slowly add oil, buttermilk, vanilla, and melted chocolate mixture to eggs, beating until combined well. Add sugar mixture and beat on medium speed until just combined well.

Divide batter between pans and bake in middle of oven until a tester inserted in center comes out clean, about 1 hour.

Cool layers completely in pans on racks. Run a thin knife around edges of pans and invert layers onto racks. Carefully remove wax paper and cool layers completely. Cake layers may be made 1 day ahead and kept, wrapped well in plastic wrap, at room temperature.

Seven Minute Frosting

Recipe from Epicurious

1 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar
3 large egg whites
1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract

In large metal bowl, whisk together 1/3 cup water, sugar, egg whites, cream of tartar, and salt. Set bowl over pan of barely simmering water and mix with handheld electric mixer at low speed. Gradually increase speed to high, beating until mixture holds stiff peaks, about 5 minutes.

Transfer bowl from pan to folded kitchen towel on counter and continue beating until mixture is cool and billowy, about 2 minutes more. Beat in vanilla. (Frosting can be made 4 hours ahead and chilled, covered.)

Ganache
Recipe from BeantownBaker

1 cup heavy cream
1 Tbsp unsalted butter
12 oz semisweet chocolate, chopped into 1/2-ounce pieces

Heat the heavy cream and the butter in a 3-quart saucepan over medium high heat. Bring to a boil.

Place the semisweet chocolate in a 3-quart stainless steel bowl. Pour the boiling cream over the chocolate and allow to stand for 5 minutes. Stir until smooth.

Assembly

Once the cake layers have cooled completely, use a small round cookie cutter to cut small circles of cake out of the layers. Enjoy the scraps or save them for cake balls.

Using the cone method, scoop out a small portion of cake from each circle. Fill with 7-minute frosting and replace top of cake.

Using a pastry brush or spoon, cover individual cakes with ganache. Allow ganache to completely set up before serving. 

Egg and Cheese Hash Brown Nests

Like any good thing, it starts with a good amount of carbs.

The trick I found to crispy hash browns/latkes, etc. is you must sprinkle the potatoes with a bit of salt, let them stand and then squeeze out the moisture. You’ll be surprised at how much comes out–it’s kinda crazy.

Next you’re going to add some good stuff to the potatoes like a shallot, garlic, some pepper, paprika. All for good measure.

Add a few tablespoons of the potato mixture to the muffin cups, and lining the bottoms and sides using your fingers.

You want to make sure they’re compact as possible. This will help with ensuring the little potato nests keep their shape.

Oven time!

After about 12 minutes, they’ll look like this situation below. Sort of crispy on the outsides, but definitely a pale potato on the insides. This is cool. They’re still more baking in their future. Add the cheese (not a lot) and then crack an egg in each of the muffin cups.

Now, if I could do this again, I’d totally use medium eggs (I used large eggs). Everything was perfectly fine but I was a little scared some of them were going to overflow.

More oven time!

Just enough until the eggs are cooked.

You’ll be met with the cutest, egg and hash brown situation ever. Perfect for those days when you need to be yanked out of your bratty, attitude mood.

Egg and Cheese Hash Brown Nests

Print this recipe!

2 russet potatoes, peeled
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1 shallot, minced
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 teaspoon freshly ground pepper, divided
1/4 teaspoon ground paprika
1/4 cup sharp cheddar cheese, shredded
8 medium eggs

1. Generously grease a muffin tin and set aside. Using a box grater, shred the potatoes and transfer them to a bowl; sprinkle with the kosher salt and allow it to sit for 10 minutes. Gather the potatoes in the center of a cheese cloth (or a bed of paper towels) and wring the potatoes dry, removing the excess water. There will be quite a bit!

2. Transfer the dried, shredded potato back to the bowl and add the shallot, garlic, pepper and paprika. Mix until combined.

3. Preheat the oven to 400F. Spoon about 2 tablespoons of the potato mixture into each muffin cup, being sure to line the bottom and the sides. Since the potatoes will shrink when baked, make sure you go all the way to the top of the muffin tin when lining the sides. Bake for 10-15 minutes, and until the outer sides appear lightly golden brown.

4. Decrease oven to 350F. Remove from oven. In the center of each hash brown nest, add a teaspoon of grated cheese, and then top with one egg. Bake for an additional 10 minutes, and until whites are set, but yolks still appear soft.

5. Allow to cool for 2 minutes in pan. Using a butter knife, run it around the edges of each hash brown nest and gently remove it. Top with remaining freshly ground pepper and serve immediately.

Isn't she absolutely amazing? I am so stalking her from now on