sunday compost dinner

a quick look at the fridge, a quick email to the house

dinner at 6pm:
risotto with crispy mushrooms
creamed chard
prawns with garlic
asparagus

luke

so,

asparagus.
lay out bacon on tray, sprinkle with sugar and paprika, bake at 450F.
cut 1.5inches off asparagus, rinse, dry then lay out on tray. splash some olive oil, sprinkle some salt, bake at 500F.
crumble bacon over nicely cooked asparagus (don't overcook them, cos they will feel like limp lobster legs in your mouth.) sprinkle lemon juice over.

swiss chard.
wilt swiss chard with white wine (pinot grigio).
meanwhile, make bastardised bechamel (BB) sauce (equal parts flour and butter, about 3-4 times more milk). cook it till it's tan in color to remove the taste of raw flour. keep whisking while adding milk bit by bit to avoid clumps. here's where i bastardised it - i added dried thyme and bits of parmaggiano. toss wilted chard with BB sauce.

risotto.
slice mushrooms thinly (this chef i used to work for replied to my question about rinsing mushrooms by saying," mushrooms are fungi. so if there's other fungi on the mushroom, it's all the same.") deep fry in a pot with 1.5inch of oil at about 375F. quickly remove mushrooms when golden brown, spread them out in a single layer over paper towels and salt.
reconsitute leftover risotto, adjust with salt pepper and water.

prawns.
heat pan with some oil and butter, let butter brown. add prawns, and slice garlic. once cooked, remove shrimp, deglaze with white wine and reduce. pour over plated prawns.

eat without linnea, then put a double portion on her plate and make all her yoga efforts go to waste. ah ah ah (sesame street's count's laughter)!

also, i made some mozzerella today, so it will be eaten tomorrow with some tomatoes, if they arrive in weshop.

Scissors Cut Rice

Yesterday for dinner, Bertram and I ambitiously tried to recreate the Hainanese-style Scissors Cut Rice, but to very limited success.

Dish 1: Pork Rib Curry
Having learnt my lesson from last time, I allowed my pork curry to simmer for a longer while, resulting in softer and juicier pork ribs. First I fried blended garlic and shallots until the nice fragrance came out, then I threw in blended ginger and onions, and fried till they became "dry and toasty", in Mr Pang's words. I next threw in the Curry Powder Cake (a la Rendang Powder Cake from the previous time), fried the mixture for a bit, before throwing the pork ribs (available, amazingly, at Weshop!) and cubed potatoes in. After stirring for a bit, I added 3 cups of hot water, and allowed the mixture to stew for 40 minutes.

After 40 minutes, I added one can of coconut milk, and allowed the mixture to simmer very gently for 20 more minutes. At this point I shrieked, because I'd forgotten to add lemongrass in the earlier stage of frying the spices, and I was pretty upset because we've actually got lemongrass this time.

Stewed a little bit more, added some salt to taste, copped out with a dash of fish sauce because it was somehow pretty bland, and served.

Dish 2: Soggy(?) Cabbage Stir Fry

Garlic slices, fry. Cabbage, fry. Add ikan bilis (dried anchovies) stock, allow to simmer. Add a dash of sesame oil for fragrance, some white pepper powder, throw on some scallion, and serve.

Dish 3: Special Mapo Tofu

Pseudo claypot tofu made on a pan with an assortment of leeks,red onions, celery, white mushrooms

Dish 4: Crispy Fried Eggs (special guest chef, Mr Andrew Lim)

This is essentially frying the eggs in a good unhealthy portion of hot oil such that the eggs start to bubble upon hitting the oil. After the sides start to brown, flip it over and wait a few seconds before removing from heat. Ideally the yolk should still be runny and the outsides crispy and oily. 

Conclusion: Far from any self-respecting Scissors Cut Rice -- we had no time to prepare the starchy black gravy for the eggs and veggies, nor was the curry smooth yet tasty enough. And of course, nothing was really Scissors Cut. But as my Boss likes to say, "in this world, who don't make mistake?"

orzo oh my

I had a craving for orzo today. Luke made some during Spring Break and it was lovely. For this one I included a lot of random things I found in the shop. Roasted peppers, tomatoes, basil, olives, mozzarella, asparagus, garlic, lemon juice and rind, and onions. It had a very nice light flavor to it, but as you can see the proportions were a bit off and there was more ingredients than orzo. The sausage was a surprisingly tasty thai-curry flavored variety which I have definitely become a fan of. The onions continue to rumble in my stomach as I write, it was too raw for the lack of better articulation, maybe I should just use less in the future. Because of bad approximation of portion, I was left feeling quite hungry after my bowl was empty so I cooked an omelet inspired by watching Julia Child do it on youtube. It involved a lot of butter and shaking of the pan.

finally! some decent meat we can use our points on

They were selling pork ribs at wesshop today and vickie decided to do some heart attack inducing cooking. The marinade for this is soy sauce, rice wine, ginger, chives, and sugar. Let sit for two hours before deep frying  in a lot of oil. the recipe advices to remove and fry again. Apparently the double frying is to ensure the insides get cook and the outside stay crisp without getting burned. Taste wise, it was pretty damn good and almost tasted like charsiew, a little too salty, but nothing nice a bowl of white rice couldn't handle. The recipe in chinese can be found here.

clearing out the fridge

luke calls this compost pasta containing brussels sprouts, shrimp, carrots, bacon bits, pine nuts, and....hmmm

asparagus with almonds, potato, sweet potatoes baked with salt

avocado smoothie made with avocado, condensed milk, sugar, and milk.

"this is how my house smells like everyday at 7pm" Sam

Dinner was simple today with a few friends. It was nice. We made dumplings with turkey meat, which don't really do dumplings any justice but unfortunately they really like their turkey here. We also had fried rice with salted fish (that made the street smell like a wet dog when fried), chicken, and fresh eggs mixed with the crumbled yolk of a salted egg. Props to Charmaine for her direction with the fried rice, according to her, it should ideally have included dried and fresh shrimp and pork instead of chicken.

chinese food - too many good things part II

Outdoor cooking to avoid oily splashes and to share the smell of fried salted fish with the street. Mr Swee stated with a twinkle in his eyes, "wah if got real fire hor, than is really like zhi cha, wah I want to be like a zhi cha cook."

Mr Swee's curly haired vege (insert lewd joke) garnished with carrots as an afterthought.

Mr Pang's impromptu chicken made with funky smelling stop-and-shop chicken with dried chili, star anise, and what I think is chinese cooking wine and soy sauce.

This fed 12 people and was over in a blink . On the left is roasted pork belly. On the extreme left is Mr Swee's roasted pork belly fried further with soy sauce, sugar, and garlic - quite simply candied pork. A savory, sugary, fatty delight that has surely shortened my life by a couple of minutes. As Mr Swee, repeatedly asserted, "That's why my mother hor, only cook this once a year during Chinese New Year."