pretty little things

I really got a fetish for pretty mini food! Love to see many of them lined up neatly on a plate, almost too god to devour! As usual, this was my attempt to make some hors d'oeuvres for a Christmas get-together.

Somked salmon devil egg

Wasabi shrimp & crab cucumber cups

beef bouguignon

I've been wanting to make this for some time now, ever since I purchase the le cruset dutch oven pot. But it does take a loooooong time to cook and thus have been putting it off due to time. Anyhow, finally manage to find the time to cook this and the hubs and I swear it is soooo worth the amount of time slow stewing it! However, be warned that you will need to break the bank and part with some major capital M to purchase the pot in order to prepare this dish. I strongly believe it WILL make a huge difference in the flavours and taste. And no I'm not getting any commission from le cruset for this post (they should pay me tho yeah?). So per request from my friend S, whom have been warned that this is level 5.5/5 in my opinion. S, I think you just wait for the next time I make this and invite you over ok, pls do not go out and buy this pot just for this dish haha!

What you need (feeds 5-6, depending how much of a carnivorous you are)
- 150g bacon (optional)
- 1.4kg stewing beef cubes (rump or chuck)
- 1 sliced carrot
- 1 sliced celery
- 1 sliced onion
- 200g sliced mushroom
- 2 tsp plain flour
- 3 cups red wine, preferably a good Burgundy
- 2-3 cups beef stock
- 1 tsp tomato paste
- 2 cloves mashed garlic
- few thyme springs
- 2 rosemary spring
- olive oil

Let's cook  
(this is best done over 2 days, in my opinion, to allow the beef to soak up all the flavours)
1. Fry bacon with olive oil in dutch oven pot. While that's happening, coat beef cubes with flour. This helps dry them and aids browning.
2. Once bacon has produced good amount of fat, remove and sear beef cubes in batches, taking care not to overcrowd. Also ensure there is enough oil, if not meat will not form a nice crust and flour will stick to the base of the pot.
3. Remove meat and throw in the garlic, veges to brown. Then throw in the mushrooms and cook till they turned golden.
4. Remove veges to a separate bowl, return meat to the pot along with wine, stock and tomato paste. Ensure there's enough liquid to just about cover the meat.
5. Turn down flame to the smallest, cover and let it simmer for about an hour. If your liquid dries up, feel free to add more wine or stock or water.
6. After an hour, return the veges to the pot, cover and continue to stew for about 1-1 1/2 hours on smallest flame.
7. This is where I made my own variation to the recipe. After 1 1/2 hours, you will see that sauce is still very liquid/watery, don't panic. Switch off the flame and left it overnight in the pot on the stove top.
8. The next day, turn on the flame again at the smallest and continue to simmer for about 1 1/2-2 hours on the stove top. Do check in between to ensure that the liquid has not dried up. After simmering, you will notice that the sauce has thicken up quite a lot and the beef is fork-tender, then you are ready to serve!
9. If the sauce does not thicken, you can mix 1 tsp of butter with 1 tsp of flour to form a dough and whisk into the sauce at low heat till reach the desired thickness.
10. Serve with crusty bread or mash potatoes and the balance of your Burgundy, sit back and enjoy!

P/S: See there are 10 steps to this recipe, told you it's really not easy ahah! But if you are feeling adventurous you can try the original recipe from Julia Child herself at:
http://simplyrecipes.com/recipes/boeuf_bourguignon/
http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/recipe?id=8222804

xmas baking frenzy

How was your Xmas and New Year hols? My was a mad but enjoyable baking frenzy hehe! Here's the count over the break: 8 sugee cakes, 2 brownies, 2 blueberry cheesecakes, 2 lemon cheesecakes, 1 oreo cheesecake, 1 tiramisu, and 3 log cakes wahah! Here's some of the evidence.

migrating back to blogspot

Happy New Year! Sorry for the silence! It's been a year since I started this blog and am proud to say I have accumulated a cult following from my fellow foodie friends, whom been asking me why there is no recent blog posting haha! Reason is simply cos my iBook (yes you read right) has been rather cranky on me in Dec. But I don't blame him cos he's really really old and should retire. But last weekend when I just decided to get a new netbook, my dear ol' ibook decided to work again haha! Anyway long story short, will be updating more blog posts soon...but in the meantime, I have some major news to announce....

I'm migrating back to blogspot hahaha! Purely because it's easier to customize the layout and also it's cheaper if and when I decide to register my own domain haha! So this is my last post here on wordpress. Pls follow me as http://awwesomepossum.blogspot.com. Here's a sneak-preview. See you there soon and pls drop me your comments on my layout yeah :)