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

Chicken soup for the soul

Another fast and easy, yet hearty recipe for weekday dinners. All it takes is chicken breast, carrots and corn to put a smile on your face :)

Creamy chicken & mushroom/corn soup

What you need (feeds 3)
- 2 chicken breasts
- 2 carrots, diced
- 1 packet brown mushroom, sliced
- 1 packet cream corn
- 1 tsp cream
- salt & pepper to taste

Let's cook!
1. Put first 3 ingredients in a deep pot, add water to cover the ingredients by double.
2. Cover and bring to boil. Then simmer at low fire about an hour.
3. When carrots are soft, remove chicken set aside.
4. Put carrots, mushroom and some of the broth into blender and lightly blend. Taking care not to over blend as you want some chunks of carrots and mushroom.
5. Pour back blended mix into pot. Add cream corn or cream but not both.
6. Shred chicken and add into soup. Serve hot with love.

sawadee burp

I was getting a bit bored of cooking the same dishes night after night for dinner, so decided to explore other cuisines lately. One of our favourite cuisine is Thai. So naturally, I went head on looking up some easy to cook Thai food. This week, I tried Thai Grilled Chicken and Thai Lemongrass Mussels.



Both were "aroy" means delicious in Thai (something I picked up in my many travels to the land of smiles. But by special request and also just cause it is soooo bloody good, I'm going to share the recipe of the marinade for the Grilled Chicken. I downloaded the recipe from the internet but made some refinement on my own to make it more "Thai" :) It's so simple and tasty to perk up your weekday dinners. Do try it and let me know what your family think about it!

What you need (serves 2pax)

• 1/2 fresh chicken chopped into parts
• 2 tbsp soy sauce
• 1 tsp dark sauce
• 2 tbsp fish sauce
• 3 tbsp sherry
• 2 tbsp brown sugar
• 1 tbsp cracked black pepper
• 2 tbsp minced garlic
• 2 tbsp minced lemongrass
• 1 tbsp minced ginger

What to do

1. Combine all the marinade ingredients in a bowl and stir well to dissolve the sugar.
2. Throw the chicken parts and marinade into a plastic bag or ziplock bag, mix it around.
3. Throw it into the fridge to marinate at least 24 hours. Best for 48 hours :)
4. Take out from marinade place on grill skin side down at 220 degrees for 15mins. Then turn over and grill another 10-15mins or till skin is brown and the lovely aroma fills the house :)

creamy asparagus soup

Here's the recipe for creamy asparagus soup with char-grilled scallop (or prawn), special request by ambien. What you need (serves 6)

• 40g butter
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 garlic clove, crushed
• 4 bunches asparagus, trimmed & chopped
• 1 teaspoon finely grated lemon rind
• 4 cups prawn/seafood stock
• 1/2 cup pouring cream
• 1/2 cup finely grated parmesan cheese
• 6 sea scallops or prawns
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 2 tablespoon lemon juice
• sea salt & cracked black pepper
• shaved parmesan cheese to serve
• cracked black pepper to serve

Let's cook!

1. Heat saucepan over high heat, add butter, onion and garlic and cook for 4-5mins till golden and tender
2. Add asparagus, lemon rind and pepper and cook for 2-3mins
3. Ass stock and bring to the boil
4. Reduce the heat and simmer for 12-15mins till asparagus is tender
5. Either use a hand-held blender or pour into a blender and blend till smooth
6. Pour back into pot and add cream and parmesan. Set aside and keep warm
7. Place scallops/prawns, oil, lemon juice, salt and pepper into a bowl, toss to combine
8. Heat a char-grill pan over high heat and cook scallops/prawns for 3-4mins till cooked
9. Ladle soup into bowls and top with scallops/prawns and a piece of shaved parmesan. Enjoy!

surfin seafood tart

Was at kino the other day browsing some food mags and saw this easy-peasy seafood tart recipe. Wanted to try it but didn't want to get that mag as there was nothing else worth buying for. So I copied it down on my phone, went down to Cold Storage, bought the ingredients, went home and tried it out with slight modification of my own. Boy was it surprisingly good!! So thought I'll share the recipe. XLB you might want to try this for your hubby hehe!

Assembled tarts waiting to go into the oven

What you need (makes 6)

• 20g unsalted butter
• 1/2 an onion, thinly sliced
• 4 bacon rashes, diced
• 12 prawns, chopped
• 140g crabmeat (i used frozen crabmeat)
• 1/2 cup cream
• 3 egg yolks
• dashes of dried basil flakes
• sprinkles of chilli flakes
• salt & pepper
• store-bought short crust pastry

Let's cook!

1. Preheat oven at 180 degrees
2. Melt butter, fry onion till soften with sprinkles of chilli flakes.
3. Fry bacon, then prawns, finally add in onion mix and crab. Season with pepper
4. Whisk cream, yolks, dried basil, zest in a jug. Season with salt & pepper
5. Line tart case with short crust pastry and use a fork to make some holes in the pastry for air to escape when baking
6. Spoon the crab mixture into the pastry tart, then pour egg mixture on top
7. Sprinkle some chilli flakes on top, then bake for 20-25mins
8. Stand for 10mins before removing from tin and serving

ooishi to hayashi

I discovered this amazing Japanese invention called hayashi sauce in a cube at our local supermarket (Bishan NTUC). It looks and works the same way as the instant Japanese curry sauce cubes. But don't be deceive by this sauce as it can be used for many many dishes, besides as hayashi stew itself. It is has this rich beefy-stewy taste and these are some of the recipes I've created outta this instant sauce. It makes great gravy for bangers & mash! Added it into my lamb meatballs & sausage stew and not only it acts as a thickening agent, it gave the stew a rich beefy, three dimensional taste! So deelicious!!

Ooishi to hayashi nei!!

corny but yummy beehoon

This is my mom's recipe, which is our all-time fav and comfort food - corned beef beehoon. It's not some dish you can get at the local hawker centre as it is our family recipe. And it may sounds weird till you tried it. I have converted 2 friends and the hubs (of cos) to big fans of this dish and that says it all haha! Also it is so easy to prepare with less time slaving over the stove and more time to sit and enjoy it. You'll need 1 can of corned beef, 1 small cabbage, 1 pack of beehoon (I use brown rice beehoon which is 1/2 the size of the usual pack), diced garlic, pepper, chilli flakes and light soya sauce!

easy peasy weekday dinners

Chasing-the-blues Beef Stew

I've been sooo busy with the big move that it's not fun at all. With the amount of stress that came along with it, cooking was hardly on my schedule. So what do we eat for dinner everyday you ask...here's a series of easy peasy dinners for busy folks like me :) Sorry too tired to jot down the recipes today but enjoy the pics yeah. On those days when you are really busy and craving for some fried stuff, my fav is frozen Tay's Chicken Karage and my trusty Heineken! Best part about Tay's is I heat it up in the oven and it's still super crispy hehe! Had this last Thursday at the height of my stressed week. Then there is some dishes you can prepare in advance, freeze it and reheat when wana eat. I call this "Chasing-the-blues Beef Stew". It is topped with thinly sliced potatoes instead of pastry and contains diced carrots, mushrooms, peas, canned tomatoes and thicken with Jap stew cube. Yummers and sure to get rid of all Monday blues!

things to stew about

Sorry I have MIA from blogging for a week. Partly was recovering from bad stomach flu and another part is due to busy packing for my office move happening next week. With so much on my plate, I needed to find some time to cook. Well of course we still need to eat but there's always takeaway as most busy folks will opt for. But for me cooking is my way to de-stress, even it is a quick and simple dish. So I finally hit the kitchen yesterday to prepare dinner for tonite, after about a week away. Whipped up our all-time fav one-pot comfort meal - Spicy Sausage Stew or Soup as it is rather watered. This dish is great for all of us working wives. Cook it the day before, pop it into the fridge and re-heat when ready to devour! Ingredients (feeds 2 very hungry folks)

• 2 herb sausages
• 2 Italian sausages
• 2 medium potatoes, diced
• 2 medium carrots, diced
• half onion, diced
• 1 can of Hunt's stewed tomato
• half a glass of water
• dash of mixed Italian herbs
• 1 teaspoon dry chilli flakes (I get mine from BKK, the best and most spicy)
• salt & pepper

Method

1. Saute the onions in bit of olive oil in a medium stainless steel saucepan, add sausages and fry till semi cooked.
2. Pour in canned stewed tomato, stir awhile then add in potato and carrots and pour in water.
3. Season with Italian herbs and chilli flakes, cover and simmer on low fire for about half hour or till potato/carrots are soft...and you are done!
4. Transfer to a container, leave to cool then refrigerate. Re-heat when ready to enjoy!

my own chow chow-der

I'm very proud to say that I made this Seafood Chowder from scratch and it is more or less my own recipe as well. The hubs is down with fever today and don't really have an appetite. So I thought I'll make a tasty chowder for him. Was researching for a recipe and most of them I found either took too long or had too many ingredients. So I improvised and came up with my own and again we were both pleasantly surprised. This definitely wet the sick hubs' appetite and he slurped up every last drop of it! So I shall share the recipe of my simple Seafood Chowder recipe with you. Ingredients (serves 2)

• 50g frozen crab meat, defrosted
• 10-12pcs of medium prawns, peeled, de-veined and diced into small pieces (not too tiny tho)
• 2 slices of bacon, diced into small pieces
• 1 medium potato, diced into small cubes
• 1 carrot, diced into small cubes
• 1/2 onion, diced
• 1/8 bar of butter
• 1 cup dry white wine
• 2 cups prawn stock
• 2 tablespoon of pure cream
• seasoning: salt, pepper & dash of dried mixed herbs

Method

1. Make the prawn stock. Submerge prawn heads in a pot of water, bring to boil then simmer for about 30mins.
2. In a separate pot, heat butter with a dash of oil (adding a dash of oil will ensure butter will not be burnt) and sauteed the onions till translucent. Then add bacon and fry for about 2mins.
3. Add in carrots and potatoes, stir and coat in the butter, onion, bacon mix. Then pour in the wine, bring to boil and simmer to reduce till about half of the liquid remains.
4. Now add in the prawn stock and seasoning. Bring to boil, then cover and simmer for about 15mins or till carrots and potatoes are soft but not mashy.
5. Add in the seafood and simmer for about 10mins. Stir in cream, thicken with bit of cornstarch (optional), dish into bowls and serve hot with freshly cracked black pepper. Enjoy!

here fishie fishie

I'm sure all of us love our fish & chips but most of the time it's deep fried and oily, thus we avoid eating it unless and major craving hits. This week this recipe for oven-baked fish and chips kinda crossed my path twice so I just had to try it out. I went for the Parmesan-crumbled recipe and it was fantastic! Was pleasantly at how crispy the coating was despite not going anywhere near the pot of oil. Anyway, here's the recipe in case any of you have a craving and don't want the hassle of deep frying. Oh btw I didn't make the fries, it was frozen wedges which was heated in the oven too. But I made a wasabi mayo dip to go along with the fish.

Ingredients (serves 2)

• 1 cup breadcrumbs (you can be creative with this, I used this nutty walnut bread)
• 1/2 cup finely grated parmesan cheese
• some finely grated lemon rind
• 120g melted butter
• 4pcs of any skinless white fish fillets
• 1 beaten egg
• plain flour for dusting
• lemon wedges to serve

Method

1. Preheat oven to 220 degrees. Place breadcrumbs, cheese, lemon rind and 80g of the butter in a bowl and mix well.
2. Dust the fish in the flour, dip in egg and press in breadcrumb mix.
3. Place fish on baking tray lined with non-stick paper and bake for 15mins or till golden brown. Serve with lemon wedges, ketchup and wasabi mayo. Enjoy!

under my paella, ella, ella...

Watched this show on tv last xmas where celebrity chef Gordon Ramsey cooked a 3-course xmas special dinner. He made this seafood paella that looked soo yummy! The hubs then suggested I try to make this for our xmas eve dinner rather than the usual meats, since we'll be eating lots of it on xmas day. So I gave it a shot and despite not being able to find the right type of grain, I have to say the outcome was amazingly close to and even better than some of the ones we tried at some Spanish restaurants. Here's the simplified recipe. Ingredients

• 1 red pepper, diced
• 1 onion, chopped
• 2 garlic clove, chopped
• 400g paella rice (Arborio)
• 125ml dry white wine
• 1 teaspoon paprika
• pinch of saffron thread
• 1 ltr veg stock
• seafood selection of your choice - for me it was mussels, prawns, fish & scallops
• 1 lemon cut into wedges
• olive oil
• salt & pepper

Method

1. Heat oil in large pan, add onion, cook briefly.
2. Add pepper, garlic, season with salt and pepper, cook till soften.
3. Sprinkle paprika and saffron, add in rice and stir well so that each grain is well coated.
4. Add wine and allow to evaporate before pouring in the hot stock.
5. Cover with lid and leave to simmer for 20mins. Stir occasionally to prevent rice from sticking.
6. 5 mins before end, add seafood, stir and replace lid.
7. Before serving, mix through and garnish with lemon wedges. Enjoy!

follow the shepard to the pie

Ok sorry for my punny titles, I just can't help it haha! So here's last night's dinner - the every so comforting Shepard's Pie.

Here's my quick and easy recipe to whip up for weekday dinners.

Ingredients

• 300g minced beef/lamb
• 1 carrot, diced
• 1 onion, diced
• 4-5 medium potatoes
• 2-3 tablespoon butter
• grated cheddar or mozzarella cheese
• dashes of worcestershire sauce
• salt, pepper & dried mixed herbs

Method

1. Preheat oven at 200 degrees celsius.
2. Submerge the potatoes in a bowl of water and put in microwave on high for 8-10mins.
3. In the meantime, heat a pan with oil and sweat the onion till translucent then add the beef/lamb. Add the seasonings and carrots, then fry for about 5-6mins till meat is cooked or dark brown in colour.
4. Pierce potatoes with a fork to ensure they are soft in the centre. Drain and peel them, then mash and mix well with butter.
5. Assemble pie in a oven-proof dish. Dish the meat mixture into the base, then top with the mashed potatoes and flatten it out to a smooth top.
6. Sprinkle top of potato layer with generous portion of cheese, grate from fresh black pepper and place into oven for 25-30mins till cheese melts and bubbles.
7. Serve and enjoy :)