weekend dinners

Saturdays is chef's day off and we usually eat out. But last Sat, due to the unbearable heat, we came home early after a day at the Peranakan Museum, so I whipped up a Creamy Tomato Scallop & Prawns Pasta for our dinner. Ok I know this sounds weird but see I like tomato-based pasta and the hubs of course likes cream. So I thought why not combine the 2 and there you go...a new recipe!! I love Sundays! It's not just family day, it's also to complete my chores and whip up something special for dinner for us. Last week, a good pal of mine posted a yummy-licious shot of her Braised Lamb for dinner and she was kind enough to share her recipe. So I gave it a shot and boy were we pleasantly and happily surprised. It was yummy beyond words! The meat was so flavourful and it fell off the meat nicely! Thanks Siska! Bless your sweet soul for the yummers recipe! Will definitely be making this again soon! P/S: Siska babe, you know I still follow and make the potato salad recipe that you taught me when I was like 16! And it still rocks my world! Just made it again tonite...happy camper!!

mooore macaroons

Pistachio & Raspberry Macaroons!! Rows of baked Pistachio shells just outta the oven

Pistachio filled with hazelnut

Raspberry filled with 4-berries jam

Made another 2 new batches of macaroons last weekend. Pistachio and Raspberry. My personal fav of the 2 is Raspberry as the sweetness of the shell is balanced off by the tarty 3-berries jam that I used for the filling. Had some feedback that the macaroons were too sweet. But I have news for you guys, 2 types of sugar goes into the making of the shell...so go figure! I guess that not only explains the sweetness but also the tiny size and prices of macaroons! It's meant to be savoured and not swallowed people! P/S: I just started my basis baking course at Creative Culinaire. No macaroons is not in the syllabus but it's definitely an eye-opener for me just from lesson 1. Looking forward to lesson 2 next week where we'll be learning to make chiffon cakes :)

holy macarons!

I've always had a soft-spot for macarons and my fav is from Canele. It needs to be crusty on the outside and chewy on the inside. It's not easy finding nice macarons, not forgetting the pricey tag attached to it. So on a Sunday like today, when all house-chores and done, I decided to experiment making my own macarons. Bought March issue of Delicious with this amazing macaron shot on it and a simple recipe so I tried my hands at it. Here's some shots to drool over.

Fresh outta the over

Mini chocolate macaron with hazelnut fillings

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

strawberry shortcake for another b-day gal

Every year ambien and I will get a cake for each other on our bdays. This year, since I'm so into baking, I thought I'll try my hand and bake her a cake instead. So I bravely adventured into baking a strawberry cake (like the Japanese bakery style). After much research, I narrowed down to this recipe as it seemed easy enough to take on. However, I was quite a skeptic of the recipe as it did not require any butter nor baking powder. I wondered if it could rise. But anyhow, I gave it a shot and not only did it rise 2 times it's height, it was light, fluffy, yummy and full of flavour sponge cake! Slicing the cake into half wasn't easy but hey who can see if it's unevenly cut after it's dressed up with lovely strawberries! Here's the end result. Excuse the messy decor as I got bit tired and just wanted to get the strawberries on the cake, clean up and go to bed :) Here's the recipe by request of ambien and her mom. What you need for Vanilla Sponge Cake (for small cake)

• 4 egg yolks
• 3/4 cup sugar
• half of 1/4 cup milk
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla essence
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 egg whites

Let's bake!

1. Preheat oven at 180 degrees. Line tin with baking paper
2. Whisk yolks, 1/2 cup sugar, milk, vanilla esence till smooth
3. Then whisk in sifted flour and salt into mixture till combined
4. In a separate bowl, whisk whites with pinch of salt at medium speed till soft peaks
5. Add in remaining sugar a little at a time, whisking at medium speed and continue to whisk till stiff and glossy peaks (about 2mins)
6. Fold 1/3 of the whites into the batter to lighten, then fold in remaining whites gently
7. Bake for 25mins till cooked in centre. Cool in tin for about 10mins before inverting.

What you need for Vanilla Cream

• 3/4 cup whipping cream
• 1 tablespoon icing sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon vanilla essence

--> Whisk all 3 ingredients together till peak.
Let's assemble!

1. Cut cake into half
2. Spread cream on the half, arrange slices of strawberries on top of cream
3. Spread cream on bottom of the other half of cake, then place top half on top
4. Spread remaining cream on top of cake and arrange strawberries on top. Can arrange strawberries standing or any way you prefer, be creative!
5. Optional: spread cream on sides and arrange sliced almonds over. Dust icing sugar on top of strawberries before serving for dreamy effect and enjoy :)

celebrities-inspired dinner for a b-day gal

Have MIA-ed from bloggin for awhile but have not stopped cooking. Last Sat, by requested of the b-day girl S, I whipped up a 3-course dinner that was inspired by 2 great chefs. Hmm actually I think it's 1 celebrity chef, Gordon Ramsey; while the other is my fav cooking author, Donna Hay. Enough of words, here's the evidence.

Starters: Creamy Asparagus Soup with Char-Grilled Sea Scallop

Mains: Mushroom Gratin Tenderloin with Herb Roasted Potatoes

Desserts: Chocolate Fondant Pudding served with Vanilla Ice-Cream