Croque monsieur

What's fast to cook and good to eat? Nope not maggi mee haha! Homemade Croque monsieur!! Ok not exactly the way the French do it but hey whatever taste good will do rite!

What you need (feed 1)
- 2 types of cheese (can be sliced or grated)
- 2 slices of bread (any kind you like but best with soft kind)
- some shaved ham, the more the merrier
- mustard
- butter (salted)
- pepper

Let's cook
1. Place 2 slices of bread on plate and spread mustard on 1 side for both.
2. Put first type of cheese on 1 slice of bread, then the ham and finally the other cheese.
3. Crack some pepper (optional). Then place other slice of bread on top to sandwich.
4. Heat up a pan or griller but don't add oil.
5. Spread generous amount of butter on the top bread. Then place butter side down on pan. Use spatular to press sandwich down on pan.
6. Spread butter on other side of bread. Then flip sandwich over carefully and press down again.
7. Fry till golden brown. Cut into halves and serve hot with chips!

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.

Breaded baked fish with homemade tartar sauce

Here's a recipe for quick and easy weekday dinners, by request of a girlfriend who's venturing into the kitchen. Good luck Annie and have fun cooking :)

Breaded Baked Fish/Pork/Chicken

What you need (feeds 2)
- 4 strips if frozen or fresh fish fillets
- 1 egg White
- 1 tsp plain flour
- some panko flakes (jap breadcrumbs)
- black pepper n salt

Let's cook!
1. Preheat oven to highest temp. Mine is 220 degrees.
2. Line in separate plates - flour, egg White, panko (seasoned with salt and pepper).
3. Pat dry fish fillets. Coat in flour dusting off excess flour. Then dip into egg White and finally panko.
4. Placed on grill lined with pan below. Drizzle some oil and place in oven for about 20mins or till golden brown.
5. Serve with homemade tartar sauce.

Homemade tartar sauce
- 2 tsp Mayo
- 1 big clove garlic, crushed
- lots of dill chips (pickle), diced
Mix all together and serve!

Same recipe can be used with chicken strips or thin pork fillets. Can either oven bake, shallow fry or deep fry. Here's a photo I shallow-fried with pork (katsu), served on a piece of toast with a sunny-side up yummy!

tiramisu-me

I'm sure all of us have a love-hate relationship with tiramisu. It's too rich, yet you can't resist the soft creamy mascarpone cheese with caffeine/alcohol-soaked finger biscuits, sprinkled with cocoa powder....YUMS! Sadly I don't think I can really eat a whole piece without feeling "jelat" (meaning sick). Thus recently I saw in Delicious food mag (it's a UK mag) this recipe for mango-risu! Not only did it look lovely and delicious! However, cutting mangoes is something I really rather not do, so I thought I can do this recipe with strawberries instead. So I attempted it for a friend's birthday dinner recently, without much thought, jumped straight into it and here's what it looks like!



Lovely isn't it haha!



Cross-section view! How does it taste? Oh so light and yummy! Not "jelat" at all!!

berrie berrie nice cheesecake

I've attempted to make no-bake cheesecake 2 times already and have failed at both attempts. Somehow there was something missing in those recipes I had and the cheesecake did not set. I have been pondering and researching about it for awhile and came across this recipe online. So the missing ingredient is....gelatine! Had a go at this new-found recipe and yay! Success!! I'm a happy camper! And it taste sooo good. I figured out the topping myself though. Am so proud of myself hehe! Here's the evidence...

crabcakes, fishcakes, not that kinda cakes

This is by request of my friend San who tried my crabcakes and wants the recipe. These are probably the easiest things to make and freeze for weekday dinners. You can also do mini versions to impress your guests at dinner parties!

What you need
1 large potato
250gm frozen crabmeat, soaked in hot water for while OR
1 can tuna or salmon or any fish
seasoning: pepper, salt, mixed dried herbs
optional: some chopped parsley
1 egg
oil
panko flakes (japanese breadcrumbs) or any kinda breadcrums

Let's cook!
1. Skin and cut potato into quarters. Place in bowl, cover with water then microwave for about 11mins till soft.
2. Drain water from potato and mash it up.
3. Add crabmeat/fish, plus seasoning and chopped parsley. Mix it all together.
4. Crack the egg in a separate bowl, beat it then add half the egg into the crab/fish mix and mix well together.
5. Heat enough oil to shallow fry (about halfway up the cakes is fine).
6. Pour the panko onto a plate, roll crab/fish mix into balls (big or small) then lightly flatten them.
7. Dip the balls into the remaining egg lightly then coat with panko. Fry till golden brown, then flip over and fry the over side.
8. Drain and serve with homemade garlic aioli :) or make giant cakes and serve with side salad as a main.



These are wonderfully light and yummy! Somewhat like croquettes!

i heart canapés

I really love canapés! Not so much to eat them but more for the presentation of many tiny little things arranged on a plate just look so nice! Yes I know it's crazy haha! So at any opportunity I get, I'll try my hands at making canapés. Honestly, mini stuff are not always easy to do as it's more time consuming. But it's worth all the effort when you guests go oohh and ahh over them hehe! Here's some I made for a recent dinner party at home. Aren't they the cutest??


Mini scallops on avocado corstini with bacon dust



Mini shrimps on avocado corstini with bacon dust



Mini crabcakes with aioli