cherry tomatoes

Healthy Salad

Healthy Salad

I am not the most healthy of eaters as you can probably see from the stuff that I cook from time to time. But there are times when a man’s got to do what a man’s got to do. And there is nothing more self fulfilling than to make your own salad for lunch.

For me, I would prefer being served a salad as opposed to packing one for lunch. And for a good variety of reasons as well. Packing means by the time you eat, it is probably whilting away and soggy. But to not drizzle it with dressing would not be such a great idea also.

Everything tastes just so raw.

So add in moderation. I could also opt to add in a separate container or buy a salad box with a separate compartment for dressing. Blah. I go for comvenience and it has to be fast. I can’t take my time to make a gourmet salad. It is just too troublesome.

Plus I am terribly lazy and we all know there is no cure for laziness.

So I have decided to just make do with one disposable container and learn to enjoy soggy salad.

Recipe

Ingredients

Mesclun Mix (probably cheaper if you buy from the wet market grocer)
Cherry Tomatoes (any kind will do)
Strawberries (I got the Australian ones as they were sweeter, Korean ones look too beautiful to eat.)
Bell Peppers (I got three colours, red, green and yellow)
Hard Boiled Egg (Boil an egg until it is hard boiled)
Salt & Pepper (nuffsaid, just to add to the taste)

Method

1. Is there really a method to make a raw salad? Just mix everything into a metal bowl and mix it all up. And serve.

Home Made Pizza

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Home Made Pizza

I love pizzas, but for most restaurants that make this lovely piece of slightly leavened bread, do it for much profit. Expensive for run of the mill pizzas and anything premium can really break your budget.

And if you decide to make it yourself, then it suddenly becomes very affordable. The ingredients are so much cheaper and the best part about making the pizza yourself is you can make as many pizzas as you like. There is no additional cost.

I bought bread flour, instant yeast, tomato puree and some other ingredients and I was on my way to making my own pizza.

Recipe

Ingredients

3 cups of Bread Flour
7 grams of Instant Yeast
A cup of lukewarm water
Pinch of Salt
1 teaspoon of Castor Sugar
3 tbsp of Olive Oil
Tomato Sauce (pasta sauce)
A punnet of Cherry Tomatoes
A punnet of White Button Mushrooms
1 packet of Wild Rockets
Mixed Mozzarella and Cheddar Cheese

Method

1. Using a kitchen aid machine (if you don’t have one, get it!) and a hook fixture attached, mix flour, yeast, sugar and salt together. Turn on low speed. Combine the ingredients well. Add the water and continue to mix well until it is well mixed.

2. Remove the dough from the machine and knead it a little. Then place the dough into a bowl and add the oil. Cling wrap and allow the dough to rise a little. While it is being left to rise and allowing the yeast to work its magic.

3. While that is working, and rising, you can prepare the other ingredients. Slice the mushrooms, cut up the cherry tomatoes and wash the rocket leaves.

4. After you have prepared the ingredients, you can knead the dough and cut it into smaller dollups. With a rolling pin, roll out the dough into whatever shape you like. (your pizza mah)

5. Spoon the tomato sauce (pasta sauce) onto the rolled out dough. Decorate it with sliced mushrooms, cherry tomato halves. Top the pizza with mix mozzarella and cheddar cheese.

6. Pre-heat the oven to a hot 230 degrees. Then bake the pizza for 10 minutes. After baking, the pizza bread should be slightly burnt and nicely roasted. Top the pizza with wild rockets and serve immediately.

Bon Appetit!

Wagyu Steak in Anchovy Butter

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Wagyu Steak in Anchovy Butter

Dinner time has been mostly steam fish this boiled vegetable that. So for tonight’s dinner, I am making a very simple wagyu steak in my favourite anchovy butter sauce.

I came across a rather large wagyu steak on offer at Cold Storage and knew at once that this was going to be a very nice dinner. It was on specials and honestly I couldn’t tell if it was any different from the normal priced wagyu steaks. So I got myself a whole slab. Yum.

The problem with steaks of any kind is usually the preparation of the meat. Cooking time is essential if not critical to the success of the dinner. You can fry up all the premium ingredients to complement the main, but if the doneness of the steak fails, you would have also failed miserably.

For the vegetables that accompanied the steak, I had stir fry Japanese button mushrooms, whole garlic cloves and white button mushrooms with boiled cherry tomatoes and baby potatoes. But what makes this steak really special is the anchovy butter sauce. So simple, just mix the anchovy with the butter in the pan with rosemary herbs and you have a very light butter sauce that works very well with the meat.

Recipe

Ingredients

Main
700-800 grams Wagyu Steak (if you’re not living near a specialty butcher, you could opt to order online Wagyu Kobe Steaks)
Sea Salt
Black Pepper
1 tbsp Olive Oil

Anchovy butter sauce
A small can of Anchovy in Olive Oil
20 grams of Unsalted Butter
A sprig of Rosemary (herb)

Assortment of Vegetables
A pack of Japanese Button Mushrooms
A punnet of White Button Mushrooms
A punnet of Red Cherry Tomatoes
6-7 cloves of Garlic
6 pieces Baby Potatoes
Olive Oil
Black Pepper

Method

1. Boil the baby potatoes in a small pot for about 10 minutes or until a skewer can pierce through. Once done, remove the potatoes and blanch the tomatoes for about 30 seconds. Then remove and arrange vegetabkes on serving plate.

2. In a wok, stir fry the Japanese mushrooms and mildly crushed garlic cloves in 2 tbsp Olive oil for about 2-3 minutes. Quart the white button mushrooms and add the whole lot into the same wok. Continue stir fry. Do this for another 5 minutes. Mushrooms shoukd either sear or shrink down in size. This is common as it loses water content. Once done, dish onto serving plates.

3. Sprinkle the steaks with sea salt and black pepper. In another pan, heat olive oil until smoking, then reduce heat to low. Place the steak into the pan and start pan-searing. 3 minutes on the first side and then another 2 minutes on the other side. Check doneness for medium rare. The meat centre should be a rose pink. If it is a dark red, then maybe you have to cook it a little longer.

The reason why I chose low heat as opposed to high heat is because I don’t want to over-cook the steak. So you have to time the steak strictly. Cut the middle to check for desired doneness. As the wagyu steak is very fatty, it is better to cook over low heat so that the fats will be tender. Once cooked to desired doneness, place it on serving plate.

4. In the same frying pan with the steak infused oil, add the butter and two fillets of anchovies. Break the anchovies and mash it into the butter. Throw in a sprig of Rosemary leaves. Cook until the sauce bubbles and spoon it into the steak. That’s it!

Pair it with a Cabernet Sauvignon or a spicy Shiraz.

Bon Appetit!

Anchovy Pasta (olive oil)

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Anchovy Pasta (olive oil)

This is a recipe that I learnt from my friend Andrew Lum. Simple, exotic and delicious. I finished all 170 grams of the spaghetti and my tummy is still rumbling. I think I must be very hungry, or the pasta is really yummy. I suspect it is the latter. Simple to prepare and great for gatherings, you can prepare this pasta in less than 15 minutes. Of course, you need to know what you are doing in order to meet the 15 minute timing. But no worries, can one.

The only problem I find with this particular recipe is the availability of the Anchovy. I use canned Anchovy from Cold Storage, and it seems that NTUC, even Finest, don’t really sell the preserved fish. They sell all kinds of Sardines, Tuna, but somehow I can’t seem to find the Anchovy. Ok, that said, maybe I didn’t try hard enough. Maybe I should also ask someone at the store? I admit that I am the if-I-can’t-find-it-at-the-store-it-is-likely-to-be-sold-out type of shopper. Either that or I don’t bother to ask. Okay, I am lazy.

Recipe

Ingredients

 

250 grams Barilla Spaghetti *cooks in 5 minutes – 2 servings*

1 can Anchovy Fillets in Extra Virgin Olive Oil (50 grams) *Waitrose brand from Cold Storage*

1 Egg *raw*

5 Chilli Padi *reduced the chillis if you can’t take the heat*

1 Punnet Cherry Tomatoes *sliced*

1 Box Sweet Basil leaves

Parmesan Cheese

 

Method

1. Boil a pot of water. Add oil and sea salt. How much depends on yourself. Add pasta in the pot once the water is boiling. Note the number of minutes that is needed to cook the pasta to al dente, this is usually indicated on the packaging of the Barilla Pasta box. If you want it a little softer, then you cook it a minute of two longer.

2. For some folks, they sometimes complain that the pasta noodles have an odd smell. I don’t have that problem. Maybe it might be a case of the quality of pasta? Who knows.

3. Once pasta is cooked, drain the pasta and immediately add the raw egg, chilli padi and anchovies (mashed). Mix thoroughly, and allow the egg to coat the hot pasta. This will also partly cook the egg. The egg acts like a sauce in a way. Add sliced cherry tomatoes and sweet basil and give it a good mix.

4. Serve with grated Parmesan Cheese.

Bon Appetit!

Simple Salad

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Simple Salad

I call it simple salad because I am always doing these salads with no names or maybe there is a name but I can’t be bothered to name it.

Anyway I make salads that I think are fun to eat. This one that I made today is exactly that. Simple and straightforward wholesome yummyness.

Recipe – serving for two

Ingredients

Baby spinach

Wild rocket

Button mushrooms

Cherry tomatoes

Buffalo mozzarella

Balsamic vinaigrette

Olive oil

Sea salt

Method

1. Wash baby spinach and wild rocket. After washing, toss it into the salad bowl.

2. Slice cherry tomatoes and toss it in. I didn’t specify the quantities,  but if you like cherry tomatoes as I do, you will know how many to add.

3. Half the button mushrooms and fry them in olive oil. Make sure the mushrooms are seared before adding in the olive oil. Add sea salt to taste. Once ready, toss it into the salad bowl.

4. Slice buffalo mozzarella and toss it into the salad bowl. Add balsamic vinaigrette according to your love for sour stuff.

Bon Appetit!

Pan Seared Ribeye Steak

Ho Sim Lang

Pan Seared Ribeye Steak

I have always secretly wanted to be a Neurosurgeon.

Thanks to my wife’s love for beef steaks, now my dream will finally come through – that is to be a 牛肉 (Niu Rou), Surgeon.

This has got to be an all-time favourite of ours. Beef steaks. We love it. No doubt about it. My wife loves it medium rare whereas I can only stomach a medium.

On this day I thought I would try cooking this simple yet impactful dish. It’s like a rite of passage for me before I can well and truly say that I have tried my best before giving up.

You see, this is not my first attempt. I have failed many times trying to time the doneness of the steaks and frankly, steaks are expensive mistakes if not done properly.

The problem I believe is because firstly the steaks from Cold Storage are not as chunky as we think. Secondly, our cooking utensils or at least mine are not cast iron where cooking temperatures are moderated and more even.

So taking those factors into consideration, my cooking temperatures are different. I think if you are doing your own steaks, just bear in mind the cooking temperatures and cooking equipment and you should be fine.

All the best folks.

 

Recipe – Serving for Two

Ingredients

Ribeye steaks from Cold Storage

Fresh rosemary (2 sprigs)

Sea salt

Black pepper

Baby spinach

Cherry tomatoes

New potatoes

Red wine – merlot is best and especially if they are half drunk.

 

Method

1. Boil the new potatoes in a pot, water must cover the potatoes. Do this until they are all cooked.

2. Salt the steaks on one side lightly, sprinkle coarse black pepper as well. Leave it for 5 minutes.

3. Heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a wide frying pan until smoking. You want the pan to be really hot. Once the pan is sufficiently heated up, place seasoned side down for searing. This is steak, so there is no need to spin it in the pan. 4 minutes on one side and then with tongs flip the steak on the other side for another 3 minutes. Make sure the fat is cooked (if any).

4. Remove the steaks and plate it. It is important to allow the steak to rest at least 10 minutes.

5. Pour half a cup of red wine (can be remnants of a bottle) and deglaze the pan. Add a little salt to taste. Allow the alcohol to reduce and this will form a light red wine sauce for the steak.

6. Roast potatoes with rosemary and salt until slightly smoking then drizzle with extra virgin olive oil for shine and flavour.

7. Plate the potatoes, arrange the baby spinach and cherry tomatoes (halved) around the steaks before a drizzle of the red wine sauce. You may pair it with a Cabernet Sauvignon (Chilean) if you like.

Bon Appetit!