Monthly Archives: March 2013

Live to Eat….

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I was doing my 10km run on this side of Ulu Pandan jogging track (Holland Grove View side) yesterday morning.

With this run, I completed the first 100km of a 550km run to raise donations for needy children at Rainbow Centre via Fundonate. I am asking 55 friends who are 55 this year to each donate $55, $1 for every 10km I run so we can all share & relish the joy of living all these 55 seasons of our passage on planet earth , and many afterwards. 🙂

My mind was wandering as I ran thinking of living, eating, cooking…

Eat to Live…Live to Eat…Eat to Live to Eat..one of those cliches we talk about ( kind of like chicken or egg?) occasionally but with no particular meaning or importance attached..indeed so..as we select words & phrases to capture what is important to ourselves & the same words or phrases extract different thoughts (or depth of what they represent) depending on what we attach to them.

My mind went jogging too, 10km was short for the body, 1hr+ was long for the mind..haha. 🙂

I think in my younger days I “eat” to live, or do everything else to live – study, work, business travel, entertain, network, struggle with business start-ups, etc..the goal (but what is the goal?) was important so the process was a blur – like the movie “Click” – and you don’t know what you are “eating” basically since you eat to live..

Now I am kind of live to eat…ok I like food, I am greedy..and now I talk about worthwhile calories, worthwhile cholesterol. and maybe they are just excuses to eat unhealthy food, but I guess one can say also there is some perspective to it – that if you have to eat unhealthy make sure they are food you really really like & enjoy and feel “shiok” not something so-so, can do without – hopefully there are not so many such food in that category everytime! 🙂

anyway my own solution to that is just compensate, make-up (just as in managing relationship)..if you have more this time, skip or have less next time! if you miss a run this time, make-up another (but MUST make-up la otherwise won’t work right..) 🙂 just like relationship, if you miss an appointment, if you are not there for someone this time, pro-actively do it next time! don’t angst over the eating, and don’t angst over the relationship…

So I live to eat, “eat” being everything else in the perspective of savouring & relishing the process, so that there is joy in the living..and for me there is no right or wrong or best way about this..everyone’s needs are different..I am applying this for myself only..say for my children, they do need to focus & work on their studies, their future careers..they have their own needs and what are important to them..and everyone do need to work hard (and work very hard in Singapore & really anywhere else – China, Vietnam, major cities like New York, London, Tokyo etc) to get the results, and the process of working hard & achieving something are themselves very rewarding, and sometimes with a perspective shift (haha..very “sian” to hear paradigm shift) maybe the process is more rewarding than the physical material rewards…whatever to each his own. 🙂

To me perspective is the key though of course like everything else it is easier said than done. We say 退一步海阔天空 or 山穷水尽疑无路, 柳暗花明又一村..buddhists talk about attachments as the source of suffering & pain…so if we can, change or see the perspective…if we cannot, well i also have no solution, think of some other ways to make up lor. 🙂

Enjoyable Lunch @ Pasta Inc on 29Mar2013

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seafood spaghetti in squid ink sauce

seafood spaghetti in squid ink sauce

Pasta Inc has a simple nice uncrowded ambience and feel of a fine dining restaurant. It is at Kiong Siak Street, in a locale dotted with the more expensive restaurants like Ember, Nicolas le & Bistro Soori.

I only came to Pasta Inc once and that was more than a year ago when a few of us bought the S$38 4-course lunch set coupons. Somehow that experience did not leave any impression ie not some place I was wanting to go back soon.

Today though I had a really enjoyable 3-course lunch with my daughter using 2xS$15.90nett Bigdeal coupon (which is like S$13.50++pax) for the 3-course lunch set. The normal price was S$22.50++pax and judging from what we had, I thought it would still be a good value lunch. 🙂 The service was also good. The server, Alvin, who was also the one who took my reservation, was cheerful & professional, kept filling my ice water, and was not any less friendly because I ordered no other food or drink except to use my 2x$15.90 coupons. But perhaps that was because they were not busy as there was only 1 other table. We started lunch at 12pm & stayed & chatted until 1pm. 🙂

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We had toasted bread which was warm & crispy to start.

prosciutto - parma ham wrapped over rock melon with mesclun salad

prosciutto – parma ham wrapped over rock melon with mesclun salad

For appetizer I took the prosciutto, which came with a decent helping of 2 slices of parma ham wrapped over rock melon (rather nice to eat them together) with mesclun salad.

lobster bisque

lobster bisque

My daughter had the lobster bisque. I tasted a little of it. It was flavourful and had some pieces of lobster meat in it, but not as good as many restaurants these days which served a foam cappuccino version which delivered a much better overall experience. 🙂

seafood spaghetti in squid ink sauce

seafood spaghetti in squid ink sauce

We both decided on the seafood spaghetti in squid ink sauce, and it was good here. The pasta was very al dente. It was less salty than many other places. The ingredients were good – scallop, several squid rings, mussel & littleneck clams, no prawns. 🙂 It was a pasta dish that I much enjoyed.

tiramisu - "pick me up"

tiramisu – “pick me up”

I had the tiramisu. It was in the “good not overwhelming” category. My daughter had her health-conscious lemon sorbet – probably quite forgettable. 🙂

Being fast eaters, we finished in 35minutes or so, and chatted for another 25minutes. I drank lots of water & had many refills by Alvin. Great lunch!

c.h.e.f andy

Cream of Cauliflower Soup

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cream of cauliflower soup

having tasted some early successes in my creamy mushroom soup venture, I thought since I am already down the path of using the blender (which I had thus far mostly avoided to do) why not trail further and try other soups. after all whether it is blending mushrooms or blending potatoes, leeks, cauliflowers etc, it cannot be too far off. and so far my faith has been rewarded. 🙂

my next venture is this beautiful cream of cauliflower soup recipe, again from none other than Chef John of Foodwishes.com. I am falling in love with this guy.

I first sweated the celery & yellow onions for 5-6minutes in a soup pot with some olive oil over medium heat until the onions turned translucent. Then I cut the cauliflowers in small pieces, threw in a potato that has been peeled and quartered, then threw in the cauliflowers. I then added 5 cups of vegetable stock & 5 cups of water enough to cover the cauliflowers, bring to boil & turn down the heat to medium low and simmer for 30 minutes. That’s when the potatoes were “smashable” – it would collapse when you pushed it against the wall of the pot. I let  the soup cooled down & then blended in batches and pureed to a smooth velvety texture. I then added sea salt to taste, and the soup was basically done. I added the heavy cream when I heated up the soup again just before serving. 🙂

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bacon tip gremolata

for the bacon gremolata, I followed Chef John’s concoction – first frying cut bacon to crisp, then added fresh bread & toasted it in the bacon fat on low heat until golden & crisp  to make breadcrumbs. I then added lemon zest and mixed them as in above picture.

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cream of cauliflower soup

I then served the soup with the bacon topping & few drops of truffle oil. My wife & daughter both liked this soup. I must say the bacon gremolata made quite some difference – the saltiness of the bacon & the crisp texture went very well with the soup and fragrance of the truffle oil. 🙂

c.h.e.f andy

Ingredients:

  • 1/2 a cauliflower (about 400g)
  • 2 ribs celery chopped
  • 1/2 yellow onion chopped
  • 1 potato peeled & quartered
  • 5 cups of vegetable stock
  • 5 cups water
  • 2 tbsp heavy cream

for the bacon gremolata:

  • 2 streaky bacon cut to small pieces
  • 1 slice of fresh bread to make 30g of breadcrumbs
  • 2 tsp lemon zest
  • 1 tbsp chopped parsley (I did not use in the above photos)

Directions:

  1. Cook the soup – sweat the celery & yellow onions for 5-6minutes in a soup pot with some olive oil over medium heat until the onions turn translucent. cut the cauliflowers in small pieces, throw in a potato that has been peeled and quartered, then throw in the cauliflowers. add 5 cups of vegetable stock & 5 cups of water enough to cover the vegetables, bring to boil & turn down the heat to medium low and simmer for 30 minutes. when potatoes are “smashable” – it will collapse when you push it against the wall of the pot – cool down & then blend soup in batches in a blender and puree to a smooth velvety texture. add sea salt to taste, and soup is basically done. add heavy cream after heating up again just before serving.
  2. Prepare the bacon gremolata – fry bacon to crisp. add fresh bread & toast in the bacon fat on low heat until golden & crisp  to make breadcrumbs. remove & cool. add lemon zest to bacon tips & breadcrumbs and mix them.
  3. add the bacon topping & few drops of truffle oil when serving the soup

Yakiniku Dinner @ Aburiya Robertson Quay on 26Mar2013

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Aburiya is my wife’s favourite yakiniku restaurant, and so it is mine. 🙂

We usually order karubi (short ribs – the korean galbi) and jo karubi (prime short ribs). Aburiya also has one of the best kimchi chigae and we also like the bibimen (spicy korean cold mixed noodles 拌面) and bibimbap (mixed rice 拌饭).  When the items add up  and if you order sake too, it is not that cheap, but it is guaranteed to be a thoroughly enjoyable meal.

For the evening, we ordered 1 plate of jo karubi (top picture) – S$14.90 a plate, and 2 plates of karubi – S$9.90 (below picture). The prime short ribs were very tasty, beefy with the BBQ flavour. But the karubi was not bad too & it was2/3 the price!

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karubi (short ribs)

We also had the usual kimchi chigae. So far we liked this dish best here, even when compared with korean restaurants like Chang & Hyangtogol. The soup was very tasty and not too salty. There were a lot of kimchi & silky tofu but I would have liked a bit more of the belly pork. 🙂

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kimchi chigae

We also had the kurobuta pork. There were quite many types & I could not recall which. It was very good, like a good pork collar meat with marbling giving it good taste plus the BBQ flavour.

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and we had the bibimen also. I liked very much the sweet spicy taste of gojuchang sauce mixed with the vegetables and some chicken meat and the nice texture of the noodles. 🙂

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bibimen

What I did not like though was that for this evening, we were sat at a table where there was no sunken pit & the charcoal stove was placed on the table. The heat from the stove was quite oppressive! I would avoid that next time.

c.h.e.f andy

Japanese Dinner @ Mikuni at Fairmont Hotel on 24Mar2013

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truffle kampachi sashimi

Note – see also update = FAR Card 50% for up to 5pax. 🙂

I go to Mikuni a lot as my wife & I really enjoy the food there, and with Feed@Raffles discounts (50% discount for 2pax), that is the best value eat we can get anywhere. 🙂

We always order ala carte so we pick only dishes we like and also it is much better value than ordering the Seasons Menu or the Grand Tour Tasting Menu. We explore the menu quite a bit & zero in on the dishes we like. In fact, we have now taken the same few dishes so many times that I can almost call it a “Andy Kaiseki Menu”..haha…just kidding. 🙂 It is just 5 course, but while it may not have like 10 courses to be a full kaiseki menu, every dish is very substantial when compared with individual course of a kaiseki or mini kaiseki.

My selected courses (shared by 2pax) as follows-

  1. truffle kampachi (S$28)
  2. botan ebi sashimi (3 large prawns for S$35)
  3. united nations futomaki (9 ingredients 6 pieces maki S$28)
  4. sous vide then deep-fried octopus (S$30)
  5. 2xkagoshima wagyu sukiyaki konabe (individual hotpot at S$48 each)
  6. 1 plain rice to share – they will split for you (S$5)

As you see, the price comes to S$222, and at 50% discount, it is S$111 or S$55.50++pax. 🙂

Now to the dishes.

The first dish, a truffle kampachi is a wonderful, wonderful dish, and as you can see in the top picture, it is so pretty. It is in a small way a fusion sashimi dish by the Korean Chef with kampachi sashimi fanned out in probably tsuyu sauce as the sauce is not so salty, and a dash of truffle oil – so very fragrant, fresh, sweet & tasty! 🙂

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botan ebi sashimi

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botan rbi heads deep-fried

The second dish is botan ebi sashimi – you get 3 prawns for sashimi & 2 if you order sushi. These are large (3x the size of regular ama ebi), plump & sweet prawns with the same pleasant slightly sticky to the bite texture as regular ama ebi.

and they deep fry the large prawn heads. We eat up almost the entire crispy deep-fried prawn heads every time so no need to elaborate la…haha. 🙂

united nations futomaki

united nations futomaki

Next the united nation futomaki. The name sounds like a disaster but there are 9 ingredients (I can see there are unagi, ebi, tamago, avogado, different fish roes, maybe crabstick etc) & it is good – may not be the best as there are many specialist maki in many restaurants these days, but it is good!

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Then we have the tako (octopus) sous vide & deep-fried in light batter. This is really very good as the meat is totally tender & consistent throughout because of sous vide (vacuum low temperature slow-cooking). it goes very well with just a little wasabi mayo (provided) – we always add more wasabi on our own.

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kagoshima wagyu sukiyaki konabe (小钵)

& the the finale – kagoshima wagyu sukiyaki konabe (小钵).

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It is very, very good! there are 3 pieces of wagyu, and you can see from the photos that they are large & thick pieces – I reckon the 3 pieces to be at least 80g, probably 100g! these are Jap wagyu NOT australian wagyu, & they are so, so tasty,  the sukiyaki also comes with the usual vegetables, thick Japanese glass noodles & mushroom, and oh such great flavours! you can add the soup to the rice afterwards (and remember to add wasabi to it as well).

c.h.e.f andy

Homegourmet 8-Course Lunch @ 14Mar2013

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I had another homegourmet 9pax lunch with friends recently.

I had quite some success on the pan-roasted brined chicken breast recipe, and was raring to try it on duck. 🙂 I wanted to test it once before I dumped the dish on my friends.  I did this using both the pan-roasted chicken quick-roast method & the prime rib slow-roast method successfully, the slow-roast method producing an even more tender meat.

The slow-roast pork belly was still a work-in-progress. It turned up very well for my daughter’s 14pax friends lunch on CNY 3rd Day, but I felt it was still mostly touch & go. I would not have time to do on 14Mar if it turned up poorly so I did it in the evening of 13Mar & as it was passable if not great so I kept it in the fridge to warm up & serve the next day.

For the soup. I had been doing a “kick-ass” …self-praise haha…Basque seafood soup using prawn shells but was a bit tired of doing the same soup every time. I looked up some creamy mushroom soup recipe and thought it could not go too far wrong and was worth a gamble, since I had on hand willing devoted risk-taker volunteers high on faith. 🙂

skin-on pan-roasted brined duck breast

skin-on pan-roasted brined duck breast

We started off with 4 tapas – (a) pan-roasted brined chicken breast (b)slow-roast brined duck breast (c)slow-roast pork belly & (d) Margaret River wagyu MBS6/7+angus striploin.

I think all were happy with the brined chicken breast & duck breast (except that I was rushing a little & destroyed the crispy skin of the chicken quite badly, I relaxed and did it right for the duck). They were moist, tender & tasty! 🙂 The belly pork was a bit iffy. This was a rather fatty piece & though the fat & meat were quite soft, the skin was still a tad tough to the bite, so the “mouth feel” 口感 wasn’t quite right. Fortunately, the natural jus was quite tasty & the Spanish spicy mustard sauce was a very good dip to go together with.

I thought the wagyu was below par. I had better marbling for MBS4/5 striploin from the same supplier mmmm previously for the “Best of” dinner on 28Jan2013 (of course my friends would say its the bad carpenter..haha). The rockets were also not good. I forgot to buy on 13Mar & there was no time to get it on 14Mar so went at 1am the night before to Sheng Shiong’s 24hr mart at Ghim Moh & the only ones there were quite old & not fresh. 😦

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I had a separate portion of 3 pan-seared Hokkaido scallops for WL as he does not take beef. It should be quite ok now that I learned the simple technique=very hot pan +very dry scallop (scallops & fish etc contain a lot of water & if not bone dry, pan temperature will drop sharply & you will be steaming/poaching & will not have a hardened seared layer so it will stick to the pan). 🙂

pan-seared Hokkaido scallops

pan-seared Hokkaido scallops

After the tapas, we had a pasta item, which was my seafood alio olio spaghetti with white wine. I was quite confident on the taste department as this dish mostly turned up quite well but I thought the texture was not enough al dente this time. 😦

seafood alio olio spaghetti with white wine

seafood alio olio spaghetti with white wine

Next came my very first attempt at creamy mushroom soup, and gratefully it turned up very well indeed – really quite smooth in texture and tasty – though from the photo below, I could see the caramelised mushrooms but NOT few drops of extra virgin olive oil.

creamy mushroom soup

creamy mushroom soup

The pistachio rusted rack of lamb was also my very first attempt, and this was quite an excitement for me actually. The lamb rack looked fabulous & tasted great! although I found it slightly overdone as I would prefer medium rare. It was moist, tender and did not have much of  the strong lamb gamey taste. 🙂

pistachio crusted rack of lamb

pistachio crusted rack of lamb

The 8-ribs lamb rack was good for 4 serving, and being my first attempt it was actually a stand-in for my more “established” Spanish 2-hr slow-braised beef ribs. This had been very good the few times I served previously, but the taste was a bit off this time, & we were at a lost to explain (other than bad carpenter). The vegetable base ratatouille (celery, carrots, yellow onions) should be sweet & balancing the beefy taste, the Chinese sausage added some sweetness & the chorizo (though may not be everyone’s favourite) had combined very well previously.  I thought that it could be the chuck rib itself, though I bought it from Giant the day before, but I could not be sure how long it was on their shelves. Photo below still looked ok but looks deceived 😦

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Spanish 2-hr slow-braised beef ribs

We had the usual chocolate lava cake.  I was getting a bit bored though, hoping to try out a new soufle recipe next time.

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WL brought very nice tarts and CH his usual strawberries & this time it was especially sweet. All the leftover tarts were polished off by my daughters soon enough. 🙂

c.h.e.f andy

Basque Seafood Soup

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basque seafood soup

basque seafood soup

This a very enjoyable, intense, tasty soup!

I had it at La Cicala with my son in Aug2012, and thought I would do this. I looked up the internet and found this basque seafood soup recipe.

My family use a fair amount of prawns mostly in pasta & some Chinese dishes, and used to discard the shells & heads. For this dish, I save the heads & shells and boil them for 3 hours. You could blend the shells & liquids in a blender in batches, but it required much effort and at the time I was not yet using blender much, so I just passed the liquids through a sieve & pushed hard, and then disposed the boiled heads and shells. That provided the prawn stock for the bisque. I learned then you needed shellfish or crustaceans to give the bisque that depth of flavour & intensity. 🙂

basque seafood soup

basque seafood soup

I next prepared the vegetable base. I sautéed the leeks, onion and carrot for 5 minutes to soften, stirring frequently. I turned to high heat and added the prawn stock, and then added brandy (it might flame as the saucepan was very hot). I then added white wine & diced tomatoes, just 1 teaspoon of tumeric for colour. I then turned to low heat & let the soup simmered for 40minutes to bring out the vegetable base sweetness. Then I add chicken or vegetable stock and add sea salt to taste.

Before serving I added the prawns and squids to poach them, and lastly the mussels for just about 3minutes. I then take out the prawns, squids, mussels and distributed them to individual bowls before topping them up with soup, and serve.

c.h.e.f. andy

Ingredients:

  • heads & shells from 1 kg small or medium prawns – serves 8
  • 2 leeks chopped
  • 1 carrot chopped
  • 1 yellow onions chopped
  • 1/4 cup brandy
  • 1/2 cup white wine
  • 4 cups vegetable or chicken stock
  • 1 large tomato diced
  • 1 tsp tumeric
  • sea salt to taste
  • 8 medium prawns (or 16 small prawns) – about 300g
  • 1 large squid skin removed cut into rings (about 16 rings) or into large curls with cross-cuts (8 pieces)
  • 8 large shelled mussels or 16 small ones

Directions:

  1. Prepare prawn stock for the bisque – boil the heads and shells for 3 hours. blend the shells & liquids in a blender in batches OR pass the liquids through a sieve & push hard, and then dispose the boiled heads and shells.
  2. Prepare vegetable base for soup – sauté the leeks, onion and carrot for 5 minutes to soften, stirring frequently.  turn to high heat and add the prawn stock, and then add brandy (it might flame as the saucepan is very hot).  add white wine & diced tomatoes, &  tumeric for colour. turn to low heat & let the soup simmer for 40minutes to bring out the vegetable base sweetness. add chicken or vegetable stock (if required) and add sea salt to taste.
  3. Before serving, add the prawns and squids to poach them, and lastly the shelled mussels for just 3minutes. take out the prawns, squids, mussels and distribute to individual bowls before topping them up with soup. Serve.

 

“Best Of” Dinner on 28Jan2013

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ANDY'S HOMECOOKED 10 COURSE 10PAX -BEST OF- DINNER MENU MONDAY 28 JANUARY 2013 c.h.e.fandy

Gathered my gung-ho friends for a meal at my most recent homecooked dinner on 28Jan2013.

“Best Of” refers to the different dishes (French, Spanish, Italian, fusion) I was trying out in the MENU above, NOT that I was best in any of them..lol..I had 3 pan-seared Hokkaido scallops made for a friend who couldn’t take wagyu, & mercifully they turned up very well after I learned of the very simple technique from chef John of foodwishes.com (just make sure the scallops are bone dry at room temperature & the non stick pan is very hot – scallops & fish etc tend to have lots of water & if not dry, then pan temperature will drop instantly and you end up steaming & NOT searing the meat!). 

This was also the first time I tried my skin-on pan-roasted chicken breast on my friends and they all loved it. The slow roast belly pork was still very much a work-in-progress BUT the saving grace was the spicy, sour Spanish mustard sauce. 🙂 This, together with the original sauce from the belly pork made very lovely dips.

Skin-on pan-roasted brined chicken breast

Skin-on pan-roasted brined chicken breast

The Margaret River wagyu striploin with marbling score 4/5 (while pale in comparison with Japanese wagyu), was 1 of the dinner highlights & garnered many supporters. 🙂 I did it the GR (Gordon Ramsay) way – leave steak at room temperature for 1/2 hr, greased non-stick pan with fat from striploin, very high heat, turnover once & add butter, then rest for 5minutes before cutting.

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Margaret River wagyu MBS 4/5

The garlic jumbo prawns (these are 130g size – 10 prawns=1.3 kg) is one of my regular dishes, done with just minced garlic & chilli padi in a dry wok in very high heat, and only adding fish sauce at the very end before removing & serve.

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Garlic jumbo prawns 130g each

I also had a very smooth & sweet tasting Basque seafood soup using stock from prawn shells + chicken stock + leek, carrot & onions strained, adding poached prawn, sotong (squid) and mussels when serving.

Next up were the 2 pastas. The seafood alio olio spaghetti with white wine is my usual fare, and this time I added a fusion pasta using a chilli crab sauce I prepared from the prawn shell stock.

The main course was a Spanish 2hr slow-cooked beef ribs with chorizos, celery, carrots, red peppers, yellow onions & using just a dash of tumeric for the colour. They all loved this very tender & tasty dish.

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Spansh slow-cooked beef ribs with chorizos

And after all that, we still had room for a very nice chocolate lava cake (my usual fare) to round out the evening.

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Chocolate lava cake oozing lava served with strawberries

c.h.e.f andy

Capri Challenge Dinner on 20Dec2012

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ImageI had this Capri Challenge dinner after going to Capri Trattoria & Pizzeria couple times with friends & family. Capri’s $18 cold cut platter is a real quality & value-for-money deal. The $36 tagliata di manzo (sliced beef) is quite ok but pricy for the size & cut of meat. The pastas are maybe 3/4 the price of Valentino, however both times I thought the pastas were very average.

Anyway,  after testing out a belly pork arrabiata and a fusion chilli crab pasta, I decided to string together a 4 pasta dinner and got my obliging “kakis” (aka mates in Malay) – namely Choon Hung, Chong Lee & the lot – to come as guinea pigs as usual.

I started with a tagliata di manzo with rockets & cherry tomatoes using a mock fillet mignon recipe for cheap chuck tender. It involves tenderising the meat with sodium bicarbonate, grilling both sides in a 210degC oven for 25minutes, then slow-cooking at 90degC for 1.5hrs. This recipe is ok but I still prefer to go with the usual costlier striploin & ribeyes.

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tagliata di manzo (Italian sliced beef) using chuck tender as mock fillet mignon with rockets, cherry tomatoes & roast potatoes

Next I have my usual roast chicken, tender & tasty & quite moist, but kind of boring as noted in the post on pan-roasted brined chicken.

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roast chicken rubbed with salt, pepper, herbs, oyster sauce & olive oil

A medley of 4 pastas followed. My usual seafood alio olio spaghetti with white wine is by now a very popular dish amongst family & friends. Next I have a belly pork arrabiata (spicy tamato) spaghetti. I cooked the belly pork the Japanese “kakuni” way, at low heat using an induction heater for 1.5hrs, then added in canned whole tomatoes (cut into small pieces) and sauce, yellow onions and soy sauce and cooked for another 1/2 hr. This can be put aside for tossing with the pasta when required.

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belly pork arrabiata(spicy tomatoes) spaghetti

A more interesting experiment is with the chilli crab pasta. I found a chilli crab sauce recipe & substituted the crab with prawn shell stock – the crab or prawn or shellfish flavour is needed to make the sauce taste genuine like real chilli crab sauce. This turned out very well indeed at the first attempt & by the time of the dinner I had 2 previous successful tries.

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chilli crab spaghetti with prawns & shelled crab pincers

My attempt at a creamy funghi pasta though is rather forgettable, will have to revisit at a later time as I am quite keen on funghi pasta & risotto. Garlic king prawn ia one of my usual fare and very good really so I find little incentive to try out other recipes like the Spanish garlic prawn tapas.  A dinner highlight is the angus striploin. I attempted aging the striploin in the fridge (it is supposed to intensify the flavours and also tenderise). The one below is aged 48hrs in the fridge. I cooked the striploin by the usual GR (Gordon Ramsay) method. It is very good with distinct maillard reaction brown ring, though I cannot say after trying this aging a few times that it really is better than the same meat w/o the aging.

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pan-fried medium rare angus striploin aged 48hrs in fridge

Afterwards we had the usual chocolate lava cake. Choon Hung has by now become our regular ice-cream supplier & thanks to him, I do not have to drive to Daily Scoop at Sunset Way to pick up the Salted Mr Brown & Coconut Fantasy ice-creams – both are very good and even better when taken with chocolate lava cake..lol.

c.h.e.f andy

23 Pax Buffet Dinner for My Raffles Institution (RI) Friends on 26Nov2012

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I tried out a few Asian dishes such as nonya curry chicken, braised duck and kakuni (a Japanese braised belly pork) and decided to attempt a buffet dinner. 23 of my old classmates and schoolmates from RI (Raffles Institution) gallantly responded, and we had a most fun evening ferreting lost memories of youth(ful) years (or was it memories of lost youth), special thanks to PH for her largely uncorroborated recollections. 🙂

The buffet layout includes the following –

  1. very nice Thai seafood tanhoon appetizer prepared by auntie Bes.
  2. tagliata di manzo (Italian sliced beef) using chuck tender as mock fillet mignon with rockets and cherry tomatoes
  3. teochew braised duck
  4. nonya curry chicken
  5. black bean sauce pork prime ribs prepared by auntie Bes
  6. kakuni – Japanaese braised belly pork
Auntie Bes famous Thai seafood tanhoon cold dish

auntie Bes famous Thai seafood tanhoon appertiser

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tagliata di manzo with rockets and cherry tomatoes

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teochew braised duck

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nonya curry chicken made from herbs w/o curry powder

Auntie Bes famous black bean sauce prime ribs

auntie Bes famous black bean sauce pork prime ribs

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kakauni – Japanese slow-braised belly pork in mirin, sugar & soy sauce

We also had spicy tao jeon (fermented bean sauce) seabass and poached HK kailan with shitake mushrooms prepared by auntie Bes.

Another highlight of the evening was undoubtedly the Cordon Bleu (“call them blur”) “atas” cake PH brought. It was a truly wonderful cake.

Choon Hung, Chong Lee & gang were well-trained in serving the chocolate lava cakes. The newbies Tet Soon & Cheow Ghee looked suitably enthralled.

PH was the undisputed cake taster since she has such classy association of the Cordon Bleu variety.

c.h.e.f andy

Dinner Gathering for 10pax @ Yuanxing Restaurant (Guan Hin) on 19Mar2013

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longevity bun for the 55s

longevity bun for the 55s

the significance of 55

the significance of 55

We had a gathering of 10 friends the other evening. One friend did a make-shift “gold-plated” 55 sign and also arranged for the restaurant to serve longevity buns 寿桃 -(a nice touch!) – this being the 55th season of our journey on planet earth – though we could not help speculating which houses and/or shops might have number(s) 5 missing. 🙂

None of us had heard of Yuanxing Teochew Restaurant..it turned out to be Guan Hin, an old street name (老字号) which now uses the hanyupinyin name.

We started off with the usual appetizer platter. The ter kar tan (pork trotter jelly 猪脚冻) was very good here – I reckoned Crystal Jade Paragon standard and better than Chui Huay Lim and a few other teochew restaurants I had tried..The other items – spring rolls, hae jor & another deep-fried item which I don’t know the name – were good too. The jellyfish & century egg were usual fare.

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appertizer platter

Next came the ubiquitous yam basket. This is more of a common cantonese restaurant dish – anyway supposedly hailed from the 4 heavenly kings of cantonese cuisine from the sixties, and still being contested by both Dragon Phoenix and Lai Wah each claiming to be the rightful inventor.. 🙂

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the ubiquitous yam basket

Next came some deep-fried meatballs? – I haven’t a clue what it was – quite good tasting, so ok lah..the garlic fried kailan was quite ok, got some wok hae though not near the best..(the picture on the left below is a close-up of the ter kar tan猪脚冻)

20130319_194831 IMG_3468 IMG_3469

We had braised goose (卤鹅) next. This was very good. It was real goose and NOT braised duck served in most restaurants (unlike Hong Kong where it is everywhere, goose braised or roasted, are not commonly served in restaurants in Singapore). Why is that I wonder? bird-flu? Hongkongers more resistant or tidak apa towards bird-flu?

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braised goose – yummy!

Next came a deep-fried chestnut prawn. This was their signature dish. hmmm, I wonder..not sure the chestnut added anything to the prawn & might have taken away the fresh, plump, sweet-tasting feel of a usual good prawn dish..

IMG_3471

deep-fried chestnut prawns

We had the usual roast chicken. and taken with five-spice salt, it was quite nice – though it is rare in most restaurants that serve this dish to deliver one that has moist, tender, sweet breast meat – usually it is on the dry, sinewy side & not s0 tender, and so it was the case here.

The kong ba pao was quite ok here, the usual and a nice dish to enjoy, if packing high calories & cholesterol.

IMG_3472 IMG_3475 20130319_203419

The mustard greens with chinese mushroom and gluten was a very nice dish, great texture and very tasty indeed. I would certainly order this, as well as the braised goose & ter kar tan 猪脚冻 when I next visit.

mustard vegetable with chinese mushrooms

mustard greens with chinese & button mushrooms & gluten

Next we had these huge slipper lobsters (we call crayfish in Singapore). This apparently is also a signature dish here, though I am not a fan of the sauce (which was like a non-spicy chilli crab sauce) – I prefer the one served at Ah Orh which is a more yellowish sauce with lots of yellow onions & egg – and I thought the meat was overcooked and not tender.

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a slipper lobster dish

And to round up the sumptuous meal & an evening of F3=food, fun & feel-good, we had the sea coconut & longans – nice dessert, though the few teochews among us were wondering why we were not having orh nee..hahaha..I guess the friend who organised this great dinner was worrying about our cholesterol & waistlines..lol. 🙂

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sea coconut with longans dessert

The “damage” came to just $36nett per person, though we were missing some big-ticket dishes like pomfret, soup & cold crab or other crab dishes.

One friend, the teochew expert among us, who never fail to enthrall us with his own remarkable romanised teochew language system, commented afterwards on Facebook that the standard of food here was not consistent. On the face of what was served & the price though, I would still give it another go sometime.

c.h.e.f andy

Lunch @ Tonkichi at Orchard Central on 22Mar2013

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chawanmuchi (茶碗蒸)

chawanmushi (茶碗蒸)

had a simple pleasant lunch with my sister at Tonkichi @ Orchard Central today.

we were both eyeing the Friday special chirashi don lunch set when we passed by the other day, so we just ordered that – 2 sets.

the shortage of foreign workers is  showing up clearly in many economic sectors in Singapore, not least the restaurant service sector. we saw only 2 waiting staff, they were both well-trained and efficient but very busy as there were quite many tables taken up even though it was just 12.30pm – that maybe a good thing actually.

we were quickly given our chawanmushi – to keep us occupied. this was good. texture was very slightly dense but of smooth consistency, sweet-tasting and the chicken was good, no ginkgo nuts.

chirashi don

chirashi don

it was a rather long wait after the chawanmushi starter, just about 1/2hour. luckily we were not in a hurry.

chirashi don

chirashi don

the chirashi don has 7 pieces of sashimi – 2 salmon (good), maguro (ordinary), 2 tamagos (good) & 1 amaebi (good), and the vinegared rice was good too. I would consider it a good quality chirashi don set at S$15.90++ by most comparison. However the S$20++ chirashi don set at Kuroson would beat this hands down in terms of both sashimi quality & quantity & overall set quality which also includes free refillable green tea (hot or cold).

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Tonkichi @ Orchard Central

the set also included a tiny soba – quite irrelevant carbo load but no harm having.

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watermelon – looked slight pale but was sweet & juicy

the watermelon was juicy & sweet.

given a choice, I would always go to Kuroson, but if I am in the area (Orchard Central), I might just do this again.

c.h.e.f andy

Baked Mushroom Risotto

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my first risotto - a funghi risotto

my first risotto – a baked mushroom risotto

cook my first risotto last evening!

It was just so satisfying but also spoke volumes of Foodwishes.com Chef John’s baked mushroom risotto recipe that I could reproduce such a great dish with ease even though this was my very first risotto. 🙂

I have the bulk of a 2.5kg bag of USA 松鹤 (no english name but I guess it is matsutsuru in literal translation?) Shakaku premium rice – which I think is a medium grain rice – lying around. I bought these in Giant hypermarket when I was trying out a paella mixta for a homecooked (kind of Spanish theme) dinner for friends as I didn’t know where to get aborio rice (still don’t!). Though the paella turned out kind of ok taste-wise (quite good tasting) based on the recipe I used, the texture was really quite far out. Anyhow I have not found other use for the rice and I don’t quite fancy cooking paella mixta that often when it is not quite ideal in the visual & texture departments & also it takes a bit of effort to prepare (when c/w this mushroom risotto which requires almost no effort!).

So I actually decided only at very last-minute to cook this & it was done like in 35minutes (only because you needed to put it in the oven for 16minutes).

I cut and washed the only mushrooms I had in the fridge (a packet of 150g shimeji mushrooms and another packet of 100g enoki mushrooms). I put these in an oven-proof skillet with 1 chunk of butter (20g) and a large pinch of salt on high heat and cooked/sweated for 10 minutes on medium heat OR until the liquids evaporated off, then I added chopped yellow onions and cooked for a few minutes until softened. Next I added a cup of the Shakaku rice, stirred to coat the rice completely and then added 1 cup of chicken stock, brought it to boil and dropped to low heat and stirred. When the liquids were evaporated, I added another cup of chicken stock and when it started to simmer, I placed the skillet in a 205degC preheated oven for exactly 16minutes (following Chef John’s instructions to the dot..it had been kind of fool-proof which explained my relative success thus far..no secrets haha!) 🙂

my first risotto - a funghi risotto

my first risotto – a baked mushroom risotto

I then returned the skillet to the stove, added another cup of chicken stock, brought to boil and stirred on low heat. At this point, as Chef John said, you needed to be your own boss & decide how you wanted the risotto to turn out. I tasted the rice, flavour was great (quite super really!) 🙂 very slightly not cooked-through the centre, so I added another cup of chicken stock and stirred. Last I added 2 tablespoon of heavy cream and sea salt to taste. The result was a truly marvellous dish – creamy but not overly, with very nice infused mushroom flavour, just like any good funghi risotto I would have gotten in a good restaurant. 🙂

It was far better than I expected as I was also not certain whether my Shakaku rice would do for this recipe. So yes it really made my day!

c.h.e.f andy

Ingredients:

  • 150g shimeji mushrooms
  • 100g enoki mushrooms
  • 1/2 yellow onion
  • 20g butter
  • sea salt & pepper to taste
  • 4 cups chicken stock

Directions:

  1. cut and wash the mushrooms, put these in an oven-proof skillet with 1 chunk of butter (20g) and a large pinch of salt on high heat and cook/sweat for 10minutes on medium heat OR until the liquids evaporated off. add chopped yellow onions and cooked for a few minutes until soften. add a cup of washed Shakaku rice, stir to coat the rice completely and then add 1 cup of chicken stock, bring to boil and drop to low heat and stir. When the liquids evaporate off, add another cup of chicken stock and when it started to simmer, place skillet in a 205degC preheated oven for exactly 16minutes.
  2. return skillet to stove, add another cup of chicken stock, bring to boil and stir on low heat.  taste the rice for texture & flavour to see if it is cooked to your preference, add another cup of chicken stock (if required) and stir. add 2 tablespoon of heavy cream and sea salt to taste. Serve.

Beef Meatballs Arrabiata Spaghetti

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beef meatballs arrabiata spaghetti

beef meatballs arrabiata spaghetti

I like arrabiata (spicy tomato) sauce though second to alio olio with white wine. So this is an easy variation from the pork rib & belly pork arrabiata but require a decent meatball recipe. I very quickly found a simple one for my use on the internet.

I mix 400g of minced beef, 2 eggs, parmesan cheese, parsley, minced garlic, breadcrumbs in a large bowl,  and season with salt and pepper to taste.  I heat some oil in large pan over medium-high heat. I roll the mix in 2.5cm balls and fry until golden brown, but not cooked through completely, then remove to a plate lined with paper towels.

For the arrabiata sauce, I fry to soften some chopped yellow onions in a medium saucepan, then add 1 can of diced tomatoes and sauce & add some sugar. I the put in the meatballs and add light soy sauce, and let it slow-cook in low fire for 1/2 hour.

The spaghetti is done in the usual way according to timing instructions. As with my other pasta dishes, I then heat up the browned garlic cloves & olive oil (set aside earlier) in a pan, add 1 cut chilli padi and fry a little, add in the meatballs with the tomato sauce, bring to boil, turn off the fire, mix in the spaghetti and toss, and then add sea salt to taste.

c.h.e.f andy

Ingredients:

  • 400g minced beef
  • 2 eggs
  • 1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
  • 2 tsp minced garlic
  • 1/4 cup chopped parsley
  • 1/4 cup breadcrumbs
  • 1 can (400g) diced tomatoes with sauce
  • salt and pepper
  • 1/2 chopped yellow onion
  • 1 tbsp sugar
  • 1 tbsp light soy sauce

Directions:

  1. Prepare the garlic olive oil – stir-fry whole garlic cloves on low heat to brown the garlic & flavour the oil.
  2. Prepare the spaghetti – add some salt & oil to water and boil the spaghetti according to timing instructions & drain in a colander.
  3. Cook  – mix 400g of minced beef, 2 eggs, parmesan cheese, parsley, minced garlic, breadcrumbs in a large bowl,  and season with salt and pepper to taste.  heat some oil in large pan over medium-high heat. roll the mix in 2.5cm balls and fry until golden brown, but not cooked through completely, then remove to a plate lined with paper towels. fry to soften some chopped yellow onions in a medium saucepan, then add 1 can of diced tomatoes and sauce & add some sugar. put in the meatballs and add light soy sauce, and let it slow-cook in low fire for 1/2 hour. heat up the browned garlic cloves & olive oil (set aside earlier) in a pan, add 1 cut chilli padi and fry a little, add in the meatballs with the tomato sauce, bring to boil, turn off the fire, mix in the spaghetti and toss, and then add sea salt to taste.

Lunch @ Sarang Restaurant at Orchard Central on 20Mar2013

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korean banchan (side dishes) comprising kimchi, peanuts & kimchi carrots

korean banchan (side dishes) comprising kimchi, peanuts & another veg kimchi

had lunch with my sister today. I had 2 xS$30=S$60 deal.com Sarang vouchers (which I paid S$30 for) expiring soon so we decided to lunch there.

I don’t frequent korean restaurants much these days. My family are mostly carnivores aka meat-eaters and for barbeque beef we generally prefer the Japanese-style korean barbeque yakiniku restaurants. One of my wife Lisa’s favourite yakiniku place is Aburiya. We used also to go to Chang & Hyangtogol but find them rather expensive. Though we all like banchan, those very nice free & refillabe korean side dishes, but they cannot be our sole motivation for having korean.

Sarang at Orchard Central served a very small banchan, comprising just peanuts (which was very nice & we duly had our free refill of peanuts), and the usual cabbage kimchi & another vegetable kimchi.

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kimchi belly pork with tofu stew – S$15.80

We ordered the kimchi belly pork.  Though I would have liked it with a lot more soup (like the kimchi chigae which I always like and order at Aburiya & Watami),  this belly pork was differently done (not just boiled like in kimchi chigae to add base to the soup) & very much better, had very good “mouth-feel”(口感) in texture and taste.

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spicy sotong (squid) – S$11.80

We also had the spicy sotong (squid) which was a generous helping. It might be too spicy for some but was perfect for me.

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galbi (korean beef ribs) – S$24.80

We also added the usual galbi – korean beef ribs. It did have a bit of fat & tendons but it was a very nice dish which I liked a lot and was as good as that served at Chang (though I would need to confess that was many years ago). I guess the chef was a bit modern in his approach so his banchan was not quite the traditional big spread of side dishes, his sotong (squid) was accompanied by thin white noodles & this galbi dish also came with a cup of smooth potato mash (not in picture).

The meal comprising 3 very good dishes & banchan came to just S$34nett (about S$26++) using the vouchers.  I think the prices were actually quite fair for the quality of food offered even though I am unlikely to frequent soon without the discounts.

c.h.e.f andy

Restaurant Week $35nett Lunch @ Kumo Kaiseki Restaurant on 19Mar2013

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Menu-Restaurant Week $35nett set lunch at Kumo Kaiseki Restaurant

Menu-Restaurant Week $35nett set lunch at Kumo Kaiseki Restaurant

A friend bought lunch today. We had great time chatting about the charity he was actively leading last 25years, travel & food.

As it was DiningCity Restaurant Week (18-24mar2013), I suggested the $35nett lunch set at Kumo Kaiseki Restaurant. There was just a little confusion as many restaurants were awarded DiningCity Star (and Kumo Kaiseki was 1 of them), and this meant they charged additional S$15 & S$20 respectively on top of the standardised S$25++ lunches & S$35++ dinners. Most if not all ‘Star’ restaurants would simply indicate lunches as S$40++ & dinners as S$55++ to avoid confusion but Kumo did not. So we called up to make sure that we would be paying S$35nett and NOT S$50++ & that was indeed the case (good to be certain than have wrong expectations and be disappointed..haha..). 🙂

I have stopped going for Restaurant Week these days as there is nothing much on offer. S$40 lunches & S$55 dinners at the ‘Star’ restaurants like Oso, Gaia, Absinthe etc are not cheap and also usually restrictive on the menu items especially mains c/w their daily lunches. Last year for example, UOB had very good 1 for 1 Young Chef Creation Menu in many restaurants and you get a 4-course S$68 1 for 1 menu at Gaia vs a S$40 3-course Restaurant Week menu at the same restaurant! Even at La Cicala Gastrobar (which has no Star), the usual S$25 set lunch menu is to me better than the same-priced Restaurant Week menu.

This Kumo S$35nett menu looks good though.

I had a kaiseki dinner only once at Kumo using a $50 Kitchen Language (which owns Kumo, Salta, Ochre, Saltwater cafe) voucher. Kumo’s food is good but not great for the price c/w say Hachi, and if you are not overly enameled with kaiseki presentation, I think Kuriya Dining’s monthly sets offer better value. For me, none of them can compare with Mikuni using the Feed@Raffles card with 50% discount for 2pax, so I usually frequent Mikuni, but it is good to have a change once a while.

The first course, tai (sea bream) sashimi topped with ikura (salmon roe), was truly delightful in all departments – taste, colour, presentation! the jelly  (can’t remember what it is) went really well with the tai sashimi. every item (broadbean, petals & all) was edible. This dish was very impressive even for a full course kaiseki! 🙂

tai sashimi topped with ikura - so pretty (every item edible!)

tai sashimi topped with ikura – so pretty (every item edible!)

The lotus & prawn dumpling were ok & tasty, nothing to wow about. the bonito soup was also ok with a nice after taste.

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lotus & prawn dumpling in bonito soup

The main course comprised a braised saga wagyu shank & some vegetable items in batter & the usual gohan set of rice, pickles & miso soup. This really was quite so-so, very average taste wise.  As a braised item, one could not tell much between wagyu (& Japanese wagyu at that!) & normal beef.

braised saga wagyu shank & yasai furai

braised saga wagyu shank & yasai furai

also done this way it is more commonly served as an appertiser item (eg Dozo serves a japanese braised beef as an appertiser item in their 6-course lunches which maybe tastes same or better), and is no comparison with the modern european braised lamb shanks served in many restaurants here.

braised saga wagyu shank in miso

braised saga wagyu shank in miso

The yasai (野菜) furai (not a tempura batter) was a good complement to the braised beef.

yasai furai

yasai furai

Well at S$35nett (S$30++ just for comparison though Kumo actually does not charge 10% service) for such a lunch, I guess there was little to complain about except for the parking costing S$10 at neighbouring Amara Hotel. 🙂

sakura mochi with Japanese strawberries

sakura mochi with Japanese strawberries

The dessert was a nice red bean mochi which I liked & 1/2 a strawberry.

Overall, it was a very pleasant meal and also nice way of keeping up with a friend.

c.h.e.f andy

Crabmeat Spaghetti in Pink Sauce (Creamy Tomatoes)

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crabmeat spaghetti with prawns & scallops in pink sauce (creamy tomatoes)

crabmeat spaghetti with prawns & scallops in pink sauce (creamy tomatoes)

N.B. = did an excellent crab linguine in pink sauce with medium prawns & pan-seared scallops using this recipe on 11.1.2014. 🙂

One of my favourite pasta is the crab meat linguine in pink sauce. Many moons ago, when Chef Valentino was still working (I guess he was a partner) in Cantina which was a short stone-throw from my place, we dined there a few times and also “da bao” (take-out) his crab meat linguine in pink sauce.

The good Chef left & set up his own Ristorante da Valentino at Jalan Binga and later shifted to the much larger premises it is currently located at Turf City. Some months back, a friend & his wife invited me for a lunch there, and I enjoyed immensely the burrata cheese and also relished my old-time favourite – but this time a squid-ink seafood linguine in pink sauce.

I thought I would give it a go myself, so I googled and assembled this recipe, tried it and was ok the first time, and I was able to repeat the dish w/o difficulty.  The result is in the picture above, which I made for my friends at one of my homecooked dinners. It is nothing even close to what Valentino serves, but still it is a pretty nice pasta. 🙂

To make the sauce, I saute minced garlic and 1 small onion (diced) in olive oil on medium heat. I then add chopped basil (I have fresh basil from the garden), 1 can of diced tomatoes with sauce, sugar, dried oregano, sea salt & coarse black pepper, boil for about 5 minutes. I then turn off the fire and mix in the heavy cream & butter.

pink sauce (creamy tomatoes)

pink sauce (creamy tomatoes)

The spaghetti is cooked in the usual way following the timing instructions. For the scallops (optional), I pan sear them first (see recipe); and likewise for the prawns I stir-fry them in olive oil first to almost cooked. All these can be set aside first and toss together when ready to serve the dish. I heat up the pink sauce, add the prawns & drained crabmeat, cook for few minutes, then turn off the fire, add the spaghetti & toss, and then add the seared scallop, and serve.

c.h.e.f andy

Ingredients:

  • 250g crabmeat drained (I use frozen crab claws from NTUC Fairprice)
  • 12 Hokkaido scallops (I use frozen scallops from Sheng Shiong)
  • 15 pieces of medium prawns (shelled)
  • 2 tbsp olive oil
  • 1 clove minced garlic
  • 1 small yellow onion diced
  • 1 can diced tomatoes
  • 1/2 cup chopped fresh basil
  • 1 tsp sugar
  • 1/4 tsp dried oregano
  • 1/2 cup heavy cream
  • 1 tablespoon butter
  • sea salt & coarse black pepper to taste

Directions:

  1. Prepare the pink sauce – saute minced garlic and diced onion in olive oil on medium heat.  add chopped fresh basil, 1 can of diced tomatoes with sauce, sugar, dried oregano, sea salt & coarse black pepper, boil for about 5 minutes. turn off the fire and mix in the heavy cream & butter.
  2. Prepare the scallops (optional) – see pan-seared scallop recipe.
  3. Cook the dish – stir-fry the prawns (shelled) in olive oil first to almost cooked. cook the spaghetti in the usual way following the timing instructions. heat up the pink sauce, add the prawns & drained crabmeat, cook for few minutes, then turn off the fire, add the spaghetti & toss, and then add the seared scallop, and serve.