we had our usual christmas eve home dinner on 24.12.2016. ^^

2 daughters’ BFs not around so just 5 of us including our helper. like last time we did the cooking, our helper joined in the celebrations. 🙂

wife bought some mentaiko at isetan’s japan fare, so i did mentaiko pasta this evening

wife did a quinoa salad. the best salad & best dish this evening. ^^

i added 2 chicken dishes & a small prawn tapas.

& roasted vegetables.

wife prepared the smoked salmon with our helper’s homegrown dill.

really love this salad. the best! 🙂

there’s quinoa, pomegranate, mesclun, cherry tomatoes, shaved parmesan.

smoked salmon good quality, not salty, very tender.

excellent with the homegrown dill.

i did 2 chicken dishes.

for the small pan roasted chicken breast, i marinated with chinese shaoxing wine marinade instead of brine. then I “sous vide” in 95degC oven for 2 hrs.

beautiful pan roasting. crispy skin, meat was moist tender, seasoning a bit chinese. taste was great & “pang” 香fragrant from the roasting. i liked it.

i think the texture a bit soft, will do 2hrs next time if using this method.

i marinated 2 deboned thighs together with the 1 chicken wing/breast in the same wine marinade.

since this was a “western” dinner, i made a casserole adding carrots, onions & leeks, but NOT with tomato sauce base.

chicken was super tender & smooth (i added corn flour to marinade). it was a good dish, very tasty, hard to place whether chinese or can be western. anyway nice if ordinary chicken dish.

i made one more small dish, gambas al ajillo, a garlic prawns tapas.

tasty prawns, just the right texture, and flavourful garlic oil. it was good but relatively ordinary dish.

roasted vegetables so easy to prepare.

just drizzle olive oil, salt, add black pepper, and top up with some butter.

roast for 30mins in 250degC oven.

simple to do, very sweet & tasty vegetables.

the carb dish was mentaiko pasta. i used capellini ie angel hair.

i followed the recipe i used previously, adding 2 tbsp olive oil with browned garlic, 1 tbsp mirin, 1.5 tbsp tsuyu to the mentaiko.

then added the capellini, cut butter & tossed.

i like this pasta. wife liked it a lot & finished off the remaining.

after that we had coffee & gathered round the christmas tree.

wife bought me a sous vide supreme demi so i will be doing some “real” sous vide dishes shortly, eldest daughter bought me a T for christmas present.

c.h.e.f andy