crab and mushroom pasta.

it's one of those fridays where i do not eat any meat except seafood for religious reasons.
and it's also one of those days where you think to yourself; i really want to have MEAT.

then you wonder how do vegetarians survive without eating meat at all?

i think the answer is mushrooms. and lots of it.

you wouldn't believe how magically meaty mushrooms can turn a meal into. if you cook it right, you'd probably be more satisfied with eating mushrooms than meat. i also wanted to explore the idea of incorporating crab meat (not that kind of processed artificial crab meat) in a tomato based pasta.

it went really well.




(serves 2 generously)

150g cornish crab meat
100g chestnut/closed cap mushrooms, roughly chopped
1 can chopped tomatoes
a bunch of coriander/parsley
3 cloves of garlic, minced
(optional: 1 small onion, chopped)
salt and pepper for seasoning
half a pack of spaghetti, broken into half


in a hot pan, fry up the garlic in olive oil until fragrant. tip in the mushrooms and let it soften with some salt before adding the crab meat. let it fry for a bit before adding in the tomatoes. while simmering, flavour with salt and pepper.
in the mean time, bring a pot of water to boil, adding salt and oil before cooking the pasta. give it about 8 minutes before draining the pasta and pour it into the simmering sauce. add in coarsely chopped coriander or parsley and plate up.




sprinkle more coriander/parsley before serving.

coriander ribeye and sauteed onions

i absolutely cannot emphasise enough about how much i love coriander (as you may have noticed i do try to slip some coriander into my recipes whenever i can) and i was playing around with the idea of adding coriander into my marinade when i realised how much coriander actually compliments beef.

of course coriander haters out there would be disgusted by it but i must say that there might be some chance that this recipe would totally change their minds.

most of the europeans cook their steaks with very little or no marinade at all; however being an asian, i'd love to put an asian twist to that age old boring recipe. to be honest it doesn't involve much kitchen action really, most of the time would go to letting the marinated beef sit and absorb all the wonderful flavours of the marinade. the other important bit is also to make sure you get a good cut of beef -- not that ribeye is the best of cuts but it is to me because of how the fats are decently distributed and how tender it is even if you overcook the steak. you may think about getting other leaner cuts of beef but do remember that the fats supplement the extra goodness to the steak.

i think it was my mother who taught me the idea of putting oyster sauce into onions and saute them till they're nice and soft. you wouldn't believe how wholesome and buttery the onions taste without putting any butter at all. the onions also have a natural sweetness to them so if you cook it at the right temperature, they will carmelise and give off its sweetness.

for the steak (measurements are for each steak):
1 ribeye steak
3 tablespoons of oyster sauce
2 tablespoons of worcester sauce
1 bunch of coriander, finely chopped (you may want to use however more or less)
a splash of vermouth or rice wine

for the sauteed onions:
1 large onion, thinly sliced into half moons
some oyster sauce for seasoning
water, if you like it wet/saucy

marinate the steak in the ingredients above and let it sit for at least 30 minutes.




with a little olive oil in a hot pan, stir-fry the onions together with the oyster sauce and a small amount of water until soft. careful to ensure that the onions do not burn but carmelise in the high heat.

pan fry the steak and control the heat according to how you'd like your steak:
high heat, 2 minutes each side if you like it rare
semi-high heat, 3 minutes each side if you prefer it medium rare
medium heat, 5 minutes each side if you like it medium
medium heat, 7 minutes each side if you want it to be cooked through.






serve with steamed vegetables.

scallop porridge

i was feeling kinda under the weather that day so i decided that maybe i should have some comfort food; in the form of porridge. who can deny that porridge is not the world's best food to have when you're sick? hot piping porridge is also the best remedy for getting through the coldest of winters.

not to be that decadent but i had some scallops in the fridge that i was thinking of making pasta with so i scrapped the pasta idea and made porridge instead. this recipe is definitely suitable for anything really, other than the fact that you have to vary the kind of broth you use for the rice to cook in.
you can cook porridge in a normal pot but i have the best rice cooker ever which can cook just about anything. all i had to do was to put in the broth together with the rice and select the 'congee' option and in 45 minutes i'd have piping hot porridge ready to serve.

250g raw scallops
1 packet fish stock (if your local supermarket doesn't have ready made fish stock, you could substitute it by using 500ml of boiling water and pop in a fish cube)
2 cups of rice grains
1 teaspoon sesame oil
a splash of shaoxing rice wine
soy sauce for seasoning (up to your own discretion)
salt and pepper for seasoning the scallops

you start by cooking the rice in the fish stock until the rice turns to a porridgey texture. in the mean time while the rice cooks, melt a small bit of butter or olive oil and sear the scallops till brown. lightly season with salt and pepper but do take note to go easy on the salt as scallops have natural salt content in them.



once the scallops have been cooked, tip them into the porridge and season the porridge with soy sauce to make it as tasty as you'd want it to be.

garnish with coriander.

not too difficult eh?

spicy prawns and enoki.

enoki mushrooms have got to be one of the top ingredients in my favourite ingredients list. it's texture silky smooth and chewy, it often soaks up all the wonderful flavour in anything you put in. enoki mushrooms also doesn't have that heady mushroom smell that can sometimes be too much.

that's why i've used this incredibly wonderful ingredient as a compliment to the fresh raw prawns i've got from the supermarket. do note that i believe that using raw prawns are definitely better than those cooked ones you get off the refridgerated fish section as the cooked ones would be far too cooked by the end of the entire cooking process; bad quality ones would give you that awful rubbery texture.

i serve this as a standalone dish with rice.



250g fresh peeled raw prawns
1 packet of enoki mushrooms
3 cloves of garlic, minced
2 thai red chilis, chopped
a bunch of coriander finely chopped (or as much as you want)
a splash of shaoxing rice wine (i am usually very liberal with this)
2 tablespoons of soy sauce
1 tablespoon of oyster sauce
more coriander for garnishing

in a hot pan, fry the garlic and chilis in some oil until fragrant (or to the point where you start to sneeze from the chili fumes). add in the enoki mushrooms, making sure you separate them from the bunches before adding in, and a splash of shaoxing wine, soy sauce and oyster sauce. when the mushrooms soften, add in the prawns. after the prawns are just cooked, add in some coriander and give it a push around the pan.




plate up with generous sprinkling of coriander.

spicy wings.

one of my favourite foods is probably chicken wings and when i was back in singapore i'd regularly bake my honey wings but i was thinking of having something spicy incorporated into the wings this time.

thinking of what spicy element to put in, i chanced upon my favourite maggi garlic chilli sauce and it was the perfect ingredient to my concoction!

after the wings were baked for 30 minutes,



really simple recipe!

10 chicken wings (i'd use the fresh ones as frozen wings have a slightly bloody taste)
4 tablespoons of oyster sauce
3 tablespoons of tomato ketchup
4 tablespoons of maggi chilli sauce (or any chilli sauce you fancy)
1 tablespoon of honey
3 tablespoons of soy sauce
2 cloves of garlic, chopped

basically, pour all the condiments into the chicken wings and let it marinate for 1 hour. of course, the longer you marinate the better.
send the babies into the oven at 180 degrees for 30 minutes or until cooked through.

the honey helps give the skins a nice glaze!

beer beef stew.

i've probably tried to cook beef stew more times than i can ever recall but i could never get that kind of taste and texture that you get at a restaurant. not to mention sometimes it turns out to be too thick and sickening to eat after awhile.

this is an accidental discovery. i've never thought about stewing the beef in beer because i use red wine all of the other times. it has proven to be amazing because beer gives you the stew a very light flavor, almost like a thick soup. if you love stew, this is a great recipe to try!

500g braising beef
3 large potatoes (or how ever many you like), diced
2 large carrots, diced
1 box of cherry tomatoes/plum tomatoes
1 onion, chopped
3 cloves of garlic, minced
1 stalk of fresh rosemary (dried is fine)
1 teaspoon of thyme
1 pint beer
2 beef cubes
salt and pepper to taste

(serves 4)

in a large pot, fry the garlic in olive oil over high heat and add in the chopped onion. cook the onions until soft over the high heat, so as to remove any fluids from the onions and slightly carmelise them to help add sweetness to the stew.
add in the beef and cook for 5 minutes before adding in rosemary, thyme and a pinch of salt and pepper. pour in the pint of beer, let the foam bubble away and simmer slightly before adding in the potatoes, carrots, tomatoes and the beef cubes. place the lid over the pot and let it stew for 1 hour.


serve with crusty bread or white rice.

spinach and mushroom quiche.

27 nov 2010

i was thinking of making this quiche again since i made it for the advance christmas party i had weeks ago because i was craving for it.

and i did!




it is such a simple recipe really. buying a frozen short-crust pastry from the supermarket will save you all the need to make the pastry base. all you need is:

250g bag of spinach
500g mild cheddar (grade 2 cheddar from waitrose would be perfect)
100g closed-cap mushrooms (or other mushrooms you fancy), chopped
200ml fresh whole milk (i insist on full cream)
1 onion, chopped
3 cloves of garlic, minced
4 eggs
1 sheet of frozen short-crust pastry
salt and pepper for seasoning

(generously serves 4)

blanche the spinach in hot water until soft. do not leave for too long else the spinach would be discolored and turn disgustingly yellow. make sure all excess liquid is drained from the spinach. set aside.
beat 4 eggs until pale orange and add the chopped onion, garlic, mushrooms and half of the cheddar. season the mixture with salt and pepper according to discretion.
butter a square sandwich tin and lay the short-crust pastry until all sides have been covered. trim off the excess pastry with a knife. use a fork and score the pastry till you have even holes all round.
pour in the egg mixture into the tin and strew the blanched spinach evenly round the mixture. evenly sprinkle the remaining cheddar all round.

preheat the oven at 200 degrees celsius for 15 minutes. place the tin in the oven for 30 minutes or until cooked and surface is brown.