chicken 

sashimi 

softshell crab 

nameko 

paris 


cafe marly 

onion tart 

tuna dinner 

falafel 


baklava 


mint tea 

hummus  

A trip down Notting Hill

booksforcooks 

I don't remember exploring much of Notting Hill during my time in London (7 yrs ago as a young almost adult!) But this time round, i knew there were certain establishments i had earmarked to visit and it was exactly where i headed FIRST day of arrival in London. Books for Cooks being certainly one of them! The famous little bookstore that only sells cookbooks from everything to well...everything... I dragged my poor boyfriend (then!) through the rain (the only day of rain we had during our 2 week trip there) to find this store. And from the Notting Hill Tube station, it certainly wasn't the easiest shop to find. Testament to it being an established feature of Notting Hill, the 3 people i stopped to ask in my quest to find it in the rain all knew EXACTLY where it was, albeit with rather complicated (but specific)instructions on how to get there (take the first right, then the third left and walk straight down, then the 4th left and the immediate right)!

I eventually found it, and walked in to stare at all the books that lined the shelves from floor to ceiling! There were food novels, cook books, even a collection of Books for Cooks favourite recipes!
Unfortunately, i did find the cookbooks more expensive than what i could find at Borders, so i managed to refrain from snatching anything off the shelves, apart from the award winning memoir by Nigel Slater called 'Toast' (about his childhood food related memories). I have yet to read it - saving it for a cosy rainy weekend when I'm in need of a comfort soothing read.

books4cooks 


books for cooks 

My only regret was having lunch before walking in here (pic above). There is a small little unassuming cafe at the back of the book shop where the resident 'chef' tries different recipes from the WEALTH of cookbooks available at the shop. A 3 course lunch for 7pounds would have been a nice treat (and bargain for London standards!)but alas - i was stuffed.


The Spice Shop - another establishment foodie tourists tend to pay homage to, located right opposite Books for Cooks. I have read that chefs all over London visit this store for hard to find spices ordinarily not available in Tesco's! It's a small little shop packed to the brim with bright yellow tins of Spices. The pungent smell hits you the minute you walk through the door. I asked the shop assistant for peppermint bark (something i cant seem to find in Singapore) but unfortunately she didn't have that (although - that's not quite a spice is it?)


thespiceshop 

Just around the corner from Books for Cooks was a delicious looking gourmet store (not unlike Dao Paolo's delicatessen in Holland Village) with the most beautiful array of freshly baked breads/ bagels/ foccaccia and other such goodies. It was all i could do to stop myself from sweeping them all off their pretty displays and doing a runner with them stuffed down my zipped jacket! My heart was willing - my stomach mostly still stuffed from lunch . pity pity pity!

bread galore 

cupcakes 

gastro pub food! 

Gone Missing

I've been away from my blog so long i really don't know where to begin. You might have noticed about a million pictures posted with no accompanying text. The truth is that i've been so busy 'living it' that i haven't had the time (or the energy) to write about it. After my last mammoth dinner party cook up ( which i will write about shortly to fill in the gaps to my pictures), i rushed off to England and Paris for 2 weeks - but not without a hearty appetite and a camera in tow! One week after my return, a few pounds to shed, about a hundred dollars worth of French cheese in my fridge, a small suitcase worth of chocolate from Paris and an engagement ring later (yes, oh my god! bring on the chocolate!) - I'm finally ready to settle into my food writer's chair and share the wonderful whirlwind of the past few weeks.

So hopefully if you havent given up on me - i'm back to talk. More coming soon!

Sticky bun preparations! 

Sticky Buns 

The cookbook addiction

Cookbooks! 

I first started reading cookbooks as a therapeutic way of winding down my work day during a particularly stressful time at work last year. I had previously been rather stingy with my book purchases - believing that most recipes could either be borrowed or downloaded from the net. But boy - how things can change in a year. One comforting cookbook in bed led to another, and then another... which then progressed to browsing through them on Sunday mornings as a 'therapeutic way' to spend the morning... and it just steam rolled into one big fat obssession with cookbooks. I would lurk around the cookbook shelves of Borders and try not to salivate. Gasp and clutch a book to my chest in pure waves of desire - only to put it away with a sigh.
But not long ago - i received $600 worth of book vouchers for a photo shoot i had done. Oh the glee! The huge amount of lurking i did at borders, clutching at books and the joy of not having to put it back on it's shelves.
I did my research mind you. I have come to realise for example that great pictures do not a great cookbook make (not necessarily anyway). That not all cookbooks are born equal, and some are truly mediocre with mediocre recipes (despite all the hype). That those that might appear daunting at first, might turn out to be the most useful of the lot( and the only reason they appear daunting is because of all that text, that actually serves to take you through step by step, never leaving out the tiniest details.)

So what you see is a pic of some of my recent purchases.

Vegetarian Cooking for everyone is a Mammoth book that is apparently quite the bible for vegetarian cooks (and has won a few awards). i've always wanted to get into Vegetarian cooking, beyond my repertoire of stir fry vegetables and tofu at any rate! I have yet to try anything from this book (and it's one of those with a very limited number of photos), so it should be interesting taking the plunge!

Baking with Julia is one of the best investments i have made as far as cookbooks are concerned. Daunting at first (so much text!) but it truly takes you through every step of the way - ensuring a minimal chance of failure (as long as you are good at following instructions!) i have tried about 7 recipes from this book, and they have all turned out amazing. With the exception of the bagel recipe, which i think is a truly questionable recipe. Otherwise - i would reccomend this book heartily to all avid bakers out there.

The Zuni Cafe Cookbook - This was recommended on 101cookbooks.com - one of my favourite food sites. It's a beautiful book and another one of them that has won a handful of awards. Extremely detailed on everything from how to make salads to meats to desserts. Not only is it an enjoyable read, it is also educational and unpretentious. I tried the braised beef chuck recipe(my first attempt from this book) and it turned out beautifully-so i've got a great start from this one!
Here's a pic of it below:

Zuni Cafe Cookbook 

Kitchen by Michelle Cranston - i've yet to open this one, but beautiful big book with beautiful pictures and lots of good reviews from other blogs and friends alike so i'm hoping this is going to be another faithful companion.

French Laundry by Thomas Keller - this restaurant of course, has earned it's reputation for one of the finest places in the world for an exquisite meal. I was in Napa Valley last year and never managed to drive that extra half hour to where this restaurant was located. I wasn't on the biggest holiday budget, but would have liked to just peek through the windows anyway. Or maybe beg for some scraps of cheese. But now - i have the book. Incredibly complex recipes and certainly those fit for your most royal of guests. Meals to cook from when you want to truly impress and spend an entire day fiddling about making it. Having said that, the cooks of Saint Pierre love this one - so do other gourmand friends in the 'industry' so i guess it's got rave reviews. Personally, i'm not sure how many I'll be able to attempt from this book. A bit overly fancy for my blood and i suspect i might just end up flipping through it from time to time and sighing wistfully.
So here's a pic of it and a sample of what it looks like inside. Certainly a book almost made to frame.


French Laundry Cookbook 


French Laundry cookbook 

A Mammoth dinner for six

Onion tart 


braised beef 


Dessert 



The real deal 

This was for a mammoth dinner i had done for a dinner for 6. It took a huge amount of effort, and involved me standing in the kitchen WITHOUT rest for 8 hours straight.
By the time my guests came, i was all ready to send them right back home. All i wanted to do was sit and stretch out my tired legs with a bag of crisps!

This was a bit of a tricky dinner because my friend's boyfriend who was coming refuses to eat vegetables(the freak!). So the option of tossing a flavourful salad for a starter was not really an option.

I had wanted to try a Braised Beef shoulder for the main meal for which i had a recipe for in my newly purchased book 'The Zuni Cafe Cookbook'.

So here was the menu for the night:
Starter:
Onion tart with a mixed salad dressed with balsamic vinagerette

Main course:
Braised Beef Shoulder Chuck served with buttermilk Mashed potatoes and Glazed Carrots

Dessert:
Phyllatello with Ice Cream and Summer Berries

My pictures don't do justice to how this turned out. The onion tart turned out well, EVENTUALLY. There was a lot of fiddling with the tart pastry, which didnt seem to roll out very well without crumbling into a million dry flaky pieces. I was wary of adding too much water when making the dough because of the constant warning that too much water leads to shrinkage in the oven, but i suspect a bit more water would not have done too much damage. I had to make my tart pastry TWICE - the second time a little more successful than the first!
But overall - i believe it was a success, although a bit heavy for my liking (a lot of cream and eggs added to the cooked onion.

The Main course was a dream. My friend raved about the sauce, which involved an entire bottle of robust Red wine, 1 and a half chickens for the stock (With a lot of flavourful vegetables thrown in), a pork leg added to this concoction after the entire braising had been done (first time i have ever used a pork leg, which certainly seemed to do the trick - this was the alternative to a beef stock, which would have been far more expensive).
The beef was tender (i think the oven time was 4 hours? )although i suspect a TAD overcooked.

The dessert was beautiful. Very fancy schmancy looking without too much hard work as i had used ready made phyllo pastry to make it.

Overall,a successful dinner, but a lot of hard work and incredibly time consuming!

Delicious Tomato Tart

vine ripened tomatoes 


Tomato Tart - the real version! 

This is a beautiful starter. It's simple, it looks wonderful, and it doesnt take much time at all (as long as you're willing to use frozen puff pastry instead of making it layer upon buttery layer yourself!)

Vine ripened tomatoes are often seen as the 'superior' tomato and heartily recommended in most cookbooks where tomato is the central feature. However, in Asia - vine ripened tomatoes are helluva expensive, and about 5 times the price of normal (non vine attached) ones. I think there IS a distinct difference in flavour, and hence - i splurged this time on proper pricey vine ripened ones to make these tomato tarts.

Basically, the recipe here is simple.
Preheat the oven to 200 degrees.
Roll out the defrosted puff pastry into 3 inch width rectrangles (or whatever size you want really!)
Make an indent with your knife to shape the (left and right hand )border of the pastry (on both sides).
Brush both borders with egg yolk using a pastry brush (so they turn a nice pretty golden after baking).
Slice the tomatoes and place them in the centre of the rolled out pastry.
Sprinkle with sea salt and rosemary.
Put into oven for approx 20 mins.

Remove, and place a dollop of goat cheese on the pastry.
Serve immediately!

Below is the pic of the tart taken from the Magazine

tomatoe tart from mag 

Scallops 

Single Female behaviour

i thought i should share a little story that might either gross some of you out or make you nod your head in acknowledgement (i doubt it'll be the latter though).
i had made another batch of choc cupcakes recently. i had brought one to work, carefully packed in a tupperware, but had not had the chance to eat it, and hence when I returned home after a late night out with tupperware in hand, i left it by my bed side, passing out on my bed in exhaustion.

My boyfriend had been away for a week. I had not been sleeping well without him by my side (aaawww). At 2am that night, i opened my eyes, wide awake and strangely - hungry. (this is a rare thing. I never usually wake up in the middle of the night). I tossed and turned for a bit, and eventually sat up. I turned on my bed side light - and there it was - my chocolate cupcake sitting lonely in it's plastic casing.
I opened the tupperware, carefully held up the cupcake, (had a feeling of having to look around me to make sure no one was watching) and starting chomping into it, eyes half open, hair ratty, licking the icing and downing the chocolate sponge in big sleepy bites. Body still tucked away under my duvet, head resting on pillow.

After i had finished the last crumbs, i turned off the light, and went right back to sleep.

I woke up the next morning with a niggling feeling i had done something awfully bad,
i looked at the empty tupperware and there it was ! The evidence!

This is what my friend calls 'Single Female Behaviour.'

The things we do when alone in bed. For some, the stories could be much more sordid -for me, it was eating a giant cupcake in bed!

the 'grown up version' 

My love affair with Bagels

Bagels! 

I fell in love with Bagels when i was living and studying in London. There was this dinky little Bagel shop sandwiched in between 2 giant retail outlets just off Oxford Street. It was just round the corner from Top Shop. I tried a toasted poppy seed bagel with bacon and blue cheese for the first time, wrapped up in foil, a warm little package with the blue cheese threatening to ooze out the sides of the bagel.
It was chewy, crunchy on the sides (toasted) and the combination of blue cheese with bacon was nothing short of perfect. plus it was cheap!

Another memory of bagels would be trotting down to a jewish bakery near where i was living with my boyfriend (then) in London, and buying a bag of warm just out of the oven bagels for breakfast. I would take it home in its little brown paper bag, and
Eat it with butter and a glass of orange juice- it was a good life!

Baking Bagels
So when i bought my first book on BREAD, bagels were one of the first things i wanted to make. Bagels don't come by often in Singapore. You do find those Frozen ones in some supermarkets, and i dare say they are not too bad, but really - what can beat freshly baked bagels made by Your very own proud self?

This is probably the 4th time i have made bagels. This is the first time however that i have experimented with different toppings.
THe batch made 6 bagels - i made 2 with onion toppping, 1 with sesame topping, another with poppy seed topping, and 2 plain.

I ate the first one, plain, standing in the kitchen, impatiently split into 2 with my bread knife, the bagel still so hot out of the oven it burnt my fingers. I slathered on the butter and the cream cheese, and had my little piece of heaven.

If you could capture this feeling in a bottle, it would sell by the millions!
Recipe in a sec!

More bagels to come!

Fourth and Fifth Session at the French Kitchen

I have been juvenile. I didn't manage to post my French kitchen session last week - so i'm just going to combine my stories of the past 2 weeks in today's posting.

Last week, i had talked to one of the chefs about the French Laundry by Thomas Keller. He had said it was the book he referred to most often. (All the chefs in the kitchen turn their noses up at Jamie Oliver and other similar 'celebrity chefs' poo-poo-ing at them for not having done their 'time' in the kitchen and not being 'real chefs'. They have something in common with Anthony Bourdain then!

I told him i had just purchased the beautiful book and everything in it looked AMAZING but oh-so-scary to make. I told him i had wanted to learn how to make Basil Oil (it looks great on a plate, and adds that extra panache to a lovingly cooked meal - i cant wait to try it! ) He said thomas Keller's recipe didn't quite work - that he would teach me Dean's version when i came next Tuesday (Dean is the Souz Chef).
So yesterday, true to his word, I walked in, Dean said 'I hear you wanna learn how to make Basil Oil'. I gave a big over eager smile (i wasn't sure if they would entertain my little requests!) and hence came a quick and simple demonstration!

I'm writing it down now just so i don't forget:

Basil Oil Recipe

Take a big bunch of Italian Basil - pluck leaves from their stalks.
Place in a big bowl.
Heat a pot of water until boiling.
Prepare a large bowl of ice cubes (make sure there are lots of ice cubes)
Heat a pot of extra virgin olive oil - take it off the hob when it's warm.

Pour boiling water over Basil.
5 seconds later - dump half the ice cubes into the bowl.
Transfer everything to the large bowl containing half the remaining ice cubes.
Remove basil leaves from ice bowl and dry them on a kitchen towel.
(its ok to squeeze them in the towel - they will look limp and tired - no problem)
Keep squeezing until they are dry.
Dump basil leaves into blender. Pour in warm olive oil.
Blend until the oil turns green.
Pour basil oil through a fine mesh sieve covered with a kitchen cloth.
Let oil drain through towel + sieve. Keep basil oil and store!

Useful tips: Dont leave the boiling water in the basil leaves for too long. If too long, leaves will turn black. blanching it will allow the leaves to release their flavour. Dumping it in cold water allows you to refresh the leaves.

I have tasted this oil, and it tastes really strongly of basil! it's fantastic!

Temper of the chef
Yesterday, i also witnessed Billy Idol losing his temper. He seems like such an upbeat good natured guy, but boy - can he look PISSED when the occassion arises.
2 incidences- a customer had asked for Tuna Medium rare- he had cooked it well done. The Tuna came back with a stern remark from the waitress 'Chef. Read your orders properly next time. I had stated Medium rare'.
Billy Idol threw a bowl into the sink with a loud clash -and clenched his jaw. I think this was his mistake. And if he was pissed, he was probably pissed with himself, but boy, you really did feel like a dark thunderous cloud had fallen over the kitchen. Spilling over with blonde rage, eyes looking crazy angry, he fixed the tuna. The kitchen fell into a hushed silence. The Tuna was sent back out.

Second occurence - a customer had asked for Cod with no miso. This cod was sent to the wrong person (waiter's fault). Waitress came back to whisper the problem to Billy Idol. After he realised he had no more cod left -, he slammed his hand on the steel surface of the plating section, said a whole string of swear words in French and put on the blackest angriest face i had ever seen (apart from the ones i've seen on my dad!). The waiter who had made the mistake came in, he stared at him and said to the waitress- can you please show him were seat 7 is !!

So there you go - the Chef has some characteristics of what chef's are meant to be like after all! (fits of rage! passionate outburts! combustible anger when things do turn out). Im still a die hard fan of his though. At least it is clear he strives for perfection and the eagerness to please his customers.

And it is also clear his staff are eager to please him.

One of the new chefs in the kitchen (graduated straight from Cordon Bleu in Paris) presented to him a ravioli dish. I expect this was his little 'innovation'.

Billy Idol tried it, mused over it for a second, then said '3 things':
One. Creativity - i give you zero.
Two. Lobster Ravioli is not very original
Three. However - I like the flavour of the bisque. The flavour is good. (he tries it again) - i like it a lot. We can use this flavour combination.

Throughout this time, his staff have all stopped their work to listen to what he had to say.

It is clear that his opinion is valued and his compliments cherished. The new chef looked pleased. Ultimately, Billy Idol had ended his 'review' on a positive note.

Buckwheat Cakes
One of the chefs (sweet French guy) had these mini brown muffin shaped things sitting on his side of the kitchen. I stared at it (and prodded it when i thought he wasn't looking). He saw and asked me to try it.
It was sweet - a hybrid between cake and bread. He said it was real easy and sliced out a piece into several piees and left it on the counter, saying to everyone in the kitchen 'Dont touch. This is for Chef. Don't eat!' (another proof that the staff are very eager to please Billy Idol).

Sweet French chef starting writing down the recipe on a piece of paper and presented it to me (i had not even asked for it!)

recipe 

here it is! (coincidentally, i have 2 packets of buckwheat flour in my pantry - a gift that my luvvie had carted back from Australia on his last visit - along with the cherished Kitchenaid. I had thought about making buckwheat pancakes with them, but i think this might be the better option!)

Buckwheat Cake Recipe
125g Buckwheat flour
220g Caster Sugar
2 tblspoon yeast (dried)
1 pinch salt

Dry mix all above ingredients.

In a mixer, add 3 eggs and 10 cl of sunflower oil.
Mix till the mixture changes colour.

Place in 160 degree oven for 35- 45 mins.

It looks terribly simple, but if his memory is so good, i'll certainly put my faith in it and give it a try. Besides, Buckwheat is gluten free - so no guilt! (well, apart from the sugar and eggs and oil!)

I actually have a lot more to say, but i think this might be boring most to death.

Last words:
Foie Gras terrine (stuffed with dried figs) tastes so creamy it's like eating pure butter! i was happily enjoying my handout from one of the chefs until he said 'it's very fattening. Foie gras is 90% fat.'

gee thanks.

Devilish Chocolate cupcakes

devil's cupcakes! 

These were made for a friend's 30 something birthday- my friend Mik who LOVES chocolate and stares at anything i make with chocolate in it with huge goggle eyes. When i make anything without chocolate, he stares at me accusingly and huffs 'Where's the chocolate?"
So it was without question, that my birthday creation for him would have to have chocolate in it. I had initially wanted to make him a killer choc mousse cake that i had recently seen in 101cookbooks.com - but with my newfound obssession with cupcakes, having only made one batch (see Cupcakes posting!) and with some friends requesting for more, it was a natural choice - Chocolate cupcakes!

I found this recipe from a blog i had discovered called www.chockylit.blogspot.com
For anyone who has a penchant for cupcakes - this lady makes the most BEAUTIFUL ones. All fancy and dressed up and fit for royalty. She has some fantastic pictures of cupcakes that are enough to get one on the roll! I highly recommend all to visit her blog for cupcake inspiration of the most divine kind.

I would say the chocolate cupcake itself was nothing out of the ordinary (v simple to make too!) but it was the icing that really made the kill. In combination, it hit the spot. And with my rainbow coloured sprinkles, it looked like kiddy party treats - perfect for a bunch of 30somethings who were children at heart really!

close up 

Below is the recipe (taken from www.chockylit.blogspot.com)

Devil's Food Chocolate Cake
makes 24 cupcakes / 350 degree oven

2 cups flour
2 cups sugar
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1-1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1-1/2 cups milk
1/2 cup butter
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 eggs

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

1. Measure out everything but the eggs directly into your mixer bowl.
2. Mix on low speed just until incorporated.
3. Beat on high speed for 2 minutes.
4. Add eggs, beat on high speed again for 2 minutes.

Measure out into cupcake pan lined with cupcake papers. A 2" ice cream scoop works great for this. Bake for about 15-20 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean. Let cool slightly in the pan then transfer to a rack to cool completely before frosting.

Chocolate Buttercream
enough to lightly frost 24 cupcakes

1 stick butter
1/2 cup cocoa
4 cups confectioner's sugar
~1/4 cup milk

1. Beat butter on high for about 30 seconds until soft.
2. Add cocoa and 1 cup of sugar and beat until incorporated
3. Add half of the milk and the remainder of sugar and beat until incorporated.
4. Continue to add milk until you get to the consistency you want.


the 'grown up version'