Monday, January 30, 2006

CNY-eve at SUISS

unbaked danish pastry




















blueberry danish













blueberry muffin















checkers - chicken tart pastry














tools you'll see in a bakery












choose me, i'm round [chocolate butter cake]











yet-to-be-wrapped vegetable curry puff filling with pastry













yolk-flower















a chilly escape [ inside a chiller in a hospital's kitchen] ;







a beautiful sunset after a long day's work...it's time to go home for CNY dinner!

Thursday, January 26, 2006

chicken, lamb, potatoes, pineapples

slow-cooked chicken with cabbage

cut 2 lemon into 8 smaller pieces each. also cut 2 whole heads of garlic(include skin). chop up 2 half chicken into smaller sections.

arrange chicken and lemons into a bowl. then, sprinkle fresh thyme over the contents and drizzle with olive oil followed by 150ml of white wine. cover bowl with foil and cook for 160 C for 2 hours. after that, remove and put to cooking again for 45 minutes.

to prepare the cabbage, arrange whole cabbage/s (Try not to get too big ones) in a bowl, then pour chicken stock over it followed by drizzle of salt and pepper and olive oil. cover bowl with aluminium foil and cook in same oven as chicken..for the final 20minutes


lamb-sticks (:

first, cut the lamb into small cutlets and trim away unnecessary fat. wrap with plastic film(for cleanliness) and bash it ( with a roller or anything handy!) to loosen the meat.
start to heat up olive oil (not virgin) in preparation to fry the lamb cutlets.
into another container, grate about 10-20g of parmesan cheese and mix it with bread crumb. you can prepare bread crumb by just leaving some slices of bread to dry and then grate or do anything just to crush it. =)
then,beat 2 eggs into another bowl.
the procedure to coat is to first layer the lamb cutlet with egg, then only the mixture of bread crumbs and parmesan cheese. it's now ready to be fried and later goes down into any hungry stomach!

yet another potato salad recipe
cumin, lemon juice, olive oil, onions...and of course, you mix it with potato, cut or mashed.

caramelised pineapple with malibu chocolate

melt these together:
125ml malibu (coconut liquor)
125ml cream
200g chocolate
during the process, squeeze some pineapple juice into the chocolate sauce..give it extra flavour!

you'll need to prepare cut pineapples-on-sticks. soak the (wood) sticks in water to prevent it from catching fire when caramelising sugar.
coat the cut (longitudinally) pineapples with brown sugar and put on barbeque to caramelise.
once done, serve with the chocolate sauce (in individual bowls for hygiene purposes) to be used as a dipping sauce. =)

Tuesday, January 24, 2006

italian?french?spanish?

this is some simple recipe to prepare rice with prawns ( or prawns with rice, whichever that you fancy)

first, prepare the sauce. you'll need chopped chilli, ginger, garlic and lemon juice. just mix all the ingredients together.
next, poach the prawns. when poaching, add juice from 1/2 of a lemon and some salt.
then, cook the rice(original recipe uses some sort of black coloured rice). once done, use a fork to loosen the rice. mix some of the sauce with the rice, place the prawns, and pour remaining of sauce onto it. =)


some trouffle? recipe

you'll need a huge bowl for this =p
first, spread blueberry jam on slices of bread of sponge cake. layer the bottom of the bowl with these.
next, melt blackberry jam in a pot, throw in blueberries/blackberries and add one lemon's juice. heat till a gooey texture is obtained. this forms the second layer in the bowl.
now, we start preparing the final layer.
step 1. mix 2 egg yolks + 100g sugar + 3-4 spoonful of lemon liquor. whisk the mixture.
step 2. mix the egg white and 100g sugar. whisk the mixture.
for both steps, whisk till slightly fluffy texture.
finally, mix the products of step1 and step2 with 750g mascarpone cheese. the final mixture gives the topmost layer.

once all 3 layers are complete inside the bowl, leave it in the fridge to set, probably overnight. serve as you wish!

Wednesday, January 18, 2006

$10 milk shake

as seen in Surreal Gourmet

to a bowl of grated chocolate, pour in scalding hot cream and stir gently to form a homogeneous layer of chocolate. then, add vanilla ice cream to the chocolate, blend slightly before adding raspberry liquor (framboise liqueur... Chambord is a popular brand). blend all the ingredients till smooth like milk shake :p

to serve, add a rasperry to the drinking straw and garnish with a mint leaf and sprinkle some chocolate crumbs.

Thursday, January 12, 2006

summer treats

honey semi-freddo
semi-freddo - semi-freeze

300ml double cream - whip till slightly "raised"
100ml honey, 1 egg, 4 yolks - mix these together into a bowl. put bowl on top of a pot of water, height of water is such that it does not touch the bowl. the idea is to warm the mixture in the bowl as you whisk it, and not cook scrambled eggs.

once the honey and egg mixture is homogeneous yellow and aerated, looks vouptuously swelling, then pour it into the whipped double cream. "fold in" the mixture with a scraper or spoon.
put a layer of plastic wrapper on the sides of a square/round/whatever-shape container and pour the mixture into it. put into fridge for the mixture to set. you can remove once it solidifies.
to serve, drizzle the semi-freddo with honey and add a dash of almonds or any other nuts.

cucumber salad

ingredients: yoghurt, chopped cucumber, dried mint, finely chopped mint leaves, some finely grated garlic.
put all ingredients in a bowl n mix well. serve with pita bread

yoghurt chicken rice
(the twist to this one lies in its marinate)

first, marinate the chicken fillet with yoghurt, lemon juice, and ground cinnamon. chill in fridge for 1 hour.

next, get ready the shredded saffron and chicken stock
then, heat some oil with butter in a pot. about 1:1 ratio... not too much of each.
after that, add 500g of bismati rice(some sort of fragrant rice) and pour in the chicken stock with the saffron. also add a dash of lemon zest and the juice of a whole lemon. cover the pot and allow the rice to cook for 10-15 minutes.

in the meantime, roast a mixture of cashewnuts, almonds, etc on the pan. this will be mixed together with the rice. also, lightly fry the marinated chicken fillet.

finally, mix the rice with the chicken and the nuts. garnish with a hearty sprinkle of pistachios (do not roast these)

bon appetit!

Friday, January 06, 2006

cool desserts

here's two ideas i picked up today.

BERRIES with WHITE CHOCOLATE SAUCE

first, to prepare the white chocolate sauce.
1. you'll need 250ml of cream and roughly 250g of white chocolate (1:1 ratio), and also some vanilla sticks.
2. warm the cream together with the vanilla in a pot. put the white chocolate in a bowl and pour the heated cream with the vanilla over it. stir the contents of the bowl till homogeneous (minus the vanilla, that is) as the chocolate will melt.
3. after this, pour the contents back into the pot and warm slightly. be careful not to overheat of the chocolate might 'split'.
4. arrange the berries (raspberry, blueberry, straberry...anything!) on a plate.
5. pour the white chocolate sauce on the berries.
6. serve immediately

second, just a simple concept. you may consider preparing mousse with a jelly base. that'll give the dessert a whole new dimension. i shall try to work out the recipe for lemon mousse.

Wednesday, January 04, 2006

a day at Suiss





























Croissants! they smell so lovely just after baking.
clockwise from top: glazing the croissants, "the croissant", "dare to be different"




bread avenue

rows of small loaf white bread arranged for cooling

















streets of rotimania

roti (malay) - bread
















eggtarts! yummy!












this is the dry form of baker's yeast, for those of you out there who are still curious.