. In celebration of food and dining experiences .

Sunday, September 30, 2007

Of lunch and fun in the kitchen

Such a late post. I simply have no time to blog about food anymore!

J and I went to La Strada for lunch because we couldn't get a table at the newly(relatively new) opened Au Petit Salut at Harding Road.

I was looking forward to the Truffle butter pasta and the desserts at La Strada.
Unfortunately, we were disappointed.

We ended up getting the set lunch for economic reasons and it hardly did satisfy us.

I can't emphasize how important a restaurant should serve good bread. Good bread is as important as a good amuse bouche or appetier. That's because a good bread shows the restaurant's dedication and skill in providing good food.

The bread from La Strada was not just cold, it was stale. It was a great disappointment for me because I love (good) bread with olive oil.

For starters, I had the baby octopus salad with potatoes with pesto sauce for my appetiser. While it was alright, it wasn't good either.

J had the potato and leek soup. This one was really good. Love the taste of leek.
For the mains, we both had the beef tenderloin. This was much better than the starter. It was simple execution but the steak was juicy, tender and it wasn't overcooked.

For desserts, we stuck to the safe, old tiramisu. Frankly speaking, there wasn't much choice to begin with. The tiramisu wasn't like the best. It wasn't the near best either. It just provided the sweet ending to a meal.

Oh well, I should have just spent my dollars on the truffle butter pasta. If there is one thing worth going to La Strada, it's their truffle butter pasta.


Baby octopus salad


Mains


Dessert

***

On a brighter note. I tried making chocolate mousse for three reasons. The first is because I was drooling over the recipe that I saw from 'Delicious' magazine (September issue). The second is because I know my dad, sis, and ros likes it. Thirdly, J and I wanted to play around in the kitchen.

Making chocolate mousse is so fun and therapeutic because I love dark chocolate and I love the smell of melted chocolate.

The results were fantastic. The texture was smooth. The only complaint was that, it was too bitter. I guess it differs from individuals if you are big on dark chocolate and milk chocolate.

Next time I'll try making the milk chocolate one. Think this is a great recipe especially for a party!

***

Chocolate Mousse
(Adapted from Delicious Sep 2007)

Serves 6

150g good quality dark chocolate (or chocolate of your preference)
50g unsalted butter
2 Tbs of coffee dissolved in 2 Tbs of boiling water
1 tbs of Kahlua or other coffee liqueur
3 large eggs, separated
1 cup of pure cream
1 tbs runny honey
Mint springs and strawberries to serve

1) Place chocolate, butter, coffee in a heatproof bowl over a pan of barely simmering water and stire until chocolate is just melted.
2) Remove bowl from the pan and stir in coffee liquer. Transfer to a large mixing bowl and leave to cool to body temperature.
3) Meanwhile in a clean, dry bowl (any water or fat will affect results) use electric beaters to whisk the eggwhites for 3-5 minutes until foamy and soft peaks form.
4) Whip the cream to soft peaks in a separate bowl then keep chilled.
5) When the chocolate is cool enough, stir in the yolks and honey. Gently fold in a third of the cream. Gently fold in half the eggwhite, keeping as much air in the mixture as possible.
6) Fold in remaining eggwhite followed by remaining cream.
7) Divide mousse among six 1-cup serving glasses and chill for 4-6 hrs to set.
8) Top mousses with strawberries and mint to serve.


Captured the golden sunny shade egg yolks in my shiny stainless steel pot


The result
Worth the wait I assure you


Cool mint and juicy strawberry
Important to the mousse

link | posted by simin at 4:22 PM |

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