. In celebration of food and dining experiences .

Tuesday, December 25, 2007

Christmas Dinner Part II

My kind of Christmas feast

***

I spent most part of my Christmas eve in my kitchen; from 9 am to 5 pm, I was grating the skin of oranges, rolling the dough, putting in and pulling out trays from the oven, and slicing up different ingredients for the dinner. It was tiring and it made me wonder how chefs could cook long hours every day because I was tired come dinner time.

I guess all the slaving away was worth it because I saw plenty of smiles at the dinner table. Moreover, I like to think that I brought some Yule tide spirit with the festive food that I attempted to create.

I baked a English-styled carrot cake in the morning. This is really tedious! I spent 3 hours in the kitchen from 9am till noon preparing this one. After lunch, J came by to help so it really lightened my load a lot.

In the afternoon, we prepared mince pies part II, savoury tarts with smoked ham, tomatoes and mozerrella cheese, and baked potato salad. We also prepared a cheese platter with olive crackers- Stilton blue cheese, Camembert cheese, and brie.

My dad was cooking his bee hoon and sambal prawns to complete the fare. We also ordered a turkey from The Tarvern (A restaurant tucked at a corner of River Valley Road that serves up good US prime ribs and waygu steaks )

Dinner was really enjoyable. I loved the turkey. Tender meat, full of flavour and juices. The rest of the other dishes were pretty much gone by the end of dinner. We were just sitting outside my house on a relatively cooling evening savouring the food and the wine.

Christmas is indeed my favourite holiday. I love the food, spirit, and love (as cheesy as that may sound) that fills the air during this holiday season.

Savoury tarts that were almost finished before we started eating

Baked baby potatoes with bacon on a bed of tomatoes and lettuce


The lovely turkey
And we had the leftovers with porridge on Christmas day (Our yearly tradition)
Yes, you heard me right. Turkey porridge! It taste absolutely wonderful.


Cheese platter- The brie and camembert cheese with olive crackers and sliced strawberries



Mince pies- a hint of Christmas


Chocolate mousse laced in coffee and kahlua


The carrot cake with lime cream cheese frosting


The take-home goodies- Gingerbread man , snowman and tree cookies
These were much better than the ones I've baked the week before

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Sunday, December 23, 2007

Christmas Dinner Part I

The smooth, velvety, tempting chocolate mixture for the chocolate mousse

***

Preparations for the Christmas dinner on Christmas Eve have since started. Today, we prepared the chocolate mousse laced with coffee and Kahlua for a slightly different twist.

Also, took on the challenge of making the mince pie. (That is to get everyone in a more Christmas-y mood since we don't have a log cake and I'm not planning on baking one). Mince pies has been around for centuries and it has been an English Christmast tradition since the 16th Century. The mince pie used to contain meat (beef, chicken or fish) along with eggs, spices and dried fruit. However, over time, the mince pie has evolved and dried fruits, nuts, apples, and spices tak over the place of meat while retaining the same name.

This mixture is laced with brandy and is seasoned before baking in a pastry shell.

We made our mince meat from scratch and resisted from using store bought ones. Ours contained raisins, dried cranberries, dried apricots, lemon zest, blanched almonds, sugar, all spices, nutmeg and brandy.

The crust that we made is slightly too thick but I'll be making another batch tomorrow so it should work just fine.


Mince meat- What's Christmas without this traditional Christmas dish?


Our mince pie before baking

Finally, we present you our very own mince pie!

Don't you think the mince pies look pretty. The mince meat smells heavenly even before they reach the oven. They smell of the festive spices and brandy.
Tomorrow I'll be baking the carrot cake together with some simple savoury stuff for the dinner.

Merry Christmas to everyone in advance!

Soak in the festive spirit and happy holidays!

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Saturday, December 22, 2007

Christmas lunch at Garibaldi with my best friend

We decided long and hard as to where to go for our Christmas lunch. After throwing up various places, we decided to head to Garibaldi, my favourite Italian restaurant.

Truth be told, today was the very first time that I actually had lunch at Garibaldi. The place looked brighter than usual which was a tad strange to me.

For the starters, I ordered the thinly sliced roasted veal with tuna sauce with the sweetest cherry tomatoes. Lunch started on a good note because I was already quite famished. This dish is very light despite it being a red meat.

For the mains, both Grace and I were tempted by the homemade pasta in a tomato based sauce with fresh prawns and black olives. Being fresh pasta, it's softer than the al dente version that I usually like. But the thin flat sheets of pasta made me feel inspired to buy a pasta maker and start making my own pasta. The prawns were also fresh and sweet and love the complementing black olives. It was a simple but delightful main to savour.

Dolce (dessert) was two tiny scoops of ice cream- vanilla bean and hazelnut. People who are close to me know that I'm a nit pick when it comes to vanilla ice cream. Most of the commercial brands serve only sweetened artificial vanilla flavoured cream which I do not bother eating. However, when served with a true blue vanilla bean ice-cream, I get excited and ecstatic because even though I love chocolate, my favourite ice cream flavour has to be often understated vanilla. The vanilla bean ice cream served at Garibaldi really hits the spot. What other flavour could go hand in hand with vanilla than the hazelnut. Though dessert was simple, it was satisfying to round up the meal with such tasty, smooth ice cream. I really do miss the ala carte dishes being served at Garibaldi. While the lunch menu was good, it was not as fantastic as the ala carte dishes. I guess you really get what you pay for.

Most importantly, I had a good meal with my best friend to round up the year of joy, of sadness and pain and a whirlwind of changes.

My starter of thinly sliced roasted veal

Grace's salad of fresh cherry tomatoes, paramsan cheese, rocket leaves

Mains- homemade pasta in tomato based sauce with fresh prawns and black olives

Dolce- vanilla bean and hazelnut ice cream

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Thursday, December 20, 2007

What's Christmas without some festive goodies?

Gingerbread cookies baking...


After buying my gingerbread man and girl cookie cutters, J and I were set to bake gingerbread cookies. I've always been a fan of Christmas bake stuff- they are all filled with spices, alcohol and festive joy.

My first attempt at the gingerbread cookie turned out alright. Just that I realise that I'm not that great at decorating. My sis kept laughing at all my decorated gingerbread man and Christmas trees saying that they are either boring-looking or deformed. Well, even though I did destroyed a few, most of them turn out quite alright and cute-looking right?

oh and I realised that gingerbread cookies taste better the day after they are baked!

My next task- to bake a gingerbread house! Grins! maybe next Christmas.

Till then, let's just savour these happy looking things.

Gingerbread cookies

Adapted from Delicious magazine
makes 18

380g plain flour
1 tbsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp mixed spice
125g unsalted butter
175g dark muscovado sugar
1 medium egg, beaten
4 tbsp maple syrup (we used honey)

Preheat the oven to 190°C.
Sift the flour, ginger and spice into a bowl. Rub the butter and sugar, removing any sugar lumps. Stir in the egg and maple syrup and mix well.
Tip onto a floured surface and roll out to 5mm thick.
Cut out shapes using festive cookie cutters and place on a baking tray lined with baking parchment. Bake 10-12 minutes. Remove from the oven and cool on a rack.
Decorate with icing. (Icing is mainly icing sugar mixed with a few tbsp of hot water and stirred till you achieve a thick and smooth consistency)
Keep on an airtight box until the next day.

A tray-ful of colourful gingerbread cookies

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Sunday, December 09, 2007

Pies Part II

Big pie, small pie

My latest craze of baking savoury tarts and pies.
J and I made two today- the smaller one is specially made for my sis, tailored for the meatatarian.

The large one contained bratwurst sausages, zucchini, tomatoes, honey baked ham, baby potatoes, mushrooms, mozzeralla and egg while the smaller one had no vegetables.

By doubling the portion of the dough, we had just the right amount to make two with a nice crust. Pie for lunch on a rainy day isn't a bad idea at all even though most people would think that soup is still the best. I really do think that pie can give soup a run for its money.

Our lunch

***

My family headed out to town in the late afternoon.
I couldn't help but to drag them to Isetan supermarket. It's one of my favourites. The bazzar was selling one of my favourites: Warabi mochi with Kinako (soy bean flour). Its way soft and i love it with kinako! Its definitely a perfect after dinner snack! It brings back memories of Japan!

Nicely packaged in a box
My sis and I couldn't resist them!

Loves

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Saturday, December 08, 2007

Au Petit Salut with friends

And so J and I are back at Au Petit Salut for lunch on a Saturday. This time, we went with my sister, Zhiwen and Grace to celebrate Zhiwen's birithday. It started to drizzle by the time we got there but the weather did little to dampen our spirits. In fact, it was just the perfect weather for al fresco dining.

We chatted with fresh baguette and butter before our starters arrive. I ordered my favourite baked burgundy snails with olive oil, garlic, basil and tomatoes. My sis and Grace thinks that they hit the spot too! Zhiwen ordered the homemade duck sausages with mesclun salad while J decided to take comfort with a bowl of hot and thick pumpkin soup.

For the mains, we each ordered a different one. I decided to go for penne pasta with tomatoes and eggplants. I'm such a sucky for eggplants. I had wanted to order the veal tenderloin but changed my mind cause I've been eating too much red meats lately.

For desserts, the table was full of tempting colourful sweets. I ordered the festive dessert- The fruit cake (with figs, strawberries etc) complemented with gingerbread ice-cream. Grace had the choux buns with vanilla ice cream, Zhiwen had the dark chocolate and hazelnut mousse with coffee ice cream, sis had the passionfruit souffle, while J had the simplest fruit salad with lime sorbet. I love my dessert especially the ice-cream though I found the fruit cake a little too sweet for me. Thankfully, they were in a small portion so it was still manageable.

The restaurant was full hence the service was a slightly slower than usual. Not that we minded because company's good.

Penne pasta with eggplant tomato based sauce and shaved Parmesan cheese


J's favourite braised beef


Steak and fries that my sis and Grace ordered
They commented that the fries taste healthy. The rest of us concluded that they were being delusional.


My festive dessert
First taste of Christmas!


J's simple fruit salad with a scoop of lime sorbet


The rich chocolate coated choux buns with vanilla ice cream and almond flakes

All of us smiling uber happily

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Sunday, December 02, 2007

Chocolate Meringues and Spinach Sausage Tart

Of Meringues... Chocolate ones

J and I embarked on our experiment of baking chocolate meringues today. Though I've never been a fan of meringues, I always thought that they are gorgeous looking.

There are three reasons why I want to make meringues though I think that they are too sweet. First of all, I promised my cousin that I'll make him meringues when I get my new kitchenaid mixer (which isn't that new anymore). Secondly, I wanted to see how good the mixer is- how it is able to form peaks in the egg whites so I can turn the bowl over and nothing will fall out. Third of all, I just wanted to indulge my eyes on these pretty little things.

Sure enough, the journey of making meringues was as fun and beautiful as I thought it to be. I was enticed by the sight of the egg whites on how it became stiff, then smooth and almost cream-like. I was intrigued by how the meringues could feel so soft, silky and smooth to touch.

Instead of making plain meringues, I decided to add cocoa powder to give it an extra subtle chocolatey taste. For the first batch, we just spooned mixture onto the baking sheet so there came out looking like round discs.

The first batch

For the second batch, we used the piping bag and we got little swirls. Though I was worried about how they will turn out, the results were fantastic.

I read that some people like their meringues crusty all over while others loved them crusty on the outside, soft and chewy on the inside.

My first batch was the all crusty ones while my second batch had a tinge of chewiness. I think I like the latter more.

Anyway, my family adores them. My sis who proclaimed that "nobody in this house likes meringues" earlier that morning had already gobbled down quite a few. With only two left, I think my meringues are in good business. There is still a box that I've kept for grace, hopefully, there are still there tomorrow.

The prettier ones with the swirls

A bite into the crusty shell

***

Meringues
Serves 6-8
(Adapted from Cook with Jamie by Jamie Oliver)

6 large egg whites
300g castor sugar
a pinch of salt

1. Preheat your oven to 150 degrees C.
2. Put your egg whites in a bowl and make sure that there are absoultely no little pieces of egg shell or egg yolk in them.
3. Whisk on medium until the whites form firm peaks. (You must be able to turn the bowl upside down with nothing falling out)
4. With your mixer still running, gradually add the sugar and pinch of salt.
5. Turn the mixer to the highest setting and whisk for 7 to 8 minutes or until the meringue mixture is white and glossy. Dip your finger into the mixture and rub between your fingers. It should feel perfectly smooth.
6. At this point, you can add in some flavours. For me, I've added in 2 tbsp of cocoa powder, sifted.
7. Fold in the cocoa powder
8. Spoon the meringue mixture onto prepared baking tray in one big blob or small ones (like I've done)
9. Bake in the oven for about 45 minutes (if you are making the tiny ones)

***

A tart in time,
serves the hungry

In the meantime, J and I also baked a tart. All this time, we have been baking sweet stuffs like muffins, cakes, mousse and we have seldom baked something savoury like a tart or pie.

So on Sunday morning, we decided to bake spinach, sausage and mozzerella cheese tart. Basically, you just need to make the dough for the crust, sliced and cook the ingredients, roll out the dough, dumped the ingredients in and bake!

And there you have it.. a tart to feed 6-8 people.It's pretty simple but time consuming.

We should have made a little more of the crust(2 portions maybe) but other than that, all at home are stuffed with tarts.

Spinach and bratwurst sausage tart

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Jason's birthday celebration

Chocolate goodness perfect for the occasion

Double Chocolate Cake

I bought the sour cream and M&Ms from Carrefour on Friday afternoon so that I could bake J's birthday cake. I had to tell him a white lie that the M&Ms were for my sister which was kind of believable because my sis adores chocolates and plain M&Ms.

On saturday, I woke up real early to start off baking before J came over to my place. I decided to make a chocolate cake as it's something that he likes. I also wanted to try baking two layer of cake and fill the center with chocolate fudge instead of baking only one layer.

Thankfully, I didn't do anything stupid and the cake turned out pretty well though everyone's comments was that I should have slapped on more chocolate frosting. The sides were a teeny weeny bit overbaked because I was too preoccupied with making the frosting.

As you can probably tell, I'm not the most artistic person when it comes to food decoration. J does it much better! Though the surprise did not turned out as I planned, we still went through the singing of the birthday songs. My sis even attempted a Cantonese rendition of the birthday song.

Slices and slices of cake waiting to be devoured

***

Il Lido dining

We headed to il Lido, at Sentosa Golf Club. I've heard lots about this restaurant- Mainly that it was a restaurant for occasions because it has the perfect romantic ambience.

Tucked away at a far and remote area of Sentosa, it's really quite a pretty place for a quiet dinner for two. I made reservations for the inside dining area because I was not sure how the weather will be and though sitting outdoor may give you a great sea view, I did not want to be out on a humid night or a stormy night.

The restaurant was tastefully done up- modernistic look with a touch of fantasy. Service was immaculate and friendly. The waiter that served us was definitely well-versed in the menu and the food served. I'm quite impressed.

The first dish was the bread- thinly sliced crusty bread with olive oil and herbs. Light, warm and crunchy. I couldn't stop munching on them.

Midsummer's night dream-like candle and the bread served in a basket bowl

I opted for the festive season menu as I couldn't decide what to order. J went for the ala carte. He chose the antipasto platter to start while I had the joy of savouring over two appetisers- crab salad served on a bed of avocado pulp with citrus sauce on the side and the homemade tagliolini pasta with goose liver with poached pear sauce and marsala wine. I loved the appetisers.

The crab salad was really simple. I would not expect them to screw up on this one. This dish is simple and it emphasise on using fresh quality ingredients. It paved the way for the next appetiser- the pasta. When I saw the menu, I was really intrigued how this pasta would taste like. Our waiter told us that it's unique but a perfect match. Upon taking the first bite, I was completely won over. I loved the fresh tagliolini, the al dente pasta and the sauce was pretty mind blowing. The diced foie gras and pears really went very well. I really enjoyed this starter.

J loved his antipasto platter too. It consisted of a variety- parma ham on a bed of rocket leaves, salami, grilled prawns with balsamic vinegar, cheddar cheese etc.

We anticipated our mains. Mine was the beef tenderloin with porcini mushrooms and truffle sauce. It was a big disappointment as both the beef slices and the mushrooms were a little on the salty side. Apart from the overdose of salt, the beef slices were a little plain for my liking. I like it if it come served with sauce of some sorts. I always loved porcini mushrooms plus a pairing with truffle sauce sounds like a perfect match in heaven. However, the two were not that great after all. The mushrooms were not seared enough and there wasn't much truffle taste to talk about, lastly, it was a tad too salty.

J didn't have too much complaints. After weeks of having stews and braised meats, he decided to turn his back on the dark side and ordered beef tenderloin with sweetbreads, asparagus and truffle sauce. He didn't really comment much on his mains but our general consensus was that we still very much prefer our favourite Garibaldi. It's still the best!


Antipasto platter


Blue Swimmer Crab Salad with Avocado and Sicilian Citrus Sauce


Homemade Tagliolini Pasta with Goose Liver, Pears and Marsala Wine

Beef Tenderloin with Porcini Mushrooms and Truffle Sauce

J's main: beef tenderloin with sweetbreads and asparagus topped with truffle sauce

Dolci (or desserts) were coffee bavaroise with chocolate heart and saffron sauce. This dome shaped dessert was filled with coffee flavoured cream with a cold chocolate lava center with coated coffee beans on the side. It was not a bad dessert in itself but a little too rich for me as I was too full by this time.

The other dessert was a triple chocolate mousse( dark, milk and white chocolate) cake with liqueur soaked biscuit base. It was topped with tiny meringues. Much better than the first but overall, I felt that desserts were a tad forgettable.

coffee bavaroise with chocolate heart and saffron sauce


Triple chocolate mousse cake

Even though I felt that the food was not completely satisfying. I think the both of us had an enjoyable evening of chatting both in the restaurant and along the beaches of Sentosa. I do hope that J had a good time and had a great birthday celebration because all I want is for him to be happy.

***

il Lido restaurant
Sentosa Golf Club
Bukit Manis Road
Singapore 099 892
Tel: 6866 1977

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