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. My Tasting Palette .
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. In celebration of food and dining experiences . |
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Exploring and discovering new restaurants Dining and chilling out with my loved ones Baking and cooking over the weekends Sharing my love for food with others
Vanilla bean pods (one can never have enough) Valrhona Cocoa powder Valrhona chocolate Macarons from Laduree and Pierre Herme Madelines mold Pretty cake stands (I only have one and only one) YUZU from Japan! (They taste great in almost anything) A food tour to Italy and France Opportunity to study at Le Cordon Bleu |
Sunday, June 29, 2008 Japanese Desserts @ The Regent Tea Lounge  “Brown sugar and salt macarons, yuzu soufflés and green tea éclairs” grabbed my attention. I read on “Japanese guest pastry chef, Makato Nakane is in town”. That bought me over. A shortage of funds meant that I couldn’t go to Japan as much as I would like to. What better substitute than to enjoy Japanese food from the very hands of the Japanese chefs.
 Rows and rows of delectable bite-sized treats  Triple berry tarts  Brown sugar and salt macarons  Yuzu souffle  The savouries... Light crab salad, chicken yakitori, crab salad croissant, green tea bread  Japanese green tea
Burger time is Relish time  Burgers, the all-time favourite American food, have a bad name for being overly-greasy with soggy vegetables. To add to this junk is a tray of overly salted deep fried and oily fries. However, a couple of gourmet burger haunts are redefining this American junk food. Wilin Low, chef and owner of Wild Rocket restaurant at Mount Emily, has opened a burger joint, Relish, at Cluny Court for quite a long while now. My first time (I’m ashamed to say that!) there was about two weeks ago with a good friend. This gourmet burger joint filled the space of the second floor of a revamped shop house along Bukit Timah Road. The joint was mostly white and bright with high ceilings and minimalist furniture. One side of the wall had a hue of orange and yellow graffiti which added a fun touch to the place. If you are at Relish, you can only be there for their burgers so we didn’t get sidetracked. They had quite a number of options of burgers including the locally influenced Ramlee burger (A popular street snack made popular by the passam malams) and the safe wild rocket burger (Beef patty with argula). For some reasons, I went against my instincts to order the seafood patty burger instead of the tofu burger. Each burger came served with large side of very decent fries made from potatoes instead of the frozen packed ones. The seafood patty contained a hearty portion of fresh prawns, crabmeat, fish and squid which was great. The lemon mayo dressing came as a little too rich for me which made the burger too filling, too fast. The tofu burger, on the other hand, looked really good with grilled portobello mushrooms, eggplant salsa and chargrilled tofu patties topped with cheese. The fries were good if you love potatoes. Wish I could get some vinegar to eat with it. That would totally bring me back to Fremantle in Perth where I feasted on fish and chips with vinegar! This is a great casual place for friends if you guys are not too far off in the area. With a round of gourmet beers, you and your friends are set for the afternoon. As for myself, I would definitely go for the tofu burger the next time round if I ever do crave for some unhealthy junk! ***
Tel: 6763 1547 http://www.wildrocket.com.sg/relish.htm
My seafood patty burger
the portobello mushroom and tofu burger Matcha sablés  Japanese-influenced tea time treats: Matcha sablés *** I love Japanese desserts. Japanese pastry chefs have mastered the French-styled pastries so adriotly that people have acknowledged Japan to be Asia's dessert and pastryland (I agree wholeheartedly!). They take their skills to the next level by creating a new medley of flavours and combinations influenced by their experiences in their home country. This one is no different. Sablés are classic French crumbly cookies. However, the Japanese have replaced the flavour with matcha just like how they used matcha for their traditional wagashi (Japanese sweets). These Japanese-influenced sablés are easy to make and simply delightful to eat. I must have eaten have half a box of these unknowingly while reading. Bite into these round sablés and you will taste the crunchy sweetness from the granulated sugar and then be hit by the intense flavour of matcha. I think they are wonderfully fantastic and it's a must-have addition to my petit fours box.  Pure green happiness Dancing blobs of dough ready to be rolled into a log  A sugar-coated life *** Matcha sablés Adapted from Amai's Green Tea Sweet Recipe Makes 30 3/4 cup (2.25 oz) Confectioners sugar 1. Preheat the oven to 170 deg celcius. Line a sheet pan with parchment paper. 2. Whisk the confectioner’s sugar and green tea together in a bowl. 3. Add the butter and green tea/sugar mixture to the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Mix until smooth and light in color 4. Add the flour and mix until well combined. 5. Add the egg yolks and mix just until the eggs are fully incorporated and a mass forms. 6. Form the dough into a disk and chill in the refrigerator until firm (about 30 minutes). 7. Roll the dough out to ½” thickness. Cut the dough with a leaf cookie cutter. 8. Toss each cut cookie in a bowl of granulated sugar to coat. 9. Place the sugar-coated cookie on a parchment lined pan. Bake at 350F for 12-15 minutes, or until slightly golden around the edges. *** Lunch @ Sushi Yoshida  Guess you could say that S and I were both suffering from Japan Hangover Syndomre (I swear that should start being recorded as a medical condition), but we have been trying to find quality Japanese food since our trip of Japan.Sushi Yoshida - hidden in a small corner of Devonshire Road - has the heavenly reputation as one of the most authentic Japanese restaurants in Singapore and our food escapades finally brought us to Chef Yoshida (or rather his disciples). The first thing that will strike you about Sushi Yoshida is the authencity of the place. Staying true to his Japanese roots, Chef Yoshida has kept the soul of a good old sushi restaurant - which means letting it's food do the talking. Nicely stacked utensils and serving dishes on the shelves reminded me of Tsukiji's Daiwa sushi, but for now, it is time to concentrate on the food. The lunch menu is simple, unless you wish to delve into the ala carte menu where a uni gunkan can set you back by $18. Unfortunately we were not feeling that generous...
I had the moriawase sushi set which consists of the usual suspects - live ebi, toro and unagi. Sushi Yoshida has an innate love for Yuzu. It's present in our appetizer (half-boiled egg in soy sauce with a dash of yuzu), in the kabayaki sauce and also in dashes in all dishes. This little fruit which infuses its citrus tang into all dishes adds a dash of class and a feel of Japan into the cuisine. S ordered the Chirashizushi which was all about Japanese cuisine's love for bringing a feel of nature and the seasons (yes, Singapore has never known the other three, but no harm imagining) into food decor.  Chirashizushi set I can go on about miso soup for a while, but for now its back to the food. Lunchtime is the best time to go for a prelude to a restaurant's offering and Sushi Yoshida did not disappoint. Freshness, authencity and great taste were in great abundance, but as S and I agreed, the best cuts have been saved for the ala carte menu. Nonetheless, the Moriawase sushi set and Chirashizushi were great value for money and if you're going to plough $80 into a meal at some sushi chain with a frog, I'll rather take a trip here... Saturday, June 21, 2008 Father's day dinner- Roasted leg of lamb with aubergines What better way to show appreciation to a dad who loves food by cooking for him? That's what we did. We weren't too ambitious to cook too many items because we were really quite tired this weekend. The starters were kept simple and light- Zucchini and baby spinach salad, salmon carpaccio with capers. We went all out for the mains: Roasted leg of lamb with tomato-based sauce aubergines. We took awhile to get all the ingredients because we forgot that Swiss Butchery at Greenwood is closed on Sundays. We had to make a detour to Holland Village to get it from The Butcher instead. It must be an uncommon sight to see 2 Singaporean youngsters buying a 2 kg leg of lamb at The Butcher because the person who served us was actually dishing out lots of advice on how to make a good roast. We started preparing at 4:30pm in the evening. The leg of lamb was marinated with sea salt, freshly ground black pepper and lots of freshly plucked rosemary earlier on. It was placed in the oven to bake while we prepared the aubergines. Roasting the leg of lamb takes a long time but there isn't much needed to be done and above all, the results were wonderful. Everyone in the family enjoyed dinner loads and didn't have complaints about it at all. The leg of lamb was cooked to the right perfection- the meat was tender and it wasn't overcooked. The tomato-based aubergine was a good complement giving the rosemary-infused lamb an Italian twist. The tomato sauce has a swig of sourness, sweetness and spicyness from the red wine vinegar, red chilli and canned plum tomatoes. This can be the simply the best Sunday roast together with a glass of Cabernet Savignon. Sweet as we all acknowledged.  Baby spinach salad with julienned zucchini and grated parmassan cheese  Salmon carpaccio withi capers  Roasted leg of lamb  the dinner: baby spinach salad, roasted lamb with grilled aubergines with spicy tomato sauce  Prestat chocolates: you really never know what you're going to get!
Sis bought this as a father's day gift. I still prefer the Prestat thins.I think that they are way much better. Monday, June 16, 2008 Sweet Salty Spicy  Minimalistic decor at Sweet Salty Spicy There’s a serious void in the number of decent Thai restaurants and eateries on our island. Even as a big fan of French and Italian cuisine, I greatly appreciate Asian food- Chinese, Vietnamese and Thai. Since J and I was heading to Bukit Timah to get our ingredients for dinner, we spontaneously decided to stop by Sweet Salty Spicy, a relatively new casual Thai eatery at The Rail Mall. This concept is thought up by Chef Christopher Millar, the chef behind Poppi at Fort Canning. At Sweet Salty Spicy, you can get your hands on the freshest local produce, eat modern Thai fare and indulge in Australian-influenced desserts. Chef Millar managed to rope in partners- Victor Chia who has a vegetable stall at Tekka market, and Peter Bowyer, an Australian chef specializing in Thai food. The restaurant is welcoming with modern and minimalist décor with a glass display right at the shop front with the prettiest and most-tempting desserts. The back of the restaurant is a deli that sells local produce as well as Thai condiments. We ordered a few items to share and I must say that the food here is stellar contemporary Thai cuisine. The pad Thai noodles was easily the best I had. The stir-fried rice noodles was springy and fragrantly fried. The shrimps were very fresh and the dried shrimps were fried till they were fragrant. This pad thai was however on the sweeter spectrum- if only it could up the spice!  Pad Thai The next item we had was a interesting interpretation of the Thai cuisine- Deep fried silken tofu stuffed with fresh crab meat mixed with coriander and minced pork. This was served with sweet Thai chili sauce. Such perfection, seriously. You have to order this if you ever eat there.  Deep-fried beancurd stuffed with crab meat, coriander and minced pork The last item we had was the skewered chicken which was really expensive. To give it credit, it was good but $3.50 for 3 bites! That’s really too much to pay isn’t it.  Chicken Skewers We skipped the dessert part having already indulged in the Chocolate cake we baked and headed off feeling satisfied with our meal. The sun was blazing down our backs as we walked to the car but I knew that lunch was just the start of a good Sunday.  Pretty cupcakes at the display counter *** Sweet Salty Spicy 392/394 Upper Bukit Timah Road The Rail Mall(opposite the railway bridge, near hillview) (S) 678047 Tel: 6877 2544
Sunday, June 15, 2008 Chocolate decadence- Suzy's Cake by Pierre Herme  It's another chocolate decadence weekend. It will continue to be so as J and I take on the challenge of the recipes from Chocolate Desserts by Pierre Herme. Initially, we wanted to try making chocolate cigarettes (or tuiles) but my dad requested for a cake. Suzy's cake stood right out as THE cake for a Saturday evening because it is rich and dense plus it is easy to make. I think I might have overbaked the cake just a little. It's still a great cake, just that it was firm throughout instead of having the streaky batter in the middle. I would also go for darker chocolate the next time so as to achieve a more intense cocoa-flavoured cake! I can't wait to get my hands on my own copy of this recipe book. In just 3 more weeks, it will be mine. *** Suzy's Cake This is a rich chocolate cake that is superbly easy to make. This cake will be perfect with vanilla bean ice cream or just topped the cake with berries or cherries. (Chocolate Desserts by Pierre Herme) Serves 8-10 250g bittersweet chocolate, preferably Valrhona Guanaja, finely chopped 250g unsalted butter, at room temperature 200g sugar 4 large eggs, at room temperature 70g all purpose flour 1. Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 180 deg C. Butter a 24cm round cake pan that is at least 5 cm high, line the bottom with parchment paper, butter the paper and dust the inside of the pan with flour; tap out the excess and set the pan aside 2. Place the chocolate in a heatproof bowl over-not touching- simmering water and heat until the chocolate is melted. Set the chocolate aside to cool; it should feel only just warm to touch when you mix it with the rest of the ingredients. 3. Put the butter and sugar in the mixer and beat on medium speed for about 4 minutes, scraping down the sides of the bowl frequently; until the butter is creamy and hte sugar well-blended. Add the eggs one at a time, beating for about 1 minute after each addition. Reduce the mixer speed to low; pour in the cooled chocolate and mix until it is incorporated. With the mixer still on low, add in the flour and mix only until it disappears inot the batter. You'll have a thick, smooth, satiny batter that looks like old-fashioned chocolate frosting. 4. Scrape the batter into the pan and bake in the oven for 26-29minutes, or until the cake rises slightly and the top has lost its sheen. The cake may not look entirely set in the center; when you test the cake by inserting a slender knife into the center; the knife will come out lightly streaked with batter; which is what you want. Transfer the cake to a rack to cool. 5. When the cake has cooled, chill it in the refrigerator for an hour or so to make it easy to unmould. Turn the cake out, remove the parchment and invert the cake onto a serving platter so that it is right side up. Allow the cake to come to room temperature before slicing and serving.
Thursday, June 12, 2008 Italian cookout!
My family was away to attend a relative's wedding dinner. We decided on preparing our own dinner instead of going out to eat. The theme was Italian. And we decided to hit on the Italian classics- Mushroom soup with foccacia bread, Aglio olio penne, and the "pick me up" of all time- Tiramisu. We tried to recreate Michelin-star chef Andrea Canton's Mushroom and beer soup. We didn't go to the extent of using porcini mushrooms because of the cost. After substituting a few ingredients here and there, we created a decent cream of mushroom soup. A good first attempt with this recipe. Though it could be so much better with real porcini mushrooms. I figure that this is pretty healthy as it doesn't contain any cream. In any case, it's a hearty soup. We had it with the olive foccacia bread I bought from Le Bijoux (at Kiliney Road). The pasta was a pretty staple for us so that was QED. I enjoyed the most was our homemade tiramisu that we made earlier in the day. Did I mention how much I like the process of making tiramisu? It's so simple. You don't even need real baking tools to make that (just that, you'll probably tone up your arms quite a bit). I love to see the yellow mixture turn all pale creamy yellow.  View from the top I got the recipe off "The Silver Spoon" but adjusted it a little. The Silver Spoon recipe is for the good-old tiramisu with the savoiardi (ladyfingers) to be soaked with just coffee. I added some Kahlua too just because I'm an alcoholic. The tiramisu was perfect-smooth and creamy. It wasn't too rich or too sweet- a good contrast with the bittersweet cocoa and dark chocolate shavings and the nicely soaked up ladyfingers. I think I could just eat this every week. The quality of savoiardi makes a big difference as I had discovered. The ones I bought are a direct import from Italy. Once soaked in the coffee mixture, it becomes a soft, sponge-like cakey texture. Lovely. We should have completed the meal with an Italian movie or music but we were pretty tired after cooking dinner that we simply showered, munch on cherries and channel- surfed.  The sweetest cheeries *** Cream of Mushroom & Beer Soup (Adapted from Chef Andrea Canton's recipe) Serves 8 30g unsalted butter 30ml extra virgin olive oil 5 shallots, peeled and chopped 50g smoked pancetta (bacon), julienned 50g dried shitake mushrooms, soaked in cold water 1 thyme sprig (I used rosemary) 1 tablespoon of plain flour 200ml of beer (I used Heineken) 200ml chicken stock Parmasan cheese/or any other cheese 400g fresh mixture of mushrooms (use the more flavourful ones like portebello and shitake) salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste 1. Heat the unsalted butter and live oil in a non-stick pot and stir fry the chopped shallots. 2. Add in the julienned bacon, dried shitake(without the water), thyme and saute over low heat for a couple of minutes. 3. Add in the flour and let it cook for awhile before adding the beer, the water that is used to soak the dried shitake and chicken stock. 4. Simmer for 20 minutes, season with salt and ground pepper, blend and strain. 5. Lastly add in a little parmasan cheese (or other cheese) and blend again. 6. Saute the fresh shitake mushrooms with some olive oil and season to taste. 7. Ladle the soup in a serving bowl and garnish with some sauteed shitake ***  Tiramisu (Recipe adapted from The Silver Spoon) Serves 10 2 egg whites 1. Stiffly whisk the egg whites in a grease-free bowl. 2. Beat the egg yolks with the sugar in another bowl until pale and fluffy. 3. Gently fold in the mascarpone, then the egg whites. 4. Add in Kahlua to the cooled coffee in a flat container. Dip the ladyfingers into the coffee and kahlua mixture and line a layer of the coffee and kahua infused ladyfingers on the base of a deep, rectangular serving dish. 5. Cover with a layer of the mascarpone cream and sprinkle with a little of the grated chocolate. Continue making layers until all the ingredients are used, ending with a layer of the mascarpone cream. 6. Dust with cocoa and chill in the refrigerator for at least 3 hours. Best left overnight. Power lunches Lunches tend to be overlooked. People spend time, money and effort to create romantic, memorable moments with their loved one during dinners. High-teas are meant for a get together with a girlfriend to chatter the afternoon away. On the other hand, lunch is often eaten quickly, to fill one's tummy and to get on ahead with the day. I, for one, am a firm believer of good lunches. A good lunch will chase away the morning blues and will brighten one's mood for the rest of the day. I'm fortunate to have had two very good lunches this week- the first was with my parents at Inagiku. The second was at Au Petit Salut with J. These two restaurants are my all-time favourite- that's no secret. I tried the new item on Inagiku's menu- Chiraishi with the freshest seafood. It was darn perfect! could have this again and again. At Au Petit Salut, I had the thinly sliced veal with tuna sauce with argula salad. This is reminiscent of the starter I had at Joel Robuchon. The pan fried sea bass is done just right and it comes with a sauce that best complements it- tomato coulis with ratatouille. And did I mention how much I like the dessert. Pear and almond tart. Yums! I should make this sometime soon. I love the sweet almond flavour of the pastry tart. The blackcurrent sorbet flavour seemed too strong for the tart but it's good all the same. I felt really good after the lunches. The food was good, the company was good. That's what I call a power lunch! *** Lunch with parents at Inagiku, Fairmount  Awesome chiraishi from Inagiku, Fairmount Hotel the freshest sashimi- Otoro, uni, tako, on a bed of nicely vinegared sushi rice with gari(pickled ginger), shredded nori (seaweed), salmon roe
My mum had the grilled lobster and beef tenderloin set *** Lunch at Au Petit Salut  Thinly sliced veal with tuna sauce and argula salad
 Pan-fried sea bass with ratatouille
Pear and almond tart with blackcurrent sorbet
Coffee souffle with dark chocolate center *** Sunday, June 01, 2008 Piere Herme's Chocolate Sables  My bowl of chocolatey "U"s I always have loved and will most probably always love those french butter cookies, better known as sablés. Sablés (French for "sand") got its name because of the "sandy" texture of this crumbly cookie. Over the past two weekends, I've made these irresistible cookies using the recipe from Chocolate Desserts by Pierre Herme. I was really attracted by these squiggly “W”-shaped cookies. The ones J and I made, however, are “U” shaped instead because our star tip we had was either too small or too big so we opted for the latter to create our chunky “U” shaped sablés. (Note to self: I need to by a medium star-tip) The tip for making these sables is to whip the butter till soft and fluffy. And you should have a dense and richly dark-brown coloured dough. Pipping the dough takes a little to get used to because of the texture of the dough. But we found a way to perfect it by pushing the bag (we used baking sheets) from the top with even and smooth push to get the dough out from the star-tip. I’ll post the recipe up really soon. This chocolate sablés are simply irresistible and a pop in the mouth will leave you desiring more. These sables have just the right crumbly texture. Its rich buttery chocolate flavour puts the other “butter/breton cookie-wannabes” to shame. The “dotted saltiness” from the fleur de sel plays around with your taste buds coyly- being there and yet not there if you get what I mean. These sables needs to be part of my petit fours secs (after the meal dry bite-sized desserts). We intend to bake tuiles/ cigarettes cookies (thin, dry, crispy cookie) to add on to the petit four secs collection. I’m also happy to inform you guys that J will be guest-blogging here too (on food, of course). Till the next time, have a great week! 
*** Viennese Chocolate Sables (Chocolate Desserts by Pierre Herme) 260g, all-purpose flour 30g Dutch-processed cocoa powder, prefably Valrhona 250g unsalted butter, at room temperature 100g confectioners' sugar, sifted Pinch of salt (prefably fleur de sel) 3 tablespoons lightly beaten egg whites (lightly beat 2 large egg whites, then meausure out 3 tablespoons) Confectioners' sugar for dusting (optional) 1. Preheat the oven to 180 deg C. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside. Fit a pastry bag with a medium sized open star tip and keep it close at hand. 2. whisk together the flour and cocoa and keep close at hand. In a large bowl, beat the butter with a whisk until it is light and creamy- for the recipe to be successful, the butter must be very soft.Whisk in the sugar and salt, then stir in the egg white. Don't be concern when the mixture separates; it will come together when you add in the dry ingredients. Gradually add the flour-cocoa and blend only until it is incorporated- you wouldn't want to overwork the mixture too much once the flour is added. 3. Because the dough is thick, i's best to work with it in batches. Spoon one-third of the dough into the pastry bag and pipe the dough into W-shaped cookies, each about 5cam long. (I made S-shaped ones) 4. Bake the cookies for 12 minutes or until they are set but neither browned nor hand. Before serving, you can dust the cookies with confectioners' sugar. |
