Roasted Pumpkin with Cayenne and olive oil

I always love the taste of roasted pumpkin. I adore them especially in my salad. Pumpkins with a drizzle of balsamic vinegar and ooohhhh~ so lovely. 

I saw some fresh pumpkin at the supermarket. They took on an earthly orange hue that was so pleasing to the eye that I simply couldn’t resist picking up one of those. There are countless ways to enjoy a pumpkin. The last time I made pumpkin soup with a dash of cream and potatoes- blended everything up smoothly and the result was a smooth soup that was tasty, sweet and healthy. No artificial flavouring and MSG of any sort. 

This time round, I wanted to enjoy the pumpkin in a more untouched form. So I diced them, drizzled abit of extra virgin olive oil, sea salt and pepper, cayenne and baked them in an oven for 20min. Finished with a touch of sunflower seeds and dried cranberries and viola. A yummy dish that is simple to create for anyone in a hurry but needed their pumpkin fix.

Recipe

Ingredients:

1/4 pumpkin, diced

2 tbsp olive oil

sea salt

Black pepper

Dried cranberries

1/8 cup dried cranberries

cayenne pepper

Steps:

1) Preheat oven to 175C

2) Dice golden pumpkin into small cubes

3) Sprinkle with sea salt, pepper, cayenne and olive oil and bake in a heatproof dish for 15 min or till soft. 

4) Serve with dried cranberries and toasted sunflower seeds. 

Mussels Marinara Pasta

Few things to sit back and laugh about.. 

When I first cooked this dish, it was OMG- Epic disaster because I overcooked the mussels leaving it tough and chewy. Somehow 8 min cook time doesn't sound right so I left it in the steamer to happily steam its way to ultimate rockness. 

Secondly, I took alot of photos from different angles but somehow this picture was too hilarious, I had to post it. Notice how the 2 mussels at each end look like "ears" to the pasta and also how widely open they are to resemble " mouths". It almost like saying Come Eat Me NOW! 

Pesto Ravioli infused with truffle oil

Don't you just love the smell of truffles. Truffle Fries!! , Truffle Pasta, Truffle Sauce, Soup with truffle oil... A dash is all you need to bring the food to yet another level. As they can be quite pricey and rare to find at times, I suggest investing in a tiny bottle of oil or truffle salt. A little goes a long way! 

MY truffle crazy friend managed to get me a bottle of this truffle oil at the FHA fair ;) Best ever!! Forget about tv-dinners...It's time to whip up more truffle licking homemade meals. 

The next dish is basically ravioli with a sprinkle of pesto and truffle infused oil. 

If you're wondering where to get truffle products, you can find them at the far end of takashimaya basement beside Harrod, threesixty supermart at Orchard ion, Dean and Deluca at Orchard Central or any speciality store. Culina might have some as well.

Poached Eggs

I'm a sucker for eggs. They are the best thing on earth that's why I heart brunch the most. But most importantly the eggs have to be runny. 

Eating brunch everyday at a restaurant is too expensive. Imagine paying 15-30 bucks a day just for breakfast.   I would actually but managed to convince myself that it's an added luxury that shouldn't be excessively indulged in. 

But anyway that doesnt stop someone from making their own version of brunch at home. 

As shown below: I've tried 2 new methods of poaching them compared to the messier version where I just dumped them into simmering water. 

Method 1: Use a metal ring placed in a pan of simmering water. Crack and egg in it and cook for 2min. I prefer this method over the next one because it's easier to gauge the correct consistency of the yolk. 

Method 2: Place a microwavable film in a bowl and oil the insides. Drop and egg into it and tie the film. Drop the entire film into a saucepan of simmering water and cook 2-3 min. This is a less messy way to cook the egg but I couldnt tell when the yolk was just ready. But anyway, it managed to turn out the way I like so yepp!

YAY 

Salmon with a Cheesy Spinach topping and Pea Puree

Straying away from the sweeter side of life and moving on to the savoury: 

Another hectic week has passed. This time it was back to the books. My entire week was spent prepping for my French elementary exam. (OK, I may have exaggerated a little) so lets say maybe half the week or 2/7 of the week? 

Anyway on a happier note- I cooked salmon for dinner. Fish is like the best thing to eat for an everyday meal. You see: it is rich in protein, high in Omega 3 fatty acids, good for complexion, healthy, good for the memory and brain and to top it all- I am 100% and 1 in love with it. So if you see me ordering fish ( like 99% of the time that sometimes my friends mistake me for not eating meat) instead of chicken, beef, pork etcc it's not that I don't like meat, it's just that I prefer fish. 

I've watched way too much top chef seasons that one day it just got hold of me and I somehow decided to make a pea puree with something. Something like what?? was the question. How about fish.....

So here's a Pan seared Salmon with Cheesy Spinach and a pea puree underneath all that fat, juicy abundant goodness. 

Ingredients: 

Salmon

One salmon fillet ( Bought one first to test)

pepper and salt( to taste)

1) Heat a pan with olive oil till hot

2) Season fillet with pepper and salt on both sides

3) Sear salmon 2 min on each sides ( mine wasn't too thick but if you're using thicker salmon, maybe can fry 1 min longer)

4) Baked at 160 until cooked ( took me about 10 mins) 

Pea Puree

1 cup peas

2-3 tbsp ( or more) chicken stock

1 clove garlic

1 tbsp oil

salt (to taste)

1) Boil peas till cooked.

2) Put drained peas, chicken stock, garlic, oil and salt into food processor and process until smooth paste

3) Taste and add more salt/ chicken stock if desired

4) I passed the entire mixture through a mesh to get a smoother texture. 

Cheesy Spinach Topping

This was honestly the best part because I just mix everything according to how happy I was at that particular time.... That's the advantage of cooking over baking. You get to add, mix and add, mix. Everything is practically trial and error. Baking on the other hand is precise. You don't try to reduce something because it can severely alter how your final product would turn out. (Ehs, they have a formulae for calculating the proportions of one ingredient to another. They call this the baker's percentage) If you're interested you can go read up more on it. Wayne Gisslen- Professional Baking is a pretty comprehensive book which I would recommend.

-One portion of spinach 

-2 slices cheese ( cheddar and pepperyjack )

Cayenne pepper ( Optional but I added a little of this to give that little spice to the dish- what was lacking in the ordinary cheese.. Alternatively, you could buy those cheese with a little pepper/ spice if you prefer or just ignore that all if you don't like it spicy) 

-1-2 tbsp chicken stock

- 1 tbsp oil

1) Fry spinach with oil. Add chicken stock and let simmer a little till soft. 

2) Add in cheese ( I realise the more cheese you add, the nicer the taste haha so it's really up to you ) 

Layering: 

Pea puree on the bottom, half of the spinach went on top of it, followed by the salmon and then garnished with more spinach. You could serve with mash potatoes or whatever sides you fancy but I was in a hurry that day, so it was a pretty simple dish. 

What I would have done differently the next time: 

Omit the pea puree. It was good but somehow it didn't complement the entire dish. I suspect it was because of the threesome thing. In addition, cheesey spinach took away all the goodness that I was unable to solely enjoy the goodness of the pea puree ;[ 

But nevertheless, the family enjoyed it. ;)) YAYS.

Aglio Olio with juicy Pork Balls

I woke up with skies overcast. Soon after a heavy downpour followed. What a great morning actually to sleep in and laze around in bed but the bf was coming over for lunch. We had this convo the night before. He said let's eat at the hawker near your house... easier. I, on the other hand had a better idea.. to whip up something special as a surprise. I probably did that countless times that it ain''t such a surprise after all. 

Anyway, I was rummaging through the freezer to look for my frozen yogurt for breakfast ( yes, I crave it to the extent that I resorted to putting our normal yogurt in a cup in the freezer so it'd become some sort of frozen dessert the very next day) when I saw minced pork and a packet of mixed veg. Ah hah. Makes me think of juicy meatballs with a thick teriyaki glaze. My only recollection of meatballs were those from Ikea accompanied by a measly slab of creamy sauce.. and everytime I would feel like punching the guy who said " 30c extra for more sauce". 

Making these porkballs were more of mixing everything up and trial and error. I had no clue what to put inside so I just went along with my feelings. Minced pork, mixed veg and then I saw prawns so I decided to food process the prawns along with the pork. Added in some teriyaki sauce as marinade.. Open the fridge to search for more stuff I could add to the amazing balls and hmm thought I'll add some sesame oil as well. and hmm how about some onions too,,... and oh yes oh yes breadcrumbs and an egg :)) Concocting stuff and playing around with my food is what describes me best. 

Anyway, ultimately they turned out pretty well I must say. I was satisfied with the outcome and I'm gonna bookmark this in my recipe book. 

PORK MEAT BALLS

Ingredients:

-minced pork ( all I could find. But using minced  beef should taste nicer) 

- about 6-7 prawns deveined

-1 onion

-mixed veg ( I used carrots and peas)

-2-3 tbsp of teriyaki sauce ( or even more)

-2 tbsp sesame oil

-sugar

-salt (to taste)

-pepper

- 1/2 cup breadcrumbs

-1 egg

-cornstarch

Blend prawns, minced pork, onion in a food processor to form a paste. Add teriyaki sauce, sugar, salt , pepper, sesame oil and blend 

Add pepper, breadcrumbs and cornstarch and mix well. Leave to marinade for awhile. Lightly beat an egg.

Heat some oil in a frying pan. Roll meatballs into balls and dip into egg and pan fry till brown. 

For the glaze ontop:

- teriyaki sauce

-cornstach dissolved in a little water

Heat teriyaki sauce. Add cornstarch mixture and heat until sauce thickens. Pour over meatballs =]]] and ENJOY. 

We had some Aglio Olio to go along with the porkballs as well. Simple, cheap, easy to do yet satisfying. Many a times I prefer plain pasta cooked with olive oil to those heavy cream laden ones. This is a simple dish to whip up at home. All it takes is for the pasta to be cooked al dente and you have it going your way. 

Ingredients

-speghetti

-dried chilli 

-garlic slices

-salt/pepper ( to taste)

- olive oil

Boil a pot of water in a saucepan. Add salt. When water boils, add pasta and cook till al dente. 

In the meantime, fry garlic slices, chilli in olive oil till garlic slightly browns. Set aside. Toss pasta into oil when cooked. Add pepper and salt and season till desired. 

Sushi with the word fun in it

wow wow wow.. I've been so busy that I realised I wrote a draft halfway and only to find it still Here after 2 weeks. Ok.. here's the uncompleted draft.. It was so long ago that after I read it I went " ohhh that's what happened a few weeks back" oh really??
<
Had a pretty packed weekend last week. Stuff like that happens when you try to squeeze so many activities and meet ups as possible with that short time frame you have left. Pathetic? maybe.. but I realise it's times like these that you learn how to treasure the people around you more and maximize the quality time you have together, whether long or short.


I started the week with my very first French lesson at Alliance Francaise. There were supposed to be 18 people in total but only 13-15 turned up. Age ranged from 16 and up. The first thing the tutor did was to go around greeting people in French. Apart from the Bonjour word in the long sentence, it was extremely funny seeing the shocked and clueless expressions the students gave in return. But nevertheless, we were all able to converse in simple French at the end of the class. Pronunciation is definitely a challenge heree with all that nasal sound & rrrr grrrr. Sometimes I use chinese han yu pin yin to pronounce words. Never knew mandarin could be so much of a help. It's particularly useful in learning Japanese too. Hhaa I'm secretly in love with the way Japanese people talk.  After hearing so much Jap at work everyday, I am motivated enough to dig out my sister's contemporary Japanese textbook and learn some phrases. Hopefully the language barrier will be broken soon enough and I'll be able to communicate with my teacher Chef Matsu San smoothhly.

Inspired by the Chef and people who keep asking me to make my own sushi, I decided to attempt making it again after many years. The last time I remembered making it was more than 5 years ago. My only recollection of the sushi was that it was HARD as rock when I took it outta the fridge. Haha ( I put it in the fridge overnight). So here it goes.


My experience with susshi this time round is not at all a pleasant one.. I wasted half the rice I cooked because of the gooey mess I made while handling the rice. The rice was cold when and it stuck on like adhesive glue onto my hands that I decided that the best solution was to wash them alll off. However, in the end, the portions were just nice for dinner...


Here are the ingredients you need to make your own basic sushi. Technique wise, I'll give the gist of it but it'd help if you learn it from someone more experience or go watch some youtube vids.


First off: you need


-sushi rice (short grain or japonica) Some say calrose rice could be used but I tried it and it's not close to sushi rice  at all...
-Sushi su  ( a mixture of rice vinegar, sugar and salt). I used this cuz it was easier..  Alternatively you could use your own rice vinegar and mix them with sugar and salt according to proportions.
-seaweed
-japanese cucumber
-avocado
- unagi
-salmon
-jap mayo
-or actually any ingredient you'll like to see in your sushi.. Everyone has different preferences ...
-and most importantly a sushi mat!


I did a couple of sushi that day. First off was the Dragon roll. Consisted of jap cucumber , mayo, unagi and avocado. I cooked 2 servings of rice. ( a measurement of 360ml of rice with 280ml of water). Important to rinse the rice well until water is clean and let soaked for 30 min and then drain. When the rice is cooked, you can embark on your adventure. but first mix the sushi su in the hot rice (to get that sweet taste). Here I did some estimation cuz I didn't know how much exactly to add but it's definately gotta be quite alot to get that sweeter taste... Anyway, I wouldn't say making sushi is easy neither would I say it is difficult but I'll rather use the word fun because it really is. That coming from someone who finds cheap thrills in playing with food is surely not wrong.


First cut out a rectangular seaweed and line it on your sushi mat. Place a handful of rice onto the seaweed and spread out till it covers it. Flip the seaweed over and place your ingredients that you want encase in that glorious sushi of yours and then roll. Can't show you the rolling technique. Best to youtube it..

and then place slices of cut avocado on the top and roll with sushi mat again.. 

Second: California Maki. My all time fav! Done the same way as the dragon roll just that I added crabmeat instead of unagi inside and coated them with a layer of tobiko! 

Tobiko's that awesome flying fish roe that burst into your mouth as you chew on them. I remember I was at the supermarket trying to find some of these. I asked the store assistant where I could get some of this but he looked at me with a puzzled look as if I was some alien from another planet. And then I explained again in simple english where could I get flying fish roe -the one used to coat california maki ( shaped like a small circlee) . At last, there was some response from him but guess where he brought me- to the fish ball section!! and then I saidd noo the one used to make SUSHI. It's orange in colour. Again he responded and brought me to another section- THE CUTTLEFISH BALL section.

Third: Kani sushi. Used to be a big fan of this when I was younger but then I've moved on to the kani mayo version because of the yummy mayo and this I felt had a little too much rice. Left( made by me) Right ( made by Shad) hahaa...

and 2 more:! 

Last but not least. a refreshing potato salad topped with spring onion to end the scrumptious dinner. 

Bleh with more good things to come, I'll definitely return to make sushi again. So what are you waiting for. Get your hands dirty and whip up your very own sushi. 

Tacos

It's taco day!! Taco brings me many months back where I was still on my so awesome exchange. I still can't believe it's over. Anyway, besides burgers and fries which I got so sick off after my first few weeks, I got to indulge in Mexican food.. The difference was I never got bored of it. Tacos, tortillas,chilli, nachos, chipotle, quesadillas, corn, cheese, salsa, beans omg beansssss.. Being such a huge fan of beans (red bean, green bean), I thought I wouldn't be able to survive those 5 months but boy was I wrong. It was a land of beans. Kidney beans, chickpeas, black beans, chill. Don't see much Mexican restaurants here in Singapore which is pretty saddening but anyway going to Holland V Cha Cha Cha for a meal now and then isn't sucha bad idea after all.

Soo on the menu today we have: 

My all time favourite appetizer- deep fried mushrooms

I remember I was doing alot of things at once while frying the mushrooms that I forgot to lower the heat and flip it and honestly, it was a SERIOUS disaster. The first batch of mushrooms turned out like a huge blob of charcoal. Thank goodness for helpers that came to assist at the right time. I tried deep frying portobello and white button mushrooms but as much as I really like the taste of portobello, they just didn't work. The latter was much juicier. Just the way I like. Juicy on the inside and cripsy on the outside.

1/2 cup flour

1/2 cup water

1 egg 

whatever spices you like [ I put oregano, some garlic and herb salt, pepper, cayenne pepper ] 

breadcrumbs 

Mix the top four ingredients together. Dip mushrooms in it to coat and roll them in a generous amount of breadcrumbs and deep fry to see magic.  

Filling for Tacos:


Anything yummy goes with tacos. Can be beef, chicken, fish.. It's really up to your own discretion :).


About 350g lean mince beef
1 can black beans, drained
1 large red onion chopped finely
about 1 cup water
garlic
taco seasoning


The taco shells were store bought. I used the Old El Paso brand. Works out to be particularly crispy when baked in the oven. Nice! Plus it comes with taco seasoning and salsa sauce.

Tacos with lettuce, tomatoes and salsa sauce ;)) and ooh we made this tangy grapefruit and lychee ice blended drink to go with it but didn't manage to get a shot of it.

Tacos are not at all filling so we had 2 rounds of pasta to go alongside the tacos. Made a creamy based pasta as well as a pesto based one. Here are 2 ingredients I look for whenever I order pasta at a restaurant: Zucchini and eggplant! HAHAA. told you I was simple ;) 

This pesto based linguine is rather simple to do. Infact, pasta is the easiest to whip up when in a hurry. 

Linguine ( or you can use other kinds of pasta as well) 

parmesan cheese

sundried tomatoes ( totally love them as well) 

zucchini

eggplant

olive oil

salt and pepper ( to taste) 

I know you must be wondering what happened to the pine nuts?? I didn't add them in as I had none on hand but they sure go well with pesto based pasta. Arhh at least that's why I eat them for. 

Many of them preferred this creamy based one. I'm not a sucker for creamy pasta but I must say this is pretty darn good.. considering the massive amount of cheese I added to it out of experiment. hahaa

This serves 6-8 people:

Linguine ( or other)

18 raw prawns, deshelled and de-veined

2 tbsp butter

olive oil

Portobello/whitebutton mushrooms ( as much as you wish)

Bacon (Fried and cut into small pieces)

Oregano flakes

1 cup cream ( I only had 150ml on hand so I substituted the rest for milk) 

Peppery Jack Cheese ( Well, I added a handful.) 

and there you have it. Homemade Mexican food and pasta ;)) Stay tune for more random cooking and baking. I have alot ( and I mean a whole lot) of backlog. 

Pizza Revelation

Say goodbye to instant noodles and junk food and waste that calorie on better food. Here comes the Good'Ol pasta and pizza revelation. I always feel that having those 2 in one seating is always a pleasure. I admit I wasn't really a big fan of pizza after those years when I started to lose all my baby fats haha.. Maybe psychological thinking played a part. It could be the case. But fact is, those thick crusted pizzas did not blow me away. Less is more and up till today, I still love those skinny pizzas. I'm in lurvee with them. 

Cooking for the family is always a joy. Though yes, getting hard fried on messing up the kitchen is another story. Here comes the birth of vodka and mushroom penne. Sorry I cheated. The Vodka sauce was imported from the states and surprisingly it managed to withstand the long hauled journey from west to east. It came out in one fine piece.. 

Vodka Penne with mushrooms

Ingredients:

- One bottle of Vodka pasta sauce

- Some white button mushrooms and portobello ( Um yums!. It makes sense now that I talked about mushrooms in my previous post) 

- Onions

-Penne

-chilli padi ( optional)

1)  Cook Penne in a pot of boiling water till al dente. Drain and set aside. Best to wash with cold water to stop the cooking process

2) Prepare the awesome sauce- First fry onions in some olive oil till soft. Toss in the mushrooms. Add the sauce

3) Scoop desired amount of sauce onto penne and sprinkle with your fav herb and black pepper.. Oh yes I forgot.. I added in some chilli padi to the sauce for extra OoHmmpp and to rise up the heat level. 

Forgive the ugly presentation and photos. We were ALL tooo hungry. 

Now comes the fun part. Decorating your own pizza! Decorating pizzas are a form of art. It's a time to get creative and creating that pizza you have been dreaming forever. Home made pizzas are great cuz you get to add in the desired ingredients in any amount that pleases you... It sure is satisfying.. TRUST ME! Ok I cheated again. The crust was pre bought from FHA. We had a ton of crust left from that exhibition and something needed to be done to it. 

First up: We had The classic hawaiian pizza- with a ton of ham and pineapples. 

The tough part about making your own pizza is the crust. Which is a major challenge to some cuz you don't want it too tough, too thick etccc but I skipped this whole step here. But next time, it'd better be the real deal. [ After those pre made crusts are finished ]. 

1) Sprinkle some olive oil onto the crust.

2) Sprinkle some mozzarella cheese 

3) Top with ham and pineapples

4) Finish with more cheese ( I basically covered the whole pizza with cheese). The cheesier the better don't cha agree. We mixed the cheese with cheddar cheese and peppery jack cheese ( for that tinge of kick to it)

5) Bake 15 min ( or until crust turns brown n cheese is melted) 260C.  

Second Pizzza of the day: BBQ Chicken and mushrooms ( I can never leave the mushrooms alone) 

-1 skinless chicken breast about 160g

-1/2 cup bbq sauce ( or more if you wish) 

-some red onion, sliced thinly

- olive oil

- mozzarella cheese

1) Season chicken with salt and coat chicken with  3 tbsps of bbq sauce and marinade 30 min. 

2) Heat oil in pan and cook until meat is tender 

3) cut chicken into small cubes and coat with extra 2 tbsp of bbq sauce. Set aside

4) Drizzle dough with olive oil. Spoon some bbq sauce over the dough and spread evenly. 

5) Add some cheese. Add diced chicken, onions, mushrooms. 

6) Sprinkle more cheese

7) Bake 15min at 260C. 

Third pizza: The one and only famous Salami Pizza. 

Steps are the same as the hawaiian pizza.Just that use salami instead of ham and ignore the pineapples and again a generous doze of cheese. For certain dishes like pizzas, you don't stinge on cheese. Ok from the picture, the salami is rather obscure, you know the reason... Ooopss maybe too much cheese? . Nah 

Last but not least.. Shrimp and red pepper pesto courtesy of Nick from Macheesmo  

Shrimp and Red Pepper Pesto Pizza
This is for one 12-15 inch pizza

- 1/2 pound large (16-20 count) shrimp, peeled, deveined, and halfed
- 1 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 Tablespoons olive oil
- Juice from 1/2 lemon
- 1/2 Teaspoon red pepper flake
- 1/4 medium onion, cut into thin strips
- 1/4 red pepper, seeded and cut into strips
- 2 Cups low-moisture mozzarella cheese
- Fresh basil (I left this off because I didn’t have any. It was fine.)
- 2/3 Cup red pepper pesto

Roasted Red Pepper Pesto (Makes about 2 cups)– Clove garlic
- 1 jar (16 ounces) roasted red peppers [ I searched the entire country for roasted red peppers but I couldn't find this damn thing anywhere. Makes me so sad so I just bought my own red peppers and roasted them in the oven. I made sauce outta 2 whole peppers and Gosh it was way too much... One would have been just nice]  
- 3 Tablespoons grated Parmesan
- 1 Tablespoon fresh basil
- 1 Tablespoon olive oil
- 1 Teaspoon sugar
- 1/2 Teaspoon red pepper flakes

More detailed steps can be found from his site.

Overall verdict. Salami> Pesto with prawns> hawaiian > bbq chic. I really loved the red pepper prawn one cuz at least it tasted different from the usual. However nothing beats salami. Seriously nothing. It was a fun and memorable experience playing with food. YES I said it.. Playing with food... What my frens know me best for. My itchy hands. Middle of the pizza was a little soggy. Guess I was overly adventurous with the sauce. However the sides of the crust were perfect and crispy to the T.  Now, at least I'm more motivated to make my own pizza crust.Right now I'm craving for pepperoni's triple cheese pizza. THe last time we went there. Holy Molly, we ordered the XXXL and it was enough to fill a cow's stomach. 

Anyway,  tune in for more cheezy business! xoxo

Char Kway Teow

A popular fried noodle dish in Asia and can be found in almost every hawker centre/ food court. One of the reasons why I love this is because its skewed towards the sweeter side of a savory dish. It's not particularly a healthy dish when you eat them outside because of the tons of lard / oil they use to fry. So here's a healthier version of my mum's recipe which I emulated. 

Ingredients:
-garlic, 2-3 cloves minced
-half chinese sausage, sliced thinly
-1 cup beansprout
-sweet black sauce ( to taste) depends on how sweet you want your noodles to turn out
- 2eggs,beaten
-1 cup chye sim
-1 lb Kway teow or flat rice noodles
-sugar (to taste)
-oil for frying (abt 2 tbsp)


Steps:
1) Heat oil in a wok. Add garlic and stir fry 30sec.
2) Add the chinese sausage next and fry until almost cooked
3)Reduce heat and add bean sprout and chye sim. Fry until about cooked then add in noodles.
4) Add in sauce till the sweetness/blackness desired.
5) Scrap noodles to the sides of the pan and add in egg in the middle to cook.
6) When egg has just set, fry noodles together with egg.

Chicken Cordon Bleu with Mushroom Onion Gravy

What's life without cheese? It's like the basic ingredient in every western meal. Well almost :) Few days ago I whipped up a dish I couldn't possibly forget. The juiciness of the chicken, smoothh melted cheese, ham and thick creamy mushroom gravy just lingered in my mouth.  Everything just felt so right. SO what's for dinner tonight?? If you guessed Chicken Cordon Bleu. You're absolutely spot on.. 

Chicken Cordon Bleu is basically a french inspired dish consisting of chicken, ham and cheese all rolled up in a bundle of goodness, drenched in breadcrumbs and then deep fried. 

Recipe adapted from Blake Royer, posted in serious eats. This particular recipe called for sauerkraut to be incorporated together with the 3 main components however I couldnt find sauerkraut anywhere so just had to do w/o. ;[. I can only imagine how good that dish would have tasted if I had some on hand and how it adds a little tangy-ness to the flavor!!

Ingredients: 

6 boneless, skinless chicken cutlets (about 1 1/4 pounds total)
Kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper
2 egg whites
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1 tablespoon chopped parsley
2 teaspoons minced garlic
Dijon mustard, as needed
1 1/2 ounces provolone cheese (1 1/2 thin slices)
1 1/2 ounces ham (1 1/2 thin slices)
3 tablespoons sauerkraut, packed ( left this out)
3/8 teaspoon caraway seeds ( left this out)
2 cups plain bread crumbs
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil, for frying.

Procedure

1. If the chicken cutlets are not of uniform thickness, place them between two sheets of plastic wrap and pound gently, aiming to make 3 pairs of approximately the same shape. Season with salt and pepper and set aside.

2. In a bowl, whisk the egg whites, cornstarch, parsley, and garlic, until the egg whites begin to turn foamy.

Foamy egg white mixture with parsley (  DIE! I think of you clar everytime I see parsley ) .. 

3. Paint one side of each chicken cutlet with mustard, then layer the ham and cheese on three of the cutlets. Spread a tablespoon of sauerkraut on top of the ham and cheese, then lay the second half of each pair, mustard side in, to make a sandwich. Seal the edges as best you can. ( I follow the traditional way of using toothpicks to secure the edges. works perfect but just it gets a little tedious to remove them after frying.But anyway it's better to secure rather than have cheese oozing out into the hot oil)

4. Dip the cutlet sandwiches in the egg white mixture, then dredge in the bread crumbs. If needed, they can be refrigerated for several hours at this point.

5. Heat the oil in a skillet with plenty of room for all the chicken (if not, cook them in batches) over medium-high heat until a breadcrumb tossed into the pan sizzles vigorously. Fry until dark golden brown, 2-3 minutes/side. Drain on paper towels momentarily, then serve immediately, with more sauerkraut, if desired, or a tart salad.

I made a corn salad to go with it. 

Ingredients:

2 corn on the cob

lemon

salt and pepper to taste

butter

italian dressing

cherry tomatoes

portobello mushrooms

Steps:

1) Heat butter in pan and saute corn and mushrooms

2) add salt and pepper to taste

3) Remove from pan add in tomatoes for color and sprinkle some lemon for the zesty taste and italian dressing 

and a Mushroom onion gravy to accompany the chicken. 

Ingredients:

Onions ( one) sliced not too finely

portobello mushrooms ( as much as you like)

mushroom cream sauce ( I bought the prego can)

corn oil/olive oil

Steps:

1) Heat oil in pan and fry onions till fragrant and caramelized. 

2) add mushrooms

3) Add in canned mushroom sauce 

4) Add a little water if gravy is too thick to the consistency you desire. 

5) Pour generous amount over chicken and serve hot. 

Bon appetit!