Ikea Styled Beef Meatballs with Mini Potato Fondants

Sometimes, it is always good to go back to an old recipe and simply try to improve it, and that was the case with my original meatballs dish which I have now sought to get it better.

And not only that, Ikea themselves have recently done the same thing, improving their original recipe. While I am not sure if Ikea's new recipe has gone down well with the general public, I am personally more satisfied with this newer meatball dish of mine.

One of the things that I have sought to change was the simple boiled potatoes that accompanied the original dish. I wanted to do a more tastier potato accompaniment, and decided to do a potato fondant styled variant.

To make the mini potato fondants, take about 3 or 4 new potatoes and cube it. I normally leave the skin on as I prefer having it this way, but you can peel the potato skins before cutting them if you prefer to have them off.

In a pan or skillet, melt about 200g of butter. The secret to this dish is the generous amount of butter for the potatoes to cook in without burning the butter. Once the butter begins to melt, add in the potatoes.

Keep turning or tossing the butters to get a nice caramelization around the potatoes. After about 10 minutes or so, or once the butter starts to burn, add in about a cup of chicken stock to prevent the burning of the butter.

Let the potatoes cook for another 5 to 10 minutes, and then put the entire pan into an oven at 180 deg C for another 5 minutes and the potatoes will be done. They should be aromatic and have a nice creamy and buttery texture and look golden and crisp on the outside.

For the beef meatballs, take about 300 grams of minced beef and add in some olive oil, parmesan cheese, one egg, spring onion (or chopped garlic) and some seasoning of salt and pepper. Mix well and make sure to taste.

Generally, before cooking all the meatballs, I will tend to test one by cooking in a pan to see if my seasoning is right so you can still adjust the seasoning in the beef mixture before you roll them into balls.

There are 2 ways you can cook the meatballs. The simplest way is to just cook them in a pan for about  a couple of minutes. The other way is to oven the meatballs at about 200 deg C for about 5 minutes or until they are fully cooked.

Generally, the oven method is a bit tastier in my opinion but you have to make sure you preheat the oven before putting in the meatballs. The pan method tends to lose a bit more moisture.

Finally, to do a sauce, simply saute some chopped onion with butter until they are soft and sweet. Add in some beef stock and red wine and let it reduce by half. Add in some butter and cream and strain the mixture for a clear sauce.

Once the meatballs are done, simply plate the meatballs and the potatoes and garnish with some greens and add in the beef sauce.

In my view, this home cooked version is way better than what you get at Ikea. Go try it!

Seabass With Beurre Blanc Sauce and Brussel Sprouts

There is something that is genuinely classic French when you pan roast fish with butter, and pair with a white butter sauce, and I set out to do a classic French dish last week.

It is actually a relatively simple dish to do, and making use of components that you can easily obtain from your nearest supermarket. And that is the point here, to make quality food using regular ingredients.

I usually go to NTUC to get a whole fish and avoid getting the packed ones. The whole fishes are naturally fresher and you can get the staff there to fillet the fish for you, and a tip is to keep the fish heads to make stock.

To begin, cut the fillet into individual portions. Season with salt and lots of pepper and set aside. Make sure you pet the fillets dry with a paper towel to avoid any water when you pan roast it.

In a pot of water, blanche some brussel sprouts that have been halved and boil some potatoes as well until soft. Once the brussel sprouts turn bright green, about a few minutes, remove from water.

Making the Beurre Blanc Sauce

To make the beurre blanc, finely dice about 2 shallots. In a saucepan, put in about half a cup of white wine and the shallots and turn to up to high heat and let the mixture reduce.

Once the white has almost evaporated and absorbed into the shallots, add a little fish stock and a little cream and remove from heat. Cut up some cold butter into small cubes.

Use a whisk to whisk in the butter, one cube at a time and whisk until the butter emulsify and melts into the sauce, and once each cube is dissolved, add in another cube and keep repeating.

Once all the butter has been added, place the saucepan on high heat to reduce again to a nice thick consistency. Keep whisking so that the sauce has that nice velvety texture.

To cook the seabass, place it skin side down in a hot pan with some olive oil. Once the fish is about halfway cooked, flip only once and bast it with butter for another minute. Drain the oil by placing the fish on some paper towels for a minute or two.

To plate, place some sauce on a flat white plate and place the seabass in the center.

Garnish the sides alternatively with the potatoes and brussel sprouts and there you have it. 

Classic french and incredibly yummy.

Pan Fried Salmon with Butter Cream Sauce - Cooking Demo at Woodlands

After my culinary demo with Chef Peter at Chong Pang Community Centre last February, I was again invited last week to do a cooking demo for a group of housewives at Woodlands.

The first thing that came to mind was this simple but tasty salmon dish and my regular tomato basil pasta which I posted on Terry aka Food Canon's blog recently. So, I thought it would be a good time to post this delicious recipe here.

One of the considerations when I was doing this demo was that most of the ladies cook predominantly Chinese food at home, and doing a western dish would be both something out of the usual, as well as something they can add to their recipe repertoire for their family.

The ingredients for the salmon dish are really easy and simple. Salmon fillet, butter, cream, spring onion and some seasoning. That's all to it.

Showing the Ladies to Cook Salmon

To begin, season the salmon with some black pepper on both sides of the fillet. I do not use salt as the cream butter sauce will be more than savory enough for the entire dish.

In a sizzling hot pan, add some olive oil and place the salmon inside skin side down and press it somewhat to get a good caramelization on the skin. As the fish cooks until 2 thirds up, flip the fish.

Add in a knob of butter and start basting the fish with a spoon for another 2 minutes. Then remove the pan from the stove and let the fish rest inside the still cooking pan.

In another pan, add in a knob of butter and half a cup of whipping cream. I use whipping cream as it is more liquid and easier to make as a sauce. Boil it to a boil and stir the sauce until you get a smooth consistency.

Add in some chopped spring onion and plate the sauce onto the plate first. Put the salmon on top and garnish it with some fresh parsley on top and some cubed and boiled new potatoes in the sauce for some additional starch.

Satisfied Students

And that's about it. Simple, and quick. The entire dish can be whipped up in a matter of minutes. And that was what I was hoping to impart to the ladies there, to cook fresh food simply and quickly.

I advised them not to use bottled and packet sauces for their food and pasta, as really, cooking food fresh will always taste good and you do not need a Michelin chef to cook good food at home.

Bon appetit!

Teochew Bak Kut Teh Risotto with Tea Infused Apple Slices - A World's First

Bak Kut Teh and Risotto has always been two of my favorite dishes, and despite the fact that their origins are as far apart as they can be, I have always wanted to find some way to combine them together as one singular dish.

The difficulty is to cook either of these dishes will take a considerable effort, let alone both at the same time. On top of that, I also needed a component to simulate the fat cutting properties of drinking chinese tea that comes with eating Bak Kut Teh.

Over the last weekend, I finally endeavored to attempt this potentially world's first Bak Kut Teh Risotto, and it came off really well.

First, to do the Bak Kut Teh, you need to prepare the broth first. To do so, I used pork bones, about 4 prime rib cuts and one strip of pork belly which you can all get from the supermarket.

Char boil all the pork pieces first to remove any skunk and pork odours. In a separate pan, cook about 2 tablespoons of peppercorn until they are fragrant and begin to pop.

Preparing the Bak Kut Teh broth

In a large pot, put in all the pork pieces, 10 cloves of garlic and the roasted peppercorn and add sufficient water until they cover the mixture. Bring it to a boil and then let it simmer on a low heat for at least 2 hours.

This is doing a classical Teochew BKT from scratch, and no packet spices or herbs are used. Just pork, garlic and pepper cooked until they are super fragrant and sweet. Once they are about done, season with soy sauce and more pepper if required.

Tea Poached Apples

In  another pan, boil some water and add in some chinese tea leaves. You can use jasmine, Pu-Er or whatever type of chinese tea leaves you can find. Chop some green apples into slices and add them to the tea mixture. Poach for at least 5 minutes or until the apples are soft.

Cooking the BKT Risotto

The last part is cooking the risotto itself. In a pan or a pot, brown some onions with butter until they are soft and caramelized. This will give sweetness to the risotto later. Add in the necessary amount of risotto and let them brown in the pan for a minute or so.

Using a ladle, add in ladle full of the BKT broth each time and let the risotto absorb and reduce the broth. Keep repeating this for about 25 minutes, while stirring the rice continuously.

They should get soft after 20 to 25 minutes, at which time, add a knob of butter and let it melt into the risotto mixture. Keep stirring and cooking until the risotto rice is fully cooked.

To plate, place the risotto in the center and using the pork belly from the BKT broth, cut the pork belly into slices and place them on top of the risotto. You can add a prime rib if you like, but it will be harder to eat on a risotto dish.

Place about 3 apple slices on the side of the plate as an attractive garnish. The apples will act as an acid to help cut through the fat and pork flavors of the BKT risotto and meat.

And there you have it, a world's first Teochew Bak Kut Teh Risotto. It is a perfect mixture of east and west and uses both continents of cooking techniques to accomplish.

If you cook it correctly, there will be slight sweetness in the risotto from the beautifully natural broth, and combined with the apples, it is a perfectly balanced dish that will appeal to both foodies from the East and the West.

Salmon Tartare with Enoki Mushrooms - Guest Blog

Today, I have invited another prominent food blogger, Terry Wong who runs The Food Canon, to do my very first guest blog on The Silver Chef.

And the reason I have asked Terry is that like myself, he is an avid food lover and is utterly passionate about cooking, and he has some fantastic recipes up on his own blog. I do encourage you to check out his food blog.

Recently, I had a chance to help him cook for a fund raising event and it was a wonderful experience working with him. Soon after, we talked of doing guest blogs for one another hence, he has come up with a terrific salmon tartare dish which is presented below.

I have also returned the favor by guest blogging on his blog with one of my recipes as well. Just head on over there after you have finished here to read my first guest blog on another site too! Here it is, Terry's excellent salmon tartare dish.

Guest Blogger The Food Canon:

I had to plan a meal for 60 at a recent Alpha Course Intro Dinner at my church. It was a sit-down dinner and guests were to be served at the table.

I have never done a dinner at this scale and of this nature. Some planning was needed with my food team and we finally settled on a 2-course appetiser-main meal, with the desserts served as a buffet spread. For plated meals, I thought that a "Western" approach works better, perhaps with some local twist. Being a two-course meal, the appetizer had to be fairly substantial.

So, how can we serve 60 plated diners efficiently? What appetiser should we make?
I asked a professional chef friend for advice on a easy-to-do appetizer. He advised on Tuna Tartare as that which can be prepared beforehand and plated just before serving. But he thought serving 60 diners plated will be difficult.

Tartare? I can recall eating it many times before but I have not made it myself. I checked up on some cookbooks, searched the net and consulted one of my home cook friends who runs a food blog (The Silver Chef) as he is more familiar with Western cuisine. It seemed doable as I considered all the steps needed from preparation to serving.

As Salmon is easily available here and fairly cheap, I went for it. I opted to buy from my usual fish stall at the wet market as it was fresh and good value. I bought a whole fish and had it filleted and deboned.

I planned to add diced tomato and onions. Cucumber was one option but had second thoughts as the texture is harder and too much of a contrast to Salmon. I experimented with adding chopped up kaffir lime leaves for the 'local twist' but did not like the taste. I saw packets of tiny Brown Enoki Mushrooms in NTUC. They were inexpensive at about $2 per lot. I thought they should taste great if sauced with soy sauce and that may be the local twist needed. And I added my favorite leaf - arugula or rockett leaves. I made it at home, and experimented with various plating arrangements using food shapes I bought from TOTT. I like what I ate and thought the soy sauced fresh enoki mushrooms added a interesting twist in terms of texture and flavour.

Brown Enoki Mushrooms

As costs was an issue, I added more veg to the tartare, reducing the amount of salmon needed. You can adjust the proportion as you so wish and according to the meal occasion.

Here are the steps to make this refreshing appetiser.

Preparing the Salmon Tartare

1. Diced up the tomatoes and onions. 
2. Diced up the boneless and skinless salmon meat. 
3. These need to be in small pieces for a good tartare eating experience.
4. Mix them together and add some squeezed lemon juice and salt. Adjust according to your taste. Thsi will effectively cooked the raw salmon and pickled the tomatoes and onions. Leave it in the fridge for an hour or so to chill.

Preparing the Brown Enoki mushrooms

1. Cut the top of the mushrooms and discard the roots. Washing the mushroom will take away some of the flavours but as I am serving it fresh, I did not want to take risks. 
2. After washing, add some good soy sauce (check out this post for some good options) and mix. Chill.

Plating with food shapes

Plating 

1. Using food shapes (as in pic), plate the salmon tartare. 
2. Spoon the enoki mushrooms into the center.
3. Add the arugula leaves around the tartare. Keep it dry to go with the wet Tartare.

Many of the guest gave feedback that they enjoyed the dish and I suppose Salmon Tartare is a usual crowd pleaser. The Brown Enoki Mushrooms made it a bit more special without increasing the costs significantly.

For the mains, we served oven-roasted Chicken Breast in Miso Butter Sauce with Asparagus, Sugar peas and butter rice. The Sous Vide method of cooking came in handy. I may blog that recipe on another occasion though I have blogged a slightly different version here.

There you go, my first guest blog post. Thanks Ian and your readers for this opportunity.

Sprinkle some black pepper and it is good to go

Thanks, Terry for this great post! Looking forward to exchanging more guest posts with The Food Canon in the near future.

Simple Bacon and Onion Omelette Recipe

Gordon Ramsay once said that he likes to test a cook's skill by asking him or her to cook a simple egg dish for him. The reasoning is quite simple, and I tend to subscribe to it.

It is always easy to use expensive and premium ingredients to elevate a dish, but it is always quite hard to take something simple and make it special. And eggs are one of the most common ingredients out there.

Yet, like Ramsay, I always find that a lot of food places tend to do eggs very sloppily and is often very underwhelming. It is surprising that a lot of folks cannot even cook a simple omelette.

That said, I'd like to show you how to do a simple omelette dish, and cooking it just right to impress anyone you may have over for a meal.

To begin, slice a full onion and finely chop about 100g of bacon. Crack about 4 eggs and whisk it in a bowl.

Here's a little tip, take a cold pan and place it on the stove. Turn the heat to just medium or slightly lower and add in the bacon. The reason is you want to render some of the bacon fat first before it gets burned up and this will add an amazing aroma.

Once the pan starts to heat up, you will see the fat being rendered slowly. Add in a knob of butter to add some sweetness and emulsion to the mixture and add in the onions.

Always make sure you cook the onions thoroughly to extract as much sweetness from the onions as possible and also, they will soften down to more edible bites later.

Once the onions are soft and sweet, pour in the eggs in the center of the pan and let the mixture even distribute all over the pan. This is where a non stick pan comes in real handy.

Once the eggs start to cook and the edges get a bit crusty, shake the pan to make sure the omelette does not stick and you will be able to flip part of the omelette.

I prefer to flip half of the omelette so that it covers like a popiah, and let it cook awhile before flipping the entire omelette to the other side.

Season with just pepper as the bacon should provide enough salt to give it an aromatic savoriness. Once both sides are sufficiently crusted, remove from the heat and plate it.

Garnish with some spring onions and you are done. The perfect omelette should be crusty on the outside, and there is some soft moisture on the side, and combined with the sweetness of the garlic, it should taste fantastic.

So, there you have it. A simple but delicious omelette dish.

Butter Soba with Garlic Mushroom

I have always thought of replacing pasta with soba for one of my own recipes, and it is on one weekend afternoon when I decided to try this out.

Pauline has always been an advocate of healthy choices, and of late, she has been making a lot of soba for our meals, using the tried and tested way of having cold soba with Japanese soya sauce.
But I always thought of doing soba in a more Italian fashion, where you will make a sauce and coat it on the soba instead of just using soya sauce. Hence, this dish.

To begin, bring to boil a pot of water for you to cook the soba in. Soba is shorter than the usual linguine or spaghetti, so put more sticks in to compensate.

It cooks for about 5 minutes and once it gets soft, remove from the boiling water and strain quickly. Run it through cold water to stop the cooking process.

To make the sauce, take a knob of butter and brown it in a pan or pot. Chop lots of garlic and add it to the pan.

Make sure the garlic is well cooked and starts to get soft before you add some white wine to flavor the garlic further.

Add some chopped button mushrooms into the mixture, though you can substitute other types of mushrooms of your choice.

Keep stirring and cooking the mushrooms until the flavors are well extracted from the mushrooms. Add a little water if its too dry.

Add a knob of butter to emulsify the mixture and add in the soba and toss thoroughly until the soba is well coated with garlic mushroom mixture.

To serve, plate the soba and add some Japanese seaweed or tiny red caviar for some additional garnishing and color.

And there you have it, soba cooked pasta styled.

Braised Oxtail

My dad used to love this dish when I was young during those younger times, it was also not easy to find a good place that can serve a credible oxtail dish.

I decided to try my hand at making this dish myself, and in a way, dedicate this to those who are celebrating Father's Day next month and maybe use this recipe to whip up something for their dads.

To begin with, you can obtain oxtails these days pretty easily from places like NTUC Finest, and the Culina butchery does have a wide range of meats.

I would use about 4 cuts for a party of 2-3. Season the oxtails with salt and pepper and lightly brown them in a pan with olive oil for a minute or two just to seal the meat.

In a large pot, add some butter and saute some one onion and a third of an Australian leek until the flavors are well extracted. You want to get as much of the sweetness from the vegetables as possible.

Add in about 3 stalks of chopped celery and cook them until the flavors are also extracted. Once the vegetables start to get translucent, add in about a third of a bottle of red wine, preferably full bodied wines.

Simmering Away

Let it cook at high heat and somewhat reduced for a few minutes. Add in the oxtails into the mixture and pour in enough fresh beef stock to almost cover the mixture. I prefer to use the Campbell's beef stock as it is all natural and does not contain MSG.

You can add in potatoes and carrots to give it more texture to the stew and also the starch helps to give it a thicker consistency. Bring the entire mixture up to a boil.

Once it boils, reduce the heat to a very low temperature, and let it slowly cook for at least 2 hours until the meat is cooked and tender. If you want it to be even more tender and for the meat to fall off the bone, leave it to cook for another hour at low heat.

Once you are about to serve, add in a knob of butter to emulsify the stew and season with more pepper according to your taste.

To serve, simply plate the stew into a nice plate and there you have it. Classic Oxtail stew. It is hearty and delicious and suitable for a family meal.

Sesame Ginger Chicken in Dark Soya Sauce with Black Fungus

Pauline's mum has always had a range of classic recipes that she would always enjoy, and food that she has grown up eating.

One of her very favorites is this delicious sesame ginger chicken in dark soy with black fungus that never fails to delight. With that in mind, I decided to replicate it with a bit of my own touch.

For 2 persons, I would use about 4 chicken drumsticks, and a packet of black fungus which you can easily obtain from NTUC supermarkets.

To begin, just quickly seal the chicken pieces in a pot of olive oil for a few minutes and remove from fire.

Chop as much ginger slices as you would like, and usually, the more the better. Chop some white ends of spring onion as well.

Lightly fry the ginger and spring onion in the same pot of olive oil until it is fragrant, then drizzle some Chinese wine over it and let it reduce somewhat. Add in 4 to 5 cloves of garlic.

Add in the chicken drumsticks and add some chicken stock and water until the chicken and mixture almost covered.

Cut the black fungus into smaller pieces and add them into the mixture. Add enough dark soya sauce until the mixture is dark and filled with soy flavors. Finish the mixture with a drizzle of sesame oil.

Let the mixture cook in medium heat in a nice rolling boil for about 30 minutes until the chicken is fully cooked and tender, but not too long lest the chicken gets too tough.

To finish, season with some black pepper and garnish it with some green spring onion.

And there you have it, a classic dish that will please any mum-in-law, I hope.

Beef Meatballs With Mushroom and Onion Sauce

I believe that many of us have been to Ikea cafe and enjoyed the immensely popular Swedish meatballs there. I believe that is their bestselling item there.

And quite a few would have loved it so much that they brought the frozen packs back and cooked it at home as well. Well, I was wondering if I could do a homemade version of it.

Quite simply, it is basically minced beef made into balls served with boiled potatoes and a side of cranberry sauce.

Well, the potatoes part is easy to say the least. Just diced a couple of potatoes and boil it in water for about 20 minutes until they are soft and set aside until they are ready to be served.

For the meatballs, for a serving of 2, I bought about 250gm of minced beef. Season it with salt and pepper, and if you like, add in diced spring onion or onion for some additional flavors.

Use your hands to make the meatballs out of the seasoned minced beef just about the size of golf ball or slight larger.

To cook the meatballs, simply fill a pan with olive oil and saute the balls until they are cooked all round and are slightly caramelized.

Making the beef sauce is equally easy and simple. In a saucepan or pot, add some olive oil and let the pan heat up.

Chop some diced onion, about half, and about 3 or 4 button mushrooms, though you can use any mushroom of your choice as well.

Add in the onions and mushrooms and cook for a few minutes until they are soft and the flavors are well extracted.

Add in just enough beef stock to make a sauce. Be wary not to add too much as it will be harder to reduce down.

Bring it to a full boil and let it reduce for about 5 minutes. Add in some fresh whipping cream to give it the texture and color.

A tip is to add in a bit of coffee powder to add a tinge of bitterness and acidity to the mixture.

To serve, plate the potatoes and meatballs and drizzle the delicious beef sauce on top and there you have it. Homemade meatballs that is every bit as good, if not better, than the ones you get in Ikea!

White Coq Au Vin

Previously, in one of my earlier recipes, I had done a classic coq au vin, stewed for hours and has since been a favorite among family and friends.

Recently, I had a chance to cook for some friends during a dinner gathering for a bunch of food kakis, and that included the illustrious Leslie Tay from the ieatishootipost blog.

Cooking for a group is always quite challenging, and seeing that I had only about an hour or so to cook, I decided to modify a faster version of coq au vin, using white wine for a lighter, more refreshing flavor, and this proved to be a wise choice.

To begin, brown some finely diced bacon until they are fragrant and slightly crispy. In the same pan, seal the chicken drumsticks for about a minute or two, until they skin is browned.

In a pot, saute some diced onions and chopped leeks for a couple of minutes until they are also fragrant. Drizzle a little white wine and let the vegetables absorb the wine liquid.

Add in more vegetables in the form of diced potatoes and carrots and throw in the bacon.

Add in about one third bottle of white wine and bring it to a boil. Add in the chicken drumsticks and add enough chicken stock until the drumsticks and vegetables are fully covered and bring to a boil.

Instead of letting it stew at a low heat, keep boiling at medium to medium high heat until the wine reduces the chicken into a very flavorful stock and letting the vegetables' flavors fully immersed.

After about half an hour, add in a knob of butter and remove from heat. To serve, just garnish with some chopped basil for the added aroma and color.

The chicken drumsticks will not be broken down like classic coq au vin, but instead, firm but fully cooked and moist inside. This is handy if you have limited time to cook coq au vin or chicken stew.

Salmon Duo - Salmon Tartare and Pan Fried Salmon with Wine Apples, A Special Lunar New Year Dish

A very happy Lunar New Year to everyone! Wow, 2011 has certainly passed by very fast, and this year, I decided to cook for my wife's family reunion dinner.

Pauline's mum has recently been very keen to taste my food, and usually she has always been the one doing all the heavy lifting during reunion dinner time.

This year, Pauline and I decided that she should take it easy and instead, enjoy an Oriental menu prepared by Pauline and myself. Still, she did insist on doing a shark's fin soup.

Incidentally, we have decided that this would be the last time we consume shark's fin, as we also want to get it on the act of preventing cruelty to animals. If you have the time, go youtube and see any of the videos on the cruelty to sharks and you would be inclined to agree.

On to our reunion dinner, we had a sumptuous 5 course of shark's fin, salmon tartare, crispy angel hair with king prawns, abalone and scallops in a superior broth and baked chicken drumsticks with a tomato and basil sauce.

And my mum-in-law's verdict? Well, she's biased and loved every dish, but she did single out the salmon tartare as her favorite, and what's more, she has never liked raw sashimi before, so this was indeed a surprise.

And so, I have decided to share with you this duo of salmon dish which you can whip up easily at home for your family.

For the pan fried salmon, simply season both sides of the fillet with salt and pepper, and fry it in a pan, turning only once. It should be around 2 minutes each side, or flip when the fish is cooked about 2 thirds up.

Set it aside. In a fresh pan, add a knob of butter to saute the sliced apples and once the apples start to get soft, add in white wine to let the apples bathe in. Once the wine is reduced by half, the sauce should get somewhat syrupy and remove from heat.

For the tartare, you can prepare way in advance as it involves no cooking at all. And for this, I prefer to use a skinless salmon fillet as it eases the problem of removing the skin at home.

Cut it into very short slices, about 1cm long and very thinly sliced. For one full fillet, use one whole shallot and dice the shallot very finely.

Next to, dice very finely some spring onion as well and half a lemon. You are ready to mix the tartare now.

In a bowl, add in the salmon, shallots and spring onion. Squeeze the half lemon, and be careful to remove any seeds that may fall into the mixture.

Add in some extra virgin olive oil, enough soy sauce to give it a savory balance and add enough black pepper for seasoning and taste.

Mix everything thoroughly and adjust the seasoning by having a taste or two. In a while, the salmon will start to change color as the acid from the lemon and the shallots will somewhat "cook" the fish.

To plate, simply use a flat dish and plate the tartare on one side and add in some additional spring onion for garnishing. Plate the wine apples on the other side and lay the pan cooked salmon on top.

This is a very suitable dish for an appetizer, or even a mains. But for me, the tartare is also my version of yu sheng, or raw fish salad that is usually eaten before the start of a Lunar New Year meal.

Pauline did comment that my tartare did have much more fish that the average yu sheng, and or it should. Try this at home as it is really very easy to do, and it is still yu sheng eating time!

Gong Xi Fa Cai! from the Silver Chef.

Crispy Angel Hair Pasta Balls with Tiger Prawns in a Ginger Leek Broth

After our trip to KL where we were so fixated with the Soo Kee Mee, I was determined to see if I can come up with my own take of that beautiful dish.

And remembering a trick that a chef once taught me, I thought of doing a modern version of the Sang Har Mee.

Instead of using crispy sheng mian that you find in most tze char stalls, I decided to use pasta instead and deep fry it to give the same texture.

Cook some angel hair pasta in boiling water for a few minutes and drain it, and run it under cold water. Angel hair cooks much faster so be sure not to overcook it.

In a separate broth, prepare the broth by frying some slices of ginger, leek and the white ends of a few stalks of spring onion until they are fragrant. Add a dash of white wine and let it reduce and be absorbed by the ingredients.

Separate the shells of the tiger prawns and add the shells in a muslin bag so that they can be easily separated later. Add in enough chicken stock to cover the mixture.

Bring everything to a boil and add some seasoning. Let the stock boil and reduce for about half an hour. Add in a knob of butter to give it some texture.

To make the crispy balls, make balls out the angel hair pasta about 3cm in diameters. Too big and it will be harder to cook the insides of the balls.

Add some flour to keep the shape in place. In a small pot, prepare some hot oil for the deep frying process.

Add in the pasta balls in a ladle so you can easily hoist them out once they are golden brown. Be sure not to overcook them and once they are ready, place them on paper napkins to drain out the excess oil.

Season the tiger prawns with some salt and pepper and saute them in a pan with butter for a few minutes. Let them sit in the pan to finish the cooking.

To serve, place the angel hair balls in a plate or bowl and garnish with the ginger and leek stock and just arrange the tiger prawns around them.

And voila, a more modern version of the sang har mee is created! 

Merry Christmas With a Simple Tomato and Garlic Basil Capellini

It's amazing how time flies, and Christmas is here and gone. I just realised that I have been blogging here for over a year!

And in that time, it has been an extremely fulfilling period, meeting all sorts of people and making new friends everywhere.

So, for this Christmas, I dedicate a delightful yet simple pasta dish that anyone can make.

Instead of using preserved and unappealing bottled sauces you find in supermarkets, I urge you to try this at home. It is a classic Italian dish that can be whipped up in less an 30 mins.

To begin, cook some capellini in boiling water. Capellini is thinner, so it will cook faster than normal spaghetti, so just take note.

In a hot pan, add some olive oil and chopped garlic slices. Add as many slices as you like, but I generally think more garlic is always good.

Toss it in high heat until it starts to get soft. Add in white wine and let it sizzle and reduce by half. Should take about a min or 2.

Toss in lots of diced tomatoes and cook it until the juices infuse the pan and a sauce starts to form.

Add in a knob of butter to give it a nice velvety texture and then add in chopped basil for the additional fragrance.

Lastly, add the pasta and toss it throughly until the capellini is well coated with the tomato and basic mixture.

Plate and serve with some topping of parmesan cheese and it will be simply perfect and delicious!

Merry Christmas everyone!

Ravioli With Seafood Cream and Butter Sauce

It has been awhile since my last recipe, so I thought I'd do a new dish over the weekend, and inspired by something that Masterchef Peter did.

It is actually one of my simplest recipes, and this can be quickly done in less than half an hour, and very sumptuous at the same time.

The dish is a simple ravioli dish with a rich butter cream sauce to go along.

To begin, simply boil some ravioli which you can get from NTUC finest. They come in various stuffings, and for this recipe, you can use any variant.

Usually, you will need to boil for between 7 to 10 minutes and add in some olive oil to the water to prevent any sticking of the pasta.

In a pan, add in a knob of butter and let it burn until it is liquid and brown. Quickly add in some chopped leeks and garlic and fry until the flavors are extracted.

Add in chopped crabsticks (or crabmeat) and scallops and let them quickly sear. Add in a dash of white wine and let the alcohol burn and infused with the mixture.

As the seafood begins to cook, add in cream to make the sauce and bring it to a high heat and let it reduce. As it reduces, the sauce will thicken up nicely.

Once it has reduced by half, bring it to medium heat and add it in the cooked ravioli and toss. Season with some grounded pepper.

For one final touch, add in some freshly chopped basil for the added aromatics.

And there you have it, in less and 30 minutes, a delicious ravioli dish!

White Wine Beef Stew With Pappardelle

It has been awhile since I last cooked some stew at home, and over the weekend, I decided to whip up the classic beef stew, with a slight twist.

Instead of using red wine, I decided to go for a lighter flavor base with a dry white wine as the base for this gorgeous dish, topped off with some beautiful pappardelle.

To begin, cook some pappardelle in boiling water that has been lightly tinged with some olive oil.

Pappardelle tends to cook rather quickly, so once the texture is soft, remove from water and run it under cold water and leave it to rest.

The beef stew do need about 2 hours to cook, so do prepare this in advance. To begin, brown some bacon in a pan to release the bacon flavors and remove.

Use the fat in the pan to further seal the beef cubes. Lightly coat the beef cubes with some flour. Once the beef has been browned, remove and set aside.

In a large pot, create a mirepoix of celery, onions and carrots. Cook for a few minutes until the vegetables sweat and the unmistakable aroma can be clearly distinguished.

Add in some chopped button mushrooms and stir for a couple of minutes. Add in half a bottle of dry white wine and another equal amount of beef stock. You can use chicken stock too, but for beef stew, the beef stock is more flavorsome and appropriate.

Bring the entire mixture to a boil and once it is so, let it simmer in low heat. Add in the bacon and beef and cover with a lid and let it slowly stew for about 2 hours.

The aroma will be intoxicating as the beef slowly cooks and the flavors are infused and released. Just before you are about to serve, add in some freshly crushed basil and pepper.

Add a knob of better to enhance the overall flavor and you can serve.

To serve, spoon enough beef cubes and the vegetables plus stock onto a plate and top it off with the cooked pappardelle.

To garnish, add a tiny amount of olive oil around the pasta and top it off with some freshly chopped parsley.

The beef should be so well cooked that the beef will just disintegrate at the slightest bite and the sauce from the stew will coat the flat pasta perfectly and this will make a very hearty and delicious meal.

Garlic Linguine With Black Truffle - A Tribute to Mr. Chiam See Tong

On Sunday morning, Mr Chiam See Tong was no longer an elected Member of Parliament, and that in itself, was a sad event, for he has served an unprecendented 27 years as an elected Opposition MP.

To Mr Chiam, who contested in my GRC this year, I was both moved and inspired by his courage and sincereity, two factors that contributed to his immense popularity in Potong Pasir all these years.

After my dish on polling day, on Sunday, I was inspired to do a dish to commemorate Mr Chiam's years in Parliament and for his efforts to bring an alternative voice to the people of Singapore.

For this reason alone, I decided to do a simple pasta dish, simple because Mr Chiam is at heart a really simple but heartfelt man. He may not be perfect, but he certainly was truthful and brave to the core.

Whether he elects to continue his career in politics or chooses to retire, I hope all Singaporeans will remember his contributions to Singapore and be remembered as a key figure in Singapore politics in time to come.

To begin, cook some linguine pasta until al dente and rinse in cold water and set aside. Slice about 10 garlic (the more the better).

In a pan, saute the garlic until they are aromatic and fragrant. Pour in some white wine and let it reduce under very high heat.

Chop some fresh parsley. Once the wine has reduced by half, add in a knob of butter to thicken the sauce and give it that nice velvety consistency. Once the butter has created an emulsion under the high heat, turn the heat to low and add in the parsley.

Add in some salt and pepper and stir thoroughly. Toss the linguine in the sauce until the pasta is well coated with the sauce.

Plate it and shave some fresh black truffle on top of it to give it that luxurious finish. The black truffle can be obtained at NTUC Finest for about S$40 a bottle.

So my simple dish is a homage to his roots, and the black truffle at the end serves to symbolise that after all these years, even a simple man like Mr Chiam can really be a treasure after all.

Make that a national treasure. This dish is for you, Mr Chiam.

Lemon Butter Chicken Breasts With Shrimp and Celery - A Singapore General Elections 2011 Special Dish

The general elections was upon us Singaporeans this past weekend, and after nearly 2 decades, I finally had the opportunity to cast my vote as a citizen.

Indeed, this year's election has been somewhat of a historic one, with the first ever victory by an opposition party in a GRC, and the use of social and new media by the parties in an effort to win the votes of the younger generation.

On Saturday, which was polling day, I decided to concoct a dish to commemorate this occasion, and came up with a rich and decadent surf and turf dish.

The chicken breasts I got was from NTUC which was more than good enough as they were cheap and of good quality.

Season the chicken breasts with salt and pepper and lightly coat it with some flour. Similarly, season a couple of tiger prawns with salt and pepper.

To make the celery hash, chop some celery and onions and dice them neatly. In a pan, saute the onions for a minute or two until they are somewhat translucent. Drizzle some white wine and let it reduce and be absorbed by the onions. Add in the celery and toss them thoroughly.

Once the celery start to soften, add in some chopped tomatoes and mix well. Pour in a cup of chicken stock and bring the mixture to a boil and then, let it simmer. Add in some fresh heavy cream to thicken the mixture and lightly season with some pepper.

In another pan, pour in some olive oil and add in the chicken breasts. Cook it for about 3 to 4 minute on one side before flipping them over. Bast it with some butter and cook for an additional 3-4 minutes. Remove from pan and let it sit for 5 minutes or so.

Using the remaining juices and butter from the pan, saute the prawns until they are cooked. For added flavor, you can add in some finely chopped basil for the aromatic perfume.

To make the butter sauce, pour in some white wine to the remaining juices and add in some chicken stock and let it reduce by half. Add in some lemon rind and few drops of lemon juices. Add another knob of butter. Pour in some cream to thicken the mixture. 

To plate, pour in some of the celery hash first, then add in the chicken breasts (finely sliced after resting) and the shrimp. Pour the lemon butter sauce and garnish with some parsley.

Thus, my contribution to the election and polling day with this somewhat heavy dish and here's hoping that securing a better future for Singapore would mean not only a first world parliament, but also a first world future for us all.

Cheers!

Pan Roasted Snapper with Lemon Celery Puree

Seems like I have been doing quite a fair bit of pasta cooking the past few weeks, so this past weekend, I decided to play around more with protein based dishes.

A lot of cooking is about understanding flavor profiles, and being creative about mixing different flavors to create something new and fresh, and this week, I would like to make something out of lemon and celery.

I had saw a recent Top Chef Masters episode where the winner of that challenge came up with a simple yet refreshing celery broth drizzled with some lemon oil.

I recreated that dish and was instantly wowed by how the flavors combined. It was bold, yet light and zesty all at once.

I decided to do a fish dish with this as I felt the lightness of this combination will go very well with a fish course, and it certainly did!

Score the fish on the skin side and season with salt and pepper on both sides. Pan roast it in a pan and flip it only once when you see the fish is about two thirds cooked. Bast it with butter for another 2-3 minutes and let it rest.

In another pot, saute some onions and leeks that are chopped until the aroma is evident. Splash some white wine and let the alcohol reduce until it is almost all gone. Add chopped celery and toss the mixture thoroughly.

Add about 2 cups of chicken stock and bring everything to a boil and then let it simmer for another 10 minutes,. Add it some cream to thicken it. Grate some lemon zest into the pot and blend everything into a puree.

If it is not zesty enough, add in some additional lemon juice until the puree is nicely balanced.

To plate, spoon the puree into a plate and then place the cooked fish onto of the puree and garnish with some chopped parsley..

It is a healthy dish, and full of bold flavors and the citrus taste will just refresh you!

Classic Spaghetti Vongole

For those who have noticed, I have a recent fetish with pasta dishes, and I have been honing my pasta skills and for that, I have a special mentor too.

The thing about pasta is that cooking it is really very simple, but mastering it and creating genuine tasty pasta dishes is really something else.

I would advise those who would really like to learn how to cook great pasta, not to resort to bottled sauces in the supermarts, as this is really not the best way to cook great pasta.

It is all about the sauces, and cooking and making great sauces isn't really that hard to do, but it does take a bit of practice and understanding to get it right. So, for today, I would like to touch on a classic Italian favorite, vongole.

Vongole is basically clams (ie. la la) cooked in white wine sauce and tossed with either linguine or spaghetti. As a rule, thicker pastas like parpadelle or tagliatelle usually go better with thick cream sauces, while the thinner, finer pastas go best with lighter sauces like vongole.

To being, cook some spaghetti and drain and run it under cold water. Take heed not to overcook spaghetti as it can be quite soggy and become more like chinese noodles.

In a pan, saute lots of sliced garlic in olive oil. If you like some heat and spice, add some chopped chilli. For this to turn out really well, cook this under very high heat but be sure not to overcook the garlic.

Make sure the clams are thoroughly washed so as not to have any sand in them. Once the garlic aroma comes out, add in the clams and toss and stir to mix well with the garlic for a minute or so.

Then add in about a cup of white wine and let it boil and reduce under the intense heat. I suggest high heat as cooking the white wine and boiling it so intensely will create an emulsion later as you reduce and give a great consistency later.

Then as the wine reduce, the clams will start to open and once the wine has reduced to about half, add in a knob of butter to give it that extra flavor. Season with some light salt and black pepper, and taste. It should you give you that lovely sweetness from the clams with the aromatic wine aroma.

Remove from heat and plate it. Garnish it with some chopped parsley or if you like, toss the parsley in the pan as you remove from the heat before you plate it.

And there you have it, classic vongole. Simple, but expect to do this a few times to get it just right.