Shao Xing/ Rice Wine Chicken.

i like how sometimes i psyche myself up bad to cook a particular dish, but see it take a completely different course half-way through the cooking process? yeah, i'm weird like that. anyway, i was going to prepare the usual honey-glazed chicken schtick, but when i got all the ingredients together, i decided to try something completely new instead.

Shao Xing (more often referred to as Chinese Rice/ Cooking Wine) Chicken is a dish i used to indulge in whenever i had the opportunity to visit Cantonese restaurants in singapore. i've never really gotten down to its true recipe--mostly because my family doesn't cook it, but from what i can tell, it's a lot about drowning your chicken in rice wine. drowning dead birds in alcohol, can't be that hard!

so this is NOT the authentic recipe, but it's nice enough to enjoy with my bowl of rice.

Ingredients.
2 pieces, chicken drumstick & thigh (i.e. 2 drumsticks, 2 thighs)
2 inch, ginger (finely sliced/ diced)
2-3 cloves, garlic (bruised and minced)
3 sprigs, spring onion (finely sliced)
1.5 cup, chinese rice/ cooking wine (dark variety)
1 tbsp, salt
1 tbsp, ground white pepper
1 tbsp, light soy sauce (which i find optional, but only because i'm weird)
1 tbsp, sesame oil

Serves.
2

Step 1: Marinating the Chicken.
combine all the ingredients into a bowl, and just massage the marinade into the chicken for about 5-10 minutes, before sealing the bowl up with some wrap, and leaving that to marinate for at least 3 hours (i like overnight because the marinade really gets into the meat).

Step 2: Double-Boil.
when ready, just transfer that bowl onto a steaming rack in a nice big pot. fill that with water until the water reaches about the centre of the bowl. put the lid on, switch your medium-flame on and let everything boil for at least half an hour; stop depending on how cooked you like your chicken. a full hour more or less guarantees well-cooked meat.



Removing & Adding Oil.
the fat from the chicken probably melted to give you a layer of oil on top of the gravy. if you're not a fat of that, which makes no difference to the taste for the dish, then slowly remove that layer of oil. after that, add the sesame oil in.



i know; the irony!

Final Serve.
simple dish, but pretty delightful results i thought. served well with some rice as a main, side or entree!

Simple Slow-Roast Kangeroo Fillet.

my good friend, affectionately known as Cazzie Cumface--i'm Fiona Fisting to her, made the most splendid roast lambshank last friday. apparently, she was inspired by the slow-roast rosemary chicken i cooked for her one night, so she took part of the recipe for a ride.

what i was most enamoured with were the vegetable sides she had added to the roast. in her attempt, she simply cut some sweet potatoes, pumpkin and brown onions, and left them on the side of the roast. the vegetables not only added flavour to the gravy, but also soaked up the juices pretty well.

for last night's dinner, i decided to give this simple slow-roast recipe a test.

Ingredient.
the food.
3-4 pieces, kangeroo fillet (substitutable with any red meat)
6, baby carrots (washed and chopped into halves)
2, spanish/ red onions (you SHOULD use brown ones!!!)
2, green apples (granny smiths)
4, roma tomatoes

the marinade
2-3 sprigs, rosemary (just the leaves)
1 lime (juiced)
1 lemon (juiced)
2 tbsp, sherry
1 tsp, salt
1 tsp, ground black pepper

missing.
potatoes (recommend desirees; skinned if you don't like it)

Serving.
2

Step 1: Marinating.
throw all the marinade ingredients together. i like to have my rosemary thrown into the grinder so that they end up nice and fine. add the meat to the marinade, and let set for at least 3 hours (i prefer overnight marinate).

Step 2: Roasting.
in a nice big roasting pan, lay your meat in. around or beside it, lay the rest of the food (i.e. carrots, apples, onions, etc). cover it with a lid or with some foil, and set your fan-oven to 160-170degreeC. when the oven's ready, put the pan in.

Step 3: Deciding When to Remove.
now, here's the tricky part. in general, i've devised my own inch theory on slow-roasting. for every inch of meat, we leave it to roast for 1.5 hours. so the thinner it is, the less time you want it in the oven otherwise it will get a bit overcooked.

the vegetables, however, have to remain in there for at least 3 hours.

Final Serve.
when the vegetables are just about done (5 mins before the 3-hour mark), just pop the meat back into the oven to warm it. then you can have everything ready for serving.

be sure to serve the food with a generous supply of gravy. remember also that the gravy may be used for further roasting of other vegetables. just pop more vegetables in the gravy, and let them roast for the same duration.



i really recommend adding some carbo staple like potato for the roast. because i forgot, i'm going to serve mine with some bread.



ETA:
spanish onions turned out really weird; please use brown onions!

Stir-Fried Beef Salad.

it's strange how i find myself cooking at the best of times and at the worst of times. when i'm happy i cook to please; when i'm depressed, however, i cook to relieve my mind of the looming unhappiness. from my experience, i can vouch that the old adage applies: love is an important ingredient for good food. clearly, i'm not meant to be a full-time chef.

today's recipe, sadly, stems from the sad side of life :(

anyway, enough of my bs. this recipe is a rehash of my housemate, linzi's. much credit goes to her then.

Ingredients.
500g of sliced beef (they sell in Asian Grocers for steamboats)
4-5 potatoes, skinned & diced (Desiree)
6-7 baby carrots, skinned & diced
2-3 onions, skinned and diced/ sliced (brown)
3-4 cloves, garlic (bruised and minced)
5tsp chinese rice wine
3tsp cooking oil (olive in my case)
3tsp honey
2tsp crushed basil leaves
2tsp chilli flakes
2tsp five spice powder



Serves.
3-4

Step 1: FRY! FRY!! FRY!!!.
before you start, start your oven to about 220degreee Cel.

heat your pot/ wok over a medium flame. when it's hot enough, fry the garlic and onion till brown. add the beef strips in, and before it cooks fully, add the condiments (i.e. wine, honey, basil leaves, chill flakes and five spice powder). stir-fry a little more, then add the vegetables.

fry everything till the vegetables are more or less cooked, remove from fire and transfer to an oven-safe ware.



the oven should be ready by now. cover the food with some foil and set the salad into the oven for about twenty to twenty-five minutes.



remove from oven, leave the foil on for at least ten minutes to trap some steam, before serving.

Final Serve.
good with some mash, rice or any other form of carbo. or eaten alone really.

Simple Minty Couscous

Couscous is probably the fastest thing to cook. ever.
Actually, you don't even need to cook it.
its like a strange conceptual cross between rice and pasta.

Its great as a side dish, or if you're like me, you have sides as a main for lunch ...

The ingredients *look* fancy, but i got them on special offer at the supermarket bargain bin.
the balsamic vinegar cost me one pound (i am suspicious of it's authenticity, but its still vinegar so i don't really mind).




I haven't been cooking as regularly as I'd like, due to several unforeseen circumstances (read: flooded kitchen) in addition to general laziness and the lack of well, heart.

You need love to cook.
(which means cooking when depressed, or stressed, is disastrous. for me at least)

Oh well, on to the recipe.


Ingredients.
1 cup couscous
2 tbs mint sauce
2 tbs balsamic vinegar
1 tbs mixed herbs
3 tbs olive oil
a little over a cup of water
salt and black pepper to taste

Extra Ingredients.
some lettuce or some other salad greens
(its like, the side to my side)




Special Equipment.
a microwave oven
microwavable container / bowl with a lid


Serves.
1 or 2 (depending on how hungry you are)


Step 1: Preparing the ingredients.
Grab a plate and dress it with some salad greens.
Measure out your cup of couscous and pour into your microwavable container.

Step 2: Adding taste.
Because couscous will suck up and expand in ANY liquid, we do the dry bits first.
Mix into your bowl of dry couscous, the herbs, a pinch of salt, a few twists of black pepper, then followed by the mint sauce and then the balsamic vinegar, and use a fork and mix it all up.
It should still be relatively dry at this point.




Step 3: Adding moisture.
Here's the fun bit. Very quickly, add water to your couscous till a point about 1.5 centimeters over the level of couscous, lightly cover with the lid and pop into the microwave oven at max for one minute.


You don't really need to put it in the microwave, because it will expand anyway in cold water over time (which is why all the dry bits went in first) but i like the little bit of heat and steam to 'cook' the stuff i put into the couscous, and to warm it.


Step 4: Fluff it.
Once the microwave dings, let it sit for about thirty seconds and be careful of the steam as you take it out. get your olive oil and drizzle it over your couscous and fluff everything up with your fork.


Have a taste and add more salt and black pepper and maybe olive oil if you'd like.


Final Serve.

Fluff the couscous onto your bed of greens and enjoy!


I actually usually do couscous Mediterranean style, but I finished my olives and tomatoes ... so ... next time then. :)

Dark Sauce Pork.

since we're all pressed for time thesedays, i'll share another fuss-free recipe handed down to me by my granny. the dish is quite a popular (or at least common) one that you can find at most ala carte cooked-food stalls back in singapore. as per normal, my granny does it slightly differently from the rest.

due to the fact that i lack some necessary ingredients for the full-blown recipe, i'll be delineating the differences between what my gran does and what i've done. this way, anyone attempting the full recipe might get a notional understanding of going about cooking it.

Ingredients.
500g, San Chen Rou (三辰肉)--literally, three-layer meat/ pork* (i'm using spare ribs instead because it was all i had in the freezer)
10-12 pieces, Chinese Dried Mushrooms (shitake's good)
4-5 cloves, garlic
2 inches, ginger
2 tbsp, Five Spice Powder
5 tbsp, Chinese Rice Wine
1.5 tbsp, ground white pepper
2 tbsp, light soy sauce
.5 cup, dark soy sauce
2 tbsp, sugar



Missing In My Attempt:
5-6, egg
200g, dried tofu

Serves.
4

Step 1: Preparing the meat and everything else.
chop the meat up into bite-size portions, and braise the pork with abt 1.5l of boiling water, and drain the water away. my grandma says it rids the pork of its overly pungent taste.

soak the mushrooms in boiling water until they're all soft. put the water aside to be used for the cooking later. slice the mushrooms.

bruise and dice the ginger and garlic.

full version:
slice the dried tofu into bite sizes.

hard boil the eggs, shell them and set aside for cooking later.

Step 2: The Cooking.
oil your pot or wok and set it on top of a medium flame. when hot enough, throw the garlic and ginger in and stir fry for a minute, making sure that you don't brown it too much.

throw the pork and mushrooms in. add the water in which the mushrooms were soaked as well. stir fry for a bit, before you throw everything else in: (in no particular order) light soy sauce, five spice powder, ground pepper, rice wine, dark soy sauce, and sugar.

bring the whole pot over to your smallest flame, put a lid on it. leave to simmer for about half an hour.



full version:
before you put the lid on, throw the eggs and tofu in. let them soak up the sauce and simmer with the rest of the ingredients.

Final Serve.
like i always say: best served with rice! (yes, i'm a proud yellow, rice-loving "smells a bit like soy sauce" chink.)



Additional Notes:
San Chen Rou. i'm quite sure this refers to streaky slab, seeing as how they both refer to the cut from the pig's belly. it's important to use this cut of the pork because this dish actually depends on the oil you'll get from the layers of fats for additional taste. and yes, it gets pretty oily after a while, so consume with discretion.

Recooking. my grandmother reboils the dish whenever we have a meal. the more you recook it, the nicer it gets. basically, it takes time for all the ingredients to infuse one another. so if you can, cook a whole pot of it and experience the wonders of this dish getting tastier by the day. you may also add new hard-boiled eggs whenever you run out.

Wounds & Dark Sauce. the chinese believe that people with wounds that are still healing should avoid eating dark-colored food, especially dark sauce. it causes the wound to heal with a dark tone; i've got brown patches on my legs from when i was young as evidence. seeing as how i just got inked at the nape, i really shouldn't be promoting this recipe right now. oops :(

Fuss-Free Steamed Salmon.

i was tempted to call this the idiot's guide to steaming fish, but it occurred to me that it wasn't like i didn't learn it from observing my grandmother in the first place. nobody's that gifted.

the recipe is good for most fish, but i chose salmon over the others simply because it was on sale and i really do love the taste of these upstream-swimming fuckers.

Ingredients.
2, salmon fillet
1 inch, ginger
2, red chilli
1, tomato
4 tbsp, chinese (rice) cooking wine
1 tsp, salt
1 stalk, spring onion/ scallion (not included this round; i ran out)

Serves.
2

Step 1: Salt, Chop, and Splash.
my salmon fillets came nicely packed for cooking, so there's no real preparatory action needed before we start.

take a few stabs in the fillet with your knife, and salt the fillets.

chop the ginger, chilli and spring onion up, setting them all atop the fillets when you're done. slice the tomato into about 12 pieces, and line them along the side (skin up).

splash the cooking wine over, and set everything aside in the fridge for 10-15 minutes.



Step 2: Steaming.
while the fish is set aside, we can prepare the steamer. i'm using a wok and steaming rack. i boiled water with an electric kettle to save time, and then pour that into the wok over the fire.

when the water reboils in the wok, place the bowl on to the rack, and set the cover on. let it steam cook for 10 minutes.



take the lid off and see if the fish is cooked. it should flake off quite easily when it's ready.

Final Serve.
that's all for this fuss-free recipe. it can be taken as a main, or as a side with some steamed rice.

Stone Soup sans Stone (aka Beef Stew).

Background.
one of the most popular children's stories is perhaps that of the stone soup. lest you've never heard of it (and just where have you been?), a hobo chances upon a village and convinces its people that he has magic stone capable of making the best soup ever. the only problem is that his magic stone required the help of some garnishing, which he didn't have.

impressed and eager to savour the wonders of that magic stone, each village household contributed something from their kitchen. from celery, to potatoes, to meat, every item was added to the pot as an exchange for a portion of that magically tasty soup. with that many ingredients added to the pot (with the stone in it), the soup naturally turned out amazingly delicious.

Wikipedia would have you believe that the moral of the story lies in the virtues of co-operation, but i like to see this as simply good marketing. at most, it's an ingenuity for cooking leftover ingredients. this story has inspired so many people that it has come to a point where some people are actually taking the recipe as illustrated in the story quite seriously...

anyway, a fortnight ago when i was desperately trying to rid my then soon-to-be-rotting vegetables and expired scotch fillets, i thought i'd give this Stone Soup--sans stone and storyline recipe--idea a try, and it actually was quite lovely.

i realise that this recipe might sound a lot like a beef stew.

ack.

beef stew. d's stone soup. po-tah-to. po-teh-to.

Ingredients.
2 pieces, beef steak (i'm using t-bones for their marrows)
2, carrot
3-4, potato
2, mustroom (i'm using cups)
2, tomato
2 sticks, celery
1, onion
3-4 cloves, garlic
2-3, red chilli (depending on how spicy you like the soup)
1, lemon
2 stalks, spring onion/ scallion
1 bunch, parsley (abt 5 stems worth)
1 tbsp, black pepper
4 tbsp, butter (optional; see Step 2)
1 cup, flour (optional; see Step 2)
2 tbsp, red wine (optional; see step 3)
4 tbsp, honey (optional; see step 3)


(missing in picture: onion, garlic, spring onion)

Serves.
4-5

Step 1: Chopping, Slicing and Dicing!
chop, slice, dice the steaks and vegetables, then have all of them thrown into a pot. add enough water to drown all the ingredients and start your fire. i recommend a small to medium flame, on which you allow the soup to cook very, very slowly.



when the soup comes to a boil, add the pepper and lemon juice in and allow everything to simmer till it reduces to about 4/5 to 3/4 of the original amount. stir intermittently.

after at least half an hour, you can taste the soup and see if you're happy with the results so far. if you are, *ta-da*, you're done and can skip the next two steps.

Step 2: Thickening the Soup.
if you'd prefer a slightly thicker soup (stew-like), you'd have to thicken the mix.

first, melt the butter in a bowl, and stir in the flour slowly until you've got all the flour mixed with the butter. coating the flour with butter prevents the flour from clumping up when you add it into the soup.

slowly stir the buttered flour into the simmering soup, and let everything boil for another 5 to 10 minutes, or until the soup thickens.

(taste it, and if you're happy so far, skip the next step.)

Step 3: Adding Extra Unimportant Clear-Before-They-Expire Things.
i'm simply adding what's left of my red wine and honey into the soup, then let simmer for another five minutes.


(see additional notes below on use of slow crockery pot cooker.)

Final Serve.
the versatile stone soup can be enjoyed as a main (accompanied by bread or steamed rice), or as an appetiser or a side.

i like mine with rice!



everyone should try to make hir version of the stone soup out of the odds and ends lying in your kitchen. as my friend, fiq, likes to say: just throw them all in and hope for the best!

;)



Additional Notes.
1. Use of Crock Pot. i'm leaving everything in a slow crockery cooker overnight. additionally, slow cooking it allows the meat to get really very tender. you needn't go to such a drastic measure, because direct heat works just fine. just be sure to be slightly patient to allow the soup to boil in due time.

2. Recooking. the remainder can be reboiled whenever you decide to have some. the more you boil, the thicker and tastier it gets really.

3. Not Stew-like. i used .5 cup of flour instead of the recommend 1 cup as described above. this is just a personal preference of not wanting the soup to end up stew-like.

Savoury Steamed Egg & Mince

Hello all.

I'm terribly sorry for the long absence ... but I haven't had the time nor the resources to whip up anything remotely exciting in the last couple of weeks and here's the reason why:

The people in my flat are adverse to trying new things AND they also have meat preferences, which means i'm generally stuck cooking everyday, homecooked chinese meals.

1 meat dish (pork or chicken only) and 1 vegetable dish.

I'll endeavour to create some exciting weekend lunches tho'.



Just for me and you. :)



With that said, here's a simple homecooked cantonese dish that everyone can make and is very traditional and delicious!
-----------------------------------------------------

Savoury Steamed Egg & Mince

My grandmother used to make this for lunch. It brings back loads of memories. You can generally find this in authentic cantonese homestyle cooked restaurants!

There are several versions of this dish, one with salted fish, one with tofu and one with just egg.
I generally prefer just egg or with tofu, because it's more soothing and smooth to eat.

note: you will need some sort of steaming rack and plate.

Ingredients.
300g minced pork
2 eggs
1 tbsp, sesame seed oil
3 tbsp, light soy sauce
1 tsp, white sugar
3 tbsp, garlic granula
2 dashes of black/white pepper
(*optional: 1/2 block of silken tofu)

Serves.
4-5



Step 1: Marinate the Minced Meat
Wash your hands and use them.
Put the minced meat in a bowl and add the pepper, salt, sugar, sesame seed oil and light soy sauce, and mix it all up evenly with your fingers.
Leave aside for at least 10 mins. (longer if you're not pressed for time.)

Step 2: More mixing
Crack your 2 eegs into the bowl and mix evenly (break the yolk)

*as an option, you can also mix in the tofu. just be careful not to mash it up too much. you still want a bit of texture.

Step 3: Steam away!
Place your egg'n'mince into a dish suitable for steaming.
(I used a metal plate. good heat distribution)
And just Steam for about 20mins :) easy.

Final Serve.
You can opt to keep it in the same dish (for a home feel) or dress it up by plating it. just tip it out of the cooking dish along with the savory juices into a clean dish and serve steaming :)

[sorry i don't have a picture of the final product ... it smelt so good that day we slurped everything up!]

try it!

One-Step Whitebread Pizza.

remember the loaf of bread that was lying in ryce's fridge? well, other than toasting your bread, or making french toast out of it, we can use it as base for your favourite pizza toppings!

Ingredients.
6 slice, whitebread
3 roma tomatoes
4, cup mushroom
3 piece, smoked ham (or your favourite meat, e.g. smoke salmon, left over chicken)
3 tbsp, sour cream (you can use other sauce base like bolognese)
some cheese (the usual suspects like mozzarella, parmesan, etc)



*missing: 1 capsicum (ryce doesn't do capsicums -sigh-)

Serves.
3

Step 1: All at Once!
dice the tomatoes, mushrooms and ham into fine pieces. coat the bread with a generous layer of sour cream, then apply the tomato, ham and mushroom on it. top that with a good cover of cheese.

preheat your oven to about 150 degrees, and pop your pizza in for 5-10 minutes. basically until your cheese melts and browns a little at the edges.

Viola!

Final Serve.
easy to prepare, tastes good, and helps rid of surplus without having to either dump them away or promote fungus growth!

Grilled Stuffed Pear with Pawpaw.

following our dinner, i decided to try to brush up on my dessert-making skills. admittedly, i'm terribly bad at getting my desserts done right.

there's quite a bit of pawpaw left over from our last dessert exercise, and we got these brown pears from the supermarket. this dessert's a simple one that i actually like to serve with ice-cream.

Ingredients.
1 pear
1 slice, pawpaw
1 lemon

Serve.
2

Step 1: Digging your pear!
slice your pear in two (length-wise), and start digging the flesh out without breaking the skin. we're using the pear skin as a recepticle for our stuffing.

Step 2: Preparing the stuffing.
dice the pear flesh dug out earlier with the pawpaw and toss them together nicely. add lemon juice to the mixture.

when done, stuff the pear skins with the mixture.



Step 3: Grilling the pear.
preheat your oven to about 100 degrees, set the pears to grill for at least 10 minutes (i stopped at about 15 minutes). this would allow the pear to grill nicely without actually drying up.

Final Serve.
this dish is normally prepared by mixing some melted chocolate into the fruit salad, and (at serving time) a scoop of vanilla icecream. without the chocolate and icecream, the only redeeming quality was the lemon juice that gave it that required balance.

French Toast Sandwich & Cheesed Cauliflower.

you know there's something special between food and i when the dreams that herald my waking up are of meal preparations. sunday morning, i woke to one of such dreams; in it, i saw myself in front of a nice steaming pot of cauliflower laced with parsley and cheese.

hhhhhhmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm....

cheeeeeese with cauliflooooooower......

*rudemoans*

but of course, ryce being ryce--bless that girl bestowed a name meant to remind her constantly of food, she simply couldn't leave the first meal of the day limited to a single dish. instead, she asked to clear as much of the loaf of bread she's kept in the fridge as i can possibly muster before it turns into breeding ground for unpleasant culture. to put a cap on the number of ingredients involved for this meal, french toast seemed an easy option.

Ingredients.
(for steamed cauliflower with cheese)
1 quarter to 1 half, cauliflower
1 tbsp, black pepper
1 tbsp, butter
2-3 tbsp, cheese (i'm using cheddar)
3 bunch, coriander/ cilantro

(for french toast sandwich)
4 slice, white bread
2 eggs
1 tbsp, butter
2 tbsp, milk
2 pc, cheddar cheese
1 tbsp, oil (olive for me; meant for cooking)
(optional: deli ham, roast beef, smoked salmon, etc)

Serves.
2-3

Step 1: Preparing the cauliflower.
mince up the cheddar and coriander together or not, and put them aside for later. i kept them separate because i like to mix the cheddar with the cauliflower before the cheese comes in.

chop the cauliflower up into manageable pieces (aka you can fit it into your mouth without looking rude) and toss them into a bowl. steam those for about 10-15 minutes until cooked; i did it by placing the bowl on a stand in a covered pot of water--water should however not touch your bowl cause we want the vegetable cooked with steam, not latent heat from your bowling water.

Step 2: Prepare french toasts.
while your cauliflower is cooking, mix your eggs, butter and milk together, before soaking each slice of bread into the mixture. heat your pan over a small-medium flame. oil your pan with a bit of oil.

Step 3: Finishing with your cauliflower.
when ready, remove the cauliflower from the heat, and drain the excess juices from the bowl. before the vegetable cools, stir the coriander in, mix well, before you do the same for the cheese. add butter and pepper for taste.



Step 4: Finishing with your french toasts.
when the pan's hot enough, fry your french toast. cook one side till it browns nicely, before you flip it over to cook only for a quick second or two so that the egg more or less is sealed off.

remove from flame, and do the same for another piece. with the first piece that you cooked, place your cheese and--if you intend to add them--ham/ salmon/ beef on the nicely browned surface. when the second toast is ready, place its browner surface on top of the cheese-ham mix.

effectively, you'd have the lighter sides on the outside now. place that french toast sandwich back onto the pan to melt the cheese, as well as to cook the remaining two surfaces of your sandwich.

when both sides are browned, you're ready to serve!



Final Serve.

this is a recipe of a reason to why gluttony is a sin. i usually don't have both dishes for a single meal, seeing as how it's an obvious cheese overload.

because of the butter and cheese in the cauliflower, this vegetable side is meant to balance whatever light entree you intend for your meal. to be quite honest, however, i normally take this dish alone--it's terribly filling!

the french toast sandwich is a simple solution to fancy-ing up your regular french toast. better for a brunch menu.

Roasted Honey-Glaze Chicken & Potato Tuna Salad.

sio, ryce and i returned more than an hour ago from an easy night of beer. there's something about a night of alcohol and supper, somehow one inevitably leads to the other. as if the beer or champagne we consume doesn't contain enough carbohydrate to set us back a few grammes.

anyway, there was meat thawing in the sink, left out initially for dinner. i guess it's about time we tried another one of them fuss-free recipes. admittedly though, fuss-free doesn't necessarily mean low calorie count, so i'm just going to avoid eating for the next few days to compensate.

Anna, Billy and i = BFF!

Ingredients.
(for the chicken)
4 pc, chicken thigh (part of chicken negotiable)
4 tbsp, soya sauce
4 tbsp, honey
4 tbsp, chinese rice wine
2 tbsp, black pepper
4 bunch, parsley



(for the salad)
3 potatoes (nude for me)
1 onion (i'm using brown)
1 can, tuna (with olive oil)
1 lemon
4 inch, ginger
3 bunch, spring onion/ scallion
2 tbsp, black pepper (i'm a fan)
1 tp, salt

Serves.
4

Step 1: Marinating the chicken.
mince the parsley into a fine grain, and mix it together with the rest of the marinade ingredients. rub the marinade into the chicken, making sure that you get some marinade (especially the parsley) under the skin. leave the chicken and marinade to soak for at least half an hour.

Step 2: Preparing the salad.
dice the potato, and braise it in boiling water for about 5 minutes with the salt; drain water after. mince the ginger and dice the onion, then mix them all with the potato and tuna. stir the black pepper in and we're ready for the roast.

Step 3: Cooking everything.
set your oven to preheat at about 180degrees for 10 minutes. when ready, put the salad and chicken in. make sure you take both dishes out for a stir (the salad) and flip (the chicken) 15 minutes into the roasting. another 20 minutes and we're ready to remove both from the oven.

Step 4: Finishing the salad.
when the salad's done roasting, mix chopped spring onions in and juice the lemon into the salad.

Final Serve.
the potato would seem a little crunchy till you bite into it--it's far softer than you'd imagine. if you decide not to use tuna infused in olive oil, just up the amount of ginger and lemon you're adding to the salad. flavouring for the salad should be kept as natural as you can possibly muster. (alternatively, use some of the chicken's marinade left behind by the roast.)



the recipe for the chicken is good also for steaks, and prepared in the grill, on the pan, or at your barbecue.

Beef Steak in Port & Camembert Cheese.

the other day at Safeway (Melbourne's answer to Woolworth's), ryce and i picked up--amongst other things--a bottle of Tawny Port, a pack of "special sale" camembert and some "special sale" beef steak. now using whatever's available to us, we thought it would be good to revisit one of my older steak recipes.

along with the steak, we're going to have a simple side of grilled vegetables and a few pieces of Woolworth's cheesy sausages. i'd also explain the vegetables, but not the sausages...

Ingredients.
(for the steak)
2 beef steaks (again i'm using scotch fillet)
1 cup, Port wine
3 tbsp, camembert (i usually use blue cheese)
1 tbsp, black pepper
4 bunch, coriander (i normally use parsley for this dish)
1 tbsp, olive oil (for the pan-fry)

(for the vegetable side)
2 tomatoes
1 carrot
4 asparagus
1 lime
1 tbsp, salt
2 tbsp, sesame oil

(optional)
6 sausages (abt 2" each)

Serves.
2

Step 1: Marinating the beef.
easy: place steaks in bowl, add port, black pepper and minced coriander. stir it about a bit to ensure you've got everything mixed well, and leave it to soak for at least half an hour.



cut the cheese up and mash it up a little so that it's nicely pasty.

Step 2: Prepare vegetables.

chop the carrot and asparagus up. (by the way, i hope everyone is familiar with the whole rid-the-bitter-end-of-your-asparagus routine.) add them to a bowl, and pour some boiling water into the bowl. add a tbsp of salt and leave everything to soak for about 5-10 minutes. drain water after.

while soaking, dice your tomatoes, and slice the lime into reasonable pieces for easy juicing later.



mix all your vegetables together in preparation for the grill. preheat your oven for about 10 minutes, then set it to about 200 degrees, before setting the vegetables in for about 20 minutes.

when it's done, add the sesame oil to the mixture, and we're more or less done.

Side: Something about sausages.
on today's Huey's Cooking Adventures, Huey brings up a tip on cooking sausages. apparently, before you set it in your pan to fry, you should braise the sausages with warm (not boiling) water for about 5 minutes. if the sausage skin breaks open, you know the water's too hot.



NOTE: i can't quite remember the exact type of sausages, or the rationale behind this move, but we got the gist and in Huey i trust.

Step 3: Cooking the steaks!
over a big flame, pour your oil into the pan and let the pan heat up. when it's hot, place your steaks into the pan and let it cook for about 2-3 minutes on both sides (if you're into medium-rare like me).

if you're particular about sealing the meat, you'd have to continuously flip your steaks every 20 seconds until both sides brown.

once cooked, move the steaks off the flame and place them on your serving plates. lower your flame to medium, and pour the rest of the marinade in. let it simmer until it's reduced to about half.

while waiting for the marinade, apply a generous amount of cheese on the top side of the steaks. try to even it out as much as you can.

when the marinade has been reduced, pour that onto the steaks.

Final Serve.
i've served the lime slices together with the vegetables to allow the guest (ryce) free reign in how sour she wants her vegetables to be. the sesame oil will provide some fragrance and taste, but what really gives the punch will be the lime juice.

as much as possible, the steaks should be served right after the marinade is poured. wait too long and you might only have a thin film of cheese left on your steaks since everything else melted away. don't worry that your steaks will be too sweet from all that port, with the cheese, parsley/ coriander and pepper, it will be a really interesting mouthful of beef.



enjoy!