Roast lamb with rosemary

Here's a dish I tried over the recent Xmas with family..

Ingredients
Leg of lamb
Rosemary sprigs, garlic
Fennel & cumin seeds
Salt & pepper
Tomato ketchup, balsamic vinegar, olive oil
Bay leaves

Prepare the sauce to marinate the lamb. Pound fennel & cumin seeds till fine. Add salt, pepper and pour unto tray. Add couple of tablespoons of olive oil, balsamic vinegar and tomato ketchup. Mix it all together.

Slice the leg of lamb in long slashes. Pour the marinade on the leg of lamb, ensuring that it's well coated. Put it on a roasting tray and cover it tightly with aluminium foil. Put into oven and cook at 180 Celcius for 1.5 hours.

Once ready, open it up and further roast for another 30 minutes to make the outer layer crisp. Let it rest for a while before serving.

Thyme mushroom risoto

Here's one of my favorites cooked with loads of love by my missus..italian risoto

Ingredients
Risoto rice
Button mushroom
Thyme
Carrot/onion/garlic - diced
White wine
Chicken stock
Parmesan cheese


Firstly stir fry diced carrots, onion, garlic and thyme in olive oil. Once fragrant, pour in the rice and white wine. Stir for a while before pouring in the chicken stock. Continue to stir the rice till it's cook, adding chicken stock whenever it dries up. Keep on adding chicken stock and stiring the rice till it's cooked. When ready, stir in the cooked mushrooms, salt and pepper.

For garnishing, you can add roasted garlic oil, or crispy bacon. Of course, loads of shaved parmesan cheese !

Home made pita bread with roasted garlic, feta cheese

My first try and it taste amazingly delicious! It's really simple and has ample room for creativity

Ingredients
1 and half cup bread flour
1 teaspoon dry yeast
1 teaspoon sugar & salt
1/2 cup water
1 tablespoon olive oil

Disolve yeast into 1/4 cup of water and sugar. Let it rest before pouring into the flour (mixed with salt). Mix in a glass bowl before removing into a flat surface for kneading. Knead till elastic and well combined. Put it back into glass bowl that is oiled. Coat the dough in the oil before covering with cling foil. Let it rise for 1 and 1/2 hours (double in size).

Punch the dough and let it rest for 10 minutes. While waiting, heat up baking tray that is lightly floured at 230Celcius. Divide dough mixture into small balls (around 6)Using a rolling pin, roll it into an oval shape and place on a plate. Cover with cling foil/or cloth for 20 minutes.

Remove baking tray and place all rolled out dough into the oven. Bake for 5-10 minutes till puff out. Remove immediately and cover in clean cloth to avoid drying. Serve warm with roasted garlic, feta cheese or even with fresh herb tomato.

Setiawan mee sua with home made red wine

Recently bought a bottle of home made Setiawan Red Wine from a friend. Was also given some tips on how to cook it from her mom =) Taste totally delicious !! Would want to try the original if I can someday!

Ingredients
2 chicken wings (cut into bite size)
Young ginger (thinly sliced)
Thick black fungus (thinly sliced)
Chinese mushroom (sliced)
Red wine from Setiawan
Setiawan mee sua
Sesame oil

Heat up the wok or pot, pour in the sesame oil. Stir fry the ginger for a while till fragrant before placing in the chicken. Fry for a while till chicken is browned. Pour in the red wine till all are covered. Put the mushroom and fungus. Boil for a moment till chicken is well cooked. In a separate pot,place mee sua in boiling water.


Cook it for about 5 minutes till softened, transfer to serving bowl. Then pour chicken, soup together with the noodles. Enjoy with cut chili padi !!!

**Special thanks to Jolyn Sia who introduced me to this cousine and to the two Madam Ewe (Jolyn's Aunt - for the home made red wine and Jolyn's mom for the tips on how to really enjoy this! )

Simple, fresh.. delicious !

This is so simple.. tomatoes, basil, cheese and sausages.. wrapped in a nice warm bun..!

Lovely !

Peaches & Strawberries...

Serve your home made buns anyway you like ..here's a nice simple yummy suggestion. Toast it warm, tear it into two and enjoy it with generous amount of peach and strawberry jam...

Baking bread

Is baking homemade bread difficult? Not really, I've tried it and have been enjoying home made bread so far.. in fact, have even ventured to other types such as focaccia, pizza and ciabatta!

Simple buttery bread
a) 2 cups high protein bread flour
b) 1 teaspoon dry yeast
c) 1 teaspoon salt
d) 1/2 cup milk
e) 1 egg
f) 1 teaspoon bread improver (optional)
g) 2 teaspoon sugar (brown or white is ok)
h) 2 tablespoon butter

Pour 1/4 cup room temperature milk into a small bowl. Pour the yeast and let it rest for 5 minutes before disolving it through stirring. In another bowl, place the sugar, butter and 1/4 cup milk. Warm it till disolved in a microwave (high heat for 10 secs).Cool it at room temperature then pour in the egg. Mix well.


In the big glass bowl, mix the flour and salt. Create a hole in the center and then pour both the yeast mixture and butter/egg/milk mixture into the hole. Using the spoon, slowly stir in the flour till it's all mixed well.

Find a place where you can knead the bread. Either use an island top or kitchen top. Make sure it's clean! and well floured. With both your hands (floured as well), pour out the mixture and knead till it becomes elastic and smooth.

Make the dough into a ball and place back into the glass bowl. Sprinkle some flour on the top and cover with cling wrap. Now you wait for 1-1.5 hours till it doubles in size.

Using a floured hand, punch the dough! (it's ok, don't feel bad since it'll rise again). Remove from the bowl and place on the island top. Shape it to fit your baking container - you could use a typical square aluminium bread container or the non-stick ones you can get at Ikea. Flour the container before placing the dough. Let it rise again till it doubles in size for 30mins to 1 hour.

Get your oven ready at 200 Celcius. Once ready, put the container into the oven and leave it for 20-30 minutes. Here's the best part when you see your hard work becoming a nice masterpiece. The dough will rise and your kitchen will smell lovely with butter bready smell.

Once ready, take out, cool it on rack. You could also slice it all up (once cooled) and put into a plastic container and off it goes into the freezer! keeps for months and taste just as good...

Pan fried chicken with pesto !

Dinner.. some may called it supper is a time to sit back and relax ! Of course, not forgetting a nice meal cooked with really fresh ingredients ! Here's a recipe that I like to have on a warm evening to enjoy with missus...

Chicken pesto with baked butter vegetables
Ingredients:
a) chicken breast or thigh (deboned with skin on)
b) basil/toasted pine nuts
c) carrots/asparagus
d) thyme
e) olive oil/balsamic viniger
f) chopped rosemary

Clean the chicken breast (discard any excess fat on the meat or skin). Pat it dry and season it with generous amount of salt, black pepper and chopped rosemary.

On a oven proof pan, heat up olive oil and place skin side. Leave it! Don't mess with it....After say 10 minutes, flip it over... the skin should be crispy now.... let it stay in the pan for another 10 minutes before placing it into an oven at 200Celcius.

Separately, create a tin foil bag - in it, place the cut vegetables (strips, similiar size), 2 knobs of butter, thyme, salt , pepper and a dash (or two) of white wine. Wrap it and place in a tray. Place it in the oven for about 15 minutes (the bag should poof up with all the steam from the wine and you'll soon smell the lovely fragrance of butter, wine and thyme permeating in your kitchen)

Remove and serve on a plate. Excellent with cold white wine or riesling!

Pesto
So what on earth is pesto? It's made simply by bashing basil, garlic and toasted pinenut mixed with good quality extra virgin olive oil and dash of balsamic vineger (optional).

Bon appetit !

Herb garden

If you're really in to cooking, you should have a herb garden at home. It's easy to
start. Just need some pots, soil and you could purchase the seeds at any shopping mall or gardening shops.
(<-- Thyme)
Start off with the smaller pots Don't pour in all the seeds into one - it'll be a nightmare to spread them when they grow.






Poke a couple of holes - say 6 in each, well spread out. Drop a seed into each hole, cover it lightly and water it. Then wait and see it grow. Make sure it's placed at a well sunlit area. I use organic fertiliser - after all, you're going to eat it right?
(<-- Rosemary)





So far, i've tried basil, sage, chili padi, thyme and pandan leaves. It'll take at least a month before you can start enjoying your herbs. .. Also have lovely fragrant rosemary bought from Cameron!
(<-- Chili Padi)

Ice cold Vietnamese coffee & cupcakes

Want a taste of really good Vietnames coffee? Strongly recommend Trung Nguyen. Just 2 full tablespoons, drip it with hot water and stir in 2 tablespoons of condensed milk. Have it hot or cold !

Complement it with bicuit or cupcake (see in photo). My missus (who loves baking) baked this milo cupcake which taste amazing!

Thai basil chicken & spicy long beans with dried shrimps

Thai Basil Chicken

Ingredients

a) chicken

b) basil leaves

c) chopped garlic, chili padi (small chili)

d) water & oyster sauce

In a wok, fry the oil, garlic and chili till fragant. Then pour in the chicken and stir fry till it's cooked. Add a bit of oyster sauce, water and pepper. Once cooked, just mix in the basil (either chopped or whole). Serve with warm rice !

Long Beans with spicy dried shrimps
Ingredients:

a) long beans, cut into bite size

b) chopped garlic

c) dried shrimps

d) spicy shrimp paste

e) oil

Heat up wok and fry oil, garlic and dried shrimp till fragrant. Pour in the long beans and stir fry for a while till it's cooked. Add in the shrimp paste. Stir fry for a while and serve!

Tip!Grow your own basil! It's really simple. Just a pack of seeds that costs around RM4, you could have almost 4 full pots of basil leaves. Very easy to grow with organic feed. Tastes excellent as well.