Spaghetti Alla Gorgonzola

Posted by Vivian in Pasta

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When I first set eyes on the tempting photos taken by The Little Teochew, I was so enticed to give this a try. But I should have known better that me being a not so great fan of cheese found the taste of Gorgonzola Dolcelatte too strong to my liking.  I ended up topping the pasta with tons of black pepper and parsley flakes to mask the smell.  Kai Koon took to it better but it was so rich that it left him so full from the lunch that he specifically asked to have something light for dinner.  Can't fault the recipe.  I am sure someone who enjoys cheese will find this an interesting dish.

For the next round (yes I am still brave enough to give it another shot!) I will replace it with a different type of cheese, something milder for this uncouth palate of mine.

Ingredients:

• 2 cloves of garlic (minced)
• 80 gm of Gorgonzola Dolcelatte (roughly chopped)
• 6 tablespoon of grated Parmesan
• Butter (about 100 gm)
• 1/2 cup cream
• Pasta (pre-cooked according to instructions)

Preparation:

• Heat 1 tablespoon of oil in and add garlic thereafter.
• Add in cream and turn off heat once it starts to simmer.
• Stir in cheese and allow it to melt completely
• Add in butter. Continue to stir to create a smooth mixture.
• Toss pasta and sauce together and top with black pepper.

Number of Servings: 4

Baked Butter Prawn

Posted by Vivian in Seafood

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This is a really simple recipe that Diana had shared with me a while ago.  So simple that it doesn't require a lot of effort, time and ingredients to put the dish together, but the end result is mouth-watering enough to pass-off as something that the cook had slaved over the stove-top (oven rather).  The disappointing part was that the prawns I got last week wasn't fresh enough to do more justice to the taste.

Oh yes... this dish reminded me of another recipe from my mum which also had tons of garlic (enough to make you smell the after-breath from miles away) and a sinful amount of butter to it.  The difference is that the butter is made into sauce.

Ingredients:

• 800 gm of prawns (whiskers trimmed off) 
• Generous knob of butter (I used about 80 gm) 
• 8 cloves of garlic (minced) 

Preparation:

• Mixed all ingredients together and allow to stand for 30 minutes. (I had cut the butter into morsels and left them on top of the prawns next to a pot of boiling water to hasten the melting process!). 
• Bake prawns for 8 to 10 minutes at 180 degree Celsius. 

Number of Servings: 3 to 4

Mummy's Fried Rice

Posted by Vivian in Chinese, Rice

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Finally something new to add to this blog! I have been in a "recycling mode" for the last 2 months due to lack of time either because of work or other commitments during the weekends. And when that happens, the inclination is to go for dishes that I can whip up without much thinking and with eyes closed. The maid being on home leave for 2 weeks added to that need since I had to juggle all the other household chores alone.

There are many variations to how a fried rice can be done. The ingredients can range from peas, corns, carrots, ham, luncheon meat, button mushroom to pine nuts. The list is contained only by one's imagination. For me, I still like it the the way my mum does it - char siew, Chinese sausage, eggs and spring onion. Perhaps I am bias because I grew up eating her fried rice and to me that is how it should be. I even recall that the zhi char stall had their fried rice done this way back when I was just a kiddo. It was only in the recent years that I started to see all sorts of ingredients being added to it.

When it comes to my fried rice, I am very anal particular about the size of the ingredients. I like it finely chopped, just so that all the ingredients can get into every mouthful. The taste is just not the same if otherwise.

Ingredients:

3 cups of jasmine rice (cooked and left in fridge overnight)
3 cloves of small onion (finely chopped)
3 cloves of garlic (finely chopped)
5 stalks of spring onion (finely chopped and white colour end separately set side)
200 gm char siew (finely chopped)
2 Chinese sausage (case removed and finely chopped)
1 stick of carrot (finely chopped)
4 eggs (beaten and seasoned with light soy sauce)
Light soy sauce
Dark soy sauce (optional)

Preparation:

Heat 3 tablespoons of oil in wok.
Add garlic and onion to wok.
Once fragrant, mix in white end of the spring onions and allow the mixture to cook slightly.
Add in Chinese sausage and carrot.
Stir-fry Chinese sausage to almost 90% cooked.
Add in egg and continue to stir to create a scramble-liked texture.
While the egg is still a little runny, add in rice.
Break up any lumps of rice and mix thoroughly with ingredients in the wok.
Mix in char siew and spring onion.
Drizzle some dark soy sauce for added colour to rice (optional)
Season with light soy sauce to taste.


Number of Servings: 4 to 5

Stir Fried Noodles with Crabmeat and Shrimp in Gravy‏

Posted by Vivian in Noodles, Seafood

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Ingredients:

• 4 bundles of egg noodles 
• 200 gm of crabmeat 
• 200 gm of shrimp (shelled and de-veined) 
• 4 bunches of bak choy (cut into 1 inch long) 
• 3 cloves garlic (minced) 
• 4 tablespoons corn flour 
• 2 cups chicken broth 

Preparation:

• Pre-cook noodle and run under water to remove starch 
• Heat up wok and add 2 tbsp of cooking oil. 
• Add about 4 tbsp soy sauce into the wok. 
• Add the noodles in and stir-fry around briskly. Few drops of sesame oil can be added for fragrance. 
• Remove the noodles once well-coated and set aside. 
• Using the same wok, add about 1 tbsp cooking oil and then stir-fry the shrimp and crabmeat till cooked. 
• Put the noodles into the wok, and stir around to distribute the seafood evenly. 
• Remove from wok and set aside. 
• Mix the chicken broth and corn flour together in a small bowl. 
• Heat about 1 tbsp cooking oil and saute the garlic till fragrant. Quickly pour in the mixture and add the bak choy to the mix. Bring to a boil. 
• Add a splash of soy sauce for flavour. (A beaten egg can also be added to the gravy). 

Number of Servings: 4

Cream-Style Corn and Crabmeat Soup

Posted by Vivian in Chinese, Soup

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The verdict for this soup – thumbs up from the big people and thumbs down from the little people. I suppose Matty and Elaina are so used to drinking clear soup since young that to them soup should be that way. Really love this soup but I guess until the kids acquired the taste of drinking creamy soup I probably won’t be dishing this out anytime soon.

Ingredients:

• 1 can of creamy corn kernels (about 300 grams) 
• 1 litre of chicken stock 
• 100 gm crabmeat (washed and pat-dry) 
• Shaoxing wine 
• 2 egg white 
• 1 tablespoon of corn flour (mixed with small bowl of water) 

Preparation:

• Heat oil in wok and stir-fry crabmeat. 
• Add in some shaoxing wine to crabmeat. 
• Add in creamy corn and chicken stock. 
• Season with some white pepper and salt to taste. 
• Reduce heat slightly and stir in cornstarch. 
• Add in egg white, giving it few quick stirs to break it up. 

Number of Servings: 4

Fried Kway Teow

Posted by Vivian in Local, Noodles

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Wonder what is wrong with Blogger, each night I will log in to try my luck, but the user interface has gone from bad to worse. At least it doesn’t seem to work with Safari and Windows Vista, but with Windows XP it was business as usual. Because of that I haven’t been able to update my blogs for a long long long time. I am getting desperate and have to resort to posting some of my overdue posts in the office which is still running on Windows XP.

Anyway, this is one dish that I didn't really like how it turned out. There were no cockles, Chinese sausage and lard. In not so many words... not sinful enough!

Frankly, when I set my mind on trying the recipe it didn't dawn on me that these crucial ingredients were missing until 10 minutes before I was about to whip it up. The silliest part was that I actually had another book carrying the same recipe (albeit better). It was then did I really regret not scouring through all my resources - poor resource management. It’s ok, the next opportunity is not too far off in the future!

Stir-Fried Prawns and Broccoli

Posted by Vivian in Chinese, Seafood, Vegetable

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Quite honestly I am starting to run out of ideas for one-dish meal and because now that I am starting to get more organised when it comes to meal preparation, I do find myself attempting to put together a typical home-cooked Chinese meal more frequently, that consists of rice and 2 or 3 dishes.

This is an idiot-proof recipe that can be easily whipped up and taste like something you order from a Chinese restaurant. In my opinion, anything that has oyster sauce usually won't go wrong....

Ingredients:

• 1 kg prawn (peeled and de-veined, with tail left intact) 
• 3 cloves of garlic (diced) 
• 1 kg broccoli (cut into florets) 
• 1/2 cup of water 
• 1 tbsp cornflour 
• 2 tablespoon oyster sauce 
• 2 tablespoon light soy sauce 
• 1 teaspoon sesame oil 

Preparation:

• Combine cornflour with water and mix to a smooth paste. 
• Add oyster sauce, light soy sauce and sesame oil to cornstarch and mix well. 
• Partially blanch broccoli in boiling water and set aside to drain Heat oil in wok and stir-fry prawns with some garlic. 
• Remove prawns from wok when it is about 80% done and set aside. 
• Add remaining garlic and broccoli to wok and stir-fry broccoli. 
• Pour cornflour mixture to the wok and mix through. 
• Add prawns and cook until heated through. 
• Serve hot with rice. 

Number of Servings: 4

Udon in Miso Soup

Posted by Vivian in Japanese, Noodles, Soup

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I admit that before this, I had always thought that miso soup was simply miso paste mixed with boiling water. Good thing that I wasn't overly confident and checked the web for its recipe. Instead of water, it should be dashi plus miso paste.

I also found out the difference between red miso paste and yellow miso paste. The former contains more salt and is therefore more salty than the latter.

Ingredients:

• 200 gm udon 
• 4 cups of dashi soup stock 
• 1/3 cup of miso paste 

Preparation:

• Bring dashi soup stock to boil. 
• Using a small bowl, ladle some dashi over miso and mix to get a smooth paste. This is to prevent lumpy miso floating in the soup later. 
• Turn down heat and add in miso. 
• Allow the soup to simmer. Do not let the soup boil as the miso taste will dissipate. 
• Serve miso soup over pre-cooked udon. 

Number of Servings: 4