Category: Sauces

Parmesan Sauce with Peas and Bacon

Recently…

Question: What is the theme of your blog? 
My answer: Hmm… There isn’t a theme. I cook the things I like to eat and the things I want to try. 
Question: What is your blog about? 

Yes, there are many people who blog about food. And I blog about food and cooking because it has a special meaning to me. 

My family started humble with little food to eat. I remember my mum told us that they had to fork out the last few coins to feed the family because we were very poor then. At that time, the coins managed to only get three steamed cupcakes (if you noticed, steamed cupcakes is one of the earlier posts on my blog) to feed a family of five. Since, my parents worked very hard to feed the family and slowly our family began to live more comfortably. Because my parents had to work, I started to help out in the kitchen at a young age. I am blessed that my mum is a good cook so I learnt to love cooking and baking. Over the years, I built on my cooking repertoires through culinary classes, cook books and research over the internet. My family and friends are my great supporters of my trials. Even though some of my experiments failed terribly, they have been very encouraging. I got to understand the phrase that food binds people together and often I like to invite family and friends over for dinner and sometimes bring baked goodies to friends and colleagues.  

So what is my blog about? 

My answer: It is about cooking for love. I hope I can inspire you (everyone) to cook at home. To cook for the ones you care and love and to enjoy the goodness of home-cooked meals together. 

This recipe is requested by a friend. She has a beautiful family and three wonderful children. I am sure she has asked for this recipe to cook a nice meal for her family. This sauce is good for any pasta. I had it with fresh linguine and ravioli too. Once my hubby and I invited my brother-in-law over for dinner, (Yes, we like to host and have been inviting people for dinner on weekends) he was obsessed with this pasta sauce and had been requesting for us to cook it again and again. 


Recipe (Serves 4-6)
Ingredients:
  • 100g Bacon, thinly sliced
  • 100g Frozen Green Peas
  • 3 Garlic cloves, chopped
  • 2 Shallots, chopped
  • 4 tbsp Unsalted Butter
  • 2 cups Heavy cream
  • 1 cup Parmesan Cheese, grated
  • Pinch of Nutmeg
  • Salt and Pepper to taste
  • 200g Cooked Pasta 
Steps:
  1. In a large pan, heat heat on medium and cook garlic and shallots. 
  2. Add in bacon and fry till bacon turns light brown. 
  3. Add in heavy cream. Cook on medium high heat till cream reduce to 2/3 of the original the amount. 
  4. Add in nutmeg, peas, salt and pepper. Cook for a couple of minutes.
  5. Remove from heat and stir in Parmesan cheese. 
  6. Toss with cooked pasta. 

Enjoy! And do enjoy cooking, yea? Yes, I know cooking takes time. But if you do not spend time cooking for your love ones, who will? 


by Categories: Meat, Noodles, Sauces, Vegetables Leave a comment

Egg Benedict & Hollandaise Sauce

Egg Benedict… A sinful breakfast/ brunch item made of poached eggs and ham over English muffins, sinfully drizzled with the divine Hollandaise sauce. All faint hearted should avoid this delicious combination because the sauce is rich, buttery and creamy. You may die of a heart attack! Just joking! But well, you got to try it at least once (from a decent restaurant, or make your own!). 

Hollandaise sauce is one of the five mother sauces in the French sauces repertoire. It is difficult to make and does not keep for long. To make the sauce, you need egg yolks, butter, lemon and some seasoning. I had to get my hubby to help me during the preparation process as one has to add melted butter into the mixture while whisking it continuously. In fact, I learnt that it is good to involved your hubby in the cooking process because he will appreciate your hard work in bringing food to the table. Well, my hubby enjoyed his breakfast very much and of course he appreciated the hard work I put in. I guess it will take some time for him to request Egg Benedict again for his breakfast at home.  (In fact, the next day we tried Egg Benedict at Boston. The sauce was a let down :P)
Recipe
Ingredients:

A) Hollandaise Sauce
  • 2 Egg Yolks
  • 4 sticks of butter (2 cups), melted and clarified
  • 1 tbsp Freshly squeezed Lemon juice
  • Salt and white pepper to taste
  • Water
Steps:
  1. Simmer a pot of water over low heat.
  2. Using a mixing bowl (that is able to place over the pot of simmering water for double boiling), whisk the egg yolks over the simmering water. Whisk the eggs till it is creamy and ribbons are formed. 
  3. Remove the mixing bowl from heat, add in the butter a teaspoon at a time and whisk continuously. If the mixture becomes too thick, add some warm water. Continue to add all the butter a teaspoon at a time. 
  4. Add in lemon juice, salt and pepper. Whisk well. 
  5. Set aside. Keep the sauce warm. 

B) Egg Benedict (For 2)
  • 2 Eggs, at room temperature
  • Ham
  • English Muffins, halved and toasted
  • Asparagus, trimmed 
  • 1 tbsp White vinegar 
  • Salt and pepper
  • 1 tsp of oil
  1. Blanch the asparagus in boiling water and put it into ice bath. 
  2. In a pan with 1 tsp of oil, saute the asparagus and season with salt and pepper. Set aside.
  3. In the same pan, heat the ham (optional)
  4. In a pot of simmer water over low heat, add white vinegar. 
  5. Crack an egg into a bowl. Slide the egg using the bowl carefully into the simmering water. Let the egg poach for 3 minutes. Repeat the same process for another egg. 
  6. Using a slotted spoon, remove the poached egg. 
  7. Lay a slice of muffin on a plate, top it with ham, egg, asparagus and drizzle with a generous amount of hollandaise sauce. 
  8. Bon Appetit!

by Categories: Bread, Meat, Sauces, Vegetables Leave a comment

Potato Latkes wth Spicy Habanero Jelly

In my stay in Boston, I made many friends. Friends from all over the world. One of them is M, she is from Taiwan and she loves food and dining too. We hit off immediately and have been hanging out frequently. At a recent foodswap which we attended together, we tasted for the first time Habanero Jelly. Both of us fell in love with it. Unfortunately, I did not managed to swap for the prized item. But M did. So she shared with me. Oh my…. it was so gorgeous. Well, I was so captivated with the jelly and started browsing the internet for a good recipe. Trying to figure out the ingredients that will contribute to a good Habanero jelly, with much effort I nailed it! Hence I invited M to come and make some spicy and sweet Hanabero jelly. 


Habanero is rated one of the hottest chili in the world. It is given 100,000–350,000 on the Scoville scale whereas Bird-eye chili (Commonly used in Asia) is only rated 50,000 – 100,000. Be careful when you deal with them. My hands experienced hot sensation even though I minimized contact with it. 



After making the jelly, M and I tasted it. Wooh! It was much better than the one we had at the foodswap. It was magnificent (and quite spicy despite both of us love spicy food). Right after M left my place, I started to think of what to have for dinner. After browsing some food magazines, I decided to make some Potato Latkes. Then a sudden thought came to my head! Why not dip it with Habanero jelly! So I did! It was a marriage made in heaven! Yummy… You got to try these out!





Spicy Habanero Jelly 
Recipe 
Ingredients:

  • 60g Hanabero chili 
  • 30g Yellow Bell pepper
  • 1/3 Big yellow onion
  • 1/2 cup Apple Cider vinegar
  • 1 1/2 cup Sugar
  • 6g Pectin 
Steps:
  1. Puree chili and peppers with 1/4 cup of vinegar.
  2. Boil the puree chili mix with sugar and rest of the vinegar for 10 minutes. 
  3. Stir in pectin and keep boiling for 1 minute. 
  4. Remove from heat. 
  5. Skim foam.
  6. Mixture will form when cooled. 

Potato Latkes
Recipe (Makes seven 3″ pieces)
Ingredients:

  • 2 large potatoes
  • 1 tbsp lemon juice
  • 1 Egg
  • 1/6 cup All-purpose flour
  • 3/4 tsp Salt 
  • Cooking oil 
Steps:
  1. Peel and coarsely grate the potatoes. 
  2. Toss with lemon juice. 
  3. Chop the onions and mix it with the potatoes. 
  4. Using a clean kitchen towel, wring out as much liquid as possible from the potatoes and onions. 
  5. Put the potatoes and onion to a clean mixing bowl. 
  6. Add in egg, flour and salt. Mix well.
  7. Heat 2 tbsp of oil in a non-stick pan over medium heat. 
  8. Fill a 1/4 cup with latke mixture and carefully place it on the pan.
  9. Using a slotted spatula, flatten latke mixture into 3″ patty. 
  10. Fry till the undersides turned golden brown. Turn over and cook the other side golden brown too. 
  11. Repeat for the rest of the latke mixture. 
  12. You may keep them warm in a 250 degree Fahrenheit oven for up to 1 hour. Or you may fry them again for 2 minutes on each sides.   


by Categories: Sauces, Vegetables Leave a comment

Authentic Thousand Island Dressing

I am embarrassed to say I have been buying salad dressing off the racks. I never had the courage to mix condiments together to make a sauce for my salad. I worry about fuss, storage and most importantly taste. 


I was at Boston Adult Learning Centre last week for a weekend basic cooking class. I was hoping to learn some cooking techniques so I can established some theoretical understanding to improve my culinary skills. I did not leave the class with what I aimed to achieve but I have gotten some good recipes.  We made some Thousand Island dressing in the class. It was meant for the sandwiches which the instructor has demonstrated. I was already quite filled after sampling few dishes and never imagined that the sandwiches would be so delicious. It was made on an iron-cast pan, pan-fried with butter. The sandwiches were made with rye bread, cheese, roasted beef, cheese, cabbage slaw and thousand island dressing. Yummy! 


So I went back home and made some Thousand Island dressing for the baby carrots we got. The dressing was a marvellous dip! The great thing about making your own sauce is that you can look for low fat ingredients to manage your fat intake. 


And do you know that Thousand Island Dressing originated in United States?



Recipe
Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups Mayonnaise (You can opt for low fat mayo)
1 cup Tomato Ketchup
1 tsp Chili sauce
2 tsp Worcestershire Sauce
A pinch of Salt


Steps:

  1. Mix all the ingredients together. 
  2. Enjoy with your favourite greens!
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Homemade Strawberry Preserve (Jam)








I have some strawberries in my refrigerator which we bought from Haymarket (a cheap wholesale market in Boston). It costs only $1 for each box. We bought a box and thinking we can have them with cereal for breakfast the next day. Forgetting we still have raspberries. So the strawberries stood in the fridge for a couple of days and I am sorry to say that they lost their beautiful, blooming, fresh luster. They have a few bruises but I am no fruit abuser 😛


Nevertheless they are good tasting strawberries. Let’s preserve the goodness of the strawberries and make it into jam. I can have the it for dessert, breakfast spread, pies or over ice cream. The good thing about homemade preserve is that you got to decide the sweetness and totally no preservatives. 

Recipe for 1 cup of preserve
Ingredients
12-15 Large/medium strawberries 
Half a lemon, juice it
1 cup of sugar (You may adjust this according to your preference)


Steps:

  1. Wash and drain the strawberries.
  2. Hull the strawberries and cut into quarters. 
  3. In a non-stick pot (easier to wash), put the cut strawberries, sugar and lemon juice to boil. 
  4. When it starts to boil, turn the heat to low. Give a stir occasionally.
  5. Simmer for about 30 minutes or until liquid thickens.
  6. Remove from heat. Cool.
  7. You may can it or store in a container. Refrigerate.

by Categories: Sauces, Spreads Leave a comment