Grilled Zucchini, Onions and Yellow Peppers on Toasts

Posted on April 19, 2011 by Elaine

I love eating zucchinis. They are sweet, clean tasting, and when cooked properly they are luscious and so good to eat. They are excellent in soups too because when you blend them into a puree, they impart a smooth texture not unlike adding cream to your soup but with much, much less calories!

I like eating zucchini in just about any way and this is one my favourite ways of eating them: I grill them and macerate them with a bit of lemon juice, salt and pepper on top a toast.

You start with 1 large zucchini; you slice them as thinly as you can muster but the most important thing is that they need to be as evenly sliced as possible.

Continue reading →

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Butternut Squash, Chevre and Spinach Ravioli

Posted on April 17, 2011 by Elaine

Ravioli are big bites of deliciousness. You can have all your food groups in that nicely sealed pocket of pasta, or at least the essential ones. That’s why I love eating ravioli with a simple herbed butter sauce. How did you guess that I coincided this post just because I posted a homemade pasta recipe last week? *wink* Ravioli are best homemade – ask any Italian.

This recipe is inspired by the leftovers in my kitchen. I had a slightly wilted looking pre-washed spinach, some chevre (goat’s cheese) and a lone butternut squash that’s been sitting in the dark for at least 1 month. You can use any cheese you want but it is preferred if you pick soft mild cheeses like chevre, ricotta, and cream cheese – and nothing too strong either.

And before I give you the recipe, a haiku:

White, green and orange
Deliciously stuffed for Spring
Slathered in butter

I didn’t say it was going to rhyme but this recipe will taste fine :) Continue reading →

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How to make pasta from scratch

Posted on April 12, 2011 by Elaine

Making pasta from scratch is easy. I’m a pasta fiend since I learned how to make pasta from good ol’ Jamie Oliver. Homemade pasta doesn’t taste like the package stuff you buy from the store at all. There is a freshness to it that makes it delicious to eat even on its own. Honestly, there is no precise science to making pasta. I’ve given the standard ratio of flour and water a hike since discovering the weather can affect that ratio. So the best thing to do is to feel your way through the dough while you knead – and start small.

You will be amaze that 1.5 cups of flour can make enough pasta for two person for two meals, if you knead it well and roll it out properly. A pasta machine is helpful. If not, good ol’ elbow grease works just as well with a rolling pin.

When making pasta, use only the best grade, large eggs. And room temperature water. And a lot of courage. Continue reading →

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Tagliatelle, Peas and Orange Tomato Sauce

Posted on April 11, 2011 by Elaine


If you’ve noticed, the site looks slightly different. I’ve move to WordPress and it’s still a work in progress. And if you’ve also noticed, spring has sprung. Yesterday, we walked to the Maisonneuve market without our winter jackets and felt happiness like no one who’s never had to endure 6 months of cold will ever know. We bought a bunch of vegetables too, of course. So last night I made tagliatelle from scratch (because pasta making is my obsession right now) with orange tomato sauce and peas. It was a nice reminder that summer is around the corner and it won’t be long before we’re given local options to these types of produce.

The sauce was great and this is what this post is about. Orange pasta sauce that’s a little different from your regular red, from scratch.

This recipe makes for 2-3 servings. Continue reading →

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The Overnighter Braised Pork Belly

Posted on February 22, 2011 by Elaine

I had 1lb of pork belly in the freezer and I had no idea what to do with it. So I hit up my foodie bestie, Kwok Mun,  and one of his braising suggestions kind of hit a home run. Well, it didn’t help that I had Diners, Drive-ins and Dives playing on the TV as well. It was decided that the pork belly will be braised. Overnight. Yep, you heard me alright. I braised my pork belly overnight in my oven for over 8 hours in a slow and nice heat – 240F to be exact (approx. 120 C) – in a fragrant pool of dark liquid made up of similar ingredients to my other braised pork dish. The end result was delicious. Meat falling off the bones scandalously with an oh-so-tender, melt-in-your-mouth goodness.

You will want this recipe. Continue reading →

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Chinese New Year: 9 Chinese Recipes Roundup

Posted on February 2, 2011 by Elaine

Happy Chinese New Year to all my readers who celebrate it and happy holidays to those of you in Malaysia. May this year of the Rabbit be a prosperous one by leaps and bounds.

This is my second year celebrating Chinese New Year away from Malaysia. During this festive season, I tend to miss home quite a bit but there is always next year (and I’ve already had an early family reunion dinner with my parents and brother who came to visit in Dec/January). If you have the opportunity to visit KL in Malaysia, do so during this period because not only do you have the whole city to yourself but accommodations in Kuala Lumpur is in abundance as well. Most shops are open during this holiday season after the 3rd day of festivities.

Anyway, I’ve compiled 9 Malaysian Chinese recipe roundups of dishes for this occasion. Just click on any of the 9 images below and be swept off to its respective recipes page.

Enjoy!

xoxo,
Elaine

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Penang Prawn Noodle (Hae Mee/Penang Hokkien Mee)

Posted on January 23, 2011 by Elaine

The first post of 2011. I do apologize for the long absence, it has been such a crazy year-end last year I had no time to properly craft a post but there has been a lot of eating. My parents and brother were here for Christmas and New Years, if you can imagine all the restaurants I wanted them to try on top of all the sight-seeing.

Now that they’ve gone back home and we’re about 10 days to Chinese New Year, I wanted to start the first post of the year with a lot of “Har”. So, I made Penang Prawn Noodles or Penang Hokkien Mee. “Har” is prawn/shrimp in Cantonese and auspiciously it sounds like “Ha” of “Hahahaha”. I am originally Hokkien and we call prawns/shrimps “Hae“, you could say it sounds like “Heh” of “Hehehehehe” too.  And so my point being, eating a lot of “Har/Hae” would induce a lot of happiness, one of the auspicious traits you want in your house during Chinese New Year!

Penang Prawn Noodles is a bowl of happiness in my eyes. Its rich broth is made from simmering pork bones and prawn heads until every ounce of their flavour is extracted. And then a necessary blend of spice paste carefully pounded with dried shrimps, chilies, shallots and garlic, which is then sauteed in peanut oil until fragrant and aromatic is added into the broth. It is an absolute delight to slurped on because the marriage of flavours from the prawns, pork and the slick red oil floating on every bowl dances in your mouth like sex.

The most time consuming part of cooking Penang Prawn Mee is the broth, it’s an element that will either make or break the dish so take the time to clean the pork bones and use the freshes prawns you can get. You need A LOT of prawns/shrimps for this dish. Usually, I would used 1500 grams worth of shrimp shells and 700 grams of pork bones for 1.5 liters of broth. If you cannot get as much shrimp shells, you should get a sachet of Tean’s Gourmet Prawn Noodle Paste from your Asian grocery store for a bit of help in boosting the flavour of your broth. You may use other brands but I won’t be able to guarantee how the flavours will turn out. Continue reading →

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Braised Minced Pork with Chinese Five Spice

Posted on December 12, 2010 by Elaine
A bowl of fragrant deliciousness

This is the ultimate comfort food after a long and hectic day at work. Like everyone else, there are more days than I would like to admit where I was too tired to be bothered to cook. And on these days, I fall back to recipes that are simple, comforting and reminds me of home. This braised minced pork with Chinese five spice powder is easy and so delicious served on rice or even on noodles.

How easy can this recipe be?

Because the pork is all minced up, it doesn’t take too long to braise this dish at all. Go for a shower and by the time you’re ready, dinner is ready too – you just need to remember to also cook the rice before you hop into the shower. If you don’t like pork, this recipe also works well with minced chicken. Or turkey. You can even jazz it up with some vegetables too; preferred vegetables for this dish includes shitake mushrooms, carrots, green beans and potatoes, cut into the smallest pieces you can muster.

Here’s the ridiculously easy recipe: Continue reading →

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Le Boucan – A Review

Posted on November 3, 2010 by Elaine

 

 

We headed to Montreal’s Griffintown for BBQ at Le Boucan on Friday night, all 11 of us including one vegetarian. Most of us arrived 15 minutes early for our 8pm reservations, but we had to wait 25 minutes for our table because the establishment only sits, at most, 35 people now that their terrace is closed. All 11 of us waited outside, patiently, mingling with each other while our tables got set up. The temperature that night was a stiff reminder of the cold wintry days to come. BRrrr!

At exactly 8.10pm we headed in and were seated with extremely loud music playing in the background. It was quite annoying but the hint of smokiness wafting in the air reaffirms that this was not a dive bar but a smokehouse. Loud music aside, Le Boucan’s decor was nice and casual, it’s feels like a place you want to chill and have a good mug of beer while enjoying some nicely smoked ribs. So, what’s my verdict on the food? Let’s just say that I didn’t exactly go into Le Boucan and expect gourmet style meals but I did expect to have properly seasoned food at the very least. Continue reading →

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A Dreamy Lemon Cream Cake

Posted on October 17, 2010 by Elaine

When life throw you lemons, you make lemon cream cake with them.

This is the most divine cake I have ever had. It is creamy, lemony and perfectly satisfying. It tastes like lemon cheesecake except it is without cheese and it is light and fluffy like clouds in the sky on a blue summer sky. A bite of this cake makes you feel like you’re skipping barefooted through a field of flowers with lemon trees all around you…in a dreamy kind of way.

And the best part? I invented this recipe… Continue reading →

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Posted in dessert, recipes | Tagged | 9 Comments