Casserole Chicken

I have been trying to re-create the tastes of my childhood - simple recipes yet it's the taste of home and family. The simpliest of them all - good old chicken soup, isn't really so simple after all! I just can't get the depth and richness of the tastes.

I have just found the trick to another familar favourite - casserole chicken. I had to wreck my brains and try to remember, and then I remembered cruching down on something deeply unpleasant when I was young, now I've identified it as star anise, a spice I've recently discovered a liking for! It gives this nice 'baked' taste to the soup, something I could never recreate until now. The carrot and potatoes are also essential to the flavour of the soup. ( I know because I used sugar peas instead..blech!)

So here it is, my mom's casserole chicken with that 'baked' flavour. The taste difference between normal 'steamed' or 'boiled' chicken soup and 'baked' chicken soup is quite different, give it a try and u'll know what I mean!

Ingredients (Serves 2, as always)
2 chicken thighs and 2 drumsticks
4 tbsp of chinese cooking wine (1 tbsp per per piece of chicken)
2 star anise
sprinkling of 5 spice powder
sprinkling of sugar
whole black peppercorns
1 tbsp light soya sauce
1 potato, cubed
1 carrot, cubed
5 cups water
salt to taste

Method
1) Put all the ingredients into a casserole pot, chuck everything in. If you like, you can also marinate the chicken in the wine for about 15 minutes.
2) Cover. Bake in the oven at 200 deg C for 25 to 30 mins until cooked.
3) Served with steamed rice.

Rosemary and Garlic Pork Chops

I've always shied away from buying an extra bottle of this or that if it will clog up my already postage stamp-sized kitchen. In Cold Storage recently, I caved and got myself one of the 4 'kings' of British cooking - worcheshire sauce. Every cuisine has what I term their '4 great kings' and worcheshire sauce is to British cooking what oyster sauce is to Chinese cooking.

I didn't even know that there were different varieties of worcheshire sauce. The only usage I know for it is on top of grilled cheese. I know it goes well with roast beef or steak and also in stews. But beyond this, I was pretty unawares. But there was a 'marinade' version which I used. In terms of taste, it's a lot sharper and more sour than the non-marinade aka table use version.

Having to put my newly acquired bottle of sauce to good use, I figured since it works so well with beef, it'll probably work well with pork too. And I was right! Vegetarians read no further! This is where only true meat lovers dare to venture!

Ingredients
4 juicy slabs of pork chop, with bone intact. (Nothing retains the flavour like cooking on the bone!
1 tbl soya sauce)
1 tsp English mustard
Chopped or dried rosemary (I also added other herbs like sage, thyme and parsley)
2 cloves garlic, crushed and minced
1 tbl worcheshire sauce
1 tbl honey (to offset the sharpness of the sauce)


Method
1) Combine all the ingredients and massage into the pork chops. Leave to marinade, overnight is best.
2) In a baking tin, pour some oil to prevent sticking to the bottom of the plan. Lay on the pork chops. Drizzle with more olive oil for extra flavour. No time for diets here!
3) Bake at 200 degrees C for 25 min or until cooked. You can tell quite easily because the bone is in, so you can quite easily see whether the bone is still red and whether any blood is oozing out.

French toast

I had some old eggs and bread running around in the fridge so I thought what could be nicer as Sunday brekkie than to do French Toast.

Normally, my toast comes out soggy. The best french toast I know is from Burger King - they have a kind of crust on it, but I can't decipher how they do it. However, I'm pretty sure it's deep-fried, most unhealthy!

I got inspired by a batter I saw on telly recently. Beat egg whites until fluffy and put in corn flour, fold it it, never mind the lumps, these will be little surprising crispy bits. This works well for things like frying fish to give it the extra crispy texture, without a heavy batter.

I decided to do a little experiment:

Experiment #1
Coat bread with egg wash, and then dip in corn flour and pan fry.

Experiment #2
Coat bread with egg wash, then dip in normal flour and pan fry.

Between these 2, the different isn't entirely discernable. With corn flour, the flour amalgamates easily with the egg wash, making the coating slightly crunchy but smooth. With plain flour, the flour acts as a separate coating by itself and you can still see the flour bits on the bread, not so pretty. However, it's most crispy than corn flour, probably because it doesn't amalgamate with the egg.

Experiment #3
Combine the corn flour and normal flour into the egg and beat. There will be lots of little lumps.

This was the worst of the lot, didn't make it any more crispy, looked ugly (uneven finish) and just made the bread a bit 'tough' to chew on.

So I think the best compromise is still to coat with corn flour. Pretty and yet slightly crispy.

Brown sauce

A couple of nights ago, we went to the Swimming Club and tucked into an interesting dinner at the clubhouse. Dad decided to go with the steak, and it came on a hotplate, with the gravy served on the side in a gravy boat. How quaint! We seldom see gravy boats around nowadays.

Inspired by the brown sauce, I decided to go track down its recipe. I found this interesting link on all you ever wanted to know about brown sauce and some brown sauce variation recipes.

Description from website:
Brown sauce is the 'little black dress' of the culinary world. It is the must have recipe that can be used alone, or that can form the basis for other dishes, suitably dressed up with other ingredients.A basic brown sauce is made by browning flour in oil or fat, then gradually adding a meat stock and other seasonings and cooking until the sauce is thick. This sauce can be used alone over mashed potatoes and meats.Common additions to brown sauces are mushrooms, onions, peppercorns or ground pepper, and wine. If using wine in your sauce, reduce the amount of meat stock accordingly.
Many of these sauce recipes begin with a roux, a mixture of butter and flour that is cooked over high heat until the flour browns and no flour taste remains. A roux can be light or dark, depending on how long the flour is browned in the butter. Care is needed - there is a fine line between a dark roux and a burnt roux.Roux can be made in advance and stored in the refrigerator until ready for use. Make sure to cover it tightly (use empty, clean butter tubs) to keep it from absorbing flavors from other items.Be careful when purchasing 'brown sauce' online or in stores; make sure you know what you are getting. In the UK, the term means something different than in the US - it is a condiment for meat, which in America would be called 'steak sauce'.In Asian cookery, brown sauce is also a fundamental foundational sauce, but is made from soy sauce, with oyster sauce or other flavorings, and thickened with corn starch.
What's the difference between 'brown sauce' and 'brown gravy'? There isn't any, really.

Nigella's Lamb and macaroni stew

Here's another one of Nigella's recipes, taken from the episode "Weekend". What I simply love about her receipes are that it's so simple and fool-proof, anyone can do it! Now if only I could work up the effort it takes to do so! (transposed to the best of my memory) Nigella added that with any stew, it's just something thrown together rather rustically, so no need to over-fret over the proportions and amounts, just something reasonable would do!

Ingredients (feeds 6 to 8)
Lamb shoulder, cubed (enough to feed 6 to 8, heck if I know how much!)
2 to 3 stalks celery, chopped
1 carrot, roughly chopped
3 tins canned tomatoes
Oregano
A few bay leaves
Roughly 1 cup water
1 large onion, peeled
2 to 3 cloves fat garlic, crushed and paper removed
Salt and pepper for seasoning according to taste
Oil for browning

Method
1) Brown the cubes of lamb. Remove onto another dish.
2) In a processor, blitz together the celery, garlic and onions. Pour into the pan with the left over oil from browning the lamb. Let soften for about a min (but don't brown).
3) Remove half of the mixture. Flatten out the remaining mixture into the plan.
4) Pour back the lamb. Pour back the onions on top and cover the lamp. (Nigella does because she says that she finds that the mixture helps to seal in the moisture of the lamb)
5) Pour in the 2 cans of tomatoes, and 1 cup of water.
6) Sprinkle over the oregano and bay leaves.
7) Cover and simmer on low heat for 2 hours. Alternatively, transfer to a low oven for 2 hours.
8) It will be a bit watery, but this is used to cook the macaroni. When the stew is ready, pour in the macaroni to cook. Season with salt and pepper.
9) Serve when macaroni is cooked.
10) Nigella also uses feta, roughly mixed by hand together with chopped fresh oregano and serves this on top of the stew.

Otah

I remember that the common mistake for this is spelling it as 'otak', which is really 'brain' in Malay. My family loves otah and we have been consuming vast quantities of it in recent times. In addition, at one point, my mom even tried her hand at making it herself but somehow, it was never quite spicy enough, firm enough and a bit too (coconut) milky. Trust mothers to want to add the most 'leow' for the buck :P

Got this recipe from the papers, but they also made the fatal mistake of spelling it as 'otak'! Alamak! :O

Ingredients (makes 20 packets)
500g fish meat (horse mackerel, pound or blend 2/3 of it and slice the remaining 1/3 for more bite)
500ml water
1 1/2 tsp salt

Ingredients A
120g shallots
2 slices galangal
5 slices tumeric
6 buah keras
2 lemongrass stalks
1 small piece balacan
32g dried chilli (boil briefly and leave to cool)
8 fresh chillies

Ingredients B
200ml coconut milk (fresh tastes better than the processed version)
1 tbs sugar
2 eggs
2 limau purut (lime) leaves, finely diced
1 1/2 tsp coriander powder
1 tbs corn flour
8 tbs oil for frying
several banana leaves, 18 * 20 cm, washed, scalded in boiling water briefly to make pliable and wiped dry
Toothpicks

Method
1) Dissolve salt in water.
2) Scrape fish using a spoon and pound meat in a mortar, adding salt water gradually. Use ice water to blend fish meat if desired. Mix meat well till it becomes sticky and firm.
3) Blend Ingredients A. Heat oil in a wok and fry ground ingredients over low heat til it exudes out. Leave it to cool and put into fish meat. Mix well.
4) Add coconut milk, eggs and restg of ingredients B. Mix well.
5) Scoop 2 tbs of fish paste onto a banana leaf, fold leaf and secure with tooth picks.
6) Grill for 10 - 12 mins at about 200 deg C till cooked.

Bread and butter pudding

This is a traditional staple dessert of the British home. Its also my aunt's favourite dessert. Altho I've made it a few times in the past, I never really liked doing it because I found making the custard and having to butter the bread a real chore, and never could get the right 'crispy' finish on top. Not to mention it's super fattening.

Anyhow, came across a rather simple recipe in the newspapers today, so thought I'd write it down for whenever I next feel the urge strike me to bake something.

Ingredients
750ml milk (for that extra sinful taste, use half milk and half single cream)
3-4 tsp sugar
3 eggs
Chopped dried fruits (apricots, raisins, figs, dates or even fresh bananas)
Butter, jam and/or marmalade

Method
1) Butter a 1l capacity baking tin. Line the tin with slices of bread, either torn up or as is.
2) The bread can be buttered or even spread with jam if you like.
3) Alternate layers with chopped fruits or cocoa powder if you like.
4) Beat 3 eggs into the milk together with the sugar, and pour over the bread. Let sit to soak for a least half an hour.
5) Bake in the oven for 180 degrees for 45-55 mins or until the custard has set.
6) For an extra crispy topping, sprinkle demera sugar on top during the last 5 mins of cooking time and flash under a hot grill to caramelize. If you have a blow torch, all the better! :D

Still more Jaime (3) - Flour and water crust chicken

This is a popular idea in Singapore now but I won't attribute it to Jaime. We have the 'curry in a bread' idea here which is basically the same idea - bake a curry in a bread and presto, u get both! Jaime thought up this recipe as a easy-no fuss and no mess way to transport your chicken and bread to a picnic!

Taken from Jaime Oliver's forum but the recipe comes from "Happy Days with the Naked Chef"

Ingredients (Serves 4)
(Jaime's comments) This is a great dish to serve up to friends - they'll wonder if you've gone a bit mad when you produce what looks like a huge lump of pastry and put it in the middle of the table! It's a great way to cook chicken - the meat steams inside the pastry crust and becomes incredibly tender. I've used nice small spring chickens, or poussins, in this recipe but it's just as easy to use one 2kg/4.5lb bird and roast it for 2 hours instead. ps. you don't eat the pastry! (altho u can eat the crusty bits with the juices from the chicken)
905gr/2lb plain flour
2 fat lemons
2 handfuls of fresh sage leaves, picked
1 handful of fresh thyme leaves, picked
picked 8 cloves of garlic
2 tablespoons olive oil
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
4 spring chickens

Method
1) Put your flour into a large bowl, and mix in around 500ml/18fl oz of water, bit by bit, until you have a dough that is pliable and elastic and not too sticky. Cover and put to one side while you prepare the chickens.
2) Using a peeler, remove the peel from 1 of the lemons and bash up with the sage, thyme and garlic, in a pestle and mortar, or use a metal bowl and a rolling pin. Add your olive oil and plenty of seasoning. This flavourful marinade is great with just about all kinds of meat.
3) Roll up your sleeves and rub the marinade all over the chickens as well as inside the cavity.
4) Slice the remaining lemon and stick a slice or two inside the cavity of each chicken.

In the show, Jaime puts the lemon in a pot of boiling water for about 10 mins while he seasons the bird. He then scores it with a knife and sticks it into the cavity of the chicken (this is 1 big chicken instead of 4 spring chickens). According to him, the lemon will 'explode' and ooze flavour everywhere.

5) Preheat the oven to 220C/425F/gas7.
6) Get your dough mix, divide it into 4 pieces, and roll each one out to about 0.5cm/1/4inch thick.
7) Now mould a piece of dough around each of the chickens so that you have 4 airtight parcels. Leave for 5 minutes, then bake in the preheated oven for an hour. The crust will harden during cooking, steaming and protecting the chicken while keeping all the lovely juices inside which will give you a fantastic homemade gravy.
8) Let the chickens rest for 15 minutes after baking, then bring them to the table and for a bit of drama, crack open each crust in front of your guests. You'll unleash a wicked aroma, steam, the lot, so waft it around a bit. Very impressive stuff. Serve simply with some potatoes and greens.

More Jaime (2) - Chilli con Carne

From Food Network
Ingredients (serves 10)2 medium onions
1 clove garlic
Olive oil
2 level tsp chilli powder
1 heaped tsp ground cumin
Sea salt and black pepper
1 pound (455g) chuck, mince or pound beef
7 ounces (220g) sun-dried tomatoes in olive oil
1 fresh red chilli, deseeded and finely chopped
2 (14 ounce) cans chopped tomatoes (400g)
1/2 stick cinnamon
5 ounces water
2 (14 ounce) canned red kidney beans, drained (400g)

Method
1) Use a food processor and chop up the onions. Fry in olive oil until softened.
2) Add chilli powder, cumin and seasoning.
3) Chop up meat in the processor and add to the pan, cooking until brown.
4) Place sun-dried tomatoes and chilli in the processor with the oil (from the tomatoes) and blend until it forms a paste.
5) Add these to the beef with the tomatoes, cinnamon stick and water. Season if needed.
6) Bring to the boil and cover.
7) Either simmer on the stove or bake in the oven for 1.5 hours.
8) Add kidney beans 30 mins before the end of the cooking time.

More of Ollie's recipes(1) - Steak Sandie

It's a nice lazy Fri night with no plans, so what better way to spend it at home than watching food programmes? It's a treat - a doublebill of Jamie Oliver! First it's the original (1st ever episode) Naked Chef (where he moves into his apt with Jules). Fast forward a few yrs to Oliver's Twist. My oh my how he has put on weight! :O The hazards of being a chef and fatherhood!

Here are the recipes I'd like to try (to the best of my memory!)

Steak Sandie (Serves 4)
Ingredients
900g rump steak - cheap and tasty
Salt and pepper to taste
Rosemary
Olive oil
Juice of 1 lemon
Ciabatta
French Djion mustard
Rocket

Method
1) Cut the rump steak into 2. Put each into a ziploc bag.
2) Season with salt, pepper and tear off rosemary leaves. Add a bit of olive oil.
3) Give each piece of steak a good bashing with your fist to flatten it out.
4) Stick in on a super hot griddle, 2 mins each side.
5) Remove and let it rest for a min, drizzle on more olive oil and squeezing the juice of a lemon over it.
6) Slice the ciabatta into half and drizzle olive oil on both sides.
7) Spread with djion mustard.
8) Lay on the rocket.
9) Slap on the steak (tearing to fit) and slice up for serving.