Sous vide at home

C says:

I've always been intrigued by sous vide cooking. The thought of being able to cook a protein to a perfect doneness each and every time, without the stressful guesswork of just over or just under-done  meat/fish, is a major plus point for investing in a sous vide machine. However, until recently, most home sous vide machines were still quite expensive and most of all, still occupied quite a large footprint in the kitchen.

All that's changed in the last year or so. Portable sous vide machines for approximately US$200, which you simply attach to your pot or other receptacle, make it so much more practical for home cooks to make sous vide part of their cooking routine. 

I did a fair amount of research, and it came down to 2 brands - Sansaire and Anova. Honestly, both looked good, and the only reason I went with the Anova is because they had stock of the International version; Sansaire was sold out.

The device clamps onto the side of any receptacle, and heats and circulates the water, effectively turning any pot or even plastic container into a sous vide machine. What I love about it is that when you're done with it, you just put it away; it doesn't take any countertop space at all. 

Ever since I got it, I've been on a sous vice rampage. It's especially good for salmon and chicken breast. Salmon overvcooks way too easily, particularly when we (and especially A) like our salmon very much on the rare side. 

Chicken breast also dries out when cooked using normal methods (roasting or pan frying), because by the time the centre is cooked, the outside is overdone and dry. When cooked sous vide, it's perfectly moist all the way through, and just needs a quick sear to finish it off and add some colour and flavour. 

Note: after I bought my Anova Precision Cooker in June, they've since launched a Wifi version. In theory it sounds amazing, since it lets you program and operate it remotely. However, from a food safety perspective, I don't think there'll be much practical benefit. 

Think about it - if you leave the house at 8 am, and want the Anova to start at 6 pm for a 90 minute cooking time so that the food is ready at 7.30 pm, that means the meat has to be in room temperature water from 8 am to 6 pm, which is a big no-no, especially at Singapore's room temperature.

This may not be for everyone, because it does have the potential to be a white elephant if you buy it just for the novelty, but I've been using it every weekend since I got it, and eating much healthier as a result. 

A says:

Sous vide, so good.

#CookForFamily

C says:

We were contacted by a fellow blogger (Daniel’s Food Diary) to consider being part of an initiative to encourage more people to cook for, and eat with, their families. I instantly agreed to take part, since I’m always extolling the benefits of home cooking, and how it’s actually much easier and quicker than some people expect.

Our regular readers may remember our Japan Diet - well, we’re still going strong, and while my repertoire is somewhat more limited these days based on what’s the easiest for me to make, I still make dinner twice a week (we get home at around 8.30 pm, after   work and a half hour run). I thought I’d write about one of these typical meals, and show how, in about 15 minutes, you can get a half decent home-cooked meal ready for your family.

Some of the things I make, like pan-grilled salmon, require some minimal prep work on weekends, where I descale and pin-bone the salmon, before portioning and freezing it till mid-week. I’ve chosen this grilled tuna, zaru soba and tofu combination, since this really doesn’t require any prior effort at all.

Step 1: Marinade the tuna. I use frozen yellowfin tuna steaks from Fairprice Finest. By all means use sashimi-grade tuna if you wish, the results will be awesome I’m sure, but it’s hard for me to justify spending over $20 on fish for a weekday night dinner.

I just use some ginger sauce and soy sauce, and let the tuna marinade while the water is coming to a boil for the soba.

Step 2: Cook the soba. Soba’s good because it takes only about 5 minutes to cook, and after it’s done, all you have to do is rinse some of the starch off, and pop it in the fridge till you’re ready to eat, dunked in soba dipping sauce that you can get at any Japanese supermarket.

Step 3: Grill tuna. You can do this while the soba is cooking but sometimes I can’t multitask all that well, and don’t want to risk overcooking either the soba or the tuna. If you like your tuna rare in the middle, then these just need about 2 minutes per side (depending on the size of the pieces). And if you hate cleaning up oil splatters, cover the fish with some baking paper with a hole cut in the center for steam to escape.

When it’s done, just like steak, the tuna needs to rest for a few minutes before slicing. I made the side dish during that time.

Step 4: Make crab mayo tofu. I got the idea to serve cold tofu from my friend W, and I thought it was a brilliant one. You don’t even need to cook the tofu, just slice it from the pack. You can top it with bonito flakes and some soy sauce and mirin, or another option that A likes is crab mayo. Chop up some crab sticks, mix with Kewpie mayonnaise, some Maggi seasoning and black pepper. Top with chopped spring onions if you have them on hand and voila, a side dish in about 3 minutes.

Step 5: Call A to come to the table while assembling everything into bento box (since he always takes ages doing goodness knows what).

Step 6: Clean up the aftermath. A insisted that I include this part, since he does the washing up after. I still clean up the kitchen and my grill pan myself though, because I don’t trust him with either. I’ve discovered method cleaning products, which make cleaning the hob much easier, and my Oxo grill pan brush - a recent acquisition from Amazon – is now my best friend.

There you have it. I timed it and this really did take about 15 minutes to put together. Granted, clean up took about 10 minutes, but isn’t it satisfying knowing that you’re putting something healthy on the table for your loved ones?

With some careful planning and perhaps a teeny bit of effort on weekends, it really is possible to have home-cooked food more regularly than you’d expect.

A says:

My pet peeve with chefs saying how easy it is to cook at home is they don’t have to do the washing up. At least I have a wife who makes great meals.

The Japan Diet – 6 months on

C says:

Some of you may have read about my Japan Diet trial from early this year. In case you’re wondering how we’re getting on and whether it works, we thought we’d give a quick update.

We’ve more or less kept with it for the past 6 months, and we recently did a repeat lipid test just to see if it’s yielded any results.

I’m happy to report that while I’m not sure about us losing heaps of weight, it’s certainly done wonders for our cholesterol levels. Both A’s and my HDL (good cholesterol) levels have gone up, and our LDL (bad cholesterol) levels have done down. Yes, we also started taking a fish oil and plant sterol supplement around the same time that we started the Japan Diet, so that may have contributed as well, but overall, I’m sure the Japan Diet played no small part in our improved results.

Looks like the Japan Diet is here to stay.

A says:

Vinegar rice! Yum.

The Japan Diet – here’s to healthy cooking

C says:

Notice that it’s healthy “cooking”, not healthy “eating”. We’re still atetoomuch, so we’re not going to forego our treasured cheeses, rillettes and charcuterie when we go out for dinner on weekends. This is just for weekday dinners after work.


I was inspired after reading The Japan Diet by Naomi Moriyama, who wrote about losing all the weight that she gained as a student in the US, simply by reverting to her mother’s Japanese home cooking. The Japanese diet is rich in fish, tofu and vegetables, all cholesterol and heart-happy ingredients, and low in dairy and red meat, all the bad/saturated fats. In addition, she also suggested serving meals in bento boxes, since the compartments make for instant portion control.


All set to start the year on a healthy note, I bought 2 bento boxes from TOTT, a couple of miso soup bowls from Daiso, and started stocking up on some essential groceries from places like Meidi-Ya, Isetan and Yamakawa Super.


I realise that if I set the rice cooker on timer mode so that it’s done when we get home, I can get dinner ready in under 15 minutes. The beauty of fish is that it takes almost no time to cook – 5 minutes tops, and simple things like a cabbage salad or cold tofu don’t need any cooking at all. The dishes that require stewing, like oyako-don (chicken and scrambled egg) or miso chicken and eggplant, I just prepare on Sunday and microwave it during the week. On non-gym days when we're home a little earlier, I may cook some soba or Jap-style pasta with some simple stir-through sauce.


I can’t believe I used to make full-on pasta dishes, which were such a palaver since I had to wait for the water to boil, then wait for it to cook, then time the sauce so that it was ready when the pasta was. And the best part is that A likes Japanese food, so I don’t even have to force him to eat healthy.

It’s only been a month, so I don’t know if we’ve lost any weight, but for health reasons if nothing else, pan fried fish and steamed rice has got to be a lot better for you than pasta with cream sauce, butter and parmesan cheese, doesn’t it?

A says:

C can cook.

Best. Christmas. Gift. Ever.

C says:


For the second year running, my lovely aunt presented us with a delectable Christmas gift – an entire side of smoked salmon. That’s 1 kg of smoky, savoury goodness just for us. I like smoked salmon but this is all A. He was practically salivating when I was carefully portioning the slices into separate bags for easy thawing.


I start out having grand plans of making everything from little hors d’oeuvres and pasta with a smoked salmon and lemon cream sauce. But the festive period laziness usually gets the better of me, and more often than not we end up savouring the salmon on toasted bagels with a schmear of cream cheese, a squeeze of lemon and some sliced red onion.

Merry Christmas, one and all.

A says:

Awesome. I might actually OD on salmon and get mercury poisoning.

It’s Christmas time again!

C says:

It’s that time of the year again, when I rack my brains thinking of Christmas presents, and end up deciding to just bake stuff for uncles and aunts. What with the various house moves this year, I haven’t had the time to experiment with new recipes, so I decided to take the easy way out and (a) bake something tried and tested, and (b) make only one item, not a selection like last year.

I went with the blueberry crumble cake again, because it has the fewest ingredients and requires fairly little effort to assemble. I tested it a few weeks ago with A, as well as Y’s family, and got pretty good feedback, so I figured I was good to go.

I had to bake 4 cakes on a rather packed Saturday, so I was a mad baking machine. Started just before 8 am, and was done by 12.30 pm. I used the baking time of each cake to mix up the next one, and after a while it all became rote. The only problem was having to clean the mixing bowl, beater and cake pans in between each cake – that was a bitch.

A printed some BakeTooMuch labels for me again, and I tied them up with some chartreuse grosgrain ribbon that I snagged from a shop in Arab Street. I think I’m happier with my boxes than the actual cakes.


Well, Merry Christmas, one and all! Here’s to a season of feasting, family and friendship!

A says:

Surprisingly good.

Home-made pizza

C says:

I have a Pizza Express Napoli pizza machine on loan from my aunt, so in anticipation of a pizza-making party at our humble abode in a couple of weeks to celebrate W’s birthday, I decided to give it, and some home-made pizza dough, a trial run.


I got the pizza dough recipe from the Pizza Express Napoli website, but I think I’ll try Martha Stewart’s next to see if it’s any better. I made 2 pizzas for dinner tonight – one with chargrilled artichokes out of a bottle, olives, sliced Portobello mushrooms and blue cheese, and another with shaved ham and sundried tomatoes. As you can see, the sundried tomatoes that I sprinkled on top of the cheese turned to charcoal.


The machine looks like a round barbeque grill, and consists of a pizza stone on the bottom and a heating element on top. It’s pretty easy to use – just plug in, preheat and you’re good to go. The challenge is to roll out the pizza dough thin enough that it’s crispy, but not too thin that it tears. And to get it in a perfect circle – mine were more, shall I say, artistically-shaped. It also took a bit of practice figuring out how to transfer the pizza, laden with all the toppings, onto the stone.

The pizzas didn’t turn out too bad, taste-wise. The stone inevitably gets dirty, which is apparently to be expected because it just means the stone is being well-seasoned, and you’re not supposed to clean it with anything except a damp cloth. I do feel a bit bad returning it to my aunt in this state though.

I’m planning another trial run next week, because I need to find a way to pre-make the dough or par-cook the pizzas otherwise I’ll be in the kitchen all night during W’s party. Maybe I’ll experiment rolling out the dough during the day, then storing it between sheets of baking paper for use later on.

Can I just say that after all my efforts in preparing a pizza meal for A, all he did was bitch about how I didn’t also make tiramisu for him for dessert. Hmph...

A says:

Toppings rocked. My only complaint is that the crust doesn’t get good and crusty.

The Fishmonger, Part 3

C says:

We finally tried the Ling fish fillets from The Fishmonger! Well, half of them anyway – the portion we got from J was a hefty 1.2 kg so we split it up into 2 meals.

Because Ling fish is much hardier and more distinctly flavoured than the Orange Roughy, we figured it could hold its own against some stronger flavours so I added some grated cheese to the flour for the crust, and served it with pasta in a tomato and gorgonzola sauce (bottled, courtesy of Marks and Sparks – I’m not that much of a domestic goddess).


I must say I’m less of a fan of these than the Orange Roughy fillets – I think I’ve just been spoilt by how awesome the latter were. Clearly the Ling fish is a much bigger fish than the Orange Roughy, so it simply didn’t have the same delicate, almost melt-in-the-mouth texture and subtle flavour. The Ling fish was much flakier and also had quite a distinct ‘fish’ (note: not fishy) flavour. It was also more challenging for me to cook it because the thicker portions really needed quite a bit of time before they were cooked through.

I would imagine that this would be good for fish and chips, kebabs/satay or even on the grill. Or perhaps cut up into chunks and served in a robust fish stew or chowder. Not quite my cup of tea, so I think we’ll stick to the Orange Roughy.

A says:

What C said.

The Fishmonger
Tel: 6851-6158
www.thefishmonger.com.sg/

The Fishmonger – Part 2

C says:

We had an impromptu dinner at home tonight, and decided to try one of the two fishes, the Orange Roughy fillets, from The Fishmonger. The fillets were delivered fresh last Wednesday, and we promptly froze them. After thawing them in the fridge for about 12 hours, I’m happy to say that I don't think they suffered from being frozen rather than eaten fresh upon delivery. They still tasted superbly fresh, with a firm yet slightly flaky white flesh that didn't have a hint of fishiness whatsoever.

Because the fish has quite a delicate flavour and texture, recommended cooking methods are simple pan frying or baking, with accompanying sauces that don’t overwhelm the subtle flavour of the fish. I soaked them in milk for a short while, then dusted them with some flour to try to create a bit of a crust. After seasoning with just salt and pepper, I pan fried them in butter and olive oil for just 2 minutes per side, and they were done. The fish is certainly very delicate – the larger of the two fillets broke in half as I was transferring it from pan to plate. Also I think I should have used more flour and a slightly hotter pan initially to get a thicker, more golden crust.

I made some pasta to go along with it, the sauce for which was garlic sautéed in the butter from frying the fillets, some white wine, lemon juice and milk (no cream on hand at home). Note to self: next time, a little lemon juice goes a long way. I added a perfunctory piece of grilled (or rather, steamed then blow-torched) corn on the cob to make it a balanced meal.


I’m very impressed with the fish, possibly even more so than with the mussels. Even with my amateur cooking attempts and slightly botched preparation, the quality of the fish was still evident. The main flat fish that I’m used to is the John Dory, and I’ve never been a fan of it because it tends to be fishy and the flesh a bit stringy (though that could be the fault of the produce rather than the inherent nature of the fish itself). These Orange Roughy fillets were moist, subtly flavoured and absolutely delicious. Plus they were completely boneless – a definite plus when cooking for A.

Each fillet is about 200g, which is a perfect portion size for one person. They seem to be quite popular too, because they’re sold out on The Fishmonger’s online store. After we finish the Lingfish fillets, I’m definitely getting more of these. If I can bring myself to use more olive oil and less butter, then this is a pretty healthy meal option and if I can convince A to have it with rice rather than pasta, it'll be simpler for me too. Pity the washing up is always such a pain.

A says:

The fish was great. And C’s turned out to be a good cook. But I’m going to talk about one of the issues I have with cooking at home.

Those chefs on TV who say it’s easy and quick to cook at home never factor in the time spent washing up. We probably spend about half an hour cleaning all the utensils.

I guess you get economies of scale when you’re cooking for large families, but for the two of us, it’s not very time-efficient to do on a regular basis.

It’s worth the hassle for special occasions though. And cooking seems to keep C happy and off my back.

The Fishmonger
Tel: 6851-6158
http://www.thefishmonger.com.sg/

The Fishmonger – Part 1

C says:

Valentine’s Day comes early for atetoomuch. J and P, of The Butcher, have started a sister business purveying seafood called (d-uh) The Fishmonger. There currently isn’t much of a physical storefront at the moment, though I understand that plans are underway to set aside a portion of the display at The Butcher’s Chip Bee Gardens store for The Fishmonger’s seafood. Because of the more perishable nature of seafood relative to meat, the current plan is to have The Fishmonger as a primarily online business. The idea is that you submit your orders from 9 am on Friday till 5 pm Tuesday, and your order is then delivered from 2 pm on Wednesday onwards. It doesn’t get much fresher than that! This ensures that the seafood is only ordered according to demand, so that it’s delivered to you the minute it arrives and there’s no wastage

On Wednesday J dropped off a dozen oysters, a bag of Tasmanian blue mussels, and Orange Roughy and Ling fillets (thanks so much, J!). Because the fish could be frozen, we decided to have the oysters and mussels on Wednesday night itself to enjoy them at their freshest, so we had an impromptu V-day dinner of freshly shucked oysters and mussels steamed with garlic, white wine, lemon and butter.

First off, can I just say that I’m mighty pleased with myself that I managed to shuck the oysters on my very first try, with no severed fingers or other casualties. Armed with theory knowledge from googling “How to shuck oysters” and my trusty paring knife, I had some trouble with the first few but I got the hang of it after a while. So yay me ;)


These oysters are apparently farmed Sydney Rock oysters, and they’re not very big but that suits me perfectly, because I find really fat oysters a bit overwhelming. We had them the classic way – raw with just a squeeze of lemon and a few drops of Tabasco sauce. Apart from one which tasted faintly metallic, the rest were great. They were fresh, sweet and milky. Random aside: if you’re shucking your own oysters, please don’t pour away the oysters’ natural juices! They’re as much a part of the oyster experience as the oyster flesh itself. The reason I’m saying this is – one day at the Carousel buffet, I saw one of the waitstaff at the oyster section shuck oysters, then RINSE them in a pail of water! Horrors!!!


A helped me clean up the mussels before we cooked them, and only had to toss out a few that were already open. We slurped up the mussels and soaked up the gravy with toasted baguette. The mussels were fabulous – really fresh, and again though they weren’t huge, the flesh was very sweet and refined. When mussels are too big I usually have a threshold before I start to feel a bit ick, but A and I polished off the entire pot without any trouble at all. I can’t take any credit for the preparation either – I literally threw them into a pot with sautéed garlic, dumped in random amounts of white wine, lemon juice and some sea salt, and hoped for the best. Again, it goes to show that if the ingredients are good, you don’t have to do much with them at all. Next time though, I’ll probably take out the mussels after they’ve opened and are cooked, then continue to reduce the sauce for a few minutes so that the gravy thickens.

So far, a definite thumbs up for the quality of the shellfish. We’ll write back once we’ve had a chance to sample the fish fillets.

A says:

I haven’t been fond of oysters since a bad experience many years ago. It’s a long and disgusting story I won’t share TMI.

Surprisingly, these oysters didn’t have the usually overwhelming oyster flavour and they went down nice and smoothly.

I found the mussels surprisingly small. I’m used to the big meaty ones. I guess they condensed the taste since they were very tasty.

So far, it’s top marks for taste but the small sizes mean it’s not for those who want quantity over quality.

The Fishmonger
Tel: 6851-6158
www.thefishmonger.com.sg

Anchovy and Olive Focaccia

C says:

As you can tell, I’m in somewhat of a savoury baking craze. I figure that even though it’s still essentially a carb and a fair amount of olive oil is involved, it’s still healthier than butter and sugar in cakes, cookies and muffins. At least I get to satisfy my baking obsession without any (or rather, less) guilt.


My new goal is to make a light yet crisp focaccia that I can adapt with various toppings. The one I made at Christmas was a tad too dense and heavy for my liking. My first attempt at this Anchovy and Olive one was yesterday but it was such a spectacular failure that I had to do it again today, just to stop myself from obsessing about it. Yesterday’s ended up sticking to the damp towel as it was rising so it was a complete mess and essentially was just a hard flatbread. Today at least it rose nicely but somehow the crust was still a bit too hard and crisp. You can tell from the picture which one is which, haha.

The only problem with making breads is the rising that’s involved. The actual preparation and baking is fairly minimal, but because it entails 2 risings of about an hour each, you pretty much have to be home for a 5-hour stretch, even though you can leave it alone and do something else for about 75% of the time.

Anyway, now I’m obsessed with thinking of new focaccia pairings/toppings. So far I’ve done Sundried Tomato and Parma Ham, and Anchovy and Olive. I’ve brainstormed a bit and I’d like to do a Smoked Salmon and Mascarpone Cheese one, as well as something with gorgonzola, though I’m not sure what to pair the latter with. Any suggestions, or ideas for alternative toppings?

A says:

Nowhere near as good as C’s very first batch of sundried tomato and parma ham focaccia.

Merry Christmas from atetoomuch!

C says:

Christmas is upon us again, and as per tradition, it’s when I channel my inner domestic goddess and whip up a bunch of baked goods as Christmas gifts. After last year’s Christmas cookies, I initially wanted to do a whole gingerbread Nativity scene, but just the thought of rolling out, baking and decorating three sets of baby Jesus, Mary, Joseph, the wise men, sheep, cows, lambs etc got me exhausted. So instead, I took the easy way out and assembled a basket of baked goods. That way, I just had to prepare one of each item, divvy it up, and package it nicely.




Golden rule of baking – presentation is everything. What I lacked in the taste of the goodies, I made up for with the packaging, heh. A helped me design a name and logo – BakeTooMuch – and we printed out these cards with the names of the items and storage/reheating instructions. I also bought nifty little muffin and cake boxes, cos they just look so much prettier than disposable plastic takeout containers.


Sundried tomato and parma ham focaccia


Blueberry crumble cake


Banana and chocolate chunk muffins

I’m quite pleased that I managed to bake everything within a day – just over 4 hours, actually. I planned all my tasks to maximise my time, so I was baking the blueberry crumble cake whilst the focaccia was resting/proofing, chopping the chocolate and bananas while the cake was baking… you get the picture. Not to mention washing up everything in between. Of course I’d practised everything at least once beforehand, so it went fairly smoothly without major hiccups. And yippee, I finally managed to achieve a whopping muffin top on the muffins!

After a day to recover, it’s back to the kitchen on Christmas Eve, this time for the turkey. Again, I planned everything in 30 minute blocks, so from about 1 pm I was pretty much checking my list and functioning on autopilot – 1.30: prepare flavoured butter and truss turkey. 2.00: Put turkey in oven. 2.30: Baste. 3.00: Baste and tent with foil. Etc etc.


I also made the stuffing this year, because I don’t like the taste of pre-packaged stuffings. There’s always too much herbs or chestnuts or dried fruit for me. I got sausage meat from The Butcher (where I also got the turkey), and made a sausage, bacon and mushroom stuffing. I baked it in a loaf pan rather than stuffing the turkey with it, because I didn’t know how the stuffing would affect the cooking time of the turkey. The stuffing turned out ok, albeit a bit too crumbly. At least the taste was alright.


As for the turkey, I should have trusted my gut instinct, but my paranoia got the better of me as usual. Those additional 5+ minutes in the oven were its downfall, and as a result it wasn’t as moist and juicy as I would’ve liked. I keep telling myself this, but next time I swear I’ll do better.
Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all!

A says:

Bah, humbug!

Joycelyn Shu’s Cupcake Level 2 Workshop

C says:

Finally, after almost a year (argh, time flies!), they finally conducted Joycelyn Shu’s cupcake Level 2 workshop. Unlike the previous class, which had very basic vanilla and chocolate cupcake recipes and focused heavily on marzipan decorating, this was the opposite. We were taught a basic buttery cupcake recipe, and variations based on different flavoured melted butters.


The four that we made in the class were (clockwise from top):

Lavender cupcakes with white chocolate and lavender frosting
Chai tea cupcakes with white chocolate and vanilla bean frosting
Earl Grey tea cupcakes with white chocolate and orange frosting
Lemon cupcakes filled with lemon curd, topped with meringue

Because this base recipe uses a different technique, where melted butter is slowly emulsified into the egg, flour and cream mixture, rather than the typical creamed-butter-and-sugar technique, the result was a pretty dense but very moist cake, more suited to smaller bite sizes than full-on cupcake sized.

My favourite was the lemon. I tend to be a bit wary of lavender-flavoured foodstuffs in general, and the tea-flavoured ones were quite complex and sophisticated, definitely not for kids. I like that the recipe is just a base, and we can get creative with different flavour variations depending on what we infuse the melted butter with. I’m quite keen to make the lemon ones again (any excuse to use my blowtorch), and I want to try a coffee variation too.

A says:

I don’t like cupcakes so I can’t really comment.

Elmo cupcakes

C says:


I made these for little A’s birthday party. Being a Sesame Street theme party, I decided to decorate the chocolate cupcakes with Elmo faces. I thought hard about how to do this with the least amount of fuss (read: no buttercream, which (a) takes ages to make and (b) SOME people think it’s neighbourhood bakery-esque).

I ended up using stabilised whipped cream, which is simply whipped cream stabilised with some gelatine so that the cream doesn’t bleed (or leak and get all watery) after a while. Pretty simple to make. I then used chocolate buttons for the eyes, and a flash of inspiration coupled with an inability to find orange jellybeans led me to use cashew nuts for the nose.

I quite like how the cake and the decoration turned out, visually. Unfortunately, with the sheer amount of food colouring that was required to tint the cream to the lurid shade of vermillion that is Elmo, the icing ended up tasting rather synthetic, with a decidedly icky aftertaste. Oh well, this IS for a kiddie party, and hopefully under-6 year olds are less than discerning foodies.

A says:

Children are evil little creatures sent to ruin your lives.

Unless they enrol in A’s Playstation Academy (must be toilet-trained).

Happy Valentine’s – We’re Two!

C says:

I can’t believe we’re two! Time really does fly, and judging from the number of posts in 2007 compared to 2006, we’re just eating more and more. Our ever expanding waistlines (and everything else) can lay claim to that.

As per tradition, I cooked our Valentine’s Day dinner again, only this year I took leave (I have leave to clear, I’m not THAT devoted a wife) so I was able to spend a fairly leisurely day prepping and cooking, rather than making some items in advance like I did last year.


I made a seared tuna and rocket salad to start, and in case you’re wondering, yes I used my blow-torch again to sear the tuna.


For the main, I got a couple of fillet steaks from The Butcher again, and made a beef fillet with mushroom gratin dish that I saw on Gordon Ramsay’s F Word. Basically, he seared the fillet on all sides just to brown it, then topped it with a mixture of sautéed mushrooms (I used shitake and baby portobellos), cream and egg yolk, grated parmesan cheese on top, and stuck the whole pan into the oven to roast. I wanted an easy carb, so I just steamed some new potatoes and tossed them with butter and some truffle salt that I got from Culina.

The gratin added a new flavour dimension to the meat, but I’m not sure if I prefer this, or just a simple ol’ grilled steak. What I DO know is that the fillet steaks from The Butcher seem to be getting even better. The steaks today, which they cut specially for me because I wanted larger portion sizes than those on display, were even finer, more tender and sweeter than I remember. At $35 for 500g of meat, I think they’re well worth the price.


What’s our Valentine’s dinner without lava cakes; this year I used a new recipe, after my last attempt with the Nigella recipe turned out less than stellar. Unfortunately, they were a failure *sob* They didn’t ooze at all; I guess a minute and a half extra really makes a huge difference, because the practice one I made earlier in the day was too oozy and liquid. Argh I have half a mind to give up on these altogether; my track record has been dismal of late. In terms of taste, hard to believe but I think I’ll actually go back to the Nigella recipe. The one I tried today was little too light and airy, and didn’t have the sinful, almost fudgey texture of Nigella’s.

I’m now on a mission to re-perfect my lava cakes. Wish me luck.

A says:

Starter was great. Main was nice but I think the meat was so good, it really didn’t need all the accompaniments. Too bad about the dessert. Not bad but not great either. Still it was a meal that’s as good as anything from a normal restaurant.

More aburi sushi

C says:

Does she ever tire of her blowtorch, you may ask? I tried making sushi from scratch today, with fish from Isetan supermarket. I got salmon belly, regular salmon and some tuna.



Alas, my sushi rice was a bit of disaster. I think I used too much water, so the rice was already quite soft, and I manhandled it a bit too much trying to shape it into little ovals. The result was rather soft and mushy sushi rice. Sigh. Back to the drawing board.

One consolation was that the aburi-ed fish rocked, though. Particularly the salmon belly, with its high fat content. It’s amazing how much oil was rendered out of it during the torching process.

This was far from a cheap meal. Even disregarding the sushi rice and vinegar, which will last us quite a long time, the fish alone came up to around $50. Eep. You pay for quality, I guess. Pity I wrecked it with the sushi rice.

A says:

C’s rice not nice.

(Stop beating me! Stop beating me!)

I’m sure next time should be better.

Everything tastes better aburi-ed

C says:

I’m finally the proud owner of a blowtorch. Why did I buy one, you may ask? Actually I’m not too sure myself. Mainly to sear tuna or aburi sushi, possibly to make creme brulee, but also to delude myself into thinking I’m actually a proper cook.

I broke it out for the first time proper to aburi some sushi that we bought from Ichiban Boshi. We ordered some standard salmon, tuna, yellowtail and scallop sushis, and torched them for dinner the following night.


Bearing in mind that the sushi wasn’t same-day fresh, it still tasted pretty good aburi-ed. Nice and smoky, with the fish still rare inside. Pity that the rice was a bit hard from being kept overnight, and there generally was just too much rice. I’m inspired now to make my own sushi from scratch and aburi up a storm. Next time I won’t be so timid with the torch – the sushi could’ve done with a bit more searing.


Anyway, I think everything tastes better aburi-ed. I experimented by steaming some vegetables (baby corn, cauliflower and broccoli), then gave them a good blast. Voila! Vegetables with all the charred, smoky taste of the grill, but without any oil, or having to clean up the grill pan. (Ok, there may be carcinogens, but let’s not dwell on small details.) The broccoli benefited the most from the torching – the little fronds provided lots of surface area for the flame to hit, giving it loads of smoky flavour.

Any suggestions on what else I can aburi?

A says:

Smokin’!!!

Christmas cookies

C says:

Every year I make some sort of baked good for Christmas, to give to some relatives as Christmas gifts. Mainly because it’s easier than having to rack my brains year after year thinking of something to get them.



This year I ‘sold out’, and decided to make something that looked better than it tasted. I made cut-out Christmas cookies, but instead of traditional gingerbread, which looks nice but the blend of spices somehow doesn’t have universal appeal, I made vanilla/lemon and chocolate cookies.


The thing about cut-out cookies is that they’ll never taste as good as buttery drop cookies (like Cat’s Tongues) – because they need to retain their shape and not spread, more flour has to be added, so they end up being slightly on the harder side. But this also means they’re hardy enough to last, and can stand up to some heavy duty icing. Sigh. Hence the perennial dilemma of taste vs aesthetics.



Well, I made a whole range of Christmas shapes, from snowflakes to ‘gingerbread’ men (both clothed and…er…not). When A saw the bells, he said they’ll make a good shield if turned upside down, so I made one of those. Then, that inspired me to make the Transformers too.


On that rather random and decidedly un-Christmassy note, here’s wishing everyone a very Merry Christmas filled with laughter, love and good food.

A says:

Humbug.

Anyway, at least my darling wife C has mad cookie skills.