Memories in the Cooking

This is an easy side to include in your menu.  Ingredients  - King abalone mushroom - carrots  - sweet corns  - potatoes  - zucchini - 2 tablespoons of salt  Procedures: 1) Cut the vegetable into chucks of similar sizes. Arrange them in a baking tray (see picture above)  2) Drizzle with olive oil. Season with 2 tablespoons of salt and mixed Italian herbs. Mix well.  3) Bake it at 180 degree celsius for 30 minutes. Place all vegetables except the potatoes in a serving plate.  4) Bake the potatoes further at 225 degree celsius for another 10 minutes. Add it go the serving plate. 

It seems a little 'extra' to cook ham when it can be eaten cold. However, the addition of cloves and pineapple really elevates the taste of the usual ham.  Ingredients: - ham - cloves  - one can of pineapple - 2 tablespoons of sugar  Procedures: 1) Shave off the 'casing' of the ham.  2) Cut a criss cross pattern on the ham. Insert cloves on the surface of the ham. Place the ham in a baking tray.  3) In a pan, add the can pineapple and 2 tablespoons of sugar. Boil it until it thickens. Pour the sauce on the ham.  4) Bake it at 180 degree celsius for 1 hour. During this time, brush the sauce on the surface of the ham every 15 minutes. Serve. 

I find the traditional recipe of Porchetta is quite time consuming some it involves slow roasting for several hours. Hence, I improvise slightly and take some reference from the chinese roasted pork recipe.  Ingredients: - 1.4 kg of pork belly, butterflied - 2 teaspoons of salt - pepper - 1 tablespoon of Italian mixed herbs - 3 tablespoons of breadcrumbs - 1 onion, diced - 1 bulb of garlic, minced Procedures: 1) Score the pork belly skin. Cut the meatside slightly so that it can absorb the flavours from the stuffing better later. Coat the skin with about 2 tablespoons of salt.  2) In a frying pan, add some vegetable oil. Fry onions and garlic until fragrant. Add herbs and breadcrumbs. (Optional: Add chicken liver). Leave the breadcrumbs mix to cool until room temperature. 3) Scoop the breadcrumbs on the pork belly (meat side). Roll up the pork belly and secure it with cooking twine. 4) Leave it in the fridge overnight. Air-dry the pork skin the next day before roasting...

This Baked Salmon dish is so pretty that it can be a centre-piece for a Christmas meal. Ingredients: - salt - 2 tablespoons of honey  - pepper  - 100g of butter  - 4 cloves of garlic, minced  - 100g cream cheese, soften at room temperature - 125g Spinach  - a handful cranberries  - a handful nuts, chopped  Procedures: 1) Cook spinach over a non-stick pan until soft.  2) Mix spinach with cream cheese. Add salt and pepper to taste.  3) Add butter to the pan and melt it. Add 2 tablespoons of honey. Add minced garlic. Add salt for taste.  4) Place salmon on a baking tray. Pour butter-honey sauce over it. Cover it with a baking paper. Bake at 180 degree for 15 minutes.  5) Place the fish on a serving board. Spread spinach cream cheese on it.  6) Sprinkle some dried cranberries and chopped nuts. Serve. 

I always have leftover cream from my boy's birthday cheesecake in end Nov. Since I love rich chocolate desserts, I decided to make a rich and velvety chocolate tart with the leftover cream. I am feeling the Christmas holiday mood just by looking at the tarts.  Ingredients: - 2 cups of dark chocolate  - 1 cup of heavy cream (around 400ml)  - 1/4 cup of butter (around 100g) - store-bought pastry casing or home-made biscuit-base - raspberries - icing sugar  Procedures: 1) Bake the pastry casing without filling according to instructions.  2) In a pot, heat up heavy cream and butter. 3) Turn off the fire. Add chocolate and stir it until all are melted.  4) Pour the chocolate into the pastr casing. Let it chill to room temperature and then chill in the fridge for at least 3 hours.  5) Decorate the chocolate tart with raspberries.  6) Dust it with icing sugar. Serve. 

This mash tastes just like mashed potatoes but with lesser calories.  Ingredients: - 1 head of cauliflowers, chopped  - 3 Russet potatoes, peeled and cut into smaller pieces  - 1 teaspoon of mustard  - 1 teaspoon of mixed herbs  - 2 tablespoons of mayonnaise  - 1 teaspoon of salt  - half a cup of milk or cream  Procedures:  1) Boil cauliflowers and potatoes until soft. Blend them into a smooth paste using a hand blender.  2) Add mustard, mixed herbs, mayonnaise, salt and milk/cream. Mix well. Serve. 

Roasted Pork Knuckles always have the power to impress. I used to get this cut for German Pork Knuckles from NTUC in AMK Hub. Since I had moved out from Ang Mo Kio, I realise that I could not find this cut in other supermarkets. Recently, I managed to find it at the butchery in Sheng Song. So happy! Ingredients:  - 1 pork knuckle  - salt  - garlic  Procedures:  1) Pat dry a washed pork knuckle. Use 3 satay sticks to hold the pork skin in place.  2) Fan dry the pork knuckle. Apply a layer of salt on the pork skin.  3) Roast it in the oven at 180 degree celsius for 1 hour. Scrap away the layer of salt.  4) Roast again at 250 degree celsius until the skin is crispy. Serve with mustard sauce. 

My eldest son just ended his PSLE. For celebration, he requested for Tomahawk Steak. Tomahawk Steak is certainly harder to execute compared to the usual ones.  Ingredients: - 1 Tomahawk Steak  - 1 bulb of garlic crushed  - 5 tablespoons of soya sauce  - crush pepper and herbs  - mayonnaise  - mustard sauce  Procedures: 1) Marinate Tomahawk Steak for more than 24 hours in a soya sauce and crushed garlic.  2) Before cooking, take it out from the fridge and let it settle to room temperature.  3) Wipe the steak with kitchen towel to absorb excess marinate.  4) Coat it with crush pepper and herbs mixture.  5) Place on a baking tray, coat the beef with olive oil.  6) Roast it in the oven for 1 hour at 130 degree celsius.  7) Sear the steak on a griddle pan.  8) Add the marinate and beef juice to a sauce pan. Add some mayonnaise and mustard to make a sauce.  

This is a Seafood Boil, not the Cajun style, but my own improvished version.  Ingredients: - 1 large crab  - 1kg of prawns - 1kg of clams - 1kg of mussels  - 6 sausages  - 3 corns (I use white corns) - 1kg of small potatoes  -1 bulb of garlic, minced  - 1 onion, chopped - 3 tablespoons of white peppercorns - 2 seafood cubes  - 2 large chili, chopped  - 1 tablespoon of paprika powder  - 1 tablespoon of sugar  - parsley, chopped - 1 lemon, cut into wedges Procedures: 1) In a large pan, fry onions, garlic, peppercorn in vegetable oil until fragrant. Add prawn shells, sugar and seafood cubes. Fry for a while. Add 1 litre of water. Let it simmer for 30 minutes to make the prawn broth.  2) During this time, cook sweet corns, potatoes and sausages. When cooked, set aside in a large serving tray.  3) Cook clams, mussels, prawns and crab in the prawn broth one kind at a time according to their own suitable time. Set aside in the large s...

My elder son loves mint Ice-cream. For his birthday this year, he requested for a mint cheesecake. I have modified a little and made him a Mint Nutella Cheesecake. Sounds like Aftereight Chocolate?  Ingredients: - 500g of cheesecake  - 250ml of whipping cream  - 2 gelatin sheets, dissolved in 1/4 cup of hot water - green food colouring - mint food flavouring  - nutella spread  - cocoa powder  - digestive biscuits (1 packet, about 25 biscuits)  - 1 can of condensed milk  - 100g of butter, melted  Procedures: 1) Crush digestive biscuits. Pour melted butter to it and mix it well. Press them on a baking tray to form the base of the cheesecake.  2) In a mixing bowl, add whipping cream. Whip it until firm.  3) In another mixing bowl, add cream cheese and condensed milk. Whip them to mix well.  4) Add the whipped cream to the cream cheese. Mix well with a flat spatula. Add gelatin. Mix well.  5) Pour about 1/3 of the cream cheese...