Test Kitchen: Shaved Brussels Sprouts With Walnuts, Lemon and Parmesan

Y'all know that I absolutely LOVE testing and posting up recipes on the blog, but I'm sure it's not as obvious that each recipe that I put up goes through hours of research, testing, a myriad of different versions, and agonising decisions regarding how it should look.

I usually start with either a craving or ingredients that I have in my kitchen, and then do tons of research to try and find interesting things to create with it. Sometimes I try out a pre-written recipe to start off with, or sometimes I start throwing things together and go from there.

Well, once in a while, a recipe just doesn't go quite right, or just plum doesn't work out the way you want it to!

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Bread-ucation!!

Bread is one of those things - you're not guaranteed a result even if you are given the recipe. It takes technique, with the right recipe and the right conditions, to achieve the fluffy interior and crusty exterior that is the holy grail of white bread.

I've dabbled with bread on and off over the years, but I knew that I would absolutely get back to figuring this culinary puzzle out if it was the last thing I did!!

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Pomelo Salad

Happy Lunar New Year y'all!!! May you prosper, enjoy good grades, languish in good health, live a long life and just generally have a good time in the year ahead. If you're not familiar with it already, Chinese New Year happens in the first 15 days of the lunar calendar cycle, and I see it as an excuse for Chinese (and Vietnamese and Thai) all over the world to see their family and friends, and party and feast hedonistically and guilt-free for slightly over two weeks.

Which is why I would like to share the recipe for this pomelo salad - pomelo is meant to signify abundance so it's lucky to eat. And besides, it's darn tasty.

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What I ate: Prosciutto and Dried Fig Canapes

After making my Peach and Crispy Prosciutto canapés for a party, I learnt a few lessons:

1. Prosciutto is my favourite cured meat for that sweet/salty combo
2. Don't buy so much prosciutto!

I had wayyyyyy too much prosciutto left over because I over estimated how much to buy, and now I've gotta use them up. The answer? This version of Devils on Horseback.

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Random Notes from Hawaii

Musubi

I went to Hawaii recently! And while I've got a lot of photos to process, and posts to write, I thought that I might start with all the random things that I thought was interesting in Hawaii.

Spam sushi anyone?
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SPAM, aka shoulder pork and ham

Okay. I admit it. I really like SPAM. Short for Shoulder Pork and Ham, SPAM was introduced to me as 'luncheon meat'. I fondly remember having fried, sliced luncheon meat on rice, with stir fried vegetables and sambal chilli on the side. It was a typical weekday after-school lunch that was amazingly comforting.

So when my challenge theme for this month was "Guilty Pleasures: Recipes Inspired By Cheez Whiz, Spam, Twinkies and Their Delicious Cousins", I knew that I wanted to make another comforting meal, that's maybe just a tad less guilty than my fond memories of SPAM.

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Lychee and Lemon Sorbet

It's hot. It's really hot. I know, I'm from Singapore and I should be used to heat worse than this right? And I should stop my whinging? Well whether I whinge or not, IT'S STILL HOT. And having been in Sydney for a few years now, I know that the hottest is still to come. So I think that it's a good time to start making fruity frozen treats that will get us through to hot chocolate weather again.

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Sea Urchin Chawanmushi

I'm starting to think that I'm a complete Japanophile. Japanese food is one of my go-to comfort foods, and many of the ideas that come to me in the middle of the night - yes I'm that obsessive about food - seem to revolve around Japanese flavours and ideas.

So when it came to coming up with canapé ideas for my little dinner party, the classic Japanese chawanmushi came to mind, but I was going to serve them in sake cups! Aren't they cute??

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Oysters with Sea Urchin Butter

As much as I love to eat sea urchin straight out of the sea, I also can restrain myself from popping these sweet morsels in my mouth long enough to know that it is also a versatile and delicious ingredient. So how better to top delicate pacific oysters than with a luxurious sea urchin butter?

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Sea Urchin Shooters

I ADORE sea urchin. Well, I adore all seafood, but sea urchin has a delicate creaminess that sends me to the moon and back. There is just something about the way that it melts on my tongue, coating my palate with the sweetness of fresh seafood before fading away, leaving me with a craving for more. But sometimes when you want to serve urchin at a party, you want to dress it up just a little - maybe a simple dressing to enhance the flavour perhaps?

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Sea Urchin: My chat with John from Cando Fishing

Meet John Shea. I met him as I was walking along an aisle at the Fine Food Australia trade fair, absolutely starving. John offered a friendly smile and some fabulous mussels, and then as we got chatting, he offered me some sea urchin. SEA URCHIN. Some of the freshest, plumpest, most delicious sea urchin I've ever had. So of course I had to find out more.


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Blood Orange Sorbet

Recently, I attended the Fine Food Australia Trade Fair at the Darling Harbour Exhibition Centre. I got chatting to the exhibitors, naturally, and got to know the fabulous people at Red Belly Citrus, who produce blood oranges that are the gorgeous colour of red wine.

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What I ate: Fish en papillote

I've been interning at some food jobs lately - chase that dream! - and I've been taking home HEAPS of leftovers. Some of these leftovers are in the form of raw ingredients, and you know how I love repurposing ingredients. On this particular day, I scored a box of vegetables, and with spring upon us, I thought it would be a great idea to showcase the freshness of these vegetables - let's STEAM THE SUCKAS!


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What I Ate: Twice Cooked Pork Belly Braise

Here's the thing with two-person households. You read a recipe that you like, often written for four or six, and then you make it, only to find that even though the both of you are stuffed, there's still plenty of leftover to go around. Sure, you can halve the recipe, but sometimes that really affects cooking times, and I find it easier just to try and do something interesting with the leftovers!

So if you've tried my Slow Roasted Pork Belly recipe and you have leftovers - like I did - here's something that you can try with them.

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What I ate: Shredded lamb pasta

So I had a satisfying roasted lamb over the weekend, but seeing as how I roasted a whole 2+kg lamb shoulder, I was bound to have leftovers. Well, waste not want not, and I think this is a fantastic way to use up those bits of lamb left in your fridge.


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Kitchen Hand: When life gives you bones

And by 'life', I mean your butcher.

When I buy cut meat from my butcher - diced chuck steak, gravy beef, beef mince - I think it's fair to say that I don't expect any bones in it. So imagine my surprise when I opened up the bag of diced lamb shoulder from my butcher, only to find that he's diced everything (presumably with a band saw) with the bones in. The vertebras and everything! I can see where it happened: he was only selling the entire shoulder of lamb, and I had requested diced shoulder. When he said that he could do that for me, he just went out the back, took a band saw to it and gave it to me in a bag.

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What I ate: Pumpkin and Blue Cheese Gnocchi

It's that time of the week again - when you want something delicious, but you don't want to go through the hassle and production of spending the whole evening in the kitchen preparing dinner.

And let's face it - everyone wouldn't mind something new for their meals. Cooking in big batches gets rid of the need to be cooking all the time, but (I don't know about you) I tend to have a short attention span when it comes to my meals, and after the second meal of the same thing I'm off looking for other things to feed myself with.

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Easy Lemon Tiramisu - no sabayon!

I've still got some Anatoth lemon curd that was sent to me by Beyond the Square - thank you Carrie! I think fruit curds are a fabulous way to recapture that sensation of summer, and the tart lemon curd just brings a spot of brightness to my day.

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Interview with Thomas Schnetzler, Master Chocolatier

I got invited by Lindt to the reopening of their Chocolate Cafe at Martin Place, and to try out their new Lindt Creation Blocks! I took the opportunity to grab a chat with Thomas Schnetzler, Master Chocolatier and Chocolate Ambassador for Lindt Australia, and learn more about chocolate.

Tammi from Insatiable Munchies was invited as a guest of Lindt and the Trish Nichol Agency.

Mother's Day Gift Idea Roundup

With Mothers' Day just around the corner, I thought it might be a good idea to have a quick Mother's Day gift idea roundup! I know how hard it can be to get Mum that perfect gift, but there are some ideas that can come pretty close, so I hope these ideas can inspire you like they inspire me!

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