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Roasted Peppers and Garlic

24 Jun
Two of my favourite things together – a marriage made in heaven! Roasted peppers are so sexy somehow. Slippery and sweet, tangy and juicy. The garlic adds a hint of muskiness and that scentsational aroma is mouthwatering. I often serve these as a starter – but you could add them to sandwiches, salads, soups, pasta. They are a wonderful standby to have in the fridge. A jar of these can take you to wonderful culinary heights! I made them for a dinner the other week, and they were lapped up by the hungry hoards. They are satisfying, easy to make (fun too if you like playing with fire), and their taste is much more complex and deep then the rather minimal effort expended.
  • 4 – 6 red peppers
  • 1 or 2 green peppers
  • Paper bag
  • Tongs
  • Fire source
  • Cloves of garlic
  • Good olive oil (Extra Virgin if you have it)
  • A dash of balsamico if you have it
  • Fresh oregano or rosemary or thyme
  • Sea salt

Make sure you have access to a paper bag.

Basically you want to take the peppers, and char them over a heat source (I usually do this on the stove top) until they are completely blackened and burnt.

Use the tongs to rotate the peppers over the flame source. BE CAREFUL. They will pop and fizz and spit. Keep watch over them at all times.

When they are completely blackened, pop them in the paper bag, and twist the opening to ensure a good seal. When I made this recipe, I used a paper shopping bag and just folded over the top a couple of times. The peppers will steam in the paper bags and soften. After about 20 – 30 minutes, the peppers will be ready for the next step.

Meanwhile, heat your oven to approximately 180 C.

Put your garlic cloves in a small baking tray, and sprinkle liberally with olive oil and sea salt. Pop them in the oven and roast until caramelized, about 15 – 30 minutes depending on your oven.

Once the peppers are lukewarm, take them out from the paper bag, one at a time. Peel the peppers. The blackened skin should come straight off, but if you have problems, use a little strip of paper towel to rub off any pesky bits.

You should have some intensely deeply coloured smokey peppers ready for anything you want to throw at them!

Once your peppers have been peeled, core them, throw away the seeds, and cut away the stringy inner bits, and slice them in thin strips.

Put the sliced peppers in a bowl, and slick over with as much olive oil as your preference dictates. They will go all shiny and blood red or emerald green. A few drops of aged balsamico wont hurt either. Add a couple of teaspoons of fresh or a shake of dry herbs over this mixture.

Once the garlic has been roasted to your satisfaction (about 15 minutes or so – it will start to smell like roasted garlic) and is golden and soft, let it cool, slice it and add to the bowl. Don’t waste the olive oil either! Its been imbued with soft golden garlic scent and tastes – add this to your bowl of deliciousness too!

This keeps brilliantly in the fridge and is a magical addition to salads, sandwiches and pasta.

If youre serving as is, make sure you bring the mixture to room temperature before serving. The juice at the bottom of the bowl is phenomenal.

Photo copyright U-en Ng

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Asparagus Pesto

23 Jun

Astonishing, divine, food of the Goddesses. Bright green and tasting like spring. You can eat this right out of the bowl (my sister, M’s preferred consumption method), or spoon it over toast rounds for bruschetta, in a sandwich, or over pasta or couscous. Its so extremely good, it needs no accessories. This is one of my favourite meals because who knew that asparagus could be made into pesto – and who knew that this taste combination existed and was soooooooo goood?!

You will need (for about 3 – 4 cups):

  • 1 1/2 pounds (about 600 – 700 gms) asparagus
  • 1 cup pine nuts
  • 5 – 7 cloves of garlic
  • 1 cup grated parmesan
  • 1/2 cup (or more) extra virgin olive oil
  • juice of 1 lemon
  • Salt

First prepare your asparagus. Ensure that the tough woody bits have been snapped off – the asparagus will do the work for you if you just hold it and snap it near the bottom end. It will naturally break where the tough bit is – discard this. Chop the asparagus very roughly – 2 – 3 sections per asparagus. In a large pot of boiling, lightly salted water, blanch the asparagus till bright green. They need to be cooked, but not soft. Probably about 5 minutes or less. Just before you drain the asparagus, put a coffee mug in the boiling water, and remove a mugful, and keep aside. Drain, and set aside.

Meanwhile, in a shallow frying pan, toast the pine nuts (no oil or anything added) until golden and slightly browned. Use a spatula and keep stirring the nuts. Keep a watch – these go from light golden to toasted to burnt in a blink of an eye and you cant really save them when they burn. Set aside to cool.

Put all the asparagus and garlic into your food processor, and pulsing gently, start the machine. Add about half the olive oil in a steady stream. Add all the pine nuts, and pulse again, adding the rest of the olive oil. Add the parmesan and lemon and pulse again. If at any point the mixture gets too thick, add a little of the water you kept from the asparagus. Taste and adjust seasoning. You might need more oil or salt, or even parmesan.

I usually keep aside a few asparagus tips and serve this combined with angel hair pasta, with the tips for prettiness. Its delicious. And very good for you!!!

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Hummus and Pita Chips

22 Jun

So easy to make, its sinful. And an incredible edible shot of protein for any meal. Best be careful though, people cannot stop eating this. You will be asked to make it again and again.

Hummus

  • 4 cups chickpeas (3 x 400 g cans or you can use fresh if you really want to – I do not see any appreciable difference between canned and fresh for this menu)
  • ½ cup – 1 cup water (use the water the chickpeas came in)
  • ½ cup tahini (sesame) paste
  • ¼ – ½ cup fresh lemon juice
  • ¼ – ½ cup (or more) extra virgin olive oil
  • 1 teaspoon of salt
  • 5 – 7 cloves of garlic, roughly chopped
  • Fresh parsley (optional)
This is so bloody easy its difficult to call it a recipe. Its important though that you try and use best quality ingredients – if canned, make sure the chickpeas are organic. If youre using fresh, stick the chickpeas in a pot of water overnight, and they will soften sufficiently so that when you boil them, it will be quick and easy.
Once all your ingredients are assembled, toss everything into the food processor. If you dont have one (and really, you should, to make this and wonderful things like pesto), you could use a handheld masher. I usually use the lower amount of everything, and then adjust accordingly.
Pulse (or mash). Taste. Adjust. Repeat as needed.
I like my hummus slightly rough – I love the texture of chunks of chickpea in this silken paste – but feel free to process until completely smooth. Its totally up to your sense of taste and pleasure.
Store in the fridge, in covered containers, with a thin film of olive oil on top. Please make this at least 1 day ahead (and up to 3) to enable all the amazing flavours to meld and ripen.
Bring to room temperature before you serve. Taste again and adjust lemon, salt and olive oil.
Serve sprinkled with some bright green parsley if you have some.

Pita Chips

Really simple to make, and so so so more-ish. One of my favourite things to make – and much better for you than any store bought chip because there are no additives of stabilizers or any of that crap.

  • 10 pita pockets (try and find local baked ones)
  • Olive oil
  • Sea salt
  • Bowl + brush
  • Scissors

Preheat oven to about 180 C

Using your scissors, cut the pita into eigths – big triangles – though if you prefer a modern art version, by all means cut them up randomly! If the pita bread is a pocket bread, you will need to split it as you cut it.

Pread into one layer over a baking pan. You will have to do this in batches so you might want to use 2 pans to allow one to go into the oven as the other gets prepped.

In a bowl, mix together extra virgin olive oil and sea salt, mixing well with your brush. The sea salt wont get completely absorbed by the oil, but you want it mixed well. (Note: you could add garlic, or parmesan if you want to get fancy, but honestly, I love the pure simple taste of olive oil and sea salt and pita).

Brush oil mixture over the chips gently.

Bake in the oven for a max of ten minutes. Keep watch as they burn quickly. They will be golden, crisp and delicious.

These keep for up to a week in an airtight container, but I have never gotten that far – they just get eaten!

All photos copyright U-en Ng


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Vegetables a la Greque a la Karo

22 Jun

This is from a good friend of mine who has the same philosophy of cooking with love and passion, and as little harm as possible. She sent it to me as below, and I love her words, so I will let them be …

The original recipe is in “Mastering the Art of French Cooking” – and I think it’s volume 1.

It’s a one-pot method of turning your beautiful raw vegetables, which might otherwise become cloudy and dull in the fridge as you wait for another idea/opportunity to do something with them, into delectable little appetisers or salady thingies.

You can do it with any vegetable that has firm texture and flavour, as long as it does not need to be cooked before being eaten raw like potatoes and aubergines do. I find it a much more forgiving method than oven-roasting or grilling for cold salad veg.

I have used: courgettes, mushrooms, asparagus, pepper, celery, green beans, beetroot. Must do firm small tomatoes next.

Take your fresh and good vegetables and prepare them as if for salad – cut them cleanly and decoratively and uniformly.

Take a pot and put in it a scanty pint of water, the juices of one or two lemons, a cup of good olive oil, good salt, pepper, and garlic cloves finely chopped. Add any good herbs that you have to flavour your court-bouillon; bay, parsley, thyme, tarragon, fennel … I have added lemon rind too.

Bring to the boil and simmer your vegetables within until tender but still holding their firmness. Mushrooms will be tender in 5 minutes or less (depending on your slicing of them); celery could take 20.

Remove your vegetables, and leave to cool on a plate.

You could now poach another set of vegetables in the same pot. Or proceed:

Strain the court-bouillon and put it back to reduce by at least half. It will become a lovely flavoured smooth light emulsion.

Then cool it down and bathe your vegetables with it. And then eat as they are at room-temperature or cold from the fridge later. And consider dressing them further by adding garlic or fresh herbs or more garlic or more whatever to them.

(Last weekend, I had a cold hors d’oeuvre which included mushrooms with no added seasoning, green beans with lots of extra lemon and garlic, courgettes with chopped parsley and lemon )

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Caramelised Onion Jam + Truffled Garlic Mash + Sauteed Mushrooms

21 Jun

When everyone else is eating meat, this is an incredibly rich, delicious, celebratory addition to the meal which you can share (if you really love them) with the carnivores.

Caramelised Onion Jam

(adapted from Softly Simmered Onions from the Silver Palate Good Times Cookbook)

These are so delicious. They can be added to so many things – mixed with a bit of cream in a pasta sauce, whizzed with vegetable broth for an amazing onion soup, on toast rounds with feta for an astounding bruschetta, or mixed with savoury custard in a brilliant tart / quiche. I like them as they are, tumbled over some creamy dreamy mash, with a few sauteed mushrooms for extra “meatiness”

  • 1 cup (2 sticks) butter
  • 8 cups sliced white and yellow onions
  • 1 cup dry red wine
  • 1/2 cup red wine vinegar
  • 1/2 cup brown sugar
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
Melt the butter in a heavy large saucepan over low heat. While the butter is melting, prepare the onions: peel, cut in half lengthwise, and slice in thin half-rings. It helps if you keep the root intact, as an anchor.
Add the onions to the melted butter and stir well. Add all the wine, vinegar, sugar, pepper, and salt and mix to combine. Cover and cook slowly over low heat, stirring every 10 minutes or so, about 1 hour.
Remove the cover and cook 2 hours longer, stirring occasionally. You can decide how long you want to cook it – the onions will become thicker and jammier as you go. Just make sure you stir well through the bottom of the pan because it can burn. Makes about 4 cups, which will keep for at least 1 week, covered in the fridge.

Truffled Garlic Mash

Serves 8, though you can adjust as needed. The garlic will soften and sweeten when boiled with the potatoes and will add a whisp of fragrance and scent to this amazing creamy mix.
  • 9 large baking potatoes, peeled and cut into eighths
  • 8 cloves of garlic
  • 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter
  • 1/4 cup milk
  • 1/4 cup cream
  • Teaspoon or so jarred, canned or fresh truffles (you could use truffle oil in a pinch)
  • Salt and pepper

In a large saucepan, over high heat, boil enough water to just cover the potatoes. Once the water is at a roiling boil, add all the potatoes and garlic at once. They should take about 10 – 15 minutes to cook through. You want to be able to put the tip of a cutting knife through a slice of potato without any resistance.

While the potatoes are boiling, combine butter, milk, cream, truffles, and salt and pepper in a small saucepan. Bring to the boil and set aside to enable the truffle to infuse the butter and milk mixture with its heady scent.

When the potatoes have been cooked through, drain thoroughly, and place in serving bowl. Using a handheld masher, mash the potatoes, while adding the butter-milk-cream-truffle mixture. Taste for salt and pepper and adjust accordingly.

Sauteed Mushrooms

For each person, use 1 – 2 very large portobello mushrooms, depending on what else you are serving

  • 2 portobello mushrooms, peeled and sliced thickly
  • 1/2 tbsp butter
  • 1/2 tbsp olive oil or truffle oil
  • 1 tbsp balsamic vinegar (or port wine or red wine)
  • 1 tsp soy sauce
  • Salt and pepper to taste

You want to ensure the mushrooms are seared and not soggy. To do this, heat butter and olive oil in a large frying pan until quite hot, on high heat. Add the mushrooms, and stir to coat with butter. As the mushrooms start to let off some juice, add vinegar and then soy sauce. This will encourage some caramelisation and cause the mushrooms to sear against the heat of the pan. Taste and add salt and pepper as needed.

Serve each lucky vegetarian a large scoop of mash, topped with the caramelised onion jam, and sauteed mushrooms. Yum.

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Another World Cup Sandwich + Strawberries

21 Jun

Tonight we watched and ate and laughed and played with cats. A good night was had by all. We needed simple, delicious, easy to make food, and I didnt really feel like cooking anything complex.

Grilled Tortilla Sandwiches

These grilled cheese and salsa soft tortilla sandwiches are really yummy, and can adapt to what you have in the house

For each sandwich you need:

  • 2 soft flat tacos/wraps
  • Salsa (bottled is fine)
  • Cheese (jack, cheddar, parmesan – whatever you feel like)
  • Soft butter
  • Mushrooms/avocado/tomatoes/sliced raw onions (one or a mix of all three)

Butter one side of a soft tortilla and place on a medium large frying pan, butter down. Place pan over medium heat, and spoon about 2 tablespoons of salsa over the tortilla. Grate cheese over the entire tortilla, and watch it melt . Add the additional filling – I used some quickly sauteed mushrooms – and butter the second tortilla. Place the tortilla over the sandwich fillings, butter side up, and flip it when you feel the bottom side has browned sufficiently. Fry for a minute or two on the second side, and slide onto a large plate. Cut into fourths. Give it a minute to cool down before demolishing.

Strawberries with balsamic

Unbelievably delicious. The acid in the balsamic breaks down the tender strawberry flesh, and creates a phenomenal sauce. More strawberry than the strawberriest strawberry – and so damn simple. Makes more than enough for four people.

  • Strawberries, hulled and sliced (about 2 – 3 cups)
  • 1 – 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar (the older the better)

In a non reactive (glass preferably) bowl, slice strawberries. Pour over the balsamic, and using a spoon, stir well to ensure the vinegar completely coats the strawberries. Leave for at least half an hour in the fridge. A strawberry liquor will form – its so damn good, I cant tell you.

Serve strawberries spooned over vanilla ice cream or cold vanilla custard, with a little of the sauce drizzled over each serving.

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Quick Hot Family Dinner in 5 minutes (honestly)

20 Jun

It will take you longer to read this recipe than it will to cook it. This is for when you wake up at 4am and cant believe how starving you are. When your tummy needs filling, and you just don’t want to do any work at all. You come home from work, or you’ve been chasing the kids all day, and all you want is sustenance. Or you come home after a night on the tiles (where does that phrase come from?!) and you need something starchy and yummy and simple to soak up all that booze. You can make it for more than 1 person, but its basic. Totally delicious, but basic. Once you have this little trick up your sleeve though, you will be making up excuses to eat it. Don’t try to dress it up. There really is no need.

  • 1 large bowl that you will eat out of
  • ½ cup couscous
  • ½ cup boiling water
  • Butter
  • Salt
  • Cheese (Cheddar + Parmesan may be? Whatever you have both that combo is superb)
  • Some frozen peas for colour (and veg) or some tomatoes

Boil some water. As it comes to the boil, put ½ cup of couscous per person in the bowl that youre going to eat out of. Remember that couscous swells, so make it double the size of the amount of couscous youre using.

Put a pinch of salt in with the couscous and mix it all up with a fork. Add some butter to the couscous (may be about 1/2 teaspoon per person or more as you wish, and as your arteries can handle!)

Pour the ½ cup of boiling water over the couscous and cover (I use a sideplate). Leave for 3 -4 minutes.

While the couscous is absorbing the water, and plumping up, get your cheese out the fridge and find a grater. Uncover your bowl, and fluff the couscous up with a fork. Taste and adjust for saltiness. Grate some cheese over this mixture (not a lot, but enough to flavour it) and mix well. Pop in some peas or a few sliced tomatoes to make yourself feel better, and for the “veg” component.

Eat thankfully.

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The Lodge Egg Sandwiches

20 Jun

When I was a child, we used to visit The Lodge on our way up to Fraser’s Hill, a resort just outside Kuala Lumpur. I used to obsess about the egg sandwiches at The Lodge – they were the highlight of our trip! I thought about them for ages, and finally decided to make them one night when we were watching the World Cup. So easy and quick, but totally satisfying.

This recipe makes 4 sandwiches

  • 8 slices white bread, toasted on the lowest setting
  • Soft butter
  • 5 eggs
  • 1 egg yolk
  • Salt and pepper
  • Dash of milk or cream

Toast the bread very lightly – you basically just want to warm it and get a crisp exterior going. As soon as its been toasted, butter well.

Meanwhile, beat eggs, egg yolk, salt and pepper and a dash of milk or cream together. Use a fork, and don’t beat too crazily – you just want it combined gently.

Over medium heat, add a bit of butter to a non-stick pan, and add the eggs. Use a rubber spatula, and mix very gently. The eggs will be golden colored and very creamy because of the extra yolk. It should take only a few minutes before you have very gently scrambled eggs. Divide between four pieces of bread, top with a buttered slice of bread and press down well. Cut into half and serve immediately to grateful and hungry hoards.


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Grilled Cheese

20 Jun

Okay, I know that everyone who knows how to cook knows how to make a grilled cheese sandwich. Its pretty simple. But I obsessed about them for a few days because I had a very particular desire to eat the perfect grilled cheese. What I was looking for was a beautifully browned exterior, with bits of burnt cheese gilding the bread, and a melted gooey interior. Ultimate satisfaction. Makes one but you can have more if you want!

  • 2 slices bread (your choice, but somehow junky white supermarket bread goes well here – as would a good challah bread)
  • Cheddar cheese (I used a cheddar that was soaked in red wine – unbelievable. Any good mature cheddar will do though)
  • Parmesan
  • Soft butter
  • Salt and pepper

Make your sandwich first: Layer thin slices of cheddar and parmesan, and season lightly with salt and pepper.

Once the sandwich has been made, use the tip of a sharp knife to make at least 7 gashes in the sandwich on each side.

Butter one side of the sandwich, and place, buttered side down, on a non stick pan. Over low heat, allow the sandwich to fry, slowly. What will happen is that a golden crust will form, and the cheese will start oozing out of the gashes, and burn slightly. This is why you need a non stick pan!

Once the sandwich has been cooked sufficiently that the cheese is mostly melted through (about 5 – 7 minutes on low), add a tiny bit of butter to the second side and flip. The cheese should start immediately oozing out of the gashes on that side, and even out of the edges of the sandwich. You want this! As the cheese burns and adheres to the bread, you get the ultimate crunchy slightly burnt, sticky gooey sandwich of your dreams.

Once the sandwich has been cooked to your liking, take the pan off the heat, and place on serving plate. Cut in half diagonally, and wait a few minutes (if you can) before you eat!

Serve with a side salad of small tomatoes, diced, and mixed with a drop of balsamico, olive oil and salt and pepper. Simple, warming and delicious.

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Chocolate Peanut Butter Heath Bar Crunch Chip Cookies for Raya’s Skate

20 Jun

My dear friends, Paul and Betsy were back in Malaysia with their gorgeous daughter, Raya so that she could compete in the Malaysian national skating competition (Raya won!). I went to watch, and brought these amazingly delicious victory cookies! These three chip cookies are really subject to your whim – add white, milk, morsels, candy, whatever. The base is so delicious. And they are incredibly easy to whip up.

In a large bowl combine:

  • 4 cups unbleached organic pastry flour
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • 1 tsp salt ( I used fleur de sel for a bit of salty crunch amidst the sweet)

Set aside.

In an electric mixer, gently cream

  • 1 1/2 cups softened butter

And to this add

  • 1 1/2 cups dark brown sugar
  • 1 cup light brown sugar

Mix this combination on low, until creamed together well.

Meanwhile, in a small bowl beat together

  • 2 eggs
  • 1 egg yolk
  • 2 tsp honey
  • 1 tbsp vanilla

Add the egg mixture to the sugar/butter until combined well. Then, with the mixer still on low, add the flour mixture by heaping tablespoon. Beat until combined well, and a stiffish dough forms.

Once your cookie base is ready, let it rest for a few minutes while you bring together your chips. I used

  • 1 1/2 cups best quality (72%) bittersweet chocolate roughly chopped
  • 1 1/2 cups peanut butter chips
  • 1 cup Heath bar crunch chips

Fold the chips gently into the cookie dough.

Heat oven to 190 C or 375 F.

On a cookie sheet, arrange heaping tablespoons of dough. Bake for 12 – 14 minutes.

Do let them cool off a bit before you transfer from cookie sheet, as they tend to be very melty at first, and will firm up a bit.

Cooks are allowed at least one warm cookie, fresh from the oven, with a cold glass of milk 🙂

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