Quickest 3 Course Dinner to Impress

A presentable one too! Seems like I've been away for a bit, have had so many things happening that need a bit of thinking time ... but I'm back, as usual, this time with an impressive 3 course dinner that takes 40 minutes from start till the end. Good for those who are in a rush with this impromptu, simple classics ...

Inspired by what's seasonal/on offer in supermarkets, I got myself some fresh scallops (8 of them), a pack of rocket leaves, some sweet cherry tomatoes on the vine, baby/salad potatoes, and 2 spare rib chops, strawberry flavored Onken yoghurt and some digestive biscuits (optional).

The beautiful thing about cooking is that you DON'T NEED to be super skilled/trained to cook amazing food! Most of the time, it can be supplemented with super FRESH, QUALITY INGREDIENTS ...

This applies to the starter dish. Was gonna serve Pan-fried Scallops with Tomato and Rocket Salad. Preparing the salad first, simply just mix the rockets and tomatoes with your favorite dressing, I used French dressing in mine, done! Ooh, loving the speed eh?

Scallops cooks pretty quickly, so just heat up 2-3 tablespoons of olive oil, and once hot spoon the scallops on the pan gently, preferably cooking them in one go as they have to be serve immediately once done. Bear in mind that they overcook very easily, and full attention to the pan please for 3 minutes maximum, ok? While they are sizzling away, season with salt and black pepper, then flip them over after a minute. Do the same on the other side, season to taste and it should be slightly brown both sides after another minute. Serve with the salad immediately like below:

Beautiful yea? I prefer having them one minute a side pan fried, to be it's just nice, but if you prefer them 100% cooked, you can have them 90 seconds a side, it'll still be fine. All you want to avoid is eating a rubbery, overcooked texture ... It was perfect, P was pretty amazed at the speed and taste for sure ... this is exactly the misconception I'm trying to prove to many out there who are intimidated by cooking - taste does not always equal complicated and lengthy cooking preparations!

Ok, main course next! First, settle the potatoes: bring a pot of water to boil and place the potatoes in to cook. Meanwhile, the meat: this is my random seasoning which I thought up on the minute since I didn't have time to marinade for hours, but thankfully it didn't taste weird, hehe. So I had some leftover tomato puree from the last cooking of spaghetti, some ketchup, balsamic vinegar, paprika. Basically I put a similar seasoning to the BBQ Pork Fillet recipe, so listen up. First season the meat with salt and pepper all over and rub them well. Put 2 generous tablespoon of paprika, 3 tablespoons of balsamic vinegar, about 100g of tomato puree (for a bit of sauce for the meat so it's not too dry), and generous dollop of ketchup. Mix the seasoning and rub it all over the meat, leaving it to rest while you heat up your grill pan. The potatoes should be cooked now, as seasoning of meat probably took 5 minutes, so drain them and set aside.

Once the pan is hot, place both the spare rib chops and let them sizzle away. Note that you would have leftover marinade and use these to spoon on the meat when you flip them later. Since the meat is cooking away, you can afford some time to set up your simple salad on the plates, which is the same as your starter anyways, with the additional potatoes on the side now. Time taken? 1 minute at max :P

So full attention to your meat now, let it cook about 5 minutes on one side and flip them over. Now hopefully you have some professional looking charred lines on it, but if not it's not a disaster either, LOL. Spoon some marinade on top and let it cook for another 5 minutes. Like the scallops, overcooked meat is hard and chewy like rubber, not very nice at all. So avoiding this simply takes a sharp eye and a bit of gut feeling. For those more risk averse, after cooking 5 minutes a side, you can use a fork/knife to put through the meat and if the juice looks clear you're fine. As long as it 's not bloody/red. But that is difficult to gauge with the marinade being of similar color in this case! Hence the gut feel comes in, you know it's almost cooked and perfect when you prod the meat and its slightly springy. Serve immediately and spoon as much of the marinade in the pan on top of the meat. There you go: BBQ Chops with Potatoes and Rocket Salad

There you go, 15 mins for starter, 20 mins for main maximum, and of course 5 mins for a simple easy dessert. Just roughly break some digestive biscuits served with dollops of strawberry yogurt, for a Quick and Healthy Cheesecake Imitation! Surely you don't need a picture for that :P Enjoy!

140 Park Lane Restaurant

This is my first proper eating out experience in London after coming back from NYC training. Definitely something worth celebrating for :) Hence we went to this restaurant near Hyde Park Corner tube station, called 140 Park Lane Restaurant. Although a little quiet at this time of the year, the food and ambiance definitely made up for it.

The online menu has recently been changed, so I guess I have to use a bit of my imagination to explain what we had, though not in the most euphemistic of words! Starter was Rabbit Timbales & Sun Dried Tomato in Pesto Dressing with Toasted Brioche. Timbales is something like a mold, generally high-sided, drum-shaped and slightly tapered at the bottom and closed end, used to bake various dishes. This is a cold dish, with lightly seasoned rabbit meat, egg, cucumber and held together in a gelatine/jelly like mixture. Just imagine these ingredients being rolled nicely in a swiss roll shape and cut into an oval cross section :) Accompanied with the warm and lightly buttered brioche, this dish was a brilliant mixture of richness in the pastry and simplicity in the timbales. Lip smacking stuff! But there is more to come...

P had Grilled Cod Fish with Crabmeat Mash and tomatoes, the sauce, which I seem to have forget, how utterly embarrassing. Love how they place the parsley as decoration on top, though I do love parsleys with steam fish Cantonese style. Thumbs up from him for this dish.

Finally, I ordered Chargrilled Seabass with rocket salad in dressing and Deep Fried Quails Egg. I suppose you can say its a cholesterol disaster, but the egg was done beautiful with the yolk half cooked and melts in your mouth. The Seabass had crispy skin and wasn't overly flake-y, perfect cooking timing, complementing the salad well :)


Definitely a dinner to remember ...

Casual Calais (Part 2)

After lunch, we walked around to check out the town. When one (for me at least) visits a new place, it's always a must to track down the local supermarket as it's the easiest way to find out what are the local specialties, don't you think? We went to a local supermarket called 'Champion', instead of the larger Carrefour, and we stumbled upon a few treasures - chocs and alcohol!

As I was rummaging through the stack of dark chocolates (I need at least a 70%), guess what I found? The new trendy Chilli Flavored Chocolate by Lindt! Have tried a small chunk before in a market in Spain, but think I preferred the ones with crystallized ginger pieces in Green & Blacks, despite being a chilli lover. :P Nevertheless, P got the one with lychee flavor whilst XJ got the chilli one just to check it out.

Next up is time for the French coast. We were hanging about too long around the supermarket hence this was a rather rushed affair. Here's a cool pic of the P&O ferry that we took across the English Channel, with XJ taking one of it at the same time. Sandy beaches and gentle breeze, how I wished we did lunch the french way with a crusty baguette, cold meat and a chunk of good brie, just by the seaside. The sand was really smooth and soft, just like the ones in my hometown ...

Dinner was at a restaurant near the seaside, and here's a snapshot from our dining table of the beach, it's probably about 30m away.

This is a really colorful picture of the Salmon pate salad that XJ and A shared. Slices of hardboiled eggs, celery hearts, prawns, Salmon pate, on a bed of mixed leaf salad. Pretty good stuff especially given the simplicity :)

P and I ordered Salmon with special cream sauce which was recommended by the hostess. Served with rice and some salad, their mushroom cream sauce went really well with salmon, although it's nothing out of the ordinary nor special.

A ordered something more unique to satisfy her seafood cravings. Turns out to be sting ray (ikan pari in Malay) in a creamy mustard sauce. Mustard was too spicy for her, but its overall good. Must say the only way I knew to do a ikan pari was ikan bakar style - wrapped in banana leaves, marinaded with loads of chilli and spices before grilling/BBQ them upfront.

After dinner, it was time to rush back to Cambridge before we ended up stranded in Calais, missing the last ferry back, hehe. It was a fun road trip and my first ever in the UK, looking forward for more to come, perhaps visiting British towns this time, like Cornwall, for more seafood and authentic Cornish Pasties!

Casual Calais (Part 1)

What do you do when you have a car for the day in Cambridge (UK)?

Yup, you can easily just have dîner and be a mordu de la plage (beach bum) by the French coast.

And yes, we did just that. This is probably what post exam euphoria does to you ...

The choice was between Brighton and Calais for a road trip to a seaside. And com'on, the idea of going to France for a day trip just won hands down!

Geez, such a posh French snob I hear you say :P

Hence, Calais we went. Hopped across the coast by a ferry at Dover.

Seagulls were aplenty and thankfully they didn't go around screeching 'MINE MINE MINE!'. Here's a cool snapshot of them, taken on the deck of the ferry where they were struggling against the strong gust of wind.

Calais is just a tiny town that hustled and bustled probably due to the port and transport connection with the UK. This is the colorful and rather medieval looking town hall and it was madness as a wedding was going on at that time and the car drivers were just yanking their honks which drove noise pollution to a whole new level.

It was way past lunch time upon our arrival hence déjeuner was a rather rushed affair to maximize our time in France. Nevertheless, we managed to try out a few interesting dishes at this place called L'Hovercraft, starting off with XJ's french makeover of the classic British ham and cheese toasties ...

A piece of toast buried under layers of bacon and ham, topped with a bursty sunny side up egg, covered with cheese and baked till pipping hot, sinful but beautiful.

Next up was xY's gammon steak (jambon), which is nicely chargrilled to perfection, with french fries and salad for sides. It's somehow totally different from the British version which is too salty for me, and this was just the right level for me.

I've ordered something more conventional for fun, just to see if the French can do better in terms of roast chicken and steamed green beans than my college. While you may say that's not a fair comparison, surprisingly from the color of the green beans, you'd know that it's super overdone and soft as a lifeless jelly. However, the roast chicken was nicely done with crispy skin, so its all forgotten, haha

Beach side was great as well, with a postcard-like photo of a sweet French couple by the sea...

Shrove Tuesday

It is SHROVE Tuesday, or more famously Pancake Day!!! :D

Shrove Tuesday is a day of celebration as well as penitence, because it's the last day before Lent. Lent is a time of abstinence, of giving things up. So Shrove Tuesday is the last chance to indulge yourself, and to use up the foods that aren't allowed in Lent. Pancakes are eaten on this day because they contain fat, butter and eggs which were forbidden during Lent.

It's a common tradition of my housemates, just like last year where I was flippin' pancakes in the kitchen. And yes, a few stuck to the wall, but heck, it's REALLY fun, and its probably the only thing I dare to flip (not even omelettes) and laugh about it, :P

So come on, take a break today, flip a few pancakes for dinner! You can make sweet or savoury ones, and here are a few suggestions with a basic recipe :)

You will need:

150g (5oz) self-raising flour

50g (2oz) soft brown sugar

1½ tsp ground cinnamon125ml

(4floz) soya milk or semi-skimmed milk

1 egg yolk

2 egg whites

4 medium bananas

100ml (3½ floz) maple syrup

3 tbls raisins, soaked in warm water, then drained

2 tbls icing sugar

Method:

1. Place the flour in a bowl and add the sugar, cinnamon, milk and egg yolk. Whisk until thoroughly combined. Beat the egg whites until they form soft peaks, then gently fold them into the yolk mixture.
2. Heat a small non-stick frying pan. Pour approximately 65ml (2½floz) batter at a time gently into the centre of the pan and tilt the pan to ensure even coating of the base. Cook over a moderate heat until golden brown on both sides, flipping over once during the cooking. Prepare 7 more pancakes in this way and keep warm.
3. Peel the bananas and cut into thick slices. Heat the syrup and raisins in a small pan and, when boiling rapidly, add the bananas and 2 tablespoons water. Continue cooking over a high heat until the bananas are golden and caramelised, this will take about 2-3 minutes.
4. Divide the pancakes on to 4 serving plates and dust liberally with icing sugar. Top with the caramelised bananas, and drizzle over any remaining raisin syrup to serve.

Pancakes are remarkably versatile snacks! Here are some other tasty sweet and savoury combo's that can make pancakes a delicious treat:
Sweet

Apple and cinnamon

Sugar, lemon and honey (my fave!)

Jam and whipped cream

Apricot and almonds

Chocolate and banana (oooh, my 2nd favourite!)

Savoury

Mushrooms with cheese sauce

Sweetcorn and black pepper- cooked into the pancake mix!

Ham and cheese

Spinach and bacon

Roast vegetable, olive oil and garlic

So come on, start FLIPPIN' them tonight!!!

Skier chez Argentière

Heya, hope all of you all had a good Christmas! I survived skiing and the crazy Boxing day sale, so be prepared for a LONGG post. I just got back from a week of skiing in Argentière, France, and it was FUN FUN FUN! Going with such a large group made it even more exciting when we met other students from Oxford, Bath, Manchester and Citi University on the same trip.

Argentière is situated 8km above Chamonix, a charming and quaint village at 1250m. It's at the heart of the Mont Blanc alpine area in the French Alps, which is the highest mountain in western Europe at 4808m above sea level!

We stayed with UCPA Argentière, and it was already snowing when we first arrived, marking a crazy start to the holiday with snowball fights... :) Here's a snapshot taken from the balcony of our hostel, just like a fairy tale snow kingdom, don't you think? The court you see in the picture is an ice skating rink :D

Upon arrival, we had the day off as we arrived in the afternoon. Hence, we went to Chamonix town to search for lunch. It's strange when all restaurants or food outlets closes after 2pm or so, when nowadays people's eating patterns changed drastically probably due to different sleeping habits. We were adviced to go to Chamonix as there is a McDonald's there apparently, and they don't close all day (obviously). Talk about globalization, I still find the idea of a McD's on the alps unbelievable... Here are some pics we took, and 2 monkeys called Herman and Grace jumpin' in the air of snow ;P

At Chamonix, most of us opted for the ideal lunch menu, crêpe! I definitely had chocolate overdose that day as I shared both the crêpe with chocolate, ice cream and whipped cream + chocolate sponge with custard with a friend. Variety is after all, the spice of life ... =P

Anyways, after that we explored the lil' town and I found something amusing ... But one question first, 'What do you get on Nutella's 40th anniversary?' To keep you in suspense, I shall only tell you the answer at the end of this post. =P No cheating! Give yourself 3 tries only!

Next few days were basically skiing with an instructor. Wee Ben, Hong Hsien, Josephine and I were in the same group with a few other French students and 2 Brits who had initial skiing experiences. Think the highlight of the trip was when I/we accidentally skiied down a black slope... TWICE. It's a long story...

The first time occured when we were directed to go back ourselves by the ski instructor Laurent, when he had to search for one of the members who went missing at La Flegere. Daredevil Wee Ben, who led the team back, happened to have a bad sense of direction, and just took whichever slope that seems to lead downwards. Lisa (one of the Brits) and I began to notice something amiss as the slope we were skiiing seemed narrow, winding and a little too difficult for a blue slope. For your info, ski slopes are rated according to difficulty, green/blue/red/black in ascending order of difficulty. I looked for signs and noticed 'Le Praz' in BLACK, which is basically a slope for pro skiiers. *Sweat* LOL. We looked at each other, stunned. Oh heck, there's no other way down and we were already halfway down the 5km slope. So off we skiied and were knackered by the end of the journey, and no one knew it was a black till we told them at the bottom of the slope! Lisa calls Wee Ben a lunatic from then on, but it feels good to finally do a black one, it wasn't too bad and the adrenaline rush was worth it ;)

Second time was on Wednesday where we had half day off and most of us went to ski at La Flegere again. It was just Wee Ben and I as it was easier to ski in smaller groups and we lost Josephine midway as she turned into another direction and we couldn't locate her. So being a 'blur sotong' who followed a bigger 'blur sotong', both of us tried a new red slope, which probably was a big mistake as it was an ungroomed red slope, i.e. a black equivalent. >_< bumpy rocks all the way. It took us almost 2 hours because it was quite scary. I crashed infinite times with skis flying, hence spent almost an hour to wear my skis on a slope and not losing my balance. Quite a creepy experience, and it was a very tiring one as we had to brake non-stop as it was steep and bumpy. But yeap we survived it again and this was a more satisfying experience than the last. Moral of the story: do not follow most ski routes that Wee Ben takes, LOL ;D

So days just breezed pass, like all happy days always do. We played Bridge almost every night and other board games, I learnt how to (sort of) play contract bridge too! Very interesting... On the last day, we all went sight seeing and take pics of Mont Blanc. Taking the cable car up from Aiguille Du Midi, it was FREEZING cold at -30 Celcius with strong winds. Only managed to take a few shots before my fingers became frozen ladies fingers :P But it was really beautiful, and we saw Mont Blanc too, misty and mysterious, from a distance away.

So that's the summary about the ski trip, enjoy the pictures!

P.S- By the way, the answer to the Nutella question was even MORE Nutella!

I think this was probably 4kg or something, forgot to check the weight. ;)

Anyways, have a Happy New Year everyone!