Kitchen Emotions

My profession in identifying and creating core emotions for tv promotion enables me to also connect up all the different emotions that leads me into cooking and baking.

It all begins when I often walk out from a restaurant feeling dissatisfied along with ANGER for paying high bills for lousy food and bad service in this city. And most of the time, what disappoints me is the way good ingredients are being treated poorly.

That is when the temptation and CURIOSITY of wondering if I can cook better food arouse my desire to take up the challenge and re-look at the function of my kitchen with a whole new perspective.

After numerous failures that eventually leads to a few good attempts with some recipes, the feeling of SUCCESS encourage me to create more to share with friends and neighbours which increases HUMAN CONNECTIONS without even noticing it. The reward is enormous.

Here’s a really simple recipe that makes me happy.

Pasta Marinara with Canadian Scallops

Canadian scallops

Sea salt

Black pepper

All-purpose flour

Olive oil

Heat up olive oil in a pan. Season scallops with salt, pepper and coat lightly with flour. Fry scallops for 2 minutes on one side and another minute on the other side.

For the sauce:

Fresh basil

Half an onion, finely chopped

1 clove of garlic

1 can of Italian tomato

Black pepper

Salt

Olive oil

Heat up olive oil in a pot with onions and garlic. The fragrance from the onion and garlic will infuse into the oil when heated up together. Add salt to avoid onions from burning. Sautee till onion turns translucent. Add black pepper, tomatoes and basil. Simmer for 30 mins.

Serve with your favourite pasta and top it up with the gorgeous scallops.

Now comes to baking. My FEAR of sending something into the oven and hoping it will come out good stays with me for many years ever since I failed terribly trying to bake a basic sponge cake.

It was until early this year when Anto from relaxingcooking encouraged me to bake my first bread. It is a big emotion of DARING to take up the challenge to start a bumpy journey which I am glad I did and to discover the many secrets of baking along the way.

I got to admit I am quite obsessed with bread baking for now and I just can’t wait to log this recipe in that uses ‘tangzhong’ mentioned to me by Jean from bentodays. This method creates a super soft loaf with a long lost flavor which brings me all the way back to my childhood days. Yum!

Soft white bread using ‘Tangzhong’

TangZhong:

50g bread flour

250g water

Cook on low heat and keep stirring continuously until it becomes sticky.

Main dough:

270g bread flour

30g sugar

4g salt

1 egg

90g tangzhong

60g milk

5g yeast

30g butter (soften)

Mix all ingredients except butter. Put in butter when rest of ingredients is well mixed.

Knead the dough till it passes the window pane test. Form it into a ball and put it into a greased bowl.

Sprinkle some water on dough and cover. Let it proof for 45mins to an hour.

Pre-shape dough into three round loaves and let it sit for 15mins.

For the final shaping, roll the dough to resemble soft rolls and put them side by side in a loaf tin.

Sprinkle some water on top and proof for 45mins to an hour.

Brush with egg wash and bake at 170C in a pre-heated oven for 30mins.

Zucchini Pasta

 

This is undoubtedly a classic dish in many parts of the world but it is hard to find on menus here in Singapore. I was encouraged and inspired to create this recipe by the beautiful blogger Gabriela Blandy who is able to paint pictures with words in her popular blog thesenseofajourney . I sincerely hope that she will come round with her unforeseen transition in life and start writing again.

Gabriela suggested a recipe using fresh mint when she was visiting my post Pecorino Romano . As I could not get hold of mint while making, I adjusted the recipe into this.

Serves Three (my mom was here to taste it :))

2 big zucchinis

3 small bowls of penne

Chopped tomatoes

1 small chopped chili

Chopped Garlic

Dry Italian herbs

Half cup of cooking cream

Grated pecorino cheese

White wine

Balsamic vinegar

Extra virgin olive oil

Sea salt

Freshly crushed black pepper

A wedge of lemon

Cut 6 thick slices of zucchini with skin on. Marinate with lots of olive oil, balsamic vinegar, black pepper and salt. Bake at 200 degrees C for 50 minutes. I started with a cold oven and it still came out well.

Chop the rest of zucchini into small pieces with skin on and blend with cream into a puree. Set aside for later use. Meanwhile, boil a pot of water. Add salt and start to cook penne till al dente. In a frying pan, heat up olive oil and fry garlic and chili till garlic starts to brown. Pour in white wine and continue cooking till the liquid is reduced by half. Pour in zucchini and cream puree. Add salt, pepper and a handful of Italian herbs to taste.  Cook for 20 minutes stirring occasionally. Add in grated pecorino cheese and penne. Squeeze some lemon juice over and serve immediately with baked zucchini and chopped tomatoes. Complete the meal with crusty bread and a glass of white.

Thanks for stopping by and please tell me how you like this.

Pumpkin Risotto

After making pumpkin-rice-with-coconut-milk, I have longed to turn it into a risotto.

Pumpkin, cut into cubes

Risotto rice

White wine

Onions, finely chopped

Olive oil

Butter

Chicken stock

Coconut milk

Sea salt

Black pepper

Finely chop onions and fry half of it in olive oil till the air in your kitchen is filled with fragrance.

Put in pumpkin cubes and cook till tender. Add salt and pepper.

Keep one third of it and blend the rest into puree.

Fry rest of the onions in olive oil and add rice.

Pour in half a cup of white wine and let the rice soak in it for three minutes.

Cover rice with pumpkin puree and chicken stock and cook till al dente.

Add in butter and coconut milk.

Follow by salt and pepper to taste.

Serve with pumpkin cubes.

TUNA SALAD WITH CANNELLINI BEANS

I can’t wait to share this recipe that can be prepared within 5 minutes. I found it from an old recipe book by Carla Capalbo which was sitting on the shelf for some time. I got to admit that initially I was skeptical about the combination but surprisingly it turns out really good!

Canned tuna chunks

Canned cannellini beans

Good extra virgin olive oil

Fresh lemon juice

Sea salt

Crushed black pepper

Fresh basil (the original recipe uses parsley)

 

Emulsify the oil with salt, pepper and lemon juice. Mix in all other ingredients. That’s it!

I doubt you need 5 minutes.

AGLIO OLIO WITH DUCK LIVER

I’ve always wanted to do a more daring pasta dish. Although this recipe works for me, it may not be for the fainthearted. And I think sesame oil is just the right ingredient to blend the flavors together. 

Duck liver

Fresh duck liver, cut to bite size

Minced garlic

White wine

Sea salt

Crushed black pepper

Olive oil

Sesame oil (must have)

Heat up olive oil in a pan and fry the minced garlic till it starts to brown. Put in duck liver follow by salt and pepper. Fry liver till almost tender and add a tablespoon of white wine follow by a glug of sesame oil. It is important not to overcook the liver or it will become hard.

Aglio olio

Your favorite pasta

Fresh chili

Shallots

Garlic

Cherry tomatoes (optional)

White wine

Fresh basil

Sea salt

Crushed black pepper

Put pasta into a pot of boiling salt water and cook to al dente. While pasta is cooking, chop up shallots, garlic, chili and fry in olive oil over medium heat. Add tomatoes follow by salt and pepper. When garlic starts to brown, pour in a glug of white wine follow by some pasta water. Add chopped fresh basil. When pasta is ready, toss it directly in the pan to soak up the sauce.

Serve pasta with liver and grated parmigiano if desired.

RATATOUILLE

This is the first dish I cook in 2013.

Don’t laugh at me if I tell you that it was the lead character (yes, which would be the rat) in the animated feature film that has inspired me to go for my dreams. 

In the film, this dish marks the success of the rat who embarks on an extraordinary journey to become one of the top chefs in Paris.

I am a rat in the Chinese zodiac and I love to cook so it all connects up. But what’s most important is the message that I’ve got from the film.

No matter who you are, as long as you dare to dream and work hard for it, you are probably going to make it.

The rat’s recipe is definitely much better than mine but I could not get hold of it.

1 aubergine or egg plant

1 green or yellow zucchini

1 yellow or red sweet pepper

Olive oil

Sea salt

Black pepper

Balsamic vinegar (optional)

 

Sauce

1 canned Italian tomato

Few cloves of peeled whole garlic

Fresh basil

Sea salt

Black pepper

 

Preheat oven to 400F. Cut aubergine, zucchini and pepper into big thick pieces and season with olive oil, salt, black pepper and vinegar. Bake for 45 minutes.

Meanwhile, fry garlic in olive oil till it starts to brown and add tomatoes. Sprinkle with salt and black pepper. Add chopped basil and simmer over medium heat for an hour.

Serve vegetables with the sauce.

BEAUTIFUL BLOGGER AWARD

I sense that my “happy moments” category is performing some magic.

I’ve been nominated for the Beautiful Blogger Award by the gorgeous

http://liveblissful.wordpress.com/

Her blog is unique and full of character. She re-creates beautiful vegan recipes that inspires me every time. I nominated a few other bloggers, who also have beautiful blogs I love.

Beautiful Blogger Award Rules:

The idea behind the Beautiful Blogger Award is to recognize some of the bloggers we follow for their hard work and inspiration.

1. Copy the Beautiful Blogger Award logo and place it in your post.
2. Thank the person who nominated you and link back to their blog.
3. Tell 7 things about yourself.
4. Nominate 7 other bloggers for their own Beautiful Blogger Award, and comment on their blogs to let them know.

7 Things About Myself

1. I’m in love with planting and adding basil to most of my dishes.

2. I love novels by Nicky Pellegrino and Santa Montefiore.

3. Slow run helps me to release stress from a hard day’s work.

4. I like to daydream for ideas.

5. I’ve been in the TV industry for 17 years.

6. Italian dinner, wine and chips are my favorites.

7. I prefer small gatherings.

The Beautiful Bloggers:

http://onestreetshy.com/

http://petit4chocolatier.wordpress.com/

http://thesenseofajourney.com/

http://relaxingcooking.wordpress.com/

http://artandkitchen.wordpress.com/

http://greendoorhospitality.wordpress.com/

http://abeautifuldayblog.wordpress.com/