365 #35 Blue Cheese Pasta

I don't know about you, but when the weather is cold, and it's THAT time of the month, I crave all things greasy, creamy, sinful, and easy to prepare.

Here, I bring you a 5-minute meal that ticks all the above requirements.

 All you need is some cream and blue cheese.

And some pasta. Thanks to my super hubby, I have some homemade spinach pasta. 

But the store bought ones work all the same.

You melt the blue cheese in the cream.

Dump in the cooked pasta. 

Et voila. 

1000 calories all ready to settle on your hips.

365 #30 Of burgers and a weird habit

One of my 'best dishes' is the humble burger. I make a mean patty, thanks to my Super Mummy and thanks to Jamie Oliver. I think homemade burgers are the best! You can pile it up with all kinds of goodies that are always so meager when you go to a restaurant. I love my own burgers. Here's what goes into this burger that's almost as big as my face:

 Lettuce, half an avacado, half a tomato, half an onion, 3 pickles, homemade patty.

Another reason I also like eating my burgers at home is because I have a habit that has made my friends look at me with disdain. You see, I like to dissect my burgers and eat 'em with a fork and knife. Not because I'm a poser, but because I think it tastes better that way. When I'm out, I do like everyone else and hold up the monster, and eat like a normal human being. But when I'm at home, I can make a huge mess of my plate and eat daintily with my fork and knife. Does anyone out there do the same? 

Homemade burger. Dissected. Bliss.

365 #28 A bowl of goodness

I've been eating very unhealthily for more than two weeks. Take-outs, delivery, fast food, eating out. Most times, the food is substandard and borderline disgusting. But I still finish it because I really, really hate wasting.

This week, I decided enough was enough. I have got to cook again. So I went to a butcher who sells beautiful free range organic whole chickens, and made my favoritest White Chopped Chicken. After our dinner (which was a couple of days ago), I kept the stock that was used to cook the chicken, and stripped the leftover meat off the bones of the chicken, and stuffed everything into the fridge.

Today, my lunch took only 10 minutes to prepare, and tasted so good.

1. Boil noodles and drain when cooked

2. In separate pot, boil chicken slices in chicken stock

3. Chop spring onions while everything is boiling

4. Put everything together in bowl

5. Serve

My dipping sauce for that extra oomph:

Spring onions, Sabah Chili Padi paste, Vietnamese Salt and Pepper mixture, lime juice.

I'm so happy that I have enough stock and chicken bits for three more meals. Guess what I'll be eating the next few days?

Because I miss Korean food...

... I improvised. Again.

The weather's been slightly wonky and frosty, and I've been hankering for some good 'ol comfort Korean food.

So I cut up some fatty pork, fried it slightly, then dumped in a bottle of store-bought kimchi, let it simmer for 30 minutes, plonked it on hot, steaming japanese rice, and sat in front of the TV with Super Hubs while we watched Barcelona cream MU.

Good times. Real good times.

Snack time

The other day, we found ourselves with  a bag full of fresh and still wriggling tiny little shrimps. 

So Super Hubs made me my fave snack.
He used loads of butter, olive oil, salt, pepper and love. 

I was thrilled. And he was happy that I was thrilled. At first. He became less than thrilled when I started popping each crunchy morsel into my mouth and munched away noisily next to him on the sofa as he tried to take a nap.

Nom nom nom nom nom. 
(HOW TO EAT THIS QUIETLY ORH?!?!?)

Roasted Garlic Chicken and Pumpkin

It's so easy to cook for a my chef. Our friends always get nervous when they invite us for dinner cos they are scared that he'd be hard to cook for.

Little do they know that while his dishes in the restaurant are 'fine' and all, when he gets off work and actually eats, as long as there's at least a bulb of garlic (and mind you, European garlic is 10 times more 'power' than Asian garlic), lots of olive oil and butter, he's a very happy man.

Which makes him think I'm an awesome cook cos whenever I decide to make something for him, those are the three main ingredients I rely on.

Anyway. Back to the point of my post. I made lunch today. And am naming my dish Garlic Chicken cos garlic is the main ingredient in this dish. Much more important than even the chicken.

Ingredients:

-2 bulbs garlic

1 bulb unpeeled and sliced in half to be roasted with chicken. 

The other bulb peeled and chopped.

-1 chicken (this time I remembered to pluck the feathers)

Rub salt and chopped garlic on chicken. 

Also insert garlic slices inside chicken skin and in the thighs and wings. 

-1 Pumpkin

Peeled and sliced into pieces.

Toss raw pieces in a bowl with garlic, olive oil and salt.

-Some butter

This is to be placed on chicken breasts so they remain tender while roasting. 

Lends the breast some juices.

  

Then you heat the oven to 220°.
Then you place chicken and pumpkin together.
Then you sprinkle some salt and drizzle some olive oil on it before popping into the oven.

45 minutes later,

Voila!

It was very delicious, my chef said.

Paopei, make for you when you come, k?

Don't Waste!

Last Saturday, Super Hubby and I went to the bi-weekly market in the Center.

I was so excited to see rows and rows of fruit and already mentally planning my blog post to brag (to mummy and daddy) about the wonderful plums and cherries and peaches and apricots that I would be eating.

So, we bought a kilo worth of cherries (so sweet and juicy), and another kilo worth of apricots and plums. The minute they handed us our purchases, I took out a plum, and happily bit into it. My smile turned into an involuntary frown. IT WAS SO FREAKING SOUR!

The apricot was the same, and I was devastated! It was supposed to be my diet for the next few days (been overloading on too much rich food and thought I'd detox with fruits and veges).

Anyway, to cut the long story short (and spare you my mental overdrive), my insistence on not throwing away and wasting the fruits led me to a very interesting discovery and creation of my own: Sugar, olive oil and kikkoman soy sauce is perfect as a salad dressing, especially for fruits. 

All you need to do is chop up a bowl of juicy sour fruits, toss them with a small teaspoon of sugar so it coats every piece slightly. Then pour in the mixture of (one tablespoon of Kikkoman and 2 tablespoons of olive oil) dressing, and you have yourself and very very very delish  and appetizing salad which goes well with everything.

Two of the four meals I had with the 1 kilo of fruits. 

I might be off to get myself more fruit today. Hopefully, they're sour!

I made beef tartare!

I fell in love with beef tartare here in Luxembourg because the meat is so fresh (I guess premium prices does mean you get premium quality), and beef tartare being raw beef is based on having super good quality beef.

However, my love for it was making me slightly poorer. I mean, a main course here typically costs approximately 25 euros. So, whenever I wanted beef tartare, I had to fork out at least 25 euros, and frankly, I can't love something THAT much.

Then, I had a ta-da moment. I have my own super chef who makes super beef tartares, so why couldn't I get him to teach me?

And the ta-da moment got even better when he said it was super easy to do!

So, here I present the beef tartare I made with only some verbal instructions from my super chef as he got ready to go to work.

Beef Tartare

Ingredients:

1 portion raw minced beef (150 grams)

1/2 red onion (chopped)

4 small gherkins (chopped)

10 capers (chopped)
1 tablespoon mustard
2 tablespoons olive oil

A splash of tabasco sauce (according to taste)

A splash of worchestershire sauce (according to taste)

Some salt and pepper (according to taste)

You basically just mix everything in with the raw beef, 

and adjust the condiments according to what you like. 

While you're mashing everything up, you can (like me) fry some french fries. 

Or you can also eat it with a baguette if you want to be healthier. 

Tastes good with either one. 

I just felt like french fries that day.  

And voila! U have a wonderful plate of beef tartare. 

This is a no-fail recipe. Trust me. It was so good, I felt confident enough to serve it to my friend Ms. Z (who is also a beef tartare fan and expert) today, and she ate up every single bit, proclaiming it to be the best beef tartare she ever had! :)

See, if I can make it, you can too. 

Oh, and the total cost? Just approximately 4 euros per meal! Sure beats paying 25 euro for a beef tartare that isn't even as good as mine!

Cepat dimasak, sedap dimakan

So this post is about food.

I normally eat out for lunch and dinner. Been lucky enough to have the hotel as my mainstay makan place the past few weeks, and most of the time, I get to eat with the S's and their guests. Other times, people have been kind enough to take me out for very nice dinners and I've amassed quite a few favourite places in Luxembourg that you all will enjoy when you come visit (not so subtle hint).

But this post is not about that kind of food. I still am too high class shy to take my camera out and snap away when we dine out, so you will have to come and see how good the food is when you come here yourself. :)

This post is about two of my very yummy 5-minute meals done in my very anything goes east meets west innovative style of cooking because here in Luxembourg, you can find quite a bit of Asian food stuff. Not everything necessary, but enough to be able to improvise.

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Meal #1: Kon Low Kuey Teow

Ingredients:

1 portion of Thai Flat Rice Noodles

3 teaspoon sambal olek

1 tablespoon thai garlic chili sauce

3 tablespoons olive oil

Cooking time:

3 minutes

 the condiments

 First, boil the kuey teow

 While the noodles are cooking, mix the condiments to make the sauce

And voila! Makan time!

I tell you, it may look like nothing, but it sure rivals a lot of the Asian food I have had here! 

Sooooooo good!

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Meal #2: Cream Pasta Ala Sambal Olek 

 (You will find a lot of Sambal Olek in my diet until Mummy comes visit and brings me the real thing - Sambal Chili Padi Sabah!)

Ingredients:

1 portion penne pasta

3 tomatoes

2 onions

1 tablespoon butter

A dollop of fresh cream

1 tablespoon Sambal Olek

Cooking time: 15 minutes

The other stuff with my trusty sambal olek

First, you boil the tomatoes. 

(While the tomatoes are boiling, faster chop up the onions)

**Note that I cooked this using only one pot, and I'll tell you how

Then, you take the tomatoes out of the pot, put some salt and olive oil in the water that boiled the tomatoes, and put the pasta into that same water and pot that boiled the tomatoes...
you see how much water and gas I'm saving?

While the pasta is boiling, you peel the skin of the tomatoes mash them up, place them next to the onions, and wait for the pasta to be al dente.

Then, you drain the pasta and quickly rinse the (same) pot, and put the butter in the pot and start to saute the onions. After the onions are soft, you put in the tomatoes and sambal olek, bring it to boil, and let it simmer for about 5 minutes.

Then, you pour in the cream. 

Then, the pasta.

 And again, Voila! 

I'm so easy to please!