Beef Stew again...

Following my first attempt at beef stew, this is my 2nd attempt.

This time round, there is a special request from my MIL as she does not know what to do with the beef in her fridge. Instead of just giving her the receipe, i decided to cook it for her to try first.

So the plan is to cook for Saturday dinner but i saw the beef chunks on sale when shopping during lunch time. So i decided to stock up the beef! super good price, 1 kg in all for about SGD10. Lucky me!

Next is to buy red wine. All the wine at home are expensive so i went scouting for a $13+ wine for cooking but ended up buying a $15 one... -_-''

Next is to buy vegetables, celery, tomato, potatoes, carrot and onion.

For seasoning, i used ginger, garlic, freshly grounded pepper, dried rosemary and bouquet garni (bought in London Tesco, didn't see them in Singapore supermarket so far)

Below is a shot taken directly from the pot. Looks a goody mess but i tell you, its a mess made in heaven. i am not boasting! its the best stew i have eaten so far, nicer then those i tasted in restaurants and cafes...

I have half a bottle of red wine left... will be cooking this again very soon!

Vongole

Hubby and i watch a korean drama called 'Pasta' and salivated in front of the tv for many days...

so we decided to cook vongole and insisted on buying Tagliatelle to cook it (found it in Jasons marketplace eventually)!

Not forgetting opening a bottle of white wine as well.... a lot of effort, time and $$ gone into the dish... its also one of the rare instances of him wanting to cook together with me...

and the result? YUMMY!!! The Tagliatelle soaked up the sweet juices of the clam very well so i ended up with a plate of dry but tasty dish. Not a single drop is wasted!

Carrot soup

The carrot soup cooked by my MIL has 3 different carrots, the normal orange colour carrot, white radish and green radish. When i first attempted it, i used 3 carrots and ended up with a huge pot of soup that the 2 of us cant finish. So now, i will simply cook carrot with white radish. Green radish is not commonly available in the supermarket so it has been a long time since i used it.

This time round, i added a couple of tomato cos i happen to have some in the fridge and i want a hint of sourness for 'kai wei' feel... white radish has a pretty strong smell that is not so pleasant and the tomato can help to cover it up...

In my soup, i added a couple of dried figs (anti cancer properties in TCM), north and south apricot seed ('nan xing, bei xing'), red dates and dried oysters. As usual, my soup is always made of chicken bones (i dont spend money on pork ribs!). Come to think about it. Long time since i made soup, i have collected 3-4 chicken carcasses in my freezer already!

Couple of hours on low heat will yield a pot of sweet tasting wholesome soup.

Do not keep leftovers in the fridge. It will only keep 1 day and will taste different after a day. I realised that freezing is a better way of keeping soup, especially for soups made with vegetables. Freeze in clean plastic bags, tie with rubber band and defroze the giantic ice cube in a pot over the stove. Can keep up to 2 wks with no change in taste.

Strawberry pastry cake

Dont know why its call a pastry cake and i dont know what is a pastry cake. The cake is dense, not oily (as there is little butter used) and has a great taste! tastes 10x better if its heated up in the mircowave (covered for 30 seconds on high).

I know the cake will look prettier without cinnammon but i am willing to sacrifice the looks for great taste and the aroma which fills the house when the cake is baking!

The cake will look better if i sprinkle some icing sugar on top but its too late at night and i cant be bothered! (went to watch 'Inception'. Fantastic movie!)

The jammy but in the cake is the strawberry bits from the strawberry yogurt i used in the receipe (instead of sour cream). Extra yummy!

The tastiest muffcake ever

The good news is, this is the softest and tastiest cupcake/muffin (my girlfriend calls it muffcake) ever. The bad news is, this is because I made a mistake and didnt follow the receipe right. I double up all the ingredient but only added 1 portion of the flour. Should i claim credit for this success? can i call myself the accidental chef? wahahha.

I only have 1 muffin tray so i made some in cupcake cups and some in muffin cups.

:)

Simply delicious. This receipe is a keeper. Opps, what i mean is, my accidentally self-created receipe is a keeper.

Coffee baileys cheesecake

My first cheesecake. NYDC cheesecake is the choice for hubby's birthday cake for 2 - 3 yrs. Wanted to make one for him this birthday so this is a test run. Problem now is, the cheesecake is so BIG, i have 1/4 stored in the freezer. Don't know when this 1/4 cheesecake is will 'go away'. Before it does, it makes no sense to make another one yah?

Anyway, it is a success. Thanks to the many hints and tips from those who tried the receipe.
Receipe is from here.

Angle Gourd

Angle Gourd ('Jiao3 Gua1') is so common in the supermarket. And cheap. Problem is, its always sold in a pair (and yet only cost SGD$1 plus). The skin looks very thick but its very easy to scrap off using a vegetable peeler. It has such a natural sweetness that i will be surprised by its taste each time i cook it. 

I used one to stir fry with dried scrimps, dong fen, black fungus and prawns.

The angle gourd is sliced around 1 cm thick and 4-5 cm long.

My second dish using angle gourd - stir fry with minced meat and egg.

Angle gourd is sliced in thicker chunks.