Smoked Salmon Salad with Parsley Vinaigrette Dressing

Yesterday I've friends over at mine for a nice evening meal. I've prepared a menu that consist of 4 courses that it's nice, healthy and delicious.

Here's what I've prepared:

1. Smoked Salmon Salad with Parsley Vinaigrette dressing served with farmhouse bread


2. Leek and potato soup, side of seared scallops


3. Roast Duck with cranberry and sloe gin sauce served with winter vegetables


4. Fruity yogurt with slice of pineapple

Let me share with you smoked salmon salad with parsley vinaigrette dressing. This is a light meal to begin with. It tasted light, fresh and an elegant starter, goes well with a glass of rose or red wine. Really easy to make and my guests gave thumbs up ............ and one of my little guests requested ..... " Can I have more smoke salmon please? "

Smoked Salmon Salad with Parsley Vinaigrette Sauce

Ingredients (served 4)

• 300 gm Scottish Lochmuir oak smoked salmon slices


• 100 gm of crispy salad green

Dressing

• 1 bunch of flat leaf parsley (take the leaf only, discard the stem)


• 1 tsp Dijon mustard


• 1-2 tsp honey


• 1 tsp sea salt


• 1 tsp red wine vinegar


• 1 tbsp of lemon juice
  
• 3 pickled little onion/ 1 shallot


• 4 tbsp of extra virgin olive oil


• freshly milled black pepper

1. Use a pestle and mortar to pound and crush parsley, shallot/pickled onion, salt into puree. Then add in Dijon mustard, honey, vinegar, lemon juice, olive oil and pepper and blend well.


2. Divide the salmon and salad into 4 portions. Assembled the smoked salmon and salad onto plate. Drizzle with some olive oil and garnish with the dressing (1).
   
   Enjoy the healthy salad.
   

Summer Salad : Grilled Nectarines

There are so much to buy from the market, I couldn't resist to buy back some juicy plump nectarines. One of my favorite fruits, so juicy, sweet and taste a bit like mango, well almost.
So I thought of grilling the fruit and mix them with some homegrown salad, dress with balsamic vinegar. There you go a healthy lunch, simple and refreshing.

Summer Salad : Grilled Nectarines
Ingredients (serves 2)

• 2 nectarines - ripe and still firm
• handful of lollo rosa salad leaves
• some cherry tomatoes
  
• some fresh mint leaves
• some grated lemon zest
• some grated parmesan cheese
• dash of black peppercorn
  
• 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• dash of sea salt
  
• 3 tbsp balsamic vinegar + 1 tsp sugar- boil over hob to reduce the amount by half as it thickens.

1. Slice the nectarines. Place over grill pan and grill about 4-5 minutes on each side on high heat. You'll have nicely grill mark on nectarines. Remove and set aside.
2. Place the nectarine, tomatoes, salad leave, chopped mint leaves in a mixing bowl.
3. Add all the other ingredients and mixed well with your hand. Set aside.
4. Serve on plate as starter with toast or baguette.
   

Simple and nice.....

Crispy Tofu

I wanted to post this recipes but somehow was rather busy last week that I totally forgotten all about it. I had some leftover silky egg tofu and decided to make a simple starter. If you're not a fan of tofu, I bet this simple crispy tofu dish will win you over.


Crispy Tofu
Ingredients

• Silky egg tofu- cut into 2x1 inches rectangle
  
• 2 tbsp of potato starch
• 200 ml of cooking oil
• some green salad and corriander for garnishing
• some Thai sweet chilli sauce

1. Coat the tofu with potato starch
2. In a pan/wok, heat up the cooking oil till hot.
3. Put in the coated tofu into hot oil and fry. Fry for about 5mins on each side till golden brown.
4. Removed and drained with paper towel.
5. Garnish and serve with Thai sweet chilli sauce.

Verdict: Soft inside and perfect crisp on the outside. Yummy.

Vietnamese Spring Roll

Whenever I fancy Vietnamese meal, this is one of my favorite. It's none other than rice paper spring roll. This little gem is easy to prepare, no cooking required, fresh herbs from garden and generally a really healthy meal.



Vietnamese Spring Roll
Ingredients (for 8 rolls)

• 8 large cooked prawn-peeled and cut into halves
• 50gm of rice vermicelli
  
• 1 cup of julienned carrot
• bunch of fresh mint leaves-shredded with hand
• bunch of fresh corriander leaves-shredded with hand
• bunch of chives-chopped
  
• 4 lettuce leaves-used the soft green leaves-shredded with hand
• 16 pieces of 6 inch diameter rice paper

SAUCE

• 2 tbsp fish sauce (Nam Phla)
• juice from 1 lime
• 3 cloves of garlic minced
• 2 bird eye chillis chopped
• 2 tbsp of caster sugar
• 3 tbsp of water

1. In a bowl, place the dry vermecilli, pour in hot boiling water to cover it for 5-10 minutes until it softens. Drained and set aside.
   
2. Prepare the sauce. Add all the sauce ingredients and set aside.
3. Immerse one rice paper at a time in warm water till soft(takes less than 30secs). Lay two soften rice paper overlay half of each other on a flat plate.
4. On one end of the rice paper lay the lettuce, top it with carrot, rice vermicelli and chives. On the other end lay 4 pieces of prawn. Roll paper up halfway, fold in the sides and continue to roll till the end.
5. With a knife sliced the roll into half.
   
6. Served with sauce.

A real good healthy snack for hot days. :-)

Chicken Karaage with Ponzu Sauce

For those who like Japanese food, this little bite size fried chicken serves well as a starter. I would ask for second. Trust me, this dish is rather easy to prepare and one would love the simplicity of this dish.

Chicken Karaage with Ponzu Sauce
Ingredients (good for 2 persons)

• 300 gm boneless and skinless chicken breast/thigh - diced
• 2 tbsp ginger juice
• 2 tbsp light soy sauce
• 4 tbsp sake (Japanese wine)
• 1 tsp sesame oil
• Corn starch to coat the chicken
• Oil for deep frying
• toasted sesame seed for garnishing
• pickled radish for garnishing (optional)
  

Ponzu sauce

• 1 tbsp light soya sauce (I use Kikkoman brand)
• 2 tbsp orange juice
• 1 tsp rice vinegar/lemon juice
• 1 tsp mirin
• some ginger - shredded, to add some gingery taste to the sauce
  
• some bonito flake

1. Marinate the chicken cube in ginger juice, soya sauce, sake and sesame oil. Leave aside and let it marinade for an hour.
2. Prepare the ponzu sauce. Add all ingredient (except orange juice) into a small sauce pan and let it simmer for few minutes. Drained and discard the bonito flake. Add in the orange juice and mixed well.
3. Then in wok/fryer, heat up the oil. Coat the chicken pieces with corn flour and deep fry till golden brown and crispy. Drained with paper towel to remove excess oil. Served hot , garnish with sesame seed and serve with ponzu sauce.

Yummy.

And over here in Cambridge, one of the well known garden (Anglesey Abbey) is in for Snowdrop season. They're really pretty with their little white cup flowerheads that looks like snow cover the ground in the woodlands. They're pretty isn't it. :-)

Ngoh Hiang ( Chinese Five Spice sausage roll)

One of the dish I served during my Chinese New Year Eve dinner as a starter. This is very authentic to Singapore. You can easily find this is food court or hawker centre. This dish is authentically Hokkien.



Ngoh Hiang
Ingredients ( for 5 rolls)

Ingredients for the filling:

• 150g minced pork
• 150g prawns - minced
  
• 5 water chestnut, diced
• 1/2 chopped big onion
• 1 small carrot julienned
• 2 stalks spring onion chopped
• 1 egg (beaten)
• corn flour

Seasoning:

• 1 tbsp light soya sauce
• 2 tsp white pepper
• 1 tbsp five spice powder

Soya bean sheet (I rinse in warm water to dissolve the saltiness)

Sauce

• 2 tbsp plum sauce
• 1/4 tsp hoisin sauce
• 1/2 tsp garlic oil
• some sesame seed
• 2 tsp of water
• 1 tsp of lime juice

1. Mix pork, prawns, water chestnut, big onion, carrot, spring onion in a mixing bowl. Add seasoning and mix well.
2. Add the beaten egg and corn flour. Mix well.
3. Lay the bean sheet and cut to desired size for wrapping. Wrap the fillings in the beancurd sheets; compress the fillings to make it tight.
   
4. In a steamer, steam the roll for about 10-15mins. Let it cool.
5. Prepare a pan/wok for deep frying. Heat the oil on medium heat.
   
6. Sliced the roll. Place and coat with corn flour before deep frying.
7. Deep fry until golden brown.
8. Serve with sauce.
   

Enjoy :-)

The Dip Truth

I find this is so true: "Whatever the situation there is always a dish to suit".
The start of the week one will always need some gearing up especially when we just had a wonderful weather over the weekend. Having a lot of meat for the past week, I prefer to have something really light and yet nutritious(something as close to superfood) for my evening supper. One will never go wrong with fresh fruits or vegetables. Going through my fridge I realised I have a large avocado which I intended to eat yesterday but forgotten. Could I whip up something nice with avocado? Scratching my head for ideas it seems.
How about making a nice avocado dip to serve with bread stick? Sound really easy, almost close to no effort at all. And avocado contained good cholestrol, bet you will ask for more for this light and hearty meal. It is also good as starter when entertaining guests.

Avocado Dip

Ingredients [good for 2 persons]

• 1 large ripe avocado
• juice of half lemon
• 2 cloves garlic
• a pinch of sea salt / or to taste
• 1 tbsp olive oil

1. Cut the avocado in half lengthways and twist the 2 halves in opposite direction to separate. De-stone.
2. Scoop the avocado flesh into a non-metallic bowl. Squeeze over lemon juice and pour in the olive oil. Use a masher to mash the flesh into desired consistency, add in sea salt and mix well.
3. Scoop into a little bowl and serve with bread stick or even naan bread.
   

Tip: Don't keep the dip for too long as it may oxidize and discolor. Always prepare it just before guests arrived and have it soon after.

This is simply gorgeous [quick and easy meal yet loaded with nutritions].

Rocket Rocks!

Define rocket?

1. According to Wikipedia it is a missile, aircraft or other vehicle which obtains thrust by the reaction of the rocket to the ejection of fast moving fluid from a rocket engine.
2. To Malaysians it can be the symbol of the opposition political party - DAP [Democratic Action Party]
3. To a chef rocket can be a type of green salad better known as roquette or Arugula.
   

Fear not as I am not here to preach anything at all about rocket science. But more or less trying to create a starter that rocks. Real easy to make and in no time your guests will be rocking away about your rocket.

Rocket salad with grape fruit on large flat mushroom

[good for 4 persons]
Ingredients

• 4 large flat mushroom
• 50gm of fresh rocket
• 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil for rocket
• 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil for drizzling on mushroom
• 1 tbsp garlic infused olive oil for plate decoration (optional)
  
• 1 tsp of lemon juice
• 1 tsp balsamic vinegar
• 1/4 tsp of sea salt
• 2 tbsp of peeled grapefruit flesh
• 1/2 tsp honey

1. Wash and dry the mushroom, remove the center stalk.
2. Lay them on a baking tray, drizzle some olive oil onto the inner cup of mushroom.
3. Meanwhile prepare salad, mix well olive oil, lemon juice, balsamic vinegar, honey & salt. Pour the mixture onto rocket and grapefruit flesh. Coat well.
4. Bake the mushroom at 190C for 8minutes and removed from oven. On a plate drizzle some garlic infused olive oil, place mushroom cup on the plate and top it up with salad. You can also drizzle some black pepper if you like.
5. Ready to serve.

For sure Rocket Rocks!

I was eyeing cast iron cookware for awhile now and finally it's half price. Therefore without hesitation I bought a 22cm casserole cast iron pot, in burgundy red. Nice :-).

Get the party started

It was interesting conversation over lunch at work a week ago. One of my colleague pointed out that she had difficulties organizing meal for her vegetarian friends. Therefore she decided not to invite them for that matter. A little effort I thought to myself and you will be bowed over.
I never ceased to amaze my guests whenever I served the Italian antipasto(or better known as starter). One of them, I highly recommended is bruschetta. It is so easy to prepare and I guaranteed that your meat eating guests and vegetarian friends alike will be bowed over.

I picked some cherry tomatoes, fresh parsley and basil from my garden, bought a French loaf, extra virgin olive oil from my kitchen cabinet and I'm ready to shine again.

Bruschetta

Ingredients

Good for 4 persons

• 8 inches long French loaf
• 300gm cherry tomatoes
  
• 1 tsp lemon juice
• a pinch of sea salt
• a handful of fresh parsley, coarsely chopped
  
• 4 basil leaves, coarsely chopped
  
• 5 cloves toasted garlic , finely chopped
  
• 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil for the bread
• 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil for the tomatoes
  

1. Sliced the round bottom of the loaf at both end, discard them. Then sliced the loaf horizontally with each thickness of about 1.5cm. Coat one surface of the bread with olive oil and lay the non coated surface onto the baking tray.
   
2. De-seed the tomatoes and cut into small cubes. Add the lemon juice, salt, garlic,parsley, basil, olive oil and mixed them.
3. Turn on oven grill, to 200C, place the bread and toast for 5minutes until golden brown. Removed from oven.
   
4. Then scoop the tomatoes onto the toasted bread.
   
5. Served in a lovely plate and have them while it's still hot.

Simple isn't it? It's not difficult to get the party started at all, a glass of wine and bruschetta, perfect isn't it?

Note: For toasted garlic, just throw in garlic cloves still in their skin and let it grilled for 10mins. Removed form oven and peeled off the skin.