Rösti with Cheese and Homemade Mushroom Sauce

This dish is my son's favourite! He has it everytime we go to Marche. It cost $14.80 for 1 set with mushroom sauce there and if i make at home, $14.80 can feed all 3 of us. So sometimes i will make it at home for him and family!

Ingredient

1kg Russet Potatoes, shredded

Homemade mushroom sauce*

Block of Parmesan cheese

Cooking Oil

Method

1. Heat up non-stick pan on medium heat and add 1 tbsp of oil

2. Gather enough shredded potatoes and sprinkle all over the pan to form a potato patty

3. On medium heat, leave it untouched for 5 mins

4. Flip over, and fry for another 5 mins

5. Remove to a plate, scoop a ladle of mushroom sauce on top

6. Sprinkle generous amount of Parmesan cheese on top

Enjoy!

*Simple mushroom sauce

Ingredients

 

200 g of thinly sliced mushrooms
285ml of milk
15 g of butter
1 tbsp of flour
Extra Virgin olive oil
salt and pepper 

 

Method

 

1. Heat a little olive oil and melt the butter in it.
2. Add the mushrooms and sauté until the mushrooms are soft and dark in colour.
3. Remove the pan from the heat and set aside.
4. Add the flour and pour in the milk.
5. Mix the ingredients together, stirring continuously.
6. Return the pan to a medium heat and cook the sauce, stirring constantly until it thickens.
7. Season with salt and pepper and cook for 5 minutes.
8. Done!

Open Face Steak Sandwich Trio (Steak and Mushrooms, Steak and Egg, Steak and Cheese)

Spoilt for choice on what to have when you crave for sandwich? Why not have a Sandwich Trio? Better still, make it a Steak Sandwich Trio!

Ingredient

500g beef chuck tender (This is selected due to cost and texture)

3 Tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

1 teaspoon Rosemary (Dried), more if you like.

1 teaspoon black pepper

2 teaspoons sea salt 
Sandwich Loaf
Sliced Cheddar Cheese
Eggs
200g White Button Mushroom, Sliced
Butter

Method

1. Pour olive oil into skillet under medium to high heat.

2. Salt and pepper both sides of beef.

3. Brown all sides of roast. (You just want to get a nice brown coating on your meat for flavor.)

4. With a pointy-knife, poke about one dozen holes into top and bottom of the roast. This will allow juices to drain into roasting pan during oven cooking

5. Place roast into baked pan. Now add Rosemary, salt and pepper to top of roast.

6. Place roast into preheated oven to 180 degrees. 500g roast takes about 25 minutes to cook. I like my roast done between medium and medium rare. (The photo shows medium rare)

7. Play with the timing and temp to achieve your desire done-ness.

8. In a pan, heat up a knob of butter and soften the mushrooms till they turn dark brown.  

9. In another Pan, Fry the egg.

10. Assemble 3 sandwich loaf bread with the following combination -  (Steak and Mushrooms, Steak and Egg, Steak and Cheese)

11. Enjoy!

Apple and Raisin Pie

 

This is a classic Apple Pie Recipe. I been wanting to do a real Pie for a long long time before i stumble upon this recipe. Its my first time making a Pie from scratch but it will not be the last. 

Ingredients

Pastry

225g Plain Flour

140g Butter

85g Castor Sugar

Zest of 1 Lemon

2 Egg Yolks

Pinch of Saly

Apple Filling 

Small knob of Butter

4 Green Apples

1 Red Apple

3 tbsp Brown sugar (I use Muscovado)

Zest of 1 Lemon

50g of Raisins

1 Egg Yolk

30ml Milk

Method

1. Pre-heat oven to 180 Degrees

2. Combine the Flour, Butter, Sugar and Lemon Zest to form a dry dough

3. Add in Salt, Egg Yolks and few drops of Water to knead into a Pie Dough

4. Divide the Dough into 2. Roll 1 of the dough into a round shape of about 21 - 22 cm diameter

5. Lay the dough into a buttered 20cm Pie Pan/Dish, gently push the dough down to form the base of the Pie.

6. Store the Pie Pan/Dish (covered with layer of foil) into the fridge while we prepare the filling.

7. Cut up the Apples into 8 pieces each.

8. In a non-stick pan, toss in Apples with Sugar, Lemon Zest and Raisins and a tbsp of Water.

9. Simmer under low heat for 5 mins and Apples are well infused with the Sugar.

10. Take it off the flame and cool down completely.

11. Remove the Pie Pan/Dish from the fridge, remove the foil and arrange in the Apples Filling

12. Roll the other 1 of the dough( Big enough to cover the top of the Pie Pan/Dish)

13. Lay the Dough over the Pie Pan/Dish and using a fork, make few punctures on the surface (Allow steam to come out)

14. Do a Egg wash for the surface 

15. Pop it into the Oven for 50 mins.

16. Enjoy Your Apple Pie! 

Black Pepper Steak with Potato and Egg Salad

This looks classy but its infact very cheap to make. About $20 for 2 sets of this for my wife and me when it will easily cost $20 per head when you eat out.

Ingredient

2 Beef Striploin Steaks (250g - 300g each)

1 packet Enoki mushroom

2 Hard boil Eggs

2 Potatoes

1 bottle Black Pepper Sauce

1 bottle Mayo

Olive Oil 

Pepper

Method

1.Boil potatoes for 10 mins, leave to cool and cut to quarters. Mix with quarterd eggs and keep in fridge.

2. Pour olive oil into skillet under medium to high heat.

3. Brown the steak on both sides for 5 mins each (I like mine medium)

4. In a seperate pan, heat up the pepper sauce and add in mushrooms to soften them

5. When steaks are done, remove to serving plate. 

6. Spoon pepper sauce and mushrooms on top.

7. Mix the potatoes and eggs with mayo and pepper and serve as side dish

8. Enjoy!

Mashed Sardine and Onions Fettuccine

Ingredients 

1 Big can Sardines

1 500g Packet of Pasta (I use Fettuccine)

1 Onion

1 hard boil egg

2 tbsp Sugar

Salt and Pepper

Oil

Method

1. Chop up 1 Onion

2. Boil a litre of water with drops of oil and handful of salt, empty 1 packet of pasta to cook to Al Dente (about 11 mins)

3. In a pan, fry the onions until they sweat

4. Add in the can sardines and simmer

5. Add sugar to the sardines and mash them up in the pan

6. Lay the pasta in your plate and pour the sardine sauce over

7. Slice the hard boil egg into half and place by the side

8. Pepper to taste

9. Enjoy!

Shepherd's Pie

*This Recipe i learnt from Alton's Brown show - Good Eats* 

Shepherd's pie is something which i love alot. i used to have it at Canadian Pizza whenever we order pizza delivery. Since My wife also love this, i decided to trawl the net for recipe for experiment. One day, i saw this show Good Eats on Food Network by Alton Brown. This guy is top notch. All his recipes are really Good Eats. 

So, for my pie ... ... thanks to recipe from Mr Brown, 

Ingredients

For the potatoes:

1 1/2 pounds russet potatoes
1/4 cup half-and-half (One cup of evaporated milk may also be substituted for each cup of half-and-half cream.)
2 ounces unsalted butter
3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 egg yolk

 

For the meat filling:

2 tablespoons canola oil
1 cup chopped onion
2 carrots, peeled and diced small
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 1/2 pounds ground lamb
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons tomato paste
1 cup chicken broth
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
2 teaspoons freshly chopped rosemary leaves
1 teaspoon freshly chopped thyme leaves
1/2 cup fresh or frozen corn kernels
1/2 cup fresh or frozen English peas

 

Method

1. Peel the potatoes and cut into 1/2-inch dice.

2. Place in a medium saucepan and cover with cold water. Set over high heat, cover and bring to a boil. 

3. Once boiling, uncover, decrease the heat to maintain a simmer and cook until tender and easily crushed with tongs, approximately 10 to 15 minutes.

4. Place the half-and-half and butter into a microwave-safe container and heat in the microwave until warmed through, about 35 seconds. 

5. Drain the potatoes in a colander and then return to the saucepan. Mash the potatoes and then add the half and half, butter, salt and pepper and continue to mash until smooth.

6. Stir in the yolk until well combined.

7. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

8. While the potatoes are cooking, prepare the filling. Place the canola oil into a 12-inch saute pan and set over medium high heat. 

9. Once the oil shimmers, add the onion and carrots and saute just until they begin to take on color, approximately 3 to 4 minutes. 

10. Add the garlic and stir to combine. Add the lamb, salt and pepper and cook until browned and cooked through, approximately 3 minutes. 

11. Sprinkle the meat with the flour and toss to coat, continuing to cook for another minute. 

12. Add the tomato paste, chicken broth, Worcestershire, rosemary, thyme, and stir to combine. 

13. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat to low, cover and simmer slowly 10 to 12 minutes or until the sauce is thickened slightly.

14. Add the corn and peas to the lamb mixture and spread evenly into an 11 by 7-inch glass baking dish. 

15. Top with the mashed potatoes, starting around the edges to create a seal to prevent the mixture from bubbling up and smooth with a rubber spatula. 

16. Place on a parchment lined half sheet pan on the middle rack of the oven and bake for 25 minutes or just until the potatoes begin to brown. 

17. Remove to a cooling rack for at least 15 minutes before serving.

*This Recipe i learnt from Alton's Brown show - Good Eats*

Crab Pasta

Ingredients 

1 LIVE Sri Lanka Crab

1 Packet of Pasta (I use Linguini)

1 head of broccoli

1 can ready-made Pasta Sauce (Buy any that you like)

Salt and Pepper

Oil

Method

1. Clean and cut up the crab and steam for about 15 minutes

2. Boil a litre of water with drops of oil and handful of salt, empty 1 packet of pasta to cook to Al Dente (about 11 mins)

3. Blanch the broccoli for 5 minutes in hot water and place them into a ice bath

4. Once the crab is steam, extract the flesh from then body and keep the pincers (See Photo)

5. Coat the pasta with your sauce (warm the sauce) and place them into your plate

6. Add your crab meat and broccoli and the 2 Pincers

7. Pepper to taste

8. Enjoy!

Pork Cordon Bleu with Broccoli

I first stumble on this was when i went to India in late 90's. Over at Kochi, it was a popular dish at this hotel called Taj Malabar Hotel. But they use chicken instead of pork. I again tasted this when i went to Visakhapatnam in 2004 at this hotel called Dolphin Hotel. Again it was chicken cordon bleu. (They used chicken breast which made the dish a bit dry)

Recently, when i was in Thailand, Pattaya in 2009 and Phuket in 2010, i had the oppurtunity to taste Pork Cordon Bleu. Both times, it was at a fusion restaurant. In Pattaya, it was at Walking Street. In Phuket, it was along Patong Beach. I love the pork version better then the chicken so i experimented and enjoyed this dish when i'm home in Singapore. Here is the recipe.

Ingredients 

(Makes 1 Pork Cordon Bleu)

2 slices Pork Loin Patty about 1 inch thickness

1 slice of Ham

1 slice of cheese

1 Packet Breadcrumbs (I can make 4 Pork Cordon Bleu)

1 Egg

Few florets of Broccoli

Method

1. Using the back of your cleaver, flatten the pork loin patty. (They should expand in size to about 1.5 times)

2. Lay 1 patty on a plate, line the ham and cheese on top of it.

3. Lay the other patty over, sealing the ham and cheese in-between the patties

4. Place the pork into the egg liquid

4. Coat the pork with breadcrumbs and pan fry the patty till golden brown

5. While pan-frying, blanch the broccoli florets for about 5 mins in hot water, remove and place in ice bath

6. Serve the Pork Cordon Bleu with Broccoli and enjoy!

Pumpkin Soup

Ingredients

1 Pumpkin, (Best if you have Buttersquash)
Milk
EV Olive Oil
Salt and Pepper to taste

Method

1. Cut up pumpkin into 1 inch cubes and steam for 10 minutes
2. Blend the pumpkin into a paste
3. Pour the paste into a stockpot, add in milk to form the consistency that you like. (How thick or watery depends on you)
4. Bring the soup to a boil, add salt and pepper to taste
5. Enjoy

*Croutons are homemade too, not store bought. If you are interested, can send me a msg and i share with you.