Crispy Salmon with Butter Poached Apples

This was one of the first successful dishes of mine (By successful, I meant that it got basically a rave from Pauline!).

It is also very simple to make this dish.

Make sure you get a salmon fillet with skin as the skin is meant to be pan fried until crispy. Season generously on both sides and score the fish. Insert a few sprigs of thyme in the slits.

Heat up a pan until it is piping hot and add some olive oil. Use your hand to place the salmon, skin side down and press down on it for a few seconds. To cook a perfect fish, always only turn the fish once during the cooking process.

The Old Malaya Cafe

It's strange when you think that there's nothing left to excite you foodwise in mainstream Orchard Road, that you stumble onto a gem.

And that is exactly what we found last week whilst at the basement food center of 313, the last place that I thought I would find something new and exciting. While it is new in discovery, but rich in old tradition where the food is concerned.

Burger Bench and Bar

Heard so much about Burger Bench n Bar (otherwise known as b3 from now), that we made a trip to this new Willin Low creation at Orchard Cineleisure.

It was relatively packed on a Saturday afternoon, where a steakhouse used to be at. Guess that one didn't fare too well.

Sin Ming Roti Prata With Video

I been wanting to post on my favorite roti prata stall in Singapore for some time. And trust me, there are numerous prata shops all around the island!

For those who do not know, roti prata is a form of dough that is fried using clarified butter, hence, disastrously sinful if consumed in large amounts.

Tender Braised Soy and Black Bean Pork Belly with Mango Butter

Pauline's mum has always made one of the best home cooked pork belly, and I was determined to replicate it with my own touch on it.

And credit must go to nuttylive, whose My Delicious Life's Babi Ponteh recipe formed the base for my new dish.

Bao Today and Black Sesame Bun

Small but cosy outlet, just a little hot

In recent years, there has been a deluge of Hong Kong cafes sprouting all over this island.

Some are very familiar names like Xin Wang and Central, and most of these will harbor ginormous menus covering everything from instant noodles with luncheon meat to frog leg congee to dim sum and yuan yang tea/coffee.

Most of these are alright if you want a quick bite, but rarely do any of these elevate themselves to be remembered for its great taste or genuine innovation. Until now.

White Chocolate Mousse with Raspberry Puree

I must admit I am not very strong at desserts, as evidenced by my lack of posts on sweets.

For this, I defer to Pauline for a recipe that she worked on from another reference, but nevertheless, was a hit with our family diners recently.

To begin, blend some raspberries until they are smooth and syrupy. Strain the mixture to remove the seeds, and eliciting a nice texture of a puree.

From My Laptop to the Kitchen - Project Food Blog Official Entry

For the past couple of days, I been perplexing on what to put up for the entry for the competition. The entry is to touch on what defines a food blogger and what I think will make the next star of food blogging.

Myself, I am just literally weeks into food blogging, so I do not consider myself a foremost authority on food blogging.

My first published article on Technorati

This morning I woke up to an email from Technorati. It was to tell me that they have published my submission for a piece of writing I came up with yesterday.

To see it, just follow the link below. Admittedly, it is very exciting to see this being posted on a major site and quite a first for me!

The article basically is a little more backstory on myself and on food blogging, kind of an extended piece on my original introduction here. Go check it out.

Article first published as From Blackberries to Strawberries on Technorati.

Aromatic Broth of Asparagus with Caviar

Going thru my posts, I realised that I don't have many soup recipes. And over the weekend, whilst cooking for the family with a degustation menu, I decided to whip up this new broth.

I like it for the very distinctive taste of asparagus mixed with a nice broth base, made out of onions and leeks.

Fergburger - The Best Burger I Ever Had

Carl's Junior, MOS, Burger King ... you name it. Nothing beats New Zealand's Fergburger. I found it in Queenstown, NZ last year.

It was packed the evening I was recommended there, and the choices were certainly mouth-watering.

Little Lamby, Sweet Bambi, Mr Big Stuff and of course, the Fergburger! Seeing I was not gonna be back NZ for some time, I went for the big one ... Mr Big Stuff!

Micro Breakfast Amuse Bouche

This is kind of a spin-off from my gourmet breakfast post which I did before.

In essence, this is to create a mouthful of morning goodness in a spoonful, to be effectively used as a mouth amuser.

To prepare, just use the same components for the gourmet breakfast. Make a portion of scrambled eggs enough for 2 persons.

Project Food Blog 2010

If you have noticed on the right sidebar, there's an image of me participating in the 1st Annual Project Food Blog, hosted by Foodbuzz.

The aim is to find the best food blogger out there as voted by a panel of judges, which includes Food and Wine's editor-in-chief, Dana Cowin.

Dana has been most recently involved in the latest season of Top Chef as one of the guest judges and has a very significant repute in the food and culinary industry.

Gao Feng Minced Pork Noodles

Gao Feng Minced Pork Mee Stall

Living near Bishan, it's only a stone's throw away from Upper Thomson, a place I frequent.

We happened to be heading to the Kampong Chicken stall, but after alighting from the bus, this stall happened to caught our attention, so decided to give it a shot instead.

Saw that the abalone bak choh mee was only 3 dollars, which sounded more than reasonable.

Fragrant Seafood and Leek Congee

For once, I will let Pauline take the spotlight as this is mostly her recipe. It came about largely due to a time (not so long ago) when I was too ill to cook.

Out of my desperation for congee, and the only grains we had in the house was actually risotto rice, she concocted this out of what was available in our fridge.

To begin, chopped some bacon and brown them in a pan until the flavors arise. Season some sliced thread fin fish (you can use other similar white fish) with salt, pepper, chinese wine and sesame oil and lightly fry them in the same pan with the bacon and remove, set aside.

Old Hong Kong Kitchen

Old Hong Kong Kitchen

This, being the first of my eatery reviews, thought it best to focus on places that Pauline and I do like, and would be focusing on places that might not be that well known to folks.

Well, Old HK may not necessarily be unknown, but it is tucked away in one hidden corner of Novena Square 2, and we ourselves, had found it by accident one night.

We had gone back again this time with the deliberate intention to blog and feature as my maiden review.

Baked Chicken Leg with Apples and Rosemary

This is a very simple dish to do in a matter of mins.

Simply season a nice juicy chicken leg with some salt and pepper, and lightly coat it with some flour. Slice an apple at the same time.

Seal the chicken in a hot pan for a min or 2, just to give the skin a slight crisp. Transfer the chicken into an oven tray, lined with some aluminum foil.

Pan Roasted Trout with Vodka Crab and Tomato Reduction

I have always loved the penne pasta vodka cream dish, and been dying to do something a bit different at home.

Hence, I decided to pair a milder version (milder as in less creamy) of that delicious sauce with a nice fish protein to give it a more refreshing taste.

Season the trout with generous amounts of salt and pepper and leave it aside. In a separate pot, boil 2 tomatoes until the skins are peeling. Remove the skins and set aside.

Mushroom Risotto with Pan Seared Sirloin Strips

We had a delicious mushroom risotto just this weekend at Skinny Pizza, and Pauline was egging me to do something similar at home. Well, I combined a risotto with her fav protein and came up with this.

I have already touched on how to cook risotto in a previous blog, so will not go into much detail. The difference here is I decided to create a mirepoix chicken stock instead of just regular broth.

Gourmet Breakfast

There was this one evening, when as usual, Pauline came back late from work and basically was hungering for a full meal and there I was, scratching my head to figure out a way to cook a full meal with what was basically only breakfast stuff in the fridge.

So, the natural thing was to cook breakfast as a dinner meal! 

The key part here is the scrambled eggs, and to cook great scrambled eggs is really not that hard. In addition, I use chirozo to replace the traditional sausage and if you have either parma ham and panchetta, to replace the classic bacon bit.

Baked Wanton Pouches with Minced Beef and Tomato Fennel Fillings

This was one of those times where I just basically wanted to fool around with some of the stuff that I had left from a previous dinner and thought what I could do to with my oven at the same time.

In the end, I came up with this interesting variation of deep fried wanton, but to keep it more healthy, this is baked rather than fried and the fillings have been somewhat altered.