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.

Buttered Ribeye with Pesto Pasta

Pauline is an extreme beef lover, so apart from the mirepoix beef stew, I came up with another relatively simple beef dish to appease her.

I personally prefer to make fresh pesto instead of using pre-made ones. In fact, making pesto is quite simple. In a blender, blitz a bunch of chopped basil leaves, pine nuts (or almonds if you have trouble getting pine nuts) and sunflower seeds and add enough olive oil as you blitz to make it a smooth sauce like texture. Set aside.

Cook some pasta of your choice.

Dining Out in the Lion City

Singapore Food Court

Again, I thought I'd take a break from the usual food stuff by just reflecting on some food thoughts, this time on dining out in Singapore.

Eating in Singapore is not so much different from other countries and cities, and yes, we have a multi-cultural food repertoire, and yes, we have a very cosmopolitan food scene that's most vibrant and happening.

And certainly, we have local dishes that has a unique place on the global food map. Talk about Chili crabs and chicken rice and even foreigners have no problem understanding, and very likely have tasted those dishes before.

Coq Au Vin

Coq au vin is a very classic French dish where chicken drumsticks are literally bathed in hours in a rich wine stock and is absolutely gorgeous. It is just as absolutely tedious to prepare and make!

I typically use the largest chicken drumsticks that I can find for this particular dish. Season them well and lightly coat them with a layer of flour and seal it in a pan until they are lightly golden brown in color. Set aside.

For this dish, you can actually use your own combination of vegetables and ingredients to make up the delicious broth, but typically I would start to fry some chopped bacon (without oil as bacon will ooze oil as you cook).