Sexy Supper

Cold Crab Spaghetti Aglio Olio "XXXVII"



1a.m and I have a sudden craving for some pasta. Hardly happens. It feels like I'm addicted this time. The al dente firmness of the pasta that slips into your mouth with that wonderful hint of wheat - out of this world.

I rampaged the fridge and came upon something that made my mouth water immediately. Wholesome juicy CRAB. I was hoping I won't do any cleaning up at this time of the night, so I grabbed some leftover plain spaghetti from last night's dinner party, threw it in a bowl and got some zero cooking aglio olio action going on.




Since it's gonna be a cold pasta, i squeezed in some lemon juice for the acid with a good swig of my prized organic imported EVOO. And you know, with seafood you gotta have chilli, lotsa them. I have almost a handful of chilli flakes to get the flavors working, it's unexplainable, just brilliant. Very Italian.



So i'm gonna be a sweetie and share this with everyone. Don't worry I won't hide anything. :)

Serves 2(Supper in bed woohoooo)
150g Spag or Linguine, cooked
100g Good Crab or Good Surimi, flaked
1 clove garlic, chopped
1-2 Tbsp chilli flakes
1 handful Italian parsley, chopped
3 Tbsp good EVOO
1 Tbsp dry white wine
Juice and zest from half a lemon
Sea Salt
Freshly Cracked Black Pepper

Mix everything and let it sit for 15mins to let the flavours combine. Enjoy.

NO CHEESE. I emphasize again, never use parmesan with seafood, it will end up in the bin.



Simply fantastic, you have to try it.

Comfort Food Oh! So Good

This is something i'll prepare if i'm extremely hungry and have totally no time to cook. It takes no time to prepare and its really really good - well maybe because i always eat this when im very hungry and you know everything tastes nice when you're hungry.

Buckwheat Soba with Nori Flakes and Chicken Nuggets

I have a habit to prepare breaded chicken bites and store them in the freezer and have them whenever i like, it is the pinnacle of all comfort food creations.

You make them by cutting chicken into bite sized pieces, coat with salt pepper and flour, dip in beaten egg then coated with breadcrumbs and grated parmesan. I store it in the freezer and they usually go within a day or two.

If you're feeling lazy just get chicken nuggets from the mart or mac's.

To cook soba, soak them in boiling water for 5mins then, really quickly, drain them in a colander and soak it in a mixture of ice cold water, citrus soy sauce and a touch of mirin. Take them out and reserve the sauce mixture into a bowl.

When you eat this, dip the noodles and chicken into the liquid and enjoy.

Soba and dipping sauce must be always COLD.

Pasta alla Puttanesca "XXXVI"

Direct Translation: WHORE PASTA. Totally authentic, no kidding. There was a huge debate on how the name came about, some say the local prostitutes in Italy made it to serve their customers and others said it was referring to the easiness of making this dish. My opinion was the fact that the pasta was not only easy to make, but also a very enjoyable one as well, which i guess could best describe a whore in Italy(Jeeeee).

This is a fish and spice pasta in my opinion, it's got lotsa tuna in there with basil, capers, olives, chillies and stuff like that. So if you're a fish person, you'd probably love this one. It's a bit on the heavy side so what i'd love to do is to have it with a light wine like Sauvignon Blanc, really really enjoyable.

You can have this hot or cold. For the hot people, as in people who like it hot literally (don't go hating ya), you can add a little bit of pasta water to loosen so it goes down the throat warm and nice or if you like it cold, squeeze in some lemon juice to give it a little appetizer twang.

There are loads of different variations of making this, but i made mine with a touch of butter at the end to sorta blend everything up together. Google if you need recipe, cuz i swear there a shitload of em.

Hope you'll like it, ciao-la!

The Reason Why I Don't Post Some Of My Recipes

I've got lotsa free time to spare so i'm gonna, very clearly, post an in-depth recipe of one of my best dishes so anyone who happens to have alotta free time can try this one day. Here we go!

Chicken Consomme with Tofu and Shiitake "F03"



Cuisine: French with a touch of Asian
Prep Time: 30 mins
Cooking Time: 9-10 hours
Cost: SGD$30-50
Serves 4

I emphasize, make this only to impress or have a shitload of time to spare, it isn't expensive and it isn't exactly easy at all.

Mise en Place:

Chicken Stock
1 old chicken or kampung chicken, skin removed, fats trimmed
15 black peppercorns, lightly crushed
2 celery sticks, fibers removed and halved
2 carrots, peeled and halved
1 tomato, halved
1/2 an onion, skins removed
5 sprigs of thyme, rosemary and italian parsley
3 bay leaves
1 rasher smoked danish back bacon or 5x5mm discs of speck
swig of dry white wine
4 liters cold water

Consomme Raft
5 eggs, whites only
1/2 carrot, finely chopped
1/2 onion, finely chopped
1/2 leek or 2 white parts of spring onion, finely chopped
1 stick of celery, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 handful mixed equal portions of chopped thyme, rosemary and italian parsley
350g minced pork or beef
1 tsp black pepper


Garnish
(You decide the amount.)
shiitake mushrooms, sliced and poached
silken tofu, sliced, soaked in hot water for 1 min
leftover chicken, slivered
italian parsley, chopped
cracked black pepper
sea salt(seriously optional)

Stuff you'll need:
Muslin Cloth or Cheese Cloth
Colander
Big Stock Pot
Small Stock Pot

We start off with the core of the consomme - the stock. Place all the stock ingredients in a large soup pot and cover with the cold water. Put it on the stove and turn up to a medium-high, cause you really want to get the flavors out with the sudden temperature change. Once its boiling, turn the heat down to a medium low and let it simmer like that with cover on for 8 hours(again i emphasize, too much free time or to please a crowd), skimming from time to time to remove scum and unwanted proteins. Do not open the lid unnecessarily, otherwise you will have chicken sauce instead of a consomme.

After waiting auspiciously for what you thought was the fruit of your labour, this is what you will get:


Fortunately, the core of your consomme is done. Unfortunately, this is just the beginning. Turn off the heat and let it cool.

Now if you realized, the stock you have is thick and murky. And if you taste, you will find it nothing amazing. So we gotta pimp it into a consomme.

Mix all your ingredients for your raft in a bowl and put it all into a food processor, if you don't have one, brunoise or mince all your ingredients and whisk them for a bit.

It will look something like that:

Before


After


Your stock should have already reduced to a fifth from when you started off. Now remove all the ingredients and strain with a colander. Then transfer the stock to a smaller pot. It shouldn't be hot by now but let it cool further until it's like 40 degrees celcius.

Pour all your raft mixture into the stock and it's time for your little workout.

Turn the heat up to a medium high and begin stirring constantly to avoid the raft from sticking, there's egg whites in there and they get cooked, fast. You will have to keep on stirring until it boils, if it does, STOP EVERYTHING. I gauge that by the instance i see bubbles or currents in the stock. If you so happen to live in the French Alps, Nepal or anywhere on an elevated land it won't matter, as long as you see bubbles or currents, STOP. I can explain why but i doubt i will bearing in mind this is already a seriously long post.



You might be already wondering, "What the hell's a 'Raft'?". Basically, its a cloud of impurities that the egg whites take with them when they get cooked when the stock is boiling. If you continue stirring when it boils, you're putting the crap back into the consomme.

Once it boils, turn the hear down to medium low and simmer for about 15 mins. Momentarily, the 'Raft' will form and will stick to the walls of the pot. Use a spoon to ensure it dosen't, DON'T STIR NOTHING.



After 15 mins, you should have a nice omelette like cloud on the top. The picture above is at 7 mins away from simmering, so if you see that, it's not enough.

Good, now we're almost done. Now the consomme is ready but you need to extract it out from the pot. The easiest way to do that imo is the traditional French bagel way.

Using a ladle, make hole in the raft large enough for you to scoop out the consomme.

Like that:



Cool huh.

You will realize the consomme isn't all cleared up yet. Cool it a little and strain it with a muslin or cheese cloth and there you'll have liquid gold. 10 hours of goodness. Hah! Are you feeling sexy already?



Scatter the shiitakes, tofu and chicken slivers on a soup plate. Ladle consomme in then crack in the pepper and chopped parsley. If you cooked the consomme long enough you don't need any salt!



One helluva second course. Bon Appetit!

Caramelised Oyster Mushrooms with Mee Sua and Beef Broth

I made this real slow, having restricted to only my left hand to do the cooking and chopping.

Mee Sua is also known as flour vermicelli, like an extra floury one and if you add butter and cook it, i swear it will turn into a roux.

Caramelised mushrooms are really good, you have to try it.

Nightmare

Yesterday at 1640hrs, i almost bade farewell to my knife guiding finger and a pint of blood. It wasn't a knife accident, but actually, it happened during a military exercise involving a sledge hammer and an iron picket. I lost couple of nerves that once allowed me to feel and bend my finger properly, also 4 stitches and tetanus treatment.

So it's time i learn to guide with my middle finger and no this won't stop me from being in the kitchen, i have a ten day recovery phase in which i do not have to report for duty. Blessing in disguise, more to cook.

Linguine Ai Frutti Di Mare "XXXV"

Direct translation = Linguine with Fruits of the Sea

This is one of my best dishes and the real reason why i'm cooking it today, is to find out how far off am i from the quality of food i had at Prego's yesterday when my Dad ordered the exact same dish while i tried some of it. It was bloomin' brilliant.

I can safely say i'm nearly 2/3's away from the quality at Prego but i firmly believe that if i could get hold of some fresh Italy imported tomatoes, i can get a near similar standard, maybe 7/8's away. Here i used canned tomatoes that turned a little too watery. Kinda sad compared to the great one i had yesterday but the flavor was undoubtedly amazing.