Lemon Herb Roasted Potatoes

With the number of potato dishes popping up here, you might think I am crazy about anything potatoes now yeah? But no I am not.  Back dated posts all these are and I am rushing to get them out of the drafts.

I like how potatoes fit well being the main dish (think Shepherd's Pie!), and also makes good alternative as sides to main dishes.

Gotta say that this is a super easy dish to do as no peeling of the potato skin is required! All you need to do is to scrub the potato skins clean, dap dry with kitchen towel, slice them three quarter way down like how you would do to hasselback potatoes, brush on the oil & herb mixture, and off to the oven they go!  Easy? They taste yummy too. Make these to impress your guests if you have them over to your place :) Made these for Mummy when she came to my place to accompany me when hubby was out on biz trip. Glad Mummy enjoyed it :)

Lemon Herb Roasted Potatoes
Recipe by Rasa Malaysia
Serve 3

Ingredients

1 pounds baby potatoes

Oil Mixture

1/4 cup olive oil
2 tablespoons melted butter
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 tablespoon chopped Italian parsley leaves
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 tablespoon honey
Scant 1/4 teaspoon salt
3 dashes ground black pepper

Preheat oven to 350F. Cut slits on the potatoes, do not cut through. Mix all ingredients in the Oil Mixture together.

Place the potatoes in a roasting pan and brush with the Oil Mixture. Make sure to brush inside the slits of the potatoes. Save some for basting.

Roast the potato for 1 hour, basting the oil mixture at 30 minute interval using the remaining Oil Mixture. Serve immediately after roasting.

Duchess Potatoes

Yet another dish that was made long time back and have sat in my draft for a long long time.

I made this dish to host my sister and brother-in-law before my sister popped. And here I am posting this so late when my baby nephew is already a month plus old!

These dainty potato rosettes goes well with any grilled steaks and roast meats, and are definitely a good alternative to the usual mash potatoes.  A little effort needed before you can sink your teeth into them but I assure you, it is worth it ;)

Duchess Potatoes
Recipe by Marshall Cavendish Mini Cookbook (Potatoes series)
Serves 4

450g potatoes, peeled and thickly sliced
1 tbsp butter
1 large egg, lightly beaten
Salt, to taste
Ground white pepper, to taste

1. Cover and cook potatoes in a pot of simmering salt water for 10minutes, or until potatoes are tender. Drain well and discard water in pot.

2. To evaporate excess moisture in potatoes so that a more fluffy potato mixture can be obtained, return potatoes to dry pot and shake over low heat for 1-2 minutes. Shaking pot will prevent potatoes from sticking to the bottom of pot.
3. Rub potatoes through a fine sieve, or press through a ricer. Add butter while potatoes are warm. Beat with a wooden spoon until mixture is very smooth. Mix egg gradually into potato mixture. Season with salt and pepper.
4. Lightly oil a baking tray. Spoon potato mixture into a piping bag fitted with 1-cm star nozzle and pipe rosettes onto baking tray.

5. Bake in a preheated oven at 190deg C for 10-15min, or until golden. Dish out immediately and serve while still hot.

Spicy Prawn Pasta

Another pasta dish and I hope you aren't too sick of seeing this :P

Mum came over my place last week to accompany me while Hubby was out of town and I cooked this simple prawn pasta for Mum. Was not a big feast but I was glad Mum gave me the thumbs' up :)  Definitely enjoyed the 2 days spent with just my Mama alone.  Love cooking for my family and bonding with my family over food. ♡♡♡

Spicy Prawn Pasta
260 to 280g pasta of your choice
8 pcs of big tiger prawns / shrimps
5 garlic, minced
1 medium onion, half of it minced and the other half sliced thinly (you may mince the whole onion if preferred)
2 to 3 red chilli, cut and remove seeds (if you preferred a milder level of spiciness)
1/2 tbsp butter
1 tbsp olive oil
1/2 tsp dried parsely or italian herbs
Black pepper (optional)
Salt
Water

1. Add salt into a pot of water and bring to boil. Add spaghetti and cook til al dente, about 8min or plus 2 or 3 more minutes if prefer a less firm texture (or follow the pasta packaging directions)
2. When spaghetti is cooked, retain about half a cup of salt water and drain the rest, then set drained spaghetti aside.
3. Heat 1/2 tbsp of butter and 1 tbsp olive oil in a pan.
4. Add in minced garlic, all onions and chilli padi bits and stir fry till fragrant, onions to be slight translucent. Do not allow garlic to brown.
5. Add in prawns/shrimps and stir fry till prawns is half cooked.
6. Spoon in 5 or 6 tbsp of tomato pasta sauce and stir to mix well with all ingredients. Allow sauce to come to a boil on medium heat.
7. Add in 2 tbsp salted pasta water and mix well, then do a taste test. Add in dried parsley and dash of black pepper. Mix well.
8. Place in drained spaghetti and do a quick stir to coat spaghetti with sauce. Dish out and serve immediately.

Mushroom Spaghetti

Not sure what's wrong with me, I did not use to like eating spaghetti but of late, I have been looking forward to cooking and eating spaghetti. Was surfing the net for some yummy spaghetti recipes and I found a yummy recipe by Noob Cook. Cooked it and love it.

If you love spaghetti, and you love mushrooms, you will love this mushroom spaghetti.

Mushroom Spaghetti
Recipe by Noob Cook

• 2 servings of spaghetti or your favourite pasta about 140-160grams
• 200 grams fresh button or favourite mushrooms stalks discarded and caps sliced thinly
• 10 cloves garlic peeled and sliced thinly
• 4 tbsp olive oil divided
• 1/2 tsp dried chilli flakes (or substitute with finely chopped chilli padi)
• 20 grams butter cubed
• 20 grams Italian flat-leaf parsley finely chopped
• sea salt to taste
• freshly cracked black pepper to taste

1. Bring a pot of water with 1 tbsp sea salt to a boil. Cook spaghetti until al dente (usually 2-3 minutes minus the recommended time). Drain and set aside the pasta, reserving a small cup of the pasta water.
2. Heat saucepan with 1 tbsp of olive oil. Add mushrooms, a pinch of salt and black pepper. Stir fry or saute until cooked, about 3 minutes. Set aside cooked mushrooms on a plate.
3. Heat 3 tbsp olive oil in the same pan, add garlic and chilli padi/chilli flakes (if using). Saute the garlic until it starts to turn light golden brown.
4. Turn off the stove. The garlic will continue cooking in the hot oil on its own for a few more seconds in the hot oil, until they turn a lovely golden brown. Melt cubed butter in the garlic & oil mixture.
5. Add cooked pasta, chopped parsley, cooked mushrooms, sea salt and black pepper (to taste). Toss to coat all the ingredients evenly, adding some reserved pasta water to help the ingredients bind together.

Garlic Focaccia Bread

I finally cooked Hubby's favourite beef stew few days back and he requested for some western bread to go along with the stew. I chose focaccia over baguette and Hubby okayed it.

So I made garlic focaccia. Garlic. My favourite! Everything I cook must have garlic, if possible. Keke!

My first try at this garlic focaccia bread and it was a straight dough method. Soft on the first day, 2nd day was okay though not as soft as when eatenon the first.

A good match with the beef stew and I definitely enjoyed that meal.

Indeed, Carol's recipes are surely good keeps. So many bread recipes to try but so little time. If I could spend all my time baking away... *daydream mode*

Garlic Focaccia Bread
Recipe by Carol's Original Flavour Bread Recipe

A. Dough
250g bread flour
50g wholemeal flour
10g caster sugar
1/2 tsp instant yeast
20g olive oil
1/2 tsp salt
200ml water

B. Garnishing
Sufficient amount of olive oil for brushing
4 garlic, finely minced
Dried parsley, for sprinkling
Parmesan cheese (I left this out)

1. Set aside 30ml of water, theb place all of ingredients from A into mixing bowl and mox till a dough is form and not sticking to hands before adding the 30ml of water gradually.
2. Knead dough to window pane stage.
3. Place kneaded dough into a lightly greased mixing bowl and sprinkle some water on top of dough then cover with a clingwrap or moist cloth.
4. Set aside to proof for 60min or till double the size.
5. Place proofed dough on a lightly floured surface and knock out air from the dough. Dovide the dough into 4 equal portions (about 130g each), shape the 4 dough round and set aside to let it relax for 15min. Cover with a moist cloth.
6. Press down 1 of the dough and then rol it evenly round to about 1 cm thick with a rolling pin. Repeat the same for other 3 dough.
7. Place all 4 dough on a lined baking tray. Spray some water on top of the 4 dough and cover with a moist cloth, set aside to proof for 30min till about 1.5 time bigger.
8. Preheat oven to 200deg C.
9. Using a chopstick or your finger, make holes in the proofed dough, drizzle half teaspoon of olive oil on one dough and brush them all over evenly.
10. Spoon minced garlic over the top of dough evenly and sprinkle some dried parsley leaves and parmesan cheese over. Repeat the same for the other 3 dough.

11. Put into preheated oven to bake at 200deg C for 18 to 20 min or till dough top turn slightly golden brown.
12. Leave to cool on cooling rack.

Thin Crust Hawaiian Pizza (Encore!)

I guess this pizza recipe needs no introduction again because this is my 2nd attempt. Had no idea what to cook for dinner last weekend Saturday, and I had Hubby to propose. And yes, pizza was his choice of dinner for that night. So... I got together all the ready ingredients I have at home and got the pizza baking away in the oven in no time.

No proofing needed and so it was just a mix, knead and go pizza recipe. I know I should go hunting for another thin crust recipe to try but well, this recipe is currently my fave so let's leaving the thin crust recipe research till another time keke!

Crispy Thin Crust Pizza dough

Recipe by Jacqueline Liu

(Makes 2 12-inch pizza dough)

1 pkg (.25 oz) Active Dry Yeast (7g)
¼ tsp Sugar
¾ Cup Warm Water (170g)
1 ¾ Cups All Purpose Flour (224g)
½ tsp Salt
2 tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil

*tomato pasta sauce or tomato puree

**3 pcs ham, cut to small pcs
**5 slices of canned pineapples, cut to small pcs
**8 to 10 pcs of button mushrooms, sliced thinly
(Squeeze out the excess pineapple water and mix all ingredients together.)

***Shredded Mozzarella cheese and Parmesan cheese

1. Dissolve yeast and sugar in warm water. Let stand until creamy, about 8 minutes.
2. In a large bowl, combine all purpose flour, salt, olive oil.
3. Add the yeast mixture.
4. Add well.
5. Turn dough onto a floured surface. Knead for 2 minutes.
6. Let the dough rest for 5 minutes.
7. Using a rolling pin, roll dough into a 12” circle.
8. Slice ham, shredded cheese or any ingredients you like. (Spread a layer of pasta sauce over bread dough, leaving about 1.5cm of sides plain, spread cheese followed by ingredients, and final toppings with cheese again)

9. Place dough on pizza pan. Cover with your pizza sauce and toppings.

10. Bake at 500 Degree F (I baked at 230deg C for 25min) for 10 - 15 minutes.

Honey Glazed Salmon 低卡路里蜜汁三文鱼

Looking back at the number of posts I have kept up to date, I realised I do not have much of fish dishes. Since this is gonna be a year that I would like pay extra attention to our health (not that I normally neglect our health hor!), more fish dishes will be appearing here. 

I am not one who loves eating fish. I am afraid of choking on the bones, which I did many times and got too scared from those incidents, so I might as well keep away from eating them. I know I cannot do this for long! starting to buy more fish from the wet markets now for our meals.

How do you like your salmon fish to be cooked? Eh... I actually prefer to eat raw salmon slices, but if to eat it cooked, I like it panfried or baked. 

Came across this really yummy and healthy salmon dish. I like that the ingredients are easily found in all, if not most households. Gather them and make this dish quick!

Hubby kept nodding his head in satisfaction with each scoop of the salmon meat into his mouth. I instantly knew this recipe is here to stay and a must-share!

Honey Glazed Salmon
Recipe adapted from Low Calorie Cooking

4 5 oz. salmon fillets
1 Tbsp canola oil
1 Tbsp honey
2 garlic cloves, chopped fine
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp ground black pepper

1. Preheat the oven to 375°F

2. Place the salmon fillets, skin side down, on a baking sheet coated with cooking spray. In a small dish, whisk together the oil, honey, and garlic and set aside. Sprinkle the salmon fillets evenly with the salt and black pepper.Using a basting brush, spread the honey mixture evenly over the salmon fillets. (I sprinkled some dried parsley flakes over the salmon fillets)

3. Bake the salmon for 20 minutes, or until the fish flakes easily with a fork. (I squeezed some lemon juice over the salmon pieces and serve immediately)

Langues de Chat (Cat's Tongues Cookies)

What do you normally do with the leftover egg whites from the baking pineapple tarts or lapis? Cook and eat them, use them as face mask or throw them away?

I made cookies with them this year - Langues de Chat, also known as Cat's Tongues cookies.

Langues de Chat are French cookies and are made into a shapes that resemble the shapes of cats' tongues. Easy to bake and they are so yummy and addictive to eat.

I baked 4 different flavours - Vanilla, Matcha, Coffee and Cocoa. Piping them was fun too. I piped 2 flavours side by side to make a piece of cookie, just so that I can have the best of both worlds when I bite into them. Such a glutton am I hehe!

Now, here you go for these cat's tongues cookies. I am surely making them again because hubby said they are yummy and easy to eat.  I love pairing them with a good cup of coffee. You will love them too ☺

I am submitting this post to Cook-Your-Books #20 hosted by Joyce of Kitchen Flavours

Langues de Chat (Cat's Tongue Cookies)
Recipe adapted from The Secret of Cookies by Gu Huixue
Makes about 20 pcs for 1 batch

A: 60g butter, 75g icing sugar
B: 65g egg white, some vanilla essence
C: 60g cake flour

Baking temperature: 190deg C upper heat and 180deg C lower heat (I baked my cookies at 220deg C for 14min) (If your oven does not have upper and lower heat control, you may bake them at 180deg c for 10-12min, or till a golden ring is formed round the sides of the cookies)

1. Cut softened butter into dices. Sift cake flour.
2. Line a baking tray with non-stick baking mat. Preheat oven to required temperature. Prepare a piping bag fitted with round tip nozzle.

3. Place ingredients A into mixing bowl.  Using a whisk, beat the mixture till light and fluffy. Add egg white in 2-3 batches and beat well after each addition. (Batter might appear curdled after the additions and mixture of egg whites.)

4. Add in cake flour. Using a spatula, mix till a smooth batter is formed. Add in vanilla essence and stir well. (Curdled mixture will become smooth batter after cake flour has been folded in.)

5. Using a spatula, spoon the battery into a piping bag, pipe the batter into strips, about 5cm long, leaving a gap of 5cm between them. (Go creative and dun by piping 2 flavours together!)

6. Bake in oven for 10min. Remove the cookies from tray immediately and set aside to cool.

Notes:
I made 4 batches of these cookies, 4 flavours.

Steps above is for the original vanilla flavour, for matcha, coffee and cocoa flavours, I divided the smooth batter (Step 4) into 4 bowls, 1 with vanilla essence, add 2 tsp matcha powder to 2nd bowl, 2 tsp instant coffee powder to 3rd bowl and finally 1 tbsp cocoa powder to the 4th bowl. Mix each bowl of batter well.  Fill into 4 piping bags and continue from Step 5 onwards for piping.

Beef Stew

My younger brother stayed over at our place last weekend and I made a pizza and cooked a beef stew. I used the same pizza recipe as the last round as I really like how time saving this recipe was, and I could have nice tasty pizza in no time! I guess it will take me quite awhile before I get willing to move on in search for another thin crust pizza recipe...! Hehe!

Now for the beef stew, I tested and came up with a simple and yummy beef stew that hubby and brother commented "delicious!"

I love how easy and forgiving stews are. You can just dump all the ingredients into the one pot and let it simmer on low heat till meat turns tender, vegetables turn soft and the gravy gets thick and tasty. It goes so, so well with rice, and not forgetting bread too, for some stews!

Beef Stew 

(Serves 2 to 3) 

300g beef cubes 

1 brown onion (diced) 

2 carrot (cubed) 

4 brastagi potatoes (quartered) 

250ml beef broth (I used Campbell's Real Beef Stock) 

3 tbsp vinegar 

100ml water 

125ml red wine 

5 pcs garlic (flattened with a knife/ chopper) 

1 tsp of dried thyme leaves 

1 tsp dried parsley 

Olive oil 

Fresh ground black pepper 

Salt 

Cornflour + water mixture (if required) [1 tsp cornflour + 2 tsp water] 

1. Heat a casserole dish with 2 tbsp of olive oil and add in add in beef cubes to brown them.  Do it over 2 batches if your casserole dish or crockpot is not big enough to brown all beef cubes.

Season beef with some fresh ground black pepper and salt. 

2. Once beef has browned on the bottom side, use a tong and turn all beef cubes top side down.  Again, sprinkle black pepper and salt all over beef. 

3. Remove beef cubes.

4. Pour in vinegar into pot and mix with wooden spoon to "release" browned bottom of pan with vinegar. 

5. Place in brown onions and garlic and saute till fragrant and onions has turned translucent.

6. Place in browned beef cubes and stir well. 

7. Pour in beef broth and stir well, then add in red wine and water.  Stir and let it come to a gentle boil on medium high heat. 

8. Add in potato and carrot, dried parsley and thyme leaves. Stir well, cover and let it come to a boil.

9. Turn down heat and let simmer for the next 1.5 hour to 2 hours or till beef cubes turn tender and come apart when pressed in with a fork.  When ready to serve, add in cornflour mixture to thicken stew gravy if required. 

10.  Serve with rice or sliced baguette.

Baked Garlic Butter Prawns

Hubby wanted to have some western style dinner. He asked and he got it. I actually prefers that he lets me know what he wants so that I need not rack my brain on what to cook then.

Woot! These baked prawns were sure yummilicious! Fast and easy to do, and delicious they were.  Baked these prawns to go along with grilled beef steak, pan seared scallops and foie gras. Yums!

Baked Garlic Butter Prawns
(Serves 2)

8 pieces of fresh tiger prawns, butterflied and de-veinned
6 garlics (or more if desired), minced
1/2 tsp garlic powder
2 tbsp butter, melted
Olive oil
Salt
Ground black pepper
Chopped parsley (I did not have so I left it out and used thyme leaves instead)

1. Preheat oven to 180deg C.
2. Cut prawn whiskers and rinse prawns.
3. Butterfly the prawns by running a sharp knife down back of prawns, slicing deep enough to have it opened up. Remove intestinal tracts.

4. Place prawns on a baking tray and season with some salt and ground black pepper.
5. Mix together minced garlic and melted butter.

6. Add in half teaspoon garlic powder.

7. Sprinkle some ground black pepper into butter mixture and mix well. (You may add in chopped parsley if you have it)

8. Spoon garlic butter mixture onto butterflied prawns.

9. Drizzle some olive oil all over. Sprinkle thyme leaves over top and put to bake for 15 minutes or till done.

10. Serve immediately.