Beef and Asparagus Stir-fry

Great dish that can be done very quickly and goes great with any Asian meal.

Beef and Asparagus Stir-fry

The main thing to watch out for in this dish to not to overcook the both the meat and the veg. This walkthrough instructs that you cook the meat separately and then adding it back again, as a way to better control the cooking times and prevent overcooking.

Ingredients for 2:
200-300 grams beef (I used sirloin) - cut into chunks or thick strips
150-200 grams Asparagus - trimmed and cut to about 2 inch lengths
1 tablespoon grated ginger
1/2 tablespoon sesame oil
1/2 tablespoon soya sauce
3 cloves garlic - sliced
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
cooking oil

Steps:
1. Season beef with salt and pepper. Heat some cooking oil in a wok or large frying pan over high heat. When oil is heated, sear the beef on all sides but keep it at medium rare. Remove from pan and set aside.

2. Reduce heat to medium or medium low. Add a little more cooking oil if needed. Then add in the garlic, asparagus and ginger. Fry for 2-3 minutes until the asparagus is almost cooked through. Then add the beef back in the pan and stir-fry for 30 seconds mixing well.

3. Add soya sauce and sesame oil and toss. You an turn off the heat at this point. Dish on the serving plate and serve immediately. 

Spicy Angel Hair with Shrimp, Bacon and Rocket

This is a dish that is relative easy to put together and works just well with frozen shrimp if you can't get fresh ones.

Spicy Angel Hair with Shrimp, Bacon and Rocket

If you are one of those that love savoury and spicy dishes, you will love this dish. Can't go wrong with shrimp and bacon really.

Here is what you will need for 2:

150 grams shrimp - Peeled and chopped into bite sized chunks.

180 grams angel hair pasta

100 grams streaky bacon - cut into small strips.

5-6 cloves of garlic- sliced

1/2 cup Chardonnay or dry white wine

2-3 bird's eye chilli/chilli padi - sliced

salt and pepper to taste

1 cup rocket leaves

Cooking oil (canola, light olive etc)

Steps:

1. Cook pasta In a pot of salted boiling water for 2 minutes. Strain and set aside. Add some olive oil to prevent the pasta from sticking together.

2. In a large saute pan, heat some cooking oil. When oil heated, fry the bacon strips until they almost turn crisp (4-5 minutes) then add in the garlic and fry for one minute and add the shrimp and chillies and fry for another minute, cooking the shrimp through. 

3. At this point deglaze by adding in the wine. Scraping up the brown bits from the base with a wood spoon or similar implement. Allow to simmer for about a minute or so.

4. Add rocket and pasta into the pan and mix well. Allowing the rocket leaves to wilt. Add salt and pepper to taste.

5. Dish onto pasta plates and garnish with some fresh rocket leaves. Serve immediately.

Hope you will like this. Enjoy!

Red Wine Sauce

Been rather busy this month with little opportunity to cook at home. My second post this month/year is a sauce recipe. This is a great sauce to go with your meats for your home cooked meals. It can keep a while in a fridge too. It does require some time but its rather simple to do. 

Beef Tenderloin with Mash and Red Wine Sauce

Makes about 2-3 cups of sauce.

Ingredients:
1 cup diced carrots
1 cup diced onions
1 cup diced celery
2 sprigs of fresh thyme

2 sprigs of fresh Italian parsely
1 litre beef stock (Store bought is fine)
1 1/2 cups dry red wine
1 cup port
2 tablespoons tomato paste

1/2 teaspoon of black peppercorns

Butter/cooking oil for frying

Salt to taste

Ingredients for the Roux
1.5 tablespoon plain flour

2 tablespoons unsalted butter

Steps:

1. In a large saucepan, heat cooking oil/butter over medium heat. When oil/butter is hot enough, add the carrots, onions and celery. Fry until the vegetables start to soften and the onions start to become translucent, about 3-5 minutes. then add in the tomato paste and fry for another 3-5 minutes, mixing well. (This is to remove the tartness from the tomato paste)

2. At this point, add the wine and port. Mix well and allow to simmer over low heat until the liquid is reduced by about a third.

3. Then add the stock, thyme, peppercorns and parsley. Mix well and allow to simmer very gently over low heat for about 30 - 45 minutes. Then strain and discard the solids. Then allow the liquid to simmer over medium for about 45 minutes. until reduced by half.

(Note: the further you reduce, the more intense the flavour will be and you will get a fuller texture but do note, if you use store bought stock, there is most probably salt in it, so taste as you reduce.)

4. During the reduction, you can start with the roux. Melt the butter in a small saucepan over low heat, when its fully melted and starts to froth, add in the flour and stir well. with a wooden spoon or whisk, keep stirring gently. You should get a thick paste. When the raw taste of the flour is cooked out, you have what is call white roux. We want a brown roux for this sauce so you want to cook it further, stirring frequently until the paste becomes brown with a nutty flavour.

5. Add the roux to the pot of reducing sauce and mix well. Allow to simmer for another 5 minutes and it should be ready to serve. Season with salt to taste, although I am of the opinion that salt is not required if the store bought stock has salt in it.

Goes great with beef and pork. Especially if you are serving roast beef.

Mashed Potatoes

Happy New year people. Work has been a little busier, so homecookedsg.com took a backseat for few weeks. Hence my first post for 2014 appears only now.  Today's post is for a mash potato recipe.
I think the key to the mash potato picking the right potatoes. I was taught that using the waxy potatoes will help in making the mash lighter and less starchy and gooey.

Mashed Potatoes

Ingredients for 6-8 servings
500 grams of waxy potatoes - washed and peeled.
125 grams of unsalted butter - cut in 1-2 cm chunks and removed from the fridge to allow to rise to room temperature
1/2 cup of milk
Handful of chives for garnish.
Salt and pepper to taste

Steps:
1. Cook the potatoes. There are 2 ways to do so, boil them in water until soft enough for a fork to pierce through, or wrap in foil and bake in an oven at 160 degrees for about 45 mins.

2. When the potatoes are cook enough to handle, mash the potatoes either a traditional hand masher or a potato ricer. (I learnt the hard way that you do not want to put them in a food processor or blender)

3. In a large mixing bowl, mix the potatoes and butter. Then add milk gradually for better control over the texture.

4. Season with salt and pepper to taste and garnish with chives. Serve with your favourite protein.

Pasta in Tomato Sauce

This dish always reminds me of the scene from the movie No Reservations. The scene where Aaron Eckhart "cons" Abigail Breslin to start eating a bowl of pasta which got me wanting to eat this dish after watching the movie. I think it has do to with the way Abigail Breslin hungrily wolfs down the pasta.

Tagliatelle with Tomato Sauce and fresh basil

The basic pasta dish that and most likely the first pasta dish that most people here in Singapore encounter as a kid. This is more of a walk-through on the technique of making a quick pasta dish, rather than a full recipe.

This post will take you trough on whipping up this pasta dish in 15 minutes or less, with sauce that you pre-made yourself.

Ingredients to serve 2
160 - 180 grams store bought pasta (Or about 100 grams per person for a big eater)
2-3 cups tomato sauce (link here for recipe)
A splash of dry red wine (optional)
Handful of fresh basil for garnish (optional)
Grated Parmesan for garnish (optional)

Steps:
1. Cook Pasta according to package instructions in salted boiling water. Remove strain the pasta. Dress with a little olive oil to prevent them sticking together. Set aside. (Note: Cook for 3/4 of the time stated on the package for Al Dente)

2. In a large saute pan over medium heat, pour all the sauce (and wine if using) onto the pan and allow to simmer for 1-2 minutes. Allowing to reduce slightly.

3. Add in the cooked pasta and mix well. Allow the pasta to cook in the sauce for at least a minute or 2.

4. Portion into pasta bowls. Garnish and drizzle with some extra virgin olive oil and serve immediately.

The Basic Onion Tomato Sauce

The emphasis of this recipe is the basic tomato sauce that I like to use in alot of the dishes I cook at home. On its own, it makes a great pasta dish!. It keeps quite well in the fridge and can be used as a base for many variations for several different of dishes. If you look through some of the other recipes in this site, you'll probably come across a variation of this sauce in use. So I thought I would create an entry for this sauce so that I can just refer readers back to this page when I use this sauce. Saves me the typing.

Cauldron of Onion Tomato Sauce bubbling away

This sauce uses canned tomatoes and bottled Passata, both of which can be easily found in most Cold Storage or and at Fairprice.

Here is what you'll need for the sauce. Makes about 1 litre of sauce.

2 cans diced tomatoes. (I like to use the ones that say Plum or Romano. You can get whole canned ones and dice them yourself as well)
1 700g Jar of Passata.
2 yellow onions - diced
4 cloves of garlic - finely chopped
3-4 sprigs of fresh thyme
2 sprigs fresh rosemary
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
few teaspoons of sugar to taste

Steps:
1. Prep the diced/chopped tomatoes. Remove from the can and strain them. discard the liquids. Set aside

2. Over medium heat, heat about 2-4 tablespoons of cooking oil in a large saucepan or large deep sided saute pan. When oil is heated up (Rolls around easily in the pan) add in the onions and fry for 1 minute, then add in the garlic. Fry for a few more minutes until the onions become soft and translucent (Not brown).

3. Add in the tomatoes and fry for another 3-4 minutes. Then add in the passata. Mix well and allow to simmer for about 10 minutes over low heat.

4. Add in the thyme and rosemary. You can tie the herbs together so that they are easier to fish out later. Allow to simmer over low heat for at least 45 minutes. Stirring occasionally, to prevent the bottom of the sauce from burning.

5. After the sauce is allowed to simmer and cook down, allow to cool and store. Use as needed.

Easy Oven Roasted Potatoes.

This is one of my favourite ways to cook potatoes at home. Its really easy and you get crispy tasty potatoes at the same time. My personal preference, is to cut them in to smaller chunks. About 1.5 cm across, this gives more of that wonderfully crispy surface area.

Oven Roasted Potatoes

Ingredients to serve 2

2-3 large Russet potatoes - washed and cleaned
2 sprig of thyme (leaves only)
2 sprig of rosemary (leaves only)
2-3 cloves of garlic - minced or grated.
1/4 - 1/3 cup Olive oil
Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Steps:
1. Pre-heat oven to 220 degrees Celsius.

2. Cut the potatoes into small chunks, about 1.5 cm wide.

3. In a large mixing bowl, add in the herb leaves, garlic and olive oil. Mix well. Then add in the potatoes into the mixing bowl. Season assertively with salt and pepper as well at this point. Mix well.

4. On the largest baking/roasting tray that will fit in your oven, lay out the potatoes in a single layer, together with the herbs and garlic. Try to ensure that none of the potato chunks are not sticking together.

5. Roast in the oven for about 35- 45 minutes. Until nicely browned and crisp.

6. Serve with your favourite protein.

Braised Beef Short Ribs

Braising is a great way to expand your options in the kitchen. Its also a way to keep costs lower as cheaper cuts of meat tend to be better for braising. Cuts like pork shoulder, belly, short ribs, brisket are all good cuts for braising. As opposed to the really expensive cuts like tenderloin and so on.

Braised Beef Short Ribs

This recipe takes you through a simple braising recipe for beef short ribs.

Ingredients to serve 4:
1 - 1.2 Kg meaty beef short ribs
2-3 cups red wine
1 litre / 4 cups beef stock (Chicken stock would work too)
2 tablespoons tomato paste
3 sprigs of thyme
1 whole head of garlic - cut in half horizontally
1 large yellow onion - roughly chopped
3-4 carrots - cut into large chunks
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Chopped Chives for garnish

Steps
1. Season the beef well with salt and pepper. Place a deepsided roasting tray on the stove and heat about 1-2 tablespoons of cooking oil. When oil is heated, cook the beef, browning all sides well. should take about 10-15 minutes.

2. Next add the garlic (cut side down) and tomato paste in the pan together with the beef. Cook out the tomato paste by pressing it down on the pan a little. Cook for about 2 minutes. Then add in the wine and stock. Using a wooden spoon or similar tool, scrape the brown bits from the bottom of the pan and mix well with the liquid.

3. Bring to a boil. Turn off the heat, cover with foil and then cook in the oven for about 3-4 hours.
(If you do not have a roasting tray that you can use on a stove, you can use a large deepsided sautee pan, and then transfer the beef to a deepsided baking/casserole dish just before going into the oven.)

4. Take the roasting tray out of the oven and remove the beef short ribs and carrots, set them aside. Strain the braising liquid and reserve the liquid. This will become the sauce. Scoop and discard the excess oil/fat from the sauce. Squeeze the garlic out of the skin and press through a strainer into the sauce and mix well. Optional Step: Reduce the sauce further in a saucepan over the stove if you want it thicker.

5. Divide the ribs and carrots equally onto dinner plates and spoon over the sauce. Garnish with chives and serve with crusty bread.

Gnocchi with Mushrooms

Gnocchi with Mushrooms

This is the recipe for the 2nd gnocchi dish I made from same batch of gnocchi that I made with the earlier recipe here. Its a great savoury dish with flavours that are awesome with gnocchi.

Serves 2
Ingredients for the gnocchi:
2 large baked russet potatoes (or 3 smaller ones)
1/3 cup grated Parmesan
1 cup plain flour - plus extra for dusting
salt and pepper
1 egg - beaten
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme leaves

Rest of the stuff:
3 cloves garlic - finely chopped
4 shallots - sliced or 1/2 purple onion - diced
150-200 grams Swiss brown or white button mushrooms - cleaned and halved/quartered (depending on their size)
1 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves
1/4 cup dry white wine
1/4 cup chicken stock (use vegetable broth if you want a vegetarian version)
1 tablespoon butter
2-4 tablespoons grated Parmesan for garnish
1 tablespoon chopped chives for garnish

Steps: (1-5 are copied from the earlier gnocchi dish)
1. Cut the baked potatoes in half lengthwise and scoop out the flesh from the potatoes. Set the flesh aside in the bowl, discard the skins. Pass the potato flesh through a ricer or mash them.

2. In a large mixing bowl, add in the egg, thyme leaves, Parmesan and about 3/4 of the cup of flour. Season with salt and pepper. Mix everything well with your hands. Add in more flour from the remaining 1/4 cup, if the mixture remains very wet. When the mixture begins to come together, transfer to the well floured board and knead gently for about 4-5 minutes until the ball of dough is relatively dry to the touch.

3. Roll into a ball and cut into 2 halves. Roll each half into a long cigar. Then cut of individual pieces from the cigar. About 2-3 cm for each piece. Using a floured finger, make a small indentation in each gnocchi.

4. Place the gnocchi gently into a pot of boiling water. When the gnocchi start to float, take them all out of the water and drain.

5. In a saute pan, heat some cooking oil over medium-high heat. When oil is heated, add in the gnocchi and saute them about 2-4 minutes per side. (depending on how brown you want them). Remove and set aside on a dish lined with paper towels.

6. In the same pan, reduce heat to medium, add in shallots and garlic. Fry for 2-3 minutes, until shallots soften then add in the mushrooms and fry for another 5 minutes or so, until the mushrooms start to brown and the released moisture from the mushrooms dry up. De-glaze the pan with the white wine, and allow to simmer for 1-2 minutes. Then add in the chicken stock and allow to simmer for another minute or so. At the same time, gently scrape the lovely brown bits off the base of the pan, mixing them together with liquid.

7 Add in the butter and mix well. Add in the thyme leaves and gnocchi. Mix well and fry for about 1 minute. Turn off the heat and dish onto 2 dinner plates. Garnish with chives and generously with grated Parmesan. Serve immediately.

Hope you'll like this. Enjoy!

Spicy Angel Hair Pasta with Shrimp

Great simple dish to do at home. Nice savoury flavours with the corriander cutting through. Light and fresh tasting. This meal for 2 can be done in 30-40 minutes. Adding lime juice at the end can help lift up the dish, make it fresher tasting.

Spicy Angel Hair Pasta with Shrimp

Ingredients for 2
180 grams Angel Hair Pasta
200 grams grey/tiger prawns - shelled and de-viened (reserve the heads)
4 cloves garlic - chopped/sliced
2 large chillies - sliced
2 stalks spring onion - sliced
handful of corriander - roughly chopped
2 tablespoons butter
1/4 cup dry white wine
1 cup chicken stock
Juice of 1 lime (optional)
cooking oil
salt and pepper to taste

Steps:
1. In a small sauce pan over medium-high heat, place the prawn heads with 1 tablespoon of butter and cook until the prawn heads turn fully pink. Then add the chicken stock and allow to simmer for 5-10 minutes over low heat and reduced by about 1/2. Strain and reserve the liquid. (You can cook the pasta or prep the herbs/chillies during this time)

2. Cook pasta according to package instructions in salted water. Angel hair usually takes about 2-3 minutes. Strain and set aside. Add a little olive oil to prevent from sticking together. 

3. In a large saute pan, heat some cooking oil over medium heat. When oil is heated, add in the spring onion, chillies and garlic. Fry for 2 mins.

4. Add in the prawns and stir-fry for another 2-3 minutes. Until prawns are almost cooked fully. Add in the stock and white wine. Allow to simmer for 1 minute and add 1 tablespoon of butter. Mix well and allow the butter to thicken the liquid to form a sauce. Then add in the pasta mix well with all the stuff in the pan. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

5. Turn off the heat, toss with corriander and lime juice (if using). Dish on to 2 dinner plates or deep sided pasta dishes and serve immediately.

Hope you like this one. Enjoy!

Gnocchi with Zucchini and Sweetcorn

Got inspired to make gnocchi recently. This is the first of two gnocchi dishes that I did from the same batch of gnocchi.

Gnocchi with Zucchini and Sweetcorn

A vegetarian dish that the wife really likes. Its light with delicate flavours. Browning the gnocchi gives it another dimension of flavour and texture, giving a crisp exterior and fluffy interior. The gnocchi's texture is then accompanied with the crunch from the corn and zucchini. Really enjoyable. Wife especially likes that the sweetness from the corn comes through the dish.

Serves 2
Ingredients the gnocchi:
2 large baked russet potatoes (or 3 smaller ones)
1/3 cup grated Parmesan
1 cup plain flour - plus extra for dusting
salt and pepper
1 egg - beaten
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme leaves

Rest of the stuff:
3 cloves garlic - finely chopped
1/2 purple onion - diced1/3 cup diced zucchini
1/3 cup sweet corn kernels
1/4 cup dry white wine (Or cooking white wine)
1/4 cup vegetable stock (If non-vegetarian, chicken stock works better!)
1 tablespoon butter
handful of pea shoots for garnish (optional)
2-4 tablespoons grated Parmesan for garnish

Steps:
1. Cut the baked potatoes in half lengthwise and scoop out the flesh from the potatoes. Set the flesh aside in the bowl, discard the skins. Pass the potato flesh through a ricer or mash them.

2. In a large mixing bowl, add in the egg, thyme leaves, Parmesan and about 3/4 of the cup of flour. Season with salt and pepper. Mix everything well with your hands. Add in more flour from the remaining 1/4 cup, if the mixture remains very wet. When the mixture begins to come together, transfer to the well floured board and knead gently for about 4-5 minutes until the ball of dough is relatively dry to the touch.

3. Roll into a ball and cut into 2 halves. Roll each half into a long cigar. Then cut of individual pieces from the cigar. About 2-3 cm for each piece. Using a floured finger, make a small indentation in each gnocchi.

4. Place the gnocchi gently into a pot of boiling water. When the gnocchi start to float, take them all out of the water and drain.

5. In a saute pan, heat some cooking oil over medium-high heat. When oil is heated, add in the gnocchi and saute them about 2-4 minutes per side. (depending on how brown you want them). Remove and set aside on a dish lined with paper towels.

6. With the same saute pan, heat some cooking oil over medium heat. When oil is heated, add in the garlic and onion. Fry for about 2 minutes. Then add in the zucchini and corn. Fry for another 3-5 minutes, until the vegetables start to brown slightly. De-glaze the pan with the white wine and stock. Cook for another 2 minutes then add butter cook for another minute. When the butter starts to thicken the sauce, add in the gnocchi and saute for another minute or so.

7. Dish onto 2 dinner plate and garnish with pea shoots (if using), a generous shaving of Parmesan cheese and a light drizzle of extra virgin olive oil.

Hope you'll enjoy this as much as we did!

Bacon Wrapped Pork Tenderloin

This is one of those dishes that you'll get "oohs" and "ahhs" when you bring it out at a dinner gathering. And the fragrance that fills your kitchen when the bacon is cooking in the oven is just awesome.

Porkfection!

Wrapping the tenderloin can be a little bit tricky the first time, but you'll get the hang of it. Especially if you are one of those who do Swiss-rolls a lot.

Ingredients: (serves 2-4)
1 whole uncut pork tenderloin, about 300 - 350 grams  - cleaned and trimmed
About 300 grams streaky bacon (should get about 12 slices or so)
3 sprigs of fresh thyme - leaves only
4-5 sage leaves - finely chopped
4 cloves of garlic - minced
Salt and back pepper
Cooking oil for frying
Maple Syrup (optional)

Steps:
1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees C. Cover the prep surface with plastic wrap before starting this recipe to make it easier to wrap the pork in bacon and for an easier cleanup. I recommend at least 2 layers of cling wrap as this makes the cling wrap easier to handle.

2. Rub the thyme, sage and garlic all over the tenderloin. A little salt and generous amount of pepper. Place the tenderloin horizontally on the end plastic wrap that is closer to you.

3. Then in front of the tenderloin, on the plastic wrap, place the bacon vertically. Slightly overlap each slice until you cover the length of the tenderloin. Forming like a bacon blanket in front of the tenderloin.

4. Roll the tenderloin over the bacon, using the plastic wrap guide the tenderloin over the bacon first. Once you get a tight firm roll, discard the plastic wrap.

5. Heat a large sauté pan over high heat and add a drizzle of olive oil. When the oil gets really hot, place the bacon-wrapped tenderloin, seam-side down, in the pan and sear until the bacon is browned, about 2 minutes per side. You should probably have to brown 4 sides.

6. Transfer the bacon-wrapped tenderloin to a roasting tray. Brush generously with maple syrup (if using) and cook the tenderloin in the oven until the internal temp reads about 62 degrees C. Probably about 10 minutes or so. Then let is rest outside the oven for about 5-10 mins before cutting.

Serve with mash and side salad.

Enjoy!