Manglish Trifle :)

Please excuse the picture. It was supposed to be my trial batch before the party. I called it Manglish Trifle because I omitted the sherry.

Recipe:

6 Packets Jam/Cream mini swiss rolls in packets ( You can buy from Carrefour) Cut 1 inch to show the shape.
1 Can peaches
2 Cherry flavored Gelatine (Nona)

For Custard:
3 Cups of Milk
6 Tablespoon sugar
6 Tablespoon custard
1 teaspoon vanilla essence

1 packet of whipped cream.
1 large serving bowl

Direction:

1. Arrange the swiss rolls in the bowl
2. Cut the peaches into halves and arrange the peaches in between the Swiss rolls (The more the better)

3. Prepare the gelatine as per instruction in the packet and pour on top of the arranged Swiss rolls and peaches and refrigerate until firm.

4. Once the gelatine is firm, it is time to prepare the custard.

5. Boil 2 1/2 cups of milk (Put aside the 1/2 cup) and add the 6 tablespoon of sugar. Stir until boiling.

6. While the milk is boiling, combine the 6 tablespoon of custard with the remaining 1/2 cup of milk & the vanilla essence.

7. take the boiling milk off the fire and pour on the custard mixture and mix.

8. Put the mixture back to the pot with very low fire and stir until it thickens.

9. Take the custard mixture off the fire and let it sit for a few minutes to cool it down.

10. Pour it on top of the hardened gelatine and set in the fridge until it hardened.

11. Before serving, Beat the whipped cream until fluffy and pour on top of the custard.

Egg & Potato salad

Picture courtesy of Anne Khalid for 2009 Xmas luncheon :)

Recipe:

8 Potatoes (Holland)
4 Hard Boiled Egg ( Cut into 4 )
Baby Romaine Lettuce
1 Cup Low Fat Mayonnaise
1/2 Cup Parmesan Cheese Grated
Salt & pepper to taste

Direction:

Skin the potatoes and boil with salt added in the water until soft.
Cube the potatoes and add the baby romaine lettuce, eggs, mayonnaise and the Parmesan cheese. Toss and add salt & Pepper to taste.

Halal Carbonara with a twist

This is one recipe, I like to cook for the hubby. Easy, Fast and heavenly.

Recipe:

Pasta (Spaghetti)
Chicken Stock

Sauce:

2 tablespoon Butter
Shiitaki Mushroom (Sliced)
Beef Bacon (Shredded) - Original Recipe is with the real bacon or pancetta (Pork).
2 Cloves of Garlic
8 egg yolks (Beaten until fluffy)
Grated Parmesan cheese
salt & white pepper to taste

Direction:

Boil the pasta with chicken stock broth with a little bit of salt until al-dente. (Please keep some of the boiling liquid aside. (1 cup).

While the pasta is cooking, with low fire, heat up the butter and fry the beef bacon until slight crispy, then add the garlic and mushroom. Fry until it turns golden.

Drain the pasta (MAKE SURE STILL VERY HOT) and combine the pasta with the beef bacon and garlic oil in a big bowl and combine with the egg yolks and Parmesan cheese. Add the remaining pasta water if it is too dry and put salt and white pepper to taste.

Result: Super silky Carbonara ala' Nocturnal chef. ( Some people use cream instead of egg yolk but original carbonara doesn't have cream in them. So The Nocturnal chef is paying homage to the original recipe) but with a lil' twist.

MUST BE SERVE IMMEDIATELY!!

Cowliflower Au Gratin

This is a very good recipe for veggy haters.

Ingredients

1 large head cauliflower, cut into large florets

Sea salt

4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, divided

3 tablespoons all-purpose flour

2 cups hot milk (Low Fat for mua)

1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1/4 teaspoon grated nutmeg

1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan

1/4 cup fresh bread crumbs

Directions

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.

Steam the cauliflower for 20 Minutes or until tender

Meanwhile, melt 2 tablespoons of the butter in a medium saucepan over low heat. Add the flour, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon for 2 minutes. Pour the hot milk into the butter-flour mixture and stir until it comes to a boil. Boil, whisking constantly, for 1 minute, or until thickened. Off the heat, add 1 teaspoon of salt, the pepper, nutmeg &Parmesan.

Pour 1/3 of the sauce on the bottom of the baking dish. Place the drained cauliflower on top and then spread the rest of the sauce evenly on top. Combine the breadcrumbs with the remaining Parmesan and sprinkle on top. Melt the remaining 2 tablespoons of butter and drizzle over the gratin. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, until the top is browned. Serve hot or at room temperature.

Red Beurre Blanc Butterfish

This was so easy and was done under 1 Hr. (Me likey)

Beurre Blanc means "white sauce" in french, so the title Red Beurre Blanc sounds silly but the method is using the original Beurre Blanc style only using red vinegar instead of white.

You can pretty much use any fish to your liking but today I use butterfish which I bought from the village grocer in Bangsar Village 1.

Recipe:

2 Shallots ( Diced)

1/2 cup vinegar (Originally the recipe requires white vinegar but hey, I only have red sugar cane vinegar in my pantry so I used those. You can use white wine or red wine up to you.)

5 Tablespoon of butter (Cold butter in cubes a must!!)

a couple of fresh basil leaves (Chopped finely) in my case, frozen basil crushed.

1 piece of anchovy.

1. In a small heavy saucepan, cook the shallots slowly in the vinegar over medium-low heat until only 1 tablespoon of liquid remains, about 10 minutes.

2. Remove the pan from the heat. Whisk in the butter 2 tablespoons at a time, waiting for each addition to melt before adding the next. The sauce will be warm and thick enough to lightly coat a spoon. Keep the sauce warm in a water bath (bain-marie) until ready to use.

Chicken Basil Ceasar Salad

I am so in love with this recipe. The dressing and the romaine lettuce can be prepared the night before.

Salad Dressing recipe:

2 basil leaves

2 anchovies fillets

2 cloves garlic

1 cup low fat mayonnaise

1/4 cup of (low fat cream/low fat milk/evaporated milk) What ever you have in your fridge.

1/3 cup grated parmesan cheese

2 tablespoon fresh lime juice/1 tablespoon apple cider (I experimented using the apple cider when I was out of lemon and it came out great).

1 tablespoon dijon mustard

2 teaspoon worcester sauce ( I used home made worcester sauce, a secret recipe from my mom in law)

salt and black pepper to taste

2 tablespoon olive oil

Baby romaine lettuce

Whole meal bread for croutons

Low fat milk for thinning

Directions:

Pulse all the dressing ingredient except for the olive oil and milk for thinning. you can pulse it in a food processor or a blender, your choice. Once it became smooth, add the olive oil and pulse again then you add the milk until you reach the dressing consistency you like. Oh, and don't forget to add the salt and pepper.

Yes, It is as easy as that.

Croutons:

Normally i make my own herbed croutons. How i make it, I cut the whole meal bread into cubes and arrange it in a baking tray. Drizzle olive oil on them (Please don't soak the bread, a light drizzle would suffice). coat them with sprinkles of dried herbs like oregano/thyme/rosemary or what ever you fancy and cracked some pepper and salt on top of the croutons and mix it all up.

Then I bake it for 10 minutes on 300f. result, Crunchy and heavenly smelling croutons. ( When I am lazy, I would just toast the croutons in the toaster oven instead.

I normally serve my ceasar salad with pan fried chicken fillet, poached egg, roasted crunchy turkey/chicken ( Which you cut into strips and toast in the toaster oven until crispy).

Chicken fillet recipe:

Chicken fillet (Pounded softly)

salt

Pepper

Chili flakes

Olive oil

Coat the chicken fillet with salt, pepper and the chili flakes and pan fry with the olive oil until chicken turns golden.

Method to serve:

Toss the romaine lettuce with the croutons and add the chicken fillets, poached egg, crispy chicken ham and an anchovy on top of the salad.

It is a complete meal which is quite healthy but very delicious.

Dijon Mustard and Thyme Roast Chicken

I am in the midst of my protein sparring diet. (Officially no rice for 14 Days yay!!!) The chicken came out succulent and the sides crunchy and juicy. My other half enjoyed it tremendously and boy, it was easy.

Recipe:

2 chicken thighs

1 big onion (cut into large one inch)

1 Capsicum (cubed) - Which ever color you fancy - I used yellow for the sweetness.

2 Potatoes cubed

Cherry tomatoes (Red)

(You can use broccoli, cowliflower or what ever you have in your fridge)

2 tablespoon crushed thyme

2 tablespoon of dijon mustard

1 tablespoon of plum sauce

1 teaspoon of balsamic vinegar

1 teaspoon of salt

2 teaspoon crushed black pepper

Olive oil

For the Sauce:

1 table spoon flour

1 teaspoon black pepper

chicken stock broth 1/2 cup

1 teaspoon worcester sauce

Salt

Combine the thyme, black pepper, dijon mustard, plum sauce, salt, pepper and balsamic vinegar. set 4 teaspoon aside for the sides.

Marinade the chicken thigh with the above and leave for 1 hr to overnight in your fridge.

pour the balance of the marinade with the olive oil and mix with the sides.

Arrange the chicken in the middle of the baking tray and pour all the sides surrounding the chicken. Make sure you drizzle the chicken with olive oil before you start roasting it.

Heat up the oven to 400f and roast in that temperature for 30 minutes and after that lower the temperature to 300f and roast for another 15 minutes. (45 Minutes).

Once the roasting is done, arrange the chicken and sides in the plates and make sure you leave a few onions in the baking tray.

Place the baking tray containing all the chicken juice and fats to the stove with small fire. Once the juice and oil is heating up put in the flour and whisk until flour dissolve and add chicken stock broth about half a cup and add in pepper, worcester sauce and salt to taste. Stir constantly until you get a sauce consistency and pour on top of chicken.

Enjoy.. This recipe is worth it seriously :)

Roast Beef in a jiffy

I made these last night (2 a.m as well). Today we had roast beef sandwich for lunch.

Recipe:

Beef ( I used Round Eye) RM24 which could feed an army :)

Crushed Dried Rosemary

6 cloves of garlic

1 teaspoon of sea salt

1 tablespoon of freshly grounded black pepper

olive oil

Mix the dried rosemary with salt, pepper and garlic (Smashed) and smear it all over the beef. cut little holes around the beef and insert the crushed garlic. Slather the beef with a little olive oil then roast for 45 Minutes. (25 minutes on 400f and the rest on 300f.

Make sure you rest the beef about 15 - 20 minutes before cutting.

Recipe for sandwich:

Lettuce Romaine

Break thru bread by Gardenia

Butter

Slice cheese

(Dijon mustard mixed with plum sauce & a bit of balsamic vinegar - Mixed)

(Avocado flesh mix with low fat mayonnaise with a crack of salt & pepper to taste)

Result: Awesome sandwich and healthy too :)

Guinness Malta Beef Stew (Halal Version)

I made these for the last Christmas office party. My half English half Scottish CEO gave it a 10 out of 10. So this recipe is a keeper for mua. (Please excuse the presentation, again it was around 2 -3 a.m)

Recipe:

Beef - Tenderloin - Cubed (Coz it's supposed to be cooked for 11/2 hours to 2 Hours only)
Carrot - Cut 1/2 Inch
Beef Stock
Big Onion ( 1 Cup)
Garlic (Crushed)
Bay Leaves
Flour
Malta or Guinness Stout ( To Your Liking)
Pitted Prunes

Ist, Take a stock pot and saute the Onions with Olive oil for 1 Minute, then add Garlic and caramelise for another 3 Minutes.
Take the Onions and garlic out temporarily. Proceed to Brown the beef batches by batches, not all at once otherwise, they will bubble up. Coat the beef with flour during those process.
Proceed with putting all the beef in, carrots and onions. Pour in the Malta and add beef stock & Bay leaves. Make sure the stock covers all the ingredient. Simmer in small fire for 1 Hr. After 1 Hr, cut the pitted prunes in halves and add. It will give a nice glossy finishing to the stew.
Finish off with black pepper.
Serve with rice but better with mashed potato or Bread..

3 a.m Scones

While the other half is enjoying his music, I decided to bake... Can you believe it!! Baking at 3 a.m in the morning. It came out beautifully and it doesn't look like the classic scones but mind you it taste awesome.

Recipe:

3 cups all-purpose flour
4 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 cup (1 stick) salted butter
4 tablespoons sugar
2 eggs mixed into evaporated milk to equal 1 cup

Raisins

1 teaspoon vanilla essence.

Combine the flour, baking powder, and sugar in a bowl. Cut in the butter with a pastry cutter or a couple of forks until the butter is well mixed into the dry ingredients.

In a measuring cup, crack and mix up the eggs. Add milk to to total 1 cup of wet ingredients. Pour into the dry ingredients and mix to combine.

Mix in the ingredients and place large spoonfuls of dough on a well-greased baking sheet. Bake at 425 for approximately 15 minutes on the top or middle rack of the oven.

Serve with Devon clotted cream and jam. (Clotted Cream sold in Cold Storage Mid Valley KL) Great for breakfast or Tea.