Living with a Chef

Because I live with a chef, people is always saying to me, you are so lucky to have a chef cook for you. Truth is, I do most of the cooking at home. When he's home, he usually indulges in his other passion - bricolage - doing work around the house. Not that I'm complaining cos I like to cook.

Admittedly it was very intimidating in the beginning. I mean how can what I cook measure up to a chef's expectations. I was not a novice in the kitchen but still, I used to stress cooking every meal, consulting him over every detail & of course in the process annoying the hell out of him. Fast forward 4 years later, I pretty much run my own show in the kitchen, plan our weekly menu & even sharing recipes with him.

That's not to say he doesn't cook at all when he's home. He handles all the special events ie when we are entertaining guests. Yesterday we celebrated his mother's birthday. So here are some images of the dishes prepared by X.

Salmon Sashimi & Maki Sushi.
This was the request of our guest of honour.

I managed to buy some mangoes & he used them in one of the makis.
That was my favorite.

Main course - Spring rolls with foie gras & magret the canard ala peking duck. Ahem I made the spring rolls - instead of the usual minced pork, I just added a piece of foie gras.
X marinated the magret with a peking duck sauce & then roast.

It's times like this that I wish he'd cooked more often.

Spectacle Equestre de la Camargue

Even tho the title is in French, I think it needs no translation. After a dreary winter where we hardly ever went out, we've now been out twice in 2 weeks (remember our Jazz concert last weekend). As we approach summer, there will be even more to blog about, something which I'm looking forward to - to introduce more of this area where I live.

Camargue is a region in the south of France, just west of Marseille, that is made up of wetlands, pastures, dunes & salt flats. It provides grazing for sheep, cattle & horses (there is even a breed of horse known as Camargue) - cowboy country. When we were there 2 years ago, the regional park blew me away. It's unlike the rest of France. The land is very flat & you just drive past ranch after ranch & all you see are horses, bulls & flamingos - I've never seen so many flamingos in the wild before.

The fair in Aubenas is a yearly event & this is the first time we're attending. There are tents of booths, play area for children, many exhibits & drinking stations (very much a social event) but we were only interested in the horse show. The arena is within a big tent with a restaurant occupying half the space. I was surprised at how crowded the restaurant was, X figured most of the patrons were probably out of towners (we did notice a lot of "foreign" license plates in the parking lot). I mean why would anybody want to have a meal next to an arena with sand flying as the horses gallop past ? Well obviously not everyone thinks like me.


The children really enjoyed the show - we went with X's niece (she was particularly thrilled cos one of the performers, a feisty lass handling the horses, is her age). The Girl who loves horses was just mesmerised . I have a feeling we may be paying for riding lessons as soon as she is old enough to ride. Overall it was a competent show & I left with a new found respect for horse handlers.

Laab Moo

Laab Moo (or larb moo) is a northern Thai dish. I used to order this whenever I see it on the menu. It's minced pork salad - this dish can also be done with beef (laab neua) or chicken (laab gai). There is a restaurant in Bangkok (I can't remember the name) which specialises in dishes from that region & even does this with gizzard & liver. So good.

I've tried making it several times based on what I remember this dish to be but never managed to get it right. Can't be that difficult right ? Wrong. Somehow something was missing. I finally came across a recipe with that one important ingredient - roasted rice. It is what makes this dish. You'd be surprised at how many Laab Moo recipes out there that do not have roasted rice.

Laab Moo

300 g minced pork
2 Tbsp rice
1 lime
1/2 tsp sugar
2 Tbsp fish sauce
2 Tbsp dried chilli pepper
1/2 onion, chopped
mint & shallots for garnish

1. Dry roast rice. Then grind
2. Dry roast chilli pepper. Then grind
3. Fry the meat
4. When the meat is half done, add rice, chilli pepper & onions
5. Remove when the meat is cooked
6. Toss the meat with lime juice, fish sauce & sugar
7. Garnish with sliced shallots & mint
8. Serve over a bed of lettuce


Note : I don't have lemongrass but you can also add a handful of chopped lemon grass to fry together with the meat.

Pilgrimage to Avignon

Today's my pilgrimage to Avignon. Avignon, home to the popes in the 14th Century (Palais des Papes) & immortalised in this children's song.

Sur le pont d’Avignon
On y danse, on y danse
Sur le pont d’Avignon
On y danse tout en rond

But that's not exactly where I was. I went to the zone - centre commercial - north of Avignon. It's similar to the American malls in the suburbs with megastores & shopping complexes. I do this every 6 months when I need to get the Girl new clothes, stuff for the house at my favorite household store Alinea, toys & basically anything I can't find in our little town Aubenas.

The reason I only do this twice a year is not because I'm not much of a shopper but because going to Avignon involves driving on the autoroute (highway). It may come as a surprise to some of you but I got my first ever driving license only in Jan last year. I never needed to drive when I was living in Singapore, HK or NY - subways & cabs worked just fine. Given that the nearest autoroute is an hour away, I don't get to drive on it all that much. In fact some people around here have never driven on one, they just take the local roads.

I've driven on the autoroute quite a few times now but each time, it still stresses me out. Which is why all the shopping bags are laid out on the dining table untouched. I'm exhausted. Shopping & driving on the autoroute has that effect on me.


BTW If you like the image above, it's a poster I found here.

Bolinhos de Bacalhau

5 years ago, I travelled around South America for 6 weeks. Brazil was the first stop. Monica joined me for that leg of the trip & I had planned it such that we would be in Rio for the New Year. It was awesome. On top of that, my Brazilian friend Michael was in town visiting his folks so he brought us around. We went to all the cool spots & met all his cool friends. But most of all, he introduced us to Bolinhos de Bacalhau.

Every night, after we'd been out drinking (oh man those caiprinhas - Monica & Michael, if you're reading this, you know what I'm talking about), we would head over to Michael's favorite joint for supper. There's always a lot of food but I only remember Bolinhos de Bacalhau. They are basically codfish balls & the perfect late night supper snack.

But after I left Rio, I never had it again & also never thought about it until.......I came across this post from Beaulotus @ East meets West (that's why I love reading her blog, she comes up with gems like these) How could I have forgotten about these babies ? I have to make these.

Bolinhos de Bacalhau (codfish balls)
recipe from East meet West

500g salted cod
2-3 potatoes
2 eggs
1 small onion
bay leaf / chopped parsley / nutmeg / peppercorns

1. Rinse cod off the salt, soak in cold water for no less than 12 hours with at least 3 changes of water
2. Drain cod
3. Fry onions, peppercorns & bay leaf. Then add the fish skin side down
4. Add 500ml of water (enough to cover the fish entirely)
5. Bring to boil. Then lower the flame & simmer for 10-15 mins
6. In the meantime, boil potatoes till soft
7. Mash with fork (AND don't do like me, got distracted & proceeded to pour milk over to make mashed potatoes so I had to go boil another 2 more potatoes !)
8. Drain cod, remove skin & bones
9. Mash the cod with a fork as well & then add potatoes, 2 beaten eggs, chopped parsley & a pinch of nutmeg
10. Set mixture aside for 30 mins
11. Shape into balls & fry till golden brown.

Serve with an ice cold beer.

Wannabe Claypot Rice

A true test of how much you really like a dish is how often you can eat it consecutively without getting sick of it. For me, Claypot rice is one of them. It has all my favorite ingredients - chinese mushrooms, lup cheong (chinese sausage) & salted fish. I guess you can tell I'm Cantonese. Each time I do this, I make enough for 4 & even if X is not around, I'll make the same portion & then just eat it 2-3 days in a row. That's how much I love my claypot rice.

So why Wannabe Claypot Rice ? Well that's because it's a wannabe but cannot be. My claypot rice is not cooked in a claypot. Sigh it's the curse of my induction stove top. I love my induction stove top but it limits the equipment I can use. When we first installed it, we had to go out & buy a whole new set of pots & pans cos it wouldn't take any of our old ones.

I got the recipe from one of the mums here. I can't remember who but if you're reading this blog, can you please let me know so that I can thank you for it ?

Wannabe Chicken Claypot Rice
or otherwise known as Chicken Claypot Rice without Claypot
serves 4

3 chicken leg cut to bite size
2 shallots, sliced
2 cloves of garlic, diced
4 slices of ginger
2 lup cheong, sliced
1 piece of salted fish
4 chinese mushroom, soften & cut to strips

Sauce
2 Tbsp soy sauce
2 Tbsp chinese wine
1 Tbsp sesame oil
1 tsp oyster sauce
dash pepper & dark soy sauce

1. Cook rice & set aside
2. Fry chinese sausage & set aside
3. Fry salted fish & set aside (or you can steam it which is what I normally do)
4. Fry shallots, garlic & ginger
5. When soft, add chicken & brown all sides
6. Then add sauce & mushrooms & cook till chicken is done

As you can see, nothing is cooked in the claypot at all. If you have a claypot, you can now put the rice in the pot, add the chicken, sausages & mushrooms, ladle the sauce over & then simmer for a few minutes. What I do is to put it into the oven for 15-20 mins just to heat it up. But if you don't have a claypot, you can skip this part & just serve the chicken, sausages etc over the rice with the salted fish & additional dark soy sauce.

Here's a little bonus. I made a bunch of these a few months back & had frozen the extras.
When I get a craving, which I did yesterday, all I had to do was to take them out of the freezer, brush beaten egg over, put in the oven for 20-30 mins & voila, curry puffs.

I promise to post the recipe later.

Poisson d'Avril

In France, April Fool's Day is also called Poisson d'Avril (Fish of April). I turned to the internet for the origin of this reference to fish but there doesn't seem to be one. There are many theories tho' - one being that's when the sun leaves the zodiac sign Pisces & another one being that generally this is the time when the rivers are full of fish hence fish of April & since they are easily lured with a hook - they are stupid ! (which I thought was rather silly). Side note - in France, there is a season for hunting & also a season for fishing but in April, it is illegal to fish.

The typical prank for French children is to pin a paper fish behind someone's back. Today when I picked the Girl up from school, I did check to see if there is one pinned on her back. Anyway so here's wishing everyone Happy Fish Day !!