Today we had the first Nuffnang blogger meet-up for 2011, lunch at Pan Asian organised by Vanessa.  Pan Asian is the newer sister to Robert and Li's other restaurant(s), Chilli Padi, and is situated on the 'trendy' side of Chapel street near Commercial road.  Even though we were there for lunch, I think it has a rather nightclubby vibe, with its funky decor, open kitchen, dark wood panels and Asian lantern decorations.  My favourite element of the decor was the mural you see above.  How awesome is it?  It spans a whole wall of the restaurant, and with the Indian, Japanese, Chinese and South East Asian imagery, reflects Pan Asian's, well, pan-Asian culinary influences!

Lunch was a leisurely affair, with a series of tasty bites stretched out over the afternoon.  As a person who grew up in the post-Wall St, post-nouvelle cuisine nineties, I've always been a bit skeptical about fusion cooking, but I really enjoyed the different flavours and tastes that Li created.  Let's have a look...

Tomato gazpacho with lentil dahl

I love how you can see Vanessa in the background of this picture!  Gazpacho is "tomato soup, served ice cold!" (thank-you Lisa Simpson), and this version included some earthy dahl.  At first, we couldn't figure out what the white bits were in the gazpacho - some thought noodles, some thought fish - but it was shredded egg white!  A nice, refreshing way to start a meal on a hot day.

Peking duck in fried mantou buns

Cute!  I don't often eat mantou, but now I'm thinking I really should.  These little bites had the usual Peking duck fillings, encased in a crunchy, slightly sweet mantou bun.  Adding 'fried' to Peking duck? Great idea!  This is the type of thing I'd like to attempt making at home for parties.

Asian-style bruschetta

The Asian bruschetta tasted nice, with fresh coriander amping up the Asian factor, but it was a little too astringently onioney to be eaten in polite company, hehe.

Cauliflower samosas with pea purée

Our waiter told us these samosas came with 'pear purée', but a quick taste confirmed it was pea (I love peas!)  I also love cauliflower and fried food, so these were a winner for me.  I think I would have liked a little more cauliflower though.  It's such an underrated vegetable, but it is so good!

Tandoori chicken pizza

Again, my inner skeptic was slightly dubious about the prospect of a "tandoori chicken pizza", that regular feature of the suburban takeaway, but these turned out to be one of the more popular dishes of the afternoon.  The combination of a crispy and fluffy naan base, spiced chicken, creamy sauce and sweet chilli worked together well. It was more of an Indian-inspired canapé, rather than simply a pizza with an odd topping, as the name might suggest. Yum yum!

Deconstructed spring roll

Li's deconstructed spring roll was a mixture of vegetables encased by a deep-fried wonton skin.  I don't know if it tasted any better than a regular spring roll, but I must say they look a lot prettier!

Fish and chips with chilli mayonnaise, sansho pepper and nanami togarashi

The last of the savouries were fish and chips, with chilli mayonnaise, sansho pepper and nanami togarashi.  We used to sell these bamboo boats at a shop where I once worked, but I'd never seen them in action, so to speak.  I think they're really cute!  Other bloggers described them as little sampans.  The fish itself was very fresh, moist and succulent, with only a thin layer of very crispy batter.  This was my favourite dish of the day.

(And yes, I know there was quite a bit of fried food, and I know I told y'all I'm eating healthy now, but in my defence I didn't finish everything on my plate, I've been going to the gym, and who are you anyway, my dietician???)

And speaking of which... for dessert we had incredibly decadent caramel brownies from the Bees Knees Brownie Company.  (Although looking at their website, I think these might be the dulce de leche brownies).

Bees Knees caramel brownies

Phillipe was an energetic and constant presence throughout the night, standing outside the open kitchen and inspecting each dish before it was sent out.  Many of the waitstaff will be recognisable to regulars of The Brasserie at Crown, and the staff's experience and familiarity with each other means that everything tends to run quite smoothly.  On the night we visited, there didn't seem to be any of those teething problems you tend to associate with brand new restaurants.

Our party of 4 was seated at a small round table.  A typical Parisian cafe style table, it looked great, but wasn't particularly practical - in addition to the small table, the chairs had curved backs, which meant there was nowhere to put our bags.  It's not very comfortable eating a meal with handbags balanced precariously on your lap!  There was one positive about our location though - an unencumbered view of the pastry kitchen!


The meal starts with freshly baked bread rolls (definitely fresh - you can see them being baked throughout the night!), in a cute little cloth bag.

Freshly baked, warm bread rolls

They come with butter, salt, and a delicious dip made of fromage frais, olives and olive oil.  I thought it was fabulous, and liked it even better than the butter.  (This is a big call for me, as I looove butter!)

Fromage frais

Sandra and I had our eyes on the Rôtissoire chicken, so we skipped entrées altogether.  In fact, I find it difficult to finish a full 3-course meal in general.  My parents, however, weren't quite so restrained.

Burgundy Style Snails - Tomato fondue, garlic and parsley butter, toasted bread - 1/2 doz $19

My dad was particularly excited to have the snails - it was his favourite dish at The Brasserie, and he'd had a very disappointing version at a visit to The Brasserie, post-Phillipe.  This one, though, was exactly what he was after - tender snails swathed in loads of butter and garlic.

Seafood Niçoise Salad - Passionfruit, olive oil & rosemary vinaigrette, asparagus royale - $27.50

Mum's Niçoise salad was a little different from what I'd expected.  Rather than the traditional beans, tuna and olives, this version was closer to a seafood platter: prawns, mussels and clams, a few lettuce leaves, jade green cubes of asparagus royale, all lightly dressed.  I didn't try any, but my mum enjoyed it very much.

And now we come to the mains!  My dad ordered the wagyu assiette: a selection of different cuts of beef presented together, with extra jus on the side.  It reminded me, in essence, of The Point's "Taste of New Season's Lamb".  I love the idea of trying different cuts of beef in the one dish, rather than being confronted with a massive single steak.  (Heh, like the 400gm rib eye that defeated me in Tassie!)

Wagyu Assiette - cheek, shortrib, oyster blade - $55

Suckling Pig, Boudin Noir - Panko crumbed croquette, smoked pork jus and fresh corn - $38

Mum's pork dish comprised 2 piggy discs: a crumbed and crisp croquette, and a thick slice of boudin noir, with a scoop of corn purée, and a cute fried quail egg.  Quite intense, only for serious pork lovers!

Sandra and I each ordered the Organic chicken.  It takes 50 minutes to cook, slowly rotating in a rotisserie in the open kitchen.  Ta-dah!

Organic Chicken - Rosemary and preserved lemon, vegetables rôtisserie - $36

Beautiful, isn't it?  As it roasts, the juices from the chicken drips onto the vegetables, creating a wonderfully sticky, delicious accompaniment.  There were carrots, pumpkins, parsnips, potatoes, red onion and zucchini.

Mmm... vegetables

It was an extremely generous serving, and even without an entrée I barely managed to finish my plate.

I suppose we didn't really need sides, but we didn't realise how big the meals would be.  We got peas "in the French style", cooked with lettuce and pancetta.  (I don't normally add pancetta to the French peas I often make at home, but it makes a nice addition).

Peas French Style - $8.50

And fries!  We can't not order French fries when we go out, and these were great.  Slightly chunkier than traditional pommes frites, these were left unpeeled and very crispy.  Perhaps they were double-fried?

French fries - $8.50

After that massive plate of chicken, and more than my fair share of chips, I didn't want my own dessert.  But that's not to say I didn't sneak a few bites of the ones we did order!  Unfortunately, the chocolate waffles I saw on their online menu were no longer available (dang, I'll have to make my own), so we went for more classic desserts.

French crepes - Lemon curd, raspberries - $18

The crepes are made to order (again, you can see the pastry chef make them!).  They are filled with a thick smear of lovely lemon curd, and topped with a few raspberries and a quenelle of raspberry sorbet.  I loved the plate it was served on - a large black disc with a rough texture. Want!

The most dramatic dish of the evening was the Tahiti vanilla crème brûlée.  Rather than being pre-blowtorched in the kitchen, the sugar-topped custard is brought to the table and set alight!

Tahiti vanilla crème brûlée - $18

Some tasty, healthy dishes to usher in a new year of eating!

Cambodian Hot & Sour Beef Salad

This dinner was a slightly adapted version of Nigella's Cambodian hot and sour beef salad, from the Low Fat chapter of How to Eat.  It is the first of her many recipes that follow the "thin slivers of meat strewn across salad leaves" theme.  The others include her gingery-hot duck salad (Nigella Bites), cold roast beef with lemon salad (Forever Summer), the Anglo-Asian lamb salad (Nigella Express), and of course, her Christmassy tagliata recipe (Feast).

So anyone who thinks that Nigella doesn't have any healthy recipes is really just not looking hard enough!  What I like about Nigella's healthy recipes (and yes, I do concede that they are hidden between many puddings, roasts, pies, cakes and butter-laden dishes), is that they taste great and just happen to be healthy, without needing modification for health concerns.

But let's get back to the recipe.  I seared a lovely piece of eye fillet very briefly on both sides, so that it was nice and rare in the middle, and charred on the outside.

I ate one in my salad, Sandra had the other with chips and mushroom sauce.

I wrapped it up in foil and let it rest while I got on with everything else.  The dressing was a mixture of lime juice, fish sauce, chilli, sugar and spring onions.


And now, the adaptation I mentioned - I bulked up the salad with some brown rice vermicelli, making it more a Vietnamese bún than a salad.

So, I layered the vermicelli, a huge amount of shredded baby spinach/Thai basil/coriander, and the beef in a bowl, and poured over the dressing.


Poached Chicken with Shredded Spinach and Yoghurt

For Christmas, my dad got me Karen Martini's new book, Feasting.  I love it!  I've made a couple of recipes from it so far, and plan to blog it in more detail soon, but for now I just wanted to share the first dish I made - roast chicken with shredded spinach and yoghurt.  I love a good hearty salad, and this is really a meal-in-a-bowl.

The salad contains spiced bulgur, pine nuts, loads of shredded herbs and baby spinach, and cooked chicken, all tossed through a creamy yoghurt and red onion dressing.


I did stray from the recipe slightly, in that I used a mixture of spices (cinnamon, coriander, cumin) instead of the suggested ras-el-hanout, and that I poached my own chicken breasts instead of buying a roast chicken.  My local supermarket does sell roast chickens (free range too!), but they all looked a bit dried out and unappetizing, with wizened little drumsticks.  No thanks!  I actually poached the chicken breasts in the chicken stock for the dumpling noodle soup (see below), which added extra flavour and kept them moist. Win!

The salad was delicious, and tasted surprisingly rich for having so little fat in it - the Greek yoghurt I used was low fat, and there were only a couple of tablespoons of oil in the whole salad.  I had it for work lunches, and it lasted a good 3 days.


Dumpling Noodle Soup



You may remember the turkey noodle soup that I made with leftover Christmas turkey.  (And indeed, why wouldn't you?  It was just my last post).  It was wonderful, but not very filling, so when I made it again, I made some dumplings too.  I love Chinese dumpling noodle soup, but when you get them at restaurants they can be really greasy and MSG-laden.  When you make it yourself, however, you can control exactly how much oil, salt and veggies go in, making a healthy little meal all up.

The filling for the dumplings was very simple - just a hastily knocked-together mixture of minced lean pork, sesame oil, pepper, soy sauce, spring onions, coriander, chilli and garlic.


I wrapped the filling up in wonton wrappers (my mum says they're good for the complexion), and boiled them in the soup.  As you can see, I didn't do any fancy pleating or folding, just pinched the dumplings closed.  Looks plain but did the trick!

In the bowl were the dumplings, somen noodles, carrots, celery, onion, coriander and spring onions.  I served it with loads of Chiu Chow chilli oil, and inhaled the lot in front of the TV.  Yum.

Welcome to my semi-annual post on Christmas leftovers!  (Last year's post is here, and the last time before that was 2006!)  I think we did pretty well this year and didn't vastly overcater, but we still had some leftover ham, gravy, turkey, lobster and dumplings, as well as some other little bits and pieces.  With the leftover lobster, I ate it cold, with mayonnaise and hot chips - divine.  The other leftovers took a little more work, so I thought I would share some photos with y'all here.

In my opinion, the best thing to do with leftover bread dumplings is to slice them up and fry them.  We had them as a late brunch with scrambled eggs, some leftover gravy and red cabbage.

Fried dumplings

My dad was a bit more creative than me, and on the same day, whipped up a tasty pasta dish - spaghetti, chopped up ham, leftover petits pois and some eggplant pesto.

Dad's pasta

For something a little healthier, and because we were totally sick of big Aussie-style roasts, we made a simple turkey-noodle soup.  It included (bought) chicken stock, some chopped up carrots and celery, noodles, and leftover turkey meat.  I ate mine with loads of crunchy chiu chow chilli oil, fish sauce, raw onion slices and lemon juice - kind of a mix between pho, chicken-noodle soup and kway teow th'ng.  It was both comforting and restorative at the same time.



And finally, the dinner of which I am most proud - the ham and leek "welsh" pasties that you see at the top of the post.  These come from Nigella's Kitchen, and are a suggested way to use up leftover ham and leeks in white sauce.  (Page 373 in the UK edition, if you're interested in making them - and I certainly think you should be!)

I didn't have any leftover leeks in white sauce, but wanted to try these pasties so much that I made up the sauce from scratch, and stirred in some leftover ham cubes.

Leeks in white sauce

Ham cubes

Nigella suggests lard for the pastry, but I used copha instead.  This wasn't out of any health concerns, but more because I have no idea where to buy good baking lard, and I had some copha in the fridge anyway.  The pastry is a standard shortcrust, but with the addition of bicarb and baking powder.  I made it up in the blender, because copha, unlike butter, is super-difficult to rub into flour using your fingertips.

The pastry was lovely and pliable, and was incredibly easy to roll out, even though I didn't use Nigella's "freeze-the-fat-and-flour" trick.  I wonder if it's because of the raising agents, or because of the copha?

Even though the pastry was so easy to work with, I think I could have been much neater with cutting it up!  Check out my irregular pasties below, haha.  Lots of the filling leaked out during baking too, oops.

But, despite their 'rustic' appearance, these little pasties were absolutely delicious!  The pastry was very light and flaky, and the filling had that great flavour combo of onion and ham.  I think these babies would be worth making any time, even if you didn't have any leftovers and had to buy all the ingredients from scratch.

Phew, that was a lot of food!  I can't be the only one looking forward to some nice light salads in the new year, right guys?

I know there's been heaps of Christmas food blogging going around, but I'd also like share a couple of other Christmas posts I read that I really enjoyed this year from other blogs: Catty's Big Fat Finnish White Christmas (in London), and Su-Lin's amazing Catalan Christmas meals.  Fabulous celebrations girls, I'm so jealous!!

Happy new year everyone!  Hope you've all had a fabulous night and aren't suffering too bad with hangovers!   Last night we decided to skip the mad crowds in the city, and had a quiet little party... of awesomeness!  We started with a yummy dinner of chicken cacciatore, beans, rice and salad cooked by my friend Jess, and then returned to our place for chips, champagne and cheesy horror films!

But as you can surmise from the title of this post, there was another element to this party - cheesecake.  Tyler Florence's Ultimate Cheesecake, to be exact.  The recipe is here. Enjoy!  (I've obviously omitted his warm lemon blueberry topping.)  Tyler's Ultimate cheesecake is my favourite cheesecake of all time.  It's exceedingly rich, smooth, dense and delicious.  I've made it a bunch of times, but never actually blogged it.

I hadn't planned on baking anything for the party (after the epic Christmas parties, ham dinner and turkey dinner, I was knackered!), but after dinner we kinda got the idea in our heads that cheesecake would be nice so we swung by the supermarket and picked up the ingredients.  Because that's the kind of person I am!

Mmm... digestives!

There weren't enough biscuits to go all the way up the sides of my tin, but I don't mind the rustic look.

Haha, you can totally see my glass of champagne in the background

All wrapped up and ready to be put inside a baking tray with water

Luckily my water bath didn't leak, but check out how buttery the tin got!

Eek.

One of my friends can't eat any gluten, so I baked some of the mixture in separate ramekins, with no crust.  They puffed up magnificently in the oven, but collapsed as soon as they were out. Oh well.


You're meant to chill the cheesecake overnight before slicing in, but obviously we weren't going to wait.  I let it firm up a little, just to make sure it was sliceable, and then we dug right in.  I think it was just after the stroke of midnight.  Happy cheesecake!


You can see the inside, whilst set, was still quite wobbly.  It was rather light (for a cheesecake!), soft, and almost gelatinous in its wobble.  (Please, let's avoid Christina Hendricks references here, shall we?)

Happy New Year!

We ate half the cheesecake between 6 of us, and stashed the rest in the fridge.  A warm cheesecake, fresh out of the oven, is a lovely thing, but I think it's even nicer after being chilled overnight.  The filling really gets a chance to set, becoming dense and creamy.