Sunday, August 15, 2010

Cookies


Checkerboard cookies

I wish i could make them as pretty as these :( i used the wrong coloured dough for the outermost shell

http://www.bakingobsession.com/2008/10/21/checkerboard-cookies/




Chocolate Matcha Poker Chip Cookies

:( i suck at rolling and whatnot

http://www.bakingobsession.com/2010/01/10/chocolate-matcha-poker-chip-cookies/

Summerlicious 2010

Went to quite a few restaurants for summerlicious this year. It was a little damaging to my wallet, but well worth it!




Jump

Bigeye Tuna Tartare & Spicy Sopressata 
cracked olives, garlic grissini, arugula, lemon and Sicilian organic extra virgin olive oil

Oops, I'm contributing to the extinction of another species, but it was delicious




Jump

Grilled Top Sirloin Fettina
charred onion, heirloom tomato and rocket salad with crumbled Gorgonzola

Nice, pounded down, well-done steak




Jump

Chocolate Toffee Crunch Cheesecake
dulce de leche cream

Tasted a lot more like mousse than cheesecake.





Senses! Flowers


Senses

charred Kobe flank steak and chilled soba noodle salad, pickled vegetables

This was delish! But we had our doubts that this was actually Kobe beef





Senses

pan-roasted citrus free range chicken breast, citrus segments, summer sprout mix salad, citrus-honey-mustard dressing

The chicken was super tender, but a bit flavourless



Senses

pan-seared bacon wrapped monkfish medallions, Vodka shiitake mushroom tomato sauce

good but not spectacular





Senses

roasted new zealand lamb chops, charred vegetable tian tower, lemon thyme balsamic vinaigrette

Yum! the lamb was perfectly cooked and flavoured



Senses

warm cherry crème brulee and flambéed cherries

less creme, more brulee coz its served on a plate





Senses

peach tart with vanilla ice cream

peach tart was disappointing, tasted like mooncakes. icecream too =_=





Senses

White Chocolate cheesecake

mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm ♥



(forgot to bring camera to Bymark, so dont have pics of that)




Far Niente

Panko Crusted Shrimp and Haddock Croquette
Corn, Tomato and Green Onion Salsa, Chili Caper Mayo

Delicious!!!! ♥ absolutely perfect. crispy on the outside and soft and smooth on the inside filled with haddock and potato



Far Niente

Grilled Top Sirloin Steak
Fontina Cheese and Truffled Sour Cream Baked Potato, Red Wine Jus

Overcooked on the first try. WAY way wayyyy too well-done. Had it redone to medium and was perfect.





Far Niente

Chocolate Espresso Ganache Tart
Chantilly Cream

Very chocolatey, must have used cayenne in the tart. again, good but nothing special

Biff's Bistro

Chicken liver parfait with Brent’s mustard

Not my starter, but it was pretty good

Biff's Bistro

Cured Albacore tuna with lentilles du Puy & preserved lemon

This was amazing. the parsley pesto sauce was absolutely divine, and perfect for dipping bread and everything else in.





Biff's Bistro

Gazpacho with shrimp hache & crème fraîche

Yum







Biff's Bistro

Roasted pork loin with fingerling potato & apple gastrique

Not mine, but it looks yummy



Biff's Bistro

Flatiron steak frites

Way too raw the first time. I sent it back but still a bit too raw, owell...



Biff's Bistro

Warm flourless chocolate torte with strawberries & Grand Marnier

Fluffy and crunchy chocolate bits ♥

Bakes Shrimps with Turkey Breast Scallopini and Mashed Potatoes

Turkey Spaghetti

Turkey Chili

Made turkey chili a while ago. Here's some pictures. :)

In progress.

And voila! I tend to put too much cayenne pepper so it gets too spicy but the spicier the better! ^^

Sunday, May 9, 2010

Live Lobster

Live lobsters were on sale this weekend at my nearest grocery store. So, being the cheapskate that I am, I went to buy one. (still a good 10 bucks though)


The poor little thing was put into this box for me to take home.



 The poor little one... when it was still alive... I almost got too attached to kill it... might have just kept it as a pet in my pot or something...


But I did suck it up and became a murderer.... put it in head first... and wham its dead.... >< salt the water, about 1 tbsp per quart of water, bring to a boil, and then cook about 10-12 minutes.




There, he's pretty big. Looking at him makes me sad...



The lobby with garlic butter and Passion of Portugal 2008.




Look at the lovely lobster tail. Tastes delishous when sprayed with lemon and dipped in garlic butter!

Baked Chicken Drumsticks

Baked Chicken Drumsticks with long grain rice and grape tomatoes


Drumsticks are marinated in a blend of herbs and marinating soy sauce overnight, then baked at 350F for 50 minutes, flipped half way through.

I admit, the grape tomatoes are just there to make things look prettier, but they all taste pretty good together!

Sunday, May 2, 2010

Susur Lee's LEE Restaurant in Toronto


When I first saw that Susur Lee's restaurant had a $28 prix fixe, I was so excited I almost jumped in my seat. I've heard of how utterly amazing Susur is from many many other people, and have idolized him ever since I saw the episode of him being on Iron Chef!


So of course, I had to try this $28 prix fixe. Never had Susur's food before and only knowing that he makes Asian fusion cuisine, I didn't really know what to expect. The two of us decided to try different things from the menu, since they offered two choices for the appetizer, main, and dessert.


The Table settings with a plate to place appetizers to share.






Starter1
Szechwan Hot & Sour Soup
Chicken & shredded vegetable

We thought that this was fairly generic, but pretty good. It has yiutiao slices on top with sesame oil. I find that this soup is more Cantonese styled rather than Sichuan styled, as it's more sour than hot.





Starter2
Singaporean Style Slaw
(contains nuts)

Susur's signature dish for manu years. This was AMAZING!!!!!!! I could eat it FOREVER! The mesh of textures and flavours with the salted ume dressing was sensational. No wonder he serves it at all his restaurants. Even people who are mostly carnivores will enjoy this dish. Apparently has 18 ingredients:(found a recipe online)
1 pickled red onion
1 1/2 cups Salted Apricot Dressing
2 green onions, both white and green parts, julienned
Vegetable oil for deep frying
1 taro root, peeled and julienned
2 ounces rice vermicelli – broken into 3 inch pieces
1 large English cucumber, julienned
1 large carrot, peeled and julienned
1 small jicama, peeled and julienned
2 large roma tomatoes, peeled, seeded and thinly sliced
4 teaspoons toasted sesame seeds
6 teaspoons crushed roasted peanuts
4 teaspoons edible flower petals
4 teaspoons fennel seedlings
4 teaspoons purple basil seedlings
4 teaspoons daikon sprouts
4 teaspoons fried shallots





Main 1
Korean Style Skirt Steak
Garlic mushroom, spicy ponzu, mashed potato

AMAZING STEAK ♥ The Skirt steak was chewy but still fairly tender and the korean sauce really brought out the complex flavours of the meat.







Main 2
Caramelized Black Cod
Citrus butter sauce, potato croquette

The cod was very nicely done. Better than the cod I was served at Guu-izakaya, a new Japanese restaurant in Toronto with quite a bit of word of mouth. (I went there a few days ago and the line to get in took over an hour.) The citrus butter sauce complimented the cod perfectly, and was somewhat sweet, not as sweet as Guu's. the Patatoe Croquettes were nothing special. It might be better if it was more strongly flavoured with a more fluffy outer shell. And I wish the cod was bigger... :(







Dessert1
Tong Yuen Sweet Rice Dumpling
Chocolate ganache, shredded coconut, hazelnut, peanut, & sesame seeds (6 pce)

Supposed to be 6 pieces but only got 3... and wasnt anything special... :( Growing up Chinese, I've had a lot of tangyuan in my life, so This didn't really impress me very much. I'm sure it would be great to someone who's trying it for the first time though!





Dessert 2
Molten Chocolate Cake
Chocolate hazelnut crumble, caramelized jackfruit, vanilla bean ice cream



I wish that I had gotten this instead. It was a lot better and more worth it than the tangyuan. The chocolate cake was very nicely done, and the jackfruit inside tasted sweet, crunchy and slightly ginger-y.




Good coffee, with cream and brown sugar crystals.

Overall, I would say it was a very positive experience, food-wise. But we waited more than 40 minutes after we finished our starters to get the mains, and that is just unacceptable for a restaurant of this caliber. The servers were very sweet and helpful, and seemed knowledgeable. My guess is that Susur must not be in Toronto this day (I hear that he will drop in on the customers sometimes if he were) and the kitchen just got messy.... :(

Tuesday, April 20, 2010

Tuna Onigiri

Really easy to make and is a very nice quick snack. Just cook rice, sprinkle with Japanese rice vinegar to taste (and a bit of salt if you like), mix. And then mix with any of your desired seasonings or fillings. In this case, I used flaked tuna from a can, but you can use all sorts of fillings, like furikake or pickled vegetables. I've used xue cai before, and it turned out really well.

To wrap it quickly and efficiently, put a piece of plastic wrap over a bowl, and scoop the desired about into the bowl, then you can shape it and wrap the onigiri up for whenever you want to eat.



Forgive the photo quality as the steam in the plastic wrap makes it really hard to take good photos.

One cup of cooked rice can make around two small onigiris, about the size of my fist.



Onigiri unwrapped!

Chocolate Blackberry Cake

Had some leftover blackberries and wanted to make something out of it. I was debating between a blackberry poundcake or a coffee cake until I realized that I wanted neither. So there's the birth of a chocolate blackberry cake. Found the following recipe and got started.



The picture doesn't look too bad, does it? The fact of the matter is, I have trouble working with springform cake pans, for some strange reason. and the cakes I make out of them always look messed up... =_= So the picture above is actually of a good looking slice. Tastes great though! ^^ The ground almonds made the crusts very crunchy and almost caramelized while the inside chocolatey parts are still soft and moist.


Here's the recipe:

Ingredients
• butter, for greasing
• 150 g chocolate (70%cocoa)
• 100 g butter
• 3 eggs
• 125 g sugar
• 2 tablespoons Grand Marnier or Cointreau liqueur (I used very concentrated instant coffee instead)
• 100 g ground almonds (skin on)
• 2 tablespoons cornstarch or flour
• 100 g blackberries
• icing sugar, for dusting


Directions
1. Line and butter a springform of 20cm.
2. Melt butter and chocolate on low heat. Let cool a little bit while stirring. Add eggs, sugar and gran marnier (or cointreau). Mix cornstarch (or flour) with ground almonds and add. Pour mixture into springform. Stick blackberries into mixture. Bake in the middle of a 200°C oven for 20-25 minutes. THE CAKE SHOULD STILL BE MOIST. Remove cake and let cool.
3. Cool for several hours or best overnight.
4. Sprinkle with icing sugar and serve as it is or with whipped cream, sour cream or ice cream.

Saturday, March 13, 2010

Tomato Soup with Cream

Adapted from a recipe book called "Comfort Food".

Tomato soup with cream

For some reason the colour of this soup looks really off from the one in the recipe book... I'm assuming its coz different types of tomatoes are used?




Perfect Chocolate Macarons

Chocolate Macarons SUCCESSSSSS!!!!!!!!!! YESSSSS!!! 

I finally made some (almost) perfect looking macarons!!! after like a million tries. look at the pretty foot in those cookies!
Look how nice and smooth they seem! <3 Should try making other flavours too, haha ^^

Saturday, January 30, 2010

Food that I Made in the Last Year


Haven't posted here for a while, so I'm going to spam the blog with the whole lot of food that I made in the last year or so. Of course, I'm neither a food stylist or a photographer by profession, so please excuse the unprofessional presentation and picture taking skills. :)

Challah

Plum Clafoutis, recipe courtesy of Bea at La Tartine Gourmande.

Strawberry Tartelette

Apple Cinnamon Tartlette

Mango Cardamom Tartelette

Creme Renversee, recipe courtesy of Bea again.


Chocolate Macarons, recipe courtesy of David Lebovitz. First try. Terribly ugly and overfolded but the taste is ok. Hopefully one day I can post a picture of a successful try.

Coconut Panna Cotta with Blackberry Stew, recipe courtesy of La Tartine Gourmarnde.

Curry Chicken with rice.


Anniversary Dinner
Bread - Brioche

Anniversary Dinner
Amuse - Avocado and Grapefruit Millefeuille, recipe courtesy of Bea

Anniversary Dinner
Appetizer1 - Seared Scallops and Green Apples, recipe courtesy of Bea

Anniversary Dinner
Appetizer2 - Coconut Milk Mussel Soup, recipe courtesy of Bea again

Anniversary Dinner
Main1-Sauteed Duck Foie Gras


Anniversary Dinner
Main2 - Provençal Rack of Lamb

Anniversary Dinner
Dessert- Poached Pear Tart with Tapioca Pudding and Peach Jam

Sausage Casserole



Double chocolate biscotti with coffee made from french press

Rosemary Focaccia with a poolish

Shrimp, chicken, and sausage Jumbalaya! Long-grained rice probably would have turned out better than Japanese rice, but still good ^^


Curry Beef Samosas, made with phyllo pastry

Creme of Onion soup

Eggs Benedict. English muffin topped with crispy bacon and poached egg with Hollandaise sauce.

Creme of Broccoli Soup with Blue Cheese Fritters, courtesy of Chef John at Foodwishes.com. He claimed it was the best soup he ever made, and I don't disagree! It really is a marvelous soup! I felt a little wasteful as I used my black Roquefort Papillion for it ($6USD per 100grams!!!!), since I had no other blue cheese on hand :(..... But the taste is amazing!

Tonkatsu (deep fried breaded pork tenderloin) with rice and Worcestershire sauce, recipe courtesy of the Shizuoka Gourmet!