Paella

Confession of a seafood addict.

Superb Salmon Loaf

The recipe for this salmon loaf is from the father of a friend. I had it once at my friend's and was given the recipe afterwards. It's a nice way to turn canned fish into a nice dish.

Shhhrimps!

Instead of throwing away the shells after prepping the shrimps, why not use them to make the stock that goes into the risotto. Waste none. The end product is a dish that is packed with umami of the sea.

Hummus

This is by far the best hummus I've made. Nothing beats a no-cook food that tastes mmm mmm good.



The recipe:

Baklava - 2008 Finale

What better than baklava as a irresistible greasy fatty sugary dessert to sing auld lang sine with to the year 2008. Baklava was in the conceiving stage for more than a month. Not a planned finale but it just happened to be. Finally, after all the heart clogging cholesterol-filled restaurant seafood over the holidays, it was in the oven.

We need something so so so sweet in our blood to be able to continue watching the news on TV. News about our never-ending financial tsunami created by those money grabbing human amoebas that have been infesting our society, about the Isrealis dropping their bombs onto the Palestinians. The list goes on and on....





The recipe:

Vegetarian Party

The gathering on Saturday was rather an impromptu one. Since there was a vegetarian invitee and I'm also fond of vegetarian dishes (both making and having them), I was more than happy to go all vegetarian this time.

So it started with a Minestrone. Eggplant and Dal Quorma with Tofu was served with plain basmati rice. Yann has brought with him some colourful Macarons.

Election Dinner - Racing with Time

A long time friend from the States was in town so she was invited for a homemade dinner unusually on a weekday. It happened to be the election day in the US.

I spent a considerable amount of time on my office desk pondering what to cook. I would have 2 hours after work to do all the shopping and prepping. It must be something quick and yet more than fast food.

I ruled out any soup and complicated dessert. So I settled with fish (that's quick) and mesclun (another quick). I also had a coffee cheesecake made on the weekend (quick). So to go with them I picked up some new potatoes for attention-free roasting, a lemon for the "preserved" lemon relish, some cilantro to make a herb oil to go with the dish, and an orange and kiwi for the compote.

The compote had to be made first since it needed time in the fridge to chill down. So I sectioned the orange and diced up the kiwi while the sugar syrup was boiling on the stove with 2 crushed cardamons and a cinnamon stick. When the syrup is ready it was just poured over the fruits and in they go into the fridge.

To cheat on the preserved lemon relish, I boiled a cup of water with a 1/4 cup of salt and 2 tbsp of sugar, blanched the diced lemon peel for 30 sec. Mixed them with tomato concasse, capers, and a little sherry vinegar and olive oil.

Next the potatoes were washed and cut, tossed with fresh thyme, oregano, oil, salt and peppers and laid on tray ready for the oven.

Now I could turned to the dressing and the croutons. The quickest way to make crouton is to use the microwave. Just zap the croutons in the microwave as you would in the oven - for 2 mins on high. Just make sure the bread must be left on the counter top for a while to harden it a bit. The balsamic and light soy honey mustard dressing was whisked in the salad bowled ready for the mesclun to go in at dinner.

Since there wouldn't be enough time for the cilantro oil to separate anyway, this was made last. A bunch of cilantro leaves was just blanched for 10 seconds then shocked and blended with evoo.

So the TV could be on for the election while my friend was here. This saved me from having to put on a playlist of music. We chatted as the election progressed. When the eating time came I just turned the oven on for the potatoes, dredge the fillets with a little flour seasoned with dill and s&p before pan frying them. Then it was just a matter of plating everything together.

When we were eating I turned to an old playlist of the music. Yeah, the election just had to be put on hold as we ate. The only thing that slipped my mind was to take picture of the fish dish. Luckily my friend did. It was done without enough lighting though. So considerable time was spent just now to edit the photo before I could show it here.

United Way Dessert Auction amid Financial Market Meltdown

This is one part of the United Way campaign in the workplace that I always contribute to. This year's Lemon Yogurt Cake fetched $15. Last year's Fallen Chocolate Cake fetched $25. Not only was the bid for my cake lower than last year's, there were fewer items with their size shrunk. Hmmmm....is it because of the financial market meltdown?