Lemon Butter Sauteed Clams

Posted on March 1, 2018 by missamateurchef

Woohooo It’s starting to feel a lot like spring!

I don’t know about you guys, but I’m so ready for the change in season! Awaken your taste buds with this lemony dish after winter’s heavy meals.

Ingredients:

1 ½ lb littleneck clams, scrubbed and cleaned
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 cloves garlic, mined
1/4 cup dry white wine
Pinch of cayenne pepper
Juice from 1 lemon
1 teaspoon chopped parsley

Directions:

Heat up a skillet on medium heat.
Add the butter and saute the garlic until slightly browned.
Add the clams into the skillet, and quickly toss around.
Add the wine and cayenne pepper. Cover the skillet and let cook for 1 minute, or until the clams are all open.
Add the lemon juice and parsley, stir to combine well. Remove from heat and serve immediately.

Bourbon-Maple Glazed Pork Belly

Posted on February 24, 2018 by missamateurchef

The more you weigh the harder you are to kidnap. Stay safe… Eat pork belly!

Ingredients:

1 pound fresh pork belly
2½ cups chicken stock
½ onion, chopped
4 cloves garlic, chopped
½ cinnamon stick
1 bay leaf
3-5 whole allspice cloves/ anises

Sauce:

¼ cup real maple syrup
100ml bourbon whiskey
4 tbsp tomato ketchup
2 tbsp soy sauce

Directions:

Preheat your oven to 180C.
Heat enough oil to cover the bottom of a large pot or Dutch oven. Sauté onion, garlic, cinnamon stick, bay leaf, and spices until fragrant.
Add in stock and cook for 20-30 minutes.
Place pork belly in the Dutch oven, bake for 2½ hours, until tender.
Drain away sauce; chill the pork overnight to improve the texture of the meat.
When ready, tip the ketchup, soy sauce, maple syrup and bourbon into a small pan. Set over a high heat and bubble for 5 mins until thick and syrupy. Pour over the chunks of pork and toss to coat. Roast for 15-20 mins more until sticky.
Serve with risotto!

Mushroom Garlic Butter Chicken Bake

Posted on February 5, 2018 by missamateurchef

Winter is here! Dark days of winter make me want to pull on my heaviest sweater and stay in bed all day. That’s where these simple, casserole recipes come in handy. Baked to perfection in a single pan – a hearty casserole always satisfies your hunger and warms you from the inside out.

Ingredients:

4 bone-in chicken thighs
2 Tablespoons Olive oil
Salt & Pepper
1 bowl sliced mushrooms

Creamy Parmesan Garlic Sauce:

¼ cup butter
2 garlic cloves, minced
½ cup chicken broth
1 cup heavy cream
½ cup bacon
½ cup grated parmesan cheese
½ teaspoon garlic powder
¼ teaspoon pepper
½ teaspoon salt

Directions

Preheat oven to 180 degree C. Season chicken with generous amount of salt and pepper.
Heat olive oil in a skillet over medium heat. Sear chicken on both sides, for about 3-5 minutes each side, until golden all over. Transfer chicken to a plate.
Fry bacon in the remaining oil, add in mushroom and cook for a further 3-5 minutes, or until just beginning to soften. Transfer to the same plate as the chicken
To make the sauce, melt butter, add in garlic and cook until tender. Whisk in chicken broth, heavy cream, parmesan cheese, garlic powder, pepper and salt.
Put chicken and mushrooms back to the sauce, brush chicken with butter and sprinkle with extra salt and pepper, bake for 30-40 minutes.

Ochazuke with Seared Oysters

Posted on October 21, 2017 by missamateurchef

Summer is almost at an end. Almost, but not quite yet. With the daytime temperature still reaching over 30 degrees, I have been craving for a dish that is light yet comforting…

That’s when Ochazuke (お茶漬け) comes in handy: a simple rice dish which combines green tea (ocha), steamed rice, and an assortment of savory ingredients (zuke means “submerged”). In Japanese homes, ochazuke is often regarded as a comfort food. It is typically enjoyed as a filler snack, any time of the day, but it is especially loved as a midnight snack (or as a hangover remedy)!

Try this really simple recipe and enjoy a hearty snack like your favorite manga character!

(You can use cold rice and cold dashi or tea in summer time to enjoy a more refreshing version of Ochazuke.)

Ingredients:

Ochazuke:

1 cup cooked, steamed Japanese rice
1/2 to 2/3 cup hot brewed Japanese tea (I swear by the Gyokuro stems teabag from Nakamura Tokichi Honten!) , just enough to cover the rice
1/2 tbsp of soya sauce (optional)
Pinch of white sesame seeds (toasted)
Pinch of shredded seaweed

Seared Oysters:

3-4 oysters
1/4 cup mirin
1/4 cup light brown sugar
1/4 cup soy sauce

Directions:

Set frying pan to medium-high heat.
Pat oysters dry. Add to the pan and cook for a 1-2 minutes on each side until nicely brown.
Remove oysters and reduce the heat to medium. Mix mirin, brown sugar and soy sauce, add to the pan.
If sauce is nicely reduced and thickened, turn off heat. If not, continue to cook over medium heat until desired consistency is reached.
Add in oysters and stir-fry for 1 minute, or until they are well-coated with the sauce.
Pour the tea until it covers half of the rice and top with oysters. Add soy sauce if you like.
Sprinkle sesame seeds and shredded seaweed on top for extra flavor.

Lu Rou Fan- Taiwanese Braised Pork Rice

Posted on September 9, 2017 by missamateurchef

Lu Rou Fan滷肉飯 (Taiwanese Braised Pork Rice)

Caution: The following recipe is not for the faint of heart!!

Okay, just think of it as Chinese Bolognese meat sauce! Although pork belly is the cut where bacon originates, and is known to be heavy in fat, you’ll find that the Lu Ro, despite flaunting thick layers of fat, is surprisingly not as greasy as you might have imagined. In fact, since the pork is cooked under low heat for an extended amount of time, the amount of fat is somewhat mitigated.

Braising has always been one of my favorite ways to cook meat; it is the best sort of kitchen alchemy- transforming tough cuts of meat into something completely flavorful and tender, and you know what… braised meat tastes even better the next day!

Ingredients:

1 lb skin-on pork belly, cut into 1/2” pieces
2 teaspoons oil
1 piece of medium size rock sugar
a couple of shallots, finely chopped
4 dried shiitake mushrooms, cut into 1/2” pieces
1/4 cup rice wine
1/2 cup light soy sauce
1/2 cup dark soy sauce
1 cups water
2 hardboiled eggs, peeled (optional)

For the spices (wrap everything in the spice packet):

3 star anise
1 cinnamon stick
cumin seeds
3 bay leaves
2 teaspoons Sichuan peppercorns
2 slices fresh ginger

Directions:

Preheat oven to 160 degree C.
Heat the oil in a Dutch oven over low heat, add in the sugar. Add the minced shallots when the sugar starts to melt. Turn up the heat to medium high and stir-fry the shallots for a minute.
Add the mushroom pieces and chopped pork belly; stir-fry for another 2-3 minutes.
Pour in the blanched pork, rice wine, light soy sauce, dark soy sauce and water. Stir and bring the mixture to a boil. Once boiling, add the spices (which should be wrapped in cloth), along with the peeled hardboiled eggs.
Transfer everything to the oven and cook for around 1½ hours.
Once the meat is fall-apart tender, remove the spice packet. Transfer Dutch oven to the stove, cook under medium high heat to thicken the sauce, stir occasionally, for about 5-minutes. The sauce should be thick enough to coat a spoon. Serve over steamed white rice!

Taiwanese Beef Noodles made with Dutch oven

Posted on August 20, 2017 by missamateurchef

My go-to recipe for a hearty meal full of braised tender beef, vegetables and plenty of carbssss!

Sluuuurp~

Ingredients:

2 pounds meaty beef short ribs
2 onions
2 tomatoes
3 slices of peeled fresh ginger, smashed
1 bunch scallions, white parts smashed with flat side of a large knife and green parts chopped
1.5 cup Chinese rice wine
¾ cup soy sauce
1 fresh red chile
3 tablespoons of Doubanjiang
3 cups of water
1 teaspoon of freshly grinded pepper
2-3 cubes of rock sugar
10 ounces dried Chinese wheat noodles
Bok Choy for garnishing

Directions:

Preheat oven to 180 deg C.
Cut onions and tomatoes into wedges, scallions into sections.
Chop short ribs into 3-inch cubes.
Heat the olive oil in a large Dutch oven. Add the onions, tomatoes, scallions and ginger slices and cook over medium heat for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the onion is lightly browned.
Dry the beef cubes with paper towels. Toss into the Dutch oven, sear the beef in the hot oil for 3 to 5 minutes, turning to brown on all sides.
Add the soya sauce, water plus Chinese rice wine, just enough to almost cover the meat.
Add the rock sugar, pepper and Doubanjiang , toss in red chili. Bring to a simmer.
Cover the pot with a tight-fitting lid and place it in the oven for about 2.5 hours or until the meat and vegetables are very tender when pierced with a fork.
Serve with noodles and bok choy!

Baked Oysters with Miso-Mayonnaise

Posted on January 8, 2017 by missamateurchef

I am a real party animal, house parties, to be exact. Nothing beats sharing hearty laughs and intimate conversation with your closest friends in a cozy environment. The truth is, I approach house parties with the same mix of excitement and apprehension you might feel before a first date—what if my home looks messy? What if I get an elaborate menu planned, and then they cancel at the last minute? And obviously you don’t want to look like you’re trying too hard… To ease off the pressure of hosting a house party, every hostess should have a few quick, easy recipes up her sleeve for any event on the calendar.

Made this very simple dish with the leftover miso from last week, this serves as a great snack or party appetizer, taking next to no time or effort to do. Add this dish to your arsenal and you won’t regret it, I promise!

Ingredients:

½ Dozen oysters
¼ Onion (minced)
1 cup Japanese mayonnaise
1 tablespoon miso
1 teaspoon butter
Paprika (for garnishing)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 180 deg C.
In a small bowl, combine the miso and mayonnaise into a smooth paste; set aside.
Heat up butter in a small skillet over medium heat. When the oil is shimmering, sauté the minced onion until they turn transparent.
Divide the onion evenly into shells and top off thickly with the miso-mayonnaise mixture, make sure to completely cover everything in the shell with the mixture.
Place oysters in the oven on the top rack and bake for 20-25 minutes. The tops should be a nice dark brown when done.
Remove oysters from the oven, garnish with paprika and serve!

Fettuccine with Black Truffle Cream Sauce

Posted on November 10, 2016 by missamateurchef

Still trying to process the shock, disgust, horror and anger I get from reading the news, both local and international.

As some of you may have noticed, I haven’t updated my blog/ Facebook for some time. I was, in the past few months, taking some major moves in my career. And I have been working my butt off to adjust to the transitions. In difficult times like this, I am particularly grateful for all the men in my life, who treat women with respect. I grew up getting all the education I needed; my father often reassures me that it is okay for a girl to be smart and ambitious. When I was too tired to cook after work, my husband would just get us takeaways, without the slightest complaint. I have never felt duty-bound to complete all the household chores, I needn’t be the domestic goddess of the house or the new Martha Stewart – I can just be myself!

Cooking has always been a meditating process for me; I feel a sense of tranquility and peace whenever I cook. Tonight, I felt something more – while I cooked, I thought of all the strong women in my life, starting with my mother, all my girlfriends… colleagues… Susan B Anthony… Claudette Colvin… Instead of feeling confined in a box, like many women before my time did, kitchen is a place where my dreams flourish. To me, food is the key to different cultures… Through all the kitchen experiments, I learn to be a person with an open mind.

So, I feel it really personally when I see how women are being demeaned, devalued and degraded publicly, how some leaders rule by intimidation, how they stifle opposing voices and diminish the potential of their citizens… it is just saddening to see how the world is moving backward…

I guess we all need a hearty truffle pasta like this to heal our souls.