Grilled Corn Soup

I know I have made a corn soup somewhere somehow sometime before this. I wanted to use this recipe because I was intrigued by the promise of basil-infused oil - Love it! The original recipe uses cream and stock, which I didn't It also recommends to strain out the solids from the liquid, which I skipped - I like my soup thick and chunky.

If you are using fresh corn like I did, start with cooking the corn over salted boiling water for about 3 - 5 minutes. Once cooked, remove and put it to grill. I just discovered I can grill certain foods using Teflon pan! Eureka!! Let it cool before you attempt to remove the kernels. You'll need to reserve the cobs for use in the soup.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 large onion, roughly chopped
• 1 small potato, cubed
• 2 cups whole milk
• 1 cooked cob of corn, kernels removed
• one generous pinch of sea salt
• Corn kernels
  
• dash of paprika
• pinch of ground cayenne pepper
• Freshly ground black pepper

1. Saute onions with a generous pinch of salt.
   
2. Stir in potato cubes to coat. Add milk, and stripped corn cob. Simmer for 10 minutes.
3. Add kernels, paprika, cayenne and black pepper. Simmer for another 5 minutes. Taste and adjust with salt.
   
4. Process into puree, and serve with basil-infused oil.
   

Basil-infused Oil

• 2 TB Olive oil
• a handful of fresh basil leaves

Bring olive oil to heat (not boiling) over medium heat. Remove from heat and throw in basil leaves. Let it sit for 10 minutes or so. Swirl oil over soup to serve.

Blue Cheese Potatoes au Gratin

I ran out of cream and so used 1 cup of sour cream with splashes of milk. The gratin turned out to the soupy side. It still taste very good - we were drinking it as if it's some thick cream soup.

Ingredients:
(serves 2)

• 1 kg potatoes, sliced into 1/4" coins
  
• 1 teaspoons sea salt
  
• 1/2 teaspoons black pepper
• 1 teaspoons fresh rosemary, minced
• 1 teaspoons fresh sage, minced
  
• 50gram crumbled blue cheese
• 50 gram grated Parmesan cheese
• 1/2 cup sour cream (lemon juice + cream)
  
• 1 cups cream
• 1 teaspoon salt

1. Preheat oven to 150C. Lightly grease a baking 8" pie pan.
2. In a bowl, toss together sliced potatoes, salt, pepper and fresh herbs. Layer 1/2 the potatoes to the bottom of pie pan.
   
3. Mix together blue cheese and Parmesan cheese. Sprinkle 1/2 of the cheese mixture over the potatoes layer. Top with remaining potato slices.
4. Whisk together sour cream , cream and salt. Pour over the pie pan. Tap the pan to release trapped bubbles. Top it with remaining cheese mixture.
   
5. Bake in preheated oven for 60 minutes or until potatoes are thoroughly cooked.
   

Twice Baked Potatoes with Broccoli and Cheddar

One of the great thing about this dish is that you can prepare it way in advance, refrigerate it - or freezing - and pop it into the oven when you need it. It works both as main and side dish. For breakfast, simply add a poached or fried egg over.

These twice baked potatoes are moist, luscious and creamy. The cheddar gives a good sharp bite, and and the sour cream keep them perfectly moist. I added lemon zest for a bit of extra flavor.

Ingredients:
(serves 2 as main or 4 as sides)

• 2 Large Potatoes, cleaned and scrubbed
  
• 1 Cup Broccoli florets
• 1 clove garlic, chopped
• 1 Tablespoon lemon juice
• zest of 1/2 lemon
• 1/4 C sour cream
• 2 TB milk
  
• 1 C cheddar cheese, grated
• 1 tsp Dijon mustard
• sea salt and black pepper to taste

1. Preheat oven at 200C. Lightly oil potatoes. Poke the potatoes over both sides using a fork. Let bake until tender, about 60 minutes.
2. While potatoes are baking, sautee broccoli florets with a teaspoon of salt. Add minced garlic and fry until fragrant. Remove from heat and stir in lemon juice.
3. Remove potatoes from oven and let cool. Cut potatoes into halves and scrap the flesh out using a dessert spoon. Leave about 1/4" around the edges. Return the skins to the oven and let bake for another 10 minutes until slightly dry and crisped.
4. Mash the potato flesh with a fork. Fold in broccoli, 3/4 cup of cheddar cheese, lemon zest, sour cream, milk and Dijon mustard. Taste and season with salt and pepper.
5. Remove skins from the oven. Divide broccoli mixture into 4 portions and spoon over the skins. Sprinkle with the other 1/4 Cup cheddar and return to top rack of oven.
6. Broil for another 10 - 15 minutes. Let it cool slightly before serving.
   

Warm Potato Salad with Mustard Dressing

Easy to make and ready when the Broccoli and Cheddar Mini Quiche is being baked in the oven. I served it on a bed of lettuces and cherry tomatoes.

Ingredients

• 1 large potato, cut into 2" cubes
  
• 1 tbsp wholegrain Dijon mustard
• 2 tsp olive oil
• 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
• 1 tbsp mayonnaise
• 2 tsp agave nectar
  
• 4 spring onions, finely sliced
• Salt and pepper, to taste

1. Place the new potatoes in a pan of lightly salted boiling water. Cover and simmer for 15 minutes or until tender then drain and return to the pan.
2. Mix remaining ingredients together and stir into the hot potatoes. Allow to cool slightly.
3. Season to taste and serve warm.

The easiest food blog

Pee Wee recently turned me on to this amazing website called Taste Spotting. I fell in love with it the instant I saw the many tantalizing food pictures! What a great website; it's a collection of recipes from food blogs all over the world. How convenient!

One of the pictures that caught my eyes was this savory baked zucchini cupcake. It has a rather intriguing name - That Zucchini. It uses thick zucchini coins as cupcake base, mounded with spinach-raisin-almond mix. It took a while to take a liking of its complexity. It's an interesting dish that would do wonder for entertainment. The only thing I would change is to chop up the raisins. You got to really make sure there is raisin in every bite; it could be rather bland without the raisins. If you have time, read also the story the writer wrote on the history of the recipe and how the name That Zucchini came about.

If you knew me, you would have known that I am not a rice person. My lab partner in university used to comment that I was the most non-asian Asian person he knew. The first question (almost) everyone would ask is "what about bread/ noodle/ pasta?" Well, I love bread. Not a big fan of noodle nor pasta. Too starchy for my liking. "So it's the starch?" No. Because I love potatoes.

When Adrian came back from Prague, the very first thing I wanted to do was to cook. I knew he must have missed my cooking. And so I immediately put that into action the next morning with a Roasted Garlic Potatoes in Thyme and Butter. You will never go wrong with garlic. And with a hint of lemon juice, this herb roasted potatoes were a hit when paired with Smoked Salmon Frittata.

My father used to make this baked potato boat that I really liked. The picture of the Pesto Baked Potatoes reminded me of those days when my father would take out the convection oven and make a whole bunch of baked potato stuffed with luncheon meats (yeap, those were the carnivorous days). The potatoes didn't look anything like those in the recipe. But heck! They taste real good. I added some uncalled-for blue cheese to the stuffing as I remembered a double-cheese potato that I once made. My version of the Baked Pesto Double Cheese Potato got an instant YES from Adrian. He even remarked how I changed his taste for potatoes. Now, that's a real testimonial.

I also tried two of the sweet dishes: a French Toast and a Brownies. Although the French Toast was actually savory.
It's called the Savory Parmesan French Toast. Adrian had a hard time figuring the French Toast out - he kept waiting to taste "French Toast". If you know what I mean. He even added maple syrup to it. To be fair, it was good. I guess it would help not to get caught up with the name. What about changing it to something like.....Savory Parmesan Toast......not very creative, am I?


There also the brownies made of two of the best things in the world: Nutella and peanut butter. I gave some to my Korean friend, Sandra, who accompanied me to watch a German opera at the Thailand Cultural Center. She reported the next morning that the brownies were a success with her kids. Good! There was a pigeon stranded at our porch after a storm. Adrian fed it with some brownies and it wouldn't stop eating. Even birds can't resist the goodness of Nutella and Peanut Butter. The brownies were moist and soft. My only complaint is it didn't do justice to the hazelnut-ty taste of Nutella.

Cream of Celery Soup that makes me a convert

One thing about me is I like variety, especially food. In order to satisfy my own desire, I take the extra miles to cooking different things everytime. Remember the huge bunches of celery that I was ranting about? No doubt there's plenty of them left after the Butternut Squash Apple Soup. So what are you to do with those awful lot of celery? I decided to turn them all into soup. God forbidden, never in my life have I ever consider having celery soup. Until now.
I have to say I was absolutely surprised by how good the soup was. I stumbled upon the recipe while flipping through pages of outdated LA Times. One of the articles mentioned the hidden wonders of celery, and was nothing more than a pot of sauteed onion, chicken broth (of which I substituted with miso), cubed potato and a whole mess of diced celery. It doesn't sound like much, does it?

Cream of Celery Soup

When I strained the puree I was left with a pot of watery liquid and a strainer full of mush. What a waste, I thought. So I dumped the mush back to mix with the water liquid again - I always prefer thick soup anyway. I made the soup two days before and freeze it before adding cream. When I needed something little, I took it out and reheat, swirling a spoonful of cream in as it boiled. I added a swirl of cream to pretty-fie the soup. I found no need for salt and pepper - it was nicely seasoned from the miso broth already. If there's a celery dish that would change my taste, this is it. The result was a very light and delicately-flavored soup.

Ingredients:
(serve 4)
3 Tablespoons butter
1 medium onions, diced
1 potato , peeled and cut into 1/2 inch dice
10 stalks celery, trimmed and cut into 1/2 inch slices
5 cups chicken broth (miso worked fine)
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
1/8 teaspoon ground white pepper
2 Tablespoon heavy cream (optional)
Celery leaves for garnish, chiffoned

1. Melt butter in a soup pot. Add onions and cook until translucent.
   
2. Add potatoes, celery and chicken (miso) broth. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to let it simmer until the potatoes and celery are very tender (about 20 minutes)
3. Puree in a food processor or blender. Pass the soup through a medium sieve, pressing the solids with the back of a wooden spoon (I skipped the straining). Refrigerate or freeze if you are not serving it yet.
4. When ready for serving, defroze and reheat. Taste and adjust with salt and pepper (no need in my case).
5. Swirl in the cream if desired. Garnished with celery leaves.

Although I did enjoy the soup but it's till too much for two persons. No fret! I'm putting it in a Corn Casserole instead of using canned cream of celery soup. It got to be better with homemade, right?

Viva La Vida Breakfast!

Poached Eggs with Tomato and Banana Sauce & New Potato Wedge Omelette

There's no question how much of a breakfast person I am. I can skip lunch, and sleep on an empty stomach but NO ONE, absolutely NO ONE can take my breakfast away. I almost never skip breakfast. I would intentionally wake up early enough so that I can have a simple breakfast before I head out for Yoga. On days when I have the luxury of having long breakfast at home, I'd plan the menu a night before. Yes, that's how obssessed I am with my breakfast. I literally can have breakfast for morning, lunch and dinner. I'm sure Pee Wee would approve.

Poached Egg with Tomato and Banana Sauce

Kind of bizarre, isn't it? At the same time I couldn't resist to find out what it taste like. I'm always hesistant when it comes to poaching eggs. I'm intimidated by having to scoop the egg while the yolk is still runny. Actually I did a rather good job this time; without knowing what I did right..... I wish I had taken a picture before they were smothered by the sauce. Poached eggs are typically served over toasted bread. I didn't. I served it with a side of mixed greens with sun-dried tomatoes and blue cheese. I have to say that the taste of melted butter, sweetness of bananas and sourness of tomatoes blend very well together. The recipe uses water. But I like cream. It gives a sort of volume and creaminess to the texture. Yum~

Ingredients:
4 eggs
1 banana, chopped
1 tomato, chopped
cream (adjust)

1. Boil a pan of water with two tablespoon of vinegar (I used apple cider vinigar) to simmer. Break egg into a bowl and tip it over simmering water. Repeat with the other eggs. When the eggs are set, remove from pan with slotted spoon and let dry on paper towel.
2. Melt a tablespoon of butter. Add chopped tomatoes and bananas. Fry for a minute. Stir in cream (or water if you don't like to use cream) and let simmer. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
   
3. Pour the sauce over poached eggs to serve.
   

One of the things I like about writing this food blog is instead of just following the recipes, I now spend more time researching for nutrition information and the "how, why, where, when, what" of cooking. For instance, many times I come across recipes that use different varieties of potatoes: Russel, fingerling, new potatoes, etc. Are they that much different? So I found this Potato Council website from British.

Apparently there are thousands of different varieties of potatoes grown around the world. Potatoes are often categorized according to season. For instance, new potatoes are planted in the winter, ready for harvesting in spring or early summer. They are sometimes called early potatoes. Potatoes harvested in the late summer or early autumn, instead of being called "late" or "old", are known as maincrop potatoes.

They also differ in texture- some are firm and set, while others are fluffy, waxy, or floury. If you want to make a mash, you want a floury potato that has higher dry matter and brighter and more granular in appearance. On the other hand, waxy potatoes are good for salad because they are good at staying firm and keeping their shape.

So there's my homework. Nevertheless, when it comes to shopping for potatoes, there really isn't much to be sophisticated about. Regardless of the shape, size, colour, they are all labeled "potatoes". I guess if I wanted to, I could probably learn to distiguish them from the appearance. But I digress.

New Potato Wedge Omelette

I didn't bother to investigate if the potato I used was new potato or otherwise. It's just one of those washed potatoes in the supermarket vegetable corner. Don't be too excited by its name (as I did): it's very much a frittata made with potato. Or Spanish tortilla. I made a few adjustment to the recipe:

1. I added chopped fresh herbs - tarragon, parsley, oregano and thyme.
2. I used a mix of Cheddar and Romano cheese
3. Cream instead of milk
4. It was served with chili mayonaise on a bed of vinaigrette arugula and fresh cherry tomatoes with pine nuts.
5. I top the omelette with more quartered tomatoes before baking.
   

Ingredients

• 350g new potatoes, scrubbed and cut into wedges
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 100g sweetcorn
• 4 medium eggs, beaten
• Dash of milk
• Salt and black pepper
• 75g Cheshire cheese, grated

1. Place the new potatoes in a pan of lightly salted boiling water. Cover and simmer until tender. Drain.
2. Heat the oil in a frying pan. (Add mixed herbs here if you are using). Add the sweetcorn and potatoes and fry for 1 minute.
3. Lightly beat the eggs, milk (or cream), salt, pepper and half the cheese (cheddar). Add to the pan and cook gently for 3-4 minutes until almost set.
4. Sprinkle over the remaining cheese (Romano) and place under a preheated oven until golden.
5. Cut into 8 wedges and serve with tomato ketchup and crisps of the flavour of your choice.