I love eggs. They hold a very fond memory of my first ever cooking escapade. I was about 7 when I saw this movie that got me into the world of gastronomique. It was a scene where a guy came inside a diner looking for a job. The owner then asked him, “Do you know how to cook an omelette?”

He then started to chop up green peppers and onions, then he beat an egg with a fork inside a metal cup. He proceeded to make a fluffly omelette [in a whirl of movements] with soft centre, which the owner took a bite of. Of course, as it would in all movies, he got the job. And no, I never did find out the title of that movie. Which is not to say that I haven’t tried. I googled the most ridiculous keywords in search for it, like “diner omelette scene” or “omelette cooking scene in movies”…err..Yeah.

I couldn’t sleep after watching it. The next day while my mom was out, I turned on the gas stove (after much restless thought, ofcouse. I was 7, I was scared I might burn the house down and get killed). I wanted to imitate the swift movement of the guy so I took two eggs and slap them on the side of the pan, watching the shells break and the inside slide into the hot oil. Some of the shells fell in too, of course. It wasn’t much. It wasn’t even an omelette; more like a cross between scrambled eggs and messed up sunny side-ups, but I ate the finished product happily with my then 5 year old sister, occasionally picking away the shells.

But enough about that, today’s recipe is a quick egg and tomato dish which would be great to have for breakfast or even brunch. Preheat the oven beforehand and you’ll be in and out of the kitchen in less than 15 minutes. Tops.

Baked Eggs and Tomatoes: (Serves 2)

[ 2 handfuls of Cherry Tomatoes + 2 cloves of garlic + 3 tablespoons of Olive Oil + 1 teaspoon of Dried Oregano + 2 eggs + Fresh parsley for garnish + Salt & Pepper to taste ]

Pre-heat the oven at 170 degrees Celcius.

Heat 2 tablespoons of oil in a skillet. Slice the garlic and sautee until fragrant.

Cut the cherry tomatoes into halves and throw them in.

Add oregano and salt and pepper to taste.

Sautee until tomatoes soften and reduces, about 4 minutes.

Put the sauteed tomatoes into ovenproof dishes (ramekins etc.)

Add a teaspoon of olive oil and make a well in the centre

Crack in the eggs

Put into oven and bake for about 5 minutes or until egg is cooked to your taste

Take them out, sprinkle some chopped parsley and serve immediately with some crusty bread

Enjoy!

Sausages and potatoes have always been relied on for a good comfort food for the winter mornings or evenings. This is also a great hangover food, so I say win-win [especially on the morning-after New Year’s]. Essentially this is just a quick braise that can be [should be!] substituted for a stew when you want something warm in a hurry. With this as a foundation, you can add other ingredients to really change it up. Use good quality sausages and serve with some bread for a complete meal.

Braised Sausages and Potatoes:

Serves 2:

[ 4 sausages (beef/chicken/pork) + 3 tablespoons of Olive Oil + 3 Potatoes + 1 onion + 3 cloves of garlic + 200ml chicken stock + A handful of fresh parsley ]

In a deep skillet or dutch oven on medium-high heat, warm up some olive oil and throw in the sausages.

Brown evenly and set aside

Turn stove to medium. Roughly chop an onion and throw into skillet with the remaining oil. Crush the garlic and cut the potatoes into bite sized pieces and throw them in too. Sautee until potatoes begin to brown.

Return the sausages back into the pan

Add the stock and season to taste with black pepper (and salt if needed). Pop the lid on and leave to simmer on medium heat until stock has reduced a bit.

Grab a handful of fresh parsley

Chop and sprinkle on top of the braised sausages and potatoes. Take off heat and serve immediately.

Enjoy! [I ate it with a heap of mustard] (And a Merry Christmas to those celebrating it!)

So here’s a little history behind the shape of the pretzels;

The German story tells that a baker was once put in prison for supplying bad bread to the people. After being in captive for ages, the authorities had enough of the bakers laments, and so told him that if he could bake something good and new in which the sun could shine through three times, then they would set him free. The baker then came up with the pretzel and was set free because, sure enough, the sun light was able to shine through it three times.

- Source

Not sure whether I believe the history or not. All I know is that I’ve been craving for pretzels since I saw ~LiDac’s photo and just had to make some.

Dough:

[2g sugar + 8g dry yeast + 148ml warm water + 315g flour + 50g sugar + 4g salt + 8ml vegetable oil]

Yes, the sugar is mentioned twice.

So you take the warm water and dissolve the 2g sugar in it.

Then dissolve the yeast

Leave for 5-10 mins. It will be bubbly and frothy by then (which means the yeast has digested the sugar and made some CO2! wippeee!)

Measure out the flour, put into a mixing bowl.

Make a well in the center. Add in the 50g sugar and the salt

Mix into the flour, make a well again. Pour in the yeast water mixture

Add in the oil

Mix until the flour has incorporated into the liquid. Use your hands to work in the last bit of loose flour and dough bits into one ball. Leave to stand in damp, warm place for about 1 hour.

When the dough has risen, punch the air out and roll onto a floured surface

Shape into a thick rope as long as your forearm

Score the dough in half. Then half of the halves, then halve of the quarters

Trace the line and cut the dough to pieces

And now we’re going to make the pretzel shape! Don’t be intimidated, just follow the step by step and all will be well.

Take one small piece of dough and shape it to a long, thin rope (not too thin).

Make a U shape

Then twist the top part, like so

Then bring down the ends to the bottom of the “U”. Be sure to secure the ends that is attached to the U, because if they’re loose, they will unravel when you put them in the “soda bath”.

Repeat until you’ve done it to the remainder of the dough

“Soda Bath”

[ 55g baking soda + 480 ml hot water]

Take a saucepan and heat up the water until it boils, then turn the heat down just enough to keep the water hot. Add in the baking soda

Throw in your pretzels into the bath

Leave them in for around 50 seconds. Get your stopwatch out if you need to, they must not be in there longer than 1 minute

Fish them out using a spatula or a slotted spoon

Placed on greased baking tray and lay on some egg wash (egg+water)

Bake in the oven at 230 degrees for about 12 minutes

When it’s done, brush on some melted butter and sprinke with salt, herbs or cinnamon sugar. I chose cinnamon sugar!

Enjoy!

I have a pharmacology assignment due Monday,in which we have to take 3 drugs from the current block (GenitoUrinary System) and do a paper investigating whether or not they’ll interact in terms of pharmacokinetics or pharmacodynamics. My drugs were those to treat Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia/BPH. Let’s just say searching for the information on these 3 drugs is enough to make a grown man cry. I was left totally distraught by the end of it. Not to mention the professors are total dragons who like to pick on those sitting at the back table (where I am unhappily situated, due to my unfortunate late registration & getting the last batch of Student Number).

I felt impotent.

And when I feel like such, I like to make an escape where I can feel whole again. And today,that escape comes in the form of chocolate covered meringues floating in a chocolate-y mousse-y custard.

1. Creme Anglaise (English Custard)

[600ml milk + 1 vanilla pod or 1tsp vanilla powder/essence + 6 egg yolks + 100g caster sugar]

- Warm milk + vanilla on low heat

- Separate egg yolks from white, add sugar, whisk till lemon coloured

- Temper milk into egg mixture (add a ladle or two then whisk)

- Pour milk-egg mixture back to pan and stir over low heat (about 10 mins)

- I deviated a bit from the original recipe and added 50g bittersweet chocolate.    Feel free to leave it out.

- Take off heat when mixture is thick enough to coat the back of a wooden spoon.

- Strain and set aside.

2. Iles Flottantes (floating islands/meringues)

[2 egg whites + 50g caster sugar]

- Whisk the whites with the sugar until stiff

- Divide/spoon the egg-whites onto a baking tray lined with wax paper

- Bake until just firm. Cool

- I rolled mine in chocolate shavings. Again, feel free to omit this step.

Enjoy!

:)

Elvis, then I would make…

I watched a lot of TV back in my early years. Like, alot. But I was especially hooked on Discovery Channel. Seconds from disaster, Aircrash Investigation, Lonely Planet, Megastructures; you name it. One day while I was cruising the knowledge transmission that is Discovery Channel, a documentary on the King played. Out of all the things that were mentioned, I could only recall his maid, Nancy Brooks, talking about (while making) his favourite food. That which happens to be Fried Peanut Butter & Banana (& sometimes including bacon) sandwhich. So if the King and I had spent a day, I’d make Banana Foster, which is a lighter take on his nuts and bananas.

1. Bananas Foster

55g butter + 135g sugar (or brown sugar) + 1g ground cinnamon (I just throw in a stick + 8ml vanilla extract (which I substituted with 1tsp of vanilla powder) OPTIONAL: 50ml rum

Cut banana in half, then half the halves

In a skillet over medium heat: melt butter, add sugar and cinnamon till you get a bubbling caramel mixture.

Throw in bananas in batches,coat evenly on both sides (cook for 1-2 mins)

Put on serving plate.

2. Caramel Sauce (optional)

Leftover caramel on skillet + some heavy cream.

You see that leftover caramel just bubbling quietly on the stove? You know it doesn’t want to be wasted. So add a generous glug of cream and stir. You’ll thank me later for this.

SERVE (with vanilla ice cream/whipped cream + chopped almonds/walnuts + caramel sauce, if you please)

:)

Adeline Yen Mah, then I would make…

Adeline Yen Mah is the renowned author of “Chinese Cinderella”. I came across that book on a ‘library day’ back in the 8th grade. I remember the character ‘Big Sister’ saying to Adeline (after hitting her with her shoe) “…don’t dawdle, cook is making potstickers and I don’t want to be late for lunch.”

Since I am in no skill-condition to make potstickers (gyoza), this is something a little simpler

:)

The “D9s”, then I would make…

This summer I had a chance to meet up with 4 of my old friends. We had our fun and things, but it didn’t feel complete because we weren’t all there. So if I were to meet up with all of them at some point, this is what I would make to eat with them. Just because. 

Spanish Churros

1. In a small saucepan over medium heat, combine water, 2 1/2 tablespoons sugar, salt and 2 tablespoons vegetable oil. Bring to a boil and remove from heat. Stir in flour until mixture forms a ball.
2. Heat oil for frying in deep-fryer or deep skillet to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Pipe strips of dough into hot oil using a pastry bag. Fry until golden; drain on paper towels.
3. Combine 1/2 cup sugar and cinnamon. Roll drained churros in cinnamon and sugar mixture.

:)