This just goes to show that salad night isn’t necessarily a healthy event. From someone who grew up loathing salad bars (and, for that matter, vegetables in general like most children), this is indeed a welcome revelation.

Following a recipe for a caesar salad dressing from Shawn Armstrong’s Seafood: Recipes from The Cliff, and a chicken maryland-esque roast chicken and croutons idea from Jamie Oliver, I made possibly the least healthy salad ever, barring perhaps the foie gras, bacon and liver salad at L’Angelus on Club Street.

Whatever the case, it was pretty damn tasty. And if this is the only way parents will get their kids to swallow some greens, I say take it - since at least their kids will grow up knowing that just because it’s green doesn’t mean it ain’t gonna taste good.

Warm Caesar Salad
(Dressing recipe adapted Seafood: Recipes from The Cliff)

Dressing Ingredients:
10 anchovy fillets, preferably stored in olive oil
1 garlic clove, peeled and grated or minced
1 tsp dijon mustard
1 tbsp red wine vinegar
1 tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
a small handful of finely grated Parmesan cheese
1 egg yolk
1 cup extra virgin olive oil

2 heads of baby butterhead (or any other combination of salad leaves)
2 free range eggs
20g Parmesan shavings

2 chicken legs (drumstick + thigh, or 3 chicken drumsticks)
10 sprigs of rosemary
3 garlic cloves
4 thick slices of ciabatta
olive oil
5 slices of pancetta
olive oil
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Preheat the oven to 180°C. Finely chop 2 sprigs of rosemary and the 3 garlic cloves. Mix with 1-2 tbsp of olive oil and season with salt and pepper to taste, then rub all over the chicken legs. Set aside for 5 minutes. Place the remaining rosemary sprigs at the bottom of a small roasting tray, tear up the ciabatta into rough chunks (roughly 2 inch cubes) and place over the rosemary. Set the chicken legs, skin side up, over the ciabatta, and roast in the oven until meat is tender and comes off the bone easily - about 50 minutes. During the course of the roasting, shift the bread around a little two or three times to ensure that the pieces around the edges don’t burn. When the chicken is almost done, lay the pancetta over it and cook until the pancetta is just crisp.

While the chicken is cooking, make the salad dressing by whizzing the egg yolk, worcestershire, vinegar, lemon juice, garlic clove, mustard, and Parmesan up. Drizzle the olive oil in until it emulsifies, and all the oil is incorporated. Set aside. (Note: this recipe makes enough for 6-8 salads of this size, so store the rest in your refrigerator for later use.)

Place the eggs in cold water in a small saucepan, bring to the boil, and simmer for 8-10 minutes, depending on the size. Drain, and refresh in cold water to stop the cooking. Peel the eggs and either cut into wedges or slice. Rinse the salad leaves, and tear or cut up the bigger ones if necessary. Spin dry.

To assemble, toss the salad leaves in about 4-6 tbsp of the dressing. Peel the chicken meat off the bone, and roughly chop, with the crispy pancetta. Scrape off any blackened bits from the croutons, and cut the bigger ones into half or slightly smaller pieces. Toss the chicken, pancetta and croutons with the salad leaves briefly, then transfer to clean, warmed plates, and place egg slices around the salad. Finish by shaving more Parmesan over the top of the salad, and sprinkle with freshly ground black pepper.

Serves 4 as a starter, or 2 greedy people for a one-plate dinner.

The one awesome thing I took away from my brief trip to Vietnam was a renewed love for bread. On most occasions, I categorically disagree with the saying “man cannot live by bread alone”. (Supposing my bread is filled with a variety of sausages, bacon, eggs, and spreads, of course.) Bread’s also something I love to make, and on the flight back from Vietnam, aka Asian land of the baguette, I happily jotted down various types of bread I wanted to bake upon my return.

One of the types, high up on my list, was brioche. I’ve made brioche only once before, and the stickiness of the uncooked dough quite surely scared me. Further, I was following a recipe that called for fresh yeast, which is impossible (or at least ridiculously difficult) to find in Singapore. Having checked my larder and fridge for all the necessary ingredients, I set my butter out to soften only to realise that the new recipe I was intending to try took almost 24 hours to make, start to finish. I ran for my well-worn copy of Baking Illustrated, and instead found a recipe for Parker House Rolls, whose components are not dissimilar to brioche, albeit in different proportions. It also only took 2 hours to make, from start to finish, thanks to the first rise being performed in a slightly warmed oven, and proved to be a good choice.

Parker House Rolls are butter, milky, soft bread rolls. Their shapes are a little reminiscent of the white chinese steamed buns used to house Kong Ba Bao, in that they’re flattened ovals, folded over, (and this is where they differ), brushed all over with melted butter, then baked to a golden-brown heavenliness. They were a huge success the first time round, so I decided to vary the recipe a little, and make breakfast buns for bunny to bring to work for the next couple of days.

One problem I found with the first batch of rolls that I made were that they were a little too flat. This was really only a problem because my favourite part was the fluffy, pale golden interiors, and it made sense that if I baked them in muffin tins this time, they’d spread less and leave a higher buttery-insides to thin crust ratio. Instead of baking them in the generic form, I filled them with a little melted butter and some jam or ham, then rolled them back into a tight ball and baked them in muffin tins. The result was heavenly.

Breakfast Buns
(adapated from Baking Illustrated’s Parker House Roll recipe)

1 1/4 cups full cream milk
2 heaped tbsp caster sugar
2 1/2 tsp active dry yeast
1 large egg, lightly beaten
4 cups unbleached all purpose flour, plus extra for dusting
1 1/2 tsp salt
14 tbsp unsalted butter, softened
24 tbsp jam or 12 paper-thin slices of ham (or a combination of the two) for the fillings
about 1-2 tsp mild-tasting oil

Adjust an oven rack to the lowest position and heave the oven to 100°C. Once the oven reaches 100°C, maintain the oven temperature for 10 minutes then turn off the heat.

Heat the milk and sugar together in a small saucepan until the mixture is lukewarm (about 45°C). Whisk in the yeast and the egg, and set aside for 5 minutes.

Combine 4 cups of the flour and the salt in the bowl of a standing mixer fitted with the dough hook and mix on low speed to blend, about 15 seconds. With the mixer running, drizzle the liquid mixture in a steady stream and mix until the flour is moistened, about 1 minute. With the mixer still running, slowly add 8 tbsp of the butter, one tbsp at a time, until incorporated into the dough. Increase the speed to medium and beat until the dough is thoroughly combined and scrappy, about 2 minutes. Continue kneading on medium speed until smooth but still sticky, about 6 minutes, adding more flour in 1 tbsp increments, if necessary for the dough to clear the sides of the bowl. (Both times, it took me about 2 tbsp of extra flour to reach this texture.) Scrape the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead by hand for an additional minute, until very smooth and soft, but no longer sticky. Transfer the dough to a very lightly oiled large bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and place in the warmed oven until the dough doubles in bulk, about 45 minutes.

Once the dough as doubled, press it down and replace the plastic wrap, and allow the dough to rest for 5 minutes. Meanwhile, melt half the remaining butter, and with a pastry brush, liberally butter 24 muffin tins (I use 2 x 12 capacity tins). Divide the dough into 24 pieces (each should be roughly 50-55g in weight), and with a cupped palm, roll each piece into a smooth tight ball then loosely cover with plastic wrap. It’s better to use an un-floured work surface, which will stick a little to the dough and help form a tighter ball. Repeat with the rest of the dough until you have 24 balls, ensuring that all the completed balls and remaining dough are always covered with plastic wrap so as to prevent them from drying out.

Beginning with the ball rounded first, use the palm of your hand to flatten it into a 1cm thick circle. Lightly dust both sides with flour, then roll out until it is a circle twice the diameter. Spread a little of the remaining butter in the middle, place a dollop of jam, or some shredded ham, in the middle, then gather up the edges and squeeze together to seal. (You might find it easier to use a little water/egg wash to help the edges to adhere to each other.) Round again into a tight ball using a cupped hand, and place in a the muffin tin. Repeat with the rest of the balls. Cover the trays loosely with plastic wrap, and place in a warm, draught-free place for the second rise, about 45 minutes.

Towards the end of the second rise, preheat the oven to 175°C. Brush the tops of the dough with whatever remaining melted butter you have, and bake for 12-15 minutes, rotating the pan once midway through, or until golden brown and crusty. Remove from the oven, and transfer to a wire rack to cool for 10 minutes. Serve immediately, or keep in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days, and toast to reheat before serving.

Makes 24.

I’m back in Singapore, thanks to some changes in my travel itinerary. The photos from Hong Kong are all up on flickr, and I’ll get cracking on the Vietnam ones shortly.

Anyway, this post is really just to direct your attention to a new subsidiary of w&d - obsessive compulsive linking. You can read the explanation there. Hooray for tumblelogs, and I hope I keep at that one long enough this time.

So no, I’m not going anywhere. My asides, however, have been booted over to the new space. I’m in the process of tailoring this space to a more food-related site (as I’m sure most of you can see), and it’s high time I got those buggers their own crib. Alrighty-ho, I need to finish the two books I was reading! And make random noises at the wikipikicat.

I love hot chocolate. I don’t really know anyone who doesn’t - save my anti-chocolate girlfriend. Though the one chocolatey thing she has been known to drink is, of course, the abovementioned drink.

Now, I’m flying off in a couple of hours to Hong Kong, and will be heading on to Vietnam after for a total of 12 days. As such, I thought I’d leave you all with a comforting, homely drink to warm your souls and keep you company till I return, ready to bombard with pictures.

This post, really, isn’t about Hot Chocolate though. It’s to talk about a specific type - Mayan Hot Chocolate. It’s the chocolate drink that’s ultra thick to the point of feeling more like molten chocolate than a chocolate drink; sweetened with honey, laced with chillies and various other spices, hailing from the Aztecs. In short, it’s the liquid heaven from which we derive our common warm chocolate milk drink of today.

After having found a chocolate ice cream flavour that I’m really happy with, and having received a request for more ice cream, I decided it was high time to start experimenting. And I really like the flavour that I got with my first try! I highly encourage anyone who likes the spicy kick (but perhaps feels that the drink itself is a tad too thick and rich) to try this.

Further, it’s really not that different from the chocolate thyme ice cream recipe. First, instead of sweetening your hot milk with 50g of sugar, I used 3 tbsp of Manuka honey (’cos that’s what I’ve got in the fridge - but any mild honey will do), then I steeped 2 tbsp of dried chilli flakes, 1 tsp of ground nutmeg (use freshly ground if you can), 2 cinnamon sticks, and 1 split and scraped vanilla pod in the hot milk for 25 minutes. I also used 250g of chocolate instead of the original 220g - since Mayan chocolate is meant, after all, to be richer, thicker, and chocolatey-er.

You carry on the rest of the recipe in pretty much the same way - make your pâte à bombe, heat your cream and whisk into the chocolate pieces until smooth. Whisk the infused milk into the melted chocolate mixture, then let it cool, and fold into the pâte à bombe, and churn according to the manufacturer’s instructions. Easy peasy! And delicious. And kinda surprising to eat, since the spicy kick really only comes in more as an aftertaste. Which is very cool. In a spicy kind of way. :)

Be good while I’m away, and I’ll see you guys in a few.

Alright, simmer down. I don’t hate straight people. I love them! In fact, I’m part of one of the few gay couples I know that actually mix predominantly with heterosexual friends. As part of a community that clings to each other like flies to a dung heap, it really is quite amazing that bunny and I have all of one other gay couple that we see on a regular basis.

Gay rights are not where they should be today, particularly not in our sunny little nation-state. I, like most of the gay people I know, would very much like for Section 377A to be repealed. I would also like for gay marriage to be legal. I would like that when I fill in forms and have to state my relationship to bunny, I don’t have to put “Friend” or “Flatmate”.

I do, however, recognize that Singapore has come a long way from where we started out. A decade ago, bunny and I wouldn’t be able to live together the way we do now, nor would she be able to introduce me to all her colleagues. Our landlords, for sure, wouldn’t know that I’m her girlfriend, and that we’re living here together as partners, not as flatmates. In fact, let’s boil it down to the simpler things - she and I can walk, holding hands, down Orchard Road in the middle of a Saturday (only it’s normally too crowded), we can sit in a cafe in Holland Village, and if I so wish, I can kiss her in public and we’re not going to get stoned for it. That - to me - is progress. And while I can stand right here and tell you that no, this is not the end of the line for progress, it is something that warrants our attention, something that the GLBT community tends to forget. Read the rest of this entry »

Ever since I got my ice cream maker, a few chocoholic friends of mine have been endlessly bugging me to make chocolate ice cream. Originally, I’d only wanted to make a mayan chocolate flavour, since that’s my favourite type of hot chocolate. However, with my Hong Kong and Vietnam trips coming up, and one of the abovementioned chocoholics about to return to the US for school, I caved after realising that I just don’t have enough time to experiment slowly.

Two of them, G and W came over for dinner last night, and Sunday found me frantically flipping through my cookbooks for a chocolate ice cream recipe. The reason why I was so frantic was because the only flavours I’m really comfortable with are vanilla and other similarly infused-milk/infused-custard flavours. Thank goodness for that copy of Gordon Ramsay’s Just Desserts which I picked up from my neighbourhood haunt, Pantry Magic. Read the rest of this entry »

This is NOT how you grab clients with a good first impression.

Backstory: I was calling some number to get myself un-subscribed from this pesky SMS competition nonsense that I swear to god I’ve un-subscribed from AT LEAST TWICE ALREADY. This is the pre-recorded introduction that ensued, and got me giggling:

Tankiu for calling ace insurance limited.

From eleven of june to twanny-fus of or-gest, ace is raunching our fus ever lucky draw! Fai out morabou how you can win a mer-such chair and moh werf over chree tao-sun dollar.

For policy and bulling ant query, press wan.
For claims ant query, press tur.
For policy cancellation, press chree.

Oh wiao.

PS: In case you haven’t realised, I have finally caved and decided to add a “Pangsaiglish category. :D

PPS: So I’ve received more than one request for the number - it seems you people doubt my CHRANKRISPSHUN KAYPERBEELEETIS. Tsk tsk. Anyhoo, emiao me if you want it lah. I just don’t think I should put it up here. :P

NY bicycle deliverymen are filing lawsuits against employers! It’s really quite ridiculous how much they have to put up with - and all for US$1.75 an hour. Very interesting read. (via Serious Eats)

Not that this post is meant to be a plug for vick’s blog (ah but what the hell - most of you probably know it already anyway), but I just had the most harrowing week ever. In terms of cupcake-madness that is.

A friend of a friend asked me to do a motherload of cupcakes for her wedding, half pink with her name, and another half sorta like the cupcake pictured, but with the groom’s name. I never want to see another cupcake again.

Much thanks, though, to Jaime and Wei, who very gamely came over to help out with the umm we call them atomic bombs/bloops, and really to keep me company and keep me from going mad with all the icing sugar flying around the house. Then again, their presence meant there were 3 of us fighting for the guitar to play Guitar Hero II on my newly acquired, dirt-cheap, 2nd hand xbox 360. w0000t!

(Sidenote: Shirlyn.. playing guitar hero kept making me think of you ‘cos so many of the songs in the tracklist are songs you guys play on Thursdays!)

Anyhoo, apart from being completely cupcake-ed out, both my hands are in a rather bad way - with the right suffering from piping-induced CPS, and the left from guitar hero-induced RSI. Whoops.

Ah well. At least I had some extras left over that I could decorate for friends, especially since on Friday night I was sure that I could have piped ANYTHING on that little round of fondant, i.e. not just names. To prove my point, I present to you the cupcake piped with vickiho.com/blog. That’s right - an entire URL. That consists of a name too. SCORE.

PS: I wonder if posts about Guitar Hero get to be categorised under Music.

The thing I love about cooking with cheese is the delectable oozy quality that they all take on, once the melting-process starts. However, there are a couple of cheeses don’t behave quite the same way. In Asia, the type we’d be more familiar with is the Indian cheese - paneer - which can be fried and cooked in curries and stews, and maintains an almost chicken-like texture without dissolving into the liquids.

Another type which is quite popular in Europe (it originates in Cyprus, Greece), which we don’t see quite so often in Asian cooking, is Halloumi. Similar to Paneer, Halloumi is curdled by means of acid, instead of rennet (the usual agent employed with melting cheeses), which results in water being expelled from the cheeses upon heating, hence allowing them to become firmer and drier upon heating.

I found a pack of Halloumi in my local supermarket a short while back, and picked it up, wanting to experiment with this cooking method that I must admit I’ve never tried before but have seen on various cooking shows a number of times. Sick of the usual starchy sides that I pair with a simple steak dinner for the bunny and I, I decided to do something a little healthier and pair it with an interesting - texturally and taste-wise - salad.

Squelching a basil leaf into the surface of the Halloumi before frying makes the leaves go wonderfully crisp and crunchy, and it allows the basil to impart that lovely fragrance into the cheese.

Strawberry and Pan-Fried Halloumi Salad

1 small packet of Halloumi (available in supermarkets, about 150g?)
a punnet of fresh strawberries
a large handful of mint, leaves plucked
a small handful of basil, leaves plucked
a small handful of salad leaves (I used rocket, and some baby spinach)
extra virgin olive oil
good quality balsamic vinegar
juice of half a lemon
freshly cracked black pepper

Slice up the halloumi into strips approximately 4-5mm thick, then cut each strip in half so you have a smallish rectangle (like the pieces pictured). Press a basil leaf into one side of a piece cheese, and repeat with remaining pieces of cheese.

Tear up the salad leaves, mint and remaining basil into workable sizes. Whisk together the lemon juice, a good pinch of pepper, and some olive oil to form a light dressing. Toss the leaves in the dressing, and set aside. Cut the strawberries up into halves or quarters (depending on how big they are), and toss them in about 1-2 tbsp of balsamic vinegar, a tbsp of olive oil, and a small pinch of black pepper as well. Have a taste, and adjust seasoning as necessary.

Heat a nonstick frying pan with some olive oil, and fry the halloumi (placing it basil-leaf-side down first) for about 45 seconds on one side, until golden brown and the leaf is crispy. Flip the cheese over, and continue frying for another 45 seconds to 1 minute.

To assemble, stack about 4-6 pieces of fried halloumi on the bottom of a plate, pile some salad leaves and strawberries on top. Drizzle with a few drops of balsamic and a little more olive oil, then serve immediately. (Serves 4-6 as a side)