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Turkey Shepherd Pie

When i saw this recipe, I was like there is no way you could make a shepherd pie in 30 minutes. There is just too much work involved in it. There is so many ingredients, so many things to prepare. You gotta pan cook the meat, boil the potatoes and smash them, and finally broil it in the oven. Way too many things to do. So instead of doing it alone, I decided to get some helpers. Obviously when we cook in our dorms, we usually have people joining us for the meal, whether is it our room mates or friends.

So I had three friends who came in at different points in the preparation process. Firstly I had Elspeth, a good friend of mine who is also from Singapore. She basically helped with the preparation and the potatoes.

Then Esther who wanted to help but really couldn’t do anything so I got her to read the recipe from the book to make sure we were going as planned, which you would think is such an easy job. Surprisingly(not to me though), she managed to screw it up…

And finally we have Jenny who is the most experienced of them all. She actually did most of the cooking of the turkey.

So what did this meal involve?

Ingredients

3 Big Idaho potatoes (I used 5 normal size ones which wasn’t really enough)
1.3 Ibs of ground turkey
Quarter Ibs of Bacon
2 Tablespoon or 8 sticks of fresh thyme
1 box of frozen carrots and peas
1 Red Bell Pepper
1 Cup of Chicken Stock
1 Cup of Sour Cream
1 Tbs of corn starch
Half stick of salted butter
Smoked Paprika (optional)

Firstly boil 3 idaho potatoes. I can’t remember what potatoes i used, but word of advice, use big potatoes and use more. Doesn’t hurt to have more potatoes. Cut them into smaller pieces to cook faster too.

Brown chopped bacon in huge skillet. Like a giant skillet which i bet most people don’t have so I suggest getting a wok from Ikea which i did and use that. Drain oil. Add turkey to brown.  Season with pepper and salt. When meet start to brown, add in chopped onions(one medium size), defrosted frozen peas and carrots(one box), chopped bell pepper, 2 tablespoons of fresh thyme. Mix and break the meat well.

Hopefully by then the potato is done. Start mashing them in a big bowl. Add salt and pepper. Half a stick of salted butter and half a cup of sour cream. Mash well.

Back to the turkey. Add one cup of chicken stock and half a cup of sour cream. Mix well. Add 1 tbs of corn flour or till ground turkey has a slightly thick sauce. Pour turkey onto a caserole dish. Spread the mash potato evenly on top of the turkey. Pop caserole dish into the broiler to brown the top, which only takes a few minutes.

For some weird reason, explaining the recipe now seems to make it sound really easy but in actual reality, it was quite a messy issue. Maybe because this recipe is suppose to be a smoked paprika turkey shepherd pie, but i couldn’t find the smoked paprika, so i did without it. But i guess adding paprika will make it slightly smokey and spicy.

So verdict:

Time: 3 (took us about 45 minutes at least to get everything out.)
Difficulty: 5 (With the use of fresh thyme and so many things going on at one time, it really isn’t that easy. Not all of us are like Rachael Ray who have an army of people behind the scenes preparing the ingredients in nice proportions for her.)
Taste: 8 (Real good. Kinda tasted like a pot pie but instead of pastry we had potatoes. I really liked the whole thyme and turkey combination. The filling was way too watery as it called for 2 cup of stock so i reduced it to 1 and added corn flour)

The good thing about this meal is that it really does feel like a home cooked meal. It is such a nice warm meal to share together and it really nutritious too. I would definitely try this again. Got a feeling it will probably take me a shorter time because now i kinda have everything in my head. Which is one thing we have to take note about cooking these recipes. We usually take a longer time the first time we try it because we are constantly referring back to the recipe and getting the order of the preparation wrong. Like for myself, i forgot to cook the potatoes first. So the second time we attempt to cook the dish, not only do we have the rough idea of what goes into the dish, we can improvise if we miss out something or just add in things along to way to create our own magnificent meal that is not only quick and easy, but filled with flavor!

If you are interested in getting this Rachael Ray Cookbook, order it online from Kollege Kitchen Webstore!

Scramblewiches

I bought Rachael Ray’s 365 No Repeats cookbook to test out her 30 minute recipes. I have been cooking in my kitchen for some time now, and I am a little skeptical about 30 minutes meals unless it is cooking scramble eggs or ramen. I flipped through the book and there was 366 recipes of rather elaborate meals, and in my head, I’m thinking no way is 30 minutes sufficient in cooking some of these meals. So i decided to challenge Rachael Ray. With a college kitchen and a college budget and just myself(like how she is alone in her show), I decided to test out her recipes to evaluate them base on 3 criteria: time, difficulty and taste.

The first one seemed easy and fast. Basically its scramble eggs with ham on a italian bread.

First, toss the loaf of bread into the oven at 200 degrees.

Then you pan fry some ham with a little butter(any kind that you like. I chose turkey because I’m health conscious, or more weight conscious.) Brown them.

In the mean time, prepare the eggs. Crack 6 eggs. Season with salt and pepper. Put a splash of milk and the amount of hot sauce that is to your liking. Mix them well. Add to the ham.

Constantly move the egg around the pan to scramble it. Cook till its firm but still look liquidy.

Take the bread out of the oven. Half the bread horizontally and vertically to get 4 nice crust boats. Transfer the scramble eggs with ham in equal portions onto the bread boats. Top it with some cheese. I had some left over shredded mozzarella so i used that. Turn on the broiler. Pop the boats back into the oven to melt the cheese and maybe brown in a little. Garnish with chopped chives if you have chives.

And you are done! The first recipe was really that easy. It definitely took me less than 30 minutes and it was delicious. The best part about it was that it easily could feed 4 people if accompanied with dessert, maybe 2-3 for a bigger meal like dinner. The best part about it is that the presentation is just so gorgeous or professional looking despite it being such an easy meal to prepare.

So the score (1-10: 1 being bad, 10 being amazing) for the Scramblewiches:

Time: 10 (definitely less than 30 minutes.)
Difficulty: 9 (as long as you know how to make scramble eggs and turn on the oven and broiler, you can do this)
Taste: 6 (It taste good but not like marvelous and restaurant-made. After all, it is just scrambled eggs with ham on bread)

Cannoli, Tiramisu & Cappuccino @ Caffe Dante

Someone asked me the other day: Where is my favorite place to eat in New York? Immediately, I knew my answer. It is none other than Caffe Dante by Macdougal, just a short walk from Washington Square Park, NYU.

Sure it isn’t really a restaurant. It serves mostly coffees and desserts, but it is such a great place. I found out about this place while navigating around Yelp, and I only decided to go check it out when it was featured in “The Best Thing I Ever Ate” to supposedly have the best cannoli in the world. Further research shows that their tiramisu and cheesecake are also just as good. So in the summer, i went with a good friend of mine, Melanie, to check it out when we were just roaming around west village.

Melanie is my “dark friend”. This is a term i learnt from someone during a business lecture. Apparently a dark friend is someone who you go to when you know something that you are doing is not exactly right and you are looking for encouragement/affirmation to do your act. Melanie is that friend. I know it makes her sound a little evil, which she is a little. I mean her hobby is collecting KNIVES! Case close. But she is such a great friend, and a great person to talk to about anything in the world. And we of course share the same passion for food. But both our passion sprung out of different reason. I love the joy that food brings people. She love food because she is always lacking food to eat, which is why she is so thin!

Anyway this entry is about Caffe Dante and not her.

Caffe Dante is such a nice place. It gives a small cafe feeling although its a rather big one. It’s probably twice the size of a normal cafe. What I love about it is its cozy feeling. The walls are mounted with old photos of Italy, Florence I presume. The tables and chairs are surprisingly comfortable to sit on. You have the choice to sit in the cafe or alfresco style. I personally prefer alfresco, especially during the summer/fall period because its just so cooling. Not to mention at night, the lighting is really dim which makes it very conducive for conversations/romance/relaxation. A date or catching up with a bunch of friends is optimal here. It is so nice, you never want to leave. However, there are usually people smoking which doesn’t really bother me because i actually do like smelling the cigarettes. I know most of you are probably thinking EWWW! but I really like it! I can’t explain it. Will share it some other time in another story. Back to Caffe Dante.

I don’t know how to comment on the service here. They are very friendly people who create a very homey feeling, but they have the slowest service in the world. It takes about 15 mins for them to pass you the menu, another 15 minutes for them to return to take your order. The food comes pretty promptly. But when it’s time to ask for the check. It takes a good half an hour before they deliver the check. It is as if they didn’t have a cash register and they had to use mental sums to calculate the check. But oh well. That usually just means more time to talk.

There are three things that are essential to order in your visit to Caffe Dante.

1) A cup of cappuccino: I am not a big coffee person. I can’t really rate coffee very well, but honestly this is the best cappuccino i ever had in my life. Granted it is a really small cup, but the coffee is so fragrant and just taste amazing with a dash of sugar to bring out all the flavors of the coffee beans. The milk foam is nice and frothy which makes the entire drinking experience fun and yummy. And of course it goes well with the next two dishes.

2) The cannoli: The cannoli is very interesting. The thing is that if you bite into the cannoli with a high expectation for it, you will be really disappointed. Really really disappointed. The first bite which are the ends of the cannoli just taste like regular cannoli. Nothing special. But when you start eating into the centre part of it, everything changes. I reckon it has to do with the ratio between the pastry and the ricotta cheese but they get it perfect in the middle. Every bite of the cannoli in the middle is truly an orgasmic experience. According to the food network celebrity chef, Alexandra Guarnaschelli, this cannoli can make all your troubles go away. It creates a world where its only you and that cannoli and nothing else in the world matters. I cannot agree more with her. In the words of Monica from Friends, I would so get a room with this cannoli if i could. That is how good it is. Omg even thinking/writing about it now is getting me all excited. I think it cost about $3.75, but it’s large and totally worth it. Cost a lot less than a hooker. 😛

3) The Tiramisu: Best tiramisu i ever had. Period. I do believe there could be a better one out there though, but this one is pretty tough to beat. A little pricey at about $7 a slice, but it is totally worth it for all the tiramisu lovers out there. It is oozing with espresso but not like to the stage of soggy which i get sometimes from other places. I just couldn’t get enough of the yummy goodness of this tiramisu. I was sharing it with 2 other foodie friends, namely Thuy and Lilly, so i didn’t get to eat much of it, sadly… Maybe next time i will order one for myself to get the full experience of it so that i can describe the taste of it better.

And there we go. Caffe Dante with its Cappuccino, Cannoli and Tiramisu. If you go to NYU, you have no excuse to not give this a try since it is sooo near campus. If you are visiting NYC, you have to visit Caffe Dante as part of your west/greenwich village tour. And if you are looking for a place to catch up with friends, I cannot think of a better place in the world.

Caffe Dante
79 MacDougal St
New York, NY 10012
(212) 982-5275
caffe-dante.com

Cheese Burger @ Peter Luger Steakhouse

Peter Luger Steakhouse is famous for its steaks. Its suppose to be the best in the country. So what am i doing there for a cheese burger? Well according to Burger of the Month, a bunch of guys who go around NYC in search of the best burger in the city, Peter Luger is ranked number ONE. And these guys are serious about their grading of burgers. They actually have a survey sheet where they give points in various categories, and they were featured on one of those morning news show. I think it was Good Morning America.

Anyway, reviews on Yelp and burger of the month was enough to persuade me to give it a shot. So together with 3 other guys(burgers is such a guy thing), we took a train down to Brooklyn with empty stomachs, all ready to experience the best burger in the city.

So the burger showed up, the bun all glistening and the melted cheese looking soooo great over the burgers. And because I was sooo hungry by then, I sunk my teeth right into my medium done burger and forgot to take a picture of it. So how good was it?

Dude, it was sooo good, I am convinced it is the best burger.The burger was perfectly done to my liking. Not too bloody. Tender and full of yummy beefy flavor. I was so in it… undergoing food orgasm, until my friend said, “Hey! We forgot to take pictures of it!” I immediately snapped out of trance and tried to take the best picture I could with burgers that have lost their virginity. So this was my best attempt.

I cannot imagine a burger better than this. It is THE BURGER. California people are always ready to proclaim that In-N-Out is the best burger in the world. Yes maybe it is the best fast food burger in the world. But it is definitely not the best burger, because Peter Luger’s burger taste infinitely better than In-N-Out. But of course, they are in a different league category. A little pricey at about $17 (including cheese, fries, taxes and tips), but it is totally worth it. The burgers are only available for lunch, so make your reservations, are turn up ready to have a orgasmic experience with this fine burger.

Peter Luger Steakhouse
178 Broadway
Brooklyn, NY 11211-6131
(718) 387-7400
www.peterluger.com

Banana Raisin Crumble

Also known as crisp, crumbles are one of the easiest desserts to make if you have a casserole dish and an oven. They don’t take long to make and are the perfect dessert for a dinner party, especially if you are just starting to learn how to cook. Adapting from an apple crisp recipe I got from Bon Appetit’s website, I decided to make a banana crumble that would surprise all my American friends who have never heard of it.

Topping
1 cup of Light Brown Sugar
3/4 cup of All Purpose Flour
1 cup of Oats
1 cup of Walnuts
1 stick of unsalted butter (finely diced)
Whisk the brown sugar and the flour together first before adding the rest of the ingredients. Mixtures should have small clumps of butter throughout.

Rum Raisin
1 cup of Raisins
1 cup of Dark Rum
Simmer in pan for 5 minutes. Flambe to reduce the alcohol further. It should burn for a few minutes and it’s a really nice sight to show off your “culinary skills”.

Filling

10 bananas sliced into chunks
1 lemon squeezed
1 splash of orange juice
Cinnamon (to taste)
A dash of Nutmeg
1/4 cup of sugar
1 Tbsp of flour
1 Tsp of Vanilla Extract
Put all the ingredients in one bowl. Add the rum raisins. Mix it all together.

Pour the filling into the casserole dish. Spread it out nicely. Pour the topping over the filling and ensure that the clumps are well distributed throughout. Bake in oven at 375 degrees for 25 minutes. Turn on broiler at HI for about 5 minutes to brown further. Allow to cool for 10 minutes before serving.

Serve with a generous serving of Vanilla Ice Cream. Ice cream is a MUST. In fact, i recommend Trader Joe’s french vanilla ice cream. It is not optional! Don’t listen to other recipes that say so! So this takes about 45-55 minutes, but its soooo worth it. It’s filled with yummy warmy goodness that is sure to please everybody!

Korean Pizza @ Kallang Leisure

When I got back to Singapore, interestingly, many of my friends called me to give me recommendations of places to eat they have discovered in the past year while i was gone. My sister was telling me about this Korean Pizza she found in Kallang Leisure. I was like Korean Pizza? What is that?! Why have i not heard of it? New York, i’ve tried. Chicago, i’ve heard. Italian, i’ve tried. Crappy Singaporean/canadian pizza, I’ve sadly tried. But Korean?! That’s new. Not to mention she was saying how amazing it was, so i knew i had to try it ASAP.

So the next day, i followed her to Kallang Leisure. I headed straight for the store. I ordered a whole pie of Potato Gold. Come to think of it, i should have ordered a bunch of different supreme flavors. It is a small store. Not a restaurant. Just a simple pizza stand that serves sweet potato stuff crust Korean pizza.

So how did it fare? Man it was sooo good. I have to say this is by far my favorite crust for any pizza. The sweet potato stuffing is soooooooo good. I couldn’t get enough of it. I have to admit, I usually don’t finish the crust because I am not a big fan of it. It gets a bit boring after a while. But this sweet potato stuffing puts the pizza hut yucky cheese stuff crust pizza to shame.

The pizza is really interesting. Not made with the usual tomato base, it is filled with flavor. The bacon strips on it went so well with the potato wedge sitting in the middle of each slice. The mayo drizzle adds a good finish which makes the entire bite experience oh so good.

The bad thing about this pizza is that its way too expensive. A slice goes for $4.25 i think and an entire pie of 8 slices is about $32. Very pricey for a pizza slice that isn’t even that big like the new york one. However, i actually think its worth it, because i don’t think you can find it anywhere else. So i strongly encourage you guys to check it out. Korean Pizza from the basement of Kallang Leisure Park. Unfortunately, because my amazing memory, i forgot the name of the place… However, i will definitely be going back there again to try the other flavors.

Ice Milk Tea & Toasted bun with sweet condensed milk and butter @ Tsui wah restaurant, Hong Kong

Upon arriving at Hong Kong, I was craving for something local. Something not too heavy like a meal, but rather a snack I can enjoy as I allow the reality of me being in one of my favorite places in the world sink in. And there is no better place than a tea house, or what the locals call “cha cang ting”.

As I walk into the brightly lit Tsui Wah, I was filled with excitement. Even at the odd time of four in the afternoon, the restaurant is fully occupied, each small table seated by pairs of locals or a group of friends. We were quickly ushered through the small spaces between the tables to get to our table.

Again I looked at the menu as a routine act, but I knew what I was going to order even before I stepped into the restaurant. Psh I knew what I was going to order even before I boarded the plane – my favorite ice milk tea (“dong nai cha”) and the toasted bun with butter and condensed milk.

Even before I could consider what I should try the next time I patronize the store, my tea and toast was served. Resisting my urge to immediately stuff my face into the toast, I took the time to take some pictures just for you guys.

Let’s start with the ice milk tea. I do realize that milk tea is available everywhere. We have it in Singapore at every coffee shop, we have it in New York at every bubble tea store, but there is something about the milk tea in Hong Kong that makes it so much better than any store I have tried anywhere else in the world. Maybe it’s the water, like how New York pizza and bagel is better than anywhere else because of the water. Maybe it’s the tea leaves or the condensed milk. Whatever it is, there is no place on earth that serves a better milk tea than Hong Kong. And drinking a gulp on this ice milk tea reaffirms this, sending this sense of completeness and satisfaction deep into my soul as it refreshes my body. And I am not exaggerating.

The bun came soon after. A simple bun sliced in the middle to create 2 pieces like a burger, spread with butter and drizzled with condensed milk, toasted to perfection. A bite into this bun is truly a simple divine experience. As you sink your teeth into the bun, they meet the toasty crust and quickly submerge themselves into the soft warm moist bread. The butter starts to fill your mouth and immediately, the sweet condensed milk comes in to merge with the saltiness of the butter to create a level of taste that fills the gap between savory and sweet. This two overpowering ingredient somehow neutralizes each other, and within your mouth, the divine experience is completed as the crispiness, the moistness, the butteriness and the sweetness all come together. Simple, but truly amazing. A classic. A true representation of the local food scene.

As I ate my bun and sipped on my ice tea, I am reminded why Hong Kong is one of my favorite places in the world. You don’t have to fork out crazy amounts of cash to enjoy the wonders of the culinary world. This simple $4 snack at this café is all you need.

Toasted Bun with Sweet condensed milk and butter @ Tsui Wah Restaurant
20-22 Cannon Street
G/F Sun On Mansion
Causeway Bay, Hong Kong
2573-4338
http://www.tsuiwahrestaurant.com/

Cantonese Dinner @ Yuet Wah Hui Seafood Restaurant, Hong Kong

It is always nice to have the entire family seated around the table, sharing a bunch of dishes laid in the middle of the table. Chinese-style dining, I call it. Obviously my Hong Kong experience will not be complete without a meal dine in this style. So together with my sister, my niece, my mum, my brother-in-law and his mum, we headed to Yuet Wah Hui, by far my favorite restaurant in Hong Kong.

Every single dish served in this restaurant is just simply amazing. A pretty small restaurant, it has a very cozy family atmosphere. Looking at the menu is a feast by itself. There is a snap shot of every dish, making the ordering process really easy and really hard at the same time. Easy because you know what you are going to get. Hard because they all look so damn good.

We got started straight away. First up, the winter melon soup.

Soup is a crucial part of Cantonese cuisine. A huge winter melon standing vertically with the top cut off is served. Interestingly, the soup is in melon. The waiter scoops a generous serving of winter melon as he ladles up the soup to fill each bowl. There is really nothing special in the soup, i believe. Some meat chunks. Some shrimp chunks. None of which tasted that good. But drinking the soup explains it all. The soup is saturated with all the flavors of the pork, shrimp and winter melon. It must have brewing for a long long time to achieve such a great flavor. Scooping up a little winter melon chunk to put in my mouth, I wasn’t expecting much. After all, winter melon is usually tasteless, or at best mild tasting. But not this one. The winter melon has been enhanced so much in the brewing process, that it is extreme tasty, complementing the soup.

As we were enjoying the soup and talking about the only topic in our lives, our princess Kate(my niece), the other dishes started to appear, filling the table.

The sweet and sour pork ribs is my favorite dish in this restaurant. It is served with a twist, a drizzle of rich creamy mayo on top of the rich red sweet and sour sauce. Pure genius. The mayo intensifies the sweet and sour sauce without making it overwhelming. Very very yummy. The ribs are tender, moist, and filled with flavor throughout. So much flavor that i begin to wonder whether they marinade their meat like how wineries age their wines for years to create such intensity.

The simple deep fried tofu is another treat. Biting into the golden starchy shell reveals the silkiest and tastiest of tofu one can find. Together with the thai sweet chili sauce provided, eating this is like eating healthy fries.

The scallops with broccoli is a classic. Each scallop is cooked to perfection, with the pan fried taste leading each burst of sweet seafoody flavor.

Finally, the shellfish (lat lat) in spicy black bean sauce was a surprise. Not exactly a fan of shellfish myself, i usually try one just for the sake of trying. For the first time in history, i couldn’t get enough of a shell fish. This dish was amazing. The sauce goes so well with the shellfish. Sucking the flesh off the sauce-filled shells was not only fun but absolutely delicious. I think i had at least 10 of those, and i couldn’t stop. I guarantee anyone who hates shellfish will change his mind after this dish.

Before you know it, everything on the table was gone. It was sad we only had so few people, because there were may other dishes that we didn’t order that are really good too. The crabs fried in tung hoon, the ginger and green onion chicken and the famous weird looking flathead crayfish, just to name a few. Basically everything here is good. However, it is a little pricey. But with a family, this gastronomical experience can only be tagged as “priceless”.

Cantonese Dinner @ Yuet Wah Hui Seafood Restaurant
405-419 Lockhart Road
Shop B, G/F Wah Fat Mansion
Wan Chai, Hong Kong
2591-6803

Portugese Egg Tart @ Macau Restaurant, Hong Kong

Egg tarts is probably one of the most beloved baked good of Asians, especially in Hong Kong. Egg tarts are served in almost every restaurant and cafes and bakeries, and of course they come in various styles and flavors.

The most common one is the common egg tart. The crust is usually crumbly, kinda like the graham base of a cheese cake, except more solid. The egg filling is firm and sweet. This one can be found everywhere in Hong Kong, along with the more interesting coconut tart (which I love).

The Portuguese egg tart may look the same, but it is totally different. And there is no place that serves a better Portuguese egg tart that this Macau Restaurant in the middle of the Sheung Wan’s ferry pier.

It may look small and insignificant, even burnt at times, however, looks are deceiving. Biting into the crust is a flaky experience. Layers of crispy pastry oozing with buttery texture prepares your mouth for the silkiest, most fresh tasting eggy filling you will ever taste. Sweet enough to bring a smile to your face but not sweet enough to taste like Japanese sweet eggs that are meant to be on sushi.

I absolutely love this egg tart. Each bite sends electrical pulses from my tongue to my brain, giving me waves of euphoria, bringing me that that place where I like to call “food orgasm.” Who says men can’t have multiple orgasm? Try sipping on a cup of dong nai cha (ice milk tea) and taking bites off this tart, and I can assure you the feeling comes close to that of multiple orgasm, or not better. To verify this claim, you can approach my female friend, Layling, who with me at the time enjoying the same feeling to verify.

Of course this café serves other dishes that are definitely worth trying. My personal favorite is the fried pork chop baked rice.

A huge piece of fried pork chop is cut into a few pieces and placed on top of a generous serving of fried rice in a metal bowl. It is then drenched with a yummy tomato onion sauce and baked in the oven to give that warm, cozy taste. A Macau classic that probably will not get better than this. Or go ahead and try the spaghetti with chicken chop. They are all good, and all a great way to taste Macau without even being there.

Portuguese Egg Tart @ Macau Restaurant
168-200 Connaught Road Central
Shop 270-275, 2/F Shun Tak Centre
Sheung Wan, Hong Kong
2857-1933