Roast chicken with rosemary - garlic paste

Ingredients

1/4 cup (loosely packed) fresh rosemary leaves, finely chopped, plus 3 whole fresh rosemary sprigs

2 garlic cloves, chopped

1/2 teaspoon black peppercorns

3/4 teaspoon fine sea salt

4 teaspoons olive oil

1 whole chicken (about 2kg), backbone and neck removed

1 punnet cherry tomato

1 punnet button mushroom

1 yellow or red bell pepper

1 large white onion

1 lemon

1 lettuce

Marinade

(Chicken can be marinade 8 hours ahead or overnight. Let stand at room temperature 1 hour before roasting)

Combine chopped rosemary, chopped garlic, black peppercorns and sea salt in mortar and crush with pestle or blend in mini processor until coarse paste forms. Mix in olive oil. Rinse chicken and pat dry. Rub 1 teaspoon herb mixture over bone side of chicken. Turn chicken over and open like book; place chicken, skin side up, on work surface. Loosen skin from breast and thigh meat; rub remaining herb mixture over meat under skin. Rub any remaining herb mixture on outside of chicken. Cover with plastic wrap and chill. Let stand at room temperature 1 hour before roasting.

Vegetables

Wipe clean the button mushrooms and cut into halves. Wash all other vegtables and cut into pieces (except lettuce).

Roasting
Preheat oven to 200°C. In a large ceramic or glass baking dish, place all vegetables (except lettuce) at the bottom. Place a wire rack in the baking dish over the vegetables. Place rosemary sprigs on the rack and place chicken, skin side up, atop rosemary sprigs in dish. Position rack in center of oven. Roast chicken uncovered for about 1 1/2 hours. Transfer chicken to platter and serve with lettuce and a wedge of lemon.

Poached Pear in Red Wine

This savory red wine poached pear recipe is a perfect dessert option for an elegant and fancy dinner.

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 20 minutes

Ingredients:

4-6 Peeled, Cored Pears
2 cups of red wine (recommend Zinfandel, Shiraz or Merlot)
4 tbsp of granulated sugar
2 tbsp of lemon juice (can also add lemon zest if desired)
2 tsp vanilla

Combine all ingredients, except pears, and bring to a boil. Once the wine mixture is boiling, turn heat down to a simmer and add the pears.

Simmer pears for 10-12 minutes and then turn pears and simmer for an additional 8-10 minutes - until they are tender and are easily poked through with a fork.

Remove pears and let them cool. Boil wine sauce until the liquid has been reduced by half.

Pour sauce over pears and serve with vanilla ice cream or fresh cream.

Strawberry Ice Cream

Strawberry is in season again! What can we do with them? In hot and humid Singapore, what's better than savoring homemade fresh strawberry icecream? I've never succeed in making icecream as most recipes works best with icecream churner. However this recipes is real easy that even I succeeded (though not without wasting 300ml of cream which eventually becomes butter!!!). Here's the recipes...

Ingredients...500g ripe strawberries
175g sugar
2 tablespoon water
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
2 to 3 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
300ml well chilled whipping cream

Method...

1. Chilled 4 to 6 small glassess in the freezer
2. Whip cream (well chilled) and put in fridge to chill
3. Rinse strawberries, pat dry, remove stems and white core
4. To make the stawberry syrup, blend 75g of the strawberries with 80g of the sugar and 2 tablespoons of water until smooth
5. Simmer for 2 to 3 minutes over low heat till slightly thicken
6. Allow to cool then stir in balsamic vinegar
7. Coarsely blend the remaining strawberries with the remaining sugar and lemon juice
8. Fold the chilled whipped cream into the strawberry puree
9. Drizzle syrup on the side of the chilled glasses then fill with strawberry mix.
10. Cover with foil and freeze for 4 hours

Enjoy !

Pan Seared Cod Fish

Ingredients
1 to 2 Portebello mushroom

a bunch of String beans
1 Cod fish fillet

Olive oil

a pinch of salt

1 tsp Lemon juice

Method

1. Pan fry portebello mushrooms and string beans in some olive oil
2. In another pan, add some olive oil
3. While the oil is heating, rub cod fillet with some salt and rinse under running water
4. Pat dry with paper towel
5. Sprinkle salt on both sides of fillet
6. Pan fry cod fillet with medium heat - about 2 minutes on each side
7. When both sides are cooked (it'll turn opaque white), turn up the heat to high to sear fillet on both side
8. Arrange portebello mushrooms,string beans and cod fillet on serving plate as desire
9. Sprinkle a teaspoon of lemon juice over cod fillet and serve

Bon appetite!

Apple Crumble

What shall I do with loads of apples in my fridge?

Apple Crumble!
The recipe is as follow...
Ingredients (serve 4)

Melted butter, to grease
115g plain flour
1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
180g butter, chilled, cubed
80g brown sugar
35g rolled oats
4 (about 210g each) golden delicious apples
2 tbs fresh lemon juice
1 tbs caster sugar
Double cream or vanilla ice-cream, to serve
Method

1. 
   
   Preheat oven to 190°C. Brush an ovenproof dish with the melted butter to grease
2. 
   
   Combine the flour and 1 tsp of the cinnamon in a large bowl. Add the butter and use your fingertips to rub it into the flour until the mixture resembles coarse breadcrumbs. Stir in the brown sugar and oats.
3. 
   
   Core and cube the apples. Place the apple cubes in the greased dish, pour over the lemon juice and toss well to coat. Combine the caster sugar and remaining cinnamon, and sprinkle over the apples. Toss well to combine. Sprinkle the crumble mixture evenly over the top to completely cover the apples.
4. 
   
   Place the dish in preheated oven and bake for 30-35 minutes or until the crumble topping is golden and the apples are tender when tested with a skewer but still hold their shape.
5. 
   
   Serve warm with double cream or ice-cream.

Foxton Locks

Foxton Locks, set in the heart of rural South Leicestershire, are the largest flight of staircase locks on the English canal system. It was built in 1810 and enabled boats to "climb" 75 feets up the hill. Its also able to moves the boat down the hill. It was a masterpiece of 19th century engineering.

The locks are arranged in two "staircases" of five locks each and within each staircase, the top gates of one lock are the bottom gates of the next. Between each lock, there is a small reservoir off to the side.

To move upwards, you begin by opening the red paddle, allowing water from the side reservoir to fill up the lower lock.

Wedding Day...

Finally, after being married for more than 3 years, I have time to create a blog of my own...

Wedding... its a beautiful way to start your life with your better half...
Jason and I were married on 3rd January 2004...

Thanks to our families and friends, we have loads of sweet memories...

Let me share them with you...

A toast with our friends...

Our parents...