Cooking French

There he was chatting with two ladies as I stepped in.

Francois Mermilliod, Executive Chef at fine dining outlet Flutes at the Fort, was the guest chef for my first attempt at the classic french cuisine at Palate Sensations. The owner of the cooking school, the petite yet gung-ho Lynette, was hospitable and chatty. It turned out I was the second to arrive. Another student Doreen had arrived early and was easing herself into cool beats of the music and the comfortable lounge. We hit if off immediately, rattling off about work to travel to bosses to food. Lynette had come around to serve us some white wine, which was a pleasant surprise but a real delight. More people had turned up in the next 10 minutes and we decided we could start.

We were divided into three groups, with three seperate tables. I thought the island tables were cool, as they could be moved around in any formation and doubled up as the chopping board and a good surface for rolling the dough as I discovered later. There was Doreen who works in the banking industry and Marlene the sociologist in the army and a mother of three. Joanne and Yen joined our team later. One thing for sure, all of us who congregated at this class loves good food, maybe good wine, good company and cooking.

And the recipes of the day :

1. Quiche Lorraine
2. Bouillabaisse
3. Creme Brulee

It was unmistakenly a FRENCH cookout.

Don't we all have this romantic idea about the french - their culture, food and people. Francois is french and speaks with an accent which adds to his charm after a while. We started off with the creme brulee as it required time for the oven and also for the tuile (the actual definition was thin almond biscuit) to set for some time before it goes into the oven. It was rather disorganised at first as not all utensils were on our tables. We had to go around borrowing and asking for cutlery and ingredients (well it would be a perfect chance for a guy to approach a sweet young thing for sugar or vice versa) but it was good fun watching what others were doing abiet our own mess and actions. The process of making the creme brulee was interesting. I learnt that the creme had to be in bain marie (the ramekins soaked in a water bath in the baking tray) and found the silicon mat which we created our blobs of tuile on fascinating. When cooled from the oven heat, the tuiles came off from the mat and we could roll them into any shapes using whatever tools available around us. It served as a side decoration for the classic french dessert.

Next we moved on to make the bouillabaisse. I realise most of us were excited about the classic fish soup as we probably had tried it in restaurants and wondered how the rich texture of this flavourful soup could be achieved in the kitchen. Francois explained that we do not have the same source of seafood as in france and he could not find crabs today, hence the version we were making was a modifed version. An important point to note was that we should choose the boney parts of the fish to make the stock. We replaced crab with prawns instead. The initial steps were easy. It involved chopping the various kinds of vegetables, throw them in with the fish and prawn shells and sautee for a few minutes, followed by the herbs. It was also the first time i saw and used saffron in cooking. Saffron is a spice derived from the flower of the saffron crocus (Crocus sativus), a species of crocus in the family Iridaceae. The flower has three stigmas, which are the distal ends of the plant's carpels. Together with its style, the stalk connecting the stigmas to the rest of the plant, these components are often dried and used in cooking as a seasoning and colouring agent.

Francois came by to start spicingup each group's pot of soup with pepper and salt. As a chef, he is used to eyeballing the quantity. I could not resist asking for guidelines, like how much salt or how much pepper is needed. He looked at me straight in the face and casually answered that there was no need for guidelines. It really depended on what was the taste we were trying to achieve, it's got a lot to do with the feel. And know what, we girls being girls who mostly abide by the steps in the kitchen, started counting the number of tabs he made whenever he poured something from the spice container into whatever we were making. It really made him laugh.

After all that boiling, processing and adding in the seafood, the end result was a soup that was extremely balanced in texture, with a beautiful and distinct orange that appears in a successful pot of bouillabaisse.

It dawned on us we still have the final challenge - the quiche lorraine. we started with the short crust and then moved on to making the egg and bacon filling. Marlene was mortified that we had to make our own crust from scratch and innocently remarked that we could have gotten the pre-made frozen ones from the mart. 'Oh yah, and you could also have the ready ones from delifrance' said Francois. We all burst out laughing. It was the best joke from cet homme francais. I did not have much confidence handling the dough. We had to make sure it do not fall apart when rolling and that we had enough to pinch the overflow on the sides of the tart mould so as to prevent it from shrinking during baking. I think I did a rather marvelous job with the dough eventually. We were not quite involved in making the filling.

Then it was time to turn our attention to the baked tuiles and shaped them to our fancy. It was interesting seeing how Francois torched the sugar layer on the dessert as well.

As with any cooking lessons, the finale is probably what everyone looks forward to with much enthusiasm (some say saliva) - tasting their creations after all the hard work. We had some chilled red wine to go with our early dinner and exchanged comments from the appetiser to the dessert. We were also savvy enough to bring our cameras. Well, what does a food blogger do anyway?

The entire experience felt like relaxed weekend in outback Australia with good food, great people, stimulating conversations and guess what, nothing else mattered.

Palate Sensations
1 Westbourne Road,
#03-05 (entrance via Whitchurch Road, off Portsdown Road and opposite Col Bar)Aden, Singapore 138941
Tel: 64799025
Fax: 64796285
E-mail : info@palatesensations.com

Cooking French

There he was chatting with two ladies as I stepped in.

Francois Mermilliod, Executive Chef at fine dining outlet Flutes at the Fort, was the guest chef for my first attempt at the classic french cuisine at Palate Sensations. The owner of the cooking school, the petite yet gung-ho Lynette, was hospitable and chatty. It turned out I was the second to arrive. Another student Doreen had arrived early and was easing herself into cool beats of the music and the comfortable lounge. We hit if off immediately, rattling off about work to travel to bosses to food. Lynette had come around to serve us some white wine, which was a pleasant surprise but a real delight. More people had turned up in the next 10 minutes and we decided we could start.

We were divided into three groups, with three seperate tables. I thought the island tables were cool, as they could be moved around in any formation and doubled up as the chopping board and a good surface for rolling the dough as I discovered later. There was Doreen who works in the banking industry and Marlene the sociologist in the army and a mother of three. Joanne and Yen joined our team later. One thing for sure, all of us who congregated at this class loves good food, maybe good wine, good company and cooking.

And the recipes of the day :

1. Quiche Lorraine
2. Bouillabaisse
3. Creme Brulee

It was unmistakenly a FRENCH cookout.

Don't we all have this romantic idea about the french - their culture, food and people. Francois is french and speaks with an accent which adds to his charm after a while. We started off with the creme brulee as it required time for the oven and also for the tuile (the actual definition was thin almond biscuit) to set for some time before it goes into the oven. It was rather disorganised at first as not all utensils were on our tables. We had to go around borrowing and asking for cutlery and ingredients (well it would be a perfect chance for a guy to approach a sweet young thing for sugar or vice versa) but it was good fun watching what others were doing abiet our own mess and actions. The process of making the creme brulee was interesting. I learnt that the creme had to be in bain marie (the ramekins soaked in a water bath in the baking tray) and found the silicon mat which we created our blobs of tuile on fascinating. When cooled from the oven heat, the tuiles came off from the mat and we could roll them into any shapes using whatever tools available around us. It served as a side decoration for the classic french dessert.

Next we moved on to make the bouillabaisse. I realise most of us were excited about the classic fish soup as we probably had tried it in restaurants and wondered how the rich texture of this flavourful soup could be achieved in the kitchen. Francois explained that we do not have the same source of seafood as in france and he could not find crabs today, hence the version we were making was a modifed version. An important point to note was that we should choose the boney parts of the fish to make the stock. We replaced crab with prawns instead. The initial steps were easy. It involved chopping the various kinds of vegetables, throw them in with the fish and prawn shells and sautee for a few minutes, followed by the herbs. It was also the first time i saw and used saffron in cooking. Saffron is a spice derived from the flower of the saffron crocus (Crocus sativus), a species of crocus in the family Iridaceae. The flower has three stigmas, which are the distal ends of the plant's carpels. Together with its style, the stalk connecting the stigmas to the rest of the plant, these components are often dried and used in cooking as a seasoning and colouring agent.

Francois came by to start spicingup each group's pot of soup with pepper and salt. As a chef, he is used to eyeballing the quantity. I could not resist asking for guidelines, like how much salt or how much pepper is needed. He looked at me straight in the face and casually answered that there was no need for guidelines. It really depended on what was the taste we were trying to achieve, it's got a lot to do with the feel. And know what, we girls being girls who mostly abide by the steps in the kitchen, started counting the number of tabs he made whenever he poured something from the spice container into whatever we were making. It really made him laugh.

After all that boiling, processing and adding in the seafood, the end result was a soup that was extremely balanced in texture, with a beautiful and distinct orange that appears in a successful pot of bouillabaisse.

It dawned on us we still have the final challenge - the quiche lorraine. we started with the short crust and then moved on to making the egg and bacon filling. Marlene was mortified that we had to make our own crust from scratch and innocently remarked that we could have gotten the pre-made frozen ones from the mart. 'Oh yah, and you could also have the ready ones from delifrance' said Francois. We all burst out laughing. It was the best joke from cet homme francais. I did not have much confidence handling the dough. We had to make sure it do not fall apart when rolling and that we had enough to pinch the overflow on the sides of the tart mould so as to prevent it from shrinking during baking. I think I did a rather marvelous job with the dough eventually. We were not quite involved in making the filling.

Then it was time to turn our attention to the baked tuiles and shaped them to our fancy. It was interesting seeing how francois flamed the sugar on the dessert as well.

As with any cooking lessons, the finale is probably what everyone looks forward to with much enthusiasm (some say saliva) - tasting their creations after all the hard work. We had some chilled red wine to go with our early dinner and exchanged comments from the appetiser to the dessert. We were also savvy enough to bring our cameras. Well, what does a food blogger do anyway? ;P I had a great conversation with the group of four who came together. the guy sitting next to me said they met one another through sailing and that they have a sailing competition tomorrow at the changi beach club or something. There will be many ambassadors turning up for the event but they would not mind the french ambassador especially coz he would bring the french wine! We started talking my impending trip and tennis and he recommended I can try the shangrila if I still want to pick up tennis.

It felt like dinner in outback Australia with good food, great people, stimulating conversations and nothing else mattered.

Palate Sensations
1 Westbourne Road, #03-05
(entrance via Whitchurch Road,
off Portsdown Road and opposite Col Bar)
Aden, Singapore 138941
Tel: 64799025
Fax: 64796285
E-mail : info@palatesensations.com

Mexican Wedding Cakes

I never know why these melt-in-your mouth snowballs are called Mexican Wedding Cakes, but they are certainly great for Christmas and Weddings.

Mexican Wedding Cakes
2/3 cup (65 grams) toasted nuts (pecans, walnuts, hazelnuts)
1 cup (227 grams) unsalted butter, room temperature
1/4 cup (30 grams) confectioners' (powdered or icing) sugar
1 teaspoon (2 grams) pure vanilla extract
2 cups (280 grams) all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
Topping:
1 cup (110 grams) powdered (icing or confectioners) sugar, sifted

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. Set aside.
Toast Nuts: Place nuts on a baking sheet and bake for about 8 minutes, or until lightly brown and fragrant. Cool. Once the nuts have cooled completely place them, along with 2 tablespoons (25 grams) of the flour from the recipe, into your food processor, fitted with a metal blade, and process until they are finely ground (but not a paste). Set aside.

In the bowl of your electric mixer (or with a hand mixer), cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy (about 2 minutes). Beat in the vanilla extract. Add the remaining flour and salt and beat until combined. Stir in the nuts. Cover and refrigerate the dough for about 1 hour or until firm.

Form the dough into 1 inch (2.54 cm) balls and place them 2 inches (5 cm) apart on the prepared baking sheets. Bake for about 12 - 15 minutes, or until the edges of the cookies start to brown. Remove from oven and place on a wire rack to cool for about 5 minutes.

Meanwhile, line another baking pan or tray with parchment or wax paper. Sprinkle about 1/2 cup of the confectioners' sugar on the bottom of the pan and then place the slightly cooled cookies on top of the sugar. Place the remaining 1/2 cup of sugar in a fine strainer or sieve and then sprinkle the tops of the cookies (or you can just roll the cookies in the sugar).
Store in an airtight container. Makes about 3 dozen cookies.

The Big Book of Baking

This book needs no introduction.

Whenever I mention that I had just bought this big baking book, it would definitely evoke this response : Is it from Borders?

Gee.

After I laid my hands on this book, I could not wait to try the “Opening Recipe” (ala Opening Ceremony). My girlfriend Tiffany joined forces with me this round. Again, a whole Saturday afternoon was spent in the kitchen beating, mixing, folding, grounding…and finally, waiting. We tried our hands on the Pecan Crunch Cake and the Chocolate Almond Biscuits. The cake turned out really pretty and tasted somewhat like cinnamon cake or even the basic banana cake. I reckon the cinnamon would be cut down by half. The Chocolate Almond Biscuit was beautiful when sliced. However I was not impressed by the taste. Again, the taste of cinnamon overwhelmed and the almonds lost its crunch.

Well, now that we’ve officially opened the Big Book of Baking, there are always more recipes to try!

No Mess

The next time you feel like making yourself useful in the kitchen without messing up, the chocolate marshmallow fingers could be the perfect solution. It is easy to make and everyone loves it.

The response from my colleagues was encouraging the last time I made it for them. For those of you who has asked me for the recipe, I am sorry it took me so long to put this up.

Enjoy your rendezvous avec chocolat!


Chocolate Marshmallow Fingers

350g digestive biscuits
125g dark chocolate, broken into pieces
225g butter
2 tbsp cocoa powder
2 tbsp honey
55g marshmallows
100g white chocolate chips

Put the digestive biscuits into a polythene bag and, using a rolling pin, crush into small pieces.

Put the chocolate, butter, cocoa and honey in a saucepan and heat gently until melted. Remove from the heat and leave to cool slightly.

Stir the crushed biscuits into the chocolate mixture until well mixed. Add the marshmallows and mix well, then finally stir in the chocolate chips.

Turn the mixture into an 8 inch square cake tin and lightly smooth the top. Put in the refrigerator and leave to chill for 2-3 hours, until set.

Cut the fingers before serving.

Tip: For those who do not like it too sweet, you can exclude the honey and replace the white chocolate with dark chocolate. Also, Cadbury Gold dark chocolate will do nicely.

(Recipe from Chocolate Treats)

World's Best

(Picture from leblogd-arthur.hautetfort.com/ files/El-Bulli.jpg)

El Bulli topped the World’s 50 Best Restaurants.

Well, the news did not come as a surprise at all. In fact, the restaurant off the Spanish coast won the title almost a matter-of-factly. I first heard about the famous restaurant last year from a well-traveled foodie. Chef Ferran Adria adopts a scientific approach to known as molecular gastronomy. The restaurant’s well-known cuisine has resulted in a waiting list of 40000 to date and perhaps, still increasing.

Taiwanese food writer Xie Zhong Tao ate at the restaurant recently and wrote a three parter series in his blog. It is a mystery how he managed to jump the queue. His vivid account of what he ate at the restaurant makes me wonder though why haven’t I gone ahead to make a booking. Well, guess it’s because of the lack of the company of food fanatics like me.

Among the 50 voted best, I would really love to pop by Tetsuya one day. Don’t ask me why. Check him out yourself!

News Flash : Spain claims top restaurant
http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/restaurants/articles/22286130?source=Evening%20Standard

The Food Company

I was really excited when the day finally arrived.

Lunch at Whitebait and Kale.

I pushed the huge glass door open and saw my friend TS sitting there running through the menu. I took my seat and began to soak in the atmosphere of the restaurant and feeling the beat of the music. I would give the décor a perfect score for replicating the feel of the summer beach house. Soothing jazz music which added a modern touch, perfectly relaxing and a great setting for casual dining. For a moment, there was the illusion of being in downtown Melbourne although you are really at one end of Orchard Road.

The rest of the food company arrived shortly and we started ordering our food. I intentionally asked a young waiter to recommend the house special. It took him a moment before he could sprout “baked snapper pie” and then another to describe what the pie was about. In any case, I had set my eyes on the Risotto with Bay Prawns, Asparagus and Cherry Tomatoes drizzled with Lemon Oil. You see, I have a weakness for risotto. I got hooked to the “Italian fried rice” ever since my best friend introduced the dish to me at Olio Dome many years back. I pretty much enjoy the seafood risotto at Minotti. However, the seafood sauce gets too heavy on your stomach after a while.

It was a pleasant surprise that the risotto at Whitebait turned out simple and healthy. The cherry tomatoes and prawns added a dash of colours to the otherwise pale dish. The generous topping of parmesan cheese was a real treat too. I am someone who is not big on asparagus (yeah, the little girl who hates her veggies) but I had no problem at all gobbling this one down, asparagus and all. The rice was done just right, each bite firm yet starchy. Each mouthful was a genuine pleasure; the ingredients were just so fresh.

The rest of the food company had a jolly good time with their orders too. Two of them went for set lunches while J had the Tagliatelle with Sautéed Emu, Ribbons of Zucchini & Carrot in light Peppercorn Sauce. Dessert was made up of a delectable palette of Soya-almond Panna Cotta with Mirabelle Plum Jelly & Verjus Poached Pear, Valrhona Chocolate Savarin with Grand Marnier Orange Sauce & Bittersweet Chocolate Mousse and Strawberry Shortcakes. Gosh, I literally threw aside my dieting resolutions and dug in the sweetness of heaven.

On the whole, the lunch experience was great. I would love to check out its dinner menu and wine selection sometime soon. The lure of the summer beach house is just irresistible.

Whitebait and Kale Restaurant
One Orchard Boulevard
Camden Centre #01-01
Singapore 248649
Tel : 6333 – 8697
www.whitebaitandkale.com

Hi Chocolate. Meet Cheese.

On my way to Thomson for dinner, I remembered Teo Pau Lin’s write-up on the cheese brownie in Lifestyle today. Hence I decided to stop by The Baker’s Story to doggy bag some home.

At around 8:45pm, the store was still brightly lit and there were two male yuppies queuing before me. The one before me had ordered an entire block of the cheese brownie ( it looked like a 12 x 12 cm). I was amused while paying for his order, he asked for a single slice from the display fridge and immediately shoved it into his mouth while the cash register rang. I thought to myself “Is it THAT good?”

I reckoned it would be a difficult task to marry brownie with cheese cake without these rich pastries overpowering each other. This one I had was not too sweet and it is almost like eating a two-in-one. The texture of the brownie is smooth and slightly chewy. It took me less than a minute to finish one slice.

Pure indulgence.

The Baker’s Story
8 Sin Ming Road
#01-05 Sin Ming Centre
Tel : 6452 0265