Rib Tickling Goodness

On one of my shopping whims a few months back I chanced upon some Welsh lamb. Being such a strong advocate for Australian and New Zealand meats I thought I'd try something different and give the Welsh lamb a try. The result, lamb that was as tender and tasty as those from the lands down under.

Honey Mustard Rack of Lamb

Ingredients
1 lamb rack
5 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
1/2 cup of breadcrumbs
1/2 Tbsp of olive oil for the lamb
1 /2 Tbsp of honey
1 /2 Tbsp of Dijon mustard
1/4 tsp of sea salt
1/2 tsp of rosemary, finely chopped
4 large yellow potatoes
1 red onion
1 bulb of garlic
2 Tbsp of olive oil for the vegetables

Directions:
1. Heat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius
2. Cut the potatoes into 1 inch thick pieces
3. Cut the onion in half and remove the outer layer of skin
4. Place 2 Tbsp of olive oil into a baking tray
5. Place the vegetables including the garlic bulb in the tray and coat them in the oil
6. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Bake the vegetables on the bottom oven rack for 45 minutes
7. When the vegetables have been baking for 15 minutes add the chopped garlic, breadcrumbs, 1/2 Tbsp of olive oil, rosemary, salt, honey and mustard into a mixing bowl. Stir well until it forms a paste
8. Spread the paste evenly over the lamb rack
9. Place lamb in the oven directly on the grill over the vegetables
10. Roast the lamb for 20 minutes for rare meat or 30 minutes for well-done

And that's it! There's no need for sauce as the lamb is moist, seasoned and very juicy (provided you let ba ba welsh sheep rest properly)

Bon Appetite

Da Bomb-a!

For the longest time I've been trying to find a decent plate of paella here in Singapore; you know paella, Spanish rice cooked in a pan and served to you as is!

I'd almost given up trying to find a place, but was suggested to I try Bomba at no. 38 Martin (Martin Road). Apparently they serve the best paella in Singapore. Well I had to go and see for myself what all the fuss was about, so off I went!

The establishment is a quaint little place with two seating areas; one area at the front of the restaurant and another to the side as you walk in the door. Cosy is what I would describe it as and there is an eerie mural on the wall that looks strangely like Penelope Cruz!

The food itself is on the slightly pricey side; sadly it's pretty much the norm over here, but I have to say each dish was quite good. On our little eating escapade we ended up ordering:

Arroz Negro - delicious and luxurious finely chopped squid and squid ink melded with butter and the bomba rice just tasted so decadent, I had to finish it off
Paella Valenciana - the traditional drier paella, wholesome and flavorful, though the chicken was a tad dry
Sautéed clams - simple, clean and downright tasty
Classic tortilla - a potato based cake of goodness
Grilled Octopus - devilishly tender yet so flavorful and moist, this was everyone's favorite
Gambas Al Ajillo - a cocoette of prawns in a rich olive oil, galric, chili and parsley. We couldn't get enough of the sauce

And to finish off the night I ended up ordering the Pineapple Gazpacho, Basil and Black Pepper Granite. Truly delicious!

If you're out to impress a friend or just up for some close to authentic Spanish paella and tapas this is the place to go! Be warned though you've got a limited seating window and you meal may break the bank! But who wants to die an unhappy eater?

A Taste of Penang South of the Causeway

Every year a little piece of Penang descends on Singapore via the 'Penang Hawker Fare' at the York Hotel. With a craving of late for Penang staples such as Char Kway Teow, Assam Laksa and Prawn Noodles the family and I decided to revisit this yearly event.

Sadly to our disappointment every dish was laden with so much chilli and spice we could hardly taste anything; to me the biggest indication that food quality has gone awry is when the cook tries to mask everything with chilli!

The free flow bundung and line juice were so watered down I could have almost swam in it. The only real saving grave of the evening were the desserts of: ice kachang, chedol and ban chang kueh. Such a stark contrast to the last time we were in the exact same place two (or was it three years ago?)

They say that 20 famous hawkers from Penang were on hand to prepare and cook the food; sadly it seems in the time since my last visit they've lowered their expectations and are more interested in perusing the '$' than to serve tasty food.

I left stuffed but not happily stuffed, sure it's a buffet but at the end of the day no matter how much you eat, if you can't walk away happy then there's no point returning again!

The King of Fruits

@ Sin Ming Cookhouse / Bakery / Whatever

Let it be know I love the king of fruits – Durian.  It was described to me recently by a friend as something pungently horrible.  In my house 9 times out of 10 it’s a prohibited substance.  Yesterday however I decided to try recreating a cake that I love eating here in Singapore; The Spike-D.

It’s essentially a durian filled sponge cake coated with chocolate; heaven in a cake!  So here’s my recreated version of the Spike-D.

For the Sponge Cake
Ingredients:

• 4 eggs
• ½ cup sugar, divided into 2 portions
• ½ teaspoon baking powder
• ½ teaspoon cream of tartar
• ½ cup superfine flour
• 3 tbsp of vegetable oil
• ¼ tsp lemon juice
• 50 ml milk

Preparation:

		Durian Sponge Cake VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

1. Preheat oven to 180
2. Sift the flour together with the baking powder
3. Separate the egg yolk from the white
4. In the bowl with the egg white, add the cream of tartar and lemon juice and beat until thicken
5. Add in ¼ cup of sugar and beat further until the mixture shines
6. In another bowl, beat the egg yolk with the remainder ¼ cup of sugar until the sugar dissolve
7. Add milk and vegetable oil into the egg yolk mixture and stir to mix well
8. Fold in the flour mixture into the egg yolk mixture
9. Gently fold in 1/3 of the egg yolk flour mixture into the egg white until blend. Repeat with the remainder of the egg yolk in 1/3 portions
10. Pour the mixture into 2 parchment paper lined 4” circular cake pan. Bake the cake in the preheated oven for 25 minutes or till cooked
11. Remove from the oven and invert cakes on a cake rack and let it cool completely before cutting into layers

Durian Filling

Ingredients:

• 300gm of fresh durian pulp
• 100gm of whip cream

Preparation:

1. Whip the non-diary cream till it can holds its form
2. Gently fold the durians pulps to the cream till evenly mixed
3. Chill in the fridge till ready for use

For the chocolate ganache I used a tried and trust recipe of chocolate buttons, butter and cream. Essentially once the ganache has been made you have to let to cool to about 38 degrees Celsius and coat the sponge with the cooled chocolate and refrigerate.

With the left over durian paste I decided to make some durian profiteroles.

Bon Appétit