Wednesday, 4 March 2015

#27 - Citrus Baked Fish

Yum


This is just a very simple baked fish recipe to share with all. Nothing too complicated at all and basically, it's just the oven doing all of the work. Personally, I like the tangy taste of the baked fish and since not much seasoning is used at all, it feels like a pretty healthy dish to me. Kudos to that!

***************

Recipe: Adapted & modified from here.

Servings
2 persons

Ingredients
Fish of your choice (I used a combination of salmon and cod fish)
2 tsp Butter
1 tsp Olive Oil
1 clove Garlic (minced)
Sea Salt
Ground Black Pepper
1 Lemon & 1 Orange (sliced)
Parsley

Directions
1. Preheat your oven to 190C.

2. Line baking sheet with aluminium foil and coat with cooking spray.

3. Combine butter, olive oil, minced garlic and spread the mixture evenly over the fish.


4. Season with salt and black pepper to taste.

5. Place a layer of lemon & orange slices over the fish.



6. Bake for 5mins. Remove from oven and sprinkle with parsley before serving.




Tuesday, 24 February 2015

#26 - Seafood Pasta with White Wine Sauce

Yum



It has been a wonderful Lunar New Year 2015 for me! I ate so much over the long weekend and yet, I still have so much left over goodies in my freezer. Yeah! It's going to be my goal to clear them as soon as possible. With that in mind, I decided to whip up a mini seafood feast for Hubby and myself! 

Looking at the recipe below, you would probably realised that no measurements were provided for the amount of shrimps and scallops used. This is simply because I just throw in all the shrimps and scallops I had left over from the reunion dinner. Just whack! If you are trying out this recipe, I guess you can just as much (or as little) seafood you like. I am such a big seafood fan so there is probably no such thing as too much seafood for me. 

And for the choice of pasta, I decided to use this really fine and delicate Capellini which I bought from an Italian restaurant some time back. I must be honest and admit that the white wine sauce in this recipe sit really really well with the capellini. The capellini actually looks like Bee Hoon (ie. fine rice noodles) to me but the texture of it is pretty close to spaghetti instead. Not to mention, it just soaked up all the flavourful white wine sauce in the process and just taste so yummy!


This happens to be the last bottle of white wine I had at home and so, this shall be my wine choice for the night! 

Hubby and myself were really pleased with how the white wine sauce turned out way better than what was expected. I wished there were more sauce to go with the pasta. I could not get enough of the sauce.  It was so light yet so flavourful. 




***************

Recipe: Adapted & modified from here.

Servings
2 persons

Ingredients
250 grams Choice of Pasta (Capellini)
2 tbsp Olive Oil
3 tbsp Garlic, minced
2 tsp Red Pepper Flakes, crushed
53 grams Butter, divided into 2 portions - 35 grams, 28 grams separately
Shrimps
1 C White Wine
Scallops
1 tsp Lemon Zest
Salt
Ground Black Pepper
Parsley

Directions
1. Cook your choice of pasta according to the package directions.


2. In a large skillet or saucepan (over medium heat), warm up the olive oil.

3. Add in garlic and red pepper flakes. Cook for a few minutes until fragrant.


4. Melt the butter (35 grams) in the olive oil and add in the shrimps. 



5. Pour in the white wine and bring to a boil. 


6. Reduce heat from medium to low and simmer for another 5 minutes until the wine reduces.

7. Add in the scallops together with remaining butter (18 grams) and lemon zest.



8. Cook the scallops for about 5 minutes until they are just warmed through. 

9. Season with salt and black pepper to taste. 

10. When pasta is cooked, drain it and add to a large serving plate. Top pasta with seafood, white wine sauce and sprinkle with parsley before serving. 






Wednesday, 21 January 2015

#25 - Butter Chocolate Cheese Cake

Yum

If you have not noticed, the recipe for this Butter Chocolate Cheese Cake was spreading like wild fire in many of the cooking/baking groups on Facebook. For weeks, I see posts after posts on various variations of this same recipe going around. Such a beautiful sight. Some bakers did it in square baking pan (like I did), some did the cupcakes version and some bakers even added their own touch to it by doing different ganaches and toppings to the cake. This is also a great recipe for a basic chocolate cake for whatever cream cake versions that you might be looking at. This recipe is THAT simple and versatile! 



I have to admit that what really attracted me to this cake recipe at first wasn't the rich ingredients or sweet & savoury taste of the cake, or even how simple the baking techniques were. What caught my attention were how pretty the cakes looked with the perfect wavy patterns at the side. Hah! I know! Pretty lame of me, isn't it? But then again, tell me who isn't attracted to pretty little sights like these. 


The original recipe call for the use of a 8" square pan and because I did not have one, I did my own version of the cake in a 9" pan. This resulted in my cake being kind of short but then again, no worries at all. The taste was not affected a single bit. The rich chocolatey taste was just splendid. Personally, I really like the soft, springy texture of the cake and it definitely goes well with a cup of my favourite Earl Grey Tea. 


These cakes can be easily stored in an air-tight container outside for 2 days but for any longer period of time, I would recommend leaving them in the fridge. You just need to let the cakes come to room temperature before serving and they will still taste as good!


I simply love these easy-bake, easy-storage recipes! They allow me to fix up my hubby's breakfast in a breeze. No fuss at all. And what's better, I can also share the love around by packing some for my family & friends. Love it!


If you are worried about the extra calories, oh come on! Just a tiny winy piece of it wouldn't hurt, would it?


***************
Recipe: Adapted & modified from here.

Ingredients
Chocolate Cake
250g salted butter, softened at room temperature
150g sugar
4 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
5 tbsp whipping cream
200g (minus 4 tbsp) self raising flour, sifted
4 tbsp cocoa powder, sifted

Cheesecake Filling
250g cream cheese, softened at room temperature
50g sugar
1 egg
1 tbsp corn flour

Method
Cheesecake Filling
1. Preheat oven to 160 deg C.

2. Grease baking pan (I used 9"square pan, for better height of the cake, use a 8" square pan or 9" round pan) by spraying a layer of non-stick spray around the base and side of pan before lining with baking paper. Set aside for later use.

3. Using a mixer, cream the cream cheese together with sugar, egg and corn flour. Make sure the mixture is well mixed. Set aside for later use.

Chocolate Cake
1. Using a mixer, set it to high speed and cream the butter and sugar together until you get a white and flurry mixture. This should take 5 to 7 minutes.

2. Add in the eggs (one at a time), vanilla extract and whipping cream to the mixture and mix well.

3. Fold in the sifted flour and cocoa powder to the mixture and make sure they are well incorporated.

4. Pour half of the chocolate cake batter into baking pan. Shake / tap the baking pan on the tabletop lightly so as to ensure that the batter is evenly spread and any air pockets within it are removed.

5. Using a spoon or a spatula, spoon in the cheesecake filling over the chocolate batter carefully. Spread the cheesecake filling over the chocolate battter and smoothen it out.

6. Spoon in the remaining chocolate batter over the cheesecake filling. Shake / tap the baking pan on the tabletop lightly again to remove any remaining air pockets in the batter.

7. Bake in the oven for 55 - 75 minutes or until your cake tester come out clean when inserted in the centre of the cake. 

8. Remove from the oven and allow the cake to cool in the baking pan for 5-10mins, before transferring it to the wire rack to be cooled completely.




Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...