Archives for June 2010

June 17, 2010

Lemon Basil Sherbet

What does one do when she has four lemons leftover in the fridge? Think of a dessert to make with them, of course. I came across the recipe below as I was flipping through Alice Medrich’s Pure Dessert. The heading “lemon-basil sherbet” immediately appealed to me because I had two pots of basil growing crazily on the ledge of my corridor. They definitely needed trimming. I made some small changes to the recipe in the book. The recipe (with my changes) is shared below.

The result was a thoroughly refreshing dessert. It was very tangy of course, with some hint of sweetness. The fragrance of the basil definitely came through. A perfect treat on a hot day.

Lemon Basil Sherbet
(Serves 10)

Ingredients:
3/4 cup of lemon juice (from 4 lemons)
1 1/2 cups of sugar
1 cup of basil leaves
4 cups of milk
1 tbsp grated lemon zest

Method:

  1. Mix together sugar, lemon juice and basil leaves in a medium bowl. Let it sit for at least one hour, up to three hours.
  2. Stir the milk into the lemon juice mixture. The mixture will curdle a little. Strain the mixture, pressing on the basil leaves. Discard the leaves.
  3. Add the lemon zest and mix well.
  4. Pour the mixture into a shallow tray and freeze till hard, about 4 hours.
  5. Break up the chunks of frozen mixture and process in a food processor until smooth.
  6. Freeze again till hard, at least four to five hours.
  7. If the sherbet is too hard to scoop, let it stand for a few minutes after removing from freezer.
Filed Under: Desserts and Sweet Bakes, Vegetables and Fruit Tagged With: , , , Leave a Comment
June 17, 2010

CG Dinner Potluck

Our CG gathered for a potluck dinner over the Vesak Day holiday. We were treated to a feast of chilli crab and chicken curry cooked by our beloved CGL. Of course, the others brought stuff like fried beehoon, salad, fried wontons and so on. But the star of the dinner was definitely the chilli crab. Hopefully we get to have it again soon.

Filed Under: Baking and Cooking 1 Comment
June 17, 2010

Brunch at Riders’ Cafe

I caught up with some dear girlfriends from church the other day. I picked Riders’ Cafe as the last time I visited, they were having a power outage. We loved how the place takes us away from the hustle and bustle of the city life. Staring at the greenery out of the window, enjoying the view of horses training was indeed very relaxing.

We were too late for breakfast and had to order from their lunch menu. I ordered a crabmeat pasta which honestly, was unspectacular. They were rather generous with their crabmeat and shaved parmesan, but sadly, the crabmeat was not quite fresh.

Girlfriends decided to go for the fish and chips and the calamari which tasted pretty good. They were a way lot better than the pasta. The batter used for the fish and chips remained crispy even after some time. It wasn’t overtly oily. The chips were chunky and yummy. I am definitely partial to chunky fries.

The calamari was above average. It was crisp on the outside but just right on the inside and not too chewy. The mayo dip complemented the calamari very well.

For dessert, we shared a “Death by Chocolate” which essentially was a piece of warmed chocolate cake with a scoop of vanilla bean ice-cream. The cake was very rich and chocolatey. It was very gooey but I wished that it would slightly less sticky. The vanilla bean ice cream was good. This is worth a try if you pop by this place.

Riders Cafe is located at 51 Fairways Drive, Bukit Timah Saddle Club

Filed Under: Food reviews 1 Comment
June 17, 2010

Couples Dinner Night

We had three lovely couples at our place for dinner the other night. I was racking my brains as to what to cook for a party of eight and decided that the theme for the night shall be “comfort food”. It was a fairly warm night, which was a shame because the menu would have been terrific if it had been a nice cool evening.

We began the meal with some lovely mushroom soup prepared by my hubby. The soup consisted of a mix of brown and white button mushrooms and portabellos. It was rich and creamy, and the added touch of sour cream was just about perfect. The mains were homely comfort food – Shepherd’s Pie and Ratatouile. I like to make my Shepherd’s Pie filling with a mix of minced pork and beef. I feel that it gives extra flavour. The mash potato was crisp on the top but soft and fluffy inside. The key to good mash is good potatoes with a generous dose of butter and milk.

The other main is ratatouille, made using Julia Child’s recipe. I’ve done ratatouille a couple of times before, but never using this recipe. Her recipe is rather tedious, as it calls from frequent basting of the vegetables in their liquids. The result however, was well worth the effort. The vegetables were full of complex flavours. Some of our friends don’t typically enjoy the vegetables that go into ratatouille (eggplant, zucchini). Nonetheless, they found this dish very tasty.

By the end of the meal, everyone was stuffed. However, no meal is complete without dessert. For dessert, I chose something that I could prepare ahead – Pierre Herme’s Tri-Creme. The dessert is essentially three layers of cream. The base layer is a coffee creme brulee, without the caramel topping. In the middle we have rich chocolate cream made with Valrhona 64% chocolate. The freshly whipped cream at the top helps to balance out the richness of the dessert. As with all of Pierre Herme’s recipes, this one was a sure winner.

Filed Under: Baking and Cooking 1 Comment