Delicacious | A Gluten-Free Blog
Gluten-free cooking, baking and living
The June Daring Cooks’ challenge sure kept us rolling – meatballs, that is! Shelley from C Mom Cook and Ruth from The Crafts of Mommyhood challenged us to try meatballs from around the world and to create our own meatball meal celebrating a culture or cuisine of our own choice.Continue Reading
My daughter loves noodles. Whenever we ask her what she would like to have for lunch, the answer would be either noodles or pasta. Rice would never be mentioned. It’s a pity that she does not like rice very much because for us Chinese, it is often a staple at dinner. Hence, I usually try to vary what she has for lunch.Continue Reading
I love beef stews cooked with red wine. Red wine adds a depth and flavour that stock alone cannot achieve. So when my mother-in-law bought a batch of brisket for stewing, I could not resist trying out this recipe from Dorie Greenspan’s book – Around my french table. I have made a few changes though, to reduce the alcohol amount and have also added mushrooms to it. Through the long hours of cooking (2.5 hours), the alcohol does boil off a little but a significant amount remains.
I made this recipe at night, let it cool overnight and reheated it the next day. I then added the sauteed mushrooms to it. It tastes even better the next day as the flavours combine. I will definitely be making this fuss-free recipe again.
| Serves | 4-6 |
| From book | Adapted from around my french table |
| Step 1 | |
| Centre an oven rack and preheat oven to 175°C. | |
| Step 2 | |
| Put a dutch oven over medium heat and cook the bacon till the bacon just browns. Transfer bacon to a bowl. | |
| Step 3 | |
| Dry the beef between sheets of kitchen paper and season with salt and pepper. Add 1 tbsp canola oil to the bacon fat and brown beef in batches. Set aside. | |
| Step 4 | |
| Pour off oil in pot, add remaining 1 tbsp of oil and heat it over medium heat. Add in onions and cook till onions soften. Throw in the garlic and carrots and stir to combine. Pour in the red wine, scraping up the brown bits from the bacon. | |
| Step 5 | |
| Add in the beef stock, beef and bacon, and herbs. Stir and bring everything to a boil. | |
| Step 6 | |
| Place a piece of foil over the pot and cover with the lid. Slide the pot into the oven and allow it to braise for 1 hour. | |
| Step 7 | |
| Pull pot out of oven, give everything a stir, and return for another 1.5 hours. Season with salt and pepper. (At this point, you can cool the daube to room temperature and chill it for up to 3 days in the fridge). | |
| Step 8 | |
| In a small skillet, heat 2 tsp of olive oil and add in the mushrooms and parsley. Season with salt and pepper. Cook till mushroom releases their liquids. Allow the liquids to cook off before adding mushrooms to the daube. | |
| Step 9 | |
| Remove the bay leaves, thyme sprigs and garlic head. Serve hot over mash potatoes or buttered rice. | |
There are days where my family feels like having beef for dinner, but steak is well, too heavy. These are the times when I make stroganoff. It is somewhat of a comfort food to us, and I serve it over buttered noodles or rice. I usually use tenderloin, though there is no stopping you from using other cuts of beef such as rib-eye. My mother-in-law buys us nice pieces of tenderloin from Ghim Moh market often enough and so we usually have beef stashed in our fridge.
Even though beef stroganoff sounds like a fanciful dish, it really is quite simple to prepare, and requires but a few ingredients. I must emphasise here that dijon mustard is paramount to the taste of this dish – you must include it. I am not a big mustard fan, but the addition of the mustard in this dish brings out the flavours so much more.
| Serves | 3-4 |
| From magazine | Adapted from Bon Appetit |
| Step 1 | |
| Dry beef strips using paper towels. In a large skillet, heat 2 tbsp oil over high heat. Brown beef strips in batches. Set aside. | |
| Step 2 | |
| Add remaining oil to skillet and saute shallots until tender. Add mushrooms and stir fry till liquids evaporate slightly. Season with black pepper. | |
| Step 3 | |
| Add in stock and simmer till stock thickens about 10 minutes. Stir in cream and dijon mustard. Add in beef and simmer till heated through. | |
| Step 4 | |
| Stir in dill and paprika. Season with salt and pepper. | |
| Step 5 | |
| Serve hot over rice or buttered noodles. | |
I didn’t use to make salmon potato cakes. I like salmon oven-baked or pan-grilled, but my daughter changed that recently. You see, a couple months ago, my 2-year old daughter developed an adverse taste towards fish. Any kind of fish. So these fish cakes were my attempt to sneakily introduce fish into her meal with something that does not look too “fish-like”. Besides, they are really tasty and the adults loved them too. Salmon and potato – what’s not to like?
Verdict? She liked them. Success!! If you have a picky eater, try them. I make a larger batch and flash freeze them in a baking tray. Once frozen, I pack them in ziplock bags. Easy!
| Serves | 4 |
Salmon potato cakes can be frozen before the pan-frying step. Make a larger batch of these and serve them up for a quick dinner another day! Recipe is adapted from here.
| Step 1 | |
| Season salmon with salt and pepper and brush with olive oil. Grill in a pan or in an oven until they are golden brown. Flake salmon into smaller pieces. | |
| Step 2 | |
| Boil and mash potatoes. Add salmon, dijon mustard, scallions, beaten eggs and peas and combine. Season with more salt and pepper. | |
| Step 3 | |
| Shape into patties and coat evenly with Japanese breadcrumbs. | |
| Step 4 | |
| Preheat a skillet over medium heat and add olive oil and butter. Pan-fry salmon potato cakes until they are golden brown on both sides. | |
I’ve a weakness for recipe books with beautiful, mouthwatering pictures. Better yet if the book has an interesting layout. Written by a well-known chef that I like? I am sold. Even if the recipes seem too complicated to reproduce. Result of that? I’ve many cookbooks with recipes that I’ve never tried. Perhaps I’m not the only one guilty of that. Any readers who do that too? 🙂
Anyhow, Thomas Keller is one of those chefs that I like. I like the way his recipe books and I own a few of them though most of them fall into the category of “cookbooks with recipes I’ve never tried”. So when “Ad hoc at home” was published, I decided that it was a good book to buy. Afterall, it depicts the recipes that can be reproduced at home, yes? Alas, I bought the book and it disappeared into the shelf of cookbooks, and the months past.
So one fateful afternoon, not too long ago, I finally decided to dig out the book and try something from it. My eyes fell onto a recipe for roast cornish hens. Well, I didn’t have cornish hens, but I did have a chicken sitting in the fridge and so I decided to adapt the recipe for it.
The result is a beautifully roasted bird, as seen in the photo above. Moist, tender, succulent and full of flavour, thanks to the gremolata butter. Absolutely lovely and my family raved about it. The gremolata butter can also be used for other meats or fishes. Try it! I’m sure you will love it as much as I did.
| Step 1 | |
| Remove chicken from refrigerator and set aside while you make the butter. | |
| Step 2 | |
| Using a pestle, grind peppercorns in a mortar. Add lemon zest and garlic and mash to a paste. | |
| Step 3 | |
| Put butter in a medium bowl and mix in pepper mixture, followed by lemon juice. Stir in parsley and salt. | |
| Step 4 | |
| Clean chicken and dry well with towels. Leave fat or skin at neck attached and trim off any excess fat. | |
| Step 5 | |
| Starting at the cavity end of the chicken, carefully run your fingers between the skin and flesh of the breast and then the thighs to loosen the skin. Spread the butter mixture evenly under the skin of the bird, covering the thighs and the breast. | |
| Step 6 | |
| Let the chicken come to room temperature (about 30 minutes). Meanwhile, preheat oven to 220°C. | |
| Step 7 | |
| Brush the chicken with canola oil and season with salt. Place chicken on its back in a roasting pan. Scatter garlic and thyme evenly around it. | |
| Step 8 | |
| Roast chicken for about 35 - 45 minutes, or until golden brown and temperature registers 70°C in the meatiest portions of the chicken - the thighs and under the breast where the thigh meats the breast. | |
| Step 9 | |
| Transfer chicken to a cooling rack and allow it to cook for 15 minutes. Serve the chicken in quarters, arranged on a serving platter and garnish with garlic and thyme. | |
Alas, after multiple attempts to post the recipe, this post is finally successful. It must be some bug in the recipe widget that does not like pork belly! Anyhow, this is one of my comfort foods – salty, fragrant, garlicky, fatty goodness. I cut down the fatty portion by not eating the layers of fat, and only eating the meat. My husband chastised me on this every so often. He declares that the fatty portion of the braised pork belly is the best portion! I’m sure many readers will agree.
Whether or not you eat the fatty part of the pork belly, this recipe is sure to please. My toddler loves the egg and tau kwa that goes into this! The pork belly is soft and tender, as a result of the braising process. Absolutely delicious. If you wish to reduce the calorie intake of this dish, replace the pork belly with pork shoulder. For non-pork eating friends, you can replace the pork belly with chicken too!
As I am typing, this dish is cooking in the kitchen. My mom’s version though, not mine. My mom adds chilli to this dish to add some heat and more star anise and cloves than I like. She sometimes uses the packet ingredients for Tau Yew Bak too. I’m partial to my version though. Try it and let me know!
| Serves | 6-8 |
| Prep time | 30 minutes |
| Cook time | 1 hour, 15 minutes |
| Total time | 1 hour, 45 minutes |
| Meal type | Lunch, Main Dish |
| Misc | Serve Hot |
| Region | Chinese |
| Step 1 | |
| Season pork belly with 1 tbsp of dark soya and light soya sauce. Leave meat to marinate for 30 minutes. | |
| Step 2 | |
| In a large claypot or casserole, lightly brown pork belly. (No oil is needed) | |
| Step 3 | |
| Add garlic and mushrooms and stir to combine. Cook for 3 minutes. | |
| Step 4 | |
| Add tau kwa, remaining dark and light soya sauces, sugar and pepper. Mix well and allow to cook for another 5 minutes. | |
| Step 5 | |
| Add in star anise, cloves, cinnamon and water and bring to a boil. | |
| Step 6 | |
| Allow to boil for 5 minutes then add tau pok and reduce to a simmer for 20 minutes. | |
| Step 7 | |
| Add hard boiled eggs and simmer for another 40 minutes or until meat is tender. | |
| Step 8 | |
| Serve hot with rice. | |
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