February 2019 - Chik's Crib

    • 25 February 2019

    Pork Spare Ribs 1.0

    February 25, 2019 0
    Pork Spare Ribs 1.0
    Shopping for meat in Melbourne was a sure-fire way to put me in a happy mood. I always patronise the shop with a huge crowd, because the high turnover means that their meat doesn't stick around long enough to go bad. Here in Singapore, meat-buying is a little different, and I had a bit of a shock when I first went to the market for beef short ribs. For one, there isn't nearly much traffic. Each stall only sells a small selection of cuts, prices are not displayed, and most importantly, the store-hands don't wear gloves. They chop meat - and collect money - using their bare hands. I was taken aback, but my folks just shrugged their shoulders and said that's how it’s done in Singapore. 

     But ever since I discovered the joy that is Foodie Marketplace, my life has been irrevocably changed forever. No longer shall I grip about buying meat in Singapore! The place is well-lit and extremely well-stocked. Everything's under one roof: there's chicken, pork, lamb and beef, and every cut that you want, you can probably get here. Beef cheeks, (which can be elusive even in Melbourne) is aplenty here. The prices are so friendly, I've also decided that they are too nice to make a profit. Pork belly goes for $9/kg, and I bought these beautiful pork ribs at $12/kg. I don't even think I can find these cuts of meat at such prices in Melbourne! 

     The street-side parking can be a little competitive in Tiong Bahru, but I'd learnt that it's about only a 20-minutes walk from my workplace, and it's easy to just pop by after work to pick up a slab of meat or two. (It's a little strange how little it takes to make me happy these days, but I ain't complaining.)   

    Spare Ribs 1.0  
    Adapted from Crazy Sticky Ribs by Gordon Ramsay

     INGREDIENTS
    ======
    1 onion
    2 garlic cloves
    Olive oil, for the pan
    1/2 tsp chili flakes (optional)
    1/2 tsp fennel seeds
    90g dark brown sugar
    300g tomato ketchup
    55g dark soy sauce
    1.2 kg pork ribs 

    Salt, for seasoning

     STEPS
    ========
    1. Place the pork ribs in a tall roasting tray. Lightly season with salt, rubbing it into the pork. 
    2. Preheat the oven to 150˚C/ 130˚C fan/ gas mark 2.
    3. Peel and slice the onion. Then peel and roughly crush the garlic.
    4. Place a frying pan over a medium heat. Add olive oil, onion and garlic, and fry until the onion browns and softens, about 4-5 minutes.
    5. Add chilli (if using), fennel seeds and brown sugar. Stir until the sugar has melted, about 1 to 2 minutes. 
    6. Add tomato ketchup and soy sauce. Mix well. Bring the mixture to the boil, then reduce to a simmer for 10 minutes, until the sauce thickens up.
    7. Put the ribs into a deep-sided roasting tray and pour the sauce over the ribs. 
    8. Cover the tray snugly with foil. Bake for 2 hours. 
    9. Increase the oven temperature to 180˚C/ 160˚C fan/ gas mark 4, remove the foil and cook for 20 to 45 minutes, until the ribs are thoroughly cooked. If the sauce is not nicely thickened and coating the ribs, you may reduce the sauce further. Transfer the ribs and braising liquid into a large saucepan and place it over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until most of the water have been boiled away and the sauce is reduced into a glaze. 
    10. Serve warm. 
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    18 February 2019

    Potato Gratin Recipe

    February 18, 2019 0
    Potato Gratin Recipe

    Growing up in a Chinese household, we do a number of stir-fried potatoes in our recipes, but usually as an accompaniment to a meat dish rather than as the main feature. Potatoes don't enjoy the same fevor in Chinese culture that is found in Western culture, and I thought it's time to introduce to my folks the joy of potatoes. Over the last couple of months, I thought it's time to increase my repertoire to include rustic wedges, mashed potatoes and baked potato gratins. And before someone comments on the evilness of potatoes, do you know, a diet of potato and milk gives you all the macro-nutrients you need in a healthy diet? That's right! #thingsIlearntfromtheShopaholicSeries

    Amongst all my potato-theme exploration, the one recipe I've found myself returning to over and over again was the classic potato gratin. Served warm out of the oven, every bite is packed with soft, creamy cheesy potato slices. It's the ideal comfort food. For the occasional gathering, it's also easy to scale up the recipe to cook in mass quantities. What more could one ask for?

     My ideal potato gratin has a creamy (but not runny!) interior, a nicely browned and textured exterior, and a generous crust-to-interior ratio. In     this recipe, the proportions are ideal for an inch-deep, 8-inches wide potato gratin. When I doubled the recipe (in the first photo), I like to cap the gratin to 1-inch     depth and use an additional pan instead, just so there's more of those elusive crust to go around. 


    Out of several recipes that I'd tried, Elisabeth Prueitt's version takes the cake.     The touch of onion gives the dish a spicy kick, and despite using half-and-half, the cheese sauce was just as rich as the other full-cream recipes. 

    Traditional potato gratins are usually cooked in the oven from start to end, but this modern version first cooks the gratin over a stove-top fire, which streamlines the rest of the process and make the recipe fuss-free. A    s the cream sauce would have already cooked and thickened before gratin enters the oven, there's no fear of it boiling over the pan and spilling over in the oven. Also, depending on the type of cheese you use, the saltiness of the dish can differ heavily. This way, simmering the ingredients together first lets you do a quick taste-test to adjust the seasoning before popping it into the oven to finish cooking. 

     Potato Gratin Tartare Bakery 
    Adapted from the recipe by Liz Prueitt in Tartine All Day
    Makes 2-3 servings

     Ingredients
    =======
    1 tablespoon butter 
     1 small onion or leek, thinly sliced crosswise
    3 cloves garlic, minced 
     500g (About 5-6 whole potato) russet potatoes, peeled and thinly sliced
    200ml whole milk
    40ml heavy cream
    Large pinch of ground nutmeg (optional but traditional)
    1/2 tsp sea salt 
    100g firm cow's milk cheese, grated (such as Gruyère, Tomme de Savoie, or Comté. I used Parmesan) 

     INSTRUCTIONS
    ======= 
    1. Preheat the oven to 350°F/180°C.

    2. Melt the butter in a large pot over medium heat. Add the leek or onion and garlic. Cook, stirring often, until tender but not yet browned, about 3 minutes.

    3. Add the potatoes, milk, cream, garlic, nutmeg, and salt to the pot with the cooked leek or onion and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Once at a boil, decrease the heat to medium and simmer for 5 minutes, stirring continuously. The starch in the potatoes will begin to thicken the milk and cream. Don't keep the cream over the heat for too long, or the cream will overcook and get grainy. Turn off the heat and stir in the hard cheese. Taste the liquid and season with more salt, if necessary (depending on the saltiness of the cheese). Transfer the potato mixture to the gratin dish and level the surface. 

    4.     Bake for 45 minutes to 1 hour, until the cheese on top is nicely browned and bubbling. It may help to bring the potato gratin to as close to the top coil as possible, and turn off the bottom coil, which would help get the top browned at the end. 

    5. If baking the gratin from the refrigerator or freezer, let it come to room temperature first and then bake. Let cool slightly before serving.

     Note:
    If making the gratin ahead, be aware that potatoes will soak up any residual liquid (the same holds for mashed potatoes). To make ahead, use 1/2 cup more liquid than when you serve it straight out of the oven. At step 4 (before baking), the unbaked gratin can be covered and refrigerated for up to 2 days or tightly wrapped and frozen for up to 3 months.)

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    09 February 2019

    Poached Pear Tart Recipe

    February 09, 2019 0
    Poached Pear Tart Recipe

    Chinese New Year is just around the corner, and it's the perfect occasion to add some festive redness to the house with this dessert. Poaching these pears filled the kitchen with the sweet aroma of simmering red wine, and it was nostalgic of all the times I made mulled wine. How the time have passed! Has it really been already two years?

    To get this tart to look like that is a multi-step process. Drape dough over the poached pears, bake the tart until golden brown, then flip the tart out onto a serving plate (and preferably to great applause). 

     Here you may wonder, but Calvin, is it really such a great idea to flip the tart over at a high speed, when there's hot red wine syrup inside? If you do, your sense of self-preservation is indeed commendable, (and to which I would admit) may be more astute than mine. David cautioned that flipping over the tart requires a bit of courage and oven mitts. After flipping my tart around, I think he neglected to mention an apron and a visor as well. (Okay, maybe it's just me...) It made me pretty glad I dilly-dallied around the tart setting up photography props beforehand, which gave some extra time for the syrup to cool from their initial lava-of-Mustafa temperature.

     A washed face and a change of clothing later, the cake pan was eased off to reveal the deep red pears. The tender, flakey tart was the perfect vehicle for the pears, though it demands that the tart to be eaten warm out of the oven, before the now-bottom tart turns soggy from the red wine syrup. (Although, to give it credit, though the dessert turned into an unphotogenic thing a few hours after, the tart still remained tender to the bite.) Chalk this recipe up as another winner from David! 

     I'm no expert in making desserts, and so I'm definitely the perfect candidate to say this: if you're not confident of flipping over a syrup-based pie tart, and if you like crisp, tender crusts to remain crisp and presentable after a few hours instead of looking     soggy and a little sorry, then feel free to ignore this Tarte-Tatin presentation style. You could instead cut the poached pears into smaller pieces, divide them into individual ramekins and top each ramekin off with a tart dough and baking them. Everybody gets an individual portion, which will be easy to also spoon out of. (And substantially less likely to result in first-degree burns for the poor baker.) Which I'll be doing from now on, thank you very much.  

    Poached Pear Tart  
    Adapted from Red Wine Poached Pear Tart by David Lebovitz 
    6 to 8 servings

     INGREDIENTS
    ========
    The pears
    1/2 bottle (375ml) fruity red wine
    125ml (1/2 cup) water
    50g sugar
    40g (1/8 cup) honey
    2 slivers of fresh lemon
    1/2 cinnamon stick
    a few turns of black pepper
    1kg pears (about 4 medium-sized pears)

     The dough
    90 g (3 ounces) unsalted butter, cut into pieces
    1 tablespoon vegetable oil 
    3 tablespoons water
    1 tablespoon sugar
    1/8 teaspoon salt
    150 g (5oz, or 1 slightly-rounded cup) flour

     STEPS
    ========
    The pears
    1. Combine red wine, water, sugar, honey, lemon, cinnamon, and black pepper in a large pot and place over medium heat.

     2. Meanwhile, peel the pears with a vegetable peeler. If making individual ramekins, to cut into quarters or eighths. If making a tarte-tatin style pie, just slice them in half lengthwise and remove the pits. 

     3. When the red wine mixture is nearly boiling, slowly immerse the pears into the poaching liquid. Cover the pot incompletely with the lid sitting at an angle, so the steam may escape. Simmer and poach the pears over low heat for about 15 minutes, turning the pears every so often so are equally submerged in the red wine. Cook until they are soft. The tip of a paring knife should go in all the way through easily. Do not overcook!

     4. Remove the pot from the fire, and remove the pears and let cool. Discard the lemon and cinnamon stick. Let the syrup cool until tepid before then pour it over the pears. (This prevents the pears from being submerged in the hot syrup for too long, which may overcook the pears. Cover the mixture and and refrigerate the pears for 1 to 3 days.

     The dough 
    5. Preheat the oven to 210º C

     6. In a medium-sized ovenproof bowl, such as a Pyrex bowl, combine the butter, oil, water, sugar, and salt.

    7. Place the bowl in the oven for 15 minutes until the butter is bubbling and starts to brown just around the edges.

    8. When done, remove the bowl from oven (and be careful, since the bowl will be hot and the mixture might sputter a bit), dump in the flour and stir it in quickly, until it comes together and forms a ball which pulls away from the sides of the bowl. 

     When ready to assemble
    9. Preheat the oven to 375ºF (190ºC.) Distribute the pears in the ramekins, and then, drizzle the red wine syrup over the pears. 

     10. When the dough is cool enough to handle, smoosh a piece of dough flat with your hands and drape it over each ramekin.

     11. Bake until the dough is a deep golden brown, about 10-15 minutes for ramekins, and about 20-30 minutes for one tart. Remove from oven and let cool on a wire rack, for 10 to 15 minutes.

    12. Serve warm. 

     Notes: 
    Use a pear that is firm when ripe, such as Bosc, Conference, Winter Nellis, or Anjou. 

     How to poach pears from David Lebovitz

     Additional leftover syrup can be stored in the refrigerator for a few weeks. It can used to dribble over fresh orange slices with pomegranate seeds, to enliven a fruit salad, or even drizzled over yogurt.     Leftover wine syrup can drizzled over the tart. 

     If not inclined to eat a pie (you monster you), and especially if you live in a hot humid environment that's not conducive to pie-making, using these poached pears in Marrion Burro's torte is wondrous.

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