Pan fried chicken breast with mushroom ragout linguine topped with arugula leaves

This dish is my own creation. I made this from scratch without referring to any recipes *proud*
It looks good and it taste even better ;)

Ingredients (serves 2)

2 pcs chicken breast

Marinade:
1 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
cracked black pepper
1/2 tsp of light soya sauce
dash of worcestershire sauce
1 tbsp red wine vinegar
1 tsp paprika
dried oregano (optional)
dried rosemary (optional)

Mushroom ragout:
1 pkt fresh button mushroom, sliced
1 tbsp butter
3-4 garlic, minced
dried oregano
pinch of sugar
salt & pepper
150ml milk
1 tsp cornstarch (mix with 2 tbps water)

1 pkt arugula (rocket)
2 portions of linguine, cooked al dente

1. Marinate the chicken breast and leave aside for 15-20 mins.
2. Heat up a pan, pan fried the chicken breast 3mins on each side or until cooked. Chicken breast can be cooked easily, it only takes a couple of minutes. To check if it's fully cooked, poke a skewer in the centre, if it goes right through easily, then the chicken is cooked.
3. Dish up and set aside.
4. To make the mushroom ragout, melt butter in a pan and add in garlic. Saute the garlic until fragrant, add in mushroom with all the dried herbs and seasoning.
5. When it's almost cooked, pour in milk and stir well until gravy thickens. Add in cornstarch if need to thicken the gravy.
6. To plate the dish, place linguine on the plate and topped with mushroom. Cut chicken breast into big pieces and arrange them on top of the mushroom. Finally, topped with a handful of arugula leaves.

*Note:
Ragout is a french word, it means stew. The basic method of preparation involves cooking over low heat.
Al dente is an italian word describing pasta that has been cooked so as to be firm but not hard. It is often considered the ideal form of cooked pasta.

Individual Apple Crumble ala mode

Ingredients (serves 2)

Filings:
2 apples ( I used Royal Gala Apples)
1 tbsp brown sugar/caster sugar
1 tbsp water
dash of cinnammon

Crumble:
2 tbsp oats (can substitute with muesli-it's perfectly fine)
2 tbsp flour
2 tsp sugar
12g butter or margerine


1. Preheat oven to 200 degrees. Peel and core the apples, cut into chunks or thick slices.
2. Put apple into pan with water, sugar & cinnammon. Cook over low heat for 3-5 mins and place in small oven proof dish.
3. Place flour and oats in a bowl and mix well. Cut butter into small cubes and add in to the flour mixture. Mix with your fingertips until it resembles breadcrumbs, add in sugar and mix well.
4. Cover the apples with the crumble. Bake for approximately 20mins until the crumble is golden brown.
5. Serve hot with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

5 mins tomato soup

Someone taught me how to make this soup sometime back. I din know it was SO easy until i tried it last night. At first i was worried wondering how the soup will turn out to be..but surprisingly it was good and C likes it - that's the most important!
so peeps, if you want to impress your loved ones, do give this soup a try..and it only takes 5mins!!

Ingredients

1 can of Tomato juice (serves 2)
4 olives (gives the soup a hint of tanginess)
dash of Tabasco sauce
dash of Worcestershire sauce
pinch of sugar
salt & pepper to taste
100 ml milk


1. Pour the whole can of tomato juice into a pan. Add in olives, tabasco, worcestershire sauce & sugar. Bring to a boil.
2. Add in milk and season with salt & pepper.
3. Serve it hot.

* Best served with garlic bread

Roasted Potatoes with Rosemary

I made this as a side for the lamb cutlets. This is a simple dish that can be done in just over a few minutes.

Ingredients

5-6 pcs potatoes (any variety)

2-3 pcs garlic, crushed

1 onion, sliced

olive oil

pinch of salt

cracked black pepper

2 sprigs of rosemary

1. Preheat oven to 220 degrees.

2. Wash the potatoes and leave the skin intact. Cut it into chunks or slices. Place them on a baking tray together with crushed garlic, onions and rosemary.

3. Drizzle with olive oil and toss the potatoes around to make sure they are well coated with the oil.

4. Put them into the oven and roast for 10-15 mins or until cooked.

5. Serve as a side dish.

Maple-Balsamic Lamb Cutlets

I just came back from sydney and bought a packet of lamb cutlets from woolworths. It cost me aud 11 plus for 6 pcs. I dunno if it's cheaper than in s'pore, but i assumed that it was.
While searching for lamb recipes i came across Honey-Balsamic Lamb Chops courtesy of Giada De Laurentiis. I did some changes based on her recipe. I substituted Honey with Maple syrup, mainly bcoz i only have maple syrup at home.

Ingredients

6 pcs lamb cutlets
3 tbsp balsamic vinegar
1/2 clove of garlic, crushed
2 tbsp maple syrup
2 tbsp olive oil
1/2 tsp salt
cracked black pepper
2 sprigs of rosemary

1. To prepare marinade, mix vinegar, maple syrup, olive oil, salt & pepper in a bowl. Whisk the mixture until it becomes a thick sauce.
2. Place the lamb cutlets in a heat-proof dish, pour the marinade over them and make sure the cutlets are evenly coated with the marinade.
3. Sprinkle crushed garlic and rosemary over the cutlets.
4. Set aside for 20-30 mins. (It can be kept overnight)

5. Preheat the oven to 220 degrees.
Sear both sides of the cutlets on a pan over medium heat, approximately 2-3 mins on each side. (This is to retain the juice of the meat)
6. Place them back onto the heat-proof dish and pop them into the oven for approximately 10-15 mins or until cooked.
7. Dish out and serve with roasted potatoes and french beans.
8. Spoon the sauce over the lamb or serve the sauce on the side.

Sweet Caroline

'Sweet caroline' was originally sung by neil diamond. In the movie GLEE - which we are so into right now, it was sung by Puck in a tribute to "musical jewish icon" hahaha. After listening to it over the weekend, i can't stop listening to it now..it's addictive, dang!! And Puck is HOT..better than Finn @ Marshall ;)

from now on

In the past, I would always copied down recipes i read from magazines, online, newspaper etc. Now that my little red book is almost full, I thought to myself - why write when u can type?? And the best part is, u can share the recipes with everyone. Isnt it better? Rather than when someone asked you for recipe, you have to copy down and send it to them. So from now on, this is where i will share with u peeps my latest culinary experiments *wink*