Miffed

I was supposed to bring my hamster Pudding (aka Fatty) to the vet this morning. Poor Pudding has some kind of growth on his legs so he is slightly uncomfortable. I am not too sure what it was, and it doesn’t seem to be going away. I made an appointment prior to going as I know there are loads of people there during the weekend. I arrived on time and was pleased to know that I was next in queue. After the dude with a cat came out, I got myself ready to go in. To my surprise, the vet called a dog in. I enquired with the nurse and she gave a flaky answer, ‘Uhuh, I did remind the vet….’. After the dog came out, the nurse told the vet that she should be seeing Pudding first. Again, she called another dog in. By then, I was quite angry. I don’t see how other walk-in customers should be able to cut the queue. Also, I can tell that the vet couldn’t quite be bothered with a small hamster. It may be small, but is it not a pet as well? Why should it be perceived as any less important than a dog or cat? In the end, I walked out and took a cab back. I am sure I can find another vet who will take Pudding more seriously.

I made a simple carbonara and garlic bread for lunch. It was absolutely delightful. Simple yet flavourful. Carbonara is not something I normally order when I am at a restaurant because the ones I tried in the past had too strong a milky flavour which I dislike. This one that I made here is much better (to me at least) and I love the way the bacon and cream blended so well with the pasta. The garlic bread is a little sinful, judging from the amount of butter I added, but its worth it. I managed to use up most of the ingredients I bought in the past few days. Woohoo!

Spaghetti Carbonara

 

7 slices of thick-cut bacon (I used half streaky and half back bacon)

¼ cup thickened cream

1 egg, room temperature

½ an onion, chopped

3 cloves of garlic, finely chopped

Handful of parsley and oregano, finely chopped

Spaghetti for 2

Parmesan cheese

  

1.    Break the egg into a bowl. Add cream and mix thoroughly. Set aside for later use.

 

2.    Chop up the bacon into fat pieces. Add a tablespoon of oil into a heated non-stick pan. Add in the bacon and let them cook for about 5 minutes.

 

3.    Add in the onions and cook until almost transparent. Throw in the chopped garlic.

 

4.    Cook the pasta into a pot of boiling salted water. Remove the pasta 2 minutes short of the stipulated cooking time.

 

5.    Add the pasta to the pan of bacon. Add parsley and oregano. Mix thoroughly. Pour the pasta into a heated bowl. Pour in cream mixture and toss to coat evenly. Serve immediately.

 

 

Garlic Bread

 

4 thick slices of baguette or any hard crust bread

5 tbsp of butter

5 cloves of garlic, finely chopped

½ an onion, finely chopped

Parmesan cheese

Cayenne pepper (optional)

 

1.        Melt butter in a non-stick pan. Add onion and let it cook till transparent, about 3 minutes. Add the garlic and continue to cook for another 3 minutes. Leave aside to cool.

 

2.        Preheat the oven to grill mode at 175C (350F). Spread the mixture evenly onto the bread. Sprinkle parmesan cheese on top of the bread. Top with some cayenne pepper for a spicy kick.

 

3.       Grill for 10 minutes, or until the cheese melt. Serve immediately.   

Hello 2009

Happy new year to all! I am home alone for the next few days. Woo hoo!! My parents are away in Hong Kong so I am left alone in the house. This means that I can have a chance to cook my own meals. Being traditional chinese, the meals I have at home are mostly asian. I only get to eat western food when I go out. For dinner, I decide to make a comforting meal of spaghetti and meat balls. The recipe calls for a mixture of veal, pork and beef. Due to religious reasons, I omitted the beef and veal, using all pork instead. The meatballs still turned out fantastic. I would suggest that you make the meatballs the night before, so that the flavours will really seep in. For the sauce, I also added in about 50ml of red wine. The recipe was originally for 12 – 16 people. I scaled it down without much problems. Another great recipe from Gourmet, and a great way to start my new year!  

Spaghetti and Meatballs

Adapted from Gourmet, January 2009

For tomato sauce

2 (28oz) cans whole tomatoes in juice

½ medium onions, chopped

3 tbsp oil

2 garlic cloves, finely chopped

 

For meatballs

½ medium onions, finely chopped

3 cup oil

2 garlic cloves, finely chopped

1/4 cup torn day-old Italian bread (I used ciabatta)

1/3 whole milk

1 large egg

A handful of grated parmesan cheese

2 tbsp finely chopped flat-leaf parsley

2 tsp finely chopped oregano

250g lean minced pork

¼ cup vegetable oil

 

For pasta

Enough spaghetti for 2 or 3 persons

 

Accompaniment:

Grated parmesan cheese

 

Make sauce:

1.         Drain tomatoes, reserving juice in a large bowl. Crush tomatoes with your hands and add to juice. Cook onions in oil in pot over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until softened, about 10 minutes. Add garlic and cook, stirring occasionally, until softened, about 2 minutes. Stir in tomatoes with their juice, 4 tsp salt, and 1 tsp pepper. Simmer sauce, uncovered, stirring occasionally, until slightly thickened, 45 minutes. Season with salt.

 

Make meatballs:

2.         Make meatballs while sauce simmers.Cook onions in extra-virgin olive oil in a 12-inch heavy skillet over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until softened, about 10 minutes. Add garlic and cook, stirring occasionally, until softened, about 3 minutes. Transfer to a large bowl to cool.

 

3.         Soak bread in milk in another bowl until soft, about 5 minutes. Firmly squeeze bread to remove excess milk, discarding milk.Stir together cooled onion mixture, bread, eggs, parmesan, parsley, oregano, lemon zest, 5 1/2 tsp salt, and 1 1/2 tsp pepper until combined. Add meats to bread mixture, gently mixing with your hands until just combined (do not overmix).

 

4.         Form meat mixture into about 70 (1 1/2-inch) balls with dampened hands, arranging meatballs on 2 large baking sheets or in shallow baking pans.Heat olive or vegetable oil (1 cup) in a 12-inch heavy skillet (preferably nonstick) over medium-high heat until hot but not smoking, then brown meatballs in 4 or 5 batches (without crowding), turning frequently, about 5 minutes per batch. Return to baking sheets.

 

5.         Add meatballs to sauce and gently simmer, covered, stirring occasionally, until cooked through, 20 to 30 minutes. (If pot is not large enough, divide meatballs and sauce between 2 pots.)

 

Make pasta:

6.         Prepare pasta after meat balls are added. Cook spaghetti in boiling salted water until just al dente, draining and tossing with some of sauce. Serve with meatballs, remaining sauce, and grated cheese.

Macaroni & Cheese

 I confess that I am addicted to Tastespotting, and recently, Smitten Kitchen. Blog owner Deb is a genius, and the photos displayed are stunning and mouthwatering. I have seen many macaroni and cheese recipes in various blogs, but none looked as good (and as simple) as the one done by Deb. I decided to try it out last weekend, and cook it for Mr DoubleChin.

The macaroni and cheese turned out slightly too dry for our liking. I made a mental note to add more milk and cottage cheese in future, as well as less cheddar. I would also like to experiment with different types of cheese and see whether they will be as good too. As I did not have any freshly ground black pepper on hand, I added garlic pepper instead. The pinch of cayenne pepper as recommended did not have any impact on the dish as well. I would add more next time to give the dish abit of heat. Perhaps my oven is too hot, I baked my macaroni uncovered on the middle rack instead for only 20 minutes. Do check the oven regularly (10 min intervals) after taking off the aluminium foil. We had a lovely poolside picnic with the mac & cheese, fried chicken and fries. The weather was cool and windy, I certainly don’t mind doing this again soon!

Creamy Macaroni and Cheese
(Adapted from Smitten Kitchen)

2 tablespoons butter
1 1/4 cup cottage cheese (not lowfat)
2 1/4 cups milk (not skim)
1 teaspoon dry mustard
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp garlic pepper
1 pound sharp or extra-sharp cheddar cheese, grated
250g elbow pasta, uncooked.

1. Heat oven to 190 degreesC and position an oven rack in upper third of oven. Use 1 tablespoon butter to butter a 10-inch round baking dish.

2. In a blender,add cottage cheese, mustard, cayenne, nutmeg and salt and pepper together. Blend until smooth. Then add in milk and blend till combined. Reserve a little over 1/4 cup of the grated cheese and set aside. In a large bowl, combine remaining grated cheese, milk mixture and uncooked pasta. Pour into prepared pan, cover tightly with foil and bake 30 minutes.

3. Uncover pan, stir gently, sprinkle with reserved cheese and dot with remaining tablespoon butter. Bake, uncovered, 20 minutes more, until browned. Let cool at least 15 minutes before serving.