I find it a little disconcerting that I’ve never posted about les croque monsieurs et madames before. I’m not the hugest fan of sandwiches but I don’t think the words exist to adequately describe my love for these. Stripped back to its core, you really have little more than a glorified ham and cheese sandwich, but oh what a difference that little makes. In one of my most recent food posts, on Mac & Cheese, I waxed lyrical about the joys of pasta, cheese and bechamel. Here, that same heavenly combination of cheese, bechamel and carbohydrate perform in an equally loved sequel, only with ham making his debut.

Of course, no sandwich ever lamented the addition of an additional egg, and that’s where the croque truly shines in my opinion. A sunny side up is the perfect ingredient to any dish – especially if you like it the way I do, that is slightly browned around the edges. From one little 2 oz package, and in a single mouthful, you have the ultimate dish really – a combination of textures, flavours, and a self-saucing one at that. Naturally, the gooeyness of an egg yolk lends itself well to sandwiches which, especially when toasted, might turn a shade dry.

Now, simple as this sandwich is, I’m not going to try to convince anyone that it’s a dish one should be whipping up every morning for breakfast. It’s a little too rich for that, for starters. But on a lazy Sunday morning, I can really think of nothing I’d rather be eating on my balcony with the bunny. Plus, if you made mac & cheese earlier in the week, all you need to do is save a couple of dollops, and thin that out on Sunday morning with a splash of milk for a croque that will come together in no time. :)

Croque Madame

2 tbsp unsalted butter, plus more for spreading
2 tbsp all-purpose flour
500ml full cream milk
nutmeg
150g freshly grated cheese (I like using either a mild cheddar or gruyere)
4 large slices of country bread
1 tsp of dijon mustard
2 thick slices of smoked leg ham (or as much as you want to pile in)
olive oil
2 eggs
salt & pepper

Preheat your oven to 200C with a rack on the upper third of the oven. Melt the butter in a small saucepan over low heat. Once it is liquid, pour in the flour, and stir briskly so that the butter and flour are evenly incorporated. Turn the heat up to medium, and, stirring often, cook for about 2-3 minutes, or until the butter starts to smell nutty, but before it takes on any colour. Slowly whisk in the milk, adding a little at a time and whisking all the while, to get a smooth sauce. Once all the milk is added, turn the fire down to medium-low and let it simmer, stirring and scraping the bottom every couple of minutes until it reduces into a velvety sauce. Season with salt and white pepper, and grate it about half a nutmeg. Whisk in 100g of the cheese, then set aside and keep warm.

While the bechamel is simmering, spread your bread on both sides with a little butter and toast it lightly. You don’t want it to get too brown, just to very lightly colour it. One one side of each slice, smear a little dijon mustard. Assemble each sandwich from the bottom up as follows: bread (mustard side up), ham, 1/4 of the cheese, bread (mustard side up again), a generous dollop of the cheesy bechamel, and another 1/4 of the cheese. Place the two sandwiches on a baking tray and bake for about 5-10 minutes, or until the sandwich is just warmed through and the cheese is bubbling and lightly browned in spots.

While the sandwiches toast, fry two eggs sunny-side up, or to your liking. Once the sandwiches are done, top each with an egg, sprinkle with salt and pepper, and tuck in!

Yield: Serves 2

Note: It’s hard to make the bechamel in a much smaller quantity than this, so I’d either save a little bechamel from another dish, or save the rest to use later. If you’re refrigerating bechamel, store it in an airtight container, with a little piece of clingfilm pressed to the surface (to prevent a skin from forming). It will thicken (or solidify, really), but you can thin it out easily but whisking a splash of milk in, and – if necessary – reheating it gently on the stove top. I don’t think it’ll keep for very long, but a little tub of bechamel has never lasted more than 2 days in my fridge anyhow. :)

Saturday, 24th October 2009 is the International Day for Climate Action, and ECO Singapore, a not-for-profit youth social enterprise that focuses on environmental issues, is holding a series of events to raise awareness on climate change and the worldwide 350 Movement. Climate change is an issue that many leaders of Singapore don’t currently have very high on their agenda, and it’s something not many Singaporeans know much about – there’s much about this that I don’t know about either.

This Saturday, volunteers are invited to join more than 1,800 communities in 145 countries as part of a global day of action coordinated by 350.org to urge world leaders to take bold and immediate steps to address climate change and reduce carbon emissions. Focus is being drawn to the number 350 as scientists have insisted in recent years that 350 parts per million is the most carbon dioxide we can safely have in the atmosphere. The current CO2 concentration is 390 parts per million.

In six weeks, the world’s nations will convene in Copenhagen for the United Nations Climate Change Conference to draw up a new climate treaty. ECO Singapore will also be releasing their youth statement detailing their suggestions for Singapore’s stance at these negotiations. 89 countries have already endorsed the 350 target, as well as the chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Rajendra Pachauri, the world’s foremost climate economist, Sir Nicholas Stern, and Nobel prize-winner Al Gore.

I hope you’ll take the time to consider volunteering for this event. The details of the events where volunteers are needed are as follows:

Photographers
Volunteer photographers are needed to assist in an aerial photography event. These images will be screened online at 350.org as part of an online photostream of the day’s global events. For more information, or to volunteer, please leave a comment here with your email and I will get back to you.

Flash Mob
Human Tidal Wave flash mob – there will be a human flash mob at LASALLE College of the Arts. Registration and briefings will take place at SMU beforehand. Apart from volunteers for the flash mob, volunteers are also needed to help marshal the crowd, and they are looking for some performers as well. For more information, please visit http://www.350.org/TidalWaveSG.

I hope to see you guys there.

Please repost this on your blogs/websites/facebook!

Happy birthday, grownup! I guess now that you’ve crossed this threshold, I really don’t get to call you siew pang yao anymore, eh?

It took me a while to figure out how to write what I wanted to say here, but I think I’m just gonna go with the pictures. Suffice to say that these are some of the best memories I’ve got of Hong Kong, to date, and probably will be in the Top 10 no matter how long I end up here. And I’ve got you to thank for them. So thank you, for letting me claim that chair on your balcony, for coming with me to hunt down my elusive, unreachable park-in-the-middle-of-a-flyover, for scarfing down scones (and everything else I’ve put on a plate in front of you) until you felt so ill (and really boosting my ego there haha), for the neverending drives, for being in Hong Kong. :)

So here’s wishing you a delightful birthday! I hope it’ll end up being one of your plusplusplus-es. It pisses me off that this is the first time I’ve been able to wish you happy birthday (and I’m not even there in person), but it’s okay, ‘cos I know I’ll be around for the next gazillion. Gettin’ rid of me ain’t as easy as leaving the Kong!

PS: Someone else misses you too.

I’M GOING TO PER SE! :D (And DB Bistro Moderne, and Balthazar’s, and Bouchon, and all the FOOD GLORIOUS FOOD!)

/happy

I’m a huge fan of macaroni & cheese. I mean, what’s not to love? Perfectly cooked pasta (I quite casually use whatever shell, tubular or twisty short pasta I’ve got lying around interchangeably), creamy béchamel, and – swoon – oh, the cheese. I also really love that it’s one of those dishes you can eat unadorned, but it stands up so well to additions of protein, vegetables, or whatever leftovers you’ve got hiding out in your fridge.

This version that I’ve finally come to rely on is one that really doesn’t utilise too many things that you aren’t likely to have lying around. And since we’re just back from a holiday to Tokyo, and still suffering some withdrawal symptoms from it, it’s the perfect dish to whip up, while savouring the last financier from Pierre Hermé or peeking at the hoarded èclairs from Sadaharu Aoki. (But I’ll talk more about that holiday in another post soon!) A little milk, some seasonings, a little butter and flour come together to make a béchamel, which you then stir whatever mixture of cheeses you so desire into. Leftover roast chicken, crisped bacon lardons, or even steamed broccoli florets can be stirred in if you don’t feel like having it plain, then cook your pasta al dente and fold that in gently. If you’ve made your roux (and béchamel) in an ovenproof pot, the entire thing can then go under a hot grill (with a couple more handfuls of cheese scattered over), and once bubbling, browned and almost-burnt in spots, you’ve got a delectable one dish meal. Or a sinful side that would be in danger of showing up whatever main you’ve got on display.

Either way, please, please, PLEASE put those boxes of Kraft Mac & Cheese away. This one takes as much time to assemble as it does to cook your pasta, and is so, so worth it. I mean, c’mon – just look at the picture at the top of this post and tell me that hasn’t got your mouth watering already.

My Favourite Mac & Cheese

20g unsalted butter
20g all-purpose flour
500ml whole milk
200g freshly shredded mozzarella
100g freshly grated parmesan
250g dried macaroni (substitute with the same amount of any other short dried pasta)
salt & pepper
optional: a couple sprigs of thyme or rosemary, leaves picked and roughly chopped
optional: shredded leftover roast chicken, crisped bacon lardons etc

Preheat your grill to 200C. Bring a large pot of generously salted water to the boil.

Melt the butter in a medium-sized, preferably ovenproof, pot or dutch oven over medium heat. Add the flour in, and stir with a wooden spoon, until the pan starts to smell slightly nutty, regulating the heat to ensure that the roux does not brown. Gradually add in the milk, stirring or whisking all the while so you get a smooth, velvety mixture. Once all the milk is added, simmer over low heat to reduce until you have a sauce that coats the back of a wooden spoon.

Add the mozzarella and half the parmesan, a little at a time, then season to taste with salt and plenty of black pepper. If using, stir in the herbs and whatever proteins or vegetables you’d like to include. (I suggest around 1/4-1/2 cup of shredded leftover roast chicken, or 3-4 rashers worth of lardons.) Cover, and keep warm.

Cook the pasta until just al dente, then drain, reserving a little of the cooking water. Fold the pasta into the sauce, taking care not to break the pasta up. If necessary, add a little of the cooking water to loosen the sauce. Sprinkle the remaining 50g of parmesan over the top, and put the entire pot into the oven. (If you don’t have an ovenproof pot, transfer the mixture to an ovenproof dish or casserole before sprinkling the parmesan over.) Cook under the grill for just 5-10 minutes, or until bubbling, the sauce is browned in spots, and the edges are getting kind of crispy.

Yield: Serves 2 as a main dish, or 4 as a side.

I don’t even want to know how many cherry-dish posts have been so titled. But it’s alright, I’m not gonna think about it. Nor am I going to think about how I didn’t even actually make Cherry Pie, but Cherry Clafoutis.

I first became a little obsessed with making a clafoutis over a year ago, when I kept seeing recipes popping up in the food magazines I often flip through, and for some reason none other than one filled with ripe, sweet, nuggets of cherries would do. I’m not even sure why – considering my aversion to cherries (chalked up to one too many sour ones that I’ve over-enthusiastically bit into). Then the season passed, and the idea was pushed to the back of my mind, lost in a tangle of all the other ones filed under “To Make”.

Fast forward to a weekend, early last month, where you’d have find me wandering the aisles of a supermarket, picking out ingredients for an upcoming dinner party. I did a double take as I ambled by the produce section, where there were a few trays of Royal Rainier Cherries stashed between their usual deep red counterparts.

For those of you who’ve hesitated making clafoutis, you really shouldn’t – take it from me. It’s a ridiculously simple process, and if you’ve ever made pancakes from a box, then you’ve got all the necessary skills. Cherry Clafoutis is originally made with unpitted cherries, which imparts a slightly nutty, almost almondy flavour to the pie. I didn’t really like the idea of one of my guests crunching down on a pit and breaking a tooth, though, so I’ve added in that nuttiness by means of amaretto and some ground almonds. As Rainier Cherries are also quite a bit sweeter (and somewhat lacking in tartness) in comparison to the more common Bings, I’ve also added in a little lemon zest to perk it up and reduced the amount of sugar.

Rainier Cherry Clafoutis

500g Rainier Cherries, pitted (substitute with other types, or other fruit if unavailable)
100g ground almonds
100g all-purpose flour
4 large eggs
100g granulated sugar (increase the amount accordingly if using different fruit)
1 tbsp amaretto
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 (375g) cups whole milk
pinch of salt
100g pine nuts (optional)
butter for greasing
icing sugar for dusting

Preheat oven to 175C. Butter a 9 inch pie tin (or another appropriately sized baking dish), and add the cherries in.

Combine the ground almonds and flour in a large bowl, and whisk briefly to combine. In a separate mixing bowl, whisk together the eggs, sugar, amaretto, vanilla extract, milk and salt until thoroughly blended. Gradually pour this into the flour mixture, whisking continuously, until all the liquid has been added and there are no more lumps. Gently pour this into the prepared pan over the fruit, then scatter the pinenuts over the batter, if using.

Bake for 40-50 minutes, or until lightly browned and a toothpick inserted into the centre comes out clean. The clafoutis will still jiggle a little when you shake the pan.

Cool in the pan on a rack, then serve, dusted with icing sugar and a dollop of whipped cream (or vanilla ice cream).

Yield: Serves 6-8

Normal posting (and by that I mean sporadic posting where I try to forget that I’ve been ignoring this blog so I don’t feel so guilty) will resume shortly. After the last post, it took me all the way until two days ago before my MBP was in any shape to use, and I’m pleased to report that (no thanks to CASE – the utterly and wholly ineffectual Authorized Apple Service Provider in HK) she’s finally alive and well, and one of the things I was up last night doing was going through the backlog of photos that need to be slotted into these draft posts that are Ready and Waiting. (So hopefully the posting won’t be quite so sporadic.)

But in the meantime, I hope you like that picture of Toby. :) Two of my closest friends back home made me that shirt (in regular human size) and made this ridiculously cute tiny version, which we didn’t think about stuffing Rufus into until he was too fat. Toby’s just malleable enough to tolerate us, and looked quite fetching in it. Plus, if you ask me, his expression has a rather appropriate amount of blasé, I do think. In case you can’t quite make it out, the teeshirt reads, “There is no charge for AWSUMNESS” – a quote from the movie Kung Fu Panda. And yes, the spelling was intended. :D

I’m really sorry for having let an entire month go by without posting a single thing. (It also feels like every other post I write starts with an apology on how infrequently I’ve been posting!) But I only had about 13 days in August where I was in HK, and I spent about a week of that time fretting over my laptop which decided that harddrive failure was the way to go to keep me on my toes. I’m picking up the laptop tomorrow (finally) and I’ve got 98% of my drive recovered in a new external harddrive right here! But on to the post proper:

Now, I’ve mentioned once before that the bunny isn’t a fan of chocolate. (In fact, she downright dislikes the stuff!) So you can imagine my surprise when one day she requested for Marble Cake, and the quizzical expression I had when I asked, “Doesn’t marble cake have chocolate in it?!” But nope, along with Hot Chocolate, Marble Cake falls into that strange twilight zone of chocolate things that apparently don’t taste of chocolate.

It’s all the better for me anyway, since marble cakes are incredibly easy to make, and the asymmetrical swirls of chocolate batter through an otherwise blond cake generally seem to inspire many an admiring recipient. And I’m pretty sure all 5 of you who read this know what a big fan I am of dishes that look a lot more difficult to make than they actually were! And this one – a recipe taken from one of my favourite baking books, whose recipes never fail to give me a delicious, beautiful and consistent result – is one of those that can be whipped up in a flash, even if you’ve got three screaming kittens making a disaster zone of your house while trying to get your attention, and you’re in the midst of stressing out over a failed harddrive :P

Marble Cake
(From Martha Stewart’s Baking Handbook)

4oz unsalted butter, at room temperature, plus extra for the pan
1 3/4 cups cake flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup sugar
3 large eggs, at room temperature
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
2/3 cup buttermilk, at room temperature
1/4 cup + 1 tbsp Dutch process cocoa powder
1/4 cup boiling water
Milk Glaze (recipe follows)

Preheat the oven to 350F/180C. Generously butter a 9×5″ loaf pan (I used three mini loaf pans); set aside. Whisk together the cake flour, baking powder and salt; set aside.

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter and sugar together on medium-high speed (about 5 minutes). Add the eggs one at a time, beating for a minute after each addition, and scraping the sides of the bowl as necessary. Mix in the vanilla. With the mixer on low speed, add the flour mixture in two batches, alternating with the buttermilk, and beginning and ending with the flour. Divide the batter into two bowls – with two thirds in one bowl and one third in another.

In a bowl, mix together the cocoa and boiling water until smooth. Add the cocoa mixture to the smaller bowl of batter, and stir until well combined.

Spoon the batters into the prepared pan in two layers, alternating spoonfuls of vanilla and chocolate to simulate a checkerboard. To create marbling, run a table knife through the batters in a swirling motion. Be careful not to overswirl the batter, or the marbling won’t be as pretty!

Cake, rotating the pan halfway through, until a cake tester comes out clean, 40-50 minutes. Transfer pan to a rack to cool 10 minutes. Turn out cake from the pan and cool completely on the rack. Pour glaze over cake, letting it drip down the sides. Cake can be kept in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days.

Milk Glaze
(From the same book)

1 cup confectioners’ (icing) sugar, sifted
2 tbsp milk

In a medium bowl, whisk together the sugar and milk until completely smooth. Immediately drizzle glaze over cake.

I spent the past weekend in Hangzhou, capital of the Zhejiang Province in China, visiting a friend who’s working there for a couple of months. Hangzhou is probably best known as home to West Lake – one of the most picturesque places in China, and purportedly one of the few places where the hyperbole of Chinese poets did not overstate its beauty.

Now, as famous as West Lake may be for it’s beauty, it’s a good thing that I wasn’t actually there for the scenery, seeing as I went at probably The Least Picturesque time of the year. It was kind of sad – you could see the potential for how pretty a splash of colour would have made it, whether in the form of springtime flowers, with a general lake-wide hue in autumn, or blanketed in winter.

But the hordes of (domestic) tourists jostling all around the narrow causeways, hurtling through the crowds on rickety bicycles and speeding around on electric golf carts just didn’t help. Even on a very pleasant, breezy, and quiet boatride through the lake, we managed to encounter a slight traffic jam (everyone was stopped to take pictures of the Three Ponds Mirroring The Moon scene).

Still, we ate (Lou Wai Lou definitely deserves its reputation), we walked around the scenic West Lake area, trawled the streets looking a bunch of recommendations that Did Not Exist, but happened across a gem of a find, known as Me Too Cafe. Located on Jin Hua Road, it’s a comfortable, gorgeous loft-space set in a converted warehouse. With free Wifi, fantastic service, pretty decent food (go for the ham & cheese sandwich or salmon salad, but skip the apple and pear tart), and great coffee at affordable prices, it’s the sort of place I’d love to park at with some friends, or my laptop.

But most of all, it was beyond incredible to have an entire weekend with you: laughing at ourselves, feeling old, smoking way too much, spotting imaginary squirrels, eating ourselves silly (and being so amazed when we managed to show the barest sliver of restraint!), and simply being able to reach out and touch you.

Now, if only I just didn’t have to miss you quite this much when we’re apart.

Where, apparently, your right hind leg should reach for the sky when you’re attacking a lens cap. In other words, HELLO OUR TWO NEW BABY KITTENSES! Tobias is the rather obscene one, and Seth his slightly scrawnier brother. (Their self-appointed godmother decided on the names, for those who are curious as to the outcome of my straw poll.)

Oh, and no, Mr Jealous & Possessive (aka Rufus) is not handling the newcomers’ arrival particularly well. But not too badly either, I’m sure he’ll get over it in a couple of days. (Also, he’s still the only one allowed in our bed/to shove our heads off our pillows with his rather generously sized rear end, so that should count for something?)

Stay tuned for more pictures. Oh, and I’ll be moving house soon – exciting times ahoy!