Mac 'N' Cheese

Date: 26th January 2013 (Saturday)

The 16th recipe in 2013. It's from "The Little Paris Kitchen" by Rachel Khoo. I followed the recipe pretty closely but have made a few changes: (1) I didn't sift away the garlic & onion from the bechamel sauce. I feel a bad to chuck away edible good sauce of fibre/nutrients. Hence the finely chopped garlic & onion were poured onto the pasta together with the sauce. (2) I reduced the amount of gruyere cheese from the recommended 200g to 165g (already up from my original plan of using 120g only). 

confit de canard (duck confit)

The 15th recipe I attempted in 2013 -- maybe not. I prepared it 5 weeks in on 20th December. Was supposed to be our Christmas or New Year's Eve dinner. But then everyone fell sick in turns and duck confit isn't exactly the healthier meal choice for patient I guess?

The duck confit recipe is "Confit de Canard" from "Ballymaloe Cookery Course" by Darina Allen. To those who doesn't know her yet, Darina Allen is said to be the Julia Child in Ireland. Her Ballymaloe Cookery School in Ireland is one of the top culinary institute in Europe. You may wonder if she's related to Rachel Allen, the Irish chef who has published a few popular cookbooks and had her own cooking series on BBC. Yes. Indeed they are related. Rachel Allen is Darina Allen's daughter-in-law and herself was a graduate from Ballymaloe Cookery School as well. I followed the recipe pretty closely except I preserved 6 instead of 4 duck legs.

bacon-wrapped salmon

The 12th recipe I attempted in 2013, and the 6th Nigel Slater's.

This recipe appeared as "Bacon-wrapped Salmon" in "The Kitchen Diaries 2" by Nigel Slater. You can also find it on The Guardian website (link here). I followed the recipe almost to word except (1) I made it for 3 instead of 2, (2) I put the thyme in before wrapping the bacon, instead of tucking it in after, (3) I doubled the bacon.

easy chicken curry

The 11th recipe in 2013 and the 5th Nigel Slater's one.

Adapted from Nigel Slater's Chicken Curry with a few modifications. The recipe was originally appeared on The Observer in 2011 (click here to see the full recipe on The Guardian website) and later published in Nigel Slater's Real Fast Food.