corn muffins

(Date: 5 Feb 2012)
The 24th recipe in 2013. It's also the second recipe I used from Bouchon Bakery by Thomas Keller. Again, it's a muffin recipe with the batter sitting overnight in order to hydrate the flour. I didn't control the temperature well -- my oven seems to be getting dodgier with more unstable temperature these days. Could be a sign of ageing? But the resulting muffins are still very moist and soft.

The original recipe is "Corn Muffins" from Bouchon Bakery by Thomas Keller. Basically I've followed the recipe quite closely except the following minor changes: (1) I only used two-thirds of the recipe and have made smaller muffin tin, (2) I've reduced the sugar amount from 90g to 75g, (3) Sea salt & sunflower oil had been used instead of kosher salt and canola oil, (4) I prepared the batter without using a hand mixer to prevent over-mixing.

cauliflower soup with roasted hazelnuts

(Date: 3 Feb 2012)

The 23nd recipe in 2013, the 10th recipe from Nigel Slater's. If you asked me again if I am trying to cook through the whole The Kitchen Diaries 2, my answer would still be no, that's not my intention to cook through any book or follow any celebrity chef. But at the moment I'd love to follow Nigel Slater's footsteps in exploring the world of (relatively) simple homey dishes with seasonal ingredients and local produce. Hopefully I'll become a more confident home cook and know more about cooking through using his recipes.

The recipe is from Nigel Slater's The Kitchen Diaries 2. 

fish with lemon & brown butter sauce

(Date: 3 February 2013)

The 22th recipe in 2013. And the 3rd from Rachel Khoo's Little Paris Kitchen, followed by Pistou soupe and MacNcheese. I made her creme brulee during Xmas too but that was in 2012 so it didn't count. 

The original recipe is "Poisson meunière (fish with lemon & brown butter sauce)" from Rachel Khoo's Little Paris Kitchen. I closely followed the recipe except the fact that I couldn't find any lemon sole (apparently Waitrose only carries it's posher cousin Dover sole). Hence I got some cod fillet instead.

Chinese new year pudding

(Date 2 Feb 2013)

The 21st recipe in 2013! This recipe of Chinese new year pudding, a.k.a. Nin Go (年糕)  is from a fellow blogger Sally Ho, which can be found here (link). 

spaghetti bolognese

(Date: 29 January 2013)

The 19th recipe in 2013, the 9th from Nigel Slater's. Original recipe is "A really good spaghetti bolognese" from Nigel Slater's The Kitchen Diaries. I think the title somehow has unnecessarily raised my expectation. While I think it's good -- indeed very good, I am a bit reluctant to say it's really really good.

Chinese greens with oyster & ginger

(Date: 27 January 2013)

The 18th recipe in 2013, and the 8th Nigel Slater's one. "Chinese greens with Oyster & Ginger" from Nigel Slater's The Kitchen Diaries. Ok. I know it sounds weird for me, a native Chinese from Hong Kong, to use an Englishman's recipe to make Chinese greens in oyster sauce. But as part of my journey following Nigel Slater's footsteps in understanding more about food & cooking, why not? (I boiled the Choi Sum in a different way than suggested by Nigel Slater though...)

Instead of steamed rice, I serve it with plum-flavoured Japanese buckwheat soba noodle. The only reason to do so was the fact that the soba was expiring in March. The aesthetically appealing pink & green combo was a bit beyond my expectation.

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).