This is me “playing the kitchen goddess” Part II, stemmed from my Part I, where Wine Actually sponsored me a bottle of wine. Read about that one HERE . 😉
We had a very creative “Grape Tofu” as amuse bouche, Pan fried Pork Tenderloin & Pumpkin Risotto, all somewhat infused with the red wine by Wine Actually as part of the theme.
For Part II, we prepared a full 5 course meal & the occasion was also a goodbye lunch for 2 culinary friends of mine; Brendan, who is currently interning at Resorts World Sentosa Singapore, and Rainier; who has left Cilantro @Micasa and is now attached with Jann Restaurant, Singapore, one of the respected fine dining establishments in the Lion City.
Another culinary enthusiast, Edwin is currently a final year student in Taylors University Sunway.
The cooking connoisseurs:
So you can imagine the chaos as the cooking session progressed! A lot of goofing around yes, but food did eventually got served! 😉
The main cook, Kevin concentrates hard enough to make sure all of us got fed.
We started out with fresh carbs & homemade aioli, which was superbly luxurious; even for a homemade version. I have included the recipe below! Do try this at home! :good:
One can’t go wrong with bacon…
Amuse bouche: A play of the classic breakfast: pancake, bacon & eggs.
Greens were next, as specially requested by moi. I just find a meal without greens unacceptable, don’t you?
Anyhow, I told him to make it simple, as greens were not his specialty. Still, the lightly vinagrette & balsamic tossed salad fared better than most restaurant’s.
Pea and Bacon Soup was served shortly after. I love green peas soup but this one needed much improvement! We boiled the peas til it was soft enough, but the blender we used wasn’t sufficient to give us the texture we wanted. The soup was coarse from the skin of the peas. Urghh! Not pleasant at all. :wacko:
Kevin wanted to try the whole ‘foam” sauce thing. Of which I wasn’t too keen at first.
We did a play on the spaghetti alfredo; and tried foaming up the cream sauce to give it a lighter texture. But nope, it didn’t work that well! The sauce was almost tasteless!
Thankfully, the fish was good. It’s hard to screw up cooking dory anyways, unless you really can’t cook! 😉
Lightly season the dory fillets and you’re good to go. …
We blanched the greens & stir-fry them with some butter…
And here we have it – Dory with Homemade Aioli. Pardon the presentation, but due to the many courses we are having, we had to keep each dish in managable portions!
We can’t do without a pork dish and this was almost the same as the previous Table For Four – Herb Crusted Pork Loin; served with couscous.
Tender juicy pork fillets with a satisfying sides of carbs. Yums!
Wash it all down with red wine.
So that wraps up another wonderful gathering with close friends & it was certainly fun playing cook! The next session will be on Chinese cuisine as I hope to put my Bintulu belacan to good use. Then I’m looking forward to some baking session with Eigen soon!
And as promised, the Recipe for aioli as below:
This is a simple & a good option if you are looking for an alternative spread to good ‘ole butter.
You’ll need: Garlic (peeled), egg yolk, olive oil (I used both olive and canola oil), lemon juice, pepper.
Steps:
1. Crush the garlic, followed by dragging the side of the knife over it. Add a pinch of salt, and repeat until garlic becomes paste.
2. Whisk the egg yolk together with the garlic, adding in the oil (pouring from a squeeze bottle helps to regulate the amount to a manageable stream)
3. Once the mixture emulsifies, add in some lemon juice and a bit of pepper (optional), and whisk in more oil.
Takes about 1 cup of oil for that small bowl below.
So readers, any interesting suggestions on what we should whip up for the next Table for Four??
becky where did you guys the prepacked fish from ya ?
June, it’s from Giant!
i would think aioli would be a much better pairing with chips! havent tried it with bread though.
if theres one thing i cant do with home cooking dinners, it is the plating, just too lazy to put it in place and chow it down in seconds.
Aioli is good w anythin? ;p
Well, we had both the balsamic vinaigrette & aioli for the bread. Just as starters 😉
And instead of tartar, we sub with the aioli for the fish.
Haha.. they had no choice but do the plating! cos I wanted to take pics fr my blog!
Suggestion: WHIP UP FOOD FOR ME! 😀
*shameless*
Can babe!
The next one is a baking session with a very good baker. We are whipping up pavlova, apple crumble & apple sorbet!
I went gaga over the pic until the fish. oops…. the pork loin… ermmm char. wonder how it taste? Smoked bacon should bring some saltiness to the course.
Reminded me of the weekend spent at Le Cordon Bleu some 10 + years ago…. haha… I think the next thing I’ll do is to go to Germany and get some sausages and bacon back.
Aiyo no need go Germany, Here got some good butchery & delis.
Pork loin was fine, just the outside.
fish was a simple dish. I didnt expect much from Dory.
So you cook as well?? hmmm…
Awesome chef!
He is! Wait til you see our next project! Eigen is baking up a storm! 😉
jaan! that’s one of the restaurants that i wouldn’t mind visiting in singapore someday! 😀
heheh, you all make cooking look fun!
it was fun in the right company.. well we knw how the right company makes things better no?
Jaan, hahah.. i can get discounts !! :yahoo:
Bread and aloli reminds me of Lafite! 🙂
Smart gal!
That’s where the idea came from! Both of us were at Lafite for MIGF!
https://www.rebeccasaw.com/migf-2010-lafite-shangri-la-hotel-kuala-lumpur-review/
“It’s hard to screw up cooking dory anyways, unless you really can’t cook!”
hahahaha i should go buy dory and see what happens. it will surely prove to my mother that i shouldnt be in the kitchen at any cost at all lolol.
LOL! mayb you got to join us for my Table For Four then!
hohoho im missing kevin’s part 3 umami risotto
**random** ;p
Where’s my pics!!! ;p
This was so long time ago.. I wanna cook for the next one too! But won’t be back in time I guess..
This reminds me to go visit rainier at Jaan.. Come to SG dear.. Let’s go Jaan!
Anyway.. Hopefully RT44 will manage to intro new culinary ideas! Take care culinaires..
YES!! Jaan in Mar can??
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I am hungry now 🙁
hhaahha!! that’s the whole point of the post & Rebecca’s Table Fr four!
My toughest critic as usual… but spot on most of the time…
Well, not the best work of mine to date, but it’s always a thrill to push the boundaries of what can be achieved from my small and humble kitchen…
Don’t worry! More sessions to come & you’re improving really well! I can’t wait fr your Chinese session!
very nice bloog but must varietif
Thks!
Grr! Makes me hungry…can i join the table? hehe^.^
Hahah.. of course! Soon fr the next installment ya!
thx in adv! buzz me!! =]
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