Wednesday, March 26, 2008

CoCo's Cheesey Butter Prawns

What do you do when you have 4 pieces of prawns left? You make a nice little side dish to go with your meal! To save on washing another dish, I made a little tray with aluminium foil and placed the freshly shelled prawns in.

Sprinkle a little salt, sugar, pepper and paprika
Add a few little knobs of butter
Cover the prawns with shredded mozeralla cheese

Pop them into a pre-heated oven of 200 degrees for 10mins, or when the cheese has turned into a nice shade of golden brown.

Super delicious cheesey butter prawns ready to be devoured! Serve them while they are hot!

CoCo's Hawaiian Pizza

Sometimes Cobby and I just get so sick of rice or noodles, so we would opt for something different, like a nice slice of pizza. Well you can easily order one, but if you are in the mood to preparing something special for yourself and your darling, you can always make your own pizza! So this is the recipe for a simple Hawaiian pizza, with a seafood twist.



Ingredients:
Frozen Pizza Crust – I like Sunshine Pizza crust. There are 2 in a pack. Just nice!
1 packet of grated Mozzarella cheese
1 can of tomato paste (remember – its paste, not sauce)
Oregano (Optional - this is the herb that gives you that nice pizza fragrance!)
1 canned pineapple – diced (if its too thick, cut it smaller)
A few slices of ham – shredded
Fresh prawns (shelled, cleaned and diced) – optional, but it goes well with the pizza!
Salt

Step 1:
Pre-heat oven 200 degrees for about 10mins

Step 2: - Assembly~!
• Spread a thin layer of tomato paste on your frozen pizza crust
• Sprinkle a little Oregano
• Sprinkle some salt
• Put one layer of cheese
• Spread your pineapple all over
• Spread ham all over
• Spread prawns all over
• Spread a thick layer of cheese over everything
TIP: Pile up the cheese a little more in the middle. As it melts, it would flow down over the pizza.
• Drizzle some oil over the pizzas

Step 3:
Pop into the oven and bake about 15-20mins or until the side of the crust n cheese turns slightly golden brown.

Step 4:
Cut into slices and serve with cold beer while its still hot!! YUM!!!

CoCo's Roast Beef

I have never tried to make roast beef before even though I am a big fan of beef. It just looks so difficult! But on Good Friday I was suddenly inspired. So I dug out some of my cook books and surfed the web for some recipes. Turns out that roast beef is actually quite easy to make! So if you want to have a hearty meal but hate to spend hours in the kitchen, try this out.



Ingredients:
A nice piece of beef
•You can find this at most Cold Storage supermarket. The meat is already pre-bundled up in strings so you can save on buying the string and tying yourself.
•With a roast, like a butterflied leg of lamb or filet of beef, it is important to secure it with string before cooking. This makes a compact shape that cooks more evenly.
•I bought a piece that was about 500g. This is just nice for two hungry people.

Salt and crushed black pepper

Oil

That’s all! Easy right?!

Of course, you should always have a balanced meal, so you can grab some vegetables of your choice while at the supermarket. I like potatoes, so I got some spring potatoes (aka baby potatoes) and asparagus.

Step 1:
Leave the meat in room temperature 30mins before cooking. This allows the meat to have a more even temperature, thus cooking more evenly. While your meat is resting, scrub your potatoes till its nice and clean. The skin of the potatoes is a rich source of vitamins and fiber. So I scrubbed them nice and clean because I would be roasting them whole later.

Step 2:
Pre-heat your oven at 180 degrees for 10mins. Boil you potatoes to remove any excess soil and also soften them a little.

Step 3:
Ready to cook?
Sprinkle a generous amount of salt and pepper onto the baking tray and roll your meat onto it. Drain your potatoes and put them into the tray with the meat.
Drizzle oil over your meat and potatoes
For extra flavour – add a few knobs of butter into the tray before popping the tray into the oven. Roast for about 35mins.

Step 4:
While waiting, you can fry up some vegetables. No time is wasted!

Step 5:
When the meat is done, take it out and wrap the whole meat in an aluminum foil. While roasting, it releases a lot of meat juice, so wrapping it up gives it opportunity to absorb the juices back, making it oh so juicy and tender. *drool~*

Step 6:
Once again, while waiting for your meat to relax, you can dish out your potatoes and make the gravy. By now, the roasting tray would have bits of meat, some dried up meat juice, butter, salt and pepper inside. You just have to put the tray over the stove top, add some soup stock (or water) and start scrapping away.

Hey, not only will this make great gravy, it makes the tray much easier to clean too!

To thicken the sauce, mix a little corn starch with water and add little by little till you achieve the desired thickness. Always taste your food! If it’s too bland, add some salt and pepper.

Step 7:
Remove the meat from the foil and slice it to serve. Remember to remove the strings!
The foil would have collected some yummy meat juice, so just add them into the prepared sauce for some extra flavour!

Step 8:
Serve...

***Applause***

Sunday, March 16, 2008

Ministry of Food - My Izakaya

The first time we were at this restaurant, I didn't take any photos or blog down my experience as I want to know if they were worth mentioning in the first place. So the fact that you are reading this could only mean that they have managed to impress Miss CoCo's palette.

Located at the 2nd level of Parco Bugis Junction, I recommend MOF to those who would like to have reasonably priced Japanese meal and a nice place to just hang out after the meal. Yah the name is a little cheesey (Ministry of Food??!!) but they are ok. Haha... at first impression, I love the deco and ambience of the restaurant.



During the day, it is bright and airy.



In the evening, the lights are soft and cosy. So whether you are dining with friends or having a romantic meal with your loved one, MOF provides the right ambience.

Careful though, they keep the menu under the table so be careful not to hit your legs trying to sit cross-legged.

The menu is Japanese of course, but I like it that the menu not only have the typical Japanese dishes you see in a thousand eateries. They’re combinations are more creative without crossing the line of being weird. Yesterday I ordered a seafood toji with tempura set, while Cobby ordered a yakiniku bento with a salmon salad.

My seafood tori is like a little hot pot with squid, prawns, scallop with eggs, mushroom and onions bubbling in sweet and savoury soup stock. Coupled with a serving of tempura prawns and vegetables and a bowl of hot steaming rice, it was a hearty meal to fill an empty stomach.



Cobby’s salmon salad was pretty good, their self made sauce goes very well with the vegetables and fresh salmon. Unfortunately the serving was a little small. But I guess it should be just nice as an appetiser.



My first impression of the yakiniku was mouth watering. But it turned out to be a little too sweet.



But all is well because the REAL reason for my return to the restaurant is their famous Japanese desserts. If you were there, you MUST order their specialty, red bean Imo.





Japanese sweet potato, served together with Hokkaido red bean and Hokkaido Soft-serve ice cream. The combination is perfect! What a great way to end a meal. Even if you weren’t a fan of Japanese food, MOF would be a great place to rest your weary feet after shopping around. So go check it out sometime!

Ministry of Food
My Izakaya

200 Victoria Street
#02-45, Bugis Junction
Singapore 039594

www.ministryoffood.com.sg
Tel: 6338 6466
Fax: 6337 2958
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