Foodie Friday — New England Clam Chowder
The scene: California, 1983. Scrawny Singaporean Chinese child on a package tour of the USA with her parents. Tries a bowl of New England Clam Chowder and falls in love with soup forever. Saltine crackers add just that little extra bit to perfection. Child orders New England Clam Chowder at every opportunity. 20+ years later, I still choose the soup any time I see it on a menu.
That’s the story of my love affair with New England Clam Chowder, basically. I have tended to favour Campbell’s condensed version for home microwaving, and even for canned it’s pretty good. I like the clams, but LOVE the potatoes.
It’s pretty much impossible that I will ever use this recipe (unless I can persuade Neil’s mum to give it a go), so I shall just salivate from afar.
Foodie Friday - Roasted Cauliflower Popcorn
When I was a child, I only really liked two vegetables — mushrooms (my favourite) and broccoli. The broccoli I ate was lightly stir-fried with some oil and (I think) light soy sauce (maybe a touch of oyster sauce as well). Biting down on ‘the trees’ was seriously tasty. So I ate cauliflower too (it looked close enough to broccoli).
These days, I like quite a range of vegetables, although I draw the line at bittergourd (blech). I love popcorn as well, so when there is a recipe for cauliflower cleverly disguised as popcorn, I pay attention. Cauliflower, garlic, breadcrumbs, a tiny bit of salt, and a touch of fresh chilli pepper baked till brown sounds absolutely mouthwatering.
This would be a great snack for a movie session! It’s just preparation, and I hate the preparation part of making food edible.
Foodie Friday — Stuffed Tomatoes
How good does this look? I even think the addition of jalapeños would be fantastic, giving a bit of bite to the tang of the olives and lemon juice. And I’m a big fan of tomatoes. In my continued search for great ‘no cook’ recipes, this is definitely coming in at number two (after the salsa recipe I posted a few weeks ago). In fact, it’s pretty much salsa in a tomato, isn’t it?
Not that I’ve even come close to making a meal since I got here. Maybe one day, if Neil’s family is having a big meal I’ll do this as an appetiser. I remember the last time I made an appetiser; it was nachos and a disaster. Too much, too cheesy, too greasy.
Foodie Friday — Potato Pancakes
I love potatoes. Mashed, fried, boiled, roasted, thinly sliced and fried into crisps… this very lousy GI starch is pretty much my favourite carbohydrate of them all. And these crispy potato pancakes look absolutely heavenly.
Aside: on Saturday Kitchen, a ‘celebrity’ tells us their food ‘heaven’ and ‘hell’, and we’re supposed to phone in and vote for one, and James Martin will cook the viewer’s choice. I reckon if I ever became ‘worthy’ of the term ‘celebrity’ and appeared on the show, no one would cook my food hell (usually durian), because no one could stand to be in the same room as that bloody fruit.
I highly doubt I’d be able to follow the instructions on this recipe, but I’ll have you know that I made up my own that is kinda-sorta similar back in 2003, when I first moved to Xiamen and had absolutely bugger all to do. Here it is:
2 small to medium potatoes, thinly sliced or shredded (I used the slicey thing on the shredder)
1 rasher bacon, sliced into small pieces
1 or 2 tbsp Italian dressing
Heat a frying pan. Start frying the bacon pieces, then add the potato and mix the bacon around in it, making sure it’s evenly distributed. Add the Italian dressing and mix it in. Check on it and mix it around until the potato is cooked — slightly crisp is best.
Done!
I’ve never made it for anyone else, but I ate it and didn’t get sick, so it can’t be too bad.
Foodie Friday — Steak
Mmmmm… cow. I know it’s not very PC to be all carnivorous, but I adore steak. My favourite is a nice, rare piece of beef. My top beef steak restaurant in Singapore is the decidedly unglamorous Shaslik, and prime rib is best had at Stuart Anderson’s Black Angus with their lunch deal ($17.90 for three courses). So here is a recipe for marinated flank steak, and I hope that I get to eat a good steak soon.
At the moment, there isn’t a lot of beef being consumed, it’s just not in the lifestyle I have been absorbed into. I know that’s better for me, but I miss steak. I get mince and roasts once every fortnight or so, but it’s not the same!
Cow. Mmmmmmmm.
Foodie Friday — Fresh Tomato Salsa
How magnificent is fresh salsa? I love the flavour of lime and cilantro (and I never used to like cilantro) and the bite the jalapeño peppers give. Er, and the tomatoes.
“Salsa Fresca” or “Pico de Gallo” is easy to make, especially because it requires no cooking. Just be careful when handling the chilies.
Maybe if I ever feel the urge to prepare an appetiser (baby steps, let’s start with ‘no cook’ before I get to ‘cook’), I’ll do fresh salsa and corn chips. Right now I’ll settle for Doritos ‘hot’ salsa.
Roasted cheese
Not exactly a recipe, but a great cheap and cheerful brekkie / brunch. Especially since I don’t cook — this is for my mother, who assumes that I may actually start cooking just because I’ve moved. Ha!
Ingredients:
Sliced bread, preferably a bit thicker than your normal Gardenia sandwich stuff, what you see here is Scottish Plain
Cheese, not the pre-sliced stuff, and the stronger the better
Cracked pepper to taste
Method:
Turn on your grill.
Slice cheese thinly, arrange it on your bread so it’s pretty even.
Once the grill is hot enough, stick the bread on it.
After the cheese has melted sufficiently, take it out, sprinkle pepper on it.
You may want to cut it in half so it’s easier to handle.
Eat.
Neil calls it roasted cheese, I called it an open-faced grilled cheese sandwich. Sounds posher.