Tonight I am having suet kap for dinner. It has been such a long time and this is definitely nostalgic for me. Growing up I am excited every time I see the double boiler being used. I knew whatever in it would be good and I always get given a couple of spoonful. In them days the suet kap is quite dirty and we have to pick out the dirty dark bits same as birds nests. I did not realised that they are so cleaned nowadays. I am so happy to renew my relationship with this again.

However now I know suet kap, snow frog jelly is made from the extract of dried fatty tissue found near the fallopian tubes of the Asiatic frogs species, which live in the forest of Jiang Baishan mountainous region in Northeast China. Known originally as ” Hashima ” a Korean name, it is now widely known in English as Snow Jelly. However when I was growing up I only know the Cantonese name and that is ‘suet kap’

Suet kap is also cholesterol-free! Hurray! When I was young I was told that the benefits of consuming Snow Frog Jelly is to strengthen the internal organs especially our lungs and such it is said to be good for children who are prone to coughing. Consuming this is also known for a healthier skin complexion because it contains a lot of collagen. Chinese traditional medicine practitioners also recommend it for ailments such as respiratory issues, nourish the lung & kidney. (I am recovering from Covid19)

To read more about the benefits of what snow frog jelly please click on this link

It had been a long time since I made Pea & Ham soup so I was very happy to see some freshly roasted ham hogs for sale from the supermarket. I quickly grabbed 2 last week but I was not able to make use of them until today. There were just too much food in the house curtesy of daughter from work.

The daughter has been bringing home, sandwiches, breads, jackets potatoes and beef slices. So I have not the need to do much cooking this week. On top of it I have an eye stye that annoys me a lot. I have never had it in my life for half a century and I have to experience one now. I have planned to go to the garden centre this coming weekend but now not sure. I am still vain enough not to want to be seen with a swollen eyelid.

We did have a lot of fun and laugh, me wearing a hot eye-patch compressor and singing ‘Like a Virgin’ and explaining to hubby all the old wives’ tales of pantang-larang (superstitions) aka, tying red string on middle finger, using 7 husks to poke the eye stye and chuck them behind you etc. If you heard of any more please do not hesitate to comment. kekekekeke

Surprisingly when I told my MIL she told me the English people have superstitious in this area too!!! It’s to rub your eye stye with a gold ring! She mentioned this morning there was a ‘gold ointment’ too in the old days! Amazing!

Anyway back to this soup. When I was making it I shed a few tears (not into the soup) mind you but this soup reminded me of my FIL. I really missed him but I knew he would be so proud of me. He would laugh at my plating but he would be beaming with pride. He had taught me well.

This soup also reminded me of the time when I bought a new stick blender for him and when we were rinsing and washing it my mother-in-law suddenly shouted at him “It’s electric” She was having a blonde moment and thought of the old adage ‘never mix electric with water’ However in this case we all looked at her and laugh till tears in our eyes.

Happy memories. Treasured memories.

p/s 1 – When frying the onions, garlic and potatoes make sure they do not colour or else your soup will look meh with brown or black bits.

p/s 2 – Turn the heat off as soon as it’s boiling after you add peas. Boil any longer and you will not have a beautiful green colour.

Besil pesto sauce was first introduced to me by my late father-in-law. Tears welled up my eyes as I type this. It’s been a year since we lost him but it still hurts. I missed his daily phone call to ask me ‘What’s for lunch, Julie?’ He might not be here but his teaching/recipes lives on. Therefore I also have no time for people who are selfish enough not to share recipe. Utmost annoying are those who lies and boast that they do not measure and those those who tell you to search the internet. Benci! Experiences and TIPs are the yardsticks I measure how kind, helpful and generous a person is.

My father-in-law might not eat all of my food but he loved asking me what’s I am serving his son. Often he is shocked at the palate his son has cultivated.

Anyway basil pesto sauce is another of them recipe lost in my old blog. As of today it is not lost anymore. This blog is now triple saved.

Basil pesto sauce or any sort of pesto sauce is so easy to make. I promised you that once you have made your own you will never ever eat shop bought one.

Pesto, or to refer to the original dish pesto alla genovese, is a sauce originating in Genoa, the capital city of Liguria, Italy. It traditionally consists of crushed garlic, European pine nuts, coarse salt, basil leaves, and hard cheese such as Parmigiano-Reggiano and it is with these original ingredients that I was taught to make from. The only different from my father-in-law’s is I add a lot more garlic and I also use a more generous amount of freshly ground Sarawak’s pepper.

Of course we can make pesto with any other herbs but for me, my favourite is still basil. It is so versatile a sauce and today I dribble it liberally with Haddock en papillote and both hubby and I enjoyed our lunch very much. As it is so easy to make, I hope with this lock down you will try.

TIP – You can ‘wash’ your basil by watering them the day before using and let them dry thoroughly.

TIP – Olive oil must cover the top of your jar if you intend to keep for awhile.

TIP – Always toast your own pine nuts.

TIP – Use the hard bits of your parmesan so as no waste.

SousVide rack of lamb, puree and cube butternut squash, broccoli spears, sundries tomatoes, crispy bacon,  all served with a mustard white wine sauce. 

I love using the SousVide and my favourite is rack of lamb followed very closely by the Ribeye of beef. Today’s SousVide rack of lamb is served with a mustard white wine sauce.  There is a very low carbohydrates count on the menu in the butternut squash. Otherwise it is carbohydrates free. Yeah!

DECEMBER 1, 2017 BY ADMIN

Chicken breast stuffed with spinach, blue cheese and wrapped with thin bacon. Served with a blue cheese sauce and asparagus sides.

This cheese sauce recipe is just extremely easy. You can make it as a dip for chicken wings and even prawns.

This white wine creamy mustard sauce was first introduced to me by my FIL. Since then I have made it at least twice a year. The family loves it.

It is not hard to make and the ingredients are simple.

Please refer to the pics for the steps too. Enjoy.

White Wine Chicken/Turkey Gravy. One the most important thing that ties a dish together is the sauce, gravy or jus. In my home there is never enough gravy.  Everyone fights for it barred me. If I turn my back my husband might drink it! 

When I am not lazy I will take the time to make a nice gravy. If I am lazy then I just use the fats from the roast protein, mix with flour and then chicken stock. That is the easiest gravy. When I am extremely hardworking I will make a fresh chicken stock by browning chopped chicken wings with onions and boiling them in water to make a nice stock. 

However if I have the time I will make a white wine gravy. Today daughter is not working and she requested for this as there’s half a bottle of white wine left so white wine gravy it is for today roast turkey lunch.

You just cannot have a roast dinner without gravy. Mixing cornflour with chicken cube and water is NOT gravy.

This creamy leeks vegetable side dish is a good accompaniment to any dishes and for cheese lovers you can of course add in more cheese. It goes very well with simple pan seared salmon, gammon ham, anything really.

I know I moan about the British and their forever boiled vegetables but this is one of them boiled vegetables that is nice to eat. The purist will tell you that there is nothing more deeply comforting than a dish of boiled vegetables covered in a savoury white sauce. My family is very partial to this creamy leeks dish.

Please feel free to add crispy bacon on top.

Creamy Full Fat Mushroom Soup. Not with chicken stock and not with crème fraîche. My Creamy Full Fat Mushroom Soup is made from double cream and full fat milk. I make this maybe twice a year and when I do I like to make it full fat. No diet stuff and the family always laughingly fight for leftovers booking it for dinner. 

Just a bowl of soup and some garlic baguette is more than enough for a meal.  It is a simple recipe and very easy to make. Once you have tasted home made the tin stuff just do not cut the mustard anymore. Once you tried home made you will also be able to tell the difference between home made of out of a tin when you order at a restaurant.

Today I made it extra special by adding some truffle and truffle oil.

JULY 10, 2018 BY ADMIN