Veal Ragu with Polenta

Have I told you that Sunday is my most productive day? Yes? Well, I'm saying it again. I'm most hyper during the weekend. Particularly Sunday.

So when I saw a good beef and polenta, I know I gotta do this. Only to realize that my bife lombo is not beef, since it has a prefix of novilho. It's veal. That's my portuguese, I tell ya. Not surprising that the meat costs $12 usd for 300 gr!!

Recipe is taken from The Parsley Thief but halfway through, I realize I need to put the pan inside oven for 3 hours. Wot?!? (I hardly read recipes properly you see and this is my downfall). So here's my "version" instead, using the gems I found at Pretoria's supermarket (I LOVE PRETORIA!!)

My mise-en-place (for 2 pax)
* 300 gr Veal loin (or whatever meat/cut you fancy)
* 1 small onion, 3 small carrots diced, set aside
* 3 medium cloves of garlic, minced, set aside
* 2 anchovies, 1 tsp paprika paste, 1/2 tomatoes, mix and pound with your pestle & mortar
* 2 sun dried tomatoes, chopped finely. Add into the anchovies mixture
* 10 button mushroom, sliced and set aside
* 1 cup red wine, 1/2 tbsp dijon moutard, 1 bay leaf, 1 tbsp rosemary, 1/2 tsp thyme, 1/2 tsp oregano, 1 medium tomato diced, all mix in a medium bowl
* 1 cup chicken stock
* 2 tbsp olive oil

How to:
* Using your pressure cooker pot (uncovered), heat the oil and brown the veal on all sides (2 mins each sides, or more). Once it's brown, remove and add the carrot & onion mixture. Halfway through, add the minced garlic.
* After 2 mins, add the anchovies mixture. Mix well.
* Add back the veal, and add the red wine mixture & the chicken stock. Depending on your pot surface, you may need to add more. Add water if you're worried about the sodium.
* Cover the pot and cook for about 45 mins to 1 hr till the water almost dried up (left about 1 cup of coffee). Check every 15-20 mins, stir and taste. It took me 45 mins.
* Once the water has almost dried up, turn off the stove. Remove the meat & set aside.
* Using your food processor, remove the bay leaf and mashed the remaining pot contents to your desired smoothness. I prefer not too smooth.
* Once the meat is cool to handle, tear using your hand. But while waiting, prepare your polenta as per instruction.

And you're ready for a great lunch! :)

Garnish (or eat) with cilantro. I mean, loads of cilantro. I like :)

n.b. I bet it'd taste better with celery, but I didn't find it in supermarket.

The Cheating Crepe

Every french maman (and au pair) knows how to make the perfect crepe. I have never seen a french kid not growing up with crepe. Neither have I ever attended a french-organized party sans crepe.

After some observation, I agree that crepe is the standard absolu-must for every growing kids. It keeps the kids quiet and the mum sane. At least, until the sugar rush hits and the kids run screaming all over again. But there is an honest truth as M confessed to me, they will be tired and sleep on the way home.

However, there is no one standard crepe recipe out there. Same like the american pancake, you just make one that tastes good to you.

My mother in law uses beer in her batter.

Me? I cheat.

It's quite pricey, about 6 usd per box, but hell, it was super easy and fail-proof. And I can concentrate on making it as thin as I could possibly be without breaking it, when air-flipping. Tall order, I tell y'all.

Result? One happy big-manboy :)

Whoops, I'd better catch H before he finishes the entire lot. We need it for dessert, with some banana and vanilla ice cream ;)

Have a good sunday, guys! 

Nectarine Galette with Honey and Thyme

France won against England this morning, after the much embarrassing lost to Tonga, so we were in a celebratory mood (or H was) and since he's going away for next few days, we went on a shopping frenzy and bought almost everything I fancy. 

Ice cream? Check

Nectarines? Check

Crepe mix? Check

Pizza cutter? Check

...

check check check...

I had an extra galette dough in my freezer that I made for R's farewell dinner the other day and I figured today is a good day to do a nectarine galette infused with thyme & honey. 

Inspiration came from here.

If you ask me what my favorite herb is, I won't know how to answer. 

Thyme has a special place in my heart. Finger chicken strip with thyme, thyme tea, lemon thyme bread, ratatouille with thyme, thyme thyme thyme. I can sing praise of it. 

But on the other hand, I am absolutely gobsmacked by cumin seeds. 

every. single. time. 

For the love of curry, briyani, haleem, roast potatoes/cauliflowers/carrots and all things middle eastern, how can you not love it? I even added cumin seeds into my ratatouille. H never complains either ;)

Anyway, it's been a good day. Fruitful shopping and both of us are feeling a lot better. The 10-hour sleep every night must have helped a lot. 

Bon weekend a tous!


n.b. pardon for the poor photo, we really have poor lighting :(

Almond Pesto Genovese

Buona sera, amici. 

I saw some lovely basil leaves (manjericão) at the supermarket this morning and I bought two whole bunch of it :) 

... and made a big pot of pesto sauce ala genovese.

Original recipe is from here.
But here's my mix & match version after watching many food network episodes: 

* 3 cups of basil leaves. washed & blanched for 10 sec.

* 3 cloves of garlic

* 1 cup of fresh almonds, toasted if you prefer

* 1/3 cup of grana padano/ pecorino/ parmigianno

* salt & pepper to taste

How to: 

Mix everything together in food processor till you get your desired smoothness.

I'm one happy pasta-loving girl ;)

Gnocchi for Beginners

The first thing I did the moment we arrived home was to unpack my valuables, namely my cheeses. We bought about 4 kg of cheddar, pecorino, manchego and ricotta in Pretoria. I literally swooned from the selection I can found there. Probably because Pretoria is the administrative & capital city of South Africa, where most embassies & high commissions are located. Hence the supermarket are well stocked.

I spent a good 1 hour walk one morning, alone, since H was sick. I didn't bring any camera with me, for fear being robbed. Heh. It's a lovely city, just 20 mins drive from Johannesburg, one of those cities that would be great in spring or fall, since there are literally flowers everywhere. You walked under big blue bells trees or thick bushes of roses, white roses. The avenues are big and spacious. I most definitely can live in Pretoria, and would prefer Pretoria to Joburg.

Anyway, few nights ago I decided to get my hands on Gnocchi, now that I'm armed with ricotta. I found an easy enough recipe here and decided to follow it to the T.

Well, not exactly to the T. I didn't carefully read the instruction, I mixed everything all at once hence I think the final texture was a little bit off, not smooth as Gnocchi should. But it was still good. For the sauce, I dumped a pasta sauce and do a little stir fry with onion and garlic, topped with fried sage leaves.

I will definitely try it again, but it seemed my arms aren't ready to knead dough. Even after the hiatus.

Roasted Carrots & Lentil Soup

It seems that the number of sick person escalates to two. Tonsilitis, headache, runny nose, fever.. you name it. We got it all.

While H's taste bud has completely disappeared, I am not looking forward to another bland meal. And I have no strength to gut the fish to make fish soup. So I opted the easy way out. Lentil soup, or in this case, not so soupy.. H doesn't like his lentils to be submerged in water.

Original recipe is from here. Modifications made on the pepper - I don't have cayenne pepper blablabla. Instead, I used my beautiful tricolore pepper.

Make this one, sick or not. I eventually mashed it and it didn't look as pretty, but it's extremely tasty.

Oh yeh, I forgot to mention, I added chorizo for extra oomph :) Buon Appetito!

And... we're back!

And Mauritius was glorious. And we're properly bronzé.

And someone got sick. And losing all 3 kgs gained and some more.

So for now, I am busy googling for 'what to eat when you're sick'. It seems that macaroni and cheese is a good option! Wow, I like.

On a separate note, I like Alvin Quah of Masterchef Australia S2 and I like Bee Yinn of Rasa Malaysia. So I'm quite unhappy with the dispute going on. Tsk.