Friday, August 10, 2012

Cook for family: Herbs de Provence Roast Chicken

CookForFamily is an initiative conjured up by food blogger and Radio 100.3FM deejay Daniel Ang, with the objective of getting more bloggers and their readers, to start cooking for their families.

Gulp.

I've only cooked for the family once. But I have hosted multiple dinner parties for my friends. My bad. Well, better late than never, right?  

It was National Day, the perfect occasion for a family get together. Big bro had just had a minor op and couldn't drive so Sis and I decided to "journey to the northeast" - sheesh Punggol is far! The thought of seeing my cute nieces made up for the long ride there - Analisa and Adelia are super duper cute.

Serves 5

1 chicken (try to get bigger ones, 1.6kg and above)
2 tablespoon butter
1 tablespoon herbs de provence
0.5 tablespoon coarse kosher salt
1 tablespoon honey


1. Place butter, honey, herbes de Provence, and salt in small bowl; mash with fork until blended to thick granular paste. Starting at neck end of each chicken, loosen skin under breasts and thighs. Rub herb-seasoned butter on chicken under skin and on outside. Put in ziplock bag and chill least 2 hours. Let chickens stand at room temperature about 30 minutes before cooking.


2. Here I did a 2-phased roasting:

(i) Preheat oven to 200°C. For crispier skin, place chicken on a wire rack on top of baking tray (to collect juices). After 30min, take out the chicken and baste it with olive oil/juices. 

(ii) Return chicken to the wire rack in oven and bake at 180°C, until the meat thermometer inserted into thickest part of thigh registers 70-75°C [For my oven, this took another 50min]

Cover chicken with foil and let rest for 10 minutes.


TADA~! Operation roast chicken was a huge success - my family loved it (well, at least they said they did - that's what family are for, right?). I thought mixing honey with the herbs was rather genius of me (self-praise) and it gave the chicken that slight tinge of savory sweetness.  

Wednesday, August 8, 2012

Ruth's Chris Steak House

Yes, the largest luxury steak company in the world is finally here in Singapore!

Before, you could fly to one of its 7 locations in Asia - HK, Taiwan, Japan etc - to get your fix of New Orleans-style steak but now, it's right at Marina Mandarin Hotel. B and I were invited for the soft "friend and family launch" - very excited - I think being with B has made me a "meatier" person (now where's my "I love red meat" t-shirt?).

Disclaimer: this was an invited complimentary tasting session, sort of like a "practice session" for the kitchen and service staff before the official opening so my comments below are more "feedback" rather than an assessment of the place. 


The resturant itself was a nice space - rather classy with dark wood panelling reminiscent of Morton's with cosy seating - the only negative was that lighting could have been a bit dimmer. It was too brightly lit, a bit uncomfortable even amongst friends not to mention unconducive for romantic dinners.

A proper steakhouse needs to get its cocktails right, so upon arrival at Ruth's, B and I decided to chill at the bar for a bit before dinner. He had the Dirty Ketel Martini (Ketel One Vodka, Noilly Prat “Original” Dry Vermouth, Olive Juice, Hand stuffed Colossal Blue Cheese stuffed Olives) and I had the vintage inspired 50/50 Vesper Martini (Grey Goose Vodka, Tanqueray, Lillet Blanc, Lemon Twist).

Nicely done. B's Dirty Ketel Martini was particularly interesting, the blue cheese definitely added in an unusual (not unpleasant) punch. It made Morton's mortini's, in comparison (though I heart) seem a bit juvenile.

They took a while to seat us but the hostess was friendly and made sure we were settled in. She knew I was starving, so it was a really nice touch when warm toasty bread promptly appeared shortly after we sat down.

We ordered the classic Shrimp Remoulade and Blue Crab Cakes to share. These appetizers were good, especially the shrimp - very fresh and the New Orleans homestyle cocktail sauce was lovely. B liked the crab cakes too, though I preferred the breaded ones from Morton's and Luke's Oyster Bar. 


The lobster bisque was a bit of a disappointment, flat on flavour. The sides of sauteed mushrooms and spinach too, fell short of expectations. A bit tasteless. The spinach, in particular, tasted like it was simply blanched in water and oil.

Then came the highlight of the meal - the MEAT!

I ordered the 8oz petite filet and B my greedy boyfriend ordered the 12oz New York Strip. Now these were excellent quality meat. I loved how perfectly "medium rare" my filet was - deliciously tender and juicy - YUMS. Sheer bliss when paired with the decent house red wine.

B's New York strip was fuller bodied and firmer. He polished it all off so he must have enjoyed it. "Something's missing", he burped. The meat guru has spoken. Verdict : Very good but "lacks that caramelized crust a steak gets from a good sear which seals in the juices". Very demanding meat-eater, this one.   


The desserts were the stars of the meal. First up, the signature bread pudding with whiskey sauce, a traditional New Orleans dish. Wow, I think this is the best bread pudding I have ever had - wonderful texture and the sauce has just the right balance of flavour and consistency. If I thought the bread pudding was good, the second dessert - cheesecake - simply blew me away. LOVE that buttery crust, the lovely cheese flavour and most of all, that tangy lemony cream on top of the cheesecake.


Overall, an excellent meal. A few teething problems but I am sure the management will work them out. Foodwise - hits and misses. For a start, please do something about the sides and the soup. Meats are good enough and desserts.. well, just perfect.

Would I return and pay for a meal here? Honestly, I am not sure. The prices are on the higher-end and to be honest, I much prefer Luke's and Morton's, if I had that budget to work with.

But who knows, it's early days yet and Ruth's Chris Steak House might just be a diamond in the rough waiting to take Singapore's steak scene by storm. Be sure to check them out when they officially open!

Thursday, August 2, 2012

Uma Uma Ramen

So Iggy's brought in this Hakata ramen chain from Japan, and Mr and Mrs C (B's parents) wanted to try it.  Sunday lunch seemed the perfect time so the 4 of us met. Them, with high expectations, given all the hype. Me, with a growling tummy. Yes, we slept in and missed breakfast.

The joint, located at Forum, is smallish and there was a long queue in front of us. We waited 45 min for a table. The hungry girl was NOT a happy girl. But she stayed composed and tried to tame her hunger. It'd better be good, she thought.

Finally the party of 4 were seated and given menus to order from. 


Erm.. what a COMPACT menu. It was quite a no-brainer - we just ordered every item on the menu. 

While the jap-looking chefs behind the counter prepared our ramen (maybe it's just me but I thought they had this "ninja" aura about them), we got served our appetizers. The chicken karaage was nicely fried, crispy and tasty. Portions were small for $8 though. 

The yaki charsiu was really good. I loved the burnt charcoal flavour - couldn't get enough of the accompanying chilli bits. Again, there were only a few slices to go around. $8.

At this point, I was so hungry I had to stop myself from ordering another serving of the appetizers. 

Luckily, the ninja chefs (must have heard my growling tummy) then served up our piping hot bowls of ramen. I had the uma uma ramen and B had the spicy charsiu ramen. We both added egg and bamboo shoots.  


                                                               Uma Uma Ramen


                                                          Spicy Charsiu Ramen

I liked the thin noodles and the eggs were perfectly done, but to be very honest, I was a bit underwhelmed by the soup broth. Of the two, the spicy charsiu broth was better (though still not impressive). I liked the nutty flavour which gave it more depth and dimension. Unfortunately,  the uma uma broth tasted like something I had before at Ajisan Ramen.  

Perhaps it's having too high expectations - after all, we did wait 45 minutes - but this was a rather average ramen experience with an extraordinarily long waiting time. Sigh, I miss Menya Shinchan (was at Robertson Walk, now closed).