Episode 5

Appetiser: Half and Half Salad

Snowpeas salad and Octopus salad

Main: Calamari with Tomato Sauce

[ MC : The squid was tenderly cooked...! ]

Dessert: Panna Cotta Nante Cotta

[ MC : very smooth texture, creamy vanilla and the sharp fresh strawberry taste was a perfect finish. ]
Cooking Highlights

[ MC : one of the best Episodes so far! ]

Episode 4

Entree: Prawn Cocktail

PJ chopped up the all vegetables nicely. It was a lovely refresh salad with the Japanese Kewpie mayo.

Main: Steamed Ginger Fish

PJ had this dish somewhere in Malaysia before and MC provided the recipe. It turned out very good, lots of ginger, juicy sauce!

Dessert: Pavlova

This was a challenge. The recipe was good (thanks, Jacqui!). It turned out ok somehow. We managed to capture it just before collapsed!

Cooking highlights:

PJ's beautiful work!

After 30 mins mixing

Pav in the oven

Our assistant!

Episode 3

Entrée: San Choy Bao

These turned out very well. The pork mince was very tasty and the lettuce was nice and crunchy. Certainly whet the appetite sufficiently.

Ingredients

1 tbsp oil (peanut oil if available)

2 garlic cloves, crushed

2cm piece ginger, finely grated

250g lean pork mince

1 tbsp oyster sauce (increase or decrease to taste)

1 tbsp soy sauce

3 green onions, thinly sliced

1/2 lime, juiced

1 tbsp sesame oil

1 cup beansprouts, roots trimmed

1/4 cup fresh coriander leaves, chopped

12 large butter lettuce leaves (or any crunchy salad leaves like cos or iceberg)

1/4 cup chopped roasted peanuts

Method

1. Heat wok over high heat until hot. Add peanut oil and swirl to coat. Add garlic, ginger and onions until soft. Add pork, stir-fry for 2-3 minutes or until pork changes colour.
2. Add oyster sauce and soy sauce, 2 tpsb of lime juice and sesame oil to wok,. Stir-fry for 3 minutes or until pork is cooked through. Stir in bean sprouts and coriander.
3. Spoon pork mixture into lettuce leaves. Sprinkle with peanuts.

Main: Chicken Noodle Soup

Cold, wintry night, hot, flavourful soup... ahhhh (made from MC's own recipe)



Dessert: Oatmeal Raspberry Pancakes with Berry Compote

Flippin' pancakes ain't as easy as it sounds. End product was quite delicious though. The berry compote was not too sweet and gave just the right amount of tartness to go with the fluffy pancakes.



Cooking Highlights

Stock vegetables to get a good flavour into the soup

Too many cooks?

Berry nice

First batch of pancakes... yeah, not so successful

Episode 2

Appetiser: Smoked Salmon Vol-au-Vent

These weren't too hard to make. Of course we cheated abit and got pre-made pastry. Stripped some lovely smoked salmon, seasoned with zest of lemon, stirred in ricotta, tossed in some juicy capers and spooned on top of baked pastry shells.



Main Course: Breast of Chicken with Red Capsicum Sauce

The red capsicum sauce on this was divine. The sweetness of the fresh capsicum partnered perfectly with the well-seasoned, tender pieces of chicken breast. More than one plate was licked clean (not literally of course, this IS fine dining after all).




Dessert: Apple Crumble with Vanilla Ice Cream

It was a bit touch and go on this one at the beginning, but it came together nicely in the end. the "crumble" didn't look very crumbly before baking, but after 45 minutes of oven magic, the combination of oats, pecans, chocolate bits, brown sugar and butter transformed into a light crunchy topping for the caramelised apples below. Matched with the homemade ice cream, a pleasing end to a great meal.



Head Chef for the night


Cooking Highlights