Roast pork shoulder

Wifey bought a nice piece of pork shoulder the other day and I immediately offered to prepare dinner. (I guess men and meats are inseparable, eh? *LOL*)

I decided to make roast pork shoulder with lemon thyme and garlic, and serve it with fresh salad and apple sauce on the side. And my wine pairing for the evening? Chateau Pibran vintage 1996. I shall share the tasting notes for this wine in another post.

Instructions for roast pork shoulder

After cleaning and drying the pork shoulder, place a few cloves of garlic and lemon thyme in the middle before rolling and tying the pork shoulder. Place some lemon thyme between the strings and pork too. Rub some vinegar on the skin and then rub sea salt and black pepper throughout. Place in fridge overnight.

Remove the marinated pork shoulders from the fridge at least 30-40 mins before roasting in the oven. Never roast immediately from the fridge. Place pork shoulder in a tray with some water at the base of the tray. Use fan force at 200C for 40 mins (to cook the pork) and then grill heat at 220C for 15 mins (for crispy crackling).

Instructions for apple sauce

Finely chop 2 granny smith apples and cook with some apple juice under medium fire. Add 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon powder and about 2 1/2 tablespoon of brown sugar. Cook until soft. Once ready, turn off fire and add a tablespoon of butter and some salt to taste.

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Remove marinated pork shoulder from the fridge at least 30-40 mins before roasting

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Marinated pork shoulder ready for the oven

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Time to enjoy the roast pork shoulder!

Do give this a try and let me know what you think...

Medium rare steak

Typical of any hot blooded man (gym-goers and body builders included), I love having steaks. I'm not picky when it comes to the cut of the meat but my steak has to be medium rare. I just can't stand overcooked steaks (no flavour and too much chewing! yucks!). And how do I enjoy my medium rare steak? With a robust bottle of red of course! :-P

I used to frequent steak houses for my doze of steak but since the arrival of Sonny and Girlie, Wifey and I have decided it would be more convenient to just dine at home (it's less stressful too! *guffaw*). As such, I've been cooking my own steaks for some time now.

Initially, I was worried and of course I got it wrong a few times (I'm only human). But after a few attempts, I can now declare that cooking steaks is not difficult. 

After you've marinated your steaks with black pepper and sea salt, remove them from your fridge about an hour before cooking them. It's important to always cook your steaks when they are at room temperature. They'll cook unevenly if you toss them straight into the pan from the fridge. The pan has to be hot and searing as you want to quickly cook the outer layer of the steaks and seal the juices inside. For medium rare, all it takes is 3 minutes a side (for 1-inch thick steaks). Once the steaks are ready, set them aside to rest for up to 10 minutes before serving so that the juices settle down. And the end result? Your steaks will have a nice brown crust on the outside and pink flesh on the inside....YUM!

To sum it all up, the golden rules of cooking medium rare steaks are as follows:-

1. Room temperature steaks before cooking
2. Hot searing pan
3. 3 minutes on each side
4. 5-10 minutes of resting period before serving

Some personal pics below to share...

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My marinated steaks at room temperature (ribeye on the left and sirloin on the right)

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My sirloin in hot searing pan

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Flip the sirloin over at the 3 minutes mark to reveal the beautiful brown crust

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My resting sirloin and ribeye

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Deglaze the pan with red wine, throw in some rosemary

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Enjoying my medium rare steaks with red wine and rosemary sauce

Home-made ice cream

I recently bought an ice cream maker and decided to make something yummy for Sonny. Instead of cream based (usually double cream!) ice cream, I decided to make yoghurt based ice cream. To indulge is a privilege, but let's try keeping it healthy whenever possible.

As for flavour, I knew I wanted a fruit flavour, but what could it be? Sonny's taste changes all the time and what he enjoys today may not be what he enjoys tomorrow.

After checking out the fruits at my neighbourhood grocer, I decided to get some mangoes. "Mangoes should be a good bet", I thought to myself. Even if Sonny didn't like mango yoghurt ice cream, both Wifey and I wouldn't mind having it.

HOME-MADE MANGO YOGHURT ICE CREAM

Ingredients
1. 1 ripe mango
2. 50g caster sugar
3. 250ml natural yoghurt

Instructions
1. Cut mango into cubes
2. Purée mango cubes and sieve mango purée
3. Add sugar and yoghurt, mix well
4. Pour mixture into freezer bowl and turn on paddle
5. Allow to freeze until desired consistency is achieved (about 45-60 mins)

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Ready mixture of mango purée, yoghurt and sugar

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Pour mixture into freezer bowl

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Turn on paddle and allow to freeze for 45-60 mins

It was delicious! :-) Sonny enjoyed it very much and we used it to sneak in some fresh fruits into his diet :-P

We didn't finish the mango yoghurt ice cream and kept the balance in the freezer. BIG MISTAKE! It's now rock hard. I guess I have to thaw it for about 30 mins before serving. Let's hope it'll still taste yummy...

Angry bird cupcakes

I'd initially wanted to make another batch of Mickey Mouse cupcakes for Sonny as it's rather easy to make but Sonny had other ideas...

"Sonny, would you like more Mickey Mouse cupcakes? Daddy is happy to make you some over the weekend."

"No. Please make angry bird cupcakes."

Gawd! How do I make angry bird cupcakes? What do I use for the angry bird features? How shall I design the cupcakes?

I'd so many questions and no answers so I'd to ponder creatively for a few days.

After some soul searching and discussion with Wifey, I've decided to give it a shot!

VANILLA CUPCAKES- MAKES 12

Ingredients:-
1. 125g butter softened
2. 1/2 cup sugar
3. 3 eggs
4. 1 1/2 self rising flour, sifted
5. 1/4 cup fresh milk
6. 3/4 tablespoon vanilla extract/essence

Instructions:-
1. Cream butter and sugar with mixer
2. Add eggs, flour and milk and mix until smooth
3. Add vanilla extract/essence
4. Spoon about 2/3 cupcake cup
5. Bake for 15 minutes at 160C (fan)

CREAM CHEESE ICING

Ingredients:-
1. 250g cream cheese
2. 60g butter softened
3. 1 cup icing sugar
4. 1 teaspoon vanilla extract/essence
5. 3/4 teaspoon red colouring

Instructions:-
1. Beat cream cheese, butter, icing sugar and vanilla extract/essence until smooth, light and creamy
2. Keep in refrigerator for 30 mins or until firm.

ANGRY BIRD'S FEATURES

1. Licorice- black in colour- eye brows
2. Marshmallows- eyes and chest
3. Chocolate chips- eyes
4. Dried mangoes- beak

Instructions:-
1. Cut licorice into 1.5 inches in length and then half it in the middle. Make 12 pairs.
2, Cut marshmallows into little circles and large oval shape.
3. Cut dried mangoes into little triangles. Make 12 pairs.

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Ingredients for cupcakes

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Ingredients for red icing

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Ingredients for angry bird's features

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Freshly bakes cupcakes

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Time to assemble the angry birds!

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My lil' offsprings...

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Sonny's angry bird cupcake on his angry bird plate

I'm pretty happy with the end result! What's more important is that Sonny enjoys having them! I'm happy if and when Sonny's happy! Oh, the joy of fatherhood! :-)

Tempting tempeh

I thoroughly enjoy tempeh (soybean cake). I would usually have it (the stir fried version with black sauce, dried prawns, chillies and onions) whenever I go for Malay food/mixed rice.

On its own, tempeh can be rather tasteless. Tempeh absorbs all the flavours of your marinate of choice and as such you can simply throw in your favourite ingredients and flavours and you'll get a tasty treat! It's not only delicious but protein-packed too.

This cheap source of protein (which cost around RM2.50 for a 150g packet) provides 19g of protein for every 100g serving size.

I've an interesting recipe for tempeh, which you can enjoy with salad or use as filling for your sandwich. I enjoy it ala big breakfast style :-)

TEMPEH ON A BED OF LETTUCE WITH TOAST

Ingredients (Serves 2):-
1. 300g tempeh, cubed
2. 4 slices of wholemeal bread, toasted
3. Half a packet of lettuce, washed and spin-dried
4. 1.5 tablespoon of olive oil
5. 3 tablespoon of balsamic vinegar
6. 3 tablespoon of Worcestershire sauce
7. 3 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
8. 2 tablespoon of chilli flakes
9. 2 tablespoon of pizza/spaghetti herb mix
10. Some freshly ground black pepper

Instructions:-
1. Combine and toss tempeh with olive oil, balsamic vinegar, Worcestershire sauce, chopped garlic, chilli flakes, pizza mix herb and ground black pepper
2. Set aside tempeh in the fridge for at least an hour
3. Stir fry tempeh on non-stick pan under low heat until tempeh caramelises
4. Arrange lettuce on an empty plate
5. Place cooked tempeh on the bed of lettuce and serve with toast

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Tempeh tossed with marinate

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Stir fry tempeh on low heat until caramelised 

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Bed of lettuce

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Place cooked tempeh on lettuce

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Serve with toast for a complete meal

This dish is a shade below 470 calories, i.e. tempeh- 300 calories, toast- 156 calories (78 calories per slice) and lettuce- 10 calories.

Try it and let me know what you think! :-)

Mickey Mouse cupcakes

After my virgin attempt at baking (made Spiderman cupcakes not too long ago), I wanted to give it another try so I decided to make Mickey Mouse cupcakes for Sonny.

"Do you want Daddy to make more cupcakes for you?"

"Yes."

"Let's try something different. Do you want Mickey Mouse cupcakes?"

"Yes! Yahoo!"

Since my buddy FatBoyBakes is the God of Cakes, naturally I had to ask him for a tried and tested recipe.

He emailed me the recipe for vanilla cupcakes, "Nah..." :-)

VANILLA CUPCAKES- MAKES 12

Ingredients:-
1. 125g butter softened
2. 1/2 cup sugar
3. 3 eggs
4. 1 1/2 cups plain flour sifted with
5. 1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
6. 1/4 cup milk
7. 1 teaspoon vanilla extract/essence

Instructions:-
1. Cream butter and sugar with mixer.
2. Add eggs, one at a time.
3. Add half portion of flour and milk.
4. Repeat Step 3.
5. Add vanilla extract/essence.
6. Spoon about 2/3 cupcake cup.
7. Bake 160C (fan) for 15 minutes or until risen and cooked.

For icing, I decided to use a different recipe. Instead of buttercream icing as previously used for my Spiderman cupcakes, I've decided to use cream cheese icing.

CREAM CHEESE ICING

Ingredients:-
1. 250g cream cheese.
2. 60g butter softened.
3. 1 cup icing sugar.
4. 1 teaspoon vanilla extract/essence.
5. 100g of melted chocolate.

Instructions:-
1. Beat cream cheese with mixer until smooth.
2. Add butter, icing sugar and vanilla extract/essence.
3. Beat together until mixture is light and creamy.
4. Remove about 1/3 of the mixture and and set aside the remaining 2/3.
5. Add melted chocolate into 1/3 of the mixture and beat with mixer until even.

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Butter, sugar and egg mixture (before adding plain flour, baking powder, milk and vanilla extract/essence)

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Mixture for vanilla cupcakes

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Mixture makes 12 cupcakes, ngam ngam!

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Into the hot oven you go...

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Rise baby rise!

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My freshly bakes babies

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Cream cheese icing, ready for spreading

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Spread cream cheese icing on vanilla cupcakes

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Finish off with chocolate cream cheese icing in the shape of Mickey's head

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Finished Mickey Mouse cupcake, so cute!

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Sonny's feast, with matching Mickey plate and spoon

IMHO, my Mickey Mouse cupcakes look a few hundred times better than my Spiderman cupcakes :-P Also, they taste great! The vanilla cupcakes were moist and tasty, and the cream cheese icing was creamy, fragrant and tastes just right/not too sweet (I don't have a sweet tooth and as such don't enjoy super sweet treats). Since I didn't use any food colouring, my Mickey Mouse cupcakes are definitely "healthier" than my  Spiderman cupcakes.

Hopefully this time around, FatBoyBakes approves of my attempt and I don't "fall with a loud thud from his pedestal" again :-P *chuckle*

Spiderman cupcakes

Sonny loves cupcakes, especially cupcakes with icing in the form of cartoon characters etc. His currently favourite characters are Angry Birds, Mickey Mouse, Spiderman and Lightning McQueen.

I declared to Wifey, "I wanna make Spiderman cupcakes for Sonny. I've checked out some videos on Youtube and it doesn't look all that difficult."

This lady made it look so easy...

"Sure. We'll just need to grab the necessary ingredients after breakfast and you can make Spiderman cupcakes for Sonny", Wifey supported.

At the baking shop, I bought the Chocolate Muffin Mix (it's my first time baking so I'm taking the easy way out), salted butter, vanilla essence, food colouring (red and black), icing sugar and muffin cups.

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All that's required is to mix this packet with 4 eggs, 130ml of water and 135ml of oil before putting it into muffin cups until 3/4 full and bake at 190C for 25 minutes. Simple!

I got home and quickly (I can be rather "kan cheong" at times!) got all ingredients and utensils ready for baking...

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Ingredients for chocolate muffin

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Utensils for Spiderman cupcakes

Ingredients for buttercream icing are as follows:-
1 cup of salted butter
3 teaspoons of vanilla essence
4 cups of icing sugar
4 tablespoons of milk

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Ingredients for buttercream icing

Once I got all the ingredients and utensils ready, I starting baking...

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Muffin mixture ready for muffin cups

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Sonny helped applying oil in the muffin cups so that the muffins won't stick to the cup when ready

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Muffin mixture makes 13 muffins

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Muffins rising after about 5 minutes

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Cooked muffins, removed from the over after 20 minutes and not per the recommended 25 minutes

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Muffins were too "full" and large so I had to cut and remove the top, should have just filled up to 1/2 full and not per the recommended 3/4 full

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Buttercream icing, just mix all the ingredients using an electric mixer 

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Spider webs, almost complete Spiderman muffins

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Made only 6 Spiderman cupcakes

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My humble Spiderman cupcake, looks more like Freddie Krueger IMO *chuckle*

Lessons learnt:-
1. Don't buy muffin mixes. Make from scratch.
2. Fill the muffin cups half full.
3. Steady hands are required when decorating muffins.

It was fun baking and making these Spiderman cupcakes. Definitely plenty of room for improvement!