So I was pretty sick for most of this week and there were some other RL problems, but I was determined to make it through a gamut of food-related fun things. In the end, I fine dined, enjoyed a workplace Christmas dinner, and on the weekend I baked, cooked and ate some more. All with tonsellitis, hah.
You can see some evidence of the fine dining above. :) It was nice, which seems a very anaemic word to use about such a meal, but I kinda knew going in that I just wasn't in the right frame of mind to be ultra-excited. I couldn't smell a thing due to being sick, and between that and having to socialise I just felt so buggered by the end of the night.
Work Christmas dinner at Rhodes Phoenix was fun and relaxed. We did have chilli lobster, which is a nervewracking thing to eat in front of company anyway since it's so messy and fussy, and then on top of Joey (of FoodiePop started analysing my work practices through the way I tackled the lobster, heh. (I was told I was "logical" in the way I removed all the shell from the pieces of meat before me before I started eating, just like how I sort all the medicines from our daily suppliers alphabetically before I put them away. Logical, or obsessive-compulsive? You decide...)
And then I spent a fair bit of time in the kitchen over the weekend. I made choc chip cookies for a fundraiser at church, and then dinner on Sunday night for my parents.
This recipe made about 50 cookies. And my favourite comment was "These are even better than Subway cookies!" Yes, yes they are.
Choc Chip Cookies
originally from Thomas Keller's Ad Hoc At Home cookbook, via Baking Bites
2 1/3 cups plain flour
3/4 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
225g butter, , chilled and cut into small pieces and divided equally in two portions
1 cup (packed) brown sugar
3/4 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
400g chocolate (mix of dark and milk), chopped
Preheat over to 180 Celcius. Grease and line a baking sheet with baking paper.
In a medium bowl, mix flour and baking soda and salt.
In a big bowl, beat half the butter with an electric mixer until softened. (Because the day was so hot, I kept the other half of the butter in the freezer just to keep it chilled in the meantime.)
Add in the brown sugar (original recipe called for dark, which I'd run out of - but I think it would make an even more delicious, chewy cookie so I'd love to try it again with the dark brown sugar) and the white sugar and cream with the butter.
Beat in eggs, one at a time. (We had a near-miss at this point as it turned out the first egg I cracked was a bad one!)
Add in the vanilla extract, then beat in the remaining butter at a med-high speed until well incorporated. It's quite a fluffy mixture at this point.
Mix in the flour mixture at low speed on the mixture (or if you want strong arm muscles, fold in by hand).
Stir in the chocolate chunks. (I lessened the amount of chocolate from the original recipe, but was still told by appreciative eaters that there was plenty of chocolate in each cookie.)
Use a tablespoon to drop rougly 1 inch balls (about 1 rounded tablespoon) onto the baking sheet, leaving about an inch and a half between for spreading.
Bake for 13 minutes until cookies are set, matte-looking and lightly golden brown.
Cool for 3-4 minutes on the baking sheet then transfer to cool on a wire rack.
Tonight's dinner was spaghetti with seafood ragu, herbed mushrooms stuffed with mozarella, and a simple garden salad with a honey-balsamic dressing. The critics at home declared the pasta the hit of the night but rejected the mushrooms completely (I screwed up on that one as I substituted too many things because I didn't have half the ingredients).
But the ragu...oh, the briny, tomato-y deliciousness. Would definitely make again!
Ragù di Pesce
originally from The Wednesday Chef
1 kg seafood/marinara mix, roughly chopped
1 onion
2 garlic cloves
1/4 cup minced herbs (I used basil and parsley)
2 tomatoes, chopped
1/2 can canned tomatoes
1 cup dry white wine
450g spaghetti
Chilli flakes (optional)
Salt and pepper to taste
Finely dice the onion and garlic. In a wide, deep pan, cook over medium heat in olive oil, along with several spoonfuls of the minced herbs. Keep stirring to make sure the mixture doesn't burn.
About 7 minutes later, add the seafood mix and stir well to coat the seafood in the oil, onion, garlic and herb mix. Cook for a few minutes until the seafood takes on colour around the edges.
Add the wine and let it cook down for a few minutes.
Add the tomatoes (fresh and canned) to the pan and stir. Throw in a good amount of salt (I used a teaspoon). And a nice pinch of chilli flakes if you want it a little spicy (mmm, spicy).
Let the sauce come to boil, then let it simmer away for about 10-15 minutes until it has reduced and is a little thick. Then turn off the heat, stir in the rest of the herbs and add cracked black pepper for seasoning (and salt if necessary).
Cook your spaghetti until al dente, then drain it and add it to the pan with the sauce and mix well before serving.
