Recipe: Summer Minestrone with Pesto

The Cameron Highlands, home to some of the most beautiful highlands forests in the world

Whew - it's been a busy summer, and I've spent most of it outside of Singapore. Of the many beautiful places there are in Malaysia, I have a soft spot for the Cameron Highlands. With its rolling hills of tea plantations, waterfalls and highland forests, my family and I have often sought refuge at one of the colonial bungalows owned by a friend of the family. Cameron Highlands is also a green bowl, supplying vegetables, flowers and fruit to the Malaysian and Singaporean markets. I recently volunteered with one of the NGOs that has been fighting overdevelopment and pollution in the area for many years. It was a programme to teach school teachers how to monitor the quality of the water from streams and rivers in the area. I was horrified to discover that the farms, no longer small-scale, family sized operations, but mega commercial enterprises, are still leaching poisonous chemicals such as DDT as well as human and animal excrement directly into the water sources. It saddened me to see how much the Cameron Highlands has been destroyed over the years as a result of unsustainable development and badly planned tourism. To find out how you can help preserve the Camerons, visit the website of R.E.A.C.H.

With the summer almost over, I decided to make a delightfully light and refreshing minestrone using the best seasonal vegetables I could find. It comes together fairly easily and is a lovely alternative to the heavier, tomato-based minestrone soups you get at most restaurants. You want to make sure that the vegetables are crisp tender, so be sure to add the ingredients in the order given. I made a batch of pesto which you can stir into the soup or add a dollop over the top. Fresh basil is the main herb used.

Ingredients:
2 tbsp butter or margarine
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 medium leek, chopped and washed in several changes of water
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 medium brown onion, cubed
1 medium carrot, cubed
1 stalk celery, sliced thinly
2 slender and vine-ripened plum tomatoes, peeled, seeded and cubed
1 medium Russet potato, cubed
1/2 head small cabbage, cut into small pieces
1 small zucchini, cubed
50g small pasta shapes (such as shells or elbow macaroni)
100 g snow peas, trimmed and stringed
1/4 cup canned kidney or cannellini  beans, rinsed
1 1/2 litres clear vegetable stock
1 stalk basil, leaves removed and shredded
1 bay leaf
Sea salt and freshly cracked black pepper to taste

Maintain a gentle simmer to ensure even cooking

In a large stock pot, melt butter over medium heat. Add olive oil. Sweat the leak, onion and garlic gently for about 2 minutes. Add carrot, celery and tomatoes and fry for 2 minutes. Pour in the stock, add the basil and the bay leaf and season to taste. When the soup comes to a boil, add potatoes and cabbage and simmer gently for 10 minutes. Add pasta and simmer for another 8 minutes or until pasta is al dente. Finally stir in zucchini, snow peas and beans. Serve hot with pesto and crusty bread on the side. Garnish with chopped parsley if desired.

Basil Pesto:

4 handfuls of fresh basil leaves (from about 3 large bunches)
1/2 cup olive oil
1/3 cup pine nuts
4 garlic cloves
1/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese (optional)
1/4 cup freshly grated pecorino cheese (optional)
1 teaspoon coarse kosher salt
1/2 tsp freshly cracked black pepper
Freshly chopped parsley leaves (optional)

Toast pine nuts in a dry skillet until lightly brown. Remove to a plate to cool. In a blender, combine the basil, olive oil, pine nuts and garlic cloves and blend until you get a smooth paste. Add the cheese if using, salt and pepper and blitz everything together in the blender for another 3 seconds. Transfer to a small bowl

A Poem from Morocco - Recipe: Couscous with Moroccan Vegetable and Chickpea Stew

There are stories that end before starting by Abdel-ilah Salhi

Emotion is a mangy dog
Biting me to howl like ninety percent of the mean people in this city
The dog defeats the wolf inside me


Plenty of sentences failed me at dinner
The remains of your man hovered over us despite the dim light
I had to quietly drink my glass
And stare at you profoundly, though without concentration
I had to refrain from running at the rough turning
Which makes me feel small, now expecting a phone ring


Good wine
And a delicious Moroccan couscous
You were close at hand like the evening party
The heart landed like a repugnant guest, so I stammered
But your case was very  mild indeed


In stead of assaulting you like a wolf from the forest
I licked your hand like a dog wishing for love

As they say, variety is the spice of life, and I try to cook food of different origins throughout the week. Together with my fascination for poetry from the Arabic world, I first started experimenting with couscous when I was back in the US and instantly fell in love with its light, fluffy texture. Originally a food from the Middle East and North Africa, it is now sold throughout the world and served not just as the main starch for supper, but as a side salad and turned into desert. After a few disasters with instant-meal couscous that turned into hard blobs because of the humidity in Southeast Asia, I buy the plain, fast-cook variety and do all the seasoning and cooking myself. One of my favourite ways of preparing it, offered below, is by using the broth from a spicy vegetable stew to cook the grains. I find that the broth does a fantastic job of flavouring the couscous without the use of additional oil or salt.

Serves 3-4

For the stew:

Spices:

1 cinnamon stick

4 cloves

1/2 tsp tumeric

1 tsp ground cumin

2 tsp ground coriander

1/4 tsp cayenne pepper

1 medium brown onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, chopped
1 tsp minced ginger root
1 small eggplant, cut into wedges and soaked in salted water for half an hour to remove bitter juices
1medium carrot, cut into wedges
1 medium potato, cut into wedges
10 green beans, sliced into thirds
1/4 head of a medium cauliflower, cut into florets
1 small zucchini, cut into wedges
2 plum tomatoes, cut into wedges
1/4 cooked chickpeas
3 cups of light vegetable stock
2 tbsp oil
Sea salt and freshly cracked pepper to taste

For the couscous:
1 1/2 cups fast-cook couscous
1 large handful of raisins
2-3 tbsp pine nuts, toasted lightly
Extra virgin olive oil
Chopped coriander to garnish

Heat oil in a non-stick skillet over medium-high heat. Gently fry the cinnamon stick, cloves, onions, garlic and ginger until fragrant, about five minutes or so. Add turmeric, cumin, coriander, and cayenne pepper and fry for an additional 2 minutes. Add vegetable stock and bring to a rolling boil. Add eggplant, carrot and potato, cover and lower heat to a gentle simmer. After about 10 minutes or so or when vegetables are slightly softened, add cauliflower, green beans, zucchini and tomatoes. Simmer until vegetables are tender. Add chickpeas. Adjust seasoning.

Measure about 1 1/2 cups of broth from the stew and pour into a separate saucepan. Bring to a boil. Stir in couscous, raisins and pine nuts, cover and remove from heat. Leave to stand for 5 minutes. Fluff up the couscous with a fork and drizzle a little extra virgin olive oil over the top. Garnish with chopped coriander. Serve warm, with mounds of the vegetable stew on the side.

Coming Home - Recipe: Shepherd's Pie

If you've been wondering why there has been a dearth of meat dishes in the last few weeks, well, that's because my two main "customers", as my father jokingly refers to diners at my imaginary restaurant, have been away. I do like traveling myself - it's always a fascinating experience for me to take in the sights, sounds and smells of  the street life and to learn about the cuisine and the culture of foreign lands. I've noticed that I generally go through three phases when I travel: the first lasts for about 2-3 days where I am like a kid in a toy store and everything is charming and exciting and wonderful. The second phases comes at around day 5, where I realise that my paradise isn't as perfect I imagined - perhaps the people are starting to seem rude, or I get caught in the rain without an umbrella and I'm cold and miserable. The third phase is toward the end of the trip, by which point I have memorised the room service menu and I start to dream about my dog. Having eaten out for more than a week, I was glad to finally be able to potter around in the kitchen yesterday. For me, there's nothing that says "Welcome Home" better than a warm home-cooked meal. 

Shepherd's pie is real comfort food- a rich, hearty meat stew topped with a layer of buttery, fluffy mashed taters. These days I tend to dispense with the minced meat and opt for chunks of beef or lamb. There are two modifications in particular that I do -I've discovered that adding bacon and smoked sausage brings out a lovely, smoky flavour to the stew. The other is adding a glass of red wine to the dish which adds richness to the sauce.

A forkful of pie

Serves 3-4, or 2 manly men (or gals)

For the stew:

2 tbsp butter

500 g sirloin beef, cut into small cubes (Substitute with leg of lamb if desired)

4 rashers streaky bacon, chopped 

2 large smoked sausages (such as bratwurst), sliced 

1 large brown onion, chopped

2 cloves garlic, chopped

1 large or 2 medium carrots, chopped

1 stalk celery, chopped

200 g brown or white mushrooms, sliced thinly

A handful of fresh herbs, such as thyme and rosemary

1 bay leaf

1 tbsp tomato paste

2 tbsp plain flour

1-2 tsps Worcestershire sauce

1/2 cup red wine

1 cup beef or lamb stock

Freshly cracked black pepper and sea salt to taste

In a large, heavy bottomed skillet, melt your knob of butter over medium-high heat. Add bacon and fry until lightly brown and the fat begins to render. Add sausage and fry until lightly brown. Add beef or lamb to the pan, working in batches, and fry until meat changes colour slightly. Add onion, garlic, carrots and celery and mix everything around well. Fry for about 5 minutes until vegetables are tender. Add mushrooms and herbs, several cracks of your black pepper grinder and a pinch of sea salt and fry until mushrooms have just released their liquid. Add tomato paste and fry for 1-2 minutes. Add flour and fry for an additional minute or so. Add in Worcestershire sauce, red wine and stock and bring the stew to a simmer. Adjust seasoning. Simmer, covered, over low heat, stirring occasionally to prevent burning. Top up the pan with stock as necessary so that your meat has adequate liquid to simmer in. It will take about an hour for the beef to become fork tender,  or 30 minutes if using lamb. 

Pour stew into a lightly greased baking dish.

For potatoes:

600g russet potatoes

2 tbsp butter,  at room temperature

1/2 cup cream, at room temperature

Sea salt and white pepper to taste

Dash of nutmeg if desired

Peel potatoes and cut into 1-inch cubes. Place potatoes in a large pot of water, add a pinch of salt and bring to a low simmer. In the meantime, preheat oven to 200 degrees Celsius. Boil for about 10 minutes. The potatoes are done if they break apart slightly when pricked with a fork. Drain and return potatoes to the pot. Add butter, nutmeg (if using), salt and pepper to taste. Don't over-mash or the potatoes will be soggy rather than light and fluffy. Add cream and mix well. Top dish with the potatoes and run fork over the top to make a pattern. 

To finish:

2 large handfuls of grated cheddar cheese

Top the dish with cheese. Pop the pie into the oven. Wait in gleeful anticipation. Bake for about 15-20 minutes or until the dish is bubbling and the top is brown. Stand for 10 minutes before serving.

Are Baby Vegetables Better? - Recipe: Simple Stir-Fried Greens, Chinese style

Stir-fried baby lai pak with button mushrooms

Shopping at Fair Price Finest or Cold Storage here in Singapore, I get the dual sensation of feeling like on the one hand, I could be at any supermarket in the UK, and on the other, right in the heart of Southeast Asia. I've often been amazed at the sheer variety of vegetables that are available here in Singapore. The vast majority of food here, or over 90% is imported. I was talking to B the other day about how I was momentarily excited when I saw a bag of "Earthbound Organic" salad at the store. And then it (and its hefty price tag) hit me that while it was being sold as the environmentally benign choice for eco-aware consumers, in reality, that salad alone probably had chalked up a carbon footprint larger than all the local vegetables (heck, perhaps even combined with the fruit) on the shelves combined. According to one source, a bag of salad that is flown from Washington D.C. has traveled an estimated 9659 miles (15541km) to make it to your store in Singapore, emitting 3477 kgCO2 or 949 kg Carbon. Food for thought, indeed. 

Bicycles were previously a main mode of transporting cargo through the busy streets of Southeast Asia...and are now making a revival in certain cities in the US.

Chinatown, Singapore, 2010

With the expansion in the Chinese economy, there has been a large increase in the numbers and types of Asian greens from China. I do love my leafy greens, and one of the interesting trends these days is that you can find a "baby" or a miniature version of any vegetable at the market, for example baby kailan, baby bok choy, baby spinach, baby potato, baby carrot and so on.  But what exactly are baby vegetables? More importantly, are they necessarily better both in terms of taste as well as nutrition? A cursory search on the internet reveals that they are not, as commonly perceived, necessarily vegetables that are picked before they are fully mature or ripe. Rather they are often specially engineered crops that are cultivated for a specific reason, for example, size. While they are almost always more expensive than their regular sized counterparts, nutritionally they are the same.  I do admit that they are cute and also slightly more delicate in terms of taste and texture, but I find that the difference is minimal. So the jury's still out as far as I'm concerned. For me the far bigger question I suppose is where and how they were grown and harvested, and the times of pesticides and chemicals that were used on the farm. 

If you're going to be cooking Asian food, learning the basics of the simple stir-fry is absolutely essential. (For more wok tips, see previous entry on Chinese fried rice). Yet many people have complained that their attempts at stir-frying vegetables have met with failure because the vegetables have either been undercooked or too wilted. So here I am sharing with you a basic recipe and a few tips on stir-frying greens that I learned from my mother and my own experience as a home chef. This recipe does not have a rich sauce or gravy such as you would find in the dish Broccoli with Oyster Sauce that is often served in Chinese restaurants, thus is best paired with a more substantial meat or saucy tofu dish.

Serves 2-3 as a side dish

1 bunch leafy vegetable such as kai lan, bok choy, mustard greens/sawi, siew pak choy, sweet potato leaves,Chinese cabbage, usually sold in bundles of about 300 g each

2-3 cloves garlic, peeled and smashed lightly

2 tbsp of  vegetable oil such as olive or canola

1/4 cup light vegetable stock
1 tsp Chinese rice wine

1-2 tsp soy sauce

Dash sugar and pepper (optional)

Wash vegetables in a basin in several changes of water. Drain and keep aside. Heat wok over high heat. Add oil and swirl to coat. Add garlic and stir-fry briskly until fragrant. Working quickly, add vegetables, one handful at a time, and toss, waiting for each batch to wilt slightly before adding a new batch. Sprinkle a few drops of stock into the wok with each addition to maintain a steady heat. When all vegetables have been added, add remaining stock, rice wine, soy sauce and sugar and pepper if using and cover the wok with a lid. Lower the heat to medium and let the mixture simmer. Lift the cover of the wok after a minute or so, and stir everything around before returning the cover and simmering for another 2-3 minutes or until vegetables are just tender crisp. Remove from heat and serve immediately.

Tips:

• You can build upon this basic recipe by adding additional vegetables such as carrots, mushrooms, baby corn, snow peas - anything you like really. The trick is to ensure that you put in the vegetables that take the longest to cook first, and the leafy vegetables which only need a minute or so to wilt, last. For example, if you want to create a spinach mushroom stir-fry, you are going to need about 3-4 minutes for your mushrooms and under a minute for the spinach.
• You can substitute thinly sliced ginger for the garlic. Or use both. 
• Many chefs like to use a little ikan bilis stock for frying vegetables.
• Use a wok for superior results and get it really hot before you add the vegetables. If the wok is not hot enough the vegetables will not only be oily but will steam, and you will not get the tender-crisp texture that you are looking for in a good stir-fry.
• One of the things that I learnt from my mother about estimating when the time is right to lift the wok cover and give the vegetables a quick stir. I've tried this method myself, and it's fairly accurate. When you cover the vegetables for the first time, place your bare hand on the handle of the wok. When it starts to feel a bit uncomfortable from the heat, lift up the cover and stir around! Repeat as necessary. Not recommended for the faint hearted. 

Baby Siew Pak Choy...does that make it Baby Baby Pak Choy?

Why Jamie Takes the Cake - Recipe: Jamie's Perfect Roast Chicken

Source: really short from NYC, USA (wikimedia commons)

As a new food blogger, I thought that it was only right that  I pay homage to the celebrity chef that has been a constant source of inspiration to me. While I do love a good gourmet meal now and then, I am a home chef by and large, thus, I have tended to gravitate towards real food by real people such as Rachel Ray, Emeril Lagasse, Amy Beh and Nigella Lawson. I have to say that although there are certainly many talented chefs out there, I am an avid Jamie Oliver, a.k.a The Naked Chef, fan. 

So, in no particular order, I present to you, dear readers, 10 Reasons (in my humble opinion) Why Jamie Takes the Cake:

• He was one of the first celebrity chefs in the UK to advocate on the issue of food sustainability;
• He cares about children. I remember watching "Jamie's School Dinners" for the first time and being moved by his enthusiasm and exuberance;
• His recipes capitalize on the natural goodness of food, without being overly seasoned, treated or blasted half to death;
• Moreover, his no-fuss approach to cooking doesn't make you feel overwhelmed. In his words, "cooking has got to be a laugh." The Naked Chef welcomes you into his kitchen, partakes in a glass or two while he prepares the food.  It feels as though he is having a conversation with you, rather than instructing. He assures you that while you may have never attended Cordon Bleu, you can still prepare great food at home;
• His recipes are detailed and personalised. Unlike other chefs that I know that jealously guard their secrets, he's always been open about lessons that he's learned;
• Having dined at Fifteen some years back, I was impressed not just by its mission but how great the food was;
• He loves a bacon sarnie, which indicates that at the heart of it, he's an old-fashioned, solid, British chap;
• He is good to dogs; 
• He is unabashed in his affection towards Jules, and as a die hard romantic, that melts my heart;
• He's just so darn cute, with his impishness and his mop of hair, and a hint of a tummy that is a sign of a happy man. He's probably the only guy that I know that can look adorable dressed like a giant crustacean.

Roast Chicken is one of those dinners I've experimented generously with. I've previously used an old recipe by Jamie that features loads of butter and where you chop up prosciutto and stuff in between the skin of the bird and the meat. I've tried flavouring the roast with oranges, spice rubs, all sorts of herbs, and Asian seasonings. I've also tried the French style of cooking which requires you to turn the chicken over several times to even out the browning process, and to baste the bird with the pan juices every ten minutes. What I liked about this particular recipe (see original here), which was the centerpiece of a recent dinner party, was the ease in which it came together. I did make several minor modifications to it, which I'm indicating below, but overall, I was very happy with the results. Do try to get an organic chicken, as I did this time around - the difference between the results you would get from a chicken from the pasar and the supermarket is like day and night. The roast was tender and juicy at the same time, according to my guests. So thanks, and cheers, Jamie!

Serves 4 

Ingredients:

1 x approximately 1.6kg chicken, preferably free-range, organic or higher welfare

2 medium onions 

2 carrots

2 sticks of celery

1 bulb of garlic

olive oil 

sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

1 lemon 

a small bunch of fresh thyme, rosemary, bay or sage, or a mixture 

To prepare your chicken:

• Take your chicken out of the fridge 30 minutes before it goes into the oven 

• Preheat your oven to 240°C/475°F/gas 9 

• There’s no need to peel the vegetables – just give them a wash and roughly chop them 

• Break the garlic bulb into cloves, leaving them unpeeled 

• Pile all the veg and garlic into the middle of a large roasting tray and drizzle with olive oil 

• Drizzle the chicken with olive oil and season well with salt and pepper, rubbing it all over the bird 

• Carefully prick the lemon all over, using the tip of a sharp knife (if you have a microwave, you could pop the lemon in these for 40 seconds at this point as this will really bring out the flavour) 

• Put the lemon inside the chicken’s cavity, with the bunch of herbs) 

To cook your chicken:

• Place the chicken on top of the vegetables in the roasting tray and put it into the preheated oven 

• Turn the heat down immediately to 200°C/400°F/gas 6 and cook the chicken for 1 hour and 20 minutes 

• If you’re doing roast potatoes and veggies, this is the time to crack on with them – get them into the oven for the last 45 minutes of cooking 

• Baste the chicken halfway through cooking and if the veg look dry, add a splash of water to the tray to stop them burning 

• When cooked, take the tray out of the oven and transfer the chicken to a board to rest for 15 minutes or so 

• Cover it with a layer of tinfoil and a tea towel and put aside. Now is the time to make your gravy.

Serve, carved, at the table, together with gravy and side dishes of your choice. 

Modifications/Suggestions:

• I used a baking tray and placed the chicken on a roasting rack instead of directly on the vegetables, as suggested here. I think it helped the browning process. 
• I bought a 1.8 kg chicken, and roasted it for 1 1/2 hours instead. I roasted the bird breast side up first, for about 45 minutes, and then basted it thoroughly with the pan juices before turning it over on its back. After another fiteen minutes, I turned it back over breast side up, again basting it with the pan juices, to crisp the skin.
• I used a combination of all four types of herbs suggested above - generous bunches of rosemary and sage, with a few sprigs of thyme and a bay leaf and the flavour was great
• Be careful about microwaving the lemon. I had the juice squirt into my eye and it was hot!
• Instead of water, I added about 1/2 cup of light chicken stock to the tray. This not only added flavour to the roast, but provided a good base for the gravy later. 

Misadventures in the French Language - Recipe: Le Tian de legumes a la Provencale

In preparation for the upcoming move to Paris, I've just signed up for French language classes at Alliance de Franchaise de Singapour, together with my girlfriend, S. It's been quite a ride, as my poor instructor, Pierre can attest. Languages are one of those things that are so much harder to do when you're an adult! The French language is complicated, what with its insistence on gendering everything, its funny characters and lack of an ordered, systematic set of rules (though on the last point, Pierre said, "Ah, but the Eengglish languahge eez de sayme, no?) He was not moved by my appeal: "Yes, but at least I understand it!" And of course, my mind, wants to remember only what it wants to memorise. So aside from names of food, as well as a long list of ballet terms that I learned from the many years I danced (not that that's going to help me much, sadly), I can now say a range of sentences that revolve around my dog, of all things. But I've made progress, I think, as the following illustration will show:

This was me during my first lesson:
Pierre: Ow doo yooou zay, I avve a male dogg?
Me: I know! Je ..erm...suis ...un chien! 
Pierre: Non. Dat eez, I am a dogg.
Me: Oh, crap.

End of first week:

Pierre: Alorr, Ow doo yooou zay, I avve a male dogg?

Me: Je suis...oh s*it, I mean...J'ai...erm, unne chien.

Pierre:  Your dogg is feemail?

Me: Oh, sorry, J'ai un chien. Je m'appelle Cooper.

Pierre: You are called de Cooper?

Me: Oh, crap. Sorry....erm.... Il s'appelle Cooper.

And today:

Pierre: Alorr, waatt doo yooou zay to your landlord?

Me: J'ai un petit chien ...errm, tres propre (or in plain English, I have a very small and clean dog).

Pierre: Oui! Non probleme.

Mon toutou

In my calculation, I now have the vocabulary to last me all of...well, five minutes, in French. In light of my misadventures in the French language, my mother sent me the link to a hilarious video of an old episode of Medicorp's The Noose, which I've been dying to post. I have to say I can relate to Alvin Ong's "Why must "chut" so many patterns?" It must be frustrating for taxi drivers to remember the names of all the condominiums in Singapore, and there are so many, let's face it. Neither does there seem to be a theme to the naming of these developments. For example, within my immediate vicinity the condos include Hillside, Hillview Heights, Summerhill, Symphony Heights, The Petals, Chantilly Rise...oh, and my favourite, Parq Palais. A real conversation with a taxi driver "uncle" recently: "Hillview got Heights, meh?" One could perhaps be forgiven for forgetting, sometimes, that you were in Singapore.

Here is a recipe for the classic French vegetable tian that I made for the dinner party, which features layers of tender vegetables baked in the oven until just done. Viva le' Chai Tow Kway!

Wash the leek in several changes of water to remove all the grit

Serves 4-6 as a side dish

Ingredients:
2 medium red capsicums
1 large Australian leek
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 smallish long eggplants or 1 larger one
2 small zucchini or 1 larger one
3 plum tomatoes (don't substitute with regular tomatoes)
1/4 dry white wine (such as Sauvignon blanc)
1 handful of fresh thyme
Extra virgin olive oil
Sea salt and freshly cracked black pepper
Butter for the casserole

Preheat your oven to 240 degrees Celsius and set on the grill function. Butter a medium rectangular or square baking dish or casserole. Quarter the capsicums, removing the seeds and membranes. Drizzle some olive oil over, lightly season with sea salt and black pepper and pop them into the oven. Grill until skins are blackened. Take them out and place them in a covered dish to steam. When cool enough to handle, remove skin and slice into thick strips.

Halve the leek and slice into thin strips, using only the white portion. Place them in a large pot of water until they separate. Drain and repeat twice more. Slice eggplant, zucchini and tomatoes into thin discs, about 1/8 inch thick.

Preheat oven on bake setting to 190 degrees Celsius. Heat a large non-stick skillet over medium heat, add two tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil and saute' garlic until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add leeks and saute' gently until for about 3-4 minutes or until they are fragrant and slightly wilted. Spread the mixture over the bottom of your baking dish. Season lightly and scatter thyme over the mixture. Now, layer eggplant, zucchini, tomatoes and peppers in turn, slightly overlapping. Press the vegetables gently to make sure they are tightly padded. Season lightly and spread the rest of the thyme over the vegetables. Drizzle olive oil over and sprinkle wine over the dish. Cover with a piece of buttered parchment paper.

Bake in the oven for about 35 minutes or so until vegetables are done and they have shrunk away from the edges of the baking dish a little. (You want the vegetables tender but not shriveled) Serve warm.

A Tale of a Dinner Party

They paved paradise, they put up a parking lot

A pink hotel, a boutique and a swinging hot spot

Don't it always go to show

You never know what you got till it's gone ?

They paved paradise, they put up a parking lot.

I've always enjoyed hosting dinner parties. It's such a joy to be able to gather people around the dining table over conversation - there's a certain civility and warmth about the atmosphere that you can't somehow get at a restaurant. And as a budding cook, there's a major plus side for me as well - that is, having a perfectly legitimate excuse to spend most of the day in the kitchen, completely unfettered - humming to music, banging pots and pans, chopping up veggies and with a certain four-legged rascal running circles around my feet. Sure, it's a whole lot of effort, and I've been told that I'm borderline obsessive and a nervous wreck before the dinner (always worried that I forgot something on the list, or that one of the dishes will not turn out right or that people will not enjoy themselves).

I've been meaning to host a dinner party for the people who have, in small but meaningful ways, made a difference to my life in Singapore. These are the friends I've made at the School who noticed when I was down and took me aside to have a quiet word, sat with me patiently while I complained for weeks on end about why I refused to accept that the marginal utility of slippers and shoes were the same, and shared with me the notes (and perhaps, just perhaps, might have signed in for me...hehe) for one particularly dreaded course. :) But I'll admit that I've put it off for weeks now, always citing the crazy schedule at school, or having too many things on my plate, or being overwhelmed. But last weekend, I listened to an old favourite of mine, Big Yellow Taxi, and it dawned upon me that in just a few more months, my life in Singapore will be packed up, labelled and waiting by the door in 20 x 20 boxes as I begin a new chapter in my life. I remembered an old Malay saying, "cakap tak serupa bikin," (Say one thing, but do another) and I realised I too, shamefully, hadn't lived up to my word.

Of course, as luck would have it, I got completely drenched trying to navigate 4 large tote bags of groceries through the thunderstorm this morning, and I may just have fallen down and broken the eggs when I slipped on the floor at the Bukit Timah market, but I'm none the worse for wear. It was a great night - my friends ate, I drank, as the laws of the universe dictated. Recipes to follow, I promise!

No dinner party is complete without the infamous kitchen accident

Nothing like a lovely bowl of salad to start off a meal

Clockwise from left: Herb Roasted Chicken,  lemongrass ice jelly (Thanks, KT), French vegetable tian,  sage and sausage stuffing, focaccia with pesto

Alamak...the aftermath!