cookbook

[noobcooks]

Eggslut-inspired Breakfast Sandwich

Woke up this Saturday morning dreaming about Los Angeles and craving for some breakfast sandwiches. Went to a nearby supermarket to buy some ingredients, and this was the result!

Toasted two hamburger buns at 150°C, 3 minutes on each side. Oven was set to top heat only. Buttered on the sliced part, dipped in beaten egg on the skin part for a nice glazed effect. The skin part could have been toasted a little bit more.

Fried up some back bacon.

Set my induction cooker to heat 6, poured in 3 large eggs (lightly beaten). Sprinkled salt. Once the bottom started to cook, turned the heat off and just started folding the egg. (for my second egg, I set my heat to 4, and it turned out a bit too watery, but my husband liked that).

Added some smokey bbq sauce (Eggslut uses chipotle ketchup, but I feel that bbq is a good substitute). 

Done! A deconstructed Eggslut-inspired Bacon and Egg sandwich.

[noobcooks]

Bacon, Egg and Toast Cups

Decided to try making breakfast cups using a muffin tin I recently bought. It looked really good in the pictures, but I severely overcooked it :(

I was referencing this Martha Stewart recipe but I reckon muffin tray was larger than the one she was using?

Buttered the muffin tray with an improvised brush — my finger in a plastic bag.

Bread took longer than expected to fit nicely into the muffin tin. It looked really simple in tutorials and recipes. Used our mug to trim the bread into circles and then split them into half — ended up using three halves to cover the entire base of the tin.

Baked the bread and bacon chunks at 180º for 5 minutes.

Took out the tray and cracked in an egg each. Broke two egg yolks because I wasn’t graceful enough :(

Seasoned with salt and pepper.

Baked for 20 minutes, which proved to be too long. Egg was entirely cooked and the whole cup was a too dry. Had to accompany it with HP sauce. SAD!

Will try again next time, this time perhaps baking at 12-15 min instead.

[noobcooks]

Pancakes for Brunch

Bought Betty Crocker Bisquick Shake 'N Pour Buttermilk Pancake Mix and Johnsonville Smoked Bratwurst Sausage to make breakfast!

Took half of the pancake mix and added some water to it (rough estimation, I felt I may have added too much water). Set the stove to heat of 7 but it proved to be too weak. Changed to 11 and it became slightly burnt. About 20 seconds each side was enough.

For the sausages, left it in a pot to simmer for about 15 minutes at a low heat of 4. Then placed it in the hot pan at 7. The skin split immediately, even doing so when I turned off the heat entirely. Should have drained the bratwursts more thoroughly before plunging them into the pan.

But the food was still turned out pretty satisfying! The brats were really juicy.

[noobcooks]

Canned Curry Noodles 

Added a can of curry chicken to our instant noodles. IT SUCKED. Smashed bones everywhere.

[noobcooks]

Happy Easter!

This is a cheat post because I didn’t make these eggs. But these Cadbury Mini Eggs are so delightful (in both the taste and the looks departments). I wish I could have these eggs for breakfast everyday.

Buy Cadbury Mini Eggs

Lay them out and Instagram the shit out of them (optional step)

Finish Cadbury Mini Eggs

[noobcooks]

Grilled Ham & Cheese with Scrambled Eggs

Nothing like a weekend morning with a hearty breakfast and some TV. My scrambled eggs were a little overcooked so it tasted more like omelette. My toast was also a little burnt when I tried to grill the already-toasted bread to melt the cheddar. 

Need more practice.

[noobcooks]

Peperoncino Angel Hair with Shrimp

I am an ultimate cheater bug when it comes to cooking. I find so much joy in creating a dish but I’m always looking for a shortcut.

This here, I used packets of ready made pasta sauce from Muji. I also used frozen, peeled shrimp instead of fresh ones from the supermarket. As long as the husband cannot tell the difference, right?

Bring a pot of water (with salt) to a boil

Switch to medium heat and put in the pasta (I used angel hair, my favourite pasta)

Try not to overcook the pasta, which I totally did

In a separate pan, heat up and add butter

Place shrimp in pan and pan fry them

Switch off heat

Add pasta into pan and pour sauce all over

Toss ‘em up real good

Serve with peperoncino and other herbs

[noobcooks]

Buttery Mash Potatoes

We were hungry and too lazy to head out for breakfast. We had some potatoes and a bunch of seasoning left, so we made some mashed potatoes!

Wash them potatoes

Bring a pot of water with salt to a boil

Drop them potatoes (I left the skin on) in

Leave pot to boil at medium-high heat for 20 minutes

Stir them around and leave them to boil for another 20 minutes

Place them in bowl and add butter, salt, pepper

Mash them potatoes

Most recipes also advised using milk but I didn’t have any. So I just used butter.

I also didn’t have a proper masher so I used a fork and had a good workout for my arm.

[noobcooks]

Cheesy Hasselback Potatoes

Made some hasselback potatoes! Went well with our leftover chicken which we conveniently baked together in the oven.

Wash potato

Cut potato

Season potato (butter, salt/ cajun, black pepper)

Put potato in preheated oven, 220 deg C

Bake for 20 min

Remove, season again, baste with more butter, spread out the slices

Bake for another 20 min

Remove, baste with more butter, add topping (cheese/ bacon)

Serve and eat while hot and crispy

Mm mm.

[noobcooks]

Pork Shabu Rice

We bought pork belly shabu shabu (those really thinly sliced ones) and pan fried it with some Yakitori marinade. It went really well with rice + seaweed! A really fast meal.

[noobcooks]

Processed Meat Platter

This was probably one of the biggest regrets in our lives. Bulk of this meal was processed, salty, heart-stoppingly unhealthy meat. I think the only redeeming factor was the scrambled eggs, which I actually did quite a lot of research before trying.

Crack the egg

Beat the egg

Add the butter to the pan (low heat!)

Pour the egg in

Start folding the egg in sheets

An egg-stravagant meal is served

[noobcooks]

French Toast

These babies are such life-savers. They save dying bread and ageing eggs. 

Crack the eggs

Beat the eggs

Add a pinch of salt

Dip triangular pieces of bread into the egg

Add butter to heated pan

Fry the bread

Serve with maple syrup

[noobcooks]

Garlic Fried Rice

Leftover rice + meat means garlic fried rice!

Add oil to the heated pan

Fry garlic till golden brown

Add meat

Add rice

Add sauce (I spammed some Yakitori and Japanese soy sauce)

Mix and fry and mix and fry till your arms are tired

Serve hot!

[noobcooks]

Sirloin Strip with Cajun Fries

First time making steak! I’m surprised it turned out really well. Bought striploin steak from Westgate’s Isetan which was on sale, at $15 each.

Our kitchen smelled like butter for days on end.

Cajun Wedges

Cut potatoes to size

Soak in water to remove starch

Pat dry potatoes

Put potatoes in mixture of oil, salt, and flavouring (e.g. cajun powder)

Place potatoes in preheated pan (200 deg C)

Bake for 20 minutes

Flip and bake for another 20 minutes

Strip Sirloin

Season with salt and pepper on all sides

Leave beef to thaw at room temperature

Heat pan at induction level 14

Pour oil in

Sear meat at 1 min flips for four times

Turn down the heat to induction cooker level 6

Add about two tablespoons of butter, and flavouring (e.g. thyme)

Continue flipping the meat at 1 min per flip

For medium rare, a total of 8 minutes is sufficient

For medium well, sear for a total of 10-12 minutes