Christmas Special: Potatoes Au Gratin

Hi guys. This might be my last post for this year and predictably, I wanted to do a Christmas special.

I came out with back-to-back posts at the start of this month so I felt a little burned out on the blogging front. I turned to my trusted culinary sidekick (aka husband 😆) and asked him to take over the Christmas special. I had a few ideas in mind - I was thinking of something on the lines of festive gingerbread cookies or a brioche bread pudding. I shared this thought with him but did not receive the kind of enthusiastic response I was expecting. 

A few days later, he informed me that he was going to make a savory casserole kind of dish. Now I know that when I ask for a favor, I need to refrain from being an ungrateful jerk even when I'm not on board with how the favor is being executed 😄 In general, I trust his judgement and so I decided to go with whatever he had in mind. He told me that he was going to make a Potatoes Au Gratin and that it would contain caramelized onions, fresh herbs, béchamel sauce and Gruyere cheese. We love all forms of potatoes in our house and it sounded pretty good to me. I figured that this dish will complement a traditional Christmas lunch or dinner especially if it was served as a side dish with a meat-based entrée. 

That being said, if I were to make this dish for a dinner party at home, I'd probably serve it alongside an asparagus frittata and Mediterranean salad, washed down with raspberry lemonade and end the meal with a simple dessert such as chocolate brownies topped with vanilla ice-cream. 

Please do not ask me to put a vegan spin on this dish because I wouldn't know where to begin 😝

The Au Gratin turned out yummy. We are all-out carbs and cheese people here 😀 The kids enjoyed it too. I just love the nuanced flavor of gruyere. It opens with full bodied fruity tones, the flavors slowly journey towards an earthy nuttiness with a soft finale to finish. The inclusion of gruyere elevated this dish from what could have been a bland and boring cheesy baked potatoes to an extravagant and extra-hearty side dish. The potatoes were fork-tender, creamy yet retaining their shape and acting as a perfect canvas for the the cheese, the caramelized onions and the creamy and subtly flavored béchamel sauce. The parsley added some color to an otherwise not-very-attractive dish.

I've got to start wrapping up this post you guys coz I have lots of stuff to do. Tomorrow, I'm off to India for the year-end holidays. As much as I love to cook, I'm delighted that my kitchen will be closed for 3 weeks 😆 I've already drafted a shopping list, planned to spend quality time with family, scheduled a list of catch-ups with close friends and listed a bunch of restaurants that I want to check out. I know it is going to be amazing and I can't wait for the madness to begin!

Advance wishes for a Merry Christmas & Happy New Year folks. Handing over the reigns of the blog to my husband now.

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Greetings readers,

I don't even remember the last time I was here. I must be back here on the blog after a gap of more than a year. It hasn't been intentional though. I've been cooking as often as I usually do - mostly on weekends but I've mostly stuck to what I know and haven't been experimenting that much.

Megha wanted to me make a dessert in time for Christmas but desserts aren't my forte and so I wasn't confident of pulling it off. With time ticking away, I settled on a savory side dish thus reeling myself into my comfort zone.

We usually make roast or mashed potatoes at home as part of a hearty English-style breakfast on weekends. For this blog post, I wanted to do something a bit different. Au gratin potatoes are one of the most popular casseroles of all time. Tender, fluffy potatoes are bathed in a rich and creamy cheese sauce, then baked in a hot oven until bubbly and crisp. The terms scalloped potatoes and au gratin potatoes are often used interchangeably, but technically the difference between the two lies in the fact that scalloped potatoes should not have cheese. Scalloped potatoes are also cut thicker and stacked higher than au gratin potatoes.

Gruyere is a delicious medium-hard cheese that has a nutty taste and hint of sweetness. It has excellent melting properties and so I chose it along with creamy béchamel, fresh thyme and caramelized onions to envelop the potatoes in which I knew my family would like very much.

I'm glad I made this dish. We now have a new style of potatoes that we can enjoy. Making this dish does take some time but with a little planning and prep, you won't feel like you are slaving away in the kitchen.

See you next year...

Eat, Drink & Gallop! at Cheval Cafe, Bar & Bistro (Singapore Turf Club Riding Center)

This blog post has been in the pipeline for almost a year. I’m happy I’ve finally gotten around to publishing it.

This is unlike my usual restaurant review where I visit a restaurant with an agenda to talk about the décor, ambiance and service, rate a select few dishes based on their presentation, portion-size and taste and finally give you an overall summary of my dining experience. This post doesn't follow any set format rather provides a general overview on a place that has gradually become our go-to spot for quality family time and to unwind after a busy week. 

The prelude to this post has some background for context...

Before the children were born, my husband and I used to dine out a lot. And when I say a lot....I mean, A LOT. We would make our way to either a café, bistro, ethnic eatery, pub, casual dining restaurant, or fast food, several times a week with occasional visits to fine dining establishments. The location seldom mattered since both of us can travel great distances for good food. Most of the times it would be impromptu dinners brought on by a sudden impulse to go out or else boredom of having to cook at home but also after an evening of shopping or after catching a movie or meeting up with single friends or fellow childless couples. Orchard road, Clarke Quay, Robertson Quay, Arab Street, Holland Village, Bukit Timah and Dempsey were among our haunts.  

Once our twins were born, all that came to a screeching halt. We still did eat outside food (although considerably lesser) but it was mostly in the form of home delivery. Back then, we didn’t have the option of leaving our offspring's home and going out by ourselves. Lugging around an elephant-sized baby bag while wrestling two squealing toddlers into their car seats is something I never looked forward to doing. Not to mention, I barely could enjoy my food (and even forget to photograph it....gasp!) what with all the fussing over the little ones. And once our children started growing older, we realized that they were less human and more pint-sized tornadoes so venturing out of the house with them was always going to feel like an epic adventure. 

Going to an enclosed indoor restaurant invariably translated into table banging, cutlery clanging, spilling beverages, knocking things over, tugging tablecloths, ear-splitting shrieking, running into service staff, crashing into glass doors (I swear this has happened a few times) and the rare but dreaded chants of “I’m bored”. Our daughters like to draw or color only when they are in the mood to do so and keeping them preoccupied/distracted with electronic gadgets during mealtimes is my biggest parenting pet peeve so on principle, I obstinately refuse to do it. To add to that, we could never take them too far because the barfy duo tend to get sick in a moving car. So, to summarize, going out for a meal as a family was not much fun at all (for us adults mainly 😝) until the past year or so. 

The solution for us was quite obvious - going to nearby family-friendly restaurants with al fresco dining where the little ones have room to run around without being a nuisance or which have designated play areas, preferably a kids menu and most importantly, where being noisy doesn’t elicit looks of annoyance. Although we still prefer home delivery, we have been going out more and there are a couple of restaurants that our girls really like going to such as Cheval, Marche, BLooiE's Roadhouse, Carrotsticks & Cravings, Wildseed Cafe or Wheeler's Estate at Seletar Aerospace Park, Open Farm Community, Bistro Gardenasia, Pasarbella and Jamie's Italian. 

  

Naturelo Premium Supplements - From Nature With Love

 Product review

I firmly believe that there is no substitute for a balanced and healthy diet. But having said that, in today’s fast-paced demanding world, a busy lifestyle and/or a limited food budget doesn’t allow everyone to enjoy nutrient-dense foods on an every meal basis. 

Take my family for example - as full-time working professionals and parents of two young children, me and my husband make it a priority to cook fresh home-cooked meals, 85-90% of the time for the family. But there are sometimes 2-3 meals per week that translates into us ordering take-out, going out to dinner or else the lack of time or energy results in us rustling up quick-fix meals that sometimes relies on processed ingredients. Also, being a couple of complete foodies, we do not restrict ourselves when it comes to the food we love, so indulgent meals, deep-fried food and desserts are made in our household without any guilt. Eating balanced and healthy doesn’t figure in the scheme of things during such instances 😆

Even though we do embrace a variety of foods and cuisines, incorporate whole grains, low-fat dairy products, fresh vegetables and fruits in our meals and make it a point to include healthy dishes in our weekly menu, it always seems like we could do just a little bit better. I do check nutritional labels before buying ingredients to minimize the nasties but honestly speaking, everything I buy from the grocery store is not certified organic. Our children are small eaters by nature and although I feel like they get enough carbs, enjoy several servings of fresh fruit per day and love dairy, they do not get enough protein and they have to be coaxed (make that begged) to up their daily intake of vegetables and greens.  

To top it, my family as a whole, is pretty active and we get plenty of exercise so our energy demands increase as a consequence of that. So, in our case, there is a high chance that we do not get the recommended amount of all the essential nutrients from food alone. As a person ages, the body’s ability to absorbs nutrients decreases so I am well aware of how mine and my husband’s food habits needs to evolve as we grow older. Not to mention, pesticides and herbicides used to farm our food, chemicals found in our water supply, food processing and external environmental issues like pollution drastically increase our need for extra vitamins and minerals.  

Nutritional supplements can be useful for filling in gaps in an individual’s diet. 

When I was approached by NATURELO to review their products, I took the time to check out their philosophy, products and overwhelmingly positive customer reviews and thought – why not? 

The only time I had ever taken supplements in my life before this was while I was trying to conceive and during the entire length of my pregnancy and breastfeeding duration. 

I started thinking more about it and in addition to our (sometimes) bad dietary choices, I am aware that I have (and have always had) a low haemoglobin count so an iron and folate-rich diet could be beneficial for me. Unlike me & the kids, my husband prefers to stay indoors most of the time (owing to Singapore’s hot and humid weather) so he could do with more Vitamin D. 

NATURELO Premium Supplements Inc is a small privately-funded company established in 2013. The company believes that the best vitamins and minerals come from nature and not a lab. They take what nature has to offer – organically-grown fruits and vegetables and package them into powerful high quality supplements that work in sync with the human body. As of today, they offer a line of 40+ natural vitamin products. 

NATURELO products do not contain genetically-modified plants. All the nutrients in their supplements are said to be derived solely from nature. There are no artificial colors, stabilizers or preservatives. The supplements are vegan-friendly which is good news for vegetarians and vegans. Also, the supplements are free of common allergens including soy, gluten, dairy, corn and peanuts.  

The supplements are made in the United States in an FDA-approved facility. The company meets and exceeds the cGMP standards and each ingredient is tested for purity and potency. 

I was sent three of their products - One Daily Multivitamin for Men, One Daily Multivitamin for Women and Whole Food Vitamin Gummies for Kids. This review is coming to you after two months of consuming the supplements. 

Baker's Corner: Caramel Pecan Cheesecake

Does it feel like the holidays already? To me, it sure does. A little over two weeks before I pack my bags and head home with my family to visit the rest of my family 😊

December is usually not the month for restrictive eating, what say folks? 😁 I've had sugar on my mind lately and when it comes to dessert, my mind never strays too far away from cake. And when we are talking about cake, the visual of my favourite cheesecake is the first that bombards my senses. 

I've blogged different kinds of cheesecake recipes. The classic New York Cheesecake, the exotic White Chocolate-Yuzu Cheesecake, the pillowy soft Japanese Cheesecake, the chocolate infused American Chocolate Ripple Cheesecake and even a berry-infused cheesecake sitting on a brownie aka Blackberry Cheesecake Brownies.

I told you I had a thing for cheesecake, didn't I? 😉

I had no idea what variation to attempt next so I asked my husband. He thought for exactly 10 seconds and blurted out "Caramel Pecan Cheesecake". I love caramel, I love pecans and I love cheesecake so my immediate thought was - that's such a great idea. Alas! it hardly turned out to be original coz I found out that there are several recipes already out there. I took inspiration from a few of them but trust me when I say that this carefully curated recipe for the cheesecake is my own. 

You must know that I don't like my desserts cloyingly sweet. I've said that over and over again. While making this cheesecake, I wanted to control the amount of sweetness in the cheesecake filling because I was going to be topping the finished cheesecake with a homemade caramel sauce which, let's admit, is sugar incarnate. I also didn't want to go the salted caramel route because the cheesecake naturally tends to be a tad salty thanks to the cream cheese. I added only a dash of sea salt to my caramel sauce to offset the sweetness without rendering a salty taste. 

With the toasty crunch from the pecans, the buttery sweet caramel sauce, the mildly sweet and salty luscious cheesecake filling and the flavourful graham cracker crust, this dessert came together perfectly. 

Christmas and New Year is coming up so what are you waiting for people? 😃