Fun dessert.

I often see typical french pattisserie Mille-fuille on display in majority European cafes. It normally consist of many layers of puff pastry that could be stacked with all sort of berry fruits of Raspberries or Strawberries. It then incorporated with cream or mousse. Lined with flat layers of pastry. As a chef would like to experiment alot, I use spring roll pastry instead of the classic puff pastry.

Simply brush them with melted butter on each layer.

Baked till golden brown.

Shaped into rectangle and ready for the oven.

Since Brunei grow bananas, I round cut into half an inch then caramelised it on a pan. Drizzle with toffee or caramel or butterscotch whatever you want to call it. Addtional ice cream would complete the whole plate. You could also use chocolate sauce.

Not so French is it? Bananas?

Good for home and good in the menu too. It's not pretentious as it doesn't seems like it, hardly any wastage, minumum ingredients thus what else for an affordable dessert. One good tip for chefs, "sell something that you are good at, be creative, nothing pretentious and easy to prepare".

Poached Seabass on Egg noodle with baby spinach.with wasabi Vinegrette. Clean, refreshing and I cant think of anything healthier than this. Now thats a good thought.


Wonderful Vinaigrette of all. My 1st time using powdered wasabi. I have yet to see the difference between ready made ones and powdered. Judging by taste, Its smilarly the same. It balance the heavy texture from the noodles as the sharpness from the vinaigrette makes the texture adorably lighter on the palate. If your diner can't take Wasabi, you can substitute with lime and grate some zest off the skin. :)

Regards,

Chef Pol

[Foodie Charity event 2009]

hi guys...

It was absolutely fun Sunday yesterday. I sort of compete in the Foodie Bloogers Charity event held at Pablo's. My charity recipe of Seabass got 4th place after the vote. Yesterday was my 1st time ever gathering among our local bloggers. I got to meet Chef Nash, Pablo, Nikki, Maurina and some others. It was really not bad with good host and lots of food. (damn!)

Since I'm recovering from minor gout on my left foot, I refrained myself from indulging those lovely range of food. I was so tempted to try out AnakBrunei's dirty Lamb :). I just didn't have the balls to eat it and risk another gout attack! sia sia pun.

To be able to watch our brigade of local Chefs (head by Chef Nash) cooking demonstration was indeed a positive thing. Lets hope we will see more locals will come into the ranks. Keep it up guys.

With that I also like to mention here about the winning sweets by Nikki. Her Macaroon is just like any french made ones. Forget Ladure'e Ladure'e Macaroon. Make orders from her. Trust me :). You just don't get Srewpine leave (Pandan) Macaroon in France do you? I think I'm going to give another attempt making macaroon.

On positive note, It was a nice meeting you guys. Till then. Enjoy yourself

Regards,

Chef Pol

Menu #3 [Foodie Bloggers Charity Event 2009] Pan seared Scallop and scrambled egg with chives

I choose scallop for this event simply because they are cute and a unique shellfish. It would be nice if someone could supply me hand caught Scallop than the dredged ones. You can buy them at Utama Grand or Hua Ho.I bought mine from Utama Grand. Try to pick the nicest of all. Since this Scallop had been dredged, You will see a lot of bruises on the texture. So take your time before buying it. Yes, its expensive, but you'd rather make your own then paying for some establishment overly charged price just to make them look pretty and expensive.

Pan Seared Scallop and Scrambled Egg with chives.

Ingredients:

• Large Frozen Scallop - 3 pieces
• Eggs = 3 whole Eggs and 1 Egg Yolk
• Local Fresh Chives - Chopped finely
• Cream and Butter
• Salt & blackpepper

To cook the Scallop: Make sure the Scallop is thoroughly thawed, dry them in the fridge then pad them dry with clean tea towel. This will reduce the water content absorded in the Scallop when coooking. Depend on size, Seasoned with salt & pepper then cook the Scallop about 2 minutes or so on a medium high heat with butter on each side.

Pan Seared Scallop with butter.

To make Scrambled Egg: Whisk 3 eggs and the egg yolk with a little bit of cream and salt to taste. Cook on a non Stick Pan with butter. When it start to scrambled, throw the chopped Chives and bind it together. Make sure its not to dry. Leave a little bit of moist.

This dish can be quite impressive if you put a little Green salad leaves or you could drizzle flavoured oil to it. It's fun for a small party, be it as a canapes or Starters. For chefs working in a restaurant, put this on your menu.

Regards,

Chef Pol

Menu #1 [Foodie Bloggers Charity Event 2009] Rib eye steak, pumpkin mashed with Peach Sauce

Menu number #1 posted today. I would love this steak dish to be part of the charity. It is so simple and easy. I think steak is popular to everyone as it should. Since the invasion of cheap meat Buffalo from India and China, Many has forgotten how delicious cattle are. Don't get me wrong. Buffalo meat ryhmes well mostly on malay spicy cuisine like Rendang. Western cuisine does not use alot of spices. Having said that, Buffalo has got this raw meaty after test. It's very lean and has low fat content. So with a lot of spices it surely balance the taste.

Even so, in a business, you don't need to use cattle. Only if you want to indulge your customers then do so. An amazing cook can turn cheap cuts into something so delicious. Be it from the shin, blade, briskets or trimmings.

Get your rib eye steak with most white marbling fat.

Seared Rib eye Steak, Mashed pumpkin with peach Sauce.

Difficulties = EASY.
Served 1.

Ingredients:
Round Cut Australian PDS Rib eye Steak. - NOT WATER BUFFALO. (can be easily bought at SupaSave or Utama Grand)
Fresh Rosemary sprig - u can use dried ones too about half teaspoon.
3 cloves of garlic
Salt & blackpepper
Butter - NOT PLANTA

Yellow Pumpkin

for mashed:
Yellow Pumpkin - Cut into small pieces so its quicker to cook.
French Mustard - Optional
Butter

for the sauce:
One canned of peach with syrup.
A blender.

Methods:

• Blitz the whole peach in the can. Blend until smooth. Put aside.
  
• Boil the diced Pumpkin into a rapid boiling water. sprinkle some salt. Checked until it become so mushy. Mashed the pumpkin with a wooden spoon and add one tablespoon of mustard. salt & blackpepper to taste. To add richness to it, add a knob of butter. Taste until you are satisfied. Put aside.
  
• Use Non stick Pan. You pan has to be very hot. Smashed the garlic and throw into the pan together with rosemary sprig. Seared your meat on the pan, seasoned with salt & blackpepper. now add butter (just enough to bast the whole meat). Keep basting using a spoon on each side. I cook my steak Medium which is slightly pink. Overcooked meat would make it go dry and boring. If you are unsure, fork out the meat on a chopping board and cut on the side. You can tell whether its medium or still rare.

• Points:
  Medium = slightly pink, or pale
  Rare = bright and bloody.
  
• To assemble: Pour the sauce, Place steak within the sauce, then scoop mashed pumpkin and put on the side. Thats it.

Seared Rib Eye Steak, Pumpkin Mashed with Peach Sauce

Regards
ChefPol

Bass and Leeks [Foodie Bloggers Charity Event 2009] Menu #2

Pan Seared Local Seabass, Braised Leeks and Citrus Sauce.

4 main ingredients. Seabass, Leeks, Orange, Red Onion and Garlic.


Please ask your butcher to fillet you bass.

• Firstly, Sqeeze about 4 orange juice. Pass it through a sieve.

• To make the sauce: Pour half of the juice into a sauce pan, heat it up until it reduce into half. Once Reduced, Pour the rest into the pan and dilute. If you orange happens to be quite sour, add 1 teaspoon of sugar. Put salt and White pepper to taste. Finish it off with a little bit of Cream. Taste then keep aside. heat off.

• Braised your leeks using *fish stock (don't throw away fish head and bones as u can make fish stock with this.) Simmer leeks until soft and easy to cut through. Use a knife to test to find out.
• Have your Red onion diced into small cubes. keep aside.

• Now prepare your fish. Use a non stick pan. Seasoned the fist with Salt & pepper, cook with melted butter. I assume every side takes 2 minutes to cook. Remember. Seabass is very delicate and it breaks up easily. So have your convinient spatula or flat spoon handy.
• Heat your sauce and throw in the diced Onions. Just before starts to boil, take it off and spoon over your plate.

• To assemble: Place the fish in the middle of the sauce, arrange your braised leeks on the side. garnished with mint leave and orange segment.

There you have it. Fresh and clean. Good for ladies. Wooo your love ones. I did not invent this dish but Ive created it and refined. This is not on the menu as this is a dish to be cooked at home. Very simple and very much straight forward. The use of local Seabass is absolutely important. Yes its quite expensive. It's sustainable and you know where your fish comes from. Compare some frozen fish which was brought all the way from Norway or the Atlantic. Tsk tsk tsk...

*Fish Stock: Fill up your deep sauce pan or any boling pan will do. Put the fish head and bones and fill cold water about 2/3 of the pan. Skim any scum using a spoon. Add just a little bit of salt and garlic to the boulion (stock). Boil until its half reduced. Strained and keep in the fridge until needed.

Regards,

Chef Pol

p/s : Few more recipes coming. I was supposed to email this to Senor Pablo (world-of-pablo.blogspot.com). I hope you can just refer the recipes from my blog. Macam 2 tiga kali keraja mate. hehe. On the other note, I think this post is very rare because I don't normally include recipes. I'm very bad with measurements so i rather not elaborate it in my blog unless requested through emails. Ok, lets hope this recipe goes into the book. :)

Bloggers Foodie Charity event 26th April 2009

Farm local Seabass

I have been invited to contribute recipes for the Foodie Blog charity challenge. This morning i bought live farm seabass. Whats amazing about it, it doesn't come from Norway or the Atlantic Ocean. It's sustainable, definitely not endangered. Local breed.

Im going to create a few recipes that is easier to cook at home by just anyone. We will see.
Update later...

Puttanesca!!!

What it means is kinda offensive. Why did they invented? I sure not know why. This fiery tomato based sauce with Anchovies is absolutely lovely. An Italian dish on the plate. Key ingredients consist of capers, Anchovies and Black Olives.

Spagetti Puttanesca with Beef Fillet.

Enjoy...

Chef Pol

My few many attempt on "Sweets".

• Here are few of my sweets collection. I won't retract what i wrote in my profile above. As much as I resent being pastry Chef. Learning and to be able to create from basic is okay. An all rounder chef is vital.
• It is always nice to be move around section than sticking to just one section. I certainly would not prefer myself to be working on one section and doing the same thing for years and years. This could result an 'opportunist' chef (be it local or foreign) to bypass you, and that is just your lost really.
• I think every young trainee chef should be given the chance to cook or be in the kitchen larder (Butcher) or mise en place (food preperation) rather than being abused to wash dirty plates on thier part of trainning.
• This young trainee expect to be learning anything related to cooking.
• This is the reason why we lack local young Chefs but dont get me wrong, we do have many of... Potentials. Unfortunately, potential counts nothing in the real world.
• So, kau, kau, you and you, you, yes... you.. oii.. you... oii orang baru.. oii chef baru belajar... Cuci semua barang kotor ni sampai bersih. (mudahan aku dapat jaga periuk nasi aku dan geng geng aku for the next 10 tahun lagi he... he ...he....)

I think this was floating Island. It's a poached Meringue in vanilla mlik served with toffee sauce and white chocolate.

Who wouldn't like Chocolate Truffles.

Italian Meringue!!!

This was posted before. My few weeks stint at the hotel while still at college. I learned chocolate tampering. Fantastic.

If I can remember this was chocolate baileys cake and this Raspberry slabs mousse. I've forgoten what was it called. Sorry.

Souffles, Souffles... Classic French

Birthday Cakes too.

Wild berries Crumble with Ice cream. Apple tuiles on top.

Frangipane tart.

Apricot Delice. Rounded using white chocolate thin papper. It was an experiment. Now I wonder whether it actually went on to the dessert menus.

Brioche of chocolate chips and custard?

Crust salt baked Pineappale with Ice cream

Savarin with manggo and Vanilla Sabayon. Classic dish by the well known chef Brillat Savarin. This cake is rich in yeast it easy to absord syrup.

Brioche butter pudding. Playing around with Sugar work.

Petit fours.... amuse bouche...

Marshmalows, chocolate something and ice cream.

My beauty one. Melting Chcolate Fondant cake.

Panacotta, with almond buscuit.

Ive got alot more. I'll post again in due course. My pastry skills is getting rusty. It's ok, it doesn't bother me.

Have a good evening everyone.

Chef Pol

Almost Greek

Today we did Greek menus. There were Lentils Soup, Pilaf Youghurt rice, Beef Stifado (Greek Stew), Cabbage & Leeks Cream, Steam Carrots and Baked Auburgine.

Greek Youghurt Pilaf Rice

Steam Carrot

Greek Beef Stidado. We use local Shallots as a garnish. Beef Stifado is basically a Stew Greek Style. This dish has lntense Cinnamon Flavour.

Baked Auburgine

• Let me take this time to say a sincere Thank you to those readers for wishing to try out some dishes that I Posted.
• Let me remind to some readers that this is not a Commercial blog. It's my way trying to inspire Potential young Local Bruneians Chef, or any under priviliege boys and girls who would love to take cooking as a career.
• It's not an issue about where i Cook. Be it at home or at my work place. Im here to share, So far one particular guy say its bragging? like huh?
  I'll be happy to give out recipes providing I am free. Just one thing you guys should know is that I don't do measurements. bad bad... I know.
• I also believe we can earn a living being a cook or a Chef. Just what fascinates me is the amount of foreign "HEAD CHEF" (cooks or Chefs) flooding our Food Industries.
• Until now we have yet to witness Local chef to hold the rein as HEAD CHEF, Executives Chef at any of Brunei's renown Hotel's, leading catering Industries. Cafes or Restaurants.
• I just can't see why our local Chef can't be appointed. I can't dictate either ...
• I can't do it alone. We need more local talent to take over our local cafes or restaurants.
• As for now I'll post up any new menus for fun.

p/s: To Italian Lover, please stop being a stalker. I'll be happy if you yourself is a Chef, maybe we can set up 1st ever Local Bruneian Chef Association. Please be nice and Thank you.

regards,

Saifol

Comfort Food

Cottage pie and Roasted sweet Potatoes today. Tomorrow we b doing Greek Beef stew called Stifado. Lets hope it turn out alrite. Greek baby...

see u tomorrow

Chef Pol