Home-made: Tuna Avocado Mixed Salad with wrap

We have tuna avocado mixed salad with wholemeal wrap today. Something 'simple' that doesn't require cooking due to the logistics available to us this weekend. Crunchy and tasty!

Home-made: Braised Chicken & Vegetable Stew

 

Braised chicken and vegetable stew in dashi stock; "happy call" new potatoes and baked satsuma imo and kabocha.
A tasty stew of everything good =D And that chicken breast was so tender and juicy! Happy Call ftw!

Home-made: Spinach "Quiche"

Glad to report that the "quiche" recipe worked and tastes decent! "Crust" is made of mountain rye low carb wraps (2 layers per cup/tray) - a packet of 8 thin wraps yielded 12 cuppies and 1 mid-sized quiche.
Two types of filling, both stirred into a mixture of whole eggs, egg whites and skim milk. First "quiche" is filled with 300gm frozen spinach, chopped lean ham and a bit of cheese. Second version has a huge bunch of chopped chives, tricolour peppers and ham. Both are accompanied by plain baked baby potatoes, pumpkin, peppers and plenty of asparagus!

So moreish, I couldn't stop stuffing my mouth..

Home-made: Oven-baked vegetable salad bento

Healthy food prep despite the busy weekend. Thanks Mky for the love!
 
This week, we have oven-baked pumpkin, beet-root, organic baby carrots, potatoes and romanesco broccoli. All this was put together like a salad and topped with sliced avocado. 
The main is roast chicken from Cold Storage. As you can observe, we cheated on the protein. 

Pre-baking stage.

Bento lunch for lunch on Tues or Weds.

Home-made: Gigantic Burgers (2 types)

Bento Lunch Prep Done! Dky asked for hamburgers this week, so that's what he got!

Burger one is topped with egg and ketchup, burger two with bacon and BBQ sauce. The homemade beef patties comprise a half pound of lean beef mince EACH, as well as chopped up kale, carrots and onions. Thanks to the addition of some crisp, sweet vegetables, the burger patties are super juicy and moreish! Burgers sit on some rather nice foccacia buns from Swissbake and are accompanied by either a kale and bacon salad in sesame sauce, or a fresh mesclun salad with radishes, sweet corn nibblets and vinaigrette.

These half-pound cheeseburgers are MASSIVE! Even Roxy, the dog,  was stunned by the sheer size of it (and then she recovered instantly and demanded to jump on the burger bandwagon)...
— eating Cheese burgers

Home made Bento: Baked Halibut & Grilled Chicken Breast

 

Baked halibut

 Bento Lunch Prep Done!
Two styles this week. First off we have baked halibut in herb crust, stirfried veggies and a sunny side up, accompanied by baked baby sweet potato wedges.
Version two is couscous (made up with the last of my post-Christmas turkey bone broth) topped with grilled chicken breast and assorted vegetables (choysum, carrots, tomatoes, onions).

Grilled Chicken with cous cous

Chef's tips on baking fish:
Rub a bit of butter on the shiny side of your foil and plop the fish skin side down (I do skin side up for salmon to get crispy skin). I usually bake at 220 degrees Celsius for around 15 mins and give it a poke in the middle, if it flakes it's done. I find it's okay to slightly under-cook fish since it continues to cook after coming out of the oven.

Note: I don't usually thaw my fish fully before baking since I generally use dry rubs on it (eg Lawry's salt-free steak herb mix). If you use fully thawed fish, perhaps just 10 mins for a thin fillet would do? Try baking with frozen halibut, it's pretty cheap and fairly forgiving as it is a slightly fatty fish (yummy texture and rather neutral flavour that absorbs seasonings well. Try it with pesto and scatter with toasted pine nuts and torn basil leaves)!

Home-made Bento: Pork Collar and Cabbage with Sweet Potato Chips

This week we have broiled pork collar marinated in apple juice, dijon mustard and balsamic vinegar, accompanied by cabbage done two ways (red with carrots, bacon and onion in a balsamic reduction; green braised with granny smith and Reuben apples and homemade stock).
On the side, some oven roasted beetroot, white and sweet potato "chips".

Home-made Bento: Green Lentil Stew & Spaghetti Primevera with Pumpkin-pesto Sauce

 

Bento Lunch Prep for the week done! Two types this week.
Had a massive craving for lentils so first up is green lentils stewed with linguica sausage, peppers and lots of onions, accompanied by a variety of grilled vegetables (broccoli, zucchini, fine beans and pumpkin) and buttered red potatoes! Second type of bento comprises spaghetti primevera with pumpkin-pesto sauce (pumpkin makes the sauce creamy without need for dairy), topped with a Mediterranean sausage.

Home-made Bento: Turkey Sloppy Joe on Wholemeal Wrap

Bento lunch tmr is turkey sloppy Joe on wholemeal wrap with a side salad of baby spinach and arugula.

Fine dining on a heady high - Jaan

Probably the best dining experience one can have in Singapore is at Jaan. This is touted as one of Asia's top 50 restaurants, an accolade well deserved. Getting a table here requires a reservation weeks/months in advance. The wait is worthwhile, and the experience is simply exceptional. French chef Julien Royer really takes a lot of care to "showcase the freshest ingredients through simple but beautiful dishes that reflect both culinary tradition and creativity" (from Jaan's website). 

In my opinion, what makes the experience at Jaan superb is firstly the visual stimulation - beautifully-plated morsels of food presented with such artistry served on various textured (from stone to wood, et al) platforms, or with dry ice and smoke. You feel such immense excitement when a dish is served and introduced to you by the waiters. Next, the smells that accompany each dish, such as the rosemary smoke contained beneath the serving globe of the 55-minute egg. Wow! And finally, the taste and texture of each individual aspect of the multiple courses. I could go on a discourse on both of these points, but I'd rather leave it to the food critics to review that - I just don't have enough words in my vocabulary to describe how awesome his dishes are. 

Chef Royer is an artist, and a meal at Jaan is akin to what one might experience when faced with a masterpiece - a truly heady smorgasbord of happy emotions!

Here is a photo sampler of our experience here in late November 2014. Please enjoy the gastronomic buffet.

Amuse-bouche Part 1

Amuse-bouche Part 2

55' Rosemary Smoked Organic Egg

Beetroot 'Collection'

Really fresh hand-dived scallop

Grilled Mangalica Pork

 

Arctic Char & Beurre Noisette

Black Truffled Brie de Meaux

Close-up of the accompanying Truffle Ice Cream
(can you see the shaved truffle??)

Kyoho grape palate cleanser

Choconuts Tart - superb dessert

Pear 'Gourmandise'

Surprise Anniversary Cake

Petit fours to end the meal

The menus we ordered from that day:

Jaan
Level 70, Equinox Complex
Swissôtel The Stamford,
2 Stamford Road,
Singapore 178882
Tel: +65 6837 3322
reservations@equinoxcomplex.com