I (Ch)Eat

This can hardly be considered a recipe. It takes three minutes to put together and consists of just four ingredients. It completely lacks finesse, and verges on being trashy. But as undignified as it is, this tray of chocolate and butter coated cornflake goodness, tastes glorious (Chubbs can attest to this). It's unabashedly a cheat dessert, since it's one of the simplest recipes known to man. So guys, let yourselves go, indulge and "cook" a tray of this for your midnight noshing right now.

Chocolate and Cornflake "Cake"

Ingredients:-

50g salted butter

100g dark/ milk chocolate (whichever you prefer)

2 tbsp golden syrup

1 1/2 cups cornflakes, slightly crushed

Method:-

1) Melt the butter, chocolate and golden syrup over a low fire until well-combined.

2) Take off the heat and stir in cornflakes.

3) Pour into tray and pat flat.

4) Cover and refrigerate for at least 3-hours.

5) Eat all of it in one sitting.

Fuzzy's personal stash.

Afternoons at Our Home

I fire up my oven every other day; sometimes more often. I love the idea of making my family treats, and having something delicious to go with our afternoon coffee/ tea/ milk everyday. Of course, the smells wafting through the house when the oven's at work is an added bonus. I often bake a huge batch of salted chocolate chip and espresso cookies that'll last us about a week, and in between, I'll whip up some granola for breakfast or a butter cake or brownie for dessert after lunch. I bake with nothing but a bowl, a spatula, a whisk, and the pan the batter cooks in, at most, so washing up is a breeze.

Chubbs is mighty fond of the tradition of having a home-made afternoon snack and enjoying a small treat after dinner. Needless to say, Fuzzy and I really look forward to when 4pm/ 9pm comes around, when we can pull an espresso and put our feet up for 10min and enjoy a yummy home-made nibble.

Today I was in the mood for something caramel-y and full of fibre; so flapjacks it was. Just four humble ingredients to create these more-ish, relatively healthy oat bars (if you ignore the fact that they seethe with butter). It only takes 5-min to prepare the pan for the oven, so I was back with little Mae and Chubbs in the blink of an eye.

Flapjacks

Ingredients:

2 1/4 cups porridge/ quick-cooking oats

150g salted butter

4 tbsp runny honey

2 tbsp golden syrup

handful of any dried fruit (optional)

Method:

1) Melt butter in a pot with the honey and golden syrup.

2) Stir in rolled oats and dried fruit, if you choose.

3) Pour into a 9 x 9-inch pan and pat the mixture flat.

4) Bake for 180 degreesC for 20-min, or until golden and crisp.

More Kiddie Menu Ideas

Chubbs has a new favourite dinner. Pasta with Barilla's bottled pasta sauce, which has zucchini, aubergine/ eggplant, carrots, celery, onions and tomatoes. I used to turn my nose up on bottled sauces, but this one is fabulous because he gets veggies that I don't use often. Check the sodium content of any bottled sauces and make sure there's no MSG, starch, preservatives, etc. I serve a big bowl of this either with some grilled chicken, a substantial piece of cheese, or just on its own. But always with a huge splash of the best extra virgin olive oil.

Macaroni with Barilla zucchini and aubergine pasta sauce and 1 chopped up grilled honey-soy chicken drumstick. He finished it and had a bowl of watermelon for fruit.

Another meal that's always a favourite of Chubbs is soba noodles in miso soup. Fuzzy searched the supermarket to find an instant miso soup base that doesn't contain MSG. I whipped up his dinner in 10min. And thankfully for me, Chubbs loves frozen mixed veggies.

Grilled chicken thigh with soba noodles, miso soup and frozen mixed vegetables. After finishing his meal, he had watermelon for fruit and as a treat, a frozen juice pop.

Pizza margherita with cherry tomatoes. His fruit with dinner was a bowl of grapes.

Pizza has a weird bad rap for being unhealthy and it's often labelled as junk; something which I can't understand why. It's basically bread + tomato puree/ paste + cheese. I guess if you put oily toppings like salami, pepperoni or both on, then yes it turns out rather greasy. But I keep it very simple and healthy. I often just spread a piece of wholemeal bread with tomato paste and put a handful of grated mozzarella on, toast or bake until the cheese is thoroughly melted and slightly golden brown, and serve with tomatoes on the side and fruit. Or I'll order extra plain cheese or four cheese pizza when we eat at a pizzeria, and freeze the leftovers for Chubbs' instant dinners. Easy peasy... as Chubbs likes to say.

Chubbs' Ultimate Snack

Everybody I know loves popcorn; especially the kids. But too often than not, the popcorn is made with bad and excessive fat, sugar, salt and colouring. What's meant to be a whole-grain, healthy snack has gained a bad reputation as an artery-clogger. So when Chubbs asks me for popcorn in the late afternoons, several times a week, I make a pot of it, with extra virgin olive oil, and nothing else. And it is delicious! Chubbs and I easily polish off a big bowl of it, and feel very happy, and strangely virtuous afterwards. So guys, give this a try at home (if you haven't before). It takes the merest of minutes, and you'll feed yourself and your kids something yummy and nourishing.

Ingredients:-

Extra virgin olive oil- enough to lightly coat the base of a heavy bottom pot

A large handful of dried popcorn

Method:-

1) Lightly cover the base of the pot with the EVOO.

2) Scatter the dried popcorn all over the base of the pot; making sure that there is a little room between each kernal, so that they can absorb the oil and have space to pop.

3) Cover the pot with the lid, and turn the flame on to medium.

4) The kernals will start popping soon. Wait until you can't hear anymore popping, open the lid, pour the fluffy popcorn out, sprinkle with a tiny bit of salt if really necessary, and serve warm!

Nourish with Five- Pasta with Cherry Tomatoes, Basil, Garlic and Chili

Somedays, Chubbs takes a lot out of me by late morning, and for lunch, I crave something easy to make, but utterly satisfying, delicious and nutritious at the same time. And for Fuzzy and I, pasta is the ultimate comfort food. I actually get a mild anxiety attack when I'm not stocked with at least three packets of various dried pasta in the pantry :/

I often whip up this simple, light pasta for lunch, which is basically a simple aglio olio, but with ripe cherry tomatoes thrown in for a refreshing sweetness. Many years ago, while waiting tables, I eavesdropped on one of Singapore's top chefs, JQ, when he took time to give an aspiring young chef a tutorial on cooking the perfect aglio olio, after his attempt at the dish turned out disastrous. "1) The garlic must be sauteed till just golden. Not white, not dark brown, just golden. 2) Add just a few slivers of chili, not a handful. You are not cooking mee goreng. If customers ask for it to be super spicy, ask them to go elsewhere for mee goreng. 3) Tear fresh basil leaves with your fingers; if you use a knife, the leaves will bruise and the herb flavour will be flat."

So he went on and demonstrated how it's done. He put in a lot of good extra virgin olive oil and even added a touch of freshly grated parmesan at the end (which I thought was a little weird). After him and the young chef tasted the pasta, he looked at me and said, "You over there... listening so intently. Want to try?" I stood hunched over the kitchen counter, and twirled as much noodle on my fork as possible. It was glorious.

Pasta with Cherry Tomatoes, Basil, Garlic and Chili

Ingredients:-

1 clove of garlic, sliced very finely

Half a red chili, deseeded

A large handful of cherry tomatoes (about 10), halved

Extra virgin olive oil

Salt for seasoning

Spaghetti/ linguine/ vermicelli

A handful of fresh basil

Method:-

1) Cook pasta in very salty water, according to package timing instructions.

2) Saute garlic slivers and chili in a generous amount of extra virgin olive oil till garlic is tender and slightly brown around the edges.

3) Add tomatoes and saute until skin is slightly wrinkled.

4) Add cooked pasta and some of the pasta water. Swirl everything around swiftly so that the water and oil emulsifies into a light sauce. If the pasta looks dry, add a little more cooking water.

5) Season to taste. Scatter with basil leaves. Serve, eat and clean your plate as quickly as possible.

Nourish with Five- Tomato and Bean Stew

1 December! I can smell Christmas in the air! There'll be lots of cooking, baking, eating and entertaining in the weeks to come, and I'll get so fat after all the Christmas, New Year and Chinese New Year festivities! Holidays are so exciting with the promise of fun/ family/ food-filled days to come, and I think this is also a good time for me to launch a little project called, "Nourish with Five". This series of recipes will showcase some of the five-ingredient recipes that I make at home. I'll try to sneak some bakes under this category too, and hopefully, you guys will try some of these simple dishes and sweets during the holidays.

I decided to start this project because, as mentioned before, I have a five ingredients per dish guideline (not including the necessary oil and seasonings) when cooking. This is not to say that I never make a dish that requires more, but I go by this mantra 90% of the time. Streamlining the processes in cooking, and quoting Mr. Jamie Oliver, "stripping down recipes to their bare essentials", makes cooking more pleasurable, and saves me a lot of time. Perhaps some of you might think that using just five ingredients to create a tasty, satisfying and nourishing meal sounds too little, but I assure you, it's not.

Another decision I recently made, is to go vegetarian for all my meals except maybe dinner. I'll still be eating a limited amount of seafood, but for the most part, it'll be cheese, eggs, vegetables, fruit, carbs and the lot. I'm not doing this because I'm on some weight-loss program, or that I dislike the taste of chicken/ beef/ lamb/ pork/, etc. It's just the same reason why I've never taken shark's fin... I'm sick of the torture that animals have to go through for our pleasure. Yes, animals were initially meant for our consumption, and mankind supposedly has free reign over all livestock. But in biblical times, chickens weren't caged up so tightly that they trample over and kill one another, geese and ducks were not force-fed with metal tubes down their throats to abnormally fatten their livers, poultry weren't injected with hormones to force them to grow faster... and sadly, the list goes on. I'm not naively thinking that I have the power to change the world with my decisions, but I just can't live with myself supporting this cruelty anymore.

On a lighter note, here's a great tomato and bean recipe that is healthy, comforting, quick and easy to make and very economical. Fuzzy and I chose to eat it with some pan-fried barramundi (you could substitute for any white-fleshed fish) for lunch, and I'll have the left-overs with a toasted cheese sandwich tomorrow.

Tomato and Bean Stew

Ingredients:-

1 can of canellini beans, drained

1 can of diced tomatoes

3 stalks of celery, diced

1 big onion, diced

3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

water/ vegetable stock

salt and pepper, and optional dried herbs for seasoning

Method:-

1) In a small pot, sautee onions in olive oil till translucent.

2) Add celery and fry till slightly tender.

3) Mix in drained beans, and tinned tomatoes.

4) Add enough water/vegetable stock to cover all the ingredients, and bring the stew to a boil before turning the heat down to a slow simmer. Season with salt and pepper to taste, and add dried herbs if you'd like.

5) Simmer for 1 hour.

6) Serve with fresh basil and a good glug of extra virgin olive oil. This makes a great dish on it's own with some crusty bread, or with some pan-fried fish/ chicken as a side.

Feeds two very hungry adults.

The Simple Things

Recently, I've been craving for simple things to eat. Not that I've ever longed for the opposite, but more so nowadays, chomping on a thick slice of good bread, thoroughly soaked with the best fruity olive oil one can find, makes me more cheerful than I'm genetically inclined to be in the late afternoons.

I've long gone by the yard stick that the best foods are those made with five ingredients or less (without counting salt and pepper). Think for instance, pizza margherita, spaghetti aglio olio, scrambled eggs on toast, a piece of salmon belly sushi, the perfect steak, a wedge of butter cake, and my home-made granola.

Everybody has a granola recipe to share, and for me, it's all about finding one that is fuss-free, and creates granola that is crunchy, nourishing and not cloyingly sweet. So after a few trials, I've finally come up with a recipe that makes me the best granola.

Nourish with Five- Granola

Ingredients:-

3 1/2 cups whole rolled oats (not quick-cooking)

1/2 cup honey

3 tbsp light brown sugar

2 tbsp canola oil

100 grams slivered raw almonds and/or 100g sunflower seeds/ pumpkin seeds/ chopped pecans/ chopped walnuts...

50g sesame seeds

a pinch of salt

Method:

1) Preheat oven to 150degreesC.

2) Mix oats, almonds (and any other nuts/ seeds), salt and brown sugar in a big bowl.

3) Mix in oil and honey and stir till everything's coated.

4) Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.

5) Pour mixture onto baking sheet, flatten out evenly, and bake for 30-40 min, until the granola's a deep brown. But be sure to take the granola out of the oven every 10-min to give it a good stir around to ensure even baking.

6) Cool completely before storing it in an airtight container and use within two weeks.

You could of course jazz this simple recipe up to suit your taste. Try adding a teaspoon of cinnamon, stirring in some butterscotch chips/ chopped dark chocolate at the end (I like!), or throwing in some currants/ cranberries/ dates. But the simplicity of this basic granola really does it for me. I eat a bowlful of it with plain Greek yogurt and a splash of unsweetened soy milk, and a fruit on the side for breakfast, and it keeps me going all the way till lunch; no icky hunger pangs in between! I pack a little for Fuzzy to munch on throughout the day in the office, since it keeps well, and is also wheat and gluten-free, and full of good fat from the almonds and sesame seeds. I really hope you enjoy this.

My bucketful of bird-food-looking joy.