Au Gratin Potatoes

As my domestic helper was taking her day off today, I had to be home to watch over the kids. Since I'll be home, I might as well baked some potatoes to bring over to my parents' in law house for dinner. It's not every week that I bake/cook and bring some food over to their place. I usually eat what my mother in law prepares. Actually, I enjoyed eating her dishes. She likes to cook many dishes, and each dish, small to medium quantity. So I have lots of varieties, and I like it! Her signature food is chicken wings! Her chicken wings stays crispy for hours left on the dining table. Yummy!

I baked a pan of Au Gratin Poatoes with Bacons, Mushrooms and Cauliflowers. Baked it till golden brown with the smell of cheese aroma in the air!



Recipe for Au Gratin Potatoes with Bacons & Califlower
Serves 10 (as side dish)

Ingredients:
4 big Russet Potatoes
150g Califlower, chopped
250g Back Bacons, cut strips
150g Button mushrooms, chopped (optional)
1/2 tsp Salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 cup cream
250g Grated Mozzarella cheese

Method:
1. Boil russet potatoes till soft. Then peel off the skins.
2. Cook button mushrooms in some oil or butter, then leave aside.
3. Blanched cauliflowers with some salts.
4. Cook bacons in little oil. Meanwhile, preheat oven to 190C.
5. Mashed potatoes into the baking pan, add blanched cauliflowers, cooked mushrooms and bacons. Add the seasoning and cream. Mix them well.
6. Spread the mozzarella cheese all over the casserole.
7. Bake for 20 minutes or until the cheese is golden brown in colour.

Recipe taught by my elder sister, Stephanie.

Valentine's Feast

It was "entertainment" at home on Valentine's Day again. It was yet another feast. I hope I didn't sound like boasting, but I did a 6-course dinner on Valentine's Day for our family friends. Actually, it's really achievable if you "renouned" the world, and roped in the help of whoever at home. A lot of food can be prepared way before the actual day. For example, desserts, crust doughs, puff pastries etc.

I think I was quite ambitious also, to bake lunch for my family members despite having to prepare a feast for dinner. Okay, I managed to make chicken burger for lunch for all. I baked the hamburger buns, which fortunately was finished up during lunch, otherwise, it would have been stone-hard the next day! Hahaha... I made the chicken patties, and the herb butter mayo to accompany the burger. I'm so glad it was a "SOLD OUT"! Another good decision made for lunch. :p


Here were my 6-course Valentine's Dinner for family & friends.

1. Appetiser 1: Garlic & Herbs Bread
Tasked my hubby & Aloysius to use heart-shaped & bear cookie cutters to cut out the bread pieces for garlic & herbs spread. I mix (salted) butter with chopped rosemary and minced garlic. Then toast them. I like these very much.

I also prepared some greens (salads). As I only had butterhead lettuce, I added some olives, raisins and pinenuts too! I made my own dressings by mixing olive oil with balsamic vinegar, and some sugar & a pinch of salt. Then topped the greens with some parmesan cheese.


2. Appetiser 2: Cauliflower & Potato Gratin
Discussed with my sister after last week's bake. I came to realise that it's called Gratin. Great. Same as last week, baked this for dinner as requested by my hubby & Aloysius.


3. Main Course 1: Rosemary Salmon Olive Oil Baked Rice
As I bought a lot of whole salmon over these two weeks, I was rather "generous" with my salmon. ;p I poached salmon in red wine, and shredded them to get flakes. I cooked my rice with garlic, onions, french beans, button mushrooms, rosemary, olive oil and finally added salmon. This was quite bland and most of them didn't like it and found it to be tasteless. I thought olive oil would have been quite nice. Lesson learnt: must add add salt or light soy sauce for better tasting baked rice! ;)


4. Main Course 2: Chicken & Mushrooms Puff Pastry Pies
This was most people's favourites! So was mine! ;) The base crust is normal, while the top is covered and baked with puff pastry. Romantic me had to cut and add heart-shaped to the top to give it some ambience of Valentine's Day! Hahaha... At least they were noticable!




5. Dessert 1: Egg White Brownies
Previously, Aloysius said he didn't get to eat this brownie. So I baked it again (the night before) since I still have egg whites left. This time, I used walnuts instead of almonds. It's as nice. I like it too!


6. Dessert 2: Blueberries Panna Cotta
I was complatemping between panna cottas and creme brulees. Finally, I decided on panna cottas as it was slightly easier compared to creme brulees because I don't have to caramelise the sugars! I followed Yochana's recipe and used Blueberries instead of Raspberries as they were abundance now. This was the first time I tried making this, and I really like it! My friends love it too! One of them said it was "exotic" and tasted something like tiramisu. (huh??)


As usual, with this group of friends, they enjoyed drinking red wines. Over five hours, they finished 5 bottles of wines among mainly three males (including my hubby). I had to borrow X-box from my father-in-law so as to keep the children entertained, otherwise, I don't know how else to entertain them! As they enjoyed their wine, my "bak kwa" also finished! That was the finger food for them. It was fun baking for me, while they had fun eating & drinking, and for the kids, it was playing! ;)

Seriously, before preparing any food, careful planning has to take place, and preparation actually start way before the actual day. So, really, if I can achieve this, I'm sure everyone else can! :))