Vanilla Cheesecake with Caramelized Strawberries and Mandarins

Someone feedback to me that my Almond Tofu Pudding is too easy to make for Valentine's Day. So I made Vanilla Cheese Cake with Caramelized Strawberry and Mandarin for this special occasion. Although I am still single and unattached, I put in a lot of love and effort to make this dessert. I hope those gentlemen who read this post can benefit from my creation. This recipe is originated from Chef Gordon Ramsay, I made some modification to celebrate Chinese New Year at the same time by adding mandarin orange to this absolutely delicious dessert. This is a no-baked version cheese cake, absolutely easy to create this cheese cake.

Add 200g of cream cheese into a bowl with 2 teaspoons of vanilla flavouring, 3 tablespoons of icing sugar, juice of 1/4 lemon and 200ml double cream and beat until smooth. Spoon the cheese cream mixture into a mold ring and chilled it for 2 hours.

Add 2 tablespoon of sugar in a pan. Heat the sugar till they caramelize. Add in strawberries and mandarins (you can choose the fruits you like for this dessert) into the pan. Add in a splash of Creme de Cassis into the pan. Cook until the strawberries and and mandarins become soft.

Take out the cheese cake from the fridge. Add peanuts grinds to cover the top of the cheesecake. Remove the mold ring. Placed the strawberries and mandarins beside the cheese cake. Served.

Your ladies will love this dessert.

For Her as Valentine's Day Gift

I ended my service in my company at Chinese New Year Eve. These 3 years has been an amazing journey to me. I know a lot about gas turbine, control and make great friendship to my colleagues. I also complete my master course, get distinction for my basic photography course and Licentiate title in Photographic Society of Singapore. I start dining as my hobby and later on food photography. At the end I cook my own food, decorate my own food, shoot at my own food and eat my own food. I get quite a lot these three years but there is something on me that is not change, that is I am single and available.

I knew and dated quite a number of ladies throughout these three years but there is only a lady in my mind. We have been colleagues for 2.5 years. I only express my interest in her after I tender my resignation. Probably she is attached by now. Looks like my mission for coming this world is not to fall in love with a lady and setup a family. My mission may probably explore this world, help the needy and on engineering field to help others. I have the fate to meet her but not with her. I may score straight As in my exam but I fail in my relationship. Again I still believe my future is waiting for me. I need to move on and help those who seriously need me.

I want to make a three course meal for her. The starter is Thai Fish Cake. Her hometown is at Taiping, Malaysia, and it is quite near to Thailand. My starter will remind me that her hometown is at Taiping. First I added  250g of Dory Fillet and 250g of Sea Prawns with shell removed into the food processor. Add two teaspoon of sea salt with lime, coriander, freshly ground pepper and curry powder for fish. An egg is also added into the food processor. Process them till they become paste but remain some texture. Put them into the bowl and mix with mixed vegetables. Mold them to smaller patties about 8 cm diameter or smaller with wet hand. Chill them for half to one hour. After that fry them using a pan with vegetable oil till they are golden brown. Serve them with salad preferably. Done!

My entree for her is Jinn Liong's version Tablet Noodles (板面) with Pork, Crab, and Soft-Boiled Egg. She ate tablet noodles for lunch most of the time. I am going to create this dish with  western touch. I add olive oil to my wok, and fry the sliced garlic cloves till the fragrance of the garlic is released. I added crab meats and minced pork and fry them in the wok. I season them with salt and pepper. When they are 70% cooked I added diced red, green and yellow bell peppers and simmer them together with my crab meats and minced pork with my homemade vinaigrette. I off my stove and let them 90% done. Next I boil the water with salt and pepper and cook my tablet noodles. Once they are cooked, I dry them and spray some olive oil on them to prevent them from sticking together. Then I switch on my stove again and fry the noodles with the diced bell pepper, crab meat and minced pork together and mix them well together. I serve my noodles on the plate. Done.

My dessert is Almond Tofu Pudding with Peanuts, Strawberry and Mint. I mix 900ml of almond soya milk with two teaspoon of sugar and one and half teaspoon of Agar Agar (Gelatin in Malay) and boiled them for a minute together with crushed mint leaves. I remove the mint leaves and pour them into the molds and glasses and wait for them to cool them. After that I chill them in the fridge. Once they are chilled, I mix the peanut grinds with sugar well and spread them evenly on top of the puddings. I place the strawberry and a small stalk of mint leaves of each pudding and they are ready to serve. Done.

I come out recipe is not only for her, but all to my male friends and fans. The dishes are easy to make and the ingredients are easily available in the market. Make the dishes for your love ones on Valentine's Day and they will appreciate what you do to her.

Here I wish the readers reading this post Happy Lunar New Year and Merry Valentine's Day.

La Petite Cuisine

28 January 2011

I am always excited whenever I go to La Petite Cuisine. This small French restaurant does justice to French and European cuisines that are reasonably priced and absolutely delicious. The ambience is also nice and casual, in my opinion. There is an area where I can dine outside of the restaurant surrounded by bushes and flowers. The bushes and flowers also partitioned the roads and the pavements; thus this makes dining absolutely enjoyable.

The service is “poor”. I had to go take my menu, order my food at the counter and get my own water there, just like Macdonald’s a few steps away from La Petite Cuisine. The service sounds absolutely ridiculous. Absolutely wrong because they do not charge me the service charge and I think it is reasonable. The head chef / owner of the restaurant is cute, friendly and absolutely charming with his curved mustache. He comes out occasionally and greets his customers. In my opinion, he looks like Mario from Super Mario Brothers Series. I call him Chef Mario in this blog.

I order the Pan Seared Foie Gras with Orange Flavour Sauce for my starter and Confit de Carnard (duck) for my entree. The Pan Fried Foie Gras is absolutely delicious. The sauce adds flavour to foie gras, the foie gras is well seared and it is well seasoned. It melts in my mouth and does not left grease in my mouth. It is absolutely cook to perfection. 

The Confit de Carnard is also delicious. The skin of the comfit is crispy and the meat is tender. In my opinion, it is not well seasoned. However if the comfit is consumed with the sauce, it is absolutely delicious.

I pay S$34 for my two-course meal. This restaurant does justice to Pan Seared Foie Gras with Orange Flavour Sauce. I think it is worth every penny for my two dishes and I will definitely return to La Petite Cuisine and visit Chef Mario after Chinese New Year, with my lovely friend, Yew Fen.

Address

10 Jalan Serene, #01-05

Serene Centre, Singapore