Not too long ago, I decided to try my hands at preparing a western style food for dinner. This sudden inspiration came about after we had in our home, AFC, upon changing from one satellite TV provider to another. Needless to say, I found myself no longer reading, stuck in front of the telly glued to AFC.
One Saturday night soon after, probably after a week's dose of various cooking programs, reruns and new alike, I got inspired. I had been a while since I prepared something which was not simple, hurried or leftovers thrown together. I thought, with 2 big steaks of pork meat and some asparagus sitting in the fridge, why try my hands at some western style course dinner, complete with starters, main course and dessert. Furthermore, with Wonderful Guy off to his weekly badminton weekend session, I would have ample time to create and cook.
So, away I went, taking the meat out from the freezer and marinating them. I had already pre-marinated them before I kept them in the freezer, so it was easier this time around, just adding the additional spices for more flavouring. I had planned to just fry them in the wok, just like how the chefs do it with steak in the telly.
That done, I proceeded to prepare the vege, which was asparagus and carrots. Asparagus was easy. I cut off the parts which I didn't want and then soak them for a while. With the carrots, I had to spend a little more effort as I had wanted to make them into carrots sticks, not too coarse so as you could taste the rawness in the carrot, but also not too thin that you could not taste the freshness in them. After about 20 minutes, I had all the veges done and kept into the fridge again.
While my hands were working on those, my brain had been pondering away, thinking what kind of food would make a good starter and dessert. It wasn't easy if you have a fridge filled with ingredients suited for asian cooking and limited skills and utensils. Furthermore, since Wonderful Guy was adamant to control his food intakes and me needing to go on diet as well, it made sense to try to make something healthy and low fat, as best as I could.
Finally, the experimental side of me kicked in. I thought, make a type of flat bread prinkled with lots of herbs and lemon zest and olive oil to combine all the taste. I saw it in an episode of a Jamie Oliver program in AFC years ago. So, off I went into bread making mode. Checking what I had, I realized the bread would have to be small as I didn't have much flour left. Once the dough had had been prepared, I let it to rise, and prayed very hard that it would rise.
Now for dessert. I already had in mind that dessert had to be fruity and must use the last kiwi and green apple in the fridge. Then, I had an idea. Since I had some leftover of liquid from dough making, I thought of using it to make something like a cake. To go with the fruits. Well, to be healthy and with no flour I thought, why not use oats. I proceeded to mix some oats and the liquid, added with a beaten egg, into a bowl, and sprinkled lots of muesli oats on top, hopefully that it would to turn a crust as it baked. Then I put mixture into the oven to bake.
Oh, how anxious I was for the first ten minutes. The temperature was set at about 180 degrees, not knowing what was the better one. I waited and peeked numerous time, but nothing much happened. I noticed the oats bubbling slightly and the muesli top hardening a little, but nothing exciting. Not too sure why but I increased the temperature to about 200 degrees and observed. It was then all the action started. The so-called cake started to bake and rise. The lovely smell of baking permeated from the tiny oven, and I smiled. I increased the temperature slightly to 220 degrees and let it stay there. My oats cake was now like a little golden plateau , with a smiling crack in the middle. I was ecstatic.
Tackling the fruits, I sliced the kiwis and the apples as thinly as I could. The slices of apples I soaked in some white wine. Then all the fruits went into the fridge to get some chilling love. By that time, it was almost time for to start preparing the main course. I heated up the wok and then remembered the bread. A little disappointment swept over me to see it didn't really grow. But heck, I placed it into the oven to bake.
The heated wok was ready to receive its customers. But then I heard the door open. Oh my, Wonderful Guy was back! Hahaha.. I was too slow. No surprise then, he would see all and know. Doesn't matter. I sent him to take his bath first while I continued cooking on, tackling the asparagus first for a light toss in the wok. That done, it was the turn of the meat. I fried them one by one, using low medium heat. This was so that the inside would cooked but still remain tender.
While the meat was cooking, I laid out the plates. I tried to be creative, weaving the asparagus and the carrots into something like a base for the meat. Not too successful though, but good enough for me. For Wonderful Guy's plate, I added 2 extra slices of fried onions. Once the meat were done, they were laid out the plates. At a spur of a moment, I added 2 slices of the wine-soaked apple slices on each plate. Main course is ready.
The bread had been ready while meat was cooking. Laying it out on the chopping board, it didn't look that bad, just hard. Soldering on, I took the knife, and slowly sawed, yes, sawed it into long slices, trying to turn them into bread sticks. I got about 5 pieces, but put 3 pieces on a plate and brought them out to serve Wonderful Guy, who was now in front of the telly.
Then I cut 2 small pieces of the oats like cake, put them into 2 small dessert plate, haphazardly placed the slices of kiwi and apple around and left them in the freezer . I then brought out the main course plates out. Wonderful Guy was all oohs and ahhs. Haha, but of course. As usual, photo taking commenced, while I tried to find us enough suitable utensils. Since we only had one knife, we had to share.
Dinner was on!
Verdict from Wonderful Guy was bread was hard although the taste was nice. Aromatic, I thought. The meat was a little dry and carrots were too raw for him but the effort was wonderful. Halfway through the meal, he went into the kitchen, wanting to pour some wine. Oh, that was when he saw the dessert. Hahahaha..yes, he didn't know there was going to be dessert. He loved the little cake slice from the dessert. Not too sweet, he had said. I had served dessert with some ice-cream as topping. Overall the meal had been successful. I enjoyed myself, and Wonderful Guy told me he enjoyed it. He might be lying, but I chose to believe him.
I was satisfied.
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