Khanom Paeng Na Moo (Thai pork toast)

This is an extremely tasty snack that I stumbled upon. I would love to tell you where, if I can only remember where. But Khanom Paeng Na Moo is basically Thai pork mince on toast. It is very similar to the familiar French toast except it's coated with meat instead of just eggs. What makes this recipe delicious is the crispiness of the pork coating and the soft fluffy center after it is cooked. It's a perfect balance of flavors and an utter delight to the taste buds :)

This is one of the simplest recipe to do and I recommend that you try it for a little snack with some leftover unused minced meat. Or make a batch for entertaining - your guests will be pleased by this easy to eat food. It is also good served in room temperature as well. And I assure you, this recipe takes less than 30 minutes from prep to ready.

What you need for Khanom Paeng Na Moo (Thai pork toast):
(double, triple, quadruple recipe when necessary)

150g of mince pork (or any of your favorite minced meat)
1 egg (use two eggs if you're tripling/quadrupling your recipe)
2 stalks of spring onion, chopped
2 kaffir lime leaves, sliced thinly into a chiffonade
1/2 teaspoon of cornstarch/cornflour
a pinch of chilli powder, more if you want it spicier (optional)
1 teaspoon fish sauce (optional, use soy sauce if you have none)
a large pinch of sugar
salt and pepper to taste
4 slices of bread

Garnish: Lemon slices


Method:
1. Combine all the ingredients together except for the 4 slices of bread. Let it sit for 10 minutes to marinade while you heat a lightly oiled pan under medium heat.

2. Your meat mixture should resemble a thick paste that is easily spreadable. With a spoon, spread 1 spoonful of mixture evenly on each side of the bread and pan fry each side for 3-4 minutes.

3. Repeat for remaining slices of bread. After your Thai pork toast is done, let it cool for 5 minutes before cutting it into bite size piece and squeeze a bit of lemon juice on top before serving.


Best eaten with some chilled milk tea OR iced coffee.

Fettuccine Bolognese

Bolognese is perhaps the simplest, most beloved pasta sauce of all time. Very simply, it is the simplest sauce that is equally hearty and fulfilling. It's especially convenient for students or busy working adults alike, who would like to eat something really quick to ease hunger. Easily, you can also make this a very elegant meal. The trick is in the presentation.

All you need for a Bolognese sauce is marinara sauce, some minced meat and, but optional, red wine. You can save the red wine for those special moments where you have time to wait until the sauce simmers down a notch for that rich tasting velvet in your mouth.

But, this will be the easy peasy method for the busy bodies.

Fettuccine Bolognese - Simple version
(this recipe feeds 1 hungry person)

Pasta:
1 bundle of dry Fettuccine, with a diameter of 2.5cm
1 tbsp of salt
6 cups of water

Sauce:
2/3 cup marinara sauce - store bought ones are fine
100grams of minced chicken (preferably thigh and breast meat combined)
2 cloves of garlic, roughly chopped
1 tbsp of olive oil

Method:
1. Put 4 cups of water and salt into a large pot until it starts to boil fiercely. Put your dry Fettuccine in to cook. Stir occasionally. It will need approximately 8 minutes.
2. In the mean time while the pasta is cooking, heat your pan with 1tbsp of olive oil and once the pan is hot, add your minced meat in. Saute, for 2minutes or until the meat looks semi-opaque and add garlic.
3. Pour in your marinara sauce, and let the mixture come to a simmer.
4. Your pasta should be about done by now, so while your sauce is cooking drain your pasta and maybe save a few tablespoons of pasta water on the side.
5. Add the cooked pasta into the simmering sauce and stir to combine nicely. If the pasta looks a bit too dry, add a few tablespoons of pasta water. Mix until the sauce and pasta combines well and serve with a nice crusty bread.


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The elegant velvety version of Bolognese sauce

Sauce:
1.5 cup marinara sauce - store bought ones are fine
100grams of minced beef
100grams of minced veal/chicken
4 cloves of garlic, roughly chopped
1/2 cup of red wine (Anything below $11 and above $8 per bottle is decent for cooking, don't use anything you wouldn't drink- a very important tip. Serve the rest of the bottle with the meal)
2 tbsp of olive oil

Method:
1. While the pasta is cooking, heat your pan with 2tbsp of olive oil and once the pan is hot, add your minced meats in. Saute, for 2minutes or until the meat looks semi-opaque and add garlic.
2. Pour in your marinara sauce, and let the mixture come to a simmer.
3. After that, add your wine and let the sauce simmer down to half. It will take approximately 5 minutes on medium high heat. Simmer a bit longer if the sauce is too watery for your liking.
4. Your pasta should be done, so while your sauce is still cooking drain your pasta and maybe save a few tablespoons of pasta water on the side.
5. Add the cooked pasta into the simmering sauce and stir to combine nicely. If the pasta looks a bit too dry, add a few tablespoons of pasta water. Mix until the sauce and pasta combines well.

Serve by first plating the noodles and then top the rest of the sauce on top so that it looks ponzi and pretentious like you've spent forever in the kitchen preparing this. Smear some flour on your forehead to impress. ;P

Useful tip: Always use pasta water to thin the sauce if it gets too dry while cooking.

The Ultimate Smoked Meat

I live in a city famed for housing one of the best, if not the best, smoke meat joint in the world. Schwartz's, a Hebrew delicatessen has been serving up it's specialty smoked meat for almost 80 years. What is laudable about this place is that even after so many years of fame, the little shop set on St. Laurent's boulevard hasn't changed since 1928 - it never expanded or franchised. The family's smoke meat secret stays within the family, and rightfully so.

While it's competitors, Ruebens et. al. have expanded to several restaurants across Quebec, Schwartz's stayed a uni-business. And due to that, even under extreme temperatures of -28 degrees, you will see a long line waiting to get into Schwartz's for their smoke meat sandwiches. It is definitely "a smoked meat sandwich worth dying for", according to the Montreal Gazette.

And I crave for it soooo much. I lived quite far away from this smoked meat haven. Being extremely under-dressed with a weather of -2 the other day, me and my partner forged through the bitter wind on St. Laurent Boulevard, after having a nice Italian dinner at a posh restaurant nearby called Primadonna, for a pound of smoked meat. Only $9.95/lb and worth several delicious smoked meat sandwiches, once taken home. And it's allllll mine!

This is my loot!

I speak so much of it to my family and friends and yet, this is the first time I've actually posted a picture of Schwartz's smoked meat. Other times, I was just too busy wolfing it down to be arsed about taking pictures :P

When two of my friends came to visit from US and UK, I took them to Schwartz's - and they both loved it. Again, because it looked so good when the sandwiches arrived, we just tucked in without even thinking twice about taking a shot!

In Penang, you'd say "if you haven't had their Curry Mee, Char Kuey Teow, Nasi Kandar, Kueh Chap, Farlim's Hokkien Mee, Anson (sp?) Street's Assam Laksa and crabs in Tanjung Tokong, then you have never really been to Penang". Same goes in Montreal, "if you're in Montreal and you haven't been to Schwartz's then you have never really been to Montreal at all". And I speak of this in a purely gastronomical sense :)

Today, Schwartz's is a landmark of Montreal - follow your nose or lookout for a strangely long queue. It's a sign for awesome food, ahead! The waiters in Schwartz's are all either cousins or brothers as they all have green eyes, a white apron strapped on their waist and a white Schwartz's t-shirt. Some of them are even quite hot (and friendly) :P - now that's a double whammy!

If you think my sandwich looks mean (mine has been bastardized with spinach and dijon mustard), it's nothing as compared to the deal they serve you in Schwartz's.

Now that's what I call "all decked up!". On rye and Schwartz's Yellow Mustard with a cherry cola to down it all.

If any of you are coming over to Montreal, I'll definitely take you to Schwartz's - it's become my personal duty to introduce these marvelously smoked meats that melts in your mouth to everyone I know.


Front view of Schwartz's, taken from Man In A Suitcase.

Salad: Beef Carpaccio on a Bed of Mesclun

From Creating a Dinner Menu, this is my Beef Carpaccio on a Bed of Mesclun. The beef should be rarer than that in my opinion, i couldn't find a nice thick beef fillet so I bought a beef medallion from the tenderloin instead. I must have estimated the time a little wrongly but no worries, I know how much time now, it'll be awesome. I only used arugula, which i think does the job perfectly. This salad has a spicy kick to it as well as thai-japanese infused taste :)

As you can see, the beef is cooked perfectly but I want it rarer for this dish.