Christmas Dinner 2012 - Slow Roasted Lamb and some other stuff

As we have done for the last few years we hosted Christmas Eve dinner at our place. This year was a little different though as my In-laws only came after dinner as they wanted to have something on at their own place. No issue as that meant more food for those that did come!

This year was also a bit different in the sense that I had to prepare EVERYTHING on the 24th itself - including the chocolate cakes that I take to my parents house every year for Xmas day itself. We had spend 3 days in Langkawi celebrating my Mom-in-laws 70th birthday and only got back late on the 23rd.

No grocery shopping of any kind had been done either so early on the morning of the 24th, The Lovely Wife and I went down to the local supermarket and purchased a Leg of Lamb. She then dropped me home to start on the cakes while she went to get more groceries. We had decided to try and keep things simple and so went down the route of Roast Lamb. I wanted to roast the lamb with some mushrooms but the only mushrooms The Lovely Wife could get a hold of were these awesomely huge Portobellos so I stuffed some with Minced Beef and sliced the rest to make a Garlic Mushroom dish.




We also bought lots of bread from the local bakery and served it with Olive Oil and Balsamic Vinegar much like they do in Italian restaurants. For the appetiser, my Mom had given us some Proscuitto and we paired that with some Honeydew.

Shaken not Stirred...

For Christmas this year I got a whole lot of cool gifts from The Lovely Wife and kids. High on the list was a brand spanking new Roasting Pan. Pity it only came out on Christmas Eve as it would have helped immensely with roasting the Leg of Lamb. No matter, coz I used another pan that was given to me for some other occasion.

Another gift I got was this lovely shaker. The kids bought me this so that I could make their favourite Iced Milo. I 'complained' that most of the gifts revolved around things that I would use to Make foodstuff for THEM to eat - so was it a gift for me or for THEM?

The answer - "But Dads, you love making things for us!" Not far from the truth at all and in all seriousness, if it makes them happy then I am happy indeed!




The shaker was really fabulous and it churned out a great Iced Milo. The kids loved it and proclaimed it one of the best Milo I have ever made for them. I've made milo in shakers before but the shaker I have for Milo is a small plastic one that still needs some stirring in another cup. This one allows the milo, hot water, milk and ice to be mixed together. The best Milo is Shaken not Stirred - much like a Bond martini!


Happy New Year Everyone!!

11 Years old today with a Chocolate Awesomeness Cake

I know its been a while since I updated this blog with any recipes so I suppose it's kind of fitting that this latest update is about my son's 11th Birthday! It was kinda fortunate that his birthday fell on a Public Holiday today so we were able to stay at home with him and also invited the family over for a Birthday Lunch. My parents were away in Melbourne while my brother and his daughters were in Gold Coast so that meant slightly fewer people. Still, there were about 15 odd people invited!

As per the tradition in this household, we woke my son up after hiding his presents under the bed. My little princess had 'camped' on the floor in his room the previous night too!



For his birthday this year, he got a replica Chelsea jersey and also a table football game - Subbuteo - something that Dads had always wanted when he was young as well! It didnt take long for both the kids to test out the game.


The Lovely Wife, together with help from her Mom, did their magic and whipped up the lunch spread. For lunch there was Stewed Pork (Tau Yew Bak) with Man Tau buns;



Fried Prawns, Chicken Curry,




Yoghurt Curry (Mohr Curry) Mixed Vegetables,




Vegetable Accar (Pickles) and Onion Rice.



Quite a fancy little spread if you ask me! My contribution as usual was dessert and the Birthday Cake.

My son had asked for a different cake, something that would be really nice but also chocolatey. He especially liked the Chocolate Truffle Torte that I had made for Christmas last year so I decided to adapt that recipe and make something completely new.

Actually, for this cake, I adapted various different recipes and components that I had made before to assemble this cake. I used the tried and tested Cake Boss Sponge recipe that I have grown to love as the base. I modified my Tiramisu soaking syrup to make it less coffee flavoured. I used the Praline Feulletine component of the Le Kit Kat cake inspired by Michel Richard and adapted the Truffle from the Chocolate Truffle Torte to assemble this cake.

Second Article in New Sunday Times

This is the second article from me for The New Sunday Times. The articles focus on Cooking at Home and involving the family.

This is the link for the article: Sunday - Life and Times - FAMILY: Somethings Stewing

The tagline reads:
Dharm Navaratnam, engineer by day and a closet chef at other times, offers more comfort recipes you can try out with the family.

A Closet chef! LOL, I quite like that description!!

Featured in New Sunday Times

I was commissioned by The New Straits Times to write a few articles on Cooking at Home and focusing on involving the family. The first article appeared today in the New Sunday Times.

This is the link for the article: Sunday - Life and Times - FAMILY: Family affair

Spaghetti ei Gamberi

You do know that a name for a pasta dish in Italian always sounds better right? Doesn't Pasta Gamberi sound so much better than Prawn Pasta with Roasted Garlic and Mushroom Sauce? I think it does!

So anyway, you'd have figured out that I made a Prawn Pasta in a Roasted Garlic and Mushroom Sauce. The Lovely Wife had bought some prawns from the market and had planned to fry them up as the kids just love fried prawns.

Since I haven't made any new pasta for a while, I decided to make a meal out of the prawns and came up with the quick yet very tasty dish. I had originally planned to just make my aglio olio and then stir fry the prawns and add it in. However, seeing that there were mushrooms available as well, I decided to use mushrooms together with the prawns for a nice mix of earthiness and sea produce!