Paté Platter for Dinner

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Having vegetables and fruits most of the time, I can feel quite exhausted and a lack of energy at times. The micro-nutrients from vegetarian diet are great though it is true that you get iron and vitamin B12 deficiency.
After my visit to my uncle who is a oriental medicine doctor back home, I had to find a list of foods that contains high iron to boost more energy in myself. I tried a pan-fried liver before but somehow the flavour got more intense after cooking, and it was hard to eat after a couple of mouthful. Pate, on the other hand, needs a little bit of preparation but I think it has better texture and flavour.

The liver is a storage for many important nutrients, a rich source of iron, vitamin B12 and vitamin A. It has a incredible nutritional benefits when compared with fruits, veggies and other meats. I guess having the organ meats helps the farmers and environment as well. People worry about a high cholesterol content in the liver, though it is a good cholesterol (you need it in your body unless you have hyperlipidemia!) and a small amount is okay. It is all about moderation after all.

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Problem with making pate, though, is most recipes suggest using so much butter or oil to make a smooth texture. Well I had to give up on that. There is no way I use that much butter in my food.So I used a couple of table spoons of coconut oil, hoping it helps to hold everything together. I also had the liver in milk for an hour before cooking to get rid of any bad smell. Then I boiled it with white wine, bay leaves, peppercorns and some other spices in a saucepan until it’s cooked through. Remove from the heat, cool down a bit, blend it all up, put it in a ramekin, and set in the fridge. Well…it turned out to be so crumbly without butter >.<
I might need to try again with some other substitutes to make a buttery texture next time.

Viola! I served with zucchini bread, red onion jam, home-made pickles and green salad.
Very satisfying dinner 🙂

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Vegetable Stack with Blue Cheese

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Another vegetarian dish I made up from what I have in the fridge!I made a jar of char-grilled red capsicum and caramelised red onions last week, which lasts in your fridge for a couple of weeks. It means that you can save time when cooking and it is a great addition to other dishes.
I highly recommend preserving vegetables like this so that you can quickly grab from the fridge and make something up when you are in hurry or don’t have many ingredients in the fridge.
I always have some kind of pickles and kimchi in my fridge, never run out of it! Also it is fun to make them.
Tonight I just needed to cook some eggplant and zucchini in the pan and stack up all the vegetables in beautiful layers:) I try to have as many colours of vegetables as I can on my plate. It is good for you and looks pretty too.
As a treat, I also put some gorgonzola cheese on top. When I tried blue cheese for the first time, I was in a shock why people consume this moldy cheese which both looks and smells horrible. Seriously it smells like old socks >.< After some courageous attempts and my taste buds have developed over years, now I’m so enjoying this distinctive flavour of blue cheese and it is one of my favorite cheese. Especially French and English ones, so yummy! A good combination is blue cheese with a slice of pear, caramelised onion and walnut wrapped in prosciutto. Juste delicieux!

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Grilled Halloumi Cheese on Ratatouille

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I like all sorts of cheese but halloumi is one of my favorites when I cook vegetarian dishes.

Halloumi cheese is a semi-hard brined cheese made from a goat’s and sheep’s milk. Because it has a high melting point, it is perfect for frying or grilling.

I don’t normally put any oil in the frying pan or grill because it releases natural oil itself and gets beautifully caramelised outside.

Its unique flavour and texture is hard to describe if you haven’t had one. It’s salty and crispy outside but soft inside.

Ratatouille also, stewed vegetables, is a beautiful vegetarian dish I often cook. I chop up all the vegetables I have in the fridge such as onions, eggplant, zucchini and carrots.

Add some passata sauce, season and cook them until they are all tender. Garnish with some herbs ( I used mint last night ).

A good thing about stewing veggies like that and making a big batch of it is that you can have it as breakfast or lunch next day.

You can crack a couple of eggs on top of ratatouille and cook in the oven until eggs are slightly set but still runny inside. It would be a yummy but super easy breakfast:)

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Pecking duck

2013-01-16 17.57.44Pecking duck is not easy to make at home. Well I haven’t done it to be honest, but recipe seems way too long and hard to get it right.

This crisp duck breast is store bought and still yummy. You just need to drain all duck fat pretty well otherwise quite greasy >.<

Fresh veggies to go with are a must like zingy home-made pickles and sweet tomatoes.

Dinner served:)

Oven roasted chicken

2013-02-27 18.04.40Huge chicken maylands from Coles.

I marinated in mixed spices including paprika, chilli powder, morrocan spice, garlic and olive oil for 30mins to one hour before putting into the oven.

Veggies go in as well as chicken as you can see here like carrots, onions, potatoes, etc what ever you want:)

Garnish with basil and coriander before serve. Easy!!