An easy recipe for cinnamon cake with step-by-step photos that is fast and simple to make, and perfect for breakfast or dessert. Cinnamon Cake I love a simple cinnamon cake at afternoon tea but, the truth is, I love it even more at breakfast. The combination of vanilla cake topped with a generous sprinkling of sugar and cinnamon reminds me of eating a donut, especially when the cake is still warm from the
Quick and easy Raspberry Scones with Almonds which are baked in one large cake and sliced up to share. Recipe using fresh or frozen raspberries. Easy Raspberry Scones I wasn’t planning on making raspberry scones today, but with the dreary weather we have been having in Zurich lately (why is it often sunny during the working week but not on the weekends??), I needed to find a way to entertain the children once
This Hot and Sour Soup is a Chinese restaurant classic which takes only 30 minutes! Chinese New Year As a child, my mother went to great lengths each year to prepare a Chinese New Year feast which could feed our entire neighbourhood. The menu always featured a sticky rice cake filled with mung beans and pork, a Chinese Turnip Cake, endless platters of spring rolls (egg rolls), roast pork with gorgeously seasoned crackling – all served with fresh
Slow Cooked Lamb Shanks with Red Wine Sauce, served with a fresh gremolata. The lamb shanks are deliciously tender and the rich, full-flavoured sauce is perfect for serving with mashed potatoes, polenta or pasta. Slow Cooked Lamb Shanks It’s no secret that I love slow-cooking. With two young children to entertain, I find it easiest to do the sort of cooking that requires a leave-it-and-forget-it approach. But I hardly need the children as an
Get dinner on the table in 30 minutes with this Easy Sweet and Sour Chicken. A fresh and healthy version with less calories, but tastes amazing with a homemade sweet and sour sauce. No need for Chinese takeaway anymore! Sweet and Sour Chicken Recently, my son’s kindergarten teacher asked me if I cooked sweet and sour chicken at home. At first blush, I thought she was asking me (you know, the only Asian mother
A tasty recipe for Bun Cha – grilled Vietnamese meatballs served with a Vietnamese noodle salad with fresh herbs and citrus dipping sauce (nuoc cham). A healthy and delicious dish, perfect for lunch or dinner. Bun Cha My latest contribution to Discovery, the in-flight magazine for Cathay Pacific, is currently out now on all Cathay Pacific and Cathay Dragon flights. This month’s foodie feature is the classic Vietnamese dish called Bun Cha, consisting
A delicious and simple recipe with step-by-step photos for Chinese Barbecue Pork (Char Siu Pork) which you can make at home with everyday pantry ingredients in just 10 minutes! Char Siu Pork One thing I miss about living in Australia is being able to visit the local Chinatown, whether it be for a traditional Dim Sum breakfast, a browse through the colourful aisles of the Vietnamese grocer, or a visit to the Chinese bakery for their
A traditional Spaghetti Bolognese recipe which is rich, meaty and full of flavour. This traditional bolognese sauce requires slow cooking to develop the rich and meaty flavours, and uses fresh and good quality ingredients for an authentic taste. Spaghetti Bolognese Recipe Growing up, my mother never really cooked Italian food. I think our closest encounter with Italian cuisine was Pizza Hut, and I loved it! When she did attempt any Italian food, it
Quick and easy Pad See Ew (Thai Stir-Fried Noodles) using fresh rice noodles or dried noodles, beef and vegetables. Have dinner on the table in less than 30 minutes! Asian Noodles There are a few popular Asian grocery stores in Zurich which cater to the very small Asian population living here. But they are so popular that they often sell out of their fresh produce on the same day that they receive their
Delicious Raspberry Friands with step-by-step photos, including notes for making Mini Raspberry Friands. Friand Recipe If you are someone who, like me, makes a lot of custard, pastry or shortbread, you might find yourself with a lot of leftover egg whites. I follow Nigella Lawson’s tip to freeze egg whites in small zip-lock freezer bags – usually in pairs – which means that I always have egg whites on hand to make pavlovas,
Serve dinner in less than 30 minutes with this incredibly tasty and easy Coconut Chicken Noodle Stir Fry using basic Asian ingredients which you can find at your local supermarket. Coconut Chicken Noodle Stir Fry This is one of my go-to recipes for when I need to get dinner on the table quickly. Any by quick, we’re talking less than 30 minutes!
Recipe with step-by-step photos for Chouquettes, which are French cream puffs (or pastry puffs) sprinkled with pearl sugar or chocolate chips. They are a delicious bite-sized snack made from choux pastry. Chouquettes Something which I love to bake throughout the year are these little French cream puffs called chouquettes.
A delicious Steak with Peppercorn Sauce (Steak au Poivre) which can be made in 30 minutes! Use beef fillet or filet mignon for a delicious treat with this easy and creamy peppercorn sauce. Steak with Peppercorn Sauce (Steak au Poivre) A nice piece of steak is hard to turn down, especially when it is served with a creamy peppercorn sauce. Served simply with some steamed greens or even just a green salad, Steak
This Grilled Thai Chicken is bursting with flavour with lots of lemongrass, coriander (cilantro), ginger and chillies in the marinade. You can roast, grill or barbecue the chicken for crispy and golden skin. Great to make on a weeknight or for entertaining. I love marinated and grilled chicken and am always on the lookout for new recipes, though I think my mum makes the best version which I have tried endlessly to recreate
How to cook artichokes – instructions for boiling, Instant Pot, pressure cooker, grilling and frying. Don’t be intimidated by artichokes any longer! Plus recipes for a delicious aioli and vinaigrette to go alongside. I adore artichokes. As a child, my mother would boil a whole artichoke for my dinner on those nights when she was preoccupied with other things or, more likely, fed up with cooking and needed to give me a no-fuss
These Chocolate Coconut Bars are a classic recipe from the Australian Women’s Weekly. No fancy ingredients (just good quality cocoa). Perfect for school bake sales or to bring to work for morning tea. Recipe with step-by-step photos. With Australia Day approaching, my thoughts have been turning to traditional Aussie cakes and pastries, and these Chocolate Coconut Bars are hard to go past. Perhaps these slices are not what one would think of eating on Australia
A delicious recipe for Lamingtons using real chocolate, perfect to serve on Australia Day or for a school bake sale. Lamingtons Lamingtons have an iconic status in Australia and, although they are traditionally made on Australia Day, they are also enjoyed throughout the year. Lamingtons are quite popular at bake sales, and anyone growing up in Australia will know of the lamington drives, a fundraising event (usually in schools) where lamingtons would be sold by
Tasty jam-filled pikelets which are perfect for lunch boxes. Swiss Eating Habits My son started kindergarten last summer and, like in many Swiss schools, it is customary for the children to sit down to a hot lunch each day at a shared table. This practice starts as early as daycare where the children are taught to remain seated at the table, to develop social skills when eating, to clear their plates and put
Jamie Oliver’s Get Ahead Gravy is the perfect accompaniment to any roast. Make it ahead of time for maximum flavour with minimum stress! Christmas Gravy When it comes to roast dinners, I think the gravy can make or break the meal. And as someone who needs lashings and lashings of hot gravy with her roast potatoes, I take no chances in this department and always try to make my gravy ahead of time.
How to make and serve raclette, a traditional Swiss dish, at home with a raclette grill. Tips on what kind of cheese to use, and what to serve with raclette. Raclette The word raclette is both the name of a type of Swiss cheese and the name of the dish itself. As soon as the nights start to become a bit chilly, the Swiss can be seen tucking into a bubbling pot of
A quick and delicious recipe for cranberry sauce using fresh or frozen cranberries. Recipe adapted from Nigella Lawson. Homemade Cranberry Sauce No Christmas feast is complete without some cranberry sauce, and considering how easy it is to make cranberry sauce from scratch, I would highly recommend doing so instead of reaching for the shop-bought kind.
How to make Vietnamese Coffee using a traditional Vietnamese coffee filter (phin), French press, or by using espresso capsules! Vietnamese Coffee If you follow me on Instagram and Facebook, you may have noticed that I drink a lot of coffee. Or, as my husband would put it, that I take lots of photos of coffee. I used to think that I was more of a tea drinker, but perhaps tea is simply not
Baked Camembert with Honey & Raspberries is a delicious addition to any cheese platter, and perfect as an appetiser for small parties. Easy to prepare with just a few ingredients, with tips on how to cook your camembert to perfectly. Thank you to Baer AG for sponsoring this post. Please note that the content and opinions are my own. Baked Camembert Switzerland is almost synonymous with cheese and, with the vast array of different cheeses produced in
Follow this easy and straight-forward recipe for golden and crispy Fried Lambs’ Brains. When the folks at Cathay Pacific asked me to cook, style and photograph fried lambs’ brains for an upcoming edition of Discovery, their in-flight magazine, I was somewhat nervous. And that was before they disclosed that the accompanying article would be written by Umberto Bombana, the head chef at 8 1/2 Otto e Mezzo Bombana, the only Italian restaurant outside
Deliciously sweet, sticky and spicy cocktail sausages. Perfect for entertaining! As an expat living in Switzerland, it is hard to ignore comments about the cost of living here and how everything is extraordinarily expensive. Indeed, when you compare the cost of some products sold in neighbouring countries, the same product can sometimes be triple the cost in Switzerland.
Light and fluffy raspberry scones which are incredibly easy and quick to make, served with a rich and decadent homemade clotted cream. There is a cosy but bustling café in Zurich called Babu’s Bakery & Coffeehouse which is a delight for anyone with a sweet tooth. As you enter the shop, to the left is a large wooden sideboard with an enticing array of cookies and cakes beautifully displayed on antique cake stands.
These Vietnamese Meat Pies (also called Bánh Patê Sô) are based on the French Pâté Chaud. They have a delicious pork filling seasoned with fresh Asian herbs and spices, and wrapped in golden puff pastry. Perfect for snacks or a light meal. Meat Pies Growing up in Australia, I ate my fair share of meat pies, especially as the daughter of a baker. Pepper steak pies were my favourite, with a layer of mushy peas under
Make this easy Thai green curry paste and turn it into a delicious Thai Green Curry with Chicken or make it vegetarian with your favourite vegetables and tofu. The choices are endless! There comes a time during the week when I find myself with lots of bits of vegetables in the fridge, none which can be used on their own to make any meaningful meal, but it would be a shame and a
An easy & delicious recipe for Chinese Tea Eggs, perfect for a simple dinner or as part of a Chinese New Year meal. Chinese Tea Eggs Following on from my previous post where I shared my recipe for Chinese Turnip Cake, it seemed only fitting to also include my recipe for Chinese Tea Eggs. If you are planning a Chinese New Year lunch or dinner, or any Chinese-inspired feast, these Chinese Tea Eggs
A simple and delicious Celeriac and Chestnut Soup. Christmas is often a time for indulgence, whether it be treating yourself or loved ones to a special gift (or three), or enjoying the festivities with an abundance of good food and maybe too much champagne. After feasting on Duck Confit Parmentier and multiple serves of our favourite Chestnut Cream Pavlova for Christmas lunch, my husband asked for a simple vegetable soup for dinner later
A stunning and delicious Roquefort Cheese Ball to impress your guests! A lovely Aussie friend was recently telling me about her menu plans for Thanksgiving, and my interest was piqued when she mentioned that she would be making a cheese ball for the appetiser. Her cheese ball, if she was still in Australia, would have been comprised of cream cheese with cheddar and good ol’ Coon, sprinkled with curry powder and decorated with fried onions. I was
A Lyonnaise Sausage Roll has a delicious pork sausage encased in a brioche loaf. One of the advantages of reading cookbooks like novels (I’m sure you have heard of many foodies using this phrase) is having a repository of recipes stored in the memory for those many moments when I find myself holding an ingredient and wondering how I can cook it.
This Caramlized Beetroot Tarte Tatin is a delicious way of serving beetroots. Most Australians will have some memory of soggy lunchtime sandwiches. When I think of the sandwiches of my childhood, they were most often sliced multigrain bread filled with lettuce, grated carrots, tinned beetroot and a slice of plastic cheese. The beetroot always left a red stain on the bread, on my hands, on my school uniforms. And they almost always made the sandwiches soggy,
A spicy and delicious Steamed Tofu with Soy, Chillies & Sichuan Pepper You don’t have to be a vegetarian to love tofu. In fact, I think I like it more than meat … Salt & Pepper Tofu is one of my favourite dishes ever, especially when it is fresh and piping hot. At other times, you will often find me adding tofu to most Asian soups and stir-fries. Recently, I started experimenting with recipes
This Sticky Chicken Pho is a delicious twist on a Vietnamese classic. As a Vietnamese, I could eat a bowl of pho at breakfast, lunch and dinner. There is something so nourishing about about a steaming bowl of slippery noodles, fragrant with fresh herbs and laced with spicy chillies for that much needed kick.
Easy to make Waffles with a quick Salted Caramel Sauce. Today was a grey and gloomy day in Zurich, which meant the only reasonable thing to do was to stay indoors and make waffles with salted caramel sauce for lunch. That’s right – lunch. With the rain drizzling outside and temperatures nearing frosty, neither my husband and I were willing to venture outside for provisions. A quick inventory of the fridge and pantry revealed
Try these delicious savoury Potato Churros with Red Pepper Sauce. With her talent for introducing tasty twists on popular classics, Rachel Khoo has delivered yet another delicious spin, this time on the classic churros. Churros are traditionally served at breakfast alongside a rich hot chocolate but, in countries like Australia and the US, they are more commonly found as hot snacks rolled in cinnamon and sugar, and dipped in a chocolate sauce. These
Delicious Sticky Chinese Pork Ribs which are marinated overnight for maximum flavour. Sticky Pork Ribs I wish I could be more comfortable eating ribs in public but, the reality is, I enjoy eating them more in the comfort and privacy of my home; somewhere where I can gnaw at the bone like a messy cavewoman and lick my fingers with glee. I think it is definitely a dish best eaten in the company
My go-to recipe for Hummus which is perfect for dips and entertaining. Hummus would have to be my go-to dip. It’s quick and easy to make and, what’s more, it’s a very versatile dip. It can be served with vegetable crudités and crackers as an appetiser, spread onto flatbreads to eat as a snack or light meal, or even served as part of a main meal with some grilled lamb koftas and a
These soft-centred Scotch Eggs with Herb Mayonnaise are perfect for picnics and light meals. If there is one thing that is getting me through the middle-of-the night feeds with the baby at the moment, it’s TV. It happens to be the only time that I get to watch TV, uninterrupted, and something which is not Peppa Pig.
A quick and easy recipe for pickled chillies. They also make great gifts! Pickled Chillies I first discovered pickled chillies at my local Chinese restaurant here in Zurich. Yes, Zurich. Despite having grown up in Australia where south-east Asian food abounds, and despite my countless trips to Asia since I was a wee tot, I only came across this delightful condiment during what would be the first of many stir-fries that I like
Merry Christmas everyone! It is a rare occasion for us to celebrate Christmas in Zurich, a rather welcome change as it has given me the opportunity to cook on Christmas Day, something which might prompt fear and dread in most people but has instead filled me with glee as the Christmas season started to approach.
Madeleines with Lemon Curd, a delicious madeleine recipe from Rachel Khoo from The Little Paris Kitchen. Madeleines with Lemon Curd I am rather surprised that it has taken me this long to try this popular madeleine recipe from Rachel Khoo. In my defence, I already had a madeleine recipe to which I have been faithful to for many years, plus I felt that Rachel’s recipe was a bit fiddly for me. And with
This Spaghetti with Tuna, Chilli, Rocket & Lemon takes only 20 mins from start to finish! I have been a long-time admirer and follower of Donna Hay’s cookbooks, even as early back when she was the food editor of the Marie Claire cookbooks in Australia. Her clean and refined approach to food styling is what normally attracts the attention of readers in the first instance; food which looks so stunningly beautiful on the
How to make these tasty Cheese Bread rolls from scratch with these step-by-step photos. This recipe uses Parmesan, Gruyère and Cheddar, but you can use any of your favourite cheeses. One of my favourite snacks when I lived in Australia were cheese scrolls from the local bakery. In fact, as a child of parents who ran a busy Vietnamese bakery, I often lived for the moment when the cheese scrolls came fresh out
Tasty Vietnamese Pork Ribs, perfect serves with steamed white rice. I know I’ve mentioned it before, but my blog seems to feature very few Vietnamese recipes, despite the fact that I cook Vietnamese at home every second day or so. So in an attempt to rectify the situation and to bring some more balance to this blog, I hope to feature more Vietnamese recipes which are quick, easy and delicious to make at
An Easy General Tso’s Chicken Recipe which is light and healthy. There is no deep-frying but you can still enjoy the classic flavours of this Chinese takeaway favourite. There’s Chinese food, and there’s American-Chinese food. I wasn’t even aware of the latter until we were posted in Chicago for a few years where lunch with colleagues was often at P.F. Chang’s or Big Bowl, two popular Chinese restaurant chains in the US. There,
These Custard Tarts have a caramelised pastry for extra crunch and sweetness. A big, big thank you to everyone who entered the giveaway to win a copy of Rachel Khoo’s latest cookbook, My Little French Kitchen. The response was fantastic and I loved reading everyone’s entries on their favourite French food. The entries made me realise how far-reaching and popular French food really is; from the simple baguette loaf and famous croissant to
