My take on spaghetti alla carbonara with bacon and specs of blue cheese Adapted from Chef Antonio Carluccio's recipe, my version of carbonara that is not quite traditional yet not quite the cream-based American-Italian version either. It's a really satisfyingly creamy dish that comprises of minimal ingredients and minimal wash-up afterwards, so it really is the perfect mid-week meal! And carbonara is always a people pleaser! Traditionally,...

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Dark chocolate oozing out of a warm Pain au Chocolate fresh out of the oven! Sometimes I just feel like a nice, warm, flaky croissant to bite into and what's even better than a warm croissant is one filled with oozing dark chocolate! It's the perfect after dinner treat with a fancy name that's so easy you'll wonder why you haven't made it before - and the leftovers are perfect to enjoy with your coffee the next morning! This...

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A favourite for Australians, this French savoury, egg-based tart is flavoured with onions, bacon and cheese. An easy way to get kids to eat veggies is to put it in something that they already like, you really taste the spinach in the quiche but it adds some extra veg to the recipe! Traditionally made with shortcrust pastry, however, I like the flakiness that puff pastry adds. As a meal, I normally serve this dish with...

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Perfect for a cold winter's day or rainy day or a lazy day (or even when you just feel like it), chicken sweet corn soup is a favourite restaurant-style soup of mine. With my family being from the South of Vietnam, we often have a sweeter palate when it comes to seasoning our food (opposite to the North who are overall more reserved with their seasoning), so I really enjoy this soup as it satisfies the tastes that I've...

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A bowl of my lazy stock (apologies for the yellow cast, took this photo at night and not sure how to fix it) Super quick and simple recipe for chicken stock when you're in a rush or just hungry and need a soup base for a recipe! _________________________________________________________________________________   Lazy Chicken Stock Ingredients:           Bones from 1kg chicken thighs...

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Tôm Cuốn Hành (Spring Onion Wrapped Prawn and Pork Belly) This dish is great when you want something lighter than the typical rice paper rolls, but want to enjoy similar flavours. It's really difficult to stop after you start, as they give an explosion of flavours and textures all in one...(or two) bites! These little wraps are usually served with mắm tôm, a shrimp paste-based dipping sauce which I've also posted...

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Bò bía with Thai basil This is the perfect recipe to use up any jícama you have lying around, just as I did when my dad bought a whole bag of small organic tubers. If you would like to learn a little more about jícama, I have an 'Ingredients Explained' post about them (click here). Bò bía is Vietnamese version of popiah introduced to the country through Chinese immigrants. Oddly enough there is no beef in the rolls...

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Definitely not the most attractive coloured nor smelling dipping sauce, especially if you're not used to the pungency of shrimp paste, but it gives such a great flavour to dishes such as tôm cuô'n hành (spring onion wrapped prawn and pork belly, as pictured) that you ought to give it a try! _________________________________________________________________________________ Mắm Tôm (Shrimp Paste Dipping Sauce) Ingredients:  ...

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Jícama (pronounced /ˈhiːkəma/), otherwise known as củ sắn in Vietnamese, is the tuber of the yam bean. With its origins in Mexico and South America, the use of this water-dense root vegetable has spread into a number of cuisines across Asia. During the Vietnam war, refugees would take jícama aboard the boats on which they fled the war-ravaged country. They would eat the jícama raw on its own (similar to how one...

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Smoked Salmon & Avocado Sushi (without rice) looking like a little dragon ball This salmon avocado sushi isn't a recipe per se, but rather just a quick eat (and I mean quick!) I came home and just wanted something substantial yet wasn't going to give me that heavy feeling after eating. Afterall, it was an in-between time, I had missed lunch by a few hours and dinner was only a few hours away but I had to get something...

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Steamed Crème Caramel (Classic Vanilla): my first attempt! -apologies for the iPhone snap- For my first post I'd to share with you my recipe for steamed crème caramel! This is the perfect midweek recipe, as the ingredients will hopefully be lying in wait in your pantry and fridge! Crème caramel is a sweet egg-based dessert whose origins lie in France. This dessert can be served either warm or cold - I prefer mine chilled...

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