Quay Po Cooks: omelette

Showing posts with label omelette. Show all posts

Friday, July 8, 2011

I find ways to improve my life as I grow older

I find that as I grow older, I do not like crowds and noisy places. I like staying home more, especially on the weekends. Are these signs of old age? Oh well, age is just a number right? What is important is that we do not feel old and yes, I know it is easier said than done. My psychologist friend said that fear of growing old will only speed the very decline we dread most. She advocates that we recognize and accept the aging process and all that goes with it as a reality and a natural part of the life cycle. She recommends that we explore ways to improve our life. I think these are good advice. So, one way I did last Sunday to improve my life was, I had a relaxing weekend. I went for a nice massage in the morning and returned home for a quick simple yummy lunch. If you have any more ideas to improve life as we age, do share with me.

I did not do well with this meal. I overcooked the eggs and over baked the biscuit. If I did everything right, this is a fantastic dish. The flavor is awesome. What is most special is the addition of the pickled shallot to it. It gave a whole new dimension to taste of the omelette. So I did not cook a perfect lunch but that does not upset me at all. I am practicing not sweating the small stuff and I had a wonderful weekend.:)

Chorizo potato omelette with biscuit

Largely adapted from JamieOliver.com

This recipe was featured on Asian Food Channel (Office) Facebook page on 3 September 2012

Ingredients:

1 medium potatoes, scrubbed and cut into chunks

sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

3 eggs

1 Spanish chorizo sausage, cut into 1cm thick slices

10 fresh rosemary leaves

2 shallots, peeled and very finely sliced

1 tbs lemon juice

½ tsp sugar

1 tsp extra virgin olive oil

10 or 12 mint leaves

Method:

Preheat your to 250 degrees C. Put the potatoes into a saucepan of boiling salted water and simmer them until cooked, then drain in a colander and leave them to steam dry. Beat the eggs in a mixing bowl, season well with salt and pepper to your taste, and put aside.

Heat a ovenproof frying pan. Add the chorizo slices and the potato chunks. When everything’s lightly golden and crisp, remove from the pan with a slotted spoon and put aside. Sprinkle the rosemary leaves into the hot fat until crisp. Pour the beaten eggs on top immediately, adding the potatoes and chorizo and spreading everything out evenly. Place the whole pan in the preheated oven until the omelette is golden brown on top and just cooked through in the middle.

While the omelette is cooking, put the shallots into a bowl with the lemon juice, some salt and pepper and a glug of extra virgin olive oil. Toss and pinch the shallots with your fingertips to soften them slightly, then mix in the mint leaves. Serve a little on top of the omelette with biscuits and gravy.

I am bringing this dish to 'Friday Potluck' July, hosted by Girlichef.

I also brought this dish to "Fun in the Sun' hosted by I Heart Cooking Clubs.

A LITTLE ABOUT THIS QUAY PO

Before I was married to my "Quay Lo" (Guaylo) husband, I did not know how to bake or cook. Subsequently I learned some baking and cooking Western cuisine from him, and providing his food for him launched an interest in cooking in general. Many of my Chinese friends and family told me that "Quay" is the wrong spelling for devil in Cantonese. The right spelling should be "Kwai" or "Guay". Well, somehow I like the spelling "Quay" better although I have to agree that it does not sound very Cantonese. Try asking a Westerner to pronounce "Kwai" and you will probably hear "Quay" haha. Whether is "Quay" or "Kwai" or "Guay, just know the devil woman is me when you see Quay Po Cooks. My hubby said if people pronounce "Quay" as "Key" is even better because I am the key to his heart. LOL!

Only now, have I started to learn the traditional Cantonese cuisine of my Mum. She cooks fabulously and all her specialties are divine. These two interests, my husband's Western food, and my mother's traditional food, prompted me to document them so they will not be lost.

Here, I wish to share my cooking and baking experience with my readers. I also hope to inspire those who do not know how to cook or bake to do so because, trust me, if I can, you can too.

Something I'd like to mention is that I find that many people are rather unwilling to share their recipes. However, for me, I think differently. I think good recipes should be shared thus allowing as many people to enjoy it as possible. Unless those recipes are for doing business, I don't see why we want to keep them all to ourselves. So if you are generous in sharing your recipes, you are welcome to share on my blog. Send the recipes to me and better still with pictures of the final products and I will be very happy to post them them with credits to you of course.

Our cuisine is a deeply embedded part of our culture. When two cultures come together under the same roof the results in the kitchen can sometimes be comedic, sometimes confrontational, but more often it is a journey full of surprises and discovery. There is joy in our food. If we think upon this, it is intuitively obvious. This blog is a journey of joy and sharing, reflecting what the French like to call "joie de vivre" (joy of living). No one could be more different from one another then my husband and my mother. Yet one thing they share in common is knowing intuitively that food, cooking, and sharing can be avenues of joy in life itself. So herein, help yourself, to a little joy and , if you like it, share it with your own family and friends. Joy is something that should be shared.