Grilled Vegetables Frittata

I made Grilled Vegetables Frittata to the recent bloggers' gathering. I was hoping to have an even spread of food, so I decided on savoury rather than sweet, although I feel that I can bake sweets better. :p

These were the vegetables I used for grilling before adding them to my frittata.
frittata01
frittata06
Recipe for Grilled Vegetable Frittata
Makes 20 regular cups (2" height)

Ingredients: 
Yellow Zucchini, sliced
Green Zucchini, sliced
1/2 Yellow Capsicum
1/2 Red Capsicum
1/2 Orange Capsicum
10 Cherry Tomatoes, halved
Sweet Potatoes, sliced
Olive Oil
Some Salt

Method:


1. Washed and cut the vegetables accordingly.

2. Coat them with olive oil and salt.
3. Grilled them in a preheat oven of 200C for about 25mins.

Fillings:

8 Whole eggs
150g Whipping Cream
Tuscany Blend
Dash of pepper
Dash of rock salt
frittata04
Method:

1. Divide the grilled vegetables equally into the aluminium cups.
frittata02
2. Mix the fillinsg well.
3. Scoop about 2 1/2 tablespoon of fillings into each cups.
frittata03
4. Bake them at 190C for 20mins or until browned.
5. The mixture will expand in the heat, and contract when cooled.
6. Remove from the oven after baking.
7. Serve warm.
frittata05

Bloggers Gathering

Edith hosted the bloggers gathering at her place on Sunday. 13 home bakers/cooks came together to share tips, chit chat and gossip. It was quite sometime since our gathering. This time, I got to meet a few more new faces. I really enjoyed gatherings like this when we bake to share, and get to enjoy a spread of homemade buffet! Enjoy the visual treat!

Meg's Lemon Meringue Cupcakes DSCF3067
Veronica's Cherry Cake
DSCF3068
Eelin's Lemon Coconut Cupcakes DSCF3069
Eelin's Salad
DSCF3072
Reirei's Puff Biscuits
DSCF3070
Reirei's Chicken Stew
DSCF3079
Bee Bee's Chicken Skewers DSCF3071
Alan's Ikan Gerang Asam DSCF3074
Alan's Apam Balik with durian fillings DSCF3075
Alan's Roselle Macarons DSCF3089
Shirley's Ngoh Hiang 
DSCF3076
Wendy's Korean Seaweed Rice Roll DSCF3078
Zhuoyuan Chicken Pies 
DSCF3081
 Edith's Drink 
DSCF3082 
Edith's Kahlua Coffee Ice-cream DSCF3090
Alice's Steamed Pandan Brownies DSCF3087
Alice's Chocolate Pudding with Chocolate Sauce DSCF3088
 Annie's Tiramisu 
DSCF3091
My Grilled Vegetables Frittata photo1
My Creamy Prawn & Mushrooms Canapes DSCF3080
Many thanks to Alan for his cute door gift and giving us the buah belimbing. Thanks to Edith for her potted Thai Basil too! I had a really great time and hope to meet up with all of you again!
DSCF3093

Dad's 69th Birthday Celebration

My dad's birthday falls on 10th Aug, the day after National Day. So year after year, how best to gather the family together to celebrate, will be on National Day itself, where it's a public holiday. Most of the time, we dined out, therefore, missing out on the actual national day parade and the fireworks. On one or two years, I convinced them to come over to my place, so that we can watched the 'live' NDP on television, and watched the fireworks from my house.

This year, it was no exception. We celebrated his birthday at a restaurant. The only exception was, the children were not with us. After getting some bonus in July, I felt generous and wanted to buy a good meal for my family. With my sister's recommendation, we decided to go for some Italian cuisine. We figured that the children might not able to enjoy the food, so I left my children at my sister's house with her children. And the adults, together with my eldest son, went for some "fine" dining.

My sister did the 'ground work' of arranging with the restaurant a six-course menu for our family of 10, at $80++ per person. The place to be was PepeNero at Stanley Street. The restaurant set up was small and simple. The decorations on the wall are kept to a minimum too. The lime green wall made the place feel refreshing and the lit candles on the table made it cosy. If you like a quiet ambience, then this is the place to be.

pepeN01 pepeN02
Here's the menu for the evening.

Grissini & Ciabatta bread with olive & sundried tomato dips.
pepeN03
Astice alla Griglia con Pinzimonio di Verdure di Stagione
Grilled Lobster with Fresh Vegetables Sticks and Vinaigrette with Sea Salt
We had a whole lobster to ourselves! The grilled lobster was very well done. It was flavourful with juices flowing out of the fresh. The lobster was really very fresh. There were also lobster flesh in both its pincers. The lobster flesh is limited to the lower half of the body though. I didn't have enough of this! This is a must-try!
pepeN05 pepeN04

“Fritto Misto” di Pesce dell’ Adriatico con Salsa Tartara
Adriatic “Fritto Misto” with Tartar Sauce 

This was a mixture of fried calamari and prawns. Dipped them in the special tartar sauce tasted good. As this was served before we finished our lobster, it wasn't as crispy as we hoped it was.
pepeN06
Risotto ai Frutti di Mare
Sea Food Risotto
Seafood risotto was very tasty. In fact, it was a tad too salty for our palate. My parents didn't really like too much salt in their food. However, despite it being salty, we like the flavour. There were squid and prawns in the risotto. The grain was cooked through and was very soft.
pepeN07
Lasagnetta al Forno Profumata al Tartufo con Funghi Misti di Bosco
Scented Truffle Oven Baked Lasagna with Mix Roasted Mushrooms
This...was really good! The truffle really lingered on the palate after eating it. I didn't realised there was truffle in this lasagna until after tasting it! The lasagna was pretty light, not too heavy. Between layers of pasta sheet, you can taste fresh mushrooms and tomato bits.
pepeN08
Pollo alla Cacciatora in Umido
Chicken Huntr's Style
The chicken looked like it was simmer for hours as the meat was easily shredded. It was very soft. The additional of basil leaves gave the dish a special flavour.
pepeN09
"Caponata" di Verdure al Forno
Oven Baked Vegetables "Caponata"
Caponata done it the Chef's way. Every Italian Chef I was told, had their way of making Caponata. As this was my first time trying it, all I can say is, I like it. The cherry tomatoes were really juicy and sweet. The vegetables were full of flavour and very soft till it melts in the mouth.
pepeN10
Totano Farcito con Pane di Altamura, Vongole e Gamberi con Basilico Fresco e Pomodorini Siciliani
12 hours slow Stewed Squid, Stuffed with Altamura Country Bread, Clams and Prawns with Fresh Basil and "Pachino" Cherry Tomatoes
After 12 hours of stewing, you can never find a chewy squid! The squid was so soft, and effortless to eat them. The stuffing was not too fantastic though the sauce was good.
pepeN11
This was complimentary for us. It was Italian Cherries. They were as good as USA cherries - sweet and fragrant.
pepeN12
The dishes were well presented. The culteries were changed after each dish. The service staff were very prompt in topping up our water. As we don't drink, we didn't order any wine. Otherwise, you can find a whole range of wines in the restaurant to compliment your meal.

My favourite dish was the grilled lobster. The sauce goes well with the lobster. I could visit the restaurant again just for the lobster! Truffle lasagna was really good too! Please note that I paid fully for the meal. The review is purely my opinion.

After a great dinner, we adjourned to my sister's house to join our children, and to continue our birthday celebration with dad. As usual, I baked a cake for him - Blueberry Chocolate Cake, using canned blueberries. It so happened that my house has ran out of all fresh fruits!

Since the day I started baking birthday cakes for my family members, they've never really celebrated their real age, because we only used one candle (to save the earth)! LOL.

Happy 69th birthday to my dearest papa!
cake_blueberrychoc01 cake_blueberrychoc02 IMG_0068-001

Three Cheese Creamy Baked Rice

On weekdays when I'm not at work, I would be thinking what to bake for my family. It will relieved my helper on what to cook for the evening. One Friday evening, I decided to make baked rice for them. It's a versatile dish. You can add whatever ingredients you can find in your fridge/pantry. This time, I mixed my own cream sauce instead of the usual 'Cxxxbxxx' canned soup which I would usually use. I'm very happy that it turned out to be really nice. One tip I would like to share is the addition of mixed herbs. It really made a lot of difference to a great tasting baked rice!
bakedrice03
Recipe for Three Cheese Creamy Baked Rice
Makes 6 servings

Ingredients:


2 cups Rice grains, cooked

6 pcs Prawns, deshelled and cut into 3 pieces each
2 medium Squid, washed and cut
1 cup Mixed vegetables
200g Chicken pieces, shred
1 Large Onion, sliced
3 Clove garlic, chopped
3 tbsp Cooking oil

Sauce:

30g LIV Salted Butter
1 1/2 cup Whipping Cream
1 cup Whole Milk
2 Eggs, beaten
2 tsp Rock Salt (or sea salt)
2 tsp Dried mixed herbs (or fresh herbs like rosemary, or other mixed herbs)
Dash of black pepper

Toppings:

100g Parmesan Cheese, grated
150g Red Cheddar Cheese, grated
150g Mozzarella Cheese, grated
bakedrice01 bakedrice02
Method:


  1. Heat a large pan over medium heat. Add cooking oil.
  2. Add garlic and fried till fragrant. Add in onion and fried till caramelised and soft.
  3. Add in prawns, followed by chicken and stir fried till just cooked.
  4. Add in mixed vegetables and stir till cooked.
  5. Remove them from the pan and put aside.
  6. Add squid and stir till just cooked. Remove and put aside.
  7. Turn the fire to low heat, then add in the salted butter. Stir till it melts.
  8. Add in the whipping cream, followed by whole milk.
  9. Gently stir over low heat.
  10. Add in salt, pepper and mixed herbs, then stir well.
  11. Once the cream started to bubble a bit, dribbled beaten eggs steadily into the cream and stir well in the low heat.
  12. Add in the cooked rice, followed by all the cooked vegetables and meats.
  13. Stir well and ensure that all are covered well in the cream.
  14. Scoop them into a baking pan. Layer Parmesan cheese between the rice.
  15. Finally, topped the rice with a layer of cheddar cheese, followed by mozzarella cheese.
  16. Baked it in a preheat oven of 200C for 20mins, or until the cheese turned browned.
  17. Serve it with side salad or grilled vegetables.
bakedrice04
Happy 47th National Day, dear Singapore!!