Vegetarian Category Archives - Page 6 of 8

Eggplant millefeuille with fresh goat cheese and basil recipe from Chef Fabrizio

First it was divine food of Vietnam….now it’s mouth watering delicacies from Europe! Le Meridien Kuala Lumpur has brought us another gastronomical extravaganza with “Tastes of Italy”.

# – Inspiring Italy (4 – 12 June 2011) at Le Meridien Kuala Lumpur.
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Headlined by the master of contemporary Italian cuisine, Chef Fabrizio, hailing all the way from Prego at The Westin Beijing Financial Street, foodies can now discover a new perspective to Italian dining experience at the Favola Italian Restaurant, Le Meridien Kuala Lumpur.

# – Favola Italian Restaurant.

# – With Le Meridien’s Executive Chef, Chef Antoine Rodriguez and Chef Fabrizio.

To my delight, Chef Fabrizio demonstrated some of his signature dishes for “Tastes of Italy” and the eggplant millefeuille particularly caught my attention. What a beautiful dish…the colours, the layers! I can’t wait to make this at home!

# – Chef Fabrizio in action.

Allow me to share the steps to making the gorgeous dish….

For the millefeuille:

800 grams of eggplant, sliced to medium thickness

200 grams of flour

400 grams of tomatoes, sliced thinly

120 grams of parmesan cheese, grated

20 grams of basil leaves

100 grams of goat cheese (or any kind of cream cheese)

Salt & pepper to taste

For the pesto:

200 grams of basil leaves

30 grams of parmesan cheese

200 grams of olive oil

30 grams of pine nuts

Salt & pepper to taste

# – First, slice the eggplants to medium thickness.

# – Season generously with salt & pepper. Cover and leave to rest for 30 minutes till the water’s expelled and the eggplant slices shrink in thickness.

# – Dust the eggplant slices in flour.

# – Deep fry the eggplant slices till golden.

# – Slice the tomatoes.

# – You can use a pastry ring for a better appearance but it’s okay if you don’t. Build a millefeuille by starting with a layer of fried eggplant, followed by tomato, basil and parmesan and repeat till it reaches a desired height.

# – In the meantime, chuck all ingredients for pesto in a blender till…..hey, pesto! :)

# – Sprinkle grated parmesan cheese over the millefeuille and top with a dollop of goat’s cheese.
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# – Spoon some pesto around as decoration and perch a piece of thin toast on the goat’s cheese if you like.

# – Eggplant millefeuille with fresh goat cheese and basil, DONE!

Besides this Eggplant Millefeuille with Fresh Goat Cheese & Basil, there are also over 20 items to choose from in the menu of “Tastes of Italy”. They include Crispy Seafood & Red Capsicum Risotto, Maine Lobster with Fresh Spring Herbs and many more. Of course, not to be missed as well are the desserts, with tantalising names such as Hazelnut Creme Brulee, Vanilla Floating Island, Dark Chocolate Tiramisu and Strawberry Pie with Vanilla Ice-Cream.

# – Crispy Seafood & Red Capsicum Risotto.

# – Maine Lobster with Fresh Spring Herbs.

Besides getting a sneak peek to the menu of “Tastes of Italy”, I got to meet up with my fellow bloggers!

# – With the delicious Cindy and Haze.

# – And ever gorgeous Mei.

# – BF was there too!

“Tastes of Italy” (4 June – 12 June, 2011)
Favola Italian Restaurant @ Le Meridien
2, Jalan Stesen Sentral, Kuala Lumpur Sentral,
50470 Kuala Lumpur
03-2263 7434

A la carte from RM25++ to RM130++, one can certainly live and dine like a true-blue Italian as Chef Fabrizio whips up his special Italian creations.

Cannellini beans and garlic mash, a healthier alternative to mashed potatoes!

Wow, it’s first of June, the first day of the final half of the year. If you hadn’t started on your new year’s resolution (you know, that bit about eating healthier and stuff), well, guess what…..it’s a good time to start today.

For instance, instead of reaching out for some creamy & sinful mashed potatoes, how about trying out some creamy but not so sinful Cannellini bean mash? They are low in fat and packed full of fibres, iron, magnesium and folate.

Okay, I had to google that up but that’s beside the point.

# – Cannellini beans.

Also, I didn’t really plan on eating mashed potatoes replacement because I developed a sudden concern for health. I just happened to buy one too many cans of Cannellini beans which were on sale and I needed to eat them up before they expire.

Thank goodness, this attempt to finish up Cannellini beans is not a disaster like the previous time.

In fact, it turned out extremely well! Without further ado, lets start!

The ingredients:

1 can of Cannellini beans, drained
5 cloves of garlic, sliced
1 tablespoon of rosemary powder
100 ml of milk or whipping cream (even chicken stock)
Salt and pepper

# – First, fry up the garlic slices till fragrant.

# – Then, dump in the drained beans and stir for a bit.

# – Add in a tablespoon of rosemary powder for flavour.

# – A sprinkling of salt and pepper for taste….

# – Followed by the liquid. I used cream which was honestly very naughty but you can substitute with milk or chicken stock. Using water is just downright depressing.

# – With a potato masher, mash the beans up. If you’ve got a hand blender, even better!

# – Serve as a delicious healthy side dish to grilled mustard pork chops.

So if you’re on a carb strike but is aching for some creamy mash, by all means try this out. Cannellini beans are virtually tasteless on their own so they absorb external flavours very well….certainly a great vehicle to deliver an awesomesauce gravy.

Minus the tedious tasks of peeling and boiling potatoes, I have a feeling I’m going to stock up more on Cannellini beans…..

Swear I just heard a grunt from the BF’s direction. Or was it a fart? LOL.

Spicy eggplant strips with dried shrimps.

When I was little, I used to abhor eggplants. My mom used to cooked them in pretty large pieces and I thought they looked like mangled snakes with the slightly wilted, browned purple skin and gooey flesh.

But thanks to a trip to Gohtong Jaya, Genting Highlands, my aversion towards the purple vegetable had been overturned. There, I ate the most delicious eggplant dish I had ever had. It was most unforgettable.

# – I <3 eggplants. What do you call them? Aubergine? Brinjal?

The strips of eggplant were crispy on the outside and soft in the middle, and had completely absorbed the taste and aroma of the dried shrimps with the caramelised onions contributing some delicious moisture to an otherwise dry dish. Perfect with rice but REALLY good eaten on its own too.

To be honest, I don’t know the actual recipe, but I think I managed to replicate the dish to as close to the real McCoy as possible. So yeah, I am quite pleased with myself :D

The ingredients:

1 large eggplant, cut into strips with skin on

1 handful of dried shrimps, soaked in water for 1/2 hour and drained

Some flour

3 dried chillies, seeded and cleaned

1 tablespoon of chinese wine

1 tablespoon of Worcestershire sauce

1 red onion, diced

1 stalk of spring onion or scallion, diced

3 tablespoons of water

1/2 tablespoon of salt

# – First of all, lightly coat the eggplant strips in flour.

# – Next, deep fry the eggplant strips in hot oil till the strips are shrunken and browned, not burnt. As I didn’t want to waste so much oil, I only use like 2 centimetres of oil and deep fry in a few batches.