Christmas Day Lunch: Jamie Oliver Inspired Chunky Mushroom Soup with truffle oil and summer truffles, served with garlic toast

For Christmas day lunch, it will usually be something light since the timing between meals are quite close. Soup is the perfect option -- though it looks rather simple in nature, it is the most time consuming dish I had to make on Christmas Day. Right after breakfast at 8am, I started making the chicken stock (click here for instructions on how to make chicken stock), which takes roughly 2 hours. If you would like this to be vegetarian, by all means use a vegetarian stock.

Since my daughter and mother both love mushroom soup, I decided to make this for lunch. I adaptedJamie Oliver's recipeto make my version of chunky mushroom soup. I used white button, grey oyster, white oyster and cep/porcini mushrooms for my version-- you could also usechanterelles, girolles, trompettes de mort, shitake if available.Since we like our mushroom soup creamy, I added 100ml of dairy whipping cream at the end but you could skip this if you find it too rich.

If I could say so myself, it's a rather delicious soup and we thoroughly enjoyed it.

Chunky mushroom soup with truffle oil and summer truffles, served with garlic toast

Chunky mushroom soup
Preparation time: 15-20 minutes
Cooking time: 45-50 minutes (not including time to make stock)
Serves 4-5

Ingredients
A small handful of cep/porcini mushrooms
115g white button mushroom, cut into small pieces
100g grey oyster mushroom, cut into small pieces
200g white oyster mushroom, cut into small pieces
2 clove garlic, peeled and minced
1 onion, peeled and chopped finely
2 tbsp olive oil
100ml whipping cream (in KL supermarkets, it's hard to find single/double cream)
1 1/2 tbsp mascarpone cheese
1 litre chicken or vegetable stock
A handful of parsley, finely chopped
A knob of butter
Salt and freshly ground pepper
Truffle oil
Summer truffles

You can get cep/porcini mushrooms from Ben's Independent Grocer, Publika

It makes the soup much more luxurious

Four types of mushroom

1. Soak porcini/cep mushrooms in a bowl of warm water for 15 minutes, then remove and leave it to dry. Soak in boiling water for another 10 minutes, rinse and chopped roughly ready for adding. In a large pot over medium high heat, add oil and fresh mushroom (grey/white! oyster and white button) and stir around quickly for a minute. Add the garlic, butter, and onion.

2. After a minute, you will notice some moisture cooking out of the mushrooms. At this point, add the porcini mushrooms. Strain the soaking liquid, removing any grit and add to the pot. Carry on cooking for about 15 minutes until most of the moisture disappears.

3. Add your stock and bring to the boil. Simmer for another 20 minutes over medium low heat. Remove half the soup and using a hand blender, whiz it to a puree (Note: If you like it less chunky, then puree more of the soup). Pour it back in, add the parsley and mascarpone cheese as well as whipping cream (if using) and season to taste with salt and pepper.

4. For the garlic toast, click on the recipe here. All ingredients and steps are the same, however please omit the Parmesan cheese. It will take about 10 minutes, so you can put this in the oven before you blend the soup.

Garlic butter

5. Serve the soup together with the garlic toast. Add a few drops of truffle oil and a few thin shavings of summer truffles and garnish with a parsley leaf and a few drops of cream.


G one in 10 minutes!

RM12 Keh Liao Char Koay Teow @ Bee Hooi Coffee Garden, Penang

Just when I thought Char Koay Teow in Penang wouldnt get more expensive, I stumbled upon one that sells a keh liao (added ingredients) version that has a price tag of RM12 while the normal version is RM5.50. FYI, the most expensive Char Koay Teow I ever had prior to this was at Ah Leng that cost RM10. And coincidentally, this stall at Bee Hooi Coffee Garden along Kimberley Street is where Ah Leng used to operate before he moved to his current location.

Even though I knew the noodles would have a tough time competing with the caliber of Siam Roads, the curiosity got the better of me. I simply had to see for myself how this could top Ah Lengs. So after I placed my order and sat down, I paid close attention to the cooking.
And just as I had predicted, the extra cost goes into having much bigger prawns and adding an extra ingredient mantis shrimps. There werent any cockles, which is weird so my only guess is that it was hard to get any supply during CNY.

Taste wise it isnt fantastic for Penang standards but it is still a good one essentially, at least enough to cure me of my Char Koay Teow cravings. A slightly burnt smell was detected in the noodles though, a small annoyance that I hope is not a recurring! problem .

According to the cook, he might be taking time off soon and going back to KL due to tiredness. He said he will definitely be back but did not mention an exact date. So a little luck is needed if you want to try his Char Koay Teow. But if so happens he is not there, you can always walk across the street to Sin Guat Keong instead. The Char Koay Teow there uses mantis shrimps as well, is cheaper and definitely tastes better in overall. The downsides are: you might not get a seat and the waiting time is a lot longer especially during public holidays.

Bee Hooi Coffee Garden
Kimberley Street, Penang
Business hours: 6pm till midnight. Off days not fixed

In Istanbul, an Exception to the Brunch Rule

Menemen worth suffering a traffic jam for

When it comes to Brunch (organized brunch, eating-out brunch and -- especially -- Brunch as Buffet) we have one rule: we don't. Ever, anywhere. It's a tenet we've hewed to for decades and have no expection of straying from. Except in Istanbul.

Our Brunch turnaround happened on a sunny Sunday morning last November. It was the last weekend of a wonderful month in Turkey. We were in Istanbul, spending the day with a good friend who suggested starting with breakfast -- which ended up not happening till late in the morning, which technically made it Brunch. Uh-oh.

What's more, said Brunch happened in the vicinity of Rumeli Castle, which is surrounded by a slew of tea gardens and Bruncherias with almost too-picturesque Bosphorus views. On fair weekend mornings the promenade teems with Brunchers, Strutters, Yachters, Preeners and Trophy-Dog Walkers.

It's really not our scene.

But our friend Evren, whom Dave was lucky enough to land as an assistant when he worked on an Istanbul ferry boat photo project a couple of years ago, grew up in Istanbul, in a family that loves to eat. He has a healthy obsession with deliciousness. It was Evren who led us to our now-favorite Istanbul kaymak-erie and bakery. He's never let us down. We couldn't say "no" to Brunch with Evren.

True to form, when we stepped off the bus just past Rumeli castle Evren led us past the flashier Bruncheriasto Rumeli Kale C! afe, a s kinny three-story structure opposite Iskele restaurant (where, ten years ago, Dave and I endured a meal of passable fish accompanied by the snootiest service imagineable).

We slipped in the back door, climbed a skinny flight of stairs and entered a narrow dining room lined with banquettes and fronted by an un-paned picture window. It was packed, but the crowd was unpretentious, the vibe low-key, the view lovely.

Evren did not order sparingly. The cafe is a favorite Sunday haunt, he told us as he picked and chose from the menu on a first pass, then picked and chose some more 15 minutes into the meal: a full Turkish breakfast (cheese, olives, tomatoes and cucumbers, raisin preserves). Eggs two ways: fried with sucuk (sausage) and semi-scrambled with tomatoes and peppers (menemen). Bal kaymak (heavenly Turkish clotted cream in a pool of honey). Crispy rolled borek oozing kasar cheese. Haloumi fried in butter.

Rumeli Kale Cafe has two upper floors, and each floor has only two window tables; most customers make do with views marred by the heads of fellow diners. Its long narrow dining room offers little See-and-Be-Seen opportunities. People come to Rumeli Kale Cafe to eat.

And we did. "Eat the borek while it's hot," Evren urged, and we obliged.

Then we moved on to the rest of it. We slathered kaymak and honey on ! sheets o f steaming lavash periodically added to our bread basket by the waiter, broke perfectly wobbly egg yolks onto slices of sausage, forked up bits of crusty haloumi and used spoons to devour the ethereally light menemen.

In between bites of everything that was bad for us we drank tea ("It melts fat!" Dave kept insisting) and nibbled on tomatoes and cucumbers and green cayenne peppers. We chatted. We looked out the window. We idled. Over Brunch. Brunch!

And it was good.

Afterwards, we needed to move. So we joined the Preeners and Trophy-Dog Walkers et al on the promenade. Stumbling along in a Brunch-induced fog, we vowed to never again do Brunch. Istanbul being the exception.

Rumeli Kale Cafe and Restaurant just past Rumeli Hisar (coming from Istanbul). There are two Rumeli Kale Cafes -- aim for the three-story structure further along the road (away from Istanbul), across from Iskele Restaurant. While the cafe serves breakfast till late in the day during the week, aim for a Saturday or Sunday (or holiday), when the kitchen is geared up. And arrive by 10 if you want to be sure of a table upstairs, earlier if you hope to sit by the window on the second or third floor. Be forewarned: the flow of traffic back into town will be glacial.

[Note: We revisited Rumeli Kale Cafe last Monday morning. We're now in Anatolia, in the little-touristed city of Kayseri. Dave recently posted some moody black-and-white shots from the last few days, here.]

My CNY Day 2 - 2012

We stayed two nights at Desa Pelangi Apartments at Jalan Logan, Penang. The place needs refurbishment.Our first meal for the Dragon Year at Pulau Tikus.

Homemade Wan Than Mee - It's always open during the 1st Day of Chinese New Year.

Fo r the boys we bought Mee Goreng for them and from this once a upon a time a famous Mee Goreng stall at Jones Road.

That's the Mee Goreng (Fried Indian Noodle) in takeaway form.

Time to visit my mother at Farlim, Air Itam.myfamily with my father inlaw

My nieces with a friend and my nephew having adeliciousgrandma's cooking.

My Jo & Shou Yi having a joyous moment.

Sweet to brighten the Year of the Dragon.We took shift to eat and we love my mother's food.Me and my nieces and nephew.My youngest brother's family & Mum.Tua Pek's family & mum.Tua Pek & hisnieces& nephew.Xiang Yi my second son.

Uncle Harry rented a room from us long long time in Green Lane, had a family and now had a grandson, Nick whom sometime my mumwillbaby sit Nick.

My niece & nephew (Michelle& Jeffery) and their Mum.Tong Sui for Uncle Harry. Pleasebe carefulwhen riding your bike again, Uncle ok...Allan Ong (my mum's godson) & wife Gaik Har.Lilian, my niece have grown up & started a working career how time flies as I see them grow.The "Red" team @ a corner playing computer game.Air Asia should be proud of this people.

Zu Yi was trying to learn how to take care of a baby.

My Uncle (youngest) and his son (Sim Kang Beng) with his young family.Yong Lim, Uncle Harry Ong & Sim Kang BengThey speak Malay, Mandarin & English. Their mother is Kadazan & father is Chinese where a Kadazan is a bumiputera, are these two boys also bumiputera?Sin Boon Chang my uncle was happy to be at this gathering at my mother's place.Both born on the same year one is an early child and one is a year end child, no wonder one is taller than the other.My sister Bee Leng & mum taking a break. They have been busy preparing for this festivaloccasionand we thank both of them for their endless efforts.Chinese New Year is all to also about eating and eating. And we love to eat.Mum knows how to please the children.......My late dad's favourite dish and also mine.Lobak and those yellowish were chicken lobak.Fried chicken with lesser oil.Braised trotter I like the way my mother cut these portions, a complete ring of braised portion and super duper delicious.Big, fresh, succulent & delicious assam prawns.Fried roasted pork with slight chilli padi and a good paring with my drink.My favourite fruit & also my late dad's....Perfect Tong Sui and you don't such quality outside the market.Braised Tofu as and like what we love to eat as Teochew.

Some of the Chinese New Year decors in the apartment.