Four Course Western Dinner

The same question will be asked on every weekend and that is, 'what you guys wanna eat for dinner tonite?' And the answer will always be, 'I don't know' or 'Anything la'.  That's the standard dialogue in most household that will leave the mothers some kind of a challenge on what to feed the family.  Since I have a whole bird in my freezer, my husband suggested for a roast chicken.  Ok! That's not difficult to decide, is it?  So I've decided  to do a full course western dinner!  So it got me planning the menu.  Of course, it has to be some kind of soup as a starter, followed by an appetizer, a main and dessert!  Now we are going somewhere! Haahaa..satisfied with my menu, then the marinating and cooking starts.  Here's the menu (inspired by Jamie Oliver's cookbook titled 'Jamie's Dinner', the mothers day present from my hubby and children-you can see it in my recent post):

Starter

(Recipe from JO)

The Ultimate Onion Soup

Appetizer 

(my very own recipe)

Baked Mozarella Eggplant

Main

(Recipe from JO)

Roast Chicken with Lemon and Thyme Roast Potatoes

Dessert

(Recipe from Kate Zuckerman 'The Sweet Life')

Roasted Honey Glazed Pear

 The Ultimate Onion Soup
5-6 yellow onion, peeled and sliced
Chicken stock (I used anchovies)
handful of thyme, leaves picked
6 cloves garlic, finely sliced
olive oil
a good knob of butter
salt and pepper

In non-stick pan or a pot, slow fry the onion with the thyme and garlic with a good drizzle of olive oil and butter.
Slow cook for 15 mins stirring occasionally so the onions don't catch on the bottom. Then turn up the heat and color the onions until they are light golden. Add the stock and simmer for 20 mins. Add salt and pepper to taste.  Serve with toasted garlic bread.

Baked Mozarella Egg Plant

2-3 eggplants, cut into thick slices

Grated Mozarella Cheese

Salt and Pepper

1. Heat a non-stick pan and drizzle some olive oil.  Rub salt and pepper on egg plant and shallow fry on both sides. Cook till egg plant is slightly soft.

2. Dish out and place on baking dish.  Sprinkle mozarella on the egg plants, drizzle olive oil and pepper.  Bake till the cheese starts to melt.  Serve it hot.

Roast Chicken with Lemon and Thyme Roast Potatoes

Marinate chicken with salt and pepper all over including the cavity, for 4 hours or more

Boil potatoes, 6 pips garlic and 1 lemon in salt water for 12 mins, drain.  While the lemon is hot, prick it all over.

Preheat the oven to 375 degree F.

 Put in the lemon and garlic in the chicken cavity and followed by a handful of thyme. Pour a generous amount of olive oil all over the chicken and bake for 45 mins.  Take the chicken out of the oven, and add in the potatoes.  Coat the potatoes with the juice from the chicken and continue to bake for another 45 mins or until the chicken is done.

Roasted Honey Glazed Pear

 6 pears peeled and cored from the bottom
1/2 lemon - juice and peel
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup honey
2 tbsp butter

Arrange the pears in a baking tray and add in all the ingredients together.  Bake in a pre-heated oven at 180degree C for 30mins.  Lay the pears down on its sides and continue baking for another 30mins. Do the same for the other side and bake till it's soft and tender.  Serve with the caramel sauce from the pear and a dollop of whip cream or in this case, I serve it with vanilla ice-cream.