Making a Great French Omelette Takes A Bit of Practice First Time Around

QlinArt's French Country Style Omelet vs Chef Jacques Pépin's French Country Style Omelet

Ok, right off the bat, my omelet obviously doesn't look esthetically appealing compared to Chef Jacques Pépin's perfect oval and creamy omelet on the right side of the picture.   However, since I like my omelet to be a little wet and creamy inside, just like Monsieur Pépin likes his, my omelet turned out amazingly rich and delicious with all the butter and fragrance from the chives.   As far as working on the presentation, I can fix that with continuous practice.   I haven't mastered the technique just yet, but I'm convinced that I will soon.  Chef Pépin was not joking when he said at the beginning of his video that making an omelet is quite difficult and that a simple dish like this one is not all it's cracked up to be.

In fact, the 'omelette with chives' that I made this morning was incredibly succulent that I couldn't help myself but to savour it all and not able to leave one bite for any of my loved ones.  How selfish of me, but, hey, when the others aren't present and there's a warm plate of good food waiting around, I ain't wasting it.  You can't eat an omelet after it's been refrigerated.   It needs to be eaten fresh!  Oh, and a little change I made to this omelet was to add a dash of fish sauce instead of salt.  Only Vietnameses would understand the reason of my doing so.  For most who have grown up with Vietnamese families, fish sauce in eggs is exquisite and it is very hard to go back to regular salt when it comes to cooking eggs.

I've included Chef Jacques Pépin's omelet making technique video just below in this post and the simple recipe for you to try out.  Let me know how yours turns out, I would love to hear from you!

Recipe of French Country-Style omelet by Jacques Pépin "au pif":

4 eggs beaten vigorously

pinch of salt

pinch of freshly ground pepper

chopped chives

butter

Follow the technique from the video! Would love to read your comments!

Bon appétit!

Long Weekend Brunch Prepared by Little Chef Serena

QlinArt is pleased to present talented little Chef Serena who was more than happy to prepare fluffy pancakes for this weekend's brunch. How could I say no to a little cook who wears her Chef's hat so well?

Thanksgiving weekend in Canada meant long days to feast and to enjoy the time off.  What better way to spend it than diving into life's simple pleasures ; eating great food with wonderful company.   The sun was shining, temperatures hitting the 20s celcius in October, and 3 days of indulgence in recreational sleep and cooking.

Eating fresh-from-the-oven croissants, fresh fruit and pancakes on a late Saturday morning was a good way to kick-start the well-deserved long weekend.   These lighter-than-air pancakes, also referred to as 'soufflé American-style pancakes' by renowned Chef Gordon Ramsay are so easy to make, that any 3 year old can prepare the batter from scratch and watch each ladle of it brown slowly on the griddle.     Watch little Serena, my friend Farah's daughter, prepare the batter nonchalantly as she was distracted by our happy 13 year old dog wagging his tail, 2 sleeping cats, and the movie Ratatouille all just a few feet away from her.

The recipe of the soufflé pancakes can be found here by just clicking on the picture below.

Enjoy the video and bon appétit!

Asia Tour 2011

Asia Tour 2011

ShangHai



Dalian (China)


Taipei


HongKong


LanTau Island- Big Buddha


Macau

Seafood Rice Dish

This is my very first video which I just posted on you tube. It's also the very first time I ever filmed a video, with the help of my friend Anne, and edited a video, which took me quite a bit of time to put everything together. I find it a little sloppy but I'm still satisfied with it considering that it's my very first one.

Anne and I got together last weekend to enjoy a delicious seafood rice dish. By the time we finished shooting we were both famished and didn't wait one more second to savour this rice dish while it was still piping hot. Because the dish turned out creamy, I would consider this dish more of a risotto than a paella. The seafood were cooked superbly, plump and juicy. The wine was divine with this meal, along with great conversation.

We had so much fun making making this video and gained a bit of experience on the preparation of filming a cooking session. We think that order, organization and presentation are key to making a cooking video enjoyable to watch and to follow. We hope you enjoy it as much as we had fun making it and we are not leaving you without the recipe.

Recipe of Seafood Rice Dish "au pif":

1 large onion, chopped

10 garlic cloves, finely chopped

2 Chorizo sausages, sliced thinly

2 cups Arborio rice

1 cup of your favorite white wine

3 cups chicken broth

1/4 cup chives, chopped

a pinch of Safran

3 Bay leaves

1/4 cup frozen peas

1lb jumbo shrimps, deveined and shells removed

1 large fillet of halibut, cut in wedges

1 small squid, cut into thin slices

8 to 10 fresh mussels to garnish

1 tbsp butter or margarine

1 tbsp oil

Heat a large flat sauté pan or traditional paella pan on medium high heat.

Add the butter or margarine and a splash of olive oil.

Begin to sauté the onions until soft. Then add the garlic and stir for about 30 seconds

Add in the slices of Chorizo sausages and stir for about 30 seconds

Stir in the Arborio rice. Stir for about 1 minute to roast the rice.

Stir in the chopped chives.

Add in the white wine.

Pour in gradually half of the chicken broth then stir well.

Add in a pinch of safran and stir.

Add in the frozen peas.

Add in the Bay leaves then stir.

Pour in the rest of the chicken broth then stir for about 2-3 minutes.

Add in the Shrimps.

Add in the fish.

Add in the squid last. It should could no more than 3-4 minutes

Add in the fresh mussels to garnish.

Serve piping hot with your favourite white wine.

Serves 4-6 people.