Eye Candy

I first heard the term "Eye Candy" when I saw a post from a young girl calling my son, Nicholas, "Eye Candy". 

That was few years ago, when he was first getting into singing and songwriting. Back then, I did not know what it meant so I googled and found out the meaning. Eye Candy means someone or something that is visually attractive or pleasing to look at. Recently, there were Eye Candies at Jaya Grocers, Subang Empire. LOL!

Jaya Grocers, Empire Subang is the supermarket that I usually shop in. I like shopping there because the store Manager, Wilson, and the supervisor for the vegetable section, Janet, are very helpful people. The cashiers there are efficient and cheerful. I found the staff at Jaya Grocers understand what customer service is all about. I have met the owner, Mr. Teng, on several occasions. He is a warm and friendly gentleman who makes his customers feel very welcome. There was one occasion that I was at the meat section and he recommended that I try some imported salami. It was over-the-top delicious. Furthermore, it is a one-stop center for me for most of my baking and cooking needs and my favorite table wine. It is so convenient for me. I was very happy that now they give free cooking demos every Saturday at their cosy pantry,  one schedules for 1.00pm and another at 3.00pm. I have been to two of these demos so far and both were conducted by young promising, friendly and handsome chefs. Oh yes, they were "eye candies"! LOL! If you are interested in attending a demo, just go to Jaya Grocers’ facebook and book your seats in advance or if you are at Jaya Grocers Empire Subang, you can inform the staff there to book a seat for you.  I enjoy attending cooking and baking demos by chefs because I found that I will learn something new each time. Many of thes tips are things that you will not find in a cook book.

The first demo I attended was Berrie Pie by Chef Ryan Khang,

and last Saturday’s lasagna was by an award winning chef,  "Christopher".  I liked his recipe because it was a vegetarian recipe. I brought a friend with me and she liked the recipe too, so after the demo, she got all the ingredients in Jaya Grocers itself and was eager to go home and make the dish for dinner.

Chef Christopher is a talented young chef who won many awards during his culinary career. His roots are in modern French cuisine and his wizardry with fine-dining dishes can only be described as a palate-pampering experience. He brings with him a firm culinary foundation and a passion for creativity.  He has gained much exposure in restaurants such as Zen Satori and Nippon Tuk in Hilton Metropole London. He also conducts cooking and baking classes at The Cooking House and has been assigned to conduct public demonstrations for food companies in malls and exhibition. Here are the step-by-step photos on how Chef Christopher made the lasagna. I think these pictures will benefit those who wants to make this dish but do not know how. My Quay Lo said it was funny that a chef was needed to demo lasagna. He said every cook in the U.S. likely has a recipe for this family favorite. But I pointed out to him just how different lasagna is compared to the standard table fare that is common here in Malaysia. He thought about it and realized what an opportunity this is for a grocer here to sell into the growing desire to experience different foods here.


Vegetable Lasagna
recipe from Chef Christopher

Ingredients:

8 sheets Banila Lasagna Bolognesi La Collezione DItalia

1/2 small pumpkin

1 long eggplant

150gm spinach

40gm parmesan cheese, grated

Olive Oil

Tomato Sauce:

Ingredients for tomator sauce:

3 tbs olive oil

3 cloves garlic, chopped

1 small yellow onion chopped

1 stick celery, diced

1/2 red capsicum, diced

500gm tomato puree

1/4 tsp dried basil

1/4 tsp ground oregano

6 sweet basil leaves, sliced

1 tsp sugar

salt and pepper to taste

Method to make tomato sauce:

Saute garlic, onion in oil until softened. Add Celery, capsium tomato puree and dried herbs. Cook until reduced and thickened. 

Bechemal sauce:

Ingredients for bechemal sauce:

60gm butter

60gm flour

550gm milk

1/4 tsp ground nutmeg

1/4 tsp salt

a good dash of ground black pepper

Method to make bechamel sauce:

Heat the milk. Melt the butter in a saucepan and cook the flour, stirring to prevent lumps forming. Add the milk gradually and cook, stirring, until the mixture thickens and boil. Remove from heat and stir in the nutmeg, salt and pepper.

Preparation of vegetables:

Peel, core and slice pumpkin to about 1/4 inch thick. Slice eggplant to 1/4 inch thick. Rub both pumpkin and eggplant in olive oil and roast in a preheated oven at 200 degrees C until cooked. 

Blanch the spinach in salted water until soft but still green, drain and transfer to a bowl ofice water to stop further cooking. Chop the spinach.

To Assemble:

To assemble the lasagna, line a 7 inch square baking pan with aluminium foil, with a 2 inch overhang at the sides. Stir in 30 gm of parmesan cheese into the bechamal sauce. Spread a thin layer of sauce at the bottom of the tin and lay on 2 pieces of lasagna sheets side by side. Spread 1/3 of the tomato sauce over the lasagna sheets, cover with a layer of pumpkin and 1/4 of the bechamel sauce. Lay another layer of lasagna sheets, then tomato sauce, eggplant and bechamal sauce. Next, layer with lasagna sheets, spinach and bechamel sauce. End witha final layer of lasagna sheets and top with the remaining bechamel sauce. Sprinkle an even layer of parmesan cheese over the bechamel sauce. Cover with alumnium foil and bake in a preheated oven at 180 degrees for 20minutes. Remove the aluminium foil and return to bake for another 10 - 15 minutes or till cheese is brown.