Smashin' Pumpkin Soup

They said the weather is unpredictable,  but somehow,  the weather has been quite consistently lately.  For the past 2 weeks,  it has been rainy cats and dogs in the afternoon till dinner time.  I'm not sure about you,  but when it comes to rainy days/evenings, i longed to have a hot bowl of soup.  A bowl of soup in a rainy day is like a bowl of love to comfort the soul (or at least the wet jeans :P)

A hot bowl of soup somehow will warm the stomach, the whole body and feel the energy return after suffer from the crawling traffic under the grey colored sky.

That's one of the main reason why we've been making batches and batches of soups lately.  We always serve the popular cream of wild mushroom soup and on top of that, we also prepared additional special soup for the week.

Aside from the Clam chowder, Tomatillo Soup and now, we have the Smashin' Pumpkin Soup.  We made all our soup from scratch,  there's no soup from the can or soup from powder in Rosemary Bites.  For any good quality soup, we always start with chicken stock that has been cooking for at least 3-5 hours.  In the case of pumpkin soup,  first we wash and cut out the pumpkin skins,  quartered and sliced the pumpkin into manageable size, then it goes into the oven, toasted for 30-45 mins until golden brown before it goes into the soup pot for the next process. At this time, you can already smell the smoky sweetness of the pumpkin ~ yum.

Roasted pumpkin in the soup pot

After all the pumpkin has been stewed for at least 30 mins,  it will all goes into the blender for all the flavor to combined.  Of course,  we sometimes does not blend till it became a paste because for any soup, it is always good to have some bigger pieces to munch. 

Blending in action

After all the blending, we will then seasoned with black pepper and salt,  then served with a slice of garlic bread.  There you go, Good comfy food for any rainy days.  Just how we liked it in Rosemary Bites and we hope you can your family enjoyed it as much as we do.

Rosemary Bites' Pumpkin Soup

What other rainy day must have do you like ?

Rosemary Bites Go Green !

While we are all into supporting all effort in a sustaining eco-systems,  but that's the the go-green effort that we are referring here.  We are going green with the 'classic pesto'.   I think first of all,  there are a lot of meals or side dishes that celebrates the wholesome, authentic goodness of fresh ingredients, and we believe the one that definitely stands out is Pesto.

Contrary to popular believe,  the green colored pesto does not taste like raw vegetables,  but it's a well blend of earthly nutty flavors, pungent parmesan's kick, with the tangy splash of lemon juice and well balanced with the all-rounded extra-virgin olive oil.   Just like all our specialty sauce,  it's the many layering of flavors that will wake up those taste buds in your mouth.

Pesto is actually a very versatile building blocks in the kitchen. We love to dress the strings of spaghetti with green pesto,  we also love to add in fresh Mint leaves and create a new Mint Pesto just for the lamb or serve your brushetta with pesto for your next entertaining party,  and see your guests in awe !
Finally,  in a whole go-green spirit, good things are meant to be shared ! Here's the Pesto Recipes for you :)

Ingredients
• ½ a clove of garlic, chopped
• sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 3 good handfuls of fresh basil, leaves picked and chopped
• a handful of pine nuts, walnuts and cashew nuts, very lightly toasted
• a good handful of freshly grated Parmesan cheese
• extra virgin olive oil
• a small squeeze of lemon juice

Enjoy and go-green !

Scarborough Fair Chicken & Mushroom Ragout

Are you goin' to Scarborough Fair? Parsley, sage, rosemary, and thyme  - Simon And Garfunkel

At Rosemary Bites, we just cannot resist ! 

We had to compose a special meal and dedicate to the duo Simon and Garfunkel, whom release the Single Title “Scarborough Fair” in 1966.

The term ragout (French ragoût) refers to a main-dish stew and is a time-consuming entrée.

Scarborough Fair Chicken & Mushroom Ragout is filled with marinated chunks of chicken cooked together with the infamous foursome herbs and 2 types of mushroom including the oriental Shitake, and the ever popular Button Mushroom.
 

We made Classic Better @ Rosemary Bites ! 

Mommy Dearest @ Rosemary Bites Restaurant

Mother has always played an important role in our lives.  There's a lot of poems and songs written to showcase mother's unconditional love.  At Rosemary Bites we wanted to show our appreciations to all mothers and thus aside from our weekend specials, we rolled our sleeves and created more delicious REAL MEAL for you and your mom.  We really love to see you dine and share a laughter across the table,  have a heart-to-heart conversation with your mom,  let mom relax, slow down, savor the food and cherish this important moment.

That is why,  we had also created this Rosemary Bites Only Photo-frame for you!  You can then digitized the wonderful moments with mom with our special digital frame. :)   -- click on photo to download.

Happy Mother's Day to all mothers !!  I love you mom, you've always been my inspirations !

I remember my mother's prayers and they have always followed me.  They have clung to me all my life.  ~Abraham Lincoln

Have you tried Classic American Cuisine ?

We are glad to share with you that Rosemary Bites is the First and ONLY restaurant in Malaysia to serve Classic American Cuisine.

What is Classic American Cuisine you might ask ? Well, pls allow us to tell you more here :)

Though the United States expresses its culinary culture in many types of regional and ethnic cuisines, there are certain foods that can be found on family dinner tables and restaurants in every region of the country; these dishes make up what may be called standard or classic American cuisine.
They tend to be hearty, filling, and simple. It may be a joy to sample these dishes at the table or restaurant of a fine cook; it may be a chore to attempt to navigate these same dishes if they are not lovingly prepared. Let us do all the hard work here in Rosemary Bites so that you can sit back and enjoy :)

American classic meat main dishes tend to be based on beef, pork and chicken with some seafood. Pot roast is made from a usually inexpensive cut of beef oven-roasted in liquid with onions and other vegetables. Chicken is roasted or pan or deep fried. Steaks, chops, and fish fillets are pan-fried or broiled. Turkey is prepared for holidays like Thanksgiving and Christmas.

Common American side dishes are French fried potatoes, mashed potatoes, egg noodles, rice, baked beans, cole slaw, potato salad, macaroni salad, green salads with a wide array of dressings, and vegetables like carrots, broccoli, or green beans. Corn on the cob is typically American.

Among American classic desserts, apple pie has a deep connotation in American culture: mom, grandma, the doting aunt, home, warmth and family love. Pecan and pumpkin pies may be served for occasions and holidays. A simple chocolate cake and ice cream will round out the meal.

All this said, given American food trends today, these classic American dishes may well share the table, or share ingredients with, exotic foods and ingredients from around the world as well as with regional American staples. The influence of Mexican and southwestern American cooking is particularly strong. That's why you can see we use Miso or even Mexican chipotle in our sauces !

Wanna know more about our culinary inspiration ? click here.

Thus, in Rosemary Bites, you can see that all our dishes are prepared with love and served with passion ! We make no compromises when it comes to preparing and composing our family of products. In everything we do, our philosophy is simple: We want to surround ourselves with food that we love. We will not present you a meal we wouldn’t serve for our own family and friends. We also wanted to inspired warmth, coziness and laughter shared across dinner table. After all, that's what a good meal is all about !

Bon Appetit !

Twilight New Moon : Party Recipe

On Friday at midnight, a new moon will be rising -- cinematically, not celestially.  Get ready to get your undying love on.  It's the midnight DVD release of Twilight: New Moon.

We're talking about two hours and ten minutes of the most tortured, romantic, gut-wrenching triangular romance served up by Bella, Edward and Jacob on a silver platter.

Prepare for Halloween anytime with hundreds lining up in goth vampire garb to pick up their pre-ordered copies for screenings, en masse. After claiming yours, get our great menu of Twilight-inspired recipes for your midnight viewing party:

Silver Alpine Fizz
Werewolves bite it with silver bullets but this signature silver cocktail with rosemary syrup will slay any guest.

 

Ed's Firecracker Garlic Shrimp Appetizer

Before the Cullens, the best way to keep vampires away was bulbs of garlic. But even they would dig these addictive party appetizers.

 

New York Strip Steak

You can take out a vampire with a stake to the heart. If you’re not into gore, strip steaks are your answer.

How about a Rosemary Drink ?

Feeling exhausting after long hours of work ? It has been a demanding day ?
Head over to Rosemary Bites for a cold, refreshing "Ice-Rosemary Lime" drink.  This is an exclusive drink only available here.

To make 2 quarts, pour 3 cups of fresh lime juice (from about 20 limes) through a fine sieve into a pitcher. Steep 100 grams of Rosemary Herb in Hot-boiling water for 45 minutes and add it into the lime juice. Add 2 cups of superfine sugar, and stir until it has dissolved. Stir in 4 cups of water and some ice, and then garnish with lemon slices and rosemary sprig. Ta-da !

Wholesome-goodness you definitely can taste ! :) Cheers !

An Introduction To Rosemary

Yes, a lot of customers came in and asked to meet Rosemary ! :)  It has been very common to see the restaurant named after the owners in Malaysia.  At Rosemary Bites Restaurant, we named the restaurant after our favourite herb, "Rosemary".

There has been a lot of studies that shown the many benefits of Rosemary and the recent one is from the Chicago's Institute Of Food Technologies.   In this study, it has found that addition of rosemary to ground beef actually reduces cancer-causing agent.  Besides giving the dish wonderful flavor, isn't it great to have the herb worked doubled for you and prevent cancer-causing agent at the same time ?!

We uses Rosemary herb in many of our marinate especially in our Georgian-Rosemary Roast Chicken.  We use fresh chicken and marinate it with our special Rosemary dry rub and marinate it in the fridge for at least 12 hours.  We then slow roast the chicken in the medium temperature oven for 30-45 minutes for the flavor to develop before it's being served to you on the table.  

This class roast chicken recipes has been with the family for many many years and it has been enjoyed for friends and family from near and far.  We truly believe you'll love the soft, flavorful roast chicken just like all of us here !