Showing posts with label 2016-12. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 2016-12. Show all posts

Lamb in Gianduja sauce


This is a good way to use up "excess", "far too sweet" Gianduja (chocolate with hazelnut) after the festive season. 

Lamb in Gianduja sauce
 
1. Season lamb leg pieces with soy sauce, 5 spices powder, salt, liqueur and cornstarch.
2. Gently sweat red onion, garlic, ginger in olive oil until light golden. Turn to high heat, add in lamb pieces, sear until both sides brown.
3. Add a cup of water, season with soy sauce, 5 spices powder, and enough pieces of Gianduja to enrich and thicken the sauce.

Frosty morning

Beautiful winter morning in UK, frosty but sunny, wonderful ice crystals everywhere you look.

ice crystals

ice crystals

ice crystals

ice crystals





Roast duck with cranberry sauce



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For me, it is far tastier to have roast duck than turkey for Christmas dinner, great to serve with cranberry sauce for the festive colour and sour sweet flavor.
1. For a crispy brown skin result, start preparing the duck 2 days ahead, pour boiling water over the skin, a few rounds, towel dry.
2. Rub salt, white pepper and 5 spices powder all over and inside duck, rest on a rack and keep in the fridge to dry the skin. 

Roast duck

3. 1/2 day later, brush mixture of honey and vinegar on skin, continue to dry skin out in the fridge, repeat brushing mixture a couple of times.
4. Take duck out of the fridge an hour before roasting, roast at 180˚C for 50 minutes, rest in a warm place (e.g. with oven door ajar) for 40 minutes. 

cranberry sauce

5. To make cranberry sauce, cook fresh cranberry in 1/2 cup of water, with mulled wine spices (optional, or 5 spices powder/curry powder, for a little kick) season with soy sauce and brown sugar. Simmer until berries turn soft.

Pear poached in mulled wine



Mulled wine is a very heart (body) warming drink, best enjoyed in cold festive season, like now.
I used the same mix to poach pears, preferably small size slightly under-ripe pears. 

Pear poached in mulled wine

1. In a deep pot that the pears can sit snugly together, bring to boil red wine with mulled wine spices, comes in teabags form or use loose spices (mainly cinnamon, cloves, ginger, mace, all spice, citrus peels), feel free to add extra spices (more ginger, star anise etc), juice of orange, and brown sugar to taste.
2. Peel pears and poach, at low heat, in the sauce for an hour, cover with lid and cool down.
3. Pour out the sauce, reduce to thicken and darken, taste seasoning again. While hot, pour over pears, repeat a few times to deepen colour and flavor.
4. Serve pear in a bowl with generous amount of sauce.

Slow cooked brisket


A worthwhile investment to have a slow cooker to cook brisket or other cuts of meat that requires long cooking. Without the need to check regularly, turning over, stirring at all, very tender meat and rich thick sauce is ready when you next open the lid. 
 
Slow cooked brisket with sweet potato and parsnip

1. Sear brisket as one whole piece until all sides brown, place in slow cooker.
2. Cut carrot, leek, onion into rough pieces, stir-fry with a few cloves of garlic, a few slices of ginger, at medium heat to dry the vegetable and bring out aroma. Add heaped tbsp of flour, mix well and cook until light brown, add red wine to deglace the pan and wet the ingredients, pour the thick mixture into slow cooker.
3. Add enough water or red wine to cover meat and vegetable, season with salt, soy sauce, star anise, clove, a couple tbsp brown sugar, stir well.
4. Turn slow cooker to high, when boiling, switch to low, cook for at least 6 hours, or overnight.
5. If sauce is too thin, ladle sauce out, reduce to thicken before serving.
6. Serve with sweet potato and parsnip cooked in water until soft.

Lobster in samphire cream sauce


Saw fresh samphire and frozen lobster tails at fish counter, gave me the inspiration to make samphire cream sauce to serve with lobster tails. 
 
Lobster in samphire cream sauce

1. Cook samphire in butter until soft, add 2 tbsp of Mandarin (or Orange) liqueur, thicken with cream, no need to season the sauce as samphire is naturally very salty.
2. In high heat, sear lobster tail in butter, serve with hot sauce.

Longan 龍眼 sticky rice cooked in rice wine



 Came across this recipe and curious about the effect of cooking sticky rice in wine. So I experimented with sake ~14% alcohol, and distilled rice wine ~ 30% alcohol. Indeed the wine gives off a nice perfume and seems to make the sticky rice more digestible (well, I could finish a big bowl). I prefer using rice wine than sake, because the latter has a mild bitter end taste.
 
Longan 龍眼 sticky rice cooked in rice wine
1. Rinse 1 cup of sticky rice and pour off excess water, soak in mixture of one cup of rice wine and 1 cup of water for an hour.
2. Put dried longan on top and place in steamer, half way through when the rice has swell up, stir longan into rice and steam until cooked, around half an hour.

Delicious crabs, Ko Lau Wan, Hong Kong


Ko Lau Wan

Private dinning experience at Ko Lau Wan, a small island where most residents used to be fishermen. 

Ko Lau Wan

It is great to have the chance to chat to chef and her father who explain how the locals catch/trap fish and other seafood.
Ko Lau Wan octopus
Ko Lau Wan clam with lemon grass

Being a crab enthusiasts, I have a great day there, eaten two very fresh, sweet, meaty crabs. 

Ko Lau Wan crab
Ko Lau Wan 黃腳鱲



Pork with carrot & wood ear fungus



Bought a small tub of fermented miso with kelp paste, being savory and floury, is very useful in seasoning meat or fish to seal in their own flavor and thicken the sauce.
 
Pork with carrot & wood ear fungus
1. Cut belly pork or shoulder pork into slices, season with rice wine, minced ginger, white pepper and generous miso paste, rest for half an hour.
2. Use julienne cutter to shred carrot, cut wood ear fungus into thin strips, season with a little salt to soften texture. 

3. Place carrot & wood ear fungus at the bottom of baking dish, place pork slices on top to form a single layer. Bake at 200˚C until pork is cooked, around 20 minutes. Stir well before serving.

Happy healthy wild pigs



Happy healthy wild pigs

Went for a hike up the hills in Sai Kung, Hong Kong, on the way down, met this family of mother with 6 piglets walking around the village in broad day light. 
Happy healthy wild pigs
Happy healthy wild pigs

Braised lamb with smoked pimenton


I really like this spice, smoked pimenton(paprika), from Spain, it adds richness to any seasoning, very versatile. 

Braised lamb with smoked pimenton
 
1. Mix 1tbsp smoked pimenton with salt, pepper, garlic and brown sugar, rub on lamb leg, rest for an hour.
2. In a baking dish, add a cm of white wine, slices of onion, then the lamb leg, drizzle olive oil on top. Bake at 220˚C for 15 minutes, turn over and lower to 160˚C for 30 minutes, for a pink in the middle finish.

Mala mix vegetables


A good starter, very easy to make and easy to please. 
 
Mala mix vegetables

1. Use a julienne cutter to make thin strips of vegetables like zucchini, cucumber, carrot, daikon, parsnip etc. Blanch in boiling water to soften.
2. Blend walnut with olive oil to make a paste, season with soy sauce, brown sugar, sesame oil, chili powder and Sichuan pepper. Let the paste to infuse for an hour.
3. Mix with vegetables.

Feijoa


Feijoa flower

A fruit tree from South America with thick dark green leaves, has gorgeous flowers in mid summer, fruits shape like small cucumber mature in winter. 
 
Feijoa

Feijoa

First harvest after planting it 3 years ago, the fruit has an unique flavor a bit like mixture of pineapple, guava, strawberry and an intense floral perfume, have not tasted anything like this before.