Beef Wellington

* adopted from The Fabulous Baking Boys recipe.

Ingredients (serves 4)

• 800g good-quality beef fillet
• Olive oil
• Knob of butter
• 2 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1 sprig of thyme
• 4 Portobello mushrooms, finely diced (do not use food processor)
• parsley - finely chopped
• 6 Savoy cabbage leaves (optional)
• 500g block of all-butter puff pastry OR use ready made puff pastry sheet
• 1 egg + 1 tbsp water mix together to make eggwash, to glaze pastry

How to Make:

1. Preheat oven to 200'C together with the baking tray with foil.

2. Heat up a pan, melt butter, add the minced garlic and thyme, once fragrant, add the diced mushrooms. Season with salt and pepper, then add the chopped parsley. Remove them to a strainer, so extra liquid will be strained out. Set aside to chill.

3. Season the beef with salt and pepper. Heat a large pan, add the oil and brown the beef on all sides. This is not to cook it but to just get as much colour on the meat as possible – about 2 minutes on each side. Remove from the pan and place on a plate to chill and rest.

4. Optional: Separate the cabbage leaves and using a knife cut out the middle of the stem from the thick end. Bring a large pan of water to the boil and blanch the cabbage leaves for 2 minutes, then remove and plunge straight into cold water. This is just to cook the leaves through and chilling them quickly helps to keep the vibrant green colour. When cool, drain and squeeze out any excess moisture.

5. Optional: Lay the cabbage out overlapping each leaf in a shape big enough to wrap the whole fillet in. Thinly spread the mushrooms over the middle part of the cabbage then place the fillet on the cabbage and wrap the leaves over it making sure there are no gaps. This helps to keep the juices away from the pastry.

6. Roll the pastry into a thin rectangle and cut it into one large piece and one smaller piece – two thirds and one third. The smaller piece is what the beef will sit on and the larger piece is the piece that will go on top and cover everything.

7. Turning it as you move to keep the mushrooms are on top, place the fillet in the middle of the smaller piece of pastry and cover it all with the larger piece of pastry. Using a rolling pin, push the pastry at the bottom of the beef to seal it in and then using a fork, crimp the edges. Put 3 slashes into the top of the pastry to vent steam out during baking and brush all over the pastry with egg wash.

8. Put the pastry wrapped beef to the heated baking tray (This stops it getting a soggy butt) and bake the beef for 45 minutes Wellington for medium rare.


9. Remove and rest for 5 minutes somewhere warm. Slice and serve.

Can prepare gravy or mushroom sauce at the side to make the beef taste more full.

Enjoy with a glass of pinot noir!!

Braised Abalones and Fish Maw

Ingredients:

ABALONE:

吉品鲍鱼 - 20头 

Ingredients A:

old chicken - 4 catty

pork spare ribs x 2 catty

chinese ham x 1 catty

chicken feet x 1 catty

pork skin

Soup Base:

Roast Goose x 1/2

Chinese Barbecue Ribs x 1 catty

Seasonings:

rock sugar 

light soy sauce: dark soy sauce - proportion of 1:4 

water 

chinese wine

chicken powder

Ginger 

Spring onion

FISH MAW:

Fish maw (1 catty 7 pc type)

Ginger, Spring Onion, Orange Skin, White Vinegar

How to Prepare Abalones:

Day 1:

rinse all abalones under tap water, then soak in water for 1 day. Remember to change new water in between.

 

Day 2:

Drain all water from abalones. Place abalones to a pot, cover with water, bring to a boil and cook for 15 minutes at medium fire. Then turn off fire. Cover pot and soak abalones in this pot covered for 1 day. Once the pot has cooled down in the middle of the day, change water and keep it covered.

Day 3:

Drain water for pot. Add fresh water, ginger x 4 slices, spring onion x 3 stalks and bring to boil, then add abalones and cook for 15 minutes at medium heat. Then turn off fire. Cover pot and soak abalones in this pot covered for 1 day. Once the pot has cooled down in the middle of the day, change water and keep it covered.

Day 4:

(1) Blanch Ingredients A above and drain water. By now, the abalones should have been softened and enlarged a lot. 

(2) Remove abalones from water, remove guts from abalones and gently clean abalones under running tap water. Beware of your fingers and thumbs when removing guts so that no marks are left on the abalones!

(3) Prepare soup base by boiling the roast goose and barbecue ribs in a pot of water for cook in medium fire for an hour. Filter and remove oil and save for later use. 

(4) Prepare a deep pot with bamboo sheet with bamboo chopsticks.

(5) First place all pork bones or spare ribs, then chicken feet, then abalones, then pork skin, then chinese ham, then chicken and pork meat on top.

 

 

(6) Add the filtered soup base so that all ingredients are submerged under the soup base. If not enough soup, add water. Add Seasonings above.

(7) Bring to boil then turn down to low heat and braised for 8-10 hours. Check from time to time to ensure ingredients are underneath water. If at anytime water level is lower than the ingredients, then add either water or chicken stock.

(8)After 10 hours, just turn off heat. Keep the pot covered and leave it for 12 hours for soaking.

Day 5:

(1) Bring the pot to boil again, then turn down to low heat and cook for 4-6 hours.

(2) Remove abalones from pot.

(3) Heat up the pot again with the rest of the ingredients for 30-60 min using medium heat until the sauce becomes dense. Check tasting. IF NECESSARY, adjust seasoning using oyster sauce, dark soy sauce, salt and even cognac to your liking. Use cornflour solution to thicken sauce. Then use a sieve to separate all ingredients from the sauce. 

Before serving, just bring to boil the abalones with the condensed sauce and serve!

How to prepare FISH MAW:

Day 1:

Rinse fish maw under tap water, then place them in a bowl cover with tap water and soak for 1 day. Change water during half day.

Day 2:

Put fish maw to a pot, cover with water and bring to boil and cook for 10 minutes, then turn off heat, Cover pot and soak fish maw for 1 day. Change water once the water in pot already cooled down.

Day 3:

Place orange skin, and a few dash of white vinegar to a pot, bring to boil, add fish maw and cook for 10 minutes, Then turn off heat. Cover pot and soak fish maw until the water in pot has cooled down. Then remove fish maw and place in a air tight box with cold water and store at fridge. By now, the fish maw should be softened and enlarged.

 

Day 4:

Once the abalone sauce from above is ready, cook the fish maw in the abalone in medium low heat for 20-30 minutes. Then take out, cut into desired sizes and soak with abalone sauce on the side.

Once ready to serve at dinner, place the cut fish maws with the abalones back to the sauce pot, bring to boil and serve.

Notes:

** once fish maw has been softened, no need to cook too long.

It's a lovely feeling to be able to make this traditional dish. Nothing difficult here except that you need to plan the logistics in advance and use patience. Try it!

Spanish Red Prawn Pasta

* this is really easy to make and the effect is like "restaurant-standard" red prawn pasta! so must try!

Ingredients: (good enough for 8 persons)

Spanish Red Prawns x 18pc- chilled or frozen one both are ok. But for frozen one, prepare defrost time in fridge

Onion x 1  - minced

Garlic - sliced x 1/2 bowl

Cherry tomatoes in cans x 2 cans - blended in a mixer to become a tomato sauce

Fresh Basil leaves - washed and wipe dry

Pasta of your choice - around 400g

How to Make:
1. First and foremost is to make the sauce. Wash the prawns, remove all legs with scissors. Cut heads and put aside. For the body, remove all shells and carefully removed intestine from the front. Put prawn bodies back to fridge.

2. Heat up a pot big enough to hold all prawns heads, shells and sauce. Use olive oil, heat the minced onion and sliced garlic till fragrant.

3. Then add the prawns heads and shells and stirred fried with the minced onion and garlic till fragrant. Press the prawns heads until all juices come out from the prawns heads. Add the  blended cherry tomato sauce, mix well, season it with some salt and sugar, once boiled, turn to medium to low heat, and braised for around 30 min. Check from time to time. Remove prawns heads and shells from this sauce to a sieve. Press hard the prawn heads against the sieve so that all sauces from prawn heads go back to the sauce pot!

4. Prepare your pasta as per the box's instructions. I will suggest for al dente pasta, cook 1 min to 30 seconds less from the instructed cooking time.

5. Once pasta is almost ready, use a new pan to pan fry to prawns bodies using olive oil. Once prawns are cooked, remove prawns from pan. The pan should be filled with orange-oil, place the cooked and drained pasta to this pan and ensure pasta absorbs all such orange-oil. Then pour the pasta to the braising sauce and mix well together with the basil (leaving a few basil leaves to top the dish).

6. Transfer all pasta to a serving bowl, then top with the the pan fried prawns and a few fresh basil leaves on top. Drizzle some olive oil on top too.

Serve the pasta and don't forget to take out the bowl of prawns heads as there might be someone who like to suck up the prawns heads!

清湯獅子頭 Braised Pork Balls

* this recipe came from my friend Jenny's auntie - Auntie Lesley Chu and demonstrated to me via her maid Daisy! 

Ingredients:

* prepare the day before your dinner party.

Pork Balls
Pork - 梅頭 - approx 1 kg (choose the part which is more red in colour)

Pork Fat - approx 700g of the pork quantity (but if you prefer really soft and tender pork balls, meat:fat proportion can be  can be up to 60:40)

egg white x 10

spring onion - 6 - minced x 1 bowl (green + white part)

shallots x 5 - minced

black pepper - pound in mortar

corn starch x 2.5 tsp

flour x 2.5 tsp

salt x 3 tsp

chicken powder x 3 tsp

sugar 1 tsp

When cooking with soup:

Spare Ribs (cut into 1 inch each) - blanched

Ginger  x 2 slices

Spring Onion

Star ainses

Before serving:

Japanese Chinese cabbage

 


How to Make: 

Pork Balls:
1. Slice the pork first, then further cut it into mince. Then use 2 Chinese knives to further mince it.

 


2. Slice the pork fat first, then further cut it into mince. Then use 2 Chinese knives to further mince it.

3. Mix the minced pork and the minced pork fat and further minced it using 2 Chinese knives. 

4. Put the minced pork and pork fat into a mixing bowl. Add the above seasonings first (ie the cornflour, flour, salt, chicken powder, sugar, black pepper, white pepper), then the shallots, spring onions, then add the egg whites, then mix them all using chopsticks stirring in 1 direction only until evenly mixed. 

5. Chill at fridge for around 1-2 hrs. Once you feel the mixture is quite solid, then take out from fridge.

6. Shape them into golf ball size and "pat" it gently to make the "ball" shape firmer.

7. Heat up a wok, add oil, then add the pork balls - the pork balls must submerge underneath the oil - deep fry until golden colour. Can do it in batches. can drip a few drops of dark soy sauce on top of pork balls to darken color. Once golden, remove from wok and drain oil.

8. Add the pork balls into a deep pot, then the blanched spare ribs and bring to boil together with the ginger, star aines, spring onion. Season with light soy sauce, chicken powder, wine and sugar. Once boiled, reduce heat to medium and cook for approx 75 to 90min. Check taste and adjust seasoning accordingly.

9. After cool down, put in fridge.

10. Next day before dinner, take out the pot with soup and pork balls, bring to boil, remove spare ribs and some soup and place at another pot. Cook japanese chinese cabbage in that other pot with the spare ribs and soup. Once the cabbage is done, transfer cooked cabbage to the pork balls pot and ready to serve!


Enjoy with a bowl of white rice!

Notes:
* after pork balls are cooked in the spare rib soup, avoid re-cooking them for a long time. Once re-heat, they are ready to serve, as the longer you cook them, the less tender they will be.
* the more fat content you use, the more tender the pork balls will be.
  

Chinese Vegetarian Pot with Nam Yu 八寶南乳素齋煲

Ingredients:

choose 8 different types of vegetables of your choice! for myself, i like the followings:

Dried Chinese Mushrooms 冬菇
Black Fungus 黑木耳*
Yellow Fungus 黃耳*
Beancurd Stick 素雞
Sweet Beancurd Sheet 甜付竹
Beancurd Sheet 付皮
Japanese Cabbage
Baby Corn

Ginger - 4-6 slices
Garlic - 6 to 8 pc pressed
南乳酱- 2-4 pc
seasoning - oyster sauce ***, sugar, sesame oil

*** For Vegetarian version, replace with vegetarian oyster sauce

How to Make:
1. 2 nights before making this dish, wash the chinese mushrooms, then soak them in water overnight.

2. Next day, drain the soaking water, use corn flour to wash the soaked chinese mushrooms, rinse clean.

3. Marinate the chinese mushrooms with sesame oil, sugar and a little bit of soy sauce, then steam for 1 to 2 hours until soft. Once cooled down, cut the chinese mushrooms into your desired size.

4. Keep the mushrooms water in the dish after steaming for use later.

5. Other ingredients with the *, just wash and rinse clean and soak in water until soft (around half a day). Japanese cabbage wash and drain and cut to your desired size. No need to be too small as it will shrink during cooking.

6. Heat up a wok which is big enough to hold up all your ingredients, add oil, then the ginger and garlic until fragrant. Then add the 南乳酱  until fragrant. Be careful of not burning the 南乳酱 . Better turn heat to medium at this stage.

7. Add all the above vegetables ingredients except the Japanese Cabbage and baby corn, add the chinese mushrooms water and braised for 1 hour or until all soft and taste good! Feel free to season with oyster sauce and sugar and sesame oil. If not all ingredients are submerged under the braising sauce, add more water to the wok or pot until all ingredients are submerged underneath. Check braising from time to time to avoid anything sticking at the bottom.

8. Once the above braising is quite ready, then Japanese cabbage and baby corn for braised for another 20-30 min. Finally, check taste and seasoning by adding sugar, soy sauce, sesame oil as required.

Enjoy!

Beer-batter fried fish with corn sauce

* this is a seriously easy to make and pleasing dish. So pls try!

Ingredients:
Cod Fillet - boneless - cut into your desired size
plain flour x 2 cups - sifted
beer of your choice x 1 can
additional flour for coating
salt & pepper
cream corn of your choice x 1 can
chicken stock x 1/2 can
egg 1-2 - beaten

How to Make:
1. Wash and wipe dry fish fillets. Marinate with some salt and pepper.

2. Use a whisk to mix together the sifted flour and the beer. If you find the batter too light, feel free to add a few spoonfuls of sifted flour to make it stronger. If batter too strong, add some more beer! Personal taste really.

3. Heat a wok of oil - make sure the fish can submerge underneath the oil.

4. Once oil is hot enough, lightly coat fish fillet with flour, sprinkle off excess flour, then dip into batter, then deep fry until it's golden. Remove from wok, drain out excess oil then place on serving dish.

5. For the corn sauce, mix roughly 1 can of cream corn with 1/4 can of chicken stock, heat until boil, then turn down to medium heat, add the beaten eggs and use a whisk to mix inside the sauce. Check seasoning and adjust according to your personal taste.

Enjoy! 

Banana Hazelnut Chocolate Cake

* easy to make and will surely satisfy your baking & snacking desire! Pls try!

Ingredients:
110g butter - melted
3 bananas - ripe ones, and mashed with a fork
2 eggs
110g maple syrup
85g caster sugar
250g plain flour - sifted
1/4 tsp salt
2tsp baking powder
85g hazelnuts - gently chopped or pulsed in food processor (or you can always use almonds or omit nuts altogether)
60g chocolate chips

How to Make:
1. Preheat oven to 160'C.

2. Grease a 32 x 12cm loaf tin with little butter then line it up with baking paper.

3. Put mash bananas in a mixing bowl. Add melted butter, eggs and maple syrup and mix well with the fork until the eggs are really well broken up.

4. Mix the sifted flour, sugar, salt and baking powder in another bowl, then add to the banana mixture. Using a spatula, fold in flour mixture to make a smooth batter. Lastly, fold in nuts and chocolate chips, saving some as toppings though.

5. Pour cake batter to tin. Gently tap it a few times to make batter even on the lid. Sprinkle remaining nuts and chocolate chips on top of cake batter and bake in over for 1 hr 10 minutes or until cake if golden and skewer comes out clean. Best to put it in the bottom 1/3 of the oven.

Enjoy with a warm of tea!

Paella

Ingredients:
Seafood of your choice - prawns, squids, clams, scallops are my choices!
Chicken thigh x 2pc - diced
Chorizo - sliced or diced
Onion x 1 - minced
Spanish rice x 2 cups
Chicken stock x 4 to 4.5 cups
Saffron x 1-2tsp
Paprika x 1-2 tsp
salt & pepper
parsley - minced

How to Make:
1. Wash and drain your seafood. For shellfish like clams, must soak in salt water for a few hours first.

2. Keep the chicken stock simmer in a pot.

3. Use 1 frying pan to prepare all ingredients first. I will start will pan frying the prawns, then the scallops, then the squids.  Remove each ingredients to a separate plate once cooked around medium well. No need to fully cooked them at this stage.

4. Continue with pan frying the chicken thighs and the chorizo, then remove them into a separate plate with all the oil released from the chorizo.

5. In a shallow frying pan which you will cook and serve the paella, heat up some olive oil, then pan fry the minced onion until soft, add the rice and mix well with onion until all rice are coated with the onion and oil. Add the saffron and paprika. Spoon over a few ladles of the hot chicken stock to the rice, add the chicken and chorizo, mix well, stir fry a bit, then add the rest of the chicken stock to the rice. Check taste and adjust your seasoning with salt and pepper. When the chicken stock in the rice comes to a boil, turn heat to medium, place the seafood on top of the rice (like the prawns, scallops, squids and clams) until the stock are all absorbed, rice is cooked and clams all opened! The whole process takes around 20-30min. Keep an eye and make a stir from time to time.


Garnish with minced parsley before serving.

This is one of the best dishes to be served in winter! 

Enjoy with a glass of your favourite white wine!

Baked Whole Sea Bass in Salt Crust

Ingredients:
Whole Sea Bass
Lemon - 2 slices for cavity, wedges for lemon juice
thymes
kosher sea salt x 1 cup
egg whites x 3


How to Make:
1. Pre-heat oven to 200'C.

2. Clean fish and remove guts from cavities, etc. Wipe dry and stuff cavity with thymes and lemon slices.

3. Whisk white whites until soft peak forms. Fold in the sea salt.

4. Line the oven tray with foil. Then spoon 1/3 of the egg white mixture on the tray. Place the fish on top of tray and spoon the rest of the egg white mixture on top.

5. Bake for approx 30 min or until the egg white mixture becomes a golden brown crust. 

6. Remove  the crust gently until fish is exposed. Place the fish on a warm plate, squeeze lemon juice on top and sprinkle with olive oil.

Best to serve with aged balsamic vinegar.

Enjoy!

Rocky Road Chocolate Dessert

Ingredients:
55g butter - cut into small pieces, plus extra for greasing
400g dark chocolate (around 60% cocoa solids) - break into pieces
2 tbsp golden syrup
a pinch of salt
125g mixed nuts (eg. pistachio, hazelnuts)
175g crunchy biscuits (eg. digestives)
100g marshmallows (if they come in big size, cut it into smaller pieces)
85g raisins (optional)
1tbsp icing sugar 

How to Make:
1. Grease a 23cm shallow square tin or brownie pan with butter. Then line it up with baking paper.

2.To melt the chocolate - bring a pot of water to simmer. Sit a bowl on top of the pot with simmering water, but the base of the bowl shall not be touching the water. Place the chocolate pieces, butter and the salt on the bowl and keep stirring until chocolate is melted and silky smooth.

3. Add the syrup to the chocolate mixture, stir well and remove from heat.

4. Reserve approx 1/3 of the chocolate in the bowl. Mix the other 2/3 chocolate with the biscuits, nuts, raisins and marshmallow.

5. Pour the chocolate mixture to the tin, then pour the reserved chocolate on top. Just use a spatula to smooth out the top. Once cool down, chill in fridge.

6. Before serving, take out from tin, cut into small squares and dust it with icing sugar (over a sieve).

enjoy!

P.S. what you mix in the chocolate is all personal choice and it is always ok to use more chocolate than the qty as stated!

Assorted Mushrooms Pasta with Black Truffle

Ingredients:
Portobello Mushrooms
White Button Mushrooms
Brown Button Mushrooms
Ceps (can buy frozen ones and defrost before use)
Forest mushrooms (can buy frozen ones and defrost before use)
Garlic x 3pc - pressed or sliced
Onion x 1 - diced
Pasta of your choice
Italian Parlsey - minced for garnish
Black Truffle (those from Perigod from France is the best!)
Black Truffle Paste
*optional: black truffle sauce of your choicce
Black Truffle Olive Oil

How to Make:
1. Wipe clean all fresh mushrooms using a wet cloth - diced.

2. For the defrost mushrooms, rinse clean with water and wipe dry - diced.

3. In a big pan enough to hold all mushrooms, heat it up with olive oil, then stir-fried the garlic and onion until soft and fragrant. Then add fresh mushrooms. You might need to add more olive oil while cooking as the mushrooms absorbed oil quite fast. Once they are quite soft and fragrant, add the defrosted mushrooms, mix well until all fragrant. Then add 3-4 tbsp of black truffle paste, check taste and add salt, sugar and black pepper to your liking. If you choose to add black truffle sauce of your choice, adjust tasting after you have added the sauce. Leave them at the frying pan but switch off heat.

4.Cook pasta according to instructions of the pasta box. Once cooked, drain all water and add pasta to the mushroom sauce still in frying pan. Mix well.

5. Place them on a serving plate. Drizzle black truffle olive oil all over, then garnish with minced parsley. Lastly, shave black truffle on top and serve immediately!

Enjoy!

Baked Iberico Pork chop Rice

Ingredients:
Iberico pork loin x 4 (Iberico pork has a more tender meat quality)
Fresh Plum Tomatoes x 6
Garlic x 2pc - pressed
Onion x 1pc - diced
Green Peas - blanched for 2 minutes
Mozarella cheese - grated
Tomato based pasta sauce x 1 bot of your choice
Breadcrumbs
Flour
Eggs
Plain White Rice or Fried Rice

How to Make:

1. Wash and wipe dry pork. Then use either back of knife or pork hammer to stumble over the pork to make it more tender and flat.

2. Cut a cross on tomatoes, cook them in boiling water for 1 minute, remove immediately to a bowl of iced water. Remove skin and all the seeds inside. Put the remaining tomato flesh into a small food processor and pulse a few times until it becomes like minced tomatoes. Don't over-do it. Afterwards, place all the pulsed tomatoes into a sieve for a while so that extra juice from the tomatoes will be dripped out.

3. Heat up a pan with olive oil, then add garlic and pan fried until fragrant. Then add the onion and pan fried until soft. Add the tomato pasta sauce and the sieved pulsed tomatoes, mix well and season to your liking. Put this tomato sauce aside.

4. Prepare a wok with corn oil for deep frying the pork chop. Season the hammered pork with salt and pepper. Prepare 1 plate of flour, 1 plate of breadcrumbs and 1 plate of beaten eggs. First dip the pork into flour, shake off excess flour, then dip into beaten eggs and lastly dip into breadcrumbs and deep fry it in the wok until golden brown. Drain oil.

5. Pre-heat oven to 200'C. Place white rice or fried rice on the bottom of a casserole pot. Sliced the deep fried pork chop and line them up on top of the rice. Spoon the tomato sauce on top. Sprinkle the peas on top and lastly the grated cheese. Baked for around 20 minutes and Serve!

Enjoy!