Biscotti

* this biscotti is not the traditional hard type but the crumpier and softer type. Feel free to replace pistachio and cranberries with almonds or your favourite dried fruits.

Ingredients:
Sugar x 1 cup
Unsalted butter x 100g (1 small stick) - soften at room temperature or melted
Almond extract x 2 tsp
Vanilla extract x 1 tsp
Pistachio x 100g - remove shells and roughly chopped
Cranberries x 100g - roughly chopped
Eggs x 3
All purpose flour - 2 and 3/4 cups
Baking powder - 1 and 1/2 tsp
Salt - 1/4 tsp

How to Make:

1. Put sugar, butter, almond extract, vanilla extract to a mixing bowl and mix well with an electric mixer.

2. Then add the eggs and salt and beat well.

3. Sift the flour and baking powder and fold into the egg batter using a spatula.

4. Add the chopped pistachio and cranberries and mix evenly using a big spoon or fork.

5. Wrap the mixing bowl wig cling wrap and chill in fridge for 30 min.

6. Preheat oven to 180'c.

7. Take out dough from fridge, using moistened hands, divide the dough into 4 loaves on an un-greased baking sheet on top of a baking tray.

8. Lengthen each loaf into a long rectangular shape with the height not more than 1 to 1.5cm. Shape them up using some flour on your hand or your spatula.

9. Bake for 30 mins or until golden.

10. Cool on rack before slicing them with a bread knife.

Store in air tight jars and enjoy with your favourite coffee or tea!

Roast Belly Pork 鼎爺燒肉

* recipe adopted from 鼎爺厨房

Ingredients:
Belly Pork - approx 2000g
Five Spices Powder - 5g
Coarse Salt (for marinating meat) - 50g
Coarse Salt (for marinating skin) - 7g
white vinegar

How to Make:
1. Wash and dry pork. Preferable to cut away the most bottom part of the belly pork which is tougher and save it for other uses.

2. Use lighter fire to burn against hair on pork skin, then use back of knife to scrap off burned hair.

3. Mix well the 5 spices powder with the coarse salt for the meat and marinate the meat evenly - leave the skin un-touched!

4. Use the coarse salt for the skin to marinate the skin evenly.

5. Leave the marinate on the skin and meat for 8-10 hours (if winter time, in room temperature is fine. But if it's summer time, best to put back to the fridge).

6. Once marinate time is up, blanche the pork in hot water for 10 mins.

7. Preheat oven to 200'C.

8. Drain water away from pork and use pork needles to punch against pork skin. Dry the pork using towel or kitchen napkins.

9. Turn the pork upside down so that the skin is facing down. Pour vinegar to a tray which can hold the whole piece of pork and soak the pork (skin side down) in the tray with only the skin touching the vinegar - for 10 mins.

10. Remove pork from vinegar and wipe it dry.

11. Use foil paper to wrap around the bottom and side of the pork, leaving the skin upwards unwrapped.

12. Put pork to oven for 1.5 hours. Then turn the heat up to 230'C and cook for another 30 mins until skin becomes golden red.

13. Remove pork from oven. Pour oil on the foil to a bowl. Can let the pork rest for 5-10 minutes before cutting. The oil can be used to mix with soy sauce for steamed white rice!

14. Be sharp and precise at cutting to avoid the crispy skin from coming off the meat.

Serve it when it's piping hot and crispy and enjoy with a glass of nice white wine!

Buttermilk Fried Chicken

* recipe from Donna Hay

Ingredients:
2 tbsp sweet paprika
1 tbsp fennel seeds, crushed
8 x 125g chicken thigh fillets, trimmed
2 cups (500ml) buttermilk
2 cups (300g) plain flour
1 tbsp baking powder
2 tsp sea salt flakes
1/2 tsp black pepper

How to Make:
1, Place paprika and fennel sees in a large bowl and mix to combine. Add chicken and toss to coat. Add buttermilk, mox to combine and refridgerate for at least 30 min.

2. Fill a large saucepan with oil over medium high heat until temperature reaches 180'C.

3. While oil is heating, place four, baking powder, salt and pepper on a large tray and toss to combine. [You can add combine in a ziploc bag and put chicken inside. Seal and shake to coat the chicken]

4. Remove chicken from the buttermilk mixture, allowing excess liquid to drip off. Place chicken on tray with flour and coat evenly.

5. Deep fry the coated chickedn in batches for 5-6 min or until golden. Drain oil on paper towel and keep warm. Sprinkle with extra sea salt flakes and serve.

Enjoy with your favourite beer!

Zucchini Fritters

Ingredients:

5-6 small zucchinis (approx 810g), grated

3-4 eggs, beaten

250g Feta, crumbled (optional)

3/4 cup (120g) plain flour

1.5 tsp baking powder

1/3 cup chopped mint leaves or parsley

sea salt and black pepper

How to Make:

1. Place the grated zucchinis on a flat towel with another one on top to absorb excess water.

2. Place zuchinni, eggs, feta, flour, baking powder, mint/parsley, salt and pepper in a mixing bowl, mix and combine.

3. Heat olive oil in a non stick pan over medium high heat. Add 2 tbsp of mixture to the pan and flatten with a spatula. Repeat and cook in batches for 2-3 min each side or until golden.

4 After pan-frying, blot oil in kitchen towel before placing them in serving plate.

Enjoy!

Cold Tomato Soup

* a very refreshing cold soup with the recipe from Weekend Financial Times 

Ingredients:

8 very ripe plum tomatoes (best to use San Marzano tomatoes), quartered

Small bunch of basil leaves, cleaned and wipe dry

3 cloves of garlic, peeled

3tbs red wine vinegar

2tbs brown sugar

3tbs olive oil

1tsp sea salt

1tsp sweet paprika

4 ice cubes

How to Make:

1. Place all ingredients together (apart from the ice) in a large jar, mix well, cover and put in fridge overnight.

2. Remove from fridge, add the ice cubes and blend in a blender good for ice/smoothies. Then taste and adjust seasoning. Drizzle some olive oil on top.

3. Ready to serve with your toasted pitta bread of garlic bread.

Enjoy with your favourite white wine or champagne!

Beef Wellington - revisit

* recipe from Gordon Ramsay.

Ingredients:

750g beef fillet

500g Button or Chestnut Mushrooms - wiped clean

Thyme leaves

Mustard

500g puff pastry

8 slices of parma ham or San Danelle ham
2 egg yoks, beaten with 1 tbsp water and a pinch of salt
see salt and black pepper
olive oil

How to Make:

1. Wrap the beef tightly in a triple layer of cling film to set its shape, then chill overnight.
2. Finely chop the mushrooms (or use a food processor), then fry the chopped mushrooms in a hot pan with a little olive oil and the thyme leaves. When the mushrooms begin to release their juices, continue to cook over a high heat for about 10 minutes until all the excess moisture has evaporated and you are left with a mushroom paste (known as a duxelle). Remove the duxelle from the pan and leave to cool on top of a strainer.
3. Take our beef from fridge. Remove the cling film, season with salt and black pepper, then quickly sear the beef fillet in a hot pan with a little olive oil for 30-60 seconds until browned all over and rare in the middle. Remove from the pan and brush mustard all over the beef. Leave to cool.
4. Lay a large sheet of cling film on a work surface and place  Parma ham slices in the middle, overlapping them slightly, to create a square. Spread half the duxelle evenly over the ham.
5. Then place the beef on top of the mushroom-covered ham. Using the cling film, roll the Parma ham over the beef, then roll and tie the cling film to get a nice, evenly thick log. Then chill for at least 30 minutes.
6. Roll the pastry ion a lightly floured surface into a rectangle large enough to envelop the beef fillet. 
7. Remove the cling film from the beef, then wrap the pastry around the ham-wrapped fillet. Trim the pastry and brush all over with the egg wash. Cover with cling film and chill for at least 30 minutes.
8. Preheat oven to 200'C. Brush the baking tray or the grill with olive oil.
9. When you are ready to cook the beef wellington, score the pastry lightly and brush with the egg wash again, put the pastry wrapped beef to a baking tray, best on top of an oiled-wire rack, then bake at 200°C for 30-35 minutes until the pastry is golden brown and the temperature of the quarter end reaches 55'C. Rest for 10 minutes before carving.

Enjoy with your red favourite wine!

Carrot Cake

Ingredients:

225 (8oz) self raising flour
2 tsp baking powder
150g (5oz) light muscovado sugar (if you prefer a sweet cake, then you can add 10-20g sugar here)
50g (2oz) chopped walnuts
100g 94oz) grated carrots
2 ripe bananas, mashed
2 large eggs
150ml (5 fl oz) sunflower or veg oil (if you prefer a more moist cake, then you can add 10-20 ml oil here)

For the topping:

175g (6oz) soft cream cheese
50g (2oz) softened better
100g (4oz) sifted icing sugar
vanilla extract
walnuts and carrot pieces to decorate

How to Make:

1. Preheat oven to 180'C. 

2. Grease a 20 cm (8 inches) deep round cake tin and line the base with baking paper.

3. Measure all ingredients for a the cake into a large bowl and beat well until thoroughly blended and smooth. Turn into the prepared tin and level the surface.

4. Bake in the preheated oven for about 50-60 minutes until cake is well risen and shrinking away from sides of the tin.

5. Leave to cool in the tin for a few minutes, then turn out, peel off baking paper and finish cooling in a wire rack.

6. For the topping, measure all ingredients, except the walnuts, into a bowl or into a food processor and blitz until smooth. Spread over the top of the cake with a spatula. Decorate the top with walnuts and carrot pieces. Chill a little before serving and store in the fridge as the topping is soft.

** Can try slice the cake horizontally into half. Then spread the topping both as topping and in the middle of the cake like sandwich to make it more rich.

Cream of Barley Soup

Ingredients (for 12 paxs):

Soup Base: **
* it's better to make your own soup base. Otherwise, buy the ready made from supermarkets.

Old Chicken x 1 
Gammon Ham bones or chinese ham 
Carrot x 1pc - cut in 2-3 pieces
Celery x 1/2 stalk
Onion x 2 - cut into halves

** For vegetarian version, replace chicken and ham soup base with Vegetable stock or plain water.

Barley Soup:
Potato x 6-8pc - depending on size, cut into chunks
Pearly Barley - approx 250g
carrots x 3-6 pc, depending on size - cut into mini cubes
onion x 1, minced
corn - can use can corns (whole corns, not cream corns)
ham pieces (optional)
whipping cream, salt and pepper

How to Make:
1. The day before your dinner, make the soup base. Blanched chicken and ham or ham bones for 20 minutes. Remove all liquid and rinse the blanched chicken, ham or ham bones.

2. Put blanched chicken, ham or ham bones in a larger soup pot, add carrot, celery, onion and water, bring to boil, then turn to medium to medium fire and cook for 2.5 to 3 hours, depending how rich and concentrated you want your soup base to be.

3. Remove all ingredients from the soup by using a sieve. Then skim off all fat on surface. Once cool down, chill at fridge.

4. On your dinner date, take our soup base and reheat. Then turn off fire.

5. Rinse barley. Then soak them in a bowl of water for 1 -2 hours.

6. Blanch potato until soft. Discard all water. Blend the softened potato with the heated soup base in a few batches. Add more softened potato if the soup consistency is too watery OR add more soup base if too thick.

6. In a new soup pot, add a little of olive oil and stirred fried the minced onion. Once fragrant, add the minced carrot and the soaked barley (discarding the barley water) and corn, then add the blended soup base above, bring to boil, then turn down to medium and medium low heat and cook for 1.5 hours. Watch and stir from time to time to avoid barley sticking to the bottom of the pot and got burned.

As the barley will make the soup thicker, in case it becomes too thick, you might to need to add some plain soup base or chicken stock to adjust the consistency. So ensure you have some plain soup base or chicken stock around, just in case!

Before serving, add some cooked ham pieces to the soup, then some whipping cream.

Enjoy!

Fried Curry Chicken

Ingredients:

1 portion for say 4 persons:

Organic Chicken Wings and drumsticks, each x 6pc

Curry Powder - 2 tbsp

salt, black pepper, sesame oil, japanese soy sauce to season

1 egg

Corn Flour x 2 tbsp

How to Make:

1. Wash and wipe dry all chicken pieces.

2. In a large bowl, marinate the chicken pieces with the above ingredients until mix well for 15-30 minutes. If you think it's too "wet", then add some more corn flour.

3. Heat up a wok with corn oil until it reaches approx 180'C. Then add the chicken pieces in batches until it becomes slightly golden. Remove from wok and drain the oil.

4. Then deep fry the chicken pieces for a second time until they are golden all over and serve immediately!

* if the oil is over 180'C, turn down the fire and/or add some new oil. 

Best to enjoy with a cold beer! :)

Roast Rack of Pork

Ingredients:

US Organic Rack of Pork (you can get this from City Super) x 1 rack

Minced garlic, rosemary and thymes (or use herbs and spices you like)

Apples - cleaned, removed core and cut into 6-8pc for each apple

Apple Sauce

How to Make:

1. The night before your dinner, after washing the pork and wiping it dry, marinate it with the above minced garlic, rosemary, thymes, salt and pepper and olive oil. Wrap it in foil and place it a fridge overnight.

2. The day of your cooking, take out the pork 1 hour to room temperature before cooking. Remove the minced garlic marinate from the pork as the garlic got burned easily during cooking and roasting.

3. Preheat oven to 200'C.

4. Heat up a pan with olive oil, brown the pork on all sides, then put to tray and roast in oven for 1.5 hours until internal temperature reaches 75-80'C for medium or 80-85'C for well done. in the last 30 minutes of roasting, put the cut apples to the side of the tray. (if you put the apples too early, they will become too soft to eat).

5. After cooking, rest the pork under loose tin foil for 10 minutes before carving. 

Serve with Apple Sauce and gravy of your choice. 

Enjoy with your favourite white wine or Burgundy Red! :)

Strawberry Cheesecake

* recipe adopted from Tastemade Japan

Ingredients:

Cake Base:
Digestive Biscuit - 1 normal pack
butter 30-40g

Cake:
Strawberries - approx 150g - cut into quarters
Philadelphia cream cheese 100g
Yoghurt 100g
Cream 200g
Caster sugar 30g
Gelatin Powder 8g - dissolved in 30ml warm water (about 80'C)
Lemon Juice 20ml

Cake Top:
Strawberry - approx 150g - cut into halves
Strawberry Juice from "A"
Gelatin Powder approx 3-4g - dissolved in the above strawberry juice being heated
Mint Leaves and Icing Sugar

How to Make:

1. Butter your cake tin.

2. Finely grate the biscuit and mix well with melted butter and press to bottom of cake tin and chill at fridge.

3. Cake: put strawberries, caster sugar and lemon juice in a bowl, then place in microwave 600W for 3 minutes.

4. Sieve the strawberries mixture after microwave into a pan. Save the juice in the pan as "A".

5. Mix well the cream cheese and yoghurt with a electric mixer, then add the sieved strawberries mixture and the gelatin solution to the cheese mixture.

6. Pour to the cake tin and chill back at fridge for approx 30 min.

7. Heat up the "A" juice, check tasting. If not sweet enough, add some caster sugar. Dont boil it. Melt the gelatin powder in this heated juice until all dissolved. Once not so hot, pour it on top of the cake. Then decorate with the  cut strawberries on top. Then chill back at fridge.

8. When ready to serve, add mint leaves and sprinkle with icing sugar.

Enjoy!

Yorkshire Pudding

* Receipe from Jamie Oliver

Ingredients: (make around 8 pc)

Veg Oil or Olive oil
2 large eggs
100g plain flour
100ml milk
sea salt & black pepper

How to Make:

1. Preheat Over to 225'C.

2. Get yourself a muffin or cupcake tray and fill each compartments with around 1/4 vegetable oil. Then pop the tray to the hot oven for 10-15 mins so the oil gets really hot.

3. Beat the eggs, flours, milk together and season with salt and pepper until light and smooth. Pour them into a jug.

4. Remove tray from oven carefully, avoiding spill of oil, then pour the egg mixture to each compartment in the tray.

5. Pop it back to the oven and bake for 10-15 min ot until risen and golden.

Enjoy with your Roast Beef!

Japanese Burger

Ingredients: (to make 4-6 burgers)
200g minced pork
400g minced beef
onion x 1 - minced
Breadcrumbs x 1 cup
Milk - 4 tbsp
egg x 1
butter, salt and black pepper

Sauce:
Cooking Sake (approx 2 tbsp)
Mirin (approx 2 tbsp)
Ketchup (approx 3-4 tbsp)
Lee & Perins (approx 2 tbsp)
Soy Sauce (approx 1 tbsp)
Sugar (approx 1 tbsp)
Water / chicken stock 

How to Make:
1. Heat up a frying pan with olive oil and stir fried the minced onion until soft and fragrant. Then remove minced onion from pay and sieve away the excess oil.

2. Put the breadcrumbs to a bowl and add the milk and let it absorb for a while.

3. Mix the beef and pork together and season with salt and black pepper. Then add the minced onion (which has been cooled down), then the breadcrumbs (which have absorbed the milk), then the egg. Mix well with your hand.

4. Then scoop it up using a measuring cup. Say 1 cup for 1 scoop (so your burgers will be of even size). Then use your hands to gently pat around to shape it like a ball and place it on a clean tray.

5. Heat up a frying pan, add 1-2 tbsp of butter, then olive oil. Pat the burger flat (instead of like a ball), then add the burgers to the pan and let them fry for 3 minutes on each side using medium fire. Keep checking that it does not stick to the bottom by moving it side-ways (do not flip it until the 3 minutes have passed). Once both sides are pan fried for 3 min, add a splash of water, say 2-3 tbsp, then cover the pan and let it steam for another 3 minutes. Once time is up, check the burger using a skewer to poke inside the burger to see if any blood come out. If nothing, then the burger is all good. Remove them to serving plate.

6. Using the same pan, add the cooking sake to de-glaze, then mirin, then ketchup, Lee & Perins, Soy Sauce and Sugar or even some water or chicken stock to mix well to a sauce that you like. Pour on top of burger and ready to serve. 

Enjoy