Lemon Tart with Italian Meringe

* combining receipe from Michel Roux "Eggs" on the meringue part and Jane Hornby "What to Cook and How to Cook It" on the lemon tart.

 Ingredients:

For the Pastry -

egg yolk from 1 medium egg

175g plain flour

1/4tsp flaky sea salt

100g cold unsalted butter

2tbsp golden caster sugar

For the filling:

4 unwaxed lemon (or 3 Italian lemons)

300ml whipping cream

6 medium eggs

200g golden caster sugar

For the Italian Meringue:

360g caster sugar

egg whites from 6 medium eggs

How to Make:

Pastry:

1. Add 2 tbsp of ice water to the egg yolk and mix well.

2. Put flour to a food processor, then add salt. Cut the cold butter into cubes and scatter all over the flour.

3. Blend the butter and flour together for about 10 seconds until mixture resembles very fine breadcrumbs and no flecks of butter remain.

4. Now pulse in the sugar.

5. Add the egg yolk water to the processor then pulse in 1 second bursts for a few times until the dough comes together in big clumps.

6. Tip the dough into the work surface, then shape it into a flat disc. Wrap in clingfilm, then chill in fridge for 30-40min, until firm but not rock hard.

7. Dust the work surface and rolling pin with Flour. Have a 9" loose bottomed tart in ready. Using the rolling pin, press (NOT ROLL) shallow ridges evenly across the pastry, then rotateit by a quarter turn. Repeat this unti the pastry is about 1cm thick.

8. Now roll out the pastrt. Push the rolling pin in ONE DIRECTION only, turning the pastry by a quarter turn for every few rools, until desired thickness is achieved. Using the rolling pin to help, lift the pastry over the tin.

9. Ease the pastry gently to the tin then press it gently into the edge of the tin using your knuckles.

10. Trim the border of the pastry so that it overhands the tin by at least 1cm. Lift the tin with pastry gently into a baking tray and chill in the freezer for 10min until the pastry feels firm.

11. Preheat oven to 180;C.

12. Tear a baking paper large enough to completely cover the tin and the overhanging pastry. On top of the baking paper, pour the baking beans over so that the beans are up to the edge of the tin. Blind bake this pastry for 20min.

13. Take out from oven and gently remove the baking paper with the beans on top, The pastry should be pale but feel dry and be turning gold at the edges.

14. Return it to oven for another 15 min until base is starting to brown. Remove from oven, Turn oven down to 150;C now.

Filling:

1. Finely grate the zest from lemons, and squeeze juice from lemons. Using a fork beat the cream, eggs, sugar into the jiuce. Strain the mix through a sieve into a large jug. Stir in the lemon zest.

2. pour the filling into the pastry gently and bake it for another 45min or until filling is set (i.e. it gives the merest tremble in the middle when the baking tray is shaken).

3. Let the tart cool completely, then store at fridge with clingfilm wrap. Trim any overhanging edges now.

Italian Meringue:

1. pour 80ml water into a heavy-based saucepan, add sugar and set over MEDIUM heat. Bring to boil, stiring occassionally and brushing down any crystals tht form on the side of the pan using a pastry brush moistened with water.

2. Once boil, increase heat and place a sugar thermometer in the boling syrup  until it reaches 110'C.

3. Still keeping an eye on the syrup, beat the egg whites in a standing electric mixer until they hold peaks. 

4. Stop cooking the syrup the moment it reaches 121'C. Take the pan off the heat and let the bubbles subside for 30 seconds.  (If you do not have a sugar thermometer, best to do is once syrup is boiled, continue until for 10-20 seconds. If you cook too long, the sugar syrup becomes rock!)

5.Pour the syrup onto the beaten egg whites in a thin steady stream, continuing whisking at a LOW speed with the mixer until FIRM. This action takes at least 30 min to 40 min! So be patient!

6. Spoon all meringue into a air-tight container and keep in fridge (best to use it within 24 hrs).

Compose:

1. Spoon meringe into piping bag fitted with a flutted nozzle or a nozzle you like.

2. pipe meringue onto top of lemon tart the way you like it.

3 wave a blowtorch over the meringue until it is lightly browned.

Serve! and enjoy!

   

Mustard & Herb Crusted Rack of Lamb with Pea Puree

Ingredients:
Scottish Lamb Rack x 2 (if you trim the ends, you'll have a better shape. Photo showed racks without trimming. You can choose lamb from other origin but i found Scottish lamb of the best quality!)
50g dry white bread
1 clove of garlic - crushed
2tbsp Italian parsley - minced
2tbsp fresh mint - minced
2tbsp olive oil
2tbsp pinenuts
2tbsp wholegrain mustard or honey mustard

For the Pea Puree
butter
1 small leeo, trimmed and sliced
225g frozen peas
a sprig of mint
150ml chicken stock
3tbsp cream
nutmeg

How to make it:

1. Preheat ove to 200'C.

2. Place bread and garlic in food processor and blend until they form fine crumbs. Add the herbs and oil and blend again until roughly chopped. Lastly add pinenuts and blend until lightly chopped. The mixture should stick together lightly.

3. Spread the mustard over the lamb rack, then press the herb crust onto each one, pressing it down firmly so it sticks.

4. Place lamb racks with the mustard and herb crust to a large roasting tin and and roast in oven for 25-30min.

5. Once take out from oven, rest in room temperature with foil loosely on top for 10 min before you carve them from the bones - this will give you medium rare lamb. If you want it more cooked, increase oven cooking time to 35-40min.

 For the pea puree:

1. melt butter in a pan, add leek and saute for 3-4min or until soft.
2. add the peas, mint and stock and bring to boil.
3. cover and simmer for 4 mins.
4. use a stick blender to whizz the peas misture to form a rough puree.
5. add the cream and freshly grated nutmeg and season with salt and pepper to taste.

Enjoy!

Sous Vide Belly Pork with cabbage

* Receipe adapted from Raymond Blanc's "Kitchen Secrets"

Ingredients:
Belly Pork - ask butcher for a nice rectangular/square piece of around 1kg
Cabbage with 1 few pc of crushed garlic

Marinating the Pork:
sea salt
lemongrass x 1-2stalks with the ends briused and crushed
white pepper
5-spice powder
crushed garlic and ginger
red chillies, deseeded and finely chopped

How to Make:
1. 2 days before your dinner, wash the pork belly and wipe dry. Rub the marinate all over the flesh side of the pork belly evenly. Cover with cling film and leave in the fridge overnite.

2. 1 day before your dinner, prepare your water bath at 85'C. Vacuum pack the pork. If it's too large, cut into 2 portions and packed in 2 bags. Cook in the waterbath for 6 hrs.

3. Remove the vacuum bags from the waterbath. After it cools down, take out pork from bags, reserve the liquid inside the bags for later use.

4. Cover the belly pork with cling film and place it skin side side down on a baking tray. Place another baking tray on top and fill it with heavy items as to weigh the tray down onto the pork. The purpose of this is to make the pork as flat as possible. Then place it in the fridge overnite.

5. On the day of cooking - 1 hr before cooking, remove the trays with the pork from the fridge and leave it at room temperature for an hour. Then remove the cling film from the pork.

6. Preheat oven to 180'C.

7. Cut belly pork into long strips portions. Heat corn oil or rapeseed oil in a large flat pan over medium heat and add the pork, skin side down for 10-15 min until the skin becomes crispy anbd golden brown.

8. Prepare a baking tray with a oil dripping tray inside. Remove pork from frying pan and place the pork into this tray, skin side up and roast in oven for 10 min.

9. Stir fry the wash and cut cabbage with crushed garlic and little salt, then drain.

10. Filter the liquid reserved from the vacuum bags when slow cooking the pork through a sieve. All fatty stuff will be filtered away and remaining are the natural juices from the pork.

11. Add the above liquid to a slow pot, add some chicken stock, and season with a dash of light soy sauce and sesame oil. Thicken it by mising 1-2 tbsp of cornstarch water solution. checking taste.

12. Add the drained cabbage to a serving plate. Then pour the sauce above onto the cabbage. Then add the pork from oven on top of the cabbage. Best serve with rice, white or fried!

Enjoy this crispy yet tender belly pork with a glass of red burgundy!!

Mango Roll

Ingredients:

Egg whites x 4 (@ room temperature. Separate egg white and yolk in a small bowl first before pouring egg white to a bigger bowl for whisking so as to ensure no bad egg whites are poured to the big bowl.)
Caster Sugar 160-170g
Lemon Juice x 1.5 tbsp
Cream 2/3 to 1 cup (Whipping cream is fine)
Icing Sugar - for dusting use
Mango x 3

How to Make this:

1. Preheat oven at 170'C.

2. Whisk egg whites with electric whisky until foamy like hair mousse.

3. Add sugar to the egg whites little by little and continue to whisk until it becomes glossy and firm.

4. Fold in lemon juice.

5. Line a baking tray with baking paper. Then pour the egg whites mixture to this baking tray and try to smooth out as much as possible  using a spatula or a palette knife, ensuring no where the egg whites mixture are too thin.

6. Bake in oven (lower 1/3 of the oven) for 25 min, then cool down.

7. Cut mango into cubes and place them on a sieve so that any juice will be filtered out from the cubes.

8. Whip cream with an electric whisk until it thickens and ribbons formed when you move the whisk.

9. Mix mango cubes with the cream.

10. Line another baking tray with baking paper and dust with icing sugar using a sieve. Turn over the baked egg whites to this new baking tray so that the crusty top is now facing the icing sugar of the new tray. Gently peel away the baking tray from the baked egg whites and be careful of not tearing/breaking the baked egg whites.

11. Spread the mango cubes cream mixture on top of the baked egg whites avoiding the side as they will be easily squeezed out when you roll it up.

12. Gently roll up the baked egg whites, cover with the baking paper, the whole roll placed inside a box, then chill at fridge for at least 2 hrs before serving.

13. When you are ready to serve, take out the roll from fridge, gently remove the baking paper which covers it. Cut away the ends as they are bound to be untidy. You can dust more icing sugar on top of the roll as you desire using a sieve, then cut the roll into pieces with the thickness you like and serve.

Enjoy~~

Tea and Rose Smoked Chicken

Ingredients:
Fresh Young Chicken - approx 2.5 catty
1 tbsp salt
2tbsp Shaoxing wine

Soy Marinate:
shallots x 10 cloves - sliced
spring onion x 4 stalks
ginger x 5 slices
chicken marinate sauce x 2 to 2.5 bottles
dark soy sauce x 1/2 cup
light soy suace x 1/4 cup
sugar x 3 tbsp
shaoxing wine x 1/2 cup
chicken stock x 1 cup, extra maybe necessary.

Smoking Ingredient:
white rice x 2 tbsp
6 tea bags of your choice
dried roses x 2 tbsp
brown sugar x 3 tbsp

How to make this:

1. The night before your dinner, wash and wipe dry chicken and hang chicken in a windy place for 3 hrs until dry. You can place a bowl beneath the chicken as excess water will drip down from chicken.

2. Marinate the dried chicken with the salt and wine and place in ziploc bag in fridge overnight.

3. On the day of dinner, take out chicken to rest at room temperature for 30 min.

4. Make the soy marinate now by heating oil in a deep pot, stir fried the spring onion shallots and ginger until fragrant.

5. All all soy marinate ingredients to the wok and bring to boil. Adjust seasonings to your desired tastings.

6. Place the chicken to the pot with the soy marinate, make sure the whole chicken is submerged inside the soy marinate, if not, add some more chicken broth and dark soy sauce.Then reduce the high heat to medium heat for 7 min with lid covered. Best to have the back side face up and breast side face down.

7. After the above 7 min, spoon soy marinate inside pot all over chicken a few times. Then switch off heat and leave the lid covered for another 50 min.

8. Line an wok with 2 layers of aluminium foil. Place the smoking ingredients on top of foil in the centre of the wok. Then put steaming rack on top. Cover with lid, switch to high heat until you see white smoke coming out from the side of the lid.

9. At this point, remove chicken from soy marinate and place chicken over the steaming rack in wok. Cover with lid and smoke for 7 mins.

10. Remove chicken from wok and chop and debone as desired.

11. You can brush the remaining soy marinate over chicken to add the glossy feel.

Serve and enjoy with a bowl of white rice!

Fresh Mushrooms Pasta

Ingredients (for 6-8paxs):
Portobello Mushrooms x 6 pc (cut away the stem, wash and wipe dry and cut into thin slices)
Shitake Mushrooms x 6pc (cut away the stem, wash and wip dry and cut into thin slices)
Sliced Garlic x 1 bowl
Onion x 1 minced
Small Red Chilli x 4 - deseeds (if you dont want it too hot) and cut into thin strips
Italian Parsley - rinse, wipe dry and minced
Pasta of your choice (to me, the best pasta for this receipe will be the TartufLanghe No. 19 Tartfuo Tagliatelle - i.e. Tagliatelle with black summer truffle - they go really well with mushrooms!)

How to Make:
1. Follow your pasta instructions on how long to cook your pasta in boiling water with salt. After cooking, drain and return to the pasta pot with no water but still warm. Drizzle Olive oil to prevent the pasta sticking together.

2. Heat a pan big enough to hold all the pasta later with olive olive oil, the add minced onion. Stir fried until soft, then remove onion to a plate.

3. In the same pan, add more olive oil, then brown the garlic slices. Once the garlic slices are golden, add back the minced onion, then all the mushrooms and the chill. Once the mushrooms are all soft,season wtih salt and pepper and if a spicy taste is preferred, add a pinch of italian chilli powder too!

4. Pour over the pasta to the mushrooms pan, add the minced parsley and mix all well together and transfer to a pasta bowl/dish. Drizzle some olive oil on top and serve!

Enjoy~

Lobster Linguini

Ingredients:
Lobster x 1
Cherry Tomatoes
Can plum tomatoes
Sliced garlic
minced Italian Parsley
white wine x 1/2 cup

How to Make:
1. Blanch a fresh lobster in hot water for 15 minutes. Drain and after cool down, cut horizontally into half and remove meat from the shells and keep the head. Cut lobster meat into bite size.

2. Heat a pan with olive oil and add the sliced garlic until golden.

3. Add the lobster head and pan fried with the garlic for a while, then add  the white wine, then add the cherry tomatoes and the can tomatoes. Simmer the lobster head for 20-30min.

4. Remove lobster head, add the lobster meat to the pan and stir fry and mix well with the sauce.

5. Adjust taste with sugar, sea salt and pepper or even chilli powder if a spicy taste is required.

5. Add the minced parsley, mix well and and pour over to the cooked pasta and serve!

* you can also mix pasta with the sauce before serving.
* remember to drizzle olive oil on top before serving.
* some prefers to have some grated parmesan cheese on top too.

Enjoy!

Lasagne

Ingredients:

Bolognese Sauce:
250g minced beef
250 minced pork
carrot x 1, finely diced
onion x 1, finely diced
garlic x 3, pressed
4-6 fresh plum tomatoes cut into cubes OR use 2-3 cans of plum tomatoes
1/2 cup white wine
tomtao puree x 1-2tbsp
Bay leaf x 1-2pc

How to Make:
1. Heat a big saucepan with olive oil and add onion and garlic.
2. Once fragrant, add minced beef and pork and stir fried until all quite cooked.
3. Then add the wine and tomato puree.
4. Then add the carrots and the tomatoes and stir and mix well.
5. Season with sugar, salt and pepper, then add the bay leaf and cover the pot with a lid and simmer for 2 hrs, stirring from time to time.


White Sauce:
60g butter
2-3 tbsp of plain white flour
400-500ml milk
2-3tbsp grated parmesan cheese

How to Make:
1. Melt butter in a small pan on medium heat. Stir in flour and mix with a whisk until it forms a paste.
2. Add milk little by little and keep stirring with the whisk until sauce thickens.
3. Lastly add the parmesan cheese and remove from heat.


Lasagne:
Bolognese Sauce - as above
White Sauce - as above
Freshly grated parmesan cheese
Fresh Morzarella cheese thinly sliced
Lasagne Sheets

How to Make:
1. Preheat oven to 200'C.
2. Coat bottom of baking tray with the white sauce, then the bolognese sauce,
3. Then add 1 layer of the lasagne sheets.
4. Then add the grated parmesan cheese and the morzarella cheese.
5 Then repeat steps 2 to 4 for a few times.
6. Last top layer will be the lasage sheet with white sauce on top, add parmesan cheese.
7. Baked in top 1/3 level in the oven for 30min or until top layer is bubbly hot!

Enjoy!

Italian Minestrone

Ingredients:

Soup Base:
Old Chicken x 1
Ham Hock x 2-3pc
Carrot x 1
onion x 1
celery x 1/2

How to Make:
1. The night before you cook the soup, prepare the soup base.
2. Blanch washed chicken for 20 min and remove.
3. Blanch washed ham hock for 20min and remove.
4. Add chicken, ham hock, carrot, onion and celery in a big pot, covered with water and boil. After boiling, reduce heat to medium and cook for 3 hrs.
5. Remove all ingredients, store soup in fridge overnite.


Pesto Sauce:
2tbsp pine kennels
1 garlic clove
1/2 tsp salt
80g basil leaves (stalks removed)
200ml extra virgin olive oil
2tbsp freshly grated pecorino or parmesan cheese

How to Make:
just add all the above to a mortar and grind to a paste. If you have a blender, even easier, mix everything in the blender and blend until it becomes a smooth paste. Add more basil or oil as you think fit.


Minestrone:
Carrot x 3 - cubes
Zuccini x 3 - cubes
Potato x 3 - cubes
Canneli beans (1/2 cup - soak overnite and blanch for 30min)
Bertoli beans (1/2 cup - soak overnite and blanch for 30 min)
Savoy cabbage - sliced

How to Make:
1. Take out soup base and skim the fat on top.
2. Reheat soup base, once boiled, add the carrot, zuccini, potato, beans and boil in medium heat for 1.5hrs.
3. Then add the savoy cabbage and keep cooking for another 30min. Check taste and adjust seasoning with salt and pepper to your liking.
4. Lastly, add pesto sauce, mix well and serve.

* some might prefer to add some grated parmesan cheese on top.

Enjoy!

Roast Bresse Chicken

* this is adapted from the demonstration by Heston Blumenthal at his TV show "How to cook like Heston". A magical way to cook a tender and juicy chicken indeed but must be patient with the time involved!

Ingredients:
Bresse Chicken x 1 (pre-order at City Super or Great to ensure you;ll get one! they come in chilled.)
Lemon x 1
Fresh thyme x 1 big bunch
Butter
Honey

How to Make:
1. The night before you roast this chicken, you have to brine this chicken. Prepare 2 litres of water with 120g of salt. Boil until salt all dissolved. Then cool down.

2. Wash chicken and its cavity.

3. Soak chicken in the cooled down salt water and place in fridge overnight.

4. On the day of roasting, take out chicken and rinse and wipe dry. Stand at room temperature for an hour.

5. Preheat oven to 90'C.

6. Rest1/2 stick of unsalted butter at room temperature until soft.

7. Rinse the wipe dry the thyme. Cut lemon in 4 pc. Stuffed the chicken's cavity with the lemon and the thyme.

8. Massage and rub chicken skin with the soft butter all over.

9. Place chicken in a baking traying with the chicken stand and roast in oven for 45min.

10. Increase temperature to 150'C for another 45min.

11. After 1.5 hr of roasting, take out chicken and check if temperature of chicken breast reaches approx 60-70'C. If so, let it rest at room temperature for 30min. and in the meantime, adjust oven temperature to 250'C.

12. After resting, brush honey all over chicken skin and place chicken back to the hot oven and roast for the last 15min.

Carve the chicken and you'll notice how tender and juicy the chicken is! you dont really need any sauce or gravy to go with it. But in case you do want some, just deglaze the pan (already filled with melted butter and the chicken oil) with some white wine and you;ll have the chicken gravy!

Enjoy with your favourite glass of white wine!

Chicken a la King

Ingredients:
Chicken Thigh x 6 pc
Garlic x 3 pc - pressed
Onion x 1 - cut into quarters
Green Pepper x 1/4 - small squares
Red Pepper x 1/4 - small squares
Button Mushrooms - 8-10pc - quarters
Whipping Cream
Chicken Stock
Plain Flour
Rice

How to Make:
1. Cut chicken into small cubes and marinate like normal (i.e. light soy sauce, sesame oil, sugar, cornflour) around 30min before cooking.

2. Heat a pan with olive oil, then pan fried the pressed garlic and onion till fragrant. Remove them to a dish.

3. Add chicken thighs to the same pan, dont stir too much. Once one side is browned and cooked, turn the chicken and after a while, stir fried them and add back the onion and garlic, then add 1-2 tablespoons of flour to the mixture (spoon by spoon until evenly mixed). Keep stir frying.

4. Add the green and red pepper and the mushrooms and mix them well with the chicken.

5. Add the chicken stock until the mixture is completely covered under the stock, then add the whipping cream until you think the "creaminess" of the sauce is to your liking.

6. Then adjust the thickness of the sauce by adding flour (spoons by spoons) and keep mixing and stir frying until well combined.

7. Check seasoning by adding salt and black pepper.

Best served with white rice! Enjoy and am sure your guests will have a feeling of "幸福"！

CNY Salad

* This is what i called the "lo hei" salad, sounds good for CNY indeed, especially when i use 8 ingredients, the number representing fortunes in chinese!
** easy to make, just need time and patience to prepare all 8 ingredients in advance.

Ingredients:

1. Canned abalone ( i used the 1 can 1 abalone type as the abalone is big enough to cut out longer slices. Boil the whole can in hot water for 4-6 hours)

2. chicken slices (steam chicken and shred into slices by hand after cool down)

3. Prawns (cook in hot water, then remove shells and heads and cut into half from back from prawn)

4. Eggs - mix eggs in bowl, then add to hot pan like omelette, when brown, turn over to other side and cook until brown, Take out and cool down, then cut into slices.

5. Bean curd stick - blanch in hot water for 5 min then cut into slices after cool down

6. Carrots - cut them into slices then blanch in hot water for 3-4 minutes.

7. Cucumber - cut them into slices.

8. Ham - cut them into slices.

How to Make:
1. after preparing the above ingredients and have them chill in fridge for a while, line up in a big dish as shown above.

2. When ready to serve and eat, spoon the salad dressing you like all over and then mix well with fork or chopsticks, For myself, i think japanese sesame salad tasting goes well!

This salad represents some good fortune and luck. It is completely without any salt! you can replace any ingredients with anything else you like eg. ham to lettuce slices!

Enjoy!

BBQ Pork

Ingredient:

Spanish pork (梅头）(* best to reserve this part in advance from butcher like City Super)
BBQ pork sauce
Rose Wine (玫瑰露酒）
Malted Candy (麦芽糖)

How to Make:

1. The night before dinner, wash and wipe dry the pork. Cut them into the right size, like stripes.

2. Mix a whole bottle of BBQ Pork sauce with 1-2tbsp rose wine. Place the cut pork in a tray and add the sauce mixture all over to marinate it. Best to wear a glove and then massage each pork with the sauce mixture to ensure each and every part of the pork are covered with the marinate sauce. Lay the pork flat in the tray and cover with cling film, then leave it in the fridge overnite,

3. 1 hr before roasting take out pork from fridge and leave it at room temperate.

4. Preheat oven to 230'C.

5. Rub marinate all over pork one more time, then place then flat on a baking tray lined with foil.

6. Roast one side at 230'C for 10 minutes, then turn over pork and roast at same temperature for 10 min.

7. Then turn over pork again for roast for 20 min - remember to brush all marinate left in pan and tray all over pork.

8. Then turn over pork again for roast for another 20 min

9. Lastly, mix the malted candy with some hot water to soften it, then brush it on top of pork and roast for 5-8min, Then turn over pork brush malted candy again and roast for another 5-8min. (* if you think it is not brown enough, you can turn up the temperature in the last 5 min)

10. Take out pork and cut into slices to your desired size and spoon juice on tray on top of the BBQ pork dish.

Enjoy with a bowl of rice! :)

Pear and Chocolate Cheescake

* recipe adopted from Gordon Ramsay's "Christmas with Gordon"

Ingredients:

Poached Pears
2 large pears
50g caster sugar
100ml water
1 vanilla pod

Base:
150g digestive biscuits
50g unslated butter
2 tbsp Nutella spread

Filling:
300g Philadelphia cheese
125g caster sugar
100ml whipping cream
3 tbsp amaretto liquer
100g amaretti biscuits - lightly crushed
To decorate:
120g good quality dark chocolate
icing sugar, to dust

How to Make:

1. Prepare the poach pear first as the poached pears need to be cooled down before further use. Peel, quarter and core the pears, then cut into 1cm dice.

2. Dissolve sugar in the water in a small saucepan over low heat.

3. Split the vanilla pod, scrape the seeds into a bowl for later use. Add the pod (with seeds already discarded) into the above saucepan and simmer with the syrup for a few minutes to infuse.

4. Add the diced pears and poach gently for about 3 minutes. Drain and leave the pears to cool. (once they are no longer hot, i suggest to further cool down in the fridge).

5. For the cheesecake base, crush all digestive biscuits in a zip lock bag using a roller pin lined with a cloth on top until they become fine crumbs. Melt the butter in a small pan and stir in the Nutella spread. Mix the biscuits crumbs with the butter nutella mixture and spread evenly over the base of a 23-24cm springform cake tin, press down lightly. Chill this cake base in tin for at least 20 minutes in frdige until set.

6. For the filling, mix the cream cheese, sugar and vanilla seeds together using an electric whisk until well blended. Add the whipping cream and the liquer and mix well. Fold in the crushed amaretti biscuits and the poached pears (which are cool already) and mix well.

7. Pour the cheese mixture onto the cake tin over the digestive biscuits base and level the surface. Chill for 30 min to 1 hr until set.

8. For the decoration, grate the bitter chocolate using a potato grater, then spread them on top of cake, then finish by dusting some icing sugar on top.

** this cheesecake recipe is unlike my traditional cheesecake recipe as the filling is quite soft and runny. But it does have a very nice taste and fragrance of pears and almonds!

** if you are using japanese pears, i suggest you to poach the pears without any sugar as they should be sweet enough themselves!

Enjoy!

Chocolate chips cookies

* Recipe adopted from Heston Blumenthal's "Heston Blumenthal At Home"

Ingredients: (Makes around 40pc of cookies with approx 1.5" to 2")

For the golden syrup chocolate chips
20g Golden Syrup
140g Whipping Cream
125 Dark chocokate, broken into small pieces (min 60% cocoa)
pinch of salt

For the cookie dough
440g Plain flour
1/2 tsp Bicarbonate of Soda
1 tsp Baking Powder
1/2 tbsp salt
1/2 tbsp instant coffee powder
230g cold unsalted butter, cubed
520g Caster Sugar
2 Large Eggs
1tsp Vanilla Paste

How to Make: 


Choc chips:
1. Put the syrup and cream into a saucepan and place over medium heat, Bring to simmer.

2. In the meantime, melt chocolate in a bowl over a saucepan of simmering water.

3. When the cream is simmering, remove pan from heat, stir in the salt and add to the melted chocolate a third at a time, making sure the cream is thoroughly incorporated after each addition. Allow to cool slightly.

4. Pour the chocolate mixture onto baking paper-lined baking tray and allow to stand in room temperature for 1 hr, then place in freezer for 2 hr or unti frozen.

5. Remove from freezer and allow to stand for 5 min at room temperature, the cut into small cubes with a sharp knife. Keep in freezer until ready to use.


Cookies:

1. Preheat oven to 190'C.

2. Sift the flour, bicarboate of soda, baking powder, salt and coffee powder into a bowl and set aside.

3. Using a mixer fitted with paddle attachment, cream the butter and sugar on medium speed unto mixture becomes light and fluffy (approx 5 min).

4. Reduce speed to low and add eggs, one at a time, and continue to mix until well incorporated, then add vanilla paste, followed by flour mixture, a spoonful at a time,

5. Mix for another 3-5 min until the dry ingredients are thoroughly incorporated and a dough is formed. Then add the choc chips and mix for a further 30 seconds.

6. Using a teaspoon, spoon the dough in the baking tray lined with baking paper, making sure to leave some space between each spoons of dough. You will need to bake a few times as one tray not enough to spoon all dough!

7. Bake in oven for 8-10min or until golden brown. Remove cookies from tray and leave them at a cooking rack to cool down. Then keep them in airtight container.


** If you are lazy to do the golden syrup choc chips, you can replace them with the ready made baking choc chips, then it will somehow affect the overall texture of your cookies. The one made with the golden syrup choc chips have a texture of soft and chewy while the one with ready made choc chips crispy and crunchy.

Enjoy with a cup of your favourite tea! 

Sautern Fruits Jelly

* Receipe adopted from Michel Roux's The Collection

Ingredients: (makes 4 cups)

Jelly:
1 medium orange
1 pink grapefruit
2 sheets of gelatine
375ml Sauterns (with a sautern quality that you love to drink yourself!)

Candied Lemon Zest:
1 lemon
50g caster sugar

How to Make:

Jelly:

1. With a very sharp knofe, remove the peel and pith from the orange and grappefruit and gently release the segments. Cut each segments into 3-4 pc. Drain the juice and keep them refrigerated until use.

2. Soften the gelatine sheets in a tray with cold water for 5 min.

3. Warm 50ml Sautern in a small pan, then take off heat. Once the gelatine sheet is softened, squeeze out excess water and stir sheets into the warm Sautern to dissolve. Leave for around 5-10 min, then stir in the rest of the Sauterns.

4. Pour them into a bowl, placed a large bowl of iced water underneath to cool, giving a quick stir every 2-3 min.

5. As soon as the wine starts to thicken (at least 15min in HK winter times!), pour it into chilled glasses. Working quickley, push the organge and grapefruit into the semi-set wine, using the point of a knife to sink the pieces to different depths, so they appear to be floating.

6. Refrigerate for at least 2 hrs.

7. Before serving, decorate the top with the candied lemon zest.

Candied Lemon Zest:

1. Peel the zest from lemon and cut into long fine julienne.

2. Pour 50ml water and the sugar in a small pan, dissolve over medium heat and bring to boil. Lower the heat, add the lemon zest and simmer gently for 6-8min to candy.

3. Drain off the syrup and lay the candied lemon out on a baking paper, so they dont stick together.

Enjoy - for adults only!

Burgundy Beef

* receipe combining methods from Paul Bocuse and Joel Robuchon

Ingredients:

2.5 pounds (1kg) blade of beef (or rump steak) cut into 3 big chunks
125g panacetta cubes
4 carrots - cut into medium size cubes
1 onions - cut into medium size squares
garlic - a few pc mashed
1 bag of pearl onions
Bouquet Garni (thyme, bay leaf, parsley tied together or inserted in a spice bag)
2-3 tbsp Juniper Berries
Parsley - minced for garnish
button mushrooms x 2 packs - cut into small cubes
tomato paste 2-3 tbsp
flour 2-3 tbsp
butter 1-2 tbsp
1 bottle of Pinot Noir (with a quality that you like to drink it!)
Beef Stock

How to Make:

1. Heat up a pot and add olive oil and a spoonful of butter. Then fry the garlic and onion until fragrant. Take these out of the pot.

2. Using the same pot, add some olive oil, then add the beef and make sure all side of the beef are browned. Then remove beef from pot and strained the oil from the beef.

3. Using the same pot, add some olive oil and stir-fried the carrots and pearl onions until soft, then add back the garlic and onion and the beef, then add the flour spoon by spoon until all absorbed, then the tomato paste, mix them well, then add the wine, (little by little), then beef broth until all ingredients are covered under the wine and broth. Lastly, add the bouquet garni and the juniper berries.

4. Bring to boil, then reduce heat to simmering heat and simmer for 1.5 hrs. Check from time to time to ensure nothing sticks to the bottom.

5. After 1.5 hrs of simmering, remove beef from pot and cut them into cubes.

6. Stir fried the bacon with the mushrooms, then add them together with the cubed beef back to the pot and continue simmer for the last 30-60min.

7. Check taste and season as per your taste with salt and pepper and even a little bit of sugar.

8. Put the stew in a ceramic type of dish or bowl which is warm and sprinkle with the minced parsley and serve!

Best to serve on a tray with some tea light candle on the bottom to keep the stew warm enough, And of course with some pasta and a glass of pinot noir!

Enjoy!

Cream of Chestnut

2019 version - garnished with pan fried chopped chestnuts & decorated with gold pieces from Kanazawa :)

Ingredients:

Italian or Japanese Chestnut (the former being more fragrant while the latter being sweeter, my personal opinion)

Chicken and Ham Stock **

Cream Fraiche

** For Vegetarian version, replace chicken stock with vegetable stock or plain water


How to Make:

1. Make the soup base 1 day ahead by using fresh old chicken + chinese ham or ham hock, 1 carrot, 1 celery and 1 onion. Blanche chicken/ham hock first, for chinese ham, blanche with some puer tea leaves. Place the blanche chicken and ham with the veg to a clean pot, cover everything with sufficient water. After boiling, reduce to medium heat and cook for approx 3 hrs.

2. Remove ingredients and once soup is cool, store at fridge overnite. Next day, you can eeasily skim off fat on top.

3. Remove skins from chestnut (which takes a really long time...), blanche until soft. Chop them into smaller pieces.

4. Add chestnuts to the soup base, bring to boil, then puree in the blender in a few batches.

5. Sieve the puree into a clean pot. Adjust consistency by keep some clean soup base. In case, the puree is too thick, you can adjust by adding some soup base to the puree soup.

6. Adjust seasoning and bring to boil again. Serve with a small spoonful of cream friache on top.

Enjoy the chestnuts when they are in the best form - in Autumn/Winter of course!

Pan Fried Scallops with Winter Black Truffles

Ingredients:

Fresh Sea Scallops from market (better to reserve the XL size one from your regular fishmongers in advance)
mash potato
cauliflower
winter black truffle
black truffle paste
black truffle olive oil


How to Make:
1. Pre-slice the black truffle and keep it in the fridge (best in your risotto container)>

2. Cauliflower - only pick the florets, blanche for 3-4 min with some salt. (best not to make them over soft but retain some crunchiness). Then drain the water.

3. Prepare the mash potato: peel skins off potato, boil them in water until soft (usually takes around 20-30min, remove water, put potato back to pot again, and then to medium heat to remove the last bit of water still inside the potato. Then mash them with a masher, adding salt, butter and milk until soft and creamy. Add a dash of black truffle olive oil too.

4. Quickly stir fried the blanched cauliflower with black truffle olive oil and 1-2 tbsp of black truffle paste.

5. Wash and wipe dry the scallops. Season them with salt. Heat up a frying pan, once hot, add some olive oil and add the scallops - each side for around 2min (without turning or stirring). Once browned, turn out to the other side.

6. Line the plate with mash potato, then the caulifower on top, then the scallops. Lastly, sprinkle the black truffle slices around the plate and serve.

Enjoy!

Roast Leg of Lamb

* reeipe adopted from Jane Hornby's "What to Cook and How to Cook it"

Serves 6-8 persons

Ingredients:
1 leg of lamb (approx 2kg)
10 cloves of garlic
handful of rosemary sprigs
carrots/ celery/onion
potatoes

Gravy:
100ml good red wine
500ml lamb/beef stock
1 tbsp redcurrant or raspberry jam

How to Make:

1. Preheat oven to 220;C.

2. Clean and dry the lamb leg. Poke around 20 holes on top of the leg with a sharp knife of around 1.5cm wide and 1.5cm deep. Poke a piece of garlic or a rosemary sprig in each of such holes. Then season well with salt and pepper.

3. Chop the celery, carrot and onion in big chunks and line them at the bottom of the baking tray. Sit the lamb on top of these vegetables, drizzle olive oil over the lamb and the vegetables and roast in the middle of the oven for 20 min.

4. Turn down oven to 190'C, pour 100ml of water over the lamb and roast for another 1 hour.

5. While the lamb is cooking, prepare the potatoes by adding mixing them with rosemary, salt and pepper and olive oil. (i prefer to use the ratte potatos from Frane and hence no need to remove skins. If you are using bigger size potatos, consider removing skin and cut into big chunks).

6. After the lamb has cooked for 1 hr at 190'C, put the potatoes into a tray on a shelf above the lamb. Cook the potato and the lamb for another 30min,

7. Take out lamb, turn the oven to 220'C to crisp up the potatoes for 5-10min. Transfer lamb leg to to a craving board and let it rest uncovered.

Gravy:
8. Sppon the excess fat from the roasting tray, then put the tray on the stove at medium heat. Add wine wine and stock, scraping up any bits from the bottom of the tray. Simmer until reduced by half and until gravy looks syrupy, then stir in the jam to make a glossy sauce. Season to taste.

Serve the lamb with the gravy and the vegetables and potatoes!

Roasted Pumpkin Soup

* receipe adopted from Gordon Ramsay's "Christmas with Gordon"

Serves 6-8

Ingredients:

Pumpkin Pureep
pumpkin - around 1.5kg
1 head of garlic - cut horizontally
Rosemay sprigs
olive oil, to drizzle

Soup:
800ml chicken ham stock **
1 onion, peeled and minced
a pinch of freshly grated nutmeg
30g Parmesan cheese, freshly grated
100ml double cream
15g butter

** For Vegetarian version, replace chicken stock with vegetable stock


How to Make:
1. Preheat oven to 170'C.

2. Cut pumpkin into half horizontally, then remove all seeds. Score the flesh, season wtih salt & pepper, then rub with the garlic halves.

3. Lay rosemary sprigs and the garlic half in each of the pumpkin half. Drizzle with olive oil and place on baking trays and roast in oven for 1 hr or until tender.

4. You can test if pumpkin flesh is soft enough with poking a fork into it. Once tender enough, remove from oven. Reserve the garlic and throw away the rosemary. Scoop out all the pumpkin flesh and puree in a food processor. (if the food processor does not move, add a bit of the chicken stock to soften it).

5. For the soup, heat some olive oil in a large pot, then add the minced onion and cook them until soft and translucent. Scoop the flesh from the garlic halves and add to the pot. Then add the grated nutmeg and saute for 1-2min.

6. Stir in the pumpkin puree and grated parmesan cheese, then pour in the stock. Bring to boil, then lower to heat and simmer for 10-12 min Stir in the cream and butter and heat for 1 min,

7. In batches, laddle the soup to the blender and blend until smooth. Pour the blended soup to a clean pot. Reheat and serve, perhaps with a dash of cream or some shavings of Parmesan cheese on top.

Enjoy~

Dover Sole Meuniere

Ingredients:
Fresh Dover Sole
lemon
parsley-minced
butter
flour
salt/olive oil

How to Make:
1. I buy the Dover Sole (from France) from Great supermarket (must pre-order!) and you can ask them to remove the skin/scales/gills, etc. When you are ready to cook, wash them and dry them with kitchen napkin.

2. Season the sole with fine sea salt and little black pepper.

3. Coat them evenly with flour on both sides.

4. Heat up a flat frying pan, when the pan is hot, add olive oil and butter, shake off excess flour from fish and place fish at the pan for 3 min, then turn the fish to the other side and continue to fry for 3 min. ** Be patient and dont turn the fish from time to time, otherwise it wont brown as nicely as you wish to.

5. After both sides are done, remove the fish to a warm plate. Then pour away all the oil on the pan to the sink and clean the pan with some kitchen napkin. As the pan is still hot, there's no need to turn on heat again. Just melt some butter on the hot pan, then add the minced parsley. Once all butter melted, spoon over the fish. Then finish with a squeeze of lemon juice on top of fish and serve immediately.


Enjoy~

Pesto Sauce

* receipe adapted from "Two Greedy Italians" by Antonio Carluccio and Gennaro Contaldo. This pesto sauce is really good and you can use it for pasta, bread, soup, almost anything!

Ingredients
2tbsp pine kennels
1 garlic clove
1/2 tsp salt
80g basil leaves (stalks removed)
200ml extra virgin olive oil
2tbsp freshly grated pecorino or parmesan cheese

How to Make:
just add all the above to a mortar and grind to a paste. If you have a blender, even easier, mix everything in the blender and blend until it becomes a smooth paste. Add more basil or oil as you think fit.

Store in fridge for about a week.