Potato, Eggs and Garlic Shakshuka

* recipe adopted from FT recipe

Ingredients:
Potato - peeled and medium sliced - blanched for approx 10 minutes until slightly soft
Onion - sliced
Garlic - 2-3 bulbs, keep skin and cut horizontal at the top 1/3
Thymes - 2-3 sprigs
Eggs
Milk or whipping cream

How to Make:
1. Heat up olive oil in a frying pan and place garlic flat-side down. Place on low hear and dont move or touch them for about 10 minutes. When time is up, check if the flat side of the garlic is golden, if not, cook for a bit more. If already golden, then remove from pan.

2. Add the thyme to the pan and fizz for a little while. Then add the sliced onion (still on low hear).

3. Remove the garlic cloves from the garlic you removed from the pan and add the cloves to the pan. Add the potato, then season with sea salt flakes and black pepper. Mix well, cover and cook for approximately 10 minutes or until all potato slices are soft enough.

4. Remove the thyme, add a little bit of water say 2 tbsp and 2 rounds of milk or whipping cream for a creamy finish, increase the heat to medium high, when the water/cream boils, add the eggs all over the surface. Cover and cook for 5 minutes (until egg whites have set but yolks are still runny).

Sprinkle surface with black pepper and some shredded thymes and ready to serve hot!

Pair this with your meat dish or eat alone!

Enjoy! 

Sous Vide Belly Pork

Ingredients:

Belly Pork of your choice
Spring onion
salt, pepper, five spices, soy sauce, honey
BBQ sauce (optional)

How to Make:

1. Prepare water bath to 68.5'C.

2. Clean and wipe dry belly pork. Cut into 1'5" thick slices.

2. Marinate pork with salt and pepper gives spices, some soy sauce and honey, add a sprig or two spring onion or even herbs of your choice. Vacuum seal the bag with the pork and marinate.

3. Drop the bag to the water bath when it reaches 68.5C and cook for 14 hours.

4. Take out bag after cooking is finished. Pour liquid inside and save it to cook with BBQ sauce later. Wipe clean the pork. If time allows, let it sit in fridge without wrapping overnight to dry out skin.

5. On the day of cooking, then out pork to room temperature to warm up. Preheat Grill (at oven).

6. Heat up a steak pan until it is very hot. Seared the belly side (meat) of the pork, then remove from pan. Use a puncher and poke holes onto skin. Soak belly pork (skin side down) on a flat tray filled with say around 1cm high of white vinegar, so only the skin is touching the vinegar - for 5-10 mins.

6. Remove pork from vinegar and wipe dry. Place to Grill for 10-15 min until skin looks golden and crispy. Take out, carve and serve.

7. For the gravy,  reduce the liquid from the vaccum bag when slow cooked the pork which you have strained. Adjust consistency by boiling more or add corn starch solution to make it more thick. Check tasting and adjust accordingly. Otherwise, just serve with BBQ sauce.

Enjoy!

Chorizo and Prawn Pasta

Ingredients:

Fresh Sea Prawns, with heads and shells removed (can keep for other use)
Sliced Garlic 
Chorizo, blizz in food processor 
Parsley, minced
Pasta of your choice
Parmesan Cheese - grated
Extra Virgin Olive Oil

How to Make:

1. Clean prawns and remove intestines. Wipe dry and marinate with sea salt and black pepper. Remember to save the heads and shells for other use by keeping them in freezer.

2. Heat up a pan with olive oil, then pan fry the sliced garlic until golden. Remove the garlic to a dish lined with kitchen napkin to drain some oil.

3. Using the same pan with garlic oil remaining, pan fried the prawns on both sides, then add the blizzed chorizo until all cooked and fragrant. 

4. Cook the pasta as per packet's instructions or al dente. Add pasta to the frying pan and mix all together. 

5. Top the pasta with the golden garlic slices and minced parsley. Drizzle some extra virgin olive oil and grated parmesan cheese and ready to serve.

Enjoy!

Kale, Spinach and Pea Soup

Ingredients:
Chicken Stock **
Kale
Spinach
Peas (frozen one will do)
Milk or Whipping Cream

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

Optional:
Pumpkin Cream - pumpkin and milk or cream.
Sour Cream with minced mint leaves

How to Make:

1. Make your chicken stock 1 day ahead of your dinner by using old chicken and chinese ham, carrot and onion. Once boiled, cook for approx 3 hours in medium fire. Drain the soup and once cool, store in fridge. You can remove oil on top once the soup is cool down.

2. On the day of dinner, wash and spin dry kale and spinach. Remove hard stems of kale and cut away bottom white stems of spinach. Cut them into small pieces. 

3. Bring chicken stock to boil, then turn to medium heat and add kale and peas for 5-8 minutes, then add spinach for another 3-5 minutes. Check taste and season accordingly.

4. Switch off fire and blend them in a food processor batch by batch. Best to put more veggies inside food processor first then the soup, then blend. In this way, you can control consistency of the soup, i..e how thick you want the soup to be. When the blend is a bit too thick, you can always add more soup.

5. Re-boil blended soup in a pot. You can finish it by adding a dash of milk or whipping cream. If you want to garnish it a bit, consider adding pumpkin cream (as shown below) or add a spoonful of sour cream on top of soup on bowl with some minced leaves on top.

Pumpkin Cream:

Cut pumpkin into chunks. Steam until soft. Add them to food processor and add a bit of milk or cream. Blend until it reaches the consistency you desire. re-heat in a pot. You can spoon this to the veggies soup bowl the way you like it. Make the otherwise green soup a bit more colorful and provide another taste in the same soup.

Enjoy.

Chilled tomatoes in Plum Sauce

* a very appetizing dish in the summer and very easy to make.

Ingredients:
Cherry Tomatoes or tomatoes of your choice
話梅 1 to 2 packs (you can buy from supermarket, qty depends how many tomatoes are you preparing)
Brown Sugar
梅粉 (optional)

How to Make:
1. Remove skin of tomatoes by: (1) light cut a cross at the bottom or top of the tomatoes. (2) put them in boiling water, then turn off heat, for 1-2 minutes. You should see the corner of the skin peeling off a bit. (3) remove the tomatoes to ice cold water. (4) peel off skin gently and keep shape of tomatoes.

2. Prepare plum marinate sauce by: boiling a pot of water with the plum side for 5-10 minutes, then add sourness and sweetness by adding 1-2 tbsp of brown sugar and the 梅粉. Let it cool down.

3. Place all tomatoes inside the cool down plum marinate sauce in a food container box and close the lid and place in fridge overnight.

4. When you are ready to serve, just remove tomatoes from the marinate and garnish with a piece of mint!

Enjoy, perhaps with a glass of plum wine!

Japanese Style Braised Beef Shin

Ingredients:

Beef Shin - cut into slightly bigger than bite size pieces
1 onion - quarter
a few pc of pressed garlic
1-2 carrots - cut into bite size pieces
1-2 turnips - cut into bite size pieces
1-2 potato - cut into bite size pieces
4 cups dashi stock (or water or beef stock)
4 tbsp Japanese soy sauce
3 tbsp cooking sake
3 tbsp mirin
rock sugar
minced spring onion to garnish

How to Make:

1. After washing and drying the beef, marinate them with rock salt and black pepper.

2. Heat up a pot which can hold all ingredients with olive oil.

3. Brown the beef and remove them to a side dish first.

4. In the same pot, add some more olive oil and then stir fry the garlic and onion until soft and fragrant. Then add the carrots, turnips and potato, then return the beef to the pot, then add the dashi and the seasoning.

4. Bring it to a boil and turn heat to medium low and stew for 90 to 120 minutes. Skim the scum from the surface. Check from time to time the taste then adjust seasoning as per your desired taste. After 90 minutes, if the beef is not soft enough, then braised a bit longer until the texture reaches your desired softness.

5. Lastly, remove all ingredients and keeping only the stock at the pot. Skim the fat if any. Then bring to a boil to reduce it and add cornflour solution to thicken it.

Pour sauce back to the beef and ready to serve with a bowl of hot rice!

Enjoy

Braised Sea Cucumber, Fish Maw and Chinese/Japanese Mushrooms

Ingredients:

Dry Sea Cucumber
Dry Fish Maw
Dry Chinese/Japanese Mushrooms
Ginger, Spring Onion, Garlic
Chicken Stock, Oyster Sauce, dark and light soy sauce, raw sugar, sesame oil.


How to Braise Sea Cucumber:
1. Rinse the sea cucumber clean under the tap.

2. Soak them in a pot of clean water overnite (at least 12 hours)

3. Boil a pot of water, put the soaked sea cucumber inside and cook for 15 mins covered. Once time is up, just switch off heat and keep the pot covered until water inside becomes cool. In winter times, this maybe around 3-4 hours. In summer time, this may take 5-6 hours. Test with your finger! :)

4. Pour away water inside pot. Add new water. Reboil the water with the sea cucumber for 15 minutes covered. Once time is up, switch off heat and keep the pot covered until water becomes cool.

5. Drain all water, rinse the sea cucumber, then clean the intestines. Principle is the inside surface of the sea cucumber shall be free of any black stuff and 
smooth.

6. Last step: boil a pot of water with sliced ginger and spring onion, then add the cleaned sea cucumber and boil for 15 mins covered. Once time is up, switch off heat and keep covered until water becomes cool.

7. Remove sea cucumber for water, dry them with a clean cloth and pack them in zip-lock bag and store at fridge when you are cooking in the next day or so. Or keep them in freezer.

How to Braise Fish Maw:
-> this really depends on which type of fish maw you are buying. Assuming the regular ones for braising and soup, then here's my method:

1. Rinse the fish maw clean under the tap.

2. Soak the fish maw in a pot of water overnight.

3. Boil a pot of water with sliced ginger and spring onion, then add the fish maw and cook for 10 minutes. When time is up, switch off heat and keep covered under water becomes cool.

4. Drain all water and the ginger and spring onion. Add new clean water and soak the fish maw for another 5-6 hours.

5. Remove fish maw and dry them with a clean cloth and pack them in zip-lock bag and store at fridge when you are cooking in the next day or so. Or keep them in freezer.

How to Braise dry Chinese or Japanese Mushrooms:
1. Rinse them clean under tap.

2. Soak them in a pot of water and add a small dish on top, so as to press down the mushrooms under the water.

3. Change water for around 2-3 times until you can feel the mushrooms have became soft.

4. Then remove all water, wash the softened mushrooms with some corn flour under tap. Then wipe them dry with a clean cloth. Pack them in zip-lock bag an store at fridge if you are cooking in the next day or so. or keep them in freezer.

How to Cook:

1. Cut up the mushrooms and fish maw in a size which you desire. Sea cucumber can be cooked in whole piece or cut up to a size you like.

2. Heat up a wok, add oil an stir fried the slice ginger, pressed garlic and spring onion until wok is fragrant.

3. Add the mushrooms to the wok, mix them well with the ginger etc, then add sufficient chicken stock to keep the mushrooms underneath stock, add oyster sauce, soy sauce etc. Check tasting, once boiled, turn down to medium heat and cook for 30 minutes.

4. Add fish maw to the pot. If chicken stock and sauce not sufficient to keep the ingredients under sauce, add chicken stock and other seasonings. Cook for another 10-15 minutes under medium heat.

5. Add sea cucumber to the pot and cook for another 10-15 mins. Like above, you need to see if the stock/sauce is sufficient to keep all ingredients submerged. If not, adjust yourself. Check tasting from time to time. 

6. Lastly, add cornflour solution to the pot to thicken sauce. Add your favourite vegetables to the dish!

Enjoy!

P.S. in addition to using chicken stock, you can use abalone sauce, etc. Or add braised abalone to the dish.

Baked Black Cod in Miso Paste 銀雪魚西京燒

Ingredients:
Black Cod x 2 slices 
West Kyoto White Miso Paste 350g
Cooking Sake 1/4 cup
Mirin 1/2 cup
egg yolk x 1
Brown Sugar 55-60g

How to Make:

1. Marinate the cod fish at least 1 night in advance. Best to marinate 2-3 days in advance.

2. Mix the miso paste in a container with sugar then the egg yolk with a fork until combined, then add the sake and mirin (in a few times) until they are mixed well like a wet paste.

3. Wash and wipe dry fish slices and put them in the marinate container and cover with lid or cling wrap. Make sure the fish slices are submerged underneath the marinate paste. Place in fridge for at least 1 night before cooking.

4. On the day of cooking, preheat Grill at your Oven to  230'C. 

5. Remove fish slices from marinate container and use finger to wipe away the marinate.

6. Place the fish slices to a grid on top of a baking tray and grill for 7-8 minutes. Then turn the fish slices upside down for another 7-8 minutes until golden.

Serve piping hot with mayo on the side.

Enjoy with hot rice and your favourite sake!

Gingerbread Cookies

* recipe adopted from Donna Hay but with sugar and syrup qty reduced by half, ginger and mixed spice double up.

Ingredients:

125g Unslated Butter, softened (best to take out to room termperature an hour or so before cooking)
1/4 cup (45g) Brown Sugar
1/3 cup (120g) Golden Syrup
2.5 cups (375g) Plain or All Purpose Flour, sifted
1tsp baking soda, sifted
4 tsp Ground Ginger
3 tsp Mixed Spice

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How to make:

1. 1. Preheat oven to 160°C (325°F).
2. 2. Place the butter and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer and beat for approx 10 minutes or until pale and creamy. Scrape down the sides of the bowl, add the syrup, flour, bicarbonate of soda, ginger and mixed spice and beat until a smooth dough forms. 
3. 3. Flatten the dough between two baking paper with around 1cm thickness (or the thickness of the biscuit your desired), place on top of a flat tray and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes. (you can place in fridge longer than this).
4. 4. Take out dough from fridge and use the biscuit cutter to cut into the shapes you desire. Do this as quickly as possible to prevent the dough from getting soft due to room temperature, making cutting more difficult.
5. 5. Place cut-out biscuit dough into a baking tray lined with baking paper and bake in oven for around 20 min or until it's golden brown.
6. 6. Cool biscuits in a wire rack and serve with coffee or tea.
7. ENJOY~~

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Roast Honey Ham - Revisit

This is sort of a "cheat" version roast honey ham - reason because it is so difficult to get non-smoke raw ham in Hong Kong! But this is easy to cook and taste yummy too. Pls try!

Ingredients:

Smoked (raw) ham of around 4-5kg
Carrots - some round slices
Leeks - some slices
Cloves
Aluminum Foil

Honey Glaze:

200g demerara sugar

100ml Madeira

50ml sherry vinegar

250g honey

-> Prepare the honey glaze by putting all ingredients to a pot, bring to boil (keep stirring and watch the fire as it can easily boil over), then reduce heat and simmer for 5-10 mins until thickened.

How to Make:

1. Preheat oven to 120'C.

2. Clean and wipe dry ham.

3. Light score some diamond shapes on top of ham if not already apparent from the net covering the ham. Stud a clove to each crossing point of the diamond shapes.

4. Put water into tray for ham, about 1cm high. Place ham inside this tray and put some sliced carrots and leeks inside as shown in photo above.

5. Cover the tray with foil and place the tray inside over for roast for approx 1hr 45 mins to 2 hr.

6. Take out tray from oven, remove foil, drain the water from the tray, and remove carrots and leeks. Increase oven temperature to 160'C.

7.  Brush honey glaze all over ham  and put ham back to oven for roast for another 35-45 mins.

Sliced and serve piping hot. The glaze remaining in the tray can be used as honey sauce for the ham. Best with some gravy and mustard!

Enjoy!

Baked Stuffed Crab Shell

Ingredients:
Fresh Flower Crab
Onion - thin slices
Mushrooms - slices (optional. If you want to add this, small amount will do)
Evaporated Milk
Flour
Eggwash (egg yolk + a few drops of water)
Cheddar or Mozarella Cheese




How to Make:
1. Steam whole crab. Once cool down, separate all crab meat from the shells. Check for shells bits in the crab meat.

2. Cut the crab shells nicely and blanch in hot water with a bit of salt. Drain and wipe dry.

3. Stir fry the sliced onion in a frying pan until soft and fragrant, then add the mushroom slices. remove from the pan to a dish first.

4. Add crab meat to the frying pan and stir fry till fragrant. Add the onion mixture to the crab meat, mix well and add seasonings like salt and sugar. Check tasting, then add evaporated milk, then flour. Check consistency. You wont want it too thick or too watery.

5. Remove the crab mixture from frying pan to a dish to cool down.

6. Preheat oven to 250'C.

7. Stuffed the crab mixture to the crab shell nicely. Brush some eggwash on top first. Then sprinkle some cheese on top.

8. Baked in oven for 7-8 min until top is golden.

Serve piping hot! Enjoy!

Tenderloin Steak Diane

* recipe adopted from The Butchers Club

Ingredients (for approx 4 pax):

Tenderloin (of your choice) 200g x 4pc
4 shallots - peeled and finely chopped
150g button mushrooms thinly sliced
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 tbsp salted butter
2 tbsp worchester sauce
2 tsp mustard
1/4 cup brandy
200ml double cream
parsley minced


How to Cook:

1. Wash and wipe dry your beef. Season with salt and black pepper.

2. Heat up your frying pan, then add a little bit of olive oil + 1tbsp of butter. Pan fry your beef, 2 min on each side. At this stage we just want to brown the beef on both sides. Then remove beef to a plate cover with a foil. The beef will continue to cook on its own on the plate.

3. Add olive oil and the rest of the butter to the steak pan at medium fire, then stir fry the shallots and garlic until soft and fragrant. Then add the mushrooms. 

4. Add the worchester sauce and bring to boil. Turn up the heat and tilt the pan away from you and add the brandy. Tilt it right towards the edge of the pan and allow it to set on fire from the gas ring. Then turn down the heat, add the mustard and double cream and bring it to a light boil. Check tasting and adjust accordingly with adding more salt or worchester sauce, etc.

5. Put the beef with the juices on the plate back to the pan and cook till the beef reaches the temperature you require, eg. medium rare, medium, etc. When ready, add the chopped parsley on top and ready to serve!

Enjoy with rice or pasta or on its own! Don't forget your favourite red wine!

Cod with Tomato Salsa

* recipe adopted from Gordon Ramsay

Ingredients:

Cod Fish of your choice, with skin on
Cherry tomatoes
shallots - cut into rings
Basil  
Sliced Garlic - a few pieces
Stale Bread, if not fresh also ok
Parmesan cheese
parsley


How to Make:

1. Preheat oven to 200'C.

2. Clean and wipe dry fish and season with salt and pepper.

3. Cherry Tomatoes rinse and wipe dry and cut into halves.

4. Blend your bread in a blender with some grated parmesan cheese and parsley until it becomes breadcrumb like mixture.

5. Heat up a hot pan with olive oil, pan fry cod 1 min per side. Make sure the skin side is more browned. 

6. Remove the fish to an oven tray skin side down and place the bread mixture on top of the fish, pressing it down a little bit. Bake in oven for 6 min until bread mixture becomes golden.

7. Heat up a new pan with olive oil, pan fry sliced garlic, shallots until fragrant. Add cherry tomatoes and basil. Season with sugar, salt and pepper. Until the tomatoes are softened, then the tomato salsa is ready to be served on the side of the dish.

Enjoy with your favourite white wine!

Tofu Salad

Ingredients:

Fresh Tofu of your choice

Cooked Preserved Egg - separate egg yolk with egg white and blend separately in blender or chop them up into small dices with a knife

Good quality sesame oil


How to make:

1. break tofu into paste like with a fork or chopsticks.

2. add egg white to the tofu and mix well together with sesame oil.

3. Pour into a chinese bowl and wrap with cling wrap and chill at fridge.

4. Pour the Tofu mixture to a serving plate upside down from the bowl and top with egg yolk crumbles. Add a dash of sesame oil or white sesame on top as you like.

Ready to serve as a cold appertizer. Enjoy!

Baked Conch

Ingredients:

Fresh Conch - reserve in advance from your seafood store in wet market and ask them to help remove guts from the main body.

Minced pork *

Minced onion *

Carrots-diced into small cubes *

Button Mushrooms-diced into small cubes *

* I will say if the conch meat weighs say 300g, your minced pork, carrot, onion and mushrooms should be 1/3 to 2/3 of your conch weight, ie around 100-200g each. It's realyl flexible. Depends if you want it to taste more meaty or more seafood. You can add diced water chestnuts too to give it a crunchy feel.

Butter

Flour

Grated Cheddar/Morzarella cheese

Tumeric Powder

Coconut Milk

How to Make:

1. Wash and wipe dry the conch meat and blend in blender to small pieces.

2. Marinate minced pork with say sauce, sugar, sesame oil, corn flour and chinese wine.

3. Preheat oven to 240C.

4. Heat up a wok, add oil and pan fry the onion till soft and fragrant. Then add minced pork, carrot, mushrooms and mix them well.

5. Fry the minced conch in another pan until some juice is released from the meat. Remove meat and add to the pan at para 3 above and mix well/

6. Arrange some space on the wok at para 3, then add butter and flour and mix it up to become a roux. Then mix everything together. Add Tumeric powder, coconut milk and adjust tasting.

7. Stuff the mixture to the conch shell, add grated cheese on top and bake at oven for 5 min.

Serve and Enjoy while it's piping hot!

Fading Color Strawberry Cheesecake

* recipe from 肥妈！Not difficult to make at all. Taste great without a very sweet taste and looks great! Worthwhile to giving it a try.

Ingredients:

Cake Base:

McVite Digestive Biscuits x 1 pack (can choose the Light version)

Butter x 60g - melted

Fillings:

Part (A)

Milk x 200ml

Gelatine Sheets x 20g (soaked till soft in ice water for 5-10 mins, remove from ice water and squeeze out extra water)

Caster Sugar x 150g

Part (B)

Philadelphia Cream Cheese x 1 pack

Srtawberry paste 200 g (just wash and wip dry strawberries and place in blender until it becomes paste like. You can sieve it for a finer texture)

Whipping Cream 150g (whip it up with an electric mixer up to 70% firm)

Rose Essense a few drops

Red Colorings

How to Make:

1. Preheat oven to 200'C.

2. Place gelatine sheet to ice water to soften for 5-10 min.

3. Crunch digestive biscuits with a rolling pin in a zip loc bag until biscuits have turned into fine crumbles.

4. Oil the base and side of the cake tin with some melted butter with a kitchen towel.

5. Mix biscuits crumbles and press into base of a cake tin and bake in oven for 5 mins. Then take out to cool down.

6. Heat up Part A in a pot until sugar and gelatine all melted. Gentle heat will do.

5. Beat Whipping Cream with electric mixer until 70% firm.

6. Beat Cream Cheese with an electric mixer until all soft. Then add strawberry paste and rose essence. Then add Part (A) and the Whipping Cream and mix well together with a spatula.

7. Pour the above mixture to 3-4 containers with varying quantity, eg. 150g, 120g, 90g, 60g. The biggest portion one just pour directly into cake tin above biscuits base. The rest of the containers, add varying degrees of colorings from a little to more, then pour each mixture to a jug. Then pour the mixture from the jug to the cake tin at the centre slowly, with the last one with the most colourings. 

8. Wrap cake tin with cling wrap and chill in fridge for a few hours before serving.

9. Decorate the cake top with fresh strawberries and even whipped cream as per your liking.

Enjoy! 

Sous Vide Soy Sauce Chicken

* recipe from 肥妈! Easy to make chicken soy sauce and the chicken meat tastes very tender using slow cook method.

Ingredients:

Fresh Young Chicken x 1
Rock Sugar
Star Anise x 2
Cinnamon stick x 1
bay leaves x 4
Light Soy Sauce x 3 tbsp
Dark Soy Sauce x 100ml
Chicken Stock x 60ml
Chinese Rose Wine x 1 tbsp
Water x 60ml
Ginger x 3-4 slices
Spring onion x  few bunch (some for soy sauce, some to stuff chicken during slow cook)

How to Cook:

1. Wash Chicken and blanch in hot water for 5 mins. Remove from hot water and drain.

2. Heat up a wok and add oil, pan fry the dry ingredients (ginger, spring onion, star anise, cinnamon, bay leaves) till fragrant. Add the wet ingredients (the soy sauce, wine, chicken stock, water...) and the rock sugar until it boils. Check tasting and adjust accordingly.

3. Once soy sauce mixture boiled and tasting checked and adjusted, turn off fire. Put chicken into the sauce until the sauce cools down.

4. Prepare water at water bath to 68'C.

5. Remove chicken from the soy sauce mixture and place to vacuum bag, with spring onion stuffed to cavity.

6. Place chicken to water bath for 2.5 hours.

7. Remove chicken from vacuum bag, cut it up nicely and serve.

Enjoy! 

Chicken Roll

* recipe adopted from Gordon Ramsay

Ingredients:

1pc boneless chicken thighs (skin optional)
1/2 cup pistachios (with shell removed and coarsely chopped)
1/2 cup minced parsley
1/2 tsp fresh thyme
1/2 cup ground sausage, sausage skin removed
4 strips of bacon


Sauce/ Gravy (optional. You can use your favourite tomato sauce, etc) 
3 cups water
1/3 cup sherry vinegar
1/4 Marsala
1/4 chicken broth


How to Make:

1. Combine sausage, pistachios, thyme, parsley, along with a dash of salt and pepper as a whole in a bowl. 

2. Place chicken flat on a working top, skin facing table top. Put sausage mixture on top centre of the chicken and roll the chicken over until it covers majority with the stuffing. Set aside.

3. Place a sheet of aluminium foil on table top. Sprinkle with a dash of olive oil, salt and pepper. Then place the bacon on top of it. Put the chicken roll on top of bacon strips. Roll the bacon and chicken roll with the aluminium foil like a candy, with both ends tightly sealed.

4. Heat up a pot of water. When it boils, place the chicken roll in foil inside the boiling water for 25 min in medium fire.

5. Remove chicken from the pot. Once cooled, place inside fridge.

6. when ready to eat, take chicken out from fridge, remove foil gently so the bacon wrapped with chicken neatly. and use kitchen towel to dry it out when it's wet.

7. Heat up a frying pan, add olive oil, then pan fry the bacon chicken roll until golden in all sides.

8. If you like to make the sauce/gravy - remove the bacon chicken roll to a dish, then deglaze the pan using the sherry vinegar along with the bacon juices and oil at medium fire. Add Marsala and chicken broth, stirring frequently before sauce thickened. 

9. Slice chicken roll at an angle, drizzle sauce on top and enjoy with some white rice or plain pasta with your favourite white wine.

Enjoy!

Watermelon Salad

* recipe adopted from Gordon Ramsay

Ingredients:

Watermelon - cut into cubes
Cucumber - cut into cubes
fetacheese - break into cubes
cherry tomatoes - cut into halves
rocket leaves
pecan - toasted in hot pan with a sprinkle of salt
lemon -rolled the lemon on table top, cut into half horizontally and squeeze out lemon juice
Mint leaves - shredded
balsamic vinegar and a dash of olive oil

How to Make:

1. mix rocket leaves with a dash of olive oil and balsamic vinegar first.

2. add cucumber and tomatoes to the above mix.

3. then add water melon and mint.

4. add lemon juice for the final mix.

5. sprinkle toasted pecan on top.

A refreshing salad best for summer time! Enjoy!

Tomato Pasta

Ingredients:

Italian San Marzano or Piccadilly Tomatoes x 1kg
Italian can plum tomatoes x 1 can (optional - if you prefer the tomato paste to be more wet, adding can tomatoes will help)
onion x 1 - minced
garlic slice - 2 tbsp
basil for cooking and garnish
parmesan cheese - grated
olive oil

Pasta of your choice
1 bowl of sliced garlic

How to Make:

1. De-skin and de-seed the tomatoes first. You can do it by boiling a pot of water, cut a cross at the skin of the tomatoes, drop them to the boiling water for 1 min. Take them out and place to ice water. The skin will be easily peeled off at this stage. Remove all skin, mince the flesh of the tomatoes discarding all seeds and juice. After mincing the tomatoes, you can put them on a strainer so extra juice can be discarded.

2. Mince the can tomatoes and drain on strainer to remove extra juice.

3. Heat up a pan with olive oil, then fry the garlic slices until golden. Remove the garlic and save the oil in the pan sufficient to brown the minced onion.

4. Put minced onion onto to the pan with garlic oil and fry until soft, then add the minced fresh tomatoes and can tomatoes, stir fry until all combined. Season with salt and pepper and sugar to your liking. Then add the basil, turn heat to medium low and cook for 20 minutes.

5. Cook your pasta as per instructions on packet.

6. In a separate pan, heat up sufficient olive oil which will be used to coat the cooked pasta, then pan fried the sliced garlic until golden.  

7. Drain pasta, mix it in the pan with garlic olive oil, then and place it nicely in a serving dish.

7. Add tomato paste on top on pasta, then a basil leave, grated parmesan cheese and drizzle olive oil on the side. For those who like fried garlic, you can add the fried garlic to the pasta too.

Serve and enjoy it with your favourite white wine!

Baked Salmon in Puff Pastry

From: Tastemade Japan at 
https://www.instagram.com/p/Bh-34VnBRzv/


Ingredients:

Salmon Fillet x 1
Salt & Black pepper
Spinach - wash and drain
Frozen Puff Pastry x 2 packs - defrost in fridge the night before you plan to cook
Flour
Egg Yolk x 1, mix with 1 tsp of water or milk

Cream Cheese Sauce:
Cream Cheese 100g
Mayonnaise 10g
Lemon Juice - a dash
Dill - minced

How to Make:

1. Preheat oven to 200'C.

2. Clean and trim salmon fillet to a size right for your party and your oven tray and wipe dry!

3. Season salmon with sea salt and black pepper.

4. Make Cream Cheese Sauce by mixing well the ingredients listed under Cream Cheese Sauce above.

5. Sprinkle a bit of flour on counter top. Roll 1 pack of puff pastry on top of the flour-counter top to the right thickness and size for your salmon and the oven tray. Repeat the same for the other pack of puff pastry.

6. Place 1 piece of the rolled pastry onto the oven tray. Put spinach first, then lay the salmon on top of the spinach, then the cream cheese sauce on top of the salmon. 

7. Brush egg yolk solution on the pastry along the edge of the salmon.

8. Place the other pastry on top of the salmon layers softly, using a fork to press along the edge of the salmon where you have brushed the egg yolk solution. Trim along the forked edges to come to a fish shape! Use the cut away pastry to make eyes, mouth, tail and fins for the fish! Then use a knife to gently score on top of the pastry to make scales for the fish. 

9. Lastly, brush egg yolk solution on top pastry evenly. Then put into oven for 25 to 30 min until golden.

Serve immediately and enjoy!