Pork Jowl?!

I had no idea what the heck is pork jowl and how it would taste, a thick skin of fat, fat is good right?  My dad picked up the meat from my favourite Asian supermarket T&T and it stayed in our fridge till Sunday morning.  When I woke up I could not wait to work on our brunch!

I have saved this recipe from the Globe and Mail since January this year, during our kitchen renovation, and what better time to test it in our new kitchen!!

When I was at the grocery store on Saturday picking up the "smoked ham", I had no clue what kind to pick up because all ham seemed to be smoked!!  I ended up with some kind of smoked ham, a lot of it, in the fridge drawer.

I woke up quietly at 9am on Sunday morning and began my adventure.  My dad was also nice enough to pick up some super fancy wonton wrappers ("from my friend's company!", said Daddy) and he was right they were delicious.  A lot of the wonton actually fell apart, guess I need more practice, but that did not affect the final brunch that we had.  The broth was not as cleared as the one in the paper, not sure why.

Saved a huge serving for my father who loves soup, and he texted me: "Just had your soup, not greasy at all, very tasty, like the fresh veggies not overcooked". That was enough to put a huge smile on my face.  The joy of cooking.

Soup 8/10

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/food-and-wine/recipes/chef-matt-blondins-pork-jowl-dumplings-in-smoked-ham-broth/article6815723/

My Love Letter to Harissa

I have to admit, I have developed a huge crush with Harissa.  It may also be due to the fact that this fling can only go on a month at a time - each jar has to be consumed within a month once opened.


Fried Chicken Wings with Honey Harissa Sauce

Deep fried chicken wings became so much more diet friendly ever since we purchased an Actifry.  Forty minutes in the machine, a spoonful of oil and they came out crispy on the outside and juicy on the inside.

We love chicken wings because we enjoy different parts of the wings - I like drumsticks and Julius likes the "safety pin" portion in the middle.  It is a match made in heaven.

After taking the wings out of the Actifry, I tossed them with the honey harissa sauce. Shockingly simple and incredibly flavourful. I even had the time to put together a vegetable platter with homemade dip.

Perfect time to put on a movie and get our fingers dirty!  Best served with iced cold beer, we had Tiger beer from India.

My Best Butternut Squash Soup

The two secret ingredients to perfect the soup: parmesan cheese rind and harissa.

If you ever wonder what to do with a leftover piece of parmesan rind, here is one idea for you: throw in a piece during the simmering phase of the soup.  It helps to develop the umami in the soup and nothing goes to waste.

I also added 1 teaspoon of harissa at the end which gave the soup a hint of spice.

And of course it had to be strained to end up with the perfect silky soup:

I made the soup twice and by now I have pretty much used up the harissa.  Looking forward to more adventures with harissa when I picked up another jar!  I am obsessed with it, I could be a stalker!

Wings 9.5/10
Soup 9.5/10

http://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/honey-harissa-chicken-wings-cocktails-2006

http://www.onceuponachef.com/2013/10/easy-butternut-squash-soup.html

Thanksgiving Dinner

It is hard to believe that Thanksgiving has come and gone.  And what a meal Julius's mom prepared.  I would not know where to start to prepare that much food for all of us.

We started with bocconcini, tomato and basil salad- something that is so simple yet so good!

And of course there were turkey and stuffing.  Served alongside with beef tenderloin, potatoes and mushrooms.

Christina baked an apple pie....

And a pumpkin pie!!

The pies were probably the best pies I have ever tasted. Perfection!

Shallot and Brussels Sprouts Compote

My contributions were two vegetable dishes.  I know brussels sprouts are supposed to be every child's nightmare but I never understand why.  For a vegetable they are super adorable and really tasty.

Roasted Rainbow Carrots with Harissa

And from the November issue of House and Home magazine I learnt about a Moroccan spice called Harissa.  I am simply obsessed with it!  More cooking with harissa to come!

These roasted rainbow carrots not only looked stunning but also a perfect compliment to turkey and beef.

If you have never tried harissa like me, please go get some and wow yourself!

Brussel Sprouts 7.5/10

Carrots 9.5/10

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/food-and-wine/recipes/shallot-and-brussels-sprout-compote/article14745191/

I love the LCBO! (And not just for the Liquor!)

Whenever our American friends come visit and realized that our provincial government actually is the exclusive distributor of most alcohol in this province, they will be amazed.  However the LCBO have come a long way from ordering from a small window with a little piece of paper, like an old pharmacy, to having one of the most spectacular liquor store in the world in Summerhill, minutes from our house.

The LCBO also publishes a free quarterly magazine Food & Drink.  There are recipes galore and the Autumn issue is where I saw my challenge for the week, one by Chef Jamie Stunt of Oz Cafe in Ottawa.

Seared Beef Tenderloin with Porcini-Pinot Noir Broth, Crispy Potato Sticks & Green Herb Aioli

As the name suggests this is not 5 minute meal but I will tell you it was worth it.  

I fried the potato sticks first and now I know rosemary fries are a real treat, I was snacking on them while preparing the rest of the meal.

The layering of the crispy sticks with the tenderloin was a brilliant concept that each bite was a party in my mouth.  

The broth was heavier than I imagined and perhaps I should strain and clarify it and also serve a bit less in each bowl, mine turned more into a sauce.

Regardless, we loved the meal. 9/10

http://www.lcbo.com/fooddrink/

Mussels Training

This past summer I was obsessed with Top Chef Masters on the Food Network, not to be confused with the other gimmicky show Masterchef.  On TCM there were real famous chefs competing with each other for their charity of choice.

On the finale, Chef Douglas Keane served a soup with the strangest name: Billi Bi. What on earth is in the soup? Mussels.  There was a whole section on Mussels in Cooking At Home by Julia Child and Jacques Pepin and so boldy I went for it even though I am only a Top Chef Observer.

Billi Bi Soup

The soup was created by a chef at Maxim's in Paris in the 1940's and named after a customer named William Brand.  The soup was creamy and silky but traditionally it is served plain with no mussels in it, but other recipes may suggest otherwise.

I served it plain because I had plans with the cooked mussels.

It is a heavy soup and only small portion should be served since it is made with cream but it was perfect on an early fall evening.

I was a bit heavy on the cayenne but that did not change the fact that it was silky and smooth and a great way to start a meal.

Mussels Ravigote

With the cooked mussels, I served them on shells, with extra meat in each.  Topped with a very simple to make ravigote sauce, and there we had some perfect hors d'oeuvres.

My friend Mark had the best description for them: an egg salad on Mussels. Yum!

Soup 7.5/10

Ravigote 8/10

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/saras-secrets/mussel-soup-billy-bi-recipe/index.html

http://books.google.ca/books?id=g8f0soQMewcC&pg=PA183&lpg=PA183&dq=mussels+ravigote+pepin&source=bl&ots=g2ee_267sA&sig=wctxqLuzhZcTiLSq-GrpvUE0_p4&hl=en&sa=X&ei=D-9jUtHyOa7K4APA3oHwDw&ved=0CFoQ6AEwBQ#v=onepage&q=mussels%20ravigote%20pepin&f=false

I am back!

It has been a while since my last post but what a year it has been....

We renovated our kitchen from this:

to this:

It was a long long process but it was all worth it. As I ventured into the cooking world, I realized what was wrong with the the old kitchen and now it is a dream to work in it!

And then we also planned a wedding....

Making it official after 13 years together!

Throughout that time I was still cooking, repeating some old recipes but also attempted some interesting ones: 3 failed attempts in macaroons (only 1 perfect one in each batch of over 20), a moose roast, pomegranate parfait, razor clams and Bermudian fish chowder - I wish I had time to write about them!

Now my life is slowly heading back to normal, it is time for more adventures in the kitchen!

Crisp Skinned Salmon with Apple Compote

For a dinner party a couple weeks ago, I had a request to serve salmon as a main course.  I much prefer salmon raw, smoked or cured but I thought what the heck I will give it a shot!

I tested Lucy Waverman's recipe the week before and it went well but it just seemed a little bland.  So I kicked it up a notch for the party and fried the salmon in bacon grease instead of oil and also mixed up some bacon bits into the apple compote.  Apples are in season and there is an abundant supply, I chose granny smith which I will NEVER buy to eat but the compote was a hit!  Maybe everyone just wanted the bacon bits...

Watercress Salad with Sauteed Mushrooms and Truffle Oil

For starter we served a watercress salad.  While we were preparing the watercress we were deeply concerned with the bitterness, but with the sauteed mushrooms and freshly grated Parmagiano, mustard dressing by Julius and a few drops of truffle oil - it was delicious!!

White Chocolate Cream Cheese Mousse

For dessert we had a white chocolate cream cheese mousse with home made raspberry sauce. It was a lot of work with over an hour of preparation and a huge mess in the kitchen. The mousse was not stiff enough to form a nice peak even though the flavours were all there.  I know that because our friend Karen finished off all the leftovers!

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/food-and-wine/recipes/crisp-skinned-salmon-with-apple-compote/article647259/

http://www.saveur.com/article/Recipes/White-Chocolate-Cream-Cheese-Mousse

Salmon 9/10

Salad 9/10

Mousse 6/10

Hopping Back to St. Honore

Now that we have the Kitchen Aid mixer, I feel like the culinary world has just opened another set of doors for me.  I suppose when I used to say I did not like desserts was only because I only liked certain kind of desserts.

My co-worker Joanna introduced me to this website where this lovely Chinese lady, an auntie as we like to call them, demonstrated all types of Chinese cooking including desserts.

It must have been years since I had a coconut tart.  And this time I baked them myself.

Coconut Tarts

I must be getting old because it seems everything is nostalgic, but these tarts do bring back childhood memories.  I used to be sent, more volunteered, to pick up tarts and cakes for afternoon teas on the weekend at home with my parents and their friends and their children.  More specifically this bakery named St. Honore a few blocks from our apartment in Happy Valley, Hong Kong.  Often you would see me, sometimes with my sister hopping along in our flip flops to pick up tarts, cakes and cream puffs.  Any excuse to get outside was always a fun time when you are young, and there was never any snow and ice on the ground.

Their egg tarts are legendary but the shopping list also included coconut tarts.  Before baking this past weekend, I shopped everywhere for these small tart moulds but had no luck.  Julius suggested using just the muffin pan but I explained the flutes on the side is the classic look!  I eventually settled on these shallow muffin cups.

I managed to mould the dough into these flimsy paper fluted cups and they actually turned out ok! Our oven must be a little different  since an extra 11 minutes were needed to have them slightly browned.

They looked far from perfect but I have to say they are not bad for a first try!  The recipe works and and they tasted like St. Honore's.

Tarts 8/10

http://wantanmien.com/coconut-tart-%E6%8F%B6%E6%92%BB/

http://www.sthonore.com/en/about.html