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

The Perfect Meatballs

I would like to share this recipe because it has been perfected by 4 generations in Julius' family, starting with his great grandfather, the founder of Unico foods.  This recipe was written by his grandmother Georgina for a promotional cookbook by Unico.

Julius has made these time and time again and they always turned out incredible. The addition of salami and red pepper flakes gave them a touch of heat that I simply love.  I look forward to them every single time.

Meatballs:
1/2 lb ground beef or veal
1/2 lb ground pork
hot salami
2 eggs, beaten 1/2 cup fine bread crumbs
1 sprig parsley, minced
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
3 tbsp grated cheese
1 clove garlic, mincedd
red pepper flakes

Spaghetti Sauce:
1/2 cup oil
1 clove garlic
1 onion, chopped coarsely
1 tin tomato paste 5.5 oz
1 tin tomatoes 28 oz
2 cups water
1 tsp salt
pepper to taste
1 tsp oregano and/or sweet basil
1 tsp sugar (optional)

Combine ingredients for meatballs: mix well.
Heat oil in large frying pan; add garlic and brown gently.
Moisten hands, then shape meat mixture into small round balls; cook on all sides until brown.
Remove garlic and place meatballs in a large saucepan.
Gently fry onions in oil until soft, and add tomato paste.
Cook for 1 minute, no longer.
Pour into saucepan; add tomatoes and water, bring to a boil.
Add salt, pepper, spices and sugar.  Allow to boil briskly for 3 minutes, then reduce heat to low.

Cook sauce partly covered for 2.5 hours, stirring occasionally, in a slow boil.
This is sufficient sauce for 2 lbs spaghetti.

Meatballs 10/10

Poor Julius has been working a lot of overtime lately, even on the weekends.  One Sunday afternoon while he was at work I recreated the meatballs following this recipe and they also turned out amazing.  There is nothing like some comfort food after a long week.  I made lots of extra meatballs and had them for breakfast all week!!

Testing Our New Toy In The Kitchen

It was the Bay's famous one day sale: Kitchen Aid Ultra Mixer for $188.99, reduced from $399.99.  I ordered one and it arrived in 2 days.

Now that we have this great new addition, it was time to try it out.

Barefoot Contessa's Coconut Cupcakes

I invited Julius to join me in the kitchen for this adventure, he has a much longer history with desserts afterall.

Watching that machine go I wondered how much more of an effort it must have been in the olden days to make a dough.  I would probably never bake in the olden days.

The cake portion came out of the oven looking very promsing but as we tasted one it was a little bland.  We have put less coconut as recommended.  But then we made the frosting....

Then frosting was sweet.  It was very sweet.  I could only ate 2/3 of my cupcake. Having said that, if one has a sweet tooth, they were probably right on the mark.  My co-workers seemed to think so.

I often skipped desserts because they were too sweet but now that I can control the amount of sugar in the process, who knows? Maybe it is time to keep an eye on my waistline.

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/coconut-cupcakes-recipe/index.html

Cupcakes 7.5/10