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