Kitchen Diaries - Recipes, Cooking Tips and more...

Recipes

June 30th, 2008 Making Pizza at Home - Pizza with Mushroom and Gruyere

March 20th, 2008 How to make an Omelet - Part 1 How to make an Omelet - Part 1

March 4th, 2008 French Bistro Cooking Coquilles St. Jacques or Scallops Sauted in Butter, Parsley and Breadcrumbs

Feb 29th, 2008 PCCW TV Commercial Oxtail Braised in Wine with Pappardelle

Feb 25th, 2008 Thai Fish Cakes

Feb 14th, 2008 Molten Chocolate Cake

Feb 10th,2008 Ham and Pea Soup

Archive, 2007 Ultimate Roast Chicken

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June30th, 2008  - Making Pizza at Home

I fell in love with Patsy's pizza years ago while living in Manhattan. Patsy's not a friend, it is in fact a much frequented string of Pizza joints that's been around since 1933. They make New York style pizza, with thick, pillowy and yeasty crust. I like my Patsy's pizza classic, with tomato sauce, basil and mozzarella and extra mozzarella (pictured below)! It is so good that I can finish an entire pie by myself. With a little effort, one can easily make pizzas at home. And no, perhaps they will never taste like Patsy's, mainly because not many of us own a brick oven, but hey they will still be pretty good. And boy, are they fun to make with your friends! Everyone can play with their doughs and choose their own toppings. It is perfect for casual entertaining in the summer.

Pizza with Mushrooms and Gruyere

Pizza Dough

This common bread recipe is absolutely foolproof and is a pretty standard one used in most restaurants I’ve worked in. It is perfect for pizzas and flatbreads as it is quick(it doesn't need to proof, even though it will benefit from it), easy to remember, and can be frozen for weeks. All you need is some basic ingredients and a pair of good arms.

21g dried yeast or 30g fresh yeast
30g sugar
30g salt
625 ml warm water (100-125 degrees celcius)
1 kg of strong bread flour
Mushroom Topping
3 tablespoons of oil
4 to 5 cloves garlic, minced
3 shallots, minced
450g assorted mushrooms, sliced or chopped
2 tbsp of thyme, minced
1/4 cup dry white wine
2 cups gruyere cheese, grated
Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Dissolve yeast and sugar in the warm water. Let rest for five minutes. Bubbles and froth will start to form, which indicates that the yeast is active and alive. In a large bowl, combine the flour and salt and mix well. Make a well in the center and pour in the yeast and water mixture. Start incorporating the yeast mixture and the surrounding flour, working from the inside out until raggedy dough forms.

At this point, you can lift the dough out of the bowl and onto a lightly floured clean counter surface and knead it there. Knead by pushing the dough out, away from you, flattening it using the heel of your palm and then folding it back towards you. Keep repeating, pushing and folding, until the dough is pretty elastic (about 10 minutes). A good test is to roll it into a ball and poke it with your finger. If the dough bounces back, it means that enough gluten has been developed, which is what you want.

Preheat the oven to the highest setting possible

Next, you want to roll the dough out into one long snake like log about 3 inches in diameter. Cut into ten pieces and simply roll each piece into a thin large roundish pizza shape. (*For this recipe, you will only need half of the dough. So pop the rest back to the freezer, where it will keep for several weeks). Roll each piece of dough into a 9-12 inch roundish pizza shape. When the dough is stretched out to your satisfaction, lay it on a floured sheet pan or baking sheet.

Heat a sauté pan on high heat, add the oil, garlic and shallots and sauté till soft. Add mushrooms and thyme, sauté until most of the mushroom juices have evaporated, then add wine. Continue to sauté until the wine completely evaporates and mushrooms have slightly caramelized. Sprinkle some gruyere cheese evenly over the crust. Spread the mushroom mixture evenly over the crust. Add more gruyere cheese on top. Season with salt and pepper. Repeat with the rest of the pizzas.

Place pizza on a sheet of aluminum foil and heat pizza on the largest sauté pan you have until the bottom is slightly browned. Transfer pizza to a baking sheet and place in the oven. Bake pizza for 2 minutes and take a peek. If it needs to be rotated 180 degrees for even baking, do so. The pizza should take about 5-8 minutes to bake. If your oven is not big enough, you may need to do this in batches. 

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March 20th, 2008  - How to make an Omelet - Part 1

Watch a short one minute video on how to make a classic white and fluffy French omelette.

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March 12th, 2008

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March 4th, 2008 - French Bistro Cooking

I've been super inspired by a book I am reading called "Clementine In the Kitchen" by Samuel Chamberlain. It's about an American family who lived in France back in the roaring 20s and was blessed with the best cook from Burgundy named Clementine. This little book is filled with such mouth watering prose, I couldn't wait to cook French food. My dear friend Susan's mother is in town from Chicago and wanted to do a class so there it is ... our French Bistro Cooking night. I decided on making Coquilles St. Jacques or Scallops sauted in butter, parsley, white wine and breadcrumbs (recipe featured below), among others and felt so blessed when I walked by the market today and came across the freshest batch of scallops - all pink and glorious in their shiny shells. And, it was most enticing cleaning and preparing them in their sweet brininess, everyone got excited from the anticipation of tasting something so fresh and beautiful.

  

Coquilles Saint-Jaques

Serves: 4

Coquille Saint-Jaques is a classic French dish. I would use smaller delicate scallops (sometimes sold live in their beautiful pink shells) as opposed to diver scallops, which are larger and have a meaty texture. The same recipe can be applied to any firm white fish.

2 tbsp butter

salt and pepper

1 1/2 cups sea scallops

2 shallots, minced

2 tbsp of fine breadcrumbs

¾ cup dry white wine

1 tbsp of parsley leaves, minced

4 scallop shells or ramekins

Wash scallops and keep them in fresh water until ready to be cooked. Dry the scallops on paper towels. Cut them into 2 pieces if they are large.

Season scallops with salt and pepper. Sauté the pieces gently for 3 minutes in hot butter with the minced shallots. Add 2 tbsp of the fine bread crumbs and ¾ cup of the dry white wine and simmer for a few minutes, until the sauce is slightly reduced and thickened.

Add the chopped parsley and fill four scallops shells or ramekins with the mixture. Sprinkle the coquilles with more fine bread crumbs if desired and they may now be set aside or reheated and browned lightly under the broiler just before serving.

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February 29th, 2008

A TV commercial director saw me at the kitchen last year and asked me to be in a PCCW commercial promoting a phone/Internet device called EYE. You can basically download recipes and cooking tips in different languages through the device. The commercial was shot like a mini cooking show so I was quite excited to be in it. Apart from starring in the commercial, I was also the food stylist and made several dishes for the commercial (my first styling job for a TV commercial).  My Oxtails Braised in Red Wine (recipe featured below, the same recipe will also be featured on the SCMP Sunday Magazine) looked absolutely delicious, even though it only appeared for a second. Check out the 20 second commercial as well as the filming process. The shooting took several days! It was exciting, high-pressure and so much fun. The crew worked extremely hard, I have a new found respect for people in this industry. Just like working in a professional kitchen, hours are long and the work is hard. You have to really love it to be in it.

 

Oxtail Braised in Wine with Pappardelle
Serves: 6

This recipe calls for basic braising ingredients. However, you will notice a higher amount of acid in the vinegar and the mounting of the sauce with lemon juice at the end, which I find gives the sauce a good balance and cuts through the richness.

2 tbsp canola oil
2.5 kg oxtails, trimmed and cut in pieces
2 onion, diced
1 carrot, diced
1 celery, diced
1 liter dry red wine
4 sprigs thyme
1 bay leaf
1 tsp black peppercorns
3 garlic cloves, minced
100ml tomato puree
450 ml chicken stock and water combined, hot
salt and pepper
1/3 cup white vinegar
1 tsp sugar
3 tbsp lemon juice
fresh pappardelle  - about 8 pieces per person

Preheat oven to 150°C

Season oxtail with salt and pepper. Heat a large heavy pot, add 1-2 tbsp of canola oil and sear oxtails until browned on all sides; remove and reserve.

Add carrots, onions and celery and sauté till caramelized. Add tomato puree. Cook for 2-3 minutes until caramelized. Add wine, vinegar, sugar, bring to a boil and reduce by half. Add thyme, garlic, bayleaf and peppercorns. Return the oxtails to the pot.

Add enough stock to cover the meat half way. Bring to a simmer, cover with foil  and braise in the oven. Remove foil 1 ½ hours into cooking time and continue to braise until tender and the oxtails will also start to caramelize. Turn occasionally throughout cooking. This may take 21/2 to 3 hours.

Once meat is fork tender, remove, cover and keep warm. Degrease sauce using a spoon and strain the vegetables. Return sauce to the pot with the oxtail and keep warm.

Meanwhile, bring 6 quarts of water to a rolling boil in a large pot. Add 2 tbsp of salt. Add pappardelle into the pot and stir with a wooden spoon to keep them from sticking together. Cook for 2 minutes. Drain pasta and add to the sauce. Add lemon juice. Gently toss pasta over low heat to coat pasta with the sauce. Divide amongst 6 plates and serve.

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February 25th, 2008

I learnt to cook Thai food years ago while working at Spice Market in New York City. Chef Jean Georges Vongericthten, who founded the concept, was a chef in Thailand for a number of years  and is very passionate about the cuisine.We cooked fancy but authentic Thai, among other South East Asian cuisines. And I helped feed a celebrity studded clientele (President Bill Clinton, Julia Roberts, Cameron Diaz, the cast of Friends... just to name a few).  I still remember learning how to make green curry from scratch from a guy from New Jersey who knew everything about Thai food.  Per students' requests, I have now added a Thai Cooking class I've named "House of Thai" to my list of classes and it has been very popular. The fish cakes are a huge hit as they are quite delicious (photo featured below). These tender cakes are so fragrant because of the kaffir lime leaves. The recipe is adapted from David Thompson's "Thai Food". Probably one of the better Thai cookbooks out there as his recipes are intuitive rather than didactic, as Thai cooking should be. You depend a lot more on your senses while cooking as opposed to time units and measurements. I find that pan frying works just as well as deep frying the fish cakes. Also, a firm white fish such as halibut, orange roughy or catfish yields the best cakes as opposed to a flaky one like Cod. This tactile recipe is as easy as it is fun to work with.

Thai Fish Cakes

Makes about 10 2 inch cakes

300g white fish fillets, such as catfish or orange roughy

4 tbsp of Red Curry Paste

1 egg, lightly beaten

3 tbsp fish sauce

1 tsp fine sugar

5 kaffir lime leaves, shredded

2 tbsp of finely cut green beans

oil for frying

Dipping sauce

2 tbsp fish sauce

2 tbsp of lemon juice

1 tbsp sugar

Combine fish sauce, lemon juice and sugar together and mix well to make the dipping sauce. Set aside.

Combine fish, curry paste, and egg in a food processor, blend well and season with fish sauce and sugar.

In a large bowl, gather the fish puree up into a ball and throw back into the bowl. Continue this slapping until the mixture becomes firmer and stickier. This aerates the ingredients and makes the cakes puff up when fried. Mix in lime leaves and green beans. Pan fry till golden brown and serve immediately with dipping sauce.

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February 14th, 2008

I needed to bake something fairly simple as it was 730pm, I had a 3-course dinner to prepare, and I hadn’t even gotten started. I am not a big dessert fan, but I love the molten chocolate cake. It’s all about cutting into the cake and seeing that shiny chocolate ganache flowing out like lava. It just feels special.

 

Yes, I am not going to lie to you that there is nothing tricky about these little chocolate domes – you’ve got to bake them to be precisely undercooked – too much and it wouldn’t hold together, too little and it would just be a regular cake (albeit still very delicious).

 

Now, here are a few observations I made after grappling with this timing issue one too many times. First of all, you really cannot rely on the timing alone as ovens sometimes have hotspots and are irregular. Secondly, I learned that they are usually done when they first begin to poof and rise up like a soufflé. That is when you take them out. Oh, and to help take the pressure off, if you are baking this for company...never announce beforehand that it is a "molten" chocolate cake. So even if you didn't underbake it perfectly, it would  still be a very very good cake.

 

 

Molten Chocolate Cake – based on a recipe by Jean Georges Vongerichten

Makes four individual cakes
120g butter, plus more for buttering molds
115g of bittersweet chocolate
2 eggs
2 yolks
1/4cup sugar
2 tsp flour, plus more for mold

Melt chocolate and butter by placing them in a heatproof bowl and setting the bowl over a saucepan of simmering water. Take the bowl off the heat when all the chocolate has almost all melted.

Whisk together eggs, yolks and sugar until it is very thick and foamy.

Mix together the chocolate mixture and transfer the chocolate mixture into a large bowl. Pour the egg mixture into the chocolate mixture. Quickly beat in the flour. Fold until just combined.

Butter and lightly flour 4-ounce ramekins. Tap out the excess flour. Divide the batter among the molds.

Preheat the oven to 230 C. Bake for about 8 minutes. Halfway through the baking time, turn your pan around so that all the ramekins bakes evenly. Take them out when they poof up like a soufflé. The sides should be set but the center should still be soft. Invert them onto a plate. Let cool slightly for 15 seconds and unmold.

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February 10th, 2008

I love making pea soups and make them often. They can be elegant and smooth as cream or hearty and chunky. Inspired by the recent spell of cold weather,  I developed a really yummy ham and pea soup recipe (pictured below) that is so good that you are guaranteed to have seconds (we all did!). This version is hearty without being heavy. It calls for ham and chicken stock. The robust saltiness of the cured ham brings out the sweetness of the peas. Always use high quality ham, I find that Jamon is excellent in this recipe. I swear by homemade chicken stock, but if you must use store bought variety go for Free Range Chicken Broth by Pacific Natural Foods. It has the least "tinned" flavor compared to other brands. Serve this pea soup with some ham and cheddar croutons. Drizzle with some olive oil and a squeeze of lemon juice right before serving.

 

 

 

Hearty Pea Soup with Cheddar and Ham Croutons
Makes 4-6 cups

4-5 cups of chicken stock
3 cups frozen peas
1 tbsp oil
1 tbsp butter
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 onion, finely chopped
1 tsp of thyme, minced
1 cup of cured ham, diced
Salt and Pepper to taste
1 tsp cayenne pepper
Olive oil, for drizzling
1 lemon

5 slices of honey ham, sliced into thin ribbons
1 cup of cheddar, grated
8-10 thin slices of French bread
olive oil for brushing
cayenne pepper

 

Heat the oil and butter in a medium sauté pan. Add the ham and sauté till browned. Then add the onion, garlic, thyme and cook until soft. Add the peas and sauté till soft. Add stock and bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer and cook for 20-25 minutes. Partially puree soup in a blender ,very briefly, till chunky. Season the soup with salt and pepper. To serve, drizzle some olive oil and squeeze a wedge of lemon over the soup.

 

To make the croutons, brush bread liberally with olive oil. Sprinkle with cayenne, cheddar and ham and bake till nicely browned. Cut into smaller pieces and serve with the soup. 

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2007 Archive

I have prepared roast chicken many ways, but this foolproof recipe never failed to yield a succulent chicken. The success of the roast chicken depends on a couple of requirements. One: the size of your chicken has to be small (3 ¼ lbs at the very most), so that it can flourish quickly under high heat, which is the second requirement. Thirdly, try to salt the bird at least a few hours in advance.

 

 

The Ultimate Roast Chicken

Serves: 2-4

1 small chicken (3 ¼ lbs or less)
4 tender sprigs of fresh herb (thyme, rosemary or sage, about ½ inch long)
Salt (3/4 teaspoon of sea salt or Silver Crystal Gourmet Salt  per lb of chicken)
Freshly cracked black pepper
 
Rinse chicken, including cavity, and pat very dry inside and out. Be very thorough and make sure the chicken is dry; otherwise it will steam and not brown in the oven. Season the chicken liberally all over with salt and pepper. You can season the bird a couple of hours up to 3 days in advance.
 
Next, approaching from the collar of the bird, gently slide a finger under the skin of each of the breasts. Wiggle your finger and create a pocket whereby to insert the herb later. Repeat with both sides of the legs, loosening a pocket of skin on the outside of the thickest section of each thigh. This time, approaching from the bottom cavity. You will find entrance in nooks close to the tail. Using your finger, shove an herb sprig into each of the 4 pockets.
 
If chicken was previously salted and refrigerated, remove chicken from the refrigerator and let come to room temperature (about 1 hour before roasting). Preheat oven to 220° Celsius. Choose a flameproof baking dish that is barely larger than your chicken. Warm the dish over the range top on medium heat. Wipe the chicken dry and set it breast side up in the pan. It should sizzle.
 
Place the pan in center of the oven. The skin should blister, but if the chicken begins to char then lower the temperature. Total oven time will be 35 minutes or until the chicken is done. A good test to see if the chicken is done is by slashing the skin between the thigh and the breasts. When the juices run clear, it means the chicken is done. If it is still bloody, then continue roasting the chicken for another 5 minutes.
 
After you remove the chicken from the oven. Set it somewhere warm and let it rest for about 10 minutes before you carve it. The meat will become uniformly more tender and succulent as it cools. When ready,carve the chicken, arrange pieces on a simple green salad. Proudly serve and bask in your guests’ oohs, mmms, and ahhs.
 

 

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