Roast Chicken Dinner

Last night's dinner.  Roast chicken is one of my favorite simple food.  Split-roast is quick and can use higher oven temperature to give it a crisper taste. Here I marinated the bird with garlic, chili flakes, lemon, extra virgin olive oil, salt, pepper and cumin seeds.

My First Game in Hong Kong

This is a venison chop (a part of a Kiwi Bambi, I was told) salt-n-peppered and pan seared for 1.5 minutes on each side in a little bit of wild tea fruit oil. The sauce is made by reducing beef stock with blueberries and then adding balsamic vinegar reduced with garlic, shallot and cloves; finished with a little butter.  Damn tasty.

Lamb Shank

I love my pressure cook not only because it shortens the cooking time but also the moist and tender result.  Because it is so moist and tender, sometimes the product is a little short in texture. With this lamb shank, I took it from the pot and put it into a  hot oven while I reduced the sauce to firm up the surface of the shank a little.  I do find the result to my liking.

Magret de Canard

Brought this duck breast because I haven't had it for a long time.  I decided to do it the troublesome way by spooning the fat over the meat to cook it while sauteing/rendering the skin-side. The result is a crispy skin and tender meat and shorter cooking time.  Just a little port reduction and potato pan-fried with the duck fat make quite a fancy meal.   

Curry Oyster Noodle Soup

Is this a laksa?  Probably not but similar.  I used crab shells to make a stock, simmered the result with curry paste, lemon grass, lime leaves and ginger for 20 minutes.  Season with salt, cane sugar and fish sauce, then added coconut milk and poached the oysters in it until done.  Put it together with rice noodles, bean sprouts, scallion and cilantro.

Crispy Garlicky Oysters

This is a very tasty way to eat oyster both alone or with rice.  The oysters are first parboiled for a couple minutes after washing with flour. Dusted with salt, pepper and flour, they are shallow fried until crisp, lots of slices of garlic and fresh chili pepper are added until golden; serve. 

'Crystal' Zong 水晶粽

This is certainly not traditional but kind of fun to make and eat.  It is made of sweeten and barely soaked small tapioca pearls (3 minutes) and red bean paste.  The bamboo leaves have to be oil lightly to prevent sticking.  Boil for 40 minutes after wrap.  Let cool and reheat to just soft (I zap it for 20 seconds) before eating.

Tomato and Egg 番茄蛋

I loved this when I was a kid and I still love it.  Simplest and, when in tomato season, cheapest dish. Just cook down lots of rip tomato a bit with some fresh ginger, add a few eggs (in between scrambled and omelette), scallion and cilantro, season with salt and sugar and that is it.  Make a lot of rice and just ladle this over, nothing say summer to me more.

Beef and Radish Noodle Soup 蘿蔔牛肉麵

I often use brisket for this but here I have shank meat, it is as good and a lot leans with plenty of nice tendon.  Same recipe as usual--caramelized some sugar in oil then add whole garlic cloves, big slices of ginger and hot bean sauce 辣豆瓣醬; cook a little then add meat.  When the meat is well coated, add water or beef stock and cook until the meat is tender.  Add big chunks of white radish 白蘿蔔 and cook till tender.  It is good to let the radish sit in the soup overnight to get the flavour through.  I like to add raw garlic, sliced scallion, soy sauce , sesame oil and dark aged Shanxi vinegar 山西老陳醋 for season in the soup with noodles. 

Sweet Belly 東坡肉

Chinese like pork, and traditionally the belly above all parts.  Now, well, people are scared by the fat.  Sometimes though, cook a well flavoured belly dish and a little goes a very long way.  This is perhaps the most famous way of preparing it, allegedly created and favoured by Su Dongpo 蘇東坡, the great Song Dynasty statesman, scholar, artist, poet and oversized gourmet.  Whole piece of belly, here about a pound, is first boiled in water for 15 minutes, cut into small pieces then lined skin side down into a pot on top of lots of scallion and ginger.  Pour in good Shaoxing wine 紹興酒 to half way up the meat, sprinkled on top dark soy sauce and sugar (it is a rather sweet dish) and simmer for an hour or so then turn to simmer the meat side  until it is tender.  Skim the fat then reduce the sauce until syrupy; lay the pieces into a jar, spoon the sauce over then steam cover for half an hour or so.  The result is creamy and sweet skin and fatty tissue, with much of the lard cooked out of it.  Small pieces of heaven indeed.