Chicken Noodle, Red and Dry

I have half a can of tomato and a couple chicken legs, what am I going to do? Make pasta. I salt-and-peppered the chicken then brown them lightly in olive oil. Onion was added and sautéed until translucent before chopped garlic and chili were added for a moment. Tomato and juice are added and cook slowly for have an hour. Mix in some linguine and a very satisfying meal is made.

Rib Roast

Roast beef is so easy that I don't understand why people would want to buy from the deli section. I rubbed a lot of sea salt and pepper onto the roast then put it into a 500℉ over. I turned it down to 250℉ immediately after it went in. It took a couple three hours for the internal temperature to reach 135℉. Rest for 15 minutes and I had a very tender juicy medium rare roast.










Any leftover is great for sandwiches and what not. Cheaper and far better than anything in the refrigerated glass case.

Fresh Pea Soup

Well, technically the peas are not fresh but frozen. It is supposed to be spring but it isn't so far into spring yet. I sauté chopped onion and carrot for 5 minutes before adding chicken stock and cook until the carrot softens. Frozen peas are then added to cook for 10 minutes or so then puree. I finish it with a little milk and butter and serves with a few drops of really good extra virgin olive oil.

It is a very lovely soup but a little simple. I imagine that it would be nice to add a couple seared giant scallop, or crunchy sweetbread, or crispy crab cake. Well, that is for a fancy dinner party.

All-In-One Chops

I remember this sort of dishes in old French cookbooks. The chops are salted, peppered, and floured then seared. Onion is lightly browned and cooked with a little water and salt and garlic and thyme and cumin and potato, plus the chops, for 15 minutes or so covered. It makes its own sauce and cooks quickly.

Chicken Rice

I am not sure what to call this. Technically it is not a jambalaya nor a paella. It is closer to a paella I suppose.

I salt-and-pepper the chicken pieces and then brown them lightly with olive oil. Onion and carrot are then sautéed until onion softened then half a chili pepper and a large clove of garlic are added. Half a large can of tomato is next along with s little of thyme. Cook down the tomato for 15 or so minutes until thicken then add rice. Toss the rice around the sauce for five minutes or so then add chicken stock. Simmer until it is almost dry then put the chicken back in with some frozen peas. Give it 15 minutes or so and it is done. Brightens up a rainy day.

Crispy Chops

I am not a fan of breaded pork chops. I like breaded chicken but not pork chops. I do like a crisp crust though. Here I season the chops with cornstarch flavoured with garlic powder, cumin, coriander, thyme, rosemary, salt, sugar, black pepper, and paprika. They are then pan seared with a little oil. Good with pan fried potatoes.

Quick Pot-o-Rice 瑶柱肉餅煲仔飯

This is a quick, easy, and tasty meal. A little bit of ground pork, a little bit of shredded reconstituted dry scallop, cornstarch, sugar, salt, grated garlic, soy sauce, and sesame oil make up the meat patty. Cook the rice over medium heat until the surface is dry then spread the meat on top and cook with the lid on medium-low heat for 15 minutes. When the meat is cook and it is done. Hardly half an hour and tasty.

馬拉糕

馬拉糕 is one of my favourite dim sum and here I try to make it using this recipe. The result is a good eating steamed cake but not quite the texture of a good 馬拉糕. It is more like a sweet steamed ciabatta.

Lazy Pasta Sauce

I want to see if I can be lazy and not chop anything to make a decent pasta sauce. I put garlic, onion, celery, carrot, thyme, basil, chili, and a can of tomato all into the food processor and process until the carrots are cut up. Beef is browned lightly in olive oil and then the content of the processor are added. After an hour or so of slow cooking, the result is not bad at all.

Baked Pork Chops with rice

This is my version of a favourite dish in the types of restaurant know as 茶餐廳. I salt-and-pepper the chops and add Worcestershire sauce and soy sauce before they are pan seared. Onion slices are sautéed before ketchup, Worcestershire sauce, soy sauce, minced garlic and cornstarch are added to make the sauce. Place the chops on top of the rice and pour the sauce over the chops and bake in a very very hot oven until the top browns a little. Quite a low blow tasty dish. I think I will add some tomatoes next time.

Dressing up Leftovers

I have some of that coconut chicken left so I try to do something different. Cooking the cauliflower and mushroom in the sauce give everything more dimensions. The cauliflower is particularly good this way.

Different brewing methods

Did a little experiment--same coffee brewed two ways. The coffee is city Ethiopian Kaffa Forrest and city+ Honduran in equal proportion. The cup on the left is from a bodum press pot using medium coarse grounds and the cup on the right is from a Aeropress with fine grounds. I don't follow the Aeropress' recommendations by using just under boilig water and twice the water without diluting afterwards. The visual difference is quite stricking, not only is there the expected cloudiness from the press pot, the colours are very different also. The fragrance are similar. The press pot gives more body and weight but the flavour is just as the look indicates--a little cloudy. The Aeropress has far more clarity, detail and layers. When cooled a little bit, acidity is brighter from the Aeropress. For my taste, I think the Aeropress is better for black coffee; but if I were to put milk in, I may want my French press. Despite what they say on their materials, the Aeropress does not make espresso no matter what you do, it does make a mighty fine cup of coffee, whatever you call it.

Soft Rolls

Sometimes when I am bored with the basic bread that I make, I make soft rolls with milk, butter,egg and sugar instead of just water.












The result is tender and rich, good for breakfast.

Pork Chop with Coconut-Sambol Sauce

I have chops to eat so I have to think up something different. I also have some coconut milk handy, so here it goes. The chop is salt-and-peppered and pan seared. Finely chopped garlic and ginger are added to the pan and then coconut milk and sambol sauce. The chop is returned to the sauce and finish cooking as the sauce reduce. It is a lovely dish but a little one-noted so I also made an onion pickle by cooking sliced onion with sherry vinegar, salt, sugar and water for 30 minutes. I put a couple teaspoons of the juice into the coconut sauce and served the onion with the chop. Really like the combination.

Pepperoni Pizza

I haven't had pizza for a while now, so I decided to make one. The dough is actually quite simple, just flour, yeast, water, salt, and a little sugar and olive oil. I don't work it nearly as much as I would bread to have a tender but crispy crust. I don't usually make a sauce, just fresh tomato chopped up, add salt, chopped garlic, crush chili pepper, oregano and basil, and let it all drain for the time the dough rises. A few slices of mozzarella, a sprinkle of parmiggiano and a few slices of pepperoni, 10 minutes in a really really hot oven and a very nice pizza for dinner.

Cream of Broccoli Soup

I have some chicken stock left from the roast chicken and one broccoli florette so I thought it is time for cream of broccoli soup. If there is a perfect soup to go with bread, cream soup is it. I chopped up the broccoli and cooked it in the stock until soft then creamed with the immersion blender. A cream sauce was made with a light roux and milk. Put together the two and cooked for a few minutes, I had a very nice cream soup.

Favorite Breakfast

Breakfast has to be simple and easy, who want to fuss when you've just woken, still cloudy minded, hungry and dehydrated? I love pancakes because it is just throwing a few things together and put the result on a griddle. Big and fluffy pancake are as comforting as they get too. With pancake, I like the darkest maple syrup I can get. The richness and full flavour of the dark syrup is just perfect with the simplicity of the pancake. I just don't understand the popularity of light syrup, so uninteresting. The richness of the dark syrup does call for a strong coffee to cut into it a bit. Here I have a blend of my own roasts--city roast Harrar and city + Guatemalan (Cooperative Comal)--a bittersweet chocolate, cinnamon, rich with wild flower and good acidity brew that cleanse the rich syrup so I can enjoy it anew with the next bite. Only if I had some nice thick cut double smoke maple bacon handy...

Quickie Chickie

This is perhaps my oldest dish. Chicken legs, ginger, garlic, scallion, sugar, salt, soy sauce, rose liquor, chili pepper, black pepper and sesame oil, all put together for a little while and roast in a hot oven. Takes five minutes to prepare and 20 minutes to cook. Very easy indeed.

Chop Chop

Okay, I have pork chops again. I bought half a loin cut into chops on sale. Here I brined the chops (because I wanted fast defrosting, brining makes defrosting quick and tasty), dried, salt-pepper-and-chili powdered them before sautéing in a hot pan. The Brussels sprouts are boil-steamed with just a little water and a sprinkle of salt and a few drops of oil. Home fries are just the starch for a old fashion supper.

Unphotogenic ribs

Barbeque isn't the most photogenic of foods. Here I have an experiment that looks worse and usual. I have my improvised stove top smoker working well for fish, so I thought why not try some meat on it. I dry-rubbed a slab of back ribs and smoked for 4 hours with maple wood chips at about 190℉ before finishing in an hot oven for an hour, the last 20 minutes with sauce. The meat does get a nice and mild smoke flavour and it is pull apart tender. I doesn't have the telltale red ring though. That may be becasue of the low temperature. I will try to do it at a higher temperature but I have to figure out how not to burn the chips too hard. Bigger chips perhaps.

Chicken Penne

Leftover roast chicken is good for pasta. This is perhaps the simplest. Sauté plenty of sliced garlic in olive oil quickly before adding chopped chili pepper and then chopped tomatoes and basil. Cook it down until the sauce thickened. Warm the diced roast chicken meat in the sauce before tossing with the pasta. Sweet, bright and easy.