Tagine Chicken

This is my first Tagine Chicken.    My grandchildren were able to taste out the candied orange mixed in the flavor, and they enjoyed it very much with the rice.









Toasted pinenuts with tagine spices

 Cook to reduce.

 Serve with pinenuts and chopped fresh cilantro.

Christmas Favorites - Challah with Raisins and Yule Log Cake (Buche de Noel)

Ever since I learned how to make Challah with Raisins, it has become an addition to one of our family's traditional Christmas treats beside the Yule Log Cake (Buche de Noel) and my other favorite recipes.    Challah recipe is accurate and always turn out great.    I hope you have found some favorite recipes that have become part of your family tradition, even.

Decorated Butternut Squash Bowl Soup

One of the soup I wanted to make for the longest time is the decorated Chinese winter melon or winter squash.    The squash is normally quite large, 3 lb+.   While trying to prepare the butternut squash, the idea came to me to use it instead.     Cut the neck off the end and maintain the large bulb side as the bowl.    Clean out the fibers and seeds.   After roasting it with butter in the oven, scoop just enough soft flesh inside the butternut squash to form the bowl.    Set the scooped out flesh aside.   Be careful not to scoop out too much.     The bowl should be able to stand up on its own.    Using a carving tool, carve out the design on the butternut squash.  Remove just enough peel to form the design.    Set the bowl aside.
You have the choice to roast the neck part of the butternut squash or chop them up and saute them.   I roasted them with the bulb, removed the skin, and set aside with the reserved scooped out cooked flesh from the inside of the roasted butternut squash bowl.   
To prepare soup - Chop 1/4 C onions and 1 small scallion.   Saute them in 2 TB of butter until transluscent (without browning).    Add 2 TB of dry vermouth and cook till evaporated.    Add reserved butternut squash flesh, 1 Cup of warm water.    Add salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste.    Add a sachet with a sprig of thyme, 2 whole cloves, 4 whole black pepper.     Taste and add Salt and pepper as needed.    Bring to a quick boil and simmer for 10 minutes.    Remove the sachet.    Turn off the heat and cool for 30 minutes.     Add them into a blender and blend till smooth.  Strain into a large bowl.    Add the juice from 1 lemon.    Reheat the soup and serve in the butternut squash bowl.

 

KAKI APPLE STRUDEL

One of the challenge I gave myself last year end was how to cook the abundant of Japanese persimmons without the use of cinnamon spices as ingredients.    Almost all recipes you can find with persimmons, FUYU KAKI involves cinnamon or nutmeg as ingredients.    I was hoping to bring it up to the next level.    Looking for the right combination and or cooking methods to bring out the "KAKI's" taste.    Of course, the KAKI tastes best when eaten fresh with that crunch bite.   While in the search for the new recipe idea, my KAKI was getting quite ripe, so, before they get soft, I made this strudel with granny smith apples and KAKI.   And yeah, it does have cinnamon sugar.    The next time....

 

 

 

 

 

 

YEREVAN, the Other PONCHIK

This is the other PONCHIK called YEREVAN or Ponchik from Yerevan that I tried.  I hope it looks close to the real ones.    It is puffy soft and quite tasty.

Happy 2012!!

What a year 2011 was !!! Lots of outings, family gatherings, and lots of cooking learning.    I really enjoyed all my cooking classes.    While I was doing just that, December 2011 ended with eye opening experiences in my Mediterranean Cuisine and Professional Cooking.    While my December blogging got slipped away without a single blog, I was enjoying 12 different dishes on Tuesday evenings and four different dishes on Fridays and Saturdays.
Spain, Portugal, France, Italy, Greece, Mid-Eastern... North Africa made up the core of our studies.  For whole semester, I tasted something new and found similarities of each cuisines to something I grew up with in the Asia.   Egg Custards - Castel de Nata = DUN TA, Chinese Dim Sum egg custard; varieties of fried potato croquettes = Japanese KORO'KE.    These are couple of my favorites that I found are enjoyed as much in the different parts of the world since long ago.    My pantry are well stocked to dish up risotto, tagine, galatomboureko, tabbouleh, etc.  
Wish you all a very adventurous cooking year in 2012 and be able to share that joy with your family.

 

Homemade Ravioli

There are many different types of Ravioli, and I love homemade Chinese dumplings.    They are so much alike and yet so different, and I appreciate the differences to make my gastronomic experience so much more interesting.   While making the Siberian Pelmeni, I end up with extra meat to make them into Ravioli my way.  My ravioli is filled with 50% ground beef, 25% ground pork, 25% eggplants, some bokchoy and spices topped with homemade tomato sauce and homegrown basil.

Jasmine Fried Rice with Beets Greens, Onions, and Raisins

One of the advantages in learning Mediterranean cooking is to use some of the ingredients that you would never thought of adding to the 'white rice' that you maybe so use to eating.    I have fried rice before and many times with different types of ingredients.    But once I learned the new methods of preparing the rice - risotto way, paella way, pilaf way, then, the varieties of ingredients that I started to experiment with have increased quite a bit.    I never thought of eating the Beets Greens.     After I chop off the greens off the top of the beets that I am preparing to make my salad, I just threw away the greens.     One of the unfounded reasons I had in my head is because of the color of the stem of the beets greens - red.  (If its yellow beets, the stems are yellow.)   So, thinking that it maybe similar to Rhubarb, leaves are toxic, I never thought of researching and has been tossing the good greens.    Well, this time, I tried it.     I sauteed them with onions and garlic.    Then, added jasmine rice to stir fry - Pilaf method.  Added some raisins and my new dish is created.