Yay for homecooked meal in Florence! Yes, I cooked at the hotel, there’s a fully equipped kitchen!

Spring Break Cooking Marathon Ultimate Edition: Dinner Party Time!

Some two weeks ago, while I was working on my papers, I decided I had to do something to celebrate the end of my exchange (reads: do more cooking before mom arrives in Edinburgh). Here’s the thing, I was done with everything on 30th April, WAY before any of my friends, with just papers and no exams. So I thought, maybe I can treat them a nice meal during this stressful period of time. I will be leaving Edinburgh pretty soon, and it was therefore also a great chance for me to meet with friends I made here, possibly one last time before everyone goes home. Alright then, I sent out an invite on Facebook, and everyone was excited about the plan!

The usual thing I did while procrastinating is to think about food, and I started thinking about the menu. It was actually until the day before the dinner party that I actually finalised the menu. Was pretty hard actually, as I had to think about what’s easy to make but still looks like I made some effort :P I started going through my favourite recipe blog, Smitten Kitchen, as well as my recipe list and got quite a few ideas….

Here’s my dinner party menu.

Top left: Carrot and Miso Soup
Top right: Ricotta & Spinach Spread on Oatcakes (Recipe to follow)
Middle left: Bocconcini Salad
Middle right: Ginger Fried Rice
Bottom left: Honey Garlic Ribs
Bottom right: Chocolate Red Wine Cake

There was also lemon squares from that I forgot to take photos! 

As you can see, some were easy dishes I have made previously, so cooking for 8 hours  (A few the night before, and 2.5 before dinner) with some help from Emma wasn’t too bad! It was actually so much fun and I had a great time cooking with her. We seem to be working together really well, that I think we may have a telepathic bond… I am serious, we were shopping in Tesco, and when we didn’t find what we need, we both blurted out ‘Poundland!’ at the same time!

PS: don’t think I have ever cooked that much food in my whole life.. that’s like 3.5 lbs of pork ribs, 8 cups of cooked rice, 1 kg of carrots plus more vegetables. That’s for 9 people!

(End of school year) cooking marathon day 14: Panda Bread!

So Christina, my best friend since grade school has challenged me to make the Panda Bread as seen from here, I told her, as long as she can get me some Green tea powder, then I will make it. She went back to Hong Kong during Easter and got me a box.. So now I have to make it. And it was a success!

This is probably the most tedious bread I have ever made.. not sure if I will do it again!

Also, I accidentally bought some Granary flour instead of white bread flour. Had to sift out some of the grains and stuff before I can make this… Woops.

My all-time favourite Chinese soup - papaya and fish soup!

(Finals week) Cooking marathon day 13: Bocconcini Salad!

If you can actually call making a salad cooking! Ok, here’s the thing, I always wonder why restaurants charge diners so much money for this dish. It’s ridiculous. So I decided to make this. 

You will need:

• 125g Fresh Mozzarella Cheese (aka Bocconcini), drained and sliced
• 3 small/medium size Salad Tomatos, sliced
• 5-6 fresh Basil Leaves, roughly chopped
• 1/4 cup Olive Oil
• 4 tsp Balsamic Vinegar
• Salt and Pepper 

Steps:

1. Layer Mozzarella slices and tomato slices on a place, sprinkly Basil, and drizzle vinegar and oil. Season with salt and pepper according to taste (can completely omit that as well). Serve immediately.

There, see, no cooking involved. Very easy and classic Italian dish, so why are restaurants charging me so much for that? I mean, I bought the Mozzarella from Tesco for less than a quid… 

EDIT: Holy smokes! I found out that a 125g Fresh mozzarella costs like £4.50 in Hong Kong… WHYYYYYYYYYYYYYY?

(No longer Spring Break, but still) Cooking Marathon, day 12: lamb puff pastry empanadas.

So back in Amsterdam some one and a half week ago, the night I went to see the Within Temptation at the Carré, I found myself at the busy restaurant right next to the theatre. It was so busy that night that I found myself looking at the menu with no English and the staff was too busy to translate the menu for me. I guessed around what each dish on the menu could be, and finally I ordered a tomato soup, and a vegetarian dish, which for all I know, was something with feta cheese in it. What turned out was a puff-pastry strudel filled with root vegetables seasoned with cumin. It was lovely. 

This afternoon when I woke up (Yes, I have completely changed my sleep cycle. I work on my essays from mid-night and sleep at 5 am), I suddenly remembered this dish. Given I only have 600 words left for my medical anthropology essay and it wasn’t due until tomorrow at noon, I thought I can afford the time to make or something similar.

Of course, I’d like to give it a little twist, ie, giving it some meat. I happen to have some minced lamb in the freezer, and everyone knows how good lamb and cumin go together. Leafing through my trusty Baking: A Common Sense Guide, I found a recipe for Savoury Potato Empanadas, so I decided to use that as a guide, and make my lamb version. (Cut the lamb and you get a vegetarian version, obviously!)

This recipe makes 16 empanadas, you will need:

• 2 tablespoons of oil
• 1/2 of a large onion, finely diced
• 4 garlic cloves, finely chopped
• 250g of minced lamb
• 5 medium sized button mushrooms, roughly chopped
• 1 medium sized carrot, finely chopped
• 1 medium sized potato (any kind that’s good for baking), cut into small cubes
• 2 teaspoons of ground cumin
• 1 teaspoon of dried oregano
• 2 sheets of rolled-out puff pastry
• 1 egg, separated
• pinch of paprika/chilli powder
• pinch of sugar

Steps:

1. Heat oil in a heavy based frying pan over medium heat. Add garlic, carrot and potato. Cook for 5 minutes then add in lamb and mushrooms and continue cooking, adding in cumin and oregano plus a little salt and pepper if you like. Cook for further 5 minutes until all meat is browned and all vegetables are tender. Remove from heat and let the meat mixture cool down.
2. Preheat oven to 200C (400F). Roll out the pastry and cut them into 8cm circles with a pastry cutter. Grease baking tray(s). 
3. Spoon heaped teaspoons of the meat mixture onto one side of each pastry round, leaving a border wide enough for the pastry to be folded over. Brush the rim with egg white, and fold the pastry over to make a semi-circle package. Press and seal the edges. Transfer to baking tray(s).
4. Whisk egg yolk, chilli/paprika powder and sugar, and brush over the empanadas. Bake for 15-20 minutes, until they are golden and puffed. Done!

I don’t have those round pastry cutters with me, never did in my life anyway, so I just divided each pastry sheet into 8 (10cmx10cm) squares, and after filling and sealing each pastry into small rectangles, I just trim them with a knife to form semi-circles. Works just the same!

Also, depending on how much filling you put into each pastry, there may be some leftovers. I did, so they are probably gonna make a really nice rice dish tomorrow night…

Spring Break Cooking Marathon Day 11: Quick Pasta Alfredo!

I just don’t have the time to cook tonight (wait, so why do I have the time to go on tumblr to post this?) Anyway, I needed something quick. (Still refusing to go for the quick way out by ordering take-away or eating TV dinner. Hey, I am not that desperate!) Surprise, I actually have ingredients for a quick Pasta Alfredo. I could have gone for my usual tomato and meatball pasta, but I felt like a change. Plus my poor throat doesn’t seem to be happy with more sour-ish food like tomatos.. 

This sauce is very simple and quick. It’s something every student who has taken Home-Economics should be able to make. Roux sauce, remember? This Alfredo sauce is roux based, ie made with equal amount of fat (oil/butter) and flour.

Anyway, I still have some pancetta left from the other day when I was making my risotto, so I threw that into the dish as well. But otherwise, this can be a completely vegetarian dish.

To make the Alfredo Sauce (around 1 1/2 cup, which should be enough to serve 2-3 portions), you will need:

• 30g of butter
• 2 tbsp of all purpose flour
• 240mL to 350 mL milk (I have some heavy cream left, so I subbed part of the milk with that. VERY fattening, I know.)
• Salt and Pepper
• 1 cup of grated Parmesan cheese

Steps:

1. Place butter in a sauce pan, and melt it in medium low heat. Once butter is fully melted, whisk in flour. Turn heat to low and keep stirring to fully incorporate the flour into the oil. The mixture should become gooey, and not lumpy. Cook for 2-3 minutes, until the mixture turns tan (not brown!)
2. Stir in the milk little by little, stirring constantly. When about 240mL of the milk is stirred in, the mixture will become fairly thick. Add more milk until it reaches the consistency is slightly thinner than you like, then add in the cheese. Continue stirring until the cheese has melted, and the sauce is thickened. Season with salt and pepper, and serve immediately.

For this Pasta Alfredo, I also added the aforementioned pancetta, half a small onion (chopped) and 2 large white button mushroom (thinly sliced) (that’s enough for 1 person only!). Saute the pancetta and veggies until everything is cooked, then toss in the drained pasta into the frying pan. After removing the pan from heat, I tossed the pasta with half of the sauce. Done! (Wouldn’t do much harm to add a little more grated Parmesan!)

This can be done in 20-30 minutes if you can multitask, ie, while you are boiling the pasta, you can saute the veg and meat, and make the roux. If not, cook the veg and meat first, then start boiling the pasta. Normally boiling pasta just requires 10-12 minutes, which is around the time you will need for the Alfredo sauce to complete!

Spring Break Cooking Marathon Day 10: Tomato and Pancetta Risotto!

Today is one of those days I don’t feel like making something too fancy, but still want something nice. Risotto is always a favourite of mine. Who could resist a nice creamy, cheesy risotto? I don’t make it too often, but when I do, I normally use some really nice wild mushrooms I get from the Edinburgh Farmers Market. But of course, today’s a Friday, so I could only use the ones from Tesco. Then I saw this recipe on Smitten Kitchen (as usual!), worth a try! But Tesco being Tesco, especially a Tesco Metro, I didn’t find any Italian sausage, so I used Pancetta instead.

My tweaked version is as follows, for 2 people, you will need:

• 1 can (~400g) diced tomatoes in juice
• 1 cup of water
• 1/2 tablespoon olive oil
• 65g of Pancetta cubes
• 1/2 small onion, finely chopped
• 4-5 white button mushrooms, cut into small fine cubes
• Coarse salt and ground pepper
• 1/2 cup Arborio (Risotto) rice
• 1/4 cup dry white wine
• 2 cups of finely chopped spinach (As you can see from the photo, I used less this time, but will definitely use 2 cups next time round!)
• 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese, plus more for serving (optional)
• 1 tablespoons butter

Steps:

1. In a small saucepan, combine the chopped tomato (with the juice) and 1 cup of water. Heat it up and bring to a simmer. Keep in warm in low heat.
2. In a medium saucepan, heat oil in medium heat, saute onion, pancetta and mushroom for about 3-5 minutes. Onion should be softened and pancetta should no longer be pink.
3. Add rice, stir and let oil coat the grains. Let it cook for 1-2 minutes, then add in white wine. Continue to stir until wine is evaporated.
4. Add 1 cup of the tomato mixture and let it simmer in medium-low heat for 4-5 minutes. Keep on stirring until mixture is absorbed, then add more of the liquid. Repeat. It is important not to add all the tomato mixture all at once, otherwise the liquid cannot be slowly absorbed by each grain of rice. Cooking until rice creamy and tender, for around 25 minutes.
5. Remove pan from heat, stir in butter, spinach and cheese. Serve immediately. Sprinkle with more parmesan if desired.

This recipe could be vegetarian as well, just don’t add the pancetta! I mean, even the liquid is just tomato and water, so you are good to go!

Spring Break Cooking Marathon returns for Day 9: Chocolate Banana Zucchini Marble Cake!

Emma and I decided we need to bake today, and we have some bananas, so banana bread was the obvious choice. But we also felt like making it more special. Then I thought about the recipe Ines sent me, the chocolate zucchini cake, so we thought, “Why not combine the two together?” I’ve never done zucchini cake before, and Emma has never done marble cakes before, so voila, Chocolate Banana Zucchini Marble Cake it is!

Combining, the above mentioned recipe and this, we have this:

You will need:

• 3 eggs
• 3/4 cup vegetable oil
• 1/3 cup packed brown sugar (feel free to add more, Emma and I decided to cut down the sugar because we think the chocolate and bananas are sweet enough!)
• 2/3 cup white sugar (ditto above!)
• 1 cup grated zucchini
• 3 bananas, mashed
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 cup of dark chocolate chip (I happen to have some 85% cocoa chocolate batons from Hotel Chocolat.. awww, yummy!)

Steps:

1. Preheat oven to 165C (325F), and grease a 9x5x3(in) loaf pan.
2. In a large bowl, combine sugar, flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt and cinnamon. In a separate bowl, combine oil, beaten eggs, banana, zucchini. Fold and combine the wet and dry mixture until they are evenly mixed.
3. In a hot water bath, melt the chocolate in a bowl. Add 1 cup of the banana-zucchini batter into the chocolate.
4. Start pouring/scooping the 2 batters into the loaf pan, alternating with the plain and chocolate batter. Use a knife to cut the batter, stir it around a little. Pop the loaf pan into the oven, and let it bake for around 1 hour 5 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the cake comes out clean.
5. Remove from oven and let it cool down a little! Done!