Pistachio, Figs and Cranberry Biscotti

I love biscotti. It is low in fat and less heavy than most cookies. It is a perfect gift for those  who are a bit weight conscious . I love the colour of these cookies. With both pistachio and cranberries, it makes them look amazing and they are perfect for giving away this Christmas. They are Italian and are double baked. I totally had great fun making it.

To make around 20 biscotti, you will need:

2/3 cup of caster sugar
1 3/4 cup of plain flour, sifted
1 tsp of baking powder
1/2 tsp of salt
2 eggs, whisked
1 tbsp of pure vanilla extract
1/2 cup of cranberries
1/2 cup of pistachio nuts, roughly chopped
6 dried figs, roughly chopped

Preheat your oven.

Roughly chop your pistachio and figs and mix them together with the cranberries.

Mix the flour and baking powder together. In a separate bowl, whisk the egg with the sugar until they turned creamy and pale, then add in the vanilla essence. Pour the egg and sugar mixture into the flour, and gently stir it until just mixed. Now add in your nuts and fruit and stir it until evenly mixed.

Place the baking paper on a baking tray. 

Use your bare hands to shape the dough into a log form.  The length should reach at least 10cm and the depth  at least 6cm. Remember, the depth is going to determine how wide your cookies will end up, so do look from the side  to check whether you are happy with the width or not.

Place the log into the hot oven for 30mins. When it is done, take it out and let it rest for 10mins before cutting.

Don't attempt to cut it before then or it will collapse! Use a serrated knife to cut slices, about 1.5cm between each cut.

Line all those cut cookies on a baking tray again and place them in the oven for another 20 mins to dry them out or until slightly golden. Let them cool down on a resting tray and you can store them in an air tight container for weeks. 

Lemon and Thyme Risotto with Zucchini and aged Chedder

Lemon and thyme is a perfect food combination for this spring.

My current favourite drink is lemon, thyme and honey. You can have it piping hot in the morning or ice cold on a sunny afternoon; with tap water, sparkling water or even vodka if you need a bit of kick. The smell is so lovely, it is better than any perfume on this planet. It is often used as a cold remedy, but for me I drink it almost every second day. I would bathe in it if I could!

My current favourite drink is lemon, thyme and honey sparkling water.

After a long days work, I am dying to have something fresh and light for dinner. I have decided to make a risotto with lemon from my friend's garden, thyme from my own garden, zucchini from Sunday's farmer's market and a block of 3 years aged Cheddar cheese that I found in the fridge.

Summer means zucchini time- $2.99/kg from Farmers market. Brilliant!

Risotto is a relatively easy dish to make. My first one was an absolute disaster, the rice ended up being crunchy and dry and it was burnt at the bottom of the pan. One thing you can learn from my mistake is - taste it before you serve it! If it is crunchy, then it is not ready - simple as that.

For 2 people you need:

2 celery sticks, finely chopped
1 onion, finely chopped
2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
2 tbsp of olive oil
1/4 cup dry white wine
1 cup of Arborio rice (Italian risotto rice), you can find it among the rice session at supermarket
3 cups of Campbell's Real Chicken Stock (or vegetables if you are vegetarian)
3 - 4 zucchinis, thinly sliced
2 lemon zests
a bunch of fresh thyme
2 bay leaves
pinch of salt and white pepper to taste

20g of 3 years good quality aged Cheddar (I use Linkwater), crumbled
10g butter
A squeeze of lemon juice

Put the fresh thyme and bay leaves in a saucepan and pour in the chicken or vegetable stock before bringing it to boil. Finely chop the garlic, leek and onion. Add the oil into a heated pan.

Saute onion, garlic and leeks till transparent and soft.

Then add in rice and fry it for 1-2 minutes.

Add in the white wine and stir gently until most of it is evaporated. You want the wine to be evaporated or  you will end up tasting it at the end. Now add the hot chicken stock, one ladle at a time.You want the stock to be mostly absorbed before you add the following ladle.

While you are waiting for the rice to cook, you can chop the zucchini and zest the lemon.

Gently stir the risotto from time to time and ensure it is not sticking to the bottom.

When the rice is almost ready, add in the butter, zucchini, lemon zest, lemon juice and cheddar cheese and cook it for 1 minute. Remove from heat and serve.

A simple and delicious dinner and garish with a bit of thyme and Cheddar cheese.

A taste of Hong Kong – Homemade Dumplings

Having grown up in Hong Kong means I was lucky enough to get the opportunity to try a wide range of Asian cuisines on a daily basis. Heaps of immigrants from South East Asia settle in Hong Kong and bring  their cuisine with them. Because of that, I get to try authentic dishes from restaurants that are run by  Thai, Vietnamese, Indian, Taiwanese, Japanese, Korean, Lebanese and Malaysians. Most Hong-Kongese are foodies, in fact most people would greet a friend with “Have you eaten any rice(means food) yet?”. Even Chinese cuisine itself is divided into Northern Chinese and Southern Chinese. Northern chinese love their dumplings, noodles and chilli; on the other hand Southern Chinese dishes would rather have stir fries with more delicate flavours in it and they mainly eat rice. 

I was spoiled with a wide range of South East Asian cuisines when I was a kid.

Some people might think Asian food is 3 choices of stir fries for $10 from a food court! But in reality, it is very complex  with a wide range of ingredients, cooking methods and different eating habits.

I adore Asian food, not only it is my comfort food but more importantly it is flavoursome, full of fresh ingredients and in general it has less fat, cheese or dairy products. 

One of my all time comfort food is homemade dumplings.

When I was in Hong Kong, mum used to make us kids to sit around the table and make dumplings together – it is a family activity. To showcase my Asian cuisine skills, I have decided to make dumplings in the weekends when family and friends came around for a late lunch/ dinner. I made 100 dumplings for seven people as an entrée and it had been eaten in one hour. Everyone was raving about how yummy it was and they all wanted my recipes…

Dumplings are great tapas. Everyone gets to enjoy a sunny afternoon with food, wine and good conversation.

Garlic chives from the Vivian St Sunday Farmer’s market.

Ghiao Tzu wrappers in the freezer section from Yan’s supermarket.

Ghiao Tzu wrappers are thicker and have more texture than wonton wrappers. They are round in shape and have no artificial colouring. Also, Yan's supermarket is right next to Preston's, so I bought my pork mince there as well.

Finely chop garlic and garlic chives.

Garlic Chives and pork dumplings (makes 50)

3 cloves of NZ garlic, finely chopped

300g pork mince

2 bunches of garlic chives (400g), finely chopped

2 tbsp of sesame oil

2 tbsp of dark soy sauce

1 egg, beaten (to bind all the ingredients together)

Put on a disposible glove and mix in the rest of the ingredients. Set aside.

Mom’s homemade dumplings (makes 50)

Finely chopped Chinese mushroom.

1 handful of dried chinese mushroom, soaked, squeezed dry and finely chopped

3 clove of NZ garlic, finely chopped

200g of raw prawns, defrosted, finely chopped

300g of pork mince

150g of bok choy, blanched, squeezed dry and finely chopped

2 tbsp of sesame oil

2 tbsp of dark soy sauce

1 tbsp of chinese wine

1 egg, beaten (to bind all the ingredients together)

Wash the chinese mushroom under the tap. Place them all in a bowl and put a smaller plate on top to allow the mushrooms to submerge into the water. Soak them for at least 2 hours. Gently squeeze the mushrooms dry after soaking, then finely chop them.

Wash the bok choy before putting  them into boiling hot water for 10 seconds then quickly blanche them under a cold water running tap to cool them. Use your hand to squeeze out most of the water from the bok choy, then finely chop them. By doing this blanching process, it will minimise any extra water getting into the dumpling mixture, and the end result will be less watery dumplings. 

Put on disposible gloves and mix in the ingredients.

Cover the bowl with glad wrap and place it in the fridge.

Now the most time consuming part is actually making the dumplings. Defrost your dumpling wrappers in the fridge 3-4 hours before you use them. 

 Place a teaspoon of fillings onto each wrapper and brush water around the edge with a pastry brush.

                       

Fold the dumpling in half and press lightly around its edges (if you are looking for a shortcut, you can serve your dumplings as they are). Then fold the creases you make around the edge (you should be able to make 6-7 creases). 

Place your dumplings on a tray and gladwrap in between  them if you are going to put them on top of each other. You can do  this hours  before your guests arrive. They will also freeze well.

Garlic and chilli soy dipping sauce

 Dipping Sauce

½ cup of heated canola oil,

½ cup light soy sauce

3 cloves of garlic, finely chopped

3 fresh chillis, finely chopped

10g of ginger, julienne/matchstickes

1 spring onions, thinly chopped into rings

2 tbsp of malt vinegar/Chinkiang vinegar (optional)

By heating the canola oil, it will actually change its flavour. Pour the hot canola oil over the chopped garlic and chillis and then mix this with the rest of the ingredients.

 

Cooking Dumplings:

Just like cooking ravioli. Start with a large pot of salted hot boiling water. Drop your dumplings close to the water surface no more than 15 at a time. Wait till the water starts boiling and the dumplings are floating. Remove them from the water with a clotted spoon. Cook your dumpling in batches.

Serve dumplings with the dipping sauce. 

Salmon Gravlax

Gravlax is not something that I make that often, but I do like to serve it when I have a bunch of friends come around for dinner. It is a perfect appetizer and I like the fact that everyone stands around the platter, enjoying each others company and making their own little finger foods. 

Thinly sliced Gravlax with capers + red onion rings + mustard dill sauce + German dark rye toast + more dill for garnish

The whole preparation process will take you no more than 20mins and I don’t even have to turn the stove on! It is ridiculously simple and the result is just simply delicious. 

Basic curing ingredients: sugar, sea salt, freshed cracked pepper, vodka and dill

All you need is a couple of simple ingredients plus some spirits - you can use vodka, brandy, gin or cognac. I chose Russian vodka this time because my brandy is "contaminated" with vanilla beans - I dont  want vanilla salmon. Yuck!

When you order your fish from your local fishmonger make sure that it is  fresh, skinned and boned if possible. One side of the salmon will normally weigh between 1 – 1.5kg.  This might seem large in size but you will be surprised how quickly it gets eaten.

Because it is cured, it is naturally preserved and will last around 5 days in the fridge. If you do manage to have some leftovers though  you can always freeze them.

Position the gravlax so you will be cutting from the tail end first and do it at an angle. Thinly slice them a couple of hours before your guests arrive. Place them in the fridge between layers of glad wrap.

The result is beautiful. The flavour is more subtle than commercially made cold smoked salmon but with similar texture - moist yet dense. 

It is best to serve it with toasted dark rye bread - Badisch Dunkel from German bakery Brezelmania, you can also find them at Moore Wilson.

The following ingredients are required for every 500g of salmon:

2 tbsp white sugar

2 tbsp flaky sea salt/ crushed rock salt

1 tbsp freshly cracked pepper/ crushed black peppercorn

3 tbsp Vodka

A large handful of finely chopped dill

 



 






Firstly; skin the fish by placing the blade at the sharp end of the fillet before pulling the skin towards it backwards and forwards. Then use the fish bone tweezer to remove any bones. 

Place all the ingredients in a zip bag together with the skinned and boned salmon. Seal it and place it on a tray.

Weigh down the salmon with a chopping board and some cans. This process will help expel moisture from the salmon and  will  result in dense yet soft gravlax.

Turn the fish every 12 hours to  the other side for the next three days.

Once it is ready, remove the fish from the bag. Dry it with light dabs on a paper towel and wipe off any excess dill and cracked pepper. Gladwrap it tightly and slice it when required.

To make the dressing, you will need:

1 tsp of djion mustard
1 tsp of brown sugar
A handful of chopped dill
2 tbsp Canola/ pure olive oil
Salt and ground white pepper

Whisk the dijon mustard together with the brown sugar, before adding the oil gradually  (drop by drop)  until it turns thick. Then add the  chopped dill, taste it and add seasoning as required.

To serve:

Dill and mustard sauce
Toasted dark rye bread
Red onion rings
Capers
Garnish with dil