Prawn Chowder

I originally wanted to make a New England clam chowder, but clams were not in season. I had a stash of prawns in my freezer and made some prawn chowder instead.

I merely followed the recipe on Martha Stewart's site, but substituted one pound of pelled and deveined prawn meat. I used the shells and heads to make prawn broth to water down the soup.

My version ended up a bit thicker, perhaps because I used Nestle thick cream. I also grated the potatoes into the broth instead of cutting them into cubes.

Satay Kangkong

We ate at a Chiu Chow restaurant in Hong Kong and we were served a plateful of beef and broccoli leaves sauteed in satay sauce. The combination worked. I mean, how could you go wrong with broccoli and beef? But I never liked satay that much - perhaps because it tasted as if they toned down the strong flavors of satay with something that resembled oyster sauce or fisch sauce.





Anyway, I bought a bottle of satay while in HKG and brought it home to use. I made my own version, but this time using a bundle of Chinese kangkong (grown on land instead of water - making them more tender).



On a very hot pan, saute a handful of sukiyaki-cut beef that has been marinated in one teaspoon each of soy sauce and cornstarch. Cook until seared but still rare. Set aside.



On the same hot pan, saute a tablespoon each of chopped garlic, ginger and onions. Add one stalk of sliced celery (believe me, the sweetness and fragrance of the celery really complements the spiciness of the satay). Add the kangkong stalks and cook until bright green in color. Add the leaves and the beef.



Add one tablespoon each of satay sauce and oyster sauce. Dilute with water and simmer until kangkong is of desired tenderness.

Taro Cake

Everybody likes dim sum! And what dim sum meal would be complete without the fried turnip/ radish cake? As Chinese New Year was just around the corner when i visited HKG, almost all the food shops were selling their own version of radish cake.

It is common to find them here, so I decided to buy Taro cake instead. I am not a fan of taro as it is "heavy" and rich. But I do eat it once in a while especially when cooked a special way. So I bought one tub of taro cake from Wing Wah for my parents.

Surprisingly, it was quite "light" and soft. It was also very flavorful. It tasted almost like the normal radish cake except it had the perfumy-ness of taro. Yum!

Hong Kong

I've not really been busy...just plain lazy! Sorry I have tons of stuff to post!

To begin with, I just came from HKG a week ago. You can find some of my pics here. I am yet to post the pics I took last November when i travelled for free using my mileage.

Shrimp Salad

Plump and crisp pieces of shrimp in a smooth tangy dressing. Yum!

I saw a couple of shelled fresh white shrimp in the supermarket today and Shrimp salad was the first thing that went into my mind!

I could never forget the rows of seafood stalls at Fisherman's Wharf in San Francisco when I visited in 2004. Every one of them was selling the same thing - shrimp salad on crusty bread, or pieces of king crab legs. The colors were so fresh and vibrant - attesting to their freshness. I just wish I could say the same about their taste. Everything was bland and flat. They did not skimp on the salt but that was basically it. I pity the fresh seafood had to bathe in a very lifeless and boring dressing!

For a really good Shrimp Salad/ Spread, make sure the shrimp are fresh! Peel and de-vein the shrimp and rinse with salt and water. Dump the prepared shrimp in a pot of boiling stock (I add celery leaves, lemon, onions, and or dill stems to my stock - basically the leftover of the dressing ingredients). Cook for a good two or three minutes, depending on the size of the shrimp, then shock in a bowl of ice water.

For the dressing, mix the following: 1/2 cup chopped celery stalks, 2 tablespoons chopped onions, one chopped garlic clove, one cup sour cream, 1/2 cup mayonnaise, two tablespoons mustard. Season with salt and pepper.

Toss in the shrimp. This salad is best when allowed to "cure" one day in the ref. Serve with crusty bread.

Leftover Turkey?

As usual, we had a whole turkey roasted and carved for Christmas Eve dinner. We usually have Butterball turkey but the supermarket only had Norbest in stock. This brand turned out to be better - it was easier to cook as it came with its own "thermometer," and the bird roasted just until the inside was cooked through but still juicy and tender.

Six very hungry persons weren't able to devour the whole bird. So what did I do with the leftovers?

Sandwich

I flaked some of the leftover meat, tossed it with some gravy just to moisten them up, then stuffed them into crusty baguettes with some veggies.

I also made some Turkey Pie

I basically made a white sauce, folded in the flaked turkey with some sauteed mushrooms, carrots, potatoes and peas.

Then I experimented with some crusts, sort of. I used a basic flaky pie-crust for my first pie.

Then I ran across a recipe for a cream-cheese pastry which was easy to make, but unbelievably flaky!

I always experiment with turkey leftovers! After all, this bird only comes to our house once a year!

Happy New Year!

A new year and a new look!

Greetings, everyone!