No utensils required. Chicken nibbles: sugar, soy sauce, salt, pepper, sweet chili sauce, oil. Skewers: mushrooms, tomato, sweet chili sauce, soy sauce, salt, pepper. Baked for 30 minutes in 180°C oven. Served with boiled baby potatoes tossed with butter and fresh herbs from the garden (sage, parsley, rosemary). Simple noms.
1 bacon hock, 3 tomatoes, 1 capsicum, 1 onion, 6 cloves of garlic, 2 cans of black beans, chili seasoning, tumeric, oregano, ground cumin, black pepper. Served with rice. Enough for many hungry mouths.
I adore Vietnamese cuisine. I feel like it’s the lighter, brighter of the South East Asian cuisines and as a result of this, something you can eat regularly. I’ve never been to Vietnam before, but when I visit Hanoi I’m planning on Pho (noodle soup with a rich beef broth) for breakfast and Banh Mi for lunch until I can’t eat it anymore. I look forward to eating at a snake restaurant in the village Le Mat. For a set price (never just wander in without agreeing on a price it may later be extortionate amount), you select a live snake which is expertly killed, blood and bile drained into shot glasses and the heart served still beating. Then they whip the snake away and make a 6-8 different dishes using the rest of the snake. Snake spring rolls, snake soup, crispy fried skin, grilled snake, snake meat with and lemon grass and chili, … It sounds a bit barbaric I know, but from what I’ve read, it’s a culinary experience, not a fear factor …
Happy New Year Readers! I hope the year 2010 has been thoroughly digested and I hope that the year 2011 brings you all the tasty delights you can handle. This year’s first post is about adventurous eating and being willing to try new things. I think that if there is a country or a culture or a people that enjoys eating a particular food, then there must at least be the potential that I will enjoy it too. As long as it is food, I will be adventurous enough to give it a try. In 1986, Prince Philip commented on Chinese eating habits to the World Wildlife Fund conference saying: “If it has got four legs and it is not a chair, if it has two wings and it flies but is not an aeroplane, and if it swims and is not a submarine, the Cantonese will eat it.” Some people (non-Chinese) find this offensive. I don’t. Maybe said at a WWF conference by a member of the royal family, it was a bit misaligned. …
I was born in Hong Kong but we moved to New Zealand when I was 9 months old so I never really called Hong Kong home. But even though it’s not quite home to me, it’s special in other ways and being brought up by Hong Kong born and bred parents means that there a lot of things in Hong Kong culture that I relate to. I know there are a lot of cultures that claim this, but Hong Kong citizens are absolutely obsessed with food. It’s like a religion. I don’t know if that’s one of the reasons why I am the way I am. I haven’t always been like this. So it must be more nature than nurture? Here are 10 culinary experiences I hope to revisit or try for the first time during my next Hong Kong adventure (in no particular order): 1. Stinky Tofu I’d like to try Stinky Tofu next time I am in Hong Kong. Stinky Tofu or chòu dòufu is fermented tofu and eaten as a snack. It …
Christmas to many people is a time of non-stop feasting. With all the edible gifts, Christmas functions with food as well as the feast that is Christmas day, naturally, food conversations will be rampant this time of year. Whether it’s about the sourcing of premium ingredients, the perfect way to cook something this season, what is on the menu, what is definitely not on the menu, what Christmas dish you are looking forward to the most…there’s plenty of food conversations to be had. I have a lot of conversations about food. Christmas season or not. I have conversations about food with foodies and I have them with non-foodies. Luckily, food is a topic we can all relate to. Even if you don’t like food, you still eat it. While I don’t know if I could be friends with someone that didn’t enjoy food at all, they would still make for interesting conversation. Since I don’t know what people talk about when I’m not around, I don’t know if it’s just my conversations that are food …
I was invited to a dinner at my friend Linh’s flat. I thought it was just going to be your average potluck dinner. She did mention themes and prizes but I’ve never been to a cook off before. I might have upped my game if I had realised it was competitive. The 2 categories were Italian for mains and Coffee for dessert and there was a prize for the winner of each category. There was a crown for each winner and a crown (but no prize) for the best failure. Everyone had to try every dish and vote for their favourite in each category. I roasted portabello and button mushrooms with red wine, balsamic vinegar and garlic. It was well received but didn’t win. That’s ok. The 3 other entries were lasagna, risotto and pizza. All very Italian. The lasagna with it’s whole portabellos, eggplant, blue cheese and mince was the winner on the day. It was delicious. Maybe I’m starting to warm to blue cheese after all. As an ingredient mind you, not as …
Surprise birthday gift from parents-in-law: A 4-course dinner for on the Tramway Restaurant. Yes, I know! Spoilt! Tablecloths, linen napkin, lots of cutlery, air conditioning, smooth music in a colonial style dining tram – this was the works! The menu is short and sweet. Perfect for a chef on a tram. The tram seats about 35 diners and there is a tiny kitchen in the centre of the tram. There are no doors so both dining areas can see into the kitchen space. 35 diners with 4 courses in a tiny kitchen over 3 hours. The chef is a genius! We shared bread and dips, I had a lamb entree, salmon main, brownie with compote for dessert. I wasn’t expecting salmon to appear on their limited menu. This was local salmon and beautifully cooked. I even ate all my asparagus. The others had a vegetable tart, porterhouse steak, cajan chicken breast, coconut creme brulee and a cheeseboard. Everything was delicious. We shared 2 bottles of Church Road Merlot and were tipsy and pleasantly full by the …
This is one of those dishes I made up a long time ago by putting together a whole lot of delcious ingredients and hoping for the best. I mean, bacon, chicken, mushroom, garlic, cream…how could this possibly go bad? I used to make this without bacon or capers, so you can use these or leave out. This recipe is enough for 2 servings. What I like about this dish is that you can prep for it before guests arrive, then pop it in the oven when they get to your house. Then it’s only 30 minutes until dinner and you can entertain rather than fluffing around in the kitchen. Mushroom Stuffed Chicken Breast…Wrapped in Bacon Ingredients 1 large chicken breast 2 pieces of streaky bacon 2 brown mushrooms 2 cloves garlic 3 tablespoons breadcrumbs 1 tablespoon herbs 1/4 cup of cream 1 teaspoon of capers salt pepper Preparation Preheat oven to 200°C. Slice the mushrooms, finely chop the garlic and put into a bowl. Add the capers, breadcrumbs, herbs, salt, pepper and cream. The mixture …
Kai to Pie “Kai to Pie — Pie to Chai — Nosh to Posh. Whatever way you slice it, Auckland’s stories can be told through food: from the extraordinary wealth of people and cultures, to its fertile abundance of land, sun and sea, come up to the Museum for a serving of Auckland on your plate.” If you haven’t already been, check out the Kai to Pie exhibition at the Auckland Museum. There’s still 3 weeks until it ends and it’s free to all Aucklanders. 12 June – 25 October 2010 Special Exhibitions Hall Auckland Museum Free entry Here are some of my photos from the exhibition. World On Your Plate: Maori Running in conjunction with this exhibition is World On Your Plate – Saturday demonstrations of cuisine from around the world. I attended the Maori food demonstration by Charles Royal and his family in July. Charles is “a fierce advocate of sustainable local cuisine, indigenous produce”. Sadly, Maori dishes and native ingredients don’t feature in the day to day cuisine of the majority of New Zealanders. …
We don’t pay for tv so we don’t have the food channel, but I feel spoilt by the amount of foodie programmes on the free channels. On TV in the last month or so: Rick Stein’s Far Eastern Odyssey Rick Stein eats in many of the South East Asian countries we plan on eating in very soon. It’s like watching a travel show written for hungry people just like me. Rick’s shows have a seafood slant on everything. I adore eating fresh seafood in Asia, so the seafood slant is fine by me! This series covered: Cambodia, Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, Bali and Bangladesh. Peta Unplugged in Marrakech New Zealander Peta Mathias and her gastronomads on a culinary tour of Marrackech….just finished and replaced with… River Cottage – Spring Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall’s River Cottage winter season has only just finished and now we’re onto the spring series. River Cottage isn’t just about food, it’s also about sustainability and lifestyle. It’s about growing, catching, gathering as much as it is about cooking and eating. We would love …
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