X'mas Gingerbread Cookie decorated with Meringue Powder Royal Icing 聖誕姜餅曲奇

Gingerbread Cookies

(makes about 30 cookies)

Ingredients

• 3 cups unbleached flour
• 3/4 cup packed dark brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
• 1 tablespoon ground ginger
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/2 teaspoon table salt
• 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 12 tablespoons unsalted butter cut into 12 pieces and softened slightly
• 3/4 cup unsulphured molasses
• 2 tablespoons milk

Directions

1. In a food processor or blender, process together flour, sugar, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, salt, and baking soda until combined (about 10 seconds). (Pic 1 & 2)
2. Add the butter pieces over the flour mixture and process until the mixture is sandy and resembles a fine meal (about 15 seconds). (Pic 3)
3. While the machine is running, gradually add molasses and milk (Pic 4). Blend until the dough is evenly moistened (about 10 seconds).
4. Scrape dough onto a work surface, and divide in half. (Pic 5)
5. Roll out one portion of dough 1/4-inch thick between two large sheets of parchment paper(Pic 6). Leaving the dough between the parchment paper, place on a cookie sheet, and freeze for 15 to 20 minutes. Do the same for the second portion of dough.
6. Preheat the oven to 350F and line two cookie sheets with parchment paper.
7. Remove one sheet of dough from the freezer and place on a work surface. Peel off the top layer of parchment paper, then gently lay it back in place.
8. Flip the dough over, peel off and discard the second layer of parchment paper.
9. Cut the dough into desired shapes, transferring those shapes to parchment lined cookie sheets. (Pic 7)
10. Repeat with remaining dough until all the cookie sheets are full.
11. Bake cookies 8 to 11 minutes, rotating the cookie sheets halfway through baking.
12. Cookies should come out so the centers of the dough barely retain a imprint when touched gently with fingertip. Be careful to not overbake.
13. Let cookies cool on their sheets for two minutes, then transfer to a wire rack and let cool to room temperature.
14. Gather scraps, repeat rolling, cutting, and baking.
15. Enjoy!

Recipe source: 12tomatoes

Beef Wellington (Gordon Ramsay's recipe) 威靈頓牛柳

Beef Wellington is a great party and festive food. Near Christmas, I want to try making this dish for my family. Which I want to make this long time ago. Since I got leftover puff pastry at home, so I decided to give it a try. Many steps and time consuming, but it is worth it. The tenderloin is so tender and is medium rare doneness. Which is perfect. I will definitely make again. And out of so many beef wellington recipe, I highly recommended this Gordon Ramsay recipe. I love his shows and cooking!!

Ingredients

For the Beef Wellington

900g piece beef fillet of even thickness (from the centre cut)

sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

2 tbsp olive oil

English mustard, to brush meat

.

Mushroom duxelles:

700g chestnut mushrooms, cleaned and stalks removed

handful of cooked chestnuts

1 garlic clove, peeled and chopped

2 thyme sprigs, leaves only

.

To assemble:

8 slices of Parma ham

500g ready-made all-butter puff pastry

plain flour, to dust

2 egg yolks, lightly beaten with 1 tbsp water (eggwash)

Directions:

1. To make this Gordon Ramsay Beef Wellington recipe, trim the beef of any sinew and season well with salt and pepper. Heat the olive oil in a large frying pan over a high heat, add the fillet and quickly sear the outside all over for about 5 minutes until evenly browned, turning as necessary (Pic 1). Transfer to a plate and while still hot, brush all over with mustard (Pic 2). Set aside to rest.

2. For the duxelles, put the mushrooms, chestnuts and garlic in a food processor with a little salt and pepper and blend to a fine paste, stopping to scrape down the sides a few times (Pic 3). Heat a dry large frying pan. Scrape the mushroom paste into the pan and add the thyme leaves. Cook over a high heat, stirring occasionally, to drive off the moisture and intensify the flavour (Pic 4). The duxelles must be sufficiently dry otherwise it will make the pastry soggy; the mixture should adhere easily. Spread out on a tray to cool (Pic 5).

3. Place a large piece of cling film on a clean surface. Lay the Parma ham slices on top (Pic 6), overlapping them slightly, to form a rough rectangle large enough to envelop the beef fillet, making sure there are no gaps. Season the ham with a few twists of pepper then, with a palette knife, spread the duxelles on top (Pic 7), leaving a 2.5cm margin along the edges.

4. Lay the beef fillet along the middle of the mushroom layer (Pic 8). Keeping a tight hold of the cling film from the outside edges, neatly roll the Parma ham and duxelles over the beef into a tight barrel shape (Pic 9). Twist the ends of the cling film to secure. Refrigerate for 15 minutes to firm up.

5. Roll out the pastry on a lightly floured surface to a large rectangle (Pic 10 & 11), the thickness of a £1 coin and brush with some of the eggwash (Pic 12). Unwrap the beef from the cling film and place it in the middle. Leaving a large enough rectangle to wrap around the beef, trim off the excess pastry. Roll the pastry around the beef to envelop it and then press the edges to seal. Pinch the pastry at the ends to seal and trim off the excess. Wrap the log tightly in cling film and chill for 10 minutes, or overnight if you are preparing ahead.

6. Preheat the oven to 190°C/Gas 5. Remove the cling film and brush the parcel all over with egg wash. Lightly score the pastry at 1cm intervals (Pic 13) with the back of a small knife for a decorative effect (Pic 14), if you wish. Place on a baking tray, sprinkle with salt and bake for about 35 minutes (Pic 15); if the pastry appears to be browning too quickly, lower the setting slightly. Leave to rest in a warm place for about 15 minutes before cutting into thick slices to serve, with the accompaniments.

To Watch Tutorial video, please visit Gordon Ramsay Beef recipe VideoWellington 

and

Recipe source from: eat.travel.live website

Turkey Breat Roulade stuffed with Mushroom and Spinach 蘑菇菠菜火雞胸卷

It's Christmas time!!! This year, we have organized a X'mas party of 30 adults, 12 kids and 2 babies. I and my friend Christine hosted this great party with great food again. This turkey breast roulade is one of my X'mas dishes that I made this year. I had already did whole turkey just a month ago during Thanksgiving. Therefore, I tried this turkey breast roulade and it is easier to manage the cooking time as well.

Turkey Breast Roulade stuffed with Mushroom and Spinach

Ingredients (serves 6)

1 (3-4 pound) boneless turkey breast or center pork loin
1 package Costco Baby Spinach
¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
3 tablespoons olive oil, divided
2 tablespoons fresh rosemary, without stem, minced
2 tablespoons fresh Thyme, without stem, minced
3 tablespoons garlic, minced
8 ounces mushrooms, stems removed and chopped
1-cup bread crumbs
4 teaspoons salt and pepper-divided
1-cup chicken stock
1/2 cup butter, melted and divided
One cup Shredded Chedder Cheese
2 yards of baking cotton string to tie breast

Instructions

Optional: Brine Turkey Breast one day in advance

• Preheat oven to broil to brown roast, then preheat oven to 325.
• Prepare roasting pan with cooking spray or line with aluminum foil.
• Prepare stuffing- Heat 1-tablespoon olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add garlic, mushrooms, spinach and nutmeg, sauté 6 minutes. Add thyme and rosemary sauté for 5 minutes. Stir in bread crumbs. Add salt and pepper. Set aside.
• Butterfly turkey breast, * or ask butcher
• Sprinkle flattened breast with 1½   teaspoons salt and pepper.
• Spread stuffing mixture evenly over the breast, sprinkle with shredded cheese.  On long end of meat, roll tightly into a log. Tie meat with string at 2-inch intervals. Brush meat with remaining olive oil and ¼ cup butter.  Place roll in roasting pan. Pour chicken stock to base on pan. Broil roll until browned.  
• Bake for 90 minutes, basting occasionally. Remove from oven and let stand, covered loosely with foil for 20 minutes. Transfer to serving platter, remove string and slice into ½ -1 inch slices.  Serve with pan juices if desired.

* To butterfly the breast, turn breast on its side and slice down the center, cutting almost but not through. Open breast out flat, and pound turkey to an even thickness with a meat mallet.  Season and fill as recipe directs.

Makes: 6-8 servings

Recipe adapted from: Liz Bushong Website

Hainanese Chicken Rice 海南雞飯

I always found something in fridge that are almost expired especially some leftover ingredients. I found one stalk of lemongrass. It is not enough to make a Tom Yum Soup. If might be enough to use it as marinating some other meats but the easiest way to use it is to cook it with rice. Just add ginger, garlic and shallots and it will make Hainanese Chicken style rice.

Ingredients: (serves 4)

rice 2 cups

1 stalk of lemongrass (Cut into smaller pieces and mash it with a knife(切段拍扁))

3 slices of ginger 

pinch of salt

2 shallots  (cut into thin slices)

4 cloves of Garlic 

1.5-2 cups Chicken stock 

(Use stock from making Hainanese chicken, or you can just use store brought chicken broth if you are cooking the rice alone)

2 tbsp chicken oil (or vegetable oil)

Directions:

1. Rinse the rice with water until the water is clear
2. Discard washing rice water
3. Pour chicken soup stock to rice. The amount of soup is just the same amount of water you use when you cook your normal rice.
4. Heat 2 tbsp of oil. Stir-fry lemongrass, ginger and garlic until brown.
5. Pour everything into rice cooker. Then cook rice in normal setting
6. Discard lemongrass, garlic, ginger and shallots before serving.

To view how to make Hainanese Chicken, please visit my previous blog post for Hainanese Chicken Recipe.

Thai Chicken Satay (Marinade) 泰式雞肉沙爹 (醃法)

How to make and marinade Thai/Malaysian style Chicken Satay:

8-12 skinless chicken thighs, cut into thin strips
1 package wooden skewers

SATAY MARINADE:

1/4 cup minced lemongrass , fresh or frozen
2 shallots OR 1 small onion, sliced
3 cloves garlic
1-2 fresh red chilies, sliced, OR 1/2 tsp. to 1 tsp. cayenne pepper, to taste
1 thumb-size piece galangal OR ginger, thinly sliced
1 tsp. minced fresh turmeric OR 1/2 tsp. dried turmeric
2 Tbsp. ground coriander
2 tsp. cumin
3 Tbsp. dark soy sauce (available at Asian food stores)
4 Tbsp. fish sauce
5-6 Tbsp. brown sugar
2 Tbsp. vegetable oil

Directions: 

(For step by step version with photos, please visit How to make real Thai chicken satay page)

1. If using wooden skewers, soak them in water while you prepare the meat (to prevent burning). The kitchen sink works well for this.
2. Cut chicken into thin strips and place in a bowl.
3. Place all marinade ingredients in a food processor or chopper. Process well.
4. Taste-test the marinade - you will taste sweet, spicy, and salty. The strongest tastes should be SWEET and SALTY in order for the finished satay to taste its best.Add more sugar or more fish sauce (in place of salt) to adjust the taste. You can also add more chili if you want it spicier.
5. Pour the marinade over the meat and stir well to combine. Allow at least 1 hour for marinating, or longer (up to 24 hours).
6. When ready to cook, thread meat onto the skewers. Tip: Fill up to 3/4 of the skewer, leaving the lower half empty so that the person grilling has a "handle" to easily turn the satay during cooking.
7. Grill the satay on your BBQ, OR on an indoor grill, basting the first time you time it with a little of the leftover marinade from the bottom of the bowl. OR you can broil in the oven on a broiling pan or baking sheet with the oven set to "broil" Place satay close beneath the heating element and turn the meat every 5 minutes until cooked (be sure to soak your wooden satay sticks in water before skewering). Depending on how thin your meat is, the satay should cook in 10 to 20 minutes.

Recipe source: http://thaifood.about.com/od/thairecipes/r/thaichickensate.htm

Matcha (green tea) Marshmallow with egg whites 綠茶棉花糖

Christmas is near, my daughter's church fellowship is having a Christmas celebration. Each of them will need to bring some party food to share. And it has to be Nut Free food as usual for kids party. I know one of Jess's leader loves anything made with Matcha. Therefore, I make this Matcha Marshmallow for this event. This is the first time I use this recipe. I found that it is a bit sweet (for me and my daughter). But most of the feedback said it is good!! Since there are some leftover. I put them in Air-tight container and place in refrigerator. And I feel like it is not that sweet when serving cold (just out from refrigerator) or to serve with ice-cream. I guess I will try to reduce the sugar next time or to serve it cold or with ice-cream.

Ingredients

  Nonstick cooking spray

2 envelopes unflavored gelatin (4-1/4 teaspoons)

3/4 cup cold water

2 cups granulated sugar (I think it is a bit sweet)

2/3 cup light-color corn syrup

1/3 cup refrigerated egg white product* or 2 pasteurized liquid egg whites**

1 tablespoon vanilla

1/4 teaspoon salt

2/3 cup powdered sugar

3 tablespoons cornstarch

2 tbsp Matcha Powder

Directions

1 Line a 13x9x2-inch baking pan with plastic wrap or line bottom of pan with waxed paper or parchment paper. Coat the plastic or paper with nonstick cooking spray; set pan aside. (Pic 1)
In a large metal or heatproof bowl, sprinkle gelatin over 1/2 cup of the cold water; set aside.(Pic 2)

2 In a 2-quart heavy saucepan, stir together remaining 1/4 cup water, 1-3/4 cups of the sugar, and the (2/3 cup) corn syrup until combined. Bring to boiling over medium-high heat. Clip a candy thermometer to the side of the saucepan. (Pic 3) Cook, without stirring, over medium-high heat until thermometer registers 260 degrees F, hard-ball stage (12 to 15 minutes total). Remove from heat; pour over gelatin mixture in bowl and stir well to combine (mixture will foam and bubble up in the bowl).

3 Meanwhile, in a clean mixing bowl, beat the egg whites, vanilla, and salt with an electric mixer on high speed until foamy. Gradually add remaining 1/4 cup sugar, 1 tablespoon at a time, until stiff peaks form (tips stand straight). With the mixer running on high speed, gradually add gelatin mixture to egg white mixture (Pic 4). Add 2 tbsp Matcha Powder to mixture (Pic 5), continue beating for 5 to 7 minutes or until thick (the consistency of thick, pourable cake batter). 

4 Quickly and gently spread marshmallow mixture into prepared pan. Coat another piece of plastic wrap with nonstick coating; place, coated side down, over marshmallow mixture in pan (Pic 6). Chill at least 5 hours or until firm

5 In a bowl, combine powdered sugar and cornstarch; sprinkle about 1/4 of the mixture evenly onto a large cutting board. Remove plastic wrap from top of marshmallows. Loosen sides of marshmallow mixture if necessary and carefully invert onto the cutting board. Remove plastic wrap or paper (Pic 7). Sprinkle top with some of the remaining powdered sugar mixture. Cut marshmallows into 1-inch squares(Pic 8). Place squares, about one-third at a time, in a large resealable plastic bag. Add remaining powdered sugar mixture; seal bag and shake to coat all sides of marshmallows with powdered sugar mixture.

Recipe adapted from: Better Homes and Gardens Website

Durian Mousse Cake 榴槤慕絲蛋糕

Sponge cake base 

Ingredients: (7" round cake)

3 eggs
90g sugar
90g plain flour
35g oil
35g warm water
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Directions:

1. Whisk eggs, sugar and salt together until thick, pale & fluffy, to the ribbon stage.
2. Sift flour in at 3 batches and fold with a small balloon whisk
3. Mix the water, oil and vanilla extract together and slowly pour into the batter mixture comining together. Use a rubber spatula to make sure all the liquid is well combined.
4. Bake in a preheated oven at 180C or 350F for 30 mins
5. Test with a skewer and when it is ready, take it out the oven and wait 10 mins before you remove the cake from the baking tin and cool on a wire rack.
6. Cut into 2 layers.

Durian Mousse

Ingredients

250g durian puree
100ml milk
300ml whipping cream
10g powdered gelatine
50g water
30g icing sugar

Directions:

1. Add 50g of water to a small bowl and sprinkle gelatine over the water to soften it for a few minutes
2. Once it has absorb all the water, heat the gelatine in microwave for 20 seconds or until it have become liquid, set aside to cool
3. Mix durian puree with milk and whisk until blended
4. Whipped the cream and add icing sugar in between whisking.
5. Add cooled liquid gelatine into the durian mixture first and whisk quickly to combine. Then fold in the whipped cream

To Assemble the cake

1. Place bottom layer of sponge cake into a 8" spring form cake tin.
2. Add half of the mouse into the tin. Spread evenly
3. Place another layer of sponge cake over the mousse. Then pour the remaning durian mousse on top.
4. Spread evenly and smooth off the top.
5. Tap the pan gently to release any trapped air.
6. Put in fridge at least 4 hours until firm.

To decorate

I use 200ml whipping cream. Whipped with 1/2 cup icing sugar. Put it in piping bag and decorate. I pipe flower bud on top of the cake for decoration this time.

Recipe adapted from: http://mandysbakingjourney.blogspot.ca/2014/02/durian-mousse-cake.html