330. The 12 Days of Feasting

I found a fabulous blog through Foodbuzz. The author is Tasty Trix, who is sharing a medieval feast for the 12 days of Christmas with us.

Tasty Trix has done a considerable amount of research in the food of the middle ages and has adapted the recipes for us to cook. I love all the 12 recipes and intend to try them.

If you don't know about this engaging blog, I urge you to check it out. It is a treat!

Happy Christmas

329. Eating out of the pantry challenge - Recipes

Cucumber salad

Today is the last day of the Eating out of the pantry challenge. I didn't buy food except for milk, bread, fresh fruit and vegetables. I tried to keep the weekly shopping to $20.00. I managed to do quite well on the challenge. What it means is that I buy too much food! I still have quite a bit of dried and canned goods at home. Namely, dried legumes, coconut milk and canned pineapple. Also have flour and dried pasta left.

Apart from saving money, I also saved quite a bit of time. I shopped in the neighbourhood produce shops for the essentials.

I took an inventory and worked out a general menu for the next month. Did a sort of rationing.

I spent the first couple of weekends cooking large pots of meat sauce, soups, casseroles and puddings which I froze in smaller portions.

Meat sauce

I had a few bags of rice flour and all the ingredients for turnip pudding, except the daikon. I bought the daikon when vegetable shopping and made a couple of puddings. The turnip pudding freezes well and I served some every week.

Turnip pudding cooked in an electric steamer.

Some of the ingredients for turnip pudding - Chinese sausages, preserved meat, dried shrimps and dried shitake mushrooms.

Chinese sausages and preserved meat are a staple in my house and make a quick delicious meal for Mr. KC. He loves steamed sausages and rice and a bit of boiled vegetables.

Mine is a Cantonese kitchen and I have dried goods. Dried mushrooms, dried bean curd sticks, mung bean vermicelli, wood ears fungus, cloud fungus. I didn't have to buy anything extra to make a pot of Buddha's Delight.

Buddha's Delight

I froze some and even had enough to send some to my sister-in-law. When serving, I would heat the Buddha's Delight and add some fresh, green vegetables to it.

Dinner in the tiffin box that I sent to my sister-in-law. Clockwise, braised beef, bamboo shoots stir-fried with squids, fried rice and Buddha's delight.

Korean mung bean pancakes, Bindae Duk. I made a batch and froze them also.

We had quite a few bean soups. I think this one is bean and mushroom soup.

Stir fried vegetables with dried mushrooms. This dish is South Beach Diet-friendly.

We had bowls of noodles, fried rice and quite a varied diet. Of course, all the condiments I have help to make the food tasty.

Here is last night's dinner. I had to use up the rest of the package of baby cuttlefish that I opened for my Gordon Ramsay recipe, so I made stir-fried baby cuttlefish with satay sauce.

The cuttlefish is a variation of Gordon's shrimp recipe.

Ingredients:

Baby cuttlefish
Some shallots, green onion, garlic, ginger, sliced.
Chili pepper flakes
Satay sauce or any sauce you like
Oil

Method:

1. Heat pan. Oil in pan.
2. Herbs in pan, fry for a minute.
3. Baby cuttlefish in pan. Sauce in pan.
4. Fry for another minute or two.
5. Dish up. Enjoy!
   

沙嗲醬炒墨魚仔

Buddha's Feast with baby bok choy added, stir-fried baby cuttlefish with satay sauce and tofu with minced pork.

I really enjoyed this challenge and intend to do the challenge every six months. Next time, I'll make my own bread and noodles to use up the flour. This is for Mr. KC. I'll also do the challenge to fit the South Beach Diet plan.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to my dear readers. Today I'm off to shop for our Christmas party on the 24th. I'm cooking for 28 people.

328. Christmas preparations at our house - Photographs

These angel ornaments are from The Metropolitan Museum of Art's Angels, A Book of Ornaments.

I collect angel ornaments which are brought out for the twelve days of Christmas.

These straw angels are from Slovenia.

The angel choir come from Ljubliana, Slovenia. I love these little musicians. I photographed them in front of a Christmas card. For once, I don't have a problem with the white balance - the background of the card is light grey.

Obviously, these guys are not lending a paw with the decorating.

Christmas Cactus.

326. I cooked along with Gordon Ramsay ... sort of - Recipe

Tagliatelle with baby cuttlefish, chili pepper and tomatoes

On Tuesday night I watched Gordon Ramsay's Cookalong Live. It looked like such fun. Whoppi Goldberg and her daughter were among the people who cooked along via Skype. I had never seen Gordon Ramsay on TV though I read about his foul langauge and bad temper. But he wasn't foul-mouthed or nasty on Cookalong Live. Pleasant, in fact! I liked his recipes and his easy way of cooking.

Even Mr. KC became interested and watched the show with me. He asked me if I could make the appetizer, Angel hair pasta with shrimp, chile pepper and tomatoes.

Sure, I said, I'll see what I can do with the ingredients I have on hand. For the past three weeks we have been doing the Eating out of the pantry challenge so the cupboards and fridge are pretty bare.

Here is the list of ingredients: Gordon Ramsay vs Kits Chow.


As you can see, salt and pepper, garlic, scallions, wine and olive oil were the only ingredients similar to Gordon's.

Baby cuttlefish, a staple in my freezer.

What I made was Tagliatelle with baby cuttlefish, chile pepper and tomatoes. The dish turned out to be delicious! Quick and easy too. It only took about 15 minutes.

Here is how I started. I turned my back on the pan and the chili flakes and garlic were burnt. Nothing worse than burnt garlic so I started again with a clean pan. I love Gordon's concise way of giving directions so I am writing the method in his style.

Method:

Start with a pot of boiling water. Pasta in the pot. Boil till pasta is al dente.


Heat pan. Oil in pan. Chili pepper flakes in pan. Squeeze the garlic into pan.

Baby cuttle fish in pan. More oil in pan, if necessary.

Chopped tomatoes in pan. Wine in pan. Cook for a few minutes.

Green onions in pan. Salt and pepper. Dried basil too.

Drain pasta. Oil over pasta. Dish up.

Baby cuttlefish over pasta. Eat! Enjoy!


I am sending this pasta dish to Reeni of Cinnamon Spice & Everything Nice. She is hosting the very last Presto Pasta Nights of 2009.

There is still time to send one last pasta recipe to PPN for this year. Send your pasta entry to cinnamonyspice (at) gmail (dot)com and cc to ruth (at) 4everykitchen (dot) com.

Then we'll have to wait till January 8th, when PPN resumes in 2010.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

325. A house is not a home without a cat - photograph

324. Vietnamese French Braised Short Ribs with Red Wine and Mushrooms - Recipe

Vietnamese French Braised Short Ribs with Red Wine and Mushrooms

A few days ago, Mr. KC and I went out for dinner with friends. We ate at a neighbourhood restaurant which serves good, tasty food. Mr. KC chose the braised short ribs.

After a few bites, he pronounced that it was good but my version was better. I suppose he still had the taste memory because I served braised short ribs for dinner on the night before.

Well, I can't take the credit for it because my version was Wandering Chopsticks' Vietnamese French Braised Short Ribs with Red Wine and Mushrooms.

This was one of the many recipes that I had bookmarked from her blog. Since we had half a bottle of red wine, a large bag of mushrooms and her blog is Blog of the Month for Tried and Tasted, it was a good time to cook with her. Plus, Famous Foods had a special on short ribs.

Wandering Chopsticks' Vietnamese/French braised short ribs were wonderful. I wish I had doubled the recipe.

Mr. KC's restaurant short ribs cost #24.95. My whole pot of braised short ribs cost about the same price. We had a meal for the two of us plus I froze the rest for two more meals. Try it. You'll love it. Home cooking is the best cooking!

I sliced the vegetables with a mandoline instead of dicing them as WC recommended. Other than that, I followed her recipe. Except that I used half a bottle of red wine instead of a cup.

I think it is WC's use of the curry paste and fish sauce that imparts that wonderful flavour to the sauce. The sauce doesn't taste of curry or fish sauce but all blends together to form a rich, delicious taste. The word "umami" can be applied to this dish!


I am sending this recipe to Trupti's Food Corner. Trupti is the host for Tried and Tasted this month. T&T is the brainchild of the lovely Zlamushka, of Zlamushka's Spicy Kitchen.

This month, I am cooking recipes by Wandering Chopsticks whose fabulous blog is featured as Blog of the Month.

Rated 10 out of 10 by Mr. KC.

323. Fried Rice with Chinese Sausage, Mixed Frozen Vegetables, and Eggs - Recipe

Fried Rice with Chinese Sausage, Mixed Frozen Vegetables, and Eggs

What do I make when I need a quick meal/snack? Make a sandwich? No, I cook fried rice. I usually have cold rice in the fridge and some bits of meat. Eggs and frozen vegetables are always on hand for me to whip up a plate of fried rice. Fried rice is Mr. KC's favourite meal.

When I saw Wandering Chopstick's posts on fried rice I LOL! We cook the same food!

She makes Fried Rice with Bacon, Corn, Eggs and Green Onions. I've made something similar, Bacon Fried Rice.

Her Yang Chow Fried Rice looks fabulous. I've made Beijing Fried Rice which is a pared down version of YC Fried Rice. I also make Fried Rice with Spam though I've never added Kimchi to it. Will have to try that one soon!

WC's Pineapple Fried Rice is another must try soon and I'm so envious of her pineapple-shaped serving dish.

Fried Rice with Chinese Sausage, Mixed Frozen Vegetables, and Eggs is the all-time favourite in our house. I don't think I'm ever without Chinese sausages. I restock when I'm down to about half a package. One never has to worry about what to cook if there are Chinese sausages in the fridge. I make this fried rice exactly the way Wandering Chopsticks does.

Here is her recipe. Try it, you'll love it!

I am sending this recipe to Trupti's Food Corner. Trupti is the host for Tried and Tasted this month. T&T is the brainchild of the lovely Zlamushka, of Zlamushka's Spicy Kitchen.

This month, I am cooking recipes by Wandering Chopsticks whose fabulous blog is featured as Blog of the Month.