Tomato Tart

The other day on a train ride to San Francisco, a lady who sat next to me was eating her lunch in a container. It looks delicious, and I asked her what is it. She told me it tomato tart that her mother made for her, whenever she go home to visit her. This is the recipe from her. Thanks Brenda for sharing!

Chocolate Mint Cookies

Made this for our daughter, who love chocolate mint cookies and ice cream. This is my first time making it, so I hope you like it.
Ingredients; (adapted from aspicyperspective.com)
2 sticks of butter, softened
1/2 cup sugar (for less sweet)
1 egg, beaten
2 tsp. vanilla
2 cups all purpose flour (and some extra for dusting)
1 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
3/4 cup Andes Creme de Menthe chips
1/2 tsp. mint extract
a few drops of green food coloring
Method:
1. Cream butter and sugar until creamy and fluffy. Add beaten eggs and vanilla, combine to mix.
2. In a bowl, sift 2 cups of flour, baking powder, salt together. Gently add to the egg mixture and beat to combined.
3. Divide mixture into thirds, keeping 1.3 in the mixing bowl. In this, add mint extract, and green food coloring and extra flour to mix into a smooth dough. Form the dough into a flat rectangle and wrap with plastic and refrigerate for at least an hour.
4. Place the rest of the 2/3 dough into the bowl, add cocoa powder and mint chips. Mix well to combine and wrap dough with plastic and refrigerate for at least an hour.
5. On a floured piece of wax paper, roll the chocolate dough into a flat rectangle, about 1/8 inch thick. Do the same with the green dough and place over the chocolate dough. Press gently to stick both pieces together. Roll into a log and press down on the end to seal, pinching any cracks together. Wrap the log in wax paper and refrigerate for another 30-45 minutes before baking.
6. 5. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
7. Line baking tray with parchment paper. Unwrap dough and slice into 1/3-1/4 inch pieces. Place pieces 2 inch apart on baking trays and bake for 10-15 minutes. Cool on trays after removing from oven, before transferring to cooling trays.

Printable Recipe

Persimmon Cookies

A friend gave me some ripen persimmons from her tree, and she even gave me a recipe for making these cookies. They are soft and moist cookies with raisins and nuts. Yummy.

Pfeffernusse Cookies

I made these delightful German cookies, a popular holiday treat in Germany. They are small round cookies filled with aromatic ground spices and molasses. If you like gingerbread cookie, you will find this one quite similar in taste. If  you like yours to be spicy, just adjust the spices to your taste.

Korean Stuffed Chicken with Fresh Ginseng Soup (SamGyeTang)

This soup reminds me of the wonderful visit I made to South Korea a few years ago. Our friends took us to a different restaurant each day. One of my favorites was this quaint restaurant, where we all sat down on the wooden floor around a low table. We were served with a variety of colorful dishes, piping hot ginseng soup and Makgeolli, a milky colored rice wine. I love the sweet taste of this wine, and I am quite smitten by it's unique taste and flavor. It reminds me of Chinese rice wine, that my mother used to make in Malaysia.Ginseng is a popular health food in Korea, and the Koreans eat ginseng and other herbs to recuperate strength and for youthful complexion. Ginseng has been used as medicine for thousand of years both in China and Korea, and Korea is one of the largest producer of ginseng.I bought some fresh ginseng roots in a Korean supermarket to make this nutritious soup. This soup calls for young chicken, preferably 100-day old hens. You can also use black silky chicken, or raise your own pullets. I used Cornish game hens for this recipe. Enjoy!

Kuih Bangkit

Kuih Bangkit is an all time favorite during the Chinese New Year celebration. It is a traditional Nyonya cookie that melts away in your mouth. This recipe is adapted from Nyonya Flavors.

Osmanthus Flower Cookie

Osmanthus is little white flower with a lovely and delicate fragrance. I bought some dried Osmanthus flowers while I was on vacation in Kunming last year from a street vendor. The fragrance is just heavenly! I stumbled upon this recipe online and thought I'd shared it here.

Salted Egg Cookies

Don't let the name of this cookie discourage from making it. If you like the taste of salted egg, you might like this savory cookie. It is actually quite delicious!

Osmanthus Blossoms Jelly/Guì Huā Gāo (桂花糕)

On my recent tour to Kunming in China, one of the excursions was a visit to an ancient home that once belonged to a famous Chinese general. The main house was located in a courtyard surrounded by beautiful gardens of sweeping willows and water lilies.
Along the perimeter of the gardens were rows of medium height trees with small clusters of yellow and white fragrant Osmanthus Fragrans blossoms. The blossoms have a heady fragrance that is sweet and fruity, it reminds me of sun ripened apricots and peaches--intense and intoxicating, yet not overwhelming. In the afternoon a cool gentle breeze swept through the entire courtyard bringing forth the scent of joy and natural sweetness. It was a delightful experience to be in the midst of it all, as it brings to mind nostalgia of bittersweet and its sentiment.

Osmanthus Blossoms

Soy Bean Pudding/Dau Fu Fah

Douhua 豆花, dòuhuā, or doufuhua 豆腐花 in Chinese literary translates to soybean flower. It is dessert made by cooking soybean milk with calcium sulfate (gypsum) as a coagulant. This popular dessert is found  in most dim sum restaurant. The texture of this wonderful dessert is smooth and silky and delicious when served in a warm sugar syrup. A Japanese friend told me that she used to make all her tofu with nigari, another type of coagulant that is commonly used in Japan. Nigari is magnesium sulphate made by evaporating sea water and can be found in some health food stores. For this post, I'd used gelatin, however, you can also substitute with agar agar powder.

Roasted Butternut Squash with Quinoa and Beet Salad

This summer,we have been eating a lot of salad lately. Perhaps it's my excuse for being tired after the long drive home from work. I am glad that John is not a picky eater and he enjoyed most of what I cooked. This is mostly how it goes the minute I got home from work: feed the cat, check on the chicken for eggs, picked some greens or whatever is available from the garden. Then it's back to the kitchen to whip up something simple for dinner. Here's one of my version of a summer salad using leftovers from the fridge.

Risotto Con Funghi Porcini

Here's a hearty recipe for someone like me who has to have rice at least once a week. This traditional Italian dish is prepared with some of my favorite fungi’s (porcini and chanterelle). Risotto is a versatile, flavorful and nutritious dish and can be prepared with a variety of ingredients to suit any taste and occasion. Buon Appetito!

Sweet and Spicy Chicken Drummettes

I am an easy target (sucker) for finger food! Today I have a great recipe for chicken drummettes. Chicken drummettes are the fleshy part of the wing and it reminds me of a mini chicken thigh. It is versatile and a great appetizing snack. This recipe is easy to prepare and it's full of flavor and mouthwatering--yummy!

Parmesan Baked Fish with Onion and Leek

My son-in-law made this for dinner one evening while I was visiting. It was something that he came up on his way home from work. It was baked fish fillets with onion, leek and cheese stuffing, and polenta on the side. You can use any variety of firm white fish: cod, catfish, or grouper works well. If you are looking for a simple yet elegant fish dinner--this is the one!

Goji Berry, Date, & Pistachio Nut Slices

Here's a great tasting treat to perk up that mid-day at work! These buttery fingers are filled with dates, goji berries, and pistachio nuts. For nutritional purposes, I've added goji berry to the recipe. Goji berry or wolfberry can be found in many health food stores. They are often used in Chinese herbal soups as they are high in antioxidant, help eyesight, improve circulation and boost immune function. I have a goji berry shrub in my garden and it provides me a good supply of plump and sweet berries. Enjoy it with a cup of your favorite tea or coffee.

Pistachio Nut Brownies

The trend in brownies over the past several years is ever gooier creations that seem to overwhelm you with chocolate and sugar. They are really only suitable for dessert. I wanted something that was a bit more versatile and could be enjoyed in the afternoon with tea without ruining your appetite for dinner. This brownie can even be enjoyed mid-morning with tea or coffee. Though I like walnuts, they never seemed quite right to me in brownies, their slightly bitter aftertaste always seems to be what I taste last as I eat a brownie. Instead I‘ve used pistachios, their mild and nutty taste matches this sparingly sweetened brownie and gives it added texture and notes of other flavors, not just chocolate.

Cannellini Beans and Kale Soup

This vegetarian soup is hearty enough for winter, yet has enough different delicate flavors to work well with a light meal. Normally this soup, which features cannellini beans (white kidney beans), calls for cabbage among its ingredients. I enjoy cooked cabbage, but I don’t think it does so well as a leftover. In this recipe, I’ve substituted Lacinato Kale (dinosaur kale) for the cabbage. Dinosaur kale or Tuscan kale is a hardy cooking green with dark curly wrinkled green leaves. I really like the flavor it brings to this soup and it maintains a firm texture even when served the next day.

Stromboli with Salami and Cheese

Stromboli is a type of turnover filled with various meats, such as salami, prosciutto, coppa, vegetables, and cheese, typically mozzarella. You can use any variety of ingredients of your preference for the filling. This is great to serve on a picnic or a light brunch. Enjoy!

Quinoa Maki Rolls with Orange Ginger Sauce

Lately I've been using Quinoa as an alternative to rice in my meals. Quinoa are the seeds from a flowering plant that is grown primarily for it's edible seeds. When cooked it has a light fluffy texture with a mild nutty flavor. I've been using it on salad for a light and satisfying meal.

I found some seasoned seaweed in the pantry--and an idea came to mind! I could use some of my leftover quinoa instead of rice when I make sushi. I thought to myself, what a genius idea, until I Googled and found tons of sushi roll using quinoa as a substitue for rice. Oh well, I am not going to be disheartened by the fact that I wasn't the first to think of it, what is it they say, "great minds think alike." Most importantly is that this is my version and I love it.

Pistachios Wafers with Sesame Seed Crust

I have every other Friday off, and with the weather still a bit to cool to start serious gardening, I've devoted my time to trying some new recipes. The cold weather puts me in the mood for savory dishes, and I have found a wonderful cookbook that has may wonderful and inspiring recipes. I've come up with a variation of one of Mary Cech's wonderful recipes, a pistachio wafer. In asian cooking, sesame seeds are quite common and it struck me that this would make not only a good substitute, but give the recipe a bit of an asian influence. This recipe is not for the sweet-tooth, however it is great to serve plain or paired with other condiments, such as cheese or fruit chutney.