Coral and Jade Prawns

This was one of the first Chines recipes we found in a cookbook (Kare Jup Ha Kow) and prepared as we started to travel around Asia and missing the Asian taste once back at home.

With the time we adapted the recipe to our taste but we kept the to the combination of prawns, broccoli and baby ginger; the last one the big hit in this dish!

This need a bit of time for the preparation of the broccoli florets and assembling with the prawn, but it looks so pretty that we never skipped this step.

• Servings: 2-3 persons if served alone with rice
• Time: 30 min
• Difficulty: easy
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Ingredients

• 400-500 g prawns
• 1 broccoli head
• 2 tablespoons vegetal oil
• 2 tablespoon finely diced ginger
• 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
• ½ cup of water
• 2 teaspoons cornstarch
• 1 tablespoon Chinese rice wine or dry sherry
• 1 tablespoon soya sauce, to taste
• 1 tablespoons sliced preserved pink baby ginger

Preparation

1. Shell and devein the shrimp letting the last part of the tail as it is.
2. Wash the broccoli and with a knife prepare as many florets as the prawns. Make a point at the end of the green stalk.
3. Make an incision on the tail of the prawn and pass the end of the broccoli stem though this hole.
4. In a small bowl combine water with cornstarch.  Set aside.
5. Heat the oil in a wide non-stick frying skillet. Add garlic, and ginger and stir fry until fragrant.
6. Add the prawn with the broccoli to the skillet and fry for about 2 minutes. Turn gently and cook for one more minute,
7. Add soya and rice wine, reduce the heat to minimum.
8. Add the mixture of water and cornstarch cover, shake gently the skillet, and cook for two minutes or until broccoli begins to turn a bit soft. Add more water or soya sauce to taste if needed.
9. Just before serving top with the baby ginger.
10. Serve immediately with rice.

Autor: https://artandkitchen.wordpress.com/  

Chocolate and Orange Mousse with Whiskey

It’s very easy to prepare a chocolate mousse, but it is also super easy to prepare this decadent, rich, chocolatey fudgy version. The orange totally complements the chocolate, and the whiskey is just a slight nuance that you almost can’t put your finger on. YUMMY!!!

Try this you will not regret it! ….I need to make this again, it was too delicious!

• Servings: 4-8
• Time: 30 mins + time for cooling
• Difficulty: easy
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Autor: https://artandkitchen.wordpress.com/ 

 

You need

Mousse

• 8 ounces chocolate, coarsely grated
• 3 very fresh eggs, separated into whites and yolks
• 2 tablespoons Scotch whisky
• 2 tablespoons heavy cream (whipping cream)
• 1 orange, finely grated zest only

Topping

• 3/4 cup heavy cream (whipping cream)
• 2 tablespoons Scotch whisky
• 1/2 teaspoon powdered sugar
• 1/2 orange, zest use the vegetable peeler and cut into thin strips

Procedure

1. Combine chocolate, whisky and cream in a heatproof bowl and place over pan of simmering hot water, stirring until melted.
2. Remove from the heat and allow cooling slightly.
3. Beat egg whites to hard peaks.
4. Beat the yolks with the finely grated orange rind until pale.
5. Add egg yolk mixture into the cooled chocolate cream, stir to combine.
6. Fold in the whisked egg whites.
7. Spoon the mixture into 4-8 individual cups or glasses. (Quantity of glasses depends on the size of the portions).
8. Chill in the fridge for at least three hours.
9. Just before serving, whip the cream for the topping with powdered sugar add the whisky and whip shortly again.
10. Spoon cream over the mousse, top with orange zest strips and serve immediately.

Easy Sourdough Bread

• Servings: 2 loafes
• Time: 12-15 hr
• Difficulty: easy
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Autor: https://artandkitchen.wordpress.com/

This recipe allow to me to prepare two loaves with half of my starter that I have to refresh.

I made this after my vacations, the starter rested in the fridge for more than 3 weeks, but the time for the first rising (sponge) made the starter active enough again to prepare two beautiful loaves.

Note: To prepare the sponge I use half (100 g) of the starter I have in the fridge and refresh second half (100 g) with 50 ml water and 50 g flour.

This recipe is a metric conversion adapted from http://www.food.com/recipe/quicker-sourdough-bread-488580 by Red Apple Guy.

You need

Starter Sponge

• 100 g sourdough starter (alternative: 50 g water + 50 g flour + 1/4 teaspoon dried yeast)
• 300 g purpose flour
• 270 g water

Dough

• 330 g all-purpose flour
• 120 g water
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 2 tablespoons olive oil

Procedure

1. To prepare the sponge I mix all the ingredients with a fork until combined in a big bowl (total content about 8 liters). As the bowls is big enough I can close it tightly and I place it to rise in a warm place (about 27°C) for example in the oven by light switched on or over lukewarm water. When the sponge is ready the volume should be more than doubled and it should be very “spongy”. This can be made overnight (8 hours) or in the early morning.
2. Add all the other ingredients to make the dough. I did it the same bowl, using the fork again to mix.
3. Cover and place in a warm place.
4. After 20 minutes a spatula to stretch and fold it a dozen of times. To do this I dropped about 1 tablespoon of oil around the borders of the bowl to avoid sticking.
5. Cover and place in a warm place again until doubled (this takes about 30-60 minutes).
6. Add 1 tablespoon of oil again and stretch and fold directly in the bowl. Cover and let rest in a warm place again for about 20 minutes. Stretch and fold again.
7. Repeat one or two more times until the dough is silky smooth.
8. Now let rise until nearly doubled in size (about 1-2 hours), sprinkle with flour and with the spatula dive it into 2 equal pieces directly in the bowl.
9. Remove the both portions and with each form a 30-40 cm long loaf. To this I suggest to follow this technique (http://www.thekitchn.com/how-to-shape-a-baguette-loaf-110505)
10. Place on a floured baking tray to rise for about 45 minutes.
11. Preheat the oven to 250°C and when the loaves are 1 1/2 times the original volume score each loaf with a sharp knife about 1 cm deep (make several diagonal cuts).
12. Place try into the hot oven, sprinkle the bottom of the oven with about 100 ml water to produce steam and bake for 20-25 minutes until golden brown. If after about 18 minutes you see that the breads are browning only on the top and the bottom remains pale turn them upside-down and bake for a few minutes.

Note: I use a fan forced oven and baking stone that had previously heated enough or a thin tray turning upside-down the loves is not necessary. This depends on your oven and your tray/stone.