GZ Tai-Tai

Onion Gravy

 
This recipe originally comes from The British Food Bible. I have used the recipe on several occasions with good results. I think, I like it best, made with Port.  I have tweaked the recipe on occasion  using a spoon of marmite or vegemite with some boiled water when I was out of liquid stock.  The recipe below has my adaptations in italics.

Onion Gravy

adapted from The British Food Bible

3 onions, sliced thinly - I use two softball size red onions

70g butter  - I use 50g I find the full amount is too much

125ml Marsala, port  - I like port best it is not as sweet as the Marsala.

125ml vegetable stock  - My family likes it best with Marmite or Vegamite mixed in boiled water to make stock.

salt and pepper

Brown the onions in the butter on medium heat until soft and caramelized. Pour in the port or Marsala and the stock. Stirring occassionally let the liquid reduce to a lovely thick sauce. Season with salt and pepper to your taste. 

Latkes

Just before Christmas the kids were in the mood for latkes. It was actually during Hanukkah that they made them. We are not Jewish but we do enjoy the food and the latkes the kids made were delicious.

The recipe is from a book that Expat Son received last year for Christmas. Kids in the holiday kitchen by Jessica Strand and Tammy Massman-Johnson.

Here is the kids and my adaptation.

Latkes

8 potatoes, peeled

1 large onion

4 eggs

1 C bread crumbs

1 Tbsp Sea Salt

1 Tsp black pepper

Vegetable oil for frying

Sour cream to serve

Thinly slice or grate the onion. Grate the potatoes, and toss onion and potatoes together to combine evenly. Put paper towels or a clean dry tea towel on a cookie sheet, squeeze moisture out of potatoes with your hands and then spread the potato mixture evenly on the toweling, to collect any  moisture that has not come out of the mixture.
Then place the potatoes into a dry bowl. Beat the eggs and pour into the potatoes, stir while adding the bread crumbs and salt and pepper.

Heat a large frying pan with approximately 2 inches of oil over a medium high heat. Form the potato batter into patties and place them gently into the hot oil. Turn the latkes when they are a nice golden brown color.  When the latkes are finished browning on both sides, remove from pan and drain on paper towels to absorb excess oil.

Serve hot with sour cream.

Asparagus Risotto

 

This recipe is from one of our  Hot Chillies' cook club members, she taught it at our last class, before, we broke up for the Summer break. She also blogs and can be found at her website which is in German. Here is the link

Asparagus Risotto

500g asparagus white or green

200g risotto rice (or any other short-grain rice)

250ml white wine I used chardonnay

50g parmesan, grated

1 onion, finely, chopped

6 tbsp olive oil

1 tbsp butter

Salt and pepper

1 liter water for boiling the asparagus stalks

Clean the asparagus and cut off the asparagus tips, set aside. Cut the remaining asparagus stalks into small pieces, discarding the tough ends. Boil the stalk in the 1 liter of water that has been salted, for 20 minutes. Then blend the broth and stalks in blender or with immersion blender. Set asparagus broth aside to add to the rice.

Heat the olive oil in a large frying pan and sauté' the onions lightly, put in the asparagus tips, continue to sauté.

Stir in the rice and sauté lightly with onion & asparagus then add the wine to deglaze. Next start adding the asparagus broth a little at a time, add more broth as the rice absorbs the broth. If you run out of broth you can continue with milk, until rice has absorbed the broth/milk and is slightly al'dente yet creamy. Stir in the butter, parmesan cheese and then season with salt and pepper to taste.

 

 

 

 

Cucumber Salad

I always loved cucumber salad as a kid. My mom made one with a vinegar base when I was a child. When we had cucumbers I always asked for that salad. At the church potlucks there was usually a cucumber salad with sour cream on the table I loved to eat that variety too.  This salad that Karla made was very similar to the one I enjoyed at the church potlucks.

Cucumber Salad

 

Dressing

¼ of an onion, chopped

3 Tbsp. white wine vinegar

Salt and Pepper

2 Tbsp. Olive oil

3 tsp. Sugar or Honey

 Mix together taste and adjust the seasoning if needed.

5 Tbsp cream or sour cream

Then add the cream or sour cream, and mix, so that all the dressing ingredients are well combined.

 

For the salad:

2 lg. Cucumbers

Slice the cucumbers thinly so they look like circles, using a mandolin if you have one.  Aiyees do this job well too. ; )

Add the dressing to the sliced cucumbers and mix. Taste; adjust any of the seasonings if needed.

 

Optional  

Add chives or dill that has been cut into small pieces as a garnish.

 

 

Karla's Potato Salad

The thing I love about this potato salad is there is no mayonnaise. I was never a huge fan of mayonnaise growing up, and then living in a warm climate and having had the consequences of mayonnaise laced chicken sandwiches from Mc D, a few too many times. I tend to avoid anything with mayonnaise, if, I do not know it has been stored at a proper temperature. This salad as I said, has no mayonnaise so, it is a great one to take on a picnic since you do not need to worry about spoilage.

Potato Salad

10-12 Potatoes

Boil the potatoes the day before. Cool.  Peel and cut the potatoes the next day.

 1 Onion, chopped

 200-250g Bacon (1 package)

Cut the bacon into small pieces and fry, remove the fat and add onion and fry until cooked.  Add the fried bacon and onion to the potatoes.

 Dressing:

Salt

Pepper

75ml White Wine Vinegar

75ml Water

 ¾ of an Onion, chopped

Sugar

5 Tbsp. Olive oil

Put the dressing ingredients in a bowl taste for flavor a sweet/sour taste, then microwave the dressing to soften the onion, 1-3 minutes depending on your microwave.  Add warm dressing to the potatoes then add 5 TBSP olive oil.  Mix to combine the dressing into the potatoes.

 

 

Eggplant Dip - Baba Ghanoush

Egg Plant Dip - Baba Ghanoush

500g eggplant

2-3 cloves garlic chopped, finely

Salt to taste

Juice of  2-3 lemons

1/3 cup Tahini paste

 

Blacken eggplants over a gas flame. Put into a bowl and cover with cling film. Leave to sweat a little.  When cool enough to handle remove skin a wash any black residue off.

I usually put in the oven moderate heat, bake until the skin turns brown, then I remove from oven, and let cool. Then slice open skin and run a spoon along skin to remove the eggplant.

 

Blend  the eggplant, garlic, most of lemon juice, and the tahini paste. Mix until combined well.

Adjust flavor of the salt and lemon.

Cool in fridge for about 30 minutes before serving. 

 

Fried Eggplant Sticks

 

When my Argentine friend taught us how to make the Lentil Stew we also made these eggplant sticks. I loved them! Sorry no photo.

 

Fried Eggplant Sticks

 

2 medium size eggplants

2 large eggs, beaten

Salt

3 cups cracker crumbs

Vegetable oil for deep frying

Peel the eggplant and cut lengthwise into thick slices. Spread the eggplant slices on several sheets of paper towels and sprinkle lightly with salt. Let sit for 20-30 minutes, this will draw out the bitterness and moisture from the eggplant. Put the eggplant slices in a colander, rinse with cool water and pat dry.

Beat eggs in a shallow bowl. Dip the eggplant in the egg mixture, and then dredge in the cracker crumbs, tapping off the excess crumbs. In heated oil 360 F deep fry several slices of eggplant at a time for 1-2 minutes or until golden brown.

Cinco de Mayo Guacamole

I made this from what I had on hand at the moment. It was very nice with the tacos last night and will be nice on my bread for lunch.

5 avocados
12 green onions chopped the white part and some of the greens.
salt to taste
2 lemons the juice to your taste

My Lunch Today

My lunch today was a real treat!

Though I know my husband will turn his nose up and have a snide comment or two. I had pumpkin but, not the usual pumpkin that you would expect. This dish was really simple and was made by my lovely helper who is from Hunan. Yes, it is spicy but, not too spicy. The sweetness of the pumpkin balances it perfectly. Ling my helper said, that for babies in her home town, they make this same dish without the chilli, instead they add 1 clove of garlic.I will definitely fix this for myself and perhaps for my friends that love pumpkin.

This dish is filling and could be a meal, it was for me. You could also serve it as a side dish. Ling also told me that she eats it in her home with sticky rice.

**Note** for those in the States no need to buy a huge pumpkin you could easily substitute an orange flesh squash. I think it would be lovely made with an acorn squash. The pumpkin we get here in China is quite small compared to the pumpkins in the states.

read on for the recipe....