Sweet risotto with Azuki

My mother-in-law likes the rice pudding (rice cooked with milk, egg and raisin) that sold at supermarkets. But this one I prepared is quite different, and includes azuki (tiny red beans) because I always miss my mom's azuki dessert.

If you are Asian you surely know azuki dessert... the beans boiled in water, with a lot of raw cane sugar and a bit of Mandarin orange's peel. My mom liked to throw in a handful of glutinous rice, which I loved so much to the extend that I'd stand by the pot for a long time, gingerly picked out the rice with a tiny spoon until it filled up a whole bowl. Such a patience didn't extend to cooking azuki myself this time though. In this recipe I used cooked azuki in can, which still tasted wonderful, specially it didn't need much so I rather not to slave myself in kitchen.

Recipe of sweet risotto with azuki

yield: 2 servings

• 3 Tbps cooked azuki (I used ones from can)
• 1/4 - 1/3 cup of azuki infused syrup (from can as well)
• 160 g Italian rice, I used Carnavoli
• some water, simmering
• 1 Tbp butter
• zest from 1/2 orange
• spoonfuls of mascarpone
• dash of vanilla essence

How-to:

1. Slowly melt the butter in a skillet, add rice and stir for a minute or two over medium-low heat. Add some simmering water, and the azuki syrup, stirring occasionally until the rice is almost done.
2. Last minute add vanilla, orange zest and spoonfuls of azuki and mascarpone. Serve immediately.

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Coconut meringue with pomegrante, mascarpone & mint

Coconut meringues layered with pomegranate arils and mascarpone, drizzled with mint syrup

Not because at one Christmas party I brought over some coconut meringues, I wouldn't realize that many of our families (in NJ and NH) and friends hadn't ever tasted home-made meringue, and coconut.

Egg white foam is baked under low heat for hours (depending the size), it comes out dry and air-light. Including spoonfuls of desiccated coconut in egg foam gives the meringue a good crunch, also makes people curious about the unexpected new taste; would go for one more (then more) in order to trace its undertoned aroma.

At the party my meringues were practically devoured in minutes. To my delight, the ones who ate the most were kids and weight-watchers, who are usually hard to please in my experience. By the way, I must send a basket of coconut meringues to my landlady from time to time, oh well, she hadn't raised our rent for 5 years :) :)

Pour the candy to pomegranate arils. But some arils will fall since meeting the heat they shrank.

I learn the combination (meringue, fruit and mint) from a local food magazine micocina - postres. To make meringue paper-thin is totally new to me, and these "disks" actually melt in your mouth instantly! They keep well (in air-tight container) for a few days. If prepared ahead, such an elaborated presentation as the photos shown can be done in a minute.

Egg white foam at its soft-peak enable me to spread it thin. Since the following recipe yields many meringue "disks" and the oven couldn't bake them all at once; I whisked them at its hard-peak first. The first batch of "disks" were thick, but the second batch (after sitting for an hour the foam deflated a little bit) came out thin. Either way, they tasted good.

Recipe of coconut meringue with pomegranate, mascarpone & mint

You will need:

1. pomegranate, please check Ann's video for how to take out the arils
2. mascarpone
3. mint syrup
4. coconut meringue, and its recipe as follows:

To make coconut meringue (yields about 5-cm disks, 50 - 60 pcs)

• 2 egg whites
• 90 g sugar
• a pinch of salt
• a pinch of cream of tartar
• 2 tablespoons desiccated coconut, unsweeten

how-to:

• Pre-heat the oven to a low temperature, around 110C/225F (mine is convection oven). Line two large baking trays with silicon baking paper
• In a big dry & clean (totally grease-free) mixing bowl, beat the egg whites for a minute, add salt and cream of tartar. Continue to whisk until it's close to soft-peak, start to add sugar, little by little, and beat quickly. When it's almost at hard-peak foam, add in coconut, combine well.
• Spoon the meringue with a small teaspoon on the baking paper, spread it to about 5 cm-diameter circle. No need to leave a big space between circles as they don't spread during baking. Cover and send the left-over egg foam to the fridge.
• Bake the meringue "disks" for about an hour or depending the power of your oven, rotate the trays once in the middle of baking. Take they out before they start turning brown. Repeat the same procedure to the left-over egg-foam.
• To assemble the dessert : Right before you serve, layer the meringue "disks" with mascarpone and pomegranate arils, drizzle mint syrup to finish.

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Fresh date, yam & walnut cake

The cake is garnished with caramelized walnut and yam

There are so many one-bowl cake's recipes (batter done in one mixing bowl, or a.k.a. quick-n'-easy) out there, if we haven't tried dozens, I bet we seen a hundred. So one really able to get me into action is not easy. When I was flipping micocina - postres, a local food magazine with a fairly low printing quality, fortunately visual never bothers me so I was able to discover a couple of great recipes.

One of them, yam cake, a one-bowl recipe, consists of an old classic and a new twist.

Yam is a classic in many Asian desserts, the feeling is very "country", love it! Potato has long been used in bread recipes with execellent result, so I know this yam would do the same wonder.

About the new twist - an egg is beat until foamy (like what we do for sponge cakes), then oil is whisked in until it emulsified. Little taxing on my arm power, but the cake doesn't turn out as heavy as most other one-bowl cakes. It does worth all the time and effort.

Fresh dates quite often are available in Barcelona, their price can be less than a half of the dried ones'. I start using them more frequently in cooking and baking, especially in this recipe, the fresh dates paired so well with yam.

My cakes were baked in convection oven which I don't like very much in baking, anyway, please adjust accordingly to your oven if it's different. The cakes were well kept at least 2 days.

Fresh date, yam and walnut cake

(adapted from cake de patatas dulces published in micocina postres 05)

yields : four cup cakes and one 3.5-inch mini bundt cake

Ingredients

• 100 g yam, shredded
• 3 fresh dates, seeded, diced
• 90g flour
• 100 g sugar
• 1 egg
• 70 ml peanut oil
• 70 g walnut, finely chopped
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

How-to

1. Grease the cake molds and pre-heat the oven to 140C
2. Beat the egg with sugar until its pale and foamy. VERY slowly drizzle, bit by bit, the oil in and continue to beat
3. Well combine the egg mixture with flour, baking powder, cinnamon, nut, yam and dates. Fill the cake mold with batter about 2/3 full. Bake until they turn golden brown, about 45 minutes or depending your oven.

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Kitchen Unplugged ...

... amply named for this time because I'm flying off to New Jersey tomorrow, but will resume the kitchen work in May. I really appreciate every of your sweet note and comment, they mean so much to me, wish I had more time to reply to you guy individually...

I don't always make everything from scratch. Like these chocolate and almond shells are bought from Casa Vives, a series bakery (I like!) that is located just a street next to where I live. I filled them with brioche (French-style plain cake) and quality strawberry preserve, topped them with mini strawberries Originally I would love them be brioche, marmalade and candied kumquat, but kumquats are hard to get now as I think their season is over in here.

Hope you guys enjoy! "See" you soon!

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Rice fettuccine with garlic, green onion, chili and anchovies

It is very difficult to decide what my most favorite pasta dish is. But this dish, no matter how many times I made, I still have the same satisfaction that I got at the very first time. Unfortunately I lost its recipe book which is written in Italian. The original recipe called for fusilli. I probably have made it a hundred time! I found that most flat-noodle-shaped pasta, rice- or wheat-made, yield the same good result.

I am a big fan of seafood. Seafood, in the sense of my husband's side of family, sadly, only means shelled shrimps, salmon steaks and white fish fillets. Me, anything in water, fish-alike or not (e.g. jellyfish), shelled or not (a whole shrimp with its head, legs, and all going to my mouth wouldn't have anything coming out), cooked or sashimi, fresh or dried or preserved!

Recipe of rice fettuccine with garlic, green onion, chili and anchovies

(the following based on 1 serving)

• rice fettuccine
• 2 cloves of garlic, no less, diced
• 3 stalks of green onions, diced up the white part, and cut the green parts to about 2-inch long
• 1 chili, preferably green (this time I use red), finger-length, diced
• 6 anchovies preserved in olive oil, drained
• olive oil, a bit sea salt, ground black pepper
• optional: grated hard cheese to finish if you use wheat pasta.

How-to:

• Cook the pasta while you prepare the following
• Pre-heat a skillet, add some olive oil, saute (over very low heat) the chili for 1 minute, then add garlic for another minute, then the white part of green onion, again, 1 minute
• Raise up the heat, add anchovies. When the fish heated through, add pasta and the rest of green onion. Taste before you add salt. Sprinkle some black pepper. Serve immediately.

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Citrus fruit salad in spicy honey

A BIG bowl of citrus fruit is my best remedy to the early stage of the common cold.

Pills ever never work for me. I used to have a job that was so ridiculously demanding that I wasn't supposed to have time to be sick. So I took cocktailed medicines with extra-strength... how creative huh?! The syndrome seemed to subside for a day or two, then a full-blow followed...

Fresh oranges (not any orange juice) work very well on me, not talking about 1 or 2, but 5, 6 or more. Next day, say 'bye' to the cold.

Today I catch cold. Here is my choice: off-white Kleenex or colorful fruits - orange, mandarin orange, kiwi, exotic plum, lime and lemon - with star anise, clove, cinnamon and honey. But even not sick, this bowl of fruit is still a wonderful treat at any day!

Recipe of Citrus Fruit Salad in Spicy Honey

yield for one person in a deep need of vitamin C

• 1 cup water
• 1/2 star anise
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 3 cloves
• juice from 1/2 big lemon or 1 lime
• lemon zest from 1 fruit
• spoonfuls of honey
• for fruits: 1 big orange, 1 mandarin orange, 1 kiwi, 1 plum, few thin slices of lemon and lime

Bring the water to boil, simmer with star anise, cinnamon, cloves and lemon zest for 10 minutes. Turn the heat off, discard the spice, combine with lemon/lime juice and honey. Drizzle the spicy honey to the fruits. Enjoy, stay health!

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Radish (Leaves) & Avocado Quiche

Instead of the typical spinach and cheese, radish leaves and avocado are used for the filling. The radish leaves have a slightly peppery flavor similar to arugula's, are really incredible! I love eating the leaves and actually learnt it from Callipygia at FoodChair. Radishes are rich in absorbic acid, folic acid, and potassium. They are a good source of vitamin B6, riboflavin, magnesium, copper, and calcium. Radishes are also suggested as an alternate treatment for cancer, so these quiches I think are suitable to enter CCC.

Recipe of Radish Leaves and Avocado Quiches

yield 15 mini quiches (5 cm in diameters)

• 15 store-bought mini quiche shells
• 1 + 1 tablespoons of butter
• 1 shallot, finely diced
• 1 big handful of radish leaves, rinsed well, dried, chopped
• 1/2 tsp mustard
• flesh from a whole avocado, diced, mixed with a bit of lemon juice
• 1 egg
• 1 - 2 tablespoon(s) grate pecorino cheese (good match with radish)
• a dash of milk/ cream
• about 6 red radish, thinly sliced
• good pinch of salt
• grate green peppercorns
• dried juniper berries as garnish

How to:

• Pre-heat oven to 350F
• Pre-heat a skillet, saute the shallot and butter over very low heat for about 1 minute. Raise up the heat, add radish leaves and salt for another 30 seconds. Discard any juice, set the leaves aside.
• Puree avocado and leaves, well combine with egg, cheese, mustard, milk/cream, salt and green peppers. Spoon the filling into the shells, arrange radish slices on top, dot with tiny butter cubes and a bit of salt on radish. Bake until the top slightly firm to touch, about 20 minutes.
• Garnish with juniper berries, serve warm

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