Christmas Stollen

Merry Christmas to you and your family!

 The Stollen dough mixture


                                                                                                 








                                                                                                           Roll into logs 

  

Baked Stollen Loaves brushed with melted butter

and dust with powdered sugar

Interesting facts about Stollen ~

In Dresden, Germany, friends and associates have long exchanged stollen, a delicious sweet bread, to celebrate the holidays.  Stollen is thought to have originated in Dresden in the 1400s. However, at that time the Catholic Church, as part of the fasting rules in preparation for Christmas, forbade the use of butter during Advent. Thus, the stollen of the middle ages was a somewhat tasteless pastry. 

1650 - In 1650 Prince Ernst von Sachsen at the request of bakers in Dresden, successfully petitioned Pope Urban VIII to lift the restrictions on the use of butter during Advent. The restrictions were lifted only in Dresden and thus began a baking tradition that continues to this day.

Sweet Potato Chiffon Tart

A Happy & Sweet Thanksgiving to all!

I usually have my in-laws over every year to celebrate Thanksgiving. My mother-in-law grew up with Southern Cooking and her family always had Sweet Potato Pie for Thanksgiving. She does not cook very much now and I thought this tart will bless her and bring back lots of good memories ! Instead of making the traditional sweet potato pie I made small individual tarts this year. Add a new twist to it and make it lighter. I thought this will be a sweet light ending to a heavy turkey dinner. Here is to you Mom! Enjoy!

Hong Kong Egg Tarts (Lily-Inspired)

Lily Ng from Lily Wai Sek Hong Blogspot is my 'Cooking Buddy'.  Thanks to free SKYPE, we are able to chat with no reservations about our latest creations and food experiments and many times surf the net together for new inspiration and to do research.  We can show each other our successes and failures that never made it to the blog.  She is a great source of inspiration and mentor to many and definitely to me.  She is like an older sister that I always wish I had.
It is a rare find to have someone who shares a similar passion in cooking and eating !  We always have great laughs and great food conversations. Hong Kong Egg Tart is a result of  countless hours of surfing the net, watching You-tubes and discussion of the different pastries and the perfect custard filling.  Sometimes we bemoan the fact that we are not proficient in Mandarin and frequent checking the dictionaries can drain one's enthusiasm.  It can turn out to be a guessing game at times.  Nevertheless, if there is a will, there is a way!

My first try of Hong Kong Egg Tart made in Ramekins

Zuchinni Chocolate Sheet Cake

I was looking for an easy-to-make and taste good dessert to make for my small group meeting.  My good friend Lily pointed me to this recipe which I have slightly adapted to suit my own taste.   The ingredients in this recipe are easy to find in your own pantry and refrigerator.  Most of the time you can't go very wrong with chocolate. I still had some zuchinni left and it is another great way to put some vegetables into your cake, if you grate your zuchinni fine enough, nobody will even suspect they are in there.  My daughter (not a lover of vegetables) even commented that it is scary thing that she even likes this cake after finding out that there is zuchinni in it!  I wasn't trying to hide the zuchinni so I did a 'coarse-grate'.  It was super moist and a hit in my group.

So this recipe is specially dedicated to all the ladies in my small group. Sit down with a cup of tea or coffee, have some cake and prepare for your next lesson !

CUCUMBER AND PINEAPPLE SALAD

I love this salad, it is such a crowd pleaser.   It is so refreshing, appetizing, colorful and delicious.  You can serve it as an appetizer, a salad and take out the onions and you can serve it as a sweet at the end of a heavy meal.  It adds such a splash of color onto your dining table and the fresh pineapple just makes your mouth water.

Pies

I have known that my husband loves fruit pies but for some reason I've always let him buy his own pie.  For the life of me I don't understand why I did not make him any.  I've made him almost everything he enjoys but pie... maybe crust-making feels a bit too intimidating or maybe it is just my own love for baking cakes.

This last summer, I woke up from my 'pie slumber' and start experimenting with pies.  I enjoy researching and experimenting pies and am so glad that my family had their fill.  I found a good pie recipe in my research and hope that you too will enjoy making some pie for your family this Fall season.

A Patch of Treasure in the Middle of Nowhere

Last week my two good friends and I went to Dallas to attend a wedding.   On our way back, we stopped by a small Texas town with a population of a little over 7,000.  We decided unanimously that 1 hamburger on the way to Dallas is one too many for our Asian palate.  So, we decided to brave our way into a little humble looking Thai restaurant.  We had second thoughts once we were parked in front of the little parking lot, to go or not to go?  Once we came to a conclusion that Fried Rice is hard to mess up, we took a deep breath and headed in.
At first glance, I saw that the little walk way to the main entrance was covered with very healthy looking plants.  On closer examination and much to our delight, we discovered that they were Thai Bird's Chilie plants.  That was one warm and spicy welcome indeed !

The little restaurant looked clean and smelled a little over sanitized, probably too generous an amount of bleach was added to the cleaning solution.  We were the only customers there but at least we saw a few friendly and smiley Thai faces at the counter.  That was encouraging!  We inspected the menu which surprisingly had quite a few authentic Thai dishes.  We were pleasantly surprised with the tasty food, probably a little too toned down for us, but perfect for the Texan palate.  But all in all it beats the burger by far.

We started a conversation with the owner's daughter and I complimented her on the gorgeous Thai Bird's chilies up front and she told us that her mom planted them and has a garden behind the restaurant.  She invited us to take a look at the garden and of course we accepted the offer enthusiastically   We walked to the back garden with much anticipation.

It was a healthy garden with tons of Thai Bird's Chilies and Basil, Vietnamese Mint, Yard Beans, and different varieties of Eggplants.  All these plants love the Texas summer heat.   The couple asked us to picked all we want.  It was like Christmas under the Texan sun!  Not only did we enjoy a great lunch but we also walked away with a treasure trove of fresh herbs.  We thanked them profusely and will definitely stop by to visit if we are in their neck of the woods.
Now, let me share some of this treasure with you especially you who loves Thai food !

Sun-dried Thai Bird chilies 

Thai Basil

Vietnamese Mint

Eggplant

Zuchinni Fritters

At this time of the year zuchinni is plentiful and everyone wants to give you some and I am blessed with 4 gigantic ones. Here is a good way to make use of those abundant Zuchinnis, instead of zuchinni bread turn them into a meal or a snack!

Ingredients

1 pound (about 2 medium) zucchini
1 teaspoon salt
2 - 3 Tbs. chopped flat leaf parsley
1 tsp. minced garlic
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
2 to 4 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 cup panko (Japanese breadcrumbs) for extra crunch

A Delicious Fried Meal ~ Salmon Cakes

I was going through my pantry and refrigerator yesterday evening and looking for something easy to prepare that can go with fried zuchinni fritters for dinner.  I was frantically surfing the web and googling before dinner time gets too close and I found a wonderful dish that I so happen to have all the ingredients.  It is one of those blessed day! I made a few small adjustments and end up having a great simple dinner.  I don't have fresh salmon but I have a couple of canned ones.  Once in a while, it is nice to have a change of pace and have an all-fried meal and have vegetables that your kids don't even know they are vegetables and therefore will consume it without much fret.

Baked Samosas with a Malaysian Crimp

Filling

3 Tbs. oil
½ cup of finely chopped onions
2 tsp. curry powder
1 tsp. garam masala
½ tsp. turmeric powder (optional)
¾ pound (about 340g) of diced or ground lean meat
  (omit meat and add more potatoes to make it vegetarian)
2 medium potatoes, boiled and finely diced or mashed
1/4 cup chopped cilantro
1½ tsp. salt
½ tsp. sugar

Prepare the filling first.  Heat oil and saute the onion until transparent.

Add curry, turmeric and garam masala.  Lower heat and fry until fragrant.  

Add in meat and fry until meat is cooked.

Mix  in potatoes, cilantro and seasonings or according to taste.

Cook another 5 minutes.  Leave aside to cool.

Enjoy Summer Harvests

This is my big herb pot with just a few selected herbs that I love and enjoy.
I've been snipping at all these wonderful herbs all summer long
and using it for salads and cooking. 

Italian Basil and Cilantro ~ both are a must for Italian

                             and Asian Cooking

Freshly-picked Arugula

For me, salad taste good but Arugula makes it FABULOUS !

It's taste nutty, slightly spicy and has an interesting flavor.

Arugula is very low in calories and is a good source of vitamins A and C, folate, calcium, and magnesium. It can be eaten raw, added to salads with other salad greens, or cooked. It is excellent sautéed lightly in olive oil or steamed and added to pasta dishes.Arugula can also be made into pesto and served with pasta or potatoes or as an accompaniment to roasted or grilled meats.

A Simple Mediterranean Feast

The Mediterranean culture celebrates friends and family around the table.

Pan -seared mini Tuna Steaks with a 'Mediterranean Salsa'

Today, my job is to create a Mediterranean-style entree (Tuna) and a salad for a lunch.  I did my homework yesterday and read up just the basic essence of Mediterranean cuisine and here is what I came up with.  I wanted to create a light, summery, refreshing and easy-to-eat dish.  

I set out to create these two dishes equipped with a bottle of good olive oil, balsamic vinegar, a few lemons, fresh basil, fresh garlic, cherry tomatoes, kalamata olives and capers.  Additionally, for the salad I had some romaine lettuce, red onions, cucumber and feta cheese.  I was grateful that produce at this time of the year is plentiful, fresh and fairly inexpensive.  I think it is important to get the best and freshest produce

for this meal so I went to two stores to check out for the best.  I decided to get olives and capers from the olive bar instead of canned ones.

Coat tuna or fish of choice with some olive oil, thyme, freshly cracked pepper and some salt.  I seared the steaks over high heat in an iron skillet with some olive oil to about medium well (feel free to choose your own preference of doneness for the fish).   Dish meat to a platter and when ready to serve, pour the 'salsa' over fish.

My kitchen was full of the aroma of olive oil, fresh vegetables and herbs.  I think I may have succeeded in capturing the Mediterranean  flavors. 

'Mediterranean Salsa' :
2 cups cherry tomatoes, cut into halves
1 cup kalamata olives
1/2 cup capers
1/2 cup fresh chiffonade basil or few sprigs of fresh oregano (tear or chopped into small pieces)
3 cloves garlic, finely minced
1/2 cup lemon juice, freshly squeezed
zest from 1 lemon
1/2 cup olive Oil
Salt to taste (optional as the olives and capers are already salty)

1:1:2 Banana~Chocolate Cake

I was talking to my friend Donna about needing to make a cake so that I can get rid of 4 over-riped bananas that has been starring at me for the past few days. She casually mentioned that she makes a banana chocolate cake all the time and it is in high demand by her family and friends but she does not have a recipe as she just put it all together .  She rattled off a ratio 1:1:2.  I pressed her to at least giving me a rough guideline as I don't do ratios :-) ! 
So here is Donna's recipe dedicated to her beloved family and friends so that they will have a supply of their favorite Banana Chocolate Cake for a long time to come. Now I know why this cake is in high demand!  It is tasty, moist and tender!