Spiced Carrot Soup & Cheese-y Onion Toast

It's March, and it's getting warmer, but there's still time enough to squeeze in one or two more rounds of comfort soup!

I cooked this one up Tazmanian devil-style last night, having come home from hot yoga and wanting to hold onto that feeling of lightness and limberness. I cooked it super quick so I'm sorry that I have no photos of the cooking process for you...I was HUNGRY!!


This would work really well as a healthy D-tox recipe if you omit the coconut milk, add more stock/water and play more with the spices.


Spiced Carrot Soup
You'll need (to serve 6 as a starter):


Olive oil
1 onion, finely chopped
1 clove of garlic, finely chopped
1 1" knob of fresh ginger, grated
(OR if you're lazy, 1 tsp ginger powder)
1kg carrots, washed, peeled and sliced 
1 tsp curry powder
1 tsp chili powder
1/2 tsp coriander powder
Peel of 1/2 a lemon (in two strips)
850ml stock (vegetable or chicken stock)
300ml coconut milk


1. Heat the 1 tbsp of olive oil in a large pot, add the onions, garlic and ginger and cook until soft for a few minutes, don't let them brown. Now add all of the seasoning and carrots to the pot, cover and cook over low heat for 10 minutes, to let the vegetables 'sweat'.


2. Add the coconut milk (shake before pouring) and the stock, bring to the boil then turn down heat and simmer for 15 minutes, until the carrots are completely soft.


3. Remove the lemon peel, then whizz it into a soup. Enjoy hot, and with a slice of cheese-y onion toast! :-) Yummmmm


Cheese-y Onion Toast
You'll need (for 3 toasts):

A nice slice of farmers bread or sour dough
(or any ol' bread really!)
1/2 an onion, thinly sliced
A nice mature cheddar, grated
Pepper


Very simply, soften the onions by frying them in a pan with a little bit of olive oil, then add a thin layer of them on top of the toasted bread. Cover with grated cheese and bung it under the grill until the cheese is melted. 

We ♥♥ !

This is the only cheese other than French that you'll see in my Frenchman's fridge!:) He's actually the one who bought it first, it's like he has a radar for good cheese! It's nutty and flavourful - a real treat, and even better that it's conveniently available at our local Wellcome.

Cooking the Books: Hollandaise Sauce

La Cuisine - the latest edition

It was Sunday night, and we were chilling on the sofa, watching an episode of French "Top Chef". The skill is on another level, and shoves Masterchef onto the sidelines. In the episode we were watching, the contestants are given caviar, and need to create a dish around it. One makes a shot of egg yolk, cheese foam and caviar. I was inspired, and even though it was 11pm, I felt the need to get up and make it. We hadn't eaten dinner yet, so why not?


I came up with something that I like to call a "Refrigerator Jambalaya" dish - I look in my fridge, and see what I can make with the contents. I always have eggs, and I have lumpfish caviar left over from Valentine's Day. I also wanted to make a sauce to balance out my creation, so I referred to my bookshelf and picked up "La Cuisine - 1000 Recettes Facile" by Françoise Bernard. 

The retro version :-)

This is considered the Bible of French Cooking, and Bernard is famous for making everyday French classic recipes accessible and simple. PB's mother showed me her retro 1965 edition, it's pages falling out, it's corners dog-eared and it's cover splotched from years of use.


I was given the latest edition as a Christmas present, but it is in French so I need a little bit of time to translate it before I cook. It is available from Amazon in the English edition, if you're interested.

I decided to make a "Poached egg with Hollandaise Sauce and Caviar Martini", using the recipe from "La Cuisine" for my hollandaise sauce. The recipe calls for you to used a thick bottomed pan to make it - I don't have one so I cooked it in a bain marie.

The only thing 'martini' about it was the glass. But I imagine that replacing one of the tablespoons of water with vodka might work ... it's always worth a try!

Cooking the Books: Osso Bucco Milanese & Saffron Risotto

Every time I step into a bookstore I end up buying a cookbook. I collect them, look upon them lovingly and admire how great they all look on my shelf. Whenever I buy a new one, I immediately go through it and post-it the heck out of it. Colour-coded of course, blue for easy, pink for hard, green for desserts...by the time I'm though with them they look a bit ridiculous really...


And then I hardly even cook from them! The other day, I was determined to start doing so, and picked up one of the larger ones on the shelf - The Silver Spoon. I asked for it (and received it) for Christmas 4 years ago, and haven't used it ONCE.


Considered to be the Bible of authentic Italian home cooking, it has over 2,000 recipes, weighs 1.5kg (I checked it on my scale!), and has nice coloured pictures scattered throughout. Since I had some osso bucco (veal shank) in the freezer, I chose to make a Milanese Osso Bucco (Ossibuchi alla Milanese), and a Tarte Tatin - not an Italian dessert and so a bit out of place, but I've always wanted to try it.

Milanese Osso Bucco 
You'll need (serves 4):

40g (80g/3oz.) butter
1.2 an onion, chopped
4 pieces of osso bucco
5 tbls dry white wine
175ml meat stock
1 celery stick, chopped
1 carrot, diced
2 tbls tomato pureé
Salt and pepper, to taste
Plain flour, for dusting
Optional: I added some pancetta cubes for extra flavour
Parsley, for colour

Brasserie de l’île - quel dommage!

Photo from weekendhk.com

I went to Brasserie de L'île last Friday for lunch with AB. I was panicking because I hadn't made a reservation and of course all of the lunch favorites were booked. A quick search on some of my go-to sites on my blogroll led me to recall the new French bistro on Arbuthnot Road - one mentioned "the best mussels in Hong Kong so far...". A bold statement indeed, but was it true? 

Don't you just love a good bistro?  They are really popping up all over the place, aren't they? Did you know that 'the French community in Hong Kong has grown more than 60% since 2006, and now numbers more than 10,000?'.  I was so relieved to find that they could make room for us, and anticipated a nice French lunch.

 

That was, sadly, not to be. First of all, I always judge a French restaurant by the quality of it's bread - if they can't get that right, then your meal is doomed from the start. 

The 'baguette' looked as if it had been bought in a bag at Costco (sold in a pack of two, buy three get one free), and bunged in the oven.  

Poached egg with bechamel sauce and spinach

Even my beautiful camera could not make this starter look appetising, and it would be very unladylike of me to tell you what I think it resembles!  It was unseasoned, bland, unattractive, unremarkable, and I didn't finish it. That is a rare thing for me.

TBLS - The Best Lasagne, Seriously!

Photo courtesy of www.luxecityguides.com

There are many a 'private kitchen' in Hong Kong, a city that is quite special for it's abundance of unique, hideaway restaurants which are affordable yet (not always, but many a time) a real culinary experience. It's like biting into a Cadbury cream egg - looks pretty nondescript from the outside, but when bitten into it oozes sweet,sweet goodness!

TBLS sets itself apart from the "Private Kitchen" moniker, describing itself instead as a "Kitchen Studio" - which really, is pretty spot on. I mean look at it, the kitchen dominates this space, and we 18 people at the tables are spectators (and eaters) of the art that is created.

Many private kitchens were borne from the desires of Hong Kong chefs who wanted to share their culinary vision in their own kitchen but were limited by high rents, lower budgets and stringent licensing. The newer private kitchens are becoming more innovative, more original, more intimate and more international. There is a long list of them that I have been wanting to try for some time now, Ta Pantry, Liberty Private Works, Commune Lab, Zone-D and Yin Yang to name a few. 

Last week I was able to cross one off my list. Our friends, The JCs, asked if we wanted to join them for dinner the following evening at TBLS - it was last minute plan as they had in turn been given the reservation by a friend who ended up not being able to make it.  Despite the fact that I had indulged in a degustation menu two days before, and would have another the day after (more on that in posts to come!), TBLS is always booked up for months in advance and it was an invitation that simply couldn't be refused.

The Amuse Bouche : Carrot Puree, Harissa Lamb and Toasted Almonds

Served bistro-style in a terrine jar, this certainly amused our bouches! It was warm, the sweetness of the carrot together with the spiced lamb and the crunchy almonds awakened all the taste buds to prepare us for the (huge) meal to come.

Round 1: A Soup and a Sandwich 

Bonkers for Bivalves - Oyster Station

Il Vino dei Poeti Prosecco

I really love Oyster Station, and although many oyster lovers know it well, there are many who are oblivious to it's location. It's a tiny little hole in the wall on Bridges Street, just past Oolaa. With about 8 bar seats and perhaps 10 to 12 table seats, the open kitchen takes up much of the establishment.

It's become a staple favorite of a French girlfriend and myself for a quiet tête-à-tête over a light meal. The first time we ventured in was because Yardbird was full and we didn't want to wait the 45 minutes for a table. Next door we had spotted this little gem - the restaurant was full, so Manager Jesse sat us on a small, rickety table for two on the roadside pavement. There we were, with a gold-coloured bottle of prosecco and a dozen oysters, feasting like queens - it was such an unlikely situation and yet so typical of Hong Kong, where every now and then you discover amazing food and incredible ambiance in the least likely of places.

Jesse's selection of oysters for us, served with a classic cocktail sauce and also a cucumber sauce -  quite refreshing! Extra shallots for the red vinegar was available on request

Seeing Stars: 8 1/2 Otto e Mezzo Bombana

I went to Otto e Mezzo Bombana for the 3rd time this month, the first was for a quick late dinner with PB. We strolled in at 9.45pm with no reservations, and the manager, Mr. A, kindly let us take a seat for the last order at 10.30pm. My mother then made a lunch booking in advance with no one in particular (seeing that reservations are increasingly difficult to get), anticipating that someone would go with her - that someone ended up (gladly) being me! Finally, we went again for Valentine's Day lunch on Tuesday (with PB, not my mum). Each time was a well-rounded and tasty experience.

Otto e Mezzo opened in January 2010 and was awarded two Michelin stars within two months. Dare I say that this new rating was perhaps not 100% due to 8 1/2's magnificence on the global Michelin stage, but also due to the relatively new presence of the Michelin Guide in Hong Kong. But The Guide can give, and The Guide can take - what is more notable is that 8 1/2 has not only kept it's stars, but collected a third in December 2011, making it the only 3 star Italian restaurant outside of Italy.

The lunch set is $360 for a starter and a main. It's not the most affordable lunch on the block but hey, for a 3-star lunch, it's a bargain! You can add an extra $80 for a glass of red or white, and/or $70 for a dessert, there are 3 choices for each course.

The bread basket: tomato focaccia, sour dough, olive bread and my personal favorite, the salty crisp bread.

Starter: Taiyouren organic egg with cauliflower emulsion and roasted herb bread.